10 of 12 | Monday is for Religion: "Exploring Our Afro American Heritage," by Alice E. Van Pelt

Hi lovely Earthlings!

This week we get into another aspect of Alice's life.  She was a leader and a public speaker in educational events about the Afro American cultural heritage.  Her scrapbook reports some of the talks she prepared.  Here's one where an introduction is followed by poetry and music.  Who should be ashamed of slavery?  Alice's presentation begs the question.  Again, we are present to an inclusive voice that embraces all of the Afro American heritage, that looks at history as a flow.  Not a tale of winners and losers, but rather a sense of creativity, of music, dance, ritual, song, of feeling life pulsating together as we overcome odds.  Perhaps this is the art of living after all.

Two voices are present: Alice and her husband Harold.  He is the musician who accompanies the song.  The pictures refer to the African American music scene in New Jersey in the early 20th Century of which he was part.


Theme

Exploring Our Afro American Heritage

From the mountains of West Virginia to the farmlands of Pennsylvania

From the West Coast to the East Coast

From the South to the North 

They came and they kept coming

And they kept signing, playing music.

Beating the drums to freedom.

African Americans--survivors of a spiritual people--people who made it out of the trials and tribulations of Slavery.

We are here today to explore that history through music.

It is a rich heritage that will not be denied 

That must be fortified, restored, built up in our young people for future generations.

Black folks have a strength that has survived racism, depression, recession, and genocide--all designed to steal, kill, and destroy them.  The term of "we shall overcome" aptly describes their perseverance.

Our Program today depicts thought "music" pictures from whence we have come and will point out a direction for others to follow.

To show where we are going.

I would like to take you back to the period when slavery existed--a regression for black people--a time when the only thing that kept them going was faith in God. Music became an integral part of their day to day existence--the Negro Spirituals became a coded message used to signal that the master was coming--notify them of a meeting tonight--to "steal away"--meet secretly in old barns, people's home, anywhere they could pray and ask God to deliver them from the bondage of slavery--strong faith sustained them.

Recent study of Newark's black music scene

During the 19h Century Gospel songs were sung in the Black churches--Gospel meaning "Good News."  Webster's Dictionary defines Gospel music as African American music--combining spirituals, Blues and Jazz--isn't it strange that each type of music is distinct in its own right?  Spirituals are sacred songs also called jubilees, folk songs, shout songs, sorrow songs, slave songs, slave melodies.  Gospel music added another facet, they became religious songs used in church to lift the spirit.  Even though Blues and Jazz were performed in the clubs and honky top bars--this music also came out of the souls of black folks and contributes to the Black Heritage.

Alice: "I want to first show you a picture of role models who motivated me--my mother was the one who pointed me in the right direction--even though she died when I was nine years old.  Those formative years have stayed with me throughout my life.  I have always felt her presence guided me, teaching me--at the time I didn't know it but God was with me and through his guidance my mother was there--I wasn't a 'motherless child'"--play the song.

Harold: "What and who motivated Him."  Talks about beginnings of boycott in Montgomery.

After he finishes, Alice to continue with poem "Troubled Water"--do spiritual "Wade in the Water."

Today we all face a new type of slavery, a modern type of bondage--destruction of the family--no matter what the color or race of people.  Drug addiction has taken its toll.  Again, we must all work together in unity to break the bonds of slavery and be free.  

Friday, February 26, 1999

Notes from the scrapbook of Alice E. Van Pelt, published here with permission from her descendants, gratefully acknowledged. 

Dear Earthlings: 

Did you notice the wisdom of these words?  Yours truly remembers when she first moved to the United States.  She lived with emigres in California. African Americans were definitely her first American friends.  So warm, so welcoming, so magical in their ways of being together.  She felt privileged to be accepted by them.  Never treated like a "foreigner."  What moves me in these notes is Alice's mention of her late mother, the model she offered, the spirit who lingered on to protect the little girl.  And her final note: whose "family" is she talking about?  Is it the normative, nuclear family, the family of all African Americans, or perhaps the human family?  And drugs?  What drugs is she talking about?  The drugs that medicalize the lives of seniors and other people with chronic illnesses to the point of making conscious death a more sustainable choice?  The drugs that infest the streets of the poor and replace the hope for an education that only money and privilege can access?  The drugs that kill one's creativity rather than enhance it?  When I read Alice's poems without the prejuduce against monotheism, all kinds of meanings and interpretations are open.

More poems from Alice coming.  Stay tuned for next.  We will post every Monday at noon.

Did you enjoy the post?  Let us know!  Yours truly appreciates your attention.  The comments box is open.

Come back!  And stay tuned for more wonders.

