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ADDING TO THE LOCAL DIGNITY: Creating More Dignity Villages

carlos-ity — Sun, 11 May 2008 02:59:43 GMT

A message from a homeless person seeking to contribute aide to his fellow homeless persons:
(also posted on portland.indymedia.org today)

(note: I am only a go-between here, so please do not contact me, contact the number here!)

summary:
Been noting a sustained presence out on Hawthorne SE where a young man has been spending many hours standing and seeking to reach out to a seemingly largely aloof passersby with his excelling vision. He is seeking to create more dignity in a "NEW DIGNITY VILLAGE" with all that entails and more. I don't know him personally but have seen him at the same place several times and thought someone ought to help get his vision out to more people --in a more "easy to read" way. Somewhat edited towards maximum clarity (further clarity will help too!).

story:
This isn't hype nor dogma and you'll see why:
"DID YOU KNOW THAT THE ONLY PLACE FOR THE HOMELESS TO SLEEP AT IS CITY HALL?

"PEOPLE ARE SLEEPING OUTSIDE OF CITY HALL BECAUSE ALL SHELTERS ARE FULL AND THE CITY SAYS WE CANNOT CAMP ANY PLACE UNDER ANY BRIDGE. WE NEED MORE SHELTERS SO WOMEN AND MEN, COUPLES AND SINGLES, WILL NOT FREEZE TO DEATH (when it has been cold); THIS IS WHY WE NEED YOUR HELP."

"I AM NO ONE JUST A FUND RAISER, THE NEXT MALCOLM X, THE NEW DR.MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. I DO NOT DO DOPE OR DRINK, I AM SINGLE AND AN enemy of the state BECAUSE I WANT TO HELP ALL PEOPLE NOT BRING YOU DOWN [into depression]!" the 'Honorable Minister X' says. He is an obvious visionary and wants to create a new space, a new village. He wants to add to the dignity of homeless people in a way he can imagine could really work!!!

Notably, the 'honorable Minister X' apparently comes from the tradition of Malcolm X and the depth of content that folks dealing with some of the heaviest realities have long been forced to deal with (and thus, quite sanely, turn to religious structures for re-balancing when nothing else seems even remotely likely).

"LIKE MALCOLM X WE WISH TO HELP MAKE ALL PEOPLE BETTER PEOPLE BY WAY OF EDUCATION..."

"IF WE ALL STARTED NONPROFIT AND FOR PROFIT ORGANIZATIONS, EMPLOY OURSELVES AND OTHERS AND CREATE SOMETHING TO GIVE BACK TO OUR COMMUNITY WE WILL HELP THE WORLD!

Visions:
Nonprofit/501 c-3 status for this visionary space
A prison pal ministry
A Job Skills Shelter
An Innocent People Legal Defense Fund Ministry
And much more.

Needs:
Board of directors, etc. needed
We need 6 board of directors and a secretary, a C.P.C., an Attorney at Law, a grant writer to start a ulc church ministry

VOLUNTEER TIME, MONEY, COMPUTERS, TABLES, CHAIRS, A BUILDING
ALL THAT IS NEEDED TO TAKE CARE OF 200 HOMELESS, JOBLESS, UNSKILLED COUPLES AND SINGLES THAT SLEEP UNDER PORTLAND'S BRIDGES.

"...WE MUST SHOW LOVE TO ALL WHO HATE US!"

Get involved!
(503)839-9772

Donate to:
Lavenia Rod Gigues:
St.Francis, apartment 1024 SW Main
Portland, OR 97205

also:
INNOCENT PEOPLE CONFESS TO CRIMES THEY DIDN'T COMMIT!

See "Why Innocent People Confess--It's not a breakdown of American justice. It's American justice working as designed."
By Michael Kinsley
Posted Thursday, Dec. 12, 2002, at 12:09 PM
www.slate.com/id/2075319/workarea/3/

posted in Free School - Portland - 0 replies

Seeking to be a Healer's Apprentice

Shari — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 04:56:19 GMT

Greetings! My name is Shari, and I am a 20 year old medical student.
I am studying the healing arts, specifically naturopathic and holistic healthcare.
In constant observation of human evolution, interconnectivity, Energy, and Spirit.

I have a vast array of interests, in the matter of holistic healing, and seek to learn more.
I am seeking to help in exchange for knowledge.
For example, helping in the garden this Spring, to learn all about the herbs and plants.
Or helping you with your reiki in exchange for learning reiki.

