Man's Companions

Joanna Ruocco - dear friend, gifted writer, remarkable woman, hilarious adventurer - has just published her latest book, Man's Companions. Hooray!
About: http://www.tarpaulinsky.com/Press/Ruocco/
Look inside: http://www.tarpaulinsky.com/Press/Ruocco/issuu/ruocco-companions-issuu.html

(See what I mean about the birds...?)

Polaroid Film Reinvented

Dry your eyes and dig up your old Polaroid land cameras, a new film stock has been created: The Impossible Project

Sustainable House for the 21st century

BrightBuilt Barn is the product of a collaboration among a team of some of the Northeast’s top green professionals, who decided to create a prototype for the sustainable house of the 21st century. The result is an award-winning, practical, affordable, beautiful structure that is one of the only buildings in the world to be designed to be truly carbon neutral: by making more clean energy than it consumes, over its lifespan, BrightBuilt Barn will actually offset all the atmospheric greenhouse gases produced by its construction.

This is the morning, full of hope and yearning...

Photograph by The Archaeology of the Recent Future Association

Olneyville flooding

If you're buying/ordering seeds...

Please consider investing in organic, non-GMO and/or heirloom seeds. Actually, a majority of seed companies use GMO (genetically modified) seeds and supporting their businesses only adds to environmental pollution (GMO plants require pesticides, drain the soil, etc), disinvestment from small and local farms (farmers have to keep rebuying these seeds), and is generally a move towards unsafe and unsustainable practices. With this in mind, it is really easy to order great seeds from lots of local and national distributors.

The Safe Seed Pledge lists all the companies that have signed on.
The Organic Seed Alliance is another good resource.
Organic Cosumers Association lists seed suppliers by state.
So far, we've only tried Seeds of Change and Baker Creek. Yes, they're a little more expensive than the 99 cent packets at your local hardware store, but it is well worth the investment in terms of taste, beauty, and responsibility.

To learn more about the importance of heirloom seeds and non-GMO plants, please look at some of the resources below. This is not just an issue of personal taste or about the few plants in your particular patch, it is really a global issue that concerns the safety of our food, ecological biodiversity, the health of our environment, and the empowerment and well-being of millions of farmers. Spend the extra buck and buy good seeds!

Vandana Shiva is an eloquent, informed, and passionate activist and scholar who has fought for more sustainable, traditional, and local practices and paradigms of agriculture and food. She has assisted grassroots campaigns against genetic engineering all over the world. Here is one video to look at.

Seed Savers Exchange
SSE is a non-profit, member supported organization that saves and shares the heirloom seeds of our garden heritage, forming a living legacy that can be passed down through generations. Our loyal SSE members have distributed an estimated 1 million samples of rare garden seeds since our founding nearly 35 years ago. Those seeds now are widely used by seed companies, small farmers supplying local and regional markets, chefs and home gardeners and cooks, alike.

Tents!

A small sampling of the incredible world of tents:

Children in a home-made circus tent (1922)

Moroccon wedding tents

Yurt from Uzbekistan

SUMMER PASTURE

We are so excited... our friends Nelson and Lynn will have the world premiere of their film at the Full Frame Film Fest.

Summer Pasture
2010, 98 min. USA | China | Tibet
True Walker Productions
www.summerpasturefilm.com

Summer Pasture is a feature-length documentary about a young nomadic couple living with their infant daughter in the high grasslands of eastern Tibet. Filmed during the summer of 2007 with rare access to an area seldom visited by outsiders, Summer Pasture offers an unprecedented window into a highly insular community and a sensitive portrait of a family at a time of great transition. Locho and his wife Yama live in Dzachukha, eastern Tibet - nicknamed "5-most" by the Chinese for being the highest, coldest, poorest, largest, and most remote area in Sichuan Province, China. They depend on their herd of yaks for survival, just as their ancestors have for generations. In recent years however, Dzachukha has undergone rapid development, which poses unprecedented challenges to nomadic life.

Summer Pasture evolves as an intimate exploration of Locho and Yama's personalities, relationship, and the complicated web of circumstances that surrounds them. Over its course we witness their travails with illness, infidelity, and the dissolution of their community. In the face of mounting obstacles, Locho and Yama gradually reveal the personal sacrifice they will make to ensure their daughter's future. Through its subtle observation of Locho and Yama's character, Summer Pasture provides a deeply personal account of what it means to be a nomad in a swiftly modernizing world, and a universal story of family survival.

DIY Pedialyte

Instead of getting crappy chemicals, make your own electrolyte tea for relief after diarrhea or vomiting (with stuff you probably already have in your cupboard):

Into 4 cups of warm water, stir in 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, and 2-3 tablespoons sugar or honey. (Honey shouldn't be used for little babies).

Another recipe for an electrolyte replacement fluid from kellymom.com
1 teaspoon baking soda
8 teaspoons sugar
8 ounces orange juice
Dilute to 1 liter with water

You can add a little flavor by mixing in a little ginger brew (water boiled with grated ginger root or store-bought tea) since ginger helps settle stomachs and helps with nauseau.
Also, you can add some peppermint tea or a tiny drop of peppermint oil as it also helps with stomach pain. But, be aware, nursing moms: peppermint is associated with diminishing breastmilk.
Chamomile is generally calming and soothing.

Wood Pallet Architecture

Great use of recycled wood pallets... make a shed, fence, chicken coop, or something else altogether:
http://summerville-novascotia.com/PalletWoodShed/

And a whole book of projects: Build It With Pallets

New art projects in Milwaukee

Two exciting projects that have recently come into existence:
The Parachute Project
RedLine Milwaukee

Sad but ingenious

Due to the high rate of drinks getting spiked, someone has finally come up with a quick and easy way to test whether your drink is safe or not: Drink Safe USA

Adolf Wolfli

 

A Mysterious and Philosophical Baby

From Alison Gopnik's book, The Philosophical Baby:

It's possible that babies literally don't see a difference between their own pain and the pain of others. Maybe babies want to end all suffering, no matter where it happens to be located. For them, pain is pain and joy is joy. Moral thinkers from Buddha to David Hume to Martin Buber have suggested that erasing the boundaries between yourself and others in this way can underpin morality. We know that children's conception of a continuous separate self develops slowly in the first five years.

