Temporary Labyrinth Installation: Frogtown Park & Farm, Sat, May 21, 11a-2p

Come on over to the Backyard Farm Fest!  The folks from Frogtown Park & Farms are invitin' everyone over to see what they're planting in their swales and berms this Saturday and have all sorts of other enticing events going on like giving away sweet potato starts and other plants, gardening tips and tricks, gardening tool repair, and Poetry Gumbo with my friend Sheronda ... plus a labyrinth in the lower park!  Checkout the Facebook event page for more details.

Frogtown Farm's Backyard Fair!
Saturday, May 21, 2016, 11a-2p
Frogtown Park & Farm
941 Lafond Ave, St. Paul (map)

The labyrinth I'm installing for the day is Tom Vetter's "Flower in the Seed." It looks like this on the page. 

Tom Vetter's Flower in the Seed labyrinth design.

 And a little like this on the ground.  I mocked it up in the church greenspace by my house. 

Mid-installation of "Flower In the Seed."

A volunteer runner making sure "Flower in the Seed" is fun!



I'm especially excited to see this installation from the hilltop at Frogtown Park and Farm though.  You'll really get to see the center of the flower, the stem, and its leaves.  So come on over and walk, run, skip, dance, crawl your way through Flower in the Seed labyrinth with me! 

Many thanks to The MN office of The Trust for Public Land for sponsoring this! 

If you'd like to help out in some way, here's a few ways you can...

• Lend tomato plant cages or shepherd's hooks (hanging plant hooks) - they're sturdy posts for the ropes and lines of pennants!
• Got old party streamers in a corner collecting dust?  I'd love to weave them into the garden fencing we're using!
• I'm open to other ideas too!  Suggest something and we'll work with it!
• Donate to my GoFundMe page:  https://www.gofundme.com/CBLabyrinthDreams.  I'm dreaming of bringing temporary labyrinths to places that need thoughtful activation, like vacant lots, and need more sturdy pieces to bring it all together.  Plus I've been invited to share a poster at The Labyrinth Society's gathering in Houston, TX in November and I'd like to complete labyrinth facilitator training in the near future, both of which require funds to travel and registration/tuition.

Thanks so much! 

p.s. if you miss it, you can see a shadow of it for a few days afterward (at least a mowing or two) as we'll be using marking paint on the grass. 

Upcoming Dances of Universal Peace: May 21-June 31

I'll be leading my first circle as an all-but-the-official-paperwork-certified Dances of Universal Peace leader this Saturday, May 21, 2016!  Join me in the Undercroft (fancy term for Lower Level) from 7-9 p.m. at St. Mary's Episcopal Church, 1895 Laurel Ave, St. Paul. 

The theme I'm working with is growing and we'll have dances that incorporate beauty, lotus, breaking open (like seeds, ya know!), water, light, and more related things.  It'll be a nice follow-up to my temporary labyrinth installation of Tom Vetter's Flower in the Seed design for The Trust for Public Land at Frogtown Park & Farm's Backyard Farm Fest. 

Can't come?  Here's some more upcoming Dance circles you can attend: 

• Sat, May 21, 7-9p @ St. Mary's
• Sat, May 28, 7-9p @ Center for the Performing Arts, S. Mpls (I will be attending my 2nd of 3 Full Voice training retreats this weekend so I won't be present.  Hakim is the host and long time dance leader)
• Sun, Jun 5, 7-9p @ Holistic Gateway, NE Mpls with host Saleem Adam
• Sat, Jun 11, 7-9p @ Center for the Performing Arts
• Fri, Jun 17-Sun, Jun 19:  A weekend long retreat at the Villa Maria Retreat and Conference Center in Frontenac, MN.  More details at PeaceDanceMN.com (No 3rd Sat Dances in St. Paul and Duluth due to this)
• Sat, Jun 25, 7-9p @ Center for Performing Arts

Location details for Holistic Gateway and the Center for Performing Arts is available at PeaceDanceMN.com.  Click on the links for the regular dance circles. 

That moment #201604271940

I seem to be having a flurry of *those* moments. You know, those moments when everything magically aligns more perfectly that you could have imagined or planned.

Tonight's I was part of a prayer vigil for the AME 9. The organizers asked the local AME church to preach.  They responded with "Yes and can we bring a choir?"  We said yes!  So there was awesome gospel sung, honest prayers, an inspiring message ... And me with two paperless chants.

The... first was after the message with its reminder that "The struggle isn't over." As one who doesn't like to rush things, I announced there would be a moment of silence before the chant because well, how does one compete with a fiery message? Then I taught the two lines of the chant and let it take over. Thank G-d because I almost missed the cue for the second voice. That chant knew how long to run, knew more than I how much the people needed to sing it, to let the psalmist's words become their words, a promise deepening into a vow and vision of trust. 

The second chant was after some more prayers. "Spirit of Peace" is from the Dances of Universal Peace canon and is a simple walking meditation with arm movements. Since the list of typical liturgical movement is quite small (sit, stand, kneel maybe, I invited those who felt compelled to join me in the movements if they wished. Sing, hands moving outward like a bird in flight, joining hands, turning, bowing, we walked around. The round started. Quite a few folks joined in. But what really floated my boat was the ending. I started in the middle, walked the perimeter, and then went back into the center again. The attendees were mostly white Episcopalians. There were a few attendees from the AME church. At the end one of the AME women was in the center with me. We processed down the center like equals, turned and bowed to each other as folks sang "Mir, Miru, Mir" (Russian play on words for "peace on earth). We held that wish for each other a long moment. And then she gave me a big hug.

This is a moment I have wished for and didn't know how to authentically make it happen. I'm so glad that I just to put it out there and trust that all the stars will align. 

 

Putting this experience to words only describes a tiny part of what happened.  I can't sing and dance these things by myself to the same effect. The love and longing from all the hearts present added so much. Experiences like this is strong evidence of what we do together is more powerful than what we do alone.

 

After the service there were many hugs and greetings that I'm grateful for and connections and dreams shared and enthusiastically embraced and supported that I want to share. But for now I will dwell in the beautiful moment of shared coming together in the struggle of dismantling racism.

Photos from "Roaming Catholic" at Recovery from Religion conference

Last week, an excerpt from "Tales of a Roaming Catholic" was shared at MICAH's* Recovering from Religion conference.  Here's a few photos from the event.  

 

Mary Martin and Francis lead a seated version of the "Gloria in excelsis" Dance.

Conie teaches a dance (any guesses which one?)

We are so grateful for our financial supporters who made it possible for the crew to convene in Minneapolis' Center for the Open Book and be part of this conference.  We hope to share the whole dance service in a retreat form sometime soon.  If you have connections to folks who would find it beneficial or know of a beautiful retreat location, please contact PointsOfLightMusic@gmail.com and let us know. 

* MICAH is the Minnesota Institute for Contemplation and Healing.  See more of their work at http://www.micahprays.org/