Category Archives: General Announcements

Marston’s Party/Fundraiser

From Marston Gregory:

Marston named "Honorary Mexican" at his 70th birthday party.

Marston named “Honorary Mexican” at his 70th birthday party.

Thanks to everyone who came to the Salsa Birthday party. 

 
We raised almost $400 to assist in travel to the world congress.  I would recommend we now ask for members to apply for use of the funds and give two $200 grants.  We would give priority those who have never attended a world congress.   Deadline to apply would be byMarch 31.  The candidate would do a letter explaining why they wish to attend and the local committee would review them and let the person know by April 15.   We can announce in the newsletter. Also, would the center add $100 to the pot so we can bring the grants up to $250 each?  These funds
are for Subud PNW members only. 
 
Thanks again to all who donated. 
 
Marston
Photo by Rachman Cantrell

Photos by Rachman Cantrell

Marston's Party Photos 1

Marston's Party Photos 2

Marston's Party Photos 3

Marston's Party Photos 4

Poetry as Subud Outreach Volunteers Needed!

Cascadia_Header_2

Viva Cascadia!

The second Cascadia Poetry Festival happens May 1-4, 2014 at two venues in Seattle and one of them is your friendly neighborhood Subud House. (Spring Street Center.) The lineup is world class, featuring Joanne Kyger, George Bowering, George Stanley, Kaia Sand, Stephen Collis, Daphne Marlatt and many other poets from around the bioregion known as Cascadia. That this is a cultural investigation is right in line with the work of SICA, the Subud wing concerned with culture that comes from the jiwa. That events are in our house and that Spring Street Center has a table at the festival’s Small Press Fair means that Subud members are REALLY NEEDED as volunteers to staff the table and make sure guests in our house are welcomed and that the house is protected. This is the most ambitious cultural offering ever in the 40 year history of Subud Greater Seattle.

Oswald Norton (onorton [at] hotmail [dot] com) is coordinating volunteer efforts and the Small Press Fair starts Friday at 4 (load-in) and goes until 10P and Saturday and Sunday from 8:30A to 10P. The passes are transferable, and there will be no charge to get into the Small Press Fair, so different people can take advantage on different nights. The house itself will be full of poet-lodgers, so please respect their space. There will be no latihan Thursday, but WILL be happening Saturday and Sunday. We’d love if folks could show up early for latihan just to be sure the rooms are in order, though we’ll be doing are best to ensure that is the case.

And it would sure be nice to have Subud folks support this effort. That means buying a pass if you can afford one, telling folks about it or helping us find a sponsor or two, as we still have a few thousand bucks to raise to cover the basics. Thanks for considering. Thanks for entrusting the house to me and this project.

 

Poetry Reading at the Subud House

Dar SafiWith the AWP in town, there will be 14,000 writers in Seattle this week. The Subud House will be full of lodgers by tomorrow night and there was a remarkable poetry reading last night as the debut of Dar Safi Press was celebrated. 

Subud members who attend the Poems for Peace event last September will remember Faiza Sultan whose poems about war were frank, ironic and incredibly moving. She is the Publisher of the Press and welcomed Iraqi poets living as far away as London and the Philippines to read. Wafaa Abdul Razaak had stunning war poems of her own and read them with a bold performance style before they were read in English by Faiza. War Child

Traditional Kurdish drumming and singing was provided by Ahmed Yousefbeigi, whose mastery of the frame drum was mesmerizing. And the first half concluded with Falah Saik, who was introduced by the reigning winner of the Stranger Genius Award for Literature, Cairo native Maged Zaher, who said Salah was the most important Arab poet in the world.

Maged read the English translations which had a broad range of references, from Hamlet to Marx and his own anatomy. The conversation the poet described at the grave of Karl Marx was especially deft. Amalio Madueño closed out the 2nd half of the reading which also featured two local poets.

Ahmed YousefbeigiSalah Faik

Tomorrow (Thursday Feb 27) there are TWO MORE readings at the Subud House. I can’t tell you how amazing last night was and how disappointed there were NO SUBUD PEOPLE to witness, to talk to the gathered about our community, our house, SICA and other topics I engaged in briefly. Please try to attend and remember, there is no latihan.

