I'm Love

Visualize Impatience

2011-03-21T11:44:00.000-07:00

This weekend there was a craft fair in Forks of Salmon. I signed up to sell fermented goods, namely tempeh, cashew cheese and kombucha. I was psyched. Unfortunately I had to waite all week for my tempeh spores to arrive in the mail and by the time they showed up I was starting to panic. Would I be able to produce in time for the event? I got to work but I didn't dry the beans thoroughly because it was taking too long to dry them, I set them in a closet with the heat cranked up too high (to get it fermenting faster) and then pulled the tempeh cakes out too early. My end result- stinky, slimy tempeh. I considered selling imperfect goods but in the end decided to feed it to our chickens. I am currently feeling antsy about something else so I'm using this tempeh debacle to remind myself that acting on impatience can lead to complete and utter failure. Somethings really need to be given proper time to ferment.

Pizza night at the Funny Farm!

2011-03-15T14:00:00.000-07:00

I am thoroughly obsessed with food. I'm mostly obsessed with cooking it. Yesterday I had a hankering for pizza so after work I made the whole damn thing- dough, sauce, chopped up veggies, shredded cheese (for the non-vegan of the house), fried up some homemade tempeh and ended up with de-licous pizza. Go me.

Zen Gardening by Jerlina Love

2011-02-09T19:00:00.000-08:00

I wrote a book. Now I'm doing publicity for it. So here it goes: read my book, it's kinda interesting.

Zen Gardening by Jerlina Love

I made BREAD!!!

2011-01-26T21:59:00.000-08:00

Yeah me! I made this shit! I am so so so psyched! I've had a yeast phobia for a long time but today I went to the natural grocery store in Willow Creek and they were selling this shitty looking wheat bread for $5. I thought "Oh hell no, I can make my own." So I went home and that's what I did. I used the Tassajara Bread book and everything turned out just fine. I do think I'll try sour dough next time and I'd add a little more salt but for my first try I really can't complain.

Hand Crafted Tempeh Made by Me!

2011-01-17T19:47:00.000-08:00

I made tempeh. That's right, me. I boiled some beans, sprinkled some spores, let the mix sit in a warm box for a day and whala! Tempeh. I'm super stoked because I totally love tempeh and have been wanting to make it for a long time. Finally, finally, finally I did it. It's amazing what you have time for when you don't have any responsibilities.

So I got to thinking, that I've lived for the most part a lifestyle dominated by thoughts about the future. You know, learning stuff to put into practice in the future, making comitments and investments that will pay off in the future. Interestingly that lifestyle came to a crashing halt, weirdly, and now I'm kinda forced to do things as if now were the only moment that matters. In a Zen sense, this is true. I'm not saying this is entirely a good thing, it can feel uncomfortable, especially when an undisclosed family member starts nagging me about my life plans. So I made tempeh. I'm playing the guitar. I've gone running a few times. It's amazing how much time future oriented activities can take up because now I seem to have lots of time for stuff. Like calling people and making moldy soybean cakes.

Merry Christmas from Cheech and Chong

2010-12-22T07:58:00.000-08:00

I heard this on the radio and totally loved it. I've never listened to anything by Cheech and Chong before and it's great! Here is the video for it but it's distracting, so I'd press play and walk away from the screen.

Thanksgiving in Aptos

2010-11-28T07:33:00.000-08:00

Katt Williams on Weed

2010-10-20T08:27:00.000-07:00

I'm living in northern cali and as you might expect herbal medicine is a big part of my life but so is comedy, so a post with Katt Williams talking about the sticky green seems appropriate.

Walk Like THUNDER!!!

2010-09-28T20:26:00.000-07:00

Whoah, this song is super amazing. Kimya deserves the Macarthur Genius award for her song writing skills. There should be an anarchist version of this award and if this anarchist award existed I'm certain someone would be smart enough to give it to her. She is so aWWWsome. Go girl.

I've Got Nothin

2010-09-26T14:53:00.001-07:00

I aint got no job, I aint got no home, I aint got nothin... Nina puts a good spin on not havin nothin.

Post # 100! Jerlina Takes Over Tassajara Zen Mountain Monestary

2010-09-23T17:32:00.000-07:00

To celebrate this 100th post I am putting up videos that I took at Tassajara this past week.

Jerlina and Marisa Take Over Yosemite!

2010-09-16T18:15:00.000-07:00

Oakland on a Saturday Night

2010-09-10T15:44:00.000-07:00

This video reminds me of this Foxy Brown concert I went to a really long time ago. E-40 was there and for some reason my dad got me and my friend Lupe backstage. It was kinda weird. Anyway this is a chill song which transports me to Oakland so, I like it.

The Weight of the World

2010-09-09T21:03:00.000-07:00

Damn this guy is great. So is this song.

Love Poem 4

2010-09-08T20:37:00.000-07:00

brotha man
sista friend
hold my hand
and love me.

Weird Ass Cody ChestnuTT

2010-09-07T20:57:00.000-07:00

I like this dude because he's so damn weird. If he were in my family I think I would be frustrated by him but he's not so I like him. I don't really like this song but I do like the video.

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=779488

Haiku Time!

2010-09-03T08:09:00.000-07:00

I wrote these:

Haiku
Straw found in my hair
After lying in the grass
While the sky grew pink

Haiku
A withered balloon
Two days after the party
Falling to the ground

Haiku
Golden flesh grows sweet
Wrapped tightly in thin red skin
Hugging a small stone

The Fader Videos

2010-09-01T10:12:00.000-07:00

This morning I got the idea to look up the Fader website and I'm so glad I did. They have some great videos posted there! Thanks guys!

Karate Guy

2010-08-27T14:07:00.000-07:00

I was watching this guy do karate in front of city hall in San Francisco when I was waiting for the bus. Watching him really inspired me to just be myself. Thanks dude.

Summer at Green Gulch Zen Garden

2010-08-27T14:02:00.000-07:00

The sun hardly comes out in the this neck of the woods but when it does it is blatantly magical.

pictures, pictures, pictures!

2010-08-27T13:45:00.000-07:00

I've been taking pictures. There was a phase I was in for a long time where I refused to take pictures, I just wanted to remember things as they were but I have a bad memory! So, that phase is now over.

Here are photos from a recent Green Gulch Farm Kickball game- the Hawks v. the Coyotes

Here are photos from my 10 year high school reunion:

Hot like Summer!

2010-08-24T08:22:00.000-07:00

It is SO HOT out! I can't believe it because it is never hot at Green Gulch but it was yesterday and already is today at 8am. Woohoo! I thought I'd post this summery song that I was singin in the shower. Yay heat! Yay John Legend!

John Legend - Used To Love You (Video)
Uploaded by chrisbona182. - Watch more music videos, in HD!

I Miss Oakland

2010-08-20T19:21:00.000-07:00

Dubstep, burners, scraper bikes, salsa by the lake, turfin, side shows and crazy lookin people like me... It's all happenin in Oakland. Can you tell that I'm homesick?

Turfin in the Town

2010-08-18T19:57:00.000-07:00

Oh how I wish I lived in Oakland. Someone told me about turfin this weekend and they thought I was pretty dumb for not knowing anything about it. Well when you live in marin you become dumb about a lot of things. Anyway turfin is a kind of dance that was started in East Oakland. I watched this video and was amazed. I love it.

Happy Birthday!

2010-08-17T08:31:00.000-07:00

This year I had 4 birthday parties. Usually I resist having one but I was really into celebrating this year. For celebration #1 I went to see the Grouch at the Shattuck Downlow. I had a great time. Celebration #2 was a party for my family at my mom's apartment in Alameda. Celebration #3 was a party held for me and Sam (my co-worker) in the garden and party #4 was at the Pelican Inn with friends from Green Gulch. Well I'm 28 now and I'm happy about it.

Party #2

Party #3

Party #4

Discovery of Wolf Parade

2010-07-30T21:41:00.000-07:00

I heard about these guys before but I finally watched one of their music videos and really liked it. I still like it. Even right now. Even right now.

Eastern and Western Approaches to Psychology

2010-07-27T16:51:00.000-07:00

This book has helped me figure out my newest fantasy: to become a psychotherapist! Thanks Ken!

Walk it Out while Summer Pruning

2010-07-19T16:47:00.000-07:00

I had this song in my head all day while summer pruning apples. I remember this song being played during step shows in college.

Workin in the Community Garden

2010-07-18T17:49:00.000-07:00

Hey! Look at me! Here I am working in the community garden at Green Gulch-

Kimya Dawson is Awesome

2010-07-12T21:08:00.000-07:00

I met this woman when I was in Olympia and am now obsessed with her music. It's like listening to all the music I would make if I could. Here is one great song- "I'm Fine"

Magial Sweet Potato at Green Gulch Farm!

2010-07-12T21:05:00.000-07:00

I helped start a community garden at Green Gulch. I then started a small csa where I can distribute the veggies to friends and family. It's fun and lots of work. The sprinkler broke yesterday so I am currently kinda screwed. Here are a few pics of the project:

The Mixed Community

2010-07-10T12:35:00.000-07:00

I started a new blog. It's helping me figure out who I am. It's called The Mixed Community and it is about black/white mixed race people stuff. Did you know there are studies out there that say first generation mixed people are 2x as likely to have psychological disorders than monoracial people? I believe it. Being mixed is stressful.

