June 12, 2024, Bellemont- Heat came to call today; “only”87 F, but for any sort of outside activity, the Arizona (and, increasingly, global) sunshine merits caution and respect. Nonetheless, a group of young people worked hard, this afternoon, on renovating a sorely neglected Prayer Circle.
A separate matter, regarding the education of young adults, has arisen. Even the most loving and dedicated of educators, including, for a time in the late 1970s into the ’90s, yours truly, have bought into the myth that “tough love” is what young people need most. Corporal punishment was once a part of that, though I myself never stooped to that level. Cooler heads, in U.S., Canadian and European schools have prevailed-and gradually, educators in developing nations are seeing the folly of sanctioned bullying. Our issues are more a matter of the manner of speech directed at one’s charges. I have effectively used humour and insight education, in getting co-operation from the kids, this week. The program director is likewise pursuing gentle persuasion, in enforcing the rules. The other tutors, some educated in harsher programs themselves, are taking note, and modifying their own approach.
This generation is more proactive and more worldly, than we and our succeeding two generations were, as teens. The impulsive behaviour surfaces, every so often, but the youth are more amenable to subtle hints and succinct requests than many of us were.
June 11, 2024, Bellemont- An old friend pulled in, this evening, just after sunset. Looking about the place, L remarked on the serenity that still pervades the camp, even with the many changes since she was here last.
The old French proverb, “The more things change, the more they stay the same”, applies as much here as anywhere. Buildings can be built, but eventually, plumbing starts leaking, tree roots need to be clipped away from foundations and piping, and roofs always need to be replaced-among other things. We, as a society, are ever striving to strike a balance between progressively including marginalized groups in community life and preserving the moral code of conduct that has sustained our society. It seems there should be no conflict between the two-and yet……..
The kids went on a stargazing walk, this evening, after a warm day of study and group sport. They came back with a renewed awe for the vastness of the Universe. It is events like this that give credence to the very idea of a Faith that stresses the Presence that has made us all. I remember that, when pondering the still-pending transition of the most powerful woman I have ever known and the ongoing process of this country’s standing at a crossroads.
The camp is now past its halfway mark and will have a strong impact on its participants, including me-the humble manager.
The fire concerned all of us, starting as it did, two days before camp. I kept an eye on things, getting updates from the U.S. Forest Service, the Arizona National Guard and a retired Air Force major, who is the area’s State Senator. The fire, called Bravo, was south of Camp Navajo, a military training site. That brought military firefighting units, including slurry planes, to bear on the fire suppression.
The crews won their battle and, by noon, the blaze was mostly contained. Our camp could proceed. I stopped and celebrated this fortunate turn of events, with a fabulous, relaxing lunch at Mustang River Grill, off the beaten track, in Parks, a small forestry town, just west of Bellemont. I had intended to get a modest meal at a small market, north of the Texaco, but there was Mustang, a fairly new place, and well worth a try. Kimberly, a Nevada transplant, takes great care of all patrons and the lunch portions are well-prepared and just the right size.
That is probably the last meal I’ll be buying, this camp, as our three squares are part of the camp experience, and I haven’t had a bad meal as Bellemont camp manager, yet. The campers and their chaperones/tutors arrived right on time and we got the orientation out of the way, followed by an excellent spaghetti & meatballs dinner. The kids went through ice-breaker activities, after the meal, and now they lay them down down to sleep. Think I will do the same.
June 5, 2024- I read, a few days ago, about the “green glacier”-a euphemism for the growth and spread of junipers, also called red cedars, across a wide swath of tall-and-short-grass prairie, from north Texas to North Dakota. Trees are also spreading in the Canadian prairies, but more by design, and with less adverse effect.
Adverse effect? On the environment? From tree planting? Well, it seems that too many trees, in an area that is historically steppe, can serve to do things like darken the ground and make it hard for CO2 to escape back into the atmosphere. Too many trees can, in the view of some environmentalists, actually exacerbate global warming in the Plains states. My own view is that we hardly need to replace tall and short grasslands with forests, but that some forests are a good addition to the Prairie. I have hiked in small forests, in the Dallas area, when visiting my little family. On a torrid July day, being in the woods is never half bad-with proper bug repellent keeping insects and arachnids at bay and sunscreen/headgear on, for good measure, just as I would do anywhere else. I have, likewise, enjoyed outings all up and down the Great Plains, in forested areas.
