My favorite "socialist" institution.

"Libraries will get you through times of no money better than money will get you through times of no libraries." ~original source debated

"Socialism - noun - System of social organization in which private property and the distribution of income are subject to social control; also, the political movements aimed at putting that system into practice. Because “social control” may be interpreted in widely diverging ways, socialism ranges from statist to libertarian, from Marxist to liberal. The term was first used to describe the doctrines of Charles Fourier, Henri de Saint-Simon, and Robert Owen, who emphasized noncoercive communities of people working noncompetitively for the spiritual and physical well-being of all (see utopian socialism).Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, seeing socialism as a transition state between capitalism and communism, appropriated what they found useful in socialist movements to develop their “scientific socialism.” In the 20th century, the Soviet Union was the principal model of strictly centralized socialism, while Sweden and Denmark were well-known for their noncommunist socialism. See also collectivism, communitarianism, social democracy." ~Concise Encyclopedia 

"The Boston Public Library opened in 1854, and is usually considered the "real" first public library--that is, intentionally founded, not a happy accident. Its statement of purpose basically says:

• There's a close linkage between knowledge and right thinking;
• The future of democracy is contingent on an educated citizenry;
• There's a strong correlation between the public library movement and public education; and
• Every citizen has the right of free access to community-owned resources."  ~http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2236/how-did-public-libraries-get-started

I am deeply, joyfully, nearly giddily grateful for libraries!  

This week I have checked out music to do yoga by, music to dance to, music to get the creative juices flowing, and music I have not yet heard, so I suppose that would be music as adventure.  I have checked out a book about two guys who turned a foliage bereft vacant lot into a permaculture paradise and how they did it.  I have checked out two DVDs that promise to expand or enhance my knowledge of yoga, one which promised to teach me to sign, one about a girl who is an amazing musician even though she is deaf, and one documentary based on Jared Diamond's book of the same name, Guns, Germs, & Steel, which I have read and enjoyed.  

I've also checked out seeds.  Yes, seeds.  Basalt Library now has the coolest seed sharing program.  Each adult who has a library card may borrow 5 packets of seeds.  You check out the seeds, plant them, harvest the plants, save the seeds from the healthiest plants, and then return them in the same envelope for someone else to plant in years to come.  I've borrowed Swiss Chard, Oriental Mustard Greens, Cucumbers, Mesclun Zesty Salad Mix, and a very cool "Kids Starter Pack" that includes Bean, Watermelon, Zucchini, Radish, & Pumpkin. 

Libraries, in my humble opinion, are the most civilized thing about civilization.  They really are the great democratizers.  Where else can you get so much knowledge for FREE?  Where else can you check out a bunch of seeds and then a bunch of books or magazines or DVDs to teach you how best to grow those seeds?  

This morning, with just $2 to my name, I read about a book I really want to read (The Transition Handbook:  from oil dependency to local resilience by Bob Hopkins).  I went to the website of the book and found that it had been sold out.  So, even if I did have some money to buy it, I couldn't.  So I went to the library webpage, did a search, found out that my local library does not have a copy, but that 10 other libraries in Colorado do have copies and within minutes I had requested a copy.  Now all I have to do is wait for the email from my local library saying that it is there and go pick it up.  

I can't wait to plant these seeds and then sit down to do some reading and then do some yoga. 

Thank you library.  And thank you people who originally thought of libraries.  And thank you taxpayers around this valley, around the country, and world, who have miraculously kept public libraries going.  

What are you reading / listening to / watching / planting today?  What are you grateful for?  What is making you smile or dance or think?  What brings you peace and joy?  What are you passionate about?

Here's the article that prompted me to go find The Transition Handbook which is what prompted me to write this blog:  from Alternet.org - How the Transition Movement Is Spreading to Towns Across America

Something "impossible" before breakfast.

How does your intuition speak to you?

Mine seems to be speaking to me through my body lately and if I ignore the quiet messages, it gets louder.  Yesterday it got loud in the form of my neck seizing up.  Over the course of several hours, as I crunched the financial numbers and told myself "no.  can't afford it right now." about several things that I wanted to do, the range of motion in my neck, my ability to turn my head side to side, shrunk until I could only look straight ahead without pain.  

I recently saw a quote that said, "You don't get what you deserve, you get what you believe."

I don't know if that's ultimately true.  I don't even know if I believe it.  But I pondered it.  

This morning, when I woke up, I thought about this physical pattern in my life - how my neck seizes up periodically.  I thought back to yesterday and the day before and any physical activities that might have contributed to this particular painful freeze.  And when I didn't find any obvious causes there, I started looking at the mental/emotional patterns that might be associated with this pain in the neck. 

Since inability to turn my head was really limiting my ability to see to either side or look over my shoulder I asked myself, "How are you limiting your own vision?" "How are you limiting yourself?"

And the answer seemed obvious, I was telling myself no.  And then I realized that the way to say no without words is to turn your head back and forth to the left and right.  Exactly the motion that I could no longer do.  OK, intuition, you've got my attention.  

So I started to wonder, if I did this to myself, can I undo it?  Can I heal it myself?  

I started by remembering how countless chiropractors through the years have adjusted this very same issue in my neck.  And the various stretching exercises they've assigned after giving the adjustment.  

