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Join the largest global choir and musical action day of healing for the Earth by joining One Earth. One Voice. on December 21. Our synchronized moment of song will take place:
Friday, December 21: 10pm GMT | 5pm EST | 4pm CST | 3pm MST | 2pm PST
Learn the song, download the music and spread the word: http://www.oneearth-onevoice.org/learn-the-song/
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=JQK-ixb8jxQ
Ise Oluwa is one of the most beloved songs of West Africa. We believe that’s true for a few reasons: one is the message of the translation, which we agree with deeply. The other is its beautiful, simple (that word again) melody, with so many possibilities for harmony.
Words: Ise oluwa, koley bajey o.
A (simple) phonetic pronunciation: eee-shea oh-lu-wah, koh-leh bah-jey-o.
Translation: That which Creator has made (or that which has been created) can never be destroyed.
When we teach this song to groups around the world, most are not experienced singers. We’re amazed at how quickly people learn the song – even the harmonies, which are beautiful. Whether you are a novice or a professional, we like to emphasize three basic principles:
Tune into our website: www.oneearth-onevoice.org and our Facebook page (One Earth. One Voice.) to register to participate, and for updates.
Special thanks:
The Three Altos (music)
Chris Shaeffer (video production)
Friday through Monday
Folklife Commons
"The SingPeace! Wagon is the realization of a lifelong dream of Pushkara Sally Ashford to have a traveling symbol of communal tranquility and musical harmony. It has traveled to events and gatherings all over the Pacific Northwest and was hand-lovingly constructed by a community of volunteers. Ashford will eventually live in the wagon as she pulls it along throughout the journey she calls 'Sing Peace! Earth Pilgrimage for Peace and Global Harmony.' ”
The SingPeace! wagon was one of 7000 entrants in the 2010 NW Folklife Festival. Now in its 39th year, the festival attracts anywhere from 250,000 to 500,000 visitors each Memorial Day weekend. A full-time staff now administers the festival and 1300 volunteers are on the grounds to support the event.
The concept of the festival is to provide a high-quality public forum where the traditional and ethnic communities and artists of the Northwest Region of the National Park Service (Alaska, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Western Montana) can present their music, dance performances and crafts. All performers were asked to contribute their participation in an event with no admission charge as an opportunity for community celebration and sharing. As such, it is the largest such festival in the country.
As one of the founders of Seattle Folklore Society, the first producer of Folklife, I performed and conducted workshops in the 70's. When I lost my voice in 1979, I dropped out of the "folk scene." Except for the "25th Coffeehouse Singers Reunion" in 2003, I'd not been on hand for over 30 years.
The inspiration in 2008 to share "Songs for a Culture of Peace," put me in mind of a lifetime of singing and performing folk music. I enrolled in the course in "How to Build a Gypsy Wagon," at the Port Townsend School of Woodworking in May 2009, where I designed and commissioned the building of the vardo or gypsy wagon. At the same time, a team of singers and song weavers from around the region began forming around the SingPeace! Earth Pilgrimage. Some spoke of it as a "movement." I was reassured by their response that this journey would not have to depend upon my singing voice for its success. Emailing old friends still active in the Seattle Folklore Society, I was greeted by a warm welcome. They bridged the gap for my application to NW Folklife.
Laurence Cole and Deborah Shomer, both from Port Townsend, WA, Rob Tobias from Eugene, OR, Sara Tone from Portland, OR, and myself formed the core of our team. These folks generously shared a repertoire of songs that powerfully reflect the culture of peace that we wish to see and be in the world, songs that honor Mother Earth and reminding us of our essential unity and commonality. Mick Dodge, the Barefoot Sensei, added the dimension of the "Earth Pilgrimage," pointing the way to activism: walkable communities, land and old growth conservation, tree planting, barefooting, exuberant play and Earth Gym activities.
A pilgrimage is a quest. It begins with a question. It assumes an attitude of innocence, of not knowing. Indeed, life itself is a pilgrimage. Undertaken consciously, with humility, honor and humor, a pilgrimage is a process of revelation and discovery.
I wondered: "What is a culture of peace? Is it attainable? Is it inevitable?" During my lifetime, the world has seen many wars. Armed conflict as a way of life is intensifying in every corner of the globe. Collectively, we have arrived at the brink of annihilation. With the potent impressions of war, violence and abuse written on the mitochondria, the cellular memory of the body, of nearly every being on the planet, would we recognize and respond to a different drumbeat?
The "Singing Revolution" that took place in war-torn Estonia, occupied during WWII by both the Germans and the Soviets, suggested to me that we may also have an ancestral memory of peace and that singing may be a way to access it. The Estonians had not forgotten their cultural heritage. Without raising a fist or aiming a weapon, they took back their country and their lives, even after decades of violent oppression.
Neuroscience tells us that music and singing stimulates the hemisphere of the brain that recognizes the joy and unity in all things. Words - the songs' lyrics - we know, form sentences and outlooks that shape our attitudes and life experience. Our team's shared a vision of local and regional gatherings - "singing villages" - could, perhaps, bring communities together to collaborate and co-create "Songs for a Culture of Peace."
In the months leading up to the NW Folklife Festival, the SingPeace! gypsy wagon became a meeting place and staging area for such gatherings. Though distant, at times, in hours and miles, we moved in tandem toward learning and strengthening a common repertoire that we would share when we met at Folklife. Our efforts gained momentum as we met in Cosmopolis at Singing Alive, in Port Townsend for the inaugural of the SingPeace! wagon, at the Seattle Folklore Society Song Circle and at Seattle's Interfaith Community Church, at the SFS Song Circle's Rainy Camp in Carnation, at the Yoga Lodge, on Earth Day and for the "Trees and Memories" Trillium Land Purchase arts gala produced by butoh dancer,Maureen Freehill, all on Whidbey Island.
By the time we reached Folklife, our numbers had increased and were enhanced by Melanie Rios and Janice Medvin, Eugene, Yana Viniko, Seattle, Sharon Abreu and Mike Hurwicz, Orcas Island, Dinah Stinson, Seattle, Rick Aydelotte, somewhere up north, as well as, several members of the Port Townsend Songlines Choir, among them, Laura Martin, Gretchen Sleicher and Deanna Pumplin. They are pictured in the NW Folklife Festival photos at the SingPeace! website, along with other folks who happened along - including Dr. Peter Keating and his children who played fiddle and cello on a Russian gypsy song.
