the demise of Waldorf Schools

Waldorf Schools mean very well, but they are presently in a constant battle of survival. Being the largest world wide entity of private education globaly, surpassing Montessori and such educational streams, it is a burden, if not challenge, to stay true to their initial cause.

... more to follow on this subject, too tired tonight, will go to bed and catch up in the following days and will elaborate on this issue when "fully there". Just came back from California yesterday, so you will have to excuse my jet-lag...

Pictures are gardening projects for middle-school students and a straw-bail house building that houses both gardening and clay-modeling/woodcarving programs in the East Bay Waldorf School. While I was there I designed a logo and started to carve a street sign with such, a start - but it has to be finished by the resident woodwork teacher John, carved meticulously and placed at the entrance. OK, more later.

California calling

Of course I was disappointed. "California Dreaming" from the Mama's and Papa's was still ringing in my head when I landed in San Francisco.
What then met me was torrential rains, mist, chilly temperatures and general ghastliness.
"It never rains in Southern California" was an other pop song on my mind, but heck, it never materialized in the north; they need water there though, urgently. I stopped complaining when I heard that and savored the rain instead as best as I could.
The college course in clay modeling went well as far as I can tell. It was good to meet people who are enthusiastic and open minded, and that is how they were...









The pictures: Some random people on the cable car in San Francisco, one of the Rudolf Steiner College buildings in Fair Oaks, Sacramento - two buildings from "the hood" in West-Oakland, a mostly black neighborhood where I am staying for my last three days in Cali. The rest are random picks, ending with that fisherman, preparing his gear on a bridge crossing the American river in Sacramento.

reflections

I don't want to sound mean, but I got a call today to step in for someone (clay modeling) who could not make it. So I am flying to California on Saturday, after I have done adequate preparations. There is no money per say "in for me" at all, but it is all about networking and such.... So in essence don't expect me to post much for a week or so from now on. I'll be busy getting my seven senses together, and this will be a task in itself.
As for the reflections on my driveway (the picture) I am pondering loosely about the spring to come, and the joy it will bring. So, in this spirit, I will beg you to be patient, until I return home safely again, before that time I will only sparesly respond to the comments of your fabulous thoughts.
Be well, be strong - Lukas (Zee)

The right to die

Eluana Englaro, the Italian woman at the center of a right-to-die debate, has died. She was in an incurable coma since 1992 due to a car accident. She died because they finally pulled out all the tubes, wires and other animosities to keep her artificially alive in a vegetative state.
The Vatican, which had described the decision to let Englaro die as "abominable", asked for God's forgiveness for those who are responsible.
"May the Lord welcome her and forgive those who led her there (to her death)," the Vatican health minister Javier Lozano Barragan told the press.
Well, the question for me is, how long do you let someone dangle
between heaven and earth. Don't we all have a right to die ... eventually?

more on "stimulus"

response to move on dot org

To Noah T. Winer - at MoveOn.org (open letter)

It isn't that easy.
The stimulus packages propel the same old, same old avenues, the ones which got us into trouble in the first place. Obama means well, and I voted for him. But when I glance through the glory, he is just an other politician, someone who has to play by the rules of the system.
The aching economy can not be solved by injections, same as the inability of Viagra to support true love - just an other "hard on" that will limp eventually. The conservatives instinct themselves what to do, so do the liberals. Both have been selected (elected) to be the keeper of the house, the dorm that we, the people, inhabit.
We have to become much more radical than just "move-on". Time is near when the whole narcissistic system of greed and Darwin's capitalism of survival of the fittest will collapse. No "stimulus" or "hard-on" will halt that path.
Well, the solution is pretty easy. Rely less on centralized "father" and "mother" figures - like Obama... and instead grow local independence from Washington (in the case of the USA). This sounds like I am a Libertarian, but I am not. What I do though have in common with their views, is that centralized economics and power-politics drive society into complete dependence by large cooperation's and political parties.
So no, I will not donate $25 for an advertisement that will support a "stimulus-package". I believe I will buy seeds instead for that amount of money and plant more vegetables for the next season to come.

