state of union | transform. | january 2011
http://transformativechange.org/transform/journal/201101.html
Read this version online: http://transformativechange.org/transform/journal/201101.html Download printable PDF version: http://transformativechange.org/transform/print/201101.pdf This month's transform.: http://transformativechange.org/transform/?announce-transformonline/
welcome
what's new
Goodbye 2010. Hello 2011!
YES! to Transformative Change
January was named after Janus, a two-faced Roman god who looked back at the old year and forward to the new year. Even then, people were sorting out how well the previous year had gone and making resolutions for the new one. All around the world, every culture has its own version of how to start the new year out right, whether they follow a solar or lunar calendar. The Chinese, for instance, clean their homes to sweep out bad fortune. Black folks, with ties to the South (and white Southerners for that matter), eat collard greens for money and black-eyed peas for luck. In Japan, people begin the new year with laughter for good luck.
support of young leaders who
So, how do you want to start things out? Some of us go full steam ahead from midnight on the 1st of January until midnight on the 31st of December. Some of us figure it out as we go along. Almost all of us consider how we used to be, what we used to do, and how we can do it better. In this issue, we include some of the best articles of 2010 from transformative change organizations. These were a few great things about 2010. Here's to the fabulous stories of 2011. Happy New Year!
YES! is known for its global strive to make internal, [image: Filomena Scalise]
interpersonal and systemic social change real. CXC is known for
making inner practice accessible to activists so that the way we do change will change. After Ocean Robbins, who co-founded YES! (Youth for Environmental Sanity), stepped down after twenty years as the organization's director, CXC and YES! decided to develop a strategic partnership, one that merges the best of each organization... Read more...
in SIGHT Harmony—A New Way of Looking at Our World
Harmony Movie Trailer from Balcony Films on Vimeo. "Jambo" Kibera Community, Nairobi, Kenya. image: angel Kyodo williams
No video? Click: http://vimeo.com/16441943
State of Union:
Dubbed the "green movie of the year," Harmony aired
resolution for revolution
reveals himself to be a powerful advocate not only for
INcite with angel Kyodo williams
during NBC's Green Week. Great Britian's Prince Charles the environment, but for a "new way of looking at our world." The film takes a realistic look at the environmental challenges we face but also shares compelling solutions, including a peek into the understatedly transformative approach of Forest Ethics. Forest Ethics
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state of union | transform. | january 2011
http://transformativechange.org/transform/journal/201101.html
Here we are in October again, just a few short
Subscribe to CXC on YouTube
weeks from Election Day. I wake up to the increasing darkness of October's mornings with a start. Each month, I
in TIME CXC: The Only Full Range of
decide what ideas, thoughts or challenges I'll offer for people to consider with head, heart
Practices Designed for Social Change Agents
and spirit unifying for a call to action. Clearly there is no shortage of topics and issues. The great challenge is to select one that is both timely and transcendent. Monthly Public Talk w/ angel Kyodo williams
With that criteria in mind, I can see there is nothing more important to
fearlessYOGA Sundays
say right now than to implore each and every one of you to show up, to engage, to stay in the game of this strange democracy by rallying every
Community Thursdays
bit of energy you can to vote...and to encourage every one you know to
3|1 Practice: Find Your Center
Yoga and Meditation Mornings
vote, too. I call upon our self-proclaimed Progressives, still comfortable being
in the CENTER
"liberal," who stalwartly make the clarion call for all things being equal:
Our Report Back on 27 Days
rights for women, gays, im/migrants and for all things being civil: End the Wars, Be the Peace, Bring the Troops Home.
of Change | Winter 2010 Thirteen people from around the country recently completed
I call upon us fierce Independents who demand fiscal responsibility,
the Winter 2010 Practice Period.
accountable government and a pause on the party politicking that reveals
Participants worked with many
our politicians' shortage of integrity while getting the rest of us no where
rich intentions to shift challenging relationships and
at all.
perspectives to help find more space, self-awareness, and presence every day.
