I Am The Earth

In Deep Water

2010-06-22T16:13:00.001-04:00

If the Earth Could Speak in Tongues

2010-02-11T08:53:00.004-05:00

"I am. I breathe. I sigh. I feel. I bleed. I cry. I think. I know. My blood is being sucked from me. My bones are being chipped away. My nutrients are being plundered. My source is being extracted from my body. I am just like you, Earthlings. I need my fluids to keep my boney plates suspended so that my body will not suffer from arthritis. I need my bones so that I may be structurally sound. I need my organs so that my body may function and so that I may excrete and process, and process and excrete. I am suffering now from the constant taking you insist you must do, but at who's expense. Ours. We will suffer together if all of you do not realize that, just as your blood cannot be taken without knowing what limits must be honored, my blood also must stop being taken for my sake and yours. You call it oil, but that oil is my blood, my lymph, my lubrication. Stop taking it now. You wonder why my earth quakes? My joints are dry, and as you suck my fluids out in one place, my body tries to replace the need by adjusting it from somewhere else. I move! Don't you know anything, human? Yes, the planetary forces are changing and the weather you experience is becoming more fierce and forceful. That is not my doing. That comes from above from where you have introduced your pollution and your "superior" minds into the natural equation that functioned so well before you came to think you were "meant" to do something, discover something outside of your selves. I am in agreement with the source of those patterns bringing winds and rains from above me. How can I not be? I must survive and I will. You, however will not, and may not. My ground will continue to tremble and shake you and many of you will not survive that, but there is a greater innerstanding than this. My vibrations and your vibrations are similar. We are made of similiar elements, not all the same but you hold some of what I hold more of. So, as I vibrate you will also. As I change, you will too. Well, that is enough now. I am not tired, I cannot be. I have life to give birth to, birth to prepare for, the new season is upon me."

The 7 Tones of Love

2010-01-10T15:03:00.003-05:00

Thinking along the lines of Love, it has become in my awareness that we humans, and humanoids, too, love too shallowly and allow the true depths of love to pass us by. As we age, we are introduced into the fold of romance, sexual relations, intimacy, belongingness, and the darker sides of love which include possession, lust, and exploitation. Forget that we live our entire lives, some of us, in one-sided or two-dimensional realities of what is possible in love. We must fight hard against the tide of normalcy and expectation if we try to love in ways that others frown upon or do not innerstand. We are, for all practical purposes, programmed into a complacency once we meet the man or woman of our dreams. We settle in for a lifetime ride, only to love one, and never to ascend to the heights of loving that are our promise from the Most High, our Gift of Life, the Promised Land, the Tree of Life, because, the Tree of the Knowledge of "Good" and "Evil" has taken root and carnality, in flesh and in spirit resides in our hearts, minds, and souls. So, the Truth lays hidden just beneath the skin, the soil of our possiblities lays waiting for the seed of Love True.
What I am learning is that there is a promise that we must demand be kept. That promise lies in the Law of 7. There are 7 levels of Love in man and woman. These levels correspond to 7 within us and vibrating with the 7 levels of Heaven, of Earth, of Mind, of Body, of Soul, of Spirit, of Self. There are 7 tones of love. We sing them in a circle of sound--Do, Re, Me, Fa, So, La, Ti, and returning to the beginning again, Do. Back to the source of love. Do-Earth (Root), Re-Body, Me-Self, Fa-Soul, So-Spirit, La-Mind, Ti-Heaven. In my loving, I am learning that for each of my levels of innerstanding, there is a vibration that corresponds to that Love. I am now seeking to innerstand how each level has its own tone, and each tone corresponds to the Love between my Self and my Other. The first Other being my Self. In the root of it all, at the core of my Love, must be a love for me from me. All the other tones rise up out of the one tone I sing to my Self. If that tone is non-existent, then the Love I experience at the level of the other 6 tones, will not exist either. Since we all have some degree of self-love, this degree sets the tone for the Love I experience on the other levels of my Self. Makes sense? If my Root Tone is set by another, outside of my Self, then all my other tones are compromised and controlled by the one setting the tone at Level 1, if it is not my "I". Once set, my Level 1 Tone vibrates to the next Level to either attract the corresponding tone from within and without. For each Level there is a corresponding Tone another holds and can add to yours, combining two into one, and becoming inseparable, in tune, creating harmony, or out of tune, creating discordance.
What sets the tone? The cultivation of the "I".

Perfect Surrender

2010-01-10T09:47:00.000-05:00

On Possession....and The Dangers Thereof

2010-01-03T11:41:00.009-05:00

I have experienced, am experiencing, a possession of sorts. Well, not really "of sorts", but of a kind that we are all possessed by, and that is the demon of "wanting" of "desiring to possess" those things we cannot. In Bruce Almighty, the "God" figure, played by Morgan Freeman, tells the "Bruce" guy, played by Jim Carrey, that he was giving him the keys to the kingdom for a time, and that, as a condition, there were certain rules he had to abide by. First, he could tell no one that he was "god", and second, he could not manipulate anyone's free will. The second rule applies to the possession of a possessing spirit. The first thing it wants to do is to override the free will of another, and it's working through the one it's possessing. I can see my picture here.
We are all prone to desire, to wanting and needing. Though, there are only a few "needs": philia (love of family, tribe, clan), sustenance (food, water, air), shelter (housing and clothing), and peace of mind. After that, everything else is a desire, though, we, in our cleverness, attempt to make some wants "needs". Now some would argue that "peace of mind" is a "catch all" that some will use to put all sorts of things they desire and think they need for that peace spoken of, but, no. This peace of mind refers to the knowledge that one is warm and loved and safe and fed, period.
So, what of this demon I speak of? I love a man very much who has a strong sense of self and is clear that he walks this Earth free to love, free to be, and encouraging in his very steps to me, and all the others in his atmosphere, to be the same. I was angry because I could not be with him and he was making no effort to be with me, so it appeared. My emotions raised up to a high point where I was unable to come out of the rut I'd dug for my self. He, helped me through this, never letting me go, but never descending into the depths of my despair with me. Voila! What an awakening. He loved me through my anger, and is there waiting for me to finish getting out on my own. All the while, teaching me a lesson about allowing myself to come under the power of emotions that do nothing for the Spirit, and teaching me that true Spirit has nothing to do with the thing of the flesh when it is possessed by it's own mind. Wow. So, here, for reference sake (really for me) are the 7 deadly Vices (I don't believe in "sin", per se), and the 7 Cardinal Virtues so we can ultimately, make ourselves right.

The 7 Deadly Ones
Pride is excessive belief in one's own abilities, that interferes with the individual's recognition of the grace of God. It has been called the sin from which all others arise. Pride is also known as Vanity.

Envy is the desire for others' traits, status, abilities, or situation.

Gluttony is an inordinate desire to consume more than that which one requires.

Lust is an inordinate craving for the pleasures of the body.

Anger is manifested in the individual who spurns love and opts instead for fury. It is also known as Wrath.
Medieval theologian Thomas Aquinas said Anger is "the name of a passion. A passion of the sensitive appetite is good in so far as it is regulated by reason, whereas it is evil if it set the order of reason aside."

Greed is the desire for material wealth or gain, ignoring the realm of the spiritual. It is also called Avarice or Covetousness.

Sloth is the avoidance of physical or spiritual work.
Sloth is the desire for ease, even at the expense of doing the known will of the Most High. Whatever we do in life requires effort. Everything we do is to be a means of salvation. The slothful person is unwilling to do what the Most High wants because of the effort it takes to do it. Sloth becomes a vice when it slows down and even brings to a halt the energy we must expend in using the means to cultivate ourselves.

Ok. We ALL deal with them, perhaps to some degree every day. Now, I have seen my own casting into the pit, and, I tell you, the way I felt, I don't want to be there any more. It will make you crazy.

So, now for the 7 Virtues, which, may vary according to your source. I list here the Contrary Virtues, those virtues that will oppose and neutralize the 7 Vices if put to the work to do so. Here they are:

The Seven Contrary Virtues
Humility, Kindness, Abstinency, Chastity, Patience, Liberality, and Diligence.
Practicing these virtues is alledged to protect one against temptation toward the Seven Deadly Vices. In the face of feeling like a dread is overpowering you, like you are out of control of your self, and your mind descends into mental confusion and chaos, here are the tools to use:

Humility against pride
Kindness against envy
Abstinence against gluttony
Chastity against lust
Patience against anger
Liberality against greed
Diligence against sloth

Finally, Ghandi had his own take on the 7 Deadly Ones. I apply these more to our human community because what we do collectively had a greater impact on us all and the beings on and in the planet, and, of course, the planet Earth herself.

Wealth without Work
Pleasure without Conscience
Science without Humanity
Knowledge without Character
Politics without Principle
Commerce without Morality
Worship without Sacrifice

I, for one, give thanks for my lover and friend giving me sound guidance, and being wise enough to stand back and not get hit with the venom this demon of possession was spewing out. It got angry, it got lustful, it got envious, it got greedy, it got lazy, it got prideful, it got gluttonous! All of them came out looking for its demands to be met. And, as I searched for a way out of that mud puddle, my friend, my lover, my spiritual partner threw me a rope. He waited until I was ready to take ahold of that rope though. He did not stand there coaxing me to take hold of it. He just waited patiently, never raising his voice (I did all of that) until I realized I was going to have to pull my Self up out of it, and he would give the rope some tension (and the attention) needed so I could. He was humble, patient, kind, he abstained from engaging the demon, he was chaste, he was liberal with his love and wisdom, and in the end, he was DILIGENT! Thank you. This is dedicated to your pure virtue, light and love.

Living Out In The Open

2009-12-29T15:54:00.004-05:00

This is really about the Shadow many of us live under. Secret lives, secret loves, secret tastes, secret habits, secret shadows. As the light of the full moon rises above, and the lunar eclipse sheds its shadow over the Earth, the duality in light-dark is asking us to reflect upon our own oppositions. How many of us love too many? And rightly so? How many of us long to bring that love out in to the open? Tell the world about our violation of the expectation of monogamy? What? No, it's not about sex, it's about spiritual elevation. Reaching beyond the bounds of man's mindless possession and control over Love, over Feelings, over Natural Responses to others. This is the Dream, to live love and laugh out loud, out in the open, with verve, nerve, and inspiration! Too many of us live in relations that are meaningful for a time, but we are bound by oaths, vows, and expectations of happiness that fail us almost always. We live in painful circumstances. We know this is not the only way. We look at each other, unloving now, yet imprisoned by expectation. Let this coming time, the next 364 1/4 days be a challenge to find love, live love, dare love, be love. Wisdom is looking for the possibility of love in everything and everyone. Love as boldly as you can. Tell your other that Love is and will always be. Free Love Up! Peace.

Lioness on the Rise

2009-12-24T18:25:00.002-05:00

Wonderful message. Thank you, Sistar! As we enter the darkness of winter, the new moon rose, settling into her nest. Out of the labryinth of love's nurturing, will come, in spring, a new cub, a new lioness rising! Sing to us Sistar Queen!

The Truth of Our Existence

2009-12-09T10:51:00.000-05:00

John Brown and Me

2009-10-16T15:26:00.004-04:00

Today, 150 years ago, John Brown and his warriors, set out to overturn an institution that was denying generations of Black people the right to LIFE, LIBERTY, AND HAPPYNESS! I thank him for his courage and his nerve, and for giving up the one thing he did not acquire at birth, nor did he accept as a consequence of his life, and that is WHITE PRIVILEGE. He is the only white man in the history of this country who gave that up, willingly sacrificing an inheritable position of comfort, a position that would have allowed him to ignore the very trouble his kind was creating for eons to come. Yes, he did not succeed in his ultimate quest to take over the arsenal at Harper's Ferry, but he took a stand that was uncomfortable and stood his ground. That's more than anyone else to have done since given the same privilege and entre in to "white" society that they have not earned. So, Mr. Brown, your position with me is firm, and though your brothers considered you a mad man, I consider you the only one with any sense at all. Thank You.
http://www.democracynow.org/2009/10/16/150_years_ago_today_abolitionist_john

EarthDay Poetry

2009-10-09T11:21:00.000-04:00

For Me, From a Friend

"She Ain't Pretty"
by Rudwaan (copyright 10/06/2009) Used by permission

She's beautiful
For pretty is but a temporary look
Like that new cover on a book
Soon to bee worn
Perhaps even torn
She ain't pretty
She's beautiful
For pretty is man-made
A mere copy of that which God-made
mansions but tremble in the wind
while oak trees are but merely swayed
She ain't pretty
She's beautiful
For pretty is as pretty does
Pretty now will soon be pretty was
Pretty dares not show it cares not
For pretty wears that which pretty shares not
She ain't pretty
She's beautiful
Like the air one's lungs long for
She's beautiful
Like the tears one's eyes dare not despise
She's beautiful
Like the years worn by the elder who now peacefully transpires
She's beautiful
She ain't pretty
She's beautiful
Creatress of the heavens and the earth
Giver of birth
Adorned of the Most High
She ain't pretty
For pretty is empty like white is
And beauty is full like black is
She is full and black of beauty
She is beautiful
She is black
She is goddess

Thank you, brother.

Love is a Verb!

2008-11-07T16:43:00.003-05:00

When I began this planting, I started to notice love more present in my life. The beings in my garden were loving me, even the bees. Some times they would breeze past my ear, drag their legs across the back of my hand as I worked, or make their presence known in other ways. The ants did not overwhelm my garden, taking only what they could carry and focusing on one fruit at a time. I never needed to worry that they would ravage my garden. There was enough to go around, after all. My family would wander out into the morning or evening to see what I was up to, what fruit I was gathering, what herb I was dancing around. My cat would keep me company and watch curiously as I sat in the dirt pulling up the young sprouts of "weeds". Love really showed up in the actions of my friends and neighbors who kept my garden watered while I was away, and who took home some of the fruit so their purpose could be fulfilled....i.e. eaten!

