Lorraine Margeson: Gulf Coast Activist

This someone you should know: Lorraine Margeson, Tampa Bay's best known environment activist; a woman working on the forefront of the gulf oil spill. Her story is compelling because she is not wailing or wringing her hands, she is not standing around feeling depressed or helpless about all this nor is she ranting on net about how bad it all is without doing a thing herself. Instead, she does what I think any one of us can do; she does the good that's in front of her:

She and her husband built a three-story house with a bird-watching deck on the roof. They replaced plants from foreign lands with native vegetation. They joined Audubon, they joined Sierra, they became friends of whatever park needed them. On her block, she persuaded neighbors to stop killing rattlesnakes.

She and her husband have a computer hardware business. They would rather watch birds. They count robins. They see hummingbirds and cedar waxwings and the occasional rose-breasted grosbeak. They drive over to Fort De Soto to look at the warblers in the mulberry tree. Then they head for the beach, where Lorraine picks up trash and snarls at "idiots" who get too close to the endangered least terns that nest on the sand. She watches black skimmers. She never tires of watching the pelicans.

And now there's oil in her gulf. And it may end up here, on Lorraine's beach, where it might hurt Lorraine's birds.

So that's why she's on the phone today. That's why she is on the computer. She is networking with other people, leading their next move.

You can read the rest of her story here at Tampabay.com

Brava!

Sia

More oil spill & environmental news can be found at BirdGarden

Butterfly Woman

Someone You Should Know:

Meet pioneering 17th-century lepidopterist Eleanor Glanville

Born just after the Civil War, she can be called the first lady of British natural history. This was a time when women were scorned for dabbling in science, when butterflies were regarded as sinister creatures that represented the spirits of the dead, and anyone with an interest in them was viewed with suspicion, liable to be accused of sorcery.

Amazingly, Glanville’s will was overturned by her children, in what became a cause célèbre, on the ground that only an insane person would go “in pursuit of butterflies”.

Oh, if only I had been able to learn about such women when I was young and still in school. Nevertheless, I enjoy making up for lost time.

Another, modern butterfly woman is Camile Parmesan. As I noted back in 2007

Her groundbreaking studies on butterflies and global climate change offer “the strongest statistical evidence that global warming—influenced by trapped greenhouse gasses such as carbon dioxide from cars and factories—is having an impact on a wide scope of species and regions.”

Dear parents, please tell your sons and daughters about such inspiring people as often as you can. You'll be glad you did.

Butterfly gardening:

Want more butterflies in your garden? Then check out the gardening pages at the Butterfly website.

Images of Butterfly Women

Here are some famous art images of women as butterflies. These ladies are not fragile.

Enjoy,

Sia

Related Articles

The Secret World of Butterflies

Butterfly and Moth Symbolism

Spiral Scouts

Art: Butterfly Woman found here.
Does anyone know who this artist is? I would like to give him/her credit.

Someone You Should Know: Henry Jenkins, the Guru of Convergence Culture

The L.A. Times calls him the Guru of Convergence Culture and he says things like this:

Never underestimate the desire of parents to see their children as dumb. We see our children at their worst moments in the course of their lives ... it’s very easy to imagine our children as failures -- and because they go into worlds that are unfamiliar from our own childhood, we see them in some ways as threatened.

That creates a context where as a parent you’re looking at young peoples' engagement with this technology and there’s a sense of fear ... because as a parent you fall back on -- in these moments of crisis -- the things you were taught and the world you grew up in. And that sense of a conservative reaction to things that were alien to your experience is a very real-world one. It only takes one instance — a Columbine or a Virginia Tech shooting -- and what comes out of that is the beginnings of a moral panic. A moral panic is what happens when you stop asking questions because you assume you know the answers.

There are new literacies that are emerging in this generation that are so powerful, but that parents don't understand.

So...just who is Henry Jenkins?

Henry Jenkins is the Director of the MIT Comparative Media Studies Program and the Peter de Florez Professor of Humanities. He is the author and/or editor of nine books on various aspects of media and popular culture, including Textual Poachers: Television Fans and Participatory Culture (1), Hop on Pop: The Politics and Pleasures of Popular Culture and From Barbie to Mortal Kombat: Gender and Computer Games. His newest books include Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide and Fans, Bloggers and Gamers: Exploring Participatory Culture.

About himself he writes:

One of my proudest accomplishments so far in life has been the creation of the Comparative Media Studies (CMS) graduate program at MIT. At its core, this program encourages students to think across media, across historical periods, across national borders, across academic disciplines, across the divide between theory and practice, and across the divides between the academy and the rest of society. Our goal is simply to train the next generation of leaders for industry, government, education, the arts, journalism, and academia to think in more imaginative ways about the process of media change...my own sense is that the academic disciplines which emerged around the problems of the industrial age have outlived their usefulness in a networked culture and that we need to reconfigure the ways we organize and communicate knowledge to our students.

