Good Ideas Spread & Grow - A Conversation with Savitri D. | Local Peace Economy Gathering 9.2.2026

culture. Thank you, Marie. Perfect timing. We always start out with a piece of culture, but today I'd like to do this as a tribute to the amazing poet Wendel Berry, who left this earth earlier this week. I feel this loss physically. He's been a tuning fork for many and a beacon of truth and unrelenting in his attempts to wake us up or keep us awake to life. He was a dear friend. I've known him for decades and you know in this work we do and and one of the things I always say is you know don't pay attention to the violence and war and distraction because it's stealing your life away. Well, I want to say he taught me that and he can be like as fierce and clearsighted as anyone and describe what we are doing and how are we wasting our lives. He can do that without ever getting caught by what's causing it. Everything he did was serving you. Everything he did was serving life. Everything he did was to be a tuning fork for how do we move into care for the earth? How do we move into care for life? It doesn't mean he didn't point out what was happening, but it wasn't owning him. He was just observing. Like we say at good pink, we shine a light on it and then we shine a light forward. He was my teacher because he was never caught by it. Isn't that it didn't grieve him what it caused or who suffered uh the earth, the people, all of it. He could grieve for the suffering, but he didn't get caught by those causing it. And so I just want to bring him in as the teacher of that part that I try to pass on because he was always redirecting us into where do we serve life? How to be in relationship with life. And a few years ago, he wrote this poem that I want to share. The loved ones, the loved ones we call the dead, depart from us and for a while are absent and then as if called back by our love, they come near us again. They enter our dreams. We feel they have been near us when we might not have thought of them. They are simply here simply waiting while we are distracted among our obligations. At last it comes to us they live now in the permanent world. We are the absent ones. And I'll have one more but I'm going to save it to the end because I'm really excited to introduce you to Savry Ed. So, a dear comrade, an always yes. She's the co-founder of the Stop Shop Inquir with Reverend Billy who's on a train to his nephew's uh wedding today. Since 2001, Savatry has staged direct actions, intervention, and spectacles in contested space all over the world and collaborated with communities to create paths of resistance and resilience. Most recently, she's been deeply involved in the issues of immigration, extinction, and fossil fuel extraction. She has lectured and led workshops on the topic of creative resistance at universities and festivals all over the world and has led direct action trainings for thousands of people. The Church of Stop Shopping is the recipient of the Obie Award, the Albert Award in the Arts, and the Edwin Booth Award in Theater, the Acuran Award, and the 2026 Arts and Religion Award from the Academy of the American Academy of Religion. So to me, Savatry is the architect of the ark. She is culture. She is community not by accident. She was born into a a community uh that her parents founded and so literally community where community was the core and she's a dancer. Um people think she's you know a choir leader but she's like a super accomplished dancer with the um from the M Cummingham dance company which I like bow to that um anyone could do that. Um, so there's just so many many memories I have with how the church of Stop Shopping Choir has been part of cook pink. One of my favorites and what we need them back for now is coming to Congress in 2005 as we were trying to stop the War Powers Act uh bill and we had shopping carts and we sang through the halls of Congress and what they are is always joyful and community. The depth of community is rich and what we you know when we say good pink educate inspire and activate this is what they do. Um, another favorite memory is we went, we were doing a direct action with Satry and it was media and Ray and I and um, we went into a bank and tried to show them how indecent they were by taking shirts off and they called the cops and Savatry was out of there in a minute totally sneaking behind the cops and never arrested. I was like, "Oh man, these New Yorkers know how to do this. They're like, they can do it and they're gone." Um, so she was definitely a teacher for me like do it and go. [gasps] um she eluded their grasp and I was again impressed. Another favorite was, you know, one of the things she is is also, you know, she's the artistic creator. So, everybody dressing up as bees when they were talking about the destruction of the chemicals in the global bee population. So delightful that could Pinkly try to dress up in costumes, but we can never quite match Salvatore's genius. So, Salvatry, welcome to our local peace economy gathering. Um, I'd love to start with you just telling us about your cultural expression um as the stop shopping choir and how you care for community as you serve a larger community. Thank you so much, Jody. Um, thank you, Marie, and