There's a good review of  the book here. And a few quotes from it below.


Gopnik speculates that early childhood prepares us for both the appreciation and creation of art: imaginary play among children hones the ability to entertain counterfactuals—the alternative worlds out of which art, and invention of any sort, are primarily made. ... Imaginary play is a rehearsal for understanding the minds and intentions of others, a basic survival skill.

Almost all of the 100 billion neurons in a human being's nervous system are in place at birth, and in early childhood the synapses—the points of contact between neurons that fire memory and sensation—are vastly overproduced. To a large extent, maturity is a neural pruning process, an uncluttering of consciousness so that what is most useful for getting through a day—driving to work, for instance, or negotiating the supermarket—is readily, and unconsciously, available. Our lives are far more organized around repetition than novelty. Less useful neurons weaken and die, a form of forgetting.

Gopnik offers the captivating idea that children are more conscious than adults but also less unconscious, because they have fewer automatic behaviors.

A Love Letter For You

A beautiful and inspiring project straight outta Philly (one the best cities in the USA for amazing murals):
The Love Letter For You project

This Week In History...

Historical acts of courage and determination for every day of the week:
http://www.peacebuttons.info/E-News/thisweek.htm

True/False Film Fest 2010...

was wonderful. Wish you could have been here. Here is a video postcard.

Museums Cont'd: Peace Museums

As a starting point, here are some of the institutions in this world that are uniquely dedicated to peace
(source: International Network of Museums for Peace)

AFRICOM International Council of African Museums
Albert Schweitzer House
Antikriegshaus Sieverhausen
Anti-Kriegs Museum
Battambang Peace Museum (project) in Cambodia
BOCS Foundation
Article 9 Society
CEGESOMA
Centre for Peace and Reconciliation Studies Coventry University
Centro Documentazione Manifesto Pacifista Internaz
Center for Peace Museum, Seoul Korea
Centre Mondial de la Paix (World Center for Peace)
Comenius Museum
Dayton International Peace Museum
Display House of the Fifth Lucky Dragon
Envision Peace Museum (planned opening 2013)
Europäisches Museum für Frieden
First Austrian Peace Museum
Flanders Fields
Franz Jägerstätter Haus (Franz Jägerstätter House)
Friedensbibliothek - Antikriegmuseum
Friedensbibliothek-Antikriegsmuseum ( Berlin , Germany )
Friedenshistorisches Museum (Peace History Museum)
Friedensraeume Lindau
Friedensmuseum Meeder
Friedensmuseum Nürnberg
Friedensmuseum Remagen
Friends of Peace
Gandhi Durshan Gandhi Smitri
Gandhi Memorial Museum
Gandhi Smarak Sangrahalaya
GandhiServe Foundation
Gernika Gogoratuz
Gernika Peace Museum Foundation
Ghent University
Global Peace Pioneers
Grassroots House
Green Island Human Rights Memorial Park
Gustavus Adolphus College, Peace Studies Program
Halabja Monument and Peace Museum
The Herbert
Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum
Historical Museum of Japanese Military Sexual Slavery
The Children’s Museum for Peace and Human Rights
Ijzertoren
Imperial War Museum
Indian Institute for Peace
Interfaith Peace Museum of Pakistan
International Exhibition Centre
International Museum of Peace and Solidarity
International Red Cross & Red Crescent Museum
Kochi University Peace Studies
Kurdistan, Save the Children Fund
Kyoto Museum for World Peace
Kyoto University of Education
La Paix Herb Farm Interactive Museum
Le Mémorial de Caen
The Lion and Lamb Peace Arts Center of Bluffton University
Lucerne Initiative for Peace and Security
Maria Stein Heritage Museum and the National Marian Shrine of the Holy Relics
Missing Peace Art Space
Musée Albert Schweitzer à Kaysersberg
Museum Haus am Checkpoint Charlie
Museo della Pace Piccoli Martiri di Gorla
Museum de la Paz (Museum for Peace)

Museum voor Vrede en Geweldloosheid
Muzeum Brnenska
Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum
National Gandhi Museum  
National Museum of Indian Freedom Movement
National Peace Museum of Conscientious Objection and Anti-war Activism
Nederlands Instituut voor Oorlogsdocumentatie
No More Hiroshima: No More Nagasaki: Peace Museum
Nobel Peace Center
Nobel Institute
Nova centre per a la Innovacio Social
Oka Masaharu Memorial Peace Museum
PASOS: A Museum and Center for Peacebuilding
Peace Museum Bradford
Peace Museum Chicago
Peace Museum of Delaware Valley
Peace Museum of Saitama
Peace Philosophy Centre
Robben Island Museum
Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian
Society for Chemical Weapons Victims Support
Stadtgeschichtliches Museum Leipzig / Völkerschlachtdenkmal
The Swedish Museums Association
Traveling Museum Project History of Conscientious Objection
Tehran Peace Museum
University of Bradford Peace Studies
Vall d'Uxio Peace Museum
Yi Jun Peace Museum
Vredespaleis Den Haag
Vredescentrum Antwerpen (Peace Centre Antwerp)

Museum-ification

There is a long history to humans creating shrines and displays - special ways to store, protect, fetisize, contextualize (or re-contextualize) objects. From the paintings at Lascaux to African reliquaries to European wunderkammer to Native American burial mounds to Egyptian mummies and pyramids... perhaps this is painting with too broad of a stroke... (more here)
Today, however, there are countless museums dedicated to all sorts of research, narratives, and types of objects. These "institutions" celebrate art and ideas as much as they write and re-write our history, knowledge, and perception. Here is one example: The Museum of Phallology in Iceland
More to come as the research continues...

symbol-using beings

According to theorist and writer Kenneth Burke, humans are "the symbol using, making, and mis-using animal, inventor of the negative, separated from his natural condition by instruments of his own making, goaded by the spirit of hierarchy, and rotten with perfection." 

