Out and About – Autumn 2015

Regular readers of The Wild Reed 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 Catholic man, seeking to be all “about” the Spirit-inspired work of embodying God’s justice and compassion in the Church and the world. I've continued the series in one form or another every year since – in 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, and now into 2015.

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

Above and left: On Wednesday, November 18, I participated in the weekly peace vigil on the Lake St./Marshall Ave. bridge, which links Minneapolis and St. Paul.

It was the first vigil to take place after the horrific November 13 terrorist attacks in Paris which claimed 128 lives. Accordingly, the November 18 vigil was entitled "Say No to War, Racism and Islamophobia: Don't Let Paris Be An Excuse for More War."

For more images and commentary on this vigil and for links to articles on alternatives to violence (i.e., "military strikes") in responding to the Paris attacks, click here.

Above and right: The "Justice for Jamar" candlelight vigil outside the 4th precinct police station in north Minneapolis – Friday, November 20, 2015.

I attended this powerful show of community solidarity with my friends Tim and Kathleen. It was an event that drew around 1000 people and featured a number of inspiring speeches by local and national civil rights leaders, including Cornell Brooks, head of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), Nekima Levy-Pounds, the Minneapolis NAACP chapter president, and Mahmoud El-Kati, a former Macalester College professor and an African-American historian. The vigil also involved singing, chanting, and a march to the site a few blocks away where Jamar Clark, a 24-year-old black man, was fatally shot by police while in custody on November 15. A number of witnesses say Clark was laying on the ground and handcuffed at the moment he was shot by a police officer.

"We understand that all lives matter," Brooks told the crowd at one point, "[but] unless black lives matter, all lives can’t matter . . . We are in it for the long haul." (above) was a powerful embodiment of community and solidarity.

For more images and commentary on this vigil, along with updates on the ongoing 4th Precinct occupation and the #Justice4Jamar movement, click here.

Autumn was a pretty eventful time for me this year: I celebrated my 50th birthday (right) and, soon after, started dating a wonderful guy named Brent (above).

Brent and I had our second date at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum. For images of this beautiful public garden, click here.

For previous posts related to my reaching the big Five-0, see:
• A Guidepost on the Journey
• For 2015, Three "Generous Promises"
• The Choice (and Risk) That is Love
• The Body: As Sacred and Knowing as a Temple Oracle
• Turning 50

Above: The place in Minneapolis I call home, and which I share with my good friend Tim.

The house is of Dutch Colonial Revival design, built in the early years of the twentieth-century. It's located very close to Minnehaha Creek (right) and its surrounding areas of parkland and urban wilderness.

Above: The parlour of my south Minneapolis home.

Left: Candlelight reflected in a framed picture of Vaslav Nijinsky. I came across this image years ago, and it was one of a number that piqued my interest in Nijinsky.

This past summer and fall I've read a number of books about the famed dancer, including Nijinsky: God of the Dance by Derek Parker, Nijinsky: A Life of Genius and Madness by Richard Buckle, and Nijinsky by Lucy Moore.

For my 50th birthday my friend and housemate Tim gave me a second copy of Lincoln Kirstein's Nijinsky Dancing, the most complete collection of photographs of Nijinsky. First published in 1975, it's now only available used, and the first copy I ordered turned out to be rather badly water-damaged. So Tim offered to buy me a second copy for my birthday.

The first one has come in handy, though, as I was able to salvage the above images which I hope to have one day professionally framed. They depict Nijinsky in some of his most famous roles. From left: as Harlequin in Le Carnaval (1911); as the Rose in Le Spectre de la Rose (1911); as the Blue God in Le Dieu Bleu (1912); as the Captain of the Lezgins in Le Festin (1909); as Albrecht in Giselle (1910); as the Slave in Le Pavillon d'Armide (1911); and as the Faun in L'Apres-Midi d'un Faune (1912).

Above: Tim and his girlfriend Colleen – September 2015.

I've mentioned previously that since the beginning of the year my friend Pete and I have been meeting every Thursday morning for breakfast. We thought it would be fun to get a photograph of us at every new restaurant we visited (along with some of our regular ones).

In the photo above we're on the patio of Victor's 1959 Cafe (October 1, 2015). One week later we decided to try The Lowry (left). We weren't disappointed.