and thank you for bringing Wendelberry into the room and the that voice of Appalachia who's meant so much to so many people. Um, he is missed already and really just a great person. So, thank you. And and also for that introduction. And I'm always a little embarrassed during introductions because I'm like, wait, is that is she talking about me? Um, [laughter] and when I ran from the cops at our action, which I always train people, don't run from the cops. Never run from the NYPD. Um, it's cuz I didn't have a babysitter. I realized at the last minute that [laughter] Anyway, just so you know, don't run from the cops, people. Um, so yeah, I'm the director of the Church of Stop Shopping and um, we're we call ourselves a radical performance community. It's about anywhere from 50 to 100 sort of active members here in New York City. Um, and we we work at the intersection of of spirit and activism and art. And I, you know, that's an old practice. I think people have been working at that intersection for thousands of years. We didn't invent that intersection by any means. Um, and I think if I could say it in it sort of broadest terms, we we have been resisting consumerism and militarism for like 25 years. And and that encompasses everything from gentrification of our neighborhoods, which is really the the seed of the work here. um all the way to, you know, wars, extractive wars, um oppressive regimes, and you know, bad bad foreign policy. Let's say broadly. Um I think uh my partner and I talk, Reverend Billy, talk a lot about um where the where the meaning actually comes from for us or like what holds our meaning. Um, and I and I think community, which Jod mentioned, um, we we wouldn't exist without community. We are essentially a social project. We are essentially a gathering of people um, who state our beliefs and our values out loud to each other um, and then integrate that into our bodies in action. And and um, we do that over and over and over again. That is our practice. Um and we do it by singing largely and and and the communication begins with singing and ends with singing. Um and singing I have to say another ancient technology you know that really precedes language most people think. Um, singing is is this amazing tool and I'm sure you've all sung in your life, but in in a political sense, in a strategic sense, um, in an activist sense, singing is this this great tool for practicing democracy because you do all these things together sort of automatically. You tune to each other. You you find a note to together. You practice rhythm together. you say the same words out loud together a lot of the time. Um there's all these practices within the practice of singing that teach you a kind of democratic practice. Um so that's like a really fast and broad kind of story of what we do. Uh we're based in New York. We're we're all ages, races, um nationalities, economic backgrounds. We really um that is part of our work is is is plurality, diversity. It's it's something we take very seriously um as a as a gesture of our meaning, but also as a source of resilience. Um and yeah, we've worked on a a very broad range of topics. Everything from mountaintop removal to um you know, Starbucks in our neighborhood to honeybees and glyphosates. Um but I have to say at the at the um we we rise each morning. I rise I'll speak only for myself here but I rise each morning you know with the possibility of peace and I that is what I carry through my day. Today can be a day where I work for peace and um in that sense I really am so grateful always and just have to say it. Thank you so much, Jod, and everyone here who's a part of Code Pink. But Jod and Media have long been our our teachers, our allies, our our sisters in the in the work of peace because that is just at the heart of everything that we do as well. >> Thank you so much. We love being our comrades. Um we're looking forward to playing more together. So, you know what you do so beautifully. I mean, you've talked about what that ex external expression looks like, but can you talk a little bit about the weaving of your community? Like, you really the love, the connection, and I love what you said about attuning together, you know, what that is. That's a that's a powerful way to share how community can come together and in that in tunement. um what have what are other ways that you've seen over these 25 years um that community has transformed that you've deepened your understanding of what community needs? Is there anything you could share as as folks are building their communities locally? Um what are the lessons you've learned um over the 25 years? Because you literally are the weaver holder. you you really I know are learning a lot. I I watch you you're constantly if you're watching them together is everywhere pulling everyone together conducting choreographing. Um so there's so many pieces you hold that I know are or pieces that weave it together. Um anything that you've learned that you want to share? >> Yeah. Um, you know, it's tricky because uh so much of what what uh strengthens community feels so natural, like eating together, um helping each other, you know, like when your friend has to move, helping them move, like all those lubricating things that