Evening – 2014

Meanwhile, deep beneath this winter ground a reliable impulse moves the seasons.  And at the center of these long nights and fleeting days eternal wisdom radiates in the celebrations of people.  Celebrations of dignity surviving enslavement, celebrations of just enough lamp oil, and celebrations of a baby born to an everyday woman — mother and child enduring beacons of faith and essential good will.  Amidst these miracles of change and constancy the… Read More

Notes from Mayo – “My water’s talking to your water.”

Harold Gattensby lives at the headwaters of southern lakes in Yukon Territory, Canada.  He is one of the tribal leaders attending the summit here in Mayo, Yukon. The leaders are from the 72 member tribes composing an alliance that was established a few days before Christmas 1997 in Galena, Alaska — at 40 below freezing.  The alliance brings into collaboration Alaska Tribes and Canada First Nations in the Yukon River Basin for… Read More

A Squirrel Story

Wednesday morning, October 5, I was filling time before my mom arrived at the Portland airport.  She was on a nonstop from ATL that had left at 3 a.m. Pacific Time.  She turned 77 in September.  That’s a long way on little sleep.  She’s my hero! The real truth of the matter is, I had been a bit uber–intense (who me?) with getting the house clean and adorable enough for my mom… Read More

Moments in the Weave

It’s 9-10-11. I just landed in Washington DC National Airport.  Tonight my niece will be married on the banks of thePotomac– first of that generation.  Wow – turn-turn-turn and all of that – change, for sure! Constancy, too.  Expense, distance and daily matters of consequence set aside as all the family that can gathers.  This is what families do.  It’s one way we love each other, taking these opportunities to cinch up… Read More

Interdependence

Today is only a day.  It is Saturday, the 4th of July weekend, and like every other day it has filled with moments linking up into hours, holding people and motion – holding change. This is how it went.  Sun rays angled across the morning sky.  I woke with two friends on my mind – two friends who are too close to death. Tom, a remarkable and kind educational leader, is here… Read More

Things that are More Important

Obama released his birth certificate.  Kate and William finally walked the aisle.  Then the phone rings yesterday.  One of my dearest of dears doesn’t know what to do.  She is a hair’s breadth from ending it all. They are unmistakable when they show up, these things that are more important.  Yesterday, regarding this week’s focus on the part of the news media Dan Rather said Come on, gang.  Really? or something to… Read More

Vacation in Redemption Season

…Posting this on Monday morning in Malta — Qawra, to be exact — in a piazza at the edge of St Paul’s Bay with free public wifi access.  Only took me three days to find this place (sort of a miracle, really) and only a 2 mile walk from the hotel. Easter came and went.  The wind and surf were and continue impressively high.  It’s not quite tourist season here, which is… Read More

Working for a Living during Black History Month in Wisconsin

In January of 2009, Nick Minnis sat in a coffee shop watching the street scene on the corner of 28th and E. Burnside in Portland, OR.  We got into a conversation about change.  Nick said, “I’m not a politician.  My world is small.  I work, I provide, and I sleep…very little.”  He laughed.  I don’t know whether Nick is in a union.  I do know he is a working man, a laborer…. Read More

Meanwhile, on Christmas Day 2010

Meanwhile, deep beneath this winter ground a reliable impulse moves the seasons.  And at the center of these long nights and fleeting days eternal wisdom radiates in the celebrations of people.  Celebrations of dignity surviving enslavement, celebrations of just enough lamp oil, and celebrations of a baby born to an everyday woman — mother and child enduring beacons of faith and essential good will.  Amidst these miracles of change and constancy the… Read More

Only a Person

Yesterday evening I walked into the little Whole Foods in my neighborhood.  It was actually more like late afternoon on a typically chilly, misty and too-soon-dark December 1 in Oregon.  But, I needed B vitamins and am always looking for a motive to get a bit of walking. I walked into the warmth of the store, headed toward the supplement area and turned a corner to see an older Tibetan man adorned… Read More