Tal's Story : Updated January 2012

Update from Jan 2012: Tal Streeter, Manhattan Kansas native, artist and writer, lover of life and all flying things had a stroke, a massive one, on the night of the 17th of February 2011 while preparing for his upcoming exhibition at the Beach Museum of Art at KState University in Manhattan Kansas as well as being inducted with his friend David Dary, on his Manhattan High School's "Wall of Fame".

He was staying at his friends Bonnie and Jim's when the stroke occurred. Bonnie found him the next morning and he was rushed to the hospital. For the first two days, in ICU care, then in a private room then moved to Rapid Recovery Unit of Stonybrook then in the Mercy Regional Inpatient Rehabilitation Unit on Sunset.

He now has been moved down closer to his home in Santa Fe New Mexico to the beautiful El Castillo where he has 24/7 nursing care.

He is still paralyzed on the left side His appearance is good tho I must say! He has color in his cheeks and has slimmed down!

He is well aware of what has happened, is annoyed about it, was certainly quite sad in the early days went through a period of sadness but now is able to participate in his therapy sessions.

He speaks slowly, quietly, and can follow and enjoys participating in stimulating one on one conversation. His brain is rebuilding those bridges, tunnels and pathways and this must be a most daunting and tiring task.

As "thinking" is such an important thing to him, the fear that he has lost some part of his intellect or faculties may bring on anger and sadness. We are hoping that he will regain his spirits with all of the positive help he will be receiving from his circle of friends and caregivers here in Manhattan.

For those of you outside of Manhattan, we would like to give you Tal's UPDATED address which will be working as of the 19th of August when he and Mom arrive in Santa Fe, New Mexico:

Tal Streeter
250 East Alameda
Santa Fe, New Mexico 87501

Tal will be at ElCastillo, a nursing facility in downtown Santa Fe, New Mexico. A wonderful facility, Tal has made a few friends and tho physically very diminished, has moments of real brillance and thought.

He has a small portable CD player that his friend Hall has given him and he very much enjoys listening to Dave Brubeck, Harry James and other BigBand and Jazz favorites.

He mentioned that he would have wished Chibi the kitty he lost last year to old age was curled up next to him...voila.

For the moment, what we think he would appreciate from his friends is to hear that your hearts and thoughts are with him. Short visits are, of course, welcome!

From his caregivers he appreciates that his "wishes" have been respected.

Tal is an immensely complex person with multiple interests and activities. Poetic, "creative" in every sense of the word, an absolutely fascinating fellow for anyone of any age to be around!

He may be 77 years of age but befor this happened he was anything other than retired! He worked like a fiend. Rarely going to bed before 2 in the morning and pushing himself in every aspect of his life.

It is as if he was running running to finish so many projects before physical problems and or death catches up with him. But this stress may have caused a peak in his bloodpressure and this unfortunate situation.

He has traveled the world, researching his books on kites and flight: "The Art Of the Japanese Kite" (still in print classic from the late 70's), "A Kite Journey Through India", "Art That Flies" and last but not least "The Philosophers Kite"

He was in the final stages of preparation for "In The Rose-Colored Light: Portrait Of An Indian Circus" (a book fifteen years in the writing!) as well as "Domina Jalbert: Brother of the Wind" (Jalbert, inventor of the parafoil and one Americas greatest inventors in the history of flight.)

Tal has been honing and honing incessantly these projects for the past 10 years.

He also continues to write poetry and short stories about his friendship with a certain Lao Moon or "Old Moon" in Korean!

His parallel life as a sculptor continues. He works in partnership with Bruce George. A new group of this work opened at the KState Beach Museum :

 http://beach.k-state.edu/exhibitions/279/lines-traveling-through-space-ghosts-and-shadows-minimal-sculpture-by-tal-streeter .

The show ran through September til the beginning of October 2011.

Bruce George came to Manhattan to install the work with Lindsay Smith head of exhibition design at the Beach.
It is truly a beautiful show. Hope anyone that can come to see it, will!

Tal has a myriad of passions: cinnamon buns, meatloaf and mashed potatoes, homemade pie, dance band music: he played alto sax in local dance bands as a young guy, following in the steps of his Dad, Paul Streeter, a professional tenor player in the Manhattan region in the 30's 40's 50's and 60's! kid's games, robots, all things "sky" and "flight" related, trains, Leonard Cohen, the Incredible String Band, the japanese Haiku poetry of Issa (of which Tal has translated with his friend Kuniyoshi Munakata), space elevator projects, Burt Rutan's aircraft, making up a dictionary of compound words( which he calls "Word Love", all things the color red...gosh I don't even think I have scratched the surface!

The other thing that I would like to mention is Pop's interest in the human brain and its workings. This is a subject he has done much reading on. The loss or deterioration of his thinking facilties is of great anguish to him. In the past two years he has had several bouts of lyme disease related illness and often complained of feeling confused and like he was loosing control of his thought. The neurologists that we have seen following this stroke have had little to say vis a vis his condition. Most of what I have learned about injury to the right parietal and temporal lobes has been through extensive reading and surfing of the net.  

Tal has kept up with many of his Manhattan highschool friends, returning regularly to Kansas for high school reunions, work on the Damon Runyon House with Manhattan buddies Bonnie and Jim Sherow. He was recently given a place on the "Wall of Fame" of Manhattan High School. We know he was certainly very touched by his visit to the 9th grade Art Class at Manhattan High School as well.

His Manhattan friends have been absolutely incredible with their help and support, visits to him in the hospital and connecting him into their networks of help and contacts there in Manhattan!

Certainly hope everyone will share this blog with other friends for whom I do not have their address! It is like a lifeline for those of us far away from his side!

Much love to you all!
Romig in Santa fe and me, Lissa his daughter in Paris.

Thanks for not giving up on me during the last months of 2011. I'd just hit my limits