Archive for February 2014
Recommended book: The Social Media Gospel: Sharing the Good News in New Ways by Meredith Gould.
I emailed the author. Here’s what we said.
GI: I want to reference and recommend your book.
MG: Great and great!
GI: I have a question about it. Why did you omit Podcasting and Skype?
READ MORE
What’s NOW with SLW!
- An Alternative Ash Wed. & Lent: Another Kind of Fasting // Our most important family alternative celebration occurs during Lent. We used the following idea one year and, at our children’s request, have repeated it. READ MORE
- Author Cecile Andrews, Champion of Simplicity Circles and Community Conversation. Her latest: Living Room Revolution. READ MORE
- Simpler Living Alternative Daily Calendar – Feb. 27: Do I use the things I own to build walls or bridges between myself and others? What messages do I receive about the need or desirability of “having my own space”? Who gives me those messages? If a fire destroyed my place, who would I ask to give me emergency housing?
What’s Coming
- Alternative Rites of Passage, including Wedding Alternatives – NEW Podcast
What’s Happened
- Perceived Value: Strategies for Overcoming the Tyranny of Appearances — recent SLW! blog
- Simple Living 101: Tools for Activists (shy or bold) + Jerry’s Excellent Adventure – Feb. 1 SLW! Podcast | Sharing the Joy of a Simpler Lifestyle Through Speeches, Workshops, Events, Study/Action Groups, Simplicity Circles and Social Media
What Others Are Doing
- Lenten resources from Mustard Seed Associates/GodSpace: Music | Kids | Adults
- Overflow Project 50-Day Challenge: Simplify+Give+Change=Water
- Interviews, Exhibits, Free Download Day, and Book Groups—Spreading the Conversation about the OneEarth Project and the book, Blinded by Progress: Breaking Out of the Illusion That Holds Us, by Lee Van Ham. | TheCommonGoodPodcast.com, episode 42
- Faith and Money Radio – Making the Connection
- Mark Rasmussen on Aldo Leopold’s Legacy: GMO’s, biofuels and Occupying the World Food Prize, all on TheCommonGoodPodcast.com, episodes 43-44.
Timely Resources
Check out a few of these thought-provoking, timely resources that might meet your personal, family or congregational/group needs. They’re all FREE.
- Treasury of Celebrations*: Create Celebrations That Reflect Your Values and Don’t Cost the Earth Earth – Jan.-April | LENT | EASTER
- Worship Alternatives: Lent/HolyWeek/Easter
- Spirit of Simplicity: Lent/Easter ART | QUOTES
- Lent sermon series
- 10 Tips for Simpler, More Meaningful Easter | Celebrations | SPANISH: 10 puntas
- Alternatives’ Seasonal/Thematic Index | LENT
- For Lent/Easter SEASONAL HELPS, including links to AV and Text resources, see SLW! Podcast episode 13.
Podcast Reminder
You can access all SLW! podcast audio and the show notes either at SimpleLiving.startlogic.com/SLW-PODCAST or at SimpleLivingWorks.org (then click window #3). Listen through your computer, iPod, iPad, iPhone (or equivalent).
SUBSCRIBE through iTunes, Stitcher.com or your favorite podcast service. To SUBSCRIBE to email notices, click Comments at the bottom of Show Notes, then check ‘Notify me of new posts by email.’ Please rate us in iTunes and leave a review. Send us your email address to receive the free monthly SLW! eNews. Remember to like us on Facebook. Urge your friends to do the same.
Episode Index: #1-3: Getting Acquainted | #4-5: Beyond a Consumer Lifestyle | #6-11: Whose Birthday Is It, Anyway? | #12: Living More with Less UPDATED | #13: Let’s Get Ready for a Simpler Lent & Easter | #14: Simple Living 101 + Social Media BONUS | #15: author Cecile Andrews, Champion of Simplicity Circles and Community Conversation
Do your friends a favor. Share our blog and podcast.
Like SLW! on Facebook. | Follow us on Twitter. | Follow us on Pinterest.
Share your thoughts on our podcast and blogs. Email Feedback AT SimpleLivingWorks DOT org [or SimpleLivingWorks AT yahoo DOT com or SimpleLivingWorks2 AT gmail DOT com], leave a message on our Facebook page or on the SLW! blog.
Peace, Gerald “Jerry” Iversen, Chief SLW! Activist
GRAPHIC: MeredithGould.com
We do not solicit or accept donations, nor do we sell anything. All our resources and services are free of charge. We’re an all-volunteer organization. Instead, we urge Alternative Giving. Give away 25% of what you spent last year on all celebrations – Christmas, birthdays, etc. — to local, national and international causes.
Copyright: Creative Commons non-commercial attribution share-alike license.
*Treasury of Celebrations: published by Northstone, a division of Wood Lake Publications, BC, Canada, best known for its Seasons of the Spirit curriculum.
Through social media, we extend the mission and resources of the non-profit organization Alternatives, 1973-2011. Simple Living Works! web site home page | Theme/Seasons Index
To learn more about SLW! – our MISSION, for example — please listen to our getting-acquainted episodes, especially #1 and 2. We produce a half-hour podcast twice a month, hopefully educational and inspiring for you, your family and your congregation or group. We blog several times a week.
An Alternative Ash Wed. & Lent
Posted on: February 25, 2014
Another Kind of Fasting
Our most important family alternative celebration occurs during Lent. We used the following idea one year and, at our children’s request, have repeated it. READ MORE
Check out a few of these thought-provoking, timely resources that might meet your personal, family or congregational/group needs. They’re all FREE.
- Treasury of Celebrations*: Create Celebrations That Reflect Your Values and Don’t Cost the Earth Earth – Jan.-April | LENT | EASTER
- Worship Alternatives: Lent/HolyWeek/Easter
- Spirit of Simplicity: Lent/Easter ART | QUOTES
- Lent sermon series
- 10 Tips for Simpler, More Meaningful Easter | Celebrations | SPANISH: 10 puntas
- Alternatives’ Seasonal/Thematic Index | LENT
- For Lent/Easter SEASONAL HELPS, including links to AV and Text resources, see SLW! Podcast episode 13.
