LA LUNA ILUMINA

WHEREAS, the "Common Era" calendar has today advanced to a new arbitrarily quantified temporal increment as measured by our current host planet's completion of 1000 circuits around the nearest star since the recorded beginning of the previous such period, and

WHEREAS, it is customary in much of the world where said calendar is observed to publicly pronounce resolutions to make improvements in the way one conducts one's activities, and

WHEREAS, we find it's not a bad idea to do that now and then anyhow,

BE IT RESOLVED that, during the next 1000 laps around the Sun, The Earthville Network will:

• Ask better questions, with greater humility
• Make fewer problems for ourselves and for others
• Communicate clearly, kindly and consciously
• Paint all the world in more beautiful colors
• Pay more attention to people than projects
• Cultivate friendships with care and integrity
• Leverage the strength of our wild creativity
• Make better use of both motion and stillness
• Harness the alchemic power of Synergy
• Build an Earthvillage, a home for our families
• Tear down the fences that make us feel separate, and
• Be more courageous as midwives of love

AND BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that, in the ages to come, we will have more FUN doing all o' that stuff, with greater balance in our lives!

-:-)

STATE OF THE ONION, REVISITED

Many of you have requested that we compose another concise big-picture annual overview of all the major goings on in Earthville. So, by popular demand, here's the top haps, presented in an organic, seasonal, locally grown, genetically unmodified heirloom nutshell (albeit a rather large one), for optimum chewing satisfaction....

[This may seem like a lot for busy folks to read - because there's a lot to tell - but we only do this once a year, so for those of you who want to know what the heck it is that we do, and what we plan to do in the near future, here's your big chance!]

INDIA AND TIBET STUFF

Still the single largest area of focus for Dara and Mark, our work in India continues to evolve and improve. Despite financial and managerial challenges which made 2000 the most difficult year in the four-year (!) history of KhanaNirvana Community Café (the vegetarian restaurant and community center which serves as the home for most of our activities in Dharamshala), 2000 was probably in many ways the BEST year for the Dharamshala Earthville Institute (DEVI) and the Tibet Empowerment Circle (TEC). Public interest in both DEVI's and TEC's programs has grown significantly every year, and thus the benefit of these programs has increased. We are very happy to report that many of these programs are now being run mostly or even completely by our Tibetan staff, which has been our goal from the beginning!

The Dharamshala Earthville Institute (DEVI)

The Dharamshala Earthville Institute (DEVI) is a community center which exists to serve anyone in the Dharamshala community, including Indians, Tibetans and international residents and visitors. DEVI:

• hosts a regular series of public lectures and discussions, in both English and Tibetan, on a variety of important topics, including (almost) weekly presentations given by former prisoners of conscience from Tibet;
• acts as a clearinghouse for information on many of the important organizations in the Dharamshala community;
• has several computers which it makes available for students, volunteers and charitable projects;
• hosts periodic spiritual and interfaith discussions, workshops and lectures, including occasional "Dharma talks" given by renown Buddhist teachers as well as most of the programming of the Ohr Olam Project (see below);
• maintains a multilingual library for public use;
• provides information and logistical assistance to students and student groups studying in Dharamshala; and
• arranges service-learning opportunities and family stays.

The big news these days is that the DEVI space may soon be expanded! As the faithful long-time Lunoids among you will know, DEVI and the Ohr Olam Project [see below] have joined forces to develop a vision for an expanded community center (to be built on the rooftop of our existing facility) which would enable all of our work to benefit much larger audiences, and with significantly improved quality. We finished the proposal just last month and Azriel Cohen has already succeeded in drumming up thousands of dollars in pledges, so we're very happy to see that so many people are interested in supporting our efforts. If you think you might be one of those angels or know someone else who might be, please email us for more information (all contributions are tax-deductible).

