Welcome to Deep Times Fall 2016

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by Molly Brown

We live in such a time of turmoil and radical change.  Since our last issue of Deep Times, the Standing Rock Sioux have risen up to protect the sacred waters of the Missouri River and sacred sites from the Dakota Access Pipeline, which would carry bitumen oil from the tar sands mines in Canada.  They have been joined now by over 300 native tribes and 4,000 supporters in several camps, with thousands more coming on weekends.  In this issue, Patricia St Onge shares her perspective on this historic uprising and Daniel Jubelirer writes of his experience there as an ally.

During the same period, 23 facilitators and friends of the Work That Reconnects met on Whidbey Island over Labor Day weekend to raise our awareness about how the Work has sometimes excluded the experience of People of Color, and needs to be decolonized.  Those of us in attendance learned that we need to take this concern very seriously and explore it in depth.  This issue of Deep Times features interviews with some of the participants who share their experience and learnings, an essay by Aravinda Ananda responding to her reading of Ta-Nehisi Coates’ Between the World and Me, and a Resource List for further study.

I intend to dedicate most of the Spring 2017 issue of Deep Times to the concerns of social and racial justice, systemic racism, white privilege, and anti-oppression work.

Also in this issue:

Joanna Macy shares what is on her heart and mind as we move into autumn of 2016, and Barbara Ford offers her prospectus for her project on “radical gratitude.”  We have two articles in this issue about climate change/disruption: one by Dahr Jamail, who writes extensively on this topic for TruthOut online; the other a lyrical prose-poem by Ann-Marie Davis, based on a dream. In addition, Morgan Curtis reports on the Youth Climate Justice Delegation to the UN.   Karina Lutz, our poetry editor, explores “the Great Threshing,” asking “which gifts of human history should we harvest at this moment of peak everything?”  Barbara Cecil explores the challenges of “sustainable activism”  and Gabi Bott reports on the July Deep Ecology Network meeting in Germany.  Throughout, you’ll find beautiful and inspiring poems and images.

Submissions and Donations

For the Spring 2017 issue of Deep Times, we welcome articles, poetry, and artwork on the topic of decolonization as related to the Work That Reconnects and the Spiral.  We especially want to feature writers and artists of color.  Please send your articles, poems, and artwork to deeptimes@wtrjournal.wpenginepowered.com by March 25, 2017.

The grant money used for the first three journal issues, and for preliminary redesign of the Work That Reconnects website is nearly exhausted.  We are grateful for the donations many of you have made to support both the journal and the website, as well as other Network activities.  We would like to continue to offer the Journal free of charge, but can only do so with your financial support.  Please donate to the Work That Reconnects Network today.