Maria finally deigned to show me her new quilt, I think she used to call it the Raptor Quilt, now she is thinking of calling it the Vulture Quilt. It is quite a remarkable thing, filled with symbolism and mysticism and animalspeak. She spent the past few days adding words and text below the eyes.
When I first saw this quilt, it frightened me a bit. Now I find it enchanting and deeply, deeply, spiritual. She has been reading and thinking and walking about this quilt, connecting it to animals, feminism, ancient symbols, stories and words and dreams – and most recently, to the vulture, a very powerful animal symbol. But she can tell you about that. She wrote about it today and will soon offer it for sale.I love seeing this creative process unfold, it is deep and powerful and inspiring.
The Internet has taught us again and again that when people make their own decisions, they are often very different than the decisions that used to be made on their behalf. If you believe in Marxist theory, this is wonderful news. If you believe in order and traditional structures, it is not yet clear how good that news is.
Are the people always right? Jefferson said no. The British say yes. We may find out ourselves soon enough. Our founders build a political system embedded with checks and balances to protect against Kings and uninformed mobs, they dreaded both. Mobs are prone to hysteria and rage. I have never heard of a mob that did good in all of human history.
The Internet has sent the gatekeepers – publishes, producers, reviewers, journalists, politicians, authors, taxi drivers, hotel chains, musicians, fund-raisers – running for their lives. Crowdsourcing has turned the very idea of fund-raising on it’s ear, and caused great upheavals in the ordinary world.
We can bypass the administrators and arbiters and ask for help, and we can decide for ourselves whether to give money or not, in what amount and to whom. There is a troubling side to all of this chaos and change, there is a liberating side as well. In a sense, the Internet has always brought choice and flower flowing back to the hands of individual people. The many to the many, the few to the many.
Crowdourcing – the very democratic solicitation of money online – is strange yet, controversial to many people who distrust many of their causes and worry that people who should be earning a living are not, turning to strangers instead for money. They fear fraud and misrepresentation as well. They also love to give to causes they like, and for whatever reason, and without explanation.
It’s very simple, one woman told me, “if you don’t like it, shut up and don’t give.” That freedom makes many people crazy. It is easy to reach out for help online, it is easy to jeer at the idea.
They say crowdsourcing works best when the requests come from someone you know, or someone who can be vouched for by someone you know. Movies are being made this way, albums produced, books written, cameras bought, lives subsidized, inventions created, homes rebuilt, sick people their medicine, kids their tuition money.
In a sense, crowdsourcing is a great dialogue, billions of dollars changing hands out of sight or mind of bureaucrats, lawmakers and arbiters.
For me, crowdsourcing works well on an individual level. To help Joshua Rockwood fight an unjust persecution. To help Ken Norman survive a double-knee operation. To help Scott and Lisa Carrino buy their cafe building and keep community alive in their town.
Kelly’s puppy campaign is not technically crowdsourcing, I only mentioned it on the blog, not on the Internet. Like it or not, know it or not, she has been absorbed into this community, she is one of us.
For me, it was about Kelly and her smile, but also about community and the chance to provide an antidote to the stream of horrific news that passes for journalism in the greedy corporate offices of cable networks and corporate media. I needed to feel good about something this week, and Kelly came along at the right time. Obviously, many people felt the same way.
How often do you get the chance to help puppies and a good person and to feel good about yourself. Sometimes we need to be reminded that community is important and that good people are good. That is not a story that will be told on their news. It is a big story here.
So thanks for all that, and for your trust in me. I will never betray it.
When Maria went to the post office this morning, Wendy, one of the postal workers there, said “you two have a lot of mail in the post office box today.” She was right. The mailbox (P.O. Box 205, Cambridge, N.Y., 12816,) my magical connection to the true world), was full, stuffed with $10 and $25 dollar bills and checks, most for $25 dollar, two or three for $100.
On the first day of or blog fund for Kelly Nolan – today was the first day mail could have arrived here – she received $740 from people all over the country – Arizona, California, Florida, New Mexico, Texas, Oregon, Mississippi, Canada, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, New York State Montana and Nevada.
“Like you said,” wrote Sarah from Massachusetts, “we’ve all been there. Thanks for organizing this. and thank you for writing. I’ve gradually changed my mind about crowdsourcing due in part to your words.” Thanks to you, Sarah.
Donna lifted my heart with her contribution, writing: “thank you for your wonderful blogs, photographs, and creative, caring natures. You have given life to a community that exists online but one that I carry within my heart each day.” Thank you Donna, this is a community of the heart now, full of caring people, most of whom have, like you and Sarah, been there.
