Another Brick in the Wall:

A Community of Spirit

2009-04-29T09:53:00.000-07:00

Another zesty poem by RUMI (translated by Coleman Barks):

There is a community of the spirit.
Join it, and feel the delight
of walking in the noisy street
and being the noise.

Drink all your passion,
and be a disgrace.

Close both eyes
to see with the other eye.

Open your hands,
if you want to be held.

Sit down in the circle.

Quit acting like a wolf, and feel
the shepherd's love filling you.

At night, your beloved wanders.
Don't accept consolations.

Close your mouth against food.
Taste the lover's mouth in yours.

You moan, "She left me." "He left me."
Twenty more will come.

Be empty of worrying.
Think of who created thought!

Why do you stay in prison
when the door is so wide open?

Move outside the tangle of fear-thinking.
Live in silence.

Flow down and down in always
widening rings of being.

A community of spirit was dynamically demonstrated at SUNY Purchase this past Monday when an impromptu anti-gay protest occurred. Of course, being a heavily queer/queer friendly campus the demonstration quickly turned into an anti-anti-gay protest. For more on this event (photos inclusive) see Milo's blog at http://funtimeusa.wordpress.com/

Sous le Ciel de Paris/Under the Sky of Paris

2009-04-15T18:22:00.000-07:00

Last week-end my mother asked me to take portrait shots of her friend, Sher. Always up for a photographic adventure I agreed. It just so happened to be Easter Sunday and of course everything was closed. At first I panicked in my attempt to seek "the perfect” location. We (my mother, Sher and I) frolicked around Pepsico Gardens. Oh, what a refreshing contrast to Purchase. We roamed from one sculpture to the next as the feisty wind blew against us. Sher sang her heart out in her vibrant red hat as I snapped away. It was an incredible experience to watch her shine as she sung “Sous le Ciel de Paris”- a well-known song performed by Edith Piaf. Initially, the challenge of finding a less-windy spot that was not overpoweringly bright was difficult. As we merged with the moment my anxiety vanished and nature took its course. Moral of the story: it’s important to play the hand you’re dealt. Rather than resist what’s there, to flow with whatever comes your way. Following the photo shoot we had a victorious middle eastern dinner at Jordan’s Hilltop. A fruitful, fun-filled day. Some images of Pepsico:

* Trippy Water Reflections *

* Bodies Intertwined *

* Magnolia-Mama *

I was just talking to my friend Adrienne in San Francisco and after transmuting a breakdown into a breakthrough she said: "i trust that life resolves itself without effort... it just works itself out" This is a great mentality to carry simply to have an innate trust in life/the universe as it unfolds.

Quote of the day: "Wherever you go, go with all your heart" ~ Confucius

~NaMasTe~

Three Seasons

2009-04-08T17:48:00.000-07:00

Could the weather be more erratic or bipolar? With subtle glimpes of spring and vicious winter daze the weather gods seem to be playing a little game of hide & seek with us. Or monkey in the middle rather. Taunting us with a hand full of sun only to steal it away and throw wind our way. The weather can’t make up its mind… Being that we’ve experienced three out of four seasons in the past week I have decided to make a little photographic ode to the seasons:

What a weather roller-coaster we’ve been riding. Snow today and 58 degrees expected for tomorrow.

Tonight is the first night of Passover. Passover symbolizes the Hebrews exodus from Egypt and transition from bondage to freedom. In case you don’t already know we orchestrate this meal in a very symbolic way. For instance, we eat green herbs (typically parsley) in honor of the return of spring or as my Seder book deliciously says: “the miracle of nature’s renewal”.

We also eat charoset, made of apples, nuts, wine, cinnamon and other sumptuous spices as a reminder of the clay and cement used to build the cities in Egypt.

This year is special in that Passover and Easter harmoniously land on the same week-end. With that I wish you all a joyous spring/passover/easter/what have you.

Ciao for now,

Yael

Succulent Spring

2009-04-02T14:25:00.001-07:00

Mmmm... A beautiful day at Purchase and even the bricks are smiling gleefully. I love the vibrant energy Sunny Purchase exudes on these warm, sun-filled days. Outdoor activities/Drum circles/Hookah gatherings/Kite-flying/Barbeques/ Purchase in its truest form. Y.A.Y! Makes me crave the oasis of summer which is just around the corner. But alas...Patience is not my virtue. How tempting it is to flee outside and bask in the sun blissfully ignorant of all obligations. ::sigh:: meanwhile here I am- basking in the painfully bright fluorescent lighting of the Purchase Library. What am I doing HERE? Anyways, I've been experimenting with animoto recently for my Viral Marketing class. One of the few classes I enjoy going to. Here are my videos...fresh from the oven:

href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXhLayJhoL4">MoonSafari

href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4L2_ZQ0R6dg">CozyCoop

Please check them out and leave me some feedback. Til next time...

~YS~

Being Human//Guest House

2009-02-05T21:23:00.000-08:00

Hmmm, where oh where to begin, where to blogin? This being my first active encounter with the blogosphere I wanted to open up with one of my favorite poems:

The Guest House

This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.

A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.

Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they are a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still, treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.

The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
meet them at the door laughing and invite them in.

Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.

~ Jelaluddin Rumi,
translated by Coleman Barks

Oh Rumi. I could Ruminate endlessly. Filled with delicious pearls of wisdom. I find this poem so refreshing in any mood or state of mind. The Guest House constantly reminds me of the transient nature of life and to treasure it's colourful fabric and flavors gratefully and gracefully. This grateful business is quite a new thing for me. My default thinking-mode over the past two decades has been rather toxic and convoluted. More recently in my life, I have been learning to think outside my pessimistic fog and to begin to accept and allow things to be just as they are. Ahh yes, the delicate beauty of riding whatever waves come our way with courage and resilience. Anyhow, I have this poem tattooed in the walls of my existence as well as the physical walls of my Rumi in the Olde.

I hope you all stay warm on this brutal, wintry night!