Who are the creatively maladjusted among us? How can we celebrate their courage and diversity? Answer: Join us in celebrating Creative Maladjustment Week: July 7th through the 14th, 2013. Where? Anywhere in the world. Gather friends and family or just find a way to express yourself personally. See our web site to find out more: http://www.cmweek.org.

See our Facebook page and let us know how you intend to non-violently express your creative maladjustment

The video was produced and narrated by John Jordan-Cascade (owner of Cascade Creative Productions) and the script was written by Sophie Faught, long-time mad pride activist, blogger and former Communications Director for MindFreedom. Special thanks to David W. Oaks and Celia Brown.

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I offer this video for Creative Maladjustment Week With humble apologies to the many movements–and noble people who fight in them–that I’ve left out of the video. Obviously, I’ve featured the activists of the human rights movement fighting the labeling and abuses of the psychiatric system, (goes by vaious names, including, “Psychiatric Survivor” or the “Mad Pride” movement)…
they are: David W. Oaks, Celia Brown, Jim Gottstein, Judi Chamberlain, Bob Whitaker, Dr. Peter Breggin, Dorothy Dundas, Ted Chabasinski, Leonard Roy Frank, Sally Zinman, George Ebert

In addition, I’ve included a few luminaries that are heroes and heroines of mine….also mentioned from various movements for change, but primarily environmental activists:

• Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who figures most prominently as having mentioned the benefits to humanity of creative maladjustment. Indeed, he is quoted in (at least) one speech as saying that, “…the salvation of the world rests in the hands of the creatively maladjusted.” He was the primary inspiration for David Oaks’ ideas for a Creative Maladjustment Week.
• Rosa Parks is also pictured for her role in the Montgomery bus boycotts of 1955 and 56.
• Buckminster Fuller, author of more than 30 books, he also developed numerous inventions, mainly architectural designs, including the widely known geodesic dome.
  [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buckminster_Fuller]
• Tim DeChristopher (feautured in a 2012 edition of Yes! Magazine) went to prison for two years for his creative civil disobedience at a federal auction of Utah wilderness lands for drilling rights. [http://www.yesmagazine.org/issues/the-yes-breakthrough-15/tim-dechristopher-sacrifice-for-the-climate]
• Rachel Carson, renown wildlife biologist and author of Silent Spring, many consider her to be the foundress of the modern environmental movement. [http://www.rachelcarson.org/]
• Vandana Shiva, author and environmental, food security and social justice activist. She is the leader of the Global Alliance for Seed Freedom – the start of a global campaign to alert citizens and governments around the world on how precarious our seed supply has become – and as a consequence how precarious our food security has become. [http://seedfreedom.in/]
• Bill McKibben, author and originator of 350.org, considered by many to be the premiere organization on the cutting edge of climate crisis education and political action. He has participated in civil disobedience on behalf of humanity’s survival. [http://350.org/]
• Naomi Klein, author and environmental and social justice activist. [http://www.naomiklein.org/main]

The bottom line for me: I am interested in honoring the spirit of feisty, nonviolent rebellion with compassion. A friend of mine said many years ago, that the struggles for change (in the interests of the people and our home, Gaia) is a matter of one “war” fought on many fronts. I’m not a fan of the war analogy, but its an instructive notion to help us to have an appreciation for the work of others. Let’s keep up hope in our long struggles by taking to heart another quote from MLK, “…the arc of history is long, but it always bends toward justice.”

~ John Jordan-Cascade