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Like most of the country, I have sat by horrified and deeply saddened by the incident that took place at Ft. Hood last week. I have been further saddened by how Major Hasan has been portrayed as some fundamentalist Muslim on a religious mission of some sorts and the ensuing death threats against Muslims in the Ft. Hood area. Whatever the reasons motivating Maj. Hasan, of which I am sure there were many, none of them justify further killing or threats of any kind. Hate begets hate. If we all, or even a few of us, respond to this incident by targeting Muslims because one of them made a horrendous decision not in line with their faith, the chasm will grow and more horrible incidents will ensue. As Ghandi said, an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.
So, I am writing to propose a way to refocus those energies and to respond to the situation with love. Show our troops some love and get yourself educated on S.1963 - the Caregivers and Veterans Omnibus Health Services Act of 2009. The goal of the bill is to increase mental health services to veterans. Our veterans are suffering tremendously and the VA, and the rest of the country for that matter, are woefully ill-equipped to manage the severity of the problem. We are sending these people out on multiple deployments in a war zone unlike any other before. Whatever your political take on the wars, I think we can all agree that we need to take care of our veterans. I support this bill, but encourage everyone to do their own homework on it.
If you discover you support it, please call Senator Coburn's office and ask him to remove the hold from the bill. He alone is preventing the bill from leaving committee and reaching the Senate floor for a vote. The Committee on Veterans' Affairs has a statement about it here. Senator Coburn has his rebuttal here. If you believe the bill should be supported, please call your senators and ask them to support it. If you don't know how to contact your senators, go here.
I have hesitated for some time to post this because too often well-intentioned posts about how to offer support to our troops get thread-jacked by those wanting to debate the validity of the wars. I am the daughter of a veteran who served in two wars and I am proud of my dad's service. I am also a flaming liberal who vehemently opposes the wars. If I can separate the soldier from the action, then you can, too, and I respectfully ask you to do so here. If you want to say anything hateful, discriminatory, or negative, please make your own post. I don't post publicly very often because it's easier to deal with my small community. But, our troops are part of the larger community and we ALL need to come together to support them. It isn't enough to put a ribbon on the back of your car and wear an American flag pin. The heart of our country is action and I am asking you to take some positive action today to help support our troops and turn the events at Ft. Hood into a forceful, positive response from the country in support of our combat veterans. Many thanks.
Last night I had a dream, the second of a new theme. In this dream my grandma (who died of cancer in 1983) has come back to life or reappeared from wherever she'd been hiding. I conjectured perhaps she had been in an induced coma all this time, until they finally cured her. And when she comes back home, my grandpa gets his mind back. This is the new recurring theme. Grandpa Frank has alzheimer's and every time I see him there's a bit less of him there. But in my dream world he goes back to his old grumpy yet good-humored and almost entirely sane self. When grandma comes home.
Their house is the childhood home base that my dreams seem to seek out by default. I never feel safe or happy there in my dreams. There are often problems with the plumbing and the lock on the bathroom door. The main plot point in this particular dream is the appearance of Adolf, one of grandma's long-dead cats. I look out the kitchen window and see him sitting in the middle of the dirt yard where grandpa now keeps his backhoe. I recognize his crooked Hitler mustache. He is bigger and rounder than any non-dream housecat. I announce to grandma that Adolf came home and open the door for him. He rushes inside out of the bitter cold and I sit on the kitchen floor where he uncharacteristically snuggles up on my lap (he was a weird, unfriendly cat). I realize with low-level concern that he is way older than cats are supposed to live. I ask grandma, "When was Adolf born?" She tells me, "45 weeks after your cousin." Even in dream math I realize this is simply not possible. My cousin was born in 1973.... which would make this dream cat over 30 years old. This reasoning launches me toward consciousness, where grandma is still dead and grandpa will never be sane again.
Another theme often found in my dreams: Moving in with my mom in some unfamiliar place that always has complex architecture and more rooms than one would think. The last dream like this was last week, and she and I had moved into an apartment complex much like the one I live in now. In this dream the multitude of rooms we share are spread over two units on opposite sides of the hall (and yet it is still somehow one apartment). It dawns on me that if we divide the space it could be almost like having my own apartment, and I go down the hall to suggest this plan. I find mom has gone insane and is making a variety of loud cat noises. This is not altogether improbable in real life. I try to talk to her quietly and rationally, but she continues to make cat noises. There are a bunch of young women neighbors who come over to help her (wearing fuzzy slippers and pink bathrobes). I decide I can be of no help and lock myself in the other apartment.
