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Sue Laxdal Obituary
by Beret Griffith 21 Sep '23

21 Sep '23

https://m.startribune.com/obituaries/detail/0000468580/? fullname=sue-ellen-(benedict)-laxdal&clmob=y&c=n&clmob=y&c=n

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Fwd: [New post] Reflecting on a year in freelance facilitation, 2022-23
by James Wiegel 08 Sep '23

08 Sep '23

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Searching for a paper
by James Wiegel 05 Sep '23

05 Sep '23

For whatever reason, I am being pushed to reconsider the other world. I found a paper by Tillich (see attached) and I remember a paper, I believe by Niebuhr called "We live in 2 worlds" or something that we studied. Anyone recall?? Have a copy?? I checked the Global Research Network website and also the online data base and was unable to find it. Of course, now that I am 78, I have to wonder . .. did it actually exist? Thanks for any help. And, how are you all doing?? Over the past 6 weeks, I have been much reminded of one of the Old Testament readings from the daily office in RS-1 Amos 5:18-24. We fled from the heat in Arizona (114 avg in July) to Colorado and a tornado met us. We returned to Arizona and Hurricane Hillary just missed us. We went to a niece's wedding in Oregon and the venue was changed due to a wildfire evacuation order. Now we are back in Arizona, but a brother- and sister-in-law are stuck at an airport in Charlotte because of Hurricane Idalia . . . Jim Wiegel Theunknown is what is. And to be frightened of it is what sends everybodyscurrying around chasing dreams, illusions, wars, peace, love, hate, allthat. Unknown is what is. Accept that it's unknown, and it's plainsailing. John Lennon 401 North Beverly Way, Tolleson, Arizona 85353 623-363-3277 jfwiegel(a)yahoo.com www.partnersinparticipation.com

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Attention: Let the Earth Breathe (choral arrangement, links/attachment)
by Ellie Stock 16 Aug '23

16 Aug '23

Subject: Let the Earth Breathe (choral arrangement); backstory of song Hi Folks, Greetings from St. Louis. I hope you have survived the heat and storms of this summer. In previous years during the Earth Day season, I have emailed the music notation and link to audio and song video of the song "Let the Earth Breathe." I am now sending a recent choral arrangement of "Let the Earth Breathe" which was excerpted from our church's (Second Presbyterian Church, St. Louis) April 22 Earth Day Service that Carleton and I coordinated. The song was arranged and accompanied by our Minister of Music, Spencer Smith, and sung by the Second PC choir. The audio recording is not a professional one, but it gives you an idea. Spencer improvises on the accompaniment music notation he wrote. Tempo and emphases can vary, but the audio gives you an idea of what can be done. Some backstory of the song: "Let the Earth Breathe" was originally written in the spring of 2012 for our local Ferguson Environmental Event which was also our local ICA 50th Anniversary Event. During the event we planned for future environmental work in the Ferguson area, colored strips which were sent to the Greenrise for the collaborative mural that was dedicated in September of 2012. From that meeting was birthed the Ferguson Eco Team that Carleton and I co-coordinate, now in its 12th year. Looking to September, some churches and groups celebrate the Season of Creation, beginning September 1 with the International Day of Prayer for Creation and ending October 4, the Feast Day of St. Francis. So, if you are part of a group/choir or know of one for which this song would be appropriate, feel free to use or pass it along. Or it could be used for Earth Day or any day. Attached (below): Let the Earth Breathe, Choral Arrangement music YouTube link: Let the Earth Breathe, Choral arrangement: https://youtu.be/QLF0orJp42Y Stay cool, and I hope you have an enjoyable rest of your summer! Grapes and peas ~ Ellie :)elliestock@aol.com

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Upcoming Global Event
by Sunny Walker 14 Aug '23

14 Aug '23

Dear Colleagues, I'm announcing a wonderful event coming in a few days - Wednesday, August 16th. It will be an amazing discussion of the Congo River, its current situation, and community impacts. Learn more at: https://icaglobalarchives.org/social-research-center-events/ With additional details about the expert presenters when you click on the registration. While it will be 3 am in my own time zone (7 pm Sydney, 10 am London/Togo), it will be worth it! In a time of devastating climate change, love the earth and learn its global secrets, Sunny *Sunny Walker * *She/her/hers* *On **Arapaho, Cheyenne, Núu-agha-tʉvʉ-pʉ̱ (Ute), and Očeti Šakówiŋ (Sioux) tribal land* Certified Facilitator (Also Certified ToP Facilitator) ToP Methods Mentor Trainer - Upcoming Courses <https://www.top-training.net/w/> Virtual Facilitation Collaborative Senior Facilitator sunny.sunwalker(a)gmail.com 303-587-3017 For diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging inquiries: sunny(a)diversityinnovators.com www.diversityinnovators.com For virtual facilitation inquiries: sunny(a)virtualfacilitationcollaborative.com www.virtualfacilitationcollaborative.com

