Category Archives: Community

Observations on A Mid-April Morning

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Posted by on in children, collaborating, Community, Education, Family, impediments, Inspiration, Matters of Faith, Personal Values, Spiritual

April 19, 2018, Prescott-

I appreciate the attention so many have paid to my reblog of the post on Bleach Enemas.  In what dimension anyone could think such a procedure is anywhere near good, I don’t know.  My blessed mother fought tooth and nail for our well-being, and would have clobbered anyone who even dared hint at something of this nature.  Dad loved us dearly, and would have had one thing to say to the suggestion of bleach enemas:  “Pig’s neck!” (His polite term for BS.)

Barbara Bush left a grand legacy of literacy promotion, continued by her daughter-in-law.  The gift of literacy is one key element, in the package of empowerment that loving people can offer to others.  Long may her legacy thrive!

Ridvan begins tomorrow evening, at sunset. It is the twelve day festival, commemorating Baha’u’llah’s Proclamation of His Mission to the world and His departure from Baghdad, towards Constantinople (Istanbul), on horseback and on foot, in April and May, 1863.  My Lord lived a life of exile, imprisonment and torture, yet, like unto Christ, never once turned His back on humanity.

Chalk-It-Up is Prescott’s annual art fair, at which a wide variety of chalk art is available for public view and on which viewers may vote.  I will be insanely busy on Saturday, but Sunday will find me taking in the wonders of human imagination, in that temporary gallery.

Arizona’s educators are winding up a vote, as to whether to walk out, or not.  I’ve cast my vote and will keep my own counsel on the matter.  My first loyalty, in any event, is to the students.

Speaking of whom, several students at our school will be out on the front lawn, in a 17-minute vigil, tomorrow morning, honouring the memory of the Parkland shooting victims.  They will then return to their studies.

Have a blessed day, my friends.

Lucky

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Posted by on in children, Community, Personal Values, Social, Spiritual

There are no words that can fully describe my disgust and anger at the way the filth of sexual violence is deepening, in too many parts of the world. That it is being defended at all is even more disdainful.

Megha's World's avatarMegha's World

This poem is fifth in the anthology of poems based on Social Evils.

Please read the previous ones here

  1. Rape is a severely under-reported crime with surveys showing dark figures of up to 91.6% going unreported.
  2. A United Nations statistical report compiled from government sources showed that more than 250,000 cases of rape or attempted rape were recorded by police annually. The reported data covered 65 countries.
  3. 1 out of every 6 American women has been the victim of an attempted or completed rape in her lifetime (14.8% completed, 2.8% attempted).
  4. Every 98 seconds another American is sexually assaulted.

I have seen how the definition of this heinous act has degraded over the years.Initially, just being raped was a taint to someone soul and body and now as the humanity degrades further and flushes the morals down the drain even more, just being alive after being raped is considered “lucky”. So where are we heading?

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Baked Carrots, etc.

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Posted by on in Community, Entertainment, Matters of Faith, Social, Spiritual

April 13, 2018, Chino Valley-

I attended a small gathering, this evening, in which one of the centerpiece dishes was baked carrots, wrapped in maple-glazed bacon.  The dish proved ornery, and two of us settled for loving crunchy carrots with fairly crisp bacon wrap.  I like my carrots raw, anyway, but these were delectable- organic and freshly-picked, from the taste of them.  Since the other centerpiece was quinoa spaghetti with pomodoro sauce, no one went without a satisfying meal.  This omnivore has had many wonderful repasts sans viande, and this was yet another.

On another note, I am now graced by the presence of 900 followers.  That the 900th is a dear new friend, makes this milestone that much sweeter.  I am keeping up with as many of your posts as my life, in toto, allows.  One benefit of being so far behind (14 days, in many cases) is that I am increasing my speed reading skills.

I’ll be off to lovely, vibrant Tempe, for a two-day Baha’i conference, and will post a bit of the desert, in its Spring glory, before returning to Home Base on Sunday evening.  Lovely weekend to all!

