This Beginning is the End..

...and this end is a new beginning. ;)

I've given the matter some thought, and I've decided that this story -- the story of Diana Paulina -- is completed. This blog will remain as a tribute to her, and you're welcome to leave comments here if you wish (If you're a comment spammer, you might want to consider the karma you're messing with), but this is the last post.

There is, of course, life after Diana Paulina, and I'll be hanging out with Nancy, Cranium Man and some other people writing about that at these new digs. If you know us this well, you might as well come see what happens next.

If you've just gotten here, I suggest going to this first post in March of 2007 and working your way forward.

One final note -- I meant to say that we got to within a hundred pages of the end of seventh and final Harry Potter book. I finished it myself the morning of the Memorial. It was fun, and I do a mean Mrs. Umbridge, but I doubt I'll be reading it again for awhile.

The last words seem like they're important, so I've been thinking back over some of dp's in her last days. Here's the one I like best:

Wow.

One More Tribute

The Memorial was lovely, moving, and really hard. There are pictures of the tree planting, but I'm not ready to go over them yet.

Here's the article that ran in the Gazette on Saturday. It didn't run in the online edition, so it doesn't google.

‘The magic of Diana’

Former I.C. teacher blogged about her battle with lung cancer
By Erika Binegar
The Gazette
IOWA CITY — Those who knew Diana Paulina, 61, of Iowa City, remembered her this week as a dedicated teacher and witty word game enthusiast who enjoyed making things beautiful and never had to raise her voice to be heard.

“Diana had a real presence,” said her husband, Kevin Crawley. “She’s the kind of person you meet and you just know right away that this is a pretty extraordinary person.”

Her brother, Carl Paulina, agreed. “That was the magic of Diana,” he said.

Paulina died peacefully April 28 after 14 months battling lung cancer. She blogged much of the experience to keep her family and friends up to date, and knitted about a dozen “chemo caps” in canary yellow, turquoise and bright red yarn Crawley, 52, of Iowa City, said his wife was an amazing person who inspired others. Paulina, who loved teaching, reading, music, crafts and gardening, believed there was no such thing as a bad pun, Crawley added with a laugh.

Carl Paulina, 58, of Ann Arbor, Mich., said his older sister taught him to dance, was extremely quick in conversation, didn’t turn away people in need and never shied from responsibility.

“When she was really young, she was already sitting at the grown-up table,” he said.

Paulina, who was raised in Dearborn, Mich., earned her graduate degree in alternative education from Indiana University.

In 1980, Paulina and Crawley founded Unbound Inc., a residential counseling center for people leaving cults. For 10 years, they helped those individuals make sense of what had happened to them and helped them reconnect with family.

From 1984 to 1998, Paulina was a language arts, reading and “school of hard knocks” teacher at the Iowa City alternative high school, CEC.

Paulina didn’t agree with traditional schooling, or shuffling students from one class to another at the sound of a bell, Crawley said. “She always thought it was more about turning people on to education, showing them that they could learn,” he said.

Paulina would read to her students in the morning and let them create art inspired by that story in the afternoon. She took students bowling on Friday afternoons and taught them to keep score — sneaking math lessons in through the back door.

In 1999, Paulina, an organizer, became general manager of Avalon Networks — the first private Internet service provider in Iowa City — and helped tighten up the business, Crawley said.

In 2003, Paulina, her parents and Crawley began running Da Woods Bed and Breakfast out of two houses tucked into the woods on the north side of Iowa City. It was something she could do while taking care of her parents at home, Crawley said.

Because Paulina believed dessert wasn’t just for dessert, her guests were treated to homemade scones and cream puffs for breakfast. A memorial celebration is scheduled at 1 p.m. today at Da Woods Bed and Breakfast, 2030 and 2040 Dubuque Rd.

Gazette writer Stephen Schmidt contributed to this report.
Contact the writer: (319) 398-8255

Pre-Memorial Update

News-type stuff:
The other local paper, the Gazette (do they still call it The Cedar Rapids Gazette in Cedar Rapids?) also wants to do a story about Diana. The reporter hasn't actually talked to me yet, but I heard that she called Carl. They said they wanted it to run "before the Memorial," so I guess that means Friday or Saturday. I'll dump it here when it runs.

