Quaker gathering!

Saturday I'm flying out to the Midwest tomorrow for the FGC Gathering. Ken can't go unfortunately, so he and Ivan will be home destroying the apartment.

One of the coolest things about going is that my friend Stasa is doing a workshop on being Quaker and Pagan and was asked to gather a group to sing some of the music from a ritual she co-compiled. She asked me to sing! I haven't sung in a group that does harmonies in years and I absolutely love singing good sacred music of any faith (multiple faiths in this case), so I am ecstatic. Also nervous.

A few days ago, I wrote a slightly nervous email to Stasa about lack of rehearsal time at the gathering (three of us are in PA and Stasa's in Michigan) and not knowing all my parts yet. Stasa, bless her, sent two emails, the second one of which concludes:

"And the main point of this gig is to have fun with each other. It doesn't
have to be perfect: we're not getting paid; and it's a cabaret. It's about
sharing cool music and not having to be perfect. Yay!"

Yay indeed!

Yes I will be recording this, and yes I will post some audio files if it comes out! We're doing not only the ritual music but some other pieces, including 2 I suggested, Song of Peace and Swimming to the Other Side. Both songs fit with the theme of the Gathering "...but who is my neighbor?"

As for the rest of the Gathering: mornings I'll be in a workshop on Holding in the Light, a Quaker practice of healing prayer, afternoons and evenings there's music (including ours) talking, worship, interest groups, speakers, and dancing.

Uprooting

I was heading out tonight to my twelve-step meeting and saw that the landscapers my landlords have had working on the property all weekend had torn out my beautiful (despite the weird beige disease the leaves have picked up) johnny-jump-ups and pansies from the big pot by our apartment's front door and replaced them with these ugly (to me) big-shiny-leaved impatiens just like all the other impatiens they've planted around.

Now, granted, the property, including that planter, is my landlords' but I loved those damn flowers and have had the johnny-jump-ups in particular for three years. They'd finally gotten to the point where they'd filled the pot with the help of the pansies I'd put in last year.

After a brief rather upset exchange with my landlord (not at him, at the situation, he just pays the landscapers and lets them do whatever), he finally showed me where they'd put my uprooted flowers. They were already too dried out to replant and revive, of course.

That's when I lost it, apologized to my landlord for being so emotional, took the plants up to our deck in back and started crying. I've got them lying in a pot now hoping they'll go to seed and resurrect next year.

Of course it didn't take long for me, Ms. Jungian Psychoanalyst, to figure out this was about a lot more than flowers being uprooted. It's about conventional society destroying what's different, not seeing the value and beauty in it. It's about the current US administration stomping all over independent thought, freedom, and dissent. It's about male authority destroying and forbidding the work of women (Stasa sent me an article dealing with Vatican idiocies today). And of course it's about my efforts at growing something alive being destroyed. (Okay, now I'm tearing up again. And emotional though I am, I don't cry often.) Yes, this brought up the damn fertility issue on top of everything else. Tomorrow I find out whether my latest blood test results indicate that there's a chance my body will allow an in-vitro fertilization cycle. Although last time everything seemed okay and we know that was a crashing failure.

So the good news (you know me, Ms. Sunshine and Optimism) is:
God in Her Wisdom gave me an opportunity to fully live and express my frustration, anger and grief over the neocons, the patriarchy, and my own beautiful-and-imperfect body. Thanks, Mom. 8-)

I went to my meeting, shared my story and got lots of love and understanding and empathy, as I'd hoped and sorta expected, because that's what we're about. I also got reminders from many sources of all I do have--a wonderful husband, a lovable wildly affectionate cat, loving and supportive friends and family, an amazing spiritual life, and, well, the universe. Some of it is pretty shitty (and that's insulting to a useful fertilizer!) but overall, it's a good life.

Oh, and today's my parents' anniversary. I am endlessly grateful for my always loving and supportive dad and mom. I love you so much, Mom and Dad!

Coolest library video

Here's the coolest video I've ever seen about a library! It's one of the entries in a national "I Love My Library!" video contest.


warning: there are zombies

Vacation part 2

Tuesday, as I said in my last post (ages ago, I know...) was Visiting Day.
First we visited with Ken's Uncle Jim and Aunt Kay in Ocala at their retirement community. They have a lovely semidetached house and a very friendly community--they gave us a tour (including the library, where I met one of the librarians!) and we met several of their friends. They also took us to Sholom Park, beautifully landscaped (Picture is of Ken and Jim walking through the park). My favorite part was the meditation garden with roses, other flowers and plants, and periodic places to stop and read short plaques with meditative quotes.
We also talked a lot--about their involvement in the community with adult education, about our child-pursuit, and old family stories. I enjoyed getting to know them better and sharing about our lives.


