Kony 2012

Happy Earth Day!

Wondering what to do to celebrate??? There are plenty small things to do which make a world of difference. However you celebrate, enjoy this life and this earth! No matter who you are, it's the only one you have!

~The Birmingham Chapter of the TNC will be hosting a picnic in Railroad Park on this Sunday from 11-3:00. This is a 100% free event with music, games, activities for the kiddos, and more fun than you can shake a stick at. You can bring your own basket of goodies or there will be picnic lunches available to purchase from local vendors. There will also be more than 60 picnic tables decorated by local artists, corporations, and nonprofits.

For more information about the TNC and this great event please see the following link: http://www.nature.org/earthday/index.htm

~Legacy, Partners in Environmental Education will be having a Go Green Night with the Barons on EARTH DAY. Join the Legacy Team and the Barons at Regions Park at 4:00 p.m. Order tickets here and see the Barons take on the Mississippi Braves.

~Birmingham City Schools will be doing a clean up TOMORROW for Pratt City, starting at Jackson-Olin High School from 8-12.

~Slow Food USA is working in the Terra Madre communities of Africa in order to create a thousand food gardens. You may learn more and donate here.

~Take the 20/20/20 challenge and become 20 % cooler through your knowledge of your carbon emissions. Get a free sticker that declares this too!

~Vote for F^3: Financing for Food and Farming as well as sign the One Campaign's petition for a call to all G8 leaders to stop the cycle of hunger and poverty.

~Support your local school garden! Not sure how? Check out this upcoming event, May 4-5, with Principal Michael Wilson and Glen Iris Elementary.

April 4. 2012

On this day Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assasinated, and Maya Angelou was born.

Bellringer:
“After the grueling work of the commission I came away with a deep sense – indeed an exhilarating realization – that, although there is undoubtedly much evil about, we humans have a wonderful capacity for good. We can be very good. That is what fills me with hope for even the most intractable situations.” ~Desmond Tutu from, No Future Without Forgiveness

Word of the Day: Coexistence

http://www.coexistdocumentary.org/coexistence

Ryne's Fine Madness

Incredible footage from my cousin, Ryne Olson, who just completed the Iditarod Race in Alaska.

Be sure to read Gary Paulsen's account as well.

KONY 2012: EVERYONE SHOULD WATCH THIS

KONY 2012 from INVISIBLE CHILDREN on Vimeo.

Sims Sneak Peak

Incredible unveiling this weekend of the Sims Property, honoring the Garden Lady of Homewood, Catherine Sims. Above are some wonderful SEC logo inspired Sunflower Cupcakes from a group of Homewood Girl Scouts.

Please visit this gorgeous 5 lot property at 109 Highland Avenue in Homewood. Ask for Laura Rodgers, gardener extraordinaire and the caretaker of the property. Thank you to SEC's Roald Hazelhoff and Stoneshovel's Arne Rutkis as well as all the volunteers who made this happen!

The Science of Love...

Two things to absolutely make me uncomfortable: SCIENCE and LOVE!

So here I go being awkward again, and what made me think of this is an experience working with a class on an ACT passage that included "A Tree. A Rock. A Cloud." by Carson McCullers. I have since become fascinated with this idea, the science of love. What would happen if we all loved each other without condition? And, just as the man ends the conversation with the young boy, "I love you," what would happen if we ended more interactions with these three words?

I. Love. You.

Now, don't get me wrong, there are many interpretations for love and much power associated with these words; however, why not think of it this way? For every person you meet, love them for being themselves, whether that self is developing, just like you, or the opposite of you. With so much power in these words, what I began to think about while reading was, what power could be gained through simply loving the people I come in contact with? Why's it so difficult to love others without condition?

The truth is somewhere in this, many people will let you down and we might let others down. That's what makes it tough. But, the hero in the story is the one who continues to love, just as Lauryn Hill spelled out in a favorite album of mine, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, to

L-O-V-E, regardless.

Another recent hit, by One Republic goes, "Oh, this could really be a good life."

I believe it may just be <3!

Some quotes from the story I LOOOOVE...

"It is hard to explain scientifically, Son," he said. "I guess the logical explanation is that she and I had fleed around from each other for so long that finally we just got tangled up together and lay down and quit. Peace. A queer and beautiful blankness. It was spring in Portland and the rain came every afternoon. All evening I just stayed there on my bed in the dark. And that is how the science come to me."

"Anything. I would walk around and I had no power of how and when to remember her. You think you can put up a kind of shield. But remembering don't come to a man face forward—it corners around sideways. I was at the mercy of everything I saw and heard. Suddenly instead of me combing the countryside to find her, she begun to chase me around in my very soul. She chasing me mind you! And in my soul."

Here's an online version of the story

----->http://www.osu.cz/ffi/kaa/dokumenty/kolar/tree_rock_cloud.htm

For more incurable optimism, watch War Horse or Secretariat!

AND, GO MUSTANGS! :)