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| User: | ebenbrooks (2448461) 
Eben Brooks' Music & Activism Blog
All about Eben Brooks' musical adventures and attempts to save the world
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| Name: | Eben Brooks |
| Website: | Eben Brooks' Music Page |
| Location: | San Diego, California, United States |
| Birthdate: | 1969-05-18 |
| E-mail: | | ebenbrooks | @ | ebenbrooks.com |
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| AOL IM: |  ebenbr00ks (Add Buddy, Send Message) |
| Yahoo! ID: |  eben_brooks (Add User, Send Message) |
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| Bio: | Eben Brooks, Acoustic Philosopher
Working-Class Superhero!
The world is a miserable place. Crime, poverty, hate, war, sickness, bigotry, the haves lording it over the have-nots, unrestrained greed, indifference to suffering. To put it succinctly, the world is sick.
It is my pledge to heal it. One person at a time, one thing at a time, over my lifetime—and teaching others to carry on the healing after I'm gone. This is not hyperbole. This is not martyrdom. This is not pie-in-the-sky.
This is necessary.
Can I do it by myself? No. The world needs all the help it can get. But that's why I make music: to educate, to illuminate, to pull back the illusions. To get others to see what's happening.
So my message to everyone is this:
You know what's wrong! Do something about it!
Cause #1: Breast Cancer Prevention and Research
On August 30th, 2001, my mother, Lani Rose Jeansdottir, died of breast cancer at the age of 55. She'd had it off-and-on for seven years. She'd beaten in three times. But it was the forth time that finally killed her.
It was then that I realized I needed to do something. So the following year, I signed up for the Breast Cancer 3-Day walk, an event for which I raised $3,600. I then continued, walking in the Susan G. Komen Race For the Cure twice and the City of Hope Walk for Hope to Cure Breast Cancer once. This year, in November, I'm once again walking in the Breast Cancer 3-Day, and my fundraising goal is $5,000. I'm confident that I can get there.
Breast cancer affects 200,000 women every year, and it kills 40,000. There is a one in nine chance that any given woman will get breast cancer in her lifetime. That means that each and every one of us almost certainly knows someone who has had it, has it now, or will have it in the future. If you love the women in your life, please do something: walk, donate, volunteer, or just make sure you and your female friends and loved ones do their self-exams and get their check-ups regularly. An excellent information source is here at the Susan G. Komen For the Cure website.
Cause #2: Environmentalism
A friend of mine once said that I was the kind of person who thought that Al Gore and Ed Bagley, Jr. weren't environmentally conscious enough. While I don't actually agree with that, it does point out the fact that I place a lot of importance on environmental issues. This is an area, however, in which I am struggling to practice what I preach. So far, I've made some significant changes, but there are also areas in which I really need to improve.
I've already decided that my next car will be either a hybrid, a CNG vehicle, or an electric vehicle (see this post for my take on various alternative fuel vehicles at a show in May, 2007). I'm also signed up to be one of the first to take advantage of a solar panel rental program to provide most of the electricity I need for my house (see this section of the same post). I have a garden in my back yard that, although I didn't start it, I intend to keep working on so that it can provide at least a small part of my food. I shop for organic and locally produced food and cleaning products as much as I can. And I try to conserve energy.
I've discovered that the best way to make these kinds of changes is one at a time, slowly. I've been working on these changes for ten years or more, and I've come a long way. Nevertheless, I feel I still have a long way to go.
Cause #3: Social Justice
Anyone who feels that we, in our modern world, have conquered racism, sexism, or any other form of discrimination...is badly deluded! Women continue to make less money in the business world than men (source: BusinessWeek). African-Americans continue to be incarcerated far more often than Caucasian-Americans (source: Human Rights Watch). It is still legal in 30 states for private employers to terminate employees for being gay, and legal in 38 states for private employers to terminate employees for being transgendered (source: Human Rights Campaign).
