And colder still

1/24

A cold walk from the Occupy Faith meeting back to West-Park. Current agenda focused on debt, collecting stories and holding hearings; Occupy Sandy, new opportunities opened up by the creative response to the hurricane; the fight for a higher minimum wage in New York and exploring what kind of direct action campaigns/events could create energy around this agenda.

Deacon James stops i for the first time in along time. He’s felt considerably weakened. Got word that he needs to go see  his brother in the hospital. Wondering how serious it is. He asks for the broom and dustpan, I can’t do much but I can do the steps...I show him where they are. His dedication amazes me. 

Leila is excited that the Latino artists from her last show want to create one of their own. 

Stephen and I are talking about the door. How keeping the big outside doors open considerably lowers the church’s temperature. Makes it colder and increases the heating bill. What can we do to keep the sense of openness and keep warm?

As I'm walking out to get coffee with Jane, I notice out of the corner of my eye, the Prophet in a far back corner of the church. All these years on the steps and he has never set foot inside the church. The cold has drawn him in. 

Jane walks me aback after coffee at Starbucks discussing the upcoming film Building Babel  about the conflict around so-called Ground Zero Mosque. We also talk about how sometimes you have to be able to let go insider for what is  supposed to happen to happen. Waiting for Stephen to get the film posters up.

Matt and Isis of Dzieci stop by on the way to rehearsal. They’ve had a lot of good response to their Maraton. We’re exploring what creating a Passion Play, kind of based on their Fools’ Mass, might look like.  How we might do that with the congregation. And those who are part of the building on a day to day basis. We talk about this current crisis. About the theories of letting go, etc. And Matt says, but if you stop focusing on what you want, you may bring on what you don’t want by default.  There are always these thin lines between spiritual truth, pop psychology and magical thinking.  Where am I in all that except for trying to stay faithful?

RL looks in twice. Says thanks for the conversation with a dry humor.  Cara looks in too om her way to help out cleaning and playing some piano.

The Center Board meets. At times the feeling is one of frustration, even defeat. Almost resignation at times. We tried our best.... Options are shrinking. Jamies’s going to do her best at the negotiating table. Everything’s a negotiation, she says. (We’ll  have to talk about that.) There’s a sense of hope. Guarded. But hope none the less as we close.  

It’s gotten colder. OK, to the B for pea soup and strategy. Yes, colder still.