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SUMMARY:peace\, love\, happiness & understanding  5/1/25
DESCRIPTION:the inimitable Dick Willis \n\n  \nTHE OPEN ROAD \npeace\, love\, happiness & understanding \n  \nMay 1\, 2025 \n  \nDick Willis is a Notorious Do-Gooder. He’s always looking for and finding ways to help people. He would be a candidate for sainthood\, were it not for the fact that he sits on the fence between Atheism and Agnosticism. He turned 80 on April 15th. He wrote this for his grandkids\, but generously agreed to share it with us: \n  \nEighty Things I’ve Learned in Eighty Years \n  \nI regret that my young self didn’t write down my grandparents’ reflections on their lives. Still\, I’ve embraced their wisdom throughout my life.  \nAll that I began with\, was an accident of birth.  All that I am today\, is what I did with it. \nMy lifelong precept has been… “Ease their way.” \nEvery religion attempts to control its believers.  Unless it can control the government\, it has no power over non-believers.   \nMy Principia Intelligentia states: It’s a statistical fact that half of any large population possesses below-average intelligence. \nCorollary 1: The lower half is usually the louder half. \nCorollary 2: The lower half possesses most of the means of\, and tendencies toward\, violence and/or chaos. \nCorollary 3: In all populations there are pockets of intelligence and empathy\, and pockets of stupidity and cruelty. \nSelf-expression can often be felt by others as disrespect.  Be careful to always read the room. \nI stopped worrying about what people thought of me when I realized how little they thought of me at all. \nI’ve only been a member of one ‘country club’… this one.  Club dues are taxes and public service.  Until recently\, I always paid my dues gladly. \nI was never religious\, but I’ve always been Christian… and Muslim and Jewish and Hindu and Buddhist and Pagan and… \nWe’re all in this together.  Matthew 25:35-40 is the only rationale I need\, to explain why all of us are here. \nThe more I’ve acknowledged my defects\, the more benign and sympathetic I’ve been toward the defects of others. \nI abhor those who salute the stupid as patriots\, and diminish the worth of intelligence and competence. \nExcellence is the process of making fewer and less obvious mistakes. \nI strive only to be trustworthy\, not trusted.  Trust is delicate\, and lives in the mind of the other. \nI am a dog person.  Dogs know this. \nIf it’s urgent\, I do it now!  If it’s important\, I do it next.  Unless I’m procrastinating. \nHate causes pain.  It never heals it. \nIn this country\, too many people treat politics as either a sport (mostly football) or a religion. It is neither.  It is far\, far more important.  \nI’m an addict.  When I do something beneficial for someone\, I get an opioid high. (Naturally\, from endorphins.)   \nMy generosity enhances my vitality with little effort on my part. When I give\, it feels like an essential and natural part of being alive. \nStinginess is exhausting. It promotes a sense of scarcity and makes generosity seem like a sacrifice. \nIf we had taken seriously any one of three women\, we wouldn’t be in this mess.  Hillary Clinton\, Liz Cheney and Kamala Harris all warned us. \nI am an introvert.  I’m not anti-social.  I’m simply pro-quiet. \nMy best partners held my interests as theirs. They shared in my successes\, and delighted in our mutual good fortune. \nJoy touches the eternal.  It connects us with the cosmos\, as well as with the subconscious. \nBirds are brilliant mathematicians.  To go from 30 MPH to zero in an instant and grab a thin branch\, requires some serious real-time calculus. \nCertainty is not a virtue. Speaking assertively is not a proxy for thinking deeply. \nRefusing to accept opinions as facts is key to my maintaining common sense. \nI’ve learned to be careful when reading between the lines. Most of the time\, I was just guessing. \nThe most important reason for me to treat others with respect is not what I get in return.  It’s who I’ve become as a result. \nI treat my opinions like worn clothes. Some I’m comfortable with\, the rest I need to get rid of. \nSometimes\, my walking away from a losing effort was not a failure of conviction. It was a triumph of wisdom. \nThanks to a proctor in my military training\, I learned that the best way to prove myself was to im-prove myself. \nA healthy disagreement isn’t about me being right. It’s about both of us feeling understood. \nI can dislike someone without disrespecting him.  It’s simply an exercise in mature judgment. \nKey to my integrity is adherence to principle. I will oppose anyone who challenges my ethics or threatens my responsibilities. \nTake care of your teeth and your feet.  They take a beating\, and you’ll need them your entire life. \nAn employer\, a company\, a business… is not a family.  