REFLECTIONS ON HOME IN COLUMBIA

Daylight savings time ended a few weeks ago.  Standard time stepped in.  Sunset comes earlier now, and evenings give way to dark about 6PM.  As in years past, I welcome this progression of the seasons.  When I am at home, alone or with Lloyd, I am aware that the earlier dark brings with it a deeply reverent stillness.

“The darker the night, the brighter the stars.” Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Sometimes when I wake in the middle of the night, I imagine I hear the roar of the Pacific and anticipate seeing Oregon’s dramatically beautiful coast when I rise in the morning. Then, upon becoming more aware, I realize that I am back home in Maryland and what I am hearing is the sound of the wind through the trees.  I doubt that I will ever cease to be fascinated by the choice of the name “Pacific” for such turbulent waters.

Birds still gather at dawn by the birdfeeders and suet hanging in the tall pine outside the window alongside our bed.  The robins, blue jays, and other larger species have now given way to sparrows, wrens, and small woodpeckers.  I love lying there with my head on my pillow watching about eight of them at a time flitting from pine branch to feeder for seed, to block of suet and back again.  They appear weightless in the air.

Mums, pumpkins, and pine cones have replaced potted geraniums and impatiens as decorations on our decks. We have moved our two large clay-potted houseplants inside from the back deck until spring.  The plant Lloyd’s daughter, Carolyn, gave me as a house warming gift when in 1987 I moved with my kids, Chris and Cliff, to my present home has undergone many re-pottings.  It continues to stand as a sentinel just inside the long glass pane alongside our front door, greeting all who enter. One foot tall when I first gave this plant a home, it now stands well over six feet with shiny deep green fronds.  The other, a potted fig, which I bought shortly after moving in, stands where I first placed it, in the corner of the dining room now dubbed the “Monnett memorabilia corner” after my mom’s maiden name.   The headboard of the bed where my sister Martha lived the last weeks of her life was against one of the walls forming this corner.  Martha loved to draw, and her framed etching of St. Francis of Assisi accompanied by his words “serve with great humility” hangs next to another etching, of Martha as a beautiful little girl, artist unknown.  She personified those words of Francis. Two more framed pieces share that corner.  One is Zach’s pastel of his great-grandmother, my mom, and his great-aunt, my sister Martha, shortly after they died within three months of each other.  His parents, my daughter Chris and her husband John, found it in his take-home folder from elementary school and gave it to me. The other is a receipt for a workhorse purchased to plow the family tobacco farm that my grandfather Monnett (Pop to me) picked up at the dock in Prince Frederick, Calvert County.  I wrote in Reflections not many months ago that while he was waiting for the delivery of the horse my grandmother stepped off the overnight ferry from Baltimore for a visit with relatives in Calvert County.  My grandfather later told his family that as soon as he saw her he said to himself  “I’m going to marry that girl,” and he did. When he died in his 80’s, having survived his wife, Martha, by more that 20 years, all of his earthly possessions fit in one metal container the size of a shoebox.  When my mom opened that box, one of the dozen or so items inside was the receipt for that horse.  The date, August 8, 1899 – the cost, $70.50.  When my son, Cliff, saw it he said “you have to frame that receipt.”  I did, and when my mom died years later at the age of 94, it moved to my home. Although she never finished high school, my mom, “Ma” as she liked us to call her, was one of the best read people I have ever known – history, classic literature, philosophy.  Having worked as a legal secretary for a prestigious Baltimore law firm whose main client was the B&O Railroad, she was able to personally research the Monnett family history in the land records, before computers, back to 1600 and the St. Bartholomew’s  (sp?)massacre. Over a hundred years of family history in that corner.

Last week’s strong winds have left the maples virtually bare of their leaves, the ground beneath covered with a reddish golden carpet that crackles underfoot.

Now Lloyd and I can see the sky quite clearly overhead through the dense trees  from our bed in the morning and when we go for our daily walk in the Middle Patuxent Valley. 