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FW: Update about Elaine Stover
by Lynda C 25 Jul '23

25 Jul '23

The following is a letter about Elaine from Tim Leisman, new chairperson of Emerging Ecology, who has been on a few ICA zoom calls over the years and accompanied Nelson to India within the last few years. Tim and Elaine worked on the letter a couple of days ago. Elaine has asked that I post this on the OE list serve, even though awaiting more detail. I had a visit with her yesterday as she works on next steps regarding her location, health, and future needed surgery. Because of the changing situation, contact with Elaine is limited, though snail mail to their home address 5911 Western Trail, Greensboro, NC 27410 still works and is monitored several times a week. For only the next few days her phone connection is as listed below at White Stone Health Care 336-510-4829. She would appreciate hearing from you. Hopefully this will be updated within the next few days. Email is still being worked on. In the meantime, Elaine is hoping for a buyer who will appreciate the Universe Story Walk, the permaculture garden designed by Fred Lanphear, pond and the large wooded area (5+ acres) surrounding the house. Location is near the airport and small shops for most daily needs. We can attest to a wonderful 4 season location. Close family friend Jennifer Kramer is the POA for Elaine. She and husband Gerald Martin and their two sons are the Stovers’ “adopted family.” I also can be contacted for questions. (336-404-0770). With gratitude and care for the Stovers, Lynda and John Cock From: Tim Leisman <timleisman(a)outlook.com> Date: Sunday, July 23, 2023 at 12:28 PM To: Lynda860(a)outlook.com <lynda860(a)outlook.com> Subject: Update about Elaine Stover Good morning, Lynda, I hope you’re doing well. As I think you’ve heard, Elaine Stover had an emergency surgery recently for a condition called Zenker’s diverticulum. She mentioned speaking with you early on after the surgery but maybe not since getting back to Greensboro. She is currently recovering in a facility called Whitestone in Greensboro and will soon move to another care facility. Elaine is in good spirits despite eating bad food most of the time and I’m here with her writing this. Without access to her computer and email, she hasn’t been able to reach out and has asked me to serve as a messenger between her and the ICA network. Due to this unexpected event, she has to sell the 5+ acre property at 5911 Western Trail in Greensboro, the space where the universe story walk is located, where Emerging Ecology is headquartered, and where she and Nelson put care into the ecological design for 30 years. We thought of reaching out to see if you can think of anyone who might be interested in buying the property. If you'd like to get in touch with her to talk about this or anything else that's going on, she can be reached at the phone in her room at 336-510-4829 for at least the next few days. I can help you keep up with her after she leaves Whitestone as well. Let me know if we can chat more about this and what’s happening down here in Greensboro. I also wanted to see if you are the right person to talk with about things in Nelson’s office that need to go to the ICA, per provisions in his will. I’m still waiting to see a copy of the will to know exactly what is meant to go back to Chicago but I am happy to help arrange for books and papers that may be important for the ICA to keep. I know there are some books that should probably go to the library at the Greenrise among other things. All the best, Tim Leisman

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The passing of Rick Jones
by Sunny Walker 09 Jul '23

09 Jul '23

Hello, Colleagues, I'm totally unsure why I've waited over 6 months to share this information. Yet, here it is. My husband of 28 years (that ended in March of 1998) breathed his last a few days after his 76th birthday early last November. I've attached the obituary from his sister. He was celebrated in North Carolina where he lived with his 2nd wife, again in Oklahoma where we grew up, and finally here in Denver with family from all locations at his favorite Thai restaurant (a favorite cuisine ever since the Siam In Chicago was a little diner on the corner). He was ready, having had health issues for some time, and had been happy. Somewhat confusingly, I do miss him and his oft-repeated jokes and push to "get 'er done" vs. get it perfect - a match with me that produced a lot of ICA audio visuals. May he continue to rest in peace at the pearly gates, lined up with those blue shirts who preceded him, In loving memory, Sunny *Sunny Walker * *She/her/hers* *On **Arapaho, Cheyenne, Núu-agha-tʉvʉ-pʉ̱ (Ute), and Očeti Šakówiŋ (Sioux) tribal land* Certified Facilitator (Also Certified ToP Facilitator) ToP Methods Mentor Trainer - Upcoming Courses <https://www.top-training.net/w/> Virtual Facilitation Collaborative Senior Facilitator sunny.sunwalker(a)gmail.com 303-587-3017 For diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging inquiries: sunny(a)diversityinnovators.com www.diversityinnovators.com For virtual facilitation inquiries: sunny(a)virtualfacilitationcollaborative.com www.virtualfacilitationcollaborative.com

