Thursday, February 21, 2013

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma February 21, 2013

Cultivating Relaxed Awareness

When the thinking mind takes a break for even a few seconds, a kind of relaxed awareness replaces the usual stream of thoughts. We need to encourage this and not fill this space with anything else; just let it be. 
- Tsultrim Allione, "Feeding Your Demons"
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Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Via JMG: Mexico Vs SCOTUS



Visit their Facebook page. (Via JMG reader Scott)


Reposted from Joe

What do you want to do when you grow up?





 Me, Guatemala, During my masters research project in Patzun, Chimaltengo, Guatemala 1982

When I first traveled to Latin America, or more specifically, Guatemala, in the early 80’s and when I worked with kids in schools there, or met in communities I visited, I naively asked them what they wanted to do when they grew up. The answer was always, a shrug and a “no se” (I don’t know). 
It wasn’t a middle class, bored USAan[i] teenager “I don’t know”, it was a literal a not-dreams-were-possible-because-there-was-little-to any-future-I-don’t-know. Sometimes it was a “I don’t know” that said they were content to carry on doing the same thing that their parents and grandparents had been doing for hundreds of years I don’t know.
The “I don’t know” of contentment, which for me is admirable.  I come from a particular social class and culture of discontentment, and needing and wanting more, and better and faster and bigger is a genetic flaw that, as a Buddhist, I have to constantly work to tamp down, to ignore, to send this discontentment away.
So when my husband finished graduate school, and we decided to move to Brasil, mostly because as you either may or may not know, the USA does not afford GLBT people equal marriage rights and the ability to sponsor of their spouses, as striaght people do. We applied for and were awarded positions as faculty members in small university high in the mountains of Minas Gerais. I retired from California State University, Sacramento and we are both professors in the Centro de Educação Aberta e a Distância (the Center of Open and Distance Education) at the Universidade Federal de Ouro Preto part of UAB (the Open University of Brasil) which provides higher education opportunities to thousands of Brazilians that traditionally would never have had access.
I have been teaching K-Univeristy students since 1978. My first teaching job was in a rural school in Oregon. I went to Oregon State, taught school in Oregon, then Guatemala, after which I went to graduate school in New Mexico, returned to Guatemala for masters work, and did research in Puebla Mexico with computers and kids as part of my doctoral research.If I recall, the school there was a test site Apple de México, and they were debugging the very first keyboard that allowed accents and things necessary in Spanish and Portuguese. Before that time you printed out the document, and then drew in the accents and the all important ~ over the letter n. My research replicated what we were doing in Guatemala and New Mexico with LOGO and kids in their math lab.
My first trip to Brasil was in 1992, and once again I asked kids, “What do you want to do when you grow up?” And again the answer was, more often than not, “Não se". And for much for the same reason I found in Guatemala a few years earlier. Yet I began to notice a subtle difference,  more and more, the answer began to change, “Eu quero ser um…” I want to be a… I began to see dreams. Brasil, like much of South America was awakening, the Green Giant was waking from its slumber, it was moving forward.

In 2005-2006, when my husband Milton and I realized his visa prospects were wearing thin, and it became to expensive for us to stay in the United States (over 12 years his visa had cost us over $30,000.00) I took up an offer as visiting professor on Ouro Preto, thinking it was time for us to begin moving south. Half way through my stay in Ouro Preto, the San Juan Unified School District in a suburb of Sacramento, offered to sponsor him for his green card. Obviously, this changed everything, and his dream, of earning a doctorate, was suddenly possible. This allowed him to pursue a doctorate degree, and he graduated as CSU’s first doctoral student! So back I went, all the time our dream was to return to Brasil, so I continued working at CSUS and visiting, working as a visiting professor, publishing, and lecturing until the time came for us to pull of stakes.
Our program sends course work to over 5000 students in 30 polos in three states in Brasil. A few months ago, I represented the university at a graduation of our students in one of our polos in the state of Bahia. As is my custom, I asked a 9 year old daughter of one of our students, “o que você quer ser quando crescer?”
She looked up at me, pointing her finger at me and with great confidence said to me, “Vou ser um médico!” (I am going to be an doctor!). It was more than a dream, it was an expectation, a right, an assertion and knowledge that she could, no she would do it, because she had seen her Mother study, and now graduate, and so would she.
Like I said earlier, I have been teaching since 1978, and rarely if ever have I been privileged to actually witness the physical difference in what I do makes in the lives of my students and the communities they came from, at another graduation, in a region of Brasil that made a discovery of natural gas and oil, the mayor and the school superintendent told me that if it hadn’t been for UFOP, this tiny town of 7000 people would have lost any hope of taking part of the wealth. Hundreds of people were expected to move in from outside, and traditionally when this occurred the locals were relegated to menial jobs, but because of the student earning business administration, pedagogy and math degrees via CEAD-UFOP, they had been given their own tools to build their own stores, open their own restaurants, build their own apartments to rent, even a new hotel. They were creating and achieving opportunities… dreams. It was then, at the ripe old age of 57, that I realized that I was finally doing what I wanted to do when I grew up.
So, I ask you, “What do you want to do when you grow up?”

