Leaders Bridge Pathways to Peace

Participants of Roanoke's Creative Communities Leadership Program together with various civic and interfaith members are hosting a BridgeWalk at 3 pm on Sunday, April 17th in efforts to promote 'tolerance, diversity, and understanding in our ever-evolving community'.  This article offers a reflective overview and calls for a collective response in support of the occasion.

"Exploring the Shame" - Salvation in Forgiveness

For whatever reasons, perhaps only because Spring has initiated her graceful embrace, I find myself again pondering the meaning of cast shadows.  Although a fourth year approaches since the Virginia Tech massacre too, a renewed sense of hope nevertheless rests perched in response to the lessons emanating from an extended string of heartbreaking catastrophe. As I blogged in "A Crisis in American Leadership" some nine months after the Tech incident, and for grounds I couldn't possibly fathom in their entirety at the time, its occurrence marks a significant crossroad in my life.

Columbine Students Holliday and Perez

More recently though, and as Marilyn Hamilton at Integral City mused in her blog only days after the Tucson shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords in January, such episodes appear to reflect "strong “weak signals” that may be indications of onset of the human hive’s CCD in America"(1).  Likewise, and as a former public school instructor, my own perspective over the last decade and a half has been profoundly affected by a pervading sequence of similar tragedies originating with the Oklahoma City bombing but including also the Columbine High School massacre, 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, and the Northern Illinois University (NIU) killings perpetrated by Steven Kazmierczak (see also - "Revolution, Anarchy, or Madness?: A Crisis in American Leadership").

Jane Vance - Bridging East and West

Subsequently then, I suppose, it's all the more astounding that a role in community involvement has drawn me into the collaborative company of such an illustrious group of soulful others.  I'd already had the pleasure of meeting one of these exceptional individuals named Jane Vance, at a recent opening of her downtown gallery in February.  As "an adjunct professor of the Creative Process through the Department of Religion and Culture at Virginia Tech" and aide to "special needs children" with a Floyd County middle school, the art she induces is an eloquent testament of her imbued passion for Tibetan Buddhism.

Amchi

In fact, it's her enchantment with the colors, sights, and sounds of Eastern culture that effectively inspired Jane's travels to South Asia beginning in 1985.  As fate sometimes evinces itself too, she first met Dr. Tsampa Ngawang on just such an excursion in 1995.  Heralding from a long line of 'amchi' practitioners, in addition to using a complex combination of "herbs, mud and prayer" to facilitate healing, Tsampa is also recognized as an "artist, mind-healer, physician and veterinarian, public health expert, settler of village disputes, village chairman and farmer" within the "Mustang district of north-central Nepal".

In the months surrounding the September 11 attacks however, and having instructed a course on Himalayan culture at Virginia Tech that same year, Tsampa nonetheless returned to Nepal's villagers to share the legacy of his experience after only an initial semester on campus. While led to chronicle the amchi's story artistically, yet concerned it would be construed as 'disrespectful', Vance in turn "wrote a personal letter to His Holiness the Dalai Lama explaining her intentions" and entreating the leader's approval.  Upon receipt of his blessing however, Jane began work on her project in 2002, becoming "the first westerner and the first female in history to be granted permission to do a lineage painting of a prominent Tibetan amchi".

Although the portraiture itself would take only ten months to paint initially, the task group congregated to document its delivery to the lama's village of Jomsom wouldn't make its trek to the Himalayas until June of 2007.  On their arrival though, and because he'd learned by phone of Seung-Hui Cho's slaying of fellow Tech students less than three months earlier, Tsampa resolved that "the first order of business" should entail holding a candle-light vigil in honor of the campus' dead and wounded (see video above).

"It was so important to me to honor the people lost, but also to honor this strong bridge that now exists between two very unlikely places" - Jane Vance

Where the village had cooked "for days" in preparation "to feed a thousand people", the unveiling of "Amchi" now became a cause for celebration, giving rise to "horseback races and archery competitions, and the village's first game of Twister".  There was dancing, and laughter, and in the midst of this polyphony of life, as Jane herself recounts, two distinct groups of people, as if awakened to a timeless dream, "became family".  Just as miraculously too, this extraordinary convergence of the human spirit has been captured in the triumphant production of an award winning documentary entitled, "A Gift for the Village" (Deacon 2).

