Here is my brief letter to the editor this week in Eugene’s main alternative newspaper. So far, I am in dialogue with the editor of the University of Oregon Emerald, and he does not see any reason to publish it.

We Younger Brothers must hear the warning from Elder Brother about Earth, now, now!

LISTEN TO ELDER BROTHER

Winona LaDuke, Native American environmental leader and executive director of Honor the Earth, spoke to many hundreds of us in Eugene in November.

Before the program, attendees might have noticed a spool of golden thread was unraveled person-to-person, starting near the front and reaching individuals in the back. We are all connected, hanging by a thread.

This independent activity was inspired by the Kogi people, an indigenous civilization in Colombia. They call themselves “Elder Brothers” and have been warning “Younger Brothers” about the risk environmental catastrophe poses to life.

Scientists know that the lag between extra carbon in our atmosphere and negative effects is about 40 years. Harm from this year’s pollution will not be experienced for a long time. If enough positive feedback loops are triggered, we face chaos and unknown hazards.

In the Kogi people’s documentary film Aluna, which is free on the internet, we can learn from the way golden thread is used by the Kogi. Each of us has the powerful influence of the butterfly effect and can lead a peaceful, global revolution.

Let us not wait a moment longer. We Younger Brothers must hear the Kogi and leaders such as Winona LaDuke. Now.

David W. Oaks, Eugene

Following this blog entry is my letter to the Eugene Weekly editor that was published last month about the both the local and US Chamber of Commerce remaining silent about the climate crisis. Meanwhile, the big news is that we are moving forward on the pre-launch for LoveEarthRevolution, you may see the splash page on the preliminary website.

Oregon Community Credit Union leader will become chair of Eugene Area Chamber of Commerce in January 2017.

The local alternative paper, Eugene Weekly, published my letter to the editor today, 12/15/16. At the end, please see a way you can email a peaceful, strong note to Mandy Jones.

Climate Crisis

The Native American Water Protectors’ victory over the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) may seem remote, but there is a way this climate crisis issue is directly in front of me, and all Americans.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, based in Washington, D.C., is one of the main groups championing DAPL and the petrochemical-industry rape of Earth. The climate defender group 350 asked for five years that local chambers assert their independence and say “the U.S. Chamber doesn’t speak for me.” Unfortunately, only 56 out of 3,000 of these local chambers have spoken up.

Rather than viewing this as a failure, I look at it as a challenge.

Several activists and I have petitioned the local Eugene Area Chamber of Commerce, but despite many years of emails, peaceful protests and outreach, the leadership has maintained silence about the climate crisis and the U.S. Chamber.

In 2017, the chair of the local chamber will be Mandy Jones, the chief executive officer for Oregon Consumer Credit Union. I’ve been a proud member of OCCU since 1988. I am encouraging OCCU, as a member-owned entity, to ask the local chamber to speak up about the climate crisis.

David Oaks, Eugene

Action: Please send a message to Ms. Mandy Jones about how you encourage OCCU to speak out about the climate crisis and the US Chamber. Use the website here, and put your comment on the left side form: https://www.myoccu.org/contact-us

For more info about 350 campaign started in 2001 about the US Chamber, see:  http://chamber.350.org/

For news about Eugene-area activity about the chamber, see:  http://www.davidwoaks.com/normalgeddon

Two loons find each other and oppose the climate crisis!

My wife Debra insisted this morning that I load up and watch with her a TED (Technology Entertainment Design) Talk that Al Gore made earlier this year, February 2016. Al explains why he is optimistic about addressing the climate crisis, if we all jump on board right now. The last few years I have watched hundreds of documentaries, including countless TED Talks, however this one is indeed special.

So call me loony, but with Debra, I did watch Al Gore’s latest TED presentation, 25 minutes, and I gained positivity:

Are you optimistic or pessimistic about this crisis? Please leave your comment at the end of this blog entry.

Yes, I know that I have brought up on this blog the worst case scenario more than once, to try to do my part in waking up a seemingly-hypnotized public. This year’s TED Talk by Al starts off with the updated reality of the catastrophe, and how we need to mobilize immediately. After this frightening wake-up call, the next two points he brings up are very, very positive, and I hope everyone watches his explanation.

