Support Public Radio

I have always loved public radio.

With the purchase of my new iPod, I serendipitously discovered podcasts for “Morning Becomes Eclectic” at KCRW in Santa Monica, California. I am now branching out to explore additional programming at the station.

http://www.kcrw.com

Here are my favorite music picks that Nic Harcourt, the host of the show, recommended from 2007. Don’t miss the “Once” soundtrack!

1) Jesca Hoop, Kismet (Columbia)
2) Federico Aubele, Panamericana (ESL)
3) Once, Original Soundtrack (Sony) / I LOVE IT.

Supporting your favorite local public radio station financially is a GREAT idea.

KCRW, a community service of Santa Monica College, is Southern California's leading National Public Radio affiliate, featuring an eclectic mix of music, news, information and cultural programming. The station boasts one of the nation's largest arrays of locally- produced, nationally-distributed talk program content. KCRW.com extends the station's profile globally, with three streams featuring web-exclusive content: all music, all news and the live station simulcast, as well as an extensive list of podcasts. The non-commercial broadcast signal reaches 550,000 listeners weekly and is supported by 55,000 member/subscribers.

Spirituality in Algona, Iowa

The Day I Met Fran in Algona, Iowa

I have been thinking about spirituality in the midst of the brutal cold and wind chill of an Iowa winter. I saw this sign cheering for Jesus in Algona, Iowa and I had to photograph it. As I was putting my camera into its bag, Fran herself approached my car.

Fran firmly grasped my upper arm just below the elbow and began to tell me all of the reasons why she was a Christian. When I finally admitted to her that I prefer the principles of Buddhism to Christianity, she asked me if Buddha shed his blood on the cross for mankind.

That question was not relevant to my own world view, but the intensity in Fran's cloudy 73-year-old eyes and the firm pressure she applied to my upper arm told me that the answer mattered deeply to her.

It was at this moment that I made up an excuse and escaped. I had a dental appointment suddenly. I am still thinking about spirituality.

Note: I used a mosaic filter in Photoshop while working with the Fran's Praise Shop photo.

Iowa Thaw

My soul is telling me that it wants to live in the tropics!

Reservations?

How do you make reservations for an afterlife?

Homo Politicus

Reminder: read this book, "Homo Politicus" by Dana Milbank

Read a review at the NPR site.

Homo Politicus

afterthought:

...all we need to do is unveil our own nature, and we will find an inexhaustible source of wisdom, compassion, and power. It is nothing we need to acquire, from anywhere or anything. It has always been there. Seen in this light, the Buddha-nature requires no additions. One does not have to memorize sutras, recite prayers or accumulate virtues to create it. All one needs to do is unveil it.

-B. Alan Wallace, Tibetan Buddhism from the Ground Up from Everyday Mind, edited by Jean Smith, a Tricycle book

Secret Service and The Press: Obama Rally Dec. '07

I enjoy watching the secret service agents and the members of the press doing their jobs at the pre-caucus campaign events just as much as I enjoy hearing the candidates speak about the issues.

Photo by LJ Runkle

You understand what I am saying??

Now you know why I was distracted from John's political message for most of the afternoon.

January 1, 2008 - shot by LJ Runkle with love and care

More than Edwards

Surprise For My Eyes

I was watching this photographer work at the rally for John Edwards. In fact, I was distracted from John's political message for most of the afternoon.

His hands were smooth. His eyes were sharp, and I thought he was beautiful. I couldn't stop watching him.

The slow and gentle way he removed his fuzzy gray scarf sent chills up my spine, and the way he handled his camera was a joy for this woman to behold.

His presence reminded me to appreciate beauty in this world wherever I find it, including during a campaign speech by John Edwards on a cold and breezy Iowa afternoon in January.

January 1, 2008 - shot by LJ Runkle with love and care

John Edwards in Iowa

His Message

When he arrived, not a hair was out of place. His plan, as I heard it, was to confront the status quo in Washington, fists swinging.

January 1, 2008 - shot by LJ Runkle

John Edwards in Iowa

Cold Caucus Season in Iowa

It was a cold and blistery winter evening when we went to see John Edwards speak in Fort Dodge, Iowa on January 1, 2008. Sun rainbows were hanging in the sky. Elizabeth Edwards introduced her husband, who was running about 25 minutes late.

January 1, 2008 - shot by LJ Runkle

Learning from the Mormons

"The church believes in continuous revelation," so its doctrines can evolve.

