Don't play with your food!

Lori and her pal 

I love this picture. It's my best buddy and sister Lori. She's in China right now and she's been sending home lots of stories about what she's been eating (pig intestines on shiskabob skewers. Frogs .. whole ones ... chicken baked in mud.)

This is Hairy Lobster .. which is a kind of lobster with seaweed.

I love this picture because I think of the all times (every mealtime) when she says "Emily, don't play with your food).

I think it's hard for her to be a mom sometimes because she hasn't forgotten how to be a kid herself. And that's what makes her a great mom. And a wonderful sister who makes me laugh.

Making Friends with the Neighbours

Direct Action -- Northern Ontario Style 

My cousin Lisa just sent this picture in a batch from her parents' new place near Goulais River (which is near the Soo).

My aunt, M. Catherine Brown, is known for her direct way of making the point (one of my favourite stories is that she wrote to Mother Theresa to tell her she was wrong. AND got a reply, hand-addressed direct from Calcutta).

But geez, Cath, couldn't you have settled in for a bit longer before causin' trouble?

Just kidding. I know she didn't write this because it's not her handwriting.

I have arrived ...

Hey everybody out there. I told you I'd pop back in and let you all
know when I get where I was going.

I'm here. But not the "here" where I thought I was going to be. I
am in Essex. As in Essex ONTARIO.

Not exactly Nova Scotia. It's looking like Nova Scotia is going to
have to wait.

Here's what happened. Our unconditional real estate offer fell
through. So we are still stuck with a house which isn't selling. I
would go into the reasons for this but it might be libelous.

And, at roughly the same time the house deal fell through, my
accommodations for the winter in Bear River also fell through.

So right now, the message I am getting from the universe at large is
to sit for a while, don't do anything drastic. Nova Scotia can still
happen, just not yet. And in the meantime, there are lots of reasons
to be down here.

I'm only in Essex temporarily and will be moving to Windsor in a
couple of weeks (which isn't far -- Essex is only half an hour from
Windsor) Right now I'm taking care of my sister Lori's 6 and 10
year old daughters while she is away working for GM doing training in
China. Mike, her husband, is here and he is quite a capable and good
dad, but it's still a lot easier on everybody that I'm here. And I'm
having a good time with the little girls, which is one of the reasons
I thought being down here was a good idea. It's also a really Big
Deal to them that I'm here .. makes me feel real important. It's a
good opportunity to be part of their lives and Lori's. They really
need a cool aunt on the scene, at least until they get their first
tattoo anyway.

And the other reason is that I still have a reasonably intact
personal and professional network of people down here in Windsor.
And I've already been offered a place to live -- my long time friend
Mary Atkinson has asked if I would like to live with her in her very
large and cool house near the university. I lived with Mary and her
family when I was going to university and again when I went out to BC
25 years ago. The whole Atkinson family has been a big part of my
life for a long time and it's wonderful to be able to spend time with
them again.

It's all falling into place. This Windsor move is only temporary, I
promise myself. It's a good solution in the short term also, because
I am planning to do some major travelling next year -- first to
Findhorn in Scotland, an amazing community just north of Inverness.
And my friend Dave is applying for a grant to do another global
issues radio project which he will probably get. If he does, I will
be going to Asia to do some stories for him -- still doing my
research, but I am thinking I would like to go to the Himalayan
region of India and also to Nepal. Once I'm there, it's really
really cheap to stay for a while. So I might spend a couple of
months there. Not until next fall because I want to avoid monsoon
season. Which gives me some time to settle in here for a bit.

I've got some work happening and some interesting projects that will
keep me happy and productive. I'm going to be putting together a new
workshop schedule over the next little while -- so for all the
people who have asked me to do a workshop for them sometime, this
would be a great time.

I'm starting to get my groove back. Or maybe I shouldn't use the
word "back" because it's not at all the same groove it used to be. I
think it's much better even if it is still a difficult transition. I
still spend too much time belting out choruses of " Your Cheatin'
Heart". Or just being sad -- I keep thinking it's going to get
better but it's been so much harder since I got back from Nova
Scotia. Part of me wishes there was some way to pull this back
together again and forget that we ever did such a silly thing as
split up.

