Auntie Do, we’re wearing our Ohio State stuff and thinking of you.
P.S. It didn’t work. Boy, it didn’t work.
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Occasionally I break away from reading Game of Thrones and other fiction and I remember how much I actually prefer non-fiction.
I especially like to read non-fiction about topics I once thought I knew something about but, upon reflection, realized I was clueless about:
- the Romans
- the Civil War
- Napoleon Bonaparte
Which brings us to Jerusalem, the subject of a new “biography,” by Simon Sebag Montefiore (Audible).
It’s quite long (25 hours), which is not an impediment as I listen on Audible while driving. And it’s fascinating, though honestly, there are so many reversals and bloody reprisals that it’s hard to keep track. Couple things strike me:
- Jerusalem has been passed about among empires, religious zealots, and greedy local warlords for going on 3 millennia.
- There has been exactly one sharing of power in the city between more than one religious group—in 1264 AD. That’s it. And the German king who entered the agreement was a true wild card who was excommunicated from the Catholic Church on more than one occasion. The precedent for peace is vanishingly slim.
And you wonder why the current antagonists can’t sort out what seems an eminently fixable situation. But it would be bucking a very long tail of history.
I guess, though, if you’re the Israelis and looking at history, you have to be feeling as if time is getting short, no matter how strong your army and how influential your friends. That has rarely mattered very much for very long in this corner of the Mediterranean.
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Virginia and I took part in a 5k run at our church on Saturday. The course was very up-and-down, it was mostly on and around athletic fields—in other words, it was a slow track.And we did great—Virginia especially. She finished 27th among all 150-plus participants, and first in her age group (I will avoid getting in trouble by not mentioning what age group that was), in a touch more than 30 minutes. Great time!
I don’t think we’ll suddenly hit the road racing circuit, but it was fun. And we helped out before the event, with general setup and sorting out the parking.
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… but so little of it is clean. In fact, as Matt Damon points out in this entertaining-about-an-unfun-topic PSA, commissioned for World Water Day, half of the planet’s hospital beds are filled by people sick due to lack of clean water. One other amazing fact: more people have cellphones than toilets. Give it a watch. It’s less than 3 minutes.
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I’ve always loved a good pass.
When I’m watching the NCAA Tournament, the extra pass that leads to an easy bucket has always been more thrilling than the talented shooter who launches from all over the place.
And during the lunchtime Thursday games I play in, my most self-satisfied moments are not when I score, but when I find the open man for an easy one. Because, honestly, it’s not easy.
Finally, the NBA resurgence of the 1970s was spurred by Magic Johnson and Larry Bird. And while they both could score, the thing that lifted their games to a transcendant level was their ability to get the ball to other guys on their team for baskets. Bird was one of the greatest shooters ever, but the play I think of first with him was the steal-and-pass to Dennis Johnson for a game-winning layup against the Detroit Pistons in the NBA playoffs.There’s power in the pass.
And none more so than in this story of one player passing to another, in a high school game earlier this season. The pass was, officially, a turnover. But watching it, it’s something else. It’s what every good pass is:
A connection.
Watch:
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One of the really great things about working at Rodale is that we’re in the business of human thriving, which makes it really hypocritical if the company doesn’t, you know, encourage its employees to thrive.
Point being, we have a “fun in the workplace” Friday coming soon, with food, contests, games and activities planned. (Now we need this crummy weather to clear out before the event.) And folks are already in the spirit. The photo above is a co-worker’s door.
And it’s not just a special event. I left my desk this afternoon to kick off Phase 3 of Speed Shred, the successful DVD program we launched last summer. We did all 12 weeks this fall, switched to the Spartacus DVD product we introduced around the holidays, and returned to Speed Shred in late January. Sure, I ate lunch at my desk to save the off-time for “Shredding,” but honestly, how cool is that! It’s fair to say that my five years at Men’s Health has been hugely beneficial to my health and fitness.
Yesterday, my minister was talking about how our perpetual busy-ness leaves us tired, and how this affects our ability to be our best. Afterward, I told him that my company has 2 nap rooms in the building I work in, and that a high-ranking editor at the magazine uses it, permissioning other folks to do the same. That doesn’t mean that everyone shows up with a blankie and puts their head down after milk-and-cookie time, but it is affirming to know that when you’re tired, you can rest.
