Another Sky: Seeing the Light in Book Publishing

I shake hands with Kristopher Young of Another Sky Press. He introduces me to his partner Christine, and I sit down at the table. He hands me a book they recently published. “Which bookstores can you get your books in?” I ask.

“As a small press it’s difficult to get into any kind of bookstore,” Young says. “So it’s basically … bookstores who come to us.”

Another Sky books are available for free online. You can download or read the .PDF for yourself. “We sell books at the exact cost of printing, plus the cost of the envelope and stamp.” This allows Another Sky Press to keep expenses down. The economic model for Another Sky relies on contributions. Imagine going to see a museum where you pay after you see the show. Intentionally, good products thrive and the bad fail. The show can’t be sold on hype before anyone really knows what they’re getting into.

The Blue Period

Film simple one acts in front of a blue background. Two characters talking. One character talking to the camera.

The Pink Period

Film Hot Little Hands, a Portland performance troupe. Portraits of warm-ups, set design, and performance. Cut to song from unknown band.

Lunch on the Grass

Two couples.

Summer.
Sunny day.
Pack a picnic and guitars and go to the river with a camera, take off a few articles of clothing.

Manet’s painting centers on the material and spiritual love. The man’s hand in the center of the painting points upward with the thumb towards a bird (spirit) and with the finger to a frog (matter). I think an entire movie can hinge on this painting. The two couples getting up in the morning, packing the car, driving to the river, having a picnic, swimming in the river, and talking all the while: showcasing the beautiful Washougal River in Washington, or maybe the Salmon River or the Sandy. I think much of the film could be concieved just in the location scouting.

The Ice Cream Eaters

Fat man.
Thin man.

Two men sit at a local lunch counter.

Fat Man seated with computer and book titled: The Culture of Fear

Thin Man (sits across from him): Is that a good book?

(This movie can be done any number of times with a different book each time. The only requirement is that it’s done in a public place.)

Citizens Make the News

I am producing a short video to showcase sustainable lifestyles. If you are doing something positive in Portland, let me know.

Reproductive Rights as Development

Funding women’s reproductive health initiatives isn’t an act of charity; it’s a cornerstone of global economic development. According to the UN Population Fund, family planning “has the potential to reduce poverty and hunger, and avert 25-35% of all maternal deaths and nearly 10% of all childhood deaths. It would also contribute substantially to women’s empowerment, achievement of universal primary schooling and long-term environmental sustainability.”

That’s because women’s ability to control their fertility is a precondition for exercising autonomy in other realms of life. When women can decide when to have children, they generally choose to have smaller families. They participate more productively in their countries’ economies and political processes, are healthier, and raise and educate healthier children. These are the foundations of a more peaceful and prosperous world. Despite the serious challenges we face, that more peaceful and prosperous world is within reach. Lifting the global gag rule and implementing human-rights-based policy in reproductive health and universally is a good start.

From “Un-Gagging Women’s Human Rights“
by Yifat Susskind | February 5, 2009

What is the Global Gag Rule?

The Global Gag Rule denies family planning funds to any foreign nongovernmental organization that uses its own (non-U.S.) money to provide legal abortion services or counseling, gives referrals on safe abortion options, provides facts about the consequences of unsafe abortion, or participates in public debate, no matter how informal, that might improve access to safe services. The Gag Rule does not, however, prohibit speech against abortion. The policy applies even if abortion is permitted by local laws, and even if organizations use non-U.S. money for any of the activities listed above.

From “Putting Politics Before Public Health: The Global Gag Rule”
A factsheet online at International Women’s Health Coalition

“President Obama signed an executive order late Friday afternoon [January 23, 2009] ending the Global Gag Rule.”

From “Obama Repeals Global Gag Rule”
by Daniel Pellegrom on RH Reality Check, Information and Analysis for Reproductive Health

Accessible Birth Control and Education for Women in Developing Countries

Forty-one years ago today, the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision, Griswold v. Connecticut, legalized birth control for married couples throughout the United States.

Throughout the developing world, for example, an average of 10 to 30 percent of women do not want a child right away, do not want additional children, or do not want children at all, but are not using a modern contraceptive method.

Many women aren’t even aware that family planning is possible: in Mali, for example, 58 percent of women between the ages of 15 and 49 cannot even name one method of birth control.

UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, estimates that 201 million women around the world do not have access to effective family planning methods. Meeting their needs would prevent 23 million unplanned births, 22 million abortions, 1.4 million infant deaths, 142,000 pregnancy-related deaths (53,000 from unsafe abortion), and 505,000 children losing their mothers due to pregnancy-related deaths.

From “Birth Control in Developing Nations”
by Betsy Illingworth
Online at Planned Parenthood

Thanks Margaret Sanger!

C.E.S. Wood in Time and Memory

I learned about C.E.S. Wood from an Oregon Experience movie at the library. He was a poet soldier in the campaign to settle the Oregon territory. In 1877 Wood was present at the surrender of Chief Joseph and transcribed the immortal words: “From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever.”

Wood published a series of satirical essays written as discussions between such characters as God, Jesus, Mark Twain, Tom Paine, Robert Ingersoll, Billy Sunday and Theodore Roosevelt.

Here’s a clip from the 1927 bestseller, Heavenly Discourse.

A Pacifist enters Heaven—in bits:

BATTERED SOUL: I’m a pacifist.
GOD: A what?
BATTERED SOUL: A pacifist. I believe in Jesus and peace.
GOD: So you are a Christian?
BATTERED SOUL: O, no. I really do believe in peace.

Wood worked as an attorney in Portland. He defended Margaret Sanger, the founder of the American Birth Control League. Sanger’s work developed into what we know today as Planned Parenthood.

This gets me to thinking about accessible birth control and education for women in developing countries.