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

                       

October 2016 REFLECTIONS ON LIFE

(Monday is Halloween, then one more glorious month moves on into history.)

REFLECTIONS ON HOME IN COLUMBIA

October 10th marked Lloyd’s and my 23^rd wedding anniversary.  YIKES!

     After obtaining our marriage license at the courthouse in downtown Ellicott City lo those many years ago, we walked down the hill to Tersiguel’s restaurant on Main Street.  We have known the owner, Fernand, since this excellent French restaurant was located in another building about two blocks down the hill.  I had gone there frequently for lunch and dinner during my years in county government, and missed it terribly after the fire in the 80’s burned it to the ground.  For a few years Fernand operated a restaurant near the shot tower in east downtown Baltimore.  Then a few years later on Main Street he opened yet a third restaurant at its current location.  On that fall afternoon in 1993, Fernand was very happy to hear that we were about to be wed and sat us at a small table for two in a corner by the “Reynard” (fox) stained glass window.  For 21 years we returned to that same table for our anniversary lunch for 21 years.  The French entrees – lamb, fish, duck – and the fresh as fresh can be vegetables grown on the land where Fernand and his family lived were always scrumptious. Each year we accompanied our meal with a bottle of French Vouvray.

     Sad as we were to have our tradition of 22 years broken by the recent flood in Ellicott City, it took us literally no time to decide on our celebration restaurant for this 23rd anniversary - King’s Contrivance, another favorite for many years.  In addition to the excellent food and service, the scenery of the rolling green lawn with its stately trees, beautiful shrubs and flowers is readily visible through the solarium windows. We particularly love the awareness that we are dining in the childhood home of former Judge James Magill of the Circuit Court in Howard County.  He had strong feelings about preserving farmland in Howard County, and occasionally got me aside to share his wise thoughts about preservation legislation that I proposed as County Executive and which was then passed into law by the County Council.  To me the most memorable phrase of his judicial decisions was “When you let a whale through the net, you cannot block the minnows.” 

     After retiring from the bench, he studied to such a degree that he could, and did, read – in Greek - all of the Greek classics.  He also took up sculpting in marble and fine woods.  Lloyd and I have two of his modern sculptures in our living room, each about two feet tall - one in walnut which Lloyd gave me as a gift features a large egg shape enveloped in a likeness of a womb, and the other in pink marble entitled “Torso” which I purchased for Lloyd at one of the artist’s shows and had a label  “Happy Birthday, Lloyd” placed on it before we walked through the sales gallery together.

     Many called this brilliant and gentle man “Jamie,” though I could never bring myself to do so.  He was and always will be Judge Magill to me.

     Next year we will return to Tersiguel’s in their restored site on Main Street when, hopefully, there will be a greater respect for the power of water and the potential danger of run-off from allowing building on steep slopes and clear-cutting of trees near flood areas.

………

     I recall my writing months ago about my decision not to accept a position on any boards and commissions now that I no longer hold public office, choosing instead to carry out my commitment to various public policy issues as an individual.  I would join various organizations and speak out on social, economic, and environmental justice issues but not take a leadership position.   So in early 2015 when Mike Clark, who chaired the board of the Little Patuxent Review (LPR), a longstanding local literary publication, invited me to join its board, I responded that I was not going to accept any organizational board position.  I knew the founders of the publication, Ralph and Margot Treitel, who were original residents of Wilde Lake, Columbia’s first village.  Ralph personally delivered to me a copy of the first edition in which he had written an essay about me as a 30-some- year old new member of the Howard County Council.  Since then I have attended most of the unveilings of each of the bi-annual editions.  For many years now they have taken place in Oliver’s Carriage House in Town Center.  Each time I experience deep gratitude for the talent and often courage of the various authors of poems, short stories, and essays.  I can truly say that I walk away inspired each and every time.  Now that I am doing some writing of my own, mainly in these monthly e-newsletters, I treasure the role of LPR in our community even more. All of this to say that, with Lloyd’s concurrence, I have broken my vow to myself and accepted a position on the board of The Little Patuxent Review.  The decision feels very much in sync with my soul.

…

     Since my September issue, two men who exemplified the spirit of Jim Rouse’s Columbia have taken their last breaths on this planet - Bob Duggan and Gordon Livingston.  I first met Gordon as a peace activist, author, and psychiatrist.  He appeared to me as a conscience of our community.