We visited the Berkshires this weekend, it was lovely. We grabbed some lattes, looked for hiking clothes and ate at a small-town pub after. The region is more mountainous and forested than our region, the Valley.
We drove past an incredible home. It was white with silver shutters, and it was traditional yet semi-modern. I wish I knew the name of house styles so I could have identified it.
We have a creative artist neighbor who does sidewalk chalk art every day. One guy calls it "The Gallery" because we all see her fabulous drawings when we walk to the breakfast place on weekends. I'm looking forward to having more artistic space on our new property.
People in the Berkshires live a much more cozy lifestyle, the forests are right outside their windows, along with the rushing river and mountains. Fireplaces and faux-fur hiking boots in mudrooms are the norm.
I found a cool example of a modern home, south-facing windows, in Natural-Home Magazine. It's a Zen Ranch Colorado Straw Bale Home. I'd love a place like this!
We shopped for hiking boots this weekend, I overheard the funniest conversation. A woman and her mom were trying on some clothes, lamented that the sizes were all wrong.
"These clothes aren't made for American women. (Looks at label) See? 'Made in India'. Women over there are made differently. That's why all our jobs are gone, because the were all sent over there".
I had to laugh. Haven't we gotten a grip on a global economy yet? When will we get with the program? Other countries have a prospering population, universal health care. Other nations are united to solve climate change issues. Spain, Belgium and the Netherlands allow gay marriage.
There's an exceptional article in the Boston Globe this week called Why Fundamentalism will fail.
In Christianity, the fastest-growing wing of the church is the Pentecostal/Charismatic wave...accounting for one in every four Christians. One writer has called them “main street mystics.” Among Muslims, it is the gentle but ecstatic Sufi version that is growing fastest, not the suicide bomber cults. All these movements...represent a fatal threat to fundamentalism.
Surveys have shown that the rapid growth of evangelical Protestantism in Latin America has not produced a replication of the American religious right, but rather a moderate leftward tilt. A majority of Brazilian evangelicals, for example, voted for President Lula, who ran as a Workers Party candidate. ANOTHER REASON WHY fundamentalists are faltering today has to do with the world outside. The fundamentalist world view is unbending and monochrome, but today’s world is variable and multi-hued, and the plurality is more and more visible. children live every day with a heightened, web-enhanced awareness of a diverse world.
I'm encouraged to hear this. Because while the far right-wing may be making a lot of noise, they are clearly in the minority. They've even caused some Republicans to switch parties - and I'm a huge supporter of the Working Party.
I don't think it's about being the loudest, I do think it's about forming communities.
The Proust Questionnaire
Tiffany introduced it to me, via Jason via Anna. (And Sam begat William and William begat..)
I like these types of exercises, especially when I'm foggy and panicked generally unclear (as this Monday morning finds me). The Proust questionnaire is named for the French writer Marcel Proust, serving as the inspiration for more introspective interviews, an exercise in self exploration and a peak into the true motivations of the people providing the answers.
1. What is your idea of perfect happiness?
Emotional health and physical health, the ability to cover my expenses without any great anxiety, knowing without hesitation that I am loved, supported and valued by the people I love, support and value...and the freedom to create things with my own two hands.
2. What is your greatest fear?
That the things currently causing me grief, will never pass. That this, right now, is all there is to life.
3. What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?
My fear of inadequacy.
4. What is the trait you most deplore in others?
Cowardice.
5. Which living person do you most admire?
My aunt Elizabeth. She finds the growth in every challenge. She does amazing things but remains incredibly humble. She can hug you and reduce you to tears just from the love coming from her pores. She sees the best in you and never lets you deny that it is there. She finds joy and beauty in the things many take for granted. She's faced incredible adversity with the courage of a lion and never reduces herself to bitterness. She loves hard, thinks unselfishly, fights for what she believes in and...she's just a wonder.