we do as groups and have done. um just the the work of care. I'd say to start with like uh taking that seriously and actually taking it on in a in a um in a dedicated [clears throat] and intentional way like you know as my mother used to tell me if you can help. If someone asks you for help and you can help help you know and um it sounds so simple sort of like love thy neighbor sounds simple you know but it's that little hinge in there if you can help. Well what does that mean? you have to do the work of asking yourself, can I help? And what does that mean to you personally? And what does it mean in terms of resources and materials? But anyway, I'd say uh another thing to think about in community and and something that doesn't get talked about a lot um and is especially important in in communities where people are different from each other, which is to me in a kind of ideal situation um is transparency. you know, it's like really being explicit, being um being [clears throat] clear with each other, stating things out loud, not assuming that people understand the code of your community. Um not assuming that people understand how decisions are made or how leadership works. Um and of course, we've learned this in difficult ways and also miraculous ways, right? Sometimes you learn this because there's a conflict and you realize that something um just could have been stated so early on like and and it would have avoided that whole conflict. Um but also I just think it puts people on more level footing. Um again these old ideas like working on something together, having something outside of yourself that you engage with, right? when we um like a friend group is maybe a little bit different. A a socializing friend group is a little bit different than a working community because um it doesn't always have that uh thing out outside of the self to work on to carry together. And I think there are so many practices for that and they seem sort of dumb in a way, but like even just if you don't already have that thing, if an activist group is trying to form and like form an affinity group or whatever you call it, a a community group, um to do some of those theater games that that teach you to work together, to do a simple thing like volunteer for a day together doing something um you know, help someone carry their wood pile from that side of the house to the other side of the house, it almost doesn't matter. But in the in the cohesion of effort, um there's so much to learn and there's so much to gain really from that. Um, and then I guess another thing is just like I think it's important to have pathways for conflict now more than ever to to have clear pathways for conflict to acknowledge the inevitability of conflict and then have uh forms in place to hold conflict. And if that's like a couple of people who are on duty to be, you know, conflict fairies or whatever you want to call those things. I think conflict is very difficult right now. I think it we used to assume conflict more and we've our culture has gone through changes where conflict has become very difficult for people to deal with. So I think it's just um and you know we could talk about all the reasons why and there's many but um again to explicitly share with people like if you have a problem if you have a problem with someone like here's what to do that teaching form and it it feels pedantic sometimes with adults like gosh don't you just we all we all know this we know what to do if there's a problem but we don't [laughter] we really don't. And there's so much fear and anxiety in groups that um it's just important to say it out loud. You know, look, go to Marie and say, "Marie, I I can't deal with this by myself. I need your help. Marie, can you help me? I need to deal with this conflict." And Marie and I are going to find a way or there's a person you could talk to. Um I think it's important. >> Wow. Conflict fairies. Um, we're gonna add that pink [laughter] tomorrow. >> Um, well, do you find I mean that's interesting that you say about conflict right now because we're finding it too. And I think it's when you know you're not getting any resolution to what you're having to carry, all the grief you're having to carry. And we um, you know, we hurt the ones we love. What is it? you always hurt the one you love or it's just like where you're you let it out where it's comfortable because you don't know how to hold it all >> and we're all holding too much anxiety and fear and um I we're just working on our you know the 25th anniversary of the um war on terror that's this you know this coming week next week >> and you know you think back and it was the argument right was to keep American America is safe. >> Yeah. >> And 25 years later, we live in a country where everyone lives out of anxiety >> and they paid for it. That's the really sad thing is we all paid for it with our tax dollar. We all work really really hard >> to pay for that. >> So um that's uh you know that's that's hard to witness. So you're right conflict fairies I love. Thank you >> um and for really witnessing this time because I think all of us in our communities are witnessing it and and looking for you know how do we serve it because it isn't and we by the way we all we do these