Gardeners for Recovery

Posted on 2007-09-11 by admin

Update 2007.11.20: Added clarification that cobblestones will not be marked. Added link to related posts, including the announcement page.
Update, September 28: The Gardeners for Recovery Cobblestone Campaign is online.

What is to give light must endure burning.
– Victor Frankl, survivor of the Nazi holocaust.

Tribute in Light, shot blindly out the window of a moving cab in downtown Manhattan earlier this evening, the 6th anniversary of the attacks.

I’ve written several posts so far comprising an irregular series related to the symbiotic practices of gardening and grieving:

What I’ve not written about so well is what follows – what accompanies and emerges from – grief.

40 years ago Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross described a model of grieving outlining five stages or phases:

Denial
Anger
Bargaining
Depression
Acceptance

This is not the only model possible or available. However, it’s the one with which I’m most familiar, and I find it useful as a framework to describe, and therefore help me recognize and understand, grieving as it occurs naturally in me and around me.

Because it’s so familiar, this model has been often misapplied and misinterpreted, narrowed and stretched, until it has lost much of its depth and richness. There are some useful extensions and adaptations, intended to restore the balance, such as this one:

Grieving only begins where the 5 Stages of “Grief” leave off. Grief professionals often use the concept of “Grief Work” to help the bereaved through grief resolution. One common definition of Grief Work is summarized by the acronym TEAR:

T = To accept the reality of the loss
E = Experience the pain of the loss
A = Adjust to the new environment without the lost object
R = Reinvest in the new reality

– Beware the Five Stages of Grief

There is another vocabulary, another language, which can provide a frame for understanding and exploring all these stages. That is the language of recovery.

In 1999, I joined the steering committee of a group called SpeakOUT! Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Voices for Recovery. It was funded by a grant from the U.S. Center for Substance Abuse Treatment (CSAT); however, from early on we defined recovery broadly and inclusively. Though the group itself is now defunct, I learned a lot from my involvement with it, and there were some deep lessons. Our vision statement was:

Our vision is of a world that honors the journeys of recovery within all diverse lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender and other communities, supports all forms of recovery, and celebrates the growth of the human spirit.

This statement can still give me chills. We did not say that our vision was of a world free from chemical dependence. Or injury, pain, or loss. Instead we dreamt of a world which embraced recovery. We were not anti-drug. We were pro-recovery. There is a strong Zen/Buddhist leaning in this: Pain is inevitable. A world without pain, without loss, would be a world without life. Suffering is something we bring into the world, to others, to ourselves. The purpose of life is to relieve suffering.

The “forms of recovery” was a rich area of exploration. What did we even mean by “recovery”? How could we define it in a way that was compelling, flexible, and meaningful? I’m proud to say that then not-yet-blog-widow John formulated it this way:

Recovery is anything which manifests a desire to live.

Or, in my simplified formation:

Recovery chooses life.

In the U.S., September is National Recovery Month. Six years ago, we were planning a community forum to observe the month. Then the unthinkable happened. Like many other organizations, we questioned whether or not we should go ahead with our scheduled events after September 11, and if so, whether and how we should modify them. We decided to proceed, in part because the theme of Recovery Month was “We Recover Together: Friends, Family and Community” and in part because we knew the need people felt to come together.

Something remarkable happened to New York City at that time. As I spoke at the forum that month, and wrote up later for our newsletter:

Since September 11, 2001, everyone in New York City is talking about
“recovery,” many for the first time. What does it mean to be living in a
whole city that’s in recovery? As a person in recovery, what can I bring
to my colleagues, neighbors, and communities? What can I learn from
community responses to recovery needs? I’ve observed in myself how
my previous experiences have helped me cope with my reactions. …

At all times, and especially now in New York City, people in recovery
have much to offer our loved ones, neighbors and communities. We
know what it’s like to be powerless, to feel hopeless. We know that
healing is possible. We know the healing power of community. We
know the rewards of giving back. We know the gifts of recovery.

