What We Need Is Here

Making Peace

Memorial Walk - 3400 block of NW 8th Avenue

A voice from the dark called out,
"The poets must give us
imagination of peace, to oust the intense, familiar
imagination of disaster. Peace, not only
the absence of war."

But peace, like a poem
is not there ahead of itself,
can't be imagined before it is made,
can't be known except
in the words of its making,
grammar of justice,
syntax of mutual aid.

A feeling towards it,
dimly sensing a rhythm, is all we have
until we begin to utter its metaphors,
learning them as we speak.

A line of peace might appear
if we restructured the sentence our lives are making,
revoked its reaffirmation of profit and power,
questioned our needs, allowed
long pauses...

A cadence of peace might balance its weight
on that different fulcrum; peace, a presence,
an energy field more intense than war,
might pulse then,
stanza by stanza into the world,
each act of living
one of its words, each word
a vibration of light - facets
of the forming crystal.

- Denise Levertov

The American Climate and Energy Act of 2009 Justice and Survival

A bill described by some as "the most ambitious energy and global warming legislation ever debated in Congress" was passed by the House Energy and Commerce committee and has a real possibility of making it through the House. It was predictably bipartisan with only one Republican crossing over to vote for it. Four Democrats from coal-mining and manufacturing states didn't vote for it either. But in the end, a somewhat watered-down version passed 33-25.

It sounds sometimes like simple-minded ideology; Republican congressman Mike Rogers of Michigan called the bill "the "biggest energy tax in the history of the United States."  But I want to allow for the possibility that representatives of folks living in states where livelihoods depend on polluting industries are truly concerned about the well-being of their constituents (and not just their own pocketbooks and power). It's going to be a dilemma we're all going to face. We are eventually going to have to choose lower "standards of living" to avoid catastrophe. For those already living at the margins, there could be tremendous suffering unless those of us with more take their well-being into account.

This is true on a global scale as well. If this bill passes the Senate (there is strong possibility of a Republican filibuster), the U.S. - the largest user of energy - will be finally taking a leadership role in conserving it. This is absolutely necessary for getting other countries on board who otherwise have reason to doubt the difference their sacrifice will make. But some of the very poorest countries will struggle with energy standards they fear will plunge them back into the poverty they've been recently climbing out of. Enter the question of responsibility: should those primarily responsible for the mess we're in now be also primarily responsible for getting us out of it?

It's complicated and requires real debate by statesmen and women (not just politicians) who can see beyond their own party and their own political well-being. It's an issue of both survival and justice. The decisions we make today will determine what kind of world we leave for all of our grandchildren. It's got to be physically inhabitable - which becomes more in doubt the longer we debate the impact our current ways of living have on the planet. But we also need to be able to tell the story of how we all got to that place together - the story of what kind of people we were.

Big consumers (countries and individuals) are going to have to find the moral will to lower their own consumption rates while at the same time supporting the most vulnerable. There's no room for  bipartisanship in this.

Thank you, Jon Stewart

This morning, we watched the much touted face-off between Jon Stewart and financial commentator Jim Cramer on "The Daily Show."  Please bear with the discomfort of watching someone publicly exposed as an unethical liar, and watch it.  Jon Stewart, a comic, is such an unlikely hero; but here he is doing the hard work of real journalism - researching the facts, asking what, why, how, and reporting them with candor and passion. After one video clip of Cramer describing how to manipulate markets to make a lot of money quick (at the expense of someone who actually works for a living), Stewart describes how sick and angry it makes him that the retirement accounts of so many hard working folks were played around with like this.

What does this have to do with "living locally?" We're watching an economic system collapse, and along with it - one hopes - the collapse of greed and self-centeredness as the admired and rewarded traits they became among us. We've got something to learn as we do the hard work of remaking the way we take care of ourselves and each other - which is, at its core, what economic (and food, and healthcare, etc.) systems are for.

Jon Stewart unveiled a little more of the truth last night. I'd love to see us turn our anger and disgust into passion for change and the energy to make it happen.

Depression and Depression

"The Thinker" and other Rodin studies - Orsay Museum

One facet of our "new economic reality" (what will it be called someday - the Great Collapse?) that warrants some thinking about is the emotional/spiritual side of this kind of loss. It's been less than six months since the market took its historic plunge and the bailouts began, and most of us have been in a "wait and see" mode. But lately, I am hearing more and more about the repercussions of having the rug pulled out from under one - whether from young people who are about to graduate from college or from older ones who have seen their retirement money suddenly reduced by half.

