Altars in the Street : A Courageous Memoir of Community and Spiritual Awakening

by CHAVIS, MELODY ERMACHILD

• ISBN13: 9780609801963
• ISBN10: 0609801961
• Format: Trade Paper
• Copyright: 1998-09-01
• Publisher: Three Rivers Press

Summary

A wonderfully written memoir, overflowing with miraculous stories, of a Buddhist private eye who vows to heal her community's suffering from violence and racism. Altars in the Street is for people who live in cities and those who have fled them. It will speak to anyone who cares about the future of our children, our neighborhoods, and our nation, as well as anyone who wants to look truthfully at the relationship between poverty and prisons and between community and education. Drawing on deep reserves of good humor, common sense, and practical experience of nonviolent action, Melody Ermachild Chavis has written a moving testament to the power of spirit in today's often cynical world.

Author Biography

Melody Ermachild Chavis, a board member of the Buddhist Peace Fellowship, is a private investigator who works on trials and appeals for death row inmates, a youth justice advocate, and a mentor to a community gardening program. She writes for Yoga Journal, Sierra, Shambhala Sun, Turning Wheel, and other publications, and lives with her husband in Berkeley, California.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. ix
Skye's House	p. 1
Everything I Needed to Know About Being a Private Eye I Learned as a Kindergarten Teacher	p. 10
A Sense of Place	p. 18
Soul Food	p. 33
Way-Seeking Mind	p. 48
Hunger	p. 61
Skin	p. 70
Vows	p. 75
Quakes	p. 82
Some Way, Somehow, It Has to Stop	p. 86
Balance	p. 97
The Koans of Alma Street	p. 101
How Will It Ever End?	p. 111
Hello, My Anger	p. 117
Bypassing the Heart	p. 122
Cells for Seven-Year-Olds	p. 125
Why?	p. 138
Marcus	p. 144
Whither Thou Goest	p. 149
Day of the Dead	p. 151
Edna White's Garage Burns	p. 158
Elders	p. 164
Right Speech	p. 170
The Garden of Our Dreams	p. 174
I Shall Not Be Moved	p. 185
Look	p. 188
Community Service	p. 191
Gun Control	p. 193
Stepping on a Land Mine	p. 202
Just One Woman	p. 214
Mother's Day	p. 219
Juneteenth	p. 226
Ruchell Gets Arrested	p. 231
The Woman Who Dug up Her Heart	p. 237
Into the River	p. 240
Epilogue	p. 255
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