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Doc Possom



Last Updated: 3/31/2009

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City: Indianapolis
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September 24, 2008 - Wednesday 

Current mood:  awake
Category: Travel and Places
My stepson Pat has a presentation on lithography to give in Fargo. I will listen to him present before going on to Bismark to see my son Aaron. I also hope to see some other folks I haven't met before in Fargo. They are artists and musicians that I am fans of. It has been years since I've seen Aaron, and years since I've taken a vacation. I feel beat up by my past year of work and I hope that the time off will heal me.
Currently reading:
The Americanization of Benjamin Franklin
By Gordon Wood
3:59 PM 
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July 21, 2007 - Saturday 

Current mood:  happy
Category: Music

Had a great time with some good folks at Lazy Daze Coffee House in Irvington IN today.  We played from noon to 2pm.  "Whiskey Mike" Locker was there on gut bucket, and "The Iconoclastic Kid" Caleb Hawkins was there playing the Silver Res and some mando, so the folks got to meet the Wovenhand Band!  This is the band that formed playing campfires at various Rendezvous and such.

Now this band is special because 1) we favor playing with no amplification 2) we wear stylish headgear 3) we've also been known to wear kilts and 4) we are a kind of "Transformer" band.  When ANYONE besides the three of us joins us in a song we become another band...Big Wovenhand.  And when Big Wovenhand plays and EVERYONE joins us in a song we become Great Big Wovenhand!

Today when Sean Hannigan joined us on guitar we became Big Wovenhand!  A special treat!  And then Barbara McNamara got up and helped sing "The Poor Young Fellow Who Left His Country Home", and bless my heart (Please do that for REAL!) she had just finished when  Bill Shaefer of Guitartown came in with Jake Johnson and did a really SWEET mini concert!  Sean Hanningan jumped in with them on guitar, Mike Locker added some gut bucket and I even got out the harps on one tune!  What a great time!

When they finished I managed to get Carolyn Doyle to come up and sing a song that she did a great job on.  Carolyn has been singing in the kitchen but she's got a naturally "big" voice, and she sounded fine on a song she sang from memory that she'd only written LAST WEEK!  As a songwriter I can tell you, that's pretty good!

I was sorry I wasn't able to get my old friends Russ "Catfish" Breeden and Steve Eudaly up.  I love their harmonies.  They had gotten there early thinking we were playing at 10 am!  Bless their hearts!

But Sean Hannigan got Mr. Fujimori (sp?) up to do a few!  He had a really nice touch on the strings...I'm afraid Sean may be in for a bit of a hard time though because I heard him say something about "Somebody who gets me up to play when I don't expect it may NOT be the best boyfriend for my daughter..."

Sorry Sean.  Hope that turns out OK!  And I hope we'll hear Mr. Fujimori play again when he's expecting it!  I really enjoyed hearing him and I think everyone else did too.

Well, that's the deal folks.  2pm came and Doc Possom turned into a pumpkin.  Barbara had been waiting (im)patiently to go home and get started on the last of the Harry Potter books and I had to go to work.  Right after I stopped by to pick up a guitar at Tom's Guitar Repair there at 5632 East Washington.

Tom is in the same space that Bill Shaefer's Guitartown is, which I just discovered, having done business in the past with Tom's dad.  I hadn't been out to see Bill for a while, but I stopped by because I was going to be playing at Lazy Daze, which is just West on Johnson Street.  Of course I stopped by to get Bill to come and play a little, because Bill is a fine picker, but when I found Tom there I had him do a little work on a guitar for me.

If you're going to Lazy Daze, it's just North of Washington St on Johnson St, but Johnson is one way South.  If you go to Ritter and turn left there is a parking lot just past the building on your left.  Park there and go on across to Johnson St. and Lazy Daze is on your right.  It's a nice shop and they made me feel right at home.  They have sidewalk seating and a deck for nice days.

Jeff was nice enough to invite us to come back and if none of us gets hit by any big trucks I expect we'll do so.  Mainly because I had about all the fun I'm capable of without somebody having to call an EMT!

A big thanks to Jeff and Lazy Daze for inviting us to play.  We hope the Benton House did well!

Doc Possom

 

Currently listening:
Possum Trot Orchestra
By Possum Trot Orchestra
Release date: 15 November, 2005
8:25 PM 
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May 28, 2007 - Monday 

Current mood:  contemplative
Category: Life
From Stan Rosenthal's Tao Te Ching:

45. CHANGES
In retrospect, even those accomplishments
which seemed perfect when accomplished,
may seem imperfect and ill formed,
but this does not mean that such accomplishments
have outlived their usefulness.
That which once seemed full,
may later empty seem,
yet still be unexhausted.
That which once seemed straight
may seem twisted when seen once more;
intelligence can seem stupid,
and eloquence seem awkward;
movement may overcome the cold,
and stillness, heat,
but stillness in movement
is the way of the Tao.
_______

From Bible Gateway verse of the day:

"However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if
only I may finish the race and complete the task the
Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the
gospel of God's grace."- Acts 20:24
_______

In a report by David Ellis, CNNMoney.com, May 25 2007,
we read that American men in their 30s are earning
less than their father's generation did.

The report was produced by a group of think tanks
including the Pew Charitable Trusts, the American
Enterprise Institute, the Brookings Institute, the
Heritage Foundation and the Urban Institute.

Noted:

The study looked at income levels of American men in
their 30s, which can be a good indicator of lifetime
income.

The income growth of the median American household is
declining.

After adjusting for inflation, men in their 30s in
2004 had a 12 percent drop in income compared with men
in the same age group in 1974.

Men in their 30s in 1994 earned 5 percent more than
their fathers did.

American families experienced a 32 percent increase in
income levels between 1964 and 1994.

American household income growth slowed to 9 percent
between 1974 and 2004.

The report concludes that productivity gains are not
trickling down to the median family.

While male incomes have declined and household income
growth has slowed, the nation's productivity has
remained robust.

While the two once kept pace with each other, U.S.
productivity has quickly outpaced income growth since
the mid-1970s, according to the report.

The study's authors said their report shows the
canonical belief in an American meritocracy may be
unraveling.

"The expectation that each generation will do better
than their parents...may be shifting under our feet."
_______

It's my understanding that Ronald Reagan thought the
middle class unneccessary. He is revered by the some
and hated by others. I see wealth as a complicated
subject. I guess it's in my nature to see
complications...

Our fathers as a whole may have done quite well as far
as income. However, I'd guess that by many measures I
would consider important, present generations have
more wealth. We have much more access to information,
and generally have more awareness of the physical
world, and consequently more intellectual wealth if we
measure it in many terms I'd consider important.

I say that but in saying it I want to be clear that I
do see money as important. Try paying rent or buying
dinner without it!

I'd guess that a hidden reason for losses in income is
the peaking of oil production, and the increase of
cost of oil. This is accompanied by an increase in
the accounting of environmental costs, as well as
evolving climate change that has cumulative costs that
are coming due. (We are paying for our father's
profits) Then there is globalization.

Some are concerned that globalization costs the United
States good paying jobs. But they may be overlooking
some of the ways we got those jobs, and the positive
benefits possible with the inclusion of more people
world wide in our economy.

