During lunchtime today, the Spiritual Activism Conference held a rally in Sproull Plaza. Jim Wallis spoke, as well as Rabbi Michael Lerner (pictured here on the steps of Sproull Hall).
The demographics of the conference attendees was very interesting - a friend of mine asked if there was some kind of aging hippy conference today, and I guess that is as accurate a characterization as any other. There seemed to be relatively few college age attendees, and the workshop that I visited had many people of middle age and beyond.
They had a good lineup of speakers and performers. I thought that the folk singer, David Rovics had a very pointed and entertaining song "Who Would Jesus Bomb"
For the afternoon speakers, I was particular impressed with Rick Ufford-Chase's concrete approach to activism.
A few blocks away from the conference was this temporary shrine to Meleia Willis-Starbuck. On a scholarship at Dartmouth, she had come back to Berkeley for the summer to work at a shelter for homeless women and children. In what looks like a case of "friendly fire", one of her best friends accidentally shot and killed her, perhaps thinking he was protecting her from a group of men that had argued with her earlier.At the conference, speakers spoke to us about nations making war on each other for no good reason, while in our own neighborhoods, friends kill their best friends for no good reason.
1 comment:
Hey Steve - Great photos, Steve, and intelligent commentary as well. I was at Berkely for the FSM and also for Michael Lerner's Spiritual Activism Conference, and the connection is palpable. As for the tragedy of Meleia, who was in my son's class at Berkeley High School and was at his six year birthday party - the only girl and only african-american, a feisty little person. I walked between the shrine and the conference, feeling the tragic sense of life along with an inexplicable optimism despite the needless loss of young Meleia. I feel connected to your photos and choice of topics and send my thanks for sharing them!
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