First of all, I want to let you know that I am a long-time supporter of Whole Foods Market. In fact, I shopped at your original store when I lived in Austin during the 1990s. I appreciate your creating opportunities for folks to purchase healthy foods across the nation and wish you continued success in that regard.

I am writing to you today, however, about Greenlife Grocery in Asheville, North Carolina. Since Greenlife is less than a mile from my home, my wife Shonnie Lavender and I consider it our neighborhood grocery store. We shop there regularly and spend between $200 and $300 per week, primarily on groceries. We also frequently meet friends and business associates there for coffee and for meals.

When we discussed Whole Foods’ purchase of Greenlife with the staff members there, we were told that Whole Foods didn’t intend to change anything that made Greenlife the success it has been. Now, however, I’m finding conventional produce mixed with the organic produce, and I am very concerned about this.

I understand that Whole Foods thinks that taking such measures will bring in shoppers who may be interested in purchasing lower priced produce and other food items. Maybe so. But actions such as these may also drive shoppers such as my wife and me to back to Earth Fare or the French Broad Food Co-op, both within an additional five-minute drive of our home.

I’m guessing that you did a good bit of market research before you bought the Greenlife stores, so I’m sure that you know that Asheville is a unique market with many political progressives, spiritual activists, outdoor athletes, participants in holistic healing and a variety of combinations thereof. We are not purists, but we want what we want. And what we want is to be able to count on the grocery store to which we give our loyalty and our money to carry organic, locally grown produce whenever possible without adulterating it with conventional produce from factory farms. This is not only a personal health issue, it is also a values issue. We want to eat healthy food, and as much as possible, we want it to come from farmers and suppliers who really care about those who will be buying their products, from farmers who nurture the earth from which the bounty came.

I don’t want to have to regularly wade through the plethora of so-called “natural” foods that I see cluttering the aisles of Whole Foods Market stores when we visit Raleigh, Denver or NYC. There’s plenty of that stuff for sale in regular super markets for those who want it. In the end, I can only speak for myself: If Greenlife continues becoming more like your other stores, I will be taking my business elsewhere. Furthermore, I will be encouraging others to do so as well.

I would appreciate a response to this message.

Respectfully,

Bruce Mulkey

* * *

The top-secret world the government created in response to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, has become so large, so unwieldy and so secretive that no one knows how much money it costs, how many people it employs, how many programs exist within it or exactly how many agencies duplicate the same work.

These are some of the findings of a two-year investigation by The Washington Post that discovered what amounts to an alternative geography of the United States, a Top Secret America hidden from public view and lacking in thorough oversight. After nine years of unprecedented spending and growth, the result is that the system put in place to keep the United States safe is so massive that its effectiveness is impossible to determine.

The investigation’s other findings include:

• Some 1,271 government organizations and 1,931 private companies work on programs related to counterterrorism, homeland security and intelligence in about 10,000 locations across the United States.
• An estimated 854,000 people, nearly 1.5 times as many people as live in Washington, D.C., hold top-secret security clearances.
• In Washington and the surrounding area, 33 building complexes for top-secret intelligence work are under construction or have been built since September 2001. Together they occupy the equivalent of almost three Pentagons or 22 U.S. Capitol buildings - about 17 million square feet of space.
• Many security and intelligence agencies do the same work, creating redundancy and waste. For example, 51 federal organizations and military commands, operating in 15 U.S. cities, track the flow of money to and from terrorist networks.
• Analysts who make sense of documents and conversations obtained by foreign and domestic spying share their judgment by publishing 50,000 intelligence reports each year - a volume so large that many are routinely ignored.

Click here to read more.

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The Third Depression
by Paul Krugman
New York Times, June 27, 2010

Recessions are common; depressions are rare. As far as I can tell, there were only two eras in economic history that were widely described as “depressions” at the time: the years of deflation and instability that followed the Panic of 1873 and the years of mass unemployment that followed the financial crisis of 1929-31.

Neither the Long Depression of the 19th century nor the Great Depression of the 20th was an era of nonstop decline — on the contrary, both included periods when the economy grew. But these episodes of improvement were never enough to undo the damage from the initial slump, and were followed by relapses.

We are now, I fear, in the early stages of a third depression. It will probably look more like the Long Depression than the much more severe Great Depression. But the cost — to the world economy and, above all, to the millions of lives blighted by the absence of jobs — will nonetheless be immense.

