Pentecost... ???....!!!

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When I was a boy in Texas (1940-1952) I enjoyed going to church on Pentecost Sunday because when the service was over the whole family would come together for a big meal and then we would go to a movie.

In my seminary years I enjoyed worship on Pentecost because I was beginning to appreciate that God loved me and, if I did what I was told to do sincerely and as best I could, I would probably go to heaven after I died.


After Martin King was assassinated I enjoyed worship during the Pentecost Season because I was finding more and more people who were willing to work with me to make this world a better place for everyone.

Today I enjoy Pentecost because I am experiencing God loving me through the open, unconditional love women and men of all races share with me and the peace and joy I feel as I choose to unconditionally share my time and resources with other human beings.

What does Pentecost mean to you...

Get Local Business Fest Supports and Highlights University Place Businesses and You Can Too

University Place, it's time to get local!

The city of University Place is holding a Get Local Business Fest  on Saturday, July 30th from
10:00 AM to 2:00 PM on the Market Square directly in front of the new University Place Library. All University Place businesses and citizens are cordially invited to participate in this exciting event that blends information, community building, and fun all into one.

Local business participants will have the opportunity to showcase their products and services. Retailers, service provides and home-based businesses are all encouraged to join the festivities.

For University Place residents, at this free event, you will have the chance to meet and learn about all the great businesses in your community. Shopping locally not only supports the local economy, but it helps a community thrive and grow. 

There's more. All proceeds from the Get Local fest benefit a local non-profit organization: the University Place Community Supported Parks and Recreation. This terrific organization supports youth, teen, and senior citizens in the community.

Want to get involved? For more information or to reserve a vendor space for $100, please contact Patty Mannie at 253-208-0135 or email her at pmannie@comcast.net.

No Reason To Cry

Two more weeks of school here at Bellarmine. I remember the last few weeks before the summer started just dragged. I did not know what the summer would bring and I really was not looking forward to final tests but I was looking forward to the school year being over.

At the same time I could look back at another year when I and my classmates had worked really hard in the classroom, the sports field, in various community services, in various moments in the band or the glee club or the debate team, and see that, just like the students in the arts class at Bellarmine whose wonderful drawings are shown above, we had shared our gifts and time wonderfully well.

Thank God for giving us many chances to share our gifts, for our families, friends, classmates and their families and friends who affirmed us, and for fall and winter and spring and summer.

From Liberty To Freedom-- Six Civic Principles

In his wonderful book, A Black Way of Seeing, Paul Robeson's son, Paul Robeson Jr., lists six principles which I would like to practice daily.

1. Strive for excellence, try to be the best that you can possibly be. Aim for perfection instead of merely tring to "beat" others.

2. Success without advancing the interests of our people as a whole, without helping those who have fallen behind, is worth little.

3. The human race is one family, with diverse but equal members having different cultures, and a deeper understanding of one's own culture will inevitably lead to a better understanding of other cultures.

4. Personal growth is the mother of greatness; but its price is pain and perseverance.

5. Temper strength and power with gentleness and compassion; balance courage with wisdom.

6. Don't go along to get along. Be willing to do what you know is right.

I found this wonderful book at the Tacoma Public Library, Main Branch.

A Thank You to Governor Gregoire:

Well, it happened just like that, May has come to a close. It's hard to believe how fast the months click by, especially May, with Lyme-Awareness being our focus. It's still so hard to reach the front-line doctors in our rural communities, and politicians on any level. That has not stopped the Lyme community from working our corners and wearing the Lyme-green. This year, a march of that same Lyme-green outside the White House got President Obama's attention enough to send someone out. As a senator, he had sent an aide to NatCapLyme's screening of "Under Our Skin" so I know our efforts are paying-off to reach as far as we can with our very real message. This year there have been walk-a-thons, even virtual walk-a-thons for Lyme, in many different states.

I have big plans to try and organize a "Swim-a-thon" for next May, at our Easter Seals Camp on the Key, Camp Stand-By-Me, so stay tuned for news along the way. For this year, I was a one-woman Lyme-Awareness show in Purdy for two afternoons, standing with my sign, "Lyme Lives Here," giving the passing cars my warmest smile and big happy waves. On the bottom of the sign I wrote www.knowlyme.com for those who wanted a comprehensive look at both the disease and politics. I was pleased to see hundreds of conversations start in cars that were turning onto our Key Peninsula. One truckload of young people pulled into the parking lot behind me, so that one could come and ask what Lyme is! It's moments like that which give me hope.

Do you know, a surgeon I had to go and see at the beginning of this year actually told me she moved to Washington with her husband and children because she truly believed we did not have ticks out here! She promised her children that was true, after having to pick dozens of ticks off them in Missouri. This is an educated medical doctor...thankfully one who willingly sat and listened to the education I had to give her. I wish I could reach the main clinic and doctor on this peninsula, who still refuses to entertain the idea that Lyme and other co-infections may be the root of some of his patients' problems. He was sure my daughter didn't have Lyme either, when she was in the very treatable first and second stages. I don't want to blame him...but I sure as hell want to educate him, as he continues to deny Lyme as a possibility. Denying a patient's very real symptoms because lab tests aren't good enough and show false negatives, denying a patient's very real symptoms because GP's have not educated themselves in clinical diagnoses, amounts to abuse of their patients.
Poster by Dale Goodvin

Let me ask beautiful breast cancer survivors, what if the doctor told you they didn't know why you had that lump, and why don't we wait and see what happens...here, have some painkillers and anti-depressants and stop whining? What if your doc said, come back in six months, and six months after that? Yes, once upon a time my sisters were thrown away because breast cancer was mostly a woman's disease and who cared, but they fought back with those rose-blush ribbons...until there was a river of pink, funding awareness and research. We plan on doing the same with this Lyme-green ribbon, for our loved ones. Lyme imitates over 300 other diseases, including ALS, Parkinson's, and the biggie for Washington State...MS.

