South America 2014

I was hanging out virtually with one of my favorite people, Monica, last night.  She's in Ecuador, and I'm in New York City, but Skype allows us to have a video version of each other to talk to.  It's not something I've done very often, so I'm not used to the feeling of being watched from afar, but I can't say how awesome it was to feel like we were just chilling like the old times.  Now, at this point, you're probably wondering why she's in Ecuador, and why this story is relevant to anything  (I haven't posted in this blog in almost a year, so this post better be interesting, don't you think?).

Monica is studying biology at Denison University, which is outside of Columbus Ohio.  This semester, she's on something akin to a field study, but I'm not sure what exactly it's called.  She's hanging out in a small village in Ecuador, studying plants.  Developing natural pesticides and fungicides, and all sorts of craziness.  I'm super impressed, and also a bit jealous that she is spending so much time in a beautiful, peaceful environment, while I'm in a big city, churning nonstop with people, ideas, work, and stress.  

So when she asks me to join her in backpacking through South America with her next summer, I nearly jump off my mattress, where I was folding laundry.  That's exactly the kind of trip that I've been dying for.  And I couldn't think of someone I'd rather do it with.  My immediate answer was, Let's Do It!!!!!!

Thinking forward, there's a lot of work to do in preparation.  I need to somehow save enough money.  I would probably need to put away $100 each month until then.  This is not going to easy.  Margins are very tight as it is, so I think I need to get creative.  If you have any ideas, let me know.  If anyone is going to give me a birthday present in July, it might as well be related to this, because this is serious, people!  I'm thinking, maybe I can move after my lease is up if I find a decent room for $600.  I had a lot of great ideas while I was working today, but I was also making lattes at the speed of sound, so I don't really remember much.  I might try to busk with my viola.

Provided I (we) can figure out the finances, there will be tons of choices and preparation.  I'll try to use this blog as repository for information on the development.  Details like where we're going and so forth.

I would like this trip to be an adventure that strengthens the bonds of a great friendship, and which lends me some sense of direction for my studies, career, and life.  Also, I would like to volunteer in some way while I'm down there (because I would help any community I find myself in, not because I believe them to be in great need of help from Americans).

I apologize for my rambling.  If anyone has traveled to South America, or has done backpacking, and would like to give us some advice, feel free to leave a comment!

Reflections from Saratoga Springs

It is a rainy Sunday afternoon and I am glad that I can enjoy it with out having to go anywhere.  The first of two weeks of babysitting has been completed, and I have the day off.  The kid and his father have just returned from their day trip to fort Ticonderoga, and his mom is at Music Mountain Festival, playing with the Cassatt string quartet.
This morning I ventured down the road to go to church at the UU Congregation of Saratoga Springs.  I was

welcomed into the beautiful little church, and listened to a beautiful sermon about finding joy in a troubled world.  The sermon included a demonstration of the infectiousness of joy by singing "This Little light of mine while a group of congregants tried their best to hold onto anger.  Of course, by the end they all had smiles and were repressing laughs.  We were also asked to a neighbor and shared something we are grateful for. Apparently, the church is under transition and finding a new minister, so I wish them the best of luck.  I always love to explore the UU congregations in any town I visit.
After church I went into town and found a neat fair-trade store where I purchased a present for my sister's 10th birthday.  This butterfly must have liked the wares as much as I did!

This week I learned Tai Chi watched the NYC Ballet, baked cookies, went swimming, rode the old carousel, and ate lots of yummy ice cream.

