Here’s a primer:

VOTE YES ON I-522 BECAUSE:

You’re voting YES ON I-522 because you vote FOR freedom, and WANT foods FREE of FRANKENSTEIN SCIENCE or GENETICALLY MODIFIED ORGANISMS (Food) GMOs and you want to stop more HIGHLY CONCENTRATED PESTICIDES from being stored in your body fat.

Remember how scientists and public health doctors would explain the evolution of deadly viruses? Cross species contamination. GMOS, GENETICALLY modified foods are the same contaminated by scientific cross species modification, but worse. This is just one of many many of examples.

For just one example, AGRI-BUSINESS SCIENTISTS have taken a section of bacteria DNA or a section of fish DNA then inserted the Strand of DNA from those species into the DNA of corn, soy, or sugar beet seeds for food to modify their original structure so the new MONSTER seed would be able to perform a dual job, be MODIFIED food and withstand an environmental assault like from pesticides and or become their own pesticide. A seed that is poison.

Corn is a GMO so it can create it own pesticide so when a bee lands on it. The bee or bug is poisoned and dies. FRANKENSTEIN SCIENCE, a DNA bit here a piece and there expect it’s not parts from the same plant species of even plant family.

Please educate yourselves on this issue. This column is just a start for you. Please Google EXPLAIN A GMO. Watch the one minute info tv.greenmedinfo.com or full movie GENETICROULETTEMOVIE.COM

You’re voting YES ON I-522 because your vote will speak out AGAINST you being bought by MULTI-MILLION DOLLAR CORPORATE SLICK AD CAMPAIGNS who are spending MANY MILLIONS to DUPE you into believing labeling will cost you more at the market.

EVERYTHING IS LABELED. No other corporation has worried you about your pocketbook regarding labeling.

You’re voting YES ON I-522 because you’re proud to be from body of voters from WASHINGTON STATE that has replaced California as leading the country in COMMON SENSE LEGISLATION that benefits the PEOPLE, NOT THE CORPORATE BOTTOM LINE.

You’re voting YES ON I-522 to vote AGAINST BIG AGRI-BUSINESS AND THOSE THEY BUY because giant corporations are determined to completely control your life and the lives of your children, elderly parents, your pets, and your ability to grow your own food using organic seeds.

You’re voting YES ON I-522 BECAUSE YOU ARE INTELLIGENT AND ARE EQUALLY EMBARRASSED THE U.S. AND CANADA TRAIL THE REST OF THE WORLD THAT HAS SAID NO TO MONSANTO and YES TO LABELING THEIR FOOD. VOTING YES ON I-522 is a loud and emphatic NO to a complete corporate take over of their freedoms to health now and in the future.

And YOU’RE VOTING YES ON I-522 because you believe it’s time to be a voice for the voiceless, the children, the animals, especially the bees who are dying because of the pesticide contaminated pollen on corn, soy, sugar beets and cotton, plus over spraying, the removal of their honey for further beekeeper profit and for the future of farming on clean ground that is forever disappearing.

VOTE YES ON I-522 because you believe in a better future, and you won’t settle for a life of INCREASINGLY poor quality for you or your offspring for generations to come. Since the mid 1990’s since the introduction of GMO’s their pesticide seeds and pesticides. If AGRIBUSINESS can’t be curbed now the situation we all are in now will only get far worse, meaning ill health for people, animals, beneficial insects, water, the planting ground, food shortages and a future full of NO brought to you by bottom line driven profit margin at your expense on behalf of farmers who choose AGRI-BUSINESS products and the revolving door from AGRIBUSINESS to the USDA and other offices CHOOSES FOR YOU.

Voting YES ON I-522 means quality of the lives of living things will not be measured in dollars and cents as immoral corporate profit.

The arts offer community participation, but they also give our lives meaning, provide opportunities for self expression and offer a way of viewing the world from a different perspective - enriching both individuals and society and reaching people who may be stressed and/or often not otherwise easily engaged with their community.

According to the World Health Organization, "(good) mental health is... a state of well-being in which every individual realizes his or her own potential, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to her or his community."

So how do you maintain good mental health? It's a complex task crossing all societal levels, including (you guessed it) participation in the arts. Julia McHenry, a research associate at Curtin University in Australia, writes from her research on art and well-being:

"It is well known that community participation is a key element in individual well-being and community health….It is important that promotion, prevention, and early intervention for mental health takes place beyond the traditional mental health or even health sectors. In fact, it should take place in all the sectors that are a part of, and impact on, peopleʼs daily lives.

"People are not just exposed to risk factors, they are also exposed to protective factors, which are just as important in the maintenance of good mental health. Protective factors include (healthy) social relationships...as well as individual skills and abilities for expression and resisting stress.

"Being mentally healthy enables us to experience life as meaningful and to be creative and productive members of society. Furthermore, people who are mentally healthy are happier and generally enjoy better health, better relationships, and are more likely to live longer."

So next time you write down your thoughts in prose or verse, listen to or play some music, dance, paint, visit a gallery, act in or attend a theatre presentation, pat yourself on the back for enriching your perspective, resisting stress, and contributing to your own mental health.

Business is usually thought of as business and art is, well, not business. But now, consider the following quotes with introductions from Linda Naiman author of CreativityatWork.com.

"The business of the artist is to create, navigate opportunity, explore possibility, and master creative breakthrough. We need to restore art, the creation of opportunity, to business." -Brandweek.

"Miha Pogacnik, a concert violinist argues: "The world of arts must be rescued out of the prison of entertainment and the world of business must be led out of the desert of dullness of meaning!’...Art is a role model for business, since all great art pushes boundaries beyond the established norms.

The Harvard Business Review made the astonishing statement that an "MFA is the new MBA!" It reports that "Businesses are realizing that the only way to differentiate their goods and services in today's overstocked, materially abundant marketplace is to make their offerings...physically beautiful and emotionally compelling."

In reviewing The Art of Business: Make All Your Work a Work of Art (Davis, 2005) Tom Peters commented: "We are entering an economy which will value a new way of looking at value creation. They call it moving from an emphasis on ‘economic flow’ (input-output) to "artistic flow’. See yourself as an artist, see your work as a work of art, see your customers as an audience, see your competition as teachers".

Dan Pink, in his book A Whole New Mind, argues that left-brain analytical thinking is being replaced by right-brain empathy, inventiveness, and understanding as skills most needed by business. Pink points to Asia, automation, and abundance as the reasons behind the shift. He says "Logical and precise, left-brain thinking gave us the Information Age. Now comes the Conceptual Age - ruled by artistry, empathy, and emotion."

What does this mean for future jobs? We’ll see designers, inventors, social psychologists, and other right-brain folks coming out on top. Jobs without creativity will trend toward being outsourced. In light of these ideas, it becomes even more important to teach arts, enrich our island community and give our kid’s creative opportunities.

For more information: info@sanjuanartscouncil.org

At the first San Juan County Arts Council Board of Directors meeting held at the Orcas Hotel on Thursday, Dec. 1, 2011 the following officers were elected.

President: Teddy Deane (San Juan Island)

Vice President: Lance Evans (Orcas Island)

Secretary: Dennis Ryan (Lopez Island)

Treasurer: Liz Illg (San Juan Island)

The Board of Directors will meet monthly and rotate island meeting sites. The SJCAC will continue to strive to achieve representation and represent artistic endeavors from all county islands.

For more information: info@sanjuanartscouncil.org