WELCOME. The Avocado Jungle is a source for current events, politics, arts and culture on the web. Editor In Chief David P. Kronmiller, along with a talented staff and guests, bring you news, commentary, analysis, interviews, humor, music, art and more.
Our deeper mission is to seek truth in understanding, offering current events, arts and culture as paths to that understanding. We value and promote creative thought, intelligent dialogue, elevated debate, and informed action.
If see something that interests you on the site, please take the time to leave a thoughtful comment. Thanks for visiting.
Jungle Writers David P. Kronmiller, Editor-In-Chief
Notes from the Jungle
Matthew Tullman, Current Events Editor
On current events.
Joyce Chen
Blogging from New York.
Tharuna Devchand
Blogging from South Africa.
J Lampinen
Our resident comic strip, Congo & Steve
Joanna Lord
Blogging on life, art and spirituality.
Jeremy Olsen
Director of Development and occasional commentator.
Dan Rickabus
On things musical.
Nicky Schildkraut
On poetry.
Plus guest writers and past staff, including Zach Fehst, Amy Reynolds, Aaron Vaccaro, Jae Day, Sarah Jawaid, Scott Martin, and Bronson Picket.
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BLOGS
Clack, clack, clack!
I take off my headphones and look up from my computer and over my shoulder towards the cubicle wall behind me. Listening for the sound…
Clck, clck, clck.clck,clck!!
I stand up. And look up and around the maze of cubicles trying to locate the sound. I turn just in time to see arching up and over the cubicles nerf arrows flying, piercing the silence as their plastic machine gun hosts clack and click away.
CLACKCLACKCLACKCLACK
It must be 6 o’clock. Time to go home for the day.
There’s a certain amount of disillusionment that comes with many aspects of high school as a microcosm for the real world, but among them, student government still stands out as one of the most memorable.
Politics, schmolitics- why can’t people just say everything clearly so government isn’t so hard to understand! And bring me a Mai Tai while you’re at it!
I don’t know Aarti Sequoia, the latest winner of The Next Food Network Star, I almost know her. Her husband, Brendan McNamara, is in our web series “and Boris”; we have two scenes together where we both revel in the extreme evilness of our characters. I am friends with people who know her, but I have never actually met Aarti. Yet watching her journey, as she struggled with her own insecurities in pursuit of a lifelong dream, as someone I almost know was instrumental in helping me find the spine and determination to continue to pursue my own dreams.
I had this harsh dose of reality handed to me when I received a gem, a diamond of advice in the rough, from an individual who I later learned was a drug-dealing pimp.
If you think of the news as a cup of coffee, the untouched, robust mug of French Roast would be the real news, and the cream and sugar the celebrity drivel. Well, I think it’s time to go back to drinking black coffee. After all, who doesn’t want a little more hair on their chest?
Roni Segoly, of the unique and inspiring Middle East peace group Combatants For Peace, shares his observations and feelings about the media, success, and the future of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Congo and Steve from creator John “J.” Lampinen of congoandsteve.com. This strip, on the theme of “creativity”: “Creativness of Creativity.”
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FEATURES
DON’T MISS
- TRUTH AND THE NEWS, a treatise and a roadmap for our new Current Events section by our first ever Current Events Editor, Matthew Tullman.
- Our interview with Battlestar Galactica composer Bear McCreary about success.
- Our interview with Combatants For Peace member Roni Segoly from Israel about the news, success, and the Israel-Palestine conflict.
- Coming soon: our interview with journalist Madeleine Brand.
- Coming soon: More great music tracks and performances, including rockin’ Red Light Go and and funky-folky-pop group Zoo Human Project.
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ARTS & CULTURE
She won! Aarti Sequeria won the Next Food Network Star and will have her own show! She frickin’ won! What a relief. And how wonderful, how brilliantly wonderful! For the last several weeks my wife and I have been on the edge of our seats every Sunday night as we waited with baited breathe to [...]
 Dana “Aldo” Castaldo, the founder and the musical heart of Los Angeles rock band Red Light Go, talked to our music blogger Dan Rickabus about his music. And don’t miss his recent performance with his wife, Claudia, on Music In Our House!
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CURRENT EVENTS
by Matthew Tullman
Current Events Editor
July 20, 2010
How many hours spent “watching the news”—in any of the various mediums and regardless of any political slant— would be necessary to understand the current events of the world? Perhaps with a supercomputer parsing the Internet and with the ability to simultaneously watch a set of international television stations could an individual come close to gaining an idea of all the notable events around the world during a single moment. But the answer cannot be quantified in this way—in fact there isn’t an answer. Even with this scenario, the individual may eventually succeed in becoming aware of the significant events globally, but the question is how much does the individual understand?
Mainstream media, to an extent, succeeds in the above endeavor each day—supercomputers scan the Internet and reporters search around the world. But in the up-to-the-minute onslaught of breaking news, the viewer is aware of every event while remaining very much oblivious to the surrounding circumstances of each. The data is devoid of context—the facts are often without historic or analytical details—and the individual is deprived of understanding.
…continue reading…
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This week in the Jungle we are searching for the truth about wealthy—what it means to be wealthy, how that differs around the world, and if and when wealthy people deserve to be treated differently than everyone else. Last week: poverty. Next week: big government.
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