Monthly Archives: September 2013

Year End Fund Drive

Subud Greater Seattle Logo

Subud Greater Seattle

Dear Subud Members,

At the Committee meeting today crack Treasurer Sherwin Obar noted that the finances indicate that Subud Greater Seattle will be down about $4,500 over the year 2013 from what we had at the end of 2012.

A great deal has happened already in 2013.

A good amount of repairs have happened in the house, including repairing aging plaster on the chapel ceiling, installing pigeon-prevention measures to the front of the house and various other repairs.

We have added more cultural events at the center, free to Subud members, as a way of establishing a SICA connection in our center and exposing members of the community, potential Subud members and guests to get a taste of the latihan and down home Subud hospitality.

We have continued the rental side of Spring Street Center, will be about the same levels of rental revenue as 2012 and are getting more awareness of our house as a rental center for sacred and cultural events.

We are in the midst of planning and implementing alterations to the house to make it Handicapped-accessible.

We have also upped payments to Subud USA and Subud Pacific Northwest to help pay off previous loans more quickly.

We are down, by Sherwin’s projections, about $4.5k  from last year, about 20%.

It has been a while since we had a concerted effort to encourage members to contribute, and the economy is starting to pick up, so we are having a fundraiser and Sherwin will keep you posted on progress, Our goal is $4,500 in new contributions by year’s end. Please consider giving a tax-deductible donation so that Subud Greater Seattle can continue to grow and provide such a beautiful space for people to practice their latihan and have fellowship with other members, in Seattle and elsewhere. Our house is a jewel and we must work to make sure it remains available to future generations.

Thank you,

Your Committee

 

 

MENUCHA 2013 is Coming up fast!

Menucha

MENUCHA 2013 is Coming up fast!

Nestled along the Washington- Oregon state line, in the wind-swept and river- carved Columbia Gorge, there is a beautiful place called ‘Menucha

When? Thursday the 7th November until Sunday the 10th November
Less than a month to register
Final Registration Cutoff: October 16th
The fastest way to book is on line and there is a discount of $10.00 for registering on line. Paper forms are available by request but be advised that this will take longer and you may not get the rooms you want.
Look forward to seeing you there.
(The Volunteer Registration Team 2013)

 

Donating (From Subud USA)

SUBUD USA logo
September 24, 2013

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Before long, Subud USA will be sending out the annual pledge drive letter. This year, the Subud USA national committee and board of directors, which includes the chairs of all the regions, have reviewed the ways that the various organizations within Subud USA go about the process of fundraising. We are aware that multiple campaigns may create among the membership a certain sense of “appeal fatigue”.

The traditional model is for members to donate to their local center, which pledges to the region, which pledges to Subud USA, which pledges to the World Subud Association. Since about 20 years ago, however, Subud USA has been chronically underfunded, and this is still the case. Out of desperation, Subud USA began to appeal directly to members for donations. Regions, while recognizing the necessity, were understandably not thrilled by this break with tradition.

As the national committee, we want to be clear: if you can make only one contribution, please support your local center first. National financial health starts with local centers. If members supported their local centers more thoroughly and consistently, the regions and Subud USA would receive more money, and perhaps we could eventually retire the separate national fund drive.

In an effort to reinvigorate this traditional system, the national committee will be undertaking two specific efforts. The first is to create a small, simple fact sheet to be made available for inclusion in new member packets that introduces how giving works in Subud; we will also make it available at the local level. The second is to provide information for creating and maintaining sensible pledge systems to strengthen giving at the local level.

In the fall, solicitations will be coming from a number of Subud organizations, for example Subud USA and Susila Dharma, which need assistance to carry out their work. Rather than succumb to “appeal fatigue,” we hope that after giving to your local center (or, if you are a regional member, to your region) you will support what you feel most connected with beyond that. Each of these appeals comes from a worthy entity trying its best to serve the membership. Give what you can afford along with your energy and love.

