Rivera Sun's Blog: From the Desk of Rivera Sun, page 36

Oct 12th March Against Monsanto – ’cause nature does it best!

On Saturday, Oct 12th, I will go down to the Taos Farmers Market with my banner and cardboard sign and join the worldwide March Against Monsanto. On that day, millions of activists from around the world will once again March Against Monsanto, calling for the permanent boycott of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) and other harmful agro-chemicals. Currently, marches will occur on six continents, in 52 countries, with events in over 400 cities. In the US, solidarity marches are slated to occur in 47 states. A comprehensive list of marches can be accessed at www.march-against-monsanto.com.

Jim Cook, my father

This march is personal as well as political. To the left is a photo of my father, Jim Cook, below are my sisters and my mother. In the mid-nineties, along with my younger brothers, the family broke from the standard American lifestyle, and moved to an organic farm as far north in Maine as you can get without ending up in Canada. From that day forward, my family has been a part of the growing movement toward local, sustainable, and organic food.

As the child of east coast hippies (now you know where the name Rivera comes from), Monsanto’s Genetically Modified Organisms were that gut-clenching invention that made my teenage mouth drop open. Yes, I was dramatic, even back then, but growing up on an organic farm made me aware of the sheer vitality of plants and the great abundance of this earth. The solutions to the problems that plague modern agriculture, to me, lay in soil cultivation, intelligent pest control, crop rotations, and caring for the land . . . not in changing the genetic structure of plants.

With March Against Monsanto, I decided to show up for the planet, humanity, and our food by helping to bring citizens out to demonstrate their belief in a saner future. Here in the tiny town of Taos, NM, we won’t be blockading Monsanto’s corporate office or even visiting our legislators. We will, however, be exercising our freedom of speech and showing our community that we care. In a region where corn is a way of life and the signature chilies are being threatened by the development of a GMO chili, this issue touches deep roots. It also strikes the painful chord of poverty and hunger. Many families here cannot afford food, period . . . let alone the higher price of organic, non-GMO food. If we wish to ban GMOs, we must also address the economic disparities that plague our nation and our world.

From left to right: Marada Cook, Leah Cook, Kate Cook, and yours truly, Rivera Sun photo by Madeleine de Sinety

The efforts toward economic and social justice are vital to us all. When we strive for one change, such as the banning of GMOs, we must simultaneously work on many other interconnected issues, including the gap between the rich and the poor, corporate power, labor issues, climate change, defending basic civil liberties and human rights. All of these issues are entwined with each other . . . and no matter where we tug the web, the whole sticky mess starts to shift.

“Imagine all the people, animals, plants, and elements . . . imagine them like gossamer spider webs, strung out across the expanse of the Earth. Every issue, every field, every person is a part of this. If we tug at this sticky spot . . . the whole web puckers and wrinkles, but it’s all too sticky with injustice to split. We’ve got to break the old web and build a new one . . . do you understand?” -from Steam Drills, Treadmills, and Shooting Stars: a novel on coal and climate change by Rivera Sun

In my next article, I will explore a few unexpected, heartwarming tales about food justice in the private, public, and professional arenas. If this article provoked any thoughts, please leave your comments below. I am always happy to hear from readers. In the sidebar of the blog, you can also sign up to follow this blog via email!

And don’t forget to March Against Monsanto Oct 12th, noon, everywhere!

Yours in love and revolution, Rivera Sun

Writing the Soul On Fire!

