Apparently, evolutionarily speaking, depression is a survival tool. It may not come as a surprise to you that our species was not “designed for our sedentary, socially isolated, indoor, sleep-deprived, frenzied, poorly nourished lifestyle.” Though theories vary, a new therapy encourages patients to live more like our paleolithic ancestors, getting more “aerobic exercise; ingestion of omega-3 fatty acids; light; positive social interaction; substituting activity for rumination; and increased sleep.” Not only would we be better off eating a Stone Age Diet, but we may also be better off if we adopt / adapt other aspects of a stone age lifestyle — after all, we are evolved for that active life.

So, what I take from this is that it can be depressing to sit home in front of your computer screen, all alone even when you are surrounded by a metaverse of virtual friends, and ruminate about, say, creeping authoritarianism or the slight possibility that environmental collapse is not inevitable.

Great. That’s it?

No.

Barbara Ehrenreich (author of Nickel and Dimed) writes in her new book Dancing in the Streets: A History of Collective Joy that we all may be so depressed because we have forgotten how to have fun together. Ecstatic rituals, she says, have been suppressed by elites because they were perceived as being so “disruptive, subversive, and even dangerous.” We’ve allowed ourselves to be disciplined. Disciplined and punished, as the infamous Frenchman has said. She seems to see a positive sign in the carnivalization of some protest movements, like the music and colorful costumes of anti-globalization.

So, if I paint may face and yell about authoritarianism I might feel better?

You might, especially if you look around you at all of the other painted faces and laugh.

Collective joy isn’t meant to be an escape from the worries that might press in on us. Play, big adult play, is another way to remember that we’re not alone. Ehrenreich suggests that we reclaim our traditions — outside of consumption and commodification. Utah burners, go to Burning Man as a walking tree this year. That ought to make you laugh.

“How can progressives,” the Alternet writer asked her, “use collective joy to help motivate people and promote our causes?”

People who are working for change need to think about how to make their events draw on the solidarity and creativity of lots of people together. That’s been happening … but it’s something we need to address. Bringing art and culture into politics is a way to express what we are seeking, what our vision of the world is.

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Saturday, about 500,000 people marched in Washington, DC, to voice their opposition to the war in Iraq.

A protest to be proud of.

500,000 = “tens of thousands” in New York Times math, but dissenters are used to being underestimated in every way. I’m sure the U.S. military know exactly how many people were in Washington, along with their Social Security numbers, since the U.S. military keep such a close watch on anti-war protestors. Close watch, spying, surveillance. Whatever you want to call it, they keep records.

The first speaker invited to the peace rally was none other than Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson. In a speech that resembled the stirring speech he gave in Salt Lake City on August 30, 2006, he told the crowd,

No more God-is-on-our-side religious nonsense to justify this immoral, illegal war.

Listen to Rocky Anderson’s Saturday speech at the Salt Lake Tribune, and read about how Rocky ran into Karl Rove, another Salt Laker just like us–well, not JUST like us. Also, just for me, just because I love this song so much, listen to the August speech remixed with the Black Crowes “Soul Singin’” from Head On Radio.

I know you aren’t afraid to face the details of the Iraq war. Watch and read more reports at DC Indy Media, where you can get the close-up local view.

The rally involves more than marching and speeches. In a smart move, those in DC have been encouraged to talk to Congress in an all-out campaign to end this unpopular war. Today is the day for peace activists to visit their Senators and Representatives, voicing their opinions on the war in Iraq. Move On is also asking for a virtual march on Washington this Thursday, February 1st, to send 1 million messages to Congress about the war.

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Last weekend the National Conference for Media Reform met in Memphis, Tennessee. Please don’t just pass over that information with mild interest. Video highlights and all audio are available for you to hear. Click. Listen. The depth of what is available is astonishing.

In particular, I want to mention Bill Moyers. He’s on fire, and I want you to burn with him. Yesterday’s Democracy Now! consisted only of headlines and a replay of most of Bill Moyers’ Plenary Speech to the conference (also available unedited). If you can spare only one hour listening online this week, listen to Bill Moyers.

Moyers hasn’t been silent since leaving PBS. He’s become even more outspoken than I recall him being in his years on television. The call for his return has succeeded. Bill Moyers will be back on PBS this Spring with “Bill Moyers’ Journal.”

A theme Bill Moyers has come back to often is the power of narrative. I’m sure I am not the only one who remembers his series from nearly 20 years ago, The Power of Myth, an extended interview with Joseph Campbell. It is clear to me that this experience had a profound effect on him and his understanding of the ways we use narrative. A speech he gave in December has been adapted as an article in the current issue of The Nation, “For America’s Sake”, published elsewhere as “The Narrative Imperative,” which gets closer to the heart of the matter.

What I hear Bill Moyers saying is this: we have the power, even the obligation, to change the stories being told us about our society. We should not sit passively listening to versions of how things came to be the way they are and why, versions that serve elites who hold money and power so tightly. This is what I have heard from one of my important teachers. Changing the stories is also an important means to change discussed in David Korten’s The Great Turning: From Empire to Earth Community, a book that I read with a community group in anticipation of his visit to SLC last Fall (sponsored by the Sustainability Salon). Change the stories. How? There is no one answer.

After you are burning with inspiration from Bill Moyers’ speech from last Friday, what will you do to change the story?

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I wasn’t surprised to read that recent documentary films rattle the business world. Movies like Supersize Me and Fahrenheit 9/11 drew crowds at commercial theatres. I saw both of these films in theaters when they were first released. Black Gold, a film about the international coffee industry and the idea of fair trade, is currently being shown at festivals and art houses across the U.S. Iraq for Sale made the rounds earlier this Fall. One of the interesting ways Robert Greenwald’s Iraq for Sale was publicized was through personal and political networks arranging showings at house parties and community centers. The movie is still in the news with war profiteers attempting to intimidate Greenwald.

It has been my experience that people have a good time watching these films. This isn’t a painful dose of political medicine. I remember reading an interview with Michael Moore about Roger and Me in which he said he makes the films he would like to see on a Saturday night. I can buy that. I have–several times. Laugh and learn at the same time. Sometimes the average dumb movie is a mind-numbing relief, but laughing at Morgan Spurlock puking out the window of his car as he chokes down a Big Mac has its own appeal in the average-dumb-movie category.

I have Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price from the library. That’s my entertainment for the week. Part of the fun is knowing how much it angers global corporate executives that they don’t have complete control over their public images.

What are you watching?

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United for Peace and Justice are determined to use their First Amendment rights and take the mandate for peace to Washington, DC, on Saturday, January 27th. They are under Petagon surveillance, but spying won’t deter them.

“One of the main things we have to be concerned about is how this whole war on terror plays out here at home and how they use it to justify absolutely everything they do no matter how outrageous.”

Are you going to Washington?

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