In the future, DEVI hopes to catalyze a program to train women in Indian villages of the area in high-yield, organic biointensive farming techniques and other skills which would help them to become economically self-sufficient. We need skilled volunteers for this project, so if you know anyone who might be interested in this (or any of DEVI's other projects), email devi@earthville.net.

Tibet Empowerment Circle (TEC)

Tibet Empowerment Circle (TEC) runs or collaborates with other local agencies on a variety of projects and programs to help Tibetan individuals and institutions educate and empower themselves to improve their own lives and to better serve their communities. These include:

TEC's internationally recognized volunteer placement program, which recruits good people from around the globe to come to Dharamshala (and sometimes other Tibetan refugee settlements) to volunteer as teachers, trainers, doctors, and more.

• Computer education and teacher training initiatives, including: supporting the efforts of the Institute of Buddhist Dialectics (IBD) to develop the best computer education and teacher training program in the Tibetan exile community; and also TEC's own long-term training of Tibetan refugees to be apprentices. As always, computers (preferably Macintosh, and especially laptops), peripherals, and legal current versions of software are always needed, and contributions are tax-deductible in the US and in India.
• Providing various Tibetan agencies with design assistance and free hosting for their websites.
• TEC's long-term program to train Tibetan refugees to produce news, documentary and other informational programming in audio, video and Internet media. FYI, last year's project to co-produce radio, Internet and TV pieces with Wisdom Media Group was terminated early due to a variety of problems, but we have even more promising partnerships in the pipelines, so stay tuned.
• If the proposed expansion of the DEVI facility materializes, TEC plans to establish an advanced computer education program there to train Tibetans in professional-level computer skill such as web development, graphic design and multimedia production.

Starting in 2001 and moving into the future, we hope to be able to do more to help Tibetans prepare for and enter more formal education programs. Any info on scholarship funds for which Tibetan refugees might qualify is most welcome, as are volunteer teachers and vocational trainers. For information, email us at tec@tibetweb.org.

Another long-term major project which we hope to be able to realize in the future is to bring to the rural Tibetan refugee settlements in the south of India the same biointensive agricultural education that we discussed in the DEVI section above. These settlements are much more highly populated than Dharamshala and enjoy far fewer resources per capita, so the quality of life and opportunities for study and work are vastly insufficient. The proposed agricultural program would provide a way for the Tibetan refugees in these areas to put good food in their bellies and to have plenty left over to sell in the markets to support their families.

THE OHR OLAM PROJECT

This is an exciting time for Azriel Cohen's spiritual and cultural bridge-building initiative in Dharamshala and Jerusalem (and wherever else he goes). The Ohr Olam Project was launched informally 1997, not long after DEVI was founded, to provide an accepting and nurturing environment for Jewish travelers and residents in Dharamshala to study relevant spiritual teachings from the Jewish traditions, and to have meaningful encounters with people who have different beliefs and practices. Since then, Ohr Olam has hosted several thousand Jews and other spiritual seekers from all backgrounds and from all corners of the world. Last April, over 400 people attended the Ohr Olam Passover Seder in Dharamshala, and we expect even more this year.

As we mentioned above, Azriel has just begun shopping our proposal for the construction of two additional floors above our current facility, which would be shared by Ohr Olam, DEVI and TEC. If we are successful in raising the US$100,000 that we need to do it right, Ohr Olam will be able to serve larger audiences with more programming at a higher level of quality than ever before. The inclusion of a classroom, meeting hall, office space, kosher kitchen, guest suite and a mikveh (ritual bath) will make it possible for Ohr Olam staff and volunteers to stay in Dharamshala year round to run Shabbat and holiday programs. When the facility is not being used by Ohr Olam for Jewish holiday or Shabbat programming, the space will be available for use by DEVI, TEC and possibly other community organizations for classes, workshops, events and other activities to support the larger community.

So far, in his first month of fundraising, Azriel has found about 20% of the total requirement, so we still need help. Ohr Olam has now officially taken residence under the umbrella of The Earthville Network, so any contributions to Ohr Olam's work are tax-deductible in the US. If you or anyone you know might wish to support this project, please contact Azriel at ohrolam@ohrolam.org.