Rivera Sun with her latest book, The Dandelion Insurrection

(An article by Rivera Sun, written at the request of Khem Aryal as a guest post on his blog Red Stanza. Please visit his wonderful site, if you have a moment.) There is no safe route through these wild times we live in. The North Pole is a lake, Australia’s center bakes with heat, drought and frost wreak havoc on America’s heartland, and greed would put a price on water and buy up the birthright of us all. I am a writer with a soul on fire. I do not write for posterity . . . I write for today. Our species hangs by an uncertain thread over the black pit of extinction. All the considerations of writers before us have no weight or value in these times. The scorn of reviewers steeped in academia does not matter. The famous canon of literature will be worthless without humans left to read it. It is time to write like there is no tomorrow. Past and future have condensed into a single quivering drop of dew called Now. So, go ahead. Sit down and write that magnum opus. Hold back nothing. Bare your writer’s soul like a youth inflamed with passion. Life is too short to do things by halves. Sweat, groan, pace, tear up your pages in disgust, shake the cramps from your hand, swig another gulp of tea as you wrestle with that tempestuous, perfect metaphor. Plunge your soul into humanity’s river, baptize your self in our folly, and be reborn into our beauty. It is with this ferocious spirit that I wrote The Dandelion Insurrection, from scrawl of lead and eraser bits scattered across the backside of drafts of earlier novels to the typing that clattered like rain on a tin roof, to the cannon’s burst of publishing that shot the stuntman out into the air with fireworks of excitement. The Dandelion Insurrection is a story of love and revolution in America; of corporate tyranny and nonviolent struggle; of characters so real you will swear you have met them; and an epic myth that charts a course through the treacherous waters of our times. It began humbly, by the fire in the quiet hush of winter in Northern New Mexico, where I live in the shadow of the Sangre de Christo Mountains. I poured a cup of tea and turned my thoughts to how I could help our culture strengthen itself for the many struggles that lie ahead. We are a culture stretched between Disneyland and Hollywood, wallowing in over-consumption as our economy collapses. Yet, a lineage of struggle runs through our bloodstream. We are the children not just of railroad barons and perpetrators of genocide; we rise from the bones of those who sought to end slavery; we emerge from the women who demanded suffrage; we have, until recently, enjoyed the fruits of those laborers who demanded better working conditions; and these struggles are only the barest glimmer of the story that lies beneath our identity. By equal parts sordid and shameful, courageous and heroic, our history poises the continuous question of what part of this legacy will we strengthen through our lives? As the snow fell in the gray gleam of early darkness, I chose to use my writing to address the injustices of our times. I cast the intrepid explorer of my mind along the trends of our growing police state, government surveillance, corporate control of politics, ecologically devastating resource extraction, increased militarization, rising poverty, collapsing economies, and all that lives in the frightening Pandora’s box that is the United States of America. The depth of winter found me grappling with utter darkness, squinting at the horizon for a glimmer of hope’s light. Spring came, as it always does, sending my imagination into fertile explosions of creativity and possibility as I studied the seminal works of Gene Sharp. The strategic use of nonviolent struggle began to shape The Dandelion Insurrection, grounding it in pragmatic possibility. By midsummer, the novel burst through the lightning storms into the first readers’ hands, ready to inspire us all to courage and action. Responses rolled back immediately, indicating that this book is reaching them like a breath of hope when they are drowning in the black waters of despair. This response inspires me to call my fellow writers into action. It is no time for complacent, self-indulgent, narcissistic writing. These times call for vision and boldness – not just from us, but also from all human beings. If we, as writers, wish to be of service to humanity, we must pick up the mantle of courage and apply unrelenting focus and unwavering awareness to the issues of our times. There is not a grain of sense in writing if the future of humanity slides from uncertain to doomed. We are charged with literary leadership. We cannot slack off in triviality, wallow in indulgent bemoaning, or succumb to the urge to rant . . . not without lifting our minds and pens to positing solutions. We have a responsibility . . . and also an unprecedented opportunity. The imperatives of our time are the standards of our literature. We feel the ticking clock, the growing tensions, and the worrying pressures of our troubled civilizations. It is time to write like there is no tomorrow, to light our souls on fire; to throw open the shutters of our heart and let the blaze of our love come shining through. This is how I write . . . as a lover of humanity and this world. Passion flings my words across the page in a rush of affection for this earth and all it cradles. I use poetics, myth, and romance when appeals to logic are not enough. I study, research, strategize, and contemplate the sociopolitical impact of my words. I am a doctor seeking a cure for my ailing lover, bending my mind and my craft to the service of my heart. Humanity is navigating the rocky shoals of extinction. We can be beacons in the night, a generation of writers who sounded the foghorns of warning and guided humanity with our light. “Give your writing every last drop of your faith in humanity. Pour your heart and soul into this moment of human history. It will either be the beginning of a new world . . . or our last days on earth.” -The Dandelion Insurrection by Rivera Sun Author/Actress Rivera Sun sings the anthem of our times and rallies us to meet adversity with gusto. In addition to The Dandelion Insurrection, she is the author of nine plays, a book of poetry, and her debut novel, Steam Drills, Treadmills, and Shooting Stars, which celebrates everyday heroes who meet the challenges of climate change with compassion, spirit, and strength. Rivera lives in an earthship house in Taos, New Mexico. She has red hair, a twin sister, and a fondness for esoteric mystics. Everything else about her -except her writing- is perfectly ordinary. 

“True Radicals” – by Tangerine Bolen

Tangerine Bolen, Executive Director of Revolution Truth

(Rivera’s Note: Friends, this article is from the incomparable Tangerine Bolen, whom I am honored to call a friend. A deep thinker, a torch bearer, an incredible woman, Tangerine is a soul worth savoring, in word and in person. Consider yourself fortunate for a chance at either. Enjoy her words on true radicals … and leave your thoughts in the comments section below. Thank you!)

“On True Radicals” -a guest post from Tangerine Bolen, Executive Director at Revolution Truth

True radicals don’t treat people with derision and contempt. They don’t bully those with whom they disagree, or reflexively assume, as a mantle, a moral or intellectual superiority that arises out of their ideology. In fact, true radicals constantly question ideology, constantly challenge themselves first and foremost, and choose to go on deeper and deeper quests, no matter the material or social cost. True radicals don’t necessarily “sound” radical; they are radical in that they constantly attempt to dissolve walls and to discover deeper, universal truths – truths that offer little earthly or social reward.

True radicals break with society where society is broken and unbending, but then they keep going, if they can, for to break with society is to become an outcast. It is to be rejected by most people and by all tribes. It is the only option – that, or to face adulation and constant projection of the sort that is flattering only to those who still subscribe to transitory rewards.

True radicals face being outcasts, discarded by their peers, rejected in power circles (that would otherwise greatly respect their intellect or sheer gumption), and misunderstood by the masses. They often face a life of monetary hardship.

True radicals are hard to find, by this definition. And perhaps, in truth, people are true radicals by degrees. For to continually choose to dissolve walls and walk on the margins is to be passively or actively rejected by one’s family or peers, when every single human being has need of connectedness. It is to walk the hardest walk of all: that of shattering and re-shattering all illusions . . . that of diving ever deeper into love. And for people who are radical by default; people who love life and this planet so, so much; people for whom our mass madness is daily excruciating, so much so that they have had no choice but to leap off of some sort of cliff, to risk all, to tell harder, greater truths . . . well, that leap can become a daily exercise in diving through bitterness.

I think so many promising people – people of truly great mind, heart, and spirit – take such a leap and find there is far too little providing air under their wings. The leap is long, lonely, and for some, increasingly hollow, despite its initial richness (and despite the knowledge that it is not, indeed, the truly hollow thing). Courage brings too few rewards, and perhaps too much loss. (“Truth has no friends”, a fellow said once, “only suicides”).

