This Reader is an expression of Common Good Collective, a vision for an alternative way, rooted in the act of eliminating economic isolation, the significance of place, and the structure of belonging. Whether you come at this from a place of economics, social good, or faith, we hope these reflections help orient your day in fresh, provocative, courageous ways. And most importantly, we hope these lead you into the sharing of gifts in particular communities—into co-creating a common good.
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Liberation and justice for all includes for ourselves. It includes experiencing pleasure, belonging, peace, and joy. Poet and professor at Clemson University, J. Drew Lanham, paints a beautiful landscape of the lushness of a joyful existence.
Joy is the Justice We Give Ourselves by J. Drew Lanham
Joy is the justice, we give ourselves. It is Maya’s caged bird sung free past the prison bars holding spirits bound— without due process without just cause.
Joy is the steady run stream, rights sprung up through moss soft ground— water seeping sweet, equality made clear from sea to shining sea, north to south, west to east.
In this time of reckoning and reflection, every institution in our society is being scrutinized for its role in how we as a nation of people relate to each other. “Media control our narrative and control our consciousness,” said Congressman Jamaal Bowman of New York. It’s more important than ever that the narrative supports the common good.
Citing lack of diversity in media ownership, members of Congress urge FCC to do equity audit by Kat Stafford
People of color own and control 6% of the nation’s full-power TV stations, 7% of commercial FM radio stations and 12% of commercial AM radio stations but make up more than 40% of the U.S. population.
Congressional leaders and a media advocacy group are urging the Federal Communications Commission to examine how policy decisions and programs have disparately harmed Black Americans and other communities of color.
In a letter sent to the acting FCC chair, Democratic U.S. Reps. Jamaal Bowman of New York, Yvette Clarke of New York and Brenda Lawrence of Michigan along with Media 2070 said the FCC should conduct an assessment to “address and redress” the harm the agency’s policies and programs have caused Black and brown communities and identify “affirmative steps the agency commits to taking to break down barriers to just media and telecommunication practices.”
Ron Finley of the Ron Finley Project and actress Rosario Dawson have teamed up for a project to reimagine the victory garden. This time, the aim is to transform place into a regenerative source of resources and contribution to climate improvement for the common good.
What is a Climate Victory Garden and Why Is It Important?
“Climate Victory Gardens” were inspired by the “Victory Gardens” planted during the first and second World Wars. By 1944, nearly 20 million victory gardens produced eight million tons of food, equaling over 40 percent of the fresh fruits and vegetables consumed in the U.S. at the time. These victory gardens fed Americans at home, to make more farm-raised food available for the troops abroad.
We are once again in the position where we, as everyday citizens, have the opportunity to use our gardens as a force for change. Instead of gardening in support of war efforts, we are gardening to fight global warming.
Soil equals life.
Even your small home garden can utilize regenerative farming practices like keeping the soil covered, not tilling, encouraging biodiversity, using compost, avoiding the use of chemicals and creating fertility onsite.
“We have communities nationwide that are food prisons that could be producing their own organic food while addressing climate change. By educating the public about regeneratively homegrown food, Climate Victory Gardens are raising awareness about one of the biggest global challenges of our time and showing Americans how they can make a difference for themselves, their households, and their communities. Soil Equals Life.” – Ron Finley of The Ron Finley Project
A very special thanks to Green America, Rosario Dawson, Ron Finley and the Ron Finley Project, our amazing film crew and to Kellogg Garden Products for their support in bringing this video to life — and thank YOU in advance for helping us share this video and supporting the regeneration of our planet, one garden at a time.
The ground holds stories, some seen, some concealed. Within one handful of soil are millions of microbes, the stuff of life, compressed over time, moving from dying to something new.
“What’s in the ground?” is one question to help get at the matter of things. What here wants to be seen? What story needs to be told? What truth is waiting? This week’s reader tackles stories of the earth, and the way stories have been hidden in it. Those stories call for action, for the growth of something new that might take that which has been buried and bring up from it a reckoning, a confrontation, a healing.
“Listen to carrion – put your ear/ close and hear the faint chattering/ of the world that is to come.” Berry’s famous poem encourages readers to remain feral. Whether in dense urban neighborhoods, suburban subdivisions, or rural settings, refusing to be domesticated is one of the first “No!” responses we can give to a social compact bound for death.
Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front by Wendell Berry
Love the quick profit, the annual raise,
vacation with pay. Want more
of everything ready-made. Be afraid
to know your neighbors and to die.
And you will have a window in your head.
Not even your future will be a mystery
any more. Your mind will be punched in a card
and shut away in a little drawer.
When they want you to buy something
they will call you. When they want you
to die for profit they will let you know.
So, friends, every day do something
that won’t compute. Love the Lord.
Love the world. Work for nothing.
Take all that you have and be poor.
Love someone who does not deserve it.
Denounce the government and embrace
the flag. Hope to live in that free
republic for which it stands.
Joy is the Justice We Give Ourselves
Citing lack of diversity in media ownership, members of Congress urge FCC to do equity audit
Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front
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