Longtime Subud member and world-class photographer Marius Hibbard is having an exhibition of recent photos he took in Croatia. It’s happening in Anacortes (see flyer below) where he lives and serves on the board of the Anacortes Art Commission. December happens to be Croatian cultural month in Anacortes. The opening is Friday and Saturday, December 5 and 6, at the Croatian Cultural Center. Everyone is invited. And check out the feature on the exhibition in Anacortes Magazine here.
A group of 40, friends, family and acquaintances gathered at the Subud House yesterday for a memorial to Phillip Quackenbush, who died at the age of 78 on Sunday, October 26, 2014. There were Subud people, members of the Council House residential community and even members of a non-duality discussion group of which Phillip was a member.
Francesca Cameron and Oriana Quackenbush, Phillip’s ex-wife and his daughter organized the event and Oriana emceed the proceedings.
Some notes and photos from the event are expected soon. In the meantime this short poem taken mostly from notes I took at the event:
Menucha
A workshop was held at Menucha this year, the annual Pacific Northwest Regional Kejiwaan gathering and a report was created Paul Woodcock, with comment from Morris McClellan. Among their recommendations:
1) Create a permanent Menucha Scholarship Fund and state its purpose with clarity and inclusiveness. Spread the word that the purpose of the fund is to raise money so that all who wish to share the Menucha experience can be included.
2) Raise funds year round by promoting donation on the website, regular solicitation and several annual fund-raising events. (I suggest that we should start raising money for next year at the end of each Menucha by “passing the hat” for next year’s scholarship funding, maybe a Menucha evaluation/feedback form each year with a solicitation at the end and inclusion of a fund-raising mention with all Menucha- related communications etc.? PW.)
3) Find a volunteer fund/funding program director under the Regional Commitee to help oversee the fund and fundraising and not add these duties to an existing committee position?
4) Funds should be distributed by the method currently used. The process needs to be kept simple (through a personal statement of need by each scholarship applicant?). If there are funding requests that cannot be met one year, those applicants should be moved to the top of next-year’s list. (This important part we did not thoroughly discuss.)
You can download the whole report here: https://www.subudgreaterseattle.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Menucha_Where_Do_We_Go_From_Here__Discussion_Report.pdf
Subud Greater Seattle General Meeting
Minutes: Friday November 14, 2014 Eastside. Minutes taken by Hadiyah Carlyle.
Present: Anne and Evan Padilla, Hanafi Libman, Oswald Norton, Paul Nelson, Ida and Rachman Cantrell, Insiah Caspers, Kathleen Gillette, Elijah Gullixson, Hadiyah Carlyle. Elisha chaired the meeting.
Financial:
Paul gave report as Sherwin was not available. Our member donations are down and Air B&B has slowed down for winter, but we’ve exceeded our 2014 projection of $20,000 with $45,000 in revenues by October 31. It is a clear Subud pattern that donations go down as revenues from enterprises go up, so we have to be vigilant in asking members to donate.
Helper Report:
Both men and women have been testing for harmony and …. after latihan. Helpers seemed to be pleased with this. Elisha suggested that if he were to move to Seattle and be part of this group, he’d think it was a healthy and vibrant group and it was consensus we should recognize that.
Spring Street Center:
The good news is that we received the MSF grant of $10,000 for the handicap ramp that we would like to install. There is more work to be done and hope the new committee will take us forward on this. Another $5,000 will need to be raised for the chapel crash bar doors. As regional vice-president Oswald said there will be training for the new chair and we will be working now as a region with common problems. We hope to think of ourselves as a bio-region and have more activities with other centers in the area.
We are planning an Open House, Saturday, February 7, 2015 at the Subud House and plan to put posters around the neighborhood to invite folks to know more about their 40 year neighbor.
SICA:
Paul reported on recent trips to British Columbia and the effort to use the Cascadia Poetry Festival, which he founded through his non-profit organization Seattle Poetics LAB, and SICA as an outreach effort for the Subud cultural wing. The fest will happen in Nanaimo, BC in 2015 and there will be a significant Subud presence there and perhaps a renewal of the Subud community that had been active there. Paul is also doing outreach to Portland, in the hopes of landing the 2017 festival there at the Subud House and Portland State University and hopes to have the 2018 fest in Canada, either Vancouver or Victoria, including Subud communities as a large part of the organizing committee for each fest.
