Portulaca: In MeMOOry
catherine
Farm Camp Reunion
Remember the summer sunlight shining through the magical green forest of Ben Benjamin’s cornfield? It’s all turned to gold… stored in hard kernals of corn — ready for grinding to make into cornbread OR to feed to Tom Levine’s pigs! Bring your whole family, memories, photographs and a dish to share for a pot-luck lunch and Farm Camp reunion. Saturday, January 14th at noon at Debra and Margaret’s house: Please RSVP!
Here’s Peter Russ driving the combine and harvesting the corn for Tom Levine to feed to his animals to make our eggs, bacon, and sausage.
It takes a great combine-ation of farmers’ efforts to grow our food.
Shakin Butter
Todd and Emy Osborn treat their guests to fresh butter for their Thanksgiving Dinner!
Wreath-Making
Tie it all together at our FREE Columbus Day Wreath Making Workshop for the whole family. On October 8, we will meet at the Local Farm barn to braid used baling twine into beautiful wreaths. Bring ribbons and dried flowers if you’d like. We’ll supply the twine, hangers, tools, and strawflowers. For more information, please call Debra Tyler (860) 672-0229 or write debra@motherhouse.us.
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WLI red wisdom circle
Alicia’s Herbal Apprenticeship
WLI February 2011
“Search for voice is search for self… am-ness” -Sojourner Truth.
The theme for this month is “In Our Own Voice” led by the Blue Wisdom Circle.
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The center mandala was made of objects representing the voice of each woman’s voice.
Gwen brought an Angel of Courage. She has just come through a very difficult year and this angel was a gift from a friend who found great hope and inspiration through observing the courageous way Gwen meets her challenges.
Cynthia shared a book she uses with her students titled, Women: Celebration of Strength. It features many women and the voice of strength like Madam CJ Walker, the first maid to become a billionaire. Like Walker, Cynthia owns and runs her own business.
For Susan, a blooming plant represents the voice of relaxation and focus.
For Abhaya, a living plant represents the seasons of birth, life, and death and the voice of patience.
Like the voice of Korean women, Hyun tells us, a jewelry box hides the treasure inside.
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Sally’s Zen garden represents the voice of global peace made possible by “living communion in our daily lives.”
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Monique shared her parents’ wedding bell because it reminds her of her mother who didn’t speak up and inspires Monique to use her voice and speak up for herself and others.
Then Cynthia read Maya Angelou’s poem, Phenomenal Woman. At the end of each affirming stanza, we said in unison, “That’s me.”
After a prayer, we heard each others’ news and announcements. MANY were missing, presumably because of illness. In Christ Church, New Zealand, Sylvia’s family and friends have been found but our continued prayers for those affected by the earthquake are appreciated. Hyun has enrolled in Hartford Seminary Masters Degree Program and all 18 credits of her graduate-level work in Seole have transferred to HartSem. Roberta attended her nephew’s wedding at City Hall in NYC. Inspired by our last month’s reading and discussion of Ruth, Andrea has made a conscious effort not to close-off men. As a result she’s had some recent wonderful encounters. Kathryn mused on the sense of dignity of persons in Egypt and joins the peoples’ there, sense of celebration and solidarity. Lucy spoke in concern for the Wisconsin’s government disregard for unions. Still no certain news from Dawn and Sylvia… we keep hoping that when the weather breaks, they’ll be back.
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Jackie showing off Harriet Beecher Stowe’s house.
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WLI Prison Visit Response
My response to our WLI visit to York Correctional Facility for Women is a four page visual presentation hung on a line with clothespins to signify an “airing of dirty laundry.” To further tie together the four pieces, each is titled with a line from the Lord’s Prayer. The first page I did turned out to be the final of the series with the title “The Glory Forever.”
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During the evening chapel service we attended, my attention was drawn to a woman who was seated on the isle near the back of the room. I had just learned that at least 95% of those incarcerated are addicted to alcohol and/or street drugs. When they arrive at York, they are “dried out,” but because there aren’t enough therapists to help work through their issues, the women are routinely medicated. This woman appeared to have been heavily medicated. Her body seemed almost vacant, a puddling lump on a chair, UNTIL the speaker asked “who knows Jesus as their Lord and Savior?” Suddenly the sullen lifeless mass burst into life and shot up her hand. The transformation was breathtaking! In the sudden light of this one woman’s face, I witnessed “the Glory forever.”
