friday night

I will go dancing soon and I walk the walk I'm talking so big in that little box on the lower right...


But first, a thought...

Yesterday I took many 8th graders to listen to "Farmer John," (his words, not mine), a delegate from the city agency dealing with envinmental education... he was wearing a massive straw hat, OVERALLS!, a red plaid shirt, and sandals! Who was he kidding?! It was like he was playing the part. This is LA and everything but this stuff is important. I bought my Vanity Fair "Green Issue" which indeed WAS NOT printed on any sort of receycled paper!! Anyway, his lesson was about "the environment, and gardening, and nutrition" ... he used the "3 Rs" to make his point, (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle) and then we planted little bean sprouts in peet pods and he told us to eat apples. He actually made a cloudy metaphor between our bodies and fancy cars... something like, 'if we had nice cars we would put the nice gasoline in them, right? ... and 'aren't vegetables the 93 Octane of our diet??'
For some of the groups he brought up the idea of "RETHINK" ... you know, questioning the status quo, asking questions, not taking what we think we know for granted... which was wonderful, and made me think about that whole Know, Don't-Know, Know-you-don't-know, and Don't-even-know-you-don't-know circle David Dunbar enlightened me with...

anyway, as a whole, all 4 times I saw the presentation...it was REALLY WEAK.

I heard the same exact schpiel back in the 80s! Around the same time I did my 4th grade Science Project on Global Warming. BUT HELLO!!!!!!!! things have changed!! we know more now!! but most of us DO NOTHING with what we might know, or have a feeling is the case... coming from the East Coast I am constantly impressed with California's eco-consciousness and conscience, but if we aren't making REAL DATA and scenarios and alternatives and ways to DO SOMETHING available to every kid in LA, the city with maybe the worst pollution in America, isn't it all just an act?
I'm guilty of it too. It takes more effort to recycle than to just throw something away, or to wash out a bottle and continue using it. But if I don't even do these things, how can I expect teenagers to?
Anyway, from this moment forward, I'm going to try and do something personally everyday. Small or large. Something. To help.