[Sdpg] One Time Showing "A LOT IN COMMON" VIDEO at SCPG Meeting in Santa Barbara Ca Thursday Dec 11 ,6:30pm

Wesley Roe and Marjorie Lakin Erickson lakinroe at silcom.com
Mon Dec 8 10:41:02 PST 2003


SPECIAL ONE TIME SHOWING OF "A LOT IN COMMON " VIDEO A community garden 
grows community as well as food,
flowers and consciousness.see details below of movie
South Coast Permaculture Guild Monthly Mtg/Dec 11, 6:30pm Santa Barbara 
Botanic Garden

Our monthly video discussion group will meet on Thursday, December 11 at 
6:30 pm at the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden. We will have our regular video 
discussion, but will also have a wonderful opportunity to explore some of 
the great resources the SB Botanic Garden has to offer---it's library, the 
living collection---which features California native plants-- and the gift 
and bookstore which is a dream come true for those interested in 
horticulture, botany, permaculture and sustainability. South Coast 
Permaculture Guild member Gail Milliken is the manager of the bookshop, and 
will be available to show us around, even willing to take suggestions for 
books you might want ordered. She has been very supportive in bringing in 
Permaculture books as a part of her inventory for the last 4 years.

One of the main tenets of Permaculture is observation of nature and 
mimicking natural eco-systems in our designs. The way many of us love and 
want to plant tropical and sub tropicals you would think we lived in 
Hawaii! The SB Botanic Garden offers a chance to see how plants from this 
unique Mediterranean climate and region adapt to their home. Let the plants 
teach! Use this local institution as a resource not only for this evening, 
but continuously as you would a library. Ongoing classes and an Herbarium 
are also a part of what the Botanic Garden has to offer.

Please join us for a special evening. We will have hot cider and munchies, 
as usual contributions of snacks appreciated. Bring your seeds, plants etc 
for exchange.

Please check the website for the Garden at 
www.santabarbarbotanicgarden.org, for more information and also a map 
showing where the Garden is located., Direction will be send next week

Simple directions to the Garden are to take the Mission Street exit from 
the 101 freeway and make a right onto Mission Street if coming from the 
South and a left if coming from the North. Then carefully follow the brown 
Cultural Attraction signs provided by the city that list the SB Mission, 
the Museum of Natural History and the Botanic Garden. Our address is 1212 
Mission Canyon Rd. Map available on website at www.sbbg.org.
Contact Margie Bushman at 962-2571 sbpcnet at silcom.com for more info and 
also ongoing events at www.sbpermaculture.org




Video one Time Showing , loaned to us special for one showing !!!!!!!!

A Lot in Common A community garden grows community as well as food, flowers 
and consciousness.

"A Lot in Common" when together they turn a vacant lot in Berkeley, CA into 
a blooming community garden full of lush native California vegetation,

Meet the neighbors: Grandpa Roosevelt and his grandson, Joan the single
                       mom, Ruthe the psychic, and Amy the metal sculptor. 
They all have "A Lot
                       in Common" when together they turn a vacant lot in 
Berkeley, CA into a
                       blooming community garden full of lush native 
California vegetation,
                       eco-friendly technology demonstrations, and outdoor 
artwork by local
                       artists. They clash over political ideals, runaway 
pets and public art, yet in
                       the end, they grow a community of neighbors.

                       Interviews with urban planning visionary Jane 
Jacobs, PBS reporter/author
                       Ray Suarez, environmentalist Paul Hawken, and Urban 
Habitat co-founder
                       Carl Anthony, lend context and background to the 
discussion of the
                       Commons. Landscape architect/psychologist Karl Linn 
who envisioned and
                       orchestrated the creation of the gardens, provides 
on-going commentary.


                       Awards:
                       Vermont International Film Festival

                       Reviews:
                       "A wonderful tribute to the visionary landscape 
architect Karl Linn and the
                       energetic, creative community gardeners in 
Berkeley...An exciting learning
                       resource." Ellen Kirby, president, American 
Community Gardening
                       Association

                       "A well-crafted, humanistic documentary that kept me 
thoroughly engaged!"
                       Danny McGuire, executive producer, KQED-TV

                       "A convincing argument for what Linn calls 
"neighborhood commons" as well
                       as a poignant story about friendship and 
community-building, with all the
                       challenges and sweetness that implies." San 
Francisco Chronicle

                       "Stunning images, captivating story,...a work filled 
with grace and artistry
                       that goes right to the heart." Amy Blackstone, artist

                       "Wonderful, touching, funny, and inspirational...it 
speaks to the very nature
                       of why many of us think that community gardening 
brings people together in
                       the best of ways." Beebo Turman, Berkeley Community 
Gardening
                       Collaborative

                       "Brilliant...inspired!" Adam Honigman, Clinton 
Community Garden, New
                       York City

