Valentine’s Day and the Mystery of Universal Cuteness

When I was younger, February 11th or 12th was like my personal day for breaking up with boyfriends. There was even a year or two with my boyfriend, Julian, when we briefly took a break around that time, or at least had drama. My personal drama calendar has left a bad taste in my mouth about Valentine’s Day. You know, I just hate that decision you have to make, either “girls night” or just hang out by yourself and give yourself the Independent Woman pep talk. Even though I have a perma-Valentine now, I still find the holiday a bit annoying.

But this year, the Million Person Project has helped change my tone and broaden my idea of Valentine’s Day.

Here is my deal. Ever since I was a little girl, I have been overcome and overwhelmed by the cuteness of other people. I’ve always thought my mom and dad are the cutest people in the universe, and don’t even get me started on my sister or Arley. But it really extends further out into the world. As a kid, I remember just wishing that people would pick me up and hug me so I could snuggle my head into them. I love how different people smell and how different people’s hands feel. As a kid, I was pretty lucky. I had bright white hair and a speech impediment, so generally people thought I was cute too and would swoop me up quite often.

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Nightmare in South Africa

I had the honor of meeting Patrick Jacobs in a workshop on grassroots strategies for addressing climate change and poverty, hosted by Green For All, held in Durban, South Africa at the United Nations Climate Negotiations last month. I was drawn to his story because he shared about how it is peach season right now in his community and how horrible this season can be because the peaches are toxic. I sat listening in horror, my hands over my face.

“If the children eat the peaches, they will get sick. To save the children we just all go out and gather them and put them in the bin. They are so dangerous for the children.” He paused. “ I know there are times when we can’t be there and the children will eat one.”

Jacobs’ lives less that one kilometer from a coal plant in South Africa that is using explosives to remove the coal from the land. This process produces toxic dust that has devastated his community. Jacobs traveled to the UN Climate Negotiations to make his community’s story heard.

Check out the interview inside:

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My favorite rapper is Rick Ross and my favorite color is aqua blue!

This is the real Rick Ross!

So, this past weekend I hung out with Cashmere Agency’s Ryan Ford (former Executive Editor of the Source), the League’s Fahiym Ratcliffe and Tarik Ross. Boy ol’ boy did I learn a lot about hip-hop. I mean, you guys might not know this, but I didn’t exactly grow up in a hot bed for rap music.

So in the spirit of sharing, I’ve documented the top 5 things I learned while hanging out with these cool boys.

1. Hip hop can be dead to you but not dead

Yes, lots of people think hip-hop sucks right now. But according to these hip-hop aficionados, the spirit of hip-hop is still alive, even if it’s not present in mainstream music. Young people are still motivated by the same need to express themselves.

2. Asking people who their favorite rapper is is like asking them their favorite color

I learned this one from Ryan Ford. There are so many rappers out these days, it’ hard to chose, and it’s not really all that important because next week another one will show up.

3. The Boss is really just a different Ross

We actually ran into the original Rick Ross, a former Los Angeles based drug dealer who the rapper Rick Ross named himself after. Apparently, the rapper Rick Ross’ whole image is contrived and based off another person. How weird is that?

4. A culture is more true without corporate intent

This one speaks for itself. According to these guys, rap music was a lot better before money got involved.

5. Outkast could be the new Marvin Gaye

As in they make classic music. 20 years from now, your kids are going to be listening to Outkast in the very same way that we we listen to Marvin Gay. Good music never dies.

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The World Is Yours

From my friend Christina Polcari:

“Whose world is this?
The world is yours, the world is yours
It’s mine, it’s mine, it’s mine” -Nas

Rapid response at midnight last night just after Obama broke the bad news and our activist hearts. Young people took to the conference center gates sounding “Our future is in your hands,” “Climate Justice Now,” and “EU don’t sign.” Props to some Bay Area flair for mixing up the straight chants with a taste of Nas. Had the enviros from the various other countries known the melody, we could’ve had something creative and real–a message from young people in our voice. Bookmark that kind of thinking for the strategy we need going back home.

Some thoughts on the protest…first of all, you should know I’m not a typical activist. I only believe in direct action when it’s clever, brilliant, beautiful, or necessary. And in the environmental movement, I’ve found that that caliber of direct action is few and far between. So I’m a cynic. This past week was no different. The march on the Bella Center Wednesday was an utter embarrassment. A few thousand people meandering down streets don’t reflect an urgent global movement. When we finally reached the entrance, police pushed even nonviolent activists around with pepper spray, tear gas, and German Shepherds. There was no “People’s Assembly” as planned. Delegates on the inside were supposed to do a walk-out to meet us, but we never reached each other. There was nothing effective or useful about it.

The only action I heard that was “useful” at the COP15 was a vigil the Saturday before I came. Activists and delegates alike called it beautiful.

But last night, I got excited. While I was wallowing after Obama’s press conference, the organizers were doing what they do best (and what I don’t). Rapid response. Storm the Bella Center gates. Bring candles. Hope you have warm clothes.

It was necessary. But I warned I’m a cynic, so it didn’t live up to what it could have for me. There weren’t enough people for enough of the time to stomp our foot down outside the gates. But there was something there. I started to think about our strategy again moving forward. And I started to see how we could combine the strengths of different types of activists differently than we are now. Next time, there will be Nas.

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Path Through The Parallels

There was a collective cringe in the room last night as activists and journalists listened to Obama’s closing press conference. There was no video, only audio, so you had to do something with your eyes. You could pretend to take notes on your laptop, but there was nothing to note. The speech was empty. As was the “deal.” You could do a slow pan across the room, but that would require making eye contact with people from other countries and there was an unsettling familiarity about being American with a leader failing the rest of the world…again. It would also require making eye contact with the kinds of Americans most responsible for our President’s world-changing election in the first place. So instead, I looked down.

Although I may dream it, I didn’t come to Copenhagen expecting some bold and valiant legally binding treaty. I try to be more of a realist. So maybe I’m naive because I did expect something more than what we got.

The “deal” is a failure. It has no real targets and no real timetables–that’s policy failure. But more importantly, it was reached without the participation of most of the countries that will suffer most and have contributed least to the problem–that’s system failure.

Bill McKibben and Naomi Klein gave our group a much needed therapy session after the speech. McKibben said: “Movements at their best work as people figure out how to exploit the zeitgeist of the moment – what the openings are. We don’t know what the openings are right now. Where there are wedges to be exploited. We’ll find them. This issue isn’t going away; it becomes more important with every passing minute. We’re gonna have to find them. That’s what human beings do. We’ll figure out how to build a movement that influences what it has to influence. But if the terrain shifts, strategy will shift and it will take a little while to figure that out.”

Our movement is strong, but we’re growing. We have learned so much this week especially about how we need to grow differently as a movement. It’s an interesting parallel to the change for which we strive and it brings me hope, drive, ambition, and focus. Here’s to the months that lie ahead.

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Heather Box