Sad. But glad I acted on a whim and put it up. 

Coat.

The show was last night but it got snowed out! A freak storm! Largest storm in 20 years. 15 inches overnight. I couldn't make it.  Traffic, stalled cars, water main broke down town..... So I went today. Here's a very quick tour of the show at Evo's Coffee Lounge in Ashland, Oregon. 

I dance to express myself, to work out, and to change my mood. I decided to make and show this video  because I wanted to share a mood and then because I want to show that dance isn't always about making perfect shapes. I wasn't warmed up and it was cold . I am changing the music, etc... and...it's what I do.
​Music and dance and movement are always perfect in the moment, no matter what it looks like. 

Oil and pencil on unframed canvas, approx 16" x 11". 

"The universe is a communion of subjects and not a collection of objects." -Thomas Berry, ecologian. 

Thinking about what Guy McPherson is saying about climate change, "How do we Act in the Fact of Climate Chaos?"  
Also discovered Carolyn Baker, who talks about how to psychologically deal with complete environmental melt-down (Fukushima, climate chaos, etc)...but haven't really delved yet. 

Chief Raoni 
10" x 10" oil on wood panel
www.raoni.com

Chief Raoni is Fighting the Genocide of his People 
and the Ecocide of the Amazon by Brazil
Stop the genocide, Stop the ecocide. 
Article 4, Resolution 260 (III) A of the United Nations General Assembly on 9 December 1948
"Persons committing genocide or any of the other acts enumerated in Article 3 shall be punished, whether they are constitutionally responsible rulers, public officials or private individuals."

Kayapo v. Norte Energia, July 10, 2012 
photos of meeting and artwork re: event.

"For 30 years Chief Raoni of The Kayapo People, has dedicated his life to trying to stop the Belo Monte Dam from being built in his beloved Amazon Rainforest. Helped by the singer, Sting, and many other celebrities along the way, he has met many World Leaders, travelling extensively in his efforts to get the World to Awaken to the Catastrophic Climate Nightmare awaiting the World, if Brazil's President, Dilma Rousseff, continues ahead with building Belo Monte, third largest and most inefficient dam in the world, in the Rainforest, along with a further 59 Rainforest dams, and over 400 in Brazil by 2030. If Belo Monte continues to be built it will bring Genocide to Chief Raoni's People, to Shayla Juruna's, and ALL those dependant on the mighty River Xingu for their very *EXISTENCE* They have tried everything they can think of to stop this dam, but Dilma Rousseff refuses to listen to them, to people around the world, to experts, to the voices behind the MILLIONS of signatures collected against this outrage. Chief Raoni, now in his 80s, has vowed to fight to the death with his Warriors rather than let Belo Monte be built."  -Support Chief Raoni, Facebook page has lots of info. 

             -Chief Raoni Needs your help-

"The Brazilian government is to send 110 soldiers to intervene in a land dispute between indigenous tribes claiming their ancestral territory and a local politician who owns the cattle ranch. One member of the Terena tribe was killed in the row as police tried to evict the 200-strong group last week. The group reoccupied the farm on Friday and the dead man's cousin was injured on Tuesday when he was shot by an unidentified attacker. Two other tribe members are missing.
Troops are to arrive in the farm state of Mato Grosso do Sul to try to prevent more violence, officials said. Protests have now erupted across Brazil as tensions rise over farmland and the sites of hydroelectric dams in the Amazon..."
"Do not take our land for your dam: Stunning stand-off between Amazon Indian tribe and government in Brazil over hydroelectric water scheme" 
By Helen Lawson, June 6, 2013 (gorgeous photos)

April 15, 2013
Brazil

The Indigenous April (Abril Indigena) gathering which is held in Brasilia from April 15 to April 19 2013, took the turn of a mini-revolution on Tuesday 16 of March when nearly 300 indigenous people, including Chief Raoni, invaded  the Chamber Of Deputies in Congress in the middle of the parliamentary debate. The event shook those in power in Brazil, who,  up to this point, had turned a deaf ear to the demands of the native people on their own lands. A working group,  including parliamentarians and indigenous leaders, was created urgently. On the 18th of April, Chief Raoni was to meet President Dilma Rousseff for the first time, with 9 other indigenous representatives, but the visit did not take place. The Head of the Brazilian state, whose palace also became the scene of demonstrations on the day of the meeting, seized the pretext of a last-minute reunion to fly to Venezuela. 

2013, an Indian Spring?