What I learned from this season of growing is that it takes love to grow a garden. Gardens are not always simply tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants. There are gardens everywhere we turn. The most impressive gardens to our eyes are usually well-tended, having a variety of colors, types of flowers and fruits, and no weeds in sight. But gardens are not always so perfect, and need not be. The point is to touch the Earth, plant a seed, grow a plant, give birth to life that sustains you.

During my planting and harvesting, I found myself being planted and harvested. A gardener, of sorts, found a fruiting flower blooming in me, and started to tend me as if I were a part of his garden. He watered me, pulled up the weeds that had begun to grow around and within me, and provided plenty of extra light for me to grow in. Not recognizing at first that this one who came to me was a master at the art of cultivation, I was caught by surprise by the love I felt as my soil was gently turned and fertilized. As Mother Earth, Gaia, must feel when her loved ones sit at her feet, touch her heart, and plant seeds of life within her, I, too, feel precious and considered and important and loved. As this gardner returns to his garden to tend to my petals he brings sunlight and love. My blossoms reach up, like the blossoms of any flower seeking nourishment, to touch his heart, feel his loving hands, and kiss his sweet face for bringing me to life once again, for reminding me that I am a flower bearing fruit. Ah Grace. I am joyous to be in his garden and for him to be the one who tends to me.

Each of us tends a garden where living beings await our care. I speak in metaphors about the acts of love one person brings to another. I speak of a love that can only come about when we pay attention to the love we send out with sincerity. This love returns, this love circles around and seeks its origins and always bring new love with it. In planting my garden, I awakened the heart of the Earth within me. That awakening sent energetic messages to all the minute beings that took my messages, like bees take pollen, out into the ethers finding a caretaker for me, for my heart. Love is in the action of loving. There is magick growing around me, in me, through me. There is evidence that Love, in all its beauty, is best adorned in the acts performed in the little moments. A shared glance. Recognizing spirit. Accepting the giving of wisdom. Allowing a touch. Knowing you need. Giving what you have. Love is a verb. My garden and my gardener are that verb for me. Peace.

Worlds in Collision

2008-10-11T05:38:00.007-04:00

There has been a gap between posts here, and for good reason. I had nothing to say as I watched the drama unfold before our eyes. Between the cliffhanger of a presidential election (I jest), the natural wonders of our weather here on Earth, the human response to fear around oil supply and distribution, and the falling of the sky on Wall Street, I simply could not sit down long enough to write. But, I have been having many conversations with people everywhere. It seems, according to popular opinion, that our world has finally changed. Changed? How? You might ask. The obvious changes are hard to miss. The thieves have been in the temple all along. In fact, we gave them the key even though we knew they were thieves. They have left the building and taken the silverware, too. Left quite a mess to be cleaned up, as well. And you know what? They've even offered to come back and clean up their mess, and, it appears, sheeple are ready and willing to let them do it. Doesn't this time and day just simply amaze you? We are actually witnessing the fall of western civilization. How could this be so? Well, when a civilization rests its laurels upon cotton and digitized illusions, it's not impossible for that cotton to burn or for those illusions to disappear once an awakening begins to occur. Awakening? Well, not of an enlightened type do we see in this awakening, more of an abrupt end to sleep. This is not, in my opinion, the stuff of prophecy, this is more like people taking entitlements to other's property simply because those who own the property did not pay attention to the signs in front of their faces that there was a need for them to do something different than to trust those not trustworthy. Now, we stand holding empty bags where once there was, at least, a hope that we had something of value inside the bags. Not any more!
Check this out:
http://www.democracynow.org/2008/10/10/bush_to_host_emergency_finance_meeting

Well, it's not like we weren't warned. There have been many voices speaking to the inevitability of the fall. We live in a circular universe. Cycles repeat themselves. People repeat themselves, and the mistakes people make seem to recur, over and over and over. Folks, look through your history books, not the ones written for you, but the ones you've written and the people you trust have written. Listen to the speeches of those so-called "dissidents" who speak out against the lies of those we have allowed to be in power. We have the right to revolution. It is written in our code, it lays in wait to be activated through our DNA, and our children are expecting us to do something other than consume their lives away. For the people, it cannot be "business as usual". Now is the time for us to take this mess seriously. We need a new way of life. What are we going to do?
Check this out: www.zeitgeistmovie.com.

Return

2008-06-16T17:29:00.004-04:00

It is becoming more obvious that the world of man and the world of nature are in a major clash moment. The events in the weather the past weeks have shown that we are on a collision course with disaster. To escape it all, I walked outdoors to my new and budding garden to pick the fruits of my labor. To my delight, peppers and tomatoes, basil, rosemary, thyme, oregano, catnip, lemon balm, and st. john's wort were all waving their little hands at me, ready to be picked and clipped. I felt such a warm surge of love coming from them, and the morning air was fresh and true. I could hear songs coming from every corner of my world, and the sounds of famine, drought, and warfare disappeared, not because I had forgotten them, but because in returning to the garden I had found the peace and cure to all our ails.

The days are hotter now, the wind still blows, the rain still falls, the water still flows, the birds still build nests, the squirrels still bury nuts, the bees still buzz, and through it all, the one being out of step, out of tune, continues to cut trees, build roads, slather on the tar and concrete to heat up his world all the more, people still drive the suv's and f-150's in spite of the signs, in spite of the costs to us all. Take a moment, you lovers of the earth, in the morning, breathe the new air, hear ancient songs sung by the winged beings, the rustling of the 4-leggeds, and you will know you are one with it all as you, too, harvest your gifts from Her.

Order of the Planet

2008-06-03T08:43:00.001-04:00

If you listen to information swirling round about your head, if you pay attention to the signs of man and of the Divine, if you see that most people are not paying attention and are being swayed in one direction, you will ultimately have to come to the conclusion that there is a pattern of behavior that is just out of our reach, to some degree imperceivable, but felt deeply by your soul. You know something is not right with the world. You can feel it, but most people are not aware of themselves enough to even begin to be aware of what is outside of themselves.

We're in deep, according to history, and the patterns of possessing power that have taken shape over the past 13 centuries. That's right, 13 centuries. Count from about 700 a.d. 13 is a magic number but most of humanity is afraid of it. More on that later. It would be difficult at this stage to indoctrinate the common people into the history of the royals on the planet, not just europe, their governing body, their halls of knowledge, justice, finance, and worship. Most of us are completely oblivious to the fact that the dramas unfolding before us began so many centuries ago, and represent an unbroken chain of murder, deceit, fraud, lies, subterfuge, and espionage, not to speak of intermarriage, arranged marriages, and the marriage of fortunes to fortunes.

What began some 1300 years ago has its roots in the powerful civilizations on the continent of Alkebulan some 13 centuries before that with the changes in power that ultimately left it open to domination by the Romans, who, high on violent savagery as they swept across Asia, Europe, and into Alkebulan, destroyed and maimed the hope of the planet to ever live to its highest potential. The seed planted, these savages and their future children were to bring into the world a form of domination that would require the basest types of behavior coupled with varying forms of greed, selfishness, and favoritism based on skin color and bloodlines. Solomon said in his "Songs" that there is "nothing new under the sun." I believe this.

Many of us with the genetic basis to "know" intuitively that this is more than meets the eye are responsible for ourselves only. I said it. For many moons now I have spent my days and nights warning the people I speak to about the coming downfall brought on by our own agreement with these "evildoers". It is very obvious that we can no longer ignore what is apparent. So many people feel the loss of control over their personal finances, what most people base the quality of their lives upon, that it is just a matter of time before all hell breaks loose. What then? By then, the NWO will have been fully implemented. The fascist state will have a firm foundation for the next phase of power-controlled domination, and we may find ourselves hiding like the Jews from the Nazis.

There is a movie everyone should watch as soon as possible. It was shot during Hitler's rise to power, after he'd been given power and as he laid the foundation for the Nazi party's "final solution." Ask your local public library if it carries this movie. It's called "Triumph of the Will." Shocking really to watch this and be able to see the slow but progressive creation of every aspect of fascism take shape among the young, the women, the men, the girls, the boys, and all the while this skillful manipulator was preparing his country to do a thing so against humanity it would make the world shake. I kid you not. Along with that, you really should watch D.W. Griffin's "The Birth of a Nation" for the tenor it sets about the way society in this country is truly set up. Even though we call it "segregation", it really is simply the establishment of two societies. One for the "white" and one for the "colored". Call yourselves what you will, if you are not pink, red, rednecked, or a hillbilly, you are a "colored" and there is a society for you. But, it's a secret to most of us. Many of us actually believe that there is only one society in the u.s. Go back and read the post "9 Simple Rules."

So what of this order of the planet? It was here before we were born. It lives off our fears and our doubts and our need to believe in something or someone greater than ourselves, greater than the whole of man or mankind. It will live on so long as we breathe life into the dead, lifeless body attached to a head that has never been dealt a fatal blow. It assures its longevity by scaring us into submission and daring us to take up arms against it. We feed it with our tax dollars because we are too afraid to stop paying tribute to the beast. We train our children to fear and love it, too. We believe, even today, after it has sent many millions of us out into the void and others out into the fields to work as slaves once again, that it will be compassionate and come back to save us all. The signs show otherwise. We are on our own. No one is going to come and help us. What is so ironic is that we, the people, sat in silent awe as Bush I gave us our marching orders September 11, 1991, and told us that he (and "they") were installing a new world order. Somebody was about to take power from someone else. He said it was more than just about a small country (Iraq), it is about their future hegemony, a despot, a dictatorship that believes that you and all the rest of us are too unimportant to be trusted with governing ourselves. They, and only they, are the rightful heirs to ALL the Earth's resources. And to whom they decide a little bit shall go to, they shall get a little.

It was like a timebomb, a repeat of a show we watched 10 years before. September 11, 2001. Another apparent step toward the NWO. Did they know? Of course "they" did. Most of the people reading this post are thinking people. I know that you are already there. For the rest of the people who still believe what these beasts tell you to believe, I say: Take heed of the signs. They are all around us now. As the veil is lifted, the mask is lowered, the curtain is pulled back, you will discover that Oz is a place where the colors change according to the mood the masters wish to set for the people. Oz is a place where most folk are conforming and complacent hoping the Wiz has all the answers. Of course, the Wiz, the all powerful, is simply a man who will ultimately leave the people behind to return to his own humble roots, but the people will be left to discover what is actual for themselves. Those few who are truly radical will be the ones to pull the Wiz out of his curtain-concealed haven. It will take more than a few of us, the brave, the genius, the curious, the loving, and the light (Toto) to lead those who wish to depart the nightmare to slay the beast.

The order of the planet calls for us to wake the hell up. Turn off the tube. Keep what money you have left for a time when you'll need it to get across some other border. Talk to each other. Learn how to shoot a gun. Pack a bag just in case you do have to run. Learn how to grow food. Ask for help! Tell someone else. Tell the truth! We are all waiting for each other. Liberty is just around the corner, but we've got to step across the line drawn in the sand to reach it. Stop the rise of the new world order now! Peace.

What Lies Beneath...

2008-05-30T13:26:00.004-04:00

This morning my sister called to tell me that she was sending me a new phone; one to share with her because she has thousands of minutes and she'd love to be able to connect with me anytime, anyplace. I have the same cell phone that I've had for 6 years. I don't mind that the ringtone is elementary or that the phone itself is not "flashy" with all the add-ons like speakerphone, etc. Something Alice Walker said in one of her pieces on our relationship to the planet struck my soul and, it being firmly planted, I have chosen not to participate in the incremental advances in cell phone structure and function. She said, and I am paraphrasing, that the materials that are used to build cell phones come from deep within the earth, and that there is a reason why these elements are buried deeply. She said that there must be a karmic debt paid by us for bringing these things up to the surface, and that we will also be held accountable for the destruction of the people native to these lands, who slave for us to have these comforts, and for the destruction of the land itself. I do believe this to be true. Much like the destruction of the rainforests, lying deep below the surface are microbes that are meant to stay under the surface, but man's activities bring them to the surface. We wonder from where the new and emerging virulence comes, and few of us think far enough down to understand that some things were meant to stay buried. Take oil, for example. Yes, we have converted it to our own use, but above the ground we are all suffering the effects of that use. Today, the emissions in the atmosphere that humans and all other air-breathing creatures need to survive are choking the very life out of us. People who never had problems with asthma are now sufferers of it. Children can't enjoy the blue sky we did in our youth (if you were born prior to 1968 you might remember a different color of blue). The sky is filled with junk, the space above our heads is filled with space junk, including satellites and the remains of certain men's toys that have not benefitted but a few. This planet belongs to us all. No one people has the right to claim it as their own. All of us have the responsibility to demand that the destruction of our planet cease. But what of our appetites for pleasure, for instant gratification, for "keeping up", for being first, for having it all?! Truly, I tell you, unless you deal with your wants, unless you squash your desires, unless you be the one to say "no thanks", and encourage your neighbor to do the same, man and mankind will collectively drown in our own disbelief as humanity's day of reckoning IS close at hand. We may not be able to stop the train from crashing, but we can slow it down. Use what you already have. Accept that you already have enough. Learn how you can live with less, and more simply. Believe that one person can make a world of difference, and that a small group of people you join up with can make a bigger difference. You can do without, you can grow tomatoes, you do look great with a natural, you can take a walk and park that car, your children will love the change in you as your change will allow you to turn to them and play with them, perhaps, for the first time in their lives. When we simplify, slow down, take less, we gain time. Isn't that what all this is about anyway? Time? Our technological addictions are killing more than just animals, the Earth, and time itself. It's killing people, childhood, and dreams. Do you truly need another cell phone? If you knew what people a world away have to go through in order to supply you with that new phone, would it matter? Would you choose a different path? Would you be happy with 1? Don't use the argument that your demand for a new phone fuels the market economy which creates jobs for people who might not have one. Consider the job, consider the benefit, consider the detriment, consider who really is getting paid. Not these people. In fact, your cell phone spawns wars. Are we warmongers now? So, to my sister, thank you, darling. My old phone works fine. I love you.

