Yesterday was rough on thinking people in the U.S. The contrasts and conflicting feelings were almost paralysing at times. I live in an old town. It was a summer retreat town for Washington DC back when the swamps of Foggy Bottom were really mosquito infested. There has been a 4th of July parade for about 100 years. The whole town gets out, you see peopleand actually talk to them that you have not had time to talk to since last 4th of July. There is a conflict. The politicians come out and shake hands and talk to people, there is another possibility for conflicted feelings to emerge. The food was great and lots of people had fun. Then later the fireworks start. Thats when I really started to get conflicted. The big bangs, the bombs going off, the firey streaks across the sky and all I could think about were the people in places like Iraq and Gaza where the bombs blast breaks glass and blows people apart. The firey streaks had better be watched carefully to see if they are coming at me or towards someones house I know. Here there were cheers and another guzzle on the beer bottle. Lots of celebrating the days when we were revolutionaries and brought down an oppressive government. Is there anyone out there other than the few people who have sites on ZAADZ who get the irony of all this.

I am tired from not being able to sleep until well past the last big boom of the firewors display. And after the last crew of drunken revelers made their way up the street to where their cars were parked. 

 I need a quick blast of optimism from somewhere, but its not North Korea as they test new missles and we respond in our bg brother habitually patterned response. Its not from any new revelations from the Mid-East or Africa.

If its from anywhere its from the faces of people who come to the meditation center asking for instruction in meditation. Maybe it is working that as each person realizes that the only way to peace is to be at peace with one's self we might get there. How many more lifetimes?

 

Its June 21 the first day of summer and the first day after the students have left for this school year - Whew. Its quiet and now I can get through a day accomplishing my to do list without a lot of interruptions. The teachers are here for the rest of this week, getting the final grades done, a few debriefing on the year meetings, make some plans for September then off they go. That's when I can really start to get moving on my projects. Now is open to me. Now I can make changes in physical setups, learning environments both physical/spacial and cyberspacial/conceptual. The school websites need and updated new look and more functionality, the BlackBoard site needs a good housecleaning and some fresh resources added.

Getting students reading and writing is a big goal for me next year. I was encouraged by the message from Zaadz central earlier this week about deleting a number of accounts that were not living up to the ideals of this site. So far the central office networking people in my school district have not filtered out this site like they have for myspace and youtube. If this keeps up I may be able to get students on contributing heartfelt, sincere thoughts, ideas, feelings, and intentions that they are too peer pressured out of expressing in the classroom where they are confronted by the body language responses of the emotional bullies in the classroom. As they begin to write and are able to track what they write and see progress they will write more. As they write more we will all learn more about who this upcoming generation is and what matters to them. Hopefully a two way interaction will develop from their peers yes but not just age peers, idea peers and hope/fear peers, opening up to them that they are not teenagers in isolation from the rest of humanity but here amongst companions who care and are willing to mentor them in areas they need guidance and learn from them what their fresh look at the world they experience can teach us about the ways we have solidified our adult perspective on that same world.

 More again soon

May has come and gone. June 1. I sit bored as students slave over the Standardized end of course tests that they need to get a verified credit for the course work they have not yet completed because the testing dates are three weeks before the end of the course. Life with a Bush No Child Left Untested Education Department. Still there is optimism and excitemnet as the end of the school year approaches and those that will graduate start to dream of life as an adult on the street. Its always intersting to see how many of the students begin to realize how good its been to have this protected place to come and learn, to act out and be supported by this group of adults who make it their lives' work to be around all their foolishness and enthusiasm, their ignorance and brilliant creativity, their surging testosterone and estrogen waves breaking over one another. Kids are great. Teachers are great. Its great that another school year is closing. I will have 8 weeks to prepare for their return and when they do I will be glad because by then I will start to miss that energy. For the first 7 and a half weeks it will just be a relief to work with a few teachers and students doing summer school work.

Hopefuly I will get back to this site more than once a month in the future - we will se what arises.

Its Friday afternoon. The students are finishing their videotaping of their play. I am happy they are busy and keeping themselves gainfully occupied. I Have a busy Shambhala Training weekend coming up. Shambhala Training is what I should be able to make my income from and teaching students in Public Schools should be my volunteer activity. Why is life so often upside down from the way we think it should be. Or why are my thoughts upside down from the way my life is. Since it is what it is why do I apply that description. Where does the backwards feeling come from. I spend all the money I earn and I earn it by teaching Public School kids and providing professional development activities for their teachers. I give away the dharma teachings, obviously that is what needs to be happening.

We all need to practice meditation. Its my belief that if we all meditated the world would be at peace. I would like to propose an action plan for this group. If everyone of us made the commitment to spend one day, the same day, sitting meditation for a full day. An at home meditation retreat. Imagine the effect on the world. Then imagine if everyone of us got 10 of our friends to commit to an at home retreat on that same day. And each one of those ten got ten other friends to committ to an at home retreat that same day.... It would be breath taking or giving. The world would have a day less traffic in noise, consumption, aggression, greed and self agrandizement.

Lets do it. lets pick a date. Sometime soon. Say June 17th. Its a Saturday. Make your plans now mark your calendars and get all your friends to go along with this. Everyone stays at home. No spending, no e-mailing, no angry words to anyone. Sure you can have an angry thought or two as you sit and meditate and examine why anger arose and where did it go when it dissipated. Sit and touch your enlightened state. Touch it again and again throughout the day. Then on June 18th when we all venture out again into a world that was given a vacation from our human excessive busy-busy-ness lets hold on to what we touched - our enlightened self and let that self work with a new world.

I put some of the best of the best from the trip up today. The light, the air balance the Red Rock Earth. The dry air balance the streams of water only conceptually. The place healed many of the issues I brought there. That revealed more to be healed in what I took home with me.

The video is on its way to family members who want one. I might experiment with a version compressed for internet video. The Cd-Rom version is 165 MB I doubt too many would take the time to download it even if zaadz would let me upload it.

I spent a few minutes looking at PODs on Zaadz. I am not sure I get it. Or get how to connect with others on various PODs or how to create a POD and if I do how is that different than my page and having others comment on my blog or me on theirs. So many questions so little time.

The last 5 days in Sedona Arizona have been th efive most relaxing and stressfull days I have ever experienced in one vacation. I think the relaxing came out ahead of the stress but I will need a day or two to recover from the jet lag to be sure. The rocks in Sedona are alive with energy. There is so much light and heat coming from everywhere and everything there it can be over whelming.

I will get some photos up soon. There is so much going on there. Jetsunma's group and their Stupa was a worthwhile visit. Very peaceful. Then there was the visit to the funeral home for the pre-need interview, not so peaceful but it could contribute to more peacefullness when the time comes.

Good food, very nice people, more family to get to know, another place I will go back to.

I still have not had much time to explore zaaadz but it has been interesting seeing who shows up multiple times when I click on my interest links. commonalities emerge. Nice design there. So then I added some ideas and seeing others who have written in the same idea extended the realization that this is a very interconnected group whos karma and dharma has brought them to this sharing ground.

Lots fo ideas not so much time to write it out. Spring break coming up and I expect I will be spending some time here soon, hopefully making some connections with actual people not just what they have deposited in their sites for now.

Here I am on zaadz. Its a fresh moment. There is a different feel. I feel open to first thought best thought. I am open to meeting more of all of you who are on zaadz, and are making this happen. The moment is happening and in the next moment I have to get back to work for now