11/26/08

Thought for today

“The unthankful heart discovers no mercies; but the thankful heart will find, in every hour, some heavenly blessings.” ~ Henry Ward Beecher

11/23/08

The Peace of Wild Things

When despair grows in me
and I wake in the middle of the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting for their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

Wendell Berry

It's been a long, frustrating semester in a lot of respects, and I'm only just now starting to feel it wind down. This week ended with a couple of packed but relatively productive days -- a welcome change in all respects from the preceding weeks and months. Monday has a list of chores waiting for me, but that's still 18 hours away, so I'll let it rest out of sight, and thus out of mind.

The first round of leaves is on the ground, reminding me that there's work yet to be done in the yard to make ready for the rapidly-encroaching cold. There are shrubs yet hungry for fertilizer, grass that will need a final shave and trim before I put the mower away, and speaking of the mower, a fuel line requiring repair.

Excavation-by-hand of the back yard slope for a retaining wall continues, if slowly, and new emphasis lies on the completion of the long-dormant chicken house, which needs doors, trim and a finished pen. Decisions are being taken for the breeds to be purchased this spring, with current thinking running largely to standard cochins and perhaps a few fancy bantams. Plans are also being laid for the acquisition of toulouse or brown Chinese geese to serve as companions and watchdogs, since the dog is about effective as a stone post when it comes to sounding the alarm.

The windows have a new coat of paint, the doors are painted and have new storm doors installed, the house has been pressure-washed for the first time in about 2 years, the new flower beds in the back are complete, screens are rehung, and the front door has been jacked and replumbed so it actually opens again.

Inside, the picture window is repaired following a recent visit by the manufacturer's technician -- who knew windows needed technicians? Mom's childhood hutch, which later served as a bookcase for me, has been repurposed (again) to serve as a china cabinet in the dining room, and will shortly hold a selection of the original Japanese Noritake for display. The old stationary trainer has been sold, the desk is on offer, and the library index and organization is largely complete. Christmas vacation plans include ripping out the carpet in the library and adding new furniture, hardwood flooring and paint. Or maybe just the flooring and paint. Who knows?

In the spring, we put a down payment on a turkey, and this weekend were rewarded with an organically-raised 12lb Red Bourbon, plucked and dressed. It's currently thawing in the refrigerator, awaiting a Tuesday brining and Wednesday roast. With so much family, it's funny how we hardly get leftovers any more, so we make our own excess of turkey.

Church this morning was a service of little-t thanksgiving. When Pastor Jay quizzed the congregation about what makes life worth living for them, I offered books by Terry Pratchett, and Emma offer "pasketti." I was reminded, again, how far above most of the world's standard my life is, and I remain grateful for that.

Today is a gorgeous day, cold but brilliantly clear. One of the razor sharp days of autumn-passing-to-winter that I adore. I'm thankful for that, as well.

Thanksgiving is sweeter than bounty itself.
One who cherishes gratitude does not cling to the gift!
Thanksgiving is the true meat of God’s bounty;
The bounty is its shell,
For thanksgiving carries you to the hearth of the Beloved.
Abundance alone brings heedlessness,
Thanksgiving gives birth to alertness.
The bounty of thanksgiving will satisfy and elevate you,
And you will bestow a hundred bounties in return.
Eat your fill of God’s delicacies,
And you will be freed from hunger and begging.

Rumi

11/9/08

America the Beautiful

PHC featured a snippet of my favorite American anthem yesterday, and it was so powerful left a catch in my throat that nearly made me pull the car over to recover.
O beautiful, for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!
America! America! God shed His grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood, from sea to shining sea.
O beautiful, for pilgrim feet
Whose stern, impassioned stress
A thoroughfare for freedom beat
Across the wilderness!
America! America! God mend thine ev'ry flaw;
Confirm thy soul in self control, thy liberty in law!
O beautiful, for heroes proved
In liberating strife,
Who more than self their country loved
And mercy more than life!
America! America! May God thy gold refine,
'Til all success be nobleness, and ev'ry gain divine!
O beautiful, for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years,
Thine alabaster cities gleam
Undimmed by human tears!
America! America! God shed His grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood, from sea to shining sea!

11/5/08

Here on the pulse of this new day...

Here on the pulse of this new day
You may have the grace to look up and out
And into your sister's eyes, into
Your brother's face, your country
And say simply
Very simply
With hope

Good morning.

