Redlands - The Reader Magazine

Transcription

Redlands
summer 2012
[may june july]
redlands
VOL. XI NO. 2 • SUMMER 2012 may june july • REDLANDS Circulation: 30,000 Households (75,000 People)
INLAND EMPIRE EAST Total Circulation in 9 Cities: 4 Magazines, 30,000 households each - 120,000 Total Households (300,000 People).
ZONES: 1 Redlands 2 Yucaipa / Beaumont / Banning 3 Colton / Loma Linda / Grand Terrace 4 San Bernardino / Highland
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departments
4
Publisher's Note
like us!
follow us!
Why a global revolution of the
heart may in fact be just what the
doctor ordered
5
just for fun
8
Take A Stand
Letters
What our readers think and
can't help but share
7
Verbatim
Quotes of note
7
Numbers
Reveling in revealing statistics
revealed like a revelation
9
Cover Story
Money: Story & Magic
A chapter from Charles
Eisenstein's new book
Sacred Economics
22 Calendar
contents
6
Contest
Your deciphering these Very Badly
Drawn Famous Faces can pay off
Your take on bridging the divide
gets our undivided attention
Find plenty of reasons to leave your
sofa behind
33 Who Am I?
The answer to this riddle may be at
your fingertips
38 Final Word
ON THE COVER
A hand-drawn illustration
represents the organic,
people-powered quality of
a global revolution of the
heart.
The Unstoppable Global
Revolution of the Heart
features
12 Story I: Lest We Forget
14 Personalities of Our Time:
One of The Yes Men takes
center stage
16 Story II: Were You There?
Chris Hedges examines and
challenges our ideas on religion,
politics and economics
18 Dangerous Unselfishness
Don't feel like being
uninvolved? Put yourself
on the world's stage and
seize the day
27 Reader Review
What's Responsible
Advertising Look Like?
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WWW.READERMAGAZINE.NET
summer 2012 [may june july]
SUMMER 2012 [MAY JUNE JULY]
Publisher Christopher Theodore
Operations Director Hajnalka Nagy, Ph.D.
Creative Director Pete Theodore
Layout & Graphic Designer Nikki Nicholson
Account Executives Boo Rivera, Michele Kerr
Executive Assistant Claire White
Web Designer Nikki Nicholson
Guest Writers Charles Eisenstein, Laura
Gottesdiener, Chris Hedges, Elisa Bonora
Research Whelmina Santos, Satti Tayyaba
Photographer Claire White
Noble Media Corporation
Publisher of The Reader Magazine
5 E. Citrus Ave., Suite 105
Redlands, California 92373 USA
Tel (909) 366-9932 Fax (909) 335-6777
Printed in U.S.A.
READER MAGAZINE OF REDLANDS 3
publisher’s note
From left to right: Patrick McCaffery,
Sharon Theodore, Max Theodore, Chris
Theodore, Bonnie McCaffery, and
Rowena Ramirez.
Unstoppable. A global revolution
of the heart.
What does the world you want
to see look like? This issue of The
ReAdeR MAgAzine is likely to give
you some great ideas. We probe
the economic challenges we face
and find from Charles eisenstein
in Money: Story and Magic, our
money is a story of our own collective invention, one we can in
fact change.
We look at the extraordinary
nature of our time right now, what
some call a global revolution of
consciousness, and others like former White house national
Security Advisor zbigniew
Brzezinski describe this way:
For the first time in human
history almost all of humanity is
politically activated, politically
conscious and politically interactive… The resulting global political activism is generating a surge
in the quest for personal dignity,
cultural respect and economic
opportunity in a world painfully
scarred by memories of centurieslong alien colonial or imperial
domination… The worldwide
yearning for human dignity is the
central challenge inherent in the
phenomenon of global political
awakening… That awakening is
socially massive… The nearly universal access to radio, television
and increasingly the Internet is
creating a community of shared
perceptions…
Could it be these perceptions
are of a different story, out of
necessity, with no fear, no enemy,
where the love we have in our
hearts for family members extends
beyond family and we see each
other as people rather than
competitors?
4 READER MAGAZINE OF REDLANDS
We live in a world where
googling "how to build a nuclear
bomb" yields 3 million results in
one tenth of a second. in this
world, who will survive-- those
who adopt a system that produces
massive inequality and requires
ever more resources to try and
"secure" things, nations, and people-- or those who adopt a system
based on what it is written "never
fails"-- love-- which we all have
seen in our own lives, is sometimes the only thing capable of diffusing tensions and threats, the
only thing capable of healing pain
and hurt.
There is evidence, and you'll
hear some in this issue, that we are
at a time in human history where
many old systems no longer work.
Since the industrial revolution, our
system-- the story we've signed off
on-- has been that in order to make
the most of this resource-rich planet for everyone, we've needed a
system that forces people to bring
to the market everything that can
be monetized. in this system, people and things which we need but
are without a price, are of questionable value.
i know that many of us have
had deep misgivings about how
this system can exist side by side
with some of the deepest values
we share such as kindness and
charity and unselfishness. i am
certain that most of us question a
system with the ticking time bomb
feature that prizes "money getting"
as the highest value. it has
destroyed the integrity of our political process, merit-based upward
mobility, as well as pinched the
soul of most of us from being the
people we want to be.
And so we have come to an
issue in The ReAdeR called The
Global Revolution of the Heart. in
it, we try to make sense of this still
forming vision in which our economy more closely resembles the
human heart, with its capacity for
kindness and generosity and selflessness.
Finally, we dig into the layers
of reality to arrive at an understanding of what we can do to create a revolution of the heart-- in
which a more beautiful, fair, interesting world-- reflective of the
complexity and beauty in each of
our hearts, reigns.
take a stand
We took to the street to get your take...
Some say that today people feel separate from each
other. If you agree, what do you think is needed so
there can be different opinions but without a feeling
of separateness?
Interviews & Photography by
CLAIRE WHITE
LORNA MATTHEWS
Working to understand why we struggle and the
reasons that there are so many issues dividing
us, a relationship with God and being compassionate towards others would bring us together.
LUIS SANDOVAL
Nearly everybody loves someone or something.
As far as who or what they love, there are
differences. I think that realizing love is a shared
experience has the greatest power to bring
people together. There are opinions about many
different things but loving is something we all
know and share.
EMMA CARLSON
Aliens! If we discovered intelligent life on other
planets it would be "earth versus the aliens" and
we'd no longer have a choice but to band together, put aside our differences and work as one
against the common enemy.
CHARLENE MACIAS
It's because we don't have a common issue that
we don't have a common answer. There are too
many different ways that problems are defined -if we would agree on what a problem really is,
then we would have a better chance at finding a
way that we agree on how to solve it.
NATHAN DRAKE
People are always going to have different views
on everything and finding one common solution is
impossible. For example, everyone wants world
peace but not everyone agrees on how to go about
creating it.
MARCIA HINDS
As I've gotten older I've seen some things that
have done just that, create division. Tragedy -9/11 is one example. We need to be less partisan
and more interested in healing than in being
right.
CONTINUED ON PAGE 30
Have a great answer to the question?
Send it to: [email protected]
letters
"As I read your
Publisher's Note, your
articles on the Occupy
Movement What
Silence Means Now and
on the media What Would You
Report [NDJ '11-'12], the thought
came to me that I'm reading the
thoughts of a brave and courageous man, and a 'kindred soul'!
I mean that sincerely. I look
forward to at some time meeting
you personally to exchange ideas
and to joining with you in the
fight for our country... and our
basic rights as Americans.
One of my ancestors was
Major General William Heath...
when the American Revolution
was won at the Battle of Yorktown
in 1781, Major General Heath was
the 2nd Officer in Command of
the Continental Army and he
reported directly to General
George Washington. My own
family lineage drives me to fight
for our American rights. It's in my
heritage, my spirit and in my
DNA. “ - James Heath
"Your contribution in this world is
noteworthy and I urge you all to
never relent. I'm your loyal supporter and of the businesses that
advertise-- now can I get a Reader
T-Shirt?!" - Trish Shehrer
Editor's Note:
Well how could we say no?!
ADDRESS LETTERS TO:
5 E. Citrus Ave., Suite 105
Redlands, CA 92373
OR EMAIL: [email protected]
"Thank you for the
article outing the
WalMarts of the world
[Local Economy: We Are
Competitive, FMA '12]--
it has also been my family's experience that local shops are often less
expensive. The reason people
believe chain stores are a better
value (and the costs they foist on
you and I go unnoticed) is in part
because of the whitewashing of
bought-off lobbyists like the US
Chamber of Commerce, a
reprehensible entity that works at
the expense of small businesses to
further the ends of corporatewelfare supported large businesses.
The notion they and their local
offices are an advocate for small,
local businesses is a myth-- one
which would be comical if it was
not so sad. A local example? A
year or so ago, why did the
Redlands Chamber of Commerce-which collects dues from small,
local businesses-- put its name on a
WalMart-paid-for-mailing urging
local residents to support the
Super WalMart, which threatens to
put these same small, local businesses out of business? Because
their 'job' is no longer to support
local business or the local community. It is to appear to do so while
taking marching orders from whoever feeds them the most money."
- J.R.
numbers
verbatim
AMERICAN FAMILY
FINANCIAL STATISTICS
…ON ECONOMY
"What did JPMorgan actually do? As
far as we can tell, it used the market
for derivatives-- complex financial
instruments-- to make a huge bet on
the safety of corporate debt, something like the bets that the insurer
A.I.G. made on housing debt a few
years ago. The key point is not that
the bet went bad; it is that institutions playing a key role in the financial system have no business making
such bets, least of all when those
institutions are backed by taxpayer
guarantees."
- Nobel Laureate and New York
Times columnist Paul Krugman
Average American family savings
account balance:
$3,800
Percent of working Americans who
are not saving for retirement:
40%
Percent of American families who
have no savings at all:
25%
Average amount saved
for retirement:
$35,000
"Rupert Murdoch is not fit to run a
major international company."
- Bipartisan committee of British
lawmakers, finding Murdoch ultimately responsible for the illegal
phone hacking that has corroded
his global media empire and damaged the political establishment.
Average American household debt:
$117,951
Average American family
home value:
$160,000
Average amount owed on
home mortgage:
…ON HUMANITY
"Most people I interview would like
to join the demonstration but are
afraid they will lose their job, jeopardize their careers or alienate friends
and family."
- Freelance journalist Michael
Shatz on why the occupy movement may in fact represent a broad
spectrum of people.
$95,000
Average American household
annual income:
$43,000
Average credit card debt:
$2,200
…ON ENVIRONMENT
"It's going to be critical to get the
price point where we need it… what
we're working on is not political in
any way, shape or form."
