The Wild Reed: Out and About – Spring 2018 (Part I)

Thursday, July 05, 2018

Out and About – Spring 2018 (Part I)

With the summer solstice been and gone, it feels like it's a good time to look back on the spring season that's past with the latest installment of The Wild Reed's "Out and About" series.

But first, regular readers will be familiar with my "Out and About" series, one that I began in April 2007 as a way of documenting my life as an “out” gay man, seeking to be all “about” the Spirit-inspired work of embodying God’s justice and compassion in the world. I've continued the series in one form or another for the last 10 years – in 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 . . . and now into 2018.

So let's get started with this latest installment . . .

My year-long chaplain residency at Abbott Northwestern Hospital (ANW) in Minneapolis continues. In fact, I'm about three-quarters of the way through – which I find hard to believe. Where does the time go?

In the photo above I'm pictured with my fellow resident chaplains Chandler, Katie, and Hae. We're in the chapel of ANW for "Let the Greening Begin," the April 27 interfaith prayer gathering I planned and facilitated which celebrated the return of spring.

Right: With members of the Palliative Care team, with whom I've been working since March.

For more images and commentary on "Let the Greening Begin," click here.

Above: With my fellow chaplain residents and our Unit II CPE supervisor, Kim Goodman – May 15, 2018.

Following is part of what Kim wrote in my Unit II evaluation.

Michael is effective with patients who, in turn, feel cared for, supported, and heard. He connects well with staff, and is experienced as professional, competent, and a good representative of spiritual care. In his goal to become more experienced with palliative care, he worked with the Palliative Care team chaplain to begin engaging with the team and their patients. He quickly gained their trust and respect, increasingly receiving referrals and being relied on as second chaplain more than as a resident or student. The ICU chaplain also came to rely on him as her "second" and backup as he covered the ICU two days a week for her, and quickly became her go-to for vacation coverage. She has high standards and her endorsement of Michael speaks to the trust he earned from her in providing clinical spiritual care.

Throughout the unit, Michael engaged intentionally with integrative theological work, drawing on his Catholicism and his growing and deepening connection to Pagan traditions. His spiritual development is complex and integrated in significant ways. This level of theological and spiritual work allows him to be alongside patients who are in different stages of faith than he, with respect and maturity toward their meaning-making processes. He is aware of and developing an ability to self-supervise his own sense of judgmentalism when it creeps into patient encounters. Michael brings a similar maturity and dynamic to his interactions with peers and supervisor.

Above: With members of the ANW Palliative Care team – May 11, 2018.

Above: With fellow chaplain residents Hae and Chandler, and Chandler's wife and their youngest child – May 18, 2018.

Above: The wonderful group of chaplain interns we had at ANW from the beginning of February until mid May. Back row from left: Suzie, Sheila, Dong, Phillipos, and ANW Spiritual Care Director and CPE supervisor Verlyn Hemmen. Front row from left: Mark, Dave, and PJ.

Above: With my fellow chaplain residents and our Unit III CPE supervisor, Verlyn – June 1, 2018.

Above: The new group of chaplain interns that started at ANW in early June with their CPE supervisor, Mark Mallinger. From left: Mark, Logan, Sam, Danielle, Kristen, and Jamie.

Above and right: The "Minnesota March For Our Lives" event in St. Paul – March 24, 2018.

Led by students and other young people, the event was one of hundreds of marches and rallies held in solidarity with the March for Our Lives in Washington, DC., which drew over 800,000 people to the streets of the capital and was organized by survivors of the February 14 Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, Florida.

For more images and commentary on this even, click here.

Above and left: The inaugural Queer Movie Night, which I hosted for friends in my south Minneapolis home on the evening of Sunday, March 25, 2018. We watched local filmmaker Eric Mueller's 1994 film, World and Time Enough.

Future gatherings will be hosted by other members of the group and they'll get to choose the film that we'll view and discuss. For more about this series of movie nights and queer cinema in general, click here.

Above and right: My friends Joan and Matt hosted the second Queer Movie Night on Sunday, April 22, 2018. They chose the 2016 documentary Free CeCe to view and discuss.

Free CeCe is about Chrishaun Reed "CeCe" McDonald, a trans African American woman who was served a 41 month prison sentence in 2012 for defending herself against a violent attack that took place the previous year in south Minneapolis. As well as highlighting CeCe's story, Free CeCe also examines the all-too common violence experienced by trans women of color.

Above: With my dear friend Joan – April 22, 2018. Joan and Matt's "bold" kitchen was recently featured in an article in the Star Tribune. Following is an excerpt.

[T]he home’s new owner, Joan Demeules, said the kitchen made the sale. “I loved the red cabinets. Such a cool pop of color! It’s a wonderful place to cook. And I like how it flows. It’s really the centerpiece of the house. I hosted a rehearsal dinner, and nobody wanted to leave the kitchen.”

So true!

Above: Friends (from left) Omar (with Sadie), Hugh, Matt, Joan, John, and George at Queer Movie Night of April 22.

Above: More Queer Movie Night fun with (from left) Jeffrey, Pete, Omar, and Jim – Sunday, April 22, 2018.

Above: My friend Deandre – March 30, 2018. It was Deandre's birthday and so we went out to The Libertine in Uptown where we celebrated by playing table tennis!

Above: With friends (from left) Jake, Steve, Angie, Verna, and Simeon – Friday, March 23, 2018.

Above: My friend Simeon preaching at the Kenyan Community Seventh-Day Adventist Church – Saturday, March 31, 2018.

Above: Celebrating Easter Sunday with my friend Omar at Spirit of St. Stephen's Catholic Community – April 1, 2018.

Above: Easter Sunday lunch at the home of my dear friends Ken and Carol. From left: My boyfriend Brent; Sue Ann; Cass; Paul; Oscar; Carol, Carrie; and Kathleen.

Brent and I enjoyed Easter Sunday dinner at the home of our friends Joan and Matt. In 2015, Joan (pictured with me above) accompanied me on a visit back to Australia.

Above (from left): Zach, Omar, Matt, and Brent – Easter Sunday, April 1, 2018.

For The Wild Reed's 2018 Holy Week series, "The God from the House of Bread: A Bridge Between Christianity and Paganism," click here.

Above: Friends George, Brent, Stephanie, Taffy, John, and Omar – Saturday, April 7, 2018.

Left: With my friends Joan and Omar – April 7, 2018.