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Bertha Calloway sailing across the great plains: Black History Museum
2008-04-23 17:30:00 We cannot direct the wind, but we can adjust the sails. ~Bertha Calloway, Founder of the Great Plains Black Museum
Poets? Weather: James Dickey and Mark Twain
2008-04-14 15:33:00 photo by www.moonraker.com A poet is someone who stands outside in the rain hoping to be struck by lightning. —James Dickey From the length of the bibligraphy of his poetic works, we can surmise that Mr. Dickey was frequently struck by metaphoric lightning. Mark Twain gives us this advice: “It is best to read the weather forecast before ...
Real Symbolic Actions: Flowers Feed Compassion
2008-04-12 13:33:00 Hostesses and the floral industry have known this for a long time. But the symbolic action of giving and receiving flowers makes people happy. The tangible symbol of being surrounded by flowers, makes people happier. Now the Home Ecology of Flowers Sudy at Harvard reveals that: 1) Flowers Feed Compassion. 2) Flowers chase away anxieties, worries and ...
Pelicans ?Just Visiting? Along the Mississippi Flyway
2008-03-30 12:00:00 Pelicans were part of my lyric life in Northern California as Daniel and I paddled round the small peninsula on Clear Lake in our kayaks and there, they are! A cloud of squawking white swirling and settling on the water. I see a blur of pelicans this morning, looking over my shoulder, as I drive on ...
Riehlife Contemplation Series?and Lights Out for Earth Hour
2008-03-29 14:23:00 I’ve been harvesting my journals this week. One of the fruits of my harvest is this series of Riehlife contemplations which I hope you’ll enjoy and use: –for cultivating your own contemplations. –for starting conversations with loved ones and friends. –for prompting your writing. What are your foul weather blue sky gifts? What does your writing/safe haven burrow look like? What ...
Thich Nhat Hahn Room Featured Communion of Institute of Noetic Sciences? ?S
2008-03-11 17:24:00 Beautiful multi-media presentation fully worthy of the topic “The End of Suffering.” Brooks Cole who hosts the Thich Nhat Hahn Room introduces it in this way: Very seldom as a media artist do I have the opportunity to be so moved by the material that I am composing with that tears are streaming down my face. ...
Thus sayeth the Buddha
2008-01-25 09:46:00 ?We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts, we make the world.? —The Buddha (historically, Hindu Prince Gautama Siddharta, the founder of Buddhism, 563-483 B.C.)
Katherine Dunham: ?Something creative has to go on.? Even cactus gardens in
2008-01-06 14:52:00 A creative person has to create. It doesn’t really matter what you create. If such a dancer wanted to go out and build the cactus gardens where he could, in Mexico, let him do that, but something that is creative has to go on. –Katherine Dunham…click here to read her bio in the Black Collegian.
Riehl?s Aphorism on Rules
2007-12-02 18:07:00 Janet Riehl with her book “Sightlines: A Poet’s Diary” (see sidebar) This aphorism is something I said at a book evening at Left Bank Books in the Central West End, St. Louis…when the conversation turned to writing. The author of the evening urged me to write it down, so I did. (One of the foundational rules: ...
Sushi Socks & Seeing Clearly
2007-11-30 18:25:00 I propped up my feet wearing socks grabbed from a jumble bin in a thrift store. My socks and I relaxed and listened to the teachings coming in through the closed circuit TV from the ballroom. Afterwards, Bev came over and said, “Let me look at your sushi socks.” Sure enough, there they were…little prints of ...
Sogyal Rinpoche?Compassionate Logic
2007-11-25 16:33:00 Sogyal Rinpoche, author of “The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying” and the head of Rigpa, an international Buddhist group urges s on to follow a compassionate logic.–JGR _______________________________-______________ We may say, and even half-believe, that compassion is marvelous, but in practice our actions are deeply uncompassionate and bring us and others mostly frustration and distress, and ...