Namaste,

Serena Anderlini-D'Onofrio, PhD

Gilf Gaia Extraordinaire

Author of Gaia and the New Politics of Love and many other books
Professor of Humanities

University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez

   

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Berlusconi e gli altri presidenti - David Crowe

 

David Crowe

Berlusconi e gli altri presidenti

Silvio Berlusconi e Veronica Lario

Non si può parlare di Silvio Berlusconi senza una discussione sul sesso e le attività sessuali di questo presidente del consiglio dei ministri italiano. La moglie di Berlusconi ha chiesto il divorzio perché lui, un uomo che ha settantaquattro anni, ha regalato una collana costosa, d’oro e diamanti, a una ragazza che aveva solo diciotto anni. La ragazza chiama Berlusconi “Papi” ma nessuno è sicuro se Berlusconi è il suo amante o suo padre per una storia d’amore di venti anni fa. Un'altra volta Berlusconi ha detto che non ha mai pagato per fare sesso ma, di fatto, paga sempre per far sesso sebbene indirettamente. Molte ragazze giovani non hanno desiderio del corpo e l’anima di questo vecchio uomo ma vogliono un po’ dei suoi soldi e del suo potere. Per esempio, la moglie di Berlusconi era un’attrice in film di serie ‘B’ e ha vent’anni meno di Berlusconi. Si sarebbe sposata Berlusconi nel 1990 se lui non avesse avuto il potere e i soldi? Vent’anni fa Berlusconi l’ha desiderata con la sua giovinezza di allora che oggi è svanita. Berlusconi prende le donne a noleggio, non ne ama nessuna.

Carla Bruni-Sarkozy

Sarkozy è il Napoleone di Francia –  un autocrate e anche basso. È un po’sensibile alla sua statura e qualche volta sta sulla punta dei piedi e ha le scarpe con i tacchi alti. In questo caso si è sposato un’ereditiera con altezza, potere e soldi – la celebre cantante, compositrice ed ex modella, l’Italiana Carla Bruni. Forse Sarkozy ha sperato che la sessualità ignea di Carla producesse un’aura di sessualità in lui. Forse per Carla, Sarkozy è una porta per un nuovo tipo di potere internazionale.

Che e piu brutto, Berlusconi o W?

In America è diverso. Un presidente può mostrare solo un accenno di sessualità o niente. I due Bush, per esempio, non emanavano nessun senso di sessualità. Penso che sia perché  i Bush sono Repubblicani e il Partito Repubblicano in America è il più moralista del mondo ad eccezione dell’Arabia Saudita. La sessualità per un puritano deve esistere solo dentro le porte chiuse della camera matrimoniale e le due persone devono essere un uomo e una donna. In realtà è un livello d’ipocrisia severissima. Per esempio, durante la campagna vice-presidenziale di Sara Palin, sua figlia ha avuto un bambino prima delle nozze. Molti repubblicani sono omosessuali (nel ripostiglio). Per esempio, nel 2010 George Rekers, un repubblicano attivista contro l’omosessualità, ha visitato l’Europa con un “rent boy,” un prostituto per “portare le mie valigie.”

Hillary: bellezza intelligente

I politici del Partito Democratico hanno un po’ più di sessualità ma nessuno deve sapere se ciò è al di fuori delle nozze (o con una persona dello stesso sesso). Non era sufficiente per JFK che aveva una moglie bellissima – aveva anche molte amanti, Marilyn Monroe per esempio, ma nessuno lo sapeva quando era ancora vivo. Dopo la morte di JFK, Jackie ha usato la sua sensualità e il suo poter per rubare Onassis dalla cantante Maria Callas. Il potere della presidenza aumentava la desiderabilità di Jackie.

Quando si viene a sapere di una relazione extraconiugale prima delle elezioni, la carriera del candidato è finita. Una famosa foto del politico democratico Gary Hart con una giovane donna seduta nel suo grembo a bordo della nave “Monkey Business” (“Affari di Scimmie”) gli ha impedito di guadagnare la presidenza. Più recentemente, quando John Edwards ha ammesso che ha avuto un bambino con un’amante un’altra possibilità di presidenza è fallita. Berlusconi non potrebbe prendere fiato negli Stati Uniti.

Jimmy Carter era un’eccezione, un democratico senza sessualità o sensualità. Ma perfino lui ha causato uno scandalo quando ha detto che ha desiderato alcune donne che non erano sua moglie. Carter lo ha detto semplicemente per spiegare perché non esprime i giudizi morali sulle altre persone.

Hillary e Barak: belli, no?

Ci sono stati molti problemi con Bill Clinton che ha avuto molte amanti segrete. Monica Lewinsky è stata la più intelligente perché, dentro l’età dell’analisi di DNA, ha messo l’abito con il seme di Clinton in una cassaforte. Se questa prova non fosse esistita il governo l’avrebbe fatta passare per bugiarda e forse lei avrebbe avuto un incidente sfortunato. Con la sua sensualità è riuscita a far mentire Clinton e per questo motivo Clinton stava per perdere la presidenza.  Ma quando Bush ha mentito sul Iraq e i WMD inesistenti niente è accaduto, anche se dal punto di vista politico la bugia era molto più grave. 

Michelle Obama e Carla Bruni-Sarkozy

L’ultimo presidente degli Stati Uniti è anche molto sensuale e ha una moglie bella. Obama ha cambiato il suo paese perché ha la pelle nera ma anche perché ha ammesso, quando era candidato, di aver avuto una relazione dopo sue nozze con Michelle.

