"Bill De Blasio Will Meditate Your Parking Ticket Away," a headline on Gothamist says. Intriguing -- but thoroughly incorrect -- and full of mocking stereotypes (those solidified perceptions make for easy shorthand). 

The piece is actually about a story in The Village Voice about NYC mayoral candidate and City Council member Bill De Blasio. I don't live in NYC and don't know anything about him, so I don't know if the tone of the blog piece is appropriate. But I do know that the headline and some of the assertions aren't.

It says:

The nut: He had no problem trying to make parking tickets disappear for constituents, he wanted "transcendental meditation" to be included in school curriculum, and a good deal of de Blasio's records seem to be conveniently missing.

(For those of you who haven't attended journalism school, "the nut" refers to the "nut graph," or the paragraph the summarizes the story.) Just from that sentence, it's obvious that meditation and parking tickets are two separate things. He won't "meditate your parking tickets away."
And regarding "transcendental meditation:" Putting something in quotes like this is a subtle way of diminishing it, the equivalent of a wink, by questioning its legitimacy. Transcendental Meditation is  a trademarked name for a system of meditation that uses mantras.)

Then there's this:

And now, the cornerstone for what will be a mysterious direct-mailing campaign featuring de Blasio's face superimposed on Deepak Chopra's cross-legged body hitting a bong in the shape of a hammer and sickle:

De Blasio also has a mystical side. He wrote to then-New York City Department of Education Chancellor Joel Klein to extol the virtues of transcendental meditation, recommending that the discipline become part of the curriculum in city public schools. "The technique is strictly a mechanical, natural procedure that allows the mind and body to settle down to a deep state of rest," he wrote Klein.

TM has nothing to do with Deepak Chopra. It was developed by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi (and taught to people like the Beatles). Chopra studied TM, but broke with it in 1994. I don't where the bong comes in. I assume the hammer and sickle refer to his politics, not his meditation practice.

 Beyond that, though, meditation in schools is not an outrageous thing. It's happening in lots of places. Studies in British schools have found that it improves attention and reduces stress.
 reduces stress.
Gothamist makes it sound like a politician promoting meditation is a weird and suspect thing. Hmmm ... I wonder what Congressman Tim Ryan author of "A Mindful Nation: How a Simple Practice Can Help Us Reduce Stress, Improve Performance, and Recapture the American Spirit," would say? You can listen to his talks at IDP here.

What can you say about a groundhog who dies?

That she was a diva? A hero? That she loved bananas and nipped the mayor?

All of the above.

MANCHESTER — In her three short years at the Lutz Children’s Museum, Molly the groundhog lived like a diva: bananas twice a day, in-season vegetables, and weekly deliveries of fresh fruit from Highland Park Market.

“She was pretty spoiled,” said Lutz Animal Program Coordinator Sarah Wilby, who was one of only a few curators who the groundhog would allow to hold her. “She wanted things when she wanted them in her own way.”

(The Journal Inquirer)

The art of the news obit, no matter who -- or what -- it's about, is to capture the full spectrum of the being. And while it's an assignment that most reporters dislike --- even less so when it's for an animal -- it's an opportunity to paint a larger picture than an average news story, to be a little freer with language. Could a reporter have called Chuckles a diva when she was the state's official groundhog?

I edited the paid obituaries for a while. It became a meditation practice on the buddhanature of all beings. Everyone has enlightened aspects and confused aspects in their lives -- they loved the Red Sox; they name the cats but not the grandkids; they pay to say that they liked to watch "Animal Planet"; they knit sweaters for the kindergartners; they were known for their kielbasa; they loved Frank Sinatra. They touched the patch of world where they walked, even if they never made it out of Stafford. They touched my heart.

Everyone is a walking obituary. Everyone on the street, in the store, in the stadium, has people and things they love, hobbies and quirks, those who predeceased them.

This body will be a corpse. This person is already dead.

This ephermal existence is not to be wasted. Everyone who is born will die. My death is certain; the exact time is unknown. Knowing this, what is most important?

How do you talk to a hungry ghost?

One of things that books and teachers will tell you about Buddhism is that meditation makes you less judgmental. That's not really what happens, though. You never stop making judgments. But when you meditate, you don't attach as much weight to them. They're just more thoughts, more ephemeral, effervescent brain bubbles. They are no more urgent or important than the bubbles that say "my nose itches" or "the room is blue."

By observing your brain at work and play, you become more aware of judgments bubbling up. And when you are aware of them, you can choose whether to act on them. You can question them -- really, is he an idiot? is that word hate speech? what is my intention in pointing out their error? is it really important to make a correction? -- or investigate them, find out whether they are arising from some old injury that's bubbling away slowly like the tar pits or from some giddy, advertising-culture standard.

There is always the chance that the judgments are the voice of wisdom, that they represent clear-seeing, or discernment. Sometimes that voice says, this is not how people should be treated. These are not appropriate words. This attitude spreads hate; it is not of benefit.

