PHOTOJOURNALISTS FOR GOOD

Cell phones for economic, political, and cultural power.

Alex Pretti, a VA nurse at a Minneapolis veterans hospital, was murdered with a cell phone in his hand while trying to protect a woman from the senseless violence of ICE. He has become a symbol of positive masculinity. 

The ubiquitous cell phone gives everyone the option of becoming a photojournalist and thus a positive cultural and political force.

Showing the truth is a powerful force for good. It exemplifies solid social morality. The phone has become more powerful than the gun and made local citizens more influential than government officials.

Showing up in public to support one’s neighbors and documenting the physical abuse of Republican officials is as revolutionary as riding a horse from town to town spreading the word, “The British are coming!” to alert each local militia to stand up and protect their liberty. 

Meanwhile, the brand of Dumpster DJT has gone from ‘economic deal maker’ to Chaos / Confusion / Corruption and Hate / Greed / Violence.

Anyone linked to DJT is a representative of his brand. Voters in the United States of America, a majority of whom own cell phones, now know what the Republican party has come to represent … and it ain’t good.

 ZAMBIA TODAY 

Terry Bergdall, October 2025

Pamela and Terry Bergdall lived 18 years in Africa, engaged in village development work. After beginning as staff members at the Institute of Cultural Affairs (ICA) in Nairobi, Kenya, their final 13 years were in Zambia. Twenty-five years after his departure, Terry returned to Zambia. Below are some of his observations and impressions about noticeable change. 

Shopping Malls

in 2000, about the same time that I returned to Chicago, the first large modern shopping mall opened in Lusaka across from the show-grounds on the Great East Road. Now numerous large shopping malls can be found throughout the city. The one by the showgrounds has quadrupled in size with a huge, expanded parking lot. 

The Kabulanga neighborhood had a single grocery store -- Melissa’s (or MMM) -- though modest, it had the best stocked shelves in the city. During my years in Lusaka, it was the grocery store where I preferred to shop. Now the Kabulanga shopping area has spread over half a kilometer and is full of several large commercial businesses. MMM itself has moved into a much larger facility and rivals the supermarkets in physical size and inventory that I find in Chicago. 

A big surprise for me was a major new mall located directly across the street from the Co-op College where Pam and I both delivered training programs. During my time in Zambia it was far out of town and was reached by passing a long stretch of empty land and the city’s cemetery. Nothing else was nearby. Now it is the busy destination of many, many shoppers. These malls with busy shoppers are a huge contrast to long slow-moving lines outside small shops in the 1980s which were unavoidable for many people needing to purchase basics like ground maize and cooking oil. 

Franchise Restaurants

An even a bigger surprise than the malls was the explosion of franchise restaurants that have appeared “everywhere:” Nandos’s chicken, The Hungry Lion, Debonaire’s pizza, Steer’s burgers and steaks -- most of these, I suppose, being South African fast-food chains. The number of these places is comparable to the McDonald’s, Wendy’s, and Pizza Huts, etc., that have overtaken American cities. KFC is one franchise that seems to flourish in both countries. I never expected to see this in Zambia. There also are many new flyover bridges on widened roads to accommodate the traffic to and from the malls and fast-food franchises. 

Middleclass Zambians

Besides the sheer number of these eating establishments and shopping malls, I was totally unprepared to see them fully occupied by middleclass Zambians with the necessary disposable income, especially in the more urban areas, to frequent them. And these changes are not only in Lusaka. On the road to Victoria Falls, we saw the same supermarkets and food franchises in district towns like Kafue, Mazabuka, Monze, as well as the regional center of Choma. 

As widely reported elsewhere, the Chinese are a dominant presence everywhere. One of the major sponsors of the annual “chiefdom” celebration that we attended while in Choma was a Chinese mining company. Their Chinese managing director delivered a major speech during the ceremony. 

Cell Phones

Cell phones are also everywhere in Zambia, including among those rural farmers who ride their bikes to market over-loaded with goods for sale. Telephone transfers of money are a major form of making payments. While we were in Choma, our host purchased a watermelon from a roadside vendor (i.e., an elderly woman sitting on a blanket as she attempted to sell a dozen watermelons and some cucumbers, tomatoes, and a few other vegetable) via a phone transfer of kwacha, Zambia’s currency. This is a very popular alternative to cash and credit cards. 

 

 MAGIC IN THE AIR

Dance of Joy     LiDoña Wagner 2023

Three Strange Angels

Standing at the entrance to my benefit art sale, was a Baba Yaga figure such as I learned about from Clarissa Pinkola Estes in Women Who Run with the Wolves. In the eyes of this contemporary form of magic and mystery, I glimpsed a woman I had once met at a yoga retreat. 

Coming up behind her was a man in jeans and tee shirt with a friendly grin. I welcomed them into my gallery home where Baba Yaga made her way through a series of rooms - Global Crossroads - Navigating Change - Sun, Moon & Water - Our DNA Tells the Story - My Happy Place & Our Evolving History. 

Meanwhile, her companion - an affable teacher from Los Angeles - engaged me in conversation.

The LA teacher and I connected over our common appreciation of KDFC radio’s From the Top. We marveled that I had heard one of his social activist students play guitar on this San Francisco youth musicians program. 

Hearing the door open, I turned to see a person of Middle Eastern descent entering the gallery. It turned out that he completed a trio of friends who had met in their youth as students at the State University of Iowa in Iowa City. 

Two decades before them I had spent a year at the same illustrious Iowa school but left after failing to be admitted to its Writers Workshop. Lines from a D.H. Lawrence poem came to mind: “when three strange angels appear at your door, admit them, admit them.” 

