June 2012 - Dialogue - lists.wedgeblade.net

Re: [Dialogue] Stories about a man man I didn't know named Frank
by LAURELCG＠aol.com 10 Jun '12

10 Jun '12

Thank you, Steve. Jann McGuire In a message dated 6/10/2012 10:46:34 A.M. Pacific Daylight Time, stevehar11201(a)gmail.com writes: Stories about ---- Frank Hilliard's Death & Ed Feldmanis's story of a shared moment or two with him in just 93 words [below] and --- Rick Laudermilk's vignette of the moment of silence at his father's funeral -all silence- because his father was such a private guy. Because none of the men that gathered for his funeral knew how to or cared to share a story of what it was like to be with his dad and what they loved about being with him enoght to come to his funeral and celebrate at the completion of his life. Then I remembered --- Joe Matthew's story about the time his father died and the funeral director tried to cover up his father's face with lipstick and his body with a brand new cut-away funeral gown-suit -all of it pretense and abstractions to hide real death in the middle of real life...and --- My Dad's funeral when I tried to retell 4 stories from my dad's life some of the stories everyone knew, some only I knew... once as a boy in Tennessee when his school blew away in a cyclone, once as a young young riding an Indian motorcycle cross country, once as an established adult playing poker in Key West with Harry Truman what happened when "the old man" lost a huge pot of money. Once...the last time I saw him... wearing a yellow sweater, smoking a pipe that I had given him, smelling that sweet sweet tobacco he loved, watching him rocking in one of those pink metal rocking chairs at the nursing home, seeing him smile in those last moments before he got up and left for Alzheimer's land and for good. --- Now, my peers & teachers pass on: Sandra True died the weekend I sat 44 hours in the zendo meditating while she completed her life. I remembered the time at the Minneapolis House at 3am during a New Religious Mode Odyssey when I was scrubbing my grave plot like everyone else on the floor when two Minneapolis police men opened the door and asked: Could we what we were doing --they had a complaint from neighbors about people wearing white sheets". So interesting what happens in a scene and a couple of words. --- Robert Shropshire's at Academy 1973 teaching RS1 when he drew a diagram on the blackboard with a piece of fat rail road chalk in the shape of the letter Omega and told a Mowanjum story of teaching among the Aboriginals He said one day he was talking to some people about living your life as raw possibility and having the courage to say so out loud. In my imagination he was describing himself like that guy sitting on a log with a bunch of kids listening at the other end of the log. He talked for a long while. Then there was a big Dreaming. As one man took a stick and drew a picture in the dirt in the shape of an empty head [or the Omega symbol]. The man then drew 2 circles for eyes, 1 circle for a mouth, 2 loops for ears and said: "Before I was like this... an empty head. Now I have eyes to see, ears to hear and words to say into existence what is real about my life and share it with others. You have given me words to say what is so." Shropshire said that in Mowanjum when a different moment of real got said said into existence clarity broke into candid conversation - again - when the same guy awoke from a walking-around-asleep dream and said: " Robert you are not a "special-magic" black man: you're not a black man like me at all, you're just a white man... just like them!' Shropshire used to distinguish walking around in the ordinary places with ordinary people being fully awake, and how sleepy he felt traveling around some places in the United States,how much energy it took not to catching the sleeping sickness, how in some places you had to struggle to stay present to conversations for possibility. The last Shropshire story I recall was when he went to work at MacDonalds after a LENS seminar, tried to see what it takes to wake-up and stay awake in 1% corporate America. That's how I rememberShropshire as a character filled-full, vivid with a sense of wonder, focused whole-hearted, present