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Podcast interview with Grace Lee Boggs, author of The Next American Revolution
These Are the Times to Grow Our Souls
On June 27, 2010, I celebrated my ninety-fifth birthday. Over the past few years I have become much less mobile. I no longer bound from my chair to fetch a book or article to show a visitor. I have two hearing aids, three pairs of glasses, and very few teeth. But I still have most of my marbles, mainly because I am good at learning, arguably the most important qualification for a movement activist. In fact, the past decade-plus since the 1998 publication of my autobiography, Living for Change, has been one of the busiest and most invigorating periods of my life.
I have a lot to learn from. I was born during World War I, above my father's Chinese American restaurant in downtown Providence, Rhode Island. This means that through no fault of my own, I have lived through most of the catastrophic events of the twentieth century-the Great Depression, fascism and Nazism, the Holocaust, World War II, the A-bomb and the H-bomb, Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the cold war, the Korean War, McCarthyism, the Vietnam War, 9/11, and the "taking the law into our own hands" response of the Bush administration. Perhaps eighty million people have been killed in wars during my lifetime.
But it has also been my good fortune to have lived long enough to witness the death blow dealt to the illusion that unceasing technological innovations and economic growth can guarantee happiness and security to the citizens of our planet's only superpower.
Since I left the university in 1940, I have been privileged to participate in most of the great humanizing movements of the past seventy years-the labor, civil rights, Black Power, women's, Asian American, environmental justice, and antiwar movements. Each of these has been a tremendously transformative experience for me, expanding my understanding of what it means to be both an American and a human being, while challenging me to keep deepening my thinking about how to bring about radical social change.
However, I cannot recall any previous period when the issues were so basic, so interconnected, and so demanding of everyone living in this country, regardless of race, ethnicity, class, gender, age, or national origin. At this point in the continuing evolution of our country and of the human race, we urgently need to stop thinking of ourselves as victims and to recognize that we must each become a part of the solution because we are each a part of the problem.
What is our response to the economic crisis and financial meltdown? Will we just keep scrambling to react to each new domino that falls (e.g., Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers, Fannie/Freddie, AIG, Citigroup)? Or are we prepared to develop a whole new form of solidarity economics emphasizing sustainability, mutuality, and local self-reliance?
How are we going to make our living in an age when Hi-Tech (high technology) and the export of jobs overseas have brought us to the point where the number of workers needed to produce goods and services is constantly diminishing? Where will we get the imagination, the courage, and the determination to reconceptualize the meaning and purpose of Work in a society that is becoming increasingly jobless?
What is going to happen to cities like Detroit, which was once the "arsenal of democracy," and others whose apex was tied to manufacturing? Now that they've been abandoned by industry, are we just going to throw them away? Or can we rebuild, redefine, and respirit them as models of twenty-first-century self-reliant and sustainable multicultural communities? Who is going to begin this new story?
How are we going to redefine Education so that half of all inner-city children do not drop out of school, thus ensuring that large numbers will end up in prison? Is it enough to call for "Education, not Incarceration"? Or does our top-down educational system, created a hundred years ago to prepare an immigrant population for factory work, bear a large part of the responsibility for the atrocity that even though the United States is home to less than 5 percent of the world's total population, we are responsible for nearly 25 percent of the world's incarcerated population?
How are we going to build a twenty-first-century America in which people of all races and ethnicities live together in harmony, and European Americans in particular embrace their new role as one among many minorities constituting the new multiethnic majority?
What is going to motivate us to start caring for our biosphere instead of using our mastery of technology to increase the volume and speed at which we are making our planet uninhabitable for other species and eventually for ourselves?
And, especially since 9/11, how are we to achieve reconciliation with the two-thirds of the world that increasingly resents our economic, military, and cultural domination? Can we accept their anger as a challenge rather than a threat? Out of our new vulnerability can we recognize that our safety now depends on our loving and caring for the peoples of the world as we love and care for our own families? Or can we conceive of security only in terms of the Patriot Act and the exercising of our formidable military power?
Where will we get the courage and the imagination to free ourselves from the quagmires of Iraq and Afghanistan, the wars that have killed tens of thousands while squandering hundreds of billions of dollars? What will help us confront our own hubris, our own irresponsibility, and our own unwillingness, as individuals and as a nation, to engage in seeking radical solutions to the growing inequality between the nations of the North and those of the South? Can we create a new paradigm of our selfhood and our nationhood? Or are we so locked into nationalism, racism, and determinism that we will be driven to seek scapegoats for our frustrations and failures as the Germans did after World War I, thus aiding and abetting the onset of Hitler and the Holocaust?
We live at a very dangerous time because these questions are no longer abstractions. As we embrace the challenges and opportunities awaiting us in the age of Obama, we must be mindful of the mess we are in and the damage we must undo. Our political system became so undemocratic and dysfunctional that we were saddled with a president unable to distinguish between facts and personal fantasies. Eight years of George W. Bush left us stuck in two wars. Under the guise of defense against terrorism, our government violated the Geneva Conventions and the U.S. Constitution, torturing detainees, suspending habeas corpus, and instituting warrantless domestic spying. Meanwhile, our media are owned and controlled by huge multinational corporations who treat the American people as consumers and audience rather than as active citizens.
Our heedless pursuit of material and technological growth has created a planetary emergency. With places such as the Maldives-the islands that scientists warn may be engulfed by rising seas-confronting a threat to their existence and the livelihoods of millions more being undermined, "climate justice" promises to be the defining issue of the twenty-first century. The physical threat posed by climate change represents a crisis that is not only material but also profoundly spiritual at its core because it challenges us to think seriously about the future of the human race and what it means to be a human being. Our lives, the lives of our children and of future generations, and even the survival of life on Earth depend on our willingness to transform ourselves into active planetary and global citizens who, as Martin Luther King Jr. put it, "develop an overriding loyalty to mankind as a whole in order to preserve the best in their individual societies."
The time is already very late and we have a long way to go to meet these challenges. In the decades following World War II, the so-called American Century gave rise to an economic expansion that has ultimately driven us further apart rather than closer together. Growing inequality in the United States, which is now the most stratified among industrialized nations, has made a mockery of our founding ideals. CEOs of failed financial institutions have walked away with ill-gotten fortunes. Millions of children in the Global South die each year of starvation while diabetes as a result of obesity is approaching epidemic levels in the United States.
Yet rather than wrestle with such grim realities, too many Americans have become self-centered and overly materialistic, more concerned with our possessions and individual careers than with the state of our neighborhoods, cities, country, and planet, closing our eyes and hearts to the many forms of violence that have been exploding in our inner cities and in powder kegs all over the rest of the world. Because the problems seem so insurmountable and because just struggling for our own survival consumes so much of our time and energy, we view ourselves as victims rather than embrace the power within us to change our reality.
Over the past seventy years the various identity struggles have to some degree remediated the great wrongs that have been done to workers, people of color, Indigenous Peoples, women, gays and lesbians, and the disabled, while helping to humanize our society overall. But they have also had a shadow side in the sense that they have encouraged us to think of ourselves more as determined than as self-determining, more as victims of "isms" (racism, sexism, capitalism, ableism) than as human beings who have the power of choice. For our own survival we must assume individual and collective responsibility for creating a new nation-one that is loved rather than feared and one that does not have to bribe and bully other nations to win support.
These are the times that try our souls. Each of us needs to undergo a tremendous philosophical and spiritual transformation. Each of us needs to be awakened to a personal and compassionate recognition of the inseparable interconnection between our minds, hearts, and bodies; between our physical and psychical well-being; and between our selves and all the other selves in our country and in the world. Each of us needs to stop being a passive observer of the suffering that we know is going on in the world and start identifying with the sufferers. Each of us needs to make a leap that is both practical and philosophical, beyond determinism to self-determination. Each of us has to be true to and enhance our own humanity by embracing and practicing the conviction that as human beings we have Free Will.
Despite the powers and principals that are bent on objectifying and commodifying us and all our human relationships, the interlocking crises of our time require that we exercise the power within us to make principled choices in our ongoing daily and political lives-choices that will eventually although not inevitably (since there are no guarantees) make a difference.
An End to Politics as Usual
How are we going to bring about these transformations? Politics as usual-debate and argument, even voting-are no longer sufficient. Our system of representative democracy, created by a great revolution, must now itself become the target of revolutionary change. For too many years counting, vast numbers of people stopped going to the polls, either because they did not care what happened to the country or the world or because they did not believe that voting would make a difference on the profound and interconnected issues that really matter. Now, with a surge of new political interest having give rise to the Obama presidency, we need to inject new meaning into the concept of the "will of the people."
The will of too many Americans has been to pursue private happiness and take as little responsibility as possible for governing our country. As a result, we have left the job of governing to our elected representatives, even though we know that they serve corporate interests and therefore make decisions that threaten our biosphere and widen the gulf between the rich and poor both in our country and throughout the world. In other words, even though it is readily apparent that our lifestyle choices and the decisions of our representatives are increasing social injustice and endangering our planet, too many of us have wanted to continue going our merry and not-so-merry ways, periodically voting politicians in and out of office but leaving the responsibility for policy decisions to them. Our will has been to act like consumers, not like responsible citizens.
