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!

Open House at The Stone House

On a gorgeous late October Saturday, we had our first Open House at The Stone House. Sixty folks came for a self-guided tour of the land and buildings, to carve a pumpkin or make a prayer flag, and eat some delicious chili. There were kites to fly in the pasture and meditation cushions in the pavilion. People came from near and far to see what we were up to, inquire about bringing a group, tour the space, and hang out. Good times, good times.


Solita welcomes our neighbor Verena back to the land.

Jesse and cousin Joanne dig into some pumpkin carving and get caught up on family news.


Deva and Emi show off their pumpkins.

Communion in the trees - a conversation between first-time visitors Usha Gulati (far left) and Beverley Francis (far right), and long-time Stone House supporters Gita Gulati-Partee and Omisade Burney-Scott.

Margie prepares for our first big crowd!

We loved welcoming back our friends from the Human Kindness Foundation. From the left: Claudia, Kevin Desert (who still lives with us here on the land, with his wife Lizzie and son Ryan; we'd be kinda lost with out them!), Sita and Bo Lozoff, Catherine Miller and Jesse.


Nicole takes a well-deserved break from her awesome efforts coordinating the event. (And only two weeks into her time with us.... bravo....!! )


Armand Lenchek (real estate agent extraordinare and blues musician to boot!) and Jerry Hull reunite at The Stone House.



Pumpkin Sangha...

wisdom and compassion at The Stone House

On Sunday the 21st of October, Michele McDonald- a longtime meditation practitioner and teacher, came to The Stone House to teach a daylong retreat entitled "Compassion as Vehicle for Liberation."

Our first public event at The Stone House brought in 25 wonderful beings to the land- eager to spend the day in silence and contemplation. They arrived just in time to break in our new meditation cushions and explored each and every corner of The Stone House.

It was great to see people doing walking meditation in the open fields and under the pine groves and eating lunch in silence under the warm sun. A refreshing fall breeze would pass through the meditation hall every so often and help keep people awake after lunch!


A number of folks stuck around for a potluck dinner and a beautiful sunset. At the end of the night we watched a slide show that Michele put together on monastic life in Burma. It was a chance for people to learn more about the country and how they can help foster democracy and support humanitarian work going on there now.

Check the stone circles' website to find out more about our work to purchase and distribute video equipment in Burma. The military regime is trying very hard to prevent images and news content of the situation from leaving the country. One of the best ways we have to supporting the effort of the Burmese people is to make sure the lines of communication to the outside world stay open and up-to-date.

A Feast of Thanks

On Saturday, October 20th, Claudia and Jesse prepared a meal for all our friends in the area who helped make the move to The Stone House a success. The first of what we hope will be an annual "feast of thanks" to appreciate those who have given so much.
Of course, we had a wonderful time with our peeps- eating, drinking and being merry. We fed ourselves on local harvest-season goodies like stuffed squash and cranberry sauce. Claudia pulled off a great sweet potato pie and we ended the night full of food and good vibes.

At the end of the evening, we roamed down to the pond for a little ceremony to bless the land and ask for rain. We all connected with the goodness in our own ways- some frolicking in the water, others contemplating the starry night on good dry land!

our first group arrives at The Stone House

On October 10th we had our first group come for an overnight!

It was great to welcome the facilitators for Making Money Making Change who met for two days to prepare for their roles at their annual conference in Whitakers, NC. Many thanks to conference organizer Tanya Diaz, the good folks at Resource Generation, and RG board member (and Friend of The Stone House!) Chad Jones for making this possible.In addition to meeting new friends, it's always good to see folks we've known and loved for a while, like Omisade Burney-Scott, stone circles Board Chair, and Chad Jones, above - both are Friends of The Stone House!


