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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20240903
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20241013
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CREATED:20240903T170527Z
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UID:4925-1725321600-1728777599@openroadpdx.com
SUMMARY:Paintings by Jake Scharbach at Froelick Gallery
DESCRIPTION:painting by Jake Scharbach \n  \nJake Scharbach’s paintings will be exhibited at Froelick Gallery\, September 3-October 12. \n  \nThe First Thursday Reception is September 5\, 5-8 pm. \n  \nHe will give a talk at the gallery on Saturday\, September 7th\, at 11 a.m.  \n  \nFroelick Gallery is at 714 NW Davis\, in Portland.  \n  \n  \n  \nJake is Nancy’s nephew. We’re very excited about the show!   \n  \n  \npeace\, love & happiness   \nJohnny
URL:https://openroadpdx.com/event/paintings-by-jake-scharbach-at-froelick-gallery/
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20240905
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20241003
DTSTAMP:20260424T225119
CREATED:20240905T234946Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250718T140259Z
UID:5018-1725494400-1727913599@openroadpdx.com
SUMMARY:peace\, love\, happiness & understanding   9/5/24
DESCRIPTION:  \nTHE OPEN ROAD \npeace\, love\, happiness & understanding \n  \nSeptember 5\, 2024 \n  \n  \nBroken and broken \nAgain on the sea  \nThe moon so easily mends.  \n  \nUeda Chōshū \n _________________ \nWe Are All Going into the Future Together \n  \nJohnny has framed this newsletter – Peace\, Love\, Happiness and Understanding – to give readers a sense of joy. He has asked me to write about being a futurist\, an optimistic futurist\, knowing that it is part of my practice to find good things in the world. Every day I try to find signals of hope from what is emerging – in the news\, online\, in conversation and from observation.  \n  \nTwo things about the future: there are no facts (as if we needed proof given our recent political stories) and\, the future belongs to all of us. We are going into it together\, learning as we go.  \n  \nWhen I connect to people who think about the future we construct and play games as we set up scenarios that might come into being. Here is a recent one: millions of people will be migrating from too-hot-to-live-in places to places that aren’t as devastated yet. I’m in Oregon so people will be moving here for sure. How do I feel about that? What can/should I do? What problems and possibilities are there in this scenario? \n  \nMy first thought is\, “Wait. What? People coming here to my block? I don’t know them – they could be from anywhere.” I sit with this and then think how much I have and how much I’d like to share. I begin to think about how my neighborhood could embrace a new family. Could I put a small house in my yard? Could I find friends and neighbors who would pool money to buy a place they could gift this family until they could pay rent? Could I move in with one of my kids (or vice versa) and give a displaced family somewhere to get a new life started ? Could a group of friends build a house like Habitat for Humanity does? And then I start to get excited about exchanging ideas and culture with new people. As a teacher\, artist and grandma I’d love to teach their kids art\, or sit in their kitchen smelling their cooking\, or share some of mine. My granddaughter could meet their daughter and who knows where that could go? \n  \nThe futurists I hang out with are part of an online community started by Jane McGonigal. Years ago I read her book “Reality is Broken” because my boys were spending so much time on video games and playing Warhammer and I didn’t understand their fascination. Jane’s book opened my eyes to the foundation of games: to make a game you set a goal and then put obstacles in the way. Think golf: you could just walk over and put the ball in the cup. To make it a game you have all kinds of complicated rules involving special equipment\, spaces\, time\, scoring. And though golf doesn’t interest me I began to realize that as an artist I set up rules to play by every day. Will I use watercolors or acrylics? Big brush or small – arm motion or wrist motion? Abstract or realistic? Political or decorative? And so on. What this has to do with futurists is the real game\, the underlying game\, is “What if?” What if I use only blues? (Picasso’s Blue Period.) What if I accentuate B&W contrasts and shadows? (Think film Noir.) What if I put lots of mirrors facing each other and walk between them? (Yayoi Kusama’s Infinity Rooms.) \n  \nArtists make up their own rules and play by them. Artists and futurists ask “What if?” to guide them to new places. \n  \nIn our online