We had a moment of nostalgia while we were walking last week. I had stopped to prop up my foot in order to tie my sneaker lace which had come undone.  From a couple of feet behind I heard Lloyd ask me “do you remember going to the five and dime store on a regular basis as a kid to replace worn-out shoe laces?”  Instantly I appeared in my own mind as a seven year old little girl, grubby from running and playing in the dirt with the other kids in our neighborhood in West Baltimore.  It was as if I had read Lloyd’s question in Proust’s “Remembrance of Things Past,” replete with the smell of a sweaty little kid playing in the dirt making mud pies

We had Thanksgiving dinner at our home with our kids as we have every year since we were married almost 20 years ago, with the exception of one year when it was too difficult for Zach to travel.  Chris and John had all of us at their home for dinner that year.  Each year on the night following Thanksgiving, the grandkids come back to our home for a sleepover and their parents go out for dinner together.  We sit around our dining room table and eat leftovers from the previous day.  This year there was little turkey left, so the kids ate pizza.  We all watch a movie together that the kids select.   This year the film was Princess Bride which some of the kids had already seen.  Watching it for the first time, Lloyd and I laughed so hard we could not catch our breath. After the movie when Lloyd and I had gone to sleep, the grandkids selected a name from among their cousins to exchange gifts when we get together on Christmas. Occasionally one or two of the grandkids go elsewhere on the night after Thanksgiving now that they are in college.  Lloyd and I have said that we will continue this tradition as long as any of them want to come, and if and when that time passes, we will miss the tradition and will be so grateful for all the beautiful times we had.

 REFLECTIONS ON ZACH

Last week at the Turf Valley golf course, the Zaching Against Cancer Foundation, which Zach himself founded, held it’s annual 10K race.  Last year there were about 400 participants.  This year more than 850 participated, most running.  Lloyd and I walked the course.  It was a beautiful sunny day.  After the race there was a great celebration of Zach with music and good food. In the midst of it all, Zach’s spirit shines through, appearing brighter each year.  It seems that everyone there had a personal story of how Zach’s life has inspired them, influencing their life deeply.

It becomes increasingly clear that the number will keep growing.  I can imagine Leonard Cohen’s having Zach’s indomitable spirit in mind while composing his magnificent “Hallelujah”. R.I.P. Leonard.

Two weeks ago a college student, Benjamin, approached me at a gathering and said he had done a college on-line project on Zach   He forwarded it to me, and I was amazed at the creativity, though not surprised.  Thank you Benjamin.

REFLECTIONS ON BALTIMORE, MY HOMETOWN

This month, Lloyd and I attended the memorial for our dear friend, Bob Duggan, who founded the Traditional Acupuncture Institute in downtown Columbia more than 30 years ago.  He also founded the Penn North Addictions Treatment Center in downtown West Baltimore.  The service was held in that center which is located very near where Freddy Gray suffered his fatal injuries in the course of being arrested.  There was no space left in the center, including for standing.  Many attending arrived in cars from the suburbs or out of town, and many more on foot from the surrounding neighborhood which the press often describes as “one of the most dangerous” in the city.

The rooms were filled with reverence as about ten individuals spoke of the profound and deep impact Bob had on their lives.  Some of those who gave tribute were individuals from Columbia and other parts of the country who had a professional relationship with Bob – each with an inspiring story.  Of the others, were those who worked with Bob or were treated by him at Penn North.  One young man, Shadow, the most eloquent of all, told of being sentenced to jail in Baltimore.  He was terrified that he would die in prison.  Shadow recounted how Bob talked with him each and every day – sometimes in person and sometimes by phone - as he served out his sentence.  To use Shadow’s precise words,  “I am alive today because of Bob Duggan.”

The service lasted three hours.  No one was fidgeting or appearing eager to leave.

Lloyd, who rarely engages in demonstrative gatherings such as Bob’s memorial service, told me “I would have happily stayed for three more hours.”

Virtually every month, I received a message from Bob about these “Reflections”.

Now you are the source of inspiration for us, Bob.  R.I.P.

