O:9:"MagpieRSS":23:{s:6:"parser";i:0;s:12:"current_item";a:0:{}s:5:"items";a:25:{i:0;a:10:{s:4:"guid";s:47:"https://green-jenni.livejournal.com/232177.html";s:7:"pubdate";s:29:"Tue, 16 Mar 2010 07:20:59 GMT";s:5:"title";s:14:"It's a Journey";s:6:"author";s:11:"green_jenni";s:4:"link";s:47:"https://green-jenni.livejournal.com/232177.html";s:11:"description";s:1361:"I spent most of my 20s exploring spirituality and part of that time wondering how by using certain spiritual principles I could make the world a better place. But it always seemed to be just about the &quot;woo woo&quot; and not enough about concrete action.<br /><br />I spent most of my 30s exploring activism (both active and the armchair sort, such as this blog), but most of what I got involved in seemed to really miss some type of spiritual intention (at least on my part). Somehow I knew that at some point I'd be looking at a way to combine these two phases of my life.<br /><br />Now, just entering my 40s, I may have found that next step, or a pathway to help me move in that direction. I had a wonderful conversation with a very amazing woman and her project recently :<a href="http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=118114830980" rel="nofollow"> Urban Village Salt Lake City</a> (<a href="http://urbanvillageslc.ning.com/" rel="nofollow">ning community here) <br /></a><br />Maybe this growth (dare I say evolution?)&nbsp; will be something I explore here. I think it will mean that I'll be spending less time focusing on the negative and more time focusing on a new consciousness. Or at least trying to find a balance between not ignoring the important issues, but looking for a way to concentrate energy on positive change. It will be a challenge.";s:8:"comments";s:56:"https://green-jenni.livejournal.com/232177.html#comments";s:2:"lj";a:2:{s:8:"security";s:6:"public";s:11:"reply-count";s:2:"26";}s:7:"summary";s:1361:"I spent most of my 20s exploring spirituality and part of that time wondering how by using certain spiritual principles I could make the world a better place. But it always seemed to be just about the &quot;woo woo&quot; and not enough about concrete action.<br /><br />I spent most of my 30s exploring activism (both active and the armchair sort, such as this blog), but most of what I got involved in seemed to really miss some type of spiritual intention (at least on my part). Somehow I knew that at some point I'd be looking at a way to combine these two phases of my life.<br /><br />Now, just entering my 40s, I may have found that next step, or a pathway to help me move in that direction. I had a wonderful conversation with a very amazing woman and her project recently :<a href="http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=118114830980" rel="nofollow"> Urban Village Salt Lake City</a> (<a href="http://urbanvillageslc.ning.com/" rel="nofollow">ning community here) <br /></a><br />Maybe this growth (dare I say evolution?)&nbsp; will be something I explore here. I think it will mean that I'll be spending less time focusing on the negative and more time focusing on a new consciousness. Or at least trying to find a balance between not ignoring the important issues, but looking for a way to concentrate energy on positive change. It will be a challenge.";s:14:"date_timestamp";i:1268724059;}i:1;a:11:{s:4:"guid";s:47:"https://green-jenni.livejournal.com/231880.html";s:7:"pubdate";s:29:"Wed, 25 Nov 2009 22:48:33 GMT";s:5:"title";s:38:"Hope and Change Chronicles: Land Mines";s:6:"author";s:11:"green_jenni";s:4:"link";s:47:"https://green-jenni.livejournal.com/231880.html";s:11:"description";s:738:"I'm going to be critical of Obama where criticism is due. I'm not a Republican,I'm not a Democrat, <a href="http://green-jenni.livejournal.com/231562.html" rel="nofollow">I am a progressive independent</a>. <br /><br />From the Huffington Post: <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/11/24/land-mine-treaty-wont-be_n_369658.html" rel="nofollow">Obama refuses to sign a land mine treaty already signed by 150 other countries, continuing Bush's policy</a>. <br /><br /><strong>Hope:</strong> People around the world will continue to get the opportunity to <strong>Hope</strong> that they don't step on a land mine.<br /><strong>Change</strong>: Land mines <strong>Change</strong> people with all limbs intact into people who have less.";s:8:"comments";s:56:"https://green-jenni.livejournal.com/231880.html#comments";s:8:"category";s:15:"change and hope";s:2:"lj";a:2:{s:8:"security";s:6:"public";s:11:"reply-count";s:1:"3";}s:7:"summary";s:738:"I'm going to be critical of Obama where criticism is due. I'm not a Republican,I'm not a Democrat, <a href="http://green-jenni.livejournal.com/231562.html" rel="nofollow">I am a progressive independent</a>. <br /><br />From the Huffington Post: <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/11/24/land-mine-treaty-wont-be_n_369658.html" rel="nofollow">Obama refuses to sign a land mine treaty already signed by 150 other countries, continuing Bush's policy</a>. <br /><br /><strong>Hope:</strong> People around the world will continue to get the opportunity to <strong>Hope</strong> that they don't step on a land mine.<br /><strong>Change</strong>: Land mines <strong>Change</strong> people with all limbs intact into people who have less.";s:14:"date_timestamp";i:1259189313;}i:2;a:11:{s:4:"guid";s:47:"https://green-jenni.livejournal.com/231562.html";s:7:"pubdate";s:29:"Wed, 25 Nov 2009 22:40:38 GMT";s:5:"title";s:23:"I'm a Progressive . . .";s:6:"author";s:11:"green_jenni";s:4:"link";s:47:"https://green-jenni.livejournal.com/231562.html";s:11:"description";s:2263:". . . which means the gloves I've had on for nearly a year regarding Barack Obama have got to come off. Obama is not a progressive, he's not a leftist, especially not a socialist. At best he is a centrist. At worst, he seems to be willing to sell out progressives that voted for him on almost every single issue.<br /><br />Every critical thing I posted about Obama's appointments before he took office got me unhappy comments. My friend Rex said, &quot;Right now Obama's just gathering the ingredients, we don't know what he's going to cook yet.&quot; (I still reserved the right to be worried that some of the ingredients included lard, high fructose corn syrup, and propylene glycol). Others thought I should at least give him a chance. Fair enough, I gave him a chance.<br /><br />Obama had a tough road ahead when he took office -- Bush left him a horrible mess. But because Bush screwed up SO BADLY, he had an opportunity to take the country in the opposite direction to undo some of the damage. He missed the opportunity, worried too much about being &quot;bi-partisan&quot; and getting along with the extreme right, and they still loathe him. He should have taken the country in the right direction (by which I mean turning it to the left) -- because even his attempts to appease the right still have them convinced that he's an ultra-leftist socialist (we can only wish that were true!).<br /><br />The other day I heard a speech where Obama confronted his critics --told them that he and Pelosi were busy making things better and that his detractors would be better off if we picked up brooms and got to work. Unfortunately, not having much power, I can't get us out of Iraq or Afghanistan, can't get us to repeal the bad Bush laws, etc. and he can. The best thing that progressives can do is to be critical and pressure Obama in anyway possible to get him to turn around. You can bet those on the right didn't let up and &quot;give him a chance&quot; - they got to work pressuring him right away and it's been working marvelously well for them.<br /><br />So, if you value peace, a country that doesn't detain people illegally, doesn't spy on it's own citizens, doesn't sell out to the highest corporate bidder -- put the pressure on Obama now. I will.";s:8:"comments";s:56:"https://green-jenni.livejournal.com/231562.html#comments";s:8:"category";s:15:"change and hope";s:2:"lj";a:2:{s:8:"security";s:6:"public";s:11:"reply-count";s:1:"4";}s:7:"summary";s:2263:". . . which means the gloves I've had on for nearly a year regarding Barack Obama have got to come off. Obama is not a progressive, he's not a leftist, especially not a socialist. At best he is a centrist. At worst, he seems to be willing to sell out progressives that voted for him on almost every single issue.<br /><br />Every critical thing I posted about Obama's appointments before he took office got me unhappy comments. My friend Rex said, &quot;Right now Obama's just gathering the ingredients, we don't know what he's going to cook yet.&quot; (I still reserved the right to be worried that some of the ingredients included lard, high fructose corn syrup, and propylene glycol). Others thought I should at least give him a chance. Fair enough, I gave him a chance.<br /><br />Obama had a tough road ahead when he took office -- Bush left him a horrible mess. But because Bush screwed up SO BADLY, he had an opportunity to take the country in the opposite direction to undo some of the damage. He missed the opportunity, worried too much about being &quot;bi-partisan&quot; and getting along with the extreme right, and they still loathe him. He should have taken the country in the right direction (by which I mean turning it to the left) -- because even his attempts to appease the right still have them convinced that he's an ultra-leftist socialist (we can only wish that were true!).<br /><br />The other day I heard a speech where Obama confronted his critics --told them that he and Pelosi were busy making things better and that his detractors would be better off if we picked up brooms and got to work. Unfortunately, not having much power, I can't get us out of Iraq or Afghanistan, can't get us to repeal the bad Bush laws, etc. and he can. The best thing that progressives can do is to be critical and pressure Obama in anyway possible to get him to turn around. You can bet those on the right didn't let up and &quot;give him a chance&quot; - they got to work pressuring him right away and it's been working marvelously well for them.<br /><br />So, if you value peace, a country that doesn't detain people illegally, doesn't spy on it's own citizens, doesn't sell out to the highest corporate bidder -- put the pressure on Obama now. I will.";s:14:"date_timestamp";i:1259188838;}i:3;a:10:{s:4:"guid";s:47:"https://green-jenni.livejournal.com/231062.html";s:7:"pubdate";s:29:"Sat, 31 Jan 2009 16:00:17 GMT";s:5:"title";s:26:"In Utah, Bigotry is Sacred";s:6:"author";s:11:"green_jenni";s:4:"link";s:47:"https://green-jenni.livejournal.com/231062.html";s:11:"description";s:2809:"The Common Ground Initiatives were designed to match statements that the LDS Church had made considering the rights of LGBTQ people. It was a way to forge some common ground after the hurtful support by many LDS members of the Proposition 8 campaign in California. It could have been an opportunity for some healing between the LGBTQ community and the church.<br /><br />Apparently, that healing doesn't matter to the Eagle Forum or the Sutherland Institute. They're now launching their &quot;Sacred Ground&quot; initiative which is meant to protect only a very narrow definition of family. Although I'm not sure how that would actually work - I happen to belong to that narrow definition of family, and I seriously doubt that if any of the common ground initiatives pass, that my family will somehow be destroyed.<br /><br />Most of the Common Ground initiatives are common sense. One of the initiatives is to protect gays from being fired from a job simply because they are gay (it's legal in Utah currently) or thrown out of their apartments for being gay (can you believe this is still legal here?). I'm waiting to see the convoluted justifications for opposition to this particular inititiative as &quot;sacred&quot;.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.equalityutah.org/Poll_Results_2009.pdf" rel="nofollow">The latest pol</a>l shows that the people of Utah are way ahead of these archaic think-tank organizations and legislators. Most Utahn's support basic rights for the LGBTQ community. Wouldn't it be great if all who polled in favor of these rights contact their <a href="http://www.le.state.ut.us/house/DistrictInfo/newMaps/State.htm" rel="nofollow">representative</a> or senator to tell them they support these rights?<br /><br />Needless to say if the &quot;Sacred&quot; Ground initiative is successful (they've already defeated one of the initiatives), this isn't going to help boycott issues - something we should be concerned about in this economy. I&nbsp;suggest that a gay-friendly travel guide is needed quickly, so that LGBTQ people and equality-minded straights visiting in Utah can be sure they aren't financially supporting their Gay suppression by coming here. In fact, as a equally-minded straight living here, I wouldn't mind having such a guide as well. <br /><br /><br />More Info:<br /><a href="http://utahlegislaturewatch.org/2009/01/31/common-ground-initiatives-nemesis-the-sacred-ground-initiative" rel="nofollow">http://utahlegislaturewatch.org/2009/01/31/common-ground-initiatives-nemesis-the-sacred-ground-initiative</a><br /><a href="http://www.equalityutah.org/" rel="nofollow">Equality Utah</a><br /><a href="http://www.eagleforum.org/" rel="nofollow">Eagle Forum</a><br /><a href="http://www.sutherlandinstitute.org/" rel="nofollow">Sutherland Insitute</a><br /><br /><br />";s:8:"comments";s:56:"https://green-jenni.livejournal.com/231062.html#comments";s:2:"lj";a:2:{s:8:"security";s:6:"public";s:11:"reply-count";s:1:"5";}s:7:"summary";s:2809:"The Common Ground Initiatives were designed to match statements that the LDS Church had made considering the rights of LGBTQ people. It was a way to forge some common ground after the hurtful support by many LDS members of the Proposition 8 campaign in California. It could have been an opportunity for some healing between the LGBTQ community and the church.<br /><br />Apparently, that healing doesn't matter to the Eagle Forum or the Sutherland Institute. They're now launching their &quot;Sacred Ground&quot; initiative which is meant to protect only a very narrow definition of family. Although I'm not sure how that would actually work - I happen to belong to that narrow definition of family, and I seriously doubt that if any of the common ground initiatives pass, that my family will somehow be destroyed.<br /><br />Most of the Common Ground initiatives are common sense. One of the initiatives is to protect gays from being fired from a job simply because they are gay (it's legal in Utah currently) or thrown out of their apartments for being gay (can you believe this is still legal here?). I'm waiting to see the convoluted justifications for opposition to this particular inititiative as &quot;sacred&quot;.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.equalityutah.org/Poll_Results_2009.pdf" rel="nofollow">The latest pol</a>l shows that the people of Utah are way ahead of these archaic think-tank organizations and legislators. Most Utahn's support basic rights for the LGBTQ community. Wouldn't it be great if all who polled in favor of these rights contact their <a href="http://www.le.state.ut.us/house/DistrictInfo/newMaps/State.htm" rel="nofollow">representative</a> or senator to tell them they support these rights?