Goodnight Solar.

Its been a long time coming… so it should be no shock to the universe that SOLAR as a community space and cafe is not happening. I have been telling people that the economy is not supporting that adventure at this time… which sounds nice and all but the reality is that visions change and grow. And in business sometimes you have to compromise in order to make it happen which is something I am not willing to do.

The face of Five Points is changing. It is a “historically” black neighborhood, yet the future is uncertain…. and we have been the last man standing in a gentrified neighborhood before. Tis not the place to be.

It has been a learning experience that opened some doors (mentally & economically) and had some others close (mentally & economically) I have had some very good lessons in business, perception, intention, acceptance, loyalty, confrontation and how to measure success.

What I feel like I’m walking away with today is… that what makes I (Faatma) most fulfilled is within and the measure of success that I have been working toward is not by my own ruler. I love all those who lent me their glasses so that I could see what was in front of me and lent me their mirrors so I could see myself.

As always… this is not the end… but we are putting this project to rest.

Community work still happens in the EastSide and as our community grows so do we.

Thanks for your support & Love!
Faatma

Untitled

SO in line with our recent work… check out this article I found on sustainablog called… will work for food (security   and stay tuned for SOLAR updates.

greentastic

magnificent magnificence this past saturday at Local Motive!  just to preface we planned this event in a little over a weeks time so while it was a little out of order we were shown and returned so much love for the mission of sustainability in food, business, ecology and the green jobs initiative.

thanks a million times over to Fetien, Raw(b), and Daroni for bringing the vegan nourishment, to the mile high business alliance for partnering with us and letting the whole world know, the redirect guide, denver coop, pangea organics, transition denver for tabling and teaching!, akwe starnes for inspiring me to return to live food, Ona for breakin down backyard herbalism, malik for donating water, the alliance building for donating recycle bins, deejays sd & cavem for spinning me right round (baby right round like a record baby…j/k), mike word & ietef for the bboy/bgrrl class with the little people, jason bosch/argus fest for showing brilliant food justice films, environmental film fest for showing love support and showing a trailer to a film coming out soon!, magnet mafia for freaking magnets on the bus w/ the little people, slamnuba for doing a spoken workshop & stimulating neurons in my seeds 3rd, Ashara for being an organizer & Guerrilla marketer of magnificent proportions, Maurice for showin up EARLY and being a huge support, speech for translating energy into english for us, Mani for being the rock of the day, Art for talking about how grassroots activism can affect policy change ( NO on 46!), Celia for being the matrix guru and master wrangler of wild & young energy, Kinh for putting in LABOR for days, Lavell for easing us in to futuristic funk, gerald for donating pansies and sharing his vision, the shoppe for the gifts certificates (which we gave away with love), hysteria who donated a party (and added so much adult conversation!)… there are so many add ons… it was inpriring on so many levels, people reached out to me and added bricks to our community building… it was a beginning for what can be done in the face of stereotypes.  I love people (and their guts)

p.s. This friday were having a community forum to discuss amendment 46, 47 & 48 which are initiatives that are on the ballot in the coming weeks locally.  Faatma (yes me) is making food for this event for y’all to partake in while we have some serious discussion about language in local politics and it is the day before the last day to register to vote!  LOCAL MOTION… we hope to see you all there from 6-9pm friday oct3rd at SOLAR.

PEACE (and organic peas)

Faatma

LOCAL MOTIVE Sept. 27th @ SOLAR

…

…

once upon a time in a far away land fivwthousandtwohundredandeighty feet above sea level… there will be a place called SOLAR….SOLAR is older than the sun moon and stars and has no beginning nor ending… its s story of a place that exists everywhere is nothing new and is everything you want it to be.

September 27th is Green Jobs Day and to honor it and all the soon to be Green Jobs that will exist at SOLAR and all the green jobs that currently exist all over the planet earth we plan to host an all day extravaganza fun-house of sorts for us to make art, talk about why LOCAL first is as important as the sustainable model (and is actually the sustainable model) and why green means more than this new hip craze…. why we love out grandmothers and our children and why DIY is always better… this funhouse of greenity will most def have sweet treats and elixers and nectars in many many many flavors for your sampling pleasures and games for all of your so-called ages….

also…. yes we are still working toward an opening date… its interesting tho, in our journey to SOLAR we have some of the most compelling and most profoundly simple epiphanies about life, plants, money and peoples perceptions of all of the above.  with all of the political banter and debate about who is and is not… the constant thing that remains is… clean food is good. clean food is good.  yes I said it twice on purpose and thrice even…CLEAN FOOD IS GOOD.

having said that… you should all know that we have torn down some walls and any of you may come to visit our evolving home and join in our vision and add on as a helping hand and and and and….. we anticipate opening within the first couple weeks of january 2009 (this will give us three good years to partay….just kidding…for real tho)

we know you want to join the movement and you may not know how to reach out…and were here to tell you now that its very simple… you can call us at 303-297-3490, or 720-212-3026… you can email us at solarlivity@gmail.com or fa@solarlivity.com you can visit us any monday @ 2615 welton street to get a tour and see our vision develop and you can call us to arrange a tour any other day of the week..

If you want to get down with the OG lunchbox… check the rules of the yard @ http://oglunchbox.blogspot.com and let me know if you want in.

if you are looking to invest in a mission driven local sustainable green business ( how many buss words can we fit into one sentence) please email/call me so we can talk about how dollars build things

and lastly (no never lastly)  we love your guts.