Stargate 11-19-X

2008-05-19T10:57:00.002-04:00

Happy 83rd Earth Day Brother El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz! This day is a special one indeed! The 2nd Full Moon in Scorpio! There is also an abundance of 11's influencing this day! The Moon and the Sun star are both at 29 degrees at the time of its Fullness! That's an 11. Brother Malcolm would have been 83, that's an 11. The Full Moon moment is at 10:11 EST, 1-11. AND, there is a Grand Cross in the Sky. This Grand Cross is between fixed signs, Leo, Scorpio, Taurus, and Aquarius. The planets involved are the Moon in Scorpio, the Sun in Taurus, Venus in Taurus, Neptune in Aquarius, and Saturn on the Leo/Virgo cusp (1 degree Virgo). Wonderful! First, let's consider the Full Moon in Scorpio at 29 degrees and in the 11th house from where I sit. There's that 11 again!

The Full Moon is of course the "high tide" for human emotions. It is the point at which we are the most sensitive as a species and the most receptive. Scorpio is a sign ruled by Pluto in its highest manifestation: transforming power, intense concentration on one particular thing, sexual healing, instigating for the purpose of renewal, heated interactions for the sake of searing together and tearing apart, and its polarity, Taurus, is ruled by the lower vibration of Venus: materiality, earth, fruitfulness, sowing seed, mating, standing still, being steadfast, being pregnant. The need for us to be creative, fruitful and multiply, is the essence of these two forces together. On the one hand, this is the time when all creatures in nature are birthing young, nursing them, and doing what is necessary to populate the Earth with the species that make up the planetary being. This productivity is not done with any "thought" because it is instinctive, intuitive, and natural. Of course, Scorpio and Taurus both epitomize instinct to survive, intuition and the natural being. No surprises. The best use of the energy of this Full Moon is to be as productive, pro-creative, and natural as one possibly can be in the habitat one has built around them. With the mate/s one has in their life, and to be as high-minded as one can given the influences of Venus and Pluto in shaping our relationships, for good or ill. Given the presence of Mars in Scorpio's profile, one should be aware of creating any discord now within relationships of any sort. Paying attention to the needs of others rather than our own needs sometimes is just the remedy we need to bring our relations closer to the place we want to see them go. Still, one must stay within the realm of reason.

The Grand Cross is in the fixed group of signs. Imagine a large T in the sky between these prominent planets: Moon, Sun, Venus, Neptune and Saturn! Whew! The fixed nature of the signs indicates that we must be aware of our tendency toward inflexibility and also the need for structure in life so that we can see exactly where we are, where we are going, and who we say we claim to be. It is certainly a sign that we will have much to endure, and that the energies can be confusing to the immature mind causing it to be unsure of what direction it should take.

The Moon and Sun are naturally in opposition to one another during a Full Moon, and combined with the Sun in this config is Venus bringing the need to be physical, to touch another and to touch the Earth. With Venus in opposition to the Moon, however, some may receive approached from those they really aren't in tune with. With Neptune in square to the Moon, we may have dreams that are clashing with our reality. We may want the "perfect" love or expect "perfection" in our loving, and we may need to step back to see our surroundings, our lovers, our selves, in a truer light. Of course, Saturn tends to help us break out of our illusions that Neptune helps us to build. Perhaps that is why the Omniverse put Saturn right where it is at this Full Moon moment. Saturn's opposition to the Moon warns us not to take our emotional frustrations out on those closest to us. It tells us we need to pay attention to how we are nurturing ourselves, and especially those most needful of our healthy emotional state....our mother, our children we mother, our creations, our own hearts. Saturn's opposition to Neptune will help you tether your own tendency to drift off in daydreams and illusions. We will all be more likely to keep our heads out of the sky, but we will be leaning toward learning more about mysticisms and world religions....

Saturn and Neptune are squared to the Sun and Venus during this moment of time. Saturn tends to take some of the spontaneity away from Venus' love for play and freedom because sometimes we need to work, but Venus' pairing with the Sun suggests we need to resist working too much and find the time to play, be free, touch the Earth, preferably with someone we love and want to be loved by. Neptune suggests in this config that we pay attention to what's real, not to get too heady over being loved and making the wrong choices about who we are loving, or denying ourselves the love we need out of some crazy notion of "perfection" that does not exist.

The Stargate I call 11-19-X is simply a suggestion that this planetary configuration, the influence of the number 11 and this being the day (perhaps the moment) of the birth of our Shining Black Prince, is also the opening of a Stargate for spirit to come and go, in and through those who are aware and awake enough to feel the vibrations of Love, Ideal, Truth, Knowledge, Virtue, and Fruitfulness. 11 is a Master Number of Unity. When the pattern repeats, the request is clear: unify to protect one another from treachery that comes from illusion and emotional disturbances. Harmony can come when we know what is discordant within us and between us and then to seek compromise between what is conflicting within before we seek to compromise with what is conflicting outside of ourselves. These two forces must ultimately unite for happiness. The two are not 1, and remain separate, though joined, each maintains its own unique worth. In order to understand, meditate upon the meaning of this: 1+1=11, not 2.
It will come to you in an instant. Peace.

Walk for the Water

2008-05-17T07:01:00.002-04:00

http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid909844589/bctid921116924

http://www.walkforthewater.org/

The Roots of the School to Prison Pipeline--It's All About Human Capital

2008-05-16T08:28:00.011-04:00

The following article is a must read for parents with children and for adults who care anything at all about the state of education in the united states of America, children in Georgia, and especially, the metro Atlanta area. Not only is this story revealing the truth about how the adults in charge care so little about the futures of children needing the most help, it also reveals how political careers are built on the backs of our children, whether we realize it or not. It does not take much to put a community behind bars. We ought to have learned that in the past 23 years since the Reagan-era. We are the most incarcerated people in the world! And we stand around twisting our hands wondering why things are the way they are. Here's the formula: 1--Create fear of the children in the minds of the ones in charge (read Jawanza Kunjufu), 2--Label behavior as criminal when they do what children have always done (i.e., fight), 3--Take away parental control, or better yet, 4--Wait for the parents to ask the government to take their children and "fix" them, and 5--Place them in some sort of government sponsored "program" that pays lots of money to the program but gives the children absolutely nothing to enhance their lives. Once those parts are in place, the next step is almost inevitable for those that do not escape the iron fist of the law for one reason or another: imprisonment for a term of years and forced enslavement based upon the 13th constitutional amendment to the united states of America. Of course, our system creates criminals out of good children because we fail to participate early enough and fully enough. We buy into the myth that children are "bad" and "stupid" and "behavior problems". We place a different standard upon the heads of Black boys when it comes to them acting in accordance with their natural impulses. White boys are just "being boys". These have the benefit of obtaining "curbside justice" where they are "spoken to" and given a "slap on the wrist" and sent home, only to grow up and believe the world is their oyster and nobody they do not have to respect can tell them otherwise. Here, you have a situation where 97% of all the students are Black. What does this say about us as adults, as leaders in our households, as guides to our children? Do we truly believe that some entity outside of ourselves can fix what's gone horribly wrong? Shouldn't the system be institutionalized instead of the people? The children aren't crazy! The people aren't crazy! What we have created is!
Of course, the choice is yours! Always has been. You and I will always volunteer to give up on our own freedoms, and by way of agency as parents, we hand over our children's freedoms, too. The sister in this story, FINALLY, got it! The only answer to government control over her child, and its sheer incompetence to educate him correctly and with compassion, is to HOMESCHOOL! Yes, YOU can. Si, se puede! After you read this, apply some of the principles of CEP's failures to the public schools in your community. They may not apply to your child, but I guarantee you, for someone's child, they are present. There is a lot more that can be said about his story. Do not skim over the parts pertaining to Bush, Texas, Republicans, Corrections Corporation of America! This is who is shaping the future of education in America. Click on the link to the "No Child Left Behind Act" in the story. That's a play on words if ever there was one. Think about the phrase. Obviously, it does not mean that all children will be educated! To me, it means that, when it's all been said and done, there will be no children left! Where will they be? Your guess is as good as mine. The prison system, the battle field, the cotton field, the mental hospitals. a listing on the stock market under CCA/CEP! Based on the successes of "no child left behind" those seem the most possible. The board room, the top of industry, the creators of new and cleaner technologies, the parents of sane children, the teachers of the next generations? Perhaps they'll make those into "reality shows" for our entertainment in our old age. What dreams may come. READ. Peace. (All the embellishments to this article are mine). ____________________________________________
Forrest Hill Academy: The children left behind
When the Atlanta Public Schools hired politically connected Community Education Partners to operate an academy for kids in trouble, a miracle was promised. An ACLU lawsuit now alleges the school is a warehouse for hard-to-teach children.
Published 05.07.08
By Scott Freeman
http://atlanta.creativeloafing.com/gyrobase/forrest_hill_academy_the_children_left_behind/Content?oid=479295

