Pete Seeger

I teach sociology at Gavilan College. Most of my students, after learning how to look at the world sociologically, ask "What can I do?" To help ease anxiety I try to open their minds to activists, artists, visionaries like Pete Seeger. His amazingly inspirational fable is how I end EVERY sociology class and from which my blog derives its title:

The Teaspoon Brigade

"Imagine a big seesaw. One end of the seesaw is on the ground because it has a big basket, half full of rocks. The other end of the seesaw is up in the air because it’s got a basket one-quarter full of sand. Some of us have teaspoons, and we are trying to fill it up. Most people are scoffing at us. They say, ‘People like you have been trying for thousands of years, but it is leaking out of that basket as fast as you are putting it in.’ Our answer is that we are getting more people with teaspoons every day. And we believe that one of these days or years—who knows—that basket of sand is going to be so full that you are going to see that whole seesaw going zoop! in the other direction. Then people are going to say, ‘How did it happen so suddenly?’ And we answer,
‘Us and our little teaspoons over thousands of years.’”

I look forward to sharing my journey. And, hey, grab a teaspoon!