EARTHVILLE ONLINE: YOUR GLOBAL COMMUNITY ISP (COMING SOON)

We are happy to announce the impending arrival of a new Earthville initiative which is sure not to revolutionize the way you access the internet, but to save you a little money while making us a lot - and over time to build community on the web. The Earthville Network will soon be launching its own nationwide (in the US) and hopefully international Internet Service Provider (ISP). Earthville will resell Internet access using the major companies' infrastructure, so you will dial into the same numbers used by EarthLink, Mindspring and others and receive the same (not always perfect but pretty good) quality, but for a few dollars less - and all the proceeds will benefit Earthville's charitable activities. Isn't that cool? We think so.

Once we get a bit of cash from this, we'll be able to step up our efforts toward building community online, which will be fun. Details should be finalized over the next moon or two, so watch out for our announcement.

GLOBAL ALLIANCE FOR INTERFAITH ACTION (GAIA)

GAIA is a long-term project to explore ways in which we can collaborate with other organizations around the world to bring together people from all the world's wisdom traditions in service of our shared goals to relieve suffering, spread joy and empower the lesser advantaged.

The first major project we are hoping to undertake is to bring Israeli and Palestinian youth to Dharamshala to work together on service projects to benefit the Tibetans. These groups would be run by skilled and sensitive facilitators from both "sides", and would use the Tibetan service projects as a vehicle to build bonds (in a way similar to that used by Outward Bound and other such programs), and then gently begin to explore feelings about issues closer to home, with a view to helping each to understand the "other". It is hoped that in this way we can begin to build bridges between these tensely divided communities, forming relationships that will hopefully last beyond the end of the program and serve as a basis for formal and informal peacemaking back home. We would, of course, work with suitable groups in Israel and the Palestinian territories to provide reintegration and other follow-up activities there, which hopefully would include continued collaboration on service projects on their own soil.

H.H. the Dalai Lama has expressed his support for this program and agreed to give the keynote or orientation speech when the participants arrive in Dharamshala, setting a tone of compassion, honesty and reconciliation for the whole program. To make this happen, we will need both funding and a lot of time from sensitive people. If you are interested, please email gaia@gaiaweb.org.

ROCKY MOUNTAIN EARTHVILLE INSTITUTE (RMEI)

David Bloom's long-term initiative to manifest the magic of an Earthville community resource center and hangout space (a la DEVI in Dharamshala, plus an online component) in Colorado is still alive but currently simmering on the back burner due to our hero's more pressing good work in other areas, such as the Langberg Foundation, Harmony School and his new and improved day job as Assistant Director of the Museum of Natural History at the University of Colorado at Boulder. We expect it will happen eventually (back home in India, one might say "tomorrow definitely no problem"...), so any of you who may be interested in playing a part in the pathblazing process are encouraged to dreamstorm with Dave, and to lend him a hand if you have one to spare. Email db@rmei.org.

THE GLOBAL CURRICULUM, EARTHVILLE UNIVERSITY AND EARTHVILLE SCHOOLS

In the very long term, our ultimate goal remains the development of models for the "Global Village Schools" of the future, and a truly global curriculum and philosophy which would inform the culture and content of the learning and teaching that would happen there. This "hardware and software" combination would draw on the great diversity of our world's cultural and wisdom traditions to create school environments and experiences that would foster in its students cultural consciousness, respect for diversity, pride in one's own culture and a strong sense of local and global responsibility. It would also lead its students to empower themselves with the knowledge, skills, personal traits and experiences to help them serve as responsible, compassionate and effective leaders of progressive change in the global age, and to be kind, creative and happy people. You'll hear lots more about this in the months, years and millennia to come.

For now, we wish everyone a profoundly happy new moment, now and forever.

With all our non-temporally-confined love,

Dara and mark, your neighbours in Earthville