Then we visited Tom and his parents, Ellie and Russ (whom I haven't seen since before they moved from NJ to FL eight or so years ago). We got a tour of their house (in Dunellon, not too far from Ocala) incuding Ellie's ever-growing teddy bear collection. We caught up on all kinds of stuff ranging from my career to how Tom's youngest brother and his wife were doing and had a delicious dinner at a local Italian pizza place where Russ pulled an excellent trick to have the waitress give me a blank bill with a smiley face to "pay for dinner."

Tom drove back to Orlando to stay with us for the rest of the trip in our luxurious resort condo.

Here's Ken in "Japan" at Epcot.

Wednesday we went back to Epcot, this time with Tom. After years of thinking about it when going to Renaissance fairs and other places, I got a henna tattoo in "Morocco" It's finally faded out after two weeks but was worth it.

We also saw "Soarin'" which really made you feel like you were hang-gliding up and down the California coast, sometimes in the clouds, sometimes dipping down into a valley or just above a group of surfers. Tom's dad Russ had recommended it--many thanks to him!

Thursday we went to Kennedy Space Center. We took the special historical tour (guess whose idea that was?) and got to see wonderful old, old computers and launchpads as well as the usual tour. The Apollo I site hit me kinda hard as I'd read a children's biography of Gus Grissom and was saddened to hear he and his two companions were killed in the fire. There's a wonderful plaque on the launch structure to all those who made the ultimate sacrifice so we could go into space. That's Tom at the site in the picture above.

We also talked with Kenneth, a volunteer tour guide who'd worked at NASA in the 50s and 60s and told us stories of the old days.

Friday through Sunday we spent at Orlando's tiny but very enjoyable science fiction convention. It was great--like a science fiction family reunion. Lots of authors famous, such as Robert J. Sawyer, and not, or not yet, such as Yvonne Wisdom, a pixieish dark fantasy/horror writer who is also a librarian!! We had some great conversations and I got her second book, personally inscribed. I went to awesome panel discussions, most notably "What Makes a Human?" along with others on religion in the future and sex in the future: particularly alien sex (with each other and with humans) and an art show with more dragon and cat art than I've ever seen! I got one of each: a beautiful blue-and-pale-gray Chinese dragon and one of two cats wearing amulets sitting on magic books. The latter may go on my desk at work.
Oh, and I got to watch Torchwood, this truly excellent science fiction show my friend and colleague Mathew told me about. It's spun off from the new Dr. Who series (which has better special effects than the old one) and has excellent plots and characters.
And of course there was a masquerade with people in costumes...

Spending time with Tom was one of the best parts of the vacation, though. I really hate my best friend being so darn far away. And Ken and I had our first full week of vacation together, and our first full week of vacation in years--much needed and wonderful for our togetherness and our mental states! ::happy sigh::

Quote for the Day

"Native Americans seemd to know what to do with teenagers. Their culture provided challenges; meaning; episodes of freedom; festivals with drugs, music, campfires, mad dancing; and adults on hand as guides."

- The Happiness Myth by Jennifer Michael Hecht

Sounds pretty good to me...

By the way, that is an excellent book, about how things that are supposed to help people have a happy life change from generation to generation and century to century. For instance, taking opium and cocaine were good unless you overindulged, pretty much like alcoholic drinks, up till about 100 years ago.
Now I'm onto the section about religion...

A legendary writer...

Ray Bradbury, one of my favorite authors, was recently awarded a special "lifetime achievement" Pulitzer Prize, the first science fiction/fantasy writer to receive one (about time!). He talks about the award and his most famous book, Fahrenheit 451, in this article from the LA Times.

Bradbury disagrees with most scholars about the main theme of Fahrenheit 451--they think it's censorship, he says it's how TV will destroy (has destroyed?) reading and to some extent people's thinking. I'm with him for the most part on that, except for select quality TV shows that stretch one's brain such as M*A*S*H, Babylon 5, some PBS programs such as the Mystery! Sherlock Holmes stories, and most recently Torchwood (it's been shown only in Britain and on the Net so don't be surprised if you haven't heard of it.

Most "news" programs, on the other hand...