I believe that gardeners know this, too. It’s manifest in defiant gardens of all types. It’s manifest in vacant lots transformed by communities into oases. It’s manifest in horticultural therapy. It’s manifest in living memorials.

I’ve submitted a proposal to the National September 11 Memorial and Museum to sponsor a paver for the memorial plaza through a campaign for contributions. The name of the campaign is the title of this post: Gardeners for Recovery. Out of respect for the victims of September 11, cobblestones will not be inscribed with donor names or any other markings. When the Memorial is completed, we will be able to identify the exact location of our cobblestone by using a kiosk on the Memorial Plaza. See the announcement post for information about how to contribute.

I still dream of a world which embraces recovery in all its forms, gardening among them. For this National Recovery Month, and on this somber day, I invite you to find your own ways to celebrate recovery, to celebrate life.

PS: This is the 400th post on this blog.

[bit.ly]

Gardeners for Recovery is on its way!, November 13
Announcing the Gardeners for Recovery Cobblestone Campaign, September 28

The National September 11 Memorial at the World Trade Center

Posted on 2007-09-11 by admin

Also see my other posts on 9/11.

9/11 memorials, Union Square Park, September 24, 2001

Recently, the World Trade Center Memorial Foundation announced:

… it will now be called the National September 11 Memorial & Museum at the World Trade Center – in order to reflect more fully the Memorial and Museum’s commemoration of the September 11, 2001 attacks as a national tragedy that changed the course of history. The Memorial & Museum will honor those killed in the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, in New York City, Pennsylvania, and at the Pentagon, as well as those killed in the World Trade Center bombing on February 26, 1993, and will continue to emphasize the site-specific nature of building a tribute at the World Trade Center.
– Press Release, August 15, 2007 (PDF)

For the first time, there will be a national tour of a traveling exhibition associated with the museum:

To involve as many people as possible, the Memorial & Museum have created a traveling exhibition that tells the story of September 11 from the point of view of victims’ families, first responders, survivors, and everyday people who came together on that terrible day and in the agonizing days that followed. The traveling exhibition offers Americans the opportunity to come together again to pay tribute to those who were killed on September 11 as well as to support the heroic first responders whose selfless acts saved thousands.

Individuals and communities across the country will have a chance to contribute directly to this historic effort by signing a steel beam that will be used in the construction of the National September 11 Memorial & Museum. The exhibition will also feature a timeline of the events, photographs, artifacts, and a short film.

Here are the first cities and dates. Check local listings for details, or check on the National Tour page.

Columbia, SC, September 10 and 11

Raleigh, NC, September 15 and 16

Norfolk, VA, September 19 and 20

Pittsburgh, PA, September 23

Charleston, WV, September 26

Cincinnati, OH, September 29 and 30

Lexington, KY, October 3

Fort Wayne, IN, October 6 and 7

Lansing, MI, October 10

Aurora, IL, October 13 and 14

Madison, WI, October 17

Other cities will include Sioux Falls, SD, Des Moines, IA, Omaha, NE, and Wichita, KS.

Links:

National September 11 Memorial & Museum

National Tour

Tribute WTC 9/11 Visitor Center is a temporary museum and exhibit located across the street from Ground Zero on Liberty Street, the south side of the site, between Trinity Place and Greenwich Street. It will remain in place until the permanent Memorial and Museum are completed.

Map of the plans for the WTC site (PDF)

News, September 7, NYC: Brooklyn Woman Tests Positive for West Nile Virus

Posted on 2007-09-08 by admin

The Health Department today confirmed the season’s first human case of West Nile virus (WNV) in a 41-year-old Brooklyn woman. So far this season, the Health Department has identified WNV in 139 mosquito pools citywide – eastern Queens, southeastern Bronx and Staten Island have had significant activity. WNV has been detected in all five boroughs.
– Press Release

In past years, WNV cases have been reported much earlier in the year.

