October 2013 – Page 2 – Thoughts Towards a Better World

#785 – Dick Bernard: Three fellow travellers; three examples of Amazing Grace

October 7, 2013/0 Comments/in Community, Family History, Health, Minnesota, North Dakota, Quietings /by dickbernard

September 21 I stopped for a few minutes in New London, MN, enroute to visit a retired colleague and friend in home hospice a few miles away.
I hadn’t seen Mary in a long while – I’m long retired, and she lives a two hour drive away, off my normal “beaten path”.
But there are times for such visits, and enroute back from a short trip to North Dakota, I decided to drop in. Earlier, I had called Mary to schedule the visit, and was about an hour early.
Sitting in the small park in New London I looked for some photo object to remember my visit with Mary. I fixed on a nearby tree, well into preparation for Fall, and simply took this snapshot:
(click to enlarge)

New London MN Sep 21, 2013. “Mary’s Tree”

In my mind I’ve dubbed it “Mary’s Tree”.
Thence on to visit Mary and her sister. We had a most delightful 45 minutes. Earlier I’d sent her a copy of Tuesdays with Morrie, and forever I’ll remember my “Saturday with Mary”!.
Then off again for the cities.
Last week, mid-week, came an unexpected knock at our door.
There was Cliff, a retired barber – one of those one-man shop old-time barbers I prefer – and his wife Val. Cliff and Cathy were part of the high school ‘gang’ years ago. Cliff and Val had stopped by to drop off several of his CDs*.
And brought along some muffins for us.
Cliff is a very spritual guy – always has been – and the two CDS, “How Can I Fail” and “Cry Out”, vocal and guitar by Cliff, and piano by his friend, Mark, reflect his Lutheran Faith, and his personal witness. He and Mark did a fine job.
Did I mention Cliff has inoperable cancer?
He, too, is walking his last miles on earth.
He’s decided to live his life while he can.
It’s not easy: chemo is no walk in the park.
But we had a great visit. Later the same afternoon he called Cathy to say that the medical visit showed cancer in the lead, once again.
Then came yesterday, and a long scheduled brunch at Bernie’s home in northeast Minneapolis.
Bernie is a colleague usher at Basilica of St. Mary, and some weeks ago invited a bunch of us to a brunch for fellow usher Tom who’s retired from his duties, also “walking the walk” with cancer.
The time was delightful.
Those who know me, know me as always with a camera, and at some point, yesterday, Greg asked if I’d get my camera and take some pictures. I like this one, and you can find Tom, and Greg, and me, in there, and the other guests, just friends enjoying a fall afternoon.
(click to enlarge)

Brunch at Bernie’s, with Tom, October 6, 2013.

As I say, I’m always with my camera, people who know me, know that.
But in none of these three scenarios did I bring the camera into the scene. Why?
I’d asked Mary if I could take some photos for her in ND (she’s a daughter of ND), and she said “no”. Afterward I sent her several, anyway, including of “Mary’s Tree”.
For Cliff, the image of last Wednesday in our living room will have to be a memory in the mind’s eye.
And as for Tom, it was Greg who asked me to bring in the camera yesterday.
We deal with illness and death – our own and others – in our own ways. For all of us, it’s coming somewhere sooner or later, usually unexpected and uninvited, but nonetheless certain.
Mary, Cliff, Tom and so many others are teachers, worth a listen….
As for communication…and taking pictures…I’m suggesting that the risk is one worth taking.
* – re Cliff’s CDs, I’m sure I can get them for you, $10 each. If you want information, e-mail dick_bernardATmsnDOTcom.

