This production does not break new ground on the staging. There, I said it. It’s a very, very professional production, with excellent lighting, set decoration, acting, direction, and everything else that goes into a professional theater production. But, setting aside (Spanish colonial California, around 1840), it’s a very conventional production. No strolling bands, no spacecraft landing, no naked fairies.

However.

The script that is presented appears to be the full script, three hours less a skosh for intermission. It has all the key and many secondary elements, including the junior high-not-approved bits and the angry-dad bit in the second half that is often deleted in shorter performances. So what one winds up with is a very traditional script with a somewhat non-traditional set decoration and costuming.

This is a good thing, as it gives the audience something a little novel to look at without getting in the way of the language of the play.

Really, really liked the balcony scene, although it won’t surprise me if the director tells Juliet to stay put more, or if Romeo has a couple of days out sometime after falling off the scenery (it’s a good thing they are both young–they will heal quicker).

Highlight of the acting: Mercutio is over-the-top good, giving an incredibly energetic performance. Of course, he gets to spend the second act dead, so he can afford to go all-out in the first. Don Capulet gets crazy violent in his big scene. Nurse will make sailors blush. And the two kids, well, they are just about the perfect point of just young enough to be convincing as 14 year olds, but actually old enough to act well. I suspect they will age very well, and this show will hit its prime in May or June. Everyone else does so well that I can’t recall even a minor bobble or mis-step.

Definitely worth a go, especially if you’ve never seen the long version.

Oregon Shakespeare Festival

Romeo and Juliet, Angus Bowmer Theatre, now through November 4th.

New Items in D&D OSF

+2 Coffe of Agility

Grants a +2 bonus to Fortitude and Reflex saves. If used in conjuction with redbull bonuses are double but make a fortitude save (dc 13) against a heart attack.

+3 Redbull of Mental Clarity

Grants +3 to diplomacy and saves against Dazed. If used wit another Redbull or Coffee bonuses are tripled but make a Fortitude save (DC 13) -10 against heart attacks.

Billfold of Holding

Holds Tips, Orders, Pictures, Rambling notes about cheese, and Shopping lists Seemingly infinite amounts of all without bursting. Change however is prone to falling out easily and at the worst possible moment.

Pen Of Greater Elusivness

+2 to Get tips off credit payments and +6 to remember all orders. They are small, light, and easy to carry but after every use you must roll Perception (DC 12) to not lose your pen. On any credit payment or after lending it to a coworker Roll Reflex or Perception whichever is higher (DC 16) if the roll is failed the pen had been stolen.

Pen Of Slightly Greater Value

+4 to Get Tips off credit payments and +6 to remember all orders This pen has fake gold trim or is cool or expensive looking in some way and any character holding it is obsessivly protective  of it and is given +4 to all rolls against losing the pen in any way. If Pen is stolen +2 all rolls against that target.

Big Tray of Servitude

+6 to Endurance check while carrying food to Tables. -2 to avoiding collisions but +2 against losing the Tray. After dropping off the food is is advised that you bring back your Big Trays or get a – 2 against the save versus the Server Wrath ability.

Small Tray of Agility

+3 to endurance checks while carrying food to tables. + 2 to avoiding collisions but a – 2 to losing the tray. After using this tray to drop off food Make a check (DC 10) if failed thray is lost for 1D4 hours to The hell dimensions.

Small Tray of Unkown Specialness

This Tray is in someway special to the server with extra grip, nostalgic memories, or some other vague specialness to the server that only the server understands It does not suffer from the loss check of the other small trays but instead takes 2D6 minutes longer in dishpit to drop off dishes.

Bussbin Of Bull Strength

+5 to endurance checks when carrying dishes and glasses -2 to endurance checks against Fatigue.

Bussbin of Disorganization

roll additional 1d6 for time spent in dishpit +3 to bluff checks to look like you are working hard

Bussbin of Jay-Hred

Incribed with the words “What would Jay-Hred Do?” It is the Bussbin of a legendary busser and imbued with some of his powers +6 to endurance checks when carrying dishes and glasses Halve all time spent rolls.

