10 GROUNDCOVER NEWS VENDOR VOICES Mother nature's last call KEN PARKS Groundcover vendor No. 490 When I was a child I knew the Earth was flat because I went to the edge in a dream, looked into the fog far below and saw the mystery of the bottomless void. We lived in Oregon and California in my early childhood so I saw the Pacific Ocean and the curve of the horizon. The Earth is round. What a great discovery. Then I learned that China was on the other side and started digging holes in the ground. I learned that the diameter of the earth is big enough that it would take a lot of digging to get to the red hot molten core at the center — another void that was found in my six-year-old mental capacity. My sense of awe and curiosity grew from there, as all children who love dinosaurs well know. Where does power come from? Every sentient being — a being with consciousness — has perceptions and emotions that lead to actions and, ultimately, results. Karma is the word. Everyone has a karmic accumulation of actions and results that is carried throughout life until awareness arises and we see the depths of reality. There is no bottom. The debate about the extent of human influence upon geological time is raging now. Is our awareness and intelligence up to examining what geological age we live in? Are we in the Anthropocene? Alan Haber, the Ann Arbor Commons guy, mentioned that we may be in the Pyrocene (age of fire). Whatever the case, our Paleolithic heritage lives in indigenous culture and our DNA. I am back from a break after some adventures in the alleys of my mind. The downtown library has a large magazine collection. I was fortunate to find the November issue of Monthly Review and a good article by Carles Soriano entitled, “Anthropocene, Capitalocene and Other ‘Cenes.” Soriano is a geologist from the Geoscience Barcelona Institute of the Spanish National Research Council. Monthly Review is an important voice, as the editors have been studying, writing and publishing about the “metabolic rift” (the damage that occurs due to capitalism’s extractive nature) that Marx observed. As capitalism evolved, the expropriation of nature and the exploitation of labor created great wealth known as capital accumulation. It takes great mental focus to understand this process of commodifying everything, largely because we are addicted to the consumerism that is the global culture. It drives excess wealth in the first world and poverty in the third world, where people are consequently fleeing to the first world. Fortunately, the Editor’s Note in November’s Monthly Review is a good place to learn about and focus on the basics of capitalism and geological age. I want to be in a group studying MR’s article “Anthropocene, Capitalocene and Other ‘Cenes.’” It is not long but goes deep quickly with much to meditate on and analyze. My past articles usually refer to what I consider essential reading, from “Black Elk Speaks” to “Inflamed: Deep Healing and the Anatomy of Injustice.” Maybe we will come up with some shared language. It’s a wonderful thing to share a language that helps you navigate reality. I am asking for help in organizing collective study that will enable us to come to some conclusions on how to approach this examinat ion and organize ourselves. Groundcover News has an important relationship with the University of Michigan and it is time for us to take a fresh look at what we can do together. My good karma connected me with the 50th anniversary celebration of the Native American Student Association where I met some brilliant minds fully embodied in indigenous-centered life. What a blessing to meet a professor there from the School of Environment and Sustainability, Kyle White, who is aware of history and science as we face our current situation. I believe we can lighten the load of individualism as we share in the intellectual organizing work and get our hands in the dirt. Every kind of labor is precious and it is the commodification of everything that distorts our perception of reality. Human beings and our labor power become alienated when commodified. The perception of self and others is a limiting cognitive bias, which we can heal into an experience of completeness. Everything is interconnected; solidarity includes all living beings without exception. When Mother Nature calls, it's best to get the message and look forward to the next step. Boober Pink Castle EDM Club. Boober update KEVIN SPANGLER Groundcover vendor No. 307 It has been a while since Boober has put out an article. Where do we start? We last left off getting a new 3200 square foot warehouse. That was interesting. I found out what it was like to get into a five year lease. We didn’t move in because we were having to put a garage door in to make the space work for Boober. Then we started learning about permits … time … architects … We never moved in and I went to the guy we signed a lease with and said long-term this agreement will not work and offered $2,000 to buy the lease out. He didn’t like this and said it would cost a lot more to get out. It was at that time I shook his hand and said I’ll figure it out. That was July 1. We decided to throw a rave because my friend has DJ equipment. So we rallied the troops on social media and threw a rave on Sunday, July 3. We had 100 people show up to the new venue Pink Castle EDM Club. We took the name from the previous name; the space was previously called Pink Castle Fabrics. Well, we only operated for two months. Towards the end we were running an after-hours club, 2:30-7 a.m. It all ended when the landlords found the whole parking lot covered in chalk and they checked the cameras including the cameras inside. They said to me, “You can’t do that.” Well, we do what we do to try to make the rent. Honestly it just barely made the rent. But the experience was worth it — the stories we created, the fun we had. And we were able to hang out which I have not done in seven years. My friend and I maintained sobriety through the whole thing. In the end we were let out of the five-year lease with a better story that will be remembered in many hearts. Now, the Boober progress. We started another business called Action Jackson Electric Bicycle Parts. We have invested our money into parts for pedicabs and electric bikes. Our next step is setting up an Amazon account. Been working on these projects for a while and collecting many parts. Oh yeah, we bought a party bus for the Pink Castle but it now serves as storage for all our parts. We also started a nonprofit called The Royal Road and will be creating a cultural center that teaches how to forgive, reprogram our brains and create goals. We have increased our fleet with eight new carriages that fit four to six people. We have also expanded the fleet to 25 pedicabs; some are projects to resell and learn how to fabricate different products. We have expanded to an old auto shop with four garage doors. We’ve patched the roof, put insulation in and currently we are grinding the floor and basically freshening up the whole place to store all of our equipment and have space to work on projects. We have two new sponsors, JARS cannabis and Spa Daze. We now have accomplished one of our goals of massages once a week. Oh, one more thing. I got my license to drive again after 20 years so we can operate pedicabs in major cities. All in all, we have been enjoying this time on Earth and will continue to spread the message of forgiveness. DECEMBER 30, 2022 -
11 Publizr Home