Rowan's Round of Days

We got this press release at SiVIC and I agreed to head over to the event.


On Monday, November 25, 2013 at 12:00pm in front of the Tommie Smith and John Carlos statute on the San Jose State Campus, the San Jose/Silicon Valley NAACP will be joined by the California/Hawaii State Conference of the NAACP, the National Office the NAACP, San Jose State University Leadership, bay area community leaders and civil rights activists in a press conference condemning the actions of the three San Jose State Students accused of racial harassing and terrorizing a black student.

The NAACP will be calling for the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s office to increase the misdemeanor charges against the three adult accused San Jose State Students to felony charges, and to also include the charges of false imprisonment to the charges which the students currently face.

Reverend Jethroe Moore II, President of the SJ/SV NAACP said, " The community will not stand idly by and allow for any student of color to be terrorized simply due to the color of his skin. This is not simple hazing or bullying, this is obviously racially based terrorism targeted at their African American roommate. The behavior of these three students warrants nothing less than felony charges."

The NAACP will also be calling on San Jose State University Administration to conduct an thorough investigation into University Housing to determine how this situation continued for so long, and why no immediate action to rectify the situation was taken.


About two hundred people showed up to the event. Two NAACP representatives made speeches calling for the University to raise the misdemeanor charges to felony charges. The president of the University, Mohammad Qayoumi, spoke about wanting to make the campus a safe place for all students. While he was speaking students carrying signs picketed behind him demanding a chance to speak.

One of the NAACP representatives made them turn the mic back on an a student from Los Angeles shared that this recent event is part of a long history and they feel President Qayoumi has swept their concerns under the rug (and additionally has been trying to do away with the African-American Studies program).

I hope that the people who attended the rally carry on and agitate for justice for the young man who was terrorized in his own dorm room.

I spoke with several ministers who were there and with a woman from First African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church <http://www.firstamezionsj.org/> who wanted to know if we had African-American board members in SiVIC and said they have a history exhibit going and we should visit. Their website says nothing about that but I have a call in to the pastor asking for more information.

Just to keep these somewhere - not necessarily of interest to anyone else. :)

( interfaith reports )

What a great, whirlwind week it has been. Let's see. Last Wednesday I had lunch with Chris C. Hadn't seen him in ages and it was nice to catch up. Then on to the dentist for teeth cleaning (I don't mind).

Thursday I went to a suicide prevention talk at the SiVIC Religious Leaders Forum. The guest speaker was Elena Tindall, the Suicide Prevention Coordinator for Santa Clara County. They put out an annual report on suicides in the County and they offer training in how to talk to people about suicide and about plans to kill themselves. It was interesting that Ms. Tindall was coming out of a Mexican Catholic background and so saw a lot of stigma around suicide that I don't think exists in our community. I may do their online training and SiVIC will probably sponsor more trainings on this issue.

Friday Nette brought over the various props from Beltaine to store in my basement for the year and then we went out to lunch. Then I picked up Russell and we went to Costco and got salmon for Tuesday dinner. I'm glad to have a Costco membership again.

Saturday was the 11th Annual Pagan Festival and Parade in Berkeley. This year's theme was "Paradigm Shift" and the 2012 Keeper of the Light was T. Thorn Coyle. I worked the info booth from 10 to noon and then marched with the Northern Californai Local Council of Covenant of the Goddess and the Gardnerian Wica contingent in the parade. Ouch, they told me it was going to be shorter than that. My body totally rebelled so I spent the next hour or so flaked out on the grass watching the Keeper of the Light passing of the light ritual and a bunch of fine acts lying down. It was a really sunny day but my SPF 70 sunscreen did the trick again. Russell and Liza went off to ride the merry-go-round and hike in Tilden Park and David and I headed off to Dogwood, David's daughter Lexi's bar in Oakland. She makes a lot of her own charcuterie and is going to open a deli soon nearby. I had one of the best Manhattans I've ever drunk and a very nice plate of sausages, cheeses and pickles/olives to tide us over for dinner. So yummy! And David delivered some condiment boxes he had made for the bar. So good errands run all around. Good cooking runs in the family, for dinner David made a lovely eggplant and sausage and spinach stirfry.

