I’m sending out screeners for ‘Almonds’ to film festivals this morning. You can watch the trailer here…
The press package is also available as a pdf – the project’s back story. After reviewing the press package and checking in with Kai last night, I had another consumption insight.
Kai is still wrangling with the fuel system on the borrowed truck – it’s a big honking gas guzzler. “Here I am driving this monster truck trying to get ready for a project about small footprints.” He confessed to having some parts shipped Fedex – big jets blasting carbon across the sky so we can have our tiny whatzits. Me too – I left my backpack at Mike and Sarah’s house in Arizona and there’s the tent that Melanie torture tested and didn’t return until after I had left Brooklyn. Should I buy a new tent and backpack or have the old ones shipped? It’s tough to get away from consumption even when you really, really want to.
So another theme emerges – kicking the habit is not a cakewalk. Taking a page from AA, “Hi, my name is Dan and I am an addict.” The habit of consumption might be tougher to kick than booze or cigs, because consumption is everywhere, it’s insidious. So perhaps a smile and some slack as we make the transition from consumption to production. Compassion AND persistence are the winning combination.
I spent $50 today on 1 loaf of bread, 1 small bag cat food, 1 medium bag of carrots, 1 container of hummus, 1 small watermelon. Man, do I miss the Park Slope Food Coop, shopping in a standard grocery is hell. Not much choice and super expensive. So simplifying my food supply is a must not only to back away from consumption but also cause there’s no way to sustain life when it costs so much to eat. I’m glad I restocked the grain cache for months of happy sprouting.
Bringing it full circle…When folks get a consumption fix, they enable a global chain of causality – abundant raw materials, environmental injury, cheap labor, political repression, inexpensive goods, corporate hegemony, global transportation, sprawl. It’s all caused by an unhealthy habit. By embracing the products and services offered to us, we become the agents of cataclysm. Consumers are terrorists.
I have to work at my recovery every day, and count the days I’ve been free. Hello, my name is Dan Kelly, I am a consumer and a terrorist. Recovery is possible, we must train our inner terrorist.