Right: At the 50th Street Cafe in Edina – Thursday, September 25, 2015.

Above: Pete and I breakfasting earlier today at Yum! Kitchen and Bakery in St. Louis Park.

Above: With my friend Matt at one of my favorite restaurants in south Minneapolis, Vo's – September 26, 2015.

After enjoying lunch at Vo's, Matt and I spent the afternoon at Minnehaha Park where we followed Minnehaha Creek from Minnehaha Falls to the Mississippi River. For images of our time at this beautiful place, click here.

Above: On the evening of November 7, my friend Karam hosted a wonderful soirée at his home in the Uptown neighborhood of Minneapolis. From left: Karam, Brent, Luis, Paari, Archana, and Lorraine.

Right: With my friend Raul – October 24, 2015.

Above: On the evening of November 14, 2015, friends and I saw Collide Theatrical Dance Company's production of CLU. Pictured from left: Me, Aaron, John, Kathy, and Liz.

C.L.U. featured one of my favorite Twin Cities-based dancers, Riley Thomas Weber, as "the Butler." Previously, Weber had danced with Cities’ Classical Dance Ensemble. I spotlighted this group's Ballet Amore performance in 2011. As he did back then, Weber demonstrated in CLU both his impressive dancing abilities and his skills as a musician . . . by beautifully playing the cello.

Above: With friends Nate, Noelle and John – September 2015.

Above (from left): Noelle, John, Brittany, Phil, Jacob, Liana and Curtis – October 2015.


Right: With my friend Noelle – October 2015.

Above: With Amelia, daughter of my friends Liana and Cutis – November 2015.

Above and left: I've had the pleasure of baby-sitting Amelia a few times this past autumn. It's always a fun time . . . for both of us!

Above and below: Eddie.

Above and below: Quinn.

Above: Natasha.

Above: Tim and Colleen, dressed up and ready for trick-or-treaters on Halloween.

Above: I spent the early part of Halloween night at the home of my friends Pete and Kyle. It was here that I was pleased to see that at least one person decided to dress-up as a faun this year! Truth be told, it's something I've always wanted to do. This young man's beanie kinda ruins the effect, but maybe it's to hide the fact that he couldn't find a pair of horns. His girlfriend, as you can probably tell, was dressed as a bee.

Above: Minneapolis' Loring Park – October 2015.

For previous Wild Reed posts that celebrate the autumn of 2015, see:
• Autumn Hues
• Photo of the Day – 10/29/15
• Autumn Leaves
• A Magical Time and Place
• From the Falls to the River
• An Afternoon at the Arboretum
• Autumn Beauty

Above: My friend Pete, pictured by a spring located on the bluffs of the Mississippi River, just below the University of St. Thomas. The whole area is basically a deep wooded ravine, formed by the stream created by this spring, a stream that flows into the nearby Mississippi River. It's a very beautiful place, and my time there with Pete will always remain in my mind as a magical one.

Above and below: The first snowfall of the approaching winter – Thanksgiving Day, November 26, 2015.

Right: My housemate Tim, putting the finishing touches to our Christmas tree – November 30, 2015.

For previous Wild Reed posts celebrating the Christmas tree, see:
• The Christmas Tree as Icon, Inviting Us to Contemplate the "One Holy Circle" of Both Dark and Light
• Something to Cherish
• Christmas Baubles
• Christmastide Approaches

Last Sunday, November 29, was the First Sunday of Advent. I've yet to write an Advent post this year, but following are some from previous years from which I continue to gain both insight and hope. Perhaps you will too!

Previous Wild Reed Advent posts:
• Active Waiting: A Radical Attitude Toward Life
• Advent: The Season of Blessed Paradox
• The Centered Life as an Advent Life
• Rejoice? (Advent 2012)
• Advent 2011: Thoughts and Reflections (Part 1)
• Advent 2011: Thoughts and Reflections (Part 2)
• Advent 2011: Thoughts and Reflections (Part 3)
• Advent 2011: Thoughts and Reflections (Part 4)
• Thoughts on Waiting . . . and a Resolution
• My Advent Prayer for the Church
• Advent: Renewing Our Connection with the Sacred

Above: Autumn ends, winter returns . . . and the journey continues.