Menucha
Oswald spoke about building community and the mission of Menucha. It will happen again the second weekend of 2015 and the notion of making the event open to anyone who wants to attend while still making the finances balance out is the quest now.
Upcoming Events:
(Photo by Rachman Cantrell)
Tomorrow (Nov 15) there will be a memorial at 2PM for Phillip Quackenbush. His ex-wife Francesca Cameron and daughter Oriana are staying at the Subud House.
National Dewan and Committee will be meeting in Seattle weekend of Nov 21-23. They will do latihan with members on Sunday. We need volunteers for meals and transportation. Please contact Sebastian if you can lend your much needed services.
Jan 25, 2015 we will be testing for a new committee. Please come and pre-test if you might want to serve.
The annual birdwalk for the Skagit Valley group led by Paul Woodcock will take place Feb 14, 2015. Annie told us what a wonderful day it is, seeing hundreds of eagles.
Evan reported that the National Susila Dharma Board will be meeting at Seattle in February on the 21st & 22nd.
National Dewan
The National Helpers and Committee will be meeting in Seattle from November 21 to 23 at the Subud Seattle house.
Subud USA is looking for volunteers to help with:
Accommodations for our guests for Friday-Sunday Night.
Transportation to and from the Airport on Friday and Sunday.
Meals organization for Friday Night, Saturday Morning and Lunch, Sunday Breakfast, and potluck lunch for group.
The Committee and Helpers will be attending the Group Sunday Latihan on November 23, 2014
If you can help in any way please contact Sebastian Tedrow at either executivedirector@subudusa.org or by phone 360.708.2725.
I will be going to Menucha so I will be out of town from Thursday Nov6-9th.
Thanks for your Support and good Wishes.
Sebastian Tedrow
Subud Dewan Meeting Minutes 11/2/14 (Taken by Hadiyah Carlyle)
Attending: David Lynch, Sherwin O”Bar, Paul Nelson, Hadiyah Carlyle, Jim O’Halloran
Review of Last Months Minutes
Approved
Financial Report – Sherwin O’Bar
Inflows, or revenue, thru October are $59 thousand, of which $14 thousand is member contributions and $45 thousand is from rentals, primarily Airbnb. Member contributions are on track to come in at about $2 thousand less than the $18.5 thousand 2014 budgeted amount. Year end rental income is projected to come in at about $51 thousand compared to the 2014 budget of $20 thousand
Outflows, or expenses, thru October are $52 thousand, of which $22 thousand is rental expense and $19 thousand is occupancy cost.
Net inflows, or income, thru October are $7 thousand.
At the October meeting the committee decided to set aside up to 10% of inflows into a SGS Housing Fund.
Spring Street Center – Paul Nelson
We talked about getting involved with the local community. It was brought up that people in the neighborhood don’t know what Subud is and wonder about the building. Paul will attend the Squire Community Council meetings. David suggested we have an annual open house and open our doors to the community. We decided our first open house will be Feb 7, Saturday from 2-5. We will have entertainment and buy food at the co-op and have snacks.
Paul gave a report and said revenues from air B&B are down now but expect to increase again when spring comes. He will make plans for the winter to encourage Subud members from out of the area to come to Seattle. Revenues through October are over $45,000 and our target for all of 2014 was $20,000, so this year has been a huge success. Cultural outreach through events like the Sam Hamill/Christopher Yohmei Blasdel reading continue. We’ve also had two memorials for beloved local poets contributing the Reception Hall to huge gratitude from friends and family of the departed.
Helper Report – Jim O’Hallorhan
Jim said that both women and men are doing latihan for harmony and healing in the group after Sunday latihan. The women have also tested for helper development. Hanafi Libman is now active helper on the eastside. Elijah Gullixson is the new regional helper.
The men started on an extensive house cleansing. So far, they have done the upstairs including closets, bathrooms, etc. They will continue this process and then will have periodic cleansings.
SICA – Paul Nelson
Paul reported that he went to the annual Errington, BC, Subud gathering with Bhakti Watts, Chair of Subud Portland, and Lucas Hille, new Chair of SICA – Canada. Response to the notion of SICA using Paul’s Cascadia Poetry Festival as outreach were positive, especially the men’s testing on it. He was awarded a SICA grant to pay for his expenses and posted a report on his trip here: https://www.subudgreaterseattle.com/sica-outreach-to-bc/ Paul will also go to Victoria on Nov 5 to follow up with Dave Hitchcock, the organizer of the Errington event.
