J27: The People Surround Congress

Today was a herstoric peace march that surrounded Congress. Read about the week of actions in my blog above about Hillary.

The pink slip towers above Congress!

The Walk in Their Shoes display on the mall.

See photos and action report backs at: http://www.codepink4peace.org/article.php?id=1322

Treasure Maps

Natalia and Mary gave this absolutely fantastic workshop in Half Moon Bay on intentions for 2007. Check out Mary's site at: http://thefiberofeden.com/

America Says NO to Escalation

Vigils were held around the country to protest Bush's call for a troop escalation of 21,000 more troops for the Iraq occupation. 21,000--can you imagine? That's like sending 21 high schools full of kids to fight for their lives in a violent situation that the US presence is making worse daily.
I took part in a vigil outside the Federal Building in west LA with the amazing people of CODEPINK LA.

BCI II: Spirit (Re)treat for the New Year

Ariel and I road tripped down to Simi Valley, in southern Cali, for a five-day experience at the Brandeis-Bardin Institute, which is basically a beautiful retreat center complete with houses, sanctuary, ropes course, and dining hall, nestled in hundreds of acres of sprawling hills with brambling brush and the occasional cave, and some rocky mountainous areas. There we joined with 40 other folks, most of whom had done a summer program on the property, including my best friend Dena, Rebecca, and Shira, and we dove into imaginative writing class, hiked around the hills, sang, chatted, and had this absolutely incredible experience. It's this Jewish retreat space where I met the world-acclaimed passionate, exuberant, talented boy Steven. Ariel stayed at BCI to start a 6 month environmental action project called Sheva. I went to Los Angeles and stayed and stayed for two whole weeks. At the end of my trip, when I left LA, there was heavy snow cover on I-5... a majestic ending to the trip.

Rockstar sisters atop a mountain.

The all-star band trio after planting a tree.

This is a photo of a plant sprouting out of a hillside that was burned by a recent fire. There hadn't been fire there for over 50 years. Some seeds need fire to germinate, so there are now flowers appearing on the land that haven't been seen in 50 years! Sometimes we need fire in our bellies to take action. Sometimes beautiful things come out of what can appear to be destructive.