TRIPLE POST! Delta Spirit - "People Turn Around"

it's a bountiful day in big heart land. all these gems! just discovered this one by accident, scoping out the new blogotheque videos. i know nothing about this band except that this song is awesome. that singer is wailing! rightfully so.

in love,
ge

Delta Spirit - People Turn Around from La Blogotheque on Vimeo.

Schoolhouse Rock....really?!?!?

this post is brought to you by terence, a fine specimen of hearty-ness.

he forwarded me a link with this video:



pretty powerful stuff, right? good work, schoolhouse rock.

K'Naan, thank you.

my sweetie has a great new blog up. check it out for k'naan's "dreamer" video: http://hereweareintheuniverse.tumblr.com/

this is an important and beautiful human being.

much love.

in love,
ge.

Food Inc.

this is the beginning to the feature length film "Food Inc."

in a word: terrifying. i don't want to eat food anymore...

in love,
ge

Severn Suzuki at the 1992 UN Earth Summit

this is such a powerful video. her words are so true, so real. we must start acting boldly, yes? perhaps you already do.

how do you act boldly for the world and the people who inhabit it?
how do you listen to those who are too often silenced or ignored?
how do you fall short of the radical lifestyle you envision?
how do you continue on despite the setbacks?

or better yet, how do we do this together? how do we forgive each other for falling short? how do we encourage each other to keep going?

in love,
ge

John Trudell

this is so good. i mean, seriously, why aren't we listening to stuff like this? why don't we believe it?

it's not in the best interest of those in power for us to hear and see things like this.

"see how you got civilized, because terrible things happened."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Trudell
http://www.johntrudell.com/

this is so heavy...what are we doing? dear god, what are we doing?

stick around for the end of that second trudell video. there is a little kid reciting one of his poems...and it's awesome.

in love,
greg

Please Buy More Stuff

this is better than anything in my diatribe below.

thank you, internet...i think.

we want your soul!

in love,
ge

Earth Spirit Action

ok, so i know that this is video is pretty new-agey, which i usually can't stand, but this one happens to be really charming, informative, and right-on about most things.

where are you at? what are you thinking about? how do you connect to the way you are currently living your life? how do systems of oppression, destruction, and domination impact your life? what would it look like to live a revolutionary life?

in love,
ge

"Fidelity": Don't Divorce

hello friends, adjua, my love, sent me this one. it is a sad reminder of what prop 8 meant for tens of thousands of happily married gay and lesbian couples.

thank you, sweet love. i hope your flight to new york isn't as bumpy.

in love,
ge

Dick Gregory on Rest, Water, and Fitness

i love dick gregory. he was one of my first heroes, because he would go to the front lines of the civil rights movements and get everybody laughing in order to dispel the danger of violence. but he has done a whole lot more than that. here is a link to his blog:

http://www.dickgregory.com/index2.html

and here is dick gregory letting us know how to have healthy bodies:

Liberation Ecology - Frances Moore Lappe

this is so awesome. frances moore lappe also happens to be an earlham grad! go quake!

this is taken from the midwest social forum.

i really hope that we figure out how to co-create a culture of life...

in love,
greg

Muto - Blu

well, thus far, this is the only video about which i can safely say, "i have never seen anything like this."

although it is not particularly uplifting or discernible, it is unbelievably creative and radical. art for everyone! i loved watching it from start to finish. who knows what's going to happen next?!?

thanks john!


MUTO a wall-painted animation by BLU from blu on Vimeo.

Ubuntu and The People's Grocery - The Global Oneness Project

these videos are so good, i had to post them as soon as i saw them. who has heard of this organization? i never have. i don't know much about them, and i'm sure they're not perfect, but these are some beautiful short films. they are well-shot, powerful, and important. we hardly ever see the radical actions of others. we hardly ever see images of African peoples that are not of genocide, poverty, and political tyranny. the images we take in really impact us. i know that they have impacted me.

someone once said to me, "people love what they know about." the example was that people won't love nature unless they know more about it. but i think maybe people also love what they feel connected to. i don't know the names of all the trees or flowers, but i love them because i feel connected to them. i understand the importance of their life and their place in the universe. so, maybe connection or knowledge can come first. maybe one creates the possibility of the other.

but what happens when neither thing happens, when we don't know about something or someone and we don't feel connected to it or them? and what happens when that shifts, and all of a sudden something is on our radar that never was before? and how does that shift? just some thoughts and questions....what are yours?

the first one is about ubuntu, and it is filmed in South Africa, and the second one is about a food justice project in Oakland, CA called, The People's Grocery.

www.globalonenessproject.com

in love,
ge

The Common Fire Foundation! and Climbing Poetree!

so, this is going to be a two part post. this part is about the common fire foundation, started by jeff and kavitha in the hudson valley! (i helped!) jeff and kavitha are really amazing people, and i've been bumming recently that i haven't seen or talked to them in a while. they work so hard to contribute to the world in radical, creative ways, and i am blessed to know them. this video was shot maybe three years ago now, and if you look close enough....you can see me in the background of some of the shots! the footage is primarily from the grand opening ceremony for their super-green co-op building. the event was really fun and joyful. and they got julia butterfly hill and climbing poetree! how cool is that?

i love you, jeff and kavitha. i hope you are well. samiha too!



