thank you makes the world go round

i am becoming more convinced by the day that appreciation is the key to happiness, both our own and that of those around us.

thank you to the wonderful people in my life.
thank you family.
thank you friends.
thank you worldly neighbors.
thank you, thank you, thank you.

do you love someone? tell them.

i can't save the world, but i can make the sun shine around me

africa has been a huge part of the way i identify myself ever since i was there, just over a year ago. i went there with a small humanitarian group that works on providing clean water, health care, and education to people in small villages in south africa. we were supposed to stay for fifteen days and the rest of the group i was traveling with did just that, but when the fifteenth day arrived i wasn't ready to go. i knew in my heart that i had more work to do in africa, so i stayed.

the month that i spent in africa was life changing.
i learned more in those thirty days than i ever have in a classroom.
i learned more from eleven year olds with no formal education than i ever have from a professor with three degrees and ten years of higher education.

in those thirty days i became a different person.
i was already an empathetic, highly moral, compassionate, and concerned for others and the world around me kind of person. but in experiencing africa my senses were awakened and my heart grew to encompass the consciousness of all of my neighbors in kwazulu natal.

africa forced me to confront the unfairness that thrives in life. no one gets to choose what color their skin is, the country they are born in, their sex, their age, etc. sitting amidst a sea of hiv positive babies and hungry folks all around in a hospital one day i realized that the only thing we can do is to share. share our wealth, share our food, share the unending love that we have to give. sharing goes so much further than guilt ever could.

sala gahle, friends.
i miss you.

welcome to the compact.

recently i have come across a really neat idea called "the compact". from what i understand it started as a group of friends in san fran who wanted to lower their impact on the world around them by reducing, reusing, and recycling- with an emphasis on the first two. they were inspired by the folks who sailed across the atlantic to america in 1620 on the mayflower. their hope was to build a “city on a hill” that would be a beacon to the world.

here is how they explain what exactly the compact is on their blog (http://sfcompact.blogspot.com/) :

"-To go beyond recycling in trying to counteract the negative global environmental and socioeconomic impacts of disposable consumer culture and to support local businesses, farms, etc.
-To reduce clutter and waste in our homes (as in trash Compact-er).
-To simplify our lives (as in Calm-pact) "

to accomplish the above-mentioned goals, members of the compact have agreed not to purchase anything new and to borrow, barter, and buy used. i think it is particularly important to make exceptions to these rules where one's quality of life might be marginalized. the point more than anything is to live a rich and fulfilled life, to recognize that you don't need stuff to live that way, and to enrich the lives of others. 

so, onward ho!


i took this picture at the hudson river sloop festival in croton-on-hudson, ny this year. the event was started fortysomeodd years ago by pete seeger and friends! it was such an inspiring event where i was surrounded by people who love our earth, just like i do, and who care about keeping it clean and happy. being here made me feel so hopeful. 

rock me momma like a south bound train

someone played me a song today that i used to listen to often and it instantly brought me back to last year. driving with a wonderful friend in the pacific northwest.

it is amazing how quickly things can change in this life. just amazing. there really is no other word for it. one minute happy and sad the next. one day rich and tomorrow youre poor.
increasingly these days i am finding that the idea i have most faith in is impermanence.
im not sure what else to believe in.

i left the roadmap to my life in the backpocket of my jeans and ran it through the wash

regarding the last nine months of my life: wow. id like to recap a bit about the life that ive been living for the last three quarters of a year. it's been the hardest, the most painful, the loneliest, and all at the same time the most satisfying i have ever experienced. ive been living in a very special place called camphill village. after dozens of attempts to explain what i do here ive stopped just short of giving up. all i can do is try to use words i know to explain the most meaningful work and most trying job i have ever had. but, i already know that words dont do this place justice. they just dont. and it's impossible to understand camphill village without being a part of it, even for a dashing moment.

we are located in copake, ny. a place that most people dont even know exists. six miles west of the eastern border of ny where massachusetts and connecticut come together. on a sprawling, forested and hilly 600 acres, 250 people live in 20 (or so) houses we run a farm, three gardens: one for vegetables, one for healing plants, and one for seeds save the apple orchard. we also run a bakery, a dairy, a woodshop, a weavery, a cafe, a doctors office... among other things i know im forgetting.

half of the inhabitants of this undeniably beautiful land have special needs, disabilities, mental shortcomings- whatever you please. and the other half of us- well, some might call us average, normal, everyday folks. this is up for disagreement.