       I came to know Bob Duggan shortly after I was first elected to the Maryland House of Delegates representing Columbia.  I had heard of the Traditional Acupuncture Institute, TAI, though I had never entered their institute then located in the American City Building in Downtown Columbia.  After lunch at the lakefront with Bob and two others from the institute, we walked back together, and I was given a tour of their offices and practice space.  Dianne Connelly joined us in a discussion of their mission of integrative health care.  The next day I phoned and made an appointment with Dianne for an initial acupuncture treatment, thus beginning more than 20 years of life learning.  “To come to life more fully” was one of the first transformative benefits I realized.  I could quote Bob for paragraph after paragraph, and I choose this one that he related he had heard from a monsignor who had once been his teacher in seminary.  They had been visiting together in Rome after not having seen each other for some time.  Bob expressed regrets at their time together coming to an end.  The monsignor replied, “However much time we have is enough”.  Those words have held me in such good stead countless times during these 20 some years, including my time with Zach, who had met Bob on a few occasions when they had a great talk.

     Your spirit surrounds us, Bob and Gordon.

REFLECTIONS ON ZACH

     Lloyd and I now have three grandkids in college.  Zach would have graduated from the University of Maryland last spring.  He had wanted to have a career in journalism. I believe he would have been quite gifted at that, AND, no matter how much so, he could not possibly have had a greater impact on so many lives than he did in showing all of us, so many of us, how to live and die.

     During this past month, as in every month, I am aware so often of all I learned and continue to learn from Zach.  That awareness was particularly strong when Lloyd and I visited Calvert County and returned to the roots of my Mom’s family, the Monnett’s.  My daughter Chris loved my mom very much.  She and Zach’s dad, John, gave Zach her surname as his middle name.  Zachary Monnett Lederer.  My first grandchild, my greatest teacher.

REFLECTIONS ON BALTIMORE, MY HOMETOWN

Lloyd and I spent two beautiful sunny days in Baltimore this month.  One was to visit the Patterson Park pagoda where my mom used to play as a young girl.  There are plaques on the pagoda marking the years when certain nationalities dominated the immigration waves - Germans in early 1900’s when my grandmother, Martha Elizabeth Schaub, came to this city with her parents.  She later married my grandfather, Laurence Lucien Monnett, from southern Maryland and gave birth to my mom, Helen Marie Monnett, in their home on Barry Street very near the Baltimore harbor.  We also visited Calvert County on the Chesapeake this month where my grandfather worked on a tobacco farm owned by his family who came here from France in the late 1600’s.

Our other day visit to Baltimore was to see the U.S.S. Zumwalt, a new large stealth ultra modern destroyer visiting the harbor for four days.  It was accompanied by the Navy Blue Angel team. Lloyd served in the navy in the mid 50’s including a four-month tour of the Mediterranean. Most of you know how anti-war I am, AND it would be less than honest for me to say I didn’t see beauty in those planes soaring and swooping over the harbor as Lloyd and I enjoyed a delicious lunch at a harbor side restaurant.  Conflicts in my mind.

A recent article in the Baltimore Sun reports on the return of the ship, Pride II, to its home harbor after travelling the east coast and Great Lakes to promote maritime education.  Upon return from the 3,000 mile voyage, the ship’s cook, Philip Keenan, said:  “It’s a tremendous opportunity to stay present and to be in the moment, because that’s all there really is.”  The Dali Lama could not have said it better.

Baltimore is Among the Most Lethal of the Nation’s Cities When It Comes to Shooting Deaths

Shoot to Kill

“He was about 13 years old.  Growing up in Baltimore, he knew it was wrong to shoot a man. Still he didn’t feel remorse. What he did feel was that his crew had new-found respect for him.”

More than any article I have read, this one gives me a clearer picture of just how huge is the task ahead of us to heal Baltimore.  It can be done.

The Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA)

It was such a joy to read on the front page of The Baltimore Sun on October 28 that the BMA has been given the international distinction of assembling the U.S. entry into the 2017 Venice Biennale, arguably “the oldest and most prestigious international art exhibit in the world and often referred to as “the Olympics of the art world.”  We still have so much to do in the city in the areas of social and economic justice.  It is encouraging to see that we are still recognized for our great museum.  As I have written before, I have a particular soft spot for the BMA, having more that occasionally “slipped out” of class in the nearby high school I attended to visit this museum and expand my appreciation and knowledge of the arts.  Looking back, I think it has held me in good stead.

REFLECTIONS ON PUBLIC POLICY IN OUR COUNTY, STATE AND NATION

Howard County

I am very supportive of Question A on the ballot because it provides a good first step in reducing the impact of money on politics.  I must say that it simply defies logic for any of our County Councilmembers to even consider voting for the $100,000,000 TIF, a pure “gift” to Howard Hughes to build garages, and other projects necessitated by their development in Downtown Columbia which have previously been paid for by the development company itself

STATE

Prison Justice:

I have written in past months of my deep respect and admiration for Maryland’s Attorney General, Brian Frosh. The Baltimore Sun editorial below supports his plans to make injustice in our prison system a priority during the 2017 legislative session in Annapolis.