At each location, the SingPeace! wagon has seen a steady stream of visitors. This "tiny green home" piques the imagination and brings smiles to everyone's faces. Its small footprint, 12-volt solar voltaic panel, LED lighting, composting toilet and on-demand propane water heating systems suggest a simple, yet, gracious way of life. I keep the names and contact information for those who want to stay in touch and in some way contribute their support to the mission of the SingPeace! Earth Pilgrimage. They will be hearing from me, soon.
I wish to honor and thank Jim Tolpin and Steve Habersetzer, who taught the course, and Steve, who beautifully crafted the wagon to my specifications, Laurence Cole who did the carving, Don Tiller who did the painting, Stan Price and his team at Covenant Glass for the stained and etched glass art, and to Susan Leinbach, seamstress, and Jeanne Moore, Potpourri, both of whom helped with the interior furnishings.
The challenge of towing and moving the SingPeace! wagon about the region has been willingly met by several friends, folks with big trucks who are also competent drivers. Offering a low and grateful bow to Steve Habersetzer, Richard Epstein and his crew person, Gary, to Kevin Rio Kipur and to Steve Swalwell. Hugs, too, to friends Rob Adamson and Jan Swalwell for their loving and playful support!
The SingPeace! wagon awaits alternative technology in a tow vehicle consistent with its "green" message. This is doubly and triply true since the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. As I mentioned, for the time being, we are concentrating locally on foot camps and walkable communities. More of this focus in future blogposts.
The SingPeace! website is a place where we can meet and share songs, photos, videos, blogs and event information. I encourage you to join us there and participate in future events.
Let’s celebrate!
http://savetheforestnow.org/
“To achieve the incredible, we must attempt the impossible.”
Together, we achieved the incredible by protecting a square mile of land, setting aside a home for wildlife, and saving a special place to cherish.
Now let’s celebrate our achievement!
| When | Sunday, October 24, from 2-4 p.m. |
| Where | The M-Bar-C Ranch 5264 Shore Meadow Road Freeland, WA 98249 |
| Bring | A dessert to share or a food bank donation. |
The deal is done! The Trillium forest is saved.
Smiling as the deed was recorded, Pat Powell, executive director of the Whidbey Camano Land Trust, completed the transaction to purchase the 664-acre Trillium forest on central Whidbey Island. More than 1485 individual donations made the purchase possible. A soldier overseas contributed $5.00. An anonymous donor concerned with the survival of wildlife habitat came forward with a very significant gift that allowed the Land Trust to purchase the property. In between were 1483 other named donations.
“It seemed impossible in March and yet it happened,” says Pat Powell. “Hundreds of people took a stand to save wildlife habitat, open space, and a place for people to be out in nature. With their dollars and their effort, they voted this a high priority. The impossible dream came true in September. Our hearts are brimming with gratitude.”
Photos from celebration: http://picasaweb.google.com/wcltonline/TrilliumCelebration?feat=flashalbum#5533521843753321346
"Permeating the Mainstream"
OCTOBER 5-7, 2012
FORT FLAGLER STATE PARK
MARROWSTONE ISLAND, WA
An empowering three day sustainability event that will change your relationship with the planet, and each other.
In 2012, Permaculture will be "Permeating the Mainstream!"
An empowering three day sustainability event that will change your relationship with the planet, and each other.
In 2012, Permaculture will be "Permeating the Mainstream!"
ABOUT THE NWPCC
The NW Permaculture Convergence is an inclusive annual event which unites communities for a weekend of intensive focus on a common goal: to design sustainable habitats, in accordance with nature, for all humans, plants and animals.
Practitioners across a wide-spectrum of skill-sets exchange ideas through concurrent workshops ranging from organic agriculture and wildcrafting to natural building and appropriate technologies; from environmental remediation and disaster preparedness to community dynamics and global justice.
In addition to the workshop space, there are also dedicated areas for skill sharing, children's activities, educational displays, and vendors.
Participants have opportunities to socialize over meals, and during the evening's entertainment. People bring dishes to share. Chefs prepare the food and everyone takes turns with the kitchen chores.
This year's event is being held at Fort Flagler State Park, a 784-acre marine camping park surrounded on three sides by 19,100 feet of saltwater shoreline on Marrowstone Island. The park rests on a high bluff overlooking Puget Sound, with views of the Olympic and Cascade Mountains. Many historic buildings remain at this 19th-century-established military fort.
Available onsite accommodations include Family Campgrounds at an additional $10.00 per person, or open partitioned Adult Dorm Rooms at additional $30.00 per person -for the duration of the event. RV sites with hookups must be purchased directly from the park by calling (888) CAMPOUT or (888) 226-7688.
The NW Permaculture Convergence, applying for non-profit 501(c)3 status, oversees event management and is fiscally responsible for each year's planning committees. This group teams-up with local communities for 'shoulder events,' supporting our allies with tours, panel discussions, workshops, and classes. Every year, the organization offers a number of volunteer and work trade positions. Ride shares, home stays and food donations can be bartered on the website FORUM page.
Participation steadily increases with each Convergence. In 2012, attendance is expected to reach five hundred as long time enthusiasts and beginners alike will pilgrimage from every corner of the Cascadian Bioregion which extends from coastal Alaskan Panhandle to the north, into Northern California in the south, and inland to include parts of the Yukon, Idaho, Wyoming and Western Montana to Fort Flagler State Park near Port Townsend, Washington. Ocean views are spectacular from the event site, and the rare temprate rainforest of the Olympic Peninsula is less than one hour away.
Ft Flagler photo by Julie Hall, Inside Bainbridge 2011, all rights reserved.
The NW Permaculture Convergence is an inclusive annual event which unites communities for a weekend of intensive focus on a common goal: to design sustainable habitats, in accordance with nature, for all humans, plants and animals.
Practitioners across a wide-spectrum of skill-sets exchange ideas through concurrent workshops ranging from organic agriculture and wildcrafting to natural building and appropriate technologies; from environmental remediation and disaster preparedness to community dynamics and global justice.
In addition to the workshop space, there are also dedicated areas for skill sharing, children's activities, educational displays, and vendors.
Participants have opportunities to socialize over meals, and during the evening's entertainment. People bring dishes to share. Chefs prepare the food and everyone takes turns with the kitchen chores.
This year's event is being held at Fort Flagler State Park, a 784-acre marine camping park surrounded on three sides by 19,100 feet of saltwater shoreline on Marrowstone Island. The park rests on a high bluff overlooking Puget Sound, with views of the Olympic and Cascade Mountains. Many historic buildings remain at this 19th-century-established military fort.
