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Thursday March 27 for ST from Jaime
by wangzhimu2031＠aol.com 24 Feb '14

24 Feb '14

In what do we trust? In God we Trust is a phrase adopted as the official motto ofthe United States in 1956 to replace the unofficial one E pluribus unum (“Out of many, one”), which has been in the UnitedStates seal since 1782. “In God do wetrust” is a phrase in the fourth stanza of the poem from where the lyrics ofthe national anthem Star-Spangled Banner came from. It appeared in coins in 1864 and in papercurrency since 1957. It is the motto ofFlorida. It’s Spanish equivalent, En Dios Confiamos, is the motto ofNicaragua. Itsappearance in US coins was a political move, to indicate that God was on theside of the Union in its minted coins vs. the Confederacy. It’s ascendancy into common usage since 1956stemmed from the Cold War when President Eisenhower signed a law to incorporate“nation under God” to the pledge of allegiance to distinguish the United Statesfrom the atheist Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. Historically, the phrase was incorporatedinto the nation’s set of metaphors, not out of theological acumen but forpolitical reasons. Theword G-O-D is the English translation of the German “Gott”, which means,good. The word made it to the Judeo-Christiansense of the supreme, of “what is” rather than “what had been, what we presentlyfeel and think, or what we hope for”. YHWH, the “I am who I am”, or “that of which there is no other” of theLevant, focused on reality rather than the illusion of a mirage in the desert,makes for effective authentic living. “Thatwhich is totally other, a no-thing” came as Islam’s anti-idolatry against theicons of Judaism and Christianity. Theno-thing in Arabic is Allah. So, inJewish-Christian tradition, God is the all powerful and almighty that is a mystery. In Islam, where icons of anything are reducedto nothing, Allah is what we know only too well, the nothing that reduceseverything into an illusion. Allah isthe No-Thing. Secularistare saying that the word “God” is too closely associated with specificreligious traditions that to have it officially in the documents of politicalunion that wrote into its constitution the separation of church and state,would be well to excise the word lest its presence indicates official favor ofone tradition over and against another. Having it in public documents, tablets, monuments, et al, is clearly unconstitutional. In Malaysia, the Muslims are insisting that only Islam is entitled tothe word “Allah” and Christians must not use it as a translation for the word“God”. They have a point, if they would onlyjust divorce it from partisan politics. TheTao that cannot be named, and the enigmatic but breath-captivatingOM best experienced when simultaneouslyinhaled and exhaled, do not have limit problems. But the word “God” is inappropriate to translateeither for Tao or Om. Thepresence of the word in the phrase “In God we trust” is currently a hotissue. A dear friend was up in arms whenit was suggested that “God” should be removed from official usage and its usebe at the discretion of individual citizens. She believes fervently that her biblical God called America to be theNew Israel. TomDeLay (R-Texas), former Majority Floor Leader of the US Congress House ofRepresentatives, and erstwhile friend to Saipan’s once flourishing garmentindustry, plays in the same ballpark. Recently, our fleet-footed (he danced on TV after he resigned fromCongress) rep stated that God wrote the US Constitution. This was not an unusual claim in Texas whereI went to school, since God as deus exmachina is the prevailing image of efficient and effective deity, buthardly is it a metaphor we expect to hear as a responsible claim. Recently,George Zimmerman of the Martin Trayvon homicide fame claimed that he answeredonly to God. He claims further that hisshooting of Martin was the will of God! Damn. Godhas not been put on a good light of late. But it is the element of trust that is of interest to us because not toomany outside of American theocracy (well, that may not be accurate since in mylifetime, there has not been any naïve God-worshiping President of the Union)would glibly repeat the “In God we trust” motto. However, “in what shall we trust?” remains avalid question as the nations of the world tighten their sovereign boundariesand straighten their economic houses in order. Japanese PM Shinzo Abeinterviewed in Davos, Switzerland at a G-20 meeting said that China’s economicascendancy is built on trust, not tension. We could not agree more. So whydoes he keep rattling Nippon’s saber? Itis not as if we do not have a record of who has been belligerent outside itsborders in the last 100 years. Or, whydoes the US keep insisting on parading its military muscle vis-à-vis theshivered up economy of NoKor? SoKor’smilitary might is 10 times stronger than that of its northern kin, and weinsist on calling the joint exercises a defensive move? No wonder NoKor insists on having nuclearcapabilities! Right on, ShinzoAbe. But please start heeding your ownadvice. j'aime la vie pinoypanda2031(a)aol.com yesterday, appreciate; tomorrow, anticipate; today. participate. In all, celebrate!

