sister jay & our mother
May 11, 2013 § Leave a Comment
More & more our creative palettes take after our planet
hers far more grounded than my own
here’s what painter jay’s up to these days . . .
( jack up your screen for a better read )
ace in the hole . . .
May 8, 2013 § Leave a Comment
What are we waiting for, florida educators ?
introducing next generations to what they’re about to inherit
-job long overdue
but somehow very sunshine state kids are missing from the fourteen areas
of ALLIANCE FOR CLIMATE EDUCATION‘s ( ACE ) great work
asphalt nation
January 25, 2013 § Leave a Comment
How the auto took over america
and how we can take it back
main difficulty in restoring a viable mode of human presence in the land is that we’ve found ourselves so locked into and dependent on existing industrial systems for food – shelter – clothing – transport – jobs that any thought of an alternative way of living appears more dream than possibility.
thomas berry, THE SACRED UNIVERSE: EARTH, SPIRITUALITY, AND RELIGION IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY, ipad kindle loc 1918/2110
my first 2013 post; getting behind at this, sorry folks, engaged like most – presidential candidates included – in everything but biggest topic at hand – our very planet’s survival. how on earth can this be ??? truth to tell, been fully absorbed too in this, another monumental work, one more consciousness / action turn-around.
jane holtz kay, nothing less than the rachel carson of the road ( tho ms kay herself ascribes that role to another ). the way she tells it, there’s no end to what fixation on our car is doing to our society. and not from just behind the wheel either – our roads, our architecture, our way of life, our very notion of place, and of course our planet’s declining health.
kay’s writing background as journalistic architecture critic underscores not only well-versed language of building, she verily breathes the high art of cultural design & purpose.
as with CARSON’S SILENT SPRING, as with so much else making its way here at shemovesme.com, it’s taken this long for news of this import to reach this one bumbling reader. doubtless a good number of you are already here; hopefully this post serves at least to re-open a few driver-distracted eyes.
and this time it’s so close to home. i have to say i’m caught squarely in the bullseye of ms kay’s target cultural offenders. who could be more attuned to cars from well before his very own driver’s license? who can readily recall even in his waning years that two-tone of dad’s new ’53 ford country sedan . . . ? polynesian bronze and sandpiper tan. or my own unbridled explosion into that culture with bouncy henry-j ?
and talk about bouncy! kay’s pages are written with as much enticing forward vigor as they are with rewarding detailed backup rich with stats & contributions from all sides of our auto equation. take a look at these catchy contents . . .
part I the car glut: a nation in lifelock
bumper to bumper
geography of inequity
landscape of the exit ramp
road to environmental ruin
harm to health and breath
cost of car culture
part II car tracks: the machine that made the land
model T, model city
from front porch to front seat
driving through the depression
asphalt exodus
braking the juggernaut
three-car culture
part III car free: dead end to exit
none for the road
zoning for life
putting transit on track
centering of america
depaving of america
righting the price
what strikes me is it’s no longer that legendary love of the automobile holding us to our costly affair. we’re now helplessly locked in. how do i get around anywhere off my wheels – they’re part of me now.
like for any book that counts, kay doesn’t leave us there fully wound and locked in the wake of disastrous conclusions. to be sure, we’ve reached the dead end of our all-encompassing car culture. but the road doesn’t stop here: there’s much we can yet do, albeit at costs to our way of life heretofore rarely considered. what, back to the city ?
if you’re the rare reader like me who has yet to catch up to kay, i urge you to waste no more time getting hold of a copy of ASPHALT NATION. i leave you with these two quotes ringing in my ears from the book’s first and last chapters . . .
statistically, most of our expanding hours behind the wheel, nearly eight of every ten vehicle miles we travel, have nothing to do with work. neither are these miles vacation trips or long distance travel, the reasons americans give for buying the first -or second or third- automobile. such holiday trips consume . . . a scant 8 percent of our total mileage.
what sets the odometer reeling . . . is something less than life, liberty, or the pursuit of happiness. and that is errands. according to the highway administration study, one-third of the miles we travel go to consumption and family chores. p 31
the way to stop the auto age begins with affirming the value of place and the role of transportation in easing our access to it. the mission is to evoke the very root of transportation in the word ‘transport’ ( accent this time on 2nd syllable – me ) that can carry us to a loftier place and state of being. p 355
from shattering earth mother warning . . .