What’s NOW with SLW!
- Author Cecile Andrews, Champion of Simplicity Circles and Community Conversation. Her latest: Living Room Revolution. READ MORE
What’s Coming
- Alternative Rites of Passage, including Wedding Alternatives – March 1 Podcast
What’s Happened
- Simpler Living Alternative Daily Calendar – Feb. 24: What Is Enough? “Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy?” (from Isaiah 55:1-5) Do I give the people who love me what they most want from me? Am I able to spend the time I need to build special relationships with the people I love?
- Perceived Value: Strategies for Overcoming the Tyranny of Appearances — recent SLW! blog
- Simple Living 101: Tools for Activists (shy or bold) + Jerry’s Excellent Adventure – Feb. 1 SLW! Podcast | Sharing the Joy of a Simpler Lifestyle Through Speeches, Workshops, Events, Study/Action Groups, Simplicity Circles and Social Media
What Others Are Doing
- Lenten resources from Mustard Seed Associates/GodSpace: Music | Kids | Adults
- Overflow Project 50-Day Challenge: Simplify+Give+Change=Water
- Interviews, Exhibits, Free Download Day, and Book Groups—Spreading the Conversation about the OneEarth Project and the book, Blinded by Progress: Breaking Out of the Illusion That Holds Us, by Lee Van Ham. | TheCommonGoodPodcast.com, episode 42
- Faith and Money Radio – Making the Connection
- Mark Rasmussen on Aldo Leopold’s Legacy: GMO’s, biofuels and Occupying the World Food Prize, all on TheCommonGoodPodcast.com, episodes 43-44.
- Bob Sitze’ Simple Enough blog – Simple Things: Running Water
Podcast Reminder
You can access all SLW! podcast audio and the show notes either at SimpleLiving.startlogic.com/SLW-PODCAST or at SimpleLivingWorks.org (then click window #3). Listen through your computer, iPod, iPad, iPhone (or equivalent).
SUBSCRIBE through iTunes, Stitcher.com or your favorite podcast service. To SUBSCRIBE to email notices, click Comments at the bottom of Show Notes, then check ‘Notify me of new posts by email.’ Please rate us in iTunes and leave a review. Send us your email address to receive the free monthly SLW! eNews. Remember to like us on Facebook. Urge your friends to do the same.
Episode Index: #1-3: Getting Acquainted | #4-5: Beyond a Consumer Lifestyle | #6-11: Whose Birthday Is It, Anyway? | #12: Living More with Less UPDATED | #13: Let’s Get Ready for a Simpler Lent & Easter | #14: Simple Living 101 + Social Media BONUS | #15: author Cecile Andrews, Champion of Simplicity Circles and Community Conversation
Do your friends a favor. Share our blog and podcast.
Like SLW! on Facebook. | Follow us on Twitter. | Follow us on Pinterest.
Share your thoughts on our podcast and blogs. Email Feedback AT SimpleLivingWorks DOT org [or SimpleLivingWorks AT yahoo DOT com or SimpleLivingWorks2 AT gmail DOT com], leave a message on our Facebook page or on the SLW! blog.
Peace, Gerald “Jerry” Iversen, Chief SLW! Activist
GRAPHIC: Worship Alternatives ART #3817.
We do not solicit or accept donations, nor do we sell anything. All our resources and services are free of charge. We’re an all-volunteer organization. Instead, we urge Alternative Giving. Give away 25% of what you spent last year on all celebrations – Christmas, birthdays, etc. — to local, national and international causes.
Copyright: Creative Commons non-commercial attribution share-alike license.
*Treasury of Celebrations: published by Northstone, a division of Wood Lake Publications, BC, Canada, best known for its Seasons of the Spirit curriculum.
Through social media, we extend the mission and resources of the non-profit organization Alternatives, 1973-2011. Simple Living Works! web site home page | Theme/Seasons Index
To learn more about SLW! – our MISSION, for example — please listen to our getting-acquainted episodes, especially #1 and 2. We produce a half-hour podcast twice a month, hopefully educational and inspiring for you, your family and your congregation or group. We blog several times a week.
Toting My Water
Posted on: February 23, 2014
In the dead of winter our basement drain plugged up. When we used the kitchen sink, a puddle appeared in the basement. When we tried to wash our clothes, the basement flooded. Fortunately the toilets worked.
So, to do the laundry, I diverted the water from the washer into a barrel and then toted the waste water in a big bucket up the stairs and flushed it down the toilet. What an ordeal! But an enlightening one.
One doesn’t realize how much water we use to wash our clothes until we have to carry all that water. This experience not only helped me empathize with those in other lands who must tote their water, but it also made me realize how many natural resources it takes to do our regular chores.
As a family of two, we do one load of laundry per week. It blows my mind to think of how much water a family of four would use, especially one that follows the American dictum Sparkling White is Better that the soap manufacturers impose on us. We have a friend who washes every towel after it’s used once. Another family of three does four loads a week! I’ve talked to them about “the tyranny of appearances.” They don’t get it. How they look (and how they feel about how they look) is much more important to them than how much water they use. Oh, that they had to tote their own water!
RELATED
- Bob Sitze’ Simple Enough blog – Simple Things: Running Water
- Overflow Project 50-Day Challenge: Simplify+Give+Change=Water
What’s NOW with SLW!