Heat is here, at Home Base I-with June usually being the hottest, driest month of the year-closely followed by the post-monsoon portion of September. June Gloom doesn’t exist, this far inland, but we do share September Swelter with southern California. The high summer months are actually tempered, somewhat, by monsoon rains-at least here in the Central Highlands and in the mountains north and east of here.
I am fine, though, with ceiling fans, a window box A/C, plenty of water and an Amish drying rack for my clean clothes, freshly washed in cold water. Stay cool, calm and collected, wherever you are-and may humanity keep getting a handle on global warming.
June 4, 2024- There was a fair amount of activity in downtown Winslow, as I approached my favourite spot there: Relic Road, which is also called Sipp Shoppe. The place is another of those that just has a relaxed and welcoming vibe, so being time for lunch, I stopped in for a bit-and was revived, somewhat, for the drive down mountain to Camp Verde and on back here to Home Base I. Of course, I pulled over, about ten miles shy of Happy Jack and took a power nap, but between the two, lunch and rest did the trick. Journey # 1 of 2024 is a wrap.
A day or so ago, I got a text from one of the other volunteers at Solid Rock soup kitchen, asking if I would be there that night. I was still in northwest Texas, at that point in time, and so, just fed him my schedule and the next time I would be on the serving line. June is Arizona-centric, but somehow not a whole less busy. Tomorrow, I head downtown and join another Baha’i to meet with our Congressman’s staff, regarding the situation of the Baha’is in Iran, who as readers know, are being actively persecuted by some in positions of power in that country.
Friday starts 8 days at Bellemont, a Baha’i facility west of Flagstaff, where I will oversee the camp operations for a gathering of Youth (ages 16-20). This will be the largest event I have run, since the Red Cross shelter in Watsonville, a year ago in April. As was the case then, a wonderful, competent team is in place, so all issues that arise will be ably handled.
There are other activities this month, and for some reason, they all fall on Saturdays. My presence at Farmers Market’s breakdown, therefore, will be negligible, until August. That raises the issue of inconvenience. What is a chance to be useful to one person or group takes away from others. Solutions? There are a few-and I started with gentling reminding myself that there are 80,000 + people in this mini-Metro. Any presumption that an event will fail because I am not there is an ego trip that is best nipped in the bud. My friends know my heart, and will be able to carry on just fine when life takes me elsewhere.
We are not here to be creatures of convenience to others, but only are here to do the best we can, when and where we can be there. The flip side, of course, is to not be in the way-as I assured someone I love especially dearly, this evening, regarding time I will spend in and around her area, in the Fall. Life is an unending series of carefully choreographed dances, unending focuses of attention, that require careful judgment, as to when to engage and when to stand back. As my mother taught us, “It’s not about ME”.
Albert Camus, in his essay on the myth of Sisyphus, makes the summation: “What counts is not the best living, but the most living.” I would go one further step: What counts is the most of the best; the latter meaning Offering one’s own best, in the most situations.
June 3, 2024. Moriarty- The world is not so much finite, as it is a place of temporary systems. Each system has its unlimited aspects, each can only hold so much, at any given time. A stomach can only hold so much food; a cerebrum can only focus on so many thoughts, at any given time; a bladder can only hold so much fluid; a bank or credit union can only hold so many accounts; a border station can only process so many visitors, properly, on any given day-and so on.
Eventually, any given lack can be replenished. Any given problem, no matter how novel, can be solved. So it is, that I focus my energies on meeting some expenses as they occur, paying others in advance and making provisions for the maintenance and replenishment of my savings, however much they may be temporarily be needed in the interim. So it is, that I schedule time at Home Base I, no matter that I might be called away again-as is the case this weekend and next week, as well as in the second half of July-and in the Fall. So it is that time is set aside for health-related check-ups, and regular cycles of exercise, diet and rest, as a means of avoiding serious illnesses down the road.
Today was a long drive-from Grapevine (Home Base II) across a vast swath of northwest Texas and eastern New Mexico, to this favoured way station, roughly 30 minutes east of Albuquerque. I did not stop to visit friends along the way, because it is a workday and because I need to focus on choreographing the rest of my week rather tightly. A surprisingly nice lunch, at a Pilot Travel Center, in Rhome, TX and a few stops for refueling along the way, made the whole day flow. This coming Wednesday until Friday of next week is a busy time, mostly for faith-based activities. “To whom much is given, much is expected.”