I call especially upon us Revolutionaries that see through the gaping
Read more...
cracks in the very foundations of this system. We feel reluctant to continue to build our hopes for real change—to rest our dreams for
Register NOW for 27 Days of Change | Spring 2011 27 Days FAQs
survival, security and self-determination—upon a structure that has been flawed since inception. We see our unwanted, cast aside and cast out brothers and sisters peering through from the other side of borders,
Back on the Block
reservations, jail cells, and deeply-drawn lines of poverty. We, above all,
we're shaping up for the new year by bringing attention
must remain determined to reclaim them and reconstitute a system
to the practices that transform lives--because a
reluctant to release old habits of thriving upon the least resourced of us all. To do that, we must stay in the game.
transformative movement is nothing without practice.
The New Dharma Community is back full force. And
And it's nothing without community. So we're re-introducing and refining ways to make what we do
I even call upon the conscious-minded, conservative-valued folks who know deeply that sometimes we must vote on principal for honest, open
accessible to folks in the field. Read more...
leadership even if that does not serve one's short-term political desires. 2010 New Year's Eve | A Time
Combined, we are all Americans: We lament the loss of life, detest
to Release
destroying families, question borders, want freedom for Gaza, troops out of Afghanistan, safety for our children, help for Main Street not Wall
The newDharma Community
Street, green jobs, clean energy, an honest living, a balanced budget, and
Ceremony and Meditation to bid
social security, equity and sustainability for all. To achieve any of this, we must rally. We must go forward, not backward.
held a New Year's Eve Release
[image: Sue Neal]
farewell to 2010 and usher in 2011. Twenty-five folks from
the Bay and beyond gathered at CXC and set their intentions to release what was no longer needed and to
We must stay in the game.
manifest what was to come. The Release Ceremony was conducted by Rev. angel Kyodo williams, and entailed
In the last two years, we did not get all we wanted. We got some flawed policy and, yes, maybe even a flawed president. But we got an honorable man. A decent human being. A caring father. A concerned citizen. A thoughtful listener. A critical thinker. A compassionate leader that must
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an evening of cleansing, support, and connection. Read more...
from the FIELD
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state of union | transform. | january 2011
http://transformativechange.org/transform/journal/201101.html
John Francis the Planet Walker
navigate the concerns of the most diverse electorate in the world.
Dr. John Francis is an American
In short, we got US. Not just you or me. A black or white. A Christian or
environmentalist nicknamed the
Muslim. A working class or elite. We have in our President all of that and thus none of it. We got a true American in the complex fabric that is and
planetwalker. Born in Philadelphia, the son of a West Indian immigrant, he moved to
is still becoming the America of our dreams. So the seeking of simple outcomes to our complex problems makes us naive. Turning our backs or
[image: Art Rogers]
sitting on the disgruntled sidelines makes us irresponsible.
young man. After witnessing the devastation caused by
Marin County, California as a
a 1971 oil spill in San Francisco Bay, he stopped riding
The complexity of our desires are matched only by the boundlessness of
in motorized vehicles, a vow which lasted 22 years from
our Vision for an America that can embrace us all. The depths of our
1972 until 1994.
disappointment can only be measured against the grand heights of our
Read more...
Hope. The revelation of flaws is a testament to our Faith.
Dr. John Francis' TED Talk
But we have Vision and we have Hope and we have Faith.
inner PRACTICE
More than anything we didn't get in these scant two years, Vision, Hope
28 Days Later
and Faith restored. Possibility, imagination and creativity are poised to
All right, what's your big
replace limitation, fear and contraction. And these, more than any
resolution for 2011? A bunch of
policy, bill or president, will help us re-imagine an America for all Americans.
us at CXC/YES! are committed to meditating every day for at least [image: Zochi Young]
5 minutes. We're part of a virtual practice community called 28
But we must stay in the game.
