Thank Yous and Goodbyes

Today is the last day of finals week which means it is the offical end of the Spring 2009 semester. This semester was one of the best for the Marist Praxis Project in recent memory. Together we were able to accomplish so much in such a short amount of time. For that, I would like to thank everyone who has been involved with the project this year for making it such a great year. I would also like to give our departing seniors a special spot light, because each one of them left something special behind that we will continue on with.



Anthony

This past year, Anthony served as the Assistant to the Public Praxis Project. During this year, Anth became the spiritual leader of the Praxivists. From his many meditiations he gave to the class and to the group to the countless conversations he has had with everyone, Anth's influence and spirit will always be with us. He was a calming spirit, a rallying spirit, he is my very good friend. Under his guidance, the Praxis Project reached heights that will not be soon met. As a parting gift, Dr. Mar gave Anth a walking stick with his name carved into the side, so that he could move on his path of life in style. As noted by Carola, "He looks like a Tibetan monk [with the stick]."

We will all miss Anthony and I wish him the best with the road ahead of him. Hopefully soon our paths will cross again.


Colleen


Colleen is one of our most veteran Praxivists. She would frequently collaborate with others and her involvement would almost guarantee the project would be successful. Most recently, Colleen helped run the Coffee House for Peace and Justice and has been advocating and informing students about alternative post-graduation options. She also worked with some other students on the Forum on Homelessness earlier in the month.

Colleen will truly be missed and the Praxis Project and the Praxivists is losing not only a great person but also a good friend. Thanks for everything you've done for the project.


Lauren


Although Lauren only discovered the Praxivists at the beginning of this past semester, she contributed with the passion and frequency of a veteran Praxivist. As a Vegan, Lauren took up projects relating to ending animal cruelty and alternative food options. She worked with organizations such as PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) and the Veggie Fund which provides money for vegans to buy food for vegan events.

Thanks to Lauren, we all need to think twice about what we eat, and I'm sure she wouldn't have it any other way. Thanks so much for working with us Lauren, you are our Vegan Goddess.



Thanks to everyone
Peace and Love
-mike

Poem: Meta-morph-praxis

I am ignorance
un-aware.
I do not care because
there is they and
here is me,
false-self, self, self,
and on
you I’ll pee.

Stratified divided,
un-united,
inside the closet’s where
I reside in.

Bright bright light consumes
me in my darkroom
this is expoooosuuuure
to perceived others
suuuufferrrrrs,
so I
can’t live ignorant
Annny lonnnnnnnger.

Inside a fire
begins to start, in-
side my heart it
is compassion. Now,
love in action is
what is hapnin.’

Monies, countries, and enemies…
illusions
are you separations!
The truth indeed is
self as we so
o-bese e-go
has, got to go!
Adios!
You are killer
as Killer coke
Killer cola!



And hola
Righteous Selflessness.
I exper-i-ence
mystical
unity
one-ness.

One heart.
One Love.
Solidarity.

For getting together-ness
and
feeling alright-ness,

for the increasing of happiness
and the lessening of suffering,

for brotherhood,
for sisterhood,
and all that is good,

lets search for alternatives
so that
life can live, with
co-existent co-operation.

For the healing of the nations,

Come on and, lets
liberate liberation

Let her free
Let her see
Let her be

-Anthony

Recap: Praxis Forum

This past Thursday, April 30, the Marist Public Praxis Project held our annual forum. Featured at the forum were students who presented their projects from this semester, original poetry, songs, and spiritual meditations. This year has been particularly productive for the praxivists as we truly had an amazing collection of people who had one common objective, to make a difference. As Dr. Mar put it, “you were Awesome yesterday, today, and throughout the term with all your projects, and writing, editing, blogging, researching, critiquing, reflecting, journaling, singing, dancing, creating poetry, drawing, mentoring, instructing, fundraising, photographing, videotaping, sharing clips, offering meditations.” Attached are some pictures of the Praxis forum, I only hope in the coming years we can come near what we’ve accomplished this year. -mike



Anthony giving opening remarks.


Dr. Bruce Luske giving a short lecture about spirituality and praxis.


Cara singing and playing her guitar.


Alanna talking about her involvement in the Kolkata Children's Project.


Emily presenting about the ESL program she and Cass Rosado run for Marist's Hispanic employees.


Carola reading her poem about the effects of taking down trees.


Lauren talking about her experiences as a vegan.


Andy reciting some original poetry.


Mike speaking about the Nobel Peace Prize booklet and his refugee project which also took place on April 30.


Sam describing her project where she measured the importance of hugs.


Kasey, Joe, and Nicole presenting their project at the forum. They are doing fundraisers for the Kolkata Children's Fund as Mar and Alanna are traveling there soon.


Dr. Mar giving closing remarks at the forum.

What is Praxis?

What is praxis? asks the masses. In the words of Bruce Luske praxis is “heads, hearts, and hands” “spreading like wild mushrooms” conscience and consciousness. How so? Through the universal flow. Through the unity, of critical theory with love in action. Like “Yab-yum” in Tibetan, it is in, essence, a union-ed representation, of female wisdom, locked in embrace with, male compassion.

Praxis is about, transformation. Praxis is about integration, of we the students in our study, purpose-ful-ly, into the en-viron-ment, and in so-cie-ty.

Praxis opens one, to hear the cries of the world, to feel the pains of other, genuinely, which is compassionate, deep empathy. When praxis exposure opens us, and has us, feeling that suffering, it vibrates within, and responsibility, organically arises. We begin to care, and we become eager to help. And this is why theory needs action, to allow us to walk the walk, after thinking the think, and talking the talk. Praxis is…to experience, to reflect, and to gain insight. To give meaning to the teachings, and to give…mean-ing to our be-ings.




Peace. Namaste blessings. and One Love, -Anthony

Introducing (however late it may be) the Praxis Mural

So this is far overdue, but I finally have a good picture of the mural to post. This is our Praxis Mural which we completed way back on February 10. Take a good look at it! -mike

Rasta and Babylon

Babylon is ‘polytricksters’ (political tricksters), ‘downpressors’ (oppressors), and ‘downgressors’ (aggressors). Babylon is imperial, colonial powers. The vampire. Suckin’ children and suckin’ the blood of the sufferers. Men eating men. Babylon the establishment. Governments, police agents, humans, systems, institutions, and empires against the ways of God, Jah. Rastafari. In the eyes of Rasta, Babylon is wicked, the worst of evils, identifiable sin, hell on earth, real and re-vealed.

“Come we go chant down Babylon one more time” sings the honerable, Robert Nesta Marley. Rasta are rebels, soul rebels, resisters against slavery, degradation, exploitation, and humiliation. This is why rasta unkeep their hair, and wear, “natty dred, natty dred locks”. Locks are like the hair of victorious biblical Solomon. Locks are the mane of the lion. Power, strength, and freedom, wandering through the wilderness on the path of righteousness, ranging, roaming, headed towards the promised land. Dred is a way. A way of resistance, expressing grievances, spreading peace and love with confidence, and holding self together in the face of societial forces which have been aimed at tearing self into pieces and shreds.

I-and-I. We. Are all ‘Lords of Creation’. Not commodities, and not units of labor for any slavery, or any profit in pockets. Rasta never seek to be accepted in wider society, and never conform to the standards or norms of Babylon. Smoking Ganja herb sacredly is not only a spiritual ritual, but a living practice of rebellious, societal, deviance. Ganga is the smokescreen that brings into consciousness Babylon’s trickery, the poverty, brutality, and inequality. Enlightened, awakened in mind and spirit, start come off, the brainwash.

Reggae, is the healer. Heart’ically and ear’tically. Babylon will end apocalyptically, and the present order will be transformed spiritually, supernaturally, a.k.a. divine intervention-ally. Salvation is a certainty, manifested through experientially and introspectively seeking, testing, reasoning, and discerning to realize the divine book within, and to discover what is true and what is false. Rasta path is about determining events rather than being determined by them, determining who self is, and determining how self is manifested and where exactly it is, that self is going.

The refusal to be defined by, along with the stripping ourselves of material possesions allows us to see, that we, are organic beings connected with eachother, living and non-living. “I-and-I” consciousness calls for a new responsibility for ones thoughts, words, and actions. To live naturally, ‘sitting in the dust’, in rhythm, in harmony, and closeness with the creatures and the nature of our loving mother, Mother Earth.

May lightening and thunder strike the downpressors, and may peace, wisdom, and good health be rewarded to all righteously planting, cultivating, respecting, protecting, dancing, chanting, and singing…

Jah Jah love,
is like a burnin’ fire,
that keeps on burnin’, burnin’ burnin’
down in my soul

Babylon burnin’,
Babylon bur-ur-nih-ih-in’,
Babylon burnin’, burnin’ burnin’…



...and we got no wahhh-ter'.

-anthony

Reflection: Hare Krishna wisdom gems for Praxis Journeying

Lord Krishna,
Supreme Being,
all-attractive one,
symbolic cow finder and herder of symbolic cows.

This soul-guider, destroyer of material, selfish, and divine sin, is a shedder of wisdom, providing several gems of divine insight for us to bathe in, and consider deeply in our Praxis approaches and paths of Praxis actions.

Krishna’s council to us as Praxis peoples goes a little something like this…

Do all Praxis without seeking reward, and seek never the fruit of your Praxis. Seeking fruit rewards means putting your ego, your false self, the selfish self into your Praxis. Ego into Praxis spoils Praxis. This blinds us, and impures us, corrupting, and infecting, even when Praxis appears as if outwardly good. Do the dance of Praxis, surf its wave in harmonious peace, so that you can, act spontaneously, rhythmically, perfectly, and naturally. Spiritual practice is a pure, fresh, and clean source of rest and renewal that is often necessary for such endeavors. Be free from those… selfish desires! They are disturbers that manifest disturbances. To wherever your Praxis path leads you, be unmoved by success, and be unmoved by failure. Enjoy your Praxis, but enjoy it with detachment to whether the fruit will be good or bad, for it will be neither, as it just “will be”. Do your Praxis with your whole heart and whole soul force. Wisdom and love into praxis. Skill in action. Love into our wisdom, love into our understanding arises insight, knowledge by love. The entire creation is understood through experiencing balanced, the unity between a female named “Action” a male named “Contemplation”.

May these words be the heat of self-guidance, self-control and self-discipline. Inner heat from an inner fire. Inner fire that is in all, every single, one of our hearts, the place that is the dwelling center of those little love-lights of ours, that we all let shine. Let them shine. Let them shine. Let them shine.

-anthony

Poem: Conscious All Versus American Capital “M” dash “Pyre”

[Conscious All:]
Invader!
Raider of turf!
Why must you kill
all the creatures
and Earth?
Where inside
it
are you find-
ing
any worth?
We demand
you disarm
all us be-ings,
we are hurt!

[M-Pyre:]
Aww,
come on now!
You ought to better know me.
I gotta gotta eat
more of
them resource-ceez.

Cause the only highest power
that my eyes can see
Is a mighty common acronym,
“G” to the “O”
Tuh’ tuh’ the “D”

[ Conscious Chorus:]
For the Gold, Oil, Drugs is why
He’s spreading the blood
For the Gold, Oil, Drugs is why
He’s spreading the blood
For the Gold, Oil, Drugs is why
He’s spreading the blood

[Conscious All:]
Elite!
This thug
Is American!
Capital letter “M” dash “Pyre!”
Napalmed grand mom’s
in Vietnam
and melted
skeletons
on fire!
Possesed by his possessions,
Expansions
All he
Desires

[Conscious Chorus:]
M-Pyre!,
On you a demon made a spell!
M-Pyre!,
Truth, all your hurt-
ing is yourself!
M-Pyre!,
Should share it good
Share your wealth!
M-Pire!,
We pray for you,
To soon get well.

[M-Pyre:]
Conscious all,
all
yall
is no victims
in this
system.
You got to feel my ism’s!
Capital,
political,
military,
industrial.
Connected by all them
chords umbilical.
Live life in a bubble,
and don’t knock my hustle.
Any questioning
of the weaponing,
out in public
I will call you…
unpatriotic-al!

[Conscious All:]
M,
hold up now,
just for one minute.
We here you propaganda,
but we just don’t dig it!
So get out of town.
Please take the next train or bus,
cause’ your nuclear arms have been toxic-ing us,
And you’re ish’ outta’ luck,
cause we mean
most serious.

Hands,
hearts,
heads…
Please spread
like on bread
with peanut butter
these truths
to many others…
Thank us
will our Earth Mother
when we
wake up and love her.
And end
will many suffers
when we
all free each other.

And end
will many suffers
when we
all free each other.

-anthony

Approaching a creature named PrAxiS

When approaching non-thing named Praxis…

For the insights for this one thanks be to
-Ram Dass
Approach is your attitude, your state of being, your frame of mind/heart/soul when participating, publicly serving, helping, or promoting any form of life in community. It is mindful to wanting to understand others, being open to being helped, and to receive as well as to learn. Percieving our”selves” as separate “selves” often obstructs us from being generous. Feeling unity and one-ness in our approaches can counter obstructions, increasing our potential to be generosity. Loneliness, angriness, and powerlessness feelings may manifest helping efforts to gain intimacy, power, control, etc. Catering to our own needs may lessen our abilities to serve others. Help others as they truly are, whole and complete. When you are seeing, see wholly. Although in some situations this is unavoidable, generally try avoiding the roles of active helper and passive helped. For attachment to roles is limiting to our outreach. Approach with intentions to destroy, but create. Not to separate, but to unify. To heal wounds. In all seriousness be humorous, have a trip when you uplift. Utilize your inner-most gifts and spread shining light, illuminating as the sun, when you approach praxis. In our beings is every non-thing, the universe, for us to disperse all around affecting the world every moment, whether we mean to or not. In essence, our actions and our states of mind matter, because we are so deeply interconnected with one another.
“I would say that the thrust of my life has been initially about getting free, and then realizing that my freedom is not independent of everybody else. Then I am arriving at that circle where one works on oneself as a gift to other people so that one doesn't create more suffering. I help people as a work on myself and I work on myself to help people.”- Ram Dass

-anthony

Article: Prison Reform

This is an article that I wrote for Marist College's newspaper The Circle in December 2008.

One of the largest problems facing the United States that does not get enough attention is our broken criminal justice system. Over the last 35 years, the number of incarcerated persons has increased by nearly 700%. Half of the increase is from non-violent drug offenders whose incarceration has increased 402% since 1985.

Part of the problem is that the laws that are currently on the books were drafted twenty, even thirty years ago. In New York, drug laws were intended to be very harsh towards offenders under Governor Nelson Rockefeller in the mid 1970s. At the federal level, harsh mandatory sentencing and the three strike rule were established under the socially conservative policies of Ronald Reagan.

Whether these laws intended to or not, they have been tearing apart inner cities since their enactment. These drug laws are more stringent on drugs more common amongst the poor like marijuana and crack cocaine while more "expensive" drugs such as cocaine hold lighter offenses. What has resulted is a large influx of low level non-violent drug offenders who may have done nothing more than had drugs in their possession at a routine traffic stop.

A common misconception with the criminal justice system is that we can, "arrest and imprison our way our of a crime problem." Under that logic, why do we continue to imprison people at alarming rates while our crime rate has stabilized and is decreasing nearly annually? The answer is that incarceration is a business and the government is more interested in making money than rehabilitating alleged criminals.

The eerie fact is seen quite clearly in the recidivism rate, or the percentage of prisoners who return to prison upon release. Inmates who receive no rehabilitation have a recidivism rate hovering in the 70s while studies have clearly shown that the more counseling and education prisoners receive the lower and lower their recidivism rate drops.

The federal government made the situation worse when in 1994 they decided not to issue Pell grants to any prisoner; Pell grants that would have allowed them to pursue an advanced degree while incarcerated. While congress cuts more programs for prisoners and the prison population continues to grow I sit here and wonder why the government isn't doing anything positive while they continuously make the situation worse for prisoners.

My thought on congress: misconception and greed. Many believe that just because someone is incarcerated they are automatically a "bad guy" but often dismiss the grounds on which they were convicted and their offense. If I may mention it again as well, prison building is a business, a business that the government makes a lot of money off of, and they wouldn't want to see anything happen to their money.

So what can be done? With the new president elect hopefully this issue will be addressed, but I'm not getting my hopes up. This is one of those issues that has to be voiced by the people. I will continuously be advocating for prison reform in the hope for a more just and equal society. As Dr. King said: "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."



This article was published just before I started a letter writing campaign to try and free political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal. I would like to say that I mailed 74 letters to Governorn Rendell of Pennsylvania and I hope our efforts have made a difference. As I had said in the article we the people must fight to reverse these injustices and better our society.

Power to the Peaceful!
-mike

The beginning of our movement

In association with the Marist College Public Praxis project and the aptly named student collective "The Praxivists;" I open this blog up to spread awareness of important local, national, and global issues. I will keep this blog in coordination with the class I am taking with Professor Mar-Peter Raoul called Praxis II.

It is my intention to create a better society through awareness, positive action, and civil disobedience.