The Good News of a Play, 3.31.2017

Playwright, clown, musician and mensch Colin McLaughlin has invited friends over this evening to do a collective reading of his new play, Jailbird, about Eugene Debs. Colin asked me to read Debs’ famous statement to the judge at his trial for sedition, which includes the following: “Your Honor, years ago I recognized my kinship with all living beings, and I made up my mind that I was not one bit better than the meanest on earth. I said then, and I say now, that while there is a lower class, I am in it, and while there is a criminal element I am of it, and while there is a soul in prison, I am not free.” May Colin’s retrieval of Debs eventually spread light and spark determination all over the U.S. and beyond.

The Good News of Jean Abbott’s Accompaniment, 3.30.2017

Jean Abbott* is like Kwan Yin, a bodhisattva who hears the cries of the world and through such listening knows what to do, or knows sometimes that there’s nothing to do except the being present and sharing accompaniment. She listened to me in those months of Mev death pang. She’s listened to hundreds of Bosnian, Somali, Guatemalan, Afghan, and Ugandan women. She’d lean forward in her chair as she’s listening and extend her hand to someone who doesn’t believe there’s a way out of hell. She’s given ten thousand hours of her life to this person, then that person, then another person. Andrew Wimmer said he’d go crazy doing for three hours in a single week what she’s been doing since the mid-1980s. She’s assisted people in recovering their some of their humanity after experiencing devastating violence, but she’d say to me, “Marko, it was the Bosnian woman who helped me to stop being a zombie, she gave life to me…”

*Jean founded the Center for Survivors of Torture and War Trauma in Saint Louis.

the ordinary wonder-full moments in a day turn into magical memories when I notice them, delight in writing them, sharing them, inspiring others to open hearts to gratitude​

1. a morning walk in TG park, health to enjoy

2. myriad shades of pink trees

3. Adam coming over to help Jim​ in the workroom

4. Vet coming to our home for Lucey dog's shots and so calm, understanding

5. animals to love

6. anticipation of a mural on our garage, artist support for him, art and beauty for us

7. children  at Mullanphy beginning to talk to me

8. neighbor joyfully helping with computer issue!

9. Caroline sharing her gratitudes and inspiring me to refocus and appreciate my day....

10.  more music this week than many weeks before...

The Good News of Monthly Mutuality, 3.29.2017

Since this past September, Cami Kasmerchak and I have been visiting monthly, taking turns to come up with an agenda to explore topics and themes of mutual interest, such as photography, politics, poetry, traveling, teachers, and, through it all, creativity.

Sinéad

Here is  Sinead O’Connor's Thank You for Hearing Me.

A Share the Wealth Book of Mev Soundtrack

A while back at  a Sunday evening Share the Wealth, I invited the community to consider the theme of accompaniment in my Book of Mev.  We heard following playlist during the gathering and dinner.

Glenn Gould, Goldberg Variations, Aria
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and Eddie Vedder, Face of Love
U2, All I Want Is You
Violeta Parra, Gracias a la Vida
Shakira, Ojos Así
Duke Ellington, Take the “A” Train
Bobby McFerrin, Don’t Worry Be Happy
David Bowie and Freddie Mercury, Under Pressure
Marvin Gaye, What’s Going On
Sinéad O’Connor, You Made Me the Thief of Your Heart
Mason Daring, Over the Moor to Maggie/ The Bucks of Oranmore
Sinéad O’Connor, Thank You for Hearing Me
Michael Nyman, The Heart Asks Pleasure First

What I've Been Listening To Lately

J.S. Bach, Concerto for Keyboard No. 3 in D Minor
J.S. Bach, Concerto for Two Violins in D Minor
J.S. Bach, Toccata and Fugue in D Minor

Ludwig van Beethoven,  5th Piano Concerto in E Flat Major (Emperor)
Ludwig van Beethoven,  Apassionata Sonata
Ludwig van Beethoven, Moonlight Sonata

Glenn Gould

The Good News of George Harrison, 3.27.2017

I wrote this a while back but it is in harmony with this week's theme...

Before coming to tonight’s writing class
I listened to a song from my youth

George Harrison late 1970
My Sweet Lord

I think I could go far in mettā
If I allowed that song to penetrate my life

“Incredible! Irresponsible! Delusional!”
I hear the scoffers (in my mind)

But that song is full of bhakti
Deep, ardent devotion

Introduction

Greetings, all, thank you for sharing this space with me. Thank you, dear Marcos, for extending the invitation. I apologize for the tardiness of my first contribution, I have had trouble prioritizing my own needs as of late. It's been such a joy to read all of your entries, they remind me of times in my life when words flowed from my fingertips with great ease, so thank you for that joy. That, indeed, is good news!

