What messages are they sending?

   Finding a bicycle with a square 2x2 flat board with a metal lip affixed  where a basket would be,parked on the corner of Antonnine and Annunciation Streets, made me wonder about the creator of this bike. This materials transporte- bicycle was locked onto the stop sign. This creation must service some special need. I love to see imagineering. ( A Disney term)
    Interestingly the bike was strapped to a Stop sign. I guess the criminal element that necessitates these, new and stronger, bicycle chains don't read the signs.
    "STOP! I have created this device to serve my special needs. Why would you want my bike?" the owner might protest.
    I guess that the criminal element has forgotten how to read the physical and the spiritual signs all around them.
    We live in a wonderful city with an  unfortunately large murder and drug gang culture. It is strange referring to the misdeeds of a group as a culture, but these groups do have their own norms and standards.
    I have heard many stories in my 35 plus years in the classroom. I once interviewed the most frequently suspended students at H. L. Bourgeis High School, in Terrebonne Parish. My principal was concerned about my being in a room with all of "those" boys, but I was not afraid. I had listened to so many of them individually, that I sort of understood the code of ethics that they worked under.
    "She listens to us; Be nice." That seemed to be the message that I read from them.
So how do we get so many young men to be heard when they don't seem to know how to effectively communicate?
I do not see it getting better with so much tweeted communication.

    I used to conduct a simple experiment in and out of the classroom. When I heard some language that did not make much sense because it was full of slang, I would ask those who were affirming what was said to translate the spoken words.
    Surprise, surprise,. I would hear, "I can't put it into words."
How can you exchange information with another when you "Can't put it into words?" I would ask. The students would get defensive and say, " I know what he/she means." Well, reflect what you heard. I taught this communication tool to all of my students. Reflective listening.. Repeating back what was heard, and the feeling the listener thought that they heard.
     I had to provide a list of feeling words because their vocabulary was limited to: love, hate, fear, sadness and a few more. ( See attached list at link below.) 
     I now read the signs spray painted onto the sides of buildings and even the Stop signs. I need a manual. I am not sure what the specific message is. It reminds me of the old "Sounds of Silence" song by Simon and Garfunkel.

 "For the signs of the prophets are written on the subway walls and tenement walls...."

    I do want to hear you, speak your words...... I am listening....



http://www.lyricsdepot.com/simon-garfunkel/sounds-of-silence.html

Hello darkness, my old friend
I've come to talk with you again
Because a vision softly creeping
Left its seeds while I was sleeping
And the vision that was planted in my brain
Still remains
Within the sound of silence

In restless dreams I walked alone
Narrow streets of cobblestone
'Neath the halo of a street lamp
I turned my collar to the cold and damp
When my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light
That split the night
And touched the sound of silence

And in the naked light I saw
Ten thousand people, maybe more
People talking without speaking
People hearing without listening
People writing songs that voices never share
And no one dared
Disturb the sound of silence

"Fools", said I, "You do not know
Silence like a cancer grows
Hear my words that I might teach you
Take my arms that I might reach you"
But my words, like silent raindrops fell
And echoed
In the wells of silence

And the people bowed and prayed
To the neon god they made
And the sign flashed out its warning
In the words that it was forming
And the sign said, "The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls
And tenement halls"
And whispered in the sounds of silence




http://www.psychpage.com/learning/library/assess/feelings.html