SingPeace! is stalled. The wagon and journey are in limbo following 4 days at the 2010 NW Folklife Festival over Memorial Day weekend.
No mistaking the intention for the earth pilgrimage for peace and global harmony; it remains strong. The "old woman," grandmother Pushkara Sally Ashford, is keen to carry on.
The hitch, quite literally, is in the hitch.
Locally, we've been challenged to arrange for a tow vehicle and driver every time we want to move the wagon. SingPeace! doesn't have a heavy-duty vehicle that can pull a couple of tons. We've hitched the wagon to four different trucks and drivers in as many events. And we've had to change out the hitch each time we hitch to a different truck.
Globally, we're looking at the sorry situation in the Gulf. The oil spewing from Mother Earth turns a petty "snag" into a "sign." How can we ignore Her message? How can we go on mindlessly, greedily consuming Her life's blood? And immediately in the face of President Obama's declaration about the necessity and efficacy of off-shore drilling! I guess She told us! There is no minimizing the impact; every life form on earth is affected. It's likely that I will not see a satisfactory resolution to the long-term consequences of this catastrophic spill in my lifetime. I wonder, too, about my grandchildren's lives.
Did I say, yet, that I got locked out of the wagon? With the generous-hearted help of a longtime and dear friend, Steve, who responded to my 11th hour SOS, we delivered the wagon to the NW Folklife Festival on Thursday night. I arrived back at my island home at midnight. I discovered the keys were missing the next day as I unloaded my car at the Seattle Center. I put in a call to another friend, Mick, who scoured my house for them. They'd vanished. Today, I called every lost and found number I could imagine to discover where in the world they'd got to. On Friday, of course, I had to call a locksmith who replaced the locks.
Things like the keys slipping away can and do happen when habits and patterns are in flux, especially for an old girl and event planner with too many details cramming her mind. But in the context of the big picture, taken with the other hitches and delays, I'm taking in the cues and biding my time.
At the moment, the wagon is at the garage, awaiting yet another modification to the hitch (electric, brakes, etc.).
Until an affordable, alternative and renewable truck technology comes along, preferably with a competent driver, it seems likely that we will SingPeace! more locally than regionally or in distant localities.
Mick is encouraging "the old woman in the shoe" to step out of it. He suggests parking the wagon in a strategic location - preferably in range of Tokitae! - the land where the solstice gathering will take place. "Let folks come to you, the grandmother," is Mick's advice. He points out the extent of event planning and costs of each as another good reason to rethink the pilgrimage. He's encouraging me to "use my words," to write and post blogs as a way to draw people to the mission of SingPeace! Mick is a clear mirror reflecting certain realities.
There are others. At Folklife, I received an invitation from a Unity minister in Port Angeles. Another man from the Fellowship of Reconciliation invited me to Olympia, saying, "We have a huge peace movement there and the students at Evergreen State University are going to be very interested in the wagon and in what you do." I met two young men and some elderwise women who are candidates for Mick's Foot Camp. How in the world would these folks find me and us if I were not on the road?
Coming up is an entire calendar of festivals and gatherings we could participate in - with the wagon!
Truth is, I don't know what to do. That's got to be okay, for now. I'm in limbo, awaiting surrender to "what is" and/or clear direction for the changes I feel are coming. Calling to mind the old adage: "When fishermen can't go to sea, they mend their nets."
Laurence asked me to transcribe my new song: "It's Songlines Choir material," he told me. I can do that.
Mick is urging me to write to get my message out.
Thank God for the foot and Earth Gym training as I need prospects for action and being in community. The computer and the isolation of the "ivory tower" have their limitations.
Even with the obvious hitches and delays, the SingPeace! wagon has been greeted by warm and loving hearts. Folks are getting it, rapport is there. I will post photos and details of NW Folklife in a future blog.
In the meantime, SingPeace!
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