Sunday had most of the usual World of Warcraft madness. Falkenrath Knights ran a dungeon. Then David and I played our baby paladins. Then I went to Jae's Ice Crown Citadel run. The only achievement I still needed was heroic Lady Deathwhisper so Roszfianna got Glory of the Icecrown Raider (25 player) and received her Reins of the Icebound Frostbrood Vanquisher. Jae still has to do one more week because she is a shard short for the legendary, so I'm probably not done with ICC but maybe I'll bring another toon.

Monday I did my orientation with Lee Hecht Harrison, the "career transition" company Ricoh contracted with to help us laid off folks. It seems like they have a lot of resources and I look forward to taking some classes. I have a chat with a coach on Wednesday.

Today I had the privilege of attending a celebration of the Chinese New Year at the Chung Tai Zen Center of Sunnyvale. It is their custom to invite interfaith and civic figures to share in their ceremony for New Years and for Buddha's Birthday. City Councilmember Dave Cortese and his wife attended as did several other civic representatives. Along with Dr. Riley and myself and other members of the SiVIC board, and various representatives from things like the Alzheimer's Association and other local nonprofits.

The Buddha Hall was opened to us (Zen Center members and monks had been chanting for Quan Yin most of the morning) and we offered flowers and listened to a dharma lecture by the Abbot Jian Ying Shifu. The saying for this particular year of the Dragon is "Harmony Brings Out the Splendor in Life" and we received bookmarks of posters of this saying in the calligraphy of the Master of the order in Taiwan. The Dharma lecture talked about where harmony comes from. First you need Wisdom to see what must be done, then Compassion to allow you to work with others which brings Harmony and a just society. I loved the idea that wisdom is solitary and needs compassion in order to be brought into the world. It is not enough to have a great idea, you have to figure out how to engage others. Yes!

Then a huge bell was wheeled into the Buddha Hall which we each rang. This bell rings between all the worlds and relieves suffering, even of the "hellbeings". It was a lovely way to end the ceremony, spreading our participation in the teaching to all who can hear.

May this act, and all acts, be dedicated unto the complete liberation and supreme enlightenment of all beings everywhere pervading space and time, so mote it be!

Happy New Year!

I'm going out to a 9/11 observance tonight http://www.sivicouncil.org/events.htm#lovehatelove. I'm going to be there as a "Faith Leader" and they are asking us to answer the following question: "how do you, as a faith leader, turn a national tragedy like 9/11 into an opportunity to positively transform your community and, furthermore, as a means to encouraging volunteerism and community engagement." I have been looking around the web, curious about what Paganfolk have said about 9/11.

I admit that my feelings are pretty ambivalent. I don't feel any more connection to New York than to say Dublin or Mumbai or Johannesburg in terms of feeling compassion for those who lose loved ones to tragedy. So the "National Tragedy" aspect doesn't resonate.

I was horrified by the reaction many Americans seemed to have toward Islam as a result of the terribly biased reporting and the crazy reactions of the Bush government. So I can totally see how the Muslim community has been forced to make it about more community engagement because it is harder for people to hate the known than the unknown. But do Pagans need to tie community engagement we are doing to 9/11? I'm not really seeing it unless you are local to NYC or other communities that were actually impacted.

Some of the things I've found include Jason's posts including one last year, Remembering and Reclaiming September 11th http://www.patheos.com/blogs/wildhunt/2010/09/remembering-and-reclaiming-september-11th.html and What’s the Pagan Response? http://www.patheos.com/blogs/wildhunt/2010/09/whats-the-pagan-response.html

Also Peter Dybing shares a 9/11 Ritual for Tolerance
http://www.patheos.com/community/paganportal/2010/09/11/guest-post-peter-dybing-shares-a-911-ritual-for-tolerance/

It doesn't really help me answer the question. That happens a lot for Pagans in interfaith. We get posed questions that really don't resonate with our worldviews. Or maybe this is just me.