group\, urgentoptimists.org\, we look ten years in the future and imagine: \n  \n“What if there was a huge climate event that knocked out food production across a wide band of the earth?” \n“What kinds of new holidays and celebrations would you like to be part of?” \n“What impact will AI have on medical care\, education\, business\, art\, politics?” \n“How might we meet a new pandemic and what have we learned from Covid?” \n“Tomorrow is the last day of trash pick-up for everyone\, forever. What have you (and your town/city) done to get ready for this moment?” \n  \nJane’s recent book is “Imaginable: How to See the Future Coming and Be Ready for Anything.” As a game developer she knows how to make learning interesting and inventive. For Urgent Optimists she designs a scenario\, like the ones above\, and we are prompted each day for a week to write and post journal entries from the future (usually ten years\, so 2034); or create an artifact (design a poster for the new holiday “Ancestor Appreciation Day”); or contribute to a poll that asks how we’d feel being in 110 degree weather for a week.  \n  \nFrom all around the globe people answer Jane’s prompts as if they’re in 2034 and this is their reality. They share hopes\, fears and cautions. They sleuth out signs that whatever-it-is is starting to happen now. Many places around the world have had 110 degree weather for a week and more\, and that number is increasing. Where do we see signs of solutions?  \n  \nThis is foresight as a verb. Once your mind has gone to that place\, no matter what question it is answering\, you have a different way of imagining the future. You’ve imagined the people you are connected to in that future: your family\, friends\, neighbors\, city\, country\, globe. Everyone and everything plays together: mycelium and birds and streams and avalanches and a girl eating a corn dog at the county fair in Nebraska or a boy eating yak-on-a-stick in Mongolia all come together – the yin and the yang of the great wheel of fortune. The murderer who types on a computer and the one with a sawed off shotgun. The baby blessed and the baby abandoned. The open road and the closed cell. We are all going into the future together. But since there are no facts\, you and I are just as expert at drawing a picture of it. We are all immigrants in the future\, dancing as we go. \n  \n—Jill Littlewood \n* \n  \nLike all the other hippies\, back in the day\, I spent a lot of reading and re-reading The Whole Earth Catalog. It was a kind of Bible to us. It was a way of finding out about things before there was an Internet. A futurist and inventor named Buckminster Fuller was prominently featured in its pages. He invented the geodesic dome\, and many of us dutifully did our best to build them on our hippie communes. As a young man “Bucky” had spent a lot of time imagining the future\, what problems might arise\, and how to solve them. He hoped that by getting a 50-year head start on the problems\, by the time they arrived we’d be ready for them. Maybe we could even prevent some bad things from happening. A book of some of his speeches was titled Utopia or Oblivion. Those were our choices\, he said. Since oblivion is not very interesting\, he decided to devote his intelligence\, imagination and energy to utopia. \n  \nFuller invented something he called “The World Game.” The object of the World Game is to “make the world work.” Anyone can play. Maybe everyone is already playing it\, but some strategies aren’t working out too well. \n  \nIf you imagine you have enemies\, you might prepare to fight. You might actually fight. If you imagine you have no enemies\, the world is not such a scary place. Instead of imagining a world of warring nations\, we might imagine that there is one human family. We might take it a step further and imagine that we love everyone—including plants\, animals\, clouds and stones. How would that feel? \n  \nI asked my friend Howard what he thought the future would be like. “Like the present\,” he said.  \n  \nWhen I asked Jill which of Robert Crumb’s visions of the future is most likely\, she said\, “All of them.” \n  \nAt this moment on our big beautiful planet\, everything imaginable is happening right now\, and many things that we can’t imagine. The newspaper reminds us of the wars and other catastrophes. Meanwhile\, birds and butterflies are migrating\, children are playing\, bees are spending their days pollinating flowers\, mammals are falling in love\, puffy white clouds are floating by. It has ever been so. \n  \nNot only do we not know what will happen next\, we don’t know what is happening right now. Somehow\, our eyes\, brain and nervous system present the appearance of a three-dimensional colorful world to