Metta’s Opinion

The Man From the North: Story 8

The Man From the North is a fictional writer in Rivera Sun’s novel, The Dandelion Insurrection. The novel takes place in the near future, in “a time that looms around the corner of today,” when a rising police state controlled by the corporate-political elite have plunged the nation into the grip of a hidden dictatorship. In spite of severe surveillance and repression, the Man From the North’s banned articles circulate through the American populace, reporting on resistance and fomenting nonviolent revolution.

The story below is one of several written by the Man From the North. The article series is not included in the novel and was originally published on Dandelion Salad. We will feature a Man From the North story on a weekly basis through June 3, 2015. You can read the entire series at Dandelion Salad. The Dandelion Insurrection and a companion study guide can be purchased on Rivera’s website.

Baking the Bread of Revolution

There is a formula for revolution. The corporate-political elite are following it to perfection: steal the money, corrupt the power, imprison the people, starve the children, poison the water, pillage the resources, enslave the workers, eviscerate justice, stalk the citizens, stifle dissent, and inject terror in the bloodstream of society.

Massive unrest and movements for social change are natural reaction to such conditions. With these ingredients, we’re cooked. Either we’ll revolt like cattle lunging to escape the slaughterhouse, or we will wage struggle for revolution in a process as natural as the alchemy of bread baking. It is unbelievable that the powerful don’t understand: if they mix the living yeast of humans into the flour of our earthly existence, apply pressure and heat . . . poof! We will rise toward life, nourishment, and sustenance of our communities.

(more…)

The Man From the North: Story 7

The Man From the North is a fictional writer in Rivera Sun’s novel, The Dandelion Insurrection. The novel takes place in the near future, in “a time that looms around the corner of today,” when a rising police state controlled by the corporate-political elite have plunged the nation into the grip of a hidden dictatorship. In spite of severe surveillance and repression, the Man From the North’s banned articles circulate through the American populace, reporting on resistance and fomenting nonviolent revolution.

The story below is one of several written by the Man From the North. The article series is not included in the novel and was originally published on Dandelion Salad. We will feature a Man From the North story on a weekly basis through June 3, 2015. You can read the entire series at Dandelion Salad. The Dandelion Insurrection and a companion study guide can be purchased on Rivera’s website.

Send Me Your Blessings, Oh Angels of People!

There is a despair that grips the heart as I watch them fall around me: the too-thin young mother looking for work; the pain-ridden woman, ill, with no healthcare; the husband without answers to his wife’s worried questions; the preacher who weeps as he prays for God’s help; the youth sentenced harshly in a mockery of justice; the faces swollen from the beatings of cops . . .

My life is a bullet shot at the heart of their suffering.

Other people are angels, sent down to soothe, to assuage constant hunger, to keep off the chill, to provide houses for children, hope for the parents . . . but I have been fired from the cannon of justice and am hurtling full speed toward change. I have emptied my pockets to speed up my flight. My coins have fed children. My coat warms another. I spent my kind words as fast as I found them. Now, emptied and lightened, my whole self races faster, but despair is the wind that resists me.

(more…)

The Man From the North: Story 6

The Man From the North is a fictional writer in Rivera Sun’s novel, The Dandelion Insurrection. The novel takes place in the near future, in “a time that looms around the corner of today,” when a rising police state controlled by the corporate-political elite have plunged the nation into the grip of a hidden dictatorship. In spite of severe surveillance and repression, the Man From the North’s banned articles circulate through the American populace, reporting on resistance and fomenting nonviolent revolution.

The story below is one of several written by the Man From the North. The article series is not included in the novel and was originally published on Dandelion Salad. We will feature a Man From the North story on a weekly basis through June 3, 2015. You can read the entire series at Dandelion Salad. The Dandelion Insurrection and a companion study guide can be purchased on Rivera’s website.

Impossible Courage

Wishful thinking and random action will not topple the corrupt and powerful collusion of extreme capitalism, the wealthy elite, and military force. For all the courage shown thus far by people across the country in demonstrating, petitioning, even throwing their bodies in the line of danger, I call upon an even greater courage now . . .

. . . the courage to act like we stand a chance of winning.

Desperate acts of valor in the midst of despair, futile symbolic gestures, spontaneous eruptions of anger and violence . . . none of these require the same courage as sitting down and systematically analyzing how a tiny group of disorganized, overwhelmed, exhausted, contentious, and geographically dispersed people can bring about the downfall of a massive machine of economics, legislations, cultural brainwashing, media domination, law enforcement, surveillance, and military power.

That, my friends, requires the courage to confront the impossible.

