The Grace of Pursuing Skillful Means

An important dharma path for me has long been the grace of pursuing ever more “skillful means”:  How to skillfully be what this life, this manifestation of these myriad dharmas, gives rise to.  It is one of the bittersweet benefits of 55ness to accept that, in this life, we can actualize this intention ( the work called for in the atta dipa) merely to a degree.  At moments, I can see just that which can be achieved as great accomplishment.  Other times the glass seems half full, at best.

For example, yesterday it struck me, articulately for the first time, that for me, in this life, most of the formative contributions to my offspring had already happened.  Other youths I meet appear to have been raised more skillfully, to have what seem more fortuitous myriad dharmas shaping their lives.  Yet, I tell myself, I have moved my cluster of kharma legacies down the pike.  My kids are wondrous, and fountains of dharma, shaping what will arise from their ancient twisted kharma, more or less skillfully.  I know they aspire  (at least at some moments) to evolve, to be the source of ever more beneficient kharma.  I know I’ve, more or less skillfully at various moments, armed them with the faith that the nest step can always be towards redemption, towards the tathagata’s call in the Atta Dipa.

Sogyal Rinpoche, in a passage read years ago, one I can’t find again yet, discussed how what some call reincarnation can be seen as the gentle evolution of lineages towards enlightenment (lightening up the tangle of ancient twistedness??).  Not a given unique “soul” moving from skin bag to skin bag, but a cluster of dharmas, moving through evolutionary time & its matrix of place/moments, living in these fleeting humanesses, related to lineages of biology and also socio-biology, tendencies and proclivities, mindfulness and mindlessness, moving towards . . . . . . . what?  Getting nowhere, but tending towards . . . . . grace, liberation, freedom from . . . . what seems to ail us (I guess).  Then . . . what whatness?  An emptiness with room for clarity and grace?  A bodhisattva’s effort?  Whatness??

Or so it seems.

Did you ever see this poem?:

MYRIAD BECOMINGS

Bice C Wilson, Late Winter 2007

Becoming,

ephemeral collusion

Interweaving myriad dharma vectors

tendencies become transient actualities

At every scale of time a stillness

Is,

which,

seen differently

Is

simultaneously shape shifting –

never IS the same.

No thing HAS to be, one moment to the next,

We are given, in this fleeting form

gateways to mindfulness,

senses animating our dance

And somewhere,

among the warp and woof of the

many becomings

we are just now

Sings this spark that knows and chooses,

conducting whatever wholeness we can find

step by step, dancing along the path.

Dancing in fields open, empty of must be,

constrained by conventions,

dancing degrees of volition

the sublime suchness

Open to our intention

Emptily

Now, we again harvest what we've sown.

In the ways of some of my ancestors, these days,
                              The end of July --  beginning of August,
Are the days when the sun really starts to deliver the sustenance that will take us through another year,




These are the days when we start to seriously reap what we've sown.




My ancestors called it Lughnasadh, named after Lugh Lamhfada, Lugh-of-the Long Arm, 
who was, 
       for a while,
           to some who inhabited Ireland
             the sun god, god of all the arts, all that is made  -
                                     He whose long arm reaches down and makes all that life possible.


Right Now, 
Summer is at it's maximum,
And just this past Saturday, we woke up in my house and it felt like a fall morning.

Cause right now, summer is at its maximum, and fall is a-comin' in.


You get a glimpse of it in the scent on a breeze,
In a certain kinds and qualities of the light,
          In the way the air feels, just in passing,  


Just now -
A glimpse of Fall.


SO, the change has begun,
And the Harvest has begun.


And we'll see how the harvest season will be.


                   May it be the best of what you've hoped for and husbanded.


                  May you thrive among all that it is.
.

1st Expedition to Pugsley Creek, Bronx North America - Deirdre, Max & Bice - 2010.07.30

Here at Pugsley Creek,


We found the soup of Bronx life, emerging from under the landfill,
Middens of Bronxes past,
Once marshes beneath our feet now roadbed over crushed mountains laid over the detritis of our pre-decessors, Just Here,

Where the Soup og Bronwes livelihood emerges from man made seemingly dry land,

Out to join Long Island Sound, on it's way into Hell's Gate,

Soon past the maelstrom just past Riker's Island, and the runways of Idlewild.


See the slide show: http://bit.ly/Expedition2PugsleyCreek-1

Multi-media feedback loop - I picture them picturing each other, her picturing me too.