us. Somehow\, my heart keeps beating. Somehow\, I digest my food. I don’t know how any of these things work\, but they do. The whole ecosphere\, including us\, is a complex example of what Thich Nhat Hanh calls “interbeing.” In the future\, I predict that everything will continue to inter-be. \n  \nSome of the ever-changing happenings are wonderful. Some are terrible. Personally\, I want to be on the Fun Team. I’d rather be kind than mean. I’d rather be happy than sad. I’d rather be good than bad. I’d rather have friends than enemies. I’d rather be part of the healing than part of the wounding. I’d rather live in love. \n  \nIn the future\, as in the past and present\, there will be injustice. And tragedy. There’s no way around it. We’re all gonna die! That’s the way this game is played. Life and death go together. While I’m alive\, I want to live! I want to live a life rich in meaning—with lots of friendship and laughter. I often think of the words from a song by Laura Nyro: \n  \nAnd when I die\, and when I’m dead\, dead and gone\, \nthere’ll be one child born\, and the world will carry on\, \ncarry on. \n  \n—Johnny Stallings \n* \n  \nIt is Sunday\,—-September 1st! Thank god! Finally! The sun\, although hot\, is slanting at its oblique\, golden angle\, and the heat is less intense. Goodbye to the hot\, flattening blasts of July and August. The nights are cooler; the sun is rising later and later\, and setting earlier. I love the darkness. \n  \nI am driving and listening to All Classical. They’re playing Autumn\, of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons; Autumn Divertimento by Constantini; September Song by Kurt Weill…well\, someone else obviously is happy about this month\, this season. \n  \nMy chrysanthemums are blooming\, russet red\, sunshine gold; the tomatoes plump and ripe. \n  \nI am euphoric\, incandescent with joy. Peace love happiness and understanding coalesce into one moment of palpable transcendence. Sometimes there are these moments. I feel enveloped by abundance and love and joy. \n  \nCould this moment be aided and abetted also by the fact that I am re-reading (for the third time) the sublime Becoming Duchess Goldblatt? No doubt about it. For those of you who have not read about the Duchess\, I would just like to quote some of the (anonymous) author’s words. Words that are nothing less than the beauty that comprises peace\, love\, happiness and understanding. I won’t go into the ‘plot;’ it’s too complicated.  Here we go: \n  \n“My lifelong training as my father’s child has been instructive here. How do you love everybody? Surely you can’t love everybody. Surely some people don’t deserve it. \n  \nI used to ask my father about this all the time. \n  \n‘I’m not sure what you mean by ‘deserve\,’ he’d say. “You love people because they’re people\, because they’re human beings. Not necessarily because you enjoy their company\, which is one kind of love\, but because you recognize they’re inherently worthy. Every person is inherently worthy. I’d argue it’s your obligation\, regardless of whether you think it’s your job to decide if they’ve earned it.’” \n  \nLyle Lovett figures into the story (really!)\, and he offers thoughts about the Duchess:  \n  \n“Duchess is such a unifying force of nature. That’s your book\, as I’m sure you’ve already considered: how we can all be connected\, how we all are connected by the most basic and most powerful of all\, love\, and the acceptance that comes with it.” \n  \nThe Duchess/anonymous author as a young girl being chastised by a nun: \n  \n“I didn’t make eye contact with her. I wouldn’t give her the satisfaction. I kept my eyes down\, but I heard every word she said\, and I knew she was dead wrong. I knew in my bones\, had always known\, that my brother would eventually commit suicide\, and I knew he was a child of God just as much as anybody else\, and I knew that when he died he would be welcomed into heaven. If she’d ever seen despair up close\, she would know what I knew\, that God understands the nature of a broken heart. The saddest people will always be allowed to go home first.” \n  \nSo with these heartbreakingly beautiful words\, I leave it to you to enjoy\, cherish\, love\, and celebrate this book and this season. \n  \n—Jude Russell
URL:https://openroadpdx.com/event/peace-love-happiness-understanding-9-5-24/
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20240913
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20241116
DTSTAMP:20260424T225119
CREATED:20240904T012436Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240918T215713Z
UID:5002-1726185600-1731715199@openroadpdx.com
SUMMARY:¡Bardaphilia!  FALL 2024
