Blurt on Today

Today Jude Fernando explained
why micro lending in Bangladesh
and Sri Lanka
doesn't empower women
or change the infrastructure
to alleviate poverty.
Today the Dalai Lama
said he would resign
if the violence continues
in Lasa.
Today a Black woman
with several sick children
who call her cell phone
when she is trying
to learn history
cheated on my exam
and got caught.
I said please drop the course
and I won't tell.
Today I felt the wind
blow right through me;
there was no one there
to stop it.

Mountain retreats

I was just there for a board meeting this past weekend, but we did some meditation (2x daily) also. That was, of course, the best part. The board members are from a variety of Buddhist traditions: Zen, Tibetan, and Vipassana, and we also have a Quaker or two who regularly meditate.

The retreat schedule for 2008 is up on the Southern Dharma Retreat Center website. To get to it, go to http://www.southerndharma.org/RetreatSchedule2008.htm There are some for beginners, and some for more advanced. They let you know in the description. We started with beginner retreats back in 1996 and have been going back every year.

Each retreat is described (click on the link for each), so you can pick out what you like. And, yes, there are always women looking for ethereal men, but since I usually go there with my own ethereal man and am always very much focused on the retreat itself I don't pay attention to anyone else's doings.

The last retreat I attended was 12/27/07 to 1/04/08. The first half was Zen and yoga and the second half was a Tibetan retreat. The first one helped center me and relax me, and the second was very intellectual. The Tibetans are definately the most cerebral of the Buddhist traditions I think. In so many ways I'm still a beginner.

out there

Elaine, I never asked you about your experience in the mountains this year. Tell me more. I really could use something like this... Are there any women looking for ethereal men? (-: Long story. Anyway, tell me more about why you like this retreat. I want to be convinced.

B

What's All This?

Mrs. Lytle has spent the winter reorganizing the library books at RUGfarm (who is it that keeps putting them out of Dewey Decimal System order????) and categorizing the grammatical errors of all political candidates. Sniffing the first spring-like weather, she starts to plan spring cleaning chores, arranging her garter belt and making sure her tightly permed hair is in place before approaching the remaining residents of RUGfarm with their "to do" list.

Walking out the back door to ring the bell that would summon everyone, Mrs. Lytle is astonished to discover that the farm is now floating in cyberspace. "What's All This??" she demands of Princess Afternoon, who, seated on the porch swing, blithely continues reading Kirkegaard to Tiny Bill, who is squirming in his seat, desperately hoping to escape to go swimming in the pond before heading off to a new job. Bagman listens from the bushes, frowning and muttering, "I hope she gets to the part about indirect communication soon!" Zoe leans out of the upstairs window and reminds Princess Afternoon to remind Bill that Kirkegaard was the first postmodernist. "Remember his admonition that 'subjectivity is truth' and 'truth is subjectivity,' she exclaimed.

Mrs. Lytle harrumphed, and with index finger high in the air began to pontificate on the value of hard work and the silliness of Danish philosophers. At the same time, her eyes were sweeping the skies of cyberspace for Butler and the others, all of whom had mysteriously disappeared as soon as the presidential campaigns had started. Perhaps they were all now political advisors instead of poets?

Let's keep this quiet

Hi, Zoe here, just back from meditating in the mountains and pleading with everyone to keep this locale a secret from Mrs. Lytle. She will surely find something to criticize, and I think it's so lovely to be here in outerspace with so much energy (chi) floating around me.