Historians may one day look back at the 2000 election, marked by the Supreme Court's decision to award the presidency to George W. Bush, as a decisive turning point in the death of representative democracy in the United States. National Public Radio analyst Daniel Schorr called it "a junta." Jack Lessenberry, columnist for the MetroTimes in Detroit, called it "a right-wing judicial coup." Although more restrained, the language of dissenting justices Breyer, Ginsberg, Souter, and Stevens was equally clear. They said that there was no legal or moral justification for deciding the presidency in this way.
That's why Al Gore didn't speak for me in his concession speech. You don't just "strongly disagree" with a right-wing coup or a junta. You expose it as illegal, immoral, and illegitimate, and you start building a movement to challenge and change the system that created it. The crisis brought on by the fraud of 2000 and aggravated by the Bush administration's constant and callous disregard for the Constitution exposed so many defects that we now have an unprecedented opportunity not only to improve voting procedures but to turn U.S. democracy into "government of the people, by the people, and for the people" instead of government of, by, and for corporate power.
We may take some brief solace in the fact that George W. Bush's terms in office, while wreaking national and global havoc, aroused heightened political awareness and opposition. Tens of thousands in Washington, DC, and other cities across the country denounced him through a counterinaugural. Then beginning in 2002, millions more took to the streets at home and abroad to denounce the war in Iraq. Meanwhile, the needless death and suffering that occurred in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina exposed the true depths of corruption, incompetence, and arrogance within the administration.
Still, it becomes clearer every day that organizing or joining massive protests and demanding new policies fail to sufficiently address the crisis we face. They may demonstrate that we are on the right side politically, but they are not transformative enough. They do not change the cultural images or the symbols that play such a pivotal role in molding us into who we are.
Growing Our Souls
Art can help us to envision the new cultural images we need to grow our souls. As the labor movement was developing in the pre-World War II years, John Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath transformed the way that Americans viewed themselves in relationship to faceless bankers and heartless landowners. In the 1970s and 1980s artist Judy Chicago's exhibits, The Dinner Party and Birth Project, reimagined the vagina, transforming it from a private space and site of oppression into a public space of beauty and spiritual as well as physical creation and liberation. In this period, we need artists to create new images that will liberate us from our preoccupation with constantly expanding production and consumption and open up space in our hearts and minds to imagine and create another America that will be viewed by the world as a beacon rather than as a danger.
This need has become more urgent since September 11, 2001. The activist, organizer, and writer Starhawk writes that "911 threw us collectively into a deep well of grief." "The movement we need to build now," she argues, "the potential for transformation that might arise out of this tragedy, must speak to the heart of the pain we share across political lines. A great hole has been torn out of the heart of the world." This potential can be realized only when we summon the courage to confront "a fear more profound than even the terror caused by the attack itself. For those towers represented human triumph over nature. Larger than life, built to be unburnable, they were the Titanic of our day."
"Faced with the profundity of loss, with the stark reality of death, we find words inadequate," Starhawk further notes. "The language of abstraction doesn't work. Ideology doesn't work. Judgment and hectoring and shaming and blaming cannot truly touch the depth of that loss. Only poetry can address grief. Only words that convey what we can see and smell and taste and touch of life, can move us." "To do that," she concludes, "we need to forge a new language of both the word and the deed."
The America that is best known and most resented around the world pursues unlimited economic growth, technological revolutions, and consumption, with little or no regard for their destructive impact on communities, on the environment, and on the billions of people who live in what used to be called the "Third World."
However, the end of the Bush regime provides an opening to build national and international recognition of the movement to "grow our souls," which began emerging organically in the United States in the aftermath of World War II. The dropping of the atom bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki demonstrated the enormous power and the enormous limitations of viewing human beings primarily as producers and as rational beings in the scientific sense. At the time, Einstein remarked, "The unleashed power of the atom bomb has changed everything except our modes of thinking, and thus we drift toward unparalleled catastrophes." Thus, he recognized the urgent need for us to redefine what it means to be a human being. Warning about the danger of unfettered technological progress, Einstein asserted that the solution of world peace could arise only from inside the hearts of humankind. That is why "imagination is more important than knowledge."
"A human being," Einstein concluded, "is a part of the whole, called by us 'Universe,' a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest-a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty."
The nuclear bomb created a Great Divide in theories and strategies for social change. Henceforth, human beings could no longer pretend that everything that happened to us was determined by external or economic circumstances. Freedom now included the responsibility for making choices. Radical social change could no longer be viewed in terms of transferring power from the top to the bottom or of simple binary oppositions-us versus them, victims versus villains, good versus evil. We could no longer afford a separation between politics and ethics. Within the Marxist-Leninist paradigm, consciousness and self-consciousness and ideas and values were mere "superstructure." Now they had to become integral, both as end and as means, to social struggle. Radical social change had to be viewed as a two-sided transformational process, of ourselves and of our institutions, a process requiring protracted struggle and not just a D-day replacement of one set of rulers with another.
The Montgomery Bus Boycott of 1955-56 was the first struggle by an oppressed people in Western society from this new philosophical/political perspective. Before the eyes of the whole world, a people who had been treated as less than human struggled against their dehumanization not as angry victims or rebels but as new men and women, representative of a new more human society. Practicing methods of nonviolence that transformed themselves and increased the good rather than the evil in the world and always bearing in mind that their goal was not only desegregating the buses but creating the beloved community, they inspired the human identity and ecological movements that over the past forty years have been creating a new civil society in the United States.
The sermons of Martin Luther King Jr. and other religious leaders, produced in the heat of struggle, played a critical role in the success of the Montgomery boycott and ensuing civil rights struggles. But as my friend the late Rosemarie Freeney Harding, who worked closely with Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee activists in the 1960s, pointed out, "Another vital source of support was music, particularly the sacred music of the black experience, which has long been an alchemical resource for struggle: a conjured strength." Harding concluded, "The songs changed the atmosphere, becoming an almost palpable barrier between demonstrators and police, giving the marchers an internal girding that allowed them to move without fear."
I recall how activists popularized songs like "Joe Hill" and "Solidarity Forever" in the decades before the civil rights movement, thus demonstrating the link between music and social action. But the songs of the civil rights movement, such as "We Shall Overcome" and "Ain't Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around," did more than energize those on the frontlines. They helped grow the souls of their supporters all over the world.
The publication of Rachel Carson's Silent Spring in 1962 added another dimension to the evolving movement toward inner and outer transformation initiated by the civil rights movement. By helping us to see how the widespread use of chemicals and hazardous technologies in post-World War II America was silencing "robins, catbirds, doves, jays, wrens and scores of other bird voices," Carson awakened millions of Americans to the sacredness of Nature and to the need, expressed by Einstein, for "widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty."
The next year Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique brought small groups of women together in consciousness-raising groups all over the country. Laughing and crying over stories of growing up female in a patriarchal society, women turned anger into hope and created a social and political movement much more participatory and closer to daily life than just going to the polls and voting. The transformative power of women's storytelling has been captured by playwright Eve Ensler in The Vagina Monologues, a dramatic compilation of women's soliloquies. Every year, to raise both funds and consciousness, thousands of women's groups all over the country and the world reproduce-or produce their own version of-these monologues, turning the monologue art form itself into a movement.
As the civil rights movement, the environmental movement, and the women's movement were gaining momentum, small groups of individuals, especially on the West Coast, were coming together in workshops to open themselves up to new more spiritual ways of knowing, consciously decentering the scientific rationalism that had laid the philosophic foundation for the modern age. To become truly human and to really know Truth, people discovered, we need to summon up all our mental and spiritual resources, constantly expanding our imaginations, sensitivities, and capacity for wonder and love, for hope rather than despair, for compassion and cooperation rather than cynicism and competition, for spiritual aspiration and moral effort. Instead of either/or, reductive, dualistic, and divisive or "blaming the other" thinking, the movement affirmed the unity of mind and body and of the spiritual with the material. It advocated a consciousness that rejects determinism-the belief that we are limited by the past-and repudiates all absolutes. Instead, the movement promoted a consciousness that finds joy in crossing boundaries, is naturalistic instead of supernatural, and strives for empowerment rather than power and control.
Toward the Great Turning
All over the world, local groups are struggling, as we are in Detroit, to keep our communities, our environment, and our humanity from being destroyed by corporate globalization. In his book Blessed Unrest, environmentalist Paul Hawken estimates that there may be more than one million of these self-healing civic groups across every country around the world. Most of them are small and barely visible, but together they are creating the largest movement the world has ever known. Many of these groups are inspired by a philosophy that replaces the scientific and reductive rationalism of seventeenth-century Western male philosophers (such as Descartes and Bacon) with the ways of knowing of Indigenous Peoples (which includes the perceptions of trees and animals) and of women, based on intimate connections with Nature and ideas of healing and caring that were part of European village culture prior to the sixteenth- and seventeenth-century witch hunts.
