Sightlines

What happened at the Happening?

Sunday, April 20, 2008. Yesterday, at exactly 12 noon, Pacific Time, I dug a shovel into the ground in the backyard to launch the Happening called, "Synchronized Farewells." My mission: to bury something, to say farewell to it. I invited others to do the same at exactly noon. Several of you wrote last week to say it was a great idea, but I have no idea how many actually broke ground.

Frankly, I wasn't sure how personal I wanted to get. I tinkered with the idea of burying something funny, or emotionally neutral, but decided in the end, to bury a small box with a two teaspoons of my parents ashes. Mom on the left, dad on the right.

I've lived in this house over 24 years, and there are reverberations of my parents in the furniture, in pictures, in letters, in silverware and vases. And in me. And when the time comes to move, I want to leave something of them behind.  The thing is, there is really no single farewell. Saying good-bye is not an event. And come to think of it, I don't want to say good-bye to them. I want them to be part of me forever. And they will.

Nonetheless, there was something about shoveling dirt onto that little box, covering it, filling the hole and smoothing it over, that got the farewell and still-here parts all jumbled up inside. I'm OK with that.

If I hear from others I will post the details here. Cheers.

Happenings, then and now

Sunday, April 13, 2008. I love it when I find odd connections between things. Take today: in the New York Times Arts section there's an article about the revival of "Happenings." They are happening again.

Back in mid- to late 60s they were a big thing in the art world. Allan Kaprow was one of the Happening heavies back then, and one of his pieces--"Fluid"--is being re-created later this month at three art institutions in LA, including the Getty.  "Fluid" entails building a large room-like structure out of 50-lb blocks of ice, then letting them melt.

Mr. Kaprow is quoted as saying, "The line between art and life should be kept as fluid, and perhaps indistinct, as possible."

Other Happenings in bygone days included cleaning a car with q-tips and saliva. And there was a "Trading Dirt" project that involved exchanging buckets of dirt with other people. Kaprow called one of his buckets, "Heavy-duty Buddhist dirt" because it came from the Zen Center in San Diego.

So why am I telling you all this? Because today we were at a friend's house and they had a pile of old magazines, including Life and Look. There was a Look from 1938, and one of the Life editions was from 1967 and featured "Happenings" on the cover. Now how's that for a coincidence? When I saw that cover I knew immediately: gotta blog about this.

Now it's my turn--actually--your turn too, if you want to--to create a happening. Here's my idea: next Saturday, the 19th, at precisely 12 noon, Pacific time, I invite you to bury in the ground, an idea, a feeling, or an object that you want to say farewell to. And I invite you to have someone photograph you as you place the object or idea or feeling (if it's on paper) in the ground. Or you could just photograph the burial site. Or whatever. Then email the photo to me at: mstabe@qwest.net. I will post a sampling of comments and photos on this blog on the following Saturday, 26th.

The Happening will be called, "Synchronized Farewells." Cheers.

Gathering with the Dalai Lama

Sunday, April 13, 2008. Yesterday, Qwest Field, home of the Seattle Seahawks,  turned into the gathering place for the Seeds of Compassion--an event featuring the Dalai Lama. And I was one of the 50,000-ish attendees. Frankly I didn't really care about the music, or hearing other speakers, I just wanted to hear The Man speak. Or should I say, His Holiness--which is how all the speakers referred to him.

What impressed me most was not his words, impressive though they were, but his energy, his straightforwardness, his vigor... and his humor. He wasn't preach-y in the least.  Just clear and resonant as a Tibetan singing bowl.

His talk was punctuated with enthusiastic applause. He called for the 21st century to become the "Century of Dialogue" and urged all of us to engage in "internal disarmament" along with nuclear disarmament. By internal disarmament he meant reducing anger, fear, prejudice.

He said there really is no "we" and they"; we're all "We." How could we not agree?

Actually, I went to the gathering as much to see him and to be a witness as to hear his message. I thought it was important just to show up.

Here's a link for more information on his visit to Seattle: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/dalailama/.  Cheers.