Some more (superficial, but exciting) tidbits from Burke... (more here)

The rhetorical function of language as "a symbolic means of inducing cooperation in beings that by nature respond to symbols." For Burke, some of the most significant problems in human behavior resulted from instances of symbols using human beings rather than human beings using symbols. Another key concept for Burke is the terministic screen - a set of symbols that becomes a kind of screen or grid of intelligibility through which the world makes sense to us. Language, according to Burke, doesn't simply "reflect" reality; it also helps select reality as well as deflect reality. In his book Language as Symbolic Action (1966), Burke defined humankind as a "symbol using animal" so that our "reality" has actually "been built up for us through nothing but our symbol system". What we call "reality," Burke stated, is actually a "clutter of symbols about the past combined with whatever things we know mainly through maps, magazines, newspapers, and the like about the present . . . a construct of our symbol systems".

(But then, I sometimes go outside and stick my hands in the cold mud and breastfeed my child and feel otherwise... or at least try to...)

The cost of non-organic cotton

While considering the higher price tag on organic cotton materials, I try to keep in mind the invisible costs of non-organic cotton - the costs that are externalized, such as chemical pollution (and associated health risks), environmental degradation (poisoned air, water, soil, and food), greater dependence on bio-tech companies, and more toxic exposure for flora and fauna. 

Cotton is considered the world's 'dirtiest' crop due to its heavy use of insecticides, the most hazardous pesticide to human and animal health. Cotton covers 2.5% of the world's cultivated land yet uses 16% of the world's insecticides, more than any other single major crop. (Source: The deadly chemicals in cotton. Environmental Justice Foundation in collaboration with Pesticide Action Network UK: London, UK. ISBN No. 1-904523-10-2). The Environmental Protection Agency considers seven of the top 15 pesticides used on cotton in 2000 in the United States as "possible," "likely," "probable," or "known" human carcinogens (acephate, dichloropropene, diuron, fluometuron, pendimethalin, tribufos, and trifluralin). (EPA) 

Here are some more reasons why organic cotton production is important (follow link or read below):

Aldicarb, parathion, and methamidopho, three of the most acutely hazardous insecticides to human health as determined by the World Health Organization, rank in the top ten most commonly used in cotton production. All but one of the remaining seven most commonly used are classified as moderately to highly hazardous (1). 

Aldicarb, cotton's second best selling insecticide and most acutely poisonous to humans, can kill a man with just one drop absorbed through the skin, yet it is still used in 25 countries and the US, where 16 states have reported it in their groundwater (1).

Insecticide use has decreased in the last 10 years with the introduction of Biotechnology (BT), the fastest adapted yet most controversial new technology in the history of agriculture. As of 2007, Bt cotton already commands 34% of total cotton cropland and 45% of world cotton production. In Bt cotton, the insecticide is always present in the plant rather than applied in periodic spraying sessions which will lead to rapid rates of pest immunities and possibly produce superpests (3). 

It can take almost a 1/3 pound of synthetic fertilizers to grow one pound of raw cotton in the US, and it takes just under one pound of raw cotton to make one t-shirt (4).

Nitrogen synthetic fertilizers are considered the most detrimental to the environment, causing leaching and runoff that freshwater habitats and wells (5).

Nitrogen synthetic fertilizers are a major contributor to increased N2O emissions, which are 300 times more potent than CO2 as greenhouse gas (5), which is ominous for global warming as synthetic fertilizer use is forecasted to increase roughly 2.5 times by mid-century (6). 

Organic farming methods use natural fertilizers, like compost and animal manure, that recycles the nitrogen already in the soil rather than adding more, which reduces both pollution and N2O emissions (5).

The cottonseed hull, where many pesticide residues have been detected, is a secondary crop sold as a food commodity. It is estimated that as much as 65% of cotton production ends up in our food chain, whether directly through food oil or indirectly through the milk and meat of animals (1).

Cottonseed and field trash is usually sold for animal feed. Studies in Brazil and Nicaragua have show traces of common cotton pesticides in cow milk, fueling concerns about chemical residues on the cottonseed (1). 

The developing world is home to 99% of all cotton farmers and produces 75% of the world's total cotton, so it bears the brunt of cotton's environmental and health concerns (1).

Rural farmers lack the necessary safety equipment, protective clothing, and training for handling hazardous pesticides. In India, one in ten pesticide applications results in three or more reported health symptoms related to pesticide exposure (1).

Surveys show that rural cotton farmers often store pesticides in their bedrooms or in close proximity to their food and some even reuse pesticide containers for drinking water. These farmers and their families are at highest risk for acute pesticide poisoning as well as chronic effects (1)

US cotton subsidies artificially lower cotton prices while production costs for Biotech (Bt) seeds and pesticides are rising, causing financial stress in the rest of the world's cotton-producing areas. India's once prestigious cotton belt is now referred to as the "suicide belt" due to farmers unable to accept growing debts. Since 2003, the suicide rate has averaged one every eight hours in Vidarba, India (7). 

During the conversion of cotton into conventional clothing, many hazardous materials are used and added to the product, including silicone waxes, harsh petroleum scours, softeners, heavy metals, flame and soil retardants, ammonia, and formaldehyde-just to name a few (8).

Many processing stages result in large amounts of toxic wastewater that carry away residues from chemical cleaning, dyeing, and finishing. This waste depletes the oxygen out of the water, killing aquatic animals and disrupting aquatic ecosystems (8). 

Cotton uses approximately 25% of the world's insecticides and more than 10% of the pesticides (including herbicides, insecticides, and defoliants.). (Allan Woodburn)

Approximately 10% of all pesticides sold for use in U. S. agriculture were applied to cotton in 1997, the most recent year for which such data is publicly available. (ACPA)

Fifty-five million pounds of pesticides were sprayed on the 12.8 million acres of conventional cotton grown in the U.S. in 2003 (4.3 pounds/ acre), ranking cotton third behind corn and soybeans in total amount of pesticides sprayed. (USDA)

Over 2.03 billion pounds of synthetic fertilizers were applied to conventional cotton in 2000 (142 pounds/acre), making cotton the fourth most heavily fertilized crop behind corn, winter wheat, and soybeans. (USDA)

