Kloncke

Sorry I didn’t get a post up today, folks!  Wednesday is my one day off from work at the Faithful Fools, and this one I spent in an especially uplifting way: having one-on-one meetings about Oscar Grant organizing, disarming the BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) police, and organizing spiritual communities against Prop L: the sit/lie measure on San Francisco’s November ballot that would make it a crime to “sit or lie down on any sidewalk or on top of any object (blanket, lawn chair, milk crate, etc.) on any sidewalk in San Francisco between 7 a.m. and 11 p.m.”

Plus, inspired by the response to the Dangers of Compassion post, I’m tryna make moves to get a little radical sangha started here in the Bay Area: a group of dhamma practitioners (mostly of-color and gender-oppressed, hopefully) with structural critiques of oppression and empire.  It wouldn’t be the first or the only, I’m sure, but hey — if folks are interested, why not start another?*

So anyway, my apologies for not having a real post offering for today.  Luckily, however, I can call on my good friend, fellow compassionate actor, and future-famous-writer, Mary Catherine Curley, to fill in.  Here is a snippet from her blog The Over-Cher, which I crawled out from underneath my rock just long enough to discover this week.

Treehugging

Some time ago, while taking pictures in Central Park with some co-conspirators, I became criminally excited about the idea of taking a picture in which we were all standing behind a tree, but leaning out so you could see our heads. In my mind, this was an established genre of photograph that I wanted to be a part of. My “co-conspirators” told me this was the stupidest idea ever. I think you know what I thought then:

Take MC’s wisdom to heart, compassionate militants!  No, really.  The next time you feel tempted to give in to beefing and sectarian infighting, or if you feel silenced by a movement patriarch, remember our friend in the sleeping bag suit, and keep your head up.

See you Friday, friends!

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*If you are in the Bay Area and interested in joining up with this radical sangha business, write me at katie (dot) loncke (at) gmail (dot) com,  and let’s get acquainted!  I’m pretty serious about the people of color and gender representation, but that doesn’t mean that if you are a middle-class white dude you can’t participate.  It probly just means that you will need to wait your turn.  So write me anyway!