Category Archives: Uncategorized

Aug16

Eephus in Chicago

Posted on August 16, 2015 by SEN

Watching conscious artists throw their all into a project and it turn into a whirlwind of success and create further ripples of awareness and confidence in the world is rewarding. Check it out, and RSVP to the Future: http://tour.wondaland.com/?redirect_url=http://www.wondaland.com/home.

And some of the shows are secret, but when they appear they bring out into the open the sound of rage, beauty, power, and pain that has characterized the last year of Black Lives Matter work. I’m up late coordinating with local organizers to prepare for Wondaland’s 1pm rally at the Bean (iconic Chicago sculpture) on Monday, August 17th. Let’s do this. And then go play on the amazing playground at Maggie Daley Park. To get to live another day is worth celebrating!

And, it also feels a little bit like this bike ride:

Jun10

Lama Bean

Posted on June 10, 2015 by SEN

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The Lama Foundation, an interspiritual space, hosted a retreat on the intersections of inclusion, and our processes as faith leaders at this moment in consciousness. It was so meaningful to have some retreat time in a place whose physical setting (e.g. vegetarian food, compost toilets, collective work and responsibility) was congruent with my values and helped me live into new questions. Some pics from the mountain:

These ladies are inter-generational twins and it’s so great!

They print their own prayer flags and it’s so cool! I love the Sufi heart with wings…and learned a lot about the universal force of love in this Islam-based tradition.

Sitting with wise folks is always a blessing.

Annual Meeting 2015 held on the weekend of July 18 and 19. #lamafoundation #dome #intentionalcommunity #community #purenewmexico #permeaculture #taos #newmexico #ramdass #beherenow

And I got to take a nap in the sunshine. Deep rest hallelujah.

Just a little nap in the library nook - often one of the favorite spots of retreatants and summer stewards. #lamafoundation #library #beherenow #intentionalcommunity #newmexico #purenm

The light is so transformed out there in Taos Pueblo land.

The calm after the storm. Learning the lessons of loving hard, saying goodbye, and letting go at #lamafoundation. #vscocam #purenm #newmexico #intentionalliving #spirituality #ramdass #beherenow

Silent breakfasts eased us into the day, presencing us to our food-as-medicine.

Lama Foundation summer magic has just begun! #lamafoundation #beherenow #ramdass #intentionalliving #vscocam #newmexico #purenm #loveserveremember

May14

Climate Recovery

Posted on May 14, 2015 by SEN

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“Sustainability is not a solar panel, it is a lifestyle.” -XM
The term “climate recovery” helps me see what part of my role is, as a person. I learned this phrase from young climate activist Xiuhtezcatl Martinez, a teenager who directs Earth Guardians. We’re both from a mixed heritage and borderwalkers of sorts. Definitely we both talk a lot. 🙂

He goes on further to describe what this term means, not only for people, but a national context.

Climate recovery means putting “plans into place and massively reforest our country and states so that our generation and future generations to come will inherit a healthy, safe, sustainable planet. The Public Trust Doctrine says that the government must preserve and protect natural resources for public use, for future generations, and that they cannot be used or hoarded by one entity, corporation or government. So, we’re arguing that the climate is an important resource that doesn’t belong to anybody but affects everyone. We’re demanding climate recovery plans that ensure a healthy, sustainable atmosphere.”

When I was in Papua, and the Pacific more broadly, people were not talking about “sustainability,” anymore, rather they talked about “resilience,” as it was clear to all of them that we are passed the point of sustainability and need to think about what type of communities we need to form in order to survive and thrive in this new era.

Recovery also resonates with me theologically, as it reminds me of the importance of returning and remembering…both central parts of Christian, Buddhist, and Jewish faith practice that call us to our original oneness.

Hear more of Xiuhtezcatl’s story here.

Apr26

On Campus at Manchester University

Posted on April 26, 2015 by SEN

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After keynoting Manchester University’s 2015 Peace Week, I stayed on campus for the remainder of the week and weekend. This allowed me to participate with students and campus life. I attended a vigil for the Ethiopian migrants led by the African Student Association, I played Glow-in-the-Dark dodge ball, I was with students during the mandatory lock-down, and I participated in the “slut walk.” The vivacious and kindhearted leader of the Feminist Student Union also participated. Due to the intensity of impact of the following incident during the demonstration, she decided to respond by writing a public article to be published by the school blog (it has yet to appear). Following are her reflections after conversation with me and a few other students. I had a great time on this campus on the banks of the Kopomocano River, and am excited for what this next generation of graduates are bringing into the world!