It is a time of change. It is an interesting time.
Like the old curse "May you live in interesting
times..."

I wonder what the future will look like? I think that
may be one of the things that will cause me to live as
long as I can - to see what happens next!

Will we find energy in coal for a while? Or will
nuclear be made better? What about the making of
fertilizer? The increase in world population since
WWII has been fed by the use of nitrogen fertilizer,
made possible by a process invented by a Nazi
scientist. What happens when the natural gas we use
to make the fertilizer is depleted? Or rises
dramatically in cost?

What happens when we must choose between fuel and
food? Will we find ways of supporting population with
food, clothing, and shelter? Will we create a world
that destroys the natural diversity of life, reducing
it to a monoculture devoted to human life? A world of
Soylent Green perhaps?

The good news of mortality is the limitation of the
experience of loss that I feel when I see the
destruction of environment, and the wasting of the
treasures of the planet, from the rainforests to fish
in the sea to the topsoil of land.

Sometimes I think that there is a purpose to this
loss, and to death itself, in that if there were no
death humans might rebel against change, and that
there is order to change that has a positive purpose.


But then I think that may not adequately describe even
the small piece of truth that I believe I see.

Perhaps history is fate when viewed in the context of
eternity? Could it be that salvation and hell are
realities that are created during each life and each
generation somehow and always co-exist? What then of
repentance? Perhaps that is the thing which organizes
our errors and so transforms our hell to some kind of
beauty, some heaven?

If time is a subset of eternity, then it exists
somehow as a whole in it's place as subset doesn't it?
If it exists as a subset of a greater whole, I'd think
that it exists as a whole in and of itself, connected
in it's existence...but then I'm using terms that I
probably don't really understand. They have to do
with mathematics.

Barbara loves to do Sudoku puzzles, which consist of
problems of numerical logic. She wonders that I don't
enjoy them, for they use logic. I believe that she is
probably as intellectually macho as she is physically
so! She loves challenge for the sake of challenge, as
a form of testing of the self.

Am I more prone to this than I admit to, considering
that being married to a woman with this sort of
attitude about challenges is in itself a major
challenge? Not only must I try to keep up with her
sufficiently to at least be in metaphorical shouting
distance, I must often deal with my failures to keep
the pace she sets...

In the case of numbers, she excels! She is quite good
with them, while I am not. Partly I'm not good with
numbers because I tend to transpose them. Partly my
lack of facility is due to a habitually bad attitude
concerning them, and a consequent tendency to avoid
them.

Habits. You thought I'd gone on didn't you? If I
did, we have come full circle!

Could it be that my attitude concerning numbers may
have more to do with the circumstances surrounding my
introduction to them and consequent early habits
formed in their regards, than with my innate lack of
ability to identify and manipulate them accurately?

Regardless of how it occurred my habit with numbers is
generally to avoid them. I deviated from this
recently due to a compelling interest. Food.

We get dried pineapple from our food coop, and I got
to wondering how much we paid for a piece of it, and
how that would compare to what we would pay in a
grocery or health food store. I found that by buying
in bulk we pay about $0.09 per dried slice. Now I'm
waiting for the opportunity to price the pineapple at
the store!

This may not be of any particular interest to most
folks, but it was sufficient motivation for me to use
numbers. It has been said that the way to a man's
heart is through his stomach. It might be concluded
that the path to intellectual advancement is the same!
At least for this man...

While this might be partially true, I confess that my
motivation for computing the price of a piece of
pineapple has to do, in addition to the obvious, with
my interest in coffee houses. Coffee houses serve
food and often have cultural fare as well. Yoga,
poetry, music, and all on small and intimate stages
that I find most interesting.

But why dried pineapple you ask? Fair enough. The
answer is that many of these coffee houses serve
sweets that are sugar filled, or other fare that is
unhealthy. For me there should be some discernment in
both the food served and the service to the intellect
and the soul.

I suspect that a coffee house could serve a piece of
pineapple for $0.25 - $0.50 and save counter space,
spoilage loss, and time, while improving their
customer's health. If I were younger I might be
tempted to start a coffee house and design a menu of
food and entertainment with these considerations in
order to see how far this sort of reasoning might take
me towards profitability.

I'm not younger and don't have that much ambition to
take on such a task, but I do spend quite a bit of
time encouraging others in those sorts of directions.

I don't see myself sitting around doing Sudoku though.
If that's the sort of mental exercise that is
required to avoid Old-Timers disease, then I'll just
have to drift off into the sunset instead of ride into
it. Or if I ride I will leave the driving to Barbara!

I am aware that in rejecting arithmetic I have also
neglected mathematics and formal logic. This is a
personal loss that I feel keenly at times. However it
has allowed me to focus on other realms of logic that
are murkier and therefore more challenging in some
ways than those that yield themselves easily to formal
proofs.

I have sought to understand the logic of the heart and
body and soul. Ulimately this may lead us back to
logic per se, but in the interim it allows me to
explore in ways that aren't influenced so much by the
logic of the mind. Note that I have said "...the
logic of the heart and body and soul."

A more formal approach might require me to separate
these and quantify them. Perhaps the time will come
in my understanding that I can do that?

Today I will not. I will accept them as fuzzy
concepts whose understanding I must reach by an
informed intuition, one that calculates in many
directions simultaneously. How is that?

Internal qualities such as thoughts and feelings have
both position in the intellect and weight in emotions.
In addition they require an internal geography which
connects the individual's experience to the cumulative
experience of culture in time and place.

One of the points of my access to these problems is by
way of having limited myself in becoming invested in
the institutions of culture, while continuing to study
it. This has led me to a profound appreciation of the
complexity and worth of cultures and institutions.

I failed to anticipate this, for in the arrogance of
youth I saw cultures and institutions in very negative
terms. I had very logical reasons for this of course.

Part of the change in my path came when as a student
at a university I studied philosophy. During the
course of my studies, I met a professor who was highly
regarded in his grasp of logic. He was revered for
his grasp of logic.

This professor was a cigarette smoker with a bad
heart, and although he knew he was harming his health
he continued to smoke. He died of a heart attack and
what interest I'd been able to muster in formal logic
was interred with him. It seemed to me that his logic
had failed him. I was a cigarette smoker with a
family history of heart problems, and I began looking
around for other directions.

Eventually my educational meanders took me to the
brink of a degree. Rather than get the degree I
wandered off. It seemed to me that there was nothing
that I wanted the degree for, and in the back of my
heart it seemed that having accepted a degree I must
become invested in the institution of education which
would likely predispose me to certain biases in regard
to it.

Having reached some understanding of the path I've
taken to where I am, I must own that I am indebted to
university education for most of my tools of inquiry
as well as a great deal of the subject of my enquiry.


While I don't see education as unalloyed good in
particular instances I see it overall as part of how I
define being human and see that it is indeed very
good. It is one of the great investments that people
have made.

One of the things not included in the calculations of
income in the study on income quoted in the article by
mister Ellis is the lowering of the price of
information, and the increase of access to it, by
those who are capable of making use of it. The ones I
would think of as the intellectual middle class. This
class is defined more by knowledge than money.

