Quest Blog
Weeding Out Racism
2013-07-07 I’m a gardener in the upper Midwest, so in July I spend a lot of time pulling up weeds. Just yesterday, along with a lot of other stuff, I probably pulled up a couple of hundred tiny maple trees, growing from the ‘helicopter blades’ that spin to the ground from my neighbor’s maple each…
Read MoreA Prayer for those Whose Hearts are on Fire
2013-07-14 A prayer after the not guilty verdict of George Zimmerman Spirit of love and justice, Tonight I am angry. May my anger burn cleanly, Joining the light of so many hearts on fire. May we know anger as a source of strength, Anger that seeks to purify, Anger that has as its fuel the…
Read MoreAlmost Heaven
2013-07-10 I just got back from a week at a dance and music camp in the California redwoods. The music was outstanding, the dancing ecstatic, the people open-hearted and the trees majestic. It was, in short, almost heaven. (My version of heaven does not include meatloaf prepared by the staff of a YMCA camp, but…
Read MoreO Parenting: You Humble Me
2013-07-13 Our Little Bean is starting to stand, ever-so-momentarily, on her own. Meanwhile, our lives careen on with her a central part of them: family trips and visits with friends, work and projects, housekeeping and grocery shopping. Occasionally I am blessed with the help of a babysitter or nanny. And as I introduce that person…
Read MoreHow Many Summers Left?
2013-07-19 I do not love hot weather. I do not love intense humidity and stepping out into the outside world and feeling myself gasp. And, for better and for worse, I live in Washington D.C., where this is how it is in July and August. On the other hand, my grandmother turned 90 years old…
Read MoreStand Your Ground
2013-07-15 George Zimmerman was acquitted of murdering Trayvon Martin. Apparently he was allowed to “stand his ground” against a young man whom he deemed dangerous by virtue of the fact that the boy was African-American and wearing a hoodie. Trayvon, it seems, was not allowed to stand his ground against the man who was stalking…
Read MoreMy Covenant with All That Is
2013-07-18 I pledge to follow The earth’s gentle curve As I go; I pledge to breathe only air as I am able; I pledge to breathe often; I pledge to eat of the earth; Nothing other shall pass my lips. I pledge to wend along the ways, Trodding earth, never air, Clouds and sun above,…
Read MoreEmbodied Justice, Embodied Speech
2013-07-20 Beloveds, let us have a common vocabulary. In the midst of the conversation on race prompted by the verdict of the Zimmerman trial, allow me to point us toward the 4 I’s of Oppression, spelled out clearly here by YouthBuild USA: – https://youthbuild.org/sites/youthbuild.org/files/Four%20Is.pdf Ideological, Institutional, Interpersonal, and Internalize Oppression. Recognize that racism operates on many levels…
Read MoreKeep the Faith!
2013-07-29 In his story of a man with a sneering wife, Sufi master Rumi begins: A special guest was coming to visit and the man worked 200 days to earn the price for the quality lamb kabob he wished to serve this guest. On the appointed day, the man bought the meat and brought it…
Read MoreAmerica’s God (a lullaby)
2013-07-25 “It was all God’s plan.” George Zimmerman In the United States, God loves white and violent, it seems; loves what’s inhuman, it looks. Look at His plan working as it does. In the US, God loves those laws that fill the jails, that fill the pockets of the rich, it appears. Just look. He–…
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