Redesigning the American Dream

My significant other and I are in the process of purchasing a home. I am also considering a thesis topic related to gender and housing. All of this is making me think a lot more about the conscious and unconscious choices we make in our lives about “home”.

The idea of the conventional “American Dream” persists, even in the face of this recession that has cities shrinking, families facing foreclosures and lots of folks chronically unemployed or underemployed. Maybe some are adjusting and defining a new “dream”, but it seems that many, including governing bodies, would just like to get us back to the way we were.

Where do you stand in all of this?

I don’t want to go back to the way I was. I am reevaluating things on a number of levels. For example, when I finish with my program, I will look for a job, sure. However, I do not expect to find or, even, necessarily desire something like a salaried, 8-5 gig. Aside from the fact that those are increasingly hard to come by, I also am prioritizing things much differently in my life. While I once inextricably tied my occupation with my identity, I now try to look at what really matters to me during this brief bit of time I have on this planet. I really want to, as the saying goes, “follow my joy”. I will never be financially wealthy doing that, but I am realizing more and more that money is not the safeguard I once believed it to be. The more I follow the things I love and believe in, the more people I connect with and the more I enjoy my days (thesis-writing aside!). Even as I pursue one American convention, home ownership, I am looking for ways to make it less of a weight to tie us down and more of a tool to expand our opportunities and help others along the way. For example, if we go through with the purchase of the home we have our sights on, we plan to grow food in our yard and share the space with others who want to do the same. Maybe we would just feed ourselves, but maybe it would evolve into something that could feed even more local families. The form it takes is unimportant to me, so long as what we are doing brings joy to our own lives and others.

So what dream are you following?

‘Burque Bioneers plug…

Join us at the National Hispanic Cultural Center (NHCC) from 7-8:30pm this Tuesday, Feb. 28th for films featuring talks by John Liu and Gloria Steinem. Pencil us in for the last Tuesday in March, too–same time, same place. See you Feb. 28th at the NHCC!

Maggie Macnab on Women’s Focus

I usually miss listening to Women’s Focus live on 89.9 KUNM, Saturday noontime. Fortunately, there is the two-week archive, where you can catch recent programs….

Yesterday I listened to Carol Boss’ February 11 interview with 4 young women about how they see the world, on the brink of graduating from college, followed by an interview with author and designer Maggie Macnab about her recent book, Design by Nature. It was an interesting pairing, and both interviews are absolutely worth a listen. (So is Macnab’s talk from TEDxABQ, 2010.)

As McNab talked about design inspired by nature, and how we as humans have the amazing gift to choose the kind of world we want to build, I was thinking about Mindy’s post from February 10, It’s All Connected. Object design is one thing, “societal design” another.

Or are they?

The interviews will be up for a few more days, so listen quick!

 

In Dead Ernest

If I should die before I wake,
All my bone and sinew take
Put me in the compost pile
To decompose me for a while.

Worms, water, sun will have their way,
Returning me to common clay
All that I am will feed the trees
And little fishes in the seas.

When radishes and corn you munch,
You may be having me for lunch
And then excrete me with a grin,
Chortling, “There goes Lee again.”

‘Twill be my happiest destiny
To die and live eternally.

Words by Lee Hays (1979) Music by Pete Seeger (1979)
(c) 1981, 1982 by Sanga Music Inc.

Have you ever asked yourself, “Is it hard to make your own compost?”

If so a personal moment of truth approaches!

Join the Bernalillo County Master Composters Association this March for it’s third season of composting education.  No experience necessary. Indeed, after application, attendance is evidence enough that you are a soil-Nerd and you shall be embraced as one of a kind.

See you there!

Mon, 2/20: Film Screening to Promote Inclusion

• “Class Action” Film Screening
• Monday, 2/20/2012
• 5-8pm
• UNM’s Student Union Building (SUB), Lobo A & B

How can WE TRANSFORM UNM?

How can we understand past mistakes and work together to create a safe and inclusive campus?

Join us for free food and a film screening of Not in Our Town’s latest documentary, “Class Actions,” on Monday, February 20, 2012, from 5-8p.m. in SUB Lobo A & B.

Hear how our students, faculty, and staff are generating change – and learn how others in different towns have done it.  “Class Actions” documents three stories of students and their communities standing together in the face of ignorance, prejudice, and intolerance.

• Hear what happened at the University of Mississippi when a group of students confronted football fans chanting “The South will rise again!”
• Learn how students in Bloomington, Indiana, came together when anti-Semitic attacks arose on the eve of Hanukkah.
• Hear how teen suicides prompted city-wide action in the town of Lancaster, California.

This event is funded and supported by Not in Our Town, a movement that has spanned more than 15 years and has included the grassroots efforts of communities fighting intolerance and prejudice across the country.  For more info, visit niot.org.

