Holy as A Day is Spent

For many years, this was my favorite song. It has only recently come to "light" to me why that might be (inside Quaker humor - tee hee)


Holy As A Day Is Spent

Holy is the dish and drain
The soap and sink, the cup and plate
And the warm wool socks, and the cold white tile
Showerheads and good dry towels
And frying eggs sound like psalms
With a bit of salt measured in my palm
It’s all a part of a sacrament
As holy as a day is spent

Holy is the busy street
And cars that boom with passion’s beat
And the check out girl, Counting change
And the hands that shook my hands today
Hymns of geese fly overhead
And stretch their wings like their parents did
Blessed be the dog
That runs in her sleep
The catch that wild and elusive thing

Holy is a familiar room and the quiet moments in the afternoon
And folding sheets like folding hands
To pray as only laundry can
I’m letting go of all I fear
Like autumn leaves of earth and air
For summer came and summer went
As holy as a day is spent

Holy is the place I stand
To give whatever small good I can
The empty page, the open book
Redemption everywhere I look
Unknowingly we slow our pace
In the shade of unexpected grace
With grateful smiles and sad lament
As holy as a day is spent

And morning light sings “providence”
As holy as a day is spent
Carrie Newcomer

A Poem.

Everything is Waiting for You

Your great mistake is to act the drama
as if you were alone. As if life
were a progressive and cunning crime
with no witness to the tiny hidden
transgressions. To feel abandoned is to deny
the intimacy of your surroundings. Surely,
even you, at times, have felt the grand array;
the swelling presence, and the chorus, crowding
out your solo voice You must note
the way the soap dish enables you,
or the window latch grants you freedom.
Alertness is the hidden discipline of familiarity.
The stairs are your mentor of things
to come, the doors have always been there
to frighten you and invite you,
and the tiny speaker in the phone
is your dream-ladder to divinity.

Put down the weight of your aloneness and ease into
the conversation. The kettle is singing
even as it pours you a drink, the cooking pots
have left their arrogant aloofness and
seen the good in you at last. All the birds
and creatures of the world are unutterably
themselves. Everything is waiting for you.


-- David Whyte from Everything is Waiting for You ©2003 Many Rivers Press

Clearness Committee

From Parker Palmer (Courage and Renewal)...

I want to describe a method invented by the Quakers, a method that protects individual identity and integrity while drawing on the wisdom of other people. It is called a "Clearness Committee." If that name sounds like it is from the sixties, it is—the 1660's! From their beginnings over three hundred years ago, Quakers needed a way to draw on both inner and communal resources to deal with personal problems because they had no clerical leaders to "solve" their problems for them. The Clearness Committee is testimony to the fact that there are no external authorities on life's deepest issues, not clergy or therapists or scholars; there is only the authority that lies within each of us waiting to be heard.

I'm doing a little reading about this process today, as I am participating in a clearness committee tomorrow. I was involved in one earlier in my life, at the NE Courage to Teach program, but this one holds more value for me, and is truly a Quaker process.

I reflect on how we so often need need a special process to remind us to get out of our own way, get out of everyone else's way, and let solutions and peace come to light. How contrary to the "debate and win" methodology I find myself in. And often, even "winning" an argument, "convincing" someone else how to "fix" a problem does not work long term.

Finding safe space to rest on a long journey!

In Tough Times, the Humanities Must Justify Their Worth

From The NY Times

One idea that elite universities like Yale, sprawling public systems like Wisconsin and smaller private colleges like Lewis and Clark have shared for generations is that a traditional liberal arts education is, by definition, not intended to prepare students for a specific vocation. Rather, the critical thinking, civic and historical knowledge and ethical reasoning that the humanities develop have a different purpose: They are prerequisites for personal growth and participation in a free democracy, regardless of career choice.........

Derek Bok, a former president of Harvard and the author of several books on higher education, argues, “The humanities has a lot to contribute to the preparation of students for their vocational lives.” He said he was referring not only to writing and analytical skills but also to the type of ethical issues raised by new technology like stem-cell research. But he added: “There’s a lot more to a liberal education than improving the economy. I think that is one of the worst mistakes that policy makers often make — not being able to see beyond that.”




There used to be a trend, still around, that we could "justify" arts in the public schools by saying "studying music will make you better at math", etc. I used it myself to get funding and promote "interdisciplinary education" and the like. I'm wary of doing that now, for the same reasons that Derek Bok implies. When do I get to say "study math - it'll make you a better musician?"

