WEEK NINE! Checking in.

A NJ beach house, long gone, called FLYING FISH... the setting for my novel.

I told you I was writing a novel. DONE!

This is such a crazy idea, writing an entire novel in one month, but thousands of people do it every year. The website is http://www.nanowrimo.org/

When I finished my 50,000 words, on November 30th, and went to the site to confirm my completion, I discovered that the NaNoWriMo people do not trust your word: you have to paste the 50,000 words into a window, after which they verify that you are indeed a WINNER!

I decided to do this for several reasons. I can't travel much during the sabbatical, but I thought writing a piece of fiction would take me away and provide some virtual travel, through time and space.

I wanted to learn more about what it's like to write everyday, to have some discipline about writing, and to understand the creative process by virtue of my own experience. It was challenging, fun, and very rewarding. I actually love the results, and plan to go on and edit them, and send the novel.. somewhere.

NOW... my December plans:

These are going to be MUCH more difficult than writing a novel.

Have you seen the Discovery Channel show about Kentucky's Turtle Man? We actually met him! He's from Lebanon, which is near our Washington County farm.

Seth with Turtle Man....

I have been called "Turtle Mom" because I spend so much time alone, and I've been challenged to come out of my shell. So... I've been making some plans for social interaction. That probably sounds easy to most folks, but for me.. not so much. I actually prefer to be alone! But I have put out some calls and e-mails, and I'm setting up some get-togethers. I really enjoy people, love listening to their stories, and exchanging ideas. But I just have a hard time getting out there, like many of my fellow introverts. I'll let you know how this is going.

Meanwhile, I have been staying in touch with some far away friends, like our Partner Church members in Nyomat. Here's one of our scholarship recipients, a reminder that we'll need to fund that scholarship again soon!

Cseh Edit, daughter of our Partner Church lay President, in her traditional dance costume

Finally, I have returned to a  formal meditation practice! I completed a weekend Contemplative retreat at a Buddhist/Christian meditation center not far from here, and I have plans to become more involved. This was a major goal of my sabbatical because, since my knee replacement, I have been unable to sustain the kind of sitting needed for a strong practice. Let me report that my new knees held up just fine, and I was so delighted to be "home" in my beloved Buddhist practice.

The other joy of my sabbatical has been reading! I'll share some of the books I've finished in a future post. Meanwhile.. here's Seth. He's growing and thriving, and I'm off to pick him up now! Love You All!

Week Sex/ I Mean Six... of sabbatical

I promised I would "check in" via this blog about my sabbatical activities. I have been on leave for six weeks, and I have too little of interest to report!

What am I doing? I am trying to live what I preach: Life one day at a time; practicing presence and awareness; valid and productive introspection; honoring and making space for creativity.

Since November 1st, I've taken part in a project called NaNoWriMo, a great opportunity to write enough words to constitute an entire novel in one month's time. I have a feeling the novel itself will not be anything earth-shattering. But the process has been well worth the time and effort.

I have learned a great deal about motivation, about how imagination works, about how important story is to forming our lives and our sensibilities. Like most, but not all, of my fiction, the novel is heavily, but not entirely, autobiographical. To write it, I have spent many hours attempting to evoke the sensory elements of a place far away, long ago, and indeed, altogether gone from the earth. It's a house I spent a part of each summer in as a child, a house set on the beach at the Jersey shore, a very old and in many ways magical house. In addition to memories that are based upon real events and characters that are modeled after some of the incredibly quirky real people I've known, there are invented characters, imagined events, and a good dose of introspection.

I think what motivated me to visit this particular place and time of life is that the really dreadful MTV series JERSEY SHORE captured the fascination of people from L.A. to Italy, and that those of us who actually grew up at or near the REAL Jersey shore know that it has absolutely nothing to do with a very special and very precious place and way of life. I don't want to romanticize it, either, so even though the place is magical, there is also a healthy dose of suffering, grief, and struggle.


This photo of Long Beach Island is courtesy of TripAdvisor



Meanwhile, the backdrop to my writing and musing has been  a scandal that one would have to be far more isolated than I am to avoid -- the Jerry Sandusky sex abuse allegations. Like many people for whom this is an all-too-pertinent issue, including but not limited to fellow clergy and others in the helping professions, parents and grandparents of small children, and survivors of sex abuse, I was at first angry and indignant and self-righteous.

I happen to know a fantastic young couple who attended and dearly love Penn State. I read and considered what they had to say about their alma mater of just a few years ago. I waited until my own thoughts cleared and I could see what lay below the surface of my rage. Everyone condemns the abuse. That's a no-brainer. The controversy is over the actions of those who knew, but did not do, enough.

