SuperForest

I have missed you SuperForest.

Since my last post I have:

-Moved to California

-Gone to an amazing concert: Crowed House

-Arrived at my new school, Claremont McKenna College.

-Met my new and amazing roommate, and so many other people.

-Gone surfing in Santa Barbara!

-Gotten involved in a massive water fight!

-And I am sure I forgetting lots of stuff…

During that time I had little to no internet access, and now for the first time, in what feels like years, I have been able to sit down and read my dearest friend’s words and comments in my favourite place. Being away from SuperForest this time was unique. I have taken breaks from writing before, but I always kept reading. This time I couldn’t even read, and that sensation was very strange. I missed you! So, I write this after catching up on all the posts and comments I had missed out on! Reading the wonderful words of my fellow Team SuperForesters has brought me so much joy, excitement, contentedness, and gratitude. Thank you Team for being you, and for doing what you do. So, now that I have said that more about what I have been up to.

My first night in L.A. led me to being invited to a Crowed House concert, which was simply amazing! Check out this great video I got the chance to record!

After that I moved to my new home for the next four years! I quickly ended up leaving for an orientation trip: Surfing in Santa Barbara! This was my first time surfing, and what an experience it was. The waves hitting you as you waited for that perfect swell, only to be disappointed one second, and then be thrilled the next. Then all of a sudden to be thrown into the ocean by the wonderful forces of nature, only to pop up panting with excitement! I loved it!! I also got the chance to meet, and get to know 20 or so of my future classmates, along with three older students! Soon after that…

I came back to CMC to officially move in! I met my room mate, Donald. And let me tell you, we hit it off immediately! This is going to be an amazing year! I have met so many incredible people, and gotten a taste for so many amazing things to come. I am drooling at the thought of starting classes (Tuesday), and then delving into my major…which is SuperForest (at least hopefully): Economics, Environment, and Politics! A totally amazing and incredible interdisciplinary major that I am so excited for. There is so much on the horizon to be excited for!

All of that brings me to two ideas, thoughts, and/or emotions that have been popping up, especially as I have read up on my SuperForest: Love & Gratitude. There is so much love to be given in the world. Everyday and every second, and if you ever doubt whether you should hold back or go full out in love, choose the latter. Which ties in perfectly with gratitude. My next four years are going to be amazing, shared with amazing people. The opportunity was given to me because of soooo many amazing and inspiration people, most namely my parents. Thank you Mom & Dad!

I am bursting with possibilities, ideas, and so much else right now. I am now on a mission to share SuperForest, Sun Shines On, Simply Smiles, Blend Apparel, Matt Wadleigh LoVE Foundation, and everything else I am tied to with my new amazing community. SuperForest is going to take the Claremont Colleges by storm! With the help of SuperForester Chris of course, who is going to Pitzer, my neighbour school (literally down the street from my dorm). I am on a new slate with new chances and opportunities, and I can’t wait to share it with you all!

More to come soon, but in the mean time keep doing what you do best SuperForest, I love you very much! It is now time for me to pull on my Blend shirt, head over the Pitzer campus, and have a little luau with the other Claremont Colleges’ freshman! What an exciting journey life is, and how wonderful it is to share it with you! Stay safe, smile, be LoVE, and take care SuperForest!

Much, much LoVE,

Mathew

It deserves a watch or two; a listen or three. A great reminder for anyone, and I mean anyone. How to be Alone is a poem by Tanya Davis.

I deactivated my Facebook a few days ago, for the third time. I’ve always found it difficult to justify the so-called possession of one because of the seen and unseen implications such social media might have. What do I mean? Well, perhaps an erosion of interpersonal skills. Perhaps a fascination with superficiality. I’ve never even liked the phrase “social media.” It brings to mind the ills of advertising and the notion that society can be packaged and marketed. That said, I’m in the minority, and I’m still finding it possible to interact with my friends in meaningful ways. Maybe even more meaningful ways. But who knows, maybe I’m just a contrarian.

I see the potential for social media, though, and I’d like to utilize it in a way that’s conducive to spreading the word about SuperForest. Yes, we have a Twitter account and a Facebook account, but very few ideas about how to use them. We need your help.

