From Sylvia Hutton

Hello everyone,

Please take a look at my new Concert Promotional Video and pass it along to others who might be interested in booking John Mock and me for a concert at a venue near you!

Thanks so much! Warmly, Sylvia


Sylvia: Bridging the Past - Concert Promotional Video: Grammy nominated, ACM Female Vocalist of the Year, No. 1 songs include "Nobody," Over 4 million records sold (pop/country/folk) www.cdbaby.com/artist/sylvia

Sylvia's concerts reflect the beauty and depth of her personal and artistic growth while still captivating the legions of fans that propelled her to stardom.

Booking Representation: Brian Horner, Sound Artist Support; 615-364-7656; bhorner@soundartistsupport.com 

From PBS Video: The March

Click the Screen

From The White House: President Obama Marks the 50th Anniversary of the March on Washington

From Greenshoe Studio: "Oh Sweet Loraine"

I just received the following email from Sylvia Hutton: Hi everyone, please take a few minutes to watch this very touching short video. It will make your day! And yes, I immediately went to iTunes and downloaded the song. Maybe you will, too... Warmly, Sylvia

That's It

The following is a follow up to the previous article.

By Dee Newman

Several weeks ago I was having dinner with my good friend Lynn Walker at Nashville’s newest vegan-vegetarian restaurant – Sunflower Café. Lynn was telling me about her research as Professor of Pediatrics at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. They had been tracking for sometime several hundred children with chronic abdominal pain that could not be traced to any physical cause.

During our conversation I told Lynn about my own experience with severe abdominal pain fifty years ago, during my freshman year at the University of Tennessee (UT).

As a child I had dreamed and fantasized about playing basketball for UT. Every day throughout my childhood, whatever the weather – sun, rain, sleet or snow, I shot hoops on an old clay court near my home in Norris, Tennessee. I was so enthralled with the game I often fell asleep at night hugging a basketball. As an adolescent, despite my size (5’ 11”, 145 lbs), I lettered all four years for Norris High School’s basketball team.

Norris High School was small, very small compared to our chief rival, Oak Ridge. My graduating class was comprised of only 63 students while Oak Ridge’s graduating class was larger than Norris’ entire student body. However, by the time I had completed my junior year in high school as a point guard, I was told by my coach Carl Bean that I had caught the eye of UT’s coaching staff.

During the winter of my senior year (1962-63), I was out of action for nearly two weeks, laid-up with the Hong Kong flu. Though I remained debilitated for at least another two weeks, playing sporadically, I still shot in double-digits, but well below my average. UT’s coaching staff, however, remained interested, due in no small part to the coverage I was receiving from the Knoxville News Sentinel, thanks to a friend and teammate of mine, Bill Allen, who was a “stringer” for the paper.

Then again, if I’m not mistaken, it was my good friend Bill who gave Coach Bean the information that led to my removal from the last regular season game of my high school career and a chance to break, at the very least, the school’s all-time scoring record.

The game was at Wynn High School in Campbell County. We were nearly twenty points a head of Wynn at the half. As we huddled to start the second half, Coach Bean asked Gary Bowling who kept the score book how many points I had made. Before Gary could respond, Bill said, “29.” Coach Bean then turned to me and said, “Newman, sit down.” I spent the entire second half as a spectator on the bench.

In retrospect and in all fairness to Coach Bean (and Bill Allen) it was probably a good call. Coach Bean later explained to me that he had pulled me from the game for two reasons. First, in one week tournament play would began and he did not want other coaches identifying me as someone to focus on, nor have the time to set up a defensive strategy. And second, Wynn’s home crowd had already become extremely unruly. In fact, after the game that we won 87 to 67, we had to wait in the locker room for the crowd to disperse and for members of the sheriff’s department to arrive and escort us out of the county.

