Home of the Wanderer

Another tip from one of my learning journals: “Want to develop leadership?  Allow initiative, and permit failures, in non-catastrophic areas.  If you want to grow at all, do this.”

Greg Mankiw’s recent blog post makes some interesting claims, but in it he glosses over some important pieces of the real-world situation for the majority of Americans. (more…)

I dream of a theater company that changes the world. A movement, really. To draw out a new story from the next generation, to transform our ideas of what’s possible among people. A sustainable company at its heart? Not only do I dream it, I believe it’s possible. Will you explore this with me?

When I was sexually assaulted in 1998, it took me two and a half years to tell more than two people.

I just read the email below, and I’m uncomfortable because I want people to consider seriously any claim that a person has been subjected to sexual violence.

If you’re willing, the next time someone lets you know that he or she has been on the receiving end of sexual violence, please tell that person that he or she is not alone, say something like, “I trust you’ll tell me if I can do anything to help,” and then be quiet and listen.

Thanks.
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There are three crucial issues I believe to be facing us in the world right now, and they are, as I have lately been discussing with some of my close friends, all closely interlinked.

One is our reliance on hard power to dominate the world – the good news is that this will eventually destroy us, if we continue in this path, just as it did the Soviet Union in the cold war. The bad news is that, on the way, there will be tremendous human suffering. The worse news is that we face other another more pressing issue. (more…)

Our purpose and our mission is to have fun learning, practicing, and teaching others about alternatives to violence by embodying creative responses to conflict in the public sphere with an invitation that uses street theater to expand and transform ideas of what’s possible in relationships among people, and makes accessible tools, ideas, and infrastructure to implement these possibilities. All are encouraged to join with us in pursuit of our purpose in adherence to our principles. (more…)

Banker to the Poor: Micro-Lending and the Battle Against World Poverty ∞ Get Rich Slowly

J D Roth  writes about the use of micro-finance to battle poverty.  He says it well enough that I won’t bother reiterating here, except to say that this is the sort of thing a group of workers could do once they’ve established a successful collective and freed themselves from debt.

A dear friend of mine has recently been saying to me that there is no way for working people to obtain the means of production through the existing economic system. I believe that there are ways in which workers are already acting to use the economic structures of our society to acquire controlling interests in their respective workplaces, thereby creating worker-owned collectives. Thus, I believe that the existing economic system, despite its flaws, can be used by oppressed people in the process of liberating themselves. (more…)