I would like to learn as much as I can, and may the right spirits find this message.

Blessed Be,
Perception

posted in Free School - Portland - 0 replies

3 movies on Post Cheap Petroleum Cuba

Alexander — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 16:09:37 GMT

3 movies on Post Cheap Petroleum Cuba

The Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil
http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid=4981871524314644822&q=peak+oil
Cuba The Accidental Revolution PT-1
http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid=5350731284170267256
Cuba The Accidental Revolution PT-2
http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid=-3045843288423571289

The Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil
thescarface1989
52 min 46 sec - 30-Sep-07
for Video iPod/Sony PSP

In 1991 after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Cuba experienced an 'energy famine.' Transportation and agriculture virtually came to a stop due to lack of diesel fuel and fertilizer shortages. This film explores what changes were put in place. The makers of the film "The End Of Suburbia" went to Cuba to explore it as a test case for what the conditions after Peak Oil would look like. This is that story.

This documentary takes you through various aspects of life in Cuba - Economy, transportation, health-care, agriculture, education - and explores how they dealt with the dramatic reduction of fossil fuels to a mere fraction of their pre 1990 levels. It was nice to meet the people, see the sights, and hear the sounds. The overall feeling was that the Cubans had improved the quality of their life (after a difficult "Special Period"). Their health was better, greater sense of community, better food and healthier land. I was left with the question: Why should we wait until we run out of oil? Let's do it now. The part that I did not expect was how it challenged my understanding of the difference between a Communist country and Capitalism. Did you know that a greater percentage of Cubans own their own home than in America? More farmers now own their own land? Sort of turns the notion of what a "Free-Market" is on its head! Check it out

http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid=4981871524314644822&q=peak+oil

Cuba The Accidental Revolution PT-1
thescarface1989
45 min 37 sec - 17-Oct-07
for Video iPod/Sony PSP

Cuba: The Accidental Revolution are two one-hour documentaries celebrating the country’s success in providing for itself in the face of a massive economic crisis, and how it’s latest revolutions, an agricultural revolution and a revolution in science and medicine are having repercussions around the world.

Cuba: The Accidental Revolution (Part 1), airing Sunday, July 30 at 7 P.M. on CBC Television, examines Cuba’s response to the food crisis created by the collapse of the Soviet Bloc in 1989. At one time Cuba’s agrarian culture was as conventional as the rest of the world. It experienced its first “Green Revolution” when Russia was supplying Cuba with chemical and mechanical “inputs.” However, the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1989 ended all of that, and almost overnight threw Cuba’s whole economic system into crisis. Factories closed, food supplies plummeted. Within a year the country had lost over 80% of its foreign trade. With the loss of their export markets and the foreign exchange to pay for imports, Cuba was unable to feed its population and the country was thrown into a crisis. The average daily caloric intake of Cubans dropped by a third.

Without fertilizer and pesticides, Cubans turned to organic methods. Without fuel and machinery parts, Cubans turned to oxen. Without fuel to transport food, Cubans started to grow food in the cities where it is consumed. Urban gardens were established in vacant lots, school playgrounds, patios and back yards. As a result Cuba created the largest program in sustainable agriculture ever undertaken. By 1999 Cuba’s agricultural production had recovered and in some cases reached historic levels.

http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid=5350731284170267256

Cuba The Accidental Revolution PT-2
thescarface1989
45 min 37 sec - 17-Oct-07
for Video iPod/Sony PSP
In Cuba: The Accidental Revolution (Part 2), airing Sunday, August 6 at 7 P.M. on CBC Television, we learn that the country has been blockaded since 1961, but today Cuba has the highest quality of life in the region, the highest life expectancy, and one of the highest literacy rates in all of Latin America.

With the collapse of the Soviet Bloc, Cuba lost the foreign exchange needed to pay for expensive drugs and medicines. As a result, much of Cuba’s medicine today is based on medicinal plants. These are grown on farms, processed in small labs and made available to patients through an extensive network of medical clinics. Today Cuba’s advances in alternative medicine could have important consequences for other countries around the world.

Cuba boasts other firsts as well: The Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology in Havana is regarded as the flagship biosciences lab in the developing world. Cuban scientists are working on an HIV vaccine, a meningitis vaccine, a Hepatitis C vaccine, and other pharmaceuticals.