December 12, 2012 § 1 Comment
This moving invitation to all the Americas -south, central, north- from the indigenous kogi people of colombia’s sierra nevada de santa marta, on this special calendar date of 12/12/12.
close by mother-in-full
( gift from amparo -my special gang-of-six colombian friend, i pass along this special invitation to you, dear blog reader, as my own pagamento in our mirroring internet firmament )
We Mamos ( shamans ) of the Kogi people invite you to sow Anugwe with us in Mother Earth (Seynekan), and deeply in our very selves too. It is our pagamento ( offering ) to her.
Anugwe cannot be maintained if it is not accompanied by commensurate behavior on our part. The spirituality that reigns in our Mother impregnates us and is tinged in turn by our own actions.
Plants or animals are not the ones that distort that spirituality, because they follow her naturally. We can too through our coherence, our unconditional love, our adherence to the word, our intentions, and our attitudes. When we sow the Anugwe in Mother Earth we harmonize with her, express our inner love -the unconditional one, the one that respects her laws of nature.
We align mind, soul, and inner self. We take an amethyst stone in one hand and an ambar stone in the other. We invoke Arwaviku, Father of Intuition; I’narwa, Father of Food; Sokakurwa, Father of Plants & Animals; and Geinigeka, Father of Energy and Spiritual Strength -present altogether in Kankurwa, our cosmic universal temple.
We ask these spiritual masters to cleanse and harmonize the energies of Mother Earth in the four directions, the four colors, the four elements, and the four essences of being- physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual.
We invite you to follow this our Mamos ritual with us. Or prepare your own pagamento for Mother Earth using fruits, seeds, flowers, and / or personal belongings of your own choosing. During your meditation, keep that pagamento close. After the ceremony, sow it in the ground -your very own Anugwe- where it can remind you of the presence of Mother Earth- her harmony and her unconditional love.
watch BBC’s 1990 one-&-a-half hour from the heart of the world – the elder brothers warning, a deeply meditative consideration of kogi earth-wisdom.
watch the three-&-a-half minute preview of ALUNA, BBC’s updated 2012 production of the kogi lost civilization and their message to us, their ” younger brothers “.
Now we find ourselves in a period of the greatest disturbance that the Earth has ever known, a period when survival of both the human and natural worlds in their present modes of being is threatened. The identification of our human fate with the destiny of the planet was never more clear. . … Now a new sequence of liturgical celebrations is needed. Even more than moments of seasonal renewal, these moments of cosmic transformation must be considered sacred. … First among these celebrations might be a celebration of the emergent moment of the universe itself. This was the beginning of religion just as it was the beginning of the world. The human mind and all its spiritual capacities began with this moment. ( ipad kindle loc 1477/2110 in thomas berry’s THE SACRED UNIVERSE: EARTH, SPIRITUALITY, AND RELIGION IN THE TWENTY FIRST CENTURY )
awaken to earth as sacrament
July 28, 2012 § Leave a Comment
We pause to deeply connect with our home
pax christi florida’s spring 2012 retreat led by sister paula gonzalez-
wide-awake energized, long-time activist for our mother
proffered solutions revolve around THE EARTH CHARTER -globally given, universally inclusive, action poised.
we thank our gracious hosts at dayspring episcopal conference center on the north bank of the manatee river just outside bradenton on florida’s gulf coast, “a sacred place . . . to enrich & empower all people in christ.” its pristine 92-acre nature preserve filled us with inspiration & gratitude for the gift of our planet.
all scenes included in this video were given to my lens at dayspring except for sunrise photos from the other side of central florida outside sanford, on the south shore of lake monroe along my regular bike loop.
yesterday we connected the dots
May 6, 2012 § Leave a Comment
Exposing deniers as the dying corp deperados they are
for the rest of us it’s abundantly clear: together’s found our strength & hope
thank you bill & co!
See the slideshow: 350.org’s Connect The Dots – Global Highlight Set
tonight !
March 31, 2012 § 1 Comment
. . . Earth Hour!
let’s do it!
