Eye of the Wind

Photograph - Edward Curtis — Riders in Canyon de Chelly.

Music - Eye of the Wind, from Inside Monument Valley. R.Carlos Nakai and Paul Horn.

Certain music tells me to stop, slow down, breathe. A gift beyond measure. I never know when or exactly how Great Spirit will send this to me. But when it happens I am grateful. So very. Grateful.

 "A very great vision is needed and the man who has it must follow it as the eagle seeks the deepest blue of the sky.” - Crazy Horse, Sioux Chief

"Upon suffering beyond suffering: the Red Nation shall rise again and it shall be a blessing for a sick world. A world filled with broken promises, selfishness and separations. A world longing for light again. I see a time of Seven Generations when all the colors of mankind will gather under the Sacred Tree of Life and the whole Earth will become one circle again. In that day, there will be those among the Lakota who will carry knowledge and understanding of unity among all living things and the young white ones will come to those of my people and ask for this wisdom. I salute the light within your eyes where the whole Universe dwells. For when you are at that center within you and I am that place within me, we shall be one." - Crazy Horse, Oglala Sioux Chief   [This he said as he sat smoking the Sacred Pipe with Sitting Bull for the last time, four days before he was assassinated.] Sphere: Related Content

Aaron Neville, Chaka Khan. And Edna.

When I listen to this incredible tune I don't think of long lost love. Nope. Think of Edna. Always on my shoulder. One way or another.


Aaron Neville & Chaka Khan,
"Let's Stay Together."



I'm, I'm so in love with you
Whatever you want to do
It's alright with me
'Cause you make me feel so brand new
I want to spend my life with you
Things just ain't the same, baby, since we've been together
Ooh, loving you forever
Is what I need
Let me be the one you come running to
I'll never be untrue

Ooh, baby, let's, let's stay together
Loving you whether, whether times are good or bad, happy or sad
Whether times are good or bad, happy or sad

Why somebody, why people break up?
Oh, turn around and make up
I just can't see
You'd never do that to me (Would you, baby?)
So to be around you is all I see
Is what I want us to
Let's, we ought to stay together
Loving you whether, whether times are good or bad, happy or sad

Let's, let's stay together
Loving you whether, whether times are good or bad, happy or sad

===
Produced by Willie Mitchell
Written by Al Green, Al Jackson,Jr. and Willie Mitchell
Courtesy of Hi Records under license from CEMA Special Markets Sphere: Related Content

Life with Love — Vermont

"Grown men can learn from very little children for the hearts of the little children are pure. Therefore, the Great Spirit may show to them many things which older people miss." - Black Elk, Oglala Sioux Holy Man

Two days ago a writer in Vermont — whose stories so many of us look for every day — posted a story about a ten year old boy who braved broken jagged ice in a frozen pond to save the life of a dog. A dog who weighs 165 pounds. His name is CODA. The story is what Black Elk speaks of above. "Grown men can learn from very little children...."

I don't know how many people take the time to thank Life with Dogs. I hope they are many expressing gratitude. For Life with Dogs could just as well be Life with Love. For many of us involved in advocacy, activism, rescue the stories this earnest, compassionate and all things bright and beautiful writer chooses to share provide lifesaving winds of sunlight we cling to amidst the sadness, tragedy and sometimes unspeakable horror in the daily reports of abuse which cannot be ignored. I read the story of the 10 year old who braved frozen waters to save a dog named CODA, all 165 lbs of him. I closed my eyes and said thank you for bringing this story to all of us today. I love Life with Dogs. You give us Hope. Every day. And yours is such a Life of Love. Sphere: Related Content

If I Can

If I can stop one heart from breaking,
I shall not live in vain;
If I can ease one life the aching,
Or cool one pain,
Or help one fainting robin
Unto his nest again,
I shall not live in vain.

