A Couple Important Updates
Dear Joan,
This is the rare Joyful Activist update right on the heels of the last one. I try to give everyone's inbox a break, but this time, I hope you appreciate the update. There's a time change for Oct. 15, and there's a big discount for Leaders Causing Leaders. And a link to my latest blog entry, just for the fun of it. Also, Pasadena Whole Foods is excited to do a project with us in their neck of the woods. If you know a group or potential project around Pasadena that could use our special volunteer magic, please be in touch.
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October 15 at Westside Global Awareness Magnet School - Please note new start time
is Noon.
Our October action will be at the Westside Global Awareness Magnet School. Since this is a magnet school, many of the students are bused in from other parts of the city. That means they have fewer local parents to help them out, so us pitching in will be even more appreciated.
Some of the fun will include:
- Painting a vibrant mural (not the one pictured above, but a similar design by the same artist, Denis Thomopoulos)
- Building a 70 foot long raised bed for fruit trees
- Planting the fruit trees (provided we finish the beds in time ;-)
- Painting a water cistern
Julia Morgan will be leading the effort. There will be our usual mix of merriment.
Bring a water bottle, sun protection, gloves and tools
if you have them. (Battery powered drills and phillips head bits will be especially useful)
Musical instruments too if you like.
All ages are welcomed and encouraged. Bring the whole family.
Westside Global Awareness Magnet School
Saturday, Oct. 15
noon – 5pm
104 Anchorage St.
Marina del Rey, CA 90292
Healthy food provided by Whole Foods Market Venice.
Link to the Facebook event page.
Leaders Causing Leaders
Here's a 50% discount for this great event. Click on the image below and enter the discont code "belove" when checking out.
I'll be speaking at this inspiring event. Come for both days and bring out the leader within you. Hear many of your favorite speakers, all in one place.
Stop by the Social Issues panel at 2pm on Saturday to hear me and say hi.
Click on the flyer below to purchase tickets.
And this just in, the first 10 folks to email rsvp@leaderscausingleaders.com get a free pass. Mention Joyful Activist when you rsvp.
Leaders Causing Leaders
October 8 & 9
Marriott Hotel
4100 Admiralty Way
Marina del Rey, CA 90292
What's Going on at Occupy Los Angeles?
I've been down to City Hall twice now to see firsthand what's happening with Occupy Los Angeles. It's pretty inspiring to see the first crop of "leader-full", as they put it, demonstrations in the U.S. We just may be waking up and interconnecting, in a way unknown til now. Below is my first blog post, with another to soon follow. Here's the site for up the minute happenings down there: http://occupylosangeles.org/. It includes live video streams from both NY and LA.
photo credit: Mercado Ético
Here's a teaser:
The American Autumn
Occupy Wall St. has become the occupation of our hearts. The Love Revolution has begun.
On Saturday, October 1, in solidarity with Occupy Wall Street, I marched with probably a few thousand other folks who represented a wide cross section of the people of Los Angeles. We started at Pershing Square and ended at City Hall. Though only a few blocks of physical distance, we crossed a paradigm
threshold along the way. I realized what this, part of the first wave of social media protests in the United States, is doing. It is reminding us that we are all in this together. I looked around and saw the answers to our society’s ills in the faces around me. We no longer need look to our so-called leaders to solve our problems. We are the leaders.
Twenty years ago, back in the lead up to the first U.S.-Persian Gulf War, when we organized the Los Angeles-based protests, our tools were largely in-person meetings, phone calls, and printed flyers. It took tremendous effort to get people to attend. And our small steering committee was tasked with coming up with a message for the gatherings. Of course, there were agendas for each of the organizers, and these did not always align with the greater aim of the actions.
What I experienced on that gorgeous Saturday was finally something akin
to the worldwide protests we have been seeing of late. After the Arab Spring, where our bothers and sisters across the ocean have reminded us of what democracy can look like, we have now entered the American Autumn. Like the song from another generation said, “There’s something happening here. What it is ain’t exactly clear.” As the Vietnam War era had Kent State, we have just seen the macing of peaceful women in New York. Not to equate the seriousness of the acts, rather, these were the moments in time when the populace stopped seeing the protesters as ‘the other’ and instead saw in the protesters reflections of themselves. That’s me, my daughter, my mom. And that’s not right. I’m with her.
For now, that is more than enough. There is no single demand. Great. There is no list of endorsers to the coalition. Wonderful. We have a real people-powered
operation afoot. May it not be co-opted.
And so it begins. We are no longer even the other 99%. We have crossed over and become the 100%. Everyone is on the side of greater connectivity, greater love, greater equity, even if they don’t know it yet. We as a global community are headed inescapably down a new path. It will not be a smooth or direct ride. Demonstrations will start and stop. People will feel more and then less connected. But make no mistake; we are living in a time when it’s no longer a theory that we are all one. One people. On one planet. The absolutely interconnected nature of our world means we must look out for each other, as we would look after ourselves....
Read the full article here: http://joyconspiracy.blogspot.com/
November Action is on 11/12 - Please Save the Date
In November, we will return to the Learning Garden at Venice High School. We began our Joyful Activist Club Venice actions there last year, and now we're going back to rebuild the greenhouse! This is going to be a very fun challenge. Don't miss it. ___
Remember, we are always open to your suggestions for future Joyful Actions, and will consider all community oriented organizations and projects in Venice, plus now Pasadena, Glendale, Silverlake, Echo Park, Los Feliz and Eagle Rock.
And tell us of your personal Joyful Activities wherever they may occur.
Yours in joy,
Francis
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