Chicano Artists From the Edge

Today, LACMA and roughly 70 other art institutions across Southern California are brimming with works by Latino artists as part of the groundbreaking Getty-led initiative, “PST: LA/LA.” Ironically it includes numerous works by Asco members.


A Music Program Geared to the Stressed

Erick Ocampo Machado is the founder of Music With Vision, a program in Steamboat Springs, Colorado that helps any stressed school youngsters and young adults transfer their emotional anxieties to music. Erick’s idea that music can help the stressed all began in Nicaragua, where he was born during the famous contra war with the Sandinista-led government. 


How to Nurture a Democracy

A democratic political system can survive only if it is embedded in a society that allows it to thrive.  Rather like the three essentials for nurturing healthy plants (good soil, adequate water and sunlight), there are at least three nurturing elements that a society must provide, in order for democracy to prosper -- beyond the foundation of a healthy economy.  These elements are (1) the rule of law, (2) elections that are perceived as fair (and where the outcomes are respected), and (3) a political discourse that honors veracity and condemns lying and liars.


Pilgrimage

This is the year for me to plan a pilgrimage. It’s not that I want to go anywhere in particular. The pilgrimage could simply take place within the far reaching corners of my mind.  For some time, all of my life really, I have often pondered the notion of whether I have a destiny.  And deep down inside when I pose this question, I know I do. Destiny. Making my mark. It all belongs to me. And to all of you.


Global Governance from the Ground Up: A Biological Perspective

The most obvious and universally accepted goal for global governance -- to keep (or restore) the peace between nations -- is far too narrowly framed within the context of the emerging global challenges of population growth, climate change, environmental degradation, resource depletion, and resurgent nationalism.   The ecological and political underpinnings for global governance and social peace in our increasingly interdependent global...


The “Killer Ape”: Is Warfare in Our Genes? Is It Our Fate?

 Many theorists over the years have embraced idea that collective violence and warfare played a key role in the rise of humankind.


Our Darkest Hour is Still Ahead

It is not just that the size of the government has been reduced intentionally. It is not just that many cabinet level appointees are unqualified for public service. It is not only that our government policies have been revised or in some cases re-interpreted or eliminated. Similarities to conditions in Germany that led to the rise of Hitler are hard to miss – the nationalistic, boastful tone; the harsh and unrelenting attacks on a free press as “fake news;” the key roles that members of the military play in the current administration; the endless insults and sparring with other countries; the deaf ear turned to hate speech; and the pitiful, narcissistic, and whiny tweets from the nation’s highest elected official.

 

 

 

 


Making your Mark

In his book, A Failure of Nerve: Leadership in the Age of the Quick Fix, the late Edwin Freidman wrote about the emotional connections that are interwoven throughout our lives. He cited how we can be our own worst enemies by failing to recognize how the dysfunctional patterns in our childhoods are often replicated in our work lives as well as in our homes, our families, and in our churches, synagogues and schools. To paraphrase...