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Friends and Heroes

I got to have lunch with a friend of mine this week, who I follow pretty closely, but due to our busy schedules, I rarely actually get to sit down with. As he and I shared our passions, pains, frustrations, joys and aspirations over a light meal at our favorite Taqueria, I told him how inspired I was by his knowledge and persistence in the living of his life and what to me is one of the strongest examples of selflessness I have experienced in my Community. Paul thanked me, and to my surprise told me that I was one

The Big Nevermind

The City of Ventura is my home. I have owned a house and various other properties and leases here for 30 years. Communities are pretty simple really. Generally they are composed of diverse components, all assembled in a willingness to live and work in a place that they find desirable. The willingness to contribute, is directly proportional to establishing a sense of forward motion. Effect must equal cause. Benefit is weighed against cost. So onward the ship sails with all of us aboard, planning, building, laughing, crying, fighting, healing, birthing, living, dying: together. For any of this to occur, the

Ventura Groans

The following was written to me by Dr Ed Brenegar, who heads up the Community of Leaders It was written in reference to a close look I am taking at the Ventura City Council’s decision to implement pay parking in my town. What at first glance, was described to be a rather benign plan to regulate business traffic in downtown, quickly became rather apparent, to instead be a near Draconian attempt, based on poor business decisions and supposition, to change my town forever. I have people I am accountable to, and advised by. Ed is one of those advisors. This

A Linchpin Sonnet

As my little ocean flavored world, rocked with continued news that only seemed to worsen, I watched and listened, as response from Government and Environmental groups created what amounted to an untenable clamor. Finger pointing, conflict, polarization, but no success, occurred in fixing the massive calamity of the Horizon well head blowout. Enviro groups squared off and did what they do: point fingers. Oil Execs circled wagons. Everyone calling for Justice. There was a hole in the Gulf seabed. The Ocean was dying. Then Seth’s note popped up, about creating a meeting of our peers. A Linchpin meeting. It was

Bali Journal 5: Sacrosanct

Just because something is sacred does not mean that it is exempt from entropy and the physical laws of change. In fact, being sacred may mean that every force in this world is immediately set in motion with the express purpose of subverting that consecrated thing. It is the world’s way. Sacred refers to being set apart for a specific purpose. The dictionary defines it as the state of being connected to God. The word is derived from the Latin word sacrare, which is a verb. That means it denotes action, motion, interaction, etc. But if a thing is truly

Flaming Arrow

In my travels and also in my work here in the US, I often have projects and events thrown at me, or that I simply stumble across. Some I embrace, some I do not. Behind each of these somewhere is a person holding a bow. They have started a fire. They do this with a flaming arrow. I have a friend here who works for the Ventura Visitors Bureau. Her name is Kathleen Fitzgerald. Her bedroom name (the name we all use for her in private) is Firestarter. What she does is identify the need, come up with a potential

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