Public libraries are wonderful things, and in my mind
represent an evolution in the real wealth of humanity.
The information available to us today through
electronic media has expanded the intellectual wealth
available for us far beyond our ability to invest or
use that wealth effectively.

We may not be earning as much as our fathers, but we
are learning more. Where our fathers struggled to
save in bank accounts and stocks we struggle to
integrate the wealth of information available to us in
ways that enhance life in very concrete ways as well
as other more subtle ways.

Our father's wealth was sometimes poison, and came
from poisoning the world they lived in, and brought us
in to, in the process of gaining wealth. This was not
because they were bad. (At least not as a whole,
thought I have read of a correlation between good
business management skills and a sociopathic
psychological profile.) It was the best they knew how
to do in the seeking of the good of goods.

Might the poisoning of the world at some point in time
be seen as inevitable and as a way to some great good?
I suspect that will happen only if, as in my previous
illustration of sin, we repent and find the beauty
that is possible for us with the remains of the earth
in some way that transforms the sins we've already
committed, while preventing others.

The poisons of our fathers range from the abuse of
alcohol and drugs to abuse of wives, children,
minorities, and employees. Power is something that at
some levels is likely the base of addiction.
Addiction is about being able to control, and that is
the essense of power. And perhaps the greatest health
and wealth is to be found in power. But it would be
the power to seek good, and beauty, and health, and
wholeness.

For such power to be manifested in cultures and
institutions it must be an essential part of daily
life in individuals. It must be passionately pursued
by "ordinary" people. Perhaps by the people that, as
I understand, Mr. Reagan saw as being "nonessential?"
The middle class?

Or perhaps more accurately "a" middle class rather
than "the" middle class? Not the old middle class
that defined itself with cars and boats and relentless
imitation of the wealthy. A new middle class, that
defines itself by it's intellect, it's heart, it's
compassion, and it's soul.

If this is ever to happen there must be a
transformation in those whom we view as models. If
not the wealthy, who shall we imitate? Who shall we
look to as the exemplars of life?

Here I defer to the wisdom of my youth, in that before
leaving school I became convinced that real progress
in the human condition must be led by middle class
women. Like the one I married I suppose!

Or like Helen Robertson. Rather than be immodest and
dwell on Barbara's attributes, which I may be biased
about anyway, let me make a few comments about Helen,
and use her as an example of the model I believe must
save us if we are to be saved. The model of a very
modern saint.

Helen had eleven children who she lovingly cared for.
Helen cared for her family on a budget. Her husband
was a traveling salesman, and she had to make do while
he was on the road. The skills it took to do this
were considerable, and had to be matched with a
determination that came from both love and grit.

Large families in themselves may not be a complete
good, but large families that are well loved and
mothered are amazing in their resilience and energy.
The Robertson family is filled with these qualities
and also with deep spiritual roots. Helen cared, and
gave her whole being to that caring, for her family
and her god.

Helen was a thinker and a Christian. She read, and
thought, and she went to church. She was a model of
what a human being, a wife, and a mother could be.

Helen was constant in her family life and her
spiritual life. She didn't just go to church, she
lived a Christian life. She mentored and nurtured
other women who were not as fortunate in their
situations as she was. And she did all this in a way
that was straightforward and truly humble.

Helen did something else that perhaps she should get
more credit for than she has been allowed to date.
She cared for her man. And this was a tough man. But
she was a tough woman!

I think that when God said "Go forth and multiply" he
put some things in us to insure that his command would
be obeyed. This command, and inner drive, is even
more powerful than the desire for our own survival.
It puts tremendous pressures on us during our youth
and middle years.

Once the columnist Lori Bergman wrote "When we arrive
in heaven the first thing that will be explained to us
are the mysteries of hormones!" I believe that!

Chuck Robertson was quite a man. He was opinionated,
tough, a thinker, very physical (in spite of a bad
leg), and very much a man of the world. He was a
responsible man who went to work under difficult
circumstances and fed his family.

Chuck Robertson was a big man who ultimately found his
world encompassed by a small woman and the life she
delivered and cherished, child by child, bible verse
by bible verse, kindness by kindness. Helen cared for
her man with the passion of a woman, and the nurturing
compassion of a mother that she showed her children,
and the compassionate passion of a Christian as well.

If there is to be a future worth living for humans it
will be created by women such as Helen Robertson, and
the women she mentored and taught. The women she
reached out to were not as educated, and did not have
their lives as ordered and disciplined as Helen. But
these women had the good sense to recognize and follow
a good example.

It will not be the tabloid caricatures of women who
are held up to us in popular culture who make a better
future for human beings.

It is women like Helen, and those who allowed
themselves to be influenced by her, who must say "Yea"
or "Nay" to the fathers of the future. They will
decide not only the physical attributes of children
but the habits, or lack of them, delivered by fathers
present or absent, at the will of these mothers.

Where will these women come from? How will they be
taught and nurtured by families and their society?
And for that matter, where will the young men worth
the precious time of such women come from?

I don't know. I only know that without them the life
of the future will be poor indeed. If today we men
are truly poorer than our fathers, isn't it more from
the absence of women such as these mothers who
challenged our fathers and birthed and raised us?

And if these women have ceased to be, it is not
because the society they created failed to see their
incredible value and reward them accordingly? We get
what we pay for don't we?

I arrive at this point in my meditation with the
confession that I have failed at times in my own life
to support those things which I now see as essential
to any decent future for the children of the future.

I repent of my errors and pray that repentance will
lead in some way to a truth and beauty that is
acceptable to the Creating God that I look to meet in
the fullness of time.

I write with the knowledge of my own limitations of
understanding! Who am I to criticize a process which
that God has set in place? I urge the reader to
remember that this is a meditation! Please share my
thoughts and let them inform your own!

Lord, bless the young people of today as they choose
the world of tomorrow. Bless their educators and help
them see the importance of preparing young people to
be parents, and especially to prepare young women to
choose to be mothers. For those who do not choose to
dedicate themselves to being mothers, guide them to
leave child bearing to those who are willing to do so
with intelligence and passion.

And for all the hurting people who become mothers
without this intelligence and passion, as well as
those who lack those real mothers themselves, bless
Helen Robertson, and those like her who are still
among us, who with their gifts of love and compassion,
bless those lacking in gifts, and so keep the dream of
sacred, civil, and compassionate humanity alive.

Bless our young women with the wisdom to choose men
who are willing to commit to love, honor, cherish, and
work for. Help them insist that commitment be a
prelude to marriage and children. Lord, help there to
be young men worthy of such women.

Love & Prayers,

Brother Dale
Currently reading:
Truth Imagined
By Eric Hoffer
Release date: 12 December, 2005
1:09 PM 
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May 22, 2007 - Tuesday 

Current mood:  contemplative
Category: Life

44. SUFFICIENCY
A contented man knows himself to be
more precious even than fame,
and so, obscure, remains.
He who is more attached to wealth
than to himself,
suffers more heavily from loss.
He who knows when to stop, might lose,
but in safety stays.

Stan Rosenthal's Tao te Ching
_______

"May the God who gives endurance and encouragement
give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you
follow Christ Jesus, so that with one heart and mouth
you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ."- Romans 15:5-6

Bible Gateway "Verse of the Day"
_______

This is my second day back at work. I'm feeling
reasonably well and my coworker has gone to lunch,
leaving me to my own devices for a few minutes.