I need Al’s dose of accurate optimism. Two things I am most concerned about:

First, scientists have known for a while that there is a 40-year lag between dumping carbon in the atmosphere, and the end result. In other words, the increased heat we are experiencing now came from the carbon that was released in about 1976. The worst carbon pollution, from the past few decades, has not yet had a chance to have its hellish consequences. If you would like to read more about this lag see: http://www.skepticalscience.com/Climate-Change-The-40-Year-Delay-Between-Cause-and-Effect.html

But second, my biggest worry, is that most of the general public does not seem to understand what a revolution in the sciences. Unfortunately there is no one word that sums up this paradigm shift, but some of the words for it are: complexity theory, emergence, the Butterfly effect, systems theory, nonlinearity, self-organizing, feedback, chaos theory, fractals, etc.

Even Aristotle lectured about this idea. With the advent of computers, scientists gathered clear evidence that self-organizing feedback loops are extremely significant and influential. Inital conditions, even very slight ones, may have enormous consequences. Many of us have heard of the “Butterfly effect.” I hope that you know that the Butterfly effect is literally true and has been shown to be correct by the evidence. Yes, the flap of a butterfly wing in Brazil can eventually lead to changing when and where even a tornado arrives in Texas. Of course it is impossible to predict which butterfly may influence which tornado.

You may read a quick summary of emergence theory: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergence

You may read a brief description of Butterfly effect here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butterfly_effect

A nice article about Edward Lorenz, the professor who developed the Butterfly effect: https://www.technologyreview.com/s/422809/when-the-butterfly-effect-took-flight/

The logic behind the Butterfly effect is that when a feedback loop is altered, even incrementally, this can cascade into major changes. One of the most pessimistic thinkers about the climate crisis, author Guy McPherson, has identified dozens of feedback self-reinforcing loops that can be triggered and make the climate crisis worse, in a non-linear and chaotic way. This is the so-called runaway climate crisis that we are sometimes warned about. McPherson famously believes that it is already too late to stop.

My impression is that because dealing with the climate crisis involves such a dispute with business leaders, that scientists have focused on what is highly likely to happen, such as the approximate increase of sea level rise in the next few decades, etc.

However, for me, the most scary part is that if humanity continues to insufficiently address the climate crisis, more and more positive feedback loops can be triggered. Think about driving late at night on a highway near a cliff. You spot what might be black ice on the road, and it would be wise to stop business as usual. Unfortunately, it is as if humanity has spotted black ice and seems to be driving even faster. If our imagined vehicle does hit black ice, and we begin to spin toward the cliff, then this chaotic feedback loop may become all too plain, but by then we may be learning too late.

There is such a thing as too late

Back in 2012, I climbed a little ladder for our cat, Bongo, who was playing in our loft in my writer’s studio. For some reason, these steps were the only ones I had not put tread on. I slipped, fell, broke my neck and now I am in a power chair. Because of pre-existing conditions, I even have a few more disabilities.

My point is, that many of us with extreme disabilities recognize how even a moment can lead to massive loss. Humanity looks like it is climbing up a slippery ladder, but Al Gore is warning folks about that step, and appears to also bring us hope about a revolution of solutions. The Butterfly effect can work to our advantage, too. Even small actions for our Earth may lead to massive good change, we do not have control over that exact outcome, but we must take those actions.

For example, for about three decades I have meditated. Obviously there are a lot of disputes about the unknown, spirituality, etc. I realize that even something as a good, mindful breath can have a positive effect. Hey, that means we can all be revolutionaries with every breath! And if we ever needed to be revolutionaries, and find other revolutionaries, it is now.

Earlier I mentioned that I had brought up the worst case scenario involving climate crisis. If you would like to read about that rather frightening horror, I even invented a new word for it: Normalgeddon! Click on that word to learn more.

But if you watch only one thing, please watch the Al Gore TED Talk from this year, he has made a great follow-up to that earlier TED Talk.

Thanks Debra! She said about the talk, “Positive, realistic, and not b.s. There are things that each of us can do to help. It gave me the courage and conviction to take action today!” Heck, her action even led to this blog entry. You could say Debra was the butterfly today. Debra has complained to me about how some climate activists dwell on the negative. While I respect Guy McPherson, the worst case scenario would rely on triggering chaotic, unpredictable feedback loops. In other words, it ain’t over yet, Guy!

