Our beloved Gregory Thorp will be in town next week, and there will be a SLIDE SHOW!
Monday evening, 7/18 at 8:15 pm
right after the Lloyd House Monday Night Pot Luck Salon.
Please park on Lafayette Ave unless you are physicialy handicapped. In that case use the first slot in front of the front porch (but don't block the driveway to the back, please.)
link to my web page on Gregory's work:
http://home.fuse.net/ellenbierhorst/GregoryThorp.html
And Also: Frank Carpenter is bringing a friend Monday to the salon who lives in Morgantown, W.VA and who wants to stimulate in his city all the things that we are interested: activism, democracy, environmentalism, etc. Come hear him. Show him what a cool group we are!
Salon Weekly
A Weekly Email Publication of The Lloyd House
Circulation: c. 450
Growing out of the Monday Night Salon
For info about the Salon, see the bottom of this email
Join us at the Lloyd House every Monday of the year at 5:45 for pot luck and discussion.
3901 Clifton Avenue
Cincinnati, Ohio
To: Friends on our Pot Luck Salon list.
(to unsubscribe see below, bottom of page).
Friday 15 July, 2005
At the table Monday July 11:
Gary Weiss
david rosenberg
dan hershey
eileen sullivan
judy cirillo
joan murray
daisy quarm
shirley mall
marvin kraus
gerry kraus
michael murphy
mara helmuth
robyn rrepasky
steve sunderland
mira rodwan
Wendy Schulte (invisible salonista turned visible. Welcome!)
steve novotny
Jeff domke (Welcome Jeff!)
Sandy Wittsteinellen bierhorst
Thanks to Julie Murray (largely invisible salonista, faithful reader of the Weekly) we now have a laptop Macintosh for the taking of much better table notes. Below, the stuff I grabbed during the discussion. Do you like the almost-verbatim version below better, or the usual synopsis better?
7/11/05
Mira: Attended the council of earth elders following the ESR conference this weekend.
Marvin: ³Granny G² Gerry Kraus is nearing the point of having 500 signatures to get on the ballot (running for city council).
David: alternative plastics factory caught fire just upwind in Indiana, burned 36 hours this week. A recycling plant. The news said the air was safe in the neighborhood. How can this be?
Mike: recently in Rhode Island a nite club burned and the plastic streamers burned and gassed m any people who died.
Gerry: I remember when we were fighting the burn incinerator on Este Ave. Roxanne Qualls was head of Citizen Action. I learned about dioxins and furons, the two bad things emmitted by burning plastics and other things.
Bhopal, India: Union carbide had a plant, toxic emmissions. three thousand people killed in twenty four hours.
Mike:
a satire written by a prof from Portsmouth, OH. ³Mr. President, Please attack appalachia², because we have nuclear waster, we have weapons of mass destruction and we badly need the millions of aid to rebuild out region.
Robyn: in the twenties the US govt had plans to bomb west va. where there were many striking miners to reinforce the rights of the mine owners and end a strike. Only desisted because of weather.
Gerry: firefighters from 9/11 now having respiratory problems.
Robyn: LEL measurement probably taken at the Indiana plant. Organic Vapor Analyzer, also the standard measurement. That one would include dioxins and furons.
Dan Hershey: years ago, I worked in a chemical plant for Merk. Phosgene gas, a WWI poison gas. We were running this in a chemistry hood. MIddle of Roay NJ. The hood vents the gas into the atmosphere. But the exit air pipe for the building was looking right at the air intake for the HVAC for the plant.
So we found a little chemical plant in nowhere, NJ. The prevailing wind brought it back to the plant. Some of the people working there got gassed. So we decided to do it at night. We gassed the remaining workers.
Grace Chemical near by used to dump chemicals at night.
If not for Karen Arnet, Willard Industries in Northside, we¹d still be breathing their toxic emissions.
ON AGING (à propos of Ellen¹s 65th birthday)
David:
as farmers age they find a family or several families who will farm the land and in return the older farmers get a monthly check plus tenancy until they die.
Dan: on the question of aging and age. The data now is clear that lifespan potential is very different from what you hear. You hear 70 or 75 but that includes premature deaths. Our work on longevity indicates males, 85-90, females 95-100. So we are now in the process of redefining middle age. Old aGE DISEASES now don¹t start until late 70¹s or 80¹s.
On the occasion of some colleagues¹ retirement, I wrote this, plagarizing from Confucus and Comfort.
...Fifty is savvy, wise, mature.
At sixty I learned to give up arguing .
At seventy I can do whatever I like without disrupting my life. ...
Gerry: consider Granny D, walked across the country at 89 for camlpaign finance reform.
Mira: Lappé said, more deaths by suicide than by homocide.
Eileen: many suicides among college students. I am at U.D. as a Residence Advisor. We have many suicide attempts. ... Last Dec. 8 my friend comitted suicide. Imaculate Conception feast day. Seemed one of the most well adjusted people I knew. Hung himself.
Steve Novotny: on community and passing torches. I am a member of the Vinyard Central intentional community in Norwood. 12 singles and families live in homes together. Three buildings in all. Old convent, old rectory. One of 200 intentional communities that I know of in the US. Church related.
There is one in Atlanta where everyone is paid just below tax level. Shared income.
Ours is just a community neighborhood church type community. We are trying to get to know the members of West Norwood community.
Are you at this salon networked with other things like this across the country? You talk about building satelite salons. We are trying to build satelite communities in other neighborhoods.
Marvin
What is the meaning of t his word ³Intentional² in the ³intentional communities² SENSE.
Steve N: House Church. Experiment in church affiliated (the Vineyard) group living, in Norwood.
Gerry: think about how you did it. I remember when you recruited me.
Mike: there is the Intentional Community associateion, with about seven hundred religious and secular communities listed. I lived in the Sirius Community for about ten years, an intentional community. IL¹d like to found a community in Wooden Shoe Hollow. The Green Arts Living and Learning institute. The lates idea for funding is to have a commercial kitchen. Selling like an 8 pack of frozen different meals.
Mira: at this conference, Diana Leafe Christian talked of Ecovillages around the world. (see http://ic.org for listing.)
Judy: If y ou really want to do something like this you have to come up with a concrete mission statement. The space issue: you have a great space here.
Joan: on aging.
I am 71. Thi s is the greatest time in my life. When you weather the hard times... avoid self pity, decide to thrive. There is so much to being an elder. I was worried that I wouldn¹t know how. but young people now are turning to me and saying they want to be like me... still growing. Fear of aging? Blocked excitement. Wht is the excitement that is being blocked.
Older age has enabled me to retire from work I loved in a system I hated. State hospital.
The Institute for Learning in Retirement at UC, ILR: I Œve been teaching classes there since Œ96. A wonderful thing. Peer learning. I¹ve taught Tai Chi, Intro to Carl Jung. A group of dream sharing has sprung up from a course there. Many rich opportunities. Energetic, vital people. 78, friend, survived WWI... he lives in his motor home. Last year a group of four of us went all over the country. As a single person, I have put together wonderful alliances. There have been opportunities that have been amazing! I never thought I¹d have such joy. I try to just do the next thing, with complete joy.
I am, therefore ok to be old.
Recently walking in Sharon Woods, a family, a four year old said, ³Look, an old lady!² I told them I am glad to be old.... and look for people older than you whom you admire and model yourself after them....
(And Joan also sent us a letter reprinted in the Blue section giving some of those favorite books. Juicy list.)
Dan: women tend to expand social contacts over years, while men tend to contract.
David: Ellen talked about being concerned with passing the torch to you
nger people. I was much eased in this, when I met Daisy¹s daughter at Mike¹s house.
Daisy: daughter Susan is 18.
Re. young people not attending the event this weekend. My daughter is a vegetarian, shares many values with the ESR people...peace, justice, environment. She is an activist. I would imagine that she would say: it is set up, with high registration costs and other features not youth-friendly.
³Global², a local, annual y oung people¹s conference. Teens, early twenties. PLeace, Justice, ... food... What is the ethical way to live? And they are disappointed that older people don¹t come. Have had it several years running. We can go in April next year. For the past three y ears it has been at UC.
Mira: Daisy got John Robbins to do an energy at St John¹s UU Church, and the church is going ³green².