Percent of American workers
who postponed their retirement
age this year:
- Tom Hicks, deputy assistant secretary of the Navy for energy, on
studies suggesting that prices for
alternative fuels will be competitive
with petroleum by 2018.
Percent surveyed who are very
confident about having enough
money for retirement:
24%
18%
Percent of American adults who
do not have a bank account:
…ON COMMUNITY
"Because it's so easy for a conventional farm to contaminate an organic
farm… we enjoy farming in the
'wilderness'."
- Farmer Don Cook of Sage
Mountain Farm, member of the
Inland Empire Community
Supported Agriculture (CSA)
Certified Organic Farms, on what
on he’s doing in Hemet, California.
7.7%
Percent of American adults
who have an emergency fund
to fall back on:
38 %
Sources: Federal Reserve, US Census
Bureau, Internal Revenue Service
Date Verified: 3/15/2012
contest puzzler
It's all about perspective, right?
All of us share a willingness and interest to not condemn the work of a
child because we know our words matter and they're still just figuring
things out. Since most everyone is grappling with what feels like a very
new world, we might want to look at new solutions people will be
proposing in a similar spirit.
To get you ready, we've created this
very badly
drawn
collection of famous faces.
To enter for your chance at what can only be described as unparalleled
fame, identify each face and send your answers to
[email protected]
Congrats to Jean Boccelli who is now famously sporting a Reader T-shirt
and $100 cash in her hand for having named all forty famous & infamous
faces correctly in last quarter's contest.
Money: Story & Magic
cover story
Excerpt from SACRed eConoMiCS by ChARleS eiSenSTein
As the economic meltdown proceeds
to its next phase, we begin to see the
unreality of much we thought real.
The verities of two generations
become uncertain, and despite a lingering hope that a return to normalcy is just around the corner -- "by
the middle of 2012" or "more slowly
than expected" -- the realization is
dawning that normal isn't coming
back.
When faced with an abrupt shift in
personal reality, whether the death
of a loved one, or the gestapo coming into town, human beings usually
react first with denial. My first
response when tragedy hits is usually, "i can't believe this is happening!" i was not surprised, then, that
our political and corporate leaders
spent a long time denying that a crisis was underway. Consider some
quotes from 2007: "The country's
economic fundamentals are sound,"
said the president. "i don't see subprime mortgage market troubles
imposing a serious problem. i think
it's going to be largely contained,"
said Secretary of the Treasury henry
Paulson. "A recession is unlikely."
"We are experiencing a correction in
the housing sector." "America is not
in recession." "it is likely that housing prices won't recover until early
2009." Today, as well, the authorities are "predicting" (but really, trying to speak into existence)
economic growth of over 5% over
the period 2010-2015.
of course, many of these pronouncements were insincere efforts
at perception management. The
authorities hoped that by controlling
the public perception of reality, they
could control reality itself -- that by
the manipulation of symbols they
could manipulate the reality they
represent. This, in essence, is what
anthropologists call "magico-religious thinking." it is not without
reason that our financial elites have
been called a priesthood. donning
ceremonial garb, speaking an arcane
language, wielding mysterious
inscriptions, they can with a mere
word, or a mere stroke of a pen,
cause fortunes and nations to rise
and fall.
You see, magico-religious thinking
normally works. Whether it is a
shamanic rite, the signing of an
appropriations bill, or the posting of
an account balance, when a ritual is
embedded in a story that people
believe, they act accordingly, playing out the roles the story assigns to
them, and responding to the reality
the story establishes. in former
times, when a
shamanic rite
was seen to
have failed,
everyone
knew this
was a
momentous
event, signaling the end of
the World, a shift
in what was real
and what was not, the
end of the old Story of
the People and the beginning, perhaps, of a new. What,
from this perspective, is the significance of the accelerating failure of
the rites of finance?
Some would scoff at primitive cavedwellers who imagined that their
representations of animals on cave
walls could magically affect the
hunt. Yet today we produce our own
talismans, our own systems of
magic symbology, and indeed affect
physical reality through them. A few
numbers change here and there, and
thousands of workers erect a skyscraper. Some other numbers
change, and a venerable business
shuts its doors. The foreign debt of a
Third World country, again mere
numbers in a computer, consigns its
people to endless enslavement producing commodity goods that are
shipped abroad. College students,
ridden with anxiety, deny their
dreams and hurry into the workforce
to pay off their student loans, their
very will subject to a piece of paper
with magical symbols ("Account
Statement") sent to them once every
moon, like some magical chit in a
voodoo cult. These slips of paper
that we call money, these electronic
blips, bear a potent magic indeed!
how does magic work? Rituals and
talismans affirm and perpetuate the
consensus stories we all participate
in, stories that form our reality,
coordinate our labor, and organize
our lives. only in exceptional times
do they stop working: the times of a
breakdown in the story of the people. We are entering such times
today. The economic measures
enacted to contain the crisis that
began in 2008 have worked only
temporarily.
They don't
go deep
enough.
The only
reform
that can
possibly
be
effective
will be one
that embodies,
affirms, and perpetuates a new story
of the people. To see
what that story might be,
let us dig down through the
layers of failing realities and their
relationship to money.
broken was the story
assigning value to
mortgage-backed securities and
other derivatives based on unrepayable loans. Unlike camels or
bushels of grain, but like all modern
currencies, these have value only
because people believe they have
value. Moreover, this is not an isolated belief, but is inextricably
linked with millions of other beliefs,
conventions, habits, agreements, and
rituals.
The next step was to begin injecting
massive amounts of cash into failing
financial institutions, either in
exchange for equity (effectively
nationalizing them, as in the case of
Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and Aig)
or in exchange for essentially nothing whatsoever, as in the TARP program. in the latter, the Treasury
department guaranteed or bought
banks' toxic assets in hopes of
improving their balance sheets so
that they would start lending again,
Donning ceremonial garb,
speaking an arcane language,
wielding mysterious inscriptions, they can with a mere
word, or a mere stroke of a pen,
cause fortunes and nations to
rise and fall.
When the government's first
response to the 2008 crisis -- denial
-- proved futile, the Federal Reserve
and Treasury department tried
another sort of perception management. deploying their arsenal of
mystical incantations, they signaled
that the government would not
allow major financial institutions
such as Fannie Mae to fail. They
hoped that their assurances would
be enough to maintain confidence in
the assets that depended on these
firms' continued solvency and prosperity. it would have worked if the
story these symbolic measures
invoked were not already broken.
But it was. Specifically, what was
thus keeping the credit bubble
expanding. it didn't work. The banks
just kept the money (except what
they paid to their own executives as
bonuses) as a hedge against their
exposure to untold quantities of
additional bad assets, or they used it
to acquire smaller, healthier banks.
They weren't about to lend more to
consumers who were already maxed
out, nor to overleveraged businesses
in the teeth of a recession. Property
values continued to fall, credit
default rates continued to rise, and
the whole edifice of derivative
assets built upon them continued to
crumble. Consumption and business
activity plummeted, unemployment
COVER STORY CONTINUED FROM PAGE 9
skyrocketed, and people in europe
began rioting in the streets. And
why? Just because some numbers
changed in some computers. it is
truly amazing. it only makes sense
when you see these numbers as talismans embodying agreements. A
supplier digs minerals out of the
ground and sends them to a factory,
in exchange for what? For a few
slips of paper, or more likely, in
exchange for some bits flipping in a
computer, which can only happen
with the permission of a bank (that
"provides credit").
Before we become too alarmed
about the giveaways of trillions
upon trillions of dollars to the
wealthy, let us touch back again on
the reality of money. What actually
happens when this money is given
away? Almost nothing happens.
What happens is that bits change in
computers, and the few people who
understand the interpretations of
those bits declare that money has
been transferred. Those bits are
the symbolic representation
of an agreement about a
story. This story includes
who is rich and who is
poor, who owns and
who owes. it is said
that our children
and grandchildren
will be paying
these bailout
and
stimulus debts, but they could also
simply be declared into nonexistence. They are only as real as the
story we agree on that contains
them. our grandchildren will pay
them only if the story, the system of
meanings, that defines those debts
still exists. But i think more and
more people sense that the federal
debt, the US foreign debt, and a lot
of our private mortgage and credit
card debts will never be repaid.
We think that those Wall Street
tycoons absconded with billions,
but what are these billions? They
too are numbers in computers, and
could theoretically be erased by
fiat. The same with the money that
America owes China or that Third
World nations owe the banks. it
could be gone with a simple declaration. We can thus understand the
massive giveaways of money in the
various financial rescue programs
as yet another exercise in perception management, though this time
it is an unconscious exercise.
These giveaways are ritual acts
that attempt to perpetuate a
story, a matrix of agreements,
and the human activities that
surround it. They are an
attempt to uphold the magical power of the voodoo
chits that keep the college
grad on a career path and
the middle-aged man
enslaved to his mortgage
-- that give the power to a few
to move literal mountains while
keeping the many in chains.
Speaking of China, it is instructive to look at the physical
reality underlying the trade
imbalance. Basically what
is happening is that China is
shipping us vast
quantities of stuff -clothes, toys,
electronics, nearly everything in
Wal-Mart -- and in
return we
rearrange some
bits in some
computers.
Meanwhile,
Chinese laborers work just as
hard as we do, yet
their day's wages buy
much less. in the old days of
It is said that
our children
and grandchildren will be
paying these
bailout and
stimulus debts,
but they could
also simply be
declared into
nonexistence.
explicit empires, China would have
been called a "vassal state" and the
stuff it sends us would have been
called "tribute." Yet China too will
do everything it can to sustain the
present Story of Money, for essentially the same reason we do: its
elites benefit from it. it is just as in
Ancient Rome. The elites of the
imperial capital and the provinces
prosper at the expense of the misery
of the people, which increases over
time. To mollify them and keep
them docile and stupid, the masses
are provided with bread and circuses: cheap food, cheap thrills,
celebrity news, and the Super Bowl.
Whether we declare it to end, or
whether it ends of its own accord,
the story of money will bring down
a lot with it. That is why the United
States won't simply default on its
debt. if it did, then the story under
which the Middle east ships us its
oil, Japan its electronics, india its
textiles, and China its plastic would
come to an end. Unfortunately, or
rather fortunately, that story cannot
be saved forever. The fundamental
reason is that it depends on the
maintenance of exponentially growing debt in a finite world.
When money evaporates as it is
doing in the current cycle of debt
deflation, little changes right away
in the physical world. Stacks of currency do not go up in flames; factories do not blow up; engines do not
grind to a halt; oil wells do not run
dry; people's economic skills do not
disappear. All of the materials and
skills that are exchanged in human
economy, upon which we rely for
food, shelter, transportation, entertainment, and so on, still exist as
before. What has disappeared is our
capacity to coordinate our activities
and focus our common efforts. We
can still envision a new airport, but
we can no longer build it. The
magic talisman by which the pronouncement "An airport shall be
built here" crystallizes into material
reality has lost its power. human
hands, minds, and machinery retain
all their capacities, yet we can no
longer do what we once could do.
