Brave New Voices

Most of what's on TV is trash and does nothing to help humanity advance as a specie. For example, the military channel glorifies our big guns and big machines as if they were not made to kill HUMAN BEINGS, most cartoons have numerous shows with "funny" and acceptable violence. Reality TV has brought out the dumbest of the dumb and presented it as some form of art. Last, the "news" on TV feels like a tabloid being read out loud. 

Therefore..... I am surprisingly amazed (and beyond) by this new HBO show called Russell Simmons presents Brave New Voices. It is about The 12th annual Brave New Voices International Youth Poetry Slam Festival in DC and it follows some of the top young (13-19) poets/spoken word artists and their weeks before the competition.  

The question that kept running through my mind was where were these mentors when I was a kid!  I would have loved someone to come along and teach me how to package my  powerful, crazy emotions so that I and others could better understand me. 

Now this show brings up a problem I am perpetually attempting to solve; How to inspire and help teens come out of puberty more powerful and ready to take on their lives responsibly. Puberty has got to be one of the most difficult times in anyone's life. I often state to people that if magically offered to relive my youth I would avoid my teen years; that is how horribly difficult those years were. I have not yet solved it but I feel the answer lies in allowing teens to have varied mentoring opportunities with various adults who have, in the words of Joseph Campbell, followed their,  "bliss".  

For all these reasons I give Brave New Voices a few made up awards....

1. Most Inspirational to Youth Award

2. Inspirational Award of the Year

3. Opportunity to Learn from other Cultures and Peoples Award 

Seriously, watch it......you won't forget it...and it might just inspire you to be brave enough to speak your truth. 

Now This is a Good Latch!

I am reminded of my free lactation consultation after both my births when the word of the day was LATCH....proper latch, bad latch....latch, latch, latch.  

My mom (Lela) brought this dolly for Nora last week and as soon as Nora got it I noticed her "feeding" her baby. I guess there is no hiding the fact that I am still nursing her at almost two.

 Yet, I am so proud of the fact that I stuck through the painful days and did not cave and give her the formulas they were practically throwing at me at the hospital......Those little formula bottles seemed to be reproducing in Nora's bassinet.....no matter how many times I told them NO THANK YOU, they kept offering it.....That, plus the guilt trip about possibly starving my baby was so incredibly annoying.....

SO PUBLIC OUTCRY CAN HELP BRING ABOUT CHANGE

A very exciting article in yesterday's DemocracyNow Column, Public Outcry Forces Lawmakers to Say They’ll Recoup Millions in AIG Bonuses.  Shows that in numbers, we have the power to make the necessary changes this country needs. All we need is for people to remain informed, concerned and act on their outrage through outcry......easy enough....and we DO have things to be outraged about. 

Yet, We should not only be outraged when unfairness hits us, but when misfortune affects others as well.  I try to speak up against ALL injustices I experience in my life, it's my warrior spirit inside.....I made a pact with myself I'd rather be embarrassed than live with the regret of not speaking up...and oh, how regret bites. Like when a grown up talks down to a child in my presence and I am in the room, I WILL address it with you.  If a person make homophobic, racist comments to my face, I let them know I am not amused and that it's offensive. I actually don't even participate in gossip. It can be destructive and can break up a sense of community and trust within weeks. 

Back to the article. The idea of coming together as a people to make changes reminds me of my favorite movie of all time, V for Vendetta where the people finally stand up against tyranny and fascism and make the government work FOR them again.  If you have not seen it, rent it today.  Such a deep, deep message here. 

 

If only we stood up as a country and took it back, for example, from the lobbyists who fight to continue our financial support of countries that kill innocents, took it back from the weapons corporations that keep us in war, the food companies that keep us unhealthy....Oh, the changes we would make.  In 2 weeks we'd be out of this ridiculous war....

In other countries, most, even the poor and disadvantaged, is deeply involved in politics.....in this country, you mention politics and people shy away and give you some line about how that's just "the nature of things" or just shake their head and claim disbelief and quickly change the subject. Also, in this country, everyone is out to fight their own war. for example, the gays might only fight their local injustices, but ignore poverty or racism, the the moms I meet fight the food industry, but know nothing about women in Gaza whose children are getting killed.  African American children are being taught about their own history in the US but are not being taught about how their struggles are similar to other peoples throughout history.  How are we to see the many, many ways in which we are the same if we only ever stay in our own microscopic tight little world? 

As the saying goes, "If you are not outraged, you're not paying attention!"

Here's a poem by Martin Niemoller, 

"In Germany, they first came for the communists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a communist. 

Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew.

 Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist. 

Then they came for the Catholics and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Catholic.

Then they came for me -- and by that time there was nobody left to speak up."

Do you think LIFE should be patented....well, it already is....

OH!!! I am permanently scarred by what I just saw......I was watching a movie on my favorite channel, LinkTV, called the Future of Food.  Here is the description offered in LinkTV.com. 

Image from Current.com 

"Is there anything more important than knowing where our food comes from, and who controls what we eat? The documentary The Future of Food has the disturbing answers. Today's food chain is far more complicated than the traditional farmer to table model - it has become a vertically integrated industrial complex. And with government looking the other way, genetically modified seeds have found their way into our food supply. The time has come to take back our food.This Link TV special, hosted by celebrated environmental journalist Mark Hertsgaard, investigates the corporate dominance of our world's food systems. 

We are joined in the studio by the filmmaker of The Future of Food, Deborah Koons Garcia, as well as University of California biologist Ignacio Chapela, founder of The Mycological Facility in Oaxaca, Mexico, a facility dealing with questions of natural resources and indigenous rights.

Image from Junemoon.8m.net

Koons Garcia's documentary The Future of Food offers an in-depth investigation into the disturbing truth behind the unlabeled, patented, genetically engineered foods that have quietly filled U.S. grocery store shelves for the past decade.From the prairies of Saskatchewan, Canada to the fields of Oaxaca, Mexico, this film gives a voice to farmers whose lives and livelihoods have been negatively impacted by this new technology. The health implications, government policies and push towards globalization are all part of the reason why many people are alarmed by the introduction of genetically altered crops into our food supply. The film also explores alternatives to large-scale industrial agriculture, placing organic and sustainable agriculture as real solutions to the farm crisis today."

Image from Educate-yourself.org

I will be reading more about this by ordering these two books below. Ordering them right now from my local library. 

An interview with with Michael Pollan about his book (Featured above).  Guys, I LOVE Bill Moyers.....I listen to him weekly on my Ipod. He asks very informative and direct questions.....been following him for years. 

(you can catch the other 3 parts on this blog called Rebellion.