A Student Memorializes Morgan

Regrettably though, yet as we're sometimes brutishly reminded, destiny can prove a capricious lover.  The truth of this is reflected in the fact that among the students scheduled "to travel to Nepal" for the film's World Premiere this past summer was a Tech co-ed named Morgan Harrington (Acclaimed Artist, 3).  For those who aren't otherwise aware, Morgan disappeared in October of 2009 from a Metallica concert she'd attended at UVA, and though her body was recovered more than a year later, the case involving her 'abduction, rape, and murder' remains unsolved.

Kurt Steger - Bridging Worlds through Art 

In addition to Jane, we'll also be joined for BridgeWalk by two remarkable individuals who, each in their unique way, is gifted with a genius for touching or otherwise shaping human hearts.

The first of these is a regional sculptor by the name of Kurt Steger.  Along with a few friends in January, I had the good fortune of attending a showing of his ethereal creations at Roanoke College entitled, Silent Nature.

Steger's 'Burden Boat'

"To get into the exhibit at Roanoke College's Olin Gallery you start by walking through a piece called "The Pearl Gate" . . . As the piece came together we started realizing it had a bridge like quality, and then we saw the metaphor of the bridge from this world into the other world -- the sculptural world." - from a public radio interview

Kurt's work subsequently has the affect of eliciting almost a somatic connection between the viewer and his art which in turn, serves as a portal for transporting those venturing the journey, into a realm of mystically altered forms of space and time.  But, at least in this instance, "healing (was) the point of the show; where the center piece is the 'Burden Boat', a fifteen foot long sculpture with a ceramic section inside it, filled with tiny wads of paper.  These are the 'burdens' visitors to Silent Nature have scrawled out and placed in the boat" (Silent Nature, 4).
 

Originated initially in 'response to the regional trauma' of the the Virginia Tech tragedy, the Burden Boat Project was envisaged as an interactive experience to 'symbolically' release the weight of a participant's spiritual or psychological affliction.  First showcased in 2009 on the Tech campus with his display of Primal States and Portals, the burdens of community members are ceremoniously cremated and then, returned to the earth in burial.

Carl Tinsley - Bridging Community Relations

Rev. Carl Tinsley - 'Facing the Future'

As the article ('Bridging Community Gaps') written in support of last year's BridgeWalk attests, the underlying theme of the event emanates from a shared observance that the city's bridges have traditionally served alternately to either divide, or unite, the people of Roanoke as neighbors.  The third individual who'll be amongst the key guest figures this Sunday, and highlighting the values of 'tolerance' and 'diversity' in particular, is the Reverend Carl Tinsley.

"Four times a year, branch leaders meet with the school superintendent to review discipline issues, and Tinsley said he often meets with law enforcement officials to bridge the gap between police and the black community." quote from, "Facing the Future" (Rucker 5)

Although long recognized as one of the community's foremost advocates of 'social justice' and 'human rights', especially in relation to Cabell Brand and TAP, the Reverend Tinsley is most recently identified with a crusade on behalf of area youth.  Consequently, it's with considerable zeal I look forward to joining not only with those whom I've already mentioned, but local denizens at large, in a gathering that will undoubtedly afford us the opportunity to meet, interrelate, and in the process, grow in our learning and understanding of each other.

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 1. Hamilton, Marilyn. "Colony Collapse for Human Hive or Cracks Where Light Gets In?." (2011): Integral City: The Blog. Jan. 2011. Web. 06 Apr. 2011. http://marilyn.integralcity.com/2011/01/14/colony-collapse-for-human-hive-or-cracks-where-light-gets-in/

 2. Deacon, Darlene. "A Gift For More Than One Village." (2010): Planet Blacksburg. Jun. 2010. Web. 06 Apr. 2011. http://www.planetblacksburg.com/2010/06/a-gift-for-more-than-one-villa.php

 3. "Acclaimed Artist Jane Lillian Vance To Premier New Works at Gallery Opening in Downtown Roanoke." (2011): The Roanoke Star Sentinel. NewsRoanoke.com. Jan. 2011. Web. 08 Apr. 2011. http://newsroanoke.com/?p=9696

 4. "Silent Nature - 2.15.11." (2011): WVTF Public Radio. www.wvtf.org/. Feb. 2011. Radio. Web. 10 Apr. 2011. http://www.wvtf.org/news_and_notes/news.php?audio_id=2222.

