Today, staying in Burgos close to the cathedral (which is amazine). Meet Grace in two days. I love Burgos!
Monday, stayed in the most charming albergue yet--a 14th century renovated pilgrim hospital. Tuesday morning did the first 30-40 minutes of the walk by moonlight. Very lovely.
Tuesday, stayed in a funky albergue where we moved in two hours before the host-manager arrived.
The last few days have taken us past many fields of wheat stubble, fields on steep, sloping hilsides. Often there will be a huge pile of straw bales in the field. Only once did I actally see the bales being made. Just like home.
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Monday, September 12, 2011
Contemplating the Obvious
Traveling at the rate of 14-18 miles per day is, in a way, weird. David Orr speaks of slow knowledge as opposed to fast knowledge. This slow traveling is a way to understand what he means by slow knowledge. And what I conclude is that slow knowledge allows us to know how much we do not know. Of course the fact that I travel a country where I understand so little of the language exacerbates the sense of not knowing. However, it also seems symbolic of how life really is.
There are limits to our understanding our world, each other, even ourselves. Yet, we all keep walking along together trying to complete the journey in an honorable and satisfying fashion. How hard this is--to remember what slow knowledge it is.
All are different; all are the same.
Each is one; all are one.
It is so obvious and so illusive.
There are limits to our understanding our world, each other, even ourselves. Yet, we all keep walking along together trying to complete the journey in an honorable and satisfying fashion. How hard this is--to remember what slow knowledge it is.
All are different; all are the same.
Each is one; all are one.
It is so obvious and so illusive.
Friday, September 09, 2011
It´s just like meditation
I am in Najara tonight. Hiked 20 km today. It´s been a day full of excitment, beauty, frustration, physical exhileration and exhaustion, peace, community, lonliness, and boredom. Passed many vineyards full of fruit. Looks ready to harvest to me, but what do I know?
Also, passed a pomegranite tree. Some blooms the color of the fruit and some fruit. Very beautiful. Fig trees too. And a wonderful green bean dish as the first plate at lunch.
This afternoon sat by the river with friends from Canada and South Africa. One Canadian commented. This scene could be anywhere--the river, the trees, the birds and plants, the sounds of children.
Adios
Also, passed a pomegranite tree. Some blooms the color of the fruit and some fruit. Very beautiful. Fig trees too. And a wonderful green bean dish as the first plate at lunch.
This afternoon sat by the river with friends from Canada and South Africa. One Canadian commented. This scene could be anywhere--the river, the trees, the birds and plants, the sounds of children.
Adios
Tuesday, September 06, 2011
En-lighten-ment
I was told by another hiker that two aluminum walking poles could bring 30% enlightenment.
Monday, September 05, 2011
Affirmation
An Italian hiker told me yesterday that he admired the U.S. Science is not so corrupted as it is in Italy; we have such potential for discovery. And electing a black president was touching and inspirational. It was a sweet affirmation during discouraging times. (I am going to enjoy this break from American politics!)
Close to the Food
I noticed once, while visiting Linda in Tucson, that one thing I don´t like about Arizona was that so little food could grow there. Growing up in Indiana, I was used to being close to the source of food even though in recent years Indiana has almost become a monoculture (close to the source of ethanol and high fructose corn syrup).
Yesterday and today I´ve walked approximately 45 km through Spain. I have enjoyed being close to the food source: Wheat stubble, indicating recent wheat/grain harvest. Fields of sunflowers, their petals gone and their droopy, seedy heads apparently awaiting harvest. Olive trees and alamond trees. Pear and apple trees. Many vegetable gardens, some with strange-looking plants that might be an artichokes. Last night, beside a small back yard vegetable garden, was a fenced in yard including a fence on the top. It housed a few chickens and a few turkeys. A rabbit hutch was on a low roof. I heard a rooster crow in Pamplona.
I passed, so far, a few vineyards and have sampled a few grapes--very nice and delicately flavored, not at all like the Concord grapes we used to grow. Wild raspberries grow along the path and I have eaten a few. Other berries I don´t recognize and don´t eat. The countryside eems to be an Eden for humans and birds.
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Pay Attention
From Radical Acceptance by Tara Brach: Whenever we wholeheartedly attend to the person we're with, to the tree in our front yard or to a squirrel perched on a branch, this living energy becomes an intimate part of who we are....Krishnamurti wrote that "to pay attention means we care, which means we really love." Attention is the most basic form of love. By paying attention we let ourselves be touched by life and our hearts naturally become more open and engaged.
Sunday, August 28, 2011
The Ideal
From Rebecca Solnit in Wanderlust: Walking, ideally, is a state in which the mind, the body, and the world are aligned, as though they were three characters finally in conversation together, three notes suddenly making chord. Walking allows us to be in our bodies and in the world without being made busy by them. It leaves us free to think without being wholly lost in our thoughts.
Sunday, November 07, 2010
About Now
From Chögyam Trungpa: The principle of nowness is also very important to any effort to establish an enlightened society. You may wonder what the best approach is to helping society and how you can know that what you are doing is authentic or good. The only answer is nowness. Now is the important point. That now is a real now. If you are unable to experience now, then you are corrupted because you are looking for another now, which is impossible. If you do that, there can only be past or future.
Monday, January 04, 2010
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Hate and Love (again)
From an essay by Patricia J. Williams: The prevalence of how givingly social divisions are transmitted was brought home to me in an essay written by one of my former students: She described her father as a loving family man, who worked six and a half days a week to provide for his wife and children. He always took Sunday afternoons off; that was sacred time, reserved for a “family drive.” Yet the family’s favorite pastime, as they meandered in Norman Rockwell contentment, was, according to this student, “trying to pick the homosexuals out of the crowd.”…Hate learned in a context of love is a complicated phenomenon. And love learned in a context of hate endangers all our family. (115)
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Needing Each Other
In The Art of Happiness by the Dalai Lama and Howard Cutler, Cutler describes is reaction to the Dalai Lama’s idea that happiness come from our appreciation of our reliance on others:
As “Our Dependence on Others” was not my favorite topic, my mind started to wander again, and I found myself absently removing a loose thread from my shirt sleeve. Tuning in for a moment, I listened as he mentioned the many people who are involved in making all our material possessions. As he said this, I began to think about how many people were involved in making my shirt. I started by imagining the farmer who grew the cotton. Next, the salesperson who sold the farmer the tractor to plow the field. Then, for the matter, the hundreds or even thousands of people involved in manufacturing that tractor, including the people who mined the ore to make the metal for each part of the tractor. And all the designers of the tractor. Then, of course, the people who processed the cotton, the people who wove the cloth, and the people who cut, dyed, and sewed that cloth. The cargo workers and truck drivers who delivered the shirt to the store and the salesperson who sold the shirt to me. It occurred to me that virtually every aspect of my life came about as the results of others’ efforts. My precious self-reliance was a complete illusion, a fantasy. As this realization dawned on me, I was overcome with a profound sense of the interconnectedness and interdependence of all beings. I felt a softening. Something. I don’t know. It made me want to cry.
As “Our Dependence on Others” was not my favorite topic, my mind started to wander again, and I found myself absently removing a loose thread from my shirt sleeve. Tuning in for a moment, I listened as he mentioned the many people who are involved in making all our material possessions. As he said this, I began to think about how many people were involved in making my shirt. I started by imagining the farmer who grew the cotton. Next, the salesperson who sold the farmer the tractor to plow the field. Then, for the matter, the hundreds or even thousands of people involved in manufacturing that tractor, including the people who mined the ore to make the metal for each part of the tractor. And all the designers of the tractor. Then, of course, the people who processed the cotton, the people who wove the cloth, and the people who cut, dyed, and sewed that cloth. The cargo workers and truck drivers who delivered the shirt to the store and the salesperson who sold the shirt to me. It occurred to me that virtually every aspect of my life came about as the results of others’ efforts. My precious self-reliance was a complete illusion, a fantasy. As this realization dawned on me, I was overcome with a profound sense of the interconnectedness and interdependence of all beings. I felt a softening. Something. I don’t know. It made me want to cry.
Thursday, April 09, 2009
War in South Bend/Notre Dame
President Obama has been invited to speak at Notre Dame graduation, and it has started a raging controversy as to whether this should be allowed at a "premier Catholic university." The headline in day's South Bend Tribune is , "Foe of Obama Visit Ratchets Up Fight." The first sentence of the article says, "Pro-life activist Randall Terry vows to create a 'political mud pit' over President Barack Obama's scheduled May 17 commencement speech at the University of Notre Dame, making the situation so uncomfortable that the president's advisers persuade him to cancel the visit."
The Tribune is full of letters both pro and con. Here is an excerpt from one of my favorites:
[These anti-abortion protestors] should take one week and ask absolutely everyone they come in contact with “are you pro-choice?” Then remove them from their lives.
I don’t believe in abortion, but I honor the choice of other people. If we didn’t, we’d have very few choices of friends, doctors, lawyers, insurance salesmen, etc.
The Tribune is full of letters both pro and con. Here is an excerpt from one of my favorites:
[These anti-abortion protestors] should take one week and ask absolutely everyone they come in contact with “are you pro-choice?” Then remove them from their lives.
I don’t believe in abortion, but I honor the choice of other people. If we didn’t, we’d have very few choices of friends, doctors, lawyers, insurance salesmen, etc.
Friday, March 13, 2009
The Live You Can Save
Diane Rehm's show was interesting yesterday. Here is the description from her website: "Peter Singer: The Life You Can Save (Random House)--Philosopher Peter Singer believes ending world poverty is within reach. However, it will require a new perspective on what it means to live an ethical life. He offers a plan for giving, and explains why it is ethically indefensible not to help those in need."
You can listen to the radio interview here:
http://wamu.org/programs/dr/09/03/12.php#24961
You can visit Singer's website here:
http://www.thelifeyoucansave.com/index.html
You can listen to the radio interview here:
http://wamu.org/programs/dr/09/03/12.php#24961
You can visit Singer's website here:
http://www.thelifeyoucansave.com/index.html
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
A Little Homily from Rev. M.A.
Ishmael Beah, author of A Long Way Gone, tells of being a child soldier. The violence he committed between the ages 13-16 is horrifying. Becoming a soldier was basically an alternative to death for him. He was brainwashed, drugged, and encouraged to avenge the deaths of other family members. When he was rescued from life as a soldier by UNICEF, he and other child soldiers had to be rehabilitated. They were uncivilized with fighting their main method of communication.
One of the social workers who helped rehabilitate Beah was a woman he calls Esther. One day he shared with her a particularly violent dream. Here’s how he describes the conversation:
At first she just listened to me and then gradually she started asking questions to make me talk about the lives I had lived before and during the war. “None of these things are your fault,” she would always say sternly at the end of every conversation. Even though I had heard that phrase from every staff member—and frankly I had always hated it—I began that day to believe it. It was the genuine tone in Esther’s voice that made the phrase finally begin to sink into my mind and heart.
It was a touching reminder that the things we dislike in other people, often, are not their fault. Often, the things we hate in ourselves are not our fault either. That is a good insight to let sink into our minds and hearts.
One of the social workers who helped rehabilitate Beah was a woman he calls Esther. One day he shared with her a particularly violent dream. Here’s how he describes the conversation:
At first she just listened to me and then gradually she started asking questions to make me talk about the lives I had lived before and during the war. “None of these things are your fault,” she would always say sternly at the end of every conversation. Even though I had heard that phrase from every staff member—and frankly I had always hated it—I began that day to believe it. It was the genuine tone in Esther’s voice that made the phrase finally begin to sink into my mind and heart.
It was a touching reminder that the things we dislike in other people, often, are not their fault. Often, the things we hate in ourselves are not our fault either. That is a good insight to let sink into our minds and hearts.
Friday, February 20, 2009
Extreme Love
Jack Kornfield writes this story in The Wise Heart(42-43). It’s a serious tale of the old “make-me-one-with-everything joke.
Perhaps we can better understand this through a story of a Palestinian named Salam, one of my good friends….In the late 1960s and 1970s Salam had lived in Jerusalem as an activist and a journalist. Because he was writing about creating a Palestinian capital in East Jerusalem and the establishment of a Palestinian state, he was regularly arrested. He spent nearly six years in Israeli prisons. He was frequently interrogated and periodically beaten and tortured. This happens on every side in war.
One afternoon after he had been badly beaten, his body was lying on the floor of the prison and he was being kicked by a particularly cruel guard. Blood poured out of his mouth and as the police report later stated, the authorities believed he had died.
