Mail bag…
I was moved by the story of Heather, the eventual-subscriber who recognized subscribing to be a symbolic gesture of accepting Planet Waves’ ideas as worthy of consideration. It sounds as though she put a lot of thought into whether she could make such a gesture and commitment. I’m going to suggest that we all consider such a commitment with that level of intention.
I read Planet Waves several times a week. It has given me the courage to do several things that I would not have done otherwise, I believe. To me, Planet Waves acts as an ambassador of freedom. From the time I was very, very young, I learned that my being real frightened people — threatened them, actually.
I now live in a body that has quite literally become rigid and cold (a disease called scleroderma). My body has taken on the task of holding myself in so that I do not threaten. Planet Waves was one of the factors that helped me to realize, in a much more subtle and deep way than I had before, how imprisoned I am.
For all of us who care passionately about freedom, let’s make a gesture that says as much. I am going to make a donation to Planet Waves over and above subscription costs and encourage others to do the same. The amount does not matter. The intention, gesture, and commitment does. I’m a little late for the New Moon with this intention, but I think the universe is still listening. LET’S EMBODY OUR COMMITMENT TO FREEDOM and watch what happens. LET’S MAKE A GESTURE IN THE NAME OF FREEDOM and all those who are striving to step more into this state. LET’S SUPPORT THOSE WHO INSPIRE US to live with vitality and abandon.
Thanks to those of you who live with this intention everyday,
Chris
Subscribe to Planet Waves Astrology News.
Dear Friend and Reader:
For the next two weeks, I will be posting testimonials from readers who answer the question: “What is Planet Waves?” If you would like to participate, you can email me, Rachel Asher, at editorial -at- planetwaves.net. Eric will be back on June 20.
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Frozen forest in late winter, near New Paltz, New York (in the Clove Valley), far from the contamination on the state college campus. Photo by Eric Francis. |
I’m sure that some of you are unaware of Eric’s involvement in Dioxin Dorms, an ongoing project that is raising awareness of PCB contamination in SUNY New Paltz, a state college halfway between New York City and Albany. Four dormitories were contaminated after an electrical explosion 17 years ago, and they are still unsafe to inhabit. Regardless, students continue to live in the residence halls; some do this out of ignorance, others out of denial.
Eric has been frequently shocked and dumbfounded by New Paltz’s — and the local press’ — disregard for the safety of these students. I find it particularly shocking because I graduated from New Paltz three years ago and was unaware of the dioxin poisoning until this year. Many of my friends lived in the contaminated dorms, and I slept in them for weeks on end.
I’ve included a section that Eric has written, covering the contamination of SUNY New Paltz dormitories. As an addendum; for those of you unfamiliar with the campus, two new dormitories have been built in the last 6 years (Esopus Hall and Lenape) that are clean, new and uncontaminated. Instead of closing down the four Dioxin Dorms and moving students to the safe and new ones, the administration has filled them all, and will continue to do so as long as students arrive, move in and, unwittingly, risk their lives.
As I wrote yesterday, it seems that times are finally shifting into a new, brighter era. Hopefully, if we keep shining the light on this dangerous situation in my beloved alma mater, students can complete their undergraduate degrees, walking out with only their diplomas and some very fond memories.
Take care,
Rachel Asher
From Blacksburg to New Paltz
Rotterdam, Friday, April 20, 2007
Imagine this scenario. Your kid dreams of being a schoolteacher, and was accepted there, planning an education major. The big day comes, a sunny afternoon in August, the first day of college. You and your family drive from Long Island up to the Hudson Valley turn right off of the Thruway and you’re in another world. The town is utterly charming, and the mountain setting is stunning enough to make Northern California a little envious. You follow the campus map to Bliss Residence Hall, go to the desk, check in. The roommate’s family is there, and they’re of course very nice.
You unload the car, then go out for lunch at the Bistro and basically feel great. This is such a turning point: your child is now a young adult, taking a tangible step toward independence.
What you don’t know is this. You just moved your son or daughter into a building where an electrical explosion one cold morning in December 1991 sent levels of toxins spiking a million times the “safe limit.” You don’t know that the radiators and air vents in the building were contaminated when thick, greasy PCB and dioxin-tainted smoke literally soaked the place, rising rapidly because the smoke was so hot and the air was so cold.
