Friday, March 11, 2011
Z-Day Prep
We will be making signs and displays tomorrow at the Animal House. Starting around noon and going on till like 6 or 7. Come over if you don't have anything going on and bring whatever art supplies you can. Markers, crayons, boards, sticks etc.. Thanks and see you here.
Contact Nimesh if you have any questions at nimeshlk@gmail.com
Contact Nimesh if you have any questions at nimeshlk@gmail.com
Wednesday, March 09, 2011
Reader Input Is Important To Us!
We got some great input from one of our readers recently about what he would like to see in our community. Here's synopsis of his suggestions:
-Create a listing of community resources: should consist of basic information on people or organizations that are available to help out. Such as where people in need can go to get food and other goods or doctors who may be willing to help the uninsured for other goods or services. Also, just a list of people with valuable information that can further our cause.
-Create a Community Aid group: A group of people to get that food and other goods to the people who need them or are willing to make a presence at home foreclosures or frivolous trials in our community. Basically, showing support for others in our community when they are in need.
I think both of these are great ideas...I will tell you that we do have a little bit of a head start on the first one already. Tiana has compiled a list of local banks, clothing retailers, farmers markets, grocers, food stops, etc that could easily be transformed into a succinct list of community resources. This is something that we can easily distribute electronically to volunteers and it can them be provided to the masses. I will bring this up with the rest of the volunteer group soon to decide how we can go about putting this together so stay tuned for more information on that.
I also think the second idea is fantastic. I would love to see group community involvement in the future, however our biggest hurdle thus far has been how do we get the people that support us to get out and actually do the work? It's unfortunate, but true, that it's very easy to lend your support from behind a computer monitor but we really need the support out on the streets. So, I ask you readers, what event would you help with? What would get you out to spread the word? Maybe even bring a couple of friends with you. I think we need a little less "e-activism" (I totally just made that up) and more people out in the real world to make a real change.
Let me know what you think!
J.
zeitgeiststc@gmail.com
-Create a listing of community resources: should consist of basic information on people or organizations that are available to help out. Such as where people in need can go to get food and other goods or doctors who may be willing to help the uninsured for other goods or services. Also, just a list of people with valuable information that can further our cause.
-Create a Community Aid group: A group of people to get that food and other goods to the people who need them or are willing to make a presence at home foreclosures or frivolous trials in our community. Basically, showing support for others in our community when they are in need.
I think both of these are great ideas...I will tell you that we do have a little bit of a head start on the first one already. Tiana has compiled a list of local banks, clothing retailers, farmers markets, grocers, food stops, etc that could easily be transformed into a succinct list of community resources. This is something that we can easily distribute electronically to volunteers and it can them be provided to the masses. I will bring this up with the rest of the volunteer group soon to decide how we can go about putting this together so stay tuned for more information on that.
I also think the second idea is fantastic. I would love to see group community involvement in the future, however our biggest hurdle thus far has been how do we get the people that support us to get out and actually do the work? It's unfortunate, but true, that it's very easy to lend your support from behind a computer monitor but we really need the support out on the streets. So, I ask you readers, what event would you help with? What would get you out to spread the word? Maybe even bring a couple of friends with you. I think we need a little less "e-activism" (I totally just made that up) and more people out in the real world to make a real change.
Let me know what you think!
J.
zeitgeiststc@gmail.com
Tuesday, March 08, 2011
Local Clothing and Other Goods
One of the most important things you can do to support the economy is to spend your hard earned bread locally. Here's a list of local retailers to support in the St. Cloud area:
· The Electric Fetus
· The Electric Fetus
28 5th Avenue South
St. Cloud, MN 56301
other locations in Minneapolis and Duluth
· Live Young, Die Fast- You can find them on facebook, or on the web at http://liveyoungdiefastmn.blogspot.com/
· The Youth Shelter Supply-
71 3rd St NE
Waite Park, MN 56387
Waite Park, MN 56387
REUSE. We keep producing more and more goods and clothing when there is already enough to sustain us. We can reuse clothing to minimize waste and discontinue our support for big clothing corporations.
· Threads
628 9th Ave S628 9th Ave S
Great resale shop with mostly used and some new clothing.
· Plato’s Closet
Resale and used clothing.
2940 Division St, St Cloud, MN 56301
· Goodwill
50 2nd Ave. S.