]]> http://downthegopherhole.wordpress.com/2012/02/16/the-night-before-the-night-before-spagmas/ Thu, 16 Feb 2012 08:21:47 +0000 kinggopher http://downthegopherhole.wordpress.com/2012/02/16/the-night-before-the-night-before-spagmas/ For those of you who don’t know i Work at The Old Spaghetti Factory And i Have a tendency to some up with elaborate things involving my coworkers (because quite frankly they are some of the most interesting people i know good or bad doesnt matter :p)

Anyways here’s something i came up with during christmas and i figured I would share with all on here

twas the night before the night before christmas

and all through the factory

the drinks were delicious

and the spag satisfactory

all the customers were eating

the restaurant abuzz

while in the back sat cookies

robyn made just cause

while mel with her apron

and i with my rag

began to prepare

to sling christmas spag

when suddenly there arose such a clatter

that i rushed to the stairs

to see what was the matter

kelli had tripped and spilt

soup on a customer

and with anger and rage

he began to bluster

but with a clatter of shoes

and a shout of  tabernac!

shawn was there

to have kelliès back

And with a smile and discount

he slew the pre-christmas scrooge

and if we are lucky shawn said

we wont have to tell bruce.

Ryan came down then

to make a birthday anouncment

He threw up his arms

and screamed out his prounouncement

come Patrons and servers and bourbon street all!

Its time for a special pre-christmas birthday song

with that he began with a woop and a swaying of hips

these final words sprang from his lips

 merry spag-mas to you

HEY!

merry spag-mas to you

HO!

merry spag-mas to all

and to all a goodnight

]]> http://dizziizzi.wordpress.com/2012/02/13/home/ Tue, 14 Feb 2012 05:48:31 +0000 dizziizzi http://dizziizzi.wordpress.com/2012/02/13/home/ I love where I live. It is a perfect location for all the things I love to do! I can drive for an hour to spend the day in Portland, the beach, or Corvallis. 2 hours takes you to Mt. Hood or Eugene, and 3-4 hours gets you to up to Seattle or down to Ashland. I find myself in Portland almost every weekend, and I never run out of things to do. Seattle is always fun. Mt. Hood, well, who doesn’t want to hit the slopes? I go to Ashland almost every year for the Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF) which always has fantastic plays. Yep, the Willamette Valley is certainly the place to be.

peace, izzi

Snowflakes are usually a large part of our lives during January and February. They are the most delicate of objects. Alone they last only seconds here on earth.  But together they can bring an entire city to a standstill.  That surely gives us some idea of how community prayer can be very strong.

Scientists tell us that no two snowflakes are alike.  They are as different as our own fingerprints.  We know each of us is unique. But sometimes we forget that our uniqueness does not stop at our fingerprints.  Each of us is truly one-of-a-kind.   And that includes our relationship with God.  The best way for you to pray is deep down, who you are.

As a child I wanted to BE the Little Flower of Jesus or St. Francis.  I cannot BE them.  I can admire them, but I must be the best Sharon I can because no one else can do that.

To use a theatrical example, there was only one Elvis Presley.  Like him or not, there was only one.  Today there are conventions of Elvis look-alikes, sound-alikes, move-alikes.  Hundreds of people there try to BE Elvis Presley.  It just doesn’t work!

How do you talk to God?  Do you always use someone else’s words? Are you like John Alden, who was speaking sweet words to Priscilla Mullins for his friend, only to have her say to him “Speak for yourself, John”?

Open your heart to the One who loves you as if you were the only person on the earth!  Just talk to God.  God is waiting for your unique words.  It doesn’t even have to make sense to anyone.  God knows,  understands and delights in what you say.  And you will grow in knowledge of the love God has for you.  Yes, join others in prayer, but be sure to keep your very personal relationship with God strong by personal prayer.

Peace, joy, & everything good,

Sr. Sharonlu Sheridan, OSF

Sr. Sharonlu Sheridan, OSF has a background in education, child development, and family ministries.  She has worked as a teacher, school administrator, and as Director of Family Life Services for two dioceses.  Sr. Sharonlu has long been an advocate for children and puts her heart into helping parents build and sustain healthy family relationships.  One of her most memorable ministries has been with the people of Red Lake Indian Reservation in northern Minnesota, where her heart still lies.

*****

Sr. Sharonlu will be presenting a Coffee Talk about Resurrection Mysteries on Sunday, March 11 after 9:30 a.m. Liturgy in the Convent Chapel.  Mark your calendar and come spend a morning of prayer and inspiration at the Burg!  We’ll have coffee and donuts.  There is no fee, but donations are appreciated!  Please do RSVP:  812-933-6437 or center@oldenburgosf.com.

Here’s what the talk is about:

Resurrection Mysteries: New Prayers for the Rosary.  The resurrection of Jesus is sometimes lost from sight during days of bereavement.  We think even less often of the people who were raised from the dead during Jesus’ earthly sojourn.  During this session, we will look at other resurrections and see how they can help us understand the passage of our loved ones to the Heavenly Kingdom.  These resurrections will be presented as an alternative to the other mysteries of the Rosary.