(more…)

Time to Indigenize American Education

by

In the outstanding book Teaching Truly: A Curriculum to Indigenize Mainstream Education, Four Arrows (Don Trent Jacobs) and his fellow authors provide a revelatory opportunity for us teachers to get to the heart of what is important in education. Being indigenous, Four Arrows explains in an interview with Derrick Jensen, “relates to a nature-based reality that is so very different from the dominant cultural one.” The book is all about how to help your students see another way of being, based on the worldview of traditional indigenous people of the United States, that challenges and opposes the mindset presented in textbooks, standards and mass media by the dominant culture and educational hegemony.

adult-education-379219_640Four Arrows offers many examples of this, including other ways to perceive economics (traditional cultures had gift economy based on the fundamental value of generosity) and math (he says we could use word problems to solve the world’s crises), but one of my favorites is Helen Keller. Most history books mention Helen Keller only briefly, and even then as an example of how you can rise above your shortcomings. These textbooks never mention her vital roles in the women’s suffrage movement, the socialist party and the radical labor union, the Industrial Workers of the World. “These were intentionally left out of most curricula because having a ‘hero’ with this history is not in the interest of the growing corporatist ‘ruling’ class,” writes Four Arrows. He advocates for history lessons that teach through stories, connecting with our ancestors and showing how we can learn from them to create a better future that is not bound by the ruling cultures of the past.

And let’s face it, our educational system needs its hegemony dismantled. We are at the mercy now of an all-powerful agent of knowledge and wisdom: the standardized test. It is the be-all, end-all of student achievement and knowledge. What is true for the test is true for our students, and they become the products of this test. There becomes only one way of writing an essay or answering a question because that is the way to get it right on the test. But we are in a time now where we need to question the hegemony of the world more than ever. With California drying out and Florida about to sink underwater, poisons in our water and species dying, we need to unleash the creativity, wisdom and passion of today’s youth on the world’s problems, not indoctrinate them into the system that created them.

So take a moment, in the testing season before us this spring, to challenge the reality presented by the educational hegemony. Encourage your students to ask questions about the way things are and challenge them to learn the whole story, not just the reality presented in their textbooks. Bring some wonder back into your classroom. Indigenize their minds.

Introducing… Ellie Cross

by

Ellie CrossEllie Cross is interested in using art as a problem-solving tool to create a more just world.

A native of Seattle, WA, Ellie has painted murals designed to raise environmental consciousness in Malaysia, Thailand, Guatemala and the U.S. Her research in art activism and education has taken her to Ghana and Tibetan exile communities in Nepal, India and Tibet. Her work in the visual arts has included teaching children in Cambodia, Nicaragua and El Salvador.

She earned a B.A. in Studio Art from Scripps College in Claremont, CA (2007) and studied water color, pastel, ceramics, perspective drawing and woodblock printmaking at Gage Academy in Seattle (2010-11). During her three years in in Mumbai, India (2011-2014), she learned about folk art and enameling techniques from local artists. “In my daily work of making art with kids,” she said, “I continue to learn about the power of imagination, the durability of creativity and the tactile joy of the process.”

A few of Ellie’s illustrations will appear in our relaunch issue of Emergence, which will be published in June. View Ellie’s portfolio at www.artworkworks.com.

How did you first hear about Metta Center for Nonviolence?

A few months ago, a dear friend set me a link to the website and the work really resonated with me.

What first inspired you to see art as a tool for change?

My original appreciation for the power of art as a tool for social change is founded on the research I conducted with Tibetan exile communities while studying abroad in Nepal, India and Tibet.

I actually began my research studying how the Tibetan culture was being commodified by the West for consumption. My cynicism was inconsistent with the interviews I conducted, however, and I found instead that refugees were using art to creatively solve a myriad of problems they faced while living in exile.

mural el salvadorThis work provided a solid foundation as I continued my research and facilitated community-based art projects in Ghana the following semester. Under the mentorship of a local artist and educator, I began by interviewing locals about pressing environmental issues in the area. We concurrently paired with a neighborhood school to provide art instruction to a group of underserved adolescents. Based on interview results and the kids’ ideas, the students designed meaningful environmental messages to paint on a new public dumpster.  We ended the day and solidified our understanding with a beach cleanup.  The art workshops culminated in a mural we painted at the kids’ school with a message of responsibility and empowerment: “We create our future.”

How did you come to realize that art is your key contribution?

I had an amazing arts teacher in kindergarten who nurtured my creativity and empowered me to see myself as an artist.  As I grew up and became aware of the many systems of violence and oppression operating in our world, I felt an increasing need to find ways to work with others to address and dismantle what bell hooks calls the “white supremacist capitalist patriarchy.”

My artistic practice is greatly influenced by an effort to reconcile these two factors: finding ways to integrate my innate passion for visual art with a desire to work for social and environmental justice for all.

Where do the power of art and the power of nonviolence meet for you?

I am a firm believer that creativity is a powerful counterforce to destruction, and that part of the strength of art as a tool is that it works in mysterious ways to promote inner peace for individuals while bringing communities together in a manner that transcends the traditional limitations we face when trying to dismantle oppressive systems.

Can you offer us any insights about the roles art can play in activism and education, particularly among communities living in deep poverty?