Emily Dickinson Sphere: Related Content

If you —

"If you talk to the animals they will talk with you and you will know each other. If you do not talk to them you will not know them and what you do not know, you will fear. What one fears, one destroys."
Chief Dan George, Tsleil-Waututh Nation, British Columbia, Canada

"Everything the power of the world does is done in a circle. The sky is round, and I have heard that the earth is round like a ball, and so are all the stars. The wind, in its greatest power whirls. Birds make their nest in circles, for theirs is the same religion as ours. The sun comes forth and goes down again in a circle. The moon does the same and both are round. Even the seasons form a great circle in their changing, and always come back again to where they were. The life of a man is a circle from childhood to childhood, and so it is in everything where power moves. Our tepees were round like the nests of birds, and these were always set in a circle,
the nation's hoop." Black Elk
Medicine Man or Holy Man, and Heyoka of the Oglala Lakota (Sioux). He participated at about the age of twelve in the Battle of Little Big Horn of 1876, and was wounded in the massacre that occurred at Wounded Knee in 1890. Sphere: Related Content

True believer — with a dream. And angels.

Dogs Deserve Better. Founded in 2002 in Pennsylvania. "An award-winning nonprofit organization dedicated to bringing Man's Best Friend into the home and family." Sanctuary and home base now in Virginia. 1915 Moonlight Drive, Smithfield. Former property of Michael Vick.

Lots of skeptics when Tami Thayne began working on making her dream a reality — Dogs Deserve Better would raise the money to purchase former Michael Vick property. To honor those who died, their lives short jagged whispers of torture. To make a sanctuary for two-leggeds rescued from chains. Lots of naysayers as well. It was, after all, a place dark with history, dark with shadows. I imagined when I thought about her beginning days there that bundles of white sage for burning and cleansing might help. Wished I could take some time off, travel that way to bear witness. I imagined rain, lightening, thunderstorms. And the prayers. Always the prayers. And angels, so many angels. Who sent their love and support and their dollars. One by one. Five by five. Here's looking at you DDB. Honored to know you.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _


"From what we at Best Friends know of the way Michael Vick has related to the animals he abused, the answer is clearly that he has “simply rediscovered the pocket.” Best Friends took 22 of Vick’s 48 seized dogs and the only contact we’ve received from Vick or his representatives was by way of some overtures from his agent, one of his attorneys and a PR firm specializing in reputation rehabilitation. They were interested in some public glad handing that would put Vick in a favorable light with the NFL, which at the time was still considering whether or not to reinstate him. We declined."

"Best Friends has never heard from Michael Vick or any of his representatives inquiring after the health or well being of any of the 22 dogs that we received from his fighting ring." Francis Battista

- - - - - - -

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

BAD RAP Blog

Vick: Still not sorry (we checked)— Donna Reynolds

"This coming Sunday, the Philadelphia Eagles will be landing in - gulp - our hometown to play the Oakland Raiders. What to do? In the spirit of moving forward, we decided to invite Michael Vick to meet his victims while he's here so he could look them in the eye and extend his apologies. Yeah we did. It was a tough situation to consider - but at some point we have to find some closure and move this man off of our emotional radar, right? It took five pins & needles days for him to say No. One can only imagine the back and forth between his handlers about that little decision."

"Here's the short version. And here's our news release in full:"

"Vick refuses to meet former Bad Newz Kennel dogs while in Oakland"

"Late last week, Oakland based pit bull advocacy group BAD RAP invited Michael Vick to view eight of his former Bad Newz Kennels dogs from behind a window while in town for the Raiders game on October 18, but the offer was refused. The invitation was extended to allow Vick an opportunity to acknowledge the victims of the crimes he committed while running a dogfighting operation that employed torture and death as a means to punish underperforming dogs. Vick has indicated remorse for disappointing his fans, his family, his teammates and his coach, but has steered clear of mentioning his victim dogs in public statements."

"BAD RAP Co-Founder, Tim Racer said: "Oakland is a town that welcomed Vick's broken dogs with open arms back in 2007. We understand Vick is trying to right his wrongs and is very interested in redemption, but you can't find redemption without acknowledging your victims. Making amends to the dogs themselves would have helped to create some closure for many of us, especially the people who worked so hard to keep them from being destroyed. It seems that Vick is not ready to go there."

"Pamela Browner-Crawley, public affairs director for the Philadelphia Eagles, relayed BAD RAP's offer to Vick. To satisfy the conditions of Vick's parole that bars him from being near animals, a location was identified that would allow him to view his former dogs from behind a window, at legal distance. On Wednesday, Crawley contacted BAD RAP to decline on behalf of Vick. Ignoring the fact that legalities would be followed, she explained, "Michael is not allowed to be around dogs by a court order, so logistically and legally, your plan can't work."