DESCRIPTION:Leonardo DiCaprio & Claire Danes in the Bay Lehman film “Romeo + Juliet” \n  \n“All the world’s a stage\, and all the men and women merely players…” \n  \n¡Bardaphilia! \n  \n If you don’t already love Shakespeare\, this class will remedy that. And if you do…you know there’s nothing more fun than reading the plays and poems together with friends. Actor and director Johnny Stallings (stallingsjohnny@gmail.com) is the genial host. \nFriday evenings\, 7-9 pm\, at Taborspace\, 5441 SE Belmont \nSeptember 13th\, Muir Hall: Shakespeare the Storyteller (with special guest J Kahn) (This was changed to an online event because of Covid exposure.) \nOctober 25th\, Artspace Room: Measure for Measure \nNovember 15th Artspace Room: Shakespeare on Film \nThis is a FREE Open Road Event
URL:https://openroadpdx.com/event/bardaphilia-fall-2024/
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20241003
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20241107
DTSTAMP:20260424T225119
CREATED:20241003T222858Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241003T223215Z
UID:5140-1727913600-1730937599@openroadpdx.com
SUMMARY:peace\, love\, happiness & understanding  10/3/24
DESCRIPTION:  \nTHE OPEN ROAD \npeace\, love\, happiness & understanding \n  \nOctober 3\, 2024 \n  \nI’ve been having a conversation with myself in my journal for the past 54 years\, or so. Here are excerpts from the entry for January 16th\, followed by a brief essay\, “perfect moments\,” that I wrote on January 17th\, followed by excerpts from what I wrote on January 23rd: \n  \nmonday\, september 16th \n  \nperfect day \nperfect silence \nperfect coffee \nthis home is a well-ordered place of refuge for two human beings \noutside these walls\, in some places\, perfect chaos and confusion \nperfect fear… \nperfect sorrow… \nperfect healing… \nperfect love \nthe neon sign says: LOVE WINS \nso it must be true… \nthe dance of shadows on the wall… \nhelping to co-create culture that nurtures—a local and a global culture of peace\, love\, happiness & understanding—begins with my own deep peace\, love\, happiness & understanding \na silence that is free of fear and hatred \nlove for everyone and everything \nboundless joy \ncontinuing to improve my understanding of what’s going on here by learning from wise thoughtful intelligent people \nin order to be more helpful \nto choose wisely \nto not utter words that are hurtful \nthere’s a rough and tumble aspect to human life \ndon’t be too attached to non-attachement \nor to ideas of no-self\, ātman\, et cetera \ndon’t forget to laugh and have fun \ndon’t take yourself or your opinions too seriously \nfeel the beauty of the blue sky and the puffy white clouds \nthe green of the leaves on the trees and bushes and grass \nthe bright flowers \nthe bright flowers! \ni know why buddha held up a flower \nthe surprising thing is that everyone in the assembly didn’t get enlightenment at that moment \nthe bewildering thing is that we live in a world that has flowers in it and yet people hurt each other \nhow can this be? \ni guess it’s because there are other things besides flowers in the world \nthere are\, for example\, guns… \ni feel bad for the people who have lots of guns and no flowers… \nin a world teeming with life\, everything dies \nand new things arrive \nnew people and plants and birds and bugs and elephants are always arriving \nelephants! \nwonderful beings! \nmonarch butterflies! \nwhat a world! \nit’s amazing that shakespeare wrote a midsummer night’s dream and king lear \nit’s amazing that there are elephants and monarch butterflies \nand hummingbirds and pansies \nyellow pansies and little bright purple flowers  \ni’m in love with this world! \n  \nperfect moments \n  \nis this moment perfect? \nyes! \n  \ni would like to sing the praise of perfect moments \nand so i shall \n  \neveryone has experienced perfect moments \nand yet many people are dissatisfied\, unhappy\, miserable \nthis is puzzling \nthis very moment might be felt to be perfect \nand if it’s not\, the next perfect moment might be right around the corner \n  \nthe older i get\, the more perfect moments i enjoy \ni get a lot of blessings \ni’m a happy man \n  \nto the extent that happiness is an art\, and not just an accident\, it might be the art of noticing and appreciating perfect moments \n  \nlike this one \n  \ni like to start the day slowly\, in silence \nwith a cup of coffee and two shortbread cookies \nnot by checking my inbox\, or reading the new york times \ni sit on the couch and look out the window \nthe backyard is filled with flowers \nthey are glorious\, perfect! \nperfect little birds come to the bird feeder \nthis morning: song sparrows\, goldfinches\, house finches\, juncos \nsometimes puffy white clouds float by in the blue sky \nevery one perfect \n  \nthis morning the sky is overcast \nhave you ever noticed that some people say\, “i love the rain!”