Do not believe their news, it is crammed with hatred and horror, frightened and angry people generate a lot more revenue than good and peaceful people. They literally make enormous amounts of money off of the blood of human beings.
People will always do good when given the opportunity, and Kelly is one of us, she does good and has a big heart. You can see it in her radiant smile, which I have been privileged to photograph at her workplace, the Bog bar and restaurant (Foggy Notions.)
A few weeks ago, she was thrilled to adopt a rescue stray, she did not know at first that the dog was pregnant. When she found out, she decided to keep the dog and was excited about the new puppies, she was planning to give them to good homes for free. The birth was hard, frightening and difficult. It went on for hours, she rushed the dog to the Cambridge Valley Veterinary Service, the staff there spent most of the day working on the dog, finally turning to surgery to save two of the puppies. Three died.
I asked Kelly how much it cost, and she shrugged and said $1,300 which she put on her credit card.
“What could you do?, ” she said, “I had no choice. I’ll pay it off a bit at a time.” She did, of course, have a choice, but it wasn’t a choice she could make. I can’t say for sure I could have made the same one, although Maria says I would have.
If you see how hard Kelly works – she runs the bar and the restaurant, waits tables and cleans them and pours drinks – you can see how much sweat it would take her to pay off that credit card. She is gentle, gracious, uncomplaining.
It lifts the heart to see the true nature of people.
These contributions were small, hard won from hard working people. I was so moved by those small bills, folded up and hidden behind paper. I don’t think there are many wealthy people reading my blog, although those that do have money have always been generous.
Many things unite us here, including a love of animals and also a search for creative and meaningful lives. In this sense, we are a community. I started the blog in 2007 to support my books but it has become much more than that. We are sharing our lives here, our search for meaning. Animals, too.
I am grateful for this new way of helping people. I didn’t use a crowdsourcing site for this effort, I had faith in the blog community and wanted this to be intimate. There are a lot of us now, and we can put ourselves in Kelly’s shoes. I don’t ever want the blog to be about money, but we are part of a social awakening, building a new kind of community, centered around the love of animals and the desire for community.
We help one another when we can.
Community is about connection and about helping one another when it is appropriate. People are still getting used to the idea of crowdsourcing, some are threatened and disturbed by it. I believe it has done great good.
No one can ever jeer at Kelly that she ought to get a job or work harder for a living. She didn’t ask anyone for a dime, this was my idea, not hers. She sweats for every penny she earns, harder than most people. And her love for her dog is poignant. Like most of us, she didn’t have $1,300 lying around. It didn’t stop her.
Like the good woman said, “we’ve all been there.” I remember the day we had to agree to a $2,000 operation to save Minnie and amputate one of her logs. How could I justify this?,” I thought. How can we do it? But you all know the answer. Animals do that to us. How could we not do it?
I appreciate that some people can give and some people can’t. It is always a choice, not an obligation.
In a way, the $10 and $20 bills tucked and folded into the letters are especially touching. My role for helping people is simple and, I think rational: I do what I can, for as long as I can, whenever I can. And sometimes I can’t.
So we have put a huge dent in that bill – it’s more than half-way paid off. And I expect more contributions tomorrow and Wednesday or later in the week. There is no deadline. If you wish, you can sent a contribution to Kelly, you can mail it to P.O. Box 205, Cambridge, N.Y., 12816. You can make the checks out to Jon Katz or Kelly Nolan. If you prefer, you can donate via Paypal, my ID is [email protected], people use the Friends and Family option.
Please be sure to mention it is for the Kelly Fund.
And thank you, my wish was to do a small good in a week of rage and horror. You all remind me and one another that the world is full of good, not just sadness. I can’t wait to hand this money to Kelly.
Our Three Sisters garden is booming, this week the first squash buds (spread open, they are rich yellow.) The corn is up above my knees and the beans are beginning to sprout. One of our most interesting gardens, it evokes the connection between women, community and the land.
News and gratitude from Bedlam Farm, from me, for many things.
I am grateful for my life here on the farm, for Maria, the animals, my photography, my blog, my friends. There is much pain and anger around us in our country now, and I feel it acutely. I hope for less suffering and conflict and appreciate the good things life has brought me. I give thanks every day for my life.
Tomorrow morning, Donna from the hardware store is bringing us a young Romney wool sheep named Izzy. She’s coming in the morning, the first new animal to the farm since Fate.