Culture Shock, Manchester’s Sociology club, hosted a slut walk to raise awareness of slut shaming and victim blaming. “Slut” is an arbitrary definition for a woman who owns her sexuality; [she is autonomous. Sometimes people call a woman who is independent or single-and-powerful a slut.] “Victim blaming” is what often occurs after a person reports being assaulted (sexually or non-sexually)—listeners often do not believe the person, or imply through accusatory statements or questions that the person victimized was somehow to blame for the attack. The purpose of the walk was to bring to attention the fact that the clothing one wears does not indicate consent. We carried signs with phrases such as “Ask before you touch” and “Consent is Sexy”. Consent is a freely given “yes” to being touched by another or interacted with in a particular way (again, sexual or non-sexual). The concept that the clothes one wears indicates consent is destructive and promotes structural and physical violence. While damage occurs in all directions, the overwhelming majority of this violence is done by male-bodied individuals (or groups) to female-bodied individuals.

The walk started at the library steps and went all around campus. Overall it was a positive experience; many acknowledged the importance of this, or if they didn’t understand it, they respectfully watched as the line of people with signs went by. However, there was one controversial incident. When we were walking through the PERC, a man working out looked right at me and aggressively told me to put clothes on and cover up! His tone was not inviting of a conversation and he acted as if my body was disgusting.

He put himself in a position of authority to tell me to put clothes on, rather than interacting with me as an equal, or taking the time to even consider that I (and the men, women, and trans folks with me) may be making an important point for him to consider.

Because I am socialized in the pervasive culture of “victim blaming“, initially I was worried that I did something wrong. I kept asking myself and others if it was my mistake. Did I hear him correctly? Did that verbal violence really just happen? Yes it had. He behaved as if he could tell me how to act, as if he owned a choice that was entirely mine, as if he owned me and my body. His action is an example of modern sexism. If a man walked around campus in a speedo, he would not be told to cover up; people would just think that he was being silly.

Additionally, wearing bikinis is a socially acceptable activity. Though it shouldn’t matter, I was wearing more than the bikini clad individuals who tan on the mall. The problem was obviously not in the clothes I wore. It was the context we were in where patriarchy allows and encourages men to demean, distrust, and talk-down to women. Sarah Thompson, the Executive Director of Christian Peacemaker team gave me some helpful insight to the reaction I got from the individual at the PERC. “It’s not how much men tell women to cover up—whether they say where a full bukra or only cover your knees—it’s just the fact that they feel like they have the authority to do it at all,” She explained that patriarchy and sexism in this culture give female-bodied individuals double messages. Not only do men tell women to “cover up”, but women are constantly bombarded with messages to “take it off” and “show men what you got.” Because of this double standard women constantly face the pressure to dress the way men expect them to dress instead of it being their personal choice of expression and power. Another participant added her frustration with the comments and looks she gets when she runs, wearing clothing that allows her body to perform to the highest level. The slut walk was about reclaiming space to walk, run, dance, and be our full selves by wearing what we want.

Men do not have the authority to tell women how to dress. What a person wears is their business only. If it makes you uncomfortable, take a deep breath and look inside yourself to figure out why this is your problem. This comment made by the man at the PERC is the exact reason why we need to continue raising awareness and putting the end to slut shaming and victim blaming. The walk would not be necessary unless attitudes like the man’s from the PERC did not exist.

Feb15

Raw from West Papua

Posted on February 15, 2015 by SEN

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I’ve been told to wait until I leave the country to post this. I just landed in New Zealand, so, here it is.

West Papua currently consists of two provinces in the western half of the island of new Guinea adjacent to the independent Melanesian nation of Papua New Guinea. West Papuans have been struggling for independence (or at least the ability to self-determine) since the Dutch colonial era (they were originally slated to become another nation when the Dutch left the archipelago, but the US’ Cold War fears changed their fate).

This is a mineral rich, predominantly Christian, predominately black Indigenous province located on the eastern-most periphery of the archipelago. Indonesia has the highest population of Muslims in the world, it is densely populated, and has a expanding capitalist economy that is the target of increasing multinational corporations, and producing a growing consumer class and waves of refugees to Australia.