And in order to remain truly radical, and perhaps even to keep one’s sanity after making that leap, one must have the courage and the wherewithal to keep diving, ever, ever more. Beyond anything we could have dreamed, everything we ever feared, beyond all loss and all hope, to something we cannot yet know or name. People have done this. We have called them divine. We have called them mystics. And we tend to silence them, or to forget them, to turn our backs on awareness of the sacred. We turn our backs, in our distractedness, our fears or pettiness, on flight itself – the kind of flight that dives and wings and soars, and defies time and bodies and gravity.

One cannot know when one takes a leap off the metaphorical cliff if one will fall, fly, or die. Some fly. Many fall. Some die. But there is much grace to be found in the simple act of trying, no matter our defeats. (And great loss wishes to say to me, “are you telling me the truth?” And on my still days, even in its dying, my body forms a resounding “yes”).

I wish for air under the unfurled wings of each one of us. Air, and love, and courage, and hope, to keep diving, and winging, beyond our darkened skies, beyond any dawning.

Dandelion Insurrection Discussion Groups!

You ask for it . . . you get it! I’m jumping up and down excited to announce our Book Club Special! Designed for discussion groups and book clubs, this is your chance to gather a group of friends, bake cookies, and Skype with me (author Rivera Sun).  Many thanks to everyone who contacted me about this – it has been a long time dream of mine to connect with readers in this way.  Your encouragement brought the dream into reality!  Discussion questions, readers’ guides, behind the scenes stories, and conversations such as how to bring The Dandelion Insurrection to life are all a part of our Book Club Special.  The best part is that the special applies to any of my novels, so you could also read Steam Drills, Treadmills, and Shooting Stars with your group, too! Blessings to you all, Rivera Sun

Book Club Special - 10 Books, Discussion Guide, and Live Skype with Rivera Sun!A pot of tea, a tray of cookies, and a group of dear friends...discussion groups and book clubs love Rivera Sun's novels. Packed with rich metaphor, current issues, memorable scenes, and delightful characters, these novels are made for deep conversations. Author Rivera Sun loves to connect with readers and as part of the Book Club Special will Skype-chat with your group. Discussion questions and Reader's Guides are also included. (Please note, this offer is for the U.S. only. Readers in Canada, the United Kingdom, and other countries can email us to set up a Book Club package w/ reasonable shipping: info@risingsundancetheater.com) Quantity: Book : Steam DrillsDandelion InsurrectionFreedom StoriesImagine-a-nation Price: $150.00

Love, Revolution, and Gratitude!

(photo of Ryan Ullrich by Erin C. Potter in the Housatonic River Valley in western Massachusetts.)

(Rivera’s Closing Update to The Dandelion Insurrection’s Successful Indiegogo Campaign)

Dear Friends,

The Dandelion Insurrection’s Indiegogo Campaign closed last night at 128% funded, far above our original goal. The statistic translates into the generosity of so many people … many who could not contribute financially but sent messages to their friends about this book … and others who contributed generously … and still more people who scraped together their donations in proportion to their own economic pictures, knowing that five dollars from someone without much income was as significant as five hundred from another. Each and every contribution is held dear to my heart … as are the friendships and connections that have been forged through this campaign.

Your belief in this book humbles me.

From its inception, The Dandelion Insurrection has been a prophetic mirror, both reflecting and predicting events within our world. The book is, as the Buddhists put it, a mutually arising phenomenon in which reality and fiction collide. For example, the Indiegogo campaign closed at midnight last night, and this morning a handful of readers attended a webinar led by Jamila Raqib, the Executive Director of the Albert Einstein Institution, an organization that promotes Gene Sharp’s work on nonviolent struggle (which was a major influence on the novel). The gutsy claim of this campaign, “Some books are destined to change history” is true. When people ask me, “Do you think this book will change the world?” I can answer confidently, “It already has.”

… and the adventure has only just begun.

I invite your participation in using this novel to ignite social change. Please don’t be shy. I’m very friendly and love hearing from you! Stay connected through social media and email. Send me your ideas and news of projects & actions. I’ll be posting short articles and real-life Dandelion Insurrection stories on my blog: http://www.risingsundancetheater.com/wpblog/ and also doing book groups, discussions, and Skype talks. There are exciting things happening all over the globe … and we are a part of it, my friends!

I will also be live-streaming an all-new performance for our mid-October official release of The Dandelion Insurrection. Anyone who has followed my theater works knows not to miss this! Rally your friends, bake cookies (I’ll send you my favorite recipe) and party with us!

Be kind. Be connected. Be unafraid.

With gratitude and love,

Rivera Sun

Calling all Dandelions! Read the book and spread the word!

Become a part of the community that is publishing this stirring novel of love and revolution!

August has rolled in faster than a thunderstorm! Yesterday, a rainbow stretched across the Sangre De Christo Mountains . . . a fittingly auspicious sign since the Dandelion Insurrection is nearly here! The First Edition of The Dandelion Insurrection will be released in October, but I’ve got a hot-off-the-press Advance Reader Copy available for friends and supporters through our Indiegogo campaign!

http://igg.me/at/Dandebook

“When fear is used to control us, love is how we rebel!”