Health Care:

Vinny De Marco, who has been a tireless and very effective advocate for greater economic justice in our health care delivery system spoke at the Wilde Lake Interfaith Center this month on his plans for the upcoming legislative session.  Thank you, Vinny, for countless hours of hard work on behalf of others who cannot always help themselves.

Letter to the Editor of the Baltimore Sun

Dr. Andy Lazris, Ellicott

Health Care Held Captive

I have had the good fortune to hear Dr. Lazris speak a few times in our Columbia Community.  This man, whose daughter graduated from Wilde Lake High School last year with our grand daughter, Katerina, shows such wisdom and courage in advocating forcefully and by example for greater economic justice in the delivery of health in our state and nation. 

A deep “thank you” to you, Dr. Lazris

When My Times Comes, I Want the Option of Assisted Death

How inspiring it is to have Bishop Desmond Tutu join the ever-growing number of us calling for Death with Dignity, which will be a health priority again this year in the Maryland Legislature.

Another Baltimore Sun editorial

Evergreen’s Mission…We need all the competition we can get on Maryland’s health exchange but also the innovation the state’s lone health co-op has provided.

Dr. Peter Beilenson has done so much to provide economic justice in our health care system.  May he find a way to continue to do so.

Education:

Washington Post

Why future officers should study Shakespeare

Liberal arts should matter to the service academies as much as STEM

…and I would add to all fields of education.

Baltimore Sun

Top schools on PARCC exams very geographically

Sun analysis of math and English scores ranks Baltimore area schools

Can we really consider it new news that “test scores are often closely correlated with a family’s income and educational background”?

We particularly need to keep this in the forefront here in Howard County.

Transportation:

Rescuing Metro

This Washington Post

The troubled transit system needs a long-term dedicated funding source, not naysaying politicians.

U.S. National

Immigrants to be held in jails deemed unfit by Justice Department

ICE expands is use of for-profit, private prisons cited for deaths, poor care

We must stop this gross social and economic injustice

REFLEXIONS ON OUR PLANET BEYOND THE U.S.

Sweden

Washington Post

Lyrical laureate:  Nobel deems Dylan prize-worthy

     The Swedish Academy, in my opinion- though I realize some literary minds disagree - demonstrated deep wisdom in seeing poetry in the lyrics of Bob Dylan’s songs and accordingly awarding him the Nobel Prize in Literature.  At this time, our time on planet earth, there is so much beauty and so much horror. Perhaps, just perhaps, this recognition will ripple out and out through our planet like a rolling stone as the times they are a changin’ and the answer is blowin’ in the wind.

Mexico (via Calvert County, MD)

     Lloyd and I had the good fortune through the generosity of friends in Columbia to spend an October weekend at North Beach on Maryland’s western shore of the Chesapeake Bay, not far from where my grandparents met at the boat dock as I described on the prior section on Baltimore in this e-newsletter. Walking through town one afternoon, we came upon a small cottage with two elderly men sitting out on the front porch.  We stopped to say hello and noticed right inside the front yard fence a large butterfly bush laden with monarchs, just as I described them in an earlier newsletter on the milkweed plants around our pond.  The men told us that hundreds of them settled on that bush every fall.  They were shocked and pleased when we told them those monarchs were en route to the central Mexico mountains in their annual migration.

     It has not been that many years, circa 1975, since the Monarch Butterflies overwintering sanctuaries were discovered in the Mexican state of Michoacan, 50 miles northwest of Mexico City. The story of the discovery was published in the August 1976 edition of National Geographic Magazine.  Every autumn hundreds of millions of these orange, black, and white beauties migrate thousands of miles from eastern Canada and the United States to the mountains of Central Mexico, where they spend the winter.  In February they commence their return flight north. 

(Google to learn more about their incredible multi-generational journey.)

     In 1999, Lloyd and I travelled to central Mexico and visited several towns: Patzcuaro, known for its elaborate and extensive celebration of the Day of the Dead, and Morelia where Lloyd located a driver who was willing to take us to visit the monarchs’ wintering site.  Fortunately, the site had not been commercialized.  Walking from the car to the steep hillside leading to the large evergreens, we passed several handmade rickety wooden stalls where local women were selling bottles of juice and roughly carved walking sticks used to assist in the climb.  I bought a stick about four feet in length and one inch thick which had been hand carved to a semi smooth state.  It served me well on the climb up and back down, and now rests in the entry hall of our home against a table upon which lives the Barbara Kingsolver novel, “Flight Behavior,” about the effect of climate change on monarch butterflies.  After about a twenty-minute climb, we reached the area of maximum monarch density.  The branches of the tall evergreen were drooping to an almost vertical position due to the weight of tens of thousands of butterflies.  As we walked, several monarchs alit on our jackets and slacks.  Within minutes of our stopping at an optimum viewing location, Lloyd was literally covered with hundreds of these magnificently beautiful creatures.  In my mind’s eye, I can still see him clearly, a perfect model for a Diego Rivera or Frieda Kahlo painting.