A single vigil light for Mary at St. John the Evangelist in Wahpeton ND Sep. 19. 2013

Sunrise over Woodbury MN Oct 7, 2013

ON TAKING A RISK
Saturday I had occasion to revisit something I’d seen in the Church Bulletin of Riverside Methodist Church in Park Rapids MN October 17, 1982. It seems to fit this topic:
“To laugh is to risk appearing the fool.
To weep is to risk appearing sentimental.
To reach out for another is to risk involvement.
To expose feelings is to risk exposing your true self.
To place your ideas, your dreams before a crowd is to risk their loss.
To love is to risk being loved in return.
To live is to risk dying.
To hope is to risk despair.
To try is to risk failure.
To serve God is to risk danger and martyrdom.
But risks must be taken, because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing.
The person who risks nothing, does nothing, has nothing and is nothing. They may avoid suffering and sorrow, but they cannot learn, feel, change, grow, love, live. Chained by their certitudes they are a slave, they have forfeited their freedom.
Only a person who risks is free.”

Moonset, at Sunrise, over Wahpeton ND Sep 2, 2013

#784 – Dick Bernard: Some items relating to a better Earth.

October 5, 2013/0 Comments/in Climate Change, Environment, Minnesota /by dickbernard

Perhaps it is no more than a coincidence, but four events in particular draw my attention to varied initiatives relating to the Earth and its Peoples.
1. Tomorrow is the last day of an exhibition of the Minnesota College Art and design of some of the artifacts of renowned Arctic and Antarctic Explorer Will Steger. I learned of the event through a newspaper article here, and decided to go for the reception last night. It was very worthwhile, and it ends tomorrow (Sunday Oct 6) from noon to 5 p.m. I’ve made a small Facebook album of photos I took last evening, and included are a couple of websites. Will Steger was at the gathering and included are a couple of photos of him.
I’ve always had something of an interest in Steger’s work, and when he and his fellow explorers returned from the Transantarctic Expedition in March, 1990, I made it a point to go the welcome home at the Minnesota State Capitol March 25, 1990. Here are two photos from that homecoming:

Will Steger, March 25, 1990, at Minnesota State Capitol

MN Gov. Rudy Perpich welcomes the explorers home March 25, 1990

2. Tuesday evening October 8, my Church, Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis, is participating in a nationwide education project on the topic of Climate Change. The flier with the full details is here: Oct 8 13 Basilica001
The Catholic Church is an immense institution and is once again in the news in a negative way. But it has been, is, and will continue to be a powerful and effective voice in many areas of great interest to people with an interest in justice and peace. This event is one example of this.
Come if you can.
3. Howard Buffett, son of THE Buffett, Warren, speaks on “Finding Hope in a Hungry World” at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Minneapolis on November 7. Here is a photo of the program description for this free program.

Howard has been the subject of a 60 Minutes segment in the past. He is very knowledgeable and committed to the topic of choice.
4. Kaia Svien will lead what promises to be an interesting on the topic of climate change, next Saturday, October 12. Here is the information as provided by Kaia (who is an excellent group facilitator. I speak from experience.)
“Relating with Wisdom and Heartfulness to Climate Uncertainty and Change
Much of the news from international, local and neighborhood sources these days intensifies our uncertainty about our future wellbeing and the safety of all that we care about. Many of us find ourselves engulfed episodically in fierce emotions like fear, rage, hopelessness and confusion or moving robotlike through denial. Just when the overwhelm of these conditions pushes us to look away from what is happening, all around and to us, the guidance of many wisdom paths beckons us to turn toward this challenge. We find waiting for us here the familiar tools of accepting what is, tapping into interdependence, and cultivating compassion for all beings and our dear planet. We are graced in these tumultuous times by the visions of many sages who apply their fullhearted wisdom to assisting us in awakening our own deep knowing of how to return again and again to our center of love and interbeing. This workshop includes guided meditations, talks, experiential explorations and small groups discussions.
.
Date: Saturday, Oct 12, 1 pm – 5 pm 
Location: Common Ground Meditation Center, 2700 E. 26th St, Minneapolis
Fee: Donation
Registration: 612-722-8260 or info@commongroundmeditation.org”

#783 – Dick Bernard: Shut Down: A Continuing National Tragedy (and don't forget the Minnesota Orchestra)

October 2, 2013/0 Comments/in Community, Labor, Media, Minnesota, Politics /by dickbernard