June 2, 2024, Grapevine- Two things constituted my contribution to the weekend here: I took the kids out for brunch this morning and I washed the dinner dishes, this evening. I also won the Scrabble game, which just goes to show that unwinding does not mean unraveling.
I tend to jump into life with both feet, which sometimes has gotten me into some boiling water. All the same, I have learned to modify the shower or occasional bath, by carefully adjusting the faucet to a temperature that won’t leave me looking like a lobster afterward. I also have learned to be efficient at showering, so little or no water gets wasted. The same is true of any endeavour. “Waste not, want not” is sage advice, not only for eating and bathing, but also for speaking-and by extension, writing.
It is important, though, to neither be parsimonious with love, while at the same time remaining transparent about the nature of that love. One can only feel romantic love towards one person at a time. All others may be loved fraternally, parentally, or platonically. That was how it was for me when Penny was alive and that’s how it is for me now. I am grateful for every friend who is in my life, and will do what I can to help anyone who makes a respectful and reasonable request. I have a duty to self, to my beloved, and to family to use my resources wisely, so time, energy and money will be stewarded accordingly.
Tomorrow begins the “homestretch” of this current journey, leading straight into a well-organized, and hopefully fruitful, six weeks of service in and around Home Base I, plus Bellemont Baha’i School-barring any family emergency. The year so far has been one of effervescence, resilience and problem-solving. I aim to continue along those lines.
June 1, 2024, Grapevine- The new apartment, Home Base II, is a tad smaller, kitchen and living room-wise, than its predecessor, but my little family is happier-which is all that counts. I am as comfortable here as I was on the other side of Grapevine Mills- a testament to the serenity that Aram and Yunhee have with one another. True to form, we dined in nicely, for all three meals and I joined them on a shopping journey, this evening. Sushi was for dinner and a Korean comedy followed, starring the actor Don Lee (Lee Dong-seok), a bilingual actor who is well-known in both South Korea and Los Angeles, for playing tough guys with hearts of gold. This one had Don as a would-be arm wrestling champion, who has to face down small time mobsters-a piece of cake, this being a comedy.
June has ever been a month of transition for me: It was the month when I got married, went on pilgrimage to the Baha’i Holy Places in Israel, both 42 years ago. It was in June, that my father passed, 38 years ago. I graduated high school this month, 56 years ago, and joined the U.S. Army, a year later. So, June has become my time for taking stock and making whatever adjustments that may need to be made, in life and lifestyle.
In a few days, I will be back in Prescott, Home Base I. There are already appointments and commitments set for several days this month, most intensely the management of a youth camp, in Bellemont, for eight days, starting next Friday. A visit to our Congressman’s office awaits, followed by a visit to my chiropractor- though not because of what might happen that morning. Our Red Cross meeting comes a day later, and I will serve as Blood Ambassador, on June 20, then help with a Slow Food event on June 22.
In the background, though, is a family situation that may trump all of the above. We just take the matter one day at a time. It is the Hands of the Almighty now. Life in the wider world will always go on, regardless of what we face as individuals, or as families.
Perhaps the biggest change, long-term, is in how I am called to serve humanity. I have spent much time on the road, these past thirteen years, feeling that my time was best spent in one place or another. There remain, this year, a road trip to British Columbia, via the Pacific Northwest, and visits with friends, one in particular, and service activities in the Philippines. East Africa had been on the itinerary, until security concerns (relative to a transit stop in west Asia) prompted the airline to scrub the flight.
Extensive solo travel, and solo life, may well be coming to an end, with the above journeys. That’s all I feel it prudent to say for now, but I feel a change in the wind. One day at a time, dear Lord, one day at a time.
May 31, 2024, Grapevine- The hardened but mannerly farmer must have already been on the job for several hours, and he was ready for a true farmhand’s breakfast. We introduced ourselves, we shook hands, and he groused about the previous day’s event in New York, as the footage droned on, on the small cafe’s TV. Then, we both focused on breakfast.
On this drizzly morning, I was pleasantly surprised to find a haven of charm, organization and good food, in the small cotton town of Ruleville, founded by J.W. Rule, in 1898, expressly as a cotton processing center. It was the home of Fannie Lou Hamer, who brought the Civil Rights struggle to the cotton farms.