Click here to read the entire column

For another view of our nation’s economy, see “Say What?” by James Howard Kuntsler.

On this Fathers’ Day, what if we decided to finally forgive our fathers

For being too soft or too hard

For always being there or rarely being present

For holding us too close or never holding us at all

For smothering us with love or withholding it as reproval

For wearing their feelings on their sleeve or expressing only anger

For being generous in their criticism but meager in their praise

For the perpetual safety net or ample rope to hang ourselves

For telling us what to do yet not sharing how to be

For saying “You can be anything,” or “You can’t make a living doing that”

What if, on this Fathers’ Day, we finally release these and any other real or imagined transgressions

And honor our fathers for the blessings they provided and for loving us the very best way they knew how

* * *

I wrote this and first posted it for Fathers’ Day 2009.

How much do you think a candidate should have to spend to run a competitive campaign for the Asheville City Council — a job that pays $13,800 per year?

Would $10,000 be enough? $20,000? $40,000?

Would it surprise you to know that in 2007, Bill Russell spent approximately $63,000 to win a City Council seat? Russell edged incumbent Bryan Freeborn, who spent about $10,000, by 74 votes. In the end, each of Russell’s votes cost approximately $11.30, compared with about $1.90 per vote for Freeborn. Incidentally, most of Russell’s campaign contributions came from a single special-interest group: builders, developers and realtors.

In 2001, Charles Worley reportedly spent a whopping $120,000 on his successful push to become mayor of Asheville, barely defeating Brian Peterson 7,936 votes to 7,399. For the record, last year’s three victorious City Council candidates averaged less than $25,000 in campaign expenditures; Mayor Terry Bellamy spent just over $33,000 on her re-election bid.

I’m not suggesting that Russell or Worley did anything wrong; certainly nothing unscrupulous or dishonest. They were playing by the same rules as everyone else. And only they can say whether they felt beholden to their biggest contributors. But such large infusions of cash into our local political process endanger the time-honored principle of one person, one vote. To remove the influence of big money and level the playing field, it’s time for Asheville to implement publicly financed elections.

In 2007, the N.C. General Assembly named Chapel Hill the pilot city for publicly financed local elections. The Voter Owned Election Program is entirely voluntary; candidates qualify by raising a sizable number of small contributions and agreeing to spending and fundraising limits. Both candidates who qualified for financial support during last fall’s municipal election collected more votes than any of the nonparticipating candidates, and the program cost the city less than $1 per resident. Once the state House and Senate pass the necessary legislation, Asheville will have the option of creating a similar program that fits our specific needs.

WNC for Change, a grass-roots group that grew out of Barack Obama’s campaign for president, believes the time has come for publicly financed elections in Asheville. Here’s why:

1. Big money can unfairly influence the outcome of local elections. By making generous campaign contributions, wealthy donors, corporations, political action committees and special-interest groups with a stake in Asheville City Council decisions can give their chosen candidates an unfair advantage.
2. The high cost of running for office deprives us of more diverse leadership. Many aspiring local leaders decline to run for office because of the rising cost, leaving us with a primarily white, affluent, male, heterosexual City Council that doesn’t fully represent our city’s population.
3. Council members whose campaigns were publicly financed would be accountable to all Asheville residents. Publicly financed elections ensure that our elected officials are more accountable to their constituents than to special-interest groups making substantial campaign contributions.
4. Voters are more likely to participate in publicly financed elections. When people understand that all qualified candidates have a chance to win and that the election isn’t rigged in favor of the affluent or those backed by big money, they’re more likely to vote.

In Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, the U.S. Supreme Court removed restrictions on corporate spending to influence elections; nothing now prevents a corporation from spending huge sums of money in an Asheville election in hopes of electing a slate of candidates sympathetic to its interests. But in a Feb. 8 Washington Post-ABC News poll, 80 percent of respondents opposed this decision. And recent focus groups in Charlotte and Denver for the Campaign for Fair Elections and the Public Campaign Action Fund clearly showed that voters across the political spectrum are angry about the problem of special-interest money and want fair elections in which candidates receive small donations from ordinary people.

Act now to curb special interests and create greater accountability
Whether you’re a Republican or Democrat, a Tea Party member or a Green, an independent or none of the above, you now have an opportunity to reclaim your power. At the Tuesday, June 8, Asheville City Council meeting, Council member Cecil Bothwell will propose a resolution calling on the General Assembly to enact legislation giving the state’s larger towns the power to sponsor public-financing programs — a first step toward publicly financed Asheville elections.