This morning, last I heard, one of our five “outlaws” (one of their children is married to one of our children) gets on a plane in Minneapolis, flying to Washington D.C., for a reunion planned a year ago with several friends from the husbands Army days together in Vietnam times. They are from all over the country, and they have done several such trips together. Last year they decided that this year they’d meet in Washington, D.C. for the first time.
They are astute people, so most certainly they and everyone on the trip know what we do: that when they arrive, they won’t be able to tour any of the sites they came to visit. Congress has shut them down. As I pointed out in an earlier post, this reminds me of the famous Joni Mitchell song from 1970, here“>Big Yellow Taxi: “Don’t it always seem to go, you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone, you [wreck] paradise and put up a parking lot.”
I’ll learn soon enough if/how this reunion trip went, including whether they boarded the plane to nowhere at all….
Meanwhile, the blather will continue unabated about whose fault this shutdown is, etc.
A Republican “Majority Survey” I filled out this morning (more on that at another time), gives a helpful hint about how the marketing of positions takes place. I was asked to rank-order the “most effective vehicle[s]” for Republican messages. I had these choices, and only these choices, in this order: Television Ads, Targeted Mailings, E-mail Messages, Telephone Calls, Newspaper, Radio, Internet Ads…and Other. (I chose “other”, and ranked all the rest equally, as least effective.)
The tragedy at the national level, whether short or long, will continue to unfold.
It seems basically to zero in on about 80 Republican Representatives – about 5% of the U.S. House of Representatives – for whom the Lord’s work seems to be holding the country hostage. Ryan Lizza, in the Sep 26 New Yorker, gives a helpful look at where these folks are from.
Perhaps a similar 5% of the “American people” are cheering on this disaster, for their own reasons. I know some of the people who are probably in this category. They are a bitter, tiny minority.
Meanwhile, back in the Twin Cities, yesterday we were at a rally commemorating the 1st day of the second year of the Lock-Out of the Minnesota Orchestra.
This was less than 24 hours after famed conductor Osmo Vanska had resigned (as he had promised to do) if no settlement was reached by midnight September 30; and, after the Orchestra Management cancelled a long scheduled concert by the Orchestra at Carnegie Hall in New York City next month.
This is very big, and very bad, news in the international music world. Attending and speaking yesterday was the president of the 90,000 member American Federation of Musicians (AFM – their October 1 statement here: MN Orch Board AFM Statement Oct 1, 2013).
You’d think it would be noticed. But across the street from us, perhaps 200 feet away, at WCCO-TV, which bills itself as the most watched station in this market, no attention was paid to this news – at least, we saw not so much as a WCCO camera recording the proceedings. And the local Minneapolis Star Tribune, whose publisher and CEO is on the Orchestral Association Board, while printing a long front page article gave very short shrift to the Union position.
News in our society is managed (see the Republican survey choices above.)
Those of us in the gathering heard the Musicians Union version of what happened at the final negotiations session the previous day. It is highly unlikely that the Union version of the bargaining session will ever see the light of day in the greater community because of who controls the media in this town, and the power people who control the Board of the Minnesota Orchestral Association. (Next on this mornings work, I’ll give my recount of the orchestra situation, and some photos, etc., from yesterdays rally can be found here (scroll down to October 2. This particular post will remain the ‘filing cabinet’ about the Minnesota Orchestra situation.)
While I don’t have any personal investment in my “outlaws” trip to D.C., and they probably don’t have any personal investment in my outrage at the destructive behavior of the Minnesota Orchestral Association management destroying the Orchestra I love and have willingly supported all these years, I see our predicaments as essentially equal.
We ought to be a country that cares about each other.
We’re in a time of power politics now.
We’ll rue the day.
We must become engaged, actively, in solutions for everyone.
Comments:
from Joni H, Oct 2, 2013 (a Middle School Principal in a major metropolitan area, conveying a note from a teacher): Thought you’d find this interesting. If anyone wonders how the government shutdown impacts a single classroom… This is what you get [click on link] when you visit usgs.gov (a website that our school uses with it’s 8th grade earth science classes.)
Ugh.
From Flo H, Oct 2, 2013: Think about this. It’s in doubt as to whether we can legally hold the volunteer driven Hike for Hope on the North Country National Scenic Trail (under National Park Service supervision) on Sunday, October 6 but there’s no way that we can actually let the public know, at this late date, that it has to be cancelled. Now, if Congress decides that National Parks will be an exception and grant continuation funding, as some members of Congress are proposing …
It appears that re-opening National Parks is more important to some in Congress than providing resources for 8th-graders earth science curriculum or providing access to healthcare to all. Hope your classes and teachers will fill the empty class time writing to their Representatives, Senators and the President and Letters to the Editor decrying the lunacy of this shut down! Maybe the kids could also suggest a viable compromise. The adults in charge surely can’t figure it out!
From a long retired eighth grade earth science teacher, good luck!