Slides have caption poems,

To the left you see the landfill, accreted over the Bronx's centuries,

And just here, a retaining wall holds back our waste, like a spoon squeezing a tea bag.

And that rivluet emerging - Our Tea,

          Heading for the open sea.

                 Essence of our run-off,
      Everything we pour in the earth, just upstream, into our catchbasins and sewer grates.

What seeps from our cellars, and drips from our cars.

      What you dropped, just two days ago, and kicked to the curb.

Here, distilled and blended with the actions of others -

                   Bronx Tea, the soup of our lives.

  
And to the right, more of our ecosystems,
        Waiting for the nourishment the once march has always brought here.

Eating our soup, Bronx Tea, the essence of Bronx Life.

You OK with that??

You hungry yet??

Community Media Evolving in our time

Thoughts bas I travel home from the Alliance for Community Media Conference in Pittsburgh this week.

See:  http://bit.ly/BCW-ACM-2010

H. Donald Wilson's Memorial

On a crisp, clear Thanksgiving,

My Family motored out in an open boat,
to the bight at Cohasset Bay.

H. Donald Wilson's ashes in a bisqueware basin, crafted by his grandson
Noah Andrew Wilson.

The Pilot of the boat was Douglas Wilson, HDW's nephew,
And sheltering from the cutting wind was his widow,
Mary Louise Swan Baron Wilson (everyone knows her as Peter),
His Daughters
Edith Ramally Wilson & Anne Baron Wilson,
His son,
Bice C. Wilson,
Other grandson,
Ian Benjamin Wilson,
And daughter-in-law,
Lorraine Marion Frye-Wilson.

At the bight the boat paused, and Noah gingerly
Released the basin of Don into the edge of the Atlantic,
Among migrating Blues, Eels
And Stripers,
Eel Grass, Lobsters meandering
Crabs scuttling.

But that was years ago now, and HDW's ashes are now in every ocean -

As they always were.

The only memorial that stands for my father is an Oak Tree,
Not far from the banks of a river many don't know exists
The West Branch of the Mamaroneck, as it, in turn, meanders
Past the City Dump.

An Oak tree planted by his neighbors amid proclamations from local legislatures,
On a misty day, I think in the fall.


Just yesterday I visited the tree,
at the intersection between eternally secret paths everyone walks,
Where of a fragrant summer's night,
Teens rendezvous, and
Dog Walkers linger in the gloaming -

And leave when the mosquitoes arise.

Just yesterday I plucked inch high
Garlic Cress and Poison Ivy
From the base of the Oak,

Then planted a spiral of Lilly of the Valley
Whirling around the mound surmounted by the Oak
A Jewel of Violets at the head of his plaque, amid a
Crescent of False Solomon's Seal (that seemed true to me).

From the side of the road on the hill above
I gathered cast off tree parts
Relics of the March Storms,

With these segments of pitch pine
And weathered rough sawn planks
Buttressed by rotting logs
Garden debris dumped illegally
One random cobble stone,

I built benches
Buttressed by all of these

Placed a single stump

Just so.

SBSVC – An Engine for Community, Cultural & Commercial Well-being

The South Bronx Social Venture Center (SBSVC) has been designed in fulfillment of BronxNet's 12 year strategic plan which calls for the creation of 4 walk-in community media centers so as to enhance the impact of the burgeoning Creative Economy, knowledge industries and human services sectors on Community, Cultural & Commercial well-being of the Bronx.

SBSVC's proposed location is in the FORMER civic heart of the South Bronx – the former Bronx YMCA building, where the first inter-racial swim team in America started during the 1960's, now a Juvenile Detention facility.

SBSVC's business model is the archetypal marketplace – a dedicated omni-potential place where certain sectors can gather, build their community, cultural & commercial eco-nomies, and thereby their well-being.

 

SBSVC's Business Model & Architectural Program -

 

Here's the simple architectural program (the translation of SBSVC's business model into spatial terms) of the SBSVC.

Yes, there is a detailed, sustainable, finance-able business model at the roots of the South Bronx Social Venture Center.

BronxNet has stable, long term revenues related to cable franchise revenues, and can therefore take long term financing in order to carry the cost of capital projects. Of course, every capital dollar that comes from grants or other subsidies will liberate Bronxnet cash flow for use funding program activities.

In fact the development of SBSVC is key to BronxNet's long term financial sustainability – they will own and manage SBSVC, & make revenue from the various anchor institutions who will share the facility, the resources, the capabilities and the marketplace of ideas, careers and well-being that SBSVC is.

