Cliff April 5th, 2008
My bad luck in commercial flights appears to be congenital, because one flight was cancelled and another delayed. Luckily, I’ll be able to make the whole conference this time (unlike IL2006). But I think this journey will be quite interesting for other reasons as well.
First, I’m going to be teaching Sunday School tomorrow. I’ll be staying in DC with my friend Sarah. The Sunday School class that she teaches (with her masterful M.Div. degree) is doing a series on world religions. When she first asked me if I’d be willing to teach about Paganism, I had that knee-jerk reaction:
“Are you guys learning how to convert Pagans?”
“C’mon Cliff, it’s me. Hello.”
“I know, I know, just checking…”
Given Sarah’s strongly liberal religious leanings (she and I agree on most metaphysical concepts), I know that I have nothing to fear. So I plan on going in and sharing some of the basics of Paganism, the major branches, and the few unifying themes of the Pagan religions (taken from a well-timed episode of the Deo’s Shadow podcast). From Sarah’s description, I have nothing to fear and lots to look forward to. I’ll promise not to hex them if they promise not to stone me.
After that I’ll be spending Monday - Wednesday at CIL2008! I’m looking forward to seeing some old friends, meeting some new friends for the first time, and meeting in person folks that I’ve been trading blog posts with for a while (here’s hoping I don’t go all geeky fanboy on that last group!). Thursday through Sunday will be time spent with Sarah, Jason and their St. Bernard dog Bruno, as well as visits with friends who live in the DC area.
Cliff January 10th, 2007
So I mentioned before that I went to a Dance Meditation winter retreat/monastery/movement workshop. It was a week long, and held at the Margaret Austin Center outside of Chappel Hill, Texas.
I started my journey by traveling to New Orleans, to split up the trip at my friend Kryss’ house. I must say, that I was both shocked by the detestation that New Orleans is still in, and heartened by how much people are working to get things back to normal. Kryss’ apartment is functional, but the houses on both sides of her were still under reconstruction. However, the French Quarter was business-as-usual for the most part, so we did a little shopping while we were there. The city is mostly in desperate need of tourism, so if you get a chance, go to New Orleans soon, while they need it most. I know folks are talking about going to NOLA when things are “back to normal,” but they won’t get that way if folks don’t go back now. (end preaching)
We swung by Baton Rouge to pick up Shamsi, another bellydance instructor and member of our little chosen family, and then headed off to Texas.
Each day started off in silence, with a simple breakfast of oatmeal. The morning session lasted for four hours, and consisted of several exercises (with short nap times in between!). Lunch was another simple vegan meal, with evening session a few hours later (for three hours) and then dinner. It was an easy routine, with quiet in the mornings, socializing in the afternoons & evenings. There was plenty of free time, and I took full advantage of all the opportunities for napping.
Honestly, the first few days I had trouble quieting down, and at one or two points I thought to myself, “Gah! I’m surrounded by hippies! I need a computer! Let me go caress my jump drive!” But on day three I finally settled down and relaxed. A couple of times I got into really deep states of meditation while I was moving, which was awesome. I also had the opportunity to meet some amazing people, with wonderful life stories.I took some photos and video, most of which were done the last day (once I knew folks weren’t going to think I was some creepy voyeur with a camera at a dance workshop).I will be going to New Orleans again to do another Dance Meditation workshop in April. I hope to see a lot of my new friends from this time, and to meet some new friends as well!