What would you like to see SuperForest do with these websites?

What do you like to see on an ideal Facebook page? On an ideal Twitter account?

Do you have any examples of great uses of such websites?

We’d love to hear the answers to these questions as well as any suggestions you may have. You, the SuperForest reader, are the intended market for these ideas we’re giving away for free.

If that’s not a good use of social media, I don’t know what is. Let the discussion begin.

Sputnik Sweetheart is a novel by Haruki Murakami. I found myself reading it on the train to San Diego, and I was very glad I brought it. It’s a charming book, really, and being a Murakami novel the surreal elements are most certainly present. This is definitely a tough one to frame as I’ve still been thinking, even after a few weeks, about the novel and its purpose. In Sputnik Sweetheart Murakami explores the nature of intimacy as it applies to our relationships, both romantic and not. The surreal elements certainly highlight the fact that we may never be as close as we hope or think, but I still see Sputnik Sweetheart as a largely positive piece of literature — and one that certainly warrants multiple readings.

Murakami has this excellent way of capturing our contemporary lifestyles, and Sputnik Sweetheart is no exception. It’s fun to read and to suspend our preconceptions concerning the nature of reality. Murakami has surprisingly few.

Check this one out.

I’d never thought much about the work and thought that goes into the design of a book cover, which is partly justified, I’m sure. However, this miniature interview with a designer of said book covers (some of which I’ve read in the past) is fascinating and worth a watch.

Published in 2008, When We Were Romans is a charming and simultaneously haunting novel told from the perspective of Lawrence, a nine year old. Lawrence’s mom decides to abruptly leave their home in London in order to flee from the father of Lawrence and his even younger sister, Jemima, who she is convinced is out to harm them. I found myself thoroughly absorbed in Lawrence’s narrative — the novel is as much an exploration of childhood as it is an exploration of life itself. Both my eighteen and nine year old self could relate easily with Lawrence’s tribulations and experiences, or lack thereof.

Of course, the narrator’s perspective is narrow, and Kneale makes full use of Lawrence’s naïvety to explore the nature of the confusions and fears of childhood.

Make sure to check this one out. Literally. From the library. Catch my drift?

A song about what it means to be human:

A song about the implication of decision and the effect, and sometimes lack thereof, a decision has on our happiness. A song about acceptance, really. As Matthews sings, “Dark clouds may hang on me sometimes, but I’ll work it out.” He asks, in what is quite possibly the coolest rhetorical question in a song, “Could I have been anyone other than me?” You can listen to this song along with 90% of the Dave Matthews Band catalog for free at their website.

For all of our US readers: have a great (and safe!) 4^th of July.

Let me explain something that doesn’t necessarily warrant explanation: I am lazy. I have a propensity for being incredibly lazy, which can sometimes get in the way of things that are actually good for me. It’s an issue, really, but I’ve been working on it! That said, I’ve faltered considerably when it came to my “resolution” to read a book a week. There, I said it! I’m not saying I haven’t read at all, but my time has been spent doing things like biking to the beach, going to the Los Angeles Film Festival, and… well… being grossly lazy. Alas, life goes on. I will too.

Understanding Comics – Scott McCloud

I’ve never been a huge reader of comics. Yes, I’m a devotee and endorser of Comic Con, but I’ve always gone for the experience and not necessarily as a fan and lover of comics. I’ve always heard good things about this book, though, and thought it might help me better, well, understand something I never thought of as a form of art. McCloud does an excellent job of dispelling that very same preconception, and in the end makes a statement about the nature of art itself. Understanding comics has always proved difficult for me. Understanding Comics, the comic book that is about comic books, helped me appreciate something that I now see as a form of art.

I turned 18 a little more than a week ago. No, I haven’t bought a lottery ticket, nor have I bought a pack of cigarettes (I probably never will), but I have concerned myself, fancifully, with the notion of “goals”. You see, I’ve just finished my last year of high school and quite possibly one of the best in my life thus far. What surprises me then is how unenthused I’ve been feeling, how utterly – gasp – bored with myself I can be! But all is well… and inspiration can visit at any moment. Case in point:

The video is on the long side, but I could honestly listen to Stephen Fry speak for hours on end. In this video Fry touches on so much: creativity, youth, the nature of the ego, experience, travel, and just plain ol’ bein’ yourself while still feeling like you are a part of something. Stephen Fry is SuperForest. Enjoy.