Everything is connected.

REFLECTIONS ON OUR UNIVERSE

Super moon

     The October full moon on the 15^tth and 16th was the first of three “super moons” that will close out the year 2016, continuing in November and December.  Super moon is the unofficial term when a full moon coincides with its closest approach to earth (perigee) in its oval-shaped orbit, making it appear four percent larger in the night sky and often taking on an orange hue.  Super moons appear larger because they are a bit closer to the earth.  When we look toward the horizon we are looking through a greater thickness of earth’s atmosphere than when we look overhead. The greater thickness of atmosphere in the direction of the horizon scatters blue light most effectively, but it lets red light pass through to your eyes, creating an orange hue.

Earthsky.org, Columbia PATCH

Washington Post 

There may be 10 times as many galaxies in the universe as scientists thought.

      Now there’s a moderate and manageable goal to which I can expand my awareness of the universe during daily meditation – 200 billion galaxies!

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

                        

September 2016     REFLECTIONS ON LIFE

REFLECTIONS ON HOME IN COLUMBIA

Lloyd and I were at home for only the first week of September.  Every day the sun was bright and the air fresh though quite warm with starry skys at night for us to observe from our two large bedroom windows.  We took our 5K walk in the Middle Patuxent Valley path each day and felt reinvigorated upon our ending up walking around the pond in our yard to our back door.

Now that we have returned from our three weeks’ drive along the coast of northern California and Oregon, I am aware that the Lennon and McCartney quote with which I end each month’s message is more than rarely showing up for me.  Unlike most times when this quote comes to mind, it is now the “pools of sorrow” rather than the “waves of joy” taking prominence.

I’m not clear why that is so.  Perhaps I will get some clarity during my morning meditations.  I know it is not merely because of the abysmal tone and level of the presidential campaign engulfing us.  The judgmental name calling is so degrading and can so easily pull us down into the abyss.  Please promise me that if you ever observe me doing that – either verbally or in writing – you will “tap me on the shoulder” and remind me of this message. Of course Lloyd and I are voting for Hillary and strongly urging absolutely everyone we know, including many former fellow Bernie Sanders supporters, of the necessity that they do the same. I do hope she shows the wisdom to get beyond simply responding to his outrageous statements and raises herself up, with dignity and truth, and us along with her regarding issues of justice – social, environmental, and particularly economic. 

                   

The “pools of sorrow” to which I refer go far beyond politics, at times questioning the basic goodness of us human beings on this earth.  Then just when I become aware of faint possibility of despair setting in, I hear Thich Nhat Hanh’s words which I wrote in a recent message:  “We are more than than our sorrow, We must be able to smile to our sorrow.” 

Since returning home last week, I have had what I believe is a very valuable and beneficial insight about my participation in our Columbia community. Four years ago when I decided not to run for public office again , I was clear that I was not going to “hang on” to the trappings – many meetings, etc. Yet in recent months, I have come to the realization that I have mistakenly fallen into the belief that if I would only go to more meetings, talk with more people, write more letters I could help redirect the economic injustice being perpetrated here.  Upon our return we noticed the new real estate signs sprouting up along Cedar Lane and other roads advertising new “Luxury Apartments” in Wilde Lake, Columbia’s first village where Jim Rouse lived.  I have no problem with luxury apartments, as a matter of fact some of my close friends live in them.  I do have a GREAT BIG problem with the current appearance that the county may allow ONLY luxury apartments since there is no requirement in the plan adopted several years ago to build any low or moderately priced units be built. Our County Council and County Executive have the power to change that and we citizens have the civic responsibility to make it clear that they must do so.

When I finish composing this message, Lloyd and I will go out on this magnificent sunny day and walk our beloved Middle Patuxent Valley hilly path.  We will talk about Jim Rouse and the beautiful human spirit he exhibited in creating Columbia.  We will also talk about what we can do to keep alive his oft stated goal to create a community where the CEO and the janitor can live side by side.