So, yes, I engaged the trio with grace and wonder. 

I learned that Baba Yaga had not told her companions to what event she was bringing them. Nevertheless, there ensued memorable in-depth conversations about two of my large paintings that had attracted Baba Yaga’s attention. 

They then stunned me by purchasing both paintings from my 'solace from grieving' period. 

Whether you call it magic or the stars being aligned, there was something seemingly unreal about the whole experience. 

SOLIDARITY

CARNIVAL SPIRIT IN EUGENE

Credit: Kathleen Heinz

Credit: Gil James

TUCSON & PHOENIX SPEAK UP

Create: Anonymous

Credit: David Domian Figuroa

Credit: David Domian Figuroa

Credit: David Domian Figuroa

Credit: Jim Wiegel

D.C. SAYS IT ALL

Credit: Anne Bridgman

Credit: Anne Bridgman

Credit: Anne Bridgman

Credit: Anne Bridgman

Credit: Anne Bridgman

QUINTESSENTIAL EUGENE

 PROGRESSIVE

FUNLOVING

ON THE MOVE

SMALL SCALE REGENERATIVE FARMING

 By Terry Bergdall

 

Gooseberry Acres in Dwight, IL

My first cousin and his wife (Garry and Deanna Atkinson) and the family of their son (Luke Atkinson, Meredith, and their 4-year-old son, Owen) have a small farm in Dwight, Illinois – a rural farming area about 40 miles south of Joliet. On the weekend of Sept 20-21 my wife Pam and I travelled an hour and a half on Amtrak from Chicago to Dwight. 

 

Eggs, Honey, Fresh Bread & More

Luke and Meredith have fulltime day jobs: he’s a grant-writer with a nonprofit organization in Chicago and she is an independent travel agent with an established list of clients who appreciate her personal attention. Both accomplish the bulk of their work through the internet. While their day jobs keep them financially afloat, their primary passion is addressing global climate change through small-scall regenerative agriculture.

 

Farmhouse with frame for greenhouse in front of garden.

Luke and Meredith moved from Oklahoma to Illinois four years ago, attracted to the Chicago area by a network of college friends. Two years ago, they obtained a vacant 100-year-old farmhouse on a 5-acre parcel of land near Dwight and moved from an apartment in Chicago to begin activating their vision. A year later, in anticipation of retiring from their work in Oklahoma, Garry and Deanna bought a house within five miles of Luke and Meredith. Soon they will begin living fulltime in Illinois, delighted to be close to grandson Owen.

 

Feast for egg-laying chickens

Surrounded by large scale commercial farmers that produce mono crops of soybeans and corn, Luke and Meredith grow organic food. They have established contracts to sell small amounts of organic produce to local schools where each week Meredith also provides 160 sourdough par-baked crusts for lunch pizzas. By raising a few chickens, they can also sell a small number of eggs. They have planted new apple trees, adding to a few existing fruit trees already on their property. Grandpa Garry is an experienced beekeeper and Luke and Meredith anticipate adding this to their regenerative farmwork under Garry’s guidance.

 

Regenerative garden and solar array. 

The photo above shows the enclosed garden Luke and Meredith have built where sweet corn, pumpkins, cherry tomatoes, squash, and other vegetables are grown. They installed solar panels behind the garden last year to electrify the house. (Barely noticeable in the distance are three wind towers on a nearby commercial farm.)

 

New greenhouse for winter veggies.

To the side of the garden, is a new “high top tunnel” greenhouse. This was done through an assistance grant they negotiated with the US Department of Agriculture in 2024. The greenhouse is about the same size as their garden and with durable plastic will provide a warm environment, allowing them to grow vegetables during most of the winter.

Open for business! 

It was all very exciting for Pam and me to be with a young family deeply devoted to an alternative lifestyle in order to fulfill a vision of caring for the future of Planet Earth. 

SUN DAY

NEW HOPE Accelerated Cheap Energy 

SUN DAY Sept 21, on the eve of the fall Equinox, was the brainchild of Bill McKibbns, founder of 350.org for young people and Third Act for those over 60. 

Here in Eugene, members of 350 and 3^rd Act organized a celebration and teaching venue with booths outside the Campbell Senior Center and tables & chairs inside. 

ENVIRONMENTAL RIGHTS AMENDMENT    A Livable Planet 

Oregon needs to pass an Environmental Rights Amendment to preserve a livable planet for our children. OCERA is the Oregon Coalition for an Environmental Rights amendment. It is a voluntary committee working to qualify this initiative for the 2028 ballot.  

FEDERAL TAX CREDITS  Electrification Code   

To benefit from federal tax credits by 7/4/26, we need to take steps now to get new construction or complex canopy projects underway and secure commercial solar projects. 

By working with neighbors we can pass legislation changing Oregon’s electrification code to allow Balcony / Plug-In Solar arrays. If Utah did it, so can we! When enough states change their code, they can pressure for a national change that will allow lower income persons to reduce their electricity costs. 

TRANSPORTATION FEES 2027 / Legislation 

Recent state legislation imposes higher fees and road-use taxes on electric vehicles when it is the gas guzzlers that ruin the roads and pollute our air. This is not set to go into effect until 2027. We need to get busy NOW to get this gift to the oil and gas industry reversed.

   

SOLAR ARRAYS & WINDMILLS ARE THE 

FORESTS OF THE FUTURE

REDUCING CARBON & 

KEEPING PLANET EARTH 

LIVABLE FOR HUMANS