Autumn 2015 Wild Reed posts of note:
• Pope Francis in the U.S.
• Remembering John McNeill
• Another "Mackalicious" Moment
• Autumn Beauty
• St. Francis Assisi: A Gay Man's Man
• "Trajectory is More Important Than the Current Status"
• Quite Something
• The Body: As Sacred and Knowing as a Temple Oracle
• Autumn Leaves
• Words of Wisdom on Indigenous Peoples Day
• The Ground Zero Papal Prayer Service . . . and a Reminder of the Spirituality That Transcends What All the Religions Claim to Represent
• Beyond the Hierarchy: The Blossoming of Liberating Catholic Insights on Sexuality (Part 8)
• An Afternoon at the Arboretum
• From the Falls to the River
• Remembering James B. Nelson, 1930-2015
• A Magical Time and Place
• Turning 50
• The Pagan Roots of All Saints Day
• James Alison on the Likely "Really Big Deal" of Synod 2015
• What We Mean by Love
• On Armistice Day, Remembering Edward Brittain and Geoffrey Thurlow
• Autumn Hues
• In the Wake of the Paris Attacks, Saying 'No' to War, Racism and Islamophobia
• "We Are All One" – #Justice4Jamar and the 4th Precinct Occupation
• Sanctuary for Gay Syrians Danny and Aamer
• Come, Spirit . . .

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• Out and About – Summer 2015 (Part I)
• Out and About – Summer 2015 (Part II)
• Out and About – Spring 2015 (Part I)
• Out and About – Spring 2015 (Part II)
• Australian Sojourn – March 2015
• Out and About – Winter 2014-2015
• Out and About – Autumn 2014

Quote of the Day

Apparently finding a way to bend church rules to allow divorced Catholics to receive communion is a more pressing concern for Pope Francis than the life-and-death issue of AIDS. The pope who has bent over backwards to find a “pastoral” solution to the problem of divorced Catholics showed no such compassion for those living with HIV/AIDS when asked on his return flight from his African visit if the church should change its prohibition on condom use given the continued spread of the virus.

Francis replied with an obtuse mixture of parable and exegesis that made it clear he saw little flexibility in the teaching. . . . While no one would argue that HIV/AIDS isn’t entangled in larger problems like poverty and exploitation, it seems astounding that the pope won’t acknowledge either the severity of the crisis or the role of condoms in saving lives right now, not in some mythological future when justice reigns and “all are healed.”

. . . According to the World Health Organization, there are currently 37 million people living with HIV/AIDS and some two million people were newly infected in 2014. Sub-Saharan African remains the global hot spot, with 26 million infected people and 70 percent of new infections.

Even the considerably more theologically hardline Pope Benedict said that condom use could be the lesser of two evils when it came to a person who is HIV positive thwarting the spread of the disease as a “the first step of responsibility, of taking into consideration the risk to the life of the person with whom there are relations.” Despite Benedict’s comments, Catholic bishops in African have continued to take a hard line against condoms and actively discourage their use.

– Patricia Miller
Excerpted from "Pope Francis Dismisses Condoms in AIDS Fight"
Religion Dispatches
December 2, 2015

Related Off-site Links:
On World AIDS Day, What Message of Good News Do Catholic Leaders Have for People Affected by HIV – William D. Lindsey (Bilgrimage, December 2, 2015).
World AIDS Day 2015: Time to Write the Last Chapter on HIV – Chris Beyrer and Anthony Fauci (CNN, November 30, 2015).
Seven Incredible Artists Who Lost Their Lives to HIV – James Michael Nichols (HuffPost Gay Voices, December 1, 2015).

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• Pope Benedict's Latest Condom Remarks
• Pope Embraces an Acceptable Form of Relativism
• Pope Accused of "Distorting Scientific Evidence" on Condom Use
• Daniel Helminiak on the Vatican's Natural Law Mistake

An Update on #Justice4Jamar and the 4th Precinct Occupation

There's an excellent counterpoint op-ed in today's Star Tribune by St. Paul writer Laura Jones which I share today along with updates on the #Justice4Jamar effort and its related 4th precinct occupation.

Protesters Need Support, Not Lectures

The shooting of peaceful Minneapolis protestors last week left me horrified. But the Star Tribune’s myopic editorial leaves me deeply disappointed (“Protecting Protesters in Wake of Shootings,” November 25).

