Holden Village- the Cascades

This last month I had the privilege of volunteering at Holden Village for about a month. After two years of seminary education and before I head out to my internship (training starts on SUNDAY! ack!) I concluded that I wanted a little rest and relaxation. What I didn't anticipate was meeting the incredible people gathered there ( I knew that they would be pretty neat, but I think I reach the limits of language in expresses just how neat-o they really are), helping lead worship, feeling supported by a community, learning about the mine remediation project, finding friends with whom I could go running, do yoga, and discuss spiritual, political and cultural matters... and LAUGH... did I mention the laughter? Which leads me to another surprise: I really enjoyed my volunteer placement in housekeeping! More to come in following blogs. I felt that the mountains that surround Holden deserved an entry all on their own. The above photo is taken walking between the labyrinth and the village early in the morning.

The above and below picture were taken before the Wednesday night staff meeting on Chalet Hill (the hill where the chalets are located) Copper River Canyon is one of my favorite scenes at Holden. I liked it so much that I made a lino-cut print of it (see future blog on arts and crafts) Just down the hill from the chalets is where the jacuzzi is located. Perhaps there is no better (certainly no warmer) place to view the stars on a clear night. :)

Days off are few and far between. On one such day, I went on a day long hike to Hart Lake. It was beautiful views the whole way, but I particularly like this view of the lake. Great day for a picnic, no? I take my time off seriously and combining good company and conversation, great scenery and sunshine meant I returned to housekeeping the next day completely rejuvenated. Sabbath people... it will do your heart good.

It is not each person's experience to love the mountains so much, I spoke with one fellow villager about how he missed the rolling hills and seeing to the horizon. I can see that. However, I grew up in Western Washington and I miss the mountains when living in a place with rolling fields. Staying in the valley where Holden Village is located is like being snuggled by mountains. Perhaps that doesn't sound very nice to some, but to me... it is a little piece of heaven.

Wallace Falls

After a great weekend with my family, my friend, Cara, picked me up and we headed into the woods! Cara found a great hike for us near Stevens Pass. I would highly recommend it. The first bit is flat and relatively easy and brings you to the the bottom of the falls, and then there is a steeper portion with takes you to the middle and then top of the falls... it is all beautiful.

How could it not be a beautiful hike when this sign greets you at the beginning of your journey?

There were little white flowers toward the top of the trail. They had perfect five points, most of them, and Cara had the idea that it might be where the stars from the star-bellied sneetches originated. She is probably right.

Sometimes when I go hiking, I am too focused on trying to get to the destination or not tripping, staying on the trail to look up much. That would be a huge mistake on this trail. Cara and I set a meandering catching up with friends and taking all the beauty in pace (my favorite setting for hiking!) When we were toward the top of the trail we looked to see mist rolling through the tops of the trees and all around us. There is no doctoring of the photo above... it was that stunning.

And anyone who knows me well, knows that tree canopies are my favorite view. One day, I will paint the ceiling of my bedroom to look just like this picture:

The hike felt as if we were traipsing through some sort of fairyland.

Cara stopped to notice that the moss on the trees was so thick that it felt like a fur coat! I believe we have the rainy weather of the northwest to thank for that. :)

It was a really beautiful day. I can see how this trail would be popular. I am glad that we went on a Monday when the weather was a bit overcast and rainy. The trail was delightfully deserted for the most part; we had our run of the forest.

The Many Become One and Are Increased By One.

It is difficult to choose which class I enjoyed most this semester. However, Process Theology at Pacific School of Religion is definitely near the top of the category I image to be called: "favorite seminary classes thus far." In Process Theology we explored, among other things, the concept of a co-creative God that lures us to the greatest experiences of beauty with each other and within creation. One of our main texts was Process and Reality by Alfred North Whitehead. I have to tell you, that sh*% is dense- it is the work of a theologian who is more of a mathematician and writing for himself more than to communicate ideas to anyone else. Though I was pleased and surprised when, at the end of the semester, I went to review the materials for my paper and project and it started to make sense! (Key work in that last sentences: "started.") Amazing! Here are a few of gems from the text:

“He [God] does not create the world, he saves it: or more accurately, he is the poet of the world, with tender patience leading it by his vision of truth, beauty and goodness.” -Whitehead.

“The art of progress is to preserve order amid change and to preserve change amid order. Life refuses to be embalmed alive.” -Whitehead.