Since Maria sells her wool for yarn, we thought it important to refresh our flock a bit. Izzy (a female) has a rep as a good and easy-going ewe, Red and Fate will be excited. We are too.
Gratitude. I am grateful for all the support so many readers and supporters of the blog have given and are giving to me and others in recent months – Joshua Rockwood, Ken Norman, Tawni Angel, the New York Carriage Horses, Scott Carrino and the Round House Cafe.
This Saturday, I will be joining Joshua at his West Wind Acres Farm Festival, lots of great stuff going on there. I’ll be giving a talk but there will be photo contests, farm tours, visits with animals. Check it out. Saturday, 10 a.m. Glenville, N.Y.
The sense of community growing in the new world of animals is accelerating. Born out of the New York Carriage horse awakening, there is a new social awakening, we are coming to understand the need for community and also to understand animals in a new and more mystical way.
As many people have banded together to take animals away from us, and promote ignorance of their needs, we are now banding together to keep them among us and help people to understand what they are truly like. We win some and we lose some.
Tawni Angel lost her struggle to keep her pony ride contract with the Santa Monica Farmer’s Market, her contract was revoked after one animal rights protester, a politician, claimed it was torture for ponies to give rides to children. The New York Carriage Horses won their struggle, so did Joshua Rockwood.
When we get together, we are a mighty force.
We are increasingly connected to one another, defending one another, and increasingly supporting one another. So far, Farrier Ken Norman has raised nearly $7,000 to buy hay and repair his trucks and farm equipment. This on top of the $40,000 raised for him nearly two years ago when he had a double knee replacement. He is continuing his good work on behalf of farmers and horses. Ken is seeking $8,000.
Joshua Rockwood is not seeking financial aid now, he won his painful court battle with the town of Glenville over the care of his animals. The festival is a celebration for Joshua, an affirmation of his business and purpose to build a business selling the best and most healthy food to people.
The support people from all over the country gave him – more than $70,000 for legal fees and new farm equipment – was critical in helping him fight the unjust charges against him – and keeping his farm.
Scott Carrino has raised more than half of the $75,000 he is seeking buy the building his community-centered care is in. Much of that money came from you, in support of community. Thank you.
I’ve asked people on the blog if they wish to support Kelly Nolan, you may have seen her photos here, she had to spent $1,300 to save her newly-adopted rescue dog and two of her puppies (no one knew she was pregnant).
I love Kelly and know how many drinks she will have to serve and meals to carry to pay that credit card bill. After the horrific news of last week, I wanted to do a small thing to affirm my own sense of hope and humanity, and a dozen of you joined in on Paypal right away, sending me money for her. I haven’t been to the Post Office yet today, we’ll see what the mail brings, this was essential a Post Office Box campaign (P.O. Box 205, Cambridge, N.Y., 12816). Good people sending small amounts of money for worthy causes, the idea behind crowdsourcing.
I’ll keep the fund for Kelly going through this coming weekend. This is not a crowdsourcing project, but an effort by readers of the blog. We are a community for sure. Thanks to those of you who have sent contributions on line ([email protected], plse mention Kelly.) It’s a small, personal and intimate thing.
I also want to thank you again for the support you gave me to buy my black and white monochrome camera. Our deal was a good one. I got the camera, I’ve shared more than 300 black and white photos so far, as promised. The response has been great, and this is a successful (I think model) experiment on behalf of photographic exploration and expansion of creativity that would not have been possible without you.
It led directly to the acquisition of my infrared camera, a gift.
I thank you also for the voluntary payments many of you have been making to support the blog. It matters and is appreciated, where it is a one-time payment of $75 or month payments of $5 or $10 or contributions by cash or check sent to my post office box (P.O.Box 205, Cambridge, N.Y., 12816). I often get beautiful letters with a $5 or $10 bill folded up inside. Those are precious to me.
The blog is and will remain free to those who can’t afford to contribute or don’t wish to. The contributions help support and pay for the blog’s maintenance and my time working on it. It is good to be paid for one’s work.
This is the new life of the writer, and I embrace it fully and enthusiastically. I am so grateful for the blog.
There are many needy people in the world, and all of us have choices to make about who we wish to help. I respect them. I am mindful of the fact that I do not want to ever seek contributions to pay for my life, only my work. I know many of you struggle financially and lived on tight budgets. Please don’t feel any pressure to contribute to these people and causes, I love that the blog has become a powerful force for good, but I don’t want to see anybody sending money they can’t afford.
