"Each of you is his own universe, and your inner and outer realities regularly form your very own Hall of Mirrors." ~The Reconnections.
January, 2009
Sitting on top of the world
Garrison Keillor
November 12, 2008
Be happy, dear hearts, and allow yourselves a few more weeks of quiet
exultation. It isn't gloating, it's satisfaction at a job well done. He
was a superb candidate, serious, professorial but with a flashing grin and a
buoyancy that comes from working out in the gym every morning. He spoke in a
genuine voice, not senatorial at all. He relished campaigning. He accepted
adulation gracefully. He brandished his sword against his opponents without
mocking or belittling them. He was elegant, unaffected, utterly American, and
now (Wow) suddenly America is cool. Chicago is cool. Chicago!!!
We threw the dice and we won the jackpot and elected a black guy with a Harvard
degree, the middle name Hussein and a sense of humor-he said, "I've got
relatives who look like Bernie Mac, and I've got relatives who look like
Margaret Thatcher." The French junior minister for human rights said,
"On this morning, we all want to be American so we can take a bite of this
dream unfolding before our eyes." When was the last time you heard someone
from France say they wanted to be American and take a bite of something of ours? Ponder that for a moment.
The world expects us to elect pompous yahoos, and instead we have us a
47-year-old prince from the prairie who cheerfully ran the race, and when his
opponents threw sand at him, he just smiled back. He'll be the first
president in history to look really good making a jump shot. He loves his classy
wife and his sweet little daughters. At the same time, he knows pop music,
American lit and constitutional law. I just can't imagine anybody cooler.
It feels good to be cool, and all of us can share in that, even sour old
right-wingers and embittered blotto-heads. Next time you fly to Heathrow and hand your passport to the man with the badge, he's going to see "United
States of America" and look up and grin. Even if you worship in the church
of Fox, everyone you meet overseas is going to ask you about Obama, and you may as well say you voted for him because, my friends, he is your line of credit
over there. No need anymore to try to look Canadian.
Robin Williams on Politics After the Election (Hoo Hah!)
VALIDATION
Ya'll need to be Validated?
CLICK HERE, TURN ON SPEAKERS!!!
2009: YEAR OF COLLABORATION and GLOBAL COMMUNITY
"Between4Eyes.Org"
(Mindfulness at Work in a Troubled World)
The Organization "Between Four Eyes" is making a supportive and innovative contribution to peace building in conflict and post-conflict communities by encouraging new, healthier patterns of being that promote social and emotional intelligence. Their educational programs merge the humanities and sciences by teaching simple and practical mindfulness skills to community leaders, human services providers and educators open to receiving this new information.
By helping people heighten their awareness of the mind, emotion and behaviors in the moment - being mindful - we can encourage new avenues of thinking and communication that directly address differences through a lens of understanding, kindness, compassion and empathy. We believe that for post conflict reconstruction to be sustainable it requires a deeper focus on the human connection and the training of awareness: thoughtfulness, reflection, discernment and love.
The Hapi Drum Visits War-Torn Rwanda (with Gary Diggins)
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Between 4 Eyes envisions a future wherein:
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Between 4 Eyes: Genocide, Conflict, Resolution, Community, Peace, Reconnection, Unity, Tolerance, Justice, Love
Contact: www.between4eyes.org
Spinergy! Hapi Drum, Digeridoo, and Dancing Hearts
From THE RECONNECTIONS........
"Communication is a wondrous thing. There is
considerable time and effort being expended upon your planet at this time around
the idea of improving communication. Many gifted people are
dedicating themselves to the task of searching for just the right words and
phrases that will give tangible form to the various new energies and abstract
ideas which seek entrance into your world at this time.
Whether a person's expressions are wonderfully unique, or whether they are
simple and mundane---communications that are made produce verbal
encapsulations of beings and essences that previously existed within a state
that knew no boundaries at all. For a newly-birthed idea (which, by
the way, you often refer to as a "concept"), existence on the physical
plane can be a combination of pure wonder and sheer terror. We speak now
as though each idea is a whole person, because it is. It simply lives
at a different vibration, that's all.
The more you communicate, the more communication you want to have. As
words and phrases cool and harden, you are fast at work to find new and more
vibrant portrayals of that eternal fire that burns at the center of All That Is.
Your writings are like matches that are lit for but a moment and then die out.
Even though that "moment" may last for a thousand years, such a time span is really nothing in the light of eternity. Therefore, you keep
lighting more matches!
The Void longs to express itself. Then, once it is solidified, it cannot
wait for the chance to become free once again. Isn't that a mystery?
And yet, it truly is the mystery of life.
And now you have created technology to fly for you. Even as you, yourself, remain stationary upon the earth, you send your words flying across the skies to distant lands and unknown places. You wait in pure anticipation for their return, bearing gifts of mixing and blending with another being whose thoughts and desires are similar to your own. And the pulse goes on.......and the words continue.........and the heat of the match which is you burns for yet a little while longer."
COMMUNICATION SECTOR (click here)
DJ. 1/7/2009
PLAYING FOR CHANGE
(CONNECTING THE WORLD THROUGH MUSIC)
What a way to start the New Year! A friend sent me a video on this movement, which I sleepily clicked on this morning. It was the video for "Stand By Me" (see below), played by street musicians all around the world. Suddenly, I had tears flowing down my cheeks, as I realized that this project is the singer-musician's version of that incredible dancing video, made famous this past year by Matt Harding on You-Tube.
PLAYING FOR CHANGE INTERNATIONAL is a musical exploration that glides across four continents, revealing a relentless insight of humanity that strives for global unification. It is a story of hope, struggle, perseverance, joy, and celebration. It is a story of human ambition to overcome prejudices, separation, natural hardships, and evil existing in our world today. Its passion, its path, and at times, its weapon, is music.
PFCF is dedicated to providing resources, facilities, and educational programs to musicians around the world. There is a documentary film series which gets the ball rolling in various geographical areas. Current areas of involvement include: (USA) Los Angeles, California... New Orleans, LA.....Zuni, New Mexico...New York, France, Italy, Israel, Palestine, South Africa, India and Nepal.
The Project was founded by Grammy Award Winning Producer and Director Mark Johnson and Documentary Filmaker Jonathan Walls. It includes a full-length Documentary Film, which is the product of 3 years of traveling throughout the world, gathering film clips, making connections, and laying a strong foundation for bringing peace to the world through Collaboration in Music. In October, 2008, Bill Moyers interviewed Co-Producer Mark Johnson on his PBS "Journal" Program. To view this interview on the PBS Web Site, click HERE.
Playing for Change: Peace Through Music
The Film, along with selected clips posted on You Tube and other sites, join street musicians from around the world---people who have never met each other in physical space---in song and rhythm, collaborating on such songs as "One Love" and "Stand By Me." I must admit that I am quite blown away! This newest manifestation of Internet Power is just the tip of the iceberg, I sense. May the music (and dancing) ever flow and ever grow!
Playing for Change: "Stand By Me"
DJ. 1/2/2009