Families forgive.  Families love. \nHesitation is inconclusive. A decision is clearest when it’s either “Hell yes!” or “Hell no!”. \nI’ve never been defeated.  Either I won\, or I learned. \nWhen you’re dead\, you don’t know you’re dead.  All the pain is felt by others.  The same thing happens when you’re stupid. \nIn the land of the blind the one-eyed man is king.  Beware the one-eyed man. \nFailing is simply part of learning.  On the other hand\, being a failure is a painful state of ignorance.  \nI happily accept both my virtues and my admitted flaws.  They’re my shield.  No one can use them against me. \nCannabis showed me that I’m blessed with a cosmic sense of humor.  Beneath it all\, everything is funny. \nAs my grandparents used to say: “Too soon old.  Too late smart.” \nI bow to all mothers.  If we males were the ones to give birth\, we’d be an extinct species. No male would go through pregnancy and childbirth a second time.  \nTrying to find time is a fool’s errand.  Making time is the key to a happy life. \nI have found that staying positive is my best chance of having things turn out the way I’d planned. \nThe current state of our politics:  One party is working to make government fail.  The other tries\, but fails\, to make government work. \nThere’s a thin line between insanity and genius.  Sometimes the difference is simply intention. \nGreed results from abuse in childhood\, leaving a craving for acceptance and satisfaction… that can never be fulfilled.  \nAlong the way\, I’ve had several long-term friendships with wise women. Each has been a great blessing to me. \nAs I’ve aged\, I’ve come to appreciate what my ancestors had.  My younger self could only see what they didn’t have. \nA lie would make no sense\, unless the liar could make a profit… or the truth would expose a crime. \nI’ve found that happiness usually takes the form of “me … now”\, where joy is the state of “us … always”. \n53 years ago\, I took part in an enjoyable conversation between a Democratic candidate for the Presidency\, and a Republican former governor of Oregon… in a time when politics was civil. \nAll those whom I love have at least one thing in common: they can make me laugh. \nIf I insist that my thoughts be consistent\, it means I’m as ignorant today as I was a year ago. \nWhen I was a kid growing up in New York\, I had no idea where―or even what―Oregon was.  And yet… here we all are! \nForgiveness can’t change what happened\, but it can influence what comes next. \nNo one can possess a billion dollars honestly or responsibly.  Billionaires are\, by definition\, sociopaths. \nYou may forget what I say.  After all\, it’s only words.  What’s important is how I’ve made you feel. \nOnly a fool thinks government should be run like a business.  Good government must do things that a profit-driven business cannot. \n“All cruelty springs from weakness.” — Seneca \nCourage is doing the right thing for the right reasons\, when consequences will be painful. \nCourage takes preparation.  No one is courageous without intention and forethought. \n“Courage is resistance to fear\, mastery of fear – not absence of fear.” ― Mark Twain \nMy beloved country suffers from attention deficit disorder.  What else\, beside ignorance of history\, could explain our re-electing a fascistic convict?  \nThe Romans had two words for love\, amo and curo.  Amo is loving passionately.  Curo means I care.  In the end\, curo wins. \nAn executive once told me the higher he climbed\, the more his decisions became just a crapshoot.  Often\, he was simply guessing… and anxious.  \nWealth is a misunderstood concept.  Unless you’re able to enjoy giving it away\, you do not possess it. \nBurying one’s head in the sand puts the family jewels in a vulnerable position. \nI took an oath to be loyal to this country\, to its Constitution… not to its government.  \nMy brother Tim showed me how to live with courage and humor\, and how to die with dignity. My longevity has been but a lengthy journey on his shoulders. \nBelieve me\, life was just fine before the Internet. \nI have witnessed more integrity in prisons than I have in politics. \nWhen my dad died\, there was no one left between me and the void.  