In the midst of a dense city setting in downtown Pasadena, radical change is taking root. For over 20 years, the Dervaes family has transformed its small home into an urban homestead, a model for sustainable agriculture (permaculture) in the city exposing homesteading.
The Dervaes and screeners show that change is possible. They harvest three tons of organic food annually from their 1/10th of an acre garden -- incorporating back-to-basics practices, solar energy, and biodiesel to reduce their carbon footprint.
Homegrown Revolution was never created for the film festival circuit. It is a real homegrown story. The original version was made in three days for a lecture Jules Dervaes gave at UCLA in 2007 on Slow Food. It received a wildly enthusiastic response from students, YouTube viewers, and has won many awards. More
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What will you do? At least help yourself -- and by "helping yourself" is not meant selfishness. That's no help to anyone, not even you.
Should we stop the planet's revolution so you can get off?
Enlightened self-interest is the philosophy that says help others so that you too can benefit. We provide a social safety net so the dispossessed do not fall into poverty, crime, and squalor. That net helps everyone. Letting others preach their religion increases the chance that you will preach yours. Shutting others up leads to disaster, as it has so many times in history.
The Dharma, the timeless truth, is everywhere. You can find it anywhere.
Do something. Look for it. Look for truth. This life is a quest. Have you set off on the journey or simply sat at home? Maybe the Buddha does not suit you. Maybe the real Jesus (before the Romans and Republicans made him a bumper sticker) has the answers you seek, maybe Mary, maybe Lao Tzu (Taoism), maybe Mahavira, maybe Lilith, maybe Kwan Yin, maybe the Mo's (Moses and the more famous one)... maybe independent Paganism, maybe science, maybe the God Molecule (DMT or an activated pineal gland), maybe atheism? After all, religion seems to have done more harm than good.
Religion is a cheap substitute for spirituality.
See you at the occupation. You'll be there either way. The only question is: Will you be standing behind the police or the people? Either way, we're all one.
No one needs to answer for your inaction, which everyone will suffer from, but you. Won't you be benefiting from others' sacrifices? Nice! Get ahead on the backs of others, and never look back. In the movie "A Fish Called Wanda," one of the Wanda's tells off Otto by pointing out: "The central message of Buddhism is not 'Every man for himself'!" Roll the clip.
Wanda: Now, was that smart? Was it shrewd? Was it good tactics? Or was it stupid? Otto: Don't call me stupid! Wanda: Oh, right! To call you stupid would be an insult to stupid people! I've known sheep that could outwit you. I've worn dresses with higher IQs. But you think you're an intellectual, don't you, ape? Otto: Apes don't read philosophy. Wanda: Yes they do, Otto. They just don't understand it! Now let me correct you on a couple of things, okay? Aristotle was not Belgian. The central message of Buddhism is not "Every man for himself." And the London Underground is not a political movement. Those are all mistakes, Otto. I looked them up.
Wisdom Quarterly at Occupy Los Angeles, October, 2011
"Capitalism is Socialism for the 1 percent." A tiny desert pueblo became a megalopolis.
"Edward Sharpe gave an amazing performance full of love, light, and hope. I approached and told him his music was beautiful. He smiled, thanked, and hugged me. Occupy LA (OLA) is RADICAL in more ways than one!"
After the concert, it was on to class at the free Collective University. Topic du jour, "The Truth About the Economy." From college, it was off to temple, sitting in devotion and concentration in the holy tent.
The permanent Meditation Temple tent at Occupy LA
After church, it was power to the people rocking the mic. Not the people's mic (which comes on anytime anyone shouts "Mic check!")
Open mic poetry was followed by a theatrical performance piece, dancing to music, talking with like minded folks (there are folks of all minds available for talking), and committee meetings to stack at on all corners of America's largest Occupy encampment on par with Zuccotti Park.
Occupied L.A. Theatre & Company accepts all creative actions (Wisdom Quarterly).
What Does the Occupation Want? Meetings are taking place. There is a search for a solution, presentations are being given, classes are being taught, and a free library is in operation. It's the society we were promised, stolen from us by the greed of corporations and the corruption of politicians, the brutality of police and the undermining of privacy by our many American spying apparatuses.
