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November/December, 1999

Best Wishes for 2000

A good finish requires constant practice,
a fresh, strong start, and, of course,
a grand finale.

--WJ

Loving a child doesn't mean giving in to all his whims; to love him is to bring out the best in him, to teach him to love what is difficult.   --Nadia Boulanger No man can possibly know what life means, what the world means, what anything means, until he has a child and loves it. And then the whole universe changes and nothing will ever again seem exactly as it seemed before. -- Lafcadio Hearn Copy your own style. Quote yourself. Rush unhesitatingly, in full faith, trusting that what you are saying & doing right now matters mightily, that it is rightly motivated, that it is desired and needed by some who would be sadly disappointed by your silence. --WJ

This is the best thing I've given myself in a long time. The whole double CD package, the booklet, the photos -- all of it so like its subject,, artfully cool! and that's before we even get to the most amazing thing of all, the music, which reveals so stunningly the almost surrealistic persona of Bob Dylan in the middle sixties when he was first presenting himself world-wide as an electric rock musician. Some of his followers stood up at the so-called "Royal Albert Hall" concert and tried quite rudely to hoot him down, because they resented any deviation from their already fixed idea of who Bob Dylan was.

It is so clear, as the concert progresses from an early acoustic phase to one more representative of the new, electric Dylan, that the artist is creatively engaged with the actual mood of the audience, meeting every reproach between tunes with an increasingly sensitive avalanche of pure creative genius. He is empathetic but not relenting in his amplified weaving of mysteries, backed by the likes of Robbie Robinson in his touring band. In what is described as "one of the great confrontational performances of the 20th century," we are ear-witnesses to the triumph of personal and artistic integrity by one of the most spiritual troubadours of all time.

Indeed, as someone once said in THE SATURDAY EVENING POST, "Bob Dylan's music is a secular manifestation of religious experience." A statement which echoes my sentiments and aspirations precisely!

What really impresses me about the Bob Dylan revealed in this CD set is that he's so good that he can afford not to care about the harsh judgments being slung against him -- and that he, nevertheless, chooses to care with a delicate intensity, not by giving in, but by giving out the very best he has to offer. In his own chosen style -- of course!

Bill Joyner (11-14-99)

"All men's miseries come from their inability to sit quiet and alone."
--Blaise Pascal

Happy Holy Days!
Time now to say good-bye to the millennial blues, 
time to say hello to future days wherein joyful peace will forever reign and dear, 
sweet love will be supreme.
--BJ

"...Growth, enlightenment and inner peace. 
I think all of that is probably more feasible when one doesn't have to pay rent."
--Kristy Bryant

With sorrow we note the passing of Suzanne Larsen, dear friend and artiste extraordinaire! Love ever lingers in the afterglow.

Hymn of the Universe
Teilhard de Chardin
Harper Torchbooks TB1910

HYMN TO MATTER
'Blessed be you, harsh matter, barren soil, stubborn rock: you who yield only to violence, you who force us to work if we would eat.
'Blessed be you, perilous matter, violent sea, untamable passion: you who unless we fetter you will devour us.
'Blessed be you mighty matter, irresistible march of evolution, reality ever new-born; you who, by constantly shattering our mental categories, force us to go ever further and further in our pursuit of the truth.
'Blessed be you, universal matter, immeasurable time, boundless ether, triple abyss of stars and atoms and generations: you who by overflowing and dissolving our narrow standards or measurement reveal to us the dimensions of God.
'Blessed be you, impenetrable matter: you who, interposed between our minds and the world of essences, cause us to languish with the desire to pierce through the seamless veil of phenomena.
'Blessed be you, mortal matter: you who one day will undergo the process of dissolution within us and will thereby take us forcibly into the very heart of that which exists.
'Without you, without your onslaughts, without your uprootings of us, we should remain all our lives inert, stagnant, puerile, ignorant both of ourselves and of God.
You who batter us and then dress our wounds, you who resist us and yield to us, you who wreck and build, you who shackle and liberate, the sap of our souls, the hand of God, the flesh of Christ: it is you, matter, that I bless.

--Stanton Peele in Love Addiction

How can we make an impact in the remaining time?
Seek help. Gather together, love & care for one another.

"To be or not to be," that is always the question. Either we fall back in fear, or we move forward with faith. We can either spend time worrying about the end, or we can go on with the work of creation. "He not busy being born," Bob Dylan sings, "is busy dying."

All cannot be done at once, only what is most immediately needful. And you need not worry what it is, because it will reveal itself. Apply yourself freely, joyously, as if what you are doing right now matters more than all else. Rest well within the moment. The spirit of eternal love is with you, indeed IS you!

--Bill Joyner

Ann Saul's Jalepeno Corn Bread
Ingredients:

• 1 onion
• 3/4 lb sharp cheddar cheese
• 1 (4 oz.) can diced jalepenos - or 3 fresh jalepenos (diced)
• 4 eggs
• 1 (14 oz.) can creamed corn
• 1 (16 oz.) carton sour cream
• 1/2 cup oil
• 1 cup yellow corn meal
• 1 cup flour
• 1 TBSP baking powder
• 1 tsp salt

Preparation:
Chop onion, grate cheese to get 1 1/2 cups, beat eggs in large bowl, stir in creamed corn, sour cream and oil, fold in onion, cheese and jalepenos. Add cornmeal, flour baking powder and salt. Mix well. Pour batter in greased 13 x 9 inch baking pan and bake at 350 degrees F until top is lightly browned - 55-60 minutes. Makes 18 servings.

Email Received:
"My sister Vanessa is getting ready to paint/restore the Stations of the Cross in a 100-year-old Catholic Church. I have a feeling this could be interesting. There's something powerful within the walls of such a place. It's as if remnants of prayers still breathe in the trapped, ancient air."
--Luanne DiBernardo

"Simply stumbled upon your Seed Garden on the web. Truly a very inspiring site. I am sure to be checking back every now and then to see what grows in your garden. In an age where wry wit and jaded cynicism are king and queen, you show that compassion and faith are truly the fruits of the human heart and mind."
--Ryan James Sarnowski