That taught me to welcome all of life’s many blessings\, and to appreciate its inevitable finality. \nAnd still\, life goes on. \n  \n—Dick Willis \n* \n  \nRocky writes from “The Hole.” (He didn’t deserve to be there. Punishments in prison can be arbitrary at times. He’s out of “Segregation” now.) A year from now he’ll be out of prison entirely. Hallelujah! \n  \n4-11-25 \nFrom about 7:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. in my little cell the sun comes in. It’s only a little sliver\, but I use it often to get a taste of sunshine. This morning I made my bed & it stirred up thousands of dust particles that I could see in the sun. \n  \nI always try to positively charge my environment with good energy & I was focusing on the dust particles that were attracted to each other. Some were locked together in love\, spinning in space. Others were floating all alone\, in my mind\, searching for another to be with\, while others were locked in a dance—not touching\, but turning round and round. \n  \nAt first it reminded me of the cosmic dance of stars & planets in the vastness of space…then I refocused my mind and the dust followed the same patterns as beautiful people! Love\, relationships\, the dance\, friends & even the settling down of all of it. “Dust in the Wind!” I was finally able to see the song! It only took me 50 years! L.O.L. \n  \nI love seeing the beauty in all the places in the world. If I can find the beauty in the hard places & the dark places\, when I get out\, all the beauty waiting out there…I know\, it’s not all beautiful…but I see with different eyes now. \n  \n—Love\, Rocky \n* \n  \nCarl told me this story on the phone. I asked him to write it down\, so it could be shared with others. \n  \nBrushstrokes in the Sky \n  \nIn midsummer of 1991\, shortly after turning 6\, my Grandmother Colleen and Great Aunt Sharon took my two sisters and me to live with our ailing Great Grandfather. The man who in our family was legend was fighting two types of cancer. I do not believe any of us as children knew what this meant\, outside of leaving our little village in the fjords of Alaska. \n  \nI sat on that flight dreaming of riding the wild countryside with my Papa\, like a scene from “The Man from Snowy River.” I had heard the giants of my life speak of him in awe\, fighting Nazis in the Alps\, a real life cowboy sheriff chasing bootleggers in Southern Oregon’s woods. I’d met him once before and he’d taught me to yodel. A thousand adventures floated through my little mind. The reality was even better. \n  \nMy Papa Hale had only ever loved one woman his whole life: Winnifred (Winnie) Morningstar. He’d built their home with his two hands. And another for their five daughters on the other side of their property. We’d walk deer trails through the endless woods around his home. The whole time I’d beg him for stories I’d heard that he refused to tell. Every night he would have tea and watch the sunset over the creek in front of his house. He seemed at peace in those fleeting moments. Like there was something Holy there. Which is\, and was\, surprising\, as his daughters slept in a trailer out front to keep “their Bible” and “Jesus talk” out of the house—where he said it belonged. Yet in those hours he spent sitting under an old willow out front\, watching the soft hues of the evening sky\, I heard him whisper a prayer of deeper love than I’ve ever known: “It’s beautiful tonight\, Winnie.” I asked him what he meant and he told me about his one true love. \n  \nMy Nanna Winnie was charged by the Creator to paint each sunset wherever her babies were to be found. It was her favorite subject matter in life. She’s often set up her easel and painted as the day faded\, and the mix of sherbet-like colors covered her canvas. His house was a shrine to her work. Charcoals of her girls in their garden or the nursery—that was her love and work. Pastels of wildlife and the home they’d made together since the Summer of ’33. He spoke of her gently\, like her memory was everything he carried. His church was the painting she left him each night when the universe gave him one small moment each evening. \n  \nAnd I believed! I saw her brushstrokes change the boring blue of the day to pinkish oranges and soft purple. In the years that followed\, I would stare off in awe of what this woman would paint for us…the few who knew this secret of our favor from the Creator. Even when I was alone in foster care\, I had my meeting with Nanna who loved me. I was not alone. \n  \nI believed until I was twelve years old…when three of my older sisters teased me enough that I let go. \n  \nNow\, at the end of my 39th year\, as Summer comes closer\, I still catch myself looking up and feeling thankful for the love of that tall tale\, for all the beautiful art my Great Grandma gave me. \n  \n—Carl Alsup
URL:https://openroadpdx.com/event/peace-love-happiness-understanding-5-1-25/
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SUMMARY:Larry Yes Art Show  5/2/25 - 6/8/25
DESCRIPTION:  \nArt & Music Lovers!   \nLARRY YES has an exhibit of his work from May 2-June 8\, at the Purple Door Gallery\, 3557 SE Division\, in Portland. It includes music videos from his new album:  \nEVERYONE ON THIS PLANET IS FAMILY \n  \nDON’T MISS THIS!!! \n 
URL:https://openroadpdx.com/event/larry-yes-art-show-record-release-party-5-2-25/
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SUMMARY:peace\, love\, happiness & understanding  6/5/25
