Holy Solstice & Happy New Year (2018)!!!
Dear loved ones, family, friends, newbies & random readers,
Rebecca Harris, 111 years old, of Rock Island, Illinois,right across the Mississippi from Davenport, Iowa, my home town, threw out the first minor little league pitch for the most recent summer season. Being interviewed by the NYT, she said that her secret to living well, not just long, was “living her own truth”. Which got my soon to be 70 pixelated brain to think that maybe the theme of this sagittarian solstice season salutation would be tips by super centenarians from around the planet for living well beyond 100 with soul intact, heart still double-clickin, mind sharp as a fogcutter, funnybone fluid as Jay Pharaoh’s chameleonic mimic tongue & an imagination like Ikkyu’s epihaiku sung to his blind wife’s pet cicada !
Morning walks & chocolate. Prunes & dates. Lemon juice, honey & ginger tea.
Half a pint of chilled peepee upon rising. Yoga, swiming, free dance. Compassionate child, elder, pet & plant care. Daily O’s. Dreamless sleep. Friendly dog parks. C-Paps. Killer dope.
Not chard. Blessed routines. Lists made/ lists destroyed! Dedicated enlightened forgetting. Forgiveness. At-one-ment. Not sermons, dogma or prescriptions like this letter. Fasting. Zazen. Cryogenics. Deep tissue Massage. High colonix. Sweat lodges. Grow yr own veggies.
Be like the blind lowly mole rat. Live communally. Dive into your DNA alphabet soup with crystal 3D virtual reality goggles. Raw eggs. No husbands, please! alternate nostril, bellows, beehive, 3 part, 4 square, circular, holotropic, tantric, easy breathing. nothing extra. nothing sacred. Self-hypnosis. Tapping the ordinary, the every day, the divine in-between moments. Bratitude. Love above all. Just keepin’ on doing what you love. Right livelihood.Simple work.
Art that endures. Fully embracing the ephemeral. Modern medicine. Luck. Airport defibrillators. golden hour chats with soul mates. hating not. staying in the here & now. Zee occasional gesamtkunstwerks. right attitude. placebo effect 24/7.Moderation.pay it forward. volunteerism. Living in your own personal “blue zone”. Icaria (Mediterranean diet).Ogliastra (red wine). Okinawa (soy & tai chi &”moai”=social network of young &old). Nicoya (beans & corn tortilla & “plan de vida”. Loma Linda ( ultravegetarianism & kegels). fiber, legumes, nuts, fish. “Harahachi bu” = 80% rule (close thy mouth at 4/5ths). Eat s….l…o…w….l………y.
High altitudes,chill attitudes. Unconditonal positive regard. Biofeedback. Naps. Ikigai = life purpose = spiritual practice. Laughter! Only 5 people over 110 live presently in the US, 115 in the world. Ms. Violet Moss Brown of Duanvale, Trelawney, Jamaica passed at 117 last 9/18/17. Praise be. Oldest verified wasJeanne Calment at 122 years 164 days. Mbah Ghoto of Cemeng Village in Java, Indonesia chain-smoked & ate porridge for his 146 years according to his family’s records. Death with dignity may require moving to Oregon, becoming a beekeeper & reading Sherwin Nuland for your best early exit or voyage into the Bardo.
I have always said sex, daikensh0 & longevity were highly overrated!
Words fail in this dark time. I speed read the NYT to avoid the 7 synonyms for hurling at our Prez & his sadistic mind-raping pretzels of puffery! Ziggy the Siamese White Wonder Kat also helps distract me from my mad memes, schemes & depressing themes with deft paws & claws that actually tear the DT cabinet of dumb doom to ribbons wth glee & a few smatterings of hope!A female cardinal appears every 9:30am at the birdfeeder to report the latest “metoo”abominations & spit into the public trough. Void moon. Solstice star also coming to announce the failure of the $1.5T tax cut for the 1% of the 1% of the GOP. Yippee yai kai yay! Paperwhite narcissus about the house exuding a certain effluvia for changeas well. What can i tell ya?! May the voice of the people sometime soon speak & break this spell of greed & war & climate denial before all the glaciers & elephants are gone!
