new tag

i'm starting a "things i will miss about asheville" tag. it begins with bumper stickers, of course! yesterday, i was so sorry not to have my camera for this, but here are two from the same car:

liberty & justice for all
offer void in some areas
price may change without notice

and

don't worry what people think
they don't do it often

of course what i'll really miss is the people, people like this. http://myavantgarden.squarespace.com/

note the time on this post! 4:30 am on a saturday. we're off to the northeast, eric on biz, me tagging along to visit the remaining boston/nyc schools. glad we didn't try to go yesterday with all the flight cancellations.

life is good, and there sure is a lot of it.

lessig

oh! oh! oh! larry lessig might run for congress! check this out. it's so amazing to see smart non-aggressive knowledgeable people who can talk like this actually thinking of running........ lots of fresh air these days!

civics under the radar

earlier this week, i finally got around to writing that open letter to heath shuler about immigration and fear. i posted it, mailed it around to some, and sent it to the wnc for obama list. in response, i've gotten the kindest feedback and suggestions -- and had some great email exchanges with others in the area. which points to something else that is happening with the obama thing:

we are connecting with each other, and that's important, but we are also educating each other.

the hype accusations bother me. this isn't hype, but i don't think what's happening here is obvious. we truly are becoming a more educated electorate, but much of it is going on under the radar (online). we're trading thoughts and ideas, not just "isn't he great?" while cnn is reporting on our responses to her sneeze and his nose-blowing, we're debating immigration, healthcare, etc. -- and the major media can't see it. they don't have a way to measure it. but that's ok. the major media's power is slipping. we're not there yet, but we have the internet now, and we're communicating more directly.

much was made about the supporter who couldn't name obama legislation, but the irony is that overall we know more about legislation than we did a few months ago, and we're learning at a clip, listening deeply, testing our logic and opinions . . .

isn't this great?! i think this is why obama and his supporters keep surprising the pollsters.

all this civic education benefits obama because he stands up to scrutiny. but it also benefits us, and it benefits the country.

good stuff.

iraq strategy

doesn't it seem like the "stay the course in iraq" contingent is using the logic of
the beatings will continue until morale improves . . . ?

i mean, aren't we finally admitting that we made a terrible mess for bad reasons, but we argue that we're going to keep doing what we're doing (which made the mess) because the only alternative we can see is to walk away? are our options really that limited?

i don't think we should just walk away. what about our responsibility to clean up the mess we made? (yes, saddam made some of it, but we destroyed the country and need to look at our own part.)

it's not the military's responsibility, nor is it within the military's expertise to rebuild a country, which is what iraq needs to be stable, and what we should do if we want any hope of a non-puppet ally there. we should rebuild infrastructure and support economic and political structures which benefit the iraqi people. even after all the iraqi people we've killed, we have a chance to leave the country better than we found it in at least some ways, and if we do, we may be able to regain some of that lost world opinion. (which matters)

this work will require some tools and skills that the military is not designed to possess, and that our current administration does not use, for whatever reason.

but the adage if all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail can be expanded:

if you have lots of tools but only believe in the hammer . . .

or maybe

it's hard to build stuff with only a chainsaw

response from conservative house candidate mumpower

i sent the open letter around to various people and will post any meaningful response (other than all the nice notes i'm getting from others on the wnc for obama list).

carl mumpower says:

Kathy,

We agree on mass mailings at tax payer expense - I regret that we share a dramatically different perspective on illegal immigration. Happy to talk about it anytime.

Carl M.

252-8390

i intend to take him up on it, but not until after i get back from the upcoming law school visit trip next week!

open letter to congressman heath shuler

U.S. Representative Heath Shuler
512 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515

Dear Mr. Shuler:

I am one of your constituents. Not long ago, i received your taxpayer-expense mailing. Because of the way our mail had been dropped onto the table, i first saw the back, with its large letters: Congressman Heath Shuler is Securing Our Borders. i laughed and wondered why we cared to keep out those people from Virginia, Tennessee, Georgia and South Carolina.

But since that initial giggle, i have wanted to write to beg you to take a different position, not only on this issue, but in general.

Immigrants, legal and otherwise, can be a problem. They can be terrorists, gang members and deadbeats (as can our own citizens). But that is not the whole story, and it is not an accurate picture of the effect of immigration.

