Transcript | Annotation | Source: 89-4286-HH-2-##(PDF) | Month Index
I arranged for the shipment of Carol’s boxes.
I helped with two items from Garb.
I did not have much office work to do. I brought my journal entries up to date.
I ate lunch outside on the PG&E steps.
At the end of the day Garb learned he had to go to New York in connection with the Iranian project. O’ Neill was busy preparing documents but did not need help. Garb was to leave tonight.
When I got home I slept for an hour.
I prepared food and ate.
I drove to the Temple service at 8.00. I arrived when the senior citizens’ bus was unloading and was slow in getting upstairs, but I got a good seat.
Much time was consumed with the preliminaries, such as the introduction of those who have various moneymaking projects.
Jim reported on the weekend’s events such as the funds contest and the Disneyland trip. He gave more details on the saving he achieved by holding firm on entrance of our people, so that all did not have to be counted going through the turnstile. He also discussed news of the day, particularly the activities of vigilante groups throughout the country.
Jim took the offering.
The meeting was rather relaxed; no boxing matches were required.
Jim said Harry Williams had a defect in his heart which required surgery. The muscles around his heart had been destroyed. Then it was found that the condition had changed and he did not need the operation.
Many commendations were announced. A few of them were: Marvin Sellers, a boy, who is so conscientious that he supervises adults at the children’s ranch; Novella Sneed and Nevada Harris, who have been working at the pear shed; Gina Severns, who has been working at the pear shed as well as on her Homemaker’s job.
Nancy Sines was called up on a complaint that she was unfriendly to her co-worker, Mary Lou Clancy. Since Nancy got the job (it is in Family Planning) on the basis of Temple membership, there is no reason for the two not to associate. Nancy said she was not purposely aloof.
Maureen Fitch is her supervisor and also believed she is not friendly.
However, Jim found she was not intentionally unfriendly, that there was no need for discipline, but Nancy should try to be more outgoing.
Marie Lawrence wishes to move to San Francisco, to live communally, and study to be a veterinarian. Jim approved.
I had to go on an errand. When I returned, Ken Norton was on the floor. He had made negative remarks charging that in the work at the Temple production was slow, there was lack of adequate support and he got insufficient response to his requests. He especially had complained that he had not been furnished transportation which he needed. Bill Purifoy and others commented. It was the general opinion that Ken had either not channeled his requests to the right person or had exaggerated his problems. Again, Jim decided the case did not require a boxing match. Jack Beam is going to be supervising work at the San Francisco Temple.
Jim read a letter from Lynnetta Jones written after her confrontation on the floor. She analyzed her attitude and behavior. She told how she had been taught to steal by a companion as a child. Comparing her lot with others, she felt guilty and wanted to be put in a situation with greater demands upon her. Jim congratulated her for showing growth and repeated his statement that one feels either resentment or guilt, and though it is uncomfortable, it is better to feel guilt.
Sandy Rozynko wrote a letter to Jim which he also read aloud. She said that, realizing her white mentality was a handicap in feeling sympathy for others, she had requested her fellow commune members at the Mertles to treat her for one week as a slave. They called her “girl,” ordered her around. She went barefoot and wore an old dress. Her loss of identity brought home to her what life was like for black people, not merely for a week, but all the time.
Jim said that ten of the children whose families moved down from the Valley are going to attend a progressive school, the best in California.
The school will give us a discount and afford our teachers an opportunity to be observers of their methods, so that we can establish such a school next year for all our children. Of the students entering the school, five are black and five white. Though they had suffered from poor schooling in the public schools, the school found them all qualified, having superior intelligence and vocabulary, and having obviously lived in a stimulating environment.
I took home Rosezetta and the children, who are back in Contonia’s apartment. Rosezetta did not tell me why Contonia had changed her mind. Contonia is spending a week in the Valley, helping to can produce at the ranch.
I read for an hour and went to bed at 2.00.