Bye, June

It's too busy to sit down and write.

OK. That's not true.

Too many good things are going on these days. Writing takes a certain amount of focus, and I'm just busy taking it all in and being a part of it. I think I might be taking writing too seriously.

I'd like to share part of an amazing email from my niece, who is sailing around the world as part of a boat crew. She finds the best ways to wander, and I am amazed by her spirit and approach to life. She doesn't have a sense of adventure, she has a foundation of adventure.

After going through the insane hell of being on board with an ex- alcoholic captain who is a pretentious asshole to a I-am-the-center-of-the-universe won't stop talking curmudgeon, we have definitely learned a few things, including how to keep on laughing. its been a really crazy trip, you can read about the details in the book we're writing about it: what other reason is there for ending up in these crazy situations if not for others to read about and enjoy?
don't get me wrong- its been fun, me and Sea have each other when it gets rough, and we've learned how to sail : )
so yesterday we broke free from silly insecure men trying to run our lives--we signed on as crew to a 55' motor sailboat in Dublin, Ireland making a journey to Malaysia via the Suez canal. the captain seems very cool (we were careful this time) and the places we will be passing through (like war zones, the waters where pirates are holding boats for ransom, ect) is exacally the kind of stuff we want to witness right now, call me sick and twisted. but we will be very safe and in good hands, part of an armed convoy thu the dangerous bits..
I Am So Excited!
and Seriously Nuts!
... anyways, any questions?!

OK. She's sailing around the world and is going to write a book about her adventures.

Other good things that are happening:

• The Recyclery's new shop is close to opening. This is not due to my efforts but to a set of dedicated volunteers.
  

• I leg pressed 170 pounds. This is due to my effort.
  
• I have had fewer crappy running days. This seems to be connected to avoiding most cow milk products, which make breathing harder for me. Bummer. Ice cream is delicious.
  
• Jazz Vespers at Wicker Park Grace continues to be my favorite service. Good music, poetry, and thinking. Is God somewhere in the space that opens up in settings like that?
• My wonderful friend Kate walked in the Out of the Darkness Walk of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. I walked with her for about an hour-and-a-half, and was honored to do so.
  
• I'm encountering people who challenge my crap, and I'm remembering that that is one of the greatest gifts of being with people. It's freaky and scary and wonderful and probably right.
• I find that I'm stepping into realms of life that I left a while ago. I am happy to do it. That means freezing up or freaking out because of it, but why not do it anyway? What's the great benefit of standing to the side in my safe space where I watch rather than act?
  

There's more to say; much more. I'm not really dipping into things right now. I know you will live. Other people write more interesting things, so go find profundity with them.

O loose bloom

A Marriage in the Dolomites
D. Nurkse

We communicated by cheeses,
unwrapping them gingerly,
parting the crust with a fork,
tasting dew, must, salt,
raising an eyebrow,

or we let chianti talk for us,
rolling it in the glass,
staring - it was dark and shiny
as the pupil, and stared back -
or we undressed each other;

we took long walks hand in hand
in the vineyards, the pastures,
resenting each other bitterly
for our happiness that excluded us
as surely as the world did,
mountain after mountain

----

CXLV:

Abbot Pastor said: Do not dwell in a place where you see that others are envious of you, for you will not grow there.

(The Wisdom of the Desert - Merton)

I just came back from a conference in New Orleans for Interfaith Worker Justice. They called it a summit, which might just be a way to refer to a conference that has to be a lot smaller this year because of organizations' economic woes. There were 21 other student interns, the majority of whom were undergraduates. We students met for four days to understand better the ins and outs of labor justice issues and community organizing. Then the three-day summit began. I learned a lot, but while I was in the trainings and meetings, I thought about life back in Connecticut and Chicago.

It was extremely interesting to learn about labor movements and abuse of employees from all walks of life.

We went to the French Quarter one evening, but it was crowded and flashy and a little too ready for tourists who have money to spend. Another night we went to Cafe Negril in the Marigny neighborhood.













This outing was much better, even though this dear drunk lumberjack (I'm not making that up) tried to make... uh, "friends", first using his body and later with his words. Sometimes it's fun to play with (not in that way) really wasted people at bars. It could easily have turned ugly, but this just turned funny and almost endearing. Underneath that drunk lumberjack was someone whom you can confuse or silence with just a few words. Or a look.

If you can find it, I would recommend Abita beer, which is made just north of New Orleans. The Amber and Jockamo IPA were very good.

a few thoughts that deserve more time:

- The word "justice" irks me. Nail down a good and widely accepted definition for me. I think people throw around this word far too much. I think a lot of people base achievement of "justice" on feelings much more than they think they do. Basing things on feelings isn't (all that) bad, but it's bad (as in not useful, wise, or honest) to base things on feelings and not know we're doing so. We're doing so often, even when we try to do the opposite. Deal with it.

Is justice fairness? Is it equality? Is it movement toward equality? Do we balance forgiveness and punishment? Is it retribution? Is it taking back power? I don't see a single definition right now.

- Dominative power vs. collective power. Destructive power vs. creative power. The first set is more useful for me in thinking about projects and group dynamics. Leaders at one of the sessions suggested that dominative power is self-serving, coercive, divisive, and relates to another person as an other. How are we going to use our power, once we "harness" it?

