The Otters and the Seaweed by Teddy Macker
you need to know that otters wrap themselves
in seaweed so they won’t,
Are you imagining this?
Can you see the otters actually doing this?
Does it seduce you just a bit
into loving more
Oh otters, wrap yourselves tight! And sleep,
exactly like you do, floating but seaweed-held
wrap yourselves tight! And you,
the one who doesn’t, the one who doesn’t
we are with you as you float away,
we are with you as you sleep
Today, Thur. Jun 21, 2018 is the solstice, and in the northern hemisphere, it is the first day of summer and the longest day of the year. In the far north, the stars barely get a chance to shine during the twilight that goes from sunset to sunrise.
On this, the longest day of the year, it’s time to GET OUT THERE AND DO SOMETHING! Save the otters and be the seaweed!
This is the perfect way to honor the memory of Larry Harvey, the founder of Burning Man who died earlier this year on April 28, 2018 on this “Day of Gratitude” as well as service because for many of us, Larry Harvey and Burning Man has served as the seaweed that has kept us from floating out to sea:
Burning Man participants around the world will toast Harvey at events, at home, or wherever they may be on this day, because according to the Burning Man Journal, June 21, 2018, is the anniversary of the first Burning Man in 1986. we invite you to connect, reflect and celebrate the life and gifts of our original instigator and firestarter, Larry Harvey. If you don’t know much about Larry, you can read some moving tributes here in the Journal, as well as on the public memorial site. Check out the hashtag #thankslarry on social media.
One of the most important “rules” at Burning Man is: NO SPECTATORS. That means, instead of standing around gawking, DO SOMETHING! It is up to all of us to make the world a better place. As the Burning Man Journal points out, “Larry lived a life of purpose, play, creativity and service. One of his greatest talents was making opportunities for others to co-create in imaginative ways. The results sparked a network of participatory events, which gave rise to a year-round community and a global cultural movement.” They ask us to consider today: Who were you before you found Burning Man? Who are you now? What are you inspired to do? How do you want to see more Burning Man in the world?
The Burning Man Journal reminds us that “The hour around sunset is a special time of reflection on the solstice, no matter which hemisphere you’re in.” They encourage us to gather and share “the moment of sunset” which is what we did here in Ventura on the day that Larry died. Read more…
What do Ventura’s historic Mission, Olympic cyclists, and Lodi wine have to do with each other?
The Amgen Tour of California! Read more…
Tonight’s historic opening of the Bad Exhibition: Value in Art at Ventura’s Art City is dedicated to Joe Cardella, artist, book designer, and publisher of ArtLife who died of cancer last week.
“I have used the word avant-garde a number of times in talking about Bad Exhibition: Value in Art, though I know it’s a pretentious and problematic word. This is precisely what I want to talk about. What would it mean to talk about a 1980’s and 1990’s avant-garde in Ventura and Santa Barbara as distinct from L.A., for example? Southwest China early 1990’s avant-garde as distinct from Xiamen Dada, mid-80’s?” writes curator Dr Sophia Kidd.
Environmental Activists in Ventura earlier in 2018; I’m holding the “P”!
“HANDS ACROSS THE SAND/LAND” PROTESTS SLATED FOR 113 LOCATIONS WORLDWIDE ON MAY 19TH
Communities standing up against offshore drilling in 17 states and seven countries
The Trump administration has announced a proposal to expand offshore oil drilling in U.S. waters, threatening ocean recreation, tourism and fishing industries. This extreme proposal opens over 90% of the Outer Continental Shelf to new drilling and puts our nation’s coastal communities, beaches, surf breaks, and marine ecosystems at risk of a catastrophic oil spill.
In response, please join us as we take hands across the sand and land! Details from a press release on how how and why you should join below! Read more…
The Little Prince: It’s a Question of Discipline
‘It’s a question of discipline,’ the little prince told me later on. ‘When you’ve finished washing and dressing each morning, you must tend your planet,” writes Antoine de Saint-Exupery in his classic novel The Little Prince.
The semester at Ventura College where I teach writing is coming to a close. It’s been an amazing semester, one where we’ve learned a lot about loving kindness, compassion, community, and yes, about tending our planet, our home.
We’ve been studying ecology.
In our ecological studies, we’ve faced many of the problems troubling our planet and examined our role — what can we do to address climate change? Plastic pollution in the ocean? Nature deficit disorder? Technology addiction?
It is a daunting task. And it is easy to get depressed.
“One of the penalties of an ecological education is that one lives alone in a world of wounds. Much of the damage inflicted on land is quite invisible to laymen. An ecologist must either harden his shell and make believe that the consequences of science are none of his business, or he must be the doctor who sees the marks of death in a community that believes itself well and does not want to be told otherwise,” writes Aldo Leopold in A Sand County Almanac.
This semester we have actually learned that we do NOT live alone in a world of wounds: we live in community. By working in community, we can together be the doctor that sees the mark of death in communities that see themselves as well enough and we can guide out communities along the path to wellness.
I appreciate the willingness of my students to travel this path with me this semester. Not only did they learn how to be better writers, researchers, and critical thinkers but together we are making a difference. Of that I am very proud and happy.
Two Poems by Kevin Patrick Sullivan
Whitman: “I Contain Multitudes.”
Do I contradict myself?
Very well then I contradict myself;
(I am large, I contain multitudes.)
From “Song of Myself” in Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass
May 31, 1819 – March 26, 1892
To be a writer is to be very large with words. Read more…
Nat’l Poetry Month: 2 Poems on Kindness
ONE: On Kindness
I remember kindness
as the sun remembers my face
as the breeze whispers I love you
as the sea gives out wet puppy kisses
I remember kindness
as the gaze from the stranger on the same soul path
as the warmth from the smile of my cat
as the telltale green of spring
I remember kindness
as the moment of recognition
oh it’s you again
the field of lupine in the highway median
the carpet of gratefulness
the splash of orange sun underfoot captured by poppies
oh it’s you again
the piss of cougar trailside
the blackened branches now dead now alive
the smell of ash drowned by spring rains and hot chamise
I remember kindness
when I see you and you and you
the button famous to the hole
the sparkle famous to the eye
the wrinkle famous to the face
I remember kindness
when the path is clear
the light is green
the door unlocks
the creek runs clean
I remember kindness
when I am broken
and the world holds me in place
until
I feel fixed again
enough to move
Burning Man founder Larry Harvey and I share a birthday — we were both born January 11.
And we shared a passion for similar things: Art. Philosophy. Absinthe. Making stuff happen. Ideas. Language.
early Larry Harvey: the man in the hat
I met Larry Harvey Read more…
Do it. Do good this weekend.
Chinese Proverb: People who say it cannot be done should not interrupt those who are doing it.
As Earth Month heads toward its inevitable conclusion, there’s one more weekend to do good this month.
But of course just because Earth Month is over doesn’t mean you shouldn’t keep on doing good.
This weekend there are a few events on Saturday I want to call your attention to and a fundraiser on Sunday. Read more…
art predator 