Eileen: if you already go to a college, you don¹t need to go to a conference like this, because you get those big speakers anyway. I think age cohorts usually hang out together. I am 19.
Steve N.: you can put structures in place to attract different kinds of folks. ³Dead for Democracy² concert, come as your favorite undead political dictator... Half black performers, half white. Maybe the Imago folks could work with the Global people.
Wendy: the problem is how to communicate within groups.
Mike: Maybe Peter Block Œs work could inform this. Getting diverse people talking deeply with each other.
Judy: I went to a peter block event run by women¹s city club. open to everyone, at HUC. Got young black kids, teens and adults, and white folks. 4-7 Thursday 14 July.
Jeff: interested in what Joan said. Excitement needs to be unblocked. Can you share techniques for getting through life traumas? I relealized in my 40¹s that I would grow old bitter and sick. Psychotherapy helped me a lot. YOu search until you find mentors. Have a close group of friends that you trust and can open up to.
Joan or Jeff: Choose the things that you love to do.
Under Saturn¹s Shadow by James HOllis: seven secrets that men keep. Men collude in silence. When they share, they get so much.
Jean S. Bolen, Goddesses in Every WoMan and other titles.
Ellen: we will get Leslie Poindexter¹s copy of the video of the conference.
Hugs,
ellen
(for Articles: see below. First, the "Announcements" section.)...
Don't miss the way cool article you want to read in blue section. It might be one of these:
- Ellen's extensive notes from the Earth Spirit Rising Conference including Frances Moore Lappé, Matthew Fox, Maladoma Sommé, and Miriam McGillils keynote talks.
- On Aging happily: see remarkable list of older people's accomplishments, etc.
- Joan Murray's bibliography on books to cope with aging
- "Please Attack Appalachia" article mentioned by Mike Murphy at salon.
- Announcement of Second U.S. Peak Oil Conference in Yellow Springs on Sept. 23-25
•
Announcements:
7/16/05
Room Available at Lloyd House
Fabulous Clifton Gaslight Castle; warm, multicultural environment
2 miles from U.C. 1/2 mile from Mitchell Ave. exit I-75
Call Ellen: 513 221 1289
Third floor walk up. One room with sleeping loft, private bath, share kitchen
Room has ethernet for high speed internet connection: $10/mo. extra
Share: third floor meditation/dance/yoga room
first floor TV/VCR/DVD, iMac w/ high speed internet, dining room, veranda
Off street parking, spacious yard, gardens, sauna, workout room
2 hours per month building maintenance/yard care/housmates meeting
Laundry (indoor lines for drying) free
Minimum age: 25
Monthly house contribution: $285 (more if you use A/C, internet)
Available 1 August, 2005
Other housemates include: me, Neil Anderson (our fabulous massage therapist), Gordie Bennett (grad student in planning), Alan Bern (musician, doctoral student CCM). I am looking to slowly become more of a community in the house.
No smoking in house.
I am looking for: rock solid good vibes 24/7. Also rock solid financial reliability. Also, prefer a person who will enjoy the Monday night Salon and is interested in building community here. Eventually want to explore sharing ownership and all responsibilities.
Please pass the word to any of your contacts who might know of folks looking for a place to live/work.
ellen
7/16/05
Cincinnati Seeks New Health Commissioner
Thanks to the efforts of Karen Arnet of ECO (Environmental Community Organization) about 20 of us showed up Wednesday night at the Board of Health hearing on selection of the New Health Commissioner. (Gerry and Marvin Kraus, me, Eileen Frechette, Ed Gutfreund, Karen, Vic Wulsin, Howard Konicov--Spencer's son--, and many not connected to the salon). Our points: the new health commissioner should have formal public health training, and care not just about the clinical services provided by the city clinics (which are excellent! I am a patient there.) but also about issues of prevention and the environmental impact on our citizens' health. The search is on. Typically they pick an MD with no formal public health training. My fav. would be Vic Wulsin MD, DrPH, and active against AIDS in Kenya and elsewhere etc. etc. She just ran for the Dem. nomination for District 2 congressional seat and lost to Hackett. A great gal.
You can read the enquirer's coverage of the meeting Wednesday and it includes the duties and responsibilities of the health commissioner. at this link:
Public: Cincinnati needs an environmental activist
New health commissioner sought http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050714/NEWS01/507140360/1056/news01
LInk below to overview description of Board of Health
http://www.cincinnati-oh.gov/cityhr/downloads/cityhr_eps10141.htm
The job description (I hope you will circulate it widely!) for this position is here: http://www.careersingovernment.com/index.cfm?page=jobView&jobID=8725
.And doing the Google search on the health commissioner to give you these links I found a very interesting one:
this one is a Black Cincinnati blog. Check it out:
http://blackcincinnati.blogspot.com/2005/07/tillery-for-health-commissioner.html
.I would love someone to review this for the Weekly. Roy?
8/30/05
Local Activist Cheryl Crowe (of Progressive Alliance etc.)
Recommends
Write the local TV Stations before end of August:
They are renewing their licenses (every 8 years) this year
"A few months ago I saw a public notice that announced that WCPO was renewing it's license. I dreamed about influencing the process to and make them a real news channel. That idea quickly went away.
When I read the following that dream resurfaced. Here is the instruction manual in a neat little package.
If you're a dreamer like me read below.
Maybe we can do something to change the local media."
Cheryl
Cheryl Crowe
Horticulturist At Large
From: "Robert A. Pohowsky" <pohow@mindspring.com>
Date: July 14, 2005 12:16:42 PM EDT
To: "WCDIA listserv" <warrencountydemsinaction@yahoogroups.com>, "WCDP" <ohiowarrencountydems@yahoo.com>, <kerryohio@yahoogroups.com>
Subject: Fw: [democracyforcincinnati] Media Action Item
Here's our opportunity to influence the content of local broadcasts. If you're so disappointed by local TV programming and news coverage that you've switched to NPR, include that in your letter.
Is your physician unable to decide what medication(s) you might need? Do you think prime-time commercials for prescription drugs decrease the price you have to pay for them? Are some stations telling us mainly the Bush Administration's story about Iraq and its effect on terrorism? Let's NOT sit back while right-wing Republicans complain about a "liberal bias" in the media.
Bob
----- Original Message -----
From: Ashish Budev
To: Democracy for Cincinnati
Sent: Thursday, July 14, 2005 7:26 AM
Subject: [democracyforcincinnati] Media Action Item
Are you sick of the lousy local news? Tired of more and more
infomercials taking up the programming schedule? Wish there were
fewer commercials? Want to do something about it?
There is definitely something you can do to change the nature of
local programming, and I emphasize focusing on the local news in
particular.
Every 8 years, local TV stations must apply to renew their broadcast
licenses (from the FCC). This is Ohio¹s year. As part of the
process, citizens are asked for their comments. This is because
stations are REQUIRED BY LAW TO SERVE THE PUBLIC INTEREST.
You are the public. You must tell them what is in your best
interest. Stations don¹t know what you want unless you tell them.
Now is time to assess satisfaction/dissatisfaction with local TV and
file an opinion for the FCC. July & August are the months to do
this. Some questions to consider (re: local news):
What would you recommend to make the local news better?
What issues would you like to see covered more (ex: environment,
family/children issues, consumer issues, health)?
Are there any issues that you think should get less time (ex:
celebrity news, violent crime, weather)?
Would you like more coverage of local & state government?
Would you be satisfied with fewer stories if they were covered more
thoroughly?
Are you satisfied with coverage of neighborhood/community issues?
Do you get the straight facts on national & international issues?
Is the diversity of your community represented?
Should candidates get free airtime during elections?
These are just some of the things that people are considering; the
important thing is to think about what YOU believe serves the public
interest, and whether the content of local news reflects the things
you care about.
To make your comment (1 typed page) an official part of the record,
you must send it to the station owner (³licensee²), not the station
itself. Addresses are at the bottom of the email. Be sure to
identify the local station by its call letters (³WCPO², e.g.).
A thought: we¹ve heard it said that those who don¹t vote have no
right to complain. It is the same with this. Your comment is your
vote on the media. So if you don¹t file a comment, you¹ll have to
bite your tongue for the next 8 years (and since your comment will be
publicly available, anyone can find out whether you really filed a
comment or notŠ whoa!).