 5. Rucker, Janelle. "Facing the future." (2010): The Roanoke Times. roanoke.com. Oct. 2010. Web. 11 Apr. 2011. http://www.roanoke.com/news/roanoke/wb/264965.

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Brian McConnell, BA is a divorced father of two college/career aged youth residing in Virginia.  As a member of Roanoke's homeless community over the last two and a half years, a former educator and community advocate, learning and leadership development are currently his central focus of study. Similarly, Brian is also a Researcher/Practitioner with the Integral Research Center in Integral Sustainable Development (SDv) and serves as Director for Group Epignosis.

Bridging Community Gaps . . . 'Body and Soul'

"S.T.A.R. (Spirit of Tolerance and Art in the Region) in concert with local civic and interfaith groups, is hosting a BridgeWalk at 3 pm on Sunday, March 28th as a means of nurturing 'tolerance, diversity, and understanding in an ever-evolving community'."  This article affords a 'backdrop' in support of the event.

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Beginning last year, and as many already know, the City of Roanoke partnered with Richard Florida's Creative Class Group in a community project comprised of 30 (local) connectors formed expressly to vitalize our 'regional economy'.  As one of the most popular and 'best-selling' authors on the topic, Florida's "basic thesis" in The Rise of the Creative Class centers on the idea "that the economy is transforming, and creativity is to the 21st century what the ability to push a plow was to the 18th century. Creative occupations are growing and firms now orient themselves to attract the creative."  Consequently, the "urban lesson of Florida’s book is that cities that want to succeed must aim at attracting the creative types who are, Florida argues, the wave of the future" (see Edward L. Glaeser's, Review of The Rise of the Creative Class).

Well, uhh Duh!  Good, so being the intelligent and high functioning individuals we are, we're all in agreement and working on the same page with this then . . . right?  Right?  I mean that's our shared objective, wooing or otherwise nurturing a 'creative class'.  After all, Roanoke's cultural heritage is second to none, affording the richest of seed beds from which societal greatness has, in times past, almost magically sprung forth and flourished.

As proof of our city's merit on this count, yet lurking under the shadow of rather dense racial overtones, there was a brief point in Roanoke's earlier history that it afforded creative space and refuge on Henry Street to one of the most prolific, if not obscure, innovators of the 20th century.  Born in 1884, Oscar Micheaux was the first African-American to produce a 'feature-length' film and easily the most prominent contributor to the entire 'race movie' genre, literally inspiring dozens of completed projects over the course of his career (see Oscar Micheaux - Wikipedia).

Making his "first trip to Roanoke" in 1921, Micheaux had already begun filming "on location" in the surrounding vicinity by 1922.  With an opening of the 703 seat capacity Strand Theatre (later the 'Lincoln', pictured at right) in 1923, he established "an office" and operated "the Oscar Michaeux film Corporation" there from "1924 until 1925".  Conveniently, he also chose "the Hotel Dumas" just across the street, for his local residence during this same period.  Thus, but while in Roanoke, with the financial support of "(l)ocal investors", Micheaux was able to render "a total of eight films using nationally known as well as local actors and settings from the Gainsboro neighborhood".

Too, because of its proximity to the Hotel Roanoke, a number of the most prominent jazz musicians of the era "including Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Fats Waller", "Ethel Waters", "Cab Calloway, Lionel Hampton, Fats Domino," and "Dizzy Gillespie" typically stayed "at the Hotel Dumas" (pictured above) following their performances.  Consequently, but over a span of the three decades witnessing an end to World War I on through the Great Depression and World War II, the Gainsboro area in general, and Henry Street in particular, became a sparkling testament to the vibrancy of the region's African-American culture (see National Register of Historic Places Registration Form).