Other folks believe that something like nuclear power or geoengineering will be the main solution. However, as Al points out, even if problems with nukes are addressed, they are only a small part of the answer. For me, I agree with Al that we need to build global will, and will is a renewable resource. One of my renewable sources of will is my community, especially Debra.

So here is a free, two-and-a-half minute video, about the call a loon, we can actually sound pretty beautiful as we locate other loons, as I did 33 years ago when I first met my wonderful Debra:

Eight years ago, Al Gore gave a TED Talk about new ways of thinking about the climate crisis. Thanks, Al, for re-visiting this topic and pointing out hopeful solutions. You may watch his earlier TED Talk from 2008 here:

During this past Summer, I reflected on who my actual audience is. While contemporary readers are welcome, thanks, I believe we need to all be creating for an audience seven generations ahead. Currently, an estimate of how long a generation is about 25 years. Then next year, 2017, seven generations ahead will be the year 2192. That will be a memorable year. That is also the 700th anniversary of the European invasion of this hemisphere.

Let us all take action now so that there is an audience in 2192! Thanks Al Gore for this optimism revolution, maybe there will indeed be an audience.

So are you positive or negative about our future? Will there be a healthy, positive generation in 2192? Leave your comment on this blog entry below, thanks!

Debra and David welcome you there home, called Mad Swan.

In the near future, a number of mad movement and disability movement leaders plan to launch a new project, and you are invited to be one of the visionaries before the launch.

• Would you like to help participate? Do not worry, this will not impose on a busy schedule, no strings attached.
• How have you transformed the negativity of mental health and/or disability label (s), into something of value to you, other labeled people and/or humanity?
• What would you like to see in a project and new website to help foment the positive revolution we need now?
• How can this revolution be more visible, and extend from our hearts to Earth?

PsychoQuad, David Oaks, in front of the mural in the actual Springfield of The Simpsons

In one week I turn 61. For more than two-thirds of my life I have worked as a human rights activist for people in the mental health system and people with physical disabilities.

We, humanity in general, need a revolution now, more than ever! Why?

Because of the climate crisis and the catastrophe caused by our collective paralysis.

Because of the enormous and growing imbalance of wealth in our world.

Because of a thousand more reasons.

PsychoQuad:

Turn Labels into Revolution!

With the capable help of web steward, Jeffrey Bousquet, we will soon be launching a new project and website. We request your ideas and feedback.

How does the experience of disability help us be better revolutionaries?

If you have never been labeled with a disability, how can you learn from disabled people?

What features on a new website would transform labels into revolution?

Join the Positively Weirdest in the World

Every thing and everybody are weird. But we aim to be positively weird. To be the positively weirdest!

Your feedback, ideas and involvement are encouraged in many ways:

• You can make a comment here on this blog entry at the bottom.
• If you are on Facebook, you may join a new group and give your comment here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/636247286557440/
• On Twitter we are using the hashtag #LabelMeRevolutionary

Watch for our launch!

We are looking for ideas, but more than that if the concept of turning labels into a peaceful revolution interests you, we would love to participate as a leader. Say it in your comment and provide a way to contact you.

While this project is totally independent, we support and work closely with the International Association for the Advancement Creative Maladjustment (IAACM). Founded as a poetic idea Martin Luther King, Jr. decades ago, we are making his dream a reality. You can too! If you support his values, you can proudly say you are IAACM leader!

By the way, my birthday is Friday, September 16. For my birthday, please make revolution visible now!

David W. Oaks portrait by Isaac Paris c 2016

More than 42 Months After I Broke My Neck, I Do a Stand-Up Comedy Act this Saturday, 30 July 2016

Or perhaps I should say “sit-down comedy”? My intro for my act by the MC will be this:

“From right here in Eugene, our next sit-down comic is David Oaks, also known as PsychoQuad. That means he can slay any audience and then plead insanity!”

If you live in the Eugene-area, or know someone here, get there early to save your seat at Sam Bond’s Garbage, the bar Blair! I will bring my own seat. The monthly show, Bleepin’ Funny, is hosted by an indisputably leading comedic talent in our area, Leigh Anne Jasheway-Bryant. And it is a free event.

