|
Archives: Monthly Newsletters - 2000 |
return to Archives index
Home Site
Map | Resources |
Free resources |
Catalog
eStore |
Information |
Services |
Join Us! |
Order
Want to receive our brief periodical email newsletters? If so, send us your email address. (It's simple to unsubscribe if you change your mind. Send the message "personal email only.")
current eNews | eNews 2004 | eNews 2003 | eNews 2002 | eNews 2001 | eNews 2000 | eNews 1999
A Brief Email Newsletter from Alternatives
We now offer an "eStore" or Shopping Cart on our website. This allows you to order resources without keying the information into an order form. While in the eStore, just click on the item. You can view the items in your shopping cart anytime. You can also remove items before actually placing the order.
To reach Alternatives' eStore, use the drop down menu on our Home Page; eStore appears under Resources. Or click on Site Map, then eStore. Or click on Catalog, then eStore.Or go directly to
http://SimpleLiving.org/ushop1
If you want to browse, use the many eStore subject headings. If you know a title or a word in a title, then use the eStore search function.
The eStore and the Master Catalog have the same contents. Eventually the Master Catalog will go away.
NOTICES
Oops... Thanks to a technical glitch, I lost all my stored email from early October to mid-November. If you emailed me during that time and did not get a response, please send your email again. For example, if you sent a contribution to "Whose Birthday" 2001 or our collection "Quotes and Art," please send it again.
We enjoy supportive relationships with numerous organizations and publications. We currently have a trade with MOTHER JONES Magazine. They are running a promotion for our new title "Simple Living 101" in the new "In Print" section of their Nov/Dec issue. In return we are urging our e-readers to visit their website www.motherjones.com to subscribe to their free weekly e-newsletter called "MOJOURNAL" and to consider subscribing to the magazine, a leader in investigative, progressive journalism since 1976.
For excerpts from "Whose Birthday Is It, Anyway?" 2000, featuring Miriam Therese Winter, visit www.SimpleLiving.org. Click on Resources: Whose Birthday. To read the entire booklet, order a copy on paper (NOW HALF PRICE), or read a new installment each week at... http://SimpleLiving.org/free/XBFrame.html
The popular "Ten Tips for a Simpler, More Meaningful Christmas" is available on the website at Information: Media Releases: Christmas. Or go directly to http://www.simpleliving.org/main/MR/10tips.html.
If you would like to REPRINT parts or all of Alternatives' resources, contact us.
Word-of-mouth works! Please send this issue to the folks on your e-mail directory or list of contacts, along with a note like, "Thought you'd enjoy reading this." If you're not on our regular email list, send us a note for a free subscription. If you change your mind, unsubscribing is easy. Send us a note saying "Personal email only."
A wealth of free Alternatives' material is now on-line for easy downloading! Visit www.SimpleLiving.org. Click on Information: Media Releases.Or go directly to http://SimpleLiving.org/main/MediaReleases.html
For many inspiring articles, click on Information: Feature Articles. Or go directly to http://SimpleLiving.org/Archives/index.html
SPECIALS
In addition to the on-going specials on our website, we offer the following seasonal specials...
"Sustainable Change: Hope for a Simpler Millennium: Advent-Christmas Calendar Bulletin Insert in English or Spanish. Normally $1 each or 50 for $5. Now half price! -- 50 for $2.50
Adbusters EnvironMental Calendar 2001. Culture jamming. Subvertising. Irreverent media literacy. Full color. Normally $15. Now $13.
These special are limited to stock on hand, so order right away! Specify special price.
Alternatives offers deep discounts (usually 50%) on selected titles. Go to www.SimpleLiving.org. Click on Catalog, then Miscellaneous, then Specials. Or go directly to http://www.SimpleLiving.org/cgi-bin/Specials.pl
Thanks for your help!
Gerald
ALTERNATIVES for Simple Living
Resources for responsible living and celebrating since 1973
109 Gaul Dr. * P.O. Box 340 * Sergeant Bluff, Iowa 51054
712/943-6153 or 800/821-6153 * Fax: 712/943-1402
E-mail:
Alternatives@SimpleLiving.org
On-line:
http://www.SimpleLiving.org
Gerald Iversen, National Coordinator
We are well into planning NEXT year's edition of "Whose Birthday Is It, Anyway?" -- our most widely read resource.
If you have a meaningful family tradition, a brief touching story about how you have simplified Christmas, etc., send it before January 15th for consideration.
Have a piece of art (line drawing, photo) that depicts the tension between faith and culture? Have a personal experience related to simplifying Christmas or to finding happiness in relationships instead of stuff? Have an idea for a worshipful ceremony or a family ritual?
For more information about this family-oriented booklet, you can read selections from the year 2000 edition on our website. Go to www.SimpleLiving.org. Click on Resources, then "Whose Birthday..."
If you submit an item by someone else, such as a clipping from a magazine, we must have the date and page number, as well as the name, address, and phone number of the publication or source.
We prefer email. Good quality photocopies are acceptable. Please do not fax. They're too hard to scan.
Though we can offer no payment, we print about 150,000 copies and reach many more through our website.
Let's hear from you!
SPECIALS
In addition to the on-going specials on our website, we offer the following seasonal specials...
"Sustainable Change: Hope for a Simpler Millennium" -- Advent-Christmas Calendar (Bulletin Insert in English or Spanish). Normally $1 each or 50 for $5. Now half price! -- 50 for $2.50
Adbusters EnvironMental Calendar 2001. Culture jamming. Subvertising. Irreverent media literacy. Full color. Normally $15. Now $13.
These special are limited to stock on hand, so order right away! Specify special price.
Alternatives offers deep discounts (usually 50%) on selected titles. Go to www.SimpleLiving.org. Click on Catalog, then Miscellaneous, then Specials. Or go directly to http://www.simpleliving.org/cgi-bin/Specials.pl
NOTICES
Advent begins Sunday, December 3! Copies of "Whose Birthday Is It, Anyway?" ordered by November 20th will arrive before Advent begins. Call, email or fax. Or order on our website.
A wealth of free Alternatives' material is now on-line for easy downloading! Visit www.SimpleLiving.org. Click on Information: Media Releases. For many inspiring articles, click on Information: Feature Articles.
For excerpts from "Whose Birthday Is It, Anyway?" 2000, featuring Miriam Therese Winter, visit www.SimpleLiving.org. Click on Resources: Whose
Birthday. To read the entire booklet, order a copy on paper, or read a new installment each week at the same place on the website.
The popular "Ten Tips for a Simpler, More Meaningful Christmas" is available on the website at Information: Media Releases: Christmas.
If you would like to REPRINT parts or all of Alternatives' resources, contact us.
Word-of-mouth works! Please send this e-memo to the folks on your e-mail directory or list of contacts, along with a note like, "Thought you'd enjoy reading this."
If you're not on our regular email list, send us a note for a free subscription. If you change your mind, unsubscribing is easy. Send us a note saying "Personal email only."
Free Catalog options:
Sorry, our catalog is not available by email.
Please link our Website to yours. For help, contact us.
Thanks for your help!
Gerald
ALTERNATIVES for Simple Living
Resources for responsible living and celebrating since 1973
109 Gaul Dr. * P.O. Box 340 * Sergeant Bluff, Iowa 51054
712/943-6153 or 800/821-6153 * Fax: 712/943-1402
E-mail:
Alternatives@SimpleLiving.org
On-line:
http://www.SimpleLiving.org
Gerald Iversen, National Coordinator
We are well into planning NEXT year's edition of "Whose Birthday Is It, Anyway?" -- our most widely read resource.
If you have a meaningful family tradition, a brief touching story about how you have simplified Christmas, etc., send it before January 15th for consideration.
Have a piece of art (line drawing, photo) that depicts the tension between faith and culture? Have a personal experience related to simplifying Christmas or to finding happiness in relationships instead of stuff? Have an idea for a worshipful ceremony or a family ritual?
For more information about this family-oriented booklet, you can read selections from the year 2000 edition on our website. Go to www.SimpleLiving.org. Click on Resources, then "Whose Birthday..."
If you submit an item by someone else, such as a clipping from a magazine, we must have the date and page number, as well as the name, address, and phone number of the publication or source.
We prefer email. Good quality photocopies are acceptable. Please do not fax. They're too hard to scan.
Though we can offer no payment, we print about 150,000 copies and reach many more through our website.
Let's hear from you!
SPECIALS
In addition to the on-going specials on our website, we offer the following seasonal specials...
"Sustainable Change: Hope for a Simpler Millennium" -- Advent-Christmas Calendar (Bulletin Insert in English or Spanish). Normally $1 each or 50 for $5. Now half price! -- 50 for $2.50
Adbusters EnvironMental Calendar 2001. Culture jamming. Subvertising. Irreverent media literacy. Full color. Normally $15. Now $13.
These special are limited to stock on hand, so order right away! Specify special price.
Alternatives offers deep discounts (usually 50%) on selected titles. Go to www.SimpleLiving.org. Click on Catalog, then Miscellaneous, then Specials. Or go directly to http://www.simpleliving.org/cgi-bin/Specials.pl
NOTICES
Advent begins Sunday, December 3! Copies of "Whose Birthday Is It, Anyway?" ordered by November 20th will arrive before Advent begins. Call, email or fax. Or order on our website.
A wealth of free Alternatives' material is now on-line for easy downloading! Visit www.SimpleLiving.org. Click on Information: Media Releases. For many inspiring articles, click on Information: Feature Articles.
For excerpts from "Whose Birthday Is It, Anyway?" 2000, featuring Miriam Therese Winter, visit www.SimpleLiving.org. Click on Resources: Whose
Birthday. To read the entire booklet, order a copy on paper, or read a new installment each week at the same place on the website.
The popular "Ten Tips for a Simpler, More Meaningful Christmas" is available on the website at Information: Media Releases: Christmas.
If you would like to REPRINT parts or all of Alternatives' resources, contact us.
Word-of-mouth works! Please send this e-memo to the folks on your e-mail directory or list of contacts, along with a note like, "Thought you'd enjoy reading this."
If you're not on our regular email list, send us a note for a free subscription. If you change your mind, unsubscribing is easy. Send us a note saying "Personal email only."
Free Catalog options:
Sorry, our catalog is not available by email.
Please link our Website to yours. For help, contact us.
Thanks for your help!
Gerald
ALTERNATIVES for Simple Living
Resources for responsible living and celebrating since 1973
109 Gaul Dr. * P.O. Box 340 * Sergeant Bluff, Iowa 51054
712/943-6153 or 800/821-6153 * Fax: 712/943-1402
E-mail:
Alternatives@SimpleLiving.org
On-line:
http://www.SimpleLiving.org
Gerald Iversen, National Coordinator
A Brief Email Newsletter from Alternatives
Ask questions like these at a family meeting. Write down your decisions and post them.
At Christmas time so many peoples' brains seem to get disconnected. For whatever reason - habit, family pressure, guilt about being a bad Dad, whatever - people put themselves through incredible stress and end up in big debt.
Instead of assuming that everything will be just the same this year and that everybody will be happy about it, talk to those who will be involved. Instead of gritting your teeth when you see Christmas decorations going up before Halloween, sit down with your family, contact your relatives and friends - those you normally celebrate with - and talk.