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2/20/14, Spong: Part XIV Matthew - The Sermon on the Mount: Sinai Revisited
by Ellie Stock 20 Feb '14

20 Feb '14

HOMEPAGE MY PROFILE ESSAY ARCHIVE MESSAGE BOARDS CALENDAR Part XIV Matthew The Sermon on the Mount: Sinai Revisited Matthew is portraying Jesus as the New Moses who went to the top of a new mountain to deliver a new interpretation of the Torah. He is not a reporter for a local newspaper covering an event that actually happened. Matthew is quite specific in his gospel that Jesus is not delivering a new Torah! He was far too deeply Jewish to think that way. Indeed, he has Jesus say that not one “jot or tittle,” not one comma or period in the Torah is to be set aside by his re-interpretation. For Matthew the Torah will find its ultimate meaning and its fulfillment in the life and teaching of Jesus; that is what he is claiming. So, if the Sermon on the Mount is the time for Matthew to revisit Mt. Sinai and to understand Moses and the Torah in a new way, it behooves us to become familiar with the Exodus story in which the Torah was originally said to have been given. One can hardly understand Matthew’s portrayal of Jesus as the new Moses on a new mountain, if we do not know much less understand, the original story of Moses on Mount Sinai. The Jewish method of keeping the great events in Jewish history alive in every generation was to bind these events into their liturgical year. In this way, the essential meaning of these events in history could be celebrated annually, the origins of the tradition re-read or retold and the understanding of the people newly refreshed as the past is liturgically incorporated into each successive generation. This is what both liturgy and liturgical calendars are designed to do. That is why worship almost always celebrates the crucial moments in the religious history of the worshiping people. The first liturgical event in the Jewish year was Passover observed on the 14th and 15th days of the month of Nisan, the first month in the Jewish calendar according to Leviticus. Fifty days later, the second major celebration of the Jewish liturgical year arrived in their calendar and was observed. Some called this day “Pentecost,” which literally means 50 days, as in from Passover. It was also called “The Festival of Weeks,” because it was celebrated on the first day after the passing of 49 days or seven weeks. The Hebrew word for “weeks” is Shavuot, so that is also a name by which this day was known. Shavuot celebrated that biblical moment when the people of the Exodus, wandering in the wilderness somewhere between the Red Sea and the Jordan River, entered into a covenant relationship with the God who had delivered them from Egypt. This event took place at the foot of a mountain called Sinai. It marked the time when God was supposed to have given the Torah to the people through Moses. This annual Shavuot celebration came to be observed liturgically with a twenty-four hour vigil, divided into eight three-hour segments. As part of this vigil, the Exodus story would be read in all its fullness. Psalm 119, the longest psalm in the Psalter, was created to be used on this day. Its 176 verses were divided into an introduction and seven segments of three stanzas each, thus providing a reading from the Psalter for each of the eight parts of the 24 hour worship vigil. Two of the eight verses of the crucial introductory stanza of Psalm 119 began with a word that was translated by the word “blessed” or “happy.” The body of this Psalm was a hymn of praise to God for the beauty and the wonder of the law, the Torah. Thus it was that this annual celebration of Shavuot kept the Sinai experience current in every new Jewish generation. There were other major feast and fast days in the liturgical year: Rash Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkoth and Dedication (or Hanukkah), all of which, we will learn later, shaped Matthew’s gospel, but it is Shavuot that forms the background for Matthew’s account of the Sermon on the Mount, our current focus. It was Matthew’s intention to portray Jesus in the role of the New Moses, the one who fulfills the Torah and the prophet that Moses promised would someday come. Before we can understand this connection fully, we must go back to the original Exodus story and fix the Sinai experience in our minds. When we do, Matthew’s Sermon will open up with a new intensity. Moses and the children of Israel had arrived in their wilderness wanderings