then, present now in my meditative council stories. --- Living still and making online stories Kaye Hayes listening online and live again this year to Kaye Hayes 1972 Freedom Lecture thanks to Walt Epply's New ICA-USA Archives digital recording. What got me was not the 20th C existential/mythological lingo but the still lively storytelling -the classic ones like "Welcome to Hard Times, why don' you stick around and build". What a storyteller she was at the pedagogue lecturn; when I listen to her at Mike May's video clips... she mostly only tells stories from her long-ago community and about her work as a mentor among reservation indian kids who diserve a future view, now, of freedom --- Gordon Harper makes videoclips of Occupy and writes online how Joe Mathews gave a talk in Maliwada one time on Integrity and gave it to Werner Erhard who now teaches about Integrity at Harvard B-school and Oxford. --- A woman named Sandy Something the time my best Costa Rica friend Jo Stuart invited me to lunch in San Jose last year, with a friend of her's named Sandy Something-or-another whom I didn't know. As we sat down at the restaurant an island of English speakers in a sea of native Spanish speakers I introduced myself and asked this Sandy Something-or-another where she was from. She said Chicago. I said my younger daughter lives there and I used to know some people that lived on the West Side. She said yup, me too they lived at 3444 Congress Parkway, right? With in seconds of sitting down we were chanting "This is the drum of the city, this is the drum of the city, it says to us that we can live...". The entire restaurant of Costa Ricans grew quiet as they listened to these English speaking gringos beating respectfully on the table, chanting. The conversation completely changed as we started sharing-long ago Sandy Powell and Steve Harrington stories. Our mutual friend Jo, who is a writer, became more and more astonished as deep root and memorable character stories tumbled out. Later she told me she wished she had brought her journal notebook so she could write down names and places and themes and write them out. At our table it seemed as if an entire group of interior council characters pulled chairs up around our table listening: many Franks, Ricks, Joes, Roberts, Kayes, Sandras, Steves listening like an invisible college woken-up again to travel east sharing human journey stories. --- Thank-you Ed Feldmanis -thank-you for your Frank Hilliard story of a man I never met and found in 93 sweet short words. Yes, I do now remember that Greek restaurant named Diana's downtown Chicago near Halstead. It was the old place behind the small greek grocery store right? It's theplace where Anthony Quinn learned to dance for Zorba the Green. It is the place where you learn to cheer "Opa" as the flaming saganiki cheese scorches the blue and white tinsil decorations, right? It is the place I met the mother of my children one Sunday afternoon dinner during Academy 73. It was the origin point the action-before the action that created my family, created lives of my two daughters Sarah and Margot, foreshadowed my current grandfather mind for a new granddaughter named Indira. === More short-short stories please, vignettes really of the distinctive characters who travel East. More short-short stories of character to pay forward to some other generation who might also wish to travel East. -- Steve Harrington Ed's 93 Word Story of a man I didn't know named Frank. I was in Frank's Ecclesiola at Centrum. One night we all went to Greek town to a special restaurant called Diana's. We persuaded the honor to dance and he finished with resounding Opa's as he flung his glass crashing against the wall. We were mesmerized. Our members were raving about the experience. On the next day Frank added his insight: Always appreciate a man's special talent but never fool yourself thinking that a talent represents a grounded life. Our restaurant owner could be someone living authentically or maybe not. Thanks to Frank for the sharing and his sacrifice. A beautiful life. _______________________________________________ Dialogue mailing list Dialogue(a)lists.wedgeblade.net http://lists.wedgeblade.net/listinfo.cgi/dialogue-wedgeblade.net

