Final Solution to the Palestinian Problem?

The Palestinian problem has been an enormous thorn in the relations between Israel and the greater world. This has prevented a capable Western styled government from bringing the full fruits of its democracy to the Middle East. With the constant niggling and debate of rights, it is time for Israel to assert its full historic right to the full and final occupation of Greater Israel from the Mediterranean to the Jordan River to Lebanon and south to Sinai. We can stop the illusion and fantasy of a Palestinian state in the West Bank. Historically, this land was Israel, with stretches of time occupied by every power in the region. Though we had left the area for two thousand years, does it matter whether it was two days or two thousand years? Of course not. It is now time to fully reclaim this land and come to a final solution to the Palestinian problem. The moral clarity of my argument and this solution will shatter any sentimental notions. How absurd the notion of Palestinians with any rights to their “ancestral homeland.”
Though one can object to some “final solutions” previously, there were merits to it. Ironically, Germany’s final solution, allowed for the creation of the state of Israel, and Adolph Hitler may have inadvertently done more for Jews than Herzog. Though it is easy to condemn Hitler, there was a grain of clarity to his final solution, and Netanyahu has copied Hitler’s unflinching moral clarity. Israel needs to stop depending on the United States for $3 billion dollars annually and to stop spending 45% of its GNP on military. This money can really bring back the Garden of Eden in the greater Levant. Before the creation of the state of Israel, the area was farms, fishing enterprises, and some minor industries, a backwards society that lived for generations tending the land. It was only when Israel took over the archaic farms and made them into modern agribusiness, created arms industries, one of the world’s largest armies, and yes, a very capable nuclear weapons system. It is time to rip off the veil of this illusion. Israel is the most powerful army in the Middle East and the sooner we take this necessary and, albeit politically awkward public relations problem of the Palestinians, the sooner we can get on with fulfilling the prophecies.
Gaza can be a beautiful beachfront resort once we relocate Hamas to Somalia or Sudan. We have worked diligently to get the world to see that this so-called National Liberation Movement is in truth a terrorist organization and that all of our actions to wipe out this scourge are a blessing for Israel and all peace loving democracies. Not all Gazans need to leave; there are many positions available in the service industry where we will need labor, but maintaining absolute fealty to the fatherland -- Israel. The genius of Israelis and labor of loyal Palestinians is a perfect answer to a previously backwards hot bed of terrorism.
All Palestinians who choose not to become citizens of Israel (of course not full citizens, since full citizenship requires conversion to Judaism, but a limited citizenship in the way that Black Jews and other Palestinians have been incorporated into our society) would be shown the bridge to Jordan. In the way that the US uses illegal aliens, we too need people to work our farms, wait on tables, and do the necessary manual labor. Of course, with the talented tenth, the extraordinary Palestinians who accept the notion of an Uber Israeli Jewish state we can accommodate them and integrate them into our society. After all, most Muslims in the region were Jews forcibly converted to that Mohammed or the Christian ideology. Those who chose not to participate in this great democracy will be removed to Jordan, which is already sixty percent Palestinian. This would also provide a great opportunity for the people who claim displacement in Lebanon to reunite with their families. Our vision of a pure homeland that allows for democracy and security to flourish in the context of a Jewish state is a logical conclusion: Wouldn’t you agree?
Though the removal will initially be traumatic the final solution in greater Israel will allow for unprecedented opportunities for Palestinians in Jordan or other countries in the Middle East. Unless there is the preposterous notion of Palestinians having their own fully functioning independent state in the West Bank and Gaza, which can peacefully, co-exist with Israel? Two state solution of Palestine and Israel, or choice of an Uber Israeli Jewish state? The choice is clear.

13 dead soldiers in Fort Hood -- Does it Matter?

Does it matter one more life is lost?

4,500 dead soldiers in Iraq
and Afghanistan?
Maimed?
Is it the price of Freedom?

Several hundred thousand
dead civilians.
Wounded?
Is it the price of liberation?

18,000 Americans dead because
of the lack of health care?
Is it the cost of democracy?

2 million homeless in American.
Is it the price of capitalism?

30 million without health insurance.
Is it the price of a global empire?

16,000 die every day due to
hunger?
Every 5 second another child dies?

Does it matter?

2009 Letter

Zoe and T -Creating Loving rEvolutions.

