this sunday morning news is brought to you by the letters T, E and D

_posted in film | photography | sunday morning news catch up | the world | web | 22 July 2007

today on sunday morning news catchup, ive spent a lot of time watching presentations from TED, which by the way is one of my most favorite things ever. i've missed a few great presentations and decided to go back and check them out.

James Nachtwey

james nachtwey has been one of my favorite photographers since forever. his images bring a serious reality and tell stories to those of us who are disconnected by time and location. It's great to hear him talk in detail about some of his photographs. if you haven't seen war photographer, a documentary on nachtwey, its worth netflixing.

TED Prize Wish: Share a vital story with the world

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war photographer

Majora Carter

"Economic degradation begets environmental degradation begets social degradation."
Majora Carter is at the same time; incredibly passionate, extremely knowledgeable and lovely in a way only a person whose beliefs runs her life can be.

TED Talk: Greening the Ghetto

sustainable south bronx website

_soundcheck: femi kuti: shoki shoki

sunday morning news catch up and thus africa... and TED.

_posted in film | sunday morning news catch up | the world | web | 22 July 2007

on friday night, femi kuti fed my soul and made me long for africa even more.

lately i've been talking to a variety of people about africa in general and about specific issues. i find that the majority of the people know only about HIV/AIDS, starving ethiopia babies with balloon stomachs, rebels and civil wars. some are aware of darfur and blood diamonds; let's be honest, because hollywood has started making movies about it.

african babies are the new bling in hollywood. as well as lending your star power to a cause, which is all well and good, but how about using your starpower and your own money to help build up industry in these countries you so want to help? why doesn't bono hold an economic/investment conference since he wants to save all the africans? the only aid most african countries need, is the aid of economic stability and those willing to invest in not only the economic situation, but the people. something about teaching a man to fish comes to mind.

most people still think that africa is just those living in huts, dancing for white missionaries, child soldiers, as well as corrupt governments. all these things do exist, but there is a part of africa that is not seen by most people. okonjo-iweala says it better than i ever did, "nobody knows but a few smart people."

my belief is once african countries are allowed (and why should it be others allowing them) to trade and create economies around THEIR own natural resources and goods, the other problems will decline and permanently so.

it's safe to say that the united states and other western countries' policies are based on economics. we willing overlook human rights violations to allow for economic consideration. look to china as a great example. who cares about their human rights violations when we have such a strong economic relationship with them? who cares about their african investments that also raise an eyebrow when they give us cheap goods? talk about accepting your inner capitalist.

anyway, check out ngozi okonjo-iweala, first female finance minister of nigeria. and a few other pieces i thought were worth mentioning

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala

i liked a great deal of what okonjo-iweala says, but i did find her history (20 years) with the world bank unsettling. if there ever where an evil empire, i truly believe the world bank and the imf (international monetary fund) answer to that name.

TED Talk: How to help Africa? Do business there

supplemental films

Dead in the Water

Africa Open for Business

Jacqueline Novogratz

TED Talk: Investing in Africa's own solutions

Novogratz's opening story reminded me of the t-shirt travels which is an insightful look into the reality of charity and commerce.

Emily Oster

TED Talk: What do we really know about the spread of AIDS?

Bill Clinton

TED Prize wish: Let's build a health care system in Rwanda

_soundcheck: femi kuti: shoki shoki

"Good thing I'm not an idealist-I'm just here for the money."

_posted in africa | sunday morning news catch up | the world | 08 July 2007

there's some guy claiming that the press ties the hands of those fighting the war on terror, suggesting that there should be another my-lai massacre like the one in vietnam. that alone will solve all the problems with terror, killing civilians in cold blood. thomas friedman has always been on of my favorite columnist, but i've never agreed with his views on globalization aka neocolonialism. i need to read some of samir amin's work. speaking of neocolonialism, danny glover takes the imf and world bank to task in his latest film, bamako.

The Taliban's Opium War

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A great dust cloud formed as the A.T.V.s hyperkinetically whizzed past us and the trucks kicked up plumes of swirling yellow powder. Picking up speed, Lockyear exclaimed, "This is redneck heaven. You get to run around the desert on A.T.V.s and pickups, shoot guns, and get paid for it. Man, it's the perfect job!"

quote 2

"How long have you been growing poppies?" Wankel asked him. The farmer looked surprised. "When I was born, I saw the poppies," he said.

When we were ready to move on, the farmer said, as if to be polite, "Thank you-but I can't really thank you, because you haven't destroyed just my poppies but my wheat, too." He pointed to where A.T.V.s had driven through a wheat patch. Wankel apologized, then commented that it was only one small section. "But you have also damaged my watermelons," the farmer insisted, pointing to another part of the field. "Now I will have nothing left."

Wankel turned away. As we walked on, the farmer called out, "Are you destroying all the poppies or just my field?"

quote 3

Hook, a former Army man and prison guard, had been hired by DynCorp just the month before. One morning, he said, "The real problem in this war on terror is you guys, the press. Ties our hands. The only way to fight this is to give them back the same medicine, like Operation Phoenix, in Vietnam. My Lai-what Calley did there was probably just on orders."

quote 4

Back at camp, everyone was in a bad mood. Hook, the former prison guard, remarked, "We ought to take all those guys and hang them in public, beginning with the governor." He laughed, and added, "Good thing I'm not an idealist-I'm just here for the money."

