THE LAUREN HOWLAND REPORT

#Occupy Wall St.

2011-10-06T21:00:00.003-04:00

THE MOVEMENT CONTINUES.

Awareness Through the Body: Expanding our Senses

2011-07-13T15:48:00.003-04:00

Find that your feeling overworked and stressed out? Or that your mind and body are a bit disconnected? Then "Awareness through the Body" may be for you.

ATB was Initially introduced in Auroville, a small sustainable city in South India, in the Transition School, to young children, by Joan Sala and Aloka Marti. The meditative practice is used to help people find a way to re-connect with the different planes of their being. The classes give individuals tools to, "refine and internalize the senses and become aware of their own perceptions."

The classes offer practices that allow people to expand on the normal, and often limited, use of the five senses. We have preconceived notions about what we can see, feel, hear, taste, and smell and ATB works to eliminate these judgments so that our senses can better serve our needs emotionally and physically.

Their website, lists a hefty amount of objectives that the courses serve to cover, with many working around breathing patterns and how they affect our mood, emotions and overall health.

Other simple exercises are used to:
-improve concentration and relaxation
-to heighten sensory awareness
-to use the mind as a sixth sense
-make the student aware of his or her subtle physical body.

During beginning classes, individuals are introduced to the principles of ATB and initial practices such as expanding one's ability to hold concentration. Currently, many people are losing this ability due to the over-use of technology and the negative impacts it can cause. They also teach people ways to relax not just physically, but mentally and emotionally as well.

One incredibly unique thing about ATB is the way in which classes are taught. As the level of the workshops increase, so do the techniques. For instance, one class may spend a good portion of time with individuals blind folded and walking around the room trying not to bump into one another. It may sound silly, but by the end of the class most people have developed an almost six sense of where others are in the room and how to avoid them. Other activities include balancing plates and passing objects back and forth without seeing where there coming from. Most classes, at some point, have interactive games and serve to build upon working and understanding others needs and feelings. Many people by the end of the classes can "feel" where things are without needing to see or hear them, including children.

Although classes are taught more extensively within Auroville, workshops are being held this July in Seattle, WA at the Florence Anderson Center and in Portland, OR at the Alternative Education Resources Organization (AERO) Conference. There will also be a more extensive workshop throughout the month of August that will be broken down into four sessions and will be hosted at the Hastings House in Walpole, NH. Financial aid is available to those in need.

Recent Slideshows for PlanetGreen.com

2011-07-11T12:33:00.000-04:00

CREDIT: DSC

http://planetgreen.discovery.com/slideshows/travel-outdoors/blue-planet-bio-diversity-thrives-in-our-oceans.html

http://planetgreen.discovery.com/slideshows/travel-outdoors/fierce-perspectives-of-mother-nature.html

http://planetgreen.discovery.com/slideshows/travel-outdoors/the-protected-splendor-of-catalina-island.html

Summer Camp Music Festival Review

2011-06-02T12:46:00.001-04:00

moe. Late night @ the Red Barn

Jay Goldberg Productions held its 11th annual Summer Camp Music Festival this past Memorial weekend in the flat grassy fields of Three Sisters Park in Chillicothe, IL. The weather held out wonderfully; Summer Camp is notoriously known for its scorching heat and little shade, but this year temperate weather and clear skies abounded. For returning members, this year’s celebration was marked by slight variations in the festival grounds. The massive campfire that warmed festival-goers during the wee hours of the night was moved along with the Camping stage and several venders. Although the changes were slight, it worked to more efficiently deal with the incredible growth in numbers that the festival felt this year. Ticket sales were at an all time high, and reportedly doubled in size from 10,000 to around 20,000. Since it’s initial start with only 1,000 people in attendance and 20 bands on two stages, Summer Camp has organically evolved into a fan base of faithful returnees and an impressive list of over 70 artists on seven stages.

During the second set on Friday of Chicago based band, Umphreys McGee, lead guitarist and vocalist Jake Cinniger yelled out to the crowd that,

Jake of Umphs

“Summer Camp was, by far, his favorite festival to play.”

For many followers of the band, along with music lovers alike, Summer Camp’s line up, in addition to a friendly atmosphere, this year’s Goose Island Brewing Company beer selection, and variety of additional events made it a hard one to miss.

The four-day festival started with a “pre-party” line up at 2:00 P.M. Thursday with artist Damien Jurado and ended with a late night set by STS9 at 3:00 A.M. Sunday. In between was a melody of six sets of moe., five sets of Umphreys, and additional infamous musicians and bands including: Bela Fleck and Flecktones, Widespread Panic, Bassnectar, Yonder Mountain String Band, Keller Williams, Cornmeal, Slightly Stoopid, and Huey Lewis.

During the festival, workshops were held for attendees at the “Church” to allow for question and answer sections from band members and short lessons for fellow aspiring musicians. In addition to the compilation of Workshops on Bass, Guitars, Drums, DJ/Producers, and keyboards was a new one on music photography hosted by Esteemed photographer Jay Blakesberg. Blakesberg went over an incredible array of past photographs from some of his 300 shoots for Rolling Stone; portraits on late musicians Neil Young and Jerry Garcia; and famous music sets of the past.

As always, the festival grounds had a strict policy of composting and recycling to keep waste to a minimal. Venders were asked to use recyclable materials and the festival Green Team did its part to raise awareness of the well-noted separate garbage areas around the arena. Along with these efforts, a scavenger hunt was created to reduce waste. By completing three of the ‘Action items’ listed in the festival guide (collecting garbage, attending a non-profit workshop, going on a nature hike, etc.) attendees could win a ticket to see Everyone Orchestra. Featured performers included: Kyle Hollingsworth (String Cheese Incident), Al Schnier (moe.), Chris Wood (The Wood Brothers, MMW), Jans Ingber (Motet), Brian Jordan (KDTU), John Staton (KDTU), Abigail Stauffer, Randall Moore (Ragbirds), Erin Zindle (Ragbirds), and Natalie Cressman (Trey Anastasio Band).

Fans @ Bassnectar

Festival-goers could also collect ten cans of food to bring to the Conscious Alliance, “Art that Feeds” tent located in the ‘Make a Difference’ section of the venue and in return gain a small poster of their choice of this years Summer Camp.

Thursday highlights included a set by Chicago based bluegrass band Cornmeal who started the night off with lighting fast tempos and incredible solos acts by Allie Kral on the fiddle. The late night set in the Red Barn incorporated three bands all with unique sounds—Digital Tape Machine, Papadosio, and Future Rock.

Digital Tape Machine, also based out of the Chicago, consists of Kris Myers, Joel Cummins (both of Umphreys), Joe Hettinga, Kevin Barry, David Arredondo, Marcus Rezak, and Dan Rucinski. The exclusive sound mixes electronic, video game, deep bass, and house. The band made it almost impossible for listeners to keep from dancing on their toes. In addition was Ohio based techno-jam-band, Papadosio, has recently been gaining more and more fans as they continue to surprise with interesting beats and unique jams. Future Rock followed with a fun-filled set of loops, samples, and dazzling lights.

Chuck of moe.

Friday highlights included a day set by moe. featuring popular favorites and up beat rhymes that deemed themselves perfect for the afternoon sun. The encore song, “The Harder They Come” featured Brandon Bayliss of Umphreys on guitar. The entire set list included: Akimbo, Puebla, St. Augustine, Mexico, Blue Jeans Pizza, All Roads Lead to Home, Kyle's Song > Kids.

Jake Cinniger and Brendan Bayliss of Umphreys played a surprise acoustic set in the Soulshine tent at 3:00 P.M. The duo pulled in wandering fans to listen for an hour or so to popular jams done by the talented musicians on guitar. Additional memorable day sets included: Big Gigantic—the up-and-coming Dub-step duo with Producer Dominic Lalli on sax, Cornmeal, and De La Soul. The night started out smooth with Bluegrass favorite, Yonder Mountain String Band, funk band, Pimps of Joytime, and electronic jam band, Lotus.

STS9 and Umphreys headlined Friday night. Each captured the attention of dancing fans and attentive listeners alike. With Umphreys starting exactly after STS9 ended, fans had to pick their battles to obtain a good spot. Umphrey’s kicked off their first set with a melody of jams (Prowler > 1348 > "Jimmy Stewart" > Red Tape > "Jimmy Stewart" > Red Tape, Pay the Snucka, 2nd Self, Senor Mouse, Mulche's Odyssey) but their second had the ability to kick the shoes right off the people listening. The songs held the same frantic heavy metal riffs that Umphreys is so well known for, but with additional meticulous jams that built on top of one another with such ferocity and placement that it was obvious the band had been practicing together to impress their fans.

The second set included a new song, “Hourglass”, that incorporates much of the new sound that has evolved with the band recently, and a song with special guest appearance by Dominic Lalli on Sax. Together Lalli and the band covered “National Anthem”, a well played rendition of the famous Radiohead song from the album Kid A (The electronic jazz song worked with well Lalli on sax). Rumors had permeated through the festival grounds that the band would cover a Radiohead song, and the band did far from disappoint. Set list included: Jazz Odyssey, Preamble > Miss Tinkle's Overture > Higgins > Miss Tinkle's Overture > Higgins, Rocker Part 2, Day Nurse, Hourglass, The Floor, National Anthem.

Rob of moe.

This year, late night tickets were only available online on two specific days and particular times. Both days’ tickets sold out in what seemed like less then three minutes. moe. held down the Red Barn for a small crowd on the first of the three late nights. The set list included: Dr. Graffenberg, Bullet, Letter Home, Timmy Tucker. Downward Facing Dog, Big World > Ricky Marten> Time Ed> George; Encore: Spaz Medicine. “Letter Home” was played for the first time with a reggae beat since the late ‘90s. moe.’s laser show was also one of the best at the festival. The variety of vibrant colors cut through the crowd during breakdowns and jams and fans felt the glow cover their bodies as they danced. At well placed intervals the lasers would shine right threw Al, Rob, and Chuck highlighting their instruments and created a dazzling and tangible effect to parallel their musical choices for the night.

Saturday started off with clear skies and reggae grooves. SOJA (formally Soldiers of Jah Army) played main stage (the Moonshine stage) to a huge crowd. The band’s lead singer, Jacob Hemphill, incorporated the crowd into his songs by yelling out lyrics to be song along with him. The bands message of revolution and positive change, environmentally, socially and politically, could be felt through their catchy lyrics and Rasta vibe.

Slightly Stoopid, current pop-culture rap artist, Wiz Khalifa and Girl Talk played throughout the afternoon entertaining attendees with their own sounds of reggae groove, freestyles and sample beats.

Keller Williams started the night sets off with his notorious looping and finger plucking ability and special guest Chuck (of moe.) From there, Umphreys and moe. played two back-to-back sets. Umphreys kicked it off with a great set including first time played, “Puppet string”. The full set list included: Jazz Odyssey > 40's Theme, Conduit > "Jimmy Stewart" > Conduit, Divisions, Go to Hell, Puppet String*, JaJunk.

moe.’s first set of the night included first time played, “Smoke”. The entire set list included: Wind it up, Tubing The River Styx > The Pit, Understand, Smoke, Sensory Deprivation Bank, Waiting For The Punchline > Haze.

Umphrey’s second set of the night included: Jazz Odyssey > Bridgeless -> No Comment > Bridgeless, Forks, Plunger > Glory > Hajimemashite > Plunger, and Hurt Bird Bath. The band encored with “Love” and the first time played cover of the Paul McCartney favorite, “Live and Let Die”

moe.’s second set started off with a surprising twist to the popular song, “Crab Eyes”. The band came out on stage, per usual, to a cheering and excited crowd. Yet, instead of walking up to their regular instruments the pieces were replaced with Apple’s touch screen i-pads. For the first time yet, moe. played an entire song, just as technical and savvy, on i-pads alone. The band had reportedly been in Maine practicing for weeks before Summer Camp—surely working to create the mind-blowing rendition. The rest of the set included: Buster, Skrunk > Lazarus > McBain > Recreational Chemistry and an encore of “Captain America”.

Big Gigantic and Lotus followed in the Redbarn for the late-night sets leaving electronic and dub-step fans dancing into the early hours of Sunday morning.

Sunday started off with high winds and heavy rains. Comedic to some, tents could be seen flying threw the air similar to something out of “The Wizard of Oz”. The turbulent weather ceased quickly and sunny skies returned leaving attendees high and dry—except for the mud.

Umphreys played a rare set on the Sunshine stage with celebrated musician and actor Huey Lewis posing as the Lewis’ band, “the Rumors”. The set included the first time played original, “Room to Breathe” and first time played cover, “Don’t Fight It” (originally by Wilson Pickett). The set also included the song, “Respect yourself” with Gale Gardner and Linda Greenwood on vocals. (Entire set list: All In Time, Room To Breathe, Don't Fight It, Up On Cripple Creek, Heart and Soul, The Weight, Women Wine & Song, Respect Yourself, Workin' For A Livin', She Caught The Katy, Partyin' Peeps, I Want A New Drug).

Next came the talented Bela Fleck and the Flecktones. The band made their first appearance at Summer Camp this year as they continue to tour around the U.S. promoting their new album, “Break Science”. The hour-long set included notorious solos by Victor Wooten on bass and Bela on Banjo. Futureman drummed and jazzed with a recently built custom Drumitar. The band played a new song for the audience, “Sweet Pomegranate,” along with classical favorites including “Big Country” and “Sinister Minister.”

During the Bela Fleck and the Flecktones set, moe. played a small show with a set list including the rare, “That Country Tune,” “Blue Eyed Son,” and “Can’t Seem to Find” (The rest of the set included: Okayalright, Tambourine, it, and New York City.”)

Other highlighted day sets included the folk-pop-blue-grass band, The Avett Brothers, and techno-bass artists: The New Mastersounds, First timers to Summer Camp—Skrillex, and EOTO.

The night set started out with moe. on the Moonshine stage playing a six song set that featured the song, “Happy Hour Hero” with surprise guest Kyle Hollingsworth of The String Cheese Incident on Keyboard and a new song, “Rain Shine”, written by Al (Entire set list included: Deep This Time, Y.O.Y., Down Boy, Happy Hour Hero, Rain Shine, Farmer Ben > Moth.)

Widespread Panic followed with a high energy set on the Sunshine stage. The well known Southern rock jam band originating in Athens, Georgia has an interesting ritual of never playing the same set-list twice. After they play their first, they choose their second, and so on. Needless to say, their unique and lively performance at Summer Camp this year left faithful fans satisfied.

Fan @Bassnectar

“Bassheads” were at an all time high Sunday night. The Moonshine stage was absolutely packed from front to back with glow stick covered fans, some holding signs reading “Basshead” and “You’re My Hero”. The one man D.J. (Lorin Ashton) used his infamous ‘wobble-bass’ sound to create an electronic dub-step frenzy that literally made the moonshine stage section feel too small for the amount of dancing fans it encompassed.

moe. followed with a five song set list including “Shoot First” with special Guest Bela on Banjo (Full set list included: Plane Crash, Shoot First, Silver Sun, Seat Of My Pants, Billy Goat.) Again moe.'s lasers dazzled the audience; Rob at one point ran his ringers threw the green and yellow laser creating a striped effect across the hundreds of attendees watching.

For those who didn’t catch it, the Chicago based Talking Heads cover band, “This Must Be the Band” played a TBA set in the Non-profit Soulshine tent after moe. The band ((compiled of Charlie Otto (vocals, guitar), Kasey Foster (vocals), Jim Dinou (keyboards), Jamie Jay (bass, vocals) and Jim Dinou (keyboards)), played funky and incredibly analogous covers of famous talking Heads Songs, including “Still Waiting” and “Psycho Killer.” The crowd loved it so much that the Soulshine tent allowed for an encore even though time was squeezed.

This Must Be the Band

EOTO started the late night set at the Red Barn for a small audience Sunday night after moe. The highly influential duo of Michael Travis and Jason Hann worked to create a clever mix of sampled and mixed beats for the audience—all improvised on the spot. STS9 followed with a mellow first set and upbeat second, ending the festival the same way it started—with smiling fans dancing together into the night.

Summer Camp Musical Festival ended Monday morning and sleepy fans mustered out of their tents to pack and drive the endless miles back to their homes. As usual, the festival was a success--leaving promoters, artist, staff, and most importantly, fans happy; it seems everyone will be looking forward to next year and, hopefully, an even better Summer Camp.

Yerba Matè

2011-04-27T12:52:00.000-04:00

Yerba Mate originated in South American and like many other wonderful exports of the world found it's way to my kitchen table. If you are going to drink tea, drink this stuff. Mate contains 24 vitamins and minerals, 15 amino acids, 11 polyphenols, caffeine, and is high in anti-oxidants. It tastes amazing and will never leave you feeling jittery or uneasy like coffee sometimes can.

To the right is a authentic mate gourd. These can be found online but may take awhile to ship (South America is farther away then you think). This is the proper way to indulge in the "drink of the gods" and can be shared with whomever you are with at the time.

"Mateado" -- the state of clarity and exhuberance of being under a healthy dose of yerba mate.

Drink it. Feel it. Love it. Live it.

Aryaloka

2011-04-26T13:57:00.000-04:00

If you follow the narrow dirt road of Heartwood Circle, located off the shady streets of NewMarket, you're bound to find the secret, peaceful oasis that encompasses Aryaloka. Located on 13 secluded acres of New Hampshire woodland, this thriving buddhist center offers a community space to explore the practice of Triratna Buddhism. People from all over New England come to enjoy special retreats, meditations, yoga, and special events ranging from visiting monks to local mucisians who share the common belief of non-violence, compassion, and spiritual awareness.

The center offers Meditation by donation on Tuesday nights. If you're looking to explore the practice and meet friendly people, many who have been coming to center for ten or more years, go check it out. You may find a space that was right under your nose all along.

The Cafeteria Revolution

2011-04-25T10:00:00.001-04:00

Cafeteria school lunches have always had a dramatic visual component to them. The scene in the movie, “Billy Madison” has forever stuck out in my mind as the epitome of fearful food scenarios that you would never wish on anyone—even your worst enemy. During lunch, Adam Sandler sits with his 10-year-old friends at an endless rectangular lunch table. As they simultaneously enjoy their snack packs the lunch lady comes over to dump another melody of red and brown mystery ingredients onto his Styrofoam tray. As he starts to turn away she looks at him straight in the eye and in that evil-lunch-lady-laugh gargles out, “have some more sloppy joes—I made ’em extra sloppy for ya!” Sandler turns back to his new friends and chimes in, “lady you’re scaring us!”

