Checking In Summer 2oo7
The summer has launched with a feeling like it has felt like a really cosmic time for people with ideas coming together to talk about certain pertinent aspects to our times, our lives, and our society. At least it has been this way for me. Culture, sustainability… I’ve even seen a couple of amazing interviews on Charlie Rose, KRMA channel 6 public television: Zbigniew Brzezenski, former national security adviser to Carter had some interesting things to say about his new book, Second Chance: Three Presidents and the Crisis of American Superpower who had some really interesting points to make about America’s interaction with the world, it’s state of affairs. One pertinent thing he said is that the symbol of America is no longer the statue of Liberty but Guantanamo Bay. He spoke to issues of the actions of American corporations in the world, war with Iraq, diplomatic conditions with Iran and South Korea. What he said that struck me as cutting edge in a way in which we can redeem ourselves. The impression I got about what he was saying is that “we,” as in the collective “America,” whose face we show the world, we need to change our actions and the way in which we treat people around the world. This must start with a certain serious political and economic self-reflection on the paradigm of things as they are in our society. God I hope we can vote an enlightened soul to help guide policy on the national level, the platform which facilitates the way “we” launch ourselves into the world.
Also, a man spoke, his name and position escape me but he was the head of a new labor affiliation group advocating for middle America’s issues. He spoke to labor and particularly health care issues, and I recall that his message aligned with my conviction of the importance of a healthy middle class, outside this current trend of its diminishing size. His idea on health care was pretty cool in my opinion- give Americans a certain allocation of health care money and allow them to chose whatever form of health care feel they need, be it alternative or conventional… This was to be independent of the current policy model on the table of employer-based health care. He argued that with transitionary nature of many people floating from job to job, the easy flight from one job to the next, is erratic and therefore negative. God I wish I could remember who this guy was.
I was talking with a new friend for hours about mysticism, energy, karmic debt, empowerment, the mind, meditation… we remarked how it seems that more and more people are readily coming together somehow to talk about these things and freely exchange powerful ideas. Somehow we find each other, don’t we?
Nina Lois is a graduate student at the University of Colorado at Denver obtaining a Master's Degree in Humanities with a B.A. in political science. Her passions are broad when it comes to the human condition. She is deeply interested in philosophy, psychology, environmental and social justice, peace studies, music, nutrition, tradition, and progress. 
Upon her imminent graduation, she wishes to contribute to the health, wealth, and happiness of the community through involvement, writing, and research. For goodness's sake, love the body, cultivate the mind and a garden, and feed the soul!
Thanks again