(ScamArtists33)Marianne Williamson gave a stirring speech at her weekly address on Oct. 20, 2011, reminding us how every movement is ridiculed before the change it effects is taken for granted. A massive labor march was approaching (Wisdom Quarterly).
Why do the committees vote as a group then take their consensus to the General Assembly? It is to BE the change we want to see in the world! At 7:30 every night on the south steps of City Hall in the pueblo de los angeles ("the city of angels"), Angeleno Occupiers discuss the issues. They vote, that is, they "take the temperature" as a group about what actions to take as a movement!
The Hug Deli serves fresh three-breath hugs with a two compliment limit. Too many thank yous hold up the line (Wisdom Quarterly).
"The people united will never be defeated." Everyone gets a chance to speak, everyone is heard, everyone is treated with respect. What do we want, what do we want? The world is looking at it! We want what we were lied to about and promised all along. We want the democracy we don't have in the "real" world.
"Members of Congress should be like members of NASCAR and wear the names of their sponsors across their bodies!" Power to the people (obrag.org).
This is Democracy Now! Democracy in action! This is not Woodstock. It's not a circus, carnival, or freak show. Of course the mainstream media has to portray it that way. The media is the message -- and the message is corporatism. News Corp, FOX, CIA/CNN, The Times, Lying Inc.
SEIU and other labor groups organized a massive march and approached the south steps where Marianne Williamson was speaking (Wisdom Quarterly).
Imagine a well organized, nonviolent movement. But just so you don't have to tax your imagination, ride the Metro into downtown and see it in real life. For the love of love, the love of democratic principles, the love of each other, see it. ALL are welcome. Every voice is needed.
No degree will save you when corporatists run the university.
Observe, listen, take classes with amazingly smart and sincere people, learn, and participate. An illiterate man taught me to share. A Ph.D. taught me to yawn while pretending to scratch my nose. A skateboarder taught me to spin a hula hoop with lights in it. A Buddhist taught me to regard every beggar as a best friend capable of giving an opportunity to practice generosity and make merit in the process.
Free energy technology exists. Corporations know it, government knows it, but the profit motive keeps anyone else from it. We're lucky to have gotten solar (Wisdom Quarterly).
It is important! It is our world. It is now (partly) running on solar power. There are designated "Waste Free Zones." Gardens are about to be built. Compost toilets are coming online. We need town criers, free kitchen help... imagine everything a FREE world would be if someone weren't trying to put profit before people, before the environment, before the planet, before personal growth, before liberation. Then come make it.
West Coast Occupy Venice in and Occupy LA stand in solidarity with Occupy Wall Street.
Love blossoms all across town from Venice Beach to Skid Row (Wisdom Quarterly).
How the occupation of Los Angeles began (SurvivalWithBushcraf) Powerful Beyond Measure “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.” - Marianne Williamson
SupremeMasterTV (AW942) Botanist Paul Stamets is a world-renowned American mycologist specializing in fungi. He has written six books on fungi and for decades has studied the medical applications of fungi and its roles in rehabilitating the environment. It is able to magically renew contaminated soil. Download episode: video.godsdirectcontact.net
(VanishingBees.com) Imagine half a million adults skipping town and leaving their children behind. Picture an opened suitcase filled with bundles of cash at a bus stop yet no robber wants to snatch it. The apiary science mystery known as "Colony Collapse Disorder" (CCD) displays these very symptoms. Not only do our critical crop pollinating honey bees abandon their hives, which they cannot live away from for more than 24 hours, but the queen and the brood as well. Unnatural. Unheard of. Even the predators that usually raid the hive for honey stay away when nothing is protecting it. At first it sounds like an urban legend or an exaggerated tale. Except it's not. The situation is both real and dire. Bees are disappearing all over the planet, and no one knew why. But now the answers are becoming apparent:
systemic pesticides (not toxins sprayed on to dissipate but taken up into every part of the plant where they weaken bees' immune systems)
mites and fungal blight brought on by weakened immunity, which would normally be segregated with wax in the sterile environment of the hive but is not because of the incapacitated bees
cell phone tower radiation, which is disruptive to compromised bees
mono-cropping (growing a single crop in need of pollination but no other plants on which the bees could survive between harvests)
stresses in the environment (depleted soil, contaminated fields, genetically manipulated plants by companies like Monsanto)
like AIDS and mystery flu syndromes and E. coli outbreaks, once the organism is compromised in terms of nutrients and immunity, it is open to opportunistic infections and influences
LOS ANGELES, California - This city officially has too much to offer, "too much good stuff" as a silly commercial boasts of its outlets. The City of Angels (El Pueblo deNuestraSeñora la Reina de los Ángeles del Río de Porciúncula, "The Town of Our Lady the Queen of the Angels on the River Porciúncula) really does.