 

Beloveds

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Posted by on in collaborating, Community, Inspiration, Poetry, Striving

April 9, 2018, Prescott-

Your bright spirits

keep reminding me

of  when my beautiful classmates

and my loyal mates

would bounce in and out

of my consciousness.

That was fifty years ago

and the world just kept

on spinning.

You are inheriting

a world,

in which some

of us elders

will ignore you.

Even older Millennials

in positions of power,

turn a blind eye

and a deaf ear

to your entreaties.

They seek to be

what they think

their elders to be.

You, ladies,

be yourselves,

and take the full measure

of your strengths.

You, gentlemen,

share the limelight,

and see the women

beside you,

as equal allies.

I choose to believe

that you have

the wherewithal

to establish what

we who came before

did not.

Inured to your setbacks,

ready to throw off

the shackles,

you will see the sunlight.

I am close by

and still ready to help.

Unblocked

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Posted by on in Community, Personal Values, Social, Striving

April 8, 2018, Prescott-

I dreamed, last night, that two of my students were on a planet where people looked like us, but were not able to communicate verbally.  The boys watched people talking to them, and to one another, but noticed that there was no sound coming.   Photos were taken and sound waves were visible on the pictures,  looking almost like bubbles.

I wonder if this is how the students feel, sometimes, given their own speech difficulties.  We are usually able to determine what a student wants, based on body language, requests made in basic language or, in one case, apraxic compensation.

There is another takeaway from this dream.  People have been talking past one another, for nearly twenty years.  It’s almost as if they are afraid of “catching” a disease, just from hearing a contrary opinion, similar to the way some white folks would wash their hands after contact with a person of colour, or some Native Americans would shake their hands in the air, after a handshake with a white man.

Society is constipated, to put it indelicately.  How else can we be in a situation, where anyone can see racism as the reason behind  “Black Lives Matter” or fascism as the reason for expanded background checks for gun owners, or for denying a firearms purchase by someone who is known to be mentally ill?  How else can a woman be seen as the perpetrator of her own rape, or sexual abuse that stops short of rape?  How else can teenagers, on both sides of a debate, be viewed as mere pawns of the same adults who have punted the school safety can down the road, since 1990?

My students, in real life, are loved and well-understood, even with speech impediments or non-verbality.   Those around us, regardless of viewpoint, have the right to speak and be heard- as well as hopefully being understood.

Let’s start thinking outside the bubble.

Stand-up People

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Posted by on in collaborating, Community, Inspiration, Poetry, Striving

April 5, 2018, Prescott-

The question was raised,

yesterday,

Will we see the likes

of MLK,

of RFK,

ever again?

I say yes,

and in droves.

There are glimmerings

of such people

arising.

They have much to learn,

yes,

but they are learning fast,

and will learn more,

even faster.

It’s been written,

that people are

at their best,

in a crisis

and at their worst

in a run-up to crisis.

What makes now

different from then,

is that ears

and hearts are open,

to, as the tv announcer

of my youth said,

opposing points of view

from responsible spokesmen.

White noise and blather

need not apply.

This may, indeed,

be known to history

as a Generation

of Founders.

Are You Aboard?

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Posted by on in Community, Poetry, Striving

April 2, 2018, Prescott-

We are entering a Spring,

when our institutions

seem ready to let us down,

big time.

Are you aboard the train

of friendship?

Are you riding in the car

of community?

We, the people

stand a chance

of surviving anything

the powers that be

throw at us,

if we ride together,

if we stand together.

Are you aboard?

Flautist

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Posted by on in collaborating, Community, Inspiration, Social, Spiritual

March 25, 2018, Burntwater, AZ-

Kevin Locke is an accomplished flautist, a master of the flute.  He is also one of the Great Plains people who popularized the Hoop Dance, a Native American traditional dance which illustrates the oneness of Creation.  A complete, properly executed, Hoop Dance will produce a sphere, representing the Earth.  Kevin demonstrated this, in an afternoon presentation, after having taught several of us how to make and use a flute.

(Presently, I am unable to access my photo stock, due to a problem with File Explorer.  Please bear with me on this.)