The Mixed Community

Tommie Sunshine: The World's Best DJ

2010-07-03T09:39:00.000-07:00

This guy changed my life. I was on an academic trip to Miami and happened to stumble into a party this guy was DJing for. Well it turned out to be a Vice party. I couldn't stop staring at this guy- he just seemed so cool! Well I picked up a few copies of Vice that were hanging around the club and low and behold I was interning for them by the end of that semester. In fact I moved to New York to work for them and my whole world, for about a year, revolved around Vice, electroclash and cute hipster boys. Thanks Tommie.

The End of Spring at Green Gulch

2010-06-09T17:19:00.000-07:00

Hair- What would Dogen Say?

2010-06-06T12:07:00.000-07:00

At Zen Center nothing is more contentious than hair. Funny thing is that has been the case for every community I've lived in- hair is a big deal. Whether you shave it, straighten it, braid it, grow it out long and shaggy or dread it hair is a big ol' deal. Even Dogen couldn't get over the power of hair. I found these photos linked from this cool website on mixed-race hair- Marvelous Mixed Race Hair.

los flores muertos y magicales

2010-06-04T13:59:00.000-07:00

here are a few pics of dead and dying flowers that I took at work.

Blast from the past- Music and Vice

2010-05-31T13:28:00.000-07:00

After college I moved to New York and lived as a hipster for about 12 months. I worked at Vice and went to wild parties in the lower east side. This band was on Vice's label and I went to a party where these guys were headlining and I ended up getting a dance with the main singer. Anyway, this song is definitely part of the sound track of my time in the big city.

The Stills were also a big part of my life:

and this song is ahhhsome (they loved this guy at Vice): and I used to listen to these two before I'd go out, woweeee, how fun.

Marisa

2010-05-25T12:45:00.000-07:00

This is a picture of a wonderful person eating a plum the way that we should all eat plums

ABCs from the heart

2010-05-23T07:58:00.000-07:00

A few months ago I watched a really depressing movie. It bumbed me out so bad that I went online to find something that would chear me up and I found these renditions of the ABCs and a song called Dancin all done on Sesame Street. So heart warming!

La Familia

2010-05-23T07:42:00.000-07:00

Yesterday i got to spend time with my family including two of my cousins, my auntie, my uncle, my nephew and my mom. The occasion was that my cousin Monique gave birth to the newest addition to our family- Jude James Moran. What joy! These pictures are from my nephew Noah's 3rd birthday party a few weeks ago.

Grand Lake Mural

2010-05-20T17:29:00.000-07:00

Home is where the lake is, lake Merritt that is. I found this picture online of the mural under the over pass that separates Lake Merritt from the Grand Lake shopping district. This has got to be my most favorite place in the world (not under the overpass, well maybe under the overpass, but this area in general.)

Fooooooooooood

2010-05-16T10:16:00.000-07:00

So I bought the ingredients to make fermented cashew cheese yesterday at Good Earth in Fairfax. So far all I think I need are wheat berries to make rejuvelac (the pro-biotic I'll use to ferment the nuts), cashews and pink himalayan sea salt. They had it all and the people who work there seem to know everything about every kind of food and condiment. Very impressive and slightly comical. So I'm on the fermentation train along with most of my friends who are now pickling, making cheeses, sourdough, kimchi, making kombucha. In an article I found the author, who is an omnivore with no apparent dietary restrictions, said she loves to try raw and vegan food (and probably gluten free too) because new combinations and ingredients that are experimented with open up her food world. I totally agree. The more foods I try the more kind of foods that I discover I like- like horseradish! Ok, so here is a list I found on amazon of the Most Intriguing Vegan Cookbooks, I found it when I was looking for the The Ultimate Uncheese Cookbook that I found in the bibliography of Wild Fermentation: The Flavor, Nutrition and Craft of Live Culture Foods.

Vegan Ultramarathoner

2010-05-13T16:02:00.000-07:00

Yes, it's true, this guy runs dozens upon dozens of miles quickly, all powered by the energy of plants. Yay! Here's the New York Times article on this vegan ultramarathoner: Diet and Exercise to the Extreme

Apocolyptic Dharma

2010-05-11T19:53:00.000-07:00

This is the Dharma talk that brought me to practice at San Francisco Zen Center: End of the World by Lou Hartman. I haven't listened to it in a while but I do talk about it every now and then. In a nut shell he says when things get really bad and the end seems to be upon us, take everything one step at a time, as if each step is your last. Thanks Lou.

Pictures from my life at Green Gulch

2010-05-04T17:17:00.000-07:00

Magical Sweet Potato CSA at Green Gulch Farm

2010-05-02T08:09:00.000-07:00

I have a plot in the new Green Gulch community garden. I will grow food for family and friends. This is the site! How beautiful

Kimya Dawson

2010-05-02T07:19:00.001-07:00

When I went to Olympia last month Marisa took me to free choir. There was a woman there named Kimya Dawson who is very popular in Olympia and here are one of her songs:

The Dreams of Langston Hughes

2010-04-16T21:34:00.000-07:00

I found this amazing book called The Dream Keeper by Langston Hughes. Here are a few poems from that book:

The Dream Keeper

Bring me all of your dreams,
You dreamer,
Bring me all your
Heart melodies
That I may wrap them
In a blue cloud-cloth
Away from the too-rough fingers
Of the world.

Dreams

Hold fast to dreams
For if dreams die
Life is a broken-winged bird
That cannot fly.
Hold fast to dreams
For when dreams go
Life is a barren field
Frozen with snow.

Picture Books for Multi-racial Families

2010-04-16T21:16:00.001-07:00

I found this listmania on amazon, it is a list of picture books featuring multi-racial and trans racial families. Very cool:

http://amzn.com/l/2EZUL0WV894VA

Vegans and Buddhists- my two homes

2010-04-16T17:42:00.000-07:00

I am subscribed to a listserve for vegans in the Bay Area. Yesterday I sent the list a link to a new blog I started: vegansangha.wordpress.com. This is one reply that I received:

Hi Jerlina,

In my experience, Buddhists don't seem open to veganism. Do you have any idea why not, since they are always talking about 'doing no harm' and not stepping on bugs, etc...? I've been interested in Buddhism but this issue keeps me from getting more deeply involved. They just don't seem to get it.

Esta

Reading this made me sad and confused. Why do these two "identities" appear to be mutually exclusive? Well, they aren't always, just usually. =(

Ethiopian Jazz

2010-04-13T21:21:00.000-07:00

A few years ago while I was living in New York my friend took me to a jazz club in Harlem and on our drive there from the Lower East Side he played a CD called Ethiopiques which included this wonderful song called "Tezeta."

People from Oakland

2010-03-28T18:59:00.001-07:00

Wikipedia can be helpful. Duh. I found this cool list of famous/semi-famous people from the Town. Enjoy!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:People_from_Oakland,_California

Frog and Toad Are Friends

2010-03-11T20:40:00.000-08:00

I love Frog and Toad. Who doesn't?

Here's a link to part of a Frog and Toad tale.

nature and culture... UNITE!

2010-02-12T17:13:00.000-08:00

I live in a beautiful place full of wildlife, fresh air and winding trails. I am rich with opportunities to hike, bike and swim but sometimes I also want to be amongst a few brown people. In Marin, this kind of opportunity is rare. So, I'm on the hunt for non-contrived nor super-political opportunities to simultaneously celebrate my love for cultural and biological diversity.

As a little kid my mom took my brother and I to feather river camp which, as I remember, did a good job at unifying my loves.

http://www.featherrivercamp.com/

Zion I Weird Ass Video

2010-01-15T15:41:00.000-08:00

Ok, I'm watching lots of videos during January intensive because i need an escape. Well, this video is a great escape- so creative!

The Grouch: a Simple Man

2010-01-15T09:34:00.000-08:00

Last night after evening zazen i snuck out my CD player and put on a CD my best friend gave me for Christmas. I hadn't listened to it yet. I found the track simple man and sunk into it. I wanted everyone in the world to listen to this song. So, maybe if I post it here 3 or more people who I know will listen!

Good News! Vegan Cashew Cheese

2010-01-12T07:57:00.001-08:00

I thought I'd post a recipe since, well, why not?

Cashew Cheese to Die For:
4-5 cloves of garlic, minced
Juice of 1 lemon
2 tsp sea salt
1 C. water
3 C raw cashews or macadamia nuts

Mince the garlic in the blender, then add the remaining ingredients in the order listed and blend until smooth. Add more water if necessary, but you want the mixture to be thick and creamy.

Apparently this recipe is mind blowing. I'm excited to try it.

I also found this recipe:

From the Veganomicon by Isa Moskowitz & Terry Romero
1/2 cup raw cashew pieces (approximately 4 ounces)
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
2 cloves fresh or roasted garlic
1 pound firm tofu, drained and crumbled
1 1/2 teaspoons dried basil
1 1/2 teaspoons salt

In a food processor, blend together the cashews, lemon juice, olive oil, and garlic until a thick creamy paste forms. Add the crumbled tofu to the food processor, working in two or more batches if necessary, until the mixture is thick and well blended. Blend in the basil and salt.

This is awesome for stuffed shells.

Aged Cashew Cheese is also sold at Rainbow Grocery under the name "Dr Cow" but it is really expensive.

http://www.dr-cow.com/products/

2 blogs I like

2010-01-11T08:45:00.000-08:00

2 blogs i like, because they are interesting to me. In other words, I enjoy them.