Sources
1) EJF. (2007). The deadly chemicals in cotton. Environmental Justice Foundation in collaboration with Pesticide Action Network UK: London, UK. ISBN No. 1-904523-10-2.
(2) Whitford, F., Pike, D., Burroughs, F., Hanger, G. Johnson, B., & Brassard, D. (2006). The pesticide marketplace: Discovering and developing new products. Purdue University Extension, report # PPP-71.
(3) Chaudhry, M.R., (2007, March 6-8). Biotech applications in cotton: Concerns and challenges. Paper presented at the Regional Consultation on Biotech Cotton for Risk Assessment and Opportunities for Small Scale Cotton Growers (CFC/ICAC 34FT), Faisalabad, Pakistan.
(4) Lauresn, S. E., Hansen, J., Knudsen, H. H., Wenzel, H., Larsen, H. F., & Kristensen, F. M. (2007). EDIPTEX: Environmental assessment of textiles. Danish Environmental Protection Agency, working report 24.
(5) Kramer, S. B., Reganold, J. P., Glover, J. D., Bohannan, B. J. M., & Mooney, H. A. (2006). Reduced nitrate leaching and enhanced denitrifier activity and efficiency in organically fertilized soils. PNAS, 103 (12), 4522-4527.
(6) Tilman, D., Cassman, K., Matson, P., Naylor, R., & Polasky, S. (2002). Nature (418), 71-677.
(7) de Sam Lazaro, F. (2007). The dying fields: India's forgotten farmers [Television series episode]. In WNET (producer), Wide Angle. New York: Public Broadcasting Station.
(8) Kadolph, S. J., & Langford, A. L. (2002). Textiles (9th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. 
OTA's "2006 U.S. Organic Production & Marketing Trends" report.
Allen Woodburn Associates Ltd./Managing Resources Ltd., "Cotton: The Crop and its Agrochemicals Market," 1995.

American Crop Protection Association, "1997 Total U. S. Sales by Crop Protection Product Type and Market," 1998 ACPA Industry Profile.

California Department of Pesticide Regulation, "DPR Releases Data on 1999 Pesticide Injuries," 2001.

U. S. Department of Agriculture, "Agricultural Chemical Usage: 2003 Field Crop Summary."

U. S. Environmental Protection Agency, "List of Chemicals Evaluated for Carcinogenic Potential," 2001.

©2009, Organic Trade Association

Restaurant Supported Agriculture

I've been thinking about how restaurants can work to support local farms and buy local... Here is one example, Braise RSA, who are doing it using the CSA (community supported agriculture) model. Read more here.

The effort is modeled after popular community supported agriculture programs – now numbering in the thousands – in which families buy shares of local farmers’ harvests in advance, then get weekly deliveries of produce during the growing season.

And this too is procrastination...

And it feels so good.

Found on Spike Jonze's very nice blog.

How Many People Use ... ?

Twitter: How Many People Actually Use Twitter?
Facebook: A Look At Facebook’s Reach Worldwide
The internet: World Internet Users and Population Stats

If we’re not careful, we’re going to develop the psychological equivalent of obesity. We’ll find ourselves consuming content that is least beneficial for ourselves or society as a whole.
— Danah Boyd

We don't plan to go mob rules any more than a single transistor on your computer intends to download porn. We participate in localized stimulus and response. Macro digital collectivism from local interaction. ... Anyway, maybe Twitter is just God's way of making sure we never manage to finish creating our future oppressor.
— Jim Stogdill

Eli Pariser's Super Great Blog

http://elip.tumblr.com

"the hacienda must be built"

Ivan Vladimirovitch Chtcheglov (in Russian: Иван Владимирович Щеглов)

16 January 1933–April 21 1998

political theorist, activist and poet, born in Paris of Russian parents.

He wrote Formulaire pour un urbanisme nouveau (Formulary for a New Urbanism) in 1953, at age nineteen under the name Gilles Ivain. The text was an inspiration to the Lettrist International and Situationist International. It included the phrase "the hacienda must be built", which influenced Tony Wilson of Factory Records in naming his Manchester night-club, The Hacienda.

He tried to deconstruct the Eiffel Tower and was arrested and committed to a mental hospital by his wife, where he was subdued with insulin and shock therapy, and remained for 5 years. He died in 1998.

About Haiti earthquake relief...

If you are able to donate some money towards relief efforts in Haiti, here is an alphabetized list of organizations and a brief description of the humanitarian work that they do, with specific information about their focus in Haiti. These groups have been vetted by CNN and CharityNavigator.org, an independent nonprofit that evaluates charity groups based on effectiveness and financial stability. Follow this link What will your Haiti relief donation go toward? or read below.

No time to read? You can simply text "Haiti" to 90999 to donate $10 to the International Response Fund. The money will go directly to relief efforts in Haiti. Or call 1-800-Red-Cross.

American Jewish World Service
The agency supports grass-roots, community-based organizations in remote locations whose needs are not always met by larger organizations. To donate to its Haiti relief efforts, go to ajws.org/haitiearthquake/ or mail a check to 45 W. 36th St., 11th Floor, New York, NY 10018. Make checks out to American Jewish World Service, and in the memo section write "Haiti Earthquake Relief Fund." You may also call 1-800-889-7146 or 212-792-2900. The group will use the funds for immediate needs, such as psychological and social support; health services and education on hygiene and disease prevention; mobilizing volunteers in Haiti to help with rescue and aid distribution; and aiding the Haitian Dominican community, who can coordinate with the Dominican government for greater support; in addition to long-term rebuilding plans.

American Red Cross
The American Red Cross' primary focus during the initial response of an emergency is food, shelter and meeting other basic needs. To donate: Go to RedCross.org, hit "donate now" button at top and then choose International Response Fund. You also can text "Haiti" to 90999 to donate $10 to the International Response Fund. The money will go directly to relief efforts in Haiti. Or call 1-800-Red-Cross.

AmeriCares
This nonprofit disaster relief organization delivers medicine, medical supplies and aid to people in crisis around the world. To donate, call 1-800-486-HELP or go to AmeriCares.org. Donations will go toward medicine and medical supplies and for expenses for providing that medical aid.

CARE
This humanitarian organization's focus is fighting global poverty, specifically by empowering women and girls. To donate to the Haiti relief fund, go to Care.org or call 1-800-521-CARE. Money will go toward food, water and sanitation, shelter and emergency health response.