Feel free to email me with any questions (though I¹ll be out of town
until 7/20 and may be slow in responding).
--Ashish Budev
IMPORTANT NOTE!!
In your letter, be sure to clearly identify the station by its call
letters and city (even though your return address is on the
envelope).
WLWT:
OHIO/OKLAHOMA HEARST-ARGYLE TV, INC
c/o BROOKS, PIERCE, MCLENDON, HUMPHREY &
LEONARD
P.O. BOX 1800
RALEIGH, NC 27602
-----------------------------------------------------
WCPO-TV:
SCRIPPS HOWARD BROADCASTING COMPANY
312 WALNUT STREET
28TH FLOOR
CINCINNATI, OH 45203
-----------------------------------------------------
WKRC-TV:
CITICASTERS CO.
PO BOX 470408
TULSA, OK 74147-0408
-----------------------------------------------------
WXIX: (FOX19)
RAYCOM NATIONAL LICENSE SUBSIDIARY, LLC
RSA TOWER, 20TH FLOOR
201 MONROE STREET
MONTGOMERY, AL 36104
-----------------------------------------------------
WSTR-TV: (Ch. 64)
WSTR LICENSEE, INC
SHAW PITTMAN (KATHRYN R. SCHMELTZER)
2300 N STREET, N.W
WASHINGTON, DC 20037-1128
Tri-State Treasures
Tri-State Treasures is a compilation of unique local people, places, and events that may enrich your lives. These treasures have been submitted by you and others who value supporting quality community offerings. Please consider supporting these treasures, and distributing the information for others to enjoy. And please continue to forward your Tri-State Treasures ideas to jkesner@nuvox.net.
Sincerely, Jim
~~~~~~~~~~
Tri-State Treasures:
The James Hart Trio perform Friday & Saturday nights from 9 PM - 1 AM: featuring Camille "Saba" Smith vocals, Don Gauck on drums, and Jim Hart on piano and bass. In the elogance of the Palm Court of the Hilton Cincinnati Netherland Plaza Hotel, 35 West Fifth Street, Cincinnati, OH 45202. More info @ 513.861.0666 & jhartmuse@aol.com.
Volunteers Needed for the Morning Glory Bike Ride: The 2005 Morning Glory will be Sunday 7 August and they need your help. A few changes have made the ride more attractive to more riders of all skill levels to raise more money for Sierra Club & to give you 2 more hours of sleep. This year's Morning Glory will start at 6 AM instead of 4 AM, will follow a different route, & will include a vegetarian breakfast for all riders, courtesy of Wild Oats. If you're a rider, you're welcome to volunteer to help with registration or setup, then enjoy the ride, breakfast, & t-shirt - for free. Or leave a bit ahead of the first group & ride to your corner. Volunteer with Steve @ 513.621.9136 & volunteer@morninggloryride.org. Info about the course, registration, & more @ www.morninggloryride.com.
AERAS (Avian Education, Rescue, & Adoption Services, Inc): The welfare of exotic birds is documented in the film "Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill." Just as organizations are needed to care for unwanted & mistreated dogs & cats, the mission of AERAS is to improve the quality of life & welfare of captive exotic birds. AERAS works directly with & through the public to create a community committed to the physical, emotional, psychological, & legislative well-being of all captive exotic birds. Avian Education, Rescue, & Adoption Services, Inc., P.O. Box 1352, Lebanon, OH 45036. More info @ 513.934.4412, emergency: 937.608.1294, info@aeras-parrots.org, & www.aeras-parrots.org/index.html.
Bruce Menefield BAM-TET @ Jazz At The Hyatt [starting Friday 15 July @ 8 PM - midnight]: "John Coltrane meets Gene Ammons", Bruce's style & tone represents the best of tradition with a distinctly modern sound. The "BAM-TET" plays originals & jazz tunes with R&B grooves. Bruce Menefield: tenor, alto, soprano & baritone saxes; William Menefield: piano; Dean Huelet: bass; & Julian Addison: drums. Walt "Doc" Broadnax returns with no-holds barred straight-ahead Jazz for the aficionado at the Hyatt Hotel Cincinnati. $10 two-drink minimum; preferred seating for dinner guests. At the Sungarten Room in the Hyatt Hotel Cincinnati, 151 West 5th Street, Downtown Cincinnati, OH 45202. More info @ waltb31@fuse.net & www.jazzincincy.com.
Dreampuffs of War [Thursday-Saturday 14-16 & 21-23 July @ 8 PM]: The Women¹s Theatre Initiative presents a new wartime comedy by Jennifer Haley about a young women who leaves her home to go to war & arranges to have her neighbor - and not her mother - take care of her beloved cat while she is away. At the Columbia Performance Center, 3900 Eastern Avenue, Columbia Tusculum, Cincinnati, OH 45226 (Big Pink Church 1/4 mile east of Delta Avenue). $12 admission. More info @ 513.604.8545, wti@fuse.net & www.leagueofcincytheatres.com.
Bastille Day Picnic [Friday 15 July @ 7 PM]: Start celebrating Bastille Day with the now traditional Bastille Day picnic. A 3-course dinner will be prepared by La Petite Pierre Restaurant. Whether you want to eat gourmet food, drink complimentary French wine, enjoy a French Cancan performance, or participate in the Pétanque tournament (French bowling lawn), there will be something for everyone. Register by Tuesday 12 July for this popular & casual event; space is limited to 120 people; registration form at www.france-cincinnati.com/facc/Invitation%20Bastille%20Day.pdf. $30 per person. Hosted by The Montgomery Sister Cities Commission, The Alliance Francaise, & The French-American Chamber of Commerce. At Terwilleger Lodge in Dulle Park, 10530 Deerfield Road in Montgomery, OH 45242. More info @ 513.852.6510, facc@france-cincinnati.com, & www.france-cincinnati.com.
Frankly Film Festival Entries [due Friday 15 July]: Middletown filmmaker R. Zoe Polley, who created Frankly Zoe Productions to share locally produced films with the community, is director of the Frankly Film Festival scheduled for 23-25 September. Entries for shorts & feature films in any genre are being accepted; deadline is July 15, entry fee of $20 for shorts (up to 44 minutes) $40 for features (up to 120 minutes); cash awards will be presented. More info to follow. Entry forms & more info @ 513.465.7616, ysmp@franklyzo.com, & www.franklyzoe.com/entry.htm.
Hip Hop Class & Dance [Saturday 15 July @ 7-10 PM]: Experience a true Broadway modern jazz-Hip Hop class. Dottie Belle will warm you up with isolations & movements that massage your whole body. Do a brief modern mat warm-up from the famous Luigi Jazz technique. Then rock & roll with some combinations across the floor, & move to the centre to encounter the latest hip hop moves. Don't be afraid; let loose & have fun. Then dance with DJ/rapper extraordinaire Kim Gerhold. Dottie Belle was a Radio City Music Hall Rockette in New York for almost 20 years. She¹s performed on such shows as Late Night with David Letterman, the Daytime Emmy Awards Show, and the Today Show. Dottie is on the Advisory Board of the Health & Fitness Department at Cincinnati State Community College where she is an adjunct faculty instructor. She creates & teaches dance & exercise programs all over the city. $10 by Sunday 10 July; $15 at the door. Friendship Hall, New Thought Unity Center, 1401 East McMillan Street, Cincinnati, OH 45206. More info @ 513.961.2527 LouFreeman@ntunity.org & www.savedmovie.com.
Creating Community and Democracy [Saturday 16 July @ 9 AM - 3 PM]: The program will feature presentations in the morning given by Peter Block, best selling author & workshop leader on Civic Engagement & Community, & dialogues in the afternoon with John Eastman, independent candidate for Ohio Secretary of State. Free; reservations required. Sponsoring by the Eastman for Democracy Campaign. At the New Jerusalem Community, 745 Derby Avenue, Cincinnati, OH 45232. Reservations & more info @ 513.471.1919, jochappell@fuse.net, www.peterblock.com, & www.JohnEastman.org.