Arthur Mag:
http://www.arthurmag.com/

and

Reality Sandwich:
http://www.realitysandwich.com/

Unfortunately they are both from New York, but for local going ons i read:

the Marin Independent Journal:
http://www.marinij.com/

2 new neat videos

2009-12-13T19:54:00.000-08:00

because these are cool, I thought I'd post them. But I'll write a little something first. I returned today from Nevada City where I participated in a fungus foray with about 50 other people. This weekend event included 2 slide show presentations about psylocybin (psychedelic) mushrooms, mushroom hunting in the forest in the pouring rain, a presentation on hunting for morells, and lots more mushroom fun. We stayed at Amigo Bob's farm and ate lots of yummie hippie food, including buckwheat-cinnamon-orange zest- vegan pancakes (with walnuts). YUM! We had a fire goin and we sang songs, watched a movie and laughed our asses off. For some reason I felt extremely raw when I returned home. I wanted to cry about feeling groundless- I guess this happens sometimes when you eat lots of mushrooms in the rain with boys you love and girls who giggle at everything.

Sunday Bloody Sunday

2009-10-07T08:11:00.000-07:00

This morning the craziness of Saul Williams came to me during zazen. How great would it be for him and Reb to meet?

I found this WONDERFUL music video of his:

My Marin Indipendent Article

2009-09-19T08:46:00.000-07:00

http://www.marinij.com/ci_13196476?source=most_emailed

How it is: Each flower that blooms will fade, as will we all
Jerlina Love
Posted: 08/24/2009 08:10:20 PM PDT

I began working as a garden apprentice at Green Gulch Farm the first week of April. We began the apprenticeship by prepping beds for spring. We weeded and turned in compost and a few weeks later, as the rains tapered off, we began planting. Sunflowers, clarkia, cosmos, status, scabiosas, asters, dahlias - the list went on. Over the following weeks we continuously prepped and planted as waves of flowers emerged into full bloom. Peonies and magnolias, old roses and grand Thomases, foxgloves and sweet Williams all burst forth, dazzling the crew and garden visitors with a spectacular show of spring color.

But one by one each variety began to fade and the dead flowers are removed. Open space at the end of a bed is often the only reminder of where great beauty once stood.

Three months ago, we pulled dozens of boxes of dahlia bulbs out of the basement and planted them in the beds near the garden gate. When the first dahlia burst into bloom in front of the garden shed, I noticed my heart began to ache.

It was with the dahlias that I began to meet every new bloom with a twist of sadness. Knowing that the petals would fall, the leaves would brown and the roots would shrivel felt like a burden too heavy to bear. By the time the dahlias were in bloom, I had witnessed dozens of varieties of flowers arise and eventually fall back into the earth. I felt heavy with the thought that every flower start or seed that we planted would eventually die, and this was coupled with a sense
of gloom that eventually made its way into my dreams.

My first dream about death in the garden was highlighted by my crying, "They're all leaving, they're all dying" as I walked between rows of flowers. I was comforted by Sukey, a former garden manager who responded warmly with: "They'll be back." I woke up feeling like I had just experienced a long cry.

My second dream was a few weeks later, and this time I was holding a bouquet of flowers, cropped to sell at farmers market. The message was the same: Each flower that blooms in this garden will fade no matter how much I care for it. Again I awoke with an aching heart.

Some time has passed since I had these dreams, and with some thought I have arrived at a new perspective. It is my sense that my life and its many adventures are as impermanent as the lives of the peonies and magnolias. However, when I indulge in my anxiety about the future, I seem to diminish my ability to fully appreciate every moment of my own life and the life of each bloom. I have begun applying this perspective to my apprenticeship at Green Gulch, which is quickly coming to an end. I am challenging myself to let go of the melancholy its impermanence and instead I am striving to be fully present each time I prune, mulch or slowly walk through the dahlia beds.

Mary Oliver Poems

2009-05-21T19:50:00.000-07:00

The Summer Day
Mary Oliver

Who made the world?
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean--
the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down--
who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.
Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.
I don't know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
With your one wild and precious life?

The Buddha's Last Instruction
Mary Oliver

"Make of yourself a light"
said the Buddha,
before he died.
I think of this every morning
as the east begins
to tear off its many clouds
of darkness, to send up the first
signal-a white fan
streaked with pink and violet,
even green.
An old man, he lay down
between two sala trees,
and he might have said anything,
knowing it was his final hour.
The light burns upward,
it thickens and settles over the fields.
Around him, the villagers gathered
and stretched forward to listen.
Even before the sun itself
hangs, disattached, in the blue air,
I am touched everywhere
by its ocean of yellow waves.
No doubt he thought of everything
that had happened in his difficult life.
And then I feel the sun itself
as it blazes over the hills,
like a million flowers on fire-
clearly I'm not needed,
yet I feel myself turning
into something of inexplicable value.
Slowly, beneath the branches,
he raised his head.
He looked into the faces of that frightened crowd.

a few favorite books and articles

2009-03-16T14:12:00.000-07:00

and since this is my blog I thought I'd write down a few of my favorite books:

No Place of Grace: Antimodernism and the Transformation of American Culture, 1880-1920
Gone to Croatan: Origins of North American Dropout Culture
Hind Swaraj or Indian Home Rule (the entire book can be found here: http://www.mkgandhi.org/swarajya/coverpage.htm)
The Temporary Autonomous Zone, Ontological Anarchy, Poetic Terrorism (the whole book can be found here: http://www.hermetic.com/bey/taz_cont.html)
The Student as Nigger (Entire article posted here: http://www.soilandhealth.org/03sov/0303critic/030301studentasnigger.html)

Buddhist Anarchism

2009-03-16T14:09:00.000-07:00

I thought I'd also post a link to this article since I've been thinking about the relationship between buddhism and anarchism lately.

Buddhist Anarchism by Gary Snyder
http://www.bopsecrets.org/CF/garysnyder.htm

wow...

2009-03-16T14:03:00.000-07:00

I haven't updated this blog in a very long time, but better late than never. I sometimes have trouble remembering the password. Well, I found this poem and here it goes:

Despite
the hunger
we cannot
possess
more
than this:
Peace
in a garden
of
our own
- Alice Walker

The Video is Absolutely Incredible

2008-09-22T21:44:00.000-07:00

Watambi by Joel Crawford

The Ten Point Program- Ghetto Utopianism

2008-07-19T00:07:00.000-07:00

This might seem like a change of pace for me, Im a gandhian and the Panthers are always associated with violence, but this ten point program is all about peace. Bobby Seal even says it. This is the urban utopianism of the ghetto- freedom from police brutality and a power structure that sucks out economic resources and community empowerment. These people had a great vision and it happened right in my backyard. very cool.

Obama A More Perfect Union Speech

2008-05-06T12:09:00.000-07:00

Politics doesn't have to suck.

Wise Earth

2007-12-14T18:44:00.000-08:00

I found a very useful and encouraging website- http://www.wiserearth.org/ . This is how they describe their wesbite:

"WiserEarth . . .
serves the people who are transforming the world. It is a community directory and networking forum that maps and connects non-governmental organizations and individuals addressing the central issues of our day: climate change, poverty, the environment, peace, water, hunger, social justice, conservation, human rights and more. Content is created and edited by people like you."

Cool!

It's a Beautiful World...

2007-11-23T19:20:00.000-08:00

Colin Hay Rocks it.

What's Goin On?

2007-09-23T20:49:00.000-07:00

Wow, Marvin Gaye is legendary for a reason. Watch this video! What a prophet!

The Other Species Manifesto

2007-09-21T14:05:00.000-07:00

Is there a fundamental otherness of dogs? Are they our "companion species" like women are to men and black people to white people? Donna Haraway brings together nature, culture, ethics and science in a way that makes me so happy! Watch this lecture!

http://webcast.berkeley.edu/event_details.php?webcastid=9958

Mother's Day for Peace Video

2007-05-10T08:33:00.001-07:00

Mother's day was originally a day for mothers to come together in a declaration of peace. Who knew?

World Social Forum Video

2007-03-25T23:32:00.000-07:00

Check out this short video I found on the global exchange website about the world social forum. I love both gx and wsf. I encourage you to love them too!

http://www.globalexchange.org/av/wsf2006.mov

amazing intro to buddhism video

2007-03-09T23:41:00.000-08:00

http://www.sgi.org/media/sgi-dvd.html

enjoy!

The New Single Woman! Halleluja!

2007-02-19T12:22:00.000-08:00

So I was sceptical at first, about the idea of celebrating singlehood. It struck me as re-appropriation ie. taking a negative idea and trying to make it positive, which Im not a fan of. But this is a really cool book that Kay Trimberger has written about older single women who are not cohabitating (ie. single) but are happy! They are living rich, fulfilled lives and are WHOLE without a "soulmate." Really, the idea that we need someone else in our lives to be whole is so sad! It's so important to remember that we are whole the way that we are. So here's a description of the book posted on Trimberger's website (I love it!):

E. Kay Trimberger tackles one of the largest social phenomena of our times: the increasing number of single women over 35. Drawing on the diverse personal stories of long-term single women, including herself, Trimberger explodes the idea that fulfillment comes only through finding a soul mate. The new single woman rejects the cultural pressure to couple and unabashedly lives a fulfilling single life, one where she is not on her own, not defined primarily by self-reliance, but by her skills at creating friendships and her ability to link networks of friends into a community. Trimberger's analysis opens up new alternatives for the "good life," and speaks to the anxieties of single women in their twenties and early thirties.

The book's argument that married/coupled women and single women (including bisexuals and lesbians) are not different or in competition, but rather at opposite ends of a continuum that comprises many women in-between is a paradigm-shifting notion - one that ultimately strengthens and enriches both single women and couples. Networks of friends and extended family sustain single women, link them to coupled women and offer security to both.