One aspect of Process Theology speaks to the importance of creativity and creation in the world and the interconnectedness of all creation (which makes it, I think, especially interesting for anyone interested in ethics.) In our conversation about my final paper topic, I suggested to Dr. Hutchins (Process professor at Pacific School of Religion) that I would like to write a short story to illustrate the overlap between literature and theology from a Process Theology perspective. Dr. Hutchins supported the idea and with that decision seemingly settled I started blabbing on about how much I enjoy reading to my niece. After a few minutes of discussing how important it is to read to children, etc, Dr. Hutchins suggested that instead of writing a short story, perhaps I could write a children's book that discussed themes of Process Theology- and that is exactly what I did. For the next few weeks I toyed with this idea and that about plot of the story. I had a feeling it would just arrive in my mind one day if I was patient, but it needed to happen before finals week. Then it hit me- one morning while reading some Hafiz out of Love Poems to God (edited by Danial Landinsky (seriously go get this book- it is great,) I became reacquainted with an Hafiz poem called "Lousy at Math" which you can read in the blog post just below.

It was the idea of trying to "dissect the indivisible one" in this poem that struck me as acutely applicable to Process Theology. Because Process focuses so much on the interconnectedness of all creation, Process Theologians would have similar critiques of limiting relationship with God that I read into the end of Hafiz's poem. After several drafts, the story that you read below is the finished product. I also wrote a paper to accompany the little hand-painted and assembled book, but I am not going to post that on this blog. There are no pictures in the essay :) There are a few places where the text is cut off because of my shoddy-hurry-you-have-to-turn-this-in-like-now camera work, but you get the idea. It might take some imagination to sort out the pictures in relationship to the text with my limited technological skills, this is the best I could do. I am confident that you will sort it out. If not, well, I'll read it to you in person! Enjoy!

The Many Become One and Are Increased By One
By: Rachel Eskesen

The End!


Bring on summer time! :D

National Poem in Your Pocket Day!

As we near the end of National Poetry Month here in the US of A we find ourselves on National Poem in Your Pocket Day! I am particularly excited because the theme for my process theology class today connects literature to process thought-excellent.

Because I am on a Hafiz kick these days, and because this poem inspired my final project for process theology... AND it is the one of the poems riding around on a piece of paper in my pocket today... I thought I would share it with the wider world and those two whom I can note read poetry in person (at the moment.) Enjoy!

Lousy at Math

by: Hafiz

Once a group of thieves store a rare diamond

larger than two goose eggs.

Its value could have easily bought three thousand horses

and three thousand acres of the most

fertile land in

Shiraz

The thieves got drunk that night to celebrate their great haul,

but during the course of the evening the effects of the liquor,

and their mistrust of each other grew

to such an extent

they decided to divide the stone into pieces.

Of course then the Priceless became lost.

Most everyone is lousy at math and does that to God—

dissects the Indivisible One,

by thinking, by saying,

“This is my Beloved, he looks like this and acts like that,

how could that moron over there

really

be

God?”

Earth Day!

Earth Day was a pretty great this year! Started the day by preaching my second (and last) sermon at St. Paul's Lutheran Church in Oakland. Soon after the service, I discovered they actually record all the sermons to be distributed via podcast... cool. How did I not know this before? I immediately thought: my mom will love this! You will have to wait awhile for the April 22nd sermon to pop up and it won't be the same without the wind up dolls I used to illustrate the road to Emmaus story... but.. here is the link: St. Paul's pod-casts. The Gospel text this last week was Luke 24:36-48.

After a suntastic weekend in the Bay Area that I spent doing homework (that is not entirely true, there were picnics and lectures, slam poetry and BBQs) and having a sermon in the back of my mind, I found it difficult to relax... until Sunday afternoon when I went to this: Sunset Party Season Opener! so.much.fun.

If you know me at all, you know that I love to dance... not the kind of choreographed dancing that looks pretty but full out hippie meets octopus arms meets robot meets salsa meets swing meets Egyptian belly dancer kind of dancing... It isn't pretty, but it sure is FUN!! This was a great venue for just that kind of moving-on the grass, near trees and a lake, beautiful sunny weather, bright blue skies and so much positive energy from folks all around. There were even super-soakers that were sprayed into the crowd to cool us off- excellent! I kind of went on a whim and I am glad I did. The folks I met up with there are such wonderfully kind souls and they know how to pack a mean picnic! Plus, I think this might be the first time I have been able to be outdoors for an extended time in the sun without being sunburned! Am grateful for the diligent sunscreen reapplication practices of my fellow picnic dance party people. We had at least 3 different bottles of spray on sunscreen between the six of us--all above 45spf-- win!

It is a busy time at the moment and it seems that finals are just around the corner. I find that it is even more important for me to take intentional time to go and be--life is just too short to let ourselves forget what it feels like to be fully alive. It is a practice I've been more intentional about in the latter half of this semester and I find myself feeling more rested and more productive.

Didn't take any pictures, but if you have a chance to visit Stafford Lake near Novato, CA, I highly recommend it. It is beautiful. There is a Hafiz poem I read for the first time a few years ago (in Love Poems From God ed. by Daniel Ladinsky) and it came across my path again this last weekend. For me, days like Sunday make these poems come to life:

"The Sun Never Says"-Hafiz

Even
after
all this time
the Sun never says to the Earth

"you owe me."

