99% love

fiber collage on flocked organdie

Sweet video of the people in Bellingham speaking up against distorted human reality.

It just stands to reason that no one group has the right to grab and gobble everything. In human development they would be spoiled brats, in health science they are a cancer, in economics they are unsustainable and resource abusive winners of loss, creators of scarcity and death. How is that a win, a thing to be proud of?

The capitalist (and too, the communist, socialist) system grew from a host of antique views that we have outgrown. This is normal developmental progression.

Therefore, our human made systems need to respond to the science and wisdom of today's people; people who are are challenging the lack of dimension and the vast ignorance of the earlier premises.

We are living things that need to grow in ideas and spirit. The physical, material, consumer focus of the old capitalist system denied the whole of truth to grow; that is not acceptable nor adequate. We are wonderfully More and that great potential needs freeing. I trust the human spirit to bloom evermore brilliantly, after all, we are children of the universe.

Occupy Everything is rooted in the need for change and it warms my heart and is growing my trust. Thank you.

The Gift of More Being

The man who went forth to gift the world, wore plaid.

Grateful

One Love / Occupy Everything
Street Art message of mindful awakening.
i am grateful for this! (Actual photo 12/24/11)

I mix my holidays quite a bit, a day for thanks is awful skimpy.

Right now i am in gratitude for the legal system taking on the rights of real people that were "hushed" at occupy camps. I am grateful for all those who weather the front lines for social, economic and environmental justice. I am thankful that the dancing copper in Providence is proof that all cops are not para militaristic thugs. (It is sad how the worst can effect the image of the whole)

i am thankful for the gift of friends and family.

I am grateful for Annie Leonard and Colbert putting "stuff" in its place.

I am grateful that every day is an adventure of possibility. The more aware and present i learn to be, the more the universe responds. This you must try out for yourself. Please let me know what happens.

If being aware is a key to activating the healthier, vast and expansive energy of Life, Light and Love, then anything is possible. That means we can manifest our vision of a better world by acting in it now. This validates an amazing, larger reality and gives it the energy it needs to thrive.

We know this pattern in our own biology, in ecosystems. It is cosmic condition, a fractal of the whole that we now see. Is this not an expanded state of consciousness?

If the above is true, then we have barely tapped our potential. We are moving beyond mere consciousness and the physical realm (material) into a super consciousness. Out of the primordial mud, past the garden and into the light.

I don't really know any of this, but it makes sense with what i do know. The experiment continues, i just report the results.

Give Presence

Photo site: 45th and U Dist Library, Seattle

Empathy and nonviolent communication for healing relationships as described by Dominic Barter in the Empathy Documentary Project, really got to me.

Consider the gift of being present this holiday season; for empathy can transform the person being truly "heard" and that encourages growth. When we reflect back another's presence we can empower them to see for themselves how they are able to change. We hear ourselves better when others hear us. That is beautiful.

This is a gift, a new tool that we can share sustainably. As we understand more the limits of our current situation we need new tools and practices. (Einstein law of repetition -"The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results".)

We are a civilization in need of responsive adaptation to a reality that was unknown when we started building the systems that now control our very lives. If the super food of life is our giving of presence to each other then go forth and give abundantly. This is about living in an understanding of connected reality and that changes the paradigm.

I am personally coming from a place of not being heard aka, being misunderstood. I felt i was rarely validated for who i was, but for who i appeared to be, even though i was the one that set up that persona.

I tried to reflect in life a collage person of fashion and glamorous decadence. i pieced myself together from the sound bites, movie clips and images that i responded to. But when i was perceived as such, i felt very alone. I fought back by looking for cracks in everyone i cared about. I thought that way i would find the truth but instead i just broke things.

Then i tried to assert my transforming self and that made matters worse. I think i came on like a shipwrecked alien, people, men especially, couldn't relate. I started to experiment with life because what i had believed in proved to be lossy, and there had to be more. I had faith in 'the more."

If being truly heard can evoke healing and if listening emphatically to others helps us see our common beingness, then that means we can transform at the rate needed to overcome the wrong mindedness that appears so dominate and deadly. This transformative action is something we can all do every day.

We can transcend our primitive past and come towards our becoming. We can bloom in spirit, love and gratitude.

I am challenging myself and others to start gifting the world with presence. Lets experiment with it, and share our stories, let's see what happens. Cheers!

Happy Winter Solstice

fabric scrap cards for Winter Solstice,
i delivered them right after this picture was taken.

