Common Ground: From Our Readers

May 2007 | Letters to the Editor

From Our Readers

The Hoover Institute is Stanford’s Corporate Demon

Back in the day, I interviewed at the Hoover Institute for a writing/design job — not fully understanding its political thrust. Looking back, it’s good I didn’t land the position. So I really appreciated Todd Spencer’s pull-no-punches headline for “The Hoover Institute vs. The Earth” (March, Common Ground). The Conservative agenda relies heavily on bought-and-paid for writers toiling to maintain vested corporate interests. And we’ve got a bunch right here in Palo Alto. More articles like yours that expose corporate funding tied to university credentials is sorely needed. Thanks for reminding us of the demon dwelling within the Stanford Hoover building, often dubbed “Hoover’s biggest erection.”

— Patrick Mountain, Los Gatos

“Delicious Peace” MIA

I enjoyed Greg Dicum’s story on the fair trade coffee made by the Christian-Jewish-Muslim co-op in Uganda [“Delicious Peace,” March Common Ground]. Where can I find Mirembe Kawomera coffee in the Bay Area? And I can’t believe that article was written without a “Common Grounds” joke.

— Julie, San Jose

Ed. Reply: Rainbow Grocery is the only place in the Bay Area where you can buy the “sweet, nutty coffee with notes of pecan and nutmeg” in bulk. Rainbow Grocery: rainbowgrocery.org, 1745 Folsom St., San Francisco, CA 94103

But anybody anywhere can buy 12oz bags of it online: mirembekawomera.com

Thanksgiving Coffee also offers it wholesale to Bay Area community organizations. To support the Delicious Peace project by having it delivered to your religious, civic, social organization or even your softball team, call Holly Moskowitz (800-462-1999, extension 49).

Common Ground-ed, Practical

It has been some time since I read Common Ground. As a bodyworker (trauma specialist), educator and environmental and economic justice activist in West Oakland (the poorest neighborhood in the East Bay), I felt very inspired and affirmed by the articles in the April 2007 issue.

I broke from the New Age movement because I felt there was too much emphasis on the “I,” and “personal growth” and not enough acknowledgement of the necessity of social activism and community accountability in addressing the major issues of our time.

I was relieved and energized to see Common Ground reflect a shift from idealism into grounded, practical business and social applications. Thank you.

— Laura K. Donham, Lokahi BodyWorks, Inc.

Alternative Medicine and Mainstream Insurance

I was very pleased and heartened to read the article in your February issue on insurance coverage for the preventive and treatment benefits of alternative or holistic medicine (“Naturopathy, Bodywork, Acupuncture — Claim Accepted!”). I’ve lived in England for the last 30 years and Europeans are much more accepting of these treatments to the extent that the whole field of homeopathy, acupuncture, osteopathy, herbalism, aromatherapy et al are now known only as complementary medicine in that they complement Western medicine. How much better would it be for the collective consciousness if the “alternative” term was dropped altogether and the much more acceptable “complementary” medicine term used exclusively?

— Carol Cooper, Olympia, WA.

Ed. Reply: Though holistic treatments are often used as a complement to Western medicine — reflexology sessions for cancer patients to help them better cope with the side effects of chemotherapy, for example — holistic medicine is not always complementary in its specific application. It’s also used “instead” of pharmaceutical prescriptions or surgeries recommended by Western MDs for any particular illness or condition. As it stands now in the U.S., alternative medicine is a broader term, of which there are several accepted synonyms, such as holistic.

Corrections

Delicious Peace

In the feature story “Delicious Peace” (March, Common Ground), the sentence, “Accounting for over $80 billion a year, coffee is the most valuable trading commodity in the world after oil” was added by an editor after finding multiple citations. This statistic turned out to be outdated.

Article author Gregory Dicum reports that while true eight years ago, it is currently copper, not coffee that is the traded commodity second in value to oil. “The fact that it’s no longer true and hasn’t been for almost a decade is due to slumping coffee prices and rising mineral prices — more evidence that already-impoverished farmers are losing out all over the world,” he writes.

Death Midwifery and the Home Funeral Revolution

In the April issue, we identified the woman pictured on page 54 as Nora Cedarwind Young. It was actually a photo of Nischala Joy Devi, a spiritual teacher, healer and author of The Healing Path of Yoga and The Secret Power of Yoga, a woman’s guide to the heart and spirit of the Yoga Sutras, abundantwellbeing.com

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