Free Introductory Talk at the Lloyd House - Center for Holistic Wellness [Sundays 17 July & 14 August @ 2-4 PM]: Ellen O. Bierhorst, Ph.D. Clinical Psychologist, & Neil Anderson, L.M.T. Massage Therapist, will present the following topics: 1) Five Keys to Finding the Right Therapist for You, 2) How to Give the World's Best Backrub: tips from a professional; & 3) Secrets of Smoking Cessation: quitting cigarettes is harder than kicking heroin; learn how you can be one of the 5% who pull free & stay quit. Free, open to everyone. At the historic Lloyd House, 3901 Clifton Avenue @ Lafayette Avenue, Clifton, Cincinnati, OH 45220. Park on Lafayette. Contact: Ellen Bierhorst @ 513.221.1289.
CSO Classical Roots: Spiritual Heights Series [next performance is Monday 18 July @ 7:30]: Three concerts remain at area churches to celebrate African American heritage through music, with Mary Henderson Stucky & William Menefield are soloists. The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra led by CSO Associate Conductor John Morris Russell will visit three more local communities in July to present free family concerts. Soloists are both Cincinnati CCM musicians: mezzo-soprano Mary Henderson Stucky & jazz pianist William Menefield. Dates & locations: Monday 18 July @ Quinn Chapel AME Church, Forest Park; Wednesday 20 July @ Lincoln Heights Missionary Baptist Church, Woodlawn/Lincoln Heights; & Thursday 21 July @ Zion Baptist Church, Avondale. Concerts begin @ 7:30 PM. Classical Roots: Spiritual Heights celebrates the many contributions made by African Americans to orchestral music & seeks to link cultures through music. The CSO program is now in its 5th summer season. The musical journey will include church spirituals, Joplin rags, & music by Billy Strayhorn, Dizzy Gillespie, & Ray Charles. More info @ 513.381.3300 & www.cincinnatisymphony.org/Media/releases/ClassicalRoots2005.asp.
Dances In The Park 2005 [Thursday 21 July @ 6-10:30 PM]: In the midst of one of the city park jewels, boasting floral gardens that are reminiscent of Europe, Ault Park presents Dances In The Park 2005; great dance music for all ages. Featured will be The Modulators on July 21. Free admission; beer & soft drinks for sale, though it is unlawful to bring alcohol onto city property; all profits go to Ault Park. Ault Park is on Observatory Avenue, Cincinnati, OH 45208. More info @ 513.871.9015, Info@AultParkAC.org, & www.aultparkac.org.
Kathy Wade @ Six Sundays At Six Acres - Evening Concerts [Sunday 24 July @ 7 PM]: Kathy Wade is an award winning international jazz vocalist, truly "The First Voice of a New Era." Her sound is a "multi-octave contralto of effervescent energy." The Six Acres B&B embraces history & elegance. It is owned & run by Kristin Kitchen & Laura Long who have spent 3 years rescuing & renovating this 6,500 square foot 1850s Colonial mansion built by Elon Strong, noted abolitionist & active participant in the Underground Railroad. Concerts are from the spacious outdoor patio for an audience seated on the lawn in a uniquely scenic, wooded & serene setting. Bring your lawn chairs & blankets as seating is limited. Smooth grooves, tasty treats, & a cool new musical experience in Cincinnati. $15 admission includes appetizers & drinks. Shuttle parking provided from Twin Towers Retirement Community @ 5343 Hamilton Avenue. Six Acres B&B is @ 5350 Hamilton Avenue, Cincinnati, OH 45224. More info @ 513.541.0873, info@sixacresbb.com, www.kathywade.com, & www.sixacresbb.com.
Underneath Cincinnati [Sunday 24 July]: Entries are now being accepted for the next screening of Underneath Cincinnati. All chosen submissions will be up for the 2005 Best of Underneath fest. Mail submissions to Underneath Cincinnati, P.O. Box 19928, Cincinnati, OH 45219. More info @ 513.251.6060.x 4, underneathcincinnati@hotmail.com, http://underneathcincinnati.com.
Let¹s Talk About It: Intimate Partner Violence in the Queer Community [Thursday 28 July @ 6-8 PM]: Intimate partner violence in our LGBT community is something often kept in the closet. The Domestic Violence Coordinating Council invites you to join them for a presentation & discussion of this issue, which directly affects 1 in 4 LGBT people & nearly 50% of LGBT youth. Presenters Kristin Shrimplin (DVCC) and Gary Heath (BRAVO Columbus) will explore myths & misconceptions about LGBT intimate partner violence, warning signs of abuse, how to help a friend who is being abused, & queer-friendly community resources and services. At the McKie Community Center, 1655 Chase Avenue, Cincinnati, OH 45223. More info @ 513.361.2144 & alliance@ywcacin.org.
2nd Annual Lite Brite Indie Pop & Film Test [Friday-Sunday 29-31 July]: A weekend of music, film, & lite like you've never seen before. At the Southgate House, 24 East 3rd Street, Newport, KY 41071. More info on the bands, films @ info@litebritetest.com, & www.litebritetest.com.
Tri-State Treasures is compiled by James Kesner.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
To submit Tri-State Treasures, or to request your email address to be added or removed
from the Tri-State Treasures list, send an email to jkesner@nuvox.net and specify Tri-State Treasures.
7/17 AND 8/14
Free Introductory Talk at the Lloyd House - Center for Holistic Wellness [Sundays: 17 July & 14 August @ 2-4 PM]:
Ellen O. Bierhorst, Ph.D. Clinical Psychologist, & Neil Anderson, L.M.T. Massage Therapist, will present the following topics:
1) Five Keys to Finding the Right Therapist for You,
2) How to Give the World's Best Backrub: tips from a professional; &
3) Secrets of Smoking Cessation: quitting cigarettes is harder than kicking heroin; learn how you can be one of the 5% who pull free & stay quit.
Free, open to everyone.
At the historic Lloyd House, 3901 Clifton Avenue @ Lafayette Avenue, Clifton, Cincinnati, OH 45220.
Park on Lafayette.
Contact: Ellen Bierhorst @ 513.221.1289.
7/16/05
Inktank mission: make Cincinnati a world center for writing
That's what I heard. Kathy HOlwadel is the founder or co founder. That's all I know. Check her out. :
kathy@inktank.org Kathy Holwadel
... hey! I just went to their website, http://inktank.org/
and it looks interesting indeed. Very well done web page. I just sent her an email inviting her to the salon.
7/25
Grenada Benefit: huge chorus to sing
July 25, Monday
HOuse of Joy, College Hill (That used to be Hollywood Cinema on Hamilton Ave)
7:00 pm
Donation offering to be collected
September 7, 2004, the island nation of Grenada suffered its worst setback in 50 years when it was struck by Hurricane Ivan. 39 people were killed and 90% of all homes, together with many churches and schools, were damaged.
80% of cash crops, such as cocoa and banana trees, were destroyed, and telecommunication and electrical lines were toppled in 120 mph winds.
SLOWLY, life is returning to normal. Electrical service has been restored to some homes and businesses, roofs have been covered with tarps, and many students have returned to school.
However, a great deal of work remains to be done.
On July 25 at 7 PM, Dr. Catherine Roma, Bishop Todd O'Neal, Tony Williams, Sr., the Martin Luther King Chorale, and The Underground Railroad Freedom Choir will present a Benefit Concert for Grenada Relief at The House of Joy.
A free will offering will be received, and a new CD recorded by Richard Simon of Grenada will be available for sale. Fifty percent of the CD sales will go directly to the Grenada Relief Fund.
In January, Bishop O'Neal and Pastor Neal Whitney took a work team from Lima, Ohio to Grenada. Information about joining a work team for a future visit will be given at the concert. Carpentry and electrical skills are especially needed.
Choir members are asked to bring a dessert, vegetable tray, snack, or drink for a choir fellowship immediately after the program.
Don't miss it!
If you are a singer with the NURFC group or the MLK Chorale and arre able to sing on July 25, please email: caroma@fuse.net to let Dr. Roma know you will be attending.
(If you are not a singer, come hear this. It will knock your socks off. ellen)
Looking forward to seeing you on July 25!
Dr. Catherine Roma & Bishop Todd O'Neal
Hugz, Joslin
8/27
A Day For Men Workshop
Shirley Reischman (our estimable homeopath) sends this along. I don't know about it, but Jack Armstrong is a wonderful healing professional, worked on my family many years to great benefit, is a D.C.