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Re: [Dialogue] The transition years . . .
by James Wiegel 05 Jul '23

05 Jul '23

> This song, written in 1985, in Brussels, by Carol and George Walters is worth singing today. > > https://youtu.be/fxvKW9d5LF4 > > Jim Wiegel > “We are all time travelers journeying into the future. But let us make that future a place we want to visit. “ Stephen Hawking

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Planet Fitness
by Richard Alton 27 Jun '23

27 Jun '23

*Join Planet Fitness* I have been in the Chicago ICA Community about a year and half. When I first arrived, I asked Terry Bergdall about where the closest gym and he recommended the Swedish Hospital and showed me how to get there. Great ride. A little expensive but great service at about $73 a month. Because of inflation they just raised it to $83. Anyway, I was talking to Martin a fellow community member about biking, and he said he biked to his gym. Great ride and only $10/month. $10/month!! So, I go to Planet Fitness and it is great and is a two mile bike ride. Joined. Love the name because I am into PLANET fitness or maybe the lack of it. My Congregation has run a series of sessions on sustainability after worship over the last 6 months. The last session was on Palm Sunday and Dr. Michael Hogue, Professor of Ethics, Philosophy and Theology spoken on Death and the Planet Earth. It turns out he is writing a book on death. He proceeded to lead us in a guided exercise on facing death: · What does facing death (our own, and others) free us to know and conversely, what ignorance does death aversion bind us to? · How does facing death help us to notice what really matters, or what we ultimately value? And conversely, what duties/responsibilities/obligations does death aversion lead us to evade? This was an amazing conversation with about 20 people for an hour and a half Death aversion is big. Especially ecologically. The earth is impermanent and when we discount the future, we externalize the cost of what we are doing to the planet. This is why Dark Ecology wants us to face the abyss. We can’t avoid the uncertainty of life, the world. And then I found myself reading a section of the New York Book Review called “Hastening the End” “We humans, one writes, are an essentially “parasitic” species, our growth and dominance has been a uniquely disastrous process for the planet and for those other species who must live on it”; “that the end of humanity’s reign on Earth is imminent and that we should welcome it” Yes, so what does facing death free us to know and do? Some say we are living the age of death- the great extinction. This is why confronting death is most needed in our time. How is facing our own death and civilizations so needed? First, death helps with our life focus. What do we want to accomplish with this life? As Becker in The Denial of Death points out, “this question gives hope, because it holds open the dimension of the unknown and the unknowable, the fantastic mystery of creation that the human mind cannot even begin to approach” But death also releases the great perplexity of our time: ‘The plain debasing and silly heroics of the acquisition and display of consumer goods, the piling up of money and privileges that now characterizes whole ways of life.”. Second, knowing you will die helps you focus on the now. Death enhances the ability to live in the present. And from being right at all costs. If one thing relatives our anger and conflicts, it is death. You appreciate more fully our wonderful life when you truly know that your time is limited. You don’t want to waste it. Third, dead tends to release us from an inappropriate sense of self-importance. Death avoidance feeds human hubris and our earth- destroying fantasies of conquest and consumption. The antihuman revolt shares the convictions that the page has been turned on the final chapter. Death releases us from the absorption with our life, out to the big picture of life. It releases us from the immediacy of our life to embrace the vastness of existence that we are part of. It is said that death releases love. As one article titled: “Think about your death and live better.” It is like self-emptying, making yourself nothing to make yourself available to all. By leaning into the reality of one’s own death, one finds happiness- one loses the trivial life sucking care of everyday life. In facing death, one finds the marvelous, the absolute mystery of life. Dick Alton ICA GreenRise since 2021 -- Richard H. T. Alton ICA Global Fund Methodist Eco-Sustainability T/F T: 773.344.7172 richard.alton(a)gmail.com Make Plain the Vision, Habakkuh 2:2 Won't you be my neighbor?

