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“stubbornly, relentlessly injected optimism into the system” -Christiana Figueres
Apparently, that’s today’s news. Maps of Antarctica will soon need to be re-drawn, and Trump thinks that his policies provide for the daily needs of the average Pittsburgh resident, as if those needs aren’t quietly connected to those of the rest of global humanity’s fragile conditions for comfortable life. In my town, two gentlemen gave their lives to protect two ladies against hate. In my bed, one thigh is tied to the other because one hip socket is ripped. This is that pressure, the squeezing of the slippery orange pip between the fingers before it flies. This is not a zero-sum game; we need each other. Maybe we need this president to expose those parts that are hard to see. I offer you this talk by Christina Figueres, who guided the bridging of the gap between the Climate Change Conferences in Copenhagen and Paris, at which all but two nations agreed to participate in legally binding adjustable resolutions. It’s about attitude, and optimism, and asking the right questions.
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I broke down crying when I saw this piece by Rodin at PAM just at the conclusion of NCECA. It captures everything for me. Somewhere at the top of my spine where my head should be is a heavy lidded vessel holding...?
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So, I have 23 acres of graceful, unzoned land 50 minutes from downtown Portland. I have dreamed for over a decade of a residency focused on ceramics and permaculture, but we blew the immediate budget just buying the land, so now I’m a full-time admin hustling for grants or I ask better questions. What do I do now in this time and place, with my gifts? What is this time and place where a vet makes it through war to die at home in defense of diversity? What is needed, culturally? Is it about “now”, or is it about life 50, 100 or 300 years out? There are mature wetlands, a pond, and new timber areas. There’s a spring, and a meadow. I’m planning the orchard and nursing its trees at a makeshift space right now. We have the budget for a studio for 3 people and a community kitchen with some guest quarters up above, so I am figuring out how to invite larger groups of people than what I can protect under a solid roof: classes, woodfiring crews, other small meetings of minds and neighbors… SO, when you think of a earth-based response to what you want to change, with what would you engage? When you daydream of a sweeter future that involves an understanding of natural systems, what do you see? When you look at your urban establishments and imagine them with a rural outpost, what does that latter part look like, or when you rural folk look at your area’s jewels, how would you connect them to the city?
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Lilith Rockett cups at our Castagna supper for NCECA. Photo Susan Seubert
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