Living in cornavirusworld 251: Lenten days

2/17

BEARS

In our underground discussion, we begin considering that at it’s roots, the anti-government ideology of the Republican Party is inherently anti-black. Following the 1963 March on Washington and the Civil Right Act of 1964, Government was perceived as imposing unwanted Black people on us.  For example, public swimming pools built during the New Deal Works Process Administration were filled with concrete and shut down rather than open for Black people. Government has come to be seen as that power that robs you of your wealth snd gives city to someone else who does not deserve it. Amazingly, since Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act, no Democrat has won the majority of white votes. 

2/18

Our Sabeel study group is reacting on fasting. All major religions observe fasting as a discipline in one way or another. Each has it unique practices, in Christianity, for example, Roman Catholics fast from meat while Orthodox meat and dairy both. (And most Protestants don’t fast at all.)

Lent becomes an opportunity to reflect on our mortality. That is especially important in our continued life in Coronsvirusworld. In the United States now over half a million people have died. Half a million. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust…

The tradition includes both alms and prayer, and both are essential. Our giving is not so  much giving as giving back. And fasting must be connected to justice. For example while Israel, for one, is proud of vaccinating half its population, some 130 countries still have no access to the anti-covid Vaccine. 

2/19

The cold continues to linger as the snow is into its third week with us. A brutal storm has swept through the south and southwest hitting Texas particularly hard. Thousands and thousands without heat or light or even water. Conservative ideologues seize the opportunity to blame green energy, like wind mills, even though the real reason is having gone off the grid and let their infrastructure languish. Senator Ted Cruz, who passionately goes wherever the wind blows, cluelessly heads to Mexico for a vacation as his state suffers than blames his trip on his daughters. Clueless. And shameless. 

Late afternoon in the Gate. At 25% capacity but the warmth’s the candles, feels cozy and a relief. I order fish and chips to remind me of the season of “fish fries” back home.

2/20

For Sonko, in whim our hope lis...

in support of Sonko

against injustice

Decide it’s too cold for the farmer’s market today. I’ll just stay in. Usual all too brief family ZOOM with my mom at her assisted care facility. As always, there are ZOOMfails for more than one person. There are demonstrators outside the Senegalese consulate decrying political violence and repression and in support of Ousmane Sonko. We’re all talking about vaccinations. And despite all, Zoom does allow us to gather from Berlin, Los Angeles, New Jersey, Pittsburgh and New York all at the same time. Late in the afternoon, meet a friend for a drink at my neighborhood place. 

2/21

fixing the bears

wnbctv

with the children

smiles shared

Almost a year now. These months of Covid have been wearing on us. The isolation has pushed elderly into dementia. And younger people into severe depression. After becoming depressed myself, I decide to to head to the park to visit my friend’s polar bear snow sculptures. Over 15 now last the Central Park 86th Street entrance. And to my pleasant purpose, she is there, working on the bears and being interviewed by a TV news reporter. A crowd is there as always. Little children want their photos taken. I continue to be amazed how this spontaneous moment of inspiration has turned into an engaging creative happening, an event, something brightening the lingering cold, winter and covid. Even in the crowd, there are smiles to exchange. 

Living in coronavirusworld 248: impeachmnets, demons, vaccinations and and polar bears

 2/13

"Mommy what's a carbon footprint?"

The week of the impeachment trial. Watching the videos of the invasion of the capital are a stunning reminder of just how serious that was. Republicans with all their efforts at false equivalence seem to forget that the Black Lives protests did not try to disrupt our political process or overthrow the government. Nor seek to “hang” or kidnap politicians. And there is the matter of seven ;ives lost.With or without Trump we are in a very perilous place. 

Wednesday

Our Underground group is wrestling with how much of what’s going on right now is connected to Christianity.  There’s no denying that a major component of current right wing activity is Christian Nationalism. Our Old Testament scholar believe the problem is that many self-proclaimed Christians don’t know their Bible. Our friend Steve P says they know it says “love your neighbor” but they have decided that don’t want to. And we agree that sadly, nobody is reasoning their way to their moral conclusions. 

We debate to what extent this is an inherent theological problem of Christianity. I say that only Christianity makes an exclusive claim for “salvation” or right living. Steve P argues that Muslim shave ben just as bad. 

It’s an argument worth continued exploration. I need to do more research to compare to the crusades, the age and doctrine of discovery and so much more….continue out have a major impact on current policies.

