Wilkinson, John

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Green RevolutionVolume 4 | Issue 9 Article 79-1-1966Interest at Center for Study of DemocraticInstitutionsJohn WilkinsonCenter for the Study of Democratic InstitutionsFollow this and additional works at: https://research.library.kutztown.edu/greenrevolutionThis Letter to the Editor is brought to you for free and open access by Research Commons at Kutztown University. It has been accepted for inclusion inGreen Revolution by an authorized editor of Research Commons at Kutztown University. For more information, please contactczerny@kutztown.edu,.Recommended CitationWilkinson, John (1966) "Interest at Center for Study of Democratic Institutions," Green Revolution: Vol. 4 : Iss. 9 , Article 7.Available at: https://research.library.kutztown.edu/greenrevolution/vol4/iss9/72- THE GREEN REVOLUTION, September, 1966 Letters To The Editor Simple Disposition Of Human Manure To the Editor: Hal Porter's fourth installment on homesteading was even bet­ter than the previous ones, es­pecially his insight into the un­fortunate agricultural attitude of our ancestors. But I was glad to read Helen Ryan's follow-up article in which she tries com­mendably to take the wasfe out of Mr. Porter's "human wastes." I'd like to carry this subject one step further toward health and simplicity. My homestead, Tall Oaks, has almost complete privacy, and we don't use con­crete tanks periodically with an outhouse that traps vapors and shuts out the purifying action of circulating air and sunlight. I simply have a composting area with no pit or equipment of any kind. Human manure, or night soil as it is sometimes called, is as wonderful or better than ma­nures from other animals for gar­dening; it need be composted no more than the manure of domes­tic animals before applying it to vegetables and trees. It is true that most humans are more dis­eased now than domestic ani­mals, but there is complete safe­ty, even if there is chronic dis­ease in the household, if the ma­nure is exposed to the sun for a period of at least a week, or in winter composted for a month or more. In a tank, even un­covered, it tends to foster an­aerobic bacteria and stay moist, thereby releasing odors that may be objectionable to neighbors. The sun has the power to trans­mute bacteria that are unfriendly to beneficial bacteria. I simply form small piles daily, then larger compost piles when suffi­cient is accumulated. Homesteads without privacy can have a wooden fence around the area 4 or 5 feet high, and -perna-ps a 1,aT1 neo.ge arounu the entire grounds. Of course, in northern climates one may not be hardy enough for moving one's bowels outdoors in the nude in the cold season. In such cases, a semi-heated privy at­tached to the house would seem to be the next best way. Or if one cannot extricate himself from conventional plumbing but has his own septic t;mk, the tank can be opened every few years and the sludge spread in the sun to cure. If this is planned, one should not put any chemical down drains that is not wanted in the garden, such as detergent. It is generally agreed among naturopaths that sitting while defecating rather than squatting is one of the major causes of the national constipation. And any­one can easily change this habit even though he uses a conven­tional toilet or privy. H you want reassurance as to the· health and wisdom of using your very own night soil, read F. H. King's Farmers For Forty Centuries, London, Eng., Jona­than Cape Publishers. This book can probably be obtained from Health Research, Mokelumne Hill, Calif. We often quote Chinese pro­verbs for their wisdom; now let's begin to study their superior ag­riculture.-Bud Plumb, Box 195, Streator, Ill. Interest At Center For Study Of Democratic Institutions To the Editor: I am an assiduous reader of you:- Green Revolution and have The Green Revolution Second class mailing privilege au· orized at Brcoltvme, Ohio 4530'1. Publi,hed monthly by The School of Living, Lan•'• End Homastoad, Brook· · ne, Ohio 4530,. Editor: Mildred J. Loom!