The question for me is, what is the wise response?

A lot of people have the misconception that Buddhists "accept" what is. This is how it is now. But again, that's a misperception. We try, constantly, endlessly, to see what is, without imposing our preconceptions on the situation. Seeing what is allows us to make real change. Seeing clearly that a relationship is abusive does not mean accepting that is how it is and will be. It means you can stop denying or excusing or dramatizing or lingering and do something.

I've been following reports all week about Rush Limbaugh's comments about a young woman who testified in favor of requiring insurance plans to pay for birth control. I feel compassion -- he's a sad man, a hungry ghost who can't get enough attention, affirmation, strokes, no matter how much he gets. A hell-realm dweller for sure. He's miles away from seeing his own inherent compassionate nature, let alone anyone else's.

But what he said is not acceptable. It's mean. It contributes to a culture of meanness.

My first reaction is to strike back, to meet nasty words with nasty words (not that my words reach a fraction of a percent of his). But as I sit with it, I lose my desire to do that. This is where I arrive: I don't want any particular result for Rush Limbaugh. But I do want to say that how he chooses to talk is hurtful and unacceptable. If I don't say that, I am part of it. But I can say that, to his advertisers, without attacking him.

I don't want to add to the meanness in the world. I don't want to contribute to building a culture where meanness and ridicule is how we communicate.

There's a saying in recovery: Say what you mean, but don't say it mean.

Or, as I said to my kids during their contentious years, I don't talk to you like that, so you don't get to talk to me like that.

Golden rule: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

With a Buddhist coda: Because they are you.

impermanence and the news

Flowers decompose, but knowing this does not prevent us from loving flowers. In fact, we are able to love the flowers more because we know to treasure them while they are alive. Thich Nhat Han

I’ve worked at daily newspapers for most of my career. There’s probably no better job for training in Buddhist principles: Every day, we gather people’s perceptions of events – sometimes we call them “facts;” most times we admit that everyone’s perception is a little bit different – we look for the places where they overlap and report those as truth, and where they disagree, we try to balance the presentation. We inquire constantly: How do we know this is true? Who is saying it? What is their view? We assemble perspectives, which combine to form stories, which then fill pages, and the pages make a newspaper. Conditions come together, the pages get printed, put on trucks, into the hands of the middle school kids who still deliver it, and then into the bushes or the box or the front porch. The reader looks at it, notes a few things, maybe mentions something that resonates to someone else, and the newspaper goes into the recycling bin or under the catbox or into a pile. (See Thich Nhat Han for more on how the world is contained in a piece of paper.)

right effort

“It’s OK if it’s impossible; it’s OK! Now I’m going to speak to you as
organizers. Listen carefully. The object is not to win. That’s not the
objective. The object is to do the right and good thing. If you decide
not to do anything, because it’s too hard or too impossible, then
nothing will be done, and when you’re on your death bed,... you’re gonna
say, “I wish I had done something." But if you go and do the right thing
NOW, and you do it long enough, “good things will happen — something’s
gonna happen.” -- Bill Moyers

did hitler have buddhanture?

inevitably, in every buddhist class I've ever been in where buddhanature, or basic goodness is discussed. someone will ask whether hitler had it.
my feeling is that, yes, he did. but it was buried under miles of muck.
the mind-only schools say that if you can prove any aspect of a belief is untrue, that proves it is untrue as a general principal.
was hitler eveil? hell, yes.
did he have buddhanature? well, he liked bread and marmalade and was "mild-mannered." so my belief is that under unmeasurable tons of hatred and aggression, he did.

LONDON (AP) — Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler liked to have bread and marmalade for breakfast and was described as mild-mannered during personal exchanges, according to newly released documents.
Britain’s National Archives on Friday made public a previously classified account of Hitler provided by a 19-year-old Austrian deserter, who described the dictator as paranoid about being watched by others and short-tempered during meetings.
“He is mild on personal contact but apt to bang tables and shout during conferences,” according to the account given by a prisoner of war identified as SS Schuetze Obernigg. He was said to have been at Hitler’s retreat in Obersalzberg in the Bavarian Alps in 1943 and 1944.
Obernigg provided British intelligence officers with a detailed description of Hitler’s daily routine at the retreat. Hitler was said to favor waking up about 10 a.m., breakfasted on coffee, bread, and marmalade shortly afterward, and received visitors including his doctor in the afternoon. The accounts show he apparently worked until late in the night and went to sleep as late as 4 a.m.
The deserter also described Hitler’s attitude toward his personal guards.
“Hitler cannot bear to feel himself watched ... guards were instructed to keep him in sight but to remain unobserved themselves,” said Obernigg, according to the files.
A separate set of files also released by the National Archive on Friday showed that Allied forces were deeply concerned about the possible existence of a secret Nazi hideout in the Austrian Alps where Hitler would make a “last desperate stand” after the end of World War II.
Intelligence reports from around 1944 to 1945 suggested that the so-called “Nazi National Redoubt” could hold enough food and weapons in underground caves for up to 60,000 “Nazi fanatics” for two years, according to files made public by Britain’s National Archive.
The files contained detailed reports of the training and movement of troops as well as fuel and food in the Alpine area between western Austria and upper Bavaria. An intelligence summary described the mountain base as a place “in which the elite of National Germany will make a last desperate stand.”
The documents suggest that the Allies were convinced about the Nazi mountain refuge — although historians say the base turned out to be a myth.
“There was every indication the Nazi regime would fight until the last man,” said Mark Dunton, a contemporary history specialist at the National Archive.
“(The Allies) were sort of piecing together various observations about the movements of foodstuffs into this area, and a movement of weapons and gasoline, and they kind of ... put two and two together to make five,” he said.

