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    • Apr

    12

    24 hours in Nebraska

    Filed Under events, uu culture, uuism, workshops | 2 Comments

    I flew into Omaha yesterday to co-lead three anti-racism workshops at Prairie Star District’s Annual Meeting. People here have been extraordinarily nice. Sherry Warren, the district’s Youth and Young Adult Specialist, was a wonderful hostess. After picking us up from the airport, she took me and my Groundwork co-trainer, Braeden, to a steakhouse, where we all ate delicious Omaha Ribeyes with Wisconsin (?) cheddar mashed potatoes. Oh, gosh, that was so good. I hadn’t eaten a bona fide steak in a while. Sherry was excited that we were meat-eaters. Braeden ate every bite of his steak. They were big.

    Okay, enough food chatter. Approximately 55-60 people went through our workshops, and the best word I can use to describe our reception is gracious. I’ve heard that Southerners are known for the hospitality, but I’ve found Midwesterners to be tops, so far. Just so earnest, and friendly. The people in our workshops thanked us profusely for being there, and were so engaged and - gasp - they filled out their evaluation forms! Amazing. 

    Last year, the Prairie Star District commissioned a team (now called GRACE: Growing Racial And Cultural Equity) to look at implementing specifically anti-racist policies and practices within the district. GRACE is the group that sponsored the workshops I co-led. I met Cheryll Wallace and Nathan Woodruff, who are on the GRACE team. I really enjoyed meeting and talking with them. Cheryll’s son and daughter-in-law attended one of the workshops along with her, and were active participants. The Saturday morning speaker, Rev. Meg Riley, weaved issues of race and racial history into her sermon/lecture about faith, family, and knowledge of self. What a great environment to come into!

    After four plus years of doing Groundwork programming, this is my favorite yet. Even though it’s cold, dreary, and snowing here, my impression of Omaha, Nebraska, and the Midwest is very bright. 

    Popularity: 62% [?]

    Oct

    25

    Where I’m At

    Filed Under being creative, events, inspiration, love, people, sadness | 5 Comments

    Right now I’m in New York; after talking with my mom yesterday morning it became apparent that I needed to come out and be with her. Her dad is dying, and now his wife of 40 years is in the hospital, possibly in the advanced stages of cancer.

    So I flew out yesterday afternoon and arrived early this morning. Visited my step grandmother and my granddad at their respective hospitals, talked with doctors about DNRs, DNIs, life support, feeding tubes, hospice care, etc.

    When we returned to my grandfather’s house this evening, my mom took me to the basement, to show me where the washer is. (I’d spilled gasoline on myself while pumping gas in Manhasset.) I found a bunch of my granddad’s manuscripts - novels and short stories he’d written 40 and 50 years ago.

    I’d planned to do some reading in preparation for the Real Wealth of Portland event I’m flying back to moderate this Friday night, but instead I read a bunch of his short stories. These were his thoughts - the things he felt were important. These were, as the poet William Stafford put it, “the evidence.”

    It’s with no small measure of pride that I say my grandfather was a writer. He was persistent, observant, informed, and writing, writing, writing. I’m inspired.

    I feel sleepy now, so I’ll just end by saying that I’m glad I came. My mom has no siblings and has been bearing a lot on her own. Emotionally and practically, it’s just a lot to deal with, and even though I don’t feel particularly helpful, she says me just being here takes a big weight off her shoulders.

    I am definitely going to have to come back soon. Maybe as soon as Saturday.

    Popularity: 27% [?]

    Sep

    26

    Riane Eisler Comes to Portland - Real Wealth of Nations

    Filed Under books, capitalism, class, events, heteropatriarchy, local, people, workshops | Leave a Comment

    I agreed to serve as moderator at Riane Eisler’s presentation on her book, The Real Wealth of Nations: Creating a Caring Economics. Dr. Eisler is best known for writing The Chalice and the Blade, and having been an influence on David Korten, author of The Great Turning: From Empire to Earth Community.

    Dr. Eisler’s talk will be followed by a panel discussion featuring four Portlanders who are working in areas related to children, sustainability, food, and local currency. We’ll be looking at how to create and support a “sharing and caring” economy in which meaningful work, families, health, and the environment are priorities - not afterthoughts.

    The event will be held at First Unitarian Church (SW 12th and Main) in downtown Portland at 7pm on Friday, October 26, 2007. Co-sponsors include KBOO community radio. Tickets will be sliding scale, $5-$20 - but no one will be turned away due to lack of funds. Seating is limited (to about 600), so purchase your ticket today!

    Click below for a link to pay using PayPal, your debit/credit card or checking account.

    A little background information: Real Wealth of Portland was organized by several local women, namely Marcia Meyers and Pat Osborn, who both attend First Unitarian Church. They started a small group, which expanded to include me (Hafidha), Andrea Drury, Celeste Howard, Kimberly Ford, and Judy Bennett. The group has been meeting weekly since the first week of August to strategize ways to organize book groups, and foment a caring and sharing revolution in Portland. Marcia’s been indispensable; she has helped to coordinate bringing both Dr. Korten and Dr. Eisler to General Assembly in the past.