>. $gbscription rates: Tie Green Revo­lution, $3 a year, The GrHn Rnol11-fl011 with School of Uvlng member­mip, $5 a year, Tie Grff/1 Re,o/utlon ;,nd bimonthly A Way Out, $6 a yHr. Telephone: TE 11-4522 (New L.ebanon, Ohio). very great sympathy and admira­tion for your goals. I've can­vassed the possibility of living that way myself, tho it may be late to start now. But with a new baby it becomes very neces­sary to raise her in an environ­ment in which some of the tra­riitional human values have some scope. The constant round of tele­visions and delinquency to which the child will shortly be exposed almost anywhere in California is something to be avoided at any cost. Your publication has given me a very clear conception of the problems involved, and I circulate The Green Revolution among my colleagues. I think it has been very well received. I have no recommendations to make to you. It is rather the oth­er way around . ... I particularly liked your piece on The Techno­logical Socie±y. I have seen 25 or 30 reviews of Ellul's work, and yours is one of two that makes any sense at all. I have circulated this review among my colleagues and later may solicit their opinions and trans­mit them to you. But things here at the Center, thank God, move with a becoming degree of slow­ness. - John Wilkinson, Center for the Study of Democratic In­stitutions, Santa Barbara, Calif. [Editor's Note. Dr. Wilkinson is the translator from the French of Jacques Ellul's Technological Society.] Go Ahead and Live! Helps Natural Birth To the Editor: Let us give you the story of our copy of Go Ahead and Live! Last Christmas our oldest daugh­ter and Navy husband came home, with another baby on the way. At their base all Navy ex­pectant mothers are given spinal anesthesia. She didn't want it but didn't know how to· get out of it and neither did we. A friend gave our secono. o.augnter a copy of Go Ahead and Live! and I promptly read it, and my wife and I discussed it. We were spell­bound with your presentation of the natural birth. This was it! We wrote about it to our Flori­da daughter; she was receptive, so we ordered the book and sent it to her. She and her husband read and discussed it and de­cided in favor of natural birth. Her Navy doctor agreed to it when he saw she meant business and wrote on her record that she was to get no drugs or shots with­out her permission. So they were all set for natural birth. The baby went full term, and it was about time for its debut. And one morning at 2:05 a. m., and right at home, they were awakened by our grandson's en­try into the world. Forty min­utes later she walked into the hospital carrying her newly born baby, just delivered by his own father. She felt wonderful and in full strength, and still does. It was wonderfully simple, easy and painless. It is difficult to say how they might have confronted this situa­tion had they not been previous­ly prepared. We were all very satisfied and your book brought the understanding which made it possible. - Carl Ogren, Rt. 3, Paw Paw, Mich. 49079 Getting A Hearing To the Editor: Glad to see that School of Liv­ing is making an appearance in some of the other media: King Features had an approv­ing comment on May-July 1965 A Way Out; so did The Book­lovers Answer; and Guidelines listed A Way Out ar!d Green Rev­olution as among America's most controversial publications; and Kerry Thornley of Innovator said in his Agcomm Directory that A Way Out carried an unusually wide spectrum of libertarian thought. I also noted that Frag­ments published a letter from MJL, and Henry George News developed a long article around one of her letters.-Herb Rose­man, 1455 E. 85th, Brooklyn, N. Y. [Note: Others include an arti-cle in the Heretics Section of National Insider, Jan. 23, 1966 by MJL on the Green Revolu­tion; and a feature story on Green Revolutionaries in July 10, 1966 Dayton Daily News; and in The Michigan (University) Daily, July 8-9, by David Knoke, a second generation School of Living member. Reprints of these are available for a stamped en­velope. David had Ralph Bor­sodi with his Student Press Semi­nar at St. Johns of Annapolis for two days in July, and reported it as "one of the most fascinating experiences of my life."-Editor] Report From Kerista To the Editor: We have moved. We have tried four locations in the U. S.: Ibiza Island, Spain; Dominica Island,, W. I.; and Sand Hill, British Hon­duras. We have formulated a "Law of the Permanent Site": Any site will be considered tem­porary unless it has a secnic beach and instant s,vimming, boating and fishing! Our new site appears to have these things, few insects, no poisonous snakes. We are now ready, to receive guests-serious people who are interested in cooperative living. We have Kerista Kibbutz. a Walden II intentional commillli­ty on this lovely island in Cen­tral America; and Kerista Star, enclaves who meet to study Ke­rista and allied subjects. For texts and theoretical studies we use Skinner's Walden IL Neill 's Summerhill, Huxley's Island, Heinlein's Stranger In A Strange Land, Spiro's Kibbutz, and Gur­dieff's Meetings of Remarkable Men.