- Author Cecile Andrews, Champion of Simplicity Circles and Community Conversation. Her latest: Living Room Revolution. READ MORE
What’s Coming
- Alternative Rites of Passage, including Wedding Alternatives – March 1 Podcast
What’s Happened
- Simpler Living Alternative Daily Calendar – Day of Remembrance, Feb. 19 | Remember the story of Japanese-American internment during World War II. READ MORE
- Perceived Value: Strategies for Overcoming the Tyranny of Appearances — recent SLW! blog
- Simple Living 101: Tools for Activists (shy or bold) + Jerry’s Excellent Adventure – Feb. 1 SLW! Podcast | Sharing the Joy of a Simpler Lifestyle Through Speeches, Workshops, Events, Study/Action Groups, Simplicity Circles and Social Media
What Others Are Doing
- Interviews, Exhibits, Free Copies, and Book Groups—Spreading the Conversation about the OneEarth Project and the book, Blinded by Progress: Breaking Out of the Illusion That Holds Us, by Lee Van Ham. | TheCommonGoodPodcast.com, episode 42
- Faith and Money Radio – Making the Connection
- Mark Rasmussen on Aldo Leopold’s Legacy: GMO’s, biofuels and Occupying the World Food Prize, all on TheCommonGoodPodcast.com, episodes 43-44.
More Resources
Check out a few of these thought-provoking, timely resources that might meet your personal, family or congregational/group needs. They’re all FREE.
- Treasury of Celebrations*: Create Celebrations That Reflect Your Values and Don’t Cost the Earth Earth – Jan.-April | LENT | EASTER
- 10 Tips for Simpler, More Meaningful Celebrations
- Alternatives’ Seasonal/Thematic Index
Podcast Reminder
You can access all SLW! podcast audio and the show notes either at SimpleLiving.startlogic.com/SLW-PODCAST or at SimpleLivingWorks.org (then click window #3). Listen through your computer, iPod, iPad, iPhone (or equivalent).
SUBSCRIBE through iTunes, Stitcher.com or your favorite podcast service. To SUBSCRIBE to email notices, click Comments at the bottom of Show Notes, then check ‘Notify me of new posts by email.’ Please rate us in iTunes and leave a review. Send us your email address to receive the free monthly SLW! eNews. Remember to like us on Facebook. Urge your friends to do the same.
Episode Index: #1-3: Getting Acquainted | #4-5: Beyond a Consumer Lifestyle | #6-11: Whose Birthday Is It, Anyway? | #12: Living More with Less UPDATED | #13: Let’s Get Ready for a Simpler Lent & Easter | #14: Simple Living 101 + Social Media BONUS | #15: author Cecile Andrews
Do your friends a favor. Share this blog and podcast.
Like SLW! on Facebook. | Follow us on Twitter. | Follow us on Pinterest.
- Simple Living Works! web site home page | Themes/Seasons Index
- 10 Tips for Simpler, More Meaningful Easter | Celebrations | SPANISH: 10 puntas
- For Lent/Easter SEASONAL HELPS, including links to AV and Text resources, see episode 13.
Share your thoughts on this podcast and this episode. Email Feedback AT SimpleLivingWorks DOT org [or SimpleLivingWorks AT yahoo DOT com or SimpleLivingWorks2 AT gmail DOT com], leave a message on our Facebook page or on the SLW! blog.
Peace, Gerald “Jerry” Iversen, Chief SLW! Activist
Click ABOUT for Music and Cover Art Credits.
GRAPHIC: CecileAndrews.com
We do not solicit or accept donations, nor do we sell anything. All our resources and services are free of charge. We’re an all-volunteer organization Instead, we urge Alternative Giving. Give away 25% of what you spent last year on all celebrations – Christmas, birthdays, etc. — to local, national and international causes.
Copyright: Creative Commons non-commercial attribution share-alike license.
*Treasury of Celebrations: published by Northstone, a division of Wood Lake Publications, BC, Canada, best known for its Seasons of the Spirit curriculum.
Through social media, we extend the mission and resources of the non-profit organization Alternatives, 1973-2011. Simple Living Works! web site home page | Theme/Seasons Index
To learn more about SLW! – our MISSION, for example — please listen to our getting-acquainted episodes, especially #1 and 2. We produce a half-hour podcast twice a month, hopefully educational and inspiring for you, your family and your congregation or group. We blog several times a week.
Cecile Andrews
Champion of Simplicity Circles and Community Conversation
To LISTEN to this episode, click the player at the top or the bottom of the Show Notes, or visit the Episode Index.
Cecile’s the author of. . .
The Circle of Simplicity: Return to the Good Life (1998)
Slow is Beautiful: New Visions of Community, Leisure and Joie de Vivre (2006)
Less is More: Embracing Simplicity for a Healthy Planet, a Caring Economy and Lasting Happiness (2009)
NEW! Living Room Revolution: A Handbook for Conversation, Community and the Common Good (2013)
A former community college administrator, Cecile received her doctorate in education from Stanford University. She is active in the Sharing movement, the Seattle Area Happiness Initiative and the Transition Town movement, all efforts to build community and sustainability where they count the most, at the local level. She lives in Seattle and spends the winter in Santa Cruz CA, teaching in the Stanford Health Improvement Program and pursuing her passion for leading small groups to help change society.
“From things like Shareable.net and Meetups, we’re seeing a transformation in how our society gets things to change,” Cecile says. “The old ways don’t work any more. They’re costing us too much, not just in dollars but in our future, our children’s future, and the survivability of the planet.”
What needs to happen? “It all starts with local,” Cecile says. “And local starts with small groups, meeting in places like people’s living rooms, cafes, meeting rooms and auditoriums.
“That’s why I wrote Living Room Revolution,” she said. “I see, speak to and talk with lots of groups who really want to have an impact, want to see change. But they don’t necessarily know how to take their energy, vision and commitment to the next level.
“Living Room Revolution is all about helping them move forward. It’s meant to be a step-by-step guide for creating and leading the most powerful force our society has ever known — the small group of committed people.”
Cecile’s available for consultations via Skype, Facetime, Facebook and online forums, as well as in person (wherever she happens to physically be at the moment!). Also by email at Cecile@CecileAndrews.com. Cecile’s site is CecileAndrews.com
To LISTEN to this episode, click the player at the top or the bottom of the Show Notes, or visit the Episode Index.