I must admit that feeling reasonably well and being
left to my own devices is for me a very positive state
of affairs...

My focus today is on creating good habits. My friend
Ed would like this. We have talked of the importance
of habits, good and bad, to the wellbeing of the
person. We are in agreement with Dr. Benjamin
Franklin, who expounded on the value of good habits
and who dedicated a goodly amount of time to improving
his own behavior through the changing of his habits.

Doctor Franklin's degree was honorary, but in my
opinion, he gave as much honor to the degree as the
degree gave to him! Ben Franklin placed good habits
as crucial to a good life, and so I believe they are.
Schools would do well to spend more time on assisting
students with the development of good habits. Good
habits are neccessary if we are to have good citizens.

Good fortune will turn against the person who recieves
it without being unprepared. An instance of this
would be a drinking alcoholic winning the lottery, so
that there was no restraint of time or money to that
unfortunate person's drinking. Recieving little money
for working long and hard hours might be the best
fortune that person might benefit from.

Looking back there have been times in my life when the
achievements I sought would have been disastrous had
my efforts been successful. Perhaps this is true of
you? It is difficult for me to admit the extent to
which I presently have the most desirable of all
circumstances for me if I consider the sum total of my
own desires in the light of my most strongly held
values.

This is a bit of a problem in that this causes inner
conflicts that result in my experiencing stress, and
for the sake of my good health I need to reduce this
sort of stress to a minimum.

In order to resolve these inner conflicts I must
identify and change certain habitual ways that I
percieve the world. Let us look at some specifics!

I need responsibilities to motivate me to get up and
get moving. When I was off work, I sometimes spent my
whole day in pajamas. When I have a job that I must
report to I get up and get showered and dressed. I
keep regular hours and I am a better, healthier person
for it.

Unfortunately the job I have bugs me. Dealing with
people is something I'm reasonably good at, and have
done a lot of, and am reasonably sick of. While this
employment meets my requirements for work that
requires little investment on my part, and little in
the way of notoriety, it is often very boring. And
the people I deal with can be downright irritating.

Sometimes I think of writing a song or a book that
would bring income and recognition, or seeking to use
my ability to survive on stage to perform. But while
these things would allow the use of creativity, they
would interfere with living an ordinary life. And
they would compromise in my own mind the purity that I
aspire to in my creative pursuits.

Could I actually do any of those things to start with?
I like to think that I might. And part of me wants
to test that proposition, just to know whatever truth
might be found in the testing.

But I suspect that I have a personal flaw that is
difficult for me to see, and that this flaw is what
keeps me from resolving many of my life's conflicts.
I am uncomfortable if I have nothing to complain of.

If I don't have anything to complain about I worry. My
habitual expectation is that if I'm feeling good a
dramatic change for the worse is coming at any moment.
There are reasons for my having this habitual
feeling, but the important thing is that the evidence
is that it is not the most productive world view that
is possible.

Optimists live longer and are healthier people.
Believing that they can make changes for the better in
their lives and in the world around them they are
encouraged to attempt positive change and to own and
accept it when it occurs.

It seems to me that if I can change my habits here I
might benefit greatly. And I could accept the benefit
which is an added benefit!

Currently the feeling of being put upon or in pain is
in many ways a comfort. "If I am already obviously
unhappy perhaps no one will attempt to make me more
so" is the reasoning here, and so the feeling of
displaying happiness and satisfaction is viewed as
dangerous, and displaying unhappiness and
dissatisfaction is viewed as a place of safety...

Except that for me to report unhappiness and
dissatisfaction to the world I must either feel those
things or risk being inauthentic.

So it is that if I get to feeling too good I find
something I can reasonably bitch about. I focus on
whatever unhappiness is available to me and this
generates stress.

I think Barbara has a better plan. When she is
unhappy she tends to be deeply and sincerely unhappy,
and addresses the cause of her unhappiness with the
full expectation of creating a more pleasing
situation.

Take the cats. They got in the habit of going out at
night and then coming to the window when they decide
it's time to come in. Having discovered that
scratching at the window screen results in someone
going to the door to let them in, they proceeded to
get really obnoxious.

Thus began the great cat war...well, not so great
really, though it's great fun for me. Barbara got a
spray bottle of water, and when a cat scratches at the
window screen, she sprays them with the water.

I find this inordinately funny. Instructive, but
funny. I wake up and hear "Scratch, scratch, squirt,
squirt," and all is right with the world. I smile and
go back to sleep.

Barbara is gentler with the cats than with me (not
that I'm complaining you understand) but the
principles are the same. Perhaps this accounts for my
growing feeling of kinship with the cats?

Lord, thank you for being able to feel good, and to
laugh, and for all the healing hands that helped me
return to sufficient health to do these simple things
that are so very, very sweet.

Be with all who truly suffer, and comfort all who will
recieve your love. Help the rest of us to be grateful
for the good things we have and to quit our bitching.

Love & Prayers,

Brother Dale

Currently reading:
The Everything Songwriting Book: All You Need to Create and Market Hit Songs (Everything Series)
By C. J. Watson
Release date: September, 2003
12:30 AM 
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May 8, 2007 - Tuesday 

Current mood:  busy

..> ..>..>
Forecastle Festival Poster Party

On May 17th, organizers of The Forecastle Festival will host a party to reveal the fantastic design of the 2007 poster. Admission is free, and everyone will receive a **FREE** 24X36 poster for making the trek.

Forecastle 2007

music.

Friday, July 27th

De La Soul
Chicago Afrobeat Project
How I Became The Bomb
Aloha
Cheer Accident
SKL
The Old Ceremony
Kelley McRae
Parlour
Noizejoi
Wojo
Captain of Industry
The Scourge of the Sea
Lucky Pineapple
John Boy's Courage
Geoff Koch
The Fervor

PLAYBACK:stl Showcase | SonaBLAST! Records Showcase

Saturday, July 28th

Girl Talk
Particle
Mucca Pazza
Wax Fang
The Features
Early Day Miners
The Impossible Shapes
Odawas
The High Water Marks
De Novo Dahl
The October
Ghostfinger
Black Diamond Heavies
The Glasspack
The Pennies
The Hiders
The Harry Pickens Band
Stephen Simmons
Todd Coyle

Secretly Canadian Showcase


art.

Lisa Merida-Paytes
Christopher Daniel
Cynthia Reynolds
Christian Hansen
Mike Ratterman
Patricia Gaines-Mills
David Metcalf
Dennis C. Baker
Jarrett Hawkins
Jerome Kennedy
Jared Landberg
Raymond Graf
Elizabeth Guipe
Scott Hall
Scott Hisey
Matt Weir
Courtnee Bennett
Emily Buddendeck
Chad Cully & Luke Ebner
Thea Lura
Jeff Gaither


activism.

