Thank you!

Dear Ron,
Thank you!  I know we have been rough on each other over the last 37 years.  I know we've put each other in some binds.  I know we've struggled to be our best at every turn for everyone.  I know we haven't met all expectations, ours nor theirs.  At times, its tough seeing how we are being selfish and we've made it difficult for others because of it, and we're a work in progress.  I know I've let you down.  I know you still haven't forgiven a lot of what we've done together.  I know it is our pattern to swim in scarcity and overlook our blessings.  I can remember times you have looked in the mirror and been disappointed in me, I still remember those words you called me, and how at times you wish you looked different.  I know I stress us out.  I recognize how you've worked hard to straighten us out, blaming us along the way.  I know we've been stubborn and going easy on ourselves has been rare.  We often seem to do our learning the hard way, the long way, or the wrong way.  I know our choice of words  can be ridiculous and unwelcome.  I know we'll have more rough phases ahead.

But Ron, for today thank you.  Today is thanksgiving, and I happy to be apart of us.  I'm grateful to have spent so many ours in your head understanding how loving you would like to be.  I am pleased with how well you have cared for our body, mind, and spirit.  I value how confident you have become and trusting of others this has allowed you to be.  I like how hard you work to be a caring friend.  I still think your creativity expresses us best.  I thank you for the people you have surrounded us with, I enjoy how they accept us for our talents and our flaws.  Despite how sometimes you drain us and and push us to edge , I admire how persistent and enduring you help us be.  I appreciate how you continue to forgive and when you can't you don't stop trying.  Most of all, thank you for learning to love, it has helped us to treat you with the Devine dignity that we all deserve, and be compassionate when we fail.

This doesn't pay the bills but it sure does feed the soul

Random hearts

After a glass was lifted and the condensation from a long standing glass had dripped off, I noticed this heart shaped  ring.  A heart shape has too many meanings to mention, and I am too lazy to enter into mine to write something cleaver and inspiring.  I am just flattered by the heart taking shape in the void rather than the space filled with substance.  Maybe looking into the void for meaning is as significant as seeing it in the forefront.  Happy thanksgiving, wishing you and yours a safe and comforting week of thanks.  

The Sun

It is completely understandable how early civilizations could have worshiped the sun, and how some still do.  I don't even believe that God would be jealous or mind.  The sun is glorious, enduring, and  always pointed at me.  The sun entices me into believing that I am the reason it rose from behind the ridges of rock.  When I try and glance up at it, I can't look too long, like it might see right through me.  The sun lets me feel the cold nights.  Nights, that hold little stars to remind me of the of the brilliance making its way back around.  It stays behind the mountains long enough to make me yearn.  It never gives me anything tangible except the day.  Then again the life is revealed during the day.

Team Dream

Thank you Razoo for providing a valuable donation and fundraising online service. 



We are gathering donations for Common Hope in Guatemala as part of a service trip next August 2013. Your donation will target education, health care, and housing concerns of  Guatemalans. We are committed to raising $4,000 in order to earn the opportunity to visit and work at the Common Hope facility. I am part of a Vision Team trying to make it to Antigua. So please make a donation, and sponsor my efforts to work in Guatemala.

The Vocab

Vocabulary and semantics have a role in my culture, understanding, and perspectives. I'm moved by the complexity that it brings. The words we learn often carry more than a definition. They carry biased and loaded histories. The phrases we learn to build often express these biased experiences. I find myself believing that there are multiple interpretations of similar experiences. I share in so many experiences that i find myself relying on generalizations. What does this do to the importance of semantic and the demand for impressions? It disables my ability to see the uniqueness in most experiences. Some biologists might theorize the purpose of generalizing, and i am not interested in its importance or explanation but rather its dominance. When we communicate with generalization that leads to assumption, we miss the need, we miss the richness of the subtleties of the message. Vocabulary and meaning are manipulating my communities ways of sharing understanding and perspectives, in the end altering my culture.

It may be that my vocabulary is an implementation of an American lingual framework, but my experiences inject life into words giving them energy. The shared energy sustains a culture. For simplicity's sake, culture means, shared beliefs, truths and tradition. Learning is the integrative process I consider responsible for preparing my understanding. My communities are vessels that help me express myself and provide a platform for culture. When I choose to speak, I have to choose words and phrases that will make sense and broker a message that has value. This message is a perspective. I like how the non violent community describes this message as a need.  I create an economy of messages. Needs provide a demand, cultures provide a surplus of perspectives, and communities establish a market.

Standardized testing in Math, Science, Reading....

What about DANCE?