Hello Gents,
Here are a couple blogs you may want to check out.
John Lee of "Flying Boy" and "When Bubba Met Buddha" fame, has started a new blog at http://www.openingtheheartnow.blogspot.com/
There is another blog called "Men and the Goddess" at http://menandthegoddess.com/
He does an interesting review of a book by Dr. Joseph Gelfer: Numen, Old Men: Contemporary Masculine Spiritualities and the Problem of Patriarchy.
The two men then have an interesting conversation via the comments to the blog.
Enjoy
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
What an amazing weekend at the 16th annual Mentone Mens’ Gathering.
We discussed many things. One issue that came up numerous times is elegant endings as this was the last Mentone conference.
John Lee did a great job helping us feel instead of just think during the weekend. John’s opinion is that movement creates emotion. We did a few different exercises to help us move and feel.
Doug Von Koss was amazing as usual leading us in song. Singing with a group, feeling the vibration is causes, hollering the words, has always been a great joy of mine. A simple chant of “we will remember” helped me to get out of my head and into my heart with my feelings about this change at Mentone and with Robert Bly.
Jeffery Duvall has a way of creating a safe container that is rare. My thanks to him for helping us to move in the direction we needed even if that was not comfortable.
Robert Bly is such a force in this world. He read many new pieces that were striking. Something seemed different about many of them. It is difficult to explain. There was a plainness, bluntness, a sense of strength. He was funny as usual. He made comments about tits, he was a smart ass with John, a couple times he said he didn’t believe something he had written.
Here is something I wrote inspired by the weekend.
Movement Creates Emotion
Squeeze my fingers and see if
the snaggle toothed demon will come out to play.
Or perhaps the time has arrived for your angel
to step from the shadow of shame
and bless you.
Stand up, take the arm of a man
you do not know and walk in the sunshine.
The piercing siren of fear will only
Grow quiet in the face of courage.
What passes between mens’ arms
could make it all the way to
the molten place at the core.
Then there will be no end to the tears.
We discussed many things. One issue that came up numerous times is elegant endings as this was the last Mentone conference.
John Lee did a great job helping us feel instead of just think during the weekend. John’s opinion is that movement creates emotion. We did a few different exercises to help us move and feel.
Doug Von Koss was amazing as usual leading us in song. Singing with a group, feeling the vibration is causes, hollering the words, has always been a great joy of mine. A simple chant of “we will remember” helped me to get out of my head and into my heart with my feelings about this change at Mentone and with Robert Bly.
Jeffery Duvall has a way of creating a safe container that is rare. My thanks to him for helping us to move in the direction we needed even if that was not comfortable.
Robert Bly is such a force in this world. He read many new pieces that were striking. Something seemed different about many of them. It is difficult to explain. There was a plainness, bluntness, a sense of strength. He was funny as usual. He made comments about tits, he was a smart ass with John, a couple times he said he didn’t believe something he had written.
Here is something I wrote inspired by the weekend.
Movement Creates Emotion
Squeeze my fingers and see if
the snaggle toothed demon will come out to play.
Or perhaps the time has arrived for your angel
to step from the shadow of shame
and bless you.
Stand up, take the arm of a man
you do not know and walk in the sunshine.
The piercing siren of fear will only
Grow quiet in the face of courage.
What passes between mens’ arms
could make it all the way to
the molten place at the core.
Then there will be no end to the tears.
Monday, November 2, 2009
Hello Gents,
It has been some time since we have had a new posting.
The organizing work for the 15th annual NC Spring Mens Gathering has started and we are very excited that this event continues. We will be gathering again in April of 2010 in Eflin NC.
Next week, John Lee will be hosting the Mentone Men’s conference in Menton AL. I will be attending. John says that it may be the last year for this conference. It is sad to think that such a wonderful event will stop but as Dr. Seuss said, “smile because it happened, don’t cry because it is over.”
Finally, under the category of “In the News”, I saw today that there is a new book being released regarding men. Here is a link http://www.projo.com/books/content/artsun-goodmen_11-01-09_DMG60RP_v34.12ea666.html.
“The Good Men Project,” a collection of stories by men, for men, about men.
Here is quote from Bryan Rourke, the author of the article.
“Sometimes when men share their feelings they’re regarded with variations of ” weakness. People will say, ‘You (insert epithet here).’
Horwitz shared anyway. And the book did get published, eventually.
“It was a hard sell,” says James Houghton, one of book’s three editors. “That was the message that publishers made very clear very early.”