RELATED: Reimagining America: An Evening with Gus Speth & Juliet Schor | Watch these videos to hear Speth and Schor discuss innovations in collaborative consumption, ways the sharing economy is changing our country, and opportunities to define a new American Dream.
See SHOW NOTES for
- Mentions in This Episode
- Helpful Articles on SPRING Festivals
- Mentions Last Episode
- Mentions in Recent Episodes
- Spirit of Simplicity: Quotes and Art for Simpler Living and Global Justice — Foreword by Cecile Andrews
What’s NOW with SLW!
- Day of Remembrance, Feb. 19 | Remember the story of Japanese-American internment during World War II. READ MORE
- Simple Living 101 Social Media Supplement: Blog #1 – Intro | My personal experience and preferences… READ MORE
What’s Coming
- Alternative Rites of Passage, including Wedding Alternatives – March 1 Podcast
What’s Happened
- Simpler Living Alternative Daily Calendar – Feb. 19 – See Day of Remembrance above.
- Perceived Value: Strategies for Overcoming the Tyranny of Appearances — recent SLW! blog
- Valentine’s Day (art & text can be used as bulletin inserts) | Valentine’s Day (Feb. 14)
- AFFLUENZA Valentine’s Day Vaccination Party | Also, my Recent Interview with Affluenza Producer & Author, John De Graaf
- Simple Living 101: Tools for Activists (shy or bold) + Jerry’s Excellent Adventure – Feb. 1 SLW! Podcast | Sharing the Joy of a Simpler Lifestyle Through Speeches, Workshops, Events, Study/Action Groups, Simplicity Circles and Social Media
What Others Are Doing
- Interviews, Exhibits, Free Copies, and Book Groups—Spreading the Conversation about the OneEarth Project and the book, Blinded by Progress: Breaking Out of the Illusion That Holds Us, by Lee Van Ham. | TheCommonGoodPodcast.com, episode 42
- Faith and Money Radio – Making the Connection
- Mark Rasmussen on Aldo Leopold’s Legacy: GMO’s, biofuels and Occupying the World Food Prize, all on TheCommonGoodPodcast.com, episodes 43-44.
- Bob Sitze’ Blog – Simple Enough: Present Shock
More Resources
Check out a few of these thought-provoking, timely resources that might meet your personal, family or congregational/group needs. They’re all FREE.
- Treasury of Celebrations*: Create Celebrations That Reflect Your Values and Don’t Cost the Earth – Jan.-April
- 10 Tips for Simpler, More Meaningful Celebrations
- Alternatives’ Seasonal/Thematic Index
Podcast Reminder
You can access all SLW! podcast audio and the show notes either at SimpleLiving.startlogic.com/SLW-PODCAST or at SimpleLivingWorks.org (then click window #3). Listen through your computer, iPod, iPad, iPhone (or equivalent). SUBSCRIBE through iTunes, Stitcher.com or your favorite podcast service.
Do your friends a favor. Share this blog and podcast.
Like SLW! on Facebook. | Follow us on Twitter. | Follow us on Pinterest.
- Simple Living Works! web site home page | Themes/Seasons Index
- 10 Tips for Simpler, More Meaningful Easter | Celebrations | SPANISH: 10 puntas
- For Lent/Easter SEASONAL HELPS, including links to AV and Text resources, see episode 13.
- SEASONAL HELPS from *Treasury of Celebrations: Create Celebrations That Reflect Your Values and Don’t Cost the Earth: Winter Festivals: Jan.-April | LENT | EASTER
Share your thoughts on this podcast and this episode. Email Feedback AT SimpleLivingWorks DOT org [or SimpleLivingWorks AT yahoo DOT com or SimpleLivingWorks2 AT gmail DOT com], leave a message on our Facebook page or on the SLW! blog.
SUBSCRIBE for free through iTunes, Stitcher.com or your favorite podcast service. To SUBSCRIBE to email notices, click Comments at the bottom of Show Notes, then check ‘Notify me of new posts by email.’ Please rate us in iTunes and leave a review. Send us your email address to receive the free monthly SLW! eNews. Remember to like us on Facebook. Urge your friends to do the same.
Episode Index: #1-3: Getting Acquainted | #4-5: Beyond a Consumer Lifestyle | #6-11: Whose Birthday Is It, Anyway? | #12: Living More with Less UPDATED | #13: Let’s Get Ready for a Simpler Lent & Easter | #14: Simple Living 101 + Social Media BONUS | #15: author Cecile Andrews
Peace, Gerald “Jerry” Iversen, Chief SLW! Activist
Click ABOUT for Music and Cover Art Credits.
GRAPHIC: CecileAndrews.com
We do not solicit or accept donations, nor do we sell anything. All our resources and services are free of charge. We’re an all-volunteer organization Instead, we urge Alternative Giving. Give away 25% of what you spent last year on all celebrations – Christmas, birthdays, etc. — to local, national and international causes.
Copyright: Creative Commons non-commercial attribution share-alike license.
*Treasury of Celebrations: published by Northstone, a division of Wood Lake Publications, BC, Canada, best known for its Seasons of the Spirit curriculum.
Through social media, we extend the mission and resources of the non-profit organization Alternatives, 1973-2011. Simple Living Works! web site home page | Theme/Seasons Index
To learn more about SLW! – our MISSION, for example — please listen to our getting-acquainted episodes, especially #1 and 2. We produce a half-hour podcast twice a month, hopefully educational and inspiring for you, your family and your congregation or group. We blog several times a week.
Perceived Value
Posted on: February 14, 2014
Early in my career, when I worked as Public Relations Director for a small Midwestern college, I naively asked a senior staffer why the college’s tuition went up each year.
“Perceived value,” he said. “If we don’t cost as much as our competition, people will think we’re lower quality.”
I was flabbergasted then and I still am. The cost wasn’t tied to inflation or expenses but to image. No surprise that college tuition and expenses continue to rise, and student debt as well.
