A River Between

Potato-Corn Chowder
Originally uploaded by holisticgeek

Michael made a great Potato-Corn Chowder yesterday from a recipe in the book Full Moon Feast by Jessica Prentice. Her book talks about “Food and the hunger for connection”. It’s a wonderful book that speaks to the values of “eating locally” and eating food according to the lunar cycles.

All of the ingredients of the corn chowder, except for the organic heavy cream, were organic and LOCALLY sourced through May Farm, our CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) farm.

Here’s the recipe:

Potato-Corn Chowder

4 ears corn on the cob
1 quart filtered water
2-3 tablespoons of Earth Balance or olive oil
2 medium onions or leeks
1/2 cup sliced zucchini
2 pounds (3 cups) potatoes cut into chunks
Sea Salt and Pepper to taste
3/4 cup heavy cream

1. Cut the kernels off the corn cob and place in a bowl. Scrape the corn “milk” into the bowl as well and save for later.
2. Make a quick corn stock by simmering the cobs in about a quart of filtered water, covered, for about 20 minutes
3. In a heavy bottomed pan, melt the Earth Balance or heat the olive oil, and saute the onions or leeks until translucent.
4. Add the potatoes and zucchini and enough corn stock to cover. Bring to a boil until the potatoes are soft.
5. Add the corn kernels, salt, and pepper. Return to simmer.
6. Remove from heat, add the heavy cream, adjust salt and pepper to taste.

As most of you know, I did a short practicum at The Village School of Northfield, where I observed their process of Democratic Education, and also assisted them with some video and media projects. The Northfield School Board voted 5-2 on May 30, 2006 to end their sponsorship of this charter school. The direction of The Village School is unclear at this time, as to whether it will simply close, become a private school, or be morphed somehow into another resource. One thing is for sure, this is a very unique place, and a safe-haven for many children whom the mainstream public school did not work for them.

Linked here is a slideshow of a typcial day at The Village School, set to spoken word - “The Language of My Reality” - a Creative Commons licensed piece.

Click the image above or this link to watch the video (14 MB - Quicktime Movie)

Standing in line. Hall passes. Study hall. Detention. Small desks. Running to your locker so you aren’t late for your next class.These are just some of the memories I have of school growing up. After graduating from high school nineteen years ago, it’s difficult to come up with a list of ways that school prepared me for the real world. Maybe the one Home Economics class I took my freshman year, or perhaps one of my Psychology courses were the ones that I took with me into the “real world”.

On Thursday, February 2, I joined many others for an open discussion about democracy in education and the mission of The Village School of Northfield. While I had been to the school before, this time showed more of the deep need for true democratic education in our school systems today. The Village School is about self-directed education. Students from grades K – 12 learn what they want, when they want, and how they want. Teachers act as partners and guides for students in their education. As the evening unfolded, I felt I had learned more in two hours than I had in years.
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Michael and I attended an “Introduction to Buddhist Meditation” class at the Northfield Buddhist Meditation Center Thursday night. We’ve both been interested in concepts of “creating your day”, consciousness, quieting the mind, etc. for a while. I think that a lot of times, those of us who spend our lives trying to be Peacemakers ™, often neglect the simple truth that peace has to also dwell within oneself. I’ll come back to that thought.

There were eleven of us sitting in a circle, learning good ways to sit, good ways to hold our hands, ways to quiet our mind or “dance” with the thoughts that come and go. The mind is a very busy place! We finally got to meditate and focus on only our breath for about five to seven minutes, which actually seemed to go very quickly. I remember focusing on a spot on the floor in our circle, and having an incredible visual experience where my breath would change my vision, and I would see shimmering color changes and light changes as I inhaled and exhaled. Not wanting to let my mind focus on the experience much more, I ended up closing my eyes once again. But it was just really cool!

I need to return to this place soon, as even afterward, I felt like life seemed to slow its pace and was quieter. I struggle, like many people in our culture, to be mindful as much as I can be. I so desire things like peace, joy, love, justice, and compassion, to come to the forefront in our world. I do think that peace has to come from within, from every one of us. I guess it all begins with me as well.

Namaste!
Peace be with you!