Prayer: In These Days of Fire, by John and Sarah Gibb Millspaugh
2007-11-21 16:38:00 “Red Sun,” photo by Rev. John Millspaugh This prayer was written on October 24, 2007, by Rev. John Gibb Millspaugh, minister of Tapestry, a Unitarian Universalist (UU) Congregation in Mission Viejo, California, and Rev. Sarah Gibb Millspaugh, Adult Programs Director for the Unitarian Universalist Association. The Santiago fire, which had burned almost 20,000 acres that night, ...
Nadia Boulanger: Choice, Love, Passion?in music and life.
2007-11-11 10:00:00 “The essential conditions of everything you do must be choice, love, passion.” ~Nadia Boulanger, composer, conductor and musician~ Wickipedia note: Nadia Boulanger (September 16, 1887 ? October 22, 1979) was an influential French composer, conductor, and music professor. An outstanding music educator at the highest level, she taught many of the most important composers and conductors of the 20th century. You can ...
Maria Edgeworth on Opening Heart to Heart
2007-11-04 10:00:00 The human heart, at whatever age, opens only to the heart that opens in return.” ~Maria Edgeworth~ (1 January 1767 ? 22 May 1849) Anglo-Irish novelist
HH Dalai Lama?s ?In Praise of Dependent Origination? teachings available as
2007-10-23 16:27:00 Last spring His Holiness the Dalai Lama Visited the Bay Area and gave extraordinary teachings on In Praise of Dependent Origination Free audios (both downloads and online MP3 player) of these Dependent Origination teachings which His Holiness gave in San Francisco are now available in Tibetan and English translation. Click here. The video recording on DVD ...
Hal Manogue on ?Grace Riehl-ly? (Short Sleeve Insights: Live An Ordinary Li
2007-10-21 17:54:00 Since “Sightlines: A Poet’s Diary” came out (read more on sidebar), I’ve made friends I’ve never met. That, for me, has been one of the best parts of becoming an author. One of those friends-from-afar (but closer now that I’m in St. Louis and he’s only in Nashville) is Hal Manogue. Hal Manogue’s Trademark A.C.E. ...
Theo McKinney: Spiritual Path and Guest Service Viewpoint Revelation
2007-10-14 11:00:00 Riehlife: Theo, do you have a spiritual path you follow? Does this come into play with your view of guest service? Theo: When I was growing up in White Plains, New York, my parents often took us to different types of religious service, from Presbyterian to Catholic, 7th Day Adventists to readings of the Torah. ...
Roses on your pillow at Hotel Carlton (from the hands of Theo McKinney)
2007-10-12 16:41:00 That “30th anniversary” picture represents the usual welcome I like to surprise visitors with when they come to town to celebrate a honeymoon or romantic anniversary; the petals are real, and, whenever I can find out secretly in advance what the actual wedding flowers were, I try my best to get that flower and color ...
Connecting to the Earth: A Place to Setttle
2007-09-30 11:00:00 ?Just as language has no longer anything in common with the thing it names, so the movements of most of the people who live in cities have lost their connection with the earth; they hang, as it were, in the air, hover in all directions, and find no place where they can settle.? —Rainer Maria ...
Connecting Dreams with Action
2007-09-23 12:32:00 ?Our life is composed greatly from dreams, from the unconscious, and they must be brought into connection with action. They must be woven together.? –Anais Nin
Excerpt from William Blake?s ?On Another?s Sorrow?
2007-08-19 11:00:00 Here is one stanza from a nine stanza poem by William Blake that appears in “Songs of Innocence.” I read it as speaking of compassion as part of our interdependent connection…and a sense of spiritual care. –JGR ON ANOTHER’S SORROW (stanza 1 of 9) Can I see another’s woe, And not be in sorrow too? Can I see another’s ...
What is poetry for?
2007-08-12 11:00:00 “Poetry is words on a page nibbling at the edge of something vast.” –Nebraska’s less-well-known poet laureate, William Kloefkorn (Suggested by Susan J. Tweit) Biography William Kloefkorn was named Nebraska Poet Laureate in 1982 and held that distinction for more than a decade. Often called “the Garrison Keillor of contemporary American poetry,” Kloefkorn’s poetry collections include Alvin Turner As ...