Cuba has also embarked on a program of medical internationalism. There are 25,000 Cuba doctors serving in 68 poor countries around the world. The Latin American School of Medical Science has 10,000 students from developing countries primarily in Latin America and the Caribbean. They are educated for free with the understanding they will return to their home countries to practice.

Fidel Castro has survived many perils and at 78, he is rumoured to suffer from a number of afflictions. As his health declines the world wonders: what will become of Cuba’s Green Revolution after he is gone? Even now Castro presides over a political system, which although socialist, has an economy where bartering and quasi-entrepreneurial practice seemingly influence many trades and professions, including the “green” sector. There is also ever-increasing pressure from Canada and European nations for the U.S. to come to terms with Cuba’s political dissent

http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid=-3045843288423571289

posted in Free School - Portland - 0 replies

News from the free school!

questionmarc — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 20:10:39 GMT

In this edition:

1) Free School Picnic July 15th
2) July Calendar Out
3) Lead a Media Skillshare This Summer

1) Free School Picnic July 15th

We're having a potluck picnic in the park where freeschoolers can gather and meet. That means you're invited! If if you're curious about starting or joining a class, come by and get some questions answered. We may even have some skill-sharing happening! When: Sunday, July 15th, 3-8pm Where: Colonel Summers Park: SE Taylor & SE 17th Ave

2) July Printed Calendar Out

While you can check the calendar anytime on the website, we've printed calendars for the month of July. We'll be postering them all over town in the next few days - get in contact if you'd like to help out. If you'd like your own copy of the calendar, they are now being distributed with the Portland Alliance newspaper, which can be found all over town.

3) Lead a Media Skillshare This Summer

The Portland Grassroots Media Camp is a weekend long event of skills trainings and workshops designed to make media creation and production more accessible to organizers, activists, and anyone who wants to learn. We will build more effective movements by providing media skills like audio production, puppetmaking, and subtilting.

This weekend will be an opportunity for community organizers and activists especially from immigrant communities around Portland to learn new skills, get connected with local alternative media resources, and network with other immigrant, community, and media organizations. Multilingual, multicultural media making will shape the understanding of global diversity in our neighborhoods. Whether you are a media maker born in another country who wants to share skills, or an ally who wants to develop more diverse relationships, or someone who has a story that needs to be told, we want your involvement to create a new kind of education.

The camp will take place in Portland the weekend of August 24th through 26th. Right now, we are looking for workshop facilitators to share media skills (such as stencil making, audio recording, video editing, writing a press release). Workshops will be open to the community and will be free.

Workshops should follow the format below:
• Focus on a single theme or media skill
• Be only 2 hours
• Be hands-on and activity-based, mixing theory and practice
• Be participatory
• Use common language (not technical jargon)
• Draw on the knowledge and skill of the participants
• Focus on beginning level skills, "open to all skill levels"

If you are interested in leading a media skillshare at the Portland Grassroots Media Camp, please contact us.

posted in Free School - Portland - 1 reply

Doug Honours Ceremony July 7th at Champoeg (BE THERE!)

Alexander — Sun, 24 Jun 2007 23:01:34 GMT

Doug Honours Ceremony July 7th at Champoeg (BE THERE!)

The Activism for a better Cascadia begins 7/07/2007:
Join us for the Doug Honours Ceremony were we will gather to honour local/northwest activists and philanthropists by awarding them Doug Flags. This event is the start of the movement, and where else than where it all started 164 years ago at Champoeg (pronounced sham-POO-ee), Oregon. Champoeg features a unique combination of history, nature, and recreation. This is the site where Oregon's (i.e. Cascadia) first provisional government was formed by a historical vote in 1843.
At the event we will discuss future goals and initiatives, networking, participate in history tours, enjoy a potluck picnic, and enjoy a wonderful ceremony.
Reservation is for Riverside lot #3 and our event begins at 8am and ends at 8pm.
Discussion will begin at 11:30am History Tour will begin at 1pm
Potluck Dinner at 5pm
Ceremony will begin at 7pm

Reservation ends at 8pm.
For those who wish to come to the park early you can enjoy swimming,
disc golf, biking, hiking, bird watching, etc.