My name is Ale, I am currently residing in San Antonio, TX, attempting to be present to my loved ones but frequently finding my attention elsewhere. I am working a job that is not fulfilling, but it pays the bills and it kills me. I prefer writing, painting, and reading above all else, though taking long walks also reminds me of what a joy it is to be alive.

I met my dear Marcos in 2014 when I returned from a semester abroad in El Salvador, he has saved my life many times and in many ways since then.

My good news today is that I was able to spend time in a lake, swimming in the frigid water and being reminded of the elegance of my anatomical functions as I felt the blood flowing from one part of my body to another. Today, my good news is that I spent time in the sun.

My good news, also, is that three years ago I was sitting a room full of beloveds doing my Share the Wealth and sharing my tears and poems.

The Good News of Remembering the Big Picture, 3.26.2017

I randomly pull books off of my shelves and turn to a page to see what’s there. Today I found the following in Dorothee Soelle’s Against the Wind: Memoir of a Radical Christian (she was a German theologian, feminist, and peace activist): 

Once, when I was particularly depressed, a friend and pacifist from Holland told me something very beautiful: “The people who worked to build the cathedrals in the Middle Ages never saw them completed. It took two hundred years and more to build them. Some stone-cutter somewhere sculpted a beautiful rose; it was his life’s work, and it was all he ever saw. But he never entered into the completed cathedral. But one day, the cathedral was really there. You must imagine peace the same way.” Those words helped me a lot. It was good to know: I was participating in building a cathedral, and I knew that someday it would be completed, just as slavery was abolished, so war will also be abolished, though beyond my lifetime. 

The Good News of Being a Teacher

The Good News of a Sangha, 3.25.2017

Five years ago today, Jenn Reyes Lay and I started a  St. Louis sangha in the lineage of Thich Nhat Hanh.   Annie Fitzgerald offered Sophia House on Gibson Avenue for our first gathering. Many wonderful people have shared the fruits of their practice with us during these 60 months of sitting, walking, singing, reciting the precepts, slowing down, studying the Heart and Diamond Sutras,  offering retreats  in the country, and facilitating mindful dinners.

As  Diane di Prima wrote in her poem Life Chant, May it continue!

The Good News of Resurrection, 3.24.2017

I came across the following piece I wrote more than four years ago; Maria Smith and Lindsey Weston are very Good News indeed.

Dear Monseñor

You were right

You were/are resurrected in the Salvadoran people

The government and the 14 families didn’t get that

They thought the assassins they hire to maintain stability

Could take out you & Nacho & Rutilio & countless others

Kill them

And they will be silenced

But Monseñor you live on

Throughout Latin America

And get this–

You want to hear a real miracle?

"Phone Call from Munich" -- or, Good News from a World Away

            The alarm -- fuck. The alarm -- how long has it been ringing?

            She rolls over, blindly fumbling in the direction of the offensive sound, her hand casting about over glasses, a contact lens case, two old Bibles, and a beer mug from Berlin filled with unspent Guatemalan Quetzales, both in bill and coin form.

            What time was it?

            Fighting to focus her eyes, she pulled her consciousness into the present moment, yanking it deep out of a primordial state, leaving behind images that made sense only so long as you didn’t try to assign words to them.

            11.01am.

            Ahh shit. Fucking daylight savings time, she had told him this would happen.

            There was his WhatsApp message, waiting for her: “Let me know if and when you are ready.” Her right thumb clumsily swiped the screen, and she tapped out: “As predicted, I got confused. Running downstairs to grab coffee, call you in a few!”

              Covers off, feet on the floor, stop at the bathroom, down the stairs, boil the water, grind the coffee beans, tap grounds into the press, pour in the boiled water, stir.

Inhale.

Pause.

Grab plate from the cupboard, pull scone from the bag, pour coffee into the mug (just add milk), take mug in right hand, balance plate in the left, head back up the stairs.

“I’m here. Ready?”

She plugged in her headphones and pulled up the WhatsApp screen, tapping the call symbol. Ringing filled the headphones, and after three iterations:

“Heeeeyyy! Can you hear me?”

She smiled, happy to hear his voice after two months. “Yep. Can you hear me?”