Regards, Lukas


___________________________________________________________________________________
On Wed, Feb 4, 2009 at 1:58 PM, Noah T. Winer, MoveOn.org Political Action wrote:

Conservatives are playing politics with Obama's stimulus plan while Americans suffer. Can you write a letter to the editor about the real cost of inaction?
Write a letter
Dear MoveOn member,
President Obama's economic stimulus plan is in trouble. Conservative talking points are dominating the media's coverage and there's lots of misinformation around. Here are a few things you may not have heard about it:
1) This is a very, very good bill. As The Nation writes, "If enacted, the economic recovery plan will be one of the biggest and boldest pieces of progressive legislation in the past forty years."1
Here are some facts about what the bill really does:
* Creates or saves 3 million to 4 million jobs in the next two years.
* Averts "literally hundreds of thousands of teacher layoffs"—and doubles funding for the Department of Education.
* Creates 500,000 green jobs and doubles our clean energy production.4
* Immediately helps unemployed folks get affordable health insurance.5
Some folks are arguing that it should be bigger, and they're probably right, but this is the best down payment on economic recovery we have seen, and it needs to be passed.
2) The stuff that's being singled out for criticism amounts to a tiny fraction of the bill—like anti-smoking programs that make up less than one-ten-thousandth of the spending.6 They would have you believe this is the centerpiece of the bill. It is not. This kind of nit-picking is pure politics.
3) If it doesn't pass, we're in deep trouble. Even John McCain's economic adviser estimates that without the stimulus, unemployment would top 11% by 2010, the highest level since the Great Depression.7
____________________________________________________________________________
my comment:
If it doesn't pass, we will not be in deeper trouble than we already are. The so called "stimulus package" included provisions to encourage to buy American goods. Now that's a funny joke indeed. All we have here is Chinese t-shirts and cheap underwear, BMW's and VW's made in Germany and assembled in Mexico and Taiwan, oil from the Saudi's, telephone help for product info on computers from India... and peanuts from Georgia. What's left? Seriously, what is left? Bye bye buy! There is nothing left to buy "American" anymore besides steel and corn. Levis sold out a while ago, and all the rest of them corporates followed suit. No more American pants to pet your legs, no more American Colgate to brush your teeth, no more Marlboro's to make them teeth dirty again. They are all gone ... overseas. All they do here is keep their patented name in the USA. Gloria, hallelujah.

Uruguay calling

This is really rough, just one take, harmonica ok, my voice just dry and improvised on the spot - oh well...
There is a friend of mine in Uruguay - REVERB who builds the most awesome surf-boards, but he also plays music, a bit more upbeat than the famous surfer kid Jack Johnson and his "On and on..." albums. Don't be taken aback, I actually like some of Jack Johnson's tunes, really!

The picture is from a top of a mountain in Hawks Bay NZ, particularly posted for Aggie, since she doesn't get turned on by naked woman (maybe man), but she might also get aroused by barren hills, naked and eaten away by imported British sheep. It is too bad that 90% of New Z's indigenous forest got chopped away for mammals that go "BAAAEEEH" for two legged creatures who go "maaaeeehh".
Sorry, no nudes today, only the naked truth.

It works

It is still in an experimental league, this song... but most of the technical kinks have been sorted out. Peter and I took some time to get over these hurdles, now we can do multitrack recordings from whoever wishes to participate on this globe. It is fairly easy to contribute from wherever you are, and if you need help with it, we will "walk" you through.
There is a friend of mine from Paraguay - he plays some mean Rock'n Roll ... and he is interested! (he is also a fantastic surf-board builder). So watch out, there might be surprises coming down the "pipeline".
If you wish to participate in a project, or you happened to know someone who would - please let me know, OK?!
(PS. On G-cast, the embedded player, I can NOT delete old uploads. Sorry for the inconvenience of having several versions of same old, same old. Just stop the player with that pause button or search "posts" for a completely other tune, I would suggest "Valley Below". Thanks)

son of a ....

I just realized that my latest postings tended to become more and more negative and depressing. My apologies, it was never my intention to drag you down!

But the fumes of poison still surrounds us, the outcome inevitable.
I might not experience or see the next dawn,
though I am fairly clear that I will be witnessing the break-down
before the dust settles.
The Lazarus tree was never there,
it was always a song in the air
and the birds chanting so fair
are just a melody.

OK, I will post sexy maidens, pictures of beauty, other nature lovers delights - from now on, for a while
until I grow tired and old of living a lie.

Davos

... and the greedy 2% of the world population who don't give a shit and still smile on the verge of collapse of the global economy whilst raking in gorgeous profits as we common folks just stumble along, barely...
That is what it is all about at the G-9 conference. Are there more than nine "G"'s right now, in Davos Switzerland? So the theme on the invitation is:

How can we suck the last morsel out of every ordinary sucker and exploit them until they all drop dead.
Question is, what will happen with those infamous smiling guys from these meetings once thereafter, at a time, when there is no one else left .... to exploit. What will they do?
Or is exploitation a repetitive theme - forever, on this earth?
As I said previously, send those suckers up to the moon. They can have their own party there. Maybe we even supply them with a few containers of air. Once the oxygen runs out, the party will be over; last waltz for them.