Michael Ferri:
CLASS OF 1963
Western High SchoolClass of 1963
Washington, DC
Michael's Story
I'm on facebook so please 'friend' me if you'd like to re-connect....I'm very much looking forward to our class of '63 reunion....
Classmates moved some of my facebook information over it appears....
Favorite Quotes:
One of Michael's favorite quotes is from 'Black Elk Speaks' - Life of a Lakota Sioux Holy Man:
"Then I was standing on the highest mountain of them all, and round about beneath me was the whole hoop of the world. (Black Elk said the mountain he stood upon in his vision was Harney Peak in the Black Hills.) But anywhere is the center of the world," he added.) "And while I stood there I saw more than I can tell and I understood more than I saw; for I was seeing in a sacred manner the shapes of all things in the spirit, and the shape of all shapes as they must live together like one being. And I saw that the sacred hoop of my people was one of many hoops that made one circle, wide as daylight and as starlight, and in the center grew one mighty flowering tree to shelter all the children of one mother and one father. And I saw that it was holy."
A favorite quote of a more secular nature - though still with spiritual overtones...;)..
"In Vino Veritas"...
"In Wine there is Truth".....
Roman, Anonymous
And three quotes from one of my favorite books: Tolkien's 'Lord of the Rings' trilogy:
"Do not be too sad, Sam. You cannot always be torn in two. You will have to be one and whole, for many years. You have so much to enjoy and to be, and to do." (pretty much sums up my approach to retirement)
"...but each had great comfort in his friends on the long grey road."
"And then it seemed to him that ...the grey rain-curtain turned all to silver glass and was rolled back, and he beheld white shores and beyond them ...Expand for more
a far green country under a swift sunrise."".
More about Michael: "Active in civil rights movement, DC politics, and peace movement during the 60s and 70s...Founding Member of DC Gay Liberation Front in 1970...founding member Skyline Faggots Collective/DC Gay Liberation-1971...founder DC Gay Men's Counseling Collective...co-editor of Gay Men's Issue of Motive Magazine 1972 (National Youth Magazine of the United Methodist Church))...Ordained 1972 Syro-Chaldean Rite Eastern Church/Resigned 1974...founding member and Coordinating Committe member Bay Are Gay Liberation mid-70s in SF,CA...Founding member and retreat coordinator of the Gay Men's Spiritual Retreat Community in SF, CA. 1981 (my spiritual home community during the AIDS epidemic of the 80s & 90s - it is a non-denominational, ecumenical spiritual community that is still continuing to this day.)...Founder Gay Men's Spiritual Retreat Community 1995/Seattle, WA...Shop Steward (Swedish Hospital. Seattle, WA) and member of the State Executive Board of SEIU 1199NW Hospital Workers Union from 2001 - 2007....
Retired to Coupeville, Whidbey Island, WA with my life companion of 30+ years, Jimmy Sherman in 2008.....Treasurer & Chrmn., Hospitality Committee of the Penn Cove Water Festival that brings Coupeville community and local Salish tribes together for historic canoe races and cultural education.... currently reading and researching early Christian & gnostic history and connections to earlier pagan traditions as part of spiritual practice....enjoying retired life, friends, family, free time and our Cavalier King Charles puppies - Emmy & Pippin..both of whom are sweet, loving little beings.....married Jim Sherman in December 2012 after Washington state passed marriage equality in November...
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