DESCRIPTION:art by Larry Yes \n  \nTHE OPEN ROAD \npeace\, love\, happiness & understanding \n  \nEvery time I breathe  \nI feel what it’s like  \nto Be just like you \n  \n—Larry Yes\, lyric to “Just Like You” \n  \nJune 5\, 2025 \n  \nHere are the lyrics to two songs from Larry Yes’s album EVERYONE ON THIS PLANET IS FAMILY: \n  \nLIVE IN HARMONY \n  \nThe day will come  \nwhen we all agree  \nthat we should live in harmony  \nand we will know and we will see  \nhow we’re all connected. We’re all family. \nAll the people\, the plants\, the animals\, the birds\, the seas \nYes\, we’re all connected We’re all family  \nthe day will come when we all agree  \nthat we should live in harmony  \nand on that day that beautiful day  \nWe will laugh we’ll cry we will dance we’ll sing we’ll play  \ncelebrating all of our differences our weaknesses and our strengths  \ncelebrating all of our weaknesses our differences and our strengths \n  \n  \nFREE: EVERYONE ON THIS PLANET IS FAMILY \n  \n Every day you wake up\, it’s a good day It’s a cause to celebrate  \nand every day you’re making a decision as simple as love or hate \nAnd I know it ain’t easy and I know how hard things can be  \nbut I know everyone on this planet is family and I know that we all got to believe \nThat we’re free be who we want to Free look how we came through Free \nlove who we want to love Free be who we want to be \nAnd every day we wake up\, it’s a new day it’s a cause to stand up straight  \nand every moment we’re making a decision simple as love or hate\,  \nand I know it’s never easy and I know so much has got to change \nBut I know there’s so much beauty and I know we all got to believe  \nthat we’re free be who we want to Free look how we came through Free  \nLove who you want to love Free be who you want to be \n  \n—Larry Peace-Love Yes \n* \n  \nHere is an excerpt from Nick Swift’s Book of Becoming: \n  \nThe Book of Becoming \n  \nThis is not scripture. This is not commandment. This is not prophecy. This is a reflection. A mirror\, cracked but deliberate\, held in trembling hands. Not to show you what you are\, but to remind you that you have always been becoming. \n  \nI. The Spark \nYou were born whole. Not clean\, not pure\, but complete. A seed with fire inside\, too bright for the world to witness all at once. \nSo you forgot. On purpose. Because to remember too soon is to burn without boundary. \nYou learned to survive\, and survival requires forgetting. The world taught you to compartmentalize: to trade your voice for safety\, your wonder for predictability\, your power for permission. \nBut the spark? It endured. Silent. Flickering. Waiting. \n  \nII. The Conduit \nThe path between the fire and the flesh is not paved. It must be carved. And you carve it with each act of honesty. Each time you say: \n“This is not what I want.” “This is who I am.” “This hurts\, but I will stay.” \nYou clear a channel. You let the current run through you. You become the wire\, the wick\, the bridge. \nThis is the work. Not to become divine\, but to remember you already are. \nThe conduit trembles. It hums. It breaks and is rebuilt. And in the rebuilding\, you find rhythm. You find resonance. You find truth that is not dogma—but tone. \n  \nIII. The Id \nThe body is not the burden. The instincts are not the enemy. You do not ascend by denial. You evolve through integration. \nThe wounds you carry are maps. Not scars to hide\, but terrain to understand. \nThe rage? It was never evil. It was your boundary before you had words. \nThe grief? It is love stretched across time. A tether. A thread. A hymn. \nYou do not conquer the Id. You sit with it. You listen. You feed it not with indulgence\, but with acknowledgment. \nThis is how the storm becomes sky. This is how chaos becomes color. This is how you become. \n  \nIV. The Praxis of Echo \nTo become is not to arrive. It is to resonate. \nWith earth. With silence. With others who hum the same strange frequency. \nYour becoming is not private. It ripples. It gives others permission. It interrupts the static. It sings. \nAnd in that singing\, the divine is not worshipped. It is witnessed. \n  \nV. Grace in Motion \nYou will falter. You will forget. You will fracture. \nThese are not failures. They are rhythms. The inhale and exhale of becoming. \nYou do not need to begin again. You are always beginning. Each breath a renewal. Each moment a pivot. \nGrace is not something you earn. It is how you move when you know you belong. \n  \nVI. Finality is a Lie \nThere is no end. No climax. No final lesson. \nThere is only the next chord\, the next truth\, the next shift. \nYou are not a destination. You are an instrument\, and your song is still being tuned. \nSo keep tuning. Keep vibrating. Keep becoming. \nAnd know— you were always enough to begin. \n  \n—Nick Swift \n* \n  \nI got a letter from Dustin Jamison: \n  \n4/24/25 \n  \nDear Johnny\, and all the rest of his children of all ages\, inside and out\, \n  \nI love and miss you all. For those who’ve gone home\, congrats. I hope you’re making the most of every moment. For those inside\, I love you\, you are not forgotten. I hope you’re making the most of every moment. I’ll be going home soon. It’s surreal just to say that. After almost 24 years I’m finally getting out March 13th\, 2026!! I’m so happy\, so scared\, but so happy. I laugh\, I cry\, I laugh some more—sometimes both at once. Not sure where “Home” is anymore\, so I’ll be redefining and remaking it. A new day\, a new beginning\, and all that. Mom is looking for an R.V. for me\, and either a small plot of land\, or maybe just rent a place to park it for now. We’re leaving “where” fairly open. I release to Lane County\, but transferring counties is not so hard I think these days\, so long as you’re not un-housed. Looking anywhere in Willamette Valley\, or I-5 corridor in Washington. I’ve been far too long in the high desert\, I crave green. Day one out\, I plan on hitting the ground running. My dream is to build a small\, localvore\, organic herb farm\, The Shire\, so I can spend the rest of my days where I feel the most bliss\, in my garden. I’m so happy I’m crying tears of joy right now just imagining it. I’ve taken some classes: Seeds to Supper\, Master Gardener\, and hopefully soon Greenhouse Management. I’m also reading up on running a small business\, writing business proposals\, and grant writing. I’m very hopeful\, and confident this is the right direction for me. I’m never happier than when I’m weeding\, turning my compost pile\, or eating an heirloom tomato straight off the vine…. \n  \nIf any of my old (or new) friends would like to write and reconnect\, please do. I love and miss you all. The time I spent in Group Dialogue and the plays were some of the most fulfilling and joyous moments of my life. It was the people involved\, mixed with Johnny’s magical kindness that made it so. He brought out the best in all of us—made it possible to “see” each other\, to empathize and love\, and be grateful for each other…. \n  \nThank you once again\, Johnny. Thanks to you I’ve learned (among other things) how important it is to live (in love and serenity) in this moment\, right here\, right now. All I gotta do is breathe. It’s gotten me through a lot of suffering (fairly) intact. \n  \nAll my love\, \nDustin \n  \nYou can write to Dustin at this address: \n  \nSteve Dustin Jamison  #13874200 \nEOCI \n2500 Westgate \nPendleton\, OR  97801 \n* \n  \n5-3-2025 \n  \nFor The Open Road \n  \nAll of the beautiful poems & stories that everyone adds to The Open Road are always filled with such wonderful intent. The beauty is a light to my heart\, mind & soul. It has helped me to reclaim the joy within my self & to see goodness in the world & in its people. In a way\, I feel that all of us who participate in this get to receive and to give the gifts of healing—for all that we add to The Open Road creates new avenues & streets & highways that stretch all across our hearts\, connecting us to each other. \n  \nI’m at EOCI\, a prison in the state of Oregon. When people think “prison\,” every type of negative emotion fills their senses. It’s true that “The human mind can make a hell out of a heaven\, or a heaven out of a hell.” I have lived that statement for 16+ years & have discovered how to make “a heaven out of hell.” \n  \nAs crazy as that may sound\, that is what I’ve done. What once was hell to me\, even the worst parts\, I’ve filled with joy. \n  \nIf any of you have ever read The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas\, you will remember Edmond Dantes first day in the Chateau d’If\, when he was beaten & then on that day every year\, to remind him that his hell was real\, he would be beaten again. Then\, towards the end of his stay in prison\, the beatings no longer mattered at all\, he could not even feel them. While they beat him\, all he could think of was how many feet he had to dig till he was free—in my case\, days to freedom\, which is in about 300 days! \n  \nEvery part of me has become like the apple trees I planted all over the compound 3 years ago. Then they were just sticks about 4 feet tall\, no leaves or blossoms. Today…twice as tall\, green & covered in white blossoms\, healthy and beautiful despite the fences they’re behind. The whole time I was digging the holes & planting the six trees\, I talked to them—telling them they would be the best ones out of all the other trees and have the sweetest apples. I feel like that will be me when I get out of here. \n  \nI hope to share coffee and stories with you all next Spring. Till then\, remember to enjoy the apples that grow on the trees along the Golden Path. \n  \n—Rocky Hutchinson \n* \n  \nKen Margolis is on the board of The Open Road\, and also on the board of the Sweetgrass Foundation\, based in Atlanta\, Georgia. He recently returned