I have been going with my loving wife, Debra, for most months to Bleepin’ Funny, for years. I have been in the audience, in fact Sam Bond’s saves a table or two for my friends and me. But this Saturday, 30 July 2016, when the show starts at 5 pm, I am slated to take the stage about the fourth slot.

I have been practicing my stand-up. Before my fall I had the disadvantage of speaking “seriously” in about a dozen countries, for a fee. But humor is better and more fulfilling than boring non-stop seriousness. Or not?

Today, 27 July 2016, above we scoped out the stage at Sam Bond’s, where I am to perform this Saturday. I have two plans for getting on the stage. They involve four strong, sober volunteers with strong backs. I will bring a hold harmless clause printout so they will not worry about lawyers. But should I wear a bike helmet?

Bleepin’ Funny always features some stand-up, plus Leigh Anne takes the stage with a crew and does some lively, fresh improv. The show ends about 7 pm. It is all-ages, so bring the kids and do not worry about blue material. Call me crazy, but, I say get there early. Heck, even if it is nearly empty you might volunteer for my chair-hoisting crew! See Ian if you want to help out.

The comic Isaac Paris drew me to this amazing possible career, if these weird people known as stand ups can tolerate a professional weirdo. Move over Josh Blue, you no longer are the king of cripple comedy.

Isaac helped arrange for me to do comedy and be on this show. He is up in his native Alaska this week, so he will miss this Bleepin’ Funny. My documentarian and good friend David Zupan plans to video my act, with permissions of course!

Last week, I rehearsed at the Lane Independent Living Alliance (LILA) Peer Support Club, and Zupan was out of town so I did not pursue the documentary. But a relative shot me with their laptop for my own edification. You would think we had somehow violated the law, because an unsmiling employee had her boss e-mail me a verbal unfriendly terse note, I guess government-funded places like that can never have documentaries? My friend Mark Roberts is the brother of the famous Ed Roberts! I guess if Ed were still alive, and tried to speak at a Center for Independent Living, he would not be able to be taped for broader distribution. Hey, protect those privacy rights, cash our taxpayer-money checks, and let us celebrate there are now several-hundred Center for Independent Living (CIL’s) in the nation today, the backbone of the USA disability movement. I love CIL’s, but it is time to start an ADAPT local chapter; I hear you ADAPT headquarters in Austin, Texas.

Humor is Necessary: Please Laugh Once Per Minute (Just Joking!)

Anyway, the good humor, at least we hope it is good humor, will be at Sam Bond’s Garage, a down-home community center with good beer, great little menu, and even great outdoor seating in the back during warm months when it is appropriate. See you there, I will get there very early to save a place or get drunk.

Some Actual Real Humorous News! Well, True Anyway, and I Think it is News-Worthy Mental Health Revolution News

During my rehab, over these more than 42 months, I have had one (1) paid gig doing my work. Incredibly, probably because of a recommendation by my good friend, psychiatric survivor New Yorker Celia Brown, of MindFreedom, my solitary paid gig during my rehab has been to be one of the many independent contractors in the mental health reform field to review and comment on drafts of several manuals, mainly about mental health peer support, by the World Health Organization (WHO), based in Geneva, Switzerland.

The WHO, yes, the same global health agency that tackled some nasty viruses in recent years, has a small but active division working for global mental health. Five years ago, I had the good fortune to visit WHO headquarters in Switzerland, because a number of us psychiatric survivor activists met with and consulted for the head of WHO mental health at that time, the passionate and brilliant Italian psychiatrist, Dr. Bendetto Saraceno. The doctor now directs a psychiatric non-governmental organization in Europe, and has retired from WHO.

This year, the WHO mental health manuals have not yet been released to the public, and so the content is private. However, for my generous independent contractor fee, I tried to provide online input for all the draft manuals. I tried to provide written comments that were both practical and revolutionary.

