The subterranean homesick blues are rocking through my veins. I have moved to the city. The City. Crossed the great divide and become an urban dweller. After eight years of the wild West it felt almost a physical wrench to leave a place I have become connected to through people and through land. However I have done it before – a new love affair with some new place begins.
So how to survive the city and where can I be of use. Part of my move was driven by awareness that perhaps people need the kind of work I’m engaged with here where the majority of people live. The urban jungle, a place where it is harder to feel in touch with land and food. Almost instinctively I have spent the last couple of weeks seeking out the cracks in the pavement. I dream of how wonderful it would be to have a garden like the one I helped to create at Fforest farm right here next to the tarmac and ballast. After all nature is helpful. With few resources a garden can be raised almost anywhere.
Feeling the homesick blues, being in the city, soil has come on my radar more than ever. To me it means home, work and connection. In the urban fabric relationships with place are very different. Not necessarily bad, just different but I feel there is room for some re-balance- some more cracks to be opened up. After all, the city accepts a diverse array of neighbours side by side; council blocks and gardens; train lines and allotments; skyscrapers and a farm. Another possible dimension for urban diversity.
In the city space is a limited resource. Surprisingly London is comparatively very green. I begin to notice what is disused and lying waste. Polluted or scarred but all with possibility for growth- the economic term trying to be claimed back. Viaducts, council gardens, dormant school raised beds and even roof-tops offering space. Everywhere I go I notice bare tracts of land and I think of gardens and I think of food- soul and sustenance. Repeatedly I research them hoping there may be a way in.

Don’t tell me the sky is the limit when there are footprints on the moon.

Preamble:

We hold these truths to be self evident: that all men are NOT created equally. Although
the divisions that previously separated men have functionally been erased from the
public sphere, all men are NOT created equally. Race, religion, ethnicity, gender,
persuasion, and background are the divisions of antiquity. Those are the divisions
of our fathers and forefathers. The divisions that separate modern man are not as clear
as those gleaned from history, but with careful observation they can be discerned.
In today's modern world there exists two breeds of men: those that exhibit a lust for
life and those that are complacent in routine and expectations. We represent the
former and loathe the latter. This coming document will express our goals, morals, and founding
principles.

Guest post from Dan Mina, high school history teacher

Swarmwise: What Is A Swarm? – Falkvinge on Infopolicy.

Here’s a great article that studies the way knowledge about swarms can be used to affect the way that organisations can harness awareness, commitment and action to dramatically increase speed and effectiveness.

Australian Senate passes carbon tax | Environment | guardian.co.uk.

Welsh girl Julia Gillard pushes through a brave piece of legislation against the odds, to give Australia a place at the leaders’ table, rather than the laggards’, as the world slowly faces up to the scale of change needed to make a real difference.

Diolch yn fawr, Julia.