Wednesday, July 31, 2013
Monday, July 29, 2013
Friday, July 26, 2013
by Pat Baker, Chairperson for Brockport Arts Festival
The arts festival is seeking volunteers to assist Judy Jensen with her program of historic games and activities at the Arts Festival, Aug. 10 & 11. (I realize that some of you will be or are on vacation so please don’t feel you need to let me know that – I don’t suffer from lack of e-mails.) We need responsible juniors/seniors, college kids, teachers, parents at the Morgan Manning House from 11 – 4 or so both days. They work with kids and adults with the games & activities and help Judy as she needs. She also could use an assistant each day. This is a family thing that Walmart is supporting, but there tends to be more kids than adults. If even half of you know one adult or young person willing to spend a couple of festival hours there, there would be plenty of help. They also get to hear Golden Eagles String Band,10th Ward Boys, Allen Hopkins and more in the front yard. Please contact Judy at e-mail on Copy address line above or call her at 638-6517. You will be helping the festival and having fun at the same time.
I might note there are plenty of other volunteer jobs available as well. E-mail brockportartsfest2013@gmail.
Thanks for whatever help you can engender. Next weekend (Aug. 2, the Suburban News Festival Insert will be published. Please look it over and read my letter to the editor if you get a chance.
Saturday, July 20, 2013
Sunday, July 7, 2013
Silver is talking to his 18 year old daughter, Casey, whom he hasn't seen much of since his divorce from Denise when Casey was about 9.
"What would you like to do today? he says"
She gives him a funny look. "What are my options?"
"Sky's the limit."
She considers for a moment. "Brunch?"
"I say the sky's the limit and all you can come up with is brunch?"
"I'm not sure we live under the same sky."
Jonothan Tropper, One Last Thing Before I Go, p. 136
Editor's note: Whether we are aware of it or not we are all living under the same sky, but most of us live under the illusion that our skies are separate unless you are a member of the minority who are enlightened. If you are enlightened you know different that we are all for one and should be one for all. Would that we all understood that we are all in this thing called Life together and when everyone loves everyone all the time we will have achieved the Kingdom here on earth as it is in heaven.
There are few people around the world who know this and practice this awareness. Be on the look out for them. There a few in Brockport. I have met them. It is an awesome experience to be in their presence and communicate with them. Maybe it will happen for you One Fine Day.
"What would you like to do today? he says"
She gives him a funny look. "What are my options?"
"Sky's the limit."
She considers for a moment. "Brunch?"
"I say the sky's the limit and all you can come up with is brunch?"
"I'm not sure we live under the same sky."
Jonothan Tropper, One Last Thing Before I Go, p. 136
Editor's note: Whether we are aware of it or not we are all living under the same sky, but most of us live under the illusion that our skies are separate unless you are a member of the minority who are enlightened. If you are enlightened you know different that we are all for one and should be one for all. Would that we all understood that we are all in this thing called Life together and when everyone loves everyone all the time we will have achieved the Kingdom here on earth as it is in heaven.
There are few people around the world who know this and practice this awareness. Be on the look out for them. There a few in Brockport. I have met them. It is an awesome experience to be in their presence and communicate with them. Maybe it will happen for you One Fine Day.
Saturday, July 6, 2013
From the Village Of Brockport board meeting minutes of 06/11/13:
Farmers Market - Trustee Blackman reminded all that the Farmers Market opens
for the season this Sunday, 6/16 8am-1pm. All vendor positions (11) have been filled which means the market is self sustaining. Last fall she and the Managers met with Fire Chief Henry to talk about
placement of barricades and parking and those directives have been followed. They discussed
possible expansion of the market as they have had inquiries by more vendors. They do not want more of the same, but are looking for cheese, meats, organic products, plants. Possible expansion area would be the parking lot near the market owned by Ross Gates.
From the Village of Brockport board meeting minutes of 06/11/13:
Mayor Castañeda shared that Clerk Morelli’s work anniversary was June 7th and congratulated her on 14 years of service thus far.
Editor's note: Leslie Ann Morelli does an outstanding job as Clerk for the Village of Brockport. She keeps the best board meeting minutes of an clerk in Western New York Towns and Villages.
Thank you to Leslie for her superior service to the residents of the Village of Brockport and those who do business with the village.
Mayor Castañeda shared that Clerk Morelli’s work anniversary was June 7th and congratulated her on 14 years of service thus far.
Editor's note: Leslie Ann Morelli does an outstanding job as Clerk for the Village of Brockport. She keeps the best board meeting minutes of an clerk in Western New York Towns and Villages.
Thank you to Leslie for her superior service to the residents of the Village of Brockport and those who do business with the village.
"In the car, on the way home, Denise cries softly in the front seat. Casey wishes like hell she would stop. She loves her, but Denise's years of being a single mother have forged in her a finely honed martyr complex, and she tends to view everyone's problems as being there simply to increase her own immeasurable burden.
"Jesus, Mom, will you give it a rest?"
"I'm sorry that my teenage daughter's pregnancy is upsetting to me."