That’s not all!  On Sunday, February 5th, Sr. Patty Campbell will lead a coffee talk about Noticing Our Guardian Angel!  Follow this link for more information on our Coffee Talk Series!

***

Do you have feedback about our blog?  Comment below, or send an email to aroesler@oldenburgosf.com. 

If you haven’t participated in our POLLS yet, please do!  Click here!

Chinese international Star Ayi Jihu and Hollywood star Terrence Howard Stole the show at the annual ‘Classy Party’ in Rancho Mirage. Terrence Howard who is promoting his new Movie Red Tails met up with Ayi Jihu at the event and the two visibly hit it off. Ayi Jihu is an admire of Terrence Howard and that morning watched his latest movie Red Tails at the beautifully refurbished 1920′s Fox Cineplex in Banning owned by her friend and part of her American team Michael Frydrych.

Ayi Jihu is a big fan of cultural, international and black movies and has spoken out recently on the need to preserve and promote these types of movies in Hollywood. Ayi Jihu who is working on her own Global and Movie project Fear Chaser is hoping to use a cultural and international cast in Fear Chaser.

We briefly spoke to Ayi Jihu about Terrence Howard at the Party and She told us: “It was quite bizarre watching him on the big screen a few hours ago and then meeting him in the flesh. I loved the Movie Red Tails, I walked out of the cinema crying and that does not happen to often. Terrence is a really nice man and we spoke about the movie and a few other things and lets leave it at that.”

Ayi Jihu is in Palm Springs for the Film festival (as well as establishing her North American team ahead of her push into the United states) was accompanied by Stevie Eagle E, Photographer Salvatore Tangorre, Amado Salinas and Rage Richardson from Operation Smoke Free. Ayi Jihu is also speaking to children as representative of ‘A Celebration of Women Foundation Inc‘ on the benefits of perseverance and working hard using her Fear Chaser project to ram home the message that fear prevents us from achieving.

For more information on Ayi Jihu vist her website www.Ayijihu.com

Find out more about Terrence Howard

Check out the Fantastic Red Tails starring Terrence Howard

, Cuba Gooding Jnr, Ne-yo, Method Man and many others here

Our Lady of Fatima's View of the Oldenburg Hills (photography by A. Roesler)

Every relationship with another is unique. And that is true of each person’s relationship with God.  Our need for God is universal; we all have it.  But our response to God is always personal and one-of-a-kind.

I found this out myself during a prayer before a meeting.  The leader of the prayer said we would say the Our Father.  However, he would say a phrase, and we in random order would give our thoughts on that part of the prayer.

He began, “Our Father”, and hesitantly one of the group said, “You’re more like a mother.”  Another said, “You protect me,” and another offered, “Your love for me keeps me feeling safe.”

Those were just a few of the thoughts, and there were about 15 people in the group.

As soon as there was a very long pause, the leader went to the next phrase, “Who Art in Heaven” and so on through the entire prayer.   Saying that prayer usually takes 15-20 seconds, but it took us close to 20-25 minutes.

Interesting remarks were heard afterward.  One woman offered that she would never say the Our Father the same again.  A young man in the group said he had no idea what varied kind of thoughts the same words could draw from people.

During World War II there was a holy woman in Europe, (I forget which country) who was bedfast.   People would come to her to get some direction for their spiritual lives.  One person said to her, “Since I’ve been coming to see you, I say almost 50 Our Fathers a day!”  “Oh, my,” the holy woman replied, “I find it hard to pray the Our Father one time, there is so much in it.”

Taking the time to really think about the words you are saying will give you a nudge into saying words that are yours.  Or you may end up praying without words, just with feelings of awe or gratitude or praise.

Remember the definition of prayer is: lifting your mind and heart to God. 
It doesn’t mention words at all!

When Jesus told us to pray always, I think he meant we should really think about our prayers.

My prayers are with you.

Peace and Joy, and Everything Good,

Sr. Sharonlu

Sr. Sharonlu Sheridan, OSF has a background in education, child development, and family ministries.  She has worked as a teacher, school administrator, and as Director of Family Life Services for two dioceses.  Sr. Sharonlu has long been an advocate for children and puts her heart into helping parents build and sustain healthy family relationships.  One of her most memorable ministries has been with the people of Red Lake Indian Reservation in northern Minnesota, where her heart still lies.

Just as Sr. Sharonlu shows how our relationships with God are diverse, so are our relationships with one another!

The Oldenburg Franciscan Center Arches aglow at night. (The normal softness of the lamplight is brightened by the camera!)

