Team Sergeant
10-13-2009, 09:26
Larry Gene Sheehy, you were never a "Green Beret".
Private Larry Sheehy, you are a fraud. I am in possession of your official military records.
Tell me something Larry Sheehy, how does one join the Army for six years and get discharged as a "Private"? You didn't receive a Court Martial did you?
Team Sergeant
In fluid motion: Eco-Advocate Larry Sheehy
By Dot Brovarney
Updated: 09/20/2009 12:00:28 AM PDT
In Our Own Words
Larry Sheehy has lived, mostly quietly, and mostly in Mendocino County, for the last 25 years. During that time he's lived simply and communally in several places, including on the land at Mariposa Institute. Long a social activist and an advocate for simple living, Sheehy admits to having been more of a dreamer and less a person with a tight focus. Then, he met Canadian Ida Tremblay who introduced him to Ecopalooza, a community green event and his myriad dreams and ideas began to jell.
"I was an environmentalist before I knew it because of my simple lifestyle. But, my focus on green living and our watersheds came after I met Ida," says Sheehy. "I helped her with the first Ecopalooza event on the East Coast in 2004. It felt natural to keep doing green living work when I returned to Mendocino County."
Tremblay gave him the Ecopalooza name and her blessing and he collaborated with Kristen Michael on organizing an Ecopalooza program in Ukiah the following year.
Sheehy explains, "After the 2005 event here, I began to focus on where we live and a feeling of a sense of this place."
A poetry lover since college, Sheehy attended Writer's Read locally and read the Bay Area publication Poetry Flash for years. It was through this publication that he learned about a Berkeley event that inspired his next project. Robert Hass, U.S. Poet Laureate from 1995-97 and U.C.B. professor, had started the Berkeley Watershed Poetry Environmental Festival in 1995.
Sheehy realized that a local watershed literary program combined three of his great loves * poetry, green living, and Mendocino. After a successful first Watershed Poetry Mendocino in September 2008, Sheehy and other poetry and environmental advocates are planning the second annual celebration to take place between October 3 and 10.
Looking at Sheehy's early resume, this eco-literary venture, along with many others in his adult life, seems unlikely.
He grew up in San Diego, the son of a Navy man. He served as a Green Beret demolitions expert in the Army Special Forces and narrowly missed duty in Vietnam. He admits his three-year stint in the Army was partly due to his traditional upbringing and partly due to pressure he felt to be macho.
Life changed for Larry Sheehy soon after he left the service and began college in Fresno. There, he learned Gestalt Therapy for treatment of trauma and radical religion as an antidote to early religious indoctrination. He realized that the "tough guy" he'd played in the Army, was just that * a role he'd adopted to cover for his true self. A gentle soul, Larry Sheehy discovered his life's path in Fresno in the late 1960s and early1970s.
"When I saw that photograph of the village girl burned by napalm, it tore at my heart," says Sheehy.
He dropped out of college and went to work for the peace movement. That led to social change work in low-income communities, including marches with Cesar Chavez. One of his proudest moments came when the Chicano Party endorsed his runs for city council and mayor in Fresno. Over the next 16 years in the Valley, he lived communally and owned a bookstore and two restaurants. Each business connected to his community work.
"The books promoted social change and the restaurants promoted vegetarianism," Sheehy says. "And my employees made more money than me, which really didn't matter because the simple life doesn't require much."
Sheehy's path echoed larger social shifts and he became committed to the environmental movement, which ultimately led him to Mendocino County.
The 2005 Ecopalooza event morphed into a web phenomenon when Sheehy realized that no one was promoting green events and activities in North America. With his Canadian colleague's help, he created Ecopalooza Green Events Network. The site provides a web medium for green advocates to list events related to ecology, sustainability, organics, renewable energy, bioregionalism, and more. In 2008, the Network listed more than 800 events. The number is half that this year due to some health challenges that Sheehy has faced. His biggest concern, however, has been that he might not have the stamina to organize Watershed Poetry Mendocino 2009.
Sheehy says, "I have to credit Theresa Whitehill as the inspiration for our second annual event. As Poet Laureate for the City of Ukiah, she envisioned several events coordinated by different interested parties under the auspices of Watershed Poetry Mendocino. And, that's just how Watershed Poetry Mendocino 2009 has evolved. Doug Strong and I are organizing the Watershed Celebration Day for Oct. 3 and Theresa has created programs for Oct. 9 and 10. So, this year, we'll dedicate a week to reflecting on our watersheds --what they mean to us, the many ways they sustain us, and how to care for them."