-Jud, Coxen's Hole, Roatan Island, Honduras, C. A. A Gift And A Poem To the Editor: I enclose a check as my gift to the Old Mill Center Fund. Today as I climbed the hills surrounding our city a small creature scurried under a stone. Whereupon I took out my pad, sat on the stone, and wrote: Peak It hurt me that even a lizard fled at my approach, my cloddish tread. But could he really wish to own this symphonic silence all alone? Would one so much a part of hill deny my being still a moment, being kin to crawl and soar before again descending to the ugly roar? -C. S. Dawson Belo Horizonte, Brazil Education Law To the Editor: The following proves that not all are for separation of parents from children by compulsion in public schools. Some carry out favorable legislation when pe­titioned to do so. From The Com­monwealth of Massachusetts Bul­letin: "House Bill 565 to permit children to be absent from pub­lic schools at the discretion of their parents" passed March 3, 1966 by the Committee on Edu­cation. I spoke in favor of cut­ting down separation of parents from children at the public hear­ing on this. - J. Levinson, 43 Greenock, Dorchester, Mass. Improved Titles To the Editor: May I re-title the pictures in the August Green Revolution developed from transparencies which I submitted? On page 1, the "other view" should be cap­tioned. Reroofing Old Mill, a high-spot in our renovation, Sept. 1965. On page 2, "the volunteer" is James Iden Smith (79), who always comes to the workbees and gives generously of time and money to our projects. And let's call Hal Porter, page 4, accom­panying his vigorous Green Rev-How Can We Prepare For Community Living? By Gordon Yaswen cf o Sheldon, Maloney Rd. Wapp Falls, N. Y. Part III Perhaps the greatest advantage of mobile shelters lies yet un­accounted for. During the initial years of any intentional commu­nity I can envision, there will in­evitably be members who come with the best of intentions, but for any of many possible reasons (not only negative ones) find they cannot permanently remain, or must for a few years temporarily depart. This has traditionally raised problems in communities where members have invested their own time and money in building their own permanent homes, for the departing member usually feels he is entitled to some remuneration upon leaving, and the community itself usually has not the money to so give him. Few such dilemmas would ensue were the structures in question towable or collapsible. In fact, I envision a system of communities where prospective members (because they thus fur­nish their own accommodations ) are free to come and sample life in any particular member com­munity of that system, without obligation to stay, and without the community's obligation to keep them because they have per­haps invested themselves in a permanent structure on the premises. Thus mobile, prospec­tive members could perhaps sam­ple several communities before actually settling down to one; and then there should be a higher probability of their staying there permanently, for their previous explorations. In Case of Failure Further, in the event that the site.chosen for a community be­comes impractical for ecological, economic, or political reasons; o.n entire community, i£ thG bulk. of its shelters were portable, could if necessary move EN MASSE to a more favorable loca­tion without having to complete­ly rebuild on the new site. That this capability would be of de­cided advantage with the cur­rent economic, geographic, and political trends as they are in this country, seems quite ob­violJS. I understand how this type of thinking, i.e., planning a commu­nity so as to require minimum permanent investment and be relatively easy to LEA VE, may be to many a very negative way of planning a community in the first place. Yet I hold that this philosophy of PLANNING for FAILURE, so to speak, is a re­liable method of ensuring suc­cess - of building dependability into the system-in that it pre­vents the highly probable MI­NOR failures from amounting to a MAJOR one. I am likewise aware that there are many problems inherent