This is a concern for all of us, not just city residents. We must urge Asheville City Council members to support this resolution (see below).

You may hear various justifications for refusing to support publicly financed elections: It would be too expensive, it would penalize candidates who are good at raising money, the system we have works fine, such a program is untested, the state legislation is flawed, etc. But none of these excuses hold up under scrutiny.

It’s time for Asheville to join Raleigh, Durham, Winston-Salem, Cary, Wilmington and Greenville, which have already approved similar resolutions. By doing so, we help ensure that “one person, one vote” is not an obsolete expression but a reality in our community.

* * *

Make your voice heard…

A single e-mail message to AshevilleNCCouncil@ashevillenc.gov will reach all City Council members. It’s also important to contact Sen. Martin Nesbitt (919-715-3001, 828-252-0490 or Martin.Nesbitt@ncleg.net) and ask that Asheville be included in the pending state legislation so our city can choose whether or not to implement publicly financed elections.

To learn more about public financing, visit:

• http://commoncause.org/nc
• http://democracy-nc.org
• http://ncvce.org

To view Council member Cecil Bothwell’s resolution, go to: mountainx.com/xpressfiles

To learn more about N.C. House Bill 120: http://ncleg.net/gascripts/BillLookUp/BillLookUp.pl?Session=2009%20%20&BillID=h120

To contact other members of the local legislative delegation:

• Rep. Susan Fisher: Susan.Fisher@ncleg.net
• Rep. Bruce Goforth: Bruce.Goforth@ncleg.net
• Rep. Jane Whilden: Jane.Whilden@ncleg.net

* * *

Asheville resident Bruce Mulkey (bruce@brucemulkey.com) is president of WNC for Change (http://wncforchange.com).

Jubilee! A Call to Life!
By Avery Shackelford

In the mountains of North Carolina there is a place where hands come together to work, pray, create, celebrate, and love.  These hands belong to the members of “a unique Community of Faith”1 called Jubilee!. Jubilee! is an inclusive community filled with people of many different religious backgrounds and beliefs, and as Minister Howard Hanger states, “Diversity is our middle name!” The people in this community, who refer to themselves as Jubilants, live up to their namesake as they personify all of the word jubilant’s synonyms including joyful, exultant, and exuberant. In a place where love is given out as freely as candy at a parade, there is certainly much to be jubilant about.

Jubilee! has a mission to make their community and the world a better place. In 1989, when Jubilee! first got its start, the group donated ten thousand dollars to organizations both locally and world-wide to feed and shelter the hungry and homeless.2 Today, Jubilee! annually donates about thirteen times the amount they gave out in their first year; as Mimi Shackelford says “Our goal is to give half of what we take in.” Among the agencies that receive from Jubilee! are Habitat for Humanity, Meals on Wheels, and Boys & Girls Club. Service based ministries in Jubilee! include “Outreach” whose mission is “ministering to needs of others through the appropriation of our outreach dollars” and “The Service Team” who “locates and facilitates ‘action oriented, hands-on projects’ that benefit those in need.”3     One unique way in which Jubilee! helps lend a hand is through their “Room In the Inn” program, “a local program of Homeward Bound, sponsored by 26 Asheville area faith-based communities, to provide safe and overnight accommodations and nourishing meals to twelve homeless women.”4 Approximately four times each year Jubilee! provides food and housing for these women with the help of 70 hands. Why are Jubilants so willingly ready to help?  This question is answered by Jubilee! member Pam Raymond in her essay “How Much We Love.” She says, “We love…we love wildly and freely! We love the kind of love that is not afraid of dirty hands!”  She goes on to say, “Radical love can change a life. Relentless love can change the world – one heart at a time. Keep on loving, Jubilee! that’s what is real.” Jubilee!’s drive to help make their community and world better stems from their perpetual love for all human beings.

The attitude of many Jubilants reminds one faintly of the ideas of the romantic poets such as Wordsworth and Coleridge both of who discuss the importance of human beings’ connection to nature in their writing. In Coleridge’s “Rime of the Ancient Mariner” the narrator talks about his discovery that even the slimy snakes in the sea are part of God’s creation. Likewise, Jubilants say “Even the beasts of the field and every creeping thing praises God, according to the psalms.”5 The Jubilant! church year is unique in its use of “the vias”, “used as a quarterly focus for worship[, there is] one via for each season: Summer—via positiva, Autumn—via negativa, Winter—via creativa, and Spring—via transformativa.”6 The purpose of the vias is to help create your own path of thinking and being while still giving you clear spiritual guidance. The vias are a path, not “THE path.”7 Via positiva is a celebration of yes. Summer is a positive “yes-like” season in the abundance of color and nature. Via negativa affirms that there is darkness in life and that darkness should be approached with courage.