Fascinating personal accounts of how single women's lives evolve over time, combined with incisive observations and trenchant analysis, provide a new cultural road map for creating a satisfying and meaningful single life.

http://www.kaytrimberger.com

Nonviolence in Urban America!

2007-02-13T23:30:00.000-08:00

Yes, I said it, nonviolence in urban America lives! Check out this website: http://www.streetworkers.org/ . I don't have all the details but there are people who are working on a nonviolent campaign that has affected Boston, Providence, a town in North Carolna, Stockton, and Oakland is soon to come! Woohoo!

Adverse Affects of Confidence

2007-02-08T09:01:00.000-08:00

I've been thinking about this every now and then- that the more confident I feel the less enthusiastic I am about "getting pretty" ie wasting time, money and comfort on getting dressed up (and here I am differentiating pretty from beautiful which is a whole lot deeper than putting on high heels and hot pants). This morning I found an interview between Bronques from Last Nights Party and Kid 606, where 606 says he needs to be insecure to make good music and compares it to women ( I don't think this is universally true but it's something to think about):

Kid 606: Yeah, it’s like... you gotta not believe in yourself, and most musicians, once they stop believeing in themselves, they make really good shit. It’s like with girls… Girls are hotter when they’re insecure. They’re more interested in being attractive and attracting other people when they’re insecure. It’s the same with musicians.

So what's a confident woman (or man) to do? Stop combing their hair and washing their clothes because they feel secure? I was given the advice that your primary concern should be encouraging other people. Whether that is smiling, wearing your hair "natural" or putting on your favorite T-shirt, the fundamental interest should be to encourage others and sometimes this will result in not looking hot but rather beautiful, glowing or just happy! I can live with that.

Suffer What There is to Suffer...

2007-02-07T08:20:00.000-08:00

There is no true happiness for human beings other than chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo… Suffer what there is to suffer, enjoy what there is to enjoy. Regard both suffering and joy as facts of life, and continue chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, no matter what happens. How could this be anything other than the boundless joy of the Law? Strengthen your power of faith more than ever.

Find more great quotes from Nichiren Daishonin's writings, submitted by the powerful young women of the Soka Gakkai International- USA here:

http://www.100daystohappiness.blogspot.com/

nam myoho renge kyo

Photos from my First 2 week in India and Nepal

2007-01-28T22:37:00.000-08:00

A Food Co-op Coming to the East Bay

2007-01-25T20:21:00.000-08:00

It's almost here! I food co-op! What does that mean? Super cheap healthy food in exchange for 2 1/2 hours of work a month. I'd join but it wouldn't make sense considering my living/eating situation but everyone else should! Check out their website:

http://www.berkeleycog.org/

Stevia is Revolutionary!

2007-01-24T21:22:00.000-08:00

While in India I was introduced to a plant with very sweet leaves called Stevia. Apparently it is used as a sweetener and has no adverse affects like diabetes, obesity or high blood pressure. In fact it can be eaten by anyone with a sweet tooth AND it has healing properties! Why don't we know more about this miracle plant? Because the FDA banned it, apparenetly after being pressured by the sweetener industry. They had patents on their sweeteners but since stevia is natural, no one can patent it and they (the sweetener industry) would lose lots of money. Unfortunatly millions of Americans are ruining their health with sugar and asparthem when they could be eating stevia. VIVA STEVIA!

FYI you can buy it in a concentrated form at any health food store. I bought some today. For more info check out:
http://www.steviainfo.com/

Friends of Oakland

2007-01-22T21:57:00.000-08:00

Check out my new blog: http://friendsofoakland.blogspot.com/ . It's dedicated to the history, culture and current events of Oakland and is primarily for UC Berkeley students who are members of the listserve friends_of_oakland@yahoogroups.com. You can join too! Our aim is to support organizations that empower residents of "the Town" to evolve their lives and communities by offering our time, resources and energy.

Malcolm X and Love

2007-01-21T01:27:00.000-08:00

Prophet? Guru? Inspirational leader? What ever you wanna call him, just remember to call him a man of love.

April 1964
Letter from Mecca:
Never have I witnessed such sincere hospitality and overwhelming spirit of true brotherhood as is practiced by people of all colors and races here in this Ancient Holy Land, the home of Abraham, Muhammad and all the other Prophets of the Holy Scriptures. For the past week, I have been utterly speechless and spellbound by the graciousness I see displayed all around me by people of all colors.

I have been blessed to visit the Holy City of Mecca. I have made my seven circuits around the Ka'ba, led by a young Mutawaf named Muhammad. I drank water from the well of the Zam Zam. I ran seven times back and forth between the hills of Mt. Al-Safa and Al-Marwah. I have prayed in the ancient city of Mina, and I have prayed on Mt. Arafat.

There were tens of thousands of pilgrims, from all over the world. They were of all colors, from blue-eyed blonds to black-skinned Africans. But we were all participating in the same ritual, displaying a spirit of unity and brotherhood that my experiences in America had led me to believe never could exist between the white and non-white.

America needs to understand Islam, because this is the one religion that erases from its society the race problem. Throughout my travels in the Muslim world, I have met, talked to, and even eaten with people who in America would have been considered 'white'--but the 'white' attitude was removed from their minds by the religion of Islam. I have never before seen sincere and true brotherhood practiced by all colors together, irrespective of their color.

You may be shocked by these words coming from me. But on this pilgrimage, what I have seen, and experienced, has forced me to re-arrange much of my thought-patterns previously held, and to toss aside some of my previous conclusions. This was not too difficult for me. Despite my firm convictions, I have always been a man who tries to face facts, and to accept the reality of life as new experience and new knowledge unfolds it. I have always kept an open mind, which is necessary to the flexibility that must go hand in hand with every form of intelligent search for truth.

During the past eleven days here in the Muslim world, I have eaten from the same plate, drunk from the same glass, and slept in the same bed (or on the same rug)--while praying to the same God--with fellow Muslims, whose eyes were the bluest of blue, whose hair was the blondest of blond, and whose skin was the whitest of white. And in the words and in the actions in the deeds of the 'white' Muslims, I felt the same sincerity that I felt among the black African Muslims of Nigeria, Sudan, and Ghana.

We were truly all the same (brothers)--because their belief in one God had removed the white from their minds, the white from their behavior, and the white from their attitude.

I could see from this, that perhaps if white Americans could accept the Oneness of God, then perhaps, too, they could accept in reality the Oneness of Man--and cease to measure, and hinder, and harm others in terms of their 'differences' in color.

With racism plaguing America like an incurable cancer, the so-called 'Christian' white American heart should be more receptive to a proven solution to such a destructive problem. Perhaps it could be in time to save America from imminent disaster--the same destruction brought upon Germany by racism that eventually destroyed the Germans themselves.

Each hour here in the Holy Land enables me to have greater spiritual insights into what is happening in America between black and white. The American Negro never can be blamed for his racial animosities--he is only reacting to four hundred years of the conscious racism of the American whites. But as racism leads America up the suicide path, I do believe, from the experiences that I have had with them, that the whites of the younger generation, in the colleges and universities, will see the handwriting on the walls and many of them will turn to the spiritual path of truth--the only way left to America to ward off the disaster that racism inevitably must lead to.

Never have I been so highly honored. Never have I been made to feel more humble and unworthy. Who would believe the blessings that have been heaped upon an American Negro? A few nights ago, a man who would be called in America a 'white' man, a United Nations diplomat, an ambassador, a companion of kings, gave me his hotel suite, his bed. ... Never would I have even thought of dreaming that I would ever be a recipient of such honors--honors that in America would be bestowed upon a King--not a Negro.

All praise is due to Allah, the Lord of all the Worlds.

Sincerely,

El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz
(Malcolm X)

Sam Cooke Said it Best...What a Wonderful World This Would Be

2007-01-20T23:50:00.000-08:00

Don't know much about history
Don't know much biology
Don't know much about a science book
Don't know much about the French I took

But I do know that I love you
And I know that if you love me too
What a wonderful world this would be

Don't know much about geography
Don't know much trigonometry
Don't know much about algebra
Don't know what a slide rule is for.

But I do know that one and one is two,
And if this one could be with you,
What a wonderful world this would be.

Now i don't claim to be an "A" student,
But I'm trying to be.
So maybe by being an "A" student
I can win your love for me.

Don't know much about history
Don't know much biology
Don't know much about a science book
Don't know much about the French I took.

But I do know that I love you,
And I know that if you love me too,
What a wonderful world this would be.

Latatatatatatahuwaah (history)
Oehwoewoe (biology)
Latatatatatatahuwaah (science book)
Oehwoewoe (French I took)

But I do know that I love you,
And I know that if you love me too,
What a wonderful world this would be.

Vandana Shiva is AMAZING

2007-01-16T21:50:00.000-08:00

I had the great fortune of meeting Vandana Shiva while in India. Her writings are all over the web but here is an exerpt from her interview in Yes! magazine. http://www.yesmagazine.org/article.asp?ID=570

Sarah: Let me wrap up with a personal question. Every time I’ve heard you speak or met you, you’ve had so much energy, not only intellectual energy, but personal or spiritual energy. I’m just wondering, what keeps you so alive?

Vandana: Well, it’s always a mystery, because you don’t know why you get depleted or recharged. But, this much I know. I do not allow myself to be overcome by hopelessness, no matter how tough the situation. I believe that if you just do your little bit without thinking of the bigness of what you stand against, if you turn to the enlargement of your own capacities, just that in itself creates new potential.

