I was scrubbing the dishes this evening, hot steam rising up from the sink, when I realized what was getting to me. Earlier I had been mind-wandering on Facebook and looked at some posts of friends and some videos. I had felt a gnawing anxious pit in my stomach, and still, a half hour later, it was lingering. The article, photos, and videos I’d watched were of the people the FBI is now searching for, the suspected perpetrators of the... Read more
It’s Poem In Your Pocket Day, and like a springtime bird still dazed by the snow, I dart, twisting my head, in unbelief at all the food. It’s Poem In Your Pocket Day, and everywhere is a poem. Twist your gaze, grab some unbelief: the snow is gone. Look. Look at the food. http://www.poets.org/page.php/prmID/406 Read more
We don’t know, and we can’t imagine. Who would set bombs to go off at the end of a foot race? Why would any human being do such a thing? What is the world coming to that such acts of violence are beginning to seem commonplace? What sort of beings are we, what sort of a society are we, that wholesale random violence would be an ongoing part of our lives? We don’t know, and we can’t imagine. And maybe... Read more
Today I have to make sure that there is a port-a-potty for the tri-congregation Earth Day service in the park on Sunday. Today, I get to meet with community organizers at their monthly meeting to talk about a change to the city charter. Today I need to write an evaluation for a Monday meeting with an employee. Today, I will print tickets for our Mother’s Day fundraiser to sell this weekend. Today, I must pay my taxes and the bills... Read more
I have learned a thing or two about asking for help these past two weeks. I’m not sure why I’ve long been hesitant to ask for help, but I’ve got my theories. Maybe I’ve wanted to prove to my parents or to myself how much I could accomplish “All By Myself” (hear that 6-year-old voice within? I do!). Maybe because I was raised an only child with no cousins and we moved all over, a lot, I just got used... Read more
Bodhidharma sat there, they say, nine years, but you know how they talk. Bodhidharma there to wonder why he thinks this could be different from that. To wonder what it might have been we think differentiates one depth from another. Isn’t that the secret? Bodhidharma said to the wall. You won’t know your self until you stop deceiving yourself, Bodhidharma said to the wall. Sounds sound, until the self- referentials begin to sink in. Then words mumble. Slow. Into the... Read more
I read an interesting study recently, which indicated that it turns out that being overweight, or even somewhat obese, doesn’t contribute to overall mortality. Now, the study was interesting in that it called into question our national obsession about weight, but my odd little brain went somewhere different with it. This meta-study, which examined a huge number of direct studies, looked at weight as related to risk of mortality. But isn’t our risk of mortality 100%? If you study everybody... Read more
Oh yes, I know that spring is finally coming to the Prairie! I can see it in the daylight sun, even if it’s not yet reflected back through leaves or color here in Minnesota. Mostly, I can see it in the trash in my yard, which has emerged yet again from another winter leaving me in wonder. I live on a corner, so it’s not inconceivable that people come by and drop stuff my way, but every year I am... Read more
In The Prophetic Imperative: Social Gospel in Theory and Practice, Rev. Richard Gilbert lays out a Unitarian Universalist interpretation of worship. He wrote: The church is a worshipping community, a religious community that deliberately and regularly gathers together to celebrate life in all its dimensions. Worship understood as the celebration of life is the most generally accepted definition in Unitarian Universalist circles today. Worship derives from the Anglo-Saxon weorthscipe, pointing to and celebrating that which is of worth. Religion is... Read more
I was braced for a strange and challenging week with my partner out-of-state for a work trip, but then our little babe was hospitalized for an infected (and previously undetected) cyst at her throat, and things really got surreal. Somewhere in the midst of the past five days (only five?!), we started making some fun out of learning all the new vocabulary words. Along the lines of Innosanto Nagara’s lovely book A is for Activist and Yusef Islam (formerly Cat... Read more
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