For a rough but strikingly accurate analogy: Australia is to Indonesia and West Papua as the United States is/was to Latin America, in terms of: forcing trade agreements, developing covert military operations that defile human rights, ruining the ability of small farmers and rural communities to survive, creation of fear in the Australian psyche about the “threat of Indonesia” and the immigrants coming from there, extracting resources, and geo-political manipulation. And the struggle to resist the structural and direct lethal violence is similar to the creative and courageous and subversive and life-sustaining and cultural work done/ongoing in Latin America.

This delegation, led by local Papuans and their Australian Quaker comrades, met with all sorts of members of civil society who are part of nonviolent efforts to resist oppression in this context of brown colonization (cut and pasted and expanded from their experience of white colonization). The international isolation is huge. The network of informants was visible, and we were chased by immigration numerous times, and told we couldn’t be there legally. We were on a pastoral visit to churches, and visiting friends, so we were within our legal rights. Indonesia has banned foreign journalists from entering and documenting what is happening. Two tried to get in awhile ago, and they were arrested and deported.

What’s happening is that many Papuans are targeted and intimidated and tortured and killed, because they want to be free. Many massacres of Papuans by Indonesian military or civilians paid to kill have not made the news; impunity is rife. Nonviolent demonstrations for self-determination are regularly shut down by the police. Symbols of freedom (e.g. independence flag–called the Morning Star Flag) are banned. There are many political prisoners. Papua has a relatively high rate of HIV/AIDS, domestic violence, and alcoholism.

The Papuans problem has been framed in terms of development/poverty. Some say, “the Papuans are poor and if Jakarta gives them more money they will stop clamoring for justice and self-determination.” Yet activists say, “we don’t want rice, we don’t want water, we want freedom!” We heard of the pressure on movement leaders and NGO workers to use the development framework to explain their actions, show “improvement results” in the society, as well as to talk about the conflicts and violence in Indonesia within that framework. Yet other frameworks are more helpful (anti/post-colonial struggle, resistance to economic exploitation, self-determination struggle, bioregional livelihood struggle, lateral violence, etc.)

February 15 is a special day for me, since in 2003 I led my first anti-war march in Atlanta, as a first-year in university. It was a day the world said No! to war and it was a serious coming of age when the US still decided to invade. 12 years later I am still learning from the events of 2003. I am now at the pivot point between being a delegation participant and good follower to returning to my role as articulator of CPT mission, vision, values, and stories. I am trying to rest in between, and catch up on correspondence related to the upcoming April 15-18 Steering Committee, organizational budget, vision work with the Program Director and Communications & Engagement Director, and maintaining contacts with friends and funders worldwide.

Jan19

MLK: Creative maladjustment means Moving Toward Conflict

Posted on January 19, 2015 by SEN

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This is the written article created out of the speech originally given at Bethel College on 29 January 2015. The invitation from that college in Kansas, and the later encouragement to turn this into an article for the Mennonite helped me to think and write out-loud some things I’ve been thinking about for awhile.

There are certain things in our nation and in the world [to which] I am proud to be maladjusted and which I hope all people of goodwill will be maladjusted.—Martin Luther King Jr.

Martin Luther King Jr. was at Bethel College, North Newton, Kan., when he spoke these words about maladjustment for one of the first times.

His call was for us to be creative in our maladjustment to society.

He echoed Jesus in talking about a creative way of engaging with the violence and oppression of his day while extending a clear invitation for the human doing that harm or participating in an unjust social system to change their ways.

A creatively maladjusted person confronts us.

In their best leadership capacity, they are conscientious and flexible, their firm conviction sits steady on a foundation of love, and they draw from a well of compassion. I encourage leaders wanting to be more confrontational to cultivate nonviolence in their spiritual practice because reconciliation is the goal of any confrontation.

That does not mean a leader who has been a target of oppression has to be nice or make people with privilege feel comfortable. Others may not understand what they are talking about at first. That’s OK. Hurt feelings are not the same as structural violence.

The civil rights movement was disruptive, and we’re on the cusp of another one.

You will need to answer to your descendants when they ask, What were you doing when Michael Brown was shot by a police officer and left on the street for 4½ hours? What were you doing when the grand jury did not hand down an indictment of the responsible officer? How did you respond?

You still can respond. The invitation has gone out from Ferguson, Mo., and other places to come together and to follow the lead of those most affected by the racist and economic violence of this country. Let’s move toward this conflict.

Some European-American Mennonite traditions are conflict avoidant. Those not raised in conflict-avoidant traditions or who have lived authentically in other cultures are a gift to a conflict-avoidant community. Do not scapegoat them.

