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6/21/2017

A conversation with Todd Fink

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Anyone who knows me knows I revel in good conversation. On May 4th I was lucky enough to have just that as I sat down with musician, philosopher and yogi Todd Fink of The Giving Tree Band at La Sorella di Francesca in Naperville, Illinois. I’m not exactly sure how we got on the subject, but we stated talking about beliefs and the ever controversial and changing etymology of the word ‘religion’.

“Belief is okay,” Todd comments, “but we need more seeking. Seeking is what opens up our minds. The concept of believing in God, but not seeking is limiting. You’re better off not believing if you’re not going to seek. This is where the evolution happens. Whether religion or science, you may have the belief, but you have to continue to seek. If you have a belief you haven’t finished the journey. Having a belief just means you’re at the base of a mountain thinking there might be something out there, but not taking the steps.” 

This constant exploring, this curiosity and drive for knowledge and understanding and playing with things like energy is what led The Giving Tree Band to the concept behind their latest album, Frequency of Love. It’s their 5th studio album produced five years after their last, Vacilador. 

“What makes music unique as an art is that music is formless. You can see a painting or a sculpture. Music has a special  power to bring people back to themselves. Our real nature is beyond all these names and forms. You see you can create all this harmony. A reason music brings people together. Music takes away all these things that separate us like names and forms. There is great potential for harmony and oneness.”

The new album, Frequency of Love, released August 18th of this year seeks to do just this: to bring people to themselves and to create harmony between people and the vibration of the world. It’s a metaphor, but it’s also very real because music is vibrational, it has frequency and it has cycles. So the question begged: Are we in tune? The answer is as varied as the situation and the human behind it.

In terms of music, we measure frequency in hertz. Here’s a quick little science and music lesson from my friend, Todd:

“Strings and sound have cycles. So if you look at the strings in the piano, there are vibrations [when you strike the string]. The number of times it vibrates in a second gives us a pitch. Striking the A in the middle of the piano gives a cycle of 440 times in a second and we measure that in hertz. Well, there are cycles happening all over the place especially with spheres like our planets. 

There are cycles with the moon and the Earth and this is our home and it has its own cycle. My brother and I started thinking, ‘Well, why don't we find out what those cycles mean in terms of music. It will have a frequency. It has a number of times that the Earth spins on its axis in a time frame. What we could do is find that frequency. It’s going to be very low because hertz is measured in cycles per second. In one second the Earth is not going to spin on its axis. It’s not going to revolve around the sun. Nor is the moon going to revolve around the Earth, but it’s going to make a small fraction of that rotation and if we keep doubling it, we will get octaves. For example, if you double 440 you get 880 and in hertz that’s an octave of A. So we kept doubling this number until we got in the range of human hearing. Then we went to see if our instruments lined up with that and low and behold they don’t. Nor do any western instruments in standard tuning. Maybe it’s not a big deal, but maybe it is. So we then just slightly calibrated differently so it does line up perfectly. 

In a sense music is just vibrations. Frequencies that are organized then, all this vibration, all these cycles are music. We’re either harmonizing with that or we’re not.

As musical artists we felt like maybe it’s time to harmonize with that. Then, we did that in the studio and started to perform. When we finished that last performance everybody started spontaneously laughing. It was an experiment. We didn’t know what was going to happen. And we all started laughing. It had worked in the sense that there was a palpable difference, a felt shift. There was something happening energetically and on very subtle levels in our bodies. I felt uplifted. We rolled with that and this is the first recording with that philosophical conception. 

People have been using these calibrations and tunings for centuries. It’s not exactly new. Maybe we’re revisiting it. For example, 440 hertz calibration is used today in the western world. Musicians from Bach’s time may have used different tuning. Gregorian monks chanted in this way. It’s there, but not so much in popular music: Harmony from a conceptual level. It’s all a metaphor.

The bass is the foundation from which to build. Everything has a vibration. One theory is that 528 hertz is a very loving frequency, but you won’t hear it conventionally. 

Love, true love transcends all this. It is pure consciousness. Like when you’re sleeping. When you strip all that [consciousness] away, there’s just this foundation of peace, of love, of oneness.”