<br /><br />Needless to say if the &quot;Sacred&quot; Ground initiative is successful (they've already defeated one of the initiatives), this isn't going to help boycott issues - something we should be concerned about in this economy. I&nbsp;suggest that a gay-friendly travel guide is needed quickly, so that LGBTQ people and equality-minded straights visiting in Utah can be sure they aren't financially supporting their Gay suppression by coming here. In fact, as a equally-minded straight living here, I wouldn't mind having such a guide as well. <br /><br /><br />More Info:<br /><a href="http://utahlegislaturewatch.org/2009/01/31/common-ground-initiatives-nemesis-the-sacred-ground-initiative" rel="nofollow">http://utahlegislaturewatch.org/2009/01/31/common-ground-initiatives-nemesis-the-sacred-ground-initiative</a><br /><a href="http://www.equalityutah.org/" rel="nofollow">Equality Utah</a><br /><a href="http://www.eagleforum.org/" rel="nofollow">Eagle Forum</a><br /><a href="http://www.sutherlandinstitute.org/" rel="nofollow">Sutherland Insitute</a><br /><br /><br />";s:14:"date_timestamp";i:1233417617;}i:4;a:10:{s:4:"guid";s:47:"https://green-jenni.livejournal.com/230679.html";s:7:"pubdate";s:29:"Thu, 29 Jan 2009 19:50:43 GMT";s:5:"title";s:17:"Widgets are cool!";s:6:"author";s:11:"green_jenni";s:4:"link";s:47:"https://green-jenni.livejournal.com/230679.html";s:11:"description";s:193:"<div style="text-align:center"><lj-embed id="32" /></div><br />Thanks to JasonThe at <a href="http://thesidetrack.blogspot.com/" rel="nofollow">The Sidetrack</a> for creating this widget!<br />";s:8:"comments";s:56:"https://green-jenni.livejournal.com/230679.html#comments";s:2:"lj";a:2:{s:8:"security";s:6:"public";s:11:"reply-count";s:1:"0";}s:7:"summary";s:193:"<div style="text-align:center"><lj-embed id="32" /></div><br />Thanks to JasonThe at <a href="http://thesidetrack.blogspot.com/" rel="nofollow">The Sidetrack</a> for creating this widget!<br />";s:14:"date_timestamp";i:1233258643;}i:5;a:10:{s:4:"guid";s:47:"https://green-jenni.livejournal.com/230541.html";s:7:"pubdate";s:29:"Wed, 28 Jan 2009 20:05:45 GMT";s:5:"title";s:22:"Utah Legislature Watch";s:6:"author";s:11:"green_jenni";s:4:"link";s:47:"https://green-jenni.livejournal.com/230541.html";s:11:"description";s:463:"I've been getting pretty active on the blog that Deanna Taylor and I started to address issues that come up at the Utah Legislature from a progressive frame. We've invited several local political bloggers to participate as well.<div style="text-align:center"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /><a href="http://utahlegislaturewatch.org/" rel="nofollow"><span style="font-size: larger;">http://utahlegislaturewatch.org/</span></a></span></div><br /><br /><br />";s:8:"comments";s:56:"https://green-jenni.livejournal.com/230541.html#comments";s:2:"lj";a:2:{s:8:"security";s:6:"public";s:11:"reply-count";s:1:"0";}s:7:"summary";s:463:"I've been getting pretty active on the blog that Deanna Taylor and I started to address issues that come up at the Utah Legislature from a progressive frame. We've invited several local political bloggers to participate as well.<div style="text-align:center"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /><a href="http://utahlegislaturewatch.org/" rel="nofollow"><span style="font-size: larger;">http://utahlegislaturewatch.org/</span></a></span></div><br /><br /><br />";s:14:"date_timestamp";i:1233173145;}i:6;a:11:{s:4:"guid";s:47:"https://green-jenni.livejournal.com/230293.html";s:7:"pubdate";s:29:"Mon, 19 Jan 2009 00:19:09 GMT";s:5:"title";s:37:"Sundance Film Festival: No Impact Man";s:6:"author";s:11:"green_jenni";s:4:"link";s:47:"https://green-jenni.livejournal.com/230293.html";s:11:"description";s:4577:"I feel pretty fortunate to be able to easily attend the Sundance Film Festival. Nearly every film is shown in Salt Lake City once during the 10 days, and it's much easier to wait list a film here than in Park City. Not being especially wealthy does limit how many films I&nbsp;see (tickets are $15 this year - contrast that with the first year that I went to the festival in Park City in 1992 when tickets were $6 each), so I try to make the films I see really count.<br /><br /><p>This afternoon I saw the premier of &quot;No Impact Man&quot; - the film that chronicles a year long experiment of one New York City family in reducing. and ultimately having zero, impact. Colin Beavan is a writer, one who would much rather have what he writes about impact the world in a positive way. He has his<a href="http://noimpactman.typepad.com/" rel="nofollow"> &quot;No Imact Man&quot; blog</a> set up to keep the world up to date on the family's progress as they give up buying anything new, eating out at restaurants, and eventually shutting off electricity to their apartment.<br /><br />I've probably seen 30-40 screenings at the 16 Sundance Festivals that I've attended - I've seen powerful and important films, entertaining films, and a couple of stinkers over that time. This film is probably the most enjoyable of the lot. It has that rare combination of being able to make you laugh and yet inspire you to take action.<br /><br />I admit that I'm a sucker for the type of experiment that Beavan and his family undertake. I did a two year tv-less experiment in the 1990s (and our family has done a tv-less lent for the past 3 years). I gave up driving the car to work in September 2007 (except for 1 day every two weeks when I have to get a 400 piece mailing to a business post-office several miles away.) I gave up meat 14 years ago, and soda 21 days ago. Far from feeling deprived, I generally find such shifts to be liberating and enlightening. It seems that these types of experiements are becoming more frequently the subjects of books. It's kind of like the reality-show of book world, but with the goal of producing positive change.<br /><br />While the idea of &quot;No Impact Man&quot; is the brainchild of Colin Beavan, his wife Michelle steals the show. She is an everywoman who loves coffee and shopping, and seems to be reluctant to participate and do without. It's her milestones and her transformations that feel the most profound in the story. She's also the one (along with their adorable toddler daughter) who makes you laugh as she reveals the ways in which she occasionally &quot;cheats&quot; on the project. The film also explores the negative feelings and comments that Colin and Michelle inspire in many people with their experiment.<br /><br />Colin and Michelle were present at the screening as well as one of the filmmakers, Justin Schein. Schein told the audience at the Rose Wagner Theatre during the Q &amp; A that Colin and Michelle had asked them as filmmakers to use sustainable methods in the making of the film. No lights were used, for example, and rechargeable 9-volt batteries were used for the wireless mikes. I cornered Michelle after the film and asked her what they really DID&nbsp;use instead of toilet paper (a much referenced point in the film).<br /><br />Ultimately, the film is inspiring. Some radical changes are going to have to happen if we want the human race to survive. Seeing &quot;No Impact Man&quot; has invigorated my resolve to live as lightly on the earth as possible, and given me a few good ideas in the process. And some of it, like more quality time with friends, family, and New York, looks downright fun.<br />&nbsp;</p><p style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://imgprx.livejournal.net/df2f3ef4a4debc25bba5a48addc62938f6bfb5a7/gcVd6VGZBVNszlgWQnU3VAgHbomwZy1X34BGN1a8Ljm1WS_G1nXPpUdpIgWuRixBW_FYrtzJm2K75OwJc9GHHuoHKy7eqMZoo_ihWbrl0kvqcHskIDCW03REJmId0sUy" alt="" /><img alt="" src="https://imgprx.livejournal.net/0839e1f2c1e807b76a35b706c13f132a11eac7c0/gcVd6VGZBVNszlgWQnU3VAgHbomwZy1X34BGN1a8Ljm1WS_G1nXPpUdpIgWuRixBW_FYrtzJm2K75OwJc9GHHuoHKy7eqMZoo_ihWbrl0ksyXBRZFuQL7IYzjn_6hZnC" /></p><p><br />For Sundance's summary of No Impact Man, please go <a href="http://festival.sundance.org/2009/film_events/films/no_impact_man" rel="nofollow">here</a>.<br />My posts and reviews of past Sundance Film Festivals can be found <a href="http://green-jenni.livejournal.com/tag/sundance" rel="nofollow">here</a>.<br /><br /><img src="file:///C:/DOCUME~1/Owner/LOCALS~1/Temp/moz-screenshot.jpg" alt="" /></p><br />";s:8:"comments";s:56:"https://green-jenni.livejournal.com/230293.html#comments";s:8:"category";s:40:"sundanceliving greenenvironmental issues";s:2:"lj";a:2:{s:8:"security";s:6:"public";s:11:"reply-count";s:1:"0";}s:7:"summary";s:4577:"I feel pretty fortunate to be able to easily attend the Sundance Film Festival. Nearly every film is shown in Salt Lake City once during the 10 days, and it's much easier to wait list a film here than in Park City. Not being especially wealthy does limit how many films I&nbsp;see (tickets are $15 this year - contrast that with the first year that I went to the festival in Park City in 1992 when tickets were $6 each), so I try to make the films I see really count.<br /><br /><p>This afternoon I saw the premier of &quot;No Impact Man&quot; - the film that chronicles a year long experiment of one New York City family in reducing. and ultimately having zero, impact. Colin Beavan is a writer, one who would much rather have what he writes about impact the world in a positive way. He has his<a href="http://noimpactman.typepad.com/" rel="nofollow"> &quot;No Imact Man&quot; blog</a> set up to keep the world up to date on the family's progress as they give up buying anything new, eating out at restaurants, and eventually shutting off electricity to their apartment.<br /><br />I've probably seen 30-40 screenings at the 16 Sundance Festivals that I've attended - I've seen powerful and important films, entertaining films, and a couple of stinkers over that time. This film is probably the most enjoyable of the lot. It has that rare combination of being able to make you laugh and yet inspire you to take action.<br /><br />I admit that I'm a sucker for the type of experiment that Beavan and his family undertake. I did a two year tv-less experiment in the 1990s (and our family has done a tv-less lent for the past 3 years). I gave up driving the car to work in September 2007 (except for 1 day every two weeks when I have to get a 400 piece mailing to a business post-office several miles away.) I gave up meat 14 years ago, and soda 21 days ago. Far from feeling deprived, I generally find such shifts to be liberating and enlightening. It seems that these types of experiements are becoming more frequently the subjects of books. It's kind of like the reality-show of book world, but with the goal of producing positive change.<br /><br />While the idea of &quot;No Impact Man&quot; is the brainchild of Colin Beavan, his wife Michelle steals the show. She is an everywoman who loves coffee and shopping, and seems to be reluctant to participate and do without. It's her milestones and her transformations that feel the most profound in the story. She's also the one (along with their adorable toddler daughter) who makes you laugh as she reveals the ways in which she occasionally &quot;cheats&quot; on the project. The film also explores the negative feelings and comments that Colin and Michelle inspire in many people with their experiment.<br /><br />Colin and Michelle were present at the screening as well as one of the filmmakers, Justin Schein. Schein told the audience at the Rose Wagner Theatre during the Q &amp; A that Colin and Michelle had asked them as filmmakers to use sustainable methods in the making of the film. No lights were used, for example, and rechargeable 9-volt batteries were used for the wireless mikes. I cornered Michelle after the film and asked her what they really DID&nbsp;use instead of toilet paper (a much referenced point in the film).<br /><br />Ultimately, the film is inspiring. Some radical changes are going to have to happen if we want the human race to survive. Seeing &quot;No Impact Man&quot; has invigorated my resolve to live as lightly on the earth as possible, and given me a few good ideas in the process. And some of it, like more quality time with friends, family, and New York, looks downright fun.<br />&nbsp;</p><p style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://imgprx.livejournal.net/df2f3ef4a4debc25bba5a48addc62938f6bfb5a7/gcVd6VGZBVNszlgWQnU3VAgHbomwZy1X34BGN1a8Ljm1WS_G1nXPpUdpIgWuRixBW_FYrtzJm2K75OwJc9GHHuoHKy7eqMZoo_ihWbrl0kvqcHskIDCW03REJmId0sUy" alt="" /><img alt="" src="https://imgprx.livejournal.net/0839e1f2c1e807b76a35b706c13f132a11eac7c0/gcVd6VGZBVNszlgWQnU3VAgHbomwZy1X34BGN1a8Ljm1WS_G1nXPpUdpIgWuRixBW_FYrtzJm2K75OwJc9GHHuoHKy7eqMZoo_ihWbrl0ksyXBRZFuQL7IYzjn_6hZnC" /></p><p><br />For Sundance's summary of No Impact Man, please go <a href="http://festival.sundance.org/2009/film_events/films/no_impact_man" rel="nofollow">here</a>.<br />My posts and reviews of past Sundance Film Festivals can be found <a href="http://green-jenni.livejournal.com/tag/sundance" rel="nofollow">here</a>.<br /><br /><img src="file:///C:/DOCUME~1/Owner/LOCALS~1/Temp/moz-screenshot.jpg" alt="" /></p><br />";s:14:"date_timestamp";i:1232324349;}i:7;a:11:{s:4:"guid";s:47:"https://green-jenni.livejournal.com/230023.html";s:7:"pubdate";s:29:"Fri, 16 Jan 2009 23:38:42 GMT";s:5:"title";s:17:"Facing the Horror";s:6:"author";s:11:"green_jenni";s:4:"link";s:47:"https://green-jenni.livejournal.com/230023.html";s:11:"description";s:761:"<br />I hear numbers and while not unmoved, have a hard time focusing on what I need to do. A Facebook friend reposted a photo album of what is happening in Gaza -- and suddenly it's crystal clear:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=507536722#/album.php?aid=203769&amp;id=869515216&amp;ref=nf" rel="nofollow">http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=507536722#/album.php?aid=203769&amp;id=869515216&amp;ref=nf</a><br /><br />The photos are heartbreaking, but that makes it all the more important for us to bear witness -- and then do something!<br /><br />I've called Rep. Matheson at (801) 486-1236 for a start. We need to get this new Congress turned around - nearly unaminous support for one side in the conflict. This needs to end now.";s:8:"comments";s:56:"https://green-jenni.livejournal.com/230023.html#comments";s:8:"category";s:11:"war is evil";s:2:"lj";a:2:{s:8:"security";s:6:"public";s:11:"reply-count";s:1:"4";}s:7:"summary";s:761:"<br />I hear numbers and while not unmoved, have a hard time focusing on what I need to do. A Facebook friend reposted a photo album of what is happening in Gaza -- and suddenly it's crystal clear:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=507536722#/album.php?aid=203769&amp;id=869515216&amp;ref=nf" rel="nofollow">http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=507536722#/album.php?aid=203769&amp;id=869515216&amp;ref=nf</a><br /><br />The photos are heartbreaking, but that makes it all the more important for us to bear witness -- and then do something!