Good Luck With That

So earlier today I wrote a post, and then I got bored and started fumbling around in blogger and deleting old half written blog drafts.  Unfortunately, I managed to inadvertently get rid of my newest addition, which makes me sad.  I will make my best attempt to replicate it here.
Yesterday, I attended service at the Unitarian Church of All Souls in the Upper East Side of Manhattan as I do most every Sunday.  Taryn Strauss, the director of religious education, was leading the service and gave a  sermon entitled "Rehearsing the Beloved Community".  Using rousing hymns not found in the standard Singing the Living Tradition hymnal and an acoustic guitar playing accompanist, the service was full of energy and life.
Taryn spoke of the value of a community which values togetherness and community among people of all ages , socio-economic and educational backgrounds, race/ethnicity, and goes out into the world and practices service as its prayer.  She recalled feeling totally and utterly supported by her home church in Chicago as a child, to the point that she was comfortable bursting into a lively dance in the center of a circle of coffee-hour activists ardently discussing the social action topic du jour.  She told us of the trip that she and a few other members embarked upon to Arizona for the "Justice GA", a gathering of UU's from all over the nation coalescing to speak up for the rights of the immigrants detained in inhumane holding camps without due process of law.  They had an emotional night which served to bring them closer together as among themselves and with the families and friends of those detainees.
Taryn's youthful exuberance and forward looking optimism inspired me.  I started to think about what I can do better- where I can put my efforts to extend the idea of a beloved community intimately and globally.  I thought, "I love her passion and her empowerment.  She is breaking up the service a bit, making it fresh and renewing a sense of joy."
Apparently, not everyone felt the same way about it.  After the service, I introduced myself to a gentleman holding a coffee mug and standing by himself.  The first steps of building connections between varying age groups.  I relay my joy over the service: "That was such a great sermon!" his expression darkened, and I caught on that perhaps he did not agree, so I rephrased my statement as a question: "Did you enjoy the service?"  His answer was not ambiguous: "No."  Slightly surprised by his bluntness, I went on to ask for clarification: "Oh, well, what about it did you not like?"  Without changing his expression, and with no hint of irony, he stated, "too impassioned, to empowered, and too much hoping for good things that will never happen."  What is there to say in response?  "Well, I think that hope can be a catalyst for change," I said, somewhat sheepishly.  "Good luck with that," he grumbled, and walked off.
Clearly some philosophies are not for all people.  This encounter speaks to me of the value of reaching out to people of all ages.  You never know what kind of response you will get, be it window into a vastly different perspective.  His opinion is, of course, valid.
As for me, I see hope as a powerful force, and believe that services like yesterday's are just what we need to keep walking towards peace and justice in the global community.

Good luck with that, indeed!

A home is what you make of it

Yesterday, at 8:30 in the morning, I looked at an apartment in Borough Park, Brooklyn.  I liked the neighborhood, the amount of space, the layout, the big kitchen.  I liked just about everything about it, especially the price, and the long commute doesn't really bother me because it means that I can come home to a quiet neighborhood.  So I made an executive decision then and there that I would take it.  Julia, the woman who is moving out and responsible for finding a new tenant for her room, said I seemed perfect, a great fit for the three other roommates.  However, she had one more person coming to look at the space today and she wanted to be fair and give them a chance.  I would be notified on Monday evening of the final decision.  So I thanked her and headed to church.  At coffee hour, which was about three hours later, I receive a text from her that if I could pay that evening, I could have the room.  I was so happy that I burst into a chant of "Yes! Yes! Yes!" in the middle of the fellowship hall, perhaps to the surprise of those around me.  My friend looked at me and said, "So I guess you got the apartment?"  Then we headed off to the beach for a proper send off of said friend, Maryah.
After the beach, which was all the way at the very top of the Bronx, I headed to the very bottom of Brooklyn to give Julia the check and get the keys.  Now it is official, and I am ready to start moving in tomorrow morning.
The following is a poem that I wrote in March, when I was living somewhere wholly unpleasant and looking for a new place to live.  I wanted to find a home that was more than a place to crash.  I wrote this poem as a meditation on what a home can be, what I should look for in a home.  I am publishing it here to remind myself to treat myself and my new home well.
                               _____________________

Walking through the concrete facade
of happy buyers buying and bristling off
on a street full of faces familiar and not,
without a plan in my head I meander
here and there until I can get my fix.
Something to hold me over,
to occupy my mind and hands
and force myself to believe that it's all real.
For a time I'm sedated, and the worries at bay
While I smile and play the part of happy customer
Eyes twinkling in anticipation and gratitude
A swipe of a card and a stroke of a pen.
Belly full and tongue sugar coated,
ashamed of my wasting, I step
out into the night, or maybe it's day,
and ask once again just where should I go?

If home were an option, I'd go there right now
I wouldn't waste time with these embarrassing games.
I'd enter my temple with serene jubilation
Massaging my soul with my passions and love.

_________________________________

Hopefully I like my roommates...

UPDATE!!!


The situation described in the above post turned out to be a scam.  Upon further reflection, some things about the situation were red flags.  For example, she said she did not have the contact information for the landlady or her son (who manages the property), she did not suggest that I meet the roommates, she told me to meet her at the apartment to exchange check for keys, but at the last minute, her "ride's tire broke" and we had to meet in a remote location.  Fortunately, I realized these things before she had tried to cash the checks, so I was able to cancel them.  Let the lesson be learned to take your time and really consider the merits of a situation.  Do not let them push you around, or scare you with competition.  If it is legit, you will not feel like you have been run through the mill, and there will not be a thousand things to "explain".  I consider myself quite lucky to have gone through this situation, and not to have lost my money in the lesson.  Remember to be careful!!!