Immigrants also keep this country going in important economic ways: they take the jobs we don’t want, work hard and become entrepreneurs, creating more jobs. Immigrants also make a strong showing on the other end of the economic scale, in the high-tech sector. My husband brings income into Western North Carolina through work he does for companies (two started by immigrants) located elsewhere in the U.S., and we actively use this income to support local businesses. My husband has colleagues from around the globe, and our country needs them, with their strong math/science/tech backgrounds, entrepreneurial spirit and international perspective. The immigrants i know are also lovely, interesting, educated people, many with families, who will be hurt by anti-immigrant hysteria, as will our country. This is a dangerous path.

i beg you not to get on the anti-immigrant bandwagon, or at least to stop leading it. I beg you not to encourage more "us and them" thinking. With our economy heading into the toilet, we need to pull together, not establish scapegoats.

Illegal immigration may be a problem, but is it the most important problem?

There are so many areas where we need strong leadership: the Iraq debacle, Guantanamo, economy (short-term and long-term), Patriot Act, education, healthcare, environment, racism in our criminal justice system, our standing in the world, etc.. Please don’t focus on immigration.

The immigration issue is a cheap way to tap into our fears. Leadership by fear can be effective, but there is another way, and it is the way of people who go down in history as heroes.

I understand that fear-leadership may seem politically expedient, but please examine carefully what is happening with Barack Obama’s campaign. He is tapping into hope and a desire to make the U.S. strong in its integrity, compassion, courage and fairness. He calls us to live up to our ideals. We are responding in unprecedented numbers. We are weary of fear-leadership.

Obama is calling us to our best selves. He is inspiring us to be involved in the process. We are responding with our money, our time and our enthusiasm, providing the most active primary support this country has ever seen. Please take note: this well is deep. And while some of his supporters may be caught up in hype, most of us are listening more deeply and watching the issues. We know what kind of senator he is. We know what he sponsors and authors. See, for example, this blog post which is being widely read and circulated on the WNC for Obama list.

We don’t yet know who will be our next president, but in any case, we will need strong leaders in congress. Please be one of them. Make your constituents proud. You were elected because we wanted meaningful change from the disastrous 109th congress. It’s not too late to set yourself up in this position, but you must be a hope-leader, not a fear-leader.

Best regards,

Kathy LaMotte
Asheville, NC

828-230-7185

obama/clinton record on proposed bills

if you are believing the claim that obama is just hype, check out this excellent post from dailykos on obama vs. clinton sponsor/author record in senate and what it says about them.

woke up thinking about . . .

whenever i am tempted to start with that line, the beginning of bruce cockburn's "get up jonah" jumps into my head:

