reflections
family…
sunsets…
sunrises…
moonrises…
beaches…
boats…
food…
friends…
love…
bike rides…
hard conversations…
huge decisions…
tough choices…
crushing disappointments…
ridiculous crushes…
exhilarating triumphs…
family… friends… love…
letting go…
pulling close…
growing…
building community…
stepping back…
picnics
potlucks
stepping up…
baby steps…
goal setting…
organizing…
collaboration…
teamwork…
love…
margaritas…
carne asada…
marching…
karaoke…
rain…
road trips…
caravans…
concerts…
dive bars…
family…
friends…
love, love love…
Sunshine
We met on the light rail platform, Sunshine and I… laughing about my leak proof cup,
which was clearly not, as lemonade dripped from my bike basket. Sunshine is not homeless.
His home is a camp near the Rio Salado Habitat. It’s quiet, and there are only a few
others nearby. “I wouldn’t have it any other way,” he told me once, but I know he yearns
for the high country of northern California, and that he has a sister there. I asked what
brought him to Phoenix… “A woman in a truck,” he grinned, and we both cracked up.
He is clean-cut and gym toned and she is bleached and teased and made up carefully.
The three of us are in the elevator and he asks about her recent vacation, and of course
she is happy to share the story about how her hotel wasn’t in the best part of town,
and she drops her voice and pauses the way people do when they’re about to say something
that’s not “politically correct” and her eyes widen as she confides, “There were bums
panhandling all over the place,” and I couldn’t help but laugh and call her a Princess
We run into each other once or twice a week, Sunshine and I… I will be on my way home
from a community meeting and he will be on his way to camp. We puzzle other bus riders,
me still in my “business casual” work attire and dangly earrings, he with all the trappings
of an urban camper. Sometimes he’s already on the bus when I board, but sometimes
we run into each other at the stop and it gives us a few extra minutes to chat with one
another before we part ways at the salt river. We talk about nothing in particular and
about everything of importance.
She actually demands to know why not wanting to see bums at her $175 a night hotel makes
her a princess. “Heaven forbid you should have to see the people our culture & society have
failed,” I replied. “Not when my physical safety is in jeopardy,” she snaps… and I don’t remember what I said next but “are you fucking kidding” was all that I could think.
We have a parting ritual, Sunshine and I… I ask if he has water and tell him
to keep hydrated. He tells me how many bottles he has, then looks deep into my eyes,
and quietly says, “You be careful out there. Take care of yourself.” And I know we
are both thinking of the night when two men who clearly had homes to go to but were
in pursuit of other pleasures came over to make sure I was safe from Sunshine… and
how they were a little too eager with their eyes and their words to wait with me for
the bus they did not board, and help me with the bike rack they did not know how to
operate. I remember Sunshine falling silent, and his thumb hovering over the “9” on
the cell phone in his hand, a phone he hadn’t been holding a split second before.
“I will,” I promise him. And he nods as he ambles away, and I offer a silent prayer of
gratitude for the church downtown that offers him sanctuary in the brutal heat of the
day, and know we will both wonder if the other made it home safely, until the happy
time we meet again.
Sometimes I think about the two worlds I live in….
The suits and ties, manicures and hair dye.
The dirty hippies, the squatters, the urban campers.
I marvel that I look so much like the former…
with my love of lip gloss and other sparkly things
yet they are the ones that disgust me.
Sometimes I think about the two worlds I live in.
And
I
just
want
to
cry.
Infamous Quotes
Here’s a list of entertaining quotes/summary of random conversations had during a recent trip to Mexico… all quotes & commentary are recorded as I remember them, almost certainly paint me in the better light, and were probably much funnier if you’d been there.
Jason to me as we inhale fresh oranges bought at a traffic light from a street vendor in Nogales (Mexico)… “Don’t drop the orange peels. I’d rather be caught with drugs than citrus when we go back over the border.”
Jason to me, “Why would anyone own a timeshare in Branson, Missouri?”
Me to Jason, “Branson is like Vegas. For old people.”
Me to Jason after he’d either almost driven off a cliff, into a cliff wall, or taken out his undercarriage on a speed bump (I lost track of how many times each nearly happened), “You know what’s amazing? The number of times you’ve almost killed me, yet I still have total faith in your ability to keep me safe.”