The patient began feeling ill in mid-August. Her symptoms included fever, headache, fatigue, weakness and muscle pain. She was hospitalized on August 25th, and is now home recovering. Because she traveled outside of New York City during the two weeks preceding her illness, she may have been exposed to WNV either in New York City, or elsewhere.

Project FeederWatch

Posted on 2007-09-06 by admin

Cornell University’s Lab of Ornithology and Bird Studies Canada have opened registration for the 2007-2008 season of Project FeederWatch.

Project FeederWatch is a winter-long survey of birds that visit feeders at backyards, nature centers, community areas, and other locales in North America. FeederWatchers periodically count the highest numbers of each species they see at their feeders from November through early April. FeederWatch helps scientists track broadscale movements of winter bird populations and long-term trends in bird distribution and abundance.
– What is Project FeederWatch

Next year’s seasons begins November 10. They begin shipping kits in September. There’s a $15 registration fee.

Links:

Project FeederWatch, Bird Studies Canada
Project FeederWatch, Cornell Lab of Ornithology

Gowanus Nursery under threat

Posted on 2007-09-04 by admin

Updated 22:00 EDT: Added links, maps, and legend.

Gowanus Nursery, as it appeared on their opening day this Spring

I received the following email this afternoon through the Gowanus Nursery mailing list.

On Wednesday August 22, a small group of business owners, employees and clients attended a city planning meeting that was to decide the fate of a few parcels of land located on Summit and Carroll streets.

The likely outcome is that Gowanus Nursery (45 Summit Street) will be forced to move, once again.

Remarkably, this change is a thinly disguised ‘spot zoning’ to allow for a residential development in a grandfathered commercial zone. This action, in the words of Community Board 6, has been the most aggressive use of ULURP (re-zoning) procedures that the current board has ever seen, forcing out active and flourishing businesses to make way for residential development.

Borough President Marty Markowitz’s recommendations suggest that the nursery occupied lot provides property owners the opportunity to lease under-developed land with minimal investment (part true since the only investment came in the form of our own labor and financial funding.) There seems something fundamentally wrong with labeling well-used open ‘green’ space as ‘under-developed’.

On a personal note, I am frustrated not only by the futility of the work we have already logged here, but also by the casual way that zoning change is happening in ‘our’ neighborhood. Last year, you, my customers and colleagues came to offer your services during the first move. Now, I ask for your help to help save this ‘green oasis’ from perishing in the changes affecting all of Brooklyn.

One of the questions asked by the city planning commissioners was “We have heard a lot of testimony about how this is the ‘best’ nursery, could you please give some definite examples to support this statement?” Well, we hope that our garden making has been successful; stimulating ideas and offering advice, suggesting different ways of seeing plants and how they affect our environment directly and indirectly. Of course, something akin to a mission remains: providing to gardeners experience-based knowledge and the broadest selection of perennial plants for Brooklyn gardens.

We hope that you can take the time to email the following parties to let them know in a few words what makes us an important part of the neighborhood and the whole Brooklyn experience.

Council representative – Bill de Blasio, deblasio@council.nyc.ny.us;
City Council Speaker – Christine Quinn, quinn@council.nyc.ny.us;
Land Use Committee Chairperson – Melinda R. Katz, katz@council.nyc.ny.us;
Mayor Michael Bloomberg

The following are some statements to paste into your appeal:

It’s impossible to run a nursery without land.

Businesses such as these provide necessary services to the community, and are the reason we choose Brooklyn.

Please help Gowanus Nursery to remain a Brooklyn institution.

I located a map of the proposed zoning change. This was certified to begin ULURP as far back as May 14th of this year.

The area enclosed by the dotted line is proposed to be rezoned by changing from an M1-1 District to an R6 District. The heavy solid lines indicate where the Zoning District Boundaries would like after the proposed zoning change. To become effective, the proposed changes must be approved first by the City Planning Commission, then the City Council.

