Add Experience to Intelligence in Ascending Mt Wisdom (+playlist)

Yakima students participating in SOS (Snowboard Outreach Society), ride chairlifts for their first time, in Week 4 of their program. Core value for this week is "Wisdom," and riders from Yakima's La Casa Hogar, Madison House, and On the Corner (Central Lutheran Church), demonstrate proficiency on their boards and in their lives while riding and learning at White Pass in the Cascade Mountains of Washington State.

Thursday Mountain Meditation

Built around silence and wonder, this day annually celebrates the life of Tyler Johnson who showed family and friends how much living we can do with the time we are given. When time became urgent, Tyler Johnson finished his work. This is Tyler's Run. It has been commemorated with a re-named ski run at White Pass, Cascade Mountains. This video incorporates Highway 12 into the meditation of the day. Thursday Mountain Meditation is for my sister, Vonnie, her family, Tyler's family, and the larger family of which all of us are a part of.

Storming in the Mothership

Two grandchildren and Grandpa in the Mothership at White Pass, in the Cascade Mountains of Washington, during three days in February, 2014. These three days are part of an extreme storm lasting two weeks. Snow is precious to us. White gold. No illusions. "Unless the ecstasy be general." William Carlos Williams. A tone poem.

Exploring Integrity (and ourselves) on the Mountain (+playlist)

S.O.S. (Snowboard Outreach Program), & White Pass, sponsor 28 young people from Yakima, Washington, taking them to the mountains on five successive Sundays, where outdoor skills and CORE values combine to inspire individual and community dreaming. This movie explores the third Sunday's emphasis on integrity, which follows courage and discipline. The final two weeks explore wisdom and compassion. These Yakima teens come from three programs: Madison House, La Casa Hogar, and On the Corner.

ONE WITH GRAND CHILDREN ON THE MOUNTAIN

YOU’RE ALREADY AMAZING

            —Listening to the snowboard instructors

Fists save wrists

Stay square, stay square,

You guys have this

We’re going

a little further

up the hill

You had it

You had it

We got this guys

Keep looking up

Jim Bodeen

11 February 2014

PRAIRIE-DOGGING WITH YOUNG RIDERS AT WHITE PASS

      —for the instructors from S.O.S. & C.O.R.E.

Biff. That’s it, the word for falling.

But enough of that now.

This is snowboard zen.

Lift your foot.

Toe-side, the side that will help you.

Where you ride.

Push and slide,

weight on your toes.

How does this board feel when it’s attached to my foot?

Give a push, only to your back binding.

Let’s head on up the mountain a bit.

Squat down. Get into an athletic stance.

Like soccer. Like basketball. Alert.

Like that. Athletic stance.

This is the best part. Ready.

Don’t worry about stopping.

The exercise is to slide.

Focus on staying square. Athletic stance.

That’s an important move.

Use your courage.

Make that hard choice.

Look at me. Look at me.

Look at me.

It’s so close.

Eyes up.

You want to look at your feet.

Look at me.

I’m thinking you’re not getting enough knee.

If you feel you’re not getting enough control,

go to those knees. Front knee bent.

Look at me. Look at me.

Why Prairie Dog? Look at you guys sitting there on the snow.

Jim Bodeen

26 January 2014-11 February 2014

White Pass

CIRCLE OF LOVE

            —With S.O.S. (Snowboard Outreach Society)

High 5s, half-hugs, and fist bumps.

There’s one more, the girl behind the driver says.

What’s that? Hand hug.

Show me, turning around.

One hand, palm up meets the other, holding,

making eye contact.

I dunno. Let me catch my breath.

Deliberate, with permission.

We don’t need any miracle but our breath.

Challenge by choice, snowboards

on the mountain. Young people.

When the community is ready to advance.

Spread the love.

Pick up laundry bags at the Dollar Store.

Wash your socks each week.

Have fun and ride.

Start with the morning circle.

Prairie dogging around.

Spread the love.

Jim Bodeen

26 January 2014—11 February 2014

HOW CAN ONE BE WITH THE GRANDCHILDREN

ON THE MOUNTAIN, UNLESS ONE IS 

WITH THE GRANDCHILDREN ON THE MOUNTAIN!

They don’t belong to anybody

unless they belong to all.

Jim Bodeen

11 February 2014