Patti Welch was living in Douglasville when she went through a divorce last year. Atlanta was her chance to start over. Weary of her one-hour, 20-minute commute to the northside law office where she works as a paralegal, Welch found a duplex in the West End only 20 minutes from her job. But the move also was about her 15-year-old son, Patrick. He was a smart kid, a B student entering the 10th grade. But he'd gotten into fights. One took place just off school grounds and involved several kids, so officials labeled it "gang-related." That meant Patrick would be sent to Douglas County's alternative school.
Even though she was confident her son wasn't in a gang, Welch didn't bother to appeal the school district's decision. She thought an alternative school might help him. And she hoped the 10 days Patrick spent in jail after his last fight would serve as a wake-up call. Welch knew her son would be sent to an alternative school when they moved to Atlanta. But she thought it would be temporary. Instead, officials told her that because Patrick had a gang-related fight on his record, he'd never be allowed to enroll in a regular school in Atlanta.
She tried to make the best of it. When told he'd be sent to Forrest Hill Academy, she looked at her son and forced a smile. "Wow," she said hopefully. "They're putting you in an academy."
Six months later, Patrick became one of eight student plaintiffs in a class action lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union's Racial Justice Program in New York City. The suit alleges that Forrest Hill – which is operated by a for-profit company called Community Education Partners – is little more than a pathway to prison for Atlanta's unwanted students. "It would be a stretch to even call this a school," says Reggie Shuford, an attorney with the ACLU's Racial Justice Program in New York. "There is little to no academic instruction, and its students are treated like criminals. It is nothing more than a warehouse, largely for poor children of color."
The ACLU contends that Forrest Hill students, 97 percent of whom are African-American, spend most of their days filling out worksheets, for which they get no feedback. According to state figures, nine out of 10 students at the school are unable to pass the standardized state test for math proficiency. The figures also show that Forrest Hill is the most violent school in Atlanta. "It is a national disgrace that the Atlanta school system has handed over its constitutional responsibility to a private, for-profit corporation," says Emily Chiang, the case's lead lawyer.
Forrest Hill wasn't quite the academy that Patti Welch had hoped for.
The idea of putting problem children into an "alternative school" is a recent phenomenon in the world of education. Before a federal law that took effect in 1978, public schools had no legal requirement to provide education to special needs kids. If a child was violent, or continually disrupted the class, schools could kick him or her out. When the law took away that option, teachers and school systems faced the chore of trying to tame disruptive students. The trend of taking those kids out of regular classrooms and putting them into "alternative" schools began to take hold. That practice quickly led to allegations that some systems – under increasing pressure to churn out higher scores on standardized tests – were simply "warehousing" their undesirable students, out of sight and out of mind.
"Those schools weren't about education, but just getting through the day," says Eric Freeman, assistant professor of educational policy studies at Georgia State University. "Those were the 'expendable kids.' It's no longer acceptable to have schools where kids are warehoused, but we still have a long way to go."
When it was founded in 1996, Community Education Partners touted itself as a way to get expendable kids back into the mainstream. From the start, however, there were indications CEP's considerable political weight was as responsible for its rise as were its education programs.
CEP was formed in Nashville by four men with heavy Republican connections.CEO Randle Richardson, was chairman of the Tennessee Republican Party from 1992 to 1995 and oversaw a 1994 electoral sweep in which Bill Frist and Fred Thompson won Senate seats and Don Sundquist was elected governor. Another co-founder, John Danielson, would become chief of staff for Education Secretary Rod Paige under George W. Bush. One of the initial investors, Tom Beasley, had chaired the Tennessee GOP before Richardson did.
Beasley also founded the Corrections Corporation of America, which runs privatized prisons. Founded in 1984, CCA has grown to become the sixth-largest prison system in the country – trailing only the U.S. Bureau of Prisons and four states. But the company also has faced criticism for understaffing, high turnover and lax security. According to a 1999 state audit, neglect of medical care and security at CCA facilities in Georgia amounted to "borderline deliberate indifference."
The two companies – CCA and CEP – have turned out to share some parallels. Both had business plans that relied on obtaining contracts to operate government services. Both were started in Nashville by major Republican Party players. And both went to Texas to make their mark. Texas was a natural entry point for CEP. In 1995, George W. Bush had become governor, and his administration was brimming with ideas to reform schools. The bundle of changes would be touted during Bush's 2000 presidential run as the "Texas Miracle." In that environment, George Scott, president of a Texas nonprofit education reform group, helped CEP gain a foothold.
"I got pulled into it by the former superintendent for the Houston school department," Scott says. "It's a sinister manipulation of reality to say that public education is meeting its constitutional and moral obligation to these children; we throw at-risk kids into alternative centers and forget about them. Then along came a company that said it was going to do something different." Scott says he first used his political connections to help the company land a contract to take over the education services at a juvenile detention center. He was impressed by CEP's pitch that its methods could help problem children get up to speed academically so they go back to mainstream schools.
"You have kids in the ninth grade who can't do fractions," Scott says. "If a kid is in the ninth grade but is at the fifth-grade level, giving them an algebra book is useless. Under this program, we would start them at the level where they are at, and build from there. CEP promised two years of academic growth for every year a student was in their school."
In 1997, Scott says, he used his relationship with Paige, then Houston's school superintendent, to help CEP land its first public school contract. Under the future education secretary's stewardship, the Houston Independent School District was becoming a cradle of the so-called Texas Miracle. Paige had put a system in place that held individual principals accountable for dropout rates and test scores. Then, the district signed a $17.9 million contract to turn the education of as many as 2,500 children to CEP.
Initially, the corporation hired Carl Shaw – who was the former chairman of the Texas Education Agency's assessment committee – to develop an independent test to grade the progress of the CEP students. "I will never forget the day the school board approved the CEP contract," Scott says. "Randle Richardson and I were walking out of the building and I told him that not all the kids in this are going to make two [years of progress] in one. But that is going to be your strength. You'll say that you're being held accountable for the program."
Before CEP's contract with Houston took effect, however, the first test results from the juvenile detention facility came back. Scott recalls that they showed the students weren't making much progress – some had even regressed. CEP blamed the test, and fired Shaw.
Richardson disputes that account. He says Scott let his friendship with Shaw intrude on his judgment and that the scores showed 20 student inmates had regressed in math but that most had made great progress. His own expert looked at the test and determined it was flawed, an opinion seconded by the Texas Education Agency.
Whether it was over a principle or a friendship, the incident left Scott with strong feelings about CEP. He now says the one thing he's most ashamed of in his professional life is helping the company get into the Texas schools. The absence of Shaw's test, he says, left the company devoid of the very thing that had attracted him to the concept in the first place: accountability.
Instead, Scott says, CEP began to cull its political connections. A sitting Houston school board member was hired as a consultant. Sandy Kress, who later authored Bush's No Child Left Behind program, was hired as a lobbyist. And when the company opened the campus of its first alternative school, in Houston in 1997, former President George H.W. Bush was at the opening ceremony to offer his endorsement. "They put together a very powerful, politically juiced operation in Texas," Scott says.
CEP followed its Houston deal with a five-year, $10 million-a-year contract in Dallas. Then, it moved on to Florida and Philadelphia. And all along it followed a familiar pattern: It hired well-connected lobbyists to sell the program and courted elected officials with generous campaign contributions. CEP claimed it had found the key to educating a student population that was thought to be beyond help. The schools used a computer-based education program called PLATO that CEP said enables students to quickly catch up to their age level in reading and math skills.
The company was swept up in the middle of what became a nationwide education reform movement. Bush campaigned for the presidency heralding his "Texas Miracle" of low dropout rates and high test scores. When he was elected, he named Paige to his Cabinet and pushed through Congress the No Child Left Behind Act, which instituted high achievement goals for the nation's public schools. But even as it rode the wave of its association with Bush's education changes, CEP became a target of criticism. Some parents complained of prisonlike conditions inside CEP schools. Others claimed CEP was, in reality, doing little more than warehousing problem students.
There were official rebukes as well. An internal evaluation in Dallas found that "the model of education provided by [CEP] was untenable." "The reliance on noncertified teachers for the bulk of the student-teacher interaction was useful for the company to save money, but was not a design in the best interest of the students," the report went on to say. "Students who attended Community Education Partners did not do very well academically." CEP had even refused to provide its budget data to the school district, the report said, which made it impossible to know just how it was spending the money it received.
In 2002, the Dallas school system fired CEP. By then, however, the company was developing its relationship with a new customer: Atlanta.
It's unclear exactly how CEP came to acquire a $6.9 million contract to open an alternative school in Atlanta. Richardson says the school system contacted the company in 2001. Citing the pending ACLU lawsuit, Atlanta school officials won't even talk about CEP. At the time the contract was signed, Atlanta officials brushed aside concerns already brewing in Dallas. They cited a "task force" report that supposedly recommended the district privatize its alternative schools; when the AJC requested a copy of that report, however, school officials said they couldn't find one.
It didn't take long for concerns to crop up in Atlanta. In August 2002, CEP opened its alternative school in temporary quarters at the old Archer High School. Parents of some of the students attended the Rev. Darryl Winston's southeast Atlanta church. "We were hearing allegations of mistreatment and a prison environment," says Winston, president of the Greater American Ministerial Council. "We met with the staff, and they admitted that 90 percent of what we described had to do with the building. The Archer High School campus was extremely chaotic. They told us the building did not give us an accurate picture of what the program was about."
CEP even flew Winston and other community leaders to Houston to tour their schools there. "We were impressed by what we saw," he says. The company assured Winston the problem was that the Atlanta school had yet to find a permanent location. The company prefers a specific design for its schools. Kids are segregated into male and female classes, and the classes are isolated inside pods within the building. "In school, kids get in trouble in the hallway or the cafeteria or going to the restrooms," says Anthony Edwards, a CEP vice president. "So we control that. There are restrooms and water fountains in each of the common areas. It eliminates movement. Kids get in trouble when they're moving."
Three properties had already been identified, but each was scuttled by community opposition to an alternative school in the neighborhood. CEP asked for Winston's patience, and he was willing to give the benefit of the doubt. Meanwhile, the company did what it could to strengthen its political ties in Atlanta.
When school board members faced re-election in 2005, CEP and its executives gave money in four races. According to Fulton County records, Randle Richardson made a $250 contribution to Mark Riley, who easily won re-election. He also contributed $500 to Brenda Muhammad, a former board member who ran successfully to regain a seat. CEP's chief financial officer, Phil Baggett, contributed another $250 to Muhammad. CEP was more generous in two other contests: Richardson and Baggett each made three separate contributions to incumbent Eric Wilson that totaled $2,000, and newcomer Yolanda Johnson received a total of $2,500.
Although Georgia law requires candidates to list the occupations and employers of their contributors on their disclosure forms, none of the school board candidates did that for the CEP executives. Muhammad says she had no idea Richardson and Baggett were CEP executives until CL told her. "If they were standing in front of me, I wouldn't know them," she says. "No campaign contribution will influence me from making my decisions based on the best interest of the children of Atlanta."
Riley also said he was unaware that Richardson led CEP. "That's a little embarrassing," he says. "I make a point of never accepting contributions from vendors. I've even returned checks before." Six months after the school board began its new term, it extended CEP's contract to 2009. When school opened in August, Patti Welch and her son got their first look at Forrest Hill. Welch went through a 90-minute orientation, where the rules of the school were laid out. Patrick wasn't to bring anything onto campus that was considered contraband. The list included watches, jewelry, purses, combs, brushes, keys and money in excess of $5. Paper and pens weren't allowed either; the school would provide everything that was needed, even tampons for female students.
Patrick would go through a metal detector each morning and be patted down by a security guard to ensure he didn't have weapons or drugs. Backpacks weren't allowed, and books couldn't be taken home. In fact, there was no homework for Forrest Hill students.
Patrick went through a weeklong orientation that included tests on the PLATO computer system to determine where he stood academically. On his first day, he sent his mother a text message: "This school is so bad."
He found the lessons boring. He complained that the teacher would simply put an assignment on the board; then the kids would be expected to do it on their own. Once the students were finished, they were given crossword puzzles to fill out. "Patrick found it totally uninteresting and totally unmotivating," Welch says. "He kept sending me text messages, and I didn't believe him. He started missing days, so I went up there."
What Welch saw alarmed her. The building was new and well-maintained, but the pods where students were segregated reminded her of a jail. "There's one steel door to the classroom, no windows. It looked like a mini-prison." Not long after that, she heard the ACLU wanted to interview parents with children at Forrest Hill Academy for a potential lawsuit. Welch decided to talk to the organization.
Two years ago, a special education lawyer in Atlanta called the ACLU and suggested they investigate the CEP school in Atlanta. "As soon as we began to scratch the surface, we were so outraged by what we found," says the ACLU's Chiang. "The standardized test scores are really shocking. No one was passing."
State statistics show the school has made few strides toward improving its students' academic standing. According to state Department of Education figures from the 2006-07 school year, 91 percent of CEP's students failed the state's assessment test in mathematics; 66 percent failed the reading portion.
In its latest contract with Atlanta, CEP agreed to a performance goal of making measurable progress in 31 categories for the 2005-06 school year, based primarily on results from the state's Criterion Referenced Competency tests. Of those categories, six couldn't be measured because there were too few students enrolled to get a proper study group, and CEP students showed improvement in 11 from the previous year. But in 13 categories, the students tested worse. In the final category – ninth grade physical science – there was no change: 100 percent of the students failed both years.
"They cannot deny their standardized test scores are abysmal," Chiang says.
Shirley Kilgore, a former Washington High School principal in Atlanta who now conults for CEP, counters that it's unfair to evaluate the program based on state tests. "Students in an alternative program are transient," she says. "We had a girl come in here last week. She's been here a matter of days, but her score belongs to us. Some of these students taking the tests have not been with us for any length of time."
Richardson, the company's CEO, points out that almost 90 percent of students sent to Forrest Hill are at least two grade levels behind in reading and mathematics: "You wouldn't pass it either, if you're reading at the fourth grade level and you're taking a ninth grade competency test."
The ACLU claims the heart of the problem is that Forrest Hill cuts corners when it comes to academics. The teachers don't teach, Chiang says, but instead hand out worksheets for the students to fill out.
She also notes that CEP has a practice of hiring inexperienced teachers. According to state figures, the average level of experience of the teaching staff at Forrest Hill is less than a year.
Kilgore, the CEP consultant, argues that few quality teachers want to work at an alternative school. "They are either committed to making a difference," she says, "or else a new teacher starting out." But at least one other alternative school attracts far more senior teachers: The average level of experience at Fulton County's McClarin Alternative School is 19 years.
The ACLU also alleges that students often are manhandled by the school's staff, that teachers have even thrown textbooks at the children in their rooms. CEP denies there is any student mistreatment.
"Inexperienced teachers are a recipe for problems," says GSU's Freeman. "These kinds of schools are special places and full of a challenging population of kids." Most of CEP's teachers aren't instructing in their fields of expertise either. According to state records, of the 76 total core classes taught at Forrest Hill, only 45 percent are taught by "highly qualified" teachers – those who have majored in the subject they teach. The statewide average is 96 percent. "We're very deeply concerned, especially in an alternative school setting where you need highly-qualified educators to work with the children," says Georgia Association of Educators President Jeff Hubbard, whose group has lobbied against privatizing schools. "We don't think students should be put in a situation where a company is trying to make a profit off their education."
CEP says it spends $9,300 per student compared with $12,406 per pupil for the rest of the students in Atlanta's public school system.The company contends the school saves money because it doesn't have to offer such activities as sports or music programs that are required in regular school programs.
But Freeman's skeptical. While the savings sound efficient, he stresses that, in education, you generally get what you pay for: "These kids need a lot; they're needy kids. You need to spend more money on them than typical schools. If they are spending less, I'd want to know why it costs less to educate a student with exceptional needs. Where are they saving money? What are they subtracting and is it good? Are they saving money by hiring less experienced teachers who have no training in dealing with these kids?"
Freeman is careful to say he hasn't studied Forrest Hill enough to make an ironclad assessment. But, he says, "I know people who teach in alternative schools. It's not an easy environment. It usually requires very special teachers who can work with those kids. It's a big challenge."
The Rev. Darryl Winston is angry that he sees many of the same issues raised in the ACLU lawsuit that led him to confront CEP officials four years ago. And his anger isn't just directed at the company.
"We need a statement from Superintendent Beverly Hall that she takes these allegations seriously and that the APS is looking into them," he says. "All we got was a statement from the press person that amounted to kind of 'dismissing' it. I've been told as recently as last week that the APS position is to wait and see what comes out in court." What especially frustrates him is that no one who isn't behind the walls at Forrest Hill can really know what's going on there. "CEP has denied every one of the charges, but there's no way to verify that," Winston says. "We need experts. I've called on the board of education to launch its own investigation and see if the charges are true. If they can't, they need a task force appointed by the governor to see what is going on at CEP."
As far back as Houston, CEP officials have had to deal with complaints that the company's performance needed to be evaluated by independent parties. "We want to be held accountable for attendance and behavior and academics," insists CEP's Anthony Edwards. "It's very important to us that we are a standards-based program."
CEP claims students who attended Forrest Hill in the 2006-07 school year were, on average, performing math and reading on the third-grade level when they arrived. The school claims that students who were at the school for at least 150 days made remarkable progress: an increase of 3.2 grade levels in reading and four years in math.
Under its Atlanta contract, however, CEP both administers and grades those tests. There's no independent verification of the results, but longtime educators say making those kinds of academic strides in one year is virtually impossible. For a certain percentage of students who are highly motivated, yes, it can be done; for an entire student population, unlikely. "Kids with emotional and behavioral problems don't do well in school," Freeman says. "And kids aren't just going to snap to and start learning."
Chiang says lack of progress on standardized tests make it clear the PLATO test scores are skewed. Students have told the ACLU that they take the PLATO tests unsupervised and can ask each other for the answers they don't know. "CEP claims a pronounced spike in the test scores, but we believe it is because of PLATO," she says. "In reality, there's no teaching going on." Edwards downplays PLATO's results. "We are not judged by these," he says. "It's just a mechanism, a diagnostic tool. The student is given a grade level of functionality."
But the contract with the Atlanta school system says that Forrest Hill's success or failure will be measured by a combination of results from PLATO tests and state standardized tests. In addition, if a student who attends CEP for at least 120 days doesn't show growth in reading and mathematics of at least one year on the PLATO system, the contract mandates that CEP must educate that student at no additional cost to the school district until he or she has reached that level.
Patti Welch says her son continues to struggle at Forrest Hill, and has missed extended stretches of school because he doesn't want to be there. But she says his disciplinary problems now seem to be behind him. She plans to take him out of the alternative school at the end of the year; she wants to home-school him.
But ACLU lawyers say the federal lawsuit – which names the school system, board members and CEP as defendants – is about more than just eight kids in one school. It cuts to the heart of a public school's responsibilities to kids who are in the margins, and it raises questions about the risks of privatizing public education. "We see it as a broader national problem, the trend of privatization of government functions and warehousing kids in a school-to-prison pipeline," Chiang says.
For the students at Forrest Hill, it's also about not being forgotten by the officials who sent them there. "The problem is that Atlanta didn't build in an adequate system for oversight and evaluation," Freeman says. "You want it written into the contract to have a good program evaluation. It's got to be done by people who know how to do it, people not connected to the school department or CEP so there's no conflict of interest."
Freeman says there should be an annual independent review of Forrest Hill. Evaluators would go into the school, see the teaching methods, and interview students and teachers and the administrators.
"I hope the CEP school is investigated by people who know what they're doing," he says. "There are good questions to ask, and they deserve good answers. The school can't answer those question, they can only provide the information. Somebody else has to be the evaluator."

