The one thirty pm worship gathering at St. Leo's in Tacoma, hosted by Native Americans, is becoming one of my happiest moments. I enjoy feeling welcomed and accepted there. I value the sincerity, honesty, and affection. of the members of that Catholic group.
Many of them have seen very hard times and they continue to keep working to encourage other Native Americans and other human beings to live honestly and compassionately.
Father Pat Touhy, a member of the Society of Jesus, was the leader of worship. He is a creative, open, and loving human being. He is the beautiful man on the right in the picture.
The little child in the picture kep the Mass going, moving, talking... what a joy to be around such a beautiful person. His mom and dad are thoughtful and warm human beings.
I left the Mass that Sunday feeling refreshed. I am so very grateful.
I have had a great vacation. Spent some wonderful hours looking our of this wonderful second floor window while reading, thinking, praying, listening to Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Aretha Franklin....
Had a wonderful birthday. Not feeling any older but getting there, and I thank the Lord and all my friends who are helping me to keep my EYE ON THE PRIZE-- every day in every way choosing to share my dreams and hopes and gifts with others because that is the reason I have been given life.
What is life...sharing space with other human beings who are hoping, dreaming, fearing, failing, choosing to try again, or just giving up... joy and sadness and all, all such a wonder and a mystery.
We are always breathing and changing... all of life, always changing
That's right... the library. I thank my mother and grandmother, my teachers and friends who taught me how to read and speak with skill and power. They helped me to tie my imagination, memory, reason, and senses together in such a way that I can pass away many hours considering the meaning of various fictional, historical, and scriptural creations. I was in the shower just a few moments ago and I found myself thinking of the types of discipline used in the bible and how those forms are still used (to our detriment) today. I wonder how many folks get off into outer space like I do. Check me out... proudly standing next to the picture of Dr. Martin Luther King in the King Library!!!
Three novels by Grace F. Anderson... mysteries...and that wonderful soul sister just knocked my socks off!!! She (and Walter Mosley) are teaching me so much about Black self-hatred. Self-loveI am a better person because I have come to see my own life a little clearer through Grace F. Anderson's eyes.
Kudos to the staff at the Martin King Library (and thanks to all my buddies at the downtown library.) You are providing a safe place and enjoyable space for me and so many other folks.
Thanks to Mayor Strickland and the members of the Tacoma City Council for providing funds for neighborhood libraries to stay open...
This video was taken on 19th, off Cedar, a quarter of a block away from the Martin Luther King Library (19th and Cedar)
This is my second reflection on the Singles' Conference. I laughed a lot, listened very deeply, and was frequently moved down to my very toes. I think I learned a lot about happiness being a state of being... one I can choose to live day by day... rather than thinking that either the nice weather, a good meal, lively entertainment, or a good friend would help me to get into whenever it or he/she was avaiaable... Could it be that I was not talking about mind dominating matter...could it be that what I am trying to describe is an outgoing orientation of my whole person to connecting with life as it is... sorrows and joys and failures and successes... all warmly protected by the ongoing experience of being constant united to the Loving Presence of God...
Debbie Wooten, a wonderful commedienne enlivened Saturday evening with some very wise stories...
Check out four minutes from her laugh filled presentation
That was the message I took away from the Singles' Conference, which took place in Tacoma, a week ago Saturday.
Eric Boles, the keynote speaker, touched me very deeply. His quiet confidence in the love God had for all human beings and his deeply thought through and eloquently presented of the ways we can grow in our acceptance and love of our giftedness was brilliant. His challenge to each one of us who attended the conference was that we should daily choose to share our giftedness if we want to be happy.
I felt welcomed at the conference, I enjoyed sharing time with the other participants in the conference, and I am really looking forward to spending more time with them. Enjoy this small piece of Mr. Boles's evening presentation.
I would like to thank: The Office for Equity and Diversity at the University of Washington in Tacoma The University of Washington Department of Ethnomusicology Northwest Heritage Resourcess The Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism of the Republic of South Korea and the Asia Pacific Cultural Center of Tacoma for bringing Bora Ju, composer, singer, and player of the gayageum, a Korean zither-like string instrument the Carwein Auditorium, University of Washington Tacoma, Friday evening,December 4,2009. I was deeply moved by the music presented by Bora Ju and her friends. In the video below, she sings and plays Hanobaeknyeon, which was composed by Lee Gun-Young on the 25 string-gayageum.