Here’s a map, courtesy of OASIS-NYC, that shows the current uses of 45 Summit Street and nearby properties:

Legend:
Legend image 1 & 2 Family Residential
Multi-family Residential (3 or more Residential Units)
Mixed Use (Residential and Commercial)
Commercial
Institutions
Transportation & Parking
Industrial (corresponds to Zoning’s “Manufacturing” designation)
Vacant Lots

Comparing these two maps, it appears that most of the properties along Carroll Street within the proposed zoning change are already in residential use. The proeprties along Summit Street, however, are in industrial use, consistent with their M-1 Zoning designation.

The question of whether or not Gowanus is “the best” nursery is a red herring. This seems like a suspiciously convenient carve-out for someone. Who is going to reap the windfall from eminent domain-style tactics that strip privileges from one group and class of residents to benefit another?

Links:

In the Shadow (How shall my heart be reconciled to its feast of losses?)

Posted on 2007-08-29 by admin

Updated 2007.09.12: Added brief bio and link for Renee Barret-Arjune.

Haddadada the gargoyle stands watch behind the maple in my backyard.

I’d rather be writing about something else, but this presents itself right now. Better I write it while it’s fresh, and raw, and resist polishing the life from it.

Earlier this evening, I learned of the death of John Larsen, someone I knew from my old days in the East Village. We were neighbors, bar buddies, and, for a hot minute, boyfriends.

In March of 1996, I had just started reading Walt Odets‘ “In the Shadow of the Epidemic: Being HIV-Negative in the Age of AIDS“, the first book I read which gave voice to feelings shared by many of my cohort, gay men of a certain age: survivor guilt, and a spiritual crisis which has ravaged many of us. I wrote:

March 1996

so far surviving
what will it mean to be alive
having outlived generation after generation
decades of death
the explosion widening until, finally
and yes, with some grim, righteous satisfaction
finally noone can truthfully say
they are not also affected

imagine how it will be
when your closest friends are strangers
when long ago you gave up hope
of growing old together
as everyone you’ve loved, and despised
has died, seven times over
when you’ve learned, and loved, and lost
and learned, loved, lost
and …
When each new friend is met with the knowledge
that they too will leave soon
but it no longer matters
because, you think, you’ve already grieved their deaths too

the corpses pile up
against the walls you’ve built around yourself
walking along familiar streets
past the bars, your old haunts
you see tombstones, crosses, ashes
and you’re not safe, even in your own mind
especially at night
when the walls must come down
and you must remember the dead

you want to believe you’ve come so far
but it hasn’t even begun

I moved to Brooklyn in June of 1992. I’d lived 13 years in the East Village, in the epicenter of the AIDS epidemic. My move was neither well-planned nor well-executed. I knew I had to move. I didn’t know how important it would be to me for my survival, for my recovery. Though I could not surface the thought at that time, let alone voice it, I was also running, trying to run, away. I couldn’t face any more death.

January 25, 1994

ghosts

glimpsed in a stranger’s gait
darting behind another’s mask
in that moment

for how long
must I never forget?

the epicenter
reaches to numbers inconceivable
my heart implodes

when darkness falls
how should I greet it

for a moment
I thought I saw you
but you left long ago

Reminders of the upcoming 6th Anniversary of 9/11 are piling up. My first day back at work from my North Carolina trip, I walked by the Deutsche Bank building – ruined in the attacks, condemned, and only now being dismantled – where two firefighters had lost their lives the day before. I could see the blackened scaffolding and walls of the building. I smelled the smoke, startled for a few minutes, taken back to the months after the attacks, when the fires burned for months, when we walked every day through the crematory of downtown Manhattan. I know – knew, met a handful of times – a woman, Renee Barret-Arjune, who died from injuries she received in the World Trade Center attacks. It’s how we measure our distance from such things: who we knew, how many, how close.