<br /><br />I've called Rep. Matheson at (801) 486-1236 for a start. We need to get this new Congress turned around - nearly unaminous support for one side in the conflict. This needs to end now.";s:14:"date_timestamp";i:1232149122;}i:8;a:10:{s:4:"guid";s:47:"https://green-jenni.livejournal.com/229878.html";s:7:"pubdate";s:29:"Tue, 06 Jan 2009 21:56:43 GMT";s:5:"title";s:55:"Free E Waste Collection for SLC residents this weekend.";s:6:"author";s:11:"green_jenni";s:4:"link";s:47:"https://green-jenni.livejournal.com/229878.html";s:11:"description";s:1733:"A friend sent me this info via email -<br /><br /><span style="font-size: 14pt"><strong>This Weekend - FREE SLC <span style="cursor: hand; border-bottom: #0066cc 1px dashed">Electronic Waste</span> (&quot;E-Waste&quot;) Collection Program</strong></span> <p align="left">GRX will be holding a <u>FREE</u> collection for electronic waste (from old electric can-openers and <span>toaster ovens to TVs, printers, computers, keyboards, etc.) for residents of <span style="background: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; cursor: hand; border-bottom: #0066cc 1px dashed">Salt Lake City</span> this <u>Saturday, January 10 - from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m</u>.&nbsp; The location is the parking lot behind <u>Horizonte School (1300 South and West Temple</u>.&nbsp; You <u>must</u> be a resident of Salt Lake City to participate (and they will be checking), as GRX normally charges 25 cents/lb. for electronic waste.</span></p><p align="left">GRX also takes old cables, <span style="background: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; cursor: hand; border-bottom: medium none">power cords, cell phones, CDs, DVDs, VHS tapes, <span style="background: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; cursor: hand; border-bottom: #0066cc 1px dashed">cassette tapes</span>, you name it.&nbsp; And the &quot;guarantee&quot; in their name; none of the materials will leave the United States (won't be landfilled in Asia or delivered to 12 year olds in <span style="background: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; cursor: hand; border-bottom: medium none">China</span> to disassemble under hazardous conditions).&nbsp; </span></p><p align="left">&nbsp;Pass this on to anyone you know in Salt Lake City who might enjoy taking advantage of this opportunity.</p>";s:8:"comments";s:56:"https://green-jenni.livejournal.com/229878.html#comments";s:2:"lj";a:2:{s:8:"security";s:6:"public";s:11:"reply-count";s:1:"0";}s:7:"summary";s:1733:"A friend sent me this info via email -<br /><br /><span style="font-size: 14pt"><strong>This Weekend - FREE SLC <span style="cursor: hand; border-bottom: #0066cc 1px dashed">Electronic Waste</span> (&quot;E-Waste&quot;) Collection Program</strong></span> <p align="left">GRX will be holding a <u>FREE</u> collection for electronic waste (from old electric can-openers and <span>toaster ovens to TVs, printers, computers, keyboards, etc.) for residents of <span style="background: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; cursor: hand; border-bottom: #0066cc 1px dashed">Salt Lake City</span> this <u>Saturday, January 10 - from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m</u>.&nbsp; The location is the parking lot behind <u>Horizonte School (1300 South and West Temple</u>.&nbsp; You <u>must</u> be a resident of Salt Lake City to participate (and they will be checking), as GRX normally charges 25 cents/lb. for electronic waste.</span></p><p align="left">GRX also takes old cables, <span style="background: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; cursor: hand; border-bottom: medium none">power cords, cell phones, CDs, DVDs, VHS tapes, <span style="background: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; cursor: hand; border-bottom: #0066cc 1px dashed">cassette tapes</span>, you name it.&nbsp; And the &quot;guarantee&quot; in their name; none of the materials will leave the United States (won't be landfilled in Asia or delivered to 12 year olds in <span style="background: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; cursor: hand; border-bottom: medium none">China</span> to disassemble under hazardous conditions).&nbsp; </span></p><p align="left">&nbsp;Pass this on to anyone you know in Salt Lake City who might enjoy taking advantage of this opportunity.</p>";s:14:"date_timestamp";i:1231279003;}i:9;a:11:{s:4:"guid";s:47:"https://green-jenni.livejournal.com/229533.html";s:7:"pubdate";s:29:"Wed, 26 Nov 2008 18:39:47 GMT";s:5:"title";s:55:"Less-Cash Holiday Idea: Coat Exchange on "Black Friday"";s:6:"author";s:11:"green_jenni";s:4:"link";s:47:"https://green-jenni.livejournal.com/229533.html";s:11:"description";s:4112:"<br />Many families like to stress the idea of charity during the holidays, but this year being what it is they may feel the need to pull back from charitible giving this year. <br /><br />There's one event coming up that won't cost your family a dime -- the 3rd Annual Coat Exchange scheduled for Black Friday (known as &quot;Buy Nothing Day&quot; in activist circles) November 28, 2008 will be held from 10:00 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Library Square downtown. Bring your outgrown or no longer needed coats. You can exchange them for another coat, or just leave your coats for someone who may need them. You can also pick up a coat without bringing one to exchange if you want. Coats left at the end of the day will be donated to Crossroads Urban Center.<br /><br />This is a great re-enforcement activity for my youngest. We've been reading the American Girl book series, and we started with Kit who lived during the time of the Great Depression. Kit and her friends toward the end of the series gather coats and shoes to donate to a soup kitchen where many homeless families seek food and warmth during the winter. I love&nbsp;the idea of being able to do something physically that mirrors the idea that we've read about.<br /><br />Deanna Taylor of Dee's 'Dotes founded the event here in Utah. From the press release:<br /><br /><span style="color: #808000">The 3rd Annual Community Coat Exchange promotes principles of community and reusing the day after Thanksgiving.<br /><br />Every year people all over the United States spend the day after Thanksgiving getting ready for the holiday season by patronizing retail businesses for gift buying. &ldquo;We perceived a need for a project for the same day that would be useful and meaningful, as well as educational,&rdquo; states Deanna Taylor, founder of the Utah event. &ldquo;The event focuses on concerns about the ecological and psychological consequences of our consumer culture and the impact of our consumerism on society.&rdquo;<br /><br />To that end, a new community-oriented project was born: The Community Coat Exchange. Patterned after a similar event in Rhode Island, the Coat Exchange is a collection and distribution of winter coats and other winter clothing items. The event is held every year the day after Thanksgiving from 10am to 3pm at the Downtown Salt Lake City Library Plaza.<br /><br />Taylor reflects about last year's event: &ldquo;What made it all worthwhile was being able to give coats away to folks from all socioeconomic levels. Well off folks took coats, driving home the concept of reusing; Families with children that had been referred to us by a local social agency came and took coats. Men, young and old, dressed in very thin, practically sleeveless, clothes came looking for warm clothing. Folks couldn&rsquo;t believe that the coats were free. The looks on their faces were priceless. When we explained the coat exchange to people, they went home and brought back more.&rdquo;<br /><br />People have been bringing donations to City Academy, a Utah Public Charter School and Community Coat Exchange Partner/drop off center. Coats can be dropped off there any weekday before Thanksgiving (555 East 200 South). People can also bring their coats to the event itself.<br /><br />At the event, no questions are asked: If you need a coat, come get one. If you want to exchange a coat, bring the coat you want to donate and take one in exchange. If you have a donation of coats, we know people who can use them.<br /><br />Left over coats are donated to the Crossroads Urban Center Thrift Store, a project of the Crossroads Urban Center which advocates for low income and homeless people. The Crossroads Urban Center Thrift Store gives clothes away to poor people and also sells clothes and other goods in its retail shop to the general public to help fund the Crossroads Urban Center programs.<br /><br />More information: info@coatexchange.org or 801-631-2998 - </span><a href="http://www.coatexchange.org" rel="nofollow"><span style="color: #808000">www.coatexchange.org</span></a><span style="color: #808000"><br /><br /></span>";s:8:"comments";s:56:"https://green-jenni.livejournal.com/229533.html#comments";s:8:"category";s:30:"less-cash holidaysliving green";s:2:"lj";a:2:{s:8:"security";s:6:"public";s:11:"reply-count";s:1:"3";}s:7:"summary";s:4112:"<br />Many families like to stress the idea of charity during the holidays, but this year being what it is they may feel the need to pull back from charitible giving this year. <br /><br />There's one event coming up that won't cost your family a dime -- the 3rd Annual Coat Exchange scheduled for Black Friday (known as &quot;Buy Nothing Day&quot; in activist circles) November 28, 2008 will be held from 10:00 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Library Square downtown. Bring your outgrown or no longer needed coats. You can exchange them for another coat, or just leave your coats for someone who may need them. You can also pick up a coat without bringing one to exchange if you want. Coats left at the end of the day will be donated to Crossroads Urban Center.<br /><br />This is a great re-enforcement activity for my youngest. We've been reading the American Girl book series, and we started with Kit who lived during the time of the Great Depression. Kit and her friends toward the end of the series gather coats and shoes to donate to a soup kitchen where many homeless families seek food and warmth during the winter. I love&nbsp;the idea of being able to do something physically that mirrors the idea that we've read about.<br /><br />Deanna Taylor of Dee's 'Dotes founded the event here in Utah. From the press release:<br /><br /><span style="color: #808000">The 3rd Annual Community Coat Exchange promotes principles of community and reusing the day after Thanksgiving.<br /><br />Every year people all over the United States spend the day after Thanksgiving getting ready for the holiday season by patronizing retail businesses for gift buying. &ldquo;We perceived a need for a project for the same day that would be useful and meaningful, as well as educational,&rdquo; states Deanna Taylor, founder of the Utah event. &ldquo;The event focuses on concerns about the ecological and psychological consequences of our consumer culture and the impact of our consumerism on society.&rdquo;<br /><br />To that end, a new community-oriented project was born: The Community Coat Exchange. Patterned after a similar event in Rhode Island, the Coat Exchange is a collection and distribution of winter coats and other winter clothing items. The event is held every year the day after Thanksgiving from 10am to 3pm at the Downtown Salt Lake City Library Plaza.<br /><br />Taylor reflects about last year's event: &ldquo;What made it all worthwhile was being able to give coats away to folks from all socioeconomic levels. Well off folks took coats, driving home the concept of reusing; Families with children that had been referred to us by a local social agency came and took coats. Men, young and old, dressed in very thin, practically sleeveless, clothes came looking for warm clothing. Folks couldn&rsquo;t believe that the coats were free. The looks on their faces were priceless. When we explained the coat exchange to people, they went home and brought back more.&rdquo;<br /><br />People have been bringing donations to City Academy, a Utah Public Charter School and Community Coat Exchange Partner/drop off center. Coats can be dropped off there any weekday before Thanksgiving (555 East 200 South). People can also bring their coats to the event itself.<br /><br />At the event, no questions are asked: If you need a coat, come get one. If you want to exchange a coat, bring the coat you want to donate and take one in exchange. If you have a donation of coats, we know people who can use them.<br /><br />Left over coats are donated to the Crossroads Urban Center Thrift Store, a project of the Crossroads Urban Center which advocates for low income and homeless people. The Crossroads Urban Center Thrift Store gives clothes away to poor people and also sells clothes and other goods in its retail shop to the general public to help fund the Crossroads Urban Center programs.<br /><br />More information: info@coatexchange.org or 801-631-2998 - </span><a href="http://www.coatexchange.org" rel="nofollow"><span style="color: #808000">www.coatexchange.org</span></a><span style="color: #808000"><br /><br /></span>";s:14:"date_timestamp";i:1227724787;}i:10;a:10:{s:4:"guid";s:47:"https://green-jenni.livejournal.com/229224.html";s:7:"pubdate";s:29:"Tue, 25 Nov 2008 22:13:22 GMT";s:5:"title";s:56:"If the EPA won't do it's job, we should just take it out";s:6:"author";s:11:"green_jenni";s:4:"link";s:47:"https://green-jenni.livejournal.com/229224.html";s:11:"description";s:2080:"<br />It's no secret that in recent years the EPA went from being the Environmental PROTECTION Agency to the Environmental PROFITEERING Agency. During the Bush years, many regulation were loosened to allow more pollution. Bush isn't done, though. From the <a href="http://coloradoindependent.com/16074/epa-moves-to-ease-pollution-rules" rel="nofollow">Colorado Independent Newsroom:</a> <br /><br /><span style="color: #333300">The Environmental Protection Agency seems on the brink of issuing a new regulation that would make it easier for power plants to operate longer hours - and emit more pollution. Under the proposed rule, power plants would be able to measure their rate of emissions on an hourly basis instead of their annual total output. <br /><br />As long as the hourly emissions stay at or below the plant's established maximum, the plant would be treated as if it were operating cleanly - even if its total annual emissions increased as plant managers stepped up output. The proposed power-plant rule marks a final attempt by the Bush administration to radically revise the way are applied, especially the Clean Air Act. <br /></span>____________________<br /><br /><strong>More EPA&nbsp;&quot;Duh&quot; News</strong> - the EPA&nbsp;is finally taking public comments about whether it should be regulating carbon dioxide and other heat trapping pollutants. Isn't this one a no brainer? Why have an EPA if they aren't going to even lift a finger on major environmental concerns?