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.
August 22, 2010, at 2:21 pm — Blogs / / /

Democratize this: high school edition

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.

July 19, 2010, at 5:00 am — Audio | Blogs | Interviews | audio interview / / / / / / / / / / / /

An interview with Roni Segoly of Combatants For Peace

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.

March 31, 2010, at 1:06 pm — Audio | Blogs | audio podcast / / / / / /

Social Networking helps Societal Progress

For those of us interested in demanding a higher consciousness of society, progression and social justice, the idea of finding a few passionate people on our side seems much less overwhelming than finding scores. Social networking can be a tool used to find these people. Podcast available.

March 23, 2010, at 5:40 pm — Audio | Blogs / / / / /

Change Is Possible: President Obama Speaks To His Supporters

At 4PM Eastern, 1PM Pacific President Obama thanked his volunteers in a telephone conference call hosted by Organizing for America.

Here is the audio from this fascinating and rather historic conference call:

February 17, 2010, at 7:00 am — Audio | Blogs | audio podcast / / /

On government: You are what you think you are

Our government in the form of law enforcement and committees is often vilified. It’s “The Man,” the cultural stick in the mud, the overbearing control that people must rise up against. Call it what you will, but the government as it is often viewed today has a foreboding quality to it, a “Big Brother” kind of blank-face authority that heartlessly implements rules in order to put a damper on free will. This is, however, where definition is often misconstrued and perception misaligned. Podcast available.

April 20, 2009, at 12:00 pm — Audio | Blogs | audio podcast / / / /

Vandana Shiva: A Soul Sister

Especially with environmental activism, the issues are so expansive that our efforts feel like a drop in the ocean. Even legitimacy in the eyes of policy-makers can be hard to attain. It is fair to say that Shiva faced a lot of opposition from people who didn’t share her world-view. But at the end of the day, she followed her conscience and she continues to do so. Podcast available.

April 8, 2009, at 12:00 pm — Blogs / / / /

One woman: Rachael Corrie

Late fall of 2006, I went to see an off-Broadway play called Hello, My Name Is Rachael Corrie not realizing what the subject matter was. I came away from that evening’s performance more moved, speechless and horrified than I can ever recall having reacted to a show.