Thursday

Our Thursday morning group conversation group, organized by Palestinian theology center Sabeel,  is struggling with the meaning  of casting out demons in the context of Palestine. It is brought up that if we cast out demons, we must not demonize   the people who have been possessed. And that we have to look inside of ourselves and our own communities, internal as well as external.   We have to get Jesus onto our agenda. Another friend says that casting out demons  is casting out excuses and that Palestinians have been haunted by excuses.  

                                           ****

polar bears

puppy

For two days I have been following my artist friend Heide’s  project to sculpt polar bears out of snow. Both to inspire joy but also to raise concerns about global warming. I’m impressed by how the neighborhood has respected he sculptures and just let them be….   Last night the added a puppy as well. 

                                         ****           

My time for my second vaccination shot. At first I”m feeling all right but then by night I’m shover with chills and a sick headache and aching again. A predictable but un welcome out come for someone who has previously had Covid. I literally spend all of  Friday in bed.  Only emerging for open mic. But….now that’s over.      

and a real live dog as well....

                                       

Living in coronavirus world 107: Still, Teddy was safe

7/9

...to the people...

Our New York City Presbytery holds another conversation on dismantling systemic racism.  Most of the meeting goes by dryly with reports of what different congregations are doing, some undertakings quite good, but somehow all very bloodless. As the meeting nears its appointed closing, a voice rises up and says that racism is not an issue it is about people, with names and histories. And we need to face them. And the flood gates open. The next 15 minutes has more than anything preceding. There is a strong feeling that  our  committees and structures reflect whiteness. That they have an ethos based on a reality of  decades ago when gatekeeping seemed so important and now that gatekeeping continues to dominate over the facilitation of mission, especially as it relates to black congregations. Even though our Presbytery is different than any other, where there is no majority, nevertheless, to our siblings of color, they feel paternalized in their participation. And are tired and exhausted from telling us their stories. When nothing ever changes. The conversation continues for another hour. There are real cases, stories to be named. Racism has distorted our Presbytery. And whiteness still prevails. It comes to me that when a system is inherently white in its ethos, culture. and structures, adding diversity to committees is insufficient to truly begin the work of dismantlement. In fact it strengthens white privilege by making people of color complicit in their own disempowerment. The systems themselves must be confronted and reconstructed or else only colors change and we get no closer to justice. To healing. 

midtown

I go for physical therapy for the first time in months. Am surprised to see the Underground shops at Columbus Circle are still shut down. I note that around midtown, ams wear is around 85-90%. Some businesses continue to show plywood fronts.  Walking home, I pass by the museum of Natural History and see Teddy Roosevelt is still there with his African and Native companions. But not for long. Interestingly, there’s a contingent of police assigned to keep hm safe during the meantime. The last weekend, there were 30 shootings and 10 deaths. Still, Teddy is safe. 

Teddy's still here

Hoops are back!

Hoops  are back!Walking through Morningside I notice, the hoops are back! And basketball is being played again. That must a good sign. 

The second night of my freed Heide’s “Reimagine…” festival features a film “Franz Wright: Last words,” by M.A. Littler. When he was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer and given six months  to live, Mr. Wright began to make secret recordings for his wife, Beth Oehlkers Wright to be listened to after his death. He wound up living 4 more years. His words are both well crafted finished poems and random reflections on the moment. Therein is their power. Littler has created a visual reflection on and dialogue with these words with black and white film. What really comes through in Franz Wright’s words is agency. Hs taking control  of the narrative  of his life in the process of certain dying. As the Public’s docudrama play the Line illustrates, death was a very central character in our city for far too many weeks. Much of the worst outside of the public eye but a tragedy in every sense of the word. Too many never even got to say goodbye. To touch the body of the dead beloved one. Over 32000 of us have died so far. Beyond most of our awareness, though I can think of six I have known. We have done insufficient refection on the reality til now. (https://www.google.com/search?q=franz+wright+%22last+words%22&rlz=1C5CHFA_enUS774US774&sxsrf=ALeKk00TmRRlKHgkTFBEi2cztqYHwfCDgg:1594441064346&tbm=isch&source=iu&ictx=1&fir=dh0eWiAvMPB5mM%252CD5ksPBNZreicFM%252C_&vet=1&usg=AI4_-kQIA8wbpOTY0pzYZr27Ex9kARmAFg&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjPu4Xqq8TqAhVLg3IEHbE2C2UQ9QEwAHoECAUQAw&biw=1280&bih=605#imgrc=eOg-R7yXvlhFYM) 

  I wonder what the meaning of random fireworks are at 2 AM six days after the 4th. 

livingincoronavirusworld 106: ...stronger than the weakness of those who create them...

7/8

Morningside

Our underground session has a couple of major themes this week.  One of course is response to the recent live streaming of Hamilton. We are in agreement that it is more about the future than the past.

