Loyal to the Sky: Notes from an Activist - Softcover

Handler, Marisa

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1442966661 ISBN 13: 9781442966666

Publisher: ReadHowYouWant, 2012

Synopsis

The most high-minded excuse for doing nothing is that the means with which to do it or the company you'd keep are flawed, the justification that you're keeping your hands clean (which is another way to say that you'll save only yourself). There are unambiguous realities in this book - the reality of poverty and of exploitation - but every situation still requires a tightrope-walker's balancing act: of pragmatism and idealism, of solidarity and independent-mindedness, of purposefulness and flexibility. And this is where the book becomes more than a conventional tale of an activist's evolution: spirituality, eventually in the clear form of Buddhism, enters in, and Buddhism itself offers the nonattachment, the recognition of ephemerality and the need to let go, the sense of life as an ever-moving river, that helps Marisa make sense out of all that she witnesses and does. At a very young age, she has gone very far. This book is an invitation to the rest of us to keep going.

About this title

Review

"[Handler's] wisdom transcends her youthfulness; she writes with grace and insight, and she never stumbles over her own self-importance."
--The San Francisco Chronicle

"Handler has put her values into action with tenacious creativity. She ably conveys the histories of places many people couldn't find on a map in a lively, moving and funny voice."
--Publishers Weekly

"Marisa Handler takes a brutally honest look at herself, the activist community, and the world. She writes with wit and beauty, preaches with passion and love. Loyal to the Sky is an affirmation that mortal humans, with all our foibles, can be powerful agents for change."
-- Medea Benjamin, Cofounder, Global Exchange and CODEPINK

"Handler captures in this book the most hopeful energies of her generation and will excite anyone who hopes for a post-Bush world of peace and justice. Insightful and charming, spiritually rich and emotionally honest, Handler's writing shows that tikkun olam, the healing of the world, is not some outdated fantasy but an ever-present possibility."
-- Rabbi Michael Lerner, Editor, Tikkun, and author of The Left Hand of God:
Taking Back our Country from the Religious Right

About the Author

Marisa Handler is a writer, activist, and singer-songwriter living in San Francisco. She has worked as an organizer in the global justice and peace movements and has traveled the world writing about socio-politics and globalization. Her work has appeared in Orion Magazine, Tikkun magazine, Salon.com, the Earth Island Journal, Alternet.org, Bitch, the San Francisco Chronicle, and anthologies. Marisa plays regularly around the Bay Area, and her music, as well as more on the book.

Edition details

• Publisher: ReadHowYouWant
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 1442966661
• ISBN 13: 9781442966666
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 456