Eyes - Postcards V

I’m listening to an interview of an elder, a well-known public figure, talking of his family’s past. So carelessly, so sincerely, this man says, “I look back on my parents with such enormous affection”. This statement acts like a knife, stabbing through my protective shell of pretend equanimity towards marred parental disputes and disappointments. Hard to know how to balance realistic expectations of how relationships can be with truthful acceptance of life as it is.

Eyes - Postcards IV

He sits in the night train travelling northbound, passing through a dark countryside spotted with neon-lighted train stations, through places he has never heard of, in languages he doesn’t understand. Alone in the train carriage, he stares outward towards the people he has yet to meet, to a life he’s yearning to find.

Eyes - Postcards III

A New Idea

A tiny ripple of hope
Then inspiration tearing
Downwards. Unexpectedly,
A synaptic burst of light.
My child’s mind. So simple.
Right there. There, where nothing
Is complete except that one step,
Or, leap into the unknown.

My dear friend just doesn’t get it…

Recently, a good friend of mine wrote that she is “amazed by all the stuff you do outside work”. This reaction, to be honest, sort of miffed me, since I consider all that I do, except for writing blogs and creating collages, work. Then I thought about her comment for a while and came up with this:

all the stuff I do outside work – monetary compensation – filling out lots and lots of forms – dealing with the Difficult Colleague – having to attend numerous weekly meetings that are often just a whole waste a lot of time – the really fruitful discussions I have with my Favourite Colleagues – the wonderful technology to be found in my office = Work

So, if you consider that “all the stuff I do outside work” is shared with some amazing people at different corners of the world and the work can be done just as well without the wonderful technology that is found in my office, it is not only Work, but work with perks because those negative aspects of my job fall by the wayside. Except for the fact that I am not being paid to do the work, it is a cushy job.

Eyes - Postcards II

Aubrey

Walking through your farm, thirsty, you duck behind the shadows of a grapefruit tree. With studied precision, you lob your arm upwards and then gently tap a grapefruit at its navel with the blade of your machete. The fruit plops down into your awaiting hand. Gracefully, you untwine the rind into one yellow ribbon. Slicing through the fruit, its juices trip between your fingers.

We share the sweet sunshine taste, and wonder why grapefruits are so sour elsewhere, away from the farm, from Grenada, and from the sourcing silence of this hot afternoon. Finished, we wipe our hands on our trousers and continue on our way.

Eyes - Postcards I

the tender spring leaves
of my garden hedge
cradle the skeleton of a
lone bird dying in winter

Stay Tuned

Oh, good, just got an idea for another collage series called "Eyes". It will, if all goes well, be a series of postcards with individual poems or memories. Somewhat like the "Postcards to Past Lives" series I did a while back.

Here is an example of what the results were. Here is a slideshow of the results.

Two Sides of a Mirror

While making a summer collage this morning, I came up with two versions of the same motif that I equally liked.





What about you?

Small Blessing

These last weeks have been weeks of end of school year madness. Everyone writing exams, creating presentations, as have been my husband and I been doing for various projects at work. It is crazy, Germany goes summer mad and nothing, absolutely nothing, happens between the beginning of July and the beginning of September. Everyone tries to make all the important appointments in June. I've never quite understood how this economy works with such an extended vacation, but it does.

Isn't it a civilized world where employees offers their workers six weeks of paid vacation a year, universal medical insurance, free or minimal tuition (200-400 USD per semester) university education, and full unemployment insurance after working one full year? Looking at many of my friends' precarious situations in this present economic crisis (USA, New Zealand, Canada, England), and knowing that my current work contract runs out at the end of this year, I am glad to be living here. That is not to say that I do not worry, but I know I will have time to avoid any demise.

Dance

Worth a definite look!

The Wonders Of The Internet (3/3)

The last of this series concerns a skype conversation I have with Millicent in Nairobi. During our talk, Millicent tells me about reading a newspaper article about how Carbon Manna Unlimited is compensating Kenyans for reforesting their land by planting trees.

After some investigation, I still am not able to find any information about receiving monetary compensation for replanting trees, though this is probably true, but just hasn’t come up in my search. There is though a series of articles pointing out their program that allows people in Kenya,

“to claim by mobile phone on a bi-weekly basis the carbon offsets they produce by converting to more efficient cooking methods such as a modern charcoal stove or solar cooker, instead of an inefficient 3-stone fire burning biomass. As a result, each family becomes a micro-profit center and is able to monetize directly its own contribution to mitigating global climate change, while also slowing regional deforestation and desertification”

I am not so sure how successful the mass introduction of solar cookers and the modern charcoal stoves will be, since they are still quite expensive items to purchase. Which brings me back to smoke-free briquettes created out of bio-waste…. Don’t you think that Carbon Manna Unlimited might have an interest supporting (funding) the manufacturing of corn cob crushers and the use of smoke-free briquettes?