The Appalachian Trail Conservancy
Missouri Forest Alliance
Blue Earth Alliance
Dogwood Alliance
Kentucky Heartwood
Indiana Heartwood
Buckeye Forest Council
Kentucky Resources Council
Kentucky Waterways Alliance
Kentucky Solar Partnership
Kentucky Solar Designs
Community Farm Alliance
Kentuckians For The Commonwealth
Hoosier Environmental Council
Indiana Forest Alliance
Protect Our Woods
Sierra Club Hoosier Chapter
Sierra Club Louisville Chapter
Sierra Club Cincinnati Chapter
Louisville Sustainability Forum
Students Producing Organics Under the Sun
Students Promoting Environmental Awareness and Recycling
Student Environmental Action Coalition
Bicycling for Louisville
Bike Depot
Olmstead Park Conservancy
Cultivating Connections
Save The Cumberland
Artfulcility
Southern Energy Network
Southern Energy Conservation Initiative
Narrow Ridge Earth Literacy Center
Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance
Coalition for the Advancement of Regional Transportation
Urban Sisterhood
Valley Watch
Caldwell Eco-Center
Center for Sustainable Living
Slow Foods Bluegrass
Ohio Citizen Action
Ohio River Foundation
Ohio Valley Creative Energy
KAIRE
Earthsave
Earth First!
Global Village Foundation
Global Community Monitor
Peak Oil Group

Keynote Address: Skip Yowell
(Author, Activist, Co-Founder, VP of Jansport and Big City Mountaineers)

Independent Eco-Film Showcase | Outdoor Extreme Sports Park | Eco-Business Expo
Personal Enpowerment Panels


ADVANCE TICKETS: $10 Fri | $12 Sat | $20 Two-Day Pass | $50 Three-Day VIP Captain's Pass (includes kick-off)
DAY OF SHOW: $15 Fri | $15 Sat

Available at Ticketweb and Ticketmaster.com, along with the following independent record stores:

Ear X-Tacy Records (Louisville, KY)
Indy CD & Vinyl (Indianapolis, IN)
Shake-It Records (Cincinnati, OH)
Grimey's New and Preloved Music (Nashville, TN)

**************************************
THE FORECASTLE FESTIVAL is the largest gathering of musicians, artists, and activists in the American Midwest. Founded in Louisville, KY, the scenic, outdoor event is equally based upon a three-part format: Music.Art.Activism. Combining the hardest working Midwest bands, artists, and progressive environmental organizations ~ Forecastle is the place where the people come together. The 2006 festival brought a record attendance to Louisville's historic Mellwood Art & Entertainment Center. This year's fest ~ with its waterfront setting, expanded line-ups, extreme sports park, and finale performances from dual national acts ~ is expected to surpass 2006 by five thousand attendees, converging in Louisville from the Midwest and beyond. http://www.forecastlefestival.com

Currently reading:
The Everything Songwriting Book: All You Need to Create and Market Hit Songs (Everything Series)
By C. J. Watson
Release date: September, 2003
7:28 AM 
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April 12, 2007 - Thursday 

Current mood:  awake
Category: Life

For those who aren't familiar with Indy, the 70 Bypass is a big pain in the ass.  The 64 Bypass however refers to the heart bypass I'm scheduled for tomorrow!  HM...

I'll be at Clarion Cardiovascular Center and the surgeon is Dr. Yousuf Mahomed.  He told me he's just back from vacation and "Ready to Rock and Roll!"

I was scheduled for Monday but had a call today that they are moving me up.  That's a good thing.  But it means some folks I was gonna call aren't getting called.

More later.  Probably in about five days...

Frank "Doc Possom" Watson

Currently listening:
You Gotta Have Heart: Marlene Sings Richard Adler
By Marlene VerPlanck
Release date: 01 July, 1997
2:55 PM 
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April 5, 2007 - Thursday 

Current mood:  calm
Category: Life

Stan Rosenthal's Tao Te Ching

42. THE TRANSFORMATIONS OF THE TAO
The Tao existed before its name,
and from its name, the opposites evolved,
giving rise to three divisions,
and then to names abundant.
These things embrace receptively,
achieving inner harmony,
and by their unity create
the inner world of man.
No man wishes to be seen
as worthless in another's eyes,
but the wise leader describes himself this way,
for he knows that one may gain by losing,
and lose by gaining,
and that a violent man
will not die a natural death.
_______

Biblegateway.com

"[For the director of music. Of David.] The fool says
in his heart, "There is no God." They are corrupt,
their deeds are vile; there is no one who does good."-
Psalm 14:1
_______

"JESUS CHRIST THE SAME YESTERDAY TODAY AND FOREVER."-
Frank J. Watson, Life After Death, Destination Heaven,
c. 1991.
_______

I had a good visit with my old friend Mike the other
day.  He's staying at a daughter's house here on the
near east side while on vacation from his job.  He's a
cook on a cruise line plying the waters of the
Hawaiian Islands.

We met while I was delivering restaurant equipment
around the country to cooking schools.  Mike was a
teacher at one of the schools, I think Philadelphia
was the first location we met.

This would have been 20 plus years ago.  I was writing
back then, journaling, and if I checked my journal
titled "Trips For Taps" there's a good chance I'd find
Mike in there, or memories of Philadelphia at the
least!  And now Mike is thinking about doing some
writing.  I am encouraging him in this direction for I
have found it helpful to me in many ways.

Writing connects me with friends and family that I
don't see every day.  Sometimes it connects me to
those I see daily in ways that we don't touch on in
our day to day life.

I have enjoyed Mike's emails sent during the course of
his current job.  I've been fascinated by his glimpses
of life on the medium seas...

Hawaii is not exactly "High Seas" from what he's told
me.  The waters are pretty calm.  It's water that
tourists go to in order to relax.  The sun shines, the
trade winds blow to cool folks and keep them quite
comfortable, and the ship's crew sees to their needs.

The life that Mike has described for me on the "other
side" of the ship, the side the tourists don't see, is
hardly relaxed.  Cooks work hard about any place you
go and a cruise ship is no exception.

There are six decks on this particular ship with
multiple kitchens and sometimes cooks go searching
other kitchens for supplies.  Having found the
supplies, they then must get them back to their
kitchen.  A stop at a bathroom which leaves unattended
supplies in the hall can mean starting over when
someone comandeers them!

Mike and I first visited in Indiana when he called one
day as I was leaving the house to go with a friend to
Martinsville, IN to visit her mother in a nursing
home.

I apologized when Mike said he'd like to visit, and
explained what was up.  "Where is the nursing home?"
he asked.

"Martinsville" I said.

"No shit" he replied, "Where in Martinsville?"

When I told him he said "No shit!  I'm looking at it
outside my mother's kitchen window!"

So we visited while my friend visited her mother.  And
we met up again at several cooking schools around the
country, as far away as California.  Those were
interesting times.  I was seeing a lot of the country,
and doing business in Indy between trips.

During our friendship Mike and have always talked of
God and faith.  Before he left for his job with the
cruise line, Barbara and I attended his baptism.  This
was last year, when I was in a great deal of pain with
my back.  I was honored to go for Mike is a friend now
of many years.

Old friends can be like mirrors for the soul.  They
can often see things about us that hold true in our
lives that others might miss.

In this last visit home, I found myself saying to Mike
that I was incredibly busy.  "That sounds like you" he
said.  "You are always busy."