On the threshold of 2012 let us move forward with Heart. Gifting the world, passing kindness, compassion and joy we will co create the new paradigm that resonates with the connected, interrelated reality we now understand.
Peace and blessings this holiday season.

Video by Life Vest, enjoy the heart.

Gifting the World

Tacoma bus stop, on the way to my evaluations at TESC, i had a Banksy moment. Propped against a concrete pillar was a framed print of a still life landscape. Highly romanticized, i am guessing it was circa mid 80s, in great condition.

I had to take a shot and in the process a tall gent told me I could have it, he had rescued it from a dumpster. I told him i was on my way to school or i would take him up on the offer. Then we spoke of recycling and as he walked away, i thanked him for gifting the world. When he turned around and grinned, we shared a beautiful moment of being. I am so thinking the sun came out!

The silence of others broke as well and humanity touched grounding. We are made for this.

Oh and my evals, excellent. My prof gets me now, though suggests i slow down and walk people through my ideas. Turning the paradigm from "profit" to nurturing the potential of everyone releasing the amazing possibility of life, got me a thumbs up.

Thank you Dr S. (science base) I needed that!!

Upside of the Down

Ballard recyked metal

The cure for the insanity we are experiencing in the world is to put our collective energy into healthy alternatives.

Realizing that we are part of a functioning whole means we have to learn new ways of being. Sharing spaces, ideas and resources expose us to the good and the bad side of building trust. We are in a grand experiment of DoBetter and there is a learning phase. Cool! Humans actually spark at challenge, it is good for us!

Last night,at the Kerf International Exhibits meeting, we got into a conversation about the book/movie Collapse. I later started thinking that i should have spoken up more on the positive side of this scene. Michael Ruppert has an every man for himself tinge ( bear attack story, be faster than other campers) that i and others need to dispute. In a healthy aligning with nature we are seeing how it is synchronicity, harmony and cooperation that allows life to thrive. The well being of the whole is directly related to the well being of the individual in the long term. (That bear will get hungry again and then one by one all campers go down)

The problem/changes are huge, but like an addiction, the cure is more than abstinence, it is finding a way to live with joy, health and less resource abuse. I think stressing the "potential of rebirthing the cultural mindset" is about full awakening, not just to the scam of "economics" but to our own amazing possibilities. A visually compelling exhibit at the Kerf can illuminate the spectrum and be a catalyst for more connections. Working together makes us stronger, wiser and more abled than stoic individualism. We can create the framework for the next part of this amazing journey.

Kerf workshops can be a functioning space to attract more connections, engage the community and promote creative thinking. They can also be part of the antidote for "virtual reality" that is changing brain development in children. This phenomena is becoming a part of psychological, sociological and neurological discourse. Play Again , shown at Wallingford Meaningful Movies (probably in their lending library) speaks to this change by taking a group of young people into the outdoors for a real life adventure. Art, sewing other craft skills build real world confidence as much as camping, and are not as weather dependent.

Kerf International Exhibits and the PMAU 2012 show meetings will continue in January. Please help build the future positive -at the Kerf or Anywhere, Earth.

Original Art

Charmed Seattle 2003

The article The Library Rethought by Papova caught my eye as PMAU 2012 is meeting at the Greenwood library today at 2 pm (open) and the video from the NYPL Live Remix is spot on. Thank you, DailyGood.

Creative diversity is a big thing with me and we seem to be narrowing its possibilities under the guise of "protection."

We are born to mimic, that is how we learn. So where is the line? What is really "original?" Ideas come from somewhere and we are influenced constantly, so again, where is the line?

Once upon a time, copyrights were to protect the artists, the creative person who wrote, drew or designed something. The original law (Statute of Anne) to protect authors was written in Britain in 1710. In 1975 US copyrights "died" 50 years after the death of the originator of the work

In 1975 corporate copyrights lasted 75 years. In 1998 the Copyright Extension Act or
Mickey Mouse Protection Act added 20 years to the "ownership."

"The Act extended these terms to life of the author plus 70 years and for works of corporate authorship to 120 years after creation or 95 years after publication, whichever endpoint is earlier.^[1] Copyright protection for works published prior to January 1, 1978, was increased by 20 years to a total of 95 years from their publication date." Wikipedia

Now that corporations are in charge, they have forced governments to change the laws to suit their agendas. Copyright law was changed when Disney wanted to keep Mickey under their thumbs.

As corporations can outlive humans our laws get rewritten to accommodate their needs. This allows corporations to control creativity. When profit rules thinking, what thoughts perish? When you consider humans natural learning mode, inspiration, building on prior ideas so as not to have to re-invent the wheel - ...hmmmm.