Talk about what each of you really wants at Christmas, talk about expectations, talk about who is going to do what. Maybe the person - usually Mom - who is assumed to do most of the work, isn't really thrilled about doing so much on top of her regular duties. Maybe she wants help.
Maybe it's not worth doing so much again if the people who want it don't help.
Maybe there's something else that folks really want to do but are afraid to rock the boat. Their humble idea may become a great new family tradition. Write down your ideas and post your plan in a central place, whether your celebration is religious or secular.
Mark your calendar for your own "Let's Talk About Christmas!" Day. Beat the rush after Thanksgiving. Talk early... like October 15th. Contact Alternatives for a "Let's Talk About Christmas!" Worksheet or other help.
Designed for individuals, families and small groups, the booklet "Whose Birthday Is It, Anyway?" includes Biblical reflections by Miriam Therese Winter of the Medical Mission Sisters, activities, an Advent-Christmas calendar and suggestions for remembering those in need.
For excerpts from "Whose Birthday Is It, Anyway?" 2000, visit www.SimpleLiving.org. Click on Resources: Whose Birthday. To read the entire booklet, order a copy on paper, or read a new installment each week at the same place on the website.
Other resources appropriate for reevaluation of Christmas include "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" video; "Unplug the Christmas Machine: A Complete Guide to Putting Love & Joy Back into the Season," "Simplify & Celebrate: Embracing the Soul of Christmas," "The Christmas Game" and numerous titles for children.
NOTICES
A wealth of free Alternatives' material is now on-line for easy downloading! Visit www.SimpleLiving.org. Click on Information: Media Releases. For many inspiring articles, click on Information: Feature Articles.
The popular "Ten Tips for a Simpler, More Meaningful Christmas" is available on the website at Information: Media Releases: Christmas. If you would like to REPRINT Alternatives' resources, contact us.
Word-of-mouth works! Please send this issue to the folks on your e-mail directory or list of contacts, along with a note like, "Thought you'd enjoy reading this." If you're not on our regular email list, send us a note for a free subscription. If you change your mind, unsubscribing is easy. Send us a note saying "Personal email only."
The Fall Resource Guide (catalog) has been mailed. If you didn't get a copy, let us know. You have several options:
Sorry, our catalog is not available by email.
Alternatives offers Specials on our Website -- deep discounts (usually 50%) on selected titles. Go to www.SimpleLiving.org. Click on Catalog: Miscellaneous: Specials.
We enjoy supportive relationships with numerous organizations and publications. We currently have a trade with MOTHER JONES Magazine. They are running a promotion for our new title "Simple Living 101" in the new "In Print" section of their Nov/Dec issue. In return we are urging our e-readers to visit their website www.motherjones.com to subscribe to their free weekly e-newsletter called "MOJOURNAL" and to consider subscribing to the magazine, a leader in investigative, progressive journalism since 1976.
In 2001 we plan several changes in our e-newsletter, including the name.
The cleverness of "Simplicity Sp@mmer" is lost because of the deserved bad reputation of "spam" (unsolicited mass email). Please send your suggestions. How about "Alternatives Alert" or even "E-nuff"?
Please link our Website to yours. For help, contact us.
Thanks for your help!
Gerald
ALTERNATIVES for Simple Living
Resources for responsible living and celebrating since 1973
109 Gaul Dr. * P.O. Box 340 * Sergeant Bluff, Iowa 51054
712/943-6153 or 800/821-6153 * Fax: 712/943-1402
E-mail:
Alternatives@SimpleLiving.org
On-line:
http://www.SimpleLiving.org
Gerald Iversen, National Coordinator
Starting today, [October 4] the entire booklet "Whose Birthday Is It, Anyway?" for year 2000 is being serialized on our website. A new installment will appear each Wednesday. Visit www.SimpleLiving.org. Click on Resources, then Whose Birthday, then This Week's Installment. The entire booklet is available on paper for $3 (postpaid). Quantity pricing goes as low as $.60 each.
The serial begins with the provocative article "We Chose Something Different!" Reflections by Sr. Miriam Therese Winter run October 11th through November 28th. The calendar "Sustainable Change: Hope for a New Millennium" runs November 29th through January 9th.
Short selections from "Whose Birthday Is It, Anyway?" 2000, are at
the same place anytime. The popular "Ten Tips for a Simpler, More Meaningful Christmas" is available on the website at Information: Media Releases: Christmas.
NOTICES
Author Bill McKibben (The Hundred Dollar Holiday), Harriet Prichard (Alternative Gifts International) and I will be moderating a listserv discussion during October on Simplifying the Holidays. The free discussion sponsored each quarter by the Center for a New American Dream is always simulating. I urge you to join in. To subscribe, please send email to majordomo@newdream.org and, in the body, write: subscribe conversation-digest or subscribe conversation (the latter if you'd like to receive messages one at a time, rather than in a daily bundle).
Word-of-mouth works! Please send this e-memo to the folks on your e-mail directory or list of contacts, along with a note like, "Thought you'd enjoy reading this."
If you're not on our regular email list, send us a note for a free subscription. If you change your mind, unsubscribing is easy. Send us a note saying "Personal email only."
Free Catalog options:
Sorry, our catalog is not available by email.
Alternatives provides other resources appropriate for reevaluation of Christmas and for simpler living all year. For a current free catalog, call anytime 712/943-6153 or 800-821-6153, fax 712/943-1402 or e-mail Alternatives@SimpleLiving.org, or visit on-line: SimpleLiving.org. For more information and media interviews, contact Gerald Iversen. Review copies and art are available to editors upon request.
A wealth of free Alternatives' material is now on-line for easy downloading! Visit www.SimpleLiving.org. Click on Information: Media Releases. For many inspiring articles, click on Information: Feature Articles.
WE SUPPORT -
Jubilee 2000, an international campaign to reduce Third World debt. Contact Jubilee 2000/USA, 222 E. Capitol St., NE, Washington DC 20003-1036 (202/783-3566; coord@j2000USA.org; www.j2000usa.org). For information about the campaign in other countries: http://www.jubilee2000uk.org/.
Thanks!
Gerald
ALTERNATIVES for Simple Living
Gerald Iversen, National Coordinator
E-mail:
Alternatives@SimpleLiving.org
On-line:
http://www.SimpleLiving.org
Resources for responsible living and celebrating since 1973
109 Gaul Dr. * P.O. Box 340 * Sergeant Bluff, Iowa 51054
Tel 712-943-6153 or 800-821-6153, Fax: 712-943-1402
A Brief Email Newsletter from Alternatives
Let's Sing "Carols with Justice!"
O Little Town of Bethlehem
When lives of humble service preach
The Good News to the poor,
When troubled minds or bodies find
A welcome at our door,
When healing hearts and hands lift
The lowly from the dust,
Then ring the bells and sing Noels:
For Christ is born in us.
(new words by John Becker)
Most people love to sing Christmas "old favorites." Alternatives for Simple Living has added new stanzas to give a strong element of justice to familiar traditional carols.
"Our new collection of favorite Christmas carols appeals for social justice, care of Creation, and discipleship through simpler living," said Gerald Iversen, Alternatives' National Coordinator.
"Jesus' birth has taken on much cultural significance as a celebration of good will, warm feelings and excessive consumerism. These stanzas help to connect his birth with real life discipleship," Iversen said.
"Carols with Justice" is ideal to use in the car, during group caroling, in homes, at church, etc. The booklet includes the music for accompaniment or singing in parts by choirs or for fun.
The collection can be ordered for $2 (or less in quantity) by calling 800-821-6153, or visiting www.SimpleLiving.org (click on Catalog, then Christmas).
Selections from the collection can be used in worship bulletins, newsletters, holiday cards and letters. To save you money and time, you may request Alternatives to email the words so you can format your publications electronically. The email text file is free when you order a reprint license for this collection.
"This project has not been without its dissenters. Some folks object to us 'tinkering' with beloved carols. These are not parodies," Iversen said. "We provide the first traditional stanza for each carol. Then we add freshly written stanzas in contemporary English."
Samples of the new stanzas are printed in Alternatives' family-oriented Advent booklet "Whose Birthday Is It, Anyway?" for the year 2000, and on its website (www.SimpleLiving.org). From the Home Page or Site Map, click on Resources: Whose Birthday: Stories.
These are classic sacred carols like "Silent Night" and "Joy to the World," not popular or "contemporary" songs. Humorous and pointed poems and parodies are also on the website. Click on Resources: Whose Birthday: Bonus.
Alternatives provides other resources appropriate for reevaluation of Christmas and for simpler living all year. For a current free catalog, call anytime 712/943-6153 or 800-821-6153, fax 712/943-1402 or e-mail Alternatives@SimpleLiving.org. Visit www.SimpleLiving.org. The complete catalog is also on the website, as is information on Alternatives' services. For hundreds of inspiring articles, click on Information: Archives. A free copy of the popular "Ten Tips for a Simpler, More Meaningful Christmas" is available upon request on paper. Or, on the website, click on Information: Media Releases: Christmas: Ten Tips.
Alternatives' mission is to "equip people of faith to challenge consumerism, live justly and celebrate responsibly." Since 1973, Alternatives has promoted responsible living and celebrating through resources for Advent and Christmas, Lent and Easter, weddings and other celebrations, some in Spanish.
"Carols with Justice" is partially funded by New Road Map Foundation: www.NewRoadMap.org.
NOTICES
We enjoy supportive relationships with numerous organizations and publications. We currently have a trade with MOTHER JONES Magazine. They are running a promotion for our new title "Simple Living 101" in the new "In Print" section of their Nov/Dec issue. In return we are urging our e-readers to visit their website www.motherjones.com to subscribe to their free weekly e-newsletter called "MOJOURNAL" and to consider subscribing to the magazine, a leader in investigative, progressive journalism since 1976.
A wealth of free Alternatives' material is now on-line for easy downloading! Visit www.SimpleLiving.org. Click on Information: Media Releases. For many inspiring articles, click on Information: Feature Articles.
For excerpts from "Whose Birthday Is It, Anyway?" 2000, featuring Miriam Therese Winter, visit www.SimpleLiving.org. Click on Resources: Whose Birthday. To read the entire booklet, order a copy on paper, or read a new installment each week at the same place on the website.
The popular "Ten Tips for a Simpler, More Meaningful Christmas" is available on the website at Information: Media Releases: Christmas.
If you would like to REPRINT parts or all of Alternatives' resources, contact us.
Word-of-mouth works! Please send this issue to the folks on your e-mail directory or list of contacts, along with a note like, "Thought you'd enjoy reading this." If you're not on our regular email list, send us a note for a free subscription. If you change your mind, unsubscribing is easy. Send us a note saying "Personal email only."
The Fall Resource Guide (catalog) has been mailed. If you didn't get a copy, you have several options:
Sorry, our catalog is not available by email.
Alternatives offers Specials on our Website -- deep discounts (usually 50%) on selected titles. Go to www.SimpleLiving.org. Click on Catalog: Miscellaneous: Specials.
Please link our Website to yours. For help, contact us.
Thanks for your help!