6. What is your greatest extravagance?
Art supplies.
7. What is your current state of mind?
Afraid. Confused. Scattered. Isolated.
8. What do you consider the most overrated virtue?
Chastity. But only because of the other recognized virtues, it is the one least inclined to impede your ability to be a healthy, happy, productive individual. I know lots of people that ain't "chaste" but live life with fulfillment and purpose.
9. On what occasion do you lie?
When I'm afraid that the truth is going to really hurt someone with no positive consequence, self included.
10. What do you most dislike about your appearance?
My stomach.
11. Which living person do you most despise?
Well, there are a lot of people I don't like. The world is chock full of regrettable people. Though I find it more often to be a curse more than a blessing, I can sympathy or empathy for most. The living person I most despise right now might be Rush Limbaugh. He's dangerous and stirs unscrupulous passions for his own amusement. That sort of small minded deviance works on my ability to think kind thoughts.
12. What is the quality you most like in a man?
Integrity. Not just one's ability to speak truthfully, but to do so at the cost of your own comfort and ease. Someone that is willing to be seen for who they are. To stand in their truth and not the shadow of what they want others to believe they are.
13. What is the quality you most like in a woman?
Grace. The ability to consider feelings and actions with wisdom and well being and to act gracefully even when it might be difficult to do so.
14. Which words or phrases do you most overuse?
I can't.
15. What or who is the greatest love of your life?
My dog. I can always count on her to love me, tend to my wounded feelings and remind me that there's a being out here that will always give as much as or more than she takes. My childhood best friend, Jameel. Over thirty years and going strong. He's been the only one to always be there, to protect me on those occasions I couldn't protect myself and to keep all of my truest thoughts, fears and feelings safe and secure. He's probably the only person I've known that closely or long who has never snatched the rug out from under me.
16. When and where were you happiest?
The day I graduated from college and saw absolute blissful joy and delight on my father's face, knowing I had everything to do with it. A time long ago when I thought I was in love with someone just as in love with me. While everything else is in that story is but a work of fiction, that feeling I had was truer than most anything I've ever experienced. And I try to remain grateful for it.
17. Which talent would you most like to have?
The ability to read minds.
18. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
My tendency toward self-preoccupation.
19. What do you consider your greatest achievement?
I think that's yet to be discovered.
20. If you were to die and come back as a person or a thing, what would it be?
An eagle. (feathers, not helmets)
21. Where would you most like to live?
Sometimes I think New Mexico. Loads of pottery there, lots of ceramic inspiration, still away from the hustle and bustle of life in a city. Places I would spend a year or two? London. Toronto. New Zealand. Portugal.
22. What is your most treasured possession?
My laptop.
23. What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery?
A life with no other passion but material gain or personal recognition.
24. What is your favorite occupation?
Potter. Followed by writer.
25. What is your most marked characteristic?
I honestly don't know. I don't trust that I've ever had a clear lens for how others see/observe me.
26. What do you most value in your friends?
Their sincerity.
27. Who are your favorite writers?
Neil Gaiman, Octavia Butler, Pearl Cleage, Paulo Coehlo, C.S. Lewis, Anchee Min, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Maya Angelou
28. Who is your hero of fiction?
Ellen Ripley from the Alien series.
29. Which historical figure do you most identify with?
I don't think I know enough about the inner workings of any historical figure to say who that person would be.
30. Who are your heroes in real life?
The people who are driven each and every day to the commitment of human services, community service and charitable efforts.
As we all know, real change takes time. News reports are saying today that the single-payer health care plan is off the table. The real news is, it's a very hot topic. It has energy. Thousands of grassroots organizations and nurses are supporting the idea.
Bernie Sanders is introductiong S703 to Healh Care Reform.