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The second piece, “Our Daily Bread” (or “View”), consists of photos of my morning view from the Local Farm barn doorway taken on the 15th of each month for a year, alternating brickwork-style with an unchanging cinder-block wall to represent the view from inside the prison.
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“Our Trespasses” is the third. Its background is a black and white repeat of “Our Daily Bread.” In bold red ink on the cider-block photos are a series of quotes from Mark Heim’s Saved from Sacrifice, describing the human tendency to scapegoat marginal peoples in order to create a sense of social unity for the majority. The scapegoat’s transgressions are greatly exaggerated (thus the red ink) while the “sins of society” are masked or forgotten. Each of the Local Farm photos has a “sin” printed lightly on it in pencil…
*Our misdirected hunger for fulfillment drives us to consume more and more material things. This destroys our communities, our resources, and our planet.
*Food travels an average of 1500 petroleum-fueled miles from farm to North American plate.
*Every 20 minutes another species animal slips into extinction because its habitat has been disrupted or destroyed by human activity.
*Each US citizen consumes 3 gal. oil/day. Our clamor for cheap gas leads to off-shore drilling, fracking, and war.
*Clear-cut logging of North American Boreal forests for pulp to make toilet paper and facial tissue destroys half a million acres of primeval forest every year.
*It takes 3 pounds of life-destroying chemicals to produce 1 pound of cotton fabric.
*The laborer who picked the bunch of bananas I bought today, earned the same amount I paid, for one day’s work. His/her children are 6 times as likely as mine to have birth defects due to parental exposure to pesticides.
*People use 1 million plastic bags every minute. There are 40,000 pieces of plastic/square mile of ocean. 1 million sea birds and 10,000 animals die each year because of waste plastic.
These women are some of our modern-day scapegoats.
I finished the collection by drawing what is actually the first of the series, “Who Art in Heaven.”
As we walked away from the prison I was aware of the strange contrast between the soft light of an almost full moon in the sky and the harsh light of the circular window over the prison entrance. Yet while I had been inside, I had had twenty minutes of warm and loving conversation with a circle of 5 inmates. During those brief moments, perhaps, we had had a glimpse of heaven.
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Sister Jesus bears our sins in thorozine hips and sneakers from China. At the back of the room, her sallow countenance suddenly glows! A blessing of praise.
WLI January2011
FRIDAY EVENING
The Orange Wisdom Circle opened with a moment of silence followed by a responsive reading honoring some of the women represented in the quilt at the circle’s center. 
The quilt was made by 15 women from St. Patrick-St. Anthony Church in Hartford. Each square is for a different inspiring women from the Bible.
Dorcas (Acts 9:36, 39-40)
woman of charitable deeds, doer of the word of God.
Eve (Gen3:20, 4:1 * 2Cor11:3 * 1Tim2:13)
the giver of life and the desire for knowledge.
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Miriam (Ex15:20,21 * Num12:1, 10, 15. 20:1. 26:59 * Deut24:9 * Micah6:4)
woman of courage.
Esther (the book of Esther)
woman of bravery.
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Priscilla (Acts18:2, 26 * Rom16:3 * 1Cor16:19 * 2Tim4:19
builder of community.
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Mary (Ma1:16, 18, 20. 2:11 * Mk6:3 * Lk1:27, 30, 41, 56. 2:5, 16, 19 * Acts1:14)
universal mother, lend us your power and strength.
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Then we sang “Wherever You Go” led by Kathleen’s beautiful voice and guitar.
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News from the group includes:
Crugar will no longer be part of the circle because she needs to be present for her mother.
Silvia and Dawn will not be making the trip during winter… maybe we can set up Skipe (?) for them with a laptop on a chair.
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Jackie went to a very inspiring all day winter intersession at York with Rev. Laurie Edar.
Feb 23 will be the 30th anniversary of the Voices of Joy Choir. Those who have not yet made their prison visit will attend then.
Nina has info on meetings to work for CT prison reform.
Our topic for the month is “Women and Sacred Story.” MT shared stories about writing her books: Woman Word, Woman Witness, and Woman Wisdom were inspired by Elizabeth Thea Lorenza’s In Memory of Her which is about how little is written about women in the Bible. As MT researched and wrote, the women began to “speak” to her. All 1560 of the women mentioned in the Bible are included somewhere in at least one of these books. About 150 of them are honored with her story, a prayer, and her own psalm. MT has also written The Gospel According to Mary. It is written from the perspective of a woman present during the life of Christ.
