HELEN WHITNEY

This week Helen Whitney is visiting CMI.  I am enjoying this!  She is a wonderful person.  The bio on her website reads like this -

Helen Whitney has worked as a producer, director, and writer for documentaries and feature films since 1971. Her documentary work has appeared on ABC's "Closeup" and PBS's American Masters, as well as on FRONTLINE. Her documentaries have ranged over a wide variety of subjects, among them: youth gangs, presidential candidates, the mentally ill, a Trappist Monastery, Pope John Paul II, the class structure of Great Britain, homosexuals, and the photographer Richard Avedon. Whitney maintains a passionate personal interest in the religious journey. Her 90-minute ABC News "Closeup" documentary, "The Monastery," about the Cister Spencer, Mass., left her searching for other projects about spiritual life. This passion was also evident in FRONTLINE's "John Paul II: The Millennial Pope", a film for which she and her team conducted more than 800 interviews in six countries. Whitney's documentaries and features have received many honors, including an Emmy Award, a Peabody Award, an Oscar nomination, the Humanitas Award, and the prestigious duPont-Columbia Journalism Award.

Today I attended the lunchtime forum and viewed the first hour of her new documentary, Forgiveness: Understanding Love and Hate.  She is still preparing this and looking for final funding.  Helen expects it to be available to the public towards the end of the year or early 2011.  On Thursday evening I will attend a presentation of her documentary on The Mormons.  I am looking forward to this.

Helen is bringing life to CMI this week.  We are all enjoying her presence. 

THE SCENT OF GREEN PAPAYA

One of the perks of working on a college campus is getting emails about forums and other extra curricular activities; free to the public and very much worth attending.  Tonight was such an event.  

This beautiful foreign film is intoxicating.  Set in the 1950's a peasant girl becomes a house maid for a Saigon family.  She is a substitute for the daughter they lost.  But as the movie flows, the family becomes financially challenged.  They are forced to sell the now young woman to work in the home of the man she has loved since the age of ten.  Few words are spoken which makes the film even more breathtaking.  It is magnificent to watch and the soundtrack is pleasant to listen to.  This film was made in 1993.  It was a joy to watch.   

MISS THIS

A long time ago in another lifetime I was a seamstress.  I stitched matching dresses for Karamea and I to wear to church and other special occasions.  I created window coverings, quilts, quiet books, pajamas, cute little heart garlands, Christmas ornaments and so on.  I miss those days.  I miss strolling through endless isles of fabric bolts, glancing through pattern books, piecing quilts and watching an outfit come together one stitch at a time.

I have my dad to thank for my sewing obsession.  Way back when I was fourteen ,in the days when they actually had funding to teach great things in school, dad made sure sewing was on my class list.  Grade nine through grade twelve, I took sewing.

It was about 5:00 this evening when I was just finishing up at work, Hamilton called.  "Mom, I need a flag for my school project."  My reply, "great, when do you need it by."  The shocking response from a very quiet voice on the other end of the phone, "tomorrow."  

Ummm, thanks to months of meditation I was able to keep my thoughts to myself and calmly say, "okay I'll work on that after I start dinner and laundry."  Thirty minutes later I was on the way home from work but not until I stopped to pick up Asa from basketball practice.

While preparing dinner Hamilton and Ammon searched for some old clothes I could use to cut and create a flag.  Dinner is over, laundry is in the process, the flag is complete.

And I miss being a mom.   

ROAD TRIP

Celebrating this MLK Day with Asa and Hamilton!  We drove up Saturday morning to hang out with Karamea, Grandpa and Grandma.  Salt Lake is more fun in the summer.

The boys watched Lord of the Rings on the way up and on the way back.  I tried to be distracted by listening to my shuffle ipod but Lord of the Rings is loud.  So I just gave up and listened to the movie while driving.

We spent Saturday with Karamea.  She took us to a pizza place for dinner.  The boys played pool.  Asa is actually pretty good at this game.  It was late  Saturday night when we finally arrived at Mom and Dad's.  I was exhausted.  Sunday was just as exhausting with church at 9 then fixing meals for everyone and talking with dad all afternoon.  By the time I got Karamea back to her apartment and back out to Sandy it was midnight.  I could barely keep my eyes open on the drive home.  

Now I am back in St. George after enjoying a quick weekend with Asa, Hamilton and Karamea.  Time with my kids...it's the best way to spend my time.    

WHITE TARA - GODDESS OF COMPASSION

The captivating artwork of Romio Shrestha is compiled in the book, Celestial Gallery.  I found this book at Barnes and Noble and purchased two copies.  One for Karamea and one for me.  The forward written by Depak Chopra says that, "as we gaze upon these extraordinary paintings, we are transported into the innermost reaches of the psyche - a place in which anything is possible.  Contemplating these divine forms prepares us for a richer life.

Saturday morning I woke before everyone, as I always do.  It was cold.  I fed Sammie, put him outside then climbed back under my electric blanket.  Celestial Gallery sat on the night table next to my bed so I picked it up.  A few pages in I came upon the beautiful depiction of White Tara.

White Tara is the Goddess of Compassion.  I am intrigued by the fact that she has seven eyes.  Besides those placed normally on her face there is one on each palm, one on the sole of each foot and one inverted on her foreward to look inward. 

Ian A Baker describes the qualities of White Tara -

"The qualities of Whate Tara are ultimately inseparable from our own.  Her loving kindness reflects an innate altruism that arises spontaneously from recognizing our oneness with all creation.  If we see through to Tara's essence, she frees us from self-serving thoughts and encourages us to act selflessly, and wisely, for the benefit of all beings."

With every reflective moment of my Saturday I was drawn back to this painting and to it's meaning.  This awakened my senses. 

"OPEN SEVEN EYES, like Tara, and be sure that everything you do, every step you take, every thought you think, is fueled by compassion.  You will then be inseparable from White Tara, the embodiment of pure love." - Romio Shrestha

 
  

THAWING OUT

One of the greatest thoughts about quitting my job in April was, "Yes, I don't have to work First Night." That happy thought  was extinguished when CMI merged with KCSG in September.

This week has been all about final details of a First Night extravaganza.  Call time yesterday was 2pm.  Other than a short 2 hour break I was there...outside from 2pm until 1am.  Do you understand FROZEN?

Today my body aches.  A massage is not far from my thoughts.  My house is a disaster, Christmas needs to come down, laundry needs to happen, the boys are starving.  I am tired and my body is still thawing out.  Today will be my day to relax...my bed and the divine heat of the electric blanket and movies.  That's whats on my mind.

HAPPY 2010 TO EVERYONE!  I'm sure I'll feel like partying in a few days.