That's not how I view myself.  Somewhere inside, I see
myself as kind of lazy.  I'm not "really busy" with
stuff that makes a difference.  I just happened to
have some meetings and stuff going on this week.  And
last week.  And next week.  But after that, clear
sailing...

I'd have to make some changes to sail on a cruise
line!  There seem to be too many meetings to leave
town for an extended period!  Besides, I need to stay
close to where there are good doctores that are
covered by my health insurance!

I'm busy but I've been slowing down a little lately.
I talked to my cardiologist and he thought it might be
time to do a heart cath and peep around and see what's
going on.  OK!  Fun times!  Been there before, and one
thing I know is that it is a real motivator for me to
take good care of myself.

That I've been successful in taking care of myself is
attested to by it's having been 9 years since my last
angioplasty.  I think I might have stretched it
further if it hadn't been for having to stop
exercising during the back problems.

I find medical challenges are also motivators to get
stuff done!  The "getting stuff done" makes me smile.
Given Mike's observation that I tend to stay busy, I
wonder how much of my business has been because I was
"getting stuff done" because I was concerned that I'd
leave Barb with a bunch of stuff to deal with that I'd
started and not finished?

I recall lying in a hospital room post heart attack
and being determined to recover so that I could
continue helping to pay bills!  Those are not so
pressing now, and for that I'm very grateful!  Not
that there aren't things that need doing...

I recall Barbara telling me about being a young mother
preparing for surgery on her thyroid.  It was
February, and the children's coats were "well used"
and she spent the day before surgery sewing buttons on
and patching because, God forbid, if something didn't
go wrong she didn't want a bunch of kids in shabby
coats standing around her grave and people talking
about how she wasn't a good mother!

No doubt similar concerns move me today!  But some of
my desire to "get-r-done" is of a different nature,
and has to do with the discipleship class that Jim
McCurdy taught at Westminster many years ago.

Jim asked "When you meet the Creator, the one that
gave you life, and hold up in your hands what you've
done with the gift, what will you have to show?"

It's easy to think about stuff like that when someone
has a tube stuck in your heart and is noodling around
with it!  LOL!  And it's easy for me to get motivated
by forced inactivity.  The back problems left me semi
wacky because I hate to be unable to move around.  Not
a good thing!

Recovery from a heart cath involves having to lie
perfectly still while the groin artery heals
sufficiently after the procedure to move without
causing it to open.  It's enough to make you give up
red meat! 

There is a humorous moment of sorts to look forward
to.  When the procedure is being performed, dye is
injected into the heart to help the doctors see what's
happening.  This results in a "hot flash" and when
that happens I always think of Barb!  This has
undoubtedly added to my empathetic response to the hot
flashes she's had for years now!

And being empathetic requires a certain stamina when
it means going from peaceful sleep, to feeling a blast
furnace kick in beside you, to having the covers
ripped off exposing your traumatized buns to frigid
night air!  (Barb likes to sleep in a cold room in the
winter!  She doesn't waste heat, and views warm
sleeping as sissified!)

Speaking of The Duchess (like the Duke only feminine)
we went bike riding on our new bikes last night.  I
was all over the Monon trail, and she dumped once.
But it was a very satisfactory trip.

The bikes are Giant "Suede SS" models and they are
single speeds with aluminum frames.  The pedals are
slightly forward of the posts for easier pedaling and
they have gel seats.  The handlebars are high and come
back a bit which means a learning curve over our
previous bikes.  We love them.

After we finished the bike ride, I had a little steam
left, and got out my push mower (that's right-no
motor) and mowed some grass.  It's a craftsman, and by
setting the reel a little high I mowed with much less
effort than I'd expected.  Last year I was having back
problems and didn't use it much. 

I'd got the push mower for a grandson to use.  I
figured I'd pay him to mow a little and he could get
some exercise.  He was totally freaked and so was his
father (a son in law) and I don't think they ever used
it. 

Personally I got tired of buying mowers because in the
city there's so many rocks you take your life in your
hands when you use a power mower.  And every rock has
the possibility of bending the engine crank.  Spending
$75-150 bucks for a mower that's been ruined because
of a bent crank...hm.  Do you suppose that's where the
expression came from?  "Cranky?"  Could be.  Things
have to start somewhere don't they?

Well, hopefully I'll be around to wear that push mower
out.  But if I'm not, I will feel better about having
bought it, and used it, rather than burning gas and
using oil to cut grass.

Not that I don't burn some hydrocarbons.  I do.  But
I'm looking for every way I can NOT to.  And it's
funny how many times it's healthier in the first place
to not burn them.  I read a recent estimate that
replacing meat in the diet would reduce hydrocarbon
use by %50, as opposed to maybe 1% by having a hybrid
car.  I wonder how much is saveed by biking or walking
a mile instead of driving??

Paying attention to these concerns brings me to my
great desire to lead a life that is NOT sinful.  It's
my understanding that "Sin" is originally an archery
term for missing a mark, or target.  The opposite
would be to hit the target.  Perhaps to "connect" in a
sense?

I hope to finish my life living in ways that connects
in good ways with God and man, and which leave my work
caught up when I get called home!

Mom and Dad did pretty well at that.  Their funerals
were prepaid and the arrangements made.  We didn't
have to worry about the details...we could give them
ALL our attention!!!  LOL!  Especially Mom, though Mom
and Dad both appreciated attention. Don't we all at
one time or another?  The joy of remembering is not
just what but how!  Like Mom rattling pots and pans in
the morning, or Dad dying his hair (and chest hair)
red to distract a niece who had just come home from
the hospital...he knew how to get attention for sure!

I think my greatest concern is that I not be feeling
discombobulated when it's time.  Discombobulated may
not be the exact right term...Dictionary.com says:

3 results for: discombobulated...
 
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source
dis·com·bob·u·late  
Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled
Pronunciation[dis-kuhm-bob-yuh-leyt]...

–verb (used with object), -lat·ed, -lat·ing. to
confuse or disconcert; upset; frustrate: The speaker
was completely discombobulated by the hecklers... 
_______

BroDale: Not quite right...
_______

[Origin: 1825–35, Americanism; fanciful alter. of
discompose or discomfort]

—Related forms
dis·com·bob·u·la·tion, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, ©
Random House, Inc. 2006.
American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source
dis·com·bob·u·late     
(dis'k?m-bob'y?-lât')
Pronunciation Key 
tr.v.   dis·com·bob·u·lat·ed, dis·com·bob·u·lat·ing,
dis·com·bob·u·lates
To throw into a state of confusion. See Synonyms at
confuse.

[Perhaps alteration of discompose.]

dis'com·bob'u·la'tion n.
_______

BroDale: Still not quite right...although the word
"discompose" is close to "decompose" which I DON'T
want to dwell on when having folks noodling around in
my heart makes me feel close to that outside "edge" of
life...
_______

adjective
having self-possession upset; thrown into confusion;
"the hecklers pelted the discombobulated speaker with
anything that came to hand"; "looked at each other
dumbly, quite disconcerted"- G.B.Shaw 

WordNet® 2.1, © 2005 Princeton University
_______

BroDale: I think this last comes closest.  "Having
one's self possession upset" references something that
has "upset" one's self...and while we talk of the
"self" freely, and without giving it much weight, the
"self" is that deep inner part of us that our
identity, and our very "ground of being" is found in.
In looking backwards I believe that having this "self"
upset is very upsetting indeed!

