Kleiner's Blog

So, what the heck are we supposed to do as the world divides around us into hundreds and thousands of fighting factions that exist only to see their cause succeed and to watch all others fail?  I think the answer; the real genuine and right answer is far easier than people may think.  In fact, the solution to dispelling the ridiculous nature of modern times is you.

Where once Timothy Leary suggested we  “Tune In, Turn On and Drop Out”, I think we need to Tune in, Get Pissed, Turn off and Help Out. 

That’s it – plain and Simple.  We are the reason the world exists the way it does and we can change it.  Everything we buy, we eat, we drink – every product we use, every show we watch, everything – all of it is a visceral vote for the way we want the world around us to be.  If you are eating at chain restaurants, shopping at Big Box Stores and blinding yourself inside the world of Corporate Media – You are doing it wrong. You are perpetuating the problem.

Now, if you are eating locally, shopping locally and independently and finding your entertainment in books, local arts and music, public art and entertainment networks and the like, you are doing it right.  Still though, we can all do more and the most important thing we can do to see the world truly change in the right way, we have to get out and do work.  We have to get our hands cleaned of their corporate stink.

The death knell of the Corporation is the local community that is fading and has begun to disappear all across this country.  We do not know our neighbors. Hell, many of us barely know our friends.  We must go, block by block and become a family again.  We do this and we eat and shop and drink and entertain ourselves independently and the 1% won’t have a damn thing to control any longer.  This rant could continue forever and really needs expansion but not today.  This will be a major part of Remember in 2012.

Disclaimer: This is not a happy-ass vision of some neo-idealistic future. This is practical, common sense thinking based in logic.  No such change can happen overnight and no such change ever will, but hundreds, or even thousands of people working together to rebuild a sense of community will birth the slow change we need.

Today though, the Allentown Parks and Recreation Department and The Salvation Army here in Allentown are doing it right and they need our help to make sure their program succeeds.  They are actively engaging in a series of outreach programs that have the potential to develop just the kind of community required to begin a true resistance to the crappy corporate culture we are all stuck in.  I am going to copy and paste the Morning Call article at the end of this post and I am going to be in touch with these programs directors so I can find out if there is a way that I and my Remember readers can help out.  I will keep you updated.

From the Morning Call:

“ALLENTOWN’S DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION is embarking on a new community partnership with The Salvation Army, 144 N. Eighth St., Allentown. Both organizations will collaborate to increase programs and activities for at-risk youth downtown, including the popular Midnight Basketball program, which will be held 9 p.m. to midnight Fridays through March 2. The basketball program will be coordinated by the Allentown Mentoring Enrichment Network and will also offer mentoring, tutoring and career development. Other programs will include youth indoor soccer, gang prevention, fire safety and prevention, nutrition education, youth fitness, open youth basketball, dodge ball leagues, leadership training, career building workshops, financial education, art classes and after-school programs. After-school tutoring and mentoring is done in conjunction with Arline Institute. Youth indoor soccer will be held on Saturdays, Jan. 7 through March 31 and at the direction of the Allentown Youth Soccer Club. Dodge ball begins Wednesday and will be held 4-5 p.m. Wednesdays through March 28. Art classes will be held 4-5 p.m. Fridays and instruction will be offered by Cotty’s Cartoon and Art Studio. The membership fee is $10 per year. Sponsorship opportunities are available. For information, call Michael Kukitz, director Salvation Army Youth Ministries, at 610-432-0129, ext. 220.”