REFLECTIONS ON ZACH

The majestic views that encompassed Lloyd and me as we drove the west coast of our country provided quite a fertile backdrop for countless images of Zach.  The  ruggedness and solidity of the huge rocks in the surf so strongly contrasted with the alternating soaring and diving of the majestic sea birds.  Zach showed up as both the strength of those rocks and the gracefulness and agility of those birds. Although he used to tease me about my love affair with the sun’s risings and settings, particularly by the sea, I am aware that he loved them as much, and possibly during his last year on this earth, even more deeply than I.

Out west we spent most nights in rooms in rustic surroundings, some with decks overlooking the roaring Pacific.  Such a clear example of the irony of that ocean’s name.  The stars and planets were even brighter than when viewed from our bedroom window at home.  On more than a few days we bought sandwiches during the afternoon’s ride and ate them for dinner out on the deck of that night’s room.  Zach was right there with us

Now back in our home in Columbia, when I wake during the night I think for a moment or two that the stars I see from our bed through the windows are also above Oregon.

I am now sitting by our dining room window composing this message on a beautiful early autumn day.  The first of the golden and reddish leaves are gently swirling, reflecting as they fall into the contrasting dark water of the pond right outside that window.  Yes, Zach is reflected simultaneously with those colorful leaves in that same pond by which he loved to play as a little boy. The presence of his spirit is palpable

REFLECTIONS ON BALTIMORE, MY HOMETOWN

Lloyd and I read the Washington Post and Baltimore Sun cover to cover every day.  Usually when we return home from a long vacation it takes a few days to get through the papers that have accumulated.  This year we made the momentous decision to stop delivery.  We didn’t even use the internet to read them.  Nor did we watch much TV.  In fact, some of the rooms we slept in didn’t have TV’s.  It was surprisingly easy to adapt to this very basic change in our daily routine.

There is one article from the Baltimore Sun that I want to include below. I recall several times when I visited Carla Hayden in her office in Baltimore’s Enoch Pratt Library on Cathedral Street.  Years before when I was in high school on North Charles Street, I would stop in that library during my transfer time between buses before I headed west on Route 40 to the Edmondson Village area where I lived.  What a great and transformative Librarian of Congress she will be.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwj5z_my98PPAhVCHB4KHTvoBdUQFggcMAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fdigitaledition.baltimoresun.com%2Ftribune%2Farticle_popover.aspx%3Fguid%3Dfe27d180-08b4-434f-9905-9b4679baa3f7&usg=AFQjCNEq1pfHjY4psk5lo6WnQY7EYx0v3A&sig2=4brkuQJ3dpHml_T4aFFC0g&bvm=bv.134495766,d.dmo

A few weeks ago I visited the Catholic Basilica where I also stopped in regularly on my way home from school directly across the street from the Pratt Library.  This recent occasion was for celebration of the canonization of Mother Teresa during a mass conducted by Baltimore’s Cardinal Lori.  Lloyd stayed in the car reading the Sunday paper while I went in to this very moving mass attended by many families with children.  An off shoot of the order of nuns founded by Mother Teresa settled in Baltimore quite a few years ago, and many of them were present for this mass.  After mass, Lloyd drove to Baltimore’s Lloyd Street to see the Jewish Museum where Zach worked during its renovation several years ago.  Later we had corned beef sandwiches in Baltimore’s landmark Attman’s Deli.  Zach had taken us on a tour of the museum the year before his second brain tumor became evident.  A rabbi was taking a group on a tour at the same, and he and Zach got into a conversation about the restoration.  The Rabbi eventually invited Zach up front to help him lead the group and point out features of which he himself was not aware.

What beautiful Baltimore memories these are for me.

REFLECTIONS ON PUBLIC POLICY IN OUR STATE AND NATION

Sad news that Dr. Peter Beilensen’s health insurance co-op is going “for-profit.”

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=3&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjUqsjf98PPAhXCkh4KHQ60CBwQFggzMAI&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.pressreader.com%2Fusa%2Fthe-washington-post%2F20161004%2F281565175260315&usg=AFQjCNH1Vt2-5vApilFnNeHS7G2tb13tgg&sig2=YsweMH_r3CwYy25ksfsYoA&bvm=bv.134495766,d.dmo

As a member of the Maryland legislature I spent what then seemed like countless hours working with Johns Hopkins Professor Avi Ruben, a nationally recognized computer expert, in an effort to change the voting system described below.  To no avail.  For some reason we were never successful in unveiling that the Maryland Board of Elections was wed to this insecure system, and the legislative “leaders” were unwilling to buck them.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjcro2f-MPPAhUDXh4KHZOOBWQQFggcMAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fthewashingtonpost.newspaperdirect.com%2Fepaper%2Fviewer.aspx%3Fissue%3D10472016093000000000001001%26page%3D23%26article%3D41a99fbc-cfd8-4173-a832-f84ce70e3c5c%26key%3DgaE9nVPrpjvZnrHu8t%2FTrA%3D%3D%26feed%3Drss%26google%3D1&usg=AFQjCNGvsMfqtWVtcPQ0KFrJFEHjmeICEw&sig2=n5ohxy9-JB_Gim2MboExXw&bvm=bv.134495766,d.dmo

