Joan Borysenko: Nourishing Our Souls

Growth of the soul is our goal, and there are many ways to encourage that growth, such as through love, nature, healing our wounds, forgiveness, and service. The soul grows well when giving and receiving love. I nourish my soul daily by loving others and being vulnerable to their love. Love is, after all, a verb, an action word, not a noun....

― Joan Borysenko

 

This Should Help Men Understand Even More What "Me Too" Means

THIS SHOULD HELP MEN UNDERSTAND EVEN MORE WHAT "ME TOO" MEANS IN REAL TERMS*

 
From Jackson Katz: "I draw a line down the middle of a chalkboard, sketching a male symbol on one side and a female symbol on the other. Then I ask just the men: What steps do you guys take, on a daily basis, to prevent yourselves from being sexually assaulted? At first there is a kind of awkward silence as the men try to figure out if they've been asked a trick question.
 
The silence gives way to a smattering of nervous laughter. Occasionally, a young a guy will raise his hand and say, 'I stay out of prison.' This is typically followed by another moment of laughter, before someone finally raises his hand and soberly states, 'Nothing. I don't think about it.'

Then I ask women the same question. What steps do you take on a daily basis to prevent yourselves from being sexually assaulted? Women throughout the audience immediately start raising their hands. As the men sit in stunned silence, the women recount safety precautions they take as part of their daily routine.

Here are some of their answers:
• Hold my keys as a potential weapon.
• Look in the back seat of the car before getting in.
• Carry a cell phone.
• Don't go jogging at night.
• Lock all windows when I sleep, even on hot summer nights.
• Be careful not to drink too much.
• Don't put my drink down and come back to it
• Make sure I see my drink being poured.
• Own a big dog.
• Carry Mace or pepper spray.
• Have an unlisted phone number.
• Have a man's voice on my answering machine.
• Park in well-lit areas.
• Don't use parking garages.
• Don't get on elevators with only one man.
• Don't get on elevatorswith a group of men.
• Vary my route home from work.
• Watch what I wear.
• Don't use highway rest areas.
• Use a home alarm system.
• Don't wear headphones when jogging.
• Avoid forests or wooded areas, even in the daytime.
• Don't take a first-floor apartment.
• Go out in groups.
• Own a firearm.
• Meet men on first dates in public places.
• Make sure to have a car or cab fare.
• Don't make eye contact with men on the street.
• Make assertive eye contact with men on the street...."
• etc. etc. etc. etc. etc.

 ― Jackson Katz

From The Macho Paradox: Why Some Men Hurt Women 

and How All Men Can Help

*This is a powerful and vital post. I also am moved to add additional feedback from Peter Van Buren, who shares: "For those of us who live in big cities, a lot of those precautions apply to everyone, male or female. Many predators out there; some looking for money, some sexual assault, some angry and crazy and just want to beat someone." It is important to also acknowledge that men can be and are victimized, too. - Molly

Patti Smith On Climate Change And The One Thing Donald Trump Is Afraid Of

Excellent interview!! ― Molly

By KRISTIN IVERSEN 

On the mid-October afternoon I spoke with Patti Smith about her involvement with Pathway to Paris, the collective organization of activists and artists working to amplify solutions to the crisis of climate change, it was a humid 87 degrees in New York City. It felt like August—in Miami. Beyond that, the news was filled with stories of the horrific wildfires devastating California and the hurricane-ravaged conditions in Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Texas. So it felt beyond appropriate to be talking with Smith, who will be one of many notable musicians participating in a Pathway to Paris concert at Carnegie Hall on November 5 (along with Joan Baez, Michael Stipe, Talib Kweli, Cat Power, and more), about the perils of ignoring our changing environment, what we can all do to help, and how the younger generation must—and will—be the one to enact radical change. Smith feels this last thing deeply as her daughter, Jesse Paris Smith, is one of the co-founders, along with Rebecca Foon, of Pathway to Paris. Read our interview below to find out Smith’s thoughts on what’s going on in the world and why she maintains hope for change in 2020.