Key to this model is the assumption that the Media-Flex Space that comprises SBSVC will be of use to anchor institutions, non-profits, social entrepreneurs and Bronxites for a long time. The names of the users may change. Hopefully their missions will evolve as the community, its culture and commercial fabric evolves – partly shaped by the capabilities, skills and resources at SBSVC.

Should work, don't you think??

 

 

 

A MARKETPLACE FULL OF SHARED RESOURCES

SBSVC's whole premise is that the access to programs and shared resources it offers will significantly increase the rate of community, cultural and commercial development in its environs.  For School children, youth-at-risk, and college students, nascent leaders and entrepreneurs, this will be a cross-roads, gathering place and gateway to livelihoods in the Knowledge, & Human Services Industries and the Creative Economy.

 

SBSVC is not an Incubator – the new careers and businesses it's services will engender will happen throughout the Bronx, with a concentration in households and commercial spaces in its immediate neighborhood – an area once famous as "Fort Apache", when the Bronx was burning – a neighborhood now home to 1,500 new residences and the home of the new campus of Boricua College. 

 

Complementing SBSVC's educational and workforce development programs in the Creative Economy, Knowledge Industries and Human Services sectors will be a Small Business Mentoring Program specifically to help citizens inspired by its programs to create thriving businesses.

 

THE MARKETPLACE MODEL

The 100,000 square feet at SBSVC is both dedicated to the use of those social ventures whose services are essential to supporting the well-being and development of its catchment area, and also dedicatedly flexible in terms of the use of its shared resources.

Like any Marketplace – the gathering place itself is permanent, while the services and goods available to the public will change as the needs of the catchment area evolves.

Certain demographic needs will be perpetual – there will be children to raise, youth to find a way in the world, elders to care for and learn from. There will be a need for skills building and mentoring, for community access to education, technology, social networks and workspaces not found in the typical home.

 

Other Anchor Institutions will have Community Access Offices on site and will schedule the use of classrooms, gathering spaces, and human and technical resources at SBSVC in order to serve their demographics and fulfill their missions. For many of these partners at SBSVC, the nature of their short term, program oriented funding and scale of their needs for program space will scale and evolve. By limiting their permanent leaseholds to the Community Access Offices – walk-in spaces sharing the first floor lobby where Bronxites can connect with opportunities and receive mentoring as they shape their skill-sets and talents – by limiting the partner leaseholds to these small spaces, those partners are not burdened by long term fixed costs, while they are also able to ebb and flow in the services they provide.

 

SBSVC'S GROWING LIST OF PARTNER INSTITUTIONS

To date, BronxNet has established preliminary partnering relationships with 5 Borough and Neighborhood Anchor Institutions:

1. RAIN Inc Senior Center
   
   1. RAIN will produce and manage Senior Programs at SBSVC, and all Bronxites will have access to RAIN's Mentoring & Knowledge Center.
      
   2. SBSVC will provide connectivity, data telecom and multi-media content management to this facility.
      
2. Bronx Community College (BCC) will:
   
   1. Coordinate college and continuing ed programs in support of the missions of SBSVC and its other partners, as well as career and educational counseling. BCC Students will have access to SBSVC programs, classes and shared resources.
      
3. Bronx Council on the Arts (BCA) will:
   
   1. Coordinate arts related programs in
      
      1. Intro to Creative Economy
         
      2. Fine Arts
         
      3. Applied Arts
         
      4. Career & Business Skills in the Creative Economy
         
      5. Arts related careers, i.e.: Arts Handling, Arts Administration, etc.
         
   2. Administer Art studio spaces and Artists-in-Residence programs at SBSVC.
      
   3. Provide career and small business mentoring in the arts
      
4. Nos Quedamos (NQ) will:
   
   1. Produce health related educational programs in association with its nearby Community Health Center.
      
   2. Realize it's long held dream of opening an urban design academy, to be called: "Nos Quedamos Center for Bronx's Future". The academy will utilize faculty and program resources from BCC, Pratt and other educational partners, as well as the shared spaces & broadband resources of SBSVC.
      