Join Sr. Olga on Saturday, February 18th (9:30am – 2:30pm) to grow in peace and find hope in diversity.  We all face various interpersonal challenges in our daily lives. In this workshop, Oldenburg Franciscan Sister Olga Wittekind (Jungian psychologist and PhD) will give tools and insights – using Myers-Briggs analysis – to help us understand ourselves better, appreciate others more, and strengthen our relationships with God. This is a great workshops for individuals, ministry groups, families, and couples!

$45 includes a delicious lunch by our wonderful caterer, Cathy Kerker!  Call Annette at 812-933-6437 or email center@oldenburgosf.com to RSVP today!

Invite a friend, family member, or come on your own.  You never know what wonderful new connections can be made!

Remember, God is a healer, a peacemaker, and a life-giver who lovingly embraces us all and wants us to learn to embrace each other in the same way!

Find the event on Facebook!  Also, friend OFC and share us with your friends!

In case you didn’t know, I sometimes (cough, choke) play MMOs. One common feature of MMOs is that they have a long list of tasks usually known as “achievements” (in the vernacular, “cheevos”). One gets points in the game, which usually amount to nothing more than bragging rights, but sometimes a pet or riding mount. Yelp has a similar concept, known as badges, although the requirements for the Yelp badges are not disclosed ahead of time. In either case, it’s a neat perk; you’re out slaying monsters, or exploring, or (in the case of Yelp) checking in at shops and restaurants, and this little surprise pops up on your screen.

Last year I started rolling my own personal cheevos. The main one last year was related to OSF: to see every first preview of every show. This looked imperiled when the Bowmer Theater went down for repairs, but was still completed. We are doing similar cheevos based on OSF this year; I want to do the first previews again, and add all of the closings that we can. I think all of the closings is not possible, as some of them run simultaneously at the end of the season in different theaters, but we’ll do something that seems to make sense. All of the Elizabethans, for sure. Someone else might want to do all the Green Shows, for example; that would be a cool achievement.

But I digress. Here’s a roll-your-own achievement that you can do at home, on your own schedule (mostly): the never-eat-the-same-thing-twice achievement. Here’s how it goes (I think; I’ve changed the rules twice recently):

• Pick a restaurant that you dine at regularly (once a week is good, you might get by with less depending on the size of their menu)
• Eat every item on their menu.

That’s the basic gist. I call this basic achievement The Omnivore, and award one point for each meal eaten that qualifies for. You can’t get credit more than once per menu item, so when you’ve met the requirements, move on!

Additional cheevos based on this underlying goal. In MMO parlance, these are known as meta-achievements:

• The Regular: Complete The Omnivore at a restaurant that has at least 52 items on its regular, printed menu.
• Fussy Eater: Eat at a given restaurant at least once a week for a year, and never eat the same dish twice.
• The Locavore: Do The Omnivore at restaurants that are locally owned and operated and within 5 miles of where you either work or live.
• Chamber of Commerce: Do The Locavore for at least 5 restaurants.
• Expense Account: Do Locavore and Fussy Eater for at least 3 restaurants.
• Pig-Headed: For The Omnivore, every meal (not item) must include a pig-sourced ingredient.
• More Fish in the Sea: For Fussy Eater, eat at least six fish specials (you’ll get all the regular fish dishes from The Omnivore). This only applies to scaly fishes, not shellfish or mollusks, and only to items not on the regular printed menu, can be an entrée or appetizer.
• Calling Foul: Same as More Fish, but for birds. This includes chicken, duck, goose, quail, and any other item containing meat from Class aves.
• They’re Good Eaters! For “The Omnivore“, eat items containing turkey meat at least four times. This is an homage to the episode “Giblets for Murray” from Mad About You.
• Sweet Tooth: Eat at least eight desserts in meeting The Omnivore.

You can come up with your own variants (please send them if you do!) Each of these only applies to a single restaurant, as some of these would be hard to get in combination (Pig-Headed and Expense Account, for example). I’d add some ground rules to keep it even:

1. “Every item” means all the appetizers (if any), mains, and entree-sized salads.It does not include (or require) side dishes, soups, or specials. The exception here is for Fussy Eater: one has to use specials to fill out the year to avoid repeating dishes. Choose restaurants for that achievements carefully!
2. “Every item” means an item as listed on the menu. So if an item is two eggs, with a choice of sides (say, bacon, ham, or sausage), and a choice of bread (toast, muffin, etc.), then one only needs to do that line once to count for The Omnivore. Same for dressings and options (adding a protein to a salad, for example). You may not use choices like this to meet Fussy Eater.
3. “A year”: I think we can define this as “48 weeks” to allow a little margin for holidays, vacations, etc.
4. All food must be consumed in the restaurant. No fair getting a couple of days of food to go.
5. All food must be brought to the table by a server. No buffets or cafeterias. It’s okay if you order at a counter and your food is brought out, but not if you get it yourself.
6. While sharing is encouraged in the cause of experimentation, it doesn’t count for any of this.
7. Restaurants sometimes change their menus. If an item disappears, you still get credit for it. But that means you need to cover all the new items, too (bwa ha ha!) unless they also disappear.
8. If you’re allergic or otherwise required not to eat something, don’t! Don’t count it against yourself. Note: “I don’t like liver” is not an adequate excuse. You didn’t like it when you were little, when’s the last time you tried it?
9. If the predictions of doomsday come true per the Mayan calendar, all cheevos which are satisfied to that point are immediately granted (but you won’t care…)

Why am I doing this? About a million years ago I had the usual office worker’s lunch trilemma: bring a sack lunch, eat at the cafeteria, or eat out. For any of these, my lunch group usually fell into a rut of the same set of places and same meals, week after week, year after year, repeat until numb or dead. This is a way to encourage several things:

• Eating out (support the economy)
• Eat locally (support local business)
• Eat different (try different things)

Send your results, or post them and send a link! I’ll be posting my progress weekly; a camera phone is a handy tool for this. And mostly, eat out more, eat different things, and have fun with it!

 In this article I intend to enlighten my readers as to what I know about George Soros, only the facts. There are many people who are major players in politics, media, government, banking, and corporations but none of my friends know about them.  These systems are important because we are supporting them blindly while they continue to charge us high interest rates, unfair taxes, tells us lies, steal, basically all the circumstances we can do without in life. Our conditions can be traced back to decisions’ made be these major players, and the game they’re playing is us! I want my people to know the who as well as the what, because even some of these young cats know what it is, so here’s one of the Major Players, George Soros.

            Born August 12, 1930 in Budapest, Hungary, as a child he escaped the holocaust and fled to London where he later attended The London school of Economics. In some of his early writings he described helping escaped Jews that were wounded or young to the hospital, traveling back and forth across the Austrian border by truck, he mentions the god awful conditions and atrocities in the hospitals as well. Soros authored many books since,  “Open Society: Reforming Global Capitalism”, “The New Paradigm for Financial Markets: The Credit Crisis of 2008 and what it means”, and “The Alchemy of Finance (Wiley Investment Classics)” which he paired up with Chairman of Federal Reserve’s Paul A. Volcker in 2003 to write. Soros was named the 10 Wealthiest American of 2011 in Forbes with a net worth of $22 Billion US.   He’s the chairman of Soros Fund Management which he founded in 1969, the world’s foremost hedge fund with international investments in all kinds of corporations like Hess, Ford motor, and  Global Ship Lease just to name a few.

 He’s also the chairman of the “Open Society Foundation” or OSF, a private grant making foundation with the aim to support democratic Governance, Legal, economic, human rights, and social reform. OSF also supports development of charities, community groups (how he found Obama maybe?) and trade Unions. George Soros has donated a record $52 Million through his Foundations to the Associated Press, The New York Times, CNN, NPR, Washington Post and ABC, all I have noticed are Liberal and Neutral Media Outlets. I must admit, thanks to the election of The 44^th President of the United States Barack H. Obama I’ve made myself more aware of the political world. I was stunned by the election which led me to listen to the radio everyday during work. After reading some creditable articles and watching a lot of YouTube interviews, one name often brought up is philanthropist George Soros. Starting out supporting Hilary Clinton until he realized him and Obama shared the same ideas (combination of Socialistic and communistic ideas) and that Obama was more electable.

Obama didn’t feel experienced enough to run for the Presidency but after a sit down in New York with Soros Obama was convinced to run for office. Since then he’s always giving Obama the max amount allowable under the campaign-finance laws, as well as spreading his donations out to over 100 politically active organizations, pushing some of Obama’s biggest policies like the ‘Stimulus plan’ in which he invested millions in the companies the stimulus benefited like ‘Cisco systems’, and ‘American Electric Power’ just to name two, earning him millions more. Such a move makes him one of the most strategic major players in my book and dubbing him the nickname” Puppet Master” to most.

 So now with that bit of info I leave the reader to form their own opinion about Soros, and I encourage further research into the dude. A person that has the power to push his or her personal agenda this far in the world we live in today without being as known as Jay-Z is very bizarre.