In my experience what is involved may have to do with
that phenomenon known as "existential anxiety" to
scholars and perhaps referred to by non scholars by
the word "discombobulated" and which involves not just
an "upset" but a feeling at least of disconnection.

My friend Ed introduced me to a book a couple years
back called "the Pentagon's New Map" and while I never
read the book I did read enough to understand some of
what it talks about.

In the global community a North Korea would be an
example of a "disconnect" in that they are cut off
from the rest of the world.  In the book "disconnect"
equals "danger" and I can see that.  There is no
reciprocity, no collegiality, no caring about the rest
of the world.

I think this happens to entities of various sizes.
For instance a ghetto or a slum will be disconnected.
Until it's isolation creates something strong enough
to escape.  Perhaps that could be a disease or a
criminal gang or something that is culturally new?

How and where disconnect takes place would be a good
thing to study, as well as how to reconnect.  There
was a book titled The Reconnection" that was more on
the psychic level which Eli had me read which
suggested that healing is a matter of reconnecting.

All I know is that sometimes my relations with
someone, or with the world, will take a nose dive.
I'll be left feeling like I'm lost, and will never
find my way home.  It is a feeling of not being
"synchronized" or being "out of sync" or "out of tune"
and where I can't find the tune.

Being disconnected leaves us vulnerable.  The
philosopher Eric Hoffer said "Strong communities are
our best defense against tyranny" (approx) and when we
are disconnected from friends, family, jobs, we feel
our vulnerability.

My feelings of connectedness also run to the past and
the future.  I am concerned that justice be done for
those who have been wronged, and that we look to
create the best possible conditions for children of
the future.

So it is that I stay busy.  Keeping in touch with
friends, working for a better neighborhood, learning
about the past, and living a life that leaves as small
a footprint as possible in use of resources that will
be needed in the future.  And being a part time
security guard, which is more work than you'd think...

My questions for myself include "How can I do the
things I do in such a way that I spend more time doing
stuff like riding a bike, playing music, or working in
the yard instead of sitting in front of a computer?"

For losing touch with one's own physical life is also
a source of discombobulation.  For me it accelerated
seriously in kindergarton.  Sitting still did not come
easy.  I have become something of an expert at it.
It's required in my line of work...  Now if I can just
remember how to move!

For that I have a good role model...Barbara!  She
finds her time to read and watch tv, but she gets a
lot of moving packed into every day.  She walks or
bikes to work, gardens, does laundry, and in general
is an inspiration!

Lord, I seem to need a lot of connecting, and you've
given me friends and family who take the time to read
my thoughts and share my concerns.  This is a great
blessing!  Thank you Lord (and thank you friends and
family!) for connectedness.  Now as we go on with our
lives, let us do so knowing that when we are connected
to you we are connected to each other and that our
connection is eternal, and that disconnection is an
illusion that will pass.  Amen.

Love & Prayers,

Brother Dale

PS Our first "disconnect" would be the umbilical cord
wouldn't it?  And our first "connect" would ideally be
with our mother in being held and fed.  A reconnect
really...

PPS Well, it's time to head for the hospital.  Freshly
shaved, toenails trimmed, trash taken out a day early,
and just enough time left to pick something to read.
I'm hoping that might help make the recovery time go
faster.  Oh, and grab some earplugs.  If they put me
in a room with a TV watcher I want to be prepared!

Bless you for hanging with me!  I'll get back to you
asap, and I will undoubtedly be writing about further
lifestyle changes!  Changes aimed at getting more of
my life back!  And cats.  Because they are a constant
source of amusement, and amusement helps make the work
part possible! 

Speaking of which, did I tell you about Ottis?  They
call him "Moose" and he's a big old man with a big old
belly.  Wears a booney hat a lot.  He's a retired
factory worker who lives in my neighborhood and he
goes around finding code and zoning violations and
harrassing the city about them.  He interrupts folks
terribly, and you can't have a conversation with him
that goes in a straight line, and he is what he is,
but other than being big and Moose-like he's really a
decent fellow.  Anyhow, Moose has been trying to teach
his cat to walk on a lease.  More on that later...(;c)


BroDale
_______

Hi, I'm home now and will write more soon.  Just wanted to follow up the meditation by letting folks know that I made it through the day.

I do have some things to be attended to.  Barbara and I will talk to a surgeon, Dr. Muhammed, on Monday.  In a week or two I expect I'll be having a double bypass.

The prognosis is good.  My heart is in pretty good shape to respond to a bypass, and I believe that having the heart cath done in a timely manner was the best thing I could have done.  The choice was whether to do an angioplasty and stent or to do the bypass.  I'm told that the results should leave me feeling better, and be more long lasting than a stent.

Thank you for your positive thoughts and prayers.  I'm tired and still have drugs in me so that's all for now.

Brother Dale

Currently listening:
Not a Complicated Guy
By Greg Klyma
Release date: 04 March, 2003
1:04 PM 
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March 27, 2007 - Tuesday 

Current mood:  working
Category: Life

Stan Rosenthal's Tao Te Ching

41. SAMENESS AND DIFFERENCE
On hearing of the Tao,
the wise student's practice is with diligence;
the average student attends to his practice
when his memory reminds him so to do;
and the foolish student laughs.
But we do well to remember
that with no sudden laughter,
there would be no natural way.
Thus it is said,
"There are times when even brightness seems dim;
when progress seems like regression;
when the easy seems most difficult,
and virtue seems empty, inadequate and frail;
times when purity seems sullied;
when even reality seems unreal,
and when a square seems to have corners;
when even great talent is of no avail,
and the highest note cannot be heard;
when the formed seems formless,
and when the way of nature is out of sight".
Even in such times as these,
the natural way still nourishes,
that all things may be fulfilled.
_______

Biblegateway. com

"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and
will forgive us our sins and purify us from all
unrighteousness." - 1 John 1:9
_______

"JESUS CHRIST THE SAME YESTERDAY TODAY AND FOREVER."-
Frank J. Watson, Life After Death, Destination Heaven,
c. 1991.
_______

My old friend Scotty was into the dictionary, and his
father was into the encyclopedia. Scotty believed his
father's residence at Central State Mental Hospital
was a result of information overload: "The
encyclopedia was just too much for him" Scotty said on
his return from visiting his father.

Scotty, you may recall, was into the dictionary. The
Webster's unabridged I believe, although it might have
been whatever was available. My memory can only be
trusted so far, and I've slept considerably since
then.

There is quite a bit of information in a dictionary.
And perhaps that information did have something to do
with Scotty's condition? To attempt to understand
language, any language, involves understanding
language in general. And it's one thing to have a
general kind of understanding of something and quite
another to be able to have it available for conscious
use.

I knew a construction worker who weighed in on that
subject very succinctly. "Thinking" he opined "makes
my head hurt." And I figure it did. Thinking has
made my head hurt a time or two and may do so again.