Waite Park, MN 56387
· Savers
3326 W. Division St.
St. Cloud, MN 56301
· The Treasure Chest
113 28th Avenue South
Waite Park, MN 56387-1085
· Barker’s More 4 Less
3356 W. Division St.
Saint Cloud, MN 56301
Music/Instrument Shops
· Rock Town Music
305 3rd Street Ne
Waite Park, MN
· Bridge of Harmony
19 7th Avenue South
St. Cloud, MN 56301-4259
· Al Asmus Music
1600 W Saint Germain St, #1
St Cloud, MN 56301
Z-Day 2011
Next Sunday March 13 the St. Cloud Zeitgeist Chapter will be at local businesses downtown handing out information on the Zeitgeist Movement and what you can do to get involved. We'll be at the Electric Fetus, Clown Glass, Albertville Outlet mall as well as walking around the downtown area. This is a great opportunity to get some information about the movement and meet some of the volunteers. Also, if you would like to volunteer to help hand out information on Sunday feel free to contact Tiana at t.maree21@gmail.com.
We will also have volunteers stationed in Atwood on Monday, March 14th. There will be different booths set up discussing key points of the Zeitgeist Movement including, the sociological, religious, technological, psychological aspects as well as the Venus Project. This is a great opportunity to learn more about the movement and get more specific information about these areas.
We will also have volunteers stationed in Atwood on Monday, March 14th. There will be different booths set up discussing key points of the Zeitgeist Movement including, the sociological, religious, technological, psychological aspects as well as the Venus Project. This is a great opportunity to learn more about the movement and get more specific information about these areas.
Friday, March 04, 2011
Making Music for Making Changes
With almost 150 participants raising over 1500 diapers for the Anna Maries shelter at our first MMMC event, the city of St Cloud proved that people who come together around the power of music and the spirit of generosity can truly make an amazing impact in their community. Because of this response, MMMC has decided: *Events will be held every-other-Friday *A new organization will be hosted each month ... This months sponsored organization is: "We-R-Artists": A Central Minnesota networking group for artists with disabilities. Fund-raising effort: We will be raising funds for We-R-Artists own handicap assessable art gallery and meeting space. We-R-Artists will also have local art work displayed at the meeting grounds and on March 18th for the art crawl the Green Band Office (which is right next door to the grounds) will be functioning as a gallery for We-R-Artists and will be having a silent auction. March Show Dates: Friday March 4th @ 5:00PM to 8:00PM Music By: Chase Binnie, Siamese Tree, and Winston Drei Tod Location: Meeting Grounds Friday March 18th (art crawl) @ 5:00PM to 8:00PM Music By: Mr. Chase Bonnie Tetraploid Double Dog Nose Programs like We-R-Artists are so vital for our community, so please join us again this march to make music for making changes! "Great Food, Groovy Music, Generous People" |
Reflections on "Soul of Citizen": For those feeling burnt-out
Great words from Justin...
In a culture of cynicism wrapped within a society of learned helplessness, the greatest enemy that we face as the hands and arms of progress... is ourselves.
It is inevitable that when our eyes first rest upon the shadow created by the looming conflicts and issues in the world that we will sit on our hands, breathless with anxiety. Where does one man or woman begin when the whole world has gone mad?
And as that anxiety flows through us like a toxin which immobilizes the heart and constricts the soul, it perpetuates that helplessness we feel in the sad, sagging faces of the masses who appear broken with the same affliction.
When the 500 richest people in the planet control more than the bottom three billion (over half of the planet),when the illusion of democracy falters and fails as the corporate interests which govern diplomacy and death deal out our bounded politicians who build wars and destroy our social programs. We live our lives in constant fear, from pay check to pay check, worrying about layoffs, health care, violence in our communities, unclean water and unfit food, wondering what kind of future our children will be living in once we are gone.
But the real question that must be asked is not where to begin, but how do we understand this climate of inaction, callousness, and blatant denial and dereliction of our responsibility as citizens.
When did we learn that nothing we do in the world is worth a damn?
The private life of pleasure and ignorance is the resulting band-aid for the soul. We never have enough as we begin to fill the void with what our culture of cynicism tells us to. Fill it with frivolous things, fill it with the comfort of conformity, and when the monster of meaninglessness craves it- feed it more more more more more.
The true cure for the soul is social involvement- it challenges us to step out side of ourselves and into the public sphere of things. We feel better with ourselves when we know our time has value, where the measure of our actions is something tangible; our individual lives become important to the well being of the entire tribe.It is the renaissance of the weakened soul.
But we must remember that in the beginning, these waters are unexplored. That for those beginning the journey of civic engagement we are captains who have never learned to navigate. It is a process of trial and error, of learning what works and what does not work. It is also an unraveling of ourselves and condemning the walls that have been consciously or subconsciously been building up around us.