From Polygamy to Propriety, "The Economist," December 22, 2007-January 4, 2008 issue

I too believe in continuous revelation. Revealing information that others kept in the dark for whatever reason may change my perspective on the existing body of knowledge that was always in the light.

Reveal and evolve, reveal and evolve, this motion moves us forward as human beings. Don't be afraid to learn from everyone and everything around you, hearing revelations like the pop of a champagne cork on New Year's Eve is intoxicating.

Clinton Rally: December 27, 2007

Iowans for Hillary Rally: Bill was at his best. I would like to see these two back in the White House.

Premier Pizza, 121 East State Street, Algona, Iowa, U.S.A.

Photo by LJ Runkle

Covering the Candidate

HEY: I want their cameras. That is my holiday wish.

Up Close: Rally With Barack Obama

Rally for Obama: Wednesday, December 26, 2007

One of the benefits of participating in the first in the nation political caucuses is candidate visits close to home. This photo radiates the up-close-and-personal touch of presidential election years in Iowa.

After I took this photo and studied Obama in Photoshop, I could see that campaigning was taking a toll on him. In his speech tonight, he said that his Christmas wish was for eight hours of sleep.

Photo: LJ Runkle

Ouch: Words Hurt

The Word Continuum


Words have the ability to soothe, excite, subdue and/or execute the human spirit.

As a journalist and enthusiastic Scrabble player, words are my trade and hobby. I realize the potential of A, E, I, O, U and sometimes Y to draw blood when they smoothly and concisely couple with their consonant companions can be devastating.

It is easy to verbally stumble when we forget that our nouns and verbs penetrate the emotions of others. Our sentences have the authority to heal, cajole and/or torture the psyches of our readers.

Sadly for me, I recently waterboarded a friend with several reactionary paragraphs.

It is a long story, but to summarize the disaster, the two of us had been wallowing in a pattern of dysfunctional behavior for some time. Despite my hope to modify the destructive energy in the air, communication between us took a turn into the neighborhood of irreparable damage in late October/early November 2007.

As a woman who practices Buddhism, I am aware that we are all able to make major changes in harmful behavior patterns in our lives, a vicious communication cycle between man and woman was the problem in our situation. Dr. Andrew Weil, a graduate of Harvard Medical School and practitioner of alternative medicine, believes that when we have established negative patterns of behavior with other human beings and with ourselves, it is possible to use self-awareness to reverse the devastation and mayhem. I believe this too, but the reversal process into the light involves a commitment on both sides, a commitment to understanding why the undesired behavior is happening and replacing darkness and turmoil with luminosity and fresh air. I would have appreciated the opportunity to work together with this man in order to begin the healing process, but I don't think he wants the same thing.

I have lived, learned and currently remind myself daily to heed the advice of Sophocles, a dramatist who was familiar with the intimacy of tragedy. When our words threaten to destroy the bonds that connect us to others:

"Hush! Check those words. Do not cure ill with ill and make your pain still heavier than it is."

Relax

What's the News?


Reading ALJAZEERA.net this morning on-line caused me to mourn the loss of world news in the United States.

I return home to America in mid-December 2007, after living in Rabat, Morocco for two months, and I am immediately inundated with the American news agenda.

1. News from the Iowa caucus repeated and analyzed over and over hourly;
2. The push to remove Christ from Christmas: gasp and moan;
3. Iraq: the one country Americans should be able to locate on the map;
4. Iran: echoes of the axis of evil. Remind me what America spends on defense...;
5. Baseball players on steroids;
6. Afghanistan and the Taliban-“Look at those beautiful poppy fields! Aren’t they pretty;”
7. The story of the day that will be beaten to death by the end of the day and resemble a dead horse, whinny and neigh.

American evening news global reporting can be described in five words: “the world in one minute.”

U.S. and local news occupy the next 20 minutes. And, what would the evening news be without a countdown-to-Christmas advertising frenzy dominating the final nine minutes. (Times are approximate. I guess-ti-mated based on extensive exposure to American culture and the evening news.)

Target, Best Buy and Wal-Mart need to have their say in creating the reality that is American news. Don’t forget to buy everyone. Patriotic Americans support the economy and the troops. I plan to relax with my Mentho Balm after writing this blog entry. Happy Holidays everyone!

I feel pretty, oh so pretty...

And I am a boy!

on the road with the best of friends

The Map: Dreams and Destinations