He remembers the pain of being beaten. Then, as is often reported by accident and torture victims, he felt his consciousness leave his body and float up to the ceiling. At first it was peaceful and still, like in a silent movie, as he watched his own body lying below being kicked. It was so peaceful he didn’t know what all the fuss was about. And then Salam described how, in a remarkable way, his consciousness expanded further. He knew it was his body lying below, but now he felt he was also the boot kicking the body. He was also the peeling green paint on the prison walls, the goat whose bleat could be heard outside, the dirt under the guard’s fingernails—he was life, all of it and the eternal consciousness of it all, with no separation. Being everything, he could never die. All his fears vanished. He realized that death was an illusion. A well-being and joy beyond description opened to him. And then a spontaneous compassion arose for the astonishing folly of humans, believing we are separate, clinging to nations and making war.
Two days later, as Salam describes it, he came back to consciousness in a bruised and beaten body on the floor of a cell, without fear or remorse, just amazement. His experience changed his whole sense of life and death. He refused to continue to participate in any form of conflict. When he was released, he married a Jewish woman and had Palestinian-Jewish children. That, he said, was his answer to the misguided madness of the world.
Perhaps we can better understand this through a story of a Palestinian named Salam, one of my good friends….In the late 1960s and 1970s Salam had lived in Jerusalem as an activist and a journalist. Because he was writing about creating a Palestinian capital in East Jerusalem and the establishment of a Palestinian state, he was regularly arrested. He spent nearly six years in Israeli prisons. He was frequently interrogated and periodically beaten and tortured. This happens on every side in war.
One afternoon after he had been badly beaten, his body was lying on the floor of the prison and he was being kicked by a particularly cruel guard. Blood poured out of his mouth and as the police report later stated, the authorities believed he had died.
He remembers the pain of being beaten. Then, as is often reported by accident and torture victims, he felt his consciousness leave his body and float up to the ceiling. At first it was peaceful and still, like in a silent movie, as he watched his own body lying below being kicked. It was so peaceful he didn’t know what all the fuss was about. And then Salam described how, in a remarkable way, his consciousness expanded further. He knew it was his body lying below, but now he felt he was also the boot kicking the body. He was also the peeling green paint on the prison walls, the goat whose bleat could be heard outside, the dirt under the guard’s fingernails—he was life, all of it and the eternal consciousness of it all, with no separation. Being everything, he could never die. All his fears vanished. He realized that death was an illusion. A well-being and joy beyond description opened to him. And then a spontaneous compassion arose for the astonishing folly of humans, believing we are separate, clinging to nations and making war.
Two days later, as Salam describes it, he came back to consciousness in a bruised and beaten body on the floor of a cell, without fear or remorse, just amazement. His experience changed his whole sense of life and death. He refused to continue to participate in any form of conflict. When he was released, he married a Jewish woman and had Palestinian-Jewish children. That, he said, was his answer to the misguided madness of the world.
Monday, February 09, 2009
Got Empathy?
In the P. K. Dick’s science fiction novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? the world is populated with human beings and androids. The androids are so lifelike, there is only one way to distinguish them from humans—give them an empathy test. The testers believed that only humans had empathy. Hate requires that we extinguish our empathy. Sometimes that’s unbelievably easy to do. I hate that, or as the old joke goes, I hate hate.
Sunday, February 08, 2009
Let It Begin with Me (Love and Hate Reflections)
Seems like I’ve heard a lot of versions of love and peace that say you have to begin with yourself. Ghandi said, “You have to be the change you wish to see in the world.” I think it is Confucius who says that peace in the heart begets peace in the family, peace in the family begets peace in the city, peace in the city begets peace in the nation, and that peace in the nation begets peace in the world. There is the song that says “Let there be peace on earth, and let it begin with me.
That all sounds so mysterious—so abstract, so impossible. If I get peaceful, the world will get peaceful? If I get more loving, the world will get more loving? However, I see how hard it is to be loving and peaceful as soon as some minor annoyance pushes one of my buttons. I don’t respond exactly with hate, but it isn’t love either—mini-hate maybe? Or just everyday, mundane, lack of love? So I try to be more loving while trying to love myself when I fail. I can’t say that I’m terrifically successful. It’s a crazy theory.
If I were “perfectly” loving, I’d probably be a self-righteous, obnoxious bitch. Do our mini-struggles with love and hate, teach us about the larger struggles of love and hate in the world? I think so, but the lesson is a difficult one to understand.
That all sounds so mysterious—so abstract, so impossible. If I get peaceful, the world will get peaceful? If I get more loving, the world will get more loving? However, I see how hard it is to be loving and peaceful as soon as some minor annoyance pushes one of my buttons. I don’t respond exactly with hate, but it isn’t love either—mini-hate maybe? Or just everyday, mundane, lack of love? So I try to be more loving while trying to love myself when I fail. I can’t say that I’m terrifically successful. It’s a crazy theory.
If I were “perfectly” loving, I’d probably be a self-righteous, obnoxious bitch. Do our mini-struggles with love and hate, teach us about the larger struggles of love and hate in the world? I think so, but the lesson is a difficult one to understand.
Friday, February 06, 2009
Reflections on Love and Hate
In the last few weeks I have seen the movie Milk and finished the book A Long Time Gone.
Milk is the story of gay activist Harvey Milk in the sixties and seventies, and it shows the emotional response to gay activism and success. Laws would be passed to allow gay people equal rights and anti-gay groups would move into the area to get those laws repealed. The anti-gay movement seemed—and still seems to me—filled with hate.
In A Long Way Gone, Ishmael Beah describes his life during the civil war in Sierra Leone. This includes the period after he loses his parents (at age twelve) and wanders the country at night with other children, looking for his family and avoiding danger. He also describes his time as a child soldier, a time during which he was indoctrinated in hate and committed terrible acts of violence. He was rescued by UNICEF and had to be “rehabilitated” and de-programmed.
Both of these works have me thinking of love and hate. It’s interesting that soon after these two stories, my yoga teacher, Jamie, read these passages from Martin Luther King, Jr.
“Hatred paralyses life; love releases it.Hatred confuses life; love harmonizes it.Hatred darkens life; love illuminates it.""I have decided to stick with love.Hate is too great a burden to bear."
I have been trying to live with these words and see how they shed light on both hate and love.
Milk is the story of gay activist Harvey Milk in the sixties and seventies, and it shows the emotional response to gay activism and success. Laws would be passed to allow gay people equal rights and anti-gay groups would move into the area to get those laws repealed. The anti-gay movement seemed—and still seems to me—filled with hate.
In A Long Way Gone, Ishmael Beah describes his life during the civil war in Sierra Leone. This includes the period after he loses his parents (at age twelve) and wanders the country at night with other children, looking for his family and avoiding danger. He also describes his time as a child soldier, a time during which he was indoctrinated in hate and committed terrible acts of violence. He was rescued by UNICEF and had to be “rehabilitated” and de-programmed.
Both of these works have me thinking of love and hate. It’s interesting that soon after these two stories, my yoga teacher, Jamie, read these passages from Martin Luther King, Jr.
“Hatred paralyses life; love releases it.Hatred confuses life; love harmonizes it.Hatred darkens life; love illuminates it.""I have decided to stick with love.Hate is too great a burden to bear."
I have been trying to live with these words and see how they shed light on both hate and love.
Monday, January 19, 2009
An Email from a Student
I received the following email about 2/3-3/4 into last semester. I still haven't figured out if the sender was serious or not. He never came back to class.
Hey mrs. Hardy so this is kinda a weird email. with the snow falls tonight reaching a foot i doubt ill be in class tomorow, i drive a sports car and it is actually going to be moved down to atlanta next week, since i will b e moving there in about 4 weeks. but the point is that it cant drive in this snow. i know this isnt a big worry for you but with me having a few accidents last year in the snow im too scared to drive in it. and since im moving sooner than usual my parents wont buy me the SUV i want for some reason. With me already having taken 131 im full aware of the expectations for essay four and since i will pass this semester i was wondering if i can mail you a hard copy and email you a copy. This would allow me to not have to come to class again unless the weather permitted. I guess this is me hoping my request is persuasive enough for you to grant me such a prvielage. I do appretiate alot that you have taught me this year and as english teahcers go you have been one of my favs. Hope to get an aswer from you soon. sorry for the inconveniece and weather permitting ill be in class tommorow. ill just see how bad the roads are early tomorrow. thanks for your time
Hey mrs. Hardy so this is kinda a weird email. with the snow falls tonight reaching a foot i doubt ill be in class tomorow, i drive a sports car and it is actually going to be moved down to atlanta next week, since i will b e moving there in about 4 weeks. but the point is that it cant drive in this snow. i know this isnt a big worry for you but with me having a few accidents last year in the snow im too scared to drive in it. and since im moving sooner than usual my parents wont buy me the SUV i want for some reason. With me already having taken 131 im full aware of the expectations for essay four and since i will pass this semester i was wondering if i can mail you a hard copy and email you a copy. This would allow me to not have to come to class again unless the weather permitted. I guess this is me hoping my request is persuasive enough for you to grant me such a prvielage. I do appretiate alot that you have taught me this year and as english teahcers go you have been one of my favs. Hope to get an aswer from you soon. sorry for the inconveniece and weather permitting ill be in class tommorow. ill just see how bad the roads are early tomorrow. thanks for your time
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Together
"Through our scientific and technological genius, we have made of this world a neighborhood and yet we have not had the ethical commitment to make of it a brotherhood [or sisterhood]. But somehow, and in some way, we have got to do this. We must all learn to live together as brothers [and sisters] or we will all perish together as fools. We are tied together in the single garment of destiny, caught in an inescapable network of mutuality. And whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly. For some strange reason I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be. And you can never be what you ought to be until I am what I ought to be. This is the way God’s universe is made; this is the way it is structured."
From "Remaining Awake Through a Great Revolution," delivered by Martin Luther King at the National Cathedral, Washington, D.C., on 31 March 1968.
From "Remaining Awake Through a Great Revolution," delivered by Martin Luther King at the National Cathedral, Washington, D.C., on 31 March 1968.
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Why We Do Theraphy
...There, paying dearly for fifty minutes, the client gropes for a sense of coherence and mattering. The therapist listens, not so much explaining as simply fostering the possiblity of resonance. She allows the long pauses and silences--a bold subversion of societyal expectations--because only where silence in possible can the vertical engagement take place.
(from Sven Birkets in The Gutenber Elegies)
But if you desire to see into your own depths and interpret them more adequately, then you will have to talk to somebody who has seen those depths before and helped others interpret them more adequately. In this intersubject dialogue with a therapeutic helper, you will hold hands and walk the path of moe adequate interpretations...and the more clearly you can interpret and articulate this depth, the less baffling you will become to yourself, the clearer you will become to yourself, the more transparent you will be.
(from Ken Wilber in A Brief History of Everything)
(from Sven Birkets in The Gutenber Elegies)
But if you desire to see into your own depths and interpret them more adequately, then you will have to talk to somebody who has seen those depths before and helped others interpret them more adequately. In this intersubject dialogue with a therapeutic helper, you will hold hands and walk the path of moe adequate interpretations...and the more clearly you can interpret and articulate this depth, the less baffling you will become to yourself, the clearer you will become to yourself, the more transparent you will be.
(from Ken Wilber in A Brief History of Everything)
Thursday, January 08, 2009
War
There's no such thing as a "just" war anymore, if there ever was. You can't defend bombing children and innocent people. It isn't right to teach people how to torture and kill each other. Wars never end, really. The Crusades aren't quite over yet. Our Civil War certainly isn't over yet. I don't think we can afford this kind of behavior anymore.
From an interview with Wendell Berry in the July 2008 issue of The Sun.
From an interview with Wendell Berry in the July 2008 issue of The Sun.
Tuesday, January 06, 2009
Yes
Language...has created the word "loneliness" to express the pain of being alone. And it has created the word "solitude" to express the glory of being alone.
Paul Tillich
Paul Tillich
Saturday, December 27, 2008
Secrets
In every important way we are such secrets from each other, and I do believe that there is a separate language in each of us, also separate aesthetics and a separate jurisprudence. Every single one of us is a little civilization built on the ruins of any number of preceding civilizations, but with our own variant notions of what is beautiful and what is acceptable--which, I hasten to add, we generally do not satisfy and by which we struggle to live...
Above is a passage from Gilead by Marilynne Robinson. The narrator is a 77-year-old, dying minister who is writing a book to young son, and this is some of what he wants his son to hear when the son is an adult.