Kol ha neshama.
Semi-retirement & sciatica can be rough! Tho, almost free ($115/month) healthcare via Horizon Medicare Advantage NJ Direct (PPO) with Optum Rx,good Doc’s, St. Peter’s Care, masseuse, decent pension, cool house, tons of friends, family galore tho distant & a beautiful daughter in Brooklyn certainly helps!
Making, showing, selling, curating & fundraising for art is a pure joy, esp when the knuckleheads, posers & dilettantes are taking a break in the chartreuse room:) Writing 3 hrs/day but not sending out the short stories is getting old, but reading Carmen Maria Machado’s new book, “Her Body & other Parties” , is brilliantly sexy & illuminating! Teaching “Zen Writing & Drawing” at Rutger’s Olliru at the HP Reform Church & publishing “Stillpoints”, their Sumi-e/Haiku has been a gas:)
Being on the boards of Main Street, GLSEN, HP Artist Collective & Vice Chair of the HP Art Commission has been challenging, highly educational, and a creative fountainhead for me re making social political change, re-charging social networks around town, finding new friends in the strangest ways & places, re-jiggering my zen practice,and coming to terms with hunger, homelessness, disability, immigrant /neighbor/dreamer needs, transphobia, dog whistle oval office racist violence, sexual harassment, & escalating natural catastrophes right here in my own backyard!
In 2018, I hope to be teaching zen arts to rape survivors in Edison as well as Olliru & maybe Rutger Rec, sitting monthly with Open Circle & Cold Mt. Zen, Prema’s yoga class and various LGBTQAI teen groups, sending out more linked short stories for publication, losing 10 lbs. ;), getting new weather sealed sliding doors to my deck, enjoying my “new used” 2014 red RAV4, going to Prague to visit Jeff & Maria in April, & celebrating my 70th rebirth day at Jerry & Harriet’s Annual Yule Sing on 12/16/17 & the opening reception of my new Sumi-e Show at Fiddleheads in Jamesburg the next day!
Peace & Love & Light to You & Yours in 2018! Gassho…..
Kathy has new job teaching art to just one grade level, is going to new Catholic church, taking care of Grammy Pat PT, who is living at Judy & Terry’s & was recently burglarized at Las Brisas & is struggling with memory issues just like me & others of a certain age, but doing fine. Tim & Rose have downsized their dog population but still teaching & managing a beverage co. Brent is shootingcutting edge enhanced photography on the streets of DC every day, moved on from Bar Civita to even swankier joint & is co-sharing living space with a Guatemalan family.
Rachel & Michael bought a new 3 gorgeous story condo with access to creeks & trails & forestscapes for their doggies right out their back door! Sean continues as food & beverage manager at Tupelo’s in Park City, Utah. Madonna is thriving at Verizon, hiking, doing Bible study, enjoying new affordable apartment. Jack & Olivia are doing community service, living with Sean, singing, playing hockey, reading Brandon Mull, vaping, skiing when they can, and looking forward to the annual Sundance Festival!
Ava, as Academic Dean, coaches History & Science teachers & is covering a 7th grade teacher out on maternity leave. She is going to Tennessee with her Mom to reunion with Aunt Ann, cousin Lisa Saravo & partner Bob Shields, cousin Stacy, hub Pete & sons Jay & Hugh & ride horses on their ranch. For New Years, Ava is off to London to celebrate with U of London besties. Dorothy Sue recently received an honorary doctorate from University of Sweden in the Nobel Hall in Stockholm.
Big thanks to my book club buddies, art partners in crime, writing confidantes, health providers, sangha members, Olliru students & colleagues at Olliru, fellow board members, catcare neighbors, distant phone lifeline people, teachers & mentors, 50th Central HS reunioneers, Mississippi Valley Blues Fest folk, and fellow Highland Park citizens & officials, especially at Boro Hall, the library & church who have sustained me this year!
You know who you are!
Collectively, all of you, along with my family, especially my daughter Ava, my cat Ziggy, my grand dog Nala, my art, writing & zazen/yoga/dance/swimming;
You are my Blue Zone!
May you all live long & well & leave when you need to:)