The rains came!

And oh did they come! – after three dry years! – I woke in the night to hear hard rain hammering onto our roof and windows.  It sounded foreign to my ears attuned to the sounds of drought. And next morning – what’s this? – standing water in my garden!  I measured my rain gauge and it was just shy of 2 “ for the past 24 hours.  Our total since July 1 is now over 6 inches.

Rain out a school room window

I guess that I’m superstitious – I am afraid that the whims of climate change may decide that this is enough.  All we can do is wait and accept what comes our way… But for now – our hills are once more green with newly sprouted grass… it is beautiful…

Our "green season" hills

The "brown season" - goats involved in weed control!

This is our closest thing we have to spring-time in Northern California… Dormancy brought on by 3 years of dryness has been broken... our plants return to active life.  The native people in this land recognized only two seasons – the green season and the brown season… A brief rainbow developed in a break in the storms when a burst of sunlight flashed through for a few minutes

Close up, detail view of rainbow - with iPhoto augmentation

It would be easy to get complacent - we are still in the drought - our reservoirs and ground water are still sorely depleted.  Its not OK (yet) to take long showers and wash our cars.

Commute on a rainy day -

My favorite weather site these days is “wundeground” : http://www.wunderground.com/q/zmw:94536.1.99999… You can adjust it for your city and neighborhood… I like the little graphs that show predicted rainfall and the big full screen Wundermap that shows actual rainfall – it even has the ability to run a fast clip of the weather events  in the last half hour:  http://www.wunderground.com/wundermap/?lat=37.43544&lon=-122.18044&zoom=9&type=lightmap&units=english&eyedropper=0&hur=0&rad=1&rad.num=1&rad.spd=50&rad.opa=55&rad.type=00Q&rad.type2=&rad.smo=1&rad.noc=1&rad.stm=0&sat=0&cams=0&undefined=0

"Rain, rain, come again another day!"

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A Dozen Observations from inside my warm car as I travel through an American inner city…

1.     Grafitti, trash, closed signs

2.     Brake repair shops- Mama-Pop grocery stores – Ethnic Fast food – Store front churches – Hair salons – Used tires - Mortuary- Used clothing stores - Pawn shops - Homes needing paint.

3.     Six men leaning or sitting next to a wall eating lunches from the “All are Welcome” homeless mission

Inner city scene

4.     People going about their daily business – working, buying, chatting, planning, laughing, supporting each other.

5.  Two well dressed young women walking talking, returning back to work after lunch

6.     Young man in wheel chair (no leg) who comes out each day to get away from the isolation of his rented room – Another man stands talking to him

7.     Teens cutting school sitting on the curb drinking sodas – talking and laughing  

Grafitti on street

8.     Woman in flashy clothes, short skirt standing next to wall watching people go by

9.     A man is walking slowly along the street, dejected, aimlessly because he has no-where to go.

10.     Eight young guys on the corner looking their practiced kind of tough.

Police presence

11.  A small plaza with benches - 23 men, various ages in an area with over 40 % unemployment....talking, playing dominos, smoking, passing the time...
12.  Young man leaning in the window of car parked next to the curb talking to someone inside - after a moment be returns to the street.

Why do some people in our country feel prevented from participating in our society?  Who (what) told them that they ‘better stay in their place‘.  How did they get the message that they can't "get ahead?" …

Street Grafitti

Reminds me of a poem by Langdon Hughes: “A Dream Deferred”

What happens to a dream deferred?

Does it dry up

like a raisin in the sun?

Or fester like a sore--

And then run?

Does it stink like rotten meat?

Or crust and sugar over--

like a syrupy sweet?

Maybe it just sags

like a heavy load.

Or does it explode?

The issues apply to Black, Latino, and Asian populations in the Bay Area

This week I urge you to actively work for  racial justice in your community – support serious examination of our cities police policies.  Be a voice for equitable justice for all.  End policies that result in police deaths for everyone...(why do we have so many more per capita police deaths than other developed countries?)

Recognize that there are good policemen and fair police policies.  Hold these up as examples.  In the others, racism must be exposed and brought to the light of day...

Why?

The magic of eating...

We are each in the business of living our lives – of dealing with our own version of the “human condition”… Every day, we laugh, cry and carry on with our “stuff”.  What could be more whole-making than to be in a room full of beloved people related by blood or friendship? … We don't often see each other – but or feast days such as Thanksgiving we come together from our various lives and laugh and eat and tell good stories and drink wine together.  It is a moment outside of time! 