Gerald
ALTERNATIVES for Simple Living
Resources for responsible living and celebrating since 1973
109 Gaul Dr. * P.O. Box 340 * Sergeant Bluff, Iowa 51054
712/943-6153 or 800/821-6153 * Fax: 712/943-1402
E-mail:
Alternatives@SimpleLiving.org
On-line:
http://www.SimpleLiving.org
Gerald Iversen, National Coordinator
Alternatives is a non-profit organization and our booklet "Whose Birthday Is It, Anyway?" is our primarily source of income.
Please post the following brief message about "Whose Birthday" on any internet bulletin boards, with any internet news groups, etc. as soon as possible. Simply copy the message, insert your organization's name where indicated (if appropriate), and paste the message into your posting. Last year we received numerous orders through such postings.
Please send a note to your WebMaster urging her/him to link our site to yours if s/he hasn't already done so. A Link or Button will make it possible for someone viewing your Website easily to pull up a description of the "Whose Birthday" booklet on our website. [The specific address from the Whose Birthday cover page is http://SimpleLiving.org/xb/xbcover.html]
If you have questions or concerns, please contact me. We'd appreciate knowing where you do your postings.
Peace, Gerald
MESSAGE:
Life Too Stressed? Christmas Losing Its Meaning? Want to Simplify Your Celebration?
Here's Help - the Year 2000 Edition of "Whose Birthday Is It, Anyway?"
Preparing for Christmas tends to be a time of stress - scurrying, shopping, fretting. Try some peace this season with the year 2000 edition of "Whose Birthday Is It, Anyway?" from Alternatives, sponsored by [your organization].
Designed for individuals, families and small groups, this booklet includes Biblical reflections by Miriam Therese Winter of the Medical Mission Sisters, articles, worshipful ceremonies, activities, an Advent calendar and suggestions for remembering those in need. "Whose Birthday Is It, Anyway?" is available in quantity pricing as low as 60¢ per copy.
For 30 years, Alternatives has provided people with ideas to celebrate responsibly. For a current free catalog of resources for responsible living and celebrating, call anytime 800-821-6153, fax 712/943-1402, or e-mail Alternatives@SimpleLiving.org, or visit on-line: SimpleLiving.org.
[End of message]
NOTICES
Author Bill McKibben (The Hundred Dollar Holiday), Harriet Prichard (Alternative Gifts International) and I will be moderating a listserve discussion during October on Simplifying the Holidays. The free discussion sponsored each quarter by the Center for a New American Dream is always simulating. I urge you to join in. To subscribe, please send email to majordomo@newdream.org and, in the body, write: subscribe conversation-digest or subscribe conversation (the latter if you'd like to receive messages one at a time, rather than in a daily bundle).
For excerpts from "Whose Birthday Is It, Anyway?" 2000, featuring Miriam Therese Winter, visit www.SimpleLiving.org. Click on Resources: Whose Birthday. To read the entire booklet, order a copy on paper, or read a new installment each week at the same place on the website.
The popular "Ten Tips for a Simpler, More Meaningful Christmas" is available on the website at Information: Media Releases: Christmas.
A wealth of free Alternatives' material is now on-line for easy downloading! Visit www.SimpleLiving.org. Click on Information: Media Releases. For many inspiring articles, click on Information: Feature Articles.
Thanks for your help!
Gerald
ALTERNATIVES for Simple Living
Gerald Iversen, National Coordinator
E-mail:
Alternatives@SimpleLiving.org
On-line:
http://www.SimpleLiving.org
Resources for responsible living and celebrating since 1973
109 Gaul Dr. * P.O. Box 340 * Sergeant Bluff, Iowa 51054
Tel 712-943-6153 or 800-821-6153, Fax: 712-943-1402
A Brief Email Newsletter from Alternatives
Sending a message to others about North America's need to live more simply can be tricky. Folks who do not understand the global impact of North American overconsumption may be unaware, be in denial or may just not know their options.
Alternatives three-fold mission is to equip people 1) to challenge consumerism, 2) to live justly and 3) to celebrate responsibly. We do that through resources and services.
Two of our services are an extensive website and a nation-wide volunteer bureau of speakers and workshop leaders. Our website includes hundreds of articles for personal inspiration and for use by editors in paper and electronic publications. To access that information, visit www.SimpleLiving.org, click on Information, then Feature Articles.
Our Fall Resource Guide includes many new ways to Send a Message. This year we have several greeting cards that send a very different message than traditional holiday cards. Alternative Giving cards notify someone that you have honored them by giving a contribution to a worthwhile charity in their name instead of buying them a mass-produced item.
"Prayerful Santa" is a stunning color card that shows Santa Claus subservient to Jesus. It is the cover art for this year's edition of the booklet "Whose Birthday Is It, Anyway?" It comes as a greeting card with envelope or as a postcard.
Three color cards show the holy family in three different nationalities -- African, Hispanic and Vietnamese. Also, some very overtly anti-consumerist cards and a variety of bumper stickers are offered.
All titles, including the new ones, also appear on our website, www.SimpleLiving.org. Click on Catalog.
Another way to Send a Message is through "Carols with Justice," a collection of traditional Christmas carols that have new verses with a social justice flavor. These carols are appropriate for worship, group caroling, inspiration in publications.
The focus of Alternatives' Advent-Christmas calendar for this fall is "How to Influence Others." Entitled "Sustainable Change: Hope for a Simpler Millennium," it comes as a bulletin insert in English or Spanish, and as part of the booklet "Whose Birthday Is It, Anyway?"
Alternatives Fall Resource Guide includes many books for personal inspiration and ideas "how-to" simplify at Christmas and year-round. It also includes books for children and videos.
New titles include "Cloth for the Cradle: Worship Resources & Readings
for Advent, Christmas & Epiphany," "Making a Living While Making a
Difference: The Expanded Guide to Creating Careers with a Conscience," "Grace
at the Table: Ending Hunger in God's World," and "The Simple Way" video.
Titles especially for Christmas include "Simplify & Celebrate: Embracing the Soul of Christmas," "The Leader's Guide to the 'Unplug the Christmas Machine' Workshop," collections of Christmas stories to read aloud or alone, "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" video, "Let's Talk About Christmas!" worksheet, and "Hundred Dollar Holiday."
The 2000 edition of Whose Birthday Is It, Anyway?, Alternatives' most widely read resource, is designed for individuals, families or small groups. The booklet includes Biblical reflections by well-known author Miriam Therese Winter, worshipful ceremonies, activities, an Advent-Christmas calendar and suggestions for remembering those in need.
Whose Birthday is available in quantity as low as 60¢ each. A shorter Spanish version of the booklet is also available.
Other resources produced by Alternatives include: "Wedding Alternatives: A Guide to Planning Out-of-the-Ordinary Celebrations," "Break Forth into Joy!: Beyond a Consumer Lifestyle" video, "Treasury of Celebrations," "Stories & Songs of Simple Living" (book, cassette and CD),
"Sing Justice! Do Justice!" collection of new hymns, "Simpler Living Alternatives Desk Calendar," and "Simple Living 101," a toolbook for activists shy or bold.
Contact Alternatives at 1-800-821-6153 or 712/943-6153, fax 712-943-1402, or e-mail Alternatives@SimpleLiving.org, or visit on-line: SimpleLiving.org.
NOTICES
For excerpts from "Whose Birthday Is It, Anyway?" 2000, featuring Miriam Therese Winter, visit www.SimpleLiving.org. Click on Resources: Whose Birthday. To read the entire booklet, order a copy on paper, or read a new installment each week at the same place on the website beginning in October.
The popular "Ten Tips for a Simpler, More Meaningful Christmas" is available on the website at Information: Media Releases: Christmas.
Word-of-mouth works! Please send this issue to the folks on your e-mail directory or list of contacts, along with a note like, "Thought you'd enjoy reading this."
If you're not on our regular email list, send us a note for a free subscription. If you change your mind, unsubscribing is easy. Send us a note saying "Personal email only."
Free Catalog options:
Sorry, our catalog is not available by email.
Alternatives offers Specials on our Website -- deep discounts (usually 50%) on selected titles. Go to www.SimpleLiving.org. Click on Catalog: Miscellaneous: Specials.
A wealth of free Alternatives' material is now on-line for easy downloading! Visit www.SimpleLiving.org. Click on Information: Media Releases. For many inspiring articles, click on Information: Feature Articles.
Alternatives provides other resources appropriate for reevaluation of Christmas and for simpler living all year. For a current free catalog, call anytime 712/943-6153 or 800-821-6153, fax 712/943-1402 or e-mail Alternatives@SimpleLiving.org, or visit on-line: SimpleLiving.org.For more information and interviews, contact Gerald Iversen. Review copies and art are available to editors upon request.
Please link our Website to yours. For help, contact us.
Thanks for your help!
Gerald
ALTERNATIVES for Simple Living
Resources for responsible living and celebrating since 1973
109 Gaul Dr. * P.O. Box 340 * Sergeant Bluff, Iowa 51054
712/943-6153 or 800/821-6153 * Fax: 712/943-1402
E-mail:
Alternatives@SimpleLiving.org
On-line:
http://www.SimpleLiving.org
Gerald Iversen, National Coordinator
Alternatives is collecting many humorous, serious, religious and secular quotations and graphic illustrations about Voluntary Simplicity, Sustainability, Social Justice and related topics. These materials are designed for publications (paper and electronic), such as newsletters, church bulletins and web sites. Also, they are suitable for personal inspiration, for sharing with friends and for spreading the word about simpler living anywhere else!
We intend to publish the collection on paper and CD-ROM in 2001. Other possible titles include "Speaking of Simple Living" or "The Art of Simple Living." We intend to organize the collection by topics and intermingle the quotations and the illustrations for a more appealing look.
We have a good start on this collection and we want to add to it, to create an even better "Alternatives Quotes and Art" publication. Your contributions on the following topics are welcome and will be considered if they relate to Voluntary Simplicity, Sustainability or Social Justice
Submissions may be positive or negative in tone. We're especially looking for constructive items.
Alternatives' Quotes & Art: Primary Categories and Secondary Categories
1. Voluntary Simplicity/Simple Living
2. Building Community
3. Celebrating
4. Peace & Justice
5. Care of Creation/Environment
6. Alternative Giving
7. Economics
8. Media
9. Sustenance [Food & Self-care]
10. Children's Stories [subgroups]
11. Spanish (include English translation)
12. Faith/spirituality/theology
13. Leading Study Groups
14. Ethics
15. Miscellaneous/Other
-END of list-
-Submission Guidelines follow Notices-
NOTICES
Word-of-mouth works! Please send this issue to the folks on your e-mail directory or list of contacts, along with a note like, "Thought you'd enjoy reading this."
If you're not on our regular email list, send us a note for a free subscription. If you change your mind, unsubscribing is easy. Send us a note saying "Personal email only."
Free Catalog options:
Sorry, our catalog is not available by email.
To read our popular "10 Tips for Simpler, More Meaningful Celebrations," go to our Website: www.SimpleLiving.org. Click on Information: Media Releases: Year-round. Or click here
Alternatives offers Specials on our Website -- deep discounts (usually 50%) on selected titles. Go to www.SimpleLiving.org. Click on Catalog: Miscellaneous: Specials.
All Alternatives' current media releases are available on our website for easy downloading! Visit www.SimpleLiving.org. Click on Information: Media Releases.