The Road Not Taken

2008-05-12T17:13:00.011-04:00

Today was a good day for me. I took a walk in nature in a park with a paved road. The paved road led the people around the grass, but not to touch it. It is a beautiful day. As I walked a few feet upon the pavement, my eyes caught sight of the clover on the hills I would pass by. The wind blew the fragrant scent of honeysuckle, blackberry and clover my way, and I was immediately silly drunk and enticed by the smell. I looked at the few people there and turned to walk across the grassy hills. What a difference that made. I felt my little girl self emerge with the remembrances of running through grass barefoot in the spring growing up in the countrysides of Alabama and Kansas. There was no thought. I felt the dew on my toes as if it were the start of a fresh new morning. I remembered walking through the wet grass with my co-worker Dave early one morning on our way to work. In this memory, I am 19. We both were free spirits and wanted that fresh feeling to last all day. Something to get us started. Better than coffee. Better than a doughnut with that coffee. I was so happy in that moment touching the Earth touching me. I had a flashback to the time my sister, my daughter and I amused fellow travelers by rolling downhill at a rest stop in Virginia. It had the perfect hills for rolling. In this memory, I am a mother, playing. We were freed up from our long held prisons of behaving as we were expected to behave for women "our age." We laughed so hard! We could not find that one last roll down the hill. But you know, no one looked at us disapprovingly. Everyone had a look of longing in their eyes as they heard and saw our joy. This poem, "The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost is exactly the energy I felt this day as I stepped off the paved road onto the grass. How many times have we simply followed after the footsteps of others in our adventure of living, of life? How often have we been moved to go a way that no one else has gone, or to go to a place very few have ventured to? There is a system in place that keeps us so locked in to certain patterns: red lights, stop signs, dead ends, doorways locked and opened only with certain types of keys: keys of color, gender, wealth, celebrity, status, education......So few of us truly have the right to the freedom we desire simply because the gatekeepers place signs saying "Stay out!" "Stay off!" "Go back!" "Not now!" "Not here!" "Not you!" Except that there lay dangers ahead, ignore the signs, buck the system, resist the messages put in your head that you must, for some reason others have designed for you, stay on the paved road. Step out onto the grassy hills, smell the honeysuckles/clovers/blackberries, walk barefooted, roll down that hill, laugh out loud till snot comes out your nose, AND BE FREE. Touch the Earth that touches you!

THE ROAD NOT TAKEN

by Robert Frost
TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

13th Amendment Slavery

2008-05-09T14:20:00.000-04:00

The other day I accompanied some sisters to the courthouse to observe the process under which the "rule of law" is executed upon the citizens of the united states of America. They were under the impression that the courts are the place where justice is done. Since it was a first Tuesday, the steps leading to the courthouse were crowded with the birds of prey seeking to purchase homes that were emptied after the foreclosure process. There was a woman protesting the fact that her home had been foreclosed upon, and that, as a matter of fraud, such was an illegal act executed by agents enforcing an illegal law in the service of creditors who had committed the fraud in the first place. But she was the one being treated like a criminal. I heard her, but I am not sure too many others really got what she was saying.

Next, we travelled up the stairs to attend the court hearing wherein a young man, 20 years of age, having served 2 years of a 10 year sentence was seeking a reduction in his sentence, and having the sentence that remains be transformed to a service of probation, under the court's supervision, of course. There was some question from the outset whether he had received "justice" based upon the outcome for his co-defendants who, allegedly, had been the ones to wield the gun, take the drug dealers drugs, and cut him across the face. He had received jail time (10 years, do 5, serve 5 in probation), where the others had received probation. There were extenuating circumstances. He'd originally received a probationary sentence, but had been in violation of that sentence and now was serving jail time. He'd had some prior mental illness history, and had attempted to commit suicide, so his parents were now seeking to have him committed to their care, on probation, under court supervision, so he could get the help he needed.

After a few words from his attorney, the judge said a few words, but then the District Attorney, a Black man just like everyone else in the room except the judge, fervently opposed such a change in sentence because he did not feel the young man "deserved" the second chance. The judge gave the young man his second chance, but the sentence changed dramatically. He was given 15 years, to serve 2, the remainder on probation.....13 years. He is to get his high school diploma, keep a job, go through drug testing periodically, go to psychiatric counseling, take whatever medications are prescribed. If he violates any of the contract between himself and the judge, the judge promised him "I will put you back in prison." The D.A. added that any violation of the contract will be brought back in front of the same judge.

I witnessed a horse and pony show. I had seen this same thing occur in this man's court before. I warned the parents to make sure their son follows every instruction to the "t". They, like all other parents I'd seen go through this, looked certain that he would and there would be no more trouble.

This young man had only two counts against him in life. He was 17 at the time he was convicted and was now 20. By the time he is freed from the grip of "the law" he will be 33 or 34 years of age. Quite an old age to begin life on one's own. I wondered how he would fare, but more so I wondered why do people continue to fall for the okey-doke? Of course, they don't know it is the okey-doke. Faced with liberty or a jail cell, they will agree to anything. But here's the rub: The judge does not lose. He has a bounty before him. The 13th amendment to the constitution allows him to make slaves and binding people over into involuntary servitude if a person is "duly convicted" of a crime. He had this young man for 5 years on the first sentence, no doubt. He was a slave to the system and after 5 years, that was that. But, when they came back in front of the judge, the judge gave them what they said they wanted, and he's betting on the young man failing to meet his end of the bargain. The parents, the attorney, and the young man made a deal with the devil. Should he fail to meet his end, he will go back to prison for the full time left on his sentence, no possibility of probation. So let's say that at the end of the 3rd year of probation he fails on some task, let's say, he can't keep employment. As a condition of his probation, he must be employed. Let's say he isn't working because his medications cause him to become even more dejected and depressed than he is and he finds he is unable to keep a job. The judge now has guaranteed the system a 13th amendment slave for 10 years instead of the lesser 5 from the first sentence. Complicated, I know, but ever so real.

What I write here may seem far-fetched, but it goes on every hour of every 8-5 day at your local courthouse. The 13th amendment made government mandated slavery real. And every man, woman and child in the united states of America could be turned into one at the whim of a man wearing a black robe. Be careful. The waters are full of sharks.

Mission Accomplished!

2008-05-07T10:02:00.002-04:00

When George Bush said these words he really did not mean what we thought he meant, but I do! The motivation that started me out last month was to reach a state of constancy through touching the Earth. I began by believing in a vision that I could build a garden in my space and be healed in the process. What a glorious journey I have been on, and I have taken my daughter on this journey with me. She, too, has blossomed. I have noticed that whenever we take our child to the wild she always responds with such a blessed sweetness to all that is around her. We retreat to the mountains of New Mexico each year to a place where there are no humans, no noise, computers, phones, faxes, cell phones, just us and the critters, the mountains, fields, streams, and fresh air. I have idyllic visions of her and her friend, Rhiannon, playing among the flowers in the fields, walking along the river beds, just being themselves without any concerns. The other day when we were planting our watermelon and cucumbers in our new garden, oh! our blackberries, too, as she held the dark soil in her hands she looked up at me and I saw the fresh innocence that only playing in the dirt can bring out. Ahhh! She was so pleased to be planting food she would eat in time. Mission accomplished? Yeah, I know so. Now, we have to only tend the garden, keep it fed and watered, keep the critters at bay, and pay attention to the moment of birth of our tomatoes, okra, squash, cantalopes, watermelon, basil, thyme, oregano. rosemary, cucumbers, blackberries, peppers, lettuce and eggplants! What peace to take back some real power over our lives.

Coming Out of Her

2008-05-06T08:40:00.006-04:00

Years ago, my grandparents taught me to have a respect for used stuff. My parents had 6 children, 3 boys and 3 girls, and so we were always in some state of second-hand wear passed down to us from our older siblings. I was also raised up around folks who remembered the Great Depression and who had a healthy respect for the pain and suffering those times brought to the people. The generation that grew up in the 20's and 30's were perhaps the last generation that knew life before credit and the slavery of debt. There was not much to have then for most folks. Most of the population still lived on the land and the migrations of the 30's and 40's were in the making, not yet solidified. So urban living, credit purchasing, and the industrialization of education were in their infancies then. Our grandparents and great grandparents were more free than the previous generations, and, ironically, more free than we are today, but for different reasons, of course. Prior to their generation there was the institution of enslavement forced upon most people of color and some so-called poor whites. After their generati0n there has been the institution of debt subtly tempting the masses with the illusion of wealth and supremacy over others, most usually their neighbors. In that period of time between 1913 and 1942 this country experienced a transfer of power and wealth unmatched with even today's dramatic sequence of events. Where today's events are out in the open and viewed by the public, the events procuring the wealth and power in the hands of a few went relatively unnoticed until history revealed the Trump. Today's power squabble is more of a Coup, a hostile takeover, of a Corporation that was established during the aforementioned period of time.
There is nothing we can do about the events of the past, but we can protect ourselves from becoming slaves to debt, and hence being oppressed by the slavemasters of debt. They have their own issues, and if you can, you need to avoid their influence over your life as much as possible. We can also avoid becoming victims of industrialized education, that which is most responsible for the miseducation of the masses. Industrialized education is an essentially American creation, the purpose of which was to first handle the onslaught of Black freedmen, women and their children, the first truly "huddled masses" yearning to breathe free! Later, upon witnessing the desire of these Black minds to be educated did the entitled mainstream poor desire to be part of this learning. Industrialized education has served its purpose, in fact that purpose perhaps was fulfilled around 1932, but because America is lazy in its mental attitude toward its own, it wasn't broke so no one bothered to fix it. Until 1954 when it took a turn down the wrong road mostly because of power and control issues we have yet to address as a nation. Finally, urban living is a dead end. It always has been. The land has been left alone for 4 generations. Most Black and white people living in America today are ascendants of those who lived rural lives in rural states. BUT most were forced off the land to the industrialized north and midwest sectors of the united states of America. The social engineers directed the masses into urban centers and created the one family-one home doctrine that now exists and is termed the "nuclear family" versus the extended families of the past. These extended families were more fundamental to the human survival and intelligent use of resources, but the nuclear family structure was capitalisms dream! So, credit was offered to pretty much everyone. Credit cards were sent out to just about every household in the 1960's that could be considered a viable candidate for credit. Now that did not include most Black people until the latter 1970's, and then not really rolling until the end of the 1980's when the gates on the concentration camps in the urban centers were opened and the inhabitants were assimilated into the open spaces of other urban and suburban locations. Hence, today, as the country experiences this most recent financial crisis, your credit worthiness is now in jeopardy because credit was given away at the behest of Pharoah. Now Pharoah is in crisis and can't pay his own debts. He has called yours in.

Where do you go from here? Debt has enslaved most people. Our ancestors warned us of these days and admonished us to buy land, but not on credit. We did not listen. We have mortgages, the meaning of which is "until the death." It's a French word. "Mort" means "death." We turned our backs on our people's land, ofr the most part. Those who still have some land are very fortunate, as long as it's paid for. For most of us, we now have to backtrack, walk backward out of the forested path. It can be done. It must be done with more thought than you used to get into the mess you're in now. Listen to reason. Stop buying with that credit card. You cannot have freedom if you are in debt.

As for education, first we have got to agree that there is a problem. We have to realize that the industrial education public schools provide for our children today is fundamentally flawed. Sure, the belief is that we have the best education in the world. You line up every fall and give your children over to the government to teach what governments teach best.....what serves its purposes and not yours. It would be farfetched for me to say here to take your children out of these schools, but that is exactly what needs to happen. You need to keep your children close to you. You need to teach your children yourselves so that you will know who your children are. Years from now, you will look at them and they will no longer be of you, but of some one else. We see it now. It is possible. You believe it is not only because you burden at work to pay off debts.