#782 – Dick Bernard: To the Audience of the Minnesota Orchestra. Thoughts about the Future at the one-year anniversary of the Lock-Out

October 1, 2013/1 Comment/in Community, Labor /by dickbernard

NOTES: I wrote previously to the Audience of the Minnesota Orchestra here.
The group Save Our Symphony MN has an excellent chronology of the history of this conflict. You can read it here: chronology2013-09-25 I’m sure it will be updated.
The Musicians website is here. Support the Musicians. Come to the rally today, and one of the concerts this weekend.
Today is the first day of the second year of the Lock-Out of Musicians of the Minnesota Orchestra.
Late yesterday the Minnesota Orchestra Board cancelled the arrangements for the concert at Carnegie Hall, and no doubt will blame the Orchestra Musicians. I can’t help but see an analogy between the cancellation of the Carnegie Hall Contract, and the Shutdown of the U.S. Government on the same day. But that’s another story.
Rich and Powerful People control public information and most everything else for the Minnesota Orchestra Board; but the members of the Orchestra, on Saturday Sep. 29, rejected 60-0 the last position of the Board. There is a powerful message in that unanimous rejection.
I represented teachers for many years, and I cannot recall, ever, anything near the unanimity of that 60-0 vote. That kind of thing just doesn’t happen. But it did on Saturday.
The third “leg” of this non-functional “stool”, we, the audience, continues to be ignored in the public conversation. But we have all the power, if we choose to exercise that power.
If we want to retain a world-class orchestra in this community, it’s up to us; if we’re satisfied with average and ordinary we’ll get that too. It all depends on whether we now support the locked-out musicians, or admit defeat ourselves.
Yes, we audience members control what we’ll get. But we cannot be passive. We must act. Nobody can do it for us. We are key.
What I plan to do is at the end of this post.
There is limited interest within the community at large about the disaster that has been the Minnesota Orchestra situation for the last 12 months. This isn’t a surprise to me. Most citizens, likely, have never been in Orchestra Hall; they weren’t told what this loss would mean. It will be their permanent loss if the Orchestra is diminished in stature, but they won’t realize it, at least directly, or immediately.
So, we audience members are crucial. We know the implications to this community of this potential loss of a community treasure.
Two contextual hypothetical examples for your consideration:
1. In my town of Woodbury there is an old farm house and farmyard, Heritage House, in a small park at the corner of Lake Road and Radio Drive. This tiny house dates back to 1870, and it exists and continues solely because of a loyal small group of people who think it is significant to local history. A couple of years ago, I took an interest in it. You can see the results here.
WHAT IF the people who lovingly maintain Heritage House lost interest; or new city leaders said we’ve got better use for that property; or we don’t like that dumb old building – let’s replace it with a more modern facility?
Ridding our town of Heritage House would be noticeable and irreplaceable loss for the total community. Only the advocates who appreciate the importance of history could save the place.