The only thing that has changed is
our perceptions.
We can therefore see the bailouts,
quantitative easing, and the other
financial measures to save the economy as further exercises in perception management, but on a deeper,
less conscious level. Because what
is money, anyway? Money is merely a social agreement, a story that
assigns meaning and roles. The
classical definition of money -- a
medium of exchange, a store of
value, a unit of account -- describes
what money does, but not what it
is. Physically, it is now next to
nothing. Socially, it is next to
everything: the primary agent for
the coordination of human activity
and the focusing of collective
human intention.
The government's deployment of
trillions of dollars in money is little
different from its earlier deployment of empty words. Both are
nothing but the manipulation of
various types of symbols, and both
have failed for an identical reason:
the story they are trying to perpetuate has run its course. The normalcy
we took as normal was unsustainable.
it was unsustainable on two levels.
The first level of "normal" is the
debt pyramid, the exponential
growth of money that inevitably
outstrips the real economy. The
solution at this level is what liberal
economists (usually identifying
themselves as Keynesians) propose:
wealth redistribution, fiscal stimulus, debt write-downs, and so forth.
Story I
Lest We Forget
by ChRiS TheodoRe
A night ago, i watched a film called
The Last Train, the story about the
last transport train of german Jews
from Berlin to the Auschwitz and
Birkenau death camps. it was a
transport of 688 people-- grandparents, mothers and fathers, children
and even infants who
had been rounded up
to be "sent east", a
gift for hitler's birthday. nearly the entire
story unfolds in one
of the cattle cars.
only after did i realize that i had been
mercifully spared the
full sensory onslaught
of what the trip was
really like, including
the terror of not being
able to escape, and
the crushing, moment
by moment realization that it was not a
dream.
city streets, acres of countryside, as
well as in the tiny confines of a cattle car, there came to be in the
hearts of men a different law from
what they were born with, which
made them capable of doing the
things they did?
As i watched the film, i thought
about the things i knew that had
transpired in history not included in
the film-- large and small-- that had
The story was one of
the most emotionally
devastating portrayals
of this nightmare era
i've ever seen. You
may wonder why talk
about a time like this
in an issue devoted to
the topic of love?
And the answer is
that there is much to
be gained by remembering this chapter in
history, including a
sense of how good
we have it, and how
much remains that is
right and just and
good in our society.
Remembering how absolutely corrupt, broken and evil a society can
become, we inevitably come close
to the causes of what brought it on
and gain something sacred in need
of renewal: clarity in our hearts'
understanding of right and wrong.
how did it come to be that in a
land, not 7,000 miles away from us,
not seventy years ago, over vast
stretches of land, miles and miles of
brought these families and individuals to a place where they were powerless, unimaginably vulnerable and
in a cattle car.
it is known that hitler first attended
a meeting of what became the nazi
party as a spy, working at the
behest of the government to monitor small political groups. he might
not have ever returned, and the
nazi party might have fizzled out,
had he not received a small post
card, which he later said motivated
him to return to the next meeting,
not as a spy but because he thought
the ragtag group could be a platform, and it needed a leader.
This tiny footnote in history presses
on each of us the importance of all
our choices, the importance of
every detail in our lives including
the seemingly insignificant. in this
times, "out of the abundance of the
heart-- the mouth speaks". And so it
was in germany at the time, giving
voice to the hearts of people, came
hate-filled language from some in
the public eye which polluted their
national discourse.
Those using this language justified
their tactics as coming from the
"depth of their patriotism", or their
"frustration" and "impatience" with
the "broken system"
and with "enemies"
within their own
country, "enemies"
because they happened to look, think
or believe
differently.
The progression of
worse violence and
fewer liberties, culminating in the absurdity
of families with children rounded up into a
cattle car was pushed
forward from a belief
that democracy was
dangerous, slow and
inefficient, that division was preferable to
the impurity of the
blending of ideas.
This evolved into
intolerance and hatred
from which emerged
political parties that
created a world much
worse than one with
mere coarse language.
case a tiny post card was the thing
upon which matters of absolute life
and death for millions of families as
precious and sacred as yours and
mine, came to depend.
i also knew that the years leading
up to the time the story takes place,
a significant number of germans
accepted in themselves a heart of
hatred, suspicion and fear. As my
father has said to me thousands of
There was a "ghettoization" of people
first in the heart, next
in language, and finally in reality. it began
with people, in their
private heart of hearts,
thinking about great
quantities of "other"
people in ways that grouped them
together and stripped them of their
humanity.
i remember going to a church with
my wife in Redlands in which an
older man in a wheel chair was
asked to share a few words in
Sunday School. he said something
i thought was so beautiful: "we
should be gentle in our speech".
CONTINUES ON PAGE 28
personalities time
OF
OUR
you.” in general, when you pay for
things you own them. But, surprisingly, in 2008 we gave them money
but gained no control. And they just
kept doing the same old [stuff].
What was your favorite part of the
action?
AndY BiChlBAUM
Interview by
lAURA goTTeSdieneR
A press-release reveals a new website apparently from Bank of
America, YourBofA.com, followed
by another, seemingly hastily-written
response imploring readers to ignore
the “malicious website
(YourBofA.com) that is representing
itself as a Bank of America's rebranding effort.” The second release
insists that “Bank of America is not
making plans to enter into federal
receivership.”
The phishing was pretty nice. Bank
of America complained, so google
put a big phishing warning on the
site. But then we emailed all our
friends and told them to complain to
google, so the search engine took
off the phishing warning. That was a
pretty good example of people
power.
Let’s get to the basics: What’s the
point of these fun, creative
actions?
You want a reason to have fun?
That’s pretty easy: Because it’s fun.
it galvanizes people. There’s that
famous video of that guy dancing at
See more user-generated ads and create your own at www.YourBofA.com!
The "malicious website" (and both
press releases) are another creation
of the pranksters The Yes Men. To
learn how laughter can [rekindle
people power], i sat down with Andy
Bichlbaum, one of the founders of
The Yes Men at Scratcher Bar in the
east Village. now, in addition to The
Yes Men, The Yes lab and teaching
at new York University, he has been
involved in developing the
PlusBrigades.org.
What was your goal with the
YourBofA.com?
i thought it would be good to get
people thinking about what happens
when you bail out a bank. i’m presuming that when you bail out a
bank, there’s probably a lot of different ways to do it. one way would be
just to give it a lot of money. But
another way would be to give it that
money and say, “okay, now we own
Sasquatch [Music Festival] and he’s
dancing alone on a hill and beckoning people to join him. At first two
or three people join him, and then
after a while thousands of people
have joined.
What makes people join in,
besides the fact that dancing is
fun?
i think it starts with having rules that
are simple to follow. The other day, a
PlusBrigades.org clowning action at
a Chase Bank was really well-directed. These kids happened to be passing by on the sidewalk, and one of
them asked, “So, we just fall down?
is that the rule?” They totally wanted
to play along. i think that’s when it’s
infectious. Fun is really useful politically -- first, for the prefigurative
reason, because it shows people that
life can be fun. Second, you can
communicate a simple message pret-
Andy Bichlbaum, The Yes Men
ty powerfully using fun, so it’s good
for getting messages into the media.
Does using fun also change the
way the message is communicated?
definitely. if you’re angry about
something, you rant. But pushing
facts down people’s throats doesn’t
work. humor can really sideswipe
this problem. it’s like there’s a wall
between you and a person, and if
you make a joke, it’s a crack in the
wall.
Well, why do oppressed people have
such great jokes? The pat explanation is that they need solace, they
need to laugh because they are suffering. But it also might be that they
constantly need to be inventive, to
reinvent their relationship to reality
because it’s so inimical to them.
You know when you laugh so hard
your sides are splitting? it’s because
everything you thought was true is
not true anymore. And then you’re
left with nothing, which is hilarious
in just the sheer hopelessness of it.
When we create jokes about society
and the way reality is and how it can
be, it’s a way of getting past this
reality and recreating the world.
Do you think power structures are
derived from people believing in
that power?
So, if you recognize the power and
how you reinforce it, and if the
power wouldn’t exist unless you
reinforce it, then…
Then you just go, hey! You collapse
on the ground laughing because you
are the one making these crazy decisions.
You do both on-the-ground [stuff]
and send out a lot of fake press
releases. Why bother with the real
world if we all sit in front of our
computers for the majority of our
lives anyway?
Because the real world is real, and
the virtual world doesn’t really exist.
Computers are only good for communicating simple information from
one point to another, and yes they’re
an improvement over the telephone,
or town criers, or smoke signals, but
they’re not categorically different.
And the smoke signal, or the computer thing, has to reference something visceral. in egypt, Facebook
was supposedly so important, but it
was really useful only to tell everyone to go to Tahrir Square, and that
only worked because everyone knew
there was a reason to. Facebook
didn’t give the reason; everyone
knew why because of [real] life.
of course. no one can govern without the consent of the governed. So
making fun of power enables people
to see in themselves how they are
the power, and how they are propping it up -- how we are all propping
it up. And the more you can laugh at
that, the more you stop doing it.
laura gottesdiener is a freelance journalist,
and a contributor to Wagingnonviolence.org,
where this interview first appeared.
The Yes Men are activist duo Jacques Servin
(aka Andy Bichlbaum) and igor Vamos (aka
Mike Bonanno) and a network of supporters
creating actions of tactical media (aka humorous pranks) that aim to expose and raise awareness of corporate and government
wrongdoing. employing their brand of "identity correction", to date the duo has
produced two films: The Yes Men (2003) and The Yes Men Fix the World (2009).
Story II
Were You There?
by ChRiS hedgeS
Love is in fact the most boisterous
element in our hearts, the most
influential and unforgettable. In
this passage, Chris Hedges,
Pulitzer Prize winning journalist,
and son of a Presbyterian pastor,
speaks with love, courage and conviction on the Occupy movement
and Christianity.