Some of the non-normal written comments that I made about these drafts, as an actual official paid WHO consultant, were:

• The world very much needs a revolution, especially because the climate crisis has been so ignored for too many years. Yes, as the Pope recommends, I also suggested revolution for our planet in my official written comments to WHO, as a contracted consultant. In fact, since another round of input is to be requested, I currently still am an WHO independent contractor. Of course, I am speaking for myself and my opinion alone here, not in any way for WHO.
• Repeatedly, I made sure that my position was crystal clear, that one hundred percent of all people, all the time, every moment, from womb to tomb, are in a state of mind that is in extreme, life-threatening crisis. That is right, my 42 years of activism in psychiatric survivor revolution provided me with four words as my lesson: “We are all nuts!” Nothing wrong with being nuts, if that word has any meaning at all. We may always all of us be nuts, but we can choose what kind of nuts we will be. Will we be creative positive nuts? Or destructive divisive nuts? We must choose.
• Everyone alive, everyone, has a crisis. Maybe your’s will be very short, but we all have at least one crisis. We are moral. We love. So, prepare for your crisis! Hey, all you need to do is get ready for the unexpected. May I humbly suggest building your community of friends and family?
• We must act now! We cannot wait for perfect information, in fact science has a theme: Mystery! Whether it is quantum physics, black holes, fractals, chaos theory, string theory, dark matter, dark energy, etc.: As Socrates noted over and over, we do not know much, to this day. But we still need to act, we still need to ask questions. Just as the wing of a butterfly can later influence the course of a hurricane, we must flap our wings! Note we have enormous influence, but not control.
• The other side of the Butterfly Effect is that as the climate crisis triggers dozens of positive feedback effects, we are entering unpredictable chaos. No way I am giving up hope! Hey, that was me lying on the floor with a broken neck 42 months ago! But my paralysis is mild next to our society’s paralysis. Everyone, all of us, get off the floor!
• A first step is to realize that internal revolution in our hearts and minds, is not stoppable. Let us make this shared goal more visible now, to help our global morale. I am not saying we will win a quality revolution, but I am sure we can try right now! I believe in you, you all are Supreme Commanders this time! OK, not all of that went into my comments to WHO.
• But, I made it very clear in my written comments to WHO as an official consultant, that the thing we the public have been calling “normal” does not actual exist. Yes, like some horrible nightmarish virus, “normality” has been eliminated, it does not exist. Since I know that several WHO people have a great sense of humor, it turns out they are human, then I hope they take some credit for finding their funny bone and realizing the seriousness of saying, “There is no normal!”
• Yes, normal is not in fact, well, normal. Eliminating all traces of “normal” is not the same thing as going after a virus. Yes, some people choose to take drugs to address mental and emotional issues. That is their choice. But “normality” and mental wellness in general, is about something far deeper and more profound than any “normal” medication.
• I encourage folks to use the easy online interface with WHO to provide resources, suggestions, feedback, important points about the mental health industry, and more important the revolution in mental well being, which uses choice/freedom as a kind of umbrella for recovery, and once shielded there are thousands and thousands of approaches! Just use your search engine to search for the following phrase and then type in your comments: World Health Organization Contact Form. Dr. Saraceno told me, that every comment made to WHO must be treated with respect, and logged. Yes, even so-called irrational comments. Please send your favorite empowering alternative, ask WHO to send this to their mental health division! At the bottom of this is a three-minute video to promote reaching out to WHO. The revolution does not apply only to us consultants, but to everyone, even non-human animals, plants and maybe every particle.
• Hey wouldn’t it be cool if the whole universe, you included, are equals all working as one? Now that is a Revolution!

On the Birthday of My Friend Leonard Roy Frank (LRF) 15 July 2016

David W. Oaks and his wife Debra react to publicity about the debut of Ghostbusters 3 on July 15, 2016, which is also the birthday for the late and amazing Leonard Roy Frank, psychiatric survivor, editor, friend, revolutionary.

I first wrote this on the 8th day of Creative Maladjustment (CM) Week, which was 7 to 15 July 2016. Yes, Creative Maladjustment Week is now eight days long to end on the 7/15 birthday of this psychiatry-surviving, electroshock defying, mystic-being, beatnik-pioneering, quote-editing San Franciscan Leonard Roy Frank (who would have turned 84 this year of he were still alive).

During these three and a half years of my deep recovery I estimate that I have listened to more than 4,000 hours of National Public Radio news, tuning in every morning via our local KLCC-FM. For example, I feel as if I am personal friends with John Hockenberry, host of Takeaway, because he first got his start here in Eugene KLCC-FM, he is in a wheelchair, but he only exchanged one message before he moved to the East Coast and became a national radio star. He still seems to support revolution, and you do not have to use your imagination much to hear that.