Look
what happens
with love like that--
it lights the whole world.


Oh. Okay, yes there is another poem in my head as well. Such a beautiful day! Rumi from the same collection of poems:

If you put your heart against the earth with me, in serving
every creature, our Beloved will enter you from our sacred realm
and we will be, and we will be
so happy.

Happy Earth Day!

New. Hair. Cut.

No, this is not my new hair cut. I see you asking yourself: "Who is that slightly androgynous page boy escaped from some Renaissance play that I see photographed above?" Why, that fetching young lady is 8th grade me. yup. The year I decided to NOT smile in my school picture and also the year after I had a spiral perm... another great decision... which means before my school picture (to improve the aesthetic) I had all my hair cut off into the stylish bob you see captured in time in the photo above. I must say, at least the outfit saves it, no? God bless the 90's.

okay. All that to say... I haven't had short hair since 8th grade for fear that the overwhelming beauty that you see above would rear her 1600's England page boy head.

BUT my hair was growing to be what I categorize as "unmanageably long." I had considered donating my hair before, but the photo of my 8th grade year loomed in the background as a warning to my photogenic fate if I dared cut my hair too short. That combined with the fact that I really like my hair long put me in a pickle.

I laugh out loud half the time I see this picture, and the other half I just smile from ear to ear. But you know what changed my mind from going the salon to request my typical "just a little trim and some long layers" hair cut? Part of it is connected to that 8th grade picture I had my mom scan and send to me. I remembered that it was a pretty awful picture, but I hadn't actually seen it in years. Some of my classmates/friends at seminary had recently donated their hair to make wigs for kids undergoing cancer treatment and seeing 8th grade started me thinking of all the kids that are/were in 8th grade and can't grow hair at all, because they are battling a horrible disease and all the kids who won't make it to 8th grade because of losing a battle with cancer. I thought of my little niece and what it would mean for her to go through cancer treatment as a child; I thought of all the folks that I met in the oncology unit while working as a chaplain intern last summer, all of whom had no hair as a result of chemotherapy. I remembered my friends who have lost loved ones to cancer. I thought of the loved ones I know who have battled and are battling cancer.

All that gave me some much needed perspective on priorities of life and pretty much eliminated my hair hang-ups--this life is short. So I decided to cut my hair short and donate it. That said, I did print out the above photo and bring it with me to the salon so I could be sure to communicate how I did not want my hair to look. The hairstylist didn't think that was weird at all (that's a lie, but at least he laughed.)

I researched hair styles and cuts that I thought would like, measured my hair to make sure it was enough to donate and made the appointment at Sole Salon to have the most hair I have had cut off since that fateful 8th grade photo. This is the before picture. See what I mean? Unmanageably long, something needed to be done anyway so why not cut enough off for someone else to have hair too?

I chose the absolute right stylist, Ben at Sole Salon on Bay Street in Oakland. If you have long hair, if someone you love has long hair and you want them to keep it that way, go to this guy. He told me straight up that he doesn't think woman look good with long hair and would try to keep as much length as possible. I told him I didn't mind, but I appreciated knowing my hair stylist wouldn't try to do anything "edgy" and "trendy." That's just not me; at least, it is not my hair. I feel if I have dark nail polish, short skirts, nose ring, bright colored clothing.. my hair can be a bit on the conservative side--life is about balance.

So he banded it up, chopped it off and sent it in. done and done. I'm not freaking out.

In the end, it isn't as short as I thought it would be and I certainly feel a bit foolish for how scared I was to cut it "short." These are front and back pictures of me at the salon after the deed is done; I don't know if my hair will look this nice again, but I certainly liked the looks of it yesterday!

I highly recommend growing your hair and cutting it for donation. It is a nice time of year to do it and there are different organizations that will accept varied lengths: 8inches (Beautiful Lengths,) and 10 inches (Locks of Love); of course, there is no minimum length.

Having had the first full day with short(er) hair and putting it through the test of cycling and yoga... it has managed fairly well. Plus so much less shampoo needed! win! Although I like it, it is still taking some getting used to. Seems like an abrupt stop when I go to brush my hair. I think I have brushed my hair more today than in the last week. Seems you have to brush short hair a lot more to make it nice... so I will likely grow it out again...if only to cut it for donation. :) Special thank you to Rebecca for lending me her car for the adventure and KD and Roman who came along for moral support; I heart community.

Ceasar Chavez park!!

A great discovery. Why did it take me almost two years to bike down to the marina? Never mind, two years will not pass again with such a pretty park and great happy hour (Skates!) is so near. That is the best part about visitors, motivates me to go out exploring more than the library. :)

Dave was a lot happier than he looks in this photo, caught him mid-sentence. After all, he did get to ride this pretty sweet cruiser that a friend and classmate generously lent to him. All in all, it is a great way to spend an afternoon and since it seems summer is here for a few days I hope to make it down to the park for a quick spin again soon!