The Dandelion Insurrection is a wild adventure of nonviolent revolution in the United States. Under a gathering storm of tyranny, Zadie Byrd Gray whirls into the life of Charlie Rider and asks him to become the voice of the Dandelion Insurrection. With the rallying cry of life, liberty, and love, Zadie and Charlie fly across America leaving a wake of revolution in their path. Passion erupts. Danger abounds. The lives of millions hang by a thin thread of courage, but in the midst of the madness, the golden soul of humanity blossoms . . . and miracles start to unfold!

This stirring story of love and revolution is a community published book, made possible by people like you . . .

Yesterday’s rainbow over the mountains near Rivera’s home in Taos, NM

A revolution is happening in the arts and social causes. All of our old systems are crumbling in the fertile ground of the new. As an author, I am moving beyond the realms of independent publishing into the unchartered territory of ‘interdependent’ publishing. A novel like The Dandelion Insurrection arises through the collected enthusiasm of readers, supporters, visionaries, editors, and a whole community of people from around the globe! It is an incredible change to the publishing industry that allows we, the people, to seize the reins of narration and change the story of the world! It’s an exciting time and I invite you to be a part of it by supporting this Community Published Book.

http://igg.me/at/Dandebook

Thank you everyone! Watch our Indiegogo video . . . if only to see me baking bread in my adobe oven in my cut-off shorts . . . and join me on this adventure of releasing The Dandelion Insurrection!

Rivera Sun preparing her hand built wood fired oven for baking.

In other news, my kale is growing vibrantly, the wild baby lizards are the size of my toe, my mother is getting remarried in a week, and I’ll be visiting the Crown of Maine (stayed tuned for photos and videos of the St. John Valley, the setting of the Dandelion Insurrection’s  opening scenes). Dariel is happy as a desert clam in the earthship, cultivating eight-foot tall tomato trees and doing a wonderful job getting these heart-warming stories of mine into your hands!

I hope your summer has been filled with warmth and abundance! I’ll leave you with some excerpts from the Dandelion Insurrection.

See more on our Indiegogo campaign and in my Facebook Notes. Twitter fans will be enjoying a beautiful collection of short quotes that can be shared with friends.

“The Dandelion Insurrection was as small as baking bread in your oven, and as large as bringing down dictators. It was practical and metaphorical, symbolic and literal. It was real. It was legend. It spread hope. It grew kindness. It sowed the seeds of resistance in the ground of adversity. In the soil of oppression, in the shadow of fear, in the stranglehold of tyranny, in the death grip of greed, when the concrete of control paved the goodness of the heart, the Dandelion Insurrection sprang up through the cracks.” The Dandelion Insurrection -love and revolution by Rivera Sun

“We must show them that the greatest force on earth is not the government, not the corporations, and not the military . . . the greatest force on earth is the love of the people for each other!” The Dandelion Insurrection -love and revolution by Rivera Sun

Get a hot-off-the-press copy of the Dandelion Insurrection: http://igg.me/at/Dandebook

100 Fearless Summer Tweets from “Steam Drills, Treadmills, and Shooting Stars” -a novel on climate change by Rivera Sun

100 Tweets from “Steam Drills, Treadmills, and Shooting Stars” -a novel on climate change by Rivera Sun. These are offered in support of the social media campaign of #FearlessSummer. Please share far and wide. If you enjoy them, consider reading the whole novel! http://www.amazon.com/Steam-Drills-Treadmills-Shooting-times/dp/0984813225

Tweet this List to friends and groups!

100 Great Tweets to use and share for #NoKXL #FEARLESSSUMMER #StopMTR bit.ly/twetlist

RiveraSun~ There can be no more life as usual. We need to live life unusual, and get ready for the adventure of a lifetime #FEARLESSSUMMER

RiveraSun~ A hero is someone who stands his or her ground on behalf of humanity #FEARLESSSUMMER #NoKXL #StopMTR

RiveraSun~ This is our myth, our great legend, the story that our ancestors will tell of us around the campfire #STOPMTR

Rivera Sun~ Legends are made of regular guys who just get up in the overwhelming ordinariness of their days & change. #NoKXL #StopMTR

RiveraSun~ Some things, like shaving, protesting and living a life of conviction, have to be a daily practice #FEARLESSSUMMER

RiveraSun~ We are calling in the sleeping heroes who have been awakening #NoKXL #FEARLESSSUMMER #StopMTR

RiveraSun~ Leave your uncertainties, your fears, and your hesitation. You may feel unprepared, but come anyway #NoKXL #FEARLESSSUMMER

RiveraSun~ Hidden in our very ordinariness is our heroism #NoKXL #FEARLESSSUMMER #StopMTR

RiveraSun~ There are three hundred million American heroes, each one just waiting to be called #NoKXL #FEARLESSSUMMER

RiveraSun~ The disease of lack of caring is eating at our hearts @RiveraSunAuthor #FEARLESSSUMMER #NoKXL

RiveraSun~ We’re on the front lines of life and death. The battlefield is all around us #FEARLESSSUMMER #NoKXL

RiveraSun~ This whole world is propelled by love. It’s the fuel that got us where we are today, not coal or gas or oil #FEARLESSSUMMER

RiveraSun~ Baby-stroller marches! Protest as fashion! As weight loss! #FEARLESSSUMMER #NoKXL #StopMTR

RiveraSun~ Make it fun, huh? He’d be down there at the protest singing Yankee Doodle instead of chanting angry slogans #FEARLESSSUMMER

RiveraSun~ “We can’t have moms and children in the streets.”No, Jack snorted very quietly, that would change this country #StopMTR

RiveraSun~ We’ve got to wake this nation up and it’ll take every alarm clock that we’ve got #FEARLESSSUMMER #NoKXL