Today however, in stark contrast to the rich aura of this cultural (i.e. artistic) heritage, it's disconcerting that a looming penumbra of dominant (and let's face it) 'white', societal mores should yet, so insistently cast its pallor across our city's contemporary landscape.  During the societal tumult that was the Roaring Twenties however, and at a time when many of the churches in Roanoke's extended downtown section had been only recently constructed, a young, Hollywood-based film industry, catapulted to success in part with its 1915 Klan-glorifying production of, The Birth of a Nation; towered omnipotently over the toil of Oscar Micheaux.

Nevertheless, and having already obtained a modicum of commercial acceptance himself, Micheaux enlisted the talent of a 27 year-old actor named Paul Robeson to make "his film debut" playing the dual role of Reverend Isaiah T. Jenkins and his brother Sylvester, in Body and Soul (1925).  Where mainstream cinema at this juncture still portrayed Black Americans in varying stereotypes of "comedic caricature", the aspiring filmmaker instead spun an intricate story of an "escaped prisoner" plotting to swindle a town's parishioners of their offerings while masquerading as a preacher.  Ironically however, when Micheaux "applied for an exhibition license from the Motion Picture Commission of the State of New York, it was denied approval on the grounds it would 'tend to incite to crime' and was 'immoral' and 'sacrilegious'" (see Body and Soul - Wikipedia).

Without minimizing the complexity involved, Roanoke's Creative Communities Leadership Program (CCLP) represents a very practical, yet significant step in engaging its citizens in the development of "a more authentic, sustainable and prosperous community" (see Creative Connector Description).  In this same respect, these 'connectors' have subsequently translated the "four T's" Florida equates with actually realizing these objectives (Talent, Technology, Tolerance, and Territorial Assets) into separate initiatives.  Consequently, S.T.A.R. (Spirit of Tolerance and Art in the Region) in concert with local civic and interfaith groups, is hosting a BridgeWalk at 3 pm on Sunday, March 28th as a means of nurturing "tolerance, diversity, and understanding in an ever-evolving community".  Beginning at the O. Winston Link Museum, participants will have the opportunity to reflect on steps towards social justice and unity in route to the Henry Street (e.g. Martin Luther King Memorial) Bridge.

What's Next? . . . Fence Moving!

metanoia - "a change of mind, as it appears to one who repents, of a purpose he has formed or of something he has done" (from the Blue Letter Bible)

Since launching this blog site following a seminar featuring Dr. Doug Bailey in early November, a number of those who attended the original conference have inquired more recently, "What's next for 'City of Peace'?".  To help in exploring some possible answers, George Kegley has written an excellent review of the workshop entitled, "Urban Congregations Must Move Fences, Not Build Them".

As it relates to the underlying themes of 'radical truth telling' and 'social justice', but especially since discovering Butler Shaffer's, Boundaries of Order: Private Property As a Social System, Dr. Bailey's analogy of fence moving as a means of better fostering an intricately knit community, impresses me as being particularly profound.  Yet, no more so than the implication for this 'change' as a movement of practical transformation in terms of mission, with the potential to transcend various levels of human experience all the way from third world village to our local neighborhood(s).

Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed (metamorphoo) by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is-his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Romans 12:2

Banksy Hacks the Wall

Yet, because even a rudimentary study of the Old Testament reveals an ongoing and rather persistent rebellion on the part of God's elect (e.g. the nation 'Israel') in ignoring some of the most basic tenets of His will, what kind of future might actually await our own citizenry for imposing on subsequent generations a seemingly irredeemable national debt?  Similarly, but perhaps more importantly, what natural circumstances will befall a people who no longer hold to the idea of natural (e.g. Divine) provision and have subsequently become both the world's greatest debtors and its most exploitative consumers?

Consequently perhaps, now might be an appropriate time for the Christian Church to reevaluate the worth of self-assessments based exclusively on a history of its own rusting prosperity and instead, consider weighting its present condition in terms of 'Christ-likeness'.  Fortunately for us however, the bigger picture isn't all one of doom and gloom, there's more than adequate reason for hope.