This movement has no central leadership and is not bound together by any ism. Its very diverse and widely scattered individuals and groups are connected mainly by the Internet and other information technologies. But they are joined at the heart by their commitment to achieving social justice, establishing new forms of more democratic governance, and creating new ways of living at the local level that will reconnect us with the Earth and with one another. Above all, they are linked by their indomitable faith in our ability to create the world anew.
Millions of people in the United States are part of this organically evolving cultural revolution. Because we believe in combining spiritual growth and awakening with practical actions in our daily lives, we are having a profound effect on American culture. For example, most of us reject the getting and spending that not only lay waste to our own powers but also put intolerable pressures on the environment. We try to eat homegrown rather than processed foods and to maintain our physical well-being through healthful habits rather than by dependence on prescription drugs. Overall, we try to make our living in ways that are in harmony with our convictions.
Depending on skills, interests, and where we live, most of us carry on this cultural revolution in our own way. For example, a doctor may decide to practice alternative medicine. A teacher will try to create a more democratic classroom. A businessperson will try to replace competition with cooperation in his firm or may quit the business altogether to act as a consultant to community organizations. Whatever our line of work, we participate in a lot of workshops because we view our selves and the culture as works in progress.
The social activists among us struggle to create actions that go beyond protest and negativity and to build community because community is the most important thing that has been destroyed by the dominant culture. For example, at mass demonstrations against the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) or corporate globalization, Starhawk organizes small affinity groups to promote democratic decision making and to combine community building with protest.
What unites us is not an organization or leaders but the sense that we are in the middle of what Buddhist writer Joanna Macy calls a "Great Turning." We need to recognize that we are coming to the end of ten thousand years of agricultural and industrial society, both of which are patriarchal. Many of my European friends viewed George W. Bush as the last gasp of industrial society because he was so determined to pursue economic growth even at the risk of destroying our biosphere. We must see the need to confront the crises we face today as part of a broader challenge to make the transition to a new postindustrial world based on partnership among ourselves and with our environment rather than patriarchal and bureaucratic domination.
Whether the media recognize it, the Great Turning is a reality. Although we cannot know yet if it will take hold in time for humans and other complex life forms to survive, we can know that it is under way. And it is gaining momentum, through the actions of countless individuals and groups around the world. To see this as the larger context of our lives clears our vision and summons our courage.
The writings of Karen Armstrong can help us put this notion of a Great Turning into further perspective. I discovered her work after 9/11, when I wanted to know more about Islam. Often called the "runaway nun," Armstrong left the convent in her early twenties, turning her back on the "narrow gate" of religion. Fifteen years later, while working on a film on Jerusalem, she started investigating the origins of Judaism. This led to her studying and writing readable books on the history of different religions.
In her book, The Great Transformation: The Beginning of Our Religious Traditions, Armstrong explains how the great faiths (Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Judaism) emerged during the seven hundred years from 900 to 200 B.C. in countries like China and India. In this period, sometimes called the "Axial Age," societies on the Eurasian continent were undergoing a great transition: from tribalism, in which individuals were submerged in the community, to urban ways of living that challenged individuals to figure things out for themselves. It was also a period of great violence in which destructive weapons, made possible by new Iron Age technologies, encouraged rulers to expand their turf by warring against one another.
The result was a profound social crisis in which old gods and old religions no longer provided satisfactory answers to new questions. Looking into their own hearts and minds, people felt the need for a leap in faith in what it means to be human. Prophetic voices began urging people to recognize a divinity and sacredness, both in themselves and in others, and to practice compassion by surrendering their egos. In each of these faiths the rejection of violence was linked to the practice of compassion.
Thus, all the great religions that emerged during the Axial Age include some form of the Golden Rule. For example, Confucius said that we should not act toward others as we would not want others to act toward us. In China the ideal ruler was no longer a warrior but someone whose deeds brought spiritual benefits to the people.
This new awakening to the divinity or sacredness within every human being is what Armstrong means by spirituality-a leap of faith, a practice of compassion based on a new belief in the sacredness of our selves and other selves. We need to see the distinction between this concept of spirituality and what many practice as religion. Religion is belief in a body of ideas. Religious people, Armstrong argues, tend to be doctrinaire; they often prefer being right to being compassionate.
Armstrong is convinced that as a result of urbanization, globalization, and rapidly changing technology the whole world is now in the midst of a social crisis as profound as that of the Axial Age. We are therefore called on to make a similar leap in faith, to practice a similar compassion. Native Peoples' view of the Earth as a sacred entity rather than only as a resource, she believes, provides us with a model.
To me, as a movement activist, this suggests that to grapple with the interacting and seemingly intractable questions of today's society, we need to see ourselves not mainly as victims but as new men and women who, recognizing the sacredness in ourselves and in others, can view love and compassion, in the words of Martin Luther King Jr., not as "some sentimental and weak response" but instead as "the key that unlocks the door which leads to ultimate reality."
Transformational Organizing
The older I grow, the more I realize how lucky I am to have lived so long and been part of so many historic changes. When I became a radical nearly seventy years ago, we ran the "risk of seeming ridiculous," as Che Guevara put it, if we thought Love had anything to do with Revolution.
Being revolutionary meant being tough as nails, committed to agitating and mobilizing angry and oppressed masses to overthrow the government and seize state power by any means necessary in order to reconstruct society from the top down.
In the past fifty years this top-down view of revolution has been discredited by the demise of the Soviet Union. At the same time our approach to revolution has been humanized by the modern women's movement, which informs us that the political is personal; the ecological movement, which emphasizes loving Mother Earth and the places where we live; and Martin Luther King Jr.'s call for a radical revolution in our values and his concept of "beloved community."
In the past fifteen years tens of thousands of very diverse community groups have sprung up all over the world to resist the commodifying by global corporations of our relationships to one another. On January 1, 1994, the day NAFTA took effect, the Zapatistas dramatized this new movement by first taking over six Mexican cities militarily, and then retiring to Chiapas and other indigenous communities to engage the people at the grassroots in nonviolent struggles to create new forms of participatory democracy.
Nearly six years later, in the November 1999 "Battle of Seattle," fifty thousand members of labor, women, youth, and peace groups closed down the World Trade Organization to inform the world that the time has come to create alternatives to corporate globalization.
In 2001 a series of "Another World Is Possible" World Social Forums began in Porto Alegre, Brazil, to help movement activists around the world recognize that it is futile to keep calling on elected officials to create a more just, caring, and sustainable world. We ourselves must begin practicing in the social realm the capacity to care for each other, to share the food, skills, time, and ideas that up to now most of us have limited to our most cherished personal relationships.
As part and parcel of this new approach to revolution, the first United States Social Forum was held in Atlanta, Georgia, in 2007. The second inspired over eighteen thousand diverse activists to convene in Detroit in June 2010.
Normally it would take decades for a people to transform themselves from the hyperindividualist, hypermaterialist, damaged human beings that Americans in all walks of life are today, to the loving, caring people we need in the deepening crises. But these are not normal times. If we don't speed up this transformation, the likelihood is that, armed with AK-47s, we will soon be at each other's throats.
That is why linking Love and Revolution is an idea whose time has come.
We urgently need to bring to our communities the limitless capacity to love, serve, and create for and with each other. We urgently need to bring the neighbor back into our hoods, not only in our inner cities but also in our suburbs, our gated communities, on Main Street and Wall Street, and on Ivy League campuses.
We are in the midst of a process that is nothing short of reinventing revolution. For much of the twentieth century the theory and practice of revolution have been dominated by overarching ideologies, purist paradigms, and absolutist views of a static Paradise; arguments over which class, race, or gender was the main revolutionary social force; and binary oppositions between Left and Right. Big victories have been prioritized over small collaborative actions that build community and neighborhoods: the end has been valued over the means. We rarely stopped to wonder how much this view of revolution reflected the capitalist culture that was dehumanizing us.
Now, in the light of our historical experiences and thanks especially to the indigenous cultures that the Zapatistas have revealed to us, we are beginning to understand that the world is always being made and never finished; that activism can be the journey rather than the arrival; that struggle doesn't always have to be confrontational but can take the form of reaching out to find common ground with the many "others" in our society who are also seeking ways out from alienation, isolation, privatization, and dehumanization by corporate globalization.
This is the kind of transformational organizing we need in this period. Instead of putting our organizational energies into begging Ford and General Motors to stay in Detroit-or begging the government to keep them afloat-so that they can continue to exploit us, we need to go beyond traditional capitalism. Creating new forms of community-based institutions (e.g., co-ops, small businesses, and community development corporations) will give us ownership and control over the way we make our living, while helping us to ensure that the well-being of the community and the environment is part of the bottom line.
Instead of buying all our food from the store, we need to be planting community and school gardens and creating farmers markets that will not only provide us with healthier food but also enable us to raise our children in a nurturing relationship with the Earth.