Heritage House, Woodbury MN September 6, 2013

2. But there’s a much better example about what this theft of our orchestra from us will mean, in my opinion:
We are part of a very large metropolitan area – over 3,000,000 population. And most of our children and grandchildren go to large schools in large school districts.
But there are small school districts too, high quality ones, which have few students and teachers and are supported by a smaller community…whose relatives and grandparents live elsewhere.
What if one of these small school districts was taken over by a School Board, unelected by and unaccountable to the citizens of the town; a Board which changed the education plan, and in a dispute with the teachers who made the district great simply locked the school house doors for an entire year, completely ignoring the children and the citizens.
Would such an action have ramifications in the community? Would its effects ripple through the surrounding larger community as well? Would it have long-term consequences for future generations, including the children?
Absolutely yes.
We, the audience, are “the community” which has been ignored, now, for a year. The musicians have been our advocate. Now it’s our turn.
We can choose to do nothing, and accept fate as served up to us, or we can act in the many individual ways available to us.
Not only does this Board have to change its ways of doing business, including reforming itself; but it has to feel the heat from us in ways which it best understands.
As for me, I will strongly support the Musicians as they seek a fair agreement; I will not support the management of this Orchestra in its attempts to unilaterally implement a new business plan which it didn’t even ask for my input; nor did it clearly ask for my help when (it appears) help was needed.
The Board of the Minnesota Orchestra locked me out for an entire year. I will not darken the doors of Orchestra Hall until the musicians, by ratification of their contract, say its okay: come back.
It’s time for us all to stand up and be counted for as long as it takes.
That’s my stand.
Responses (there may also be on-line responses – note tab at end of page)
from John G., Oct 1, 2013: Could the locked-out musicians of the MO on their own perform at Carnegie Hall at the planned time, and could Osmo on his own (after resigning from the official MO) rejoin them there to conduct the concerts? The musicians would have formed the Minnesota Diaspora Orchestra. (Rehearsal space needs to be donated within the Twin Cities.)
from Larry H, Oct 1, 2013: Thank you Dick for your continuing posts. As for me, I also will not return as a patron until the audience members are invited to return by the musicians.
Meanwhile, the vision of the MOA led by Mr. Campbell and Mr. Henson seems to be more clear. Public posturing aside, the avenue they have chosen is leading us to a lesser quality product that will be marketed as a “world class orchestra”.
Today we await the fateful decision of our master conductor. Likely, Osmo Vänskä will resign and seek other opportunities. I was in the audience several years ago when Osmo’s contract was extended and the agreement was announced at Orchestra Hall. It was stated by the MOA representative that we were in the midst of the golden era of the Minnesota Orchestra. This golden era ended abruptly one year ago today as the lock-out of the musicians began.
It is difficult to envision an excited ticket base captivated by an orchestra presenting a full-season of concerts led by a substitute conductor. Any artistically literate audience member, who has valued the magnificent interpretations of masterworks conducted by Osmo Vänskä, will quickly notice a different product. The absence of our familiar resident world-class artist-musicians will only augment the MOA’s worst-case scenario.
The legacy of the orchestra has been tainted and compromised. I doubt if the Henson vision of the Minnesota Orchestra will have the same level of patron support in future years, Minnesota’s “destination orchestra” is effectively being disbanded, and after a year void of concerts, a large portion of the audience has turned to other ensembles and venues with their budgeted entertainment dollars.
Looking to the future, it is hard to imagine if a lesser orchestra will command the same level of ticket pricing. Meanwhile, the renovated Orchestra Hall has a reduced seating capacity. It seems reasonable to believe that the audience revenue stream will be reduced as the MOA seeks sustainability after its public relations debacle.. Furthermore, some angered patrons, feeling ignored and disenfranchised, will simply not return to Orchestra Hall.
It is hard to believe that the donor base will be sustained. Reductions in giving seem imminent. Meanwhile, the MOA can offer a sparkling new lobby that leads to an empty concert hall.
The Henson-Campbell vision has now effectively altered the cultural fabric of culture in our community. All of this happened without accountability to the main-stream audience.
The clear solution, with an artistically sustainable future in a stabilized economic environment at Orchestra Hall, needs the locked-out musicians to again be the Minnesota Orchestra’s artists in residence.
Another thought … general public of MN doesn’t much care, nor does WCCO … WCCO is across the street yet has barely covered this story … even under normal circumstances they give the orchestra limited, if any coverage … yet, sports get continuous free advertising.