Conscious Choice: Surviving the Streets

November 2006 | Choice Feedback

Surviving the Streets

As sorry as I am for your accident, I enjoyed your article. I too have had a similar exchange, one of many times I also have gotten that “look” or actually been accused of being a liberal freak or just a plain freak.

I was at the Brookfield zoo changing my baby daughter’s diaper, when someone saw me take the diaper and put it into a special wet bag and stuff it right in my backpack. I saw the amused smile/look—tree hugging liberal hippie weirdo mom. I answered—I guess I cannot see filling a landfill with something that will take 13 years to decompose and pour all those chemicals into the earth, never mind on my baby’s behind more than 12 times daily. Delivered with the same amused smile. We both laughed and left.

The sad thing is, it takes me no more time to cloth diaper my daughter than it does to use the disposables out there. The amount of time it takes to toss a load of diapers in the washer and then wash, put away, etc. is so little compared to having to drive to the big box and buy those and wipes and diaper rash cream each and every week. When she outgrows them, I stick them on e Bay. Some diapers sold for $20 less than I paid for them. I used them for 8 weeks.

So I thank you for your article and great magazine. It’s good to know I am not the only one accused of being a hippie freak. Of course, there are worst things to be!

—Amy LeBeau, Lombard, IL

Thank you so much for publishing “The Art and Grace of Being Doored” by Charles Shaw. As a bicyclist in LA, I too battle daily with potentially life-threatening situations and unsympathetic drivers. Thanks to Shaw for sharing his story on behalf of all of us.

—Stephanie Winn, Los Angeles, CA

I just read Charles Shaw’s “The Art and Grace of Being Doored” and want to let him know that I enjoyed it immensely. I was led to the article from the hugg blog on Treehugger. (hugg.com/story/6256).

I wanted to cheer when I read the bike cop’s response to the cab driver (“Cause gas is too expensive and people are dying for oil, man! Now give it a rest and pick up a newspaper sometime.”) and then again when Charles decided to “act from a place of patience and maturity and defuse the whole incident.”

I live in the Denver metro area and haven’t been hit while on my bike yet, but, when I am, I hope to react even half as well as Charles did.

Thanks for the great article, Charles!

—Craig Maxwell, Internet

Loving the New Conscious Choice

This is the second issue I’ve read since you have taken over as Editor, and I’d like to tell you that you’re doing a great job! As I am reading the rest of the issue as I write this, I just wanted to take a time out to say “Thanks.”

—Susan Thornton, Chicago, IL

9/11 Controversy Rages On

I just want to thank you for doing an interview with [David Ray] Griffin (“The 9/11 Credibility Gap,” September, 2006) and covering this subject. I’m the news editor for a Christian website, The Watchman Report (non-denominational), and we’ve been working to try and get the truth out to Christians in America about this issue for over a year. I have also been in contact with former government officials like Paul Craig Roberts and Ray McGovern, trying to bring this issue to light.

—Michael McKnight, Durham, North Carolina

Thank you for your interview with David Ray Griffin. Anyone who questions the “mainstream” is automatically labeled as a “conspiracy theorist;” however, most of those doing the labeling have not examined the evidence. David Ray Griffin and his fellow 9/11 Truth activists need to have their voices heard. Unfortunately, questioning the party line makes people uncomfortable, especially the traditional media. I appreciate CC ’s effort to continue providing an independent voice of inquiry.

—Jolene Rae Harrington, Los Angeles, CA

Burn, Baby, Burn

(In response to “Don’t Bring Your Business Card to Black Rock City,” Sept. 2006) Burning Man is about many things to many people, but one thing I find to be consistent is that it’s about change in the most expansive sense. When burners (and media) complain that it’s “not the same,” then maybe it’s time for them to find another learning experience.

When you learned all there was to learn in kindergarten, did you stick around and tell all the incoming 5-year olds that kindergarten’s just not the same anymore? That the snacks aren’t as good, the hokey-pokey is so played out and counting to 10 is so easy? I’m not saying that Burning Man is juvenile—there are incredible opportunities for evolving beings of all ages to create, express and expand. I just think media coverage arguing that it’s “sold out” is evidence of the media’s need to expand its perspective more than anything.

When you’re over it, stop going; you’ve probably learned all you’re capable of learning there. When you find yourself complaining that it’s grown too big or too tame or too much of whatever it is you resist, then you’re probably not open anymore for the business of expansion that can happen there. That doesn’t mean the opportunity to grow and expand is lost for everyone else, or that your opportunities to grow elsewhere in your life are lost either. Just know when to move on so the “newbies” can create new experiences that aid their expansion and expression. Please don’t stick around to insult others who haven’t experienced anything like it before, or those who still manage to find newness in every changing moment.

—Emily Liolin, San Francisco, CA

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