PS my article in Green Wiki was used in an eco fashion article in the Philipines, would've liked a credit but knowing it was reaching a wider audience, made it sit well in the over alls.

Peoples Media Arts Uprising 2012

Target Love Need
Aim at Insecurities
Hide it in "fashion"

PMAU 2012 will be meeting at the Greenwood Library this Sunday the 11th at 2:00 pm. Please show up if you are even remotely interested.

FYI:"Occupy Wall Street" was coined by the man behind the magazine Adbusters.

"On July 13th, Kalle Lasn, and colleagues created a twitter tag #occupywallstreet."

They made a poster showing a ballerina on top of the bull sculpture near Wall Street.

"For some they were just words and images, For Lasn they were tools to begin remodeling the "mental environment" to create a new "meme," ( transcendent cultural message coined by Richard Dawkins)

"There's a number of ways to wage a "meme" war, Lasn said, "I believe the most powerful thing of all is aesthetics." (William Yardley, The New York Times via Seattle Times Dec 4, 2011))

Peoples Media Arts Uprising 2012 is not a war -it is a means of enlightenment. When the untrue beliefs and false premises of the old industrial, business model are exposed, they whither. They shrink in the light of today's knowledge.

However, the power of aesthetics is amazing either way. If Occupy is the battle, then PMAU (Peeps- Me And U ?) is the lamp. We want to shine light on the information that marketers avoid and governments ignore. Our health and the health of the whole is at stake and that is something too precious to leave to the memes of war.

The tools that made the problem need to be put into the hands of healers. Money is one of those tools and Occupiers are demanding a reevaluation of its use. And in asking for economic justice the whole of the system is being confronted for its unsustainable , callous and narrow viewpoint that promoted an American lifestyle of mass consumption. We have come to this and it is time to wise up the whole and heal. And so it is!

Hormone Disruptors

envelope collage, stitch, marker and digital
hole in heart

Theo Colburn, " principal investigator, analyst, and constructor of the "endocrine disruption hypothesis" and author of Our Stolen Future (1996)

"For over half a century....humans have been engaged in chemical warfare against themselves. "We have dusted the globe with man-made chemicals that can undermine the development of the brain and behavior, and the endocrine, immune, and reproductive systems, vital systems that assure perpetuity.. ...Colburn says, "You cannot escape from exposure in your homes, work places,the outdoors or in your meeting room."

Restricting the use of of a few of the most deadly pesticides.-those made from chlorinated hydrocarbons (like DDT) -and phasing out the production of PCBs came too late. The world has already become permeated with these and other long lasting synthetic chemicals. these residual poisons in all our bodies are leftovers from hazardous synthetic chemicals that have been discharged into the environment since the 1940s. ..

...everyone is carrying at least 500 measurable chemicals in their bodies that weren't there prior to the 1920s. ( p 85-86)

Persistent organic pollutants -POPs -" are circulating throughout the world on ocean and atmospheric currents. "

The endocrine disruptors "wreak havoc a on many different biological processes..." Safer States

The good news is that human genes have not been damaged, -just turned on or off at the wrong moments. If exposure to POPs "can be eliminated, future generations can develop normally again."

Colburn says "what distresses her most about how humans interact with the planet are greed and short thinking. ..Colburn notes that some corporate leaders are beginning to realize that the survival of their companies depends on their changing their policies, products and processes. In a sense perhaps, greed and concern for their bottom lines might be turned to advantage..." (p 86) Women Pioneers for the Environment, Mary Joy Breton (1998)

"We" did not promote these chemicals, the industry did.

"...develop normally," POPs are only a % of the chemical onslaught.

"...greed and concern for their bottom lines might be turned to advantage." Creating more sustainable, greener processes, products etc do not offset the fact that huge corporations wield too much power over governments and global policy makers. Creative diversity is stilted when profit is the most valued result.

Silent Spring Revisited

Machine stitch illustration on repurposed cotton
with pink satin remnant from its past life

Rachel Carson, in a letter to a friend, wrote:

"I'm convinced there is a psychological angle in all this, that people, especially professional men, are uncomfortable about coming out against something, especially if they haven't got absolute proof the "something" is wrong, but only a suspicion. So they will go along with a program about which they privately have acute misgivings. So I think it is more important to build up the positive alternatives."