- Maya Angelou

It's taken me fully a day to get myself back together. Starting early Saturday morning, I worked for four solid days canvassing Cabarrus county for the Obama campaign. In the course of that work, I shook hands with the most dignified elderly black men, the youngest just-starting-out Latino mothers, trailer-park rednecks and solidly middle-class suburbanites. I was welcomed by most, sworn at by a few, and threatened only once, so a good four days overall.

I was prepared for the physical exhaustion, the gas expenditures, the shin splints, and the sort of deep-set weariness that comes from, quite literally, jogging around all day. I was prepared to make new friends, to be rejected, and sometimes to be looked at strangely (more than once I was, quite literally, the only white person in sight, and it's funny that for the first time in my life, that didn't bother me a whit).

What I was absolutely unprepared for was how deeply invested I suddenly felt. I had been to rallies, to organizing meetings and such. I'd talked politics with friends, come around gradually to my support of Obama. We donated as our modest means allowed, not much but enough to count. What I hadn't done, in this campaign or ever before, was put my feet one in front of the other and walk the talk. I hadn't knocked on doors, hadn't pleaded with disinterested young black men to please take half an hour to go vote, because North Carolina really would be that close. I hadn't issued a fusillade of thanks to the working mother of four for taking time not only to vote herself, but to take her elderly parents, and browbeat her 18-year-old son into going as well, because North Carolina really would be that close. I hadn't experienced the deep satisfaction of knocking on the trailer door and speaking for ten minutes with the man fresh off a 12-hour shift at work, listening to him tell me in a deep Southern drawl that Barack Obama would really work to help guys like him, and feeling the kinship that comes from believing that you both get it.

I was, frankly, not prepared for my own wracking emotional response as the states were called one by one, nor for the sobs -- oddly mixed with huge laughter -- that came shortly after the race was called for Barack.

It's been a long way from Dennis to Barack, personally and politically. Certainly it's been a long haul for the country, and it's far from over. But for the first time in seven years, I feel truly, deeply proud of America's politics, and the extraordinary grace we have been granted in these last few days. Certainly, I feel as proud as I ever have before. My daughter, who is Asian, will know that even the highest achievement in the land is not limited to old, white men. That fact holds special significance for me today.

Certainly there's work to be done. Those of us who backed Barack have a special requirement to hold him to his promises. We who worked to see the legacy of Jesse Helms torn down, to see Elizabeth Dole sent back like Dorothy to Kansas, and to see Robin Hays sent back to his counting house, must be as hard on them as we have been on their predecessors, for reasons both identical and, paradoxically, completely different.

That's for later, though. For now, it's time to enjoy the thought of President Barack Hussein Obama, to plan road trips to DC for the inauguration, and perhaps to mend a few fences. It's going to be a good four years -- hard, but good. We've worked hard enough to win the rights to occupy the house. Time now for the hard work of reconstruction and renovation.

Let's get started.

11/2/08

Canvassing adventures

I've been out canvassing for the Obama campaign for the last two days. A couple of hundred doors in all, maybe a little more. Some random observations:
  • Most of my doors have been in three neighborhoods: Logan, a predominantly minority neighborhood in south Concord, off Poplar Tent near Frye's bowling lanes, and the Lenmore neighborhood off Corban street on the other side of 73 from Concord. Also, one apartment block and a couple of houses off Winecoff School Road. Logan is lower income, Poplar Tent is lower and lower-middle class, Lenmore is lower-middle class with some flat middle-class homes and a smattering of upper-class, and the apartments I've hit are basically all middle-class.
  • The minority communities have been very welcoming, on the whole. I've had a number of very friendly conversations, and really felt like I've been helping people. Bear in mind that although I'm canvassing for Obama, my primary concern personally is that people get out and vote. I think that comes through. I never judge anyone who says they've voted for McCain. My take away from my interactions with nonwhites has been overwhelmingly positive.
  • The only hostile reactions I've received have been from lower-middle-class whites. Cussed twice, and threatened by one who wanted to set his shepherd on me. Cracker-ass cracker. People like him are one of the reasons I sincerely hope Obama wins. Just to rub his nose in it. In both of the hostile instances, the response came not from the person named on my canvass list, but from someone who I took to be a parent. Dear parents: With attitudes like that, I hope your kids rebel and do something you consider stupid. Like voting for Barack.
  • A few words of advice, should you be accosted by a canvasser. Be nice. These folks are volunteers, and most of us are perfectly nice, normal people. Civility is the order of the day on both sides. Don't be an asshole.
Back to it tomorrow, both for Obama and Kissell.