- "If an employer is doing what he or she should, the staff won't want to organize a union." There's an error in there.

- Who sets job standards best? The workers or the employers?

- Work. Work and time. "Work is a fundamental dimension of existence on earth." Want to feel crazy? Try going without work, or going without a sense of work and purpose through it. This doesn't necessarily mean your 9-5. I know of a few readers who probably know exactly what I'm talking about.

Work is a thing for humans. Humans are not things for work. That means you don't have the right to treat your workers poorly.

Work is also something intended to strengthen society and social connections... community.

Sarah Haskins

Here. I am going to promote the Internet.

Sarah Haskins has a show on some TV network I've never heard of. She talks about some of the inane stuff thrown at consumers and women. There are a bunch of 3-5 minute clips online, and they are worth watching.




These two are really funny.

Sarah Haskins

Art!

Benefit Art Show
To benefit Wicker Park Grace!
Saturday, Sunday, June 13-14















You are cordially invited to an art exhibit and sale featuring the paintings of Tim Vermeulen (www.timothyvermeulen.com).

Tim's paintings are small, figurative, autobiographical narratives. The narratives, while often formed through self-portraiture, are usually based on established stories or series from literary sources (e.g. Dante's Inferno, Homer's Odyssey).

Tim is represented by Packer Schopf Gallery in Chicago. He has shown extensively across the US and his work can be found in many prominent collections in the US and Europe.

All of the artist's proceeds will be contributed to Wicker Park Grace, a spiritual community devoted to discovering and embodying new ways of being Christian in active and loving relationship with a pluralistic world.

Exhibit hours:
Saturday, June 13, 2-7 pm and
Sunday June 14, 1-5 pm

Exhibit Location:
Wicker Park Grace
1741 N. Western Ave.
Chicago, IL 60647

The above image is "A Time to Cast Away Stones, A Time to Gather Stones Together" from a series of diptychs based on Ecclesiastes 3. Pieces from other series will also be available.

Outside my window

A man walked by, and the dog started barking. He said to it: "Shut up, bitch." I can only think of a few more useless things than this. You, sir, wielded power over that beast with your words.

Grizzly Bear

I'm trying to decide if I like this or not. The video makes it less like-able, for sure. They're trying really hard to be something...something. Isn't it funny how we dislike it when someone tries too hard (unless it's happening in sports). It's something about being cool or unattached or aloof that seems desirable.

Anyway, maybe it's better to listen without watching.

National Running Day

It's today.

http://www.runningday.org/

E-town wandering

I wandered up to Evanston yesterday, thinking of visiting some old friends. I decided to see only a couple of them but had a fortuitous run-in with a friend from the first half of my Chicago era. I went in to Wild Tree Cafe and ran into Jaqi/Ivy, the owner. We met in 2004, when our then-boyfriends were living in the same building. She runs a great cafe and I think you should go get coffee and a meal there.

I sat and thought and wrote there while waiting for a pal.

(Dear readers who are weirded out by life/growth junk, I'm about to talk about that kind of stuff.)

I've been having conversations lately that have ended up on the subject of change. Actually, I had a conversation with someone last fall, whose counselor doubted the possibility of change in people. (Why are you a therapist if you don't think people can change? Maybe we have different understandings of what "change" entails.) One other friend said she didn't think people change, but she's kind of a cynic (love you!). I am too, but I think I disagree. I think people can change, and sometimes they change in significant ways.

I mean, this doesn't mean we don't retain 95% of ourselves as we change, but perhaps the things that stick out somehow get worked on. Maybe these are the most troubling parts, maybe they're the best. Some folks think it takes a long time to change, but I think "long time" is subjective. I've changed from 10 years ago. I've changed from 9 months ago. I bet you have, too. How is this not a reason to believe that a person can change?

Why is it easy for me to believe that change is possible? (I'm not getting all pro-humanitate huggy here, I swear. I still have regular bouts of misanthropy and crotchety-ness.) Maybe it's all a matter of language and images.

I don't know what the key is to change or what leads someone, willingly or not, to change. It could be as simple as seeing that there is a problem, however one defines that. Maybe... it's seeing that there could possibly, somehow, be a chance that it, whatever the it is, could be different, that things could go another way. What I've started to realize this past year is that we are more free and able to have things go Another Way than we sometimes think we are.

Good Lord this is touchy feely crap. Just do not envision me in a pastel suit with a microphone and a vaseline-facilitated smile, delivering a speech to a half-empty convention center with ex-hippies who've paid $450 for the conference. Blech.

Some Coldplay song came on as I sat in the cafe. Something off of X&Y (I swear I wrote the following without thinking of the album title. Coldplay is not prophetic.)

Maybe we can be OK if we do X.
Maybe we can be OK if we give up or take on Y.
Maybe taking the risk is worth it. Maybe if it doesn't work out, we will still be OK or better for it. Maybe it will be great, though.

Is that the thing?

Wouldn't we be boring if we never changed?

----

I'm going to do something grunty.

Also: This is one of those posts where people are going to think it's about them. It's not.