Laughter ensures.

But the stereotypical lunch lady isn’t the only scary part about lunch in the public school system. With most schools constantly dealing with budget issues, many are left with little money to ensure that children are getting the nutrients their growing bodies need to help them concentrate throughout the day. Old regulations have left cafeterias with the option of serving French fries as vegetables and fatty ice cream for dessert.

More recently, parents and activist groups have been working hard to educate schools and help implement changes to alter menus to allow children to get the food they need. For instance, an anonymous teacher in the mid-west region of the United States has gained monumental fame for her daily blog, fedupwithschoollunch

This blog followed the teachers experiment to eat her school cafeteria food for 100 days. Each day featured a picture of the lunch, what it contained, and a brief review. As people gained interest, she expanded to include stories of people doing similar work, and constant updates on the fight to revamp the school cafeteria food system (The teacher resisted using her name on the commentary to relieve her school of the public embarrassment and save her job). Similar pressure mixed with the rising levels of obesity in children has led some schools to take out ice-cream in vending machines and limit the amount of processed food intake by children.

In a recent New York Times article, a link between processed foods and the levels of ADHD in children was reported. According to the article, in a concluded report, staff scientist from the F.D.A wrote that while typical children might be unaffected by the dyes, those with behavioral disorders might have their conditions “exacerbated by the exposure to a number of substances in food, including, but not limited to, synthetic color additives.” The article goes on to mention that many popular foods including Cheeto snacks, Froot Loops cereal, Pop-Tarts, and Hostess Twinkies contain artificial dyes. Many of these snacks are often for sale in vending machines or snack stations in schools—including the one I went to.

Although it seems a long shot that public schools will start serving gluten free organic meals daily, massive steps are being made to alter the situation at hand. John Herrman, a local science teacher and farmer at Ellis school in Fremont, NH, has taken grand strides over the years to bring local produce into his school cafeteria—with the help of his own students.

“People connect through food, they always do, at all ages. If not, you gotta connect people to their food,” said Herrman. “I’m proud to say that most of my students know their food doesn’t grow in a grocery store and it doesn’t come wrapped.”

With the help of a $5,000 grant from a local design company, Timberland, Herrman and 75 volunteers had a greenhouse built in just one day on the Ellis school property. He now teaches a class during the schools enrichment period that allows students to work in the greenhouse.

“Kids will come up to me and say, ‘what kind of eggplants are we planting today? or ‘Mr. Herrman what can I plant next?’ It’s great,” said Herrman.

The crops they grow are then used in the school cafeteria. The first year they grew enough to hold a small farmers market that gained them sufficient revenue to buy seeds and soil for the next season.

“We put out a sign that kids painted. Imagine, a little seventh grade girl carrying a big wooden sign with hinges that she put on,” said Herrman. “All the girls learn to run a screw gun. It’s great, you teach them how to put a board together and they feel so empowered. They can take those skills with them throughout life.”

Last year the class supplied herbs for the cafeteria and this year they have an estimated 50 lbs of garlic growing around the school in raised beds.

“It’s great because it protects them from vampires—kids are into that,” laughed Herrman. “Students and parents will meet me in the summer to harvest all of that and they’re excited to do it.”

Herrman also held a field trip, which he will be doing again towards the end of May that incorporates his own farming field into his teaching. Students, parents, and administrators take the day to come down to his farm and plant a field together. After they work, the community makes pizza form scratch using Mozzarella cheese the students made and sauce that Herrman produced locally.

“It’s a total science lesson all day,” commented Herrman.

This year, the corporation Lowes granted the school project another $5,000 grant to help build a sustainable heating and cooling system for the green house. They also gave an additional $500 in cash to help expand the growing opportunity from pre-school through 8^th grade. The school used the money to make eight more grow stations for the younger children to work with.

Most of the school cafeteria food is not grown in the green house or down the road, but slow and steady progress is reshaping the way cafeteria food has looked in the past.

“Today was grilled cheese day,” said Herrman. “The cheese wasn’t local, the tomato soup wasn’t local, but it can be.”

This December the Healthy Hunger Free Kids Act was passed and this means updated regulations for school lunches. For the first time since 1973, school lunch spending was increased—now allocating $4.5 billion or an increase of 6 percent. According to an article posted on Greenplanet.com, “New regulations will include more fruits and vegetables, whole grains, fat free and low fat milk, and a reduction in the sodium content of food overtime. The key is an increase in availability of healthy foods in a learning environment.”

With the help of this new bill and avant-garde thinkers, such as Herrman and other local food a

ctivist, hopefully the not-so-picturesque image of ‘sloppy joes’ and unidentifiable vegetable side

dishes will dissipate into the background. The next generation will power onward with a more

conscious understanding of where their food comes from—with the right amount of nutrients

and vitamins to conceptualize it.

Summer Music Festivals of 2011 (by date)

2011-04-24T16:25:00.000-04:00

JAZZ FEST: April 29^th-8^th

New Orleans, Louisiana
Joshua Tree Music Festival: May 13th-15th
Joshua Tree National Park, CA
SUMMERCAMP: May 27^th-29^th

Chillicothe, Illinois

SASQUATCH! MUSIC FESTIVAL: May 27^th-30^th

George, Washing
STRANGECREEK: May 27th-30th
Camp Keenwanee, Greenfield, Massachusetts
DETROIT ELECTRONIC MUSIC FESTIVAL: May 28^th-30^th
Detroit, Michigan

MUTEK: June 1^st-5^th

Montreal, California

WAKARUSA: June 2^nd-5^th
Ozark, Arkansas
MT. JAM: June 2nd-5th
Hunter MT, New York
BONNAROO: June 9^th-12^th

Manchester, Tennessee
TELLURIDE BLUEGRASS FESTIVAL: June 16^th-19th

Telluride, Colorado

WILCO MUSIC FESTIVAL: June 24^th-28^th

North Adams, Massachusetts

ELECTRIC FOREST: June 30^th-July 3^rd

Rothbury, Michigan

SUPERBALL: July 1^st-3^rd

Walkins Glen, New York

CAMP BISCO: July 7^th-9^th

Mariaville, New York

ALL-GOOD: July 14^th-17th

Masontown, West Virginia

PITCKFORK MUSIC FESTIVAL: July 15^th-17^th

Chicago, Illinois
GATHERING OF THE VIBES: July 21^st-24^th

Bridgeport, Connecicut

THE BIG UP: July 28^th-30^th

Ghent, New York

NEWPORT FOLK FESTIVAL: July 30^th-31^st

Newport, Rhode Island

LOLLAPALOOZA: August 5^th-7^th

Chicago, Illinois
OUTSIDE LANDS: August 12^th-14^th

Golden Gate park, SanFran, California

BELLATERRA: August 18^th-21^st

Stephentown, New York
LIBERATE: August 18th-21st
Sheldon, VT
GREAT BAY MUSIC FESTIVAL: August 19^th-21^st
Dover, New Hampshire
BURNINGMAN: August 29th-September 4th
somewhere in the desert
ELECTRIC ZOO: September 2nd-4th
NYC, New York
MOE.DOWN: September 2nd-4th
Mohawk, New York

How to make your own Kombucha

2011-04-24T16:08:00.000-04:00

Many of you may have never heard of Kombucha before.

Right now you may be asking yourself, “Why would I want to make a small Japanese child?” Or “why is Lauren promoting the production of illegal substances?”

Although I would love muse over the hair-brained guesses that will come from that title, I’ll get to the point. Kombucha is simply a fermented drink, that for centuries, has continuously helped keep the human body healthy and strong.

The delicious and easy-to-make concoction is used as a detoxifying agent for the body and claims to increases energy, sharpen eyesight, aid joint recovery, improve skin, aid digestion, and even expedites cancer recovery.

If you’re looking for a fun and interesting way to improve your health for the summer season set aside some time to try a new do-it-yourself-project that will your friends thinking you are now a talented medicine man from somewhere in South East Asia.

The Necessary Ingredients:

-1 kombucha culture (this can bought online or at a local health food store. The culture will restore itself with every batch you make, so it’s a one-time buy.)

-2 litres of water

-3 or 4 tea bags/teaspoons of loose tea (Black works best but green or white can be used)

-160 grams of white sugar

- 2 tablespoons of cider vinegar

The Necessary Equipment:

-A 3 liter glass Pyrex bowl (or something close to 3 liters)

-A tea towel for covering the bowl (this can be found at a local tea shop or health food store)

-A rubber band to secure the tea towel

-A teapot

-A measuring cup

-A strainer

-Some bottles for storing the finished drink (old plastic water bottles are fine)

PRE-STEP: Make sure everything is clean.

You’re dealing with a live culture of bacteria so you don’t want to mix it with any other substances that could be on your equipment from before.

STEP 1: Make your tea

Make a teapot of boiling water and leave the tea in for about 15-20 minutes. Take out the tea bags and add all the sugar, stirring until it dissolves. Add cold water to bring the tea up to 2 liters. Make sure you use cold water as hot water can kill the culture

STEP 2: Make your brew!

In the class bowl pour the 2 tablespoons of cider vinegar (you can also use 200 Ml of Kombucha if you have any they sell it at the D.U.M.P and the brand there is called Synergy. Ironically, you have to be 21+ to buy it there because it has .05% alcohol. Ah, Durham). Pour the cool tea into the bowl. Add the Kombucha culture. It will float or sink—this is not important. If one side is darker put that side facing down.

STEP 3: Fermenting time.

After the tea and culture are in the bowl, place the tea towel over the top and secure it with your rubber band. This keeps contamination and your drunken roommates who think it’s a bobbing for apples game from touching the mixture. Put the bowl in a warm place (70 degrees works best so if you have a radiator that’s perfect). Let it sit.

STEP 4: Taste Testing

The fermentation process typically takes 5-14 days depending on the temperature of the place in which you stored it. After 2-3 days you will notice a think layer of foam forming on the surface. This is the membrane of your new Kombucha culture (if you like science experiments, you’ll probably get a kick out of this). Start tasting the brew after 5 days. Just dip a spoon in and be careful not to disturb the culture too much. If you like it on sweet side, your batch will be ready typically in less then a week. If you like it sour it will take longer.

Step 5: Bottling

With clean hands lift the culture out and place it on a plate (you can immediately start making a second batch with this if you like). Strain your Kombucha into a jug and leave behind 200 Ml for your next batch. Fill your bottles and try it out. For best results, like brewing beer, it’s best to wait a month or so to let the sugar completely ferment. This will give the Kombucha a better taste and add more carbonation. The bottles of Kombucha will sometimes make little cultures within themselves. These are totally normal to drink and happen naturally. They tend to stay right at the top of the bottle so just take a spoon and remove them if you feel so inclined.

Enjoy!

Wiz Khalifa: the Whittemore Center at the University of New Hampshire

2011-04-14T13:57:00.000-04:00

My Top 5 Favorite Foods & Why You Should Indulge

2011-03-31T15:28:00.000-04:00

Avocados

These little green babies provide an additional creamy goodness to just about any meal (according to my taste buds). The fruit provides nearly 20 essential nutrients including: Vitamin E, B-vitamins, folic acid, fiber, and potassium. They also act a “nutrient booster” by enabling the body to absorb more fat-soluble nutrients such as beta-carotene in foods that you eat with it.

Try eating some with thrown on an egg scramble

in the morning with some black beans for extra protein.

Almonds

Raw almonds tend to be expensive compared to other nuts, but the extra few dollars are worth the benefits. The little brown nut helps fight heart disease with its incredible amounts of proteins, fiber, mono unsaturated fatty acids, and vitamin E (Almonds are the best source of vitamin E, ever.) Almonds also lower cholesterol and help the body maintain a more normal level.

Google Images

Keep a small zip lock bag handy next time your craving a midday snack.

Blueberries

Luckily in the many parts of New England wild blueberries grow abundantly. The small blue berries contain large amounts of ellagic acid. In studies this particular acid has shown to lower the risks of cancer. The berry also contains fructose, vitamins, antioxidants, and fiber making it a great immunity booster if you’re feeling under the weather. They also contain compounds that reduce the risk of U.T.I’s and contain anthocyanins, an antioxidant that triggers neuron growth in the brain. This particular kind of growth helps with memory and learning.

mix some into organic plain yogurt in the

morning to start your day with a boost of nutrients and probiotics.

Google Images

Kale

The most lovely of all the greens, Kale is like a superhero caught in a vegetable. It’s packed with antioxidants, beta carotene, vitamin K, vitamin c, lutein, zeaxanthin, and calcium. Kale also contains sulforanphane—a chemical believed to have potent anti-cancer properties.

Steam some with a bit of garlic and add great white northern beans for protein. Amazing!

Google Images

Dark Chocolate:
Chocolate has always had a spare bedroom in my heart. Besides the fact that it’s incredibly pleasurable on the pallet (it literally stimulates endorphin production, which gives a of pleasure) it contains serotonin that acts as an anti-depressant.

It also lowers blood pressure and cholesterol and is packed antioxidants. It can also act an energy booster by providing the body with a small amount of theobromine and caffeine. So, next time you’re craving the coffee grab a bar of 70% cocoa, or more, instead.

Chocolate has always had a spare bedroom in my heart. Besides the fact that it’s incredibly pleasurable on the tongue (it literally stimulates endorphin production, which gives a feeling of pleasure) it contains serotonin that acts as an anti-depressant. It also lowers blood pressure and cholesterol and is packed with antioxidants. It can also act an energy booster by providing the body with a small amount of theobromine and caffeine.

So, next time you’re craving the coffee grab a bar of 70% cocoa, or more, instead.

Google Images

mmmmmmmm... Chocolate.

Santa Cruz: Local Parks & Trails

2011-03-30T12:20:00.000-04:00

The Sweet Trail

2011-03-29T21:36:00.000-04:00

The Sweet Trail.

Located about two miles down Bay Road off of the intersection with 108, The sweet trail offers beautiful scenery including deciduous forest and frozen marshes. The trail connects to Durham, but if you don't want to go the whole way it offers a short loop trail.

Ron Paul @ UNH

2011-03-28T15:55:00.000-04:00

Pretty Typical Mr. Paul Speech.

He did make a point to clarify the fact that we are not in Libya to act as humanitarian aid

but rather to protect our oil investments there. Thanks Ron, no other senator had the guts.

Viridian: renewable energy supplier expands to Massachusetts

2011-03-17T17:41:00.000-04:00

Viridian is not your average third party electricity supplier.

       The company's “Green Team” works to supply the corporate office with healthy food options and reusable materials from printer cartridges, to boxes and utensils. All desks are empty on Earth Day. Instead, many of the employees this year were found at a corporate sponsored beach clean up in Westport, Connecticut—only one of their many events held with local non-profits. With the company mantra of “sustainability”, coined by CEO Michael Fallquist, and a lofty goal to improve the use of renewable energy and environmental resources in seven continents in seven years, the recently built corporation stands tall among its competition.
      For people who are interested in making a positive impact on the earth without having to do much more than lift a finger, Viridian is a great option. Founded in March 2009 in Connecticut, Viridian has recently expanded to serve: New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York, and in this upcoming spring Massachusetts. Simply, the private company works as a supplier of renewable energy to homes and businesses. They function through energy deregulation, which allows the consumer to stay with his or her current utility provider for billing and services. On their interactive website one can choose between two rate categories—20% or 100% renewable energy. By using variable pricing the company guarantees that by choosing 20% the customer or business at hand will save money on their electric bill. It’s free to enroll; there is no cancellation fee; no disruption of service; or equipment to install. Additionally people now have the option of knowing where their electricity is coming from.
             Viridian buys Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) from companies that are producing renewable energy and putting it back onto the grid. A REC provides proof that one-megawatt hour of energy has been generated from a renewable source, such as solar or wind.
            Suppliers of energy, such as Viridian, are frequently required by the state to purchase RECs from specific sources in order to enhance funding and revenue for potential alternative energy providers. There are currently 24 states that uphold these “Renewable Portfolio Standards” (RPS) and the percentage necessary varies accordingly. In Massachusetts, 15% of electricity must be in RECS by 2020 with an additional 1% thereafter. This annual increase in percentage will act as an incentive for companies to continue to develop renewable energy.
            In an effort to push support for renewable energy, Viridian always purchases the difference in the percentage of RECs to equal 20%. For example, if Massachusetts has a requirement of using RECs for 15% of the supplied energy Viridian would purchase 15% in compliance RECs and 5% in voluntary RECs. Additionally, for the 100% “Pure Green Rate” Viridian purchases the states RPS requirement and then purchases another 100% in voluntary on top of that. This way the more a costumer spends on their electricity through Viridian the more RECS are bought.
            According to Viridian’s 2010 Annual Sustainability Report their costumers have helped reduce CO2 emissions by 46,094,694 pounds. This number will only increase as more and more people switch their supplier to one that uses resources that can’t be depleted. In fact, if consumer interest and investment in renewable energy technology continues, it could eventually lead to the total elimination of environmentally harmful electricity resources. The company’s philosophy is simple: share this information with people you know because everyone is a potential costumer. Simply by choosing electricity that comes from a better source, consumers can be part of creating a better environment (and can save money too!).

If you would like more information on Viridian or the business opportunity contact: Candita Mammet @ 1-781-834-2728 or visit their Website here

permaculture is still cool!

2011-03-17T16:58:00.001-04:00

http://www.tnhonline.com/through-permaculture-becoming-one-with-nature-1.1293010

Poem AKA Can't do work in the library.

2011-03-10T12:40:00.001-05:00

Captured in time with structured lines
All ending in the black dot of permanence.
I wrote about your face, the sweet taste
Of yesterdays tomorrow and tomorrows next week
Cheek to cheek, toothy smiles—It almost hurts

When the curves of your hands were all
Arched and perfect, regurgitated lovesick
Picked right out of the some soap opera
Hopped up on caffeine, lofty dreams
I’m missing the exit now.

So the type-writer types, termites
Wipe their chins clean; wood chips dripping,
Tipping out their tiny mouths, frazzled
And erratic they march forth
North-bound for higher grounds
Once conquered all wood is destroyed.

So, I wiped up
The kitchen-sink again.
Pretending periods don’t mean endings
But I backspace, retrace high hopes
Dope-sick puppy, lack luster fluster
Felt in all the creases of my skin.