Competition is supposed to drive prices down. At the same time we have perceived value that keeps prices of luxury cars high cars (besides CEO’s inflated salaries, that is) because they wouldn’t want to be confused with economy cars.
If we’re consumers that can see beyond our desire for status, then we have several strategies to deal with this tyranny of appearances.
1. We can refuse to buy, refuse to be drawn in by “perceived value.” Ask the salesperson to relay our distain for perceived value to the business owner.
2. We can decline to compliment friends who do buy, even if we’re invited to stroke their egos. We don’t have to be mean. We can let our real values be known in a friendly way.
3. We can model alternative behavior. For example, wear Fair Trade clothes from other countries, and when complimented, briefly tell the story of the craftspeople who made it. Tell your friend where they can get Fair Trade items too. In this case, the value is not only in the beauty but also in the relationship with the artisan.
4. We could wear a T-shirt or display a bumper sticker: Perceived Value ≠ Real Value. Be prepared to explain.
5. Devise your strategy to confront/counteract/disarm perceived value and to promote/encourage real value.
I find the best way to define REAL VALUE is to use the Five Life Standards of Living More with Less. (You may choose another, such as the Ten Commandments.)
For example, since the resources and services of Simple Living Works! are free, they have no perceived value, though they have immense real value.
What’s NOW with SLW!
- Presidents’ Day, Mon., Feb. 17 | Washington’s Birthday, Feb. 22
The Presidents’ Days offer an opportunity to remember two great Presidents and, in the process, to consider important qualities of political leadership. READ MORE
- Day of Remembrance, Feb. 19 | Tabletalk on Remembrance Day
Remember the story of Japanese-American internment during World War II. READ MORE
Simple Living 101 Social Media Supplement: Blog #1 – Intro | My personal experience and preferences… READ MORE
Valentine’s Day (art & text can be used as bulletin inserts) | 3-A537–Death Penalty | 3-A539–Human Rights: An Affair of the Heart | 3-A542–First Valentine (above) | 3-A549–Prisoners of Conscience
- Valentine’s Day (Feb. 14) | Sweethearts and Prisoners | Human Rights: An Affair of the Heart | Prison Bars Don’t Stop Love and Appreciation 1 | Prison Bars Don’t Stop Love and Appreciation 2
- AFFLUENZA Valentine’s Day Vaccination Party | Also, my Recent Interview with Affluenza Producer & Author, John De Graaf
- Simple Living 101: Tools for Activists (shy or bold) + Jerry’s Excellent Adventure – Feb. 1 SLW! Podcast | Sharing the Joy of a Simpler Lifestyle Through Speeches, Workshops, Events, Study/Action Groups, Simplicity Circles and Social Media
What’s Coming
- Cecile Andrews, Champion of Simplicity and Community Conversation Circles – Feb. 15 Podcast
What’s Happened
- Simpler Living Alternative Daily Calendar – Feb. 14 – See St. Valentines’ Day above.
What Others Are Doing
- Interviews, Exhibits, Free Copies, and Book Groups—Spreading the Conversation about the OneEarth Project and the book, Blinded by Progress: Breaking Out of the Illusion That Holds Us, by Lee Van Ham. | TheCommonGoodPodcast.com, episode 42
- Faith and Money Radio – Making the Connection
- Mark Rasmussen on Aldo Leopold’s Legacy: GMO’s, biofuels and Occupying the World Food Prize, all on TheCommonGoodPodcast.com, episodes 43-44.
- Bob Sitze’ Blog – Simple Enough: Present Shock
More Resources
Check out a few of these thought-provoking, timely resources that might meet your personal, family or congregational/group needs. They’re all FREE.
- Treasury of Celebrations*: Create Celebrations That Reflect Your Values and Don’t Cost the Earth – Jan.-April
- 10 Tips for Simpler, More Meaningful Celebrations
- Alternatives’ Seasonal/Thematic Index
Podcast Reminder
You can access all SLW! podcast audio and the show notes either at SimpleLiving.startlogic.com/SLW-PODCAST or at SimpleLivingWorks.org (then click window #3). Listen through your computer, iPod, iPad, iPhone (or equivalent). SUBSCRIBE through iTunes, Stitcher.com or your favorite podcast service.
Access individual episodes: #1-3: Getting Acquainted | #4-5: Beyond a Consumer Lifestyle | #6-11: Whose Birthday Is It, Anyway? | #12: Living More with Less UPDATED | #13 – Let’s Get Ready for a Simpler Lent & Easter | #14 – Simple Living 101: Tools for Activists (shy or bold) + new Social Media Supplement | #15 – Author Cecile Andrews, Champion of Simplicity/Community Conversation Circles
Do your friends a favor. Share this blog and podcast.
Peace, Gerald “Jerry” Iversen, Chief SLW! Activist
Like SLW! on Facebook. | Follow us on Twitter. | Follow us on Pinterest.
*GRAPHIC: Spirit of Simplicity: #7-A830
We do not solicit or accept donations, nor do we sell anything. All our resources and services are free of charge. We’re an all-volunteer organization.
*Treasury of Celebrations: published by Northstone, a division of Wood Lake Publications, BC, Canada, best known for its Seasons of the Spirit curriculum.
Through social media, we extend the mission and resources of the non-profit organization Alternatives, 1973-2011. Simple Living Works! web site home page | Theme/Seasons Index
To learn more about SLW! – our MISSION, for example — please listen to our getting-acquainted episodes, especially #1 and 2. We produce a half-hour podcast twice a month, hopefully educational and inspiring for you, your family and your congregation or group. We blog several times a week.
Copyright: Creative Commons non-commercial attribution share-alike license.
- Lincoln’s Birthday, Feb, 12 | Presidents’ Day, Mon., Feb. 17 | Washington’s Birthday, Feb. 22
The Presidents’ Days offer an opportunity to remember two great Presidents and, in the process, to consider important qualities of political leadership. READ MORE
- Day of Remembrance, Feb. 19 | Tabletalk on Remembrance Day
Remember the story of Japanese-American internment during World War II. READ MORE
What’s NOW with SLW!
