November 25

What I mean, brothers and sisters, is that the time is growing short, and from now on, those who have spouses should live as though they had none;

and those who mourn as though they were not mourning; those who enjoy life as though they did not enjoy it; those who have property as though they had no possessions;

and those who are involved with the world as though they were not engrossed in it; because this world as we know it is passing away.       

                                                                                                                        1 Cor. 7:29-31

Corita Kent (Nov. 20, 1918 – Sept. 18, 1986)

The art of Corita Kent was such a wonderful part of my childhood and youth; it was a gift to us all.  She was a true visionary, and everything about her was honest and fearless: her colors, her writings, her simple, aphoristic wisdom, and her subtle inversion of commercial advertising to create messages of peace and hope.  She is one of those emblematic figures of the sixties and seventies who still speaks to us, and whose message of peace and justice, faith and love, hope and joy, are as relevant as ever. 

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8WyOmA4Q3k&feature=related (Aaron Rose and friends on Corita)

Stop SOPA

HR 3261, the Stop Online Piracy Act, and its Senate counterpart, Protect IP Act, represent the biggest threat to free speech in America since the Patriot Act.  This blacklist legislation has been created with the help of corporate media giants and gives the government and private interests unprecedented control over the internet.  This would apply not only to content originating in the US, but extend the US government's censorship powers worldwide.  It would force service providers to act as "thought police" responsible for monitoring and removing content under a broad and confusing definition of copyright infringement that includes many forms of expression currently considered fair use, including the dissemination of information from news sources.  The deliberate lack of clarity in its wording, and the broad scope of this legislation, opens the door to its employment as a means of censoring unpopular opinions, creative expression, and the free exchange of ideas.  Contact your representative today and let them know that you oppose this further deterioration of our constitutional rights.

El Paso Occupiers Arrested

Six El Paso occupiers were arrested last night.  We need donations for bail immediately.  Please donate at www.wepay.com/donate/37956

Police Citation for Exercising Constitutional Right to Peaceably Assemble

Occupy El Paso, Day 27

After being double-crossed by the city of El Paso over moving our occupation to another park, and with the loss of a number of our occupiers who are leaving town for personal reasons or to occupy elsewhere, (I had to temporarily stop occupying due to a medical emergency with one of our kids), it looks like our physical occupation here is going on temporary hiatus.  We are still trying to decide our next step, and hopefully the general assemblies, protest actions, teach-ins, and other activities will continue in the meantime.  This crisis could not have come at a worse time for me, personally, but I am still up for a continuing occupation here.

Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz (12 November 1648 – 17 April 1695)

Today is the birthday of Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, a founder of Mexican literature.  Although Sor (Sister) Juana was born and lived in Mexico during the Spanish empire, there is a distinct “Mexican” style to her writings.  She even learned Nahuatl, and there is writing in that language attributed to her.  She was certainly the first important Castilian poet of the land that would become the nation of Mexico, and her written discourses with scholars of many disciplines make it clear that she was one of the great intellectual minds of her time.  Her admirers called her the “Décima Musa” (the Tenth Muse).  Today, she is perhaps best known for her defense of women’s right to education.  Many of her modern admirers have a very hard time accepting the fact that after ecclesiastical authorities made it clear to her that they believed her intellectual activities were not proper for a nun, she “repented” and gave up her studies and her writing.  Instead of seeing this decision as an act of humility and love, many modern scholars have created all kinds of “pathological” explanations.  It’s important to remember that she never “recanted” her earlier work, but simply agreed that her role should be devotional and charitable.  Her work, along with that of her friend Carlos Sigüenza y Góngora, helped lay the foundation for a vibrant intellectual and literary life in Mexico.

     "Si Aristóteles hubiera guisado, mucho más hubiera escrito."

                                                 --Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz

George MacDonald

“All a man has to do, is to better what he can.  And if he will settle it with himself that even renown and success are in themselves of no great value, and be content to be defeated, if so that the fault is not his, and so go to his work with a cool brain and a strong will, he will get it done; and fare none the worse in the end, that he was not burdened with provision and precaution.”

     “But he will not always come off well,” I ventured to say. 

     “Perhaps not,” rejoined the knight, “in the individual act; but the result of his lifetime will content him.”

                                                                --George MacDonald, Phantastes

Dorothy Day, November 8, 1897 – November 29, 1980

I found myself, a barren woman, the joyful mother of children.  It is not easy always to be joyful, to keep in mind the duty of delight. 

     The most significant thing about The Catholic Worker is poverty, some say.

     The most significant thing is community, others say.  We are not alone anymore.

     But the final word is love.  At times it has been, in the words of Father Zossima, a harsh and dreadful thing, and our very faith in love has been tried through fire.

     We cannot love God unless we love each other, and to love we must know each other.  We know Him in the breaking of bread, and we know each other in the breaking of bread, and we are not alone anymore.  Heaven is a banquet and life is a banquet, too, even with a crust, where there is companionship.

                                                                        --Dorothy Day, The Long Loneliness

Occupy El Paso, Day 22

As some of us who are involved with Occupy El Paso face the possibility of eviction and arrest by the city in the near future, I offer these words of Martin Luther King, Jr. to help those who have, with all good will, questioned our resolve to stand with non-violent resistance in our defense of the right to protest (with my own redactions in brackets):

 We ha(ve) no alternative except to prepare for direct action, whereby we would present our very bodies as a means of laying our case before the conscience of the local and the national community.

Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community {the one percent} which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue. It seeks to so dramatize the issue that it can no longer be ignored. My citing the creation of tension as part of the work of the nonviolent-resister may sound rather shocking. But I must confess that I am not afraid of the word "tension." I have earnestly opposed violent tension, but there is a type of constructive, nonviolent tension which is necessary for growth. Just as Socrates felt that it was necessary to create a tension in the mind so that individuals could rise from the bondage of myths and half-truths to the unfettered realm of creative analysis and objective appraisal, we must we see the need for nonviolent gadflies to create the kind of tension in society that will help men {and women} rise from the dark depths of prejudice and racism to the majestic heights of understanding and brotherhood {and from the dark depths of greed, indifference and injustice to the majestic heights of understanding and personhood}.

The purpose of our direct-action program is to create a situation so crisis-packed that it will inevitably open the door to negotiation.

                                                              --Martin Luther King, Jr., Letter from Birmingham Jail


Latest developments:
It now appears that the city is willing to grant a new permit that will let us legally continue our downtown occupation.  This is a welcome development which will hopefully allow us to continue to expend our energy on other forms of protest while continuing the occupation.

Occupy El Paso, Day 18

It was very cold last night.  But we had a great march during the late afternoon in solidarity with Occupy Oakland.  We marched from the Placita to UTEP and made a lot of noise.  There is a wonderful sense of camaraderie among the actual occupiers, despite food shortages, losing our big tent to the wind (where I was staying), and having to rearrange our camp to accommodate the city’s plan to begin decorating the big tree in the Plaza for Christmas.  A major event is planned for National Bank Transfer Day, November 5.  If you haven’t already done so, move your bank account to a credit union.  You’ll be glad you did.