It’s not a matter of down tempo rifts,
Rusted tires caught in snowdrifts
the gas guzzling nation we hate so well.
Leftover piles of ashtrays stick
To the inside of my inverted hips, I feel you
Creeping into my mucus membranes, sane
Women, you lost yourself in the poetic paragraphs

Get out.

The Human Energy Field: Getting to know your aura

2011-03-09T18:11:00.000-05:00

Everything in the universe is made of energy. Physicists have proven that down to the tiniest measurable sub-particles; the same swirling matter that continuously changes and manifests itself in new forms, permeates every part of existence. This is not limited to only the external world, but includes our own make-up as well. Our human bodies contain various systems that allow it to function normally. These systems compliment and co-depend on one another. Our skeletal system sets the backbone for our muscular system; our muscular system works in harmony with our nervous system; and the circulatory, respiratory, endocrine, digestive, excretory, reproductive, and immune systems fall into place accordingly. Although it may be harder to conceptualize, there is another system that helps to keep the body functioning at full capacity.

This is the energetic system.

The energetic system is made up of an energy field, or aura, that encapsulates the body and connects to all our other systems. Scientists have been investigating the existence of an aura for more than a hundred years. Christian, Buddhist, Tibetan, Native American, and Celtic traditions have documented the human aura for thousands of years. In Stanley Krippner’s book Future Science, he lists 97 different cultures that at some point reference the human aura.
In the 1930s Russian scientist Semyon Kirlian invented a new photographic process that involves directing a high-frequency electrical field at an object. Not only does the auric field show up in the stills, but it changes and mutates depending on different emotional, mental, and physical states. In the late 1900s a group of soviet scientists, from the Bio-information institute of A.S. Popow, discovered that living organisms emit energy vibrations at a frequency between 300 and 2,000 nanometers. They coined this energy the “biofield.” This “biofield” has been confirmed by the Science Academy in Moscow and by research in Great Britain, the Netherlands, Germany, and Poland. Countless other experiments have been done to further exemplify the human energy field including verifying colors, shapes, and sizes depending on the person.
From a scientific perspective, the aura, or bio-magnetic field, gives messages about events taking place inside the body that one could not normally read from the outside. Many alternative medicine practitioners describe it is the “dis-ease” or disharmony in the auric field that acts as a warning sign for physical ailments and sicknesses in the physical body.
According to traditional Chinese medicine the human energy field or aura works accordingly with the meridian lines in the human body (These are the lines that acupuncture needles are put into during a session). In Aryuvedic medicine it flows in and out of the chakra system harmoniously (the seven swirling vortexes of light that run up the spinal cord). Both the meridian system and chakra system act as an essential part of our energetic system. Disharmony, blockages, or stagnation found, ultimately correspond to disharmony in the mental or physical body.
The famous former NASA physicist, clairvoyant, and energy healer Barbra Brennan depicts the aura as having seven distinct layers that succeed and interpenetrate one another in her book, Hands of Light. In general, she claims that each layer is fundamentally connected with a corresponding chakra and particular part of human existence. The first layer is associated with the Root chakra and physical functioning and physical sensation. The second is associated with the Sacral chakra and emotional life of human beings and feelings. The third is associated with the Solar Plexus chakra, mental processes, and linear thinking. The fourth is associated with the Heart chakra and feelings of love for human mates and humanity. The fifth is associated with the Throat chakra and a higher morality and connection with some form of divine or deity. The sixth is associated with the Pineal or Third Eye chakra and the highest feeling of love and kindness; a love for the universe and a feeling of ultimate connection and oneness with all. Lastly, the seventh layer is associated with the Crown chakra and all, “spiritual and physical make-up.”
The point of Brennan’s work as a clairvoyant is to be able to read these layers of the aura and use them as a starting point for working as a counselor to help heal people with emotional or physical trauma. If research continues in the field of human energy and auras, western medicine one day may be able to use them as complementary evidence of a particular trauma in a human being. For instance, Brennan claims that after working with hundreds of patients she is able to tell where a hernia or tumor is located in the body just by studying a person’s aura. If doctors could be trained to “see and feel” these auras as many already have in institutions such as the Barbra Brennan School of Healing or the Berkeley Psychic Institute hospitals, specialists, and walk-in clinics could help prevent diseases or treat them before it’s too late.

HOW TO BREW YOUR OWN BEER.

2011-03-08T15:13:00.000-05:00

Ah, the frothy, heady, full-bodied beer. We all know the one. It’s delectable composition is neither too hoppy, nor too bitter and it has just enough of a nutty aftertaste to tease the taste buds. Its perfectly rich, dark color accents the high content of alcohol you can start to feel when you’re about three-quarter’s through with the first glass.

For the beer connoisseur there is nothing one’s lips are more partial to than trying out a new microbrew or seasonal. Yet, times are changing. Today’s economic situation weighs on the 21 plus demographic, and puts immense pressure on the wallet as well. Oddly, those $8 six packs add up (who knew?) and for the creative drinker the abundant variety of choices showcased behind that clear glass window are just not enough.

This is where, as a beer drinker, you take a stand. Rising shakily from your couch you hold your head high and say, “No longer will I pay the low New Hampshire tax to buy beer from the gas station! No longer will I endlessly fill my recycling bin with glass bottles and six pack cardboard containers! No longer will I be disappointed with Magic Hat’s spring seasonal!”

Yea, that’s right. You will brew your own beer. You will learn a new trade that offers hours of fun and an end result that would make even the snobbiest of beer drinkers happy—a personal masterpiece to share with friends around the table.

Below is a simple “How To” guide for initial investment materials, processing, and bottling beer.

Initial Investment: some of these things you can probably find in your own kitchen or in a friend’s kitchen. These items can also be purchased online or at a local brewing store.

-Stainless steel brew kettle.
-Two plastic buckets (one of these you will have to drill a hole in).
-An airlock. (This allows carbon dioxide produced during fermentation to escape).
-A racking cane (rigid plastic) and 6 feet of vinyl siphon hose that fits over the end of the cane.
-Two cases of clean, non-twist-top beer bottles.
-A bottle capper and a package of crown caps.
-A five- to seven-pound bulk purchase of malt extract. Choose light, amber, or dark according to your taste.
-Two ounces of hops with alpha-acid levels between 4 percent and 8 percent. Choose pellets or "leaf" (whole flower) hops.
-A package of ale yeast
-2/3 cup of dextrose (corn sugar) to use at bottling time.
-Some form of sanitizer.

Processing: The fun, but slightly tedious part.

1. Fill your kettle with two-thirds water and bring to a boil. As the water increases in temperature add the malt extract syrup. Stir until all is dissolved. This mixture is now known as “wort.” Depending on what type of malt you use (dark, amber, ale) the beer will be different in taste.

2. Boil “wort” for an hour.

3. Add hops. An ounce is a good amount to use. If you like your beer extra tart add more, conversely if you like a milder taste add less. This will provide the basic “bitter” flavor in your beer.

4. Add a quarter of an ounce more hops right at the end of the hour-long boil as you’re turning the heat off.

5. Cool the wort. Take it off the burner and put a lid on the kettle immediately. Take the kettle and stick it in the snow outside or in an ice bath in your bathtub or shower.

6. Clean and Sanitize! From this point on, you must provide an environment as free of microbes as you can for your wort. Anything that touches wort - funnel, strainer, fermenter, and airlock - must be sanitized by heat or a solution. Liquid chlorine bleach will work just fine. Clean the fermenter thoroughly (the two plastic buckets), the airlock, funnel, drilled stopper, and strainer. After fermentation you will need to do this to your siphon hose, bottles, and caps.

7. Transfer the wort to the fermenter and fill the rest up with cold water. Use a funnel and a strainer to pour the wart through. This will help keep leaf hops out if you used those in your wort. Stir the bucket with a long wooden spoon or whatever you can find in your kitchen. Wait until the wort is about 70 degrees Farenheit or cooler. Shake your fermentor to get lots of extra oxygen into the mixture and add the package of yeast. Immediately put on the airlock and stopper over the top of the fermenter.

8. Sit back, breathe, and watch your beer got through the process of fermentation over the next week. Different variables can affect how long it will take. Warmer temperatures tend to speed things up and for a strong bitter taste more time is necessary in the fermentation process. You will know it’s done when there is less then one bubble a minute (give or take) in your airlock and the beer is clear and deep colored.

Bottling and Priming: The last ditch efforts to make your beer great.

1. Don’t drink it yet! You must first bottle and prime the beer. Priming is a process of adding additional sugar to each bottle. This sugar will be turned into carbonation by the excess yeast in the beer.

-Combine 3/4 cup of corn sugar and 2 cups of water in a small saucepan.

-Boil the sugar for at least 15 minutes or until the sugar is completely dissolved.

-Pour the priming sugar into your bottling bucket.

-Using your siphon, transfer the contents of the fermenter into the bottling bucket, being careful not to disturb the sediment that has accumulated at the bottom of the fermenter.

-Stir the contents together.

-Using either the spigot, or your siphon tube, transfer the contents of the bottling bucket into your clean and sanitized beer bottles. Fill them to one inch below the top of the bottle.

-Using your bottle capper and bottle caps, make sure that each bottle is securely capped as soon as possible after it is filled.

Let those babies sit in a warm place for a week or so. At this point open one and see if it needs more carbonation. If the beer tastes flat let them sit for a few more days and try again. After this process, which is called “bottle-conditioning,” you can put your beers in the fridge to cool.
Enjoy!

Settled

2011-02-22T15:17:00.000-05:00

I lied in your bed
You said kind things but,
I don’t remember them.
Eyes rolled back—twice my
Body pulled and seized
The lower levels of property
Disheveled and wet
Knees shaken to the point of lost promiscuity.

Flat Irons, Boulder Co, Calm before the storm.

2011-02-22T15:07:00.000-05:00

Flat Irons

New England Peace Pagoda

2011-02-21T12:24:00.000-05:00

The New England Peace Pagoda

is located in Leverett, MA in close proximity to UMASS Amherst.

Peace Pagodas have been built all over the world and some date back thousands of years. They normally stand as a symbol to the great movements of energy that work to build an earth based on the philosophy of non-violence.

Taken from the above website this Pagoda is, "dedicated to the realization of universal peace on earth. It is a symbol of light in the darkness of the present day world, a visible prayer to awaken humankind to peace."

If one is in the area it's a great place to come and spend some time reflecting on ones own decisions to be present and loving at all times. The architecture is stunning and there is some surrounding deciduous forest to explore as well. Directions are posted on the website.

Na Mu Myo Ho Ren Ge Kyo

Perspectives

2011-02-16T16:56:00.000-05:00

Two blue my shoes
Threaded of the finest fabric
1/3 galaxy wrapped soft and sturdy
Banged,
the beginning of time

I walked with the lost generation
Heal to toe
The beat of a nickel on tap
Stars aligning—expedient discovery of
Explosion under my heel

Laces tied to tree trunks that still
Rage hell in clock factories
Clicking patterns of continuance
Pardoned births

The rest is history

Tumbleweed Tiny Houses

2011-02-15T13:08:00.000-05:00

TIny Houses

(Taken from the website)

Jay Shafer is an architect

that has built and modeled a variety of incredibly small houses that work to fit each person(s) unique needs and comforts. His philosophy has helped people to redefine their ideas on consumption and personal space. The link to his website can be found above..

"The more things you own

the more things own you."

Photo-op's 2,3

2011-02-15T12:57:00.000-05:00

Fish

2011-02-01T14:22:00.000-05:00

I guess you just stand on them.

The next generation

2011-01-29T11:46:00.000-05:00

How will the industrialization and

impending growth of India affect these faces?

The important things in life

2011-01-27T12:53:00.000-05:00

I cannot seem to remember

Where I placed my elbows and knees
or that grimy sweater.

So now,

my arms hang straight like dried up baby tadpoles
on the steps of an unused and wasted backyard pool;

In the two bedroom raised ranch
grown-up children run behind drowsy eyes
of a grandmother whose memory
is getting just as
faded.

“That pool was nothing but troubles,” she mutters.

It figures.

How did I lose the two essential hinge joints
that were god given and free.

And that dirty sweater was more then a way of life-
It was a gift, Dammit.

Pools can be religious in nature when
You’re seven years old.

I heard no one believes in them anymore.

Oh,
Stagnation
can creep in through the cracks in the lining

No matter how much plaster
you seal around them.

Honey Valley, Coorg, India

2011-01-27T12:34:00.000-05:00

This photo was taken from one of many hiking trails

that can be accessed from

The Honey Valley Estate in Coorg.

More information on their homestays and philosophy can be accessed here.

The trail leading up to this spot runs along the western ghats mountain range and down into jungle brush. If possible, imagine standing on top of a low elevation mountain with the green rolling valleys of kernataka on your right and blinding, thick white fog on your left. The fog floats pricariously on the edge and dances there untill late afternoon when the thunder storms roll in and grumble behind you as you make your descent.

Kannur, Northern Kerala, India

2011-01-26T14:40:00.000-05:00

Enjoy the secret undeveloped long sandy beachs of Kannur.

Most rickshaw drivers can take you the long, mostly downhill, ride to a place where you can walk over brackish water passages and through lavish coconut groves to the ocean. The roads are bumpy and extremely steep to the water--hold on to sandles. Low tide may be the best time to go, as to explore the beautifully colored caves and ocean paved rock formations.

Kanyakumari, Tamil Nadu, South India

2011-01-25T19:14:00.000-05:00

This is the view from my hotel balcony.

Underneath, is an endless slew of garbage that slides its way into the combined waters of the Arabian Sea, the Indian ocean, and the Bay of Bengal which meet at the city of Kanyakumari, at the very tip of south India.

But remember, we are just better at hiding it.

The difference in dis-ease

2011-01-25T18:56:00.000-05:00

950 rupees later,
and homeopathic medicines
don’t make situations change.

White Emergency balls of sweet disease,
lined neatly in tiny bottles.
A taste of personal dilemma

“I should buy some,” you say.
holding the faceless instant,
Ignatia for loss of loved ones.

“We all handle it differently”.

Like leaving the light on at night
and shutting the door I left open.

Forgetting to say goodbye,
wasn’t a good taste under my tongue

I let it all dissolve
Real slow.

There is nothing more beautiful than a woman

2011-01-24T12:25:00.000-05:00

phenomenology

2011-01-15T19:54:00.000-05:00

What value does a tree hold in and of itself? If we cease to demand of it the timber for our houses; its sap for our sugary hedonism; and its leaves, roots, bark for various medical uses, what purpose does it serve? Who is the tree in relation to the human being? We claim sentient evolution and logical thinking as the reasoning for our lack of sensitivity. We leave out each trees unique and elegant disposition for crude labels of branch and trunk. Yet, where is our compassion for its endless gifts? Our lungs breathe its expulsion, our ears perk to its glorious, calm music. As children we learn valuable lessons of strength, fear, and death sitting high in its arch, curved branches.

I pay hinderance to the trees. I give gratitude and open arms for its mere growth from the soil below. All things valued are in relation to ones needs, ones meaning. Yet, with out the external properties to give the senses their experience, we have nothing. We need the tree for its mere essence. It is a gift in and of itself.

A Children's Story

2011-01-15T19:45:00.000-05:00

"What happens when we die?" She cried, little capsules of salty water fell down her pure smooth skin. The soft small nose that usually stood tall on her face was lowered. Mucus ran down the trench to her lips which quivered with quickened tremors, each ending in a frown.

I couldn't grasp in words the beauty of the monarch butterflies rigid body. Its geometric artwork for the first time on absolute display for the world. Just yesterday we had both watched in wonder as it danced between the hibiscus flowers in the yard. My chest had grown heavy as she giggled with pure delight, tiny hands racing, fumbling much too slowly after it. We had decided over bread and tea at lunch that she was our friend. A reliable companion to move with through the organic bliss of the yard.

And now, just to prove times moves ever so fast, she was gone. The spirt of light that pulsated through her symmetrical wings ceased to glow.

How to explain to a small child the finite path that life leads us down? The winding river that eventually ends in waterfalls and jagged limestone. I watched her sniffling, slowly move her fingers over the wings of the dancer. She followed the arch up turning over its hump and down the other side.

Was I to blurt out that death was inevitable? That attachment to any living creature, including myself, would eventually lead to sorrow? To expect one day to be holding the frail hand of a loved one in the washed out white room of a bleached soaked hospital? Did I hold her hand and through tendered eyes sing melodies of gods and heavens? Eternal afterlife's filled with all the glory the earth couldn't demand, where virgin angels brought hot chocolate and endlessly kissed scraped elbows? Or shall it be the story of organic compost like the mixture we had planted the hibiscus in last spring. I could take her down the trail to where the oak trees stood, prideful and tall. Their brothers lay besides them, all of their strength slowly molding back into the earth where new seedlings flourished, gleaming with life.

Each story sounded insufficient for a little girl that would have believed any. Here, the absolute question that for centuries has produced long bearded men to ramble back and forth and young couples to hold each other just so tightly under starry skies.

Impermanence. The only constant to the life we lead showed its rare and telling face in a moment of what seemed like absolute standstill.

"Look Momma!" She replied to my unanswered question. Springing to her feet, an identical monarch flew ever so damn perfectly in between her dirty knees and up into the wind. Death was forgotten, its pungent smell gusted away by springs romantic aroma. She ran after it, her little feet jumping this way and that, trying to catch the uncatchable.

I was sure I saw the sun wink and the grass rub in laughter at my weight, my thumping existential heart. I realized then that the meaning of life would never be found in the canon of ideas and words. It could not be explained by mothers alone. It was hidden in the raw essence of existence all along. I was grateful for that.

Broken Hindi

2010-12-19T04:47:00.000-05:00

It struck me that night while watching
the jingle glitter of intricate hand motions
through humid night air, encapsulated
I couldn’t look away.

red-orange garments swayed and simmered
with the sound of nomadic instruments
and inherent praise built on seeds,
their jolted motions desperately foreign

I had fallen so quixotically in love
Felt the butterflies hit my stomach lining
like determined soldiers in incessant war
unaware of their missions end.

It was there in skinny dirty feet, stomping
For the sake of stomping,
For the sake of divine determination

Ah, indigenous life, the colored beauty of culture
Cosmic tradition, sacrament, holy practices that
Prove life doesn’t need the Technozoic meaning

then why do chills run up my spine?,
Why do tears cower in the crevasse of my lids?
There is somewhere in my brain, neurons firing
On override, that I find faltering truth,
Rumors of something I don’t want to hear

It’s the translator who speaks broken Hindi
In shirts that American pie eyed boys
Where in big screen movie pictures

It’s the airplane that will take me back,
And I watched it all from behind a life-size face
Of someone to removed from her own back-round
to know that the nomadic instrument
Beats her own histories heart beat.