A worker bee of a woman, named Winde, exuding grace, strength and a focused work ethic, runs Stop and Shop-Not Your Mama’s Tea– a long name for a boutique and cafe, but as fine a place to enjoy a full country breakfast as any of the full-on cafes I have experienced on this journey. Here, I found the South at its finest.
Winde’s breakfast stood by me all day, through western Mississippi, across Louisiana and the eastern third of Texas. My mission was simple: Get to my little family in this bustling airport town, by a decent dinner time. That, I did, stopping to deposit my month’s rent at a bank branch in east Texas, and alternately driving along a nearly empty highway, then finding people driving like bats out of the underbelly-each trying to outdo the other.
I got in to Grapevine, despite a few accidents that had traffic snarled more than usual, and a scrum that blocked access to the short route here. It was okay, though, to go the longer way around, as it actually deposited me closer to the apartment complex that lies a bit west of Grapevine Mills Mall.
So, this quieter day, with no focus on history or scenic spots, brought me to Son’s side, as he applied himself to a major portion of the work that will bring his baccalaureate study to a successful close. It will be an affirming weekend for the three of us- Aram, Yunhee (his wife) and me.
May 30, 2024, Ruleville, MS- There is a small mound, in the Shiloh Indian Mounds National Historical Landmark, that indicates the former dwelling place of a family of some status, in the vibrant community that once occupied a large area here, just west of the Tennessee River. On either side of the small mound is a larger mound, used for burials. The westernmost of these was used by the 28th Illinois Infantry Division, as a temporary burial site for its dead, after the Battle of Shiloh, in April,1862. The dead men were later laid to rest at Shiloh National Cemetery.
Shiloh,in Hebrew, means “tranquil; abundance”. The place bearing the name, in southwest Tennessee, was once that. In March and April, 1862, that all changed. The Civil War had come to western Tennessee and northern Mississippi. General Ulysses S. Grant had brought his troops int o the area, after a signal victory at Fort Donelson, north of Nashville, Facing them was the Confederate Army of the Mississippi, led by General Albert Sidney Johnston, based in Corinth, a major railroad hub and link between Memphis, Nashville and New Orleans. It was Corinth that was Grant’s true target. 23,000 men would die, in the course of this battle, making it the bloodiest episode in the American Civil War. https://npplan.com/parks-by-state/tennessee/shiloh-national-military-park-park-at-a-glance/shiloh-national-military-park-history-of-the-battle-of-shiloh-and-corinth/
Shiloh, prior to the battle, was a humble village of farmers, who had settled the area around 1816, having come by river, from Knoxville and Nashville. Farmers from Savannah, Georgia named the nearby County Seat for their former place of residence. Shiloh was named after a settlement in Samaria that had been referenced in the Bible (Jeremiah, 7:12-15.)
I have long wanted to visit this site, being dissuaded only by its remoteness and other more pressing concerns, when traveling to/from other parts of Tennessee. Today, there was lots of time, so I made three separate loops around the park, focusing somewhat on Pittsburg Landing and on the Shiloh Mounds. Here are some scenes of those loops, as well as of the short trail through the Mounds preserve.
Iowa Infantry Memorial, Shiloh National Military Park
Graves of comrades from Illinois, Shiloh National Cemetery, overlooking the Tennessee River, above Pittsburg Landing
View of Tennessee River, at Pittsburg Landing.
Site of wooden palisade, built by Iroquoian residents of Shiloh area, around 1200 A.D./C.E. It is not known why this wooden wall was built.
Burial Mound, Shiloh
Replica of Shiloh Meeting House (Church), which had served as General Johnston’s headquarters during the first parts of the battle
I left, rather shaken, especially after viewing the film about the carnage, Given current tensions in the nation, right now, it is instructive for anyone with a conscience to take time and review what happened, when the idea of enslavement of others became somehow conflated with the notion of preserving freedom. Nationhood is NOT a zero sum game.
Driving south and west, I made a brief visit to Sumner, MS, where the courthouse at which the accused killers of 14-year-ole Emmett Till were acquitted of murder charges. They later admitted having committed the crime. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emmett_Till
Tallahatchee County Courthouse, where Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam were acquitted of the murder, to which they later confessed.
I had had enough of carnage and injustice, for one day, and have settled in for the night at Ruleville Inn, in the hometown of Civil Rights icon Fannie Lou Hamer. It’s a modest, but clean little place- albeit one where guests provide their own towels and wash cloths. The bed is new, though, and the TV works nicely.
A Sagittarian Seeker 