Gary Matthews is a massage therapist in town, good guy, partner of Beverly Wellbourn.
Shirley says,
FYI. Gary Mathews and Jack Armstrong are among those doing workshops at A Day for Men event on August 27th. Please pass this on to all the men you know. http://www.celebratewisdom.com/pages_blocks_v3_exp/index.cgi?Key=402&Field=key_field&catg=index&Exact=Yes&this_sect=The%20Wisdom%20Center%20Coaching%20&thisroot=/pages <http://www.celebratewisdom.com/pages_blocks_v3_exp/index.cgi?Key=402&Field=key_field&catg=index&Exact=Yes&this_sect=The%20Wisdom%20Center%20Coaching%20&thisroot=/pages>
9/23/05
Check out the Peak Oil Conference, Yellow Springs, weekend of Sept. 23. In the Blue section below, last article.
Huge March in Washington
against war in Iraq
Sept. 24
ACTION ALERT * UNITED FOR PEACE AND JUSTICE
http://www.unitedforpeace.org | 212-868-5545
To subscribe, visit http://www.unitedforpeace.org/email
===========================================
Hold Bush & Congress Accountable for the Deaths, the Destruction,
the Lies, and the Toll on Our Communities
SEPTEMBER 24-26, 2005END THE WAR ON IRAQ - BRING THE TROOPS HOME NOW!
Leave no bases behind - End the corporate occupation of Iraq
Stop bankrupting our communities - No military recruitment in our schools
Sat., 9/24 - Massive March, Rally & Festival
Sun., 9/25 - Interfaith Service, Grassroots Training
Mon., 9/26 - Lobby Day, Mass Nonviolent Direct Action and Civil Disobedience
------------------------------------------------------------------------
More than two years after the illegal and immoral U.S. invasion of Iraq, the nightmare continues. More than 1600 U.S. soldiers have died, at least another 15,000 have been wounded; even the most conservative estimates of Iraqi deaths number in the tens of thousands. Iraq, a once sovereign nation, now lies in ruins under the military and corporate occupation of the United States; U.S. promises to rebuild have not been kept and Iraqis still lack food, water, electricity, and other basic needs. ....
===========================================
ACTION ALERT * UNITED FOR PEACE AND JUSTICE
http://www.unitedforpeace.org | 212-868-5545
To subscribe, visit http://www.unitedforpeace.org/email
===========================================
- end of Announcements -
A r t i c l e s
7/15/05
Ellen's Report on Earth Spirit Rising Conference
and Keynote Speeches by Lappé, Fox, McGillis, Sommé
The Earth Spirit Rising Conference was held at the X.U. Cintas Center, that huge basketball court/arena/conference center behind X.U. on the Norwood side, on Herald Ave. This was the fourth annual conference, and it was hosted by Imago, our local ecological group founded in the late 70¹s by Jim Shenk and Eileen Shenk. They are the group that hang out on Enright Ave. on Price Hill (and as a matter of fact, invite others to join them there in an urban co-housing experiment). There was also another organization co-sponsoring the conference, but I didn¹t recognize the name. BTW, Jim Shenk is retiring and looking for a new director for Imago. INterested?
There were 400 participants registered for the conference, and they came mostly from the eastern half of the U.S., more from the states north of Tennessee than those south. The overwhelming majority of the participants were well over 50, although there certainly were younger people in evidence as well. I¹ll bet the mean age was at least 60.
I commented on this at our table discussion Monday, and our youngest salonista, undergrad Eileen Sullivan said that young people are kept away, for one thing, because the conference cost in the neighborhood of $200. Also, young people have their own gatherings for social consciousness (see table notes above, black section.)
Talk by Frances Moore Lappé at the Earth Spirit Rising Conference, Cincinnati Ohio, July 10, 2005
Notes by Ellen Bierhorst
It is a fundamental human impetus, the sharing of food. Today, many of us are starving. How is this so? How could we have been prevented from this most natural of human behaviors? The answer to this blazing question is that it is because the dominant ³mental map² or social construct at work today is a life destroying idea, holding up a shabby characature of human nature, claiming that we are selfish, greedy little accumulators. We are brain-washed by this notion, and, having adopted this self picture, our behavior follows suit.
We seem to believe as a result that life is like a great game of musical chairs, where the resources available to the species are continually shrinking, and where we have to fight each other for the means to survive.
She likes to interview foreign born taxi drivers, and recently had the same exact response from one in Boston who came from Russia, and another in California born in Turkey. These two men both said, when asked, ³What do you think of America?² that ³You are all afraid of each other.² In Russia, they had been afraid of the KGB, but they knew what to do to manage that fear. Here, everyone is afraid of those who might take away their stuff, and they, (pointing to the folks in BMWs) are the most afraid of all.
We have a fear-generating system in our society. All the resources necessary to life are not commodities for sale. Water... the sales of water now are nearly equal to the world wide sales of pharmaceuticals! Seeds, formerly shared freely by farmers and gardeners the world over, are now patented, and it has become illegal to share them; they must be bought. The media, another commodity that is for sale. Public governmental representation, for sale! Thomas Jefferson said the freedom of the press is so very important that he believes if he were given the choice of democracy as a way of government vs. freedom of the press, only one being chosen, he would chose freedom of the press, it being that important.
The reason for this fear generating, everything for sale system is that our economic system rests on the principle of highest return to the existing wealth. That is, the priority is to reward the wealthiest segments with the largest slice of the pie: the corporate stockholders. As a result, the rich get richer, the others get poorer, and -- and this is key -- the market flow is compromised. Without prosperity for the mass bulk of the people, there is no one to purchase the goods and services, and the market flow slows. In Economics, flow IS wealth. For everyone. Stop the flow and no one is prosperous.
In the average supermarket there are 30,000 different types of items for sale. (!) This gives us the illusion of a free and open market. But get this: fully half the sales at supermarkets go to only ten large corporations, the boards of directors of these being a mere 140 individuals. Did you get that? Only 140 directors control half the sales in our supermarkets. You don¹t realize, for instance that everything made by Kraft, Miller¹s Brewing Co., and Altoids all are put out there by the Phillip Morris company. The Coca-Cola Company has over 400 different brands.
Then there is obesity. We are the first species to have the situation that our nourishment constitutes the greatest health threat. The dollar expenditures from health problems due to obesity are now equal to those related to tobacco. Then there is the scandal of high fructose corn syrup... possibly a key to the galloping obesity problem in our society. It wasn¹t so long ago that we just didn¹t have high fructose corn syrup. Today it is in everything, even though it has been linked to terrible diseases including diabetes and (was it cancer? I missed it. Writing furiously, so much good stuff in this talk.) The problem with high fructose corn syrup is that it is highly addictive: it is sweeter than sucrose, but it does not give you satiation. Consequently you crave more and more.
Then there is the pandemic worldwide of depression. The World Health Organization reports that the disease of depression is not number 4 in causing loss of life and productivity. We have more deaths from suicide than from homicide! Fully 70% of all the ministers in the United Church of Canada are taking antidepressants.
So we need a revision of this world wide mind map that says we are just selfish accumulators. At a global level we need to claim our deeper nature a cooperators. Recent scientific studies of the function of the brain have shown that activities that involve human cooperation and human effectiveness stimulate the same (pleasure) centers as chemicals like chocolate and cocaine. Well whaddya know?
Then Frances went into the good news. Around the country and the world there are signs of things turning around. There are significant new laws promoting campaign finance reform in Alaska, Maine, and Arizona, and a new sort of elected representatives are the result.
Frances, apparently known to friends as ³Frankie² is a perky, attractive woman who seems to be only about 50 (she wrote Diet for a Small Planet in the 60¹s... that was 45 years ago. She has to be well over sixty!) has just written a new book, Democracy¹s Edge. I am getting it.
In Bangladesh there are women¹s groups who are reinventing banking in a democratic way by backing each other¹s loans for small business start ups. Then there is Kenyan feminist biologist Magari Nakai (sp?) who won the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize for her work getting village women to plant thirty million trees to beat back the incursion of the desert.