Directions:
Take I-5 South if traveling form North Cascadia, or take I-5 North if traveling from South Cascadia to exit 278, and then follow these directions:

1. Take exit 278 toward Donald/Aurora National Historic District 0.2 mi
2. Turn right at Ehlen Rd NE 2.5 mi 3 mins

3. Continue on Yergen Rd NE 1.0 mi 1 min

4. Turn right at Case Rd NE 1.4 mi 2 mins

5. Slight left at Champoeg Rd NE 0.9 mi 2 mins

6. To: Champoeg State Heritage Area: 7679 Champoeg Rd NE, St. Paul, OR 97137.
Where would you rather be on a Saturday Afternoon? Come to Champoeg Park on 7/7/07 for the Doug Honours Ceremony. If you wish to attend please send an email to savepac17@yahoo.com. Please RSVP ASAP as space is limited! Please bring food and drink (beer in cans or bottles-- no kegs!) for the Potluck. Everyone is responsible for their own lunch.

Again, please RSVP ASAP!

Onward Cascadia!

P.S. Stay tuned for updates and check the Calendar on the Yahoo Group
regularly for possible changes.
P.S.P.S. RSVP ASAP!
Doug Honours!

Just a reminder to everyone to come to Champoeg on July 7, and please vote for your favorite Cascadian person/institution/politician to get an honourary Doug flag. They were just delivered today, and they are beautiful. Just click on the link below, click on "Add Record", and fill out the form with the numbers of your choices in your prefered order.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Cascadian_Bioregionalism/database?method=reportRow\ s&tbl=2

1: Cascadia Green Building Council (3 offices: PDX,SEA,VAN)
2: Discovery Institute
3: Sightline Institute
4. Futurewise
5: The Tyee
6: Mercy Corps
7: Save the Redwood League
8: Pacific Crest Biodiversity Project
9: Whidbey Institute
10: Ecotrust
11: Cascadia Wildlands Project
12: Opal Creek Ancient Forest Center
13: Village Design Institute
14: Governor Christine Gregoire
15: Governor Ted Kulongoski
16: Lieutenant-Governor Iona Campognola
17: Steve Novick (after the election)
18: Tom McCall (posthumous, to family)
19: Ernest Callenbach
20: Portland Freeskool
21: Lost Valley Nature Center
22: Breitenbush Hot Springs
23: Northwest Intentional Communities Association
24: Cascadia Commons Cohousing
25: Tryon Life Community Farm
26: Portland Peak Oil
27: 1000 Friends of Oregon
28: Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
29: Emmanuel Brunet-Jailly
30: Lorry Lokey

click the following link to vote:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Cascadian_Bioregionalism/database?method=reportRows&tbl=2

posted in Free School - Portland - 0 replies

Cascadian Bike Tour May 14 - 31st

Alexander — Sun, 29 Apr 2007 08:01:44 GMT

Cascadian Bike Tour May 14 - 31st

I just got this post and think its a perfect event to unite causes and awareness of Cascadia. It would be nice to see photo graphics (ideally in the news paper) with this bike tour under the "Doug" (Cascadian banner).

I would think that causes could be represented like critical mass, local economy, Cascadian bioregional awareness, the free schools, anti-imperialism, ecological sustainablity, carbon free living, permaculture and so much more of what Cascadia should be and is.

the post I recieved:

Tribe Alert: Cascadians
From: Bryan
Title: What are the most noteworthy sustainability and...
I'm helping to organize and will be taking part in a bike tour from Vancouver, BC to Berkeley, CA, to help build awareness of and live out the ideals of the organization BALLE, the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies. Our trip will take us through Oregon along the coast on Highway 101 (we may also be detouring through Portland for a day). I'd appreciate any recommendations for projects, businesses, and sites that are worth stopping for--independent, local businesses making a mark for their practices or promotion of local living economies, great sustainability and self-sufficiency demonstration sites, and the like. We are especially looking for places right along Hwy 101, as it is difficult for us to make our schedule while detouring much from our route.

The trip begins May 14 in Vancouver and ends May 31 in Berkeley. We expect to ride the Oregon coast May 18 - 24.

For more information on the bike ride (which is open to and seeking new participants!):
balleseattle.org/projects/balle-on

reposted in http://cascadians.tribe.net/thread/920ffc88-c42e-4040-b56d-88a34e2ce8d4?newpostingid=fb789b71-dbc0-40a1-9892-be478c2a2683#fb789b71-dbc0-40a1-9892-be478c2a2683

posted in Free School - Portland - 0 replies