È progresso? Sicuramente la sensualità e la sessualità di un presidente non sono importanti. Spero che un giorno avremo i presidenti che non debbano nascondere la loro sessualità né ostentarla. Spero anche che un giorno avremo più presidentesse con la sensualità naturale in cui si possa confidare.

Il problema è che noi cittadini richiedano ad un presidente di ricoprire il ruolo di un personaggio di una favola non nella verità.

About the Author

David Crowe studied biology in university but was more fascinated by the software he wrote to produce 3-dimensional graphs and started a career in computer programming in the 1980s. This soon morphed into the design and standardization of cellular phone systems. His interest in and concern for the biological world continued, however, leading him to help found the Green Party of Alberta in the early 1990s and, a few years later, to start questioning the HIV=AIDS connection. This led to his founding of the Alberta Reappraising AIDS Society in 1999 and to his election as president of Rethinking AIDS in 2008. He organized the successful RA 2009 conference and is planning another for late 2011. He has been learning Italian since 2007 to exercise the other side of his brain and because it's such a beautiful language.

Finally, GAIA on Kindle: Start reading in less than a minute! Ecosexual Gift if you buy on Sept 26th!

We at 3WayKiss wish to sincerely thank you for your attention to this.  We are delighted to offer Gaia on Kindle, the recently released digital edition of Gaia and the New Politics of Love. 

Regarded as an avatar of ecosexual theory, this controversial book is a Silver Winner in
Cosmology and New Science for the 2010 Nautilus Awards.  Now you can start reading it in less than a minute, and without the waste of a single twig!  If that weren't ecosexual enough, you can also get a fabulous Gift when you make your purchase on September 26th.  This Sunday has been announced world wide as the push-up date to bring the title up into the digital best-seller list. 

When people like you decide what a best seller looks, feels, reads like, we can transform the publishing industry into one that really reflects the creative intelligence of readers.  When you decide to participate in this push, you also create better book-contract opportunities for writers whose creative intelligence resonates with your ideas, ideals. This book has been described both as a 'disgrace' and as a 'masterpiece.'  It has made waves of differing opinions in its own niche communities.  The author has issued a 'clarification statement' in response to these.  Don't you wish to know what this is all about immediately?  Well . . . . yes, you do, but please mark your calendar for the 26th and on that day click on the  book-cover image. 

We at 3WayKiss wish to thank you from a deep place in our heart.  We are a non-profit based in Puerto Rico devoted to the mission of "educating the public world wide about the arts of loving and their infinite forms of expression that our species make piece with our gracious hostess, the third planet Gaia."  We could not be more thrilled to reach out with this special offer to you!

If you are not familiar with digital book reading, this is a good time to start.  Download the free software Kindle for PC, or another free software for mobile devices.  What a great, 'right livelihood' way to read.  No more paper, no more trees!  No more storing, dusting, shipping, logging around those heavy, expensive print books.  All the intensity, complexity, reliability, in-depth knowledge a book can offer, for the feather weight of a digital file stored on your hard disk!

Teaching Gaia in Greece

With Regina Reinhardt and Robyn Ochs in London for BiReCon

Annie Sprinkle - Wedding to the Moon

What a relief for those of us aspiring to a light footprint.  And how consonant with the whole idea of Gaia as the basis for a new, ecosexual politics of love! Start building your digital library on the 26th!

The author's summer has been fabulous with new travels and experiences, including seminars on The Wisdom of Love in the San Francisco Bay Area with such avatars of Polyamory as Deborah Taj Anapol and Dossie Easton; teaching compersion, polyamory, and Gaia theory in Washington State and Greece; coaching participants ready to design the amorous life of their dreams; visiting oracle shrines in Greece and naturist villages in France, and keynoting at BiReCon the Bisexuality Research Conference in England. 

Now she's ready for more, with participation in Annie and Beth's Wedding to the Moon ecosexual performance and symposium in LA, October 23-24, with workshops and readings planned for the 16 and the 19, more workshops on Managing Jealousy in November in Puerto Rico, and more events to be announced.  

As a reward for participating in the push-up day for Gaia on Kindle, you get a fabulous ecosexual Gift:  Bring your proof of purchase to any of her events and you'll get a discount of up to $ 20 on the door charge. That's more than double the purchase price for Gaia on Kindle!

More details on events will be announced soon.  Stay tuned for the Newsletter with Calendar of Events. You can also follow us on our blog, PolyPlanetGAIA, and learn a lot more about Gaia and ecosexual theories, practices, possibilities.  Become a follower here. You can follow us on Facebook, become a fan of Gaia here,or simply friend Serena Anderlini

With deep appreciation for your interest and business, we at 3WayKiss remain yours truly, in devotion and ecosexual friendship.