Saturday, December 20, 2008
Don't You Be Making a List
It has occured to me that when I start getting judgemental about people, I'm kind of like Santa, making a list. How silly of me to butt in. Let Santa make the lists!
This Might Be True
Disappointment, embarrassment, and all the places where we cannot feel good are a sort of death. We've just lost our ground completely; we are unable to hold it together and feel that we're on top of things. Rather than realizing that it takes death for there to be birth, we just fight against the fear of death.
From Comfortable with Uncertainty by Pema Chödrön.
From Comfortable with Uncertainty by Pema Chödrön.
Friday, December 19, 2008
I Don't Believe in Astrology Either
My horoscope for this week according to freewill astrology:
At Salon.com's forum "Table Talk," participants were urged to come up with a six-word sentence that captured the essence of their lives. One person wrote, "Broke. Payday. Broke. Payday. Broke. Payday." Another said, "Oh, no, not again. Again. Again." But the testimony I really wanted to call your attention to is this: "I never learned how to swashbuckle." Why is this pertinent for you? Because I believe that if you have a similar regret -- that you've never mastered the art of swashbuckling -- you will have an excellent chance to fix that problem in the coming months. In fact, I'm tempted to name 2009 as the Year of the Swashbuckle for you Libras. If I could give you a symbolic holiday gift to get you started, it might be a superhero's costume created by a top fashion designer. Happy Holy Daze!
At Salon.com's forum "Table Talk," participants were urged to come up with a six-word sentence that captured the essence of their lives. One person wrote, "Broke. Payday. Broke. Payday. Broke. Payday." Another said, "Oh, no, not again. Again. Again." But the testimony I really wanted to call your attention to is this: "I never learned how to swashbuckle." Why is this pertinent for you? Because I believe that if you have a similar regret -- that you've never mastered the art of swashbuckling -- you will have an excellent chance to fix that problem in the coming months. In fact, I'm tempted to name 2009 as the Year of the Swashbuckle for you Libras. If I could give you a symbolic holiday gift to get you started, it might be a superhero's costume created by a top fashion designer. Happy Holy Daze!
Tuesday, December 09, 2008
Six Word Speech
The guys at the NY Times Freakonomics blog asked this question: "If Barack Obama’s inaugural address could be just six words long, how would it read?" The winning answer was “Our worst critics prefer to stay.”
Wednesday, December 03, 2008
Right versus Wrong and Right versus Right
The world, unfortunately, faces plenty of right-versus-wrong questions. From cheating on taxes to lying under oath, from running red lights to inflating the expense account, from buying under-twelve movie tickets for your fourteen-year-old to overstating the damage done to your car for insurance purposes—the world abounds with instances that, however commonplace, are widely understood to be wrong. But right-versus-wrong choices are very different from right-versus-right ones. The latter reach inward to our most profound and central values, setting one against the other in ways that will never be resolved simply by pretending that one is “wrong”. Right-versus-wrong choices, by contrast, offer no such depth: The closer you get to them, the more they begin to smell. Two shorthand terms capture the differences: If we can call right-versus-right choices “ethical dilemmas”, we can reserve the phrase “moral temptations” for the right-versus-wrong ones…[Right versus right dilemmas] are genuine dilemmas precisely because each side is firmly rooted in one of our basic, core values. Four such dilemmas are so common to our experience that they stand as models, patterns, or paradigms. They are:
• Truth versus loyalty
• Individual versus community
• Short-term versus long-term
• Justice versus mercy
The above passage is from How Good People Make Tough Choices by Rushworth Kidder.
• Truth versus loyalty
• Individual versus community
• Short-term versus long-term
• Justice versus mercy
The above passage is from How Good People Make Tough Choices by Rushworth Kidder.
Tuesday, December 02, 2008
Plastic--Yuk!
Last week a friend sent me a PowerPoint about the evils of plastic. I tried to attach it here, but I haven't figured out how to do that yet. However, today I stumbled across this blog with the ridiculous name of "Fake Plastic Fish." It's by a woman trying to get rid of plastic in her life and studying the problem. Probably everything the PowerPoint said is at her site too. I haven't had time to read much of it, but it's intriguing.
Slow Cars
The three paragraphs below are from an editorial by Elizabeth Kolbert in the December 8, 2008 issue of The New Yorker. Be sure to read through to the punch line in paragraph three.
The Secretary of Transportation’s report to Congress begins on a dark note. “Over the past year, the domestic auto industry has experienced sharply reduced sales and profitability, large indefinite layoffs, and increased market penetration by imports,” it states. “The shift in consumer preferences towards smaller, more fuel-efficient passenger cars and light trucks . . . appears to be permanent, and the industry will spend massive amounts of money to retool to produce the motor vehicles that the public now wants.” The revenue to pay for this retooling, though, will have to come from sales of just the sort of cars that the public is no longer buying—a situation, the report observes, bound to produce “financial strain.”
“To improve the overall future prospects for the domestic motor vehicle manufacturers, a quality and price competitive motor vehicle must be produced,” the report warns. “If this is not accomplished, the long term outlook for the industry is bleak.”
The Secretary’s report was delivered to Congress in 1980, a year after what may soon become known as the first Chrysler bailout. Depending on how you look at things, the report was either wrong—three years later, Chrysler returned to profitability—or prescient....
The Secretary of Transportation’s report to Congress begins on a dark note. “Over the past year, the domestic auto industry has experienced sharply reduced sales and profitability, large indefinite layoffs, and increased market penetration by imports,” it states. “The shift in consumer preferences towards smaller, more fuel-efficient passenger cars and light trucks . . . appears to be permanent, and the industry will spend massive amounts of money to retool to produce the motor vehicles that the public now wants.” The revenue to pay for this retooling, though, will have to come from sales of just the sort of cars that the public is no longer buying—a situation, the report observes, bound to produce “financial strain.”
“To improve the overall future prospects for the domestic motor vehicle manufacturers, a quality and price competitive motor vehicle must be produced,” the report warns. “If this is not accomplished, the long term outlook for the industry is bleak.”
The Secretary’s report was delivered to Congress in 1980, a year after what may soon become known as the first Chrysler bailout. Depending on how you look at things, the report was either wrong—three years later, Chrysler returned to profitability—or prescient....
Thursday, November 20, 2008
He Talks Good
Obama's Use of Complete Sentences Stirs Controversy
Stunning Break with Last Eight Years
In the first two weeks since the election, President-elect Barack Obama has broken with a tradition established over the past eight years through his controversial use of complete sentences, political observers say. Millions of Americans who watched Mr. Obama's appearance on CBS' "Sixty Minutes" on Sunday witnessed the president-elect's unorthodox verbal tick, which had Mr. Obama employing grammatically correct sentences virtually every time he opened his mouth. But Mr. Obama's decision to use complete sentences in his public pronouncements carries with it certain risks, since after the last eight years many Americans may find his odd speaking style jarring. According to presidential historian Davis Logsdon of the University of Minnesota, some Americans might find it "alienating" to have a President who speaks English as if it were his first language. "Every time Obama opens his mouth, his subjects and verbs are in agreement," says Mr. Logsdon. "If he keeps it up, he is running the risk of sounding like an elitist." The historian said that if Mr. Obama insists on using complete sentences in his speeches, the public may find itself saying, "Okay, subject, predicate, subject predicate - we get it, stop showing off."
The President-elect's stubborn insistence on using complete sentences has already attracted a rebuke from one of his harshest critics, Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska. "Talking with complete sentences there and also too talking in a way that ordinary Americans like Joe the Plumber and Tito the Builder can't really do there, I think needing to do that isn't tapping into what Americans are needing also," she said.
from Andy Borowitz, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/andy-borowitz/obamas-use-of-complete-se_b_144642.html
Stunning Break with Last Eight Years
In the first two weeks since the election, President-elect Barack Obama has broken with a tradition established over the past eight years through his controversial use of complete sentences, political observers say. Millions of Americans who watched Mr. Obama's appearance on CBS' "Sixty Minutes" on Sunday witnessed the president-elect's unorthodox verbal tick, which had Mr. Obama employing grammatically correct sentences virtually every time he opened his mouth. But Mr. Obama's decision to use complete sentences in his public pronouncements carries with it certain risks, since after the last eight years many Americans may find his odd speaking style jarring. According to presidential historian Davis Logsdon of the University of Minnesota, some Americans might find it "alienating" to have a President who speaks English as if it were his first language. "Every time Obama opens his mouth, his subjects and verbs are in agreement," says Mr. Logsdon. "If he keeps it up, he is running the risk of sounding like an elitist." The historian said that if Mr. Obama insists on using complete sentences in his speeches, the public may find itself saying, "Okay, subject, predicate, subject predicate - we get it, stop showing off."
The President-elect's stubborn insistence on using complete sentences has already attracted a rebuke from one of his harshest critics, Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska. "Talking with complete sentences there and also too talking in a way that ordinary Americans like Joe the Plumber and Tito the Builder can't really do there, I think needing to do that isn't tapping into what Americans are needing also," she said.
from Andy Borowitz, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/andy-borowitz/obamas-use-of-complete-se_b_144642.html
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Taxes Again
The article below if from Hendrick Herzberg. I have enjoyed his essays in the New Yorker, and was happy to discover his blog at http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/hendrikhertzberg/?xrail
Since writing “Like, Socialism,” in which I had some fun juxtaposing Sarah Palin’s boast that Alaskans “share in the wealth” via “collectively” owning their state’s oil to her attacks on Obama for proposing to “spread the wealth” via higher marginal taxes on the rich, I’ve seen numerous e-mails along these lines: "I may not be Karl the Marxist (whoever that is), but even I can easily see the distinction (which evades Mr. Hertzberg) between sharing the proceeds of a common asset, like a state’s mineral rights, and spreading the wealth by confiscating (i.e., taxing) part of what some individuals have produced and giving it to others. The proceeds of government leases of drilling prospects are quite different from Hertzberg’s paycheck. If he can’t see that, why not share his entire paycheck with us?"
I see the distinction, too, but I don’t see much of a difference. What I dispute is the flat characterization of personal income as “what some individuals have produced.” Part of my gross income reflects my individual efforts, of course, but part of it reflects the social and political arrangements that make it possible for me to have a paycheck to begin with. That’s the part that’s withheld for taxes. I don’t regard this as “confiscation,” any more than I regard my other monthly bills that way.
In a democratic society, government is as much a “common asset” as the oil under the tundra. We all “share the proceeds,” such as roads, police protection, the Smithsonian Institution, and not getting conquered by foreign armies. And all taxes redistribute the wealth from some individuals to others, whether the others are defense contractors, firefighters, chicken inspectors, destitute mothers, or Chinese (and, lately, American) bankers.
It is fervently to be hoped that market idolatry—the belief that the market is the only truly valuable institution of society and everything else is a parasite on it—is on the way out. “Taxes are what we pay for a civilized society,” Mr. Justice Holmes is said to have said. “Freedom ain’t free,” sing the poets of Nashville. Right they are. And neither is civilization.
Since writing “Like, Socialism,” in which I had some fun juxtaposing Sarah Palin’s boast that Alaskans “share in the wealth” via “collectively” owning their state’s oil to her attacks on Obama for proposing to “spread the wealth” via higher marginal taxes on the rich, I’ve seen numerous e-mails along these lines: "I may not be Karl the Marxist (whoever that is), but even I can easily see the distinction (which evades Mr. Hertzberg) between sharing the proceeds of a common asset, like a state’s mineral rights, and spreading the wealth by confiscating (i.e., taxing) part of what some individuals have produced and giving it to others. The proceeds of government leases of drilling prospects are quite different from Hertzberg’s paycheck. If he can’t see that, why not share his entire paycheck with us?"
I see the distinction, too, but I don’t see much of a difference. What I dispute is the flat characterization of personal income as “what some individuals have produced.” Part of my gross income reflects my individual efforts, of course, but part of it reflects the social and political arrangements that make it possible for me to have a paycheck to begin with. That’s the part that’s withheld for taxes. I don’t regard this as “confiscation,” any more than I regard my other monthly bills that way.
In a democratic society, government is as much a “common asset” as the oil under the tundra. We all “share the proceeds,” such as roads, police protection, the Smithsonian Institution, and not getting conquered by foreign armies. And all taxes redistribute the wealth from some individuals to others, whether the others are defense contractors, firefighters, chicken inspectors, destitute mothers, or Chinese (and, lately, American) bankers.