"A New Era Has Begun"

"A new era for the human race has clearly begun. When I compare the state of people’s awareness today with what it was just a few years ago, remarkable changes are taking place.  People are finally waking up to the fact that the world of big money, big media, and big business is taking them absolutely nowhere except into degradation, alienation, and slavery.  People are finally becoming cognizant that their destiny lies in their own hands and within their own consciousness." - Richard C. Cook, from "A New Era Has Begun"

There are those too like Roger Walsh who in a paper subtitled, "Key Ideas for a World at Risk", expresses a well qualified viewpoint similar to Richard Cook's that 'religion' has the capacity to "catalyze" human development and if that possibility were "widely appreciated" to in turn, "transform the culture".  The type of 'religion' to which Walsh refers however is not the "conventional narrative religion" with which most people are familiar, but something he calls "transconventional psychotechnologies".

Where conventional narrative religion typically arises from a group's shared belief in a unifying 'story' or narrative, the "central theme" of transconventional psychotechnologies is by contrast, the possible necessity of training "the mind (and metaphorically the heart) in order to foster mental and spiritual maturation and well-being".  Walsh substantiates this point further by noting that "(p)reliminary research on meditation supports the idea that it can foster certain kinds of development (Walsh & Shapiro, 2006)".

Consequently however, there is also a shared responsibility (or 'exemplar' as Ken Wilber has called it) on the part of those same practitioners to "foster (their) own psychological and spiritual maturation".  For example, rather than rigidly observing less creative or interactive forms of 'traditional' charity, individuals instead engage in what Walsh describes a "millennia old" variety of service (Karma Yoga) as a means of transforming "one’s work in the world into spiritual practice".

Presence, Prayer, Peace . . .

There seems to be a contradiction between the needs of the Knowledge Era and the reality of centralized power (Child & McGrath, 2001) that leadership theory has not yet addressed.  "The dominant paradigms in organizational theory are based on stability seeking and uncertainty avoidance through organizational structure and processes . . ."  Uhl-Bien, Marion, and McKelvey, quoted from "Complexity Leadership Theory"

Banksy Hacks the Wall

From my perspective, the 'City of Peace' workshop did a brilliant job of providing a forum and framework for a diverse group of civic leaders from various sectors of our local community to further explore ways together, for contributing even more effectively to Roanoke's overall health and economic vitality.  This group then, represents nothing less than the potential to inspire and instill 'can do' attitudes much in the way that Congregations in Action has been doing in the area's public schools for some time now.

The key here however, whether addressing issues of homelessness, education, or economic vibrancy, is that we do so with an appreciation that we're not just witnessing a phenomenal point in history involving unprecedented creativity, innovation, and learning, but we're actually participants in its unfolding.  I hope we'll continue to both celebrate and honor that in relation to one and other . . . and in rejoining Dr. Bailey, Namaste.

Group Launches New Blog Site

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Representing a number of Roanoke interfaith, civic, and 'creative' groups attending a recent seminar featuring guest lecturer Dr. Doug Bailey of Wake Forest University's School of Divinity, participants of a "Next Step Follow-up" meeting announced the creation of a new blog site. As a recognized authority and Founder of the Center for Urban Ministry, Dr. Bailey emphasized the importance of three components in vitally shaping the city's 'soul'. The first of these entails Presence as an 'indwelling of Spirit', the second Prayer, in respect to divine leading and the third Peace, as a natural attestation of this relational process.

"Our churches are largely co-opted by an American folk Christianity, based on a nationalistic, prosperity theology. There is hardly a distinction any longer between the church and popular culture. The slide into a consumer church mentality versus the servant church has been steep in the recent decades." excerpt from "An Interview with Doug Bailey"

With more than forty in attendance, group members reflected a diverse spectrum spanning the religious, civic and cultural identities that comprise Roanoke's populace. Consequently, the recognized need to sustain connection, communication, collaboration and celebration amongst community members was the inspiration for initiating the 'City of Peace' blog site.

Visitors are invited to take a minute or two to register as a 'Follower', and further encouraged to offer comments expressing constructive ideas or questions.