CHARLES SHAW - Exile Nation: Drugs, Prisons, Politics & Spirituality

Potluck dinner and a presentation by one of our most insightful analysts of our disastrous Drug War, our self-perpetuating Prison Industry and our inhumane suppression of Psychedelic Medicine.
Charles Shaw's work has appeared in Alternet, Alternative Press Review, Conscious Choice, Common Ground, Grist, Guerrilla News Network, Huffington Post, In These Times, Newtopia, The New York Times, openDemocracy, Planetizen, Punk Planet, RealitySandwich, San Diego Uptown News, Scoop, Shift, Truthout, TheWitness, YES!, and Znet. He was a Contributing Author to the 2008 Shift Report from the Institute for Noetic Sciences, and in Planetizen's Contemporary Debates in Urban Planning (2007, Island Press). Charles was recognized in 2009 by the San Diego Press Club for excellence in journalism.

Charles is the Director of the Exile Nation Unheard Voices Story Project (coming Spring 2010), and Editor of the Dictionary of Ethical Politics, a collaborative project of Resurgence, openDemocracy, and the Tedworth Trust. He is the former Editorial Director of Conscious Enlightenment Publishing (Conscious Choice, Common Ground, Whole Life Times, and Seattle's Conscious Choice), the founder and publisher of Newtopia, former head writer for the nationally syndicated radio show Reality Checks, former Senior Staff Writer for The Next American City, and a Contributing Editor for Worldchanging. A long-time activist and former official for the Green Party of the US, he is a native of Chicago who now lives in Northern California.


Charles will read from his new online book, Exile Nation: Drugs, Prisons, Politics & Spirituality, and will discuss the larger themes of the book, including the drug war, the booming business of incarcerating poor people, and how psychedelic medicine is being suppressed in the land of the free.

Charles will also discuss the new book publishing model implemented by Reality Sandwich, the evolving relationship between reader, writer and publisher, and how the not-for-profit advocacy sector can replace the for-profit publishing model and be an integral part of new books and ideas reaching the public. Charles will also introduce the Unheard Voices Story Project, which is the second phase of the Exile Nation project.

You can read Exile Nation freely online at:
www.realitysandwich.com/exile_nation_drugs_prisons_politics_spirituality