Alternatives provides other resources appropriate for reevaluation of Christmas and for simpler living all year. For a current free catalog, call anytime 712/943-6153 or 800-821-6153, fax 712/943-1402 or e-mail Alternatives@SimpleLiving.org, or visit on-line: SimpleLiving.org. For more information and interviews, contact Gerald Iversen. Review copies and art are available to editors upon request.
Our website now has a Catalog Index. If you know the title you're looking for (or if you want to scan our titles), click on Catalog: Index and you'll have an alphabetical list by title of all the resources we offer. Click on the title and you will go directly to its description.
Please link our Website to yours. For help, contact us.
Thanks for your help!
Gerald
1. Quotations (prose or poetry)
2. Illustrations (graphic, not verbal, illustrations, such as cartoons, caricatures, line drawings, photographs)
Background on Alternatives, Sponsor of this Planned Publication Alternatives' mission is to "equip people of faith to challenge consumerism, live justly and celebrate responsibly." We produce resources for Advent and Christmas, Lent and Easter, weddings and other celebrations, some in Spanish. Since 1973, Alternatives has promoted responsible living and celebrating through voluntary simplicity. The five "life principles" of voluntary simplicity, as enumerated by Doris Janzen Longacre in Living More with Less, are: 1. Do Justice; 2. Learn from the World Community; 3. Nurture People; 4. Cherish the Natural Order; 5. Non-conform Freely.
Direct all inquiries to: Gerald Iversen, National Coordinator, Alternatives for Simple Living, 109 Gaul Dr. * P.O. Box 340 * Sergeant Bluff, Iowa 51054, (800/821-6153 or 712/943-6153) Fax: 712/943-1402,
Email: Alternatives@SimpleLiving.org, Website:www.SimpleLiving.org
A Brief Email Newsletter from Alternatives
Welcome to Alternatives' Archives -- a treasure-trove of material on simpler living and celebrating. This material can be used FREE of charge for feature articles, newsletter blurbs, fillers, sermons, activities, personal enlightenment.
To accessible Alternatives' Archives, visit www.SimpleLiving.org. On the Home Page or the Site Map, click on "Information: Feature Article Material" or "Information: Archives."
The Archives are indexed by Articles, Collections, Newsletters and Feedback. Articles are indexed alphabetically by title within several large subjects: Christmas, Easter, Year-round, and Non-seasonal. If you select a collection, such as "Treasury of Celebrations," the Table of Contents will appear and you can select specific articles from there. Newsletters for members and volunteers are included, as well as Feedback (customer comments).
These are TEXT files (not graphics files) to ease downloading and formatting of the text for your use.
The terms for use and credits are given in the Introduction on the Archives Cover Page.
Except for Guest Editorials, all of the material in the Archives has been published by Alternatives for Simple Living. Hundreds of articles there now. More are being added. Check back often.
Alternatives' mission is to "equip people of faith to challenge consumerism, live justly and celebrate responsibly." Alternatives serves everyone. Since 1973, Alternatives has promoted responsible living and celebrating through resources for Advent and Christmas, Lent and Easter, weddings and other celebrations, some in Spanish.
The five "life standards" of voluntary simplicity, as enumerated by Doris Janzen Longacre in Living More with Less, are:
These archives are accessible to all. They are made possible by paid memberships and donations. For only $25 per year (or more) you can become a member. Click on "Services: Memberships" for details and benefits.
The "Reflections" by Sister Miriam Therese Winter leave me breathless, inspired and awestruck. Lety Pérez, Associate Editor, el IntérpreteMT Winter's devotionals are excellent. Thank you. Mary Lou Cox, Shenandoah Presbytery
Beautiful, beautiful art work! Gail Snyder, Loveland, CO
Orders are now being accepted for customized copies of the 13th edition of "Whose Birthday Is It, Anyway?" for Advent 2000. This booklet is Alternatives' most widely read resource.
The featured writer for 2000 is Miriam Therese Winter, professor of liturgy, worship and spirituality at Hartford Seminary in Connecticut. A Medical Mission Sister who has served on four continents, she has recorded 15 albums of her songs, including the classic "Joy Is Like the Rain." The author of several award-winning books, she gives workshops throughout the U.S., Canada & Australia.
Designed for families and small groups, "Whose Birthday...?" can be used in many settings - at home, school, church. The content is new each year but the message is the same - to equip people of faith to resist the pressures of a commercialized Christmas and to help them celebrate this season with greater integrity. As in the past, it contains Biblical reflections, articles, activities and ideas for alternative giving.
This resource is so well received, contains such valuable material and yet costs so little. We normally produce some 25 customized versions of "Whose Birthday...?" for various denominations and dioceses. We can produce one for a group, a single congregation or others. For example, the Archdiocese of Milwaukee has coordinated a version with the Lutherans and Episcopalians since 1996.
Sponsors have three pages inside and their name on the front and back covers. Alternatives provides free editorial help and promotion materials. Reservations are due by September 1st for November 1st delivery.
Contact us for details. If you prefer, we have in stock an ecumenical version and a Catholic version.
For excerpts from "Whose Birthday Is It, Anyway?" 2000, visit www.SimpleLiving.org. Click on Resources: Whose Birthday.
The popular "Ten Tips for a Simpler, More Meaningful Christmas" is available on the website at Information: Media Releases: Christmas.
To read our popular "10 Tips for Simpler, More Meaningful Celebrations," go to our Website: www.SimpleLiving.org. Click on Information: Media Releases: Year-round.
All Alternatives' current media releases are available on our website for easy downloading! Visit www.SimpleLiving.org. Click on Information: Media Releases. For hundreds of free articles for personal inspiration or to reprint, click on Information: Archives.
Alternatives provides other resources appropriate for reevaluation of Christmas and for simpler living all year. For a current free catalog, call anytime 712/943-6153 or 800-821-6153, fax 712/943-1402 or e-mail Alternatives@SimpleLiving.org, or visit on-line: SimpleLiving.org.For more information and interviews, contact Gerald Iversen. Review copies and art are available to editors upon request.
Please link our Website to yours. For help, contact us.
Thanks for your help!
Gerald
ALTERNATIVES for Simple Living
Resources for responsible living and celebrating since 1973
109 Gaul Dr. * P.O. Box 340 * Sergeant Bluff, Iowa 51054
712/943-6153 or 800/821-6153 * Fax: 712/943-1402
E-mail:
Alternatives@SimpleLiving.org
On-line:
http://www.SimpleLiving.org
Gerald Iversen, National Coordinator
A Brief Email Newsletter from Alternatives
In this issue...
1) Help Build Community with an Alternative Christmas Event
2) Alternatives Offers Speakers & Support for Simpler Living (Plus FEATURE ARTICLE: "Network Empowers Volunteers")
3) "Unplug the Christmas Machine" Still Sparks the Movement for a Simpler, More Meaningful Celebration
An Alternative Christmas Community Festival is a concrete, exciting way to offer ideas and support for those who want to have more meaningful Christmas celebrations. It is also a positive way to introduce the need for change to people unaware of the problems connected with the way we celebrate Christmas.
Many churches organize alternative Christmas events in the fall to encourage alternative giving and to help members simplify their celebration. The three basic plans are:
1. Sell crafts and clothing from the Third World. This encourages Fair Trade and the second pillar of Voluntary Simplicity: Learn from the World Community. Family and friends get beautiful gifts at reasonable prices. Third World artisans get a better price for their work through these volunteer fairs and shops than through similar commercial importers.
2. Encourage people to give funds to worthwhile organizations in someone else's name instead of a purchased gift. The gift is doubled - for the recipient of the funds and the recipient of the honor. Usually a gift card goes to the honoree telling something about the recipient organization.
3. Hold a workshop on alternative ways of celebrating Christmas. Such a workshop goes beyond gifts, to the "why's" and "how's" of celebrating Christmas. Use the classic "Unplug the Christmas Machine: A Complete Guide to Putting Love and Joy Back into the Season" ($13) and "Leader's Guide to 'Unplug the Christmas Machine' Workshop" ($10). A shorter guide is "Let's Talk About Christmas" ($1).
For help, contact Alternatives' "SLOw Down" Network of volunteers. Alternatives offers two helpful Christmas Festival and Workshop Guidelines for planning fall events. In addition to a step-by-step plan, "How to Organize a Alternative Christmas Community Festival" ($3) includes a section on publicity and an extensive list of resources. "Planning an Alternative Christmas Workshop" ($2) includes a plan for various workshop lengths, ranging from 60 minutes to 2 1/2 hours. Both resources together
are $4. Both also come in "Simple Living 101: a Toolbook for Sharing the Joys of a Simpler Lifestyle Through Speeches, Workshops, Events and Study/Actions Groups" ($10).
Alternatives is a non-profit organization that "equips people of faith to challenge consumerism, live justly, and celebrate responsibly." Through its mail-order resource service, Alternatives sells books on simple living and related topics, both for Christmas and for year-round use. For a current free catalog, call anytime 712/943-6153 or 800-821-6153, fax 712/943-1402 or e-mail Alternatives@SimpleLiving.org, or visit on-line: SimpleLiving.org.
Return to the top of this article
Editor: For the names of speakers in your area, contact us.
"People throughout North America seem really hungry for information about living more simply," said Gerald Iversen, National Coordinator of Alternatives for Simple Living. "Our hope is that people can learn ways to simplify their lives so that they are not overtaken by stress, debt and guilt. Our SLOw Down Network empowers volunteers to help. Call 800-821-6153 anytime for more information," Iversen said.
The SLOw Down Network - short for Speakers, Leaders, Organizers and Discussion - is a group of over 550 volunteers who stand ready to speak or lead workshops at churches, service clubs, schools and other gatherings about Simple Living and about Alternatives. They consult on organizing events, like Third World Craft Fairs, and help people start Simplicity Circles and study/action/accountability groups. "If your group that wants one of these services for a free-will offering, contact us," Iversen said. "Also, more volunteers are welcome. We provide strong support."
Alternatives provides free materials - catalogs, flyers, resources - upon request for displays at conferences, meetings, conventions and other events.
"Living simply can be lonely, especially when friends, relatives, co-workers don't understand why someone would NOT want to live the 'American Dream' of overconsumption. Alternatives offers support through ASSIST, which helps put people together, by phone, mail, e-mail, face-to-face. We have confidentiality safeguards," he said.
Alternatives is a non-profit organization that serves everyone and has been "equipping people of faith to challenge consumerism, live justly, and celebrate responsibly" since 1973. Alternatives issues a free quarterly mail order catalog of resources on simpler living and related topics (such as hunger, the environment, media literacy, etc.) for Advent and Christmas, for Lent and Easter, for weddings and for year-round use - some in Spanish. Contact Alternatives at 800-821-6153 or 712-943-6153, fax 712-943-1402, 109 Gaul Dr. * P.O. Box 340 * Sergeant Bluff, Iowa 51054, or e-mail Alternatives@SimpleLiving.org, or visit on-line: SimpleLiving.org.
Return to the top of this article
Alternatives' "SLOw Down" Network Empowers Volunteers for Simpler Living
Alternatives' North American SLOw Down Network started in 1997. The network now has over 550 volunteer members and is growing by over 100 per year.