Peace

FaaTma/SOLAR

youknowhowwedo…

logos, design teams, architects, permits, bank rolls, money fallin out the sky and into the arms of some good luv…..

its a wild ride y’all… we love you soooo much!

I’ll be posting our delicious logo soon… 

solar ramblings…

 sometimes faatma and lavell ramble back and forth to keep the inspiration flowing… we’ve decided to share …

 a few days ago, i was driving (probably towards SOLAR).  nothing on my mind.  being in the now, practicing awareness.  a suv pulled in front of me and proceeded forth.  i took note of the lisence plate.  very specific.  umoja.  i said huh, one of the kwanza principles, which one?  immediately to mind came collective economics.  the truck was in front of me for a few more minutes then turned soon after.  i let the thought go and proceeded forth.
 
i was cleaning the kitchen.  i was terrible at keeping that thing up and am thankful that my roomate, charlie, since now, has beared an unspoken burden.  now, i take the time to do it without thinking about it (helps that there is a dish washer).  all that to say, as i was filling the dish washer, i thought about where other glasses may be.  i remembered that i had some tuperware in my room, and proceeded forth.  as i was picking it up, i thought about how i let things collect in my room (i am a private slob).  i thought about how cleaning is a movement of energy.  when the energy is flowing in harmony, divine knowledge is born.  then, it came to me, “energy is the new currency.”
 
on a sustainible level, energy is the new currency.  food, water, wind, solar, air: our shared (and threatened) natural resouces of energy.  we as a people world wide, have to make sure that we control the currency in our communities.  for, right now, it is dwindling before our eyes, being commodified and sold in stock markets, in industry, in government, and in corner stores.   mass consumption and capitalism has wrecked havok world wide.  and with the growth of population and the 2nd industrialization revolution (check out the effects it had back then… why are we going to repeate the process to such detrement.  shows no understanding on the part of mankind in power.)
 
on a higher level, enegy is the new currency.  it’s the group effort.  the partnerships.  the community development.  the building and desroying.  its our untapped natural resource from within (inner G and livity).  this is the new shared resource.  oddly enough.  this is nothing new.  it is natural, ancient, and divine as supreme being original entered from the cipher.  i thought about our meeting today, and what we were building on in the parking lot.  we are moving around these energies in people.  that is what SOLAR does, it instills vitality guided by the light.  it’s a true force of inspiration.  It’s confidence without arrogance.  that is truely a ray of light.  SOLAR is about the community.  the vision about SOLAR at the very beginning is that ray of light.  from within, i am overjoyed.  i can’t think of a more divine cycle of my life in the now …

anyhow, i had my mind open, and said to myself “all of that that sounds like one of those kwanza principles).  then the licence plate from the suv popped into my mind, then i googled it.
 
umoja:  1st principle (Unity) To strive for and to maintain unity in the family, community, nation and race.
 
not quite the dead on match that i was looking for, however,i found the divinity manifested as so: Unity is what SOLAR is all about.  uniting our energies (on a sustainable, a cultural, and on a higher level).  that what the sun does. it takes hydrogen and hellium and brings them together with such power that it gives light to the earth that we live on.  SOLAR is about bring the community together so that the light may shine over all.   SOLAR is here to born and to manifest knowledge (our shared energy, our shared sustainability, the new currency, the new unity (which is the one of many borning into the many as one – knowledge, one sun, one energy). 

…from the journal of Lavell Flamon a.k.a. Amen Ar-Rashid

I give thanks. Please, pass it along…

There is so much to say, and yet, nothing to say at all.  There is so much to do, and yet, the only thing to do is to be.
 To all of my peoples world wide and across the galaxy, I give thanks to all who have been an intergral part of my life.  In a time called now, I express gratitude for all that has been given to me, so, there is so much more to life that I must give.
My wish to you is that you transform you mind, the way you think, the way you live, the way you look at life.  Life is beautiful.  The time is all ways now.  You have the power to create all that you invision in you mind.  Your power is unlimited (held back by no one but you, and I hope that you never hold yourself back).
Do not forget, your mind is the universe, every thought is a galaxy, every star is the will to create life on what ever planet earth you choose.  Yours is a life worth living, a story worth telling, a gift worth sharing.
 To all, I give thanks, please, pass it along.
Love your true nature as a supreme being, and manifest all things divine… 

in the business of…

we like to explain to folks that while we are a vegetarian restaurant, we are actually in the business of nourishment.  Whole, unadulturated, unrefined, whole,(I have to say that multiple times so that you remember) naturally delicious nourishment.  It’s about healing with whole food… its about repairing biological damage that has come from the last 100 yrs of corporate foodstuff & flouridic water…. its about challenging dietary racism…and other isms….. its about LUV

naaah not boy/girl love…. but love that endures and protects like the love you have for yer babies…. luv for your internal (r)evolution like you love your external offspring…. thats the equality that we’ll discuss today.

oooh I know you can’t wait till SOLAR rises again….us too

SOLAR (is)

SOLAR(us)

SOL(we preserve the U)AR

preparing for a supernova of innerG & livity…

There IS life on other planets…

Our mind is the universe, every brain cell a galaxy, every thought is a star, to which, there is an earth to manifest the reality.  There is life on other planets…

Amen ar-Rashid