Respectfully,

The Subud USA Committee

Poems for Peace 2013 (Audio)

Poems for Peace

Poems for Peace

Poems for Peace, an event conceived and initiated by SICA, the Subud International Cultural Association, was presented by Subud Greater Seattle on September 21, 2013, at Spring Street Center in Seattle, the Subud House. Paul Nelson organized and emceed the event and several regional Subud members, and some invited guests, performed poems, songs and musical invocations to celebrate peace. As was mentioned during the evening, peace is not the absence of war, but something more subtle and powerful. As M. Scott Peck points out there must be vulnerability and community. Both qualities were evident on this particular evening and celebrated by the audience of 40 attendees.

Here then is the audio of the evening as it happened:

1. Introduction, Paul Nelson (2:57)

2. Invocation by Jim O’Halloran (3:14)

3. Rant (Diane diPrima) performed by Paul and Meredith Nelson (5:04)

4. Excerpt from The Bidden Fruit, Benjamin Boyce (6:54)

5. Marching for Peace, Hadiyah Carlyle (4:16)

6. The Undergrown Beast and A Mother’s Nightmare by Ibtihal Mahmoud (3:35)

7. Peace all over the World (excerpts from a 50s style high school musical) Philip Quackenbush (6:22)

8. Notes on being a Gulf War Refugee Meena Rose (5:14)

9. Poetry Postcards as Peace Process, Paul Nelson (2:47)

10. Emile Ward (5:53)

11. Dreaming of Mother Moon, Carol Edson (Blackbird) (5:34)

12. Give War a Chance, Faiza Sultan (9:04)

13. Motherwit (from Pig War & Other Songs of Cascadia) Paul Nelson (6:46)

14. Happy Birthday to Paul (1:26)

15. Jim O’Halloran, Closing Flute Prayer (6:21)

And SICA Blossoms

And SICA Blossoms PDF Print E-mail
Latifah Taormina

Latifah Taormina

From Latifah Taormina, the new SICA Chair: We have a wonderful word in Subud, a word we use so often we almost take it for granted

We have a wonderful word in Subud, a word we use so often we almost take it for granted, a word that is both ordinary and extraordinary, a word Bapak gave us — and one we loved to hear him say:  “Begin.”

“Begin” may not have the cachet of other words in our Subud lexicon. Yet, it is at the heart — and start — of what we really DO in Subud.  And as the latihan also shows us, we must repeatedly “begin” to really grow.

So now we begin —  again — with SICA.

The day after our SICA testing in Christchurch, Helena, Susannah, and I had the intention of testing about our roles after the morning latihan. But as the latihan finished, I felt we must first sungkum Ibu and ask for her blessings for our work. Muti said Ibu could fit us in to her schedule right then. So we followed Ibu and party out of the hall to a meeting space the Congress Organizing Team had arranged for Ibu in the floor above the hall.

After we did sungkum, we sat for a moment together, and I told Ibu we were the new SICA team. She took one look at the three of us (and one of the women IHs who had come with us) and said, “Where are the men?”

We laughed and said we still had to attract them! Then I told Ibu that we had come for her blessings and prayers for our work ahead as SICA was “quite weak now” and had not yet been able to achieve the goals Bapak had laid out for us so long ago.

Yes, she said, (paraphrasing) SICA is weak because there has been so much attention to business. But SICA is still important because we cannot show people the latihan. But we can show the results of our latihan, especially as we continue in Subud and become more and more able to know and express our own real talents. And if people can learn to feel the difference between what has content and what does not, that can make a difference in the world.

I apologize that I do not have the exact words. We thought it was being recorded, but the recording didn’t take. What I put in italics is what I remember the most. Ibu also wished us well in our work — and reminded us that we would need much patience!

But even before our testing, and before Ibu agreed that SICA is weak now, all of us who tested, and those who met with us about where SICA might be headed, agreed that we need to re-vision SICA.

There were no SICA working parties scheduled when we arrived at Congress, and while there were all manner of cultural activities at the congress, none of them — save one — had the SICA name on it. The one? The wonderful work of our young filmmakers who set up the whole Congress TV program. Did they know that back in 1984 Bapak had predicted that film and technology would play a key role in putting SICA on the map?

The truth is SICA is not on our map, and it needs to be.