Catholic Relief Services
Catholic Relief Services is an aid agency that works with emergency relief, micro-finance, AIDS/HIV relief, agriculture, water and sanitation, among other projects in countries around the world. To donate, go to crs.org, or call 1-877-HELP-CRS. You also can text RELIEF to 30644. You will receive a text message back with instructions on how to donate. You can send a check to Catholic Relief Services, P.O. Box 17090, Baltimore, MD 21203-7090. Write "Haiti earthquake" in memo area. The money will go toward immediate needs, including water, food, hygiene kits, bedding and basic cooking utensils.

Clinton Bush Haiti Fund
Presidents Clinton and Bush teamed up to spearhead efforts to rebuild Haiti. To make a donation to the Clinton Bush Haiti fund, text "HAITI" to "90999," and $10 will be given automatically to the Red Cross. To donate online, go toclintonbushhaitifund.org. Money will go to basic needs -- such as food, water, shelter, and first-aid supplies -- as well as long-term support.

Concern Worldwide
The aid agency focuses on extreme poverty. It targets the root causes of poverty through programs in education, health, water needs, HIV/AIDS, microfinance and emergency responses. To donate, go to concernusa.org or call 212-557-8000. You can also mail a check or money order to Concern Worldwide U.S. Inc., 104 E. 40th St., Suite 903, New York, NY 10016. Indicate that it is for Haiti, or write "Concern Haiti Appeal" on the memo line. Money will go into a specific Haiti emergency fund, which includes supplying water, food, shelter, medical supplies and lasting reconstruction.

Direct Relief International
Direct Relief provides medical attention to those in need on an ongoing basis and in emergencies. Monetary donations go toward medical aid, supplies and equipment in Haiti. To donate, go to directrelief.org or call 805-964-4767 and 800-676-1638, or go through Google Checkout.

Episcopal Relief & Development
A humanitarian agency that helps communities rebuild after disasters and empowers people by offering lasting solutions that fight poverty and disease worldwide. To donate, go to er-d.org or mail a check to Episcopal Relief & Development, P.O. Box 7058 Merrifield, VA 22116-7058 and write "Haiti" on the memo line. To donate by phone, call 1-800-334-7626, ext. 5129. The agency is working with partners in Port-au-Prince and other affected areas to meet immediate needs such as food, water, shelter and medical care. It is also assessing needs and developing plans for a long-term recovery program.

Food For the Poor
The agency delivers food, medical supplies and other goods to the poor. To donate to its Haiti relief efforts, go to foodforthepoor.org, or call 1-800-487-1158. For those living in South Florida, bring donated items to the Food for the Poor headquarters office at 6401 Lyons Road, Coconut Creek, FL 33073. The charity will accept canned fish, canned meat, canned milk, canned baby formula and bottled water. Monetary donations will go toward purchasing food and supplies as well as shipping costs.

Habitat for Humanity
Habitat for Humanity provides affordable, safe shelter for low-income families and people in need. Money donated for Haiti relief efforts will go toward recovery and rebuilding. To donate, go to habitat.org or call 1-800-Habitat.

International Medical Corps
This emergency response agency focuses on health in emergency situations. Monetary donations go toward purchasing medical supplies, medicine and emergency kits and transporting these supplies. Call 1-800-481-4462 or go to imcworldwide.org.

International Rescue Committee
The agency is a global network of first-responders, humanitarian relief workers, health care providers, educators, community leaders, activists and volunteers. To donate to its Haiti relief efforts, go to theIRC.org, or call 1-877-REFUGEE. You can also mail a check to International Rescue Committee, 122 E. 42nd St., New York, NY 10168. Or text HAITI to 25282 to donate $5 to the IRC. Money will be used for repairing and supplying health clinics, providing clean water and sanitation, and implementing programs for traumatized children and youth; helping manage a database to register orphans and separated children and trace their relatives; and protecting women and girls who may be exposed to sexual violence.

International Relief Teams
The nonprofit organizes volunteer teams to provide medical and non-medical assistance to victims of disasters and poverty. To donate, go to irteams.org, or call 619-284-7979. Checks can be made out to International Relief Teams, 4560 Alvarado Canyon Road, Suite 2G, San Diego, CA 92120-4309. The money will be used for medical supplies, medicine and other relief supplies, and to support volunteers heading to Haiti for relief efforts.

Love a Child
The Christian-based humanitarian relief agency focuses on giving aid to children and their families in Haiti. To donate, go to loveachild.com, or call 1-800-645-4868. You can mail a check to P.O. Box 30744 Tampa, FL 33630-3744. Write "Haiti Earthquake" or "where most needed" on the memo line. Monetary donations will be used for food, clothing, shelter, schools and medical needs, among other services.

Medical Teams International
The Christian global health organization sends volunteer medical teams and supplies to those in the midst of disaster or poverty. Monetary donations will go to supporting the medical teams being sent to Haiti and to the cost of shipping the medical supplies donated by corporations. Donate by going to medicalteams.org and clicking on the "Donate Now" button, call 1-800-959-HEAL (4325), or send a check to Medical Teams International, P.O. Box 10, Portland, OR 97207.

Medecins sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders)
The humanitarian organization delivers medical care to people caught in crisis. Donations to its Haiti relief efforts will go toward repairing the obstetrics and trauma hospitals in Haiti that were damaged in the earthquake. They also will go to transporting an additional 70 doctors and medical supplies to the island in an effort to set up makeshift emergency medical response centers. To donate, go to doctorswithoutborders.org, or call 1-888-392-0392.

Mercy Corps
The organization provides humanitarian assistance and economic opportunities in the world's toughest places, specifically those dealing with poverty, conflict and instability. To donate, go to MercyCorps.org. Money will go toward immediate humanitarian needs in Haiti, which may include food, water and temporary shelter.

Operation USA
The international relief agency provides funding for reconstruction and development aid to communities that have experienced disasters, disease and poverty. For its Haiti relief efforts, the agency plans to use donations for health care materials, water purification supplies and food supplements. To donate, go to opusa.org, call 1-800-678-7255, or mail a check to Operation USA, 3617 Hayden Ave., Suite A, Culver City, CA 90232.