The occupy movement is the force
that will revitalize traditional
Christianity in the United States or
signal its moral, social and political
irrelevance. The mainstream
church, battered by declining numbers and a failure to defiantly condemn the crimes and cruelty of the
corporate state, as well as a refusal
to vigorously attack the charlatans
of the Christian right, whose misuse
of the gospel to champion unfettered capitalism, bigotry and imperialism is heretical, has become a
marginal force in the life of most
Americans, especially the young.
outside the doors of churches,
struggles a movement, driven largely by young men and women,
which has as its unofficial credo the
Beatitudes:
it was the church in latin America,
especially in Central American and
Augusto Pinochet’s Chile, which
provided the physical space, moral
support and direction for the opposition to dictatorship. it was the
church in east germany that organized the peaceful opposition marches in leipzig that would bring
down the communist regime in that
country. it was the church in
Czechoslovakia, and its 90-year-old
cardinal, that blessed and defended
the Velvet Revolution. it was the
church, and especially the AfricanAmerican church, that made possible the civil rights movements. And
it is the church, especially Trinity
Church in new York City with its
open park space at Canal and 6th,
which can make manifest its commitment to the gospel and nonviolent social change by permitting the
occupy movement to use this
empty space, just as churches in
other cities that hold unused physical space have a moral imperative
to turn them over to occupy movements. if this nonviolent movement
fails, it will eventually be replaced
by one that will employ violence.
And if it fails it will fail in part
because good men and women,
especially those in the church, did
nothing.
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for
theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are they who mourn, for
they shall be comforted.
Blessed are the meek, for they
shall possess the earth.
Blessed are they who hunger and
thirst for justice, for they shall be
satisfied.
Blessed are the merciful, for they
shall obtain mercy.
Blessed are the pure of heart, for
they shall see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for
they shall be called sons and
daughters of God.
Blessed are they who suffer persecution for justice sake, for theirs
is the kingdom of heaven.
Where is the church now? Where
are the clergy? Why do so many
church doors remain shut? Why do
so many churches refuse to carry
out the central mandate of the
Christian gospel and lift up the
cross? Some day they are going to
have to answer the question:
“Where were you when they crucified my lord?”
let me tell you on this... Sunday...
when we celebrate hope... why i am
Through these they hope to reignite
economic growth -- the second
"normal" that is coming to an end.
Humanity's Coming-of-Age
Ordeal
The story that is ending in our time,
then, goes much deeper than the
story of money. i call this story the
Ascent of humanity. it is a story of
endless growth, and the money system we have today is an embodiment of that story, enabling and
propelling the conversion of the
natural realm into the human realm.
it began millennia ago, when
humans first tamed fire and made
tools; it accelerated when we
applied these tools to the domestication of animals and plants and
began to conquer the wild, to make
the world ours. it reached its glorious zenith in the age of the
Machine, when we created a wholly
artificial world, harnessing all the
forces of nature and imagining ourselves to be its lords and possessors. And now, that story is drawing
to a close as the inexorable realization dawns that the story is not true.
despite our pretenses, the world is
not really ours; despite our illusions, we are not in control of it. As
the unintended consequences of
technology proliferate, as our communities, our health, and the ecological basis of civilization
deteriorate, as we explore new
depths of misery, violence, and
alienation, we enter the story's final
stages: crisis, climax, and denouement. The rituals of our storytellers
are to no avail. no story can persist
beyond its ending.
Just as life does not end with adolescence, neither does civilization's
evolution stop with the end of
growth. We are in the midst of a
transition parallel to an adolescent's
transition into adulthood. Physical
growth ceases, and vital resources
turn inward to foster growth in
other realms.
Two key developments mark the
transition from childhood to adulthood, whether on the individual or
the species level.
The first is that
we fall in
love, and
this love relationship is different
from that of the child to the mother.
in childhood, the primary aspect of
the love relationship is that of
receiving. i am happy to give all i
can to my children, and i want them
to receive it without restraint. it is
right for a child to do what is necessary to grow, both physically and
mentally. A good parent provides
the resources for this growth, as our
Mother earth has done for us.
So far, we humans have been children in relationship to earth. We
began in the womb of hunter-gatherer existence, in which we made
no distinction between human and
nature, but were enwombed within
it. An infant does not have a strong
self-other distinction, but takes time
to form an identity and an ego and
to learn that the world is not an
extension of the self. So it has been
for humanity collectively. Whereas
the hunter-gatherer had no concept
of a separate "nature" distinct from
"human," the agriculturist, whose
livelihood depended on the objectification and manipulation of nature,
came to think of nature as a separate category. in the childhood of
agricultural civilization, humanity
developed a separate identity and
grew large. We had our adolescent
growth spurt with industry, and on
the mental plane entered through
Cartesian science the extreme of
separation, the fully developed ego
and hyperrationality of the young
teenager who, like humanity in the
Age of Science, completes the stage
of cognitive development known as
"formal operations," consisting of
the manipulation of abstractions.
But as the extreme of yang contains
the birth of yin, so does the extreme
of separation contain the seed of
what comes next: reunion.
in adolescence, we fall in love, and
our world of perfect reason and perfect selfishness falls apart as the
self expands to include the beloved
within its bounds. A new kind of
love relationship emerges: not just
one of receiving, but of giving too,
and of co-creating. Fully individuated from the other, we can fall in
love with it and experience a
reunion greater than the original
union, for it contains within it the
entire journey of separation.
Mission Accomplished!
On April 26, 2012, Charles Taylor, the former president of Liberia, became
the only former head of state since Nuremberg to be convicted for war
crimes or crimes against humanity by an international or hybrid international/national tribunal for his role in fueling neighboring Sierra Leone’s
armed conflict.
Mission i: Freedom for the
People of Syria
BACKGROUND: In a desperate attempt to crush a popular uprising, Syrian forces have
executed people in cold blood,
civilians and opposition fighters
alike. They are doing it in broad
daylight and in front of witnesses,
evidently not concerned about any
accountability for their crimes.
In the cases documented by Human Rights Watch, at least 85 victims were
Syrian residents who did not take part in the fighting, including women and
children. The report describes in detail several cases of mass executions of
civilians, including the killing of at least 13 men in the Bilal mosque in
Idlib on March 11, the execution of at least 25 men during a search-andarrest operation in the Sultaniya neighborhood of Homs on March 3, and
the killing of at least 47 people, mainly women and children, in the
Adwiyya, Karm al-Zaytoun, and Refai neighborhoods of Homs on March
11 and 12.
WHAT CAN BE DONE NOW:
Human Rights Watch has called
on the UN Security Council to
refer the situation in Syria to the
International Criminal Court
(ICC), impose an arms embargo
on the Syrian government, and
impose sanctions on Syrian
officials as well as rebel commanders involved in serious
human rights violations.
Human Rights Watch also urged
other countries to join the mounting calls for accountability by supporting a referral to the ICC as the forum most capable of
effectively investigating and prosecuting those bearing the greatest responsibility for abuses in Syria.
TAKE ACTION: Go to www.readermagazine.net and click on
"Humanitarianism" for a copy of a letter to send to Mr. Nabil El Araby,
Secretary-General of The League of Arab States, calling him to support the
referral of Syria to the International Criminal Court.
REVOLUTIONARY ALTRUISM IN 15 MINUTES OR LESS
Mission ii:
Support Global Online
Freedom Act
BACKGROUND: The Global
Online Freedom Act would
require companies to demonstrate that they have put policies and procedures in place to
protect human rights online and to safeguard their users. Such mechanisms
are particularly pertinent given the role of Yahoo! in turning over to the
Chinese government user information which led to the arrest, conviction
and 10-year prison term of the journalist Shi Tao in 2005 on a charge of
“divulging state secrets abroad.”
WHAT CAN BE DONE NOW:
By moving quickly to pass the
Global Online Freedom Act,
the US Congress can send a
powerful message to dictators around the globe that we
will not idly stand by while fundamental freedoms are eroded online.
TAKE ACTION: Go to www.readermagazine.net
and click on "Humanitarianism" for a copy of a letter in
support of the bill to send to Congressman Chris Smith (R-New Jersey),
who drafted and introduced this bill to the House in Dec. 2011 for the purpose "to prevent United States businesses from cooperating with repressive governments in transforming the Internet into a tool of censorship and surveillance,
to fulfill the responsibility of the United States Government to promote freedom
of expression on the Internet, to restore public confidence in the integrity of
United States businesses, and for other purposes."
WERE YOU THERE CONTINUED FROM PAGE 16
in liberty Square
(zuccotti Park in new
York City). i am here
because i have tried,
however imperfectly, to
live by the radical message of the gospel.
i am here because i know
that it is not what we say
or profess but what we
do. i am here because i
have seen in my many
years overseas as a foreign correspondent that great men and women
of moral probity arise in all cultures
and all religions to fight the oppressor on behalf of the oppressed.
i am here because i have seen that
it is possible to be a Jew, a
Buddhist, a Muslim, a Christian, a
hindu or an atheist and carry the
cross. The words are different but
the self-sacrifice and thirst for justice are the same. And these men
and women, who may not profess
what i profess or believe what i
believe, are my brothers and sisters.
And i stand with them honoring
and respecting our differences and
finding hope and strength and love
in our common commitment.
At times like these i hear the voices
of the saints who went before us.
The suffragist Susan B. Anthony,
who announced that resistance to
tyranny is obedience to god, and
the suffragist elizabeth Cady
Stanton, who said, “The moment we
begin to fear the opinions of others
and hesitate to tell the truth that is
in us, and from motives of policy
are silent when we should speak,
the divine floods of light and life no
longer flow into our souls.” or
henry david Thoreau, who told us
we should be men and women first
and subjects afterward, that we
should cultivate a respect not for
the law but for what is right.
And Frederick douglass, who
warned us: “Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did
and it never will. Find out just what
any people will quietly submit to
and you have found out the exact
measure of injustice and wrong
which will be imposed upon them,
and these will continue till they are
resisted with either words or blows,
or both. The limits of tyrants are
prescribed by the endurance of
those whom they oppress.” And the
great 19th century populist Mary
elizabeth lease, who thundered:
“Wall Street owns the country. It is
no longer a government of the people, by the people, and for the people, but a government of Wall
Street, by Wall Street, and for Wall
Street. The great common people of
this country are slaves, and monopoly is the master.”
And general Smedley Butler, who
said that after 33 years and four
months in the Marine Corps he had
come to understand that he had
been nothing more than a gangster
for capitalism, making Mexico safe
for American oil interests, making
haiti and Cuba safe for banks and
pacifying the dominican Republic
for sugar companies. War, he said,
is a racket in which newly dominated countries are exploited by the
financial elites and Wall Street
while the citizens foot the bill and
sacrifice their young men and
women on the battlefield for corporate greed.
or eugene V. debs, who in 1912
pulled almost a million votes, or
6%, and who was sent to prison by
Woodrow Wilson for opposing the
First World War, and who told the
world: “While there is a lower
class, I am in it, and while there is
a criminal element I am of it, and
while there is a soul in prison, I am
not free.” And Rabbi Abraham
heschel, who when he was criticized for walking with Martin
luther King on the Sabbath in
Selma answered: “I pray with my
feet” and who quoted Samuel
Johnson, who said: “The opposite
of good is not evil. The opposite of
good is indifference.” And Rosa
Parks, who defied the segregated
bus system and said “The only tired
I was, was tired of giving in.”