I wonder if there might be some sort of "Renaissance
sickness" that consists of trying to know all that can
be known?

That would have been my father's illness when he was
young. His faith in knowledge was the innocent faith
of a child in the magical. All things could be cured,
fixed, contained, encompassed, and controlled if one
simply had the correct information.

Later in life he tired of trying to know all things,
and concentrated on the Bible. He read it cover to
cover in search of certainty, and a kind of closure on
his life.

What he found astounded him. He discoverd Jesus, who
didn't require his knowledge. He didn't have to find
perfection, but rather had to accept that he was loved
and saved. He was thrilled. He was released from the
"Law" of knowledge into a grace that was far gentler
with him than the Grace he was married to!

And that is the thing about Jesus. He brings the
Bible, and it's sprawling, often violent history, to a
statement of love. "God loves you. I love you.
Repent. Sin no more. Love your neighbor as yourself.
Go in peace."

Marshall McLuhan said "The medium is the message." I
first read this back in the 1970's and it took a while
for me to see it related to Jesus and theology.

Jesus taught us that God loves us. He gave us an
example of that love in his life and death, loving
even tax collectors and giving his life for our lives.
So for history, and for me, he becomes what he
taught. He is a message to me that God loves me, and
loves us all. Jesus is God's love in human form. The
medium is the message. "Love incarnate."

It is spring! The cold weather just about put me into
hibernation this year. I could feel the arthritis
singing to me through the joints of my fingers. At
times the pain was enough to keep me awake at night.
I didn't want to do much either, and went about
feeling sluggish and stiff.

Now the sun is warming the world, and at the Possom
Ranch that means that Barbara is outside, taking
inventory of every green leaf, bud, bug, bird, and
critter. Which she then must point out to me. (She
saw a nice snake yesterday!) It's like taking a walk
with a child, and even if I'm tired or preoccupied I'm
pleased when she points out the small wonders of our
yard to me.

This is information that is specific and focused. It
is information that I can use. Especially when I'm
running a weedeater or a mower...then it becomes
information that I had BETTER use!

There are some places where Barbara has decided that
things shouldn't grow, and here again she has an
exuberant, child-like quality as she indulges her
inner pyro. She has a long torch that attaches to a
bottle of propane so that she can burn weeds without
having to use poison. And so that she can play with
fire of course.

Here is where I think of how she and her son Michael
are so much alike. Mike has been a reenactor,
especially WWII. He loves firecrackers, rockets, and
guns, and has about him a capacity for amazement in
the world that comes freely to us when we are children
in fact, and later to the child in our hearts.

It seems to me that childhood requires safety to
exist. For the flowering of the inner person in the
life of the child, the child must have some safe time
and space, to play and explore and to gain mastery of
talents in relation to the world.

I wonder how our capacity to be children, and to keep
in touch with childhood, has been affected by Jesus?

For me, I recieved an early assurance of acceptance
that has stood me in good stead when I found myself
not being accepted. My sureness that I was part of
the kingdom, equal to all my brothers and sisters, has
taken the sting from any elitist assumptions from
those who might imagine themselves above me. It has
allowed me to look the world in the eye.

Perhaps some of our ideas of democracy and equality
have come, over time, from that message of love and
equality in the eyes of God that we find in the life
of Christ?

Lord, there is resurrection in the light today, and
the warmth of the light, and the moving, growing green
of the plants coming up from the earth. There is
promise of life for tomorrow. It is spring. Thank
you, thank you, thank you. Amen.

Love & Prayers,

Brother Dale

PS JL and I "The Flying Possom Brothers"
played for a benefit for a deceased bass player's
children. It is a good cause, and JL and I spent
a little time having fun. Barbara is not the only one
who can be childlike! Music is a wonder to me, and
while I don't learn quickly I'm astounded when a
little of it makes sense to me! And very pleased and
grateful! And when someone smiles and applauds...wow!  dp

Currently reading:
The Tao Te Ching: A New Translation With Commentary
By Ellen M. Chen
Release date: July, 1989
4:38 PM 
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March 24, 2007 - Saturday 

Current mood:  thankful
Category: Music
The Benefit For Mark Willeys Kids at Birdy's Sunday!!!
Possom's at 7-7:30 PM

The Benefit For Mark Willey's Kids

"The Benefit For Mark Willey's Kids" is gonna be on
March 25th from 7:00 p.m. until midnight. Doc & JL
Possom "The Flying Possom Brothers" will play 7:00 --
7:30. The other acts, in order of appearance are:
Brian Bishop, Little Oscar, Sean & Kent, Joe & Lani,
Rock Soup Acoustic, and Niswander. The cover is gonna
be $6, with all the monies going to Mark's kids.

Everyone's playing a ½ hour set to fit all the acts
in. Hopefully all our fans will come early stay late
so we can help make this a happening! (;c)

The last time I was at Birdy's was the benefit for
Craig Laflin. It was a wonderful night. Craig was
able to play, and his daughter got up and sang. Eli
Beth and Purple Sue gave (excellent) massages and
donated the proceeds to help Craig, and some of the
finest musicians in Indy were there. Some playing,
and some just hanging out.

Once again we'll be there in support of a working
musician. Mark Wiley was a bass player who Little
Oscar was on the road with in the 1970's. Mark died
of cancer, he had no life insurance, and his kids were
left to pay for the funeral. This is a way for the
music loving community to say thanks for a life given
to music. The benefit will help his kids pay bills.
It will also put a little love in their hearts knowing
that people cared.

A big "Thank you" to Birdy's for providing the venue
for this event. It warms my heart to see a venue
extend itself on behalf of the musicians who give us
so much in life. Think what this life would be
without music!

For more information concerning this benefit contact:

Little Oscar
littleoscar@ insightbb. com
317-289-7290
_______

The appearance of Doc Possom and "The Flying Possom
Brothers" (Doc & JL) makes up in rarity what it lacks
in taste and talent! About all I play is benefits,
and so I only get called when someone is desperate.
That means not many people will show up to hear me
because 1) they never heard of me before or 2) they've
heard of me but I wasn't very well good...

Still, if you get a chance to stop by and help out the
family of a musician, it would be greatly appreciated.
I hear folks talking about how "the market place"
works to everyone's advantage. That may be true in
the long term, but in the short term, some folks do a
lot better than others. Musicians work really hard,
and usually don't make much money. A little help and
a little love for the family of a musician will be
greatly appreciated.

And you can say you got to hear "The Flying Possom
Brothers"!!!

Doc Possom

http://www.indyfolk news.org
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Currently listening:
Love Actually
By Various Artists
Release date: 11 November, 2003
4:21 PM 
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March 14, 2007 - Wednesday 

Current mood:  impressed

Let us remember Susan B. Anthony,Indira Ghandi,Gloria Steinem,Maria Montessori,Abigail Adams, Harriet Tubman, Eleanor Roosevelt, Martha Washington, Abigail Adams, Jane Addams, Amelia Earheart, and Harriet Beecher to name a few...

Visit www.seejane.org as an act of celebration and committment.


Visit www.seejane.org as an act of celebration and committment.
Currently listening:
Not Ready to Make Nice
By Dixie Chicks
Release date: 08 June, 2006
3:33 PM 
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