This is the blog for the Bentari Project.
Thursday, September 28, 2017
they fly to me— as high as planes that ferry you about as mighty engines roar the miles away your destinations shine like mysteries glowing miracles and multiplying feats of wonder they fly to me— on heart beats and memories laughing hugging you playing tag and tossing you and catching you throwing baseballs to you and reading and reading watching ...
Read full postMonday, September 25, 2017
The kind of strength that cannot be broken and never dies. It possesses you on every page of Rene Denfeld’s new classic The Child Finder . [1] It is epic. It is simple. The kind of truth that hurts, that buries you. Until you are free. If you are free. It happens in the Skookum Forest of Oregon. Skookum, the ancient word for Danger—a word I learned...
Read full postThursday, August 24, 2017
This entry concludes a series of reflections about peace, togetherness, unity and joy. No better person than Pete Seeger to stoke the embers in our hearts—and no better song for him to sing than “Down by the Riverside.” I love when Pete got the crowd singing. He had the knack for timing between the verses and shouting out the words for everyone to ...
Read full postMonday, August 14, 2017
Heather Heyer died after she made a conscious choice to stand against injustice. “Friends described her as a passionate advocate for the disenfranchised who was often moved to tears by the world’s injustices.” [1] Here in Portland, Oregon, neighbors rallied for her and for the brave folks of Charlottesville. [2] We met as mourners and as celebrants...
Read full postFriday, August 04, 2017
Take a journey with me. Come and take a voyage out to sea. We’ll weigh the anchor and set our sails. The course is on the chart. Our heading points across time. Hurry! We’ll follow a long, lost traveler—the master story-teller and minstrel of his day, Phil Ochs. “Pleasures of the Harbor” was his fourth full-length album, released on Halloween in 19...
Read full postFriday, August 04, 2017
“Outside of a Small Circle of Friends” [1] by Phil Ochs was released in 1967 on the “Pleasures of the Harbor” album. Ever the activist, Phil Ochs satirized those puzzling cases when onlookers stand idly by as a victim is being hurt before their eyes. The singer song-writer was inspired by the 1964 death of Kitty Genovese in Queens, New York. [2] Th...
Read full postThursday, August 03, 2017
The harbor beckons. Distant lights bring hope. Can we believe our eyes? Yes, the flickering grows across the water. A welcome sight, the wharf. Make those hawsers tight. Solid ground rolls under-foot at first, a merry change from choppy seas and pitching decks. The sky is gentler when ashore—more forgiving. Sailors don’t drown on land—only in the l...
Read full postMonday, July 17, 2017
From “Joyce R.” <As our 50 th HS reunion approached, we connected on Facebook> To Tim@Bentari.com Hi Tim, I had seen references to Bentari on Facebook, but I did not connect it till just this last week when I saw that you were the author! So I ordered your book immediately. I love good writing, and my first thought when I started reading was: Clear...
Read full postSunday, July 09, 2017
From “JR” <Recently connected on Facebook, she and I were high school classmates> To Tim@Bentari.com Tim. In the last few days I have read all the blogs at Bentari Project for the past year-and-a-half; and looking forward to more! I ordered the book ASAP through CreateSpace. Bentari Blog : Exceptional! I have (so far) about 8 pages of notes... thin...
Read full postThursday, July 06, 2017
Well, to me there is no such thing as a “good” war. Outcomes can be arguably better or worse from war to war. The act of waging war, however, is barbaric, inhumane and insane. Consider these two points: 1) Wars exhibit our collective human failure to solve our problems in peaceful and constructive ways. 2) As Phil Ochs put it, “It’s always the old ...
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