Holidays 2009

Dear friends;
2009 stared joyously for us knowing that a Democrat Obama was in the White House and therefore our 3 week trip to Australia would be pure fun and not relocation and job hunting. And “us kids’ did have fun exploring the spectacular natural and city wonders of the island continent. T made his Australian premiere in Sydney. Our good friends Vinay, Rachel, Maya and Ella deliciously hosted us in Melbourne which we used as a base to explore Victoria Coast (spectacular views as you can see from the postcard). Nature and wildlife was Z’s personal highlights. This included kayaking over 30ft surf to bond with the seals off the coast of Apollo Bay. T was singing “Yo soy marinero?” the whole way. We ventured to the northeast corner to oldest rainforest on earth dating back to original 1 continent 415 m years ago Pangaea. We luxuriated in a cabin at www.daintree-ecolodge.com.au (best ever spa experience, small, homey) the cabins have screened in front porches with hot tubs that let you camp “simply” in the rainforest. We moved on to simpler accommodations at http://www.capetribbeach.com.au/ located at the end of the dirt road in the Daintree at Cape Tribulation where the rainforest meets the great barrier reef.



We made lots of friends especially the night critters at X’s walk. Read T’s amazing description on X’s website.http://vermontpoet.blogspot.com/2009/02/night-walking-in-cooper-creek-in.html T also got to see the Cassowary one of Australia’s biggest birds at 75 inches tall and 120 pounds. Just walking across the road



Though despite the drought, the incredible cities, nature and people of Australia we did decide to come back home and cheer on the Obama administration and experience the biggest economic recession in US history in person. After all our beloved Tegan (featured on our postcard) would miss us. Maybe some of you would too though you would likely come visit. But maybe you will visit us in Vermont at our home on Blue Heron pond (pic here of Blue of pond). We continue to think there is no better place on earth than our pond and its surrounding 75 year old hardwood and pine forest. We recently found out we have an elm tree one of the few to have survived the blight. And our Heron or is it the son or daughter of our original Heron keeps visiting us and now even lets Zoe swim in the pond while s/he remains there.

Z continues to focus on improving life for the 455 million men and women around the globe with OAB. This year she helped launch a new product for the condition Toviaz which comes with a behavioral change program offered as part of the treatment www.toviaz.com/yourway . We both have worked most of our lives in health care with a focus on trying to increase individuals’ self-responsibility for wholistic care as a focus so it is great to see these types of programs happening. Remember you are own best doctor- take care of yourself! Because who knows if health care reform will ever really happen. Amazing how every developed country, except the US, considers healthcare to be a basic right. If only Roosevelt had lived longer Americans too would have universal access to health care (link to FDR’s 2nd Bill of Rights).

Us gypsies also traveled this summer to Italy and Greece with nephew Conner and good friend Dean to explore ancient wonders, modern gelato and to search unsuccessfully for fresh Greek dolmades (unbelievably and disappointingly to Conner dolmades are not even on the menu). (NEED PHOTO OF FAB 4 HERE) Obviously we will have to return to Greece and continue the search. Maybe the islands next time? Too many exciting things happened in 2 weeks to go into here but do visit T’s blogspot XXXX for details. How can one be anything but delighted when sitting in Trevi fountain, splashing about in Piazza Navona, eating gelato in front of the Pantheon, walking the streets of Pompeii and Herculaneum, holding your breath (in wonder and fear) for an hour while traveling from Sorrento to Positano, swimming illegally in the blue grotto, watching the full moon over Delphi, climbing on My Olympus and Mt Parnassus (looking for Centaurs) swimming in the Mediterranean….ah yes. Our last day of the trip was magical we got to visit the newly opened amazing Acropolis museum where the glass floor lets you see the excavation below you and the windows have great views of the acropolis. We then had lunch at the canal cut through the isthmus of Corinth followed by a refreshing swim on the way to the ancient Epidaurus theatre to see Lady Helen Mirren in Racine’s Phedre. http://vermontpoet.blogspot.com/2009/08/mid-summers-night-dream-with-phedra-at.html#comments
The autumn has been long and spectacular in the northeast (enjoying global warming while we can) we were able to enjoy the colors on visits to Boston to see friends while T partners with a Director there who is putting on a stage version of his children’s story Binga Bonga. Z dances through her time there learning to be a www.nianow.com instructor. This fall T celebrated his birthday with a weekend long house party with new and old friends (some of who came all the way from the Congo) to sing in his new year.