Years later, I was told that the chief sportswriter, Ted Riggs, for the Knoxville News Sentinel was responsible for the coverage I was receiving. He had seen me play as a sophomore in a come-from-behind upset win during a first round game in the 1961 District Tournament in Oak Ridge. He was impressed with not only my shooting ability and ball handling, but also how calm and cool I was under pressure for my age and experience.

Our win had eliminated Powell Valley, the number one rank team in the state, from advancing. As a sophomore I did not start that night and was only put in the game after we were down 17 points at halftime. It was one of those nights when I could not miss. I scored 18 points in less than two quarters of play, mostly from behind what would now be the three-point line. Bill Hatcher also shot amazingly well; contributing 17 points to the comeback win. Robert Lane, our Captain, who normally was our offensive weapon, had a rare uninspiring night.

Defensively, during the second half, an all-court press by our entire team prevented their 6' 9' center from rarely touching the ball. However, the real credit for their center's unproductive second half must go to 5' 11" Glen Freels, clearly our best defensive player. The height disparity between Glen and their center was stark. In fact, Glen remembers elbowing their center in the groin due to their difference in size. Our tallest starter was Richard Bateson who was no more than 6’ 3”. During the first half Richard (who was normally not a scorer) kept us in the game, hitting 8 for 8 from the same spot, just right of the key. Due to my shooting percentage and some dramatic court play on my part during the second half, the next day the Sentinel began referring to me as Dandy Dee, a headline-moniker the paper continued to use for the next two years.

By the end of my junior year the Sentinel was describing me as one of the best guards in the state, comparing my athleticism to the likes of Steve Spurrier, the multi-talented athlete from Johnson City. The same Steve Spurrier who later won the Heismen Trophy as a quarterback for the Florida Gators.

At the time Danny Schultz was UT’s point guard. Schultz led UT in scoring as a junior and senior after transferring from Hiwassee College. At 6 ft, 165 lbs, he was a two-time (1963 and 1964) first team All-Southeastern Conference player, leading the Southeastern Conference in free throw percentage in 1963 (87.3 percent) and 1964 (89.4 percent). He still holds the Tennessee record for consecutive free throws made – 39. Baltimore drafted him in the eighth round of the 1964 NBA Draft.

As a side note, I too had an exceptional free throw percentage, hitting 92 percent of my free throws in tournament play my senior year.

I first met Danny in 1963 after Oak Ridge once again defeated us in the District Finals. It was Oak Ridge’s fifth straight District 7 title, played before a standing-room only crowd of over 1000 in the gym at Lafollette. Danny was sitting with a former Norris teammate of mine, Vaughn Poore, who he had played with at Hiwassee College.

My performance that night was mediocre, adequate but less than my standard of play. As an explanation and not an excuse, I had injured my right hip in the semi-final game against Lafollette and spent several hours, ironically, sitting in a whirlpool bath at Oak Ridge High School. In a gesture of good sportsmanship, Ira Green, Oak Ridge’s Head Coach, had offered their state-of-the-art facilities to help me recuperate from my injury.

Oak Ridge was extremely hot, shooting 55 percent from the floor, holding us to only 33 percent, far below our team standard of 45 percent. Kenny Campbell, Oak Ridge’s outstanding point guard, was named “Most Valuable Player” in the tournament and was named (along with me for the second time) to the 10-man all tournament team. I was singled out for my conduct on the court and received an award for sportsmanship.

Later, Oak ridge went on to win the Region 2 Tournament at the old UT Fieldhouse in Knoxville. They defeated Everett in the finals after Everett beat us in overtime in the semi-finals by one point, a heartbreaking game we should have won easily. A win would have sent us for the first time to the State Tournament at the Vanderbilt Fieldhouse in Nashville.

Claiming their second state championship in three years, Oak Ridge, in a thrilling and brilliantly played basketball game (which I witnessed), beat Murfreesboro in overtime, 38-36. Kenny Campbell was magnificent. He scored 29 of his team’s 38 points and was voted “Most Valuable Player.” Kenny received a scholarship to Vanderbilt, where he played with distinction, later becoming a lawyer.

When the season was over, a number of small colleges and universities had offered me scholarships to play basketball for them, including Tennessee Wesleyan College in Athens and Christian Brothers University in Memphis. UT had not offered me a scholarship as I had hoped. Coach Bean encouraged me to take one of the small college offers, reasoning that I could transfer to UT after two years as Schultz had done.

But, my dream was to play for Tennessee. Back then, freshmen were not eligible to play varsity ball. I knew I could walk-on and make the freshman squad. And, that is what I chose to do.

Unfortunately, one week prior to tryouts, while rushing to class I tumbled head-over-heels down the stairs at the old UT Alumni Memorial Gym, severely twisting my left ankle and tearing the ligaments in my right thumb. The fall left me with a cast up to my elbow, hobbling around on crutches. Being ambidextrous, I reasoned that if I could get my ankle in shape enough to play I could still make the team.

Alas, it was not to be. Despite a week of constant care – rest, ice, compression and elevation, my ankle remained too inflamed and swollen to even walk on, let-alone play basketball. I was on crutches for nearly two weeks.

A month later, though I was out of my cast and off my crutches, I began waking up in the middle of the night with severe abdominal pain. The pain would subside during the day, but would intensify at night. This went on for several weeks before I finally went back to the UT clinic. I was given a thorough physical examination. Nothing was found. The doctor then began to ask me a number of personal questions, inquiring if I had recently suffered a death in my immediate family or any other kind of personal loss.

When I told him about my lifelong dream to play basketball for Tennessee and how my recent accident had prevented that, he interrupted me and simply said, “That’s it.” When I asked him to explain, he told me that I had obviously suffered an extremely traumatic experience and that the pain in my abdomen was merely my body’s way of telling me that I had not as yet realized what I had lost.

The doctor’s diagnosis, identifying the underlying cause of my pain, must have been correct. For, from that moment on I never again experienced any pain in my abdomen.

From the New York Times (Children with Chronic Stomach Pain)

The following article features a study by my good friend Lynn Walker, Director of the division of adolescent health at Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt and senior author of the study.

Risk of Adult Anxiety Seen in Children’s Stomachaches

By CATHERINE SAINT LOUIS

Christopher Berkey for The New York Times Donya Kazemi, 11, right, with her mother, Nasrin, and sister, Diana, 15, has functional abdominal pain. 

 

Children with chronic stomach pains are at high risk for anxiety disorders in adolescence and young adulthood, a new study has found, suggesting that parents may wish to have their children evaluated at some point for anxiety.

Researchers at Vanderbilt University tracked 332 children with recurring stomachaches that could not be traced to a physical cause — so-called functional abdominal pain — comparing them as they reached young adulthood with 147 children who had never had such stomachaches.

About half the teenagers and young adults who had had functional abdominal pain as children developed an anxiety disorder at some point, compared with 20 percent of the control group, the researchers found. The vulnerability to anxiety persisted into adulthood even if the pain had disappeared, although the risk was highest if the pain continued.

Forty percent of the children with functional abdominal pain went on to experience depression, compared with 16 percent of those who had never had these stomachaches.

The study was published on Monday in the journal Pediatrics.

“What this study shows is a strong connection between functional abdominal pain and anxiety persists into adulthood, and it drives home the point that this isn’t by chance,” said Dr. John V. Campo, chairman of the department of psychiatry at Ohio State University, who was not involved in the new study.

In 2001, Dr. Campo published a smaller study that found that 28 young adults who had suffered functional abdominal pain as children were far more likely to have an anxiety disorder than 28 similar adults who had experienced another childhood illness.

Chronic abdominal pain affects 8 percent to 25 percent of school-age children. The problem can lead to school absences and take a toll on families.

“Somebody might say, ‘Of course they have mental issues or they are emotionally distressed — it’s because of the pain,’ ” said Lynn S. Walker, senior author of the study and director of the division of adolescent health at Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt.

“But we found even if the pain went away, these adolescents and young adults still have anxiety,” Dr. Walker said. “So maybe we need to treat their anxiety.”

The state-of-the-art treatment for functional abdominal pain is rehabilitative, focused on getting patients to participate in daily activities despite their stomachaches. “There’s no question that there are triggers for the pain, but the problem is in the perception of the pain and adaptation to the pain,” said Dr. Samuel Nurko, director of a functional abdominal pain center at Children’s Hospital Boston.

Dr. Nurko compared the pain to a light on a dimmer switch, which psychological techniques can help children control. “You don’t take away the pain,” he said. “You ‘dim’ it to be able to cope better.”

The new study underscores the importance of screening children with the condition for anxiety or depression, the authors said. Anxious children tend to be good children who are concerned about doing their best, Dr. Walker said, and parents may be flummoxed by the suggestion that such a child could be grappling with a mental health issue.

The majority of the children enrolled in the study “had not seen a mental health professional, ever,” Dr. Walker said.

But Miranda van Tilburg, an associate professor of medicine at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine, cautioned parents against leaping to the conclusion that a child’s unexplained stomach pain is “all anxiety based, because we don’t know that.”

“The take-away message should be you should not be afraid, if your doctor talks to you about anxiety in your child, to seek help from a mental health professional, because it could help your child feel better,” Dr. van Tilburg said.

Such a referral is “not an admission that that’s what’s causing the pain,” she said. “It’s just an admission that anxiety is linked to the pain.”

Nasrin Kazemi, a part-time real estate agent in Brentwood, Tenn., has three children, all of whom had frequent stomachaches. “If I get a little more excited, or sad, or mad about something, my stomach will start hurting,” said Mrs. Kazemi’s youngest daughter, Donya, 11.
The anticipation of starting sixth grade this fall has set off new waves of stomach pain. “It’s probably not going to stop until I get used to sixth grade,” Donya said.

She became anxious two years ago after a ghastly fortnight of flu-induced vomiting, her mother said. Since then, Donya worries about attending birthday parties where she might catch another flu, and such concerns make her abdominal pain flare up.

At first, Mrs. Kazemi was reluctant to seek psychological help for Donya, but her daughter eventually saw Dr. Walker. Mrs. Kazemi is hopeful about the new research, even though it suggests that Donya may have a lifelong vulnerability to anxiety.

“Because she is learning to deal with her emotions and to not let them get the better of her, she’ll be better with dealing with negative things that happen later in life,” Mrs. Kazemi said.

Artist Liz Clayton Fuller

Recently, the work of a young artist from Nashville, Liz Clayton Fuller, was on exhibit at Halcyon Bike Shop on 12th Avenue South.

Liz, a Nashville native, received her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Illustration with a minor in Art History from Savannah College of Art and Design. Currently, she lives in Nashville and is pursuing a career in Illustration. Her passion for the natural world and her love for plants and animals both inspire and inform her work.

My dear friends, Jill Lindner and Don Cobb, bought one of Liz’s pen and watercolor drawings – Hummingbird, leaving it on display until the end of the exhibit.

A week or so later as Liz was taking down the exhibit, an avid biker and one of the worlds most entertaining and talented personalities, Academy Award winning Robin Williams, dropped by the Halcyon Bike Shop. He had been in the neighborhood for several weeks, filming a new movie, Boulevard, at the home of some other dear and close friends, Susan Savage and Steven Mallett.

Immediately, what was remaining up of Liz’s artwork captured Mr. Williams’ attention. After closely examining several pieces he asked if he could purchase the Hummingbird drawing for his wife, Susan Schneider, an artist and graphic designer. When he was told that Hummingbird had already been sold, he was obviously disappointed, but asked if Liz had any other work he could see.

After moving outside to Liz’s car, he ultimately chose another piece from her portfolio, White-throated Sparrow, quipping, as only he can do, “this will make for a great story . . . the purchase of a priceless piece of artwork from the trunk of a car in Nashville, Tennessee.”

If you would like to see more of Liz’s artwork or would like to inquire about any of her pieces, click here to go to her website. She accepts commissions, as well.

From Food Babe: What is Trader Joe's Hiding?

If you shop at Trader Joe's read the following article from Food Babe:

What Is Trader Joe’s Hiding?

The answer to that question is easy – A LOT.

A family member does this little game with me and it happens over and over. After trying a bite of something that looks homemade, I say, “Mmm where did you get this from?” and she says, “Don’t worry, it’s from Trader Joe’s, so it’s organic.” The fact that people assume all products from Trader Joe’s are organic or healthy or better than what you would find elsewhere is an alarming misconception.

For the last several months, I’ve been getting a lot of questions about Trader Joe’s. Many people are questioning the grocery store chain’s policies on genetically engineered ingredients (GMOs) and asking if I personally trust their statements about the use of GMOs in their store brand products – my short answer is no, I don’t.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I LOVE shopping at Trader Joe’s. It’s fun, the employees are super nice and helpful and it’s a pleasant experience. However, they won’t share any information with us and are completely cloaked in secrecy regarding their business practices, which makes my head want to explode.

Trader Joe’s Official GMO Statement:

Our approach to Genetically Modified Organisms is simple: we do not allow GMO ingredients in our private label products (anything with Trader Joe’s, Trader Jose’s, Trader Ming’s, etc. on the label).

Given what Trader Joe’s tells us about their GMO policy, we should trust them, right? Or are we trusting them just like many consumers trusted Naked Juice, Tostitos, Kashi, Gold Fish, Barbara’s Bakery, etc. who are or have been faced with lawsuits finding suspected GMOs in their so-called “natural” products?

During my research, I found out there is no regular independent third party certifier verifying their products are non-GMO on a regular basis at Trader Joe’s. It is completely up to Trader Joe’s product supply team to regulate GMOs from suppliers – not the Non-GMO Project or the USDA (for organics) that requires a high level of standards and third party testing before stating a product can be deemed free of GMOs. If there are complaints about a product, Trader Joe’s will conduct verification with a secret third party that they won’t disclose, but it’s completely up to the consumer to alert Trader Joe’s with a complaint.

In fact, Trader Joe’s stated that their products “don’t allow for auditing using the Non-GMO Project because there is an additional cost associated with that.” A representative from Trader Joe’s went on to say, “We tend to not label our products a whole lot, and won’t until there is a government regulation to understand what non-GMO even means, we aren’t going to label products that don’t have specific FDA guidelines.” So this begs the question – what does non-GMO mean to Trader Joe’s? Are they making up their own definition because they claim they don’t have direction from a governmental official?

I reached out to the Executive Director of the Non-GMO Project, Megan Westgate, to find why Trader Joe’s refuses to become Non-GMO certified. This is what she said:

“The Non-GMO Project has reached out to Trader Joe’s a number of times over the years, and we remain hopeful that at some point we will be able to forge a meaningful partnership with them. To date, it has been very difficult to ascertain the credibility of their non-GMO claims. We know that many consumers believe Trader Joe’s to be a GMO-free store, but without transparent standards or third-party verification this is impossible to confirm. Many other retailers–independent grocers, co-ops, and Whole Foods Market–are leading the way by requiring rigorous testing and labeling, and it would be great to see Trader Joe’s follow suit.”

To read the entire article click here.

Emmy Rossum - "These Foolish Things (Remind Me of You)"

From Tribe of Heart

News from Tribe of Heart, Producers of PEACEABLE KINGDOM: THE JOURNEY HOME and THE WITNESS

Broadcast Premiere of
Peaceable Kingdom: The Journey Home
in Detroit and Canada
Monday, August 5th, at 10 PM EDT on WTVS - Detroit Public Television
Detroit Viewers: Tune in to Channel 56.1 or your regular cable or satellite channel
Southwest Ontario Viewers: Tune in to Channel 56.1 and Cogeco Cable
Options Available Across Canada: Shaw Direct Satellite TV (Channel 80 and 364-HD),
Rogers Communications, Shaw cable, and many more (check your local listings for PBS Detroit WTVS)
NOTE: Broadcast time for Canada will be 10 PM EDT, so adjust accordingly for your local time zone

Watch the Trailer About the Film Open your eyes. Trust your heart. Take the Journey... In this award-winning film that audiences are calling “a life-changing experience,” animal farmers struggle with their conscience and share powerful stories of transformation and healing. Their testimony, combined with rare footage demonstrating the emotional lives of animals, create an unexpected and unforgettable portrait of farm life. 78-minute documentary The Michigan Connection A fifth-generation farmer from Jackson, Michigan, Harold Brown spent half his life working in animal agriculture. In Peaceable Kingdom: The Journey Home, he shares the touching story of how he broke away from the traditions of his upbringing to forge a new way in the world, based on his desire to live in harmony with his most deeply held values. Today, through his non-profit organization, FarmKind, Harold educates the public on such topics as global agricultural domination, veganic farming, and the pursuit of a non-violent, peaceful way of life. He also offers practical advice and moral support to animal farmers who wish to make the transition to plant-based agriculture. Born in Kalamazoo and raised in Harrietta, Michigan, Peaceable Kingdom: The Journey Home producer James LaVeck pursued a degree in cross-cultural studies at Cornell University, spent six months traveling across India, earned a black belt in Tae Kwon Do, counseled inmates in the county jail, tutored pregnant teens, and wrote a novel about the generational impact of family violence. While he didn't realize it at the time, he was getting the education he needed to produce documentary films on the subjects of conscience and compassion. With his partner, Jenny Stein, James founded Tribe of Heart in 2000 and since then has produced documentaries that have appeared in 80 festivals around the world, where they have won 18 awards, including 5 for Best of Festival and 12 for Best Documentary. His work has appeared on PBS, LinkTV, FreeSpeech TV, and the United Kingdom's Community Channel. In addition to his filmmaking, James lectures and publishes on the subjects of living a conscience-driven life and the essential role of grassroots activism and independent media in maintaining a healthy democracy. In 2004, Kevin Smith of Royal Oak, Michigan, happened upon a television broadcast of Tribe of Heart's first film, The Witness. With decades of experience in the field of advertising, Kevin reached out to filmmakers Jenny Stein and James LaVeck to offer his support. As Associate Producer on Peaceable Kingdom: The Journey Home, Kevin's input was critical to the structuring of several complex, interwoven storylines. His extensive project development experience and creative problem-solving skills elevated the professionalism of several aspects of the project. He and his wife, Ramona, also donated the artistic talents of their post-production team at Section 8, creating beautiful title sequences for the film. Since the DVD of Peaceable Kingdom: The Journey Home was released in July 2012, Kevin has overseen our North American screenings program. To date, he has helped support more than 100 screenings ranging from venues as small as 25 to theatrical premieres reaching audiences of several hundred. Earlier in 2013, he assisted Ann Arbor's Humane Society of Huron Valley with holding a screening (details below), and that collaboration led to a meeting with WTVS programming staff, which resulted in the upcoming broadcast on Detroit's Public Television (PBS). This past February, Karen Patterson, the Director of Humane Education at Ann Arbor's Humane Society of Huron Valley (HSHV), contacted Tribe of Heart about screening Peaceable Kingdom: The Journey Home at the shelter. The film's associate producer, Kevin Smith, helped organize and participated in the event, and also arranged a Skype Q&A to follow the screening, so that filmmakers Jenny Stein and James LaVeck could interact with the many audience members who were moved and had questions. HSHV's President and CEO Tanya Hilgendorf was deeply affected by her experience at the screening and shared Karen and Kevin's feeling that the film deserved a much wider audience. So together they decided to reach out to WTVS, Detroit's PBS station, with which HSHV was already collaborating on a humane education campaign to nurture compassion and respect for companion animals. Dan Alpert, WTVS's Senior Vice President, and Dan Gaitens, WTVS's Program Director agreed to evaluate the film for broadcast. Flash forward six months: On Monday, August 5th, WTVS will be airing the broadcast premiere of Peaceable Kingdom: The Journey Home. We're grateful for HSHV's holistic vision, which embraces all animals, including those on farms, in their humane education message. It is our hope that other humane societies will be inspired by HSHV's example and approach their own local PBS stations to request they broadcast the film. For those interested in working on such initiatives in their local areas, please contact Tribe of Heart's Kevin Smith.

Dear friends, We are thrilled to announce the broadcast premiere of Peaceable Kingdom: The Journey Home! It will air Monday, August 5th at 10 PM EDT on Detroit's PBS station, WTVS, which is not only available to a large audience in the US, but also to millions of viewers across Canada via broadcast, cable and direct satellite. Thanks to the collaboration and leadership of the film's associate producer, Kevin Smith, and that of Tanya Hilgendorf, Karen Patterson and Deb Kern of the Humane Society of Huron Valley (HSHV), the film was brought to the attention of Dan Alpert and Dan Gaitens of Detroit Public Television (DPTV), which has a history of working with HSHV on humane education initiatives. One successful example of their educational collaboration is the airing of the groundbreaking PSA campaign, " Be Humane -- animals have feelings too," that teaches compassion and respect for companion animals. Now, with their decision to launch the broadcast premiere of Peaceable Kingdom: The Journey Home, the WTVS team has again chosen to take a leadership role in advancing our society's dialogue on the ethics of the human-animal relationship. For several of us involved in the making of the film, this broadcast premiere brings us full circle. I am a native of Michigan, as is film subject and former farmer Harold Brown. Kevin Smith resides in Royal Oak, a suburb of Detroit. At a time when the people of the region are struggling with serious economic hardship, this broadcast event, which has been made possible through the combined efforts of several Michiganders (yes, that's what we are called!), serves as a potent reminder of the community spirit, moral courage, and compassion that can inspire us to overcome any obstacle. We are honored to present our work to PBS viewers in Southeastern Michigan and across Canada, and to do so in collaboration with programmers and educators who have contributed to the common good for so many years, and in so many ways. Finally, a special note of gratitude goes to Kelli Marshall of S.M.A.R.T., who first brought Peaceable Kingdom: The Journey Home to the attention of Karen Patterson, HSHV's Director of Humane Education. That led to HSHV working with Kevin Smith to hold a screening of the film at the Ann Arbor-based humane society, which in turn inspired all involved to approach WTVS. So many of the best opportunities for our films begin like this, with one person sharing the film in a personal way, leading to a chain of events that could not have been anticipated. Like pebbles thrown into a pond, we can never know how far the ripples of our actions will spread. Thank you, Kelli, for starting this wave of positive change, and thanks to all of you out there who likewise find ways to share a compassionate message and keep it moving. Working together, we can -- and will -- change the world! James LaVeck Producer Help get Peaceable Kingdom aired on your PBS station Now that WTVS has gotten the ball rolling, Peaceable Kingdom: The Journey Home is all set for broadcast with any PBS station. Such broadcasts almost always begin with a local viewer bringing a film to the attention of the station's programming staff. With the help of the Tribe of Heart community, our first film, The Witness, aired on many PBS stations nationwide. If you are interested in bringing Peaceable Kingdom: The Journey Home to the attention of your regional PBS station, please contact Kevin Smith. Tell your friends in Michigan & Canada about this broadcast It's easy! You can use the share button at the top of this page to reach out to the people you know in Southeastern Michigan and Canada, or paste this page's link on your social media sites: http://www.tribeofheart.org/hb/080113.htm Please also use our Facebook invitation to let your friends know, and to RSVP yourself if you plan to watch. Thank you for helping get the word out! Can't watch the broadcast? You can still see the film Individual DVDs $20 each Peaceable Kingdom: The Journey Home DVD includes 78-minute film plus 90 minutes of bonus material. All content is available with subtitles in English (SDH), Spanish, French, and Portuguese. Special Offer Both Tribe of Heart DVDs for $25 Peaceable Kingdom: The Journey Home and The Witness 10-pack of DVDs $100 (half price) For gift giving and sharing the film with people and groups in your community

Tribe of Heart is a 501(c)(3) charitable non-profit organization that produces award-winning, life-changing films about the journey of awakening conscience and the ethics of the human-animal relationship. As a small organization with a big vision, we depend on the power of our community to make our programs come to life. Thank you for the many ways you help Tribe of Heart encourage positive, peaceful transformation.

Donations can be made online or mailed to Tribe of Heart, PO Box 149
Ithaca, NY 14851

Recent Photos Near the Narrows

I Highly Recommend the Following Website

Bit Of Earth

by Hannah, the girl behind the stove

 

Hannah is a junior at a small liberal arts college in Minnesota. She is studying two majors with two concentrations: Asian Studies and a major entitled The Optimization of Health & Happiness that she is designing herself. According to her, she spends most of her non-academic time cooking and eating, or thinking about cooking and eating. She has been a vegetarian her entire life and a vegan since 2011.

If you are interested in learning about a plant-based lifestyle join her as she cooks and eats her way toward optimal health and happiness.

Click here to go to her website – Bit of Earth.

The Camp Gyno

From The New York Times (Nicholas Kristof)

Treating Farm Animals With Respect

By NICHOLAS KRISTOF

 

My Sunday column is a side trip from the issues I mostly write about, and has nothing to do with international relations or politics. Rather, it’s about our ethical obligations to animals.

I grew up on a family farm in Oregon, raising sheep, cattle, pigs and geese, and so I’ve had a special interest in animal husbandry. In the agriculture world I grew up in, farmers often (granted, not always) had lots of empathy for their animals, but today we have a model of corporate agriculture in which animals have been reduced to widgets. But outside of factory farms, there is progress, for all the reasons I outline in the column.

Granted, since I’m not a vegetarian, some of you will find this hypocritical and inconsistent. You’ll point out that I’m arguing for treating a cow with respect, until we kill it and eat it. I acknowledge the point, but in all areas we start by banning extremes. And in this case, that means not torturing or abusing animals unnecessarily, even if we eventually dine on them. So read the column, and let me know if I’m just a soggy sentimentalist, or a silly hypocrite, or whether humanity for non-humans is the wave of the future. I’d also welcome your thoughts on where to take this line of reporting. I’ll be spending some time on the family farm this summer and might come back to this broad issue.

 My response to Kristof's Editorial:

I know I am a moral creature. I know that it is morally wrong to allow my wanton desires to interfere with the basic needs and interests of other sentient beings.

I know the physical and psychological abuse – confinement, social deprivation, mutilation, genetic and reproductive manipulation, and profit exploitation – imposed by us on other animals is morally wrong. Our exploitation of other sentient beings cannot be achieved without cruelty, violence, or injustice.

When Gandhi said, “live simply so other may simply live,” he recognized that in order for life to survive on this planet all reasoning beings must adhere to this principle.

Long before we are capable of truly understanding, of making an informed and conscious decision on our own, our identities are formed by others for us.

As each year passes it becomes increasingly difficult for us to question and challenge what we have become, until, at last, in order to maintain our self-worth, our psyche's ramparts become nearly impenetrable.

Ignorance becomes our first line of defense. “Don’t tell me! You’ll spoil my dinner.”

For some reason I was never able to justify the “malice of no thought,” the hypocrisy of espousing a moral standard (the Golden Rule) without actually observing it.

Morality cannot be arbitrary.

That is why I have been an ethical vegetarian (vegan) for over forty years.

If we are to survive an increasing number of us must become aware of the the truth and consequences of our actions.