Aversion to conflict can keep power static.

Static power over time means power is not circulating and dynamic. Conflict is a natural friction and can help create positive change. If those with more power and resources in the situation are willing to open their hearts, minds and practices, there are possibilities. But if they are not willing to address conflict, then change-makers have nothing to make friction with.

We are then susceptible to the general flow of a U.S. culture that is militaristic, racist and materialistic, as King said. We are to be creatively maladjusted to that. Pay attention to how historic power imbalances play into what you want to do.

Can you feel the knots in your stomach forming as you read this or think about a conflict you’ve had? Sit with that. Do you feel some adrenaline or emotion? Examine it but don’t judge it. Take a deep breath. Breathing is one of the best tools we have to help us be present to our internal reality and the world around us.

The word for breath in the Bible is the same as the word for Spirit. Centering on your breath can help you listen to the guidance of the Holy Spirit and stay present when a conflict occurs.

To move away from the conflict that is necessary to change ourselves, our families and our churches or to be passive-aggressive or avoid responsibility is to be complicit with racism and classism in this country and around the world. You may not be comfortable with the current civil rights movement, but don’t turn your anger or indifference toward those who are out on the front lines trying to do something. Take a deep breath and release that anger to God and feel what is beneath your indifference to see how your own suffering connects with the world’s suffering. Take steps in your discipleship journey toward beloved community.

Even in the beloved community—a vision of a world where all beings can share in the wealth of the earth in a sustainable way—there will be conflict. There is not a set way for us to share this planet with people of various truth claims. Conflict can be a generative force. Conflict is two or more ideas and/or experiences rubbing against each other; it is the friction that helps things move forward.

Nonviolent conflict is not a bad thing.

We need to embrace it and learn to widen our ability to hold tension so that we can open space for new ideas to grow.

Reference link: https://themennonite.org/opinion/creative-maladjustment/

Dec14

Fierce, Fabulous and Sacred: Undoing Heterosexism

Posted on December 14, 2014 by SEN

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A young cisgender* lesbian stepped to the mic at the “Fabulous, Fierce, & Sacred” conference, held 21-23 November in Chicago, Illinois USA, and gave her testimony: “For the first time in a long time, I was able to bring my full self, my full body, mind, and spirit into worship. It was healing.”

Her words brought tears to my eyes. To create a space where someone – especially one who is traditionally marginalized by Christian communities – can experience being part of the convened body of Christ is hard and holy work. Even Christian communities that strive to be nonviolent can have structures, language, theology, and community practices that oppress worshippers, especially those in the queer community.

A broad definition of the community that has reclaimed the word “queer” from being an insult to being a source of power is: those who self-identify as different from heterosexual. Queer is also a verb, as in, to queer a common concept – a way of seeing the world (creatively, not in “straight” lines), and a way of partnering / family-making (blending / disrupting binaries).

Heterosexism targets the queer community. It is a paradigm that places greater moral value on monogamous, heterosexual, married people, their relationships, and their well-being. Like sexism and racism, heterosexism shows up on individual, communal, and institutional levels, and it has severe economic and social implications.

CPT is committed to building partnerships to transform violence and oppression. As an organization, we continue to name and challenge heterosexism and transphobia as part of that commitment.

CPTers and supporters were among the throng of organizers and participants at “Fabulous, Fierce & Sacred.” Indeed the conference lived up to its name, engaging participants in sharing new thoughts, strategizing, and keeping the hard questions of forgiveness, justice, and love alive.

But beyond a conference, “Fabulous, Fierce & Sacred” is a movement – one with which CPT shares similar understandings of social change. Our movements are energized through cross- pollination and mutual support.

In CPT, we welcome every person who is willing to sacrifice, train and commit to peacemaking like soldiers sacrifice, train, and commit to war. Queer members of CPT who survive and thrive in the context of heterosexist violence and oppression bring special and important insights to CPT.

It is out of a vibrant spirituality that deep peacemaking in demanding, volatile settings can occur sustainably. Thank you for being on this journey with us. Your support allows our work to be worship – peacemaking in which all of us are nourished and healed.

*cisgender means someone whose biological sex assignment corresponds with their gender identity.

Originally published as part of the Christian Peacemaker Team’s quarterly newsletter here (sign up!). We got more responses than usual to this newsletter, which was one of my favorite collections of CPT news yet. We connected the violence in Ferguson with what is happening around the world, as well as this article that was a reminded that we do this work in our bodies, and that everyone’s body matters. We got some pushback, but not too much, actually.