So, for better or worse, I have had more time to think, with my brains, heart, great support folks. Leonard, you showed us that after incredible torture the human spirit can still come back and help humanity. Every time I spoke privately with Leonard, we laughed and laughed. What a keen and at times wicked sense of humor, informed of course that near-biblical personal moral code.

A bunch of my friends in our movement are now dead, or as some of us joked very, very disabled: Rae, Judi, Howie, so many more, and now Pat Risser. If we remember to reform the corrupt mental health group, NAMI, even half as much as Pat wanted, always keeping our sense of humor and outrage, think of all the loving parents who we can support, now being tricked by this drug company front group!

More info about Leonard can be found all over the web, or go to any major bookstore and ask for their huge book Quotationary. Leonard lovingly edited this book of thousands of quotes, and subversively inserted dozens of great quotes very critical of the mental health industry, psychology, psychiatry, electroshock, etc. While he did not hide his identity as a psychiatric survivor during his work as one of the world’s experts on quotes, the fact is that he ended up gathering quotes as part of his strategy to re-create his incredible mind after psychiatry tried to destroy his loving spirit, unsuccessfully.

Sounds like LRF got the last laugh on the mental health industry torture machine. Since this apparatus apparently lacks a spirit of humor, getting the last laugh may be very winnable! I know that so many people have been cheering me on and sending support in so many ways, thanks! My Mom used to send out personal thanks with hand-written cards. As Mom got into her late 90’s she stopped sending cards. Her death last year really put a crimp in her card writing!

But do MindFreedom members really know that this shy Mom of mine worked for years as a volunteer in the main office, sometimes three days a week! Truly, Violet Oaks, my Mom, was MindFreedom’s top volunteer. So far.

For those of you who have read this long post, despite my many severe disabilities, or perhaps because of my creative maladjustment to these extreme challenges, I am talking with board members about coming back in some way, perhaps as a consultant. If I can crawl back to the work place, with extreme accommodations, so can anyone!

So a MindFreedom folks, do you want me back helping on our ship after these 42 months? If you can work together with other members, and ask me to come back, maybe I will, in some way. Before I fell, during my 25 years at MindFreedom’s helm, I raised about one million dollars for this grassroots human rights coalition.

We always prided ourselves about being independent of government money, and working for donations, often from very poor folks. Now, your feedback is appreciate, here, or via Facebook, or with your hearts. And the Oddsquad Advisory Team, and others, I need your advice right now. I must find the tight rope between recovery and revolution.

You may also refer to MindFreedom’s portal about Leonard.

Breaking your neck is never a good idea but if you must break your neck, I would recommend Eugene, Oregon, USA. I have so very many of you to thank! Surprisingly, the absolute winners in the “Support David W. Oaks During His Recovery,” is the Fair Family connected to Oregon Country Fair.

This message is to you all: The rest of my life could be weeping tears of joy thanking you all, every moment! How do I know? I can’t wait, I must act now and thank you! Thanks, thanks, thanks. The word for thanks in Lithuanian, origin for all my grandparents, sounds like a sneeze:

Ah-h-h-h-h Ch-o-o-o-o-o! That word is spelled “aciu,” with some pronunciation marks. Sorry, no time for that, just thanks thanks thanks!

DISCLAIMER: Thanks to homecare worker Sara and my admin for taking my raw notes and fashioning that into the blog, though I take full responsibility and finished my final edit today 27 July 2016. Because of the coincidence of Ghostbusters 3 debuting on 15 July 2016, I was eager to get something out that day. Thanks everyone, especially my darling wife Debra, when I fell, I know that we fell. I hope people give you, Debra, support that is even better than the amazing support so many have given me this past 42 plus months!

OK, Here is a Three-Minute Free Video Encouraging You to Contact the World Health Organization, Now!

It is easy, you can suggest your favorite humane alternative to the inherently flawed, corrupted-beyond-comment mental health industry to our World Health Organization, just direct your search engine to their Contact Form:  http://www.who.int/about/contact_form/en/

Above entry was a originally posted on my personal blog, which can be found here: 

www.davidwoaks.com

Protected by Creative Commons, only for non-commercial use with attribution.