Protests of police practices have become widespread in recent years, but this is the first time in recent memory that protestors have been shot at by apparent vigilantes. The incident should have prompted a strong editorial condemning the violence and calling on the public to stand with the victims. Instead, the Editorial Board took issue with the demands and tactics of the protestors, and called on them to scale back their protest.

News stories suggest that the attacks likely were racially motivated. Whatever the motives, protestors have been terrorized. Rather than ceding free speech to hateful vigilantes, the paper could call for increased support for the right to gather and protest. Political leaders, and the paper, should denounce without qualification hate crimes and racially targeted violence.

As for the safety of protestors, it is confusing to suggest that protesters would be less safe while outside the doors of a police precinct station. Shouldn’t that be one of the safest places? And how does it make sense for the paper to ask individuals to gather in daylight hours, when many work business shifts and the sun sets at 5 p.m.?

The paper also could do more to acknowledge the real tension between investigatory legal processes and the community’s legitimate need to know what happened. Last week’s release of chilling video of the execution of a black teen by a white Chicago police officer, which was suppressed for over a year, makes clear how horrifying the content can be. We need to acknowledge how critical that information is, and recognize that it is frequently community pressure that results in its public release.

The death of Jamar Clark and the shooting of community protestors has propelled the Twin Cities into the forefront of a national conversation around issues of racial justice and law enforcement. Now is the time to decisively condemn acts that terrorize peaceful protestors, to proclaim First Amendment rights, and to scrutinize policing practices that disproportionately impact — and even kill — black men in Minnesota and across the nation.

– Laura Jones
Star Tribune
December 1, 2015

UPDATES:
• Minneapolis Police Clear Out 4th Precinct Protest Site
– Jon Collins and Tim Nelson (MPR News, December 3, 2015).

• Protesters Rally at City Hall
After Police Clear Fourth Precinct Encampment
– Erin Golden (Star Tribune, December 4, 2015).

• Activists Decry Police Chief's Warning
as Clark Decision Looms
– Libor Jany and Randy Furst (Star Tribune, March 26, 2016).

• Hundreds Gather at Downtown Minneapolis Protest
– Liz Sawyer (Star Tribune, March 26, 2016).

• Prosecutor Won't Charge Cops
in Jamar Clark Shooting
– MPR News Staff (MPR News, March 30, 2016).

• Rayann Hayes, Alleged Jamar Clark Victim, Speaks Out:
"I Wasn't Jamar Clark's Girlfriend,
and He Didn't Break My Ankle"
– Mike Mullen (City Pages, April 1, 2016).

• An Open Letter to
Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman:
Evidence in Jamar Clark Case
Does Not Exonerate Officers
– Crystal Yakacki (Star Tribune, April 2, 2016).

• Surprised by Mike Freeman’s Lies?
Ok, Now What?
– Ryan Williams-Virden
(Form Follows Function, April 2, 2016).

• Can Cry for Justice in Clark Case
Cut Through Decades of Mistrust?
– Jon Tevlin (Star Tribune, April 3, 2016).

• Expert: DNA No "Truth Serum"
Despite Conclusion in Clark Shooting
– Cathy Wurzer and Riham Feshir
(MPR News, April 6, 2016).

• Policy Violations in the
Jamar Clark Case
– Rachel Wannarka and Jason Sole
(Jim Crow North, June 30, 2016).

• Minneapolis Police: Internal Probe
Clears Cops in Jamar Clark Shooting
– MPR News Staff
(MPR News, October 21, 2016).


See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• "We Are All One" – #Justice4Jamar and the 4th Precinct Occupation
• Quote of the Day – November 25, 2015

Related Off-site Links:
How Black Lives Matter Came Back Stronger After White Supremacist Attacks – Celia Kutz (WagingNonViolence.org, November 30, 2015).
Protesters Say They Aren’t Leaving the 4th Precinct – WCCO News (November 30, 2015).
Minnesota's 1st Black Congressman Comes Under Fire from Protesters Whose Cause He Supports – Steve Karnowski (Associated Press via U.S. News, December 2, 2015).
No Easy Solutions in North Minneapolis – Jon Tevlin (Star Tribune, December 2, 2015).
Jamar Clark Case Highlights Quest for Transparency – Ruben Rosario (Pioneer Press, December 3, 2015).

Image: Michael J. Bayly (November 20, 2015).