BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//The Open Road: a learning community - ECPv6.15.3//NONSGML v1.0//EN CALSCALE:GREGORIAN METHOD:PUBLISH X-ORIGINAL-URL:https://openroadpdx.com X-WR-CALDESC:Events for The Open Road: a learning community REFRESH-INTERVAL;VALUE=DURATION:PT1H X-Robots-Tag:noindex X-PUBLISHED-TTL:PT1H BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:America/Los_Angeles BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:-0800 TZOFFSETTO:-0700 TZNAME:PDT DTSTART:20250309T100000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:-0700 TZOFFSETTO:-0800 TZNAME:PST DTSTART:20251102T090000 END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:-0800 TZOFFSETTO:-0700 TZNAME:PDT DTSTART:20260308T100000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:-0700 TZOFFSETTO:-0800 TZNAME:PST DTSTART:20261101T090000 END:STANDARD END:VTIMEZONE BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20251115T140000 DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20251115T160000 DTSTAMP:20260425T033910 CREATED:20251025T222816Z LAST-MODIFIED:20251025T222948Z UID:5898-1763215200-1763222400@openroadpdx.com SUMMARY:JOURNEYS: Stories of Immigrants & Refugees DESCRIPTION:  \nJOURNEYS \n  \nstories of immigrants & refugees  \nwith Johnny Stallings & friends \n  \nSaturday\, November 15th\, 2 pm \nArtspace Room at Taborspace\, 5441 SE Belmont  \n  \nthis Open Road event is free \n  \n  URL:https://openroadpdx.com/event/journeys-stories-of-immigrants-refugees/ ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://openroadpdx.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Chaplin_-_Immigrant.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251204 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20251208 DTSTAMP:20260425T033910 CREATED:20251203T191245Z LAST-MODIFIED:20251203T191534Z UID:5948-1764806400-1765151999@openroadpdx.com SUMMARY:King Lear DESCRIPTION:  \nOur friend Allen Mills is producing this show. \n  \nCatch it if you can!   \n  \nClick here to reserve tickets: \n  \n https://www.facebook.com/share/p/19NeFfGPne/ \n  \npeace & love   \n  \nJohnny URL:https://openroadpdx.com/event/king-lear/ ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://openroadpdx.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/unnamed.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251204 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260101 DTSTAMP:20260425T033910 CREATED:20251211T024742Z LAST-MODIFIED:20251211T025624Z UID:5963-1764806400-1767225599@openroadpdx.com SUMMARY:peace\, love\, happiness & understanding 12/4/25 DESCRIPTION:  \nTHE OPEN ROAD \npeace\, love\, happiness & understanding \n  \nDecember 4\, 2025 \n  \nKim Stafford shared this poem by David Budbill: \n  \nSometimes \n  \nSometimes when day after day we have cloudless blue skies\,\nwarm temperatures\, colorful trees and brilliant sun\, when\nit seems like all this will go on forever\, \n  \nwhen I harvest vegetables from the garden all day\,\nthen drink tea and doze in the late afternoon sun\,\nand in the evening one night make pickled beets\nand green tomato chutney\, the next red tomato chutney\,\nand the day after that pick the fruits of my arbor\nand make grape jam\, \n  \nwhen we walk in the woods every evening over fallen leaves\,\nthrough yellow light\, when nights are cool\, and days warm\, \n  \nwhen I am so happy I am afraid I might explode or disappear\nor somehow be taken away from all this\, \n  \nat those times when I feel so happy\, so good\, so alive\, so in love\nwith the world\, with my own sensuous\, beautiful life\, suddenly \n  \nI think about all the suffering and pain in the world\, the agony\nand dying. I think about all those people being tortured\, right now\,\nin my name. But I still feel happy and good\, alive and in love with\nthe world and with my lucky\, guilty\, sensuous\, beautiful life because\, \n  \nI know in the next minute or tomorrow all this may be\ntaken from me\, and therefore I’ve got to say\, right now\,\nwhat I feel and know and see\, I’ve got to say\, right now\,\nhow beautiful and sweet this world can be. \n  \n—David Budbill \n* \n  \nFrom “The Marginalian\,” an online journal: \n  \nHere we are\, living these lives bright and perishable as a poppy\, hard and shimmering as obsidian. We know that they are entirely improbable\, that we bless that bright improbability with each flash of gratitude for it all\, that if we pay attention closely and generously enough we are always repaid in gladness\, that it is the handle of the door to the world. And yet over and over we choose to live in the cage of complaint\, too preoccupied with how the will of life betrayed our wishes\, the wanting monster always growling in the other corner of the cage. \n  \nImagine parting the bars and stepping out. Imagine waking up with a rush of gladness at everything we were never promised but got anyway — trees and music\, clouds and consciousness\, the cobalt eye of the scallop\, the golden fan of the gingko\, the alabaster chandelier of the ghost pipe. \n  \nIn our age of competitive prostration\, this is a headstand hard to hold for long. But it is trainable. It is possible to become strong enough to be tender\, it is. \n  \n—Maria Popova\, editor of “The Marginalian\,” November 23\, 2025 \n* \n  \nI’ve been keeping a journal more-or-less daily for 55 years. Sometimes it’s fun to revisit things I’ve written. This is from last Spring: \n  \nfriday\, april 25th\, 2025 \n  \nthe conventional way of looking at perfect moments is that they happen once in a while \nthey’re brief \nand then they’re gone \nand we’re back to boring everyday humdrum life \nbut it’s possible to experience perfect moments as having nothing to do with time \nthey don’t have a beginning or end \nyou could say they last a lifetime—or that they are a lifetime \nthe beauty of humans overwhelms me!!!!!!! \nit’s getting ridiculous! \ni don’t know what to do with it\, or how to communicate it \n  \nsaturday\, april 26th\, 2025 \n  \nyesterday\, i watched “the accountant 2” at the laurelhurst theater\, from 4 to 6 \nit was a beautiful sunny spring day \nafter two hours in a dark theater\, under the spell of a movie\, when you come out and it’s still daytime\, the sunshine seems brighter and everything more vivid and somehow more real \nyou’ve been immersed in an imaginary reality—under its spell—and now you’re in the actual world \nas i walked by the crema coffee house and the moon shot tavern\, lots of people were outside at picnic tables \nit’s friday\, they’ve just gotten off work\, the sun is shining and they’re in a good mood \na little girl of about 4 or 5 is running down the sidewalk toward me \nshe’s laughing as she runs \nshe’s the happiest person on earth \nher happiness goes right into me \npassing a food cart area\, there are lots more people at picnic tables \nand the sound they are making together is a joyous one \nand i have a feeling which is also a thought that people are so beautiful! \nand then the thought that moments don’t have boundaries \nalthough we are accustomed to thinking that they do \nand thinking that they are short \nand that perfect moments are infrequent\, and then quickly gone \nbut they’re not gone \njohn keats said \na thing of beauty is a joy for ever \nmaybe a reason that this quote became famous is because it expresses a deeper truth than mr. gradgrind’s facts: \n  \nChapter 1 \nThe One Thing Needful \n‘Now\, what I want is\, Facts. Teach these boys and girls nothing but Facts. Facts alone are wanted in life. Plant nothing else\, and root out everything else. You can only form the minds of reasoning animals upon Facts: nothing else will ever be of any service to them. This is the principle on which I bring up my own children\, and this is the principle on which I bring up these children. Stick to Facts\, Sir!’ \n  \n—Gradgrind\, the schoolmaster\, from the opening of Hard Times by Charles Dickens \n  \nthe way I was seeing and feeling and being when the little girl was laughing and running toward me and people nearby were in a glorious mood—that way of seeing and feeling and being is truer for me than the feeling i have when i’m reading the new york times \nin those boundaryless moments i’m alive! \n  \nthich nhat hanh says you can spend your whole life in a kind of exile from the present moment and miss your life entirely \nif you died and went to the pearly gates\, they’d look in the book and see that you haven’t lived yet—and send you back for another try \n  \nscientific and rational ways of knowing are not bad \nand they leave things out\, like imagination\, love\, beauty and meaning \n  \nto see a world in a grain of sand \nand a heaven in a wild flower \n  \na thing of beauty is a joy for ever \n  \n(maybe those romantic poets gave me a blessing) \n(maybe they changed the way i see and feel and experience the world) \n  \nif the sight of a tulip or a hummingbird goes into you deeply enough\, it does something to you \nit changes you \n  \nmy primary felt experience is that i am living in Paradise \n  \n—Johnny Stallings \n* \n  \nEarth Born Creatures \n  \nThe gravel parking lot smells \nlike oil\, the trash strewn woods \nback up the roadhouse to the creek. \n  \nA boxy banana-colored car \nrusts there\, sags a bit in \nchangeable late afternoon light. \n  \nThe long-waisted girl in torn jeans \npauses over her broom. Fantasy \nburns through her\, leaves a tired ache \n  \nfor pretty things\, clean lines\, shine. \nShe looks at her hands \nHer fingers not quite straight \n  \ncaught that way in the womb \nthey remind her that she is subject \nto time and accidents of fate. \n  \nA scrawny tabby steps out of shadow\, \nprimly wraps his tail round his feet. \nThey stare at each other. The girl blinks \n  \nthinks of comfort and laughs. \nThe cat imagines cornering mice. \nAn owl awakens hungry back in the trees. \n  \n—Elizabeth Domike \n* \n  \nHere are a couple of excerpts from two of Rocky’s many letters: \n  \nNovember 11\, 2025 \n4 a.m. \nDear Johnny & Nancy \n  \nWe all got the day off in here due to the holidays. We have a lot of holidays this month. Soon the year will be over\, too. I’ve been looking back a little in time & knowing 17 years is quite a long time\, it seems like it was…only a few days ago that I came into D.O.C. custody! I think it’s because time\, in our minds\, moves differently. In our minds we can slow it down\, or\, speed it up. We could freeze it as well\, if we wanted to. \n  \nIt’s a sad reality to think that I’ve spent ⅓ of the life I’ve been given this time around as a prisoner. I know that I deserved to serve this time. Without my life in here I would not be who I am now. That would not be good\, because I would never have met the people in my life that I love & who help make me who I am. I would never have gotten to become the man I am today. That thought just gave me chills. Those seeds of wild emotions—Empathy\, Joy\, Kindness\, Love\, Wonder\, Humility—that were scattered upon my heart\, mind & soul\, like someone scattering handfuls of wildflower seeds on a hillside is what grows inside of me. You two had a hand in scattering those seeds. I believe we each\, in our own ways\, help each other’s hearts to grow & heal in all sorts of ways….. \n  \nNovember 12\, 2025 \n4:27 a.m. \nWe had a conversation on the phone yesterday afternoon. It was nice to talk about many different things. We had talked a few days before about that! It’s easy to talk about release from prison under the circumstances. \n  \nOne of the things that stuck out to me was the peace that I get from waking up early in here. It truly is the only quiet time of the day. What I’ve been thinking about is that Kim Stafford does that & his dad did too. The fact to me that really rang a bell was how he came by doing it. He started doing it in a prison camp! \n  \nPrison is not a place where most can find or have a second of peace\, most are overwhelmed by frustrations\, sadness\, hopelessness and misery. All those emotions & vibes come off of them & touch and trigger emotions in others\, even reaching the staff sometimes.  I found that if I start my day as early as I can & meditate in my writing\, do my letters to home & do my school work\, my days are most of the time started on the Golden Path. Everyone is still sleeping and none of the negativity is in the air. I love starting my days off before the world comes to life…. \n  \nAlways planting good seeds in the World\, \nRocky \n—Rocky Hutchinson URL:https://openroadpdx.com/event/peace-love-happiness-understanding-12-4-25/ ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://openroadpdx.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/0-9.jpeg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20251214T140000 DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20251214T160000 DTSTAMP:20260425T033910 CREATED:20251208T043559Z LAST-MODIFIED:20251211T023340Z UID:5955-1765720800-1765728000@openroadpdx.com SUMMARY:The Second American Renaissance DESCRIPTION:  \nTHE SECOND AMERICAN RENAISSANCE \n(1955-2025) \n  \nan entertainment by Johnny Stallings  \nSunday\, December 14th\, 2 pm \nLibrary at Taborspace\, 5441 SE Belmont  \n  \nthis Open Road event is free URL:https://openroadpdx.com/event/the-second-american-renaissance/ ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/webp:https://openroadpdx.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/IMG_8281-scaled-1.webp END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260101 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260205 DTSTAMP:20260425T033910 CREATED:20260101T204209Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260101T205613Z UID:5994-1767225600-1770249599@openroadpdx.com SUMMARY:peace\, love\, happiness & understanding 1/1/26 DESCRIPTION:photo by Abe Green \n  \nTHE OPEN ROAD \npeace\, love\, happiness & understanding \n  \nJanuary 1\, 2026 \n  \nthe Dalai Lama has a busy day today \nhe has to remind everybody \nto be kind to each other \n  \nF. O. Matthiessen coined the phrase “American Renaissance” in his 1941 book with that title. He was referring to the period between 1850 and 1855\, which saw the publication of Ralph Waldo Emerson’s Representative Men\, Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter\, Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick\, Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin\, Henry David Thoreau’s Walden and Walt Whitman’s Song of Myself. \n  \nI’ve been thinking about the period between 1955 and the present as a “Second American Renaissance.” By an amazing coincidence this period coincides nicely with my own life. I was born in 1951. I’m using the term “renaissance” loosely to mean an exciting time of transformation and new ideas. \n  \nThough Mathiessen’s American Renaissance was short-lived\, like the Italian Renaissance\, it sowed seeds that continued to sprout everywhere. The Italian Renaissance lasted approximately 200 years\, from 1400 to 1600. This Second American Renaissance\, now about 70 years old\, is still going strong. \n  \nWhen I think of the Italian Renaissance\, the first people who come to mind are artists: Michelangelo\, Da Vinci\, Raphael\, Botticelli. But there was more to it than painting. There were the Borgias and Medicis\, Machiavelli\, Petrarch\, Galileo and Columbus. In the same way\, the Second American Renaissance contains all kinds of big ideas and important changes. \n  \nHere are some of the Big Things that have happened: \n  \nCivil Rights Movement\, Environmental Movement\, Peace Movement\, Women’s Liberation\, Gay Liberation\, Humanistic Psychology and the Human Potential Movement\, Eastern Influences: Meditation\, Mindfulness\, Yoga & Zen\, Rock & Roll\, Trip to the Moon\, Whole Earth Catalog\, (return to) Organic Agriculture\, vegan & vegetarian diets\, advances in medical technology\, computers\, cell phones—and a Knowledge Explosion. \n  \nAnd something I’m going to call the “evolution of consciousness.” I am going to put forward the crazy idea that there is even an evolution of love and of peace and of happiness and of wisdom. Sounds New-Agey\, doesn’t it? And the reason is simple: this is a New Age. There was a certain feeling that many of us had between 1968 and 1972 that a Big Change was underway. We were right. \n  \nDuring a “renaissance\,” not everything is groovy. Michelangelo and Da Vinci were rare birds. Not everyone who was living in what we now call “Italy” between 1400 and 1600 were actively remaking the world. The popes and political leaders were horrible people! There was lots of senseless warfare going on—not to mention plagues! So it wasn’t a particularly happy time. But\, as in Periclean Athens\, things were happening in the human imagination that changed the potential of what it means to be a human being. \n  \nThat’s what I mean by the phrase “evolution of consciousness.” In one way\, consciousness\, or awareness never changes. Like Life (with a capital “L”) it just is what it is. But human potential—for understanding and for loving—can change and does change\, both for individuals and for cultures. As Heraclitus and the Buddhists say: everything is always changing. \n  \nEach of our lives is full of possibilities! Let’s make the most of them in the New Year! \n  \n—Johnny Stallings \n* \n  \nDriven to Exclaim \n  \nHow can I be so happy! \nThere’s so much bad news! \nInside\, my heart is crying! But \noutside\, the crows are shouting! \nDon’t they heed bad news—ruffians! \nHard times are coming! Hard times \nare here! Everywhere I look\, pain! \nWhy are leaders such angry children! \nI’m such a child I want to stay up \nlate loving the ruined world! \nEven the crows are shouting \nstrange joy! All I can do is crow! \n  \n—Kim Stafford\, Winter Solstice 2025 \n* \n  \nThe Robin and You \n  \nExtravagant in praise he bows to her. \nTells her she is a falcon-ness\, a phoenix \nand in his quiet moments a swan. \n  \nShe knows she is a plain woods robin \nand what matters is her song. \nEarly before the worms\, she practices her art. \n  \nHer flash of red breast a surprise \nonly to those who have no feel for the natural world. \nWrapped inside themselves\, amidst their suffering \n  \nshe sings for them. \nHer beak is the vessel\, her mate the morning dew. \nHer only audience\, the wise and patient yew. \n  \n—Elizabeth Domike \n* \n  \nThere is still