Me to Jason as I’m getting in or out of the driver’s seat, “Is that a femur in the door pocket?”
Jason to me, “Yes. But don’t worry… it’s not human.”
Jason to me, somewhere between San Carlos & Magdalena de Kino… “Watch out for that cow. It wants to get hit. It’s really heavy. That would totally ruin our month.”
Jason to me as I navigate the narrow roads of Magdalena de Kino, “You’re doing a really good job… blah blah blah blah blah…”
Me to Jason, “I grew up driving in a town with streets just like this.”
Jason to me, “Yeah, but most people are really intimidated about driving in Mexico… blah blah blah blah blah…”
Me to myself (in my head) cuz I have a suspicious nature and can see where this might be headed, “Cyndi… no matter what… DO NOT let him talk you into driving in Nogales.”
Jason’s response to my wounded expression after he’s told me whatever I haven’t eaten of the huge bag of peanuts just purchased from a street bump vendor will have to be thrown away before we get to the border checkpoint, “Was I in any way unclear regarding my feelings about agricultural inspections?” (see previousconvo about orange peels).
Jason to me, “I’m sorry for almost killing you.”
Me to Jason, “It’s OK. I only hit the windshield the one time.”
Waiting in line at border patrol, Jason to himself after he’s reminded me (again) how often he gets flagged for a secondary inspection (almost always) & what needs to be moved into the cargo area (the liquor) and what needs to be tossed (everything edible that once grew from the earth)… “Damn. The femur could be a problem.”
After about 45 minutes, maybe an hour in line at the border… me running around the car to take the wheel while Jason runs off to buy me tacos from a street vendor on the wrong side of the tracks… literally, the guy tried to send him to a titty bar… then Jason running back to give me the tacos… then running back across the tracks because the guy is running around trying to find change in dollars rather than pesos… then running back and getting in the car… then after I almost hit a street vendor in a wheelchair, jumping back out and running around the front of the car to the driver’s side so I can eat while I run around the back, shoveling tacos down as I go…
We’re still about 10th in line at border patrol and I’ve just finished inhaling the tacos. I turn to Jason and hold out a plastic bag, “We need to throw away these limes… there’s a trash can right over there. Give me the femur.”
Border Patrol Agent #2, as he’s looking into the back window, “They have pot.”
Border Patrol Agent #1: barely glances up from our passports.
Border Patrol Agent #2, returning to the driver’s side window: “Is that a cooking pot?”
Jason to Border Patrol Agent #2, “Yes, it’s a cooking pot.”
Border Patrol Agent #2 to Border Patrol Agent #1, “I told you they had pot.”
Border Patrol Agent #1 to Border Patrol Agent #2, “I believed you.” (still no expression whatsoever)
Border Patrol Agent #2, who is CLEARLY a smartass, “So how long was the wait? 10 minutes?”
Me to Border Patrol Agent #2, “15, maybe 20.”
Jason to me after we’re admitted back into the US without having to undergo a secondary inspection, “Damn. I totally could have kept the femur.”
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For it matters not…
For it matters not how small the beginning may seem to be: what is once well done is done forever. But we love better to talk about it: that we say is our mission. Reform keeps many scores of newspapers in its service, but not one man. If my esteemed neighbor, the State’s ambassador, who will devote his days to the settlement of the question of human rights in the Council Chamber, instead of being threatened with the prisons of Carolina, were to sit down the prisoner of Massachusetts, that State which is so anxious to foist the sin of slavery upon her sister–though at present she can discover only an act of inhospitality to be the ground of a quarrel with her–the Legislature would not wholly waive the subject of the following winter.
It is there that the fugitive slave, and the Mexican prisoner on parole, and the Indian come to plead the wrongs of his race should find them; on that separate but more free and honorable ground, where the State places those who are not with her, but against her–the only house in a slave State in which a free man can abide with honor. If any think that their influence would be lost there, and their voices no longer afflict the ear of the State, that they would not be as an enemy within its walls, they do not know by how much truth is stronger than error, nor how much more eloquently and effectively he can combat injustice who has experienced a little in his own person. Cast your whole vote, not a strip of paper merely, but your whole influence.
