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^^^^^^WARM GREETINGS FROM^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Ivan Suzman 48/12/9.5 [log in to unmask] Portland, Maine Land of lighthouses 57 deg. F ******************************************************************** On Sun, 18 Oct 1998 17:36:49 -0300 Peter Kidd <[log in to unmask]> writes, in part : >Hello everyone, > >Harold Jones wrote that Maine is going to use the Dr. James Parkinson >tulip (SNIP) Hi Peter and Harold: I write only as myself, perhaps reflecting some of the Parkinson's folks in Maine. within me is a different feeling from yours I feel that the tulip conveys hope, but not URGENCY. At 48, I already feel that my good time is going fast, and worse times are MUCH too close. I can empathize with the hopefulness of tulips, daffodils, and all spring flowers. I love tulips---but also wonder if the hourglass is perhaps a more powerful symbol? My friend, Ashley, a young artist, and I, have created and printed 24 T-shirts as a test run. They have disappeared like hotcakes with maple syrup---using the hourglass logo, and the theme, "Our Time is Running Out." The tulip is a wonderful symbol of hope--in fact I have planted, in the aftermath of the August fire that destroyed my former home above the foundation, a beautiful garden rich in red tulips, some with yellow centers. And one or two Parkinson's-like tulips. And also a whole garden of gay tulips, resplendently light violet and smoky magenta. Oh, Peter, back to the hourglass idea--it STARTLES onlookers. It wakes them up immediately. At a memorial gathering from Matthew Shepard yesterday, people knew about the URGENCYof curing Parkinson's, after seeing that hourglass. Jim Cordy of Pennsylvania, the man who introduced me to this wonderful List, used the HOURGLASS to provoke Congress out of their bureaucratic slumbers, when he testified this past March, 1998, to push forward our beloved Udall funding efforts. Parkinson's shortens my time and makes it more precious as well as more gloomy Often it feels like my time is running out, not walking or ambling but trotting precariously towards the journey's completion with an un-wanted and mysterious pace, like a massive tug from outer space which pulls my shoulders back as if my own internal clock had been reset by an alien force Ivan S. 48 / 12 / 9.5