Being a writer and visual artist, I don’t really know anything about music theory. I brought my son, the musician, down into the listening room with me to listen to Frequency of Love to see if he would have any thoughts or reactions. We listened to it twice. I jotted down notes about the sounds, the sprinkling of banjo, the possible influences for the track Crystal Dawn which is much heavier than the other tracks. I noted that it was, on a whole, a little more pop than the other albums they’ve produced. 

Then a funny thing happened. During Glow - the single - my son smiled and laughed and said, “That’s nice!” at the exact same spot each time. I asked if it was the lyrics or what was it exactly. It wasn’t the lyrics, it was the tone. He was tuning in to those vibrations at that point in the track. Listening twice was good also because his ear could pull the layered melodies from some of the tracks which he said was a smart thing to do because it adds interest. He says all music is either melodic, chordal or rhythmic and this music is very melodic.

Four of their five albums were done in the home studio in Yorkville, Illinois. One was done in Wisconsin at the Aldo Leopold Legacy Center. The Aldo Leopold Legacy Center is the first certified carbon neutral building in the world with LEED platinum status. They named the album Great Possessions in honor of the conservationist Aldo Leopold. They rode ten miles from the camp ground at the state park they stayed at while making the recording and that year was named “the greenest band in the land” by Mother Earth News as well as the “greenest of albums” by the Chicago Sun-Times.

Then in 2012, Vacilador was produced. A folky album that put their varied talents to use. At that time they were a seven piece band: Todd on guitar, banjo and vocals, his brother E on guitar and vocals, Norm on mandolin and guitar, Charlie Karls on bass, Z on Drums, Woody on guitar and lap slide and Phil on violin/ fiddle and guitar. 

So many lovely bluegrass layers of sounds on the album. A folky album in which they covered Brown Eyed Women by the Grateful Dead. This cover has now reached almost 2 million views on facebook.

“They were totally supportive and great to work with on the licensing so that we could put it on our record. The song writer Robert Hunter listened to it and we got a message from their camp that he liked it,” recalled Todd. “That was pretty cool! I think we have over a million views on Facebook - I’m not sure about YouTube. It’s funny you don’t really think about bringing a song to over a million people. This is the legacy of rock and roll. Jimmy Hendrix covered Bob Dylan songs - this is our way of honoring them.”

“It’s been five years since Vacilador. Time to decompress, to reevaluate and to gel … Phil and Woody left the band in that time. Like Dr. Suess says, Instead of crying about it being over, smile because it happened - and I’m smiling, Im grateful we did some bad ass stuff together.”

In Frequency of Love, they partnered with DF Katz in the studio to bring live horns to the recording as well as The Accidentals, an indie-folk band out of Michigan that includes violin, cello and drum. 

“[In the business of music,] There are two brains that you have to use somehow. This was something that took a long time for me to develop as an artist. It’s always a challenge for us because our primary goal is to create. Playing guitar at five years old - you don’t really think about [business].”

I asked Todd about the band’s environmental stance and told him how my son volunteered to help clean up crew at Naperville’s Rib Fest. He called the aftermath something that looked like the zombie apocalypse was coming. Personally, the way people treat the environment sometimes or litter has been an embarrassment for me and at festivals it can really be heartbreaking. So I thought if I feel this way, it must be really difficult on them to see so often. I understand it is part of the evolution of mankind to make the small personal changes necessary. This goes for myself also. We all have our personal work to do, so to speak, which is the beginning step to being a positive influencer to others in the arena of conscious living.

“From an environmental aspect, we do ask for recycled containers at fests,” Todd says. “There’s a fine line between setting a right example and forcing our ideals. People have the right to go the wrong way. I’ve gone the wrong way. I’ve made mistakes so to think everyone should be on your learning curve creates another layer of chaos. Our way is to be a pattern as individuals and as a group and as a business. To be a place for encouragement rather than perpetuate a dogma so if you’re really open to that, people become more open to that vibration and feel more invited in. If you notice in the yin yang symbol there’s a little dot of the opposite color in the larger pool of each.” 

In The Way of the Wizard by Deepak Chopra, which I have been reading lately, Chopra says, “We all have a shadow self that is a part of our total reality. The shadow is not here to hurt you but to point out where you are incomplete. When the shadow is embraced, it can be healed. When it is healed, it turns to love. When you can live with all your opposite qualities, you will be living your total self as the wizard.” 