8:30 – 9:30 tonight, local time, around the globe
barely keeping up
November 19, 2011 § Leave a Comment
Dear SR
mind if i call you that?
so often sorry reader‘s appearing here, almost a month now
while following what’s going on faster than i can keep up with it here
you & i learning together
while doubtless you’re doing much more about it than me
why not tell me yourself right here?
and while all’s coming together in vital OCCUPY movement
at last
because mother earth’s trials are no different from our own
paul gilding makes that clear in his grand sweep
i still look for a slug of time to review his GREAT DISRUPTION
but can’t let this go meantime
because so much is coming to a head
for instance that notable date 11/11/11
when amy goodman had so much to say
unfortunately wordpress blog can’t handle her imbedded reports
so here’s her LINK to connect directly if you haven’t already
announcing the good news about long threatened keystone pipeline
just finished a smaller, older, still monumental work i just bumped into
elizabeth kolbert’s FIELD NOTES FROM A CATASTROPHE
man, nature, and climate change
know it? journalist from the new yorker and ny times
very clear writing, makes the science understandable
here’s an interview in GRIST from just after book’s publication
kolbert starts w/ a fine review of climate change history
then, like sarah & carl, moves subject & self right up to where it’s happening
live from swiftly melting alaska and greenland
especially moving is her chapter on the fall of king akkad’s ancient empire
recalling the by now well known fate of mayans and easter islanders
and too her concluding in the anthropocene: the numbers will blow you away!
gotta go now
would you help me keep up?
drop me a line here: i know you’re there!
weighing in
September 22, 2011 § Leave a Comment
Time to weigh in, given such
surfacing substance, by way of
so many earthy outpourings
just where YOU comin’ out, jim?
i hear you asking
i hear me asking
yes, scribbler of little hesitation
tell us how it really is,
señor ernesto evrimon
all this dawning
from earned enlightenments
of underway lineup, these eco-prereqs
sunrise over the st johns, sanford, florida 9/21/11
ok, so dazzling eurekas of global import
but what lights up here at home re:
your sad beleaguered brite blue mom?
maybe time to confess
( old tradition, comes easy )
well then, i can at least own up
check it out dear reader
either of us yet rid ourselves
of one of those cars?
or even drive them somewhat less?
or even think to turn off the a/c?
or sometimes take the slow lane?
let’s face it
we’re formed here
here’s how we live
so what’s it gonna take now that
both of us know well what’s coming
… asking yourself something familiar?
you with me, friend?
o i’ve the best of excuses myself
bet you do too
shall we compare … ?
where’s any public alternative?
besides, open air’s much too noisy
and right now i’m in a hurry
not to mention, just this side of
3/4-century mark i’m entitled
damn well fully earned it by now
and this old house older even than me
never did get the insulation it needs
how’s soc security to pay for that?
move to another place you say?
hey, i’m planning to die here
. . . shall i keep going?
got kids? can hear you too
uproot kit & kaboodle?
you must be kidding
and so our very survival’s dumped
once again down to very last place
in bulging list of what’s daily to do
while grim reality of goodbye gaia
creeps up on us sure, no matter
learnéd warnings & evidence galore
this gets weary. still with me pal?
one thing of mine long a-pestering:
sealed in here, windows all rolled up
life out there’s become IRRELEVANT
no wonder this crisis all-of-a-sudden
i’m out-of-touch, lost sensitivity
can’t tell smell of storm-on-the-way
not so my cat- like his wild cousins
first to escape the oncoming cyclone
don’t laugh- ask abby the weather!
closer by far, yon eons of touch, that
native knowing and learning and
passing along, respectful & balanced
a way of living now gradually going for
encircling family much more immediate
trading it in for something of MINE?
still, ask any person we call aborigine
even farmer -you remember farmer-
just listen what you get back …
“things are not as once they were!”
yet on march we as if no change
look: sun’s coming up, projects press,
and yes, i gotta go, i’m in a hurry!
cut back to global, the picture-in-full
if how we live that’s got us here
then what’s to do different? could
marx after all have had it right?
“FROM each according to ability
balanced by TO according to need”
current reading now takes me there
THE GREAT DISRUPTION by PAUL GILDING
with startling finale in fine crystal ball
( more on that in a coming posting )
does have this one cold warrior thinking
. . . aside from just who it is
doing the from-&-to, i’d much rather
GIFTS for that hard-edged ABILITY
helping our kids side up to their niche
but that old contest now long past
how ever’d we get off
living & breathing market has won!
well we’re sure paying for it now
our turn to fold from cold war of old
and this dear reader’s where i stop
left on my own i’m still in the woods
our way out? best keep on reading
and let’s keep meeting
at the rock in this place, ’cause
gilding, hertsgaard, mckibben & gore
agree: no matter harm already done
once awoken and made up our minds
we can do this thing
life resurrected
on orb we call
home
~ jim rucquoi
( posted by chance day following
major upheaval in human climate
centering in the state of georgia, USA )