5. Renaissance EMS (REMS) will produce, provide and manage:
   
   1. Physical Fitness programs utilizing the existing gym, pool and facilities.
      
   2. K-12 after school programs using SBSVC Shared Resources.
      
   3. Music Education to all generations, with a particular focus on youth, in association with El Sistema USA.
      
   4. Performance Rehearsal Hall & Multi-Media Recording Studio Spaces
      

BronxNet is engaged in active discussions with the following Anchor Institutions leading toward a partnering relationship:

1. Bronx Overall Economic Development Corporation (BOEDC) may:
   
   1. Provide Small Business and Entrepreneurial Support services, including:
      
      1. Mentoring
         
      2. Social Networking
         
      3. Classes
         
      4. Finance Assistance
         
2. New York Botanical Garden may:
   
   1. Use SBSVC to make their educational and career development programs readily accessible in the South Bronx.
      
   2. Assist in the design and management of the Urban Rooftop Ecology and Agriculture elements of SBSVC
      
      1. The Greenhouse Commons
         
      2. Roof Gardens and Orchards
         
   3. Produce Multi-media content originated at SBSVC modeling urban ecology policies and activities for web viewers
      
3. Pratt Institute (PI) may:
   
   1. Be the lead educational institution supporting the Nos Quedamos Center For the Bronx's Future
      

It is SBSVC's intention to ever broaden this list of partners.

It is also central to our business model that the list will evolve, over the years, with stability provided by BronxNet's long term lease, and those of certain other key partners. One of the important replicable models in the facility is its "Social Venture Flex Space", 40,000 sf of leasehold space whose users will change as the needs of the community change.

BronxNet has had working relationships as a Community Media Access provider with all of these partners over the past 18 years.

Each Partner will be a member of the advisory board responsible for coordinating SBSVC programs and resources, and will be responsible for funding their use of SBSVC spaces and resources. In this way, these partners will be provided the use of SBSVC resources with minimal capital investment and operational outlay, while making SBSVC whole for its investment through payment of rent and fees for SBSVSC services.

Each partner will responsible for raising the program funding required to operate the programs they organize, while SBSVC & its advisory board will coordinate and collaborate on fund raising.

 

 

The First Floor has 2 entrances – One to the 5,000sf Bronx Hall, a multi-purpose gathering, performance and content capture space, and one to the Community Access Shared Spaces utilized by the range of anchor institutions described above.

The Hall is entered from a community park, past a cyber café, through a Multi-Media Gallery flanked by Conference / Classrooms.

The Community Access Tenant Lobby arrives among 5 Community Access Offices where Bronxites can find opportunities for training and access to arts resources from advanced electronic media to urban design, painting, poetry and all the practical skills that might enable a creative person or a local entrepreneur to build a successful life/work/business.

The long dormant swimming pool and gymnasium will be managed as a community fitness center by a local K-12 after school program. This same agency will provide Music Arts lessons and be the basis of new choruses, bands and orchestras, preparing the next generation of great Bronx musicians.

 

 

Meridian Design’s Research & Development Page

Knowing that Ideas Animate Architecture, and that Practices must be visionary, and visionaries must be practical, our firm has always invested in Research & Development. We gladly participate in the evolution of our communities, of the market segments & industries we serve.

 

On this page you'll find a multi-media gallery of this aspect of our work.                    Have a look.

 

                            Join the Conversations – Each Title below provides a link to more details about these aspects of our practice.

 

Sustainability and the Multi-media Workplace  Our firm has long been a leader in building a culture of sustainability.  At the 2010 National Association of Broadcasters Conference, Antonio Argibay presented a paper exploring how the energy intensive Multi-media workplace can re-vision it's workplaces and systems to enhance sustainability.

Place-Making The simplest description of what we do is that we are Place-makers. We pay attention to the complex conditions currently shaping a place, to the vision, needs and aspirations of our clients that might shape what that place becomes, and to the process by which hundreds of people and places will contribute to intervening in what is to make it better, healthier, more conducive to well-being.   Bice's Blog on this subject can be accessed by clicking on the title above.

Designing the Intelligent Public Way Since 2008 our firm has been convening this Salon Series and web based collaboration space exploring the integration of Information and Communication Technology into our comprehensive planning for Community, Cultural and Commercial Development.

Meridian Music Project Bice's practice has long explored ways that the Places we help make can express the pattern of life we all inhabit. This project involves communities collaborating to create Place-Moment Sculptures in Civic Space, each of which expresses, in form, in sound and in data/imagery the daily moment when that place passes under the sun – local high noon.   In aggregate, all the place-moment notes amount to a perpetual multi-media symphony expressing the earth's evolution.   Have a look.

Thriveability Many folks have begun to question whether Sustainability is something to aspire to. Do you want to just sustain yourself, is that perhaps like bread and water.   Perhaps we want to Thrive. Thriveability is a new Meme.   Bice C. Wilson was asked to contribute a page to a curated crowd-sourced web-book built around words that are aspects of Thriveability.