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:20230312T100000
END:DAYLIGHT
BEGIN:STANDARD
TZOFFSETFROM:-0700
TZOFFSETTO:-0800
TZNAME:PST
DTSTART:20231105T090000
END:STANDARD
END:VTIMEZONE
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20230406
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20230504
DTSTAMP:20260426T034102
CREATED:20230406T203104Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230406T203535Z
UID:3778-1680739200-1683158399@openroadpdx.com
SUMMARY:peace\, love\, happiness & understanding  4/6/23
DESCRIPTION:The Rink \n  \nTHE OPEN ROAD \npeace\, love\, happiness & understanding \n  \n \n  \nApril 6\, 2023 \n  \nI invited some friends to write something about their favorite films… \nWhen we read a great book\, we want all our friends to read it. When we watch a great movie\, we want all our friends to see it.  \nFor the next issue of peace\, love\, happiness & understanding\, which comes out on April 6th\, write something about movies\, films\, or tv shows that you love. \n* \n  \nPrabu’s film “In the Beginning” reminded me of the old\, scratchy\, haunting film “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge\,” based on a civil war story by Ambrose Bierce. Much darker than what Prabu offered us\, but a similar visual narrative of a man trying to negotiate a mysterious world. \nhttps://vimeo.com/15147706 \n  \n—Kim Stafford \n* \n  \nAt the top of my list is “Ted Lasso.” The improbable premise of this tv show is that the central character is nice. He’s generous to everyone. He has a corny sense of humor. He’s a good man. Whoever thought you could make stories about someone like that? The film that first came to mind is “Wings of Desire” by Wim Wenders. It’s about angels\, who are invisible to most people\, who help us to reduce stress and think positive thoughts by their presence. They are immortal\, but they are missing out on many human pleasures\, like the smell of coffee. Nancy and I love the films of Wes Anderson. Our favorite is “Moonrise Kingdom.” Of Coen brothers’ films\, it’s a toss-up for me between “The Big Lebowski” and “Hail\, Caesar!” I love the Australian film “Bliss” (1985)\, based on the novel by Peter Carey. Another classic is Terry Gilliam’s hilarious dystopian vision “Brazil” (also 1985!). I love the early silent films of Georges Méliès. “The Kingdom of the Fairies” (1903) is especially good. For physical comedy\, Charlie Chaplin’s “The Rink” remains unsurpassed. \n  \n—Johnny Stallings \n* \n  \nA favorite film of mine is\, ‘The count of Monte Cristo’. \nIt embodies the tireless effort for justice\, and a will to not give in to the deeds of those that seek ones demise. \nThe character\, Edmond Dontez (later\, the Count) is someone I could relate to while in captivity (prison). He spent 16 years seeking a way out\, to avenge the wrongdoings of his peers.  \nHe eventually did\, and along the way\, learned many other lessons about life and forgiveness. \nEssentially for me\, the story/film is an inspiration to never give up or give in. And to never forget where I came from\, for it is fuel for my fire.  \n  \n—Brandon Gillespie \n\n\n\n  \nThanks for the invitation Johnny.  A few ideas:   \n     \nAs for happiness\, along with some heartbreak and comic flair\, it’s hard to beat the book This Is Happiness by the Irish writer Niall Williams.  I felt like I was living in a village in county Kerry the whole time I was reading the book. In the end I felt like I had made new friends\, been wrapped in a prayer blanket\, fed a good meal and sent home along a winding green path with a fiddle tune and a song. It made me hopeful\, appreciative and aware of the happiness lurking in my own backyard.  Superb writing!  \n     \nAs for film\, “The Mission” (Robert Dinero) comes to mind not because of peace or happiness but because of understanding and the meaning of redemption and forgiveness.  The music is sublime and the scenery stunningly beautiful.  A sad reminder as well of what  artistic and cultural creations might have been had peace\, love\, understanding and imagination prevailed over avarice and greed.   \n      \nOpening day of baseball season always makes me happy.  Here’s a poem I wrote about it.  Love and Play Ball!!! Will   \n  \nWhy Baseball Matters \n  \nBecause in a world obsessed with time\, baseball is a past-time. \nBecause any game could theoretically last into eternity. \nBecause baseball is played on a diamond.  \nBecause in a world obsessed by success even the best hitters fail two-thirds of the time. \nBecause\, as George Carlin reminded us\, football is about “ground and aerial attacks”\, and “marching down the field” while baseball is about “staying safe and coming home.” \nBecause what other game has characters named “Goose\, the Big Hurt\, the Left Hand of God\, the Splendid Splinter\, The Say Hey Kid\, the Sultan of Swat\, Catfish\, Hammerin’ Hank\, Cool Papa\, the Bird\, Big Papi\, The Man of Steal\, Satchel\, the Big Unit and the Iron Horse?” \nBecause the crowd takes a stretch and sings together at the ballpark. \nBecause despite all efforts to improve the game\, baseball remains blessedly slow\, wonderfully conversational\, deceptively complex and enjoyably simple. \nBecause outside of going to the park\, baseball is best experienced on a radio broadcast where gifted storytellers usher us daily into a theatre of imagination.  \nBecause pitchers deliberately baffle\, confuse and confound with “curves\, sliders\, splitters\, sinkers\, screwballs\, knuckleballs\, fastballs and change-ups.”   \nBecause almost every day from April through October millions of boys and girls\, women and men play a game made in America before the Civil War and now beloved from Japan and Korea to Cuba\, Australia\, Venezuela and beyond. \nBecause as Leo Durocher said: “Baseball is like church. Many attend\, few understand.”  Yet\, I would add: all can be uplifted and enjoy. \nBecause as a Boston fan once said: “Baseball is not about life and death. But\, the Red Sox are!”  \nBecause these days it just feels good to shout: “Play ball!”  \n      \n—Will Hornyak  \n* \n  \nFor me\, THE RULES OF THE GAME\, by Jean Renoir\, is a great humanist document that happens to be a movie rather than a novel or play….It is a luminous farce that depicts a weekend at a country estate. The classes\, represented on the one hand by the owner and his guests\, and on the other by members of the staff\, especially a maid and a gamekeeper\, are assiduously separated: one serves\, the other receives. But at the same time\, they all meet and merge as equals in games of love and deception. Renoir misses nothing\, and forgives everything. \nA more recent movie that moves me is THE RIDER\, by Chloe Zhao\, an almost-documentary that tells the story of some Pine Ridge “Indian cowboys”\, who make brief and destructive livings as rodeo riders. The characters play themselves. I’ve watched this three times\, and will watch it a fourth. \nOh\, and also about RULES OF THE GAME; it’s funny as hell. \n  \n—Ken Margolis \n* \nWhat is it about peace that its story is not enduring? \n  \nWings of Desire\, a 1987 film directed by Wim Wenders \n  \nThe aerial shots of Berlin so long before drones. The use of space both physically and visually. The plants in the library. The stand-up desks in the library. The angels in the library. The soft leather seats in the sports car in the showroom where the angels meet to compare notes. The desire for that car from the people looking in. The miracle of being able to watch this movie again in the kitchen 36 years later. The world of humans is in color. A friend and student expressing aversion to angels when I read a poem to a recent class that had a passing reference to them. The discussion that followed over days and walks about this dislike of angels she didn’t even know she had. The drawing on the wall at the circus behind the elephant. The robe on backwards to protect Marion’s chicken feather wings. Nick Cave on the portable phonograph. Looking for the right hat. The trapeze artist in a tuxedo cat suit with a long white tail. But the story of the grass\, the sun\, the leaping\, and the shouting that is still going on as well. Sometimes beauty is the only thing that matters. Chest armor falling from the sky. The revelation and joy in color in a gray gray city. The mural of a ruined building on an intact one. The pile of sawdust the circus left behind. No one saw the carney go. The shared wine glass filled almost to the brim.    \n  \n—Elizabeth Domike \n* \n  \nThis is a fun idea\, Johnny.   \nI particularly like movies based on books. Even if I loved the book\, I like watching how it was made into film. From the many Jane Austen’s to “Bridget Jone’s Diary\,” in which Salmon Rushdie plays himself in a tiny part. The renditions of “A Room with a View” to  “Little Dorrit.”  \nMy favorite film\, that stands up over 50 years\, is “Heaven Knows\, Mr. Allison\,” directed by John Huston. Robert Mitchum and Deborah Kerr\, a marine and a nun\, are stranded on a Japanese-invaded island during WWII. \nBill likes old and new foreign films—Iranian\, Japanese\, French\, Irish\, Indian\, the farther flung the better. Our favorite series ever is “Heimat”–that begins at the end of WWI with a family living above their cow in a small village\, up through that family’s  youngest living amongst his creative fellow artists in the city in the 50’s. Rotten tomato reviewer writes about it: “Edgar Reitz’s Heimat is not just a brilliant film about Germany. It is a brilliant film about our time\, anywhere—perhaps about any time anywhere. \nI’m excited to see everyone’s reviews! \n  \n—Katie Radditz \n* \n  \nI want movies to move me.  \nTwo films\, totally opposite from one another on the surface\, would be my faves of all time. The Crying Game and The Lives of Others are both about love\, courage and compassion. \nMy short take on The Crying Game is that Love Conquers all; love remains love\, in spite of its being turned on its head in a very unexpected way.  \nThe Lives of Others\, a German film\, takes place in 1984\, 5 years before the fall of the Berlin Wall. The Stasi\, the German version of the Nazi SS\, is in operation\, and Captain Gerd Wiesler is assigned the job of spying on a couple suspected of national dissident activity. The Captain is dry\, hardened\, methodical and dispassionate in his work (as he has been his whole life). However\, as time goes on\, he begins to care for his subjects (to his own puzzlement and fear). \nUltimately\, love and compassion conquer\, and he does the right thing\, makes the difficult\, moral choice\, to his own great peril. I love this.  \nOthers have different viewpoints of both these movies; this is what makes them both compelling\, and grand. \n—Jude Russell \n* \n  \nA Smile in Abjection \nnotes on the opening credits of Withnail and I \n  \nMy favorite frame in cinema is this one: Paul McGann as Marwood\, the “I” in Withnail and I\, just one minute into the film. We have drawn closer and closer to him as he smokes a cigarette that clearly brings no pleasure\, his eyes shifting and shifting and finding no solace. And as the saxophone of King Curtis carries us gently through a live cut of “A Whiter Shade of Pale\,” Marwood appears to reach some far limit within himself\, and his torment suddenly eases\, or it pauses to breathe\, or Marwood simply parts it like a blackout curtain. He lifts his eyes\, and we perceive a smile that is almost not even there. Perhaps we have just imagined it. Perhaps Marwood himself has imagined it. \n  \n \n  \nCan you see it? I can. It is the mark of a wild\, mad hope. I am certain it is there\, the smile\, because I have been there\, and I have smiled it. It is an abject smile\, a desolate smile\, a smile with sweat on its forehead. Undramatically\, I tell you that it is no less than the smile you face death with. I have been hunted by forces within me and without\, cornered and shivering in a sweater\, smoking far beyond any desire to continue smoking. And yet I would also\, in those midnights\, hallucinate some star\, some aberration of logic in which I could discern a reason to hope. Marwood is looking upon that star\, smiling upon it\, and I\, too\, have seen it. \n  \n—Alex Tretbar \n* \n  \nAndrei Rublev: \nAndrei Rublev is a biographical film about a medieval Russian iconic painter.  In the movie you can hardly see Rublev touching the brush. It is a movie about the formation of Rublev as an artist\, especially an artist living under an oppressive regime. It effectively shows that an artist is society’s conscience.  \n  \nTree of Life: \nTerrance Malicks poetic masterpiece that attempts to capture all of existence through the lens of a boy growing up in the American midlands.  As per the great film critic Roger Ebert “the only other film with this boldness of vision is Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey\, and it lacked Malick’s fierce evocation of human feeling.” \n  \n—Prabu Muruganantham \n* \n  \nDear Reader \nFor next month (May 4th)\, send me something about books that changed the way you see\, experience\, or understand the world. \n  \npeace\, love\, happiness & understanding \n—Johnny \n 
URL:https://openroadpdx.com/event/peace-love-happiness-understanding-2/
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://openroadpdx.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/MV5BNTFkYWRmZjYtN2I3ZS00YTdiLTg5NGYtOTViZWE5MjFjNjJhXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTI3MDk3MzQ@-1._V1_.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20230415
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20230515
DTSTAMP:20260426T034102
CREATED:20230416T194601Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250717T160933Z
UID:3800-1681516800-1684108799@openroadpdx.com
SUMMARY:Meditation & Mindfulness Dialogue  4/15/23
