What’s up Mark? You ask
What’s up with mark?
I finished up with school April 27th. I spent last week relaxing and doing some fun things . . .
Like eating well! It was good to have real food, not delivery pizza from Antonio’s (though he makes OK pizza). It is so much cheaper to cook for oneself, too. I enjoy preparing food, even just for myself. I find it creative, relaxing, and it helps me focus on the now, get out of my head, and appreciate things as they are. It is quite Buddhisty for me.
On Friday I took a walk downtown, dahntahn in the local dialect. It was good to get out and enjoy this city that I love so much. All school year downtown was just somewhere to get through, a place to make my bus connection to the Oakland neighborhood where the university is located. Pittsburgh’s rivers and bridges, walking trails, fountains, history, and people make this such a great place to live. I crossed over the Roberto Clemente bridge and picked up a couple of cheap tickets for the Pirates, Bucs or Buccos in dialect. Hockey may have become my favorite sport in recent years, but I remain firmly enamored of my first love, the most beautiful game of baseball.
It wasn’t a very good game but I shared it with a friend, we sang during the seventh inning stretch, and we saw the pierogi race. However, my favorite, Jalapeño Hanna, didn’t win.
But neither did my Bucs. It was beautiful nonetheless.
Not speaking of hockey, our Pittsburgh Penguins failed us miserably in the playoffs this year. I don’t know what happened to them. It seems they forgot how to play the game. Even nice boy, Sidney Crosby, turned into a punk at some point. I am glad the team didn’t fire our coach, Dan Bylsma because I think that overall, he has been great for the team. All and all it was a fun hockey season (minus concussions, stupid goon behavior, and such).
My first year at Pitt
Intro to the University: Pass
Into to Psychology: B+
Symbolic Logic: (good enough so don’t have to take it again) C+ if you must know
Workshop in Writing: A
Chan/Son/Zen Buddhism (history, doctrine, practice): A+
That looks a lot like a report card from my high school days. I guess we don’t change that much. I was a bit upset about the Psych grade, but since it was the first course that I had since 1977, I am cutting myself some slack.
Going half-time turned out to be a good idea for me. It was challenging enough while not overwhelming me. I plan to start full-time in the fall. We will see if easing into it will make this easier.
Some of you may know that the spring term turned out to be an historical one at Pitt, but not because of anything positive. Starting February 13, there were over 100 building evacuations due to bomb treats. It is still not clear who was behind the threats or what motives they had. It wrecked havoc on campus, especially for the students who lived in the dorms. I had to walk down 23 floors three times, but that was nothing compared to being awakened in the middle of the night several times. I felt bad for those kids. The university community did pull together and adapted to the situation as best we could. Instructors, at least from what I’ve heard, were very helpful. One of my classes stopped meeting altogether and we submitted our writing via email.
I am very happy that I chose to enroll at Pitt. I can’t say enough about the College of General Studies. I found everyone to be helpful and supportive. I highly recommend it to anyone considering returning to school but is afraid of fitting into a rigorous academic environment.
I really enjoyed this spring semester despite the interruptions and stress of the threats. The Zen and writing classes really challenged my writing skills. (Don’t judge them by blog posts, please.) Dan McMillan, my writing instructor, is a very good teacher. I plan on posting one of my essays, a personal reflection on my time in L’Arche. So stay tuned for that.
As of now, my classes for the fall will be: Intro to Japanese Lit, College Algebra (in slow motion for dummies, really, it is stretched out over two terms), Intro to Social Psych, Science Fiction, and Learning and Motivation (get to set up rat experiments, but I don’t think we really run them). The last class is to taught by the professor I had for Intro to Psych. Dr. Barbara Kucinski. She also has helped me clarify my planned path through the university. I never thought that there would be so much support here. I should have guessed it, since it is the point of the university to teach.
Summer Plans?
I don’t really have many plans for this summer. I do plan on visiting my dear friend, Mary Rupert who will spending some time in Cleveland later this month. I may make a mini vacation of it, renting a Zipcar and traveling along Lake Erie for a bit. I am volunteering for the Persad Center’s Celebrating Art, Celebrating Life fundraiser. Maybe I will meet some nice guys there?
I need to keep it cheap this summer. I hope to save up some money for school. I am thinking about getting another job of some sort to save even more. I am really enjoying the time off, however, and working 40 hours a week, even if it’s all in a block on the weekend seems enough for me. I am not sure.
One Last thing
To celebrate my first complete year of university, I completed my pair of tattoos that I have been planning for a long time. My left arm now reads, MU GE ICHI DO, one path without hindrance. It is the counter part to, NAMU AMIDA BUTSU, I take refuge in Amida Buddha, on my right. If you want to know the reasons and meaning of these tattoos, you may buy me some beer and we will have a good sit down talk.
In the mean time, I wish you all, all manner of wellness.
humbly and respectfully,
Mark
The Great Arc of Hope
Gay Marine welcome home kiss. Click on photo for source and full story
I received a tweet this morning with a link to the story of this photo that broke over the weekend.