Upcoming Dates
Next General Meeting – Friday Nov 14 after latihan on the eastside
Memorial for Phillip Quackenbush at Seattle Subud house on Sat Nov 15 at 2:00
Next Dewan Meeting – Sunday Dec 7 at 9:00 am
Holiday Party – Dec 14 after latihan
(Photo by Rachman Cantrell)
Phillip Quackenbush has died from cardiac disease. He passed away on Sunday, October 26, at his home in Seattle. He was 78, and had several health problems but was independent, writing music and making puns until the very end.
A memorial gathering will take place on November 15 at 2PM at Subud House/Spring Street Center, 1101 15th in Settle at the corner of 15th & Spring, celebrating the many aspects of his life. Free thinker, musician, composer, father, brother, friend, he was a Subud member for over 50 years. He was excited up to the last about the next song he was writing, eager to put his gifts out in the world.
Philip Quackenbush
Philip Quackenbush, described as Subud Greater Seattle’s own resident multi-instrumentalist, played harp at the September 2014, Poems for Peace event and read a poem that punned on the word Fins. (9. 4:47). It may have been his last public performance.
Phillip Quackenbush at Menucha 2011 (Photo by Rachman Cantrell)
Halim Scott photographs Phillip Quackenbush (Photo by Rachman Cantrell)
(Photo by Rachman Cantrell)
Phillip Quackenbush SF 60s (Photo by Rachman Cantrell)
Please join us Saturday, November 1, 2014, at 7:30, for an evening of poetry and music as Sam Hamill and Chris Yohmei Blasdel are reunited for one evening at Spring Street Center, 1101 15th in Seattle at the corner of 15th & Spring. This event is made possible by Subud Greater Seattle and SICA, the Subud International Cultural Association, which exists at the intersection of creativity and spirituality.
Habitation (Lost Horse Press)
In the liner notes to his 1999 CD, Heart of Bamboo, Sam Hamill quotes Rainier Maria Rilke, who he says saw the foremost function of poetry: “You must change your life.” He also says that “the roots of poetry inevitably return us to music” and “Poetry and music share a common root: both begin in deep listening.” Hear the title poem of that CD here.
Hamill and Yohmei Blasdel first performed in Tokyo in 1988. “With his playing of the ancient masterpiece San’ya, a song I’d heard other masters play, I felt I had found a soulmate.”They reunite for this evening to celebrate Hamill’s new book: Habitation: Collected Poems.
Sam
Sam Hamill was born in 1943 and grew up on a Utah farm. He is Founding Editor of Copper Canyon Press and served as Editor there for thirty-two years. He taught in artist-in-residency programs in schools and prisons and worked with Domestic Violence programs. He directed the Port Townsend Writers Conference for nine years, and in 2003, founded Poets Against the War. He is the author of more than forty books, including celebrated translations from ancient Chinese, Japanese, Greek and Latin. His new book is Habitation: Collected Poems.
Chris Yohmei Blasdel
Chris Yohmei Blasdel began the shakuhachi and studies of Japanese music in 1972 with Japan’s Living National Treasure Goro Yamaguchi and continued with the master until his death in 1999. In 1982, Blasdel received his MFA in ethnomusicology from Tokyo University of Fine Arts and was honored with the professional name “Yohmei” from Yamaguchi in 1984—the first of only two non-Japanese accredited by Yamaguchi. Presently, Blasdel performs around the world and has taught or lectured at such prestigious institutions as Earlham College (Indiana), Chulalongkorn University (Bangkok, Thailand), Texas A&M University (College Station, Texas), University of Washington (Seattle), Charles University (Prague) and many others.
A report by Paul Nelson on his outreach to British Columbia to investigate the possibility of using the Cascadia Poetry Festival as a too for SICA outreach. Paul founded the festival in 2012 and there have been two iterations, the second being this last May at Seattle U and the Subud House in Seattle.