<br /><br />For those that feel this is a valid and important issue for the EPA, you can make comments until Friday at <a href="http://www.repoweramerica.org/page/s/epa" rel="nofollow">http://www.repoweramerica.org/page/s/epa</a><br /><br />My feeling is that if the EPA is not willing to protect the environment and the health of human beings related to the environment, let's get rid of it. There's no point in having an agency that refuses to do it's job, and we could reduce the deficit by millions by getting rid of a useless government agency (and yes, that is a bit redundant . . .)";s:8:"comments";s:56:"https://green-jenni.livejournal.com/229224.html#comments";s:2:"lj";a:2:{s:8:"security";s:6:"public";s:11:"reply-count";s:1:"1";}s:7:"summary";s:2080:"<br />It's no secret that in recent years the EPA went from being the Environmental PROTECTION Agency to the Environmental PROFITEERING Agency. During the Bush years, many regulation were loosened to allow more pollution. Bush isn't done, though. From the <a href="http://coloradoindependent.com/16074/epa-moves-to-ease-pollution-rules" rel="nofollow">Colorado Independent Newsroom:</a> <br /><br /><span style="color: #333300">The Environmental Protection Agency seems on the brink of issuing a new regulation that would make it easier for power plants to operate longer hours - and emit more pollution. Under the proposed rule, power plants would be able to measure their rate of emissions on an hourly basis instead of their annual total output. <br /><br />As long as the hourly emissions stay at or below the plant's established maximum, the plant would be treated as if it were operating cleanly - even if its total annual emissions increased as plant managers stepped up output. The proposed power-plant rule marks a final attempt by the Bush administration to radically revise the way are applied, especially the Clean Air Act. <br /></span>____________________<br /><br /><strong>More EPA&nbsp;&quot;Duh&quot; News</strong> - the EPA&nbsp;is finally taking public comments about whether it should be regulating carbon dioxide and other heat trapping pollutants. Isn't this one a no brainer? Why have an EPA if they aren't going to even lift a finger on major environmental concerns?<br /><br />For those that feel this is a valid and important issue for the EPA, you can make comments until Friday at <a href="http://www.repoweramerica.org/page/s/epa" rel="nofollow">http://www.repoweramerica.org/page/s/epa</a><br /><br />My feeling is that if the EPA is not willing to protect the environment and the health of human beings related to the environment, let's get rid of it. There's no point in having an agency that refuses to do it's job, and we could reduce the deficit by millions by getting rid of a useless government agency (and yes, that is a bit redundant . . .)";s:14:"date_timestamp";i:1227651202;}i:11;a:10:{s:4:"guid";s:47:"https://green-jenni.livejournal.com/229091.html";s:7:"pubdate";s:29:"Fri, 14 Nov 2008 19:26:04 GMT";s:5:"title";s:44:"When religious sentiments trump human rights";s:6:"author";s:11:"green_jenni";s:4:"link";s:47:"https://green-jenni.livejournal.com/229091.html";s:11:"description";s:677:"Should one person's religious beliefs take precedence over another's basic rights? If gay-rights advocates had insisted that gay marriages be given more rights than straight marriages, the &quot;pro&quot; folks might have a case. The simple solution if you don't like gay marriage, is not to have one -- no one will force you to. <br /><br />I have yet to see a compelling case from the Pro-Prop 8 folks -- as this contentious YouTube clip illustrates clearly (<a href="http://oneutah.org/2008/11/13/if-prop-8-was-not-reveleation-the-lds-church-needs-new-management" rel="nofollow">Thanks to Cliff at One Utah for the link</a>)<br /><br /><lj-embed id="30" /><br /><br /><br />";s:8:"comments";s:56:"https://green-jenni.livejournal.com/229091.html#comments";s:2:"lj";a:2:{s:8:"security";s:6:"public";s:11:"reply-count";s:1:"2";}s:7:"summary";s:677:"Should one person's religious beliefs take precedence over another's basic rights? If gay-rights advocates had insisted that gay marriages be given more rights than straight marriages, the &quot;pro&quot; folks might have a case. The simple solution if you don't like gay marriage, is not to have one -- no one will force you to. <br /><br />I have yet to see a compelling case from the Pro-Prop 8 folks -- as this contentious YouTube clip illustrates clearly (<a href="http://oneutah.org/2008/11/13/if-prop-8-was-not-reveleation-the-lds-church-needs-new-management" rel="nofollow">Thanks to Cliff at One Utah for the link</a>)<br /><br /><lj-embed id="30" /><br /><br /><br />";s:14:"date_timestamp";i:1226690764;}i:12;a:10:{s:4:"guid";s:47:"https://green-jenni.livejournal.com/228768.html";s:7:"pubdate";s:29:"Thu, 13 Nov 2008 21:39:59 GMT";s:5:"title";s:53:"Whipping up hysteria in the easily spooked right wing";s:6:"author";s:11:"green_jenni";s:4:"link";s:47:"https://green-jenni.livejournal.com/228768.html";s:11:"description";s:1226:"So I've noticed comments, letters and from news stories that the right-wing of this country is convinced that Obama is&nbsp; far left, a Marxist,&nbsp; a Socialist, a Communist at best and a terrorist at worst. I think the right-wing spin machine has been working overtime spewing a lot of ridiculous statements -- so much so that those who gobble up such nonsense wouldn't recognize a true socialist if they met one.<br /><br />So here it is - plain and simple. Obama is no socialist. Obama is a centrist with a slight left leaning. What that means is that Obama is a lot closer to the right politically than George Bush was to the left. In reality, it's been generations since there was a true lefty in the White House, and that's not going to change any time soon -- mostly because true lefties are hostile to the corporations that buy the elections.<br /><br />But by all means -- please continue with the hysteria-producing hype. My prediction is that such spin will eventually lose creditability as many on the right tire of the constant fear that never materializes as a real threat, or those die-hards who believe everything told to them by Rush, Coulter, et al. will self-explode from the frenzy doing us all a favor.";s:8:"comments";s:56:"https://green-jenni.livejournal.com/228768.html#comments";s:2:"lj";a:2:{s:8:"security";s:6:"public";s:11:"reply-count";s:1:"1";}s:7:"summary";s:1226:"So I've noticed comments, letters and from news stories that the right-wing of this country is convinced that Obama is&nbsp; far left, a Marxist,&nbsp; a Socialist, a Communist at best and a terrorist at worst. I think the right-wing spin machine has been working overtime spewing a lot of ridiculous statements -- so much so that those who gobble up such nonsense wouldn't recognize a true socialist if they met one.<br /><br />So here it is - plain and simple. Obama is no socialist. Obama is a centrist with a slight left leaning. What that means is that Obama is a lot closer to the right politically than George Bush was to the left. In reality, it's been generations since there was a true lefty in the White House, and that's not going to change any time soon -- mostly because true lefties are hostile to the corporations that buy the elections.<br /><br />But by all means -- please continue with the hysteria-producing hype. My prediction is that such spin will eventually lose creditability as many on the right tire of the constant fear that never materializes as a real threat, or those die-hards who believe everything told to them by Rush, Coulter, et al. will self-explode from the frenzy doing us all a favor.";s:14:"date_timestamp";i:1226612399;}i:13;a:10:{s:4:"guid";s:47:"https://green-jenni.livejournal.com/228569.html";s:7:"pubdate";s:29:"Wed, 05 Nov 2008 05:03:15 GMT";s:5:"title";s:25:"Congrats Obama Supporters";s:6:"author";s:11:"green_jenni";s:4:"link";s:47:"https://green-jenni.livejournal.com/228569.html";s:11:"description";s:1199:"Even thought I&nbsp;didn't support Obama for president&nbsp; (I felt he was far too centrist and too willing to cave on important issues such as FISA and nuke energy, for example), I still feel a sigh of relief.<br /><br />Why?<br /><br />The past eight years have been so unbelievably bad that many otherwise progressive people have started to forget how&nbsp; politicians like Bill Clinton or the roll-over Dems of Bush's early years actually hurt many of the things that we value. These politicians who would normally be condemned for harmful policies started to look like angels next to the person that will probably go down in history as the worst president that the U.S. has ever had.<br /><br />With Obama in the White House and the Dems controlling the Senate and most likely the House as of this writing, we can again focus on the issues that are really important. Third parties will again have a chance to gain some traction, and we the people will have a lot more influence on policies that concern us.<br /><br />Best of all, we can stop the backwards movement of the past 8 years and hopefully be able to at least tread water, if not make some cautious returns in the forward direction.";s:8:"comments";s:56:"https://green-jenni.livejournal.com/228569.html#comments";s:2:"lj";a:2:{s:8:"security";s:6:"public";s:11:"reply-count";s:1:"0";}s:7:"summary";s:1199:"Even thought I&nbsp;didn't support Obama for president&nbsp; (I felt he was far too centrist and too willing to cave on important issues such as FISA and nuke energy, for example), I still feel a sigh of relief.<br /><br />Why?<br /><br />The past eight years have been so unbelievably bad that many otherwise progressive people have started to forget how&nbsp; politicians like Bill Clinton or the roll-over Dems of Bush's early years actually hurt many of the things that we value. These politicians who would normally be condemned for harmful policies started to look like angels next to the person that will probably go down in history as the worst president that the U.S. has ever had.<br /><br />With Obama in the White House and the Dems controlling the Senate and most likely the House as of this writing, we can again focus on the issues that are really important. Third parties will again have a chance to gain some traction, and we the people will have a lot more influence on policies that concern us.<br /><br />Best of all, we can stop the backwards movement of the past 8 years and hopefully be able to at least tread water, if not make some cautious returns in the forward direction.";s:14:"date_timestamp";i:1225861395;}i:14;a:10:{s:4:"guid";s:47:"https://green-jenni.livejournal.com/228342.html";s:7:"pubdate";s:29:"Wed, 05 Nov 2008 04:47:24 GMT";s:5:"title";s:23:"My Day as a Poll Worker";s:6:"author";s:11:"green_jenni";s:4:"link";s:47:"https://green-jenni.livejournal.com/228342.html";s:11:"description";s:1004:"This was my first time as a poll worker -- and I enjoyed myself very much. I worked with interesting people and had a lot of fun socializing with my fellow poll workers and a few of the voters that came in. I am definitely interested in being a poll worker in the future and recommend the experience to anyone.<br /><br />Plusses: <br />*We seemed to have a high percentage of young and brand-new voters at our precinct. It was heartwarming to see their excitement about voting for the first time.<br />*We were spoiled at our precinct -- treated to fresh coffee, tea and baked goods throughout the day.<br /><br />Minuses:<br />*When factoring in early, absentee, regular and provisional ballots, we had roughly 50% participation at our precinct. We had about 10 voters the final two hours the polls were open, when we expected our biggest rush. The only time we had a significant line was at about 7:30 in the morning. We were located in the heart of SLC, and I&nbsp;expected a high voter turnout rate.";s:8:"comments";s:56:"https://green-jenni.livejournal.com/228342.html#comments";s:2:"lj";a:2:{s:8:"security";s:6:"public";s:11:"reply-count";s:1:"2";}s:7:"summary";s:1004:"This was my first time as a poll worker -- and I enjoyed myself very much. I worked with interesting people and had a lot of fun socializing with my fellow poll workers and a few of the voters that came in. I am definitely interested in being a poll worker in the future and recommend the experience to anyone.<br /><br />Plusses: <br />*We seemed to have a high percentage of young and brand-new voters at our precinct. It was heartwarming to see their excitement about voting for the first time.<br />*We were spoiled at our precinct -- treated to fresh coffee, tea and baked goods throughout the day.<br /><br />Minuses:<br />*When factoring in early, absentee, regular and provisional ballots, we had roughly 50% participation at our precinct. We had about 10 voters the final two hours the polls were open, when we expected our biggest rush. The only time we had a significant line was at about 7:30 in the morning. We were located in the heart of SLC, and I&nbsp;expected a high voter turnout rate.";s:14:"date_timestamp";i:1225860444;}i:15;a:10:{s:4:"guid";s:47:"https://green-jenni.livejournal.com/227885.html";s:7:"pubdate";s:29:"Fri, 24 Oct 2008 17:16:08 GMT";s:5:"title";s:50:"De-spinning the right-wing lies and hate re: ACORN";s:6:"author";s:11:"green_jenni";s:4:"link";s:47:"https://green-jenni.livejournal.com/227885.html";s:11:"description";s:1874:"From <a href="http://oneutah.org/2008/10/24/acorn-setting-the-record-straight/" rel="nofollow">Glenden over at One Utah</a>, quoting <a href="http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do;jsessionid=201717CD1880291287CF3BE8B53168CE?diaryId=9350" rel="nofollow">Open Left:</a><br /><br /><blockquote><ul><li>ACORN has implemented the most sophisticated quality-control system in the voter engagement field but in almost every state we are required to turn in ALL completed applications, even the ones we know to be problematic.</li><li>ACORN flags in writing incomplete, problem, or suspicious cards when we turn them in. Unfortunately, some of these same officials then come back weeks or months later and accuse us of deliberately turning in phony cards. In many cases, we can actually prove that these are the same cards we called to their attention.</li><li>Our canvassers are paid by the hour, not by the card. ACORN has a zero-tolerance policy for deliberately falsifying registrations, and in the cases where our internal quality controls have identified this happening we have fired the workers involved and turned them in to election officials and law-enforcement.</li><li>The rate of incomplete cards for the drive was 5 percent (about 65,000 cards) and the rate of &ldquo;suspicious&rdquo; cards was 1.5 percent (about 19,500 cards).</li></ul>    <p>[snip]<br /> . . . in the past few weeks alone, ACORN staffers have received death threats in Ohio and Rhode Island, and offices have been vandalized in Washington and Massachusetts. Numerous threatening and racist phone calls have been made to ACORN offices across the country. As the Right&rsquo;s actions have made plain, what&rsquo;s at stake here is not simply what happens on November 4th, but whether or not American citizens will be able to exercise their most basic right: the right to vote.</p></blockquote><br />";s:8:"comments";s:56:"https://green-jenni.livejournal.com/227885.html#comments";s:2:"lj";a:2:{s:8:"security";s:6:"public";s:11:"reply-count";s:1:"1";}s:7:"summary";s:1874:"From <a href="http://oneutah.org/2008/10/24/acorn-setting-the-record-straight/" rel="nofollow">Glenden over at One Utah</a>, quoting <a href="http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do;jsessionid=201717CD1880291287CF3BE8B53168CE?diaryId=9350" rel="nofollow">Open Left:</a><br /><br /><blockquote><ul><li>ACORN has implemented the most sophisticated quality-control system in the voter engagement field but in almost every state we are required to turn in ALL completed applications, even the ones we know to be problematic.</li><li>ACORN flags in writing incomplete, problem, or suspicious cards when we turn them in. Unfortunately, some of these same officials then come back weeks or months later and accuse us of deliberately turning in phony cards. In many cases, we can actually prove that these are the same cards we called to their attention.