I have been doing a lot of reading about how vitally important organization is and will be in the upcoming years.. We hear a lot about activism. But unless it's rooted in strong organizational skills, it's not only less effective, it runs the risk of being counter-productive.
The other message I keep seeing is
Pace Yourselves!
~Al Giordano~
CEO of King Center,
The other message I keep seeing is
Pace Yourselves!
~Al Giordano~
resist the urge
to leap from outrage to outrage,
to chase from protest to protest,
in ways that will only burn you out
before an authentic resistance
can be successfully constructed.
This is going to be a years-‐long struggle.
There are no shortcuts.
Pace yourself.
CEO of King Center,
Daughter of Dr. Martin Luther King
and Coretta Scott King
posted this on her Facebook page tonight.
Bernice King has since amended #1.
From: 1. Don't use his name; EVER (45 will do)
To: 1. Use his name sparingly so as not to detract from the issues. I believe that everyone, regardless of their beliefs, deserves the dignity of being called by their name. However, this is a strategic tactic. While we are so focused on him we are prone to neglect the questionable policies that threaten freedom, justice and fairness advanced by the administration.
And from Joy Reid's twitter account:
Demitoes
From: 1. Don't use his name; EVER (45 will do)
To: 1. Use his name sparingly so as not to detract from the issues. I believe that everyone, regardless of their beliefs, deserves the dignity of being called by their name. However, this is a strategic tactic. While we are so focused on him we are prone to neglect the questionable policies that threaten freedom, justice and fairness advanced by the administration.
And from Joy Reid's twitter account:
Demitoes
8 comments:
Commenting to myself so I'll get reply notifications in my little email box. It's not really a box though is it? In the series of tubes, we know as teh internet, it's akin to a Jefferies tube. Or that sock that got lost in the washer. Which is pretty much proof there are other dimensions. Full of people wearing mis-matched socks.
~Demitoes
Beautiful BEE-YOU-TI-FUL Ms. G
Thank you for this!!! Just what we need as we mobilize for the fight of our lives. You must have chuckled about our recent conversations when you read #1. I know you heard me gag and spit when I accidentally uttered the "T" word. I am doing a lot of blogging in my local community paper and I NEVER call it by name. To me it is the czar, or the dictator, or the new king. (And it is just as well that I don't play bridge any more......a certain no-suit bid would stick in my throat.) To name it is to give it power and a recognition it does not merit. We will NEVER normalize it even to the degree of calling it by its "so-called name!
I had lunch with my brother in downtown McMinnville today and it absolutely lifted my spirits anew to revisit the scene of our huge local "walk" and share the memory with him.
WE CAN DO THIS.
+~~
Sherry
Double post blues? Cause you are the Zen-Spice, so cool it posted you twice. Haha! I crack myself up. And now I made up a brand new name for you. Zen-Spice! I like it! It's perfect.
Oh that lunch must've been fun! I did laugh when I read that piece thinking of you chocking on "it". You're blogging in your local community paper?! Damn I'd like to read those. Is the paper online by any chance? You are just amazing! The Amazing Zen-Spice.
Gawd I haven't played bridge in sooo long. But I used to love it. I wonder how Candy feels about that certain no-suit bid. She'll probably be along anytime to let us know.
My little tomatoes are doing just great. But the peppers haven't even sprouted. Probably because the tomatoes got the plant heat pad and they didn't. But if they don't sprout, peppers can easily be purchased as plants around here, while the dwarf tomatoes can't. I did order a couple of special pepper seeds that just arrived.
And I was reading about Tagetes Minuta, Mexican Mint Marigold, that tastes similar to tarragon, with an anise flavor. Anyway it's one of the few plants in my yard survived everything, so I wanted to know more about it. Turns out it's renowned for eliminating that damn weed ivy, crab grass, bindweed and all sorts of unwanted weedy stuff. But vegetables and good insects love it! Not only that but it was what was used to treat infections before Tea Tree Oil. I've got bindweed and that creepy little ivy constantly trying to take over the asparagus bed. I went hunting for seeds. And I couldn't find them anywhere. Finally I found them, organic no less, at a site in ...Oregon of course! 'Strictly Medicinal' in Williams Oregon. And a little bit of life from near cackleberry farm shall dance around my garden this Spring. Yippeeee~
YES WE CAN!
Hey ladies
Here is a passage from a piece ("We Were Made For These Times") by Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estes. It resonated with me and I hope you will be uplifted by this perspective too:
"Ours is not the task of fixing the entire world all at once, but of stretching out to mend the part of the world that is within our reach. Any small, calm thing that one soul can do to help another soul, to assist some portion of this poor suffering world, will help immensely. It is not given to us to know which acts or by whom, will cause the critical mass to tip toward an enduring good.
What is needed for dramatic change is an accumulation of acts, adding, adding to, adding more, continuing. We know that it does not take everyone on Earth to bring justice and peace, but only a small, determined group who will not give up during the first, second, or hundredth gale.
One of the most calming and powerful actions you can do to intervene in a stormy world is to stand up and show your soul. Soul on deck shines like gold in dark times. The light of the soul throws sparks, can send up flares, builds signal fires, causes proper matters to catch fire. To display the lantern of soul in shadowy times like these - to be fierce and to show mercy toward others; both are acts of immense bravery and greatest necessity.
Struggling souls catch light from other souls who are fully lit and willing to show it. If you would help to calm the tumult, this is one of the strongest things you can do.
There will always be times when you feel discouraged. I too have felt despair many times in my life, but I do not keep a chair for it. I will not entertain it. It is not allowed to eat from my plate."
Just so, my fully lit friends.....we shall continue!
+~~
Sherry
This is so wonderful! And once again I'm amazed at how accurate my new 'Zen_Spice!' nickname is for you Sherry. I notice you didn't comment on it.. haha!
I've been quite down in the dumps. Mike's dad died on Monday, following right behind Mike's mom, on to their next adventure. So another funeral and then I hope we get a break from hospitals and hospices and effing funerals. I have a really hard time staying positive through these things.
I have to get all my tomatoes in the ground with little plastic coats to protect them. I've been told that's the only way I'll get tomatoes any more, because of the early onset of high heat. So I'm out digging holes for the ollas and regrading the garden. Turns out I had my ollas spaced too far apart for proper watering.
I've been seeing a lot of recommendations for this book:
Nonviolence and Social Movements: The Teachings of Rev. James M. Lawson Jr.
~"Martin Luther King called Lawson “the leading theorist and strategist of nonviolence in the world. ...The workshops that Lawson held in the philosophy and strategy of nonviolence trained a new generation of activists who subsequently organized path-breaking campaigns throughout the South, including the Freedom Rides. In California, Lawson has worked with hotel workers, janitors, home care workers, and undocumented immigrant youth to embrace nonviolence in historic organizing victories.
This publication emerged from a class taught by James Lawson, Kent Wong, Kelly Lytle Hernandez, and Ana Luz Gonzalez at UCLA, and it was written by students who were inspired by the class.” Edited by Kent Wong, Ana Luz Gonzalez and James M. Lawson Jr.
Sending love and light and all that,
Demotoes
Oh happy happy day to the Magnificent Ms. Deni G.
Just getting better all the time!
YOU ROCK!!
Much birthday love & a maximum dose of +~~
xoxoxoxo
Sherry
Post a Comment