Autumn represents this darkness, as life appears to be dying. Via creativa helps produce a creative time to go inside one-self. Winter is the season of creativity. Via transformativa represents positive change and fullness of life. Spring is a time of change as life is reborn anew.8 In a recent via transformativa celebration, the congregation sang a song about the earth of which Mimi Shackelford says, “After we sang this Howard [Hanger] suggested we imagine singing it to the planet—the moon, stars, earth, and flowers.” Jubilants feel a deep connection to nature. Members of Jubilee! can actively participate in “Earth Team” whose goal is “creating awareness of the interconnection of all things and sponsoring projects related to the environment or justice”9, but being part of the Jubilee! community is enough to help one realize nature’s great effect on and connection to humanity and foster a deep appreciation for the earth.  Aliyah Schick says, “I believe that everything that exists is part of the whole, part of what we call sacred, part of what we call God. All that we know and encounter is expression of the sacred and contained within it. Things change form—we live in change, everything is constantly changing—but nothing just ends or stops existing. It transmutes to another form. Water becomes ice, a tree becomes compost, minerals become crystals, oil becomes heat; matter becomes energy and energy becomes matter. There is much more going on than we humans will ever begin to imagine, let alone understand. I have a powerful sense, deep in my bones, that all is well, whether I know the details or not.” Jubilants have come to realize that God is with you in nature and the closer we are to nature, the closer we are to God.

If Jubilee! is a faith community comprised of many different kinds of people whose ideas and paths may not all be the same, then what is it that the people in this community actually believe? In “How Much We Love” Pam Raymond talks about how someone accused Jubilee! of not being a “real” church. At Jubilee! alternative lifestyles are accepted, diversity is seen as enriching, and faith is perceived as evolving.10 I asked three members of Jubilee! about their faith. These were their responses.

Bruce Mulkey has been attending Jubilee for over ten years. He has served as member of the Board of Directors and helped produce Jubilee!’s website. He also has his own blog (brucemulkey.com) and is the author of several books. Mulkey believes, “I have the power to create exactly the life I want for myself, and only I can do so. On the other hand, given my connection with every living thing on earth, I have responsibility for their well-being as well. This does not mean that I’m responsible for anyone else’s happiness, but it does mean that I can treat every human, every living thing with love and respect.” There are some religious traditions that are not as accepting of other people’s differences, and not that there is anything wrong with that, because any Jubilant would treat someone intolerant of alternative lifestyles the same way that they would treat someone who does pursue an non-mainstream lifestyle. When discussing the basic question “What’s around the corner?”, Mulkey accepts the unknown as part of his faith by stating, “Life/God/Buddha/Yaweh/Mother Earth/The Big Kahuna/Fill in the blank with a deity of your choice” provide me with exactly the experiences I need to awaken to reality and to who I really am. The only time we have is this moment. The past is gone and the future is unknown. Death? Who knows? Certainly not me.” The importance of living “in the moment” is stressed among the Jubilee! community as a way to enjoy life and each day’s blessings.

Mimi Shackelford, who says she has been at Jubilee! “since the beginning”, has had many roles at Jubilee! amongst them board member, spearhead of “Celebrating Creation” (a holiday parade), Sunday school teacher, nurture team member (a group that focuses on wellness), and designer of banners, brochures, and flyers. Despite her busy schedule Mimi also finds the time to be an excellent grandmother to her eight grandchildren and spoils them all by making her infamous chocolate pie. Of her faith, Mimi says, “I am an individual with thoughts, gifts, and talents that I believe are best used and developed in the community, by sharing them and learning from others.  I believe that all of creation is evolving daily and that wisdom comes from all traditions and cultures—from everywhere and everything. I believe that all of creation is sacred and should be treated with respect.” Like Mulkey, Mimi uses the word “respect” in the description of her attitude towards creation.