?If I Am Not a Glimmer,? a poem by Maggie Eleanor McCarthy (age 7)
2007-08-04 11:00:00 If I am not a Glimmer, So I have to be a Shimmer. And if I am not a Shimmer, I must be a Himmer. And if I am not a Himmer, I must be a Jimmer. And if I am not a Jimmer, I must be a Chimmer. And if I am not a Chimmer, What am I?
?Heartstrings,??a poem by Daniel Holland
2007-07-15 11:00:00 In the early years of my relationship with Daniel–we were together for nine years–we went up North to a weekend Sufi dance camp, invited by a friend. This is in fact, how we met. We met on Valentine’s Day in 1998 at Sandra Wade’s healing arts studio where Barbara Christwitz led circle dances. Daniel couldn’t ...
Shaking Hands with Your Heart in Your Palms?by Daniel Holland
2007-07-08 11:00:00 “Don’t be afraid to put your heart in the palm of your hands and shake the hands of your fellow human beings.” –Daniel Holland
Moving Between Two Waters: Clear Lake in California and the Mississippi Riv
2007-06-24 11:00:00 What carries me over the water, this vast water between two vast waters? Clear Lake like an inland sea, contained and container. The Mississippi a winding snake of river connecting northern and southern territories before spilling into the Gulf of Mexico and on to the ocean? What carries me? A swan, polka-dotted or striped, perhaps, ...
Boxes as Evidence of Transition
2007-06-22 11:00:00 Transition is a place all of its own. In between-ness. Being on the move, in motion. Sorting and packing. Yes this/not that. Clearing space, literally, for a new life cycle to follow, the unknown, fallow, yet fertile field yet to be plowed and sown. My studio has become a staging area for my move. The boxes ...
WALKING ON WATER?The pleasures of swimming as if your body were a boat expl
2007-06-21 11:00:00 ?They damned a river and called it a lake,? she said. So Austin, Texas and Alton, Illinois have this in common. Lake Merritt in Oakland and Clear Lake in Northern California are really estuaries?with inflows and outflows. A lake by any other name swims as sweet. A great pleasure in my life is the slow orgasm ...
?Waiting (Wind of Change),? a poem by Janet Grace Riehl
2007-06-20 11:00:00 In just a few days I’m making a huge move in my life and where I live. I’ll be moving from Lake County in Northern California to St. Louis, Missouri where I’ll just be an hour away from my father. Pop, 91, lives just across the river in SW Illinois, about 6 miles upriver from ...
?Stepping Out,? a poem by Janet Grace Riehl on shoes, reconciliation, and f
2007-06-18 11:00:00 She walks in beauty, like the night.?Lord Byron Walking the Beauty Way. ?Navajo I stand in my Mother?s shoes?a few sizes too big for me. Mother is dead and gone. She has passed over. I stand in my sister?s shoes?a few sizes too big for me. Julia is dead and gone. She has passed over. My Mother had her own path, the ...
?Rainbow Vortex,? a poem by Janet Grace Riehl
2007-06-17 11:00:00 In a workshop on sacred space, I drew a rainbow vortex, holding 4-6 crayons in my hand at a time. I loved that part. Then, looking at my crayon drawing, I wrote this letter to the rainbow vortex. Later I cut the vortex into a spiral and pasted it into my journal, folding in switchbacks ...
SueEllen Campbell?s Land Wisdom
2007-06-10 11:00:00 The earth is old. Nothing lasts. All life is kin. Different eyes perceive different worlds, and much remains hidden. Ours is an age of extinctions; ours are the hands of the destroyers. Grief and beauty are knotted together. Curiosity and imagination are fundamental human forces. So are fear and hatred, passion and compassion. None of ...
Ruth and Erwin Thompson?s 65th Wedding Anniversary, No Matter What!