Namaste,
Serena Anderlini @ 3WayKiss
author of Gaia and the New Politics of Love, a Silver Winner for Cosmology and New Science for the 2010 Nautilus Book Awards, and many other fabulous books
Professor of Humanities at the University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez

Vivien Leigh: A Savvy, Healthy Collaborator who Spent Time Having Fun with her Boss

Of the many comments about the recent book that criminalizes Vivien Leigh's sexual behavior, i found one to be quite interesting: it critiques the book for its sensationalism and criminalization, and emphasizes the idea that Vivien, as an employee who went to the brother with her boss, must have been brave, a person with good self esteem!

the author is one Svutlana, who writes a very interesting English, which seems to have a simplified grammar from another language, and has an uncanny resemblance to the kind of street talk one hears in certain parts of town. the form may be funny, but it reveals an interesting content.  Kudos!

you can find Svutana's blog here

you can get the book from Amazon.com, even though yours truly cannot really recommend it, seems too sensational! 

yours truly posted a comment to Svutlana's brave blog, and she copies it here:

"Svutlana, i completely agree with you, the whole thing, the way it's presented, tends to criminalize Vivien Leigh, which is really unfair since Lawrence Olivier, George Cukor, and others in that generation of Hollywood stars had similar, somewhat excessive behaviors, partly due to the fact that cinema was new, star status unprecedented (to the extent that cinema could generate world wide) and that their personal lives, their privacy, fell thru the cracks. It's unfair to single out Vivien Leigh as a woman, it presumes that different standards would apply to her than to the men who accompanied her. And your point that she did 'rough trade' with her boss is very important, perhaps a sign of her being a healthy, savvy collaborator (Cukor was a closet gay, and maybe she helped defuse the attention and provide some safety for him). Some of the criminalization also results from the implication that she was something of a 'fake,' as in fake British who was actually born in India. again, nationalist and racial stereotypes behind the criminalization of women's sexual freedom!

Oh, and i just wanted to add, for more in the ways of POSITIVE perspectives on bisexuality, polyamory, and other styles of amorous expression that promote women's freedom and equality, all are invited to visit my blog, http://polyplanet.blogspot.com, and to join my Facebook Fan Page, Gaia and the New Politics of Love."

Is Monogamy Unnatural? Book Argues It Isn't and CNN Talks About This!

When yours truly read about this on Facebook, she rushed to read the article and fund out is is a review of the book, Sex at Dawn, abut the prehistoric origins of modern sexuality.  The authors are Cacilda Jetha and Christopher Ryan.  The argument does not seem very new, and is still quite interesting.
  
Foraging societies did not have a sense of personal property and this applied to people as well as things. Groups of humans moved around with personal possessions reduced to a minimum, and no one really bothered to find out who belonged to whom. Women breastfed children regardless of who delivered them, and men helped parent them regardless of who sired them.  This was normal for humans before agriculture became prevalent, before, in other words, we knew about seeds, and wombs, before the concept of paternity was part of human knowledge systems.  

This argument started with Bachofen, in the late 19th-early20th century, who, in Myth, Religion and Mother Right, argued that matriarchal social organizations were prevalent throughout the Neolithic for that precise reason: that paternity was not a concept yet, and so men did not think they should know who put the seed in.  Women were more revered and also more free: they had sex with multiple partners, especially in the fertile period, to make sure someone would make them pregnant. 

This line of thought developed further with feminist philosophers and theorists of the 'second wave,' including, to my knowledge, Adriana Cavarero, who, in In Spite of Plato (translated by yours truly), argues that this ignorance of paternity was a good thing, because it empowered women with sovereignty over our bodies, and the decision to be hostesses to the reproductive process necessary for the species was ours and ours alone.  Two other theorists on this topic are of course Riane Eisler and Marija Gimbutas.  Eisler links the social practice of competition to the social construct of paternity and the ensuing practice of controlling the female body that hosts the seed to ensue its authenticity, the fact that the resulting child is sired by the man who parents it.  This, Eisler observes, not only disempowers women, but also preempts the possibility of a society organized on partnership.  Because partnership requires trust and equality, and these are impossible when men's self esteem is predicated on their ability to certify paternity. Matrifocal societies are better candidates for partnership systems.  The Romans, who learned a lot from the Greeks, and the matrifocal cultures that preceded them, put this very simply: "maternity is always certain, paternity never is."  So, if it isn't, let's shift our focus away from it, argues Gimbutas, who studies the matrifocal cultures of the Neolithic in the pre-Indoeuropean Mediterranean, to find out that they indeed were organized around the sacred feminine, myths of fertility, the management of waters, the practice of sharing resources, including amorous, sexual,and reproductive resources, the commons, and social peace.  social peace.  

Obviously, with us humans having been around for about a million years now, monogamy and paternity, which came about as social constructs only about 10 thousand years ago, it follows that our species is not monogamous from an evolutionary viewpoint: indeed, our bodies, our biology are not programmed for sexual exclusivity.  How could they be?

Many will say that neither is our biology programmed for sitting hour after hour at the computer, like yours truly and many other bloggers and other social media people do.  Obviously, we don't need to be biologically programmed for something to enjoy doing it.  We can enjoy sexual exclusivity when we choose it.  That's why yours truly often claims that monogamy is a version of polyamory: it's a spontaneous occurrence which is good as long as it is not enthroned as a social rule or billed as 'superior' because, supposedly, it represent the endpoint of evolution for our species and the biota as a whole.  