Available onsite accommodations include Family Campgrounds at an additional $10.00 per person, or open partitioned Adult Dorm Rooms at additional $30.00 per person -for the duration of the event. RV sites with hookups must be purchased directly from the park by calling (888) CAMPOUT or (888) 226-7688.
The NW Permaculture Convergence, applying for non-profit 501(c)3 status, oversees event management and is fiscally responsible for each year's planning committees. This group teams-up with local communities for 'shoulder events,' supporting our allies with tours, panel discussions, workshops, and classes. Every year, the organization offers a number of volunteer and work trade positions. Ride shares, home stays and food donations can be bartered on the website FORUM page.
Participation steadily increases with each Convergence. In 2012, attendance is expected to reach five hundred as long time enthusiasts and beginners alike will pilgrimage from every corner of the Cascadian Bioregion which extends from coastal Alaskan Panhandle to the north, into Northern California in the south, and inland to include parts of the Yukon, Idaho, Wyoming and Western Montana to Fort Flagler State Park near Port Townsend, Washington. Ocean views are spectacular from the event site, and the rare temprate rainforest of the Olympic Peninsula is less than one hour away.
EARTH CHARTER
The Earth Charter is a declaration of the fundamental principles that are going to be needed for building a just, sustainable and peaceful global society in the 21st century. It offers a compelling vision, and states the guidelines, principles and values needed in order to live together as one planetary community.
Prologue – Earth Charter
“We stand at a critical moment in earth’s history, a time when humanity must choose its future. As the world becomes increasingly interdependent and fragile, the future at once holds great peril and great promise. To move forward we must recognize that in the midst of a magnificent diversity of cultures and life forms we are one human family and one Earth community with a common destiny. We must join together to bring forth a sustainable global society founded on respect for nature, universal human rights, economic justice, and a culture of peace.”
See http://www.earthcharter.org
| 6/6/2012 6:00:00 AM Songlines' June 16 concert benefits Building Futures |
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contributor Songlines is calling forth the Port Townsend community once again to not just join in song, but to raise funds and awareness for a most worthy local organization. The “Spring Sing” at 7 p.m. on Saturday, June 16 in the downtown Cotton Building benefits YMCA’s Building Futures mentoring program. There is a suggested donation of $12. Songlines directors Laurence Cole and Gretchen Sleicher chose Building Futures as the beneficiary organization because mentoring programs help to strengthen community and encourage meaningful relationships, they said. “The Songlines philosophy is about generating connection through song and an enlivened sense of community,” said Cole. After reading an article about Building Futures in the April 11 edition of the Leader, Sleicher contacted Kim Hammers, director of the program, and knew that she had found the right organization. She hopes the partnership raises more than just funds. “We were inspired to partner with Building Futures by the desire to support mentoring by making further connections between those that are already involved in the program and the Songlines network. Perhaps people in our network will be inspired to become mentors,” Sleicher said. In fact, Hammers said, since the publishing of the April 11 article, 10 mentors have stepped up to meet with a mentee, or “buddy,” once a week. Mentors are interviewed and then placed with a buddy, age 6-11, who they meet with on school property. They can play games, work on homework, create art and more. Current mentors range in age from high school students to retirees. Some matches last until the mentee has finished high school and all of them result in meaningful experiences, Hammers said. “The magic of the friendship between the two people in a match is a win/win situation,” said Hammers. “The mentee and the mentor benefit gloriously from the partnership. I invite anyone who has the time or talent, and has it in their hearts to be a mentor to step forward. It really is quite transforming for both.” Kim Hammers and YMCA director Erica Delma plan to attend the June 16 Songlines “Spring Sing” to answer any questions about Building Futures. To hear Sleicher and Cole talk more about the choir and upcoming concert, tune in to KPTZ-FM 91.9 Port Townsend at 12:30 p.m. on Friday, June 8. All are welcome to join Songlines’ new season in September, and Building Futures is ready for more mentors. Step up to be a mentor or stand in as a member of the choir – both are ways to strengthen the Port Townsend community. |
SingPeace! Earth Pilgrimage for Peace & Global Harmony
Northwest Regional SingPeace! Earth Gym Quest
"CRAFTING A CULTURE OF PEACE"
Northwest Regional SingPeace! Earth Gym Quest
"CRAFTING A CULTURE OF PEACE"
Cultivating the Earth Soles
Singing the Soul's Song
SingPeace! Earth Pilgrimage for Peace & Global Harmony is welcoming groups to Questing Camps at Asherah, a lovely retreat site on on South Whidbey Island. The Gulf oils spill brought home the need for sustainable alternatives to fossil fuel consumption. Since the SingPeace! wagon needs a tow to move about the country, we've chosen to wait upon viable alternatives before making the journey.
In the meantime, growing in my mind and heart is the vision of bringing folks to Whidbey Island for a questing experience. As you may know, I have been training since December with the Barefoot Sensei, Mick Dodge, who has recently created a dojo (traning hall) on Whidbey Island. My goal from the beginning was to make the "Misty Mountain Quest," a journey that Mick, as a "foot fitness outfitter" guides into the Olympic Rain Forest. The quest, taken this summer, has brought me into a refreshing new relationship with the Earth. Life "makes sense;" it has been enriched and simplified since my return.
Additionally, I attended "Singing Alive," a summer harvest of sweet harmonies shared in community with singer/songweavers from our northwest region. I returned home feeling: we must keep these gatherings going throughout the year! Why not invite groups from around the region to participate together? Why not as often as once a month? These could be overnight or weekend events, with perhaps a longer gathering during the summer months. Mira Gulum said, "Yes!" to hosting them at Asherah.
Why not combine the Quest with the Song? They go together, after all, because from the "question" arises a heartfelt response that yearns to be shared and brought into harmony with others of our "tribe." Inherent in the song crafting and sharing of our songs lies a potent path to peace.
Our Earth Gym practices are all about crafting and weaving back into the earth: crafting the soles, crafting the sticks, the cowhide sandals and moccasins we sometimes wear, weaving with trees, toning with stone, finding our comfort zone in diverse, natural environments.Toning our bodies, minds and spirits, renews our relationship with ancestors, tribe and land. These six comprise a holistic practice that "makes sense." Training with the trees, the mountains, the river stones, the earth, water, fire, wind, until we recognize our unity within them. "ME" becomes "WE" and we find our way home.
