Sandy, isotic, mesic Humic Haploxerept

a soil horizon – a title found on a piece of my husband’s scratch paper, I started to imagine….

Sandy – grainy, gritty, teeth grind, warm release surrender, dreams of the beach in the summer time

Isotic – exotic? Iso – same. It must be the same here. Maybe this is the same beach that I fell asleep on last year and got that last silly sunburn. You’d think I’d be over that by now.

Mesic – in the middle. Nope, not me, never in the middle. Last fall at a dance I found myself in the middle of two bodies for a very long time. My skin was so open that it was too much for me. Too much stimulation, to much awareness. But then, I can think of being in the middle of the warm sand, the warm sun on my face. Never too much of that.

Humic – wet, soggy, bottom land. I know this one. Humics are the bogs, my front yard in winter, but not this winter. Humic is the source of the mosquitos that fly on the beach. Humic is the beach we avoid, looking for high dry ground without bugs.

Haploxerept – it is fun just imagining how to pronounce that and what it might mean. I imagine a clown with a big floppy hat, pretending to fall down the stairs in that way that is so controlled. The appearance of surrender being the ultimate in control. Perhaps it is that moment I dream of, lying on the warm beach with the waves washing me away when I just surrender and become apart of the ocean. I dissolve and then I am one with that which is greater than myself.

Amen, God in the soil, halleluiah, breathing in all the warmth of summer in a just a dream and some funny words on paper. I begin yet again. I breath in the warmth of this day in grace.

flags flying

Yes, I ordered 100 flags on Monday! As of this morning 97 are committed. Wow! 100 flags flying around Corvallis to say we stand for peace and diversity. 100 flags saying we won’t be silenced or intimidated. The Italian’s say “Peace from Every Balcony.” Flags fly in Italy in defiance of war and the repression of free speech. Ours will do the same.

If I continue to get requests, I will make another order. More flags, in more cities, on more porches and balconies. Don’t let the conservatives claim the moral highground. Let us speak out loudly for what pro-family really means, the right to compose a family of your choosing. The right to love as your heart calls you.

Love to all, keep those flags flying,

respond, respond

Friends and family: I think most people reading this site already know me. If you’d like to join the PACE flag flying send me a note. You can order them yourselves through Syracuse Cultural Worker or let me know and I’ll order you one too. We will fly these flags as symbols of peace and tolerance. As of this moment I have 60 flags committed to fly on different balconies around Corvallis. I am hoping there will be at least 100 by the time I make the order on Monday. My goal is to fly them all on March 1st and breath a deep breath of peace.

Call or write, or let me know your there by posting a response to the blog. I have slowed down my writing lately, but I’ll try to pick it up again. It helps to know your reading…

xoxox, Lisa

Fly your flags for Peace and Tolerance

Pace Flags for Peace, Tolerance and …. Dance?

Friends: Many of you have read the recent articles about our Pace (Peace) flag being stolen and my midnight encounter with hatred. Many of you have asked about getting a flag of your own to fly. The least expensive source of the flags is through the Syracuse Cultural Worker. They cost only $15 plus shipping, which if we order many of them at once will be less than a dollar a flag.

I would like to organize a mass shipping and flying of the Flag as a claiming of our voices for peace, tolerance and diversity. Please write to me and let me know if you’d like a flag. I’ll place the order next Monday (Feb 21) and hope that we can all having them flying on March 1st. Let’s cover our community with this image of peace and tolerance. As in the Tibetan tradition, our flags waving in the sun and wind can send our prayers to the Gods and to our fellows, our prayers for peace and our prayers for a more tolerant and loving society.

Please excuse, but I am going to take the opportunity to ask for your support in another way. In the on-going development of my community ministry, I am hoping to take Danceability training this summer. My goal is to bring dance classes for both mixed and disabled populations to Corvallis. The work is powerful, beautiful and transformative all at once. It is an experience of bearing witness to the abilities of those we label disabled and it is an experience of confronting the ability and disability within ourselves. I have spoken with a number of possible supporters and venues for the classes. I will begin offering this work through the IMPACT program at OSU as well as through either the Benton Center, Majestic Theater, or one of the local churches. But I need your support too, as I need to raise about $2000 to pay for the training. And so, I ask if you can add any small amount to your purchase of the flag; the money will go directly to pay for my Danceability training. Many small pebbles can make a big wall and with your help I can take this next step.

Thanks! Lisa

Links of interest:
Corvallis Peace Flag theft:
http://www.gtconnect.com/articles/2005/02/16/news/community/tueloc02.txt
http://www.gtconnect.com/articles/2005/02/16/news/opinion/1wed216.txt

History of the Italian Peace Flag:
http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/it%7Dpace.html

Danceablity: http://www.danceability.com/about.html

treading water

Treading water. That is what life feels like when Jay is out of town. I just tread water. All the extras disappear. I keep the boys and my heads in fresh air but I don’t get anywhere. I stopped working on my book proposal. I haven't written much of anything beyond my letters to the president. Actually, that is not quite true. But there is still so much I had hoped to do that I didn’t accomplish this week.

Thanks for being there in the middle of the night everyone. At this moment, 9:30 pm there are more kids outside being drunk and silly. But these guys aren’t scary. I went out and talked to them. They shook my hand and said they were just waiting for their designated driver. My gut knows when to be afraid and when the natives are safe. Thank god for my gut.

More soon, Jay is back on Tuesday and I’ll be writing again then.
Love y'all, Lisa

echoes of a hate crime

The hatred still lingers in my bones and flesh. I continue to turn it over to God. I was the victim of a hate crime. I was the victim of intimidation. I will not be intimidated. To allow them to intimidate me is to allow them to win. Hatred grows that way. My flag still hangs. My heart is still on my sleeve.

As a child of abuse, I find it so easy to minimize even this. It was only words. They didn’t actually hurt me. They didn’t touch me. I was able to fend them off with my words and my call to the police.

But verbal abuse is still abuse. It is the attempt to incite fear. It is the attempt to push all of us, no matter what it is that makes us different, back into the closet.

I share my story with others and I hear their stories in the process. I hear about friends who regular receive verbal abuse for being themselves. Women and men who don’t fit easily into our cultures norms incite fear in the perpetrators. Their very presence causes people to question themselves. And that questioning brings up anger and hate and they are lashed out against.

Another friend tells me about her boyfriend, a Jewish man living in Corvallis. He has been the victim of hate crimes. His property has been vandalized. People have left hate messages scrawled in chalk on the sidewalk and fence in front of his house. I am stunned. I thought we were beyond that. This is Corvallis, middle class, affluent, forward looking....?

My middle class white neighbors are shocked. Why you? they ask. I tell them it was the rainbow flag and they scratch their heads in disbelief. Most have not been the victims of hate crimes. Most have not experienced direct intimidations or threats due to their identities. Instead they share stories of having their cars broken into and plants trampled in the yard by drunken college-aged youths.

I won’t minimize this. A hate crime is a hate crime even if I was not touched and even if I was wrongly identified. I can feel the affects of the hate crime in my flesh. That is their tool and their power. And I will not give them my power. I will not take down my flag. I will not stop wearing my heart on my sleeve. I will not stop believing that people are good and worthy and divine.