And Philip Berrigan, who said: “If
enough Christians follow the
Gospel, they can bring any state to
its knees.” And Martin luther
King, who said: “On some positions, cowardice asks the question,
‘Is it safe?’ Expediency asks the
question, ‘Is it politic?’ Vanity asks
the question, ‘Is it popular?’ And
there comes a time when a true
follower of Jesus Christ must take
a stand that’s neither safe nor
politic nor popular but he must
take a stand because it is right.”
Where were you when they
crucified my lord?
Were you there to halt the murder
of hundreds of thousands of innocent Vietnamese during the war in
Vietnam or hundreds of thousands
of Muslims in iraq and
Afghanistan? Were you there to
halt israel’s saturation bombing of
lebanon and gaza? Were you there
when Rachel Corrie died on the
cross?
Were you there to halt the corporate forces that have left working
men and women and the poor in
this country bereft of a sustainable
income, hope and dignity? Were
you there to share your food with
your neighbor
in liberty
Square? Were
you there to
become homeless with
them?
Where were
you when they
crucified my
lord? i know
where i was.
here. With
you.
Were you there to halt the genocide
of native Americans? Were you
there when Sitting Bull died on the
cross? Were you there to halt the
enslavement of AfricanAmericans? Were you there to halt
the mobs that terrorized black men,
women and even children with
lynching during Jim Crow? Were
you there when they persecuted
union organizers and Joe hill died
on the cross? Were you there to
halt the incarceration of JapaneseAmericans in World War ii? Were
you there to halt Bull Connor’s
dogs as they were unleashed on
civil rights marchers in
Birmingham? Were you there when
Martin luther King died upon the
cross? Were you there when
Malcolm X died on the cross?
Were you there to halt the hate
crimes, discrimination and violence
against gays, lesbians, bisexuals
and those who are transgender?
Were you there when Matthew
Shepard died on the cross? Were
you there to halt the abuse and at
times slavery of workers in the
farmlands of this country?
Speech given by war correspondent
and Pulitzer Prize winning journalist
Chris Hedges at Liberty Square Park
in New York City.
june
June 1-3
Temecula Valley
Balloon & Wine
Festival
Lake Skinner – Campsites Available.
Enjoy a balloon flight, wine, vendors, live
entertainment, a kids area. Interested in
going for a balloon ride? Contact the
festival in advance to reserve a spot.
Info: 951-676-6713 or www.TVbwf.com
June 2
Kimberly Crest House & Gardens
presents Treasures, Trinkets
& Tokens Charity Bazaar
8am-Noon 909-792-2111 or
www.KimberlyCrest.org FREE
June 14
FLAG DAY
June 17
HAPPY FATHER’S DAY
thru June 17
15th Annual Koroneburg European
Old World Festival
Crossroads Riverview Park
Celebrate the inventions of the
Renaissance. Free Parking.
Saturdays 11am – 7pm
& Sundays 11am-6pm
Info: 951-735-0101 or
visit: www.renaissanceinfo.com
General Admission - $18,
Juniors & Seniors - $15,
Military - $12, 5 & under – FREE
June 17
June 2
Trout Derby – Kids Fish FREE Day
Lake Gregory in Crestline
7am-4pm
Fish from the shore or a rented rowboat.
Info: 909-338-2233
June 5
June 22 - 24
Plymouth Village
Annual Strawberry Festival
Enjoy an old-fashioned day in the park,
live music, famous strawberry shortcake,
arts & crafts. 4-7pm. Info: 909-793-9195
Fresh Strawberry Shortcake & a Beverage
included with your Admission of $5
7th Annual Big Bear Lake
JazzTrax Festival
Enjoy your Jazz lakeside
Info: 866-872-9849 or www.JazzTrax.com
June 7 - 10
94th Annual
Cherry Festival
Downtown
Beaumont
Carnival, live
music, kids
area & beer garden for the big kids.
Info: 951-769-7114 or
www.BeaumontCherryFestival.org
Adults & Kids 6-11: $3 TH & $5 FRI-SUN;
5 & under: FREE
June 13
Muffin Top Bakery
Grand Opening Celebration
downtown Redlands on State St.
FREE mini Muffin Top for every person
who mentions The Reader
5:30pm - 8pm
Info: 909-792-9911
Kimberly Crest House & Gardens
Hidden Treasures Tour
Vintage Car Show
1-4pm. Adults $10; Kids $5
909-792-2111 or
www.KimberlyCrest.org
June 22 – August 17
Redlands Bowl
89th Annual Summer Music Festival
Join the Community Sing at 7:15pm
& concerts start at 8:15pm
Tuesdays & Fridays. FREE
Info: 909-793-7316 or
www.RedlandsBowl.com
June 23-24
& 30 – July 1
Highland Springs Resort
8th Annual Lavender
Festival 10-6pm
Enjoy lavender food & drinks,
wagon tours & live music
General Admission - $5;
Seniors/Students $3;
Kids 12 & under - FREE
Info: 951-845-1151 or www.HSresort.com
SEND YOUR EVENTS TO: [email protected]
June 27 – August 3
San Bernardino County Museum
Family Fun Days – Avoid Summer
Brain Drain! Activities
11am-4pm Wednesdays & Fridays
Info: 909-307-2669 or
www.sbcounty.gov/museum
FREE with paid admission
General Admission - $8;
Child 5 – 12: $4;
Kids 5 & under - FREE
July 2-4 Carnival &
July 4th Yucaipa/Calimesa
Community Freedom Fest
Yucaipa High School will host the
festivities from 5pm to 10pm.
Enjoy the C-17 flyover at
7:25pm, kids zone, live music
& fireworks!
Info: 909-790-7460
July 4th Big Bear Lake
Fireworks Spectacular & BBQ
Enjoy the BBQ from 4:30pm –
7:30pm at the Marina Resort.
Fireworks over the lake at
8:45pm. Info: 909-866-4607
july
July 6 – August 10
Movies in the Park
Redlands Sports Park
Fridays Activities start 6:30pm & Movies
begin at dusk. Games, crafts, entertainment, vendors, and a bounce house!
Info: 909-798-7572 FREE
July 7
Los Rios Rancho Hometown Jamboree
Jamboree, BBQ dinner and traditional
tunes by Riley’s Mountaineers
6pm-9pm. Info: 909-797-1005 or
www.LosRiosRancho.com
General Admission - $15,
12 & under - $10
July 12
Highland Springs Resort BBQ
Cooking Class at The Grand
Oak Steakhouse & Bar Learn
to grill gourmet with Chef
Stefan Weck 6-8pm $25 Register: 951845-1151 or www.TheGrandOak.com
Collective Journey
Papercrafting Garage
Sale sell your old stuff &
get some new stuff
Register by July 31 for
Aug 11 Garage Sale Event
call 909-793-2200 or
visit www.collectivejourney.com
for details & to register
Redlands Community 4th of July
Celebration
Picnicking at Sylvan Park starts the
day with food, games and music.
Parade starts at 3:30pm. University of
Redlands Stadium opens at 6pm and
live fireworks start at 9pm.
Info: 909-793-2121
General Admission - $7 in advance,
$10 at the gate, 3 & under - FREE
Lake Arrowhead Pyrospectacular
Fireworks over the lake at 9-10pm
Info: 909-337-2595
July 12
Somerford Place Lunch & Learn
Noon-2pm Info: 909-793-9500 or
visit www.somerfordplaceredlands.com
On-going speaker series about issues
affecting seniors & their loved ones.
Enjoy a complimentary lunch.
FREE Call to RSVP as Seating is
Limited!
July 14
Big Bear Old Miners Days
Country Jamboree & Boot Scootin'
Barn Dance Convention Center 7pm
Info: 909-436-9145
General Admission $10
July 21
SB County Museum
Rockin' at the Grove
Party like it's 1950
6:30-10:30pm
Info & RSVP: 909-307-2669 or
www.sbcounty.gov/museum
CALENDAR CONTINUES ON PAGE 24
CONTINUED
FROM PAGE 23
Aug 5
July 21
Big Bear Old Miners Days
3rd Annual Outhouse Races
Meadow Park
Come out to watch the hilarious hijinks
or with $50, you and up to 4 willing
friends + your homemade "outhouse"
[any structure that consists of 4 walls,
a roof, doorway & a seat that must
have a hole] can make a run for the
cash prize up for grabs to the team
that makes it to the end of the track
first and in one piece
Rules & Registration:
www.oldminers.org/outhouse.html
July 27
Riverside Fox Performing Arts Center
presents Humphrey Bogart Film Fest:
The Maltese Falcon
7:30pm Info: 951-779-9800 or
www.FoxRiversideLive.com
General Admission - $9
July 28-29
Lake Arrowhead Annual Lobster Fest
11am-6pm
Jensen's Market
Info: 909-337-8484
august
Aug 4
Cowboy Chuckwagon Supper & Show
Supper’s served fresh off the tailgate
of an 1880s Studebaker Chuckwagon
live classic cowboy tunes & dancing.
6-9pm Info: 909-797-1005 or
www.LosRiosRancho.com
Children - $20
Food Truck Fest with the 66ers
3pm San Manuel Stadium
Enjoy good food, entertainment by the
66ers dance team & Bernie the
mascot, kids fun zone & a beer garden
for the big kids. Info: 909-558-3419
Aug 9
Somerford Place Lunch & Learn
Noon-2pm
Info: 909-793-9500 or visit
www.somerfordplaceredlands.com
On-going speaker series about issues
affecting seniors & their loved ones.
Enjoy a complimentary lunch.
FREE Call to RSVP as Seating is
Limited!
Aug 11 & 22
Redlands Theatre Festival
presents Waiting for Godot
Prospect Park 8pm
Info: 909-792-0562
Aug 17
Riverside Fox Performing
Arts Center presents
Humphrey Bogart Film
Fest: Key Largo
7:30pm
Info: 951-779-9800 or
www.FoxRiversideLive.com
Aug 18-19 &
25-26
Highland Springs
Resort 3rd Annual
Sausage & Beer
Festival
11am-5pm
Local beer &
housemade
sausages, family games & festival
music FREE Admission
Info: 951-845-1151 or
www.HSresort.com
Aug 18
Don your duds &
join in on the
Square Dancing
Redlands
Community Center every
1st & 3rd Saturday
7pm-10:30pm
Info: 909-783-4866
Aug 24-26
Inland Empire Auto Show
Ontario Convention Center
Fri Noon-9pm; Sat 10am-9pm;
Sun 10am-5pm Adults $10;
Seniors & Military $5;
Kids 12 & under FREE
Info: www.ontariocc.com
Aug 25 & 26
19th Annual Idyllwild Jazz in the Pines
Enjoy two days of fabulous music
featuring international headliners and
well-known desert musicians, art,
crafts, and visit the French Quarter
Bistro to relax with great food and wine
on the beautiful Idyllwild Arts Academy
campus 10am-5pm
Info: 951-500-4090 or
www.IdyllwildJazz.com
Renaissance Banquet Hall
invites you to an open house
every 2nd Sun of the month
11:30- 3pm
RSVP: 909-798-3462
www.TheRenaissanceBanquet.com
FREE
West of Texas
Home Design Series
3rd Wed of every
month 6pm
817 W. Colton Ave. in Redlands
RSVP: 909-798-7227 FREE
Breathe Yoga
Downtown Redlands
Saturdays @ 11am Donation Based Class
Mondays @ 6pm - Pre-Natal Yoga
with Live Harp Music - $10
2nd Saturday of every
month - Family Yoga @ 1-2pm.