Starting at Asherah as a "base camp" on Whidbey Island, we will quest and explore on foot to the east, west, north or south, asking the Earth to "teach me." Returning to camp to voice some aspect of that experience, we can try sounding, harmonizing, "Crafting a Culture of Peace."
At present, I am scouting to find out if any of you whom we've met on the SingPeace! and Earth Gym journey would like to participate. We need to hear from you!
For now, I will leave you with the poem crafted following my Misty Mountain Quest:
Blessings of the Misty Mountain Quest
In this Misty Mountain home,
Earth, tree, water, stone,
Sound in me an ancient tone,
Finding my comfort zone.
Rainforest mystery
'Mid giant majesty,
Soft-draped moss-strewn tapestry,
Finding their weave in me.
While in my hammock lay,
Bubbling river songs relay,
Dip naked: cool water, root, limb and clay,
Finding among them new ways to play.
In the misty morning air,
Kingfisher, eagle, songs we share,
Touch each stone and place with care,
Finding "stone family," I weep there.
Spot a lichen-coated driftwood shaft,
With saw and knife blade, a calming craft,
"Hoh H2O," my rain stick staff,
Finding a friend to foot the path.
On a Misty Mountain Quest
Exploring my comfort zone,
apart from the rest,
Winding upriver, silt-lined glacial pool, a test,
Finding my dance, in pure waters I'm blessed.
In a circle of sharing we are all bound
To story our quest, hidden secrets we've found.
Pulling food from our packs, we offer around,
Finding tribe among humans on this sacred ground.
In these encounters, I ask the Earth to"Teach me,
"Listening to understand with honor, humor, humility.
Heart open in a land unbranded by human greed,
Finding my home amid nature's ecstasy.
SingPeace! is stalled. The wagon and journey are in limbo following 4 days at the 2010 NW Folklife Festival over Memorial Day weekend.
No mistaking the intention for the earth pilgrimage for peace and global harmony; it remains strong. The "old woman," grandmother Pushkara Sally Ashford, is keen to carry on.
The hitch, quite literally, is in the hitch.
Locally, we've been challenged to arrange for a tow vehicle and driver every time we want to move the wagon. SingPeace! doesn't have a heavy-duty vehicle that can pull a couple of tons. We've hitched the wagon to four different trucks and drivers in as many events. And we've had to change out the hitch each time we hitch to a different truck.
Globally, we're looking at the sorry situation in the Gulf. The oil spewing from Mother Earth turns a petty "snag" into a "sign." How can we ignore Her message? How can we go on mindlessly, greedily consuming Her life's blood? And immediately in the face of President Obama's declaration about the necessity and efficacy of off-shore drilling! I guess She told us! There is no minimizing the impact; every life form on earth is affected. It's likely that I will not see a satisfactory resolution to the long-term consequences of this catastrophic spill in my lifetime. I wonder, too, about my grandchildren's lives.
Did I say, yet, that I got locked out of the wagon? With the generous-hearted help of a longtime and dear friend, Steve, who responded to my 11th hour SOS, we delivered the wagon to the NW Folklife Festival on Thursday night. I arrived back at my island home at midnight. I discovered the keys were missing the next day as I unloaded my car at the Seattle Center. I put in a call to another friend, Mick, who scoured my house for them. They'd vanished. Today, I called every lost and found number I could imagine to discover where in the world they'd got to. On Friday, of course, I had to call a locksmith who replaced the locks.
Things like the keys slipping away can and do happen when habits and patterns are in flux, especially for an old girl and event planner with too many details cramming her mind. But in the context of the big picture, taken with the other hitches and delays, I'm taking in the cues and biding my time.
At the moment, the wagon is at the garage, awaiting yet another modification to the hitch (electric, brakes, etc.).
Until an affordable, alternative and renewable truck technology comes along, preferably with a competent driver, it seems likely that we will SingPeace! more locally than regionally or in distant localities.
Mick is encouraging "the old woman in the shoe" to step out of it. He suggests parking the wagon in a strategic location - preferably in range of Tokitae! - the land where the solstice gathering will take place. "Let folks come to you, the grandmother," is Mick's advice. He points out the extent of event planning and costs of each as another good reason to rethink the pilgrimage. He's encouraging me to "use my words," to write and post blogs as a way to draw people to the mission of SingPeace! Mick is a clear mirror reflecting certain realities.
There are others. At Folklife, I received an invitation from a Unity minister in Port Angeles. Another man from the Fellowship of Reconciliation invited me to Olympia, saying, "We have a huge peace movement there and the students at Evergreen State University are going to be very interested in the wagon and in what you do." I met two young men and some elderwise women who are candidates for Mick's Foot Camp. How in the world would these folks find me and us if I were not on the road?
Coming up is an entire calendar of festivals and gatherings we could participate in - with the wagon!
Truth is, I don't know what to do. That's got to be okay, for now. I'm in limbo, awaiting surrender to "what is" and/or clear direction for the changes I feel are coming. Calling to mind the old adage: "When fishermen can't go to sea, they mend their nets."
Laurence asked me to transcribe my new song: "It's Songlines Choir material," he told me. I can do that.
Mick is urging me to write to get my message out.
Thank God for the foot and Earth Gym training as I need prospects for action and being in community. The computer and the isolation of the "ivory tower" have their limitations.
Even with the obvious hitches and delays, the SingPeace! wagon has been greeted by warm and loving hearts. Folks are getting it, rapport is there. I will post photos and details of NW Folklife in a future blog.
In the meantime, SingPeace!
Marah, white lioness, Timbavati, South Africa
ORDER OF THE WHITE LION
The White Lioness, symbol of Sacred Activism, appeared in my meditation, blessing the SingPeace! Earth Pilgrimage for Peace & Global Harmony. On the night of the Lunar Eclipse, I discovered the video conversation between Andrew Harvey & Linda Tucker, shaman and author of "Mystery of the White Lions: Children of the Sun God," learning from them, the role of the White Lion in our collective evolutionary metamorphosis.
The white lion is a rare breed, known in legend to reappear when humanity and Mother Earth are undergoing an "evolutionary metamorphosis." I was completely unaware of these lions, their message and their plight until joining a Stephen Dinan and Barbara Marx Hubbard on my first ever Shift Network call in October 2010. As a prelude to this course, Barbara talked about her book, "Emergence."
Though I'd heard her name as a "futurist" through the years, I wasn't drawn to look into her message. But some kind of activation was taking place within me as I stood, headphones on in my kitchen - it was dinnertime - nodding my head, "Yes. Yes. That's right, yes," I kept saying aloud. And, of course, I signed up for her upcoming course.