so, the second part of this post is about climbing poetree. after watching the previous video, you're probably asking yourself, "oh my god, who is climbing poetree? they are amazing." and i am here to reply that they are in fact amazing. i actually found that common fire video looking for videos that featured them (teehee). my friend anna just saw them perform and was blown away by them, which reminded that they are incredible.

i think that what is particularly powerful about the previous common fire video and the following two videos featuring climbing poetree is that both are examples of what is possible. in jeff and kavitha, we have two people who created a non-profit and coordinated the creation of the greenest building in the east, an accomplishment so big that they constantly had to remind people of their long-term commitments to social justice, camps, retreats, etc. and in alixa and naima, we have two women who have decided to let their lives be their vision, who have decided to speak out for justice, who have decided to create radical, transformative art, and who have decided to be alive for the sake of awakening the consciousness and collective power of the masses. not to mention that all of them are so much more than the sum total of these words...

whoah...and can i just say how amazing the poem in the second video is? i just got chills...it reminds me that i gotta start doing some shit. seriously.

thank you. thank you. thank you.

as my mentor trayce says, "you're allowed to shine."

www.commonfire.org
www.climbingpoetree.com

Universal Declaration of Human Rights - Animation by Seth Brau

this is pretty awesome. i have always had a hard time with the notion of "property," but this is a beautiful document. and one cool looking film.

Locusts (Docu-Music-Video) - Invincible and Finale

i made may way to this through the youth program of the Fellowship of Reconciliation. they have co-organized a tour called, Drop Beats Not Bombs, for a few years now, and Invincible was on the most recent tour. The nonviolence and anti-oppression training that comes out of the same program, called the Peacemaker Training Institute, has been so very important to me for six years. some of the most amazing people i have ever met were through PTI, and i am so thankful that many of them are still in my life today. isaak, alejandra, kavitha, maryrose, cesar, hayden, hawah, anna, elandria...all of you (plus so many un-named!) are amazing in so many different ways.

this video is very powerful and effective. contemporary cities are battle grounds, colonized land, where city governments, real estate companies, multinational corporations, and educational institutions purchase neighborhoods and remake them as they see fit. this was really evident in nyc, where "williamsburg" continues to grow eastward, taking over neighborhoods predominantly populated by people of color, and turning them into condominium play-lands, first for young white people, who don't mind living in slightly more "dangerous" and "cheap" neighborhoods, then for the businesses and "life-style" enthusiasts that follow them looking for the next "hot spot." meanwhile, the people who were already living there are forced to relocate further and further out or find some other way to stay and make ends meet, provided they are allowed to stay. this is just one example. we forget that this happened to manhattan as well.

it doesn't sound like this is exactly what is going on in Detroit, but it is the same dish with a different flavor. as i think about where to settle down, i flounder trying to find a place that does not already feel taken over. there are some really beautiful examples in this film of how people can reclaim abandoned spaces and turn them into spaces that exist for the community. not to mention some really, really good hip-hop!

i hope the tour went well!



oh, and p.s. -

invincible is amazing! here is her music video for "Sledgehammers."

Coded Language - Saul Williams

i needed to get into a poetry writing mood, so i found this little gem. although i've been having mixed feelings about saul williams recently, i.e. his nike endorsement and sub par album release, it cannot be said that he is asleep. i had the blessing to meet saul, and i asked him, "how can you be so sure that revolution is coming?" to which he replied, "have you ever read the tao te ching?" to which i replied, "yeah, a while ago." to which he replied, "maybe you should read it again."

we are the equivalent of three buckets of water and a hand full of minerals.

the last two minutes and twenty seconds is the best part.

where do you find transcendence? or rather, where do you transcend dance?

Tracy Chapman - Talking About a Revolution

who doesn't love this song? it's been a little while since i posted a music video/performance. powerful stuff.

i hope you are well.

in love,
ge

Tamera

i first heard about Tamera from Jeff, a friend of mine who co-founded a non-profit called The Common Fire Foundation with his partner, Kavitha. he went to eurupe to check out some intentional communities, and when i asked him if any of them stood out, he said, "Tamera."

the more i learn about this place, the more i feel like i need to go. you can see for yourself at tamera.org. the first video is the last segment of a half hour long documentary mostly about the "sunvillage" they are building over there. this last part goes into what Tamera is about as a whole.

the second video is the opening speech from last summer's "university" at Tamera, a ten-day program focused on revolution, ecology, sustainability, love, and sex. the speaker is 19 and a member of the community there.

whoah...

Keith Olberman - Prop 8, Marriage, and Love

well, it is pretty rare that i am moved to any emotion by a newscaster, let alone a powerful one. this made me get teary-eyed in the lilly library computer lab.

the issue of gay marriage is a complicated one, not because it is morally ambiguous, but because it is an issue that is at the heart of only one segment of the gay and lesbian population which tends to be economically secure, while the issues of working class, poor, and homeless LGBTQ people go untalked about in the dominant discourse.

that being said, the fact that gay and lesbian couples cannot marry in most states is, well, terrible. this is an incredibly beautiful plea from a man who says that he has nothing to gain from making this statement. but he does have something to gain: through speaking out against injustice that we ourselves do not feel, we wake up and begin to see each other again. we reclaim our inter-being, and therefore reclaim a part of ourselves that we have forgotten.

since all oppression is connected, all justice is too.

thanks keith olberman, for not losing your heart in a world that destroys many.

keep calling us out! i look forward to your future editorial on the plight of trans youth of color who make up an incredibly disproportionate number of the homeless population. keep going keith! keep going!