DESCRIPTION:  \n  \nOpen Road Meditation & Mindfulness Dialogue \n  \nApril 15\, 2023 \n  \nDear Mindful Meditators \n  \nOur Meditation & Mindfulness Dialogue began on September 15\, 2020. Recipients include people inside and outside prison walls. It is currently mailed to 10 men in prison and emailed to about 60 people who aren’t—including 9 men who were in prison in September of 2020 who are now out of prison! Hallelujah! \n  \nWe are going to have our first get-together on Saturday\, May 13th\, from 2 to 4 p.m.\, at Taborspace in Portland: 5441 SE Belmont. \n  \nThis will be an opportunity for people to get to know each other\, and to have a dialogue about our life journey—what it means\, what we love\, what we do to nurture peace\, happiness\, goodness and understanding in our own life and in the lives of others. \n  \nI hope you can come! Bring a friend\, if you like. \n  \nMy friend Rocky Hutchinson\, who is a member of our meditation & mindfulness community\, called me the other day\, and was excited to tell me about an author he had just discovered—Kahlil Gibran! Back in the day\, The Prophet was an essential book in every hippie’s library. Rocky’s enthusiasm inspired me to re-read it (after 50 years). This quote from The Prophet relates to our upcoming gathering: \n  \nYour friend is your needs answered. \nHe is your field which you sow with love and reap with thanksgiving…. \nAnd let your best be for your friend. \nIf he must know the ebb of your tide\, let him know its flood also. \nFor what is your friend that you should seek him with hours to kill? \nSeek him always with hours to live. \nFor it is his to fill your need\, but not your emptiness. \nAnd in the sweetness of friendship let there be laughing\, and sharing of pleasures. \nFor in the dew of little things the heart finds its morning and is refreshed. \n  \n—Kahlil Gibran \n  \npeace & love\, y’all \nJohnny \n* \n  \n            Dreaming in Detail \n  \nThe casting director for my dreaming \nI can understand—bringing in my parents \nfrom gone\, grown children as infants again\, \nand a parade of strangers\, each with a bit part \nfraught with obscure purpose. The location scout  \nfound familiar places\, made them mythic\, then \nadded an abundance of tunnels\, caves\, cities  \nin ruin\, and a foggy coast. My costume director \nsurrenders to seasonal change—blues in spring \nyielding to summer gray\, and autumn black. But  \nwhy is the director of photography so obsessed  \nwith effects of light both atmospheric and exact?  \nIn one scene we see fine hairs on my father’s arm  \nglitter in low sun\, then a heap of medieval coins\, \nthen that lost button shining on a stone. \n  \n—Kim Stafford \n* \n  \nA Fish Describes Water \n  \nThere are prayers best said \nonly at night\, in depths\, water steps \nrubies in the mouth. \n  \nWind ripples across moon grass \nlonging to be released by washed \nstones. The rowboat \n  \nis empty. What remains \nis a song\, a solitary gold-winged \nwarbler\, the pattern of rain. \n  \n—Elizabeth Domike \n* \n  \nWhat do you do to nurture  peace\, love and happiness in your life? \n  \nRecently I had a chance to sit in on a phone call with Johnny and Rocky Hutchinson. Rocky is one of our inmates in the dialogue group\, and he is one of the dearest human beings I’ve ever known. He has been in prison for a long time\, and has had quite a—well—rocky experience. \n  \nI asked him how he was doing\, and what he was doing\, and he told me he had just finished the Master Gardener program\, and he was also training dogs for use with people with disabilities. He loves it\, both the gardening and the dogs.  \n  \nI said\, “Rocky\, you couldn’t have picked two more valuable activities for the soul than gardens and dogs!” And I realized that that is just how I feel: Gardens and dogs fill my heart and soul like nothing else. \n  \nYou all might have heard that digging in dirt\, the smell of dirt\, of the soil\, stimulates endorphins in the brain\, the happiness endorphins. True!  Of course\, I don’t head to the garden thinking\, uh oh\, I think I need some of them endorphins about now! No\, it’s just an instinct\, a drive\, that takes me there. And planting carrots\, chard\, beans; digging watery moats around the tomato plants (the smell of those tomato leaves!); cutting bouquets of coral colored peonies and lavender irises (the smell of irises!); picking green beans with glints of sunlight beaming through the vines—all of this settles in me and brings focus\, joy\, and  quiet peace to my soul. Gardens\, yes!!! \n  \nAnd dogs! Lolo! My love! Some friends took care of Lolo while we were gone and when I asked how she’d been\, they said\, “She had us with one look into her soulful eyes.” So true. She looks into your heart and understands when you’re sad\, she rejoices when you’re happy\, and every emotion is acknowledged with a loving and energetic lick on the face. Ick! you might say. Not at all—it’s the lick of love. Don’t you remember that Dusty Springfield song\, “The Lick of Love..(is in your eyes…?”)  Oh wait—maybe it was “The Look of Love.” Whatever.  \n  \nAnyway\, she’s a soft and fuzzy and uncharacteristically sweet-smelling dog! What more can you ask for? \n  \nSO: gardens and dogs. Rocky\, you’re so right. But I must add that it’s you\, Rocky\, you and all the other men in our dialogue and theater group who bring peace\, love and sheer happiness into my life\, and I am forever grateful. \n  \nAddendum: But how could I have forgotten hiking??? Mt. Hood and Mt. Adams\, my two sentinels. How could I have omitted family\, and dear friends? Music!!!  Riding my bike! Art! Books and reading!!!  \n  \nWhat a topic! \n  \n—Jude Russell \n* \n  \nTo nurture peace\, love and happiness I simply do nothing.   \n  \nEach morning I take my coffee out on the porch and watch the daybreak.  I say my little peace prayer.  Then I do Nothing.  I don’t analyze or plan or meditate or cogitate.  I find myself surrounded by the sky.  Maybe the moon is out\, or the sun comes up.  It’s a moment of peace and harmony\, and I did nothing to get here.  I merely stopped distracting myself.   \n  \nI can’t spend the whole day sitting here.  There’s still clutter in my life or my mind or my house that needs some tending to.  But when the morning starts out this peacefully the rest of the day usually follows suit.  Our natural state is peace and love\, unless we sully it up.  How can this not nurture some happiness?   \n  \nThanks\, and love\,   \n  \n—Bill Faricy \n* \n  \nIn the chalice of the heart\, \n Lies love’s sweet essence: \nBorn of the seed of truth; \n Watered by the tears of devotion; \nWarmed by the sun of faith\, \n Through the fruit of days\, \nOn the vine of humankind– \n  One and another\, \nAll One Together… \n  \n—sam muller 14 April ’23 \n* \n  \nMichel is currenlty using a book by Pema Chödrön as the inspiration for his meditation journal. (I’m not sure which one\, but it appears to be inspired by Chögyam Trungpa’s Training the Mind.) \n  \nMarch 9\, 2023  #14  Seeing Confusion as the Four Kayas is Unsurpassable Shunyata Protection \n  \nThrough meditation practice you begin to realize: \n\nThoughts just pop up out of nowhere—dharmakaya\nThoughts are never ceasing—sambhogakaya\nThey appear but are not solid—sambhogakaya\nAll together: no birth\, no cessation\, no dwelling—svabhavikakaya\n\nThis understanding gives unsurpassable protection of \nrealizing called shunyata—“complete openness.” \nNothing solid to react to. \nYou’ve made much ado about nothing! \n  \nI can relate to this one. The fancy names mean little\, but the effort of meditation practice for complete openness is valuable—learning to not react to mental formations. Thoughts of mind are like mists or fog; the warm light of reality will dissipate all obstacles to reveal reality as it is. I’ve driven in misty\, snowy\, fog late at night and my vision played tricks on me\, so I had to drive extra cautiously. During a clear day\, the same road was easy to see and navigate. Mind plays the same tricks on me with reality; I need to slow down and pay careful attention—nothing changed except perception. Or did it? Surprises appear faster through foggy delusions. I can’t see them coming. Definitely: foggy\, misty\, delusions require proceeding cautiously until clearer. \n  \nMarch 13\, 2023  #17  Practice the Four Strengths\, the Condensed Heart Instrucions \n  \n\nStrong determination to train in opening heart and mind\nFamiliarization with practices helping you do this\nPositive seed within\, experienced as yearning to practice and wake up\nReproach\, tricky for Western students\, realizing ego-clinging causes suffering\, delight in self-reflection\, honesty\, seeing where you get stuck\nAspiration to help alleviate suffering in this world\, expressing that intention to yourself\n\n  \nI value each of these principles and judge they can be of benefit to any religious practice. I find\, and imagine it is similar for many\, that working with ego issues can be the most challenging of all\, since our culture is all about cultivating a powerful ego. My experience reveals Western egoism is the central source of all our sufferings. It’s from here that we develop attractions (grasping) and aversions (pushing away)\, and this ego makes us blind to our faults and challenges which\, once corrected\, would release—at least diminish—suffering. Yet\, we focus on and build up ego\, wondering at our suffering. The “escape” is to practice breathing. \n  \n—Michel Deforge \n 
URL:https://openroadpdx.com/event/meditation-mindfulness-dialogue-4-15-23/
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://openroadpdx.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/IMG_7408-scaled.jpeg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20230504
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20230601
DTSTAMP:20260426T034102
CREATED:20230504T212150Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250718T133118Z
UID:3850-1683158400-1685577599@openroadpdx.com
SUMMARY:peace\, love\, happiness & understanding  5/4/23
DESCRIPTION:  \n  \nTHE OPEN ROAD \npeace\, love\, happiness & understanding \n  \nBOOKS THAT CHANGED THE WAY YOU SEE THE WORLD \n  \nMay 4\, 2023 \n  \nWhen I first read Christina Stead’s The Man Who Loved Children\, I realized that literature could be even more powerful than I had known. Powerful enough in this novel to make me feel acute embarrassment\, shame\, and humiliation–unsavory\, and unforgettable emotions. It was\, in that sense\, one of the most unpleasant books that I have ever read–but I suffered those ugly emotions because I was in empathic thrall to the characters\, which was thrilling. Christina Stead had such power over me that she could compel me to keep reading even against my own will. Sixty years later\, the book stays with me. \n  \n—Ken Margolis \n* \n  \nThe Skull Mantra by Eliot Pattison \n  \nAs the first book in the Inspector Shan series this book gave me a glimpse into the history and current status of the relationship between Tibet and China. It also gave a different perspective on Tibetan Buddhism\, a more human practical one\, and it opened me to a world of beliefs deeply different from those I had learned about in the West. \n  \nThere are ten books in this series. \n  \nWhen I first met Andrew\, he had an “Endlessly Connected” bumper stick on his car that was flanked by two Meander Knots. A simple design\, the endless knot iconography symbolizes samsara—the endless cycle of suffering of birth\, death\, and rebirth within Tibetan Buddhism. The intertwining of wisdom and compassion. Also\, the Interplay and interaction of the opposing forces in the dualistic world of manifestation\, leading to their union\, and ultimately to harmony in the universe. \n  \nThe books have a starkness to them. As mysteries they are dark and sometimes brutal\, but the characters\, particularly the lamas have stuck around in my head since encountering them. Andrew and I read them at approximately the same time\, sharing tidbits and references and when it came time to name our poetry press\, little magazine and open mic\, Meander Knot was the obvious choice. \n  \nWe even got identical tattoos as both a branding exercise but also an expression of perhaps a deeper connection between us and the possible connection over more than one lifetime. \n  \nAnd then\, when I started teaching yoga\, I called the business “Meander Yoga”. The endless knot is not featured specifically in the books\, (although I suspect it is mentioned. I am planning on re-reading them this year and will find out) it symbolizes to me the deep cultural richness in the books and how that richness has enhanced both my spiritual\, but also my artistic life.   \n  \n—Elizabeth Domike \n* \n  \nHi Johnny! \n  \nThere are so many books that have changed me and/or inspired me but the one that comes to the top of my mind is Hope for the Flowers. I’ve read this book so many times and have shared it with so many people. It’s such a sweet and simple illustration of transformation but also of embracing who you are right now.  \n  \nOn a totally different note\, I remember reading Johnny Got His Gun for the first time and being in awe. It was the first time I really sat and pondered what it means to be human and what makes life worth living.  \n  \nOh\, and of course\, Joseph Campbell’s The Power of Myth! \n  \nI’ll stop before I start listing 100 books.  \n  \n—Nicole Rush \n* \n  \nThe Mahabharata retold by William Buck \n  \nI first thought Peter Brooke read this. \nI found it falling apart in a free box or a yard sale. \nI found I couldn’t read it. \nIt sat on the bookshelf for a couple of years. I kept an eye on it. \n  \nOne morning in Parkrose neighborhood\, on a north deck\, watching the planes glide in over the trees and rooftops\, following the river west to PDX\, I saw the sun was shining after endless rain. \nA cup of coffee was there\, and the time had come to open the book of wonder. \n  \n—Charles Erickson \n* \n  \nbeautiful morning\, Johnny. good question! \n  \nI immediately thought about how I felt after reading Green Mansions by William Henry Hudson. I had never had an English teacher in High School assign anything like it to read. I think I was the only one in the class who liked it or even read it. So for one thing it forged a bond with my fascinating lovely teacher. \n  \nMainly it opened up a world of wonder about the wild\, where savage had the meaning of wild/wyld people in a forest wilderness unmitigated by modern civilization. It is about true freedom compared to that of the birds.   \n  \nHudson writes with a clear style that matches his view of beauty and wonder being the essence of life. It is a love story as well as a tragedy of what would come of nature.  \n  \nNow I’ve pulled it out to read once again. I had forgotten the main character’s name is Abel—my first son’s name! I think this story has stayed with me in my deep consciousness.  \n  \nIn the forward\, John Galsworthy wrote in 1918 that Hudson was the most valuable author of his Age. He says of  Hudson\, who was a naturalist as well as an author: “his nomadic records of communing with men (women)\, birds\, beasts\, and Nature\, has a supreme gift of disclosing not only the thing he sees but the spirit of his vision. Without apparent effort he takes you with him into a rare\, free\, natural world\, and always you are refreshed\, stimulated\, enlarged\, by going there.”  \n  \n—Katie Radditz \n* \n  \nAbout ten years ago a good friend of mine urged me to read Nicholas and Alexandra\, by Robert Massie. I was reluctant\, because\, as I told her\, “I don’t do history.” She said\, “Well\, do!” I said that because up until then the only history I’d read had been high school and college textbooks. I’d read\, study\, take a test and then forget everything (hopefully in that order). I read hundreds and hundreds of novels from junior high school on—Stendhal\, Balzac\, Dickens\, Dostoevsky\, etc.—so it wasn’t for a lack of love of reading\, just no desire or aptitude for history. \n  \nBut I read Nicholas and Alexandra and loved it! It’s the story of the last czarist Romanov dynasty and its fall. I’d never known much about Rasputin\, but he figures in powerfully\, with the strange spell he held over Alexandra and her hemophiliac son\, Alexi. It was probably more biography than accounting of events. It led me to Peter the Great and Catherine the Great\, both of which were also biographical\, with dominion\, control\, conquest\, acquisition and rule over dozens of countries in that region threaded into their stories. \n  \nSo perhaps it’s biography rather than history that has opened up a new world of reading for me.  \n  \nIn that vein\, I also read American Prometheus\, the biography of J. Robert Oppenheimer\, “father of the atomic bomb.” Strange reading material\, eh? But he was such a brilliant polymath and was forever conflicted about how his genius was put to use.  \n  \nRight now\, it’s The Orientalist\, by Tom Reiss\, the life of Lev Nussimbaum\, a Jew who transformed himself into a Muslim prince and became a best selling author in Nazi Germany. It looks at the early 20th century and the origins of our ideas of race and religious self-definition\, and the beginning of modern fanaticism and terrorism.  \n  \nSo now it’s geography in addition to biography and history\, and I’m sitting with the big World Atlas and a magnifying glass\, scrutinizing Baku\, the capital of Azerbaijan\, the Caspian Sea\, the Caucasus\, Georgia\, Turkey… \n  \nTo wrap this up\, explorations in readings of geography\, biography\, and history have expanded my vision\, experience\, and understanding of the world in these last ten years\, thanks to my friend\, Nikki! (But I still love novels.) \n  \n—Jude Russell \n* \n  \nAlice Miller’s book For Your Own Good: Hidden Cruelty in Childhood and the Roots of Violence changed the way I look at individual acts of violence and collective acts of violence—war. The basic thesis is simple: abusing children—physically\, psychologically\, emotionally\, sexually—wounds them. She says that when we grow up\, we unconsciously and compulsively re-enact the violence that was done to us. Randy Newman’s song “I want you to hurt like I do” sums it up. The violence can also be directed against ourselves. There’s more to the story than the idea that we are\, by our nature\, violent apes. We certainly have the potential for violence\, and we also have the potential to be loving and kind. It depends which seeds we water.  \n  \nIt follows from this that to the extent that we can be loving and kind to our children—instead of mean and cruel—the world will be transformed in positive ways. Conscious awareness of what we suffered and how it has affected us can help us to not act out the same things that were done to us. Her book helped me to better understand how “hurt people hurt people.” Instead of judging people for the suffering they’ve caused\, I want to know about the pain they’ve suffered. \n  \nSusan Griffin’s book Woman and Nature brought home to me the relentless way in which men have defined\, dominated and oppressed women over the centuries. Her book is also a visionary call for women’s (and men’s) emancipation from this tyranny. \n  \nAntler’s poem “Factory” changed the way I see the world around me. Having read the poem many years ago\, it still manages to regularly remind me that the paint on the walls\, the windows in the walls\, the lightbulbs\, the refrigerator\, the glasses on my nose\, the computer that I’m typing on—almost everything that surrounds me—was made by men and women working in (ugly\, noisy) factories (which pollute the air\, the water and the soil). \n  \nWalt Whitman’s poem “Song of Myself” inspires me to see beauty everywhere\, to love everyone\, to be astonished by the miraculousness of everything I touch\, taste\, see\, or imagine. \n  \n—Johnny Stallings \n* \n  \nFOR YOUR OWN GOOD \nThanks for the reminder\, Johnny\, \nYou introduced me to that book ages ago\, and I carried it around with me for a long time. \nIt says lots about childhood and being treated as a child by adults who are very busy in their own sphere. \nIt has left a lasting impression on me. \nI’ll see if I can come up with another that has been useful as a life reference. \n  \n—Todd Oleson \n* \n  \nIn the recent Open Road letter you asked about life-changing books—or at least life-influencing ones. Many of the titles you sent me fall in this group. However\, due to space limits\, I’ve sent the most helpful ones home and forgotten the titles. Some others include: Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl\, Writing My Wrongs: Life\, Death\, and Redemption in an American Prison by Shaka Senghor\, The Master Plan: My Journey from Life in Prison to a Life of Purpose by Chris Wilson. I’m working through My Grandmother’s Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies by Resmaa Menakem—a bit “woke\,” but still has relevance. Homecoming: Reclaiming and Championing Your Inner Child by John Bradshaw. Mmm…I’ll have to come back to this. \n  \nThere’s a small-ish list of books I hope to read this next year—after ordering\, of course. Some may trigger comments and feedback for others I’ll need/want to read\, or even avoid: 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene\, How to Talk to Anyone by Leil Lowndes\, something by W.E.B. Du Bois [his two most well-known books are The Souls of Black Folk and Autobiography of W.E.B. Du Bois—ed.]\, Hillbilly Elegy by J. D. Vance\, Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates\, Ordinary Magic: Resilience in Development by Ann S. Masten\, Complex PTSD: From Surviving to Thriving by Pete Walker\, Say What You Mean: A Mindful Approach to Nonviolent Communication by Oren Jay Sofer\, and Nonviolent Communication by Marshall Rosenberg. \n  \nOh\, The Body Keeps Score by Bessel van der Kolk\, on trauma—this was helpful. So many helpful books\, and all the best are at home. This is great for when I get out (15+ years)\, not great for now. Oh\, and I have crossed the halfway on April 9th: 50% done\, 15¾ years left. \n  \n—Michel Deforge \n* \n  \nDear Reader \n  \nNext month (June 1st)\, our theme is Peace. \nSend me something. \n  \npeace & love \nJohnny \n  \n 
