For the Common Wealth

It's interesting to see that my two states, the Commonwealths of Virginia and Pennsylvania, are key to this year's presidential election. I notice that Ed Rendell has asked Bill Clinton to crisscross western Pennsylvania to try to shore up votes for Obama. And we have seen our share of politicos down our way, too. Northern Virginia, where we are, is typically more liberal and votes democratic in national elections. But go south and west and you're into the bible belt, where conservatism reigns and republicans more often than not hold sway. That's not unlike Pennsylvania, where the coal region, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Erie are more progressive than the rural landscapes.

I remember vividly several years ago I was travelling along Pennsylvania Route 74 in the Cumberland Valley between South Mountain in the Blue Ridge chain and Blue Mountain – the beginnings of the ridge and valley section of Pennsylvania (that extends south into Virginia and the Carolinas). If any is, that area is the epitome of rural, conservative, traditional, red state America. And I was struck all of a sudden with the realization that the farms and small villages and the back roads and pastures and woodlands and people in that valley practically ooze the unspoken message of conservation – the message that these people connect with and hold the land dearly to their hearts, and that they want so much to be able to pass those lands and waters and natural areas on to their children and children’s children. That landscape and those people silently scream out the message of connections . . . connections with the land and water, connections in this time and place with each other, and connections through time with past and future generations.

Perhaps they are holding on too hard-so hard they can't open their arms to the strange and new. And maybe they are grasping at the past out of a fear of a future that is largely unknown. But, at the same time, all too often we miss their message that speaks so loudly of conservation and of connections, as we are busy writing and typing and speaking and instant messaging - trying to explain ourselves – not listening at all. It’s time, I would offer, that we all listen attentively to our rural neighbors whose lives convey a message of care for the common wealth.

Sunset Over Blue Mountain

Requiem

In Memory of Lady - A Good Old Soul
January 15, 1995 - October 28, 2008

Falling

It's a sunny, model Fall morning today. Blue sky. A bit crisp but no frost. We haven't had a frost yet, although I hear the suburbs have. And the leaves are finally starting to show some colors beside green and brown. There are reds and oranges and yellows poking through. Not much. And certainly not vibrant. But there to announce the changing times anyway.

All life is changing. Lady is slowing down more and more and is just about completely blind. I think in the brightness of mid-day she can see shadows and has some sense of light and dark outside. But besides that it's all up to her nose now. She sleeps a lot but her appetite is fine and she still likes our walks (very slow these days) together. I take more walks now. One or two with Kooper for every one with Lady.

Commitments

This is Oblate commitment weekend at Mount Saint Benedict in Erie, PA. I'm not there this year but sent in my paper indicating I'm still committed (or, maybe, should be committed!). I miss the Community. Here is what I would have said at the Commitment Ceremony this evening, were I there:


Blest by God and this community /
we enter into a year of commitment /
with joy and expectation. /
We are empowered by the love of God /
to live more deeply /
the way of the Gospel /
and the Rule of Benedict. /
We understand the mutuality /
of our commitment /
with this community /
and we respond with trust and love. /
This relationship is grounded in hope; /
hope for the transformation of each other /
and ultimately /
the transformation of the world. /

I'll say it in my heart.

Nature's Signs

I have always - well okay sometimes - been attuned to the signals that Nature sends us. As in this morning. As I was just walking Kooper (Lady is still asleep). You can smell the Fall around as the drizzled-on brown leaves on the ground give off their mustiness for the first time. It rained overnight. That, and the fine mist falling now, are the first real rains we've had in a couple of weeks it seems. The wind has shifted, too. It's out of the south now. I don't need to see the leaves rustling or the flags fluttering or the grass tilting in the wind to tell.

Nature's signs once more whisper to me . . . indicating the direction of her breezes: the jets from Ronald Reagan National Airport are taking off toward the south this morning . . . into the wind.

Daily Tides

Every morning there is a huge rush of humanity north from Alexandria and points south into Washington, DC. Then in the evening there is an equally huge exodus of peoplehood southward. The constant thrum of cars on George Washington Parkway in front of our house accompanies the back and forth. It's like a people tidal surge with the tide rushing in between 5:30 and 9 AM, and surging back out again from around 3 PM until 8 or so.