Getting back to the flute:  There is a base, of either hardwood or plastic.   Six sound holes, and one air hole, are drilled into top of the flute base. A couple of sound pieces are fitted together, then placed inside the base, using a light dowel.  Then, an arrow-shaped fitting is tied to the top of the base, near the air hole.

Playing the flute requires a fair amount of dactyl dexterity (co-ordinated fingers), which is a challenge for someone like me, but I will practice a bit, as a means to produce a calming sound.  It will be a good stress reliever.

Finally, getting back to the Hoop Dance, Kevin invited several people to join in the dance.  I sat it out,as my right shoulder is being treated by a chiropractor, and I want to get this matter finished, before subjecting my faithful friend of 67 years to any more difficulty than necessary.  The recovery is coming along nicely, by the way.

We ended the afternoon with a Friendship Dance, in which everyone begins holding hands in a circle, then winds their way around in a spiral, eventually shaking hands with every other person in the circle.

It was a long day, and a long drive back to Prescott, but well-worth the visit with an old friend.

 

 

 

Rising

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Posted by on in children, collaborating, Community, distraction issues, Education, impediments, Inspiration, Personal Values, Social, Spiritual, Striving

March 26, 2018, Prescott-

I attended a gathering, yesterday, at the Native American Baha’i Institute, which is 4 1/2 hours’ drive from here.  The occasion was an intensive flute making and playing workshop, by a long-time flautist, who is a friend.  Kevin visited our home, years ago, when Penny, Aram and I lived on the Navajo Nation.  His work is always worth supporting.

I will have more to say about the flute, and about the event, in my next post.  Today, though, a brief word is in order about the rising of those who have been subservient.

In the mid-1990’s, my mother-in–law would insist on the Victorian dictum, regarding children maintaining silence.  She would later come to regret that stance, but at the time, it was her way of keeping our son and his girl cousin in check. I disagreed, vehemently then, and do now. Children should be seen, heard, believed- and properly educated and guided.

Women have largely been relegated to a subservient role, over the centuries- across the globe.  Thankfully, this nonsense started to unravel, as far back as 1965, though people like my mother have never been content to have their voices go unheard.  The presence of so many strong women in my life has made such a state of affairs seem totally absurd to me, forever and a day.

When I was a senior in high school, one of the seminal events was the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., fifty years ago, next week.  In my social studies and English classes, I would raise the issue of civil rights, to a largely deaf audience.  My school, at that time, had five African-American students.  I knew two of them, brothers, who were kept at home, the day after the senseless murder.  There were hoots and hollers, expressions of satisfaction, by young men who have long since overcome their prejudice, born, as all prejudices are, by ignorance and fear.  There were tears shed by more enlightened young women, who dared to date young Black men, from the next town over.  My hometown is a more open-minded place, nowadays, and people are increasingly, though not completely, expanding their circles of friends.

There is a new world, a better place, rising from various ash heaps.

Enough

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Posted by on in children, Community, Education, Personal Values, Social, Striving

March 24, 2018, Prescott-

Great minds think for themselves.

300 people marched in our town

of free-thinkers,

a conservative majority,

and a vocal liberal minority.

Today, the conservatives

liberals,

and folks like me,

who are neither,

walked together,

had mostly civil discussions,

and in the end,

conservatives, liberals

and none of the above

stood together,

in a minute of silence.

There is no one trying

to sell the odious

Victorian-era epithet,

“Children should be seen

and not heard.”

Children should be seen,

taught to think,

and heard.

When what they say

is truth;

when what they  do

is sensible,

they should be believed.

Then, they should be supported.

On the edges of the march route,

there were 3-6 armed civilians.

They were not there to intimidate.

They were there to watch out,

for any crazies.

Ditto for the police

who were present.

One lone man

carried a sign

saying “Abortion is murder.”

He’s largely correct,

but it is not

up to men,

to tell women

how to manage

their own bodies.

It is up to women

to exercise their

consciences.

This is, though,

a topic for another post.

For now,

I need to remain

clear headed.

I need to remain

available to support

these two generations

of children and youth,

who are taking

responsibility

for themselves.

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Yes, there was a Trump supporter standing with the kids on the Courthouse steps.  There is something about people not being killed, that appeals to each of us.