Kindred in Print

Many people have asked what / how / if there is any way to read Kindred in print format. And we've certainly been thinking along those lines in formatting our new site.

Firstly and most simply (and simple is good), you can do what I do online. For whatever it’s worth, I never read articles or important material online. I download it, print it on recycled paper. It gets recycled again as drawing paper for my children, then used as mulch for my garden. I take my reading to my favourite reading place...my varandah with my dog Pablo and a cup of chai.

You can do this with material on most all websites, including our current one. However our new website, the one launching on the spring solstice, will make it easier to print by featuring downloadable, printable pdfs for all of our articles. This will make them cleaner looking, and easy on the eye.

Secondly, and this really excites me, we'll be partnering with values-shared organisations to produce special print features (for example, we might do a print feature on baby-wearing) that will have a collection of articles, with photos, etc. These will be available to underprivileged groups as well, in Third World countries...people who cannot access the Internet, let alone a glossy magazine, and who need to be affirmed in their way of parenting (ie, breastfeeding, baby-wearing, co-sleeping). So many of these people are already parenting in a way that is natural, but pressure from 'living more like Westerners' makes them turn to baby formula and the like.

And this just came in from Cas McCullough, spokesperson for the Cesarean Awareness Network:

Keep in mind too that in a few years time, Kindle will be gaining in popularity. Kindle is an electronic sheet that people carry and read different books and documents on. (kinda like on Startrek). I am hanging out for the price to go down so I can get one. Also, people need to keep in mind that they can print PDFs themselves to breastfeed under a tree if they really need to. But I do understand and appreciate the tactile niceties of reading a glossy beautiful magazine spread.

Our monthly newsletter brings new articles every month, all of them available for print. Think of it as a print-on-demand option that works for everyone (except we miss the gorgeous photos). That way 8,000 unsold magazines don’t get mulched at the newsagent distributors (which is what happened with every unsold edition of Kindred, and you can't even imagine the numbers with larger magazines).

Ultimately, however, the best tree-saving option is to read online...this just has to be continually mentioned.

So, next time you receive a Kindred newsletter, scroll through the articles you want to read, print them, make yourself a cup of chai (extra cinnamon sprinkled on top is good), grab the dog and a shawl, or the baby, or your beloved, curl up and enjoy. Oh, and before I forget.....I do the same with poetry, and the Internet opens all the doors into the realm of whimsy. I now have a 'poetry pile' by my bed. Here's one to get you started:

The Journey


One day you finally knew

what you had to do, and began,

though the voices around you

kept shouting
their bad advice --

though the whole house

began to tremble

and you felt the old tug
at your ankles.

"Mend my life!"

each voice cried.

But you didn't stop.

You knew what you had to do,

though the wind pried

with its stiff fingers

at the very foundations,

though their melancholy

was terrible.

It was already late

enough, and a wild night,

and the road full of fallen

branches and stones.

But little by little,

as you left their voices behind,

the stars began to burn

through the sheets of clouds,

and there was a new voice

which you slowly

recognized as your own,

that kept you company

as you strode deeper and deeper

into the world,

determined to do

the only thing you could do
--
determined to save

the only life you could save.



~ Mary Oliver ~
 
(Dream Work)