YES! Magazine and What I Want To Be When I Grow Up

YES Magazine's tag line is "Supporting you in building a just and sustainable world" and when the latest issue arrives in my mail box I inhale the stories of the rebirth of Students for a Democratic Society, a female president in Chile, autonomous social movements in Argentina, the real scoop on energy usage, and the solutions to the health care crises in this country and I want to be one of the heroes between the covers of the 100% recycled, post-consumer waste, process chlorine-free paper, example of journalism that digs deep and uncovers the peaceful but dramatic social movements taking place under the radar of mainstream media.

As I read, I look for career opportunities that would allow me to pay my mother's caregiving bills while blending my skills in communication with my desire to be one of the people creating a future that respects the planet and the creatures who scurry across her belly. I analyze the careers people have created in their quest to save the planet and each other and try to figure out where I fit in while putting in forty hours a week in the computer trenches as a database administrator.

Once upon a time I had a quote over my desk that talked about the future as something not found, but created, the roads to it are built by those taking the journey and the journey changing both the traveler and the destination and believe it to be true. As Robert Frost said all those years ago, "I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference."

My zig zag journey from the streets of San Francisco to the mission of restoring the native habitat in my ten foot by fifteen foot front yard leaves me middle aged and plodding through the woods, creating a path and dragging a hundred and twenty pound weight behind me. I tramp through the jungle looking for paths between trees and tigers and wonder how I ended up in the this part of the jungle and why. Some days I am weary and I sit down and contemplate finding the energy to climb over one more rock, traverse one more mountain range or swim across another river.

Then I read about tree sitting in South Central Los Angeles, interfaith movements of environmental activists and the purpling of America in the latest issue, grab a hold of a tree and pull myself up and get back to writing and tree planting and caring for another generation while I figure out who I want to be when I grow up.

Denver is Light Years Away From San Diego

The Democratic National Convention is being held later this month in Denver and I'm stuck on the sidelines while the activist community is gearing up to protest the farce. In the interest of full disclosure, I'm a member of the Green Party.

The Democrats masquerade as the party of the people and the people are going to be on hand in Denver to let the Democrats know what we mean by "for the people." From free food to childcare, this time around the focus is on creating an alternative future as well as disrupting the old power structures.

From Recreate 68 and Disrupt Denver to the clandestine insurgent rebel clown army the people's voice is gearing up to be seen and heard. And I'm stuck in San Diego with a new job in corporate America and a wheelchair bound mother who was born to a life a privilege and squandered her life.

My daily mind is filled with questions like how can I say I want to create a positive future for all if I throw away a human being? How can I create a positive future, when the past has me shackled? I know that most traditional cultures hold their elders in high esteem, but how does that play out when modern medicine interferes and the percentage of the population who can't go to the bathroom by themselves grows? How much can you give to the elders without taking away from the children? What about elders who have no wisdom to pass down either because they don't think or because they're too disabled too think?

It's not PC to question the sanctity of human life, but western medicine has blurred the line between life and death and now we have armies of half dead walking around and western medicine says "see you later" leaving families to stagger under the weight of the walking (or wheelchair rolling) dead. Our ability to keep parts of the human body funcationing has gone beyond our understanding of life. Now if all those doctors had to grapple daily with lifting dead weight from the bed to the wheelchair or getting woken up in the middle of the night for nine years to change a diaper, maybe there would be some level of understanding. But as long as the consequences of western medicine are divested from their so called "healing" actions, the science of keeping a heart beating will have nothing to do with living.

So I send some money to Recreate 68 in Denver to help with legal fees or food or whatever people on the ground need to spend money on when challenging the power structure of the United States. I read Indy Media and send my energy to my brothers and sisters who can be there to create the future I want for all of us.

Sitting here behind my computer, my heart breaks over the irony of life. I, who see the farce in creating a life in computers, am stuck behind one watching from afar. If you're able to make Denver, go, participate, feel the power that comes from changing the world when holding hands with new friends and old comrades. You won't regret it. I'll be doing laundry, changing diapers, washing dishes in San Diego and shedding a few tears about being stuck in isolation while you are creating the world we want.

Let's take back our future. Peace!

Me and UCLA

The UCLA Writers' Program offers an amazing banquet of writing classes through UCLA Extension. From October 2007 until March 2008, I took a great on-line course in advanced fiction that gave me the tools I needed to finish my novel.

When I was awarded the Elizabeth George Foundation Grant, my instructor told me to let the Writers' Program know and I would get some great publicity out of it. And she was right. Check it out, I'm famous for today anyway.

From UCLA Writers' Studio web site:

"Online Student Receives Fiction Writing Grant

Student Karin Zirk was awarded a grant for unpublished novels through the Elizabeth George Foundation. Karin has been using the grant to take Writers’ Program online courses to finish her novel, Falling from the Moon.

Karin says, "The grant provided time to write and funding for classes such as Novel V, where I studied under the incredible Caroline Leavitt. Not only is she a cheerleader extraordinaire, but her ability to share tools that helped me find the holes in my novel and fill them with the missing pieces of the story was incredible," Karin says. "In addition to the Novel V class, I had the privilege of taking Katharine Sand's Riveting Writing course, which has given me the tools I need to pitch this book to an agent."

We look forward to reading the finished manuscript, Karin! Congratulations."