The term “infrastructure” seems so mild in comparison to the terrorism and war we read about daily.  Yet the train crash in New Jersey reported on in the Baltimore Sun article below is a great big warning that, as a nation, we better find the time and resources to address the serious weaknesses in our infrastructure.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjv4N-7-MPPAhVFFh4KHe6NCPIQFggcMAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fdigitaledition.baltimoresun.com%2Ftribune%2Farticle_popover.aspx%3Fguid%3D9fb48534-39e2-4589-b542-13300e85c985&usg=AFQjCNFCSoEutDwicKi5fsF8dlijYPHJ8Q&sig2=VRH2GQb3Td7KZiptlGbSvA&bvm=bv.134495766,d.dmo

REFLECTIONS ON OUR PLANET BEYOND THE UNITED STATES

Will the Syrian people ever see peace?

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwi8xvzJ-MPPAhVJ9h4KHaNRBewQFggcMAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fthewashingtonpost.newspaperdirect.com%2Fepaper%2Fviewer.aspx%3Fissue%3D10472016100100000000001001%26page%3D1%26article%3Db9781117-abaf-4fb5-8aee-662546c92c0d%26key%3DgQ2stwmrq5q5E01yxfbXtQ%253D%253D%26feed%3Drss&usg=AFQjCNF0cgm3XE93UrhPQ7Lx23VL4X7BeA&sig2=HpLTfsu-oVmMUKr1-K-kHA&bvm=bv.134495766,d.dmo

The world mourns the death of Israel’s Peres

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwj9kO_e-MPPAhXFqR4KHYh_B_8QFggcMAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fthewashingtonpost.newspaperdirect.com%2Fepaper%2Fviewer.aspx%3Fissue%3D10472016093000000000001001%26page%3D1%26article%3Dbe3b1fac-f49d-4ab7-b480-7e5558421656%26key%3DdgKr1HBlmZyZIvd4fYyYjA%253D%253D%26feed%3Drss&usg=AFQjCNFIXZ4KF08App2Pb4JsWDrbQ4sMKg&sig2=74h03gEbK7LSeTiS-6Ocdw&bvm=bv.134495766,d.dmo

Haiti holds a very special place in my heart because of my Mom’s dear friend and spiritual advisor, Father Richard Frechette, who oversees a hospital and numerous schools in Port au Prince.  This man, who once served as a parish priest at St. Joseph’s Monastery on Frederick Road in Baltimore – my mom’s church in her later years – has devoted his life to easing the suffering of the Haitian people.  He literally works in the trenches with them.  Not long after moving to Haiti, he commuted to Florida to medical school and became a M.D. in order to be able to minister physically to the Haitian people. On a visit home shortly before Zach’s death, he phoned me to say he would like to visit Zach and pray with his family.  Zach’s parents, Lloyd and I and about five other family members were present in Zach’s room.  Zach showed no outward signs of awareness of our all praying together, and yet we all knew he was praying with us.  I later had the opportunity two years ago to visit Haiti and be with the beautiful people of that beleaguered country in their villages and homes.  They so clearly deserve a “second chance” at a fair election.

REFLECTIONS ON OUR UNIVERSE

A Poem by the great Sufi master HAFIZ:

SOME OF THE PLANETS ARE HOSTING

The ear becomes alert when music says,

"I am over here."

The eye goes on duty,

Becomes viable,

When beauty whistles and points to her dress

On the ground.

God has sent out ten thousand messengers

Announcing a great bash tonight some of the planets

Are hosting

Where the lead singer is God,

Himself.

But most of those couriers

Have become drunk, got waylaid,

Disoriented to the hilt

With such exalted

News.

And can no longer remember

The time and the

Place.

What does that have to do

With you?

Plenty.

Hafiz will fill you in later

If need

Be.

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

REFLECTIONS ON LIFE – August 2016

REFLECTIONS ON HOME IN COLUMBIA

During the warm summer months, one of our greatest joys, Lloyd and I, is stopping by Clark’s vegetable stand on Route 108, just about a mile from our front door, returning home with fruits and vegetables - oh so fresh.