And I’ve learned from the Bhagavad Gita and other teachings of our culture to detach myself from the results of what I do, because those are not in my hands. The context is not in your control, but your commitment is yours to make, and you can make the deepest commitment with a total detachment about where it will take you. You want it to lead to a better world, and you shape your actions and take full responsibility for them, but then you have detachment. And that combination of deep passion and deep detachment allows me always to take on the next challenge because I don’t cripple myself, I don’t tie myself in knots. I function like a free being. I think getting that freedom is a social duty because I think we owe it to each other not to burden each other with prescription and demands. I think what we owe each other is a celebration of life and to replace fear and hopelessness with fearlessness and joy.

The Lovely Side of Veganism

2006-12-01T22:46:00.000-08:00

I randomly found the most lovely website that explains and promotes veganism.
http://vegangrub.wordpress.com/ . Even if you aren't vegan the site is a wonderful place to learn more about food and how its related to health, the environment and karma. Please visit them!

Where Crack Came From

2006-11-18T21:49:00.000-08:00

Tonight it was explained to me that crack is Oakland's primary problem. Apparently Gary Webb proved that the CIA was instrumental in getting crack into the Bay Area and LA, so it's the CIA's fault that Oakland is falling apart. It's not just consipiracy theory. wow. (Gary Webb passed away in 2004, maybe suicide, maybe assasination.)

The Tragedy of Gary Webb
By Doug Ireland

With Kill the Messenger (Nation Books/Avalon), Nick Schou, an editor at Orange County Weekly, provides a meticulous, balanced account of the life of Gary Webb, the former San Jose Mercury News reporter who, despite minor errors, basically got it right when he wrote the biggest story of his career. That story lifted the rug on a historical episode the mainstream media didn’t want to touch: how the Central Intelligence Agency turned a blind eye to drug dealing in furtherance of its covert support for the Nicaraguan contras. For his efforts, Webb was hounded out of journalism after a ferocious assault from America’s most prestigious newspapers, which Schou documents in painstaking and shameful detail. When Webb—who had once shared a Pulitzer Prize for his reporting—committed suicide in December 2004, it was the last chapter in a real-life American tragedy.

Webb was not the first one on to the story. AP reporter Robert Parry had been forced out of his job at the wire service for pursuing it. The U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Narcotics and Terrorism, chaired by Sen. John Kerry, conducted an investigation into the contras’ drug trafficking in 1987-88 that had documented (among other things) how CIA cargo planes ferried arms to the contras and then carried cocaine back to military bases and remote airfields on the return flights. But, as Schou notes, “Because of its sensitive nature, the committee … sealed most of the testimony, and Kerry’s investigation got scant play in the national news media.”

The Kerry investigation was mainly concerned with cocaine coming into the U.S. East Coast. Webb’s 1996 series for the Mercury News, based on a year-long investigation, looked at the cocaine traffic in Los Angeles, which was then known as “the crack capital of the world.” Webb detailed how “Freeway” Ricky Ross, the first ’80s crack millionaire and a crack kingpin in L.A.’s South Central neighborhood, had been supplied with crack cocaine by Nicaraguan exiles and contra supporters with CIA connections. Webb discovered an affidavit from the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department that said that the coke profits of Ross’s suppliers “are transported to Florida and laundered through … a chain of banks in Florida. … From this bank the monies are filtered to the Contra rebels to buy arms in the war in Nicaragua.”

Webb’s articles, however, were unjustifiably hyped by the Mercury News’ editors, who, according to Schou, were hungry to compete with the media Big Boys. The series ran with war-sized headlines and a silhouette of a man smoking a crack pipe superimposed on the official seal of the CIA. “Dark Alliance: The Story Behind the Crack Explosion,” screamed the paper, with a subhead claiming that “Crack Plague’s Roots Are in Nicaraguan War.”

The story got away from Webb and took on a life of its own, fueled by anger and despair in black communities being destroyed by the crack epidemic and the lethal gang wars surrounding it. As Schou puts it, “Dark Alliance” created an alliance of conspiracy theorists, from some “on the left who believed the CIA had deliberately started the crack epidemic to commit genocide against black people” to “right-wing followers of Lyndon LaRouche, who saw the story as further proof that George Bush Sr. and the Queen of England belong to a secret cabal that controls the planet.” Opportunistic politicians like Rep. Cynthia McKinney (D-Ga.)—who exclaimed on the floor of Congress that “CIA” stood for “Central Intoxication Agency”—seized on Webb’s story to grab headlines for themselves. The “Dark Alliance” series quickly became a national cause célebre.

The Los Angeles Times—embarrassingly scooped on its own turf by Webb—reacted by assigning no less than two dozen reporters to what one of them described as the “Get Gary Webb Team,” running a takedown series on the “Dark Alliance” stories that dwarfed them in size. The Washington Post and the New York Times piled on with multiple stories discrediting not just what Webb had written, but Webb himself, delving into his past to come up with mud to throw. Most of these papers’ “deconstructions” of Webb’s reporting were based on unnamed government sources. But the damage was done. In the end, the very Mercury News editors who’d made exaggerated claims for Webb’s series publicly disowned him in an editorial while refusing to print stories Webb wrote further documenting his series. Demoted to a remote police beat, Webb left the paper.

Unable to get another reporting job on any U.S. daily, his marriage destroyed by the intensity of his “Dark Alliance” experience, a depressed Webb killed himself. In Schou’s telling, he was the victim of incompetent editors and of a media feeding frenzy that the Washington Post’s own ombudsman later described as misplaced.

Throughout Kill the Messenger, Schou does fresh reporting that bolsters some of Webb’s findings. He also interviews some of those who helped incinerate Webb and who now admit they went overboard. The book is an important cautionary tale for anyone considering a career in investigative journalism. And the moral is: It’s often dangerous to speak truth to power.

Selling Guns in Oakland

2006-11-12T14:12:00.000-08:00

Trader Guns in San Leandro (on the Oakland border) supplies our community with guns to kill each other with. They are still in business http://www.tradersports.com/ . Check out this article on them:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline//shows/guns/procon/menace.html

A Merchant of Menace: The Story of a California Gun Dealer

by Aura Bland, Center for Investigative Reporting (CIR)
(This is an abbreviated version of a story that originally appeared in Muckraker, the Journal of the Center for Investigative Reporting, Winter 1994 issue.)

The night of October 7, 1988, guard Reese Davis was asleep in the security office of a housing project in Oakland, California, when Shawn Garth showed up with two friends. Hours earlier, they had argued with housing authority guards and Garth had left, warning he was going to go "to Traders" gun store. He threatened he was "going to get" the guards.

Traders Garth, 23, had a prior conviction that would have made it illegal for him to buy a gun. But that did nothing to stop what happened next. He went to the home of an acquaintance, Dosia Dean Arnold, where he told Arnold to bring identification so that Arnold could buy a gun.

Along with a third man they went to Traders. Garth pointed to an AK-47 assault rifle and told Arnold, "Get that one." He handed Arnold $500, then went outside and waited while Arnold bought the gun and 550 rounds of ammunition.

They returned to the project and opened fire. Davis was shot and killed. A second guard, Wale Osijo, survived by diving under a table, where he was shot 15 times in the stomach and legs. Garth is serving a prison sentence of 56 years to life.

Garth is only one in a long line of criminals who authorities say have bought guns from Trader Sports, Inc. in San Leandro, a city bordering Oakland. It is one of the largest gun stores in Northern California. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) frequently traces guns bought by criminals back to Traders, says James Dower, chief of the ATF Oakland office.

This is the story of how Anthony Cucchiara, the owner of Traders, has flourished, even after once losing his license to sell firearms because of "gross disregard" of the law; how he used a loophole in the federal gun law to keep his store open until federal prosecutors abandoned efforts to close it down; and how, despite repeatedly making questionable gun sales, remains untouched both by local police -- who are some of his best customers -- and by ATF agents.

In the end, it is a story about gun laws that critics say have no teeth, that allow gun merchants to profit and prosper by selling weapons of death to virtually anyone willing to pay the price.

Criminal Purchasers

In the fall of 1992, ATF inspectors went through Traders' sales records for the first time in six years.

They found nearly 300 gun sales that they suspected involved violations of federal laws. Most of the purchasers bought multiple assault rifles and high-powered handguns, federal records show.

But ATF agents gave Traders high marks during the inspection, concluding the store had an "excellent record-keeping system." The ATF had no proof that salespeople at Traders knew that guns had been sold to ineligible purchasers.

High praise for Traders' record-keeping is a marked improvement. Federal officials first tried to get Traders to stop selling guns fifteen years ago, citing a record-keeping system so sloppy the store couldn't account for some 200 guns.

But Cucchiara, the store's owner, managed to keep his license after a four-year legal battle. Since then, a CIR review of official documents shows, Traders has repeatedly been connected to improper gun sales (click here for chronology):

-- A San Francisco police inspector wrote in 1992 that Traders had sold more than 800 handguns to a man who in turn sold them "by the case" on the streets of San Francisco. The man peddles the guns to "kids and dope dealers," Inspector Ken King said in an interview. The man purchased the guns using an improper license -- one that allowed him to collect curios and relics, King said. Under federal law, Traders salespeople should not have sold the man firearms that were not classified as collector's items by the ATF without asking him to abide by California's 15-day waiting period, as well as state and federal firearms registration requirements, said ATF lawyer Larry Nickell. [The ATF investigated the case. The man was indicted on one count of dealing firearms without a license and served one year in a federal prison. No action was taken by the US Attorney's office against Traders'.]