We continue to support work in international health and community development. Z is on the board of directors of Behrhorst Partners for Development which helps rural communities in the Mayan Highlands with clean drinking water, safe water for crops and latrines. You can see celebrations at our most recent project by going to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZWmV81IcvM For only $80 you can help a villager get this package of services. Each villager will donate in-kind labor valued at approximately $40 to match your gift and improve the life and health of their village. If you donate at www.behrhorst.com a holiday gift card will be sent to your giftee.

Both of us remain on the Board of GRACE Cares a non-profit we started to help local heroes. Go to www.gracecaresvt.com to make a donation to education projects in India, food projects in the Dominican Republic or reforestation in Morocco. If you wish to give in honor of a friend this holiday season a gift card will be sent to them in your name.


2009 & 2010 FUN PLANNING

If you would like to mix fun with volunteer work the very experienced tour guide Ms. Z will be leading a tour to Guatemala.


May 28 (arrive for dinner) through June 2nd (departures) we will see the beautiful colonial sights of Antigua, market in Chichicastenango, Lake Atilan (Z’s plans on some kayaking), visits to villages in the Mayan Highlands where we will help with a project. You can do optional add on of visits to Tikal or fishing or sailing on the Rio Dulce. For more info go to http://www.behrhorst.org/tours and see a recent tour itinerary. Approximate cost is $900 excluding airfare. Please email me at: koppzoe@yahoo.com if I get 10 people to sign up I will start planning.

PARTY!!!
This year we will be having our 20th (Z’s 32nd ) annual tree trimming party on December 13th 2009 3:00pm. So come on up for the party or night.

February 14th at 3:00pm the 33rd annual Chocolate Lover’s Party will once again provide legal intoxication with some of the world’s finest chocolates.

As always wishing you joy and peace in the new year!


Namaya Shows Music/ Performance and Creative Space:

T had shows at the Jazz Mind in Honolulu, I enjoyed performing. Then on to Sydney at El Rocco cafe - Harry and Deb backed me -- good show there. Then down to Melbourne with wonderful hosting at Cafe Voltaire. Great environment for the arts in Australia. Though it is hot. The last day were there it was 45 C. Yes, 45C. Over 115 F!

T had shows at Magnet Theater, at 5 C Cultural Center in NYC, shows in Vermont, performances in Hartford, and making terrific connections with his new creative music colleague/friend Chris Bakriges. Also, he did a new short play this year called "Kulandia" about Ku Z monaughts that travel through space on the power of an orgiastic collective moan and arrive at the planet Earth devastated by nuclear waste. My friend Naomi Bennett directed this and it should be on the internet soon.

The new play "Four Prophets" where it is part installation project with Jesus, Mohammed, Moses on 3 toilets as Satan comes wheeling in on a pimp mobile rickshaw pulled by the head of Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns, and Citibank. They then have a conversation who is to blame for the insanity of mankind?

Vietnam: Past and Present
I was down in Sydney Harbor with a a Vietnamese Man mid 50's, and as we shook hands I felt an amazing sweep of history. I as a young sailor at the end of Vietnam War and where was he? Vietnam was a defining period in my life and many in my generation. Friends and acquaintances we knew killed and maimed in the war. During my service in the Navy I met several Quakers and came to readily see the merits of pacifism. As I said at a recent Quaker Meeting, I have been a Quaker in training for the past 35 years, but even for a Friend I am quite cantankerous.

Now in Sydney Harbor, this Vietnamese man and I casually chatting... all this hatred and killing by both sides. Vietnam suffered upwards to 2 million dead, the US 60,000, plus all the wounded. Yet, we were here on holiday in Australia. Could we have imagined this 35 years ago?


$680 Billion dollars and counting:
My thoughts, then and now turn to the subject of war. I find now at 55 with the INSANE MILITARY POLICY of the US, $680 billion dollars by Congress, plus perhaps another several hundred billion dollars, I feel a profound shame and loss. How can this nation with so much greatness and potential continue to squander it on the military? How can we rob all of the future generations of America? I find it beyond belief that anyone in my generation that went through the Vietnam era can not be outraged by this on-going madness.

Then in Australia I am looking through this same lens... here is a country that spends a relatively tiny amount of money on the military and it has the money for education, housing, and health.