at the foot of Mt. Sinai in the land of Midian. There Moses was reunited with the members of his family, whom he had left at the call of God to lead the people of Israel out of slavery and into freedom. His wife Zipporah and his two sons, Gershom and Eliezer, came out to greet him. Perhaps even more important to this story is the account that Jethro, the priest of Midian and not coincidentally Moses’ father-in-law, was part of the welcoming party. Jethro was portrayed as being impressed with Moses’ successes. This was to be a meeting of two holy men – perhaps two distinct religious traditions – that needed to come together, but in this narrative, they already appear to overlap significantly. After a brief family reunion, Moses and Jethro entered into a long conversation. Moses recounted to Jethro all the things that “the Lord had accomplished.” The crossing of the Red Sea and the story of manna from heaven were clearly in the background. Jethro rejoiced in these achievements and “blessed the Lord.” Then in an act of mutual recognition, the two “holy men” proceeded to offer burnt offerings and sacrifices to God. Aaron, the high priest of Israel, joined Moses and Jethro and “all the elders” of Israel ate bread together with the two leaders. The religion of Israel and the religion of Midian were coming together. The next day, Moses sat in the seat of judgment to hear all the disputes that had arisen among the people on this journey. It was his role as the tribal leader to render a decision in each dispute. The case load was so large that this “court” lasted from morning to evening. Jethro watched this process with increasing dis-ease. Later he shared his feelings about this process with Moses in private. Moses defended this process, saying that this was his way of teaching the people “the statutes of God.” Jethro countered by saying that one person cannot be the sole judge for an entire nation. Then he said to Moses: “You must teach them the statutes of God and make them know the way in which they must walk and what they must do.” The way to do this, Jethro continued, was to divide the people into groups of 1000 and choose leaders for each group of 1000 from among those “who fear God and are trustworthy; people who hate a bribe.” Then, Jethro continued, you must further divide the groups of 1000 into groups of 100, then 50 and finally 10, with chosen leaders over each of these smaller units. Disputes that cannot be settled at the 10 level will be passed to the leader of the 50 level. If they cannot be settled at the 50 level, they will be passed to the leaders of 100 and then to the leaders of 1000. You, Moses, will then deal only with those issues that cannot be decided by the leaders of the units of a 1000. Moses agreed to this plan and this organization was set up. There was still a problem, however. By what standards would these smaller unit judges make their decisions? Only Moses seemed to know what the law of God was. Is every judge to render decisions based on the opinion of that judge alone? How could the confusion of their interpretations be avoided when these judges made different decisions? A unified nation needs a unified body of law, an objective standard on the basis of which judgments are to be made. It was not enough that Moses talked to God alone to discuss the divine will; that will must be revealed to all the people and then codified for all to read and to learn. While it was clear that this need was apparent, there was still the political problem that unless the law of God flowed through Moses, the authority of Moses would be undercut. So Moses laid down the process by which the law of God could flow through Moses to the people. It was to be a dramatic scene of divine revelation. Three new moons later, after the escaping former slave people were encamped at the foot of a mountain in the wilderness of Sinai, it was said that God called Moses to come up the mountain to confer. In that consultation, God offered a covenant or contract to the people: “If you obey my voice and keep my covenant, you will be my own possession.” I will turn you into “a kingdom of priests, a holy nation,” The people agreed that this was what they wanted. Moses then took their consent back to God. Then the plan was made whereby the will of God would be revealed to the people in a very dramatic, awe-inspiring moment. God was coming to speak through a cloud so that the people could hear the divine will for themselves. The people consecrated themselves for two days