"We were fairly certain that he would decline our invitation, given his continued refusal to make mention of his dogs," said Racer. "The unfortunate thing is that his new position of compassion towards animals would be so much more credible if he could actually say that he looked his victims in the eye and said, "I'm sorry."


"So, who's surprised?"

"Actions speak louder" Sphere: Related Content

The Door and Little Ben — And stubborn Hope

In late February I called a friend to help me replace a door. It was — we thought — a simple task. But a combination of missed steps, Home Depot hell, 5 o'clock traffic and lost tools turned a three hour project into a marathon.

He made the mortises for the hinges with a hammer, a screwdriver and infinite patience. The tools we'd purchased for the task had gone missing. I became increasingly agitated attempting to locate the errant tools. He became calmer, entered a flipping Zen state, and worked on The Door on the back porch well into the night. Darren MacGyver, with the aid of a hanging utility light and Sir BRADLEY Basset, padding back and forth insistently to check on his progress.

That door was the beginning of a Lewis Carroll-esqe down the rabbit hole journey. Ancient threads unravelled and new ones appeared, but so clouded in maya I couldn't see them. Jagged slivers of mistrust melted in a mystical alchemy understood only by the Elders. And all the while Great Spirit watched over me, even as I stamped my feet and wailed like stubborn HOPE, who at the time was high heartworm positive and damn sick and tired of being in her crate. So she threw hissy fits. Stamped her paws on the Kuranda bed, slapped her water bucket, deliberately sloshed water on the floor, then banged the water bucket again. Because she wanted attention and she wanted it r i g h t t h e n r i g h t n o w. And in case you missed the foot stamping and bucket slapping she would let rip with piercing soprano shrieks — a once feral now semi-domesticated and not too damn happy about that pit bull. HOPE is not very patient. But she does have a voice. And she is growing. Stubborn Hope.

Seven weeks ago I drove to Gadsden, Alabama to get Little BEN, one of the HSUS Alabama 44. He was scared to leave. His best friend and teacher KIMBO gave him a reassuring nose kiss when he froze on the walkway outside the front door. Uncertain, tenuous, his run at the astonishing Humane Society of Etowah County the only safety he'd known since being taken from his home, the place he was born, by HSUS. Loaded in a van and transported to Etowah County for processing. Along with his 43 brothers, sisters and cousins thrice removed. I understood his fear. He was leaving what had become home, a place where the executive director, the licensed vet tech, four kennel/animal health care techs and two adoption counselors all work together — all areas, including cleaning the runs. Sometimes new beginnings are scary, and Little BEN was leaving home. Again. And saying goodbye to the very few people he had come to trust.

Little BEN and I crossed three state lines, unexpectedly spending the night in Atlanta. Horsesugar hit the proverbial fan after we left I-20 and hit the I-285 city loop. Stalled in bumper to bumper waiting to get on I-85 we saw miles ahead of more bumper to bumper. Flashbacks to the 101. Too much traffic, too much stress. Little BEN and I called it a night.

On the way back to Charlotte the next day I listened to Aaron Neville singing "To Make Me Who I Am." Realized life was taking a sharp turn into the everything is gonna be all right lane. If Aaron Neville can make it out of where he lived and who he was, and still be singing like an angel with a voice to cut the cloud mist at Machu Picchu, I for damn sure can beat the bad rap of small minded individuals — who judge, opine and feed the gossip mongering naysayer machine. People who have no flippin clue about mental health issues. Nor, as far as I can tell, compassion. Yep, I for damn sure can keep on doing what I love best. Helping dogs. Walking in their paws. Asking their two-leggeds a whole lotta questions, getting to the what-when-where-how of the triggers and cues responsible for the behavior which has brought them to me. Teaching their two-leggeds how to erase those cues and triggers, replace them with new ones. Positive instead of negative. Joyful instead of fearful. Open instead of closed. Inclusive rather than exclusive. Four paws up and sixteen pads wiggling whilst rolling in the green green grass.

A very special thanks to KONA, KIRA, NINA, RAY RAY, BLUE and NICK Pratt for teaching Little BEN everything he needs to know about being all the dog he can be. 'Life is good. Let it fly.'

Here's looking at you Edna. Your hissy fit throwing daughter is a mirror image of the man you loved so dearly, John Abraham better known as Jack. But mixed with a real serious and very healthy dose of you, Mom. Sphere: Related Content