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Re: [Dialogue] Repository?
by David Walters 10 Jun '12

10 Jun '12

Thanks Tim. -David Walters --- twegner(a)swbell.net wrote: From: "Tim Wegner" <twegner(a)swbell.net> To: Colleague Dialogue <dialogue(a)lists.wedgeblade.net> Subject: Re: [Dialogue] Repository? Date: Sun, 10 Jun 2012 14:31:50 -0500 David Walters asked: > Can someone explain what has happened to the Repository? I can't > seem to be able to access it. The repository host (Dreamhost) had a hardware failure. They have repaired the hardware and are restoring from backup. Their estimated time of repair is later today, but I suggest everyone assume it is down through Monday. I have my eye on the situation. Fortunately the mailing list uses different hardware, so is unaffected. Tim _______________________________________________ Dialogue mailing list Dialogue(a)lists.wedgeblade.net http://lists.wedgeblade.net/listinfo.cgi/dialogue-wedgeblade.net

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Repository?
by David Walters 10 Jun '12

10 Jun '12

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Stories about a man man I didn't know named Frank
by steve har 10 Jun '12

10 Jun '12

Stories about ---- Frank Hilliard's Death & Ed Feldmanis's story of a shared moment or two with him in just 93 words [below] and --- Rick Laudermilk's vignette of the moment of silence at his father's funeral -all silence- because his father was such a private guy. Because none of the men that gathered for his funeral knew how to or cared to share a story of what it was like to be with his dad and what they loved about being with him enoght to come to his funeral and celebrate at the completion of his life. Then I remembered --- Joe Matthew's story about the time his father died and the funeral director tried to cover up his father's face with lipstick and his body with a brand new cut-away funeral gown-suit -all of it pretense and abstractions to hide real death in the middle of real life...and --- My Dad's funeral when I tried to retell 4 stories from my dad's life some of the stories everyone knew, some only I knew... once as a boy in Tennessee when his school blew away in a cyclone, once as a young young riding an Indian motorcycle cross country, once as an established adult playing poker in Key West with Harry Truman what happened when "the old man" lost a huge pot of money. Once...the last time I saw him... wearing a yellow sweater, smoking a pipe that I had given him, smelling that sweet sweet tobacco he loved, watching him rocking in one of those pink metal rocking chairs at the nursing home, seeing him smile in those last moments before he got up and left for Alzheimer's land and for good. --- Now, my peers & teachers pass on: Sandra True died the weekend I sat 44 hours in the zendo meditating while she completed her life. I remembered the time at the Minneapolis House at 3am during a New Religious Mode Odyssey when I was scrubbing my grave plot like everyone else on the floor when two Minneapolis police men opened the door and asked: Could we what we were doing --they had a complaint from neighbors about people wearing white sheets". So interesting what happens in a scene and a couple of words. --- Robert Shropshire's at Academy 1973 teaching RS1 when he drew a diagram on the blackboard with a piece of fat rail road chalk in the shape of the letter Omega and told a Mowanjum story of teaching among the Aboriginals He said one day he was talking to some people about living your life as raw possibility and having the courage to say so out loud. In my imagination he was describing himself like that guy sitting on a log with a bunch of kids listening at the other end of the log. He talked for a long while. Then there was a big Dreaming. As one man took a stick and drew a picture in the dirt in the shape of an empty head [or the Omega symbol]. The man then drew 2 circles for eyes, 1 circle for a mouth, 2 loops for ears and said: "Before I was like this... an empty head. Now I have eyes to see, ears to hear and words to say into existence what is real about my life and share it with others. You have given me words to say what is so." Shropshire said that in Mowanjum when a different moment of real got said said into existence clarity broke into candid conversation - again - when the same guy awoke from a walking-around-asleep dream and said: " Robert you are not a "special-magic" black man: you're not a black man like me at all, you're just a white man... just like them!' Shropshire used to distinguish walking around in the ordinary places with ordinary