Reclaiming that polyamory is 'natural,' as Ryan and Jetha do, is a very good thing.  It helps to reconfigure 'nature' in the human mind as something quite closer to what it is: an ecosystem of interconnected life forms that is, per se, quite queer, namely odd, irregular, diverse, interconnected, happy, gay, and cheerful.  Able to heal itself because it does not follow mechanical rules.  Alive per se because it enjoys the pleasure of being.  Yet claiming that non-monogamy is 'natural' as opposed to monogamy not being so is deceptive too.  It is extremely important to bring back polyamory within the range of what is natural, spontaneous, and healthy for humans to do, but not at the expense of, or in bipolar opposition to, what is commonly known as monogamy or sexual/amorous/romantic exclusivity.  

More to the point, this new acquaintance with polyamory as a natural, biologically-programmed, and long-standing prevalent tradition that goes back all the way to pre-history is a way to revisit the past to invent a new future.  If something was done in pre-historical times we often consider it bad, backward, 'primitive.'  But what is 'bad' about primitivism?  What we often call 'history' is actually a very short period in the life of our species.  A well documented one, for sure!  But a 'good' one?  The past ten thousand years have been filled with wars, empires, exterminations, genocides, tortures, competitions, extinctions and other forms of destructive behavior that we humans have inflicted on fellow creatures and a whole bunch of other species, not to mention entire habitats, climate and ecosystems, based on ever more powerful weapons and domination systems that have, ultimately, had the effect to make us, the inventor species, also a rather unhappy species, with very few individuals still able to connect with the magic of nature, the ability to contemplate existence in the present as a state of pure bliss.  

Maybe those matrifocal 'primitives' who knew nothing about paternity, and were 'naturally' polyamorous because they loved nature in all its manifestations, including several people, were happier than today's average person.  So, by finding out how these poly primitives lived, by looking at the origins of sexuality in the long-standing life of our species, we can also come to a better understanding of a different time in our 'history,' a time when 'history' was actually more of a 'herstory,' as fellow second-wave feminists Susan Griffin and others would put it.  

This will help us also dispell another myth: that women naturally 'suffer' polyamory while men are the ones who want it.  Really?  How come today's women would 'naturally' demand monogamy when historically the times when polyamory was natural are times when women were revered, sovereign, and free?  If paternity, the cultural construct of male insemination as 'cause' of female fertility, is what caused dominant societies where women lost that sovereignty and that freedom, then perhaps sexual exclusivity is a result of patriarchal social organizations too? 

In any event, all reflections on these topics are very significant at this time.  Sexuality, in itself an invention of modernity and its wish to study the expression of erotic love in view of general laws to be considered 'scientific,' is now being re-envisioned as mainly a way to revitalize our species and the biota that hosts it, not necessarily as a way to reproduce it.  The mandate to 'go and populate the earth' has been fulfilled.  We need forms of erotic expression that are about pleasure, connectedness, health, holism, not about possession or release.  We need ecosexual people, people whose erotic inclinations are ecological too.  That's the only way to invent a new future. And of course the potential and ability to express these inclination respectfully with multiple people of various genders is a bonus to this future too.  

An ecosexual future is also a Gaian future, a future when the fact that our planet Gaia is gay will finally be recognized by our sad and ingeniously destructive and self-destructive species and when we will decide to use our ingenuity to finally keep Gaia gay too.       

Read full article here 

Christopher Ryan is a psychologist, teacher and the co-author, along with Cacilda Jethá, of "Sex at Dawn: The Prehistoric Origins of Modern Sexuality," published by Harper Collins.

Gaia and Amorous Resources: What's Holistic about Poly?

Hi everyone!

This is Serena, a.k.a. Gaia, writing from Kalikalos, a holistic community in Kissos, on Mount Pelion, Greece.

This is a stop in my journey for two main reasons: wanting to become acquainted with the mythologies of my childhood, and wanting to bring the ideas and practices of poly-amory, multiple loves, to people and communities already attuned to holistic styles of living.

Here's a quick report from part one, an introduction to the relation between Gaia, the concept of a living planet, and amorous resources, resources of love that we can share amorously if we learn a little bit about what poly people do.

We had scheduled this intro for the Wednesday morning slot, on August 4, 2010, during the Family Experience Week, for participants in two campuses, Kalikalos, where I am staying, and Anilio, a nearby village in the same area.

It was announced the previous evening at a wonderful taverna dinner, where people responded with a certain enthusiasm. Parallel activities for children and teen-agers were arranged, even though we also opened the option for their participation too.

The next day almost the whole community showed up. We had prepared the Round House, a pretty summer building made of pine, canvas, and bamboo. Over twenty people showed up, everyone with their own dosage of curiosity and enthusiasm.

The conversation went very smoothly, with everyone responding eagerly. "When people mention Gaia, what comes up for you? What comes up when you hear polyamory? And, last but not least, the million dollar question: jealousy?" The presentation unfolded from the diverse responses the group generated. And at the end it was decided to offer another session, with bioenergetic exercises that help people experience 'compersion,' in little increments. It was amazing how quickly this group got the idea of what compersion is. It was a new word for them, initially proposed as 'the opposite of jealousy.' They came up with a parallel definition that compares it to the Buddhist concept of Maddhitta, or the joy of rejoicing in someone else's joy.