"Have you considered the possibility that it's upsetting to me, too?"
Jonathan Tropper, One Last Thing Before I Go, p. 85.
How easy it is to see our self as a victim. In A Course In Miracles, it points out that these victim thoughts are illusions of our ego.
It says in Lesson 102 in ACIM:
"Today we try to loose its weakened hold still further, and to realize that pain is purposeless, without a cause and with no power to accomplish anything. It cannot purchase anything at all. It offers nothing, and does not exist. And everything you think it offers you is lacking in existence, like itself. You have been slave to nothing. Be you free today to join the happy Will of God."
It says a little further in the Lesson:
"You have no need to be less loving to God's son that He Whose Love created him as loving as Himself."
And what fuels thoughts and feelings of victimhood is fear. Fear obscures our awareness of Love's presence. Denise was fearful for herself as she considered being the mother of an 18 year old pregnant daughter. Denise's fears blocked her awareness of her daughter's well being and preferences. Her daughter, Casey, points this out to her. How would you guess she responded? How would you respond if someone pointed out that your fears are blocking your ability to empathize with someone else's state of mind? It is interesting to watch how quickly someone else's drama becomes all about us.
At any rate Bobby McFerrin has it right when he sings his song, "Don't worry. Be Happy."
"Jesus, Mom, will you give it a rest?"
"I'm sorry that my teenage daughter's pregnancy is upsetting to me."
"Have you considered the possibility that it's upsetting to me, too?"
Jonathan Tropper, One Last Thing Before I Go, p. 85.
How easy it is to see our self as a victim. In A Course In Miracles, it points out that these victim thoughts are illusions of our ego.
It says in Lesson 102 in ACIM:
"Today we try to loose its weakened hold still further, and to realize that pain is purposeless, without a cause and with no power to accomplish anything. It cannot purchase anything at all. It offers nothing, and does not exist. And everything you think it offers you is lacking in existence, like itself. You have been slave to nothing. Be you free today to join the happy Will of God."
It says a little further in the Lesson:
"You have no need to be less loving to God's son that He Whose Love created him as loving as Himself."
And what fuels thoughts and feelings of victimhood is fear. Fear obscures our awareness of Love's presence. Denise was fearful for herself as she considered being the mother of an 18 year old pregnant daughter. Denise's fears blocked her awareness of her daughter's well being and preferences. Her daughter, Casey, points this out to her. How would you guess she responded? How would you respond if someone pointed out that your fears are blocking your ability to empathize with someone else's state of mind? It is interesting to watch how quickly someone else's drama becomes all about us.
At any rate Bobby McFerrin has it right when he sings his song, "Don't worry. Be Happy."
Friday, July 5, 2013
"Mom and Rich got me a G35 (a car) for my graduation."
"That was nice of them."
"Mom's still compensating for you. I milk it a little."
"I would. Can I ask you something?"
"Sure."
"Why'd you come to me?"
"Really?"
"Yeah."
"I care less about letting you down."
And it is the story of Silver's life, deeply loved by his family but never measuring up to their expectations. Silver is a doofus and he has become accustomed to playing the part.
In another part of the novel, after Silver has been admitted to the hospital after a mini stroke his younger brother, Chuck, comes to visit.
Chuck looks concerned. "You're in the hospital," he says, slow and loud, like Silver is an elderly man.
"I know that," Silver says. "I'm just wondering why you're here."
"You're my brother," Chuck says.
Silver says, "We're not really that close."
And so the novel goes with glib and occasionally snarky remarks between the characters which make the text funny and poignant at the same time. Silver, it seems, is always the underdog, but an underdog we root for even if he is a self sabotaging slacker.
The creative tension comes from the seeming inneptness of the hero, Silver, and the expected next bad thing to happen to him, but he is a likable character and we want things to turn out for him. Will they?
Tropper's novel is entertaining, engaging, funny, and yet poignantly insightful into the human condition at the same time.
I recommend the novel and it is available at the Lift Bridge Book Shop in downtown Brockport at 45 Main Street at one of America's best independent book stores.
Editor's note: The Brockporter book of the week is a regular feature of the Brockporter Online News Magazine which appears most Fridays. If you would like my copy of One Last Thing Before I Go it is available first come, first serve by requesting it from davidgmarkham@gmail.com.
The Monroe County Fair is supposed to begin in less than one month at Northampton Park — but the organization hosting it faces a lawsuit from the park’s neighbors, and has creditors calling in debts as they continue to await the closing of a property sale.A lawsuit filed by six Ogden residents asks that a judge nullify a recent decision by the County Legislature to accept a gift worth $500,000 from the Monroe County Fair and Recreation Association. This gift would involve building new structures on a 25-acre portion of Northampton Park in exchange for use of the grounds 10 days a year, including this Aug. 1 to 4 for the annual County Fair.
To read the whole article click here.
Thursday, July 4, 2013
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."
Declaration of the United Colonies promulgated on July 4, 1776
I am studying Lesson 117 today in A Course In Miracles which is a review of two earlier lessons:
Lesson 103: "God, being Love, is also happiness", and Lesson 104: "I seek but what belongs to me in truth."