It is so easy to be critical and judgmental about this. Most people feel certain they would have said more, made sure it was stopped forever, and so on. Others, like David Brooks in this article, http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/15/opinion/brooks-lets-all-feel-superior.html?_r=1

called "Let's All Feel Superior," say that people are really good at "self-deception," and explain it as the Bystander effect, which at some level we are all capable of.

I really had to spend close to a week examining my own soul in this regard. I am not finished. There is a member of my own extended (step-relative) family who I know for a fact committed sexual abuse because I was one victim, and I know the others. I have told this person and many others. I can not do anything legally because this person was not an adult at the time (over 40 years ago). But I still worry that I have not done enough. Short of camping on his doorstep with a sign, how can I be sure that his own step-daughter is not a victim now? This keeps me up at night.

However, I think there are many of us who will not accept Brooks' assertions that we are all just feeling superior when we make judgments about others who ignore/minimize/allow abuse. Some of us don't just THINK we would do more, we have; indeed, we have done it at the risk of relationships, our own popularity, and in some cases our own safety.

In fact, I have reported suspected child abuse and endagerment  to authorities in four different states. I have told people who would rather not hear it when I know something they need to know. I have preached about my own victimization and named the person responsible from the pulpit. I have told almost everyone in the family who will listen (most have done nothing). I have reported my own family members, including my own adult children, to authorities when their behaviors (thank God, in the case of the son, it was addiction-related, NOT sex abuse of any kind) placed a small child in danger. None of these things have made me more loved, more appreciated, or more self-righteous. But they do give me the right to say, yes, there are people who can not live with themselves unless they do what they know is right.

By the way, in most of these cases... the so-called authorities did little or nothing, the family members called me a liar or worse, and my whistle-blowing made me look like a blowhard. I would, and will, do it again, in a heartbeat. So, after this first week of introspection, I say this: the life and safety of even ONE child trumps everything. Everything. Period.

Occupy Your Life

Sabbatical Musings/ Week 5.

Seth suggested the witch costume because my nose is, well, witchy..

I wish I had more exciting things to report. As my sabbatical approached, I found that I had made a decision (by not deciding) that I wouldn't do much traveling. The church does not have the funds to support it, nor do I. Since we decided about five years ago to live within our means rather than charge and borrow, that means sabbaticaling (mostly) at home. And home is rural Washington County, less than an hour but in some ways about thirty years from Lexington!Too, I have a son who needs a great deal of care and attention. It's a joy to be able to be more available to him, in a less distracted way. I can see already that it is having an effect upon his security and behavior.

I didn't have to leave tiny Willisburg to see an awesome WofOz family!!

Up until the break began, I still had a few ideas that involved travel: I hoped to make at least a brief trip to Haiti, since I have felt a pull to be of service there ever since the earthquake, and I have had a vague idea about taking the message of mountain top removal out West, where people are not directly affected, but where they need to know the facts and political realities of this devestating practice. Yet here I am in the second month, and I've made no definite plans. It even occured to me that a few years back, I would have gladly traveled to New York City or Oakland, where a clergy presence is definitely needed at the Occupy Movements. I know many UU ministers, including our one-time intern Pallas Stanford, have gone to these places that there may be a UU presence.

My favorite place in the world..

Somehow it seems enough to me to occupy my own life, one day at a time, listening, watching, and wondering about many things: my writing practice (I am participating in something called NaNoWriMo, which has me trying to pen a novel during the month of November!) ; meditation practice, health and well being, building community, living in rural America, sustainability, parenting, and recovery. Some of these will be active pursuits, others matters of observation and experimentation.

http://www.nanowrimo.org/

I grew these!

It occurs to me that life passes by swiftly and it can be mercilessly challenging. We can so easily miss it, rushing about and trying to get somewhere. What if everyone were to occupy their own life fully, with the kind of intentional awareness that is so difficult to maintain? Would we not be more compassionate, more sensible, more sane?

Local cemetery on Halloween.

Next week, I'll tell you more about the novel, and the dinner party I attended at the home of a true member of the 1%! And believe me, when I say I'm in favor of occupying our own lives, I am in no way disparaging the OWS movements that are happening everywhere... Au contraire! They excite me and give me hope. They are truly the kind of organic, egalitarian change I have preached about for years with my ramblings on Appreciative Inquiry, New Leadership, and so on. It is an exciting time to be alive, scary too... and to see a spirit of solidarity and rage among our young. Rage is sometimes healthy, and guess what? It doesn't have to be mine. May it grow and may it be heard!