The arts will help us to improve the economy in the "adult" world just like the arts will improve the academic performance of kids. More importantly, long term, maybe the arts will just teach us how to be HUMAN - in the highest idealistic sense of the word. And maybe a little more of that will get us out of our current cultural messes. I certainly hope so!

Biblical Travels and Humor

My Jesus Year - Benyamin Cohen

Cohen, who is the son of a rabbi, travels far and wide in a year of exploring Christian faiths. His humor is entertaining, his information interesting.

The Year of Living Biblically - A J Jacobs

AJ (who read the Encyclopedia Britannica for his last work) tries to live according to biblical command. A personal look into the paradoxes of the Bible, and its traditions. Made me laugh out loud. Crazy situations, a great read that was fast-paced and fun.

These two books happened to come into the library at the same time. But it ws good to read them together, and compare and contrast.

An International Street

For those of you who are REALLY interested in Sesame Street....

The World According to Sesame Street is out of print, but available in many libraries - a terrific overview of The Children's Television Workshop, and Sesame Street abroad. Sesame Street is seen in many countries, and they try to tailor their show to address the cultural needs and interests of the country in which it is shown. A fascinating look at a non-violent show, in some areas where children already know much violence at a young age.

Our favorite episodes of Shalom Sesame are in Vol. 1 - we enjoy "barbazoni" (rubber duckie) in Hebrew! Also hosted by Itzhack Perlman.

Sesame Street Unpaved

My favorite book about Sesame Street. Interesting trivia, great pictures. Out of print (1999) but still at many local libraries!

Street Gang: The Complete History of Sesame Street

by Michael Davis

As most of you know, I am a Sesame Street NUT. This book was rather complicated, with much information, but for a true fan it was all interesting. We have much to be thankful for in the Children's Television Workshop. How nice it has been to revisit this programming with my daughter. Skim the details, but read the book!

I See You Everywhere

by Julia Glass

I picked this novel up becuase of its complex family relationships. It was above average - satrted off very well, but I found I did not care about the lives of the main characters (2 sisters) very much as I worked through the text. Perhaps a good beach book - if only it was beach weather!

The Credit Crunch Explained

The Crisis of Credit Visualized from Jonathan Jarvis on Vimeo.

Why Facebook is For Old Fogies

from TIME magazine..

1. Facebook is about finding people you've lost track of.

2. We're no longer bitter about high school.

3. We never get drunk at parties and get photographed holding beer bottles in suggestive positions.

4. Facebook isn't just a social network; it's a business network.

5. We're lazy. We have jobs and children and houses and substance-abuse problems to deal with. At our age, we don't want to do anything. What we want is to hear about other people doing things and then judge them for it.

6. We're old enough that pictures from grade school or summer camp look nothing like us. These days, the only way to identify us is with Facebook tags.

7. We have children. There is very little that old people enjoy more than forcing others to pay attention to pictures of their children. Facebook is the most efficient engine ever devised for this.

8. We're too old to remember e-mail addresses. You have to understand: we have spent decades drinking diet soda out of aluminum cans. That stuff catches up with you. We can't remember friends' e-mail addresses. We can barely remember their names.

9. We don't understand Twitter. Literally. It makes no sense to us.

10. We're not cool, and we don't care. There was a time when it was cool to be on Facebook. That time has passed. Facebook now has 150 million members, and its fastest-growing demographic is 30 and up. At this point, it's way cooler not to be on Facebook. We've ruined it for good, just like we ruined Twilight and skateboarding. So git! And while you're at it, you damn kids better get off our lawn too.

Humor of the day

Ben & Jerry created "Yes Pecan!" ice cream flavor for Obama. They
then asked people to fill in the blank to the following:
For George W. Bush, we should create "_________".
Here are some of their favorite responses:
1. Grape Depression
2. Abu Grape
3. Cluster Fudge
4. Nut'n Accomplished
5. Iraqi Road
6. Chock 'n Awe
7. WireTapioca
8. Impeach Cobbler
9. Guantanmallow
10. imPeachmint
11. Good Riddance You Lousy M*f**ker... Swirl
12. Heck of a Job, Brownie!
13. Neocon Politan
14. RockyRoad to Fascism
15. The Reese's-cession
16. Cookie D'oh!
17.The Housing Crunch
18. Nougalar Proliferation
19. Death by Chocolate... and Torture
20. Credit Crunch
21. Country Pumpkin
22. Chunky Monkey in Chief
23. George Bush Doesn't Care About Dark Chocolate
24. WM Delicious
25. Chocolate Chimp
26. Bloody Sundae
27. Caramel Preemptive Stripe
28. I broke the law and am responsible for the deaths of
thousands...with nuts