We have to accept these different sides of ourselves for ourselves and understand it in others to heal and to create safe, loving and creative spaces. To nurture growth and positivity.

“We all live together. We all have different personalities, but the over arching same philosophy in life,” Todd replied. “If you think about any relationship, if you don’t align, you might feel out of place. We’ve never had any rule about lifestyle - just standards when we’re actually working. When you’re using your body for your art, you want to be in the best place emotionally, physically. We have that respect for our audience. [This is a profession with a history of abuse.] We can serve a greater purpose. We don’t have to keep a tradition that doesn’t work. Nowadays if the band doesn’t respect the venue, there’s so much competition. It doesn’t have to be a dysfunctional enterprise. Just eight years ago every venue in Chicago allowed smoking and we’d come home smelling like cigarette smoke really bad. Now it’s a no brainer. You used to be able to smoke on planes in the 90’s. Then we thought, that’s kind of unhealthy. We’re evolving. We gotta keep going. That’s what being an artist is: looking at the bigger picture.” 

I asked where the band name came from and what it means to them. My son and I had been talking about the book, The Giving Tree. It’s a children’s book, but you see this human just taking every little thing from this tree and yet the tree never withholds, it never gets angry. I told my son how disturbing I thought it was, but I could never put it down and I could never not love it. I laugh at myself because even still as an adult I ponder its meaning which seems ridiculous as it is a children’s book. I asked Sky, my son, what he thought it was about because I saw the two characters as a mother and child and how cruel the child was and what an enabler the parent was. He thought it was about an abusive relationship. I said, you know I think the tree is the Earth and the boy is all of us.

Todd asked me if I had ever read Khalil Gibran’s book The Prophet. I had. 

“There’s a chapter when he says everything is going to be taken away anyway. You might as well give now while it is the season of giving. Give the joy. To give is to live,” Todd believes. “And in Shel Silverstein’s book, it is about an abusive relationship. We do take from the Earth. In this book, the tree is just demonstrating the higher vibration. So there’s a symbology in tuning in. It’s real, but it’s also a metaphor: ’getting in tune’.”

It was such a pleasure being able to sit down and chat with my friend and one of my favorite musicians and environmentalists. I’m ever thankful.

To conclude, I will say some of my favorite tracks on Frequency of Love are Rose of San Antonio, Live Love and My Time in the River as well as Crystal Dawn and Glow. You can hear the earlier influences of folk rock and also that of the 70’s, jazz rock fusion and Miles Davis. Frequency of Love is a fun and dynamic pop album with nice variation. Take a listen and see if you can tune in to the Frequency of Love.
In The Way of the Wizard by Deepak Chopra, which I have been reading lately, Chopra says, “We all have a shadow self that is a part of our total reality. The shadow is not here to hurt you but to point out where you are incomplete. When the shadow is embraced, it can be healed. When it is healed, it turns to love. When you can live with all your opposite qualities, you will be living your total self as the wizard.” 

We have to accept these different sides of ourselves for ourselves and understand it in others to heal and to create safe, loving and creative spaces. To nurture growth and positivity.

“We all live together. We all have different personalities, but the over arching same philosophy in life,” Todd replied. “If you think about any relationship, if you don’t align, you might feel out of place. We’ve never had any rule about lifestyle - just standards when we’re actually working. When you’re using your body for your art, you want to be in the best place emotionally, physically. We have that respect for our audience. [This is a profession with a history of abuse.] We can serve a greater purpose. We don’t have to keep a tradition that doesn’t work. Nowadays if the band doesn’t respect the venue, there’s so much competition. It doesn’t have to be a dysfunctional enterprise. Just eight years ago every venue in Chicago allowed smoking and we’d come home smelling like cigarette smoke really bad. Now it’s a no brainer. You used to be able to smoke on planes in the 90’s. Then we thought, that’s kind of unhealthy. We’re evolving. We gotta keep going. That’s what being an artist is: looking at the bigger picture.” 