Errington War Memorial Hall
On Saturday, October 18, Bhakti Watts, Chair of Subud Portland drove to Seattle and we drove together to Vancouver, BC, Canada, where the next day we drove with Lucas Hille, Chair of SICA Canada, to Errington, BC. Our plan was to attend an annual gathering of Subud members from around Vancouver Island, from Victoria to Comox and discuss the potential for partnership between the Cascadia Poetry Festival and SICA, with the idea of creating greater awareness in the world of SICA while helping the festival gather momentum and become self-sustaining.
Bhakti, Lucas Hille 10.19.14 Ferry to Nanaimo
We got an early ferry from Horseshoe Bay Sunday the 19th, and met David Fraser and Kim Goldberg in Nanaimo, on the other side of the Strait of Georgia. We discussed the developments they were overseeing as members of the local organizing committee for the third Cascadia Poetry Festival in Nanaimo in 2015. This is a festival founded by Seattle Poetics LAB, (SPLAB) a non-profit organization I founded in 1993.
David and Kim discussed their participation in Cascadia II, in May 2014, and the remarkable experience they had, in large part, because of the use of the Seattle Subud House as a venue and hospitality center for the fest. The sense of community and the depth of the sharing in the democratic reading, the Living Room, were highlights as I recall. They discussed their recent news of being awarded a grant for $5,000 for the 2015 festival (Apr 30-May 3), use of the Painted Turtle Hostel for lodging (at a considerable discount) and how to get festival attendees from downtown Nanaimo to the events at Vancouver Island University and other logistical issues.
Paul, Lucas Hille 10.19.14
Bhakti and I had met in Portland on September 26 with John Beer, a poet and Associate Professor of English at Portland State University and head of the PSU Creative Writing Program and Kamron Taber, a PSU student and the campus representative for Cascadia Now, a non-profit organization working to develop a sense of Cascadia culture and a sponsor of the second Cascadia Poetry Festival.
After about an hour our party headed north to Errington, and arrived at the Errington War Memorial Hall, where an annual Subud gathering had happened the last 6 years. We gathered with Subud members in a circle, then split up into two groups by gender and did latihan and testing. There was discussion of the role of culture and its definition, some men believing it to be the arts and creativity, and testing was done on that. The real key for me was a test on how it would be for SICA to be involved with the Cascadia Poetry Festival and all men received that it would be positive and half the men got that it would be remarkable, one man mentioning something akin to a sun in his receiving. The men present, in addition to Lucas Hille, myself and Dave Hitchcock, were:
Craig Rogers from Fanny Bay
Howard Pattinson from Comox
Rasjad Coleman from Duncan
In the sharing of the test results, Lucas Hille confided that when first approached about this potential partnership, his impression was that this effort was about me getting my person needs met, but he soon experienced that the effort is much more significant than that. Bhakti did not test on SICA but on personal matters with the women, of whim there about 16.
We shared a meal, discussed the test results and the vision for the collaboration, and Lucas, Bhakti and I each performed either a song or poem and soon we were on our way. We parked the car in the ferry line, walked to the Painted Turtle and got a tour of one of the rooms and one of the common areas where participating poets will be gathering and were quite impressed. We took the short ferry from Nanaimo to Gabriola Island and spent the night at the cabin Lucas has owned for many years, right on the water, with ferries silently criss-crossing until late at night. Lucas asked if I were interested in doing a poetry workshop at his cabin and I would love to do that and give the proceeds after expenses to SICA – Canada. Bhakti felt it would be good to have a place in Nanaimo during the festival to do latihan. This would serve a few purposes. Subud members could have a chance to gather and share latihan, our purpose and engagement in the festival would likely be more focused were this to happen, it would serve as a chance for Subud members on the island to engage with one another and might help revive the small Subud community in Nanaimo. In fact this festival might be used to strengthen already healthy Subud communities in the bioregion, or help revive struggling ones. My vision after Cascadia III in Nanaimo in 2015 is to stage the fest in:
Bothell, WA 2016 (perhaps involving Subud Greater Seattle with an emphasis on the East Side Subud membership;
Portland, OR 2017;
Vancouver, BC 2018;
Arcata, CA 2019.
We also feel that SICA may want to be a sponsor of CPF # (2015) at the Red Cedar level ($1,000) and have a table to pass out Subud and SICA brochures and talk to people about what Subud is. See: http://cascadiapoetryfestival.org/sponsor It would also be helpful if there were gold passes purchased by Subud members starting in February when a crowd-funding campaign will be starting to help raise additional funds for and awareness of the festival.
