Word Around Town

“Talking to the Wall” is documentary film maker Steve Alves’ account of Greenfield’s 1992 battle against Wall-Mart which made it the first town in the country to successfully reject Wall-Mart’s advances. Engaging, beautifully edited, and fact-filled, this documentary reminds us of what’s so special about Greenfield(!) I couldn’t find this DVD in the library, but now I have a copy, so am happy to lend to anyone who’s interested. You can also buy it or read more on the web site (above). 57 mintues, or so.

(additional note): Despite my long love-affair with Greenfield, MA, I came across this DVD while searching for Wall-Mart locations in Massachusetts for some Indian cousins visiting from England . . .

• Wanting a Child. Edited and with an introduction by Jill Bialosky and Helen Schulman. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1998.

  A collection of stories about having (and not having) children. A lot of powerful stories.

• Rinpoche, Sogyal. The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying. Edited by Patrick Gaffney and Andrew Harvey. Harper San Francisco, c1992.

  Very powerful book on Tibetan Buddhism. Very profound, lots of death, suffering, and the way out of suffering through love.

• Nearing, Helen. Loving and leaving the good life. Chelsea Green Pub. Co., c1992.

  This is an autobiography of Helen Nearing who grew up in the early part of the century in a theosophist family in a New York suburb. She and Scott Nearing went “back to the land” early in the depression, practicing a simple life in Vermont and later in Maine, while writing and speaking on social and economic justice.

• Cobb, Nancy. In Lieu of Flowers: a Conversation for the Living. New York: Pantheon Books, 2000.

  A book about grief that was recommended by a friend. The strongest passages are those where the author writes about her own mother’s death. The generalizations about grief are less useful.

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  Brian Weiss is a scientifically minded clinical psychologist who came upon past life regression when working with a patient. This was the beginning of a spiritual path for him and he has since written many books and used past life regression to treat a number of patients. These books all have the same themes, but the newest (or the second, “Only Love is Real” may be the most powerful. All are worth reading and, like The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying they deal with death, with fear, and with the primacy of love.

• Weiss, Brian L. Messages from the Masters : Tapping into The Power of Love. New York: Warner Books, c2000.

  Don’t be turned off by “The Master” language here. Master are people that Weiss gets teachings/message from. The books are about reincarnation, and mostly about principles for living.

• Weiss, Brian L. Only Love is Real: a Story of Soulmates Reunited. New York: Warner Books, c1996.

  This book is framed by the story of “Soulmates Reunited”, but, like the other books, has a number of other case studies and stories. Very powerful.

• Weiss, Brian L. Many Lives, Many Masters. New York: Warner Books, 1996.

  The first book. Primarily the story of Weiss’ first experience of past-life regression through a single patient and her story. Also very powerful.

This is one of my favorite books at the moment. It’s essentially an autobiography of Helen (and Scott) Nearing, famous before-their-time back-to-the-landers, vegetarians, and intellectual, and authors of Living the Good Life.

Helen and Scott went “back to the land” during the Depression, moving from New York City to rural Vermont. Scott was a professor who was basically barred from teaching in universities in the U.S. because of his “radical” views on child labor (he was against) and his opposition to the first World War. Helen, an accomplished violinist about 20 years his junior, grew up in a comfortable Theosophist family in New Jersey and spent a time in her teens as a companion of Krishnamurti.

Living the Good Life is about the Vermont project. It discusses Scott and Helen’s general philosophy, the vegetarian diet, raw foods, stone house building, greenhouses, etc. Loving and Leaving The Good Life is a much more personal account of Scott and Helen’s lives, and their life together, including their time in Vermont and later in rural Maine. It’s also the story of Scott’s death, by voluntary starvation, at just over 100.

If you enjoy this book, you might want to check out Helen’s Simple Food for the Good Life, an unconventional, simple cookbook from a woman who never wanted to cook but ended up feeding thousands of visitors.

Amy Daczyn (the author) is a New England mother, graphic artist, and military wife who published a popular newsletter in the ’90s called “The Tightwad Gazette”. She’s creative, smart, and calls herself “the frugal zealot.” Rather than “doing without” for its own sake, Amy’s focus is on reducing debt, and, when possible, in “doing with less” in order to spend where we feel it’s important–thrift in the service of financial freedom. The Complete Tightwad Gazette is an 800-page compelation of newsletters which includes letters from readers and additional content. Beware–this book is addictive and definitely thrift-inducing. Also beware that her food prices are painfully out-of-date . . .

On Amazon, or better yet, check out an earmarked copy from your local library.