Instead of trying to bully young people to remain in classrooms isolated from the community and structured to prepare them to become cogs in the existing economic system, we need to recognize that the reason why so many young people drop out from inner-city schools is because they are voting with their feet against an educational system that sorts, tracks, tests, and rejects or certifies them like products of a factory because it was created for the age of industrialization. They are crying out for another kind of education that gives them opportunities to exercise their creative energies because it values them as whole human beings.
This kind of organizing takes a lot of patience because changing people and people changing themselves requires time. Because it usually involves only small groups of people, it lacks the drama and visibility of angry masses making demands on the power structure. So it doesn't seem practical to those who think of change only in terms of quick fixes, huge masses, and charismatic leaders.
But as Margaret Wheatley puts it in Leadership and the New Science, we need a paradigm shift in our understanding of how change happens. "From a Newtonian perspective," Wheatley argues, "our efforts often seem too small, and we doubt that our actions will make a difference. Or perhaps we hope that our small efforts will contribute incrementally to large-scale change. Step by step, system by system, we aspire to develop enough mass or force to alter the larger system."
What the most advanced researchers and theoreticians in all of science now comprehend is that the Newtonian concept of a universe driven by mass force is out of touch with reality, for it fails to account for both observable phenomena and theoretical conundrums that can be explained only by quantum physics:
A quantum view explains the success of small efforts quite differently. Acting locally allows us to be inside the movement and flow of the system, participating in all those complex events occurring simultaneously. We are more likely to be sensitive to the dynamics of this system, and thus more effective. However, changes in small places also affect the global system, not through incrementalism, but because every small system participates in an unbroken wholeness. Activities in one part of the whole create effects that appear in distant places. Because of these unseen connections, there is potential value in working anywhere in the system. We never know how our small activities will affect others through the invisible fabric of our connectedness.
In what Wheatley calls "this exquisitely connected world," the real engine of change is never "critical mass"; dramatic and systemic change always begins with "critical connections."
So by now the crux of our preliminary needs should be apparent. We must open our hearts to new beacons of Hope. We must expand our minds to new modes of thought. We must equip our hands with new methods of organizing. And we must build on all of the humanity-stretching movements of the past half century: the Montgomery Bus Boycott; the civil rights movement; the Free Speech movement; the anti-Vietnam War movement; the Asian American, Native American, and Chicano movements; the women's movement; the gay and lesbian movement; the disability rights/pride movement; and the ecological and environmental justice movements. We must find ourselves amid the fifty million people who as activists or as supporters have engaged in the many-sided struggles to create the new democratic and life-affirming values that are needed to civilize U.S. society.
The transition to a better world is not guaranteed. We could destroy the planet, as those chanting "Drill, baby, drill!" seem determined to do. We could end up in barbarism unless we engage in and support positive struggles that create more human human beings and more democratic institutions. Our challenge, as we enter the third millennium, is to deepen the commonalities and the bonds between these tens of millions, while at the same time continuing to address the issues within our local communities by two-sided struggles that not only say "No" to the existing power structure but also empower our constituencies to embrace the power within each of us to create the world anew.
We must have the courage to walk the talk but we must also engage in the continuing dialogues that enable us to break free of old categories and create the new ideas that are necessary to address our realities, because revolutions are made not to prove the correctness of ideas but to begin anew.
In this scenario everyone has a contribution to make, each according to our abilities, our energies, our experiences, our skills and where we are in our own lives. When I was much younger, I used to recite a poem that goes: "So much to do, so many to woo, and, oh, we are so very few." As I go around the country these days, making new friends and talking to people about the challenges of the new millennium, I still recognize that we have much to do and many to woo, but I no longer feel that we are so very few.
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A total of 59 employees of the Ann Arbor Public Schools earned more than $100,000 in 2010, the most recent data that's available.
The total compares to 88 in 2009, when 4 percent of the district's then-2,082 employees earned a six-figure paycheck.
The data was posted to the district's website on Friday as part of its mandated transparency reporting.
The difference in the fewer number of employees earning six figures is due to the fact that the 2009 list represented a year with 27 payroll dates instead of 26, according to the district.
The timing of the list's release follows a vote last week by the Board of Education to approve raises for two administrators following the hiring of an administrator from outside of the district who will earn more than her predecessor. That hiring was not approved by the board at the time, but Superintendent Patricia Green asked for retroactive approval last week in addition to the raises.

subset: commoncrawl


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Clune's effort highlights locals' performance at all-star meet
Swimmers from Bowie pools were well-represented Saturday at the annual Prince-Mont Swim League All-Star meet, hosted this year by Whitehall Pool & Tennis in Bowie.
Swimmers from Bowie pools were well-represented Saturday at the annual Prince-Mont Swim League All-Star meet, hosted this year by Whitehall Pool & Tennis in Bowie.
The governor finished his second round of chemotherapy on Thursday
I'm often asked if I get to choose the restaurants I review. I do not — my assignments come from my editor. Hence the following recent exchange:
Gov. Larry Hogan posted an update to Facebook as he entered his fourth day of chemotherapy, urging people to support cancer patients facing the deadly disease.
Three Bowie residents were arrested Saturday night after a report of an armed robbery in the 1000 block of Eaglewood Road.
Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. announced that one of its energy savings days will be in effect from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday, July 21.
Each year the members of the General Assembly spend 90 days raking over the state budget, debating $100,000 here, $1 million there.
Opponents of a proposed 24-hour Glenn Dale Walmart in Glenn Dale are vowing to continue their fight.
MARC will increase the number of trips for its bike cars Friday and Saturday.
Governor in good spirits as first round of chemo ends, keeping public informed on Facebook
Heavy winds that gusted up to 60 mph as part of heavy thunderstorms toppled the canopy of a Bowie gas station in the early hours of Wednesday morning.
A police officer who was involved in a fatal car accident in Annapolis in March was indicted Tuesday on charges related to a separate incident of road rage, in which he pointed a handgun at motorists, according to the Office of the State's Attorney in Prince George's County.
Anne Arundel County Police recovered a loaded handgun and 4.75 pounds of marijuana during a traffic stop in Laurel Tuesday morning.
The Bowie Baysox used a three-run seventh inning to come from behind to defeat the Trenton Thunder, 6-5, in Eastern League action on Sunday.
The Bowie Baysox captured the attention of the sports world Thursday night with a unique promotion - Back Hair Appreciation Night.
If a bobblehead depicting Manny Machado as a pirate has always been on your must-have list, Prince George's Stadium will be the place to be on Aug. 9.
The Orioles have recalled right-handed reliever Mychal Givens from Double-A Bowie to take newly acquired outfielder Gerardo Parra's open spot on the roster.
Samuel Ogle Middle School has been certified as a 2015 Maryland Green School by the Maryland Association of Environmental and Outdoor Education.
A perfect Father's Day weekend event might be taking your dad back to his youth when Stingrays, Fastbacks, Gray Ghosts, Western Flyers and Ross Apollo Racers ruled the sidewalks and neighborhoods.
Sean Cooke and Drew Herring, both of Bowie, will be awarded the highest rank in Boy Scouts at an Eagle Court of Honor on Sunday.
Chapel Forge Early Childhood Center held its end-of-the-year Field Day, which proved to be a summer-like day that encouraged fun — and wet — outdoor activities.
Bridge problems
Death with dignity
BGE charges
BGE changes


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Explores the many new and enhanced features in version 9 of Acrobat Standard, Acrobat Pro, and Acrobat Pro Extended.
Explains how to create, convert, manipulate and share 3D files using Acrobat 3D.
A thorough explanation of Acrobat 8 Professional's key features, plus how to customize the tools and interface.
"For five days I have been excitedly moving from lesson to lesson, course to course. These are the finest and most reasonably priced tutorials I have ever found!" —David S.
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Credit : InstagramEarn Points
Jersey Shore
Which Jersey Shore Guidette Was a Tiny Sailor? (PHOTO)
This guidette wouldn't be caught dead on a boat (unless it was a yacht she could sunbathe on), but back in the day, she was a "tiny sailor." One of our favorite Jersey Shore girls recently Instagrammed this adorable pic of her sitting on someone's lap, looking wide-eyed and cute as a button in a little baby sailor costume!
Can you tell who she grew up to be? Click through for the reveal...


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Passed in ... fragile confidence and low housing affordability remain significant barriers to housing market activity. Photo: Paul Rovere
ALMOST half the properties listed for auction in Sydney at the weekend failed to sell, reflecting the fragile confidence of the market.
Andrew Wilson, a senior economist for the Fairfax Media-owned Australian Property Monitors, said the reported results represented a clearance rate of 53.1 per cent.
The uncertainty would have been influenced by Tuesday's decision by the Reserve Bank to leave official interest rates on hold, he said, despite widespread expectations of a cut. This was followed by a decision by ANZ and Westpac to raise their mortgage interest rates.
''Fragile confidence and low housing affordability in the Sydney housing market remains a significant barrier to increased housing market activity in a city that remains clearly Australia's most expensive capital for housing,'' Dr Wilson said.
The most expensive property sold at auction was a three-bedroom townhouse in Kirribilli for $1.71 million, while the most affordable was a three-bedroom house in Terrigal that went for $109,500.