in such a plan, including the pro­pensity it might have for encour­aging great instability in the com­munities that make use of it; and the gaudiness, expense, and in­adequacy of the popularly-avail­able portable homes. I feel, how­ever, these are surmountable drawbacks. Wants Informa:tion I am planning too, within the next three yeru;s, to build or modify a towable home, and would greatly appreciate any ad­vice readers might offer. I am particularly anxious to learn of olution Manifesto, The NEW "Man With the Hoe!" - Grace Lefever, Sonnewald Homestead, Spring Grove, Pa. Favorite of Newcomers To the Editor: The Green Revolution makes sense, and my husband and I hope to find a homestead, start­ing this summer. Your publica­tions have become my favorite, most inspiring reading matter. We'd like back copies of Green Revolution.-Diane Porter, 888 N. Central Ave:. Claremont, Calif. sources for bare mobile home chassis or chassis and shell assem­blies, as well as any helpful books on the subject. I am also beginning to prepare in those other ways I mentioned earlier, and would be interested in com­municating with others who are doing likewise. I want to live in community, but I want any community I move into, or help set up, to have a reasonable chance of success, for I cannot easily re-amass the capital reserve I am now begin­ning to lay up. Therefore I see thorough and realistic prepara­tion as imperative. Perhaps what is needed, before we have a Movement of communities, is a movement of preparation for them. Like Book "It was good to read Go Ahead and Live! For years I have been thinking some about most of the problems of living you discuss. To me it is rewarding to see these published as a coherent whole. I hasten to disclaim that my ideas are as comprehensive or as far developed as many of your chapters. I'm 30 years old and certainly have much to learn. And I thank you for helping me discover your group and your school with the near total involvement in life that you ·express in your book." Mat­thew Davis, Mill Valley, Calif. * * * "We've read Go Ahead and Live! and it astonishes us that your interests are as broad as life itself. This is wonderful. Our goals tend to match yours--sim­ple, self-sufficient living, real freedom for the individual with no abuse of that freedom by any one." - Carl and June Ogrea, Paw Paw, Mich. * * * "Just finished your Go Ahead and Live! Read every word with the greatest interest, and much admiration for 'its ideas, organi­zation and your clarity in writ­ing. " - Esther Grayson Rock­well, garden editor and author. Writer, cont'd this article. (Available for a stamped, addressed envelope.) One of our members, William C. Lloyd, wrote the following to reporter Walker: "You presented the case for homesteaders, back-to-the-landers and others very well. I take issue with only one statement in your article. You say, 'Many School of Living members have college degrees but have largely turned against the system that educated them.' 'Now, Mr. Walker, I do not agree that the current system of education ever educated (in its full, true sense) School of Living adherents anymore than it truly educated anybody else! You missed the point of the School of Living and all its writings. There would be no need for a School of Living and the writings of brilliant theorists like Borsodi on education for correct, natural, normal living if the conventional methods and institutions of so­called learning taught these things correctly. "Green revolutionists have not turned against a system that 'educated' them. They have turned against a decaying system that did not educate them and they are wise enough to know it. "We aren't the only critics of education, nor the only ones try­ing to correct it. Read The Sheep­skin Psychosis by J. Keats, 1966. And read Sydney J. Harris, Pa­tricia Coffin, Dr. Leslie Fiedler, Paul Goodman in "The Deadly Halls of Ivy," Dr. R. M. Hutch­ins, etc. Most of them agree with the critic who said, 'We have cre­ated a Frankenstein monster that has gotten completely out of hand.' · "School of Living is on the forefront of a desperate need for new thinking on the entire subject of education.'' - W. C. Lloyd, Burlington, N. C. 

Interest at Center for Study of Democratic Institutions

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Interest at Center for Study of Democratic Institutions

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