Individual coaching sessions were also offered, and one was scheduled right after the meeting. It was a joy to share my knowledge and experience with this brave woman from the UK, a gift to listen to her story and empathize with her situation and predicament. Often, the internalized idea that monogamy is superior is the real obstacle to the unfolding of a happy and free amorous life. I do hope that obstacle was at least temporarily removed from her mind, at least for the time being . . . . so that her path of personal and spiritual growth can naturally unfold.

So this group really gave me a sense of wider possibility: I do feel that it is my mission on this planet to open up all kinds of holistic communities to the ideas and practices of poly love styles. One of my two purposes for being here in Greece is now very tangible and real. As for the other one, well . . . it was so magical to mention Gea, or Gaia, on the very land where this concept was created, in times so ancient that it is sometimes difficult to find their traces on the land that hosted them about three thousand years ago. Greece has been colonized and culturally reorganized various times since, by the Orthodox Christians, the Ottoman Turks, and more.

Still . . . there was one participant in the group who is originally from Greece. She often functions as an interpreter for the English-speaking group with local people. When I mentioned the Titans, or first generation of Greek deities, that were not people but forces of nature that one would interpret, second, and revere rather than control, it was clear that she knew what I was talking about. She even gave us the name of Gea spelled and prononuced in Greek! I wish I could reproduce it here, but it will have to be for some other time, since I'm too ignorant to remember the letters of the Greek alphabet she used!

In any event, it was great to see that what I came up with in relation to Greek mythology made sense to a person who was educated in modern Greece. It must be real then, and not just a fantasy of yours truly. The day unfolded with people silently metabolizing the new ideas. Facilitator extraordinaire Dorota Owen showed great enthusiasm. One could observe the afterglow on people's faces at dinner.

And on this note, my blog entry will come to a conclusion. I definitely will come back to Kalikalos for more summers and more groups. I also highly recommend these vacations. The cool air of a mid-mountain village, a nice residence, a cozy holistic community, access to fabulous beaches, moderate prices and the option of offering services, a sense of family, and healthy vegetarian food. What else could one expect from a vacation in Greece?!

For anyone reading this blog, and interested in knowing more about polyamory and holism, I recommend my latest book, Gaia and the New Politics of Love. Discount buy here.

For those interested in my life as Gaia, the experiment that lead to the Gaian awareness I have today, I recommend Eros: A Journey of Multiple Loves. Discount buy here.

Fianally, for those interested in fabulous holistic vacations in Greece, I recommend the Kalikalos Blog, http://kalikalos.blogspot.com, and Website http://www.kalikalos.com. Make sure you stay up to date on what's coming up and what they are doing!

Namaste,

Gaia,

a.k.a. Serena Anderlini-D'Onofrio, PhD

author of Gaia and the New Politics of Love, a Silver Winner for the 2010 Nautilus Award in Cosmology and New Science, and of

Eros: A Journey of Multiple Loves, a Lambda finalist for Bisexuality in 2007

Is Polyamory Revolutionary? by Micah White via Adbusters

My comment and critique to this piece.  Why bi, ecosex, tantra, and fluidity make what we mean by 'poly' and 'orgy' different today from what they meant in the 1960s.

Interesting article. 

Emphasizes importance of love revolutions, or 'lovolutions.'

Argues that the 'orgy' was your staple way of being sexually revolutionary in the 1960s, 'polyamory' is today's way.  But what is polyamory and what is an orgy?  The very concepts of polyamory and of sex with multiple partners have changed since then.

Here's how Micah puts it:

"Polyamory is an outgrowth of the free love movement but instead of looking to the orgy as the model for rebellion it is the notion of a tribe that excites their imagination. There are many visions of polyamory, but the one that many find intriguing is a world where partners are not exchangeable, relationships are stable and promiscuity is often frowned on."

Read full article here 

I'd like to comment and expand on this.  I would object to the idea that today's polyamory and the 'orgy' or group sex don't get along.  Perhaps it's the very sense of what group sex is or can be that has changed, because we are more aware of the arts of loving via tantric practices and teachings, and because we have reactivated more sophisticated ways to be erotic, and affectionate, and sensual.  This is probably due to safety and health and the awareness that a free exchange of fluid is not always healthy for people, especially when partners are multiple.  

We are also more familiar with queer sexualities, and everyone is more in tune with being a bit bi and fluid.  This has resulted in a sexuality or practice of the arts of loving that is more energetic and nurturing, with more emphasis on pleasure and less on release, and in general more attuned to the yoni, the ying, and what women typically enjoy.

We are a bit more ecosexual, to put it simply, we are more aware of our bodies as ecosystems, and of how they synergize with those of our partners too. I'd say that's party the result of a general sense of fluidity in the cultural notions of what sexual orientation is, and that fluidity, I would argue, is largely the result of the ecofriendly intentions of the bisexual movement: the idea that we love people for who they are and not based on their gender, and that this love finds it own level of erotic expression too, if you let it.

