Welcome or welcome back to Kitchen Table Kibitzing, a community series that posts nightly at 8:00 Eastern. remembrance and nomandates came up with the idea for this series during Netroots Nation 13.
As we envision it, KTK is a community for those who wish to share part of their evening around a virtual kitchen table with kossacks who are caring and supportive of one another. So bring your stories, jokes, photos, funny pics, music, interesting videos (hey, palantir!), and so forth. We would also appreciate links—including quotations—to diaries, news stories, and books that you think this community would appreciate.
Please note that pie fights will be unwelcome in this community, just as in most other series at DKos. There's lots of space at the rest of the site for fighting with other Democrats, progressives, and liberals, and we don't want those battles dragged into this series.
Finally, readers may notice that most who are posting diaries and comments in this series already know one another to some degree, but that definitely does not mean that newcomers will be excluded or unwelcome. We're happy to welcome guests to our kitchen table, and hope to make some new friends as well.
The three of us, Glen, TLO™ and I, went to Summer Heat to protest against Chevron on the one year anniversary of the leak that caused an explosion and fire sending about 15,000 people to the hospital because of toxic fumes. Moms at local schools began Asthma clubs for children who were effected by the toxicity and whose education was impacted because of it. As it turns out, Chevron and other oil companies are beginning to import Canadian Tar Sands for processing in the Bay Area. This should come as no surprise.
boatsie posted a diary yesterday afternoon with some great pictures from the rally, you can see it here.
For tonight's Kitchen Table Kibitzing I thought I would share with you some of the quieter yet still powerful events of this march and rally. When we arrived there were hundreds of long stemmed sunflowers arranged on circular benches in the courtyard where we met, provided by Urban Tilth. The sunflowers were meant for each of us to march with.
You can view this video by NBCBayArea here, unfortunately, I was unable to embed it for you.
photo courtesy of navajo
"Last summer US, Russian and Ukrainian defense ministers planted sunflowers on the site of a former Soviet missile silo, celebrating the Ukrain's nuclear-free status. Little did they know that the sunflowers were also decontaminating the soil, removing heavy metals and toxins accumulated in the area. --Alice W. Wilke "Saying It With Flowers" E Magazine.
You can read about the process known as
Phytoremediation here.
I marched along side navajo, dsb and natives of Idle No More. This was an honor for me. I shared in the blessing provided by Wounded Knee who pleaded with the non natives to stand with them in solidarity for Mother Earth. I breathed in the sage and allowed it take over my senses, I followed the arm movements of those familiar and comfortable with their blessing while TLO™ buried her head in my chest because the scent was ultimately too strong for her. I cried as I thought of the parallel history of genocide and exodus between First Nations and Jews. I cried because Wounded Knee's words expressed the very core of grief for Mother Earth. I was a new comer to their circle yet I hoped they could see that I had heard their plea and understood their grief; I was their to stand with them in solidarity.
Wounded Knee is on the right. Photo courtesy of navajo.
Drew Dellinger, Ph.D., is an internationally sought-after speaker, poet, writer, and teacher who has inspired minds and hearts around the world, performing poetry and keynoting on justice, ecology, cosmology, and compassion. He is also a consultant, publisher, and founder of Planetize the Movement.
Drew gave us
Planetize the Movement with energy, passion and compassion titled after
Five Lessons from Martin Luther King Jr. and the Civil Rights Movement. See lesson 5.
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Planetize the Movement from Drew Dellinger on Vimeo.