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    Tuesday, August 28, 2007

    Woman's Ayahuasca Journey


    The House of La Matrona, Holistic Midwifery and Doula Workshop in Asheville, NC, is offering a Woman's Ayahuasca Journey into the Peruvian Amazon - Nov 6-14, 2007.

    We will gather in Peru for our annual Ayahuasca Journey. We meet in Iquitos, in the Amazon basin, and from there we travel upriver into the jungle. Under the tutelage of Juan Paimos, we will make the ayahuasca brew and have the opportunity to partake of this plant spirit medicine three times during our stay. Cost is $799 + airfare, and includes lodging and most meals, travel on the Amazon, Plant Spirit Medicine, fees for portage in the jungle, plus stipends for teachers, cooks and helpers...basically everything you will need in Peru. We'll return home via Iquitos on November 14th. Check tickets from the U.S. to Lima, Peru and then on to Iquitos. See The Matrona's website for the complete itinerary and more logistics.

    If you are unfamiliar with ayahuasca, or would like more information, you may enjoy this article from the National Geographic.


    At The Matrona, we believe that birth is a sacred and profound experience, and we teach midwifery as a Sacred Art. We believe that childbearing is a time of transformation and empowerment for parents, and the work of the midwife is to return birth to the family. Our house is dedicated to serving women and families by providing opportunities to access knowledge of Women's Healing Arts. We believe that the knowledge of birth and midwifery is among those arts, and belongs to all individuals and all families. We educate women to be competent, confident, compassionate and caring midwives and doulas who serve families in the traditional ways.

    The Matrona in Motion Blog

    The Urban News

    The Urban News, GATEWAY TO THE MULTICULTURAL COMMUNITY, features community events, entertainment, and highlights local businesses.

    Need to feel empowered to write and speak poetry? This class is for you, an intensive yet, gentle workshop offering a door to a deeper and more meaningful relationship with poetry. Glenis Redmond is offering a dream class for up and coming poets. Permission to Go Within: Poetry on a Deeper Level – A Poetry Workshop

    Also, don't miss the Block Gazette. Up to the minute news put out by the Eagle Market Streets Development Corporation.

    Take A Stand For Peace

    Tuesday, 28 Aug 2007, 8:00 PM

    Downtown Asheville, NC
    96 registered participant(s) (300 maximum)
    City/County Plaza
    Asheville, NC 28806

    Directions: take 240 to Merrimon exit. Go towards downtown. You can park anywhere on broadway/Biltmore or turn left onto Patton (through construction zone)and park on college. There are also some parking lots on College St. that are not used after 6pm. City/county plaza is by the county court house and city hall off College St. (approximately 150 College St.)

    Carpooling is recommended. There is limited parking downtown and along college. Description vigil is handicap accessible, open to the public, no pets please. We will gather at city/county plaza.

    NO CANDLES ALLOWED.
    Bring other sources of light - flashlights, glow sticks, etc. - any light without open flame.

    link

    Monday, August 27, 2007

    Walk the Labyrinth

    TWO AREA LABYRINTHS TO CHOOSE FROM

    Unity Center
    2041 Old Fanning Bridge Rd - 5 minutes from Avl Airport
    Fletcher (Mills River) NC 28732
    684-3798 or 891-8700

    Wednesday August 29, 2007
    7:00 pm - 9:00 pm
    This event repeats every 3 months on the last Wednesday.

    Labyrinths are energy patterns placed on the ground for people to walk. They are used for healing, introspection, meditating, prayer, pilgrimage, and transformation. Come walk a 5-Path Labyrinth set up inside Unity Center by facilitator Sam Richardson. Love Offering.

    ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++


    The Labyrinth Center
    58 Dark Star Way
    Fairview, NC 28730
    828-628-1706

    Hours of Operation - Open All Year During Daylight Hours
    Night Walks and Groups by Appointment
    There is no fee for walking the labyrinth.

    When we opened the space to others, it opened us as well. Now people come all the time to walk the labyrinth and sit in the energy of this peaceful place. They share their energy with the earth, they seek answers and respite, and they heal and renew. They leave pieces of themselves and their individual journeys. We feel blessed to be the labyrinthkeepers. It is a constant reminder that life is an inward, and an outward journey.