Good morning, SuperForest!

As we’ve already written several times before, this past Sunday was SuperForest’s first time participating in a large scale public event. We hosted a booth at the San Diego EarthFair!

Each year, on the Sunday closest to Earth Day, San Diego EarthWorks puts on an event that takes place in the beautiful gem that is Balboa Park. And each year, thousands of exhibitors put up displays on products, organizations, or even ideas designed to promote environmental consciousness and global peace. I visited this event for the first time two years ago and had mixed feelings about the event. Despite the intentions of the event being noble, I still felt like most of the booths out there wanted nothing more than to sell me something. The year after that, SuperForesters Iman and Nika joined me after we decided to “sabotage” EarthFair with some SuperForest love. We put up posters, we talked to booths about SuperForest and the Humanifesto, and we started what we called a “booth coalition”. Booths across the fair would put up a SuperForest sign at their table saying they’ve read and support the humanifesto and they showed me that contrary to my previous assertions, most exhibitors really did participate in EarthFair to learn and share rather than being strictly motivated by profit. I got home that day and almost immediately told SuperForester Jackson that we had to get involved with this event in 2010 and that I wanted to kick things up a notch, I wanted SuperForest to have its own booth.

SuperForest was still considerably small at that time, Jackson was living in New York, and I knew it’d be a bit of a stretch but I firmly set my intention and in hindsight, the ways in which the cogs of the universe spun to build this beautiful opportunity for us is jaw dropping. The event coordinator, Carolyn Chase, was kind enough to give us a space for $50 (instead of the minimum cost of $160), SuperForesters across the globe contributed ideas as to what we could do at this event, the kind and lovely souls that are the Pezzolis lent us their beautiful canopy for us to use on the day of the event, and both SuperForesters Jackson and Chris took the train down to San Diego to help turn all of our ideas into a reality.

I must admit, a few days before the event I was beginning to get nervous (of course I did, I wouldn’t be SuperForester Carla if I didn’t). I would occassionaly feel myself become overwhelmed with doubt. “What if something goes wrong?”, “What if it rains?”, “What if SuperForest isn’t ready for a large event such as this?”, “What if nobody comes to our booth?” The list of questions went on and on, and as if by magic, I came across an image that read “Let’s begin by letting go“. Brilliant. When I saw this, that’s exactly what I did. I sucked in a deep breath and with a heavy exhale, I realeased all of that fear into the ether. The momentum of all the energy and events that have led up to that very moment were what propelled me forward and before I knew it, Iman and I picked up Chris and Jackson and we were catapulted into a whirlwind of nonstop preparations, sunlight, and laughter.

Here is SuperForester Iman and Susan with some of the details of how the day went:

They did wake up, we continued to rock the booth, and after a couple hours of cleaning, Balboa Park was left as pristine and sparkly as it was before we got there (with the help of some rain clouds). Though we were exhausted, I can wholeheartedly say that this event (to me) was a phenomenal success. We were swimming in a sea of big fish (including an awesome Zeitgeist booth to our right…kismet!), but hundreds of people came and met us, and left with a smile on their face. I was filled with awe as I saw heads nodding while reading the humanifesto, faces turn to shock as they saw a reflection of themselves behind a curtain that was supposed to reveal “what’s going to save the planet”, and endless hugs and handshakes from wonderful strangers. Or perhaps it would be more fitting to say they entered our booth a stranger and left as an empowered SuperForester. Yes, that’s exactly what happened. :)

Hopefully this is just the start of SuperForest participating in public events and I’m guessing we’ll probably continue to explore different ideas on how to approach these sort of things. We had no idea as to how this event was going to turn out, and though it’s debatable as to whether our presence is going to make a huge difference in our analytics, there is no doubt as to whether our presence made a difference in people’s days. I, for one, am going to keep this memory with me for a very long time.

SuperForest, I feel like I’ve known you for centuries, yet you constantly continue to surprise and inspire me.

Thank You.

Love,

Carla