The tradition 

I am amazed at what happens when two people hold a conversation – We merge minds , we listen and learn and care about what the other says – there may be moments of silence and then we respond to what we have just heard… Multiply this by 18-20 people together – talking in groups, talking in twos and threes…sharing, learning, laughing together … Amazing!  (Of course there are  a few  people who hold "parallel conversations" - it sounds like a conversation but they alternately talk... each about their own topic...).   

American Thanksgiving

In these large gatherings I learn remarkable information outside my experience – how to plan a ‘flashmob’ dance event, tales of exciting hikes and travel adventures, how to make a device that inserts replacement valves into the human heart, how to sink a long putt on the golf green, toxic dump site clean up methods, digging fossils in the desert of Nevada, writing about human relationship issues in an electronic magazine.  Of course we have our differences but these are recognized and set aside.

Old friends

We sometimes retell shared stories from our collective past – from our own lives and the lives of those we loved long ago – and in the telling reconnect with each other and with the loved ones.  I grew up in a pre electronic age where family story telling was a valued  art. A  good story teller was prized for his or her  timing and delivery; and how they could draw out a good story, even an old one, and tell it like it was brand new... The unpardonable sin was for  someone else to deliver the 'punchline' before the storyteller got to that point.

Another version of the American Thanksgiving

Sometimes we even play funny games together.  At times we make plans for extended family reunions or shared trips together.  For some this is an opportunity to share the things in our lives that matter deeply, that cause us pain… here is a time and audience  where we can find and give caring support.

Good food and talking is fun!

Sharing food is an important ingredient to communication. What is so magic about eating together with others?  … of sharing good flavors and textures with joking and tale telling. Two people having lunch together can be wonderful – but a noisy group of 18-20 people together – sharing the turkey and the sweet potatoes, the cranberries and the apple pie… That's amazing!

Not that we are all in perfect harmony in these dinners.  There are strong sectarian preferences for raw cranberry sauce and stewed cranberry sauce, there are those that insist on mashed potatoes and others sweet potatos.   Don't even get me started on the disagreements over apple pie v. pumpkin pie ( there are even those that prefer mincemeat pie or rhubarb pie)… But we live and let live. 

OK - I admit it - I'm the one who likes rhubarb pie!

America is such a meld of cultures – hyphenated people – And many function daily in the American economic/cultural setting.  Through marriage, our families now reflect this wider cultural difference – and it is enriching. But holidays are a time to reconnect with heritage – Latino people, African Americans, Greek people, Czech people, Chinese, Portugese… all have a favorite recipe from aunt Bertha, Aaliyah, Runa, Hong, Florentina, Becca, … If someone’s tradition values white bread rolls or sweet potato pie –this is the time to indulge that desire… if we connect with the past better by bringing a recipe from our beloved past – this is the place.

A Fremont multicultural thanksgiving

I realize how fortunate we are – there are families for whom holiday meals are dreaded mine fields.  One of the demons of human communication is that of jumping to conclusions based on partial conclusions… once this occurs it can be so hard to shake free – these false conclusions can bedevil us for years.   There are those that carry grudges from childhood – there are families with harsh disagreements on matters of politics, religion, social issues.  There are those who create stonewalls in their minds – and “if my stone walls don't match your stone walls there is irreconcilable war”. This leads to the “got-ya” phenomenon where one person feels that they gain status by putting down someone else… Heaven preserve us from such anguish.

Did you hear that?

The "whoooooot" of an Amtrak commute train wakes me each morning...Its some distance off but it makes a lot of noise to clear the railroad crossing.  If my window is open I hear indistinct distant traffic sounds far away from highway 880….
After I get up, there is a swish of water in the bathroom,  and then the dogs bark a greeting when I go into the kitchen - and all of this is just the first 10 minutes of the day… 

Northbound Amtrak train

I let the dogs out into the back yard and hear bird sounds and perhaps the sound of a breeze in the bamboo… I love the  plaintive morning call of White Crown Sparrows  and the sound of water birds from the Quarry Lakes… There is a hiss of steam from the stovetop espresso maker as I return to make coffee… the “beep beep beep” of the microwave oven and the ‘burble’ sounds of oatmeal cooking. We know that the newspaper has arrived by its “plop” in the driveway. 

A migratory flock of Cedar Waxwings - they make a high pitched  "yeep yeep yeep" sound

My wife Judy comes out to join me and we chat about the news, or our plans, or why our rascally dogs barked in the night. Before I get ready to leave the house, there is the "hiss" of the shower, the "clump" of shoes, the rustle of papers going into my backpack,  lunch making sounds… then “good byes” and out the door…(slam). 