So, my goals for this year:

* Create two instruction manuals for building a corn cob crusher and how-to-make briquettes
* Create two small scale briquette making businesses in Kimilili
* Get in contact with Carbon Manna Unlimited and start communications about the possibility of them helping to set up a corn cob crusher manufacturing carpentry shop
* Get in contact with the Kimilili community elders and start talks about setting up the above-mentioned shop

Of course, my goals are not going to be achieved all by myself. It means involving all sorts of people from all sorts of different countries. To date that would be, Kenya, Zambia, Canada, USA, Switzerland, and who knows how many more before this project is up and running in Kimilili.

The wonders of the Internet, don’t you love it?

The Wonders Of The Internet (2/3)

Continued from yesterday's post...

A few weeks ago, Millicent and Ericah (Kenya), go from Nairobi to Kimilili to hold a business-training workshop. Initially, the workshop is intended for the eight women in the CBSM women’s co-op who are starting up two Village Phone Salon businesses. When Ericah and Millicent arrive at the CBSM school at 7 am on the day of the workshop, over 20 persons show up and cannot be persuaded to leave. They all want to learn about business practices.



Amongst the group that came of their own volition, are various youths desperate to learn as well.

After some reflection, I wonder whether it wouldn’t be more practical to set up a Corn Cob Crushers manufacturing business as well as of creating clean fuel briquette-making businesses. If we could set up a youth vocational training program and show the young entrepreneurs how to make the a Corn Cob Crushers, they could manufacture them on mass and sell them to local residence either for private use or to set up a briquette making business.

The Wonders Of The Internet

A few days ago, I mention I am on an oxygen-high. After months of research and communication with various people, I’ve figured out a wonderful green business idea for the rural communities I work with in various countries in Africa. It is not only the idea that is so fantastic, but how the idea evolved that is so remarkable. The serendipity and beauty of being able to form new business ideas with people all over the world through the Internet, makes me want to jump up and down with delight.

I’d like to write a few posts and take you on a journey about how the new green business idea formed. I won’t say at this point what the idea is because that would spoil the fun, so, if you only want to know that, you can skip the next two blog posts.

The journey starts off in California listening to Amy Smith’s talk on “Life Saving Design”. In this talk, she informs the illustrious TED audience: how fumes from indoor cooking fires kill more than 2 million children a year, how millions of women and children spend upwards of 2-4 hours daily searching for wood fuel, and how many countries are rapidly being deforested because of this practice.

Ms. Smith goes on to explain how she and a group of designers constructed a prototype Corn Cob Crusher that produces smokeless cooking briquettes from bio waste materials (principally sugar cane or corn cob waste).

So, I contact Sumit (India) of the above-mentioned design group and ask where I could get more information about the crusher. We have some people interested in opening up such clean fuel briquette-making businesses in Kimilili, Kenya. We are hoping to find someone in Kenya that can teach these business entrepreneurs how to build crushers.

Sumit introduces me to Joshua (Zambia), who is also in the crusher group. Since
Zambia isn’t Kenya, and Joshua obviously can’t just hop over to Kimiilili, I talk to a Nabuur friend (Toronto) and she suggests approaching another Nabuur friend, Misheck, in Zambia to see if he can help.

Simultaneously, I meet up with a graphic designer and book publisher friend of mine for a cup of tea (Germany) and she asks me all sorts of questions about the Corn Cob Crusher project. It becomes obvious during our talk that we what we need are instruction manuals explaining “How to make a Corn Cob Crusher” and “How to make cooking Briquettes with a Corn Cob Crusher”. She offers her assistance in the project.

Upon inquiry, Joshua and Misheck both prove willing to work with us in making these manuals. It will probably take a few months for us to get the script written and the monies together so they can buy the materials needed, but it is all looking rosy in that department.

These manuals will be published and made available in various formats (e.g. pdf, html, ppt, and mp4), so that any one wishing to build a crusher can do so.

The next post talks about how my original idea evolved from one of creating clean fuel briquette-making business start-ups to an idea including youth vocational business training and crusher manufacturing start-ups as well.