It is fervently to be hoped that market idolatry—the belief that the market is the only truly valuable institution of society and everything else is a parasite on it—is on the way out. “Taxes are what we pay for a civilized society,” Mr. Justice Holmes is said to have said. “Freedom ain’t free,” sing the poets of Nashville. Right they are. And neither is civilization.
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
In Defense of Liberals
The excerpt below is from a local op-ed piece by Bob Conway in the South Bend Tribune(6/12/08):
I love that bumper sticker that reads: "Organized Labor--the folks who brought you the weekend." Too many of us take things like weekends off, vacations, the 40-hour work week, overtime, sick pay and the minimum wage for granted these days--forgetting that only a few generations ago virtually no American worker had them. The reason we have these benefits today is not that American corporations suddenly decided one day, all on their own, to be magnanimous. Workers have these things now because the liberal labor leaders of my parents' generation organized and fought beside American workers to wrest these now commonplace perks from the bitter, reluctant, stingy, avaricious hands of employers who treated wage workers like lower forms of life.
I love that bumper sticker that reads: "Organized Labor--the folks who brought you the weekend." Too many of us take things like weekends off, vacations, the 40-hour work week, overtime, sick pay and the minimum wage for granted these days--forgetting that only a few generations ago virtually no American worker had them. The reason we have these benefits today is not that American corporations suddenly decided one day, all on their own, to be magnanimous. Workers have these things now because the liberal labor leaders of my parents' generation organized and fought beside American workers to wrest these now commonplace perks from the bitter, reluctant, stingy, avaricious hands of employers who treated wage workers like lower forms of life.
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
My Next Pilgrimage
I received an email suggestion that the location on this video could be my next pilgrimage destination. However, the camino del rey is not a pilgrimage, merely a camino--a path. However, I found the video fascinating, so went to Wikipedia for information about this treacherous walk:
In 1901 it was obvious that the workers of the Chorro Falls and Gaitanejo Falls needed a walkway to cross between the falls, to provide transport of materials, vigilance and maintenance of the channel. Construction of the walkway took four years; it was finished in 1905...
The walkway has now gone many years without maintenance, and is in a highly deteriorated and dangerous state. It is one meter (3 feet) in width, and is over 200 meters (700 feet) above the river. Nearly all of the path has no handrail. Some parts of the concrete walkway have completely collapsed and all that is remaining is the steel beam originally in place to hold it up and the wire that follows most the path. One can latch onto the wire to keep from falling. Many people have lost their lives on the walkway in recent years. After four people died in two accidents in 1999 and 2000, the local government closed the entrances; however, adventurous tourists still find their way into the walkway.
Tuesday, May 06, 2008
Primary Voting Day in Indiana
I received this email this morning from an African American colleague:
"I can’t resist. If you go for the most qualified candidate…it’s Hillary for President and you know it!!"
Why should it be surprising that so many of do vote on the "content of character" criteria and not whether the candidate looks like us?
"I can’t resist. If you go for the most qualified candidate…it’s Hillary for President and you know it!!"
Why should it be surprising that so many of do vote on the "content of character" criteria and not whether the candidate looks like us?
Wednesday, April 09, 2008
Bringing Democracy
I saw this poem on a colleague’s door, so I Googled it and here it is. I hope that’s okay with Donald Hall and the HMCo.
WE BRING DEMOCRACY TO THE FISH
by Donald Hall, from White Apples and the Taste of Stone
It is unacceptable that fish prey on each other.
For their comfort and safety, we will liberate them
into fishfarms with secure, durable boundaries
that exclude predators. Our care will provide
for their liberty, health, happiness, and nutrition.
Of course all creatures need to feel useful.
At maturity the fish will discover their purposes.
© Houghton Mifflin Company, 2007
WE BRING DEMOCRACY TO THE FISH
by Donald Hall, from White Apples and the Taste of Stone
It is unacceptable that fish prey on each other.
For their comfort and safety, we will liberate them
into fishfarms with secure, durable boundaries
that exclude predators. Our care will provide
for their liberty, health, happiness, and nutrition.
Of course all creatures need to feel useful.
At maturity the fish will discover their purposes.
© Houghton Mifflin Company, 2007
Tuesday, April 08, 2008
What Is Your Dictionary?
Two quotations from Ralph Waldo Emerson: “Life is our dictionary,” and “My garden is my dictionary.”
Saturday, March 22, 2008
Barack Obama and Race
The passage below from the recent speech by Barack Obama, bluntly titled “Barack Obama's Speech on Race” addresses a topic that we, as a rule, avoid speaking about. Obama has, I think, done a reasoned, articulate, and compassionate job of speaking of the race divide in this country, and while some, like me, are impressed and heartened by the speech, it has also earned him much criticism. No wonder we don’t talk about it. I hope Omaba’s speech does open up the topic despite the acrimony.
Here are a few of Obama’s words: And occasionally [African American anger] finds voice in the church on Sunday morning, in the pulpit and in the pews. The fact that so many people are surprised to hear that anger in some of Reverend Wright's sermons simply reminds us of the old truism that the most segregated hour of American life occurs on Sunday morning. That anger is not always productive; indeed, all too often it distracts attention from solving real problems; it keeps us from squarely facing our own complicity within the African-American community in our condition, and prevents the African-American community from forging the alliances it needs to bring about real change. But the anger is real; it is powerful. And to simply wish it away, to condemn it without understanding its roots, only serves to widen the chasm of misunderstanding that exists between the races.
In fact, a similar anger exists within segments of the white community. Most working- and middle-class white Americans don't feel that they have been particularly privileged by their race. Their experience is the immigrant experience — as far as they're concerned, no one handed them anything. They built it from scratch. They've worked hard all their lives, many times only to see their jobs shipped overseas or their pensions dumped after a lifetime of labor. They are anxious about their futures, and they feel their dreams slipping away. And in an era of stagnant wages and global competition, opportunity comes to be seen as a zero sum game, in which your dreams come at my expense. So when they are told to bus their children to a school across town; when they hear an African-American is getting an advantage in landing a good job or a spot in a good college because of an injustice that they themselves never committed; when they're told that their fears about crime in urban neighborhoods are somehow prejudiced, resentment builds over time.
Listen here or read here.
Here are a few of Obama’s words: And occasionally [African American anger] finds voice in the church on Sunday morning, in the pulpit and in the pews. The fact that so many people are surprised to hear that anger in some of Reverend Wright's sermons simply reminds us of the old truism that the most segregated hour of American life occurs on Sunday morning. That anger is not always productive; indeed, all too often it distracts attention from solving real problems; it keeps us from squarely facing our own complicity within the African-American community in our condition, and prevents the African-American community from forging the alliances it needs to bring about real change. But the anger is real; it is powerful. And to simply wish it away, to condemn it without understanding its roots, only serves to widen the chasm of misunderstanding that exists between the races.
In fact, a similar anger exists within segments of the white community. Most working- and middle-class white Americans don't feel that they have been particularly privileged by their race. Their experience is the immigrant experience — as far as they're concerned, no one handed them anything. They built it from scratch. They've worked hard all their lives, many times only to see their jobs shipped overseas or their pensions dumped after a lifetime of labor. They are anxious about their futures, and they feel their dreams slipping away. And in an era of stagnant wages and global competition, opportunity comes to be seen as a zero sum game, in which your dreams come at my expense. So when they are told to bus their children to a school across town; when they hear an African-American is getting an advantage in landing a good job or a spot in a good college because of an injustice that they themselves never committed; when they're told that their fears about crime in urban neighborhoods are somehow prejudiced, resentment builds over time.
Listen here or read here.
Saturday, March 15, 2008
YouTube Standouts
Darlene sent this link this week--just what I needed: Leonard Cohen-"Dance Me to the End of Love."
"What a Mom Says" is cute.
And Mateo's favorite is "Rabbit in My Rucksack"
And 6/17/08, Mateo's new favorite Jerry Needs No Help...
"What a Mom Says" is cute.
And Mateo's favorite is "Rabbit in My Rucksack"
And 6/17/08, Mateo's new favorite Jerry Needs No Help...
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
About Travel
We travel, initially, to lose ourselves; and we travel, next, to find ourselves. We travel to open our hearts and eyes and learn more about the world than our newspapers will accommodate. We travel to bring what little we can, in our ignorance and knowledge, to those parts of the globe whose riches are differently dispersed. And we travel, in essence, to become young fools again—to slow down and get taken in, and fall in love once more.—Pico Iyer
Saturday, March 08, 2008
Style
Style is something to be used up. Part of its significance is that it will lose significance.--Sturart Ewen
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
"We are destroying deep time," says Sven Birkerts
Sven Birkerts (in The Gutenburg Elegies) says there is no wisdom without resonance. He says, "Resonance is a natural phenomenon, the shadow of import alongside the body of fact, and it cannot flourish except in deep time. Where time has been commodified, flattened, turned into yet another thing measured, there is no chance that any piece of information can unfold its potential significance. We are destroying this deep time...No deep time, no resonance; no resonance, no wisdom. The only remaining oases are churches (for those who still worship) and the offices of therapists."
Saturday, January 12, 2008
Split in Two
Barbara Mellix writes about her experience of going to collgege after being out of high school for sixteen years, and I think, describes it beautifully. Talking about her papers in her first writing class, she writes, "There is a poverty of language in these sentences." Later she says, "I had the sensation of being split in two, part of me going into a future the other part didn't believe possible." She concludes the article with this: "Writing and rewriting, practicing, experimenting, I came to comprehend more fully the generative power of language. I discovered--with the help of some especially sensitive teachers--that through writing one can continually bring new selves into being, each with new responsibilities and difficulties, but also with new possibilities. Remarkable power, indeed. I write and continually give birth to myself."
Escapists?
The United States of America proclaims itself a land of immigrants. It would not want to be known as a "land of esscapists," yet many did just that: escape from the intolerable conditions of the Old World for the promises of the New.
From YiFu Tuan' book, Escapism.
From YiFu Tuan' book, Escapism.
Saturday, November 03, 2007
Four Reflections on History
1. Last summer I taught a composition course for an IUSB program called the Leadership Academy. We studied Civil Rights history, mostly covering African American and Hispanic actions. The growth and empowerment of the African Americans and Hispanics seemed visible to the observer, but I also felt I could see all of us opening up and growing, moved and impressed by the beauty of this history.
2. I recently read a piece of The Autobiography of Malcolm X. While he was in prison, he became an avid reader. He discovered that black people had a history beyond slavery, and as he read history after history, his vision of his place in the world grew and grew.
3. Even in the final book in the Harry Potter series there is an interesting debate about how history is written. Hermione says, “Wizarding history often skates over what the wizards have done to other magical races.”
4. I have long been moved by this passage from Neil Postman which I think refers to the history of ideas more than the history of events: History…teaches…that the world is not created anew each day, that everyone stands on someone else’s shoulders.”
2. I recently read a piece of The Autobiography of Malcolm X. While he was in prison, he became an avid reader. He discovered that black people had a history beyond slavery, and as he read history after history, his vision of his place in the world grew and grew.
3. Even in the final book in the Harry Potter series there is an interesting debate about how history is written. Hermione says, “Wizarding history often skates over what the wizards have done to other magical races.”
4. I have long been moved by this passage from Neil Postman which I think refers to the history of ideas more than the history of events: History…teaches…that the world is not created anew each day, that everyone stands on someone else’s shoulders.”
A Serious Pilgrimage
I have friends who are now recovering from serious illnesses. So I was taken by a line by Oliver Sachs in his book A Leg to Stand On where he describes his own recovery from a serious leg injury: “Uneventful recovery.” What damned utter nonsense! Recovery was a “pilgrimage,” a journey, in which one moved, if one moved, stage by stage, or by stations. Every stage, every station, was a completely new advent, requiring a new start, a new birth or beginning. One had to begin, to be born, again and again. Recovery was an exercise in nothing short of birth, for as mortal man grows sick, and dies by stages, so natal man grows well, and is quickened, by stages—radical stages, existence-stages, absolute and new: unexpected, unexpectable, incalculable and surprising. Recovery uneventful? It consists of events. (O.S.)
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
A demigod?
Language does not merely report the world...[it] creates worlds...Language creates, distorts, carries, discloses, hides, allows, oppresses, enriches, enthralls. For good or ill, language itself is something of a demigod. (Ken Wilber, The Marriage of Sense and Soul)
Friday, September 07, 2007
Barbie's Butt
You can study globalization and read Barbie’s butt at the same time. That is what Jennifer Tang reported today in a column appearing in the South Bend Tribune. The first Barbies had “Made in Japan” on their bottoms. Then it became “Made in Hong Kong,” then “Made in the Philippines” or Malaysia or Thailand. Now you know, it’s “Made in China.” Barbie kept moving. Tang cleverly says, “To see a developing nation disappear from Barbie’s rump is a reliable indicator that it is no longer “behind.” “Who knows,” she asks, “which country will appear next on Barbie’s butt? Would it be irony to find it saying “Made in USA”?
