December 31st Through the Years: 2011- 2015

 

To celebrate the end of the 15^th year of this Blog and reflecting on what I keep hoping for all these years, I’m posting the last paragraph (occasionally the first sentence or two) of my Dec. 31^st blogposts, starting in 2011. Interesting (though shouldn’t be surprising) that I keep wishing for the same things even in the “Golden Years” of Obama and Biden. My three takeaways are:

 

• I’m consistent.

• These goals will never be wholly realized.

• Nevertheless, I persist. 

Dec. 31—2011: Dream On

 

…On the last day of the year, the time for New Year’s Resolutions, it’s a good time to pause, to sort through the dream images and find your own, to publicly announce your intention to move one inch closer to who you have imagined yourself to be, to name the particular concrete steps needed. Also a good time to remember this piece of wisdom:

 

“Be careful what you wish for. It just may come true.”

 

Happy New Year!

 

Dec. 31—2012: The Wheel of Fortune

 

… 2012 has been the usual blend of the height of human promise and the depths of human depravity, the quirks of Fate and the focused intentions of Work, the Wheel that spins on its own and the one that we control as we spin the threads of our own fate and fortune. Given a choice, I lean towards hope and love and justice and beauty, renewed each day in the eyes of the children I teach and the teachers dedicated to giving them the world they’re worthy of. May each of us continue to weave separately and together the fabric of our glorious future. On to 2013!!

 

 

Dec. 31—2013: Testimony

 

… And what precisely are these themes of these three years of blogposts? Mostly praise and its cousin, outrage. Praising the power of art, the beauty of music, the astonishing souls of young children and equally old folks and the winning combination of all those souls meeting art. Speaking on behalf of the wondrous things that have small voices in this loud, shouting, electronically amplified world, bearing witness to the things that Fox News doesn’t cover and can’t be bought at WalMart, tuning the ear to those tender notes buried under screaming guitars, testifying to the God and gods that stay away from TV Evangelists and deluded dogmas. 

 

I suppose my goals, such as they are, are the same as when I first wrote them in the ABOUT ME paragraph on the right— to simultaneously enjoy the world as it is and help change it to the something better it might be. I wish the same for us all as the old year turns the corner to 2014. May it be so!

 

 

Dec. 31—2014: The Wheels on the Bus

 

… “Oh, the doors of the bus go open and shut, open and shut, open and shut…”

 

One of the most thrilling opening doors has been working with the musicians in my Pentatonics Jazz band. This year, we went on a road trip! Okay, it was only to Fresno, but still fantastic! We also taught various family workshops at SF JAZZ and performed a concert in SF in May. In the same vein, I was thrilled to teach workshops at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center by the invitation of jazz vibraphonist Stefon Harris. That’s an open door I hope will keep opening and eventually include the full Pentatonics group. I love these guys! My only complaint is not enough rehearsals and not enough gigs. Anyone out there want to help change that?

 

Amidst the pleasure of continuing to ascend the ladder of my dreams came the closed doors of loved ones who left this year. First and foremost, the passing of my Mom three weeks shy of her 93^rd birthday. Then my Zen teacher Sasaki Roshi, at 107 years old. And my mother-in-law on the cusp of 90 starting to edge toward the exit gate. Their long lives (107!) help soften the blow, but absence is absence and there’s no way not to miss them. Then Karen’s old college roommate, my cousin, our neighbor, all in the 60’s and 70’s— too close to our age for comfort. On the public stage, more hard farewells to Robin Williams, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Joan Rivers, Lauren Bacall, James Garner, Shirley Temple, Sid Caesar, Mickey Rooney, Pete Seeger, Paco De Lucia, Horace Silver, Maya Angelou, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Amiri Baraka (formerly Leroi Jones) and more who kept us entertained, inspired and moved through their writing, music and acting. And so our losses sting and our remembrances warm and isn’t that just the way of life honestly lived? Those seats on the bus so sadly empty, but their presence still palpable if we keep remembrance alive.

 

“Oh, the babies on the bus go wah!wah!wah!…

 

Yes, I’m talking about my granddaughter Zadie, who fulfilled her toddler quota of crying fits in each of my five visits this year. But none of it canceled her deep joy, infectious laugh, warm hugs and all the joys of being around her. And as if that’s not enough of a blessing, a second grandchild is on the way!

 

“Oh the wipers on the bus go swish, swish, swish…”

 

Finally, much needed rain in California! Too early to call an end to the drought, but it sure is helping. Maybe I’ll take advantage of an indoor life and finally clean my front room.

 

“Oh, the driver on the bus says move on back, move on back, move on back…”

 

Yeah, but I’m not listening. I know I need to make room for the young folks coming up and with all the workshops and Intern training and such, I’m doing my part to train them to take the wheel. But I’m not done yet! Keep those invitations coming!

 

“Oh, the wheels of the bus go round and round, round and round, round and round…”

 

And so farewell to the 2014 bus ride and hopes for more adventurous travels through the landscapes of 2015.

 

 

 

Dec. 31—2015: Come Hither Angel

 

… Tonight I’m bringing in the New Year with a comedy show by Paula Poundstone at the Palace of Fine Arts, the very building that housed the Jeweled City Exhibit (now showing at the De Young Museum) at the 1915  Panama-Pacific International Exhibition. The central image is a presiding angel stopping the brute force of war and materialism with her left hand while the right hand shines on those who come bearing the gifts of culture that celebrates life.  It’s a good time to re-invoke that angel and invite her down to help keep some equilibrium between the forces of light and dark. A good time to renew my own vows to help brighten that light and work to dismount the rider (especially in an election year!). So I’ll close with the end to my Holiday Newsletter:

 

Here’s wishing for—and working for— more beauty than bombs, more guitars than guns, more poets than pundits, more fun than fundamentalism. Onward!