And Thomas Jefferson and the other people who debated and signed the Declaration Of Independence seem to have understood that it is human kind's nature to be an extension of their Creator's Love which is a state of Truth and Happiness.
The ego mind distracts us from this understanding and tells us that it is materialism that will make us happy, and sex, and power, and yet we come to understand at some points in our lives we make miserable that these ego beliefs are an illusion.
And sooner or later, one way or another, we become aware that only awareness of Love's presence will make us happy and allow us to live in Truth and all the barriers and obstacles to this awareness need to be overcome.
The greatest song in our American history is not the Star Spangled Banner, our national anthem, or any of the other patriotic songs we will sing today, but We Shall Overcome. For, as Amercians, and all the people of the world, we affirm and promote the idea that all humans are created equal and that they are the product of the Love of creation and will enjoy the happiness and truth which comes with the awareness of Love's presence. It is this that we celebrate today not just for Americans but for all the people of the world.
Declaration of the United Colonies promulgated on July 4, 1776
I am studying Lesson 117 today in A Course In Miracles which is a review of two earlier lessons:
Lesson 103: "God, being Love, is also happiness", and Lesson 104: "I seek but what belongs to me in truth."
And Thomas Jefferson and the other people who debated and signed the Declaration Of Independence seem to have understood that it is human kind's nature to be an extension of their Creator's Love which is a state of Truth and Happiness.
The ego mind distracts us from this understanding and tells us that it is materialism that will make us happy, and sex, and power, and yet we come to understand at some points in our lives we make miserable that these ego beliefs are an illusion.
And sooner or later, one way or another, we become aware that only awareness of Love's presence will make us happy and allow us to live in Truth and all the barriers and obstacles to this awareness need to be overcome.
The greatest song in our American history is not the Star Spangled Banner, our national anthem, or any of the other patriotic songs we will sing today, but We Shall Overcome. For, as Amercians, and all the people of the world, we affirm and promote the idea that all humans are created equal and that they are the product of the Love of creation and will enjoy the happiness and truth which comes with the awareness of Love's presence. It is this that we celebrate today not just for Americans but for all the people of the world.
Monday, July 1, 2013
"The young have aspirations that never come to pass, the old have reminiscences of what never happened. It's only the middle-aged who are really conscious of their limitations - that is why one should be so patient with them."
Saki, Reginald At The Carlton in The Unrest - Cure and Other Stories.
Editor's note: One of my favorite bumper stickers reads "Don't believe everything you think." It makes me laugh because I realize that I project misconceptions on my life most of the time. My ego creates a world of illusions, most of which aren't true. What can I do but forgive myself and others for my imagined wrongs which I think I and they have done?
The lesson today I am working on in A Course Of Miracles is Lesson 114, part of which reads, "I will accept my part in God's plan for salvation." My part is to forgive myself and others for the nonsensical wrongs I think they have done which make me fearful, then angry and resentful. Lesson 5 says "I am never upset for the reason I think." which, you might notice, is very similar to my favorite bumper sticker, "Don't believe everything you think.".
The old saying is "Ya either laugh or cry." As I get further into my study of the Course, I find I am laughing more. My ego nonsense is so stupid that I can't believe that I ever believed the nonsense that I did and do.
Laughing at the absurdity of life liberates me from my hell of resentment and grievances and as Saki writes in his quote, I need to be patient with the young, the old, the middle aged, (and myself), but more than patient, I need to forgive them. Playing my part in God's plan for salvation by forgiving myself and others is bringing me not only laughter, but joy and peace, and it seems that Brockport could use a little more of that.
If we could be forgiving of our brothers and sisters we could hasten the achievement of the Beloved Community here in Brockport. Will you join me? If we can each forgive one person today, we will have made a huge difference in creating more heaven on earth.
Saki, Reginald At The Carlton in The Unrest - Cure and Other Stories.
The lesson today I am working on in A Course Of Miracles is Lesson 114, part of which reads, "I will accept my part in God's plan for salvation." My part is to forgive myself and others for the nonsensical wrongs I think they have done which make me fearful, then angry and resentful. Lesson 5 says "I am never upset for the reason I think." which, you might notice, is very similar to my favorite bumper sticker, "Don't believe everything you think.".
The old saying is "Ya either laugh or cry." As I get further into my study of the Course, I find I am laughing more. My ego nonsense is so stupid that I can't believe that I ever believed the nonsense that I did and do.
Laughing at the absurdity of life liberates me from my hell of resentment and grievances and as Saki writes in his quote, I need to be patient with the young, the old, the middle aged, (and myself), but more than patient, I need to forgive them. Playing my part in God's plan for salvation by forgiving myself and others is bringing me not only laughter, but joy and peace, and it seems that Brockport could use a little more of that.
If we could be forgiving of our brothers and sisters we could hasten the achievement of the Beloved Community here in Brockport. Will you join me? If we can each forgive one person today, we will have made a huge difference in creating more heaven on earth.
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