Steve P compares it to I and II Chronicles…a rather late  telling o the David story. (C. 400BCE?)  Telling of the story as it might have been had we done it right….The characters in Hamilton being like grafittied statues.  As for me it was a never was pointing towards a could be…

We talked about statues. And iconoclasm. Outrage replacing conversation. That statues can be like Greek Orthodox icons that you look through in order to see into another world, or simply deeper reality.  And the difference between icons and idols. Icons never become the object of worship, they always point towards…

Steve reminds us of Willam Sloane Coffin, Jr.s three kinds of patriotism:

* Loveless criticism

* Uncritical love

* Lovers quarrel

Obviously it was the last he called us to.

We spent a lot of time exploring a house metaphor for our country. Steve H, typically saying we all live in the same house and need to figure out how to get along. Steve P arguing that many don’t see it that way. That they are in the house and the rest in, at best, the out house. 

Dre wants to explore the work of forgiveness and how that fits into Black Lives Matter. Which leads into my differentiation between forgiveness and reconciliation. That as  friend once said, no hay reconciliation sin reconstruction,  there is no reconciliation without reconstruction. And as another friend once said, Forgiveness is giving up for all time the hope of a different past.

One of the issues standing in the way of effective forgiveness is our own capacity for forgiving ourselves, including denial. 

I recommend  Simon Wiesentahl's "The Sunflower: the limits and possibilities of forgiveness..."

Stephen H has been to spend a night with “Occupy City Hall,” which started out as an extension of the Black Lives Matter protest and now has evolved in broader, less focused ways. And it the moment, they seem ready to live out the whole tragic history of  Occupy Wall Street like a binged TV series. 

We finish with the words from the Declaration of Independence, “…all men are created equal..endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights…” To this, as to Hamilton, I say, art, and ideas..are stronger than the weakness of those who create them.

I walk past the  St.James Gate, our favorite gathering place, closed these many months. Dion and David and a work crew are hard at work under the direction of Paul the owner aiming for some kind fo reopening. How any bar/restaurants have survived is a mystery.  

Teddy's still here, but not for long....

I continue down 81st to the Museum of Natural History to check on the status of the Teddy Roosevelt statue, with its paternalistic imagery due for removal. He’s still there, but protected by a contingent of police to keep him safe until he leaves. 

Getting the Gate ready...

My friend Heide Hatry, who creates portraits out of cremation ashes,(https://www.heidehatry.com/icons_art.html) in a  dialogue with an art historian who has focused on reliquaries, those art works constructed to house some particle of a blessed saint’s body. At some point, I thrill to see the connection between Heide’s work and reliquaries. Though her work is entitled “icons in ash,” they aren’t exactly icons because they actually contain part of the subject.

There is much to talk about since so many deaths went unrecognized during the pandemic, many people  had no way to say goodbye. So much left unsaid, untouched, undone. We are a very long way from resolution. 

Living in coronavirusworld 33: Keep This Far Apart

4/25

New sign in Morningside

There’s a new sign as I enter Morningside Park: KEEP THIS FAR APART with a demonstrative arrow <——————>.  She remembers High School Phys Ed and the “two armlength” rule for safe calisthenics. I say that my friend in Canada tells me that there they are advised to keep a hockey stick apart. We all seek our own cultural references. 

It’s one of those stunningly beautiful spring days.

There’s a young woman sitting near us, painting. She asks us to watch her stuff as she accompanies  her boyfriend to the restroom. I that  see she’s painting the walk way through the southern third of the park. 

painting in the park

She returns. Walks with us awhile.  We check out the feral cats on the rock face across the pond.

feral cat

Do they find sufficient rodents scampering between Morningside Heights and Harlem to survive? Or are they part of a feral cats feeding program?  I notice how many turtles are visible in the pond today. There are new fresh flowers blooming, including on the little island in the pond. Someone must have planted them, cared for them. How do they access the island?

new flowers

We say goodbye to our artist friend, leave the park, through the waning hour of the green market.  Head into Central Park to circle the Meer. See two followers of that strange Chinese Falun Gong cult in their classic poses. 

