Finding PLACE

The other day, there was a presentation at the Kaplan. The Powers that Be have ignored local folks. But as with the saying "An Expert is someone from out of town" they brought in some mavens from out of town, and with the input from those folks they seem to be getting closer to the right idea:

"A meeting to help shape Brunswick’s future took place Monday inside the brick shell of the four-story former Kaplon department store. About 20 business people, elected leaders and nonprofit redevelopers considered options to fill space in the city with a combination of arts venues, small stores and places to live on any income."

A little Electoral Troll humor

 

Troll Troll on the knoll

Surfing the internet

Big fat troll at the bridge

Collecting tolls from all who cross!

Don't wanna pay?

At the end of the day

You'll be roasting on a spit!

 

Run real fast! You still might pass!

And he will have a fit!

But if he catches you

He'll put you on a spit

And make you "feel the Bern"

 

Droll troll on the knoll

No sense of humor at all

Comes out at night

Full of anger

At everything in sight!

 

But if you can trap him

In a thread

He'll argue til first light

And when the sun comes up

And the light strikes him

Poor fellow, he'll turn to stone!

 

Christopher H. Holte

Winning doesn't always mean getting elected

I have friends who are Hillary supporters, and other's who are Bernie Supporters. Initially I was a Bernie supporter. I stand behind some of the same ideas as Bernie does. I like him best when he talks about ideas and defeating the Cons.

Bernie say's he's not running for President to lose the election. I admire his determination but winning isn't everything and sometimes winning a personal battle can be a Pyrrhic victory. One can take the field and lose the war for wasting resources. Sometimes one can lose a battle in order to win a war. In this case of this election the war is not a war between Bernie and Hillary. It is a war between neo-liberal "zombie economics" and progressive/ equitable notions of economy. So when he focuses on winning the election to the point of distorting the issues and attacking his allies he loses me. And he has.

But it is also about strategy. Sometimes you don't get your way right away.

Sometimes it takes patience.

The Trouble with Bernie Sanders Part II Hanlon's Razor

Hanlon's Razor

Bernie had the opportunity to bring transformative change to the Democratic Party and he's blowing it. I was going to put all this in one book length post and then I realized it was too unwieldy. The subject is too big, and there is too much to talk about. And one cause of this failure is the paranoia and anger of his so-called movement. And what is driving that movement is Hanlon's Razor.

Hanlon's razor basically states that one should avoid ascribing to malevolence what is more likely caused by stupidity. It's a corollary to Occam's razor and this is so because in observing human affairs complex narratives usually involve elaborate conspiracies or hidden motives. But human stupidity is usually the more likely cause for failure or even conflict. People misunderstand each other.

What Bernie is doing Right

The Trouble with Bernie Sanders, Part One
What Bernie is doing right

I started this season last year as a fervent supporter of much of what is in the Sander's plank. I wanted Bernie Sanders to serve as a "loyal opposition" to our party and take a bit of a prophet's role. I wanted him to push the party to uphold its core values and for Hillary not to do that "compromise" and "I'm the Centrist" thing that our candidates have been forced to do for as long as I've been able to vote. I was hoping that Bernie would be active in electing a progressive democrat caucus to be a majority party in the country and support a transformation of our party from bottom up. We need local as much as national changes and I was hoping that he'd put a fire under democrats around the country.

Father Berrigan

I've been thinking of that Father lately. I guess we are all connected. I must have heard him as he passed by my way. He was calling to us, as he was welcomed into eternity.   When people talk about non violent resistance they are describing paradoxical heroism Not someone standing on a podium looking brave. But someone facing real injustice naked and afraid and offering up themselves as a sacrifice; to a false god of injustice clothed as justice.   The purpose of non violent resistance is to illustrate the fatal flaw in this body of rules that styles itself law to illustrate why unjust laws are unjust by taking on the consequences and pain. To take on the pain and suffering So that others might be spared.   He took on that pain He offered himself up to suffering again and again To Broken bones, and broken lives, To incarceration and arrest To hard time spent in meditation more isolating than a mountain top. Facing hatred, fear and being shunned.   He broke laws to uphold higher moral laws Taking on the consequences of his defiance To Illustrate the awful reality behind the screen. It takes real courage and sacrifice. To do the things he did meant paying the cost. To illustrate injustice clothed in invisible cloth. Require the courage to walk naked into the abyss. To take on a pain, as if being stabbed again and again. To walk in the footprints of and carry a cross.   Father Berrigan was a True Christian. And his memory is a blessing not a loss   Daniel Joseph Berrigan, S.J. (May 9, 1921 – April 30, 2016) Christopher H. Holte 5/1/2016

Sitting on Broken Bones

Here I sit, focusing on my breathing

Sitting on Broken bones,

rotting beneath my feet.

Bones that litter the earth

I fear they cannot bear the weight

Of all these broken dreams; the fear, the hate.

 

Am I lost in the past?

Is the future so gloomy?

Is there room in my heart

for healing and mending?

 

Here I sit, focusing on my breathing

Back straight, broken legs crossed

Is that meditation?

Lost in the present moment,

mindful only that my peace;

is threatened by these broken dreams; consequences, Karma, fate.

 

Is the present really so dire?

Can I rest and be refreshed?

Or is it time to retire,

and join my bones to those in the earth?

 

Here I sit, focusing on my breathing

mindful that my solo actions

Are alone not enough to heal the world!

to knit together the broken bones scattered across the world.

I alone cannot bear the weight

Of all these threatened dreams; the fear, the hate.

And I wonder, have I come too late?

 

I hear the voices of those who have passed.

They clamor and call to me. To us?

"Your dreams are our dreams!

Only you can transform our screams to peace!"

 

But here I sit, focusing on my breathing

Sitting in quiet meditation

knowing that I sit on strong spiritual shoulders

These bones are knitting and they will heal!

The dreams they bear will blossom and the bones anneal and toughen.

Loving dreams are far more powerful than any anger, fear or hate.

These bones will rise! It's never too late!

 

I hear the voices and the bones are rattling.

They rise from the earth and march across the land.

"We have a story to tell!"

"Redeem us! Save us! By doing what you must!"

"Redeem yourselves or we will never heal."

 

Here I sit, focusing on my breathing

Born on the shoulders of our ancestors.

Our families and our predecessors. All our kin!

Our great family whose love can heal the world!

Alone, none of us can bear the weight.

But these bones, together, knit together the world.

 

They say; "The Future is in strong hands!"

"And you are not alone."

Christopher H. Holte, April 27, 2016

"Ezequiel said them dry bones, now hear the word of the Lord!"