people being fully awake, and how sleepy he felt traveling around some places in the United States,how much energy it took not to catching the sleeping sickness, how in some places you had to struggle to stay present to conversations for possibility. The last Shropshire story I recall was when he went to work at MacDonalds after a LENS seminar, tried to see what it takes to wake-up and stay awake in 1% corporate America. That's how I rememberShropshire as a character filled-full, vivid with a sense of wonder, focused whole-hearted, present then, present now in my meditative council stories. --- Living still and making online stories Kaye Hayes listening online and live again this year to Kaye Hayes 1972 Freedom Lecture thanks to Walt Epply's New ICA-USA Archives digital recording. What got me was not the 20th C existential/mythological lingo but the still lively storytelling -the classic ones like "Welcome to Hard Times, why don' you stick around and build". What a storyteller she was at the pedagogue lecturn; when I listen to her at Mike May's video clips... she mostly only tells stories from her long-ago community and about her work as a mentor among reservation indian kids who diserve a future view, now, of freedom --- Gordon Harper makes videoclips of Occupy and writes online how Joe Mathews gave a talk in Maliwada one time on Integrity and gave it to Werner Erhard who now teaches about Integrity at Harvard B-school and Oxford. --- A woman named Sandy Something the time my best Costa Rica friend Jo Stuart invited me to lunch in San Jose last year, with a friend of her's named Sandy Something-or-another whom I didn't know. As we sat down at the restaurant an island of English speakers in a sea of native Spanish speakers I introduced myself and asked this Sandy Something-or-another where she was from. She said Chicago. I said my younger daughter lives there and I used to know some people that lived on the West Side. She said yup, me too they lived at 3444 Congress Parkway, right? With in seconds of sitting down we were chanting "This is the drum of the city, this is the drum of the city, it says to us that we can live...". The entire restaurant of Costa Ricans grew quiet as they listened to these English speaking gringos beating respectfully on the table, chanting. The conversation completely changed as we started sharing-long ago Sandy Powell and Steve Harrington stories. Our mutual friend Jo, who is a writer, became more and more astonished as deep root and memorable character stories tumbled out. Later she told me she wished she had brought her journal notebook so she could write down names and places and themes and write them out. At our table it seemed as if an entire group of interior council characters pulled chairs up around our table listening: many Franks, Ricks, Joes, Roberts, Kayes, Sandras, Steves listening like an invisible college woken-up again to travel east sharing human journey stories. --- Thank-you Ed Feldmanis -thank-you for your Frank Hilliard story of a man I never met and found in 93 sweet short words. Yes, I do now remember that Greek restaurant named Diana's downtown Chicago near Halstead. It was the old place behind the small greek grocery store right? It's theplace where Anthony Quinn learned to dance for Zorba the Green. It is the place where you learn to cheer "Opa" as the flaming saganiki cheese scorches the blue and white tinsil decorations, right? It is the place I met the mother of my children one Sunday afternoon dinner during Academy 73. It was the origin point the action-before the action that created my family, created lives of my two daughters Sarah and Margot, foreshadowed my current grandfather mind for a new granddaughter named Indira. === More short-short stories please, vignettes really of the distinctive characters who travel East. More short-short stories of character to pay forward to some other generation who might also wish to travel East. -- Steve Harrington Ed's 93 Word Story of a man I didn't know named Frank. I was in Frank's Ecclesiola at Centrum. One night we all went to Greek town to a special restaurant called Diana's. We persuaded the honor to dance and he finished with resounding Opa's as he flung his glass crashing against the wall. We were mesmerized. Our members were raving about the experience. On the next day Frank added his insight: Always appreciate a man's special talent but never fool yourself thinking that a talent represents a grounded life. Our restaurant owner could be someone living authentically or maybe not. Thanks to Frank for the sharing and his sacrifice. A beautiful life.

