The Neighborhood News Online

I grew up in a very creative family; my father, Ron Hutchinson, is a writer, my mother, Alisa Taylor, worked in the entertainment business and was a dancer, and my elder brother, Nick Hunt is also a writer.  Therefore it was pretty much expected that I would become a writer/artist too.

However, I had a pretty drastic change of heart during 9th grade.  Now, applying to colleges, I am looking not for a great art school, but a school with fantastic international and pre-med programs.

I have been on many medical trips, but my latest was a 10-day trip to Haiti with a team of about 30.  The team included three doctors, a bunch of med students, a handful of residents and a couple of paramedic/EMTs.

I have my EMT (Emergency Medical Technician) and first responder qualifications and a lot of experience in the field, however it was still a surprise to me when I was put as the head of wound care for the team.  This meant I was in charge of all the wounds presented.  I would have to clean them, apply medicine, wrap them up and even occasionally stitch them up.

Now at this point you’re probably wondering if that’s even legal.  Trust me, I did too.  But, working in a third-world country with little to no healthcare provided, things like legalities seem trivial.  The wounds I dealt with, while big enough to warrant a trip to the ER in the United States, weren’t big enough that I could make a mistake and hurt the person further.  Most needed just a quick squirt of alcohol, a swipe of antibiotic cream and a nice bandage accompanied by the occasional lecture about keeping the area dry and clean, applying the medicine we supplied daily, not picking at it, etc.  More intense injuries included a saline rinse, stitches and sometimes, anesthesia.  I learned to administer Lidocaine in the back of a bus meant for about 10 people instead of the 20 standing around watching, not including the kicking child I was working on, and three assisting medical students (all at least five years older than me) calming him down and holding him still.  I use the term “learned” loosely; it was more like the doctor handed me a syringe and said, “go.”  Nevertheless, I have mastered the task of sticking people with needles pretty well and have ever since been the go-to person when the doctors are too busy or overwhelmed to do it themselves.

Celebrates 105th Birthday & 50 Years of Teaching in America

On July 21st,  The Rinzai-Ji Zen Temple celebrated the 105th birthday of  the temple’s spiritual founder and leader, Zen Master Joshu Sasaki.

They commemorated the 50th anniversary of his arrival in the USA. Festivities began at the Rinzai-Ji Temple at 2505 Cimarron Street (and Adams) and continued  onto the opulent grounds of the UCLA Clark Library.

Joshu Sasaki Roshi was born near Sendai Japan in April 1907. At 14 years he began his life as a Zen student, at 21 he was ordained an Osho (priest) and at 40 became a Roshi (title given to a zen master).  On July 21, 1962, at age 55 he arrived in the United States with an English translation book and a vision of establishing a Rinzai zen practice in America. By 1968 and with 200 students he celebrated the opening of the Temple on the Cimarron property, establishing the first of several Rinzai Zen Centers in America.  Between then and the present the temple has hosted many zen retreats and offers meditation instruction.  Even at his age of 105 Roshi Sasaki remains the abbott and inspirational leader of the Rinzai-Ji Zen Center.

Guests at the event numbered approximately 240 and included a delegation of zen monks and lay people from Japan as well as a large number of zen monks and priests, ordained by Roshi Sasaki.

Also several of the guests were lay people from around the world and the local community.

To everyone’s delight and pleasure Roshi Sasaki gave a special dharma talk at the morning ceremony and pleased his students by promising to live to 120.  Roshi thanked everyone for coming to honor his efforts to bring his style of Zen teaching to the United States.