Restful pools of chilling depth
. . . relaxing . . .
just long enough
to dump me over another fall
through an uncontrollable attachment
I cling to my raft, my identity that bouys me up.

Robert Kenner's Food, Inc. is a documentary that tells the story about how agribusiness took over production of our country's food supply. This has resulted in our food having very little nutritional value which has led to widespread obesity (no pun intended), a variety of other health problems and putting small farmers out of business.

Many inspiring stories have been told and written about Michael Jackson over the past few weeks--stories beyond the legend who never lived up to fans and the world's expectations and who left us with shadows and questions that may never be answered.

Perhaps, those questions should never be answered, because his life was not our business, and his evolutionary path was beyond our understanding.  How could we ever hope to know his psyche--when we know so little about our own?
 

POSITIVE NEWS is a publication anchoring us to the higher truths as well as reminding us to be positive in a time of economic meltdown, contraction and fear.

POSITIVE NEWS' mission, in their words, is "to  bring hope, exemplify solutions, inspire to action, and connect with those who create positive change.  We envision a world where people treat each other with respect and kindness, where we consider the earth to be our home to care for and enjoy. . .and we know that this world is in the process of emerging.  POSITIVE NEWS is a reflection of this widespread emerging movement and tells its stories."
 

It's well known that music has the power to soothe the savage beast.  This image goes back through Shakespeare to the stories of Pythagoras, who witnessed a young man, enraged after rejection by his lady love, putting dry sticks around her abode, plotting to burn the house down.

The Father of Mathematics noticed that a nearby flute player was playing in a certain mode, and that it seemed to enflame the man's anger. He went to the flute player and urged him to quickly change to a different mode, one that was softer, and more emotional. Within minutes, the young man stopped what he was doing, sat down and cried, his will to destroy replaced by the need to grieve.

By Catherine Ann Jones

In 1994, Quentin Tarantino wrote a fictional story about Mickey & Mallory Knox, a honeymoon couple who, as a perverse aphrodisiac, randomly shot and killed over 50 people. Oliver Stone directed the film and the week it opened, a real young couple in the Midwest went on a rampage killing 4-5 strangers. When apprehended by the police and asked their names, they replied that their names were Mickey & Mallory Knox - the fictional character’s names from Stone’s film. The film was Natural Born Killers, and this film made a difference. 

I wrote for a popular television series called Touched by an Angel. Among the fan mail one day, we heard from one viewer. This man had decided to kill himself. It was a Sunday night and he happened to have the television on CBS where he watched an episode of Touched by an Angel.Moved by the story, he wept then decided to give life another chance. He wrote to us and thanked us for making a difference in his life.

In case you have been living in a cave (though I’m guessing that even those hiding around the border of Pakistan and Afghanistan have heard the news) we have a new President! Barak Obama has been given the daunting task of repairing our crumbling infrastructure, revitalizing our sagging economy, restoring our relationships and image abroad and reducing, reusing and recycling government policies, personnel and expenditures. I’m very optimistic about President Obama’s intentions, his candor and am convinced he will lead our country out of the mess we are in. 

The January 18th issue of the New York Times featured an article entitled: “How the Movies Made a President” which paid tribute to the power of film to influence the consciousness of the nation. They stated that evolving cinematic roles have prepared the country to be ready for Barack Obama.

There is still much refusal to embrace black artists totally in Hollywood, but in the 47 years since President Obama was born, black men “have traveled from the ghetto to the boardroom, from supporting roles in kitchens, liveries and social-problem movies, to the rarefied summit of the Hollywood A-List,” witness Will Smith—who now is the number one action hero, plus an American savior and messiah in several films. 

ELEVATE FILM FESTIVAL INSPIRES THOUSANDS
by Michael Allen Howard

The 2008 Elevate film festival (5th annual) was held on Sunday, October 5th and it was absolutely inspirational from start to finish.  Kicking it off in grand Hollywood style with a green twist, directors, producers and cast members posed for photos and stopped for interviews on the Green Carpet.

Marla Maples on the Green Carpet - The Elevate Cheerleaders Kickoff

BURNING MAN: VOYAGE IN UTOPIA -

A new film by  LAURENT LE GALL of Free Run Pictures. Laurent was both Producer and Director. The documentary about the Burning Man event was an official selection of the Santa Cruz International Film Festival, and has screened in Paris and New york as well as locally in Northern California at The Harmony Festival in Santa Rosa, and the Castro Theater in San Francisco.

"Voyage in Utopia is a remarkable piece of story telling. It does
what our event is said to do: it evokes the inexpressible; it
invites imagination to inhabit the unknown."
    - Larry Harvey, founder of Burning Man