A new year of new knowledge

Happy New Year! As we rest this winter and build up momentum for 2011, it's a great time to learn.

In January a new semester of free college-level classes begins here in the Twin Cities of Minnesota:

check out the ever-changing Experimental College's website:

www.excotc.org

for a long list of all the diverse community-based offerings coming up in spring. I'm planning further discussion groups in the Ex.Co. format, and an educational retreat to Wisconsin concerning sustainable design! More info. soon!

In summer, students of life and facilitators of free knowledge gathered for an Ex.Co. party in Powderhorn Park. It was a great time had by all, full of music and cross-cultural meetings, and now we finally have a video to show you what it was like:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QqKNcXQMW7s

Please see the above hip, fun video to get an overview of Ex.Co. enthusiasm and class summary presentations-- among them was my skit about requesting files from the FBI through the Freedom of Information Act, exemplifying the class content of last spring's IndyMedia classes which I co-taught.

For a more in-depth explanation of Ex.Co, take a listen to co-founder David Boehnke's talk here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLRZRfNfSZg&feature=related

Reminiscent of the TED Talks, this brief presentation shares the revolutionary dynamic tenet of Ex.Co. with the Solutions Conference Volume 3:

"Anyone can take or teach a class, & all classes are free."

Still more Ex.Co. class videos are online at www.excotc.blip.tv

Small Foundation plans to take on World

Kalpulli Turtle Island Multiversity:
A small land restoration foundation prepares to expand and take on its share of land and community restoration in the world.

Because of the persistence of Ray Tricomo and other board members of a growing organization called Kalpulli, vegetables are growing at a SPROUTS community garden in St. Paul and 100 new trees are being planted at Nature Conservancy sites along the Amazon River. Between SPROUTS, a Hamline University club, the Nature Conservancy, and the donations that made these projects possible, are the expanding webs of activist support and education spun by the little Kalpulli network. It intends to reach and support like-minded people across all the Americas, or Turtle Island, as natives have called this land mass for centuries, hence the organization's title.
For years, Green Party expatriate Ray Tricomo has been pulling together people and ideas to form a new learning center and support system called Kalpulli Turtle Island Multiversity. After a failed run for office and many efforts to reach out to the people of the Twin Cities by teaching free college-level classes, Tricomo is pouring his abundant energy into working as Kalpulli's founder, rather than as a politician or part-time professor.
Kalpulli, an Aztec word meaning community, should become a household word among everyone seeking real community support and not the distanced, passive-aggressive, Minnesota nice 'community' that we're used to in our loosely supportive but highly structured society. The Kalpulli Board of Directors doesn't pretend that the typical role of 501(c)3 non-profit is going to cut it, when people of the Americas are facing species depletion, droughts, warming oceans, hyper-security states, hyper-surveillance, 'free' market economic coercion, and possible currency collapses.
Rather, they're trying to build a foundation that can connect and economically support the work of volunteers working for real change in real sustainable ways, like teaching people to garden and feed themselves and their neighbors, or like learning college-level skills for free through the Twin Cities Experimental College. Eventually they'll find the money to support low-power radio and stream relevant news on Radio Kalpulli, open a Kalpulli alternative library, and address the United Nations to support fundamental changes. Everyone in this foundation can have a unique yet equal, governing role, so everyone has a stake in its success. There is always room for more Board members, or Kalpullistas.
One of Tricomo's mottos is, "If Mr. and Mrs. Indigenous aren't at the table, I'm not at the table." The importance of indigenous people's voices to Kalpulli, and to anything aiming for sustainability, is paramount. Everyone, indigenous or not, is welcome to come brainstorm at monthly meetings, the next one being in St. Paul on Wednesday December 16.
www.kalpulli.net