The fee is never more than $20 per
family. Info: 909-557-4302
or www.breatheredlandsyoga.com
Tiny Tots Storytime at the
Smiley Library Fun stories,
songs & rhymes Wednesday:
10:15 & 10:45am ages 4-6
Thursday: 10:15 &
10:45am ages 2-3
Info: 909-798-7565 FREE
ongoing…
San Bernardino Golf Club
Monday-Friday 11am-2pm
Burger & a Bucket Special for $9.75
any sandwich on the menu plus a soda
& a small bucket of balls
Info: 909-885-2414
Gramma’s Country Kitchen
CAR CRUISE
3rd Friday of every month
2868 W. Ramsey in Banning
Looking for great family fun on a Friday
night - enjoy raffles, games, live music
& kitchen specials
5-8pm FREE
Info: 951-849-8385
CALENDAR CONTINUES ON PAGE 26
CONTINUED
FROM PAGE 25
Live Music & Dancing
@ Arthur Murray
Dance Studio
Redlands 3rd Wed
every month
FREE Sample Class,
Supervised Practice
Session & an additional
FREE 40 min private follow-up lesson to be
scheduled anytime.
Starts at 6:45 FREE. Come
by yourself or bring a friend along.
Enjoy a sampling of the most popular
dances in a fun group setting. Info:
909-793-8140 or www.AMRedlands.com
local
market
days &
nights
Enjoy the Farmer’s Market, food,
art & crafts, entertainment and fun
for the whole family almost every
weekday evenings and weekends in
the following cities:
Loma Linda on Barton Road
between Loma Linda Dr. &
Benton St. Sundays 8am-Noon
909-799-2827
Augie’s Coffee House
Enjoy the 5th Street Quintet Jazz Band
Live Wednesdays @ 6:30pm Enjoy a
cup of fresh-brewed coffee while
listening to the best jazz in town
Info: 909-798-2255 FREE
Redlands on State Street
Thursdays 6-9pm 909-798-7629
www.redlandsmarketnight.com
Redlands Farmers Market
Saturdays 8-11am
909-798-7629
Riverside Main Street Market
between University Ave.
& Mission Inn Ave.
Thursdays 5-9pm
951-683-7100
Yucaipa on the Boulevard
@ Vons Shopping Center
Wednesdays 5-8:30pm
909-790-1841
A Friendly Reminder to Support Your
Local Growers and Local Businesses!
Together we are resilient!
Reader Review
What’s
Responsible
Advertising
Look Like?
by eliSA BonoRA
Billboards and commercial messages dominate the public space
like never
before. But is
a movement
taking shape
to reverse
this trend?
in This Space
Available,
filmmaker
gwenaëlle
gobé says
yes.
influenced
by the writing of her
father, Marc
gobé, this
new director
brings energy
and urgency
to stories of
people
around the
world.
From visits to 11 countries on 5
continents, This Space Available
charts a fascinating variety of struggles against unchecked advertising
and suggests that more than aesthetics is at stake. if Jacques Attali once
called noise pollution an act of violence, is visual pollution also such
an act? Should we also consider, as
one Mumbai resident says, “which
classes of society can write their
messages on the city and which
classes of society are marginalized?”
The filmmaker recognizes the history and politics behind this story.
Turning to such legislation as the
highway Beautification Act of
1965, gobé shows how the enforcement of this landmark law, designed
to regulate outdoor advertising on
America’s roadways, has steadily
eroded. And today, public space
activist Jordan Seiler faces harsh
penalties for covering illegal outdoor ads with art, while officials
turn a blind eye to illegally erected
billboards.
Still, the film strikes a hopeful tone.
A standout interview features
gilberto Kassab, the popular mayor
of Sao Paulo, who threw a stone
into the quiet pond of the billboard
industry by successfully banning
outdoor media in his city -- the
eighth largest in the world. The
move is not
without
precedent:
houston’s
1980 billboard ban
was also a
deliberate
tactic to
improve its
flagging
image, economic competitiveness,
and quality
of life.
in the end,
This Space
Available
challenges
audiences to
recognize
that aesthetics and
beauty go hand in hand with
responsibility. gobé asks why
brands continue to ally themselves
with an industry that cuts down
trees, hogs energy, and spends its
profits in courts and statehouse lobbies, especially while younger consumers push for improved corporate
citizenship? And is everyone equally to blame for enabling the spread
of visual pollution, while other
humble individuals show that it’s
possible to reverse it?
The film navigates these issues
without promoting a universal solution. gobé instead weaves together
stories reflecting diverse local
responses to an increasingly global
condition. This Space Available
compels audiences to consider these
stories long after the film ends, or
at least to remember them each
time we speed by a billboard.
LEST WE FORGET CONTINUED FROM PAGE 13
i thought how much hatred could
never get off the ground if we were
gentle in our speech. There's
enough time, there's enough power
in gentleness to get our ideas
across, but it also includes the
transforming power and beauty of
love.
in the story, we find older couples,
young families, and single people
all together. We find families that
look like ours, children who look
like ours, neighbors who look like
ours. We meet them-- they are not a
car of fifty people; they are a small
seven year old girl who, once
inside, tries to think of a different
place and world, by remembering a
ballerina step she would do with
her mom counting time; they are a
husband in his seventies who, while
holding hands with his wife of
many years, thinks back to the time
he urged his wife to divorce him
and go to America and she says she
will not leave his side; it is a beautiful baby named david, with his
mother, father and sister, nina, who
tells her daddy, a boxer, that she
packed away his medals so that he
can one day show them to
david. days later, the baby dies of
dehydration-- true to the reality of
what happened countless times.
As i witnessed more of the story, i
found it impossible to feel like i
was not there with them, and hoped
to be able to prevent something like
this from ever happening again. i
prayed to have the insight to recognize similar but perhaps less obvious threats to freedom.
When we lump together a person
who doesn't share our views into a
"group", it would be wise to
remember who, in the scope of history, also did this. To view someone
as "not within the family of humanity" is a step to seeing them inferior
to us, which is a step closer to
wishing that they did not exist. We
should therefore understand "what
the end game" can be in this
process. in germany, this "separation" ended with the handicapped,
elderly and others being considered
lebensunwertes leben, "life
unworthy of life", culminating in
policies of mass murder.
From the abundance of the heart,
hateful speech with violent imagery
was a bend in the twisted road to
Auschwitz. This is why today's
political rhetoric that uses seemingly harmless terms like "reload"
should be called out for what it is:
an attempt to hide the emptiness
and lack of merit of the speaker's
ideas.
When i was 27, i visited Krakow
Poland and then visited Auschwitz
and Birkenau. i walked past wooden bunks, barracks, gurneys, stacks
of suitcases, glasses and mountains
of hair left on display from a transport from holland. At Birkenau, i
walked down some of the steps of
the half-destroyed gas chambers,
dynamited by departing german
soldiers, and imagined the scenes
that had took place there.
Prior to the time this story took
place was a society in economic
turmoil, confusion and uncertainty. one school of political thought
was to "solve" these problems by
relinquishing individual freedoms
for the sake of order and "security".
This response paid lip service to
religious institutions-- in speeches,
and public pronouncements-- but
the philosophy, at its heart, equated
love with weakness. As time went
on, the nazi philosophy paid less
lip service to the religious institutions, and openly ridiculed the principles many of these institutions
professed to be based upon: kindness, fairness, charity-- names we
also use to describe love. There was
a time, history shows us that the
religious institutions, the churches,
could have rallied together and publicly condemned nazism from the
pulpit, and ended the party. But
these institutions did not in fact
embody or promote the teachings of
Jesus.
What does it say about who we are
that we profess to be a nation
aligned with the teachings of a man
who said "love your enemies", but
our government is able to channel
half of all taxes from every household to the military, under the guise
of "protection from our enemies"-without widespread dissent from
the American pulpit and people?
Where does all of the support for
more and more military spending
come from? ironically, it may
come in part from the pulpit of
some churches, who perhaps
unknowingly work at the behest of
the halliburtons and weapons manufacturers by pointing a finger at
the Muslim world as the threat that
will end life for us all. in reality it
is not one of the world's oldest religions, whose scripture no more promotes violence than our own, that
poses any real threat to us. The real
threat is division, making America
incapable of coming together to
recognize and solve its problems.
The story of the families in this last
train from Berlin, as does the broad
teaching of history, shows there is a
progression of events like tracks on
a railroad-- including that what is
believed to be "not right" which
people do not do anything about
can become something "not right"
that they cannot do anything
about.
And so what do we do with today's
economic turmoil, confusion, and
uncertainty? one response is to
approach it with love. it is to not
seek out an "other" or an "enemy".
And instead, use the considerable
energy that is thus conserved, to
solve the real problems. As Chris
hedges discusses in his article in
this issue, love is not a passive,
weak response or political
ideal. Perhaps the reality is that our
politics, our economics, indeed our
communities and families and relationships all need more love in
them.
To those who would say that love-as a political philosophy-- makes us
vulnerable to the north Koreas of
the world, i would respond that it is
the north Koreas of the world
which can no longer resist the
power of love. To those who dredge
up 15th century Machiavelli as the
proof that we must be cruel in order
to lead, i would respond by saying
niccolo was not living at a time
when there was something called
global thermonuclear war, in which
400 million lives can be vaporized
by a Machiavelli-reading fool
believing the prince willing to be
cruelest always wins.
Today as you read this, what is universally being thrown away are
Machavellian beliefs-- from an
instinctive sense of self-preservation and instinctive sense of what is
possible-- and what is being picked
up around the world is the millennia-old story of love. You see it in
the ideals of the posters around the
world, such as these words on a
poster in new York: "Fall in love.
Falling in love is the ultimate act of
resistance to today's tedious, socially restrictive, culturally constrictive,
humanely meaningless world. Fight
against these cultural restraints that
would cripple and smother our
desires. So fall in love today with
[others], with music, with ambition,
with yourself, with…life!"