So organizers of the book organized themselves into the Good Men Foundation, and published the paperback ($14.99) and a companion DVD ($14.99) themselves, with an official release date of Nov. 15.
It has been some time since we have had a new posting.
The organizing work for the 15th annual NC Spring Mens Gathering has started and we are very excited that this event continues. We will be gathering again in April of 2010 in Eflin NC.
Next week, John Lee will be hosting the Mentone Men’s conference in Menton AL. I will be attending. John says that it may be the last year for this conference. It is sad to think that such a wonderful event will stop but as Dr. Seuss said, “smile because it happened, don’t cry because it is over.”
Finally, under the category of “In the News”, I saw today that there is a new book being released regarding men. Here is a link http://www.projo.com/books/content/artsun-goodmen_11-01-09_DMG60RP_v34.12ea666.html.
“The Good Men Project,” a collection of stories by men, for men, about men.
Here is quote from Bryan Rourke, the author of the article.
“Sometimes when men share their feelings they’re regarded with variations of ” weakness. People will say, ‘You (insert epithet here).’
Horwitz shared anyway. And the book did get published, eventually.
“It was a hard sell,” says James Houghton, one of book’s three editors. “That was the message that publishers made very clear very early.”
So organizers of the book organized themselves into the Good Men Foundation, and published the paperback ($14.99) and a companion DVD ($14.99) themselves, with an official release date of Nov. 15.
Monday, August 3, 2009
The loss of a dear friend
We received a note this morning about the passing of a dear friend from the NC Spring Gathering.
Michael (“Mustard Man”) Porter, 71-year-old, after enduring months of agony with metastatic bone cancer, died tonight of a pulmonary thrombosis in the Farmington (CT) hospital.
He had many great memories of his times with us at the Gatherings, and he made many friends there.
Michael's brothers are on the road now going to CT. We wish them a safe and speedy trip. For those of us who have driven in Richmond and DC you know that they could use some positive thoughts.
Michael really enjoyed life. He was easy to smile and loved hearing and telling a good joke. I remember a few years back there were a number of us down at the pond during the Gathering. We started sharing jokes and Michael was having a great time. Michael and all his brothers have a sense of self confidence and self deprication that I admire.
I was thinking of sharing a poem that shed some mystic light on death and then I realized that just didn't feel right for Michael. So here is one that I enjoy by William Stafford. The Porter brothers often shared family stories and this is a family story that makes me smile.
A Family Turn
All her kamikaze friends admired my aunt,
their leader, charmed in vinegar,
a woman who could blaze with such white blasts
as Lawrence's that lit Arabia.
Her mean opinions bent her hatpins.
We'd take a ride in her old car
that ripped like Sherman through society:
Main Street's oases sheltered no one
when she pulled up at Thirty-first
and whirled that Ford for another charge.
We swept headlines from under rugs, names
all over town, which I learned her way, by heart,
and blazed with love that burns because it's real.
With a turn that's our family's own,
she'd say, "Our town is not the same" -
Pause - "And it's never been."
My thoughts are with the Porter family.
(posted by ethan)
Michael (“Mustard Man”) Porter, 71-year-old, after enduring months of agony with metastatic bone cancer, died tonight of a pulmonary thrombosis in the Farmington (CT) hospital.
He had many great memories of his times with us at the Gatherings, and he made many friends there.
Michael's brothers are on the road now going to CT. We wish them a safe and speedy trip. For those of us who have driven in Richmond and DC you know that they could use some positive thoughts.
Michael really enjoyed life. He was easy to smile and loved hearing and telling a good joke. I remember a few years back there were a number of us down at the pond during the Gathering. We started sharing jokes and Michael was having a great time. Michael and all his brothers have a sense of self confidence and self deprication that I admire.
I was thinking of sharing a poem that shed some mystic light on death and then I realized that just didn't feel right for Michael. So here is one that I enjoy by William Stafford. The Porter brothers often shared family stories and this is a family story that makes me smile.
A Family Turn
All her kamikaze friends admired my aunt,
their leader, charmed in vinegar,
a woman who could blaze with such white blasts
as Lawrence's that lit Arabia.
Her mean opinions bent her hatpins.
We'd take a ride in her old car
that ripped like Sherman through society:
Main Street's oases sheltered no one
when she pulled up at Thirty-first
and whirled that Ford for another charge.
We swept headlines from under rugs, names
all over town, which I learned her way, by heart,
and blazed with love that burns because it's real.
With a turn that's our family's own,
she'd say, "Our town is not the same" -
Pause - "And it's never been."
My thoughts are with the Porter family.