RiveraSun~ We need to treat ourselves like a national crisis,” she said. “We are one” #FEARLESSSUMMER #StopMTR

RiveraSun~ We’ve got to make change our national pastime and hold protests more regularly than weekend parties #FEARLESSSUMMER

RiveraSun~ Stop listening to the TV tell you about America the beautiful… up and be America the beautiful #FEARLESSSUMMER #NoKXL

RiveraSun~ We’ve got a whole new way of life just waiting to be born! #FEARLESSSUMMER #NoKXL #StopMTR

RiveraSun~ We’ve got a chance to remake ourselves & our whole society; to throw out the old, and bring in something better! #StopMTR

RiveraSun~ If our country can rouse itself to greet the dawn that’s coming, we’ll awaken in a world we can hardly even imagine! #StopMTR

RiveraSun~ If we want a better life, we got to redefine better It ain’t gonna be about money, comforts, gadgets #StopMTR

RiveraSun~ Money is meant for taking care of our communities, not just ourselves #FEARLESSSUMMER #NoKXL

RiveraSun~ A few rich people in this country own most of the wealth. The rest of us are fighting for their pocket change #FEARLESSSUMMER #NoKXL

RiveraSun~ We don’t need leaders who don’t care about us #FEARLESSSUMMER #NoKXL #STOPMTR

RiveraSun~ Genocidal leaders are but specks of dust compared to the mountain ranges of people who stand by doing nothing #FEARLESSSUMMER #NoKXL

RiveraSun~ We need a weight-loss plan, a healthy one, for the fattest pocketbooks in our country #NoKXL #StopMTR

RiveraSun~ Like an overgrowth of cancer, a mass of wealth among the very few is going to destroy the vitality of all #FEARLESSSUMMER #NoKXL

RiveraSun~ The world has shrunk, crisscrossed by global connections that pull whole continentals onto collision courses #FEARLESSSUMMER

RiveraSun~ Someone has to lead and that someone is every single one of us #FEARLESSSUMMER #NoKXL

RiveraSun~ Do you care enough about this world, your family, and yourself to sign up for this revolution? #FEARLESSSUMMER #NoKXL

RiveraSun~ The swelling crowd pushed against fear and danger, thirsty for the dropping rain of change #FEARLESSSUMMER

RiveraSun~ This is no ordinary workday in America.Life as usual cannot continue on its devastating path #FEARLESSSUMMER

RiveraSun~ No more waiting for politicians! No more waiting for laws! The time is now! #FEARLESSSUMMER #NoKXL

RiveraSun~ The time is now! The change is you! Look around! @RiveraSunAuthor #FEARLESSSUMMER

RiveraSun~“The time is here! The place is now! The change is us! @RiveraSunAuthor #FEARLESSSUMMER

RiveraSun~ Sign it! Share it! Send it! Shout it! The Change is us! @RiveraSunAuthor #FEARLESSSUMMER

RiveraSun~ The Earth was singing her revolution. She was calling her brave men and women to her defense #FEARLESSSUMMER #STOPMTR #NoKXL

RiveraSun~ I call for a declaration of our allegiance to our entire globe as our Earth calls us to end our abusive practices #FEARLESSSUMMER #STOPMTR #NoKXL

RiveraSun~ If we want to be loyal to our country, we have be loyal to the earth that keeps us all alive! #FEARLESSSUMMER #STOPMTR #NoKXL

RiveraSun~ We must shift our table to be round and offer the entire world a seat #FEARLESSSUMMER #STOPMTR #NoKXL

RiveraSun~ The throbbing cries of protesters demanded justice for the ravaged mountains in the coalfields of West Virginia #FEARLESSSUMMER

RiveraSun~ Whole mountains had vanished since his peach-fuzz days. Flattening Appalachia was as ordinary to Jack as shaving #FEARLESSSUMMER

RiveraSun~ Mountaintop removal is a sandbox game for the big boys, but it leaves an acrid taste in one’s mouth #FEARLESSSUMMER

RiveraSun~ It’s us, she wanted them to know. Whole bodies ripped to shreds. Mountain ranges torn to pieces #StopMTR

RiveraSun~ She stepped out onto an eerie flatness that had no business being in Appalachia #FEARLESSSUMMER #STOPMTR #NoKXL

RiveraSun~ The mountains formed a line of hope in her battle against despair; each fallen acre ripped a mountain from their future #StopMTR

RiveraSun~ They’d like to hide this from the world, but it’s hard to hide a mountain, even one that’s been torn apart #FEARLESSSUMMER

RiveraSun~ It’s too hot for springtime, I tell you. Anybody who don’t believe in global warming is just plain stupid #FEARLESSSUMMER

RiveraSun~ My retirement fund from the coal company is a pay-on-death-account, which is why they haven’t killed me yet! #StopMTR

RiveraSun~ Her grim work was etched in her face, scarred by too many years of bad news from the coalfields of West Virginia #StopMTR

RiveraSun~ Mountaintop removal overfill dumps bury headwaters of streams and let high levels of minerals taint the water runoff #StopMTR

RiveraSun~ Dust from the mines flies around on the air and settles onto everything, poisoning people and wildlife #STOPMTR #FEARLESSSUMMER

RiveraSun~ Words cannot express to you the tragedy of this ecological holocaust in the mining regions. #STOPMTR #FEARLESSSUMMER

RiveraSun~ Nothing can ever express the empty shock that hits your gut when you realize an entire mountain’s gone #FEARLESSSUMMER #STOPMTR #NoKXL