UNM sponsors for the event include Africana Studies, Associated Students of UNM (ASUNM), Caribbean Student Association (CSA), Community Learning and Public Service (CLPS), Diné of UNM, Division for Equity and Inclusion (DEI), Graduate and Professional Student Association (GPSA), Health Sciences Center (HSC), Latin American & Iberian Institute (LAII), UNM League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), LGBTQ Resource Center, Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano/a de Aztlan (MEChA), Office of International Programs and Studies (OIPS), Spanish & Portuguese Student Association (SPSA), Student Organization for Latin American Studies (SOLAS), and Women’s Resource Center (WRC).

Come together to generate change for UNM — let’s make UNM a safer, more inclusive, and welcoming campus community!!

For questions and comments, contact kphilipp@unm.edu.

Albuquerque 20/20 + Featured Events

I attended part of an Albuquerque City Council meeting held in my school’s auditorium last night. The many fold ideas and intentions behind this “Albuquerque 20/20″ City Council meeting were/are probably great. I saw this as an opportunity to discuss collaborative opportunities between the City and UNM’s School of Architecture and Planning (SA+P). In an ideal world, our community-based, social justice-oriented Community & Regional Planning department would be more frequently engaged by the City to help City planning processes be more participatory, more grounded in and guided by many community voices.

The meeting agenda was three-pronged:  1. Albuquerque Image & Branding, 2. Growth & Development, and 3. Town Gown/Relationships. Unfortunately, I had to leave just as they were transitioning to agenda item number two:  Growth & Development. Associate Professor of Community & Regional Planning (CRP), Dr. Claudia Isaac, gave a very eloquent speech about the opportunity for the City’s planning to be more participatory in nature–including budgeting processes–and to include more focus on the development of different types of capital, especially “social capital”.

In many cities with university planning programs, there exist strong alliances and the schools are utilized as resources. Hopefully, this meeting signaled the development of meaningful partnerships between the City, residents and UNM’s School of Architecture + Planning. How many opportunities are there like this? How can we all help move people and organizations with similar interests closer together? We see potential connections all the time. How can we realize them? Maybe it all begins with conversations like the one we had last night. Where do you see potential connections in your worlds? What conversations do you want to start? Feel free to comment, but if these questions interest you, also consider attending our monthly ‘Burque Bioneers film screening + discussion. The next one is 7pm on Feb. 28th at the NHCC.

Featured Events

• Master Composter Training  starts in March. The priority application deadline was Feb. 11th, so get your app in asap.

• Organic Farming Conference  is here–today and tomorrow!
  • This two-day event will deliver practical information for farmers, ranchers, and market gardeners on topics ranging from soil building and Integrated Pest Management, to marketing and farming with horses.
  • Where: 5151 San Francisco Road; Marriott Albuquerque Pyramid North

Reminder

Don’t forget about the monthly ‘Burque Bioneer film screenings + discussion. February is a double feature! Join us at the National Hispanic Cultural Center (NHCC) from 7-8:30pm on Tuesday, Feb. 28th for films featuring talks by John Liu and Gloria Steinem. Pencil us in for the last Tuesday in March, too–same time, same place. See you Feb. 28th at the NHCC!

Bicycling’s 50 Golden Rules

So I was looking through the news on Sunday morning, when I stumbled upon this article:  Bicycling’s 50 Golden Rules

Now, you can read the whole thing on your own, but I do want to point out a few rules.

“5. Take the Lane
You have a right to the road, so use it. It’s safer than riding on the shoulder, which is often cracked, covered in gravel, or worse. But don’t be a road hog, either.”

Generally, I’m okay with this advice, but I wished they’d added a caveat.   Something like, “Pick a good route.  There are some roads that are better to bike on than others.  Do your homework.   Just because you have the legal right to ride on any road doesn’t mean you should.”

“31. Layer Like a Wedding Cake
Easily removable layers make it a snap to regulate your temperature. Booties, vests, and skullcaps, as well as arm, knee, and leg warmers, can all be stashed in pockets as the day warms up.”

Yes!  When you bike there’s nothing between you and the elements, and the elements don’t care if you’re ready to get wet or sweaty.

“47. Bring Beer
It is the currency of cycling. A cold one can serve as payment for a borrowed tube, a tip for your mechanic, or a way to celebrate another great ride.”

The general idea of the list caters to an audience that treats cycling as a sport.  While I am not opposed to that, I wonder what the list would look like if it was designed with the person who uses their bike as their only source of transportation.

What rule would you include?   I’d probably go with, “Get a battery free bike light that permanently mounts on your bike” or “Get rid of your quick release tires and seat:   it makes locking your bike that much easier” or “don’t go cheap on your lock.”

I’ll see you on road.

Don

Burque Bioneers video online!

The Burque Bioneers 2011 video is online at First Eye Film’s YouTube channel. It’s six and a half minutes of poetry, presenters, sponsors, and youth from last October’s event. Check it out! And thanks to Reinhard Lorenz and Rebecca Dakota for all their help in putting the video together…

It’s All Connected

I’d like to figure out a way to branch this sense of connectedness, of, “it is all connected” to the issues of poverty and homelessness.  How do we all move about the world and see the individual on our streets-wrapped in a warn blanket-as ourselves or as our neighbor at least?  What is it about our society that keeps us separate? keeps us fearful? keeps us making excuses about why some are “deserving” of help and some are not?  I think the connection is severed between individuals because it is severed within us as individuals.