While most of us knew at some level that houses could not just keep appreciating in value year after year without any actual improvements being involved, and that the gap in pay between those few running the company and those making it run was not just or tenable, and that we couldn't keep on buying and driving more and more without resource depletion, it was a a nice illusion for those profiting from the situation to believe in.  But now here we are in Reality.  And it is scary for those who have lost 40% of their investments, catastrophic for those losing their jobs and homes. It's a matter of security and livelihood and hope in the future, and these things go much deeper than our pocketbooks; they touch us at our core.

Awash in economic advice - Buy more! Save more! Keep your money in the stock market! Get it out of there quick! - I am interested in how to reconfigure the way we look at our lives and the lives of others in an economic system that's changed for good. And I mean that both ways - permanently and necessarily. I've found some voices that have been helpful to me in both understanding what happened and figuring out how to contribute to the "other world" we have dreamed was possible.

Some voices worth listening to:

Parker Palmer - Recently interviewed by Bill Moyers and by Krista Tippett on Speaking of Faith, Palmer offers a sobering analysis of the human failings that brought us here and of the promise of finding ourselves "in one of those interesting points of history where self-interest and idealism converge."

Sharon Astyk - If you read this blog regularly, you know I am a fan. She has been talking the talk with wisdom and an almost frightening understanding of what the future holds if we continue on the path we've been on (she's been right on a lot of the disasters most of us didnt' see coming). She's also walking the walk of raising a young family grounded in values and work that she hopes will carry them and the rest of us through.

Krista Tippett and Speaking of Faith: A new series of short interviews called "Repossessing Virtue" explores the "moral, spiritual, and practical aspects of the economic downtur" with wise folks from all over the political and religious spectrum including urban activist Marjora Carter, physican and activist David Hilfiker, economics professor Ayman Amer, Buddhist teacher Sharon Salzburg, and others.

Bill Moyers - In addition to his recent interview with Parker Palmer mentioned above, Moyers has been on top of the economic crisis from the beginning with thoughtful interviews with economists of every political stripe.

Our neighbors - I learn a lot listening to the fears and hopes of folks in my own neighborhood - the old, the young, the experienced, the newly educated, the hopeful, the fearful, the homeless, the political, those who had money, those who never benefited from the system. They are our community and they  offer us reality, a mirror in which to examine our own belief systems and plans, and real support during times of difficulty. If you don't know your neighbors, now's a good time.

Like the person who is experiencing personal depression who seeks relief through self-reflection, help from others, and the hard work of putting back together a personal world that's fallen apart, I believe we can, during economic depression, find new ground to stand on together. I'm grateful for these harsh and hopeful voices offering us a new and more real understanding of who we are and what the possibilities may be.

Black Friday

Traditionally "Black Friday" heralds the beginning of the Christmas shopping season. This one was even blacker than usual.  Ugh, it was just sickening to read this. My hero, Sharon Astyk, describes the situation well here - how we are all implicated by our greed and need for more, and what the idea of Thanksgiving could teach us about where our treasure should lie.

Here's an excerpt:

The economy is a game of music chairs, and the chairs are disappearing.  When the music stops for each of us, and our chair is gone, for a time we will rely primarily on the resources we’ve built up now.  Those of us left holding the big screen tvs and the designer handbags will have them - or whatever their resale value is.  And those who have ties - biological or chosen - will have those.  The truth is that our consumer culture needs us to be isolated, fragmented, alone, empty - or advertising wouldn’t work, the nonsensical reasoning that we have to have this year’s big thing wouldn’t work.  The primary project of consumer culture is to drive us apart, to make sure we do not share, we do not combine resources, or even consult on how ridiculous the things we are being told are.  And it has worked magnificently.

How can we change the way we are doing this? How can this season be one of building up and celebrating the real wealth we possess - our human ability and drive to form relationships, to forgive, to innovate and make do, to share and to build hope? This is the year to learn.  

Nausea

No matter how local we attempt to live and be, we are all affected by this national catastrophe. This just made me sick to my stomach.

Pause for a moment at 2:29 and hear where almost half of the cash provided so generously by us little people (even though none of us actually voted on it...) went. Ugh.

Truthiness, and the Fall from Citizen to Consumer

 

“...a term first used ... by Stephen Colbert to describe things that a person claims to know intuitively or “from the gut” without regard to evidence, logic, intellectual examination or facts.” - Wikipedia

Have you been watching the debates? Or listening to the stump speeches? I have become a little addicted lately - checking out The Huffington Post and The Daily Beast every morning with coffee, and watching excerpts from The Daily Show and Colbert at night to try and give it all some perspective.  

With many others, I hope Obama might change things for the better (they're pretty bad...). But it's hard to tease much substance out of the speeches and debate rhetoric when they keep on repeating the things they're hoping will please the most voters. I have tried to tell myself that they've gotta play the game to get elected. But do they? Doesn't it seem like its gotten worse?  At the debate we heard both candidates say the crashing economy would not have much of an effect on their presidential plans.  Now there's a lie that's going to be revealed pretty quickly.