For those interested in more on this, the new collection Bisexuality and Queer Theory, edited by Jonathan Alexander and yours truly, is now available from Routledge/Taylor and Francis.  Also, of course, this is discussed in Gaia and the New Politics of Love. Finally, I am going to talk about it at BiReCon, the research session of BiCon, the 10th International Conference on Bisexuality, in London, August 26-30. 

Click here for information and to register

 — Serena Anderlini

How the Wisdom of Love Transforms Gaia: Modeling Choice for Children and Grandchildren

In talking about poly lovestyles, the question of 'children' often comes up. "It's ok as long as only adults are involved, but what about children? Can they be 'exposed' to such things and still grow up to be sane and happy people?" Find out all about this and more in this clip. Hear the wisdom of poly grandmothers with two generations of descendants who are happy to have them be part of the family and respect them for who they are!

Here's another clip from the Double Book Launch on 6/22.  Enjoy and let us know what you think.  And for more info on it all, don't forget to order your copy of Gaia and the New Politics of Love!

How the Wisdom of Love Transforms Gaia: Inventing the Families We Need

What is a nuclear family?  How did this type of family come into being?  Whose interests does this invention serve?  When did it become prevalent and why?  What is 'nuclear' about it?  Why do some people think it's the only possible type of family and/or the most advanced one?  What are new ways to think about 'family' that better serve the future of our species?

All of this stuff came up when Taj and yours truly were reading at Open Secret Bookstore, at the Double Book Launch we held on June 22.  We promised more details about it, and here we are!

People often ask me about families, and how they became nuclear.  In fact, many even seem to think that families have always been nuclear, that there's never been another model for what a family is supposed to look like, or even that there is something inherently 'natural' to families being of this kind. 

But what is 'nuclear' about families, really? Are these kinds of families supposed to explode, like atoms? Are they an invention of the nuclear age? Do they look like atoms, and if so, which ones? Carbon? Oxygen? Hydrogen? Uranium? Perhaps they've got some nuclear energy inside, in which case they should be handled carefully, right?  If they are enriched, they can become even more unstable, and that can start the process of atomic fission, where they splinter into little particles.  In this case, they fall under George W's special category, 'nukular,' remember? The famous word that egregious president could not pronounce? 

In any event, and jokes aside, the nuclear family, explosive or not, is a very recent invention.  If we consider the infinite ways in which life has become organized in order to nurture itself through time on the face of our multifarious hostess Gaia, including all of human cultures and the cultures of other species, we find out that in the history of what we may call 'family,' the nuclear family is really a split second. Just a blink of the eye. And not the happiest or most interesting one.

The clip explains when and why the nuclear family became prevalent. What kind of paradigm it is part of, and why this paradigm no longer serves life in general, or human life in particular.  Nothing wrong with nuclear families. They serve a purpose. But to move into a Gaian future, the whole idea of what constitutes family must be placed in a much wider horizon.

Check it out!

Yours truly hopes you enjoy the video. Please help us imagine what the video does not say. What families can we invent to met our needs? Suggestions are welcome!

Families are about love, right? So a new politics of love is also a new politics about families, right?  If you're not sure what's political about families, find out all about it in Gaia and the New Politics of Love.  

Namaste,

Gaia

a.k.a. Serena Anderlini

Creating Poly Bestsellers: Reclaiming Book Sales Engineering for our Communities

Hi there again!

This announcement applies to action to be taken the day after tomorrow, July 25th.  It is related to Polyamory in the 21st Century, a book yours truly has read very carefully and recommends with high marks!  Here's why everyone who reads should get their online order in come Sunday!

For a number of years now bestsellers have been engineered by the book industry.  Lots of books get published every year: in fact it has never been easier to become an 'author.'  However, which books get into whose hands, who has access to them, who thinks they should, and who, eventually, get the wisdom of these books is another story.  With big conglomerates controlling a great deal of the book production and distribution, the public is often the very last entity to decide what's worth reading.  That's why the vast majority of people still believe many very natural ideas to be quite esoteric and radical and eccentric.  Like the idea that we humans can love more than one person at once and can do so in integrity!  Which is of course the very essence of polyamory and also a nugget of very ancient wisdom that has helped people whose love is abundant get by under all kinds of different circumstances.  

The so called 'social media' offer tools that help reclaim the ability to create bestsellers.  We don't have to do it the way the book industry does it, namely by investing big six-digit figures in expensive bill boards that use a lot of paper and destroy a lot of trees and induce false desire to consume what others consume too. No. We can do it digitally and communally, by focusing efforts on ordering online a certain book on a specified date.  The multiple sales made in close proximity send a signal to the digital system that a certain title is highly requested.  This gets attention to the title and author, who then get the advantage of being billed as 'best sellers' for the day!

That way the very notion of bestseller (that which sells best) gets redefined as something that certain groups of people prefer for reasons that are close to their hart, that reflect their genuine inclinations and commitments, their thirst for out-of-the-box knowledge, rather than corporate interests. This type of community action helps the book industry realize that all kinds of books generate interest among readers, even books on topics many big publishers would consider too 'niche,' radical, or marginal to invest in.  So all in all this reclaiming is a way to favor the general public with a book industry that offers a wider variety of products that respond to a wider range of interests and that presume a higher level of intelligence and decision-making abilities among book buyers and consumers.  