Respect for humanity, respect for the world, is a definite common thread in the Jubilant community. Mimi further explains her faith by saying, “For me, the word ‘God’ is simply a symbol for the power of life that moves through the universe and for the presence of love that enhances and gives meaning and joy to life. Love and compassion give us the ability to cope with the suffering and uncertainty that is ever present because we are alive and aware.” When I was little I remember Mimi always told me she wanted to be cremated and then sprinkled over the ocean, but also on the tennis courts so that her friends could visit her (I think that part was a joke). On a more serious note Mimi discusses life after death by saying, “I hope that some part of me will live on in the hearts and minds of those I love and who love me…and that my life will continue to exist in those I’ve taught, contributions I’ve made, or ideas I’ve shared. I’m perfectly willing to become part of the earth and elements once more.  This life has been full of deep joy and love—and that’s enough! I am grateful!!” I know I am grateful and blessed to have such a wonderful and wise grandmother who so readily gives out love not only to her family but also to complete strangers and those in need.

Aliyah Schick, a Jubilee! member for nine years now, is the leader of the prayer chain and also periodically reads her poetry aloud in the services. She describes her poetry as spiritual, with spiritual being a broad adjective that encompasses everything, as “everything meaningful [such as poetry] is essentially spiritual.” She believes, “The most important thing is to be fully present in each moment and true to who we really are. Being that evokes self-worth and integrity, which evokes empathy, which evokes compassion, which evokes connection and community. I focus on the positive, on the miracles and mysteries, on the possibilities.” Simply by being ourselves, Aliyah says that we all contribute and benefit one another: “Together we co-create this life here on earth.”

I now return back to the comment that Jubilee is not a “real” church. Perhaps Jubilants do not have a rigid set of beliefs or system of thought they must follow, but is that what faith is defined as? Faith is not formed through objective practices or codes of ethics. Vicki Garlock writes, “Faith is not about spiritual beliefs or religious commitments. Rather faith is a worldview that guides one’s life. It’s a way of moving through life’s wonders and challenges.” She continues by saying she wants her kids to have faith: “A faith that reminds them they are connected to the earth and all the people on it. A faith that holds them steady when necessary and allows them to float away in ecstasy when the opportunity arises. A faith that grows out of trust and love. It’s a lofty goal but I’m pretty sure the relatively mundane task of getting dinner on the table – helping them to appreciate the earth’s bounty, sharing time together as a family, and offering a glimpse of my love for them – serves as a decent stop along the way.” Raymond agrees with this sentiment by saying, “Our spiritual progress is not measured by how much we pray or meditate, or even by how much money we give away to the poor, Our spiritual progress is measured by how much we love.”

Loving is what Jubilants do best. Somewhere in the space between one another something powerful exists. Whether or not you refer to this something as “Life, God, Buddha, Yaweh, Mother Earth, or The Big Kahuna,”11 it’s there. Jubliants realize that the closer we get to one another the closer we get to this something. So love. “Love wildly and freely. Love the kind of love that is not afraid of dirty hands.” 12And with your hands reach out to others, reach out triumphantly and jubilantly, because you will find that God is love, and love is all around us.

* * *
Sources Cited

1 Howard Hanger, Minister, through “Jubilee! Community: A Call to Life!” brochure
2 “Jubilee! Community: A Call to Life!” brochure
3  “Jubilee! Community: A Call to Life!” brochure
4 “Room In the Inn at Jubilee!” brochure
5 “What Is This Via Stuff, Anyway? (Uh-oh, Here Comes the Theology)”
6 “What Is This Via Stuff, Anyway? (Uh-oh, Here Comes the Theology)”
7 “What Is This Via Stuff, Anyway? (Uh-oh, Here Comes the Theology)”
8 “What Is This Via Stuff, Anyway? (Uh-oh, Here Comes the Theology)”
9 “Jubilee! Community: A Call to Life!” brochure
10 “Jubilee! Community: A Call to Life!” brochure
11 Bruce Mulkey
12 “How Much We Love” by Pam Raymond

Primary Sources:

Bruce Mulkey
Mimi Shackelford
Aliyah Schick

Secondary Sources:

“How Much We Love” by Pam Raymond
Howard Hanger, Minister, through “Jubilee! Community: A Call to Life!” brochure
“Jubilee! Community: A Call to Life”
“Jubilee! Community: A Call to Life!” brochure
“Room In the Inn at Jubilee!” brochure
September 26, 2008 Newsletter
“Via Transformativa: Jubilee! Community Spring 2010”
“What Is This Via Stuff, Anyway? (Uh-oh, Here Comes the Theology)” by Vicki Garlock