RiveraSun~ The green forests halted abruptly on the ridgeline precipices of the coalmine. It was dead. Empty. Ripped open #FEARLESSSUMMER #STOPMTR #NoKXL

RiveraSun~ The coal company promises jobs for local families. It takes SIX men to tear apart a mountain #FEARLESSSUMMER #STOPMTR #NoKXL

RiveraSun~ Sometimes think I hear the whole earth screaming #FEARLESSSUMMER #STOPMTR #NoKXL

RiveraSun~ I can’t imagine what the nation is going to think when it realizes what it’s doing. #FEARLESSSUMMER #STOPMTR #NoKXL

RiveraSun~ Give them facts; bio-diversity loss, a million acres of irreparable damage, four thousand miles of streams destroyed #StopMTR

RiveraSun~ Why parrot the same old lines everybody’s tired of hearing? Statistics ain’t keeping those mountains standing #FEARLESSSUMMER

RiveraSun~ No use owning land if the mines over the next ridge start choking you to death with poisonous dust #FEARLESSSUMMER #STOPMTR

RiveraSun~ Those mines won’t be slowing, stopping, or shrinking; only growing bigger each year #FEARLESSSUMMER #STOPMTR #NoKXL

RiveraSun~ We’ll all get swallowed up by pit mining machines or buried by the landslides #FEARLESSSUMMER #STOPMTR #NoKXL

RiveraSun~ Global warming from carbon emissions doesn’t stop anywhere, coal will kill us all, one way or another #FEARLESSSUMMER #STOPMTR #NoKXL

RiveraSun~ If y’all treated me like you do the earth, I’d run your lousy, no-good asses off the face of this planet! #FEARLESSSUMMER #STOPMTR #NoKXL

RiveraSun~ This isn’t about keeping mountains looking pretty. Ending mountaintop removal is about keeping humanity alive #FEARLESSSUMMER #STOPMTR #NoKXL

RiveraSun~ Mountaintop removal is the symptom of a disease called: if-I-can’t-see-it-I-don’t-care #FEARLESSSUMMER

RiveraSun~ Our human family is in some serious trouble. Every mother, father, and child is in danger right now #FEARLESSSUMMER

RiveraSun~ We’ve got to turn our backs on politicians unless they start tackling climate change head on #FEARLESSSUMMER

RiveraSun~ Americans have to humble down and start doing things they don’t like so the whole world has a chance to survive #StopMTR

RiveraSun~ The carbon emissions coming out of coal are gonna spike global warming up high enough to kill us all #StopMTR

RiveraSun~ It’s a whole world of people just like us, going about their daily business as we hurtle toward disaster #StopMTR #FEARLESSSUMMER

RiveraSun~ Seven billion individuals divided by their lack of caring equaled the extinction of mankind #FEARLESSSUMMER

RiveraSun~ Climate change is signaling lights out for coal. Either coal or humans or both are about to become extinct #StopMTR

RiveraSun~ We cannot hold back what’s coming any longer. Not without you. We need you. e need your help #FEARLESSSUMMER

RiveraSun~ Right now, the heroes of humanity are scorned. If we survive, that’s all gonna change. But if we don’t, it won’t matter #FEARLESSSUMMER

RiveraSun~ There are seven billion people on this planet to protect mountains and trees #FEARLESSSUMMER

RiveraSun~ Life as we know it will not continue…because it cannot. Already, it is changing #FEARLESSSUMMER

RiveraSun~ It is a desperate, uncomfortable race, but the truth is, we are running it #FEARLESSSUMMER

RiveraSun~ It is the adventure of a lifetime. Our lifetime. I called for heroes…and here you are! #FEARLESSSUMMER

RiveraSun~ One day, you will look back and proudly tell your grandchildren; I was there. I was a part of the Great Turning #FEARLESSSUMMER

RiveraSun~ Come on America, Sarah thought, let’s meet this climate change challenge in a showdown #FEARLESSSUMMER

RiveraSun~ You are the fuel that runs this country! Your hearts! Your actions! You are America! #FEARLESSSUMMER #STOPMTR #NoKXL

RiveraSun~ The future of humanity is worth more than any amount of money, power, or prestige #FEARLESSSUMMER #StopMTR

RiveraSun~ We are facing a death sentence. If we don’t change our way of life, we are all walking in our graves #FEARLESSSUMMER

RiveraSun~ Continuing to extract and process coal is actively leading toward the deaths of untold numbers of human beings #StopMTR

RiveraSun~ Man must survive with the Earth, or else they will vanish from its face @RiveraSunAuthor #FEARLESSSUMMER

RiveraSun~ We’ve stalled in traffic long enough while the emissions of our lifestyle threaten to kill us. It’s time for us to move #StopMTR

RiveraSun~ In a time of hate, love is a revolutionary act @RiveraSunAuthor #StopMTR #FEARLESSSUMMER

No Time for Television; We Are the News.

Food Not Bombs co-founder Keith McHenry and Actress/Author Rivera Sun

Seven miles down the road from my home, Food Not Bombs co-founder Keith McHenry and friends were popping up the white awning just outside Taos Plaza, spreading out leaflets, opening the solar oven, and setting up the puppet theater.

“You are the actor, the playwright, the producer, and the props!” the puppeteers sang out, reminding us that we write the story of our world.

They shared soup, bread baked in a solar oven, thoughts, ideas, and information on everything from war to the national budget to the problems of GMOs to the FreeSkool classes being offered nearly every day this summer. Food Not Bombs is a thirty-year old organization with over 400 local chapters around the world. Each group is developed through consensus and all follow the basic tenets of providing free vegetarian/vegan food, promoting peace, and a commitment to nonviolence. The Autonomous Playhouse: Food Not Bombs’ Decentralized Radical Puppet Collective performed witty skits and songs about GMOs and Monsanto, startling passersby as the handmade puppets popped out and sang,

“You’re eating GMOs!”

