Infinite Revolution

Making their voices heard through art.

Thank God some people are bringing sanity into our 'correctional' facilities.  What a gift for the young people who find this opening coming into their lives.

"Artistic Noise is a program designed to bring visual arts practice and entrepreneurial skills to young people who are incarcerated, on probation, or somehow involved in the justice system. An exhibition entitled 'Infinite Revolution', on view this summer, will celebrate the immense artistic talent of the individuals involved in the Artistic Noise community, and their bold spirits that refuse to be muffled. 

"So much of what we do and what we’re focused on is give kids who are often silent a way to have their voices heard and their stories told.  Whether they are physically removed from society or just don’t feel like they have a voice, through art they are making this visual noise.”

To read more click, 'The goal was empowerment.'

A Real Education

These two guys know something about real education:

"Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid." - Albert Einstein

"Modern education with its focus on material goals and a disregard for inner values is incomplete. There is a need to know about the workings of our minds and emotions. If we start today and make an effort to educate those who are young now in inner values, they will see a different, peaceful, more compassionate world in the future."

To read more click, Not just a degree 

The Small Moments of Connection

'The social fabric is tearing across this country, but everywhere it seems healers are rising up to repair their small piece of it. They are going into hollow places and creating community, building intimate relationships that change lives one by one.

I know everybody’s in a bad mood about the country. But the more time you spend in the hardest places, the more amazed you become. There’s some movement arising that is suspicious of consumerism but is not socialist. It’s suspicious of impersonal state systems but is not libertarian. It believes in the small moments of connection.'- David Brooks

To read more click, 'I have no idea how a person this beautiful can emerge from a past that hard.'

“I Am What I Am Because of Who We All Are.”

'In the Ubuntu tribe of South Africa, when someone does something wrong, they take the person to the center of the village.  There the tribe surrounds the individual for two days, while members of the tribe speak all of the good that s/he has done in their lifetime.  The tribe believes each person is good, yet sometimes people make mistakes, which are actually cries for help.  They unite in this ritual to encourage the person to reconnect with his/her true nature.  The belief is that unity and affirmation are more powerful to change behavior than shaming or punishment.' - http://www.susiehayesnow.com/ubuntu/

To read more click, 'How could any one of us be happy if all the others were sad?'

A Place That Honors Cats, Dogs, and Mother Earth

Misión Gaia, a jewel of an organization in a mountain village in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, Colombia, reminds us of what is important.  Its founder and visionary Diana Benincore shares her path.  

To read more click 'To create consciousness and sow seeds, plant seeds in the children.'

How Stories Live In Our Bodies

We know in our gut when we’re hearing a good story – and science is starting to explain why.

To read more click ‘Dragons can be beaten.’

Hidden Villa Sponsors Women’s Full Moon Circle Gathering

Since 2006, Covey Cowan has worked as project manager and supervisor for Van Acker Construction Associates in Mill Valley, California. Prior to this role, he spent a decade as owner and general contractor for Seneca Builders in San Carlos, California. While working with Seneca, Covey Cowan assisted with the construction of a youth hostel for the Hidden Villa organization.

A nonprofit educational organization, Hidden Villa rests on more than 1,600 acres in the Santa Cruz Mountains. The organization uses its organic farm and wilderness to offer educational opportunities. Founded in 1924 by Frank and Josephine Duveneck, they turned the land into the first hostel along the Pacific coast in 1937 and the first multiracial summer camp in 1945. Since it began, Hidden Villa has seen approximately 30,000 people participate in its formal programs each year, with an additional 20,000 individuals annually visiting the preserve.

Hidden Villa hosts a variety of events throughout the year. One event, scheduled for September 15, 2016, is the Women’s Full Moon Circle. Led by facilitators Anya Tyutyunik and Katherine Glasa, this event brings women together to heal, share, learn, and replenish themselves. Participants spend time outside, where they partake in a feast, fire ceremony, sharing circle, and dancing.