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The present invention is a system incorporating a modem in an xerographic machine, thereby enabling external data communication with a remote system, while concurrently executing normal xerographic control operations. Specifically, the reprographic features of the xerographic machine are fully enabled during communication with an external or host system. In addition, a means is provided to reset only the communication hardware and software within the system, without impacting the xerographic functionality of the system.
1. In a reproduction machine having a controller with a first control element, having a memory, for coordinating the operation of various electrophotographic machine components to produce images on support media in response to an original document placed at an imaging position, and in accordance with programmed job requirements, and a second control element for coordinating communications with a host computer over a communication network, the method of simultaneously controlling the operation of the electrophotographic machine components and communicating with the host computer over the communication network comprising the steps of:
initiating the operation of the electrophotographic machine components in response to the programmed job requirements,
sending machine operating information stored in the memory to the remote host, and
continuing the independent operation of the electrophotographic machine components while simultaneously communicating with the host computer over the communication network.
2. The method of claim 1 further including the steps of:
recognizing an error in the communication with the host computer, and
subsequently resetting the second control element to automatically enable further communication with the host computer.
3. A reprographic system having a controller and associated memory to control the operation of the system in order to produce an electrophotographic representation of an original document introduced into the system, comprising:
means, responsive to the controller, for establishing communications with a remote computer system at a predefined time,
means for carrying out a communication session with the remote computer system to facilitate the transfer of data relating to the reprographic system between the controller memory and the remote computer system, and
means, responsive to a signal from the controller, for executing an orderly shutdown of said reprographic system upon detection of the completion of said communication session, including means for assuring the completion of any electrophotographic processes in progress, and means for interrupting power to the reprographic system, thereby resulting in a power off condition.
4. In a reprographic system having a controller, a means for communicating externally with a remote system, and a power source, the controller having the capability to interrupt the supply of power from the power source to the system and enable an orderly shutdown of the system, the method of automatically causing the orderly shutdown of the reprographic system comprising the steps of:
establishing communications with the remote system,
recognizing the system requirement for a shutdown based on the completion of communications with said remote system,
completing any currently executing copying jobs,
storing required system information in non-volatile memory, and
disconnecting the power source to the reprographic system, in order to disable further use until a manual reset operation is completed.
5. A reprographic system for producing an electrophotographic copy of an original document introduced into the system in accordance with a given job requirement, comprising:
control means for controlling the operation of the reprographic system to provide the job requirement, wherein the control means includes,
memory for storing control software and system operating information,
a plurality of controllers, whereby each controller regulates the operation of one or more electrophotographic components within the reprographic system in accordance with the control software, system operating information, and the job requirement, and
a bus system, interconnecting the controllers to provide a communications link therebetween, enabling the controllers to transfer and receive data indicative of the system state, thereby operating in conjunction to control the operation of the reprographic system,
means, operating independent of said control means, for communicating with a remote computer system; and
means, responsive to the control means, for concurrently controlling said reprographic system to provide the job requirement and communication with the remote computer system.
6. The reprographic system of claim 5, wherein the communicating means includes:
a modem suitable for communicating with a remote computer system;
a communications link to the remote computer system; and
a communications control interface between the control means and the modem, said interface acting to parse the inter-controller communications on the bus system and to pass control and data signals to the modem in accordance with all bus communications intended for the modem.
7. The reprographic system of claim 6, wherein the modem comprises:
a microcontroller suitable for executing a set of predefined control commands;
a universal asynchronous receiver-transmitter; and
a modem chip capable of buffering incoming and outgoing data received from the universal asynchronous receiver-transmitter and the communications control interface, said modem chip operating in conjunction with the microcontroller to parse and execute control commands passed from the control means.
8. The reprographic system of claim 5, wherein the remote computer system is a device for monitoring the operation of the reprographic system.
9. In an electrophotographic copying system having a multi-tasking environment for the control of system resources, including a distributed network of controllers for the regulation of a plurality of electrophotographic components within the electrophotographic copying system and a communications controller capable of independently regulating the transfer of operating information between the copying system and a remote host, the method of simultaneously controlling the electrophotographic and communications functions of the copying system, including the steps of:
monitoring the electrophotographic components to determine a status thereof;
scheduling the operation of the electrophotographic components in response to the user input of a set of selected job requirements, and in accordance with the electrophotographic component status;
simultaneously scheduling the establishment of communications with the remote host over an external communication link to enable the transfer of operating information stored within the system; and
controlling the multi-tasking environment so as to permit the execution of those tasks not awaiting system resources which are presently in use, while suspending those tasks in need of system resources which are currently in use.
10. The method of claim 9, further including the steps of:
detecting an error in communication with the remote host; and
automatically resetting the communications controller to enable the reestablishment of subsequent communications with the remote host.
11. The method of claim 10, wherein the step of automatically resetting the communications controller further includes the steps of:
causing a hardware reset of the communications controller; and
reinitializing the communications controller, thereby returning the controller to a known condition suitable for executing communications instructions provided by the multitasking environment.
12. The method of claim 9, wherein the step of simultaneously scheduling the establishment of communications with the remote host includes the steps of:
scheduling a communications task to establish remote communications;
when available, allocating system resources required for execution of the communications task;
monitoring the status of the communications task to determine when communications have been established with the remote host;
transferring information relative to the operation of the electrophotographic components to and from the remote host;
determining when the information transfer has been completed;
reporting the status of the communications task to the multi-tasking environment; and
freeing system resources used by the communication task for subsequent use by other system tasks.
This is a continuation of application Ser. No. 445,809, filed Dec. 4, 1989.
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to the concurrent control of a xerographic reproduction machine and an internal modem within the xerographic reproduction system for the purpose of allowing external communications with a remote system while simultaneously providing full feature reproduction capability.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is a generally known technique to incorporate a modem into office equipment or systems for the purpose of enabling direct communications with external or remote devices. It is, however, usually necessary that the equipment or systems incorporating the communication capability operate in a less than fully functional state in order to initiate and maintain communications with the remote devices. Unfortunately, this requirement may severely limit the functionality of the office equipment or systems during the communication sessions, thereby reducing the throughput or features available for the systems.
In order to improve the performance of systems incorporating such communicating capability, it is a widely used practice to reserve actual data communication sessions for off-peak usage times when reductions in system functionality or throughput will not adversely affect system operation. This delayed data communication concept has been widely used in facsimile systems not only to maximize operator efficiency, but also to take advantage of lower data transmission charges during certain periods of the day.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,646,160 to lizuka et al discloses a facsimile apparatus for transmitting/receiving image data. A first memory stores image data and a second memory stores external apparatus number and time data. Upon coincidence of stored time data and a time signal from a clock, the apparatus starts an automatic dialing mode to connect a line with an external apparatus.
The prior art also discloses means for recognizing and rectifying a fault within systems utilizing a modem for external communications. U.S. Pat. No. 4,112,467 to Ogawa discloses a failure mode control apparatus for electronic graphic data transmission systems. Failure or malfunction sensors are provided at the transmitter and receiver of facsimile machines to generate failure signals having the same frequency as a telephone network busy signal upon detection of a malfunction. Both the transmitter and receiver are reset at high speed to an initial ready for transmission status upon reception of a failure signal from either sensor and automatically disconnect from the telephone network.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,686,526 to Gritzo discloses a remote reset circuit which acts as a monitor and controller by clocking all characters sent by a terminal to a computer and comparing them to a reference character. When a match occurs, the remote reset circuit activates the system's hardware reset line. The reset circuit is hardware oriented and does not require software configuration or initialization.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,811,358 to Smedley et al. discloses a subscriber line interface modem for use in a telecommunication system. The modem comprises a bus interfacing means, channel means and clock supply means. The interface receives address data and control information from a microprocessor and dispatches information to the microprocessor for evaluation. The processing of information through the modem is controlled by a microprocessor in conjunction with clock signals generated by a clock supply means. The modem may be reset from three sources; a reset input, a software reset, and an individual channel reset.
The teachings of the prior art are focussed primarily on apparatus for providing external communications via a modem or similar means. The prior art also discloses examples of single function systems that utilize such means for external communication. However, the prior art does not disclose a means for external communications within a multi-function xerographic system. More specifically, the prior art does not disclose systems having multiple functions, including external communication capabilities, where the non-communication capabilities of the system are fully maintained during a communications session. It would be desirable, therefore, to provide a simultaneous capability of total multi-function operation and modem communication within a reproduction machine.
It is therefore, an object of the present invention to incorporate the capability for external communications into a multi-function, xerographic reproduction machine. It is a further object of the present invention to operate a modem, or similar external communication means, within a xerographic system in a concurrent fashion so as to avoid any interference with the normal reprographic functionality of the system. It is an additional object of the present invention to provide a method of resetting the external communication means when a fault state is detected without interruption of system reprographic functionality. It is a final objective of the present invention to enable the establishment of a remote communications link either as an initiator or as a receiver for the purpose of remote interactive communications (RIC) with a host computer or similar device and upon the termination of such a link, to cause the orderly shutdown of the entire reprographic machine to a power off state.