every other week because we all forget all the time everything [laughter] >> we renew >> I feel you the tuning fork of like what um so the other piece so the comm we say You know, here we are. We live in a war economy. It is creating a tsunami of hell ahead of us. >> And how we survive is having uh the ark, which is community and culture. The things that have been stolen away from us really literally ripped away because when they rip it away, then they can own us and do whatever they want with us. The other piece that you have really well and I I don't want to leave it behind because it's I think the hardest one for everyone is the culture piece. You're an artist >> and you're an artist in many forms and I think >> two things I I think you do really well is both the culture piece and the leadership piece and the value of leadership and understanding the responsibilities in it and and you know how that helps be a a trim tab to moving forward. Um, so anything in there that you want to share, but you know, if you could tell everybody like you're you're a trained artist of of, you know, pretty intense a pretty intense degree if somebody's an artist, like what you got to do as a dancer, but then you've come in and you've just brought yourself as an artist through costumes, through choreography, through the art of culture. So, how do you how do you see the culture, the need for culture as part of the holding together of the whole? >> Well, isn't that interesting? I mean, [sighs] um, number one, I just I want to one of the things that gets ripped away from us also is our understanding of our own creativity. um to begin with right at the very beginning when we're children and we want to draw and we want to be artists and we um we choose paths in life this is one of the ways I feel you know the reclamation of culture has to start very very young to understand that we are all of us are walking around creative being creative constantly um you know deciding how to have coffee is a creative act which cup I mean we start our days with so much creat creativity each one of us and and we don't call it that and it gets put into categories and and uh commercial forms from a very young age right the goal of being an artist is is marked as a career in in western and capitalist cultures for children even you know when this is just something that as humans with these incredible tools these human hands you know and our senses and our awareness. Um, we are all artists, you know, constantly. We're making meals, we're deciding to get dressed, we're organizing rooms, we're making creative decisions all day. So, I want to say that um, you know, I I'm not this is not like a platitude to say that we are all artists. You know, art art art has to be reclaimed into into the fabric of everyday life and everyday moments by all of us and and understood that way. You know, when you know when indigenous people are making baskets to put water in, you know, that's art just as much as you know when we have different tools today to do that. So take it seriously and call it what it is. you know we are creative beings and and what we do is creative living surviving is creativity. Um that said you know yes I was trained in in formal ways and I I came into activism as an artist. I was I mean I was always an activist. I I always was you know I was one of those kids who just couldn't I just couldn't take it. I couldn't understand why things were the way they were and it made me angry and upset from the time I was very young. But um a as a as an adult when I moved to New York to be a performer and I just had this feeling like where what is going on here? This is wild. The stage and the and the theatrical space has nothing to do with the outside space. We're not reflecting. We're not responding. We're not in conversation with the actual world we live in. Um and and I really it was a hard break for me away from the the so-called commercial arts or or the careerism of art of art making. I just couldn't I couldn't engage with it. So, you know, when you talk about pivoting in the, you know, in the peace economy, pivoting away from things, I I really took a hard pivot out of the arts and into activism. And I took [clears throat] my toolkit with me. And I do think of it as a toolkit. I think of of the work of my hands and the and my choreographic or musical mind. Those are those are tools, you know, just like any other tools. one one can acquire them and use them um for any purpose, right? Um and I've just chosen in a in a pretty yeah pretty thorough way uh to to use them for activives. And I also want to say like if you make that choice, it's a pretty black and white choice a lot of times. Like I as soon as I was doing that, the doors closed in a lot of ways in the commercial arts. a lot of my values made it impossible to live and work in inside of the art systems. >> Well, I think that's why we call that's the difference of labeling a culture instead of art in the sense of >> um art the co-option of art as the dance, you know, like those forms. You chose the culture part which we call the peace economy part the the the part that goes with community that builds community builds relationship like you're recognizing the disconnect of the art from the