I asked where the band name came from and what it means to them. My son and I had been talking about the book, The Giving Tree. It’s a children’s book, but you see this human just taking every little thing from this tree and yet the tree never withholds, it never gets angry. I told my son how disturbing I thought it was, but I could never put it down and I could never not love it. I laugh at myself because even still as an adult I ponder its meaning which seems ridiculous as it is a children’s book. I asked Sky, my son, what he thought it was about because I saw the two characters as a mother and child and how cruel the child was and what an enabler the parent was. He thought it was about an abusive relationship. I said, you know I think the tree is the Earth and the boy is all of us.

Todd asked me if I had ever read Khalil Gibran’s book The Prophet. I had. 

“There’s a chapter when he says everything is going to be taken away anyway. You might as well give now while it is the season of giving. Give the joy. To give is to live,” Todd believes. “And in Shel Silverstein’s book, it is about an abusive relationship. We do take from the Earth. In this book, the tree is just demonstrating the higher vibration. So there’s a symbology in tuning in. It’s real, but it’s also a metaphor: ’getting in tune’.”

It was such a pleasure being able to sit down and chat with my friend and one of my favorite musicians and environmentalists. I’m ever thankful.

To conclude, I will say some of my favorite tracks on Frequency of Love are Rose of San Antonio, Live Love and My Time in the River as well as Crystal Dawn and Glow. You can hear the earlier influences of folk rock and also that of the 70’s, jazz rock fusion and Miles Davis. Frequency of Love is a fun and dynamic pop album with nice variation. Take a listen and see if you can tune in to the Frequency of Love.

Frequency of Love is now available for purchase and you can also catch Giving Tree Band on tour.

​You can learn more about Giving Tree Band by visiting their website: www.thegivingtreeband.com

Feel free to leave your comments in the comments section below!

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4/25/2017

The Frequency of Love

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If music is the universal language, then musicians are agents of unity and inclusivity. On FREQUENCY OF LOVE, the coming 5th studio album of The Giving Tree Band, much of their imaginative American rock 'n roll manifests from lucid dreams.  With all their instruments calibrated to sacred tunings inspired by ancient mythologies of healing and miracles, the Illinois group's new age outlaw sound opens the heart and invites the soul to dance. Loaded with tales of transcendent love and the adventures of warriors of the light, the positive vibrations sail out in all directions carrying the sweet message of harmony and optimism.

For more information on the Giving Tree Band and their tour dates, go to:
 http://www.thegivingtreeband.com


Their new album release date and Chicago release party date is May 12!

Check the website for details

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4/1/2017

Inspired to ride

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Spring has finally come in Chicagoland and today was a beautiful day for a bike ride for Pedal America’s star and producer, Ira David Levy. 

Today, Ira David was in the Naperville area riding the with Performance Bicycle’s social cycling group. May is National Bike Month, so it’s time to get ready. You see, on May 21st Ira David will be riding for those in recovery in Pedal4Life’s first annual Hero in Me ride.

Pedal4Life was created after Ira David was inspired as an honor rider in the Ride to Recovery in Las Vegas. Ride to Recovery is a fund raising ride which is organized by Project Hero supporting veterans and first responders affected by PTSD, TBI and injury recovery. 

This is certainly not Ira David’s first foray into fundraising through cycling, however. As an avid cyclist for over 30 years, and a native New Yorker, Ira David created and organized the 9/11 NY Education Ride raising about $75,000 for children who lost parents in the September 11th terrorist attacks. It was just four people over 70 days and 4486 miles.

Pedal4Life confronts several Chicagoland issues for both the young and the well lived including pairing recovering addicts with cycling groups and veterans with recovering addicts. When he rode with Interbike as an honor rider, he asked the president of Ride to Recovery if those on prescription drugs transition to street opioids, he said yes, all the time. However, with the Ride to Recovery program, 61% were able to eliminate substances from their lives. 

It’s no secret that Naperville has had it’s battles with heroin addiction and overdoses in recent years. In 2012, Kelly McCutcheon had enough after she saw friends dying of a drug overdose and created a documentary on the drug availability for high schoolers at Neuqua Valley in Naperville, a Chicago suburb. 
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Vanessa Cai, the Neuqua Valley High School Interact Club president and Confront the Elephant committee member, has been promoting the Hero in Me ride for Pedal4Life in Neuqua Valley. She became interested in joining these clubs as a freshman when a mother of a victim spoke about how her son went through the tragedy of heroin addiction and how it impacted the whole family. 

