gilberto the monk

I love this guy. This is Gilberto - he's a monk with an order out of Bainbrige Island, Washington an spends a lot of time on the road; travelling to peace actions and the like. He's one of those people who loves people deeply and is so wonderfully accessible. He grew up in the projects and told me that he heard a radical priest speak back in the day and he knew he had found his calling to become a travelling monk. After a time and raising a family, that's what he's become.
When we are walking he's the guy that is constantly running across the street or into people's yards to talk to folks - I've never seen anybody feel uncomfortable or wary in his presence.
I warmed to him immediately and he's been a great source of comfort these past weeks. He's actually leaving today to attend a non-violence conference in Santa Barbara - we may see him again, we may not.
Like any good monk he speaks a good parable. Here's one of my favorites that he told me after I asked him what I can tell people who were having a tough time after a particularly nasty incident here in the camp:
"There once was a Rabbi of a small village - this is way back in the day - maybe 70 C.E. The Romans had burned down the Temple and all of the people were angry and deeply disturbed. They came to this man and asked him - what can we do, how can we get retribution?
The Rabbi simply answered, "We can be witnesses."

hot day

We've been cruising around Bakersfield the last four days and experienced our first hot days of walking. It hasn't been unbearable - only in the upper 70's - but it's definitely been a shift for us. We move up into the mountains soon so we'll be slipping back into the chilly stuff. I'm definitely enjoying the pace of our days.

new friends

Emmett Eastman is a 76 year old powerhouse. That is his Colonial name, by the way. He is from the Dakota Nation, but he is also a descendant of Charles Eastman...yeah, the Kodak guy. He met Dennis Banks back in the 70's and went on the original walk in 1978. Since then he has been to 22 countries on Sacred Runs, bringing messages of peace and wellness for the world. He tells me about honoring the 7 directions..east, west, north, south, Father Sky and Mother Earth and the 7th one..the one he says we forget about ..the soul. He treats his body as a temple, which is why he an still walk alongside us -- up at the front of the group, for 16 miles at a stretch. He prefers to run actually and says it's much easier on the body. He participates with our runners when we need to link a lot of miles together. Emmett doesn't drink, smoke or do drugs, "I don't even use aspirin." He's such a beautiful man - I look forward to getting to know him better.


This is Jun-san and Bonnie. June-san is a Japanese nun who has also been all over the world with her Buddhist order (which I can't remember right now -- sorry!). She's walked thousands of miles, chanting and drumming for peace. She was also on the original walk and her and Dennis have become good friends. Dennis tells the story of how she spend night after night in 20 degree weather, chanting for him outside the jail he was incarcerated in during a peace action.
Bonnie is from Australia and has been on peace walks with Jun-san here in the States as well as Australia. She's told me a couple of funny stories about Jun-san and here's one of them:

During a peace walk in Australia, there was a guy I guess streaking around that country and making the news frequently. One night while the peace walk was camping, three guys from outside the camp came streaking through, drunk..in the middle of the night and started yelling and banging on Jun-san's tent. She got up and saw these three naked drunks guys and said, in typical Jun-san fashion, "oh, namu myoho renge kyo! You look cold, would you like some tea?" And then preceded to go over to Bonnie's tent and bang on it, "Bonnie-san, Bonnie-san..there's naked men out here, come see!" And Bonnie was telling me, "And I'm going..it's the middle of the night, I don't want to see that you evil woman!"

Bonnie's leaving on Monday to go home. Sad. She's fun.


Here is Larry, Kathleen and Carrie. They are frequent lunch companions. It's so nice to have people to eat lunch with -- it hasn't taken that long to find folks to hang with..but it's nice to have your regulars, y'know?

feathers

I was given a beautiful gift last week. One of the men I met in Fresno is part of a Wellbriety group. Their work helps incarcerated men find their ways into the rooms of recovery after they are released. We had a really nice conversation and in the end he gave me a gift of these feathers. They are Red-Tailed Hawk feathers that he has been carrying for a long time. He asked if I would take them and carry them across the country - remembering all of my brothers and sisters in recovery. I have them on a eucalyptus tree limb that I carry as a staff. The wood came from a tree on the land where the feathers were given to me. I was pretty overwhelmed by the gift. Receiving feathers is a great honor - I carry them proudly when I walk with them.

singing

You know (oh...hi, by the way..it's been awhile hasn't it?) - one of the many cool things about being on this journey is all of the music that I have been introduced to. In every town we visit, we are usually greeted by representatives of the local tribe and very often they sing a song for us. This is Six Bears. He was singing to us while we were visiting the home of Cindy and Bear Alexander (the place where I got to have a jacuzzi). He had a beautiful voice and was very passionate in sharing his songs.


Sometimes the songs involve the drum. This is a crappy picture of some of the drummers. I love hearing the drummers - the voices sound to me like they are coming straight out of the earth. I've heard that the drum represents the heartbeat. I'm sure it has other meanings as well. I've learned that every nation, every tribe has their own songs. They can be welcoming songs, honoring songs, bear songs, tree songs. I don't know the language, but I can feel the love in these songs. All of these people are keeping their ancient songs alive, as well as writing new ones. One of our elders said the other night that all of our ancestors had the drum and the voice..and for the most part, many of us had lost that part of our world. These folks are continuing to keep theirs alive...I can't tell you how honored I am to witness it.

a few pics

these pictures are pretty random - but I'm trying to get done quickly at this point, 'cause we are getting ready to leave this site. I might be able to get on later today -- we'll see.

Anyway - this top picture is a typical "circle" - before every meal, during every rest stop, we 'circle' up and offer prayers and thanks. This is always done by one of our elders. This tall man in the middle is Emmett - I love listening to him pray to the four directions. I find him very beautiful. He is a Sacred runner and has found it has been much more difficult to walk instead of run! I hear that a lot - that it is physically harder to walk long distance than run it. He's amazing though.

This is the Sikh High Holy Man who we got blessed by at the Temple in Stockton.


Here is one of our other elders, Wounded Knee, he is always reminding us that we are on a spiritual journey and to remember to ask our ancestors for strength and guidance. I love to hear him speak.

a typical view

If you want to know what my day looks like in general....this is pretty much it. I like to walk next to the Japanese taiko drummers - I love hearing the rhythm and it helps keep me moving. They also chant a prayer while they're drumming - so I like to hang with the monks.

I actually got to do a day of drumming a couple of days ago - it's a really beautiful way of walking - your mind goes to different places and needs to get reeled back into a different place in your body. I actually really like praying to the rhythm of the drum - so I was grateful for that experience. I hope to come across one to carry somewhere along the way. I have found so far that things come to you when you need them.so if I'm meant to carry one, I will.