Saturday, July 28, 2007
More Thoughts about the Path
I received some new pictures of the camino this week from Elena, pictures that clearly show it as a path. Once again, I was trying to figure out why it feels to good to have completed this walk (a second time). I think it cleared my mind of junk and left it clearer to see what I really value. I feel I'm a stronger person though maybe a little more eccentric as well. This walk made me happy. It made the world seem like a bigger place. Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Here's a Woman Who Really Takes a Run
I saw a photo similar to this a few weeks ago in the South Bend Tribune (this from WNDU website). This is Rosie Swale Pope of Wales, and she is running around the world. In the last four years she has traveled 2,100 miles while pulling the cart that becomes her shelter at night. Her husband Clive died of cancer in 2002, and according to the Tribune, Pope "wanted to do something special to remember him. 'I looked at a map and thought... Hmm, I'll run across the world.'"
So, on July 5, she was in South Bend. A little later, she was at the Goshen Center for Cancer Care waiting for the results of a test for breast cancer (benign). Also, while in the Goshen area, she had some repairs done on her carriage by an Amish buggy maker. She plans to run from here to New York and then fly back home to finish in Wales. Go Rosie!
Monday, July 16, 2007
Cruz de Ferro/Letting Go
One of the spots on the Camino de Santiago is the Cruz de Ferro (Iron Cross). I had read about it beforehand and expected a larger cross. However, what I had read said bring a stone from home to put at the foot of the cross. This stone is to symbolize something you want to leave behind. I gather most people are like me; they forget to bring a stone and pick one up along the way to symbolize the stone from home that is to symbolize what they want to give up. I arrived at the cross, tossed my stone on the pile, and told it good bye. I was going to leave behind my habit of worrying what people think of me.
Obviously, an act like this is worthless unless you do it with a certain attitude. Symbolic rituals, I have discovered can be rather powerful when the act and the intention are just right for the time and place. This tossing of my stone has helped me when I find myself with some trivial worry about what others think. Today I have a disappointment at work. It feels like I threw away my stone and have received back an end-of-the-course test. What charming karma . Perfect I guess.
Wednesday, July 04, 2007
Camino Photos
I've been working on this online album: http://pictures.aol.com/galleries/mhardy6262. I've afraid I'm not clear as to how to do it. When I try to view slide show, it goes backward. Slide 54 is actually the first picture and slide 1 is the last. I still have a few more slides to add. Above is a view of the cathedral from a park outside the old tourist section. Even away from the Cathedral of St. James, it remains a visual anchor.
my infinite minutes of fame
Jamie, my yoga instructor, read this poem at the end of class last week. "It's my favorite," he said. My favorite too I believe.
Famous
By Naomi Shihab Nye
The river is famous to the fish.
The loud voice is famous to silence,
which knew it would inherit the earth
before anybody said so.
The cat sleeping on the fence is famous to the birds
watching him from the birdhouse.
The tear is famous, briefly, to the cheek.
The idea you carry close to your bosom
is famous to your bosom.
The boot is famous to the earth,
more famous than the dress shoe,
which is famous only to floors.
The bent photograph is famous to the one who carries it
and not at all famous to the one who is pictured.
I want to be famous to shuffling men
who smile while crossing streets,
sticky children in grocery lines,
famous as the one who smiled back.
I want to be famous in the way a pulley is famous,
or a buttonhole, not because it did anything spectacular,
but because it never forgot what it could do.
“Famous” from Words Under the Words: Selected Poems (Portland, Oregon: Far Corner Books, 1995). Copyright © 1995 by Naomi Shihab Nye. Used by permission of the author.
Naomi Shihab Nye’s (1952—) mixed heritage—her father is Palestinian, her mother is American—shapes the subjects of her poetry....
Famous
By Naomi Shihab Nye
The river is famous to the fish.
The loud voice is famous to silence,
which knew it would inherit the earth
before anybody said so.
The cat sleeping on the fence is famous to the birds
watching him from the birdhouse.
The tear is famous, briefly, to the cheek.
The idea you carry close to your bosom
is famous to your bosom.
The boot is famous to the earth,
more famous than the dress shoe,
which is famous only to floors.
The bent photograph is famous to the one who carries it
and not at all famous to the one who is pictured.
I want to be famous to shuffling men
who smile while crossing streets,
sticky children in grocery lines,
famous as the one who smiled back.
I want to be famous in the way a pulley is famous,
or a buttonhole, not because it did anything spectacular,
but because it never forgot what it could do.
“Famous” from Words Under the Words: Selected Poems (Portland, Oregon: Far Corner Books, 1995). Copyright © 1995 by Naomi Shihab Nye. Used by permission of the author.
Naomi Shihab Nye’s (1952—) mixed heritage—her father is Palestinian, her mother is American—shapes the subjects of her poetry....
Saturday, June 16, 2007
Peace
From "Practicing Peace in Times of War" by Pema Chödrön
We often complain about other people’s fundamentalism. But whenever we harden our hearts, what is going on with us? There’s an uneasiness and then a tightening, a shutting down, and then the next thing we know, the chain reaction begins and we become very righteous about our right to kill the mosquito or yell at the person in the car or whatever it might be. We ourselves become fundamentalists, which is to say we become very self-righteous about our personal point of view.
We often complain about other people’s fundamentalism. But whenever we harden our hearts, what is going on with us? There’s an uneasiness and then a tightening, a shutting down, and then the next thing we know, the chain reaction begins and we become very righteous about our right to kill the mosquito or yell at the person in the car or whatever it might be. We ourselves become fundamentalists, which is to say we become very self-righteous about our personal point of view.
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
100 People in the World
I've seen something similar to this before but reading it today on "Ken Wilber Online," I was impressed again:
...calculations done by Dr. Phillip Harter of Stanford University School of Medicine [say] If we could shrink the earth's population to a village of only 100 people, it would look something like this:
There would be--
57 Asians
21 Europeans
14 North and South Americans
8 Africans
30 white
70 nonwhite
6 people would possess 59% of the world's wealth,
and all 6 would be from the United States
80 would live in substandard housing
70 would be unable to read
50 would suffer malnutrition
1 would have a college education
1 would own a computer
It's an interesting perspective of the world though I'm not sure what it tells me.
...calculations done by Dr. Phillip Harter of Stanford University School of Medicine [say] If we could shrink the earth's population to a village of only 100 people, it would look something like this:
There would be--
57 Asians
21 Europeans
14 North and South Americans
8 Africans
30 white
70 nonwhite
6 people would possess 59% of the world's wealth,
and all 6 would be from the United States
80 would live in substandard housing
70 would be unable to read
50 would suffer malnutrition
1 would have a college education
1 would own a computer
It's an interesting perspective of the world though I'm not sure what it tells me.
Travel Blog/Reading Blog
I'm moving back to the reading blog though maybe, I'll need to make a few more comments about the camino and/or travel.
Monday, June 04, 2007
Thoughts after the Walk
I said to Brook, "The people making this walk seem so articulate."
¨They would need to be," she said, "to take a trip like this." She´s right. To make a trip like this, you need a story that imbues a 750k walk with meaning.
The camino is, literally, an extremely long path for walking. However, it also symbolizes a larger life path, and I think, because of the extreme physicality of the walk, it allows us to feel in our bodies what before was merely an unexamined thought.
One day I was resting on a bench at the side of the camino with Linda (from Canada), and as we sat, a number of pilgrims walked by. Linda made a comment about all of us being together on the path. For some reason, that rather cliched remark had a much deeper and more poignant meaning while sitting on such a very long path.
Insights about love, companionship, loneliness, hopefulness, and happiness also seem clearer and more visceral here. I have asked a few people here in Santiago what the walk has meant to them. One woman said, "Ask me in six months." Others have commented that it helped them understand themselves better (true for me as well). One woman told me she has left behind the last two years of suffering. I have realized that I complain too much about the ravages of war without doing enough for peace. When I get home, I want to do some work that contributes to peace.
Sunday, June 03, 2007
¡We are here!
This is the focal point of the old part of the city of Santiago, and it is an amazing construction. We have a beautiful room nearby and our feet are enjoying the shock of being relatively unused today. It is a relaxing time, and I am looking forward to family, friends, and home.
Friday, June 01, 2007
Twenty More Kilometers
June 1, 2007
We have about 20 kilometers, and we will be in Santiago. It´s kind of an odd feeling. I have been walking to Santiago since May 1. I look forward to arriving, and I feel sad about ending the walk. Mostly, I guess I am ready to return to my South Bend life.
We have about 20 kilometers, and we will be in Santiago. It´s kind of an odd feeling. I have been walking to Santiago since May 1. I look forward to arriving, and I feel sad about ending the walk. Mostly, I guess I am ready to return to my South Bend life.
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Camino Philosophy
Rory Stewart writes about walking through Afghanistan: "I was marking Afghanistan. I wanted to touch as much as possible of the country with my feet." I think what I want, in walking across Spain, is for the community, the energy, the culture, and the history of the camino to touch me.
No News Is?
May 30, 2007
I have not watched TV, listened to the radio, or read a newspaper during this whole month of May. I assume news continues to happen, but I don´t really know. It is an interesting feeling.
I have not watched TV, listened to the radio, or read a newspaper during this whole month of May. I assume news continues to happen, but I don´t really know. It is an interesting feeling.
Los Pajaros/The Birds
Watching birds along the way has been an added pleasure though often, I don´t know what bird I´m looking at. Some of these birds seem to sing in English and other in Spanish. Storks, for me, are the most dramatic of the Spanish birds I´ve seen, though I haven´t seen one for a few days. My book says they migrate here from Africa to raise their young. That sounds kind of exotic to me, and when they fly, they are strikingly beautiful.
There is another strinking bird that I am told is a magpie. I don´t think I have ever seen one in the U.S. For awhile I was calling it a padre bird because it is black and white, but now I know better. Also, we see many swallows. I am not used to seeing them in town.
I have not seen a cuckoo, but I have heard them often. There is no mistaking their call; they sound just like a cuckoo clock. They always sound like they are a distance away, and I am told it is rare to see one.
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Approaching Santiago
May 29, 2007
We are now in Galicia, the province of Santiago. There are concrete markers that measure each 1/2 kilometer of the distance to Santiago. Today we passed "100 km a Santiago.¨ Many people were taking pictures there, and we did too. (There are three of us now. Elena arrived last Friday.)
The terrain and energy level of the walk seems to be changing. Our goal is near, plus, I think the terrain is more exciting--ups and downs and incredible mountain vistas. Plus, it is very green! I continue to love it except when it rains. Today was very rural and we passed many small dairy farms and farm dogs sleeping on the path. We are in Portomarin tonight, a nice sized town with lots of shops. It is a "new town built when the old one was ´drained´by the waters of the new resevoir." The curch was "dismantled stone by stone and rebuilt in the new town. It is a lovely church and the town is very pleasant.
We are now in Galicia, the province of Santiago. There are concrete markers that measure each 1/2 kilometer of the distance to Santiago. Today we passed "100 km a Santiago.¨ Many people were taking pictures there, and we did too. (There are three of us now. Elena arrived last Friday.)
The terrain and energy level of the walk seems to be changing. Our goal is near, plus, I think the terrain is more exciting--ups and downs and incredible mountain vistas. Plus, it is very green! I continue to love it except when it rains. Today was very rural and we passed many small dairy farms and farm dogs sleeping on the path. We are in Portomarin tonight, a nice sized town with lots of shops. It is a "new town built when the old one was ´drained´by the waters of the new resevoir." The curch was "dismantled stone by stone and rebuilt in the new town. It is a lovely church and the town is very pleasant.
Monday, May 28, 2007
Two Memorable Meals
May 28, 2007
Last night we stayed in a small refugio. The host prepared dinner for about 20 of us, and we ate together at one long table. It was one of the better dinners of the trip--four courses--a delicious squash soup, a beautifully presented salad (ensalada mixta), pasta carbonara, and a traditional pudding for dessert.