Simple Living 101 Social Media Supplement: Blog #1 – Intro | My personal experience and preferences… READ MORE
Valentine’s Day (art & text can be used as bulletin inserts) | 3-A537–Death Penalty | 3-A539–Human Rights: An Affair of the Heart | 3-A542–First Valentine (above) | 3-A549–Prisoners of Conscience
- Valentine’s Day (February 14) | Sweethearts and Prisoners | Human Rights: An Affair of the Heart | Prison Bars Don’t Stop Love and Appreciation 1 | Prison Bars Don’t Stop Love and Appreciation 2
AFFLUENZA Valentine’s Day Vaccination Party | Also, my Recent Interview with Affluenza Producer & Author, John De Graaf
- Simple Living 101: Tools for Activists (shy or bold) + Jerry’s Excellent Adventure – Feb. 1 SLW! Podcast | Sharing the Joy of a Simpler Lifestyle Through Speeches, Workshops, Events, Study/Action Groups, Simplicity Circles and Social Media
What’s Coming
- Cecile Andrews, Queen of Simplicity Circles – Feb. 15 Podcast
What’s Happened
- Simpler Living Alternative Daily Calendar – Feb. 13 – “If I give away all my possessions… but do not have love, I gain nothing.” – from I Corinthians 13. What keeps me from giving the gift of myself more often? What non-material gifts could I gave on the various gift-giving occasions during the year? (from Trek)
What Others Are Doing
- Interviews, Exhibits, Free Copies, and Book Groups—Spreading the Conversation about the OneEarth Project and the book, Blinded by Progress: Breaking Out of the Illusion That Holds Us, by Lee Van Ham. | TheCommonGoodPodcast.com, episode 42
- Faith and Money Radio – Making the Connection
- Mark Rasmussen on Aldo Leopold’s Legacy: GMO’s, biofuels and Occupying the World Food Prize, all on TheCommonGoodPodcast.com, episodes 43-44.
More Resources
Check out a few of these thought-provoking, timely resources that might meet your personal, family or congregational/group needs. They’re all FREE.
- Treasury of Celebrations*: Create Celebrations That Reflect Your Values and Don’t Cost the Earth – Jan.-April
- 10 Tips for Simpler, More Meaningful Celebrations
- Alternatives’ Seasonal/Thematic Index
Podcast Reminder
You can access all SLW! podcast audio and the show notes either at SimpleLiving.startlogic.com/SLW-PODCAST or at SimpleLivingWorks.org (then click window #3). Listen through your computer, iPod, iPad, iPhone (or equivalent). SUBSCRIBE through iTunes, Stitcher.com or your favorite podcast service.
Access individual episodes: #1-3: Getting Acquainted | #4-5: Beyond a Consumer Lifestyle | #6-11: Whose Birthday Is It, Anyway? | #12: Living More with Less UPDATED | #13 – Let’s Get Ready for a Simpler Lent & Easter | #14 – Simple Living 101: Tools for Activists (shy or bold) + new Social Media Supplement
Do your friends a favor. Share this blog and podcast.
Peace, Gerald “Jerry” Iversen, Chief SLW! Activist
Like SLW! on Facebook. | Follow us on Twitter. | Follow us on Pinterest.
*GRAPHIC: Spirit of Simplicity: #8-A860
We do not solicit or accept donations, nor do we sell anything. All our resources and services are free of charge. We’re an all-volunteer organization.
*Treasury of Celebrations: published by Northstone, a division of Wood Lake Publications, BC, Canada, best known for its Seasons of the Spirit curriculum.
Through social media, we extend the mission and resources of the non-profit organization Alternatives, 1973-2011. Simple Living Works! web site home page | Theme/Seasons Index
To learn more about SLW! – our MISSION, for example — please listen to our getting-acquainted episodes, especially #1 and 2. We produce a half-hour podcast twice a month, hopefully educational and inspiring for you, your family and your congregation or group. We blog several times a week.
Copyright: Creative Commons non-commercial attribution share-alike license.
Social Media Post #1 – Intro
Posted on: February 11, 2014
Simple Living 101 Social Media Supplement: Blog #1 – Intro
This is not Social Media for Dummies. I will talk about my personal experience and preferences… in the form of blog posts, of course. Though I’ll release posts one-at-a-time, you can read the whole series anytime. READ MORE
What’s NOW with SLW!
Valentine’s Day (art & text can be used as bulletin inserts) | 3-A537–Death Penalty | 3-A539–Human Rights: An Affair of the Heart | 3-A542–First Valentine (above) | 3-A549–Prisoners of Conscience
- Valentine’s Day (February 14) | Sweethearts and Prisoners | Human Rights: An Affair of the Heart | Prison Bars Don’t Stop Love and Appreciation 1 | Prison Bars Don’t Stop Love and Appreciation 2
- Simple Living 101: Tools for Activists (shy or bold) + Jerry’s Excellent Adventure – Feb. 1 SLW! Podcast | Sharing the Joy of a Simpler Lifestyle Through Speeches, Workshops, Events, Study/Action Groups, Simplicity Circles and Social Media
What’s Coming
- Cecile Andrews, Queen of Simplicity Circles – Feb. 15 Podcast
What’s Happened
- Simpler Living Alternative Daily Calendar – Feb. 10 – Freedom from anxiety is characterized by three inner attitudes. If what we have we receive as a gift, and if what we have is to be cared for by God, and if what we have is available to others, then we possess freedom from anxiety. This is the inward reality of simplicity. However, ifwhat we have we believe we have gotten and if what we have we believe we must hold onto, and if what we have is not available to others, then we live in anxiety. Such persons will never know simplicity regardless of the outward contortions they may put themselves through in order to live ‘the simple life.’ -Richard Foster
What Others Are Doing
- Interviews, Exhibits, Free Copies, and Book Groups—Spreading the Conversation about the OneEarth Project and the book, Blinded by Progress: Breaking Out of the Illusion That Holds Us, by Lee Van Ham. | TheCommonGoodPodcast.com, episode 42
- Faith and Money Radio – Making the Connection
- Mark Rasmussen on Aldo Leopold’s Legacy: GMO’s, biofuels and Occupying the World Food Prize, all on TheCommonGoodPodcast.com, episodes 43-44.