The book "War is a Hoax" by Smedley Butler Major General in the Marines and two time medal of honor winner spoke eloquently that the only people who war benefits is the rich capitalists.



Palestine -We will be in Jordan, then over to Israel and Palestine from 26 December on. The situation on the ground in Palestine has been getting worse. Israel continues to build housing and settlements on Palestinian land. Taking land away from Palestinians and building on it. I went to a conference in September and the group was called "End the Occupation." We continue to support this and other groups that are looking to a two state solution where there can be a viable future for the people of Palestine and Israel.

Other travels: This summer with nephew Conner and our friend Dean we traveled to Italy and Greece for two weeks. Entries on the travel section on ORACLE OF DELPHI. There is a long section in the Travel blogs about this and seeing the English national Theater performing Phaedra at Epidorous. Loved traveling with Conner, we think he will be a traveling sort.

Books:
Infidel and Cage Virgin Aaayan Hirsi Ali.

Music
Chris Bakriges: With this wonderful jazz compositions based on a Meditation of Matisse.
Donna Creighton: Singer song writer from Canada. Love her work

Poets:
Marc Zegan in Cambridge

Namaya at 55: I am getting ready for the next part of my life. In the past year, I've been decluttering my life, physically, emotionally, financially, creatively, and spiritually. That is a tall order. But in essence it is looking at what has worked for me and what hasn't. What is demanding the most attention, what projects matter the most to me, and where do I need to focus on.

Though I really enjoy Homeopathy, I have been putting this aside for now to concentrate on the creative projects and writing. I will return to homeopathy in 2010 but in a different way with our program to educate people about health entitled "Apple Seed Health."

GRACE CARES supports small scale community development projects around the world. We have one project in India that teaches health care and English and based on that the project holders are slowly moving to a broader community health project.

Please check out some of my new art projects at www.vermontpoet.com/gallery and in the music and book section, as well as the section on Landmines. One project I’ve been designing is a Peace/ Meditation Garden using old military weapons and building fountains and art projects. It combines alternative energy, community development, and design.

Hope everyone is off to a safe and healthy new year.

Love

Zoe and T and Tegan who sends "meows"

The Blissful Moment of Creativity:

It is somewhat surprising that I haven't posted since the beginning of August 08 and this is one of the most creative and productive periods of my life for art/creativity as I'm making a significant transformation that has been a long time in coming.
Personally, it has been a delightful, and transformative experience. My sense of who I am is altered. Who am I? Poet? Artist? Installation Artist? Playwright? I’ve set aside all other business activities for the near term to focus on this process of emergence. The creative flood is unsettling, nevertheless, I am in the “river” of this flow and learning to relax, enjoy the ride, and sail with the current. The shores look appealing with their certainty, but as I am letting go of my expectations, the voyage is taking my in places I never knew existed.
For the past few months, I've been drawing and designing on average of a few hours a day, some days more than 4 hours. In terms of the fine artistry skills, Michelangelo should rest comfortably in his grave that he doesn't have to rise up and challenge me. I'm more than a bit mystified as to this direction of these large installation/ multimedia projects. For years, I've often been fascinated by modern installation art, and have often been more dismissive than admiring of it ie., a stack of Fluorescent light bulbs as one of the prize finalists for the Venice biennale; a chunk of oak on the floor of the MOMA; an iron bed with a strand of barbed wire hanging from the wall of the Barcelona Modern; the Madonna painted with Elephant shit, etc. and the list of specious projects goes on. Perhaps my plebian roots are showing?
However, in the midst of a plethora of art projects that are complete bullshit, I take my own foolish plunge into that world. I am very inspired, emboldened by so many artists, who are willing to put their fools cap on and dance a merry jig.
The core of my strength is when I can fuse my vision as a poet/ artist and social change activist. I was very inspired by Shepard Fairey’s show in Boston and how this artist very successfully blended his social political vision and his art.

The greatest gift to give yourself is the gift of time. The permission to create, to sit quietly, play guitar, take off in the middle of the day to play tennis, to lie back in a pile of leaves and watch autumn unfold, or a myriad of idle pleasures. Creativity happens in these unstructured moments, I’ve wasted too much of my life being busy and trying to make money. Now with 55 approaching in a few weeks, I am totally at peace by Blue Heron Pond, and cherish the time to write and create.

