LIBRARY

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Community Service Personal Reflection Journal

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Most of my journaling for this class has already been posted here, in Collie’s Bestiary. However, in perusing the syllabus for this class, I re-read that the journal is supposed to consist, amongst other things, of “any other personal observations or revelations which may occur. Entries might include observations about the community work and her…

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“Ending Violent Crime Cheaply & Permanently” by Medicine Story, pt. 2

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In a fascinating storytelling style, Medicine Story shares the startlingly successful program he and various other Native American elders created to assist incarcerated men. Initially it was just for Native Americans, and included women’s circles, but over the years (due to a wide variety of reasons) the men’s circles were the only ones that continued,…

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“Ending Violent Crime Cheaply & Permanently” by Medicine Story, pt. 1

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Ending Violent Crime Cheaply & Permanently: A Vision of A Society Free of Violence by Manitonquat (Medicine Story) is an astonishing little book — one I might have had trouble believing if I hadn’t already stumbled elsewhere across some of the statistics mentioned. It is self-published as well: surprisingly short but very concise and readable….

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“The Next American Revolution” by Boggs & Kurashige

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After reading The Next American Revolution: Sustainable Activism for the Twenty-First Century by Grace Lee Boggs & Scott Kurashige, I confess my primary reaction was a frustrated, “Why is this not being better shared? Why must we keep re-inventing the wheel?” Upon reflection, I’d guess there must be some serious corporate (or socio-cultural?) interests involved, that…

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“Feminism & the Mastery of Nature” by Val Plumwood

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This is an astonishingly “chewy” book! I’m impressed, as well as greatly enjoying Plumwood’s fascinatingly erudite, logical — and yet, I feel, still thoughtfully spiritual — considerations on ecofeminism. She is, in fact, so logic-oriented that it was initially a bit disconcerting when her writing was also richly metaphorical. It’s always a pleasure to discover…

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“Unbowed: A Memoir” by Wangari Maathai, pt. 2

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Being a child of the US, I’ve only seen online, rather than face-to-face, the types of deeply vicious and misogynistic attacks which Maathai describes: [C]ertain people were jealous and wanted me to be taught a lesson and put in my place. They took pleasure in what they perceived as my comeuppance. The message was clear:…

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“Unbowed: A Memoir” by Wangari Maathai, pt. 1

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There is a phrase that’s apparently become popular on Twitter conversations where someone wishes to point out unconscious privilege: they state that the issue under discussion is an FWP, or “First World Problem.” Reading Wangari Maathai’s Unbowed: A Memoir, I found myself often reflecting with bleak amusement that all the issues I’ve ever faced —…

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Advanced Research Methodologies journaling

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I dedicated most of this week to (amongst other things) catching up on the readings for this class, so I could start on the required reflection paper as soon as possible. Here are the readings to date for all those intellectual sadists who are following along: Chapter 1 of Sharlene Nagy Hesse-Biber & Patricia Lina…

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More ecofeminism thoughts

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I think what has astonished me the most this week is how (sometimes unwittingly?) destructive humans are. I had time to muse on this as I was wandering around the yard picking up all the various bits of trash strewn hither and yon. Not only was there an absolutely astonishing amount of garbage — and…

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What is Community? part 4: Lupin Lodge

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I’ve written several posts now on Paolo Soleri’s Arcosanti, and his vision of cities as mostly-self-sufficient, compact communities instead of sprawling and isolating urban blights that consume and destroy the land they’re on. I’ve also mentioned some of my agreements and doubts with what I saw in Arcosanti (as a concrete entity somewhat separated from…