"People throughout North America seem really hungry for information about living more simply," said Gerald Iversen, National Coordinator of Alternatives for Simple Living. "Our hope is that people can learn ways to simplify their lives so that they are not overtaken by stress, debt and guilt. Our SLOw Down Network offers help." Iversen said.
The SLOw Down Network - short for Speakers, Leaders, Organizers and Discussion groups - stands ready to speak or lead workshops at churches, service clubs, schools and other gatherings about Simple Living and about Alternatives. They consult on organizing events, like Third World Fair Trade Shows, and help people start Simplicity Circles and study/accountability groups.
"Some folks think that simple living is only about frugality. Yes, it starts with simplifying one's own life. Then it grows to helping others -- both the needy privileged to reduce their overconsumption, and the needy non-privileged to improve their quality of life. The third step is to work to help systems, like businesses and governments, work toward sustainability, even if it doesn't seem profitable in the short run. In all three steps there's volunteer empowerment," Iversen said.
"We provide tools for simplifying, such as books and videos. But the best motivation to change comes through face-to-face sharing, education, support and accountability. That's how volunteer empowerment happens.
Alternatives provides free materials - catalogs, flyers, resources - upon request for displays at conferences, meetings, conventions and other events. It produces a newsletter for the volunteers. It has a handbook called "Simple Living 101: A Toolbook for Sharing the Joy of Simpler Living through Speeches, Workshops, Events & Study Groups/Simplicity Circles." Some worthwhile items not printed in "Simple Living 101" are available on our Website at Services: SLOw Down Network: Simple Living 101 Bonus. In addition to talks, workshops, events and discussion groups, SLOw Down volunteers also do these type of things:
* They urge their local TV channels to air Alternatives' videos -- "Break Forth into Joy! Beyond a Consumer Lifestyle" and "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas." When something appears about Alternatives in their area media - print or electronic (TV, radio, cable) - they report it.
* They give feedback on Alternatives' upcoming resources. Many volunteers reviewed "Simple Living 101" before its final draft. They share presentations and outlines.
* Volunteers line-up engagements for themselves and for others, such as a short series about simplifying Christmas in the fall and about year 'round simpler living in the winter, possibly during Lent. In summer many conferences and conventions may include a workshop about Voluntary Simplicity. Volunteers display catalogs, brochures and books at events.
* Volunteers distribute free copies of the "Whose Birthday Is It, Anyway?" flyer, piggy-backing on event mailings and personal correspondence. When volunteers take the initiative, Sharene Schwarz, SLOw Down Coordinator, and Gerald Iversen, National Coordinator, back them up!
And the results? Here's exciting news from SLOw Down volunteers... Eric Jon Hoffman of Oregon, IL, led eleven "Unplug the Christmas Machine" workshops in Fall, 1999, as well as several in Fall, 1998! MaryLynn Bell, Post, TX, gave a workshop using the video "Break Forth Into Joy!" She expected about twelve people; 33 showed up. Some were standing, some sitting on the floor. She concluded, "Maybe 'Simple Living' is becoming an important message."
Susan Deaver, Springfield, MO is an avid gardener with a strong commitment to stewardship. She says, "I am especially pleased to have a copy of 'Like a Garden' by Sara Covin Juengst. This author's work exemplifies what lies in the heart of every gardener. We are all connected." Susan presented a gardening workshop at her church and, "The response was terrific! We were expecting 8-10 people to attend. What a surprise, when our actual attendance was nearly three times that! What an honor to share with so many dedicated and committed servants. This response has motivated me to continue my personal mission in helping people rediscover our connection with spirit through gardening. I am planning to facilitate a group study using 'Like a Garden' as the text and study guide. I am interested in connecting with others who are also interested in the promotion of stewardship."
Susan expresses a common sentiment, "I am very pleased to discover your organization. Your mission is a testimony to authenticity and provides the support needed to make responsible changes for simpler living. I embrace this discovery joyously since I have always been an advocate for responsible and mindful living. My sincerest thanks and appreciation to all of you."
Greg Gillispie, a Presbyterian pastor in Charlotte, NC, and former radio deejay likes to help spread the message of voluntary simplicity in his community. He says, "I'm excited about what you are doing and understand the need to connect with others."
Reece Bookout, pastor of First American Baptist Church, Warren, IN, has recently started taking steps toward voluntary simplicity. He says, "I am afraid that I have not fully shaken off all symptoms of 'affluenza' yet, but I have a deep conviction that materialism is depriving many Christians of the true abundance available from God. I, as well as many others I know, love God, but seek security in things."
Don and Sarah Martin, Winter Park, FL, are both speakers. They have been inspired by Doris Jantzen Longacre's books - "More-with-Less Cookbook" and "Living More with Less" - since they first came out. They say, "Although we have lived extremely simply in the early 1980s ('off the grid' in a solar house in Kentucky doing social justice work), we now live in an "urban village" and practice voluntary simplicity in the midst of Orlando's suburbia and the entertainment/tourism mecca of Disney, etc. We believe many other Floridians must be ready to make changes in their lives, away from the glitz and the emptiness."
Pamela Vogt, Oneonta, NY, leads "Unplug the Christmas Machine" workshops at her church. She says, "Amazing when we all talked to our children about the Christmas celebration and how little gifts were the main interest or memory!"
Nancy Meehan Yao, Memorial Presbyterian Church, St. Augustine, FL, led a midweek religious study, ROOTS (Religion On Other Than Sunday). For more information on this event, visit www.SimpleLiving.org: Services: SLOw Down Network: "Simple Living 101" Bonus.
Sally Landes gave the workshop "Unplug the Christmas Machine" at the Foothills Unitarian Church. She plans to give this workshop again to the new church forming in Loveland, Colorado and to offer it to the public through the local community college where she teaches. She says, "I enjoyed giving this workshop and feel it is very worthwhile."
Lois Culler, Fairfax, VA, put out the resources for a book fair that was at a retreat for Christ Lutheran Church. Then she placed the books on a sale table during Advent at her church and saved the items for a family ministry reading group. She will be placing some in her church library. She says, "Alternatives provides such a wonderful service and I want to express my appreciation for all you do. I have used your materials in different settings at home, at church and as gifts."
Nicole Carlin, Pittsburgh, PA, says, "Class #1 went really well, and there are plans to rerun the series in the fall to reach a different group of the congregation as well as a connection to be part of a lecture series at Carnegie Mellon University. The church is willing to purchase a list of resources that I select for the library."
More volunteers are welcome. Alternatives provides strong back-up - presentations, support materials and a newsletter. Call 800-821-6153 anytime for more information.
Started in 1973 as a protest against the commercialism of Christmas, ALTERNATIVES thrives producing books, videos, and workshops that encourage people to examine and challenge the consumer society. Its aim is to promote living justly and celebrating responsibly, by offering resources featuring creative, simple ideas. For a free copy of Alternatives' current catalog of seasonal and year-round resources for adults and children, call 800-821-6153 or 712-943-6153, fax 712-943-1402, 109 Gaul Dr. * P.O. Box 340 * Sergeant Bluff, Iowa 51054, or e-mail Alternatives@SimpleLiving.org. Visit www.SimpleLiving.org.
Editors: For more information, review copies, art or interviews, contact Gerald Iversen. To REPRINT parts or all of Alternatives' popular Advent/Christmas annual booklet "Whose Birthday Is It, Anyway?" contact us.
NOTE: A wealth of Alternatives' material is on our website for easy downloading! Visit www.SimpleLiving.org. Click on Information, then Media Releases. For many inspiring articles for your use, click on Feature Articles.
"We were inspired by Alternatives to write 'Unplug the Christmas Machine,'" says author Jo Robinson, "so we are delighted that Alternatives has re-issued the Leader's Guide, especially at a price half the original."
Return to the top of this article
The classic "Unplug the Christmas Machine" and its Leader's Guide have been used to lead thousands of workshops on simplifying Christmas. "'Unplug' is a true phenomenon!" said Gerald Iversen, National Coordinator of Alternatives for Simple Living. "Started in 1978, 'Unplug' still helps keep the movement for a simpler Christmas strong and healthy. It touches so many lives at such an important time."
"Unplug" continues to receive comments like these recent ones: "I want to share and encourage Simple Living and these are the best resources I have seen. What a blessing! The Best." (Kerstin Jones, Modesto, CA)
"Thanks for your work on protest against the commercialization of Christmas and focusing on Simplicity! The last two years I have been blessed to teach the course." (Kristjana G. Eythorsdottir, Reykjavík, Iceland)
"I used it as a Sunday School offering. It's good quality and promotes values we need to embrace." (Renee Rico, Wasatch Presbyterian Church, Salt Lake City, UT)
"It gives do-able, sensible alternatives to frantic Christmas practices." (Barbara Kaetzel-Row, Picture Rocks, PA)
"It is a great resource, easy to use. I plan to hold a workshop for church couples group." (Ellen Reeher, St. Paul, MN)
"I am extremely impressed with these materials, especially that they can be used in either a secular or non-secular setting." (Kerstin Jones, Modesto, CA)
What are all these people raving about?
"Unplug the Christmas Machine: A complete guide to putting love & joy back into the season" by Jo Robinson and Jean Coppock Staeheli contains thoughtful suggestions, creative exercises and answers to often-asked questions to help people create celebrations that give them joy and satisfaction. Price $13 from Alternatives.
The "Leader's Guide to 'Unplug the Christmas Machine' Workshop" helps leaders create a four hour workshop that helps participants clarify their beliefs and make realistic plans for more joyful, meaningful celebrations. It comes in a convenient packet format ready for a three-hole binder. A Participant's Manual is included and can be photocopied. Price $10.
The authors say of the Leader's Guide: "This Leader's Guide contains complete instructions for a workshop that helps participants create a more joyful, less stressful, and more value-centered Christmas celebration. Based on a carefully designed four-step process, the workshop enables participants to tailor a celebration that meets their individual needs.
"We do not advocate a particular point of view in this workshop. Instead, the workshop is a self-discovery process that allows participants to clarify their unique beliefs and combine those beliefs into a workable plan for the coming Christmas. Because of this lack of bias, our work is suitable for nonreligious organizations and for all religious denominations that celebrate Christmas.
"The workshop is designed to meet the diverse needs of all your participants. Some people will be coming to your workshop because they want to create a more spiritual celebration. Some will seek help coping with loneliness or depression. Some will be looking for ways to enrich a bare-bones celebration, while others will be wanting to simplify one that has become too elaborate. Whatever the participants' needs, the workshop will lead them step by step to their individual solutions.
"We have carefully revised this Leader's Guide over a ten year period so that at each point of the workshop you have the advantage of our accumulated experience. You will find conducting the workshop an enjoyable and rewarding experience - even if you have no prior workshop experience," say the authors.
There are four main exercises to the workshop.
Each of these exercises is followed by a group discussion, which is an essential part of the workshop. We provide a variety of topics for each discussion period.
Alternatives' other seasonal resources include "The Christmas Game," "Carols with Justice," the video "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas," collections to read aloud or alone, and the family-oriented annual booklet "Whose Birthday Is It, Anyway?"