? \non sunny summer days that are not too hot and not too cool\, people seem to be in a good mood\, more cheerful\, more friendly \nin portland\, where i live\, it rains a lot \nit makes everything green \nbut people complain about the rain\, and even get depressed \nthe person who says\, “i love the rain!” is doing a kind of jiu jitsu \nsomething that makes most people sad makes them happy \nthat’s a pretty neat trick \n  \nthich nhat hanh used to say\, with a warm smile\, “the present moment is a wonderful moment” \nyou might notice that most problems are elsewhere \n  \nif there is so much to take delight in\, why isn’t everybody happy—at least most of the time? \nthere are countervailing forces in play \nsome are external and some are internal \n  \nto start with inner obstacles to happiness\, we might look at “bad mental habits” \nin this computer age\, to say we have been “programmed” is a useful metaphor \nour experiences\, our society\, our family of origin have instilled habits in each of us \nsome of those habits promote well-being \nsome do the opposite \nsome people are open\, cheerful\, friendly \nsome are anxious\, some are angry\, some are sad \n  \nof course a sad moment can be\, and often is\, a perfect moment \nbut to be sad all the time is to miss something that’s good for you—joy! \n  \nour external circumstances play a role in our feelings of well-being\, or lack of them \na prison environment does not tend to promote happiness and well-being \nand yet one of the happiest people i know is living in prison \nhe has mastered the art of appreciating perfect moments \n  \npeople in ukraine and gaza and lebanon and sudan and israel are currently experiencing the terrible tragedy of war \nand yet the experiences of people in those places are not uniformly bleak \nthere are perfect moments \nthere have to be\, because an act of kindness is a perfect moment \nand surely there must be many many acts of kindness under those terrible conditions \n(ceasefire now!—everywhere\, always and forever) \n  \nhuman life on earth includes tragedy\, violence and injustice \nthey are exacerbated by fear\, hatred\, anger and greed \nthey are mitigated by love and kindness and joy and tranquility \n  \nto enjoy a perfect moment is to live—for a moment—in paradise \nnot the imaginary paradise that will arrive someday if we all just do everything differently than the way we’re doing things now \nbut a real paradise in this perfect moment \n  \nbankei calls this our unborn buddha mind \nand asks why anyone would want to exchange their unborn buddha mind for the mind of a hungry ghost \n  \nperfect moments don’t necessarily have anything to do with religion or spirituality— although spiritual practices and religious symbols create perfect moments for many people \nperfect moments are democratic \nthey’re available to anyone\, anywhere\, anytime \nspecial environments\, like japanese gardens\, are sometimes created so that people who go there are more likely to experience perfect moments \na garden is a paradise \nmy local tea shop\, the tao of tea\, is a place where people go to enjoy perfect moments\, alone or with friends \n  \nin quest of perfect moments\, people go for walks in nature\, listen to and play music\, make art\, read and write poems\, make love \nmy own predilection is for simple pleasures \nthey’re readily available\, cost nothing\, and require no effort \n  \nit is my hope that while reading these meandering words you had a perfect moment \nor remembered a perfect moment \nor felt the importance of appreciating perfect moments \nso that\, over time\, you enjoy so many perfect moments that you can’t believe how lucky you are to live in a world filled with miracle and beauty \n  \nmonday\, september 23rd \n  \nit’s hard to get used to the idea that we don’t know \nbecause we like to pretend we do \n  \nfrom Endymion \n  \nBOOK 1 \n  \nA thing of beauty is a joy for ever: \nIts loveliness increases; it will never \nPass into nothingness; but still will keep \nA bower quiet for us\, and a sleep \nFull of sweet dreams\, and health\, and quiet breathing. \nTherefore\, on every morrow\, are we wreathing \nA flowery band to bind us to the earth\, \nSpite of despondence\, of the inhuman dearth \nOf noble natures\, of the gloomy days\, \nOf all the unhealthy and o’er-darkened ways \nMade for our searching: yes\, in spite of all\, \nSome shape of beauty moves away the pall \nFrom our dark spirits. Such the sun\, the moon\, \nTrees old and young\, sprouting a shady boon \nFor simple sheep; and such are daffodils \nWith the green world they live in; and clear rills \nThat for themselves a cooling covert make \n‘Gainst the