“It was so emotional, such an emotional discussion. I saw a lot of empathy,” Vanessa said, “which is just so beautiful. A lot of people were tearing up hearing her talk about the aftermath. I feel like I’ve grown up pretty sheltered. Substance abuse is not what you think.”

The beneficiaries of the Hero in Me ride are Pathway to Home, the Pedal4Life program, and Banyan Treatment Center, Chicago. Ira David usually bikes on the North side of Chicago where he lives and there is a big biking community, but the really big problem is in the Naperville area. According to the Chicago Tribune, heroin related deaths were up 53% in DuPage County and 42% in Will County in 2016 compared to 2015.

Inspired by the recovery rate of the Project Hero, Pathway to Home will teach cycling if an adult doesn’t know how to ride, they give bikes to those who need them, teach traffic skills and techniques and encourage counseling. Donald Teater, MD, is on the board of Pedal 4 Life. He travels he country speaking at events on the epidemic of over-prescribing. They want to partner with bike clubs and encourage members of Pathway to Home to join bike clubs and find these outlets and support for permanent recovery.

There are so many reasons to ride which only deepened as Ira David produced episodes of the show Pedal America and endured his many long distance road rides. He says there is no substitute for the graciousness of the people you meet on the road, their interest, the culture, the history you take in from the environment. Many ride for fun, but between his causes and his shows, Ira David makes riding a life mission.

“You learn the culture of where you are. There are just so many good people out there,” he says. “It keeps you really present, really in the moment.”

If you would like to meet Ira David, he will be riding with Performance in Naperville every Saturday morning in April. 

You can register for the Hero in Me bike ride by going to www.pedal4life.org

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3/12/2017

Bearly Balanced

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This is my friend, Jason Bear, who I met in Jamaica about a year ago at an AcroYoga festival and training where I was getting my AcroFit training certificate. Being part Japanese, we immediately connected and talked about culture, yoga, nature and life in general. 
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Jason has a unique hobby. He balances rocks. Originally from Spokane, he has recently set forth on adventures in Australia. 

When I asked him about rock balancing he told me about tuning in to the vibrations of the rocks and of the Earth. It seemed almost spiritual to me. There is a calm and patience required to steady the mind, slow your breathing and find balance.

I was so thrilled to see some of his images show up in my inbox! Jason has such a unique and wonderful story of journey and healing. I'm looking forward to getting more of his art and ideas to share soon. Welcome Jason Bear :) ~M LeBlanc

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2/21/2017

A Metaphor For Maturity

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by Todd Fink
​

Psychologically speaking, maturity basically means the ability to respond to the environment in an appropriate manner.  Sounds simple. But, how does one respond in an appropriate manner to a political, societal or any other environment that seems so dark, chaotic and dysfunctional?

To answer, let us come back to the word maturity and trace its roots in search of deeper meaning. The etymology of spiritually charged words often reveals important messages that are hidden over time as words and their applications evolve.  

The English word maturity has its origin in Latin. Maturus means “ripeness” which is a description specifically for fruit.  What is the difference between ripe and unripe fruit?  Unripe fruit is hard and bitter while ripe fruit is soft and sweet.  Metaphorically, hardness means rigid and bitterness means unforgiving.  Softness is not weakness but rather represents flexibility and sweetness implies kindness.  Those are the qualities of maturity.

Fruit becomes ripe after long association with the mature tree.  The tree is a sacred symbol across cultures, times and places.  And the path to maturity can be metaphorically explained through the life of a tree.  

A tree begins as a seed in Mother Earth just as the human being begins as an embryo in the mother’s womb.  After sprouting, both are very vulnerable for a period of time and survival is largely due to the grace of outside forces.  After sufficient growth and sometimes after surviving threats or trauma, the tree is stable enough to withstand many hardships.  So, too, pain in our past can be the roots for positive growth.  Where you are coming from is not as important and where you are heading.  And we can always choose to go upward from any point.

