Pete Seeger is an individual who is easy to describe with superlatives, though I believe he hates to be called things like a folk icon, legend, pioneer, or hero. He has had an epic life, full of amazing contributions to our culture and politics. In person, he conveys a comfortable, homespun way about himself that puts you at ease. He truly is a humble, modest soul, and in conversation is slow to credit himself on his lifework's impact. Seeger has 65 years of performing behind him. It can be safely said that in the 20th Century no other individual so successfully combined folk music and progressive politics. Pete has sung for the labor movement and the civil rights movement, the anti-war movements, anti-nuclear power and the environmental movement.

Dear Talking Leaves reader:

Recognizing that TL has always been at heart an educational project and a service rather than a commercial venture, we have revamped Talking Leaves' distribution strategy, In an effort to maximize readership and get TL into the hands of everyone who wants to read it, we are discontinuing most newsstand sales (where most copies get discarded, unsold) and instead we are asking you to answer the question: who should be reading Talking Leaves? Instead of charging a set subscription price, we are offering year-long subscriptions for a donation of any amount to Lost Valley Educational Center--simply tell us that you want to be on the Talking Leaves mailing list. Do you also know of friends, organizations, or libraries who would benefit from TL? Please send us their names and addresses, along with whatever donation you feel able to make. (For international subscriptions, we must unfortunately still ask for a minimum donation adequate to cover the high shipping costs.*)

• Front Cover Photo: Pete Seeger--courtesy of Appleseed Recordings
• "Letter to Friends of Lost Valley
• "Notes from the Editor: What's Up With This Issue?" by Chris Roth
• "Lost Valley News: Highlights of 2003, Programs for 2004"
• "You Never Can Tell: A Conversation with Pete Seeger" by David Kupfer
• "Masked and Anonymous: It's Life and Life Only" by Chris Roth
• "Deficit Disorders for a World on Edge" by Tom Atlee
• "Rhythms of the Planet: An Interview with Mickey Hart" by David Kupfer
• "Present Moment Awareness" by Paddie Cowburn
• And There Was Light by Jose Knighton
• "Yogapolitic and the Prisonismschism" by Greg Michael
• poems by Devon Bonady
• "Gardening Words on a Rainy Afternoon" by Chris Roth
• "Giving in to Cabin Fever" by Becky Brun
• Every Autumn by Scott Brooks
• "The Purge" by Russ Reina
• towel haiku by Chris Roth
• An Invocation by Mike Jones
• "Creating Intentional Communities: The Successful 10%--and Why 90% Fail" by Diana Leafe Christian
• "Teaching Organic Farming and Gardening: Between the Covers, and Between the Rows" by Chris Roth
• Talking Back (letters to the editor)
• "Practical Idealists Unite!
  

I wake up when it's getting light out and the birds are beginning their morning chirps and trills. I gaze up through the window-screen opening in my bedroom wall towards the high trunks and leaves of the tulip poplars outside the tiny dwelling my mom and I call home. Now that it's summer, the leaves are full and luxurious. It's still cool at this hour. I love this mountain forest and these tulip poplars. I know the brace and curve of every branch I see from my bed in winter. I love how in early spring the branches wear the barest, most imperceptible hint of green for weeks and weeks, then sprout tiny buds for a few days, then become a lush impenetrable wall of leaves almost overnight.

I am 16 months old, and my grandmother, Nana, is writing this for me. This week, Nana and Grandpa have been visiting. They say that watching me and listening to me is better than any television show could ever be. This must be true, because they have never turned on the television, just the way Mommy and Daddy never turn on the television when I am in the room. (They say it might do something to my brain.)

I thought you might like to read about a morning in my life. Small as I am, Nana thinks that I am an interesting example of a person who lives a sustainable life style, although, obviously, my parents and I need to make some compromises now and then. Who doesn't?