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Memphis Democrat Column Week of 3/22/10

  • user warning: Table 'cache_filter' is marked as crashed and should be repaired query: SELECT data, created, headers, expire, serialized FROM cache_filter WHERE cid = '3:8f68bf3b77e2052368c87d511f335f3b' in /home/thefec/htdocs/includes/cache.inc on line 26.
  • user warning: Table 'cache_filter' is marked as crashed and should be repaired query: UPDATE cache_filter SET data = '<p>Hi everyone. This is Alline with all the news that’s fit to print (and then some!) from Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage.</p>\n<p>On Wednesday Bob celebrated his birthday in the traditional Rutledge way with coffee and donuts at Zimmerman’s. We’re not sure exactly sure which one of the Rutledge Renegades started this custom, but we sure like it!</p>\n<p>Amy and Juan’s son Jolyon also had a birthday this week. It was his first, and he had the parties to prove it! Joly’s grandparents came from New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Minnesota and a great-grandmother, lovingly nicknamed “Chiquita,” came all the way from Argentina. Involved in the celebrations were three cakes, lunch at the Mercantile, several hundred balloons, and a time capsule for him to open in twenty years. The time capsule proved to be especially thought-provoking – what kind of technology will we have in twenty years, and what would be the most appropriate medium with which to communicate? Joly seemed just has content with a tea strainer as with his new wood train, puzzle and books, and charmed everyone with his sunny personality. He told me that he had a great time, and is looking forward to turning two.</p>\n<p>With the reappearance of the sun there is a lot of gardening happening around the village. Alyssa and Zane have been nurturing seedlings in the greenhouse, and Friday planted trees at their new house site. Sara, Ted and Aurelia, Tom and Tereza, Dan, and Sheila in Skyhouse, all have seeds sprouting in flats – I can tell already that it won’t be me who produces the first tomato of the season! Friday was also Burger Lunch at the Milkweed Mercantile. Anthony has sourced some lovely better-than-organic pastured beef from Yoder’s Natural Farm in Bloomfield, Iowa, where they farm with methods popularized by Joel Salatin of Polyface Farm (more info here: <a href=\"http://tinyurl.com/45xlzw\">http://tinyurl.com/45xlzw</a>). For the vegetarians Anthony crafted a burger from black beans and other secret ingredients. Both types were declared “the best burger I’ve ever had” by many diners. Accompanying the burgers were Anthony’s own Fries, made right here from fresh potatoes rather than pre-fab, pre-frozen industrial fries. It was a little slice of heaven, right here in Rutledge. One last word about Anthony and the Mercantile Café – we’re looking for a few Culinary Interns for this summer. If you’re interested in spending a few months at Dancing Rabbit and learning about cooking from one of the best, this might be the perfect opportunity for you. Read more about it here: <a href=\"http://www.dancingrabbit.org/social_change/culinary.php\">http://www.dancingrabbit.org/social_change/culinary.php</a></p>\n<p>In other news we are very excited about Tom becoming certified in solar installation – he will be going to Jeff City for more extensive training soon. We have come to depend upon him for his knowledge and ability to trouble-shoot and keep our power systems running (in spite of what we do to them). Stay tuned for the announcement of his new business. </p>\n<p>Some of the members of the Wabi Sabi kitchen coop (Thomas, Ziggy and April) accompanied Jennifer to town on Friday to pick up a trailer load of “urbanite.” This is just the fancy-schmancy (geological?) name for broken up concrete. We find that it is fantastic in foundations, and Wabi Sabi continues to work on their kitchen. By the way, “wabi sabi,” while somewhat difficult to define, is a Japanese term for an aesthetic that describes beauty as \"imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete,\" and also represents a comprehensive Japanese aesthetic centered on the acceptance of transience. This seems well suited for the folks in the cooperative, and for the cob building that they are constructing to house their food adventures.