Up the road

A fox in Tilden Park. (Berkeley, CA)

Witness
By Denise Levertov

Sometimes the mountain
is hidden from me in veils
of cloud, sometimes
I am hidden from the mountain
in veils of inattention, apathy, fatigue,
when I forget or refuse to go
down to the shore or a few yards
up the road, on a clear day,
to reconfirm
that witnessing presence.

Together

Tall rocks. (Near Limantour Beach, CA)

 "Authentic help means that all who are involved help each other mutually, growing together in the common effort to understand the reality they seek to transform. Only through such praxis, in which those who help and those who are being helped help each other simultaneously, can the act of helping become free from the distortion in which the helper dominates the helped."

– Paulo Freire (1978)

The best of the Bay Area

A succulent in my yard. (Berkeley, CA)

After two years in the Bay Area, this is what I know so far:

Food...
Best gelato – Lush Gelato
Best pizza – Arizmendi Bakery
Best bakery – Bakesale Betty
Best tacos – El Torro Taqueria
Best Indian food – Udupi Palace
Best grocery store – Berkeley Bowl

Sight-seeing...
Best view of the Bay Area – Lawrence Hall of Science
Best smell – Jasmine flowers on the corner of Cornell Avenue and Page Street in Berkeley
Best annual event – Sacred Snapshots
Best place to be at sunset – Ocean Beach

Shopping...
Best art supply store – Flax

Best bookstore – City Lights Books

Best bike shop – Bay Area Bikes

Best bulk tea – Rainbow Grocery

Rest and recreation...

Best yoga – Berkeley YMCA

Best dance studio – ODC

Best wee rocks – Rodéo Beach

Best windy place – Point Reyes

Best movie theatre – Shattuck Cinema

Best street for a down-hill bike ride – Westbound on Virginia Street in Berkeley

Inventory

End of the day: Bryna, Pi-Chen, and Julia (photo by Kelly)

As the new semester begins, I'm thinking about my experiences in the past four months. I had lots of adventures at the beginning and end of summer, and also many work hours in the middle. My co-worker Kelly took this photo through the window of the library at the end of a long day of inventory. (We scanned the barcode of every book in the whole collection this summer!) Now the library has moved to the new space, and is open to students... And I think it's time to have a BIG party to celebrate our hard work and perseverance through the summer.

Arriving

Little wave. (Limantour Beach, CA)

Each time I travel by plane, it takes me a few days to really arrive in the place where I land. I need to be slow and patient as I take time to catch up with myself, because the change of location/landscape/culture happens so fast when I fly. With this experience of three hours in the air, and one time-zone change, I wonder what it would be like to travel to the other side of the world within a day or so.

Here are some things that met me at home in Berkeley this week: Hibiscus tea, gentle yoga, new spectacles, familiar routines, my bicycle, dreams about ladders, anticipation.

Ramadan

Magnificent sky, just before sunset. (Near Point Reyes, CA)

  

I've heard that ritual is for a community what memory is for an individual.

As the holy month of Ramadan begins this year, I'm thinking about faith and spirituality as practices, as actions. “This is my living faith, an active faith, a faith of verbs: To question, explore, experiment, experience, walk, run, dance, play, eat, love, learn, dare, taste, touch, smell, listen, argue, speak, write, read, draw, provoke, emote, scream, sin, repent, cry, kneel, pray, bow, rise, stand, look, laugh, cajole, create, confront, confound, walk back, walk forward, circle, hide, and seek.” – Terry Tempest Williams, from Leap. (Terry Tempest Williams is Mormon, not Muslim, but I'm interested in how these words describe a depth of engagement with life that can be found among people of different religions, and of no formal religion at all.)

I've been reading daily blog posts about the journey through Ramadan written by Terna Tilley-Gyado – a queer Muslim woman living in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. I also listened to this podcast again, and enjoyed the rich variety of voices and stories. One person spoke about the multiplicity and singularity of Islam. I'm curious about both of these elements, especially because living in the United States I often encounter expressions of fear and misunderstanding about this spiritual tradition. I want to be in solidarity with people who are exploring and living their faith, and honouring traditions across generations through participating in the fasting and prayers of Ramadan. And I want to continue to discover and re-discover my own spiritual practices and communities.

Learning from my elders

Chris, Joanna, Me, Lydia (Berkeley, CA)

I am, you anxious one.

Don't you sense me, ready to break

into being at your touch?

My murmurings surround you like shadowy wings.

Can't you see me standing before you

cloaked in stillness?

Hasn't my longing ripened in you

from the beginning

as fruit ripens on a branch?

I am the dream you are dreaming.

When you want to awaken, I am that wanting:

I grow strong in the beauty you behold.

And with the silence of stars I enfold

your cities made by time.

– Rainer Maria Rilke, from The Book of Hours – I, 19

(Translated by Joanna Macy and Anita Barrows)