Monday, March 1, 2010

Show me a day when the world wasn't new


The quote is from Sister Barbara Hance (1928-1993) Sister Barbara spent the last years of her life working for H.O.M.E. Inc., a cooperative in Orland, Maine dedicated to helping poor people work, sell crafts and vegetables and build their own homes. She headed efforts to establish a homeless shelter in a nearby town, when most of the town's government and business establishment were against it, with one local businessman-councillor (Mr. **) particularly opposed.

The odds against the shelter were long, but in the idea's darkest moments Sister Barbara had one piece of advice to her colleagues: "After we win, we must make Mr. ** a supporter." They did. He was.

The image is available in card form through The Borealis Press, www.borealispress.net. Photographer is John Schoenwalter / Jeroboam

Books, Movies, Audios, Websites and Other Good Stuff

  • The Real Wealth of Nations by Riane Eisler - fastcinating insights into how to get economics back on track. Read it. Share it.
  • RAven's End by Ben Gadd - for adults and children - a fantasy set in the Canadian Rockies full of lore of the mountains and what lives there.
  • The Third Ear - On Listening to the World by Joachim-Ernst Berendt - giving us back listening and its power to reconnect us to the world.
  • As It Is In Heaven - Movie from Sweden, 2004 - perhaps the greatest movie of the human spirit that I have ever seen. So true to real life and so prophetic. It came to my attention as I've been re-discovering my own improvisational voice - the kind we all have whether we "can sing" or not. So rich and so healing.
  • Theory U by Otto Scharmer - An advanced handbook of public and group conversation that comes from a very deep place. It is refreshing in its authenticity and profound in its import: Leading from the Future as It Emerges.
  • His Dark Materials - The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife, The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman, Oxford professor - epic fantasy of two pre-adolescent children as they explore parallel universes and engage goodness and what we call evil. Available in audio also. This makes great reading for all ages and is far deeper and more satisfying than Harry Potter. See www.hisdarkmaterials.org.
  • Lives of Others - movie - beautifully crafted story of being alive in a climate of fear and how even the most hardened can be touched by love of life.
  • Parrots of Telegraph Hill - documentary movie and subtle love story about a street guy, the parrots he cared for, and more
  • The Danish Poet - a short movie (great animation) on where we come from
  • The Biology of Belief - Bruce Lipton Ph.D. - Exposing false but deeply held assumptions about the nature of reality - cellular, animal and human - Lipton reveals how deeply embedded in our world view and the way we live is the belief in Newtonian physics and what has become known as Darwinism. He shows parallels between life at the cellular level and at all other levels and how much we can rejoice in our prospects, once we embrace the wisdom of our cells. Available in 3.5 hour audio and 8+ hour audio at www.soundstrue.com. Anyone want to form a book club on this one?
  • The Upside of Down - Thomas Homer-Dixon - How we can prepare to bring about constructive change when the destructive forces around us create an opening