As for urban living, and now suburban living, the way out is to begin to downsize. Keep what you have and buy only what you need. Buy first from second-hand stores. Get out of the thinking that everything needs to be new and that your children should have "the best" of all that is new and labeled with a name. Remember, "pride goes before destruction and a lofty spirit before a fall." The only way to survive the 21st century, the first 2 decades, is becoming more apparent. We must stop buying stuff we don't need, we must keep our children and families close and help each other, and we must get back on the land, somehow. The rural landscape is quickly disappearing. The demand is running the loss of rural life. If you and I and everyone we know reduced our desires for "stuff" and "status" and "satisfaction" we will build a path out of this forest of illusion that these things matter. What matters is to wake up, stop the madness, reclaim our identities, and come out of this mess. How you do it is up to you. That you do it is a matter of time. In time, you will realize the need to reclaim your sanity. It cannot be done in the current state of madness we are in today. Coming out is the only sane response. Peace.

Lest We Forget: An Open Letter to My Sisters Who Are Brave

2008-05-01T21:31:00.004-04:00

I read this with an open mind and considered it worth placing here for others to read in case you missed it. No endorsements are made, however, I completely enjoyed her reasonings and how she makes her decision. She is still one of the most eloquent writers of our time.

www.atlantawand.org

by Alice Walker

I have come home from a long stay in Mexico to find - because of the presidential campaign, and especially because of the Obama/Clinton race for the Democratic nomination - a new country existing alongside the old. On any given day we, collectively, become the Goddess of the Three Directions and can look back into the past, look at ourselves just where we are, and take a glance, as well, into the future. It is a space with which I am familiar.When I was born in 1944 my parents lived on a middle Georgia plantation that was owned by a white distant relative, Miss May Montgomery. (During my childhood it was necessary to address all white girls as “Miss” when they reached the age of twelve.) She would never admit to this relationship, of course, except to mock it. Told by my parents that several of their children would not eat chicken skin she responded that of course they would not. No Montgomerys would.
My parents and older siblings did everything imaginable for Miss May. They planted and raised her cotton and corn, fed and killed and processed her cattle and hogs, painted her house, patched her roof, ran her dairy, and, among countless other duties and responsibilities my father was her chauffeur, taking her anywhere she wanted to go at any hour of the day or night. She lived in a large white house with green shutters and a green, luxuriant lawn: not quite as large as Tara of Gone With the Wind fame, but in the same style.
We lived in a shack without electricity or running water, under a rusty tin roof that let in wind and rain. Miss May went to school as a girl. The school my parents and their neighbors built for us was burned to the ground by local racists who wanted to keep ignorant their competitors in tenant farming. During the Depression, desperate to feed his hardworking family, my father asked for a raise from ten dollars a month to twelve. Miss May responded that she would not pay that amount to a white man and she certainly wouldn’t pay it to a nigger. That before she’d pay a nigger that much money she’d milk the dairy cows herself.
When I look back, this is part of what I see. I see the school bus carrying white children, boys and girls, right past me, and my brothers, as we trudge on foot five miles to school. Later, I see my parents struggling to build a school out of discarded army barracks while white students, girls and boys, enjoy a building made of brick. We had no books; we inherited the cast off books that “Jane” and “Dick” had previously used in the all-white school that we were not, as black children, permitted to enter.
The year I turned fifty, one of my relatives told me she had started reading my books for children in the library in my home town. I had had no idea - so kept from black people it had been - that such a place existed. To this day knowing my presence was not wanted in the public library when I was a child I am highly uncomfortable in libraries and will rarely, unless I am there to help build, repair, refurbish or raise money to keep them open, enter their doors.
When I joined the freedom movement in Mississippi in my early twenties it was to come to the aid of sharecroppers, like my parents, who had been thrown off the land they’d always known, the plantations, because they attempted to exercise their “democratic” right to vote. I wish I could say white women treated me and other black people a lot better than the men did, but I cannot. It seemed to me then and it seems to me now that white women have copied, all too often, the behavior of their fathers and their brothers, and in the South, especially in Mississippi, and before that, when I worked to register voters in Georgia, the broken bottles thrown at my head were gender free.
I made my first white women friends in college; they were women who loved me and were loyal to our friendship, but I understood, as they did, that they were white women and that whiteness mattered. That, for instance, at Sarah Lawrence, where I was speedily inducted into the Board of Trustees practically as soon as I graduated, I made my way to the campus for meetings by train, subway and foot, while the other trustees, women and men, all white, made their way by limo. Because, in our country, with its painful history of unspeakable inequality, this is part of what whiteness means. I loved my school for trying to make me feel I mattered to it, but because of my relative poverty I knew I could not.
I am a supporter of Obama because I believe he is the right person to lead the country at this time. He offers a rare opportunity for the country and the world to start over, and to do better. It is a deep sadness to me that many of my feminist white women friends cannot see him. Cannot see what he carries in his being. Cannot hear the fresh choices toward Movement he offers. That they can believe that millions of Americans -black, white, yellow, red and brown - choose Obama over Clinton only because he is a man, and black, feels tragic to me.
When I have supported white people, men and women, it was because I thought them the best possible people to do whatever the job required. Nothing else would have occurred to me. If Obama were in any sense mediocre, he would be forgotten by now. He is, in fact, a remarkable human being, not perfect but humanly stunning, like King was and like Mandela is. We look at him, as we looked at them, and are glad to be of our species. He is the change America has been trying desperately and for centuries to hide, ignore, kill. The change America must have if we are to convince the rest of the world that we care about people other than our (white) selves.
True to my inner Goddess of the Three Directions however, this does not mean I agree with everything Obama stands for. We differ on important points probably because I am older than he is, I am a woman and person of three colors, (African, Native American, European), I was born and raised in the American South, and when I look at the earth’s people, after sixty-four years of life, there is not one person I wish to see suffer, no matter what they have done to me or to anyone else; though I understand quite well the place of suffering, often, in human growth.
I want a grown-up attitude toward Cuba, for instance, a country and a people I love; I want an end to the embargo that has harmed my friends and their children, children who, when I visit Cuba, trustingly turn their faces up for me to kiss. I agree with a teacher of mine, Howard Zinn, that war is as objectionable as cannibalism and slavery; it is beyond obsolete as a means of improving life. I want an end to the on-going war immediately and I want the soldiers to be encouraged to destroy their weapons and to drive themselves out of Iraq.
I want the Israeli government to be made accountable for its behavior towards the Palestinians, and I want the people of the United States to cease acting like they don’t understand what is going on. All colonization, all occupation, all repression basically looks the same, whoever is doing it. Here our heads cannot remain stuck in the sand; our future depends of our ability to study, to learn, to understand what is in the records and what is before our eyes. But most of all I want someone with the self-confidence to talk to anyone, “enemy” or “friend,” and this Obama has shown he can do. It is difficult to understand how one could vote for a person who is afraid to sit and talk to another human being. When you vote you are making someone a proxy for yourself; they are to speak when, and in places, you cannot. But if they find talking to someone else, who looks just like them, human, impossible, then what good is your vote?
It is hard to relate what it feels like to see Mrs. Clinton (I wish she felt self-assured enough to use her own name) referred to as “a woman” while Barack Obama is always referred to as “a black man.” One would think she is just any woman, colorless, race-less, past-less, but she is not. She carries all the history of white womanhood in America in her person; it would be a miracle if we, and the world, did not react to this fact. How dishonest it is, to attempt to make her innocent of her racial inheritance.
I can easily imagine Obama sitting down and talking, person to person, with any leader, woman, man, child or common person, in the world, with no baggage of past servitude or race supremacy to mar their talks. I cannot see the same scenario with Mrs. Clinton who would drag into Twenty-First Century American leadership the same image of white privilege and distance from the reality of others’ lives that has so marred our country’s contacts with the rest of the world.
And yes, I would adore having a woman president of the United States. My choice would be Representative Barbara Lee, who alone voted in Congress five years ago not to make war on Iraq. That to me is leadership, morality, and courage; if she had been white I would have cheered just as hard. But she is not running for the highest office in the land, Mrs. Clinton is. And because Mrs. Clinton is a woman and because she may be very good at what she does, many people, including some younger women in my own family, originally favored her over Obama. I understand this, almost. It is because, in my own nieces’ case, there is little memory, apparently, of the foundational inequities that still plague people of color and poor whites in this country. Why, even though our family has been here longer than most North American families - and only partly due to the fact that we have Native American genes - we very recently, in my lifetime, secured the right to vote, and only after numbers of people suffered and died for it.
When I offered the word “Womanism” many years ago, it was to give us a tool to use, as feminist women of color, in times like these. These are the moments we can see clearly, and must honor devotedly, our singular path as women of color in the United States. We are not white women and this truth has been ground into us for centuries, often in brutal ways. But neither are we inclined to follow a black person, man or woman, unless they demonstrate considerable courage, intelligence, compassion and substance. I am delighted that so many women of color support Barack Obama -and genuinely proud of the many young and old white women and men who do.
Imagine, if he wins the presidency we will have not one but three black women in the White House; one tall, two somewhat shorter; none of them carrying the washing in and out of the back door. The bottom line for most of us is: With whom do we have a better chance of surviving the madness and fear we are presently enduring, and with whom do we wish to set off on a journey of new possibility? In other words, as the Hopi elders would say: Who do we want in the boat with us as we head for the rapids? Who is likely to know how best to share the meager garden produce and water? We are advised by the Hopi elders to celebrate this time, whatever its adversities.
We have come a long way, Sisters, and we are up to the challenges of our time. One of which is to build alliances based not on race, ethnicity, color, nationality, sexual preference or gender, but on Truth. Celebrate our journey. Enjoy the miracle we are witnessing. Do not stress over its outcome. Even if Obama becomes president, our country is in such ruin it may well be beyond his power to lead us toward rehabilitation. If he is elected however, we must, individually and collectively, as citizens of the planet, insist on helping him do the best job that can be done; more, we must insist that he demand this of us. It is a blessing that our mothers taught us not to fear hard work. Know, as the Hopi elders declare: The river has its destination. And remember, as poet June Jordan and Sweet Honey in the Rock never tired of telling us: We are the ones we have been waiting for.
Namaste;
And with all my love,
Alice WalkerCazulNorthern CaliforniaFirst Day of Spring
© TheRoot.com

9 Simple Rules

2008-04-30T21:44:00.010-04:00

As I listen to the words between Rev. Jeremiah Wright and Barack Obama, I am reminded of a talk I had with my father back in 1998 just a year before his transition. I had the great fortune of being raised by a mother who gave her children the gift of freedom of thought, granting us the right to choose our own paths in life without too much interference. My father was a man with a great mind and who had the gift of sight passed up to him from both his parent's lineages. Dad spent the final years of his life studying scriptures, arcane texts, ancient history, geographical movements of people, linguistics, and any works that would reveal truth and give a true accounting of who we, people of African ascent, people indigenous to this planet, those of our ancestors who were here from the beginning of time, are. He discovered a great deal about "history", the stories told about Black, Brown, and Red people from the writings of early europeans discovering us for the first time. It was amazing what these, mostly, men wrote as they were seeing great civilizations and peaceful people perhaps for the first times in their lives. The amazement went deep. They came upon civilizations built up from the Earth, in tune with all around them, and a profound sense of being one with All There Is. What is now termed, in its most simplified, and least effective form, as "God." The Indios Tribes, as my father called them, are the "In God Tribes" because we were truly that. As our peoples were bombarded by the anti-god groups or those who knew not their connection to the Earth, our people began to break down and break up, until we, too, began The Forgetting and began to need Belief because Gnosis and Logos no longer were part of our world as we chased after trinkets and illusion.
As we moved further away from ourselves, and as we continued in our own destruction, the anti-god people were able to enslave and kidnap more and more of us. Some were transported to the "new" world of the anti-gods to work on their behalf, mostly because they did not know how. We knew how, and we were not the only ones. Our people had already populated the better parts of the globe, and the anti-god was unsuccessful in enslaving those of us found on this continent, but those of us found on the continent we now call Africa were of a more sturdy stock.
My father instructed me during this time that, based on his conclusions and the research supported these conclusions, I should not let anyone tell me that all Black people came to this "new" world in the hold of slave ships. Of course, he only had to point to the Olmecs to make a convincing argument. He was in the throes of studying the texts on Atlantis and believed he was "on to something" about our connection to the pre-historic (i.e. before the anti-god began to write down everything that used to be passed on orally by the people of the Earth) world and who "Man" is versus "mankind." I sat in his parlor room as often as I could in our last days together listening to his thoughts that were born of his incessant study and curiosity. His encouraged my own. I tried to keep up, but try as I might, he'd call me up to talk about a new discovery, perhaps about the anti-god's revelation about African "religious" practices, or the people of the Earth's obvious connection to the Divine!
In my parent's way, they ultimately gave me the tools to be "made" free....that is the Truth, and the ability to discern what is true from what is false. So, back to that "talk" I had with my Dad in 1998. Actually, he talked, I listened. He told me about a man in colonial Massachusetts named Cotton Mather. I told Dad that I'd heard of him before in grade school when we studied the Salem Witch Trials. He explained to me that this man, and his father, Increase Mather, were wicked men themselves, and if I took the time to research them I would find genocide of the Native people in that area (women, children, men of various tribes living in the area were massacred for land and resources), the fanning of the flames of hysteria surrounding the claims of witch craft in Salem Town (a afro-indian woman named Tituba was central to the start of that noise), their connections to the beginnings of Harvard University (which has its own interesting history regarding the indigenous folks living then), as well as the instillation of certain rules for and indoctrinations, by Cotton Mather, of the enslaved Black folks living in that colony at that time. Setting out to do my own research after my Dad's passing, I did discover something very startling. Aside from his messy involvement with the Salem Witch Trials, etc....Cotton Mather was a zealous christian puritan who truly believed that white people had a duty to turn their slaves toward christianity. He also set forth a set of rules that were to govern Negroes in their day-to-day in their effort to be obedient servants and good christians. What is most impressive about these rules is that they must have been made an indelible mark on the minds of those Africans enslaved because I SWEAR we still see remnants of them in our own behavior. I provide them to you here now so you can make your own judgments, but I would ask that you consider them in light of our behavior with each other when our actions are openly observable by people outside of Black "society", i.e. when we are in the public eye, much like the events surrounding Obama and his now denounced pastor, Jeremiah Wright. Let's begin to "examine the African American religious experience, and its historical, theological and political contexts", as Rev. Wright suggests. The "unknown phenomenon of the Black church" in America has its roots, in this document, here. The Black religious experience has evolved into what we have made it because we are that type of creative people, however, we must understand the influence of the colonizers on its beginnings, nevertheless.....no matter how difficult. What is presented here may very well be the beginning of the "black codes".