We heard her thoughts on Matthew25 and how the parable of the ten women and that of the talents are actually stories of how NOT to act… that when Christ said “when I was hungry, you fed me… etc.” he was referring to the 5 “foolish” women and the servant who buried the talent instead of furthering his master’s greed at the expense of others.
Out of the Depths is about Ludmila Javorova, a Czech woman who was ordained as a Catholic priest as part of the underground Church in Czechoslovakia. It was fascinating to hear of all the “coincidences” that led to MT and Ludmila meeting, MT’s waking in the night with the thought that she would write about Ludmila followed by getting a call from a publisher asking her to write it.
SATURDAY
Led by the Orange Wisdom Circle, we continued the responsive reading around the quilt with the words, “We praise and thank you.”
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Elizabeth: the joy of being interconnected.
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Deborah: woman of wisdom and judgment, a leader of armies.
Sarah: mother of nations.
Lydia: worshipper of God and an ethical business-leader.
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. . . . . . . . . Martha and Mary: models of service and receptiveness.
Ruth: woman of Independence and faithfulness
In groups of four, we discussed The Story of Ruth by Joan Chittister. then brought our comments to the whole group. Many felt it was more Naomi’s story than that of Ruth, but both characters represent the women that we all are. What do we do with the rage and anger we feel as we realize our oppression? Avoid temptation to judge other women… ie today’s immigrant who sleeps with the boss in order to feed her children. Did Ruth seduce Boaz? most likely, uncovering his “feet” meant exposing his genitals. Interesting that 4 of the men in the Jesus geneology were born of women “who lied for the faith:” Radah, a prostitute who harbored Hebrew spies; Tamara who seduced her father-in-law; Rebekkah who helped Jacob trick his brother Esau out of his inheritance and patriarchal blessing; and Ruth. In spite of its patriarchal reading, the Bible shows again and again that EVERYone has “a place at the table.”
MT repeated that we don’t come out of severe oppression gracefully or cheerfully. We are looking for transformation NOT complete role reversal or a female-centric take-over. Someone noted the balance created by Chittister’s language and the book’s artwork by John August Swanson, a male. Another asked why we don’t support Orpah’s choice to go back to her people. Hers may have been an equally difficult situation to go back to. If one has nothing to offer but service, one must recognize the dignity of the self as well as that of those we serve.
We spoke a bit about the biblical xenophbic injunctions not to marry foreigners and today’s U.S. public policy to return illegal aliens to their country of origin.
After a break, we considered the importance of patiently listening to each others’ stories as a way to increase respect for self and others. Edwina Gately was sited as an example. She started Genesis House as a home for prostitutes to grow and to heal. (After 15 years, she was fired because her board of directors felt her generosity was a financial impediment to the organization.) Other examples: Nelson Mandalla and the Dali Lama.
MT then told us about her book, Noah and Her Sisters. Besides the story of the ark, the name Noah occurs only one other place in the bible and there it is the name of one of 5 daughters of Zelophehad who go to Moses and demand their inheritance rights after their father’s death. MT created another female character/story teller, Noah to “re-chronicle” Genesis and Exodus from a female perspective. She uses the pronoun S/HE (pronounced SH-HE) for God who is neither female nor male. After the flood, God makes a covenant with ALL creation. This is repeated 5 times in Genesis and is the covenant we must look to instead of God’s covenant with Abraham which is based on circumcision and automatically excludes women and most of creation. MT commented that writing these chronicles was the most fun she’s ever had. She then read her beautiful creation story from the book. Another noted the difference of her image of S/HE weeping and weeping in distress to cause the flood vs a punishing father destroying his creation in anger. Perry Austin: “We need to work to be inclusive of those who are non-inclusive.”
After lunch, MT asked for help raffling off baskets at a scrap-booking expo on Feb 5. Last year’s money went to create the women’s building. This year it will help create an on-going fund to sponsor Hispanic rite of passage, quinceanera for 14-year-old daughters.
Next month we will be walking to Harriett Beecher Stowe House on Saturday morning. Mala announced her Women for Change group will be holding a sexuality workshop on Feb 11 and 12.
We then went around the entire circle and briefly shared one idea we had about what to do as our final project.
MT and Rhonda
Greetings from Dawn’s Wisdom Circle
Greetings from Sylvia’s Red Wisdom Circle
    
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