I had missed a similar news story in December. Read about it here.
I want to pause and savor this moment in the history of human rights.
We bend the trajectory of history. Hope is reasonable.
humbly and respectfully,
Mark
More from MSNBC
First Sign of Spring
movement arises naturally when we walk
thinking arises naturally when we ponder
the tulip shoot grows upward in the spring
naturalness
this rock, not striving,
but I stand in a downpour
looking for the rain
Hopeless Fellows, indeed
The Master said, “You can’t seem to stop your mind from racing around everywhere seeking something. That’s why the patriarch said, ‘Hopeless fellows – using their heads to look for their heads!’
As seen at : Go Drink Tea
from The Zen Teachings of Lin-chi, translated by Burton Watson
blank page
rain
the view from this long window
the fading light
the umbrellas against the steady rain
the puddles filled by the tiny drops
a painted scroll
but no brush
no painter
no painting
just rain, light, students with umbrellas
but there is a painting and mind is the painter, thought is the brush,
rain, light, students with umbrellas are the paint
Light in the darkness
Warm glow of love against the winter darkness
Winter Solstice 2011
Dear Friends,
So far this winter has proven to be rather mild. I am hoping for snow soon and I am not ashamed to admit it. Ask me in late February if I have changed my mind.
The season of long nights, however, does not depend on climate and we now find ourselves in the time of darkness. I read recently there is evidence that the winter solstice is earliest human holiday celebration. Dating back tens of thousands of years, our mothers and fathers honored this mysterious cycle of the sun, perhaps giving rise to the idea of religion itself.
I took advantage of the winter break from school to visit my L’Arche family in Washington DC. I found myself back “home” with the friends who taught me so much about being a sign of hope and a light in the darkness. The community continues to struggle with many difficulties, death, illness, and the daily difficulties of ordinary life. The ordinary courage of the members of L’Arche, with and without disabilities, continues to be an inspiration for me, encouraging me to step out, take risks, and stand against the darkness.
My life has been truly blessed. Wherever I have stumbled in my path of life there have always been good people there to accompany me, teach me, and to hold me. They have been wise with words to inspire me, or strong to carry me, or lacking all else, even common language to comfort me, they smiled and welcomed me.
This is what I wish for you my friends, someone to hold a light for you in your darkness, someone to show you that you, also, have light within.
Unhindered light shines in the darkness, fear falls away, and love is found.
Good Solstice, Happy Hanukkah, Io Saturnalia, Merry Christmas . . .
Light,
humbly and respectfully,
Mark
Watch this. Cry. And live the rest of your day well.
Because this kid needs you.
. . .
It seems Jonah has stared a worldwide conversation . . .
Yuuyaraq
the way of the human being
This is another essay that I have been working on. I like how it turned out, so I am sharing it with you.
My birthday was quiet and wonderful. School is hard and wonderful. I am looking forward to the spring term and making plans to attend full-time in the fall.
This essay is also the fruit of some reflection for my birthday just past.
I was asked to answer the question, “what success means to me.”
To be truly, skillfully human
When I lived in Alaska, I came to know and benefit from the wisdom of the native elders I was fortunate to meet there. One of the things they taught me was that bears are not born bears, and that children are not born human beings. Both need to learn how to become what it is in their true nature to be: bears to do things as bears do them, children to live as human beings. Learning to be human is how one becomes a member of the tribe. In fact the names of individual tribes often translate simply as “the human beings” Yup’ik, for instance, means “The True People”, “Tlingit” means “The People of the Tides”. It is not enough to be born with the features and nature of a human being: one must become human through a process of learning. There are various skills needed to become a true human being. One must learn to survive: to hunt, to fish, to secure shelter. One must also learn to live with the people: to cooperate, to honor the elders, to teach the young.
This lesson resonated with me. It is clear to me that to be human I must firstly be a member of the community, to live well with the others around me. From this follows the need to be skillful in the ways that are most suited to me, by conscientiously developing my natural talents. With the help of others and through an engaging education, I am recognizing my talents and developing the skills to use them well. In addition, through my parents, through other wise mentors, and through my own reflections, I realize that, for me, success is becoming a source of compassion and healing for others.
I experienced early on that I had the capacity to listen and to be open to others as they shared what was most important to them. From people with developmental disabilities I learned to attend closely to peoples’ behavior in order to understand what they wanted to share. I have spent years living and working with adults like this. Now I am setting out in a new direction. I want to learn how to be a skillful therapist or counselor. I will consider this new endeavor a success when I engage skillfully with others as they seek to understand, to cope with, and to live well with the stresses and the conditions of their lives. Success means that through wisdom and compassion I will actually be helpful to them.
So success for me is two-fold. First to learn to be human in a true sense, in harmony with my true nature; and then to discover my own talents and to use them skillfully for the well being of others. This is a task that is never really completed. There is always more to discover about oneself and more to learn about those around you. At the end of life it will not be how much I have served myself but how much I have been striving to become a true and skillful human being in the service of The People.
————–
Peace to all of you in this season of gratitude,
humbly and respectfully,
