Rosary, women, my generation, it’s the economy, trance…

We were moving her from the wheelchair to the table where the procedure would be done. He was doing most of the lifting and I was on the other side of the table just kind of stabilizing things. I looked down, past his ageing head bent over his wife and I saw her face, like so many other faces I’ve seen – people who are dying, gaunt, the bones in ever sharper definition, and her eyes staring as we eased her back on the table.

Rosary from Nora

She said she finds herself saying the Rosary she learned in her childhood in an orphanage. I asked her if she would like a rosary now and she said yes. I asked a friend where I could find one, and she had one made and brought it over the next day. Very beautiful. I think I’d like one too.

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I was thinking about an ancient gender role that I’m sure most will agree is very, very far out

“Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopus, and Mary Magdalene.” (John 19:25) And it’s still true today, that women are so often there at our comings and goings – the midwife, the L&D RNs; and at the end, nurses, whether in acute care or hospice. Now, even a lot of the chaplains are women. Of course there are men there too, but have a look: women are doing most of the heavy lifting. Honor and Glory.

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CK and Melvin at Follow Your Bliss

In my life I’ve seen and played some small parts in the most amazing generation in the history of the world. We brought you civil rights, rock & roll (the real thing, not Frankie Avalon), the youth movement, the sexual revolution, the consciousness revolution, women’s liberation, hospice, environmental consciousness, and gay rights. We fought and died in foreign places. We saw the Kennedys and Martin Luther King gunned down. We were beat down and got the fuck back up in Mississippi, the Stonewall Riots, Chicago, Kent State, LA, and so on. We turned on and worked harder to change the world. Some died and some went to prison for their beliefs. We actually redefined sex roles frozen for millennia. And it’s still happening now, in the third generation of this generation.

Of course there's a huge amount to be done - many, many lifetimes worth, but what a start!

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The Welcome Lights on the arbor at our front sidewalk

The Morning News published this letter from me: There is an endless stream of anybody-but-Obama conservatives saying the real issue (other than who marries whom) is the economy and that’s what we should be talking about. Okay. Let’s talk about the role of banks running hog-wild through this nation’s economy in how we got to this place. Let’s talk about JPMorgan Chase as the reputed best of the lot and their efforts to further deregulation. Let’s talk about the role Bush and Cheney played in getting us to this place. Let’s talk about increasing student loan rates and Congress slashing everything but loopholes for the rich. Let’s talk about the incessant truculent whining of the super-wealthy and their hunger to have more, more, more while the middle and working classes do most of the real work and pay a disproportionate share of taxes. Yes, let’s talk about the economy.

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An email to Jeff: M, one of the people involved in the scene in Austin put on his first psytrance park party. He asked several people, including me to help and we did. I baked some excellent cookies and brought the gazebo and a few decos. L, M’s brother drove to Dallas from Mount Pleasant and then I drove us to Austin.

It was good: good music (actually outstanding music), good vibes, nice people, good food. About 50 people came. There was a little bit of an underground vibe to the whole thing. For me it was momentary dancing and mostly hanging out, getting to know people I’d met before and meeting some new people, just a very nice time, and like I said, it was M’s first time to put a party on. It’s kind of like we were a little crew. We’re also putting on a pot-luck at Embodied Awakening.

Grosbeak in our back yard - an unusual occurance

Everyone is looking forward to Embodied Awakening in late June. Soooo many good things happening there. It’s from Atrium Obscurum, the people I’ve been working with; same-as Deep in the Heart of Trances. I hope you guys are coming. Yes, to dance beneath the diamond sky…

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