Alternatives’ Media Legacy

Posted by: Simple Living Works! on: May 12, 2014

• In: Others' resources | Personal | SLW! resource
• 10 Comments

I’m hoping this blog post will prove that I’m more than a sentimental old fool. And that Alternatives has a timeless message.

Much of Alternatives’ early years is recorded on newspaper clippings. It’s revolutionary ideas were indeed newsworthy! Our founder even appeared as a guest on the Phil Donohue program on national TV.

Alternatives produced three videos in the first 25 years. All are still available on YouTube and the audio of each has been produced in a series of podcasts last fall.

More recently, I was the guest on numerous radio programs and some of those are available on the SLW! site.

I’m hoping that you’ll listen to one or a few and be inspired to contribute to our ongoing efforts, especially Whose Birthday? and Who’s Risen from the Dead, Anyway? Submission Guidelines.

We produced a series of 90-second radio programs called More-with-Less Christmas. (The sample in the archives can’t be used as-is because the contact information is out-of-date.) The series of six 30-minute programs called Whose Birthday Is It, Anyway? largely for religious radio stations has been revived as podcasts last fall.

Now that Alternatives’ mission is being extended primarily through social media on the internet, I hope you’ll benefit personally from these programs and will share them with others, maybe even use with your congregation or group. I’m available to consult with groups via the internet. All for free.

Audio/Video Stories about Alternatives by Others

Alternatives’ history is well documented through stories in newspapers and magazines and in still photos. Here are some of the AV stories done by others.

• CONTACT Radio Program, Jesuit Productions, 4/30/00 (14:00). NOTE: These are short and regular length versions of the same program. Since it is no longer on the air, the contact information has been removed.
• CONTACT Radio Program, Jesuit Productions, 4/30/00 (29:00)

The CONTACT program included interviews with a couple who had used Wedding Alternatives and also with Brenton Dodge, a financial advisor (see Travel Journal, Post #110). Read the Producer’s Letter at 4/25/00.

CONTACT was well-produced. When I discovered the CD’s in the process of sending Alternatives’ material to the ELCA archives, I tried to find CONTACT on the internet. No luck. So I tried calling because I would prefer to link to their site’s archives than to upload the program in SLW! Site. The phone number is now a phone sex company! Oh, would the Jesuits be annoyed!

• The Osgood File: Charles Osgood on the CBS Radio Network, 12/20/01, guest Bill McKibben (2:00)

Want to hear Bill McKibben before he founded 350.org? Recently I found a recording of The Osgood File, a two-minute series carried on the CBS Radio Network hosted by Charles Osgood. Bill had written the reflections for “Whose Birthday Is It, Anyway?” and I arranged him to be interviewed about it.

• 30th Anniversary: KCAU TV (ABC), Sioux City, 9/10/03 (1:39)
• Grace Matters, 5/22/05: Sorting Through Our Baggage (about 30 min.)

The Grace Matters interview was part of a national radio series produced by John Marty for the ELCA. Although the program has ended, all the past programs are still in the ELCA internet archives.

• YERT: Your Environmental Road Trip–Iowa, Nov., 2007 (10 min., follows a commercial!)

I was honored to represent Iowa in the making of the national documentary YERT – Your Environmental Road Trip. The crew recorded 50+ interviews, at least one from each state.

• The Common Good Podcast, Episode 27, 2012 (interview begins about minute 14.) And Episode 28.

After my first interview on The Common Good Podcast, I became co-host and then producer later. This experience taught me how to become producer of the Simple Living Works! Podcast.

My latest interview for The Healthy Planet was for WUSB, where Bob DiBenedetto volunteers. His monthly 60 minute program is aired live on Friday evening from Long Island, NY, over the air and on the internet, then made available through their web site in the archives. Although The Healthy Planet is not a faith-based group, my faith-based message was welcome. Bob founded The Healthy Planet 20 years ago and has hosted the radio show for some seven years. This was the first episode on simple living. They sponsor local events around healthy food. Unfortunately, the archives for their new web site are not complete yet.

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What’s NOW with SLW!

• Mother’s Day – 5/11
• Tony and Shane Uncut: Tony Campolo & Shane Claiborne’s complete dialog on simpler living and global justice, in eight parts.

  To LISTEN, click the player at the top or the bottom of the Show Notes, or visit the Episode Index. You can listen to each episode as it is released the 1st and 15th of the month, May-Aug. Or listen to several or all episodes at Preview/Back-up. The detailed Show Notes are similar for each episode, though the topics are different.

• Simple Living 101: Tools for Activists – Jerry’s Excellent Adventure: Web Sites and eNewsletters. Read MORE | Next from Simple Living 101: Tools for Activists – Jerry’s Excellent Adventure: Email Lists

• Diane Nesselhuf of Sharing the Dream: Fair Trade, a Tool for People and Planet vs. Free Trade, a Weapon of Domination – TheCommonGoodPodcast.com, episode 47.

• Since we’re in Eastertide, you may have something to contribute to our on-going collection Who’s Risen from the Dead, Anyway? for Lent/HolyWeek/Easter and to our most widely-read annual resource, Whose Birthday Is It, Anyway? for Advent/Christmas/Epiphany. Submission Guidelines | Articles are carefully indexed —  ADVENT/CHRISTMAS | LENT/EASTER.
• Simpler Living Alternative Daily Calendar – May
• 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 – May-Aug.
  • Worship Alternatives: Pentecost/Ordinary Time
  • Spirit of Simplicity: Lent/Easter ART | QUOTES
  • 10 Tips for Simpler, More Meaningful Celebrations | SPANISH: 10 puntas
  • Alternatives’ Seasonal/Thematic Index

What’s Coming

• Simple Living 101: Tools for Activists – Jerry’s Excellent Adventure: Blogging | Podcasting | Basic Marketing Plan Checklist

• Peace, Justice and Sustainability – New Course from Northwest Earth Institute

• Resources for Ascension, Pentecost and Ordinary Time
• Justin Lewis on Media & Consumer Capitalism

What’s Happened

• Murder and Resurrection: “What if we destroy the planet before Jesus gets back?” RELATED: What Might a Christian Life Look Like? | Vision of the Future | Chris Hedges: The Myth of Human Progress and the Collapse of Complex Civilizations (video).
• SLW! Podcast Episode #19 Show Notes: Overviews of Summer Festivals; Simply Delicious: Quantity Cooking for Churches; and Hunger Resources from Worship Alternatives, plus SLW! new Literacy Service.

What Others Are Doing

• Interviews, Book Groups, etc. – 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 | Lee’s new Slide Show
• Faith and Money Radio – Making the Connection

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).

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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 | #16: Rites of Passage, including Wedding Alternatives | #17: Vicki Robin, co-author of the best-seller Your Money or Your Life | #18: Not Ordinary Time: Eco-Justice Ministries | #19: Simply Delicious: Quantity Cooking for Churches / Hunger / Alternative Summer Festivals | #20-27: Tony and Shane Uncut

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 #370

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 at least 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.

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