Without previous experience we may feel alone, isolated, and fearful at the thought of beginning the tasks, whatever they may be, which create changes in the lives of others and in ourselves. This fear makes us uncertain of our abilities, makes our voice falter, and expose us to vulnerabilities we never knew that we had.
But there are ways to avoid burning out. There are ways to learn through our failures, grow from our mistakes, and take these experiences and revere them as the glorious failures necessary to guide us along the road of bettering ourselves and giving us the vital insight needed to effectively create changes. In the words of Thomas Merton, “Souls are like athletes that crave opponents worthy of them if they are to be tried and extended and pushed to the full use of their powers.”
We may not begin this road as scholars. We may not begin this road knowing everything about the issues. We may not begin this road with the skills we feel necessary to tackle what our convictions incessantly drive us to stand up for. But the most important thing to remember in the industry of changing the world, is that there is no winning or losing- there is only doing... which requires that first great step into the unknown world within us, the only true fear of mankind.
What we are doing in St Cloud is examining the frontier of possibilities that spread open before us like the limitless planes of our human potential. And though at times confusion and anxiety may get the better of us, when the road becomes unclear and we put our purpose to the great inquisition of the heart, we must rely on each other and our allies in the cause of progress- we must hold true to the ideals in which we stand. And dance.
-Justin
“If I am not for myself, who will be for me? And if I am only for myself, what am I?”
-Rabbi Hillel
In a culture of cynicism wrapped within a society of learned helplessness, the greatest enemy that we face as the hands and arms of progress... is ourselves.
It is inevitable that when our eyes first rest upon the shadow created by the looming conflicts and issues in the world that we will sit on our hands, breathless with anxiety. Where does one man or woman begin when the whole world has gone mad?
And as that anxiety flows through us like a toxin which immobilizes the heart and constricts the soul, it perpetuates that helplessness we feel in the sad, sagging faces of the masses who appear broken with the same affliction.
When the 500 richest people in the planet control more than the bottom three billion (over half of the planet),when the illusion of democracy falters and fails as the corporate interests which govern diplomacy and death deal out our bounded politicians who build wars and destroy our social programs. We live our lives in constant fear, from pay check to pay check, worrying about layoffs, health care, violence in our communities, unclean water and unfit food, wondering what kind of future our children will be living in once we are gone.
But the real question that must be asked is not where to begin, but how do we understand this climate of inaction, callousness, and blatant denial and dereliction of our responsibility as citizens.
When did we learn that nothing we do in the world is worth a damn?
The private life of pleasure and ignorance is the resulting band-aid for the soul. We never have enough as we begin to fill the void with what our culture of cynicism tells us to. Fill it with frivolous things, fill it with the comfort of conformity, and when the monster of meaninglessness craves it- feed it more more more more more.
The true cure for the soul is social involvement- it challenges us to step out side of ourselves and into the public sphere of things. We feel better with ourselves when we know our time has value, where the measure of our actions is something tangible; our individual lives become important to the well being of the entire tribe.It is the renaissance of the weakened soul.
But we must remember that in the beginning, these waters are unexplored. That for those beginning the journey of civic engagement we are captains who have never learned to navigate. It is a process of trial and error, of learning what works and what does not work. It is also an unraveling of ourselves and condemning the walls that have been consciously or subconsciously been building up around us.
Without previous experience we may feel alone, isolated, and fearful at the thought of beginning the tasks, whatever they may be, which create changes in the lives of others and in ourselves. This fear makes us uncertain of our abilities, makes our voice falter, and expose us to vulnerabilities we never knew that we had.
But there are ways to avoid burning out. There are ways to learn through our failures, grow from our mistakes, and take these experiences and revere them as the glorious failures necessary to guide us along the road of bettering ourselves and giving us the vital insight needed to effectively create changes. In the words of Thomas Merton, “Souls are like athletes that crave opponents worthy of them if they are to be tried and extended and pushed to the full use of their powers.”
We may not begin this road as scholars. We may not begin this road knowing everything about the issues. We may not begin this road with the skills we feel necessary to tackle what our convictions incessantly drive us to stand up for. But the most important thing to remember in the industry of changing the world, is that there is no winning or losing- there is only doing... which requires that first great step into the unknown world within us, the only true fear of mankind.
What we are doing in St Cloud is examining the frontier of possibilities that spread open before us like the limitless planes of our human potential. And though at times confusion and anxiety may get the better of us, when the road becomes unclear and we put our purpose to the great inquisition of the heart, we must rely on each other and our allies in the cause of progress- we must hold true to the ideals in which we stand. And dance.
-Justin
“If I am not for myself, who will be for me? And if I am only for myself, what am I?”
-Rabbi Hillel
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