"Of all insects 90% are not only beneficial but essential as pollinators and predators in our ecosystems. Furthermore. "Of the destructive variety, more than 800 species have become resistant to one or more pesticides. This keeps the extermination industry constantly bustling to invent new pesticides."(From the book Women Pioneers for the Environment, by Mary Joy Breton, (1998) p 74)

This is great for the chemical business but is proving disastrous for many living things. How many chronic human conditions are enabled or caused by our chemical contact? I mean, fibromyalgia is no doubt caused by exposure to nerve agents aka pesticides; probably the result of small doses over long periods, which makes a direct "cause = effect" proof difficult. But common sense says-dah yes!!

While I am guessing, (I am a woman after all :-) I am going to suggest that our bodies ability to handle toxins has been disabled by processed food stuffs. Our bodies natural repair mechanism needs real organic compounds with their buddies the phytochemicals to adequately sustain healthy functioning.

Thanks to monocropping and thinking of food as a "product" our agribiz giants went for fast growing, easy harvesting crops, aided and abetted by the chemical industry and bio patents (90% of the corn and soy in USA are GMOs) Edible food stuffs that trigger addictive behaviors, have long shelf life and are easy to transport are great for the corporate bottom line. But what are they doing to people and the planet's ability to sustain healthy diversified ecosystems that support healthy living things?

Look around and witness the world. Wall Street is the visible mechanism that feeds corporations
and applauds their alliances. Occupy Wall Street is the public immune system shaking off the trance.

For the Record

photo of mural detail in Olympia + atomic symbol

"In Global Citizen, Donella Meadows, charges that the government has continually lied about nuclear power from as far back as 1945.....The basic bureaucratic rules of operation are designed to blur information about nuclear power: Use obscure words to hide plain truths. Never confess mistakes, even though they are inevitable. Always pretend certainty, despite enormous degrees of uncertainty." (Breton, M. Joy, Women Pioneers for the Environment, 1998, p 87-88,)

To confuse with authority, what a plan!!! Why, as in why limit the world to such a small, possibly erroneous reality?" Wow, how many wrongs are in this plan?

I think we can replace nuclear power with almost anything that looks to be able to make a high Return On Investment. That is why scientists in so many realms are ignored, fought or belittled when research points against the interests of commerce.

Hazel Henderson, another heroic pioneer was "labeled "the most dangerous woman in America " by corporate CEOs " after her articles in business publications including "Ecologists vs Economists" in the Harvard Business Journal raised some ire. (p 191)

"One of the century's foremost "high risk social innovators," Henderson says she likes to intercept policy debates anywhere in the world....offering new directions, expanded contexts, connections and possibilitiesfor creating win-win solutions in our ever-shrinking, more crowded, polluted planet.
Economists called her the lady that was poisoning the well. Since then Henderson has become a respected and sought after authority on global economics and human development issues."

More than 25 years ago, H.H. embarked on a crusade to persuade countries to overhaul the way they each measure economic growth and human development. Calling herself an anti economist, she challenged the traditional economic assumptions- based on obsolete nineteenth century industrialism- that govern gross national product (GNP) and gross domestic product (GDP) statistics. "

The GNP overlooks unpaid work, often contributed by women, even though they contribute half the world's food. (see the issue? feeding a family doesn't count, export crops do!) "Nor does the GNP accounting system classify natural resources as assets: for that reason it fails to deduct from growth statistics the cost of diminishing or destroying natural resources during industrial processes. Ironically, the system treats cleaning up pollution and repairing damage (such as the Exxon Valdez oil spill and the Chernobyl nuclear accident) as additional production." (p 192)

"Henderson believes economics is merely politics in disguise. We need to send economists back to school to learn more sociology, cultural anthropology, and ecology before we trust their calculations."

Henderson and other environmentalists suggest that the narrow focus of economic courses needs broadening to include training in environmental and social sciences." (p 192)

We all need to know this in order to understand how choices are being made for us, sometimes against our best interests. Occupy Wall Street, Seattle, UK, Everywhere - has pulled back the curtains, now we need to make sense of what we are seeing and act in accordance.

Timely or ?

half moon 12/2/11

I wish i had read this last Sunday.

However it is still appropriate. Life tends to repeat until we get it -ie learn and change our response.

Assuming Value Everywhere by Viral Mehta, is a nice reminder. As our world becomes ever more complex, it is natural to try to sort information quickly. In that process we might be losing important affirmations of "life." That is too valuable to dismiss.

"Well, everyone is good at something. You just have to listen long enough." This quote from a 14 year old who, along with his best friend, "decided, of their own accord, to spend much of their summer creating spontaneous and mostly anonymous opportunities to grow in kindness."