Peace,

Jaron Brown

For more Information on Soros check out these links

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/iris-somberg/2011/08/17/george-soros-media-mogul-executive-summary#ixzz1hrAut1PZ

 http://www.georgesoros.com/

http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2011/12/14/george-soros-godfather-left-gives-550-million-to-liberal-causes/

1st Reading: Isaiah 52: 7-10
Responsorial Psalm 98:1-6
Second Reading: Hebrews 1:1-6
Gospel: John 1:1-18

Again Jesus spoke to them, saying “I am the light of the world.  Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.” ~ John 8:12

God bent low to bring Jesus to earth.  Jesus is the center of earth and all creation.  “Christ is the reflection of God’s glory and the exact imprint of God’s very being, and he sustains all things by his powerful word” (Hebrews 1:3).

As we ponder the Incarnation these days before Christmas, we consider this definitive event in Christianity in which divine life spilled over into human life in the person of Jesus of Nazareth.  Since time began, the Holy One has been radiating light toward Earth in one continuous act of grace.  Karl Rahner calls this grace God’s self-communication, an outpouring of the very being of God that not only permeates but maintains our life.

God’s self-communication began with the Big Bang 13.7 billion years ago.  It was in and through God’s grace that stars were born and galaxies were formed.  God was present when explosions scattered bits of cosmic matter together in relationship.  Divine self-communication continued as Earth entered into orbit around the sun and took shape.  God’s grace was present, pushing toward life moment by moment.  Through grace came planets and sea life, birds and reptiles, mammals and humans.  God’s creative energy could not be stopped!!

The emergence of the first human species was a breakthrough moment in the living world’s relationship with the divine.  Our human consciousness, self-awareness, began.  We know that we know.  We can reflect upon our own experiences.  This new human species developed speech and language.  Language, flowing out of conscious memore was to set the species apart from all others.

Soon, our species began to make the connection that there was some Other who was bigger than themselves, whose power could be witnessed in nature – the sun, moon, stars, thunder, rain, fire, and water.  They recognized some mysterous force!  (Italicized section adapted from Judy Cannato’s Radical Amazement.)

Our spirituality realizes we are not alone.  There is a gracious power or energy at the heart of all life.  This divine force, the Creator who has always been present within all life, revealed itself in the conscious awareness of our human life.  In the Old Testament, we hear over and over again how the Hebrew people grappled with God.  They saw God as Force or Anger; or as Mother Hen covering her brood.  The psalmists prayed to God and sang his praises.

Then God came in the person of Jesus – the Word of God became flesh!  The Palestinian Jew changed everything for us.  He is the Incarnation – which means God-in-flesh.  Through Jesus and his interaction with the Holy One, God “Light” breaks through into life in a way never before experienced.  Jesus is able to absorb the gracious radiance of God that transforms those in his midst who are ready to receive Grace!

Jesus began to express his knowledge in a radically amazing way.  The universe is able to respond fully to God the Creator in the person of Jesus.  We are aware that all life is accepted and included in God’s love and grace.  God’s divine energy embraces all that is!

There is a connectedness with all creation.  Through relationship with God the Holy One, we are transformed by Love into love.  We incorporate Light into our being, and begin to radiate in a way that nourishes those around us with the breath of God.  We become compassion, service, wisdom, grace, and love that flows out of the experience of connectedness with Life.

Jesus is the revelation of God in human life!  We can become co-creative agents of Love to do the works characterized in Jesus, in Gospel living.

So as you await the birth of the Christ child these last few days before Christmas, we invite you to ponder the light that is waiting to be birthed in you – united in your celebration of Christ’s life and acceptance of your own path of discipleship.  Questions for personal reflection are offered below.

May your days be joyous and filled with the love of Christ incarnate, God-made-flesh to live among us.

Peace, joy, and Christmas blessings to all!

S. Olga Wittekind, PhD
Jungian Analyst & Director of Oldenburg Franciscan Center

Reflections:

“The one who believes in me will also do the works that I do, and in fact, will do greater works than these.”  John 14:12  What Works does Jesus call me to do?

“You are the Light of the World… let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.”  Matthew 5:14-16  How can I be Light to others?

            And isn’t that appropriate.  Mary, our mother, and Jesus’ mother, was just a simple human being like you and me.  She is not God; she has no light of her own; she lives in the reflection of the brightness of her SON.  Without Jesus, Mary would not be noted for much of anything just like all the other young maidens in Nazareth.

            Jesus made all the difference in her life as her Magnificat proclaims.  So the Moon as a symbol of Mary is most fitting.

            Mary is the quiet one, mostly behind the scenes, just as the moon isn’t noticed much unless you are looking for it.  Sometimes it fades from view completely, as Mary often does in the Gospel narrative.  Not so the Sun.  It is always noticed, and it should be.