I asked the two sides of my brain to work together to help me find the solution.  I called on my experiences in yoga as a student and teacher and I listened to my body.

I experimented with small motions.  Turning my head side to side made a lovely crunchy noise in my neck.  Nodding my head, like saying yes, as I turned my head side to side slowly, alleviated the crunchy noise and allowed me to move into the tender places and stretch them.  

I spent half an hour nodding yes, very slowly.  I started out with very, very small movements and moved into deeper nods.  

And now?  There are still tender places, like muscles overused, but I have the full range of motion in my neck again.  

It seems like my intuition is trying to tell me not to be so stingy with myself or in other words, be a little more generous with myself.  

It's hard to allow myself a $15 concert ticket or a $14 drop-in yoga class or a $12 book when I'm no longer getting a regular paycheck.  

The deeper question for me seems to be, "Do I believe I "deserve" to have those things, since I'm no longer working a regular job?"  If a friend asked me the same question about herself/himself, I would answer, of course you do.

I'll be nodding and saying a quiet, "yes" to myself, over and over and over again today, emotionally, mentally, spiritually.  

It's not really the items that matter.  I don't actually need to go buy the concert ticket, the book, the yoga class, I just need to stop treating myself like a naughty child for reaching for them.  

I thought for sure I was going to have to cancel my plans for the day and go to the chiropractor and I was thinking, I can't afford to go to the chiropractor right now.  I didn't wake up thinking it was possible to heal my own neck problems, but it seems I've done one impossible thing before breakfast.  That's a good start.

Do you ever act as your own oppressor?  Do you limit your own vision of what's possible?  

How can you change and release those patterns? 

Now, instead of checking for typos, I'm simply going to post this and run out the door to help plant beautiful, delicious gardens that will feed anyone who is hungry.

https://www.facebook.com/PlantARowToEndHunger

How cool is that?  

whisper wild light

Flirt with Disaster.  Check.  

whisper, Wild Light
the Stars sing Peace tonight
Fish and I flew differently,
believing in magic
Mirror cried, "glow Child!
Dream Gardens spring from Love Rain"

~Dawn, 2001

---- la la la la la - la la - la la la ---- If I knew how to write music, these la's would come with a melody, but alas, I do not yet know how to notate music in pixels, so I simply leave you with this......


what, in this moment, do you most want?

i want to sleep in everyday and dream and dream and dream

i want to get up early every morning and meditate and do yoga and run and do my spanish lessons

i want to listen to fabulous music and melt into it and let it saturate my night dreams as well as my day dreams

I want to know where my son is and if he is well and happy

i want him to have amazing adventures and follow his dreams and his heart and I want some amazing girl to love him so much and make him feel amazing and I want him to honor her love and them to live happily ever after and

I want to be a teenage girl again knowing all that I know now and

i never want to be a teen again and

I want to have the body of a teen and the knowing of who I am now

i want to live be 157 and dance everyday between now and then and

to laugh and sing in 20 different languages or more and

I want to play the accordion while riding my unicycle and wearing a top hat that really fits me and

i want to be able to walk in high heels and

I want to write something enigmatic and clearly true and fatasmagorical

I want to see that movie Avatar and

i want to live in a place so beautiful it makes my heart hurt and to defend it with my life and win and

I want adam to know how much I love him how some mornings when he's still sleeping and I'm awake my heart aches because he is so perfect and beautiful as if he were my newborn child even and

I want my niece to be forever as vivacious as her 6 year old self is-- how selfless and overflowing with love she is

I want to be that loving

I want the world to let her be that joyful and not hurt her ever

I want to make my house the most warm, welcoming, joyful, loving, comfortable, beautiful, intriguing, fantastic, organic, place to live and grow and be

I want to take a nap

I want to drink coffee

I want to climb a mountain and dance on top

I want to feel the cold, cold air on my face and laugh and dance and sing like I did on the way to work the other day when I got up early and caught the earlier bus and walked 20 minutes from a further away bus stop and the stars were just giving the last sight of them before the sun came up behind the mountains and the trees were stark against the barely lightening sky and it was so cold and I was so happy and

I want my son to feel that kind of unmitigated joy at just being alive and

I want to grow and eat blueberries and avocados and

I want the world to find out that we don't need guns to protect what's really important, that sense of aliveness

i want to drink fresh water and eat unimaginable deserts in strange new lands (yes thank you rob brezsny for making that part of my background thinking)

I want to drive a car fast to the the end of the world and jump off and grab a falling star and fly across the universe in luxurious comfort and amazement and not have to write any of it down because I can transmit that feeling to someone just by looking at them

I want to be able to touch each book in the library and immediately "grock" it without having even to open it.

I want someone to paint white wings on my tan back and for my long hair to fall across the wings, partially obstructing the view of them and

I want to be a secret angel superhero who scatters largess and delivers little miracles and

I want to feel the sun on my face when I have a nap in the sunbeam on the couch like the cat and

I want to be able to simply look at the most jaded and guarded and angry persons I meet and have them know how perfectly safe they are and for them to begin to know the simple joy of breathing and the deep joy of sharing something anything with someone anyone


originally posted by dawn on a blog on gaia/zaadz, dec 17, 2009