magic in the world\, whether it be natural or man-made. \n  \nAcross the Columbia River from Hood River is White Salmon\, Washington. Every year in early December members of the White Salmon Chamber of Commerce climb in their cherry picker vehicles and head out to Dock Grade\, a half-mile\, one- way road that travels from Highway 14 up the hill to White Salmon. They are laden with close to a thousand Christmas ornaments\, huge ornamental balls and stars to hang in the trees overhanging the road. The ornaments can be 8”-10” in diameter\, and they are suspended 10’ to 30’ up in the bare-limbed trees. You drive up the road and are surrounded by a thousand floating orbs\, spheres\, globes and stars. It feels like you’re floating through space in a spaceship\, with celestial elements surrounding you\, enveloping you. Sunlight shines down and lights each ornament from above. It’s a feeling of magic. The kind of feeling you normally lose as you grow up and become “too old” for magic. \n  \nBut there’s the natural magic—the magic of nature. A terrible wildfire (one of many!) swept through Catherine Creek\, a wildflower lover’s mecca\, and left the entire area blackened\, crushed\, destroyed\, last summer. A friend has been working on restoration there and she told me to head out and take a look—“Just go!” she said. So after the drive up Dock Grade I drove the ten miles out to Catherine Creek and started tromping around: charred\, blackened tree trunks and limbs\, and shrubs nothing more than crusty twigs. Heartbreaking. What am I doing out here??!!? But! I  look down and I  see thousands of tiny blades of green grasses\, and atop many of them\, the soft purple blossoms of the grass widows: the first wildflowers of spring! In bloom! In December!. They hardly ever appear before late February or early March. People make the trek out to Catherine Creek just to see the grass widows in March\, knowing that blossoms mean spring! But here they are\, nodding up at me\, saying\, Yep\, the fires of summer gave us a jumpstart. Thought you’d like that. Like???!!! I love it! The magic of nature. The magic of life. \n  \nAnd this was all in just one day! \n  \n—Jude Russell \n* \n  \n“Know that you are a child of the universe.” \n—Yogi tea bag wisdom \n  \nMusings on a Winter sunny day… \n   \nWhen Winter comes in cold and bright\, after days of rain that have turned Summer’s brown grasses back to green\, I think\, “Oh no\, Spring is coming too soon.” I love the long winter dark\, which is my excuse for reading and being cozy under quilts even in the daytime\, and by the wood stove in the evenings.   \n  \nHere it is New Year’s Eve and Spring is in the air\, coming up all around us in Autumn’s left over leaves—crocuses\, scilla\, hyacinth\, a first pink camellia in bloom\, daphne budding out.  \n  \nThoreau wrote of this wonder in Walden\, about the ponds in Winter\, the first crack of the ice signifying Spring has begun. Frozen ponds are rare in the Northwest\, and snow in the mountains is a month late\, but we have subtle signs. Even in my body that wants to hibernate\, I also want to go out looking for sprouts and buds\, returning birds and bunnies.   \n  \nRecently I read about Thoreau’s extraordinary Kalendar. He had a daily habit of walking and noting what was happening through the season in his Nature neighborhood. His Journal is the record of these practices\, and the Kalendar is their culminating gesture: the final major endeavor of his life.  \n  \nThe charts of general phenomena derived from Thoreau’s long-held sense that ‘our thoughts & sentiments answer to the revolution of the seasons\,’ and his equally long-standing desire to more fully experience and comprehend the complex network of relations—what we would now call the ecosystem—of which he knew himself to be a part. Though Thoreau had for many years been keeping lists and charts of individual observations of the natural world—bird migration times\, the flowering and leafing out of trees—the Kalendar was a discovery: a crystallization of his long-developing ideas about time\, the natural world\, and the nature of perception.” \n  \nReading through this makes me aware of how extraordinary it is to be alive\, to be here at all at such a blip in the planet’s life. I also see this wonder in my puppy’s exploration of Nature. Being a Border Collie\, she is dumbfounded by the squirrels that run up trees\, and by birds and even airplanes in the sky—because these are moving things she cannot herd. She at least has chickens and rabbits and a giant Golden Retriever who visits on weekends. Then there is my granddaughter’s wonder at everything new—mushrooms coming out of the ground in leaves that have turned red!! \n  \nSo\, thank goodness for the seasons that return on their own timeline with no prompting from us. Hopefully we all fall in love with the magic of life and finally save as much as we can for the children and creatures coming along. \n  \nHere is a poem from my friend Barbara\, a gardener and a writer: \n  \nWinter Solstice \n  \nThe long nights recede \nAs the light slowly returns \nAnd my heart lifts up \nStars in the night sky \nYield to an early sunrise\, \nPink and orange sky \nAnd evenings stretch out; \nThe light lingers longer now\, \nWarming the new buds \nI come more alive: \nThe light feeds my hungry soul\, \nStarving for beauty. \nMore revealed each hour\, \nLeaves\, buds\, flowers greet the day \nAs the sun warms them \nWelcome light’s return \nOur gift for surviving the \nDark\, cold winter nights. \n  \n—Barbara Blossom \n  \nSpeaking of watching the wild\, here is a funny aside from Gina Wilson\, who sent this: \n  \nGayle Highpine writes in her book on making friends with wild birds: \n  \n“To survive among us\, they (birds) have to watch what we are doing\, and we are odd and different from the other ground creatures they see. Cows and squirrels and cats and deer are understandable\, and predictable. If you see enough cows\, you have a good idea what to expect from any cow you see. But humans are different. They do different things—sometimes humans do things that nobody’s ever seen. Sometimes a human may change its clothing overnight and yet it is the same human.” \n     \nGina wrote:  Never thought about how we change our “skin”—often numerous times a day! \n  \n—Katie Radditz URL:https://openroadpdx.com/event/peace-love-happiness-understanding-1-1-26/ ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://openroadpdx.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/101338366_114906430247163_4362851216040141752_n-2.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260117T140000 DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260117T160000 DTSTAMP:20260425T033910 CREATED:20251222T010722Z LAST-MODIFIED:20251222T010953Z UID:5978-1768658400-1768665600@openroadpdx.com SUMMARY:ZEN: History & Essence 1/17/26 DESCRIPTION:  \nZEN:History & Essence \n  \nJohnny Stallings will give an overview of the history of Zen and host a conversation about the meaning of Zen on Saturday\, January 17th\, 2026\, at 2 pm (PST). \nHere’s the Zoom link: \n  \nhttps://us02web.zoom.us/j/88465906598 \n  \n  \n  \n  URL:https://openroadpdx.com/event/zen-history-essence-1-17-26/ ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://openroadpdx.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/images.jpeg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260122 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260202 DTSTAMP:20260425T033910 CREATED:20260122T200705Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260122T201603Z UID:6032-1769040000-1769990399@openroadpdx.com SUMMARY:An Sceal (The Story) with Will Hornyak DESCRIPTION:  \nThe Open Road Recommends: \n  \nAn Sceal (The Story) Will Hornyak joins Portland’s brilliant Corrib Theatre folks to celebrate St. Brigit and Imbolc with dance\, drama\, singing & storytelling. \nThursday\, January 22\,  1 pm \nSunday\, January 25\,  8:30 pm \nThursday\, January 29\,  1 pm \nSunday\, February 1\,  8:30 pm \nT.C. O’Leary’s Pub\, 2926 NE Alberta\, in Portland \nTickets & info: https://www.corribtheatre.org/tickets \n  URL:https://openroadpdx.com/event/an-sceal-the-story-with-will-hornyak/ ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://openroadpdx.