At one point, the train car stops at a
station. The men and women who
are closest to the bars and barbed
wire of the small window plead
with anyone for water or food.
They continue to do so until the
soldiers, angry at the noise shoot
the cattle car. instead of imagining
what this does, we see the inside of
the car-- a woman has been shot,
she's bloody, and is dead. The little
seven year old who days earlier was
practicing her ballet, whose mother
told her to think of other things, is
screaming hysterically. This scene
reminds me of the wall of ignorance we have put up between ourselves and some of the people in
the world who suffer today. living
in the world today we hear of
tragedies and unspeakable injustice
-- but it is conveniently out of our
sight. There was something horrific
about how the story lingered after
the soldier's decision to shoot into
the cattle car before going through
the wall to show the effect on the
people inside from the shooting. it
somehow reminded me of the many
walls that i never have to go
through and witness what is behind
them.
other times the train stops at stations where we see people "from
the outside world" going about their
business, glancing at the hopeless,
desperate people staring at them or
begging for food or water as if they
are-- alien, separate. out of the
abundance of the heart, the mouth
speaks, and reality follows.
elsewhere at the station, soldiers
from the train are drinking cold
beer in glasses along with sausage
TAKE A STAND CONTINUED FROM PAGE 5
We took to the street to get your take...
Some say that today people feel separate from each
other. If you agree, what do you think is needed so
there can be different opinions but without a feeling
of separateness?
Interviews & Photography by
CLAIRE WHITE
ELISA JACOBSON
I think that there is division because people don't
agree on what truth is. I think that truth is found
in scripture, not religion and church but
truth. That truth will unify us.
ADOLPH STONE
With all of the issues in the world like hunger and
poverty, I don't see that unity is possible because
there are too many differences between how
people live their lives.
ROCIO FIGUEROA
I feel that loss brings people together. Most of the
time people put themselves first and make up
excuses for why they don't want to agree. But
when something bad happens, people and
families are able to put everything else aside and
be together.
MICHAEL GOSS
Especially with elections coming up, people tend
to have very black and white views on many
things like gay marriage. When you take a view
that does not allow for compromise, there is no
room for coming together.
DAVID WHITT
I think if you go through history the thing that has
brought people together, sadly enough, is tragedy.
It's a hard thing to say and it's certainly not
something anybody wants but when you think of
9/11, our nation was more united than it's been
since. Our current economy is a tragedy.
MACY IMBRIANI
Unfortunately, I think racial prejudice and fear
still get in the way of too many people from being
able to figure things out together. If we could
stop worrying about little things and focus on the
things that matter to most people-- like healthcare for everyone, food and shelter-- then we
would be more unified, because there would be
more equality.
The first mass awakening of the
new love consciousness happened
in the 1960s with the birth of the
environmental movement. At the
pinnacle of our separation, triumphantly surveying our apparent
conquest of nature, we began to
notice how much she had given; we
became aware of her hurts, her
wounds, and we began to desire not
only to take from earth, but to give
to earth too, to protect and cherish
her. This desire was not based on a
fear of extinction -- that came later
-- but on love. We were falling in
love with the earth. in that decade,
the first photographs of this planet
were beamed down from orbiting
satellites, and we were transformed
by the planet's beauty. To view
earth from the outside was the
penultimate step of separation from
nature; the ultimate step was the
ascension of the astronauts, physically leaving nature behind. And
they fell in love with earth too.
here are the words of astronaut
Rusty Schweickart:
From the moon, the Earth is so
small and so fragile, and such a
precious little spot in that Universe,
that you can block it out with your
thumb. Then you realize that on
that spot, that little blue and white
thing, is everything that means anything to you -- all of history and
music and poetry and art and death
and birth and love, tears, joy,
games, all of it right there on that
little spot that you can cover with
your thumb. And you realize from
that perspective that you've
changed forever, that there is something new there, that the relationship is no longer what it was.
The second hallmark of the transition to adulthood is an ordeal.
Ancient tribal cultures had various
coming-of-age ceremonies and
ordeals that purposely shattered the
smaller identity through isolation,
pain, fasting, psychedelic plants, or
other means, and then rebuilt and
reincorporated it into a larger,
transpersonal identity. Though we
intuitively seek them out in the
form of drinking, drugs, fraternity
and military hazing, and so on,
modern men and women usually
have only a partial experience of
this process, leaving us in a kind of
perpetual adolescence that ends
only when fate
intervenes to tear
our world apart.
Then we can enter a
wider self, in which giving comes just as naturally
as receiving. having completed the
passage to adulthood, a man or
woman takes full possession of his
or her gifts and seeks to contribute
to the good of all as a full member
of the tribe.
humanity is undergoing an analogous ordeal today. The multiple
crises converging upon us are an
ordeal that challenges our very
identity, an ordeal that we have no
assurance of even surviving. it calls
forth unrealized capacities and
compels us to relate to the world in
a new way. The despair that sensitive people feel in the face of the
crisis is part of the ordeal. like a
tribal initiate, when we as a species
emerge from it, we too will join the
community of all being as a full
member of the "tribe" of life. our
unique capacities of technology and
culture, we will turn to contribute to
the good of all.
in humanity's childhood, a money
system that embodied and demanded growth, the taking of more and
more from earth, was perhaps
appropriate. it was an integral part
of the story of ascent. Today it is
rapidly becoming obsolete. it is
incompatible with adult love, with
co-creative partnership, and with
the graduation into the estate of a
giver that comes with adulthood.
That is the deep reason why no
financial or economic reform can
possibly work that does not include
a new kind of money. The new
money must embody a new story,
one that treats nature not only as a
mother, but as a lover too. We will
still have a need for money for a
long time to come because we need
magical symbols to reify our Story
of the People, to apply it to the
physical world as a creative template. The essential character of
money will not change: it will consist of magical talismans, whether
physical or electronic -- through
which we assign roles, focus intention, and coordinate human activity.
A New Money System &
Sacred Economy
We need a new money system, as
well as the economy and psychology that will accompany it. There is
a personal -- some might say spiritual -- dimension to the metamorphosis of stories that we are
entering. Today's usury-money is
part of a story of separation, in
which "more for me is less for
you." That is the essence of interest:
i will only "share" money with you
if i end up with even more of it in
return. on the systemic level as
well, interest on money creates
competition, anxiety, and the polarization of wealth. Meanwhile, the
phrase "more for me is less for you"
is also the motto of the ego, and a
truism given the discrete and separate self of modern economics, biology, and philosophy.
only when our sense of self
expands to include others, through
love, is that truism replaced by its
opposite: "More for you is also
more for me." This is the essential
truth embodied in the world's
authentic spiritual teachings, from
Jesus's golden Rule, which has
been misconstrued and should read,
"As you do unto others, so also you
do unto yourself," to the Buddhist
doctrine of karma. however, to
merely understand and agree with
these teachings is not enough; many
of us bear a divide between what
we believe and what we live. An
actual transformation in the way we
experience being is necessary, and
such a transformation usually
comes about in much the same way
as our collective transformation is
happening now: through a collapse
of the old Story of Self and Story of
the World, and the birth of a new
one. For the self, too, is ultimately a
story, with a beginning and an end.
have you ever gone through an
experience that leaves you, afterward, hardly knowing who you are?
The mature, connected self, the self
of inter-beingness, comes into a
balance between giving and receiving. in that state, whether you are a
person or an entire species, you
give according to your abilities and,
linked with others of like spirit, you
receive according to your needs.
"From each according to his abilities, to each according to his
needs." This is a good description
of any gift network, whether a
human body, an ecosystem, or a
tribal gift culture. As i will
describe, it is also a good description of a sacred economy. its currency contributes to a very different
Story of the People, of the Self, and
of the World than usury-money. it is
cyclical rather than exponential,
always returning to its source; it
encourages the protection and
enrichment of nature, not its depletion; it redefines wealth as a function of one's generosity and not
one's accumulation; it is the manifestation of abundance, not scarcity.
it has the potential to recreate the
gift dynamics of primitive societies
on a global scale, bringing forth
human gifts and directing them
toward planetary needs.
i remember as a
teenager
reading
Ayn
…money as we know it
ultimately rests on converting
the public into the private. The
new money will encourage the
opposite, and the conflict
between our ideals and practical
financial reality will end.
Send your answers to [email protected]
To enter the contest, send your answer to [email protected] with "Who Am I" in the subject line. The winner will get a cool Reader T-Shirt.
i was born in 2001, most likely
within 30 miles from where you
are reading this now. like most of
us, i have both a commercial and a
non-commercial side to my personality. Also like most of us, the
full impact of what i do for the
community is rarely understood.
know i'm not boasting when i say i
influence people-- i do.
i weigh 3oz, which is less than a
tenth of one percent of the average
American's yearly 1600lbs consumption of what i’m made of.
one of the things i do with my
power to influence is encourage
people to buy from local and
regional businesses as opposed to
big box or national companies.We
now know when the adults within
the family of 300,000 people that i
reach shift just a buck out of every
ten they spend to local and regional businesses each month:
$75,000,000 in extra money circulates within our community of
300,000 and 600 new jobs are
created-- each year. Read for yourself the details at
www.livingeconomies.org.
You might call me a persuader, an
inspirer. What you call me may
depend on your perspective, and
what kind of a day you're
having. hopefully, you've come to
see i care about you.
one of the things i'm able to do is
influence folks. The particular
way i influence people is so effective that in 2011, 22% of everything US businesses spent to
influence people was spent on the
category i’m part of, which is second only to TV. i say that so you
My influence has grown in part
because i’m willing to be controversial in order to stand up for
people within communities and
small and mid-size businesses.
each business that chooses an
8" x 10" section of me to influence
300,000 people four times a year
instead of an 8" x 10" section of
something else arriving weekly
saves each year:
• 464 trees and 136,000 pounds of
wood
• 912 million BTU of energy
• 924 pounds of Sulfur dioxide
from being produced-- equal to
taking 168 eighteen-wheelers off
the road for a year
• 192,820 pounds of greenhouse
gasses from being produced
• 467,784 gallons of water
Someday very soon, when just 1%
of all U.S. businesses, about
400,000 of the 39 million, use me
instead of something else arriving
weekly, every year:
• 185
million fewer trees will be
used, 54 billion pounds of wood
will be saved
• 76 billion pounds fewer of greenhouse gasses will be produced
• 187 billion gallons of water saved
and at least 12 more important
environmental impacts.
i am made of something that can
be one of the most environmentally responsible ways of reaching
people, but it can also be one of
the dirtiest industries in the world
and is the #1 component in our
landfills. For this reason, my
responsible use matters a great
deal to every family and future.
Well, there you have it -- me.