woke up thinking about turkish drummers
didn't take long -- i don't know much about turkish drummers . . .

~~~

sorry i've been non-blogging for several days. on the trip to nyc, i met a law professor who'd just returned from rwanda, and the conversation got me waking up thinking about the genocide there, a subject which has fascinated me since i read philip gourevitch's we wish to inform you that tomorrow we will be killed with our families ten years ago. (rwanda is neighbor to the congo, where i lived for a few years as a child, so i think this is part of the pull for me.)

i've spent all my writing time this week wrestling with the importance of genocide in the debate about pacifism and peacemaking. one reason it is important is that genocide gives us a character in the story with whom we can easily identify (the neighbor), and i think this may offer some interesting perspectives.

the essay is way too long for a blog post, so i'll probably post random thoughts from it here this week.

new york . . . well, newark, anyway

in nj, heading into new york tomorrow to check out one of the schools -- pretty exciting to think about visiting a school which has already accepted me.

flight-wise, lots of weather delays and the apparently requisite grumping, demanding, storming about, etc.

i know my trip and schedule didn't have the pressures that others' did, but i really had a good day. a couple of fun little kids and interesting seatmates on the flight. plus! it turned out christine was in the charlotte airport, too, and it was fun to know that -- even if she did choose to get on her flight rather than meet me for tea.

at the moment i'm grateful to:

• one of my seatmates in particular, a biz traveler in a surprisingly pleasant mood despite the fact that he lost his first class seat on a canceled flight and was sitting in the very back row, without even an empty middle seat next to him -- he was just glad to be transported from point a to point b (ok, i'm also grateful to him because he said i didn't look 50!),
  
• the quakers for making a space in which i could learn to be okay with not being in motion,
  
• christine for her advocacy of a complaint-free world -- it makes such a difference in my own life (when i can do it!) not to complain, and i'm sure it makes a difference for those who -- willingly or otherwise -- spend time around me, and
  
• eric for making the trip arrangements, and for making them in such a way that i don't feel intimidated by this whole going-to-the-big-city-alone thing.
  

airports and airplanes are good places to see the difference attitude makes.

why i support obama

ok, here's a quick list, thrown together this morning:

1. participation: he is getting people involved in the political process, many participating in primaries/caucuses who have never even voted. citizen apathy is more dangerous to our country than terrorists.
2. principles: he understands how to state a principle, then apply it to various situations.
   
3. national big picture: this is a man who has spent real time, as opposed to making gestures, working with and on behalf of those on the bottom of our society and who can also "bark with the big dogs." he gets it.
   
4. international big picture: he gets it that we've thrown so much away and with our current attitudes/policies are fanning the flames of terrorism rather than addressing them. he gets diplomacy. he understands the appropriate role for our country in the world -- enough of the rogue elephant policies!
   
5. smart people: he has smart people around him, advising him
6. war: he was opposed from the start. i'm working on my judgmental attitude, but i don't yet understand how anyone's support for it could have been anything but either a political sell-out or stupidly blind (lots of us regular people were not fooled by fear-mongering, the WMD argument nor by the 9-11=Saddam drumming). Neither selling out nor being duped in a matter this important is evidence of good leadership ability.
7. race: his presidency might allow us to finally take an honest look at the role race and racism still play in this country, something which will continue to dog us until we face it.
   
8. campaigning: he is trying (even when he fails) to demonstrate that a "decent" campaign can win. note that not all criticism is "attack."
   
9. by and large, his proposals make sense to me even when i disagree, so he doesn't seem to be simply going with what's politically expedient.
10. he has real leadership skills -- he inspires, educates, explains, listens, convinces -- he treat us like intelligent people who care, rather than fearful sheep -- he actively reaches out to those he disagrees with -- he is playing to our hopes, dreams, aspirations, rather than to our fears.
    

thoughts on pacifism

last night, on the way home, i listened to a talk, in which the speaker made several points to which i wish i could have responded, so here are the responses i wish i'd made:

she recounted a conversation with a pacifist in which she asked whether he would call the police when threatened, he said no, she complimented him on his consistency and asked whether he understood that he benefited from the fact that his neighbors were willing to call the police, and he said yes and it disturbed him every day.

she evoked the "what about hitler?" question and said that quakers were not really against violence because the taking of life by God is ok, and therefore the question is only to whom we're willing to give the life-taking authority.

this seems so small to me.

to believe in God, i don't have to believe that we die because God takes our lives, and i don't in fact believe this. God is not puppet-master, controlling every detail, in my view. death is a natural end of life. the end of life by natural means is not an act of violence. Though it can be horrible, it's not killing, not murder. there are differences.

i can be a pacifist who believes in God, without contradiction. sorry.

the hitler question always comes up in pacifist discussions, and different people resolve it different ways, but i say it's unfair to demand that the framing of the question start where it does. this framing may be interesting, but it shouldn't be the central question, or we'll never learn the real lessons available here.

there are interesting parallels to the abortion question: given this situation (which likely could have been prevented, but let's not talk about that) what do we do?

in fact, i think i would respond to most of what she said with the argument for putting more of our energy into preventing the situations from occurring.

