danadug's Open Salon Blog

SUNSHINE FOR THE PSYCHE

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 11:11:05 -0500

It takes a community to engender both conflict and it's better half, harmony. This is the hallmark of a global practice known as Winter Feast for the Soul. Created in Idaho in 2007, the Winter Feast for the Soul approaches its third anniversary as a more established and recognized event. And in the spirit of keeping the community involved, the upcoming Feast will offer a Prison Outreach and an invitation to children everywhere to participate for the upcoming Feast to be held Jan. 15 through Feb. 23.

Founder Valerie Skonie, 70, said about “10,000 people in 29 different countries found a way to incorporate stillness in their lives for 40 minutes a day, for 409 consecutive days.

A three-line poem by the Islamic poet and scholar Rumi inspired Skonie: "What nine months does for the embryo/forty early mornings will do/for your growing awareness."

Mediation, also called “sitting,” is a common practice and has shown to help people focus and alleviate stress, among other benefits. The event proposes that people commit in some form on a daily basis. This can be done on the Winter Feast website (www.winterfeastforthesoul.com).

The first year approximately 150 people signed up to the 40-day spiritual practice period either on their own or in groups, organized by Skonie, with help from the Light On The Mountains Spiritual Center, in Ketchum, Idaho.

That it grew past the small event she’d imagined surprised no one so much as Skonie.

When Skonie first read the poem, she thought, “Someone really has to try this,” she said. “Let’s make a gift to the valley. People from around the world began contacting me and wanted to be part of it.”

In 2009, Winter Feast for the Soul became a global event. Communities from 30 countries, including Greece, Bulgaria, Croatia, Sweden, Romania, Germany and India had committed to the second annual event. They wrote letters, and blogged. They created their won websites to spread the word.

“Last year, we had more than 3,000 people committed on-line but that was the tip of the iceberg,” Skonie said. In fact, many people contacted her later to say they had participated but never signed up on the site.

The statistics speak for themselves: 145,000 Google links, videos on YouTube in four different languages, and a fan base that covers the gamut of places and faces.

A series of three daily, guided meditations were introduced on the website. Nearly 19,000 downloads of these meditations were tabulated during the 2009 Winter Feast, Skonie said. Since then, these meditations have continuously been downloaded.

She likes to quote the poet Stephen Harrod Buhner who wrote that only when we learn to “locate consciousness in the heart we can begin to know the world.”

“Clearing the mind is the first step, training the mind to be still,” Skonie explained. “The second is to drop the consciousness to the heart. Once that is learned by the mind and the heart you become a truly global citizen, connected to life. I am shifting to taking people to that next step. This is a heart- centered practice. On the website there will be seven different traditions including Christian, Tibetan Buddhist, Insight Mediation/Vipassana, New Thought, Sufi and children.

The Prison Outreach Program began in 2009 with 10 men incarcerated in a Boise, Idaho prison, who participated in the Winter Feast For the Soul.

One of these men wrote regularly and sent drawings of saints that came through his practice.

“’We are doing sacred work,’ he wrote. ‘What we are doing will change the world. Thank you for letting me be part of this. It is changing my life.’”

The concept is based on the ideas of subtle activism, as opposed to physical, psychological or social. The term 'subtle activism' refers to a collective activity of consciousness that participants hope will ultimately bring about social change.

Such acts aren't unique in history. David Nicol, author of the essay "Subtle Activism: Applying Spiritual Power for Social Change" wrote that during the Battle of Britain, Londoners of various faiths united daily for one minute of silence after the chiming of Big Ben at 9 p.m., a practice intended to strengthen the moral resolve of the city's inhabitants during the war.

"It is not hard to find other examples of the use of collective contemplative practice to unite people around political objectives or for social harmony," Nicol wrote. "A global meditation and prayer event, in which hundreds of thousands of people around the planet unite in silence and prayers for world peace, is a prime example of subtle activism."

Most of the ideas for global outreach came from letters and messages from people around the world, Skonie said, laughing. “I had no idea how to do it. They did it.”

It’s not only the perseverance of those who have found the website on their own that pleases Skonie. When families sign on it means a additional people practicing as a group. They have reported that their familial relationships are less strained.