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/unnamed.png END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260205 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260305 DTSTAMP:20260425T033910 CREATED:20260205T154540Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260222T011110Z UID:6043-1770249600-1772668799@openroadpdx.com SUMMARY:peace\, love\, happiness & understanding 2/5/26 DESCRIPTION:Bodhidharma \n  \nTHE OPEN ROAD \npeace\, love\, happiness & understanding \n  \nFebruary 5\, 2026 \n  \nThe Infinite a sudden Guest \nHas been assumed to be— \nBut how can that stupendous come \nWhich never went away? \n  \n—Emily Dickinson \n* \n  \nBeginning My Studies \n  \nBeginning my studies the first step pleas’d me so much\, \nThe mere fact consciousness\, these forms\, the power of motion\, \nThe least insect or animal\, the senses\, eyesight\, love\, \nThe first step I say awed me and pleas’d me so much\, \nI have hardly gone and hardly wish’d to go any farther\, \nBut stop and loiter all the time to sing it in ecstatic songs. \n  \n—Walt Whitman \n* \n  \nYes \n  \nIt could happen any time\, tornado\, \nearthquake\, Armageddon. It could happen. \nOr sunshine\, love\, salvation. \n  \nIt could\, you know. That’s why we wake \nand look out—no guarantees \nin this life. \n  \nBut some bonuses\, like morning\, \nlike right now\, like noon\, \nlike evening. \n  \n—William Stafford \n* \n  \n“…I believe there is a limit to the number of times a man can profitably inform his neighbor\, or be informed by him\, that the inexpressible cannot be expressed.” \n  \n—Owen Barfield\, from the essay “Imagination and Inspiration” in The Rediscovery of Meaning and Other Essays\, p. 180 \n* \n  \nA man who encountered the Buddha for the first time was impressed by his radiance. \nHe asked: “Are you a man or a god?” \nBuddha replied: “I’m awake.” \n* \n  \nsome thoughts on Zen \n  \nAccording to legend\, one day many people had gathered to hear the Buddha speak. Instead of speaking\, he held up a flower. One man\, Kasyapa\, smiled\, and realized enlightenment. Zen Buddhism traces it’s origin to this “Flower Sermon.” \n  \nThat just about sums it up. \n  \nA thousand years later\, Bodhidharma traveled from India to China\, and sat for nine years facing the wall of a cave. Buddhism had been in China for many centuries by this time\, but this emphasis on sitting in silence was what launched the Zen tradition of Buddhism. Bodhidharma is known as the “First Zen Patriarch.”  \n  \nThe Third Zen Patriarch\, Seng Ts’an\, produced the first Zen text—Hsin Hsin Ming. As an account of what the Zen way of experiencing the world\, it is unsurpassed. Here are 28 of the 73 couplets: \n  \nthe great way (Tao) is not difficult \nit has no preferences \n  \nmake the smallest distinction \nand heaven and earth are far apart \n  \nconflict between liking and not liking \nis the disease of the mind \n  \nif its deep meaning is not understood \nwe strive in vain to quiet the mind \n  \nit is perfect like vast space  \nnothing lacking\, nothing left over \n  \ndon’t get entangled in outer things \nor abide in inner emptiness \n  \nwhen the mind is still \nall views disappear \n  \ntrying to quiet the mind \nis just more activity \n  \nthe more talking and thinking \nthe farther you go from what is \n  \nlook within for just a moment \nand go beyond appearance and emptiness \n  \ndon’t seek truth \njust let go of your views \n  \nwhen the mind is still \nthe ten thousand things do not offend \n  \nwithout an object of thought\, there can be no thinking subject \nwithout a thinker\, there are no things \n  \nthe great way is vast \nto live in accord with it is neither easy nor hard \n  \nfollowing our nature\, we are in harmony with the way \nwandering freely\, without a care \n  \nfixed ideas can’t encompass what is true \nthey sink into darkness\, become unhealthy \n  \nif you want to take the one vehicle \ndon’t reject mental or sensory experience \n  \nto accept everything  \nis to be enlightened \n  \nseeking the mind with the mind \nisn’t that a big mistake? \n  \nprofit and loss\, right and wrong \nget rid of them once and for all \n  \nunderstanding the mystery of one suchness \ndifficulties are forgotten \n  \nno descriptions or analogies are possible \nof this state where relations have come to an end \n  \nempty\, clear\, your light shines \nwithout mental effort \n  \nthought can’t reach this \nbeyond knowing\, imagining\, feeling \n  \nin the realm of things as they are \nthere is no self or other \n  \nno here\, no there \nthe whole world right before our eyes \n  \nthe tiny is as large as the vast \nwhen boundaries are gone \n  \nbeyond words \nno past\, no future\, no now \n  \nLao Tzu’s advice in the Tao Te Ching to do nothing (wu wei)\, and the Zen practice of sitting in silence had a big influence on Chinese and Japanese culture\, and\, more recently\, on the lives of many people in the rest of the world. \n  \nThe idea of sitting in silence seems to many people like a big waste of time. The practice goes back to before the time of the Buddha in India. The Japanese word “zen” is a translation of the Sanskrit word dhyāna\, which means “meditation\,” or sitting silently. Sometimes\, in the quiet\, thought and language fall away. \n  \nI came upon this idea of blissful silence in Paramahansa Yogananda’s book Autobiography of a Yogi when I was 19 years old. He called it samādhi. I wanted to get that! \n  \nThe Zen texts which are dearest to my heart\, and to which I’ve returned again and again are: the Hsin Hsin Ming of Seng Ts’an\, Cold Mountain: 100 Poems of Han Shan\, translated by Burton Watson\, Unborn: The Life and Teachings of Zen Master Bankei\, 1622-1693\, translated by Norman Waddell\, “Song of Myself” by Walt Whitman\, Zen in English Literature and Oriental Classics by R.H. Blyth\, Zen Mind\, Beginner’s Mind by Shunryu Suzuki & the writings of Thich Nhat Hanh. \n  \nHan Shan lived in China sometime during the Tang Dynasty (618-907). He spent the last part of his life living the simple life of a hermit in the mountains\, writing poems like these: \n  \nAmong a thousand clouds and ten thousand streams\, \nHere lives an idle man\, \nIn the daytime wandering over green mountains\, \nAt night coming home to sleep by the cliff. \nSwiftly the springs and autumns pass\, \nBut my mind is at peace\, free from dust or delusion. \nHow pleasant\, to know I need nothing to lean on\, \nTo be as still as the waters of the autumn river! \n  \n  \nThe clear water sparkles like crystal\, \nYou can see through it easily\, right to the bottom. \nMind free from every thought\, \nNothing in the myriad realms can move it. \nSince it can not be wantonly roused\, \nForever and forever it will stay unchanged. \nWhen you have learned to know in this way\, \nYou will know there is no inside or out! \n  \nBankei gave talks to large groups of people. He said we all have unborn Buddha-mind. He said: “Don’t exchange your unborn Buddha-mind for the mind of a hungry ghost!” \n  \nMany of the things Walt Whitman says in “Song of Myself” express what to me is the essence of Zen. Here are a few examples:  \n  \nThis minute that comes to me over the past decillions\,  \nThere is no better than it or now. \n  \nA morning-glory at my window satisfies me more than the metaphysics of books. \n  \nAll truths wait in all things. \n  \nI believe a leaf of grass is no less than the journey-work of the stars… \nAnd a mouse is miracle enough to stagger sextillions of infidels. \n  \n…to glance with an eye\, or show a bean in its pod confounds the learning of all times… \n  \nZen in English Literature and Oriental Classics is one of my favorite books. I read it slowly. When I get to the end\, I start at the beginning again. Blyth explores the Zen way of seeing and being in the world. We come to see beauty and perfection in ordinary things. \n  \nFor many people of my generation\, Shunryu Suzuki served as a contemporary exemplar of the Zen way. He taught us how to sit. \n  \nThich Nhat Hanh is the most congenial Zen teacher to me. I love his friendliness\, his gentleness\, his sweetness\, his joy. He seems to radiate deep peace and love. His book Your True Home has been for me the most useful guide for how to live my human life on Earth. I’ve given away dozens of copies to my friends. \n  \npeace & love \nJohnny \n* \n  \nIf you want peace love happiness and understanding NOW\, RIGHT NOW\, all I can say\, my friends\, is watch (google\, facebook\, instagram\, etc.) the 18 Buddhist monks as they walk for peace. They are walking 2300 (!) miles from their monastery in Fort Worth\, Texas to Washington\, D.C. They cover approximately 20 miles per day\, and have walked between 1900-2000 miles from October 26th when they began. \n  \nTheir leader is 44 yr old Venerable Bhikkhu Pannakara\, and he began this journey in an attempt to foster and promote peace in his fellow man\, in a troubled world. When they began there were a few curious onlookers—a very few. Most just curious to see these burnt-orange robed men walking\, mostly barefoot\, (but booted and bundled when heavy snow began to fall)\, along the roadways\, first through Texas\, then Louisiana\, Alabama\, Georgia… Soon\, however\, there were hundreds\, and then thousands\, tens of thousands followers\, the monks now with multiple police escorts to manage the crowds. Men\, women\, children all lining the roads\, bowing their heads offering prayers and heartfelt thank yous\, shedding tears\, tears of relief\, and peace and joy to witness this moment of beauty\, this moment of peace in a fractured world. This respite from pain. \n  \nThe Venerable Bhikkhu says he has been overwhelmed at the response; he never expected this  tremendous show of peace\, love\, happiness and understanding. Now millions are watching\, witnessing their progress towards Washington\, DC. \n  \nThe peace which passeth all understanding. This is it. \n  \n—Jude Russell URL:https://openroadpdx.com/event/peace-love-happiness-understanding-2-5-26/ ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://openroadpdx.