The principal of Elizabeth Tate High School, the successor to CEC, left a message on our voicemail today. They want to name a scholarship after her (calling it, appropriately enough, the Diana Paulina Memorial Scholarship). She's asking for my okay, so I'll be sure to give that to her tomorrow.

Memorial stuff:
My family ROCKS! I've got a tree for Saturday (along with a really nice rock), and my sisters (it almost feels like that should be a capital 'S') tell me that my other responsibility is to have an extension cord ready to go in the garage. Seth is picking up a quarter-barrel, and I'll probably add a case of wine. (Do I still get the tables?) They're all consulting with Dede and Nancy, so I'm just trying to stay out of the way.

Please don't try to park anywhere in the driveway on Saturday -- there's parking on the Dubuque Road, which leads up to ACT's parking lot. We'll have the lane open for deliveries and handicapped access, but if you can carpool, that's probably a good idea.

We'll be around all day Saturday. The place will probably be presentable by 1, and the Planting of The Tree will be right around 3. Anyone who wants to hang out for the potluck wake afterwards is welcome to do so.

Me stuff:
Life here is still weird, but going on. I'm still making mental notes of stuff to tell dp, but I don't seem to be wracked with depression or anything.

Bob asked if I was going to keep blogging. After the dust has settled, I don't know. I'm not sure that my life sans dp and life-threatening illnesses is really going to be enough to keep folks coming back. What would you folks want to do here?

The photo is a panorama off the back deck, after Clan Crawley was through mulching it.

Diana Paulina, 1946 - 2008

Diana Paulina died peacefully Monday morning, after fourteen months of intense negotiations with lung cancer.

A memorial celebration will be held from 1 pm to whenever next Saturday, May 10 in da Woods at 2030 and 2040 Dubuque Road. A tree will be planted at 3 pm, with the potluck wake going quite a bit longer. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be directed to the Emma Goldman Clinic.

Diana was born and raised in Dearborn, Michigan, and received her undergraduate degree from the University of Michigan in 1969. She spent five years in Europe, taking courses in what her father would call 'the school of hard knocks,' and then enrolled in the Alternative Education graduate program at Indiana University. After a brief stint at a one-room alternative school in central Iowa she moved to Iowa City to complete her Master's coursework.

In 1980, she co-founded and co-directed Unbound, Inc, a residential counseling center for people leaving cults. She was a language arts, reading and school of hardknocks teacher at the Iowa City alternative school, CEC, from 1984 to 1998. She also served variously as librarian, volleyball and softball coach, drama instructor, videographer, prom coordinator, banker, computer teacher and troubleshooter, assistant janitor and political agitator. She was an active member of the Iowa City Education Association, serving as both Vice-President and President. In 1999, she took a position with Avalon Networks. She retired from there in 2003 to care for her parents and to open da Woods Bed and Breakfast.

She was diagnosed with cancer in 2007, and she blogged much of the experience. Friends are invited to kevin-and-diana.blogspot.com for the gory details.

She loved wordplay, reading, music, gardening, puzzles, crafts, learning and teaching. She was also pretty fond of her cohort of thirty years, Kevin Crawley. Diana approached everything she did with passion and determination, and she served as a role model, inspiration and font of wit and wisdom to her students, friends and family.

She is survived by her husband and her mother, Marie Paulina, both of Iowa City, her brother Carl Paulina, of Ann Arbor, MI, her sister Susan Johnson of Osceola, WI, as well as sixteen brothers-and-sisters-in-law, twenty-two nieces and nephews and a host of friends she called her 'Iowa City family.' She is preceded by her father, Walter "Shorty" Paulina.

Open Windows Update

I'm doing a lot better than I expected I would be. I started getting caught up on all those appointments I've been putting off -- car servicing, doctor and vet visits, lawn mower repair. Maybe I'll call somebody about the tree on the roof...

I don't have a lot of people around right now, and I'm pretty happy that way. I've told a couple of people that I'm probably in better shape than they are, but I'm not strong enough to take care of them right now.

I'm sure I'll need some help with the memorial -- we're going potluck, since I have absolutely no clue how many people might show up. I'm also not going to make any rain provisions, so think sunny thoughts. I guess I should get some tables and chairs and beer and stuff -- if you want to help out with those kind of arrangements, give me a holler.

Sent the obit to Lensing this morning. I'm going to ask them to run it tomorrow. I'll post it here later.