we have wars because we recognize no other tools for solving international problems, because we have leaders who stir up our fears, because we have invested in war-making rather than peace-making. we have put our faith in our military strength.

military response is not a quick, last-minute response, though it can seem so. the truth is that it takes long-term and expensive investment to be prepared to act in the moment. there is no quick peacemaker response either, but what do we invest in peacemaking? what would it look like to build a peacemaking force comparable to our military? to study effective peacemaking, invest in it, train for it, build public support for it, build its reputation internationally, etc.? that's worth a little thought, isn't it?

instead we ask the peacemakers to take this set of facts and declare what we would do. what if we turned that around and put the other side on equal footing: assume no military, no department of defense, no budget, no millions in annual r&d funding, etc. -- now here comes hitler, what do you do? with this set of facts, the military solution would be ineffective as well.

when the military succeeds, we say that's proof that the military is necessary and good.

when diplomacy succeeds, we generally don't see it.

when the military fails, we say, well, we need a bigger stronger military.

when diplomacy fails, we say diplomacy doesn't work.

does this make sense?

international human rights

unc law's 12th annual student-organized conference on race, class, gender and ethnicity was held yesterday --lots of food for thought.

using an international human rights framework to look at domestic legal issues is a fairly new idea, and one that is fascinating. there are serious hurdles, including the fact that international treaties have these pesky little non-self-executing clauses (rendering them unenforceable), even when they have been ratified.

still, there is reason for hope. it may be possible to use them in the legal arena as evidence of international standards. i am also interested in the idea that they can be used with the public -- maybe it will be useful to understand human rights violations as things which happen not only in countries like iran, china, but here. we think we always wear the white hats.

also intriguing was this concept, offered, i think, by mark gibney of unca during q/a: human rights-based education of young children. wow -- that could make a difference. my brain has gone bounding off into summer democracy camp or something, where kids could actually go off together, learn about basic human rights, and create rules and a societal structure for enforcing them, etc. and play it out -- really give them power within human rights framework -- see how it works and how complicated it is, get them thinking, participating -- is anyone doing this?

quick trip to raleigh

ok, not sure i can explain why i think this is so funny, but . . . . . . . from a distance, i thought it was an inmate transport bus:



went over to the conference -- more on that later -- and took the opportunity to see the lovely and talented christine kane in a house concert. if you get a chance to experience a house concert (a real concert, open to the public, held in someone's home, so it's also more social before/after), check it out -- it's a great way to see performers in an intimate setting. today's salons. this is not a great shot, but will give you the idea:



i seem to be developing a bad habit of shooting pics while driving, too:

six words again

yesterday's pic:



off to chapel hiss for a very cool-looking conference on race, class, gender & ethnicity

here are some of my attempts at a six-word memoir:

• started playing with words, couldn't stop
• fifty approaching, lots more to do
• jesus, legally convicted executed criminal, ok?
• out of my own way, sometimes
• words mud criminals. life is good
• trapped. small. thinks changed. perspective: wow!

six words

this is great -- funny, thought-provoking and quick

SMITH magazine is collecting six-work memoirs -- what's yours?

mine's probably something like:

pulled myself from wreckage alive repeatedly

but i'll work on it a little more

three pics

the cable is here, so i'm testing it . . . here's the sunroom on a rainy day, not the best shot but it catches this moody room's feel yesterday:



and two pottery pics from yesterday

this one is for the dinker, who understands about the sheer joy of greens:


work in progress, the top of an oil lamp, still at the greenware stage, my first attempt to use underglaze -- we'll see how it turns out!



this is a double-walled bowl (15" long) i made last year, but just glazed recently -- the black glaze shows all this blue/gray/green in sunlight

risk

i took these on a bus trip in 2002 with members of the educational program of the Trenton Area Soup Kitchen. i think of the risks the immigrants took, and that some of these students took to go on this trip. many of them had never been outside trenton, had never been on a boat, had never been to a place like new york. and the risk involved with going into a g.e.d. program -- when school has never been anything but frustrating and humiliating? and you're not sure you have what it takes -- remember there's math required here! there's some real courage there.



today's theme seems to be willingness to pay the price, or to go through what is truly difficult in order to have a life and relationships that are more real.

• my beloved the expert being willing to be a beginner so that he can learn something that matters,
  
• someone i love being willing to put the conflict on the table so that we can have a more solid relationship when we've worked through it,
  
• a long conversation with a coke addict i really like who is trying to bolster his willingness to go through the flatness and pain to get to a freedom he's not sure he believes in,

. . . and me? i got word yesterday that my top choice school said no. and yes, it was a long shot that they'd say yes, and yes, i'm sure there'll be some sadness when it sinks in good, but i hold onto these things:

• i do believe that i'm being Guided in this process, and something Right will come of all this,
• i already have some really good options, and even financial help -- still hard to believe people will give me money to come to their (very good) schools,
• if no is the answer, i'm glad to have it sooner, so that i can focus on the actual choices, and
  