Dot Brovarney is a writer, historian, and Ukiah resident.
http://www.ukiahdailyjournal.com/ci_13380306
http://www.care2.com/c2c/share/detail/1254627
Private Larry Sheehy, you are a fraud. I am in possession of your official military records.
Tell me something Larry Sheehy, how does one join the Army for six years and get discharged as a "Private"? You didn't receive a Court Martial did you?
Team Sergeant
In fluid motion: Eco-Advocate Larry Sheehy
By Dot Brovarney
Updated: 09/20/2009 12:00:28 AM PDT
In Our Own Words
Larry Sheehy has lived, mostly quietly, and mostly in Mendocino County, for the last 25 years. During that time he's lived simply and communally in several places, including on the land at Mariposa Institute. Long a social activist and an advocate for simple living, Sheehy admits to having been more of a dreamer and less a person with a tight focus. Then, he met Canadian Ida Tremblay who introduced him to Ecopalooza, a community green event and his myriad dreams and ideas began to jell.
"I was an environmentalist before I knew it because of my simple lifestyle. But, my focus on green living and our watersheds came after I met Ida," says Sheehy. "I helped her with the first Ecopalooza event on the East Coast in 2004. It felt natural to keep doing green living work when I returned to Mendocino County."
Tremblay gave him the Ecopalooza name and her blessing and he collaborated with Kristen Michael on organizing an Ecopalooza program in Ukiah the following year.
Sheehy explains, "After the 2005 event here, I began to focus on where we live and a feeling of a sense of this place."
A poetry lover since college, Sheehy attended Writer's Read locally and read the Bay Area publication Poetry Flash for years. It was through this publication that he learned about a Berkeley event that inspired his next project. Robert Hass, U.S. Poet Laureate from 1995-97 and U.C.B. professor, had started the Berkeley Watershed Poetry Environmental Festival in 1995.
Sheehy realized that a local watershed literary program combined three of his great loves * poetry, green living, and Mendocino. After a successful first Watershed Poetry Mendocino in September 2008, Sheehy and other poetry and environmental advocates are planning the second annual celebration to take place between October 3 and 10.
Looking at Sheehy's early resume, this eco-literary venture, along with many others in his adult life, seems unlikely.
He grew up in San Diego, the son of a Navy man. He served as a Green Beret demolitions expert in the Army Special Forces and narrowly missed duty in Vietnam. He admits his three-year stint in the Army was partly due to his traditional upbringing and partly due to pressure he felt to be macho.
Life changed for Larry Sheehy soon after he left the service and began college in Fresno. There, he learned Gestalt Therapy for treatment of trauma and radical religion as an antidote to early religious indoctrination. He realized that the "tough guy" he'd played in the Army, was just that * a role he'd adopted to cover for his true self. A gentle soul, Larry Sheehy discovered his life's path in Fresno in the late 1960s and early1970s.
"When I saw that photograph of the village girl burned by napalm, it tore at my heart," says Sheehy.
He dropped out of college and went to work for the peace movement. That led to social change work in low-income communities, including marches with Cesar Chavez. One of his proudest moments came when the Chicano Party endorsed his runs for city council and mayor in Fresno. Over the next 16 years in the Valley, he lived communally and owned a bookstore and two restaurants. Each business connected to his community work.
"The books promoted social change and the restaurants promoted vegetarianism," Sheehy says. "And my employees made more money than me, which really didn't matter because the simple life doesn't require much."
Sheehy's path echoed larger social shifts and he became committed to the environmental movement, which ultimately led him to Mendocino County.
The 2005 Ecopalooza event morphed into a web phenomenon when Sheehy realized that no one was promoting green events and activities in North America. With his Canadian colleague's help, he created Ecopalooza Green Events Network. The site provides a web medium for green advocates to list events related to ecology, sustainability, organics, renewable energy, bioregionalism, and more. In 2008, the Network listed more than 800 events. The number is half that this year due to some health challenges that Sheehy has faced. His biggest concern, however, has been that he might not have the stamina to organize Watershed Poetry Mendocino 2009.
Sheehy says, "I have to credit Theresa Whitehill as the inspiration for our second annual event. As Poet Laureate for the City of Ukiah, she envisioned several events coordinated by different interested parties under the auspices of Watershed Poetry Mendocino. And, that's just how Watershed Poetry Mendocino 2009 has evolved. Doug Strong and I are organizing the Watershed Celebration Day for Oct. 3 and Theresa has created programs for Oct. 9 and 10. So, this year, we'll dedicate a week to reflecting on our watersheds --what they mean to us, the many ways they sustain us, and how to care for them."
Dot Brovarney is a writer, historian, and Ukiah resident.
http://www.ukiahdailyjournal.com/ci_13380306
http://www.care2.com/c2c/share/detail/1254627