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Some more Reflections
by Richard Alton 24 Jun '23

24 Jun '23

Taxi *Philo Thoughts* <https://www.facebook.com/philo.thoughtspage?__cft__%5b0%5d=AZUCUfDoCBeR3OPx…>* via David Coffman- thanks David for this great introduction* · “Admit it. You aren’t like them. You’re not even close. You may occasionally dress yourself up as one of them, watch the same mindless television shows as they do, maybe even eat the same fast food sometimes. But it seems that the more you try to fit in, the more you feel like an outsider, watching the “normal people” as they go about their automatic existences. For every time you say club passwords like “Have a nice day” and “Weather’s awful today, eh?”, you yearn inside to say forbidden things like “Tell me something that makes you cry” or “What do you think deja vu is for?” Face it, you even want to talk to that girl in the elevator. But what if that girl in the elevator (and the balding man who walks past your cubicle at work) are thinking the same thing? Who knows what you might learn from taking a chance on conversation with a stranger? Everyone carries a piece of the puzzle. Nobody comes into your life by mere coincidence. Trust your instincts. Do the unexpected. Find the others. ~Timothy Leary (Source: book reference unclear/Consider one of Leary's most famous books: Turn on, Tune in, Drop out https://amzn.to/46aXkG3 <https://amzn.to/46aXkG3?fbclid=IwAR1KNoHKekVOl9s5iF4aI_HKtc-bcjxZHvsEu_XUsW…> )” People kept telling me to not take the train to Minnesota. I keep doing it and it is amazing how many times this Chicago to Minneapolis train is late. But, hey, people have bad days, but they can live through it to some good days. I mean look at the Cubs- losers who became world champs. So, in May I decided to give the train another try. I get a lot of work and reading done on the train, although the promised internet has yet to show up. So go to Chicago Union Station for my Amtrak train. And before I even sit down, they are dropping bad news on me. Amtrak train to Minneapolis is running a little late. Then, I know we are in trouble when they announce they are looking to change equipment. Should I be emailing my friends for train equipment?? So, we start two hours late before we even get out of Chicago. And along the way we add another hour. My daughters are texting me that they love me, but nobody is going to pick me up at 2am in the morning- ‘get a taxi!”. Hummm, the issue is that my credit card was canceled due to some strange activity, so no Lyft or Uber. Google St Paul taxi- finally find one that will give me a ride. Arrive at 230am. Go to street and call taxi- give my address. They say it will take an hour or more for the taxi. BUT AMAZINGLY, the young man standing next immediately says that he just ordered a Lyft and he is going one block away from my address. And you can come free.. and just then his Lyft drives up and I am off. Wow, trains are late but luckily the mystery is out there caring for you. And then there is the Lyft driver- same month- who did give me a drive in Chicago. Hey, where are you from? I am from Somali. Wow, I use to live in Kenya and my daughter was born there. Hey, where was she born? She was born in Nairobi. Actually, the slums of Nairobi above a bar in Kawangware! The driver almost stopped. My daughters were both born in Kawangware and one just arrived in Chicago to start school. Are we both talking about the same slum? Yes, we roamed all over Nairobi making sure we were talking about the same place. Kawangware right here in Chicago. My third tax story is a little bit stranger. Order Lyft, she shows up and jump in. Start my normal taxi driver chatter and quickly notice that she has an accent. Say, where are you from? I am from West Africa- actually Cote d’Ivoire. I told her I had been to Cote d’Ivoire- the capital Abidjan, the President’s crocodile lake built for his opponents and the great huge Catholic Cathedral where the windows are the size of a building, Yes, yes, actually I am from Mali and my parents moved to Cote d'Ivoire to escape the troubles. Then it dawned on me that Mali is Muslim. Does that make you Muslim? Yes! I pray 5 times a day- just pull off the road. And your children? Muslim? Yes, two daughters Muslim but two sons are Christians. They said being a Muslim was too much- 5 prayers a day! The Christians only pray on Sunday. I love it! The world is becoming more and more global right here in Chicago. “Just find the Other” Although I miss Africa. Dick Alton, Kawangware, Kenya, 1980-1986. Daughter, Kay, born there and another, Christina, grew up there- we all consider it our home. -- Richard H. T. Alton ICA Global Fund Methodist Eco-Sustainability T/F T: 773.344.7172 richard.alton(a)gmail.com Make Plain the Vision, Habakkuh 2:2 Won't you be my neighbor?

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