We spent the week before the event scrambling to get the place ready. New sheets, new mattresses, new lamps, new silverware, glasses, couches, and shower curtains awaited our first guests. We made sure the hot water heaters and toilets and wells were all in great working condition. The event was a complete success and we got great feedback on The Stone House. We made it through with only one glitch- we forgot to turn the hot water on in the lower cabin! Yikes, well, they say cold showers are good for ya!

moving in...

stone circles staff spent the end of September and early October moving in to our new digs in Mebane! Here Margie and Solita contemplate our new reality, surrounded by boxes in the new office on the land.

Jesse and Claudia spent their free time [!] moving into their new cabins at either end of the property- cleaning, painting, and settling down. Friends, family, god children - anyone we could find, really- helped us with painting, packing, unpacking, and more.

stone circles at the United States Social Forum

Written by Jesse Vega-Frey

Sometime in the fall of 2006, a ragtag group of radical seekers, soul rebels, healer-practitioners, and mystic-rabblerousers from across the country started getting on the phone to talk about how their piece of social justice work was going to represented a the United States Social Forum coming to Atlanta in June 2007.


Buddhists, Yoruba practitioners, Jews, Indigenous medicine people, sound-healers, Christians, and yogis - many of whom had never met– came together from a spectrum of racial backgrounds, geographic roots, and activists worlds because they knew something good was cooking.

Woking closely with Cara Page from Deeper Waters and Kindred, we had no idea what the outcome would be. And though we used a lot of different language to talk about it, we were sure about two things:

• that the work of liberation has inner dimensions which are rarely attended to in mainstream activist culture,
• and that the USSF was the perfect place to demonstrate their value and power to a broad range of social change agents.


From my perspective, our work together offered something unique, powerful and much needed to the community of activists and folks doing the hard, heart-work of change... There’s little else I can imagine being more thrilled and content about offering to people as a sacred space for centering and healing.
-Oren Sofer, Buddhist Peace Fellowship





We soon we decided to create a Healing and Spiritual Practice Space in the context of the USSF that would be available to all Forum participants during the week of the event. We pulled an awesome planning group together, including Egypt Brown; Ari Shapiro, Shash Yazhi, Jesus Solorio, at Spirit in Motion; Oren from the Buddhist Peace Fellowship; Esmeralda Simmons, Tulani Kinard, Jodi Lasseter, and others. We developed guiding principles for our collective vision and collaboration:

• We believe the work of revolution, liberation and transformation is integrally connected to art, creativity, nature, prayer, ceremony, ritual and healing.

• We are supporting each other as we build this work, developing both programming and a network of spiritual activists, artists, healers and practitioners.

• We place great value on sharing community, traditions and practices from many different paths and we realize the potential risks involved in creating this kind of cross-cultural, multi-traditional context. We commit that least 50% of practitioners and healers will be people of color.

• We remain conscious of how spiritual and healing practices – particularly from indigenous traditions and peoples – can and have been misappropriated. We have great respect for the roots of all traditions and ask that people embody this respect in their offerings.


five days at the Forum

We don't just want this kind of work, we need it. That deep resting, openness and connection is critical for creating change. Change is not created through hate, change and transformation are created through cracking open and seeing in a different way. And to do that there needs to be safe places for that coming together and opening to occur.
- Briana -

(photo from USSF website)

While nearly 10,000 people buzzed around downtown Atlanta for the 5 days of the US Social Forum, several hundred of them found a quiet place of rest and reflection in the space on the corner of Piedmont and Ralph McGill.

Housed in the bottom floor of the AIDS Survival Project, the Healing and Spiritual Practice Space was held by a team of practitioner volunteers whose confidence that healing and spiritual practice are essential to the work of social justice energized their commitment to creating a space at the Forum for this piece of the work.

