The modern, fast-paced, money-oriented world is a harsh, unforgiving place for sensitive people. Projects like this organizer are tiny, fragile drops in a huge, often hostile bucket. It can seem like our modest acts of resistance have little effect in the scheme of things. But that sense of futility is manufactured. We live at a crossroads in time. In the not-so-distant past, everything was made by hand. This was slowly supplanted by the dawning of the industrial age. Now, the promise of the future looms ugly with its alienating, soulless gadgets that don’t decompose. This organizer is primarily made by hand, designed for you to work out your thoughts using your own hands. The seed of action is thought. We hope this organizer can inspire you to integrate a crafty approach to your thoughts and actions. The actions we take may or may not defend us and the planet from the menance of capitalism. Certainly they are in contrast to the instant gratification that capitalism promises with one hand while it holds the chains that are our doom with the other. But change created by you and a small group of people can have a ripple effect, and we toiled over this hand-made object you hold in your hand to catalyze change.
The people who created the organizer are ordinary people just like you. And yet when we make the organizer, unusual things happen, and we are transformed. People we’ve never met before wander in attracted by the explosion of creativity, lend a hand, and become part of us. Non-artists realize they can create art. As a collective, we rise far beyond the sum of our individual selves. The organizer comes out of a thriving radical community — like a bacteria nurtured in a petri dish — and in turn we hope we help nurture that same community.
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Over the last few years, Samantha helped us make the organizer — sitting around with us late into the night with a scissors in her hand, passion in her heart and intense words on her lips. This spring, she lept from the world and we miss her.
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This is the 16th year we’ve been privileged to publish the Organizer. It raises funds to publish the quarterly, radical, independent Slingshot Newspaper. We aim to distribute the newspaper for free everywhere in the US. Send us your mailing address to become a local distributor of Slingshot. This year we’re publishing our first book entitled People’s Park: Still Blooming to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the creation of People’s Park in Berkeley. Let us know if you want a copy. Thanks to the people who made this year’s Organizer: Abra, Ali, Arlo, Artnoose, Autumn, Brian, Bryan, Cindy, Coby, Crystal Math, Daryn, Derek, Dominique, Eggplant, Emily, Enola, Eric, Fil, Gregg, Hans, Heather, Jake, Joclyn, Julia, Justin, Karma, Kathryn, Kei, Kermit, Kerry, Knick, Laura, Lesley, Lew, Lilia, Maneli, Melissa, Mentation, Oliver, Pancho, Paseo, Patrick, PB, Rachel, Rezz, Sally, Samiya Bird, Socket, Stephanie, Xarick, Zöe.
Slingshot Collective
3124 Shattuck Avenue • Berkeley
CA 94705 • 510 540-0751
slingshot@tao.ca • http://slingshot.tao.ca
© Anti-Copyright. Borrow whatever you want. We did.
Note on Moon dates: We list the day on which a full moon or new moon occurs for Pacific Time. If you live in a time zone other than Pacific the DAY of the event may be a different day. Pacific time is three hours later than Eastern Time.
Note on Moon dates: We list the day on which a full moon or new moon occurs for Pacific Time. If you live in a time zone other than Pacific the DAY of the event may be a different day. Pacific time is three hours later than Eastern Time.
printed on recycled paper
All volunteer collective — no bosses, no workers, no pay.
printed on recycled paper
All volunteer collective — no bosses, no workers, no pay.
printed on recycled paper
All volunteer collective — no bosses, no workers, no pay.