Greetings, dear reader (if there’s one out there). The time between posts is growing, a sign that the end grows nigh for Vivid, but I don’t yet have the heart to pull the plug. For one thing, I have one more exposition to get off my chest, promised months ago and very nearly ripe for delivery (it’s been a long gestation).
For another, I can’t resist the temptation to chip in and comment one last time on the state of affairs in the big wide world. Read the rest of this entry »
6 Comments | 
State of the culture | 
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Posted by Vanessa
This is a short note to anyone interested in permaculture or sustainable food production (I know there’s at least one out there!) to flag up another blog I’ve started, documenting my permaculture journey. It won’t be of interest to everyone but if you like pretty pictures of lettuces and straw bale buildings it might be for you!
Find it at Slow Worm.
Meanderings on belonging will be the subject of my next Vivid article, in the pipeline now.
3 Comments | From the heartlands | Tagged: permaculture | Permalink
Posted by Vanessa
All thoughts now are with the people of Japan as they bow to the terrifying might of mother nature and the folly of man; and to the people of the Middle East as they face down brutal oppression.
But I promised I’d come back with tales of vivid things and at such times as these of fear and change perhaps vivid things are needed most of all.
It didn’t actually take me nine months to find those things; the delay has been due to other commitments and a winter go-slow. Thank you for coming back. Read the rest of this entry »
14 Comments | State of the culture | Tagged: permaculture | Permalink
Posted by Vanessa
There I was, putting the finishing touches to a long-overdue post … when suddenly a poem came to mind.
It’s pretty cheesy since I bashed it out in an hour and I haven’t written poetry before. Well, not since I was about 12.
But what the hell: the worst that can happen is that everyone thinks one of my sons has hijacked my WordPress account. I’ll stick it here — if only to broadcast the message that Vivid is alive! The ‘proper’ post will follow this short intermission … Read the rest of this entry »
3 Comments | State of the culture | Permalink
Posted by Vanessa
Seems there is always more to say. I was reminded of this by (among other things) the varied and valued responses to my last post, which between them show that you don’t have to look far to find an alternative perspective. It’s time to try one, here.
9 Comments | State of the culture, The big question | Tagged: Daniel Quinn, Morris Berman, sacred, vivid | Permalink
Posted by Vanessa
This is a personal entry. Which is not to say that the previous posts here weren’t — it’s just that most of VIVID’s analytical pieces are still tinged with the affectations of my professional training as a journalist. In full force, these produce the high-minded style that’s employed in mainstream news formats to create the illusion of objective authority, but that in fact serves to cover up inadequate investigation, the regurgitation of state or corporate propaganda and the mindless reinforcement of destructive social behaviours in the name of advertising profit. Read the rest of this entry »
24 Comments | State of the culture, The big question | Tagged: eco-groups, environmental campaigning, indigenous, integrity, sustainability, transition towns | Permalink
Posted by Vanessa
Modern civilisation may have no central command … but it acts as if it does. VIVID thinks it should come clean and set up a reality newswire, which tells us straight what’s being decided at its hypothetical, brain-free centre. This month we’d have:
The PSOG (Public Sedation Optimisation Group), a division of the the IPCE (Institute of Public Confusion Enhancement), which is indirectly funded by the government’s DJFIP (Department of the Justification for Foreign Invasion and Pillage) is celebrating its latest bench-marking results, which reveal that we are fast approaching our stage 1 goal of widespread, medium-level, public sedation. This was revealed by a recent exercise undertaken with the help of a most accommodating partner in the White House. Read the rest of this entry »
2 Comments | News from the dead centre | Tagged: environmental health, global land grab, GRAIN, Nobel Peace Prize, opiate for the masses | Permalink
Posted by Vanessa
Seems we need the very basis of our livelihoods to be threatened before we do something about the world outside. For most of us, our livelihood is represented by money, food in the shops, and transport to get us to the places that issue money or food. Which is why we only strike, protest or riot in numbers when one of those is under immediate threat (but not before).
But of course, the basis of our livelihoods is really the land (and air, and water) — and (for those who haven’t noticed), it is under immediate threat. Read the rest of this entry »
Leave a Comment » | Catching up, From the frontier | Tagged: Campaign for Real Farming, Chief Surui, Copenhagen, Kayapo Indians, Penan, Soil Association | Permalink
Posted by Vanessa
So, you’re an alien approaching a new world. You want to gauge the friendliness (or otherwise) of the dominant species on that world. You take out your powerful telescope and zoom in on the planet to suss out, as a first indicator, how this dominant species treats the other life forms with which it shares its world.
By the way, it’s Earth you’re hovering above (you knew that already). How do you react, given the evidence in front of you? If you enjoy life, probably very hastily – backwards. Read the rest of this entry »
5 Comments | State of the culture | Tagged: animal tests, speciesism, value of life | Permalink
Posted by Vanessa
Researchers at universities in Portugal and Belgium discovered earlier in the year that the way to less selfish societies is to give individuals the freedom to behave as they wish. Their research gives scientific weight to the idea that, left to their own devices, people tend naturally to cooperation.
Though perhaps not a huge surprise to most of us, it offers another important challenge to the traditional line that our default priority behaviour is to compete – a line that has determined the rules of our economic and social systems for centuries.
7 Comments | Catching up, State of the culture | Tagged: Celts, civilisation, Farnish, Illich, Jensen, Kotke, Middle Earth, Roman Empire, Zerzan | Permalink
Posted by Vanessa