Rules for the Society of Negroes---1693.
by Cotton Mather

We the miserable children of Adam, and of Noah, thankfully admiring and accepting the free-grace of God, that offers to save us from our miseries, by the Lord Jesus Christ, freely resolve, with his help, to become the servants of that glorious Lord.
And that we may be assisted in the service of our Heavenly Master, we now join together in a SOCIETY, wherein the fallowing (sp) RULES are to be observed.

I. It shall be our endeavor, to meet in the evening after the Sabbath; and pray together by turns, one to begin, and another to conclude the meeting; and between the two prayers, a psalm shall be sung, and a sermon repeated.

II. Our coming to the meeting, shall never be without the leave of such as have power over us; and we will be careful, that our meeting may begin and conclude between the hours of seven and nine; and that we may not be unseasonably absent from the families whereto we pertain.

III. As we will, with the help of God, at all times avoid all Wicked Company, so we will receive none into our meeting, but such as have sensibly reformed their lives from all manner of wickedness. And therefore, none shall be admitted, without the knowledge and consent of the Minister of God in this place; unto whom we will also carry every person, that seeks for admissions among us; to be by him examined, instructed and exhorted.

IV. We will, as often as may be, obtain some Wife and Good Man, of the English in the Neighbourhoud (sp), and especially the Officers of the Church, to look in upon us, and by their preference and Council, do what thy think fitting for us.

V. If any of our Number, fall into the Sin of Drunkenness, or swearing, or cursing, or lying, or stealing, or notorious disobedience or unfaithfulness unto their Masters, we will admonish him of his Miscarriage, and forbid his coming to the meeting, for at least one fortnight; and except he then come with great signs and hopes of his repentance, we will utterly exclude him, with blotting his name out of our list.

VI. If any of our Society defile himself with Fornication, we will give him our admonition; and so, debar him from the meeting, at least half a year: nor shall he return to it, ever anymore, without Exemplary Testimonies of his becoming a New Creature.

VII. We will, as we have opportunity, set our selves to do all the good we can, to the other Negro-servants in the Town; and if any of them should, at unfit hours, be abroad, much more, if any of them should Run Away from their Masters, we will afford them NO SHELTER; but we will do what in us lies, that they may be discovered, and punished. And if any of us, are found faulty, in this matter, they shall be no longer of us.

VIII. None of our Society shall be absent from our Meeting, without giving a reason of the absence; and if it be found, that any have pretended unto their owners, that they came unto the meeting, when they were otherwise and elsewhere employ'd, we will faithfully inform their owners, and also do what we can to reclaim such person from all such Evil courses for the future.

IX. It shall be expected from every one in the Society, that he learn the Catechism; and therefore, it shall be one of our usual exercises, for one of us, to ask the questions, and for all the rest in their order, to say the Answers in the Catechism; either, the New-English Catechism, or the Assemblies Catechism, or the Catechism in the NEGRO CHRISTIANIZED.

Note: October 1693--"Besides ye other praying and pious meetings, which I have been continually serving, in our neighborhood, a little after this period, a company of poor Negroes, of their own accord, addressed mee, for my countenance to a design which they had, of erecting such a meeting for ye welfare of their miserable Nation, that were servants among us. I allowed their design and went one evening & prayed & preached (on Ps. 68, 31), with them: and gave them the following orders, which I insert duly for ye curiosity of the occasion."

The Souls of our Folks Can Be Found in the Soil...

2008-04-29T22:41:00.006-04:00

(Brooks County, Georgia -- Rosa Murphy, in her late 80s, continues to do light work in her fields.)

One more day of April to go. Today was a brilliant example of peace and harmony within. As I began the month, I will finish it. I started my garden in the beginning. Tilling my soil as I touched the Earth. I have discovered my voice, a gift for tending, a love I am now recalling. I began not knowing that I know. I began with a prayer, a request, a need to be filled up. As I moved the Earth around me, I recognized that I needed help, and so, I listened, and they spoke to me. My Ancestors who were tillers of the Earth themselves, said things to me, told me what to do, guided me. I heard them say, "That's good." I heard them say, "That's right, baby." I felt them watching me. I felt the birds and the bees have respect for my presence. I could feel the 4-legged creatures move to other places as I took my place on the Earth. Planting each little bud in the soil I felt a deep reverence for the Elders who worked this way all day, from "can't see in the morning til can't see at night." At some point, my great grandparents' picture came into my mind's eye, and I had to find them, and place them on my ancestral altar. The humble spirits within them looking out at me from a time and a place that is now far gone. I touch the Earth, I feel my people. I had gotten so comfortable with the grocery store. Yet, I have never liked being so dependent on someone else's good graces for food. It is imperative, says my Ancestor Father, who built his own garden in the urban ghetto of Kansas City, Missouri, and the only person known to have planted and successfully grown a pecan tree in that city, that we remember the ways that kept us alive and strong. I learned just how strong I am not one morning after working too hard and too long. My body ached, my head banged, my left hip had a crook in it! But you know what?! I could not wait to get back out there and finish planting. I took a long hot bath, got a good night's sleep, and woke up the next morning ready. No work has ever gotten me up with the birds. Ashe. I tell you what, as the season of this system enters winter, we had best be wise. Plant a tree, some okra, a few herbs. Find a way, somehow to be your own organic gardener. It will take a minute or two to get it going. Be brave. Listen to your Ancestors. At one time or another, they, too, tilled the soil and planted crops. There is a lot they know, and they are speaking to us from the Earth. Respect!

(Brooks County, Georgia -- Rosa Murphy strokes her husband's forehead while sitting on the front porch after dinner. The daughter of sharecroppers, she grew up working with her parents on a plantation when not is school. She married Eddie, a fellow child of sharecroppers on the same plantation, and they worked as sharecroppers as well. Eventually, they saved enough money to purchase their own farm in a different county. Eddie suffered a stroke in 1982, leaving him blind. A typical day for Rosa begins with waking and tending to her husband, serving breakfast, and placing him on the porch. Leaving him with a telephone and a pitcher of water at his side, Rosa heads out to tend her fields. She returns to serve the midday meal and then rests before returning to the field until sunset. )http://www.digitaljournalist.org/issue0603/ficara.html

The First Law

2008-04-28T14:53:00.003-04:00

The first law is natural law, or what some may call "God's" law. Being that "God" cannot be separated from what is natural, the two must be one and the same. Man comes with his set of "laws" that are meant to govern and constrict, bind and confuse. When given over to the mind and hand of man to execute, the result is often times confusion and despair, rather than the joy that true justice, balance, and reciprocity between cause and effect should manifest. As an EarthBound species, we imagine ourselves capable of rulership. We believe that we are made special and perfect, in the "image" of "God". Yet, we cannot resist the urges of power to exact control, and to use that power to dominate and repress our spirits and the spirits of our fellow humans. In the positions we have created for ourselves in our insane effort to keep power in the hands of the few unqualified to hold power, we see the proof that man is not fit to continue as dominator in this realm. Some how we must relinquish control over others so that we can reconnect to the First Law of Life. Last year, a young man named Sean Bell lost his life while celebrating what was to be his wedding day. His life was taken by 3 men who had been given guns, badges, and authority to kill if they, in their judgment, believed someone to be a threat in particular situations. The events, as told by witnesses to his murder by 3 armed gunmen with badges, seemed not to support the taking of his life, but the requirement that these 3 men be punished for abusing their man-granted authority. As with such things in man's world, there was a frenzy of stories told by the 3 outlaws and several others like them on the scene that night. As with such things, because Sean Bell was a Black man, and those who spoke up for him were men of color, there was a presumption, whether stated or not, that his death was justified, or at the very least, a thing that was to be considered only in the light of an unfortunate event that happened to him because everyone knows that Black people's lives are not as valuable as some others. As usual, the community of people from which Sean Bell comes, placed the exacting of justice in the hands of the very same community of people that gave these 3 outlaws guns, badges and authority to use them. As usual, this community waited while the shell game of justice was played. As usual, the shell game came out not in their favor, but in the favor of the 3 outlaws. Why is it that the law of man is so lopsided? Why is it that good people continue to place the exaction of justice in the hands of other people who are weak and ill-equipped to perform the required steps to apply justice in principled and moral ways? Why indeed. Is the real meaning of the failure of justice in these instances to be understood as justice not being capable of being meted out by the outlaws with guns and those giving them the authority to exact it? Are we being taunted to get justice the best way we can? In nature, there is no need to extract justice from the system of life because the system of life in nature is fair and balanced. But in man's world, where his lesser mind and abilities rule, it is evident that justice is not given, it must be extracted. Step out into the morning air and listen to the birds' joyful harmony singing thanks to the day and to the First Law of Life. They know food, water, shelter and love are their's without worry. Does man's law do that for you? Sean Bell is just another in a long list of men, women and children whose lives have been snuffed out by confused men who are out of tune with Natural Law. Man's law is definitely out of tune and out of sync with life. This is one thing that is obvious and touching the Earth helps to make this state of things in man's world clear.

Time Was....

2008-04-23T15:28:00.016-04:00

The Full Moon in the sign of Scorpio passed through here just the other day. When the Sun and Moon are 180 degrees apart (in Opposition) the Moon is said to be "full". At that time humanity is to be midway between the start and finish of projects begun at the New Moon, when the Moon and Sun are 0 degrees apart (in Conjunction). Where the Sun and Moon are located in the signs is significant, and what degree they are in is also significant. The Sun has just entered the Earth sign of Taurus, meaning the Moon is in the Sun's polarity sign, Scorpio, a Water sign. Interestingly enough, the Earth is speaking to us and the Water is too. Paying attention to the elements touched by the Sun and Moon helps us to discern the focus of human effort over the course of the 7 day period that encompasses the Full Moon Moment.
In the past, every Full Moon was considered a sacred season for some activity in human culture to take place. Some Moons were more sacred than others. For instance, the Full Moon of March denotes the start of the Easter season and the Full Moon of April culminates in the celebration of Pesach or Passover.

This Full Moon, in the 13-Moon Natural Time Calendar, which is based on the time scale set by the Mayan civilization, is the Planetary Moon, and is the 10th Full Moon of 13 for the year which began July 26th, 2007. Astrologically, this Moon in Scorpio suggests that we look into the area of our Natal chart where the Moon falls and decipher what affect it will have on our life over the next 28 days. Because each of us will have a different placement for the Moon at the moment of its fullness, according to our own unique map of time set by our birth, no generalized notion of what the Full Moon in Scorpio means should be all that provides your guidance to understanding its importance to you in this cycle of time. For instance, Scorpio naturally rules the 8th house in astrological analysis. Taurus, its polarity, naturally rules the 2nd. The 8th house deals with such matters as emotional needs, using other people's resources to help others, death (symbolic or physical), sex, regeneration, and personal sacrifice. Traditionally, it is also considered Pluto's sphere. The 2nd house deals with such matters as one's personal resources, possessions, tangible things. Resources can include your hidden or obvious talents, self esteem/worth/reliance. Traditionally, the 2nd house is also considered Venus' sphere. At this Full Moon we will want to use the energy it carries to climb to the highest possible place in our Spirit whereby we can utilize our talents, resources, and connection with others in bringing our best to the collective or individual effort to heal the emotional damage humanity inflicts on itself, the Earth, the animal beings, and also to heal our own hearts, to heal our own self-inflicted wounds. Think of Taurus as the source of the herbs you will need to mix together for the healing balm, and think of Scorpio as the source of the nectar-water you will use to moisten it to allow its essence to seep into the pores of your soul. To discover just where you need to apply yours, find a quiet spot, close your eyes, and listen....You may need to apply it to yourself or to another who needs you. Also, Venus is in Aries and Pluto is in Capricorn at the time of this Moon. Both of these signs are Cardinal signs of leadership in action. Venus is a planet of Love/Heart/Relations and Pluto is a planet of Transformation/Healing/Group Desire, so it does seem that this Full Moon will have much power in the way of bringing healing love energy down to Earth!

Full & New Moon Dates for 2008
Moon Name .......Full Moon / New Moon
Cold Moon ..............1-22-08 / 1-8-08
Quickening Moon.......2-20-08 / 2-6-08
Storm Moon..............3-21-08 / 3-7-08
Wind Moon...............4-20-08 / 4-5-08
Flower Moon.............5-19-08 / 5-5-08
Strong Moon.............6-18-08 / 6-3-08
Blessing Moon...........7-18-08 / 7-2-08
Corn Moon...............8-16-08 / 8-1-08 & 8/30/08
Harvest Moon............9-15-08 / 9-29-08
Blood Moon.............10-14-08 / 10-28-08
Mourning Moon........11-13-08 / 11-27-08
Long Night's...........12-12-08 / 12-27-08
Moon

This Day On Earth....