The selection is five minutes long. I urge you to play it. And ENJOY!!!
Further information about Bora Ju... http://www.music.washington.edu/upcoming/?pg=detail&ID=37569
At twelve fifteen this afternoon I headed on out for my first winter walk. Walking down twenty third I passed this one condominium where this solitary summer chair and this quiet barbecue grill brought back many memoires of spring socials I had gone too where there was laughter and good food and teasing and many stories shared. I smiled thinking and hoping that the people living there would have many, many more happy socials.
Then when I got to Union I looked across the street. I saw Christmas trees were being sold in the lot located just pass the stop sign. So I decided to go exploring. There were a lot of very healthy looking trees ready for purchase. I met the fine man who was in charge of the lot and enjoyed a few emotionally warm moments with me... moments like those keep me from grumbling... "another grey day," I think painfully often...,or "why don't I just stay inside and curl up in a nice warm place with a nice chilling thriller,"or "!!!!...????." (feel free to add your own expletives...")
Friday afternoon. Lunchtime. And I am looking back at some bright moments and hard moments. Hard moments: the aches and pains that come with being sick with a cold for a week. I had come to realize that, once I got too tired and starting sneezing and feeling feverish, I would not be able to function well for at least a week. And I knew that I could not work at the hospital if I were sneezing away. Neither the team I work with, other staff members, or patients needed me stumbling around. Still accepting that I needed to stay home and rest was very, very hard.
At the same time there have been the bright moments: being the occasion for a lonely patient smiling, having another pateint thank me for being there, seeing another patient head for home after a very tough few weeks. Seven days later, waking up feeling alert, no sneezing, no aches, and having time to just sit and listen and laugh and learn with friends. Wonderful moments
Ten minutes after I read your blog, Jaynie, I headed out on this bright, warm Monday afternoone for the Happy Bean. I absolutely love it. Bernie is a warm, positive person. And here is the motto she and her two friends have chosen for the shop...
Definitely I felt warm and welcome there. I enjoyed watching the smiles and conversation that went on as Cedar Medical Center nurses came in. Bernie said she wanted to create a warm, safe place where nurses and folks who had come in for checkups could sit and relax. And folks like me could stop by and chat, enjoy the view, and the wonderful food and drinks. I enjoyed being there.
I live right across from the playing fields: football practice here, soccer practice, and.. the band is getting ready to fire the team and the fans up....
AMAZING--Young people's energy, practicing hour after hour... AMAZING...going over the same material over and over again... AMAZING...creating something very, very old, very, very dear, very, very new
I congratulate you, band members...your Patience,your Persistence, your Genius
It's time for school... good old HIGH SCHOOL USA!!! And the new year is starting out mighty mighty tasty. Freshmen and their folks came ready today... to learn a lot about the school, about each other, and listening and learning and dancing and laughing were the top hits for them today. And a whole lot of good eating....Yum Yum!
Teachers, staff, and parents worked very hard to make this great day for all. The sun was shining. The grills were smoking... and all one had to do to make this a great day was just accept what was happening around you.
Summer time... I remember many a lazy teenage summer... nothing to do but get under my grandmother's feet, watch television, or go to a movie. The good old days... hah! When I got to college I put in some serious, sweat filled, muscle straining hours helping with college tuition. If I were working for the wages I made back in THE DAY... I would never darken the doors of any private liberal arts college, that is for sure. Some of the young folks at Bellarmine High School are plugging away at bringing the cost for their education down... doing work study jobs during the summer... and one of the more visible ways I see teens making a difference here are out in our gardens... Good for them.
And one of the gifts they have is their supervisor, Rick K... (who teaches on the side during the school year.) I had a chance to chat with him the other day. Here is a video of our wonderful discussion. Thanks Rick!
What a treat! 11 pm Sunday afternoon and everything inside of me knew that the sunlight would clear away a lot of thick, dusty cobwebs in my brain. I got myself together and headed for Blockbusters. I smiled looking at the sign outside of the pizza restaurant next to the Big B. "I bet you," I thought, "some parents had to ward off some high pitched pleading from their kids today!"
