New Ann Arbor school promises students environment of freedom, democracy - AnnArbor.com

New Ann Arbor school promises students environment of freedom, democracy - AnnArbor.com

Tarot, horoscope, dreams, and reality...

Leo

By Rick Levine

You might have doubts about your current course of action, but rest assured that there's no clear right or wrong path now. No matter how you proceed, it's going to be a circuitous route and the detours will teach you more of what you need to learn than just zipping along a superhighway. Don't be too quick to judge yourself in a negative light because you'll have a very different perspective in a month or so when you look back at this time.

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Feeling thoughtful...

I find it fascinating that the things in my life that lessen pain, provide comfort, relief, and escape cannot be prescribed by my doctor.

I feel as if I'm at a turning point in my life. A place where decisions must be made, paths chosen, etc. Yet, there is nothing pressing, no fork in the road, so to speak.

And then there is this feeling I've had all my life where I'm always looking in from the outside. Viewing my life as just out of arms reach. Why? Why can't I overcome this?

My fortune: "Your current plans will succeed" (!)

I've been neglecting my inner dimension. I've been riding the wave for a while now and not really taking the time to consider where I'm going or why. I figure this is as good a time as any to get back into the habit of making conscious decisions, listening to myself, and prioritizing my plans.

The link in the title is the website for the democratic free school I have been working to start with a group of fabulous people from ann arbor. The Little Lake Free School is currently trying to secure a space to rent so that we can open our doors this fall 2010. If anyone has any leads on this they would be much appreciated!

This project is where I want to be spending my time and energy. My goals of starting an alternative school/community have only solidified over the last year and I'm determined to make this work. I say this knowing the paragraph that follows will show my hatred for the world overrides any hope I have of this school succeeding.

The problem is making my dreams coincide with what I need to do to survive in this world of extreme capitalist individualism. I don't like it one bit and my cynicism is growing at an astounding rate lately. Insurance, jobs, legal mumbojumbo, doctors, the industrial food system, GLCEs, as;ldkfj;lkdj... just shoot me now. Is what we're doing enough? I know it's better than nothing and it's what keeps me going everyday - the little hope I have that I can create a place, however small, where community isn't defined by your tax area but by genuine love of the people around you. But can we truly create this space if we are bound by a society around us that expects compliance to the american dream - single family home, suv (still?!), and success that's measured by the size of your wallet.

This is why I get so upset when I get the response "sometimes you have to play by the rules in order to get to a place where you can break them". This is the mindset that keeps those rules there... that makes sure only a few can get to the place where those rules dont apply to them, while the rest of us must continue to struggle. I want to change it all. At least I'm part of the solution and not part of the problem. There's something to be said for that.