But, it’s not romantic anymore.

The Slanted Earth

2010-12-19T04:44:00.000-05:00

Just for Kicks...

2010-12-19T04:36:00.000-05:00

I move, groove, soothe
Sweep clean like window wipers
Hyper-extend any necks that walks by
Try, fly, higher than people this life or past

Fast my words hit you like speed-balls
blast of dust, crusted over from baseball mitts
Men throw fits trying to just to glimpse my
Smooth hips, lips, tips of my fingers
My scent lingers, soaring, touring past at high speeds
On just a bike.

my feet move quick like rolling glow sticks,
hop, skip, quick dodge mountains,
fountains bubble up hoping to reach my mindset
Ah, I regret, forget, let me rephrase for the dazed listener

My vibrations touch divine signs, lines, times
Im straight up beyond your existence
Persistent I use only words that fit
Think about it,
ill Hatha yoga all over your shit

Creative juices bounce my neurons in all directions
Retention of the truth even Siddhartha would be proud
Loud, my aura speaks but never yells, just tells
That’s why you can feel, heal, keel over
just standing in the same room
zoom, boomed loud echo off the walls of me

Living Routes

2010-12-14T01:26:00.000-05:00

How Real is anything but Right Now?

2010-12-14T01:19:00.000-05:00

Mindful breathes ceasing to embrace the negative swing
Don’t bring me nothing but what I have right now
hidden treasures, fine feathers float off boats in coastal waters
their beauty is under my finger nails too
it’s true that if you fine tune life, change the frequency
see all in beauty that love will surround your existence
persistent ego strives to break you up in parts
the art of illusion
deepened by the seasons, we see counterparts all torn
heightened by limited sight frightened we hide behind walls
tall orders to be the best we can be
is that free?
Or is freedom the immanent connection,
The rejection that we don’t share the commonality of purpose
It won’t hurt us to find love buried under anger
The life source that flows through our veins,
remains of the universe found under rocks in the garden
Tall burden, Separate is a paradox,
huge clocks tell us time
yet, how real is anything but right now?

I asked for oxygen and you gave me gas masks

2010-11-28T09:12:00.000-05:00

Deafening horns press incense into tender skull spots
Teapot pitched whistles that never stop,
Ears rings white, the current plight of industry
Can’t bring temporary release to
The pieces of poverty that don’t sleep at night

Elixirs of fumes reach even the barest lungs
Unfiltered tons of nitrogen excluded soil dumped on
Tar traps, weak mothers laps, bioregion mishaps,
So, hot sun, undone seasons of boundless rice patties

Blackened cracked chimneys, burnt stone
Lone monotone children search for wood by foot
Harsh soot fills small rigid lungs, skin loosely hung
An insufferable sight for the weary traveler.

Interlaced and fast paced, rickshaws and hash
Cultures clash in thatch roof huts under
Smog covered distant damned stars, brilliant light
No fast paced foreign cars, just mosquitoes and

Thenm in awe, the only viable truth

I am soft handed and white.
In spite of rotten curd rice, lice, over priced masala chai,
Can life be simpler then factory-hemmed slacks
Fresh Packs of marborolo, greasy hair, how rare
You fortunate types to dare the unknown stomach pains
Evanescent Remains of emptiness.

I asked for oxygen, you gave me gas masks.
I asked for truth, you gave tour-guided drudgery
I asked for their splendor, you gave me blueprints for tragedy.

2010-11-07T01:26:00.000-04:00

She’s gone cross the border man,
tan, long blond hair tucked behind soft ears
in tears she cried,
“No time to fix the world when the world won’t fix you,”

How blue the sky will look from a distant land,
Sand covered beaches, toes hung over hammocks
Golden locks free to flow in wind cycled skies
Ties to old hardships, dept related poverty
Sovereignty of personality will strive.

But the boarder hopper, how do I stop her
From gendered looks, crooks, dirty water
Hotter days that can’t be felt by
Pale skinned blue-eyed queens
You dream of a world no longer there

Mistreat by elite, seats of power are still
Filled with men in air conditioned rooms
The solution to spiritual pollution
Cant be found in the trashed moat floating
Temples of even the fairest land.

Life Education Center

2010-11-04T01:28:00.000-04:00

Life Education Center Interview

The Life Education Center, an outreach unit that works to provide mentoring and technical skills to young village women. LEC is described from multi - generational perspectives. Zerina, a long time teacher and mentor at the center describes the evolution and discovery of the center's mission to provide emotional support and basic trade skills, along with her own memories of working to mentor girls. Indirani, an Auroville Newcomer – who received training at LEC, and then returned as a mentor – speaks about her journey to become an Aurovilian, and gives a unique perspective on the Auroville community and entry process. Saranya, a current LEC student shares a few words about the LEC's role in her life.

Hidden Waste of Consumer Culture

2010-11-02T13:31:00.000-04:00

Hidden waste of consumer culture,
Tortured children wait long hours,
Near towers of scrap clothe piled high outside
Economic processing zones

Islands of trash float on grass yellowed down
Pounded together mixtures of baby diapers
and super sized coffee cups

national wealth, includes malnourished health
funeral caskets, the payment for cemetery
landscaping.

Aquifers run down and dry, nation and state
Can’t relate on terms of growth payments

I tried to induce the philosophy to reduce
to parents at town hall meetings, greeting
tired eyes, stress lines, overworked privilege

and the Styrofoam cup was replaced by paper,
“make sure someone pays for that”, they reply
lies of infinite space, tastes of unregulated freedom
torch American skies, high rise buildings glow
with sudden embers

remember to flush twice, pay the high price of
privatized water bills, thrill seekers won’t go far
when oceans are deserted deserts, barren landscapes.

Hidden wastes of consumer culture
Tortured children wait long hours
in dead-stop traffic, panicked
while steel walls are being built around their eyes

What's an Economic Processing Zone?

Henna

2010-11-01T03:01:00.000-04:00

Food Production in Auroville

2010-11-01T02:59:00.000-04:00

Food Production In auroville

In this presentation, Ilona, Isabell, and Jeff, give an overview of food production and the farm group in Auroville. Their comments go into detail about the total arable land under cultivation in Auroville, and issues surrounding eating locally and organically grown food in India. Their presentation also speaks to the food security imperative to increase the proportion of food produced in Auroville to be consumed by Aurovilians. Foodlink and small scale gardening are also discussed.

exitless

2010-10-26T11:00:00.000-04:00

Zipping, we electrons fly through
double yellow lined highways
horns blast, eyes dulled into silence,
mindsets that see something more then cement.

Jersey turnpike whirls rubber tires past the city of
Swinging arms and black suits, asphalted roots
Firmly rutted in the ground, sound echoes off
A million other thoughtless bubbles

The radio station buzzes with stranger stories
Stories of strangers, dangers in dark neighborhoods
Manhattans seizures, movie teasers, and sappy blues

The anthills I left untouched by the street curb
Disturb the fully functioning logic
the pleasant race of first place metals
Petals of truth falling one by one
A slight altercation in developmental plans

They will never know I was there, staring
Deep into the sand watching feet bustle this way,
And that, the pitter-pat of imports and exports
Cohorts working the regulations of life patterns

I won’t take that exit.

New Seminar, shedding light on auroville/village relationships

2010-10-26T10:40:00.000-04:00

Kathy and Bhavana, represent two generations of Aurovilians involved in direct action with the villagers who have lived in this region since before Auroville was incorporated in 1968.Both women talk about their journeys to Auroville, how village action came to be, and how the mission of the group has been co-created by Aurovilians and villagers. They also speak to the complexities of educating village children with Auroville's liberal and experiential educational philosophies, and considering the more traditional expectations that village people have for their children.

Village Action!

Interview with Jivan

2010-10-20T08:57:00.000-04:00

Many people around Auroville know Jivan by his warm presence and beautiful voice. Over the course of our conversation, he explains his approach to chanting and views on music as a way to build community. He offers ways to expand consciousness and to let our voices be heard and our selves to be healed by music. His work with 'Rainbow Chants' in particular, focuses on helping groups and individuals manifest and enjoy good vibrations. Jivan also agreed to do some chanting for this interview and the peaceful message it sends can be felt, just by listening to the recording. For him, chanting is just one tool to spread positive energy – and good times. He also talks about his three CD's, out now, and how you can get your hands on them.

http://aurovilleradio.org/arts-a-culture/music/1856-chanting-with-jivan

Molded Bread

2010-10-18T12:29:00.001-04:00

Molded bread and baked millenniums
Folded chairs dusted, you stare
Bleakly to the refrigerator of life.

Open, it’s florescent bulb
Casts shadows of time, left-over Chinese take out
Was that this Tuesday or last?
Bacon greased pans of soap sudden
Tasks of tomorrow

I remember you worked
On passion fights and bright colored essays
We will win the war, this fight, that struggle,
Structural adjustment policies,
Patent seeded chemicals in my milk

2% gallon of plastic hood
cheap Bodega back cooler monopoly
is all I see now, next to half written
novel ideas modeled after post-modern
processed string cheese

you peeled away each layer
the checks didn’t come, you never ran
for cancer, or president, or pumping heart needs

sour crunchy your hair, dirty no need to
fight decaying branches, dried water tables
how long will you stand there,
wasting electricity, apathetic current events

I must tell you again and again
no comfort fills the void of listless battles
day light isn’t going to mend jaded mind tricks
but you can try it once and a while

Beauty is in every eye, in every beholder

2010-10-15T04:44:00.000-04:00

Fish Market, Pondicherry

2010-10-14T04:44:00.000-04:00

No words could explain the smell.

Tiruvannamalai

2010-10-11T05:22:00.000-04:00

Arunchala pulls tendon muscles, we rise

Pining for inner discovery, grass in hand

Sun peaking through humidity, saturated

Rattled snakes conduct song, hedonistic visions

of Shiva touching our bones, stirring the primordial soup

Tiruvannamalai looks up to us, looks down to her

Car beeping horns, slide up our spines, we climb

There is no path to nirvana cut from her side

Still, we tile way with our footprints, soft keeping

seeping into him, blood flows straight out the sides

heavenly mountain, the valleys you stay sturdy for

the heart center, Ananda, bursts with devotion

emotional streets bustle with loud whispers of your name

claim praise for each second of the manifest

alas,

First Auroville Radio Interview, Enjoy!

2010-10-10T12:16:00.001-04:00

http://aurovilleradio.org/city-life/guests/1842-an-interview-with-devanesan

Double Rainbow!

2010-10-05T10:58:00.000-04:00

Silvered ripped tides glide past,
slide fast through the cracks of beach rocks
each rippled splinter of water is human touch
Such spirals of motion move separate
Together, the formation of the galaxies
We know and trust

Lusting for anything new, we groove
Move and sooth each other with hydrogen dance
Opening, eyes to the back of our skulls
Full 360 views without the viewfinder.

Doubled arched jazz rainbow
Sew holes closed heart brimmed with
Light particles dancing behind fractals

Half full glasses of champagne
We claim this is the magic, hat trick
Rabbits, glow sticks, you pick.

2010-10-03T00:59:00.000-04:00

Twisted vines lift up craters, collapsed cities
Pitied flowers turn over their heads.
Dead chalk, injected outlines of victims
Sitcoms play the same story on their big screens,
But it smells different when you’re here.

“Clear water blessed this land once!”
Ancient women argue,
“remember your roots?” they say
Chewing at the ground, dry dirt
Hurt, too tired to find truth in past history

Harsh sun peaks on rusted doors.
Bones lay sideways, hang through windowpanes
no rain, no old man rocks his wooden chair
Earthly despair grounded in things that won’t grow
Knocked holes in gasoline tanks
Mistaken for useful they half smile

Pile after pile of environmental policy
No democracy could save this land
Backhanded in the face, we pace,
Inside our offices, coffins it seems
Dream of glaciers melting, ozone holes
It’s the toll we take for living so well

Hell-bent on destruction
Mother earth turned her back and fell
And still you sell your cash for clunkers
Suckers for a sale,
“We failed!”
Ancient women argue,
Do you see what you’ve done?”
They cry, deep wrinkled sighs
“Lies” they mumble,
Wringing their hands.

Auroville

2010-10-02T02:54:00.000-04:00


The Matrimandir,

The Beautiful Symbolic Lotus

Abundance

2010-09-30T22:27:00.000-04:00

The white man told me
that abundance was a dozen donuts
and vibrating bass from those hard-rock speakers.
That you couldn't have enough HD channels,
checkered Flannels, or high top sneakers

He explained,
"abundance is left-overs that rot in land fills
an assortment of pills, toxic waste in streams
creams for wrinkles, weight loss, and depression.
It's just about any possession you can throw away,"

He showed me long prompts
on how to rename the trees "resources"
forces unknown to the humble man
it showed blue prints for shopping malls,
Barbie dolls, and fake islands built in sand

Realizations came flooding through skin.
Where to begin?
Two cups of tea, desert sage,
the timeless journey through each books page
crossed legged under birches, maples

the winding roads of winded groves
ocean water tips on my toes
whole mountains standing before me
knee deep in mudded marshes

I must admit that my abundance is defined
not by straight lines in parking spots, or
lots of good china.
It has always been simple,
the ripples of water
in ponds.

Kindred Spirit

2010-09-29T08:23:00.000-04:00

Kindred spirit, I see you.
Relentless you truck over the western gnats,
Miniature villages, darkened with fast helpless rain
Topical maps are your shoes, dirty, callused.

Kindred spirit, I hear your.
Om Asato Ma Asat Gamaya
Early mantras vibrating from throat to throat,
Singing harmonies with the universe, expanding

Kindred spirit, I feel you
Eastern sun-hit reflections of the light within,
Chest down to the sand, Bay of Bengal
Breathing prana into the accumulation of all

We Are One

2010-09-28T11:14:00.000-04:00

I walk into the woods and feel the presence of life around me. The trees glow as I become aware of the energy that pervades their existence. Outward and upward they reach, climbing towards the sky to connect with the universal life force that touches me in the wind. I touch them and they touch me back. I smile and thank them. Their biological system allows me to expand my lungs outward filling myself with the air that I will magically change and give back to them. We are in mutual agreement. We need each other and I am in full understanding. I do not take for granted the path that swings me through their open branches. We are here together.
    I look up and lift my arms. Grounding my legs like the gnarled roots of the beech and maples I am one with nature around me. I am nature. The blood coursing through my veins like the inner linings of the bark bringing water, the essence of existence, to the unfolding leaves of springtime. I am water. My body is nourished and filled with the sips of the stream that carves its way around the rocks and craters, the bones, the elbows and knees of the mother we came from. I am sky. My arms go on forever reaching for the cosmos, the difference in molecules becomes unnoticeable as I breathe and let go of the tips of my fingers and forget someone told me their was a difference between my calluses and the clouds. I am moon. I am aware that a piece of rock just big enough to create the tides that match my inner workings of female was thrown off the earth long before I was here. I know of gravity, the universal force that lends itself to our moon, so perfect in it’s axis that we create calendars and can use them at night, as the wolves howl to the great master that dilates their pupils and moves them to hunt in the dark dampened air.
    I sit and feel free. I sit and feel connected. The “I” in my sentences start to dissolve as I search through my years of language for the words to match my feelings. My ego is lifting and I am no longer here for myself to walk and explore but to connect back like the puzzle piece I am. The jigsaw is expanding outward, the boundaries unknown; the pieces mixed and matched trying to create the metaphysical picture. I can no longer hear the exhaust from the cars inducing mindless concentration on the cement that I can’t find the puzzle piece for. My mind is no longer a computer of images webbed together to find solace in the linear time frame of my life. I am no time. I am no space. I am movement of matter expanding outward and breathing in the creation of the universe.
    How do I share this with humanity? How do I touch the children of the next generation with the magic of human existence with out first defining for them the words that produced my ability to need the polar opposite?

The Earth Leans To The Left

2010-09-26T13:06:00.000-04:00

The fluency in my breath climbs over walls
Falls to workers methodically weaving
Baskets made of stalks,
huge walks of life I never had shoes for

and the paradigm told me my state of mind
is nothing but bliss, piss drunk at bars,
shoes fit for curved arches of my feet
Delicate from beach sand and baths

and my transcendental state of mind floats far away
from children in dusty one roomed shacks
it seems the facts of life become subjective
written on computer screens in list form

The earth leans to the left where I sleep

Auroville, India

2010-09-23T05:51:00.000-04:00

I haven't posted anything that I have written for months. This is because I have been writing poetry to ease my mind. ( kidding ). I am currently residing in Auroville, Tamil Nadu, India. Here is a poem.

A wired old man once told me, “walk”
Pained and broken,
His slacks hung loose like stretched rubber bands
Teeth where gums used to be, receded
Life backtracked him to useless
Dependent on the external world for comfort
The gutter was his companion but never his friend.