The night before, we ate in a small, charming restaurant in Villafranca la Bierza. The restaurant, La Puete Perdon, served delicious food that was not quite the usual. We were eating our main dishes when suddently the woman at the next table began to sing. The room became silent except for her singing. The waiter stood still, and the cook came out to watch. She sang in French, so I´m not sure I understood the nuances of her performance, but she was good, and it added to my store of camino surprises.
Last night we stayed in a small refugio. The host prepared dinner for about 20 of us, and we ate together at one long table. It was one of the better dinners of the trip--four courses--a delicious squash soup, a beautifully presented salad (ensalada mixta), pasta carbonara, and a traditional pudding for dessert.
The night before, we ate in a small, charming restaurant in Villafranca la Bierza. The restaurant, La Puete Perdon, served delicious food that was not quite the usual. We were eating our main dishes when suddently the woman at the next table began to sing. The room became silent except for her singing. The waiter stood still, and the cook came out to watch. She sang in French, so I´m not sure I understood the nuances of her performance, but she was good, and it added to my store of camino surprises.
Saturday, May 26, 2007
High on Height
May 26, 2007
We have been doing mountain hiking, and it is very beautiful. We´re spending the night in a tiny town--Ruitelan. Beautiful! Not much else to say. As long as it doesn´t rain, it remains exhilerating and exciting. Tomorrow we will climb about 2,000 feet and reach, at the top of the climb, El Cebreiro, one of my most striking memories from the last time I did this.
We have been doing mountain hiking, and it is very beautiful. We´re spending the night in a tiny town--Ruitelan. Beautiful! Not much else to say. As long as it doesn´t rain, it remains exhilerating and exciting. Tomorrow we will climb about 2,000 feet and reach, at the top of the climb, El Cebreiro, one of my most striking memories from the last time I did this.
Thursday, May 24, 2007
Beautiful Day, Steep Price
Today´s walk has been fantastic. The guidebook says, most beautiful spot on the camino and the most difficult. True. We started out hiking in the clouds. After about an hour, the clouds lifted and we had the most incredible mountain views, wildflowers, butterflies, sunshine, cows, sheep, trees, and other nature chiches. We are spending the night in Ponferada. We arrived here around 5:00 PM, but we have seen this town, off and on, since 10:00 this morning.
Yesterday started out beautiful but then a drizzle turned into rain so strong we could see little but our feet, so we were forced to cut the hike short and stay in a small town that seemed to contain nothing but three refugios.
I feel very content tonight.
Yesterday started out beautiful but then a drizzle turned into rain so strong we could see little but our feet, so we were forced to cut the hike short and stay in a small town that seemed to contain nothing but three refugios.
I feel very content tonight.
Sunday, May 20, 2007
Oldest Bridge in Spain, Longest Walk so Far
May 21, 2007
This bridge is supposed to be the oldest bridge in Spain. It is how we arrived in the town of Hospital de Orbigo after covering more walking distance than ever before--30k. I read that this bridge was built by the Romans in the 13th century though I thought I had read that it was older even that that. It is odd when our lives overlap with the lives of people living in the 13th century. I´ve been thinking today about the cathedral in Leon. I find it mind-blowing. I´m trying to imagine how it appeared to people who had never seen a photograph or a movie or talked on a phone. They must have thought it proof of God´s existence.
¡Awesome!
Brook and I could see the spires of the Leon Cathedral from quite a distance away, but it was only when we came around a corner and saw it up close that we could see how impressive it is. The design is amazing.It was built in the 13th century and added to later. Our guildebook says, "stained glass is as magnificent as anything anywhere in Europe." The stained glass took my breath away.
We are staying in the flat of a couple who have a good view of the cathedral from the window of their flat. They are Servas hosts and we are enjoying their hospitality.
Saturday, May 19, 2007
El Mundo es un Pañuelo
May 16, 2007
In Carrion de los Condes, I went shopping for a handkerchief. (Tissues are annoying for hiking.) The sales woman pulled down five flat boxes and showed me the selection. I chose a lovely white one with pink flowers. It was a satisfying little purchase. Later Brook siad she should have bought one too, so we can do this shopping again.
El Mundo es un pañuelo means "the world is a handkerchief¨;" the world is small. There is a sense of that here, especially the world of Europe, North, and South American. The other day there were five Americans in the refugio, a record number.
In Carrion de los Condes, I went shopping for a handkerchief. (Tissues are annoying for hiking.) The sales woman pulled down five flat boxes and showed me the selection. I chose a lovely white one with pink flowers. It was a satisfying little purchase. Later Brook siad she should have bought one too, so we can do this shopping again.
El Mundo es un pañuelo means "the world is a handkerchief¨;" the world is small. There is a sense of that here, especially the world of Europe, North, and South American. The other day there were five Americans in the refugio, a record number.
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
International Picnic
May 16, 2007
Todaya we walked 18k through the mesata, farmland that reminds me a little of southern Indiana. Usually, we don´t walk this far without a bar for coffee and snacks. We stopped at the one table at the side of the road for our snack and joined two Italian women, three Germans, and a man and his son-in-law from Brazil. Tonight we stay in Calzadilla de la Cueza, a very small town.
Todaya we walked 18k through the mesata, farmland that reminds me a little of southern Indiana. Usually, we don´t walk this far without a bar for coffee and snacks. We stopped at the one table at the side of the road for our snack and joined two Italian women, three Germans, and a man and his son-in-law from Brazil. Tonight we stay in Calzadilla de la Cueza, a very small town.
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Quick News
May 15, 2007
Brook has been here since Friday and has walked with me for four days. She has probably walked about 86 kilometers on the path and then a few more as we stroll and tour in the evenings. On Sunday (4-13) we spnt the night in Cartrojeriz. On Monday we spent the night in Fromista, and tonight we are in Carrion de los Condes. On Sunday I had the best meal on the camino and we may just have had the second best today.
We only walked about 20K today yet both of us felt very tired. Me, especially in the feet; Brook in the legs. We probably should have rested more along the way. Today, in terms of scenery, the least dramatic day yet, still, lovely--mainly just walking past crops, lots of wheat (triga)--some very new corn I think.
There is a bit of worry sometimes that the refugios will be full. A Texas walker has warned us that we may have problems tomorrow. That is one unpleasant element of the path. Apparently, a German comedian has written a book about the camino which has motivated more Germans to come. This may have pushed facilities too much. They are more crowded than last time.
We walked today with a 19-year-old from France. He spent 2-3 weeks in the US helping with Katrina repair. It was odd meeting someone from another country who had done aid-work in the US.
Brook has been here since Friday and has walked with me for four days. She has probably walked about 86 kilometers on the path and then a few more as we stroll and tour in the evenings. On Sunday (4-13) we spnt the night in Cartrojeriz. On Monday we spent the night in Fromista, and tonight we are in Carrion de los Condes. On Sunday I had the best meal on the camino and we may just have had the second best today.
We only walked about 20K today yet both of us felt very tired. Me, especially in the feet; Brook in the legs. We probably should have rested more along the way. Today, in terms of scenery, the least dramatic day yet, still, lovely--mainly just walking past crops, lots of wheat (triga)--some very new corn I think.
There is a bit of worry sometimes that the refugios will be full. A Texas walker has warned us that we may have problems tomorrow. That is one unpleasant element of the path. Apparently, a German comedian has written a book about the camino which has motivated more Germans to come. This may have pushed facilities too much. They are more crowded than last time.
We walked today with a 19-year-old from France. He spent 2-3 weeks in the US helping with Katrina repair. It was odd meeting someone from another country who had done aid-work in the US.
Sunday, May 13, 2007
Welcome Brook
May 12, 2007
Yesterday was a long rather ugly walk into Burgos. Kilometer after kilometer of industry and car dealershlips. Then we entered a more attractive downtown shopping and business area. Finally we entered the old part of the city built around a Gothic Cathedral (building started in 800 I think). There is a river through this part, beautiful trees, sculptures, plazas, and outdoor tables for eating and drinking. I went first to the municipal refugio because that was the place Brook and I were meeting. We arrived within 15 minutes of each other. She is struggling a bit with jet lag.
We walked 20k today and are staying in a small town called Hornillos del Camino. It feels like a combination of Southern Indiana farms and Spain--mainly wheat. We are entering a new region, more flat, more devoted to grain. I didn´t see a single vineyard today and maybe not the day before either.
Yesterday was a long rather ugly walk into Burgos. Kilometer after kilometer of industry and car dealershlips. Then we entered a more attractive downtown shopping and business area. Finally we entered the old part of the city built around a Gothic Cathedral (building started in 800 I think). There is a river through this part, beautiful trees, sculptures, plazas, and outdoor tables for eating and drinking. I went first to the municipal refugio because that was the place Brook and I were meeting. We arrived within 15 minutes of each other. She is struggling a bit with jet lag.
We walked 20k today and are staying in a small town called Hornillos del Camino. It feels like a combination of Southern Indiana farms and Spain--mainly wheat. We are entering a new region, more flat, more devoted to grain. I didn´t see a single vineyard today and maybe not the day before either.
Thursday, May 10, 2007
¨Where is my car?
May 10, 2007
It has been a hard walking day. My blister made my foot tender and there was a lot of up-hill and down-hill. However, I am now on one of the most modern refugios on the camino and relaxing at the computer in the bar (which is under the sleeping quarters). We are in a small town called Ages (pronounced something like Ah-hays).
I walked with the Canadian couple today. At one part, after a tiring up hill climb, we met two people from Germany. After greetings, the German man (pack on his back, boots on his feet) looked around and said, ¨Where is my car? Where is my car?
Brook arrives tomorrow. I hope we meet up without too much trouble.
It has been a hard walking day. My blister made my foot tender and there was a lot of up-hill and down-hill. However, I am now on one of the most modern refugios on the camino and relaxing at the computer in the bar (which is under the sleeping quarters). We are in a small town called Ages (pronounced something like Ah-hays).
I walked with the Canadian couple today. At one part, after a tiring up hill climb, we met two people from Germany. After greetings, the German man (pack on his back, boots on his feet) looked around and said, ¨Where is my car? Where is my car?
Brook arrives tomorrow. I hope we meet up without too much trouble.
Step by Step
May 9, 2007
Tonight, I am, as I was last night, in a small refugio which will serve a dinner to all. It has been a relaxing afternoon here. I was resting in the yard when 5-6 men rode up on beautiful horses. I understand that they are going to do a week on the camino, starting at Roncesvalles and ending around Leon. By the time I went inside and came back with my camera, the horses were unsaddled and being hosed down. Now, from inside, I hear occasional horse noises. They also have a small RV and driver carrying supplies.
I walked the first couple of hours this morning alone and then a couple of hours with a Canadian couple. There are a fair number of Canadians on my path. In the last couple of days, I have seen one American (from Florida but born in East Chicago, IN). The Canadian woman doesn´t want to talk to him. She says he reminds her of George Bush. It is interesting to be a minority in this international group. No one has said how much they appreciate American foreign policy.
I have acquired a painful blister on a toe, so I have sucumbed to a traditional camino cure. You go through the blister with a needle and thread (like one stitch) and then leave the thread in to aid drainage. We´ll see if this works tomorrow.
¡Buen camino! Good path!
Tonight, I am, as I was last night, in a small refugio which will serve a dinner to all. It has been a relaxing afternoon here. I was resting in the yard when 5-6 men rode up on beautiful horses. I understand that they are going to do a week on the camino, starting at Roncesvalles and ending around Leon. By the time I went inside and came back with my camera, the horses were unsaddled and being hosed down. Now, from inside, I hear occasional horse noises. They also have a small RV and driver carrying supplies.
I walked the first couple of hours this morning alone and then a couple of hours with a Canadian couple. There are a fair number of Canadians on my path. In the last couple of days, I have seen one American (from Florida but born in East Chicago, IN). The Canadian woman doesn´t want to talk to him. She says he reminds her of George Bush. It is interesting to be a minority in this international group. No one has said how much they appreciate American foreign policy.
I have acquired a painful blister on a toe, so I have sucumbed to a traditional camino cure. You go through the blister with a needle and thread (like one stitch) and then leave the thread in to aid drainage. We´ll see if this works tomorrow.
¡Buen camino! Good path!
Wednesday, May 09, 2007
Sleeping in Church
May 9, 2007
I stayed in an interesting place last night in Groñon. The refuge is attached to a 14th century church. Since it was full, I slept on a mat on the floor of the church. The volunters at the rufuge fixed salad and pasta for around 60 of us. It was tasty and friendly.
I stayed in an interesting place last night in Groñon. The refuge is attached to a 14th century church. Since it was full, I slept on a mat on the floor of the church. The volunters at the rufuge fixed salad and pasta for around 60 of us. It was tasty and friendly.