Days, which was started last year by GibrĂĄn Rivera of IISC (Interaction Institute for Social Change). It's a
—yours in truth, aKw
practice that includes people from all over the country. You can join in for 28 days, 60 days, 90, or, 365. Read more... Join 28 days
P.S., In case we have lost perspective, here's a reminder of The 244 Accomplishments of President Obama.
outer ACTION Transformative Organizing: Towards Liberation of Self and
and if, as a frustrated change agent, you ask yourself why you bother, Ian
Society
Rhett of Civic Actions reminds you to Stay in the Game here.
Social Justice Leadership (SJL) proposes a new framework for
If you haven't figured out that indeed you are and must be an American Revolutionary no matter how much the system wants to count you out, start to "assert (your) solutions as the living embodiment of (your) nationality along with Adrienne Maree Brown.
social justice movement organizing. Transformative Organizing (TO) aims to change the basic approach and assumptions of movement organizing and to greatly expand its impact.
"TO is about creating deep change in how we are as
special shout out to Ian Rhett, adrienne maree brown, Jodie Tonita, Gibran Rivera and the whole 2010 Web of Change crew (Canadians included!) that keep me compelled to stay in the game. --aKw angel Kyodo williams, is Founder Emeritus of Center for Transformative Change. She now serves as Director of Vision. A social visionary and leading voice for transformative social change, she is
people, how we relate to each other..." Read more... Social Justice Leadership
social CHANGE The Revolution Will Not Be Tweeted
the author of Being Black: Zen and the Art of Living With Fearlessness
IISC does workshops, trainings,
and Grace.
consultations and network building that establishes
Blog: new Dharma: live, love & lead from the heart Facebook: Like angel here Twitter: Follow angel for tweets of wisdom on Change Web: http://angelkyodowilliams.com
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[image: Filomena Scalise]
sustainable social change. This piece from their October 2010
blog highlights Malcolm Gladwell's article, "Small
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state of union | transform. | january 2011
http://transformativechange.org/transform/journal/201101.html
Change: Why the Revolution Will Not Be Tweeted,"
angel Kyodo williams' next public talk:
which points to what causes movements to have lasting
Thursday, January 20 @ CXC
impact.
newDharma Talk newDharma Talk | True Community What are the things we need to do to really Be the Change we wish to see in the world? Solve political conflicts? Save the environment? And more than that,
Malcolm Gladwell has certainly whipped up something of a firestorm, at least among social media and network enthusiasts. Read more... Article: Why the Revolution Will Not Be Tweeted Part Two of a Response to Gladwell's Article
how can we show up as we are and be seen? Listen to this new Dharma Talk (from our June 2010 edition) to discover the value of being who you ARE in community.
in the MIND Robert & Judith Gass: The Art of Conscious Relationship
Listen to True Community
Breaking from our usual
Download text for True Community
exploration of the workings of the mind, this audio piece by [image: Arvind Balaraman]
Robert Gass (Rockwood Leadership Institute) and Judith
activists, allies & agents of change
Gass gives us a chance to consider how to be more mindful about our relationships. They say
Grace Lee Boggs | The Answers Are Coming from the Bottom Democracy Now!'s June 2010 interview with Grace Lee Boggs, "a Detroit-based radical organizer and philosopher. Born to Chinese immigrant parents in 1915, Grace Lee Boggs has been involved with the civil rights, Black Power, labor, environmental justice, and feminist movements over the past [image: Robert Shetterly] seven decades. Along with her late husband Jimmy Boggs, Grace has been at the forefront of efforts to rebuild urban communities." Read more... Boggs Center Americans Who Tell the Truth Democracy Now! video interview
resources for transformative change‌
"Relationships are the mirror to our most truthful behavior. There is no place to hide in a relationship." It is the first of four parts. If you're inspired by part one, listen to parts two, three, and four. Part One: The Art of Conscious Relationship Parts Two, Three, & Four: The Art of Conscious Relationship fearless Meditation is a 3-part signature series that teaches practical meditation within a social justice framework. It's offered for no charge for agents of social change.
