Blog 6
December 17, 2016
Shopping While Under Siege
At our recent team meeting, my friend Jim said that he was working at keeping a balance between living his daily life with family, friends and work and staying attuned and involved with the politics of the moment. Not an easy task. I’m hardly in balance. I go from intense head down shopping for the people I love, searching for recipes and decorating like mad and then in a panic return to my computer to see what has happened and find actions to take.
Another friend Jane spoke to me about what it was like living in Israel when bombs were falling. She said most days people went about their lives as if there was no danger until they had to race into the bomb shelters. In Kosovo, following the war there, everyone who had escaped to camps returned to grieve, to rebuild and to cook . In Pristina, after our work with the mental health teams our evenings were spent, eating, drinking, singing and dancing as if we were not in the midst of a war-torn city.
Humans are a resilient lot which I believe has kept our species alive. Right now when I pick my head up from my daily life however, I have a sense of fear that we are about to face shattering changes that will capture all our attention and freedoms. I can only hope that I am wrong, and I will be able to continue to flip between my every day and opposition to what we cannot allow.
Wise Words
a bit of parody received from Peter Fraenkel:
Excerpt:
How the Trump Stole America
In a land where the states are united, they claim,
in a sky-scraping tower adorned with his name,
lived a terrible, horrible, devious chump,
the bright orange miscreant known as the Trump.
This Trump he was mean, such a mean little man,
with the tiniest heart and two tinier hands,
and a thin set of lips etched in permanent curl,
and a sneer and a scowl and contempt for the world.
He looked down from his perch and he grinned ear to ear,
and he thought, “I could steal the election this year!
It’d be rather simple, it’s so easily won,
I’ll just make them believe that their best days are done!
Yes, I’ll make them believe that it’s all gone to Hell,
and I’ll be Jerk Messiah and their souls they will sell…..
Posted by Gene Combs:
“Peacemaking doesn’t mean passivity. It is the act of interrupting injustice without mirroring injustice, the act of disarming evil without destroying the evildoer, the act of finding a third way that is neither fight nor flight, but the careful arduous pursuit of reconciliation and justice.”
“Our culture has accepted two huge lies. The first is that if you disagree with someone’s lifestyle you must fear or hate them. The seconds that to love someone means you agree with everything they believe, say do. Both are nonsense. You don’t have to compromise convictions to be compassionate.” Dave Chappelle
From Connie Rubiano:
Neoliberalism turned our world into a business. And there
are two big winners
Ben Tarnoff
Excerpt:
….Neoliberalism can mean many things, including an economic
program, a political project, and a phase of capitalism
dating from the 1970s. At its root, however, neoliberalism is the idea that everything should be run as a business—that means market metaphors, metrics, and practices should permeate all fields of human life.
No industry has played a larger role in evangelizing the neoliberal faith than Silicon Valley…….
Van Jones: Only a 'Love Army' Will
Conquer Trump
Though it's important to fight Trump's policies, "it's at the values level that we need to do a reset," says Jones…
Interviewer:It’s interesting that you're starting with values, not policy.
Jones:There were five things on the ballot on November 8th, 2016: the presidency, theSenate, the House, the Supreme Court and the character of the country.Progressives lost all five. But the thing that hurts the most is losing on the character of the country – the idea we're going to be divisive as a country. So we have to start there, and reassert that we want to be an inclusive country where everyone gets treated with dignity and respect. I’ll tell you this: If you believe that "love trumps hate," you can't be marching around saying that and looking more hateful than Trump.
Everyone is going to want to fight – as they should – at the appointment level, the policy level. But it's at the values level that we need to do a reset. And it has to be inclusive, by the way, of rural poor people, of people in coal country, red-state and industrial Heartland voters who are also going to be let down by Trump, who are also going to be in a lot of pain. …..
Action:
Find Your State capital events and protest electoral college vote.
Imaginings
Story Circles will take place in the Bay area between January 27-February 5th. Kaethe Weingarten and I will host a story circle during this time. Stay tuned.
Sign petition asking Facebook to list local and state elections so people will know when to vote.
Doing Hope Together: Activating Reasonable Hope
in a time of global despair
Co-facilitated by Kaethe Weingarten and Greacian Goeke
Many people are understandably anxious this year about what the future will bring. In this workshop we will strengthen our resilience by sharing our own stories and vicariously leaning into others’ stories of resilience. Resilient people are better able to resist fear and take effective action. We will do reasonable hope together.
Date: Saturday, January 28, 1-4 PM
Pay at the door: $25-$40, cash or check
Venue: 4th Street Yoga, 1809 Fourth Street in Berkeley, CA 94710
RSVP: kaethew@gmail.com
I don't think balance is possible. Lurching is more like it. Kaethe Weingarten
ReplyDeleteHi Ellen,
ReplyDeleteTo follow up on this notion of balance or "lurching" as Kaethe put it, I spoke with my friend Fred yesterday about the surreal experience I have in going to watch my son play basketball games with the other 4th graders. At the back of my mind is something like, "how can I go to a basketball game at a time like this!" Fred's words were quite helpful to me though. He said "You can't take that away from him" in the spirit of preserving some 10-year-old joy no matter what is happening right now in the world. Then Fred, who is doing all kinds of significant work in restorative justice, went on to say that he is starting a novel in January. I asked what is prompting him to engage in a creative act right now, and he said it is arising from the conviction: "I won't let you rob what my soul can produce." This carried me for much of the afternoon.