A minority is powerless while it conforms to the majority; it is not even a minority then; but it is irresistible when it clogs by its whole weight. If the alternative is to keep all just men in prison, or give up war and slavery, the State will not hesitate which to choose. If a thousand men were not to pay their tax bills this year, that would not be a violent and bloody measure, as it would be to pay them, and enable the State to commit violence and shed innocent blood. This is, in fact, the definition of a peaceable revolution, if any such is possible. If the tax-gatherer, or any other public officer, asks me, as one has done, "But what shall I do?" my answer is, "If you really wish to do anything, resign your office." When the subject has refused allegiance, and the officer has resigned from office, then the revolution is accomplished. But even suppose blood should flow. Is there not a sort of blood shed when the conscience is wounded? Through this wound a man’s real manhood and immortality flow out, and he bleeds to an everlasting death. I see this blood flowing now.
Thoreau, Henry David (1993). Civil Disobedience
(Kindle Locations 156-176).
Public Domain Books. Kindle Edition.
drinking sand
So the GA 2012 grid map has been released. I’ve waited a few days to write about it, wanting to let it marinate a bit, to get past my initial reaction, to really reflect on it. I’ll preface my comments by saying I know a lot of people put a lot of time, effort, thought, and heart into planning and negotiating and mapping out this grid.
I had a conversation with a member of my board shortly after the Charlotte GA, in which we discussed some of the work we as a faith still need to do, and I said, “There’s really a whole ‘nother GA that we need to have BEFORE we even think about having a Justice GA.”
This grid is really exactly what I had in mind for THAT General Assembly. So it’s not that I think this is a bad grid. Under different circumstances, I’d have been thrilled. My heart probably would have burst with pride. Because I know that I still need work myself, not to mention the number of people who are in the early stages or who haven’t even begun to dismantle their racial, ethnic, social, and class privilege.
But under these circumstances, I am disappointed on multiple levels.
I’m disappointed by all the vague references I’ve seen about our “Arizona Partners” over the last 15 months and even more disappointed to see the Arizona Worker Rights Center and No More Deaths listed with Puente and NDLON in today’s UU World article, Picture of GA 2012 coming into focus. I wonder what we consider a partnership. The Arizona Worker Rights Center organizers are only vaguely familiar with our General Assembly. The organizers weren’t even aware they are listed as a partner on the UUA website until I mentioned it in a conversation unrelated to GA two or three weeks ago. And while the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Tucson is the fiscal agent for No More Deaths, No More Deaths is a completely autonomous organization. There has been no consensus of it’s members to endorse this General Assembly. Yet we have these organizations and many others listed as partners and continually reference the partners that have invited us, describing how much they want us to come to Arizona… these same organizations that seem to be telling us now what we should have already known… that creating a justice tourism experience for us would be an overwhelming burden and a drain on what precious few resources they have.
And while no one who was involved in the drafting of the ransom note is thrilled, and some are downright pissed… while I’ll admit I choked back tears while reading it, part of me is relieved by it. Because for months I have felt like we were crawling through the desert towards a mirage called Justice GA, doubting we would find any water, afraid half of us would drink the sand and not know the difference, and the other half would drink the sand, saying… at least it’s something (virtual prize to anyone who gets that pop culture reference).
It seems like we’re finally going to be honest with ourselves.
I truly believe that we need to have this proposed GA. But I think we should have used GA2011 and/or our district assemblies for this work. I don’t think Arizona during a boycott is the place for it. To have a Justice GA that is primarily a vehicle for us to educate ourselves will be viewed by many as nothing more than breaking the boycott.
I still have more questions than answers; what answers there are, are still vague. Some kind of citizenship fair, school supplies drive, no real feedback about decentralizing the structure of service projects. I’m completely befuddled by the times we’re scheduled to witness. There’s not time immediately prior to either event to travel to another venue, and downtown Phoenix isn’t exactly a hotbed of nightlife or mecca of culture. What there is, is all sprawled out and not much happens in the area immediately surrounding the convention center during those hours, so I’m not sure who we’ll be witnessing to. I can only hope that the schedule is more tentative and subject to change than not.