“When a woman in Germany wrote and said her children were committing to it four minutes a day, I said, ‘Wow, children.’ Lets do that! So we inivited children around the world to join them.”

Skonie teaches meditation to people of all ages.

“One student of mine (at the Wood River High School in Hailey, Idaho) said when he feels angry he knows now he doesn’t have to act on his anger. It gave him time to think.”

She reports that they are more focused during the day they meditate, less stressed. One student said she’d taken her friend aside before a Spanish exam and taught her how to meditate. Her friend joined the group the next week.

“She said ‘I am much more relaxed,’” Skonie related. “’Can I do that with sports?’ Absolutely.”

One kids said he was at church, and they were singing so he went in the elevator and meditated. They realized the value of being by themselves.

The Children’s Outreach, on the website, now includes four minutes of stillness for the earth as well as recorded stories on meditation and peace.

Bringing children into the feast is important, Skonie said. “They can form new habits easily at that age. And it’s given the prisoners a sense of connecting to the outside world. A sense of meaning. It’s like sunshine for the soul.”

As it happens Sunshine for the Soul is also the name of a short film about the Feast that was shown at the Sixth Annual Sun Valley Film Festival in September 2009.

“It’s important to know people all over the world are doing it,” Hailey, Idaho resident Cynthia Carr said. She enlisted her family in the event and saw nearly immediate results: togetherness and more cooperation.

Winter Feast for the Soul is a non-profit organization operating under the auspices of Rising Tide International, a non-profit corporation in Sarasota, Fla.

“I am pleased to convey to you His Holiness the Dalai Lama's prayers and good wishes for your next Winter Feast for the Soul which will take place from January 15 to February 23, 2010. Best wishes.” --Tenzin Taklha, Joint Secretary, Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

This was the second year His Holiness the Dalia Lama blessed Winter Feast for the Soul. In 2008 the Feast was also blessed by Pir Zia Inayat Kahn, the head of the Sufi Order International; Anam Thubten Rinpoche, the spiritual leader of the Dharmata Foundation and the Rev. Kathy Hearn, of the United Centers for Spiritual Living, based in Colorado.

Newspapers in a state of flux

Tue, 5 May 2009 16:05:47 -0400

The other day I saw “State of Play.” Is this just another forgettable title for yet another by-the-books thriller? Well yes and no. Though a bit convoluted it’s also an edgy, and nearly-noir-ish D.C. thriller about the tug and tow relationship between the press, the cops and politics.

Russell Crowe gives a very decent portrayal of the classic, out of shape, non-leading man journalist a la the Woodward and Bernstein of “All the President’s Men.” A story hangs in the balance for Crowe due to an old friendship with a hotshot good-looking congressman played by Ben Affleck and his wife, played by Robin Wright Penn.

I’m beginning to like this Affleck dude. For the past few years (post Jenny from the Block and with Jen, respectively) he’s been in several solid flicks and he directed one I thought was among the best of 2007, “Gone Baby Gone.” A lengthy ordeal features Jason Bateman, who nearly steals the film as a sleazy PR guy, is one of the highlights of the film.

At its heart the movie reveals that for those who work in the business journalism can be a grinding, thankless and ultimately exhilarating profession. Publishers, editors, writers all fight for its relevancy; the newspaper industry is not one you can just abandon. People get addicted to their job. Just as with anything it grows on you until it’s in your blood. For me it began with “Harriet the Spy,” a book that long ago influenced me to ask questions and write about what I saw and heard. So having lost my job, I blog. Isn’t that the logical step? What would Russell Crowe’s character, Cal McCaffrey, do in the same situation though? I suspect, he’d wither up and die. But in the movie even he saw the affects of instant gratification that comes from the web.

Kevin Macdonald, who last directed Forest Whitaker to an Oscar in “Last King of Scotland,” helmed “State of Play.” Before becoming a documentary filmmaker and then feature director he went to journalism school. It also features Rachel McAdams in a fairly adult role signaling perhaps a maturing in her career. She’s a great counterpoint between Crowe and his tough and conflicted editor Helen Mirren, who frankly isn’t as tough as some real editors I’ve seen.

