Better to try to fix this old house or better to burn it down and start over?

Deborah and her husband lost everything but their lives and each other when Hurricane Helene washed away their house a few weeks ago. Deborah’s experience of this “emergence” is framed by her experiences as a Zen Buddhist monk, teacher, and author. I greatly appreciate her trust in sharing her thoughts and insights — even while still immersed in the rawness of her grief and shock at almost being swept away with her home and everything in it. Listen to her explain what it’s like to find diamonds in the wreckage.

Here’s the video Deborah took in the ruins of her home:

If you are moved to help in the recovery, please go here.

Intro music “Brightside of the Sun,” by Basin and Range. “Still Water,” by Daniel Lanois. Outro: “Smoke Alarm,” by Carsie Blanton.

Still Water, by Daniel Lanois

Sad eyes, sad eyesWhere're you going with that confidence?Sad eyes, sad eyesWhere're you going with that confidence?I'm going to where the boats go byCaledonia river flow so wideI'm going to where the boats go byCaledonia river flow so wideStill water - Laying overStill water - Laying overStill water - Laying overCaledonia river oh, so wideWild eyes in the wildernessWhere're you going with the devil in hand?Wild eyes in the wildernessWhere're you going with the devil in hand?I'm going to build the bridges highfor working money, for working moneyI'm going to climb the bridges highCaledonia brother far awayStill water - I'm laying overStill water - Lay my body down overStill water - Laying overCaledonia river far away...Sad eyes in the weary nightHave you seen your brother,have you seen your brother?Waiting by the river GrandCaledonia river oh, so wideGoing to where the rain fallsLook for my brother,look for my brotherGoing to where the rain fallsCaledonia river far awayStill water - Laying overStill water - Lay my body downStill water - Laying overCaledonia river far away...

Retired in 2016 after five terms as Colorado’s only Green Party county commissioner, Art Goodtimes has worked as a newspaper editor and he had a 40+ year run writing weekly and monthly op-ed columns for print and online publications including the Telluride Times, the San Miguel Journal, the Telluride Times-Journal, the Watch, the Daily Planet, the MontroseMirror.com, and Colorado Poets Center.

Art studied to be a Roman Catholic priest for seven years, and has continued to marry people as a Universal Life minister. Director of the Institute's Telluride Mushroom Festival for its first 25 years, he remains as Cultural Director and Poet-in-Residence.

His poetry books include As If the World Really Mattered (La Alameda Press, Albuquerque, 2007) and Looking South to Lone Cone (Western Eye Press, Sedona, 2013). He was co-editor of the anthology MycoEpithalamia: Mushroom Wedding Poems (Fungi Press, CA, 2016). Turn Star Press of Telluride brought out a limited edition chapbook in 2019 that he co-authored called Telluride Valley Floor. Art’s latest book is Dancing on Edge: The McRedeye Poems (Lithic Press, Fruita, CO, 2019).

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