This all sounds a little kiss-ass and pollyanna-ish, but a) it’s all true and b) I’m in a good mood. I feel very blessed and grateful to work someplace that walks its talk.
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“Being agnostic about the afterlife, I look for salvation here—not to be saved from life, but to be saved by life, in life, for life.”
-Rev. Forrest Church
I was reminded of this while looking for some old documents, and found my response to attending General Assembly in 2008:
This was my first General Assembly and I had the reaction I imagine for most folks in my situation – a surprised awe that there were 2,000-plus Unitarian Universalists of all stripes gathered in one place – especially a place as hot and humid as Fort Lauderdale. As I’m sure Gabi has shared, GA is a great collage of UU people, interest and thought. If a group of UUs are working on it or thinking it, it surfaces somehow at GA.
For me, the highlights were around several inspirational, insightful speeches.
First. The Rev. Forrest Church is one of our faith’s greatest gifts, a minister at All Souls Church in New York. If you’ve read Our Chosen Faith, as close to a primer on UUism as exists, then you know his good sense and sharp intelligence. Sadly, he is dying of esophogeal cancer and, as he explained, is counting his time remaining in months, not years. This GA was his farewell, and it made for two unbelievably moving public appearances.
In the first, he spoke about fear and especially about our national fear since Sept. 11, 2001. The idea that caught my mind was when he explained that the opposite of love is not hate; it is fear. And it is fear that keeps us from living fully. As an answer to our national leadership since 9-11, he hearkened to Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s first inaugural speech – the “We have nothing to fear but fear itself” speech – and the idea of a president calling us to face our fears rather than exploiting them.
Powerful stuff. But the following day brought an hour’s meditation on his own life and death, much of it lifted from his recent book, Love and Death: My Journey Through the Valley of the Shadow.
The room was packed, and what was amazing was Church’s absolutely un-self-pitying examination of his final days.
Church said that rather than obsess on his illness, he focuses instead on a mantra:
“Do what you can.
Want what you have.
Be who you are.”And he spoke to the idea of salvation, with a decidedly UU twist: “Being agnostic about the afterlife, I look for salvation here—not to be saved from life, but to be saved by life, in life, for life.”
He saw three dimensions of such salvation, each of which lead to a different kind of peace:
Integrity, which brings peace with ourselves;
Reconciliation, bringing peace with others;
and Redemption, which “comes when we make peace with life and death, with Being itself, with God.”Church asked all of us to commence now on this “lifework, not deathwork” because its benefits and challenges are not restricted to the moment of death: “The courage we need comes … when we face our own demons, or reach out across a great divide to touch hands. … You know what your unfinished business is. Don’t wait until it’s too late to begin taking care of it.”
As the hour ended, several people stood to thank Forrest for his impact on their lives – as minister, as mentor, as teacher. There were quite a few sniffles in the room.
Finally, Saturday night’s highlight is the Ware Lecture, given by an outsider to the movement with an eye to what we as UUs should be looking at and toward. Our lecturer was Van Jones. If you’ve never heard the name, consider yourself in good company; none of us had.
Well, we know him now. Van is a community organizer from Oakland, Calif., whose passion is to marry the environment and economic justice – to bring good-paying “green jobs” to the inner city. His 70-minute speech, which he delivered without notes and with great energy and humor, challenged religious liberals to prepare now to govern – and, more importantly, to inspire. As he pointed out, we have become comfortable as the opposition. Now is the time to set the agenda and proclaim it.
As Van said, “Martin Luther King’s speech was not ‘I Have a Complaint,’ or ‘I Have a Critique,’ or ‘I Have a Long List of Issues.’ We need beautiful dreams; the country isn’t looking for a critique but for inspiration to be our best self.”
After he finished, Van took a victory lap, ending in a spasm of hugs and high-fives with the youth delegation (an inspirational story for another time). At that point, UUA president Rev. William Sinkford returned to the mike. “Van, you may have struck a chord here. The 2008 General Assembly has received its charge.”
Indeed we had.