When I asked him, “why?”
He smiled lips quivering,
Chest depleted inward, skin blackened in the sun
Bones useless and done,
White crow lines marching on his face
Time ticked but never took him for saving

He replied, “Because it is only then that you see the world as it is”
Blue grey eyes swollen with flea bitten dust
Rusted, each movement made him break,
Cringing in eternity
Fingernails torn back, yellowed
Ears swollen from hearing the truth all the time

Diva-Cup offers more sustainable option to UNH women

2010-04-30T22:55:00.000-04:00

For women on campus who are looking for a way to make their lives more environmentally friendly, the Diva-Cup may be it.
The Diva-Cup is a revolutionary menstrual cup that has existed since the 1930s, but many people may not even know about it. It is a silicone cup that is meant to replace the need for tampons and pads. Instead of being discarded after use, it can be washed and reinserted. The cup lasts up to 10 years and costs about $25. Here at UNH, many female students have taken the initiative and made the switch.
According to Carinne Chambers, inventor of the Diva-Cup, women can choose to be environmentally responsible each month by using the Diva-Cup instead of disposable tampons and pads.
“This is no small matter,” Chambers said. “In the U.S. alone, billions of tampons and pads are dumped into landfills and the environment each year.”
Sophomore Alina Harris said she couldn’t agree more. After watching her cousin open one as a Christmas present two years ago, she bought one for herself soon after. Her reasons for using it are practically endless.
“I believe it is the most sustainable way to handle your period,” Harris said. “Tampons are expensive and are a pain to run to the store for. Also, they are typically non-organic and bleached, which creeps me out. I don’t want to have chemicals in the area that I later may have a baby.”
Harris said that it is more secure and comfortable, as well.
“I find it to be very comfortable once it is inside of you, and there is never discomfort from a dry tampon,” Harris said. “I usually forget that it is even there. I find myself at the end of my cycle thinking, ‘Oh, it’s done already?’”
UNH student Elizabeth Voltairine de Cleyre loves her Moon Cup, which is another brand of reusable cups.
“I got my Moon Cup right before I went to India, and it was such a blessing since I was living with locals in towns where you throw your trash on the street--there’s no such thing as a dump there,” Voltairine de Cleyre said. “I couldn’t imagine living with locals and tossing out a used tampon on their doorstep. I was so grateful that I had bought a cup just before.”
With the menstrual cup, women no longer need to go to the bathroom to change a pad or tampon. The habit becomes almost obsolete.
“I can keep my Moon Cup in for 24 hours or more without having to worry about it,” Voltairine de Cleyre said. “There’s no risk of toxic shock syndrome, or worrying about tampon chemicals poisoning me.”
Different forms of menstrual cups can be ordered for female students through Health Services. According to Peter Welch, a sexual education and meditation teacher and counselor at Health Services, when students come in, it’s usually their first time ever hearing about an alternative to tampons.
“I think they are so important for women because not only does it make women more comfortable with what their bodies feel like and look like, these cups are sustainable,” Welch said.
The Diva-Cup and other menstrual cups can be bought online and are also available at the Health Food Store in Portsmouth, N.H.

http://www.tnhonline.com/diva-cup-offers-more-sustainable-option-to-unh-women-1.1436111

Sustainable You. Sustainable Universe.

2010-04-28T12:26:00.000-04:00

Sustainability is the capacity to endure. But what does that really mean? When I think about the word sustainable the first concepts that come to mind are “reusable resources” and “low-impact”, but sustainability is not just about using our world in a way that will keep it in good condition for future generations. It’s also about keeping ourselves in good condition. If we are in good condition, if we have the capacity to endure, then we can help our world to do the same. Yet, inner sustainability is not something that most people are receptive too. We know for our bodies to function we need food, water, sleep, and shelter. But what really sustains us? What makes us feel human and whole? What makes us realize our full potential and affirms our inextricable connection with humanity and all life around us? Inner sustainability is the laughter of friends, the melodies of beautiful music, the ability to smile with the rising sun, the understanding of a spoken and unspoken language that allows us to communicate with each other, and to read the vast ocean of writers that speak to our souls.

Inner sustainability is learning to be mindful of all the gifts we receive each day that we may forget to appreciate. It is to take into account the clean water from a variety of water fountains around the University, a bed to sleep in, loving relationships, the capability to think about the cosmos, the gift to be part of the rebirth of spring in New Hampshire after long winter slumber.
Our diet, the food that nourishes our bodies and minds, is a part of the sustainable process. Our bodies are sacred temples, that need to be consistently treated with respect in order to help us achieve optimal health and vitality. In lieu of this, it is best for us to eat as well balanced as possible. Eating well means being aware of where our food comes from. Eating locally produced food reduces the Co2 emissions released in the air for our food to get to us. It reduces the stress put on our local farmers because they know they will be able to make enough money to sustain their business into another season. Most importantly it helps us come more into alignment with what our bodies really need. For example, drinking excessive imported coffee will not make you feel better if your sleep schedule is out of alignment—getting into a habitual sleep pattern will.
            Yet, diet can also be viewed more broadly than that. Being mindful of our mental diets will also help to sustain us emotionally. The amount of violence, destruction, and anxiety related issues that we view, think about, and discuss affect our thoughts and in turn affect our bodies. Being aware of the conversations we have with each other can help to sustain us. Have a friend that is constantly talking badly about everyone? Are you constantly focusing on the negative aspects of your life? Try to change that. Good thoughts lead to good feelings. Surround yourself with positive messages that you want to feel about yourself and the world. Creating a sustainable future starts with creating a sustainable and grounded you. Remember always, change comes from within.
            Creating peace in the world means first creating peace in oneself. Inner sustainability is also about learning to spend time alone connecting with oneself. Our culture has programmed us to think that we constantly need to be moving, progressing forward, or entertained. Next time you are feeling bored and restless don’t turn on the television, don’t turn on the computer, and don’t turn on the music. Allow yourself to really rest. Although vegging out on the sofa may seem mindless and relaxing, your brain is still running on overtime trying to compute all the information it is taking in from the electronic stimuli around you. Instead, close your eyes and breathe. Let the motor of constant consciousness come to a halt. Let your mind connect back with your body. It will thank you immensely.
As the planet continues to dramatically change due in part to our over usage of precarious natural resources, mass extinction of species, rising water levels, and so forth, the word sustainability will be more on the forefront than it already is. It has become trendy to be sustainable. Wal-Mart and other huge corporations throw it above their new green light bulbs and tell the world they’re doing their part. We recycle our cans and bottles and believe we are too.
If we are to progress forward in a sustainable manner we will slowly have to move away from the destructive consumer waste-making materialistic society that we have learned to call normal. We will need to learn that bigger is not better. That the house with the two cars, Versace’s watch, and matching sunglasses is not necessarily still the “American Dream” and doesn’t make one a more successful human being when they achieve that status. There will have to be a mass paradigm shift that allows people the kind of happiness they feel now in the comfort of the plastic goods that surround them without actually manipulating the earth and having any of these things. We need to create a society that can redefine abundance. A society that can feel this happiness, successfulness, and comfort in knowing that they are being good to themselves, their community, and the earth as much as they possibly can.
            Sustainability is the capacity to endure. We need to learn to endure on a personal level, a communal level, and a worldly level. Our well-being depends on the well-being of mother earth and her natural resources. By creating a society that is based around this understanding we will be able to move on and continue to exist in harmony within the environment that we are all just a part of.

Water: Humanity's Universal Connection

2010-04-09T14:09:00.000-04:00

The famous phrase, “when it’s yellow let it mellow, if it’s brown flush it down” has been around for what seems like centuries. Yet, regardless of it’s popularity I have yet to meet many people that practice the philosophy outside of their own homes. I have been trying. Over the past few months I have faced the weird stares of bladder-filled students waiting in line after me and started to feel comfortable with the echoed silence of an un-flushed toilet.

One may ask why I have chosen to make this deathly and completely unsanitary decision knowing that it will effect hundreds nay thousands of righteous toilet users around me. Well I will tell you. It’s a big waste of water.

Every time someone flushes a toilet five gallons of clean water is used. In a third world country a typical man or woman, if they’re lucky, uses this in a day. Americans on average use 150 gallons a day. The disparity is not a hard one to point out.

On March 22^nd World Water Day was renowned all over the world by millions of people. Since 1992 World Water Day has been set aside by the United Nations General Assembly as a day for organizations and groups to get together and raise awareness about one of the most pressing health issues of our time—peoples access to clean water. For most Americans and citizens living in developed countries, including myself, it is a day to be mindful that we have access to clean, reliable, and affordable water.

Although this is always something to be happy for, the reality of World Water Day is also to point out that 2.6 billion people do not and cannot share in our mindfulness.

A new study done in 2010 by the World Health Organization (WHO) and The United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) provided current trends on water and sanitation in 209 countries and territories worldwide. It showed that 2.6 billion people do not have access to clean sanitation services.

There is something fundamentally wrong with that statistic and more so when we realize that water is constantly moving around the globe. The water cycle moves the same liquid from your sink in Durham, to snow in the Himalayas, and to rain in Seattle. We are all connected through the water we use.

Many people feel as though these problems are too big to face or that their simple small steps will not make a difference, but they do. In Tom Kostigen new book, The Green Blue Book: The Simple Water Savings Guide to Everything in Your Life, he discusses basic steps we can all take to do our part to conserve.

It takes water to do just about everything, so being conscious of what goes into the products we buy and how many steps they take to get to us is important. Buying local products and food is a good start. So is using less electricity (50% of our water used goes towards electricity), eating more vegetarian meals, and just using less water in general. Leaving the tap on while you’re brushing your teeth for just two minutes uses about five gallons of water. Another great step is eliminating our usage of plastic water bottles. It takes three liters of water to make a one-liter bottle of water. That just doesn’t make sense.

I’m not asking for a life transformation, but that maybe instead of just one day of the year being set a side for mindful usage of our recourses, everyday we can try as a community and country to think about those people who don’t know If their child will make it through the night because of extreme dehydration. When we come to terms with these realties not flushing the toilet doesn’t seem so bad.

“Permaculturist in Barrington Shines Light on Sustainable Agriculture and Living”

2010-04-01T12:49:00.000-04:00

Amy Antonucci’s farm in Barrington is not your run of the mill set up. The backyard is a mixture of garden beds with the first sprouts of garlic of the season just starting to rise from the soil, bee hives, tapped Maple trees, medicinal herb gardens, and piles and piles of wood—next to the tree stumps that they have been cut from.
            She is a Permaculturist, a farmer that works with nature, to achieve an optimal working system with the least amount of destructive change to the environment. According to Amy, permaculture is derived from the phrase “permanent agriculture”, which seeks to design ecological human habits and food production systems by mimicking nature. It is a land use and community building movement offering a radical approach to agriculture, urban renewal, water, energy, and pollution to create a rich and sustainable way of living.
            Amy helps to teach a Design course at UNH in June where students can learn the basics of the theory to help them on their way to doing their own designing. She also runs a permaculture club, where members can meet together and share new knowledge and exchange ideas. Recently, she brought Toby Hemmingway who wrote Gaia’s Garden to Dover—75 people came to attend.
            Growing up in the suburbs of Boston left Amy with out any knowledge of gardening and a disconnection from the land around her. Both her mother an Italian native, and father an Ireland native, had agriculture running through their veins but had lost it through the generations. Amy picked back up where they had not. She did her undergraduate work at UNH, where she majored in Women Studies and worked at a food Co-op that used to be part of the campus life, but was closed when the school decided it needed more space for storing a computer system.
            During her time working at the food Co-op she met local farmers and also went to various farms in the area. After she started to integrate herself into the farming community, Amy realized that she wanted to do the work that they were doing, but make it better.
After working at an organic farm in Stratum for eight years she realized there was many facets of the system that were not sustainable—even for an organic farm.
            While attending conferences such as the Organic Farming Conference (OFC) and the North-East Organic Farming Association Conference (NOFA) she found something that clicked.
“I realized there were all these other ways of doing things and I was learning more and more…it wasn’t long before I discovered Permaculture,” said Antonucci.
            Permaculture is more than just a theory and a system of growing plants, it’s a lifestyle that revolves around 6 R’s: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Repair, Restore, and Respect. It’s about getting away from the consumer cycle, by asking everyday, “Do I really need this?” and if one does, looking first at places like the “Swap Shop” in Durham. It’s about being o.k. with the ugliness of destruction if it means that one is being more sustainable. For example, Amy heats her house with the wood from the trees that used to grow in her backyard. It doesn’t look like the pristine playground of forest if used to, but it means that she is not getting wood shipped in from another part of the state or the country.
“Thinning the trees in a state like New Hampshire is not destructive, for the most part it’s sustainable, but thinning the Amazon, well that is,” said Antonucci.
For Amy, and many other Permaculturists one of the most important steps in the gardening system is “Sheet Mulching”. Sheet Mulching is a way of creating permanent garden beds, by avoiding tilling at all cost. Tilling can be very destructive and will ruin soil. Sheet Mulching works in the same way that the forest creates its soil—layer after layer after layer. Instead of designating one station to be your garden, your yard can become one. Sheet mulching is obtained by layering your yard, like lasagna, with any organic material you can think of. This includes but is not limited to, cardboard, newspaper, leaves, branches, soil, animal poop, hay, straw, seaweed, and worms. After this layering is done, you apply a heaping pile of mulch and Voila! You have your garden bed (For more information on sheet mulching you can contact Amy at Amyla44@juno.com).
            Another important aspect of her work is beekeeping.
            “Want to learn what’s going on in nature?” said Antonucci “Hang out with the bees.”
Bees live in complex societies where they communicate and learn from one another. When they pick a new place to live they dance. The bee’s will go out separately and find another area and come back to share the news. The bee with the best dance, ultimately found the best place, and in 90% of the time human observers agree they found the top place suited for them. They are smart creatures and we need them to spread pollen and ultimately bring us food. In certain areas of China, the environment is so polluted all or most of the pollinators have died. This means hours of menial labor pollinating plants by hand.
            “How many services and goods does nature give us for free?” said Antonucci. “Pollination is a perfect example.”
            Amy is also a practicing Wiccan and Political Activist. Wiccanism is a nature based spiritual practice and helped her realize the inextricable connection humans have with the earth.
“This feeling, my connection to the earth, made me want to do something,” said Antonucci. She also does what she calls “Straight Activist Work”: outreach to communities, attending protests and conferences, and being aware of the political and social situations that surround us and permeate our lives.
“Doing both [permaculture and activist work] keeps me hopeful,” said Antonucci. “I need to be able to say ‘Stop, this isn’t right’ and at the same time create new ways to live”.

Evidence of a Paradigm Shift: Students Partake in Alternative Forms of Medicine

2010-03-29T09:35:00.001-04:00

Sophomore Stacy Clark knows what it’s like to have a doctor stick tiny needles into her skin all over body. She’s not alone. According to the World Health Organization, between 65 and 80 percent of the world’s population, about 3 billion people, rely on traditional (alternative) forms of medicine as their primary form of health care—Acupuncture being one of them.
A number of students, including Stacy, have made the move to start incorporating alternative medicine into their daily lives. Some of these practices are offered through Health Services—such as Meditation and Yoga—and some—like Reiki and Acupuncture—are not.
Evidence shows that they’re not the only ones. Over the past few year’s Health Services on the UNH campus, has added a multitude of “alternative” health programs that are geared towards students and young adults. These include, but are not limited to, Meditation, Yoga, Hypnosis, Biofeedback, Massage Therapy, Light Therapy, and Therapy for Spiritual Wellness.
Peter Welch, a wellness counselor and meditation teacher at Health Services, has seen the increase himself. While working with students he realized that he wanted to give them something concrete to work with outside of his Meditation classes. So, he worked with Health Services to create a Mediation CD.
“We created [the Meditation CD] in 2006 and produced a 1,000 copies. We now have about four left,” said Peter. “We ended up putting in on the website so more people could gain access to it.”
Tyler Britton, a junior English major at UNH, is one of many students that has taken part in the meditation classes on campus. After actually writing an article for the TNH about the class, he found that it was an easy way for him to immensely lower his levels of anxiety. Tyler explained that only 15-20 minutes helps him feel more centered and energized to start his day.
I don’t want to have to pay for a drug when I have a completely free and natural alternative,” Tyler said happily.
Health Services also offers a free yoga class Mondays and Wednesdays in the Wild Cat Den. Senior Chris Simonton has been going since the classes became available his freshman year, four years ago. Chris became so familiar with the teachings that he started to teach classes at his summer camp, and also fill in as a substitute for his teachers in the Wildcat Den. He explained that the classes there now have become increasingly full, but that he doesn’t necessarily mind.
“It comforts me to know so many more people are becoming interested in this way of being,” said Simonton.
Yoga to Chris is his form medicine, and although he jokingly claims he would not be able to survive with out it, there seems to be a hint of truth in the message and many who practice yoga habitually would probably agree.
“I think everyone who does yoga seriously does it because they know it helps them to be a more complete version of themselves. Nobody does it to "kill time" or because they are bored. They do it because there is no feeling like it. How often do you get to feel everything and nothing at the same time?” said Simonton. “It's peaceful. I think most people these days just want peace, wherever they can find it.”
Although Acupuncture is not offered out of Health Services there are many practitioners in driving distance of UNH that offer care. For Stacy, Acupuncture has been a part of her live for about five years.
“When I was a sophomore in high-school I was getting lots of red itchy hives on my chest and no one could figure out why,” said Clark. “My dad had been going to an acupuncturist for a recent arm injury and it was really working for him, so I checked it out.”
Stacy walked out of the office that day, not stuck with any needles, but put on a diet. The Acupuncturist explained to her that many foods in the American diet are full of toxins, and she thought this was the cause of the hives. Stacy was ordered no longer to eat many of the things she digested everyday—no more lettuce, tomatoes, potatoes, high fructose corn syrup, dairy, or chocolate.
Although it was hard, Stacy put it to the test.
“I started doing it immediately and almost immediately I had more energy, lost weight, and felt so much more healthy,” said Clark. “And beyond that, the hives were gone!”
At the time Stacy was working out a lot and many times went back to see her Acupuncturist for sore and strained muscles. Each time she left feeling relaxed and invigorated.
“Everything in your body is connected,” said Clark. “When you just take a pill, it’s not care, its just relief of the symptoms. Acupuncture is a lifestyle”.
Luke Perry, a sophomore Environmental Conservation major, started practicing and performing Reiki last summer. Reiki has been a phenomenon of sorts that has swept the west and earlier this month, when a spiritual praxis was held in the MUB, Reiki was one of the services offered. The practice in general teaches that there is a universal energy, or life force, that flows through all human beings. This life force can slow and become stagnated resulting in physical or mental ailments. Reiki is simply using ones hands to move this universal energy through the body to release the stagnated energy.
When Luke first heard of the subject he was immediately interested. When he found out that he could go for a class and become attuned he couldn’t help himself.
“I went into the program building and the teacher sat me down in a chair and told me how Reiki came about, the history, and how it’s implemented,” said Perry. “We then chanted together and it became a very powerful meditation. I felt weightless, like I was floating.”
Luke was taught that just about anyone could do Reiki.
“Going to a class just helps [one] to practice using intention and become aware of that energy,” said Perry.
He has performed Reiki on several other students at UNH, and according to him all sessions have been positive.
“I have it seen it speed healing and emotional traumas,” said Perry. “The benefits are really endless.”
Like many of the students have mention, these forms of medicine for them are a lifestyle, and perhaps this new form of living with only increase more as other students become aware of their peers and the different ways they stay healthy—physically, mentally, and spiritually.

FUNK THE WAR

2010-03-13T18:56:00.000-05:00

Students create solidarity through music and a powerful anti-war message @UNH.