Hundreds (or maybe thousands) of people showed up Sunday, April 11th, to celebrate the Grand Opening of the second phase of building at the San Jose Gurdwara Sahib. Members of the Board of the Silicon Valley Interreligious Council (SiVIC) were on hand for the dedication to offering their support and blessings.

The series of programs began very early in the morning and really special events are planned by the Sikh community for the next several weeks. There will be special prayers, displays and musical events. Sunday at 10am there was a parade with a float in which they carried the Guru Granth Sahib (Sikh Holy Scripture) around the bounds of the Temple. Young people showed off their skill at Gatka (martial arts) for an admiring crowd. I spoke to one teacher who said that their Sunday school has 600 students who come to learn Punjabi and Sikhism each week.



After the parade and the offering of langar in the South Hall and outside everyone tried to gather in the Main Hall. As large as it is, there were many, many people who could not be in the standing room only space. Much ceremony (all in Punjabi) went on for quite some time.

Despite the crowd of people the ceremony required sitting and getting up again repeatedly from the floor. Alas, I was not able to stay for the blessings offered by the SiVIC board. My back was killing me from the getting up and down and I was just exhausted (though my lungs are finally clear so the pneumonia is in retreat). I suppose I should have come at 11:30 when the visiting dignitaries were to arrive, but I would have missed the parade and the Gatka and I am kind of glad that I made the choice I did. I ran into Sam as I was leaving and so was at least able to say I had been there. (I never did find Sukhdev, our contact.)

This is a truly beautiful temple with a large and supportive community. It was a pleasure to share the day.

As I mentioned to rubibees the other day in a comment, I have been thinking about the Dalai Lama's teaching alot. I think what bothers me is how heirarchical the thinking is... make yourself the lowest so you are giving everyone respect rather than feeling superior and offering pity. I want to engage the world looking for equals and team mates. A circle rather than a ladder.

Some of the threads that have been going through my brain include a story I heard visionary activist Caroline Casey tell some decades ago. She read in the NY Times science section about some researchers who had determined that what made the dominant monkey in a colony was the one who had the most available serotonin. When the researchers removed that top monkey it was the one who could ramp up serotonin production fastest who became the next alpha. After a few iterations of this something else happened. A part of the population of monkeys opted out of the dominance hierarchy. Or as Caroline more colourfully out it, some of the monkeys "went Jamaican". They were all "don't worry, be happy" and "we'll just be over here grooming each other" and creating their own subculture. I'm more interested in being a Jamaican monkey.

Of course, I'm female, so I'm more on the "tend and befriend" end of the spectrum rather than the "fight or flight" end. I'm interested in affiliation and nurturing and peer bonding more than determining who is high or low.

I do agree that respect and compassion are a good place to come from when dealing with others. I guess I just don't see the need for that stance to come out of a place of relative dominance. And I'm not saying that I don't struggle or that I am free of judgements! But I try to come from a place of connection and a heart opening posture.

My vision for society is more like the Sacred Connections vision statement than the Eight Verses. "...honoring and empowering the divine within all beings" and supporting "the planetary shift towards a more authentic, joyful, loving way of being".

An interesting note that I didn't mention in my DL entry was that his translator was on the interfaith panel and he talked a bit about the history of the Eight Verses. One of the huge beneficiaries of its popularity was a colony of lepers because of the verse about caring for the afflicted.

Circle of Hands: A Multifaith Celebration of Diversity and Friendship

On Friday, September 10, 2010 between 5:00 - 6:30 pm, people from religious communities from around the Silicon Valley gathered at the Jim McEntee Plaza at the Santa Clara County office building, 70 W. Hedding, San Jose, CA, to demonstrate our support of religious freedom and to celebrate the relationships we have built with one another.

