2009 March 23 « Rev. Danny Fisher

March 23, 2009

Goodbye, Priscilla…

The author (left) with the Reverend Priscilla Inkpen (right) at the 2006 Naropa University Commencement Ceremony in Boulder, CO, May 2006. Photo by James Fisher.
Earlier today, I received the very sad news that one of my teachers from Naropa University days, Priscilla Inkpen, passed away two nights ago after a long battle with cancer.

Priscilla was an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ who did a variety of work in parish, peace, and campus ministries. She was also a plaintiff in the lawsuit which overturned Colorado’s nationally notorious, anti-gay “Amendment 2″. At Naropa, she served for many years as Assistant Dean of Students and Diversity Affairs Student Advocate. In addition, she participated in the Buddhist-Christian Dialogues Conference that took place at Naropa in 2005, representing Christianity right alongside such equally inspiring thinkers as Father Thomas Keating and Mother Tessa Bilecki.

In my second year as a Master of Divinity (M.Div.) student at Naropa, I took a class with Priscilla on “Contemplative Christianity.” (Those of you who followed my former, now defunct blog from years back might recall a post with the text of a paper I wrote about similarities in the works of real-life friends Henri Nouwen and Fred Rogers. I wrote that paper for Priscilla’s class.) I also worked with her frequently in my capacity as a chaplain intern on campus.

While we weren’t close friends, we were certainly friendly, and I’ve thought of her often since I left Naropa. Priscilla meant a lot to me. In particular, I can’t possibly convey here how much I always appreciated it when she would see me on campus in the summer of ’05 and ask me how things were going with my first unit of Clinical Pastoral Education (C.P.E.) at a local hospital. Having been through C.P.E. herself, Priscilla was sensitive to what my colleagues and I were going through. She knew what to ask and what to say. Her understanding about that process and small expressions of care really touched me. In fact, the more time passes, the more I realize just how sustaining moments like those I shared with her were.

The way she shared so much of herself in class was very inspiring to me too. She spoke candidly about her struggles and deeply felt experiences as a Christian. And Priscilla sang. If we looked at something that could be sung, whether it was a psalm or a hymn or a poem, she would sing it for us. Priscilla was so unabashed in her enthusiasm for song that she set a really affecting example for those of us lucky enough to be around her. Everything about her seemed to say, “Don’t be ashamed of who you are and what you have to offer.”

I’m sad that she’s gone now, but I know her effect on the students she served will be felt for a long, long time. If you need any proof, just take a look at this footage from a serenade last week…

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March 23, 2009

My Review of The Best of Inquiring Mind: 25 Years of Dharma, Drama, and Uncommon Insight at Wildmind

I’ve got a review of The Best of Inquiring Mind: 25 Years of Dharma, Drama, and Uncommon Insight, one of Wisdom Publications’ magnificent new offerings, over at Wildmind. I do hope you’ll give it a read here. An anthology of some of the very best writing that has appearing in one of the Western world’s longest-standing Buddhist journals, The Best of Inquiring Mind is totally absorbing and really inspiring. As I say in the review, it’s an exceptional book; like the publication that inspired it, it’s a must-read. I think practitioners and others should read it immediately if not sooner.

I also posted about my review, the book, and Inquiring Mind today for elephant journal.

1 comment

March 23, 2009

Lasting Impressions

March 23, 2009

Tibet News (3.23.09)

Here are today’s Tibet-related headlines:

The Associated Press reports that “South Africa barred the Dalai Lama from a peace conference in Johannesburg this week, hoping to keep good relations with trading partner China but instead generating a storm of criticism.”

The New York Times reports that “nearly 100 people, most of them monks, were being held in a Tibetan area of northwestern China after a crowd attacked a police station there.”

The AP follows up on this, noting that Chinese authorities have been aggressively patrolling the region following the arrests.

The Agence France-Press further reports that Tibetan exiles have told them that the whole row was sparked “after a monk was arrested for pulling down a Chinese flag and replacing it with a Tibetan one.”

Reuters talks to several who suggest that “more destabilising outbursts are likely in coming months.”

Our friend, stringer, and past interviewee Erick D. White points us to a piece in the lastest edition of the New York Review of Books by Pico Iyer, who recently authored a book about His Holiness the Dalai Lama. In the article, Iyer offers a lengthy, informed reflection on His Holiness’ recent comments on the 50th anniversary of the Tibetan uprising.

Erick also sends us interesting pieces from openDemocracy and Radio Free Asia on “changing Chinese-world relations vis-a-vis Tibet” and “Serf-Emancipation Day,” respectively.

March 23, 2009

Burma News (3.23.09)

“At the headquarters of Burma’s National League for Democracy, young supporters stand in front of a poster of the detained party leader, Aung San Suu Kyi.” Photo by Sandro Tucci for Time Life Pictures / Getty Images.
[This post has been updated as of 7:15 p.m. EST on 3.23.09.]

Here are today’s headlines about Burma:

Our friend, stringer, and past interviewee Erick D. White sends along a piece from openDemocracy in which Daniel Pye suggests that the junta may well eliminate all opposition ahead of the elections scheduled for 2010.

On the same subject, Time Magazine looks for a “silver lining.”

The Agence France-Presse reports that Thailand’s foreign minister will visit Burma to discuss the Rohingya refugee issue with the junta.

The Irrawaddy reports that “more than 20 homeless survivors of Cyclone Nargis demonstrated at the cyclone reconstruction committee headquarters in Twante Township in Rangoon.”

Médecins Sans Frontières details the challenges that come with trying to treat tuberculosis in Burma.

The San Francisco Chronicle reports on brave souls smuggling health care into Eastern Burma:

The country’s military junta provides little health care, or access to international humanitarian groups for an estimated 500,000 displaced villagers, many of whom suffer from rampant malaria, malnutrition and one of the world’s highest rates of land-mine injuries.

In response, Burmese refugees in Thailand developed a unique program, effectively sneaking health care into their own country: A network of tiny mobile clinics now dot eastern Burma, where medics…carry medical supplies in backpacks, walk for weeks through remote jungles and risk capture and injury to reach patients.

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