“I can. How are you?”

“Oh, you know what I’m like pre-coffee. But I’m fixing that right now…better I ask, how are you? Or more importantly, where are you?”

“We just got back from Bologna, we’re in Munich.”

“It sounds like you’ve been busy. How ‘bout you fill me in?”

               She leaned back in her chair, took a swig of the fresh coffee, and settled in to hear about his adventures on the other side of the world.

Blocks to Being Present

• My phone
• The internet and TV
• Fear of
• Lack of progress
• THE FUTURE
• Time that is both the hare and the tortoise
• Stagnation
• Loss
• Missing out
• Making lists, both mental and written, of what I want to do/should do, but not actually doing those things

My relationship with bad news – is often to put my head in the sand, to ignore or turn away.  I consciously choose not to listen to media - bad news most of the time.  When I listened to the prez give his(first and only to date) speech it was confirmed for me to not listen much.  It was toxic.  Afterwards, I couldn’t sleep well, I was agitated much of the night.  Thank goddess for letting go, for 12-step reminders to remember my powerlessness, to turn it over to the will and care of god, to mind my own business.  
So, maybe not much relationship with bad news that’s ongoing.  Tho I respond to knowing there is bad news by accepting what I cannot change and turning energy to works of compassion and justice, to gardening or walking Luceydog at night in the park.  Some people say naked trees are bad news, but I see them as beauty, angles of branched skeletons, exposed, beautiful in their shapes and silhouettes against the winter sky that temperatures say is early summer sky on many nights of late.  
I see beauty in the bad news when it can be turned into good news, bouncing off the bad and into acts of goodness…I see goodness in the ‘bad news’ because it has the power to wake  us up, to make us aware of suffering and pain, to jolt us into the reality of the world of suffering – we and us who are so comfortable affluent never worry about missing a meal and celebrate the gifts we have that allow us, free us, to be in the service of others, to grow in compassion and acts of loving kindness…a cycle to recycle the news from garbage/trash into whole and holy ...

The Good News of Being a People's Lawyer, 3.20.2017

This week's Share the Wealth welcomes Natalie in our class-----

Share the Wealth with Natalie Long–Abogados Descalzados: or, How Latin America Taught Me to Be a People’s Lawyer

From the period of September 2009-January 2012, I was a law student, a law school drop-out, and a pupil of revolutionary Latin America. I eventually finished my law degree and became a licensed attorney…but only after spending time learning at the feet of communities in Mexico and Guatemala, where people taught me what it means to struggle (and to be a lawyer accompanying those in struggle).

It gives me joy to share the stories of the people who welcomed me into their homes and the lessons they taught me. Please join us for an evening of storytelling, reflection, and fellowship.

Sunday 26 March
Potluck dinner begins at 6:00 p.m.
Natalie begins sharing at 6:45
At the home of Marty and Jerry King
830 DeMun Avenue, 3rd Floor
Clayton, MO 63105

The Good News of a Single Blueberry, 3.19.2017

Almost five years ago, Erin Szopiak organized a mindful dinner for some of our friends: Everything for the menu had been grown locally, several of us helped prepare the meal in the King’s spacious kitchen, we savored most of the meal in calm silence, and, for dessert, Erin offered each of us a single blueberry, which we were to appreciate slowly, involving our sight, smell, touch, and taste.  Erin invited us to the wonder of the here and now!

The Good News of Organizing, 3.18.2017

Natalie shared this with me about what she's doing today: Know Your Rights...

The Good News of Remembering, 3.18.2017

Yesterday I caught up with Liz Burkemper, home for spring break from her first year at George Washington University in Washington, D.C.  Liz inspires me with her aspiration to simplify her life and take time for contemplation. I told her I was grateful for her remembering Mev and her Brazil message  at some of the vast and lively protests she participated in in January and February.

The Good News of Translations, 3.17.2017

Opera excepted, I never asked myself, in those early years of reading literature in translation, what I was missing. It was as if I felt it were my job, as a passionate reader, to see through the faults or limitations of a translation–as one sees through (or looks past) the scratches on a bad print of a beloved old film one is seeing once again. Translations were a gift, for which I would always be grateful. What–rather, who–would I be without Dostoevsky and Tolstoy and Chekhov?