How do we reconnect with one another, our environment, our community? We have to see ourselves in everything and see everything within ourselves-not in a self-absorbed way, but an open-eyed and honest sort of way.

How do we do this? Each of us has to figure that out for ourselves.  I choose to put myself in a position where I am confronted with lives seemingly very different from my own, but, through constant contact and deeper communication, I have the opportunity to realize some essential similarities that bind us more than separate us.

I coordinate an open art studio, but  I wasn’t always the coordinator.  Instead, I was an individual looking for a sense of community, a path that widened as I moved through it, and work that simply kept me housed and fed.  I moved to Albuquerque to realize these “dreams” and took the first, and quite possibly the lowest paying, job in Albuquerque.  I was a waitress in a restaurant where the main draw was the $4.95 buffet of Chinese and Mexican food-meaning, of course, very little on tips.  But, I spent much time reading, chatting with customers, pushing a broom and getting through some much desired books such as Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee. I sometimes took home $20.00 for the day, but, I got free breakfast and lunch-so food wasn’t an issue. 

Of course, I had a choice in this path, as I already had an education and a family who would catch me if I fell-so I am not painting myself as a martyr or anything.  Really, I did this so I could breathe, stretch myself into positions that my limited experience and my home town expectations (including my own) hadn’t afforded. 

When I first arrived in Albuquerque, I stayed in the home of a friend, stored my stuff in their basement (later losing most of it from a flood), paid minimal rent and walked the two blocks to work every day.

I did all this so I could spend more days with a community of artists.  Folks who, although they may or may not have had the finances, opportunities, or certain choices that were afforded to me or many of whom may have been “doubling up,” living in a shelter, motel, car or the streets due to poverty and life circumstances- all of us decided to be in this place to make art. 

I was not a trained artist and was not used to exposing myself in such a vulnerable way.  There were others at the studio, who may or may not have had the training, but they were art making geniuses.  I sat alone at first, then gradually moved my way to the main table-joining the others in collage and found object art. 

I had a place to stay and a meal to count on-but I felt vulnerable in this space.  I hid my art for the first few weeks, but slowly and shyly allowed others to witness what I created.  They allowed me to be myself with them and in turn, they would be themselves with me.  I eventually put work in shows and joined the community in celebrating an opening reception or a fellow artist’s newest work.

I have stuck around for over eleven years because my life had been changed and because I knew I was going to continue having the opportunity to see and be seen by others whose worlds I may never have entered.

When we are thrown into the un-known, we are forced to find what is real and what is false.  We see ourselves more clearly when we are faced with some aspect of our humanity that we have not recognized or accepted.  Maybe that is why some do not recognize the other human soul walking down the street with a tattered blanket-they are just not ready or willing to see themselves?

Mindy Grossberg

Storm: A Play about Environment

EVENT:
STORM: A Collaboration between Theater Grottesco and the Out of Context Orchestra, Co-presented by the Bioneers

WHEN: February 17-26, times vary*

WHERE: Center for Contemporary Arts in the Munox Waxman Gallery
1050 Old Pecos Trail, Santa Fe, NM 87505.

DESCRIPTION: STORM is a play about environment. 2  actors portray 6 archetypical characters using structured improvisation with contributions from writers, visual artists, environmental and social scientists.  Storm portrays an unsustainable world post WWII.  The population explosion in the U.S. rendered it impossible to keep their promise of feeding the world with a new corporate agriculture.  Rear-projected video is used as scenography colliding with the emerging music from a live orchestra.

Click here to see a video of Storm as a work in progress.

PRICE: General Admission $25, Student Admission $10. Purchase tickets here.

* 5% of all ticket sales will be contributed to Bioneers on the Saturday the 18th, 2pm performance.  Click here for more information and to purchase tickets in advance. 

Be a TOOL (of the Universe):

This past week I received a call from a good friend.  He had an epiphany to share.

Going back the better part of 25 years, we had come to trust one another a great deal.  We shared many common interests, including a less-than-modest reverence for live musical performance.  Our taste ran primarily to rock, with an emphasis on improvisation and strong lyrical content and the list of adventures we had shared in pursuit of the ‘WOW’ moment was long.

Apparently, there was news from the frontier.

“It was like they were playing the sound off of the back of the room,” he said.  “Intentionally.  Like the space was a larger ‘instrument’.  And the crowd reaction was intense.”

Of course, thought I.  I had witnessed similar phenomena before.  A loosely organized set of creative actions performed publicly and ostensibly conjured to entertain or bear profit suddenly and spontaneously harmonize.  To curious and fascinating effect.

What was going on here?

I invite you to join the conversation.  Here in Albuquerque a group of inquisitive and optimistic folks have begun to organize, promoting discussion and action in the name of adventure, exploration and discovery.  They are the ‘Burque Bioneers, and the endlessly inspiring natural beauty of the Universe is their passion.

Meetings are held monthly, on the last Tuesday, 6pm, at the National Hispanic Cultural Center.  There will be film screenings and the presentation of progressive social and cultural thought.  Check it out.