Common
Vision
Plant the
future
» Sign up here
» Buy the DVD
» Wear the vision
Meet the Crew
Annapurna finished a degree in Photography from Parsons School of Design in New York City and headed for the green hills of the North California Coast. There she lived in a tree-sit village in order to protest the clear cutting of Ancient Redwood Trees. She assisted ’06 Fruit Tree Tour and joined the full tour the next year. Back again in ’08 she helped create the new kitchen bus through skills in carpentry, art, and veggie mechanics. Annapurna performs hip-hop in the Green Theatre piece and uses her photographic eye to collect and edit photos, documenting the wonder that is Fruit Tree Tour.
April is stoked to be one of the chefs on her second Fruit Tree Tour. April loves Fruit Tree Tour because she is able to be of service while doing what she loves and having a really good time doing it. When she is not up to her elbows in massaged kale salad, she is planting, dancing, practicing banjo, muralling on the new bus, and sometimes imitating a squash plant.
I, Becky Bickford, am a dusk lover who enjoys silly activities, full body water submersion, dancing, laughing, and connecting with people and nature. I am stoked for my very first round of Fruit Tree Tour and will be sure to bring my AFA ( Appetite For Adventure) each day.
Brian Flynn: Transplanted to the West Coast in 2006 like a root-bound loquat, Brian gets back on the bus for his third year of Fruit Tree Tour. A seasoned fruit tree planter, popcorn maker, and bookkeeper, he is expanding his repetoire this year with dancing and rhyming on stage as well as editing videos for the CV website. He is ever grateful for the opportunity to share a message of positivity and interconnectedness with youth across California while traveling in conscious community of inspirational individuals. He was in the process of writing his bio for the website when Leo stepped aboard the bus and spontaneously broke into a song about Brian's life. Luckily we caught some of it on recording. > Listen Here
Blair Philips founded Common Vision in 1999. Seeking to create and be
the change he wished to see in the world, Blair set out to create the
types of programs in which he had wished to participate while in
school. Recognizing there is no end to our learning and awakening, his
mission has led him on a journey to study the different facets of
sustainability and to help others to foster these same connections for
themselves. In addition to receiving a BA in environmental studies
(with an emphasis in education and Agroecology) and a permaculture
teacher certification, his explorations have resulted in his being well
versed in the area of water development. Further, Blair has been
observing the connection between ancient cultures, their traditions,
and what we currently call sustainability. This unique perspective has
led Blair to study in villages of West Africa and has resulted in the
propagation of over 7000 trees in Guinea, W.Africa. Currently, Blair is the script-writer for the Fruit Tree Tour
Performance, the Artistic Director, and faithful double clutcher of
Common Vision’s first bus, “The Lioness”.
ChoQosh Auh-Ho-Oh is a native California Pacific Coast Chumash native who has served as a messenger of Sacred Stories and Wisdom from the Elders of the Chumash, Hopi, and other Califonia traditions. She shares stoires of several native tribes with the tour educators and the students that predict the need to re-establish the balance between techological innovation and sustainable relationship with the Earth She taught Cross Culture Communications at UC Berkeley for 19 years, hosted the award winning radio show “Songs for the Earth/Mending the Sacred Hoop”, and practices as a Native American Herbalist. She is a teacher of The Dance of Life, a very happy grandmother, and is "having a really good time"!
Christine has a degree in Art, English, and Psychology from U Mass Amherst and is certified in Massage. She has gained experience with children through child care, tutoring, and working at a preschool. Christine has always enjoyed feeding her friends. She especially enjoys feeding the hard working Fruit Tree Tour crew. When she can get away from the kitchen she dances in the Green Theatre Performance and has the great fortune to always get the cutest kids in her tree planting group.
Colton is
I, Doug Fuller, am celebrating my second year on fruit tree tour. I am an educator on making instruments from urban materials normally thrown away. I am also applying my several years of youth-work experience through helping students express themselves with creative writing which focuses on improving the planet. Some of my other passions are dancing, rhyming, being healthy, exploring spirituality and building community. I can be contacted at breathefuller@yahoo.com.
Faith Sabatine was born and raised in East Los Angeles and did much growing in Alaska and Orcas Island, Washington for the last 12 years. Permaculture, fruit tree arbor work, subsisting, wildcrafting, barter, and work trade have been her way of life. She helps small scale CSA farmers with vegetable growing and fruit tree grafting. Music is her most recent passion, diving into mbira, dunduns, and anything else that makes a beat. Fruit Tree Tour gives her the opportunity to come full circle in California, while filling her life with green theatre performance, children, music, fruit, community, and love! Her contact is faithineden@wildmail.com.
George is
Jah Sun is returning for his second Fruit Tree Tour. He has helped to shape the EcoBeats "Expression Session" workshop. His paintings are featured the murals on both "Bu" and the new kitchen bus. He keeps the crew vibes high and in the words of Dr. Sanderlin, the principal of Carver Elementary School, "DJ Jah Sun is the bomb!"
I, Joe Coberly, am on a mission to
teach the youth about human tradition. Music, Farming, sustainably living,
and loving are my passions. Gaining all the experience and knowledge I can, I
want to start a youth-based project on a big piece of land.
I, Kirby, love the feeling of support from living in a community with a positive intention towards reconnecting the youth with their roots to the earth. With an interest in education, I’ve found that Fruit Tree Tour provides opportunities to encourage and engage students on a personal level. Planting fruit trees at schools brings me a sense of participation in providing the future generations with a connection to there environment and creating a sense of empowerment and the responsibility to the world around them and their ability to positively affect their community.
