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November 2016, The BeZine, Vol. 3, Iss. 2, Loving Kindness

November 15, 2016 – This is reblogged from original post in The BeZine

“later that night
i held an atlas in my lap
ran my fingers across the whole world
and whispered
where does it hurt?
it answered
everywhere
everywhere
everywhere.”
excerpt “what they did yesterday afternoon” by Warsan Shire

In our themed section this month our writers explore acts of kindness that are motivated by love (respect) as expressed to neighbors, to self and for the peoples of the world and the environment.

London-based Somali writer Warsan Shire’s poem above makes a powerful statement about the world today. Our writers define some of the issues, express their pain and encourage right action. They move from a hip-hop poem calling us to unity, collaboration and a sense of self-worth to an experimental expression of sadness and disillusionment in the aftermath of a mean-spirited presidential campaign and the inclusion of an impassioned piece asking us to stand against moral injustice and not use our cultural differences as an excuse to hate.

You’ll find a stunningly beautiful photo-story, a short story, some short articles along with a wealth of poetry. You’ll see a few emerging writers whose values are appreciated and who need our encouragement. They stand alongside many polished professionals whose work will take your breathe away. You’re sure to be delighted with the poems in our More Light section which includes a wonderful blues poem – a villanelle – riffing on the Robert Johnson lyric “blues walkin’ like a man.”

THE TALENT IN THIS ISSUE

Our old friend, Marilynn Mair, the queen of mandolin, is back and so is Liliana Negoi after a hiatus. They were much missed. This month we are pleased to feature again Aprilia Zank, Mendes Benido, Kimberly Wilhelmna Floria, Renee Espiru, and Carolyn O’Connell.

New to our pages are: Kinga Fabo (poems in English and Hungarian), Inger Morgan, LaMont Anthony Wright (a.k.a. Graffiti Bleu), Ruth Hill, Mark Andrew Heathcote and Reena Presad. Please welcome them with “Likes” and comments.

From our stellar core team we have Naomi Baltuck, Michael Dickel, Priscilla Galasso, Joe Hesch, Corina Ravenscraft and Lana Phillips.

Thank you all for your generosity and for your commitment to our shared mission.

Check out bios in page links down below the Zine.

NEWS

Now you can read The BeZine by clicking on one link.You’ll be able to scroll through all the features.  When you get to “older posts,”  just click on it to view the rest of the magazine. No more need to go back-and-forth to the Table of Contents.  There are no longer tacky WordPress ads to distract and annoy us. Note also our new url: thebezine.com.

Regular readers will have noted our new look and a new style. I opted for something that would showcase each feature and that is simple and uncluttered. You can “Like” easily and if you click on featured title, you can leave a comment. If you want to link a piece to your blog, website or  Facebook, just click on the title and copy and paste the url. Easy peasy.

We’re still flying with WordPress, though over the course of a year I’ve experimented – as time, energy and finances allowed – with a variety of options including virtual flip books.  I also tested  different WordPress themes, which I have used for some issues. I’ve appreciated the evals some of you gave me.  Thank you! You know who you are and I love that you care. I factored in your comments as I explored the remarkable number of options available for eZines today. Special thanks to Priscilla Galasso who often cleans up after my dyslexia.

In the spirit of love and community and on behalf of The Bardo Group Beguines,

Jamie Dedes, Managing Editor

 

Volume 3/Issue 1, Loving Kindness

Link HERE to read The BeZine

Theme Features

BeAttitudes

Godbody, LaMont Anthony Wright
Hate is not the opposite of Love, Michael Dickel
I Believe in a Higher Power, Kimberly Wilhelmna Floria

Features

A Little Kindness, Corina Ravescraft
Meeting My Neighbor, Priscilla Galasso
Another Kind of Charity, Mendes Biondo

PhotoStory

Resistance is Not Futile, Naomi Baltuck

Fiction

A More Perfect Union, Joseph Hesch

Poetry

Seeds of Love, Reena Presad
Mea Culpa, Inger Morgan
Love Is, Carolyn O’Connell
The Nature of Metta, Renee Espiru
Unconditional Love, Mark Andrew Heathcote
Wild, Ruth Hill
Chaos in a Time of Wildfire, Lana Phillips

More Light

blues walking like a woman, Marilynn Mair
Isadora Duncan Dancing, Kinga Fabo
Transfiguration of the Word, Kinga Fabo
Poison, Kinga Fabo
No filigree angels, Aprilia Zank
Love on the Wall, Carolyn O’Connell
call me, Liliana Negoi
in time, Liliana Negoi