More Resources
Check out a few of these thought-provoking, timely resources that might meet your personal, family or congregational/group needs. They’re all FREE.
- Treasury of Celebrations*: Create Celebrations That Reflect Your Values and Don’t Cost the Earth – Jan.-April | Presidents’ Day, 2/17 | Day of Remembrance, 2/19
- 10 Tips for Simpler, More Meaningful Celebrations
- Alternatives’ Seasonal/Thematic Index
Podcast Reminder
You can access all SLW! podcast audio and the show notes either at SimpleLiving.startlogic.com/SLW-PODCAST or at SimpleLivingWorks.org (then click window #3). Listen through your computer, iPod, iPad, iPhone (or equivalent). SUBSCRIBE through iTunes, Stitcher.com or your favorite podcast service.
Access individual episodes: #1-3: Getting Acquainted | #4-5: Beyond a Consumer Lifestyle | #6-11: Whose Birthday Is It, Anyway? | #12: Living More with Less UPDATED | #13 – Let’s Get Ready for a Simpler Lent & Easter | #14 – Simple Living 101: Tools for Activists (shy or bold) + new Social Media Supplement
Do your friends a favor. Share this blog and podcast.
Peace, Gerald “Jerry” Iversen, Chief SLW! Activist
Like SLW! on Facebook. | Follow us on Twitter. | Follow us on Pinterest.
*GRAPHIC: Spirit of Simplicity: #8-A860
We do not solicit or accept donations, nor do we sell anything. All our resources and services are free of charge. We’re an all-volunteer organization.
*Treasury of Celebrations: published by Northstone, a division of Wood Lake Publications, BC, Canada, best known for its Seasons of the Spirit curriculum.
Through social media, we extend the mission and resources of the non-profit organization Alternatives, 1973-2011. Simple Living Works! web site home page | Theme/Seasons Index
To learn more about SLW! – our MISSION, for example — please listen to our getting-acquainted episodes, especially #1 and 2. We produce a half-hour podcast twice a month, hopefully educational and inspiring for you, your family and your congregation or group. We blog several times a week.
Copyright: Creative Commons non-commercial attribution share-alike license.
- In: Personal | SLW! resource
- 1 Comment
I was in prison and you visited me.
The First Valentine
The real St. Valentine was martyred in Rome about 270 A.D. While in prison, the story goes, Valentine was befriended by his jailer’s daughter. On the eve of his execution, Valentine thanked her for her care and kindness in a note signed “Your Valentine. ” And so was born our tradition for exchanging such notes.
In observing this day, the spirit of kindness shown by the jailer’s daughter reminds us to include concern for those in prison. There are charges and counter-charges about our prisons and criminal justice system. Some say, “We need more jails and longer sentences!” while others say, “Our prisons are filled with poor people unable to afford legal assistance available to the affluent.” The debate goes on. We need to know more than we do about our penal system. And Valentine’s Day is a good time to begin learning.
For Reflection and Action
1. Visit some people in jail or prison. Meet their families. Take your children along with you. Also, meet and talk with someone who has been a victim of crime.
2. Talk about the ways our criminal justice system is just and unjust. What kinds of measures would make it more just and result in greater protection for society at large?
Personal Experience
Our congregation supports Prison Congregations of America, which works to form Lutheran (ELCA) congregations within prisons. We have four such congregations in Northwest Iowa and Southeast South Dakota. The “inside” and “outside” councils raise enough to pay the ordained pastor. This is not a chaplain. Recently one congregation was awarded the Outstanding Literacy Project in the state for inmates reading books to their children via recordings!
Our team goes to worship with the inmates about six times a year (once a month while the weather’s reasonable). The inmates really appreciate our presence and we get our stereotypes about prisoners shredded!
If you want more of a challenge, join a ReEntry Team, a group of five people who pledge to contact a recently released prisoner in your area weekly to help him/her with housing, employment, medical, etc.
Valentine’s Day (art & text can be used as bulletin inserts)
3-A537–Death Penalty | 3-A539–Human Rights: An Affair of the Heart | 3-A542–First Valentine (above) | 3-A549–Prisoners of Conscience
What’s NOW with SLW!
- Simple Living 101: Tools for Activists (shy or bold) + Jerry’s Excellent Adventure – Feb. 1 SLW! Podcast | Sharing the Joy of a Simpler Lifestyle Through Speeches, Workshops, Events, Study/Action Groups, Simplicity Circles and Social Media
What’s Coming
- Cecile Andrews, Queen of Simplicity Circles – Feb. 15 Podcast
What’s Happened
- Let’s Get Ready for a Simple, More Meaningful Lent & Easter – Jan. 15 SLW! Podcast
- New Year, New Daily Inspiration: free Simpler Living Alternative Daily Calendar – Feb. 8 – After the Bible, the hymnal often is the second most important book to many Christians. If you do not have one, buy your denominational hymnal for your office and home for private and family daily devotions. Read one hymn per day as poetry. Sing the ones you know.
What Others Are Doing
- Interviews, Exhibits, Free Copies, and Book Groups—Spreading the Conversation about the OneEarth Project and the book, Blinded by Progress: Breaking Out of the Illusion That Holds Us, by Lee Van Ham. | TheCommonGoodPodcast.com, episode 42
- Faith and Money Radio – Making the Connection
- Unstuff with YES! Magazine and latest from Story of Stuff Project
- Richard Foster’s Guidelines for Simplicity
- Mark Rasmussen on Aldo Leopold’s Legacy: GMO’s, biofuels and Occupying the World Food Prize, all on TheCommonGoodPodcast.com, episodes 43-44.