Central to the vision of CMS is the idea of "applied humanism." MIT has applied math, applied physics, and applied chemistry so it made sense to me that there should be an applied branch of the humanities. Our goal is to take what we are teaching in our classrooms and give students a chance to apply it more pragmatically to think through some of the core challenges being faced out in the field as core institutions confront media change.

I recommend that geeks, gamers and cultural thinkers take a look at his blog: Confessions of an Aca-Fan (AKA Acadamic Fan) and by all means, check out his books. Even I can grok the books.

Enjoy,

Sia

Hat tip to Neil Gaiman, who mentioned Jenkin's blog in his own blog.

Convergence of Culture (Publisher's Weekly Review)

Henry Jenkins, founder and director of MIT's comparative media studies program, debunks outdated ideas of the digital revolution in this remarkable book, proving that new media will not simply replace old media, but rather will learn to interact with it in a complex relationship he calls "convergence culture." The book's goal is to explain how convergence is currently impacting the relationship among media audiences, producers and content, a far from easy undertaking. As Jenkins says, "there will be no magical black box that puts everything in order again." Jenkins takes pains to prove that the notion of convergence culture is not primarily a technological revolution; through a number of well-chosen examples, Jenkins shows that it is more a cultural shift, dependent on the active participation of the consumers working in a social dynamic. He references recent media franchises like Survivor, The Matrix, and American Idol to show how the new participatory culture of consumers can be utilized for popular success and increased exposure. Jenkins' insights are gripping and his prose is surprisingly entertaining and lucid for a book that is, at its core, intellectually rigorous. Though wordy at times, Jenkins' impressive ability to break down complex concepts into readable prose makes this study vital and engaging.

Textual Poachers: (Review from the Journal of Popular Culture)

Drawing on a rich theoretical background with sources ranging from feminist literary criticism to cultural anthropology, [Jenkins] applies and adapts Michel de Certeau's model of poaching, in which an audience appropriates a text for itself. Taking a stand against the stereotypical portrayal of fans as obsessive nerds who are out of touch with reality, he demonstrates that fans are pro-active constructiors of an alternative culture using elements poached and reworked from the popular media.

Offerings & Harvest: Pagan Thoughts at Mabon

Sacrifice, balance, effort and change: Misconceptions abound around these themes. They are not shiny or sexy. They are not easy to grasp, easy to teach or easy to live. They will not help to sell your next book or workshop. The term sacrifice especially, carries with it a dysfunctional ideal of martyrdom, or worse, it conjures images of innocents lying slain on a bloody altar, the lives of others (not our own, no, never our own) callously wasted in order to appease a vengeful, angry and jealous god. Pagans have no such deity, so is it any wonder that most Pagan teachers and writers don't address these issues, loaded and ill used as they are? Yet sacrifice and the need for change are something that adult Pagans deal with every day. So, as the harvest draws near and we consider balance and the turning of the wheel, the issue of sacrifice (what we give to others, what others have given for us and what we feel is required by a positive, life affirming and loving relationship to the sacred, however we define that) comes up often in our circles. So more and more thoughtful Pagans are addressing these issues. It's good to see.

Lighting A Candle Is Not Enough

Diane Sylvan, in particular, has written a wonderful essay which contains her thoughts on the true nature of sacrifice. I've quoted it below. See what you think. And if you choose to write on these themes for Mabon will you let me know? I'll post a link here.

Excerpt from Giving It Up for the Goddess by Diane Sylvan:

When I say "sacrifice," I don't mean to imply that there's a giant tote board in the sky keeping track of your deeds and wishes granted, or that the universe is a giant zero-sum game. I mean simply that two objects cannot occupy the same space at the same time. If you want something new and wonderful in your life, room must be made for it. You have to work to clear the ground and prepare the soil; if it's full of roots and rocks, you're less likely to reap a good crop. If you want to be healthier, you can't just sit around filling yourself with white light and humping your crystals--you have to make real, practical changes in your real, practical life, the life you want transformed. Life doesn't just happen on the astral plane; neither does magic. Show the gods you're willing to make the sacrifice necessary, and willing to accept the consequences of the changes you have asked for. Life is like wearing a white shirt to an Italian restaurant. There will be deliciousness and satisfaction and succulence, but there will also be marinara on your shirt.

Of course, what that means is, be careful what you wish for. When it comes down to it, is your goal worth what you'll have to give up? Is it worth the time, the extra work? Is a new relationship worth breaking off an old one? Is a more fulfilling life worth moving, changing jobs, losing friends? Are you truly willing to let go of the old way and embrace the new? If you're not, you will not succeed. If your closet is full of baggage, don't expect the gods to hand you a new wardrobe.