Oxfam America
Oxfam America works to fight poverty and injustice by helping people in struggling areas earn a living, teaching them to save money and offering disaster risk-protection programs. Money donated to Oxfam's Haiti Earthquake Recovery Fund will go to water delivery and sanitation projects. To donate, visit OxfamAmerica.org, or call 1-800-77-Oxfam. If you would like to mail a check, send it to P.O. Box 1211, Albert Lea, MN 56007.

Partners In Health
The organization works to bring modern medical care to poor communities around the world. To donate, go to pih.org, or text GIVE to 25383 to donate $10. You can also mail a check to Partners in Health, P.O. Box 845578, Boston, MA 02284-5578; write "Haiti" in memo line. If want to donate supplies, the agency is in need of orthopedic supplies, surgical consumables (sutures, bandages, non-powdered sterile gloves, syringes, etc.) and large unopened boxes of medications. Small quantities, unused personal medications or expired supplies will not be accepted. Please fill out a form on the Web site for supply donations. The agency also needs blankets, tents and satellite phones with minutes. People with private planes willing to fly medical personnel and/or large quantities of supplies are needed. For information, call 617-432-5256.

Project Hope
Project Hope responds to crises with medical supplies and medical volunteers, and it is committed to long-term sustainable health care. To donate, go to projecthope.org, or mail a check to 255 Carter Hall Lane, Millwood, VA 22646. Monetary donations will be used for shipments of medicine and medical supplies and for deployment of volunteer doctors and nurses to Haiti.

Project MediShare
The agency's sole purpose is to improve the health and well-being of Haitian people. To donate, go to ProjectMediShare.org, or you can send a check, cash or in-kind donation (including medicines and medical supplies) to Project MediShare, 8260 NE Second Ave., Miami, FL 33138. Money will go toward medical care in Haiti and to send medical teams there.

Samaritan's Purse
The nondenominational evangelical Christian organization works through local churches and partners on the ground. The aid agency provides spiritual and physical aid to the poor, sick and suffering. To donate, go to Samaritanspurse.org, or call 1-800-528-1980. To give by mail, send donations to Samaritan's Purse, P.O. Box 3000, Boone, NC 28607-3000. Money will go toward temporary shelter, water purification, hygiene kits, blankets, medicine and medical teams.

Save the Children
The independent organization focuses on children in need in the U.S. and globally through programs for health and nutrition, child protection and education. To donate, go to savethechildren.org, or call 1-800-728-3843 or 203-221-4030. Donations will go toward purchasing relief items, such as hygiene kits, family kits (pots, pans, food preparation items) and tarps.

The Salvation Army
The Salvation Army's mission is to provide food, shelter, clothing and spiritual comfort during disasters. To donate money, go to salvationarmyusa.org or call 1-800-SAL-ARMY. Make sure you designate the donation for "Haiti Earthquake." Money will go to the Salvation Army in Haiti, which will determine the country's immediate needs, including water, food, medicine and transportation.

Shelterbox
The nonprofit delivers boxes of supplies to families of up to 10 people. The boxes contain a tent and essential equipment to use while individuals are displaced or homeless. To donate, call 941-907-6036, or go to shelterboxusa.org.

U.S. Fund for UNICEF
The national committee for UNICEF is responsible for the organization's fundraising. UNICEF uses the money for health care, clean water, nutrition, education and emergency relief. To donate, go to Unicefusa.org, or call 1-800-4-UNICEF.

World Concern
The organization lifts people out of poverty, beginning with disaster response and ending when families can live sustainable lives. To donate to its relief effort, go to Worldconcern.org, or call 1-866-530-5433. You can also mail checks to 19303 Fremont Ave. North, Seattle, WA 98133. Please specify that the check is for "Haiti Disaster Response." Money will go toward water supplies, shelter, blankets, distribution of food and long-term needs, such as job training, education, loans and home construction.

World Food Programme
The food assistance agency's main focus is to fight hunger worldwide. The organization is working to bring food to Haiti. To donate, go to wfp.org.

World Health Organization
The World Health Organization is leading the health care group in Haiti, managing both the United Nations and the nonprofit groups who are trying to bring medical care to the devastated country. Its medical distribution center is giving out vaccines, medicines and other supplies that are going to systems like water sanitation, disease surveillance and hospital assessments. To donate, visit the PAHEF Web site, or call 202-974-3727.

World Neighbors
The agency trains and educates communities to solve hunger, poverty and disease. To donate, go to wn.org or call 405-752-9700, or mail a check to World Neighbors, 4127 NW 122nd St., Oklahoma City, OK, 73120; write "Haiti Fund" on the memo line. Monetary donations will be used to support short-term needs (i.e. food, water and supplies) and long-term development programs.

World Water Relief
The agency's main focus is bringing clean water to developing countries. To donate, go to worldwaterrelief.org, mail checks to 8343 Roswell Road, Suite 455 Atlanta, GA 30350-2810, or call 404-242-1601 or 214-500-9417. Money will go directly to water filtration systems that will be installed in Haiti.

Yele Haiti
This organization, founded by Wyclef Jean, creates projects to improve the quality of education, health, environment and community development in Haiti. To donate to to its Haiti relief efforts, go to yele.org, or text YELE to 501501 to donate $5.

For additional resources, go to Impact Your World

Long Arm Farm - our dear friends!

We love these people!

Micaela, Cullen, Thurman, Oota, and Lugh: Long Arm Farm in Wisconsin

Thurman's blog: Permaculture for Kids

Diaper free for you and me

I have been meaning and meaning to figure out how to transition my babe from diapers and towards going diaper-free, and generally, doing what 75% of the world does with their babies (i.e. not using disposables and training them to have an awareness of their bodies, and not sitting in their excrement). But, lots of work, travel, ignorance, fatigue, and stress have slowed down my self-education, confidence, and abilities... But, now I have had some time to do some research and am so excited about all the good info out there about infant potty training. No, this is not some crazy, punitive system where you try to control your babies and give them horrible complexes that would make Freud giddy, but rather a gentle and natural approach to helping them learn how to potty naturally, out of diapers... the same way we support babies developing other skills like eating and walking and talking. It has meant a lot of rearranging, re-education, and mopping up the kitchen floor (but, really, that floor needs to be mopped all the time anyway). Most of all, I am excited to have another way to bond and communicate with my little one and to not have his infancy be more of a burden on the environment (disposables in landfills and cloth eating up water, etc). As an infant, I was potty trained back in Russia at around 4 months old and it worked really well until we started traveling (which threw everyone's cycles
off), so I know it is a real and positive thing that is possible even in cold, urban areas and in small apartments.