Me, teaching online CEAD-UFOP, 2012



[i] I use the term USAan, or more accurately “estadunidense” for my nationality, as America is a continent, we who live in both North & South America ARE all Americans…

Via Buddhism on Beliefnet:


Daily Buddhist Wisdom






Living in forests far away from other people is not true seclusion. True seclusion is to be free from the power of likes and dislikes. It is also to be free from the mental attitude that one must be special because one is treading the path. Those who remove themselves to far forests often feel superior to others. They think that because they are solitary they are being guided in a special way and that those who live an ordinary life can never have that experience. But that is conceit and is not help to others. The true recluse is one who is available to others, helping them with affectionate speech and personal example.
- Prajnaparamita

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma February 20, 2013

Helping All Beings

If hungry people come, give them food. If thirsty people come, give water. If suffering people come, help them. That is our job—life after life, just continue to help all beings. But to do that, you have to have mind which is clear like space. 
- Seung Sahn, "BOOM!"
Read the entire article in the Wisdom Collection through February 21st, 2013
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Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma February 19, 2013

Learning to Let Go

Letting go of fixation is effectively a process of learning to be free, because every time we let go of something, we become free of it. Whatever we fixate upon limits us because fixation makes us dependent upon something other than ourselves. Each time we let go of something, we experience another level of freedom. 
- Traleg Kyabgon Rinpoche, "Letting Go of Spiritual Experience"
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JMG Headline Of The Day


Details. (Also: Seriously, Daily Mail? "Deaf and dumb"?)


Reposted from Joe

Via JMG: Americans Agree: DOMA Discriminates


Source. Hit the link for a bigger version.


Reposted from Joe

Via Buddhism on Beliefnet:

Daily Buddhist Wisdom






Do not choose bad friends. Do not choose persons of low habits. Select good friends. Be discriminating. Choose the best.
- Dhammapada 78

Monday, February 18, 2013

Gay Man Decides to Yell Back at Anti-Gay Subway Preacher, Train Applauds





Standard operating procedure for dealing with subway "preachers," whether bigoted or merely insane, is to pretend they don't exist. Don't argue; don't take their literature. It'll be over soon. Just ignore them until they move on to the next car and you can hear your podcast again.
That's not the approach one gay man took two days ago in response to a preacher's homophobic rant, which included gems like "Michael Jackson died because he was gay." Instead, he met the preacher shout-for-shout.

"I'm a man," the gay guy, identifiable in the video by his large fuzzy hat, replies at one point (1:33). "And I'm a good man. And I'm a gay man and Jesus loves me. Jesus loves me!" The train broke out into spontaneous applause.

http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2013/02/gay-subway-preacher-video.html

Via Buddhism on Beliefnet:


Daily Buddhist Wisdom






You really have to know your own fundamental mind before you can stop and rest. If you know your mind and arrive at the fundamental, that is like space merging with space.
- Ta-tu

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma February 18, 2013

The Purpose of Mindfulness

Mindfulness allows us to watch our thoughts, see how one thought leads to the next, decide if we’re heading toward an unhealthy path, and if so, let go and change directions. 
- Sharon Salzberg, "Mindfulness and Difficult Emotions"
Read the entire article in the Wisdom Collection through February 19th, 2013
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Sunday, February 17, 2013

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma February 17, 2013

A Foundation of Presence

Through mindfulness, we develop greater composure and a heightened sensitivity to nonverbal communication. Then, to the extent that we ourselves are present, we can radiate that same quality outward to the people around us. It is hard to be generous, disciplined, or patient if we are not fully present. If we are present and attentive, and our mind is flexible, we are more receptive to the environment around us.
- Judy Lief, “On the Contagious Power of Presence”
Read the entire article in the Wisdom Collection through February 18th, 2013
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Saturday, February 16, 2013

Via JMG: Soccer Stars Rally For Robbie Rogers


Professional soccer players have poured onto Twitter to express support for Robbie Rogers, who yesterday came out and announced his retirement from the sport. The New York Times has posted a lengthy recapping of the messages to Rogers, whose number of Twitter followers swelled by the tens of thousands following his announcement.

RELATED: Some of the messages to Rogers express hope that he returns to professional soccer.  Rogers' contract is currently owned by the Chicago Fire and yesterday their head coach issued this statement: "Yesterday I thought he was a very good player and I still think that today. Should Robbie want to return to the game, we would still be open to him being part of the Fire."


