Reflecting

          Entering a new season or chapter in one’s life is always invitation for reflection.  Coming into my second semester at the New College excited about the Art and Social Change program, I remember my first intentions enrolling in the New College. Integration of; Art, which is the manifestation and expression of the individual ability to be creation in its lowest and highest forms, and Sustainability, a word that I now see being used to simply describe a vast way of living reconnecting with the web and cycles of this amazing natural world.  

 A word, or rather concept that weaves these two words together to create meaning, direction and focus in my life, is Service.  To bring resources and information to those robbed of simple existence.  It is no secret that the culture of consumption we evolved to in the west is a direct cause of much of the earth’s deterioration, and its citizen’s unjustifiable pain.  For this reason I believe that we are living in a time where we must be active participants in the world we are creating.  With the help of opportunity, I accept the challenge and see the New College as a vehicle in which to continue my tasks.  

Being blessed to belong to two cultures I have been handed the resources of the north and seen the effect and reality of what that really means in my time spent in Brazil.  Not limiting myself to that country, I feel a responsibility to become a bridge of resources from the abundant North to other nations, returning to a simpler way of living with each other, the earth and ourselves.  We have a choice, to return to the brilliance of our ancestors while respecting the reality of our times.  Happy to see heavy momentum toward this direction, I feel doing this by bringing and exploring innovative permaculture techniques and applying models to areas affected by greed. 

           My recent time in Brazil offered some clarity to what that might look like.  I am involved with an American organization OPA (Organization of Permaculture and Art) that is currently fiscally sponsored under PAL (Permacultura America Latina) based in the city of Salvador in the state of Bahia.  OPA is an Urban Permaculture Organization that uses Art and permaculture as vehicles toward self-empowerment and social change.  HYPERLINK “http://www.opabrazil.org” www.opabrazil.org  In May I returned to Salvador to be involved in Circo Água Viva II.  A project of month-long circus, theater and permaculture workshops working with youth to create a circus show.

     I really enjoyed, learned and am grateful for my month there and for OPA.  Still wanting to keep my options open in terms of work partners and other possibilities I left Salvador in search of what that might be.  While traveling with my mother and the desire to bring permaculture concepts south with the intention of living on beautiful land and with its people, rain and conversation took us to Itacaré.  Itacaré is a smallish fishing village in Bahia who has most recently gained public notice for its’ powerful waves and intense beauty of waterfalls and virgin forests.  Considered the best surf of Bahia, surfers and tourists from around the world litter the land during all its’ seasons.  Around Itacaré are smaller towns and settlements held in a time when water is often balanced on ones head, and friendship and family are the bond of society. A land incredibly rich in natural abundance, those who visit leave with magical memories while those who live in this paradise are starving without education and little opportunity.   

During Brazil’s infancy this fertile land and its people were used in the sugar cane and cacao industries. Portuguese occupiers  brought large number of  African slaves to work in the high demanding mills and newly settled colonial homes. 

I say this so the current situation can be better understood.  Bahia’s present culture continues to suggest the server and master mentality.  Social classes are still widely divided by  color.  Education is non available and state investments are focused on tourism.  It’s been a slow abolition.

    In our search we were guided to Dona Otilia, a 63-year-old native activist who has; opened schools and bus stations, has served her people as city Mayor, won settlement rights for over thirty families, is an expert in the native medicinal plants, has been flown to over four state capital to speak on peoples rights, has raised 15 children and lives in a home that uses sheets as doors.  Her current battle is the land right to build an industrial, commercial, educational, cultural center under the project she has named, “Nada se Perde, Tudo se Transforma” (Nothing is Lost, All is Transformed).  This project would allow local families to use communal machines and spaces to create and market foods and crafts to the local tourist industry.

…This is where me wanting to change programs and the New College all come together… 

Where  I feel my energy can now be most productively utilized is, to make the  vision and building of this space into a permaculture course free of charge to the local community.  During this time the builders and planners will be gaining valuable sight to be used in construction and planning.  The second phase of the project is to create a permaculture agency with the new permaculturist, creating a working relationship with the “Eco” Resorts that are the hypocritical trend of the area.  Then the possibility of projects and exchanges become endless and the potential infinite.   

This project is what inspirers me as I enter the program, and the reason to switch my concentration from San Francisco to Santa Rosa.  I still strongly believe in art as a way to facilitate change and wish to continue taking some classes in the Art and Social Change program if possible. This I will get further clarification on when my advisor and I discuss the details. Thank you for your time and I look forward to the year ahead.