It is so fascinating that "elimination communication" (EC), "infant potty training" (IPT) or "diaper-free" is something so rarely mentioned in American baby/parenting books. But, Americans were, in fact, using early infant potty training until fairly recently. Perhaps the move away from EC can be traced back to the sweeping changes that the 1950's brought for women and families (e.g. mothers working outside the home more and much earlier; more use of baby formula instead of breastfeeding; more consumption and material wealth in homes - such as wall to wall carpeting and laundry machines; disposable diapers and plastics; new chemicals for diapers and laundry, etc, along with a whole host of other new technologies) - all of which lead to many shifts in parenting, including a move away from early potty training. At the same time, childhood expert T. Berry Brazelton convinced a nation of parents that early potty training was simply wrong and destructive. Interestingly, he was supported by the diaper company Pampers! While he might have been right to warn parents against forcing children to use the potty and using punitive tactics, he also dismissed the idea that babies can be aware of and control their bodies and its processes. While babies do not have perfect control of their bladder or sphincter (or any other muscle!), they are able to learn causal relationships and can be helped to make the connection and achieve control, though it does take a while. The result of all this has been a long delay in potty training in the US, with many toddlers still in diapers at the age of 3 or 4 - creating mountains of disposables and wipes, frequent diaper rash, contests of will at the potty, and nighttime ordeals.

All of this is strange when you consider that most everywhere else in the world, parents do not have (and cannot afford) diapers and have come up with other tactics to use all these hundreds of years. Millions of mothers across China, India, Africa, Russia can't be all wrong. Of course, as a working mom in an American urban setting, there are modifications and difficulties, but the concept just seems so right to me, so we're going to try. Fingers crossed.

So if you are interested and already diapering - don't worry because, yes, you can start late (though I have read - and it makes sense - that it is easier for all if you start right away). And yes, you can do it part-time (i.e. use diapers for travel or overnight, etc).

Here's some info to start off with... there is plenty more out there...
Diaper Free by Ingrid Bauer
Infant Potty Training by Laurie Boucke (and here is one of her articles at kellymom.com)
Diaper Free Baby
New York Times article
Inhabitots

Art Project, Not An Art Project

A local free-cycle listserv consistently surprises and confuses me. The list of things people want and offer read like demented and mysterious poems, creating a strange contour drawing of our consumption patterns as well as the tedium of daily life, the planned obsolescence of gadgets and the dashed hopes of technological utopias.

The photo above (as well as the rest - to be found here) are one very organized man's collection of things to give away, marked thoughtfully with blunt and comedic post-it notes - an art project for education aliens who are not used to our wasteful material culture of old cords, unwanted fax machines, and retired parts and pieces.

Cornbread with masa harina (instead of corn grits)

Only had masa and wanted cornbread. Found this recipe and it was very delicious.
Here is to provisional cooking, magical substitutions, and the power of corn.

INGREDIENTS

• 1.5 c masa harina

• 1/2 c flour,

• two eggs

• two t of baking powder

• 1 t. salt

• 1 scant T sugar (brown, turbinado, white, honey, whatever)

• 1.5 (approx) c of milk

• 1/2 stick of butter, softened

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Mix dry ingredients.
2. Rub half of butter (2 T) into dry ingr., Put the other half in a cast iron skillet in a 425 oven.
3. Add eggs and enough milk to dry ingr to make a batter (takes more than regular cornmeal bread), around 1.5 c.
4. When butter in skillet is melted, spread out batter and bake until brown around edges and light brown areas on top (about 20 min). Cool out of the pan if you want to keep the bottom crust crisp.

Old post-it note reads thusly:

A reflection on a scattered, excited, and curious mind...

Can Experimental Cultural Centers Replace MFA Programs?: http://www.areachicago.org/p/issues/how-we-learn/can-experimental-cultural-centers-replace-mfa-prog/
The Longest Walk 1978-2008: http://longestwalk.org/
Wings of America (running program for Native American youth)
http://www.brownielocks.com/notes.html#Thank%20You%20How%20To
"anti-civilization" + Derrick Jensen
"citizen advice bureau"
Tiny Human Fossils: http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2008/03/hobbit
VOICES FROM THE GATHERING STORM: The Web of Ecological-Societal Crisis
Passer domesticus, Latin for "House Sparrow"
"The violets in the mountains have broken the rocks." - Tennessee Williams

News from Flux Factory

Flux Factory is moving into its new space and is inviting artists to help design its digs.

From their website:

Calling designers, interior decorators, architects, builders, performers, and artists of all media!

Flux Factory’s first major show at our new building, opening Friday, February 19, will consecrate the space as a social structure, a conceptual place, a workshop for craft and ideas, and a space of art conception, production and consumption. Most importantly, it will inaugurate the space as a complex, ever-evolving, multimedia, radical work of art: an installation to the scale of a full building. It will be an exercise in architecture, interior design, social practice, and general aesthetics covering every room, every surface, and every object of the building and affecting every physical and conceptual space.

Comparable in scope to Georges Perec’s ambitious novel, Life, A User’s Manual, in which he meticulously describes in a second, or ninety nine chapters, every room in a modern Parisian building. Each room, object, or resident contains multiple stories that expand the narration to create a multi-dimensional oeuvre.

This construction will embody multiple paradoxes, possibly our most accomplished work to date, but also one never to be finished. In other words, we’re putting the flux back in the factory. A project tightly curated in places and running wild in others, it will be the manifestation of many aesthetics that shape Flux Factory’s style: junk yard, curiosity cabinet, gentlemen’s club, post industrial, psychedelic. A unique signature best described by Holland Cotter in the New York Times as “a cross between a youth hostel and a space station.”

