I e-met Robert Kesten, ED of the Center for Screentime Awareness, through the founder of “TV Turnoff Week”, Henry LaBalme.  I met Henry when I was 16-years-old, because he came to my high school to accept an alumni recognition award for his service to the community.

I talked to Henry in the dining hall after his acceptance speech and told him I had heard about Turnoff Week before and planned to participate, because I had read about it in Adbusters magazine.  He asked where I found a copy of Adbusters in rural Connecticut, and was relatively blown away to find out that the school’s library carried the counter-culture magazine.  A high point of a 16-year-old’s life.

Little did I know that my socially conscientious behavior – kids in middle school teased me by calling me “GreenPeace” because of my social activism – would one day be seen as emblematic of my generation!  I was pleasantly surprised to see an article on the changes in MTV’s programming to more “pro-social” shows – why?  Because of us millenials, of course.  But then, this got me really excited:

• “This season, 19 percent fewer households are tuning in on average during prime time than in the 2002-3 season, according to Nielsen Media Research. About 1 million individual viewers, on average, tuned in for prime time in 2002-3, compared with 775,000 this season. MTV executives say a better measure is overall total day ratings, and by this measure MTV is down about 13 percent since 2002-2003.”

Is it possible that fewer people are watching TV?  Robert would know.

Which brings me back to Turnoff Week 2009!  This year’s events kick off with events at Barnes & Nobles around the country, and you can download an organizer’s kit on their website to participate.

It’s funny, but I sorta wish that Screentime.org was better organized.  I know, it’s twisted that I want proponents of getting away from screens to spend more time in front of their screens so I can use their website more easily. But I figure, the faster I can find the info I want on an off-screen Turnoff Week event in my area, the faster I can get out into the sunshine and away from this damned screen.

Noel is the founder of Co-Working Brooklyn at The Change You Want To See gallery, along with Beka Economopoulos, among other things….

In exchange for this gift of new information, I shared a story with Noel that I first heard in a 10-day meditation retreat in Illinois:

One day, a very angry Brahmin came to the temple, intent on hurling insults and slander on Gautama the Buddha.  As a Brahmin who had built up a religious cult of his own, his livelihood was under threat from the teachings of the Buddha, which were becoming more and more widely accepted in the land.

When this Brahmin arrived, he spewed all manner of insults at the Buddha.  The Buddha just sat there.  When there was finally a quiet moment, the Buddha asked, calmly, “Tell me, sir.  There must be many people who come to your house to pay their respects.  Is that true?”

“Yes, of course it’s true.  I’m very highly regarded,” the vitriolic Brahmin replied.

“And often times they bring you gifts, isn’t that true?”

“Yes, supplicants almost always bring me gifts.”

“When a supplicant brings you a gift you have no desire for, do you accept it?”

“No,” the Brahmin replied.  “I don’t have to accept it.  Either I toss it in the rubbish heap or it stays with them.”

“Well,” the Buddha replied, “you have brought me this gift of your harsh and slanderous words, but I do not want them.  So there, all of your anger, your hatred, your ill will – I will not accept it.  And so it stays with you.”

I love this story because it comes in especially handy for those of us in fields that are remotely political, as we have to deal with vitriolic, irrational, or frustrated individuals relatively often.  And more often than not, the harsh words and vitriol are coming from the very people we call allies and colleagues.

I remember this story often and try to do the same – realize that reciprocating anger and frustration is a choice.  I can choose not to be angry – this also means, however, that I cannot blame someone else for making me angry.

And all that responsibility can feel like a significant burden.  But it can also be quite liberating.

I’m not surprised to learn of MySpace’s roller-coaster ride of a history as a business, or the dramatic tendencies of its founders – it was MySpace and not one of those other social networking sites that attracted Ruper Murdoch, after all.  Murdoch is no stranger to drama – knowing that like attracts like, I think it’s a safe bet to guess that where you find Rupert, you will find a litter of broken promises, hearts,  egos (and maybe even some knocked-out teeth) underfoot.

Despite the recent ruckus over Facebook’s Terms of Use, I’ve enjoyed that platform much more for connecting with old friends and staying in touch with new ones met in odd places around the world.  Facebook could be a bit more amenable to the necessary expansion of social networking on the interweb, though – for example, for the purposes of Faceboook organizing.  But anyway, it’s still better than Friendster.  And MySpace.

A few quick facts on Lyme disease I covered while twittering from the screening:

• Lyme is the most common vector-borne disease in the USA – it’s a national epidemic.
• The number of Lyme cases has doubled since 1991, even though 50% of Lyme sufferers probably go undiagnosed.
• Undiagnosed and untreated cases of chronic Lyme can lead to Multiple Sclerosis, ALS (or Lou Gherig’s), Alzheimer’s, and Parkinson’s.

Yes, there is such a thing as chronic Lyme, though insurance companies insist that there is not and have gone so far as sue doctors who have saved lives from Lyme for providing “unnecessary medical treatment.”

“Under Our Skin” suggests that conflicts of interests have led to an organized effort to keep the facts about chronic Lyme disease and proven methods of treatment from the public and the medical community.

Luckily, there seems to be a lot of local organizing around this issue to provide support for Lyme sufferers – whose stories of chronic pain and sometimes severe neurological damage, not to mention constant criticism and denial of care by lyme-illiterate doctors are heart-breaking – and lobby local elected officials, some of whom have weighed in helpfully by introducing legislation in Hartford.

Google “C Moon” and you come up with this terrible 70s song by Paul McCartney and Wings.

Sometime this weekend, I’ll write about my current project: organizing a remote site in New York City for “The Soul in the New Machine”, a technology and human rights conference being organized by the UC Berkeley Human Rights Center.  Very exciting!

I, on the other hand, continue to wonder exactly when I’ll get back on track with that – either by applying to law school or finding a organization I’ll want to work with for several years, if not longer.

Without further ado:

• Films That Change the World is hiring an Outreach Director for their Purim to Passover Project.
• Third Wave Foundation is hiring a Program Officer.
• American Jewish World Service (AJWS) is looking for Group leaders to work with their summer volunteers.  This is a temporary position, from April through August, and looks like it involves some cool travel and Wilderness First Aid training!
• 24 Hours for Darfur is looking for a videographer to travel with the organization to refugee camps in Chad.
• Global Zero is hiring a US Field Organizer – this is a fast-growing and excellently structured and executed organization that is making some major waves.  They’re starting to get great exposure on the TV talk shows and in lots of other media.

Many, many other listings can be found on the New Organizing Institute (NOI)’s jobs listserve, which you can sign up for here.  Just in the past week, there have been job postings from Working Assets/CREDO, The Sierra Club, 80plus1.org, NOI, Corporate Accountability International, 1Sky, Democracy Alliance, and a few other organizations.  Oh, also a job listing for a Georgia House Caucus director.  Join the jobs list and you can access these and older postings in the archives.

And, I haven’t read it, but maybe someone can and then tell me what she thinks about Idealist’s handbook for those of trying to build careers in the public sector.

Happy job-hunting!

Galit Gun, their US campaign director, is hiring a US field director!  Job description here.