today in the wood shop...

Today in the Clear Spring School wood shop my middle school students will be turning on the lathe. My lower elementary school students who are beginning to study the oceans will begin making toy boats. My upper elementary students will be making tiny houses from wood.

I can give some guidance to their growth through my introduction of tools, techniques, and materials. So total chaos, it is not.

I have been contacting suppliers for the tools necessary for the new wood studio we're building at the Eureka Springs School of the Arts, and since I've no books to write other than the guitar book which enters its editorial phase soon, I've been going through my magazine  article proposals to re-energize that side of life.

Yesterday my wife and I went to two programs at our local UU church. The first was a presentation by a Viet Nam war vet who had gone with his wife and grand daughter to the protests at Standing Rock. It was a moving and emotional experience in which unarmed citizen went up against governmental and corporate thugs. We will see more of that, and must. One of the basic purposes of incorporation is to shield investors from liability, and as the incoming president has promised to eliminate regulations and put corporate interests first, we will watch as corporate malfeasance increases, and the burden falls inevitably on the environment and the poor. Investors without regulation skate away with their expected profits, amassed from the degradation of the earth.

The other program was with Khentrul Rinpoche from Tibet. His talk to a standing room only crowd gathered in the small UU church explored the nature of mind, and offered guidance in turning the mind toward happiness. That can be like turning the Titanic, as the mind  is composed of judgement that separates us from each other and desire centered on things we want that are incapable of offering true and lasting happiness.

The lesson I take is to be of service to others. Desire only that.

Make, fix, create, and provide others with an example that they may learn likewise.