Very cool developments in Brazil. (Brazil!) Apparently in 1985 they adopted a new constitution that provides the nationalization of any land not being used and this to be given to landless people. A woman named Ariadna something is the coordinator of the ³landless workers¹ movement². Since the government has been remiss in implementing this constitutional provision, she gets families to squat on unused land. Many have been driven off, of course, and many killed, but apparently millions of families have been settled on what is now their own land where they are using organic methods to farm. Those people say, with respect to their organic farming, ³Why would we want to harm the consumers of our produce by using pesticides and fertilizers when we have risked so much to get this land?² Doesn¹t sound like the human greed paradigm at all, does it?
The coordinator, Ariadna actually wept in the interview with Frankie at the point when she related that it is not the degree of ³out of step with the world² of her works that grabs her, but rather how very easy it is to make these changes.
In one Brazilian city Bel Horizon (beautiful horizon, sp?) the third largest city in Brazil, the people have formally declared food to be a fundamental human right. In order to fulfill this there has been great creativity mobilized, in projects like leasing little public plots of land (I guess like highway medians etc.) to organic farmers with the agreement that they will sell the produce at prices low enough for the poor to afford them. School lunches are being provided by local organic farmers. Manioc leaves and egg shells which used to be garbage are now being turned into nutritional supplements and given free to children. And Ariadna says, weeping, that it is so easy to fix these things.
Frankie says the single driver market is killing itself. We must change . Find out more about good things, change that is happening around the world by subscribing to the magazines Yes, and Resurgence, and Orion.
And she says there are three qualities, challenges we need now in order to heal our small planet. they are: 1) Rethink our relationship with FEAR. Today, staying within the ³tribe², the group think, means death for all of us. 2) Discipline our attention. Attend to the positive things... what do you need to be attending to in order to keep up your hope. Attend to the language we use and hear. Rather than say ³globalization², which sounds good, use the phrase ³global corporatism², which shows what it really is.
And 3) we need to day Bold Humility. We must be humble in the face of not knowing just what might be possible to save us. We could not have anticipated land reform in Brazil nor thought it possible. We could not have thought it possible that village women in Kenya could reverse the desertification of their country.
When the Kenyan women were mobilized by Nagari to plant trees, they then began questioning the wisdom of using all their land to grow coffee, the export cash crop. They began planting instead the traditional crops that were more drought resistant and provided for the people¹s needs. How about that!
MIRIAM THERESE MCGILLIS, a sister of some order or other, was another keynote speaker. She has a farm community somewhere in New Jersey. She took the broad perspective and the long view. We have a terrible dysfunction in our human use of this planet today, and the crisis is that our world is actually shriveling. We will, as a society, as a species, begin to reform our practices once our imagination catches up with what is going on, and begins to vision a better future. We must understand that with over 200 species winking out into extinction EACH DAY now, we are living at the very end of the 2.5 million year long Cenozoic Era. This is important because, as in the teachings of Thomas Berry and of Brian Swimme, we see that what activates our imagination (which is the key to our survival) is our perception of the world we live in. If you live in a world of historic time only... just a few thousand years... that is ³close time². We need to live in a world of ³deep time² if we want to survive this crisis.
She used the metaphor of the chick inside the egg. As it develops, the chick uses up all the nourishment of the albumen and the yolk until it has all turned into chick. At that point, the chick has to do what it has never before done. Break out. We now must do something new, entirely, or else die. We must usher in the Ecozoic Era. The earth must awaken. We must correct our attitudinal disconnect between the human and the rest of our planet.
Miriam was a wonderful speaker, standing on a base of handsome self empowerment. Made me want to read Brian Swimme (sp?) and Thomas Berry (not Wendell, Thomas. No relation.)
MATTHEW FOX
This is the famous Catholic theologian who got himself in so much trouble with Rome because of his insistence on Love rather than Fear (and Sin) as the cornerstone of his religion. So much trouble that he was first ³silenced² and later excommunicated. Card. Ratzinger, now the self-appointed Pope, is his arch enemy. His movement is called ³Creation Centered Theology² I think. His latest book (of 26) is titled The New Reformation and his magazine is Creation Spirituality Magazine. (He is a big reason I was interested in the Earth Spirit Rising Conference. Another was Mira Rodwan who went last year when it was in N. Carolina. She said it was wonderful. Mira knows.) Fox looks to be a very vital, skinny sixty something with white hair and a lively, febrile manner. He could use a better hair cut. His glasses frames were black plastic from about 1965. He is nice looking but could certainly use ³The Queer Eye² for fashion. He is medium tall-- maybe about 6¹.
Here are some of my notes.
Belonging to a tribe is a good thing. Tribes are your neighborhood, you congregation, your work group, etc. We all belong to multiple tribes. But ³Tribalism² is bad. Examples of the closed minded sort of ³tribalisms² are the Taliban, and ... ta-da, the Vatican! He said this, right there in X.U.
Today we humans are facing the rising flood waters of globalism, species extinction, etc. etc. and we are all shoulder to shoulder filling sand bags.
Howard Thurman was the spiritual director of Martin Luther King Jr. and he said All men and all women belong to each other.
Everyone is longing for the experience of belonging, the experience of tribe membership. That is why the fundamentalists are gathering such support. Fundamentalism is the new tribalism.
Tich Nat Hahn (sp?) in Living Buddha Living Christ spoke of our nature as ³interbeing². We are all made of elements, atoms, stuff that has recently been in the bodies of other people, other animals, rocks, planets, stars. And Hildegard of Bingen (medieval mystic) spoke of our being ³penetrated by connectedness².
What about ³Community² (a theme of the ESR conference)? Matthew said we should not think of ourselves as ³making² community, but rather work at getting out of the way of the grace to understand that we are a community.
Took my breath away when he spoke of Avatars (manifestations of God as humans) and included not only Jesus, of course, but also Moses, LaoTzu, Muhammad and others.
He said we are facing four obstacles. The first, our lack of wonder/joy/awe. The Divine created us in order to share the joy. Aquinas said Joy is our noblest act. And incidentally, he mentioned that the Catholic Church excommunicated Thomas Aquinas three times before ultimately canonizing him as a saint.
The Second obstacle facing us is out habit of resisting and denying grief. WE ARE bogged down by our unclaimed grief work. Grief because our planet is sick, because of the genocide of indigenous peoples, because of the ongoing phenomenon of slavery in the world today. We carry this unclaimed grief in our third chakra. (How about that... a priest talking of chakras.) In this paragraph of his talk, Matthew also said that the experience of solitude is a necessary part of community, a necessary nutrient.
The third obstacle is our failure to honor the creativity that comes from our wildness. He mentioned Clarissa Pincola-Estes (Women Who Run with the Wolves) and said religion and education conspire to squelch our creativity.
The fourth obstacle is our lack, generally speaking, of the principle of the Warrior. Fire. Yang energy in both men and women. The message of all patriarchal, right wing, fundamentalist wings of all religions is that chaos must be controlled. We need, today, more fire, not that all-too-familiar passive aggressive energy. It was Matthew who cited the statistic (attributed above to Frankie, sorry) that 70% of all United Church of Canada ministers are on anti-depressants. The yang fire has been emasculated in our people. We need connectedness to the source. .... Ratzinger as the Grand Inquisitor (Defender of the Faith) has presided over the expulsion of all our best theologians. He was responsible for the selection of 112 of the 114 Cardinals in the College of Cardinals. No wonder they elected him. IN effect he elected himself. Ratzinger is busy dumbing down the church.
Our time, our era now, is analogous to that of Martin Luther. At that time (fourteen something? thirteen something?) the printing press had just been invented in europe and moveable type meant that information and learning was being disseminated to the people. Well, now in our era the electronic innovations like the internet are another democratization of information. As Luther moved forward, we today need to move forward.
Matthew told us the story how Ratzinger is responsible for the victory of Bush over Kerry last November. The preceding June, Bush went to Ratzinger and asked for help. Promptly a letter was sent to all U.S. Bishops instructing that anyone (Kerry) who advocated abortion should be denied communion, and they¹d better get their people in line. In consequence the parish churches snapped to, and started a barrage of homilies and leaflets praising Bush and damning Kerry. As a direct result, the mass of the catholic vote in such key states as Ohio, New Mexico and Arizona went to Bush, while they had previously gone for the Democratic candidate. So the pope gave us th is president.