We’re speaking at a time when wildfires are blanketing California, and New Yorkers still need air conditioners. I guess my first question is, what do you say at this point to people who are climate change-deniers?
I think that this is a subject that has concerned many of us for a long time. You go beyond America... as a traveler, everywhere I go people talk about this. They are concerned about the extreme change. It’s not like, “Oh, it’s warmer than usual,” it’s, like, so hot that you don’t have the facilities to cool anything down. There’s nothing in one’s recent history to prepare oneself for these changes.

So I guess the simplest—or the saddest—answer is we can’t do anything until more and more people are personally affected. I mean, we can do everything that we can do, but it seems that people are going to be in denial until they are so affected, that they become concerned. It’s just like the war in Vietnam; we couldn’t get people involved against the war that was so long and so terrible until so many people lost sons, so many people lost brothers. So many young men or so many young women realized they were going off to some war they didn’t understand, and might never come back. This became so widespread, it was touching everyone, and then the people rose up and protested.

But I don’t want to hope for that because, in hoping for that, we are hoping that things will get worse and worse, but they’re already worse. They’re already so bad everywhere you look. The air right now in San Francisco is the most toxic it’s ever been in San Francisco’s history because of all the fires in Santa Rosa. So, I don’t know how much worse it can get except all these dots start connecting, and it takes a toll on human life, on human health, on human resources.

That’s why for me this event is so inspiring. It’s not really an event that’s going to raise a lot of money or anything like that. It’s not that kind of event; it’s an awareness event. It’s to do something high-profile and to really have good people gather together to raise some awareness about the situation.

This is something done by two young girls, and that is the other thing I find so extraordinary. Of course, one happens to be my daughter, but still, I’m in awe when I think about myself at her age. Yeah, I was speaking against radio censorship and I was concerned about the war in Vietnam at the time and, of course, Civil Rights, but the amount of activism that she’s engaged in far surpasses anything I ever did as a young person.

So, for me, there are two things that make me want to be a part of it. One, is the support, the activism of our youth, and the other is because it’s a necessity. Even though my daughter’s concerns are my concerns, she has become the more articulate one. She has been the most active politically. She is the one going out there on the forefront, and so I’m not leading this charge, I’m following.

I think it’s important that young people lead these charges. So that’s why I’ll be there. Because we’re doing two things by supporting this concert: It’s a learning experience, it’s also entertainment. But we’re not only supporting an idea, we’re supporting the young who have taken an initiative. This initiative is far more reaching than the concert. The concert is one milestone or one stepping stone. I want people to come and know they’re doing. They’re learning, and they’re also responding to this crisis, but also supporting the youthful initiative.

Something that stood out to me about Pathway to Paris is how it’s really youth-led, which is really inspiring and also emblematic of the activism that I see in people who are in their 20s or in their 30s right now. But also it’s great because it’s drawing on different generations of people who have all been activists and people who can bring together the kind of audience that needs to be paying attention to this issue. It’s fascinating to think of using activism techniques from the last 50 to 60 years, in order to try and effect change now for the environmental disasters.
Well, look at the people... I mean [Jesse] got in touch with Joan Baez, and Joan Baez responded. Fifty years ago, Joan Baez was walking with Martin Luther King. Joan Baez has been working on behalf of the people, the environment, against war, against racism, in support of immigration. Here she is again coming to help a young girl who she’s never met. I’ve met Joan Baez, and she’s a wonderful person and I’m a big fan of hers. But she’s coming from California to give support to this, and she believes in the same thing because that’s what she did as a young girl.

This environmental crisis essentially is a human rights issue, and it’s just going to affect everybody, but it’s going to affect everybody in the world incredibly unequally. It’s really easy if you live in a first world country and you’re semi-protected by the infrastructure to think, Oh I’ll just have to use my air conditioner an extra couple months of the year, or, That’s why flood insurance exists, and not actually change your behaviors and your habits.
Mother Nature knows no race, she knows no good or evil, she just exists. How we abuse our planet and abuse Mother Nature, and how she erupts because of it, is on us all. About 20 years ago, I think, a group of us were working with the Dalai Lama. We were sitting around, and Adam Yauch, who was in the Beastie Boys, asked His Holiness, “What is the number one thing that young people can do for Tibet?” The Dalai Lama looked at him and said, “The number one thing that young people can do is be concerned and vigilant about the environment.” He said, “Not Tibet, not any place,” he said, “we have to go beyond personal concerns.”