Nov3

Fasting

Posted on November 3, 2014 by SEN

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I fasted today, November 3. The last time I fasted was together with five others in the Christian Peacemaker Teams group in the middle of our month-long intensive “peacemaker boot-camp” together. I am willing to fast on days where religious festivals converge, but it has not been even close to the spiritual discipline of my choice. I don’t do it often.

This time, it had to do with supporting with my friend who is making a transition from Christianity to Islam. It’s easier to fast when you know there are others. We had a chance to pause to pray together at noon (salah a duhur) today as well.

Our mutual hero-friend Dr. Omid Safi wrote this piece about today’s fast. His piece is the real highlight of my post.

http://archives.religionnews.com/blogs/omid-safi/blood-of-the-innocents-martyrdom-of-the-prophets-family-then-and-now

A few pull out quotes: “In all such cases, the crucifixion of Christ, the awakening of the Buddha, and the martyrdom of Hossein, these events become a symbol, a map, of something fundamental about the nature of universe: that there is sin and it must be redeemed, that there is attachment/suffering and it must be transcended, and that there is injustice and one has the cosmic responsibility to rise up against it.

In all of these cases, what happened there is also projected against all time and space. Christians look not back at the crucifixion of Jesus, but see that act of redemption as shaping their lives here and now. For Buddhists, the key is not how that Indian prince became awakened, but rather how we are to be enlightened. And for Shia Muslims the question is not what Hossein did on the plains of Karbala in Iraq in the month of Muharram of the year 680, but rather what are we doing today.”

I haven’t fasted for awhile, because it used to trigger my eating disorder habits. Those come from digestive system issues / it being hard to digest all that is coming at me from the world around me, in this location. So a fast tied to social justice was already pushing it for me. But what’s been great is that I can now really look BACK at that time and know that I have grown a lot since then and will not actually be sent reeling by a 12-hour fast. I’ve embraced more both/and.

And Dr. Safi connects the fast with what is happening in Iraq TODAY, which is critically important to pay attention to…especially what is happening to Yazidis and other groups…

He closes by saying, may we “realize the daily relevance of the teachings of a beautiful and meaningful Islam. We may avoid the trap of what some have called pious irrelevances, and cultivate a potent, politically aware, spiritually charged, effective and affective faith that is put to the service of today’s Hosseins.”

Oct27

Reflection on Carnival de Resistance

Posted on October 27, 2014 by SEN

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The following is my reflection on the Carnival de Resistance, an art intervention and communal lifestyle experiment that set up residencies first in Harrisonburg, Va and Charlottesville, Va in the fall of 2013 then in the Wildgoose Festival in the summer of 2014. I was there as part of my work with Christian Peacemaker Teams, an organization that is partnering with nonviolent movements around the world, seeking to embody an inclusive, ecumenical and diverse community of God’s love.

I feel it was a beautiful, wild, experiment in recovering the soul, especially the souls of white folks who participated as part of the CdR family and audience members. Like the souls of people of color, the souls of white people have been covered over and encrusted by violence. On the personal, cultural, and institutional levels violence affects people of color and white people, but in different ways. Recovery of our souls comes from uncovering the various impacts of violence and discovering ways to restore.

To use the term recover conveys that I feel our natural state is health, wholeness. In order to recover their soul and live in healthy ways on this land mass, white folks in the Americas need people of color in order to understand the whole story. They need to be in full conversation our narratives and ideas, our bodies and presence, our life-rhythms and songs. Many times, in an attempt to become whole these things are taken or appropriated without attention to the power dynamics. Though I was not involved in choosing most of the content of the elemental presentations, I learned that the organizers were keenly aware of the violence of cultural appropriation and did not take liberally from traditions of indigenous people in West Africa, the Americas, and African Diaspora, but with permission and care. That is key.

CdR organizers were honest about who they were, the white privilege they often carried, the specific perspective they came from, and the brokenness they felt because of violence in their relationships with land, other peoples, and God. Their vision of recovery resonated with mine, though our individual and community processes are different. That is okay, CdR did not try to be “all things to all people,” and resisting that temptation was one way of countering white supremacy. After prayerfully wrestling through loads of potential material to guide this project, they were clear and at peace about some of the limitations we would face, and the fine lines on which we would dance. Recognizing the boundaries did not mean silencing dissent or disregarding critique. An invitation for all participants to be attentive to their own emotional process throughout the month and to comment on the CdR process allowed space for me as a person of color to share about the impact of white racism and structural violence on my soul in general, and specifically as it showed up in the CdR.