-- A man convicted last year in a case that involved his supplying firearms to a notorious Oakland gang boasted during a phone conversation wiretapped by federal investigators that he could buy guns "on the under"at Traders. The man explained during an interview that an employee at the store sold guns with the serial numbers scratched off. ATF agent Dower said the agency has not been able to substantiate the man's claim.

--There have been accusations that Traders has permitted "straw sales" of guns (that is, to people who are merely "fronts" for illegal purchasers). In 1992, ATF agents identified 24 people, all ineligible to purchase guns, who were suspected of getting their guns from Traders through straw sales.

--There have been instances of sales to minors, which is prohibited by law. A teenager blinded a man in the eye in 1987 with a paint-pellet gun bought from Traders; the victim later won a $350,000 settlement from the store, his attorney said. In 1983, a San Leandro police detective reported to the AFT that a minor bought two handguns there.

The record of questionable sales has hardly hampered Traders' business. Boasting the lowest gun prices in the Bay Area and maintaining an inventory of 10,000 firearms, Traders draws a phenomenal number of customers from both sides of the law. In its over-the-counter retail business, its wholesale business to other gun dealers and its international police supply business, Traders sold 22,363 weapons in 1992.

Owner Cucchiara declined to be interviewed at length for this article, saying that because the media favor gun control, his side is never fairly represented. He also said that no one was interested in the "ancient history" of his gun business and that Traders wouldn' t have remained in business for the past 35 years if he or his employees had broken any laws.

But federal officials say the battle they have had with Traders illustrates how difficult it is to regulate gun dealers under federal laws.

Under the Gun Control Act passed [29] years ago, it is not enough for the ATF to prove a gun dealer sold guns in violation of the law. The government must also prove that the dealer intended to break the law, that the violation was more than a careless mistake.

"Most gun dealers who would have a propensity to turn a blind eye are smart enough to realize they arenít going to do anything like that in front of witnesses," says ATF agent Dower. "So where do you go for the information?"

And even when federal officials prove their case (as they did in the early 1980s, when the courts agreed that Cucchiara had violated the law) that may not be enough. George Stoll, one of the prosecutors involved in the case then, says federal officials have concluded that -- because of the weakness of federal laws -- it is " more or less impossible" to shut down a store as large as Traders.

Loophole for Gun Dealers

traders About 15 years ago, federal officials decided it was time to close down Traders' gun business. The store had such a bad record-keeping system that Cucchiara couldn't account for 200 guns that were supposed to be in his stock, documents show. Also, many guns sold were traced back to ineligiblepurchasers.

But when ATF agents decided not to renew Cucchiara's license, they found shutting down the store no easy task. Cucchiara immediately went to court, trying to overturn the decision. In October 1979, U.S. District Judge Samuel Conti ruled that Traders had been involved in "hundreds of violations" of the law and that violations continued even after the store was put on notice in 1973 that any new violations might be considered evidence Traders was "willful" in violating the law.

ATF attorney Nickell says the agency normally gives a store a chance to correct violations before shutting it down. Only if the dealers do not heed the warning, he adds, will ATF move to revoke their license, and then, the dealers are "headed out of business."

Cucchiara may have been headed out of business, but he never got there. He tried, without success, to get Judge Conti to delay enforcing his decision, while Cucchiara appealed. He contended then -- and, in a recent telephone interview, repeated his claim -- that the violations amounted to nothing more than employee errors that should be expected when a store sells as many guns as Traders does.

But Conti's refusal to delay enforcement of his decision did not mean the end for Traders. Two days after Conti's decision, a friend and former employee of Cucchiara's named Everett Studley applied for a license to run Traders' gun store. Studley filed papers showing that he had bought the firearms business for $400,000 from Cucchiara.

The ATF granted the license, after Studley promised that Cucchiara would have nothing to do with the firearms business. By law, the ATF cannot legally deny a firearms license to a person merely because he is a friend of a person whose firearms license has been revoked. That is true even if the applicant intends to conduct business in the very store owned by the person stripped of his license, Nickell says.

For more than a year, Traders continued selling firearms as if nothing had happened. Cucchiara owned the store -- which sold camping and fishing equipment -- and Studley was listed as owner of the gun department.

Then, U.S. attorney G. William Hunter stepped in and wrote to the Treasury Secretary, protesting that by giving Studley his license, the ATF had made futile all the work done to put Cucchiara out of business.

In 1981, the U.S. Court of Appeals upheld Conti's ruling that Cucchiara's license should not be renewed. The ATF then took away Studley's license, concluding that he was merely a "sham" for Cucchiara.

But Cucchiara and Studley filed a $5 million lawsuit against federal officials, charging that their civil rights had been violated. On March 24, 1983, the suit was settled: Traders could continue to sell guns on the condition that Cucchiara close the store for 30 to 45 days.

Assistant U.S. attorney Stoll has a simple explanation for why government officials agreed to the settlement: They concluded they could not keep Traders out of business because of the weakness of federal laws. "He can come up with a new applicant faster than you can come up with revocations," says Stoll. "It's like a joke."

Getting Cucchiara to stop selling firearms for a brief period of time was the best deal the government could get, Stoll concluded.

Murder on the Freeway

Traders Five years ago, when a bullet blew off the back of her husband's head as she sat beside him in their Honda Prelude, Sharon Ellingsen knew nothing about gun dealers or gun laws. In 1991, after suing Traders, the dealer that had armed her husband's killer, she received $400,000 in an out-of-court settlement.

"It wasn't the money,"says the 55-year-old Ellingsen, leaning against the kitchen counter at her home in Newark, California.
"Naive as I was when I went into that lawsuit, I was hoping to put a padlock on Traders' door."

Larry Ellingsen was killed on December 3, 1988, as he and his wife were returning home from a dinner celebrating their 29th wedding anniversary. The Ellingsens were driving in the middle lane of a three-lane highway; a car driven by Darryl Poole was in the far-right lane.

Fifteen-year-old Nioqua Know sat next to Poole as he drove along the Nimitz Freeway in Oakland. She testified in court that she had told Poole at least twice that she had to use a bathroom. When the traffic slowed near the 14th Street exit, Poole announced that he would make the traffic speed up. He reached under the seat and grabbed an assault rifle. While Knox held the wheel, 19-year-old Poole pulled the trigger.

When the bullet smashed through the Honda's rear window shattering it, Sharon Ellingsen thought someone had thrown a bomb into the car. She turned to look at her husband and saw him slumped over the wheel. The car swerved, and she saw the speedometer register 85 mph. Grabbing the wheel she screamed, "Lord help me," and begged her husband to wake up.

Covered with her husband's blood and trying to steer clear of the other cars, Sharon Ellingsen took one hand off the wheel and grabbed her husband's knee. She managed to pull her husband's foot off the accelerator and, as the car slowed down, steered it to the side of the highway and pulled the emergency brake.

"Before I got out of the car, I took Larry's pulse," Ellingsen says. "I was sure he was dead because his ear was almost sitting on his shoulder, and you could definitely see that too much had been blown away for anyone to survive that."

Just after midnight on December 4, 1988, Larry Ellingsen was pronounced dead at the age of 53. Poole was convicted of second-degree murder for the shooting and is now serving a prison sentence of 20 years to life.

Poole and a friend, Marvin Grant, had purchased the assault rifle used to kill Ellingsen at Traders a month before the murder, said Oakland police. Grant told Oakland police he had purchased the gun for Poole.

Grant told Larry Boxer, one of the attorneys representing Sharon Ellingsen in her lawsuit against Traders, that Poole asked the sales clerk questions about the gun, paid for it and took possession of it when the sale was complete, but it was Grant who showed the salesperson his driver's license and signed the federal firearms transaction form that asks purchasers several questions to determine whether they are eligible to buy guns, Oakland police said. The men left the store not only with the assault rifle, but with 100 rounds of ammunition and three black ski masks.

In response to the lawsuit, Cucchiara's attorney, William T. Mulvihill, wrote that employees at Traders were unaware Grant was purchasing the weapon for Poole, if that was indeed what had happened. And, nearly all -- if not all -- responsibility for the murder rested with Poole, Traders contended. Still, it was Cucchiara's insurance company that paid Sharon Ellingsen $400,000, Boxer said. After interviewing Cucchiara, ATF agents concluded they could not establish that Traders had knowingly made a straw sale, ATF documents show.

A 'Candy Store' for Police

Police actually go to Traders all the time -- to buy weapons. Traders offers law-enforcement agencies and individual officers special discounts.

Traders is the largest police supply distributor in the western United States, Cucchiara says. In a 1990 deposition taken in connection with the lawsuit filed by Ellingsen, he stated that he provided weapons to about 300 law-enforcement agencies throughout the United States and overseas. He also said that he supplied firearms to most of the police agencies in the Bay Area.

Mike Shepard, who was employed at Traders from 1973 to 1976, says that Cucchiara is friendly with police and has created a "policeman's candy store" through his special discounts. When Shepard worked at Traders, some of his best customers were police, correctional officers and agents from the ATF, FBI and CIA, he says.

Cucchiara said in the 1990 deposition that his relations with law-enforcement officials have served him well: Former officers are willing to check to see whether a potential Traders' employees have clean records.

