Publishers Weekly did an article on Dreamriver Press for their online edition, on November 24th. The article is by Judith Rosin.

Read the article below, or click here to read it on the Publishers Weekly website:

Dreamriver: Four Years of Positive Change

Determined to counteract the general negativity carried by the media, former Peace Corps volunteer Theodore Poulis, an economist by training, founded Dreamriver Press in Brooklyn in December 2006. “There is also much violence, or fear/guilt messages, portrayed in movies and books,” Poulis said.

Taking as his goal “creating change through words,” Poulis began publishing in the areas of the environment and spirituality, starting with Dreamriver’s first book, Richard A. Singer Jr.’s Eastern Wisdom for Your Soul (2007). In the press’ most recent release, fourth-generation farmer Eric Herm’s Son of a Farmer, tackles commercial farming and what it does to the land. Altogether Dreamriver has published six works of nonfiction, and will do one or two more in 2011.

Poulis founded Dreamriver after working with a small press in Athens, Greece, Anagnosis Books, which specializes in books for the International Baccalaureate program. “I pretty much did everything,” he said, “other than editing or design.” He sold the press’ list to local bookstores, processed orders, contacted international distributors, and helped Anagnosis become a distributor for other English-speaking publishers in Greece. And he was inspired to think globally by Greek publishers he met like Denise Harvey, whose eponymous press on the island of Euboea does books on modern Greek culture.

Poulis said that he decided to focus his list on environmental and spiritual topics, because he likes the balance. “There are many encouraging steps being taken by people to live environmentally sustainable lives as well as have more harmonious relationships. I feel like actions—for example, changes that transform our agriculture industry by moving it away from the excess use of pesticides—are often coupled with a ‘shift in consciousness,’ where we reevaluate our lives and our goals,” he says.

For its last four releases Dreamriver moved to publishing in paperback on 100% recycled paper; its books are also available as e-books. Since it signed with National Book Network just over a year ago, sales have tripled, said Poulis. The press’ bestselling book to date, Teri Degler’s The Divine Feminine Fire, which has been praised by Marian Woodman as “crucially important for our times,” was the first to benefit from NBN’s sales push. However, publicity for the Herm is just kicking into high gear this week with the author/farmer’s visit to New York City, where he has made several promotional appearances, including one on the Leonard Lopate Show.

Eric Herm, author of Son of a Farmer, Child of the Earth was interviewed yesterday on The Leonard Lopate Show.

Listen to the interview here.

Theodore Poulis, Dreamriver Press publisher, was recently interviewed by the Green Bus Tour. The Green Bus Tour is a group of sustainability experts, musicians, artists, yogis & healers on a mission to inspire a culture of conscious living. Green Bus will reach millions of people through live events, online media and collaborative commerce. Visit the Green Bus Tour website to find out more: www.greenbustour.com

See the interview below.

Strangers Gate Books, and Dreamriver Press present:

An Evening With Uyghur Poet Aisha Kashgari … a Voice from far Western China
and Music from Xinjiang Listening Party

When: Thursday November 18th, 6:30PM-9PM
Where: Birch Coffee (in the loft Library)
@ The Gershwin Hotel
7 East 27th Street (between Fifth & Madison)
New York, New York
Free and open to the Public
Coffee, tea, beer, wine, food available.

About the artist:

Situated in and around the shifting sands of the Taklimakan and ringed by the world’s most majestic mountain ranges, the Chinese province of Xinjiang stretches west to the Pamirs, the craggy borders of the ‘Stans and frames the Tarim Basin and Dzungaria-the historical regions of the Uyghur (pronounced “ouiyger”) people, the largest group of the many Chinese minorities. Poet and writer Aisha Kashgari is a native of Xinjiang Province, Western China and her poems evoke all the mystery and exoticism you would expect from a native of that beautiful, mysterious region at the heart of the ancient Silk Road, yet her charismatic stage presence and urbane sophistication belie any trace of being held back by tradition.

In her home country, Ms. Kashgari is a published novelist, poet, and playwright. She has a degree in Literature from Xinjiang University in Urumqi, and has trained in the writing, cadence, rhyme and performance of Uyghur poetry since she was a child. Her spoken poems are at once delicate and powerful, and her impromptu readings at Bowery Poetry Club and Cornelia Street Cafe have left people mesmerized and often highly emotional, given the unique intonations and cadence of the Uyghur language coupled with Kashgari’s disarming presence. In the near future New York small press Strangers Gate Books will publish Kashgari’s Tales of Xayar, a collection of poems and a novella.