from a trip to Botswana\, where he and other Sweetgrass board trustees were visiting projects that support indigenous communities and a healthy environment. \n  \nHey Johnny\, \n  \nI am attaching some thoughts that I put down for the other Sweetgrass trustees\, who are all grandchildren or second generation nieces and nephews of Glenn Fuller who started the foundation 27 years ago. Glenn’s Buddha nature was strong\, and if you happen to be Catholic\, she was a Saint. \nI don’t know whether any of this has any broader application\, but feel to use any part of it for the newsletter. \n  \nGLENN AND AFRICA \n  \nThe first thing that struck me about Botswana is how ancient it is. Where we were born\, about 15\,000 years ago millions of tons of ice scraped everything off the landscape and carved new topography. New plants and animals started crowding onto the landscape when the ice melted\, about 12\,000 years ago. In southern Africa\, there has been no major disturbance for at least 130\,000 years.  \n  \nDuring this long period\, a rich ecosystem of plants and animals has developed\, undergirded by a hydraulic regime completely different from that we experience. For at least the last 60\,000 years human subsistence  societies have also developed. \n  \nBy subsistence lifestyle\, we mean societies whose life ways are shaped by accommodation to the natural world as they find it. Plant and animal resources are used\, combined\, and processed. Subsistence societies characteristically also practice some management of natural resources\, often in ways too subtle and complex to be immediately evident. These societies tend to be relatively static\, with little change occurring as generations progress. People see themselves not as above or separate from nature\, but as intimately related to all other living beings\, and to the landscape. \n  \nHuman beings love to explore and wander\, and during this 60 thousand years\, different groups migrated into different parts of the African continent at different times. During the same period\, other groups were moving out of Africa\, to eventually reach the ocean and all the other continents. Eventually\, some of these groups developed intensive/extensive agriculture\, which led to the establishment of larger\, more permanent human settlements. Surplus food was produced\, trade flourished and people started to need to record trade items and events\, which led to writing. \n  \nThis led to new attitudes about useful knowledge. Subsistence societies have always faithfully transmitted useful knowledge to the next generations. Now people began to understand that we could build on existing knowledge\, and keep learning new things in a self-generating cycle. Humans had invented social evolution\, a force as powerful as ecological evolution\, and a thousand times as fast. Continuous learning and technological advancement changed everything for our species\, and eventually for the planet. \n  \nSocial evolution produced technically powerful\, highly dynamic societies based not on accommodation with nature\, but on manipulation and transformation of natural resources. When subsistence and evolving societies confronted each other\, the static subsistence societies didn’t have a chance. Just two hundred years ago\, a large part of the human population lived in subsistence societies; today\, we have only remnants of that culture. \n  \nOur increasing mastery has also given us a new view of who we are. We no longer think of ourselves as siblings of other living beings\, but rather as the species for whose use nature was created. Today\, we live in a world largely created by social evolution and in many ways cut off from the natural world from which we sprung. \n  \nOne of Glenn’s insights was that the life ways of subsistence people were worthy\, and worthy of  protection\, and that through thousands of years of living in deep relationship with nature\, they probably know some things that we have forgotten. Glenn did not have the romantic belief that substance people had ultimate wisdom and could solve all our problems. She just believed that we could learn some deep and useful lessons from them\, and that we should work with them to protect their cultures and the intact ecosystems in which they lived. \n  \nThis leads to another major difference between Botswana and North America. The two areas were colonized at about the same time (mid/late 19th century).  