But it's done. except for jointly owing a house with a curse on it
... I minimize what a bad situation this house deal situation is
because I can't do a thing about it. I'm doing all that I can.

Happy thanksgiving, all of you. I thank you for being there for
being there for me, and for being the collection of wonderful people
that you are. It is really gratifying to know that I have a very
large circle of friends out there, all the way from Ottawa to
Kentucky. And Vancouver, and Seattle, and Brandon, and Kelowna, and
San Francisco. And all over the place.

You have held me up, and you keep on doing it. I'm here for you too,
getting stronger and stronger all the time. I can take care of you
too. And I want to.

Love
Victoria

PS -- you can still email me at fenner@magneticspirits.com -- I am
picking up messages every day. Would love to hear from you.

I don't know if these are the Himalayas or not, but they sure are magnificent.  

War and Peace

I've been having a lot of discussions lately about traditional activism and what works and what doesn't work so well anymore.

A lot of this has stemmed from my growing conviction that we cannot work for justice and create a culture of peace in this world unless we are coming from a centre of peace ourselves. I know this from personal experience .. sometimes I feel like the past two years has been about being sent to the mountaintop to be still. Instead of rushing around trying to accomplish things from a place of frantic activity.

I still have many things to learn. The times when I need to be still are the times when I can't get myself to do it. But I guess that's why meditation and prayer are called a "practice" .. because we need lots of it.

I think one of the reasons I never did a lot of work on myself in the past is because it felt narcissistic and self-centred. Now I am starting to realize there is a difference between being self-absorbed and having a strong sense of self. Because without a strong sense of self, how can we effectively do the social change work that we are called to do?

So much activist work is based on anger and fear. One of the best things to happen in a long time is a growing realization by many people that our activism is so much stronger when coming from a solid spiritual core. And not necessarily in the "religious sense".

I found a wonderful web page on the principles of spiritual activism. It's here if you want to read the whole thing.

These are the main points: (Source: Global Renaissance Alliance -- see link above)

1. STILLNESS AS AN ACT OF POWER
The cultivation of a quiet mind is the most effective antidote to chaos.

2. ENVISIONING AS AN ACT OF POWER
In the material realm, power is determined by material wealth; in the spiritual realm, power is determined by spiritual wealth.

3. INTERPERSONAL HEALING AS AN ACT OF POWER
The source of war lies in each of us, as does the source of peace. As we rid our own hearts of the spark of violence, we are fostering peace in the world.

4. DEPTH OF INSIGHT AS AN ACT OF POWER
The most powerful axis of activism today is vertical rather than horizontal. The depth of a conversation is more important than how many people are involved in it.

5. RADICAL GOOD WILL AS AN ACT OF POWER
Recognition and affirmation of the spiritual innocence in all human beings creates a field of possibility for the emergence of miracles.

6. CREATING SACRED SPACE AS AN ACT OF POWER
The simple configuration of people gathered in a circle, sharing prayer and meditation and heartfelt conversation, casts a web of healing power affecting not only the members of the circle but the world at large.

7. SPIRITUALLY CENTERED ACTION AS ACT OF POWER
The New Activist wields power by standing for what could be, as opposed to fighting what is. Making a stand for a new possibility, we attain the power to create it.

Pretty powerful, eh?

And speaking of activism on a slightly different tangent, there's a good chance I could be in the Himalayas in the spring working on a new radio series called "The Green Planet Monitor". For some reason, any of my ideas about staying in one place for a long time just don't seem to be gathering any steam. I think my address for a while is supposed to be No Fixed Address. And hey, why not?

One of my friends remarked that this must be really stressful for me to not have a home. But really, it's not. I've done this many times before and there's something about wandering around that I really like.

Just wish I could get this Hamilton house situation wrapped up so that I can have no ties to place at all. That's the only thing really dragging me down right now .. and also because as long as Barry and I co-own the house, we can't really walk away from each other as we both would like to do right now. But maybe there's a gift in that somewhere too ... think I'd better go sit on the dock and meditate for a while.