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Re: [Dialogue] the President
by coevolutionacademy＠juno.com 10 Jun '12

10 Jun '12

I also agree with what Randy says. Rose Anne ---------- Original Message ---------- From: Marianna Bailey <wmbailey(a)charter.net> To: Colleague Dialogue <dialogue(a)lists.wedgeblade.net> Subject: Re: [Dialogue] the President Date: Mon, 4 Jun 2012 16:27:56 -0400 I agree with Randy. I think Obama has done the best he can in a very hostile situation. Marianna On Jun 4, 2012, at 4:09 PM, R Williams wrote:Jann and Sunny, I too have struggled with some of the decisions the President and his administration have made, like for example, the decision to allow super pacs to raise money for his campaign. Since I can't be happy with all his particular actions, I've had to fall back on his values, and there I believe his are as close to my own as any national candidate for office in my lifetime. So for now I will continue to trust his foundational values and I will stick with him as my candidate until I feel his values have shifted to the point that I no longer can if I am to maintain my own integrity. Our father in freedom Dietrich Bonhoeffer told us that often the choices are between wrong and wrong, and right and right. My experience in choosing candidates is that it is always between individuals who are both right and wrong at the same time, that is, there's good and bad in all of them (and, by the way, all of us.) This is one reason why it is a distortion to demonize those with whom we disagree. The 2008 presidential election was the first for me in which I felt I was voting "for" the candidate I supported rather than "against" the one I did not support . I confess I'm not as enthusiastic about Obama now as I was last time around, but it is so clear to me that the values of Mitt Romney are so contrary to my own that there is no dilemma whatsoever for me as to who I will vote for. Randy PS I believe any elected official, who serves a term with an eye toward getting elected for another term, is compromised to one degree or another. That is why I would support the presidency being limited to one 6-year term. If Obama is re-elected I believe his lame duck status will allow him to do things he never did in his first term. I feel this is indicative more of a flaw in the system than a flaw in the man. "Listen to what is emerging from yourself to the course of being in the world; not to be supported by it, but to bring it to reality as it desires." -Martin Buber (adapted) From: "LAURELCG(a)aol.com" <LAURELCG(a)aol.com> To: dialogue(a)lists.wedgeblade.net Sent: Monday, June 4, 2012 12:41 PM Subject: Re: [Dialogue] the President I agree. I'm profoundly disappointed in Mr. Obama and his administration. First, for leaving the hawks to guard the economic henhouse (Geitner, for example), secondly, for taking on more unchecked, unbalanced executive power than even George Bush dared. (drone strikes and immigrant deportations increased) and this adds a third arena. I pray for orderly evolution to more equity and civility. Thanks for sharing, Sunny,Jann In a message dated 6/4/2012 10:08:50 A.M. Pacific Daylight Time, sunwalker(a)comcast.net writes:Well, my FBI file grows. I�ve written another president � not one I ever expected to. I followed Steve Harrington�s link to the cartoon discussion and randomly (you�ve noticed, it�s how my brain works, sighhhh�) a nearby link. There I found this comment. So I simply asked the President to heed the words as they will make a difference in the election: We hear much about civility in public life, and many colleges now insert civility discussions into the curriculum. More and more, President Obama�s speeches are worth studying as examples of incivility, of precisely what a president should not do this far out from the election. Cheap and puerile, they offer the guilty pleasures of raillery, a moment�s chuckle and a lengthening contempt for people of different views. Such rhetoric coming out of the president�s mouth poisons civic life, for every time he throws a cynical and insulting characterization to the audience, he licenses the blowhard talking head, the obnoxious columnist, and hordes of lesser incumbent politicians in their own campaigns to do the same. Your thoughts? Sunny Sunny WalkerSunWalker Enterprises303-587-3017 (cell)303-671-0704 (home/office)sunwalker(a)comcast.netAurora, CO No mattter how far you've gone down the wrong road, turn back. ~ Turkish Proverb _______________________________________________ Dialogue mailing list Dialogue(a)lists.wedgeblade.net http://lists.wedgeblade.net/listinfo.cgi/dialogue-wedgeblade.net _______________________________________________ Dialogue mailing list Dialogue(a)lists.wedgeblade.net http://lists.wedgeblade.net/listinfo.cgi/dialogue-wedgeblade.net _______________________________________________ Dialogue mailing list Dialogue(a)lists.wedgeblade.net http://lists.wedgeblade.net/listinfo.cgi/dialogue-wedgeblade.net ____________________________________________________________ 53 Year Old Mom Looks 33 The Stunning Results of Her Wrinkle Trick Has Botox Doctors Worried http://thirdpartyoffers.juno.com/TGL3141/4fd4b2844775018ce8ast02vuc

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Sheldon Hill
by Terry Bergdall 10 Jun '12