DMT: the key to another world

2010-03-13T18:02:00.000-05:00

DMT
There are books in circulation that never will be placed in the window shelves of Barns and Nobles or make the New York Times best-seller list, yet achieve a higher level of recognition from the reader that any amount of stars could reveal. DMT: The spirit molecule is one of these books. The cover bears the artwork of Alex Grey, a visionary artist who specializes in spiritual and psychedelic pieces. His mesmerizing work is incredibly unique and most people that lay eyes on it find themselves transfixed for sometime. The pages inside document Dr. Rick Strassman’s research into the biology of Near-Death and Mystical experiences—a topic many know little about.
From 1990 through 1995 the physiologist conducted clinical research with DMT in 40 patients through the University of New Mexico. He took literally thousands of pages of notes exploring the diverse effects the compound had on people’s physical and mental well-being.
            DMT is an exceptional psychedelic molecule. The scientific name is Dimethyltryptamine because of its chemical makeup. At its base is the building block Tryptamine, which is a derivative of tryptophan, an amino acid found in our diets. When two methyl groups are added to tryptamine DMT is created.
            For thousands of years Indigenous cultures, especially Amazonian Shamanism, have used DMT in rituals to explore out-of-body experiences and open windows to other dimensions where they could communicate with different spirits and ancestors. The mixtures are made with organic materials and usually have the consistency of powder (this is called Epena or Jurema) or a liquid mixture (Ayahuasca or Yage).
This psychedelic is found in almost all living things. In the book TIHKAL: Tryptamines I have known and loved Psychedelic alchemist Alexander Shulgin writes, “DMT…is in this flower here, in that tree over there, and in that yonder animal…it is most simply almost anywhere you choose to look.” But, more interestingly DMT is found in the human body. It is produced by the pineal gland in our brains. The pineal gland is a little pinecone shaped gland, that is located above the spinal cord, near the middle of the brain between each hemisphere. It is exactly located where the Anja or Third Eye Chakra is said to be in the Hindu religion. Through the eyes of science, the pineal’s main function is to produce and regulate melatonin—a hormone that affects sleeping and waking patterns. Although scientists agree that DMT is produced from the pineal gland during normal metabolism, many have not come to a consensus on why it is there or what the absolute function of it is.
Although our brains are extremely sensitive in what chemicals they allow to enter through the blood-brain shield, DMT has a high turnover rate. This means that when DMT is released into the blood stream the brain quickly pulls it in and uses it up. There are only a few different essential molecules the brain does this with, one of them being glucose—the energy it burns to work. Not even complex carbohydrates and fats, the necessary energy of other organs, are allowed in. Strassman poses the question in his book, “if DMT was only an insignificant, irrelevant by-product of our metabolism, why does the brain go out of its way to draw it into its confines?”
            Strassman theorizes that DMT is released at stressful times in our lives—two of the most obvious being birth and death. He speculates that this is a way for our spirit, soul, consciousness, or being to more easily transition into our living physical bodies and then out again when they expire.
Even more boggling is the fact that in The Tibetan book of the Dead Buddhist scripture teaches that it takes 49 days for the body to reincarnate. Coincidentally, it takes 49 days from conception for a human embryo to show the first signs of a pineal gland and also at 49 days the fetus becomes either male or female. Could this potentially be when the spirit enters the physical body? Could DMT be the necessary lubricant for the rocky start as a human being?
Many of literally hundreds of tests with DMT are documented accordingly in DMT: The Spirit Molecule. They range from people encountering elves, aliens (Strassman speculates that sporadic alien encounters across the world may be the accidental, but natural release of DMT), clowns, a god or goddess-like being, amazing geometric patterns unlike anything they had ever imagined, to feelings of rebirth and a total connection with all beings and entities in the universe.
            This radically altered reality that is induced by the molecule is what makes DMT so fascinating. Terrence McKenna, in his book, “Food of the Gods, A Radical History of Plants, Drugs, and Human Evolution,” goes into detail about his own transformations with the molecule. He writes, “The extraordinary ease with which DMT utterly destroys all boundaries and conveys one into an impossible-to-anticipate and compellingly Other dimension is one of the miracles of life itself.”
Although all people’s experiences with DMT are subjective and unique, Strassman found that many were similar in that they literally shot people out of their bodies into another dimension where they felt a loss of their ego and became mere energy connected to all that is.
            As of right now DMT is noted as a schedule 1 drug (highly addictive with no medical use) in the United States—listed right next to LSD and Marijuana. Yet, the compelling evidence that DMT could potentially be used to explore our individual consciousness and the purpose of our existence is out there. The fact that it surrounds us in many parts of nature, including our own heads, may lead one to think it is there for a reason and our culture has yet to unlock that secret. For those who feel truth coexists with experience, it is hard to deny the power of the natural world, and the gifts it hides among the grass and flowers.

“Alternative Medicine Practitioners Go Beyond the Traditional View of Care and Offer Advice”

2010-03-02T13:57:00.000-05:00

         Many know the feeling of sitting in a doctors office waiting for what seems like hours to speak with a man or women in a white lab coat for only a few minutes. Most times these long waits result in receiving a piece of paper with a prescription on it or the name of a specialist who could help them instead. For many, the frustration that ensues seems to almost outweigh the knowledge of their diagnosis and the piece of paper with its scribbled answer.
        Below are the practices of five alternative medical practitioners who stray outside this stereotype and their advice to living a healthier lifestyle. In the Seacoast Area, including the campus of University of New Hampshire, there ranges a wide variety of these practitioners and their ideas on medicine and health that one may never here of from their usual doctor. These practitioners and their work are placed into the category of Alternative Medicine, which is broadly defined as anything that does not fall into the realm of conventional western medicine. For many that means spending hours with their patients to try to help them achieve optimum health.

The Acupuncturist
    Beth Ann Shmit’s practice is located in the back of an old yellow house on Portsmouth Ave in Greenland. Her office smells of incense and flowers and three comfy chairs are set facing each other to the right of the reception desk. These chairs are where patients spend their first visit—up to two hours—going over past mental and physical health, diet, work and home life, and eventually the health problems or disharmonies they are experiencing.
Acupuncture has been traced back to the year 1023 in China. Using this ancient philosophy, Beth inserts needles into different places in the body to help remove stagnation or blocked energy, which in acupuncture is known as the “Chi”. This blockage of energy, or chi, results in disease, stress, or pain in the body. She also uses a technique called cupping, which is done by placing cups on different parts of the body and using heat, pulling the skin up underneath. This process also results in a more free flowing movement of the Chi and relaxation. As patient’s problems start to resolve they don’t need to come back as much, yet many continue because they find it to be so worthwhile.    Beth explained that just taking better care of one self could prevent many medical issues in the future.
    “Breathe! A lot of people don’t get good deep breaths. In our society we tend to overdue it, if we are tired we don’t rest, we drink coffee. The body is intelligent; learn to pay more attention to it,” said Shmit.

The Shaman
According to Ann Sousa, her goal and specialty is in, “bringing harmonic balance to all levels of ones being, utilizing the spirits of Fire, Water, Mineral, and Earth.” Her back-round in mental health work in undeniably solid—she has a degree in mental health and science, worked as a grieving counselor for 25 years, traveled with Peruvian shaman, is a Reiki and Shamballa (a Tibetan spiritual teaching) master, currently practices with Malidoma Some—a west African Shaman, and is a midwife.
Ann spends up to three hours in the first meeting with a patient and will do long distance healing if necessary. People from all around the United States have contacted Ann, who works out of Dover, to ask for help with stress, anxiety, disease, sickness, and depression. She uses Shamanic healing and “root cause analysis” (working on the cause of the problem, not the effects) to help bring people into a place of peace and continuous health. Using Divinations, she contacts her subject’s bloodline ancestors to heal pain and suffering that took place in past generations.
“People ask, well why do I want to go back into my blood line ancestry? Well, because what’s happening in this westerner way of living is that we carry out a lot of patterns and behaviors that we cant quite shed, its like gum on our shoes, we cant figure out why we cant quite shed them and it’s because they go back and back and back,” said Sousa.
Recently she met with the CEO of the Portsmouth Regional Hospital for Planning and Development to bring integrative health medicine into the hospital. In the past she has been the Shaman in the O.R. for a sigmoid colon removal and a partial mastectomy.
    For Ann, everyday we can work on making ourselves healthy and whole.
    “Get yourself out in nature and around the flow of water. I have treated people with dehydrated brains; people that are constantly working their brains on overdrive and you need to slow that down. Embrace the process you are in now. That’s where the gold is. It’s the journey,” said Sousa.

The Hypnotist
In Dr. Phil Collin’s last year of school at Boston University he was able to do an independent study and by chance, he chose to do his on Hypnosis and it’s effects on helping people to quit smoking. From there, Dr. Collins has kept with his interest and currently offers hypnosis for people out of health services.
    “Hypnosis is not sleep. I think of it as enhanced relaxation,” said Collins.
    While people are in the trance Dr. Collins speaks calmly and clearly to the patient about breaking the habit that controls their life. This can be quitting smoking, over eating, having panic attacks, or other various detrimental habits people have problems with.
    Although Collins believes that hypnosis can work for people he stressed that it is just one way of trying.
    “Whatever works, great. Everyone is different and hypnosis is just one part of the treatment,” said Collins.
    Yet, it many circumstances doctors don’t have enough time to spend with each individual patient to really go over what will work best for them.
    “Alternative healers spend a lot of time with [their patients], It’s almost like seeing a therapist. With Western Medicine you’re lucky if you get 15 minutes,” said Collins.
    When it comes to preemptive care, Collins explained the most basic step is practicing simple breathing techniques.
“A lot of people allow anxiety to snowball, and it gets bad,” said Collins. “Were looking for ways to go, go, go and we need to just step back and slow down.”

The Wellness Counselor and Mediation Teacher
    Peter Welch’s office is located on the upper floor of health services in the health and wellness education center. Appointments are easily made and he will speak with a person as many times as necessary to relieve whatever problem they are facing. When asked what exactly he does he explained,
“I offer a loving spirit, someone who treats people with respect and who appreciates the inherent wisdom in each person.”
On top of that, Peter teaches meditation which helps to quiet chatter, teaches compassion for oneself and others, helps a person to be present in the moment, and empowers ones self. Meditation revolves around quieting the mind through breathing techniques and this process has some really interesting physiological effects on the body.
“It induces a relaxation response in the body that releases positive hormones called endorphins that make us feel happy and content,” said Welch. “Instead of a pill doing all that work for you, you’re having your brain do the work.”
    Yet, Welch pointed out that not everyone has the opportunity to seek out alternative care.
    “Pills are more accessible. Insurance will pay for a visit to a doctor to get medicine, but not for a massage. It becomes a financial decision,” said Welch.
    For Welch, one step in taking better care of our health and ourselves is using less technology. “We have become slaves to it now and that overexposure is not good for us. It also cuts us from human interaction,” said Welch. “We need to be touched. We are touched deprived culture.”

The Didgeridoo Sound Therapist
    Joseph Carringer life revolves around a long wooden hollowed out piece of wood—his Didgeridoo. He calls himself a sound therapist and his work helps to resolve muscle aches, strain, and tension and also to help alleviate stress and anxiety. His patients range from those struggling with PTSD, to cancer, to adult acne.
    The Didgeridoo’s vibrations work in the same way that a traditional ultrasound does by warming the muscles from the inside out. At the same time the vibrations help to stop stagnation of the same universal energy, or life force, that acupuncturists work with. Carringer also helps people to connect their mind and body through meditation. The vibrations of the Didgeridoo resonate with our natural Delta and Theta brain waves to calm and settle the mind.
    Joseph does many sessions with patients out of his office in Portsmouth and spends time talking with each about the therapy and the problems they are facing. His actual vibration therapy can run up to an hour.
    Like many of the other healers mention, Joseph also thought it was important for people to slow down, breath, and give sometime to your body and mind. He tries to instill that message in his patients.
    “My job is to teach people that it’s ok to say no to the media, no to feeling like they have to work 24/7, no to going to the mall, and yes to doing something for themselves—that something being nothing,” said Carringer. “When you look at all the wonderful things western advancements have brought to people, the question still arises of what does the average person do for themselves?”

         According to the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) the number of adults in the U.S. that use Alternative Medicine is growing. From 2002 to 2007 the percentage grew from 36.0% to 38.3% with the highest amount in use by people of American Indian ethnicity at 50.3%.
With such a high variety of different medical practices to choose from in the local area, it seems the number of participants will only continue to grow in the coming years.

No Power in New Hampshire

2010-03-02T13:04:00.000-05:00

Mass Flooding and Loose Wires Continue to Keep People in the Dark.

http://www.tnhonline.com/newmarket-residents-embrace-power-outage-1.1216715

Cannon

2010-02-21T12:43:00.000-05:00

There is something fierce about Cannon mountain. If you are going to ski New Hampshire, do it right. Here you will find people who appreciate the sport and who carve down the steep trails regardless of close to zero temperatures and a gusts of wind that make you feel like your flying. No lines, just love.

Joseph Carringer of Didgetherapy.com

2010-02-18T15:24:00.000-05:00

Fourteen years ago Joseph Carringer sat straight up in bed in the middle of the night with his eyes wide open. His girlfriend at the time curiously looked up at him from underneath the covers. “I’m going to play the didgeridoo,” said Joseph to no one in particular. He had no idea what he had been dreaming about or what a didgeridoo was; yet something had compelled him to make the statement. The rest is history.
       Growing up in a military family, Joseph moved from place to place before spending most of his childhood in Nashua, New Hampshire. In his adult life, he has kept that nomadic pattern and explored much of the eastern side of the United States. His experiences vary from working with hemp textiles in D.C. and in the garment district of New York City, to helping run bars, doing landscaping, and playing music with DJ’s in Jersey City and Portland Maine, to name a few. But nothing could prepare him for the change in direction that would take place after that profound dream and ultimately lead him to a career in Didgeridoo Sound Therapy.
      During an outing in Portsmouth about 6 months after his dream, Joseph found himself in Macroscopic, a boutique in the downtown area. There in front of him lay a basket of Didgeridoos and intuitively he picked one up and blew into the hollowed out piece of wood.
     “The women who was working looked from around the corner and said, ‘Do you play the Didge?’ and I said, ‘no’ and she looked straight at me and said, ‘yes, you do’.” said Joseph.
     The Didgeridoo is an ancient Aboriginal Australian instrument said to be at least 15,000 years old (40K-80K years old). By vibrating the lips, the instrument creates a drone like sound and can be played continuously by a technique called circular breathing. This is done by breathing in the nose at the same time as breathing out the mouth. The technique usually takes people many months of practice but for Joseph it was only a week and a half. At the time he was bar manager of a blues club in Merrimack called Stormy Mondays and one night was pulled up on stage with his Didge to play with the band.
      “It was great, I learned to play rhythmically just from hanging with the players,” said Joseph.
    When Joseph first started playing it was all about the music, but he soon realized there was an inner peace that the Didgeridoo brought to him.
    “I lived near a river, and I would go sit with my dog and meditate, not realizing I was meditating, but just listening to the wind and birds and play and play and play,” said Joseph.
    After doing some research Joseph came across an article that a doctor had written about the side effects of someone playing a didgeridoo over someone else. The list seemed endless; relief of muscle spasms, relief of muscle tension, stress reduction, relief of insomnia etc. From there he asked friends, parents, and community members to let him test out his own stress reduction system on them.
    “I found out it was helping [them] with muscle tension and stress reduction and I got to thinking, there must be something to this,” said Joseph.
    After doing extensive research and speaking with numerous alternative medicine practitioners in the area, Joseph started doing combinational work with traditional Chinese medicine, Shamanism, Acupuncture, Reiki, and Massage Therapy.
    Joseph opened DidgeTherapy.com out of Portsmouth in 2004 and learned just how important his work could be for people. This therapy can be broken into three integrative parts which, combined, benefit people in many different ways.
    First, “It’s a sound massage,” said Joseph. “That’s the easiest way to explain it to people.”
    The vibrations of the Didgeridoo work in a similar way to an ultra sound. The sound waves can go down to zero hertz and “at that low of a frequency range you can snuff out a candle.” These vibrations warm the muscles from the inside creating relaxation throughout whatever is tender or strained.
    Second, is energetically. It’s very similar to Reiki or Chi-gong, but “like a power washer”. Reiki and Chi-gong are similar in practice. Both philosophies involve the transferring of a universal life force or spiritual energy through the master into the person who is receiving the energy, which induces a healing effect. Unlike Reiki, which needs both the master and the receiver to work together to remove energy blockages, the sound waves of the didgeridoo literally forces blockages of energy out of the body.
    Joseph integrates the Chakra theory into his therapy. Chakras initially were discovered in several eastern traditions and describe whorls of energy permeating out of the physical body. There are seven major Chakras in the body and each is attached to different organs and emotional states.
    The seven different keys a didgeridoo can be played in match up to the energy waves of the seven Chakras. Joseph plays the entire energetic system of a person and tries to align or balance each persons specific Chakras with the different keys. Energetic stagnation and emotional stagnation that resides in the body are typically in specific organs. The Didgeridoo helps remove these stagnations by realigning the Chakras.
“Avedic medicine for 3500 years has known the underlying tones of energetic system line up just like a scale. When you hear something in tune why does it sound in tune? It’s because there is a universal hum,” said Joseph.
    The third and final way the Didgeridoo works is meditatively.
    “The first two things are really nice but meaningless if a person cannot connect with their own delta brain waves and actually heal themselves,” said Joseph. “[One] needs a mind-body connection”.
    He explained that as a culture we are constantly on the go. When we wake up in the morning the first thing we think about is all the things we have to do that day and when were done the first thing we do is turn on the T.V. This constant “plugged” feeling makes our brain constantly run on overtime and does not give our mind or consciousness a time to relax and connect itself with our physical bodies. This makes for a build up of tension, anxiety, and stress, with no time to just release it.
    “My job is to teach people that it’s ok to say no to the media, no to feeling like they have to work 24/7, no to going to the mall, and yes to doing something for themselves—that something being nothing,” said Joseph. “When you look at all the wonderful things western advancements have brought to people, the question still arises of what does the average person do for themselves?”
Still through out all his work, Joseph insists he is not a healer.