by washing their garments and refraining from sex to make themselves ready for the divine Epiphany that was to occur on the third day. Boundaries were set around Mt. Sinai; people who transgressed these boundaries would do so on pain of death. All was in readiness. When the third day arrived, the book of Exodus informs us that there was thunder and lightning and then a dark cloud covered the mountain. The people watched as the mountain was covered in smoke and fire and then the mountain quaked as the trumpets blew louder and louder. Next Moses called to God and God came down from the sky to the mountain. God instructed Moses to bring Aaron up. The high priest must also be validated. That was how the words of the Torah were said to have entered human history. In Shavuot the will of God became objective law, but Moses was the means of the revelation. Aaron and the priests were now in the loop of authority. An objective standard had been created to which every one who judged could appeal for authority. The only way the law could be altered was for a new Moses to reveal a new insight into the law and in the process be validated by all the people as a new deepening of an old revelation. That was what Matthew was claiming when he portrayed Jesus as delivering the Sermon on the Mount. Indeed Matthew created the Sermon on the Mount to validate the claim that Jesus was the New Moses. We will look at the Sermon in detail when this series resumes. ~John Shelby Spong Read the essay online here. Question & Answer Luis Salado from Seville, Spain, writes: Question: Please excuse my English. It is Google’s machine translation. I just wanted to thank you for your book A New Christianity for a New World. It seemed great and I fully agree with you on everything. To know that one is not alone in the way of understanding the change that must occur in Christianity is very rewarding. To those I can I am talking about your book and believe me its message is spreading, as also your articles translated into Spanish. It would be interesting and almost necessary that your website becomes available for translation into Spanish. Is there a possibility of that? Answer: Dear Luis, Thanks for your letter. You and Google translated very well. I am happy to tell you that my columns are now translated into Spanish by a group in Madrid. They worked out an arrangement with my publisher to do this. If you would like to have more information on that or to join their list of Hispanic subscribers please contact Domingo Melero at dmelero(a)marcellegaut.org. This group has also translated and published in Spain my book: Living in Sin? A Bishop Rethinks Human Sexuality. Its Spanish title is Vivir en Pecado? They are also now working on a translation into Spanish of my book: Why Christianity Must Change or Die. I spent three weeks in Spain in 2013 and one week in 2012. I was delighted with the response. John Shelby Spong Announcements Visit the Bishop Spong Spanish website here: http://johnshelbyspong.es There you can also sign up for a weekly Spanish version of some of Bishop Spong's essays and find information on his books in Spanish. En Español.... La publicación de esta página web, así como el objetivo de editar algunos libros de Spong, cuenta con la colaboración desinteresada de traductores, correctores e informáticos. No obstante, hay gastos de gestión, de derechos y de edición. Por eso, para conocer el alcance del interés por Spong, te pedimos que te registres antes de acceder a los textos que publiquemos. Además, te pedimos una colaboración económica que sea acorde con tus posibilidades, el interés de los textos que te ofrecemos y tu deseo de que algunos libros de Spong se publiquen en español. La AML (Asociación Marcel Légaut) de España ha llegado a un acuerdo con la organización Progressive Christianity, de Estados Unidos, para publicar, mediante entregas periódicas (en principio, semanales), diferentes series y artículos de John Shelby Spong, obispo retirado de la Diócesis de Newark, N.J.; columnista y escritor, actualmente.Como Asociación sin ánimo de lucro, la AML destina los ingresos obtenidos por los artículos a pagar los derechos de los mismos (un reconocimiento mínimo a la labor de Spong y del equipo de Progressive Christianity) y a continuar con las traducciones y las publicaciones. JohnShelbySpong.com, ProgressiveChristianity.org and La Asociación Marcel Légaut (AML) are proud partners! For more information visit: La Asociación Marcel Légaut (AML) or http://johnshelbyspong.es