We have to choose, if you’re going to be an activist or if you’re going to be active or aware; choose the thing that affects all mankind, not just the people of Tibet or any particular region. He said that close to 20 years ago, that’s why you have to be attentive, because everything that we do, every atrocity that we perform upon the Earth environmentally to pollute our water, the dirt, fracking, hazardous waste, all of these things that are poisoning our water and our Earth, are going to eventually seep into the greater water system. It’s going to seep into the drinking water. It’s going to seep into the Earth. You’re gonna have animals and bees and flowers filled with pesticides. Everything he said has come to pass. In terms of activism, the most beneficial to all mankind is the one that benefits and will protect and help all of mankind, and that’s environmental awareness and what we can do to move from antiquated energy sources and going off of fossil fuel and developing renewable energy and transforming our cities. That’s what we have to do, in city after city after city after city.

Please continue this interview here: https://www.nylon.com/articles/patti-smith-interview-climate-change-pathway-to-paris?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=nylon

Nahko and Medicine For the People: My Country

Thank you to my friend, Linda, for this one. I also need to share that I sit here weeping as I prepare to share this post. These are the places of suffering, harm and horror, and truth that many turn away from - through distractions, demonizations, denials - because, for those of us who are not Native, to truly open to and allow into our being the perspective and experience of Indigenous Peoples, and Blacks and other people of color, is to have our hearts break wide open. Truly, how is the American National Anthem experienced by the First Peoples??! I took my first class in college on Native American history and spirituality. So this is not a new subject to me. Yet, at the age of 66 and all these years later, I am still integrating into my heart what my mind has known for a very long time. May more and more of us ask for and receive the courage we need to be drawn to join with all whose hearts have broken open. We share so much more in common than not. And the tenderness of our broken hearts is among the antidotes to the propaganda of polarization, to the illusions of our separateness, and to the many faces of violence and ignorance which permeate our nation and the world. We are all related. We can heal. We can awaken and come together to create the world we all need. ― Molly

My “National Anthem”

We feel that racism and sexism and class seperation
That these are desecrations
And we feel that the american flag does not represent
Integrity, honor, justice or truth

My country 'tis of thee
Sweet land of poverty
For thee I weep
Land where my mother cried
Land where my father died
Sweet land of genocide
Pride of my heart

My country 'tis of thee
Sweet land of industry
We'll break your back
Clean out your minerals
Fill you with chemicals
We kill for what is profitable
Oh concrete world

Our climate's suffering
All nature feels the sting
Poisoned progress
All of these mouths to feed
All of this land to seed
From sea to shining sea
Gold underground
Our people left to die
Battlefield country-side
Paved-over graves
Suburban privileges make desolate villages
Broken treaties, Broken promises
Conquer, repeat

All warriors represent
Remind those who forget
The time is now
To walk in humble pride
Prepare and fortify
Resist comforts of compromise
Pray for guidance
Pray for guidance
Pray for guidance

 

― Nahko and Medicine For the People

 

https://youtu.be/dYqAfpeH2PI 

 

https://genius.com/6772929 

Luther Standing Bear: Kinship With All Creatures of the Earth, Sky, and Water

Thank you to my friend, Alex, for first sharing these quotes. 

So powerful and needed in these times. ― Molly

What the Student of Nature Learns ―

To Feel Beauty

 

Kinship with all creatures of the earth, sky and water was a real and active principle. In the animal and bird world there existed a brotherly feeling that kept the Lakota safe among them. And so close did some of the Lakotas come to their feathered and furred friends that in true brotherhood they spoke a common tongue.