These are only a few examples, and this kind of stuff happenes all the time, every day. It may seem like there's nothing you can do about it...but you're wrong. You can e-mail your senators and congressional representative about issues that concern you. You can donate to organizations that support causes you agree with. You can volunteer. Every little bit helps. I personally donate to several organizations, and I also communicate with my congresspeople fairly regularly. Soon, I will be volunteering for Habitat for Humanity. |
| Memories: | 27 entries |
| Pictures: | over 100 public |
| Interests: | 138: acoustic music, alan moore, alternative fuels, alternative music, anti-censorship, asian food, astronomy, backgammon, biodiesel, black adder, blackadder, blues music, board games, breast cancer prevention, card games, cats, celtic music, celtic pagans, celtic wicca, city of heroes, city of villains, civil liberties, civil rights, comic books, comics, computer games, costume, costuming, curry, dim sum, dork tower, drawing, early music, electric vehicles, environmentalism, erotic art, erotica, fantasy, fencing, folk music, gaming, great books, green party, green politics, guitar, gurps, hedonism, historical costuming, historical fencing, historical games, historical re-creation, historical recreation, historical reenactment, honor harrington, house m.d., hybrid vehicles, independent music, internet radio, irregular webcomic, laura joh rowland, literature, lois mcmaster bujold, magic, medieval board games, medieval clothing, medieval coins, medieval costume, medieval culture, medieval games, medieval history, medieval language, medieval manuscripts, medieval music, medieval recreation, medieval reenactment, middle english, miles vorkosigan, natural medicine, netflix, non-corporate radio, nude photography, on-line gaming, online gaming, paganism, philosophy, photography, pirates, porn, pornography, princess bride, progressive politics, progressivism, real estate, recycling, renaissance games, renaissance music, role playing, role-playing, role-playing games, roleplaying, roleplaying games, rpgs, sano ichiro, sca, sci-fi cons, science, science fiction, science fiction conventions, scrabble, sex, sexuality, sf, sf conventions, sid meyer's pirates, sidhe, sims 2, singing, social justice, society for creative anachronism, solar power, song writing, songwriting, speculative fiction, star trek, star wars, superhero movies, superheroes, swords, tao, tea, the blues, travel, wicca, wine, witchcraft, wolves, world building, writing |
| Schools: | University of Southern California Magnet School - Hollywood, CA (1980 - 1984)
Van Nuys High School - Van Nuys, CA (1984 - 1987)
Pierce College - Woodland Hills, CA (1986 - 1990)
San Diego State University - San Diego, CA (1991 - 1994)
San Diego City College - San Diego, CA (2005)
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| Friends: |  | 67: | amy_leone, askdreldritch, avingail, blueguy76, bluejogger, brithistorian, build_my_world, caprine, chorale, coffeeem, dmmaus, dr_mrow, dragondancer101, dragondancer515, dragonluk, duckflambe, ducorbeau, eris_rising, eucalyptus_dust, farmount, firedrake_mor, gingertart, girlgeniuscomic, happaman, hotspursmith, jameshay, kajafoglio, khaywolf, kiltcheck, koressa, kris_jean, ladyamanda, ladymora, ladyrunica, landisb, letter_d, lydiansharp, madcap_annie, mizzzjulie, mrsbathysphere, muskrat_john, narina, nativeprincess, neo_tanuki, nightrythm, nomi_clawskull, philfoglio, rhinogirl, selenesue, shroop, shuka4, skzbrust, souloftherose, spicysvetlana, studiofoglio, teri1337, tmixtli, tomsalt, trinopus, trooper6, tuqutey, twistesse, ursulav, whswhs, wyrmwwd, xof, zensister |  | 17: | cat_macros, caturday, city_of_heroes, coh_victory, coh_virtue, cox_ljfc, cox_shadow_war, curvygirls, former_mutants, metavector, paidmembers, salle_de_armes, stripteasecomic, supersovereign, urthecampaign, whispersths, word_ancestry |  | 6: | ca_bizarro, calvinhobbesurl, coh_devtracker, emmabull, irregular_comic, sims2_xml |
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| Mutual Friends: | 50: amy_leone, avingail, blueguy76, bluejogger, brithistorian, build_my_world, caprine, chorale, dr_mrow, dragondancer101, dragondancer515, duckflambe, eris_rising, eucalyptus_dust, farmount, firedrake_mor, gingertart, happaman, hotspursmith, khaywolf, koressa, kris_jean, ladyamanda, ladymora, ladyrunica, landisb, letter_d, lydiansharp, madcap_annie, mizzzjulie, mrsbathysphere, narina, nativeprincess, neo_tanuki, nightrythm, nomi_clawskull, rhinogirl, selenesue, shroop, souloftherose, spicysvetlana, teri1337, tmixtli, tomsalt, trooper6, tuqutey, twistesse, whswhs, wyrmwwd, zensister |
| Also Friend of: | 50: acasiarabbit, aries_jordan, bilboh20, bluecho, bonniebarrow, buddhawolf, cayswann, cerrberus, chesyaburke, ckgriffin, damekendra, dancing_star, darrelx, eliensign, elvengrrl, euterpe35, filmbuff, foxsong, frausensei, geekmama, gingersnapps, glittercat13, grimmyx, hatchlingdragon, impboysd, jenatheia, jennilee_rose, juverna, katalynn, mamagnome, medalline, molly_world, morgan_gw, mythusmage, nolly, ophy, phaedra74, puzzlemasters, rameymj, roguebfl, rolandx, sasha_khan, scixual, sexxyred1, shadowolf, stompingbeast, talonvaki, thatcaptjim, vahlkyree, valdis_sca |
| Member of: | 18: cat_macros, caturday, city_of_heroes, coh_victory, coh_virtue, cox_ljfc, cox_shadow_war, curvygirls, former_mutants, livequotes, metaquotes, metavector, paidmembers, salle_de_armes, supersovereign, urthecampaign, whispersths, word_ancestry |
| Account type: | Paid Account |