CONNECT WITH US
Daily Spiritual Practice: Beguine Again, a community of Like-Minded People

Facebook, The Bardo Group Beguines

Twitter, The Bardo Group Beguines

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LATE-BREAKING NEWS: Six more hours to go on our virtual marathon for 100TPC

THE BeZine 100 TPC virtual event has six more hous to go, so plenty of time for you to share your work … So far we’ve had participation from New Zealand, Germany, Slovakia, India, France, Australia, Ireland, Pakistan, Israel, Spain, Canada, United Arab Emirates, Hungary, United Kingdom and the United States. Touched by the works submitted and by the interest and support. Join us to read and share: HERE.

Here are some livestreams from other groups. Depending on where they are in this world, they may be offline now … Thanks to 100TPC Cofouder Michael Rothenberg for the list …

100 Thousand Poets for Change Livestream: Check them out!

TIA CHUCHA Sylmar, CA–Poets Soapbox:
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/the-poet-s-soapbox

Birkirkara, MALTA
http://bambuser.com/channel/omarseguna

Los Angeles, CA
The 100,000 Poets and Musicians radio show
http://laradiostudio.com/CamChat

Doha, QATAR
Live ON FB
https://www.facebook.com/QatarUniversitysliteratureclub/

Rome, ITALY
https://www.youtube.com/user/OnlyAgnese (video and audio)
https://www.spreaker.com/user/agnesemonaco (audio only)
su : http://www.usertv.it/

Graffiti Bleu Worldwide (Blog Radio)

100 Thousand Poets for Change Podcast on GBleu Radio coming soon…

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100,000 POETS & FRIENDS FOR CHANGE, THE BeZine 2016 virtual event is live now…join us … American-Israeli Poet Michael Dickel hosts

Welcome to The BeZine’s online,
virtual 100,000 Poets for Change event!

This is reblogged from The BeZine blog – post done by Master of Ceremonies, Michael Dickel – and we invite you to come on over and share a poem or two or other art … if you are clergy, please feel free to pop in the link to a sermon or homily related to the subject … read on to learn more … We’ve been live since 12:01 a.m. 25th September, Saturday Isreali time and we’ll close at midnight today P.S.T. (California) September 24, Saturday. I’ve been pitching in for Michael for a few hours but he should be back by the time this publishes or shortly thereafter.  / J.D.

American-Isreali Poet, Michael Dickel
American-Isreali Poet, Michael Dickel

This past week, an international aid convoy in Syria was attacked with devastating results, during a ceasefire. Bombs went off, as usual, in Iraq. They also went off in New Jersey and New York. There were terrorist knife attacks in Jerusalem. And knife attacks also in St. Cloud, Minnesota. Police shot (at least) two unarmed African-Americans in the United States. Police shot “terror suspects” in Israel. Iran arrested dissidents. China gave a dissident’s attorney a 12-year sentence.

Climate change has reduced the arctic ice sheets at record levels, this summer just ended. The Fertile Crescent, where Western civilization began, has suffered such a devastating drought that farmers have fled it for years now—a contributing cause to the Syrian civil war and the refugee crisis. The hardened, drought-stricken soil in the region, broken up by heavy war-machinery, artillery shelling, and bombs, has turned into dust that the wind picks up—a contributing cause of record dust storms throughout the region.

It is time for global change

For the past six years, September 100,000 Poets for Change (100TPC) has inspired and supported events on a Saturday in September. This year, there are over 550 events scheduled throughout the world. This blog/zine is one of them. The goal is for poets (artists, musicians, actors, even mimes) to band together and perform / exhibit their work in a call to change the world for the better.

The 100TPC themes are peace, sustainability, and social justice. The September 2016 issue of The BeZine, edited by Priscilla Galasso and Steve Wiencek, focuses on environmental justice. This focus relates to social justice and sustainability, but is a necessary part of obtaining peace. If we still have poverty and homelessness, what is sustained other than inequality? And, without social justice and a sustainable environment, could there be peace? Could peace be maintained without both social and environmental justice alongside environmental and economic sustainability?

Share your work on The BeZine blog, today, as part of our 100TPC online event—help us create a space for change. As in past years, the event will be archived and made available later on The BeZine’s website and will also be archived at Standford University in California.

– Michael Dickel

© words and photograph, Michael Dickel

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THE BeZINE, Vol. 2, Issue 12, Environmental Justice, Intro and Table of Contents with Links

September 15, 2016

Originally published on The BeZine, Be inspired…Be creative…Be peace…Be“
Reminder: Join us this Saturday for 100,000 Poets and Friends for Change. Our theme this year is Environment/Environmental Justice.