It was good for the skin to touch the earth, and the old people liked to remove their moccasins and walk with bare feet on the sacred earth… the old Indian still sits upon the earth instead of propping himself up and away from its life giving forces. For him, to sit or lie upon the ground is to be able to think more deeply and to feel more keenly. He can see more clearly into the mysteries of life and come closer in kinship to other lives about him.

This concept of life and its relations was humanizing and gave to the Lakota an abiding love. It filled his being with the joy and mystery of living; it gave him reverence for all life; it made a place for all things in the scheme of existence with equal importance to all.

Everything was possessed of personality, only differing from us in form. Knowledge was inherent in all things. The world was a library and its books were the stones, leaves, grass, brooks, and the birds and animals that shared, alike with us, the storms and blessings of earth. We learned to do what only the student of nature learns, and that was to feel beauty. We never railed at the storms, the furious winds, and the biting frosts and snows. To do so intensified human futility, so whatever came we adjusted ourselves, by more effort and energy if necessary, but without complaint. 

…the old Lakota was wise. He knew that a man’s heart, away from nature, becomes hard; he knew that lack of respect for growing, living things soon led to lack of respect for humans, too. So he kept his children close to nature’s softening influence.

― Luther Standing Bear,

Oglala Lakota Chief

1868-1939 

 http://www.wisdompills.com/2015/01/22/10-quotes-sioux-indian-chief-will-make-question-everything-modern-culture/

Michael Meade: What the Heart Loves Is the Cure

A wise teaching from one of my longtime teachers,

Michael Meade. Deep bow of gratitude. - Molly

When the time comes for the heart to open fully again, the old fears will awaken and the inner walls will tighten up. Although fear can become terrifying and paralyzing, what we most fear is where we must go. “Fear is the guide for the true direction of the heart,” they used to say when considering the courage required to become oneself. Our way of loving and healing is seeded within us, yet it takes more than one breakthrough to reach the inner treasure. A long road made of longing and self-discovery is required in order to re-open the heart and reveal the gold within it. Another old proverb states that “what the heart loves is the cure.” Life is the ailment and what we love provides the cure for what ails us.

 

 ― Michael Meade

From Fate and Destiny 

 

Please go here for more:

http://www.mosaicvoices.org/ 

With Michael Meade at the wedding of dear friends, 2002

Scientist Daniel Swain on “Unprecedented Climate Conditions” Contributing to Deadly CA Wildfires

Again and again, Democracy Now! provides a larger picture and more in-depth investigative journalism than most other American media resources. These are the most vital issues for us to know about. Democracy - and a healthy nation and planet - cannot exist without an informed populace. - Molly

Excerpted from the transcript of this Democracy Now! program:

In California, at least 40 people have died, hundreds are missing, and thousands of homes have been destroyed by uncontrollable wildfires. More than 11,000 firefighters are battling the wildfires, with the support of hundreds of fire engines and dozens of helicopters and airplanes. Many of the firefighters are prisoners, who are working for as little as $1 a day. Among the victims of the wildfires were elderly residents of Sonoma County, where authorities say their bodies were so charred, the only way to identify some of them was by the serial numbers on artificial joints or other medical devices. We speak with Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at UCLA and author of Weather West, the California Weather Blog. 

AMY GOODMAN: “Inferno” by Ivan Karamazov, a musician from Sonoma County who sent us that song from Northern California. This is Democracy Now! I’m Amy Goodman, as we go to California, where raging wildfires fueled by—fires have raged at least—have killed at least 40 people, destroyed thousands of homes and businesses and scorched more than 200,000 acres—roughly the size of New York City. The fires are now the deadliest in California since record keeping began. At least 100,000 people have been forced to evacuate, with about 75,000 still displaced. Some residents had to flee for their lives as drought conditions and powerful, erratic winds have contributed to the explosive spread of fires. This is Cal Fire Chief Ken Pimlott. 

FIRE CHIEF KEN PIMLOTT: We are still impacted by five years of drought. With the significant rain that we had last winter, those effects are gone of that moisture, and we are literally looking at explosive vegetation. These fires are burning actively during the day and at night, when one would expect a fire to subside. And make no mistake: This is a serious, critical, catastrophic event.