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Thursday for Jaime, revised and FINAL
by wangzhimu2031＠aol.com 18 Feb '14

18 Feb '14

The final version that will see print on Thursday. The 7 revolutions are in the last two paragraphs. She "Ze" has entered my vocabulary. Ze will not eliminate "he","she", and "it"; just adds to it. It might even delight my Tejas-Mejicano campesinoswho will mistake my use of zee language. Ze does not matter. So I wrote in a previous column. "She", however, does matter. It is no longer as repeated as often,but the old Chinese saying, repeated by Mao Zedong and Deng Xiao Peng, was nuren neng ding ban bian tian, “women hold half of the sky.” China today has gone back to beingunapologetically patriarchal. Thesystemic reasons are deep, not the least of which is the universal pattern ofnaming a child after the father’s ancestral beginnings rather than combiningthe mother and father’s gifts. In my former University classes, I printed my whole name onthe board, Jaime Ravelo Vergara, to indicate how my father and mother’s lastnames are my surnames. When I was inSpain once, I was called Señor Ravelo. My name over there was formally written as Jaime Vergara y Ravelo. The name in Spain was actually the way Filipino names were givenduring the Spanish period, still true in many Hispanic countries. The European practice included both parent’s surnamewhen naming a child. It varied onwhether the father or the mother’s came first or second. In some English influenced countries, themiddle name is the mother’s maiden surname. I some places in the United States, the mother’s surname isdropped. In China, the wife actually hadno personality in the husband’s household until she was with a child. The only time a mother’s name shows up is whena combined child’s given name includes that of the mother, more for sentimentalreason than proprietary one. My children have their mother’s surname as their middlename. However, in some places where themother is the primary care giver, a child’s surname often takes after themother, like those of single mothers, or divorced mothers who have sole custodyof the children and reverts back to the maiden name as well as renames everyonewith her surname. Some boutique practices have entered Americana like familieswhere the boys take on the father’s surname, and the girls, the mother’s, orvice-versa. In some, myriad ofcombinations apply. The hyphenatedfamily name, ie., Ravelo-Vergara is common among wives and children. The family’s surname after a marriage is also changing. In previous times, the universal practice wasfor the man’s surname to be adopted, and only after a divorce does the womanhave the option to revert back to her maiden name. There are actually eight States in the Unionthat allows man to change into their wives names in marriage withoutpetitioning the court for the normal process of name change. I once adapted to my Chinese wife’s surnamesince the Chinese female always retained her maiden name after marriage. My gesture was ignored and stayedappreciated! If patriarchy is deeply embedded in many cultures to the detrimentof female roles, conservative forces in Islamic countries insists that Shariaprovisions on women’s behavior need to be followed. The kind of literal fundamentalism that doggedthe Christian church of my youth is hard to dispel when imposed on members asinerrant scriptural law. Judaism andChristianity have variations of the same theme. The Taliban want women to be subservient. Gang rape in India has exposed a commontravesty. But SHE is fighting back. “A rose by any other name” served Shakespeare’s audienceswell, and was cute with Romeo and Juliet, but no longer. A rose by any other name is a fluke. She wants her name in goldenletters in the annals of history, just as much as he does, and has as muchequal right to it as anyone. Noaffirmative action required, just the right to be SHE! There were seven revolutions I’ve joined in my life: 1)youth and emotive exuberance, 2) minorities and their civil rights, 3) ThirdWorld’s independence from imperial and colonial designs, 4) university vs. multiversitywithout a cognitive overview, 5) global business against protectionism andentrenched patrimony, 6) the rise of local men and women, and 7) women’srightful place in humanity’s leveled field. The ethos of youth now pervades fashion and there is nothingmore disconcerting than to watch a grandma on jeans try to look like a teenager. Minorities no longer wait under thecorporate table to catch droppings. Theyinsist on sitting around the table of life’s feasts with the rest of thecrowd. Third World’s fight againstimperial and colonial designs is harder to shake. Constitutional monarchies, an anachronism,still keep the aristocrats in England and the elite in Thailand in power. Universities try to keep things together,though pyramidal hierarchy still define tenure rather than flatbed swirlingnetworks of lively intelligences. Globalization is a monster though it shook the roots of privilegedeconomic monopolies. The rise of localpeople is wreaking havoc around the word. My daughters have gone way beyond “God is a girl!” The We shall overcome chorusis still playing at my house. Jaime Vergara yesterday, appreciate; tomorrow, anticipate; today. participate. In all, celebrate!

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ICAI Winds and Waves Submission of Articles for April 2014 Issue
by ICA International 18 Feb '14