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/GzfKvCbWgAA0Gt_.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260214T140000 DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260214T160000 DTSTAMP:20260425T033910 CREATED:20251222T011412Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260206T230442Z UID:5981-1771077600-1771084800@openroadpdx.com SUMMARY:Humanism 2/14/26 DESCRIPTION:  \nHUMANISM \n  \nJohnny Stallings will host a dialogue on Humanism on Saturday\, February 14th\, 2026\, at 2 pm (PST). \nHere’s the Zoom link: \n  \nhttps://us02web.zoom.us/j/82751789337 \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  URL:https://openroadpdx.com/event/humanism/ ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/webp:https://openroadpdx.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/12357-1.jpg.webp END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260305 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260402 DTSTAMP:20260425T033910 CREATED:20260305T162431Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260305T162710Z UID:6107-1772668800-1775087999@openroadpdx.com SUMMARY:peace\, love\, happiness & understanding 3/5/26 DESCRIPTION:Primavera by Sandro Botticelli \n  \nTHE OPEN ROAD \npeace\, love\, happiness & understanding \n  \nMarch 5\, 2026 \n  \nsome thoughts on Humanism \n  \nAll deities reside in the human breast…. \nGod only Acts & Is\, in existing beings or Men. \n  \n—William Blake\, from “The Marriage of Heaven and Hell” \n* \n  \nNumberless are the world’s wonders\, but none more wonderful than man. \n  \nSophocles\, from “Antigone” \n* \n  \nIn all people I see myself\, none more and not one a barley-corn less… \n  \n–Walt Whitman\, from “Song of Myself” \n* \n  \nWhat a piece of work is a man\, how noble in reason\, how infinite in faculties\, in form and moving how express and admirable\, in action how like an angel\, in apprehension how like a god\, the beauty of the world\, the paragon of animals… \n  \n–William Shakespeare\, Hamlet speaking in “Hamlet\,” Act Two\, scene two \n* \n  \nInspired by Sarah Bakewell’s book Humanly Possible: Seven Hundred Years of Humanist Freethinking\, Inquiry and Hope\, I hosted a Zoom conversation about Humanism on February 14th. I enjoyed reading and thinking about Humanism in preparation for the Zoom event. \n  \nHumanism can mean a lot of different things. I think of it as related to the word “humane.” A humanistic attitude is one that considers human beings to be basically good. It tends to be optimistic about human potential\, and about education\, progress\, reason and science. Humanists tend to be against war and against capital punishment. In one way\, “humanism” must be as old as humanity.  \n  \nAs a historical movement\, Humanism is associated with the Renaissance\, and an interest that some writers and artists took in classical Greece and Rome. The poet Petrarch (1304-1374) is often cited as the father of Humanism. For a thousand years in Europe\, it was dangerous to espouse “heretical” views. From the beginning until now\, humanists have promoted freedom of thought\, freedom of speech and freedom of religion. We tend to take these things for granted\, but in some countries atheism or homosexuality are punishable by death. \n  \nFor many many people in the Middle Ages (and many people today) our life on Earth is a kind of prison house or purgatory\, which serves only as a misery which we must endure in preparation for a glorious eternal afterlife in Heaven. Humanists are pretty unanimous in their belief that our human life on Earth is to be cherished—and some go as far as to believe that when we die we’re dead. \n  \nModern Humanism includes Feminism and Human Rights. Perhaps the most important modern document which could not have been imagined without centuries of humanist influence is the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Here’s a link: \n  \nhttps://openroadpdx.com/event/peace-love-happiness-understanding-9-2-21/ \n  \nThe Multnomah County Library is a temple of Humanism. Here’s a poem I wrote recently: \n  \nOde to Humanists \n  \nThank you \nbrave humanists \nfor making it possible \nfor us to read  \nwhatever  \nwe want to read \nto think  \nour own thoughts \nto imagine \nto dream \nto say  \nwhatever  \nwe feel like saying \nto write and publish \nour ideas and imaginings \nto go  \nwhere we want \nand do  \nwhatever  \nwe feel like doing. \n  \nIf not for you \nwe would have \nonly one book \nand the world  \nwould be  \nflat. \n  \nAlthough some modern humanists are generally hostile to religion\, since Humanism is fundamentally open to the free exchange of ideas and beliefs\, that includes the right of people to think things and believe things that you don’t. A “Declaration of Modern Humanism” from a General Assembly in Glasgow\, United Kingdom in 2022\, agreed that “…we are committed to the unfettered expression and exchange of ideas\, and seek to cooperate with people of different beliefs…” They also said\, “We recognize that we are part of nature and accept our responsibility for the impact we have on the rest of the natural world.” \n  \nI’ll conclude these thoughts on Humanism with something that gives the essence of many humanist values. It’s from the Nineteenth Century agnostic who gave the eulogy at Walt Whitman’s grave—Robert G. Ingersoll. The full essay is called “The Liberty of Man\, Woman and Child.” Below is an abridged version of “The Liberty of the Child” along with an abridged version of his conclusion to the whole essay: \n  \nTHE LIBERTY OF CHILDREN \n  \nIf women have been slaves\, what shall I say of children?…. \n  \nI tell you the children have the same rights that we have\, and we ought to treat them as though they were human beings. They should be reared with love\, with kindness\, with tenderness\, and not with brutality. That is my idea of children…. \n  \nWhen your child commits a wrong\, take it in your arms; let it feel your heart beat against its heart; let the child know that you really and truly and sincerely love it…. \n  \nDo you know that I have seen some people who acted as though they thought that when the Savior said “Suffer little children to come unto me\, for of such is the kingdom of heaven\,” he had a raw-hide under his mantle\, and made that remark simply to get the children within striking distance? \n  \nGive them a little liberty and love\, and you can not drive them out of your house. They will want to stay there. Make home pleasant. Let them play any game they wish…. \n  \nLet children have some daylight at home if you want to keep them there\, and do not commence at the cradle and shout “Don’t!” “Don’t!” “Stop!” That is nearly all that is said to a child from the cradle until he is twenty-one years old\, and when he comes of age other people begin saying “Don’t!” And the church says “Don’t!” and the party he belongs to says “Don’t!” \n  \nI despise that way of going through this world. Let us have liberty—just a little. Call me infidel\, call me atheist\, call me what you will\, I intend so to treat my children\, that they can come to my grave and truthfully say: “He who sleeps here never gave us a moment of pain. From his lips\, now dust\, never came to us an unkind word.” \n  \nPeople justify all kinds of tyranny toward children upon the ground that they are totally depraved. At the bottom of ages of cruelty lies this infamous doctrine of total depravity. Religion contemplates a child as a living crime—heir to an infinite curse—doomed to eternal fire…. \n  \nSabbaths used to be prisons. Every Sunday was a Bastille. Every Christian was a kind of turnkey\, and every child was a prisoner\,—a convict. In that dungeon\, a smile was a crime. \n  \nIt was thought wrong for a child to laugh upon this holy day. Think of that! \n  \nA little child would go out into the garden\, and there would be a tree laden with blossoms\, and the little fellow would lean against it\, and there would be a bird on one of the boughs\, singing and swinging\, and thinking about four little speckled eggs\, warmed by the breast of its mate\,—singing and swinging\, and the music in happy waves rippling out of its tiny throat\, and the flowers blossoming\, the air filled with perfume and the great white clouds floating in the sky\, and the little boy would lean up against that tree and think about hell and the worm that never dies. \n  \nThe laugh of a child will make the holiest day-more sacred still…. \n  \nDo not treat your children like orthodox posts to be set in a row. Treat them like trees that need light and sun and air. Be fair and honest with them; give them a chance. Recollect that their rights are equal to yours. Do not have it in your mind that you must govern them; that they must obey. Throw away forever the idea of master and slave. \n  \nIn old times they used to make the children go to bed when they were not sleepy\, and get up when they were sleepy. I say let them go to bed when they are sleepy\, and get up when they are not sleepy…. \n  \nI believe in allowing the children to think for themselves. I believe in the democracy of the family. If in this world there is anything splendid\, it is a home where all are equals. \n  \nYou will remember that only a few years ago parents would tell their children to “let their victuals stop their mouths.” They used to eat as though it were a religious ceremony—a very solemn thing. Life should not be treated as a solemn matter. I like to see the children at table\, and hear each one telling of the wonderful things he has seen and heard. I like to hear the clatter of knives and forks and spoons mingling with their happy voices. I had rather hear it than any opera that was ever put upon the boards. Let the children have liberty. Be honest and fair with them; be just; be tender\, and they will make you rich in love and joy…. \n  \nCONCLUSION. \n  \nI have given you my honest thought. Surely investigation is better than unthinking faith. Surely reason is a better guide than fear. This world should be controlled by the living\, not by the dead. About this world little is known\,—about another world\, nothing. \n  \nOur fathers were intellectual serfs\, and their fathers were slaves. The makers of our creeds were ignorant and brutal. Every dogma that we have\, has upon it the mark of whip\, the rust of chain\, and the ashes of fagot. \n  \nOur fathers reasoned with instruments of torture. They believed in the logic of fire and sword. They hated reason. They despised thought. They abhorred liberty. \n  \nSuperstition is the child of slavery. Free thought will give us truth. When all have the right to think and to express their thoughts\, every brain will give to all the best it has. The world will then be filled with intellectual wealth…. \n  \nAs long as woman regards the Bible as the charter of her rights\, she will be the slave of man. The Bible was not written by a woman. Within its lids there is nothing but humiliation and shame for her. She is regarded as the property of man. She is made to ask forgiveness for becoming a mother. She is as much below her husband\, as her husband is below Christ. She is not allowed to speak. The gospel is too pure to be spoken by her polluted lips. Woman should learn in silence. \n  \nIn the Bible will be found no description of a civilized home. The free mother surrounded by free and loving children\, adored by a free man\, her husband\, was unknown to the inspired writers of the Bible. They did not believe in the democracy of home—in the republicanism of the fireside. \n  \nThese inspired gentlemen knew nothing of the rights of children. They were the advocates of brute force—the disciples of the lash. They knew nothing of human rights. Their doctrines have brutalized the homes of millions\, and filled the eyes of infancy with tears. \n  \nLet us free ourselves from the tyranny of a book\, from the slavery of dead ignorance\, from the aristocracy of the air. \n  \nThere has never been upon the earth a generation of free men and women. It is not yet time to write a creed. Wait until the chains are broken—until dungeons are not regarded as temples. Wait until solemnity is not mistaken for wisdom—until mental cowardice ceases to be known as reverence. Wait until the living are considered the equals of the dead—until the cradle takes precedence of the coffin. Wait until what we know can be spoken without regard to what others may believe. Wait until teachers take the place of preachers—until followers become investigators. Wait until the world is free before you write a creed. \n  \nIn this creed there will be but one word—Liberty. \n  \nOh Liberty\, float not forever in the far horizon—remain not forever in the dream of the enthusiast\, the philanthropist and poet\, but come and make thy home among the children of men! \n  \nI know not what discoveries\, what inventions\, what thoughts may leap from the brain of the world. I know not what garments of glory may be woven by the years to come. I cannot dream of the victories to be won upon the fields of thought; but I do know\, that coming from the infinite sea of the future\, there will never touch this “bank and shoal of time” a richer gift\, a rarer blessing than liberty for man\, for woman\, and for child. \n  \n—Johnny Stallings \n* \n  \nSpeaking of miracles…well\, I find the word ‘miracle’ too loaded with religiosity\, so I will dub those events as ‘moments of awe\,’ both outward(ly) and inward(ly).  \n  \nLast night the brilliant full moon lit up Mt. Hood like it was the middle of the day. I could see Tie-In Rock\, Langille Glacier\, Eliot Glacier\, Illumination Rock (so aptly named)\, Barrett Spur—every feature on the northeast side of the mountain\, where we are\, lit up as bright as day. At ten o’clock at night!  Right there\, the moon\, and the mountain\, a moment of awe. And then\, then! from 4-5 a.m.\, I watched the lunar eclipse and watched and felt the shadow of our earth passing between the sun and the moon. Those who got to witness the solar eclipse in 2021 spoke often of having a spiritual experience during the moments of totality. This lunar eclipse brought forth the same kind of feeling in my being. I feel—graced—to witness moments like these.  \n  \nI mentioned moments of awe both outwardly and inwardly—the ‘inwardly’ part is…the body\, the human body. It is…awesome. I tutored a high school student who had cerebral palsy. I helped him study anatomy and physiology because he wanted to be a personal trainer. (Yes.) We studied every system of the human body\, the nervous system\, skeletal\, circulatory\, endocrine\, digestive\, respiratory\, etc. You name it\, we studied it\, and learned it. I was blown away\, studying alongside Daniel. Just for one example\, the functioning of the liver is so elegant! And complex\, that it defies belief!  I was constantly shaking my head and laughing at the awesomeness of each part and each function\, down to the cellular level. And the whole body is like that!  \n  \nBut you know what? The moon\, the mountain\, stars\, the human body\, trees\, rocks\, grass\, light\, dark\, raindrops\, birdsong\, bird poop…it’s all damned miracle. An awesome miracle. There\, I said it. \n  \n—Jude Russell URL:https://openroadpdx.com/event/peace-love-happiness-understanding-3-5-26/ ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://openroadpdx.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/Botticelli-primavera.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260321T140000 DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260321T160000 DTSTAMP:20260425T033910 CREATED:20260228T235417Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260309T230014Z UID:6068-1774101600-1774108800@openroadpdx.com SUMMARY:Hamlet: a reading 3/21/26 DESCRIPTION:photo by Corky Miller \n  \nHamlet \na reading  \n  \nJohnny Stallings reads an abridged version of Hamlet. \nSaturday\, March 21 at 2 pm \nArtspace Room at Taborspace\, 5441 SE Belmont \n  \nthis Open Road event is free \n  URL:https://openroadpdx.com/event/hamlet-a-reading/ ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://openroadpdx.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/104610964_3065227406856808_2745251198236974423_o.jpg.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260321T190000 DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260321T210000 DTSTAMP:20260425T033910 CREATED:20260306T171007Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260306T173158Z UID:6121-1774119600-1774126800@openroadpdx.com SUMMARY:Jay Bean Performing Live at Hood River Brewing Company 3/21/26 DESCRIPTION:  \nJay Bean Performing Live! \n  \nSaturday\, March 21st\, 7-9 pm \nHood River Brewing Company   \n101 4th Street\, Hood River \n  \n  \n  \n  URL:https://openroadpdx.com/event/jay-bean-performing-live-at-hood-river-brewing-company-3-21-26/ ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://openroadpdx.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/0.png END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260327 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260411 DTSTAMP:20260425T033910 CREATED:20260301T221935Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260325T182310Z UID:6091-1774569600-1775865599@openroadpdx.com SUMMARY:Will Hornyak upcoming performances DESCRIPTION:  \n  \nThe First Irishman: The Legend of Tuan Mac Cairill and the Tale of the Dagda’s Harp (ORR) Storyteller William Kennedy Hornyak weaves the epic myth of Tuan Mac Cairill with poems\, songs and Irish lore in celebration of Beltaine\, St. Patrick and the Druids and gods and goddesses of the Emerald Isle. \n  \nFriday\, March 27\, 7:30 pm \nKALA Performance Space\, 1017 Marine Drive\, Astoria\, OR \nBeer\, wine & cocktails available  \n$20   \nReservations:  https://www.tickettomato.com/event/9948 \n  \nFriday\, April 10\, 7 pm \nTaborspace Copeland Commons\, 5441 SE Belmont\, Portland \n$20 Cash/Check/Venmo at the Door   \nLimited Seating\, Reservations Recommended:   \nhornyak.will@gmail.com \n  \n  \n  URL:https://openroadpdx.com/event/will-hornyak-upcoming-performances/ ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://openroadpdx.