After the performance, there will be a dialog between the artist and the presenters followed by an audience Q&A. Strangers Gate Books and Dreamriver Press will curate a table with selections from their respective catalogs for purchase.

We hope you can join us.

-Pauls Imports, Dreamriver Press, Strangers Gate Books

Birch Coffee is dedicated to sustainable practices and good living. Coffee, tea, beer, wine and food are available before and during the event.

Monday – November 22nd, 7:00 pm
The Commons, 388 Atlantic Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11217

What is the current state of commercial agriculture? How to build a healthy and sustainable future, that interconnects farming and community.


Join us along with:

Eric Herm, 4th generation farmer from Western Texas, and author of Son of a Farmer, Child of the Earth (Dreamriver Press).

Judith LaBelle, President of Glynwood, which empowers communities in the North East to support farming and save farmland.

Dan Miner, longtime peak oil activist, volunteer organizer with Post Carbon Institute and 350.org, and past Chair of Sierra Club NYC.

Cheryl Rogowski, farmer, The Rogowski Farm, Pine Island, NY.

Co-sponsored by:
Brooklyn Food Coalition
Slow Food NYC
TriState Food Not Lawns
Neighborhood Energy Network

Suggested donation: $ 5

Subway – Train:
Hoyt-Schermerhorn; A, C and G
Bergen Street; F
Atlantic-Pacific; B, M, Q, R, 2, 3, 4 and 5
Flatbush Avenue; LIRR

Bus: B63 and B65

For more information call 718-715-4365. Connect to this event on Facebook.

Dreamriver Press will now be distributed by NBN International in the United Kingdom and Europe. NBN International has demonstrated a history of successful order-fulfillment, distribution and sales, and is owned by the National Book Network – which currently distributes Dreamriver Press books in the U.S. You can find more information on NBNi at: http://www.nbninternational.com/

Drearmriver Press will be represented at this year’s Frankfurt Book Fair by Clare Cox (Hall 8, booth D923). Clare is the Director for Rights & Permissions for The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group and the National Book Network. Clare will also be handling most foreign rights for Dreamriver Press books. She has long experience in this field. If you are interested in foreign rights, see the Dreamriver Press contact page for information on how to get in touch with Clare.

Eric Herm, author of Son of a Farmer, Child of the Earth will be a guest on Blue Planet Almanac radio on Monday, July 26th, at 11:00 am ET. Listen the show live on HealthyLive.net.

Eric will be interviewed by host, Mike Austin. The program will include two other guests. As stated on Blue Planet Almanac’s site:

“Sustainability is cross-disciplinary. From anywhere you stand you could pick up a figurative pebble or rock, toss it as lightly or hard and you like, and strike a subject which involves environmentalism, its law, policy, farming, food, water or a myriad other important things. Environmental lawyer Bruce Rich, American farmer Eric Herm, and personal development wizard Mick Quinn will explain the interactions of those things for us.”

For a more detailed description please visit the Blue Planet Almanac website. It should an interesting and very informative show.

Since recently reading one of my favorite Author’s articles on the exact same topic of Happy Cows, I thought I’d put my thoughts down on the subject as well.  Since the swindlers are advertising Milk now as well as Cheese in Happy Cow, California …. (actually those commercials are filmed in New Zealand). I am a little bit more frustrated about this entire fabrication.

Happy Cows come from California

The television commercial, “Happy Cows come from California” airs on National television at least daily, in several different scenarios. The central commercial is depicting female milk cows in a beautiful pasture scene talking about how wonderful their lives are in California, sometimes introducing a new cow from another state raving about the weather and how beautiful it is there. The ad goes on to claim “Great cheese comes from happy cows. Happy cows come from California” portrayed in big bold words on your screen.

Surveys have proven the effectiveness of the inclusion of animals into an advertisement, photo or commercial. (Think Geico/gecko or the Aflac duck).  It draws the viewers’ attention to the ad by using a subject that creates an emotional response, as most people love animals. This ad is also playing on the heartstrings of people who are concerned with animal welfare but who are unaware of the reality of the dairy business. The industry that is spending billions of dollars on these advertisements appears to be trying to influence people into believing that their production of dairy is humane and safe. This could not be further from the truth. A huge percentage of people eat cheese, so their target audience is the general consumer, i.e. anyone who shops for and consumes food. This ad is also making an effort to ease consumers’ concern for ethics in dairy production practices.