18 Feb '14

To read in your browser click here We invite your submission of articles for the April 2014 edition of Winds and Waves Magazine. Dear colleagues, We do hope you have enjoyed reading past editions of Wind and Waves. We are constantly exploring how we can make this magazine more user friendly and accessible to as wide an audience as possible, and are delighted to have your suggestions. Wind & Waves will publish its next issue in April on the theme of "Networking" in all its old and and new manifestations, with stories from around the world! This is part of so much of our work these days. We cooperate with various groups in our projects. We make new contacts during facilitation programmes who then open doors for us. When we look at our daily calendar of tasks, we see how networking is intrinsic to our work. In the next issue, we would like to highlight the Who, How and the Benefits of networking - who we are networking with, how we are doing it and the benefits of networking. Could you contribute an article on this topic for this issue? What we need are reports and stories about the people and organisations that you are networking with, the breakthroughs that you have had, your learnings and insights, and your thoughts on future directions. As the magazine is still developing, we are open to a wide range of articles in terms of both content and style. Those that focus on this theme would be ideal but others are also welcome. Do you, or someone you know have a story that highlights networking or the synergy of connections? Please forward an invitation as appropriate to your networks. For more information on the various sections in the magazine and ideas on what and how to write, please go through the attached "Revised guidelines for W&W contributors, February 2014". NB We are happy to receive items in English and Spanish. If this assists, please be in touch specifically with Isabel or Catalina or Mané re this. The deadline for submission of articles is 28th March, 2014. We would like a heads up from you by 8th March or earlier on the following points: By 8th November, please let us know these details on the article you / other plan to write: a. Title.......... b. A summary in a couple of sentences (or just the first paragraph of the intended article)............ c. Estimated length............ d. The number of photos, if any, that will accompany the article.... e. Your name and author's name...... We would like input on the following sections of the magazine (please see the attached guidelines for more details) Contributions for: 1. Features Yes/ No 2. How-to tips Yes/ No 3. Book review Yes/ No 4. Interview Yes/ No 5. Photo essay Yes/ No 6. News Briefs Yes/ No 7. Whats On Yes/ No 8. Boardroom Yes/ No 9. Readers write Yes/ No Attachments: Please see copy of the guidelines. Please send all contributions to Isabel, Robyn and Peter. With many thanks in anticipation, Robyn Hutchinson, Isabel de la Maza Contributions Coordinators, for the W&W team hutchinsonsydney13(a)gmail.com (please note my new email for W&W) isadelamaza(a)vtr.net Please send cc to Peter, peter(a)icai-members.org , for this issue as Isobel and Robyn will be away for most of March. If you did not receive a copy or notice of the last edition of the magazine, please contact: Peter Ellins: peter(a)icai-members.org; or Robyn Hutchinson: hutchinsonsydney13(a)gmail.com

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Celebration of completed life of Wayne Nelson
by Jeanette Stanfield 18 Feb '14

18 Feb '14

Dear Colleagues, Jo Nelson has asked me to send you the following note with 2 links to video of celebration of Wayne's life and a family slideshow. Peace, Jeanette I've put both of the videos on Dropbox to share. They are too big to put on YouTube. You can see a 15 minute preview on the Dropbox website, but if you download the file, you can watch the whole thing. The Celebration video is very large, and 56 minutes long. The slideshow is much smaller. I suggest downloading them when you want to watch them, then move them to a thumb drive or dump them to make room on your hard drive! Slideshow with music https://www.dropbox.com/s/uvnhe0cehcowxf2/wayne1024x768.mov Video of Celebration of Life https://www.dropbox.com/s/6ghf47ipe9wf69b/Celebration%20of%20Life.m4v Take care, Jo Jeanette Stanfield jstanfield(a)ica-associates.ca You have "The Courage to Lead" We need a global carbon tax now. Fatih Birol, chief economist International Energy Agency www.worldenergyoutlook.org/multimedia/videocontent/name,34603,en.html

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Fw: Once More, Into the Breach!
by Bill Parker 18 Feb '14