</li><li>Our canvassers are paid by the hour, not by the card. ACORN has a zero-tolerance policy for deliberately falsifying registrations, and in the cases where our internal quality controls have identified this happening we have fired the workers involved and turned them in to election officials and law-enforcement.</li><li>The rate of incomplete cards for the drive was 5 percent (about 65,000 cards) and the rate of &ldquo;suspicious&rdquo; cards was 1.5 percent (about 19,500 cards).</li></ul>    <p>[snip]<br /> . . . in the past few weeks alone, ACORN staffers have received death threats in Ohio and Rhode Island, and offices have been vandalized in Washington and Massachusetts. Numerous threatening and racist phone calls have been made to ACORN offices across the country. As the Right&rsquo;s actions have made plain, what&rsquo;s at stake here is not simply what happens on November 4th, but whether or not American citizens will be able to exercise their most basic right: the right to vote.</p></blockquote><br />";s:14:"date_timestamp";i:1224868568;}i:16;a:10:{s:4:"guid";s:47:"https://green-jenni.livejournal.com/227685.html";s:7:"pubdate";s:29:"Wed, 22 Oct 2008 17:21:05 GMT";s:5:"title";s:50:"Protecting the Ballot - Film and Panel this Friday";s:6:"author";s:11:"green_jenni";s:4:"link";s:47:"https://green-jenni.livejournal.com/227685.html";s:11:"description";s:6104:"<b><font size="2" face="Arial"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; font-weight: bold;"><br /><br />Friday October 24, 7-8:30pm - <span class="">Salt Lake Art Center</span> - 20 S. West Temple - Free of Charge, Open to the Public</span></font></b><div style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:&amp;apos"><b><font size="2" face="Arial" color="#ff6600"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(255, 102, 0); font-weight: bold;">ACLU Freedom Files - &quot;Freedom to Vote: Protecting the Ballot&quot;</span></font></b></div><div style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:&amp;apos"><font size="2" face="Arial"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">In partnership with the ACLU of Utah, the Art Center will present a 26-minute documentary,&nbsp;<i><span style="font-style: italic;">Freedom to Vote: Protecting the Ballot</span></i>, followed by a moderated discussion with community panelists and audience members on issues of voting rights and its impact on Utah residents and the upcoming election<i><span style="font-style: italic;">.&nbsp; Differing and respectful viewpoints are encouraged to join the dialogue on this important topic.</span></i></span></font></div><div style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:&amp;apos"><font size="4" face="Arial" class=""><span style="font-size: 15px;" class=""><i><br /></i></span></font></div><div style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:&amp;apos"><font size="4" face="Arial" class=""><span style="font-size: 15px;" class=""><i><span style="font-style: normal; font-weight: bold;" class="">The film highlights how laws requiring photo I.D. to vote (laws being proposed across the U.S.) are threatening to disenfranchise low-income individuals, elderly and disabled people, and people of color. Such laws also tend to impact voters disproportionately by party affiliation. This is a non-partisan event (the ACLU of Utah and the Salt Lake Art Center do not officially endorse any candidate in any election); however, we invite you to speak freely as necessary with regards to how these laws impact members of different parties differently. Watch a clip from the documentary at: <a href="http://aclu.tv/vote" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><span class="">http://aclu.tv/vote</span></a> &nbsp;</span></i></span></font></div><div style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:&amp;apos"><b><font size="2" face="Arial"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; font-weight: bold;"> &nbsp;</span></font></b></div><div style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:&amp;apos"><font size="2" face="Arial"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;"><b>Discussion Moderator:</b>&nbsp;Chris Vanocur, <span class="">ABC Channel 4 News</span></span></font></div><div style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:&amp;apos"><font size="2" face="Arial"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;"> &nbsp;</span></font></div><div style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:&amp;apos"><font size="2" face="Arial"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;"><b><span class="" style="border-bottom: 1px dashed rgb(0, 102, 204); cursor: pointer;">Panelist</span></b>: Erika George, <span class="" style="border-bottom: 1px dashed rgb(0, 102, 204); cursor: pointer;">University of Utah</span> <span class="">Constitutional Law Professor</span>, ACLU of Utah Board Member&nbsp;</span></font></div><div style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:&amp;apos"><font size="2" face="Arial"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;"><b><font color="#000000" class="">Panelist</font></b></span></font><font size="2" face="Arial"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;"><b><font color="#000000" class="">:</font></b>&nbsp;Laura Polacheck, AARP of Utah, <span class="">Associate State Director</span></span></font></div><div style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:&amp;apos"><font size="4" face="Arial" class=""><span style="font-size: 15px;" class=""><b>Panelist:</b>&nbsp;Andrew Riggle, Disability Law Center, Public Policy Advocate</span></font></div><div style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:&amp;apos"><font size="2" face="Arial"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;"><b>Panelist:</b>&nbsp;Marina Lowe, ACLU of Utah Staff attorney</span></font></div><div>&nbsp;</div><div><b>For more information, contact:</b></div><div><div><span style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;" class=""><div><span style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;" class=""><div><span style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;" class=""><div><div><div>Anna Brower</div><div>Development Director</div><div><span class="" style="border-bottom: 1px dashed rgb(0, 102, 204); cursor: pointer;">American Civil Liberties Union</span> of Utah</div><div><a href="http://us.mc354.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=abrower@acluutah.org" target="_blank" ymailto="mailto:abrower@acluutah.org" rel="nofollow"><span class="">abrower@acluutah.org</span></a></div><div><span class="" style="border-bottom: 1px dashed rgb(0, 102, 204); cursor: pointer;">801-521-9862 ext. 100</span></div><div>&nbsp;</div></div></div></span></div></span></div></span></div></div>";s:8:"comments";s:56:"https://green-jenni.livejournal.com/227685.html#comments";s:2:"lj";a:2:{s:8:"security";s:6:"public";s:11:"reply-count";s:1:"0";}s:7:"summary";s:6104:"<b><font size="2" face="Arial"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; font-weight: bold;"><br /><br />Friday October 24, 7-8:30pm - <span class="">Salt Lake Art Center</span> - 20 S. West Temple - Free of Charge, Open to the Public</span></font></b><div style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:&amp;apos"><b><font size="2" face="Arial" color="#ff6600"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(255, 102, 0); font-weight: bold;">ACLU Freedom Files - &quot;Freedom to Vote: Protecting the Ballot&quot;</span></font></b></div><div style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:&amp;apos"><font size="2" face="Arial"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">In partnership with the ACLU of Utah, the Art Center will present a 26-minute documentary,&nbsp;<i><span style="font-style: italic;">Freedom to Vote: Protecting the Ballot</span></i>, followed by a moderated discussion with community panelists and audience members on issues of voting rights and its impact on Utah residents and the upcoming election<i><span style="font-style: italic;">.&nbsp; Differing and respectful viewpoints are encouraged to join the dialogue on this important topic.</span></i></span></font></div><div style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:&amp;apos"><font size="4" face="Arial" class=""><span style="font-size: 15px;" class=""><i><br /></i></span></font></div><div style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:&amp;apos"><font size="4" face="Arial" class=""><span style="font-size: 15px;" class=""><i><span style="font-style: normal; font-weight: bold;" class="">The film highlights how laws requiring photo I.D. to vote (laws being proposed across the U.S.) are threatening to disenfranchise low-income individuals, elderly and disabled people, and people of color. Such laws also tend to impact voters disproportionately by party affiliation. This is a non-partisan event (the ACLU of Utah and the Salt Lake Art Center do not officially endorse any candidate in any election); however, we invite you to speak freely as necessary with regards to how these laws impact members of different parties differently. Watch a clip from the documentary at: <a href="http://aclu.tv/vote" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><span class="">http://aclu.tv/vote</span></a> &nbsp;</span></i></span></font></div><div style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:&amp;apos"><b><font size="2" face="Arial"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; font-weight: bold;"> &nbsp;</span></font></b></div><div style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:&amp;apos"><font size="2" face="Arial"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;"><b>Discussion Moderator:</b>&nbsp;Chris Vanocur, <span class="">ABC Channel 4 News</span></span></font></div><div style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:&amp;apos"><font size="2" face="Arial"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;"> &nbsp;</span></font></div><div style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:&amp;apos"><font size="2" face="Arial"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;"><b><span class="" style="border-bottom: 1px dashed rgb(0, 102, 204); cursor: pointer;">Panelist</span></b>: Erika George, <span class="" style="border-bottom: 1px dashed rgb(0, 102, 204); cursor: pointer;">University of Utah</span> <span class="">Constitutional Law Professor</span>, ACLU of Utah Board Member&nbsp;</span></font></div><div style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:&amp;apos"><font size="2" face="Arial"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;"><b><font color="#000000" class="">Panelist</font></b></span></font><font size="2" face="Arial"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;"><b><font color="#000000" class="">:</font></b>&nbsp;Laura Polacheck, AARP of Utah, <span class="">Associate State Director</span></span></font></div><div style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:&amp;apos"><font size="4" face="Arial" class=""><span style="font-size: 15px;" class=""><b>Panelist:</b>&nbsp;Andrew Riggle, Disability Law Center, Public Policy Advocate</span></font></div><div style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:&amp;apos"><font size="2" face="Arial"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;"><b>Panelist:</b>&nbsp;Marina Lowe, ACLU of Utah Staff attorney</span></font></div><div>&nbsp;</div><div><b>For more information, contact:</b></div><div><div><span style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;" class=""><div><span style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;" class=""><div><span style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;" class=""><div><div><div>Anna Brower</div><div>Development Director</div><div><span class="" style="border-bottom: 1px dashed rgb(0, 102, 204); cursor: pointer;">American Civil Liberties Union</span> of Utah</div><div><a href="http://us.mc354.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=abrower@acluutah.org" target="_blank" ymailto="mailto:abrower@acluutah.org" rel="nofollow"><span class="">abrower@acluutah.org</span></a></div><div><span class="" style="border-bottom: 1px dashed rgb(0, 102, 204); cursor: pointer;">801-521-9862 ext. 100</span></div><div>&nbsp;</div></div></div></span></div></span></div></span></div></div>";s:14:"date_timestamp";i:1224696065;}i:17;a:10:{s:4:"guid";s:47:"https://green-jenni.livejournal.com/227431.html";s:7:"pubdate";s:29:"Thu, 16 Oct 2008 22:29:48 GMT";s:5:"title";s:92:"If I live to a really old age,  I hope I am as smart and eleoquent as this 99 year old woman";s:6:"author";s:11:"green_jenni";s:4:"link";s:47:"https://green-jenni.livejournal.com/227431.html";s:11:"description";s:11661:"<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Granny_D" rel="nofollow">Granny D</a> (Doris Haddock) -- you may have heard of her. At the age of 89 (or 90 as it says here) she walked across the U.S. for campaign finance reform. Here's a snipet from a speech this nearly 99 year old woman (her birthday is in January)&nbsp; recently gave with my added emphasis.<br /><br />From Dee's 'Dotes:<br /><br />http://deesings.livejournal.com/605623.html<br /><br />(talking about the Great Depression)<br />Imagination! Let me suggest that a generation raised on books and storytelling, where ones own imagination had to fill in the colors and details, made us a generation quite able to imagine marvelous ways to fill our family dinner table in those years. Let me suggest that the power of imagination was essential to the rise of all the grand improvements we achieved for each other and called our New Deal. Imagination allows the citizen and the politician to connect with people of every situation and condition. <br /><br /><strong> I have often heard it said that the more right-wing members of our present political order will not bend on a difficult issue -- say stem cell research -- until someone they love needs that bit of medical magic. Well, I think that suggests that the foundation of right-wing politics is a grand absence of imagination. If you cannot imagine what people need until it happens to you, then I suggest you have never read a mystery book under your covers by flashlight. I do not mean to pick on my more conservative friends, but imagination and its product, empathy, are necessary in a democracy, if it is to survive and prosper as a just and happy system of life. Imagination, empathy, education and moral leadership are the essentials of a good and humane democracy.</strong><br /><br /> Nine years ago, at the age of 90, I walked 3,200 miles across the United States. I was promoting a specific political reform that did in fact pass Congress later. I was also cleaning out my heart after the death of my husband, Jim, and my best friend, Elizabeth.<br /><br />        I met the old America along that road  the America I hadnt seen since the 1930s and which I had almost forgotten.<br />Toyah, Texas, is an old railroad town just west of the Pecos, where the ruins of a once-beautiful main street stand like a crumbling movie set. Berta Begay offered shelter to me on the night I walked into Toyah. She didnt know me but was glad to greet me on her porch and welcome me to stay in a little shack she had across the road, if I would please give her time to clean it up and put some fresh linens on the bed.