monday's mulling: peace

One month ago, Downtown Dayton turned into a NATO Village to accommodate the member nations participating in the NATO Parliamentary Assembly. The Downtown Dayton Partnership commissioned this mural, "On Peace Work," to be placed in Courthouse Square for the opening of the Assembly.

Back in February 2025, Sierra Leone was chosen as the first Poet Laureate for the City of Dayton. During her recognition ceremony, Mayor Jeffrey Mims said, “Today, we make history in Dayton as we proudly announce our city’s first-ever Poet Laureate. This moment is a testament to the power of words, storytelling, and the vibrant artistic spirit that runs through our community. Poetry has the unique ability to connect us, inspire us, and reflect the heart of our city. We look forward to the ways our Poet Laureate will amplify Dayton’s voices and celebrate our shared stories. Congratulations to Sierra Leone, and may your words continue to uplift and unite us all.” The newly appointed Poet Laureate served as compiler on the mural project.

The mural highlights the epigraph of the titular poem containing seven stanzas from various Dayton voices. (A titular poem refers to a poem that either shares its title with a larger work (like a collection of poems) or has a title that reflects the main subject of the poem). Written by Alice Young-Basora, executive director of the International Peace Museum, the epigraph states, “Peace is a verb. First to be sought within, then to be actively shared with others.”

My grandson's birthday party was this past weekend. He's three years old and to see him playing with his little friends without a care in the world was so sweet. I want the world to be just like this backyard day as he grows up. Carefree happiness, love, peace is my wish for him.

ON PEACE WORK

Peace is a verb. First to be sought within, then to be actively shared with others.

We are tapestry of peace

clothed in cardinal directions -

We brave cloaked conflict, ceaselessly

unraveling shadows of silenced stories.

Our hearts syncopate

when possibility is our handiwork.

Our fingers see, our ears taste,

We drum a free jazz symphony.

Let us all find some peace - a steady state - 

beyond the greedy grasp of fearful hate.

Let us work together to break vile bonds

Time will wait and fairness and truth respond.

How can we, with bruises blooming on our spirit

speak against injustice? Only with the promise that

when even our memories are mere myth, we will not be gone.

There are no casualties of peace.

We cast dandelion hopes and bumblebee dreaming,

Caught within the winds of the future’s verisimilitude.

Tomorrow we will harvest honey yellowed meanings

And cherish our wish-sprouts manifest, bedewed.

Dig deep into earth’s pockets for a future where more women lead

in every vowel and syllable; vow to plant our peace seeds - 

less waste, less apathy, less greed

more gardens, more community, more trees.

Come when the year’s first blossoms blows

Come when the summer gleams and glows

Come with the winter’s drifting snows

And you are welcome, welcome.

In order of contribution, “On Peace Work” features: Young-Basora (Epigraph); Leone (Stanza 1); Furaha Henry-Jones, professor of English and African American Literature (Stanza 2); Matt Birdsall, poet and educational professional (Stanza 3); Aimee Noel, poet and educator (Stanza 4); Gentry Heflin, poet and Stivers School for the Arts student (Stanza 5); Amanda Hayden, poet laureate of Sinclair Community College (Stanza 6); and Dunbar as contributed by Martin, emeritus professor and poet laureate at the University of Dayton (Stanza 7).

 

use your senses

We need to use our senses to create a richer, more immersive experience of the world. Each sense provides unique information that helps us understand our environment, make decisions, and experience life more fully. Be sensible 🌸

 

get out and explore

"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime." 

~ Mark Twain from The Innocents Abroad

I firmly believe that travel helps break down barriers, reduce prejudice, and bring the world closer together. When you travel, even if it's in your own city, you quickly realize that humanity’s commonalities far outweigh the tiny differences that we too often allow to divide us.

the friday feed: kohlrabi

A descendant of wild European cabbage, kohlrabi is an old German word that combines cabbage (“kohl”) with turnip (“rabi/rube”). It’s not an iconic, popular or even recognized American vegetable but kohlrabi has always been more of a home gardener’s secret darling, It’s unusual-looking but fun and easy to grow, tasty and nutritious. It’s never been a supermarket staple in the U.S., and ten years ago you’d be hard pressed to find it even at a farmers market, but now kohlrabi has exploded from home gardens into markets across the country.As the community supported agriculture (CSA) and farmers market movements expand, more and more folks are being exposed to kohlrabi. It’s even becoming something of a cult vegetable in haute cuisine.

Kohlrabi is a truly versatile vegetable. Its “bulb” (technically not a bulb or a root but rather a swollen stem) is equally good raw or cooked, and its greens are tasty and ultra-nutritious. Raw kohlrabi has a nice crunch and an earthy, sweet flavor with just a hint of turnip-y bite. It’s nice on a crudité platter, as a veggie “cracker,” grated or thinly sliced on salads and in coleslaws, and pickled. Cooked, it has the sweetness and versatility of a potato without the starch. The greens can be used anywhere collards, kale or turnip greens would be.

Move over, veggies - kohlrabi is here to steal the spotlight!

                    A cabbage cousin,

                    sprinkled with sea salt crystals

                    is when it tastes best.

juneteenth

A trip to the downtown post office last week crossing my fingers that my son's and son-in-law's Father's Day cards would arrive by Saturday. (They got to their recipients on Monday). 

In the post office lobby one of the postal workers had put up Juneteenth decorations and she used her own money. I admired her Juneteenth tree and read every one of the posters she had put in the windows. She thanked me for taking time to look at her display. I thanked her for her generosity and sharing the celebration. Juneteenth celebrates the ending of slavery in the US but looking at all these posters, all these people persevered through a long line of hardship and prejudice so their stories can be told. Black history is American history and Juneteenth acknowledges the past while nurturing hope for the future.

wednesday's words and wanderings and wonderings

Today is Owen's Day! Say it fast enough and it sounds a little like Wednesday.

It's my first grandchild's 3rd birthday.

Where can I even begin to explain the magic that took over when I found out I was going to be a grandparent? After my son was married, I found my mind drifting to thoughts of one day being a grandma (but I never mentioned that to Andrew and Jen. That was their business, not mine). My youngest, my baby —having a baby—and in turn, giving me the coveted title of "Grandma" or a the grandma name which is music to my ears, “Didi.”

So, on the night of June 18 all of our lives changed—a change that would bring new life and a love beyond words.

What fun it's been to watch Owen grow into the little boy that he is and how quickly three years have passed. He's a carbon copy of his dad - a chatterbox, funny, boundless energy, inquisitive, creative, loving. Even though today is his birthday and the celebration is all about him, for 1096 days he has given me gifts that are so precious. I’ve learned to be in the moment, something that was hard to do as a mom because I was caught up in the daily to-dos, where-to goes, and trying to make the best life I could for my family. Now I get to experience the world through his eyes and what a wonderful world it is. 

 

organizing

While scrolling through my email, I happened across a reference to Marie Kondo, the tidying queen who has written four books on organizing, mentioning her method for storing kitchen towels. I’ve not followed Marie Kondo’s advice and tips but I was curious as to how she organized her towels vs. how I organize my towels. We have similar styles: hers is a folding technique and mine is to roll the towels.

Just to test out Marie’s way, I folded the towels as she recommends: 

• Fold the towel the long way, so it looks like a long rectangle. 
• Next, fold it the short way (so that the rectangle is half as long now). 
• Then, fold the towel into thirds.
• Conduct the stand test to make sure the towel can confidently stand on its own. 
• Fold all the remaining towels the same way.
• Stand all your neatly folded towels up in a basket or in a drawer.
• Be pleasantly surprised every time you go to grab one. 
• Repeat.

Marie's method works fine but my drawer is shallow and rolling the towels works better for my circumstances and I don't roll my dish cloths.

Move over, Marie…here comes Diane Marie!