The same thing happens on the bike trail and on the busses and on the Metros: packed going into DC in the morning. Filled coming out of the District each night. The promise of power that Washington holds out to the human soul is enticing, and we follow the flame like moths to the fire all too easily.

When we first moved here I have to admit I was drawn to the "power" that Washington, DC offered. I really wanted a job in one of those bright halls of power. I got a thrill thinking of walking into the halls and offices of the Capital building or trying to influence Administration policy or even maybe working for a Senator or Congressperson. I tried. I must have sent in over 100 letters and resumes and had quite a number of interviews.

Now in the morning I go south into southern Fairfax County. There are rich, powerful people who live in Fairfax County. It's one of the richest (per capita income wise) counties in the U.S. But most of those rich people are swept up by the northerly tide each day. Drawn by the flame. That leaves a lot of poor people here who need help. That's where I go each day now . . . against the tide . . . in a nearly empty Metro rail car . . . in a very roomy bus . . . down rail lines and streets where the traffic is almost absent. Away from the power center . . . toward the not-so-powerful. And then back north again at the end of the day along an equally vacant path. Against the surge of people rushing to their homes from their centers of power. . . rushing past me slowly moving north. . . rushing past the poor who have been there all day long.

And at night . . . when I can look north up George Washington Parkway right at the Washington Monument shining bright in the floodlights four miles ahead . . . I'm still drawn.

Slow

The darkness creeping in during the fall tends to slow things down. The dogs were slower this morning on our walk . . . a lot of things to sniff. Plus, when you can't see so far ahead of where you are, I think you tend to take tinier steps in getting to where you aren't.

Yesterday, I took tiny steps at work as I continue to get a sense of what the world of fundraising and communications is in general and specifically at the agency where I am asked to do those things. That world (where I am at least) is a mess. I need to step back and come up with a plan to put things in order. It's all reactionary now . . . no plan . . . just going (rushing) from here to there . . . taking big steps (even in the dark!). That can be dangerous when there are things in the dark that might go bump with you!

So, it's time to destroy the status quo as Dr. Horrible would say, because "the status is not quo." We'll see how my plan to plan goes over. People ("us") don't tend to like changes. And that goes for the institutions we constitute, as well.

Every Morning Now

The Internet is chock full of information! I sort of always knew that, ever since I invented the Internet as Al Gore's silent partner, but rediscovered its plethora-ness more recently when I was unemployed. I developed a morning "roll-call" of web sites to visit to start the day. I call it "day break," and (because I have an Apple), all of my "Day Break" pages open up at once with the click of one bookmark button! Shiny, huh? Here they are, in the order I read the pages:
1. The Rule of Benedict: Insights for the Ages by Joan Chittister, OSB (a daily reading from the Rule, with a commentary by Joan).
2. LIGHT THROUGH STAINED-GLASS WINDOWS by SUSAN DOUBET, OSB (relating the goings on at my spiritual home: Mount Saint Benedict Monastery in Erie, PA).
3. Ellen's Poems (twice-weekly postings of the poems of the now-deceased Ellen Porter, OSB (you may note a trend developing here . . . but it's about to shift).
4. Benedictine Blog (well, okay, it didn't shift yet) - a blog for Oblates of Mount Saint Benedict posted by Marilyn Schauble, OSB (Oblate Director for the Mount Saint Benedict Monastery)).
5. The comic strip "Soup to Nutz"
6. Daily comic strips on the Washington Post web site (Soup to Nutz isn't one of them - don't ask me why because it's great - so that's why Soup to Nutz is a separate web page on its own). I have about a dozen or so comic strips I read each day, starting with Bizarro and ending with Zits, just because I'm an alphabetical kind of person.
7. The Washington Post daily crossword puzzle page.
8. The Washington Post on-line (picking out pithy editorials, eye-catching stories, local weather and video blogs.
9. Today's Recipe (a daily, typically very tasty recipe - posted on weekdays - that I copy and keep on file): http://www.wwrecipes.com/.
10. The Daily Beast. I saw this one on the Colbert Report one evening (or the Daily Show, I forget which). You just need to visit it to get it (English humor and pithiness): http://thedailybeast.com/.

That's it! As I have time and inclination I also check the New York Times and New York Daily News for news on the Yankees, and check up on my fantasy football team (which - by the way - has won two games in a row!).