One last note. Bioregionalism is the effort to reimagine ourselves and the places where we live in ecological terms in harmony with natural systems that contain life. Peter Berg, one of the early users of the term bioregionalism said that the direction of traditional environmentalism was about preventing air and water pollution, protection of human health and a slowing down of the destruction of nature, it was essentially from “the mental perspective of industrial society surrounding nature.” He felt that thinking was backwards and that bioregionalists should focus on knowing the natural features of where they live, how they get their water, urban sustainability and restoration of habitats and ecosystems. His “Green City Program” called for some radical shifts in the way in which we design and live in urban areas and knew that the future was going to require urban sustainability given the massive shift of world population to urban living. I very much resonate with this perspective. – Paul Nelson
Subud Dewan Meeting Minutes. Sunday 10/12/14 9-11 am
Attending: David Lynch, Maryka Ford, Sherwin O’Bar, Oswald Norton, Paul Nelson, Hadiyah Carlyle, Daniel Stralberg.
Review of Last Months Minutes 9/7/14.
Approved
Financial
From Sherwin O’Bar: Finance Report 10-12-14:
Revenue/Inflows thru Sept are $53,423 (Member Contributions $12,660; Rentals $40,763)
Expenses/outflows thru Sept are $44,557
Net of Revenue over Expense is $8,866
Member Contributions are projected to end the year several thousand less than the $18,500 budgeted; rental revenue are projected to end the year about $35,000 greater than the $20,000 budgeted.
Total expenses are expected to end the year about $18,000 greater than budgeted, and are able to be supported by the above noted increase in revenue.
Oswald brought up that it is time to take enterprise to the next level. It’s now a running business.
Helper Report
In the last general meeting it was voted to let go of the house guidelines. However, there is still work to be done so the helpers are offering after Sunday latihan to do a special latihan for group harmony.
Paul suggested that helpers have a clearing ceremony and cleansing for the house in a traditional Subud manner. He’ll bring it up next time he attends the Helper Meeting.
Spring Street Center
The Spring Street Center beat the projections for the year for income by two times. The Spring Street Center is part of our outreach, as cultural events are happening almost once a month, with a Memorial for poet Bill Shively on Oct 25 and a reading by legendary NW poet Sam Hamill with his shakuhachi flute collaborator Christopher Yohmei Blasdel on November 1. Already calls are coming in about that event and should be a perfect event, with a zen feel, to showcase the house.
Ramp Grant Proposal for MSF
We don’t need to put in minutes until it is time to review in 4 months.
SICA Events
Poems for Peace – Paul reported the event was very successful and it is great outreach. Faiza Sultan, a Kurdish woman and Gulf War refugee was among the poets who read.
Upcoming events through 2014:
Paul will receive a SICA grant to do an outreach trip to Errington, BC (Oct 19) to help connect Subud people on Vancouver Island with poets who are organizing the next iteration of the Cascadia Poetry Festival in Nanaimo in Spring 2015. There is some interest in SICA and Subud Houses in the bioregion to use the event as a way to create awareness of SICA and Subud in general and Paul is in discussions with the Chair of Subud Portland, Bhakti Watts, and a faculty member at Portland State University to have the fest happen there in 2017. Lucas Hille, Chair of SICA Canada and Bhakti Watts will join Paul on the trip to Errington, BC.
Other Topics
Money request policy.
There was discussion if we need a policy to govern requests for funds. It was decided to put it in the budget for 2015.
We voted to contribute $250 toward Rachman’s successful bid for the banner from Australia. We are officially a Cultural Capital for the next 4 years. What resources we can expect from SICA are not yet known, but Seattle is “twinned” with Portland and it is likely they will contribute some of the funds we are committed to sending SICA for the status.
National
Daniel spoke that the national committee will be meeting in Seattle Nov 21-23. We will have a potluck that Sunday.
Other Events
40th Subud House anniversary event after latihan.
Oct 25 – Memorial for Poet Bill Shively
Nov 1 – Sam Hamill (Poetry) and Christoper Yohmei Blasdel (Shakuhachi flute).
Meeting Dates
Next Dewan Meeting – Nov 2
General Meeting on the Eastside – Nov 14 Friday night
Testing for new Committee – Jan 25, 2015