To be continued...

Stay Tuned

Just worked out a brilliant concept for a new green micro-financed business possibility for the community I work with in Kenya. It is so fantastic an idea; I almost feel as if my head will pop. Let me come down from my creative oxygen high and make some sense of all that I am thinking of. Stay tuned...

City of Graffitti and Angels

Here is an animated slide show of some photos my son took last weekend when we were in Berlin.

Short Short Stories

This is a call out to readers of this blog, asking you whether you would like to join my daughter's and my new project, Short Short Stories blog as co-authors or loyal readers. It is the perfect opportunity for all over-stressed, over-worked, too-busy-to-tie-my-shoes type of persons. It is a mini-micro storytelling site. Do go over and have a look and tell me what you think.

Each story a leaf of grass in the field of daily occupation.. (sic)

Making chaos beautiful

Quiet weekend. Friends dropping by. Good food. Find conversations.

Managed to do some cleaning up of the mountains of paperwork that plagues my conscious. Actually, a friend and I decided on Friday that we are now formally giving up hope of becoming good housewives. Instead, we are going to make our chaos more beautiful. As of tonight, the large piles of papers that crowded the bookshelves in my work area, are now all nested inside of decorative boxes.

Ladybug Fly Away

Telling Stories with Feeling

Recently, a good friend and I had a conversation about my blog. She mentioned how she loves coming to the Yum Yum Café to get caught up with the going-ons of my life. Further into our discussion, she talked about her occasional surprise and perplexity at the content of some of my posts. She wondered how I could write and publish such personal texts.

This brought me back to the dilemma I wrestled over nearly four years ago, when I started this blog; what is the difference between being engaged and personal and being too intimate and forthcoming? Admittedly, there are guidelines to follow and boarders that shouldn’t be overstepped when publishing a document. It doesn’t matter whether it is a newspaper article, a book, or something as inconsequential as a blog post. At the very least, the respect of privacy, both of others and our own, is one of the borders we should walk carefully. Therefore, the critical observation from my friend made me reflect upon how my guidelines and borders have changed over time.

It made me question whether I write about things now, which I wouldn’t have written way back then, or whether I divulge details of my day-to-day existence that would be best kept private. And, the answer is that I probably do from time-to-time. It is not always easy to walk the tightrope between remaining respectful of the people’s privacy portrayed in my stories, and writing about topics close to my heart and relevant to my life.

When I write a blog post that might be questionable, I ask myself the following two questions:

Will my children find what I write embarrassing?*
If the content was instead part of a café conversation I was having with a friend, and someone at the neighbouring table overheard it, would I be mortified?

If the answer to both questions is no, then, I’ll probably post the text. For, the raison d'être for this blog, is that my children have a journal of these years in future times. Secondly, even though this blog is public, it is read by only a few. Its readers are people I more or less know. I might not have met all of you face-to-face, but I do know you to be loyal readers and I hope this is because I don’t all too often cross that border into the extreme.

What I have learnt in the last years is that without the personal details and the emotional connection, there are no stories to tell.


* Both my children read this blog and have veto rights on anything I post.

Solitary Days on the Baltic Sea Coast

A few days escape to rethink, retank, and rejuvenate.

Boats in the Night

Miserable “Scheet” weather.
A sailor sits at the bar,
Brooding darkly, drinking beer.
He stares blankly ahead.
Malcontent. Dreaming of the
Warm salt breeze of the Caribbean Sea.

The bartender looks up at the
Crawling clock. She steels another
Glance at the last and only customer.
The slight flush to her skin stays hidden
In the darkness of the bar.
She shakes her head. Reprimanding herself.
"Stay away. Trouble there. You know it's so."
Still, she can’t help dreaming about the sailor,
While she wipes down the counter,
Waiting for her shift to end.

P(T)eaching to the Choir

Another good video trying to convince all educators and those of us involved in some manner with the education system the necessity to implement new technology-supported learning methods...

Best qoute, "This isn't the Information Age, it is the Learning Age. The quicker people get their heads around that, the better."

Sage Advice

Spent this rainy afternoon listening to poetry. Being in a melancholy state of mind, I tended towards poems of adieu (here, here, and here). Which got me thinking about the life stories of various women friends of mine. Even though I believe in the power of literature and poetry to bring comfort into my life, I remember more clearly those words spoken in the company of friends. Here is the advice three of my elder friends told me about saying adieu:

When Jean realised she was growing old, she began volunteering at the local hospice. She thought a closer proximity to death and dying would help her to become familiarized with all of its various facets. After a few years, she told me, “We don’t have any choice about what we die from, nor do we really have any say about how long it will take or how much pain we will suffer. The only thing I know for certain is all of our personal attributes, whether those of strength or weakness, will accompany us right to the end. So, we shouldn’t waste any time; grasp every trail in our lives as an opportunity to exercise fearlessness and wonder.”

