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Owl Light News Were Submitted As Part of Our O“Wars Waged” Owl Vision “Readers Write” Published June 29, 2018 ree wl Light News F OSeptember 7, 2018 Volume II, Number 18 OwlLightNews.com Read - Listen - Reflect Giving way to light by Nancy Quinones You may say I’m a dreamer, t was the year 2001 in Upstate New but I’m not the only one. I hope York. I was pregnant carrying my someday you’ll join us, and the first child. I wanted everything to be Iso perfect for my little baby girl’s arriv- world can live as one. al! Even her bedroom, which was gender – John Lennon neutral, was adorned with the John Lennon “Imagine” theme. There were blankets, was that this attack had a connection to sheets, stuffed animals, onesies, and wall- my own life somehow. It was a parallel be- paper border, which had the small, simple tween violence and courage. My father, a drawings of different animals which John native New Yorker, born and raised in the had sketched for his own son Sean. The city, was deeply disturbed by the loss of main color of the room was yellow, which innocent lives, and the utter violation be- matched my mood completely: happy, ex- stowed upon our country. We talked a lot cited, and secure. My husband and I had about feeling a sense of heaviness, like a a home, jobs, two cars, close friends, and depression. Our lives would never be the some family who lived locally. Everything same. My own life was about to change as was going as planned with the pregnancy. well. Things couldn’t have seemed more perfect. A year later- I had made some very Then, a month and three days after she was drastic decisions. I filed for divorce and born, the September 11 attacks happened. became a single mom. A few years later, My thoughts immediately turned to my I ended up finishing my Bachelor’s degree daughter. What kind of world am I bring- in Human Development. I lost the house. ing her into? As a young girl, I had always While I was on maternity leave, my hus- loved the Twin Towers. To me they were band had stopped paying the mortgage. majestic and exciting! I identified it with I made a decision that life is going to be the pride of being a New Yorker. When what I make it. Life was hard: I struggled, they went down, it was a direct hit to my I cried, I was angry, afraid, worried, and own identity somehow. In the hours that lonely sometimes. There were times I followed, I watched the news coverage knew I was truly blessed, and times I was in horror. There were visions of white ash just lucky. Through it all, I came to under- floating in the air, and constant playback of stand that I could not have made it with my the building being hit over and over again. daughter the way I did without the support It seemed the atmosphere around me was of people in my life that helped me along thick with uncertainty and disbelief. The the way. I was never alone, because I had grief that I felt was overwhelming, and I somehow built a small network of “single was not alone, the attack hit everyone hard. mom” friends, and students from the uni- My personal world was also in crisis. A re- versity where I worked. They came in and ality that I knew I had to change. I think went; passing through my life like tem- the attack made me more aware of my own porary, helpful angels. Only a few stayed reality. My baby’s father was physically constant, but that was ok. I was grateful for abusing me, and had been for 7 years. I them all! knew I had to get out of the marriage for I realized that human beings really are my baby’s sake, and for my own. fragile, life really is too short, but somehow As the days slowly rolled into autumn, still beautiful. I was determined to make my father and I had many discussions about my new life work with my little daughter. the 9/11 attacks. The buildings were gone. My daughter made life beautiful. It was They could probably be replaced someday, the little things that you wouldn’t expect but what about the innocent people who to find beauty in. As a result of others help- were killed? We knew none of them, but ing me, I found a career where I am able to the most unsettling thought on my mind help people too. William Wayne Page Continued on page 4 Letters & Commentary - Regional Reflections - 2 & 3 Infinite Ocean of Light and Love by Emily Pecora - 4 Owl The Light Lens: WHAT?! by T. Touris - 5 Owl Outings: Caught up in the blues - 7 PAID -at- Tithonia rotundifolia by Georgeanne Vyverberg - 9 US POSTAGE US POSTAGE ROCHESTER, NY PERMIT NO. 1673 PERMIT Home Reels and history in Honeoye Falls by D.E. Bentley - 10 PRESORTED STANDARD PRESORTED Simple Sustainability: Sustainable Diet by Sky Trombly - 11 Let the Scouting for Myself: Chapter 2 by Katie Egan - 13 Owl Community Calendar & Regional News -14&15 come plus ...The Back Page to wl Notes: The 9-11 reflections in this issue of Owl Light News were submitted as part of our O“Wars Waged” Owl Vision “readers write” published June 29, 2018. We had many more submissions then we could fit, so I asked Nancy Quinones and Emily Pecora if they would be you! willing to delay placement and have their pieces published as a tribute to 9-11. Thankfully, they both agreed and we are able to bring their reflections on 9-11, along with a moving image and reflections from our guest artist, William W. Page to our Owl readers. See page 3 We look forward to hearing from you too: [email protected] or fb @Canadice Press. Reflecting on freedom in the Letters and Commentary “land of the free.” ooking back on 9-11, there is no denying that we live in a dangerous world. Some of Reader reflects on his childhood trips to that safety – real or perceived – comes at a cost. More than ever before, we are under Lsurveillance, everywhere we go, with governmental record keeping (and tax collection), The Park Theater in Avon, NY with cameras and online monitoring of our personal data. om Sargeant of Livonia, NY recently shared with the Owl his memo- I hear that, statistically, the world is a safer, less violent place now than in our historic pasts. This may be true for segments of the population, but many groups of people are Tries of the Park Theater in Avon, NY which opened its doors in 1938. denied the same rights and liberties in jobs, housing, health care and law that others might The recently purchased Park Theater will undergo renovations and re-open take for granted. In the United States, the groups most impacted by discrimination have to the public as a theater and performance venue. shifted some over time due to changes in immigration patterns (with peoples of Middle Eastern and Hispanic descent currently most targeted), education and attitudes. Some “I remember going to the Park Theater with my mom and dad in groups, specifically African Americans and Native Americans (or First Peoples), continue to feel the legacy of abuse that lingers from our historical wrongs as a nation. 1939, when I was around eight. The first movie we saw there was These patterns of oppressed and oppressor repeat throughout recorded time. In many Gone with the Wind. We went there several times after that to see parts of the world – including parts of the U.S. – women continue to be abused and treated other movies.” as second-class citizens. Lack of understanding and outright ignorance around gender identity places some members of the LGBTQQ community at risk of discrimination and violence. Persons with different abilities than the general population and people with “Gone With The Wind,” directed by George Cukor, Sam Wood and Victor mental health diagnoses are other groups where freedoms are more tenuous. Economic Fleming Premiered in 1939 starring Clark Gable as Rhett and Vivien Leigh as status, particularly poverty, which can be exacerbated by complex co-factors, also results Scarlett. in threats to personal freedoms. In general, again statistically speaking, more people in more places share legal free- doms than others that came before. De facto freedom is not the same as what is etched into the law books, and how freedoms are understood and put into practice are constantly On the Cover: changing. In the United States (and I presume elsewhere in the world), freedom means different things to different people and these disparities in belief and practice result in Art from guest artist William Wayne Page, resentment and hostilities and social and political divides. who shared the following about what the Merriam-Webster online defines freedom as: 1 : the quality or state of being free: such as WTC towers meant to him. a : the absence of necessity, coercion, or constraint in choice or action b : liberation from slavery or restraint or from the power of another : independence c : the quality or state of being exempt or released usually from something onerous he North Tower corner was my touch stone for when I needed inspi- freedom from care ration to improve my life. Many were the times I'd go up onto the ob- d : unrestricted use gave him the freedom of their home Tservation deck of the South Tower to see the Great City from a perspective e : ease, facility spoke the language with freedom that gave me hope.
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