<br /><br /> It was a little yellow bungalow near the tracks. The kitchen floor had linoleum creatively held down in strips to the wavy wood beneath by upholstery tacks. The house was cooled by the open doors and a few fans. The yard was dirt with a little grass, and everything about the house was well-ordered and clean. She said I was welcome to stay for as long as I needed. <br /><br /> Berta is a beautiful Native American and hispanic woman who, each evening, prepared a beautiful basket of bread and a casserole dinner. She told me about her family. Her daughter, whose name is Misty Moon, was about to graduate from a local public college as an agriculture scientist. Her son, whose name is Dearheart, was a medical assistant at a community hospital. Her husband, Steve, was an expert machinist. Berta was at that time the postmaster of a nearby town. She was rightfully very proud of her family, as they had come a long way in one generation, thanks to their hard work and their imagination in a land of opportunity. You must understand that this town is a dusty place on a great stretch of dusty desert. They had made it their Garden of Eden.<br /><br /> There was a collection of lavender antique bottles in the little house. Berta collects them in the desert as her mother had done before her. The pharmacy in Pecos, thirty miles away, has a nice collection of them also, left over from the days when Bertas mother traded bottles for medicine for her children. Thats how far and how fast they have come, and how even glass strewn on the desert had been swept up into prosperity by the force of their imagination and love for one another. The pharmacist, too, was in that circle of love, as one can see by the bottles still in his window.<br /><br /> Berta helped introduce me around at Toyahs tiny city hall, which also serves as a church for the town. The two women clerks invited me to speak the next evening. The next morning, they had already created and installed hand-made posters at the gas station and in the general store out on the highway, beautifully promoting my talk on political reform. <br /><br /> Townspeople brought food to the evening event. Berta brought delicious cold snacks made from prickly pear cactus paddles. I saved some for breakfast the next morning. If I ever doubt that I am a tough old nut, I can remember that I had cactus for breakfast in Toyah, Texas, west of the Pecos. Very tart and tasty, by the way.<br /><br /> In the back of the hall during my talk, there were a few patient children trying to make sense of what we were saying. It made me remember when I was a child in Laconia, New Hampshire -- I was that child in the back of the room. Visiting speakers came to town all in a summer crowd of experts and entertainers called the Chautauqua meeting. A big tent was erected on the Pearl Street playgrounds, the largest open space in town. Speeches, entertainment, and pot luck dinners were planned for the whole week.<br /><br /> I went for two reasons: The fun reason was that there were dramas performedlike the villain foreclosing on a mortgage and putting the farmers pure daughter in harms way. I loved drama, and got myself a part in any play put on by the womens club, the Elks, or the Grange of Laconia. This would later serve me well when we had to survive by our wits.<br /><br /> The adults listened to the political speakers. They learned how the railroad monopolies were ruining the small farmers. The great Progressive-Populist Movement had begun at such meetings in the early 1890s. Great fist-waving speeches at these meetings kept people informed, interested and fired up.<br /><br /> My Mama didnt know if her children would ever be able to afford proper educations, so she made us listen to the lectures so we would at least have a few thoughts in our heads. Well, those Progressive thoughts are still rattling around up here. I thank my Mamas imaginative university.<br />       <br /> After my talk at the Toyah city hall, which was about the undue influence of lobbyists and large donors on the political system and what we might do about it, there were heartfelt comments from the townspeople about how they could no longer defend their own town and how it was suffering. At the end of the evening, Berta folded a letter into my hand. It was a long and beautifully written letter about her spiritual beliefs and about her town. The letter detailed how political corruption was literally dismantling the town, selling off the beautiful historic buildings for their bricks, and changing the rail service that had once been the lifeblood of the town. Her letter concluded God has a mission for all of us, through we often dont know the details, so therefore we trust. When you pray, please remember this little town. <br /><a name="cutid1"></a><br /> Well I do indeed remember in my prayers this community of kindness and reverence, and I remember also Berta and her family and her neighbors and the imaginative and loving America that is Toyah times our hundred-thousand neighborhoods and villages.<br /> <br /> I have continued in the years since meeting Berta to work for the public financing of poltical campaigns. In these years we have seen the rise of the small donor through the Internet, which is an unexpected antidote to the fat-cat donors influence. If we can get rid of the industrial lobbyists, there may be hope for all of us yet. <br /><br /> But on this occasion, here in the warm presence of your friendship, I wanted to take a special time away from all the politics to tell you  especially if you are young and have not experienced true hard times  that there is nothing much too it, if you will insist on creatively and ferociously loving the friends and neighbors around you. And fifty or seventy years from now, if you are blessed with a long life, you will count those years as being some of your best, as indeed I do.<br /><br /> And by the way, I am not predicting that we are heading into anything like a Great Depression. In the 1930s, the rhythm of the economy was marked on the yearly calendar. Today it is measured on stopwatches. The faster pace of todays economy, so disconnected from the harvests of an agricultural nation, means that we move through history and through disasters much more quickly. We digest things and move on, with news cycles substituting for seasons. Also, we are now a much grander beehive of activity than before. The upside of overpopulation is that our economy is incredibly resilient, and this is true all over the world. We really no longer have the time or patience for a Great Depression. Ten minutes into it, people would already be making fortunes selling commemorative tee-shirts, such as: My parents lost everything in the Stock Market, and all I got was this second-hand tee-shirt.<br /><br /> You may be worried that your 401-K retirement stocks are losing value, but here is the way to think about that: If you own stocks, you own a small percentage of the nations economy. Its like owning a family business. Some years your shares will be worth a lot, some years they will not. But they are your piece of the action and you should hold onto it. You might even use the current low prices as an opportunity to increase your share of the pie. Remember old Bernard Baruch, once the richest man in the world, who said he made his fortune on Wall Street by accommodating people: by selling his stock to them when they wanted to buy, and purchasing it from them when they wanted to sell. It was his way of advising you to buy as the market falls, and sell as it rises, rather than waiting for tops and bottoms. It is good advice and I wish I had always been wise enough to follow it. It is the kind of advice that might give you some courage and assurance.<br /><br /> I am not suggesting that all the world is rosy pink. We may be in for some trouble, but not for long. Our real challenge is not the disaster caused by the deregulation of Wall Street, for which my friend Senator McCain must answer, but instead it is the dislocations -- economic, population, food supply, coastline, and weather dislocations -- caused by our continued use of fossil fuels and the resulting warming of our atmosphere that is our real emergency and the true challenge for our character. It is the real driver of the revolution coming, which I pray will be a happy and peaceful sort. That is where the opportunities await your courage and heroism.<br /><br /> Whatever comes, I do want you to remember that the hardest of hard times are not necessarily unhappy times if you will keep to love and empathy and imaginative living.<br /><br /> And I want you to understand that you must see beyond the distraction of these present headlines to the true challenges ahead, which have little to do with Wall Street and everything to do with changing the very ways we live, so that intelligent life on earth might prosper and survive.<a name='cutid1-end'></a><br /><br />";s:8:"comments";s:56:"https://green-jenni.livejournal.com/227431.html#comments";s:2:"lj";a:2:{s:8:"security";s:6:"public";s:11:"reply-count";s:1:"2";}s:7:"summary";s:11661:"<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Granny_D" rel="nofollow">Granny D</a> (Doris Haddock) -- you may have heard of her. At the age of 89 (or 90 as it says here) she walked across the U.S. for campaign finance reform. Here's a snipet from a speech this nearly 99 year old woman (her birthday is in January)&nbsp; recently gave with my added emphasis.<br /><br />From Dee's 'Dotes:<br /><br />http://deesings.livejournal.com/605623.html<br /><br />(talking about the Great Depression)<br />Imagination! Let me suggest that a generation raised on books and storytelling, where ones own imagination had to fill in the colors and details, made us a generation quite able to imagine marvelous ways to fill our family dinner table in those years. Let me suggest that the power of imagination was essential to the rise of all the grand improvements we achieved for each other and called our New Deal. Imagination allows the citizen and the politician to connect with people of every situation and condition. <br /><br /><strong> I have often heard it said that the more right-wing members of our present political order will not bend on a difficult issue -- say stem cell research -- until someone they love needs that bit of medical magic. Well, I think that suggests that the foundation of right-wing politics is a grand absence of imagination. If you cannot imagine what people need until it happens to you, then I suggest you have never read a mystery book under your covers by flashlight. I do not mean to pick on my more conservative friends, but imagination and its product, empathy, are necessary in a democracy, if it is to survive and prosper as a just and happy system of life. Imagination, empathy, education and moral leadership are the essentials of a good and humane democracy.</strong><br /><br /> Nine years ago, at the age of 90, I walked 3,200 miles across the United States. I was promoting a specific political reform that did in fact pass Congress later. I was also cleaning out my heart after the death of my husband, Jim, and my best friend, Elizabeth.<br /><br />        I met the old America along that road  the America I hadnt seen since the 1930s and which I had almost forgotten.<br />Toyah, Texas, is an old railroad town just west of the Pecos, where the ruins of a once-beautiful main street stand like a crumbling movie set. Berta Begay offered shelter to me on the night I walked into Toyah. She didnt know me but was glad to greet me on her porch and welcome me to stay in a little shack she had across the road, if I would please give her time to clean it up and put some fresh linens on the bed.<br /><br /> It was a little yellow bungalow near the tracks. The kitchen floor had linoleum creatively held down in strips to the wavy wood beneath by upholstery tacks. The house was cooled by the open doors and a few fans. The yard was dirt with a little grass, and everything about the house was well-ordered and clean. She said I was welcome to stay for as long as I needed. <br /><br /> Berta is a beautiful Native American and hispanic woman who, each evening, prepared a beautiful basket of bread and a casserole dinner. She told me about her family. Her daughter, whose name is Misty Moon, was about to graduate from a local public college as an agriculture scientist. Her son, whose name is Dearheart, was a medical assistant at a community hospital. Her husband, Steve, was an expert machinist. Berta was at that time the postmaster of a nearby town. She was rightfully very proud of her family, as they had come a long way in one generation, thanks to their hard work and their imagination in a land of opportunity. You must understand that this town is a dusty place on a great stretch of dusty desert. They had made it their Garden of Eden.<br /><br /> There was a collection of lavender antique bottles in the little house. Berta collects them in the desert as her mother had done before her. The pharmacy in Pecos, thirty miles away, has a nice collection of them also, left over from the days when Bertas mother traded bottles for medicine for her children. Thats how far and how fast they have come, and how even glass strewn on the desert had been swept up into prosperity by the force of their imagination and love for one another. The pharmacist, too, was in that circle of love, as one can see by the bottles still in his window.<br /><br /> Berta helped introduce me around at Toyahs tiny city hall, which also serves as a church for the town. The two women clerks invited me to speak the next evening. The next morning, they had already created and installed hand-made posters at the gas station and in the general store out on the highway, beautifully promoting my talk on political reform. <br /><br /> Townspeople brought food to the evening event. Berta brought delicious cold snacks made from prickly pear cactus paddles. I saved some for breakfast the next morning. If I ever doubt that I am a tough old nut, I can remember that I had cactus for breakfast in Toyah, Texas, west of the Pecos. Very tart and tasty, by the way.<br /><br /> In the back of the hall during my talk, there were a few patient children trying to make sense of what we were saying. It made me remember when I was a child in Laconia, New Hampshire -- I was that child in the back of the room. Visiting speakers came to town all in a summer crowd of experts and entertainers called the Chautauqua meeting. A big tent was erected on the Pearl Street playgrounds, the largest open space in town. Speeches, entertainment, and pot luck dinners were planned for the whole week.<br /><br /> I went for two reasons: The fun reason was that there were dramas performedlike the villain foreclosing on a mortgage and putting the farmers pure daughter in harms way. I loved drama, and got myself a part in any play put on by the womens club, the Elks, or the Grange of Laconia. This would later serve me well when we had to survive by our wits.<br /><br /> The adults listened to the political speakers. They learned how the railroad monopolies were ruining the small farmers. The great Progressive-Populist Movement had begun at such meetings in the early 1890s. Great fist-waving speeches at these meetings kept people informed, interested and fired up.<br /><br /> My Mama didnt know if her children would ever be able to afford proper educations, so she made us listen to the lectures so we would at least have a few thoughts in our heads. Well, those Progressive thoughts are still rattling around up here. I thank my Mamas imaginative university.