Throughout the four days that the space took shape, activists, organizers, agitators and practitioners came to find refuge in the space in a variety of ways. Perhaps you were one of the several hundred participants of the USSF who stopped by the space during your adventures in Atlanta. Maybe you came to get a massage, to learn how to meditate or dropped in for a yoga class. Maybe you just needed a place to close your eyes, gather your energy, snag an apple and a bottle of water, and head back out to the hot Atlanta sun. Whether you participated in a wellness workshop, sound healing, or ceremony, spent some time praying, got an acupuncture or energy treatment or took a nap, you probably left refreshed, relaxed and renewed- ready to get back to the myriad other tasks at hand. Over three hundred people participated in the varied workshops, ceremonies, and body and energy work. Many came into the space exhausted and war-torn, and left rested, energized and clear minded.

From posters and programming to ceremony and altars, everyone brought tremendous energy and grace, and the collective vibe was felt by folks whoencountered the space in its various aspects. Twenty-five healing practitioners from Atlanta and across the US came to offer their hands through community acupuncture, reiki and massage. Together we created a refuge and place of deep learning for USSF participants, and also inherently created a space that explored multi-cultural and cross-traditional, spiritually grounded work.

In addition to the indoor space, several outdoor altar spaces were created by the group, lead by Egypt, Cara, Omisade Burney-Scott and others. An Ancestor Altar and a Memorial Altar were set up in Renaissance Park to invite attendees to acknowledge the work and struggles of those gone before us. An Abundance Altar was created in the Art Lab at the Task Force for the Homeless. Our hope was to invite the use encourage the use of sacred space throughout the forum.


It was great to have people come together in a peaceful, loving, spiritual gathering, something I feel that embodied what the whole forum was about. Also I was glad to finally learn Qi Gong, something I had wanted to do for years. May we have the likes at every such event.

-Brian Tate

Our hope is that this work and particular piece of programming was recognized by the broader group of attendees and by the USSF organizers in particular so that in the future, spaces and practices that attend to the inner needs of activists and organizers will be acknowledged and supported in the future. It is our sincere belief that this kind of work not only sustains those working for change but also transforms the work that we are doing in the world as our actions begin to embody the peace, justice and freedom that we so powerfully seek in the world around us.

kindred spirits: a visit to the Highlander Center

Recently, I spent four days at the Highlander Center for Research and Education in New Market, TN. Highlander has such an incredible history of supporting movement-building and organizing in the South; there is no way to do it justice here. You can read a lot more about the decades of strengthening labor organizing, civil rights work, fighting environmental degredation in Appalachia, creative youth work, protecting immigrant rights and much, much more in the history section of their website.


This visit to Highlander was a gift in every way. It is inspiring to walk the land of an institution that has been holding down a powerful place of transformation for 3/4 of a century. An organization that continues to reinvent and update their mission and approach as times and conditions shift. A space where people have access to the lessons of the past and the possibilities of a different future. A place that is strongly rooted in the realities of the South and clear about where it fits in the global landscape.

a view from the Hill

Highlander's storied rocking chairs

Highlander will be celebrating their 75th Anniversary this August 31-Sept 2 - a weekend not to be missed for anyone interested in social justice and cultural work in the South. The coordinator, Anasa Troutman, is one of the more spirited and organized people I've met in a long while. And the weekend is shaping up to be a fantastic blend of head and heart, sound and strategy. Really - what better is there to celebrate labor day???

After I got an invitation to facilitate a workshop at Highlander for Guilford College alumni doing social change work, I arrived early to learn more about the work Highlander is doing now and how they continue to convene a range of programs and groups creating a better world.


I got to see old friends like Pam McMichael (far right in the photo), one of my favorite people. Pam is the Executive Director and has dedicated her life to building coalitions across race, class, gender and sexual identity in the South. She introduced me to some very good folks like Charlie Biggs (far left) who is organizing Highlander's capital campaign and managing the website, and Johnny Bailey (in the middle) who has been tending to the land and buildings at Highlander for over 25 years!








I also got to spend some time with long-time Durham activist Manju Rajendran, who is now working at Highlander, co-coordinating their youth organizing and leadership work. Manju has spent much of her life in Durham organizing against war and oppression and organizing for the rights of young people, people of color, people living in poverty - and all with her deep conviction that another world is possible. Durham's loss is Highlander's gain.
