Further advantages of the present invention will become apparent as the following description proceeds and the features characterizing the invention will be pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this specification.
Briefly, the present invention is a system for incorporating a modem in an electrostatic reproduction device to enable external data communication while concurrently executing normal xerographic control operations. More specifically, reprographic features of the machine remain enabled during communication with an external or host system and a means is provided to reset only the communication hardware/software system, without impacting the reprographic functionality of the remainder of the xerographic system, should a communications error occur.
For a better understanding of the present invention, reference may be had to the accompanying drawings wherein the same reference numerals have been applied to like parts and wherein:
FIG. 1 is an isometric view of an illustrative xerographic reproduction machine incorporating the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a detailed block diagram of the xerographic control systems and memory for the machine of FIG. 1;
FIG. 3 is a detailed block diagram of the communications hardware for the machine of FIG. 1;
FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a typical reprographic machine communication session with a remote host;
FIGS. 5a and 5b are detailed flowcharts of the multi-tasking operation of the RIC Dial process of FIG. 4; and
FIGS. 6a and 6b are detailed flowcharts of the multi-tasking operation of the RIC Transmit process of FIG. 4.
For a general understanding of the features of the present invention, reference is made to the drawings. Referring to FIG. 1, there is shown a typical xerographic reproduction machine 5 composed of a plurality of programmable components and subsystems which cooperate to carry out the copying or printing job programmed through a User Interface (U/I) 10.
A document handling unit 15 sequentially feeds documents from a stack of documents (not shown) in document tray 17 into an imaging position beneath document handling unit 15. After imaging, the documents are returned to document tray 17 via simplex or duplex copy paths (not shown) within document handling unit 15.
Imaging of the original documents occurs within the xerographic module 20, where the original document, on the platen, is exposed to create a latent image on a photoreceptor (not shown). Subsequently, the latent image is developed and transferred, within xerographic module 20, to a copy sheet which has been fed from one of the copy sheet trays 30, 32 or 34.
Following transfer, the image is permanently affixed to the copy sheet which is subsequently advanced to either finishing module 40, top output tray 44 or to a duplex storage module 36, for the first image on a duplex copy sheet. Options available within finishing module 40 are collation, stapling, and slip sheet insertion from copy sheet trays 30, 32 or 34.
With reference to FIG. 2, the various functions of machine 5 of FIG. 1, are regulated by a Controller Unit 114 which is comprised of memories 118 and 120, and one or more programmable microprocessors (not shown). The controller provides a comparison count of the copy sheets, the number of documents being recirculated, the number of copies selected by the operator, time delays, and jam corrections. Programming and operating control over machine 5 is accomplished through U/l 10. Operating and control information is stored in a suitable memory 115A,B and loaded into Controller Unit 114 through U/l 10. Conventional sheet path sensors or switches, such as photocells or reed switches, may be utilized to keep track of the position of the documents and the copy sheets. In addition, the controller regulates the various positions of the mechanical gates used to control document and paper travel, depending upon the mode of operation selected.
Memory includes a hard or rigid disk drive 115A for receiving suitable rigid memory disks and a floppy disk drive 115B for receiving suitable floppy memory disks, both disk drives being electrically connected to Controller Unit 114, including RAM 118 and ROM 120. In normal machine operation, all of the control code and screen display information for the machine is loaded from the rigid disk at machine power up. Altering the data loaded into the machine for execution can be done by exchanging the rigid disk in machine 5 for another rigid disk with a different version of data. In addition, all of the control code and screen display information for the machine can be loaded from a floppy disk at machine power up using the floppy disk drive built into the machine 5. U/l 10 is also connected to Controller Unit 114 as well as a shared line system bus 302.
The shared line system bus 302 interconnects a plurality of core printed wiring boards including an input station board 304, a Marking/Imaging board 306, a Paper Handling board 308, and a Finisher/Binder board 310. Each of the core printed wiring boards is connected to local input/output devices through a local serial bus. For example, the Input station board 304 is connected to digital input/output boards 312A and 312B and servo board 312C via local bus 314. The Marking/Imaging board 306 is connected to analog/digital/analog boards 316A, 316B, digital input/output board 316C, and stepper control board 316D through local bus 318. In a similar manner, the Paper Handling board 308 connects digital input/output boards 320A, B and C to local bus 322, and Finisher/Binder board 310 connects digital input/output boards 324A, B and C to local bus 326.
With reference to FIG. 3, Marking/Imaging board 306, contains a Controller Unit 214 comprised of memories 218, 220A,B and programmable microcontroller 216. Controller Unit 214 is linked to additional devices and input/output boards through local serial bus 318, as controlled by Communication Serial Controller (CSC) 350 which acts as the master communications controller for all connected nodes on serial bus 318. Similarly, Communication Control Chip (CCC) 352 acts as the communication link for the inter-processor communications via the shared line system bus 302.
As an additional function, CCC 352 can act as an interface to other devices requiring system inputs and/or outputs. Specifically, in accordance with the present invention, on the Marking/Imaging board 306, the CCC can be utilized as the interface to Modem 356 via an RS-232 type interface connection 354A, B, to enable external communications with a remote host computer or other such system.
Modem 356 is comprised of a microcontroller 356A, a universal asynchronous receiver-transmitter (UART) 356B, and a modem chip 356C which provide the modem functionality. Microcontroller 356A is a programmable device capable of initiating a set of predefined commands using modem chip 356C, as provided by the Marking/Imaging programmable microcontroller 116.
Modem 356 is intended to act as the physical interface between Marking/Imaging board 306 and the external phone line to the host system. In addition to the typical RS-232 interface, control lines 354A contain a reset line intended to allow the hardware reset of the modem. This hardware feature enables the non-power off resetting of the modem interface, via CCC 352, in the event of a modem or communications fault, thereby eliminating any impact on the xerographic functionality of the system.
Functional control of the system is accomplished using a two layered software architecture implemented using the multi-processor system. Specifically, the system software, as contained in ROM 120, is divided into an application, or client layer and an operating system. The application layer software (APPS) is used to provide the high level functionality of the system, primarily through the use of operating system tasks.
The operating system (O/S) layer acts as an interface between the system hardware and the application layer. In addition, the O/S layer is responsible for operation and control of the multi-tasking environment. In accordance with the present invention, the multi-tasking portion of the operating system comprises the scheduling of tasks to achieve system functionality and overall optimum system performance. Specifically, the O/S layer is responsible for enabling or unsuspending tasks which have all resources required for execution currently available. Conversely, the O/S layer will also disable, or suspend, those tasks which are awaiting the completion of a hardware or software event. Optimal performance of the system is achieved when the operating system is able to schedule the execution of tasks in a manner to achieve maximum use of the system processing capabilities.
Specifically associated with any Remote Interactive Communications (RIC) task is a requirement that only a single RIC task be operating or pending at any time. This requirement is due to the fact that the hardware system or modem employed during a RIC task can only execute one operation at a time. For this reason, the operating system includes the ability to monitor RIC task requests and to inhibit or suspend subsequent RIC tasks when the modem hardware is inoperable due to a previous RIC task request.
Referring now to FIG. 4, which depicts a flowchart of a typical Remote Interactive Communications (RIC) session from the perspective of the xerographic system. In accordance with the present invention, the multitasking operating system is responsible for controlling multiple APPS layer and O/S layer tasks in a concurrent manner. For this reason, the processes illustrated by the blocks of FIG. 4 are connected by dotted lines which are intended to represent the possibility of additional system tasks occurring in either a simultaneous or interwoven fashion with the illustrated tasks.
The RIC session depicted in FIG. 4 shows the initiation of the session as a result of the RIC Modem Setup block 412. Operations executed during this task comprise hardware and software resets to Modem 356 of FIG. 3. Also included in RIC Modem Setup block 412 are the operations of initialization of receive buffer memory pointers and initialization of the Modem control registers which control modem operation such as the number of rings before the modem will answer the phone.
Primarily, the RIC Modem Setup task is implemented through an operating system operation whenever it is invoked by the APPS software layer. Typically, the RIC Modem Setup task is invoked at power-up to assure proper modem initialization. Should Modem 356 of FIG. 3 not be functional, an error status would be returned from Modem 356 and would then be passed to the APPS layer from the O/S layer. The RIC Modem Setup task is also used when an indeterminate state exists within the modem control software and it is desirable, for the applications layer, to cause the hard reset and re-initialization of Modem 356.
Once initialized, using the RIC Modem Setup command, Modem 356 of FIG. 3 is available to transmit or receive data. Initiation of data transmission is enabled by a RIC command issued by the application software layer. However, initiation of a communication session by a remote system comprises recognition of a request from the remote system, establishment of the physical communications link, and subsequent reception and/or transmission to the remote system. Therefore, initiation of any communication session must be preceded by the RIC Modem Setup process.