            The Son/Sun sustains life; The Mary/Moon enhances the Son/Sun’s work by being a serene reflector of it.  Mary is a guiding force for us in our daily lives.  Without her we might be at a loss to realize that we, simple human beings that we are, can reflect the life and love of God. The moon, by controlling the seasons, and keeping the seas active enhances our lives here on earth.  Without the moon the seas would be flat and soon would become stagnant or dry up.

            How about us then?  We cannot be a grand life-giving force.  But we can become a grand reflection of that awe-some grandeur that is God.  And Mary is our model.

            Jesus the Sun, Mary the Moon!

            Let the moon always remind you of our gentle Mother Mary, and may YOU be a moon that reflects the divine beauty.

Peace, Joy, and Everything Good,

S. Sharonlu Sheridan, OSF, Educator
Oldenburg Franciscan Center

Imagine Mary preparing for the trip to Bethlehem.  She is more than eight months pregnant, but she goes about the selecting of clothes for the baby soon to be born, and things she will need to care for herself and the child, as well as her husband Joseph.  As you prepare to visit children or relatives, join with Mary in her anticipation of the birth of Jesus.

The circumstances of housing when they came into Bethlehem were less than one would expect.  But Mary, like you, knew how to make do.  The Manger was small, and had sides to it.  Straw was available, and the Lord of Heaven and Earth slept there.  Do we have reason to complain when accommodations on a trip aren’t good?

Sheep are not the cleanest animals, and their woolly scent can be very hard to take sometimes.  Shepherds carry that scent with them, and being watchers in the night, have less chance for washing so they may be less than easy to be with.  But they are the ones chosen to see the Christ Child first!  Poor, unclean, uneducated, rough and gruff, but CHOSEN!

What can you do this Christmas for those who are most like the shepherds?

My wish for you is:

Peace, the peace only God can give;

Joy, the joy that comes from giving; and

All Good, and that can only be God.

S. Sharonlu Sheridan, OSF, Educator
Oldenburg Franciscan Center

cultureofresistance:

occupycali:

RT @OccupyOregon Post these #D12 #PortShutdown flyers around your city! http://pic.twitter.com/BIAFp3hG #OLA #OO #OPDX #Occupyseattle #occupyvancouver (via @postnaught)

I love the occupy movement, I think it’s a beautiful thing to see all that energy and all that love that’s out there and all those people making a commitment. I’m hoping that some of that energy can go towards occupying places where we can actually stop the 1%. Right? Because we don’t want to just tell the 1%, “you’re horrible and this is wrong”, we want to actually stop them and the way to stop them is to occupy the places where they make their money.

I’ve heard a lot of talk about this distinction between occupy going after Wall Street and the financial sector versus focusing on the environment. To me, it’s a false distinction because I know that the people who run the world and are living off of all of us make their money by exploiting the environment and by taking away land from indigenous peoples. These are not separate issues at all – they are all one issue.

If we want to stop the 1%, we have to go to their factories, we have to go to the pipelines, we have to go to the ports where trade happens, we have to go to the stock exchanges inside… and all those things have to be occupied.

Hopefully, we can begin a conversation about switching to more direct targets for occupying. We’re calling it “Occupy the Machine”.

- Premadasi Amada, Deep Green Resistance organizer

occupycali:

New Poster and info on #OccupythePort #d12 #OO #OSF #OLA #OSD

www.WestCoastPortShutdown. org
Video:
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGqncu3wlEI

SUPPORT GROWS FOR OCCUPY MOVEMENT’S COORDINATED WEST COAST SHUT DOWN ON DECEMBER 12TH

As of November 27, 2011, the Occupy movement in every major West Coast port city: Occupy LA, Occupy San Diego, Occupy Portland, Occupy Tacoma, Occupy Seattle have joined Occupy Oakland in calling for and organizing a coordinated West Coast Port Blockade and Shutdown on December 12, 2011.

http://www.occupytheports.com/

#OccupySF #occupyourhomes #occupy #d3

Photos: Steve Rhodes  Music: 99 Red Balloons – Goldfinger

occupycali:

#OccupySF Housing rights march #D3 #Occupyourhomes #Occupy

“On Saturday, December 3, Occupy San Francisco united with SF Housing Rights organizations to oppose evictions, foreclosures and other housing injustices across the city. The day began with actions in the Bayview, Mission, Castro and Tenderloin, and culminated with a mass march from the Occupy SF site through the financial district to confront banks that put up the bucks that fuel these abuses.