The Environment is a complex array of interconnections and interbeing (as Thich Nhat Hahn would say). Steve & I have various metaphors for this. He likes to refer to “his bowling pins”. He imagines setting up a toy set of pins on a lawn and bowling at them. When they scatter, you set them back up exactly where they landed and bowl again. This takes you all over the neighborhood in endless permutations. I think of “trophic cascades”, changes in an ecosystem that originate at an extinction or other dramatic altering of balance, similar perhaps to “the domino effect” but less linear. However you try to wrap your brain around it, the nature of Life on this planet is intricate and incomprehensible. We are wise to approach it with the utmost humility. Because we are intrinsically involved, however, we must not fear to engage. We are already immersed. We might as well learn to float, swim or drown with awareness. With that understanding, we invited our contributors to share their perspectives from where they are. And there are many other currents besides. Let me just mention a few for further research:

Environmental Law – there are some exciting changes emerging in the championing of the Rights of Nature in legal systems. Corporations have legal protection and rights as individuals in many countries, while communities and natural entities (bodies of water, land, animals, etc.) do not. The ability to stand up against the interests of a Corporation and say, “We don’t care if you want this resource. You can’t have it!” is an idea that can be incorporated into law. Thomas Linzey of the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF) is working to make that happen. Watch his keynote address to the Public Interest Environmental Law Conference (PIELC) HERE.

Deep Ecology/Environmental Philosophy – Deep ecologists are a group of philosophers who question the anthropocentrism embedded in the logic and ethics of Western culture. Arne Naess is the “Father of Deep Ecology”. Peter Singer is another important philosopher who spearheaded the discussion about the ethical treatment of animals in the early 70s. These philosophers are everything from temperate reformers (Aldo Leopold and Wendell Berry) to anti-civilizationists (Derrick Jensen).

Habitat/Wildlife/Green Corridors – where human interference has fragmented the landscape, other species suffer huge losses. Establishing connected corridors of undisturbed terrain help to shift the paradigm from domination to coexistence. The American Prairie Reserve has a habitat base of more than 353,000 acres. Read the story of this amazing management project HERE.

Organic Farming – the proliferation of large factory farms that employ pesticides, herbicides, hormones and other chemicals while dumping huge amounts of toxic waste on the land has significantly impacted the health of the planet. Soil health, human health, pollinator health – so many things are involved here. Returning to methods of food production that are more locally-scaled and less dependent on chemicals is a natural remedy, but must be radically and quickly implemented to turn degradation around. Support organic farming in your area!

And now, we proudly introduce our Table of Contents,
Priscilla Galasso with Steve Wiencek

Editorial Notes

How Will I Behave Here?, Priscilla Galasso, Contributing Editor
Nature…Place…Community, Steve Wiencek, Guest Editor
Cruel Legacy, Jamie Dedes, Managing Editor

Environment/Environmental Injustice

Awareness

All Things Are Connected,  Naomi Baltuck
The Power of Place, Michael Watson
The Hoopoes Are Back, Lynn White
Dawn Chorus, Lynn White
Another Kind of Beauty, Jamie Dedes
Cloud Watching, Jamie Dedes
Meditating on Ancient Oak, Carolyn O’Connell
The Wordless Mystery, Jamie Dedes
There Is Pleasure in the Pathless Wood, Gordon George Byron, Lord Byron

Action

The Victories Are Important!, Corina Ravenscraft
Regicide, Joe Hesch
Trespass, Terri Stewart
Naturally Devoted, Priscilla Galasso
Environmental Injustice,  Mark Heathcote
Soil Isn’t Sexy – Neither is War, Michael Dickel
Climate Change (poem), Michael Dickel

Extinction

Rounded With a Sleep, Part 1, James Cowles
Rounded With a Sleep, Part 2, James Cowles
For the Last Wolverine, video reading, James Dickey
Last Call, Corina Ravenscraft
Eden Revisited, Charles Martin
Black Honey Fare, Renee Espriu
Hoping It Regenerates – Again (artwork), Jerry Ingeman

CONNECT WITH US

succulents
Daily Spiritual Practice, Beguine Again

Facebook, The Bardo Group Beguines

Twitter, The Bardo Group Beguines

Access to the biographies of our core team, contributing writers and guest writers is in the blogroll where you can also find links to archived issues of The BeZine.