Skills for the New Millennium

The Skills for the New Millennium Tour has been traveling the country since 2008, offering education and resources to any and all interested in cultivating revolutionary ways of living. In June the SAGE Project welcomed Stan, Delyla and Megan Wilson who arrived at the Greenwood Senior Center in the Permibus - a 40-foot mobile permaculture demonstration bus complete with solar power, greywater systems, a composting toilet, three dogs and a clutch of chickens! SAGE Participants enjoyed workshops on Permaculture Ethics & Basics, Composting and Canning and afterward were given a tour of the Permibus. (Click here for a complete list of workshops and trainings offered by the Skills Tour.) A group of excited kids from the Boys and Girls Club also joined us for the tour - they were thrilled to hold a live chicken, intrigued by the worm composting bin and expressed a mixture of fascination and disgust at the composting toilet on the bus.

The principles of permaculture, which are based on indigenous cultures in Australia and Papua New Guinea, are driven by ethics: care for the earth, care for the people, share the surplus and live as though we were permanent residents. The Permaculture 101 workshop encouraged us to challenge the notion that arose in the 1700s that resources are scarce and therefore have to be hoarded. The reality is that resources are abundant and therefore should be shared. Stan Wilson referred to this idea as "sustainable hedonism" - we can and should live well caring for the earth.

Click here for more photos:

Skills for the New Millennium Tour

June: Good Food!

EDUCATION

Film & Forum: The SAGE Project kicked off its summer program on Sustainable Food with a screening of the movie Good Food, a film that offers an intimate look at farmers, ranchers and businesses that are creating a more sustainable food system in the Pacific Northwest. Sue McGann, community activist and farm coordinator for the Lettuce Link Giving Garden at Marra Farm, led us in a great discussion following the film. We talked about how supporting small family farms who produce food sustainably is essential in the face of climate change, the end of cheap energy and rising health care costs. Shopping locally and organically benefits the environment, our local economy and our own personal well being.

Click here for a great resource on the issues: Why buy sustainable?

ACTION

Sustainable Community Dinner: In partnership with Awake Church, the SAGE Project hosted a second community dinner for residents of Phinney/Greenwood and our neighbors living in motels along Aurora. This time around there was a special focus on building community through the sharing of a meal founded on the principles of a sustainable food system. We were grateful for the support of PCC, Greenwood Market, the Essential Baking Company and New Roots Organics in these efforts.

A wonderful group of about 60 volunteers and guests joined us for the meal, bringing together people from the Greenwood Senior Center, motels along the Aurora corridor, the Greenwood/Phinney community, HomeStep (a transitional housing program) and Awake Church. It was beautiful to witness connections form among neighbors who might not otherwise interact. Following a lovely meal made with fresh and local organic food (including barbeque chicken, lentil loaf, green salad and summer crisp), guests joined in on some square dancing fun led by callers and musicians from the Seattle Subversive Square Dance Society!

Follow up on immigration issues

On Saturday evening, June 6, members of SAGE, Sustainable Greenwood and the greater community came together to watch the critically-acclaimed film The Visitor, which offers a unique glimpse into the U.S. immigration system and the people it affects through the story of a disillusioned economics professor whose life is transformed by a chance encounter.

The discussion that followed brought up many complex and difficult issues dealing with immigration detention, immigration policy and the need for immigration reform. Topics that came up included: ICE raids, human rights abuses, denial of due process, separation of families, border enforcement, profits earned by corporations who own detention centers, and our own heritage as immigrants in the U.S.

The following link provides a lot of great information about the U.S. detention and deportation system: http://www.detentionwatchnetwork.org/aboutdetention

Click here to see OneAmerica's report on human rights violations at the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma, and here to see its report on how immigrants contribute to our state's economy.

The Reform Immigration for America campaign was launched in several cities nationwide Monday, June 2 and sponsored locally by OneAmerica. For information about the campaign and how to get involved, click on the following link: http://www.reformimmigrationforamerica.org/index.php

April: Immigration Issues

According to a U.S. Census Bureau report in 2003, approximately one million new immigrants enter the country each year. In April, the SAGE Project engaged in a three-week exploration of issues related to immigration, including the role that globalization plays, challenges new immigrants face, and factors that affect our communities economically and socially.

EDUCATION

Documentary and Discussion: Roger Yockey, a trained facilitator with the Northwest Federation of Community Organizations, joined the SAGE Project to discuss the film Uprooted. This documentary presents three stories of immigrants who left their homes after global economic powers devastated their countries, only to face new challenges migrating and living in the United States. SAGE participants discussed the issues of injustice raised in the film and reflected on whether or not our current system is in line with our values.

Understanding Immigration Basics: Fatima Morales and Jeanette Wenzl of Washington CAN! led an interactive workshop using an immigration board game to teach participants about the current immigration system and help them understand the many difficulties and barriers that prevent immigrants from obtaining a visa.

Panel Discussion: Representatives from CASA Latina, OneAmerica and Refugee Women’s Alliance joined the SAGE Project to answer questions and discuss their perspectives on the most pressing issues facing immigrants in our community, how these issues are being addressed, and how they affect our community as a whole.