culture. Yeah. where culture itself, all the ways we express it and with our creativity which is taken away from us by the war economy. Um that's that's like the the connective tissue. Um because like you said, we're all cultural creators. Um but some of us need leadership, some of us need support, some of us need, you know, a conductor or a choreographer. Like all of those things are valuable, but they don't need to be a career. They can just be a skill that is brought in just like somebody who can make the >> the costumes, you know, so the costumes or, you know, it's just like they're all things we come in with as skills. And you seem to have the skill of knowing how to weave out of people and into the community the the the expression of themselves. You know, it's just like, you know, if I if I watch you with the choir, you're pulling everyone's character into the choreography of it. And it's it's a delight in the sense of there's so many different characters. Nobody's you're not you're not asking everyone to be the same. They're expressing themselves in the unison. Um, and that's that I think is the cultural piece of like how do we be and express and have this stance of, you know, the way you um you're educating, you know, I I at Code Pink we say educate, inspire, activate. You educate, inspire, and activate, you know, and uh you're audacious, and you're um and yet your sense of care of each other is so deeply felt in your performance, you know, because that is also what it is. It's the moment where you show up, flip into, and then literally spellbound an audience, you know, and not only spellbound them, but then have them engage. So, um, >> it's so much about about um public space. For me, it's so much >> about doing things in public and and not in a in these kind of contested spaces where well, it's it's not always contested. More and more public space is always contested, but um finding places that are charged with the dynamic tension between capitalism and culture, right, in in in your definition of culture, right? finding these spaces where the culture is trying to express itself but is being suppressed, oppressed, repressed by capitalist forces in all those forms. Whether that's too many ads, too much marketing, too much pressure to shop or just straight up police or the threat of police or uh first amendment suppression. So finding a a a charged public space and doing something w in it with other people and the and the the flexing of those muscles together and the and the courage that ensues, the feeling of courage with a group of people. Um and the respect that it grows in you for them, right? and them for you and that you learn to see each other in this other way outside of the categorical ways that we are trained to see each other. Class, uh, race, um, age, all those things. And so you see the person, the being there who who you're walking and moving through life with, you know, and and um I think so much of what we do and and how we learn to see and respect each other comes from being in these um in in these public spaces in acts of resistance. Um you know, and it's I'm not trying to suggest that we're always under the baton and getting beat up. I mean, and sometimes we're actually just singing in Time Square. Like, it's not that it's dangerous. I'm not saying, but it sometimes feels dangerous, [laughter] you know, and there's a difference. But, >> um, that is so beautiful. That is so beautiful. Um, so maybe you could tell us what you're doing now. I mean, the other thing I I do know is you I've also watched you serve the community, you know, like literally your work isn't about your work is has been just the community is really hurting. How do we serve it? like >> yeah, >> I've been in your space where it's like you're collecting food to literally feed people and um so you know I I I watch you morph to need which I think is so beautiful. So could you tell us what you're doing now? Because the other thing is you work like you were at Joe's Pub and you like you you occupy these spaces, the public space, but then you also occupy space where people can come and practice and participate and really go to church, [laughter] >> go to the church or stop dropping. Um I mean the care question is a really and need is a really um it's something we as activists have to really grapple with I think right. um [sighs] a situation where that hit home very hard here in New York was um you know in in the waning days of Occupy Wall Street which I'm sure most of you um and you probably had Occupies in your own communities of some sort um so now almost 15 years ago uh so Occupy Wall Street was just massive and it's just this global like um conflration of energies building on a lot of work in in in other countries really but and it didn't necessarily start here. I'm just saying it really came to a a a sort of it caught on fire here in a certain way. So, um, we were hit by a tremendous storm, Hurricane Sandy or Supertorm Sandy as it's sometimes called, and a lot of the people who were working on the occupation at Wall Street turned pivoted and went right out to the beach and started doing relief work. And I remember it as a profound moment of like first of all, we didn't talk about it enough. we didn't