A River Between

It’s funny how I now define the summer as “my time off” but it really isn’t. I’m taking some time off of the major projects I’ve been doing. Timbre is done for the season, the AIDS Walk is done, and I have more time to do those fun things for the summer.

Today I had the day off, so I went up to the Twin Cities to meet my friend Linda for coffee, and generally enjoy the day, and do some quiet writing.

Technorati Tags: peace

One of the “smaller” things I’m writing up is a report to submit to the City of Northfield’s web site re-design committee about Northfield’s involvement with the United Nations’ “Decade for a Culture of Peace and Non-Violence” initiative. Out of 53 organizations reporting their mid-decade progress in the United States, Northfield and Rice County, MN, have TWELVE of these reports (Thirteen once I write the report for the Center for Sustainable Living)! The presence of the work that the City has done extends from the Mayor’s office, to the Public Schools, to many community coalitions and non-profit organizations. Northfield’s very own St. Olaf College was one of five midwestern Colleges to host the Nobel Peace Prize Forum that was an advocating force for this movement.

I’m hoping that they see this presence, and give us a good spot on the website like they did before they decided on a re-design! I go and speak at the public forum tomorrow evening! Wish me luck!

Back to my friend Linda, however…hehe.

How serendipitous the world is. I’d not seen her in two years until a few weeks ago when I bumped into her at Vera’s coffee shop in Minneapolis before my interview at St. Mary’s University (which I’m now ACCEPTED into their M.A. program in Arts Administration!).

Linda is a breath of fresh air. She’s a strong and determined woman with a very blunt yet crazy-comical personality. She is empowered to say the F-word on many occasions too in casual conversation…she believes it gives her power! It does! She told me all about her venture up north over the weekend to a meditation retreat where she was meditating in silence for periods of five hours at a time, and mentioned that it was “very hard to come back and see this life for anything more than the ‘bullshit’ that we construct.”

“Yeah it was a really ‘woo woo’ experience, you know, but it f#&@ing was worth it and empowering!”

And then we’d both cackle! What a trip. I just love her!

We talked about gay marriage and she joked about how “If I had to divorce my first girlfriend from years ago, I’d be paying the f$%@ing alimony until I was in the grave!! I think I’d just have to keep the same Pre-nup! Just make copies!”

We had a great time talking about old times and new. She’ll be hanging out all pride weekend, and is working a few short blocks away from where I’ll be taking classes, so I am positive that I’ll be seeing her much more!