You don’t know that in just the first three years, more than $36 million was spent, supposedly to clean the campus, and that the cleanup effort was wracked in scandal, controversy and crisis from the first days. All you see is the surface layer: a nice, if somewhat old, dormitory on a fairly typical campus. You never planned for your child to die of leukemia six years later. And you are appalled that a basic Google search of New Paltz + PCBs warns of just this potential and a good bit besides — but a little too late.
Since the dorms were prematurely re-opened in 1992 and 1993, approximately 15,000 students have come through those very buildings, each of them being exposed to toxins that at best add significantly to what they carry in a polluted world (their body burden, or total lifetime exposure), and at worst, send them over the edge toward a terminal or debilitating illness. The results might be immediate (such as getting mononucleosis) or long-term (such as fertility issues). They may be subtle (a compromised immune system, for no apparent reason) to violent (brain tumors). They may appear in the next generation (childhood vaginal cancer in your granddaughter).
How does this happen? Cleanup levels used to re-open the dorms are outdated. They do something that is now unconscionable in science: they presume a “safe level” of exposure to dioxin and PCBs. Key areas in all four dormitories were never checked for toxins. There is no way to verify the truth of the state’s tests, and it’s nearly impossible for anyone else to get in and take samples. Further, we don’t know what predispositions new students will be coming in with, but we do know that we live in an increasingly toxic world.
Wednesday 11 June 2008
Venus (20+ Gemini) quintile Saturn (2+ Virgo)
Venus (20+ Gemini) sesquiquadrate Chariklo (5+ Scorpio Rx)
Venus (21+ Gemini) trine Chiron (21+ Aquarius Rx)
Mars (17+ Leo) trine Quaoar (17+ Sagittarius Rx)
Mercury (15+ Gemini Rx) septile Apollo (6+ Leo)
Venus (21+ Gemini) semisquare Asbolus (6+ Taurus)
Hidalgo (7+ Scorpio Rx) sesquiquadrate Uranus (22+ Pisces)
Sun (20+ Gemini) quincunx Jupiter (20+ Capricorn Rx)
Apollo (6+ Leo) quintile Admetos (24+ Taurus)
Eros (29+ Gemini) conjunct Ceres (29+ Gemini)
Sun (20+ Gemini) sesquiquadrate Chariklo (5+ Scorpio Rx)
Sun (20+ Gemini) trine Chiron (20+ Aquarius Rx)
Sun (21+ Gemini) quintile Saturn (3+ Virgo)
Eros (0 Cancer) square Aries Point (0 Aries)
Eros enters Cancer (direct)
Venus (21+ Gemini) sextile Eris (21+ Aries)
Eros (0+ Cancer) opposite Pluto (0+ Capricorn Rx)
Ceres (0 Cancer) square Aries Point (0 Aries)
Ceres enters Cancer (direct)
Arachne (1+ Libra) quintile Ixion (13+ Sagittarius Rx)
Sun (21+ Gemini) semisquare Asbolus (6+ Taurus)
Apollo (7+ Leo) sextile Sisyphus (7+ Libra)
Ceres (0+ Cancer) opposite Pluto (0+ Capricorn Rx)
Asbolus (6+ Taurus) quintile Neptune (24+ Aquarius Rx)
Hylonome (3+ Sagittarius Rx) sesquiquadrate Varuna (18+ Cancer)
Mars (18+ Leo) septile Hades (27+ Gemini)
Mercury (14+ Gemini Rx) septile 1992 QB1 (23+ Aries)
Venus (22+ Gemini) semisquare Apollo (7+ Leo)
Oracle takes us to Feb 01, 2002 – Cancer – Monthly
Between what is perfectly uncertain and absolutely certain in your closest partnerships is a narrow window of true potential. This window is not always open, and its view is most unfamiliar. Whole worlds have arisen in a short time. New dimensions of what is possible to share with another person have emerged in your perception. I would say this probably feels a little daunting, really amazing and also scary because you know it may not happen any time soon. But some days your entire perspective is obscured by doubt, fog and mystery. Though security ranks among your actual priorities, you are also capable of embracing deeply uncertain realities. In a strange way, you can draw a sense of perfect safety in just how mysterious and unpredictable your situation is. I would call this putting all your personal attributes to work for you, rather than against one another, just when you need to the most.