–Susan Sontag, At the Same Time: Essays & Speeches 

\

The Good News of Public Libraries, 3.16.2017

This afternoon I walked eight blocks north to the Central West End’s Schlafly Library where I picked up three books by Bernard  B. Fall, whom Noam Chomsky once described as “the most respected analyst and commentator on the Vietnam War”—Last Reflections on a War, Street without Joy, and Hell in a Very Small Place: The Siege of Dien Bien Phu. The new trainee at the circulation desk said, “All these are very old books, look at the condition they’re in!”

Wondering. . .

too many times
they said it
"you cannot see the stars
without the darkness of night"

naïve
for a long time
i rejected that
bullshit
dont tell me that drowning in sorrow
is a blessing

then
i actually suffered

and awoke

now-colors are brighter
suffering and joy are an infinity sign
being drawn
over and ove

and so i ponder-
can we celebrate this good news
in the absence of the darkest-night-always-printed-bad-news?

the good news is that today we are stronger
     but only because we shattered yesterday

the good news is that a student admires my patience
     only because i know i've lost it many times

the good news is that i can name and spot and revere trust
     only because i have been betrayed

the good news is that i am here
     only because i have considered leaving

so
can we see the stars of goodness
without the darkness?

The Good News of Midwifery, 3.15.2017

Today my friend, nurse practitioner and midwife Becky Hassler brought a baby into this world–9 pounds, 10 ounces.

Present Moment, Only Moment

This is in response to Lauren's post of today about the end goal.

Thich Nhat Hahn

The Miracle of Mindfulness: A Manual on Meditation

Washing the dishes to wash the dishes

Thirty years ago, when I was still a novice Tu Hieu Pagoda, washing the dishes was hardly a pleasant task. During the Season of Retreat when all the monks returned to the monastery, two novices had to do all the cooking and wash the dishes for sometimes well over one hundred monks. There was no soap. We had only ashes, rice husks, and coconut husks, and that was all. Cleaning such a high stack of bowls was a chore, especially during winter when the water was freezing cold. Then you had to heat up a big pot of water before you could do any scrubbing. Nowadays one stands in a kitchen equipped with liquid soap, special scrubpads, and even running hot water which makes it all the more agreeable. It is easier to enjoy washing the dishes  now. Anyone can wash them in a hurry, then sit down and enjoy a cup of tea afterwards. I can see a machine for washing clothes, although I wash my own things out by hand, but a dishwashing machine is going just a little too far!

While washing the dishes one should only be washing the dishes, which means that while washing the dishes one should be completely aware of the fact that one is washing the dishes. At first glance, that might seems a little silly: why put so much stress on a simple thing? But that’s precisely the point. The fact that I am standing there and washing these bowls is a wondrous reality. I’m being completely myself, following my breath, conscious of my presence, and conscious of my thoughts and actions. There’s no way I can be tossed around mindlessly like a bottle slapped here and there on the waves.

The Good News of Bach, 3.14.2017

Listening to the Concerto in D Minor for Two Violins, BWV 1043, performed by Anne-Sophie Mutter and Salvatore Accord (English Chamber Orchestra).

Start to listen here at 20:02 m.

The End Goal

Maybe my ego is what always prints the bad news- the wrong news. 
Maybe my desires print the bad news.
My anxieties print the bad news. 
My complacency prints the bad news.
My doubts in others prints the bad news. 

Leave behind the world of sorrow, preoccupation and get free. 
The latest good news is that you can do it.

Preoccupation with the end goal:
end goal of having fun
end goal of having sex
end goal of having strong relationships
end goal of being smart
end goal of being productive.

Get free. How can I not make it an end goal?

The Good News of Sharing the Wealth

Several members in our class have participated in our Sunday night Share the Wealth, a potluck dinner/sharing/discussion:

Sharifa

Diana

Chris

Ale

Hello!

My name is Tracy. I am a social worker, wife, and mother of 2 girls, ages 7 and 3.  I am an old student of Mark's, and an old student of meditation and Buddhism and writing. I'm finding my way back to those things through this class.

I haven't written in years! So many years I can't recall. I bought myself a special notebook just to start writing again. I, too, need to find the good news in a world where the hits keep coming and I can't let them knock me down because there is too much work to be done.  Looking forward to learning more about the group 😊

Hi

My name is Sharifa, and I live in St. Louis. I wanted to join this class because I wanted to focus my energy on thinking more positively given the current climate of constant bad news. I also want to be nudged to write a bit more, so I figured this was a good opportunity :).

Excited to write good news and read good news!