This weekend I stayed at St. Paul’s Monastery for my introductory Process of Human Development course at Saint Mary’s University. It was a weekend of creative juices, contemplation, and a bit of renewal. The major purpose of this course was to guide us through the process of writing our contracts and independent study courses. I definitely came away from this class having a very expanded view of what I can accomplish and study with this program.

“The lid is off,” was a phrase I remember most from the weekend. We are encouraged to develop our learning around our passions. These passions, when tapped into, can bring about great things as a contribution to the world.

I definitely have a very different and expanded view of what I would like to study and develop myself now.

St. Paul’s Monastery is beautiful. I have photos in Flickr!! We shared a retreat center overnight with a Vietnamese group who came for a silent retreat. Rooms were in a silent area of the monastery, so there was plenty of great space to read, imagine and just BE in the silence. The grounds and building are beautiful too!

The woman who staffed the front desk, Mary, told me how her father helped to build the spiral staircase of the building in the 60’s, and how whenever she looks across the room, she has that connection with her father. The sisters prepared incredibly tastey “comfort food” for all of us, and we even took time to walk the labyrinth in the back yards.

The class ended early, and it was almost disappointing to have to leave. At least our class plans to stay in touch to give each other tips, good books to read, ideas, and of course - support! Renewal is amazing!

Chessboard

Originally uploaded by holisticgeek.

I decided to put up a new gallery/photo set on Flickr today. It’s a hodgepodge of a lot of photos that I’ve taken that I consider my “favorites” that feature people I know, or moments and stories that I find very captivating. I’ve toyed in my mind with doing some more things with the photos I take, like making some into postcards or matting a few and giving them as gifts. Who knows, you know?

Here’s the link to the Photo Gallery.

Enjoy!

The first time I was ever in a Gay bar, was the summer of 1991, while I was in New Orleans for the national convention of Phi Mu Alpha, a men’s music fraternity. This was at a time in my life when I was not “out” as a Gay person. Not to mention, I wasn’t yet comfortable with sexuality at all. Therefore, I too, was still a bit homophobic.

On one evening, some of us decided to go looking for piano bars. The hotel we were staying at happened to have its own piano bar, where the entertainer, Janet, told us of a small out of the way bar on Bourbon St. called Laffite’s Blacksmith Shop, where a little old woman named Lily had been playing for years. After hearing Janet rave about this notoriously cynical woman, we decided to hike to this club.
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Michael, Scott, Tes, Bob
Originally uploaded by holisticgeek

I spent a weekend near Cook, MN, along the shores of Lake Vermillion. Pictured to the right are Michael (my boyfriend), Me, Tes, and Bob. Bob and Tes have been living half of the year in Minnesota, the other half in Los Angeles, for nearly 30 years now. This vibrant couple holds peace and justice in high regard. They are warm friends of the Duluth Catholic Worker Community (in which Michael is a volunteer), and they host reunions and “play days” every year.

It was a special treat to meet them, and experience true hospitality from true people of peace. We canoed (I learned somewhat how to steer the canoe), had a wonderful sauna, and then jumped naked into Lake Vermillion to cool us off. My skin felt and smelled wonderfully afterward.

For more photos of this weekend, click on the photo and browse the ones before and after. Today I am way to daydreamy to make a photo album. I promise to do so soon.

I just realized today that I needed to update the holisticgeek.com blog with all the great things that I did over the weekend in Duluth, MN. It was a weekend for the storybooks, both for the things I do activist-wise, as well as more personally, the start of a great relationship.

It would be an impossible task to recount everything, but I do have photos! Check out the photos on my flickr space for photos of chalking body outlines, and a march for Hiroshima Day. I also took wonderful photos of the Clayton, Jackson, McGhie memorial, and yes, photos of Michael and me.

Enjoy the photos!

I decided to upload a lot more photos of Northfield, MN, my neighborhood, and some of the more interesting happenings I’ve been a part of since moving into my place in March of 2004. I’ve also made a couple new photo sets in my Flickr photospace and rearranged some of the sets so they appear at the top. A few folks who have not been to Northfield have asked that I highlight some more photos.

I feel very lucky to have found this town on my journey in life, and to live in such a vibrant place!