</p>\n<p>Last but not least, there is a new event coming up this weekend for Dancing Rabbit – a Pedal Powered Fundraising Blog-a-thon! While perhaps not as energetic as a bowl-a-thon or a dance-a-thon, we are looking forward to it nonetheless. Jeff McIntire-Strasburg of Sustainablog.org will be blogging for 24 hours to raise funds for Dancing Rabbit’s Visitor and Outreach Programs. Jeff will be blogging on a computer powered by a Pedal-a-Watt bicycle generator from 4:00 p.m. on Friday to 4:00 p.m. on Saturday. The Mercantile Café will be open for breakfast from 7:00 – 10:00 a.m. on Saturday if you’d like to come in and cheer him on. Additionally we anticipate special hourly snacks from the Mercantile kitchen and having our friends stop by for encouragement and perhaps even to add a blog post or two. Lots more info here: <a href=\"http://tinyurl.com/yldr2tu\">http://tinyurl.com/yldr2tu</a></p>\n<p>Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage is an intentional community in Rutledge, Missouri practicing ecological sustainability. Tours will begin again in April. For more information, please see our website at <a href=\"http://www.dancingrabbit.org\" title=\"www.dancingrabbit.org\">www.dancingrabbit.org</a></p>\n', created = 1371590199, expire = 1371676599, headers = '', serialized = 0 WHERE cid = '3:8f68bf3b77e2052368c87d511f335f3b' in /home/thefec/htdocs/includes/cache.inc on line 109.
  • user warning: Table 'cache_filter' is marked as crashed and should be repaired query: UPDATE cache_filter SET data = '<p>I can’t remember a time that I didn’t love to dance. I was one of those little girls whose mothers carted them to weekly ballet and tap lessons. My friends and I choreographed dances after school and fawned over the cheerleaders at high school football games. My dreams were shaped by the Star Search dancers and some quintessential 80s dance movies: Dirty Dancing, Girls Just Wanna Have Fun, and Footloose.</p>\n<p>By the time I was starting high school, I realized I was a Smart Girl and not a Cheerleader, and I started to deliberately dance silly in order to avoid the possibility of being mocked for trying to dance well and failing. In college, I chose the goth club because people actually went there to dance, and didn’t mind if you danced a little differently. After college, clubs in the city were expensive (for me on my grad student stipend) and filled with cigarette smoke and guys who thought I should want to grind with them. Ugh. I stopped dancing entirely.</p>\n<p>I didn’t realize that I missed it. Yeah, yeah, so I watched Save the Last Dance like 10 times… My life was full. I did yoga. I discovered contra dancing, which was a blast – in a structured sort of way.</p>\n<p>And then I moved to Twin Oaks. My first Twin Oaks dance party was when I was a visitor at Halloween, and it was a revelation. The people filling the dance floor ranged in age from 2 to 78 or so, and I got to watch as many dancing styles as there were people dancing. Everyone was out to have a good time, no matter whether they danced well or awkwardly, hip hop or hippie, boisterously or demurely. It was safe to make eye contact while dancing, and share the joy of moving my body to music, without worrying that I’d have to defend my boundaries later. I was quickly hooked.</p>\n<p>For my first 6 or 7 years of membership, I made a point of going to every dance party I possibly could.</p>\n', created = 1371590199, expire = 1371676599, headers = '', serialized = 0 WHERE cid = '3:cabc2f74d04ec46f126e7604975f375a' in /home/thefec/htdocs/includes/cache.inc on line 109.
  • user warning: Table 'cache_filter' is marked as crashed and should be repaired query: UPDATE cache_filter SET data = '<p dir=\"ltr\">This post was written by Paxus and originally appeared at <a title=\"Official Comm Conf website\" href=\"http://communitiesconference.org\" target=\"_blank\">www.communitiesconference.org</a> Sections in italics are additions to the original post.</p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\n</p><p dir=\"ltr\"><strong>1. Reconsider your living situation.</strong>  If you let it, the Communities Conference can really shake you up.  Daring people who are trying new or untested lifestyles are presenting or in attendance.  Step outside your comfort zone a bit and start from the assumption that you could live somewhere else, or with other people and see what this event has to offer and demonstrate.  Let go of the assumption that your next year has to look like your last year and go back to your own personal values.  What do you really care about?  How could this be better experienced in your daily living situation?</p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><em>This is a call to be daring, which i think is the most under nurtured revolutionary trait.</em></p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><img alt=\"\" src=\"https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/MlYJFErljS9j3u6y6WRVo0iBCXDZJwpTyYWEDvrWb2vpq-yicsSTFbj-OdjwR7hhnLnrhD4f8kVb2uWn0vUFDl_QsP_MmQfuhHYFbM0Qa6UK-i6fMrzmrjIMWQ\" width=\"NaN\" height=\"NaN\" /></p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><strong>2. Chat with a rock star.