So to answer a question I’ve been asked by several (funny how it works when you are really vocal about what you think BEFORE something gets planned, people tend to want to know what you think of the result)…
I don’t know. There is part of me that wants to hold the other end of Kat’s banner (which would tickle the Quaker to no end) and a part of me that wants to meet people where they are nudge them along with Carolina and Rob. Part of me is tired of waiting for folks to catch up and part of me can’t help but hope this could be the catalyst for us to become what we should have been all along.
Sunday Meditation: When the Past Arrives
Gather what you can for we must leave now.
Gather what you must,
for hatred is marching
and we are no longer safe.What shall we take? Time is running out.
The way from here will be rough
and we’ll make justice as we go.Take only what you can carry.
“Carry me,” history cries.
From her wrinkled mouth she begs,
“Carry me lightly in your hearts.”Gather what you can into your hearts
the present moment has arrived
we must leave much behind.
Shick, Stephen (2009). Be the Change:
Poems, Prayers and Meditations for Peacemakers and Justice Seekers
(Kindle Locations 1144-1154). Skinner House Books. Kindle Edition.
Related articles
- Sunday Meditation: Freedom Waits (curlykidz.wordpress.com)
- Sunday Meditation: Loving in Fear (curlykidz.wordpress.com)
Sunday Meditation: Particles of Love
Spirit of Life, God of Love, you radiate the particles of my soul. Sparkling, they spin me free of my ego. Shimmering, they bestow upon me the simple honor of being alive. Shining, they reflect a pathway of humility and service. In the darkness of my own making, remind me that I am a true miracle of this world. Show me the greatness that whirls inside me, undiminished by my excuses and my grand gestures. Let your warmth spread outward from the center of my being until I become a beacon of your radiant love.
Shick, Stephen (2009). Be the Change:
Poems, Prayers and Meditations for Peacemakers and Justice Seekers
(Kindle Locations 792-796). Skinner House Books. Kindle Edition.
Open Letter to the GA Planning Committee
I’m crossposting an open letter to the GA Planning Committee that was written by my friend Rob and also signed by friends Carolina, Jim, Nastasha, & Rachel… mostly because I think it’s a great letter and it addresses some logistical issues that we didn’t attempt to address in our memo (I mean really, you have to draw the line somewhere, and we decided it would be at the end of page 5), and partly because a great many of our mutual friends have assumed that Carolina was involved with what some of us jokingly referred to as “the ransom note.” If that proposal winds up being wildly unpopular, I wouldn’t want to take an innocent party down with me. 😉 The authors and signers of each document didn’t know about the others’ efforts until the documents were in the next to final draft stages.
Greetings All,
We are writing today as a group of UUs involved in various social justice efforts, and not representing any particular congregation or committee.
As you meet in Boston this week to begin in earnest the momentous task of charting our course toward next summer’s Justice General Assembly, we wanted to share a few thoughts and concerns that have been discussed here recently in Phoenix. Certainly one of the greatest challenges we are presented with is one of balance. How do we balance the understandable need to plan and schedule the activities of each day, with the need to maintain flexibility (to allow those activities to be as relevant and current as possible), reduce barriers to accessibility, and allow the greatest variety of community organizations to participate as possible? By providing a space to hear from, and work with a broad spectrum of community organizations operating and evolving here locally. In doing so we believe we can serve an important need in the local community for networking and idea sharing. Additionally we will be able give our members exposure to the newest and most exciting developments in community organizing to maximize the value of the learning they take back home to their local communities. We believe that experience will be much more meaningful if we can provide people with opportunities to get out into the community, to work with and learn from these organizations first hand on their own turf.
So what might this balance look like? Our understanding is that the planning committee is already discussing a “track” based model, that would provide attendees the opportunity to focus more deeply and meaningfully on aspects of justice work that are particularly of interest to them. We would like to suggest that we might either have a dedicated track for community organizing and engagement, or possibly consider adding a community engagement aspect to each track. In support of this we suggest a section of the exhibit hall be reserved for local community organizations, with little to no cost associated. We would also suggest as late a registration deadline as possible. Participating organizations would be able to plan activities with immediate volunteer opportunities and provide an estimate of how many volunteers they could use on each day, for how long and for what type of work. We would suggest a portion of the morning worship/assembly be dedicated to highlighting some of the day’s coming opportunities, with the time after the worship devoted intentionally to sending people down to the community engagement area to talk with these organizations and find an opportunity that matches their interests and abilities.