10 Jun '12

Betty Hill has asked me to inform everyone that Shel is in failing health and that his condition is declining rapidly. Her report about Shel being "okay with where he is," serves as a reminder to us all that acknowledging and affirming our real situation is at the heart of faith and well being. It is obvious Shel remains a spirit man and thereby lends courage to us all. Grace and peace, Terry On 10 Jun 2012, at 05:51, Elizabeth Hill <elizabethhill(a)verizon.net> wrote: He continues to fail physically. I will keep in touch. On 9 Jun 2012, at 00:54, Elizabeth Hill wrote: Feel free to post something on the dialogue site. He's probably not going to get "well" but he's okay with where he is. We're trying to be in the same place. On 8 Jun 2012, at 09:18, Elizabeth Hill wrote: … it seems like the right time to should share with you that Shel isn't doing very well - the "remnant" (as he refers to himself) of the North Shore cadre men - and so much more than that, to at least everyone at 4750. He is suffering from diabetes diagnosed many years ago but now causing major problems,,,

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Frank Hilliard
by Katrin Ogilvy 10 Jun '12

10 Jun '12

Sympathy Dear Aimee and Li Lin, dear Colleagues, I am sad to hear about Frank's passing. The memory of the 1968 Europe Trek with Frank, Rod, Rose and George stayed in my heart. Frank was an exemplar to me. Grace and peace, Katrin Ogilvy Melbourne, Australia

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Re: [Dialogue] Visionary Organizing
by LAURELCG＠aol.com 10 Jun '12

10 Jun '12

Bill and Gordon, Thank you both for your exciting work and for this sharing. Blessings, Jann McGuire In a message dated 6/8/2012 8:22:39 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time, bparker175(a)cox.net writes: Gordon, et al, Very interesting. I knew Robin was in the area but the thought he might be in your church never occurred to me. Suzanne taught both of Robin's children in the second grade and Robin's church has been a part of the founding core of our local effort called VOICE (Voices Organized In Civic Engagement) organized by the Industrial Areas Foundation (Sol Alinsky's group out of Chicago). This is the local component of a larger effort to get at the systemic issues facing the social process called the Human Community Network. Other faces of this Human Community Network include creating at OCU a College of the 21st Century which complements the academic curriculum and teaching with something like a methods and pedagogy curriculum designed to prepare grads to step into the emerging generation of progressive leadership and take charge of systemic model building and change regardless of their specific areas of study. Also, for moving our culture toward a culture of peace we are focused on the interfaith community moving to a common understanding of life, common action of care and responsibility, and a new level of honoring the various expressions of the faith traditions. We are going to have a major organizing effort to create many study group of Eboo Patel's book ACTS OF FAITH and his work with the Interfaith Youth Core in preparation of his coming to OKC in the Fall of 2013. This will set the stage for a major development in Oklahoma that has never before been considered. It seems our methods experience through the years were dramatic rehearsals for what we now have on our hands. The Occupy movement is symptomatic of the collective mood but it resides below the conscious thought of those who are enslaved to an isolated individualized culture, corrupted capitalism, and political impotence. The 99% and 1% image has changed how people think about our situation whether they are interested in Occupy or not. I think we should be far more pro-active with that network as far as our methods are concerned. We also need to be watchful about connections. The Oc cupy movement almost connected with the old, tired, beaten up unions here in OKC but something happened and it did not work. We need to figure out what happened. That worker connection is crucial, as is connecting with the youth's lucidity and disgust with the social process. As Marjorie Kelly said in her book THE DIVINE RIGHT OF CAPITAL, the people with the power are the workers and the consumers, contrary to all appearences otherwise and this is true politically as well. She calls for a cleaning out of capitalism the corruption within it we generally assume has always been there. It can be clean up! She is also coming to OKC when we get around to preparing for it. She has another book just out this month called OWNING OUT FUTURE, which is the plan for how to do it. Take care and go for it, Bill

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Completed life of Frank Hilliard
by Terry Bergdall 09 Jun '12

09 Jun '12

Aimee contacted Carol Pierce saying that Frank passed yesterday of a heart attack. They were at his Texas home. The funeral will be held there among his family friends perhaps as early as tomorrow. At a later date, a memorial service will be held in Chicago. As more information will be posted once it becomes known. Grace and peace, Terry

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Re: [Dialogue] Visionary Organizing
by David Walters 09 Jun '12

09 Jun '12

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