Gordon, et al,

 

Very interesting. I knew Robin was in the area but the thought he might be in your church never occurred to me. Suzanne taught both of Robin's children in the second grade and Robin's church has been a part of the founding core of our local effort called VOICE (Voices Organized In Civic Engagement) organized by the Industrial Areas Foundation (Sol Alinsky's group out of Chicago). This is the local component of a larger effort to get at the systemic issues facing the social process called the Human Community Network.

 

Other faces of this Human Community Network include creating at OCU a College of the 21st Century which complements the academic curriculum and teaching with something like a methods and pedagogy curriculum designed to prepare grads to step into the emerging generation of progressive leadership and take charge of systemic model building and change regardless of their specific areas of study.

 

Also, for moving our culture toward a culture of peace we are focused on the interfaith community moving to a common understanding of life, common action of care and responsibility, and a new level of honoring the various expressions of the faith traditions.

 

We are going to have a major organizing effort to create many study group of Eboo Patel's book ACTS OF FAITH and his work with the Interfaith Youth Core in preparation of his coming to OKC in the Fall of 2013. This will set the stage for a major development in Oklahoma that has never before been considered.

 

It seems our methods experience through the years were dramatic rehearsals for what we now have on our hands. The Occupy movement is symptomatic of the collective mood but it resides below the conscious thought of those who are enslaved to an isolated individualized culture, corrupted capitalism, and political impotence. The 99% and 1% image has changed how people think about our situation whether they are interested in Occupy or not.

 

I think we should be far more pro-active with that network as far as our methods are concerned. We also need to be watchful about connections. The Occupy movement almost connected with the old, tired, beaten up unions here in OKC but something happened and it did not work. We need to figure out what happened. That worker connection is crucial, as is connecting with the youth's lucidity and disgust with the social process.

 

As Marjorie Kelly said in her book THE DIVINE RIGHT OF CAPITAL, the people with the power are the workers and the consumers, contrary to all appearences otherwise and this is true politically as well. She calls for a cleaning out of capitalism the corruption within it we generally assume has always been there. It can be clean up! She is also coming to OKC when we get around to preparing for it. She has another book just out this month called OWNING OUT FUTURE, which is the plan for how to do it.

 

Take care and go for it,

 

Bill