the things i find through people

the night i arrived there was a pumpkin carving at one of my host's friend's house. we didn't get over there in time for carving, but went anyway and had some tea. it was a nice bicycle ride too. i really love riding at night! one of the people i met there told me about a singing event that would take place on sunday called 'singing in the light'. it is one of many community sings that take place in minneapolis it turns out. i was excited, but wasn't sure i'd stick around 'til then.
my host and her friend told me about sisters camelot, where there was opportunity to volunteer during the week.

laurel, who hosted me in milwaukee, lived in minneapolis before and had some suggestions for what i might get involved in while there. on tuesday it almost worked out to join in an apple harvest with fruits of the city. the location was too far outside the city and i didn't want to ride all that way. the carpool didn't come together.
i spent some time on the community computer at cafe southside, where my host was working, and later went back to help out in the adjacent community garden, 'paradise garden'. i collected some leaves from the alley. some had already been bagged up. i made a pile and put some in a compost bin, picking trash out. i wasn't sure what to do with the two bins full of stemmy plant material... thought i better wait to speak with someone. when i saw a man who looked like he was working around the property i asked him if he was involved in the garden. he was the owner of the property and gave me a contact. he told me his realtor had recommended that the space be turned into a community garden to increase the value of the development.
the main coordinator of this garden showed up eventually and i was able to work with her on cutting up the materials to help them get started decomposing in the bins. there is just too much air space when it is all stem! it would be best to mix such materials into a pile of other, finer materials like food scraps, wood shavings, leaves, and manure. they could allowed to dry out and begin to decompose in a rough pile and then be used during the growing season, when a lot more green materials are available.
this woman was a good christian and we talked a little about jesus. i told her briefly about my experience with the twelve tribes and what i had been learning. i still don't feel totally comfortable discussing or explaining what i feel about these things. she asked if i have a bible. i didn't so she gave me her little pocket bible. this is the second bible i have been given on this trip. the last one i left in eugene. this one was of a much more manageable travel-size. so i accepted it. this kind woman also asked if there was anything in particular she could pray about for me. i told her that i wanted to be able to understand god's will in my life so that i could do his work. so if she could pray for that...
we had not made much of a dent in the pile when we both had to get going. i was off to the sharing circle event i'd been looking forward to. i was a small and powerful experience including guided meditation, dancing, and song(led by me). this was definitely a place i was destined to arrive. the woman who led facilitated gave me $5 when we were on our way out of the building. i had just been thinking how i could have asked for donations for the trip... i didn't even have to say anything!

wednesday i helped out at a garden connected to sister's camelot. these generous folks grow a lot of their herbs there, but not much of their food otherwise. i helped turn and tuck in some compost. we disturbed some very comfortable rodents who had made homes in dry pockets. this can be avoided by keeping a pile evenly mixed and moist. but then, why do we not want them around? do they do more harm than good? regardless, it is a sign of a dysfunctional compost.
the next day i went and helped out at the kitchen bus of sister's camelot and then went over to bare bones headquarters, another group laurel had told me i should check out. soon after arriving there i was helping paper mache a ghostly figure. i told the artist that it reminded me of butoh. he said he does butoh and was very happy to meet someone who was interested in it and knows folks in the seattle community. he offered to give me a place to stay if i needed it.
heard from a woman working on another project at bare bones about a community just a little east of the tri-cities called anathath. it would have been great to visit them, but i decided to keep moving forward towards washington. almost home!
at the end of the day there i ran into a very old friend named rosie from washinngton. we had known each other briefly in my teens. it was so great to be reunited! such a surprise!
i went back for just a couple hours the next day to help out a little more with crafting and meal prep.

the second person i stayed with, in NE minneapolis, is currently attending one spirit interfaith seminary school. i'd never heard of such schools before! unity among religions! finding the commonalities and cultivating acceptance for all traditions.
the daily quote on the day i looked at the site was from barbara hubbard, who is in the video on this recent post.

"In order to fulfill your higher purpose, you have to find others to join with you. You’re not going to be a conscious activist all by yourself. Instead of finding someone and joining your genes together to make a baby, you start joining your genius with that of others to bring something new into the world. … There’s an intense flash of joy that accompanies what I call the ‘fusion of genius.’ So, instead of your work being a sacrifice, it becomes a fulfillment."

then i did a google search for interspirituality. very important work i feel.

at the sharing circle on tuesday i had been told about a workshop that would be led by kaia svein. this is who i had found the sharing circle through and i really wanted to meet her. also the workshop sounded like something i should be part of... "Deepening the Practice of Inter-being with Other Peoples & Species"
so that saturday morning i got up early, packed my stuff, and moved to another host's place. she'd decided to join me to the workshop and drove us there, which was a relief since i was running late, as usual.
the workshop was wonderful. i cried during a guided meditation in which kaia read a poem about endangered species. i shared the song by joules graves, we are healing ourselves. and we learned the dandelion dance!
in the evening my kind host drove us to the bare bones performance! it had heart like cirque de soleil, but was not quite as spectacular or long of a show. i really enjoyed it anyway and loved that it was done in a park, among the trees! the live music was a really great aspect of it, and one of the coolest puppet techniques was these inflatable beasts! they rose out of big eggs and took their shapes like fat animal spirits (octopus, buffalo, and eagle).

did you know the 21st was world singing day? on this last night in minneapolis, i attended the song circle i had been told about my first night in town. it exceeded my expectations. there were about fifty of us in one big circle of chairs. all ages were represented, from the baby to the grandparents. i learned some new songs and got to share 'rainbow warriors', to which barbara contributed a wonderful piano accompaniment. the spiritual energy that soared throughout the space awed us.

"I have seen the power that music has to uplift, inspire and bring people together. In fact, I think music might just be the catalyst needed to transform this world."
-scott johnson (world singing day)