2008-04-22T18:05:00.004-04:00

Who came to me this day but an warbling blue jay, a curious dragonfly, a jittery cat, a stinging nettle, and a gecko with a blue tail. This morning I took a journey through my woods and around a mountain. On my way, I met all of these creatures out celebrating the day. I talked to a few plants, picked up a few sticks, wondered out loud, passed a few humans (mostly they were looking away or down), ate a dandelion flower just for the heck of it, watered a few plants who desperately needed moisture, and told the azaleas they were in need of a haircut, badly!

What also makes this a beautiful day is that it is my friend Ogbonna's Earth Day, as well. Strong, warrior, artist, healer, hueman, he. I am most blessed to have your spirit here in our presence at this moment. You are all Mother Earth needs us to be. Give thanks!

I have truly enjoyed this Earth Day 2008! How about you? It's not over yet. Get out there and enjoy what ought to be an equally exciting evening. Love the Earth Every Day! Save Us!
Watch this:

Peace.

Geechee Kunda!

2008-04-19T08:43:00.009-04:00

Ahhhh! What a glorious day!
Today was spent at a most fabulous location in Riceboro, GA called Geechee Kunda. KUNDA means COMPOUND around which the village is built. It's an old Gullah term and is of course drawn from the African roots from which the people derive. It's motto is: "Honoring, Teaching, Remembering". I arrived in mid-day. The sun was already high in the sky and the Spirits were higher. As I arrived with my sister friend, Pam, Brother Ogbonna came to greet us. The perfect host, he introduced us to Brother Jim Bacote and his wife Pat who are the Caretakers at Geechee Kunda. I liked that they call themselves that rather than "owners." He escorted us into the museum which holds many articles of culture from the "salt water Africans" and the "low-water African's" experiences. The walls are decked with artifacts of our ancestors journeys across the water and through the land, there are stories told through narratives, and pictures of freed men and enslaved alike. We met the 81-year old artist in residence, and the inspiration just continued to grow. The presenters were full of knowledge and history. African Spirit Brother wove the truth of our history and what we do not know because they do not tell into a tapestry we could touch, and told of how the old Africans were considered to have the "genius of sugar" by those that came to kidnap them. Brother Ogbonna then wove a "High John" story for us whereby the protagonist "High John" showed up Ole Massa with his intelligence and ingenuity, and helped the people shed the weight of oppression, self-hate, and down right lies of who we truly are. The day was light and easy. The people sat amongst the trees, and as the events unfolded high in the sky we were visited by flying spirit friends carrying messages of approval from the spirit world. It is a blessing to have the Geechee Kunda family to share the one day set aside to honor our Mother who should be honored every day. At Geechee Kunda she is honored each day as she is deserving of our protection and love. Check it out for yourself!
www.www.geecheekunda.net

Next Trip: September for the Sugar Cane Festival! Peace!

Troubled Waters

2008-04-17T16:14:00.005-04:00

http://walkforthewater.org/

Tooth of the Lion!

2008-04-16T14:38:00.008-04:00

Last evening, I was in my garden working away when I heard a voice. It said to me, "good evening". I looked down, the direction from which the voice came, and was startled to see a beautiful green friend growing near my front stoop. At first I was puzzled. "Is this what I think it is?", I asked myself. It looked like Dandelion! I thought, but was not sure. So, I asked it if I could pull it up to get a better look. Giving its consent, because it grows in abundance and serves life, I bent down, took it by its base and it gave itself to me. I love dandelion, and any garden worth its salt has plenty of this wonderful herb growing in the wildest places. Why am I so excited about finding what most people consider a problem weed that grows obtrusively at the start of spring? Dandelion is always on time, for one. It is THE herb for cleansing and detoxifying our livers and bloodstreams. Every part of the plant is useful to the body. Root, leaves, flowers, every part has its place. For women, the dandelion is an essential herb in our health and well-being. There is so much to tell about one of the great personalities of the plant kingdom. Let's begin:

Take a look at this:

Dandelion is wonderful. Here are all its uses in a nutshell:
Root: Properties/Uses
Strengthens the liver by getting rid of toxins, blockages. It will help you sleep. Improves breast health, and your stomach. It also encourages urination. The root can be used daily as a tonic (tones) with bitter qualities. It affects the entire organ system of your body having to do with digestion and purification. So, besides the liver, it will work on the spleen, stomach, pancreas, kidneys, skin, nerves, glands, circulatory, immune and lymphatic systems. The root of dandelion has iron, manganese, phosphorus, protein, aluminum (natural), and carotenes as Vitamin A. It also provides calcium, magnesium, niacin, potassium, riboflavin, silicon, sodium, tin, zinc, and vitamin C. Wow.

Leaf: Properties/Uses
Dandelion leaf is a nutritious food that enjoyed great popularity when humans were still a bit wild themselves. When we got "civilized" and started manicuring our lawns, we decided the whole plant was a pest. What a disaster. The leaves are a bitter tonic that alkalinizes the blood, promotes the production of breast milk (Dandelion loves the ladies), strengthens the stomach and liver, helps wounds to heal and helps de-stress the kidneys. While they are around, eat some in a salad, or make a nice tea. Enjoy.

The Flowers: Properties/Uses
Dandelion's flowers are not just pretty, they're useful! Use them to improve and purify the skin by steeping in boiling water for a few hours. Take the flowers and mash into a nice poultice. Use like a mask. Spread on the face. Relax for a while. Use the steeping water to rinse. Air dry. Don't rinse off with water. You will see the difference.

These are the days to truly enjoy the Earth's wild creatures. Dandelion grows everywhere because it is trying to send us a message. USE ME!! Even the SAP is great for healing. Break open a stalk and use the sap for acne. It works wonders! Until the next time....

Earthworm, Earthworm

2008-04-08T09:35:00.007-04:00

"The plow is one of the most ancient and most valuable of man's inventions; but long before he existed, the land was in fact regularly plowed and still continues to be thus plowed by earthworms. It may be doubted whether there are many other animals which have played so important a part in the history of the world, as have these lowly organized creatures." Charles Darwin

Ah, the lowly earthworm. Did you know that without her-him the soil would not be rich and ripe for planting all the wondrous morsels we desire? Like the bee is important to pollinating plants, the earthworm is an essential part of creating just the right conditions for composting and creation of an environment fit to garden.

Earthworms are present in almost every type of soil but the healthier the soil the greater the numbers. A healthy soil permits lots of air and moisture, both of which are needed by the earthworm for a continued existence. Earthworms have no lungs like you or me but instead breathe through their skin. Their whole skin absorbs oxygen and releases carbon dioxide. They also need moisture to assist them in respiration but too much moisture is not good for them.

A garden without earthworms would miss out on all of the great benefits that they bring to it. Their first job is to till the soil by tunneling through it. Tunnels created allow air and moisture to pass easily through the soil, creating a healthy environment for plants. Tunnels retain water that the plants can take up and also hold air to help bacteria break down organic matter within the soil.

After digestion earthworms produce excrement called "castings" or "vermicompost" and is an excellent soil conditioning material. It improves properties of the soil such as porosity and moisture retention, aids plant growth and helps in the fight against pests and diseases. To increase the number of earthworms in your garden, add more organic matter to the soil. Earthworms will go on a seek and find mission to locate the stuff they thrive on.

Earthworms are essential co-managers in your efforts to build a garden and work with the earth you claim as your own. They are the soils first tillers and fertilizers, and much better gardners than humans. Watch the worm, take some notes, and perhaps your garden will grow in correspondence with the respect you give this little guy, um, girl.

Earthworm Farming for Fun and Profit
(from, "Grow Your Own Earthworms")

This is a simple guide for anyone interested in growing your own earthworms at home. As the demand grows for organic farming, worm castings have become more popular and appealing to home vegetable gardeners and perhaps this information can help you save money if you would not prefer to use fertilizer. You are reading this to learn how to raise your own earthworms and use the resulting castings or "worm dirt" for your own use and maybe sell some earthworms on the side.

Climate: Earthworms require a mild moist climate in order to thrive. Summer in Atlanta can be too hot and would require constant watering of the worm bed to keep them cool. If your worm bed is out doors then too much rain can flood the bed. Winters are mild in Georgia but earthworms cannot survive if temperatures are too cold, and forget about freezing temps. If you live in a mild climate it would be safe to build your bed out doors, if not maybe you can use a garage or shed. On cold days you can put old blankets or pieces of carpet directly on top of the bed to help keep them warm. I will presume that you are building it out doors.

Building The Bed:You can put together a wooden square or rectangular box to raise worms in. Length and width will be up to you considering how large of a bed that you want or have room for. I would use 1x12 lumber. Do not use pressure treated lumber. If a board rots after awhile than replace it. So we will have a bed that is bordered on the sides and is 12" high. I do not put a bottom on the bed because I don't want to close it in too much and escape is minimal. If the earthworms dig into the ground they don't go very far because their food is always on top of the bed.

Preparing The Bed: Now that you have the four sides of the earthworm bed constructed, find a piece of level ground to put it on, preferably in the shade. You can also put a roof over the box to keep the rain out but leave room to water and feed the bed. Fill the earthworm bed with peat moss about 6" high. You can buy bags of peat moss at any garden store. My father used to order it by the dump truck load. Once you have the peat moss in the bed, water it with a garden hose. You want the bed moist at all times but not flooded. We are ready to start growing our own earthworms. Go to your local fresh water bait and tackle shop and see what kind of worms they sell. Do not buy "Wigglers" because they are more difficult to maintain. Look for regular "Redworms". Considering how large your earthworm bed is for example if it is 4'x6' I would buy maybe 600 earthworms to start out. Take them home and dump them out into the bed. No need to bury them they will find their way into the ground.

Feeding And Maintenance:After the worms are securely in your earthworm bed be sure to keep them watered daily. You can use a garden hose or set up a sprinkler system. They must stay moist at all times but remember never to over water. Worms feed on the peat moss in the bed but you still must feed then daily. You can use used coffee grounds or oatmeal. Just sprinkle it on top of the bed and they will come up to eat it like gold fish. I would highly suggest going to a local feed store and asking for a 50lb. bag of earthworm feed. Yes they make food for earthworms. If it is unavailable ask them to order some. I used to pay around $20 a 50 pound bag. It is a powder and very easy to apply. Just coat the top of the earthworm bed with feed once a day. It will disappear in minutes. Do not over feed. All earthworms reproduce. There is no male and female, so if things are done correctly your first 600 worms will multiply pretty rapidly. If the peat moss level goes down, replace it with fresh peat. Simply add it on top of the bed. You don't have to mix it in.

Stockpiling Castings For Compost:After about six months you will be ready to start rotating the dirt. I use a stiff rake. Begin on one side of the bed and sift through the worms with the rake. Return the excess earthworms to the other side of the bed and take out the remaining dirt. You will use this dirt in your garden. Replace any dirt that you remove with fresh peat moss and start the cycle over. You may end up with an over abundance of earthworms. My only suggestion would be to try to sell them to a bait shop or give them away maybe to a youth group to sell. Either way too many worms is not a bad thing. This process will take time but in a year you should have a sizable stock of nutritious chemical free soil for your garden and the earthworms may help pay for it.

What a Wonderful World

2008-04-03T15:48:00.002-04:00

Sing Along With Louie Armstrong!

I see trees of green, red roses too
I see them bloom for me and you
And i think to myself:
"What a wonderful world!"

I see skies of blue and clouds of white
The bright blessed day, the dark sacred night
And I think to my self:
"What a wonderful world!"

The colors of the rainbow so pretty in the sky
Are also on the faces of people going by
I see friends shaking hands saying "How do you do."
Thay really say: "I love you!"

I hear babies crying I watch them grow
They'll learn much more than I'll ever know
And I think to myself:
"What a wonderful world!"
Yes, I think to myself:
"What a wonderful world!"

A Place To Begin

2008-04-02T10:12:00.006-04:00

Hexagram #32-Constancy
The natural principle expressed by one who is whole is the enduring spirit of life.
In the midst of all changes, remain undisturbed.
Whether the days are good or bad,
whether dealing with virtuous or unvirtuous ones,
do not forsake the wholeness of your spirit.

What is the enduring spirit of life?
It is the same as the spirit of the universe,
which is governed by constancy, regularity and spontaneity.
With its eternal virtuous nature, it nourishes and cares for all things.

Virtue is the inherent nature of life.
That which is inherent in the nature
of life is inherent in your own nature.
In order to restore the enduring spirit,
we have to practice its subtleties.
Nature endows people with discernment.
You can actively change the rigidity of your mind,
dissolving destructive tendencies and false
images by practicing constant virtue.
Thus, you arrive at the delicacy of your spirit,
which is creative, useful and beneficial to all.
(From, I Ching-The Book of Changes and the Unchanging Truth, by Hua Ching-Ni)

The First Day

2008-04-01T09:16:00.003-04:00

The sounds of the birds alerted me to the possibilities that lay ahead. Peering out my window, I noticed the soft earth. Wondering why I had not paid attention to it years ago, my mind drifted, for a moment, to the dream world, and I saw myself in a garden. The garden was filled with life and color. I wanted this garden to be in my own backyard. The day before, I had visited a wonderful community garden that was in need of some care. A child and his mother came by, as the bees buzzed around me, to play hide-n-seek. I wondered if I had played enough with my own child. Yes. I still am playing. The relief I felt was immense as nature embraced me. It was as if I was seeing for the first time.
The world we live in can make us blind. The chaos in human creation creates an illusion of inconstancy and permanence. Nothing is further from truth than this. The Omniverse is constant and impermanent. The moment I stepped out onto the Earth this morning, I heard that there was no more "time" to waste. I, not alone, must reach into the Earth's life force to survive. I must start so that others may join me. So, I opened my door, walked outside, picked up the steel-pronged rake, and began to move the soil. I discovered a rich, dark, pure inner soul teeming with life, awaiting my curiosity....The sun shone behind clouds pregnant with rain drops. I am full as I begin to awaken.