Ashland's Mixed Message

 Another letter to the Editor after a hair raising near miss in Ashland, I thought i was done with those in India. But amazingly enough, the roads here seem almost more dangerous. In the USA the rules of the road are supposed to keep people in line, yet they deaden many peoples senses to the world around them (not to mention the amazing amount of tasks we juggle in the car). In India the rules are simple, the bigger the vehicle the higher up one is on the food chain, and remember to never drop your guard!

I use my bicycle for transportation and joy. I’m out on the roads very often and there are a couple of things I’d like to share with all of the people who use the big metal box on four wheels.

Bikes, under Oregon law must follow the rules of the road just like cars. This means that when you have the right of way at a stop sign; please, instead of showing your kindness for your two wheeled friends and letting us go first, just go. As a biker, everyday a car will stop and wait for me to come to the crossing and then wave me through. Thank you, but no thanks. You, my friends, are using fossil fuels for your transportation, I would much rather that you keep on going, following the rules of the road, and saving the energy. I’m capable of stopping and getting myself across the intersection after you’ve passed.

Inside of cars people seem to have found a way to do just about everything, I’ve seen it all, you’d be amazed at the visibility from a bike. But please remember that we bikers are outside and often on your right. Bike lanes have given a place for us to ride, but before making the right hand turn, check for bikers in your rearview mirror and in your blind spots. Yesterday I was almost hit by someone turning off of Siskiyou Boulevard. I have been hit twice in similar situations.

Please be aware of bikes on the road and bike lanes, we don’t want to get hit. Biking is so much fun, and great exercise. Ashland is small and bike friendly, there isn’t much better in coming to a crossing and meeting all bikers and no cars. Spring is just around the corner, please be aware of the increasing number of bikers on the road and don’t be afraid to join us! See you on two wheels.

Pooja, the founder of Town School, the NGO I worked with in dehradun India asked me to write a letter for her about the NGO for a volunteer website called Omprakash. Dear Omprakash, My name is Alex Landt. I’ve just returned to the USA after over a year in India and Nepal. I spent about 4 months during my travels volunteering. I met Pooja Dwivedi and Town School through another volunteer site, Workaway. I arrived in the first week of February 2011 and stayed for a month. I was her first volunteer. I returned for a two-day visit in the first week of December to say goodbye to Pooja and everyone who I connected with during my time at Town School. I have seen a few NGO’s and I’ve learned that many do not live up to their words. Town School does. It is a project that has been started by a local for the locals. Pooja is totally devoted to her work and the community. The challenges have all been taken in stride. However, in its second year, Town School is growing in leaps and bounds. In my eight months of absence from the school new rooms were added, a truck was bought to act as the school bus and enrollment has gone up. This project is one persons attempt to make a positive change in this crazy world. Pooja is doing wonderful work. She has such a big heart that extends to everyone she meets, pulling volunteers like me into her family in only one month. Not only does this attitude extend to the volunteers but to all the children and the community. This project is worthwhile for anyone wanting to see what one person can do when they’re willing to just follow their dreams. The area of Satyon is in the mountains, the foothills of the Himalaya, just north of Dehradun. The city has been known since the British Raj as a center of learning. Many famous Indians have gone to school in this city. Pooja is working to bring this high level of education to the local people. The community has been extremely responsive and many on the staff are locals. She is connecting many worlds with her work. Volunteers bring their skills, including English. Undeniably, English fluency is very important in the global world. Even in India it is hard to get a job without speaking English. Pooja has gone to the extreme in hospitality for her volunteers. It was the most comfortable place to stay of my travels. She provides all the amenities that we feel are necessary in the West; hot/clean water, good food and individual rooms for the volunteers. My stay with Pooja was a highlight of my trip. I got to experience the life in an Indian family and village. I was able to teach English and invariably learn so much more than I was able to impart. I’ve made lifelong friends in Pooja and the Town School team. Town School is a project that is working to make the world a little bit better for everyone. The opportunity for people to come and teach, see life in the Indian hills and to make new friends is wonderful. The education is amazing. Seeing the kids when I went back and visited, to see how well they understood English in only eight months just proves that with a dream, passion and the heart to change anything can be done. Smiles can’t be empirically measured, but my smile mirrored the children’s expansive gleam when I went back to visit.

This piece I wrote for the Daily Tidings, it was in Letters to the Editor on January 5th. Since my return to the states from India and Nepal many people have asked me to sum up my experience. “What was the highlight of your trip?” or “What did you learn during your travels?” Often times people ask me to sum it all up in a short amount of time. This just compounds the difficulty of expressing myself. Trying to tell my stories has been so enjoyable, seeing how I respond and react to people’s questions. A theme has emerged from the many conversations that I’ve had: Gratitude. Coming back to Ashland, The Valley, Southern Oregon, the Northwest and the USA has deepened my appreciation and gratitude. This place is a sanctuary, an intentional community in all definitions because people have come to this place to live out of choice. There are so many reasons to love Ashland, without listing them myself because I’m sure everyone can think of so many, I would just like to say thank you. Thanks to everyone who is dreaming, who is working to make the world a better place consciously or unconsciously. I’m so thankful to everyone who has made Ashland and the surrounding area their home. The people who have made this place the beautiful way that it is. Gratitude is a lesson that I’ve learned while traveling, to be thankful for all that there is. So thank you and happy New Year. May this year be filled with love, joy, gratitude and blessings for all.

Happy holidays to all peoples around the world.
I'm home!
I've had the most wonderful Christmas with my family and friends, full of all the good things in life. I'm so blessed to be back, mostly in one piece, I'm taking penicillin for a systemic strep infection but I'm feeling better than I've felt in a long time. Clean air, good food, music, friends and family all around me, surrounding me with light. Life is a blessing and I intend to life it with this thought foremost in my mind. This journey has changed me so much, I'm me, still bouncy, exuberant and full of joy. Yet I've added so much more to myself on this journey. As this chapter of my life, over thirteen months, closes and another begins I'm determined to walk this path I've set before myself to make the biggest change I can for humanity and our home, the earth. The journey that I walked, bussed, trained and flew is mirrored entirely by what happened within. Looking back, two weeks ago, I was living an entirely different life, and now I've slipped, seamlessly back into my life. Back to old patterns, back to old ways, but something has changed within me. A door has been unlocked and I know how to stand up and turn the knob. To stand in awe and rapture at what's on the other side. A life of beauty, awe and bliss, I can create my life however I wish and I'm determined to make the biggest change I can. I'm so blessed to be home with my amazing family to have so many loving friends and to be alive in a time when I can be the change I wish to see.

I will continue to blog when I feel the urge, I will be gardening while living in Ashland, 5% of my profits will be going to different NGO's that I worked with on my travels. 5% is a drop in the bucket really but it's my way to begin the loop, to start to give back and consecrate all of my actions to God, Humanity and the Earth.

One of the reasons that felt the need to return to our beautiful home nestled in the northwest was for hope. I have been carrying a weight on my leg, that only seemed to be growing, link by link as I saw the poor, sick, and helpless during my sojourn. The disparity in the world is only growing and it has become personal, not something seen on TV, read about or heard secondhand, but my experience. I went to look and came back with so much more than photos. I pray that I touched people as much as they touched me.

I wrote this poem the morning of the 22nd after watching the sunrise above Lithia Park at the Ashland Castles.

Hope

Eyes on the sky,
Waiting.
Wind,
Scented with frozen forests
Tickles past my face
tearing my eyes with it's wild hair
Pushing at my minds clouds
heavy with doubt.
Ears, filled with the arrow sharp song
of the towees and robins
Dispelling the fear of a world unwhole.
Every breath, crisp, clear, cold
Intoxicating my nostrils with its fragrance,
feeding not only my lungs but my entire being.
Tea, brewed to perfection
tantalizes my tongue with its exotic taste
drawing me back
to days spent on street corners
watching life meander by.

I'm the audience, prepared by my senses
to take a leap into the divine dance.
Poised on my rock, ready for the drama to unfold.

The moon set the stage, a white crescent
alone in a deep blue sky.
Then.
Light, Brilliant white light
ascends over the snowy landscape
to lay a kiss upon the valley
Freeing her from the winds cold embrace.
Birds take their cue
singing to the glory of the moment
Light overcoming darkness once again
in the endless dance.

Warmth floods my body
filling me with light
overcoming the doubt
fear
and sadness
from months seeing with eyes unmasked.
This elixir penetrates my being,
through a crack into my soul
it expands
Nectar of life
baptizing my soul
removing the "was" and "will be."
I am here, I am alive.

Darbar Sahib, Heaven on Earth

A full year since I first stepped foot in the Golden temple of Amritsar, so many things have changed, I've grown in ways indescribable. I wanted to have my mind blown and that's most assuredly what's happened. These last months have been especially intense, thus my lack of writing, how to write when I can't even come to conclusions within my own mind. Three more days, then I'll be on a plane leaving the reality that I've drenched myself in for the last 13 months. To be plopped back home during the holiday season, how wonderful. I can't think of anything better :D
I've just had a most fabulous of birthdays, Ben Small ( his blog: http://liminaldivagation.blogspot.com/ )
and I spent a most fabulous day blissed out in the Golden Temple. We napped in grass, soaking up the winter sun, podded(?) peas, rolled flatbreads and listened to the chanting of the Sikh holy book. I'm blessed, if there is one thing to take back from India, it's the sense that our lives are so precious, that we have all the capabilities to do whatever we'd like with our lives. Through these months I've had the whole gamut of experiences, but there is a common thread that stitches the fabric of life together. Whatever one would like to call it there is something there, something un-quantifiable, ever present. It is what augments our humanity, allows us to raise above the world that is so screwed up and recognize that this world is beautiful and our lives are so precious. I've had my real world experience, and in realizing deep within me how blessed I am, I now am going to do as much as I can to make this world a palace for all.
Being in the presence of this magical place is filling me with the highest aspirations for myself and the world. The Golden temple is a model, all are included, everyone's invited to serve, eat, sleep and pray. I'm going to enjoy these moments so that when I can pass along a little bit of this feeling, to bridge the gap between India and the USA, of us and them, you and me, god and humanity.
I'm not such a good writer and I'm especially out of practice, but nonetheless I will try to say this as best I can.
THANK YOU! I'm a product of the world, culture, community, friends, family, and everything in between. I'm 20 years old! Twenty blessed years I've been in this body and I'm so happy for everyone along the way. Have a wonderful time and I'll see everyone soon :D
Blessings from The Golden Temple

My Dream

The bane of an online blogger are crappy keyboards, but I'm going to tough it out so I can write a long overdue post.

My dream is to make the biggest change I possibly can on this earth. This has been my dream ever since I stepped up from wanting to chase snakes around jungles, although I still want it to include as much jungles and snakes as possible. When I came to India I thought I was going to be spending five months traveling around enjoying myself, living it up, expanding my understanding of the world and getting a new perspective on the world. This trip has done that, and much much more.
To change the world I have to change myself. This is the biggest lesson I've received. and now, still on this mission to change the world I'm looking to transform myself. Gandhi said, "Service to humanity is true service to God."
My live has taken a turn towards the spiritual. Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Mother Theresa and the Dalai Lama all have the same message. This message goes back, that we are here to serve, to change the world, and faith is the key. I've had such an amazing experience this last year. Now, in preparation to go home I'm looking to gather the tools I need to keep walking on this path. I'm human, but I have a seed inside me to really make a change. In my own way, however it will manifest, I'm going to make this world a better place.
I'm not blogging as much because I'm trying to avoid the computer, take in the lessons of this magical place. So, when I return, I can share with anyone who's interested about the truth I've found about this world. About the path I'm walking and how we can work together to make the world a better place.
Blessings, I'll see most of you very soon :D

Benaras

I'm back in Varanassi, the wildest city of my life. And also the dirtiest, I have another staph infection! Which means that I'm going to be taking it easy for the next couple of days. I'm taking an antibiotic, which should kill it soon. These sicknesses, on top of more sicknesses can be very frustrating. There has been a recent development since the last time I've posted. It's time for me to come home. I've felt homesick for the first time in my life during this trip. It's a bittersweet feeling when I'm so far away. But now that I've decided to come home the turbulence of my mind has finally settled. Now I'm 100% present and going to soak up as much of this wonderful city as I possibly can until December when I'll be returning home for Christmas!
There's a giant cow standing outside of the internet cafe, doing it's best to block the 6 foot wide path that is populated with bikes, rickshaws, dogs and people. India is amazing. My time here in the subcontinent has taught me so much. It's been my school 24/7 for over 11 months... I'm still waiting for my degree.
One of the developments that I've been leery about writing is God, Divine, The Creator, Energy Pervading the Universe, Love, however we chose to label it, all these words point to something greater than the sum of all the particles in the universe. Since I've been traveling I have been exposed to more religions than in the rest of my life put together. I didn't come here with this in mind, I guess I didn't have anything in mind, but I didn't imagine the focus turning to God. How to express these things with words, created in the mind, where the object I'm talking is beyond the mind and ego. All this may sound like a farce, reading my thoughts online like this. But I've come to realize things here that I never put much focus on. like, why are we destroying the planet? Why is the U.S. in the name of capitalism destroying the world in search of material wealth? We are missing something, we are unhappy. We are poisoned, and this poison is leaking out into the world. Metaphorically and physically, we have become a cancer on the planet. Unchecked growth, disrupting the balance on earth. These problems lie within each one of us. We are responsible only for ourselves, but we neglect the things that really matter, the things that will fill us up, make us whole so we can step out of the rat race for material wealth. We want to be comfortable, I'm going to be so thankful for hot water, clean sheets and baked foods. But the extremes that we've taken physical pleasures has destroyed our planet. We are the gold standard around the world, we've placed an unattainable and unsustainable dream in the minds of the 7 billion people on the planet. If everyone lived like we do in the states the world wouldn't stand a chance. We are a part of a giant machine eating away at what sustains us, mother earth. Each one of us is a cog, totally independent from the rest, we can each make choices that will change the planet. We can chose to take the decisions that will lead us in the other direction. I'm not going to come back some raging Anti-US fanatic, it is thanks to our country that I'm here in India at all, but we in the "land of the free, home of the brave" have so much responsibility, we're leading ourselves and the rest of the world along the path of destruction. It's totally our choice.
I want to share the many lessons I've learned but one of the most important is that everyone is on their own path. Who am I to say how anyone else should live their life. I'm sure of one thing, I'm trying to take the poison out of myself so I can change the world in the biggest way I possibly can. "service to humanity is true service to god"- Mahatma Gandhi

excuse me for this rant, I want to post, but everything I have to say is entering into things that might be misunderstood through the medium of the internet. I'm in one of the most powerful places in the world. I've heard it compared to Jerusalem. Every religion is present in a city that has drawn people from the sub-continent for centuries. Still there are signs littering the city written in all the languages of India, as pilgrims come from all over to bathe in the holy waters and to be cremated. This is the first time I've ever felt God within the confines of a human made space. It used to be only when I was out in nature, surrounded by nothing human that I was able to connect with the divine. Now, in the exact opposite situation, surrounded by city, the mass of humanity, crammed into winding cobblestone lanes, heating up to well beyond my comfort zone during the day. Populated with everything imaginable. I want to stay in this amazing place for the next two months, soak it up and share it with anyone who is interested when I'm back.