Our SICA team — and it’s still growing — includes Susannah Rosenthal (USA) and Helena Casbolt (Australia) as Vice Chairs. Rosetta Narvaez (USA) is Treasurer. Bachtiar Lorot (Spain) serves as advisor and SICA liaison to the UN and to the WSA’s External Relations group. Olivia Moyano (Argentina) serves as SICA liaison for South America. Rasjidah Franklin (USA), Rosario Moir (New Zealand and Colombia), Maya Korzybska (Indonesia and France) and Erica Sapir (France) are on the Board. Luke Penseney (Canada) is also on the Board ex officio as the WSA Chair. Sharifin Gardiner (UK) is our SICA-SD liaison.

As part of this re-visioning effort, we are also forming a sort of ad hoc task force of active Subud creatives to help us rethink SICA. Honorah and Dahlan Foah (USA) have already agreed to help with this effort, as have Hussein Dickie and Lilliana Gibbs.
To begin our re-visioning, we have given the acronym, SICA, an additional meaning:

Spirituality
Inspiration
Creativity
Action

Our re-visioning process will look at ways for SICA to establish a more direct relationship with people already working in cultural fields. We will look at ways to partner with dedicated and committed groups of people from all over the world that wish to be involved and active in the sharing process of one or more aspects related to Spirituality, Inspiration, Creativity and Action.

The partnerships between SICA and those groups can facilitate mutual learning, connecting, sharing and celebrating among a whole range of people: lay people, amateurs, professionals — especially through public cultural events. In fact, one of the things that sets SICA apart from the other wings is that it does EVENTS. (Exhibitions, performances, conferences, forums, festivals, workshops, etc.) Not to say, SICA is exclusively event-oriented, but it’s certainly key.

Clearly it is the public event that often allows the public to engage with and feel what has content and what has not. Consider the organist in Christchurch who played during our Subud concert. He was not in Subud, but he was so filled with something he’d never felt before, his music soared in a way he’d never experienced before. And we were all touched with the content of his playing.

These public events do something else, especially when they are done in the name of Subud International Cultural Association. They give the name value. They help us build a public track record that can in turn empower SICA to better help our members while giving us the cachet we need to enable SICA as an international organization to be connected, affiliated, and accredited to the main cultural governmental and nongovernmental stakeholders.

We need that value. Subud needs that value.

We very much look forward to partnering with our brothers and sisters of Subud Mexico in organizing the cultural programs of the next World Congress, and we welcome hearing from our brothers and sisters around the world who are already doing exhibitions, workshops, performances and other public events in the name of SICA. We would like to catalog all that has been done over the years.

Right now SICA is working closely with the Wisma Subud Historical Preservation Project (WSHPP). It’s an effort launched within Wisma Subud to explore a UNESCO cultural heritage designation for Wisma Subud. Such a designation can be based on tangible or intangible assets. (“Outstanding Universal Values.”) The WSHPP could apply for UNESCO status as a physical place or for its content in terms of ideas, processes values, international meeting space etc. That there is an international cultural organization with worldwide cultural activities associated to Wisma Subud is beneficial. In fact, SICA was asked to have a representative on the steering committee from Innsbruck Congress and Bachtiar Lorot served in this capacity. This position was renewed in Christchurch, and Helena Casbolt, our vice chair, is now serving on the WSHPP steering committee.

Helena is also working on setting up a new SICA website with an emphasis on member services while we further devise our public outreach programs. It will include a built-in cultural data base capacity and content management system to facilitate contributions to the site from many editors worldwide. It will also invite member participation and interaction. We will showcase, support and provide communications services for Subud members within the broadest definition of creative activity. We hope to have the new site up and running in the next few months.

Here in the USA, Susannah Rosenthal, our other Vice-Chair, is working at the join point of creativity, spirituality, the expression of individual talent, and enterprise. She is exploring ways in which local centers can serve as action centers for SICA. That she is also chair of Subud Los Angeles — as well as Chair her local community Arts Commission — fits rather nicely with this task. She’s already dreaming of beginning something called a “Creative Café” in the downstairs part of the LA Subud center. (The LA Center is also just across the street from the Los Angeles County Art Museum.)