• this is what we risk by going for the really good stuff instead of just the safe options -- sometimes i won't get what i dream about, and that will hurt, but it's ok to hurt some

just a few months ago, the picture i had put together was a school that is very affordable, but probably not very challenging. since then, (with lots of pushing from the beloved expert) i've allowed myself to consider schools that are exciting -- and well, to get excited. so yes, this is disappointing, but my world is bigger because of it.

i'm thinking about a line in christine kane's song "or just heading home"

i fell in love once
with a boy from wichita
when he left me it broke my heart
but i do not regret it

pic per day

in a day or two i'll get the replacement cable that will allow me to load pics directly, so i'll be able to post new shots (oh no! more stuff to wait for in the mail!). i have set myself the task of taking at least one shot every day, just to be in the habit of noticing. i used to love the "eyeball benders" in the games magazine -- unrecognizably closeup shots of familiar things, so those are fun to look for. here's one i took in boston a couple of years ago:





here's my favorite beach:




i love sand:



trying to be in the habit of paying attention to the important and beautiful things.

oh come on

i usually like reuters' reporting, but in an article today:

Obama, an Illinois senator, and Clinton, a New York senator, have waged a bitter duel for the Democratic presidential nomination, competing for votes from coast to coast after splitting the first four significant contests.

this is a bitter duel?

place pics

ej had a computer problem this weekend that motivated me to try to try to get some digital pics and writing organized. fun to re-discover some on the old ibook.

i haven't decided whether it's a good idea to say which schools have accepted me, but here are some photographic hints:



ah, the city . . . all the universities, languages, theater and . . . just life




and then there's the calm, beautiful, nearer to friends & family option



and then there's the chance to return to sweet familiarity


still several more schools to hear from, so we'll continue to wait for the mail. anticiparcelitis? my eagerness shows so much that the mail carrier has started to congratulate me when the fat envelopes come.

what are you doing here?

mary oliver asks:

tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?

that question in its myriad forms -- it's the central question: what do i want that backward view to look life from the end of my life? what gives a life meaning? what gives my life meaning? the answer is unique but i don't think we have to find it completely on our own.

i think there are things we can learn about how to live, if we look to the right people. we tend to look to the people who have what everyone seems to want (cool stuff, adoring fans, devoted minions, intergalactic awards, etc. -- which is supposed to make whoever has it happy), but i think that's the wrong approach. there are lots of empty people following the herd or the marketing sirens, chasing after stuff that won't fill them. there is comfort in being just like everyone else, but it's not enough.

a better approach is to look to the people who actually seem to be happy, fulfilled, fully alive, living wide-open, fun, meaningful lives. do you know anyone like that? who is the happiest person you know? go ask them what they know -- they'll tell you. but it's not about you living their lives -- it's about learning something from them about how they figured out what their right lives were, so that you can find yours. because a person living their right life is a wonderful thing to see.

and it's never too late -- start (or start again) now.

If you ask me what I came into this world to do, I will tell you: I came to live out loud. -- Emile Zola

here's a quick wink to my friend chris ahrens who lived his life with passion and purpose. he died in october after a long lifetime of caring deeply about the environment, the poor and community -- living into his passion, being a conscientious objector, building, learning, teaching, solving, writing, convincing, inspiring and generally being both a delight and a thorn to the rest of us. i miss his hugs, his intensity and the ticking of the oxygen tank that finally made his kayaking impossible.

thanks, Chris, for the example that you were.

yes, three yes!

yes #3 is official -- the mail just came

get still

we each have inside us a very wise and very quiet Voice that knows the way, but we have to get still to hear it. not only do we have to be still, but we have to practice being still -- not that there's some right way to do it, but just that, like exercise, it's the habit that makes the difference. i don't know whether that's because the Voice doesn't trust us at first or because we have to learn to hear, but it seems to be true.

of course, for those of steeped in western culture, it's very difficult to be still, to listen, to just wait for that Voice to speak, but there is value in the waiting, just sitting and waiting to see what happens.

quakers sometimes talk about waiting in the Light. i like that image, as if i'm waiting in sunlight or even moonlight. a meditation i do regularly has a first step which includes the instruction to "become wholly receptive" -- how cool, i feel myself just sort of melt into it.

but we seem to be wired to recognize Truth when we meet it, even if it's disruptive and contradicts other beliefs -- about ourselves, for example.

this silent receptivity and Truth-seeking is not unique to quakers, of course -- many other practices include some kind of meditation. in the joy diet, martha beck suggests that the first two daily steps are 1) to be quiet for 15 minutes, and then 2) to tell yourself one true thing. amazing how something so simple can make such a difference.

obama song

Obama yes, we can song

three yes?

I am in the waiting phase. Waiting for decisions from the more-than-a-few law schools to which I've applied. (I had no idea how I'd look to them, so I applied to a wide range of schools.) This is an excruciating and fun time.

So the count earlier this week was: 2 yes (both with money) and 2 no (forget 'em, didn't wanna go there anyway, right?) with several still out there.

Word from one financial aid office that they have received word of my acceptance -- but I haven't. Maybe they're just trying to create a new category for themselves in my count: "rumored to be yes" but i think we'll announce the new count as:

~~~~~~~~ 3 yes! ~~~~~~~~