Started in 1973 as a protest against the commercialism of Christmas, ALTERNATIVES thrives producing books, videos, and workshops that encourage people to examine and challenge the consumer society. Its aim is to promote living justly and celebrating responsibly, by offering resources featuring creative, simple ideas. For a free copy of Alternatives' current catalog of seasonal and year-round resources for adults and children, call 800-821-6153 or 712-943-6153, fax 712-943-1402, 109 Gaul Dr. * P.O. Box 340 * Sergeant Bluff, Iowa 51054, or e-mail Alternatives@SimpleLiving.org, or visit on-line: SimpleLiving.org.###
NOTICES
For excerpts from "Whose Birthday Is It, Anyway?" 2000, Featuring Miriam Therese Winter, visit www.SimpleLiving.org. Click on Resources: Whose Birthday.
The popular "Ten Tips for a Simpler, More Meaningful Christmas" is available on the website at Information: Media Releases: Christmas.
New Website Feature -- Catalog Index
If you know the title you're looking for (or if you want to scan the titles), click on "Catalog," then "Index" and you'll have an alphabetical list by title of all the resources we offer. Click on the title and you will go directly to its description.
Word-of-mouth works! Please send this issue to the folks on your e-mail directory or list of contacts, along with a note like, "Thought you'd enjoy reading this."
If you're not on our regular email list, send us a note for a free subscription. If you change your mind, unsubscribing is easy. Send us a note saying "Personal email only."
Free Catalog options:
Sorry, our catalog is not available by email.
To read our popular "10 Tips for Simpler, More Meaningful Celebrations," go to our Website: www.SimpleLiving.org. Click on Information: Media Releases: Year-round.
Alternatives offers Specials on our Website -- deep discounts (usually 50%) on selected titles. Go to www.SimpleLiving.org. Click on Catalog: Miscellaneous: Specials.
All Alternatives' current media releases are available on our website for easy downloading! Visit www.SimpleLiving.org. Click on "Information: Media Releases."
Please link our Website to yours. For help, contact us.
Simply at your service, Gerald
ALTERNATIVES for Simple Living
Resources for responsible living and celebrating since 1973
109 Gaul Dr. * P.O. Box 340 * Sergeant Bluff, Iowa 51054
712/943-6153 or 800/821-6153 Fax: 712/943-1402
E-mail:
Alternatives@SimpleLiving.org
On-line:
http://www.SimpleLiving.org
Gerald Iversen, National Coordinator
Return to the top of this article
Take the Stakeholder Survey by clicking here
Respond by August 1st for $5 certificate!
Thank you for sharing our dream of helping people live justly and celebrate responsibly. We need to hear your opinions and comments. Your answers to this questionaire will help shape our future and will let us compare responses now with those in 1993.
To show our appreciation, we will send all responders a $5 gift certificate. One response per person please. If your household has more than one person interested in Alternatives (a stakeholder), please copy the survey and respond separately.
To take the Stakeholder Survey, click here.
Thanks!
NOTICES
New Website Feature -- Catalog Index
If you know the title you're looking for (or if you want to scan our titles), click on Catalog: Index and you'll have an alphabetical list by title of all the resources we offer. Click on the title and you will go directly to its description.
Word-of-mouth works! Please send this issue to the folks on your e-mail directory or list of contacts, along with a note like, "Thought you'd enjoy reading this."
If you're not on our regular email list, send us a note for a free subscription. If you change your mind, unsubscribing is easy. Send us a note saying "Personal email only."
Free Catalog options:
Sorry, our catalog is not available by email.
To read our popular "10 Tips for Simpler, More Meaningful Celebrations," go to our Website: www.SimpleLiving.org. Click on Information: Media Releases: Year-round.
Alternatives offers Specials on our Website -- deep discounts (usually 50%) on selected titles. Go to www.SimpleLiving.org. Click on Catalog: Miscellaneous: Specials.
All Alternatives' current media releases are available on our website for easy downloading! Visit www.SimpleLiving.org. Click on Information: Media Releases.
For excerpts from "Whose Birthday Is It, Anyway?" 2000, visit www.SimpleLiving.org. Click on Resources: Whose Birthday. The popular "Ten Tips for a Simpler, More Meaningful Christmas" is available on the website at Information: Media Releases: Christmas.
Alternatives provides other resources appropriate for reevaluation of Christmas and for simpler living all year. For a current free catalog, call anytime 712/943-6153 or 800-821-6153, fax 712/943-1402 or e-mail Alternatives@SimpleLiving.org, or visit on-line: SimpleLiving.org.For more information and interviews, contact Gerald Iversen. Review copies and art are available to editors upon request.
Please link our Website to yours. For help, contact us.
Thanks for your help!
Gerald
ALTERNATIVES for Simple Living
Resources for responsible living and celebrating since 1973
109 Gaul Dr. * P.O. Box 340 * Sergeant Bluff, Iowa 51054
712/943-6153 or 800/821-6153 * Fax: 712/943-1402
E-mail:
Alternatives@SimpleLiving.org
Website:
http://www.SimpleLiving.org
Gerald Iversen, National Coordinator
A Brief Email Newsletter from Alternatives
Noted composer, writer and teacher Miriam Therese Winter has written seven biblical reflections for the year 2000 edition of "Whose Birthday Is It, Anyway?"
Designed for individuals, families and small groups, the booklet includes worshipful ceremonies, activities, an Advent calendar and suggestions for remembering those in need. For over ten years, Alternatives has provided people with ideas to celebrate responsibly in this Advent-Christmas Resource. "Whose Birthday Is It, Anyway?" is available now in quantity pricing as low as 60¢ per copy. A single copy is $3 postpaid.
Miriam Therese Winter is professor of liturgy, worship and spirituality at Hartford Seminary in Connecticut. A Medical Mission Sister who has served on four continents, she has recorded 15 albums of her songs, including the classic "Joy Is Like the Rain." She is the author of several award-winning books, most recently "The Singer & the Song: An Autobiography of the Spirit." In great demand as a speaker, she gives workshops throughout the U.S., Canada and Australia.
The booklet's full color cover "Prayerful Santa" is a poignant reminder of Christmas priorities. Art inside show the holy family in different cultures, as depicted by the Sisters of St. Joseph. All of these pieces of art are available as colorful greeting cards.
Christine Leonard-Osterwalder presents meaningful Christmas alternatives in the article "We chose something different! You too can make changes for the better." "Remembering the Holy Innocents: A Service for December 28th" is a worshipful ceremony for family or small groups at home or church.
The booklet's calendar - "Sustainable Change: Hope for a Simpler Millennium" - offers thoughts and actions for each day in Advent and the twelve days of Christmas. The calendar is also available as bulletin inserts and in Spanish.
In addition to the Alternatives-Ecumenical Version and Alternatives-Catholic Version, some 25 denominations and dioceses have their own versions.
Any group can have a customized version. Contact Alternatives for details before August 15th. A shorter Spanish edition of the booklet is also available.
For excerpts from "Whose Birthday Is It, Anyway?" 2000, visit SimpleLiving.org. Click on Resources: Whose Birthday.
The popular "Ten Tips for a Simpler, More Meaningful Christmas" is available on the website at Information: Media Releases: Christmas.
Alternatives provides other resources appropriate for reevaluation of Christmas and for simpler living all year. For a current free catalog, call anytime 712/943-6153 or 800-821-6153, fax 712/943-1402 or e-mail Alternatives@SimpleLiving.org. Visit www.SimpleLiving.org.
For more information and interviews, contact Gerald Iversen. REVIEW COPIES and art are available to editors upon request.
New Website Feature -- Catalog Index
If you know the title you're looking for (or if you want to scan the titles), click on "Catalog," then "Index" and you'll have an alphabetical list by title of all the resources we offer. Click on the title and you will go directly to its description.
To read our popular "10 Tips for Simpler, More Meaningful Celebrations," go to our Website: www.SimpleLiving.org. Click on Information: Media Releases: Year-round.
Alternatives offers Specials on our Website -- deep discounts (usually 50%) on selected titles. Go to www.SimpleLiving.org. Click on Catalog: Miscellaneous: Specials.
All Alternatives' current media releases are available on our website for easy downloading! Visit www.SimpleLiving.org. Click on "Information: Media Releases."
Please link our Website to yours. For help, contact us.
Simply at your service, Gerald
ALTERNATIVES for Simple LivingGerald Iversen, National Coordinator
Please Distribute Alternatives' Free, Full-color "Whose Birthday" Flyers
We are about to release a new edition of "Whose Birthday Is It, Anyway?" our Advent-Christmas resource for a simpler, more joyful and meaningful holiday. This year's booklet includes an Advent-Christmas calendar, family/small group activities, ideas on alternative giving, stunning art by Sisters of St. Joseph of LaGrange, and more. The biblical reflections are by well-known author Miriam Therese Winter of the Medical Mission Sisters.
Please help to promote the Christmas booklet by distributing flyers or catalogs to your constituents and colleagues. Or share them at a conference or convention.
The full color flyer will fit in a #10 envelope as a "stuffer," easily "piggy-backing" on a mailing you're already sending. We'll send as many flyers as you can use at no cost to you.
To order materials, call, fax, e-mail or fill in the order form and return it to us. Please respond soon.
Thank you.
"Whose Birthday Is It, Anyway?" Promotional Material Order Form
Yes, I want to help promote Alternatives' popular Advent-Christmas booklet, "Whose Birthday Is It, Anyway?" Please send me by (date) _____________ the following at no charge to distribute to my constituents and colleagues.
__ copies of the flyer: __ flat; __ tri-folded
__ copies of past editions of the booklet
__ a copy of the Promotion Kit: news release; flyer/poster; worship
bulletin, newsletter, fax, e-mail blurbs; pulpit announcements; newsletter
"ads."
__ copies of Alternatives' Resource Guide (catalog)
Name:
Denomination / Diocese / Organization:
Address:
Telephone/Fax: ( )
E-mail:
Instead of me, this email should go to (name and email address):
Comments, questions, method of distribution (We'd like to share your ideas
with others.):
NOTICES
Alternatives now offers Specials on our Website -- deep discounts (usually 50%) on selected titles. Go to www.SimpleLiving.org, click on "Catalog," then "Specials."
Word-of-mouth works! Please send this issue to receptive folks on your e-mail directory or list of contacts, along with a note like, "Thought you'd be interested in this."
If you've received this message from a friend and are not on our regular email list, send us a note for a free subscription. If you change your mind, unsubscribing is easy. Send us a note saying "Personal email only."
Options to receive our free quarterly catalog:
* Sorry, our catalog is not available by email.
Please link your Website to us. For help, contact us.
Thanks for your help!
Gerald
ALTERNATIVES for Simple Living
A Brief Email Newsletter from Alternatives
Alternatives' Website catalog has always been fine for browsing. Now, if you know the title you're looking for (or if you want to scan the titles), click on "Catalog" then "Index" and you'll have an alphabetical list by title of all the resources we offer. Click on the title and you will go directly to its description. Visit www.SimpleLiving.org.
"Stories and Songs of Simple Living" Features Bill Harley, Gayle Ross, Len Cabral, Susan Klein, Dan Keding and Other Popular Folk Artists
Ten American men and women - popular storytellers and folk singers from various ethnic backgrounds - tell and sing their own works in this inspiring new book and audio collection for all ages from Alternatives for Simple Living. Read the book alone or aloud. Listen at home or in the car. Or listen and follow-along.
