An interesting article about the re-release of Donnie Darko.
RK: They’re appreciating your commitment to Sparkle Motion. We never doubted your commitment.MM: I was a little bit of a bitch about it, but I was committed.
I like these guys.
A little over a month to go until the wedding and R has pointed out how much remains to be done. Most of the big things are figured out but little things (like details on decoration and schedule) need to be done. Frankly, I’ll be glad when it is over. It’s a lot of work and much of it is really, in the end, for our families, not so much for us.
This was my weekend to go down to the prison again. On arriving, I find out that the current leader of the group (possibly self-appointed by himself and pals) got himself shipped out to another facility. His two main buddies were shipped out at the same time. No notice, just packed on a bus and gone. The funny part is that it happened two days before the last Sabbat and he was running the ritual so the guys had to do a mad scramble to get something figured out. Given the lack of communication (we communicate by mail if at all), I didn’t know until I had arrived this weekend. Apparently, the prison system has a point system in place based on behavior, among other things. Being as a medium to low security facility like this seems to be a privilege, which means people tend to come and go. People were pretty mum on why these three were shipped out but I didn’t see many tears either…
Frankly, I’m glad they are gone. This leader was the one guy in the whole group that had a definite agenda that didn’t seem to have much to do with why I was there or, really, what most of the other guys wanted. Inmates don’t argue or disagree in front of volunteers like me so they always kept pretty mum about any tensions but I’m not an idiot (normally). He was also the only one of the group that made me feel even vaguely personally intimated on a physical level. Now, some of these guys are pretty big and they are, let’s face it, criminals, but they have a good vibe for the most part and really seem glad to talk to me about religion, magical work, and spirituality in general. They’re trying to straighten their shit out and they don’t generally play the B.S. power games beyond a constant level of bitching about personal gripes with staff and such, which I expect. For a bunch of convicts, they are fairly likeable and I like working with them. Having these guys gone made me realize how much tension they’d been adding to the whole group.
I’m working them through Buckland’s big blue book since most of them were not terribly spiritual on the outside and weren’t pagans at all before. They have no background in anything and don’t even know how people generally do things. Running through the book allows them to get a better basic understanding of Wiccan practice and the book is laid out in a lesson format with test questions at the end of the lessons. It makes things a lot easier and gives us a little structure in our work.
Switching gears to the Buddhist front, I’m contemplating going to the local Chagdud group, Chagdud Gonpa Amrita, and just hanging out on a regular basis for a while. I don’t get a lot of contact with Buddhist practitioners day to day and it would be nice to have people to talk to about basic issues. It is a Nyingma center and I consider myself a Nyingma practitioner when pushed (or Rime’ really most of the time) with an emphasis on Dzogchen. The lama there is an American who is actually known to at least two friends of mine and who I’ve only heard good things about. The lack of a language barrier would be nice as well. The funny thing is that I’ve been to at least three events at this place over the last couple of years. It’s where I received Red Tara, Guru Drakpo and P’howa on previous years. In each of these occasions, though, it was a visiting lama doing the teachings and empowerments so the lama of the center was just kind of in the back somewhere… The one thing that I did especially notice about this “center” (it’s a house in Lake City in Seattle) that was different from others was the people there…the first time I went there, it was to see Lama Tsering Everest and receive Red Tara from her. The crowd was a complete mix of people ranging from 20-somethings up to senior citizens. It’s almost the only time I’ve seen “my own” in the sense of seeing younger people with dyed hair, piercings, and/or tattoos. There were hippie mamas with their babies as well as the usual smattering of middle aged people. That time, when we were packed in like sardines, I wound up having a long conversation with a 60ish woman who had just taken vows and shaven her head. She’d gotten into the Dharma through her son. She’d wanted to find out about whatever it was that he’d found that had suddenly made him so much calmer and happier. That had been a few years before. In most Dharma centers, the members are disproportionately female and it’s usually women between the age of 40 and 65. At Pema Kilaya, I was one of roughly four guys out of 20+ people and only two of us were under 45. It’s like hanging out with your parents. I don’t have a problem hanging out with older people. I got over that when I worked at a retirement community for a while but it is nice to see your own peer group as well.
In any case, Chagdud Gonpa Amrita has a regular schedule where they do meditation on certain days and then do a regular tsok feast during the month. I figured I could easily be low-key and just start going to either or both of those and see if things go anywhere. The gods know that stewing in all of this stuff alone has its own strengths and weaknesses and I miss talking to people in person about some of this. I want to avoid the bullshit politics of a center though.
On a related note, it appears that both http://www.angrybuddhist.com and http://www.angrybuddhist.org are taken so I probably won’t be using those domain names very soon, angst or not.
All original work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.