So let me end our Lyme-Awareness month with some good news. After four years of trying, we now have an official proclamation declaring May Lyme-Awareness Month in Washington! It was signed by Governor Christine Gregoire on May 13th, and arrived in the mail May 26th. It was championed by my husband Matthew, and the governor's executive assistant, Kym Ryan. The fast-growing Lyme community in Washington state would like to humbly thank Gov. Gregoire and Kym Ryan very much for this initial step in acknowledging the disease. Obviously I would like the opportunity to sit down with our Governor, to educate her more about tick-borne infections caught right here in this state, introduce her to many patients who can tell her just that, and the cost of Lyme in Washington. You can see, the "whereas" points that talk about Lyme "being rare in Washington and most cases being caught out of state." Well, we know better than that...and until this problem is addressed, this state will see more and more of its citizens sick and on Disability. From an economic standpoint alone, it would behoove us to step up Lyme education in Washington, especially for our doctors. Even the CDC, which sticks to the conservative, admits Lyme is being under-reported by 13-15 times the numbers they list. The conservative numbers have increased by 44 times the number of reported cases eight years ago...and if a few hundred should actually be fifteen times that number?

Summer is about to break out some blue with June, so let's get out there and enjoy this wild beauty, knowledgeably. Say it with me now...wear light clothing...tuck pants in socks...wear a hat...carry a tick tool in your first-aid kit, and learn how to properly remove ticks...check yourself and each other, especially in hair, behind ears...and put those clothes in the dryer for twenty minutes.

Be safe out there. Cheers!

Reflections On Love And Service

I could not put down "Magic Johnson: How I Survived 20 Years With HIV."
http://www.newsweek.com/2011/05/15/magic-johnson-20-years-of-living-with-hiv.html

I was delighted to read about his family's response to hearing that Mr. Johnson had aids:"My mom hung up the phone with me and got on a plane to come out here, my dad got on a plane, my brothers and sisters got on a place to come be with me. My aunts,my cousins-they all were getting on a plane. That's love, that's support, and that makes a world of difference in how well you fight the virus. I know that's a large part of why I'm still here today."

I found the picture of Mr. Johnson and his wife in the article inspiring. I was delighted to see that "in sickness and in health," Magic and Cookie Johnson stayed together.


I am moved by Mr. Johnson's commitment to helping other human beings, those who are suffering with Aids and other folks who are in need.

36 Turquoise Beads

Beads resting upon a reproduction of a painting by Pat Thompson




I once bought a string of 36 turquoise beads that felt so good in my hands, each one sort of the size and shape of a piece of Chiklet gum. They now hang from a hook, here on my desk, always within easy reach of my hand. When I am frustrated, sad, or struggling, I reach for this strand of 36, each stone unique and cool between my fingers, and slowly work my way around the circle.

I begin where the line is knotted and caress the first piece of turquoise, saying thank you in my heart for something...anything. On certain days I can only begin with a thank you for the cup of tea just made but, as each pale stone comes between my thumb and forefinger, more comes to my mind to be grateful for. There is always the view out over Joe's Bay, whether sun shines or rain pours. There's always a tide coming or going to soothe my gaze, always more shades of green than one can fathom. Each turquoise bead pulls me to the next and my heart begins to ease, my mind coming into this beautiful moment.

Due to my daughter's chronic Lyme disease and its neurological involvement, I have wanted to study a bit about our human brains and recently bought a small book recommended by friends called, "My Stroke of Insight" by Jill Bolte Taylor, Ph.D. Dr. Taylor is a brain scientist who, at 37, suffered a massive stroke. Amazingly, she was able to study herself during the event and, after years of recovery, wrote this book in layman's terms for those of us not brain scientists. She begins by explaining our two brains, left and right, how they work and communicate together to make up intricate and individual minds. Then the good doctor takes us through the day of her stroke from the inside, a fascinating study. She wraps ups with the meaning of her title, simply and powerfully. I leave it to you to read her book for the full journey, but here is something that lit up the page for me.

Dr. Taylor explains how a feeling, say of anger or hurt, runs its physiological circuit in about ninety seconds, and then, she says, we can choose to keep running the circuit, which the left brain would be happy to do...or we can slide to the right (and this time I mean in a good way, wink-wink) brain and experience the feeling of peace, in the present moment. Now, you ask, what is one way to make this break in the circuits and move to our right brain? Well, Jill goes on to say that gratitude is one of the fastest ways to make this transition.

So I come back to my 36 turquoise beads on a knotted loop and realize how precious they are to me, how they first cool my frustrations, stop the anxious circuits of worries beyond my immediate control, quiet the mind and return me to the gift of this present moment. Where turquoise is found in the earth, it is thought to be pieces from the sky...gifts. Some days may be difficult, but I do have some choice and ninety seconds goes into 36 turquoise beads of gratitude for my peace of mind.