We visited Senator Jim Clark in the living room of his ancestral home on Clarksville Pike while he was resting in his hospital bed in the living room several years ago. He was uncommunicative and appeared unaware of our presence. After sitting alone with him for a bit, we were asked by a family member if we would agree to stay while she ran a quick errand.  We were happy to agree and sat with him for a while by ourselves in the home.  Lloyd soon went out into the beautiful farmland outdoors, and I sat alone with “Jim.” I overcame a fear of acting inappropriately and spoke softly to the senator giving voice to his beloved wife’s name, Lillian. When the family member returned in about half an hour, Lloyd and I returned to our car and headed home, stopping by their vegetable stand on our way for fresh corn and tomatoes which we ate for dinner in celebration of Senator Clark’s life outside on our deck.  We toasted a glass of wine to Jim and Lillian. The next day we learned that Senator Clark had taken his last breath.

Jim had for years been one of my most influential teachers and mentors on environmental issues, including farmland preservation.  He had sponsored   Maryland’s signature farmland preservation legislation when he served as the President of the Maryland Senate. He also took the lead on “no till” farming which we can observe first hand in autumn passing through the now heavily travelled intersection of Route 108 and Centennial Lane.  I can only hope that I served in public office with some semblance of his dedication and integrity.

Knowing full well that my re-election campaign for Howard County Executive in 1990 would not be an easy one, largely due to my environmental protection and planned growth programs which had “stirred up” the development community and Chamber of Commerce, Jim more than willingly and without question volunteered to serve as chairman of my campaign committee.  He didn’t flinch in his commitment when farmers’ (land owners’) tractors lined up in protest in front of the County Office Building in Ellicott City. When an anti-incumbent wave ran throughout Maryland and beyond, I lost that election by less than one tenth of a percentage point.  Senator Clark later told me it had been well worth the risk.

Jim’s daughter, Martha, and her daughter now operate the family fruit and vegetable stand.  They have added an impressive choice of home fed meat and a lovely pick-your-own flower garden.  They have also taken on the mantel of their father and grandfather as strong land preservationists.

Senator Jim Clark, with his humble ways, stands out as one of my greatest teachers, not only in politics, but in life as a whole. …and WOW! those Clark tomatoes can’t be beat!  Just ask Lloyd…and serendipitously, I don’t believe it’s likely that we would now be married if I had won that election.

Historic Ellicott City

Our hearts go out to the shop owners and artists who lost so much in the recent floods in Ellicott City.  Two friends – Robin Holliday owner of Horse Spirit Gallery and Len Berkowitz of Great Panes – have experienced immense loss. Tragically, insurance claims are being denied left and right.

The historic significance of this small town as the site of the first passenger train ride in the U.S. and the first national road to the west is without rival.  It was a high priority of mine when I served as County Executive to preserve as many historical sites as possible in this town – the first firehouse, the first courthouse, the log cabin to name a few.

I extend my deepest gratitude to county government in doing the best they can in restoring this gem of an American town.

Downtown Columbia Housing

I would so love to be able to report that progress has been made on this most important economic justice issue.  So far, that is not the case.  On the positive side, neither has there been approval granted by the County Council to move forward with the future of Columbia as an exclusive community.  We still have the opportunity to continue Jim Rouse’s plan of having a community where the CEO and the janitor can live side by side.

May it be so.

REFLECTIONS ON ZACH

As each of our seven living grandchildren – Julia, Patrick, Katerina, Crew, Greta, Will, and Christine – moves on in school, Lloyd and I speak and think of them in relation to – as distinguished from in contrast with  – Zach.  We now have three in college, and four in high school.  Zach’s high school friends graduated from college this year.  When we married almost 23 years ago, Zach was five months old.  There were about 100 attendees – family and friends -in the Wilde Lake Interfaith Center.  When the audience was asked the standard question of whether anyone present knew of any reason why we should not marry, there was a resounding belch from Zach, which brought forth a burst of laughter from all present.  He never tired of hearing us tell that story.

This month we spent our 19^th consecutive year in the same beach house right on the North Carolina coast.  This was the third year in which Zach was not physically present.  As in the past two summers, he showed up in the waves, the sand, the wind, and the starry night sky.  The stars were particularly brilliant this year since there was virtually no moonlight.  We spent a lot of time on the deck tracking star formations we could identify.  This was our last year in that house, since most of our seven grandkids are almost six feet tall and we are in need of more sleeping space.  We will be moving to a larger house just five lots south on the beach.  Although Zach will have never slept bodily in this new summer vacation home, we are certain his spirit will be present with us, as strong if not stronger than ever, just as it always is no matter where we go.