</strong>  There are a bunch of inspiring personalities at the Communities Conference and they are more accessible in this relaxed 3 day event than they are at most times in their busy lives.  Seek out the people who say something that excited you and ask to have lunch or a more private chat with them.  If this is your first time attending, read the entire set of workshop descriptions upon arrival and find out which presenters sound like they are doing stuff you are excited about and then get any of the event organizers to point that person out to you.  This conversation might just change your life.</p>\n', created = 1371590199, expire = 1371676599, headers = '', serialized = 0 WHERE cid = '3:1a0cae9ea7d8413500e25214684ad887' in /home/thefec/htdocs/includes/cache.inc on line 109.
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  • user warning: Table 'cache_filter' is marked as crashed and should be repaired query: UPDATE cache_filter SET data = '<p>Several people have said the most useful piece of the <a title=\"Official Loud Love event\" href=\"http://loudlove.org/\" target=\"_blank\">Loud Love</a> event was the transparency tools workshop.   i was powerfully reminded that while the tools are useful, what appears to be really happening is that people are longing to be asked these revealing questions.  With the smallest opportunity most people will share deep feelings and vulnerable information about themselves, even with people they dont know very well.</p>\n<p>We have re-started the transparency group at Acorn.  There were a few people excited about it and a number of people who showed up when it happened who seemed to like it.  My original thought was that we should try to fuse Acorns more festive culture with this tool set and instead of having the classical, slightly formal transparency discussions.  We should have transparency parties, where the format is more relaxed, less full group oriented and more smaller conversations.  Distracting food and drink could be part of it as well.</p>\n<p><a href=\"http://paxus.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/picsasso-girl-in-mirror.jpg\"><img class=\" wp-image-13883 \" alt=\"Picasso\'s girl in the mirror\" src=\"http://paxus.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/picsasso-girl-in-mirror.jpg?w=363&amp;h=450\" width=\"363\" height=\"450\" /></a><br />\n</p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Picasso’s girl before a mirror</p>\n<p>Instead, at the first Acorn transparency event this year, we stuck to a more conventional format, with the group in a circle and a single person revealing themselves to everyone using several <a title=\"This blog transparency tools list\" href=\"http://funologist.org/2010/12/27/liberal-transparency/\" target=\"_blank\">different tool sets</a>.  And i was blown away again.</p>\n', created = 1371590199, expire = 1371676599, headers = '', serialized = 0 WHERE cid = '3:eec343b01362d659c6c6422356f34349' in /home/thefec/htdocs/includes/cache.inc on line 109.
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  • user warning: Table 'cache_filter' is marked as crashed and should be repaired query: UPDATE cache_filter SET data = '<p>Scabies sucks, but it was fun when people got excited about applying each other’s permethrin and the subsequent “prolonged skin-to-skin contact” parties we’re now green lighted to have.</p>\n<p>And having strep is not fun, but it’s nice that I don’t worry about losing my job/money/childcare/house because I’ve gotten sick and need to stay in bed for a couple days.  And people will bring me food.</p>\n<p>So maybe intentional community breaks even.  We infect each other with every transmissible ailment, but then we take care of each other while people get back to normal.</p>\n<p>Cue inspirational music.</p>\n<p> <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/gocomments/runninginzk.wordpress.com/629/\"><img alt=\"\" border=\"0\" src=\"http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/comments/runninginzk.wordpress.com/629/\" /></a> <img alt=\"\" border=\"0\" src=\"http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=runninginzk.wordpress.com&amp;blog=51640857&amp;post=629&amp;subd=runninginzk&amp;ref=&amp;feed=1\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\" /></p>\n', created = 1371590199, expire = 1371676599, headers = '', serialized = 0 WHERE cid = '3:ecef4d3a4c260902733e7beecb9958ad' in /home/thefec/htdocs/includes/cache.inc on line 109.
Submitted by amy on Wed, 03/24/2010 - 22:28
in

