Ordinary Insurrections

DSCN5454Consider this post an act of rebellion . . . a nonviolent action against the tide of business as usual. It’s just another Sunday at my house, but after over a decade of thinking, reflecting, learning, and changing, Sunday afternoons involve dozens of constructive actions that remove my consent from destructive systems and place my cooperation into life-affirming practices.

For instance: we cleaned the house. No toxic chemical soaps or detergents. We did a load of laundry; the water goes out to the gray water ditch in the yard. I took a bath last night and put the water on the garden beds. I weeded last year’s pokey gray stalks out of the yard and put them on the compost pile.

My Sunday entertainment was – not violent action flicks, nope – editing our weekly radio show, listening to words of love and revolution over and over. I’m re-reading a book byDavid Bollier that I highly recommend, “Think Like A Commoner”, and a used bookstore find, “A Simpler Way” by Margaret Wheatley and Myron Kellnor-Rogers. I might write a snail mail letter to my brothers and sisters. When I mail it, I’ll stick a jar of homemade aloe vera gel into the box, because it’s getting to be sunshine and outdoor season, and all of us redheads burn!

DSCN5408I turned the mullein and hoarhound leaves over as they’re drying. They make great winter cold remedies, so I always try to gather them from the yard at this time of year. My landlady, Jenny, told me about this. I’m also bundling fresh sage smudges, because I give them as gifts to people when I travel to teach workshops. I checked on my newest science experiment . . . my kombucha creature that lives in a jar on top of the fridge (so far, so good).

I’m boycotting America-As-Usual. No flag-waving. No hate-mongering. No shopping for things made in sweatshops overseas or harvested by underpaid and abused migrant workers. I’m learning and studying without getting indebted to the educational-industrial complex. I’m gathering herbs in resistance to Big Pharma.

And no, I’m not perfect. There’s more work to be done. Room for growth, change, culture-shifting. But today, as I think about it, my life is an act of resistance and resilience. And it’s great! Beautiful, grounded, fun, luxurious in a simple way.

Share your stories, tell your tales, let others know about how you’re living in these changing times.

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ARivera New Hatuthor/Activist Rivera Sun, syndicated by PeaceVoice, is the author of The Dandelion Insurrection, Billionaire Buddha and Steam Drills, Treadmills, and Shooting Stars, the cohost of Love (and Revolution) Radio, and the cofounder of the Love-In-Action Network. She is a trainer and social media coordinator for Campaign Nonviolence and Pace e Bene. Sun attended the James Lawson Institute on Strategic Nonviolent Resistance in 2014 and her essays on social justice movements appear in Truthout and Popular Resistance. www.riverasun.com

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