Janisse Ray
Mar. 23rd, 2011 09:54 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lunabee34I forget at times how lucky I am to rub elbows so often with some of the greatest literary minds of our time. At Ole Miss, I went to parties with Barry Hannah and bellied up to the bar with Larry Brown and avoided Tom Franklin and his wife like the plague, yea verily for they are douchebags. And here at my new position, I've had the pleasure of hobnobbing with Natasha Tretheway, Judith Ortiz Cofer, and Mark Powell to name a few.
Last night Janisse Ray spoke at the college, and as I was in charge of the speaking engagement, I was able to spend a fair amount of time with her and her husband Raven.
If Janisse Ray is not on your radar, she should be. She writes literary non-fiction, and her most famous book is called ECOLOGY OF A CRACKER CHILDHOOD. It's about growing up poor in a Southern junkyard and Ray's evolving sense of the importance of the natural world around her. Janisse is an environmental activist who promotes sustainability. She and Raven live on a 46-acre farm with lots of animals. They buy local. They've taken themselves off the grid as much as possible. They've reduced their carbon footprint. They are, in a word, awesome.
She is also one of the kindest and most generous people I've ever met. She's a writer, so she's a listener, and her skill at drawing people out is great. She's warm and friendly and so committed to what she believes.
She speaks passionately and fervently with the cadence of a preacher. She is a master of the pregnant pause. Too few speakers utilize the power of silence to underscore their ideas. She gave me goosebumps once or twice.
Some bullet points from the talk:
She said that we'e been taught 6 false beliefs that have led to the destruction of the natural world.
1. we have unlimited resources
2. it is our right to use them up
3. now is more important than any other point on the timeline
4. pleasure is the purpose of life
5. in the absence of other values, convenience and greed may freely reign
6. our technology will save the planet
Goosebumpy moment: Janisse asks, "What gets destroyed for you to have the things you desire?" And then she waits, and the silence draws out uncomfortably.
She cites our economic system as the root of our environmental problems. The world cannot sustain the "more more more" that capitalism demands. She sees true democracy as the opposite of capitalism.
Some solutions she mentions: reintroducing ethics into the business world, creating a new ecoomic system, abandoning the illusion of cost-cutting and charging the true cost for goods, and turning to local, decentralized economics.
There were some digs at Fox News (YAY!) and a brief discussion of climate change, which makes me happy. Regardless of what Glenn Beck and the far right think, there is consensus in the scientific community that the actions of humans can adversely affect the global environment. No scientist is confused on that point. These kids need to hear that desperately.
Amazing stuff, y'all.
Last night Janisse Ray spoke at the college, and as I was in charge of the speaking engagement, I was able to spend a fair amount of time with her and her husband Raven.
If Janisse Ray is not on your radar, she should be. She writes literary non-fiction, and her most famous book is called ECOLOGY OF A CRACKER CHILDHOOD. It's about growing up poor in a Southern junkyard and Ray's evolving sense of the importance of the natural world around her. Janisse is an environmental activist who promotes sustainability. She and Raven live on a 46-acre farm with lots of animals. They buy local. They've taken themselves off the grid as much as possible. They've reduced their carbon footprint. They are, in a word, awesome.
She is also one of the kindest and most generous people I've ever met. She's a writer, so she's a listener, and her skill at drawing people out is great. She's warm and friendly and so committed to what she believes.
She speaks passionately and fervently with the cadence of a preacher. She is a master of the pregnant pause. Too few speakers utilize the power of silence to underscore their ideas. She gave me goosebumps once or twice.
Some bullet points from the talk:
She said that we'e been taught 6 false beliefs that have led to the destruction of the natural world.
1. we have unlimited resources
2. it is our right to use them up
3. now is more important than any other point on the timeline
4. pleasure is the purpose of life
5. in the absence of other values, convenience and greed may freely reign
6. our technology will save the planet
Goosebumpy moment: Janisse asks, "What gets destroyed for you to have the things you desire?" And then she waits, and the silence draws out uncomfortably.
She cites our economic system as the root of our environmental problems. The world cannot sustain the "more more more" that capitalism demands. She sees true democracy as the opposite of capitalism.
Some solutions she mentions: reintroducing ethics into the business world, creating a new ecoomic system, abandoning the illusion of cost-cutting and charging the true cost for goods, and turning to local, decentralized economics.
There were some digs at Fox News (YAY!) and a brief discussion of climate change, which makes me happy. Regardless of what Glenn Beck and the far right think, there is consensus in the scientific community that the actions of humans can adversely affect the global environment. No scientist is confused on that point. These kids need to hear that desperately.
Amazing stuff, y'all.