(2 GUYS – DUNKIN AND MAC STORE IN MALL)

Baltimore Sun

Spotlighters to redevelop landmark Read’s building

What a great use of this landmark of Black history, a bastion of discrimination in my hometown.  I recall occasionally eating a sandwich with my Mom at the counter of this store in the center of downtown Baltimore’s shopping district with a department store on each of the four corners at Howard and Saratoga Streets – Hutzler’s, Hochschild Kohns, Stewart’s, and The May Company.  As an elementary school aged girl, I was completely oblivious to the discrimination taking place, though it could not have been more obvious considering all the black people on the sstreets outside, and yet none at the lunch counter. We would catch the streetcar, and then later the bus, on Edmondson Avenue to ride into town from home on the west side.  We would end our shopping day at Lexington Market at Fadely’s Seafood stand, run by a man from Ellicott City up Church Lane from Main Street. Later when I was attending the University of Maryland law school as a young mom, Fadely’s, just two blocks away, was a great place to grab a quick lunch of raw oysters at their seafood bar. Now to have the prospect of the great performances of the Spotlighters taking place there brings together social and economic justice in this city where I grew up.

REFLECTIONS ON PUBLIC POLICY IN OUR COUNTY, STATE AND NATION

I chose to include our recent presidential election in this section.

More than a few of you have told me that you are eager to hear what I have to say on this topic of such great and deep magnitude, not only to us citizens of the United States, rather for the entire planet and beyond. Some of you may be disappointed in what I have to say at this point. Be assured, I will not abandon my practice of speaking out loudly and clearly even when it is not popular to do so.

I will not now write in terms of issues – justice, economics, education, human rights – not yet. Nor will I write in terms of fear. I have chosen to focus on love, compassion, truth, and justice.  And I am not choosing that as a “soft” approach.  Hatred and anger can only lead to more hatred and anger.

I am calling forth the lessons I carried with me from my silent retreats over the past ten + years, particularly from Jack Kornfield who said (slightly paraphrased):

“It’s like two arrows. The first is the event itself, the painful experience.  It has happened.  We cannot avoid it.  The second arrow is the one we shoot into ourselves.  This arrow is optional. It adds to the initial pain with a rigid frightened state of mind. The great exemplars of non-violence such as Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. were strategic and skilled in this way.  They rallied people, used the courts, blocked the way, negotiated, moved forward and back, found allies, … all to stand up for what is right, AND they did it all with a loving heart.”

This does mean we become weak and flimsy.  Nor does it mean that I don’t realize the dire seriousness of our nation’s and the world’s current situation re public policy.  It is clear that my Democratic party was not well prepared and informed for this election.  I believe it is now clear that we should have known better, and I bear some of that responsibility.  I believe that we all share in the responsibility for this outcome, though not necessarily in equal shares.

For me, it is clear that right now I need to continue focusing on a peaceful heart and mind, while learning all I can about what we did wrong and how to avoid repeating our poor judgment in the future as we deal with a very different ideology in our new national government

I will not change my ways in participating in our democracy on issues of social, economic, and environmental justice.  I will take more time to absorb the results of the election, and then participate fully, hopefully with a loving heart.

NOV. 18 BALTIMORE SUN EDITORIAL BY NEWS EDITOR ANDY GREEN

Your own facts

Does the 2016 election mark the end of the objective truth?

I knew Andy when he covered the Maryland Legislature for the Sun.  I believe he hits it right on the mark in this editorial

REFLECTIONS ON OUR PLANET BEYOND THE UNITED STATES

A new political order in West

CENTER-LEFT LOSES ITS GRIP ON EUROPE

Post presidential election, we have more in common with European nations than

we ever imagined.

Report warns of planet’s plunging wildlife populations

We’d best do whatever it takes to move this item up on our global priority list.

These common birds have broken the world record for nonstop flight

Swifts tracked by study (in Sweden) were able to stay aloft for 10 months at a time

During their journey from Northern Europe to Central Africa.

Simply incredulous!

REFLECTIONS ON OUR UNIVERSE

Scientists hope to seize an opportunity to knock a nearby asteroid off course.

 “Andy Cheng of the Applied Physics Laboratory at Johns Hopkins University (Lloyd’s employer for 30 years here in Howard County, though in the area of nuclear medicine engineering) is the lead U.S. investigator for this project.  He compared the mission to a linebacker slamming into a running back to knock him off course – only in this scenario, the running back is as big as the U.S. Capitol building, and the linebacker is moving at a pace six times as fast as a bullet shot from an AK-47.”

Pools of sorrow, waves of joy

Are drifting through my open mind

Possessing and caressing me

Across the Universe

~Lennon and McCartney

Be well and love life.

~ Liz