Paxus Calta

Wearable Art and Creating the Sankofa Space Bubbles pointed out i was asking for the wrong thing. “You say you want a logo, but you really want a screen printing” They observed. I will spare you the more critical portion of their…

We are creating sanctuary spaces, designing original art and building the infrastructure for this years Twin Oaks Communities Conference. If you have not found the community you are looking for, this might be the event for you.

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Let’s hope one of many

What does politics have to do with me?

www.facebook.com/share/r/19UX...

You don't have much money, you want to go to the communities conference, you can do work exchange, but you don't want to miss out of the event itself - well this build camp and dumpster dive might be just your ticket.https://paxus.wordpress.com/2025/08/05/helping-out-dumpster-dives-and-build-camps/

Nuclear reactors stoke the climate they claim to cool | NationofChange

My clever comrades Harvey Wasserman and Karl Grossman are reporting on how European heat waves are shutting down nuclear reactors. And no surprise, the grid is being supported by record solar power plant production.

www.nationofchange.org/2025/07/13/n...

Convenors not Presenters – deadline July 15 The best part about organizing a well established and somewhat high profile event is you get to work with some great people. Community maven and Where’s Waldo look-a-like Raines Cohen has bee…

What is the difference between a presenter and a convenor? It is the difference between a workshop and a lecture.

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Perhaps you should present a workshop at the Twin Oaks Communities Conference (Aug 29 thru Sept 1, 2025). Submission Deadline 7/15/2025.

communitiesconference.org/communities-...

What is the Political Left and What it Isn’t: This is an exploratory study. We (a group of UVA students and I, their internship director) took on a challenge of finding the differences between people on the left and those on the right in new w…

Our friends at Cambia Community and a group of UVa students did a survey about punishment. They compared progressives with conservatives and the answers were surprising.

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The best price is “free” and free The Fire of 2024 destroyed both the conference site infrastructure and the hammocks business. This year has been about rebuilding. In place of the hammocks business we are looking at a number of ne…

We are bouncing back from last years serious fire. THis post is about a replacement outdoor kitchen and the new pottery business.

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Local experts in Sunset Park Sometimes we get lucky.  After Pepper and i had postered both Sunset Park and Manhattan’s Chinatown, Sabrina reached out to us and volunteered to help.  She is a first generation Chinese …

Here is some of our anti-Cuomo (pro Mamdani) effort has looked like. paxus.wordpress.com/2025/06/18/l...

Mamdani campaign NYC

Photo credit Premin

AOC versus Mamdani Last night, a major campaign rally unfolded at Terminal 5 in Midtown Manhattan. Both AOC and Zorhan Mamdani delivered speeches. This event truly begs the question: “What defines a great polit…

Working on the Mamdani campaign put me in the orbit of great orators. And last nigth with AOC it begged the questions "What makes a great speaker and how far might these populist progressives go?"

While a fine book, it is designed for kids to understand the rise of authoritarianism. A better book for adults interested in the topic by the same author is 1984. It has a much more sophisticated treatement of the same problem and coined the term "double think".

NYC Mayor Race – Canvassing and Tightening For the past week, I have been assisting with voter registration and Get Out The Vote (GOTV) efforts in New York City for the June 24th primary election. The new non-partisan group i am working wit…

paxus.wordpress.com/2025/06/10/n...

NYC Mayor Race – Canvassing and Tightening For the past week, I have been assisting with voter registration and Get Out The Vote (GOTV) efforts in New York City for the June 24th primary election. The new non-partisan group i am working wit…

paxus.wordpress.com/2025/06/10/n...

Communards engaged in national politics. In this case the tight race for the NYC mayor. People often assume communards are disengaged from outside politics, hiding out on out "compound" and ignoring the world at large. Tempting as that might be, a bunch of us are quite engaged.

5 Events at Louisa Communes There are 5 exciting and currently relavent events happening in Louisa all hosted by intentional communities. Click thru on the links for more details and ticketing options. Roots and Resilience: B…

Curious what you might do beyond marching in the streets. These community organized events take on issues of resistance and resiliance. If you are serious about intentional community, it means you need to meet people face to face - and these are excellent opportunities.

Call for Presenters - Twin Oaks Communities Conference
Aug 29 thru Sept 1 - Central Virginia.

You got a brilliant intereactive workshop for intentional communities? Let us know and if accepted we will comp your ticket to this event.

communitiesconference.org/communities-...

Chernobyl’s Hidden Impact: Disinformation and Nuclear Politics Chernobyl explosion was “perhaps the real cause of the collapse of the Soviet Union.” According to Mikhail Gorbachev who was the last leader of the Soviet Union and was in power during the meltdown…

Today the Chernobyl Catastrophe is 39

I wrote a depressing piece about it.
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What a strange coincidence

NYC Re-Envisioning Resistance Workshop 4/25 Re-Envisioning Resistance Workshop Join us for a dynamic workshop designed to explore impactful ways to resist the erosion of rights and liberties in the U.S. under rising authoritarianism. While s…

Doing a workshop in NYC of Friday on ReEvisioning Resistance. If that sounds like your thing check otu this post.

paxus.wordpress.com/2025/04/21/n...

Muffin Memetics One of my favorite things about living at Twin Oaks is that all manner of interesting folks come to us to look for clever solutions they are chronicling to share with the world.  Sometimes that is …

Because things are just too depressing, here is an old post about a charming young person in Madison WI who challenges people to do things they want to do, but somehow do not do (like write real letters to friends, or spend 3 days without spending money).

paxus.wordpress.com/2012/06/17/m...

BIPOC Farmers and Intentional Communities Conference Join us for the Roots and Resilience: BIPOC Farmers & Intentional Communities Conference, a transformative gathering designed to empower, connect, and inspire BIPOC farmers, land stewards, and int...

Join us for the Roots and Resilience: BIPOC Farmers & Intentional Communities Conference, a transformative gathering designed to empower, connect, and inspire BIPOC farmers, land stewards, and intentional community builders.

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Gossip is the Fabric of Community I co-moderate a large diverse facebook group on intentional communities.  Recently someone posted: Gossip gets embellished as it travels. Things heard second hand should be verified with the speake…

Is Gossip the Fabric of community? This blog post actually proposes a definition of gossip, and then digs into how it can be damaging to community.

What are your thoughts on gossip in community and how or if it should be controlled?

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Best graphic design poster from Richmond Hands Off rally

Turns out this is a problematic meme. Countries like Japan are quite stingy about offering part time work - so you may cover your needs wuickly, but you have to keep working for social, cultural and legal reasons - so they are forcing you to be more affluent than you perhaps want to be

the lack of counter protesters has my curiosity peaked. If MAGA was feeling strong, they would have attacked these rallies - at least in strong holds like Texas and Florida. MAGAs brand is normalizing and weaponizing political violent. Its lack is intentional, to avoid further disapproval

Where were the counter protesters? Millions of Hands Off protesters, over 1400 cities.. No acts of violence anywhere in the country?

Remember MAGA is predicated on political violence. They are being quiet, intentionally, because the stocks are so low, further erosion could risk open rebellion

Hands Off Richmond – April 5, 2025 I took a bunch of pictures of the protest The youngest photographer and proud dad This is my least favorite poster This is my favorite There were a surprising number of flags Some quite direct Some…

Me and my 5000 closest friends go for a Hands Off stroll down Main Street in Richmond. No counter protesters.

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