Opus Dei, the right wing militant Catholic organization with mega funding has now replaced the Jesuits as a powerful voice in the Vatican. Opus Dei has infiltrated the U.S. Media. Chris Matthew's ³Hard Ball² program on TV (or radio?) was going to give Matthew Fox thirty minutes of air time recently. They had given Opus Dei a whole hour. At the last minute, Fox¹s appearance was canceled. Fox urged us to e-mail and to write and to phone to ³Hard Ball² and protest this canceling. It was literally minutes before the airing of his segment. Matthew assumes it was because Opus Dei called up the network and insisted he be silenced.
Opus Dei was founded by a Spanish Fascist named Escriva, who has recently been canonized by Ratzinger. Opus Dei contains an i deological preference for the rich and powerful. It is all about opposing such things as Ecological justice, Racial justice, sexual preference justice, economic justice.
Matthew said the apocalypse propaganda novels of the ³Left Behind² series have sold 64 million copies! It is important that we publicize our ideas.
Matthew said, Go ahead, let them have the museums and the art. Let the punitive father God fundamentalists have it all. We¹ll take the Christ!
This spring at Pentecost while in German and working on his New Reformation book, Matthew decided on a bold step. He went to Wittenberg where Luther had nailed his 95 tenets of reformation on the door of the church and publicized 95 of his own tenets of the new reformation. Read about it at http://MatthewFox.org
Maladoma Sommé
Everybody loved this guy. I had heard about him from my friend and colleague, Susan Crew, who took a four year training course with Maladoma, learning the method of divining the will of the ancestors f rom h is West Africa people, the Dagara. He is a medium large guy (a well nourished 6¹) with a smiling round face. He wore chinos and an African style black and white print blowzy shirt, not belted, with a matching pill box type hat.
The earth is a living, breathing entity, like our mother. We all live within her.
Before you are born, you must petition the ancestors for permission to come here. At that time, if you are selected, y ou are given certain special gifts that the earth needs now. You may have a special gift to give certain particular people, a gift which will liberate them so that they may in turn contribute their gifts. If you do not deliver your gift to its intended recipient, the undelivered gift will make you sick. The reason the earth is in crisis today is that these gifts are not being received, are not being offered.
In your bones is contained all knowledge. All people must acknowledge that we all have this. The people of the United States suffer from purposelessness. Your purpose is related to the particular ³pillar² that you are associated with or carry.
There are five pillars: Earth, Fire, Water, Mineral, and Nature.
Earth: Every home has its earth person, every village, every group. This is the person who gathers people together, who ministers to comforts, who helps you feel that sense of ³home². Abundance. Shelter. Welcoming.
Fire: These are the visionaries and they mediate crisis.
Water: These are the workers for peace and reconciliation.
Nature: These people relate to the plant kingdom, trees, etc. The Nature principle has the most wisdom because it is closed to earth, being rooted in earth. Plant life is seen as more intelligent than animal life, and animal life as more intelligent than human beings. Nature people are witches, they are magical; they are shape shifters.
Mineral: Rocks. Our bones. All knowledge is contained here. We remember with our bones.
If your Date of Birth in the western calendar ends in a 0 or a 5, you are attuned to the Earth and this is a key to your gifts and your purpose.
If your Date of birth ends in 1 or 6, it is Water.
If 2 or 7 it is Fire.
If 4 or 9, Mineral. Remembering (knowledge).
If 3 or 8: Nature.
WE are all one people. There must be peace and harmony for everyone in the world, or else no one will have it. We need spiritual activism.
7/16/05
Gerry Kraus sent me the Longfellow excerpt on Aging
a propos of my 65th birthday Monday
(She sent me the hard copy and I found it on Google so I didn't have to retype it. You can find anything on the web. Halleleuja!)
Longfellow wrote, when he was 70 or 71, celebrating his 50th anniversary graduating BowdenCollege this poem and a piece of it is here:
236But why, you ask me, should this tale be told
237To men grown old, or who are growing old?
238It is too late! Ah, nothing is too late
239Till the tired heart shall cease to palpitate.
240Cato learned Greek at eighty; Sophocles
241Wrote his grand Oedipus, and Simonides
242Bore off the prize of verse from his compeers,
243When each had numbered more than fourscore years,
244And Theophrastus, at fourscore and ten,
245Had but begun his "Characters of Men."
246Chaucer, at Woodstock with the nightingales,
247At sixty wrote the Canterbury Tales;
248Goethe at Weimar, toiling to the last,
249Completed Faust when eighty years were past.
250These are indeed exceptions; but they show
251How far the gulf-stream of our youth may flow
252Into the arctic regions of our lives,
253Where little else than life itself survives.
And Edith Wharton:
In spite of illness, in spite of even the archenemy sorrow, one can remain alive long past the usual dates of disintegrtion if one is unafraid of change, insatiable in intellectual curiosity, interested in big things, and happy in small ways."JRD Tata flew an old fashioned aircraft from Karachi to Mumbai at age 78 in 1982.
Golda Meir was 71 when she became Israel's prime minister.
B. Bernard Shaw broke his leg at 96 falling out of a tree he was pruning in his backyard.
Michelangelo was 71 when he painted the Sistine Chapel.
Albert Schweitzer was still performing surgery at age 89.
Grandma Moses only started painting at 80. Twenty five per cent of her 1500 paintings were done when she was over 100.
Webster wrote his dictionary when he was 70.
Cicero:
"The arms best adapted to old age are culture and the active exercise of virtues. For if they have been well-maintained at every period, the harvest they produce (in old age) will be wonderful."
7/16/05
Joan Murray sends her bibliography:
Ideas to help with understanding/coping with aging
Tuesday, July 12, 2005
Dear Ellen,
Thank you so much for bringing the issue of aging to your Salon. You were courageous to share your feelings about reaching 65. I rather surprised myself at how strongly I felt about this later part of my life. I appreciated the sensitive comments that others made.
Here are the books I mentioned by the author, Jean Shinoda Bolen, M.D. She is a psychiatrist, Jungian Analyst and a marvelous speaker.
The Tao of Psychology, about synchronicity
Goddesses in Everywoman; A classic work of the women's spirituality movement
Crossing to Avalon; A woman's midlife pilgrimage.
Close to the Bone; Life threatening illness and the search for meaning.
The Millionth Circle; How to change ourselves and the world; the essential guide to women's circles.
Goddesses in Older Women ; Archetypes in women over fifty.
James Hollis, also a Jungian Analyst, wrote a book that I have found to be very helpful with men's issues.
Under Saturn's Shadow; The wounding and healing of men.
Your creation of the Salon reminds me of Joseph Campbell's saying, "Follow your Bliss!' Just keep right on doing just that!
Gratefully,
Joan
7/16/05
Mike Murphy sends this, mentioned by him at the table Monday. Humorous. e.
Published on Thursday, April 24, 2003 by CommonDreams.org
Please Attack Appalachia
by Mike Bryan
Mr. President, please attack Appalachia.
You have promised the Iraqis that they will share in the wealth of their oil. We could use some of that same sharing here. We have coal and timber that is being extracted, yet very little of the profits remain in our area. If the Iraqis are to share in the profits from their natural resources, we would like to share in the profits from ours.
You have promised healthcare for all Iraqis. We could use the same thing here. Far too many of us are without health insurance and adequate access to good healthcare facilities. You have also promised to rebuild the schools in Iraq. We too have schools that need rebuilt and that need more funding.
Certainly you can find a justification for attacking us. We have weapons of mass destruction. Just go inspect the former uranium enrichment plant near Piketon, Ohio. You will still find all sorts of radioactive waste on and around that site. Test our waters. Test our ground. Test our air. You will find an abundance of chemical and biological agents that could be used as weapons. We literally live among them.
After all, Appalachia is America's third world. Terrorists are breeding everywhere. Where there is poverty there is unrest. Where there is poor education there is suspicion. Where there is neglect there is anger. As far as potential dangers go, Appalachia should be near the top of your list. ...
(for the rest see:
http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0424-09.htm
.
