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what's new
Dear
Readers,
We're
starting off a new year by bringing back the expanded
newsletter.
Along
with the newly formatted newsletter, the
website has also been expanded and tidied up in areas.
The
site is a living document that will continue to grow. There
are more projects planned for the
year and we will be putting them up on the site as each one is
completed.
As
the website material keeps on growing, so do the visitors. In January
the site had over 120,000 hits from 45 countries.
You
can check out what's happening by reading the Urban Diary.
Interested
in doing things yourself? Instead of relying on outside sources
for basic necessities. We are personally not as self sufficient as
we would like to be, but we believe that many are on same the
path, some further along than others. We hope this newsletter will
be a source of inspiration and information to those who want to
break-free from the environment we are subject to. See you along
the path...
Stuck
indoors during these long winter nights? Try learning a new
craft.
Knitting
What's
fun and easy and gaining popularity? You guessed it
--knitting. It's
not just for grandmothers any more! More and more people are
taking up knitting: grade school to college students and even men.
Two "sticks" and some "string"
is all you need to
make a wide array of items for you and your friends and family or
charitable organizations. Along with be creative, knitting also is a great way to
relieve stress and tension. Discover
the exciting world of knitting...
Knitting.About.com
Featuring a wide selection of free patterns and useful tips and techniques to
get you started
Learn2
Knit Step by step guide
Knitting Guild of
America A wonderful collection of links for yarn sources to
free knitting patterns
Continue:
next column
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living free con't
The
season of colds and dry, itchy skin. Along with the cooler temps also
comes flu season and dry skin. There are many natural
remedies; these are just a few...
Dry Skin Remedies
Tired
of dry, cracked skin? Here are some natural remedies that
you can whip up right in your own kitchen.
Ultimate
Dry Skin Treatment
Alternative
Dry Skin Remedies
Natural
Lip Balm Recipes
Natural
Cold Remedies
Got
the chills? Feel headachy and stuffy? Here are some websites
that have remedies which will lessen flu or cold symptoms.
Conscious
Choice
Health
Well
Pioneer
Thinking
!
Check with your doctor if you are taking any medications that may
conflict with these treatments
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Heirloom
Tomatoes
It's time to start thinking about those warm,
tomato-days
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of summer and which varieties to plant in the
garden.
You
can never have too many tomatoes! Especially the heirloom
tomato varieties. They come in a wide array of sizes and vibrant colors.
Be warned... these can turn you into a tomato addict.
Heirloom
Tomatoes
Heirloom
Tomatoes: Beyond Beefsteak & Big Boys
Growing
Tomatoes Forum - A discussion forum for tomato lovers!
Heirloom
Tomato Seed Suppliers
TotallyTomato.com
TomatoFest.com
HeirloomSeeds.com
Fend
off the cold with a warm bowl of soup or stew.
Soup
& Stew Recipes
For
a huge collection of wonderful soup recipes submitted by homecooks
check out AllRecipes
For vegetarians check out their selection of vegetarian soups,
stews and chilis at: Vegetarian
AllRecipes
or
Vegetarian
Recipes from Around the World
Continue:
next column
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personal column
"USA...USA...USA..."
Have we found unity? Can chants and flag waving change us? When the element of danger moves us to link our lives together,
we do so under an external prod which can never last. Once a crisis passes, there is
just no stopping us from getting back to normal --that is, divided.
A rare moment in history found us standing at the door of a new and better
world. The
9-11 attack had opened it a crack. Could we, as one, pry it open further?
War has always been THE WAY to get a diverse multitude to rally around the single purpose
of survival as a nation. But, inevitably, at the earliest convenience, war's
strange bedfellows do split up. It is the revolving wheel of expediency,
ever turning. You can bet on it.
With the increase in security, our anxiety gets defused. That knee-jerk unity
becomes frayed as, once more, we feel free to pursue our private agendas.
The hot, passionate oneness was but a flirtation after all. For, no matter
how well we might perform as a team on a
field of battle, we still remain, through and through, fiercely
partisan, strongly insular, and extremely proud individuals.
When unity is born solely of necessity, it
will last only as long as is necessary. This is not real unity at all but an
alliance, a "whether"-vane partnership which forever shifts in the
wind of self-interest. Whether or not such a coalition is held
together at any
one session depends
on whether or not each player at the table feels he may hold a winning hand. It is all wheeling and dealing
continuously. You do not want to bet on it.
Obviously, you will not find a united body at the UN; neither at the
capital, nor at city hall. Churches are a wreck, too. At the core of this
large division is, logically, small division. Today, the family, society's
basic building block, lies damaged or destroyed because we have raised
personal separateness to a gold medal standard. If the pinnacle
of life is a lifestyle centered on the single, private self, the glue is
gone. We must bust that sophisticated specter of selfishness
which haunts our houses, breeding a shrouded terror we do not want to
face.
Here in our backyard is the most critical and sacred ground zero.
Rebuilding the ruins of razed intimate unity is our job.
Home is where the heart is; there, beats the discordant rhythm of
divisiveness which, stridently and suggestively, vibrates all across this
land. So, look no further. It is home where the path
must
begin.
Jules Dervaes
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People
making a difference in their community.