The last three days (March 6-8) of this Souljourn, Minimizing Clutter and Manifesting Abundance,were quite interesting, indeed. Transformative even. Two of those days were spent at a magical place called the Farm Sanctuary in Orland, California. I then returned home and dealt with all the clutter I collected these past three weeks. I found some excellent recycling and reusing options that I’m eager to share with you. Please Read More
I just finished Bill McKibben’s, Deep Economy – The Wealth of Communities and the Durable Future. For me, this is one of those rare books that is both easy and interesting to read, but will change how you view the world and likely how you live your life. Using examples from Vermont, Central America, Cuba, Brazil, India, Bhutan, Montana, China, New York, and elsewhere, McKibben explores what is wrong with many of our commonly held economic beliefs and examines ways to simultaneously build community, increase food production, boost employment, increase happiness, and protect and restore our environment. Michael Pollan, the author of The Omnivores Dilemma, a similarly thought provoking book, says “The cult of growth and globalization has seldom been so effectively challenged as by Bill McKibben in Deep Economy”. While I highly recommend taking the time to read this incredible book from front cover to back cover, here are a just a few thought provoking facts and interesting ideas from Deep Economy:
From Conducive Mag- Korea to Haiti: Lessons in Overseas Adoption Corruption March 8, 2010Arrested by Haitian authorities for trying to cross illegally into the Dominican Republic with 33 so-called orphaned children, whose parents were later found to be alive, U.S. citizens and Idaho Baptist missionaries Laura Silsby and Charisa Coulter remain imprisoned in Port-au-Prince pending investigation of alleged child trafficking. Seeking to save... […]
- Stressed Graduate Student March 8, 2010Dr. Mai Kieu-Loan offers relationship advice to a female law student and highlights the differences in how men and women handle dating in graduate school. […]
- Preserving Relationship with Parents Despite Their Disapproval Over New Job March 4, 2010Conducive advice columnist, Dr. Kathy Hahner, gives advice on preserving the relationship with one's parents despite tension over a new do-gooder job. […]
- FEBRUARY/MARCH 2010 February 25, 2010ISSUE 6 FEBRUARY/MARCH 2010 […]
- A Bronx Girl Goes Home February 5, 2010The murder of a cousin takes Conducive editor Heather Tirado Gilligan back to her home in the Bronx, and back to the childhood and experiences that continue to shape her. […]
- Using Anger Constructively February 4, 2010Conducive advice columnist, Dr. Kathy Hahner, gives advice on using anger constructively. […]
- Looking Back to the Future? January 30, 2010Humankind, both collectively and individually, has a strange little quirk. We ignore the past when it holds valuable lessons that go against what we want to hear or believe. Our insistence in doing this has negatively affected our future many times, both as individuals and as a society. We give... […]
- Campaigns Take Individual Involvement To New Level January 28, 2010The production and consumption of bottled water contributes to waste, pollution, toxins, and the bottled water industry’s interest in controlling our water resources. As a result of these negative impacts, many people have vowed to stop buying bottled water. If you have successfully ditched bottled water, and want to stay... […]
- REDUCING THE SUICIDE STIGMA Suresh Unni's Story January 21, 2010There are many ways of coping with the loss of a loved one. For Suresh Unni, solace is found in sharing his brother's experience with depression and eventual demise from suicide. Through his work as a clinical social worker and therapist and participation on the board of directors of the... […]
- Dating a Separated Person January 18, 2010Conducive advice columunist, Dr. Kathy Hahner, gives advice on dating a separated person. […]
- Korea to Haiti: Lessons in Overseas Adoption Corruption March 8, 2010
Rewriting Madams back into Herstory
As I’ve discussed in previous posts, a widely held misconception is that men are responsible for holding women against their will in brothels. However, I have found that women are also in fact running the brothels that are sexploitating so many helpless victims around the world. When I thought about this, I was so perplexed. “What sort of woman could do that to a fellow woman or child?” I asked myself. And so I went on a small venture to study famous madams across history who have made a living by selling sex. Some of these women have fascinating stories. Although their “success” is in a profession that some may conceive as reproachable, madams are an important part of women’s herstory. These women have established businesses for themselves and generated revenues for other women at times when women were restricted to jobs as house servants, washerwomen, and seamstresses. As I have investigated some of history’s most fascinating madams, I must admit that even if achieved under scrupulous circumstance, these madams were strong and very powerful women. Read More »