Tops Market was crowded--- lots of cars in the parking lot.I got a tasty chicken bowl and headed for home.
This beauty held my attention for a heart stopping few seconds.
I enjoyed getting out and joining the Sunday afternoon parade:
1969... I had just begun a very long emotional and spiritual journey. The goals of that journey were my need to find new answers for very important old questions-- who am I, where am I going, how am I going to get there. I served as an intern at the Hilltop Youth Center that summer. I learned a lot about myself... how little I knew about other Black people... the music they preferred, the games they played together, their viewpoints of our world. I was caught in the Cold War Syndrome... the Russians were bad; Communists were taking over the free world, and it was my obligation to pray for the fall of the Russian Bear! Racism at home... I was not attending to the impact it was having on other people of color and on me. I really had no inner image of myself succeeding in anything... doctor, lawyer, priest... no Black role model, no sense of the beauty of Africa, nor that, many generations before, that some of my ancestors had been forcibly taken from Africa and forced to live as slaves. And sadly, I did not realize that my confused and frightened presence still had a positive effect on the young people that came to the Center. I had much to learn. I still have much to learn. But this I do know... that you and I can choose to listen to each other, learn from one another, and support one another in becoming honest, open, generous, and self-sacrificing human beings. And I am so grateful that I was challenged and supported to spend that very painful summer at the center, which is now known as the People's Community Center.
Here is a video of the area around the Center-- the Church right next to it; the wonderful neighborhood, the police station right across from the Center
The information below is freezing my brain!!!! Current Conditions - Tacoma, WA 26°Overcast Wind: 10 mph from the North Dew Point: 13°F Pressure: 30.10 in Windchill: 16°F Humidity: 58% Visibility: 10.0 miles Updated: 5:53 AM PST on December 19, 2008 at Tacoma Narrows, Washington(KTIW)
AlmanacDecember 19, 2008 Normal high: 45° Record high: 56° (1994) Normal low: 36° Record low: 17° (1990) Young people who get to stay home... congratulations! Other folks who have chosen to stay safe and warm at home...congratulations!
Caretakers who are providing warmth and safety for those who are stays at home today, I wish you the best : heaps of laughter, hugging, and as few head shakings, mutterings under your breath, and hurtful verbal interchages as humanly possible.
To those who have dressed warmly, braved these icy roads, and are personning various work posts throughout the region... thank you, thank you, thank you.
Good day, ladies and gentlemen and all you skiers across the Northwest. This is Joseph McG, reporting from one of the high points at St. Joseph's Hospital. And there's only one news item that needs to be highlighted this day... it's snowing and we do not have any time for snoring!
That's the good news and the bad news. If you are inside like I am, supported by welcoming members of the pastoral care team, moved by the serious and loving work of the nurses, doctors, and staff (one of the maintenance folks--- a soul brother--- started teasing me as I gingerly got off the bus today. This is what he said: "You should have stayed at home. You were not here yesterday and we did not have any snow. You come today and we get snow." That's a lot of power to give to your buddy, "I can't Handle Snow The Blogger," I know, but I suspect he was just pulling my leg. What's your take on his comments), and touched by the welcoming good humor of the lady, who boldly bragged that she was eighty two, when I visited her this afternoon, then you were feeling warm and safe this chilly grey afternoon!Good News!
But if you are out there in that wind and (brrrr!) snow, you might find it too hard to stop your teeth chattering and smile or wish someone a good day. Bad News For You. But then again you might come from the Inland Empire or the Midwest or the East Coast, and you might think it worth your while to remind this poor expatriate from the Southwest that this snow and wind are nothing compared to where you come from....for me and other expatriates... Really Bad News!
Old Lady Winter Just Has One Thing To Say To Us All------- I'M BACK
One of the greatest gifts I have been given are opportunities to share time with and learn from men and women who have worked long and hard to fine tune their physical, emotional, spiritual, and creative gifts. This wonderful icon, which appears among so many beautiful images on the Trinity Stores website, suggests to me that the deeper we go into understanding our feelings, our confusions, our failures, our sorrows, and our joys, the more we shall have to engage others in conversations that are satisfying.
