swap.

What would it look like if white and coloured people traded places.

This ad was allegedly banned in South Africa.



peace.

nh

food.

painful to watch, but a great reminder.

View this movie at cultureunplugged.com

tea.

Had a great weekend, just watching movies and speaking absolute jibberish with my friends.

Kudos to Sprout and Siana for organising Australia's BIGGEST Morning Tea to raise funds for the Cancer Foundation. Shenanigans are viewable here.

Amongst all the colleges and conferences fighting for my attention I found some interesting reading into the Just War vs. Peacemaker debate in the latest Relevant magazine. Can be read about here.

peace.

nh

cultures.

watch this:



If it doesn't work here's the link http://www.theworkofthepeople.com/index.php?ct=store.details&pid=V00594

green tip #4: re-use

So much of what we consume ends up as rubbish within months, weeks, days, hours, minutes perhaps seconds even. In Oz alone we're sending ridiculous amounts of waste to sit in landfill sites, (700kg per person if I can recall correctly). By extending the life cycle of products, we can cut down that number. But remember it's first important for us to reduce!

Benefits:

• Less waste
• Less pollution
• Lower carbon emissions
• save some dough.
  

I want to open the comments section to share ideas, here are some to get you thinking...

• buying products with packaging that can be re-used (be sure to re-use them cause there's nothing worse then buying it and chucking it.
• gently opening gifts and reusing the wrapping paper (only after reading the card like mum would say)
• Mending stuff - clothes, machines etc
• Buying second hand at op shops, markets, festivals - let's face it, we all buying retro clothing anyway!

comment.

might surprise you to know - but i don't enjoy the sound of my own voice, so please feel free to comment.

war.

ever wondered how holy starts?



just for a laugh.

nh

proclamation.

In the US the idea of Mother's Day celebrations was first suggested by activist, writer and poet; Julia Ward Howe in 1872. It was suggested that the Mother's Day holiday be annually celebrated and dedicated to peace. In her Mother's day proclamation she wrote a passionate appeal to woman urging them to stand against war. Strange how it's become a hallmark holiday to encourage spending.

Mothers' Day Proclamation
Arise, then, women of this day! Arise all women who have hearts, whether your baptism be of water or of tears! Say firmly: "We will not have questions decided by irrelevant agencies. Our husbands shall not come to us reeking of carnage for caresses and applause. Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn all that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy, and patience. We women of one country will be too tender to those of another country to allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs."

From the bosom of a devastated Earth a voice goes up with our own. It says "Disarm! Disarm!" The sword of murder is not the balance of justice. Blood does not wipe out dishonor, nor violence indicate possession.

As men have forsaken the plow and the anvil at the summons of war, let women now leave all that may be left of home for a great and earnest day of counsel. Let them meet first as women, to bewail and commemorate the dead. Let them solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means whereby the great human family can live in peace, each bearing after his time the sacred impress not of Caesar, but of God.

In the name of womanhood and humanity, I earnestly ask that a general congress of women without limit of nationality be appointed and held at some place deemed most convenient and at the earliest period consistent with its objects, to promote the alliance of the different nationalities, the amicable settlement of international questions, the great and general interests of peace.

Julia Ward Howe
Boston 1870

recession.

If you've ever got a half-hour so spare have a look at this South Park episode. themes present recession, consumerism, faith... obviously you wouldn't take is seriously - but it's great for a laugh.

love

nh

website.

check out.

http://www.robingood.ws/

Thanks to Tman for his input.

peace

Nahum the Wise of Gosnells ;)

law.

So I've been reminded that dumpster diving is illegal - but then I would pose this question...

In a place and time where many go hungry and yet food lies uneaten in dumpsters, to which law are we bound?

church.

3 reasons to embrace the church.

1. communal life
2. shared goods
3. egalitarian movement where class distinctions are not emphasized

3 reasons to avoid the church.

1. communal life
2. shared goods
3. egalitarian movement where class distinctions are not emphasized

margins

Seems to me that Jesus walked with grace and kindness and dignifying acceptance on the margins of the culture in which he lived and loved. He was a friend of sinners and tax collectors, of women and paupers, of fishermen and possessed, of the desperately ill and the desperately broken. When he was with them he was always challenging their assumptions about God and spirituality and worth and value. 

Not that he avoided large groups of churchies. He hung with them enmasse at times too. And when he did he challenged their tightly held assumption and rote truth. Sometimes they were astounded by the obvious authority with which he spoke and amazed by the miracles that followed his presence. Many would follow, then fall away, and seemingly unaffected by his wavering fame he would turn once again to the marginalised and ignored.

Whoever he was with and however big or small the crowd was he was always challenging their assumptions about themselves and God.

I reckon he had a pretty simple message for anyone who would really listen and I reckon it went something like this. "Your better than that! Your life is worth more than that! You can live in the dignity of being a child of God and live out of the righteousness being won for you rather than the brokenness being imposed on you".

And then he showed them and us how to live it out.

mother.

Hey check this video out for Mother's day de-mythologised.



peace.

nh

complain.

A friend of mine recently did a pretty good post here.

This is for us whinging blog writers and readers.

peace.

nh

ecstatic.

powerful.

today.

There are days much like today, when I simply feel like dropping everything and being an agnostic humanist.

But then again there's also Jesus.