The time has come to activate this best-seller reclaiming system for poly books.  Deborah Taj Anapol's Polyamory in the 21st Century is coming up for its special day on Sunday, July 25th, which is also a day of very momentous astral coincidences.  So, let's all coalesce and buy our own copy from Amazon.com on that very day!

Reclaiming bestsellers for our communities is a bit like reclaiming land for sustainable agriculture from agribusiness.  Monoculture is a state of mind, as yours truly learns from Vandana Shiva, author of Monocultures of the Mind, among other amazing books.  It's a way to colonize our minds with ideas that serve interests foreign to our inherent needs.  In the mind, monocultures are just as pernicious as they can be in the fields.  Think of creating 'polycultures of the mind' as you place your order on the 25th.  You can do it directly from this website.    

Thanks for takign action.

Namaste from yours truly, Gaia

a.k.a. Serena Anderlini-D'Onofrio

How the Wisdom of Love Transforms Gaia: On Being the Resources We Share

Friends keep telling me that people don't understand what I mean.  "She uses strange words," they say, or at least, "she uses words in a strange way.  Why does she do that? What does she really mean?"

"That's the point," I think to myself, very shy, very humbled, very timid, "making up new words, new phrases, using words that are unfamiliar, making familiar words sound new."

That's the power of words, the power of literature, if you will.  What I was trained in.  (Arhhhhhg, what a mistake to presume one can relinquish some ignorance!)

"These people," I think, "they really want it easy.  Not only I learned their language so I can speak to them.  But then if I use words of their language that for one reason or another sound queasy, they become suspicious of me.  There's no way to do right by them!"

"What's this fear?"  Fear of words.  One cannot be afraid of words.  Words are NOT things.  They only represent things.  Or do they?  Can words also MAKE things?  Can they CHANGE things?  Can they affect, transform, reinterpret, create REALITY?

Of course they can. All poets are keenly aware of this. Otherwise why would they spend time playing with words? 

So, a case in point is this video clip.  From The Wisdom of Love, a double book launch Deborah Taj Anapol and me held at Open Secret Bookstore on June 22, 2010.  It's a bit late to post.  I know.  Took a long time to figure, with us being a team of wise, wise, wise people.  So ancient is our wisdom that we're not all that familiar with latest tech stuff for social media. But we get it eventually.  And for this clip, we owe courtesy to Steve Hoffman of Oakaland, California, who shot, cut, and reduced for us.

So, what's the fun with words here?  Well, "RESOURCES."  People in ecology, in environmental science talk about 'resources,' right?  "Limited resources."  "Sources of energy that are 'renewable'," as in wind, solar, hydro: ways to create power that generate themselves again every day, that are commonly owned/shared.  That don't involve pollution or extinction of the source when it's most needed.  See what's happening with the oil spill.  Easy oil is almost gone now.  And we're ever more dependent on it.  While it's also turning our amiable hostess Gaia into an oven.  Ouch! I'm cooking! I'm being cooked!

So then, resources is the issue, right?  Why can't we BE the resources we seek?  Sounds Oedipal?  It is!  What happens if we begin to think of ourselves as the resources we need?  What if we begin to practice BEING resources for each other?

A whole lot!  Big shift in thinking.  Now we don't need a lot of resources.  We need to interpret each other AS resources.  And what can we trade that is, as Stan Dale would say, "free"?  We can trade LOVE, or 'amor,' or 'amore,' or 'amour' as those hopelessly Romantic, romance language people would say. 

Then we see that being POLYAMOROUS, being capable, by nurture, by nature (who knows?) of trading these AMOROUS RESOURCES with a whole bunch of people is NOT a dangerous perversion, is NOT a problem, is NOT a liability, is NOT a sign of being promiscuous or a misfit.  IT IS ACTUALLY A VIRTUE!!!

Yes, you heard me.  BEING POLY IS ACTUALLY A VIRTUE!  It should be rewarded as a free recycling system, as a national forest deep-ecology biodiversity sustaining nurturing ecosystem. It should be cause for being nominated for the Nobel Prize for Peace!

"But wait a minute," you must be saying, "is this for real?"  "Sounds like a trick to justify some wicked perversion."

Well, I leave the final judgment to you.  It's on the video.  Somebody in the audience at Open Secret asked "what's the connection between Gaia the living planet and open love, open relating?"

That's how I explained it!

Go ahead and listen . . . .

Then, if you like what you hear, you can get more info from the source of my wisdom, Gaia and the New Politics of Love.  This book was inspired by one who IS the pleasure he seeks.  Watch out for the book's new digital edition, coming soon.  Meanwhile, get your paper version and start practicing love's wisdom.

There will be more posts and clips.  The momentous series of events we held in Norther California in June-early July will be unfolding digitally as we post clips and snippets, with comments.

We look forward to YOUR comments too!

Namaste,

Gaia

a.k.a. Serena Anderlini-D'Onofrio