Tag Archives: Woodstock

Swarming

2
Posted by on in collaborating, Community, impediments, Personal Values, Social, Striving

February 21, 2022- The skeletal remains of Russian thistle, commonly called tumbleweed, were advancing across the road, north of Chino Valley, clogging the pavement, in one section, almost as if they had a consciousness of their own.

As I was on the “home stretch” of the drive back to Prescott, this afternoon, the keening wind that had been with me all along I-40, kicking up a few tumbleweeds here and there, was even more insistent in its transporting the thistle balls from west to east. I drove through the above-mentioned mass, which was fortunately only one layer thick and a few feet long, north to south.

It could easily have been worse, and as I type these words, in the comfort of Home Base, I think of those traveling the same roads, with much the same level of wind, in the darkness. There was also a huge dust storm along old Route 66, visible from the freeway. Wind can generate what feels like swarms of obstructive materials.

My thoughts are thus with those who are planning a coast-to-coast convoy of vehicles, headed from Los Angeles to Washington, and hoping to get the President’s attention, on the day of his State of The Union address. If they pull it off, how he handles the situation will be as vital to the short term future of this country as how he handles the reported impasse in eastern Europe. Nay, it will be more vital, in the immediate future. Swarms of protesters have created chaos in the recent past, going back to the “Occupy …” events of 2011, the social justice protests of 2017 and 2020, and most recently the Ottawa and border crossing blockades, which were largely funded by right-wing activists, while taking more than a few cues from the occupants of neighbourhoods in Portland and Seattle-and the Woodstock Festival of 1969.

There is a valid credo that says “We do not negotiate with terrorists”. Ordinary citizens, gathering to express opinions, however disruptive they may be to the short-term order, are not terrorists. Those engaged in mob violence are of a different class, though-i.e. the January 6th Capitol occupants (as opposed to those who heard Trump speak and then left). My only hope is that the group which makes it to Washington will choose the tack of peaceful protest. A swarm, especially if there is another forced entry into the Capitol, would turn the group into poster children for counterproductivity.

Let there be light.

In-Crowds and Outliers

7
Posted by on in Community, Personal goals, Personal Values, Social, Spiritual, Striving

November 9, 2017, Prescott-

For most of my life, I’ve not made much distinction between groups of people:  Neighbourhoods, social classes, occupations, educational levels, generations, nationalities.  None of those have kept me from interacting, wandering about, learning what I could from, and about, each and all.

This has led to a rich set of experiences- occasionally with the loneliness that comes from not being too close to any one group.  That aloneness has been altered, somewhat, since I entered the Baha’i Faith, with Penny’s encouragement, in early 1981.  I don’t strictly adhere to socializing only with Baha’is.  That is not in keeping with our Faith’s tenet to “associate with all peoples, in fellowship and harmony”, a trait with which I was born.

It is no surprise, then, that the Universe should be bringing, to our area, the Convergence at Arcosanti.  For three days, a large number of people will gather at the cooperative community, 45 miles northeast of Prescott.  There will be symposia and smaller breakout groups, all manner of people camping, socializing and forming new bonds, across all manner of divides.  There will be, I expect, conservatives as well as liberals; craftsmen as well as scholars; Christians as well as atheists and agnostics; the clear-eyed and the wide-eyed.

I will be there, at least through tomorrow night, and again on Saturday. If it feels right, I will pitch my tent and stay the night.  As a volunteer, I will be able to get a keen sense of  how well the stated mission is being achieved, and establish new bonds of my own. Besides, when Woodstock happened, I was a bumbling Private, in Army Postal School, at Fort Harrison, IN.  This is a more sober, focused variation on the theme of transformational gatherings.  I want to do my part, to help get it right this time.