BEI, Thursday, February 27, 7:00PM- 11:PM. The event is sponsored by Black Earth Institute and we are inviting writers who have had work in About Place Journal, BEI Fellows and various friends and colleagues. Part of the impetus of this event is to explain more about the mission of Black Earth Institute, a progressive think tank of artist-fellows and scholar-advisers to work toward a society based on justice, spirit and earth-centeredness, as well as to get together many of us who have been involved in About Place, the literary journal BEI publishes quarterly to give voice to their mission.

Colorado Review, Yalobusha Review, and Ahsahta Press are proud to present A Midnight Triptych, AWP’s biggest late-night event. Join us for last call on Thursday night/Friday morning for an all-star line-up featuring Carmen Giménez Smith, Matthew Cooperman, Lucy Ives, Danniel Schoonebeek, Gillian Conoley, and C. Violet Eaton. 12M Thursday night/Friday Morning. The reading will be held in the basement of the Spring Street Center chapel (1101 15th Avenue)–just one mile from the conference center. Doors open at midnight and we’ll get started shortly thereafter, so don’t be late. Beer for sale or bring your own drinks. See you there!

Colorado Review
Yalobusha Review
Ahsahta Press

Should We Discontinue Monday Latihans

Women's Latihan Hall/Chapel on Monday Nights

Women’s Latihan Hall/Chapel on Monday Nights

It has been discussed on and off for months now in the Dewan. An average of two men attend Monday night latihans and often there are none. This is a cost to Subud Members because of the heating used and also limits attendance for other latihans. So the question went out last week, should we discontinue Monday night latihans and perhaps add a Tuesday afternoon session. Results from Men’s Local Helper Jim O’Halloran:

How would it be for the SGS group if there were no more Monday night Latihan?
3 got nothing, one got a faint positive.

How would it be if we had a Tuesday Afternoon Latihan about 3PM?
2 got nothing, one got “worth a try”, one got OK.

And from Hadijah Obar:

I should have said that we talked and agreed that phone calls would be made to poll the members about the proposed Tuesday afternoon latihan. Recently several of the women members have talked about the need for an afternoon latihan because there are so many ladies who
no longer like to travel at night, there are specific people I’d like to run the idea of the Tuesday afternoon latihan by.  Also, several inactive women helpers said they would be willing to time an afternoon latihan.
Hadijah

Members, if you have a feeling about this, please chime in to a helper with a comment. No feedback from the membership and I will support the effort to cancel Monday night latihans for the men. For the women it’s not an issue, since there have not been women helpers on Monday night for years and no women ever show up.

TESTING THIS SUNDAY

Our Love Month continues this Sunday (Feb 23)

Here are some possible test questions for next week that we ladies came up with:
What is love?
What are the qualities of Love?
Where do these qualities reside in me?
How do I manifest love in my daily life?
How do I love myself?
How would God have me love myself?
How do I respect myself?
How would God have me respect myself?
How do I care for myself?
How would God have me care for  myself?
How do I love my Subud brothers and sisters?
How would God have me respect my brothers and sisters?
How is it for me and my life when I have loving and/or affectionate feelings
toward my Subud brothers and sisters?
O.K., there’s a place to start.

Hadijah Obar

World Congress Registration Heating Up

From the Subud E-Blast:

FROM THE WORLD CONGRESS ORGANIZING TEAM

 

As of February, 1071 members from 51 countries have registered for the Subud World Congress in Puebla Mexico (street scene above). The EARLY BIRD FEE #2 runs through April 30th, 2014. The adult and discounted fees each go up $100, $550 and $400 respectively. The fee for adults under 26 goes up to $390 and children’s prices go up by $30. To register, go to: http://www.cvent.com/d/rcqvll?lang=en. Get world congress news and information at the newly updated website: www.subudworldcongress2014.com

Subud USA Directory

From the National Office:

Dear brothers and sisters,

Just click on the link below this paragraph to get your free copy of the 2014 Subud USA Membership Directory. The information included is based on what we received from the census that was just conducted. You can keep the directory in its electronic version and/or print it out, whatever is your preference.

If there is an error in your membership entry, please inform the national office at subudusa@subudusa.org. We are working hard to have as accurate a database as possible.

