How Can You Tell If You Are Happy?
He opens the book of drawings. There are people who live under the horrible burden of Islam. There are people who are not allowed to vote. There are people who have to share a television with their neighbours. And there are all the people, so many millions of them, who were unfortunate enough to live before now...
A Few Thoughts
Consumer culture is such an intricate part of our lives that I sometimes forget the great influences it has upon us as a society. Some of the externalities and side effects of this culture concern me. For example, I see a loss of meaning and value in much of life around me. The latest example I've noticed is...
Consuming Thoughts
thinner, slimmer
cheaper
faster
be happy, have fun.
don't work so hard?
relax more...
A Culture of Consumption
Bewildered at the revelation that his whole life has actually been only a dream, Neo in the sci-fi movie The Matrix asks, "I have all these memories from my life - none of them happened. What does that mean?" "That the Matrix cannot tell you who you are," Trinity responds...
Untitled
what will we do with all this, these
little guarded nexus points of
universal luminate forces
oh what will we do?
we could make the earth go lucid
end the dream of dying earth...
The Man Made Materialism, Now the Other Man Breaks It Down
He's everywhere. He's what you eat, where you shop, where you sleep, who you work for, and what you dream about. He's in your morning cereal, coffee, lunch, and computer. He's McDonald's, the Gap, General Mills, Starbucks, and AOL. He's not God, he's "The Man"...
Marriage: Not Just For Parents Anymore
It was my first day of English Composition in my first semester at Columbia College. I had just turned nineteen, and like many young women, had the next ten years of my life planned. I was going to finish college, get a corporate job, spend all of my free time with the Bahá'í community and my friends, and then settle down and...
A Sign Of Progress
I saw a sign of progress today.
As I exited the temperature-controlled grocery store
To enter the warm rays of the afternoon sun,
Throwing up one arm to shield my retinas from burn,
I saw a sign of progress...
at-one-ment
rush through traffic
win a few dollars
live one more week
time disappears
appetites melt
and yearnings will never be written...
(All Content of Fertile Field is Copyright National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the United States, 2000-2003, do not use without permission)
Back Issues
April, 2002 (The Health Issue)April, 2003 (Globalization)
December, 2003 (The Fear Issue)
February, 2002
February, 2003
March 2004 (Coming to America)
May, 2004 (Best of 2002-2004)
November, 2001
November, 2002 (Why Religion?)
October, 2003 (The Music Issue)
September, 2002 (Consumer Culture)
Summer, 2002
Past Submissions
Letter From the Team
Best of 2002-2004Letter from the Fertile Field editorial team
What's your American Dream?
America, Peeling
The Only Way to Feast
Flowers of Thy Meadow
Back From America
From Centimeters to Pounds
Legacy
Being Biracial in America
En los primeros tiempos