The Future Holds Its Breath
November 4, 2020 Kosmos Community News
Dear Reader,
The future is never certain, and the result of our historic US election may not be clear right away. Regardless of the outcome, the result so far indicates we have a long way to go to heal racism and fear in our country. Earth’s many concerns will also persist far beyond today’s headlines. At Kosmos, we remain committed to a vision of transformation – personal to global – and we pray that democracy and justice prevail. Even in the coming winter darkness, we know the tender seeds of creativity, vision and hope are alive deep within us.
Our Call for Submissions ends November 15.
We invite you to give voice to the visionary spirit deep within you. How are you creating sense from this evolutionary moment? How are you beginning to transition and transform?
Share your vision. We invite you to submit an essay up to 1000 words, a poem, or other artwork, in response to our guidelines. We will choose several works to publish in our Quarterly and on our website.
Staff News from Kosmos
(image) A New Book from Kosmos Poetry Editor, Carolyn Martin
Nothing More to Lose is an intense, hair-raising, and hopeful account of one family’s resilience and faith. It includes 25 poems based on Therese Kolbert Dieringer’s autobiography, My Life – Lived and Remembered: A journey across Hungary, Germany, and America.
“These 25 poems are dear to my heart because they capture the courage, strength, and faith of an extraordinary friend who fled Hungary with her parents in 1944 and survived seven years of starvation in Germany before arriving in America in 1952. You would honor this 83 year-old-woman, Therese Kolbert Dieringer, by reading her story in poetry. It will amaze and uplift you!” – Carolyn Martin
A sample…
WHO KNEW AN ANGEL WORE A NAZI UNIFORM?
– János Kolbert
From Pecs to Dresden
November 1944
I stayed behind and hid out with our blue-eyed friend.
Stalin and Death searched for him as certain
as they searched for me. He planned our escape
in a freight car filled with machinery and straw,
crushed me in between wheels and gears and grease,
covered me with smells of sunshine and manure.
You’re hiding someone, German soldiers hopped
on the train, accusing him of treachery.
No one, I swear, his protest. I swear no one’s here.
They kicked their way around the car.
Worn-down boots barely missed my life.
I prayed without a breath.
Rants ceased. Silence. Then one shot.
I never heard my Nazi’s voice again.
(image) Nothing More to Lose will open readers’ hearts and minds to the challenges that refugees in every era face. The book is available until December 1st at a pre-publication price. Click here to order.
Carolyn’s poems and book reviews have appeared in publications throughout North America, Australia, and the UK. The Poetry Box will release her first chapbook, Nothing More to Lose, in late 2020, and her fifth collection, The Catalog of Small Contentments, in June 2021. Carolyn serves as the book review editor for the Oregon Poetry Association and poetry editor of Kosmos.
Updates from Kosmos Music Editor, Kari Auerbach
(image) Kosmos featured Christopher Hugh Brown and the Pros and Cons restorative justice project in last winter’s edition of Kosmos. They recently released two new albums, Paint In The Forest and Private Town.
Paint In The Forest ,recorded at Joyceville Institution, is the third full album release from the program. The track “High on Music” confronts the struggle of drug addiction that many inmates combated. “Lord Prepare Me” a traditional Methodist hymn, is another standout on the collection, sung beautifully in English and Tamil. Private Town was recorded at Grand Valley Institution for Women and is the fourth and latest release. The expressive voices on the women’s album come in a mix of musical styles, blending darkness with light.
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British folk singer and traditional music specialist Sam Lee has published a new book, The Nightingale – Notes on a Songbird.
In it, he explores the history, ornithology, folklore, and the future of this magical bird. Sam was featured in the Summer 2019 edition of Kosmos when he became known as the ‘Extinction Rebellion singer’ after leading an emotional mass sing-along in Berkeley Square during a XR protest.
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Kari Auerbach grew up all over the world learning about music and working as a jewelry designer. As Music Editor at Kosmos, she focuses on music that has a transformational healing effect on personal lives and society at large. Currently living in New York City, she is social media director for several recording artists and a jewelry instructor for the New York Institute of Art and Design.
Via Joni Carley, Kosmos Representative to the United Nations
Jeffery Huffines (Senior Advisor) and Fergus Watt (Coordinator) UN2020 Campaign
Soon-Young Yoon (International Alliance of Women and Feminist and Women’s Movement Action Plan)
(image) Seventy-five years ago, world leaders, recoiling from the horrors of war, sought to secure a future free from fear and free from want. The result was the United Nations, established in the name of “We the Peoples.” From its very origins, civil society and social movements were its strong partners and helped to shape the vision and mission of the UN.
The UN2020 Campaign and the Feminist and Women’s Movement Action Plan for Beijing + 25 recognize in this anniversary year the importance of reinforcing and strengthening UN institutions, norms and processes, while increasing its accountability and accessibility to civil society.
As we commemorate this UN 75th anniversary, we invite you to contribute your stories, messages, and good wishes for the future success of the UN. Let us recognize the many, wonderful contributions the UN has made to the betterment of our world community. Let us work together as global citizens for equality, sustainable development and peace.
http://www.tolbc.com/UN75
(image) Dr. Joni Carley consults and advises private and public sector leaders and their teams. Her expertise in values-driven leadership and cultural development draws on a unique depth and breadth of experience—ranging from the jungle to the boardroom, from the C-suite to the podium, the African Bush to Asian Temples, and from universities to the United Nations, where she is currently Vice Chair of the Coalition for Global Citizenship 2030 and serves as Advisor and Senior Fellow at Nonviolence International, New York.