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.
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.
Following is Heidi Rasschke's
City Pages review from 1995:
This independent, locally made film about two gay lovers, one of whom is HIV positive, has been kicking around for so long that you may think you've already seen it. It was released about a year ago and has been a hit at film festivals and in big cities around the world. Those of you who haven't been holding your breath waiting for it to come home, may assume that, with such a heavy sounding title and HIV/AIDS in the picture, director Eric Mueller's low budget production is a drama about dying of a stigmatized disease in the Philadelphia vein. But, though World has its dramatic moments, this film is best described as a touching comedy about two quirky, lovable characters, Mark (Matt Guidry) and Joey (Gregory G. Giles), for whom HIV/AIDS is just one of life's many trials. There are the everyday worries of homophobic pests, strained familial relations and temp jobs, among others. And though Mark, an activist-artist who makes hilarious "sculptures" and owns a drawerful of white T-shirts bearing sloppily painted slogans, has a tendency to take himself a bit too seriously, the movie never becomes overdramatic. That's because the couple's story is told through the eyes of their wonderfully gossipy friend David (Kraig Swartz), who nearly steals the show with his camera-addressing digressions. You'll envy Mark and Joey's relationship, wish David was your friend, and laugh at life's ridiculousness.
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.
Above: Sunday brunch at the home of my friend Pete – April 8, 2018. From left: Jeffrey, Brent, Pete, and Omar.
Above: Pete and Jeffrey – Sunday, April 8, 2018.
Above: With my boyfriend Brent and our friends (front row from left) Jeffrey, Chris, and Pete – Thursday, April 26, 2018. We're pictured heading out to a neighborhood restaurant to celebrate Jeffrey's birthday.
NEXT: Part II
Spring 2018 Wild Reed posts of note:
• Thoughts on Queer Cinema
• The God from the House of Bread: A Bridge Between Christianity and Paganism
• Congratulations, Buffy
• The Student-Activists of 2018 – Leading Us to the Future
• Easter Bodiliness
• Spring's Snowy Start
• Celebrating Al Green, Soul Legend
• The Spring Blizzard of 2018
• Happy Birthday, Dad!
• What a Difference Four Days Can Make
• Let's Dance
• Welcoming the Return of Spring
• Beltane: Casting Off the Darkness and Celebrating the Light
• Umberto and Roberto: Love in Motion
• In the Garden of Spirituality – David Richo
• Quote of the Day – May 8, 2018
• Deconstructing Childish Gambino's "This Is America"
• "What You Feed, Grows! (It's All About Love)" – MayDay 2018 (Part 1)
• "What You Feed, Grows! (It's All About Love)" – MayDay 2018 (Part 2)
• A Longing and a Prayer
• Quote of the Day – May 15, 2018
• Reclaiming the Power of Male Touch
• Spring Blooms
• The NFL: "A Modern Example of Nakedly Racist Authoritarianism in America"
• Something to Think About – May 27, 2018
• Yeah, You Know You've Got It
• Interiors
• Meeting (and Embodying) the Lover God
• The Gorgeous One
• Jeremy Scahill on the Historical Context of the Trump Administration's "Pathologically Sick" Anti-Immigrant Agenda
• Time By the River
• Michelangelo Signorile on the Rebellious Purpose of Queer Pride
• Opposing the Trump Administration's Inhumane Treatment of Immigrant Families
See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• Out and About – Winter 2017-2018
• Out and About – Autumn 2017
• Out and About – Summer 2017
• Out and About – Spring 2017
Images: Michael J. Bayly. (With thanks to my friend Raul Fernandez for the opening image.)