    For more information, questions or comments, please visit realwealthpdx.com or email realwealthpdx@adrury.com

    Click here to buy tickets!


    Popularity: 39% [?]

    Jul

    30

    Riding in the Burbs, Baseball, Books and Fear

    Filed Under being creative, books, events, friends, local, plans, poetry, small happinesses | Leave a Comment

    In about twenty minutes I’ll be headed out for a bike ride through my suburban neighborhood. One of the many nice things about living here: lots of bike lanes and very wide streets.

    Maybe I’m not so much the city girl I Card I just purchased from Mama - Picture Thisbelieved myself to be. I thought I’d always be a city-dweller; now I’m not so sure. A house in the country or a small college town sounds nice. Maybe my motto should be rephrased to “never say always.”

    It’s easy to turn one’s nose up at the suburbs, despite the fact that so many people live in them. I live in a cookie cutter house! Chain stores and mega churches full of white people abound in this area. And yet, we are all still people. You have to make the extra effort to find folks and be with them. In the city, you can live on the perimeter, observing and never really getting to know anyone - but feeling as though you’re a part of something bigger. In the suburbs, if you live anonymously, you can’t delude yourself.

    When I get back from the bike ride, Michael and I will head up to Seattle with his family for a Mariners game. His parents are big fans. We’ll cheer for Ichiro! And who knows who else. I have no idea who plays for the Mariners. Until very recently I thought Dan Marino played for them once, until a friend corrected. It was the Dolphins, and I think it wasn’t even baseball.

    Later this week I’m attending a meeting to coordinate reading clubs for Riane Eisler’s latest book, The Real Wealth of Nations. I’m reading Eisler’s most famous book, The Chalice and the Blade, right now - along with the others from my women’s group (which is motivated by concepts of David Korten’s The Great Turning). Eisler will be in Portland speaking at First Unitarian Church in late October, and this meeting is a precursor to that.

    I have a new client I’ll be meeting on Saturday. She’s a teenager and not only am I excited to work with her, but apparently she and her mom are into riding. The stables they take lessons at aren’t far from my house, so I want to find out more. Maybe horseback riding is something I can do before the weather turns blech.

    There’s a poetry workshop happening at the library, and then dinner at a friend’s, and then a birthday breakfast for another friend, and an orientation to do field production at the local community access channel (I’m certified in Portland, but now live ten minutes away in another county). Next week I’m going to an open mic poetry event. I’m terrified. Never mind having to read in front of other people; I have to write a poem first.

    (Photo is of gift card I just bought from one of the UU ladies in my women’s group; she converts her beautiful original photos into cards and sells them online. Visit her site at mamapicturethis.blogspot.com - also in my sidebar.)

    Popularity: 27% [?]

    Jul

    26

    Pain, and Foul Language in Colorado

    Filed Under away from home, being creative, events, health, photos | 2 Comments

    HS & the DH at Keystone Resort, workingI arrived at Keystone Resort yesterday with mixed feelings. On the one hand, it was an opportunity to be in a beautiful place with my sweetie and other nice people; on the other, it was forcing me out of my comfort cave of introversion, a place I’d somberly retreated to after General Assembly and the US Social Forum. This convention will be much smaller - 400 f

    olks instead of thousand - so perhaps it won’t be such a drain on me.

    Yesterday we didn’t do much. Just settled in, picked up some groceries (we’re renting a comfortable condo), and somehow ended up watching The Kill Point and a really good episode of CSI in which Grissom went head to head with his former forensics mentor.

    While flipping channels I thought I heard the “s” word - okay, shit - in a movie that was playing on AMC. I dismissed it, thinking, “It must be one of those garbled attempts at replacing a cuss word with something corny.” Then, while watching The Kill Point I was shocked to hear the “s” word twice. It took a moment to register and then I exclaimed to the DH, “What the hell is going on!?” I thought for sure that the censors had fallen asleep, and someone was going to lose their job! But no, the DH informed me that one can now say shit on cable channels after a certain night time hour.

    He said, “Don’t you remember that South Park episode called “Night of a Thousand Shits” where they tried to say shit as many times as possible?”

    I’d heard vague things about that, but somehow interpreted it as some kind of special deal the Comedy Channel had finagled, kind of like how Spielberg persuaded a broadcast network to air Schindler’s List without commercial breaks.

    Man, I felt old. I remember when you couldn’t say bitch on tv. Or ass. I felt strangely nostalgic for the days before one could say shit on cable tv.

    But I felt older still when my legs started hurting. The throbbing pain went from my lower back to my hips, and down my thighs to my knees. The DH massaged my legs but the relief this gave me was woefully temporary. Eventually, I went to sleep, but woke up at 4 in the morning in so much discomfort that I cried. I’m not sure what’s going on. I looked up the symptoms and it looks like I might be having sciatica. We’ll figure this out when I get home, I guess. Not looking forward to that process. My faith in doctors being able to tell me what is actually happening with my body is somewhere between zero and forget-it-about.

    Still, after this I’m off for a walk/jog around the resort and take more photos. Lying around won’t make me feel any better!

    Update: It looks like the leg pain might have been due to altitude. Keeping fingers crossed it doesn’t come back.

    Popularity: 23% [?]

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