Alexander Stuart

You are cordially invited to join us at the Central Sierra Arts Council , 193 S. Washington Street this Friday evening, March 16th, at 6pm for a St Patrick's Day celebration with live music from local Celtic duo, Sequoia at 6pm and a screening of the glorious Technicolor Irish wonder, The Quiet Man , starring John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara at 7pm. Tickets for the event are only $5 per person - and libations and delicacies such as Guinness Black & Tans, Ma's Famous Oatmeal Cookies, Irish Cheddar Cheese Biscuits 'n Ham and even a sup or two of Sonora Port Works' Barrister's Port will be available for purchase at prices even a leprechaun couldn't believe! Come experience a Touch of the Irish and a bit o' the blarney as the Arts Council fetes the great Celtic heritage of so many of our forefathers and foremothers (even those of us who are Scots but will happily down a Murphys or two:) Gosh and begorra, Alexander

Photograph by Hudson Chow-Stuart. My first meditation workshop in Sonora will be on Saturday April 14th from 1:30pm-3:30pm at the Central Sierra Arts Council , 193 S. Washington Street, Sonora. It is called The Pleasure of Breathing and will explore the role meditation and Buddhism have played in my life for the past 21 years.  I will read beautiful, inspiring passages from some of the books I reflect upon daily, such as T S Eliot's Four Quartets, The Dhammapada (Buddha's Teachings) and the Bhagavad Gita - and I will teach the basic elements of Tibetan anapanasati, or Mindfulness of Breathing, the meditation technique I have practiced most over the past two decades. It is very simple: a matter of focusing your mind on your breathing and using that to slow - and ultimately still - the constant current of thoughts and emotions that assault our minds at every instant of the day, so that we can appreciate more the expansiveness and beauty of each single timeless momen

My offering of the day. Simple - and it's all we need. It also reminds me of one of my favorite David Bowie tracks from Young Americans, called simply, Win . It's very laid back (long, sultry sax sound from the 70s) but maybe it could become an Obama theme tune. Now is the time to use the power of thought and personal energy - and social media - to create a context in which (a) Obama's second term is inevitable and is the result of a landslide; and (b) the GOP continues to fracture, dividing between radical extremes (of which there are many) and so-called "moderates" so that it is out of office for the next 20 years at least.  We create a context in which even the combined might of the Koch Bros' money and Fox News are increasingly wasted and irrelevant.  Now is the time to start creating a sense that Obama and the Democrats are the only solution to the problems that Republican thinking since Reagan has created.