Part of the reason I was invited to participate in the CdR was in order to pay close attention to power dynamics, and to be present as white folks did their soul recovery work. There were a few other people of color too…all of us life-artists and all of us invited to bring our full, dancing, skeptical selves to this experiment. All invited to name when things felt damaging or uncomfortable as a result of personal, cultural, or institutional racism. This ability was considered a skill just like many of the other artistic skills needed to produce a theatrical event in the context of intentional community life. My budding expertise, developed from years of both life experience and academic theorizing, was respected. The organizers did not overloaded with many other daily CdR tasks (as is often happens to chaplains and conflict resolution personnel, etc.) so that as inevitable conflict arose I could have enough energy to be present to it. Just like all the other pieces of the CdR world, knowledge about the subject of transforming violence and oppression was also held collectively. No one person in the CdR crew was expected to have all the good ideas about a subject.

Along the way of recovery, tumbling toward deep reconciliation, we uncovered areas of brokenness and discovered loving powers we didn’t know we had. CdR was powerful because we didn’t just talk about things and then continue with “business as usual.” We sang, yelled, built, deconstructed, biked, painted, massaged, cried, and acted our way out of “business as usual.” In the hospitable and watching land of the Sinibo (Harrisonburg) an the Monacan (Charlottesville) I got to preach, perform, consult, play, laugh, learn, compost everything, re-wild, sing. I’m looking forward to future residencies, in Minneapolis (Dakota land), and Philadelphia (Lenape land).

Apr27

Ne te quaesiveris extra

Posted on April 27, 2014 by SEN

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Emerson was hugely influential in the US American philosophical scene, touching the life and work of Du Bois, Rilke, Thoreau and many others. Tonight, for the first time since high school, he directly influenced mine, through an essay recommended to me by my most well-read friend.

I share it with you. It is called “Self-Reliance.” My friend recommended I read it twice. Once today, once tomorrow. “See what changes,” he said. “It’s like a journal; each time you read it with your situation in mind and it shifts.” The overall story though is (as the title states in Latin) do not look outside yourself.

Ne te quaesiveris extra for anything. For answers. For truths. For reasons to keep going. Peer into the universe within. You will see it is all there. Everything. Answers (and more question). Truth(s). Reasons to keep going and to stop. Just rest and be fully present = experience eternal life.

Sometimes I forget that there is nothing in this world that isn’t me. Whether there is something that is ultimately true or true ultimately only to you, who knows? And if I knew which end of that string was the ultimate one it wouldn’t matter. Live it all. Resonate with the world. Embrace authentic human interaction with all beings; and breathe. You are all beings and concepts. Don’t pretend you are not and try to avoid/repress/resign the more hostile aspects of experience or hard parts of life. Live the questions…kiss the joy as it flees (with that which you thought was your answer).

An excerpt: “To believe your own thought, to believe that what is true for you in your private heart is true for all, — that is genius. Speak your latent conviction, and it shall be the universal sense; for the inmost in due time becomes the outmost,—— and our first thought is rendered back to us by the trumpets of the Last Judgment.”

This was especially helpful to me tonight because I felt my compassion for myself (all things) decreasing and my trust of everything else (me) fraying. As I examine the internal fray, I will not rush. I will stare it in my face. Conformity and consistency will not have the last word; 3rd chakra shines. I have decided to do the work it takes to rebuild that trust because with child-like solvency I share my clay-vesseled treasure and contentedly experience the precious genius others offer. Resonance. Divinity.

The writer of the Gospel of Matthew puts it this way in 18:3, “Jesus said, truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”

eMErson gets the last word:” But do your work, and I shall know you. Do your work, and you shall reinforce yourself.”

Blog from the Belly

Digesting the world

Category Archives: Uncategorized

Eephus in Chicago

Lama Bean

Climate Recovery

On Campus at Manchester University

Raw from West Papua

MLK: Creative maladjustment means Moving Toward Conflict

His call was for us to be creative in our maladjustment to society.

A creatively maladjusted person confronts us.

The civil rights movement was disruptive, and we’re on the cusp of another one.

Aversion to conflict can keep power static.

Nonviolent conflict is not a bad thing.

Fierce, Fabulous and Sacred: Undoing Heterosexism

Fasting

Reflection on Carnival de Resistance

Ne te quaesiveris extra