Sunlight and water are the two ingredients the tree needs most.  Light and water are two of the most universal and fundamental symbols.  The tree grows out of darkness towards the light.  If necessary, it bends and adapts to keep reaching for the sun.  In most wisdom traditions, light is a symbol for knowledge and illumination. It is the dispeller of darkness and ignorance and is the source of awakening.  Ultimately, self-knowledge is what we need.  To seek and find out who am I?  What is my purpose? It also means to live up to our highest light.    

Now, it is significant to note that the light is both the destination and also the means or energy that sustains the growth of a tree.  In human life, if peace is our destination then peace itself must also be the path.  We need enough inner peace to transform the outer conditions.  For one who is peaceful, every step becomes a peace movement.  

Living up to our highest light requires one to honor core values even when the circumstances are not favorable.  For example, maybe respect and courtesy are core values and when driving we may signal another driver in traffic to enter ahead of us.  But, what if that driver does not give a wave in acknowledgement of our kind gesture?  Does bitterness come up?  If so, then it is not the full maturity. The intention is not yet ripe.  Instead, it is a type of business transaction.  We are buying appreciation.  When one truly honors a value or inner light, there is an alignment of head, heart and hands.  Our thoughts, attitudes and actions are in harmony, and we feel energized and inspired.  Therefore, the mature person does not expect nor need the reciprocity.

Water is the second necessary ingredient.  Water is symbolic of love.  It is essential for life and is the supreme good which purifies all things just by washing over them.  It nourishes all things without trying to and in that humility and simplicity lies its greatness. It cleanses and flows unconditionally, even to the low and dark places that people disdain.  Water smooths jagged mountain rocks over eons of time and this process is the epitome of patience in nature. So, in human development, instead of seeking love out of a sense of poverty, we need to carefully and patiently remove the barriers that we have built up against love and practice self-compassion.  Then, love will be experienced as the fullness of life and can flow freely in all directions to nourish and heal ourselves and others.  
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With more knowledge and love we can transform ourselves and transcend our circumstances.  Surely, the outer conditions of a society are merely a reflection of the collective inner maturity. If we want to respond to any situation in a mature manner, then we can recommit to our own psychological and spiritual development and return to love and the wisdom of applied knowledge.  It is not enough to demand that others change.  We need to continuously fight to reform ourselves and be a pattern for the world.  If happiness comes from within, then we can strive to improve our relationships, communities and the world in that state of mind. That will be more effective because everyone wants to be happy.  By offering more and more love and living up to our highest light, we encourage the ripening of the heart of all.  

Todd leads a monthly Mindfulness Education Group on the last Tuesday of the month.

The next one is: Tuesday February 28th 7:00-8:30pm.
It is free and open to anyone.
Please RSVP to toddfink@hotmail.com
The location is : Edward ER/OP Conference Room
24600 W. 127th Street Plainfield, IL 60585
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The theme for this next discussion is Love And Mindfulness.
What is the difference between love and attachment? Between non-attachment and indifference? What can we learn from the scientific research of the biology of loving social bonds? How can we develop a practice of mindful loving kindness as taught in ancient spiritual traditions to help cultivate inner and outer peace in modern daily life?

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​About the Author: Todd is a co-founding member of The Giving Tree Band.  As a musician, author, speaker, counselor and life-long student of meditation, Todd works fervently to educate people and communities on the benefits of healthy and mindful living. He draws upon extensive and diverse experiences as a health care professional, nationally touring artist and wellness presenter to connect and bridge cultures and point the way to a brighter future.

"People give flowers as presents because flowers contain the true meaning of love. Anyone who tries to possess a flower will have to watch its beauty fading. But if you simply look at a flower in the field, you'll keep it forever. That is what the forest taught me. That you will never be mine, and that is why I will never lose you.” 
​-Paulo Coelho excerpt from 'Brida'

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2/16/2017

I am a US citizen

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I am a U.S. citizen, and I am an immigrant. While my father was on the south side of Chicago studying on a scholarship, my mother gave birth to me in Chengdu, China. She left when I was two to join my father in the States, where they made a living waiting tables while going to grad school. My relatives raised me until I was four, when I was placed on a plane to reunite with my parents.

The transition from being a child in a sea of Chinese homogeny to America’s melting pot was jarring. I was the only student who was neither white nor black, and neither Catholic nor Protestant. I struggled with being bullied because of my background, and still remember the confusion and hurt of being pushed and called a chink. Back then, those kids probably didn’t even understand what they were saying, but they learned the hate from adults around them. in the fourth grade I discovered those with similar experiences; for once my classroom was filled with more first or second-generation immigrants than non-immigrants. My teacher celebrated our differences, and the abilities and talents we each brought. She helped us realize our inherent value and potential as individuals, and also the importance of recognizing the same in others.

Since then, along with many other immigrants, Chicagoland has been my home. As a former public school teacher, tutor, artist, and small business associate, my path has crossed with myriads of people, each encounter educating and broadening my worldview. These people, with upbringings and lifestyles differing from mine, have encouraged me, challenged me, inspired me, and strengthened me. The America I know is more capable and more vibrant because of its diversity, not in spite of it.

Let us support each other, and use what time, attention, and money we can to help those who are not able to be with their families or freely pursue their livelihoods. This past month, I donated to the American Refugee Committee, and contacted my government representatives on issues close to my heart. I urge you to take action, however seemingly small, to create a positive change today.


About the Author: Susie (InsomniaBird) graduated from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign with a degree in Art Education, and was a public school teacher for over four years. Currently, she is a freelance tutor and artist in Chicago, Illinois, and works for two different small businesses. View her art or contact her at www.InsomniaBirdArt.com.

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2/6/2017

Last Night 

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by Lorene Keller Smith

Last night…

We walked into the restaurant, brought together by two things, our desire to DO something and that we had mentioned this desire to our “fearless leader” who was already setting up a platform to accomplish this.  The four of us gathered around the table and, in the excitement of finding like-minded ladies, the ideas and words just started rushing out, everyone talking at once sometimes.  We easily drowned out the Superbowl sportscast playing on the bar TVs.

Shortly, the conversation started to feel like a spin-off of the “Never have I ever” game (minus the drinking).  In short succession, I found myself challenged with questions like:
  • “Did you attend any of the refugee protests or the women’s march?”
  • “Have you ever helped someone buy ACA coverage, or read the manuals that comprise the law?”
  • “Have you ever worked a soup kitchen?”
  • “Have you ever chained yourself to a bulldozer?”

My answer to all of these is no, I have not.  Why?  I could state all my excuses.  I was not convinced the protests would accomplish anything.  It is not safe to take my kids to a protest.  I have a job where I cannot afford to get arrested.  Lack of time, lack of money… I could go on, I am sure I have used them all.  It is easy to make excuses, it is hard to really effect change.

Lately, I read a lot about the Holocaust and I wonder, would I really have been one to stand up?  Or would I have made a few token protests (about what my Facebook posts feel like), and continued on with my life?  Being honest, I am afraid it is more likely the second scenario.  And that is not who I want to be.

So, like with many of the other challenges I have set myself this year, I am stepping into a new adventure and making an attempt to be the person I want to be.  Last night, I told my new friends I want to “DO” something, and I meant it.  It is time to share the burden of making the world a better place for all.  Just please do not expect to find me looking for heavy machinery to start.



About Lorene
Full time working mother of 3, married 19 years… I want to leave the world a better place for my kids (sounds trite, I know) and teach them to step up to work at making it better… Wiccan/pagan is my religion, it speaks to me somehow… we consider nature our temple, and I always feel better after being outside… Have only lived in the Chicago area for 6 months now (formerly from CT, born and raised)… Find myself looking for something, not even sure what it is.

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2/6/2017

The American spirit is the spirit of perseverance 

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by Michelle LeBlanc

This video had me in tears... The will to succeed is always welcome here... Yes, indeed. But it had me going long before then. And I am sure you have seen this and maybe you're tired of hearing about the commercial that was "too controversial".  But for me, it made me recall all the times I had to overcome seemingly unsurmountable challenges ... Although none of them as huge a challenge or risk as this. The physical exertion is only the beginning of this challenge. Once this figurative mom and child pass the figurative doors, it isn't any easier. Now you're in a brand new country you kind of have to stay hidden from and have no money which makes you quite vulnerable.

Im not saying coming over illegally is the right thing to do - but say you're in a life or death or abusive situation and its your only hope... Wouldn't you risk your life to leave too? 

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