As an impressive gathering of about 600 leaders descending from the ethnic diversity of the indigenous peoples of Brazil, the Indigenous April (Abril Indigena) planted the seeds of an « indian spring » when, on Tuesday 16th of April 2013 around 10:30am half of them, while singing and dancing, seized the plenary  room of the Chamber of Deputies in Brasilia, in the midst of the debates. This peaceful protest, which needs to be qualified as historic, provoked a true panic reaction  among the deputies whose rout was the subject of much talk. With drums, clubs, sticks and spears in their hands, the indigenous people stated that they would not leave until the president of the Chamber of Deputies, Henrique Eduardo Alves had heard them. The ordinary session was interrupted... 
THE STRONG DEMONSTRATION AGAINST THE BRAZILIAN CONGRESS BY CHIEF RAONI AND 300 INDIGENOUS PEOPLE SOWS THE SEEDS OF AN "INDIAN SPRING"
www.raoni.com

Samba Boukman
oil and collage on 12 x 16 wood

                  The type on the collage reads: 
"Samba Boukman lost his father at age 12.
Named after the first slave to revolt against French colonial rule. Braved hardship to finish his schooling. Samba Boukman was assassinated March 9, 2012. With the signature rasta hat and the constitution of Haiti as part of his daily apparel. "I wanted to become a lawyer to champion the rights of workers.  "Beloved."
"In a letter dated Nov. 8, 2004 Samba Boukman solicited the specific assistance of MINUSTAH to provide security for a protest calling for Aristide's return. Samba Boukman told us MINUSTAH assured him by phone troops would be on hand and his request for security thus granted."
 p.32. Ultimately on November 10 MINUSTAH provided presence but not concomitant security it had promised. MINUSTAH stood ground while HNP killed 7 people. "An additional 180 people were seized from Bel-Air that same day via arrests made by HNP (Haitian National Police) with the apparent cooperation of MINUSTAH" p.34 
Mr. Boukman & his group affirmed having discovered 5-8 of the disappeared at the mass burial site in Titanyen." "Keeping the Peace in Haiti?" Harvard Law Student report, March 2005. 
Coerced (and assassinated) by money and power."
 

Haitian activist Samba Boukman, victim of an assassination on March 9, 2012, speaks about his life and the necessity of non-violence in the struggle for political freedom in this 2007 interview. Boukman was a longtime political grassroots organizer and had a long-time affiliation with Haiti’s Lavalas party.
"Samba Boukman on his life and the necessity of non-violence in the struggle for political freedom" interview by Daniela Bercovitch and contributions by Aline Gatto Boueri, April 7, 2007

"This revisionist attempt at trying to portray community and political activists as violent gang leaders and violent criminals was employed in the run-up to Jean-Bertrand Aristide’s ouster in 2004 and gained momentum in the years afterwards (see Operation Bagdhad). After 2004 the Haitian police in conjunction with UN troops in Haiti (MINUSTAH), made many forays into poor neighborhoods such as Bel-Air, in which Samba Boukman was active. During these raids many community activists were detained and police and soldiers on tanks and from helicopters shot indiscriminately through the walls and roofs of houses, killing and severely wounding numerous innocent Haitians in the process.
     The disinformation campaign was conducted alongside an attempt by media and business sectors in Haiti to portray any resistance to the undemocratic and U.S. installed regime that had followed the 2004 coup, as violent and criminal. Peter Hallward, in his book Damming the Flood: Haiti and the Politics of Containment, describes these actions by the media and interested parties, including the western governments that had interfered in Haitian politics, as an “elaborate campaign to suppress Lavalas”."
The Character Assassination of Samba Boukman by Dominique Esser, March 10, 2012

"Yoga Tree"
Acrylic on particle board. 
This painting was inspired by Paul Stamets and his mycoremediation work. Mycoremidation is the process 
of using fungi to degrade or sequester contaminants 
in the environment.

"Trees Communicate with One Another, Connected by Fungi," with University of British Columbia professor Suzanne Simard, July 2012.  

"Mushroom Man," a film by Leslie Iwerks, tells us: "This is the story of how mushrooms can save the world! Renowned mycologist and mushroom pioneer Paul Stamets harnesses the power of infamous fungi to fight the planet's leading problems, from developing cures for cancer to destroying toxic radioactive waste."

Roger Ebert writes:
There's a back story here. Bill Stamets, Paul's brother, has been a Chicago friend of mine for years. We always sit in the back row of the Lake Street Screening Room. He is a film critic for many outlets, often helping with Sun-Times festival coverage. He's a filmmaker, photographer, and very busy as a film teacher. He's always telling me about his brother Paul, the Mushroom Man. I've always imagined some post-hippie organic guru with plastic on the windows of his garage, selling mushrooms from a pickup at farmer's markets. Bill would say that wasn't quite the story with Paul. Chaz always sits closer to Bill, and listens better. She touted this film to me. Now that I've seen it, I realize: I've been sitting with the brother of a hope for the planet. RE
"I Believe the Mushroom Man Can Save the World," Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times, Jan 23, 2012

"It's a lot how our brains work." University of British Columbia professor Suzanne Simard, who explains how "trees in a forest ecosystem are interconnected with the largest, oldest 'mother trees' serving as hubs.
"Trees Communicate with One Another, Connected by Fungi"  

Paul Stamets
The mushroom biologist studies the antimicrobial properties of fungi, how they can be used as potent insecticides, and how they may help boost the human immune system.