Artists will intervene throughout the building in the largest collaboration in Flux Factory’s 15 year-long history. We are taking proposals for various artist-made fixtures such as wallpaper, wall paintings, floors, lights, doors, windows, drapes, along with an eclectic collection of furniture, art objects, artifacts, and time-based or conceptual work. Proposals are also being accepted for performances during our opening gala on Feb. 19th.

We are looking for proposals from designs for all types of art, housewares, furniture, and fixtures for all of our spaces, including:

-Kitchen/dinning room/living room
-Library/lounge/winter garden
-Office
-Hallways and stairwells
-Bathrooms
-Roof Deck/Garden

Potential participants will be invited to visit and explore our new digs on Saturday, January 9th and Sunday, January 10th, 2010 from 12 – 6pm [Tentative additional viewing dates are Saturday, January 16th or Sunday, January 17th]. Proposals are due on Monday, January 18th, 2010 at 5pm.

Interested parties should submit:

-One paragraph explaining your project. (300 words maximum. Please title your document in this format LAST NAME_FIRST NAME_LETTER.DOC or .RTF)

-Documentation of previous work, maximum 2 pages, or 5 images in JPEG of PDF format. Maximum 72 dpi. (Please title your document in this format: LAST NAME_FIRST NAME_IMAGE#) or 5 minutes of video. Please do send movie files, instead, include a link to your work online.

-Resumé or bio (Maximum 2 pages. Titled LAST NAME_FIRST NAME_BIO.DOC or .RTF)

Please put “Call Home Proposal” as the subject of your email. And for goodness’ sake, put your name and email on everything.

Submissions should be sent to jean@fluxfactory.org. If you have any questions, please send him an email with “Call Home Question” as the subject of your message.

Please do not send original material. Nothing will be mailed back to you (aside from gratitude).

We’re looking forward to hearing from you!!!

Harvest

This photograph was taken on a walk not far from San Qing Mountain (a historic Taoist site in Jiangxi Province, located in southeastern China). I think the tiny blue eggs are Robin eggs; I couldn't help but be drawn to them - so small and precious, lying in a plastic colander, still in the very nest in which they were laid, now forever frozen, never to hatch. The woman selling cucumbers and peppers gave them to me for some reason; my Chinese still rudimentary, I could only repeat, "Thank you, thank you", though what I really felt most was a confused, vacuous sadness rather than gratitude. I ended up traveling with the nest for weeks, packing it carefully in paper inside of a bamboo hat like some strange spoils. Perhaps I had some ridiculous sense that these eggs were precious and alive and were just waiting for the opportune moment and place to hatch. Eventually, one by one, all the eggs got little bruises, but otherwise survived the journey. By the time they arrived in the USA, they were practically hollow - strangely light for the concentrated potential they once housed, now just air surrounded by a thin dry membrane and a beautiful turquoise shell with tiny fissures that could be hidden if the eggs were placed just so.

Forbidden City / Construction

Desicated Purple Potato Friend (#458)

My new favorite song to sing over and over...

16mm film support!

The 16mm Directory is a technical resource directory for supplies and services related to 16mm exhibition. The directory is by no means exhaustive, rather it’s an attempt to collect a large portion of the information available on the internet and catalog it on one site as an information hub.
http://www.16mmdirectory.org/

Saying Goodbye to 2009

Green Christmas Trees?

CHRISTMAS trees are big business: more than 31 million were sold in the United States last year, for $1.3 billion, according to the National Christmas Tree Association

I would love to have my wood-burning stove set up (though I am looking into how environmentally friendly that heating option really is, even when using very efficient stoves) so that I can have a great use for all the Christmas trees that end up on the curb... it is quite disgusting to see these beautiful, noble trees cut and used as decorations and then discarded as trash after a couple of weeks. I am just waiting for the wreckage to pile up as I walk down the New York streets these next few days.

I would love to have a company that goes around and collects all these trees... and reuses them. Better yet, I would love if folks would consider "renting" a sapling for the season - i.e. using a potted tree for a few weeks that would then be planted in the ground. No waste (except some transport... but even that can be greatly reduced if the trees are grown and planted nearby). Is there already someone doing something like this?

Here are some resources to consider next year, if you do decide to buy a cut tree and want to support local farmers and environmentally-friendly growing practices:

How Green Can a Christmas Tree Be? (New York Times, December 4, 2008)

Locally grown, pesticide-free food is gaining sway these days but how many of us give the same kind of thought to the Christmas trees we bring home? If you are looking for a Christmas tree that has been certified as organic or chemical-free, there are several Web sites that can help you.

Local Harvest, a national network of local products, in Santa Cruz, Calif., lists sources for Christmas trees and wreaths, both organic and conventionally grown; localharvest.org, (831) 475-8150.
Toxic Free North Carolina, in Raleigh, N.C., lists sources for sustainably grown trees in the state, and has information about pesticides commonly used on Christmas trees; toxicfreenc.org, (919) 833-5333.
Beyond Pesticides, a nonprofit group in Washington, provides sources for organic and naturally grown trees, as well as up-to-date information on pesticides; beyondpesticides.org, (202) 543-5450.
Green Promise, a group in Pingree Grove, Ill., that distributes information about sustainable products, lists sources for organic trees around the country on its Web site, greenpromise.com.
Agricultural extension offices often keep lists of local growers; consult the Department of Agriculture’s Web site, csrees.usda.gov/Extension.
The Council on the Environment of New York City keeps a list of farmers’ markets, many of which sell Christmas trees; cenyc.org/greenmarket, (212) 788-7476.

Trees as Homes

Whole Tree architecture (more info here).

Stupak on the Stupak Amendment

As the health care plan moves forward, anti-choice legislation is getting into the bill:
http://politics.theatlantic.com/2009/11/stupak_on_the_stupak_amendment.php

From Pandrew

WHACKED LADIES: Female Victims of Political Assassination

A new art exhibit by our friend and one-time NEIGHBORS collaborator & artist-in-residence, Makeal Flamini. Whacked Ladies is a series of prints and papercuts. It focuses on women who have been assassinated for political and religious reasons.

Opening July 24th 2009 5-9pm

THE BORGWARD COLLECTIVE

823 W. National Ave, Milwaukee, WI