I think a large part of my delay in staying up-to-date with this series is to do with the trying time I’ve had for most of this year with sciatic nerve pain in my left leg, a pain which at times has been quite debilitating and exhausting.
My work, too, as chaplain with the Palliative Care team at Mercy Hospital in Coon Rapids, MN, also takes a lot of me, even as I continue to find such work deeply meaningful and thus rewarding.
And so on that more positive note, here is a look back at the people, places, and experiences that were most meaningful to me earlier this year in the spring of 2022.
Mercy’s Palliative Care team is comprised of incredibly competent and caring health care professionals, and I’m honored to be the interfaith spiritual care provider (or chaplain) on this team.
For words of gratitude and hope that our team received at around the time of the second anniversary of the coronavirus pandemic (March 11, 2022), click here.
Above (from left): Zach, Joan, Cree, Geoge, Ian, Matt, and John.
Above and Left: On the evening of Tuesday, April 12, my friend John and I enjoyed dinner at Pizza Lucé followed by an evening out at the Orpheum Theatre in downtown Minneapolis where we saw the musical, The Prom.
Above and right: Lunch with friends John and Jane at Owamni, “a modern Indigenous full service establishment” – April 24, 2022.
Above and below: Portraits of my “best mate in the States,” Deandre – Saturday, April 30, 2022
We gathered at 6:00 p.m. for a potluck meal and comradery, and then watched the 2021 Estonian romantic war drama Firebird.
Directed, co-written, and co-produced by Peeter Rebane (in his feature directorial debut) and based on Sergey Fetisov’s memoir The Story of Roman, Firebird stars Tom Prior (who also co-wrote and co-produced), Oleg Zagorodnii, and Diana Pozharskaya. Set in the Soviet Air Force during the Cold War, the film tells the true story of forbidden love between a private and a fighter pilot.
Firebird had its world premiere at the 35th BFI Flare: London LGBTIQ+ Film Festival on March 17, 2021. The film also screened at the 45th Frameline: San Francisco International LGBTQ+ Film Festival on June 27, 2021, where it won an honorable mention for Best First Feature. Firebird was released in cinemas internationally by Roadside Attractions on April 29, 2022.
in his review of the film for the San Jose Mercury News, Randy Myers writes that Firebird is “a glossy and classy melodrama that soars with passion and is elevated by strong production values, heartfelt performances, and a story arc that journeys to unexpected destinations.”
Above and left: On the evening of Friday, May 20, my friend Joan and I enjoyed dinner at Crave followed by a wonderful concert by Chastity Brown, who’s been described as “a banjo-playing soul-singer” and “a rocking, rolling encyclopedia of roots music.”
This tour seeks to “highlight queer artists and themes through a small selection of artworks spanning centuries and social epochs. Some pieces include the multicultural perspectives of ritual and religion; others are more explicit in their portrayal of life through a queer lens.”
Right: “The Two Sailors” (1937) by Pavel Tchelitchew.
About this painting the Pride Self-Guilded Tour aide notes the following.
Kehinde Wiley is best known for his large-scale portraits of Black men depicted in poses that cast them as kings, prophets, and saints in the tradition of “old master” canvases, reminiscent especially of Renaissance and Baroque painting.
Wiley met the two young men featured in this painting in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The subjects chose to position themselves as the two “fallen heroes” in a well-known public monument [left] dedicated to one of Brazil’s pioneer aviators, Alberto Santos-Dumont.
Amanda’s mother is my good friend Angie, whom I’ve known since my earliest days in the U.S.
In the picture above, Amanda is pictured with Angie and her dad Bryan.
Spring 2022 Wild Reed posts of note:
• Imbolc: Festival of Light
• Spring Hiatus
• Beltane: A Time of Hope and Renewal
• Yahia Lababidi: “Poetry Is How We Pray Now”
• Celebrating Tuesday’s Progressive Wins in the Midst of the Ongoing “War for the Future of the Democratic Party”
• Returning to the Mind of God
• “We’re Standing in the Place Where a Black Man Was Lynched in Public”
• “For the Love of Our Children, Let’s Not Shut Up”
• Cernunnos
• Spring . . . Within and Beyond
• Cassandra Snow on Reclaiming the Word “Queer”
• From the Palliative/Spiritual Care Bookshelf
• The Kate Bush Renaissance of 2022
• Remembering Julee Cruise and Her Signature Song
• Ascension
• Bernie Sanders: “Now Is the Time to Make Democracy Work”
• “A Kind of Elemental Force”
• Tian Richards’ Message to Queer Youth: “Every Part of Your Identity Is a Superpower”
See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• Out and About – Autumn 2021
• Out and About – Summer 2021
• Out and About – Spring 2021
• Out and About – Winter 2020-2021
• Out and About – Autumn 2020
For previous Out and About series, see: 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021
Images: Michael J. Bayly.