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We had a great time celebrating our 21st anniversary, despite never seeing the sun. Thankfully the rain never got THAT bad.
Big thanks to everyone who made restaurant recommendations—and no, we didn’t eat at every deep dish place suggested. (We would have exploded.)
Bigger thanks to Kevin’s mom, who squired Kelly around this weekend, and the Alexanders, who took him in Friday night.
A quick rundown:
– Friday. Arrived via Southwest and grabbed dinner at a place (Cafe Spiaggio) that was expensive, but apparently is partnered with a place so ridiculously expensive that you are expected to feel at worst mildly violated. Nice meal, though, and Virginia loved her 3-gellato dessert. We walked the mile and a half home in the hint of a drizzle. You know one test of a relationship with some legs? You can walk a mile and a half in the damp of a place you don’t much know, and have a great time with the person you’re with. Done.
– Saturday. Museum of Contemporary Art and Navy Pier. We jumped on the El. Our legs breathed a collective sigh of relief. On Navy Pier, there is a stained glass museum, that apparently has no idea where any of its glass came from. Strange. That night we caught Dee Anderson and a backing trio at Jazz Showcase. That was fun. Walked home. It didn’t rain—much.
– Sunday. Took a trip to Frank Lloyd Wright’s home in Oak Park, a Chicago suburb. The trip was half the fun. The El is undergoing repairs on weekends, and there are some laughably complicated shuttle routes driving longtime riders crazy. The FLW house is amazing. But man, was he a handful! That night grabbed thin crust at Osteria, on State Street. Walked home. In a drizzle.
– Monday.- We were flying at 7:30, so we had the day to spend at Art Institute of Chicago. Awesome day. Unbelievable Picasso exhibit, and artwork by people that even Kevin has heard of. And we checked out the Bean, a huge piece of reflective sculpture in Millennium Park. We walked back to our hotel at 4:30, in the … you guessed it! … and grabbed the Orange Line back to Midway. Flight was bumpy but on time. Home by midnight, Kelly snoring in his bed, and sweet dreams.
In front of Art Institute (with our amateur photog helper, who complained that what $$ I gave him wasn’t enough for dinner at McDonald’s)
Those are water lilies, up close, at Art Institute.
Virginia silhouetted against Chagall’s American Windows
“Argo f— yourself” Virginia reports Argo Tea wasn’t as good as the pretty cup suggested.
Touching myself at the Bean
The happy couple 103 stories up with nothing but an inch of glass holding us up
Chicago, northeast from Willis Tower
The front of Frank Lloyd Wright’s home in Oak Park
Dee Anderson at the Jazz Showcase
At Navy Pier. And they tell us it’s warm here.
Had a fun brunch at Lou Mitchell’s, with some funky companions
Virginia’s favorite dessert, at Cafe Spiaggio on Friday night.
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And this is Virginia on the LONG walk back from our first-night dinner, with the Chicago River in the background.
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Our youngest, now 16, has been getting in his driving time since receiving his driving permit (above, he’s behind the wheel of a $95,000 Mercedes SUV that Kevin brought home last summer. He didn’t drive that, no matter how bad-ass he was feeling). He’s not half-bad, though he’ll have to stop driving on the side of the road and inch toward the middle if he wants to avoid popping tires and hitting mailboxes.In other news, he went to the first tryout of the tennis season and was told by his coach, Jill, that he made the varsity team. Pretty good for a sophomore. He’ll likely be playing third doubles with his friend Ryan Hamilton. Rafa Nadal need not worry—yet.
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I was talking to a friend at church this morning and he said he’s been at a Philly Rock Gym to watch videos from the Banff film festival. I had never heard of it. It’s outdoor video-making and it’s wild. If you love to see how wild, crazy and beautiful our world is, or need to feel like you’re not nearly adventurous enough, watch—and suffer through the blatant sponsor plugs. Stuff like this doesn’t happen without generous patrons. Enjoy!
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Jay Rosen Tweeted this:
And I say, it can’t happen quickly enough. As a business, this impossibly huge inventory crushes value. If you’re a high-value brand (or aspire to be), then you want to be more than your impression inventory, because impressions come exceedingly cheap.
kevdonahue 