My home page? The one that opens up every time I open up the web browser? It's http://drhorrible.com/.

Monday Morning Quarterbacking

It's easy to look back and say how things should have gone, or to say "I would have done it that way." But looking back over this past weekend, I can't think of much that I would change. We had great friends and family visiting. The weather was almost idealistically fall-like . . . sunny, blue sky, crisp mornings . . . there was good food all around, and the celebration (of life in general and of Kate's installation) was complete and superb.

The only hitch was when I went to pick up the food for lunch on Sunday at Whole Foods - it wasn't there. The person at the deli said that they simply didn't have the order for the food that we thought they had (Kate called it in by phone). So, after getting a head count of munchers expected, I went to the nearby Safeway supermarket and filled up on sliced meats and cheeses, pita pockets and tortillas, humus and condiments, desert munchies and juices. There was plenty and people seemed satisfied.

Now it's off to work . . . a bit chilly this morning on the dog walk but I expect that will burn off when the sun peaks up over the horizon in about an hour.

Installation Sunday

We have wonderful guests galore in Alexandria this weekend, as the church where Kate is minister is holding an installation ceremony this afternoon. Two folks stayed at our place, one is being hosted across town, and others are coming in for the day. Last night - dinner for some people here on Abingdon Drive (where we live): shrimp scampi. That was after going to a nearby Octoberfest a couple of blocks away to meet Eddie Carroll (from Denver) and a friend, Brian, who lives in nearby Arlington. Brian is a Red Sox fan but besides that is an okay kind of guy. That was in the late afternoon, and I then had the pleasure of watching Penn State come back from a 17-7 deficit to beat Michigan and remain unbeaten as they continue a run at the national championship.

So, this morning after church I need to run to the grocery store, where (I hope) they will have the catered lunch ready for me to pick up. The lunch is for all of the visiting guests and minister dignitaries who are bussing in for the installation, which is (I'm pretty sure) at about 4 PM or so.

Things should settle down after that. We will ungueast gradually and Kate will be officially "installed." I'm not quite sure what that means in reality; it's likely more a symbol and ritual indicating formal acceptance of Kate by the local church community - perhaps the roots of the word indicate placement of Kate in "stalled" mode or in a stall (office?) or something like that. I hear installations happen in other churches, too. It was never a Catholic thing as I was growing up - priests just appeared . . . assigned by the bishop. Maybe that's why religion is generally in a holding (as in a stalled) pattern. Too many installed ministers and not much movement beyond the comfortable.

That's all for now. Kooper is whining like he needs to go for another walk (there's no stalling him).

October 18 - Leaping into the Blogosphere

A blog (a contraction of the term "Web log") is a Web site, usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in reverse-chronological order. "Blog" can also be used as a verb, meaning to maintain or add content to a blog. At least that's what Wikipedia says. It seems like a good way to write down some newsworthy and not so newsworthy things, and get the word out to those who might want to know what's so worthy or not. So, this is it (don't think it will get much better than this or you might be disappointed!).

It's dark out still. It's dark out because I'm on a new schedule that relates to my having a real job in the real world. The new schedule gets me up at 5 AM so that I can walk the dogs (Lady and Kooper), feed the dogs (Kooper and Lady), swallow some vitamins (overdose really) and be transported to work. I don't have a Star Trek type transporter but I do have legs (walk to the Braddock Road Metro), a train (the Yellow Line south from Braddock Road to the Huntington Station (the end of the line; See: http://www.wmata.com/metrorail/systemmap.cfm), and then the 161 Bus to my workplace (UCM, which stands for United Community Ministries). There (http://www.ucmagency.org/), I am arguably their Director of Development (although one of my first tasks is to get that title changed to "Director of Development and Communications," since that's really what I'm supposed to be doing. By the way, if anyone wants to be my "Assistant Director of Development and Communications" I'm going to be hiring one soon.

So, that’s why it’s dark out. I’ve only been at it for two days (since Thursday), but my body is in the habit of waking at 5 AM. Well, I woke at 3 AM but who’s counting. So, Kooper has been walked (twice). Lady has been walked (once). Both have been fed (Iams and hamburger). I have read my “Day Break” list of web links (more on that in a future blog). And I have been vitaminized. What better else to do than to start a blog!

Welcome!