The problem with boxes

There is chaos all around us at all times.  We see the elements of millions of lives scrape past us unpredictably as we go about our day.
To cope with this chaos, we tie up our time in tidy boxes of routines and habits.  We train ourselves to see the same sequence of events day after day, even as the landscape of faces on the subway changes in the passage of a moment.  Every day I take the same train, think variations of the same thoughts on the train and at work, and have the same lukewarm conversations with the same people... It goes on and on, to the point where I am fairly certain I can predict my day to a high degree of accuracy before I have even left my bed.
This isn't necessarily a bad thing.  Imagine every single action you take in a day. If you had to think about each one and decide when to do it, you would be paralyzed by the sheer enormity of the task.  Our brains developed so we could be more efficient in our lives, producing more without expanding too much energy.
Yet there may be a danger lurking in these boxes.    The corners we cut, without any acknowledgement, could hold possibilities beyond the imagination.  Are we giving up something profound by accepting humdrum?  Are we numb to the possibilities that could be held in that one smile?  Making a change, even the tiniest, seemingly invisible change can be scary, without a doubt.  The choice to look up, make eye contact and smile at whoever you pass.  The decision to think a kind thought about someone you normally hold in the shadows.  Choosing gratitude when you would normally ask for more.
The boxes we use to organize the closets of our minds might need dusted.  It just may be worth the effort to go through and look inside at the content, and not only the labels.

Give yourself an "A"- looking back a year from today- Inspired by Ben Zander

April 27, 2013

Dear Hannah,

A year has passed since you sat down and wrote this letter to yourself. Wondering what to write to encapsulate the thoughts that swirl around head and hardly make sense to yourself, let alone the people you try to explain yourself to. You are not in school anymore, so it's been a little while since you thought in terms of grades as a measure of worth. In fact, you say, grades never mattered that much anyways. But I'm here to say that over the course of this year, you have made so much progress in the way you live your life that you have earned an "A" in my grade book.

You have been navigating the waters of independence now for about three years, and this no longer frightens you.   You've learned to ask for help when you need it. All of the obstacles that have come your way and all of the people who have so generously offered their love and support have helped you realize that you're never alone. Inspired by the altruism and wisdom of so many kind souls, you have made it a priority in your life to love others. To find the good and embrace it. To humble yourself and listen even when you think you already understand what they are trying to say. To give with intention, and without expectation. To laugh, dance, and hug freely, and embrace the differences in individuals.

In embracing your spontaneous spirit of creativity, you have also come to see commitment as a vital ingredient in lasting change. The challenges that you so desperately tried to avoid previously have reared their heads and you have met them with confidence, knowing that they are the seeds of growth. Many of the problems and obstacles have been of your own making- caused by thought and behavior patterns which did not let you see the sun light. In simply realizing this fact, you have become more honest, more patient, and more accepting of your own short comings. Instead of the constant internal dialogue of self doubt, you have come to find more and more productive things to think about.

I don't know where you are living right now, or where you are working, whether you are dating anyone. All that I know for sure is that you are OK. You are standing on your own two feet, enjoying life, and finding ways to contribute to a better society. Instead of guilt, shame, or pity, you find empowerment.

With all the love in the world, and in gratitude for all of the work and challenges you have undertaken, I give you this outstanding grade. Here's to an eternity of good will!

Sincerely,

Me

Lost poem- found!

What a bus ride!  I believe I may have snagged about 4 hours of sleep... I listened to Brahm's German Requiem on my Walkman CD player, and it spoke to me to such a degree that I listened again, and again, and again.  There is something sublime about Requiems: they offer us the full scope of human emotions, and help us to see why we hold onto life.  There is a certain underlying calm, even during the moments of extreme passion in the chorus.  We can feel the agony and the ecstasy within ourselves, all the while bobbing peacefully in an ocean of sound.
Fittingly, I found a poem yesterday, which I must have written about two years ago.  Let me share it with you now.

For the joy of breath,
The tears of love
the hunger and the hatred,
Here's to life!
To all who lived but yesterday,
To all who live today
To all who yet live not but shall
    In just another day

The moment is but all that is,
And never stay it put,
for time is like the dough of bread,
the pacing of a foot.

Never do we know
The reason for which we've come,
But wonder this to pass the time
for mysteries are fun.

What difference would it make
If our purpose were outlined?
Would we live in any better way to know
That we could find
The things that we are searching for,
the truths that to us bind?

With doubt, I say,
for through all time
We've lived and not known why.


I don't remember why I wrote it, but I think it is a lovely reminder to let things happen as they do, and to not insist on having the answer.  I hope you enjoyed it!