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Apple 8 – Social Media and Social Action

The next Apple event takes place at the Betsey Trotwood in London tomorrow, featuring Greenbelt speaker Dr Luke Bretherton – Senior Lecturer in Theology and Politics at Kings College and author of Christianity and Contemporary Politics – speaking about Social Media and Social Action.

Here's a teaser for the sort of things Luke will be discussing:-

- Do social networking sites and the advent of internet-enabled social mobilization herald a new era in political action?

- Will information technology change the way we do off-line politics, or should we not believe the hype?

- Can real politics, which has always been about negotiating a common life, really be generated through systems of aggregating individual choices?

Exploring Barack Obama’s presidential campaign, the organisation of anarchist anti-globalization protests, electronic ‘town hall’ meetings, Tea Party activism, the 1979 Iranian Revolution and plans for the ‘Big Society,’ Apple 8 will provoke discussion and reflection on this little understood area of the relationship between technology and human life.

The event starts at 7.30pm at the Betsey Trotwood in Farringdon Road, London. It's free to attend, plus there's a bar and food available. For more information, see the Apple website…

Festival Awards – we've been shortlisted!

11 October 2010 | by Tom Davies | Tags: family, family festival award, festival awards, greenbelt 2010
Filed under Festival, Festival News | Add A Comment

The aim of the UK Festival Awards is to "[set] the global standard for music festivals", and so we're over the moon to announce that we have been shortlisted for the Family Festival Award in this year's nomination list! Here's how it works. When we sent out Dispatches at the end of September, we were [...]

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'we need a chat'

By my friend Big John

'we need a chat'

so I turned off the sounds, and lay down in the dark, and said, "hey, we need to chat".
"ok" was the reply
I thought about what i wanted to say, and began, as I often do (but not nearly enough), by giving thanks for all things.
for family and children
for relatively good health
for opportunity
for talents gifted...
"so", I said "the rest is pretty much up to me then?'
"pretty much" was the reply from a place so close I spend most of the day and night overlooking.
right from the head-centre. or was it the heart? from soul-beyond - yet soul-within.
"ah" i said. "thanks. which way do I throw this heart then?"
"throw it right over here, and start running, lad." comes the reply.

arm engaged, ready to hurl.

"throw your heart out in front of you and run ahead to catch it"
(Arab proverb heard in the movie Cemetery Junction)

"One thing tougher
than choosing to be poorer
is choosing to be vulnerable.
To show
To reveal
To undress
our vulnerability
our weaknesses.

It is a journey into a new awareness
It is a journey into new skills
BUT firstly it is a journey into
choosing to be odd
choosing to be unusual
choosing to not be like our peers
choosing to set set self, not apart,
but amongst
and different and
choosing to reside in a place called uncomfortable
where growth resides."
Pip Wilson

He who was rich became poor .....

"I never wanted to be famous
I succeeded

I never wanted to be rich
I succeeded to degree level

I never wanted to be this age
It sort of came with experience

I never wanted to be good looking
Achieved at birth

I never wanted to be educated
I achieved in every school

I never wanted to believe in God
I tripped and stumbled into him

I never wanted to be a writer
I just started to reflect on life

I never wanted to be imaginative
It just happens as I strive to love

I never wanted to be comfortable
I had it once, before the faith began

I never wanted to be restless
I now choose it and yearn for it

I never wanted to be irritated
but now I refresh that irritation

I never wanted to be thirsty
then I discovered it in ever sense

I never wanted to be sexy
Thank you very much God

I never wanted to have a sense of humour
Then I discovered more than five senses

I never wanted to be vulnerable
I discovered it was a strength not a weakness

I never wanted to marry a rich woman
I think she is rich beyond compare

I never wanted to be beautiful
It took me 40 years to know I was a beautiful human person

I never wanted to be in a band
I now have a great band of friends

I never wanted to be imperfect
I know it is in synergy with beautiful

I never wanted to be on a road less travelled
I discovered it goes along with human development

I never wanted to be a great lover
I found it as a life mission

I never wanted to be disabled
I learned that I have abilities and disabilities

I never wanted an idol, mentor, guru
I met someone who said follow me and
that was all I ever wanted...................."

Pip Wilson

Joy is in Argentina.
She sends the most beautiful
colourful pictures.

Really miss her when she is away.
Her work takes her to exotic locations.
For me - the cities.
AND I love it ........