Joseph Carringer works out of his home office in Portsmouth and more information on his work can be obtained at DidgeTherapy.com

SKI New Hampshire

2010-02-08T21:53:00.000-05:00

One of the benefits of going to school In New Hampshire is that we are in close driving range of mountains and right now skiing season is in full swing. Tickets to larger resort mountains can be close to $75 dollars, so for the love of bombing down a hill at full speed I have made a list of mountains that have great ski deals for you riders out there that fit into the category of shamelessly poor college students.

Western White Mountains
Cannon: Tuesdays & Thursdays: 1 for $40 or 2 for $66, Wednesdays: NH resident for $33
Bretton Woods: Wednesday 2 for $66
Waterville Valley: Any day with a college I.D. for $57, Mondays & Fridays 2 for $67

Eastern White Mountains
Wildcat: Sunday afternoon for $25, Wednesday 2 for $65, Thursdays Ladies ride for $45, Birthdays are free!
Attitash: Visit your local PB gas station and pick up a discount coupon for skiing--$10 off or 2 for 1 on Sundays till March
Black Mountain: Tuesdays Ladies ride for $20, Wednesday Half day for $15, Sunday NH residents ski the afternoon for $10
Cranmore: Sunday morning for $49, Sunday 2 for $90, “The weekender” 2 days of skiing for $90
King Pine: 2 for $44 on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, Sunday afternoon only $25

Dartmouth/ Lake Sunapee
Dartmouth Ski Area: Any weekday $25
Mount Sunapee: Monday $42, Tuesdays ladies ride for $49, Wednesdays 2 for $64, Sunday NH residents ride the afternoon for $38

Lakes Region
Gunstock: Monday 2 for $56, Wednesday & Friday night ski for $25, Saturday night ski for $30
Ragged Mountain: Mondays ladies ride for $29, Tuesdays 2 for $52, Wednesdays bring a “carload” of people (up to 8) for $99, Sunday NH residents ski the afternoon for $25

Monadnock Region/ Merrimack Valley
Crotched: Tuesdays 2 for $44, Tuesday night college students ride for $19, Friday nights college students ride for $29
Granite Gorge Ski Area: Every Saturday 3 P.M. to 6 P.M. ride for $35
Pats Peak: Saturday Nights ski 3 P.M to 10 P.M. for $39

When will the turning point be?

2010-02-08T12:33:00.000-05:00

When did we go wrong? When did we decide that commodities were more important then human life? Who was the catalyst that demanded power over people instead of people over power as the ultimate way of living?
As we see more and more catastrophes spread over our earth and our selves I think that the fundamental way that we live--our blinded faith in technology and industry to fix our problems will be seen as more then just misleading. We need to reevaluate our connection to each other and this universe. Instead of removing ourselves from it, instead of worrying about individual power and prosperity, we need to see the interconnection of all things and the role that we play in this connection. Our earth does so much for us, it sustains us, not only literally by giving us food and water, but spiritually as well. Her ice tipped mountains and rhythmic oceans humble us with beauty. Her infinite blue skies reach up to the cosmos pushing us to speculate what is out there. She nudges us to feel moved by the incredible vastness that we are all a part of. We no longer can hold ourselves and a species higher then the rest. We must step down and back in to the natural path of cooperation and co-existence. It is just as important for the white bengal tiger to live and be then for us to do the same. If we do not start realizing that the destruction of the planet means the destruction of ourselves. We will loose it forever.

Look to last night.
We have major companies spending three million dollars for 30 second clips of commercial during the Super-bowl. Three million dollars. Think of what that money could do. Instead, we have flashing images of Beer and Doritos, poisons for our bodies. Things to make us forget who we are and why we are living. People sit and stare at a flashing screen. A ritual that has become habit for most Americans. This has become the easiest way for human beings to turn off their minds and think only in the box in front of them. As this is happening our government is using Drones to bomb villages in Afghanistan. Drones that no one is flying and that land with out any regard for the people that do not have enough time to run away from their homes. Drones that cannot help civilians crawl out from under the rubble. Drones that do not say "i'm sorry, that was not supposed to land there".
This is in the name of freedom. This is for our privileged lifestyle. But are we really so lucky? Our tax dollars that we are mandated to pay are being used to kill children. When one wakes up and spends those long work days staring at a computer screen isolated in a cubicle, some of that money is being used to fund private military industries and oil companies. The oil that we put in our machines and that ruin our airs. Ruin our planet. Is that privileged?
Just a few days ago a soldier was arrested for water-boarding his young daughter because she could not repeat the alphabet. What are we doing sending our sons and daughters, friends, and acquaintances into a place where they come back acting this way? Why would we want to send our brothers and sisters of this earth through that when they could be here with us?

I am curious to see what will need to happen to make people really wake up and realize a fundamental change needs to take place. Not only in our individual lifestyles but one that permeates through the rivers and over the mountains and touches us all to help regain our humanity.

New England United Host Anti-War Conference at MIT

2010-02-02T14:09:00.000-05:00

At 10:30 Saturday morning around 300 people piled into a conference room at MIT to discuss the future of the anti-war movement in New England. The crowd ranged from grey haired men and women coming back for a fresh new approach to the movement they worked hard for in the 60’s to Cambridge high school students who only recently became aware of the size of the world and it’s multiple layers of political, social, and economic problems. As the morning’s Panel began, people continued to bustle in filling the stairs and doorways anxiously waiting to hear the speakers start the convention. Regardless of the positive energy that circulated the room, in shear numbers alone, it was apparent that the anti-war movement is alive and well.

New England United is a regional anti-war network started in July 2007. Their convention ran from 10:30 to 6:15 alternating between panels and workshops until the end where an organizing session was held to discuss ways to incorporate more people into a protest that will be held March 20^th in front of the white house. The main focus of the protest being mass support for bringing US troops home and ending the occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq.

The speakers covered a broad array of topics including the expansion of the U.S. occupation in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Palestine and it’s connection to resources needed for domestic social problems, to new US bases being set in Columbia and Honduras and the corruption that is interlaced in their governments, to the U.S. current decision to spend more money occupy Haiti then on aid for the devastated people there.

Glen Ford, editor of Black Agenda Report, an online journal of African American thought and action was one of the first to speak that morning.

“One can never really speak the truth too many times,” said ford, as he started his speech. He spoke of the lack of demand asked of Obama went he was put into office and the interestingly large amount of money corporations gave him when he was campaigning.

“How did corporations, blacks, and leftist all end up on the same side?“ Ford comically asked the audience. Calling it a “trick of history” Ford expressed his dismay when in 2008 the capitalistic system started to fall apart and instead of people fighting back they became completely demobilized.

Ashley Smith, of the International Socialist Review, spoke after claiming that to end the wars one needs to get the public to connect the dots between war spending and social progress. He explained that trying to talk to Obama and the Senate was a “waste of time” and one should put more energy into trying to change the minds of members of the House of Representatives.

“We should demand they do more then just talk about war opposition and block war spending,” said Smith.

Workshops ensued where people broke off into smaller groups and held discussions about topics that were more closely related to the activist work they do. The workshop topics were broad and diverse including, War in Latin America, Student Organizing, Resistance within the military, global warming and war, and redirecting military spending to meet human needs.

Seven UNH students attended the Student Organizing workshop in hopes of preparing themselves more thoroughly for the progression of the anti-war movement on and around the UNH campus.

Robert Hanson, an older man wearing a peace shirt was the first to speak in the workshop. He warned the group that his generation had failed in continuing the peace movement and now people see peace and anti-war activism the same way they see voting—something you only have to take part in once and awhile.

“If I can offer you some advice, if a suggestion comes up that sounds like the 60’s—put it on the backburner,” said Hanson.

The conversation continued to flow around the room as students and teachers offered advice as to how they could engage more people in the fight for justice.

As the conference came to a close people stood in the lobby of MIT smiling and sharing information about different organizations. A long day of networking and problem solving had taken place but the question comes to many of, what now?

Vanessa Ruiz, a junior philosophy student at UNH, gave the answer.

“This is just the first step in connecting with the other students for peace and creating a more connected network of people working for peace in our world,” said Ruiz.

Ecology and Values Homework.

2009-12-20T11:44:00.000-05:00

This just cracks me up every time I read it.
We had to writes myths portraying different environmental philosophies.

One day God was sitting around with his other godly buddies drinking some eternal vanilla tea and eating all benevolent cookies. They were playing what humans may call jacks. But instead of jacks they were using infinite points of singularity and the sun as their bouncy ball. When it was god’s turn to go, he was very giddy from his eternal tea and threw the sun down extra hard on the fabric of time. Well when it landed the sun collided extra hard with one of the points of singularity and sent pieces of it flying all over the place. God’s friend Steve looked at him solemnly, “that’s the third one this week god!” He yelled. “Whatever man, I’ll clean it up later” god replied and they went off to chill and think about “how like crazy it was that their was like 10 dimensions.” A couple trillion years later God was moseying along through the fabric of time and space and saw that his jack had started to turn into it’s very own universe! He was so excited and remembered how Steve had told him that one time he bought Sea Monkeys and they grew and lived together and he liked to watch them swim. God was so happy that he had his own little sea monkeys that he zoomed in to have a closer look. When he got to earth he realized that there were some animals that looked a lot like him. Even more excited, God stepped down on earth. When he got there he saw something that terrified him. One of the animals, a naked weird looking one, was eating one of its living breathing neighbors. God, being outside of time knew exactly where this would lead. He saw and knew of the corruption, industrialization, death, and weird grandma casseroles that sometimes you’re forced to at least “try”. He took the human to the side and explained that this could not be done. That there was enough food for all the animals and it did not consist of one another. The human seeing this all-powerful being up close and personal realized that there must be truth in what he was saying. He vowed to pass on the message to his brethrens and never touch a living creature again. God was very happy at this, and at that left his universe to go see if Steve’s sea monkeys had done the same.

There and Back Again: A Soldiers Tale.

2009-12-15T01:20:00.000-05:00

Below is an Interview with Alex Peterson that will be appearing in the next issue of Main Street Magazine @ UNH. Alex served in the Infantry Unit in the Iraq war in 2003. We need more people like him to come forward with their stories. We need to know the truth about what we are doing in the Middle East.

Lauren Howland: Tell me about what made you initially want to sign up.

Alex Peterson: My family has a history of serving in the military. My grandparents were in the navy, one of my grandfathers was a paratrooper, and my brother was in the Air Force. Ever since I was a young kid, I heard all their stories, and I thought, “Oh! I want to join the Army.” It was almost this glorified thing—a patriotic mentality. Back then I didn’t realize that patriotism was a way for the state to keep people a bunch of bootlicking slaves. When 9/11 happened I was in 9^th grade. I was pretty young. At the time, I went along with the whole “rally around the flag effect.” I wanted to join the infantry. I thought it was cool to run around, kick doors down, and I saw all the TV ads where people are jumping out of helicopters. I thought, “sick! I want that job.” I knew I didn’t want to work in an office.

LH: You were 17?

AP: Yes.

LH: Tell me about basic training.

AP: It was done at Fort Benning, that’s where they have the infantry school, so you do it all at once. You do your basic training for ten weeks and then infantry school right after for six weeks. Each job has it’s own program. Everyone is a soldier first—if you ever found yourself in combat—and in basic training you learn those tactics. Infantry just goes into more detail. But, its pretty much one big brainwash the whole time.

LH: Can you explain why?

AP: The way they condition. They make it glorified death in combat. They make you laugh about it, and make it a fun thing, and a good thing to do. Some of the marching cadences are different than what they are all singing along to in the movies. I guess it was supposed to be entertaining. Raise our moral. Some that I was taught were, “I went to the playground where all the children play, I took out my Uzi and began to spray. Left-Right-Left-Right-Left-Right-KILL. Left-Right-Left-Right you know I will.” Then it goes, “I went to the grocery store where all the women shop. I took out my machete and began to chop. Left-Right-Left-Right-CHOP.” Then there were other ones, “Napalm sticks to kids and makes them sizzle and makes them fizz.” That was the main chorus. There were others, “My buddy is in a foxhole a bullet in his head the copters are coming, the medic says he’s wounded but I know he’s dead.” Random morbid songs. I mean they had normal ones, too.

LH: Can you speak more about the conditioning?

AP: During target practice we shot at silhouettes of people. It became normal to shoot at a silhouette and that’s what a person looks like from far away anyway. You just see the silhouette—their outline. They teach us that they’re not people. They dehumanize them. They portray the enemies as Arabs and they make jokes, “They’re all the same—they’re all terrorists.” When I went over to Iraq in 2006 I automatically assumed that everyone was some evil terrorist. Maybe there were some civilians here and there, but we just looked at everyone as if they were terrorists anyway. Completely dehumanized.

LH: What did you have to do in infantry for those two years you were there?

AP: The infantry are the people who kick down doors and patrol areas. In Iraq you’re doing more of a military police mission: guarding convoys and patrolling city streets. We did Cordon and Search—that’s where you section off a block of houses and then search every house for weapons. Every now and then you do foot patrols. Sometimes you’re doing random searches and sometimes you’re trying to find a particular person.

LH: Did you ever take anyone that you thought was innocent?

AP: Camp A in Compound One contained people that were all picked up at the wrong place, wrong time. Or maybe just stole something, but they’re mostly innocent. For instance, they arrested 20 people at the site of a bomb and those 20 people just happened to be there. It had nothing to with them. They are thrown in prison and get on a waiting list to have a trail. They are there for years. I worked in a prison for a bit. It was horrible. It just propagated further conflict. It was a recruiting ground for extremists. While minor offenses are there for years and years waiting for trial, Al Qaeda Chiefs go in and get released for lack of evidence.

LH: Did you work with any soldiers that you thought were acting inhumanely?

AP: Yes, especially in the prisons there is this cop mentality. It’s like a control thing. You see some of them just totally treat the prisoners like shit. Even if it’s an innocent person. They’ll tell them to squat down and give them half a second and then just throw them to the ground. Or they make up stupid reasons to punish someone and put them in the segregation box. It’s a metal box—a heat box. It’s like some WWII prison box and they just sit in there and roast all day depending on what their offense was.

LH: Can you tell us one particular incident that sticks out in your mind?

AP: In the juvenile camp there is a curfew. They’re not allowed to leave their tent even to go to the bathroom. So, this 12-year-old kid was sitting outside his tent reading his Koran. He’s just sitting there, barely outside, and this one guard was yelling at him to, “Go inside! Go inside!” picking up his shotgun and pointing it at him. The kid said, “I’m right by the door, I'm not bothering anyone.” I was next shift and I didn’t really care, I let him do whatever. The next hour we rotated again, and that same guard was back on duty, and the kid was still there reading. This time the soldier didn’t even give any warnings. He just flipped out. He shoots his shotgun right at the kid. It was with rubber rounds because we can’t use “force” unless they’re outside of the fence. He just slams this kid and throws him in the segregation box for 12 hours. Later he goes to the segregation box and throws piss on him, then writes a report that the kid threw piss on him instead and totally switched the story around. The kid was sent to solitary confinement. It’s such a small room. You can barely lie down and he was in there for two weeks because of what that guy did. The soldier just laughs about it and jokes about it to our group afterwards. We all laughed about it, we didn’t really care. This kid was 12 years old and we just looked at him like an animal.

LH: Can you tell us about some of your experiences working on the streets, working with the people? When you had to go in and survey houses? Did people fight against that? Did you think it was right?

AP: Well, their culture used to be very secular and when the war started all these militias started popping up and extremists from different countries used that as a tool to recruit people and get retribution. When we went into the houses there was a survival mentality. If it’s an area where the militias are strong they will just not even talk to us or help us. If they allow us to search their house the militia will kill them because they will assume that they talked. They don’t even have to work with us or get along with us and they will be killed. They think that if they work with us they will get help or they will get food and water. But if they don’t get their food that day then they’ll shoot at us. If they do get their bread and water then they’re our friends. It shifts like that. A lot of them attack us because if they don’t a militia will kill someone they love.

LH: When did you start questioning your presence there?

AP: In the prison and when I learned Arabic I got more involved and could communicate, even cared to communicate. I just realized they were humans like us and half of them had nothing to do with it. The terrorists were such a minority. If people did fight us it was for other reasons—like the death of their kid. One older guy told me he was educated in England but was an Iraqi. He said, “what would you do if you were in America and troops were driving down your street in tanks and walking around with guns. Wouldn’t you fight back?” He was fighting because he felt his home was being invaded. It was self-defense and because his family members were killed in the beginning of the war. We don’t realize that these people are brothers, sisters, sons, and daughters. Just think about that happening to you here if you were being attacked. If I was shooting a robber robbing my house and I missed him and hit a baby in the background, I would be held responsible for that. That’s pretty much what's happening in Iraq. There have been over 103,000 civilian deaths, that’s 103,000 people that America has hit trying to shoot the criminal.

LH: Did you ever feel the U.S. army was using you for as a tool for their better interest?

AP: Yes. I was infantry. We are expendable. We’re very cheap to train. Some of the more professional jobs are months and months or years of training so it costs more. But, the infantry are expendable. You have Halliburton, Cheney’s KBR’s, Cheney's company doing all the contracting. He’s making a fortune—making billions off this war. It’s a total corporate war. This one time they sent us down a road on patrol and later we find out that we were being sent out to find any roadside bombs. If we found them we were to call the bomb squad and they would come and dismantle them. If they blew us up that was cool too. Then after we cleared the road by either being killed by the bombs or finding them, then the expensive convoy and the corporate profits would go down the road and be protected. This way they don’t lose their money. They would lose more from ruining their KBR truck than losing one solider.

LH: Did any soldiers you know die in this kind of “expendable” manner?

AP: Yes. His name was Matthew Stanley. He was from Wolfeboro, NH, and we met on a Fort Operating Base in December. He wasn’t in my unit but we kept in contact. A roadside bomb killed him. One of those convoys came down the road after the soldiers. He basically died for corporate interest and profit. He was only 18 years old. There were four other people in his Humvee that were killed as well. I got home and my parents introduced me to these two people: Mr. and Mrs. Savage. They tell me that their son, Matt, served and was killed in Iraq. They’re telling me his story and mention that his death was in December. I said, “wait, are you talking about Matthew Stanley?” They said, “Yes, that’s our son.” It was the hardest thing I ever did to talk to Mrs. Savage after that. I was the last person she knew that had talked to him before he died.

LH: Now that you’re out of the military would you ever go back?