URL:https://openroadpdx.com/event/peace-love-happiness-understanding-5-4-23/
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20230504T100000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20230504T120000
DTSTAMP:20260426T034102
CREATED:20230419T224924Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230427T001427Z
UID:3827-1683194400-1683201600@openroadpdx.com
SUMMARY:War in Ukraine Dialogue  5/4/23
DESCRIPTION:  \nPLEASE JOIN A DISCUSSION ABOUT U.S. INVOLVEMENT \nIN THE WAR IN UKRAINE \nThe Open Road invites you to take part in a dialogue about the War in Ukraine\, and our country’s role in it.  \nThursday\, May 4th\, at 10 a.m. \nThe Gallery at Lolo Pass\, 1616 East Burnside\, in Portland \nFor questions or information call Ken: (503) 351-5891 \n“In the councils of government\, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence\, whether sought or unsought\, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous use of misplaced power exists and will persist.” \n—President Dwight D. Eisenhower \nFarewell Address to the Nation\, January 17\, 1961 \nFREE ADMISSION
URL:https://openroadpdx.com/event/war-in-ukraine-slide-presentation-discussion/
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20230506T200000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20230506T213000
DTSTAMP:20260426T034102
CREATED:20230418T215016Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230505T151323Z
UID:3812-1683403200-1683408600@openroadpdx.com
SUMMARY:Jon Bennett performs Fire in the Meth Lab at ADX
DESCRIPTION:  \nThe Open Road invites you to come and be astonished by Jon Bennett’s brilliant show: Fire In the Meth Lab\, Saturday\, May 6th\, 8 p.m.\, at Art Design Xchange (ADX)\, 417 SE 11th. Doors at 7:30pm. Click here for tickets: \n  \nJon Bennett has crafted a powerful story of addiction and family. When I saw this show\, I laughed and cried as he took me on an unforgettable journey. Not to be missed!!  –Jeffrey Sher \n  \nThis is a benefit for Outside In. Since 1968\, Outside In has transformed thousands of lives by helping to break the cycles of chronic homelessness\, poverty\, and poor health. Our health clinic and young adult programs strive to provide safe\, caring\, affirming spaces for our community to receive judgment-free care and support. MISSION: We help homeless youth and other marginalized people move towards improved health and self-sufficiency. \n  \nThank you to Ronni Lacroute for sponsoring this event.
URL:https://openroadpdx.com/event/jon-bennett-performs-fire-in-the-meth-lab/
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20230507T150000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20230507T170000
DTSTAMP:20260426T034102
CREATED:20230503T210001Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230517T154403Z
UID:3843-1683471600-1683478800@openroadpdx.com
SUMMARY:Bibliophiles Unanimous!  5/7/23
DESCRIPTION:from Liber Novus (The Red Book) by Carl Jung \n  \n  \nBeloved Bibliophiles!\n \nThe theme for our next Bibliophiles Unanimous! Zoom dialogue is Psychology. Read any books on this subject? Got any insights? Please join us at 3 p.m. (PDT)\, Sunday\, May 7th. \n \n\nHere’s the Zoom link:  \n  \nhttps://us02web.zoom.us/j/87614013058 \n  \n\n\n\n\n\npeace\, love & psychology\n\n\n \n\n\nJohnny
URL:https://openroadpdx.com/event/bibliophiles-unanimous-5-7-23/
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20230513T140000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20230513T160000
DTSTAMP:20260426T034102
CREATED:20230509T183049Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230510T195845Z
UID:3875-1683986400-1683993600@openroadpdx.com
SUMMARY:Meditation & Mindfulness Dialogue Gathering  5/13/23
DESCRIPTION: \n \n\n\n\nDear Friends \n\n \n \n\n\n\n\n\nYou are invited to join us for our meditation & mindfulness community’s first live get-together\, this Saturday\, May 13\, from 2 to 4 pm\, in the Artspace Room at Taborspace\, 5441 SE Belmont Street\, in Portland.\n \n\nIn September of 2020 we began our Meditation & Mindfulness Dialogue–sending it to friends inside and outside of prison walls. Many of the “insiders” have gotten out of prison since then. Currently\, the Meditation & Mindfulness Dialogue is mailed to ten men in prison\, and is emailed to about 60 people who aren’t in prison. If you are getting this email\, you are one of the 60 lucky “outsiders.”\n \n\nThis will be a lovely opportunity for everyone to have a dialogue and get to know each other better.\n \nWe hope you can join us!\n \n \npeace\, love & happiness from\n \nJohnny Stallings & Katie Radditz
URL:https://openroadpdx.com/event/meditation-mindfulness-dialogue-gathering-5-13-23/
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://openroadpdx.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Bodhi_Ajanta.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20230515
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20230615
DTSTAMP:20260426T034102
CREATED:20230515T224532Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250717T162120Z
UID:3903-1684108800-1686787199@openroadpdx.com
SUMMARY:Meditation & Mindfulness Dialogue  5/15/23
DESCRIPTION:  \nMay 15\, 2023 \n  \nLet your heart speak to others’ hearts. \n—tag on Yogi Tea bag \n  \n                Gandhi Returns \n  \nAs if he had said enough in life\, he uttered  \nnot a word where we stood in the station  \nin my dream\, only a stillness in the bustle  \nall around us. Instead\, he listened\, turning  \nhis bright young face in welcome to every  \ntraveler as they made speeches of their own.  \nA mother told of her son\, and in Gandhi’s eyes  \nthe boy was hero. I told him how Ali in Tehran \nhad written me that poetry is oxygen\, and in  \nMahatma’s eyes\, this was a truth no gun  \ncould injure. One by one he summoned \nwitness from each pilgrim. Then\, smiling\,  \nin his folds of pale cotton he helped us  \nstruggle with our luggage onto the steaming  \ntrain. And when I turned\, I saw he had none. \n  \n—Kim Stafford \n* \n  \nAlex Tretbar sent two translations of a poem by Rainer Maria Rilke—showing what a big difference a translator’s choices make. He prefers the Robert Bly version: \n  \nPALM \n  \nInterior of the hand. Sole that has come to walk \nonly on feelings. That faces upward \nand in its mirror \nreceives heavenly roads\, which travel \nalong themselves. \nThat has learned to walk upon water \nwhen it scoops\, \nthat walks upon wells\, \ntransfiguring every path. \nThat steps into other hands\, \nchanges those that are like it \ninto a landscape: \nwanders and arrives within them\, \nfills them with arrival. \n  \n—translated by Stephen Mitchell \n  \nPALM OF THE HAND \n  \nPalm of the hand. Sole that walks now \nonly on feeling. It turns over\, \nbecomes a mirror\, \nshows sky roads\, which \nthemselves are walking. \nIt has learned to walk on water\, \nwhen it dips down\, \nmoves on springs\, \ncauses all roads to fork. \nComes forward into other palms\, \nthose like itself \nturn into a countryside\, \nthrough them it travels and arrives\, \nfills them with having arrived. \n  \n—translated by Robert Bly \n* \n  \nI saw lots of Jet trails in the blue sky gaily criss-crossing \nand wondered how many of us might be able to see them. \nThen this poem\, that our beloved friend and  Zen teacher  \nBob Schaibly liked\, popped into my mind.   \n  \nLove Note \n  \nLet us hire a hundred planes \nStuff them with hot cotton smoke \nAnd write white poetry on the paper of the sky. \nLet the ant people on the hot summer beaches look up squinting \nRead feathery descriptions of your lips\, \nTraced by the sky writers. \n  \nWe’ll pick a calm noontime\, \nSun pressing wrinkles out of the steamy sea \nSky flat\, receptive. \n“Love\,” I’ll write\, and “mouth\,” and silver words. \n“Cling\,” I’ll write\, and “Stars\,” and oh\, don’t worry. \nThe words will all come easily enough. \nIt’s the idea that matters. \n  \nThen I’ll fly up in the highest plane’ \nAnd jump and parachute right through \nThe O in the word “Love” \nAnd land in your backyard\, \nAnd kiss you – home again. \n  \n—Joseph Siebel \n  \n—Katie Radditz \n* \n  \nAnd a mouse is miracle enough to stagger sextillions of infidels… \n—Walt Whitman\, Song of Myself \n  \nThe Miraculousness of Everything \n  \nBecause life is short and each day is precious\, I like to begin each day by entering what I call “the Golden World”—a state of quiet joy. To do this\, I often reflect upon the miraculousness of everything. Puffy white clouds floating by in the sky—how do they do that? Where did these coffee beans come from? The trees I see out my window have brand new bright green leaves. How did that happen? Our neighborhood is full of tulips. The irises and the rhododendrons are just starting to bloom. The daphne and the daffodils have had their glorious days. The laptop computer that I’m typing this on was undreamt of when I was a boy. \n  \nMaybe the most impossible and amazing thing of all is that I am alive and aware. My eyes\, brain and nervous system somehow create the illusion of a three-dimensional world in full color. Scientists might say\, “It’s just photons of light hitting the surface of the eye\, sending an electrical current to your brain\, where the synapses in your visual cortex something something something…” Huh? Photons? Synapses? Brain? What the heck are those? Where did they come from? One of my little poems goes like this: \n  \nthere has never been \nis not now \nand will never be \nanything more perfect \nthan this glass of water \n  \nOops! Here I am again…in the Golden World. \n  \n—Johnny Stallings \n* \n  \n#186  The First Noble Truth \n“The Buddha told us to recognize the First Noble Truth\, the truth of suffering\, and to look deeply in order to discover the Second Noble Truth\, the cause of suffering.That is the only way the Fourth Noble Truth\, the path to transform suffering into happiness\, can reveal itself. So we have to emphasize the role of suffering. If we are so afraid of suffering\, we have no chance.” \n—from Your True Home  by Thich Nhat Hanh \n  \nWhen I was in the midst of deep suffering\, of course I couldn’t comprehend that this was a good thing\, leading to happiness. Sure didn’t feel like that to me. \n  \nThe suffering was thirteen years of marriage to a raging alcoholic—yes\, “raging” is not an exaggeration. Trying to cover a black eye with makeup\, wearing long-sleeved shirts to cover bruised arms\, making humiliating excuses for his passing out on the floor in the presence of company\, sharp\, cutting words more lasting than any physical pain…on and on. I thought if I left\, I would be seen as a failure in my parents’ eyes\, so I stayed and endured and excused for\, yes\, thirteen years. Believe me\, I was not thinking of these years as those leading to happiness. Upon divorce (thank you\, Al Anon)\, I eventually became a new person—or I became who I had been before marriage\, Jump-up Jude! I felt like a helium balloon released into the sky. Happiness and euphoria beyond belief. However\, I lived periods of time (and still do!)\, infused with what I would now call PTSD: Once I clambered over audience-filled seats in a theater in Ashland to escape sitting through a play by Sam Sheppard about an alcoholic husband who goes to bars and trades his car for bags of green peppers\, which he drunkenly spills on the kitchen table as he lurches home to his wife. I can’t watch the movie Elephant Man\, or The Days of Wine and Roses. Much as I wanted to\, I could not even sit and watch the delicious hunk\, Bradley Cooper\, starring in A Star is Born\, as he devolves into violent and abusive alcoholism. And I just can’t be around drunk people. I feel like I’m suffocating. \n  \nSo where does the happiness component come from that??? The happiness and benefit come from my ability to connect and empathize  with others who have been traumatized by life experiences. The kids I mentored\, the Indian woman whose family I helped for 18 years\, and most especially\, the men in prison I have spent time with for seven years; I have not lived their lives\, nor have they lived mine\, but we all have had deep trauma and all can relate to one another’s deep trauma in a blessedly bonding experience.  \n  \nIt truly is sheer happiness when one understands\, and is understood by another\, in experiences of trauma and suffering. I wouldn’t trade it for the world! \n  \n–Jude Russell \n* \n  \nOut Here \n  \nWe come out here to watch the stars \nfade as Orion heads home towards \nthe horizon. Low lying mist obscures his \nturning as waves curl and crash\, foamy flow \nup on newly deposited rocks\, old wood\, \nyellow toes of bald eagles foraging \namong crows\, pink footed gulls. \n  \nLight comes up slowly burning mist \naway. As we are away at the edge of the \nknown world. Beacons of cable laying ships\, \nbarges full of earth slowly appear \nas tide comes in. Now there is color \nas sky settles into her blue cloak\, hovers \nprotectively around the huge remnant \n  \nRock of sister cape worn down\, left \nstanding alone in calling distance of \nshore. Before us feasting on starlight \nthe sword edge crescent moon glints \nover barrier pine hills\, \nsweeps the way clear\, for us to make \nwhat we can of this fresh new day. \n  \n—Elizabeth Domike \n* \n  \nMichel is using a book by Pema Chödrön\, based on the slogans in her teacher Chögyam Trungpa’s book Training the Mind: And Cultivating Loving-Kindness\, as inspiration for his April meditation and mindfulness journal. Here are some excerpts: \n  \nApril 4\, 2023  #35  Don’t try to be the fastest. Don’t compete with others. \nI might offer a step further along: Don’t compare self to others—don’t get judgy\, of anything. I’m finding this