2007-06-06 12:00:00 June 6th, all my natural-born life, has been my parents’ wedding anniversary. Mother died last year on May 1st, 2006, very close to what would have been their 64th wedding anniversary. June 6th is one of the few dates of the year that I have not only memorized, but have etched in some deep recess ...
Deborah Tall?s wisdom on the cherished places of our lives
2007-06-03 12:00:00 Maybe we need different places for different phases of our lives. Maybe cherished places remain alive inside us even if we have to move on?our attachment to the earth not thinned, but widened. ~Deborah Tall , “From Where We Stand: Recovering a Sense of Place” ~
Give Sorrow Words
2007-05-27 14:00:00 Give sorrow words; the grief that does not speak, Whispers the o’er-fraught heart and bids it break. (Shakespeare, Macbeth, 5.1.50-1)
BIRTHING ALL OUR LIVES?Wisdom from Antin (1912) & Albert (1997)
2007-05-20 14:00:00 “We are not born all at once, but by bits. The body first, and the spirit later; and the birth and growth of the spirit, in those who are attentive to their own inner life, are slow and exceedingly painful. Our mothers are racked with the pains of our physical birth; ...
Triptych: Jeweled Bones, Central Panel: Bones in the Cellar
2007-05-11 14:00:00 Mother shooed us into the cellar. I turned my pockets inside out and showed her my discoveries. While we waited for the storm to pass, my mother told us stories: saints? bones preserved in crypts of faraway cathedrals; healers who told the future by throwing bones as if they were dice; and air-raid cellars in ...
Triptych: Jeweled Bones, Left Panel: Tree with No Soil Under It
2007-05-10 15:00:00 I fingered the treasures in my pocket as I strolled to the tree that hovered over the creek. It had no soil under it. Roots dangled through the air, then plunged straight and deep into rushing water. Fish swam between roots. With soil between roots the tree had sheltered a rabbit burrow, not swimming fish. ...
Land Nurtures Generations of Dreamers, Doers, and Writers
2007-05-08 18:34:00 When I was growing up we still put up hay by hand, rode horses, milked cows, butchered, gardened and put up our own food, and sewed up ruptured hogs. But, most of all, when I was growing up the land nurtured me as a dreamer. The land raised me as a poet and writer. I ...
?Our Heritage,? a landmark poem by Erwin A. Thompson
2007-05-06 13:00:00 Persimmon, sasafrass, and ash Reclaim the land that once was theirs. “Submarginal”, the experts say. Once, hillside plows were used to turn The fertile ground. It nurtured, and produced the crops, Sustained, with money crops, and food The pioneers. They didn’t have a guarantee of annual wage. Their ...
?Appetite? for My Mother, Ruth Evelyn Johnston Thompson
2007-05-01 15:00:00 Mother died at 90 last May Day. It seems like an ocean of time and then, hardly any time at all. You can read more about my mother on the “Sightlines” portion of this site on the Sweet Little Dove page including: * Ruth Thompson Life Story * Mother’s Memorial Service And the poems: *Under Mama’s ...
Mother?s Feather-gram: Witnessing (absence and presence)
2007-04-30 14:00:00 Last year we were witnessing for my mother as she slipped out of the world, one breath at a time. Ruth Evelyn Johnston Thompson, ah, what a gal! We all dropped by her bedside to witness with her. We brought what we could and we said our good-byes. My father said his with love songs ...
Ancient Roman Wisdom: ?Nature dissolves all things into/Their atoms?
2007-04-29 15:00:00 Lucretius (c. 99 - c. 55 BCE) from the philosophical epic De Rerum Natura (On the Nature of the Universe) as translated by Anthony M. Esolen There’s more: Nature dissolves all things into Their atoms; things can’t die back down to nothing. ?Never can things revert ...
Power of Witnessing (life/death/life)
2007-04-28 14:00:00 Watching Northfork again recently, I was moved by Nick Nolte’s testimony to the power of witnessing in one of the DVD extras. Nolte said he felt witnessing is what gives meaning to our lives. Nolte sat with his mother during her last four days, and watched her die–helped her die, by witnessing her death. From ... |
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