Mesage from Iggy NOLA struggle continues. YOU CAN HELP

I'm living in the van that Chris Miller sent down with us in September. The
transmission is shot, but it is a fine place to lay my
head, regardless.

I'm doing a lot of work putting together trainings for volunteers and
homeowners about how to work safely and how to properly clean up
mold. Additionally I am trying to track down donations of full- and
half-face P100 respirators so that no one in this region has to work
without proper protective gear. This is a major challenge, both because of
the scope of the problem and the price of the equipment.

If people have specific questions about what personal protective gear is
required and where to acquire it I encourage people to call me directly, at
207 415 4458.

I can't think what else we need from remote, except money, people and media
attention. The world does not know what is going on here, and it is scary.
The media's power to hide things is tremendous.

Potential volunteers should call the Common Ground volunteer hotline at 504
218 6613.

Media Contacts should be sent to Sakura Kone at 917 440 9679.

Tax deductible contributions to Common Ground can be made through our
501(c)3 fiscal sponsor, the Community Futures Collective which is listed in
GuideStar. The Community Futures Collective's EIN is 72-1584619.

Checks should be made out to Community Futures Collective/Common Ground and
sent to:

Community Futures Collective
221 Idora Ave. Vallejo, CA 94591
(707) 644-6575

Please note "Respirators/Iggy" in the memo field, and include a note
specifying that it is for respirators. This significantly increases the
chances that the money will get spent on respirators, rather than going
into the general fund.

If people care to kick a few bucks my way for travel and living expenses
they can send (non tax-deductible) checks made out to Nathan Brimmer to:

Nate Brimmer
PO Box 4383
Portland, ME 04101


Yours in Peace and Solidarity,



Nate 'Iggy' Brimmer

quote of the day

While I was in DC the amazing and wondeful Martine, the only woman ever to make me latvian pancakes from scratch, turned me on to Scorsese's new Dylan flick "No Direction Home." I sat in awe watching four hours of amazing Dylan photos, performances, and interviews.

Is there a place beyond genius you get to? What's the next level? Because thats where Dylan is. And you know, as a girl who is tone deaf and unccordinated, but loves music, I am envious of the way poetry flows from his fingers and breath. And I wish I could add his tricks to my repretoire.

I sympathized when Joan Baez when she explained how she wanted to be an activist, and he wanted to be a musician. I can relate, I am in a 11 year relationship with a nonactivist. There is a drive button that gets pushed and once selected, you can't retreat. But some people dont seem to have that button. Bob spoke with the soul of an activist, but he only wanted to give his voice.

So meanwhile, I am watching this video thinking about how tapped in Bob is to what is going on, but how sad it was that he only used music and words to oppose the machine. How he stopped before the actual action phase.

Then they show a clip from the Free Speech movement which includes the following quote.

"There is a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious, makes you so sick at heart, that you can't take part; you can't even passively take part, and you've got to put your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels, upon the levers, upon all the apparatus, and you've got to make it stop. And you've
got to indicate to the people who run it, to the people who own it, that unless you're free, the machine will be prevented from working at all! "
--Mario Savio


And then I realized. I may not have the song to sing. But I got a body to put on the gears.