<br />       <br /> After my talk at the Toyah city hall, which was about the undue influence of lobbyists and large donors on the political system and what we might do about it, there were heartfelt comments from the townspeople about how they could no longer defend their own town and how it was suffering. At the end of the evening, Berta folded a letter into my hand. It was a long and beautifully written letter about her spiritual beliefs and about her town. The letter detailed how political corruption was literally dismantling the town, selling off the beautiful historic buildings for their bricks, and changing the rail service that had once been the lifeblood of the town. Her letter concluded God has a mission for all of us, through we often dont know the details, so therefore we trust. When you pray, please remember this little town. <br /><a name="cutid1"></a><br /> Well I do indeed remember in my prayers this community of kindness and reverence, and I remember also Berta and her family and her neighbors and the imaginative and loving America that is Toyah times our hundred-thousand neighborhoods and villages.<br /> <br /> I have continued in the years since meeting Berta to work for the public financing of poltical campaigns. In these years we have seen the rise of the small donor through the Internet, which is an unexpected antidote to the fat-cat donors influence. If we can get rid of the industrial lobbyists, there may be hope for all of us yet. <br /><br /> But on this occasion, here in the warm presence of your friendship, I wanted to take a special time away from all the politics to tell you  especially if you are young and have not experienced true hard times  that there is nothing much too it, if you will insist on creatively and ferociously loving the friends and neighbors around you. And fifty or seventy years from now, if you are blessed with a long life, you will count those years as being some of your best, as indeed I do.<br /><br /> And by the way, I am not predicting that we are heading into anything like a Great Depression. In the 1930s, the rhythm of the economy was marked on the yearly calendar. Today it is measured on stopwatches. The faster pace of todays economy, so disconnected from the harvests of an agricultural nation, means that we move through history and through disasters much more quickly. We digest things and move on, with news cycles substituting for seasons. Also, we are now a much grander beehive of activity than before. The upside of overpopulation is that our economy is incredibly resilient, and this is true all over the world. We really no longer have the time or patience for a Great Depression. Ten minutes into it, people would already be making fortunes selling commemorative tee-shirts, such as: My parents lost everything in the Stock Market, and all I got was this second-hand tee-shirt.<br /><br /> You may be worried that your 401-K retirement stocks are losing value, but here is the way to think about that: If you own stocks, you own a small percentage of the nations economy. Its like owning a family business. Some years your shares will be worth a lot, some years they will not. But they are your piece of the action and you should hold onto it. You might even use the current low prices as an opportunity to increase your share of the pie. Remember old Bernard Baruch, once the richest man in the world, who said he made his fortune on Wall Street by accommodating people: by selling his stock to them when they wanted to buy, and purchasing it from them when they wanted to sell. It was his way of advising you to buy as the market falls, and sell as it rises, rather than waiting for tops and bottoms. It is good advice and I wish I had always been wise enough to follow it. It is the kind of advice that might give you some courage and assurance.<br /><br /> I am not suggesting that all the world is rosy pink. We may be in for some trouble, but not for long. Our real challenge is not the disaster caused by the deregulation of Wall Street, for which my friend Senator McCain must answer, but instead it is the dislocations -- economic, population, food supply, coastline, and weather dislocations -- caused by our continued use of fossil fuels and the resulting warming of our atmosphere that is our real emergency and the true challenge for our character. It is the real driver of the revolution coming, which I pray will be a happy and peaceful sort. That is where the opportunities await your courage and heroism.<br /><br /> Whatever comes, I do want you to remember that the hardest of hard times are not necessarily unhappy times if you will keep to love and empathy and imaginative living.<br /><br /> And I want you to understand that you must see beyond the distraction of these present headlines to the true challenges ahead, which have little to do with Wall Street and everything to do with changing the very ways we live, so that intelligent life on earth might prosper and survive.<a name='cutid1-end'></a><br /><br />";s:14:"date_timestamp";i:1224196188;}i:18;a:10:{s:4:"guid";s:47:"https://green-jenni.livejournal.com/227154.html";s:7:"pubdate";s:29:"Thu, 16 Oct 2008 20:52:08 GMT";s:5:"title";s:67:"Cancelling out the donations of fear - a call to progressive Utahns";s:6:"author";s:11:"green_jenni";s:4:"link";s:47:"https://green-jenni.livejournal.com/227154.html";s:11:"description";s:1693:"Proposition 8, a bill in California meant to codify discrimination of LGBT persons looks set to win -- but a recent poll that asked likely voters how they would vote after seeing ads from both sides shows that if the ads for the &quot;No on 8&quot; could be seen, then Prop 8 would be defeated. Problem is, there isn't as much money on the No side as for those pushing for this law, an awful lot of which is coming from Utah.<br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(128, 0, 128);">&quot;&ldquo;Proposition 8&hellip; would eliminate the fundamental right to same-sex marriage. The very act of denying gay and lesbian couples the right to marry &ndash; traditionally the highest legal and societal recognition of a loving commitment &ndash; by definition relegates them and their relationship to second class status.&rdquo; Los Angeles Times Editorial, August 8, 2008<br /><br />Regardless of how you feel about this issue, we should guarantee the same fundamental rights to every Californian. Vote No on 8.&quot;</span><br /><br />I'm far from wealthy, but I feel the need to help cancel out these donations of fear.<br /><br />I've just put my money where my mouth is and contributed $20. I'd like to challenge anyone who reads this to contribute half of that - $10 - no matter if you are gay, straight, or both or neither. I'm further challenging progressive/lefty Utah bloggers to match or exceed my donation amount.. Go to http://www.noonprop8.com/ and click on the &quot;Donate Today&quot; button.<br /><br />Let's get Utah to donate as much to fight this discrimination as Utah is sending to promote it. Let's cancel out the donations of fear!<br /><br /><lj-embed id="29" /><br /><br /><br />";s:8:"comments";s:56:"https://green-jenni.livejournal.com/227154.html#comments";s:2:"lj";a:2:{s:8:"security";s:6:"public";s:11:"reply-count";s:1:"0";}s:7:"summary";s:1693:"Proposition 8, a bill in California meant to codify discrimination of LGBT persons looks set to win -- but a recent poll that asked likely voters how they would vote after seeing ads from both sides shows that if the ads for the &quot;No on 8&quot; could be seen, then Prop 8 would be defeated. Problem is, there isn't as much money on the No side as for those pushing for this law, an awful lot of which is coming from Utah.<br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(128, 0, 128);">&quot;&ldquo;Proposition 8&hellip; would eliminate the fundamental right to same-sex marriage. The very act of denying gay and lesbian couples the right to marry &ndash; traditionally the highest legal and societal recognition of a loving commitment &ndash; by definition relegates them and their relationship to second class status.&rdquo; Los Angeles Times Editorial, August 8, 2008<br /><br />Regardless of how you feel about this issue, we should guarantee the same fundamental rights to every Californian. Vote No on 8.&quot;</span><br /><br />I'm far from wealthy, but I feel the need to help cancel out these donations of fear.<br /><br />I've just put my money where my mouth is and contributed $20. I'd like to challenge anyone who reads this to contribute half of that - $10 - no matter if you are gay, straight, or both or neither. I'm further challenging progressive/lefty Utah bloggers to match or exceed my donation amount.. Go to http://www.noonprop8.com/ and click on the &quot;Donate Today&quot; button.<br /><br />Let's get Utah to donate as much to fight this discrimination as Utah is sending to promote it. Let's cancel out the donations of fear!<br /><br /><lj-embed id="29" /><br /><br /><br />";s:14:"date_timestamp";i:1224190328;}i:19;a:10:{s:4:"guid";s:47:"https://green-jenni.livejournal.com/226931.html";s:7:"pubdate";s:29:"Thu, 16 Oct 2008 15:46:21 GMT";s:5:"title";s:63:"Waiting an hour to vote? Another reson to vote early if you can";s:6:"author";s:11:"green_jenni";s:4:"link";s:47:"https://green-jenni.livejournal.com/226931.html";s:11:"description";s:2316:"I just went to my poll worker training yesterday. The trainer warned us that this election is predicted to be unprecedented in Salt Lake County, with projected line waits of about an hour. If you don't vote by mail, it's probably a good idea to vote early to avoid the expected wait time. Early voting is available at the following locations:<br /><br /><h4>In-Office Early Voting Schedule</h4> <p>In-office voting will take place in the Salt Lake County Clerk's Office (County Government Center, 2001 South State Street, South Building,&nbsp;Room S1002)&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Weekdays&nbsp;beginning October&nbsp;13 through November 3 </strong></p> <p><strong>Hours 8:00 am - 5:00 pm and on</strong></p> <p><strong>Saturday, October 25 and Saturday, November 1 </strong></p> <p><strong>Hours&nbsp;10:00 am -&nbsp;3:00 pm&nbsp;</strong></p> <h4>Early Voting Schedule</h4> <p><strong>Weekdays beginning October 21 through October 30</strong></p> <p><strong>Hours 12:00 pm - 7:00 pm and on</strong></p> <p><strong>Friday, October 31 from 12:00 pm to 5:00 pm</strong></p> <ul><li><strong>NW Multipurpose Center - 1300 W 300 N, SLC </strong></li><li><strong>Murray City Hall - 5025 S State St, Murray </strong></li><li><strong>Holladay City Hall - 4580 S 2300 E, Holladay </strong></li><li><strong>Kearns Improvement District - 5350 W 5400 S, Kearns </strong></li><li><strong>Taylorsville City Hall - 2600 W Taylorsville Blvd (5330 S), Taylorsville </strong></li><li><strong>University of Utah Olpin Union&nbsp;Building&nbsp;- 200 S Central Campus Dr, SLC </strong></li><li><strong>Sandy Fire Station #35 - 8186 S 1300 E, Sandy </strong></li><li><strong>Sandy City Hall - 10000 S Centennial Pkwy (170 W), Sandy </strong></li><li><strong>Gale History Center - 10300 S Beckstead Ln (1600 W), SJ </strong></li><li><strong>Draper City Hall - 1020 E Pioneer Rd (12425 S), Draper </strong></li><li><strong>West Valley City Hall - 3600 S Constitution Blvd (2700 W), WVC </strong></li><li><strong>Riverton City Hall - 12830 S 1700 W, Riverton </strong></li><li><strong>Midvale City Hall - 655 W Center St (7720 S), Midvale </strong></li><li><strong>WJ Fire Station #53 - 7602 S Jordan Landing Blvd (3900 W), WJ </strong></li><li><strong>Magna Chamber of Commerce - 9145 W 2700 S, Magna&nbsp; <br /></strong></li></ul><br /><br />";s:8:"comments";s:56:"https://green-jenni.livejournal.com/226931.html#comments";s:2:"lj";a:2:{s:8:"security";s:6:"public";s:11:"reply-count";s:1:"3";}s:7:"summary";s:2316:"I just went to my poll worker training yesterday. The trainer warned us that this election is predicted to be unprecedented in Salt Lake County, with projected line waits of about an hour. If you don't vote by mail, it's probably a good idea to vote early to avoid the expected wait time. Early voting is available at the following locations:<br /><br /><h4>In-Office Early Voting Schedule</h4> <p>In-office voting will take place in the Salt Lake County Clerk's Office (County Government Center, 2001 South State Street, South Building,&nbsp;Room S1002)&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Weekdays&nbsp;beginning October&nbsp;13 through November 3 </strong></p> <p><strong>Hours 8:00 am - 5:00 pm and on</strong></p> <p><strong>Saturday, October 25 and Saturday, November 1 </strong></p> <p><strong>Hours&nbsp;10:00 am -&nbsp;3:00 pm&nbsp;</strong></p> <h4>Early Voting Schedule</h4> <p><strong>Weekdays beginning October 21 through October 30</strong></p> <p><strong>Hours 12:00 pm - 7:00 pm and on</strong></p> <p><strong>Friday, October 31 from 12:00 pm to 5:00 pm</strong></p> <ul><li><strong>NW Multipurpose Center - 1300 W 300 N, SLC </strong></li><li><strong>Murray City Hall - 5025 S State St, Murray </strong></li><li><strong>Holladay City Hall - 4580 S 2300 E, Holladay </strong></li><li><strong>Kearns Improvement District - 5350 W 5400 S, Kearns </strong></li><li><strong>Taylorsville City Hall - 2600 W Taylorsville Blvd (5330 S), Taylorsville </strong></li><li><strong>University of Utah Olpin Union&nbsp;Building&nbsp;- 200 S Central Campus Dr, SLC </strong></li><li><strong>Sandy Fire Station #35 - 8186 S 1300 E, Sandy </strong></li><li><strong>Sandy City Hall - 10000 S Centennial Pkwy (170 W), Sandy </strong></li><li><strong>Gale History Center - 10300 S Beckstead Ln (1600 W), SJ </strong></li><li><strong>Draper City Hall - 1020 E Pioneer Rd (12425 S), Draper </strong></li><li><strong>West Valley City Hall - 3600 S Constitution Blvd (2700 W), WVC </strong></li><li><strong>Riverton City Hall - 12830 S 1700 W, Riverton </strong></li><li><strong>Midvale City Hall - 655 W Center St (7720 S), Midvale </strong></li><li><strong>WJ Fire Station #53 - 7602 S Jordan Landing Blvd (3900 W), WJ </strong></li><li><strong>Magna Chamber of Commerce - 9145 W 2700 S, Magna&nbsp; <br /></strong></li></ul><br /><br />";s:14:"date_timestamp";i:1224171981;}i:20;a:10:{s:4:"guid";s:47:"https://green-jenni.livejournal.com/226751.html";s:7:"pubdate";s:29:"Tue, 14 Oct 2008 17:46:14 GMT";s:5:"title";s:43:"SLC observes World Food Day on October 16th";s:6:"author";s:11:"green_jenni";s:4:"link";s:47:"https://green-jenni.livejournal.com/226751.html";s:11:"description";s:2152:"One World Cafe is one of my favorite places to eat, and the concept of paying what the meal is worth to you was so innovative that the cafe's owner, Denise Cerreta, was featured in several national publications a few years back. So I was excited to hear about this as a concept for World Food Day. From a press release from Mayor Becker's Office:<br /><br />SALT LAKE CITY - This morning, Mayor Ralph Becker signed a proclamation declaring this Thursday, October 16th, World Food Day in Salt Lake City . Mayor Becker has joined forces with local restaurant owners to promote observance of the day and raise awareness about food security in Salt Lake City .