Buddhist Pope cancels L.A. appearance The 14th Dalai Lama -- who only represents a former theocratic kingdom/mountain empire (that in ancient times extended its influence west to Israel and south to Bangladesh), which follows a small but very influential brand of Buddhism called Vajrayana or sometimes Lamaism -- was on his way to Los Angeles when his doctor grounded him in Tokyo, a great place to recover from any mysterious illness. Eh-hem. Well, we can only hope he's safe. Will he make it to USC by Tuesday? Probably not, students, so get ready for a stand in. (Are these tickets refundable a some sort of show is still put on?)
The Pope, a Saint? There is no "avalanche of halos" the way there is at the Vatican since Pope John Paul II started handing out blessedness and sainthood (canonizing more people in one papacy than in all the papacies before him combined) making the Church more cosmopolitan but also making the faith more irrelevant. We obviously do not have more "real" saints, just a cheapening of the label. Los Angeles Catholics were blase -- unless they were in Rome for the beatification -- over the dead pope's new title "blessed."
We cleaned the Los Angeles River This might be the riverPorciúncula, the city's famous namesake, which is cleaned periodically by thousands of citizen volunteers, good stewards of the planet. Saturday was all about pulling plastic from the flood control wash since most of the burned out VWs and heavy duty garbage was removed a few years back. The Doodah Parade and Books The precursor to the more famous Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena is skewered on the same massive boulevard, but its date seems to get pushed further away each year. Maybe it's morphing into a Spring Fest in honor of Esther and Dionysus, given all the revelry, Paganism, and general good humor. The L.A. Convention Center's Lea, L.A. ("Read, L.A." or the city's first Spanish book fair, after the Guadalajara Book Fair) rivals The Los Angeles Book Fair (held this year at nearby USC).
Permaculture Convergence Three days of hippie camping in Malibu to talk all things organic, gardening, farming, and green living -- now that sounds like a great time if it weren't so cold at night. But it's great by day!
CRASS tears through town Britain's own anarcho-punk collective blew the windows out at the Glasshouse in the Pomona Arts Colony the night after it scared the chickens at the Fox Theater (a block away). We'll review the show soon because Eve Libertine's doppelganger (Carol Hodges) was FANTASTIC! The crust's delight. We stopped talking about the rescheduled shows because it was generally assumed Steve Ignorant was simply going to sing all the male vocals and skip the best of Crass. But Hodges made it the full CRASS experience (minus Penny Rimbaud).
MAY DAY! See photos from celebrations around the world. It's International Worker's Day on our day off -- and the marching will go on in spite of LAPD crackdowns in the past that reveal that we live in an Orwellian police state with a lot of Huxley influences. Smaller crowds rally on their only day off in downtown L.A. under tight police control.
The Amazing Glut of Anniversaries Shakespeare's birthday, Hitler's birthday, Japan's nuclear disaster monthly remembrance, King James' version of the Christian Bible (a pro-monarchy translation that became the world's most popular though far from its most accurate)... there are simply too many to track, but we'll add to the list to recognize some amazing coincidences.
"May you live in interesting times," the ancient Chinese compliment/curse runs.
This urbanhomestead.org film features Jules, Justin, Anais, and Jordanne Dervaes. It is a short introduction to a homegrown project called a revolution in urban sustainability.