Last night I finally got around to watching the last of a four-part BBC series called, "Century of the Self." Ben and I started watching it while he was in treatment, on recommendation from  The Daily Kos. The whole thing was a fascinating take on how Freud's understanding of the human psyche and our unconscious needs was used by business and politicians in order to manipulate us. (The term "public relations" was actually coined by Freud's nephew, Edward Bernays.) This last episode showed how our transformation from citizens, concerned about the common good, to consumers, concerned about fulfilling our individual needs, has also changed the way politicians campaign and the way we decide on whom to vote. In other words, it helps explains how we elected a straight-talkin' liar as president, twice. 

You should watch the fourth episode before the final debate.  And watch the others too.

Common Good

The "Wild Spaces - Public Places" initiative, which will be on the ballot in November, is one of those things that seem clearly the right thing to do.  But there is always that block of voters who believe any tax is a bad tax (the Gainesville Sun had a depressing number of folks who wrote in lately against taxes for public education, for Pete's sake), so it may face some opposition in November - especially this November.

But it's exactly at times like this that it's most important to be forward-thinking in where our money goes. In hard times, folks need public spaces more than ever - free places for their children to play, place where elders can find community and resources for this part of their life, and land that will be preserved for all of us now and for future generations. This is real frugality - getting the best bang for our buck by putting it in places that will benefit us all, especially the most vulnerable. (Oh, how tempting it is to point out the huge amount we have been recently taxed to bail out big business, and the big question looming regarding whom these dollars will actually benefit).

As stocks plunge, and irresponsibility skyrockets in the national picture, It's up to us to take care of what's important in our own place. Who can argue that our elders, our children and our land aren't excellent investments?

Signs, Signs, Everywhere a Sign

. . . blockin’ up the scenery, breakin’ my mind (Five Man Electric Band, c. 1970)…

What is wrong with us?  I always feel a little embarrassed driving along I-75 north of here.  Such beautiful north Florida landscape – pine trees, rolling hills, wildflowers, and BILLBOARDS EVERYWHERE.  Seems a shame this is the first view folks get of Florida. It doesn’t really matter whether it’s half-naked women advertising Café Risque or a giant lawyer-face suggesting you give him a call in case you’re in an accident, it’s a blight.  And apparently it’s big business too.

For the second time in the last few months, Clear Channel, owner of many billboards (among other things), has got its chainsaw out. First  it was four oak trees along the 600 block of 13^th Street, now its cabbage palms along the rail-trail off Waldo Road near 8^th Avenue.  The Gainesville Sun had a good editorial  on the whole thing last week. 

It’s wrong that a city can’t have a say in deciding what its citizens want to look at.  And a bigger shame that our goofball state representatives keep earning their good old boy reputations by selling themselves to their buddies in the sign business.  I’d write letters telling businesses who advertise on these mega-signs that we’re boycotting them, but I can’t find any billboard advertisers we support anyway.  Are these signs really profitable?  Must be, but I don’t get it. 

Memorial Day

 

We had a wonderful weekend full of bike riding, slip-n-sliding, watermelon-eating, playground-playing and movie-going. It was warm, but  not too warm - a really perfect, family weekend.  I felt flooded with gratitude for my family and for our commmunity at large. 

One of our bike rides took us down 8th Avenue which runs between our neighborhood park and Loblolly Woods. For the last couple years, our local branch of Veterans for Peace has placed grave-markers along a mile-long stretch of it. Each is marked with the name, age, and hometown of a soldier who has died in combat in the "War on Terror."  The growing length of the display is a stark reminder of how many we have lost.

On the opposite side of the road, tied to the playground fence at the park, are banners made by family and friends of these men and women.  Some have epitaphs embroidered or painted on: "He loved his family,"  "She had three daughters," "He was so proud to be a Marine."  One of those young men played Capture the Flag on summer evenings with my boys.

 

It would feel so good to believe - especially on Memorial Day - what I was once taught: That I have this happy life with my family in this community due to the sacrifices of these young men and women.  But the only connection I can make is that they were playing on slip-n-slides and riding their bikes through the woods and eating watermelon with their friends such a short time ago.  That they are the age of my older children, and I remember them. And that they are gone.      

As a responsible adult in this world, I want to tell them that I am so sorry.  I am sorry we didn't do a better job of making this world a place where they could live and thrive.  I am sorry for the lies of our elected officials and for our gullibility in the face of them... For our need for revenge after September 11, for our reckless use of resources that lead us to invade other lands rich in oil, for the stories we tell that sound good, but aren't true, I am so sorry.  Forgive us.  We won't forget you.