Image by Dandelion Salad via Flickr
by Rivera Sun
Writer, Dandelion Salad
July 19, 2019
Fiery. Evocative. Uplifting.
Fiction meets reality in these impassioned and hard-hitting essays on love, courage, politics, and resistance.
Rise and Resist!
Inspirational
Blowing Up The Armory
Image by Pamela Drew via Flickr
The Essays of The Man From the North by Rivera Sun
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Originally published Jan. 26, 2014
June 26, 2019
We have been losing ground. Corporate politics has invaded many sectors of our lives. In times of tactical retreat (in preparation for later advances), the military uses a tactic called blowing up the armory to describe a situation in which they will destroy any unsecured weapons and munitions to prevent their opponents from capturing them and using the arsenal against the retreating forces.
Keith Green: Easter Song + The Visual Bible: Matthew
Image by John Crane via Flickr
Happy Easter!
previously posted March 23, 2008
wiredfortravel on Mar 22, 2008
Hallelujah, Jesus is alive! Produced for our Easter Service, 2008, to be a celebration of Jesus’ resurrection. Continue reading
Disrupt! Interrupt! The Ground of Resistance is Ours
Image by Lynn Friedman via Flickr
The Essays of The Man From the North by Rivera Sun
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Originally published November 18, 2016
April 7, 2019
A smoothly functioning society is created and maintained by the people. Children go to school, workers show up at their jobs, shipments are made, groceries and purchases are bought, bills are paid, goods and services are delivered; and so on. In times of justice, when the workings of society are fair, respectful, and uphold the rights and dignity of humanity, then the people have every reason to collectively maintain functional workplaces, schools, roads, social events, and so on.
The Tools Of Nonviolent Struggle Should Never Lose Their Edge
Image by Lynn Friedman via Flickr
The Essays of The Man From the North by Rivera Sun
Writer, Dandelion Salad
January 6, 2019
The tools of nonviolent action and the skills of struggle are as vital to these times as reading, writing, and arithmetic. Training to use them is as essential as learning how to use a computer. The ability to boycott and strike is as important as the ability to drive a car. Every citizen who knows how to use email should also know how to protest, walk-out, shut-down, occupy, blockade, and more. This is the only way the power of the people can hold the power of oligarchs in check.
To Love This Broken-Hearted Country
Image by Chris Devers via Flickr
The Essays of The Man From the North by Rivera Sun
Writer, Dandelion Salad
December 9, 2018
I want to love this broken-hearted country, this land of shattered dreams and dashed hopes. I want to place my ear to the drumming cadence of our cities and hear the insistent pulse of life. I want to wander the forgotten highways of stories that run like wrinkles through our body politic.
Our Way Of Life Must Die — Another World Is Possible
Image by The All-Nite Images via Flickr
The Essays of The Man From the North by Rivera Sun
Writer, Dandelion Salad
November 25, 2018
Greed is an addiction. Like lab rats choosing pain to get doses of opium, the greed that underlies our way of life is killing us – and make no mistake: our way of life must die. Pathological consumption is no more acceptable in human beings than in locusts. It will die or we will die. The question is only: will we go down with the sinking ship of our culture or will we evolve again, past the folly of homo sapiens’ dubious wisdom into a species willing to live in balance with our one and only planet?
The Time Is Up–The Time Is Now
Image by Robert Couse-Baker via Flickr
The Essays of The Man From the North by Rivera Sun
Writer, Dandelion Salad
November 18, 2018
The time is up. The time is now. Gather the people to do the work: the healing, transformative, deepening work of building community, solutions, understanding, skills, knowledge, and hope. You must be the one to make a change, to step out of the rutted tracks of the looming train wreck that is our culture. You must have the courage to walk into the wilderness of what you don’t know and embrace the solutions that will save our lives.
A Revolution of Democracy
Image by Dandelion Salad via Flickr
The Essays of The Man From the North by Rivera Sun
Writer, Dandelion Salad
November 8, 2018
What do we do when we finally understand that the elections really are stolen? Or rigged? Or thrust out of our reach by the manipulations of rich and powerful people? Corrupted by corporations? How long does it take before we call the bluff? Another disappointing election cycle? Two? Three? How much more gerrymandering, corporate buying of elections, voter disenfranchisement, and outright fraud can we stand? When will we take seriously the necessity of change?
Elections and Politics are the Games of Elites
Image by Stacy Noland via Flickr
The Essays of The Man From the North by Rivera Sun
Writer, Dandelion Salad
November 2, 2018
The Vote – the beloved, abused, scorned, corrupted, stolen, hijacked, pointless, profound, hopeful, depressing, hard-won, cherished vote – is not the only way to take action for meaningful change. Currently, the elections operate in our nation like a cattle chute, all too often forcing us back into the deadly, no-win tracks of the two-party duopoly that serves only the moneyed class. It becomes a handy device for siphoning off the demand for revolutionary change by giving false hope that elected officials will actually enact their campaign promises once in office.
Caleb Maupin: Socialism Will Save America!
Screenshot by Dandelion Salad via Flickr
Watch the video below
with Caleb Maupin
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Caleb Maupin (website)
Caleb Maupin (Facebook Page)
October 12, 2018
“This notion that the Pentagon is a humanitarian rescue organization that goes around the world saving people is a fiction. And how many more times are we going to fall for this?”
We Must Keep Despair At Bay In The Siege Waged By The Forces Of Destruction And Greed!
Image by jocchannna via Flickr
The Essays of The Man From the North by Rivera Sun
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Originally published Nov. 16, 2017
September 17, 2018
Despair rides in front of our opposition, an invisible wind that blows like plague through our hearts. Here, our stand begins. Moment-by-moment, day-by-day, we must keep despair at bay in the siege waged by the forces of destruction and greed.
“Be Realistic–Demand the Impossible!”
Image by Oisin Prendiville via Flickr
The Essays of The Man From the North by Rivera Sun
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Originally published Dec. 22, 2013
September 1, 2018
Wishful thinking and random action will not topple the corrupt and powerful collusion of extreme capitalism, the wealthy elite, and military force. For all the courage shown thus far by people across the country in demonstrating, petitioning, even throwing their bodies in the line of danger, I call upon an even greater courage now …
Love at First Sight—Old Man Adopts Dog by Shepherd Bliss
Shepherd Bliss and Daisie
Copyright by Taylor Lampson, used with permission
by Shepherd Bliss
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Sebastopol, California
August 25, 2018
“Until one has loved an animal, a part of one’s soul remains unawakened.” — French Nobel Prize winner Anatole France
Searching for a dog, I recently visited three animal shelters. At the final one, I saw a dog that I instantly connected to.
MFTN: Corporate Demons Possess Our Nation’s Soul
Image by Doran via Flickr
The Essays of The Man From the North by Rivera Sun
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Originally published Dec. 4, 2016
August 7, 2018
Corporate demons possess our nation’s soul. They crept in stealthily, full of trickery and deception, but now they’re lodged in place, as surely as if they had stormed our homes and halls of power with guns and tanks. Perhaps we’d recognize their coup if they had assassinated a flesh-and-blood president instead of merely stealing the souls of all our elected leaders.
