Economic Necessities...

Just as I had barely begun to buy into the Market economy (not figuratively speaking), the thing starts to tank.

Until a month ago, the socio-political pop-culture zeitgeist was just full of the nauseous cloud over bush, but the general consensus was still largely pro-corporative hyper-growth speculative-imperialist capitalism (PCHGSIC for short).
Now, like the moment they get lung-cancer, many folks who I previously thought were relatively uncritical contemporary capitalists are singing a more critical (and hopefully) creative tune. This includes my father, and I cannot decide if I am surprised or not.
The economy and general state of the Government is largely still up in the air. As hopeful as I am about Mr. Obama, it is not certain if NAFTA, the Drug War (aka: the Prison-Industrial Complex & Race war and the war against stability in Mexico and the Andean countries), and the Patriot Act will receive much of critical attention. It is true that these things take the back-burner to the millions of folks who are becoming homeless because of the mortgage crisis and jobless from the general economic instability. However, they should remain a priority for the administration to prevent Orwellian possibilities (power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely) if times get even more chaotic.

Almost regardless of whatever the Gov' and the corporate hotdogs do, huge steps have been made in the average american's level of skepticism towards the corporate oligarchy, and its obvious toxic noodling in every aspect of the world that was or could be deoderized.

Now is an amazing opportunity for us all to invest in our neighborhoods, our children, our parents, friends, gardens, pets, our own selves and little projects.


Indeed-- for the time being, most other forms of investment are all but bankrupt. Interest rates are turning CD investments to nil, and the housing market will surely continue to capsize for another 3 to 10 years.

But are these really what inspires us?

What does "wealth" mean to you?

All those books and articles we've been reading about village and homestead living, co-operatives in post-crisis Argentina, Brazil, ...
...well, the potential sympathetic "audience" for these activities has just grown in size by the millions.

It's time for a 10 year potluck--- maybe we can even get some major restructuring of large parts of the education system?!

See you at the stove, cooking up mud pies and cobcakes,

with all love and respect,
the laughing goda

The Periodic Automous Zone

The Periodic Autonomous Zone

By Hakim Bey

http://www.hermetic.com/bey/periodic.html

Sample Intro:

I would guess that the old life way of transhumancy always proved both enjoyable and practical, at least in small scale economies. Twice a year you get up and move, travel, change your life and even your diet -- a taste of nomadic freedom. But always the same two places. One place is typically more heimlich than the other -- the village, the hearth; while the other place is typically wilder than the first, and this one might be called the place of Desire, of Summer. In the tales of Finn Mac Cumal and his Fenian band we nearly always meet them at this wilder end of the spectrum, the greenwood, the landscape of the hunt which reaches "back" in time to a more golden pre-agricultural age, and also "aslant" in time -- to Tir nan Og, the Land of Summer, realm of the Tuatha de Danaan, who are both the Dead and the Fairies.

A Most Wonderful Site of Sites!

Many many wonderful photo catalouges of structures from his travels,
also interviews and nice related sites:

http://www.davidsheen.com/

For Example:

http://www.davidsheen.com/words/lakeman.htm

and

http://www.davidsheen.com/words/kapoor.htm

Recognizing our and others' desires...

...reconciling is another thing; - the next thing perhaps.

First,
1. I want to live close (Within walking/cooking/shoulder brushing-distance) to as many of my loved friends as possible.
2. I want to live in beautiful surroundings (buildings, gardens, well loved and cared for). Likely to be built or improved upon by friends/community.
3. I want to live in a community that embellishes the present with its admiration and tending of the coming seasons/generations.

Second,
A. I imagine to live in an agricultural/rural setting, but still filled with people and a love of verbal/musical/ et al. culture.
B. I want to survive financially and provide for my family and friends, and hope to be involved with food production as much as possible.
C. I want to be in an inclusive community that welcomes positive visitors/contributors and promotes collaboration with other communities (of all sorts) as much as is sustainable (physically/ emotionally, etc).
D. I want to encourage alternative economic and political structures and work towards removing debt/interest-based economy from my and others' lives as much as possible (Seen as mechanisms of imperialism- See history of IMF in world economy, financial US meltdown 2008, share-cropping economics in US history etc).
E. I want to live in a community that has a longterm view of history that is not totally anthrocentric, but also has a deep desire to survive.



What else ? !

How to Invite other Contributers

Go to Customize (upper right)
Then Go to Settings
Then go to Permissions
go to the bottom,
invite!

"...and claim themselves..."

Choosing a name for a community blog, I don't know, this just came to me.
, Maybe hinting at --Let the Blog Name Itself--, but also hinting at the fertility and creativity of the future, and by the future, I mean also the anticipation within the present.

And this is an amazing song, performed without music here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JpEAsSzmS34

Below is the excerpt from the end where the title comes from

"Coded Language" by Saul Williams,


We claim the present as the pre-sent, as the hereafter.
We are unraveling our navels so that we may ingest the sun.
We are not afraid of the darkness, we trust that the moon shall guide us.
We are determining the future at this very moment.
We now know that the heart is the philosophers` stone
Our music is our alchemy
We stand as the manifested equivalent of 3 buckets of water and a hand full
of minerals, thus realizing that those very buckets turned upside down
supply the percussion factor of forever.
If you must count to keep the beat then count.
Find you mantra and awaken your subconscious.
Curve you circles counterclockwise
Use your cipher to decipher, Coded Language, man made laws.
Climb waterfalls and trees, commune with nature, snakes and bees.
Let your children name themselves and claim themselves as the new day for
today we are determined to be the channelers of these changing frequencies
into songs, paintings, writings, dance, drama, photography, carpentry,
crafts, love, and love.
We enlist every instrument: Acoustic, electronic.
Every so-called race, gender, and sexual preference.
Every per-son as beings of sound to acknowledge their responsibility to
uplift the consciousness of the entire fucking World.