Kirsten spent her whole adult life with chronic back pain after an accident in her early twenties. As she was nearing her ninetieth birthday she said, “Each morning when I wake, I thank the gods for this blessing of another day. There is pain and there is suffering. There are also many pitiful indignities. But, most of all, there is this marvellous never-ceasing will to live, which is a constant companion along the way.”

Agi is a wise woman, a reflective contemplative being. She decided to study phycology when she turned 60, at the onset of her husband’s Alzheimer. She completed her studies when she was 65 and continued to care for her husband in their home until he died years later. Now she is acting as a consultant for other elders in similar situation to hers. One of the many wise pieces of advice she gave me was, “People who say they have no fear of dying, usually are not telling the truth. For the fear of dying is just the shadow side of our will to live. As we yearn deeply to live, we also fear to die. It’s as simple as that.”

I don’t know whether these words taken out of the context of our conversations might diminish their beauty. I hope not.

Technology helps people think in a different way

I always was sceptical of the "no child left behind" program and its focus on standardised learning. I wonder whether it wouldn't be more appropriate to start a "no teacher left behind" program that focuses less on information transfer and more on differentiating collaborative explorative learning methods. Or, just assure that teachers know about the "practice what you preach" policy of pedagogy.

My children have come home from school over the last while with numerous horror stories. Stories about the antiquity of their teachers’ teaching methods and their bomb resistant mental attitudes when it comes to technology.

This video shows that all they really have to do is stop talking and start listening.

Finding Your Truth: Living a Soulful Life

Definitely inspirational. Take a look. It is worth it. He speaks well about how soul is very much an expression of truth.

Short Story II

INSOMNIA =
3 am move onto living room sofa +
reading sedentary literature +
dozing off and on +
vaguely registering the existence of drunken pedestrians shouting and singing outside living room window -
blissful dreams -
peace of mind

Speaking of Faith Interview

Well, the interview I gave to the Speaking of Faith, Repossessing Virtue series is out. My heavens, was I nervous to know if I made any sense at all. I did make one huge mistake when I said there was 250 people living in Luebeck, instead of 250 thousand. Oh well, live and learn.

If you would like to listen to the interview, please do, but only if you tell me honestly what you think. My daughter said she only understood half of what I was saying. So, it's one of those half full, half empty situations. Should I celebrate or despair?

There is also a collective podcast of eight persons who contributed to the series. I am one of the persons. If you want to listen to this podcast, please do.

Short Story I

MYSTERY =

food our exchange student likes +

all my efforts to find out

Another TED Talk

I know, not another! But, like so many of the TED Talks pertinent, passionate, and provocative. Seth Godin is certainly one of my heroes, and I think he shines throughout this presentation.



If you are looking at a very good list of TED Talks favourites, please take a look at this list from Garr Reynold.

Just By Starting You Are Halfway There

All of the talk in the last weeks about how the Obama administration has been doing, has been focused on "what have they done" and not allowed for a more broader sweep. This video might be interesting to those of you who want to know how some municipal governments are globally tackling some of the problems due to urbanization.

This might also be good time for all of us to take a look at how we are doing and what we are doing to make the changes we so demonstratively spoke about not four months ago. What are you doing now that you were not doing at the end of last year? How have things changed for you or your community? How are you creating positive and constructive change? I would be really interested to know.

High Brow, Low Life

I was just about to write a post about a new video I saw in Lawerence Lessig's blog. Even though the talk is rather lengthy, it is well worth making a cup of tea and watching it from start to finish. It is a talk he gave at Warner Music. Then my son sent me this blog post that made any observation I could make superfluous. I tend to agree with Mr. Lessig in all points, which does not indicate he is right in all matters, but rather, it means that I am not qualified to make any intelligent counterpoint. I didn't agree with Radio Clash, but admire the fact he argued his points well.

Instead of embedding the Lessig's presentation mentioned above, here is something you might like... Can't explain it, but I am so annoyed with the whole Twitter hype of the last months, it really caught my fancy.

Watch Real Life Twitter and more funny videos on CollegeHumor