----PO BOX 5588, Santa Fe, NM 87502-5588------(505-471-5177)-----www.TheSun-News.com

October, 2004

Vol.5. NO.10...........................................................Pages 8 and 9

Darwin Award: God Saves?

A wealth of literature makes it abundantly clear that deities often intercede to protect their sanctuaries form desecration. In light of this knowledge, a teenager who planned to burgle a church probably should have brought along his rosary and his cross.

David, sixteen, was on the roof of Grace Church in Des Moines lowering a stolen generator to the ground when his jacket became wrapped in the electrical cord, pulling him over the ledge to dangle precariously in the air. At that point he could have cut himself free with the sharp knife in his pocket or escape by wiggling out of his jacket. Inexplicably, he did neither. David died of exposure, trapped in the freezing rain.

Next time you steal from a church, remember David’s fate and reconsider. That bit of booty is not worth risking the wrath of a vengeful God.
 

October 20, 2004

For More Information call

(505) 471-5177

Movie Making in New Mexico

The independent short film “Shootin’ For Love” is seeking extras to populate Bonanza Creek Movie Town on Friday, October 8th. The filmmakers will outfit you in costume from the period, feed you a hearty western meal and you will get to watch as they film an old-fashioned Western shoot out.

Santa Fe Community College has begun film production classes. TVI in Albuquerque will also begin film production classes after the first of the year. “In From the Night” has begun production in Albuquerque. Acting classes are on-going in Santa Fe.

Other productions are planned for this Fall, but nothing seems to be “set in stone” yet. For more information check out the New Mexico Film Office website at www.nmfilm.com and click on “news and announcements”.

EcoVersity Experience by Alan R.

I come from an urban East Coast background and, like so many other people in Santa Fe, left that environment to seek a greater sense of connection to other beings on this planet. I was working for a cable entertainment network in New York City and may very well have had a future containing luxury sports sedans, plasma television sets, and designer labels.

However, something was missing. I used to ride the Q train over the Manhattan Bridge on a daily basis and at a certain point on the bridge I could see probably ten miles in every direction. Awesome in its magnitude though that view was, it was totally missing anything that wasn’t put there by other human beings. Those of us who have spent any time in New York understand some New Yorkers’ ability to forget that there is any other place on Earth.

When I was crossing that bridge on the Q train, I too was able to forget that the Earth was not just concrete, steal, and human biomass. I knew rationally that other places existed; in particular the places that grew the food I ate, made the textiles I wore, and provided the raw materials for all the buildings on the skyline. However, in reality I was so distanced from such activities that those places weren’t real to me. I felt as though my life were totally dependent on things I had no control over and no understanding of.

I left New York because I decided that I needed to have more connection with the sources of my basic human survival. I became an intern on an organic farm here in NM in the summer of 2003 and worked very hard. I got a taste of what it meant to be directly responsible for one’s own biological needs, and I knew I could never go back.

Last Spring 2004 I enrolled at EcoVersity in their Earth Based Vocations certificate program. EcoVersity introduced me to Permaculture and I could not imagine being more ready to hear the lessons there in. Permaculture teaches us that we are all intertwined, interconnected, and interdependent with each other, and every other being on this planet. It teaches how to change our thought patterns so that we don’t fall back into the destructive habits afforded us by our consumer-based society.
When I lived in New York, I would go to protests, rant to friends, and write elaborate manifestos in my head. For all my good intentions though, I lacked hope. For all my political savy, I lacked a basic love for other life forms. And, for all my college-educated intelligence, I was largely disempowered. The biggest lesson EcoVersity gave me an opportunity to learn is that the power to change society begins with the power to change oneself. I still struggle on a daily basis to make that change, and I don’t always get it right. I learned to open my eyes and see that the Earth wants to live, and part of that living is through me. I learned that it is in the Earth’s nature to provide for all its citizens because its citizens are the Earth.

Inside This Issue

Alternative Medicine ...... 1

Book Reviews............... 15

Darwin Awards ....7,8,9,14

Dotted Dunes of Mars ... 7

EcoVersity
Experience ................9

God Saves?..................  8

Hell Unlikely to
Freeze Over............... 12

Junk Food Junkie......... 10

Letters to the Editor...... 12

Movie Making in NM..... 8

New Dating
Techniques ............ 14

North Central NM
Events .....................3

Organics at a
Crossroads............. 13

Plaza Excavations
Reveal Evidence of
Pueblo Revolt
Siege .................... 10

The Wedding Test .... 11

To All New
Mexicans..............  1

Top 11 Thoughts for
2004..................... 11

Truth Emerges About
Bush Misleading
on Medicare ......... 11

Weird News ............. 14

Wraith Throwing
Stones ................... 7