While federal officials try to respond to the public's growing support of gun control without alienating gun advocates, Traders continues to sell guns. One day when Alameda County Sheriff Charles Plummer -- who has purchased weapons at Traders -- was in the gun store, he struck up a conversation with a young man standing next to him. As Plummer recounted the story during a public hearing, he pointed to the Chinese assault weapon the young man was examining and said, "Gee, that's a lousy looking weapon. How come you're buying that piece of junk?"

"Oh, this is a fine weapon," the young man said. "It doesn't look good, but it really shoots."

"What kind of game do you shoot with this thing? I mean, I'm an old deer hunter. I used to go deer hunting when I was a kid," Plummer said. "Is this for elk or moose?"

"No," the young man replied, "this is for killing people."

Aura Bland was a 1993 CIR research associate working under a Pacific Center for Violence Prevention grant from the California Wellness Foundation.

The Boondocks on Youth Violence and Activism

2006-11-12T13:59:00.000-08:00

This Far By Faith and James Lawson

2006-11-06T18:01:00.000-08:00

So PBS has been airing or has alredy aired this documentary series This Far By Faith which explores the different faith practices of African Americans. I found out about it by googling my man James Lawson, otherwise known as the father of American nonviolence.

http://www.pbs.org/thisfarbyfaith/witnesses/james_lawson.html

Read about him! He's so great.

The Reverence Movement

2006-10-30T13:38:00.000-08:00

So I wish I could link to a Q&A Orion Magazine had on Van Jones, who works with Ella Baker Center for Human Rights in Oakland. Van speaks about what it means to be an activist, and, specifically, what he calls "the reverence movement." I am so excited about this!

interview:

A reverence movement is, at the end of the day, taking corrective steps to further enhance the beauty of others and the beauty of yourself.

If you ask people what their actual experience of being on the left is, lots of people say, "Oh, we're saving the world, blah, blah, blah. I say: "No, no, no, what's your experience--like, Thursday?" They say: "Oh, it was horrible." It's like the difference between using diesel versus solar as your energy source. Anger is a messy fuel that eventually causes more problems than it can solve.

Van_jones

Putting a generation of kids in a prison is like clear cutting a forest. We deeply believe we have a throwaway planet--throwaway species, resources, neighborhoods, nations, continents. Young people and adults in prison have been thrown away as well. Once they're outside the circle of people who deserve dignity and respect, then they can be preyed upon. The prisoners can be worked--Angola in Louisiana is a classic example. Or by big corporations here in California: Microsoft, for some of their packaging; Victoria's Secret and United Airlines, for their telemarketing orders...it's all related. The polluters, the clearcutters, the incarcerators, they're all enacting the same story: money is more important than life, and we have the technology or the guns to protect ourselves from any consequences of our heedlessness.

One thing I know from my own experience is that demonization and deification are the same process, two sides of the same coin, and if you set yourself up to be deified, then you can't be mad when the other side demonizes you. The idea that either you're this egomaniac who's only out there for yourself or you're this pure martyr with no personal ambitions or desires--both of those are false.

I think people who want to change society have a double duty. We have to be willing to confront the warmonger within and without, the punitive incarcerator within and without, the polluter within and without, the greedy capitalist developer within and without. We have to really look at how we are--combative, punitive, self-destructive, greedy; we're passionate about changing that in the external world, even as it we enact it in our internal world and in our relationships with each other.

We have this whole David and Goliath syndrome. If you're an activist, that has a positive side: you want to confront unjust authority, fight against long odds, hold out the possibility of miraculous outcomes. And that's a good thing.

But there's a shadow side to David and Goliath, which is that there's got to be some big mean other. You've got to be the small underdog all the time and there's got to be some confrontation between absolute good (you) and absolute evil (the other). If you're an activist then you know what I'm talking about; you know what it's like when you try to lead a meeting and somebody's got to challenge you on every point. You know what it's like when you get everyone riled up to attack the mayor, and the mayor doesn't show up, and everybody attacks you. It's part of the toxic stuff you're playing with.

Also, you have to have enough respect to realize that Goliath has probably figured out the slingshot thing by now. So to continue to do the same thing over and over again, which is what we've been doing since the 60's, keeps us from being creative. And it's probably going to yield worse results over time.

The other thing is, it could be that you're just in the wrong book of the Bible altogether. It could be that it's not really about David and Goliath; it's really about Noah. The kinds of really serious challenges that are coming up will feel more like what happened down in New Orleans. it's easy to say there's an evil Goliath called George Bush who's letting bad things happen to good people. But even if George Bush were to leave the planet, we've still got major, major climate destabilization to deal with. And so it could be that we need to figure out new ways to win--to be open to the possibility that sometimes we can win Goliath over to helping us build the ark.

Network of Spiritual Progressives

2006-10-27T10:51:00.000-07:00

Check this out! These folks are on point! They are called the Network of Spiritual Progressives, they are spiritual and are calling for radical transformation of society (I mean, buddhists are doing that too, but this is networking across different faiths, which I think is really good). Apparently Cornel West is one of their founders and they suggest Michael Nagler's A Search for a Nonviolent Future as a foundational text of their movement. Cool!

http://www.spiritualprogressives.org/

Human Needs

2006-10-15T19:25:00.000-07:00

Abraham Maslow is a psychologist I actually like. Check out his human needs theory, we should be teaching this in k-12, college, grad school etc. but instead we teach people to be greedy, competitive and to make lots of money at the sake of their own happiness, the well being of other people and the health of our planet. How dumb.

Being needs

Though the deficiency needs may be seen as "basic", and can be met and neutralized (i.e. they stop being motivators in one's life), self-actualization and transcendence are "being" or "growth needs" (also termed "B-needs"), i.e. they are enduring motivations or drivers of behaviour.

[edit]

Self-actualization

Self-actualization (a term originated by Kurt Goldstein) is the instinctual need of humans to make the most of their unique abilities and to strive to be the best they can be. Maslow describes self-actualization as follows:

Self Actualization is the intrinsic growth of what is already in the organism, or more accurately, of what the organism is. (Psychological Review, 1949)

Maslow writes the following of self-actualizing people:

They embrace the facts and realities of the world (including themselves) rather than denying or avoiding them.
They are spontaneous in their ideas and actions.
They are creative.
They are interested in solving problems; this often includes the problems of others. Solving these problems is often a key focus in their lives.
They feel a closeness to other people, and generally appreciate life.
They have a system of morality that is fully internalized and independent of external authority.
They judge others without prejudice, in a way that can be termed objective.

In short, self-actualization is reaching your fullest potential.

[edit]

Self-transcendence

At the top of the triangle, self-transcendence is also sometimes referred to as spiritual needs.

Viktor Frankl expresses the relationship between self-actualization and self-transcendence in Man's Search for Meaning. He writes:

The true meaning of life is to be found in the world rather than within man or his own psyche, as though it were a closed system....Human experience is essentially self-transcendence rather than self-actualization. Self-actualization is not a possible aim at all, for the simple reason that the more a man would strive for it, the more he would miss it.... In other words, self-actualization cannot be attained if it is made an end in itself, but only as a side effect of self-transcendence. (p.175)

Maslow believes that we should study and cultivate peak experiences as a way of providing a route to achieve personal growth, integration, and fulfillment. Peak experiences are unifying, and ego-transcending, bringing a sense of purpose to the individual and a sense of integration. Individuals most likely to have peak experiences are self-actualized, mature, healthy, and self-fulfilled. All individuals are capable of peak experiences. Those who do not have them somehow depress or deny them.

Maslow originally found the occurrence of peak experiences in individuals who were self-actualized, but later found that peak experiences happened to non-actualizers as well but not as often. In his The Farther Reaches of Human Nature (New York, 1971) he writes:

I have recently found it more and more useful to differentiate between two kinds of self-actualizing people, those who were clearly healthy, but with little or no experiences of transcendence, and those in whom transcendent experiencing was important and even central … It is unfortunate that I can no longer be theoretically neat at this level. I find not only self-actualizing persons who transcend, but also nonhealthy people, non-self-actualizers who have important transcendent experiences. It seems to me that I have found some degree of transcendence in many people other than self-actualizing ones as I have defined this term …

Ken Wilber, a theorist and integral psychologist who was highly influenced by Maslow, later clarified a peak experience as being a state that could occur at any stage of development and that "the way in which those states or realms are experienced and interpreted depends to some degree on the stage of development of the person having the peak experience." Wilber was in agreement with Maslow about the positive values of peak experiences saying, "In order for higher development to occur, those temporary states must become permanent traits." Wilber was, in his early career, a leader in Transpersonal psychology, a distinct school of psychology that is interested in studying human experiences which transcend the traditional boundaries of the ego.

In 1969, Abraham Maslow, Stanislav Grof and Anthony Sutich were the initiators behind the publication of the first issue of the Journal of Transpersonal Psychology

Damn violence! ya basta!

2006-10-13T14:10:00.000-07:00

I wrote this because I was doing some reading on Stan Tookie Williams and got really sad and cryed about the messed up nature of our prison justice system and all the violence in the world! Damn violence! ya basta!