Who Am I?
Congratulations to the winner
of the most recent contest:
Anthony Karr, winner of the
ballyhoed Reader T-Shirt and
$75 in gift certificates to local
businesses.
Rand's Atlas Shrugged, whose
black-and-white characters, hyperrationality, and moral absolutism
appealed strongly to my adolescent
mind. The book is a manifesto of
the discrete and separate self, the
mercenary ego, and it appeals to
adolescent minds to this day. The
book devoted its most vitriolic
ridicule to the phrase "From each
according to his abilities, to each
according to his needs," painting a
picture of people outdoing each
other in their postures of neediness
so as to be allotted a greater share of
resources, while producers had no
motivation to produce. This scenario, which was in certain respects
played out in the Communist block,
echoes a primal fear of the scarcityconditioned modern self -- what if i
give and receive nothing in return?
This desire of an assurance of
return, a compensation for the risk
of generosity, is the fundamental
mindset of interest, an adolescent
mindset to be superseded by a more
expansive adult self that has
matured into full membership in the
community of being. We are here to
express our gifts; it is among our
deepest desires, and we cannot be
fully alive otherwise.
Most needs have been monetized,
while the amount of labor needed to
meet those monetized needs is
falling. Therefore, in order for
human gifts to receive their full
expression, all this excess human
creativity must therefore turn elsewhere, toward needs or purposes
that are inimical to the money of
Separation. For without a doubt the
regime of money has destroyed, and
continues to destroy, much that is
beautiful -- indeed, every public
good that cannot be made private.
here are a few examples: a starry
night sky free of light pollution; a
countryside free of road noise; a
vibrant multicultural local urban
economy; unpolluted lakes, rivers,
and seas; the ecological basis of
human civilization. Many of us have
gifts that would contribute to all of
these things, yet no one will pay us
to give them. That's
because money
as we know
it ultimately rests
on
converting the public into the private. The new money will encourage the opposite, and the conflict
between our ideals and practical
financial reality will end.
Usury-money is the money of
growth, and it was perfect for
humanity's growth stage on earth
and for the story of ascent, of dominance and mastery. The next stage is
one of co-creative partnership with
earth. The Story of the People for
this new stage is coming together
right now. its weavers are the
visionaries of fields like permaculture, holistic medicine, renewable
energy, mycoremediation, local currencies, restorative justice, attachment parenting, and a million more.
To undo the damage that the Age of
Usury has wrought on nature, culture, health, and spirit will require
all the gifts that make us human,
and indeed is so impossibly
demanding that it will take those
gifts to a new level of development.
This might seem hopelessly naive,
vague, and idealistic but weigh the
competing voices of your idealism
and your cynicism, and ask yourself,
"Can i bear to settle for anything
less?" Can you bear to accept a
world of great and growing ugliness? Can you stand to believe that
it is inevitable? You cannot. Such a
belief will slowly but surely kill
your soul. The mind likes cynicism,
its comfort and safety, and hesitates
to believe anything extraordinary,
but the heart urges otherwise; it
urges us to beauty, and only by
heeding its call can we dare create a
new Story of the People.
we have
known, is
not true and
never was.
Yet the last ten
millennia were not in
vain.
Sometimes
it is necessary to live a lie
to its fullest
before we are
ready to take the next step
into the truth. The lie of
separation in the age of
usury is now complete.
We have explored its fullness, its farthest extremes, and
seen all it has wrought, the
deserts and the prisons, the
concentration camps and the
wars, the wastage of the
good, the true, and the
beautiful. now, the
capacities we have
developed through
this long journey of
ascent will serve us
well in the imminent
Age of Reunion.
We are here to create something
beautiful; i call it "the more beautiful world our hearts tell us is possible." As the truth of that sinks in,
deeper and deeper, and as the convergence of crises pushes us out of
the old world, inevitably more and
more people will live from that
truth: the truth that more for you is
not less for me; the truth that what i
do unto you, so i do unto myself;
the truth of living to give what you
can and take what you need. We can
start doing it right now. We are
afraid, but when we do it for real,
the world meets our needs and
more. We then find that the Story of
Separation, embodied in the money
Charles eisenstein is the author of The Ascent of Humanity and
Sacred Economics. he speaks and teaches worldwide his
enlightened perspectives on issues of money, transition, consciousness, and cultural evolution. For a deeper understanding
of his work, see the short videos The Revolution is Love and
Sacred Economics at www.charleseisenstein.net
LEST WE FORGET CONTINUED FROM PAGE 29
and bread. of course the magnitude
of the horror is impossible to feel if
we are not there-- but as i travelled
with these families in the story, i
felt welling inside me some new
determination-- the train car
reminded me of life-- now. As the
story progresses some of the men
and women begin to use a smuggled axe to cut through the bottom
of the cattle car. The axe
falls through the hole so
they begin to use a
stone.
if you have ever felt
something instinctively
you will understand that
at a certain point, some
of the people in the car
start to know that they
are approaching their
destination. As the train
stops at the final station
before Auschwitz, where
the train is to stop for
just a few minutes, the
people have managed to
cut open a hole large
enough so that a child or
a "slender woman" can
get through. At this point,
there is a pile of bodies
in the car, the men and
women have begun to
drink their own urine to
stay alive, and most simply want the car to get to
its destination so they
can die. no one in the
car resembles the person
they were just a week or
ten days earlier. They
have witnessed the dismantling of everything
precious to them. on the
car a child reads someone's words carved into
the wood wall that say, "i
dreamed a terrible dream
which has come true".
only two from the car leave by the
carved out hole. A woman named
Ruth and the seven year old girl,
whose parents force her to leave
despite her requests to stay with
them.
it is night and as the two fall onto
the tracks under the train it's clear
that they may be shot at any
moment as there is light from the
station. Sensing the danger of the
two under the train or perhaps sim-
ply hoping for food and water the
people again beg for food and water
which brings the soldiers over to
the side of the train. We see the
young girl's mother sticking her
head out of the hole to watch to see
if her daughter will make it. her
face looks beaten and numb and
dead but her eyes are hoping that
she is able to see her daughter make
it to safety. As the two run away
from the train the young girl falls
and her foot gets caught in the
track. not far away we see a train
coming down the same track where
she has fallen and a solider hears
the two struggling, shouts that he
hears something and seeks them out
and aims his rifle at them. Just as
he is about to shoot, the young girl
leaves her shoe in the track and
runs away, the train passes between
them and the soldier is shot acci-
dentally by others trying to shoot at
the two who have escaped. The
mother of the girl sees all of this
and when she is lifted back in, she
tells her husband and the rest what
she saw, saying "it was a miracle". We see the young girl and
Ruth helped away from the train by
partisans who we later learn go
there nearly every night to help
people escaping as it is "the last station" before Auschwitz. in the end,
the car arrives, nearly half are dead
and those barely alive, stripped of
their humanity, hanging on to whatever they can, are hurried off the
train by prisoner guards. We don't
know if the young girl and Ruth
live-- and i don't know if the story
is true-- but i know that things like
this happened.
who found themselves in that train
were once where you and i are
now: enjoying simple pleasures-gardening, a meal outside with family and friends, warmed by the sun
on beautiful days, felt the happiness
of seeing their children grow, families enjoying the longevity of their
union. This beautiful world began
to change. if there are things we
can do now so that there
is less hatred, less injustice, less misery and suffering in our world now-then we must do these
things. if not, are we any
better than the people in
the station who saw the
fathers and mothers
pleading for bread and
water for their children
and did nothing? if we do
not do what we can do
now, have we learned
anything from the suffering of others like those in
the last train?
There's something else.
As i witnessed what i
would never want to see
happen to any family-happen to these poor people in this story-- and as i
realized that this depiction-- with its camera and
lights and actors and
lunch vans-- depicted
what happened to people
in reality, i felt a deep
sense of determination
well up inside of
me. That is, i became
even more determined to
see to it The Reader
Magazine someday
reaches all 308 million
Americans. Because i
know that telling 308
million Americans stories
like this one-- will bring about
something you might call the exact
opposite of the effect the penny
post card had on hitler-- that is, it
may spark the mind of a person to
change the world forever, for
good.
And so what does all this mean for
us right now? Well, those people
the final word
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by ChARleS eiSenSTein
What we want to create is the more
beautiful world our hearts tell us is
possible -- a sacred world, a world that
works for everybody, a world that is
healing, a world of peace.
The system isn't working for the 1%
either. life is pretty bleak at the top
too, and all of the baubles of the rich,
they're kind of this phony compensation for the loss of what's really important: the loss of community, the loss of
connection, the loss of intimacy, the
loss of meaning.
everybody wants to live a life of
meaning, and today we live in a money
economy where we don't really depend
on the gifts of anybody, but we buy
everything. Therefore we don't really
need anybody because whoever grew
my food, or made my clothes, or built
my house, well, if they died or if i
alienate them, or if they don't like me,
that's okay. i can just pay somebody
else to do it. it's really hard to create
community if the underlying knowledge is we don't need each other. So
people kind of get together, and they
fraternize, or maybe they consume
together, but joint consumption doesn't
create intimacy -- only joint creativity
and gifts create intimacy and connection.
You have a necessary and important
gift to give, and for a long time our
minds have told us that maybe we're
imagining things, that it's crazy to live
according to what you want to give.
But i think now as more and more people wake up to the truth -- that we're
here to give -- and wake up to that
desire and wake up to the fact that the
other way isn't working anyway, the
more reinforcement we have from people around us that this isn't crazy -- this
makes sense.
This is how to live, and as we get that
reinforcement, then our minds and our
logic no longer have to fight against
the logic of the heart, which wants us
to be of service. This shift of consciousness that inspires such things is
universal in everybody, 99% and 1%,
and it's awakening in different people
in different ways.
i think love is the felt experience of a
connection to another being. An economist says that essentially "more for you
is less for me", but the lover knows
that "more for you is more for me too".
if you love somebody, then their happiness is your happiness, their pain is
your pain. Your sense of self expands
to include other beings. That's love;
love is the expansion of the self to
include the other, and that's a different
kind of revolution.
There's no one to fight; there's no evil
to fight. There's no "other" in this revolution. everybody has a unique calling,
and it's really time to listen to that.
That's what the future is going to be.
it's time to get ready for it and to help
contribute to it and make it happen.
SUMMER 2012
[MAY JUNE JULY]
T he b esT C oupoNs , C aleNdar & N ews M agaziNe
5 E Citrus AvE suitE 105 rEdlAnds CA 92373
TO PLACE YOUR AD, CALL (909) 366-9932
Noble
Media
Helping Businesses Helping People
PRSRT STD
US POSTAGE
PAID
CHRIS THEODORE

Redlands - The Reader Magazine

Transcription

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