lessons in impermanence

Henry Dang, 15, killed on his bike
By Harlan Levy
Journal Inquirer
WINDSOR LOCKS — A long line of around 400 sad and tearful students and friends came to Windsor Locks Congregational Church on Sunday afternoon to mourn the death of Henry Dang, 15, who was killed riding his bicycle early Saturday morning.
The simple facts of the case, which starkly belie the depth of emotions Henry Dang’s death aroused in the community, are these: It was closing in on midnight Friday when the high school sophomore got on his bike and left a friend’s house, heading home. A few blocks away, at the corner of Spring and West streets, he collided with motorist Michael Koistinen, an off-duty police officer, who was traveling west on Spring Street.
Both were injured. Dang was taken by ambulance to Hartford Hospital, where he died. An ambulance took Koistinen to Johnson Memorial Hospital in Stafford, where he was treated and released.
No further details were available today. The North Central Municipal Accident Reconstruction Squad is investigating.
Koistinen, 24, joined the Windsor Locks Police Department in February 2009. He was scheduled to work today. Police Chief John Suchocki said today he doesn’t know when Koistinen will return to work.
“I was just getting up to visit a college in Massachusetts, and then I got the call,” said senior Ellary Douglas, 17, “and at first I didn’t believe it. I thought it was a joke. Then I heard more, and I saw Facebook, and it was on Facebook, and then it hit me that he was gone. It was very emotional.”
Junior Maria Brown, 16, awoke early Saturday morning. “I got up early to go to the gym to practice for basketball when I got a call from one of Henry’s close friends,” she said. “I didn’t believe it. I don’t think anyone who got the call believed it — him, out of every kid in this town, all the kids that do drugs, all the kids that are bad kids. Henry was the best kid in this town. I’m still in shock.”
“Early Saturday morning my son’s girlfriend came over sobbing to tell us what happened,” said Henry’s church youth group leader Colleen Conroy. “It’s devastating. He was just too young.”
“It’s just tragic,” Pastor Kevin Flannery said.
On Sunday there were two events at the church, a regular morning service followed by a memorial service at 1 p.m. to pay respects to Dang and offer comfort to his mother and two older brothers and sister. Seeing the number of mourners coming to the morning service, Flannery changed his sermon topic, which had been stewardship.
“We decided to do one that touched on grief so that the kids could actually walk through some of the stuff that they’re feeling,” he said. That includes his daughter.
“My daughter’s the same age and was friends with Henry. It just rips my heart out. We’re just so sad.”
Flannery’s sermon ended with “focusing on the reality that none of us knows how long we are here.”
Well before 1, a throng of mourners began making its way to the church on Main Street. Each signed in and slowly filled the pews. Many of Henry’s classmates spoke about him at an open microphone, and a slide show prompted tears for a valued life cut short.
“Henry pretty much was the life of the school,” Ellary Douglas said. “He brought every single person together, even if they didn’t like each other.”
Saturday night, Douglas said, Henry’s high school friends gathered in a basement to remember him. “We just hung out together, and there was a bunch of people you would never think were friends or who talked to each other,” she said. “We were just together, talking about Henry, reminiscing about Henry, crying, laughing, everything. It just brought everyone together.”
Students also scheduled a vigil for 7 this morning outside the high school to honor Henry.
Henry Dang’s friends described him as active and energetic, with an outstanding personality. He was involved in basketball and track, his church youth group and his friends.
”He had a smile that lit up the room,” said youth pastor Brian Sullivan, who knew Henry for the last 2½ years in church and on the basketball court. “He was excited about life. He was very genuine and very respectful. He’s going to be really missed.”
Youth group leader Conroy praised Henry as “just a great kid. Everybody loved him. He was always happy, always smiling, always there to talk to anyone who was hurting. He’d be the first one, even if he didn’t know them, to go up and ask them if he could do anything to help. Just a sweetheart.”
“He was very caring,” Mariah Brown said. “He loved everyone. Everyone who he talked to was his friend.”
Like Sunday’s sermon, Conroy said, “You can’t take the people you love for granted because there’s no guarantee how long they’ll be here.”