Oakland’s Nonviolent Future
By Jerlina Love

The leaves have begun to fall across the East Bay, California, marking the end of Oakland’s first summer of nonviolence. Started by the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights with a series of candlelight vigils held throughout the Bay Area in June, community members prayed for a summer in Oakland without violence and with the presence of constructive change. This violence, which erupts as homicides and more often as fistfights on schoolyards and street corners, is killing Oakland residents both physically and spiritually.
I attended one of these Vigils on 61st and San Pablo to demonstrate my deep concern with the violence in Oakland. As we discussed our vision of a nonviolent Oakland, I silently doubted that nonviolence in Oakland was possible. It was not until I started thinking about Oakland continuing on its path of violence when I realized that nonviolence is fundamentally possible and absolutely necessary in my hometown. I also realized how my life could contribute to this change.
In order to clearly understand both the necessity and possibility of nonviolence, I first had to think about the situation currently facing Oakland and the prognosis of what this might look like if it continues. Remember how you felt the morning of September 12th, 2001? In some parts of Oakland, every day feels like that morbid day. My earliest memories as a child living in East Oakland, are of the day after a drive-by in front of my family’s apartment. The fear, confusion, denial and outrage were hardly different than what the country felt the day after 9-11. The difference in my community was that an outside force did not perpetuate the violence; it was perpetuated by and against residents of the same neighborhood
If the violence and fear continue on their course without nonviolent intervention, Oakland’s violent crime rate will increase, more youth will be sent to suffer in the California prison system, and more people will live lives burdened by the psycho-spiritual after affects of violence. In the face of such a prognosis, it becomes alarmingly clear that we have to abandon our old model of living in fear and we must transform it into courage, while we transform violence into nonviolence, if we want to rebuild Oakland.
This transformation of violence into nonviolence is deeply connected with an internal transformation within the lives of Oakland residents, which is part of the journey to Oakland’s nonviolent future. This internal change was demonstrated in the life of Stan Tookie Williams, a former resident of San Quentin Prison and a Nobel Peace Prize nominee. Williams lived a life inundated by violence. Williams co-founded the Crips, a violent youth gang and after killing three people Williams was sent to prison, where he continued to live a life encapsulated by violence. Then in 1993, while in solitary confinement, Williams experienced an inner transformation.
Williams told Mother Jones magazine in March/April 2001, “I unchained my mind, and I did so through prayers and extensive study. I had to seriously question whether I was a human or a beast. In choosing not to be a beast, I discovered my humanity. I became autodidactic, self-educated -- a critical thinker.” It was then that Williams began to work for nonviolence. This change included developing a new sense of respect for human life, including his own. It also included taking courageous actions to stop violence and encourage community building, represented by his children’s books about nonviolence where he advocated for youth to courageously reject gang life and the use of violence.
For Williams, this internal transformation was at the core of his nonviolent work. For Williams to speak about ending violence, he had to end it in his heart. As Oakland hyphy artist Ise Lyfe says, “In order to speak about freedom you have to be freedom,” and in order to speak about nonviolence Williams was nonviolent in mind and action. Even while living in a prison, the most violent of environments, Williams was able to make this transformation, which gives hope to Oakland’s residents who seek change.
Like Williams, we daughters and sons of Oakland must transform the violence in our hearts to nonviolence. Nonviolence is the development of relationships, from intra-personal to societal, that are grounded in respect. Nonviolence is a rough translation of “ahimsa,” which means the lack of intention to harm and the respect for all life. As activists in the civil rights movement demonstrated, it takes immense courage to hold onto nonviolence in moments of adversity, but it is also these moments when the courageous adherence to the respect for all life is the most powerful. When someone spreads rumors about us, steps on our tennis shoes, or hits us, the nonviolent response is to maintain our respect for the other person’s humanity while taking courageous and compassionate action against the harm done. This might start with direct nonviolent communication. This takes transforming the heat of rage into disciplined construction rather than letting it explode into uncontrolled destruction.
Living our lives nonviolently and transforming Oakland not only includes collective internal transformation, it also involves challenging both direct and structural violence. Direct violence is exemplified by fistfights or war, whereas structural violence is exemplified by poverty or hunger and is the result of exploitive and unjust social, political and economic systems . Challenging these forms of violence may include spreading community awareness about an issue and organizing to participate in nonviolent direct action. The final aspect of contributing to a nonviolent Oakland is our participation in constructive programs such as community gardens, independent media and educational programs. By transforming our self-loathing to self-respect, by challenging direct and structural violence, and by helping to build programs that model the peace building that we would like to see, we are making the future of a nonviolent Oakland our present reality.
The cops don’t need to stop abusing people, the gangs don’t need to reconcile their conflicts, and spouses do not need to stop abusing each other before we begin to develop nonviolence in Oakland. What always comes first in a nonviolent movement are people’s decisions to take individual responsibility in making change happen. These decisions often indicate inner transformations in the people who become involved. The action taken once these decisions are made then fuel that inner transformation and social transformation forward. In this way, nonviolence works like violence: it starts inside of our individual lives and it escalates, affecting our relationships with our communities and with society as a whole. I invite you to join us at any step along the way, in this social, spiritual and psychological experiment with respect and transformation and see how these forces spiral out from your own life and into the streets of Oakland. May the falling leaves remind you that this experiment with nonviolence in Oakland has already begun.

Jerlina Love is a graduate student in African Diaspora Studies at UC Berkeley, where she studies principled nonviolence. This article is in memory of Carlos Aceituno, a peace and cultural activist who passed away September 27, 2006.

Resources:

Silence the Violence, Ella Baker Center:
http:// ellabakercenter.org/

Jerlina’s Blog on Spirituality, Nonviolence and Art in the Bay Area:
http://i-mlove.blogspot.com/

The Metta Center for Nonviolence Education
http://www.mettacenter.org/

yo soy an artist

2006-09-28T15:00:00.000-07:00

(left)
Hippie Dreams, 2006
paper

(below)
Jerlina, 2006
paper

I've been working on a series of collages for a while now. I finished these today 9/28/06

Oakland Hero

2006-09-11T15:52:00.000-07:00

This is a recording of an interview of Ise Lyfe by Davey D. It is SO AMAZING! Please listen to the whole thing, this young guy is so wise it's rediculous.

powered by ODEO

Summer's almost over...

2006-08-18T23:51:00.000-07:00

In the past thirty days I've... been to New York and ate a wonderful vegan meal with Yvonne and Megan. Von told us all about working with Spike Lee, Megan talked about her PR project working on Plastic Little www.plasticlittleraps.com. I was in Philadelphia sitting on a panel at Penn and met Max who runs space 1026, an artist collective in Philly www.space1026.com/. Then I went back to Berkeley to host a guest from New York via Olympia. We went to Santa Cruz in an attempt to go surfing only to get the news that the next wave would arive 5 days later, the following tuesday. We drove back listening to Prince's greatest hits, on tape, with my car's busted speakers. A few days later I left for 6 days of Reggae on the River www.reggaeontheriver.com . 30,000 peaceful, beautiful, reggae and ganja loving northwesterners. I had the time of my life, loving the music and dancing until my body cramped up. Highlites included Salif Keita, the dustyfoot philosopher www.thedustyfoot.com and Ziggy Marley www.ziggymarley.com. I was home for a few days then left to backpack in Kings Canyon, South of Yosemite. I wrote the following blog entry when I came back.

i climbed a mountain this past saturday. On any normal saturday I'd be riding my bycicle around berkeley or getting some reading done, but this past saturday I climbed a 12,000 foot mountain with 40lbs of food, clothes and sleeping bag strapped to my back. I'd like to say hiking 42 miles, busting up a perfectly good pair of hiking boots and enduring a trillion bug bites made for a fabulous vacation, but I can't. Maybe even the raspberry picking, mushroom hunting and swimming in fresh water streams would make it sound more vacation-esque, but it would still be a stretch to liken my trip to a vacation. On real vacations you get pedecures, not blisters. You get up at noon, not dawn. You chill out, dance and sing songs. There is something anti-vacation about marching up mountains in silence in fear of running into another bear or rattle snake. Well, you win some and you lose some. Next time I feel like backpacking I'm marching my ass to the video store to rent brokeback mountain, then I'll march my self over to trader joes to grab some soy- ice cream and pita chips and will march my self right back to my living room. IF I still have enough energy I'll march myself from the couch to bed. That makes for a real vacation.

Weds. was my birthday and tomorrow I leave for NASCO anti-oppression action camp http://www.nasco.coop/programs+&+services/anti-oppression+action+camp/overview.en.html
in the Sierras. Summer is almost over...

Guerilla Cafe!

2006-07-31T23:35:00.000-07:00

two weeks ago I was riding my bike from El Cerrito through North Berkeley and rode past a cafe where there were black people sitting outside. Yes, black as in african folks in north berkeley. I parked by bike and chilled for a while. It's an amazing spot and I was back for more this past sunday. They have a DJ and it's got an artsy northern cali vibe which is wonderful. Check them out: http://www.guerillacafe.com/

More Shel Silverstein for that a%$

2006-07-12T15:35:00.001-07:00

Ations
If we meet and I say, "Hi,"
That's a salutation.
If you ask me how I feel,
That's a consideration.
If we stop and talk awhile,
That's a conversation.
If we understand each other,
That's communication.
If we argue, scream and fight,
That's an altercation.
If later we apologize,
That's reconsiliation.
If we help each other home,
That's cooperation.
And all these ations added up
Make civilization.

Put Something In
Draw a crazy picture,
Whtie a nutty poem,
sing a mumble-gumble song,
Whistle through your comb.
Do a loony-goony dance
'Cross the kitchen floor,
Put something silly in the world
That ain't been there before.

LISTEN TO THE MUSTN'TS
Listen to the MUSTN'TS, child,
Listen to the DON'TS
Listen to the SHOULDN'TS
The IMPOSSIBLES, the WON'TS
Listen of the NEVER HAVES
Then listen close to me--
Anything can happen, child, ANYTHING can be.