The book "Stories & Songs of Simple Living," edited by Jym Kruse, is $8; the cassette, $10; the CD, $12; book and cassette, $15; book and CD, $17.
These inspiring stories and songs exemplify the life principles of Voluntary Simplicity. Many fine books tell us the reasons to live more simply and 'how to' do it. These stories and songs REVEL in it!
The voices of these stories and songs are quite different from each other. Some stories are "moral tales," some are life experiences. Some are funny, some are quite serious. On the 73 minute cassette and CD, the stories and songs are presented by the artists themselves. In the book, each selection begins with an introduction and photo of the artist. Additional resources are listed in the back.
Most of the artists have been featured at the National Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough, TN.
"The artists represented here are among the most loved and cherished in their respective communities, and the diversity of their style adds a rich texture to the canvas of their work," said Jym Kruse, the editor.
"The focus of this volume is particularly suited to the world of story," Kruse said. "To live more simply has an attractive ring to it, but the stories and songs in this collection demonstrate the much broader implications of simpler living. We choose to live more simply not as an end in itself but as a catalyst that enables even more to emerge."
For details on the artists, click here.
Word-of-mouth works! Please send this issue to the folks on your e-mail directory or list of contacts, along with a note like, "Thought you'd enjoy reading this."
If you're not on our regular email list, send us a note for a free subscription. If you change your mind, unsubscribing is easy. Send us a note saying "Personal email only."
Free Catalog options:
Sorry, our catalog is not available by email.
To read our popular "10 Tips for Simpler, More Meaningful Celebrations," click here.
Alternatives offers Weekly Specials on our Website -- deep discounts (usually 50%) on selected titles. Check each week. We normally add specials on Wednesdays. Go to www.SimpleLiving.org, click on "Catalog," then "Specials."
Please link our Website to yours. For help, contact us.
Simply at your service, Gerald
ALTERNATIVES for Simple Living
Resources for responsible living and celebrating since 1973
109 Gaul Dr. * P.O. Box 340 * Sergeant Bluff, Iowa 51054
712/943-6153 or 800/821-6153 Fax: 712/943-1402
E-mail:
Alternatives@SimpleLiving.org.
On-line:
http://www.SimpleLiving.org
Gerald Iversen, National Coordinator
Changing the way we celebrate is an important first step in adopting a more responsible, sustainable lifestyle. It is essential to bring moderation and perspective to celebrations that are too often self-indulgent. A major part of our work is distributing resources designed to help people look at celebrations in more responsible ways.
By becoming a member, you help us challenge the way our consumer society continues to usurp our holy days and exploit people and the environment. With your help, more and more people experience the joy that comes from celebrating and living in ways that affirm all God's creation. We invite you to join us in support of this vital work.
Look what your membership makes possible!
Join now and receive a free copy of the 2000 edition of "Whose Birthday Is It, Anyway?" Many more benefits are listed below.
Please become a member. We depend on memberships for a significant part of our budget. Memberships are tax deductible to the extent allowed by law.
Thank you.
Gerald Iversen, National Coordinator
All members receive:
The Simple Liver
It is essential to restore moderation and perspective to celebrations that are too often self-indulgent. Changing the way we celebrate is an important first step in adopting a more responsible lifestyle. 10% off all resources Alternatives produces (item codes ending in "-A"). $25. MEMA
The Non-conformer
We invite you to join us in support of this vital work. 10% off your entire
first order, then 10% off all resources Alternatives produces on subsequent
orders. Pay by check or credit card. $50. MEMB
The Community -- Institutional Member
Your organization will be entitled to all benefits that Individual Members receive. Institutional Members may offer the 10% discount on Alternatives' publications to their employees. The organization can request additional copies of the Resource Guide and Members' Update. If personal assistance is needed for planning and celebrating workshops or special activities, you may request one of our staff persons to help you.
An Institutional Member can help spread our message by distributing information
on new resources. Who Can Become an Institutional Member? Churches,
parishes, schools, community centers or any groups who wish to promote simpler
lifestyles. $75 or more. MEMJ
The Co-operator
Together we can help the world embrace the dream of a better life for all.
Won't you join us today! 10% off all orders. $100. MEMC
The Responsible Celebrator
Receive 10% off all purchases, free shipping, and a free sample of each new
resource Alternatives produces. $250. MEMD
The Downscaler
Receive 20% off all purchases, free shipping, and a free sample of each new resource Alternatives produces. $500. MEME
Extended memberships are made once, range from $1000 to $2500 and have a variety of benefits. For more information, contact us.
Other ways to help Alternatives
* Remember Alternatives in your will. Consider a gift of appreciated securities or other planned giving.
* Alternatives produces at least one major resource per year (in addition to "Whose Birthday" and the Lenten guide). Each new resource needs sponsorship of at least $5000. Partial sponsorship and recognition are negotiable.
Joining or renewing is simple.
Pledge...
YES! I want to help guarantee that Alternatives' message of simpler living will continue for future generations.
Extended Membership (one time):
__ $2500, Perpetual
__ $1500, Dual Life
__ $1000, Life
Annual Membership:
__ $500 __ $75
__ $250 __ $50
__ $100 __ $25
__ I select Autorenewal. Charge my credit card each year for the same membership. Send me no more membership reminders.
__ I am enclosing an extra donation in addition to my membership. ($______)
__ I'm upgrading my membership. I have already invested this year and I'm applying that amount as I move to a higher level.
I prefer to pay by...
__ check (Please make checks payable to ALTERNATIVES.)
__ MasterCard __ VISA
Credit card number:
Expiration date:
Signature________________________
___ I prefer to receive only the Fall resource Guide by mail.
___ Do not share my name and address with anyone.
__ I'm no longer interested in Alternatives. Please remove me from your mailing list.
For investments of $100 or more, indicate your choice:
__ Use where most needed.
__ Use for daily operations.
__ Apply to Challenge Fund for capital improvements and program development (i.e., new resources and services).
__ Yes, I want to be a part of the nationwide group of volunteer speakers, leaders and organizers (SLOw Down Network).
__ Maybe. Send me more information.
__ Yes, I want to communicate with others about living more simply. Send me details on ASSIST, Alternatives' support service.
___ Send me information about including Alternatives in my will and planned giving.
__ I want to give a gift membership in the amount of $ ________ to:
Name(s):
Address:
City/State/ZIP:
Phones/Fax/E-mail:
___ Yes, I want to help promote "Whose Birthday Is It, Anyway?" Send me ____ copies of the free color flyer. I will include it in mail I'm sending out before Nov. 1 - personal letters, mass mailing, meeting announcements, etc.
A Brief Email Newsletter from Alternatives
We have selected many of the best books on simpler living and devised an expandable library for you or your group.
What a gift for your church library! Help introduce adults and children to simpler living without appearing "pushy."
Each of the two parts contains about 15 items, some for children, some for adults, some seasonal, some year-round, some from Alternatives, some from other publishers, some faith-based, some general.
Each part is priced at $150 -- less than the price of the books if purchased separately. Get both parts now, or select one and get the other next year. Discounts cannot be combined.
Contact us for a complete listing of Alternatives' Simpler Living Library.
You can keep your library up-to-date by also subscribing to the Alternative Advisors. If you subscribe for one year at the same time that you buy your library, we will discount the library an additional 5%.
NOTICES
To read our annual 40-day Guide for Lent "12 Steps to a Simpler Life" and our popular "10 Tips for Simpler, More Meaningful Easter," go to our Website: www.SimpleLiving.org. For "12 Steps" click on Resources: Lent. For "10 Tips" click on "Information: Media Releases: Easter."
Word-of-mouth works! Please send this issue to the folks on your e-mail directory or list of contacts, along with a note like, "Thought you'd enjoy reading this."
If you're not on our regular email list, send us a note for a free subscription. If you change your mind, unsubscribing is easy. Send us a note saying "Personal email only."
Alternatives offers Weekly Specials on our Website -- deep discounts (usually 50%) on selected titles. Check each week. We normally add specials on Wednesdays. Go to www.SimpleLiving.org, click on "Catalog," then "Specials."
All Alternatives' current media releases are available on our website for easy downloading! Visit www.SimpleLiving.org. Click on "Information: Media Releases."
Free Catalog options:
Sorry, our catalog is not available by email.
If you prefer not to receive these occasional messages from Alternatives, just send us an e-mail message that says, "Personal e-mail only."
Please link your Website to us. For help, contact us.
Simply at your service, Gerald
ALTERNATIVES for Simple Living
Resources for responsible living and celebrating since 1973
109 Gaul Dr. * P.O. Box 340 * Sergeant Bluff, Iowa 51054
712/943-6153 or 800/821-6153 Fax: 712/943-1402
E-mail:
Alternatives@SimpleLiving.org.
On-line:
http://www.SimpleLiving.org
Gerald Iversen, National Coordinator
A Brief Email Newsletter from Alternatives
Alternatives' Spring "Simpler Living" Catalog Introduces "Simple Living 101" A Toolbook for Sharing the Joy of a Simpler Lifestyle Through * Speeches * Workshops * Events * Study/Action Groups & Simplicity Circles
The new Spring catalog from Alternatives for Simple Living introduces "Simple Living 101." The Introduction, "How to Influence Others," sets forth the book's purpose - to empower people to take all three steps toward voluntary simplicity. Those steps are 1) changing oneself, 2) sharing with others, and 3) working to make systems, like businesses and governments, sustainable.
Anyone who is modestly articulate and has enthusiasm for simpler living, can use this resource. It offers hope by putting concern into manageable steps toward change.
'Simple Living 101' is a 'Toolbook,' a practical set of tools for making change happen. It includes several presentations that can be adapted or used as is. 'Simple Living 101' will help people to share the joy of a simpler lifestyle through motivational talks, alternative workshops and events, and study-action groups and simplicity circles. Not an academic text book, it has been field tested and has received rave reviews. Each section contains "More Resources."
The 8 1/2 x 11, 80 page format comes three hole punched for $10, or with a binder made of recycled materials for $15. It is printed on chlorine-free, recycled paper.
Alternatives' Spring catalog contains other new resources, as well as established works on simpler living for children and adults. Call 800-821-6153 anytime for a free copy OR FOR MULTIPLE COPIES TO DISTRIBUTE AT MEETINGS, CONFERENCES and WORKSHOPS.
Alternatives is a non-profit organization that serves everyone. ###
To read our annual 40-day Guide for Lent "12 Steps to a Simpler Life" and our popular "10 Tips for Simpler, More Meaningful Easter," go to our Website: www.SimpleLiving.org. For "12 Steps" click on Resources: Lent. For "10 Tips" click on "Catalog: Editorial." Also, "12 Steps" comes complete in our free Winter Resource Guide.
Word-of-mouth works! Please send this issue to the folks on your e-mail directory or list of contacts, along with a note like, "Thought you'd enjoy reading this."
If you're not on our regular email list, send us a note for a free subscription. If you change your mind, unsubscribing is easy. Send us a note saying "Personal email only."
