Name: Joseph Malki
Area Code (828)236-0324 x123
Office: PO Box 2837 Asheville, NC 28801
What I did when I was a Davisite:
Former Editor of Flatlander, Graduated 1998 with BA History University of California Davis, Local Environmental Activist, Student of Eugene "Roger" Apodaca, PhD, Infantry Soldier with California National Guard 1/184 INF AASLT., Officer Candidate, Former member of Solar Community Housing Association, Former Blue Mango Worker-Owner (California's only worker owned organic restaurant), Central Valley Coordinator for Earth First!'s Redwood Summer 1991, Core activist for the 1987 S.R.A.-Sustainable Research Area Campaign (Saving the Domes, Student Experimental Farm, Burrowing Owl Preserve, Experimental College Gardens), Recycling Coordninator of Whole Earth Festival, Karma Patrol Volunteer Director for Whole Earth Festival 1989.
Joseph organized several benefit concerts in Davis: Hurricane Relief for Nicaragua, Advocacy for Medicinal Marijuana, Save The S.R.A Sustainability Program at UC Davis, and fundraisers for the Whole Earth Festival. He was active resiting the "war against planetary ecology" and reached out to diverse organizations to create coalitions.
"My time at Davis was filled with experiences that showed me how to relate to massive structural problems with our planet, played out on the microcosm of agri-suburbia. Issues from global warming, to land development, toxic waste, clear cutting, political correctness, and racism seemed to play out in our little town. When I edited the Flatlander (for two issues) we addresses an array of environmental and social issues. I didnt always agree with all of the view points expressed which was a great opportunity to learn how to work with people of divergent perspectives. I was invited to edit the paper by Roger Apodaca, and Martin Barnes was kind enough to accept me. It was ironic because, one of my college roommates was "Colin Walsh who founded the paper on the coat tails of Martin's pioneering "Winds of Change". Editing the Flatlander showed me that the Davis community was fragile. In years prior there was a very strong activist base among the student body ( Todd Thompson , Don Paul Swain , Aimee Carroll, Colin Walsh , Larry Dieterich , Jeffrey Lomax ) by the late ninties it was simmering down, and the community members has resigned themselves to accepting massive losses of farmlands. In a university town, things change, people move on, and the political spirit of a time comes to pass.
I was greatly inspired by Larry Bidenian, who lead the SRA team to win a year long campaign against the University of Calfornia's Long Range Development Plan which has we failed, the Student Experimental Farm, Domes, and Experimental College would not exist. Core Team: Sunny Shine, Larry Dieterich, Jeffrey Lomax, Aimee Carroll, Joseph Malki. Many others helped and together the community and students won a great victory for sustainability, the green movement, and environmental education.
More later>> [email protected]
I really liked what you'd written before (I hope this is okay):
Davis is a place filled with great and horrible memories. I moved there when I was 19 and was surrounded by "progressive university students" who lacked the moral fortitude to fight for what they believed in. They were truely hippies, possesses with fashion and lifestyles of the decadent copycats of the 60's. A handful of them were brilliant. True fighters for objective science, ecology, freedom, accountability and sustainable solutions. These were the anarchists, the punks, and the organo-heads. There was a core of beautiful people involved with the Experimental College, Whole Earth Festival, Blue Mango, Domes, Experimental Farm and Cooperative Movement. They backed their talk with action, and till this day have stayed true to their ethics. Another intersecting group where the punk-artists who's sarcasm and mind-bending parties allowed people to look at life with a sharper perspective. I was honored to work with these two groups and their resulting hybrds organo-punks. Together we fought for issues we believed in and tried to learn at the same time.