More Resources
Check out a few of these thought-provoking, timely resources that might meet your personal, family or congregational/group needs. They’re all FREE.
- Treasury of Celebrations*: Create Celebrations That Reflect Your Values and Don’t Cost the Earth – Jan.-April
- 10 Tips for Simpler, More Meaningful Celebrations
- Alternatives’ Seasonal/Thematic Index
Podcast Reminder
You can access all SLW! podcast audio and the show notes either at SimpleLiving.startlogic.com/SLW-PODCAST or at SimpleLivingWorks.org (then click window #3). Listen through your computer, iPod, iPad, iPhone (or equivalent). SUBSCRIBE through iTunes, Stitcher.com or your favorite podcast service.
Access individual episodes: #1-3: Getting Acquainted | #4-5: Beyond a Consumer Lifestyle | #6-11: Whose Birthday Is It, Anyway? | #12: Living More with Less UPDATED | #13 – Let’s Get Ready for a Simpler Lent & Easter | #14 – Simple Living 101: Tools for Activists (shy or bold) + new Social Media Supplement
Do your friends a favor. Share this blog and podcast.
Peace, Gerald “Jerry” Iversen, Chief SLW! Activist
Like SLW! on Facebook. | Follow us on Twitter. | Follow us on Pinterest.
*GRAPHIC: Spirit of Simplicity: Chapter 3: Celebrating Other Times #3-A542–First Valentine
We do not solicit or accept donations, nor do we sell anything. All our resources and services are free of charge. We’re an all-volunteer organization.
*Treasury of Celebrations: published by Northstone, a division of Wood Lake Publications, BC, Canada, best known for its Seasons of the Spirit curriculum.
Through social media, we extend the mission and resources of the non-profit organization Alternatives, 1973-2011. Simple Living Works! web site home page | Theme/Seasons Index
To learn more about SLW! – our MISSION, for example — please listen to our getting-acquainted episodes, especially #1 and 2. We produce a half-hour podcast twice a month, hopefully educational and inspiring for you, your family and your congregation or group. We blog several times a week.
Copyright: Creative Commons non-commercial attribution share-alike license.
What’s Now with SLW!
- Simple Living 101: Tools for Activists (shy or bold) + Jerry’s Excellent Adventure – Feb. 1 SLW! Podcast | Sharing the Joy of a Simpler Lifestyle Through Speeches, Workshops, Events, Study/Action Groups, Simplicity Circles and Social Media
What’s Coming
- Cecile Andrews, Queen of Simplicity Circles – Feb. 15 Podcast
What’s Happened
- Let’s Get Ready for a Simple, More Meaningful Lent & Easter – Jan. 15 SLW! Podcast
- New Year, New Daily Inspiration: free Simpler Living Alternative Daily Calendar – Feb. 1 – Musicians are not exempt from the call to offer help to the needy and to care for God’s Creation. Urge your congregation to put on a benefit concert, including some music of social responsibility. Worthwhile musicals are Lazarus from Bread for the World, and The Race: A Simplicity Musical from the ELCA Hunger Program.
What Others Are Doing
- Interviews, Exhibits, Free Copies, and Book Groups—Spreading the Conversation about the OneEarth Project and the book, Blinded by Progress: Breaking Out of the Illusion That Holds Us, by Lee Van Ham. | TheCommonGoodPodcast.com, episode 42 (33:32)
- Faith and Money Radio – Making the Connection
- Unstuff with YES! Magazine and latest from Story of Stuff Project
- Richard Foster’s Guidelines for Simplicity
- Mark Rasmussen on Aldo Leopold’s Legacy: GMO’s, biofuels and Occupying the World Food Prize, all on TheCommonGoodPodcast.com, episodes 43-44.
More Resources
Check out a few of these thought-provoking, timely resources that might meet your personal, family or congregational/group needs. They’re all FREE.
- Treasury of Celebrations*: Create Celebrations That Reflect Your Values and Don’t Cost the Earth – Jan.-April, including St. Valentine’s Day (Feb. 14)
- 10 Tips for Simpler, More Meaningful Celebrations
- Alternatives’ Seasonal/Thematic Index
Podcast Reminder
You can access all SLW! podcast audio and the show notes either at SimpleLiving.startlogic.com/SLW-PODCAST or at SimpleLivingWorks.org (then click window #3). Listen through your computer, iPod, iPad, iPhone (or equivalent). SUBSCRIBE through iTunes, Stitcher.com or your favorite podcast service.
Access individual episodes: #1-3: Getting Acquainted | #4-5: Beyond a Consumer Lifestyle | #6-11: Whose Birthday Is It, Anyway? | #12: Living More with Less UPDATED | #13 – Let’s Get Ready for a Simpler Lent & Easter | #14 – Simple Living 101: Tools for Activists (shy or bold) + new Social Media Supplement
Do your friends a favor. Share this blog and podcast.
Peace, Gerald “Jerry” Iversen, Chief SLW! Activist
Like SLW! on Facebook. | Follow us on Twitter. | Follow us on Pinterest.
*GRAPHIC: Spirit of Simplicity: Chapter 1: Voluntary Simplicity #1-A508
We do not solicit or accept donations, nor do we sell anything. All our resources and services are free of charge. We’re an all-volunteer organization.
*Treasury of Celebrations: published by Northstone, a division of Wood Lake Publications, BC, Canada, best known for its Seasons of the Spirit curriculum.
Through social media, we extend the mission and resources of the non-profit organization Alternatives, 1973-2011. Simple Living Works! web site home page | Theme/Seasons Index
To learn more about SLW! – our MISSION, for example — please listen to our getting-acquainted episodes, especially #1 and 2. We produce a half-hour podcast twice a month, hopefully educational and inspiring for you, your family and your congregation or group. We blog several times a week.
Copyright: Creative Commons non-commercial attribution share-alike license.
Simple Living Works! 