hot season; the mid forest brake\, \nRich with a sprinkling of fair musk-rose blooms… \n  \n—John Keats (1795-1821) \n  \ni was talking with howard on the phone last night \ni was trying to say something about pansies and moments \n  \nwe have ideas that there are bad times and good times \n“the dark ages\,” “the enlightenment\,” et cetera \nwe don’t know \nthe perfect moment in which i enjoy the pansies on our porch and the little purple flowers (lobelia!) beside them—that moment has no boundary \nto say that the moment is “fleeting” is an idea about the moment \nthe moment itself has no idea\, no duration \nit is neither long nor short \nit has nothing to do with “time” \ntime is another idea \nfor me\, one yellow pansy is more important than the War of 1812 \n“more important” isn’t right \nit has nothing to do with the relative importance of one thing or another thing \nfour and a half billion years is not longer than a moment \nthe bonneville dam is not more important or less important than a yellow pansy \nthe question of whether things are getting “better” or “worse” has nothing to do with the pansy \n  \nkeats said it perfectly: \na thing of beauty is a joy for ever \nhe was right \nthat’s true \nthe pansy gives me boundless pleasure \ninfinite delight \nenjoying a pansy for a moment makes my whole life “worthwhile” \ni’m happy that i got to come to planet earth and enjoy the pansies and lobelia \n  \nwhat about the horrors of war? \nthe horrors of war are unspeakably horrible \npeople should be growing pansies instead of killing each other \nwhy they’re not remains a mystery \nwe have theories about the causes of war \nhere’s my theory about what causes war: \nunhappiness \n  \nthe cure for war? \npeace\, love\, happiness & understanding \n  \nby living in love and peace and joy we are setting a good example for our fellow mortals \n  \nwalt says:  \neach moment and whatever happens thrills me with joy \n& \nthis minute that comes to me over the past decillions\,  \nthere is no better than it and now \n  \nkrishnamurti speaks of “freedom from the known”… \n  \nblake says: \neternity is in love with the productions of time \n& \nto see a world in a grain of sand \nand a heaven in a wild flower \nhold infinity in the palm of your hand \nand eternity in an hour… \n  \nthere’s no such thing as death \neither you’re alive\, or you’re not \nonly people who are alive can read this \nsquirrels can’t read it \nthey don’t need to \nthey’re busy “living in the present moment” \n* \n  \nIn 1971\, Charles Erickson and I met a Dutch sailor in India named Jules Dams. Jules posted something about John Wesley on Facebook that Charles forwarded to me: \n  \nJohn Wesley’s Manifesto \n\nReduce the gap between rich people and poor people\nHelp everyone to have a job\nHelp the poorest\, including introducing a living wage\nOffer the best possible education\nHelp everyone to feel that they can make a difference\nPromote tolerance\nPromote equal treatment for women\nCreate a society based on values and not on profits and consumerism\nEnd all forms of slavery\nAvoid getting into wars\nShare the love of God with everyone\nCare for the environment\n\n  \nJohn Wesley (1703-1791) was founder of the Methodist Church. This “manifesto” “based on his writings” is on display at the Wesley Museum in Bristol\, England. As a kid\, my family went to the Methodist Church. Maybe some seeds were planted. \n  \n—Johnny Stallings \n* \n  \nInspired by Martha and Elizabeth during Bibliophiles\, I went back to read a mystery by an author I loved. In 1975 Wilhelm Van de Vettering wrote Outsider in Amsterdam\, whose main character reflected his own—a zen student\, jazz musician\, cat-loving policeman living in Amsterdam. Very low key plot.  \n  \nAt one point this character meets a housebound sedentary old man on a house call. He feels that his life is thankfully so different from this man’s world\, when he spies the man’s record collection.  They share the same taste in music and they have all the same records!   \n  \nEverything stops…they have this moment. \n  \nWhen asked\, the old man says\, yes\, he has had these moments before…    \n  \n“I never quite understood them. Something occurs\, you notice something\, and suddenly the moment is there. You can’t explain it\, maybe you don’t want to explain it. I remember when it happened for the first time. I saw a hornbill in the zoo. Some people call them rhinoceros-birds. It looked so weird that suddenly my whole life changed. I saw my life differently. I knew it would change back again and become boring again\, ordinary\, everyday life. But that moment it was all different. The logic had been knocked out of it….Nobody can explain a hornbill to me. That’s the beauty of it maybe.”  \n  \nThat was very satisfying in itself; I thoroughly enjoyed reading the fifty year old book again. The next day I went with my grandkids to the zoo; I hadn’t been to the zoo for ever. We were going through the giraffe’s area and there was a most unusual bird staring up at us. A sign said\, The Hornbill! I had read 11-year-old Sylvan the passage from Outsider in Amsterdam\, and he asked me\, with a smile\, “Are you having a hornbill moment\, Grandma?” I laughed and told him\, “No\, but I have had them before.” \n  \nTo these moments that always stay with us\, however absurd\, and make no sense to anyone else’s reality\,  but are so meaningful to us! \n  \nThis makes me think of a great William Stafford poem –  \n  \nWhy I Am Happy \n  \nNow has come\, an easy time. I let it \nroll. There is a lake somewhere \nso blue and far nobody owns it. \nA wind comes by and a willow listens \ngracefully. \n  \nI hear all this\, every summer. I laugh \nand cry for every turn of the world\, \nits terribly cold\, innocent spin. \nThat lake stays blue and free; it goes \non and on. \n  \nAnd I know where it is. \n  \n—William Stafford \n  \npeace and joy\,    \n—Katie Radditz
URL:https://openroadpdx.com/event/peace-love-happiness-understanding-10-3-24/
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20241013T150000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20241013T170000
DTSTAMP:20260424T225119
CREATED:20240918T174638Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240918T174638Z
UID:5061-1728831600-1728838800@openroadpdx.com
SUMMARY:¡Bibliophiles Unanimous!  10/13/24
DESCRIPTION:  \n¡Bibliophiles Unanimous!   \n  \nFriendly online conversation that starts out with books and…meanders.  \nHere’s the Zoom link: \n  \n https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87614013058.  \n  \nOctober 13th\, 3 pm: Favorite Poems & Poets (Bring a poem to read!) \nNovember 17th\, 3 pm: Oddball Books \nFree
URL:https://openroadpdx.com/event/bibliophiles-unanimous-10-13-24/
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://openroadpdx.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/trump_whitman.jpg.jpeg
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20241025T190000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20241025T210000
DTSTAMP:20260424T225119
CREATED:20241017T011021Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241027T223240Z
UID:5167-1729882800-1729890000@openroadpdx.com
SUMMARY:¡Bardaphilia!: Measure for Measure  10/25/24
DESCRIPTION:Mark Rylance as Duke Vincentio\, Shakespeare’s Globe\, 2005 \n  \n¡Bardaphilia!  \n  \nMeasure for Measure \n  \nBut man\, proud man\, \nDressed in a little brief authority\, \nMost ignorant of what he’s most assured\, \nHis glassy essence\, like an angry ape \nPlays such fantastic tricks before high heaven \nAs makes the angels weep\, who with our spleens* \nWould all themselves laugh mortal.** \n  \n–Isabella\, Measure for Measure\, Act 2\, scene 2 \n  \n* organ thought to control laughter \n**(Proverbial: “to die laughing”) \n  \nFor our Shakespeare class on Friday\, October 25th\, we will be exploring the darkly comic world of Measure for Measure! We will focus on Act 2. \nReading the play beforehand is recommended\, but you don’t need to know the play to enjoy the class. (Folger edition has helpful notes on facing pages.) \nIt’s a great idea to watch a film version\, if you can find one–but NOT the 2020 version with Hugo Weaving\, which is not really Shakespeare’s play\, but “inspired by it” in some way. \n  \nI hope to see you there! \n  \nTaught by Johnny Stallings \nFriday evening\, October 25th\, 7-9 pm \nArtspace Room at Taborspace\, 5441 SE Belmont\, in Portland \nThis Open Road event is FREE!
URL:https://openroadpdx.com/event/bardaphilia-measure-for-measure-10-25-24/
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20241026T190000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20241026T210000
DTSTAMP:20260424T225119
CREATED:20241017T231033Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241026T221712Z
UID:5172-1729969200-1729976400@openroadpdx.com
SUMMARY:INFIDEL: The Notorious Robert G. Ingersoll  10/26/24
DESCRIPTION:  \nInfidel! \nThe Notorious Robert G. Ingersoll  \n  \nJohnny Stallings reads from speeches and essays of 19th Century America’s most eloquent agnostic and humanist\, followed by dialogue. \n  \nArtspace Room in Taborspace\, 5441 SE Belmont \nSaturday\, October 26\, 7 pm \nthis Open Road event is free
URL:https://openroadpdx.com/event/infidel-the-notorious-robert-g-ingersoll-10-26-24/
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://openroadpdx.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/IMG_1909-rotated.jpg
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