is one of the lasting legacies of Jake Merriman and OHOM in my life: the letting go of judgement words. To do this one has to follow Johnny Stallings’ trait—compassion for everyone. I find that letting go of obsessive need to categorize and judge\, or sort out good/bad\, like/dislike\, etc. I will vie less and less against others\, or even self\, for prizes that do not exist. From this less judging space it becomes easier to understand and have compassion for an other\, and eventually even for self. \n  \nApril 20\, 2023  #48  Train without bias in all areas. It is crucial to do this pervasively and wholeheartedly. \nIT’S IMPORTANT TO INCLUDE EVERYONE AND \nEVERYTHING YOU MEET AS PART OF YOUR PRACTICE. \nTHEY BECOME THE MEANS BY WHICH YOU \nCULTIVATE COMPASSION AND WISDOM. \nWho doesn’t want to cultivate compassion and/or wisdom? I certainly have been striving to do this. There are certain beings (things are also included in this teaching—sigh) with whom I have a very challenged relationship. I don’t like them\, they don’t like me\, and neither is open to changing this. Yet\, I’m certain (from all my readings) these others are here for some greater purpose in my life; shouldn’t waste an opportunity to grow\, I may not get another one—then what? Go about with a malformed (uncorrected) ego\, as I do now? No thanks! I guess I better get busy with my work/training. \n  \nApril 21\, 2023  #49 Always meditate on whatever provokes resentment. \nDO TONGLEN PRACTICE WHENEVER YOU FEEL RESENTMENT. \nDO IT WITH SMALL THINGS ALL THE TIME. THEN YOU’LL BE \nPREPARED TO WORK WITH THE BIG ONES WHEN THEY ARISE. \nIt seems wise to work with resolving one’s resentments\, before they grow into “hates” for people\, beings\, or things. I believe all mindfulness practice is like this; sit now\, in silent reverie\, so amidst a fierce stormy barrage calm may prevail. Everything would simply build from there. Just breathe… \n  \nApril 23\, 2023  #49 Don’t be swayed by external circumstances. \nWHATEVER YOUR CIRCUMSTANCES\, PRACTICE  TONGLEN. \nWHATEVER IS WANTED\, SEND THAT OUT; WHATEVER IS \nUNWANTED\, BREATHE IT IN AND EXPERIENCE IT FOR \nYOURSELF AND ALL OTHERS IN THE SAME BOAT. \nThis speaks to equanimity—not allowing the outside storms of life to sway my little stuff. Currently\, I am bracing for the eventual passing of my father\, whom I’ve come to love very much. Alzheimer’s is taking a toll on his mind and personality. I don’t see it yet\, but my mom has to deal with many of the challenges that are arising. There’s nothing I can do for either of them; letting those concerns frazzle me doesn’t help any. All I can do is keep doing as best as I can. I’m not ready to let him go\, and at the same time he is already gone. My father I knew as a child is long gone—the one with whom I had so many conflicts and struggles—and the one I’ve come to know\, love\, and appreciate from prison\, he\, too\, is now gone. What’s left is the husk of of a man I once knew for his strength and resolve. He’s not dead\, nor has his mind gone completely yet. However\, the inevitable reality of time’s ravaging of mind and body are no longer easily ignored. It is time to embrace each moment\, as it may be the last one I get with him. Whether by phone\, or if I get to see him once more face-to-face\, truth is present that we all proceed apace to the same destiny—each on our own path and in our own time. \n  \n—Michel Deforge \n* \n  \nDear Mindful Meditators \n  \nOur Meditation & Mindfulness Dialogue began on September 15\, 2020. It is mailed to 10 people who are in prison and emailed to about 60 people who aren’t—including 9 men who were in prison in September of 2020 who are now out of prison! Hallelujah! \n  \nWe had our first get-together on Saturday\, May 13th\, at Taborspace in Portland. In attendance were: Charles Erickson\, Nicole Rush\, Sam Muller\, Nancy Scharbach\, Katie Radditz & Johnny Stallings. We talked about how our “life journey” and our “spiritual journey” are the same thing. Everyone shared stories from their life. Abe Green visited us from Montana—via FaceTime. We all had a lovely time together.  \n  \nMay all people be happy. \nMay we live in peace & love. \n  \n—Johnny
URL:https://openroadpdx.com/event/meditation-mindfulness-dialogue-5-15-23/
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://openroadpdx.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/0.jpeg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20230519T190000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20230519T210000
DTSTAMP:20260426T034102
CREATED:20230419T222910Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240610T231710Z
UID:3821-1684522800-1684530000@openroadpdx.com
SUMMARY:Deck Boys Friday Night!
DESCRIPTION:Music Lovers!\n \nThis Friday\, May 19th\, from 7 to 9 pm\, Deck Boys (https://www.deckboys.com)–featuring the inimitable Jeffrey Sher!–are gonna rock the Ross Island Grocery & Cafe\, 3502 S. Corbett\, Ave\, in Portland.\n \nWanna have a good time?\n \nThis is the place to be.\n \n \npeace\, love & music\n \nJohnny
URL:https://openroadpdx.com/event/deck-boys-friday-night/
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://openroadpdx.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/DeckBoys.png.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20230521T150000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20230521T170000
DTSTAMP:20260426T034102
CREATED:20230517T154102Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230517T160931Z
UID:3921-1684681200-1684688400@openroadpdx.com
SUMMARY:Bibliophiles Unanimous!  5/21/23
DESCRIPTION:Nobel Prize-winning author\, Doris Lessing \n  \nBeloved Bibliophiles!\n \nThe theme for our next Bibliophiles Unanimous! Zoom dialogue is Favorite Women Authors! Please join us at 3 p.m. (PDT)\, Sunday\, May 21st. \n \n\nHere’s the Zoom link:  \n  \nhttps://us02web.zoom.us/j/87614013058 \n  \n\n\n\n\n\npeace & love\n\n\n \n\n\nJohnny
URL:https://openroadpdx.com/event/bibliophiles-unanimous-5-21-23/
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20230527T193000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20230527T210000
DTSTAMP:20260426T034102
CREATED:20230516T162833Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230516T163203Z
UID:3915-1685215800-1685221200@openroadpdx.com
SUMMARY:Johnny Stallings performs Walt Whitman's "Song of Myself"  5/27/23
DESCRIPTION:painting of Walt Whitman by Rick Bartow\n\n\n  \n  \n For Walt’s 204th Birthday\, Johnny Stallings will be performing  \n  \nWalt Whitman’s “Song of Myself” \n  \nat PAUSE  \n  \nPAUSE is a meditation studio — 133 SW 2nd Ave.\, Suite 300\, (door code 54445) \n  \nSaturday\, May 27th\, 7:30 p.m. \n  \na benefit for the Open Road Film Fund  \n(for distributing Bushra Azzouz’s film “A Midsummer Night’s Dream in Prison”) \n  \nfor info\, call Johnny: 503-347-6869
URL:https://openroadpdx.com/event/johnny-stallings-performs-walt-whitmans-song-of-myself-5-27-23/
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://openroadpdx.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/IMG_0029-2.jpeg
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR