PeaceWalker Blog

The Home where the standoff took place. In the wake of the recent tragedy concerning 34-year-old Rodrick Dantzler much has been reported on. This deeply unfortunate event that has rocked the foundation of our community is certain to touch each of us in some way, to a lessor or greater degree. It is times like these that truly illustrate just how interconnected our community is. The degree of separation that each of us has from someone involved in this incident will probably prove to be surprisingly small, for me it has been but three tiny degrees. - My Saturday wrapped up much as it always does, teach from morning into late afternoon, go home, take a shower, wrap up some bookwork, take a quick power nap and then off to a Saturday night of socializing, while taking advantage of another incredible Michigan Summer. This week I ended up at a small pool get together on the West Side of Grand Rapids near Leonard and Covell. Things started ...

"Once upon a time I asked a wise man how he reconciles the religious tradition of the Indigenous, Native culture into which he was born with his affiliation with one of the three Abrahamic faiths. His response to me was, "Spirit is Spirit." ... I did not know at the time that I also belong to an Indigenous, Native culture. Thanks to that same wise man, I know that now and have also come to understand that indeed, "Spirit is Spirit". I will always remember those words..." ~Corinne Clair Coughlin     w/some possible mysterious connection to a certain Mushtaq Ali Al Ansar, but one can never be sure =)