The commercial is focused on an idyllic scene of cows in a grassy green pasture with rolling hills, a few oak trees scattered around for shade, a sunny day and blue sky with white puffy clouds and a red, old-fashioned barn in the background – typical of a Norman Rockwell painting. The cows are smiling and seemingly happy. All of the cows pictured are Holstein bred cows (black and white), which are the most common milk cow used today. They are exceptionally clean and give the impression of being well fed, both physically and emotionally, and appear to be living a life of bliss.

The Milk Advisory Board paying for these commercials is obviously trying to thwart any notion of abuse or misuse of these beautiful and peaceful creatures because evidence has proven otherwise. (1) This ad also appears to be a reaction to the many lawsuits filed against the industry for inhumane treatment by the groups attempting to hold them accountable for their actions. (2) This ad also appears to be a huge endeavor to keep afloat in a seriously drowning industry. The milk industry is experiencing a downturn in business as more and more dairy farms are closing regularly. (3) It seems that keeping cows alive and well enough to produce 100 times the milk that would naturally be produced for their offspring, with added antibiotics, bovine growth hormones and all the other foreign garbage they feed them is costing them a fortune. Cows continue to die prematurely at an alarming rate as a consequence of their maltreatment and the industries profits die right along with them.

False advertising is a crime, however, considering that the bovine sensibilities and pain thresholds are difficult to prove since they cannot speak, the milk industry, since winning one arm of the lawsuit brought to them by PETA, has the OK from the legal system to continue to air these commercials. The Milk Advisory Board is trying to appeal to their viewers sense of ethics and morals by relieving consciences for the consumption of inhumane animal products in an effort to help the industry look beautiful, kind, loving and oh-so responsible. Their appeal to consumers is an attempt to provide proof – via these commercials – that their dairies and products are safe and nutritious. That most consumers cannot live without the protein or outstanding health benefits they supply. Unfortunately they have reached deep into their pockets to put out some of the most blatant lies ever aired on television.

The fact that advertisers in all facets of our lives try to ‘trick’ us into buying their products by appealing to some deeply seeded need or deceptive emotional requirement is absolutely unethical. What is even more astonishing is that a large percentage of consumers fall for the ads. We all purchase products without further research, trusting that these companies deliver what they are selling. We as consumers have to learn that not a single ad on television in newspapers or magazines can be trusted.

The illegal ad practice known as  “failure to inform” is what is being used in the “Happy Cow” commercials; however, there are probably a few others not identified. False advertising has become big business and a consumer nightmare.

The point is that it is shameful that this type of deceit exists at all.  Most people like myself are easily fooled when it comes to merchandise that promises to make us look and feel younger, thinner, grow more hair, even have better sex.  Most of these things tempt customers to purchase based on the premise that these products will work.  Why?  Because the advertisement stated that it would. I think as consumers, we have to realize that there is a heck of a lot of deception going on out there in the marketing and advertising industry.

What the Happy Cow commercials are selling is good clean dairy food, namely cheese. Dairy is a food that is very detrimental to the human body.  The Milk Advisory Board knows this; they have all seen the reports, statistics and the evidence of cancer, heart disease, diabetes, obesity and a host of other ailments that their products cause. (4) But ethics and responsibility fly out the window when the bottom line is money. How much money can they make with these contemptible commercials? How many more people can they fool into purchasing their products? Plenty. Their ads are effective and their tactics are working. In researching some comments on this ad from Happy Cow websites, most people who comment state they “just love” these commercials. Some even believe that this is the life cows lead in dairy farms. Most don’t even get up or change the television channel when the ad airs. They think the cows and the scenarios are adorable and the ad is appealing to the audiences’ pathos and in many cases logos.

I think we must become smarter and wiser than succumbing to these deceptive advertisements. That is the bottom line in fighting this trickery, not buying the products that do not project truth, which fuels their pockets to do more of the same.

1.            Advocacy for Animals;

2007 The big Business of Dairy Farming; Big trouble for cows

http://advocacy.britannica.com/blog/advocacy/2007/06/dairy-farming/

Unhappy cows come from California:

(http://tinyurl.com/yaj854o) or (http://www.unhappycows.com/)

2        UnhappyCows.com: 2010 PETA Takes “Happy Cows” Lawsuit to Higher                                                             Court. www.peta.org/feat/caldairy/index.html

3      Burnett, John – NPR

2009 Independent Farmers feel Squeezed by Milk Cartel

http://tinyurl.com/ncnalq

4.            Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM)

2010 Health Concerns about Dairy Products

http://www.pcrm.org/health/veginfo/dairy.html