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/unnamed.png END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260402 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260507 DTSTAMP:20260425T033910 CREATED:20260402T113146Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260402T113343Z UID:6151-1775088000-1778111999@openroadpdx.com SUMMARY:peace\, love\, happiness & understanding 4/2/26 DESCRIPTION:Rocky & Johnny under the palm trees \n  \nTHE OPEN ROAD \npeace\, love\, happiness & understanding \n  \nApril 2\, 2026 \n  \nTime is money. \n  \n—Benjamin Franklin \n* \n  \n…time is not money. Time has much more value than money. \n  \n—Thich Nhat Hanh \n* \n  \nI’m excited that Rocky Hutchinson is getting out of prison on April 15th\, after 17 years. He’s even more excited than I am! See for yourself: \n  \nRocky’s final letters from prison \n  \nMarch 8\, 2026 \n5:15 a.m. \nDear Johnny & Nancy \n  \nWell\, it’s a start to another week & as I lay in my bunk last night I felt a memory come over me. It was no normal memory\, but one of those that you can feel physically. It was like a wind\, a change of season wind that I could feel blow over my soul. It reminded me of times to come & times that have passed. Time changes\, but sometimes memories & emotions & a subtle wisp of Nature all mix together\, bringing on a feeling so good\, when we were so happy\, that we can even remember how the wind felt and we can feel the atmosphere in our minds stirring our souls. It’s not any one memory\, it’s many I think\, or maybe a junction where our heart\, mind & soul\, our joy & our love all come together with the elements of the world around us giving us a gift. \n  \nI often of late have been getting those types of feelings\, like something in me is waking up and the feeling is of joy and wonder. The thoughts & feelings are of such beauty that they’re hard to describe. The other morning I was meditating & somehow I was standing on a rocky riverbank & in the wind blew thousands of dandelion wishes. I think my soul is feeling the beauty that is to come soon. It is reaching out and lacing itself to it\, my aura is reconnecting to the world. \n  \nI understand the gift that I have been able to rebuild within myself & I plan to cherish it & share it with all that I’m close to. It has been difficult…almost damaging to me to be looked upon like I’m weak or crazy when I’ve tried to talk about the deeper beauty of life with others recently. \n  \nAt first\, I felt that if I explained what I meant a little better\, others would understand. So I used the example of how a fruit tree and the soil have a relationship\, a love\, so to speak. The tree cultivates the soil & provides life for all the creatures with which it is involved. The tree’s blood grows leaves & fruit & nuts for us\, so we can then live & love. \n  \nAll things connect in a circle of life\, love & joy. Like this one relationship\, all relationships are connected in one way\, shape or form. It is beautiful to behold how all things work together. In my life before\, I never really took the time to be in love—for no other reason than its rightness in the world. \n  \nSo\, getting to be around like-minded people here in the near future is really going to be something wonderful. Everything is going to work out so good. I’m sure that as time passes and I just stay kind & calm\, diligent & positive\, do the right things that are being asked of me\, life will be good. I just need to keep things simple and transparent. \n  \nGetting to sit and have good conversations with you two & everyone else—Jude\, Dick\, Josh\, Carla\, Kristen—and all the rest of the gang is really going to increase the quality of all of our lives. Mine more than you all know! When I think about that and how soon that will happen I feel my chest swell up and my eyes start to get blurry! All the tears I’ve been holding back are going to finally fall…that will be so cleansing\, tears of so many mixed emotions. I should save them in a little vial! Use them to water a bunch of seeds for flowers for everyone as a gift of love & devotion. \n  \nIn the last few days I’ve lost all desire to participate in anything here but my release classes\, writing resumes\, letters\, and in my journal—staying out of the way\, in my cell\, and relaxing. This is fine with me & since I’m 30 days to home I’m not required to do anything but finish school! \n  \nI’ve been thinking about when I find a place to rent and all of that starts coming together. The first two plants I want to get are: #1) a canna lily and #2) a monstera. Both get large & both are beautiful. An Irish ivy will be nice\, too. I plan on having a very green apartment. I’m also planning on eating so healthy…fresh veggies! Different kinds of breads & fruits that have so many amazing tastes. No more crazy processed foods\, or being forced to eat things I don’t want to eat\, because I have to to live! That will be Amazing\, and even more so…to eat with friends! Yes! \n  \nMy day switched gears & I’m now sitting in class and vibe is good today in here. This is my last book and it was a big one. I finished the written part\, so the book is done—now it’s just group work! My seat is right under the skylight and there are geese walking on the skylight!!! Very funny. \n  \nSitting here thinking about what you\, Johnny\, and I were talking about concerning treatment! I am over that part of my life. I simply have zero want or urges to participate in anything that that life has to offer. I’m so far from it that it never really crosses my mind. \n  \nAs I sit here & am going through my treatment support people\, it’s always the same 6 people: Johnny\, Nancy\, Shawna\, Autumn\, Dick\, Howard. Seems to be a pattern in my life\, and with a few added loved ones like Josh & Jude\, these are my loved ones. My dearest friends. The people who took this long 216 month journey with me! \n  \nMarch 10th \n  \nWell\, I moved cells again—I hope for the last time. Once again it’s with someone I’ve known for years. He is a really mellow guy & a super good artist. Right about the time I release he will be going into the dog program. He will do very well at that. \n  \nThe new cell I’m in is the coolest one so far! It has an art collage drawn all over in it\, complete with a cityscape of Portland & Mt. Hood\, along with many other things. It’s cool to have artwork on the walls in the house. \n  \nI don’t know what it was about today & our call\, but it triggered something in me that put my mind into a whole state of home & this is all already in the past\, really in the past. I’ve really been thinking about what it’s going to feel like to walk out this door! I might RUN! What I am going to do is pay close attention to my emotions. I want to feel & remember walking out that door & leaving this place behind. Later in life I want to be able to process at different times these emotions in many ways throughout my life. \n  \nMarch 19\, 2026 \nDear Johnny \n  \nIt’s a beautiful morning here & I’m sure it is at your place too. It’s because the world we live in is amazing in every way\, all of it. \n  \nOne of the counselors or officers asked me last night if I was going to go back to a life of crime. The answer came so fast & so natural that it made me…I don’t know—feel normal! It was a big NO! I’m not even of that mind any longer\, nor of that world. The thought of it put fear in me\, a fear that most people have never felt themselves. A fear of losing “Everything in life” is a fear only those who have really gone through that truly know what horrors come from it. So\, no. My life is truly a second chance gift and full of wonder & joy & love! I won’t even be caught J-walking! \n  \nI’ve not been writing very much for a little while now. But recently it has come back like a wave\, the tide of it is rolling in & soothing me. It takes the moments of stress & restlessness away from me\, preoccupying my mind\, so that I’m not thinking only about releasing. It’s always been such a good friend to me\, like a salve for the soul\, bringing a much needed peace to me & to others. My writing is a gift and has gotten me through a lot in life. Having people to write to—like you\, Johnny\, and others—is a gift. \n  \nIt is the end of the night now. My little bit of nightly work is finished & I’m settling into my bunk\, which is a cozy little place. When my friend went to the Hole on 3-2-26 I got his old pillows! That’s how it goes in here\, it’s a normal thing. He had very nice pillows! Now I have them & for my last 25 days I get to have the best pillows in the whole joint!!! One of them is a Sealy Posturepedic—never had one of them before now. \n  \n3-23-2026 \n  \nWell\, the weekend went by very fast\, which is a good thing. I spent a lot of time with letters & journalling and trying to be…in my cell alone\, away from all the needless drama—no distractions\, and focusing on home. \n  \nI’m so excited about getting to spend time with you & everyone else. I’ve been noticing these…well\, mental time jumps. I’ll be home so soon and I catch myself planning out my week-to-week life…then it hits me: *Home*! Where I can walk down the street & see all the cherry trees that are in bloom\, smell a million flowers & draw them if I want to. This will happen soon…only a short time after you’ve read this letter\, we will be drinking coffee together. \n  \nHealthy food has been on my