This is the blog for the Bentari Project.
Saturday, February 25, 2012
Last night on T.V., we enjoyed watching “Who Do You Think You Are”. The program was about actor Blair Underwood’s family history [1] . Blair learned about a couple of branches in his lineage and then some. One of Blair’s ancestors, Sauney Early, was a defiant character living in Post-Civil War Virginia. Sauney survived a number of shootings, believ...
Read full postSunday, January 15, 2012
On his birthday, the Bentari Project is proud to shine our adoring light on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. His heroes were Henry David Thoreau, Mohandas K. Gandhi [1] and Jesus of Nazareth. By following them, he led us. King said, “An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the b...
Read full postSunday, December 18, 2011
Václav Havel is dead. [1] He lost his long battle with cancer today. His wife Dagmara was at his side in their country home near Prague when he died. Václav Havel was small in stature but a giant of character, courage and action. He spoke Truth to Power with astounding success. He led the Velvet Revolution [2] as Czechs sprang forth dramatically an...
Read full postSaturday, December 03, 2011
Image: “Let Freedom Be” by Caitlin Brown (from our daughter Caitlin, my best Father’s Day gift ever!) Chimpanzees and humans come into creation with almost all the same stuff of life inside us. We share a lot of other things, too. For instance: The ability to love and nurture our young; good grooming habits; demonstrating reverent awe at nature’s b...
Read full postSunday, November 13, 2011
My friend, author David Michael Slater [1] , recommended recently that I need to tell the next Bentari story. Despite some lost computer files, drafts of several chapters for Bentari’s next adventure, I am following David’s advice. Even despite the minor detail that the first novel is not yet published, I am back at the keyboard—allowing the spawne...
Read full postSunday, October 16, 2011
From The Bond: our kinship with animals, our call to defend them , by Wayne Pacelle [1] : “On the night of September 6, 2007, Alex, a thirty-one-year-old African grey parrot, wished his trainer, Dr. Irene Pepperberg, good-night as usual. “You be good, I love you,” said Alex. “I love you, too,” Dr. Pepperberg replied. “You’ll be in tomorrow?” “Yes, ...
Read full postSunday, October 16, 2011
From Bentari , chapter 16 “The Darkest, Stillest Part of the Night”: “Not even the river slowed Bentari’s progress. He could have swum the distance rapidly enough, but he knew that crocodiles lurked in nearby dens and hippos dozed in groups in pools along the banks. Like most of his travels, the brave lad flew over the dark waters. He found himself...
Read full postSunday, October 09, 2011
We cannot defeat gloom by spreading gloomy pictures. We conquer darkness by striking one match and lighting one candle at a time. We stop despair by shining light on heroes instead of on detractors. The works of heroes are beacons for us. By following, we stoke their candles into bonfires. Some heroes in Portland lit their candles 20 years ago. Now...
Read full postSaturday, October 01, 2011
Farewell Bob & Diana, While we hope to see you before the west wind carries you east, we loved you when—when we met you two years ago—when the poetry captured us—when we broke bread and shared energy, memories and hope. Tabor Space filled with friends. Then more friends and Greg brought out folding chairs; then more folding chairs. Listeners young;...
Read full postSaturday, September 24, 2011
At the Portland Veg Fest (9/17/11 at the Convention Center), I enjoyed finding this message in my after-lunch vegan fortune cookie: “Water a plant at the roots not on top of the leaves only.” The Veg Fest was fantastic but the real thrill for Debra and me was a warm reunion with Wayne Pacelle. Wayne is the President of the Humane Society of the Uni...
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