That was on a Thursday evening. On Friday, I would attend the Bioneers Conference via satellite. Bioneers' mission is "to inspire a shift to live on Earth in ways that honor the web of life, each other and future generations." My mission, the gypsy wagon journey of SingPeace! Earth Pilgrimage for Peace & Global Harmony, is an expression of a common desire to support this shift.
I awoke early Friday morning to meditate. Nodding out and in a meditative/dream state, I witnessed the following:
I am walking along a dirt road with a small group of people. One person, a tall man, is walking alongside me, his arm snugly around my shoulders. I don't look up to see who he is; instead, I ask telepathically. He tells me his name, "Larry," someone I know, and who I recognize in that moment as an "evolutionary partner," a suggestion from Barbara on the call.
Up ahead and standing at right angles across the path, is a white lioness, her head and eyes turned in our direction. A few paces in front of me and my friend is a stocky young man with a buzz cut and wearing a t-shirt. His pace has slowed. "He has a luger," my friend says quietly. Everyone takes an audible breath in and stops in their tracks as this young man takes aim at the lioness. Suddenly, I break free of my friend's arm. I can feel the fear for my safety from the crowd as I walk forward to engage the man with the gun in conversation. I have no recollection of our exchange, but it clearly diffuses a very tense situation. The young man is "disarmed," and does not shoot the lioness.
I arrived late to the second day of the Bioneers Conference, in time to hear these words: “The tale of the hunt glorifies the hunter, until the lioness tells her own story." The speaker, Elizabeth Kapu'uwailani Lindsey, was sharing her experience as an activist for climate refugees. She is an award-winning filmmaker and anthropologist who is also the first Polynesian explorer for National Geographic.
Then, I watched an online talk with Andrew Harvey author of, "Sacred Activism," in which he stated that the white lion is the symbol of "sacred activism." I recognized myself and my life purpose in that phrase, as it more nearly and neatly describes who and what I'm about than any other.
Barbara Marx Hubbard and the white lion, two rare breeds putting in an appearance at the same moment in time, the planets aligning, messengers forthcoming, all conspiring to ring the bell of my "calling"
Friends might laugh, not out of derision, but because they knew it all the time. I come from a long line of "activists," after all. I've been slow, aware of the tricks ego is bound to play and the folly of those who court power positions. Not a pretty sight anywhere in today's world.
While on that call with Barbara, I'd heard, once again, the deepest of all heart-longings: my wish to be "ordained," commissioned by the divine, for whatever I was meant to be and do in the world. I'd embraced the concept and path of "Sacred Activism," but I was not satisfied until I heard the lioness tell her story.
This, as it turns out, is not a metaphor. The white lion found me; and it keeps reappearing. I can't explain how I discovered the online video dialogue between Andrew Harvey, author of "The Hope: A Guide to Sacred Activism" and Linda Tucker, African Lion Shaman and author of "Mystery of the White Lions: Children of the Sun God." The two are setting up an Institute for Sacred Activism in South Africa.
In this dialogue, Linda Tucker points out that the white lions are here to assist in the evolutionary leap in consciousness. As "children of the Sun God," Kings of the Kings of the Beasts, they can and do ordain all actions which support Mother Earth and humanity's evolution.
What humanity needs now is a-lion-ment. Symbol of "Sacred Activism," the White Lion embodies the qualities of higher consciousness. The Seven Principles are Celebration, Oneness – One Mind, Love, Respect, Freedom, Peace, Courage.
Watch video:
Andrew Harvey : Author Scholar Mystic : Praise
Below is an introduction to a lion-hearted woman. She spoke during the 2010 Bioneer's Conference and helped to confirm my sense of having been "ordained" in my encounter with the White Lion.
Dr. Elizabeth Kapu’uwailani Lindsey is the first Polynesian Explorer and female Fellow in the history of the National Geographic Society. An anthropologist specializing in ethno-navigation, she is collaborating with Google and other strategic partners on a geospatial Map of the Human Story. Based on the indigenous science of way-finding, the project is being constructed using a variety of methodologies. The map will provide dynamic data of the human condition to help forecast emerging patterns worldwide. Produced in a visually robust and universally accessible way, the map reflects Elizabeth’s commitment to serve all people. Her work serves as the cornerstone of what will become a ‘cultural trust,’ a digital repository for present and future generations.
In 2011, Elizabeth embarked on a 186-day expedition to every continent to explore and document teachings critical to navigating the complexity of our times. Her journey will result in a multi-media platform of digital, television, publishing and live events.
The former Miss Hawai’i also works with United Nations Ambassadors on behalf of environmental refugees who are faced with the punishing realities of the climate crisis. A U.N. study predicts there will be as many as 50 million environmental refugees by 2012. There has been no other time in history where the fabric of the human story has been more vulnerable.
Elizabeth’s keen insight and first-hand accounts from the world’s most fragile regions make her international speaking engagements an inspiring call-to-action. She offers global audiences the rare invitation to experience unsung societies. Her expertise of native science and ancestral wisdom are helping reshape western perspectives.
On Elizabeth’s most recent expedition, she journeyed to Satawal, Micronesia where she recorded the traditions of the palu, Micronesian non-instrument navigators. Lindsey, who was raised by native Hawaiian elders, earned her doctorate in cultural anthropology specializing in ethnonavigation. She spent almost ten years documenting master navigator Pius “Mau” Piailug who is considered the greatest wayfinder in the world. Her documentary film, “Then There Were None”, which chronicles the near extinction of native Hawaiians, is considered a Hawaiian history classic and has received numerous awards including the prestigious CINE Eagle. She has created scholarships for children in India and the Pacific and plans to expand her efforts this year. In 2004 she was named Woman of the Year in Hawai’i.
Elizabeth serves on the international boards of the Tibet Fund, Islands First, Blue Planet Foundation and is an advisor to the National Geographic’s Enduring Voices Initiative and the Paris-based NGO ProNatura.
Our film crew in Mexico was inspired to translate and sing a version of the chorus in Spanish. We invite you to record, and post your version of "You Look Up!" in your own language. (See lyrics, below.) Video, art work, photography, puppetry, dance, exuberant play - all are welcome!
- See the SingPeace! cross-border collaboration music video: https://youtu.be/eH5FTSoyFRc. Our mother/son, mother daughter, and Mexico familia, working online and on the ground at long distance, in 3 time zones, across language barriers and international borders can have its challenging moments. Pandemics give rise to fun, creative ways of relating!
