Preparedness

I think I've mentioned "to be prepared" earlier,  one of the major Boy Scout mottoes.  Today, in a world so complex it seems downright  quaint to even broach the subject,   September, has been deemed Preparedness Month.  By whom and why,  I don't know.  One radio show had an announcement about a kit of some kind by the American Red Cross.  (A note and call to them brought no response,  they are probably busy with people who didn't or couldn't prepare for things that happened to them (?);    just kidding.

Then I noticed something from the State of Wisconsin,  looked it up on the Internet and, bingo,  it was there.  Had something to do with Governor, with a list of suggestion about being prepared that would cost far more than people like ourselves could afford .... unless we had the time and fuel money to shop hard for the items far from here.   One of the major problems today,  of course,   is to have the resources to do what is undoubtedly agreed upon as necessary.

A month before last I sent a letter to some people in our surrounding community about a loose knit organization to deal with personal and group problems.  It seems that with the crescendo of issues and disasters around us it would be good to be able to "take it on"  together.  Another community not far from us has done this,  Prairie Farm,  and we have attended a few of their events,  watched and listened to the DVD they suggest on the so-called economy,  "Crash Course."

As the month of September progressed I began to wonder if anyone around us listens to the radio,  had any inkling that it was a month dedicated to preparation,  especially because not a soul responded to my earlier letter (?!).   I suppose I should take the advice of my inner voice and just "get a life."   What do you think?

Scattered - Conclusion

Let's not jettison the U.S. Postal Service.  It is not too much of a stretch to imagine the corporate take over of our invaluable Postal Service and then outsourcing it in order to squeeze the profit out.  Who is confused here?  Go, go Wall Street Protests.  Next month is Preparedness Month (?),  "Be Prepared" the quaint Boy Scout slogan I grew up with.  What is  u r g e n t enough to be prepared for in these times? Poverty, starvation, thirst,  homelessness?  Hey,  let the good times roll.  James Howard Kuntsler (of "The Long Emergency") may have something to say about this in his new book "Too Much Magic."

Discontinuity precludes conversation and personal memory (about other people's needs?),  "May the Circle Be Unbroken, in the Sky, Lord, in the Sky..."  It may be only in the stratosphere that continuity is possible,  where the circle can be unbroken.  We have created a society of dependence,  now especially in the corporate realm,  where it is soundly blessed by think tanks,  media, our government  and the ever lovin'  Tea Party.  Balanced budget?  I don't know if that is ever to be possible again, "entitlements"  are just too strong,  pervasive.

Frequent fliers are another version of our problem,  people with immense mobility desires, regardless of fuel problems,  security issues,  etc.  Personal indulgence was one of the backdrops of Thorstin Veblen's landmark work, "Theory of the Leisure Class."  It may be that this work needs to be revisited and updated to include indulgences of contemporary waste and personal prerogative.  Think of frequent fliers as those whose lives consist of unending indulgence in waste and personal forgetfulness, airplanes or no airplanes.

Scattered

Labor Day and no mention of  l a b o r anywhere,  except for statistics,  which are not good*.  The wagons are drawn up in a circle,  the "slings and arrows" coming in are not indigenous.  It is more like discontinuous shot guns blasts of a confusing array of media and mess.   Echoes of the Republican Convention part of the muddle,  described by the song words of Mose Allison (thinking of Romney's):  ..."your mind is on vacation,  you mouth is working overtime..."   & now we have the Democrats to look forward to in Charlotte?       * Farmer's Almanac:  "He Who Shuns Labor Labors Doubly."

In the recent past it seems that the Russian punk rock group,  Pussy Riot, has gotten itself in trouble with the Russian Orthodox Church,  Putin and the court system ... and are now are in a work camp for two years.   About the same time Eve Ensler's "Vagina Monologues"  have popped again all over the place,  which brought back a memory of a book in the 90s, "Femalia,"   "a photographic representation of women's genitals" ...  "they show that each human body is unique and beautiful..."  (Joani Blank, c1993,  There Press,  San Francisco,  Ca.)

In the early fifties,  Korean War duty,  I was introduced to words which had been extremely scarce in my high school and community,  pussy was one of them.  In fact,  Flexner's dictionary of slang was just on the horizon for bigots who not only wanted to keep the forbidden words out of society and its parlance,  books and libraries, of course.    My hazy memories of the young sailors using some of these forbidden words are strange,   some of the fellows brought regional equivalents which are still in my mind somewhere .... eg.  "beaver" for vagina, often spoken of in hushed tones,  fear and respect, awe (!).

And last but not least a more "prosaic"  thought;   as I listened to and watched the ("humble") bumble bee on the buckwheat this week.  This insect is doing to work for its endangered species,  and it is marvelous to behold.  Can this be one positive example of "nature" trying to right the wrongs that homo sapiens have wrought out there,  and will be bumble bee be able to withstand the "slings and dettos" that its cousin has suffered so greatly from?   Aye,  let us pray.

Many Rivers to Cross

In a dream/nightmare early this morning I am in a Mumbai/Bombay street setting,  with the neighborhood hounds (here in Otter Creek) baying over the field.  I have been making my way from one bureaucratic setting to another, looking for work ... in offices in old decrepit high rise buildings.  The streets are covered with people, strange vehicles,  loud with sound,  including the dogs,  and overwhelming with smells.

I am hungry and have found my way to a locked up large old American ("Detroitian) vehicle hidden in a small, scrubby brush area.  Unlocking it I retrieve a CD, lock up and quickly leave for the busy streets.  In the lobby of a high rise I am ushered to a stairwell and walk up a few flights to a huge floor of what appears to be small delicatessens/food stalls  a myriad of food smells,  noise of people,  confusion of food making, buying and bartering,  eating.  I find the stall and a man beckons me into a room behind the food area.