"the best workshop i've ever taken. radically changed my work." fearless Meditation I: Jan 7, 2011 & every 1st Friday | 7pm
This month learn more about Dr. John Francis, whose short video was filmed at the Center for Whole Communities, a land-based leadership development organization that works on a multitude of levels to support those doing environmental work.
in the BODY Teaching Students to Turn Inside: Yoga & Mindful
Dr. John Francis on environmental change
Awareness Interview with Carla Stangenberg
Read more work from Adrienne Maree Brown's blog, the Luscious Satyagraha. Adrienne Maree: The Luscious Satyagraha
Yoga is a physical practice [image: Federico Stevanin]
which can let us connect deeply to what's going on in our
minds. In this interview, yoga teacher Carla
Read about how stone circles and the stone house sustains activists and strengthens the work of justice through spiritual practice and principles. stone circles
Stangenberg talks about the bridge between body and mind in yoga. Carla Stangenberg has been the director of the Jaya Yoga Center in Brooklyn, New York since October 2005.
quote of the month "I've grown impatient with the kind of debate we used to have about
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G: So what comes up—if you're trying to do a particular pose and not getting there?
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state of union | transform. | january 2011
http://transformativechange.org/transform/journal/201101.html
whether the optimists are right or the pessimists are right. Neither are right. There is too much bad news to justify complacency. There is too much good news to justify despair." Donella Meadows, Author, Environmental Scientist
support deep change
C: What comes up for me are the same things I see in my students--because we're the same. I get frustrated, angry, doubtful, self-conscious, competitive, I get all of those things and that's helpful, because when I get on the New York City subway, all those emotions are going to come up in me... Read more...
transform. is published by the Center for Transformative Change (CXC) CXC is the first national center entirely dedicated to bridging the inner and outer lives of social change agents, activists and allies to support a
wellness & being well Wisdom from Jodie's House Adrienne Maree Brown's blog,
more effective, more sustainable social justice movement.
Luscious Satyagraha, includes wisdom on transformation and
We name, frame and advance Transformative Social Change by both
activism. In this piece she
developing practices and programs for agents of social change and
introduces us to two meaningful
working in collaboration with leading organizations to help shape this emerging movement. Most importantly, CXC reflects the field and the
[image: Renjith Krishnan]
movement back to itself by publishing the transform. blog and monthly
Jodie's house (Jodie Tonita of the Social Transformation
journal, thus strengthening our collective identity, community, and shared vision.
Project). Both articles ask us to give attention to our
articles discovered on a visit to
relationship to food and the earth. Read more...
This long-term vision for shifting the paradigm of work for justice, changing the WAY change is done, will fundamentally alter broad-based social change at its very core--from inner to outer--resulting in a more
Article: Thich Nhat Hahn's 5 Contemplations for Eating in Mindfulness Article: Vandana Shiva Interview
just, equitable society for all. Great vision takes great action and our work is not possible without the
january wallpaper
generous support and partnership of individuals like you. The publication of transform. is made possible by your direct contribution. No amount is too small…so make your contribution to deep change today. Donate to CXC Visit the Center's website What is Transformative Change? Find out HERE
blue Sirkeci (seer-ke-jee) train station in Istanbul is the former end point of the infamous Orient Express. Still an active and hustling station for commuter and transcontinental journeying, its modern (1890) design was reknowned worldwide and is largely preserved to this day. This German-made Krauss steam locomotive #2251, built in 1874 and displayed outside the station, is a classic of its time. "TCDD" are the initials of the Turkish State Railways or "Trkiye Cumhuriyeti Devlet
Demiryollari" photo copyright 2010. angel Kyodo williams
Download this image as wallpaper with or without calendar for your desktop. Download with calendar... Download without calendar...
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state of union | transform. | january 2011
http://transformativechange.org/transform/journal/201101.html
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Center for Transformative Change is a project of urbanPEACE, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit educational organization whose mission to inform, incite and empower a broad-based, presence-centered, transformative social change movement.
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