Also in the past few months, I’ve had the pleasure with working and exchanging ideas with the terrific jazz pianist Chris Bakriges. Chris and I are performing in NYC and planning on some tentative long-range projects. Also, Naomi Bennett, the director worked with me on a local 24-hour play festival that was a lot of fun. It was adventures on the planet Ku-Landia where "Kus monaughts" travel through the Universe powered by a collective orgiastic moan. It is a wee bit faster than Domino’s Delivery and twice as delicious. Naomi is also working on creating “On the Island of Binga Bonga” as a children’s play.
In preparing and thinking about the project “4 Prophets” I’ve been devouring books on Islam and Modernity, the Koran, the Bible, and pushing myself on this question: What is more pernicious: The religion? The Holy Books? Humanity?

New Projects in the works:

30 October 2009 8 PM: 5 C Café in NYC on Avenue C by Tompkins Square Park with Chris Bakriges, Ken Foliano, and myself. We will record the event and the following day spend time recording in Brooklyn. The show is Jaz Mu Experience.

On the Island of Binga Bonga: I’ve had the delight of working with Naomi Bennett on the children’s book that I have on line at www.vermontpoet.com. and she is translating that into a children’s play with her students in Boston.

Spring 2009: Jaz Mu Experience: ir Reveren’ jAz: Naomi is directing and designing a troupe of about 6 actors/ dancers to perform 5 new multimedia pieces: Schizophrenetica/ Jhesus Vivaldi; Love in a Minor Key of Ku; Colors of Imagination: Jazz is a Conversation.

Haiti: In the initial steps of working with a group called RE-THINK HAITI a community development project there

In my new creative projects I found some creative mojo:

Four Prophets: I’ve detailed this before of Mohammed (mo mo), Moses (Moishe), and Jesus (J-Man) and Satan as a blues singer meet in a public restroom to discuss the arc of faith, religion, spiritually, and the fate of Man.

Be All that You Can Be: The project of some 450 – plus marching through the streets of Washington to represent the some 4,800 US lives lost in the insanity known as Iraq Afghanistan: The 5th Crusade.

Land Mine: A 15 by 15 meter barbed wire area in a public space with sand. In it are buried de-activated landmines. The landmine area is barbed wired with pictures of children maimed and killed by landmines.

Rape the Bitch: Sexual Slavery in the 21st Century

Installation/ Multimedia/ Performance Project
There are according to some estimates a million to ten million women, girls, and boys trafficked annually for sex and slavery. Bought and sold like cattle for sex.
The project is the creation of a brothel in a public space/ museum. It will be roughly 25 meters by 25 meters depending on the space. It has the lairs and labyrinth
of a brothel, where you have live models of young men and women lying on small beds in tiny cubicles. Some are chained to the bed and others not. There are also clients in the room with the young men and women. The smells of cheap perfume, sex, unwashed bodies will permeate the rooms.
Clients, viewers are invited to walk through the rooms. Observe the prostitutes and customers. Some of the women will invite the customers back to the room and draw them into the lair.
Outside Structure: the structure looks like a stage set but at the entrance it looks like one of the main thoroughfares for the red light district of Bangkok. On the outside wall of the brothel called Rape the Bitch are posters promoting sexual tourism around the world, pictures of girls and boys in the sexual slavery business, customers coming into brothels.
Other Aspect:
Video Stream of all the pornographic websites on two large screens.

ALTERNATIVES:
Alternatives like Amsterdam were the sex trade is regulated.
Workers owned brothels and cooperatives.

Dinner Party at the World Economic Forum:
Installation and Performance Project:
This is a table setting for fifty place settings of the 50 largest corporations. On the table are beautiful servings of the world’s most precious resources: water, air, oil, natural gas, gold, medicine, education/ books, etc. The candelabras are made from machine guns. The chairs are oil barrels, toxic waste barrels, chemicals etc that fuel the first world economy. Dinner is served by men and women wearing rags, and they are white gloved (of course). The plates are gold and silver.
Surrounding the dinner table is a heavy velvet rope and barbed wire. Armed security, Blackwater, is posted every few meters. You can only come in if you are on the list of the VVVIP, are ultra wealthy white, one of the 1/10 of 1% who rule the world, or you’re a servant.
Music is baroque – Mozart – a bit of night music.

Some 15 meters away or more depending on the space is the 3rd World Village.