I am working on getting money to help support our endeavors, getting our re-visioning retreat to happen, and continuing to build the creative team that can help make all this happen.

We would very much like to hear from our brothers and sisters around the world who have been doing SICA work. We want to hear about their successes, their difficulties, and their goals. We especially want to know how to be in touch with them!

Oh. There’s one other very important ingredient to SICA work. Without it, I doubt that anything can happen. Play. There must be time to play and have fun.

May God bless, guide, and protect us in our actions for our Subud International Cultural Association and in our lives, both inner and outer. And please forgive us also for our mistakes and shortcomings and for anything we have said that is out of place.

With love,

Latifah Taormina
Chair, Subud International Cultural Association.
March 13, 2010

Broken Lines—The Art & Craft of Poetry Release Party 10.8.13

Judith Skillman

Judith Skillman

You’re invited to a book launch party!

Broken Lines—The Art & Craft of Poetry (Lummox Press)

Come on down and join Judith Skillman as she reads a short excerpt, accompanied by authors who have poems in the book, including:

Christianne Balk, Janée J Baugher, Roberta Feins, Michael Spence, Joannie Stangeland, & Joan Swift

MC’d by Paul Nelson

Tuesday, October 8th, 7 – 9 pm (doors open @ 6:30 pm
At the Spring Street Center
1101 15th Ave, Seattle, WA 98122
springstreetcenter.com

Broken Lines

Broken Lines

There will be an intermission for conversation, drinks and snacks

Please RSVP to judith.skillman@comcast.net so we can have enough beverages

This Weekend, Regional Board Meeting

Poems4PeaceSeattleFrom Robina Page, Regional Chair:

Saturday Sept 21 and Sunday Sept 22.
SUBUD Seattle- Spring Street Center- 1101  15th St.

Join us for a Regional Latihan- Sat. 11 at the Subud Seattle house- coffee will greet us at 10:30  .

Observe the Regional Council- help us keep it light enough to laugh at ourselves…….Our business is short- voting on interim committee assignments, reviewing and adoptingnext years’s budget, a discussion of the regional housing fund.

After lunch, enjoy hearing about SUBUD happenings in the nation and region.

This is a great way to hang around with each other.

At 6:30 Saturday there is a potluck and a Poems for Peace event where SUBUD Seattle is opening its doors to the community.  http://subudpnw.us2.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=6cd5dd64f6c0e1146846d3e05&id=494293e5f1&e=8c62202078.

Sunday: Latihan and testing with the Regional Helpers- 11, followed by a potluck.

IT will be great to see you there..

Robina Page

New Subud Voice is out

Check out the new Subud Voice newsletter, downloadable hereSubud Voice Sept 2013

 

I N T H I S I S S U E :

What’s happening in Portland?…….p3
• Honors for a sculptor………………………….p 4
• Testing in Subud………………………………..p 4
• Being Pele…………………………………………p 6
• In the zone………………………………………..p 7
•Weinstein Gallery……………………………….p9
•Lambert Coles Obituary…………………….p 10
•Simon Murray Obituary……………………..p11
•Tributes to Simon…………………………… p 13
•They Were There……………………………..p 14
•Bad Film Comics continue…………………..p14
•ADS&NOTICES……………………………p15–16

Menucha Deals!

From Robina Page:

Menucha Map

Menucha Map

For over twenty years, SUBUD Pacific Northwest has held its regional kedjiwaan gathering here. However, without you, SUBUD members near and far, it’s is only a place, a dot on the map, an intersection of grid lines, a vacant, if cozy, chateau.

The Regional Helpers and Committee are now gearing up to meet you with open arms and hearts. To rediscover the still and open space that can truly speak to the needs of the members of our region and any visitors from the greater Subud sphere. This is your open invitation to become part of the 25th year of the Menucha experience— join us to listen and be listened to, sing, dance, write, sit, sleep, eat, think, us-think, lose yourself, find yourself, all of the above, none of the above, any combination listed— or not. It is all open, it’s all about YOU.

The general registration information is available at http://subudpnw.org/menucha.htm – to best enhance your Menucha experience please review the registration information carefully. – Thank YOU!
Please register early and earn a significant price break 
Menucha

Menucha