Reposted from Joe

Via JMG: Pro Soccer Player Comes Out


 
Major League Soccer player Robbie Rogers simultaneously came out and resigned from his sport today.  Rogers writes on his personal blog:
Secrets can cause so much internal damage. People love to preach about honesty, how honesty is so plain and simple. Try explaining to your loved ones after 25 years you are gay. Try convincing yourself that your creator has the most wonderful purpose for you even though you were taught differently.
I always thought I could hide this secret. Football was my escape, my purpose, my identity. Football hid my secret, gave me more joy than I could have ever imagined… I will always be thankful for my career. I will remember Beijing, The MLS Cup, and most of all my teammates. I will never forget the friends I have made a long the way and the friends that supported me once they knew my secret.
Now is my time to step away. It’s time to discover myself away from football. It’s 1 A.M. in London as I write this and I could not be happier with my decision. Life is so full of amazing things. I realized I could only truly enjoy my life once I was honest. Honesty is a bitch but makes life so simple and clear. My secret is gone, I am a free man, I can move on and live my life as my creator intended.
Rogers played several seasons for Major League Soccer's Columbus Crew before joining Britain's Leeds United team last year.  In 2007 he played for Team USA in the FIFA World Cup tournament.  In 2008 he competed for the United States at the Beijing Olympics.
UPDATE: Athlete Ally founder and former collegiate wrestling champion Hudson Taylor has issued a statement in reaction to Rogers' announcement.
"I applaud Rogers’ courage and honesty in what continues to be a struggle for gay and lesbian athletes around the world. With yet another athlete coming out and feeling the need to retire, it is time that we, as an athletic community, realize the responsibility we have in making athletes feel comfortable and confident being themselves. Sports participants and fans are central to the greatest civil rights cause of our time, and I urge all members of the sports community to recognize the important role we play."

Reposted from Joe

Via JMG: Tim Tebow's Hate Date


On the left is how the New York Daily News headlines Tim Tebow's upcoming speech at the church of notorious crackpot and homophobe, Pastor Robert Jeffress, who may be most famous for telling the Values Voters Summit that "70% of all gay men have AIDS."
The wildcat quarterback is slated to speak at the 11,000-member First Baptist Dallas Church’s April 28 Sunday morning service, according to the church’s website. While Tebow is known for wearing his religion on his sleeve and his prayerful onfield gestures have been dubbed “Tebowing,” he’s made a practice of not offending his teammates with his faith. But Tebow’s peace-and-love message could be tested by the megachurch’s evangelical Christian pastor, the Rev. Robert Jeffress. He once accused gay activists of trying to hide “the link between homosexuality and pedophilia.” In November, the preacher warned his flock that President Obama’s reelection “would lead to a rise of the antiChrist.” While endorsing Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s presidential bid in October 2011, Jeffress bashed Islam, Judaism and Mormonism as heretical religions “from the pit of hell.”
After Perry dropped out of the race, Jeffress decided that maybe all Mormons weren't hellbound sinners. He then endorsed Romney.  When a New York City newspaper denounces someone like Jeffress as "anti-Jew," one wonders if Tebow even wants to keep playing here.


Reposted from Joe

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma February 16, 2013

Practice is Planting Seeds

When you plant seeds in the garden, you don’t dig them up every day to see if they have sprouted yet. You simply water them and clear away the weeds; you know that the seeds will grow in time. Similarly, just do your daily practice and cultivate a kind heart. Abandon impatience and instead be content creating the causes for goodness; the results will come when they’re ready.
- Thubten Chodron, “Meditator’s Toolbox”
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Friday, February 15, 2013

Via JMG: Gallup Ranks Gayest States


Gallup today issued the results of a poll conducted last year in which they asked over 200,000 people if they "personally identify" as LGBT.   As with all such self-disclosure surveys, the numbers are somewhat skewed by those who decline to out themselves to pollsters.
The percentage of U.S. adults who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT) ranges from 1.7% in North Dakota to 5.1% in Hawaii and 10% in the District of Columbia, according to Gallup surveys conducted from June-December 2012. Residents in the District of Columbia were most likely to identify as LGBT (10%). Among states, the highest percentage was in Hawaii (5.1%) and the lowest in North Dakota (1.7%), but all states are within two percentage points of the nationwide average of 3.5%.
Measuring sexual orientation and gender identity can be challenging because these concepts involve complex social and cultural patterns. There are a number of ways to measure lesbian, gay, and bisexual orientation, and transgender status. Gallup chose a broad measure of personal identification as LGBT because this grouping of four statuses is commonly used in current American discourse, and as a result has important cultural and political significance.

One limitation of this approach is that it is not possible to separately consider differences among lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, or transgender individuals. A second limitation is that this approach measures broad self-identity, and does not measure sexual or other behavior, either past or present.
Gallup observers that while the variation between most states is relatively small, their data does support a conclusion that LGBT people are more willing to self-identify in states that provide anti-discrimination protections.
The states with proportionally larger LGBT populations generally have supportive LGBT legal climates. With the exception of South Dakota, all of the states that have LGBT populations of at least 4% have laws that prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity and allow same-sex couples to marry, enter into a civil union, or register as domestic partners. Of the 10 states with the lowest percentage of LGBT adults, only Iowa has such laws.
Fascinating stuff. Hit the link for much more and the second half of Gallup's ranking.


Reposted from Joe

Via Buddhism on Beliefnet:


Daily Buddhist Wisdom






If you would like to be with me and to find comfort that way, the first thing for you to learn is the right behavior. Go back to your home and learn to do as your parents want, continue to recite your prayers, and work hard in your daily life. At the same time, clean yourself up, put on proper clothes, and don't neglect yourself again. When you've learned this, come back to me and you may be allowed to become one of my followers.
- Dhammapada