MacAdams Recounts ‘Struggle’ for Cornfield Land

Lewis MacAdams stopped by Not A Cornfield Sunday evening, October 16, in order to chat with old friends, answer audience questions, and deliver remarks titled, "Struggle for the Cornfield: The real story of how a community coalition won 32 acres of public space in downtown LA."

MacAdams -- an able reconteur, renowned poet and prose writer, artist, filmmaker, conceptual thinker and Chair of the Board of Directors and co-founder of Friends of the Los Angeles River -- appeared at the finale of the "Story Series" portion of "Sundays @ Not A Cornfield" activities.

[The other Sundays @ Not A Cornfield activities, including Drum Circle and Corn Harvesting, will continue through December 4.]

With a brilliant violet sky to the west and an intermittent drizzle foreboding a midnight lightning storm, MacAdams weaved a captivating tale that referenced billionaires, politicians, lawyers and activists; a federal cabinet member, an American dynastic scion, and the Crown of Spain; self-effacing amateur archeologists; land grants, civil rights, state budgets, long-term art projects, “fortress”-style warehouses; the Los Angeles River, and ultimately, Not A Cornfield and the Los Angeles State Historic Park.

"It was a wonderful day," MacAdams said, "when the property came into public hands."

Not A Cornfield Project Pair Attend Bioneers Convention; File Personal Dispatch

Not A Cornfield project members Jaime Lopez and Sarah McCabe attended the recent Bioneers conference and filed the following personal dispatch.

San Rafael, CA -- “Bioneers” is a three-day environmental conference held mid-October in San Rafael, California. Its aim is to bring interested parties together in order to share innovative solutions and strategies, and increase their exposure. Bioneers are "biological pioneers" who are working with nature to heal nature and ourselves. Bioneers are scientists and artists, gardeners and economists, activists and public servants, architects and ecologists, farmers and journalists, priests and shamans, policymakers and citizens. They are everyday people committed to preserving and supporting the future of life on Earth.

The main message we took away from this conference is that the earth is in the process of ecological collapse; in our lifetime we will see half the species disappear. We as humans need to be doing everything in our power to change the way we act on many different levels. We most change our relationship to food and the land, take back our political systems, change our patterns of fuel consumption. We need to reexamine our entire society and realize the interconnectedness of everything.

The Not A Cornfield Project plays a major role in this transformation as it brings people together, sparking conversations among strangers, providing a open forum for discussion. The beauty of the corn, the circle with the fire pit, the intimacy of the center path, is all conducive to connecting with others.

Information gathered from Bioneers lectures includes:

Green Workers Cooperatives
Poor communities in urban areas often have to deal with toxic industries such as sewages treatment plants, garbage transfer stations and power plants. In the South Bronx, NY, they are working on a “zero waste alternative” by creating Green Workers Cooperatives. These cooperatives create “green collar jobs which have a myriad of benefits. They:
• Retain wealth in the community
• Empower workers
• Enable accountability
• Do not leave town, avoiding layoffs
• Foster true democracy

An interesting example is a cooperative in South Bronx where they are salvaging building materials and have set up a reuse and deconstruction center. Thus they are turning urban waste into a resource.
Additional information: www.usworker.coop www.greenworker.coop

A prominent speaker at Bioneers was Andy Lipkis, founder and president of Treepeople. In an inspirational speech he explained the progress made in the effort to retrofit the city to function as an urban forest watershed. The TREES project aims to work with many different agencies to capture rainwater and infiltrate it into the soil to recharge the aquifer. TreePeople - in partnership with local city and county public works agencies including the L.A. Department of Water and Power - has established demonstration projects in the San Fernando Valley (Pacoima and Sun Valley), South L.A., the Westchester/LAX area and now at the TreePeople Center in Coldwater Canyon Park.
Additional information: www.treepeople.org

Another speaker, Paul Glover, has been a community organizer for 35 years. He was the founder of Ithaca HOURS, a local currency supported by over 500 businesses. He is also the author of several urban histories. We had an extensive lunch conversation with him and learning about the Not A Cornfield project inspired him so much he decided to dedicate time to finishing a book he started writing about a greener Los Angeles in the 1980s. The beginning of his book can be found online at: http://ithacahours.com/losangeles.html

A very exciting connection we made was with the filmmaker of an amazing new documentary called “The real dirt on Farmer John.” This is the epic tale of a maverick Midwestern farmer. An outcast in his community, Farmer John transforms his world amidst a failing economy, vicious rumors, and violence. By melding the traditions of family farming with the power of art and free expression, this quintessentially American story heralds a resurrection of farming in America.
Additional information: www.therealdirt.net www.collectiveeye.org

-- Jaime Lopez & Sarah McCabe

A Tale of Two Fridays

The two most recent Friday Nights @ Not A Cornfield programs illustrate the range of activities that occur on the project grounds.

On Friday, October 7, an estimated crowd of 1,000 people gathered after sundown to enjoy the transformative art project, part of which includes the weekly, free-of-charge Friday Nights @ Not A Cornfield series of Open Mic / Open Film music and movies, and, on alternative weeks, Salons.

The following Friday, October 14, Permaculture expert Larry Santoyo brought his ideas and experiences to an engaged Salon crowd closer in size to 100 people. Santoyo, whose program was titled, "Beyond Sustainability" spent nearly two hours in an open dialogue with newcomers and old hands alike who were interested in learning more about the seemingly catch-all concept of 'permaculture.' The word is a contraction of "permanent" and "culture," and the idea behind it is to develop and put into place sustainable social, governmental, nutritional, and shelter systems, to name a few.

If that evening was more about the power of ideas and the ability to bring about lasting change, then the October 7 fare was more of a respectful, cross-cultural party. Titled, "Maíz con Salsa - A Cuban Harvest Celebration at Not A Cornfield. " While Cuban food was served on the canopied patio of the project's administrative trailers, a colorfully-costumed woman and a half-dozen or so men clad in white each drummed, stepped, danced, chanted, and sang their way from the dirt in front of the cornfield up onto an elevated stage. This was, "Tambor for Orisha-Oko: A traditional Afro-Cuban harvest ritual for Not A Cornfield."

Following the extraordinary ritual, the salsa band Son De La Tierra took the stage and played rich and artful numbers to the delight of of the singles, couples and groups on the crowded dance floor.

Meanwhile, the stunning black and white film, "Hybrid," screened in the middle of the cornfield, and a visiting deejay spun live at the Not A Cornfield "eye," while a campfire crackled.

Friday Nights @ Not A Cornfield continue, always free-of-charge. Please visit here for up-to-date schedules and information.