One of the highlights of the weekend retreat for the Guilford College folks was the evening w

e spent with Guy and Candie Carawn. Guy and Candie have been at Highlander off and on (mostly on) since 1960 and they are a big part of the history of civil rights movement songs. They adapted "We Shall Overcome" from a gospel song and introduced it to movement organizers in the 1960's. You can learn more about their lives working in Applachia and the Sea Islands on their website; their daughter Heather also made a beautiful film about them - "The Telling Takes Me Home."

first fruits

Spring has arrived in North Carolina and everything is blooming. The earth. The branches. The Stone House, too. We've been spending the past few weeks reaching out to friends and colleagues to help us plan our fundraising strategy, make a pledge, read the case statement, walk the land, and offer ideas.



Marjanne, Geneva, and Ameka taste the first strawberries of the season during their first visit to The Stone House land.

Many, many thanks to all of you out there who are working to bring this vision to life:

*Our incredibly hard-working board - Omisade Burney-Scott, Marian Urquilla, David Sawyer, Polly Weiss, John Parker and Zulayka Santiago. (Omi, John and Z - below - on their first trip to the land... hard at work in the kitchen!)
*Margot and Ellis Horwitz for being our first major individual donors!!!

*Our institutional funders for considering longer-term commitments toward our programs.

*Kindred spirits at the New Dharma Center for Urban Peace in Oakland, CA who are working to buy their own building! Check them out and particularly if you live on the west coast, see what you can do to help.

*Bert Armstrong and Tom Maguire from the Philanthropic Advisory Group who are helping us craft a solid fundraising strategy.

Isabela Basombrio-Hoban who just sent us blessing strings from H.H. Dalai Lama, which she received on her recent trip to Dharamsala, India.

*Leigh Morgan, a long-time friend and colleague now living in the Bay Area, who helped to develop the Ripples training many years back. Leigh heard about The Stone House and immediately put her bonus check in the mail!

And so many more...






Fruit trees coming to life in the orchard.








There's a lot of inspiring work happening in the North Carolina activist community right now as well. The speakout/rally at this past Saturday's National Day of Truthtelling: Creating a World Without Sexual Violence was one of the more important things to happen in Durham in a long time. Survivors spoke out. Activists spoke out. Allies spoke out. I was reminded again that another world IS possible and that statistics and stories need to be shared.

And tomorrow (Tuesday, May 1) is the statewide Day of Action for Immigrant Justice. It starts with a lobby day at the state legislature and culminates with a rally at the state capitol building at 5:00 pm.

finding your way around...

Our good friend, Ellen O'Grady, drew this awesome map of The Stone House. In a couple of weeks, Ellen will return to Palestine to work with the Tel Rumeida Project in Hebron. If you click on the map, you can see it on a bigger scale!

A community kitchen

The community kitchen feeds 35-40 people. It is a beautiful, sunny inviting space, likely to be a heart of The Stone House.

The good, green earth

The land at The Stone House will help to ground those who come and the work we do together. In addition to hard woods, there is about 45 acres of undeveloped pasture. We plan to use at least some portion of this for organic farming; we're also investigating various conservation options. There's also a cultivated vegetable garden and a small orchard with appl, fig, peach, and pear trees, and a 2-acre pond for swimming.

A place for spiritual life and strategic action

The land has six cabins like this one, for folks on retreat, program participants, or staff. They are all passive solar and hand-crafted by Bo Lozoff and friends from the Human Kindness Foundation. HKF does amazing work with prisoners around the country and they have been living and working in this place for over 15 years.













And this is the main meditation/practice space.
It holds 30-40 people comfortably.

Welcome to The Stone House

The sky above from Mebane, North Carolina...

Here is where we at stone circles and many of our friends will be creating The Stone House: A Center for Spiritual Life and Strategic Action. This blog will keep folks posted on our progress and our journey. To find out more about stone circles and our work to sustain activists and strengthen the work for social justice, please check out our website.