Daughters of Light: Quaker Women Preaching and Prophesying in the Colonies and Abroad, 1700-1775

from Amazon: Daughters of Light by Rebecca Larson is a startling reassessment of the place of women in American colonial history. Larson's story of 18th-century Quaker women describes women's power in popular reform movements of that era, and explores Quaker women's redefinitions of marriage and motherhood. Colonial Quakers, like their contemporary descendants, believed that "the Holy Spirit had been planted in the hearts of all humans to inwardly teach them." Although Quakers had strict rules regarding women's dress, language, and behavior, Quaker women were never denied their claims of a direct connection to God. (Their Puritan sisters, by contrast, practiced a religion that idealized female submission in both the earthly and spiritual realms.) So when Quaker women believed they were called to preach--in meeting houses, courthouses, and private homes; to other Quakers, to Native Americans, and to ecumenical audiences; in the West Indies, England, Europe, and the American colonies--they were given the freedom to do so. All domestic duties were configured to account for divine demands. (The Spirit leading Quaker women, as one wrote, "was to me like a needle of a compass ... for so it pointed where I ought to go.")

Great contribution to women's history writing in general, and Quaker history as well. This book was very detailed, but very interesting. I feel proud of the Quaker's equality after reading this book!

Choices

"if i can't do
what i want to do
then my job is to not
do what i don't want
to do


"it's not the same thing
but it's the best i can
do

"if i can't have
what i want then
my job is to want
what i've got
and be satisfied
that at least there
is something more
to want

"since i can't go
where i need
to go then i must go
where the signs point
though always understanding
parallel movement
isn't lateral

"when i can't express
what i really feel
i practice feeling
what i can express
and none of it is equal
i know
but that's why mankind
alone among the animals
learns to cry"

-Nikki Giovanni

This is from a great interview with Bil Moyers - transcript/video here.

PINK. cuz women dig PINK.

from Amazon: "I have the paperback version. This is a very nice one year devotional Bible for women. It is very portable yet still easy on the eyes. Also, the print is in pink which is somewhat unique for any Bible which makes the reading more fun. NIV readers may be disappointed as this is the NLT version though I personally enjoy both. It also contains the common "verse finder" typical of most one year Bibles. Keep in mind this is not a study Bible, and therefore, does not explain the difficult verses. This is purely a one-year devotional Bible geared specifically for women. Enjoy! "

Oh my. I am not sure if "specifically geared towards women" means merely PINK, or something else. You know I am dying to get a look at this.

I was searching in regards to a conversation at meeting, on how the bible is so inaccessible and confusing to so many people. Myself included, although I have had the advantage of a GREAT "bible as lit." class at UMASS.

Museum of African Art - Portland

We're hoping to get here in the next few weeks. I met a fascinating man last week - Oscar Mokeme, a Nigerian priest. He presented his masks and his culture at the Newburyport Public library, as a CHIME presentation. He is a very spiritual man, he had a gentle way about him that happened to calm me greatly after a week of great consternation and fear.

He offered blessings to us all, but perhaps just his presence alone was enough for me that evening. I hope we can soon get to his museum, and see the masks and him again!

Uncertainty

“We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts we make the world.” The Dhammapada

Week 3: What is the image of my anger?
Week 2: What are the dead things I carry?
Week 1: Why and how do I embrace uncertainty?

LOL I do NOT embrace uncertainty. EVER. And perhaps a little step in that direction might be healthy for me. Uncertainty is often a precursor to change. Great change. Necessary change.

How many times in my life have I tried to "fix" everything, only to find the "fixed" thing was still not a path I should have ever been on in the first place?

"Does this path have heart?" - Casteneda.

Not sure yet of the details. Uncertainty. Indeed.

Six Minutes Against Torture

Brought to you by the New York Yearly Meeting of Quakers. Somehow I find this much more powerful when read in the voices of the yearly meeting members.

A Sign of The Times

The woman traveler stops by the security checkpoint. After placing her luggage on the screening machine, the airport employee checks her baggage. The traveler hands her spare change and watch to the security guard and proceeds through the metal detector. With no time to spare, she picks up her luggage and hurries to board her flight!

music lessons

It was time for a revisit to Sarah Vowell today.

How music touches us all!

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/favorites.aspx

Scroll down to "music lessons" - Sarah is about 21:00 minutes into the hour.