To achieve this, we can see the need for several important infrastructural components. A central volunteer coordination booth/team would be very useful to help direct attendees toward organizations with opportunities that match their interests, skills, and accessibility needs. Ideally this team would get live feedback from the organizations as their opportunities fill up, or are under-subscribed. A transportation coordinator (or likely team) would be needed to manage a pool of vans and buses, likely in real time, to make sure that everyone can get to the activities they want to participate in and that accessibility needs in transportation are met. Additionally it might be worth reserving space and resources within the convention center, so that organizations have the option of hosting events or activities there as well. Having access to technology, such as computers or a phone bank might be very useful to these organizations for example. To amplify the power and impact of these experiences and make sure we are taking care of each other, we should provide attendees with opportunities to come back together, return to their spiritual grounding, and share the things they have seen and done out in the community.
Thanks to you all for the work you are doing on our behalf, and may the power of our faith give you the strength and clarity you’ll undoubtedly be needing in the coming months.
Yours in Service and in Faith,
Rob Smith
Carolina Krawarik-Graham
Jim Krawarik-Graham
Nastasha Ostrom
Rachel Kulik
Justice GA, #UU Accountability, and the #uualtoaz hash tag
I was mentioned in a twitter comment over the weekend by a fellow UU I’ve long admired and respected, I think as part of a twitter chat that included a couple other UU’s that I have a great deal of respect for. But throughout that conversation was a hash tag that made me terribly uncomfortable.
#uualtoaz
I immediately made my reservations known, and my concerns were acknowledged… but as blurbs from that chat are retweeted and posted in other forums, I’m concerned that hash tag may have taken on a life of it’s own, as I saw it associated with twitter posts unrelated to the original chat when I was online this morning.
Folks outside Arizona may not be familiar with the Alto Arizona. Folks not familiar with the campaign may think it simply means Stop AZ in Spanish (which it does). But Alto Arizona is a campaign of PuenteAZ and NDLON, not the Unitarian Universalist Association. Alto Arizona is also a campaign for which the UUA is not listed as a partner organization. Alto Arizona is a campaign that, among other things, calls for a boycott of Arizona.
A boycott that we are violating at the invitation of some Arizona human rights groups and to the irritation of others. Read more…
Sunday Meditation: Go Barefoot
Spirit of my exploring heart, help me walk where deep-rooted questions rise through the firm hard ground, the pathway that has led to war and injustice for centuries. Bare-footed and trembling, let me feel the pain that inhumanity has tramped into the earth. Let me face the unknown, assured that all my questions are natural and blameless. Help me learn how to live peacefully when war and anger rage, how to do justice while greed consumes resources that could sustain us. Bruised and battered, let my feet feel holiness rise through the ground of my being. Let that holiness fill me with confidence, that I might find alternatives to the well-trod roads to destruction. Grant me the wisdom to do as Moses did on that sacred mountain, when he was told “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.”
Shick, Stephen (2009). Be the Change: Poems, Prayers and Meditations
for Peacemakers and Justice Seekers
(Kindle Locations 388-394). Skinner House Books. Kindle Edition.
Sunday Meditation: Loving in Fear
Spirit of Life, God of Love, grant me the courage to love boldly in the face of my greatest fears. Grow me in your wisdom and let my actions speak when silence threatens justice and indifference disturbs peace. When gossip, hate, and cruelty arise among friends or in public places, help me bravely walk forward with love. When I defensively assert certainty in the presence of the unknown, grant me the courage to live comfortably in the unanswerable questions of life. Bless me with the eternal gift of not knowing and let it take root in me until it pushes forth shoots of understanding and branches of humility.
Shick, Stephen (2009). Be the Change:
Poems, Prayers and Meditations for Peacemakers and Justice Seekers
(Kindle Locations 279-283). Skinner House Books. Kindle Edition.
Loving Humans
Loving humans
is tricky
sometimes
a slap
in the face
is all you get
for doing it
just right.Loving humans is a job
like any other
only
more
bumps
on the way
to work
which is full on
all the time.Loving humans
makes us
want
to invite
ourselves to tea
with rancid
dictators
we think we
can convince
of our
story’s side
while all
they think
about
while
we sit & dream
is how
they can
get away
with
poisoning
our tea Read more…
chatter