This is a minor sticking point I have with the Charge of the Goddess--that line about "nor do I demand aught of sacrifice." I'm sure that it was written with the intention of stating clearly that Witches don't off bunnies and kitties and babies in their rituals, but it is a bit misleading in a broader sense. No spiritual evolution has ever come freely. However, I suppose the point is that the Goddess doesn't force us into anything--in the end, we have to decide for ourselves if we are willing to give what must be given. We always have the option to walk away, to let life continue until it becomes utterly unbearable. Unfortunately what tends to happen is, if we don't walk into the sacrifice willingly when we have the opportunity, eventually things will get so horrible that we are forced out of our inertia into much more difficult choices. Life will change; that is its nature. Our freedom and responsibility is to create that change ourselves instead of allowing circumstances to dictate our stories. To quote Natasha Bedingfield, "Today is where your book begins; the rest is still unwritten."

The important thing is not to confuse "sacrifice" with "suffering." It doesn't always have to be painful, although we tend to cling so hard to our possessions and past that we bring a lot of undue pain upon ourselves. Sacrifice isn't about agony, it's about significance. As we come into the waning time of year, when Death and the Dark Queen step onto the stage, They will surely ask you: What is your heart's desire? And what do you offer Us in return?

Only you can know the answer.

Go well, stay well

Sia

Related Articles:

What Are You Willing To Give Up For It? at the Breathless Noon Blog

The Bard and the Poser by Sia Vogel

The Principal of Sacrifice Though Balance


Off the Shelf:

Circle Within: Creating a Wiccan Spiritual Tradition

Body Sacred

- both by Diane Sylvan

Someone You Should Know: Dawn writing on empathy and creativity

This comes from Dawn's blog titled This Women's Work. Her is an excerpt from the post Empathy:

After one interview I ran through all the frustrating people I know and thought, “Yup, we’re missing empathy.” Like the woman who railed on about how things ought to be done without noticing that I was doing it differently and might feel insulted? No empathy. Like the guy who bragged for hours about his accomplishments without noticing that his companion was getting smaller with every word? No empathy.

And lord knows that I’ve been that blowhard, too, (and surely will be again and likely was just this morning) thinking more about my headlong role in a conversation than about the person I’m talking to.

This comes from her post titled The Renaissance Is Over:

I personally think that the model of the driven artist is one based on a male way of creating. Women have historically had other things to do. Things like raise the kids and cook the dinners and make the money so their husbands can go on being creative geniuses. I think that we need to look at other women artists for our inspiration or as cautionary tales. The women who have found a balance that appeals to us (and it may mean more work for some and more living for others), are the ones we can make our own personal imaginary mentors.

Read her work. You'll be glad you did.

Sia

My thanks go out to the Blessed Moon Family Coven for the link.

Someone You Should Know: Martin Espada

A poet can be a teacher, a historian, a journalist,
an organizer, a preacher, a caretaker, or a bard.
And a poet can be a political activist,
one who participates in the great changes
that the world is always going through.
We can go back to a poet that used to
wander the streets of Brooklyn
in the mid-19th century: Walt Whitman.
- Gabrial Thompson, writing about Martin Espada

Here is someone I think you'd like to meet. His name is Martín Espada

Espada's most recent book, The Republic of Poetry, is a collection of poems that followed an invitation from Chile for Espada to come celebrate Pablo Neruda's Centenary. (1) It was a finalist for the 2007 Pulitzer Prize.

Excerpt:

In the republic of poetry,
poets rent a helicopter
to bombard the national palace
with poems on bookmarks,
and everyone in the courtyard
rushes to grab a poem
fluttering from the sky,
blinded by weeping.

In the republic of poetry,
the guard at the airport
will not allow you to leave the country
until you declaim a poem for her
and she says Ah! Beautiful.

Bird
by Pablo Neruda

It was passed from one bird to another,
the whole gift of the day.
The day went from flute to flute,
went dressed in vegetation,
in flights which opened a tunnel
through the wind would pass
to where birds were breaking open
the dense blue air -
and there, night came in.

When I returned from so many journeys,
I stayed suspended and green
between sun and geography -
I saw how wings worked,
how perfumes are transmitted
by feathery telegraph,
and from above I saw the path,
the springs and the roof tiles,
the fishermen at their trades,
the trousers of the foam;
I saw it all from my green sky.
I had no more alphabet
than the swallows in their courses,
the tiny, shining water
of the small bird on fire
which dances out of the pollen.

Off the Shelf

DVD
Il Postino

A romantic comedy. Mario is a bumbling mailman who's madly in love with the most beautiful woman in town ... and who's too shy to tell her how he feels. But when a world-famous poet -- Pablo Neruda -- moves into town, Mario is inspired. With Neruda's help, he finds the right words to win the woman's heart.