Following initialization of Modem 356 of FIG. 3 in RIC Modem Setup task block 412, Modem 356 is ready for initiation of a communication session to be established by RIC Dial task, block 414. At the APPS layer, the RIC Dial task is intended to invoke a process to dial the phone number of a remote system and to open a communication channel to the remote system. Invocation of the RIC Dial task by the application layer includes the definition of parameters associated with the Phone Number and the Ring Time, the time to wait for an answer by the remote system.
The RIC Dial task is illustrated from both the APPS layer and O/S layer perspectives in FIGS. 5a and 5b respectively. Referring specifically to FIG. 5a, the APPS layer requests the task by executing the RIC Dial command, block 510. Subsequently, the command is passed to the operating system for processing and the APPS layer task is suspended, block 512, until the RIC Dial task is complete.
While the RIC Dial task is suspended within the APPS layer, other pending tasks may be executed, as indicated by block 514, providing that the required system resources are available. Upon completion of the RIC Dial operations within the operating system, a response will be passed back to the application layer signaling completion, block 516. When the signal is received, the APPS layer task is unsuspended and the operation that required the RIC Dial task is allowed to continue execution, block 518.
Referring now to FIG. 5b, the first operation of the operating system upon receipt of a command, block 530, is to parse the command, block 532, to determine what task has been requested by the APPS layer. Subsequent to determining that a RIC operation has been requested, the parameters associated with the command are also parsed from the data sent from the APPS layer. Next, a command is prepared and sent to Modem 356 of FIG. 3, to initiate a dialing sequence to a remote host. Upon sending the command to Modem 356, the O/S task is temporarily suspended, block 536, until a time when a response is received from Modem 356, block 538, or a previously specified period of time has elapsed without any response, block 540. Should a timeout period elapse, as detected in block 540, the operating system will declare an error by setting the Dial Status to `FF` hex, block 542, return the status to the APPS layer, block 564, and signal that the operating system task is complete via block 568.
If, however, a modem response is detected at block 538, the operating system will retrieve the response, block 544, from Modem 356 and will determine if a connection was established, block 546. If not, an appropriate status will be determined, block 548, and returned to the APPS layer. If the connection was established, the operating system will wait for a signal (NAK) from the remote system, block 550, again suspending the task at block 552 until a response or timeout event occurs as recognized in blocks 554 and 556 respectively.
As is the case for all RIC operations, if a response is not received from the Modem in a specified period of time, the operating system will declare a timeout event. Specifically, in block 556, the timeout event will indicate the occurrence of the NAK timeout by setting the Dial Status to `31` hex, block 558, and return the status to the APPS layer. If a response is received from the modem, block 554, the operating system will retrieve the response, block 560, and parse the response to determine the modem status, block 562. Subsequently, the operating system will return the status to the APPS layer, block 564, and signal the completion of the RIC operating system task, block 568.
In accordance with the present invention, the RIC Dial operating system tasks enable the establishment of a communication link with a remote system and allow for the return of a status to the application layer. Also, in the event of an error, the operating system will indicate the nature of the error using the RIC Dial status returned to the application layer.
The RIC Transmit task, block 416 of FIG. 4, is intended to provide the applications layer with the ability to send data to a remote system via an established communications link. Referring to FIG. 6a, the RIC Transmit (RIC Xmit) task is initiated at the APPS layer by passing a RIC Xmit command to the operating system, block 610, and suspending the calling task, block 612, until a response is received from the operating system layer, block 616. As is the case for all operating system tasks, once the RIC Xmit command is issued, the current APPS layer task is suspended, allowing execution of additional APPS layer tasks while completion of the RIC task is pending, as indicated by block 614.
Generally, the RIC Transmit task is implemented within the operating system, where a data pointer from the application layer is used to identify the data string for transmission. Within the operating system layer, the data string is combined with certain protocol information to form a packet for transmission via the communication link and Modem 356 of FIG. 3. Subsequent to transmitting the data string, the operating will suspend the communication task to wait for an acknowledgement (ACK) from the remote system. Should a transmission error occur, the remote system would return a No-acknowledgement (NAK) indicating that a message was received but an error was detected.
Referring specifically to FIG. 6b, the operating system initially receives the RIC Xmit command, block 630, and subsequently parses the command data, block 632, to determine the associated command parameters. Transmission of data to a remote system requires that Modem 356 of FIG. 3 be in an "Online" state which is determined by test block 634. In addition, the operating system checks the status of the RIC Xmit buffer, block 636, identified by a memory pointer passed from the APPS layer as a command parameter. Should either test block, 634 or 636, indicate a problem, a status will be determined, block 668, and returned to the APPS layer, block 664. Should the modem and RIC Xmit buffer be operational, the operating system will send a data string to the modem for transmission to the remote system, block 638, and start the transmission timer, block 640. The operating system will subsequently suspend the task pending a response from the modem, block 646, or an indication that the Xmit timeout period has elapsed, block 644.
If a response is received from the modem, block 646, the response data is initially checked to determine if a NAK or No-Acknowledgement response has been returned, block 648. A NAK response from the remote system is an indication that data was received but that a data error was detected by a predetermined error detection operation based on the communication protocol, used between the xerographic system and the remote system.
A NAK response, as detected in block 648, or a Xmit timeout event, block 644, will cause the operating system to check the number of times that the current message has been transmitted previously. The Xmit limit test, test block 650, compares the number of times the current message has been unsuccessfully transmitted to determine if further transmissions, as initiated in block 638, are warranted. Should additional transmissions be allowed, the operating system process continues at block 638 as previously described. If, however, the Xmit limit has been reached, a status indicative of the RIC Xmit limit will be determined, block 662, and returned to the APPS layer, block 664, thus signaling the unsuccessful completion of the RIC Xmit task, block 670.
If the modem response, as received in block 646, is not a NAK, a second test is used to determine if the response was a "carrier lost" message from the modem, block 658. A "carrier lost" response from the modem is indicative of a problem with the communication link to the remote system. As before, the operating system will identify the modem condition in the status returned to the APPS layer, thereby, indicating the unsuccessful completion of the RIC Xmit task.
Finally, if the modem response received in block 646 is neither a NAK or a "carrier lost" response, it is assumed to be an ACK response, block 660. The ACK response is regarded as a signal from the receiving system to the transmitting system that the data has been successfully received and that further transmissions may occur. Subsequently, the successful completion of the transmission is indicated by the status, block 662, returned to the APPS layer, block 664. Finally, the operating system layer will signal completion of the task, block 670, so that the APPS layer task may continue.
Once again, referring to FIG. 4, a communication session may involve multiple iterations of the RIC Transmit and/or RIC Receive tasks, blocks 416 and 418 respectively. The end of a communication session with a remote system is determined within the application layer by the successful transmission or reception of an End of Transmission (EOT) message. As indicated by block 420, a test is conducted at the end of each RIC receive task to determine if the last message passed to the application layer was an EOT message. Also, after the RIC Transmit task is used to transmit an EOT message, a test is conducted to determine if the transmission was successful based upon the status returned from the operating system layer.
Next, communication session is terminated by the APPS layer using the RIC Hang Up task, block 422. In response to the applications layer command, the operating system first sends a command to Modem 356 of FIG. 3, to hang up or disconnect the phone line connection with the remote system. Next, the operating system suspends its task, waiting for a response from the modem indicating the status of the hang up request. Upon receipt of the status from Modem 356 of FIG. 3, the operating system unsuspends the task, determines the modem status and subsequently passes the status to the application layer.
Upon receipt of the RIC Hang Up task status from the operating system, the application layer unsuspends the current task and checks for successful completion of the RIC Hang Up task. If successful, the application layer will continue normal operation. If an error is indicated by the RIC Hang Up task status returned from the operating system, the application layer may choose to invoke a RIC Modem Setup task, similar to that described for block 412, to cause a reset of the modem, which will automatically disconnect the remote phone link.
Finally, in accordance with the present invention, the application layer may optionally invoke a Remote Power-Down task, block 424, as a result of the RIC communication session. This task will cause the operating system to begin the orderly shutdown of the xerographic system. The operations involved include, but are not limited to, completing currently running copying operations, preserving all required data in non-volatile memory, and shutting off power to the system. Operation of the system subsequent to a Remote Power-Down task would require the operator to toggle the system power switch, first to an off position and then to an on position.
While there has been illustrated and described what is at present considered to be a preferred embodiment of the present invention, it will be appreciated that numerous changes and modifications are likely to occur to those skilled in the art, and it is intended to cover in the appended claims all those changes and modifications which fall within the true spirit and scope of the present invention.