. . . which was a rather gut-wrenching reminder to the well-fed tourists and Taoseños strolling from restaurants to a nearby festival of arts, crafts, antique trucks, and merry-go-rounds. The skit was shown to remind people about the May 25th March Against Monsanto, a worldwide day of action and protest. Check out http://www.march-against-monsanto.com for events in your locale!

March Against Monsanto, May 25th EVERYWHERE!!!!

Here in Taos, we’ll be gathering at the Saturday Farmers’ Market and marching through town. I plan to participate. In my social protest novel on coal and climate change, Steam Drills, Treadmills, and Shooting Stars, the characters journey from passive consumers to active American citizens engaged in social change.  After writing this book, I was struck with a deep sense that activism is not the calling of the radical few, but the hallmark of a functional democracy. Velcrow Ripper’s incredible film, Occupy Love, deepened my belief that this is an era of activism, and we are all called to show up and participate. Velcrow spoke of ‘love-in-action’ and shared the 10 keys of compassionate activism, co-written with Judy Rebick. At the May 25th March Against Monsanto, I will put those concepts into action.

I tend to be a peaceful soul, not prone to any form of anger or outrage. For years, my preconception of protests as chaotic and angry kept me from joining in.  This was partially due to the mainstream media’s very slanted portrayal of such demonstrations. However, my dedicated activist friends tell stories about their experiences that are both beautiful and challenging.  They remind me that demonstrations, marches, and all kinds of activism are needed to help our nation shift to a sustainable society.

Picture of Pancho Ramos Stierle, and two other meditators who were arrested on the steps of Oakland City Hall during the second Occupy Oakland police sweep.

Show up, they urge me. Embody your love-in-action.

An image from Occupy Love of Pancho Ramos Stierle being peaceably arrested in sitting meditation continues to burn in the retina of my memory. That footage of him evokes paintings of the Buddha, the bodhisattvas, the saints of all traditions. It inspires me to move my beliefs into action and bring my full, loving self to the table of social activism.

I encourage you all to consider this as well.

This summer is being touted as “Summer Heat: mass action to stop the climate crisis” by 350.org . . . and it appears to me that the heat of action is being turned onto hundreds of interconnected issues.  From CodePink’s efforts to close Guantanamo to stopping the Keystone Pipeline, activism is coming to the forefront of our lives. The issues we face include banning fracking, preventing the Utah Tar Sands from opening, supporting the Walmart and fast food workers’ campaigns for sustainable wages, the Chicago school closures protests, halting the looming crisis of further warfare, raising awareness about the needless injustice of the sequestration, and much, much more.

The Autonomous Playhouse: Food Not Bombs’ Decentralized Radical Puppet Collective

This summer, I am focusing on releasing my next social protest novel, The Dandelion Insurrection, but I will also make the effort to join in local actions. We have no time for television this summer . . . we are the news and sitcoms, history channel and soap operas all at once. This is one of the wildest moments I think any of us will live through. The question is . . . do you have the courage to join in? As the puppeteers said, we are writing the story of the world and,

“You are the actor, the playwright, the producer, and the props!”

Author/Actress Rivera Sun sings the anthem of our times and rallies us to meet adversity with gusto.  Her recent novel, Steam Drills, Treadmills, and Shooting Stars, celebrates everyday heroes who meet the challenges of climate change with compassion, spirit, and strength. 

Taos May 25th March Against Monsanto Event

https://www.facebook.com/events/506781016043223/?fref=ts

Occupy Love: the movie available for download http://occupylove.org

http://350.org

http://www.codepink4peace.org

http://www.foodnotbombs.net

http://www.tarsandsresist.org

http://reallywalmart.org

https://www.facebook.com/autonomousplayhouse?fref=ts

https://www.facebook.com/FoodNotBombsFreeSkool?fref=ts

10 Keys to Compassion Activism by Velcrow Ripper and Judy Rebick http://rabble.ca/books/reviews/2013/04/10-key-points-becoming-more-compassionate-activist#.UZeOr0FGzwM.twitter

Every Mountain is a Sacred Mountain

Otero Mesa, New Mexico has been successfully fighting off the oil and gas industry for ten years. Now it is at risk from mountaintop removal for rare elements.

“We reach our highest peaks only by standing on the shoulders of our mountains.” -Rivera Sun

Mountains are on my mind. Even as the sun greets me over the gorgeous Sangre De Christo Mountains in New Mexico, my birth state, Maine, awakens to find their own peaks threatened by legislation allowing open pit mining and mountaintop removal. Meanwhile, friends in Appalachia are welcoming home their ‘mountain heroes’ who delivered coal-mining poisoned water samples to EPA offices in Washington, D. C. this weekend.

Will it ever stop?

Mountaintop removal and open pit mining are heartbreakingly brutal methods of mineral and fossil fuel extraction.

The shift to a sustainable society looms in front of us like a mountain. Its challenges are etched sharply against the skyline of our current situation. The trail is rocky and steep . . . and yet, the air becomes fresher as we exert ourselves. The pines exalt our efforts. Our strength grows as we climb. This is not a mountain to be conquered. We cannot plant our flag on the highest peak and claim superiority. We must live on the shoulders of our mountains.

We cannot keep tearing the mountains down.