AMY GOODMAN: More than 11,000 firefighters are battling the wildfires, with the support of hundreds of fire engines, dozens of helicopters and planes. Many of the firefighters are prisoners, who are working for as little as a dollar a day. Among the victims of the wildfires were elderly residents of Sonoma County, where authorities say their bodies were so charred, the only way to identify some of them was by the serial numbers on artificial joints or other medical devices. The fires have also contributed to a housing crisis, leaving thousands homeless in neighborhoods of California where rental prices were already sky-high before the blazes.

For more, we go to California, where we’re joined by two guests. In Los Angeles, Daniel Swain joins us, climate scientist at UCLA, author of Weather West, the California Weather Blog. And via Democracy Now! video stream, we’re joined by Jan Hoyman, an artist who had to flee her home to escape the fire in Mendocino County last week.

Let’s go right now to Los Angeles, where we’re joined by Daniel Swain. Talk about the fires and whether you believe there’s a connection to climate change. 

DANIEL SWAIN: Well, thanks for having me.

The scope of the wildfires that we’ve been seeing over the past week or so in Northern California is really kind of sobering. As you mentioned, I think these fires have the highest death toll and the highest number of structures burned of any series of fires in California history. And California does have a long history of deadly and destructive wildfires. And the fires we’ve seen this week have—bear some similarities to the historical fires that have caused big problems in the past, which is the presence of these very strong and dry land-to-sea winds, known locally as the Diablo winds. And when these winds blow—the autumn tends to be the time of year when they occur—they can cause existing fires to spread very, very quickly—in some cases, I think, faster than people have been able to outrun them, unfortunately.

And the climate conditions over the past several months in California have been, in some ways, unprecedented. California has experienced its record warmest summer, which comes immediately on the heels of what was quite a wet winter, actually. And counterintuitively, that sequence, that transition from very wet winter to record hot summer, may have actually contributed, to a significant degree, to the fire risks that we’ve been seeing, by increasing the amount of grass and dry brush that grew during the winter and spring, and then leading to an unprecedented amount of vegetation drying over the past several months. 

AMY GOODMAN: There are also wildfires raging in Spain and Portugal. What is the connection? 

DANIEL SWAIN: Well, one of the interesting things about all these locations is they tend to have similar climates. They have what are known as Mediterranean climates. And from a fire perspective, that’s important because these regions tend to have long, dry summers, even under natural climate conditions. The challenging part is that, recently, those summers have become longer and drier. And the fire season in many of these parts of the world, that were already susceptible to wildfire, are experiencing longer burning seasons and hotter, drier summers. 

AMY GOODMAN: Can you talk about how wildfires should be dealt with in the future and what can be the approach to climate change that can make a difference here? 

DANIEL SWAIN: Well, you know, wildfire and global warming sort of represents an interesting example of a natural hazard that, in places like California or, really, anywhere with a Mediterranean climate with high fire risk, where there is a significant degree of pre-existing risk, that people who live in these regions and people who plan, do hazard planning in these regions, are well aware of. But the warming temperatures aggravate this existing risk and, in some cases, make it considerably worse than it would have been otherwise. And so, you know, in some ways, the same sorts of adaptations that we make to wildfires, in general, will still apply to the wildfires of the future. That may include being careful where we build our homes in urban areas and, you know, thinking more carefully about what we do and how we manage fires once they occur.

But on the bigger scale, the changes in climate that we’re experiencing are largely due to the human emission of greenhouse gases. And we expect warming to continue for as long as we continue to emit those greenhouse gases. And so, there’s both a challenge and an opportunity here, where if we choose to reduce and eventually to eliminate our greenhouse gas emissions, we will avert much of the warming, much of the increased risk of extreme events like wildfires that otherwise would have occurred. And right now we’re starting to see signs of heading in that trajectory, at least internationally, but we’re still not quite where we need to be, to be on the right track to eventually level off that risk.

Please go here to continue this transcript, or to watch the full video interview: https://www.democracynow.org/2017/10/16/scientist_daniel_swain_on_unprecedented_climate