3rd World Village
You are invited to join the people for rice and beans and a glass of water from an open well. Music is a reggae steel drum. People are gathered at tables talking and playing. People on the outside are weaving, making pottery, tending babies, forging tools.

Project
It is designed as a teaching and learning project. The project will be created by students with a focus on international Human Rights/ International Development guided by the artist. As students are assembling the project they are learning of the inequities between First and Third World Countries. They are also learning about the positive elements of Third World cultures – community, affiliation, strong sense of family, less resource dependent, and more efficiently use materials. For example, the United States has about 5% of the world’s population but uses about 25% of the resources.

A Mid-summer’s Night Dream with Phedra at Epidorous

It was a mid-summer’s night dream with the full moon overhead as we saw the ancient play Phedra at Epidorous in Greece on the 10th of July 2009 with Helene Mirrin and the National Theater of England performing. Epidorous a 5th century BC amphitheater has hosted plays and performances for the past 2,500 years and this night was one of the most glorious places to be on the planet.

We had traveled through northern Greece visiting the sites of Mount Olympus, Delphi, the Corinth Canal, and the dozens of places that are hallmarks of the ancient Greek civilization. Earlier in the day we were at the Parthenon, the Acropolis and the new National Archaeology Museum specifically designed to host the returned Parthenon friezes that have been ensconced in the British Museum. The English Ambassador, Lord Elgin, in the early 1800’s absconded with the beautiful marbles and friezes from the Parthenon for “safe keeping,” and the Greek government has been trying to reclaim them since. There was a bit of irony the English were coming back here to offer their version of Euripides’s classic Hippolytus written in 429 BC; perhaps, the National Theater’s production is an overture in the return of this Greek National treasure.

Phedra, originally entitled Hippolytus by Euripides is a classic Greek tragedy. Racine, the French playwright created his version of the play with the name of Phaedra. This current incarnation of Phaedra adapted into English by the poet Ted Hughes is a tale that embodies the Greek tragedy, the human foibles of Racine, and with a modern staging by the National Theater of England makes for superb theater

In the play, Hippolytus, the son of King Theseus and stepson of Phaedra, in Theseus’ absence Phaedra falls in love with Hippolytus, but he rejects her as he is in love with Aricia. Phedra accuses Hippolytus of seducing her. Upon learning this, Theseus banishes his son and asks the god Poseidon to punish him. A colossal bull rises from the sea and frightens Hippolytus’ horses, which drag him to his death. Phaedra in remorse poisons herself.

The ancient amphitheater with its perfect acoustics enables the actors to perform without amplification to a theater that holds 17,000 people. This is one of the enchantments of the production, bare-bone theatre without a sound system, a minimum of lighting, five chairs placed in the fore of the stage and one simple table with a bowl of water as the only fixed props. The actors wore an odd amalgam of clothes, as if each actor had gone to a Thrift store and purchased their own costume. The soldiers and advisers dressed like fascist black-shirts, the nurse maid attired like an old crone, Phaedra in a contemporary simple purple gown, Aricia in a white short toga, Theseus in shirt and trousers, and despite the lack of overt coherency – it came off splendidly. The costumes were simple suggestions and didn’t overwhelm the performance or distract the audience.

The power of the play was the language -- glorious, rich, and well spoken. This is the soul of the National Theater where actors genuinely love the word and without artifice bring it to life. In a screen above the backstage, the English translated to Modern Greek.

Helen Mirrin gave a beautifully crafted performance -- emotions brought to life with a gesture or a rise in the voice, a mood evoked with a turn of the head, as she seamlessly worked with the other actors. Dominic Cooper, an accomplished actor played Hippolytus though sometimes not fully embodying the essence of Hippolotous’s profound contradictions. Theseus, played by the imposing Stanley Townsend, was superb, the voice and clarity of character filled the stage: He was every inch the king, the father, and Zeus. The sum of the performance by this stellar cast, with outstanding direction by Nicholas Hynter and set design by Bob Crowley, created a memorable theater experience measured by the hush and the awe of the crowd. At the end when Aricia, her white robes covered in blood, dragged the bloody corpse of Hippolytus on stage the audience was on the edge of their seats, lust and the tragic consequence of betrayal was there for us to see.