Thank you Phil for sharing these few minutes from your soon to be published book on living and loving with me and all who enjoy this post.
Last week I was in Houston attending a wonderful session on Leading Through Relationship. The presenters were just making one heavy, heavy point when... (that's right) the fire alarm went off. Out the door I went... and stood out in the warm eighty two degree sunshine for about five minutes. No fire engines... no one said come on in. People just started going back in. Best I heard about this: the fire alarm (in a non-smoking hotel) went off near the WOMEN'S RESTROOM!!!
Two weeks before my trip to Houston I had gotten so excited about what Marriage Encounter can do for couples in good marriages who wanted their marriages to be even better. I grabbed my buddy, Ann, one fine fall morning and asked her to video me while I busted loose... and here's my love rap... (for children, teenagers, young adults, and seniors only)
The quick answer: A place for neighbors. It’s a place to get up to date on what’s going on around you, to tell a story, to share an idea or a bit of yourself. South Sounders created all the content on this page. Send questions, comments or feedback to matt.misterek@thenewstribune.com.
Our regulars
Stephanie Frieze …has always liked to write. Her experience includes three years at the University Washington School of Communications studying journalism. She had a stint at the Chinook Observer in Long Beach. Raised in Bellevue, she’s lived in Gig Harbor for nearly 18 years. She and her husband have a home in Ilwaco, where they spend as much time as possible. This mother of four loves books, spending time with family and the color purple. Contact her at dbandstefery@comcast.net.
Lorraine Hart …was born a nomadic mutt. She spent her life observing, writing and making music. She’s an unabashed carrier of the titles “hippie,” “feminist” and “liberal.” She’s resided in the South Sound since 1996 and is currently living above Joe’s Bay in Home. She juggles her time between being a caregiver, a writer, an artist, a musician, a minister, a wife, a mother, an advocate, a friend and a pilgrim – not necessarily in that order. Contact her at matlox@cablespeed.com.
Jaynie Jones …is a Tacoma resident with diverse career tracks in broadcasting, journalism, teaching, health care, desktop publishing, floral design, special event planning and photography. She’s best known as long-time KOMO radio personality Jaynie Dillon and was once a familiar voice on Tacoma stations KTAC, KBRD-FM, KTNT and KNBQ-FM. Formerly a resident of Tacoma’s East Side, she’s volunteered in the Eastside Substation and with Safe Streets. Contact her at jaynie.jones@gmail.com .
Tracy Lebenzon ...is a blog contributor from Greenwater. Greenwater is the last stop before Crystal Mountain, Mount Rainier and the surrounding wilderness areas. When not exploring the next mountain peak or forest trail, Tracy also contributes to the Greenwater Community Council and the Explore-Greenwater.com web site. He writes about topics ranging from favorite foot, bike, and snow trails to community events, local merchants and politics. Contact him at dmountains@explore-greenwater.com.
Joseph McGowan …is a chaplain who supports patients, families, friends, nurses and doctors at St. Joseph’s Hospital. Being 67, he’s learned this about living: Meet people on their own ground and you will discover that this Earth is our special place to meet and support each other. His motto: Live now. Share yourself now. Every living thing you experience is a pure gift. Love all life unconditionally. Contact him at mcg9940@yahoo.com.
Mizu Sugimura …is a third-generation Japanese American living in Federal Way. She’s married and a parent of one adult child. A lifelong resident of the Puget Sound area, she graduated with a degree in journalism from the University of Washington School of Communications. and served on Federal Way’s Diversity and Art Commissions. Her interests are politics, art, the history of minorities in Washington and family history. She’s written a self-published family history about her paternal grandfather. Contact her at mizusugi@yahoo.com.
Kim Thompson …is a Grit City native who was born and raised in Tacoma’s Old Town neighborhood by the gulch. She boasts that she’s a former Lowell Leopard, Mason Mustang and Wilson Ram, a short-time PLU Lute and a longtime UW Husky. This former corporate businesswoman is a wife, a mom, a school volunteer, a substitute teaching assistant, a writer and a born-again distance runner. She has convinced friends from Bellevue that Tacoma is worth the drive. Contact her at kimricksy@comcast.net.
ugi@yahoo.com.