mind\, too—fresh food\, clean\, good food\, well-prepared food. I’m so happy to get to share this with you and Nancy and everyone else. \n  \nI have gone through a few changes in the last few days…. Pressure from others is heavier than ever before. I’m trying to stay away from everyone and everything. \n  \n3-24-26 \n  \nI’m sitting in class under the skylight. The rain is beating down on the skylight. I’m hoping that the rain does not take all the cherry blossoms from the face of Spring until I can see them this year. There’s so many other beautiful things to see & soon I will love feeling overwhelmed by all of it. I’m really looking forward to taking walks\, running\, and being in & of nature\, and being with the ones I love. This is how I want to be with the opening of my heart in this new world—the beauty pouring into my blooming\, opened heart. \n  \nI truly want to let all of the wonders of it all soak into me. Truly allow the wind that’s full of the smell of flowers & trees seep into my mind\, feel the hugs of my loved ones imprint upon my soul. To feel the touch of another human…will be…strange & wonderful & a little scary! So destructive is the lack of human touch\, simple contact\, holding hands\, a hug\, a gentle hand upon the shoulder—these are so needed in life to feel human. How wonderfully overwhelming it all is going to be & amazing—the gift of it from those who truly love me. To have emotions like this fulfilled will be a once-in-a-lifetime gift. We all have the best love for each other…because it’s very real & unconditional. I’m so lucky…we are all so blessed to have this. What an amazing life we have to share with each other! \n  \nI’ve been thinking a lot about food! LOL Healthy\, clean good food\, homemade food\, soups & salads\, a large variety of veggies\, breads\, fruits…fish! Healthy foods…I’ll have to be careful at first\, so I don’t get sick. I’ve heard that real food will make me sick at first. We will see! \n  \n     Sitting in a room full of men trying to find a way out\, out of addictions of all sorts. \n     Unpacking all the broken pieces & knowing you can not pick them up at all anymore. \n     Knowing that to find the golden paths in life we have to leave it behind & walk out the door. \n     I did not succeed in doing this alone with my life—my friends & family helped me to survive. \n     So many times sitting in a small empty room\, putting broken pieces together with no glue. \n     Pieces of sadness\, shame\, sorrow & remorse\, of a broken life that I tried to fix from guilt\, haunted by ghosts. \n     Having let it all go & gladly starting all things in life anew is easy knowing now what to do. \n  \n….It feels good to have the relationships I have in my life with all of you. They are deep & strong & real & powerful—full of love and goodness\, joy and truth. I’m proud of the person I’ve become & know that I’m lucky to have the life I have. Most don’t come back from a level of damage like this. I hope others see it & know that they can overcome the pitfalls of life\, too! \n  \nLove you & see you later for Coffee too! \n  \n—Rocky Hutchinson \n* \n  \nElizabeth Domike shared this poem: \n  \nNurture \n  \nFrom a documentary on marsupials I learn \nthat a pillowcase makes a fine \nsubstitute pouch for an orphaned kangaroo. \n  \nI am drawn to such dramas of animal rescue. \nThey are warm in the throat. I suffer\, the critic proclaims\, \nfrom an overabundance of maternal genes. \n  \nBring me your fallen fledgling\, your bummer lamb\, \n  \nlead the abused\, the starvelings\, into my barn. \nAdvise the hunted deer to leap into my corn. \n  \nAnd had there been a wild child— \nfilthy and fierce as a ferret\, he is called \nin one nineteenth-century account— \n  \na wild child to love\, it is safe to assume\, \ngiven my fireside inked with paw prints\, \nthere would have been room. \n  \nThink of the language we two\, same and not-same\, \nmight have constructed from sign\, \nscratch\, grimace\, grunt\, vowel: \n  \nLaughter our first noun\, and our long verb\, howl. \n  \n—Maxine Kumin \n* \n  \nSHEEP  \n  \nSo why would I write about sheep? What do sheep have to do with Peace\, Love\, Happiness and Understanding? Well\, as it turns out—-everything!  \n  \nWe have one hundred and fifty sheep about half a mile down the road from us. I either ride my bike or drive past them every day. Almost always I stop. “Hi sheep!” I call out. Without interrupting their grass munching\, they lift their heads and eye me with a mild gaze. They’re used to me by now. I’ve been greeting them this way for as long as they’ve been in the pasture\, five or six years? I’ve seen them at every stage: big and white and fluffy\, ragged and molting\, shorn and pink-skinned.  \n  \nWhen I see them my heart is filled with peace. And love. And sheer happiness. And deep understanding that this—-being in the moment with peace\, love and happiness is what matters in my life. \n  \n—Jude Russell URL:https://openroadpdx.com/event/peace-love-happiness-understanding-4-2-26/ ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://openroadpdx.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/0-15.jpeg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260411T140000 DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260411T160000 DTSTAMP:20260425T033910 CREATED:20260325T175513Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260401T000708Z UID:6135-1775916000-1775923200@openroadpdx.com SUMMARY:For Amusement Purposes Only 4/11/26 DESCRIPTION:  \nFor Amusement Purposes Only \n  \nJohnny Stallings  attempts to entertain. \nJust for fun! \nThere will be snacks. \n  \nSaturday\, April 11\, at 2 p.m. \nArtspace Room at Taborspace\, 5441 SE Belmont \n  \nthis Open Road Event is free \n  URL:https://openroadpdx.com/event/for-amusement-purposes-only-4-11-26/ ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://openroadpdx.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/twain-Alpha.png END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260416 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260418 DTSTAMP:20260425T033910 CREATED:20260410T000403Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260410T001516Z UID:6162-1776297600-1776470399@openroadpdx.com SUMMARY:A Midsummer Night's Dream in Prison: screenings on April 16th & 17th DESCRIPTION:  \nThis month\, there will be two screenings of Bushra Azzouz’s film A Midsummer Night’s Dream in Prison\, in Portland. If you haven’t seen the film\, this will be a good opportunity. If you have seen it\, maybe you’d like to watch it again. Or tell your friends about it. \nBoth screenings will be followed by Q & A with actors. \nBoth are free and open to the public. \n  \nPortland State University \nWomen’s Resource Center & Queer Resource Center \nApril 16th\, 2026     3:30 p.m. \nSmith Memorial Union Building   \n1825 SW Broadway   \n4th Floor\, Room 439   \n  \nS.M.I.L.E. STATION \nSellwood-Moreland Improvement League Neighborhood Association \nApril 17th\, 2026     5:30 p.m. \n8210 SE 13th Ave \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  URL:https://openroadpdx.com/event/a-midsummer-nights-dream-in-prison-screenings-on-april-16th-17th/ ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://openroadpdx.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/DSC_7307-donkey-titania1-cropped-2.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260531T140000 DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260531T160000 DTSTAMP:20260425T033910 CREATED:20260301T001521Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260301T001616Z UID:6078-1780236000-1780243200@openroadpdx.com SUMMARY:Song of Myself 5/31/26 DESCRIPTION:painting of Walt Whitman by Rick Bartow \n  \nSong of Myself \n  \nTo celebrate Walt Whitman’s 207th birthday\, Johnny Stallings will read from Walt’s masterpiece. \nThere will be a birthday cake! \n  \nSunday\, May 31\, at 2 p.m. \nArtspace Room at Taborspace\, 5441 SE Belmont \n  \nthis Open Road event is free URL:https://openroadpdx.com/event/song-of-myself-5-31-26/ ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://openroadpdx.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/unnamed-20-3.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260613T140000 DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260613T160000 DTSTAMP:20260425T033910 CREATED:20260305T165459Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260305T165726Z UID:6116-1781359200-1781366400@openroadpdx.com SUMMARY:¡Bibliophilia! DESCRIPTION:  \nRead any good books lately? What are your favorite books of all time? What books changed the way you understand and experience the world? Join Johnny for a lively dialogue about books \n  \nIt’s gonna be FUN!. \n  \n¡Bibliophilia! Johnny Stallings hosts a conversation about books. There will be snacks. \nSaturday\, June 13\, 2 pm  \nArtspace Room at Taborspace\, 5441 SE Belmont   \nThis Open Road event is free! \n  URL:https://openroadpdx.com/event/bibliophilia/ ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://openroadpdx.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/81jHEoQqLHL._AC_SX679_.jpg END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR