=== Todays Writing Assignments ==

Tim's assignment for Cara: (choose any one you wish) write about : what kind of music does your parents listen to? create an imaginary mix tape for your parents and write a description of each song and why you chose it. or just choose one song

Cara's assignment for Tim: write about something that made you smile

Food Not Bombs essay yet to be written

Food Not Bombs and Permaculture:

Over the past few years I have gradually been gaining an interest in permaculture design principles, and have been interested in organizing a permaculture study group for Food Not Bombs volunteers. I have come to envision Food Not Bombs as being the radical edge of urban permaculture. My understanding of permaculture concepts is very crude and based mostly on my own intuition, so please bear with me. Here are a few permaculture principles that can be useful tools for us in analyzing Food Not Bombs. I may be distorting the principles or applying them out of context, so again, please bear with me.

Permaculture diagrams divide environments up into 5 different zones. Each zone is more or less a self-contained eco-system, made up of elements that are connected in a symbiotic relationship with one another. Within each zone there are many layers of redundancy....all the necessary functions of the system are performed by multiple elements, and each element performs multiple functions. It is the interconnectedness of all the different elements that keeps each zone sustainable and balanced.

In Permaculture design, particular attention is paid to the edge where two different zones meet...such as where the field meets the forest. This is an area of instability and unpredictability, but it is also an area with the greatest creative possibilities. I have taken this concept and tried applying it to Food Not Bombs in many ways.

I have come to see Food Not Bombs as the edge between two different zones, on many different levels. It can be defined as

the edge where our personal lives and our political lives intersect. Food Not Bombs can also be seen as the edge where

private space is transformed into public space, and public space is transformed into private space. For instance, the Food

Not Bombs serving in People's Park represents an attempt to transform public space into 'virtual private space', and the

Tuesday and Friday Food Not Bombs cookdays at the Humanist Hall represented an attempt to transform private space into

'virtual public space'.

"go confidently in the direction of your dreams. live the life you've imagined." - he

Proposal: Tuesday Evening FreeSkool Classes at Nabolom

Every Tuesday from 6:00 pm until 9:00 pm, Nabolom can be transformed into a fully-integrated community freeskool space, with classes and meetings in the basement, folk music lessons/ folk dance lessons in the main space, and a communal "stone soup" meal being cooked in the kitchen. The primary purpose will not be to generate revenue, but instead, to generate community support, build a customer base, and help the Barrington Collective free skool.

IN THE BASEMENT:

• Set the basement up as a general-purpose meeting space and freeskool space
• Hold Barrington Collective meetings in the basement instead of the main space.
• Set up the space so that it is stuitable for D.I.Y. arts and crafts, Spanish/ESL classes, writing classes, etc.

IN THE MAIN SPACE:

• Every Tuesday night, arrange the space so that the back half (near the cash register) is dining space and the front space is FreeSkool space.

• Clear the front space of tables and chairs, and rotate the piano against the wall, to create a large rectangular area suitable for music classes, dance classes, or yoga classes.
• Wire the soundsystem so that there are speakers in the main space. Wire the office computer to the stereo so that you can play streaming audio and MP3's in the main space.
• Have an info-table by the door, with a bullitan board of upcoming events at Nabolom and a donataion jar.

IN THE KITCHEN:

• Tuesday Night "Stone Soup" meal (sponsered by Food Not Bombs?)
• Have a communal soup pot cooking in the background while classes are happening.
• Start by boiling a stone in a pot of water, just like in the children's story.
• Encourage class participants to bring dumpstered produce, food donated from FNB and the farmers market, and bulk goods bought with food stamps.
• Distribue information on Food Not Bombs, the Farmers Market, how to obtain foodstamps in the Bay Area, and how to form your own Stone Soup meal in your own neighborhood.

(other ideas:)

• Have a freeskool class on how to cook different types of soup
• Compile an open-source Food Not Bombs Stone Soup cookbook.

Purpose/Goals for the Tuesday Stone Soup Meal:

• To build a stronger partnership between Food Not Bombs, the Barrington Collective Freeskool, and Nabolom Bakery.
• To create a place where peace activists can gather and share food communally.
• To create a working model of a new type of Food Not Bombs meal, which is smaller, more decentralized, and self-organizing.
• To create a music learning space. To create a gathering space. To explore the relationship between free food, folk music, and folk dance.
• To help Nabolom develop a model for how their space can be utilized as a community space during non-business hours. To build a stronger support community for Nabolom. To promote Nabolom as a gathering space for peace and social justice activists.
• To create a convergence space where people from different community houses can bring their dumpstered produce and exchange food with one another.
• To create an integrated freeskool space, with food being cooked in the kitchen, classes being held in the main space, and meetings being held in the basement.

Stone Soup is a proposal by Tim and happened with much success last week and hopefully will continue to do so with your support. Most important is your presence, but we need people to bring recipes, food, and a willingness to cook, learn and self-organize.