As a white American traveling abroad, I am wary of the tendency for my volunteer work to become paternalistic. Art feels like a ideal tool for activism and education because it’s simply my personal path of following my bliss and sharing that with others around me. Without needing to force anything or push an agenda of “helping” others, I find that community art projects are effortlessly influential in subtle ways. The simple act of painting with the children of sex workers on their shelter walls creates an atmosphere of joy that speaks for itself. The kids are empowered by having volunteers assist them in their work. The fact that the space is brightened by the art is just a bonus. Part of the power of the work is that I don’t fully understand it, but I can feel it working.

If you were to summarize your art into a central message, what would it be—and to whom would it speak?

Art, be it performance or visual, is a dynamic tool which can be tapped to address a wide variety of issues facing our world today. I hope it would speak to everyone, but we all hear messages when and how we need to, so I suppose it’s for whomever it resonates with at this moment.

The Man From the North: Story 5

The Man From the North is a fictional writer in Rivera Sun’s novel, The Dandelion Insurrection. The novel takes place in the near future, in “a time that looms around the corner of today,” when a rising police state controlled by the corporate-political elite have plunged the nation into the grip of a hidden dictatorship. In spite of severe surveillance and repression, the Man From the North’s banned articles circulate through the American populace, reporting on resistance and fomenting nonviolent revolution.

The story below is one of several written by the Man From the North. The article series is not included in the novel and was originally published on Dandelion Salad. We will feature a Man From the North story on a weekly basis through June 3, 2015. You can read the entire series at Dandelion Salad. The Dandelion Insurrection and a companion study guide can be purchased on Rivera’s website.

Wisdom: A Force Unstoppable

“Look out upon this nation and tell me what you see,” a friend once said to me.

I told her I saw anger, hunger, poverty, senselessness, fear, sick and worried people, hatred twisting faces, greed stuffing overfull guts, ignorance regurgitating lies, well-intentioned impotence, self-centered passivity, and, beyond this roiling sea of humanity’s foibles, I saw my opponents lined up to massacre us all.

“Until you look out and see yourself as that,” she answered, “your revolution is going to fail.”

Nothing irks a young man’s temper than a dose of wisdom flying over his head. I retorted that loving my enemies was a good way to end up dead.

(more…)

The Man From the North: Story 4

The Man From the North is a fictional writer in Rivera Sun’s novel, The Dandelion Insurrection. The novel takes place in the near future, in “a time that looms around the corner of today,” when a rising police state controlled by the corporate-political elite have plunged the nation into the grip of a hidden dictatorship. In spite of severe surveillance and repression, the Man From the North’s banned articles circulate through the American populace, reporting on resistance and fomenting nonviolent revolution.

The story below is one of several written by the Man From the North. The article series is not included in the novel and was originally published on Dandelion Salad. We will feature a Man From the North story on a weekly basis through June 3, 2015. You can read the entire series at Dandelion Salad. The Dandelion Insurrection and a companion study guide can be purchased on Rivera’s website.

How to Fight a Tyrant

It is not enough to hurl your rage at tyranny . . . every bully knows how to dodge a hothead. Anger is the alcohol of emotions. We flush, courageous in its drunken heat, but our blows miss, we flail, and our opponent easily dispatches us.

I’ve had my share of schoolyard skirmishes. I’ve been provoked and beaten soundly. I’ve swung my fist in honest rage . . . and missed. More times than I would like to count, my temper tripped me into fights. I won some; I lost others.

I’ve come to this . . . anger is a weakness.

(more…)

“Chapati and Aloo” – A Story for Children

People of all ages learn through stories, and you can bring lessons about nonviolence into the classroom through the art of storytelling. Consider memorizing a story about nonviolence, either from real life or made up, and try telling it without reading from a book so you engage more with the students in front of you. You might also begin with an image or a photograph. Pass it around and then tell them that you will tell a story about that photo… Don’t forget to get creative: use different voices, incorporate song and movement, and follow their interest with improvisation where possible. 

Here is one that I learned that originates in India, which I heard in a talk given by the late meditation teacher, Sri Eknath Easwaran:

stevemccurryindia3-1One sunny day, a sage, or wise person, was sitting underneath a tree for shade, with a delicious yet simple lunch of potatoes and chapati (a kind of Indian bread) spread out on a banyan leaf before him. He closed his eyes to say his blessing and express his gratitude for his food.

A little boy spotted the sage with his eyes closed. The little boy did not have any food for lunch or any money to buy any. He thought to himself, “If that man will not eat his food quickly enough, sitting there all day with his eyes closed, I will eat his food for him.” He tiptoed over stealthily to where the sage was sitting and grabbed the chapati.

The sage opened his eyes, and startled the boy, who began running away, chapati still in hand. As he was in excellent physical condition, the sage jumped up and began running after him. He finally caught up with the boy who was frightened. He did not expect that an old sage would be able to catch up to him!

Trembling, he held out his hands with the chapati, and said in a quiet voice, “Here are your chapati, are you going to hit me?”

The sage laughed, “Hit you? What do you mean? Look here, I’ve brought you the potatoes. You cannot eat chapati without potatoes.”

As the boy ate his meal, the sage smiled. He was happy.

After you tell the story in your own way to the children, make sure to ask them questions about what happened, any lessons we can learn, and other nonviolence related take aways.