Hi everyone. This is Alline with all the news that’s fit to print (and then some!) from Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage.

On Wednesday Bob celebrated his birthday in the traditional Rutledge way with coffee and donuts at Zimmerman’s. We’re not sure exactly sure which one of the Rutledge Renegades started this custom, but we sure like it!

Amy and Juan’s son Jolyon also had a birthday this week. It was his first, and he had the parties to prove it! Joly’s grandparents came from New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Minnesota and a great-grandmother, lovingly nicknamed “Chiquita,” came all the way from Argentina. Involved in the celebrations were three cakes, lunch at the Mercantile, several hundred balloons, and a time capsule for him to open in twenty years. The time capsule proved to be especially thought-provoking – what kind of technology will we have in twenty years, and what would be the most appropriate medium with which to communicate? Joly seemed just has content with a tea strainer as with his new wood train, puzzle and books, and charmed everyone with his sunny personality. He told me that he had a great time, and is looking forward to turning two.

With the reappearance of the sun there is a lot of gardening happening around the village. Alyssa and Zane have been nurturing seedlings in the greenhouse, and Friday planted trees at their new house site. Sara, Ted and Aurelia, Tom and Tereza, Dan, and Sheila in Skyhouse, all have seeds sprouting in flats – I can tell already that it won’t be me who produces the first tomato of the season! Friday was also Burger Lunch at the Milkweed Mercantile. Anthony has sourced some lovely better-than-organic pastured beef from Yoder’s Natural Farm in Bloomfield, Iowa, where they farm with methods popularized by Joel Salatin of Polyface Farm (more info here: http://tinyurl.com/45xlzw). For the vegetarians Anthony crafted a burger from black beans and other secret ingredients. Both types were declared “the best burger I’ve ever had” by many diners. Accompanying the burgers were Anthony’s own Fries, made right here from fresh potatoes rather than pre-fab, pre-frozen industrial fries. It was a little slice of heaven, right here in Rutledge. One last word about Anthony and the Mercantile Café – we’re looking for a few Culinary Interns for this summer. If you’re interested in spending a few months at Dancing Rabbit and learning about cooking from one of the best, this might be the perfect opportunity for you. Read more about it here: http://www.dancingrabbit.org/social_change/culinary.php

In other news we are very excited about Tom becoming certified in solar installation – he will be going to Jeff City for more extensive training soon. We have come to depend upon him for his knowledge and ability to trouble-shoot and keep our power systems running (in spite of what we do to them). Stay tuned for the announcement of his new business.

Some of the members of the Wabi Sabi kitchen coop (Thomas, Ziggy and April) accompanied Jennifer to town on Friday to pick up a trailer load of “urbanite.” This is just the fancy-schmancy (geological?) name for broken up concrete. We find that it is fantastic in foundations, and Wabi Sabi continues to work on their kitchen. By the way, “wabi sabi,” while somewhat difficult to define, is a Japanese term for an aesthetic that describes beauty as "imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete," and also represents a comprehensive Japanese aesthetic centered on the acceptance of transience. This seems well suited for the folks in the cooperative, and for the cob building that they are constructing to house their food adventures.

Last but not least, there is a new event coming up this weekend for Dancing Rabbit – a Pedal Powered Fundraising Blog-a-thon! While perhaps not as energetic as a bowl-a-thon or a dance-a-thon, we are looking forward to it nonetheless. Jeff McIntire-Strasburg of Sustainablog.org will be blogging for 24 hours to raise funds for Dancing Rabbit’s Visitor and Outreach Programs. Jeff will be blogging on a computer powered by a Pedal-a-Watt bicycle generator from 4:00 p.m. on Friday to 4:00 p.m. on Saturday. The Mercantile Café will be open for breakfast from 7:00 – 10:00 a.m. on Saturday if you’d like to come in and cheer him on. Additionally we anticipate special hourly snacks from the Mercantile kitchen and having our friends stop by for encouragement and perhaps even to add a blog post or two. Lots more info here: http://tinyurl.com/yldr2tu

Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage is an intentional community in Rutledge, Missouri practicing ecological sustainability. Tours will begin again in April. For more information, please see our website at www.dancingrabbit.org