Pot Luck

A couple nights ago, I dreamed that all us OE kids met up at this totally random place to have a pot luck. I took my plate to the table, and standing next to Matt, I saw his dish was white rice with black beans on the top. Rather plain, thought I, but I would never complain about beans and rice. Then I moved to the next dish by Andrew-- kidney beans and white rice, set up in the same way as Matt's. Lyndi was next and she used butter beans on the bed of rice. So, lots of beans and rice filled my plate, which had me confused. Did they all plan this? Or were their brains simply all working in the same wavelength? You had managed to make white rice with different kinds of beans in each dish, so you may have plotted this strange coincidence of foodstuffs. There were a few other foods on the table, but I didn't care as much about those, as my OE friends hadn't made them. Perhaps cabin...9 boys(?, oh gosh I can't really remember) made some bread. Now I know in real life, the pot lucks we had were wonderfully tasty and full of variety. Yet I feel that all of us partaking of the food stuffs in my dream would have no problems getting their daily carbs and fiber... if you catch my drift. In light of this dream, I hope that all of you are eating well. One of the main principles of Ayurvedic medicine is prevention- your diet is the first medicine. So eat balanced meals you college kids :) Lurv.

Happy Anniversary!

Hey, wasn't the 29th the first official day of our OE term? I'm pretty sure it was. Happy friend-iversary my lovelies. I love and miss you all.

this is not a dream

I just bought a pleather jacket.

A school and a knife.

Last night, I talked to Chance on the phone. He was waiting for the train he's riding to Holden to continue its travels to his final destination. We talked about many things, and apparently this led to his appearance in one of my dreams last night. I am sorry to say that no other OErs made this dream, but at least that means you have escaped the inevitable chaos of my mind in the astral plane.

Chance and I ran into each other at a school. I've dreamed of this school many hundreds of times before in similar incarnations, as it is the dream-version of my horrible middle school. (Not that the school is horrible, but my experiences there were at the time-puberty, cruel kids, hopeless crushes, and all that sort of thing.) Anyways I came to this scene with Chance after I went into the building presumably to get out of the craziness going on outside. We ran into each other near the orchestra room- my old stomping grounds- and I showed him my knife. Some sort of protection from someone or something I can't remember now. Don't worry Chancey, the knife wasn't going to be used on you. Then we headed off together, further into the bowels of the school. I'm pretty sure we got separated before I woke up.

And I'd sent a thought into the universe before going to bed that I might have lucid dreams, or at least dream of some important image for my future. I guess that's the divine's way of thwarting my attempts at foreknowledge. Instead I got to "visit" a friend who's going away for a year :( so I suppose I should be grateful for that.

musical dreams

This morning, right before I woke up, I had this dream that me and a bunch of random people were sitting in this room called Fireside at Holden and Ashley was playing this beautiful song that I remembered the lyrics to briefly as I woke up. And right before I opened my eyes she was still playing these sweet tunes and it was really lovely. So basically Ashley sang me awake today.

Also, I had a dream about Kasey the other night and we were in this room in San Francisco, but it almost didn't feel like the city at all, and we were riding something like an elevator, and first I was just hanging out with my friend Carrie from Holden and then all of a sudden Carrie turned into Kasey. It was just bizare because the aura of the room/elevator was really dark and weird. But it wasn't surprising because Carrie reminds me of Kasey.

I hope everyone is doing well! I will be back in Michigan (i don't yet know if this is a good thing or a bad thing) in less than three weeks. Maybe I'll see some of you.

love,
e

I am beginning to question the management of Bizarro OE

I had a dream last night, so as not to feel left out.

I was at the Oregon Extension, even though it didn't really look like the one we knew. A new semester was starting, so it was filled with lots of newcomers, but I, having already been to the OE once before (you might remember that), felt very confident and I made jokes and congratulated myself on being funny and comfortable in the place while I met some students and shook some hands. It made me wish that I could always be like that at the beginnings of semesters and other endeavors, instead of being so insecure and stupid and – though my dreaming self didn't think of this at the time – depending for the first month on Andrew Gehl's compassionately loud encouragements at my attempts at humor. Remember that? I was grateful, Andrew.

Eventually I started to panic because I realized that I was in Oregon for a second time and I didn't even know if that was allowed or whether it would be helpful, but the point is that it was actually a pretty stupid dream because nobody from our OE was even in it – students or professors.

I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, "If no one from what we knew as the OE was there, where do you even get off calling it the OE? Don't you know, Matt, that it's not the name that makes that place what it is, but it's all the people that are there? Without the friends and mentors that we know and love, 'OE' is just two meaningless letters with no connection to anything in reality." And I'm all like, "I totally know that, but clearly whoever is running Bizarro OE does not and that is unacceptable."