AP: Definitely not. Morally I just can’t do it. What we were doing over there is not protecting against terrorism. Iraq before that was pretty secular. Saddam hated Al Qaeda and he kept Iran in check. And now, were just fighting people that have no capability to come over here and hurt us. It’s not self-defense at all. Were just going and making billions over there and getting more influence in the Middle East. It’s not a war that will ever end. It will never end the way they have it. How many years have we been there? This was is longer than World War II was and are we safer? I mean, we haven’t been attacked and some people might say we are safer, but the people we are fighting have no capability to come over here anyway. What we’re not safe from is our rights being taken away in this war. The Patriot Act was used for illegal wire-tapping. It was supposed to be just for “terrorists” but now they use it for minor felonies and drug crimes. They use fear to control the populous. I can’t be a part of that. A lot of people wake up when they get over there. I’m not the only one. When you realize that you’re being lied to and you’re being used as a pawn, it’s the worst feeling ever. You feel horrible for what you were doing because you thought what you were doing was a good thing. Sometimes that can take a while to get over. Might as well avoid it if possible.

A Quick Reflection...

2009-12-15T01:08:00.000-05:00

Over Thanksgiving when I was visiting my family, I was sitting outside trying to read Zadie Smith's On Beauty in the backyard. My dad ended up coming outside which gave me that little extra push I needed to ultimately put down the novel and try to express my infinite frustration about the world to him. My ultimate question being: How is it possible that as a species we have become so obsessed with functioning in this consumer society that we ignore the act of speculating what is beyond that kind of lifestyle? How do we not ponder and muse over the idea that we are just this tiny planet in this INFINITE universe and what that all really means? Who tricked us into thinking that we were supposed to be living this way? He told me that I ask all the good questions and he doesn't have any of the good answers.

Anyway, that made me think of a Modest Mouse I really like and this beautiful sunset I saw down the road the other day. Sunsets can make me cry.

Out of breath and out of cash,
find yourself watching M.A.S.H.,
every night on the couch.
Woman says let's take a drive down south,
roll down the windows and open our mouths
taste where we are and play the music loud.
Stop the car, lay on the grass,
the planets spin and we watch space pass.
Walk a direction, see where we get.
I never knew nothin' so there's nothin' to forget.
Get real drunk and ride our bikes.
There's so much beauty it could make you cry.
The rich get money but never what they want.
Find ourselves a new place to haunt.
Climb up the fire escape do it 'til the ground looks far away.
Go night swimming, leave our clothes on the ground,
when we get busted we just stand there proud.
It's the truth we all been wrong
make it up and let's move on.
Playing cards we all get to act sly
there's so much beauty it
could make you cry.

Well, at least it got some Media Coverage..

2009-12-14T21:38:00.000-05:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KfKXDrYbdgU

Students @ UNH protest Smith Hall Change.

2009-12-14T16:11:00.000-05:00

Students held hands and walked circles in silence around Mark Huddleston's office today at the University of New Hampshire. Some made signs that were taped to their bodies, but all had blue duck tape covering their mouths.
The protest was in response to surprising news that Smith Hall, the well known international dorm on campus, would be turned into an Administrative building. Students were not informed of the decision until it was displayed in the TNH, the student newspaper. A response rang out on the campus fueled with anger at the university's unwillingness to discuss the decision with the student body. Even the Student Senate, normally on top of issues such as this, was not informed on the decision. Huddleston refused to come down to make a public statement to the 80 or so students outside his office. Yet, he told a select few who went to speak with him personally during the protest that he would publicly apologize for the way the school handled the decision and soon would be in touch with Student Senate to discuss the future of Smith hall.

Monday 1-4 UNH Students will rally to demand their voices heard!

2009-12-11T14:22:00.000-05:00

Join us at Smith Hall Monday 1-4 to tell UNH president Mark Huddleston that we will not stand to have our international dorm turned into an Administrative building. More information Below,.

FYI, THIS DAY IS A UNIVERSITY READING DAY.

This is first and foremost, a peaceful walk of students to demand that their voices are to be heard in the administration process. It is also to ask that the re-purposing of Smith Hall be re-evaluated by the executive board, while also including the student voice.

Although this has been previously stated as a protest, rally, gathering, event, etc...it is in fact NOT any of these things. Pardon our mistake, the purpose has now changed. THIS IS A WALK.

***
Dear Fellow UNH Students, Alumni, and Friends,

Smith Hall is being turned into an administration building. This is concerning news because UNH is displacing over 100 years of tradition. It is the University's first dormitory. It is currently the University's only international dorm, and currently the home of some of your friends.

Most importantly this executive decision was made without informing students during the decision-making process.

The Space Allocation Repair and Renovation Committee, also known as SARRC, stated about three weeks earlier that Smith was being considered into being turned into an administration building. Immediately after hearing this announcement Smith Hall residents tried to look up the meeting times of this organization to be able to have a say during the decision-making process.No website was found that listed the members of this committee, or of the people who had a final say in the process. A petition was formed soon after and is still on going, but not enough time was given. On the night of November 30th 2009 it was announced that Smith Hall was chosen to be the new admissions office .

Students, just like you, wanted to provide a defense but were not given an opportunity.

It was only after the announcement that we found out that the President's Cabinet made the final decision.

STUDENTS HAD NO SAY AT ALL during the execution of this and many other decisions. Student Senate has NO binding power on executive decisions. This behavior is not new in the administration’s history. Decisions were made and were not known until after plans were finalized, and have directly impacted students. Relevant examples include but certainly not limited to:

1. The demolishment of a large portion of Forrest Park (2006). Forrest Park houses families of graduate students, most of which are international.
2. The passing of the Deferred Maintenance Fee, a new fee recently passed for this year (2009-2010). Student senate was not able to vote yes or no, even though this fee directly affects students.
3. The location of the location of the New Business School, the Paul T. Peter School of Business and Economics.
4. Anyone here is free to express any other changes.

A list of demands are for change are below. For further detail, see * at the bottom:
1. Transparency of Administrative Processes
2. Legitimate administrative Power beholden to the Student Senate.
3. Let Students Decide the Fate of Smith Hall

Isn't it absurd that you are spending thousands of dollars on this University and your student senators, the President and Vice President of the student body do not have a binding vote on any of these decisions?

If you are against Smith Hall being turned into an administration building, join this peaceful and non-violent walk.

If you believe that students should have a say in decisions made by the administration, JOIN US! It is apparent that history has a way of repeating itself with the current process. Don't you deserve a say on a decision that affects your life as a student of UNH? Smith Hall is simply the most recent example of their blatant disregard of your and your fellow students' interests.

Please join us. We love our dorm very much. We have great memories here. It is a place that cannot be replaced or moved elsewhere because the sense of comfort and community here has been nestled in this dorm since 1908.

If it's us now, wouldn't your dorm be next? Talks have risen that the international community would be moved to another dorm. What about the people that currently live in the dorm to be designated "the new international dorm". Where will they go? Groups of people cannot be shifted around anymore because their voices have no power.

We can give real power to the student voice on Monday December 14th at 1:00 pm. Meet us at Smith Hall.

Humbly asking for your support,

Smith Hall Residents
aka Smithies

*Full Text of Demands:
1. Published agendas and meeting agendas must be available and easily accessible to unh website.
Agendas must be published 24 hrs before the meeting.
-The student senate can view agenda items and anything they have an issue with they can vote to review. If the vote passes they can review and make binding changes to that item, which can be reviewed by the Presidential Cabinet once more.
2. All administrative decisions that affect student life on campus must be passed by the student senate. If not then they have to be re-reviewed and resubmitted.
3. Until student senate has a binding vote, Smith hall remains as a residence building. We are demanding that this issue go through the review process described above, and we will accept the student senate’s decision on this issue as a legitimate representation of the student body’s wishes.

*FRIENDS PLEASE READ*
Nonviolence guidelines, courtesy of the UNH Peace and Justice League. They have also helped us with many aspects of the planning process. Thanks guys, you rock!

We ask that you:

- Have an attitude of openness and respect towards all people you encounter
- Use no violence (verbal or physical) toward any person
- Protect any opponents or counter-protesters from insults or attack, but do not use violence as a form of protection.
- Destroy no property
- Use no drugs or alcohol
- Carry no weapons, including large objects and other weapons banned from University grounds.

DAY OF:
1) Wear a blue shirt, jacket, or sweater.

2) Do not carry signs. All picket signs must be approved by grounds and roads beforehand, or else we will be fined. SOLUTION: WEAR YOUR SIGN. Since it would be considered a part of your clothing, they have no say against that.
*tape a flyer on your shirt (may be given/make your own). Or design it.
*OR if you have a sign, put a string on the top and hang it on your neck (like a walking sign)
*OR anything else you can think of, as long as t is attached to your body independently from your hands.

1) It is stated that this will be a peacefull walk.
2) Our words are in these letters are not threating but they are powerful, because we are meant to be heard.
3) Because this call for change is inspired by the re-purposing of Smith, the manner in which this walk will be done by honoring values that define it's motto: kindness, courage, and honesty.

Thank you, and POWER TO THE PEOPLE.

Contact Information:

President Mark W. Huddleston
Office of the President
University of New Hampshire
Thompson Hall
105 Main Street
Durham, NH 03824 USA
Tel: (603) 862-2450
Fax: (603) 862-3060
email: presidents.office@unh.edu

Mark Rubinstein
Interim Foundation President/Vice President for Advancement
(603) 862-1627
mark.rubinstein@unh.edu

Dick Cannon, Vice President Finance and Administration
Phone: 862-2232
E-mail: Dick.Cannon@unh.edu
Assistant: Celine Chiasson, 862-2232

University of New Hampshire, circa 2008

2009-12-11T14:18:00.000-05:00

How Many Deaths are Necessary?

2009-12-11T14:17:00.000-05:00

Here is an incredible article done by anti-war.com. Afghanistans "Bravest Woman" tells U.S. to get out
and that our occupation is not wanted. Please read it, the article is incredibly moving and informative...
some essential qualities that are lacking from the NYT lately..

http://original.antiwar.com/glantz/2009/12/09/afghanistan’s-bravest-woman-pins-hopes-on-usa-not-obama/

Cap and Trade Debunked

2009-12-06T10:41:00.000-05:00

Annie Leonard, maker of the short film "Story of Stuff" has made a new one explaining the politics of Cap and Trade and how it won't save our planet as people would like to hope. Watch it here, "Cap and Trade" to learn the real deal and what you should do to help make a cleaner sustainable future possible with out just big business making out with the profit once again.

Peace and Justice league members protest war at UNH

2009-12-02T23:17:00.000-05:00

On Tuesday, after a three week wish wash session Obama announced to the public that he would be sending 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan. Peace and Justice league members along with students, durham residents, and high school organizers of the Strong Democratic Society sprang into action today to protest this decision. The numbers were small but are necessary to spread the wave of public action and gather as many people as possible to tell our administration we are sick of hearing lies and that we are not in support of the unnecessary deaths of our U.S. soldiers and Afghan civilians.

“Jailed Civil Rights Activist Comes to Speak at UNH”

2009-12-02T19:28:00.000-05:00

Students and professors gathered Tuesday night in UNH’s Murkland theatre to hear Palmer Legare, a social activist who served three months in federal prison for civil disobedience against the U.S. Army School of Americas (S.O.A), speak out against the school. He encouraged the audience to resist and revolutionize with the people of Guatemala by protesting the school and by giving money to the organization he helped co-found—The Guatemala Solidarity Project (GSP). The organization works to close the US Army School of the Americas and with social justice organizations in Latin America to pressure countries from sending soldiers to the S.O.A.

The School of America’s is a United States tax-funded military facility located on the base of Fort Benning in Columbus, Georgia. Since its opening in 1946, the school has trained nearly 60,000 military and police officers from Latin America and the United States. Its graduates have included some of the region’s most notorious human rights abusers of all time.

In Guatemala, a small country of 10 million, the indigenous Mayan population of six million has endured the greatest suffering in Latin America. Thousands have been slaughtered during more than 30 years of civil war with the total killed estimated to exceed 200,000. A good percentage of generals involved in the numerous crimes against humanity and military coups during this period were trained at the S.O.A. by American military generals.

According to the United Nations Truth Commission report, graduates claimed they learned how to tie up prisoners of war, torture them, and use other techniques to get information. One class allegedly ended with the killing of hundreds of dogs and drinking a cup of their blood from a disposable cup. In 1999 a bill was written up to close the school, but lost in the senate by one vote. The next year the pentagon decided to write up a bill that would close it. It passed.

“I am happy to say it no longer exists,” said Lagare.

The school was then turned into the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Operations (W.H.I.N.S.E.C). It was in the exact same location with the same buildings and same teachers. It has almost all the same curriculum with 29 of the 37 courses having the same title. “They pulled it off with military and government support and now no senator will sponsor legislature to close it,” Legare told the audience.

Legare was arrested in 2001 after he laid down a cross to represent one of the people who had been killed by a graduate of the S.O.A and with about 30 other protestors walked onto the grounds of the school. When he got home there was a message waiting for him explaining he would have to serve three months in prison on the Fort Devons Military Base in Massachusetts.

“It was a blessing in disguise,” said Lagare. “It was not fun but I thought of it as kind of a semester abroad except I learned a lot more then any of my semesters at school.”

Some in the audience were stunned that they had never learned about the S.O.A before. Josh Meyorwitz, a professor of Communication at UNH explained that the media has been less than adequate in it’s coverage of Latin America and the S.O.A. over the years.

“The U.S. has supported dictatorships, overthrown democratic governments, and set up economic policies that have hurt most of the Guatemala population in favor of elites. The U.S. news media have a real hard time telling that kind of story,” said Meyorwitz.

“Beyond that, the major news networks have no major news bureaus in all of Latin America—ABC, NBC, and CBS have zero.”

Students last week from the Peace and Justice League Organization on campus attended a protest outside the S.O.A. to show their support for the closing of the school. Bekah Hawley a sophomore at UNH went down with the group and attended Legare’s speech.

“It just makes me think again about how much work is being done on the issue. Its always beautiful to see folks working with people who are affected as well as trying to shut down the S.O.A.,” said Hawley. “I think its great how he was trying to empower and protect communities.”

According to the W.H.I.N.S.E.C. website, the purpose of the school is to educate individuals on democratic principles and promote democratic values, respect for human rights, and knowledge and understanding of United States customs and traditions.

End the FED rally brings U.S. dollar into question

2009-11-26T03:45:00.000-05:00

Approximately 50 people gathered outside the Federal Reserve building in Boston this past Saturday to show their support of the Federal Reserve Transparency Act of 2009 (HR 1207) that is making it’s way through the house and to show the Federal Reserve they are fed up with it’s actions. The group ranged from men and women running for seats in the house and senate, to citizens, to students in the organization Young Americans for Liberty from UNH.
            The Federal Reserve has received much criticism between it’s founding in 1913 to now with the American dollar loosing over 90% of it’s value. Recently, there has been much more widespread public anger in response to the bails-out of Wall Street but not ordinary citizens and unemployment in the double digits for the first time in many years.
Yet, many believe the Federal Reserve is a necessary institution that performs a number of essential functions in times of economic crisis.
“…We should expect the FED to incur losses during crises for the benefit of the rest of the economy. This role is of pivotal importance. Without it a vicious circle develops whereby a weakened economy lessens lending, further weakening the economy and then further deterring lending and so on,” said Josh Stillwagon, a first year graduate professor of economics at UNH.
Many economists say congressional efforts to harness the feds powers could interfere with the central banks ability to help guide the fragile economy to recovery.
The bill HR 1207 would authorize Congress to audit not only the Fed's lending programs but its basic decisions to set monetary policy by raising or lowering interest rates. For some this is a step towards ultimately ending the private centralized banking power that has interfered with interest rates in our country up to this point.
            Among the speakers at the rally in Boston was resident of New Hampshire Jim Forsythe. Forsythe has a PHD in aerospace engineering and currently serves as the Chair of the Republican Liberty Caucus in New Hampshire and the New Hampshire Republican Liberty PAC. He speech emphasized Austrian Economics and the business cycle theory which states that the level of national output necessarily maximizes expected utility, and government should therefore concentrate on the long-run structural policy changes and not intervene through discretionary fiscal or monetary policy designed to actively smooth economic short-term fluctuations. He also told the audience of the idea of a “crack-up boom”. The basic premise being eventually people will realize that inflation is a deliberate policy that will go on endlessly and they will try to swap their money for real goods.
“Some smart people are betting we are getting close to this ‘crack–up boom’ and investing in gold,” said Forsythe. “We must audit the fed at a minimum and if the ‘crack-up boom’ is starting this audit might turn into an autopsy.”
Although most in attendance were excited about the bill making progress through the house some felt it was not enough. Susan Allen who is running against Barney Frank for the 14^th district in Massachusetts was one of these people. She has a plan to gain back the value of the dollar and it’s gaining momentum.
            Allan wants everyone to take jewelry-making classes to learn to create silver and gold pendants. She wants people to order sheets of silver and start stamping coins. Once they are created people will use them as a set currency and trade with others for certain goods and services. Once they have enough critical mass she is going to demand the U.S. treasury that they take all the gold and silver in circulation and all the gold and silver they have in the treasury and divide that amount by the federal dollars circulating. This will give people a value for their dollar in gold and silver. At that point she will require that they return all the money from the U.S. treasury into circulating banks and which point people will go and turn all their federal reserves in exchange for silver and gold. It will give the value back for our dollar. All those federal notes will be paid back to the Federal Reserve extinguishing the deficit and that point our country will have obtained its sovereignty.
“My vision is that on December 31, 2010 that building right there across the street will be vacated. I can see it now,” said Allen.
            Megan Duffield of the organization Ladies of Liberty Alliance (LOLA) came down to show her support for the second year in a row.
“I think we should end the Fed because it’s monopolizing on our chance to actually gain wealth in our country. They print money out of thin air and it makes no sense. The value of the dollar is decreasing on a daily basis and the affordability of living is going up when in actuality if the government stopped intervening with the currency system everything would be a lot more affordable and people would not be benefiting off of it on wall street and in the federal government,” said Duffield.
Break Clark a Forestry Major at UNH had a similar bone to pick.
“We need to end the Federal Reserve because it’s a big central bank and central banks are never a good thing. The fact that they deny the right of transparency should be the red flag. They tweak interest rates and print money at will with out regards to the dollar. They devalue the savings of everyone that worked hard to have them,” said Clark.
This was the first protest Clark had attended and he plans to go to more.
“I was tired of just complaining about it,” said Clark.

More photos from the End the Fed Rally.

2009-11-24T12:58:00.000-05:00