Monday, May 07, 2007
By Foot
May 7, 2007
I spent last night in Logroño with a Servas family. It was a charming visit. I ate dinner in their house and walked around a park in their town as well as the plaza near their flat. Yesterday was a perfert day. I walked 29k, the weather was comfortable, the scenery was fantastic, and a Frenchman arraged for our packs to be sent ahead. Without a pack, my feet had wings.
Today was fine but a little more tiring--27k with the pack. Glamor note--I have blister on my big toe.
I spent last night in Logroño with a Servas family. It was a charming visit. I ate dinner in their house and walked around a park in their town as well as the plaza near their flat. Yesterday was a perfert day. I walked 29k, the weather was comfortable, the scenery was fantastic, and a Frenchman arraged for our packs to be sent ahead. Without a pack, my feet had wings.
Today was fine but a little more tiring--27k with the pack. Glamor note--I have blister on my big toe.
Small World Department
May 7, 2007
Two nights ago in Los Arcos, I met a married couple from St. Paul, Minnesota. I refrained from saying, "I know someone from St. Paul." Then, they told me they were Unitarian ministers, so I asked, "Do you know Lisa D.?" It turns out they know her very well. For some reason, this amazes me. It was odd to be asked in this small Spanish town "Did you know Joel?" (I did.)
Two nights ago in Los Arcos, I met a married couple from St. Paul, Minnesota. I refrained from saying, "I know someone from St. Paul." Then, they told me they were Unitarian ministers, so I asked, "Do you know Lisa D.?" It turns out they know her very well. For some reason, this amazes me. It was odd to be asked in this small Spanish town "Did you know Joel?" (I did.)
Saturday, April 28, 2007
Camino Map
From http://www.willemswebs.com/album/camino/trip4.htmMay 3, 2007
Today was the first real relaxing day since I left South Bend. I spent time drinking coffee (cafe con leche) and writing in my journal before starting to walk. I walked for an hour or so with a father and son from Brazil. Then I spent most of the rest of the day walking alone which I needed. Walking up mountains, walking down, looking out at vast vistas of mountains and fields and villages. Some highways and towns. Infinite shades of green.
I liked Pamplona a lot and had fantasies of moving there. Completely a fantasy. Now I am in Puenta de la Reina (Bridge of the Queen). I walked past many windmills today--very modern and a bit ominous like giant mechanical soldiers. Riding the bus from Madrid to the start of the walk and again today, I think I have seen hundreds of windmills. I wonder how much energy they provide Spain. It has been a beautiful and tiring day, and the refugios is full of an Irish walking group to keep me in touch with my heritage.
Nutters
May 5, 2007
Rory Stewart, in The Places in Between, tells of a freezing day walking in Afganistan. As he is walking a jeep passes him with British Special Forces men inside. He says,
"When they reached me, an electric window when down..."You,¨said the driver, "are a fucking nutter.¨
This passage from my camino reading was especially with me yesterday. After I crossed this beautiful 11th century bridge in the picture, I hiked for 5-7 kilometers through mud--slimy, slick, wet mud. I thought of the nutter comment and felt sympathy with the sentiment. Still, it was exhilerating after finding an alternative path and a bizarre feeling of accomplishment.
I told some of you I would try to post a few notes on this site and now find myself wondering what to say. Walking is an anachronistsic (sp?) way to travel--still, it is an intimate way to travel as well. I see fewer sights but I seem them slowly and close-up. I also have plenty of time, when walking with others, to talk, and when walking alone, to think. That´s another kind of intimacy. So, a record of this trip is an account of thoughts and travel.
I spent a lot of time with Liz from England, and we decided that much of camino time is either blissful or miserable. I hope more bliss than misery, but I am not attached to that balance. Today, for the most part, has been sweet, and a hospitable touch this morning was the fuente de vino--the wine fountatin. A winery we passed has a fountain on the side of the building (really a lovely faucet) that pours red wine. I had a small nip of wine there this morning around 8:00 A.M. I have heard more than one person talk about how alcohol can get one started in the morning, but I´m not sold on that perspective yet. Still, I was pleased at the generostiy the fountain represents.
After the fountain I passd many vineyards. Most of the grape plants have just a few leaves at this time of year, and I still want to walk for a couple of weeks here during the grape harvest. The bases of the grape plants look ancient. I also passed an orchard of olive trees, grain fields, and a few almond trees. The altitude of today´s walk went from 420 - 700 meters above sea level.
It appears that the number of walkers on the camino keeps going up. Last night we arrived five minutes too late to get a bed in the refugio. Liz and I shared a reasonably priced room.
So, the walk continues.
Rory Stewart, in The Places in Between, tells of a freezing day walking in Afganistan. As he is walking a jeep passes him with British Special Forces men inside. He says,
"When they reached me, an electric window when down..."You,¨said the driver, "are a fucking nutter.¨
This passage from my camino reading was especially with me yesterday. After I crossed this beautiful 11th century bridge in the picture, I hiked for 5-7 kilometers through mud--slimy, slick, wet mud. I thought of the nutter comment and felt sympathy with the sentiment. Still, it was exhilerating after finding an alternative path and a bizarre feeling of accomplishment.
I told some of you I would try to post a few notes on this site and now find myself wondering what to say. Walking is an anachronistsic (sp?) way to travel--still, it is an intimate way to travel as well. I see fewer sights but I seem them slowly and close-up. I also have plenty of time, when walking with others, to talk, and when walking alone, to think. That´s another kind of intimacy. So, a record of this trip is an account of thoughts and travel.
I spent a lot of time with Liz from England, and we decided that much of camino time is either blissful or miserable. I hope more bliss than misery, but I am not attached to that balance. Today, for the most part, has been sweet, and a hospitable touch this morning was the fuente de vino--the wine fountatin. A winery we passed has a fountain on the side of the building (really a lovely faucet) that pours red wine. I had a small nip of wine there this morning around 8:00 A.M. I have heard more than one person talk about how alcohol can get one started in the morning, but I´m not sold on that perspective yet. Still, I was pleased at the generostiy the fountain represents.
After the fountain I passd many vineyards. Most of the grape plants have just a few leaves at this time of year, and I still want to walk for a couple of weeks here during the grape harvest. The bases of the grape plants look ancient. I also passed an orchard of olive trees, grain fields, and a few almond trees. The altitude of today´s walk went from 420 - 700 meters above sea level.
It appears that the number of walkers on the camino keeps going up. Last night we arrived five minutes too late to get a bed in the refugio. Liz and I shared a reasonably priced room.
So, the walk continues.
Pamplona
I am here. This is the old gate into Pamplona and it is quite a sight. I walked 22k today and yesterday. It´s a surprise to the system, but I´m doing pretty well. Yesterday was very mistly, sometimes rainy. It was very beautiful but some of the paths were muddy. I walked half the day yesterday with a woman from England and we have had fun together. We are both sitting in a cyber cafe right now. Last night she and I had dinner with a young man from Finland who spoke wonderful English but is full of anti-American attitudes which of course he has no more.
John and Mary gave me the book The Places in Between by Rory Steward, a Scot who did a very long walk in Afghanistan. He makes my little walk seems like a piece of cake. He walked through snow and cold in January. But it was fun to read it on the plane as preparation. I left SB at 8 AM Sunday and spent 29 hours as a parcel but I was reading about being a walker. I asked John if I could tear the pages out of the book after I read them because I don´t want to carry them. I´ve been doing that and it feels very wicked but also nice. "I´m through with that" I say to myself and rip it out.
This Site Now a Travel-Blog
Rebecca Solnit has written a book with the odd subtitle A History of Walking. She says we depend so much on our cars that “In a sense the car has become a prosthetic…” She also says, with so many conveyances available, we often are carried through space like parcels.
Tomorrow, I am going to be carried to Spain like a parcel. Then I will try to balance that extreme passivity by walking everyday. This short quotation from Solnit is the beginning of this site becoming a little space for me to record my travels instead of my reading. Tomorrow I will fly to Madrid. From Madrid I will take a bus to Roncesvalles which is just a few miles from the border of France. Then, mostly, I will walk to Santiago which is just a few miles from the Atlantic Ocean. Today I’m feeling like this was a silly thing today. I assume I will change my mind soon. The path I will follow is the Camino de Santiago.
Tomorrow, I am going to be carried to Spain like a parcel. Then I will try to balance that extreme passivity by walking everyday. This short quotation from Solnit is the beginning of this site becoming a little space for me to record my travels instead of my reading. Tomorrow I will fly to Madrid. From Madrid I will take a bus to Roncesvalles which is just a few miles from the border of France. Then, mostly, I will walk to Santiago which is just a few miles from the Atlantic Ocean. Today I’m feeling like this was a silly thing today. I assume I will change my mind soon. The path I will follow is the Camino de Santiago.
Monday, April 16, 2007
Just Passing Through
One day I noticed that I wasn't breathing--I was being breathed. Then I also noticed, to my amazement, that I wasn't thinking--that I was actually being thought and that thinking isn't personal...Thoughts just appear. They come out of nothing and go back to nothing, like clouds moving across the empty sky. They come to pass, not to stay...(from Bryon Katie, Loving What Is).
Sunday, April 08, 2007
A Matter of Perspective
Lisa gave me a copy of this little reading which apparently was first published in the book Insight Meditation by Joseph Goldstein.
A friend’s son was in the first grade of school, and his teacher asked the class, “What is the color of apples?” Most of the children answered red. A few said green. Kevin, my friend’s son, raised his hand and said white. The teacher tried to explain that apples could be red, green, or sometimes golden, but never white. Kevin was quite insistent and finally said, “Look inside.” Perception without mindfulness keeps us on the surface of things, and we often miss other levels of reality.
For the last couple of years, I’ve been walking to work at least once a week. My perception of downtown has changed. I no longer drive past. I walk inside it. I like South Bend much more from the walker's perspective.
A friend’s son was in the first grade of school, and his teacher asked the class, “What is the color of apples?” Most of the children answered red. A few said green. Kevin, my friend’s son, raised his hand and said white. The teacher tried to explain that apples could be red, green, or sometimes golden, but never white. Kevin was quite insistent and finally said, “Look inside.” Perception without mindfulness keeps us on the surface of things, and we often miss other levels of reality.
For the last couple of years, I’ve been walking to work at least once a week. My perception of downtown has changed. I no longer drive past. I walk inside it. I like South Bend much more from the walker's perspective.
Friday, April 06, 2007
Thinking about Spain
These boots are almost like mine, and I'm getting ready to wear my boots on a hike through Spain. I was happy to find this poem by Billy Collins. He thinks about walking to Spain, I about walking through Spain, and both of us, a little bit, about magic. I just "discovered" Collins a few weeks ago when my yoga teacher read one of his poems during relaxation. You can hear him read others works here.
Walking across the Atlantic
By Billy Collins
I wait for the holiday crowd to clear the beach
before stepping onto the first wave.
Soon I am walking across the Atlantic
thinking about Spain,
checking for whales, waterspouts.
I feel the water holding up my shifting weight.
Tonight I will sleep on its rocking surface.
But for now I try to imagine what
this must look like to the fish below,
the bottoms of my feet appearing, disappearing.
Thursday, April 05, 2007
Reality Rules
Counter-intuitive ideas from Byron Katie (author of Loving What Is): For me, reality is God, because it rules….I’m a lover of what is, not because I’m a spiritual person, but because it hurts when I argue with reality….Thoughts aren’t personal. They just appear, like raindrops. Would you argue with a raindrop?... Why are you upset? You’re believing what you think. Want to get sane? Question what you believe.
Wednesday, April 04, 2007
The Right Questions
In today’s New York Times, Glenn Branca has a column “The 25 Questions.” Branca’s questions come from the perspective of a musician/composer, and he asks questions such as, “Why does the contemporary musical establishment remain so conservative when all other fields of the arts embrace new ideas?”
“I got the idea for this piece,” he says, “from mathematician David Hilbert’s well-known list of '23 Paris Problems’ (1900) that he hoped to see solved in the new century.” It’s a great reminder that a list can be a profound structure for thinking and writing about an issue. I don't, right off, have my ultimate list topic. However, the idea of listing important questions seems useful. For now, I’ll list the questions I’d like to answer in my life. I’ll revise it from time to time.
“I got the idea for this piece,” he says, “from mathematician David Hilbert’s well-known list of '23 Paris Problems’ (1900) that he hoped to see solved in the new century.” It’s a great reminder that a list can be a profound structure for thinking and writing about an issue. I don't, right off, have my ultimate list topic. However, the idea of listing important questions seems useful. For now, I’ll list the questions I’d like to answer in my life. I’ll revise it from time to time.