(posted by ethan)
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Mentone registration is open
Hello Gents,
The details for the 2009 Mentone Mens' Gathering have been posted on their web page www.mentonemen.com. The dates are November 6 - 9 2009.
I have attended this event in the past and it is a wonderful time. Most the time is spent in a panel format with the speakers discussing issues with the whole group.
The drive from the Triangle area is a pleasure in itself. Mentone is a small town in northern Alabama.
Have a wonderful summer.
(Posted by Ethan)
The details for the 2009 Mentone Mens' Gathering have been posted on their web page www.mentonemen.com. The dates are November 6 - 9 2009.
I have attended this event in the past and it is a wonderful time. Most the time is spent in a panel format with the speakers discussing issues with the whole group.
The drive from the Triangle area is a pleasure in itself. Mentone is a small town in northern Alabama.
Have a wonderful summer.
(Posted by Ethan)
Monday, July 6, 2009
I am still reading the book about passivity. I am struggling to find the right words to describe it. This morning I came by a poem by Bill Stafford that hits on this issue of passivity. In particular the idea that we become attached to certain emotional responses to life that we experienced as a child. These responses may not serve us and they may hide the truth and power that resides within us, yet we remain attached to these responses.
Turn Over Your Hand
Those lines on your hand, they can be read
for a hidden part of your life that only
those links can say – nobody’s voice can
find so tiny a message as comes
across your hand. Forbidden to complain,
you have tried to be like somebody else,
and only this fine record you examine
sometimes like this can remember where
you were going before that long
silent evasion that your life became.
If you are forbidden to complain then how are those feelings going to come out?
“silent evasion” – that sure rings true. I’ll just keep my mouth shut and move along.
Posted by Ethan
Turn Over Your Hand
Those lines on your hand, they can be read
for a hidden part of your life that only
those links can say – nobody’s voice can
find so tiny a message as comes
across your hand. Forbidden to complain,
you have tried to be like somebody else,
and only this fine record you examine
sometimes like this can remember where
you were going before that long
silent evasion that your life became.
If you are forbidden to complain then how are those feelings going to come out?
“silent evasion” – that sure rings true. I’ll just keep my mouth shut and move along.
Posted by Ethan
Thursday, July 2, 2009
John Lee
Greetings Blog readers,
I wanted to let you know what our friend John Lee is up to these days. He is doing a number of workshops and weekend retreats this year. Here is a link to his web site - http://www.flyingboy.com/
John Lee has been doing workshops of late about passivity. This is a curious topic. I am currently reading a book by Peter Michaelson, The Phantom of the Psyche – Freeing Ourself From Inner Passivity. I will write more about it later after it makes more sense to me.
Just to highlight some of John’s work –
He will be at the Unity church in Greensboro the weekend of July 11 and 12.
Friday, July 10, 2009, 7 - 9:30 p.m.
More Intimacy, Passion and Communication Whether you are single, married, divorced, gay or straight, man or woman you can acquire information, insights and tools to help you become the person you always wanted to be in relationships. You can learn to pay attention to your lover's longings in ways not taught to most of us until now.
I wanted to let you know what our friend John Lee is up to these days. He is doing a number of workshops and weekend retreats this year. Here is a link to his web site - http://www.flyingboy.com/
John Lee has been doing workshops of late about passivity. This is a curious topic. I am currently reading a book by Peter Michaelson, The Phantom of the Psyche – Freeing Ourself From Inner Passivity. I will write more about it later after it makes more sense to me.
Just to highlight some of John’s work –
He will be at the Unity church in Greensboro the weekend of July 11 and 12.
Friday, July 10, 2009, 7 - 9:30 p.m.
More Intimacy, Passion and Communication Whether you are single, married, divorced, gay or straight, man or woman you can acquire information, insights and tools to help you become the person you always wanted to be in relationships. You can learn to pay attention to your lover's longings in ways not taught to most of us until now.
Saturday, July 11, 2009, 8:30 a.m. - 5 p.m.
A day long workshop for men that will focus on enhancing and increasing the ability to identify feelings and express all emotions appropriately and at the same time be able to be attentive to the feelings and emotions others are expressing.
John has also written his first piece of fiction.
When the Buddha Met Bubba
This is the heart-warming story of Billy Bob (Bubba) Coker, a redneck who reached rock bottom, until a freak head injury results in the appearance of his own personal Buddha. From that moment forward, Bubba is led on a humorous journey of introspection through the backwoods of the deep South and through his own flawed preconceptions and relationships.
I hope everyone has a wonderful Independence Day weekend.
Ethan
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