The Good News of Generating, 3.9.2017

I have 286 chapters in an almost finished first draft of a manuscript entitled, Our Heroic and Ceaseless 24/7 Struggle against Tsuris.

good news: thursday, march 9th

the good news is

after a morning spent muzzling

tears in the sloping kitchenette

face to the red brick

i still want

to take the ferry

all the way to lower manhattan

and stumble upon the sublime

grey mise-en-scene

x-marks-the-spot

this-must-be-the-place

of our first days,

say hello to the origin story:

84 williams street

and the stairwell there

the oldest park in town,

the pub that almost burned down

seven years ago but didn’t quite give up

the ghost

the seaport

and the memorial for irish hunger,

the bench on the battery

where you kissed me for the first time at sunrise.

i want to hop the fences

to our holy sites

just like we did in the dark morning hours

right after i got off the plane and dropped my bags

in my new town, in my new home

just after i extended my hand in the stairwell

and said my name out loud

and then heard yours for the first time.

i still want

to arrive there with the blackest pen

and write on every mooring,

on the cold statuary,

on the third step from the bottom

small but permanent

“i fell in love here”.

Hello!

I’m Lindsey. 

I live in Brooklyn where I write and act and mother. 

Some of my good news is that I’m trying to make something new every day and am looking for ways to collaborate with my three-year-old.  

I’m happy to be here.  

Right now, I'm the midst of rewriting a play and gathering together material surrounding the year I spent working on and playing Shakespeare’s Ophelia. 

I’m currently in dialogue with myself and others about what types of stories / what type of art best serves us and are most necessary in these strange times. 

I’ll say it again: I’m happy to be here. 

What good news is this forum! 

The Good News according to the desk in the corner. . .

- Good news this morning is that my coffee is sweet and warm, that I am surrounded by young women researching and critiquing our justice system (I teach high school religion), that I am coming to see the rainbow of my desk calendar as more beautiful than overwhelming, that people I love are asking interesting questions of this world and inviting me to be part of their journey.

Hello all! To some, I'm Ms. Schafer, to others I'm Sweet T, and to many I'm just Theresa. Delight and gratitude are the best words I can use to capture my approach to this writing adventure, but I'd be telling a falsehood if I denied having a similar internal dialogue to that of Natalie's (beautifully captured, by the way!). I spend my days weaving together the responsibilities of teacher, campus minister, advisor, and choir director, and my nights in intentional community in Chicago. Taking time to write seems like a luxury I can't afford on my stipend of time, but I know it is one that keeps me sane and centered. I'm excited to share this luxury with you!

Where to begin

Introductions get more and more complex and wordy as I get older. I really never know where to begin! Hi! My name is Lauren and I am currently living at the Milwaukee Catholic Worker, Casa Maria. I have been living at the CW for about a month now. Still adjusting and transitioning but such is life. I am 26 years old and always have alot to say but a particularly difficult time writing. I think about writing almost daily but rarely do I get to it. Hence one of the reasons why I wanted to take this course!

My good news: Casa Maria is a hospitality house for homeless mothers with children. Mothers usually stay anywhere between 2-6 months. Yesterday two mothers just found out they were approved for housing!! Such a jubilant time!

Looking forward to our time writing and sharing together.

Good news, old news, my news

Good news from the day
--tangerine tea curls like smoke--enlightening conversations about following the movements of your spirit--catching up with old friends--sandalwood candles and incense--discovering connections and creating soul families--sunshine and dinner on the porch

Old news//my news

--Alexandra...Alex for short--living in Philadelphia, working as a campus minister at Saint Joe's university--moving to the Philippines in August for a year--desperately seeking an outlet for writing//reflecting//creating--looking forward to learning from you all

The Good News of Sei Shōnagon, 3.8.2017

I once asked Mayuko and Minami (both in my fall 8 a.m. MWF Humanities class) if they had heard of Sei Shōnagon (清少納言). Of course they had!  They had read her years ago in school.  I only recently made acquaintance with SS through Meredith  McKinney’s translation for Penguin.

Reading her renowned Pillow Book, I thought of Allen Ginsberg’s maxim, “If we don’t show anyone, we’re free to write anything”:  

The Good News of Reunion, 3.7.2017

The Good News is the radiance, wit, resilience, and hard-won wisdom of Elizabeth Quiros, with whom I was reunited today at RISE. I wonder: how many Share the Wealth evenings will she animate? How many books shall we read? How much soul-sharing will ensue?