Alternatives now offers Weekly Specials on our Website -- deep discounts (usually 50%) on selected titles. Check each week. We normally add specials on Wednesdays. Go to www.SimpleLiving.org, click on "Catalog," then "Specials."
All Alternatives' current media releases are available on our website for easy downloading! Visit www.SimpleLiving.org. Click on "Information: Media Releases."
Free Catalog options:
Sorry, our catalog is not available by email.
"Simple Living 101: A Toolbook for Sharing the Joy of a Simpler Lifestyle Through * Speeches * Workshops * Events * Study/Action Groups & Simplicity Circles" is available for funding. Scheduled for release this Spring, $5000 is needed for production and some marketing costs.
Recognition of the sponsor is negotiable. It normally includes credits in the book itself and in the extensive national marketing campaign.
Funding is a contribution to Alternatives, a non-profit organization, and is therefore tax deductible. Partial sponsorship will be considered. Please send funding inquiries or offers by March 1.
Contact Alternatives at 1-800-821-6153 or 712-943-6153, fax 712-943-1402, or e-mail Alternatives@SimpleLiving.org. The address is 109 Gaul Dr. * P.O. Box 340 * Sergeant Bluff, Iowa 51054. Visit Alternatives' Website: www.SimpleLiving.org.
The Introduction, "How to Influence Others," sets forth the book's purpose - to empower people to take all three steps toward voluntary simplicity. Those steps are 1) changing oneself, 2) sharing with others, and 3) changing systems, like businesses and governments. "Simple Living 101" is a 'Toolbook,' a practical set of tools for making change happen. It includes several presentations that can be modified or used as is. "Simple Living 101" will help people to share the joy of a simpler lifestyle through motivational talks, alternative workshops and events, and study-action groups and simplicity circles. This is not an academic text book. I has been field tested for over four years and has received rave reviews.
Good content and easy to follow. - Mike Harning, Detroit, MI
It looks great! It is clear and the information is well organized and thorough. This will be an excellent resource! I look forward to using it! Thanks for all your hard work! God bless! - Melissa Danielson, Allston, MA
Excellent Resource Materials! You have done a superb job. - Donna Moore, Bainbridge, WA
As always, I'm impressed with the wealth of resources offered by Alternatives. The format is easy to understand and looks appealing yet frugal. Excellent materials! Very useful! "How to Organize an Alternate Christmas Community Festival" is a fantastic resource in terms of "how-to." - Christine Leonard-Osterwalder, Wildomar, CA
It is a very good piece and we have much respect for the work of Alternatives. - Scott Winkler, Lexington, KY
Very impressive handbook! What a comprehensive resource list! Excellent. Makes me want to set aside a week (or a month!) and JUST READ! These resources (or even a few of them) would provide any individual or group with so many ideas to create more meaningful lives. - Ann Rinkenberg, Scandia, MN
"Simple Living 101" will be printed on recycled paper. The 8 1/2 x 11, 80 page format comes three hole punched for $10, or with a binder made of recycled materials for $15. Each section contains "More Resources."
Anyone who is modestly articulate and has enthusiasm for simpler living, can use this resource. It offers hope by putting concern into manageable steps toward change.
An Brief Email Newsletter from Alternatives
A 40-Day Guide for Lent or Anytime
12 Steps to Recovery from the Addiction of Overconsumption
The addiction of overconsumption is subtle. There are few support groups, no "war" on this addiction. In fact, it's promoted constantly - quietly through peer pressure and loudly by advertising. It becomes the tonic which many use to slack their thirst for life's meaning.
The addiction of overconsumption may not be as much a roller coaster as drugs, not as unmanageable as gambling and debting. Instead, overconsumption often seems like a nice, long, pleasant Sunday drive to members of the privileged class - virtually everybody in North America, Western Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Japan.
However, overconsumption of natural resources is destroying our planet and endangering the Earth's population, especially the non-privileged 80%!
Denial lies at the heart of all addictions. This includes object addictions (alcohol, food and drugs) or process addictions (gambling, sex or shopping). These addictions can control one's life. When coupled with codependency in relationships, the lives and relationships of addicts can wreak havoc.
Recovery from overconsumption comes through recognizing its addictive effect on our lives and others. Its alternative is voluntary simplicity - choosing to live simpler lives. It's not easy to do it alone. We need each other!
Living simply is not simple. It takes constant vigilance.
How can we begin? How can we involve our families and loved ones without feeling the pangs of resentment toward the others who "don't have a clue"? We need a way to avoid both overconsuming and obsessing about simplifying.
This meditation/action guide encourages us to enter more deeply into the process of being freed from the addition of consumerism. Let's take time to reflect and renew. We listen to discern God's desires for our lives and world. Suggestions for thought or action are offered for each of the 40 days. Set aside time each day to consider the day's suggestion.
Choose a project you want to support, and find an empty container to collect your offerings. After the 40 days, the organization of your choice will be pleased at your generosity.
1-Ash Wednesday. Read Matthew 6. What actions of mine still need to come under the reign of God?
1-Any Wednesday. Pray, "God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference." - Rheinhold Niebuhr
2-Thursday. STEP 1. Confess, "We are addicted to the consumer lifestyle. We are powerless by ourselves to change." All addicts suffer a sense of powerlessness. Regarding consumerism, what makes you powerless, your life unmanageable?
3-Friday. Powerlessness can lead to a sense of indifference - "I don't care whether I overconsume or not. My buying habits don't make any difference. I'm only one person."
4-Saturday. Control is at the heart of all addictions. Addictions are insidious and powerful. Realize from the beginning that overcoming an addiction is more than self-control. We need the power of God's help and each other's help.
To read the rest our annual 40-day Guide for Lent "12 Steps to a Simpler Life" and our popular "10 Tips for Simpler, More Meaningful Easter," go to our Website: www.SimpleLiving.org. For "12 Steps" click on Resources, then Lenten Calendar. For "10 Tips" click on Information, then Media Releases, then Easter Season: 10 Tips, or click on Catalog, then Table of Contents, then Editorial, then Celebrate Easter. Also, "12 Steps" comes complete in our free Winter Resource Guide.
Alternatives' Winter Resource Guide (catalog) is available in quantity free of charge for distribution at conferences, conventions, meetings, etc. This issue features materials for Lent and Easter, contains over a dozen new titles and has pointedly humorous cover art. As the Easter bunny emerges from the tomb, the headline asks, "Who's Risen from the Dead, Anyway?" Our complete 40-day Guide for Lent 2000 -- 12 Step to a Simpler Life -- is included in the catalog.
The year 2000 edition of "Whose Birthday Is It, Anyway?" -- our most widely read resource -- has some space available. If you have a meaningful family tradition, a brief touching story about how you have simplified Christmas, etc. send it before February 1st for consideration. For more information about this family-oriented booklet, you can read selections from the 1999 edition on our Website. Go to www.SimpleLiving. org. Click on Resources, then "Whose Birthday..."
NOTICES
Alternatives now offers Weekly Specials on our Website -- deep discounts (usually 50%) on selected titles. Check each week. We intend to update the specials on Wednesdays. Go to www.SimpleLiving.org, click on "Catalog," then "Specials."
Word-of-mouth works! Please send this issue to the folks on your e-mail directory or list of contacts, along with a note like, "Thought you'd be interested in this."
If you've received this message from a friend and are not on our regular email list, send us a note for a free subscription. If you change your mind, unsubscribing is easy. Send us a note saying "Personal email only."
Resources for Lent and Easter 2000 are now available from Alternatives for Simple Living. "12 Steps to a Simpler Life," an all new 40-day calendar for Lent or Anytime, contains daily suggestions for thought and action from Ash Wednesday (March 8) through Easter Sunday (April 23) or for some other 40 day period. The calendar can be used by individuals, families and other small groups in English and Spanish.
For a free catalog, which includes a free sample of the Lent calendar, and for a copy of "10 Tips for a Simpler, More Meaningful Easter," call 800-821-6153 anytime.
In the style of it's most widely read resource -- "Whose Birthday Is It, Anyway?" for Advent and Christmas -- Alternatives has issued an expandable collection of past materials for Lent and Easter called "Who's Risen from the Dead, Anyway?"
It contains five sets of reflections on the Gospel lessons for Lent and Easter (covering all three liturgical cycles), each with activities. Also, Passover and Easter Seders and a generous variety of bulletin inserts, posters and 40-day calendars all come ready for a three ring binder for $10.
The winter catalog contains many new resources, as well as established works on simpler living for children and adults. The popular book and cassette "Stories & Songs of Simple Living" is now available on CD. The profound testimonials from the video "Break Forth into Joy! Beyond a Consumer Lifestyle" have been transcribed and are being serialized in the catalog. Alternatives extensive Website is mapped out, including new Weekly Specials offering deep discounts on selected titles.
New titles include "The Ugly Vegetables," "Children from Australia to Zimbabwe:
A Photographic Journey Around the World," "You Are the Planet: From Dinosaur
Breath to Pizza from Dirt" by David Suzuki, "Ecology Crafts for
Kids," "Soul of a Citizen," "Mustard Seed Versus McWorld," "The
Plain Reader," "The Joy of Simple Living," "Tax Shift," "The
Consumer's Guide
to Effective Environmental Choices," and the new video "The Healing River."
Books for Lent and Easter include "The Seven Last Words" by Michael H. Crosby,
"Lent: Stories and Reflections on the Daily Readings" by Megan McKenna, and
"Before and After Easter: Activities and Ideas for Lent to Pentecost" by
Debbie Trafton O'Neill. Also, "Watch and Pray: Meditations in Dramatic Form
for the Season of Lent," "Breaking Bread: The Spiritual Significance of Food,"
"The Economic Way of the Cross," "A Call to Peace: 52 Meditations on the
Family Pledge of Nonviolence," "May I Have This Dance" and "Speaking for
Ourselves: Voices of Biblical Women."
All of these titles and features are also on Alternatives' Website.
If you prefer to read our catalog on our Website and not receive a paper copy, notify us and we will stop sending one by mail. Or receive only the Fall catalog on paper. If you're not receiving a paper copy and want to, contact us and we'll start sending it.
Free Catalog options:
* WebSite only
* Quarterly on paper
* Only Fall issue on paper
If you prefer not to receive these occasional messages from Alternatives, just send us an e-mail message that says, "Personal e-mail only."
Please link your Website to us. For help, contact us.
Simply at your service, Gerald
ALTERNATIVES for Simple Living
Resources for responsible living and celebrating since 1973
109 Gaul Dr. * P.O. Box 340 * Sergeant Bluff, Iowa 51054
712/943-6153 or 800/821-6153
Fax: 712/943-1402
E-mail:
Alternatives@SimpleLiving.org
Gerald Iversen, National Coordinator
Alternatives is a non-profit organization that "equips people of faith to
challenge consumerism, live justly, and celebrate responsibly." Through its
mail-order resource service, Alternatives sells books on simple living and
related topics, both for Christmas and for year-round use. For a current
free catalog, call anytime 712/943-6153 or 800-821-6153, fax 712/943-1402
or e-mail
Alternatives@SimpleLiving.org.
return to Archives index
Home Site Map
| Resources |
Free resources |
Catalog
eStore |
Information |
Services |
Join Us! |
Order
This page last updated 27 February 2003