The applause was a slow rising tide that built to a crescendo, with three curtain calls, and a standing ovation as the audience was stunned realizing they had seen one of the finest theater performances of their life. The moon overhead, the Goddess Selene, twin sister of Apollo, illuminated the amphitheater of Epidorous. On leaving I heard at least a dozen languages spoken, excitedly talking about the play, slowly walking through the dark to the waiting cars. Perhaps like in the ancient days – during the times of festivals, wars were suspended. In a golden age yet to come, when the imagination is inspired and the magic of theater touches our soul, perhaps that enchantment will lead to an age of lasting peace.

I want a Wise Latina on the Court

I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn’t lived that life,” said Judge Sotomayor,

I want a Wise Latina on the Court

Justice is not blind, but it does see through a set of lens in the USA. If you are poor, disadvantaged, poor black or poor Latino, a shanty-town white Appalachian your experience with the law will be very different than if you are a rich white person and in the rare case a wealth black football player. The evidence is in the prisons overwhelmingly filled with Black, Latino, and poor whites. Occasionally, a wealth white guy will serve hard time… at one of those golf club prisons, but except in cases of extreme stupidity or greed, white rich guys get a free pass. As a white working class man I want a justice system that represents the diversity of Americans. Nevertheless, I don’t believe ethnicity or class gives you the sole advantage of perspective, but in the case of Judge Sotomayor, who through dint of integrity, intelligence, and hard work brought herself up from the hardscrabble childhood of the Bronx. This vantage point of a highly qualified wise Latina jurist is sorely needed on our Supreme court.
White wealthy Republican senators on the judicial committee are apoplectic that the subject of race is mentioned. From their ill informed perspective -- justice is blind, everyone is treated equally under the law, and though we wish that were true, the reality is to the contrary. White people, myself included, do not like being confronted on their racism, collectively or personally, and when the subject comes up we want to say, “But my best friends are…” or retreat into clichés of fictitious fraternity. Despite an African American president, the US is still a racist/ classist society, both by history and present reality. Though there’s been great strides, we are a society defined by this racism, and to not recognize it – is myopic at best, at worst it perpetuates the racism.
Though the selection of Justice Sotomayor will not instantly mitigate the racism or bias, the unique perspective of a jurist with the depth of her experience, knowledge, and the wisdom of a well qualified Latina jurist will well serve the Supreme court.

Farewell to Blue Heron Pond

Though on the surface I'm going away for only a two week period to Italy and Greece, there is a part of me that feels like I will never return. The poignancy of love, even new love where the departure is painful, and leaving BHP in the middle of summer is a mixed blessing. I have reached the point in life where I don't want to travel anywhere else, I don't want to voyage further, the only place I want to be is here at the pond. Though I will always wander in my soul and imagination, my spirit ever restless, it is by being rooted here that I find my greater clarity and purpose. I don't need to be the vagabond, wandering minstrel, I am satisfied with my voice and spirit as one part of the conversation of life on the pond. There are far more eloquent singers and poets here, the dozens of birds by the pond, with their chorale of life and birth. Conversations across the airwaves -- "Good morning, lovely day here at the pond." "Good eats down by the rock." "My hormones are ready today, let's mate" "Here my sexy song!" The voices of all of god's glorious creatures by the waters. Each song is enchantment and the crow's boisterous bellowing interruptions are quiet today, blue jay's screech gone, and the sweetness of the early morning birds are glorious. Even though I was awakened by them at about 5 this morning. I can still appreciate them.

Talking with Joe these past few days about life in Hati and the tremendous loss of nature and life, the depredation, and poverty. Yet, I am here by these waters, enjoying and savoring paradise.

I write to hold this prayer of Blue Heron Pond. To hold the songs in my spirits, to cherish each moment of this paradise. I send this blessing out across the airways, a private reverie and blessing from the birds and creatures by this pond. Is their song -- savor this paradise? Enjoy this corner of heaven?

Wherever you are today, in whatever part of the globe, find your small corner of paradise. A flower growing in a city sidewalk crack, let it be your garden, let the dreaming roots speak to your soul and the flowers inspire your imagination. Hug a tree, no matter how slender or modest, and feel its presence. Smell the air and find the sweetness of breath. Appreciate and savor for even an instant the miracle of life.

At Blue Heron Pond, this insistent quiet presence of the miracle of life is spoken in each tree, blade of grass, flower, bird song, and held in the wind - here in this sacred crucible.

I will miss this corner of heaven,as I travel, but as always to these that are dearest to our being, we keep them close in our soul. I cherish Blue Heron Pond this morning.