At the end of the movie the enormous, hi-tech machines used to print papers are in action. There’s barely a person in sight. It’s all done by computer. Finally the papers are bundled, and a male employee backs the loader up to a delivery truck outside. As soon as the papers are inside, the truck’s rear cargo door is pulled down. Black out. The end.

Someone suggested this black ending spelled the end of newspapers, but I thought perhaps it was the opposite. This was where the case for newspapers was made complete. There’s even the tell tale line delivered by McAdams who says “People should have ink on their fingers when they read this story.”

But even if everyone felt a similar fondness for print it might not matter. It may just be inevitable. Newsprint that relies on advertising may not have a bright future in the U.S. Meanwhile in the U.K. there are some 376 newspapers in an area a little smaller than Michigan.

In a Huffington Post Monday called ‘No Newspapers At Any Price,’ Jeff Jarvis, an author and professor at CUNY school of Journalism, writes:
“It makes less sense every day to try to preserve and protect - to invest in - what is obviously a failing model. Every day that papers keep printing is a day that they haven't reinvented themselves for a new reality.

The same can be said of the auto industry, retail, banking, education, and many other sectors of society… This isn't doom saying, though. It is a reality check. It is nothing more than observing what is obviously and inexorably happening in the economy and society. The insane response to this change is to resist it and mourn it. The sane response is to find the opportunity in it.

Don't bail. Build.”

Those in mourning include readers of Christian Science Monitor, which closed after 100-years in print, The Boston Globe which is near closing. New Jerseys largest paper The Newark Star-Ledger, the Los Angeles Times and the San Jose Mercury News all laid off half their staffs. Closed completely were such stalwarts as the 146-year-old Seattle Post-Intelligencer, and the Rocky Mountain News in Denver, which closed after 150 years.

In Connecticut, 13 newspapers, including two mid-sized dailies, have stopped printing or are close to it. Others that already went down the drain include the Baltimore Examiner, Kentucky Post, Cincinnati Post, King County Journal, Union City Register-Tribune, Halifax Daily News, Albuquerque Tribune and South Idaho Press.

It’s a sorry state of affairs let alone play.

Here’s an idea that Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Maryland, introduced in March. The Newspaper Revitalization Act bill would allow newspapers to operate as nonprofit organizations for educational purposes under the U.S. tax code, giving them a similar status to public broadcasting companies. Aimed at local market papers versus big conglomerates the bill would allow advertising and circulation revenue to be claimed as tax exempt. Newspapers could still report on all issues, including political campaigns, but they could no longer make political endorsements.

Is the business of journalism really dead or just the inky news-sheets? As the business stands now, journalism as a career is rather dicey. There are already many hundreds of out of work journalists? It’s hard to imagine that writing for print will be akin to ‘eight-track’ tapes and manual typewriters.

I have told my kids about the days before answer phones, video players, digital, CDs and computers. It’s hard for them to fathom that information was not a Google search away. How will we answer to ourselves if we loose newspapers? Sometimes people need to get their hands dirty and inky to really grasp the story. Will it be considered progress if people who have no money for a computer or iPhone are left off of the news? Which brings up the question of delivery. How then will the news be relayed?

It’s true that on-line news is cheaper, convenient and up to date. Overhead is slim, and reading on-line is immediate. But a newspaper is something to read over time, to peruse over coffee, to pick up and carry home, to clip and save, scrapbook and save to show future generations.

Many years ago I was in Bejing, China (then still known as Peking) during the Gang of Four Trial, in which Mao Tse-Tung’s widow, Chiang Ching, and others were charged with a series of treasonous crimes. No one had a television of their own. But on the streets massive pages of the latest news were glued onto buildings’ walls and crowds of Chinese read and discussed the latest installments. It was heady and exciting even though I couldn’t read Chinese. It was the beginning of China’s emergence from the Cultural Revolution. And I was there and they were reading the news.