Brief news from the OE and random thoughts

Hey everyone!
I thought I should pass this information on for those of you who may not be aware. John had heart bypass surgery on Monday, and to my knowledge is recovering well so far. I haven't talked to Nancy much about it, as this was all via email, so my information is limited. She said I could share it with you all, and I thought it would be nice for us to "hold" John and Nancy. Ya know in the loving, OE, IFS-infused sort of way. There shouldn't be any reason to worry, but this gives a reminder for us to stay in the OE loop.

A few days ago I did have a dream that Rachel made a cameo in, but I remember so little of it now. She probably said something profound that changed my dream-world perception.... That time in Oregon is like a dream now, something I remember vividly, in a bizarre way that makes my heart ache because I'm unknowingly searching for some truth that lies just out of reach. It says "remember this moment, you're life depends on it." I can only hope that I truly feel that passion and can rise to the occasion. I never felt so human and real as I did in that little wooded area, surrounded by mountains and wonderful people. So often, I miss the clarity of unhindered self-expression and exploration.

All you people in Holden (and on their way) make me jealous, I bet it's wonderful there. I wish I could come and join you, but alas I plan to dig my debt hole even deeper in the next couple years by going back for a degree in massage therapy. So, we'll see how that works out. I miss you all, perhaps we can make our paths cross again soon in some place other than our dreams or over the web of electronic information.

In your lives, I hope all is as well as it can be.
All my love,
Racheal

Kind of a sad dream.

I had a dream a couple nights ago where Chance, Elise, Lil' Mike, Chris Esh, Sam, Andrew, Doug and I were in this dirty basement that was this strange greenish/teal/ grey color watching a movie on a tiny TV. I was sitting on a wooden chair that was really far off the ground and I remember I kept falling over. I wasn't drunk or anything, I just couldn't stay on the chair for some reason, so I gave up and sat on the floor. Doug was laying on the floor watching the movie, and he knew I was sad for some reason, so he put his hand on my back. Then I remember walking outside to this little porch with Sam and Andrew. It was really dark and rainy and there was one street light above us that just looked so pathetic. I started crying because Sam and Andrew were going away on another trip and never coming back. The whole mood of the dream was really dark and sad. Althought it was nice to see you all, I didn't like the dream much.

Holden is as beautiful as ever though, even in the rain. It's cooled down quite a bit these past couple weeks and it's been really great. There is always room for any of you whenever you get the urge (and the time and/or money) to come west for a bit!

a nice dream where sam is the hero

I dreamed that I left Virginia to go on a New Adventure. I don't remember where exactly I was headed, but I think it may have been to Boston to visit my friend who will be student teaching there. Anyway I was taking the bus, and Ashley and Elise and Sam were on the bus with me. I was sitting next to Sam, and Ashley and Elise were in the row directly behind us. Ashley, Elise and Sam were talking about some game they were going to play when they arrived wherever they were going, and I started to feel left out. "Why do I always have to be that kid?" I said to them, slightly disgruntled. Sam looked me in the eye and said, "No, no, you're not that kid. We love you."

Growth & Community

Here is a quote I came across in Jean Vanier's book Growth & Community that made me think of you all & those magical months we spent together:

"When people start the journey towards wholeness, the pilgrimage to the promised land, there is a moment when their deepest being is touched...This experience can be like an explosion of life, a luminous moment, flodded with peace, tranquility, & light. Or it can be more humble - a touch of peace, a feeling of well-being, of being in 'one's place' & with people for whom one was made. The experience gives a new hope; it is possible to keep walking because we have glimpsed something beyond the material world & beyond human limitations. We have glimpsed the possibility of happiness. We have glimpsed 'heaven.'"

be well,
llw

I think this was a dream I had.

We were all running around in a corn field. I'm not sure if it was really a dream or just the first image I had in my mind this morning, but either way it was really nice.

Also, I'm glad Satan is part of our blog team.

not a dream.

hi beautiful oe people.

so i don't really have any oe dreams to share, either. i have them a lot, im sure, but i never remember them because i think they just feel so natural that they don't stick out in my mind anymore.

anyway, i ran across this mary oliver poem in the bookstore yesterday (they have SO MUCH mary oliver in the bookstore here! but i can't afford it so i sit and read it while other people shop around me. haha. mary's stuff is PRICEY, let me tell you).


When the blackberries hang
swollen in the woods, in the brambles
nobody owns, I spend

all day among the high
branches, reaching
my ripped arms, thinking

of nothing, cramming
the black honey of summer
into my mouth; all day my body

accepts what it is. In the dark
creeks that run by, there is
this thick paw of my life darting among

the black bells, the leaves, there is
this happy tongue.

August
by Mary Oliver


I like this poem because I feel this way walking through Holden--as if I am dreaming, or so apart of the natural world that it is almost no longer a mystery to me. Almost.

I miss you all very much. I think my greatest desire is that we would all be in one place again.

It seems like the general consensus is that the longer time goes on, the more we miss each other. I'm not sure if that is exactly how I feel, I just know that the longer time goes on the more I love you all and see how beautiful a thing the OE was, and how things like that can happen again if you let them.

Sending peace and love to you all.

-e