Earlier this summer, Eleanor Traubman of Creative Times gave me a little gem of a book, The Wild Braid: A Poet Reflects on a Century of Life in the Garden. It’s by and about the poet, Stanley Kunitz (1905-2006), written with Genine Lentine and with photographs by Marnie Crawford Samuelson. When we met at the Flatbush meet-up, she recommended this book to me.

I’ve estimated that half of everyone I’ve ever known has already died: from AIDS, chemical dependence or overdose, or suicide. I should have expected to feel resonance with a centenarian gardener-poet writing at the end of his life. Here’s an excerpt from Kunitz’ “The Layers”:

When I look behind,
as I am compelled to look
before I can gather strength
to proceed on my journey,
I see the milestones dwindling
toward the horizon
and the slow fires trailing
from the abandoned camp-sites,
over which scavenger angels
wheel on heavy wings.
Oh, I have made myself a tribe
out of my true affections,
and my tribe is scattered!
How shall the heart be reconciled
to its feast of losses?
In a rising wind
the manic dust of my friends,
those who fell along the way,
bitterly stings my face.

Kunitz closes more hopefully:

no doubt the next chapter
in my book of transformations
is already written.
I am not done with my changes.

This evening, fresh with the news of a death of a friend, I look behind. Nor am I done with my changes.

Renee Barrett-Arjune worked as a compensation accountant at Cantor Fitzgerald in Tower 1 of the World Trace Center. She grew up in Brooklyn and lived in Irvington, NJ. She was active in the church where Blog Widow John worked at the time; I met her a couple of times through him. She was 41.

Her name is inscribed in a bronze panel – #N-48 – along the North Pool of the National September 11 Memorial at Ground Zero. The names of Cantor Fitzgerald employees and consultants make up 34, nearly half, of the panels surrounding the North Pool.

Heirloom Canna “Mme. Paul Caseneuve”

Posted on 2007-08-17 by admin

Heirloom Canna “Mme. Paul Caseneuve”. Photo Credit: Blog Widow John

Earlier this week, while I’ve been in North Carolina, one of the heirloom bulbs in the front yard started to bloom. I was disappointed to miss its first flower. Blog Widow John was excited to see the bloom, and sent me this phonecam snapshot of it so I wouldn’t miss it. This is his first guest post on the blog. Thanks, baby!

It’s Canna “Mme. Paul Caseneuve”, which I received from Old House Gardens (OHG) this Spring. This is the first time I’ve grown this variety of Canna. Introduced in 1902, it’s growing about 3 feet high for me, not as tall as “Cleopatra” which I grew in the same container last year. OHG describes the flower as “heart-breakingly lovely” and it looks to fulfill that promise. The foliage has been attractive, dark bronze for me.

[Confidential to my readers: I’ll get some proper photos of it after I return home this weekend.]

The North Carolina Arboretum

Posted on 2007-08-17 by admin

Today was our day to visit the North Carolina Arboretum. CC accompanied me for about half of the photos I took. It was a pleasure to be able to explore the Arboretum with another plants-person. It’s been too long since I had the opportunity to do so.

Here are some photographic highlights of my visit. You can see even more photos of my visit on Flickr.

Annuals in Container

This is a detail view of one of the many combinations of annuals and other tender plants in containers around the plazas and promenade at the Arboretum. The plants here are:

Upper left: Golden Pineapple Sage, Salvia elegans “Golden Delicious”
Upper right: Coleus, Solenostemon scutellarioides “Coco Loco”
Lower center: Shamrock, Oxalis vulcanicola “Zinfandel”

It was interesting walking around with CC for this, since he’s familiar with many of our “annuals” as year-round landscape plants. He recognized the Pineapple Sage immediately; I thought it was another Coleus.

Here’s a full-on view of this container and its neighbors.

Detail, Rex Begonia Leaf.