Parenting: On the higher education road

Tue, 28 Apr 2009 16:04:21 -0400

Three years ago my eldest child and I took a road trip to look at colleges. When I was her age my parents didn’t engage in this right of passage. I vaguely remember someone talking to my senior class about opportunities at colleges on the West Coast. At the time I was in New Hampshire, and California--which I’d fallen in love with after spending a month in Big Sur at a poetry-writing workshop--seemed like just the ticket for this antsy, East Coast liberal, actress and writer-to-be.

So after perusing a couple brochures, applying to random schools and receiving an acceptance to a school in Stockton, I headed out west. The University of the Pacific (it sounded wet) was as far from my family as I considered reasonable. My parents saw the school the same day I did, at orientation. (Meanwhile they ruined my plan by also moving west, within three hours of me).

Stockton is the armpit of California (literally, look at a map). As is appropriate it’s also a foggy, muggy, agri-town about an hour from the coast, and frankly in the late ‘70s, a pretty crummy place. Looking back, any of the other schools to which I’d been accepted probably would have been a better fit. I hated it, naturally. Weaned on thick, green forests, rivers and the hills of northern New England, in blue jeans, tee shirts and flannel, I could find no synchronicity on this suburban campus of color coordination, make-up, polyester, fast food and sororities.

Determined my daughters would not make the same mistakes, I committed myself to working with them on their higher education quests. The college search is actually a full time job, and it’s no wonder my parents opted out of it. The kid has to study for SATS and ACT, taking them more than once if necessary. Together (if you're lucky) parent and child cull through masses of brochures, get letters that promise the moon, fill out scholarship applications and FAFSA (oy, this is quite the challenge) and then come the visits. Try scheduling that when you’re working and have other obligations; the kid is in school, on teams, has an after school job and maybe even a life. Then one has to consider the costs of airfare, car rentals, meals and hotels.

When my eldest went off to the University of Oregon, my sense was that after all the work I’d done to get her there it was actually me who deserved a four-year educational vacation. However, unlike me at her age, she was homesick beyond comprehension.

(You can’t convince kids of the validity of the college experience. It just is. College can be the greatest four years yet lived. The years that follow are hard, hard, hard. Go to the right school and your friends, your future and career can have a brighter outlook).

At any rate, my (mommy-sick) daughter did not have a good experience and within two years, she transferred to a university just two hours away from home. We love being able to see each other often so it’s worked out fine in the long run.

But here we go again. My youngest child graduates next month. Again I am struck with the crazy situation that is called senior year in high school, keep them in school, going to classes, doing homework and alive. However, unlike childbirth, it’s no simpler the second time. In fact, in many ways it appears worse since we’re working in an economic vacuum. But here’s the thing, y’all, this daughter is a good student, been involved, has done community service, her teachers love her, and to top it all off she wants to be a nurse. Yet, there is nothing for her. No scholarships, no grants, no money whatsoever. A virtual single mother, I was laid off recently and even this change of status doesn’t help her.

I went back east to visit friends recently and was stunned to discover that all their kids are receiving scholarships and grants. I was struck then by all the things that do make a difference in our kids lives: private schools versus public. Need versus merit. Sports versus art. Middle versus upper class. These things matter in ways that feel unfair, lopsided and frightening, and adds to the guilt some parents feel about how their choices affect their children.

At any rate we spent a rainy night in Salt Lake City the other day after touring the utterly gigantic University of Utah. Next we’re off to San Francisco and Sonoma. It all costs me money I don’t have and there’s never a guarantee, as I discovered with my other daughter.

I just want to see her fall in love and not just settle. Is that so much to ask for your kid? To have a chance, a possibility, a scent of inspiration that could lead to fulfillment? How do you ever know? You can force on them only so much and the rest is dependent on the child, and the complexities of the world. A child might head to a year abroad in Italy only to have her end up on trail for the murder of her housemate. Lacking money, you can opt for junior college in a small town like Twin Falls, Idaho and watch, as she becomes a state senator. Who knows? Parenting is a crapshoot and after a lifetime of working, struggling and sacrificing for them, anything can (and will) happen. Que sera sera.

After all the fretting over the right or wrong school, the climate, the opportunities, the money, parents just hope a life of grace and happiness is the result. Just hand me a martini when it’s done, please.