It is a tiny community radio station,  connected to some some electronic network (Internet?),  of course.  And then he presents my breakfast:  three very small pieces of bacon,  some flat bread and some chutney/jam, coffee.   As we sit on chairs he puts the CD into a player,  makes an announcement including my name and brings up cut #9, Many Rivers to Cross.

Being Human

Two of my spiritual mentors,  Frederick Franck and Bob Alexander focused upon the "human" as a factor in spiritual development and work.  Frederick edited a book on the subject,   Bob talked about it and was recently quoted in an article written about The Temple of Man after his death.  Why is it that this critical factor is most often forgotten in religious/spiritual writings and life?

One of the outstanding vegetable growers and human beings in our region was recently quoted as saying (and this is my paraphrasing):  Be good to people, almost everyone is in some kind of trouble now-a-days ....  As a "feeder"  (there will be a blog on this subject soon) she knows humanness from a deep and pervasive place.  Part of her life has been dedicated to what is known as a "transition alternative",   to enable folks to get ready for a time when our food will not be trucked thousands of miles in 18 wheelers,  our energy provided by distant, unreliable grids,  our children bused to distant schools.   STOP Petrochemical Dependency!

In an article about Alexander in the "east of borneo,"  March 14, 2012,  Kate Wolf describes his work and life and quotes from a "Bulletin to Temple of Man Ministry 1:   "In all this, persons come first.  None of the above is to be construed as a rule or regulation.  Humanness always comes first!"   see:
http//www.eastofborneo.org/articles/humanness-always-comes-f...   The title of Frederick Franck's book  is:  "What Does It Mean to Be Human,"  he was editor on this one.   And "To Be Human Against All Odds:  On the Reptile Still Active in Our Brain (Nanzan Studies in Religion and Culture).
See the description of Frederick Franck's life and work in the World Wisdom website.   Also,  there is a Bullfrog video aptly titled "The Art of Being Human;  A Portrait of Frederick Franck,"  written and directed by Emily Squires,  ISBN:  1-59459-669-1  

Enjoy your humanness,  more and more referred to by those who are trying to save us on our dear Planet, especially from corporate power and bureaucracy,  but especially from the many forces of impersonalization ... eg.  self deceit,  personal groveling,  digitalization via electronic devices.  

Pilgrimage

Few of us get a chance to go on a pilgrimage;  my Sister,  Kathy, and her Husband,  Mark,  made it possible to go to Pacem in Terris and went with me.  Not only that,  but  my Niece,  Sophie went too,  and we went one step further and visited an outstanding farm only 10 miles away from Warwick in Pine Island.  That too was a pilgrimage of sorts.

Pacem in Terris is a spiritual center which does not wave its' flag as such.  The principles of it,  Frederick and Claske Franck fashioned this place out of an old ruined mill,  and today it serves as a place not only to hear deeply inspiring music,  but as a sculpture garden for Frederick's sculptures along the Wawayanda River, and for meditations and personal visits.   As we listened to the concert, marveled at the building and then walked the garden it was if I could hear Frederick's distant voice suggesting that there were still sacred places on this bewildered planet.  His book, "Fingers Pointing Toward the Sacred;  a Twentieth Century Pilgrimage on the Eastern and Western Way" came to mind,  the wisdom of its pilgrimages became something to review.

To sit with Claske after the concert and marvel at the place and the music was a deep pleasure,  and we agreed that the dearly departed Frederick was there with us,  as he was during the tumultuous rendition of Vidaldi's  summer season concerto ...   as a storm rocked the building, thunder and lightning gave other dimensions to the virtuoso performance.

The inspiring 100 acre W. Rogowski Farm was a marvel in itself,  and we were lucky enough to have a brief tour with the principle of it,  Cheryl Rogowski   (a MacArthur Genius Award winner).  Her/their "Grassroots Alternative to Organic"  is an operation of many facets,  a farm which is designed in its third generation family farm version is something to last,  to survive and thrive in good times  and adversity.     Check it out at www.RogowskiFarm.com.

Soon the picture of Claske and I will be joined by some pictures taken in both places.  In the meantime,  I invite you to look up Pacem in Terris at www.frederick frank.org.  They are on Facebook too.   The address is 96 Covered Bridge Road,  Warwick,  N.Y.  10990.  By the way,  don't miss a chance to go on a pilgrimage or two yourself  ... nothing quite like it ....

Poverty in America

I highly recommend a book by Tavis Smiley and Cornell West,  "The Rich and the Rest of Us;  a Poverty Manifesto"  published by Hay House,  Inc./Smiley Books, c2012.  The book is the result of a national tour by Smiley and West,  plus appearances on PBS and other venues.    This is no academic exercise,  but the down-to-earth continuation of the work of Martin Luther King.   Here I would like to quote the description on the back page of the book:

"There are nearly 150 million poor and near poor people in America who are not responsible for the damage done by the Great Recession.  Yet they pay the price.  The poor did not create the deindustrialization of America, unmatched corporate profiteering and greed,  more than a decade of foreign wars,  and unregulated tax benefits to the wealthy  When the largest economic institutions in the world were brought to their collective knees, they went crawling to the government's doorstep in search of salvation.  The government obliged,  allowing Wall Street to socialize its failure on the backs of Main Street Americans.  The housing and jobs crisis they created fostered a poverty unseen in generations -- not just in inner-city ghettos and barrios, but also in suburbs and rural areas crossing racial, age and gender lines.  Nearly one-third of the American middle class -- mostly families with children -- have fallen into poverty."  

Where is the political discourse on this?  How does it play out in our collective social consciences?  We have got to "git real"  about this one, folks.