have enough conversation about we did it very automatically like we're doing this because it has to be done right um but after it happened we didn't unpack it enough and and I have thought about it a lot since because it was a very critical moment in activism in New York City that highlights a couple of things one is um that care is is not the same as and relief work mutual aid these things are basic critical we do them because we're human. We do them because we care. Um they're not the same as uh oppositional acts of resistance, right? Um service is not this is not always activism, right? It's it like we can see that there's a a brightish line between these two things that we want to do. And um capitalism will put us all in service because it's not doing what it's you know our governments are failing, our systems are failing, our structures are failing, they don't do what they're supposed to do for the people, right? That work will fall to us. It will and it will more and more as as these disasters occur. And we have to we have to be clear about um aid care uh support and this bright line between that and oppositional work activism resistance um pushing back on on the on the same government that's letting us fall through all these cracks. And um so while I really have uh I mean I I will never stop running upstairs with food after a supertorm. Obviously we have to do that work. If we can we do, right? We if we have resources and we can share them, we share them. If someone's hungry and I'm eating and you know we do what we can, right? Um, and we we have to ask ourselves hard questions in in in these hard times moving forward like so we can't forget about the other work, right? And the thing is that care work will take everything you have. So you have to um we have to I have to find ways to to go back to the activism, right? It's very difficult to walk away from care to go to a police line and and yet and I know some of you have experienced this right it it's something we have to talk about so we have ways of doing it do we trade off in the care do I say okay I've done the care now and especially the fems among us the women you know this work falls to us a lot and and so we have to be careful I [laughter] say you know as as far as that balance as activists, you know, and um and that is also cultural work, you know, activism is is it's not separate, you know. So um >> oh that is so right where we are you know because the code pink is like yes we need to continue to shine a light on stand in the way of um shine a light forward and we need to be building the future >> and the future has to be built on a culture of peace which is like the work you're doing because if you aren't it >> you can't build the future you're just going to build the same thing and um and it will be broken. So, it's being able to do both and weave them together. And thank you for articulating that because So, I mean, I I want to just say again what you said. Um, the war economy is going to force all of us to do its work. It's stealing our money. It's destroying the earth. It's not doing what it's meant to do. And it's making us responsible for its work. Yeah. >> And finding, we talk about that a lot, finding the space where you can know this isn't my responsibility, but what do I need to show up for for this human? And um you know, like and what does that look like? Um because literally we can't just keep taking it on because they will keep throwing it on us. >> And that distinction is super important. And we are up against disaster after disaster. I mean, I forgot to start this with um that this last weekend the news like the mainstream news reported that 25% of the United States is functionally unemployed. um that's a huge number >> and if you go back to um the crash and you know what was a bad time it's like that number is not much bigger but we're in denial about what we live in and so another reason why we must stop this 1.5 trillion um war bill like with everything that we have because the it's a ripping like We're watching the fabric rip open. It's a like fullon fire. >> Um it's a forest fire against the fabric of our connectivity. So I want to see if there's anybody that has a question for Salvatri before we break into our breakouts um segments. Uh any questions? Even if it's just gratitude for her leadership. Any hands up? [laughter] Uh, thanks for the heart, Melissa. Macy. Macy, by the way, uh, Salvatree has a community that she's been growing in Washington State that, you know, we say when you start doing this, it's just like, oh, it's never going to happen. And then all of a sudden, it's like a rocket ship and you can't keep up with it and you're like, holy. >> Yeah. People want they want they want this. People want this. need it and want it. [clears throat] >> Yes. Like moths to a flame, which which is good. I just wanted to let you know that everything you said I had something to say like in addition to or like in response to and I so wish I was like sitting at a coffee table with you. Everything was like so inspiring and spoton and I'm really grateful for you being here. I haven't seen somebody cover so many different aspects [laughter] >> before and and I'm really really happy that it came tonight. So, thank you very much. >> Good luck. >> Anyone else have a question or comment? Freddy's quiet today. So, Melissa with a heart. Um, all right. So, um, if anybody wants to unmute and say thank you to our guest before I break you into, um, breakouts for your, uh, conversations, but Satry, thank you so much. Like, you dropped so much wisdom. I can't wait to go back and edit it some of it out into sharables. Um, because, you know, you're living it. You know, it it the ring of truth uh, coming out of you is so necessary for everybody. we say, you know, we're we're we work to be tuning forks >> and you are a tuning fork, a very strong tuning fork. So, thank you for >> tuning us today. Um, thank you for all you do and I hope to find you in the streets uh climate week. >> See you soon. >> All right, >> everyone. Appreciate you. Good luck out there. Stay [laughter] safe. >> Thank you. >> You too. That was great. Thank you. >> Thank you. All right. So, now that you've heard all of this, um when you go into your breakout section sessions, um maybe share with each other what is something that you heard that you feel like you can integrate into what you're doing. Um what uh what is something that she said or some reminder? I thought some of the ideas about um the bringing of the culture in and how that like I was thinking even as she was talking about the singing of uh and the conflict fairies maybe the um the conflict fairy is actually just singing together that that attunement itself is is quite magical and um I can't wait to we used to do it all the time at good pink and write songs and I think we need to start doing that more. >> So, um, so in your breakouts, looks like there'll be two of them. Um, share like what did you hear? Because you know, like I was raising up some of what I heard. Is there something that struck you that you heard like, "Oh, that is something I can take into my community." >> Yes. All of it. [laughter] >> Yeah. Right. >> Yay. We will we will definitely there's some fabulous edits in there that um will turn into teaching tools. >> So is there anybody has any questions for me before we >> Yeah. >> I'm going to split. All right. I missed a um presentation and I >> Okay. >> And my head is too wound up. >> Okay. >> Too bad. >> It's democracy. She was quite well before everyone leaves I I just want to finish us off with another poem by Wendel Barry. So John stay for that um because you missed the part about Wendell like not letting the world that was you know so horrible get anyway get into his mood. So the peace of wild things when despair for the world grows in me and I wake in the night at the least sound in fear of what my life and my child's lives may be. I go and lie down where the wood drake rests in his beauty on the water and the great heron feeds. I come into the peace of wild things who do not tax their lives with forethought of grief. I come into the presence of still water. And I feel above me the day blind stars waiting with their light. For a time I rest in the grace of the world and I am free. >> Like Ralph Waldo. So, as we celebrate the amazing life of Wendelberry this week, I just want to highlight that he did not let those the war economy wararmongers criminals ever affect his mood or his heart. It's a good lesson. He lived a good life. He didn't ever stop calling us out to the battle angels of our nature and calling us out for what we were allowing. but he didn't let it um destroy his day. And so I would say take the piece of wild things and put it on your refrigerator door to remember that tuning fork of Welberry, a good one. And the fact that you know as much truth as he was tell and as much calling out of the stupidity of our culture, he would say he never got ostracized. there was something so true and actually so American about his voice that they never shut it up. Um, so there's some way that he was able to walk that uh razor blade um and stay above it and there and I think that's when I call it the tuning fork when someone is living from that and that truth and not uh an ego that needs to be right but one that in speaking their truth uh gives others a light to follow. I think he's a he's a teacher. So, thank you all of you for what you do in the world. And um uh Maria, I I turned Thank you so much for holding this together and getting everything out as we had to flip. Oh, as we flipped because this week we were going to have um books food not bombs, but um we had to move it to next two weeks from now. So, two weeks from now we have the founder of Food Not Bombs, which is going to be so much fun. Um, there's another wise human being. Uh, Keith is like wise as they come. He's been doing this for 50 some odd years. Um, he's inspired people across the country. There's so many food m bombs. That's the message, you know, and that's our message right now. So, Keith is going to join us, share his wisdom of community and food, and we look forward to seeing you. Then uh please in between there's lots to do to engage your community in learning how devastating this $ 1.5 trillion budget could be and how we must stop it together. If you need any stickers or any flyers or anything to engage with um events close to you, just reach out to Marie and she'll make sure you get them.