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Brian Rotondo's B5 Passat + Land Rover wheelsOne of the most unique wheel choices to date; made possible with Adaptec Speedware. Perhaps not everyone's cup of tea, this set-up perfectly illustrates the variety of wheel options made possible by using our custom-made Adaptec Speedware adapters.* Adaptec Speedware is wholly owned and operated by fifteen52 and our goal is to make sure that […]


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Dog Breath
A dog blog with Melissa Bech and Joey Guerra
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Where Lady Duckie has been
Lady Duckie has been meaning to blog. But as you can see, she's been busy. This is the stash I found under the bed earlier this week. The money was en route to her underground lair. What was she going to do with $20. Buy beer and cigarettes, I fear. Sigh. We promisepromisepromise that this […] [Read More]
Lady Duckie returns, with a Whisper(er)
Guess who? Lady Duckie returns after a brief hiatus. To where? I'm sure you're asking yourself. We'd love to tell you we spent two weeks at a spa or became a spokesmodel for Ellen DeGeneres' dog food or even spent a month learning how to cook authentic Italian cuisine in Venice. Pssshaw. Lady Duckie spent […] [Read More]
Broccoli and other Duckie delicacies
This is sort of cute ridiculous sort of ridiculously cute. I leave my freaking last piece of broccoli unattended for 30 SECONDS, and it's gone. The phone rang, my computer beckoned, whatever. I turn around, and that last bit of green disappeared. Without missing a beat, I knew exactly where it was. [Read More]
Lady Duckie makes the top
10 12
My curiosity was roused by Melissa's and Emma's No. 82 ranking, so I decided to check in on Lady Duckie's placement in the AKC's list of the most popular purebred dogs. No. 1, of course, I thought. OK, No. 3. Surely top 10. Chihuahuas, however, came in at No. 12. Hmmm. I guess we're OK […] [Read More]
Lady Duckie feels for cupcake dog
Lady Duckie does NOT approve of this dog handler's training methods. How about a swift, stern "no" when Stains goes for the dessert? I'm coming for you, Vicky. Teasing, lady? You're liable to pull back a mangled hand in some neighborhoods. That's not a threat. Just a friendly piece of advice. [Read More]
Lady Duckie and a party
Lady Duckie hit a milestone Sunday — her first birthday party. Not hers. But an invitation to her first real shindig — for my two-year-old nephew, Nolan. It came with a warning. Lots of kids, which likely meant lots of holding and touching and playing and oooh-ing. That kind of stuff can wear on a […] [Read More]
Lady Duckie debates Dogbook
I think Lady Duckie wants a Dogbook page. What is that, you may be asking. Think Facebook. Then think overzealous dog owners on Facebook. Then imagine they have time on their hands, a digital camera full of dog photos and a penchant for showing off. Wait. I think that means I need a Dogbook page. […] [Read More]
Lady Duckie gets a grip
Sometimes, she doesn't seem to realize how small she is. But sure enough, it was flung off the couch. More than once. [Read More]
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Addiction and Mental Health Inpatient Treatment
Gosnold Treatment Center
Medical Detoxification and Stabilization
Detoxification is a period of medically monitored withdrawal from alcohol and other drugs. Treatment in a medical setting is necessary to prevent medical complications, discomfort and anxiety. Gosnold uses a variety of medications to treat withdrawal to minimize discomfort and avert complications. Care is managed by our clinical team, which includes physicians, nurses, counselors and recovery aides—all trained and practiced in addiction treatment. The length of detoxification treatment is dependent on the severity of the withdrawal and other medical conditions. Following medical stabilization patients are referred to continuing care programs.
Gosnold at Cataumet
Rehabilitation for adult men and women (3-5 weeks)
The Gosnold at Cataumet program includes a full complement of therapeutic services including individual and group counseling, addiction education, twelve step programs, fitness and nutrition, yoga and meditation, medical care, a family program and alumni services. Psychiatric and psychological services and anti-craving medications are provided when dictated by the patient's symptoms. Our clinical staff will assess patient's progress and make recommendations for the next level of care.
Recovery is greatly enhanced when families understand the illness and learn how they can care for themselves and be supportive of the patient's recovery. Families participate in weekly education sessions, family counseling, and family continuing care options. This program aims to expand self-awareness, identify family dynamics and improve communication skills.
The Emerson House
Residential Program for Women, Pregnant and Post-Partum Women
Located in historic West Falmouth, Emerson house offers extended care and residential living for women. The length of stay is individually determined, with an average stay of 60-90 days for adult women, and 6 months to 1 year for pregnant or post-partum women.
Services include individual counseling, group therapy, educational sessions, fitness and meditation, special issues group, art therapy, fitness, equine facilitated learning, and a variety of other resources designed to develop recovery skills that support re-integration with a patient's family, social and work environment.
Pregnant women and mothers with infants reside in a home adjacent to the Main House. The program coordinates prenatal, delivery, and well baby services with area physicians. We support the mother and infants by creating a healthy beginning with access to care, early intervention, parenting support, and education.
Miller House
Residential Program for Men
Located in a Victorian Manor in Falmouth, The Miller House offers extended care and residential living for men. Services include individual counseling, group therapy, recovery management strategies, addiction education, relapse prevention, recreational activities and 12-step meetings—all of which actively support re-integration with a patient's family, social and work environment.
Pocasset House for Men
LeClair House for Women
Sober Transitional Living
Sober Transitional Living offers structured independence to support transition back to work, social environments, and families. The programs are staffed by House Managers who help residents develop recovery living skills. Developing time management tools to help create healthy lifestyle routines. Continued engagement in treatment, 12-step fellowship meetings, weekly house meetings, and random drug testing are mandatory. Residents may remain in the Sober Transitional Living Program for as long as necessary. Average stays range from 2 to 12 months.
Continuing Care Programs
Inpatient and Residential treatment mark the beginning of recovery. It is important that patients remain engaged with continuing care–including individual and group counseling, day or evening programs, medication assisted treatment, recovery coaching, alumni services and other supplemental therapies.
Follow Gosnold
Proud to Partner With:
- 2014: Quality Improvement of the Year Award
From the National Association of Addiction Treatment Providers
- 2013: Colorado Addiction Innovation Summit Participant
- 2013 Addiction Professional's Outstanding Nurse Clinician
Awarded to Margaret Shapiro, Director of Nursing
- 2012 Quality Improvement of the
Year Award
from the National Association of Addiction Treatment Providers
- 2012 Excellence in Outcomes
from the Association for Behavioral Healthcare
- 2012 Behavioral Health Innovation of
the Year Award
from the Network for the Improvement of Addiction Treatment
- 2011 Mental Health Agency of the
Year Award
from the Massachusetts Mental Health Counselors Association


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White Oak Tea Benefits
- Natural Source of Antioxidants
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Fresh water is essential for brewing a great cup of tea.
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White Oak Tea Health Benefits
The white oak tree is a majestic hardwood species that is mainly found in eastern areas of North America. Its massive crown stretches out as wide as the tree is tall, making it a striking sight. The trees are also quite long-lived, surviving over centuries, and they also have a variety of uses. Its wood has been used to make furniture, while the acorns were once used by native tribes as a staple food. The bark offers multiple uses as well, used to create an herbal bath soak as well as this fine white oak tea. It is best described as earthy and smooth, a pleasant herbal tea for any time of day.
Refined and Enriching
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Buy White Oak Tea
Buddha Teas strives to provide all natural, organic teas that come with no unnecessary chemicals or additives that can sully the taste of good herbal tea. If you're looking for a reliable tea merchant, Buddha Teas offers an assortment of herbal teas and even offers discount on bulk buys which can save you a lot of money in the long run. We also occasionally offer great coupon codes on our product pages which can help save you even more money.
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What sets us apart from other tea companies? When you purchase our teas, you'll know exactly what you're getting. Unlike many other companies, we pride ourselves on presenting our customers with a wide variety of pure herbal teas and tea blends that are packaged in bleach free tea bags. In addition to this, our focus lies in providing delicious, wholesome teas with no 'extra' ingredients so that you'll be getting the most out of every cup of tea. With Buddha Teas you'll find yourself pleasantly surprised by the pure quality of tea you'll be receiving.
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Posted at: 11/07/2012 10:41 PM
Updated at: 11/08/2012 10:51 AM
By: Gadi Schwartz, KOB Eyewitness News
Every year in New Mexico,Game and fish officers write scores of tickets to hunters shooting animals from the roadway and often time- from inside their vehicles.
Last year over 70 citations were issued to hunters for shooting from a roadway by conservation officers.
Recently 4 On Your Side tagged along on one "decoy" operation in which officers set up an artificial deer in a clearing near a public road to catch drive by hunter.
In one day, three groups of hunters were stopped after shooting at the fake deer and five men were cited with shooting from a roadway.
In two of the groups that were stopped, young children were along for the hunt and witnessed adults shooting from the road.
Game and Fish Sgt. Jason Kline said seeing kids so young watching that type of hunting is disappointing.
"It's sad man," said Kline. "That kid is about to go through hunters ed and this is what his family is showing him on how to hunt they are already showing him unethical unsafe hunting."
After being written a ticket and having their guns returned all the hunters that were stopped during the decoy operation were allowed to go continue hunting.
Under state law in order for a licensed hunter to kill a deer on public land, they must be either 40 feet from the road or on the inside of a fenced right-of-way.
During the operation, officers witnessed one man get out of his vehicle and appear to prepare to cross the fence. Instead, the man posted his rifle on the barbwire to steady his aim - and then took a shot at the fake deer.
Game and Fish officers cited him as well, saying that while it appeared he had made half an effort, he still broke the law. Citations vary from $50 to $500.