And here’s that Begonia with its companions.

Passion Flower

Pipsissewa (Chimaphila umbellata), on the Nature Garden Walk.

Flower of Franklinia alatamaha in the parking lot.

Papyrus flowers.

Bark of Black Gum (Nyssa sylvatica), on the Nature Garden Walk

Tiger Swallowtail on Hydrangea off the promenade.

Lichens on Rock, Nature Garden Walk

Three-lobed Coneflower (Rudbeckia triloba), handicapped parking area

The beauty above is Scolia dubia, also known as a Flower, Digger or Blue-winged Wasp. Thanks to nafensler (Flickr) for the ID! I photographed this in the parking lot as CC and I were leaving the Arboretum. NCSU’s Center for Integrated Pest Management has an apt write-up from a couple years ago:

Scolia dubia is a black-colored insect with metallic blue highlights on the wings and thorax. The brownish abdomen has two yellow spots near the middle of the abdomen and the tip is a red-brown color. Scoliid wasps are considered beneficial insects because they help control the grubs of green June beetles and other beetles. They are present in North Carolina from June to October, but they are most abundant during August. The wasps are often seen hovering a few inches above lawns, flying in loops and Figure 8 patterns. The female wasp digs through the soil in search of grubs, burrowing her own tunnels or following those made by the grubs. These are not a stinging threat to humans and no control measures are suggested.

Quilt Garden
Baker Exhibit Center

Links

North Carolina Arboretum

The Quilt Garden at the North Carolina Arboretum

Posted on 2007-08-17 by admin

Update 2007.12.12: Added links to related posts and Arboretum Web site, including their page of past photos of the Quilt Garden.

The Quilt Garden is one of a series of gardens bordering the promenade at the North Carolina Arboretum. It’s redesigned every year with a different combination of annuals in a different design based on traditional quilt patterns of North Carolina.

As you approach, from ground-level, the garden is colorful, but the pattern is not obvious. You climb the stairs to the overlook to get the full effect.

The center of the overlook is aligned with other features of the landscape, and a view to the mountains beyond, to give you the view in the photo at the top of this post. This is as formal as the gardens get at the Arboretum.

Back at ground-level, the plants themselves are interesting. C.C. noted that they could have spaced the yellow more closely to fill in the pattern.

And from the right angle, the pattern reveals itself at ground-level as well.

The New Baker Exhibit Center
The North Carolina Arboretum

Links

Arboretum Quilt Garden, Past and Present, North Carolina Arboretum

The New Baker Exhibit Center at the North Carolina Arboretum

Posted on 2007-08-17 by admin

Today I got to spend most of the day with Christopher C. of Outside Clyde.We met at the new Baker Exhibit Center at the North Carolina Arboretum. When I was at the Arboretum last fall, it was still under construction. It’s only been open about a month.

It’s a beautiful building. It holds a great room, an exhibit hall, and a greenhouse which was not yet open. Not shown in these photos, this building also houses a gallery shop, with fine arts and crafts of mostly garden-related subjects and themes available for purchase. It opens on two levels. The lower level, with the main entrance, opens to the parking lot. The upper level opens onto the Arboretum’s promenade, which includes the Quilt Garden. I’ll have photos from that later.

Quilt Garden
The North Carolina Arboretum

Links

North Carolina Arboretum

Flatbush Gardener

Urban Habitat Gardening with Native Plants

Author Archives: admin

Gardeners for Recovery

Related Posts

The National September 11 Memorial at the World Trade Center

News, September 7, NYC: Brooklyn Woman Tests Positive for West Nile Virus

Project FeederWatch

Gowanus Nursery under threat

In the Shadow (How shall my heart be reconciled to its feast of losses?)

Heirloom Canna “Mme. Paul Caseneuve”

The North Carolina Arboretum

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The Quilt Garden at the North Carolina Arboretum

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The New Baker Exhibit Center at the North Carolina Arboretum

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