Four quotes for the U.S. election day

Written by Brad in the late evening of the 2016 election:

Hey folks, at this point it's still very much up in the air. Just want to say that tomorrow I'm waking up and going to work. Those of us who don't wear power suits and drive in motorcades, those of us who know our neighbors, those of us who can name the flora and fauna, those of us who read and write and live for holy poetry, those of us who grieve and hope and burn and take deep gasping breaths of autumn air, who warm our hands in the hands of our friends, who dance, who bravely dare, who pause in momentary blessings, who read soil and sun and great old books, who meet the eyes of our fellow men and women, who love our children and our elders - tomorrow we are going to work.

Rebecca Solnit, from How Change Happens

We are building something immense together that, though invisible and immaterial, is a structure, one we reside within—or, rather, many overlapping structures. They’re assembled from ideas, visions and values emerging out of conversations, essays, editorials, arguments, slogans, social-media messages, books, protests, and demonstrations. About race, class, gender, sexuality; about nature, power, climate, the interconnectedness of all things; about compassion, generosity, collectivity, communion; about justice, equality, possibility. Though there are individual voices and people who got there first, these are collective projects that matter not when one person says something but when a million integrate it into how they see and act in the world. The we who inhabits those structures grows as what was once subversive or transgressive settles in as normal, as people outside the walls wake up one day inside them and forget they were ever anywhere else.

Margaret Wheatley, from Perseverance

This is how the world always changes. Everyday people not waiting for someone else to fix things or come to their rescue, but simply stepping forward, working together, figuring out how to make things better.

Clarissa Pinkola Estes

Ours is not the task of fixing the entire world all at once, but of stretching out to mend the part of the world that is within our reach. Any small, calm thing that one soul can do to help another soul, to assist some portion of this poor suffering world, will help immensely.

Your vote is a small, calm thing that can assist some portion of this poor suffering world. Then, once you vote, the work goes on…

The Weft — News and Events

|| 1 || Speaking of the daily work, there are job openings in the food and farm world with Michigan State University—two Extension positions (Antrim County and the Thumb). Deadline: November 15th.

|| 2 || Also the Organic Farmer Training Program at MSU is accepting applications. Scholarships are available if you apply by November 15th.

|| 3 || November 15th is of course also opening day for firearm deer hunting in Michigan. As with small farming, hunting is on the decline as hunters age out and are not replaced. Field to Fork is helping to introduce a new generation to deer hunting, with a focus on culinary excellence.

|| 4 || I know you don’t want to be thinking about Christmas yet, but do check out the Light Parade in downtown TC on November 19th!