7/16/05
At the Earth Spirit Rising Conference I saw Megan Quinn, salon attendee (at least one time!) and manager of Community Solutions, the group in Yellow Springs that sponsored that terrific Peak Oil conference David R, Mike M and I went to last November. The conference this year will be in September. Invisible salonista Judy Leever who heard about it here says she has already registered! The power of the Weekly! ellen.
Second U.S. Conference
on ³Peak Oil² and
Community Solutions
Peak Oil the point in time when world oil
Keynotes: Richard Heinberg, author
production will begin to decline forever.
Hear the latest on this vital issue and its
connection to economics. Also learn about
designing viable low-energy living solutions
and new forms of community.
of Powerdown: Options and Actions for a
Post-Carbon World and The Party¹s Over: Oil,
War and The Fate of Industrial Societies and
Michael Shuman, author of Going Local:
Creating Self-Reliant Communities in a
Global Age.
Friday evening, September 23
Register with the attached form or online:
through Sunday, September 25,
2005, Yellow Springs, Ohio
http://www.communitysolution.org
The Importance of Peak Oil and
Peak oil the point when world oil production
Community Solutions
reaches its maximum and begins to decline
is an event which is likely to occur this decade.
As global demand exceeds supply, oil will
become increasingly scarce and expensive.
The end of cheap abundant oil represents an
unprecedented challenge for humanity. It heralds
the end of many things to which we have become
accustomed; the ever growing economy, transportation
as we know it, and cheap food and
goods from around the globe.
³Our response to Peak Oil has major
consequences for future generations.²
The implications of Peak Oil are far reaching.
Oil provides close to 40 percent of our society¹s
primary energy (over half of which is imported)
and 95 percent of our transportation fuel. Fossil
fuels are a necessity in our way of growing food
and in making and transporting everything we buy.
Many react to the coming changes with fear
and dread. But we envision a more cooperative,
just and equitable world of small local communities.
³Solutions to Peak Oil will require a major
shift in our thinking and in our way of life.²
This conference will explore
The implications of Peak Oil.
Alternatives to oil and our high energy way
of life.
Peak Oil¹s effect on our financial system.
The characteristics of a decentralized
economy.
An in-depth look at local food systems.
New communities for the future.
Ways to transition and answers to ³What
should I do now?²
How Cuba handled ³Peak Oil.²
What Are the Experts Saying?
³We have known for a long time that the
status quo, a society that is machine-oriented,
competitive, inequitable, fast-paced, globalized,
monocultural, [and] corporate-dominated, is
deadening to the human spirit and ecologically
unsustainable.²
Richard Heinberg, First U.S. Conference on Peak
Oil and Community Solutions, November 2004
³The problems associated with world oil
production peaking will not be temporary,
and past Œenergy crisis¹ experience will provide
relatively little guidance. The challenge of oil
peaking deserves immediate, serious attention,
if risks are to be fully understood and mitigation
begun on a timely basis.²
Dr. Robert Hirsch, Report prepared for the
U.S. Department of Energy, March 2005
According to the Association for the Study
of Peak Oil (ASPO), global conventional oil
production is expected to peak around 2008.
³[People] may find silver linings [in the post
peak oil world,] as they rediscover rural living,
regionalism, diversity and local markets, [plus]
coming to live in better harmony with themselves,
each other, and the environment in
which nature has ordained them to live.²
Colin Campbell, ASPO founder, April 2005
Peak Oil Conference, Edinburgh, Scotland
P.O. Box 243
Yellow Springs, Ohio 45387
Nonprofit Organization
U.S. PostageP A I DPermit No. 51
Yellow Springs, Ohio
Conference Speakers
Friday Night Keynote Richard Heinberg, author of The Party¹s Over and
Powerdown: Options and Action for a Post- Carbon World, will explain the
immense challenge of global peak oil production, and its implications for
our society, our communities, and our lives. He will assess mitigation
strategies and explore peak oil¹s effect on our debt-based financial system.
Saturday Night Keynote Michael Shuman, author of Going Local: Creating
Self- Reliant Communities in a Global Age, says Americans today purchase 58%
of goods and services from local place-based businesses and that rising oil
prices could easily make 80% localization cost-competitive. He will
enumerate the key tasks consumers and households can undertake to make a
community- enriching transition from peak oil possible. Steve Andrews, an
energy consultant, free lance writer on peak oil, and co-founder of the
Association for the Study of Peak Oil U.S., will give a comprehensive
assessment of available alternative energy sources and will explain how to
measure their viability by using net energy analysis, dollar costs, and
environmental impact. Diana Leafe Christian, editor of Communities magazine,
author of Creating a Life Together: Practical Tools to Grow EcoVillages and
Intentional Communities, and member of Earthaven Ecovillage, will share
examples of successful eco-villages and intentional communities around the
world and explain their role in the coming transition to a more agrarian,
just and sustainable lifestyle. John Ikerd, an agricultural economist and
author of Sustainable Capitalism: A Matter of Common Sense, will critique
the fossil fuel-based industrial paradigm that he sees as inherently
exploitative. He will describe the need for a sustainable economic system
based on biological principles and explain how social and ethical values can
be reintegrated into capitalist economics. Jan Lundberg, founder of the
Auto-Free Times magazine and ³Culture Change,² a non-profit that publishes a
newsletter on the collapse of petroleum civilization and the resurgence of
sustainable living, will explore cultural solutions to our coming oil
crisis, the values of a low-energy world, and options for changing our lives
and the direction of society. Robert Waldrop, founder of the Oklahoma Food
Cooperative, moderator of the peak oil discussion group, ³Running on Empty²
and author of Better Times Almanac of Useful Information, will talk about
developing local food systems, explain the role of urban agriculture, share
lessons from the Oklahoma Food Cooperative, and discuss the necessary
personal changes we each need to make. Liz Walker, co-founder of EcoVillage
at Ithaca, NY and author of EcoVillage at Ithaca: Pioneering a Sustainable
Culture, will share the inspiring story of creating the EcoVillage and its
relationship with the local community and the global ecovillage movement.
She will explore the importance of Community Supported Agriculture and the
ecovillages¹ role in a post-peak oil world. Pat Murphy, Executive Director
of Community Service, Inc., designer of the organization's latest program,
The Community Solution, and author of its New Solutions reports will explain
the role of oil and energy as they relate to global inequity and resource
wars, and will describe the energy lifestyle of conservers versus consumers.
Megan Quinn, Outreach Director of Community Service, Inc. and Project
Manager for ³Agraria,² a design for a low-energy, small, sustainable
neighborhood-community in Yellow Springs, Ohio, will explain how the
development of Agraria neighborhood-communities is a vital strategy for peak
oil-forced decentralization and the renewal of small towns and farms in the
post-peak oil world. Faith Morgan, a Trustee of Community Service Inc.,
traveled to Cuba in 2003 and 2004 to learn about its rapid loss of oil when
the Soviet Union collapsed in 1990. She will show CSI¹s new documentary,
³Peak Oil, Cuba and Community,² which tells the story of this major social
disaster and Cuba¹s creative response to living without cheap and abundant
oil.
(For detailed speaker descriptions see our web
site:
http://www.communitysolution.org
, or more information call 937-767-2161)
Registration Form
Early Registration
Members (by Sept. 1) .............$115
Non-members (by Sept. 1) .....$130
Late Registration
Members (after Sept. 1) .........$125
Non-members (after Sept. 1).. $140
Students (with student ID) ......$90
Membership ........ (minimum $25)
Meals: Saturday lunch and dinner,
and Sunday lunch (with vegetarian
options) are included. If providing
your own meals, ........... deduct $18
Single Day Registration
Friday Night ..... (students $5) $10
Sat. Night .......... (students $5) $10
Saturday ...................................$80
Sunday .....................................$70
Total Amount Enclosed
Refunds: After 9/9, only 50 percent.
Lodging: A list of motels, hotels and
camping will be mailed to registrants, or visit
www.communitysolution.org.
Limited partial scholarships are available.
Directions will be sent upon receipt of registrant
fee or can be found on our website.
Online registration and secure credit card
payment at www.communitysolution.org.
Make checks payable to Community Service,
Inc. (in U.S. dollars), and mail to Post Office
Box 243, Yellow Springs, OH 45387.
Name(s)
Organization
Address
City State Zip
Phone
Email
Number
Registering
end of articles
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