ACTION

On May 1, a group of SAGE participants headed downtown demonstrate in the May 1st March and Rally, calling on President Obama to renew justice and restore all rights for everyone, with a focus on a moratorium on raids & detentions.

March: Mentoring

EDUCATION

On Thursday, March 5, GSC's social worker Carin Mack offered a wonderful class on the nature and benefits of being a mentor--a person who gently guides and nurtures the growth of others. We discussed the reciprocal nature of the relationship between a mentor and mentee, the importance of forging intergenerational connections, and the way that mentoring has affected us personally in our lives.

Here are a few insightful suggestions for mentors, gathered from the book From Age-ing to Sage-ing by Zalman Schachter-Shalomi and Ronald S. Miller:

-Listen with an open mind and heart to your mentee's genuine concerns before sharing wisdom.
-Don't impose, but invoke knowledge.
-Provide openness for the journey instead of a roadmap.
-Don't try to impress; instead, be your searching, tentative, human self.
-Cherish your mentee's uniqueness.

ACTION

The following week we were joined by four lovely panelists from local organizations who discussed ways to connect with mentoring and tutoring opportunities in the community.


Shana Faulkner provided information about the Page Ahead Children's Literacy Program, which is the largest literacy program in the state of Washington and distributes approximately 160,000 books to more than 55,000 children from low-income families each year. Their Story Time program is a wonderful opportunity to visit local schools and spend an hour or two sparking enthusiasm for books amongst preschoolers and kidnergartners who are most at-risk for academic failure.

Devyn Perez shared with us the secret behind the Greenwood Space Travel Supply Co.: if you walk beyond the personal defense armaments and "accoutrements for the youngest adventurers" and go through the Atomic Teleporter, you will find yourself in a fun and innovative writing and tutoring center for youth called 826 Seattle. Through writing workshops, field trips, drop-in tutoring and publishing projects, 826 fosters great leaps in learning among students between 6 and 18 years old.

Sarah Hepner came from nearby Greenwood Elementary School to discuss the great need for tutors at the school. Many children at the school are under grade level for reading, and at least 5 to 6 children from each classroom are in need of extra help with their schoolwork. Through the Sound Partners tutoring program, students are matched with volunteers who guide them through a 20-minute lesson (curriculum is provided) and then spend at least 10 minutes of "fun time" with them.

Crystal Barnard, from the North Seattle Boys and Girls Club, gave a wonderful overview of the many ways to connect with various programs that serve children from kindergarten through 12th grade coming from every public and private school in the north end. Volunteers are welcome on an ongoing basis to tutor kids in reading and math, participate in arts and crafts, provide companionship during free time, or lead a class on a hobby or topic of personal interest.

February: Homelessness on Aurora

EDUCATION

Not many people living in Greenwood or Phinney Ridge or Green Lake would consider the Aurora corridor part of their community, nor would they likely consider the main thoroughfare to be its own community. Unfortunately the stretch of avenue may best be known for being a center of prostitution and drug dealing, a generalization certainly reinforced by the media. However, what many people may not know is that there are many families and individuals living in several motels along Aurora who have nowhere else to call home. [This seems to be a recent phenomenon nationwide: see this New York Times article.]

On Tuesday, February 17, the SAGE project welcomed members of two local churches - Awake Church and Crosspoint Church - to discuss their experiences reaching out and building relationships with our neighbors on Aurora. This provided a meaningful opportunity to challenge stereotypes, hear stories of hope and loss, learn about many of the issues surrounding the situation, and ask ourselves what it means to be neighbors in this context.

It is interesting to consider that according to Seattle neighborhood maps, Aurora is marker that divides one neighborhood from another, placing it in a position as a "seam" between communities. It is also a divide between legislative districts, separating the 36th from the 46th and 43rd.

ACTION

Two weeks later, on March 2, the SAGE Project, in partnership with Awake Church, hosted a dinner at the Greenwood Senior Center for residents of Greenwood, Aurora and other nearby neighborhoods. The intent was to bridge communities and foster fellowship between neighbors who might not otherwise interact.


We were blessed with a great group of volunteers and community donors who came together to create a beautiful evening:

-New Roots Organics donated fresh, organic produce, the Essential Baking Company provided freshly baked bread, and Greenwood's Terra Bella Flowers contributed six lovely bouquets to grace the tables.
-Local musicians Greg Spence Wolf (mandolin) and Jorge Zorro (guitar) delighted the crowd with folksy tunes and were intermittently joined by Greenwood's most enthusiastic tap-dancer, Paulette DeRooy.
-Susie Paulson, one of Greenwood Senior Center's most passionate and dedicated lunch cooks, spent the afternoon in the kitchen whipping up rosemary and lemon roast chicken, savory black bean soup and a decadent tiramisu for dessert.
-Karen and Steph, two massage therapists, offered table massage and reflexology for women.
-A whole slew of volunteers from all over the community came to provide dessert, set up tables, chop vegetables, welcome guests, arrange decorations, and tackle a pile of dirty dishes once dinner was done.

We are so grateful to the volunteers and guests who joined us to share a warm meal together. We hope to do it again in the future.

Civic Engagement Fair