I have told the (continuing) story of how Stephanie Stean has made my life better to several different people lately.  And in doing so, I have tried to figure out just what Stephanie does that is so right on.  Stephanie sees and makes connections (between people, ideas, actions) and is unafraid to speak her mind.  She does not politik, and she is not a social climber.  She is like an eagle in that she has a grand view from above and can see the lay of the land, and also like the eagle she can focus in on a tiny wriggling field mouse from miles away.  She has both the macro and micro view.  But unlike the eagle, I do not think she will swoop down and eat me (the tiny mouse).  (Or maybe I am actually a bush or a rock--in any case, still safe.)

"Nothing is so obvious that it’s obvious. When someone says that something is obvious, it seems almost certain that it is anything but obvious – even to them. The use of the word “obvious” indicates the absence of a logical argument – an attempt to convince the reader by asserting the truth of something by saying it a little louder."   --Errol Morris

"Well, the hardest work that ever I done
 Is plowin' a field of rye
 The easiest work that ever I done
 Was eatin' chicken pie"

                      from Crow Black Chicken by Ry Cooder


From Dawn:
The hardest work that ever I done is debugging Mike S.'s SAS program to match mothers and children in the Census micro data.
The easiest work that ever I done is falling asleep in the recliner.

The hardest work that ever I done is remembering the truth of the past.
The easiest work that ever I done was repressing it.

The hardest work that ever I done is accepting myself.
The easiest work that ever I done is running around like a spaz and flapping my big yap.

The hardest work that ever I done is letting JBird love me.
The easiest work that ever I done is loving JBird.

I would print:

Love of money is the root of all evil.  Get rid of all your dirty filthy money.  Send it to:

Dawn Johnson
PO Box 1234
Boca Del Vista, CA 90123

And I will dispose of it for you.

I just started a five-session insight meditation class.  The first session was last night.  It was instructive, and a bit daunting.

The first exercize involved eating a raisin in a mindful way, after first trying to observe it with new eyes, as if we had never seen a raisin before, as if we were from Mars and had no reference for raisins.  What might we notice?

Here is my brain-stream:

"Hmm..I can see where this was once a grape.  It is basically a deflated globe.  I wonder where the seeds went?  Perhaps they remove the seeds before drying it, but I do not see a wound where the seeds were removed.  Maybe they use seedless varieties.  That is kind of Frankensteinish. What kind of barbaric beings would rob a plant of it's ability to reproduce.  I guess that would be us.  But I doubt I would enjoy raisins as much if they were seeded.  Every package of raisins I have ever seen says 'Seedless Raisins', which makes it sound like there are also seeded raisins.  Maybe in the old days all they had were seeded raisins, which would be horrible in cookies.    If I was a Martian, I would not know that this is a dried fruit, but I might recognize it as organic.  It looks like a booger.  Perhaps I would think it is some kind of human nasal discharge--if I had a concept of nasal discharge--if Martians have noses--or perhaps I would think it is poop, that humans poop like rabbits and then eat it in their cookies."

I have a lot of work to do to quiet this crazy brain.

I walk with Stephanie once a week.  And I love it.  This week I thought of a new name for her: Sonali, which means Golden One.  She is golden in her countenance and in her immense worth to me.  Precious like a Rinpoche.  Plus Sonali starts with a SS sound and ends with an EE sound, like Stephanie.