“I have been to the mountaintop,” said Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., referencing the mountaintop that overlooked the promised land. Parables and metaphors resurrect themselves time and again . . . and it seems to me, that the promised land won’t be found by tearing off the tops of mountains. Paradise won’t be found down the road of fossil fuel extraction. It’s not waiting for us at the end of the oil pipeline, nor will poisoning our water and injecting it into the earth make paradise appear like a genie out of a bottle.

Food & Water Watch founder Wenonah Hauter and Rivera Sun swap books. Food & Water Watch is a national organization involved in preventing fracking, GMO’s, and protecting clean water.

Mountains are on my mind because I wrote a social protest novel, Steam Drills, Treadmills, and Shooting Stars, about the relationship between, coal, climate change, mountaintop removal, and us. Coal is one of the dirtiest and deadliest energy sources, contributing not only to human health issues, but also environmental devastation and climate change. Coal mining and processing affects communities nationwide and although the dire relationship between coal and carbon emissions couldn’t be more clear, coal ports are being built along the Pacific Coast to export coal to China. Activists have been standing up for the mountains for decades. For many Appalachians, fighting mountaintop removal has become a way of life. And with the advent of fracking, tar sands oil extraction, pipelines, and offshore drilling, thousands of communities nationwide are finding themselves in the same boat.

Our collective crisis may be our saving grace.

More and more communities find themselves fighting off major corporations that have unprecedented legal capacities, political power, and economic advantage. However, our potential for support, solidarity, and action is growing in response. Environmental consciousness has never been higher and the recognition of the need for a social paradigm shift has reached a new peak.

We’ve got a steep climb ahead of us. Sustainability has been a dream among the visionary few, but it must now become a reality among us all. The trail is not clear or easy. But the view, my friends, think of that view from the mountaintop! Waiting for us is a world we can only imagine now.

“I know, somehow, that only when it is dark enough can you see the stars.” -Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Appalachians stand up for their right to clean water, traveling to Washington D.C. this week to deliver toxic water samples to the EPA.

I woke today with mountains on my mind. Each one is sacred. A mountain’s life stretches into the realms of immortality. Each is larger than any human being will ever be. The promised land can only be seen from the mountaintop. We reach our highest peaks only by standing upon their shoulders.

Please, protect our mountains. Climb toward a sustainable way of life. Lend your voice, heart, and actions anywhere you can. My prayers and gratitude go out to all the people who are participating in actions this week and are signing up for summer events. Thank you. Wage Peace!

Author/Actress Rivera Sun sings the anthem of our times and rallies us to meet adversity with gusto.  Her recent novel, Steam Drills, Treadmills, and Shooting Stars, celebrates everyday heroes who meet the challenges of climate change with compassion, spirit, and strength. 

APPALACHIA http://appalachiarising.org/residents-bring-dirty-water-from-mountaintop-removal-coal-mining-communities-to-washington/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPixjCneseE

Water samples from sites in Appalachia affected by mountaintop removal.

CLIMATE CHANGE ACTION http://350.org

MAINE http://signon.org/sign/oppose-mountain-top-removal

UTAH TAR SANDS http://www.tarsandsresist.org

OTERO MESA, NEW MEXICO http://www.oteromesa.org/take-action/

FOOD & WATER WATCH https://www.foodandwaterwatch.org

THE GREAT TURNING http://joannamacy.net/thegreatturning.html

Freedom Before Breakfast -Guantanamo Hunger Strike

Close Guantanamo

I am fasting today in support of the hunger strike of 100 prisoners at Guantanamo. As the day passes, I am struck by the stark contrast of my own life to that of the prisoners who have been refusing food for several weeks.

I cannot imagine the conditions under which they have embarked on this hunger strike. Many of these people have been held at Guantanamo for a decade. They have been abused in every way possible, tortured, denied legal aide, or even trials. 86 of the prisoners have been cleared of all charges, but not released.

Meanwhile, I go hungry for one day. I keep warm by sitting in the sun. The prisoners do not have this choice. I catch myself fantasizing about breakfast tomorrow. The prisoners intend to have no breakfast before freedom … even if it means death. I take a slow, meditative walk down the road. The prisoners do not get this option. I distract myself with facebook, twitter, blogging . . . such a luxury. The prisoners cannot even call the President or the Department of Defense to complain, as I have done on their behalf all day.

Tomorrow this fast will end for me, but it won’t for the prisoners.

CodePink has organized a ‘rolling fast’, gathering nearly 1,000 pledges from citizens to do 24hr fasts. Each person can pick their day, or days, to engage in this protest. Everyone is asked to call, email, fax, etc, the White House, the Department of Defense, and several other people to ask for the closure of Guantanamo.

CODEPINK rolling fast to close Guantanamo

Deepak Chopra, Eve Ensler, and Julian Assange have all joined the pledge.

You can too. Please, read more about CodePink’s urgent call to action. Guantanamo has long filled the hearts of many Americans with shame, unease, and anger. President Obama campaigned on a promise to close Guantanamo. Numerous protests and actions have been held. But even as the hunger strike of the prisoners draws international attention, many are being force fed, several have been hospitalized, and the already much-abused lives of these prisoners are once more on the line.

It is our time to join in to help.

Read more here: http://www.codepink.org/article.php?id=6397

Pledge to fast here: http://codepink.salsalabs.com/o/424/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=7140

Tell your friends through all mechanisms. I am grateful for my six friends who pledged to fast today with me. Our conversations, reflections, and yes, humor, too, have made this political action a thought-provoking experience. Thank you to CodePink for organizing and to all of you who will be inspired to help close Guantanamo and offer real justice to the prisoners.