If you prefer, we can also send you a paper copy of the directory for $20. This includes the cost of labor, printing, and postage. Just let us know the following:

Number of Copies of 2014 Subud USA Membership Directory Requested: ______Total Amount: __________ ($20 for each copy)

Mailing Address:
Name _______________________________________________

Street Address ________________________________________

City, State, Zip Code____________________________________

Send this information and your check to:
Subud USA National Office
4216 Howard Road
Beltsville, MD 20705-2644

If you would like the directory, but need a reduced rate, indicate the amount you can afford on the line “Total Amount”.

If you donated at least $240 during the recent Subud USA pledge drive, we would like to express our appreciation by sending you a free copy if you would like one. Just let us know by emailing us atsubudusa@subudusa.org or calling the national office at 301-595-0626.With warm regards,
Shoshanah, Daniel, Lucian, Morris and Hamidatun
(Subud USA National Committee)

Test to be a National Helper

From Hoan Toan Phan:

Hoan Toan Phan

Hoan Toan Phan

Dear Brother and Sister Regional and Local Helpers,
The National Helpers are now still on the selection process for new National Helpers for coming term. We would appreciate it if you ,( who did not test last year  at Albuquerque national congress  about  this position), would consider helpers you know in your own regional  and local dewans,  whom you would like to encourage to step forward to test for this important job.  Usually national helpers are chosen from those who have served as regional helpers previously, but local helpers may also be considered.  The term of service will begin in August 18, 2014 and will end at the next world congress probably in 2018.
Here is how the job has been described:  The Dewan of national helpers provide support to the nation’s committee, wings and regional helpers and they are the kedjiwaan link to the zonal and international Subud Association.  National helpers are charged with looking into and knowing about the work of the regional helpers, and are charged with participating in addressing members’ difficulties that cannot be solved by the regional helper dewan alone.  National helpers “must keep themselves informed about the progress of the members and impart to them  a deep understanding of the truth of the latihan kejiwaan of Subud so that the inner selves of the members may be truly Subud.”. (from Bapak’s Advice & Guidance for Helpers, “The Helper Structure:Dewans,” Candidate Helper Information handbook)

To really understand what is required to do this job well, please translate the above description into a good amount of time and patience  needed to stay informed and in touch through regular email messages and participation on frequent conference calls.  There is also a fair amount of travel that is necessary.  It is helpful to have a space where one can do latihans without interruption and to have an agreement with one’s family, partners and housemates to share your time, energy and attention.  There is a great spiritual benefit that comes from being willing to serve in this way.

Those who would like to put their names forward should pretest with their local or regional helpers first.  Once pretesting is positive, please send your name to any National helper(Alexandra Boyer, Aminah Ulmer, Laurie Lathrop, Suzanne Renna , Hoan Toan Phan,Humphrey Williams, andSjarifuddin Harris).

The National Helpers will meet together and test about this issue in Denver, Colorado from Jan.30 to Feb.1st , 2014.
We will test with those candidates  over the phone by conference call  during the weekend Jan. 31 and Feb.1st, 2014.Thank you for your help with this. The final step in the process is to select  a new dewan that will work well together from the pool of those who received a positive response through testing with the national helpers.
Please feel free to contact us with any questions that come up as you are trying to respond to this request, and please let us know who is putting their name forward by email or phone before Jan. 29, 2014.

Sincerely,

Your National Helper Dewan
Aminah Ulmer, aminahulmer@gmail.com
Laurie Lathrop, llathrop77@gmail.com
Suzanne Renna, msuzanne.renna@gmail.com
Hoan Toan Phan,hoantoanp@yahoo.com
Humphrey Williams , humphrey.williams@gmail.com,
Sjarifuddin  Harris, sharif.harris@ymail.com

Birther Wesbites are Calling Subud A Cult

Apparently the death of Deliana Fuddy is bringing out the paranoid, as hits on the Subud Greater Seattle website got over 800 and counting by 9pm tonight. Most of the hits are coming from the political movement known as the Birther movement, which believes President Obama was not legally born in this country and, as such, has no right to be in office. That Deliana died in a plane crash has the fertile imaginations of these folks in rare form. See the stats:

Stats 1.22.14

Stats 1.22.14

The linking websites are: http://www.americanthinker.com/2014/01/barack_hussein_soebarkah.html and

http://www.birtherreport.com/2014/01/blockbuster-csu-criminology-professor.html to name two.

As Marston Gregory once joked with me: “If Subud were a cult, we’d be more organized.”

Who’s bringing the kool aid to the Sunday potluck?