A few of the guests at Judy Chicago’s Dinner Party, on view at the Brooklyn Museum, in particular caught my attention when I visited last weekend.
It’s worth visiting if you have never seen this invocation to the many facets of the goddess–calling her by many of her many, many names, reminiscent of the yogis invocations to the 330 million god(desses).
For a moment before going inside.
On the way home from Willow Street Yoga Center after a work shop with Maria Christina Jimenez.
After 27 hours, plus or minus a few minutes–but who is counting–service was restored to my Blackberry this morning. The reason I had a Blackberry instead of an IPhone in the first instance was because I preferred CREDO (which donates a percentage of profits to causes I support) instead of giving money to political candidates I oppose as do Verizon and AT&T. CREDO now has Android-based phones, which offer all sorts of exciting features that are really quite mind-boggling, if I stop to think about it. I have never been one, though, to give up something that still works fine, just because I could get something newer and more exciting.
It is interesting to see the articles and comments on the internet about the worldwide Blackberry outage. Much is being said about how this outage will tip users over the edge and send them out to buy another phone because of outrage because of the loss of service. Others note their attachment to the Blackberry and say they will get over the outage because of their attachment. Still others note that doing without email on one’s phone for a day or two is just not a big deal, and they, on their high horses, post mocking comments at the crackberry addicts.
I most certainly noticed how accustomed I am to sending and receiving communications with my handheld when I didn’t have it for a day not by my choice. My other computers (plural is not a typo) were readily available, so it was no big deal. If I were to lose service when on the road and expecting to meet other people with whom I had not made prior specific arrangement, as is the case for tomorrow and the coming weekend, I would have had to make some shifts. It would have been annoying, though, and would not have felt like the end of the world or a cause for outrage (there are just too many other things more worthy of outrage).
The episode did leave me thinking about our dependence on technology and how that dependence has shifted both for the good and bad how we relate to our family and friends and the tens of millions with whom we are connected in the ether; how we are attached to our habits and our expected ways things should work, and whether we get stirred up when things don’t go according to plan, desire, or expectations; and how a steady practice of non-attachment can help us open to make the best of things.
Yes, I looked at the latest phones offer out of curiosity, but no, I won’t be getting one just yet. My three-year old BB is working just fine for now.
Peace and light, E — Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.
A little before 6pm my cell phone rang while I was sitting at my desk at work in the throes of a complicated task. It was a friend and fellow yogi calling. “All you alright?” he asked. “I’m in the middle of a horrible assignment and I have cramps, but I guess I am OK” I replied, “why do you ask?” He told me about the metro crash. He didn’t see me at Willow Street and was worried that I was on the train. Had I gone to class instead of staying late at work, I well could have been on the red line at the time of the crash.
I was grateful for my friend’s call and warmed by his concern. I am busy checking in with the many people I know who could have been on the train. I know many friends, neighbors, Willow Street colleagues and students, and co-workers who themselves or whose friends and loved ones may have been in the crash.
I am filled with concern and compassion for those from whom I have not heard and those who were injured, trapped, and afraid. I will spend much of the evening practicing and holding all in the light.
Please all who commute on the red line, comment, post on face book, and send emails to let us all know you are OK.
I’m spending the weekend via Zoom with Michelle Johnson, for a “Skill in Action” retreat, where she is creating and holding the space for exploring how we individually and collectively can act to bring more communal justice, through anti-racist action, in our own lives, in the yoga community, and in society. She has been doing anti-racism work for 20 years, and has been practicing yoga and teaching since 2009. She published “Skill in Action,” in 2018. I read it several months ago. She said that she was flooded with orders the weekend after George Floyd was murdered.
What changed? Was it the confluence with the pandemic? Will we engage enough to make this an opportunity for lasting change or will those who are least impacted get weary or bored? What can would be allies do to help make it the former and not the latter?
I’m up late writing this after having spent a couple of hours dancing around and getting ready for tomorrow and contemplating and, of course, playing with Maitri.