Welcome to Exuberant Animal
Exuberant Animal is an innovative life philosophy that promotes health, vitality and physical happiness. We offer a comprehensive,
multi-disciplinary approach that's invigorating, liberating and
life-changing.
Exuberant Animal training will transform your body, your organization and your community. By combining the study of human
performance with play-based movement training, Exuberant Animal
provides an experience that's exciting, inspirational and intensely
meaningful.
Our seminars and publications are ideal for
- physical educators, trainers and PE teachers
- physical therapists and athletic coaches
- team leaders, managers and cultural innovators
- yoga teachers, dance teachers and martial artists
Exuberant Animal is the creation of Frank Forencich, author of Play as
if Your Life Depends on It and Exuberant
Animal.
http://www.exuberantanimal.com/
| In partnership with WildFitness |  |
13 May 2010
Thoughts of a Crystal
Here is how a seven-year-old crystal child sees the issue of war and soldiers. He speaks in the first paragraph, and then his parents interpret his words in the
remaining paragraphs.
“To prevent war, we must imagine the soldiers happy in their homes and doing what they love. If no soldier wants to attack, then there is nothing to defend, and the
soldiers are happy to avoid the risk of killing or dying. And everyone
loves them because they do not want to hurt, and they refuse if they are
sent out to hurt. People do not want war, and the soldiers do not want
to die or attack, but on TV it is being said it is necessary, but that
is not true.”
In its apparent simplicity, the power to imagine all the world’s soldiers at home being happy and doing what they like is in the best tradition of Anastasia´s
imagery. Although we have been bombarded with images of war for eons,
this archetype is now being removed from the conscious mind. This
archetype has been around for millenia on the material plane and has
been manifested consistently, reaching its apotheosis in the recent
world wars. Then it was implanted in the minds of humanity so that
almost all the population justified the war and its dire consequences as
necessary and even glorious and heroic.
Since then, the consciousness of the planet has evolved. Gradually over the following decades, voices began to be heard protesting the wars. Thanks to this
elevation of consciousness, large numbers of people around the world
began to forget the war experiences of their ancestors, and subsequent
generations began to heal. They began to reject the idea that violence
is inherent in human nature, and so therefore it was not possible to
have any more large-scale wars. To keep the archetype of the war in the
consciousness of these populations, the leaders have used a variety of
media including film, television, and more recently, videogames.
The purpose is clear: to manifest a war, it is necessary to get a momentum of hatred and fear in the collective unconscious. They have to project and sustain these
images and feelings in enough people over a period of time sufficient to
permit its manifestation on the physical plane. These images must be
sufficiently focused and aligned so that the demonstration does not
dissolve in contradictions. That is why certain images, emotions, and
sounds of war are repeated in all the audiovisual media. An entire
generation grew up reading Life magazine and having black and white
images of war implanted in their minds. Young people today live trapped
in the archetypal world of video games and movies, and their minds are
also being implanted with images of violence.
The archetype of the good soldier waging war to defend against "evil" is one of the most revered figures in countries with long military traditions. We are taught that
the soldiers play a primary role, always ready to defend their homeland
and all those good citizens who are fortunate enough to live where
freedom, justice, and equality reign.
This archetype of the soldier waging war is a corruption of the archetype of the champion of justice. The noble feeling from pursuing justice and defending the weak
finds its fullest expression within a community where some injustice or
abuse of power has occurred. Soldiers should have the right to stay
where they would be really useful, living a peaceful and harmonious
existence within their communities.
If we imagine our soldiers happy within their communities and doing what they love, that is, what they want by calling, we would then have brave people in every
community. We would have very capable and just men and women who would
be responsible for peacefully mediating conflicts within the community.
They would also keep an eye on local authorities to prevent any abuse or
corruption. In many cases, they could provide an effective recourse to
slowly grinding justice. These highly organized teams of men and women
would also be very useful for dealing with natural disasters or
extraordinary contingencies. These soldiers could use their natural
talents in their communities, feeling integrated and useful all the
time. The figure of the used and discarded war veteran is no longer
relevant to a society that has learned to positively channel the needs
these people have for delivering justice and necessary defense.
To imagine soldiers all over the world returning to their communities and refusing to continue offering their bodies and souls to the service of vested interests is
certainly within our grasp. It is an act that can have a huge impact if
enough people decide to eradicate all the previously implanted mind
images of war. (Thankfully, most people today have not actually
experienced war and do not have these images in their present memories.)
It does not cost the civilian population that much to get rid of these
images, but for those who belong to the vast military machine it can
cost a bit more. To achieve this end, soldiers would have to feel the
civilian population’s permission and mandate to refuse to obey war
instructions. They would also have to feel loved within their
communities and feel appreciated for their talents as society offers
them tasks and responsibilities according to their capabilities.
Can we imagine this?
A video posted on Facebook.
At Langley Fairgrounds
DjangoFest NW & International Peace Week
*Song Swapping & Djammin’
Free admission. Everyone welcome!
Wednesday-Friday, Sept.19-21, noon-2 p.m.
Local Folks, greet our International Guests
Bring your instruments, voices & picnic baskets
Hosted by SingPeace! Pilgrimage for Peace & Global Harmony
SingPeace! Caravan, Langley Fairgrounds
Sharon Abreu, Michael Hurwicz & Pushkara Sally Ashford
Song Swapping & Djammin' at the SingPeace! gypsy wagon
ALSO!
*Saturday, Sept. 22, noon-2 p.m.
”Cafe Impromtu" hosted by Kristi O’Donnell, Django Djammin’
Fairgrounds, Caravan Stage
https://www.facebook.com/events/743682489296530/
Food available at Friday Farmer’s Market near WICA or in town
Hot Shotz Espresso at the Fairgrounds, Friday and Saturday
And More!
*Day ’n Night *DjangoFest Djammin’
*Acoustic Djammin' hours: 9 a.m. -5 a.m.(!)
Django Camping at the Fairgrounds
*Quiet camping or Django Camping and Djammin' available
$20 (tent) and $25 (hook ups) per night
Visit: http://portofsouthwhidbey.com/facilities/island-county-fairgrounds-campg...
Map: Fairgrounds Campground
819 Camano Ave.
SingPeace! A Pilgrimage for Peace and Global Harmony
Singing for Peace and Global Harmony off the end of a gypsy vardo - Romany for wagon or caravan - to my mind evokes a colorful, ever-resourceful community on wheels but also close to the earth, at the heart of which is the universal appeal of their life-sustaining music and dance.