Joining Fruit Tree Tour for the second year Koral Delatierra is a 3 times certified permaculture designer with a love for plants and music. Grateful for the experience to spend time with plants, she serves as tree steward, helping to care for and manage the many plants soon to be rooted on school campuses. She openly shares her hearts song and her love for West African drum and dance and freedom of expression with students during the performance and the Creative Expression Session “Eco Beats”. She is inspired and motivated to support the local economies of the areas we visit and is volunteering time to contact local farmers along route with whom to share our Common Vision. koraldelatierra@mac.com
Leo Buc is a multi-talented man who wears many hats. Among his roles are
building and stewarding the Common Vision fleet, running alternative
energy trainings, teaching drumming on Fruit Tree Tour, and helping to
coordinate our large pool of volunteers. As the Alternative Energy
Specialist Leo converts our vehicles to run on Straight Vegetable Oil
and builds our Solar Electric Systems. Not to mention he's hardworking
and good looking guy.
Maggie White is continually grateful for the opportunity to help plant
more trees! Her work with Common Vision aligns with her dedication to
supporting our human family's connection to our natural world. Since
2005 Maggie has cared for the entire life cycle of the trees on Fruit
Tree Tour, from managing the donations and purchasing all of our fruit
trees to organizing rootstock and scion for grafting, picking up soil
for each planting, and stewarding the 1000 dormant trees while on
tour. Maggie has a deep natural capacity for listening and service and
has been instrumental in coordinating our ever growing pool of
volunteers and keeping supplies on hand for the crew and project.
Maggie managed a vegetable and medicinal herb farm in the Sierra
Foothills in 2005-06 and has inspired many to grow food in their
community.
This is my first year on Fruit Tree Tour and I, Marisa Schneidman, cannot wait to spread the love of fruit trees and local food throughout the land of California. I enjoy creating art, especially from recycled materials, growing food in community gardens and discovering the magic of life and all living beings. Sharing my passion of growing food and spreading ideas of community, respect, cooperation, and love with kids is a dream of mine come true on Fruit Tree Tour. “Much Love!”
Megan Watson: Connecting with the earth and its healing and empowerment has been lifelong journey for Megan. Currently serving as Common Vision's Projects Director, she manages the enormous number of logistics involved in each of our 6 vehicle and 25 person expeditions. Megan finds paralells between Fruit Tree Tour and her childhood dream of being a migrant farm worker and loves to teach Common Vision course participants how to make positive choices for themselves and the communities they live in.
Michael Flynn has been working with Common Vision for six years and currently serves as the Director of Education and Program Development. He has a BA in Sociology and Education from Pomona College. Through Common Vision he helps to draw communities together, to connect students, elders, experts, and teachers, and to network existing positive projects so that they may benefit by cooperating towards one common vision. He has helped develop garden-based educational programs in LA, organized bio-fuel co-ops, taught veggie-fuel workshops, organized four Fruit Tree Tours, and run a small organic farm. He is also a certified yoga teacher and permaculture design teacher.
Pranav comes to Fruit Tree Tour 2008 as a veteran volunteer of the 2005 tour with a background in drumming. He has performed on the drum set for years with the band, Arjun and Guardians. He appears as the drum set playing bird character in this year's performance. He also is participating as a facilitator for the drum workshop during the 2008 Fruit Tree Tour.
Sandra Benson loves.....fruit trees, drumming, children, bell filled bus rides, working with her community, grapefruits, chocolate, smiling, laughing, speaking in spanish, singing, dancing, vegetable oil, the moon, the sun, hot tea, warm baths, and swimming in waterfalls. After many years of planting seeds and singing songs, sandra tried to convert a veggie car in a cold garage in Washington and decided it was time to collaborate. Sandra happily hopped on the bus in 2006 and is back for a third season. Sandra believes that fruit tree tour is one of the most fun and amazing projects on the earth, and she is happy to plant trees, play drums and co-create poetic visions of a world where food is fresh, clean and free, expression is encouraged and respected, and communication is a balance of talking and listening.
Sarah LaRock: From the infamous belly of the NYC, Sarah brings her knowledge of permaculture and sustainable living into an educational and artistic format for the kids through poetry and lyricism. As an expression session breakout leader she teaches the kids to voice their dreams and visions of a better world through rhythm and rhyme. Picking up organizational and other important responsibilities, Sarah offers her energy as a hoop structure builder, dish-grid enforcer and all around rabble rouser.
I, Senam Gidi, was raised in West Texas.
I took my first West African dance class in Santa Cruz California.
The love for the dance and the curiosity of the culture eventually led to her
traveling to Ghana
where she spent nine months volunteering in schools and orphanages. I joyfully
look forward to returning to Ghana
after Fruit Tree Tour and continuing my education in West African dance and
early childhood development while exploring creating an eco-friendly guest
house /cultural center. The best moments for me are those found in nature with
the innocence of a child.
Stephen England has returned fo his second year of Fruit Tree Tour. Stephen's carpentry, metal work, and mechanic skills crossed with his tireless dedication to service has made him indespensible to the Fruit Tree Tour crew. Stephen rolls to the school an hourbefore each planting to prepare the planting areas and dig holes in the wildly variable soils of the California public schools. The tour just wouldn't work without him.
Woody drives bus. Woody plants trees. Woody? Woody. Woody!
Home > What
we do > Fruit
Tree Tour > Meet the
Crew >
Common Vision | A Project of International Humanities Center
Common Vision | A Project of International Humanities Center