                       "It's not just about a community garden in Berkeley, 
it's about the human
                       community everywhere." Terence M. O'Driscoll, 
Station Manager, WNYE

Neighbors find they have "A Lot in Common"
                       Indie documentary on gardening, greening and peace 
coming to public television stations
                       nationwide

                       San Francisco, CA. November 15, 2003. National 
Educational Television Association (NETA) has
                       offered national distribution for the independent 
documentary feature A Lot in Common for
                       broadcast on public television stations around the 
country in Spring, 2004. An intimate glimpse
                       into the lives of a handful of extraordinary 
neighbors, the film follows the construction of a
                       community garden built on a previously vacant lot 
above a subway tunnel entrance in Berkeley,
                       California.

                       But it's not all flowers and sunshine at the Peralta 
Community Peace Garden. Even before
                       groundbreaking, controversy swirls around the 
project when neighbors disagree as to the best
                       use for the space. Hashing it out with the landlord 
and public officials, they set the stage for
                       what becomes a lively one-hour recounting of the 
five-year story.

                       Landscape architect and psychologist Karl Linn—the 
mover and shaker behind the building of
                       the garden—provides commentary throughout the 
program. Having escaped the Holocaust as a
                       child, Linn has devoted his life to creating 
remarkable, disarming places where people can
                       meet and get to know one another in peace and 
safety. He calls this kind of communal space
                       the “neighborhood commons” and explains how the 
ancient “Commons” can be reclaimed even
                       by people living in congested urban environments.

                       Lending credence and context as the garden story 
unfolds are PBS NewsHour's senior
                       correspondent Ray Suarez (The Old Neighborhood), 
reknown urban planning expert Jane Jacobs
                       (The Death and Life of Great American Cities), 
environmentalist Paul Hawken (Natural Capitalism),
                       Director of the Ford Foundation's Sustainable 
Metropolitan Communities Initiative Carl Anthony,
                       and British scholar David Crouch.

                       But the true stars of A Lot in Common are the 
neighbors themselves. There's Joan the single
                       mom and her toddler Amy, Grandpa Roosevelt and his 
grandson Josh, Phil the disabled-rights
                       advocate, and Ruthe the psychic, to name a few. We 
see artists Amy Blackstone, Dmitry
                       Grudsky, and Fran Segal create stunning works of 
public art for placement in the garden.
                       Architect Darryl DeBoer builds a bamboo arbor to 
demonstrate environmentally sustainable
                       construction techniques. Gradually, the once 
trash-strewn vacant lot transforms into the jewel of
                       the neighborhood, through the elbow grease and 
determination of the group.

                       Things get tense when one gardener accepts a 
donation of grass sod from a local nursery,
                       throwing the gardeners into a tumult: water-guzzling 
sod is politically incorrect in the
                       all-organic, all-ecofriendly plots. Another 
confrontation ensues when Ruthe lets her pet rabbit
                       roam unleashed through Joan's tomato patch.

                       But when Joan is diagnosed with cancer, the stunned 
gardeners rally to her side. More than just
                       a space to grow vegetables, Peralta has become home 
to a tight-knit community of neighbors
                       who respect and care for one another. Karl 
commissions artist Kitti Shahoian to create a
                       sculpture of Joan and Amy to be placed in the 
garden, which years earlier Joan had worked so
                       hard to help build.

                       “A Lot in Common is a well-crafted, humanistic 
documentary that kept me thoroughly engaged,”
                       says Danny McGuire, a KQED San Francisco Executive 
Producer. The film is Emmy Award-winning
                       producer/editor/camera Rick Bacigalupi's first 
feature length documentary, and has been
                       picked up for educational distribution by 
Pennsylvania-based Bullfrog Films
                       (www.bullfrogfilms.com
                       ).

                       The video project has been endorsed by the American 
Community Gardening Association,
                       whose Web site (www.communitygarden.org
                       ) is a great place to find out more about this 
burgeoning national interest. Over half a million
                       gardeners work in more than 10,000 gardens across 
North America, according to the national
                       nonprofit, whose mission statement cites gardening 
as a way to build community, foster social
                       and environmental justice, eliminate hunger, empower 
communities, break down racial and
                       ethnic barriers, reduce crime, and otherwise create 
sustainable communities. A community
                       gardening curriculum is also available from ACGA.

                       National Educational Television Association (NETA) 
distributes award-winning programs and
                       series to public television stations who are members 
of the Public Broadcasting System.
                       Offering a wide range of entertainment and 
educational materials, NETA is a key partner in
                       public broadcasting in America.

                       For more on the documentary, including updates on 
theatrical screenings of the 77-minute
                       Director's Cut and national broadcast through NETA, 
visit www.ALotinCommon.com, where
                       downloadable clips are available for viewing.

V



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