Being Change: the way of the activist

After holding our retreat, "Being Change: The Way of the Activist" at other centers across the country, we held our first one at The Stone House. 12 amazing people, ages 30-68, came from as close as Durham, as far as Berkeley CA, from Brooklyn, West Virginia and DC. We spent gorgeous spring days in sitting meditation, yoga, discussion, art, storytelling and more.






Sau and Michelle put their heads together...



Collage-making to express our prophetic visions for the world.

La Sarmiento considers her work.


Ric and Corey connect on the last day of the retreat.



Laughing meditation, our closing ritual...

highlights from the Soul Cafe

In late March, The Stone House hosted its first Soul Cafe, an afternoon for local musicians, poets, storytellers, artists and community members. Oragnized by outreach coordinator, Solita Denard, the Soul Cafe attracted folks from as far as the mountains and as close as Mebane to share some of their amazing talent. We were joined by very special guests, "Rising Appalachia" and their sounds of folk, world roots music, and hip hop. Their music and spirit lifted The Stone House right outta the ground... If you do one thing today, you should go to their website, www.RisingAppalachia.com and CHECK THEM OUT!!!


Leah on banjo, John on bass, Tahz on drums

Chloe on banjo and there's Tep in the back left on drums.

From our own backyard (!) Mebanesville shared their soulful sounds of local music with a global sensibility. We're excited to make these new friends. You can find out more on their website, www.Mebanesville.com

Phyllis Wiley, from Durham, shared a heart-stopping piece from her book, "Soul Grasping Poetry." Check out the power.


Ruth King, visiting NC from her home in Berkeley, got everyone on their feet as accompaniment to her words on rage and healing. There is more about Ruth's work, her book and workshops on "Healing Rage" on her website: www.HealingRage.com



Glen Kearn from Mebane shares his powerful song-writing and playing.



Solita enjoys a much-deserved break!

first sights of Spring

Yep, that's right - first signs... sights... smells of Spring at The Stone House. So much is blooming all around us - purple, pink, white, yellow and lots and lots of GREEN. This is one of our first pear blossoms above.




Lots starting to poke through the soil in the garden as well.



The greenhouse is finished.



And lots of small, new life forms are making their home in it.

preparing for Spring

Over 30 folks joined together this past weekend to work on the land, including members of "Cakalak Thunder," a radical drum corps based in Greensboro; new friends from the local Occaneechi Band of the Saponi Nation; and friends from Durham.

Rose and Vivette finish painting new trim for the windows in our new practice space.

Moving mulch from the truck...

... to the garden.

Will paints our tools blue...

While Rachel paints the walls green.

By lunch, the morning's work was coming to an end but the music was just beginning. Cakalak played their incredible rhythms, inspired by Brazilian samba and collectively created as music of resistance. Check out more about this unique and potent group on their website.

Community Feast for MLK Day

For the past five years, Gita and Edd Gulati-Partee have gathered people for a Community Feast in honor of the Martin Luther King holiday. (Those are Gita's proud parents in the foreground!) It's a unique gathering; everyone brings a dish to share from their cultural background and the entire group shares some about this history with each other. After many years of hosting the event in Durham, we were thrilled when Gita and Edd chose to have it this year at The Stone House.




Next time you come by, check out the fabulous "I Have a Dream" banner on the wall, made lovingly by hand with Edd and still hanging on our wall. The banner displays this quote from King's "Beyond Vietnam - A Time to Break Silence" speech on April 4, 1967 at Riverside Church in New York:

We must rapidly begin the shift from a thing-oriented society to a person-oriented society. When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights, are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, extreme materialism, and militarism are incapable of being conquered. A nation can flounder as readily in the face of moral and spiritual bankruptcy as it can through financial bankruptcy.


Lovely host Gita shares a moment with Q Gaynor, friend and awesome building and maintenance person at The Stone House.

winter wonder land

winter begins

photo by willie davis

Well, with the thermometer at a toasty 77 degrees- it doesn't exactly feel like December [at least to the Yankees among us] but we at the Stone House have prepared ourselves for the colder months anyhow.

At the end of November, a bunch of friends- new and old- came by to help out with our volunteer work weekend. We had a blast time painting cabins, caulking windows, clearing forest brush and gathering firewood -among other tasks- all the while, keeping warm, eating good food and having fun. For those of you who missed out- Don't Worry!- we'll be having monthly work weekends beginning next season.


Then, just a couple weeks ago, North Carolina Public Allies held a day-long retreat at the Stone House. Public Allies is an awesome program designed to help strengthen communities, nonprofits and civic participation by advancing new leadership. By all accounts, they had a great time and were able to settle right into the space and make it their home for the day. Margie had fun leading them through a morning workshop that had them talking, walking, reflecting and doing some art!