Please write to the White House and support Universal Health Care for the 37 to 47 million Americans without insurance. It will save us money! And tell them we want the bill delayed if it doesn't have one.
ah, man, I've missed my little ibook-- chris got it working again just last night and then was off to work super-early this morning, so here I lie, having my old type-in-bed time once more. an indeterminate brain is confronted by the opportunity...
honestly, I've felt a bit adrift without the tether of words composed here-- facebook brings something else entirely-- reconnections, semi-connections, a superficial sort of webbing, but webbing nonetheless-- it's brought me back into some form of contact with more than one lost friend, for which I'm enormously grateful-- but the writing medium is altogether different, requiring by custom if not strict technical limitiation (as twitter) a tendency of hyper-abbreviation. this tenor is most surely the coin of the realm more generally, but as an expressive form it does little for real mulling through-- my milieu. yes, I know, it isn't as if vox (or for that matter wordpress, blogger or, heck, my trusty paper journal) has gone away, only myself that has elected to neglect the form-- the medium itself remains available throughout my various distractions.
and to what do these distractions amount? little coherent cumulatively, I fear. there's me, always inclining to weigh and measure. recently here and there been torturing myself for no good reason with google searches for people I no longer need any connection with-- wretched, idle hands. I know better. well, at least the killing curiosity is soon exhausted with lack of any relevance, but it's a waste of energy. and other wastes as well-- time and self spent merely watching video, tuning out, dialling down the day. then there's been some good reading (margaret atwood-- and attending her gorgeous many-voiced book launch event downtown on friday). a weekend full of sleep, fighting off one of the many seasonal bugs flying around. glorious golden autumn days. car repairs etcetera.
adrift. diffuse. in need of locating a likely thread to stitch it all into some sense.
one thing tho: we've begun to plan weddinging for 2010-- in our own idiosyncratic way, with sites of celebration in chicago and northern michigan-- we've started sketching it out for ourselves, what's wanted, what's not wanted, how to accommodate the needs versus desires of those we love, how to make something authentic and real and delicious and right for ourselves, to relinquish any mar from the past's damaged expectations-- to begin anew, rightly and brilliantly, for ourselves.
- Ben and I rode our motorcycles south and east through a bit of Amish country. Hills and curves OH MY!
- Finished painting front door "wild currant" - but still to tacky to hang back up.
- Finished painting the halls, the guest bedrooms, the offices, the kitchen, the sun room and entry. (thanks to Pat, Carol and Pete)
- Ordered new office furniture for Ben - I'll be pulling pieces from his office to make mine work better.
- Wired more of the house for TV cable and internet (thanks to Andy and Steve).
- Tomorrow I pick up the last of the family room furniture and talk to the carpet folks about new carpet for Ben's office and all the bedrooms (Ben gets brown, bedrooms get beige)
- Put together one of two side tables for our bedroom (they match patty's lights) and have another for living room
- Have an order holding on Overstock for the "couples" guest bedroom - holding out for the bed frame I want.
- Cleaned up the kitchen from the 4 days of painting and home projects
- Fixed the lighting in the entry, sun room
And when all done, I was able to cook dinner and eat with Benny! I have decided to "master" the electric cooktop before pulling it out and replacing it! I did not burn dinner! Hurray!
So you know, I miss
- My kids
- My girlfriends
- Whole Foods (especially the soaps and salad bar)
- Sushi
- Trader Joes (especially the frozen foods)
- San Francisco (in general)
- The beach (even through I did not get there often)
- My kids (again, because I really really wish they could come visit my new home!)
- And all our CA friends - Too many to list y'all - but you know who you are.
I was going through some photos I took at Tumacacri Mission a few weeks back and I saw a lot of photo with diagonal lines. So I'm just going to post a couple for this quest. For this one I changed it to black and white added some noise and artistic stuff and lighting. The diagonal lines are the stones on the grave site.
I played a little more with the next photo. I selected the church and didn't select the brick tower. Then I changed the church to black and white, worked some on the contrast and brightness, added an artistic filter and erased the black and white from the top arch and the two diagonal columns. By added color to the the diagonal lines I wanted to push the viewers eye up to the arch and the cross on top of the church.
In this photo the main subject the pots are in a diagonal line. In the original photo the pots where in a dark shadow. I cropped the photo then selected the shadow and lightened it and added saturation. Then I selected the light wall that was too light, added contrast, darked the highlights and added saturation. Now the shadow looks more like a stain or paint on the all and less like a shadow.
The last photos is of the columns supporting the covered over the walkway for the visitor's center. In this photo the diagonal line formed by the columns draws the eye to the door.