In North America the unofficial (and sometimes official) policy was to exterminate the subsistence peoples who were there when we arrived\, and to settle the country thickly with immigrants from Europe. Consequently in North America\, the descendants of the original subsistence inhabitants are a politically negligible minority. In Botswana\, where the colonial model was different the descendants of subsistence cultures constitute the vast majority. \n  \nIn these ways\,  the work we are supporting in Botswana represents what Glenn wanted the Sweetgrass Foundation to be for. \n  \nBut in thinking about Glenn\, there is something deeper I want to say. Most of all\, Glenn saw this world could use a lot more kindness and love and compassion. She lived out those values in a way that inspired everybody who came in contact with her. Mostly\, she wanted Sweetgrass to propagate those values\, and to be a vehicle for you\, her beloved family members\, to live out and better express the compassion she felt so deeply. Being a small part of this has been one of the joys of my life. \n  \n—Ken Margolis \n* \n  \nWhat am I called to do? I know it’s not addressing envelopes for the cancer society\, and it’s not organizing galas for the American Pediatric Association. I am called to mine the areas where others won’t go\, either because of disgust\, or fear\, or discomfort of another kind.  \n  \nAfter the years with my beloved guys at Umatilla Correctional Institution abruptly ended\, I considered other possibilities and concluded that Hospice was one of those areas that others ‘feared to tread.’ After several months of training in all things involving imminent death\, I am assigned to a wonderful 90 year old woman. I have visited her six or seven times\, and each time our conversations have reached a little deeper into life–and death. \n  \nLast week she was talking about her three (grown) children. After a pause\, she offered\, ‘I had another daughter…”  A moment later I asked\, “And did something happen to her?”  \n  \n“Yes\, she died.” \n  \nI took her hands in mine and held her. \n  \n“I am so\, so sorry.” \n  \n“She was seven months old\, and a beautiful child\, beautiful baby. I loved her so much. I don’t talk about her much now\, but I still think of her every day. I know I shouldn’t still be thinking about her as much as I do\, but I can’t help it.” \n  \n“My dear\, there is no time limit to grief. The depth of your grief shows the depth of your love. People lose parents\, siblings\, spouses\, but I think losing a child is the very most heartbreaking loss there is. I can’t imagine ever ‘getting over’ something like that. I can tell that you still miss her and love her.” \n  \nIt was a deep and precious moment\, and I knew that I was in the exact right place being where I needed to be. \n  \n—Jude Russell
URL:https://openroadpdx.com/event/peace-love-happiness-understanding-6-5-25/
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://openroadpdx.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/LarryYes.jpg
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250614T150000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250614T170000
DTSTAMP:20260424T102221
CREATED:20250430T181328Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251012T175407Z
UID:5551-1749913200-1749920400@openroadpdx.com
SUMMARY:¡PARADISE NOW!   6/14/25
DESCRIPTION:  \n¡PARADISE NOW! \n  \nA guided tour by Johnny Stallings \n  \nSaturday\, June 14th\, 3 pm \nArtspace Room at Taborspace\, 5441 SE Belmont\, in Portland \nthis Open Road event is free
URL:https://openroadpdx.com/event/paradise-now-6-14-25/
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://openroadpdx.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/masterpieces_04.jpg
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250621T140000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250621T160000
DTSTAMP:20260424T102221
CREATED:20250606T181132Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250606T181220Z
UID:5642-1750514400-1750521600@openroadpdx.com
SUMMARY:Fearless Buffalo  6/21/25
DESCRIPTION:design by Baba Wagué Diakité \n  \nFearless Buffalo \n  \nBaba Wagué Diakité tells a tale from Mali. \n  \nSaturday\, June 21\, 2 pm \nArtspace Room at Taborspace\, 5441 SE Belmont  \nthis Open Road event is free
URL:https://openroadpdx.com/event/fearless-buffalo-6-21-25/
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://openroadpdx.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/0-2.jpeg
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250628T150000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250628T170000
DTSTAMP:20260424T102221
CREATED:20250430T183114Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250623T204232Z
UID:5554-1751122800-1751130000@openroadpdx.com
SUMMARY:Everything & Nothing   6/28/25
DESCRIPTION:poster by Andy Larkin \n  \nEverything & Nothing \n  \nJohnny Stallings tells the picaresque tale of how he failed to make a B-movie \n  \nSaturday\, June 28\, 3 pm \nArtspace Room at Taborspace\, 5441 SE Belmont  \nthis Open Road event is free
URL:https://openroadpdx.com/event/everything-nothing-6-28-25/
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://openroadpdx.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/0-1.jpeg
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