Monday, March 26, 2007
A Swift Boat a Day...
Wired magazine reports on, “a slick pro-Obama, anti-Clinton riff on Apple's 1984 Super Bowl commercial that's been the buzz of both the blogosphere and the media. By midweek, the Vote Different video had been viewed more than a million times, according to YouTube statistics.” Sarah Lai Stirland of Wired goes on to say, “The video's success has fired up a new round of debate about the impact of federal regulators' decision a year ago to exclude unpaid online political activity from the detailed disclosure requirements that apply to political advertising in traditional media.” This is an interesting development which means that political ads can now be even more dishonest and unethical--and entertaining. See the Wired article for links to some sample ads.
Tuesday, March 06, 2007
Fossil Fuel Walking
Every bushel of conventionally grown corn requires a half-gallon of fossil fuel to produce (nitrogen fertilizers and pesticides are made from fossil fuels). When you consider that about 60 percent of that corn goes to feed livestock, it’s possible to calculate…that a typical steer consumes about 284 gallons of oil in its lifetime. That’s enough fuel to drive an average car from New York to Los Angeles and back…[W]e could slow the rate of climate change more effectively if meat-eaters went vegan than if they traded their gas-guzzlers in for hybrids. (Amy Hassinger. “Ethical Eating.” UU World, Spring 2007.)
Thursday, January 25, 2007
And Lethargy for All
Bob Herbert says this in todays New York Times:
There’s a hole in the American system where the leadership used to be. The country that led the miraculous rebuilding effort in the aftermath of World War II can’t even build an adequate system of levees on its own Gulf Coast.
The most effective answer to this leadership vacuum would be a new era of political activism by ordinary citizens. The biggest, most far-reaching changes of the past century — the labor movement, the civil rights movement, the women’s movement — were not primarily the result of elective politics, but rather the hard work of committed citizen-activists fed up with the status quo.
It’s time for thoughtful citizens to turn off their TVs and step into the public arena. Protest. Attend meetings. Circulate petitions. Run for office. I suspect the public right now is way ahead of the politicians when it comes to ideas about creating a more peaceful, more equitable, more intelligent society ("Long on Rhetoric, Short on Sorrow").
This is a good perscription, but it will require that we have more guts and energy than our leaders.
There’s a hole in the American system where the leadership used to be. The country that led the miraculous rebuilding effort in the aftermath of World War II can’t even build an adequate system of levees on its own Gulf Coast.
The most effective answer to this leadership vacuum would be a new era of political activism by ordinary citizens. The biggest, most far-reaching changes of the past century — the labor movement, the civil rights movement, the women’s movement — were not primarily the result of elective politics, but rather the hard work of committed citizen-activists fed up with the status quo.
It’s time for thoughtful citizens to turn off their TVs and step into the public arena. Protest. Attend meetings. Circulate petitions. Run for office. I suspect the public right now is way ahead of the politicians when it comes to ideas about creating a more peaceful, more equitable, more intelligent society ("Long on Rhetoric, Short on Sorrow").
This is a good perscription, but it will require that we have more guts and energy than our leaders.
An Unusual Election
I heard an interesting fact this week on the Diann Rehm Show. Not since 1952 have we had a presidential election where there was neither an incubant or a vice-president running for office.
Monday, January 15, 2007
Willie Loman?
Yesterday in the New York Times, Frank Rich wrote, "President Bush always had one asset he could fall back on: the self-confidence of a born salesman. Like Harold Hill in “The Music Man,” he knew how to roll out a new product, however deceptive or useless, with conviction and stagecraft. What the world saw on Wednesday night was a defeated Willy Loman who looked as broken as his war" (“He’s in the Bunker Now”). That's a surprising and interesting image of our president.
Sunday, January 14, 2007
Land of Disparity
In today's New York Times, David Brooks writes the following:
Income inequality is on the rise. The rich are getting better at passing their advantages on to their kids….Seymour Martin Lipset, the eminent sociologist who died at 84 on New Year’s Eve. Lipset, …was relentlessly empirical, and rested his conclusions [about inequality] on data as well as history and philosophy. He found that Americans have for centuries embraced individualistic, meritocratic, antistatist values, even at times when income inequality was greater than it is today.
Large majorities of Americans have always believed that individuals are responsible for their own success, Lipset reported, while people in other countries are much more likely to point to forces beyond individual control. Sixty-five percent of Americans believe hard work is the key to success; only 12 percent think luck plays a major role. In his “American Exceptionalism” (1996), Lipset pointed out that 78 percent of Americans endorse the view that “the strength of this country today is mostly based on the success of American business.” Fewer than a third of all Americans believe the state has a responsibility to reduce income disparities, compared with 82 percent of Italians. Over 70 percent of Americans believe “individuals should take more responsibility for providing for themselves” whereas most Japanese believe “the state should take more responsibility to ensure everyone is provided for.”…Political movements that run afoul of these individualistic, achievement-oriented values rarely prosper. (“The American Way of Equality")
Income inequality is on the rise. The rich are getting better at passing their advantages on to their kids….Seymour Martin Lipset, the eminent sociologist who died at 84 on New Year’s Eve. Lipset, …was relentlessly empirical, and rested his conclusions [about inequality] on data as well as history and philosophy. He found that Americans have for centuries embraced individualistic, meritocratic, antistatist values, even at times when income inequality was greater than it is today.
Large majorities of Americans have always believed that individuals are responsible for their own success, Lipset reported, while people in other countries are much more likely to point to forces beyond individual control. Sixty-five percent of Americans believe hard work is the key to success; only 12 percent think luck plays a major role. In his “American Exceptionalism” (1996), Lipset pointed out that 78 percent of Americans endorse the view that “the strength of this country today is mostly based on the success of American business.” Fewer than a third of all Americans believe the state has a responsibility to reduce income disparities, compared with 82 percent of Italians. Over 70 percent of Americans believe “individuals should take more responsibility for providing for themselves” whereas most Japanese believe “the state should take more responsibility to ensure everyone is provided for.”…Political movements that run afoul of these individualistic, achievement-oriented values rarely prosper. (“The American Way of Equality")
Friday, September 29, 2006
With a Side of Fossil Fuel
Our food, says Michael Pollan (Omnivore’s Dilemma) is “drenched in fossil fuel” (183). He goes on to say, “Today it takes between seven and ten calories of fossil fuel energy to deliver one calorie of food energy to an American plate…only a fifth of the total energy used to feed us is consumed on the farm; the rest is spent processing the food and moving it around” (183). Why is this topic so completely missing from energy conservation conversations?
What are your suggestions for improving this situation? Does it matter?
What are your suggestions for improving this situation? Does it matter?
Wednesday, September 27, 2006
I am corn walking.
I’m reading the Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan, a story of our food. I had heard Pollan interviewed on NPR and read reviews of the book, and the book is much more interesting than I expected. I grew up on a farm (and presently own 1/5 of that farm), and sensed a vast change in how food is grown (or should we say manufactured) now. Omnivore’s Dilemma gives substance to those suspicions. To me, former farmer, it’s a heartbreaking picture but fascinating nevertheless.
Our food supply seems to be organized around corn (with soybeans in second place). Pollan says, the Maya were so dependent on corn as a food that they sometimes referred to themselves as “the corn people.” They might say, “I am corn walking” (19). However, we in the U. S. now consume more corn than Mexicans; we just consume in indirectly in the form of corn fed meats and colas sweetened with high-fructose corn syrup. Corn is turned into acids, sugars, starches, and alcohols. You are seeing corn on the ingredient list when you see “citric and lactic acid; glucose, fructose, and maltodextrin; ethanol, sorbitol, mannitol, and xanthan gum; modified and unmodified starches; as well as dextrins and cyclodextrins and MSG, to name only a few” (86). I checked the label on my Cheerios this morning. Modified corn starch is the second ingredient and corn starch is the third. Read this book and be depressed.
Our food supply seems to be organized around corn (with soybeans in second place). Pollan says, the Maya were so dependent on corn as a food that they sometimes referred to themselves as “the corn people.” They might say, “I am corn walking” (19). However, we in the U. S. now consume more corn than Mexicans; we just consume in indirectly in the form of corn fed meats and colas sweetened with high-fructose corn syrup. Corn is turned into acids, sugars, starches, and alcohols. You are seeing corn on the ingredient list when you see “citric and lactic acid; glucose, fructose, and maltodextrin; ethanol, sorbitol, mannitol, and xanthan gum; modified and unmodified starches; as well as dextrins and cyclodextrins and MSG, to name only a few” (86). I checked the label on my Cheerios this morning. Modified corn starch is the second ingredient and corn starch is the third. Read this book and be depressed.
Saturday, September 02, 2006
A Thin Democracy
In my most recent issue of UU World Frances Moore Lappé writes about American democracy: “[T]he unpleasant fact [is] that democracy and the now-dominant version of a market economy are actually based on opposing principles. Democracy depends on the wide dispersion of power so that each of us has a voice. But our peculiar version of the market is driven by a single rule, highest return to existing wealth, that does the opposite: It inexorably concentrates wealth and power, denying people a real voice…”
She then talks about the wealth gap. She says, “Such extreme concentration of wealth overwhelms elected governments and destroys open markets. Sixty-one lobbyists now walk the corridors of power in Washington, D. C., for every elected representative. I call this unworkable frame Thin Democracy.”
Lappé belives we can replace Thin Democracy with what she calls Living Democracy. I understand her analysis of the problem. I’m still studying her Living Democracy solution. You can read the article and the website of the Small Planet Institute.
She then talks about the wealth gap. She says, “Such extreme concentration of wealth overwhelms elected governments and destroys open markets. Sixty-one lobbyists now walk the corridors of power in Washington, D. C., for every elected representative. I call this unworkable frame Thin Democracy.”
Lappé belives we can replace Thin Democracy with what she calls Living Democracy. I understand her analysis of the problem. I’m still studying her Living Democracy solution. You can read the article and the website of the Small Planet Institute.
Monday, August 28, 2006
Rachel Corrie
Until yesterday morning, I didn’t know much about Rachel Corrie, just that she was a peace activist who was killed when an Israeli bulldozer ran over her—intentionally it seemed. Yesterday morning at the South Bend First Unitarian, four members gave a presentation, reading emails Rachel Corrie had sent before her death along with other readings and songs. I hadn’t really wanted to know more about Rachel Corrie, maybe because, even from the sketchy information I had, it was obvious this story would be complicated. But it wasn’t a complicated story. The Israeli/Palistine conflict is complicated, but it seems very uncomplicated that young women don’t need to be killed to expedite Palestinian home demolitions in Rafah.
Rachel Corrie was young (24), idealistic, and articulate. Her emails show a thoughtful woman interested in justice. Apparently, this concern for others began in her childhood. Like Corrie, when I was a child, I assumed I would grow up and fix the messes of the world. Unlike Corrie, by the time I was her age, I had already despaired of my ability to change the world. I lack(ed) the courage to act as she did. I am also too rational. I would say to myself, what difference can a protest make? Yet, hearing Rachel Corrie’s story, I was incredibly moved, and I know she made a difference in a complicated, violent conflict. And her story calls me to, somehow, shift the way I respond to the world’s lack of humanity.
Also, Rachel Corrie’s story offers an opportunity to experience my sorrow instead of my despair. Her story reminds me that there are truer emotions than anger and despair. Like the child I so often leave behind, these stories of violence break my heart. Anger has its place, but my heart tells me that sorrow is a truer place than anger.
Rachel Corrie was young (24), idealistic, and articulate. Her emails show a thoughtful woman interested in justice. Apparently, this concern for others began in her childhood. Like Corrie, when I was a child, I assumed I would grow up and fix the messes of the world. Unlike Corrie, by the time I was her age, I had already despaired of my ability to change the world. I lack(ed) the courage to act as she did. I am also too rational. I would say to myself, what difference can a protest make? Yet, hearing Rachel Corrie’s story, I was incredibly moved, and I know she made a difference in a complicated, violent conflict. And her story calls me to, somehow, shift the way I respond to the world’s lack of humanity.
Also, Rachel Corrie’s story offers an opportunity to experience my sorrow instead of my despair. Her story reminds me that there are truer emotions than anger and despair. Like the child I so often leave behind, these stories of violence break my heart. Anger has its place, but my heart tells me that sorrow is a truer place than anger.
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