San Francisco, December 3-The theme of today’s Occupy San Francisco Saturday march was housing: No More Evictions & Foreclosures For Profit!

A statement from a flyer promoting today’s action declared: “From the subprime mortgage crisis that began our current recession, to bank bailouts, the rising rates of homelessness and policies like the Ellis Act that prioritize profit over people, housing has been central to the occupy movement in San Francisco, and around the country.”

The day’s actions began at 11 a.m. in the Bayview district, which has been hard hit by foreclosures and evictions of low income African American homeowners. Just this week a 75 year old greatgrandmother was locked out of her home while going to the store to get food for the children in her home day care center. The foreclosers refused to let her go back into her home to get diapers and baby formula for the young children.

At noon protesters met in the Castro district to highlight gentrification and anti-homeless tactics that are violating the spirit and legacy of Harvey Milk and the Gay Mecca.

The 1 o’clock hour brought people together in the Mission district to oppose housing abuses aimed at Latino families that have caused high rates of evictions.

An hour later a tour of the Tenderloin kicked off, which exposed collusion between notorious Citi Apartments and profiteering local banks, which has resulted in the displacement of some of the city’s poorest citizens.

A 3 o’clock mass march kicked off from the Occupy San Francisco site at the foot of Market, which once again successfully resisted a police attempt to shut it down earlier this week.

The colorful high spirited procession initially swarmed around the main branch Wells Fargo bank. Wells Fargo received a huge ballout, then carried out a rampant blood sucking campaign of foreclosures and evictions after taxpayer funds saved its sorry ass.

Riot police rushed in to defend Wells Fargo from the protesters non violent accusations, lining its feudal like walls. Motorcycle cops quickly joined in the escalating police presence.

After this standoff went on for some time, the march resumed, eventually seizing Sansome Street. After protesters occupied the block abutting California Street, the riot and motorcycle cops hurried in again, this time to protect Chase Bank, another of the Big 7 bailouts.

The occupiers sat down in the street and began rallying. Ted Gullicksen of the SF Tenants Union pointed out that above the adjacent Bank of the Orient was the headquarters of the Business Owners and Managers Association, or BOMA.

BOMA’s website says it owns or manages 9 billion square feet of properties in North America, and the local branch is the “voice for the local commercial real estate industry.” It”continually helps craft national public policy development by educating public officials about our industry.”

Recently, it has been “educating” SF mayor Ed Lee by “lobbying to evict Occupy SF,” according to Gullicksen. Gullicksen also reported that BOMA “led the campaign to repeal rent control statewide,” with Prop 98, which 62% of voters opposed in 2008.

Gullicksen said, “We are here to issue a 3 day notice to quit” to BOMA. “You are a community nuisance. You continue to make threats to sue the city for economic losses, leading to violent police actions.” A gigantic Eviction Notice was affixed to 233 Sansome, BOMA’s HQ.

The next speaker, an African American woman, said, “I’m a homeowner facing forclosure. Chase is trying to chase me out of my home. By the end of 2012 we expect 10 million foreclosures in the US, with 2 million in California. When they attack our homes, they attack our health, and we’re done with them attacking us. People across the country are saying, ‘We need our homes more than you need one more.’ ”

As the rally continued, police and sheriff’s vans inched closer to the seated crowd. Behind those vehicles a MUNI bus commandeered by the “security forces” awaited arrestees.

But the people kept their collective cool, until the rally was concluded, then got to their feet and marched off, taking a right onto California. We passed the Bank of California building, Union Bank, Citi Bank, West American Bank, Redwood Credit Union (cool), City National Bank, Charles Schwab, 101 California. And the anti-union Hyatt Regency, whose main entrance organized labor occupied for the better part of an hour yesterday in support of Hotel Workers Local 2.

Talk about a rogue’s gallery.

Then back onto Market, opposite the Federal Reserve Bank, which is being reoccupied more each day.

The march concluded back at the Occupy SF site, but the party went on, compliments of the Brass Liberation Orchestra, which provided funk and inspiration along the entire march route.”~indybay.org/Michael Steinberg/Photo credits:Steve Rhodes

#OccupySF being raided by police Via: anonymissexpress

OccupySF being raided by police

Also Live:
http://www.ustream.tv/occupyoakland
http://www.ustream.tv/occupySF

RT @occupycali:  @OccupyLA @punkboyinsf Ustreaming OccupyLA——> #FF #OWS ustream.tv/occupysf

Also Live:
@OccupyFreedomLA: http://www.ustream.tv/OccupyFreedomLA
@OakFoSho: http://www.ustream.tv/occupyoakland