Saturated

We are creatures forever subject to the whims of weather.
A weekend of bluegrass music,
interrupted by eruptions of
sweet rain and thunder and lightning and wind,
naturally.
The organic music played by tree instruments goes well
with a good thunderstorm.
We flock to cover as the air turns bluish purple and
we wait, and while we wait we stomp our
feet together and raise our voices together,
because a storm can't stop the music, no,
rather it feeds the music because the music
is in our heartbeats and the storm makes our hearts beat
faster.
Faster, stronger, and we dance and hum and
squeal when the lightning dances with us because
it is bigger than us.
We drink in the plump air and the music only keeps growing until
it flows out of every pore.
Inside the warehouse there is a circle of singers
harmonizing on spirituals,
they feel the storm they feel the music they feel each other
erupting, spurting, gushing, flowing outward,
the mud is growing thicker,
there are people sliding and running and wrestling,
the storm keeps dancing and we keep dancing and there is fullness
and the air is saturated with water and music and we are too and it all
keeps flowing on and on and on.

Sauntering

"Hiking - I don't like either the word or the thing. People ought to saunter in the mountains - not hike! Do you know the origin of that word 'saunter?' It's a beautiful word. Away back in the Middle Ages people used to go on pilgrimages to the Holy Land, and when people in the villages through which they passed asked where they were going, they would reply, "A la sainte terre,' 'To the Holy Land.' And so they became known as sainte-terre-ers or saunterers. Now these mountains are our Holy Land, and we ought to saunter through them reverently, not 'hike' through them."

CSSC Spring 2012 Convergence

Group photo! Photo by Tia Tyler

From April 27th – April 29th, over 400 students from across the state of California gathered at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo for a weekend of workshops, speakers, live music, and camping. The theme of this convergence was building a resoNATION – inspiring students to join together to make a positive, resounding impact in the world. We all have unique perspectives, skills, and experiences, and the California Student Sustainability Coalition (CSSC) is about bringing those individual resonations into one HUGE resoNATION.

And that is what we did. Most of the 30 workshops offered were student-led, and topics varied from “Transforming White Privilege” to “Agro Eco Coffee” to “Ending Corporate Personhood.” Larry Lansburgh, producer of the film “Dream People of the Amazon,” delivered a thought-provoking and inspirational keynote address about the power of community and perseverance against all odds. After a long day of workshops (and delicious, vegan, sustainable food) we all danced our hearts out to the tunes of The Willows, who played an energizing set for us at SLO Creek Farms.

The CSSC is built on the principle that sustainability has three intertwined threads: ecological, economic, and social. The convergence was a time to explore all of those threads both intellectually and experientially, by opening our minds and our hearts to one another.

Spiral hug! Photo by Tia Tyler. 

Between workshops, over meals or while tossing frisbees, friends were made and conversations had regarding how we can make change in our own communities and on our own campuses. How we can build a resoNATION. Jordan Lambert, Tessa Salzman, and Yamina Pressler did a fabulous job for coordinating this year’s spring convergence. Across the board, students agreed that it was one of the best ones yet. Those three amazing organizers, along with the Empower Poly Coalition and the California Student Sustainability Coalition, worked long and hard to create this space for sustainable collaboration. But rather than write more about the experience, here is a video that encompasses the diversity of voices as well as the common experience that permeated throughout the weekend.

Watch the video here!

If you attended the convergence, I hope this brings back positive memories, and if you did not, I hope this inspires you to come to the next one! The CSSC puts together these magical weekends once a semester – so don’t miss out!

Convergence coordinators Tessa, Yamina, and Jordan. Photo by Tia Tyler

And a poem of my own: 


The word ecology comes from the word ecos
which means "home"
and here and now,
I am home.
Ecos.
Here we have come together to experiment
as a living breathing ecosystem
and that is what we are,
and I am home.
Nutrients have been cycling all day
and I feel the warmth of our symbiosis,
ubuntu.
Here we are home.
I am home.
Individuals connected by unbroken eye contact,
handshakes, hugs,
common passions,
separate resonations that
collide.
We don't need to innovate and calculate
the ultimate solution,
we simply have to go home
create home
together.
Ecos.
I am home.

And a thought: 

My education up to this point has placed the weight of the world on my shoulders. As it should, because feeling that weight is important. Memorize that feeling. Recall it when you start to feel a bit too much like a balloon.  But what the California Student Sustainability Coalition does, is  it takes that weight and distributes it onto all of our shoulders. I can be me, contribute myself, my shoulders - and hold the world up with the rest of my sustainabilibuddies. Sweet, sweet, sweet relief. Memorize that relief. Recall it when you start to feel like your feet are too heavy to lift up.