This SingPeace! Pilgrimage was conceived at the intersection of our recent economic downturn and the simultaneous rise of the human spirit’s hopes for positive change evidenced by chanting, singing and dancing in the streets around the November elections. Such a heartfelt and joy-filled outpouring can, if we let it, serve to heal the aching soreness and open, suppurating wounds, strengthening the understanding and bonds among us.
I was a little girl, maybe 7 or 8, when I attended the Seattle Junior Programs production of “Once Upon a Clothesline by playwright, Aurand Harris, often described as "America's most produced children's playwright.". My childhood memory and visceral reaction to the play are far from “cute,” and “humorous” as it is described in several available online narratives.
In my version, the most vivid images are of two doll-like grown-up sized Raggedy Ann and Andy characters perched like clothespins on either end of a rope strung left to right across the stage. Between us - the audience - and the clothespin rag dolls was the bright light of a sunny day, warm and reassuring, filled with the promise of a new day. On the other side, that is, upstage of this demarcation line, was the darkened den of a clearly malevolent black widow spider, whose huge floor to rafters web the “clothespin dolls” would be caught in, if by chance they lost their balance and fell backwards from their precarious perch. She, Pinette, did and he, Pinno, went to rescue her.
We, the audience, squealed and squirmed, witness to the clothespins’ many tense and hair-raising encounters with the monstrous spider, before they made their way back to the light. Those frightening images have stayed with me for over 60 years, by the way. Here’s what one online source says about the play:
Cast: Pinno and Pinette, two clothes pins; Two Birds; Black Spider; Mrs. Ant and her little son, Junior; Mr. Cricket; Dr. Bettle; Mr. Grasshopper; and his Three Little Grasshoppers. Unit set. This play must be read to be appreciated. It's humor is contagious. The preparations for Pinette's rescue from the Black Spider are hilarious, and the actual accomplishment of the rescue is a superb bit of high showmanship.”
Okay, right. For the grown-ups, maybe.
In more recent years, I’ve come to appreciate the play’s universal theme in epics, traditional myths and everyday life of the darkness - that which is at best un-understood and at worst life-denying - in its triumphs and death throes with the life-affirming light. I’ve come to feel that it’s our choice as human beings to acknowledge and even embrace the dark side while upholding and living in the light.
The play I saw in 1948 was staged at the Seattle Repertory Playhouse, a theater whose founders and brilliant artistic directors, Burton (Pop) and Florence James, were my first drama teachers. Later, during that same year the two were named by the House Un-American Activities Committee in a scourge that damaged the lives, careers and families of many talented, esteemed and contributing members of the Seattle community.
The James were cited for contempt, fined and sentenced for refusing to tell the committee whether they were or had ever been members of the Communist Party. Pop James died before his name and reputation could be cleared, but Florence James emigrated to Canada. She was instrumental in the founding of the acclaimed Globe Theatre in Regina, Saskatchewan. She was much honored for her work in Canada, receiving, among other awards, the Legion of Honor Medal, the Queen’s Silver Medal, and the Diplome d’Honneur from the Canadian Conference of the Arts.
My family was one among many caught in McCarthy’s spider web. Ironically, I shared a dorm in India for a couple of years in the mid-1990s with Florence and Pop James’ granddaughter. Each of us, receptacles of the pain and confusion our families had suffered, had never breathed a word of it to each other. Upon learning years later about her family history, I told her, “My God, we’re related!”
In 1998, at the same Playhouse where I’d seen “Once Upon a Clothes Line,” our families gathered for the final performance of “All Powers Necessary and Convenient," a play about the impact McCarthy’s HUAC, as it was referred to, and of the treatment we’d suffered at the hands of the local interrogating body, the Canwell and Veldi committees.
The play was researched, written and directed by Mark Jenkins. Jenkins recounts that the run's final performance, "was dedicated to the family and friends of those called by the committee. Relatives of the fired professors and the Jameses were present. After the play, people stood up and told what it was like for them as children whose parents were tracked and questioned by the FBI. We also installed a plaque honoring the Jameses, recognizing their artistic accomplishments in Seattle over the years. It was a very cathartic event, very moving.” Additionally, the State of Washington apologized to the descendants of Pop and Florence James.
I recall that post play event as an emotionally trying discussion that revealed painful schisms among my family members and others similarly impacted. We were spaced as distantly as we could get in the theater. In my case, the distance eventually gave way to considerable healing and forgiveness, though I’m still aware of the absence of a sense of belonging, with a subtle, persistent underlying expectation of the proverbial rug being ripped out from under me. I mention it, here, because I think we are very often too quick to judge, attack and bruise those with whom we don’t see eye to eye.
I’ve included a biography of the James at historylink.org and a report from the Seattle PI and Times archives regarding productions in 1998 and 2002 of the play, “All Powers Necessary and Convenient.”
"All Powers Necessary & Convenient"
http://www.lib.washington.edu/exhibits/allpowers/play.html
Today, time is speeding up. No, time has collapsed. We are in a period of accelerated activity; that is, many, many more events are compressed into the space of a single moment in time. I’m fast approaching my 70th birthday (2010). I have to ask for the hundredth time, “What will I be when I grow up? What is my part and role in the epic dramas of our day? And what is left undone?” After all, I’m still here.
A “singing telegram,” a melodic message, accompanied awakening from a dream. My Soul Voice sings: “You will live in other people’s houses, and the work you do will be known long after your name is forgotten.” It repeats several times, at least three, so that I can retain the words and tune in my waking state. So, there’s work to be done and I’m not the “doer.” It’s not about me, per se.
Gathering up the sum total and essence of my life, it seems to come down to a only a few constants: singing - coming together in community to share music and dance; the quest for inner and outer peace and healing and the odyssey that has taken me around the world already half a dozen times or more; and an abiding yearning for liberation in love - the bond within a spiritual partnership that signifies ease, transparency and unity of purpose in pursuit of the highest goals of human consciousness. That’s all.
Ah, we would be traveling troubadours - peace pilgrims - greeting and joining together in song with communities around the globe. Gypsies. A “singing revolution.” It’s not a big leap from that vision to the concept of a gypsy wagon. This would be a “green machine:, communicating with much forethought in the construction but with few words the intention of a smaller/ softer carbon footprint, incorporating old and new technologies for a greener, more sustainable and affordable lifestyle.
I could imagine visiting inner city parks and community centers, attending festivals, camps and retreats, meeting school children and seniors, college students, corporate and factory employees, the troops, showing up at intentional communities, churches and demonstrations to SingPeace! Not a performance, per se, as the point is participation and inclusion, making music together with a few lead voices in the universal language of peace and global harmony.