<br /><br />Each participating restaurant will offer a special food item that can be ordered at a reduced portion size that patrons may price themselves. A portion of the profits collected from the sale of the item will go to each restaurant&rsquo;s favorite food-related charity<br /><br />In Utah , 9.7 percent of the population lives in poverty and the U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates that 5.1 percent of residents are dealing with hunger. Observing World Food Day in Salt Lake City will be an opportunity for local restaurants to give back to community members and raise awareness about hunger and poverty in Utah .<br /><br />Denise Cerreta, founder and owner of One World Everybody Eats, has been at the forefront of this effort. Cerreta initially approached Mayor Becker and local restaurants about making World Food Day a reality in Salt Lake City .<br /><br />One Word Everybody Eats is a community kitchen that serves meals offered in reduced portion sizes that patrons can price themselves.<br /><br />For over 20 years, communities around the world have observed the United Nation&rsquo;s World Food Day to raise awareness about poverty and hunger. This will be the largest, most coordinated effort Salt Lake City has endeavored.<br /><br />For a full schedule of World Food Week events to be held this week in Salt Lake City and a list of participating restaurants visit <a href='http://www.oneworldeverybodyeats.com' rel='nofollow'>http://www.oneworldeverybodyeats.com</a>.";s:8:"comments";s:56:"https://green-jenni.livejournal.com/226751.html#comments";s:2:"lj";a:2:{s:8:"security";s:6:"public";s:11:"reply-count";s:1:"2";}s:7:"summary";s:2152:"One World Cafe is one of my favorite places to eat, and the concept of paying what the meal is worth to you was so innovative that the cafe's owner, Denise Cerreta, was featured in several national publications a few years back. So I was excited to hear about this as a concept for World Food Day. From a press release from Mayor Becker's Office:<br /><br />SALT LAKE CITY - This morning, Mayor Ralph Becker signed a proclamation declaring this Thursday, October 16th, World Food Day in Salt Lake City . Mayor Becker has joined forces with local restaurant owners to promote observance of the day and raise awareness about food security in Salt Lake City .<br /><br />Each participating restaurant will offer a special food item that can be ordered at a reduced portion size that patrons may price themselves. A portion of the profits collected from the sale of the item will go to each restaurant&rsquo;s favorite food-related charity<br /><br />In Utah , 9.7 percent of the population lives in poverty and the U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates that 5.1 percent of residents are dealing with hunger. Observing World Food Day in Salt Lake City will be an opportunity for local restaurants to give back to community members and raise awareness about hunger and poverty in Utah .<br /><br />Denise Cerreta, founder and owner of One World Everybody Eats, has been at the forefront of this effort. Cerreta initially approached Mayor Becker and local restaurants about making World Food Day a reality in Salt Lake City .<br /><br />One Word Everybody Eats is a community kitchen that serves meals offered in reduced portion sizes that patrons can price themselves.<br /><br />For over 20 years, communities around the world have observed the United Nation&rsquo;s World Food Day to raise awareness about poverty and hunger. This will be the largest, most coordinated effort Salt Lake City has endeavored.<br /><br />For a full schedule of World Food Week events to be held this week in Salt Lake City and a list of participating restaurants visit <a href='http://www.oneworldeverybodyeats.com' rel='nofollow'>http://www.oneworldeverybodyeats.com</a>.";s:14:"date_timestamp";i:1224006374;}i:21;a:10:{s:4:"guid";s:47:"https://green-jenni.livejournal.com/226429.html";s:7:"pubdate";s:29:"Mon, 13 Oct 2008 19:20:17 GMT";s:5:"title";s:25:"Is ACORN a radical group?";s:6:"author";s:11:"green_jenni";s:4:"link";s:47:"https://green-jenni.livejournal.com/226429.html";s:11:"description";s:758:"From the ACORN&nbsp;about page:<br /><br />&quot;Each ACORN office carries out multiple issue campaigns.&nbsp; ACORN members across the country work to raise the minimum wage or enact living wage policies; eliminate predatory financial practices by mortgage lenders, payday lenders, and tax preparation companies; win the development of affordable housing and community benefits agreements; improve the quality of and funding for urban public schools; rebuild New Orleans; and pass a federal and state ACORN Working Families Agenda, including paid sick leave for all full time workers.&quot;<br /><br />So, is ACORN a radical group? I've seen the claim coming from the right. How does helping lower-income Americans achieve some stability qualify as radical?";s:8:"comments";s:56:"https://green-jenni.livejournal.com/226429.html#comments";s:2:"lj";a:2:{s:8:"security";s:6:"public";s:11:"reply-count";s:1:"2";}s:7:"summary";s:758:"From the ACORN&nbsp;about page:<br /><br />&quot;Each ACORN office carries out multiple issue campaigns.&nbsp; ACORN members across the country work to raise the minimum wage or enact living wage policies; eliminate predatory financial practices by mortgage lenders, payday lenders, and tax preparation companies; win the development of affordable housing and community benefits agreements; improve the quality of and funding for urban public schools; rebuild New Orleans; and pass a federal and state ACORN Working Families Agenda, including paid sick leave for all full time workers.&quot;<br /><br />So, is ACORN a radical group? I've seen the claim coming from the right. How does helping lower-income Americans achieve some stability qualify as radical?";s:14:"date_timestamp";i:1223925617;}i:22;a:11:{s:4:"guid";s:47:"https://green-jenni.livejournal.com/226263.html";s:7:"pubdate";s:29:"Mon, 13 Oct 2008 19:02:46 GMT";s:5:"title";s:57:"2008: The year of fundamentalism and anti-intellectualism";s:6:"author";s:11:"green_jenni";s:4:"link";s:47:"https://green-jenni.livejournal.com/226263.html";s:11:"description";s:1073:"Glenden at One Utah has a <a href="http://oneutah.org/2008/10/13/odd-lies/#more-4802" rel="nofollow">thought-provoking post </a>on the nature of fundamentalism and how that promotes dishonesty:<br /><p>&quot;Sarah Palin is a fundamentalist and her lies make sense in that light. Fundamentalist thought reaches a conclusion and never moves beyond it; Sarah Palin is the poster child for that mindset. She reached her conclusion and stopped - she was done thinking, done examining, done wondering. Fundamentalism divides the world into good and bad - if you are a believer, you are good and what you do is guided by God and is hence good. If you are a non-believer, you are bad (right up until you convert in which case all is forgiven). &quot;<br /><br />And this video (<a href="http://cityweekly.blogspot.com/2008/10/dumbasses-for-mccain.html" rel="nofollow">snapped from Brandon Burt on the Salt Blog)</a> on the anti-intellectualism of the right seemed to get something similar from another angle:<br />&nbsp;</p><lj-embed id="28" /><br /><br />&nbsp;<p>&nbsp;</p><br />";s:8:"comments";s:56:"https://green-jenni.livejournal.com/226263.html#comments";s:8:"category";s:17:"favorite bloggers";s:2:"lj";a:2:{s:8:"security";s:6:"public";s:11:"reply-count";s:1:"1";}s:7:"summary";s:1073:"Glenden at One Utah has a <a href="http://oneutah.org/2008/10/13/odd-lies/#more-4802" rel="nofollow">thought-provoking post </a>on the nature of fundamentalism and how that promotes dishonesty:<br /><p>&quot;Sarah Palin is a fundamentalist and her lies make sense in that light. Fundamentalist thought reaches a conclusion and never moves beyond it; Sarah Palin is the poster child for that mindset. She reached her conclusion and stopped - she was done thinking, done examining, done wondering. Fundamentalism divides the world into good and bad - if you are a believer, you are good and what you do is guided by God and is hence good. If you are a non-believer, you are bad (right up until you convert in which case all is forgiven). &quot;<br /><br />And this video (<a href="http://cityweekly.blogspot.com/2008/10/dumbasses-for-mccain.html" rel="nofollow">snapped from Brandon Burt on the Salt Blog)</a> on the anti-intellectualism of the right seemed to get something similar from another angle:<br />&nbsp;</p><lj-embed id="28" /><br /><br />&nbsp;<p>&nbsp;</p><br />";s:14:"date_timestamp";i:1223924566;}i:23;a:10:{s:4:"guid";s:47:"https://green-jenni.livejournal.com/225998.html";s:7:"pubdate";s:29:"Mon, 06 Oct 2008 23:40:30 GMT";s:5:"title";s:10:"Palin Juno";s:6:"author";s:11:"green_jenni";s:4:"link";s:47:"https://green-jenni.livejournal.com/225998.html";s:11:"description";s:90:"Very funny -- possibly offensive (I'd rate it PG-13)<br /><br /><br /><lj-embed id="27" />";s:8:"comments";s:56:"https://green-jenni.livejournal.com/225998.html#comments";s:2:"lj";a:2:{s:8:"security";s:6:"public";s:11:"reply-count";s:1:"1";}s:7:"summary";s:90:"Very funny -- possibly offensive (I'd rate it PG-13)<br /><br /><br /><lj-embed id="27" />";s:14:"date_timestamp";i:1223336430;}i:24;a:11:{s:4:"guid";s:47:"https://green-jenni.livejournal.com/225761.html";s:7:"pubdate";s:29:"Fri, 03 Oct 2008 19:30:01 GMT";s:5:"title";s:41:"Palin did surprisingly well at the debate";s:6:"author";s:11:"green_jenni";s:4:"link";s:47:"https://green-jenni.livejournal.com/225761.html";s:11:"description";s:2244:"I must admit that I was surprised how well Palin did in the debate, and I can see her appeal - she's cute and personable. The thing to remember is how personable Bush is, though. Likability can hide many dangerous personality traits.<br /><br />I'm not sure why Obama picked Biden as his running mate. He's intelligent and well-spoken, but he doesn't exude the aura of change that Obama's tried so hard to project. He seems like a veteran politician which doesn't compete favorably with Palin's "outsider who will clean house" persona.<br /><br />The best moment of the debate is when Biden got nearly choked up when talking about his child's death. I wanted to stop the debate right there to process the pain I felt for him, and it was disconcerting when Palin picked up and talked on and on as if nothing had happened on the same level as before -- showing she's much more a politician than the everyday person than she wants us to believe. <br /><br />The Democrat strategy of rolling over for Republican wishes for several years bit Biden in the butt a few times -- like when he had to admit that he voted to give Bush war powers. <br /><br />I was very disappointed to see that the only "alternatives" to oil given were "safe" nuclear (oxymoron?) and "clean coal" (should be "cleaner coal" since there's no way to mine it cleanly and how clean is pulverizing a mountain to get coal anyway?).<br /><br />I noticed that Palin resorted to the Republican trick and ego-stroking by telling us that we are exceptional, ideal and a beacon (although she did say not perfect) to the rest of the world. Conservative voters eat that stuff up and it works. It would be nice if we could honestly address issues and do what is necessary to become that beacon, which is hard to do if you already think you're all that. <br /><br />My opinion: Biden won if you want someone who knows what they are doing. Palin won if you want someone who seems like anyone you might know.<br /><br />I wanted to post this graphic from DailyKos that was really funny, even though I think Palin should get more credit for her performance last night than this graphic implies.<br /><br /><br /><img src="https://farm4.static.flickr.com/3091/2909496470_d751e8a3dc.jpg?v=0" />";s:8:"comments";s:56:"https://green-jenni.livejournal.com/225761.html#comments";s:8:"category";s:4:"2008";s:2:"lj";a:2:{s:8:"security";s:6:"public";s:11:"reply-count";s:1:"2";}s:7:"summary";s:2244:"I must admit that I was surprised how well Palin did in the debate, and I can see her appeal - she's cute and personable. The thing to remember is how personable Bush is, though. Likability can hide many dangerous personality traits.<br /><br />I'm not sure why Obama picked Biden as his running mate. He's intelligent and well-spoken, but he doesn't exude the aura of change that Obama's tried so hard to project. He seems like a veteran politician which doesn't compete favorably with Palin's "outsider who will clean house" persona.<br /><br />The best moment of the debate is when Biden got nearly choked up when talking about his child's death. I wanted to stop the debate right there to process the pain I felt for him, and it was disconcerting when Palin picked up and talked on and on as if nothing had happened on the same level as before -- showing she's much more a politician than the everyday person than she wants us to believe. <br /><br />The Democrat strategy of rolling over for Republican wishes for several years bit Biden in the butt a few times -- like when he had to admit that he voted to give Bush war powers. <br /><br />I was very disappointed to see that the only "alternatives" to oil given were "safe" nuclear (oxymoron?) and "clean coal" (should be "cleaner coal" since there's no way to mine it cleanly and how clean is pulverizing a mountain to get coal anyway?).<br /><br />I noticed that Palin resorted to the Republican trick and ego-stroking by telling us that we are exceptional, ideal and a beacon (although she did say not perfect) to the rest of the world. Conservative voters eat that stuff up and it works. It would be nice if we could honestly address issues and do what is necessary to become that beacon, which is hard to do if you already think you're all that. <br /><br />My opinion: Biden won if you want someone who knows what they are doing. Palin won if you want someone who seems like anyone you might know.<br /><br />I wanted to post this graphic from DailyKos that was really funny, even though I think Palin should get more credit for her performance last night than this graphic implies.<br /><br /><br /><img src="https://farm4.static.flickr.com/3091/2909496470_d751e8a3dc.jpg?v=0" />";s:14:"date_timestamp";i:1223062201;}}s:7:"channel";a:7:{s:5:"title";s:19:"Jen's Green Journal";s:4:"link";s:36:"https://green-jenni.livejournal.com/";s:11:"description";s:37:"Jen's Green Journal - LiveJournal.com";s:13:"lastbuilddate";s:29:"Tue, 16 Mar 2010 07:20:59 GMT";s:9:"generator";s:29:"LiveJournal / LiveJournal.com";s:2:"lj";a:3:{s:7:"journal";s:11:"green_jenni";s:9:"journalid";s:7:"5595111";s:11:"journaltype";s:8:"personal";}s:7:"tagline";s:37:"Jen's Green Journal - LiveJournal.com";}s:9:"textinput";a:0:{}s:5:"image";a:5:{s:3:"url";s:50:"https://l-userpic.livejournal.com/36315255/5595111";s:5:"title";s:19:"Jen's Green Journal";s:4:"link";s:36:"https://green-jenni.livejournal.com/";s:5:"width";s:2:"97";s:6:"height";s:3:"100";}s:9:"feed_type";s:3:"RSS";s:12:"feed_version";s:3:"2.0";s:8:"encoding";s:5:"UTF-8";s:16:"_source_encoding";s:0:"";s:5:"ERROR";s:0:"";s:7:"WARNING";s:0:"";s:19:"_CONTENT_CONSTRUCTS";a:6:{i:0;s:7:"content";i:1;s:7:"summary";i:2;s:4:"info";i:3;s:5:"title";i:4;s:7:"tagline";i:5;s:9:"copyright";}s:16:"_KNOWN_ENCODINGS";a:3:{i:0;s:5:"UTF-8";i:1;s:8:"US-ASCII";i:2;s:10:"ISO-8859-1";}s:5:"stack";a:0:{}s:9:"inchannel";b:0;s:6:"initem";b:0;s:9:"incontent";b:0;s:11:"intextinput";b:0;s:7:"inimage";b:0;s:17:"current_namespace";b:0;s:13:"last_modified";s:31:"Tue, 16 Mar 2010 07:20:59 GMT
";s:4:"etag";s:30:"GgZzW/I+iFcTm7/YtMD81sI7gUQw
";}