One of those days!

Ah! the first big choice of the day – what shall I listen to on the car radio as I commute? Talk or Music? – I quickly scan 6 different selector buttons on my radio and pick the best (or least objectionable).  Fortunately my tastes are very eclectic. (There is an industry that produced sound signatures that we associate with the event or product we are encountering… We instantly know the sound signature of NBC, NPR, the Olympics, the Superbowl, MasterPiece theater, and Nabisco.  These sounds have become part of our reality … our landscape.)

Oakland airport takeoff

And off I go… traffic sounds …  8 wheel diesel trucks… airplanes coming in to Oakland International.  impatient traffic horns…loud rap music from the car next to me.  And I reach my destination – the school I plan to visit today (I work as a Student Teacher supervisor ...high school science) – Now its 'talking talking laughing talking' – office secretaries, teachers, the many voices of students… I may hear construction sounds, factory sounds, or kids in the hallway sounds. One - maybe two schools to visit this day– then home.

Students working in lab

And all this is just my external sounds – I,  probably, like you, carry on an internal ‘sound’ dialogue within my own head pretty much all the time… “ Look at that guy, he just cut me off…”  “ I wonder what Judy is cooking tonight”   “I forgot to take the trash out to the street – I’ll do it when I get home” “I have got to stop at the hardware store tonight to get the repair part for the door.” “What can I do to help Marjorie with that really difficult class?”…on and on --- like a radio that can’t be turned off…

Sweet gentle rain

At times this tendency to fill everything with sound carries over to my relationships with others… its true that nature abhors a vaccum – And sometimes my brain abhors a quiet time when I am talking to others.  Strangely the more at ease I feel, the better I know the 'other' , the more I am able to just let things coast… I’m not alone in this – if you want to play a little game – observe a couple walking together or riding together on BART…you can tell alot about their relationship by seeing how they talk to each other... the more people force continually talking, it's a sure sign that they are trying to "sell themselves" to the other… I wish I had a dollar for every time I have been guilty of this …

Students

There are rare times when I experience real quiet – both inside and out… The best for me is high mountain wilderness… After a day or two, my mind becomes still and I become open to the natural world–with only the music of flowing water, a breeze through the fox tail pines there is stillness, the cry of a hawk or picket pin squirrel, I feel peaceful inside and out… Some kinds of music can do the same thing for me...also the  north Pacific coast land, ...even, at times,  my own back yard...

10,000 ft. Yosemite

When I have tried meditation – I have been told that the object is not about making the mind empty but to just observe that is going on… think of it as the sky – The air may carry a cloud into view – it will pass slowly overhead, and then drift out of view…The object of meditation is the same.  Be aware of thoughts as they enter your consciousness – observe them without trying to control them, and allow them to leave.   Experienced ‘meditators’ report that, as time passes, fewer thoughts arise - and it is possible to ‘rest the mind’ without trying to control it. I only practice meditation under certain situations (like when I am listening to a concert or sometimes in nature ) but have never gained great control… I guess I haven't practiced enough.

You can plow a lot of field with this!

When I was a child my world of sound was different – the mooing of cows, the success cackle of a hen who had just laid an egg, a breeze flowing through the leaves of our giant cottonwood tree, the rustle of gentle wind in a field of growing corn... Far off tractor sounds as a field is being plowed.  Weather sounds were more dramatic... wind, rain, thunder.  And birds -lots of birds- Crows, Mourning doves, English Sparrows, Meadow larks, Hawks flying high overhead, Robins…

Smetana's "Moldau"  (the Moldau is the name of the river that flows through Prague -also called the Vlatava  River)

I am amazed at the sound memory bank that my brain holds and the vast emotion that I invest in sounds.  A musical bar from Dvorak’s “Moldau”, the theme from "La Boheme", or the "Steppes of Central Asia", the opening words of a familiar Johnny Cash song,  hymns that I love such as "Amazing Grace" or "How Great thou Art", good "Ranchero" music... – such variety stored away…And voices – I instantly recognize the voice sounds of those close to me, those that I haven’t seen in years. I can even ‘visualize’  the voices of absent people or those long gone.

My favorite sounds?  Thunder rumbling in the distance, Frogs in the night, Rain (when I’m toasty and warm on the inside), and quiet conversation with family and friends…

Can you hear the thunder?