18 Feb '14

----- Original Message ----- From: Bill Parker To: Gordon Harper ; Jack Gilles Cc: Larry Ward ; Wendell Refior ; Sally Fenton ; Timothy Wegner ; Steve Harrington ; Paul Noah ; Beret Griffith ; Frank Knutson ; Marge Philbrook ; Rosemary Albright ; Jean Long Sent: Saturday, February 15, 2014 11:26 AM Subject: Re: Once More, Into the Breach! Jack and all, Thanks for your comments. It seems we have three tasks in front of us: 1) understanding the practical shape of systemic transformation that leads to sustainable life processes; 2) addressing the underlying contradiction that would unlock the massive global/local movement already indicatively present but incoherently related; 3) bringing to the forefront the different faces of the human community that while seemingly independent speak and act out of a mutual commitment and discipline for systemic transformation for the benefit of the entire human community. The underlying contradiction we have been working on since before the first Symposium at Oklahoma City University is "the disengagement of the population due to a closely held conviction that nothing could be done to affect the systemic reality" resulting in delimited action or none at all. Gene Marshall talked about this in his book "The Road from Empire to Eco-Democracy" as a disbelief in the plausibility of systemic change. People know...they see, and some act...but they do not see their actions altering the systemic reality, but most live with themselves managing the futility without going insane. Some are able to do even that. And Jack, the different faces of the human community are a reflection of your work on the guilds. We need NEW authorities, NEW types of expertise, people who can deal with the technicalities of different dimensions of the life processes AND who are absolutely clear about how systemic transformation can happen through them and others like them. Think of those "faces" as engaged global/local networks in areas of expertise and/or interests but who know the circuitry of their work in terms of what is needed from all the other faces and what it can give to all of the other faces as well. As you said, or someone said, "once more, into the breach". Bill ----- Original Message ----- From: Jack Gilles To: Gordon Harper Cc: Jean Long ; Rosemary Albright ; Marge Philbrook ; Frank Knutson ; Beret Griffith ; Paul Noah ; Steve Harrington ; Timothy Wegner ; Sally Fenton ; Wendell Refior Sent: Friday, February 14, 2014 2:20 PM Subject: Re: Once More, Into the Breach! Dear Team, I presume most of you got Bill Parker's email on the up coming conference at OKC University. I like his term: "Human Community Network", his new title for what we used to call Those Who Care. Maybe we should think of using this name for the GRA event and it would also link with his work and OKC University work. Nice synergy. Jack On Feb 14, 2014, at 1:51 AM, Gordon Harper <gharper1(a)gmail.com> wrote: Oh, I also set up a subfolder called VGRA in our shared ICA Archives folder. That's where I then created the document I just sent you. We might start putting our thoughts and ideas into this folder as well as exchanging emails (that may be hard to find later). On Thu, Feb 13, 2014 at 11:34 PM, Gordon Harper <gharper1(a)gmail.com> wrote: Here's my starting scratch at what our year might look like if we decide to go for what Paul and Beret propose. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1qJ1Z8xaROnaxTXjKU7dszgx5IBEplnsc3iOG101… Someone with better layout skills than I could put this in a format that is more editable than this is (text boxes? PowerPoint slides? Spreadsheet? Graphic design?). I've done this in "terse" form to keep it simple--can explain what's behind some of the items when we meet. Look forward to your questions, critiques and suggestions next Wednesday (or before) -- Gordon

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Launch time approaching
by David Zahrt 17 Feb '14

17 Feb '14

Here is an article in the *Nevada Appea*l. http://www.nevadaappeal.com/news/10185623-113/march-zahrt-carson-fossil -- Peace, David

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Re: [Oe List ...] Fwd: for anyone, once more
by wangzhimu2031＠aol.com 17 Feb '14