Falun Gong

As we walk, we talk about the recent revelations about the Prince-DeVos-Koch brothers cabal. Their role in the protests, reminiscent of the Tea Party manifestations.  In Democracy in Chains, Nancy Mears has well documented the decades long strategic plan of the radical right to subvert democracy and establish authoritarian control over the country, its politics and economy.  At this point, the victory is close to complete.  Carried out by a coalition of old line economic libertarians joined by conservative evangelical Christians, their model was tested by Pinochet’s Chile with a constitution that has bound them long after his ouster, leading to the social upheaval of last fall. McConnell and his cohorts don’t even attempt to hide it any more as they seek to use the pandemic as a means of further solidifying their hegemony.  Every act of congress only continues to direct the flow of money and power away from the vast majority of Americans and to the extremely small cohort of elite at the top. (Hear Jamie Cahill’s Intercept podcast https://theintercept.com/2020/04/22/coronavirus-and-the-radical-religious-rights-bumbling-messiah/) 

The virus gives us the opportunity to turn around and go another direction. But it increasingly seems that the struggle to accomplish that will be long, hard and mean.

She laughs and says “Remember how you thought you could never hate anyone as much as Nixon? Then came Reagan, Bush....and now this guy…”

 A goose glides down and slides to a stop on the Meer, its feet skimming across the water as it lands. A red winged black bird alights on a branch very close, its song clear and bright in the air.

Redwinged blackbird

In these days of quarantine,  I am taking more and more pleasure in small and simple things. A host of turtles are sunning themselves on a rock and as I contemplate turtles…and geese ..and blackbirds…I marvel once again at creation and it’s intricacy.  There is no why needed for a turtle and its shell or the song of the blackbird, they just are. 

turtles in the sun

                                                                                                  ****

chili

The aroma of my day’s cooking project, chili, is filling my apartment. Chimayo rojo chili, cinnamon, allspice….meat and tomato….this will be good.

cooking chili

                                                                                                                 ****

Tonights’s cultural highlights:

My friend Kristen Leigh Mitchell is streaming live from the Four Saints Brewery in Asheboro, North Carolina. Things must be looser there as at least she, her husband Joe on sound, and the owner serving up craft beers are there. She is a singer-songwriter and theologian and writer who helped me develop my understanding of the connection between creativity and resistance, liberation in the fullest and roundest sense of that word. How artists cannot be demanded to essentiallly be handmaids to religious or social movements simply creating didactic sermons with morals tied up in neat bows. Art doesn’t illustrate the WORD, it is a WORD of its own, to be in dialogue with THE WORD and other words. Inductive and sensed as well as explicit. She finishes with John Prine’s Angel from Montgomery and her own Gratitude, understanding as Walter Breuggeman made clear, resistance begins with doxology.   (https://kristenleighmusic.wixsite.com/kristenleigh)

My friend Marie Mazziotti is one of New York City’s iconic singers.. She can do the blue color work of four hour nights at an Irish pub or win over an audience of tourists at a Times Square bar  to realize she’s not just background music. With over 1500 covers and 35 originals ready in her repertoire, she can not only read a room but play a room. I was honored to record with her once for her last  ep, Hearing Double. 

 (https://open.spotify.com/album/2he0zLgsNYXL5NKXSB14gR?highlight=spotify:track:06kw8dmh58lMl3opCktoyB.).  Tonight she’s the featured artist in a benefit for Leukemia and Lymphoma, Band Together. She makes certain the evening’s goal is met long before her set ends.

Heide Hatry is one of the world’s cutting edge artists. Visual art, neoDada ethos, performance art, she is both transgressive and fiercely humanist in her work. Known most widely for her portraits created from crematory remains, exhibited as Icons in Ash, she explores those boundaries of human experience. (https://www.heidehatry.com/) Tonight she is one of more than 80 global artists live streamed from Pakistan in a video/performance  event entitled The Trojan Donkey. Her own piece, The Time to Defend, is her own response to the current moment. (https://www.facebook.com/search/top/? q=The%20Trojan%20Donkey%20%20Heide%20Hatry&epa=SEARCH_BOX )

The text of her confrontational performance:

THE TIME TO DEFEND OURSELVES IS OVER

THE ENEMY IS WITHIN INSIDE THE WALLS

BENEATH THE MASKS WE WORE TO APPEAR 

MORE LIKE IT

WE’VE BREATHED IT'S AIR FOREVER

ABSORBED IT

WITH OUR FOOD AND NURSED IT 

AT OUR BREAST

SPREAD IT WITH OUR WORDS

NOW IT’S TIME TO  TEAR DOWN 

THE CASTLE

FORSWEAR THE FRIEND WHO COUNSELS PEACE. 

(https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1102880916734258&external_log_id=56b05e2a480026f2953f0a30862b2bd5&q=The%20Trojan%20Donkey%20%20Heide%20Hatry)

As I watch her, I am thankful for  the strange beauty of the experience of collaborating with her in performance pieces connected to her Icons…exhibits.

Another day in coronavirusworld has ended. 

KEEP THIS FAR APART