In the words of 13th century Sufi poet, Rumi, set to music and sung by Laurence Cole:
Out beyond ideas there is a field.
There is a field, I will meet you there.
Out beyond ideas
of wrongdoing and rightdoing
there is a field. I will meet you there.
When the soul lies down in that grass,
The world is twofold and thought-bound.
Ideas, language, even the phrase “each other,”
Just don’t make any sense.
--Jelaluddin Rumi
http://www.laurencecole.com/music-3.html
I’ve noticed that the closer we come to the light, the darker and longer shadows become. But in that light, we’ve begun to understand how rigid ideologies have divided and set us apart. We’ve fought and died for nothing, in a sense, because conflict and wars don’t change the fact that we’re all on this earthship together. We come here, expressly, to learn how to get along - to treat each other and this creation with utmost dignity, respect and love.
It’s a messy business, at times, as learning and lessons are a very individual thing, involving multiple modalities, intelligences and timings. In other words, we don’t all arrive together and in sync at the door of paradise, though wholesale positive change is in evidence at critical mass: when enough of us align our thoughts and intentions for the common good.
Since its beginnings, this country has relied on war to establish its primacy. Cyclic economic downturns have been followed by war. Ours is a war mentality and a war-dependent economy. We're always “gearing up” for the next one. When ideologies that have become institutionalized also have a vested economic interest in the outcome of a conflict, we forget about learning to get along, justifying ruthless and wanton acts of violence: collateral damage, ethnic cleansing, atomic, chemical and bioweapons, or the even more insidious and dehumanizing forms of power grabbing, manipulation and control exerted by the deceitful power-hungry few against unsuspecting masses.
J.D. Martin sings:
There’s another way
Beyond the blue and gray
Where we all can lay
Our weapons down
There’s a brighter light
Beyond the wrong and right
And if we let it shine tonight
I know we’ll live to love again another day
There’s another way.
http://www.garrett-martin.com/music-store/albums/i-dreamed-rain
The documentary film, “Singing Revolution” by James and Maureen Tusty chronicles the peaceful uprising by the Estonian population after years of repression by the USSR. “Most people don’t think about singing when they think about revolution. But song was the weapon of choice when Estonians sought to free themselves from decades of Soviet occupation. The Singing Revolution is an inspiring account of one nation’s dramatic rebirth. It is the story of humankind’s irrepressible drive for freedom and self-determination.”
They did it! They took back their country, their culture and their lives without so much as raising a fist.
http://www.singingrevolution.com/cgi-local/content.cgi
So, while we’re still mucking about in the harsher realities, the sooner we get to singing our intention for “another way,” the sooner we’ll meet and merge with a brighter light. Hey, we don’t have to wait until we die to do it!
From recent observations, I would say that the “Singing Revolution” has already begun: witness the Ubuntu choir Network http://www.ubuntuchoirs.net/index.php and other such open circle choruses around the world; the remarkable attempts by Mark Johnson, a film maker who has brought musicians around the globe together in the film, “Playing for Change: Peace through Music.” http://www.playingforchange.com/
Look at the burgeoning number of devotional chant and sacred sound gatherings stirring hearts and bringing increasing numbers of folks together to sing.
The opening gong for Sing Peace! A Pilgrimage for Peace and Global Harmony, took place at the equinox on March 21st (2009) on Whidbey Island in Washington State. Laurence Cole, director of Songlines Choir, one of the Ubuntu Choir Network, whose mission is to ReEnChant the World, led songs of Peace and Global Harmony.
Patricia Duff, writer for the South Whidbey Record, did a lovely feature article for the event. http://www.pnwlocalnews.com/whidbey/swr/community/41391304.html
And Jim Tolpin, a founder of the Port Townsend School of Woodworking, was on hand to give a slide show about his 30 year love affair with gypsy wagons. I’ll be taking his week-long course, “How to build a gypsy wagon,” in May, after which construction of my wagon will get begin in earnest on Whidbey Island. http://www.ptwoodschool.com/Home.html [Course took place in May, after which I commissioned one of the instructors, Steve Habersetzer, a Port Townsend farmer and craftsman, to build the wagon I designed. (The wagon was in the last stages of completion, as of Dec. 15, 2009.]
Even without the vardo, my “pilgrimage” is already underway. As the light of my intention grows brighter and more focused, it is met with many opportunities to refine my understanding while gathering in community with others who have heard the call.
More about the present course will appear in this blog and on the SingPeace! website.
Thanks For TREES & MEMORIES, a blog post by Maureen Freehill
This was an evening to remember always; a day of great challenge, adventure and triumph for all participants and patrons at the "For TREES & MEMORIES" gala benefit and MomoButoh Dance Company. We gathered to raise funds and awareness for Whidbey Camano Land Trust's effort to purchase and save from 664 acres of Whidbey's last contiguous forest land forever. We raised just shy of 4K, just about 1% of what is needed to buy it. It feels great to have gathered with such a strong positive energy and intention for highest good and give it our all in the face of some very challenging circumstances.
I had to do the majority of the cleaning and preparation of this wood mill on my own (many thanks to my mom and student Evan who helped!). The sound guy cancelled a day before, the video guy got the flu and could not do it. The dressing room just about killed us; we had nearly no time left for rehearsal and some performers
decided to make directorial decisions at the last minute adding a touch of spicy chaos to an already interesting techno soup. More audience members showed up than expected and they all participated with such enthusiasm and respect. The abundant and delicious food & drink were prepared and served with such care and generosity by my mother and her partner.
The SingPeace! folks with Pushkara, Laurence Cole and Mick Dodge, along with Harmonica Pocket's Keeth Apgar and Nala Walla, gathered and built our community spirit by giving birth to new songs to honor the trees under the blue sky before we entered the hall. Dennis Zimmerman the DJ showed up at the last minute to save the day and was amazing at jockeying both the sound and film projection as it illuminated all over the wood filled hall, even though he had never been a VJ before. Wow! Christine Tasseff helped with much needed equipment and took up the task of documenting the event on video. Here are some of the results to give you a little peek into highlights of the festivities.
The most amazing thing for me was the Live Edge Woodworks space itself donated by Kim Hoelting and adorned by Deborah Koff-Chapin's drawings that surrounded us in wooden slabs and magical images inspired by the trees and forests. We were all reminded of how the trees are not only important for our physical survival but also to nourish our souls.