17 Feb '14

Thanks, Paul and Marianna Bailey. Here's where the 7 went: She "Ze" has entered my vocabulary. Ze will not eliminate "he","she", and "it"; just adds to it. It might even delight my Tejas-Mejicano campesinoswho will mistake my use of zee language. Ze does not matter. So I wrote in a previous column. "She", however, does matter. It is no longer as repeated as often as it used to, but the old Chinesesaying, oft-quoted by Mao Zedong and Deng Xiao Peng, was nu ren neng dingban bian tian, “womenhold half of the sky.” China has goneback to being unapologetically patriarchal. The systemic reasons are deep, not the least of which is the universalpattern of naming a child after the father’s ancestral beginnings rather thancombining the gifts of the mother and father’s names. In myUniversity classes, I printed my whole name on the board, Jaime Ravelo Vergara,to indicate how my father and mother’s last names are my surnames. When I was in Spain once, I was called SeñorRavelo. My name over there was formallywritten as Jaime Vergara y Ravelo. The name inSpain was actually the way Filipino names were made during the Spanish period, stilltrue in many Hispanic countries. TheEuropean practice included both mother and father’s surname when naming achild. It varied on whether the fatheror mother’s came first or second. Insome English influenced countries, the middle name is the mother’s maidensurname. I some places, like many partsof the United States, the mother’s surname has been dropped. The latter has always been the case inChina. The only time a mother’s nameshows up is when a combined child’s given name includes that of themother. The father’s surname is thestandard unchanging one. My children follow the practice of having the mother’ssurname carried as the child’s middle name. However, in some places where the mother is the primary care giver, achild’s surname often takes after the mother, like those of single mothers, or divorcedmothers who have sole custody of the children who reverts back to her maidenname, and renames everyone with her surname. Some boutique practices have entered American practice likefamilies where the boys take on the father’s surname, and the girls, themother’s, or vice-versa. In some, myriadof combinations apply. The hyphenatedfamily name has become common for wives and children. The family’s surname after a marriage is also changing. In previous times, the universal practice wasfor the man’s surname to be adopted, and only after a divorce does the womanhave the option to revert back to her maiden name. There are actually eight States in the Unionthat allows man to change into their wives names in marriage withoutpetitioning the court for the normal process of name change. I once adapted to my Chinese wife’s surnamesince the Chinese female always retains her maiden name after marriage. My gesture was not appreciated! But if patriarchy is deeply embedded in many cultures to thedetriment of female roles, certain conservative elements of Islamic countrieshave now dredged certain Koranic provisions that dictate how a woman behavesmodestly in public. Sharia laws are veryexplicit about how women are to behave in manners and looks, but the literalismnow being applied by Islam’s fundamentalists used to dog biblical fundamentalistas well. That kind of literalism is hardto dispel as many sections of religious fundamentalism adopt their favoredrestrictions and impose them on their members as provisions of inerrant scripturallaw. Judaism and Christianity havevariations of the same theme. In thecurrent Afghanistan-Pakistan talks where the Taliban is involved, seriousconsideration of Sharia Law as it applies to women is actively on the table. Gang rape in India has exposed a commontravesty. “A rose by any other name” served Shakespeare’s audienceswell, and was cute with Romeo and Juliet, but no longer. A rose by any other name is a fluke. She wants her name in goldenletters in the annals of history, just as much as he does, and has as muchequal right to it as anyone. Noaffirmative action required, just the right to be SHE! There were seven revolutions I’ve joined in my life: 1)youth and emotive exuberance, 2) minorities and their civil rights, 3) ThirdWorld’s independence from imperial and colonial designs, 4) university vs. multiversitywithout a cognitive overview, 5) global business against protectionism andentrenched patrimony, 6) the rise of local men and women, and 7) women’srightful place in humanity’s leveled field. We shall overcome chorusis still playing. -----Original Message----- From: Paul <pschrijnen(a)aol.com> To: wangzhimu2031 <wangzhimu2031(a)aol.com> Cc: oe <oe(a)lists.wedgeblade.net> Sent: Mon, Feb 17, 2014 6:57 pm Subject: Re: [Oe List ...] Fwd: for anyone, once more Amen indeed! Paul Sent from my iPhone On 17 Feb 2014, at 09:26, wangzhimu2031(a)aol.com wrote: 1. Youth 2. Minorities 3. Third World 4. University 5. Women 6. Global business 7. Local human Will someone say, Amen! -----Original Message----- From: wangzhimu2031 <wangzhimu2031(a)aol.com> To: oe <oe(a)lists.wedgeblade.net> Sent: Mon, Feb 17, 2014 5:19 pm Subject: for anyone A quickie. Am losing my mind's cognitive capacities and I am ten years younger than Bill Salmon. Anyway, I am trying to recall 7 revolutions we named in the 70s. I have so far: 1. Youth 2. Minorities 3. Third World 4. University 5. Women 6. Global business? 7. ????? Help. Jaime _______________________________________________ OE mailing list OE(a)lists.wedgeblade.net http://lists.wedgeblade.net/listinfo.cgi/oe-wedgeblade.net

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Seven Revolutions
by steve har 17 Feb '14

17 Feb '14

Google now searches part of the Global Archives here is how 1 google 2 "search wedgeblade.net seven revolution searching google: search wedgeblade.net seven revolutions found this THE SEVEN REVOLUTIONS I. The Women's Revolution II. The Youth Revolution III. The Third World Revolution IV. The International Business Revolution V. The Education Revolution VI. The Minorities Revolution VII. The Local Community Revolution INSTITUTE OF CULTURAL AFFAIRS THE GLOBAL RESEARCH ASSEMBLY TEAM 7 CHICAGO JULY 13, 1980 -- Steve Harrington

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for anyone
by wangzhimu2031＠aol.com 17 Feb '14

17 Feb '14

A quickie. Am losing my mind's cognitive capacities and I am ten years younger than Bill Salmon. Anyway, I am trying to recall 7 revolutions we named in the 70s. I have so far: 1. Youth 2. Minorities 3. Third World 4. University 5. Women 6. Global business? 7. ????? Help. Jaime

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