As I compose this message, I am looking out our living room window at a long sloping green hill from the street.  There are several trees on this hill remaining from the time the property was the farm home of the Kahler family. One of them, a maple with its double trunk forked about one foot from the ground, was a favorite for Zach and Julia to climb in when they were about five and two years old. They dubbed themselves “Chipmunk and Squirley.” These old trees have lost more than a few brittle branches during this summer’s storms.  Our homeowners’ association has brought in a tree expert to check them for safety.  They said that these double trunked tree should come down.  I have asked the president of our HOA – such a generous dedicated neighbor - to please be sure to notify us before it is removed.  Perhaps we will ask that the lower two feet or so be kept and transformed into a simple memorial of some sort.  At the least, Lloyd and I will design a ritual to commemorate the beautiful times we had with those two precious grandkids in that tree.  Rituals and commemorations are so important in feeding our souls.

REFLECTIONS ON BALTIMORE, MY HOMETOWN

I have mentioned that I love the surprisingly large number of comments I receive on each month’s message.  One from last month’s shout outs needs to be reported.  It was about my memories of our parish church and school and the surrounding points of interest in my young life, including the shoemaker across the street who gave me old rubber heels from men’s shoes with which to play hopscotch.  None other than our state senator, Ed Kasemeyer, replied that he attended a public elementary school virtually adjacent to my private Catholic school and that he was “the school champion at hopscotch.”

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/oped/bs-ed-after-gray-20160806-story.html

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/editorial/bs-ed-doj-report-20160810-story.html

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/editorial/bs-ed-freddie-gray-doj-20160811-story.html

The three articles above make it clear that we still have a long way to go in understanding just what is going on in Baltimore regarding social and racial justice, much less how best to address it.  We must make this a priority of the highest order and be prepared to work at it until we succeed.

http://retrobaltimore.tumblr.com/post/148806504524/before-bay-bridge-was-pathway-to-beaches

Betterton and Tolchester beaches were the only beaches I knew as a kid.  Our church, St. Bernardine’s on Edmondson Avenue, chartered a boat that held about 200 and departed from Baltimore harbor (pre Jim Rouse’s Harbor Place) and took we parishioners across the Bay to Tolchester for a day of sun and fun.  I can still feel the excitement I felt in anticipation and the fatigue on the way back across the Bay.

REFLECTIONS ON PUBLIC POLICY IN OUR STATE AND NATION

When you read the article below, keep in mind that Under Armour is Baltimore’s “titan”.  Howard Hughes is ours right here in Columbia.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/digger/wp/2016/07/29/when-the-titan-wants-to-build-the-town-under-armour-founder-kevin-planks-5-5-billion-plan-for-baltimore/

REFLECTIONS ON OUR PLANET BEYOND THE UNITED STATES

India, the birthplace of Rudyard Kipling

Michael Dirda, former Poet Laureate and Washington Post book reviewer par excellence (according to me) raises the very important question of whether we are justified, or wise, in rejecting the writings of a master because of some involvement with imperialism.  Gunga Din, Rikki Tikki Tavi and scores of other Kipling masterpieces are some of the best-written stories in history, according to Dirda and we would cut ourselves short by refusing to read them.  I agree.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/in-defense-of-rudyard-kipling-and-the-jungle-books/2016/08/02/86f5cb38-559c-11e6-b7de-dfe509430c39_story.html

India, teeming with humans, provides the backdrop for the largest competition among computer program developers on our planet.  I’m sure these astronomical numbers are not as shocking to those younger than I.  One of my fondest memories of visiting India three years ago being led on an invitational tour by Gandhi’s grandson, Arun, we observed scores of college students walking into a university lecture hall carrying what appeared to be identical briefcases of the size that would contain a laptop.  In fact, they each contained a small spinning wheel, which each student set up to spin during the lecture, just as Gandhi had done when he was speaking to his Indian students.  Contrasts.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-07-11/google-to-train-2-million-ind-developers-on-android-platform

REFLECTIONS ON OUR UNIVERSE

“The real voyage of discovery lies not in finding new landscapes,

but in having new eyes.”

~Marcel Proust

“If you understand, things are just as they are.

If you don’t understand, things are just as they are.”

~Jack Kornfield

On September 5 at 7pm I will be speaking about my retreats with Jack Kornfield and Pema Chodron at the Kittamaqundi Community in Oliver’s Carriage House in Town Center.  Then, later in the month, while Lloyd and I are visiting friends in California, I will, for the third time this year, attend one of Jack’s retreats – this time for one day only at Spirit Rock, a retreat center that he founded in Marin County.

Pools of sorrow, waves of joy

Are drifting through my open mind

Possessing and caressing me

Across the Universe

~Lennon and McCartney

 Love life and be well.

~ Liz