The Perambulator

Music

Calexico performing Black Heart

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Music

Return To Forever - Medieval Overture I picked up this album recently and to say I’m impressed would be putting it mildly. Watch them play, they love what they’re doing. As do I.

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Lightly brown 2 tablespoons sesame seeds in a large stockpot over medium heat.

Melt in 1 stick butter,

add 14 ounces marshmallow cream

and 4 tablespoons chunky peanut butter. Stir constantly until smooth.

Remove from heat and mix in 9 cups rice crispy cereal

and 1/2 cup raw shelled sunflower seeds.

Transfer to a 9 by 13, lightly buttered cake pan. Pack lightly, smooth the top, and let sit for 45 minutes before cutting. Store covered at room temperature.

These are the best rice crispy bars ever.

Welcome to my Weekly Stumble Report wherein I collect and categorize interesting links found using the StumbleUpon social networking tool.

Spirituality
We’ll start with a couple excellent images of the Buddha. The first is a blue Buddha on a blue background. The other is the Leshan Buddha, a huge sandstone sculpture.

Next up is a fascinating and erudite article about the history of Sufism in the Balkans.

Finally, a delightful, if not disturbing, look at a Puppeteer populating another planet.

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This is a true story that I wrote on New Years Day.

I had a hard night at the shelter last night. One of the new guys took advantage of our hospitality and tied one on pretty good. In the process he upset another gentleman who doesn’t have a very gentle past. The second guy grew up in a barrio and had been with the gangs since he was eight.

It turned into a situation and I had to defuse it. I didn’t want to call the cops. The old gang member is so close. He can make it. The other guy had just been released from jail and going right back would have really turned his life upside down.

So they were upstairs scuffling and yelling at each other. I don’t ever rush into a situation like that. I left them at it while I listened quietly to see what was going on. Yelling… threats… “These bare hands can kill” stands out which is probably a very intelligent translation of some obscure Spanish aphorism (mano y muerto?).

This whole time I had my phone in hand and was prepared to call 911. I didn’t have the option of evicting either due to our lovely sub-zero weather and high winds. The only way I would make them leave would be to a warm place (such as a jail cell).

So they were exchanging threats, each escalating the situation as if yearning for violence. The drunk guy had a litany of racist and demeaning terms for hispanic and Barrio had an advanced vocabulary full of words for violence and retribution. It was frightening.

Finally, when I was certain that if I did not intervene there would be extreme violence, I started hollering at them, repeatedly insisting that they calm down. Loudly. The people in the basement at the far end of the house heard me. That didn’t help much but was enough to delay what seemed inevitable. I still didn’t go upstairs, I would make them come down to me.

A few minutes later they were back at it so I put the heat on. Yep. Guilt. “You guys are hurting me. I care for you and you do this to me.” That again brought the pressure back a bit. Finally, using that fresh footing, I demanded that they separate and that one of them come downstairs. So the first one comes down and 30 seconds later, so did the other.

That’s when I had to get in between them. The second guy, the one from the barrio, charged down the stairs and turned on all the bright lights. The table lamps were already on and I knew that he had turned on the brighter lights so he would be better able to see his opponent if they were to fight.  I said, “We don’t need those,” edged him back, and turned the lights back off.

Here’s the vivid part, as I edged him back he touched me and when he did it made him look at me. The moment he looked into my eyes, he snapped out of his rage. Instantaneously. He regained his rationality just like that. He had been beside himself with anger and that one look put him back together. He was still angry, but rational.

People like respect and most of our clients feel like they never get any. Their only hope is that we are visionary enough to see them for their potential now, not as a continuation of their past. I gave Barrio respect and encouragement from the beginning. Above and beyond. Because I care.

He didn’t know that that level of respect comes with a price. That one touch reminded him of what he had received. So he backed down and went upstairs. I told the other guy that I was going to get him a mat and bedding and that he would be sleeping downstairs.

The drunk guy didn’t like my solution. Maybe I should describe him: a thirty year old adolescent, begging and whining at me to let him go back upstairs and get his valuables (probably meaning “stash my bottle so they don’t drink it all”). “Well can I? Can I?” and I couldn’t say a word because if I had, I would have screamed, “I just want you to be an adult.” Finally I said, ” You’ve been up there and haven’t been hurt yet.”

So he went up and I think he got slammed against the wall. (unacceptable behavior but fair on the street.) Nobody saw it. Five minutes later, Barrio comes down with all his winter gear on. He told me two things, “I don’t want to cause you any more trouble so I am leaving” and “in the old days, I would not have been able to hold back. I controlled myself.”