The power of listening to multiple views comes from the flexibility of mind it affords. It frees me from the unconscious hold of unexamined views -- and much of my sense of self is derived from an amalgamation of such views. My 14-year-old cousin was onto something profound: Whether it's listening to a person or otherwise, if I listen long enough it creates an opening. In every such opening, I can choose to accept or put aside whatever I do discover. In the process, though, if I can embrace the unknown -- while being firmly rooted in developing wisdom through my own experience -- I am freeing myself from the prison of a limited identity."

nice!

Emphasis

tree cozies in Seattle

After Monday's aha, this illustrates the "aware" dynamic of how keeping faith with the universe, or how "life calling to life' seems to respond well when given attention.

(Cage the Elephant -Shake Me Down playing in the background - ok as my Senior Synthesis oral presentation starts with the image of Banksy's Elephant, this just got better! )

Tuesday morning on the bus to Tacoma, I opened the book, "Women Pioneers for the Environment" by Mary Joy Breton (1998) and started reading from that chance page.

The book is one of the texts for my class "the Power of One" taught by Dr D. Anderson (Psychology) and Dr F. Soloman (Environmental Biology) at The Evergreen State College (Tacoma branch) -Like!

So I found myself reading about Mary Sinclair, a scientist who took on Dow Chemical and the Nuclear Industry.

"In 1967, ..Sinclare's interest in nuclear power became more than scientific. She learned that the local public utility company planned to construct a nuclear power plant two miles from her home in an area of 100,000 people. Dow Chemical, the city's primary employer (ouch) had contracted to purchase nuclear power from the utility. Sinclair knew that there were still serious problems with the technology. She recalls, "This is when my concerns for the fate of the earth in a nuclear age really brgan to take ahold of me. " (p 88) She decided to take her concerns to the community.

"The combined level of power and money represented by Dow and the local electric company intimidated the people of Midlands. (Michigan) One in six residents worked for Dow. Sinclair herself had been a research librarian for the compnay and she also did freelance technical writing for it. The utility and the chemical maker launched an intensive campaign in the community to promote the plant. Sinclair could not believe the picture they presented:

"What enraged me the most...was the fact that so many lies were being told to the public about such grave matters....I was enraged that without resolving these grave issues, huge financial commitments were being made to promote and spread this technology without full disclosure to the public of the impacts to them..and future generations"

To stimulate discussions of her concerns in the community she wrote what she believed to be mild -sounding letters to the Midlands Daily news. Hostility exploded on all sides. friends stopped talking to her and avoided her in shops and on the street....After her first letter to the newspaper, Sinclair could not get a job in Midland.

Facing ridicule and social ostracism in Midlands, Sinclair began an intense study of the nuclear safety issue. Staying on top of a highly technical subject required an enormous effort. She worried she might be wrong. If so , she would willingly admit it." (p 89)

"She attended a seminar in NYC on nuclear energy where she heard objective, unfiltered information." She also discovered other citizens groups throughout the country. Sinclair photocopied the best papers from the seminar and mailed them to 20 scientists she knew at Dow. "One or 2 scientists at Dow called her, admitting they agreed, but said they could n0t speak out because it would jeopardize their jobs." (p 90)

The local newspaper refused to print any more of her letters, telling her she would have to buy advertising space to air her views.

The licensing hearings for the construction permit took two years. "In the main, the delay arose because serious problems kept surfacing throughout the nuclear industry." (emergency cooling tests failed, more serious effects at allowable levels of radiation than had been thought, more) In spite of all this the AEC granted the building permit. (1972)

Sinclair continued, getting her Masters in environmental communications from the University of Michigan and later a doctorate from the university's School of Natural Resources.

"Sinclair believes that because women are the bearers of life they think more deeply than men about children's health." (p 92) Men were motivated by the idea that they wouldn't be able to insure their homes against a nuclear accident. Eventually she got a few other people involved in the work.

Technology and construction delays began to erode Dow's enthusiasm. However under threat of suit by the electric company Dow just renegotiated the contract instead of backing out. Sinclair and her citizens group acting as intervenes, had accumulated and documented 18 reasons the operating permit should be denied.

In a 1983 public meeting, Mary Sinclair finally heard cheers not jeers and
as of 1996, Mary Sinclair was still actively involved with nuclear issues.

"We have a safer world because of her and others like her." (p 94)

Thank you, Mary and thank you universe.

This is why the Peoples Media Arts Uprising 2012 is important. We need to share our knowledge, our stories and connect. What happened in Midlands is a micro of a macro drama that is taking place around the world. Looking to profit at the expense of health and well being is a cancer that must be stopped before life's ability to renew is totally fouled.