My estimate is about 200 peopled joined us as a variety of faith leaders spoke prayers and exortations to peace and compassion and respect. A priest I spoke to thought it more like 400 people. It was a good turn-out in either case.
( cut for length )

So Monday Rachael and I got up and flew to Sydney, had a four hour layover and then flew home. We arrived back in California about an hour before we left... or something like that. *my head explodes* I guess we got back the Tuesday we lost. *grin* I spent the day napping and enjoying being home. I even played a bit of WoW with my library guild. Russell came home from work and we cooked up a nice dinner and caught up. I am so glad to be home to my family and my own, nice, warm waterbed.

This morning I worked on pictures from the Parliament and got them up in my flickrstream. I don't actually have that many, I was too busy taking video that isn't viewable. *facepalm* I should have stuck with my still camera! Having gotten them processed I went back at the CoG Interfaith blog and added pictures to some of my posts. Oooh, cool video up of Don's interview with Patheos is up.

I headed off to Jamba Juice on my way to the pharmacy to pick up some meds. I had the weirdest accident. This idiot pulled out in front of me (she was at a stop sign, I had none) and I stopped suddenly (having suspected she was an idiot). I grabbed for my juice and somehow poked the straw through the bottom of the cup. There was suddenly berry smoothie pouring out of my cup holder. Wah! Luckily I had an empty Dr. Pepper bottle and I managed to hold the hole over it until I got to the store and could finish decanting it. LOL

I am wishing that my shoulder would be better than it is. I keep hoping that I can stop taking meds, but it really hurts if I don't. I have a physical therapy appt tomorrow, we'll see if there has been any progress. I really need a massage actually. *sigh*

Tonight Russell and I went out and saw the new Disney movie, The Princess and The Frog. Oh my, I totally loved it. I liked the heroine, I loved, loved the zydeco fireflies in the Bayou. There was an evil Voodoo man and a wonderful, powerful Voodoo woman. There is music, peril, beauty and true love. *happy sigh* What more can one ask for in a fantasy?

Joanne Shenandoah wasn't playing this afternoon, so I found time to go by the exhibits. Only Earthspirit has a booth this year amongst the Pagan groups. I ran into Don & Anna and we sat and had coffee/tea together. The tea here is really insipid. *sigh*

My last presentation of the day was Personal and Professional Journeys of Women Leaders: a Worldwide Dialogue by Dr. Linda Lyman of Illinois State University. She highlighted the stories of women in education who participated in the 2007 Rome conference: 'Sharing the Spirit, Fanning the Flame: Women Leading Education Across the Continents'. Then we broke into groups of 5-6 and talked about how the themes - scholarhip, activism, introspection and mentoring within our educational, career and spiritual lives - related to our own experience.

My group was particular rewarding because of the presence of Jan Chaffee who, with her husband Paul, runs the Interfaith Center at the Presidio. Hearing Jan's stories and getting to know her better was a wonderful opportunity. I have always admired her warmth and competence. Also in our group was a young woman from Saudi Arabia who has faced challenges in getting an education. She had only gotten a batchelor's degree when a university opened in Bahrain because in Saudi Arabia there were only teacher colleges or nursing schools for women and she wasn't drawn to those professions. At this point she has a bs in information science, a masters in human resources and a masters in public administration and she is going to start a doctorate soon. Another woman in our group had faced both racial and gender discrimination and lived through both the civil rights and women's movement. She has also survived a rare and virulent form of breast cancer. So many stories!

Dr. Lyman offered a number of quotes in her presentation, I especially liked this one (except for the word pilgrimage which is a bit of a trigger for me). "To have a firm persuasion, to set out boldly in our work, is to make a pilgrimage of our labors, to understand that the consumation of work lies not only in what we have done, but who we have become while accomplishing the task." (David White, 2001, Crossing the Unknown Sea: Work as a Pilgrimage of Identity, NY: Riverhead Books)

I need to get dressed now as Anna and I are doing the Colonial Tram Car dinner which was one of the "extras" one could sign up for at the Parliament. So we'll be missing the youth plenary, which is a shame as I understand that Isobel Arthen has a solo. But I am looking forward to the dinner!