    Saturday, August 25, 2007

    Warren Wilson College Named Top School For "Higher" Learning

    Warren Wilson College in , North Carolina is the nation's most marijuana-friendly campus, according to The Princeton Review's annual sourcebook, "The Best 366 Colleges," released this week. The report, which is based on candid survey results from 120,000 students nationwide, ranks hundreds of colleges in various categories such as academic achievement and quality of life.

    Warren Wilson College topped Bard College (New York), the University of Vermont, the University of California at Santa Cruz, and Lewis & Clark College (Oregon) to emerge as this year's top school for "higher" learning. The US Air Force Academy ranked #1 on Princeton's "Top 20" list of least pot-friendly campuses.

    Warren Wilson College was also ranked by The Princeton Review as one of the most politically active campuses in America.

    For more information, please contact Allen St. Pierre, NORML Executive Director, at (202) 483-5500. Princeton Review’s rankings are available online at: http://www.review.com/college/rankings.cfm.

    • 1 - Reefer Madness - Parties
    • 13 - Most Politically Active - Politics
    • 1 - Students Most Nostalgic For Bill Clinton - Politics
    • 14 - Most Beautiful Campus - Quality of Life
    • 3 - Birkenstock-Wearing, Tree-Hugging, Clove-Smoking Vegetarians - School Type
    Also, what kind of college has no football, no fraternities or sororities, and believes that one person can change the world? Warren Wilson College

    link

    Thursday, August 23, 2007

    Citizens Meeting on Preserving Rights


    It wasn't your average activist meeting at the West Asheville Library on Tuesday night. A diverse crowd of roughly 60 people showed up to talk about recent abuses of power by local law enforcement and how to restore Constitutional rights in Asheville.

    Several independent journalists showed up to cover the meeting, as well as the Mountain Xpress and the local TV news station WLOS. Young and old, people from several different activist groups attended. Groups represented include: Asheville Indymedia, Veterans for Peace, Women in Black, the WNC Peace Coalition, Asheville Rising Tide, the Green Party, the Libertarian Party, several shows on WPVM (the Progressive Voice of the Mountains, local community radio station) and on URTV (local public access TV station), among others. Libertarian City Council candidate William Meredith was present, along with unaffiliated candidate Lindsey Simerly. Jonas Phillips, who was arrested for holding the sign last Wednesday, was there. One person even risked his job to show up.

    [Read More »]

    Monday, August 20, 2007

    Patriots Meeting


    Patriots Meeting: August 21, West Asheville NC Library
    In the past two weeks there have been two illegal arrests in West Asheville, NC of people simply exercising their right to free speech.

    Neither Mark Kuhn, for hanging the US flag upside down, nor Jonas Phillips for holding a sign saying "Impeach Bush-Cheany, "broke any laws.

    Mayor Terry Bellamy said in city council on August 15, that she wil not tolerate civi disobedience in her city, and has instructed the Asheville Police Department to quell all such portesting. Counciwoman Robin Cape went on record seroiusly objecting to her comments

    On Tuesday, August 21, 6:30-8PM, a special meeting of patriots will covene at the West Asheville Library, 942 Haywood Rd. to actively discuss what is to be done.

    Plesae tell everyone!

    Info 828-254-6620

    link

    Thursday, August 16, 2007

    Abuse of Power in Asheville?

    The following post came from Gaia's Tears this morning
    UPDATES at the bottom of post

    Yesterday morning at about 9-9:30 am my husband called. This was the usual time he would call after he got to work. He left a little early to do some freeway blogging before he went to work as he had been doing off and on for the past couple of months. He says to me, "Hey, I need you to come pick me up...I got arrested." I laughed at him. We have often joked about similar things especially after what happened recently to another couple in West Asheville. He had to tell me three times before I took him seriously. In his own words, my husband relates what happened:

    I am writing to tell you about an abuse of power in Asheville, NC by a police sergeant. I occasionally stand on an interstate overpass near my place of work in the mornings and hold a sign that says 'IMPEACH BUSH / CHENEY'. On Wednesday August 15, I was standing alone with my sign for about 10 minutes, when I was approached by Police Officer Russell Crisp. He asked me how long I was planning to stay there and I told him just a few more minutes because I had to go to work at 8:00. He asked for my ID and I obliged. I asked him if I was doing something wrong, and he said that his Sergeant was on the way and he was going to wait for him. SO, I went back to my sign holding over the interstate. A few minutes later Sergeant Randy Riddle showed up with a paper in his hand. He spoke briefly to Crisp, then walked over to me and told me to put down my sign, put my hands behind my back, and that I was under arrest! I was shocked and almost thought he was joking until he told me again to put down the sign and put my hands behind me and I was under arrest. So I peacefully agreed and he cuffed me. I asked him why I was being arrested, he told me I was in violation County Ordinance 16-2, (the print out in his hand that he didn’t bother to read to me or show me.) He told me I was obstructing the sidewalk. I told him I was not and that officer Crisp had witnessed a guy walk by me moments before. Riddle yelled at me, "You were obstructing the sidewalk!" and "I'm sick of this shit!" then he said, "Here’s your 15 minutes of fame buddy!" I looked back to see his name plate and he said in a mean condescending tone, "Yea, that's 'Sergeant Riddle’ get it right!" He then put me in Officer Crisp's police car. Riddle took my sign with him and I was taken downtown and booked by Crisp.

    I was never read my Miranda rights. While at the jail I was asked several times about what groups or organizations I was with, like a local group Veterans for Peace. And more specifically the Southeast Convergence for Climate Action group that had protested at the Bank of America on Monday. I was told by officer Crisp that since that protest the police had pulled out this ordinance. I was searched, and they took pictures of me and my tattoos. Since I haven’t been in trouble in 15 years, I was given a court date and allowed to sign a written promise to appear in court.

    This is an example of an American citizen having his/her civil liberties tread upon. In Asheville, you are allowed to protest on city sidewalks without a permit. The sidewalk is about 5 feet wide. I never blocked the sidewalk; I knew about that ordinance already and was not trying to be arrested. It was obvious to me that Riddle had a problem with my sign because there is no way I could block the sidewalk all by myself. I feel like my rights were trampled by this harassment from Riddle. I got the feeling that he was trying to scare me away, but he only strengthened my resolve to protest more!

    By the way, I never got my sign back from Sergeant Riddle.

    He stood on Haywood Road in West Asheville on the bridge that overpasses I240. At lunch time, after contacting all the local media about my husband's ordeal, I went to the Flint Street bridge downtown to do some freeway blogging myself. Other local activists often use this bridge with 'Honk to impeach' signs. Meeting me there was Barry Summers, co-host of Making Progress: News for a Change on WPVM 103.5FM, a local progressive radio station. I consider it one of the only sources of unbiased news in the area. He brought along a photographer friend. He came to catch it on film if I too were to be arrested. One and a half hours in the hot midday sun later and I had not been arrested. During an interview with Barry, he asked if my goal was to get arrested. I answered him, "No. Our goal has always been to get people to wake up to what is happening in our country and it still is."

    At 4:30 PM my husband and I planned to return to the same bridge, on Haywood Road, that my husband was removed from, accompanied again by Barry. Joining us this time was Virato, host of Virato-Live!, and his wife, Dhiraja. Virato has planned a community action meeting at the West Asheville Library next Tuesday at 6:30pm. He will mention it on his show on Saturday.

    We will continue to stand up for our freedoms and against the blatant abuse of power in our government, on the local and national level. Please join us!

    link

    **UPDATE: August 17, 2:49 AM
    "We have an update on our situation. We have contacted the ACLU and they are very interested in our case and are searching for an attorney. They will be even more interested now."
    [Read More »]

    **UPDATE: August 17, 11:02 AM
    "
    During an interview with Asheville Citizen-Times reporter Adam Behsudi yesterday evening, my husband Jonas was informed that the APD has plans to possibly change his charges. Apparently they want to charge him with a state charge concerning endangering motorists."
    [Read More »]

    **UPDATE: August 18, 2:08 PM
    "A letter forwarded to me from the Chief of Police, William A. Hogan, to Gary Jackson, City Manager regarding my husband's arrest. Very interesting..."
    [Read More »]



    This story is moving fast around the blogosphere.