dances with wolves? nice to meet you. i'm drums with spooky things.

so, yes, i had a staff meeting last night. something about drums, that's all i knew. but, now i know so much more. and i'm even more confused.

as the evening began, a few announcements were made, and while i was kind of half-paying attention, i glanced down at a sheet of paper that was handed to us, and read this sentence... "drumming can propel one into a spirit realm."

i rolled my eyes and looked at my watch. "long-ass night," i thought.

we were then introduced to a man named auggie. he had a friendly smile and long hair down his back that was tied in such a way that it made me wonder if he was a native american. or just a big kevin costner/'dances with wolves' fan.

he gathered the bunch of us-- around forty people or so-- in a big circle, and had us partnered up with the person sitting next to us. i sat next to the smart lady. one of us was supposed to grab either a jimbaye, which is a traditional african drum, or a shakey shakey thingie, which... is not at all the technical term for any percussion instrument, but is probably what i'll call it, if we do wind up using this stuff in our classrooms.

the shakey shakey thingie chosen by the smart lady looked like what used to be a gourd at some point. big round ball with beads around it, and a long, thick handle that the smart lady immediately found phallic. it made her giggle for a good six minutes.

she giggled a lot, actually. auggie kept saying things like, "when you bang on your instrument, you can feel this great vibration..." i think, under the circumstances she showed remarkable constraint.

anyway, i have to tell you, man, we drummed. or... drammed. we were, y'know, people who drammed, or had drummered. and we could have drem, er, drammed all night. one with the drums, we were. and, even though i don't know much about drumming (really), i very much enjoyed it.

no, i wasn't propelled into a spirit realm (that i'm aware of), but i had a lot of fun. seriously, it turns out i do indeed got rhythm. and, i can't speak for everyone there, but i thought, "y'know, this is great. i can see myself doing this." nothing mystical, nothing earth shattering. just a big jam session and a mighty fine stress reliever.

so, when auggie told us he regularly leads drum circles on weekends, and asked if we wanted to add our names to his mailing list, i hopped on board. not something i'm planning on doing more than every now and again, but, eh, maybe every so often? pretty sweet.

and then i read more of the paper that was handed to us earlier.

it was an article for suite101.com written by a nadia lerner, in which auggie described an enlightening time of drumming he had, while in an english cave. nadia wrote, "something impelled him... to want to drum in that cave."

acoustics?

no. no, i'm afraid not. from nadia's article...


'Alone and perched on a ledge in the cave, he proceeded to drum, little expecting what would occur next. Suddenly, out of nowhere, he saw a fierce-looking small black creature with pointy ears gazing at him. "I decided whatever my drumming was doing, it evoked a connection with spirits - I didn't know if it was good or bad." Continuing to drum, he felt the creature was a positive manifestation. "I kept drumming; he kept watching. It seemed to affect the little guy, and it looked like he was smiling."

He looked away for a second, and the creature was gone. But next, the drummer saw a beautiful woman in a white tunic with a black cloak over her shoulders. He kept on drumming. She said nothing, but continued looking towards him, over his shoulder. She stayed for a good five minutes, he recalls.

Later, he found out from spiritual friends that the black creature is called a hobgoblin. And the woman, he learned from a book on goddesses, is called the Goddess of Sovereign or the Triple Goddess. She takes on three different forms, a maiden, a middle-aged woman/mother, and an old woman. The vision (auggie) had seen was the mother image, "the most gorgeous woman," he says, "I had ever seen in my life." '


really. no judgement here, but-- yowza. i mean, y'know?! my man saw a mother-freaking hobgoblin! ...and he has my email address!!!

and yet... call me crazy, but i think i might still check out the drum circle. again, not going there for the mysticism, or the enlightenment, or the highly-probable large stacks of weed. just good fun, and good music.

or, i dunno, maybe i'll just stay home and string some beads around a gourd of my own.

(y'know... i really didn't have any innuendo in mind when i wrote that last sentence, but having re-read it just now, i'm pretty sure i can hear the smart lady giggling from a few miles away).


the five things i fell in love with today...

1) really, i get pretty skeptical when it comes to things like this-- reaching a higher power through drumming and whatnot, but i do believe we have a lot of kids in our center who could benefit from hanging out and beating the ever-loving tar out of a jimbaye every so often. as a stress reliever. or, getting them to focus on a particular beat. and, developing a love for music.
2) speaking of good music, i love hearing chris farley sing, "fat guy in a little coat..."
3) oh, the other day? turns out it wasn't a lottery ticket epiphany after all. my bad.
4) the angels are currently beating the yankees. bottom of the eighth. fingers crossed.
5) kevin costner. i freggin' love kevin costner.

song of the day...
"and the beat goes on" by sonny and cher

movie of the day...
"dances with wolves"