Sorry, Thomas Friedman, the World Is Round

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But, like all revolutions, this one will have its winners and losers. Of the former, most obvious are corporate CEOs who will fatten their bottom line by tapping into the vast reservoir of cheap foreign labor. On the other side is Joe Six Pack, who will suffer from a net loss in American jobs. Much of the success of Friedman's book lies in his dire warnings to Americans that they are on the verge of a major crisis. Not only are hard-working, low-wage Indian workers stealing their jobs, but hard-working, tech-savvy Chinese students are increasingly taking seats in top undergrad and graduate college programs. And, Friedman frets, if America doesn't wake up, it will face a potentially disastrous decline: Or, as Infosys's CEO Nilekani later explains, the American middle class "has not yet grasped the competitive intensity of the future. Unless they [do], they will not make the investments in reskilling themselves, and you will end up with a lot of people stranded on an island."

quote 2

According to Amin, the ethic of liberalism -- "Long live competition, may the strong win" -- is now ravaging societies of the Third World, causing further "social alienation and pauperization of urban classes."

"What is going to become of these billions of human beings, already for the most part, the poor among the poor?"... In this drive to satisfy the insatiable hunger for new markets of its Western clients, the WTO is sanctioning a process that will "destroy -- in human terms -- entire societies."

Bamako: Danny Glover Produces and Stars in New Film Putting the World Bank and IMF on Trial in Africa

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And Bamako is the capital of Mali -- that he began to weave this story where we have men and women who are traumatized and who are dismissed by globalization. They're the ones who give testimony. So it's their story. It's them -- they're saying, in a most brilliant way, how globalization has impacted their life, how the IMF and the World Bank and structural adjustments and conditionalities have impacted their life, and the structural violence that it's caused in their life. This courtyard has people who are unemployed, women who dye fabrics, which is a dying art in Africa, anyway. Most of the fabrics are now dyed somewhere else, particularly in China. And so, this is just -- then they unfolded this story, and then, not only that story, that within the story the court happening, you see the life, the teeming life, the life of the people as they go through the day-to-day aspects of survival.

quote 2

Imagine if we even look at our own lives here, in reference to what is happening in areas in this country where people are in slums and in inner cities. We don't know what's really happening in those areas themselves.

quote 3

You, Harry Belafonte, Nelson Mandela, the Congressional Black Caucus, progressives throughout the country have been talking about getting rid of this debt and then promoting trade. And nothing, Danny, is more disturbing to me than last week's announcement that the US was building a huge military base in Africa. Question: what for?

_soundcheck: tinariwen: the radio tisdas sessions

C.R.S. - Can't Remember Shit syndrome

_posted in photography | sunday morning news catch up | the world | 01 July 2007

this week has been filled with news about the supreme courts decision and since my last post was about that, there are no links in sunday morning news catch up. but there are some interesting articles, none the less.

The end of photojournalism

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In Europe, German photojournalistic magazines were influenced by the Soviet films of Eisenstein and Pudovkin. In the 1930s Henri Cartier-Bresson, Robert Capa, and David 'Chim' Seymour - co-founders of Magnum - worked for Ce Soir, the communist daily newspaper. Cartier-Bresson also contributed to Regards, the communist illustrated weekly. Photojournalism was a left-wing occupation. Photographers, agents and editors, forced out of Germany and Hungary by Hitler, took their craft to Britain and the US.

quote 2

The Historical Section of the Farm Security Administration (FSA) gave unemployed photographers jobs so they could record the trauma of the American Depression and the triumphs of the New Deal. Later, Congress wanted to destroy the FSA's 270,000 negatives as un-American. They were saved and are now in the Library of Congress. Some 20 years ago Nick Hedges almost persuaded the Labour government to support a similar project in Britain. It went to Cabinet, but collapsed when the Conservatives won the election.

The General's Report

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"The whole idea that Rumsfeld projects - 'We're here to protect the nation from terrorism' - is an oxymoron," Taguba said. "He and his aides have abused their offices and have no idea of the values and high standards that are expected of them. And they've dragged a lot of officers with them."

quote 2

The former senior intelligence official said that when the images of Abu Ghraib were published, there were some in the Pentagon and the White House who "didn't think the photographs were that bad" - in that they put the focus on enlisted soldiers, rather than on secret task-force operations. Referring to the task-force members, he said, "Guys on the inside ask me, 'What's the difference between shooting a guy on the street, or in his bed, or in a prison?'" A Pentagon consultant on the war on terror also said that the "basic strategy was 'prosecute the kids in the photographs but protect the big picture.'"

quote 3

"From the moment a soldier enlists, we inculcate loyalty, duty, honor, integrity, and selfless service," Taguba said. "And yet when we get to the senior-officer level we forget those values. I know that my peers in the Army will be mad at me for speaking out, but the fact is that we violated the laws of land warfare in Abu Ghraib. We violated the tenets of the Geneva Convention. We violated our own principles and we violated the core of our military values. The stress of combat is not an excuse, and I believe, even today, that those civilian and military leaders responsible should be held accountable."

Are You There, George? It's Me, Ava.

full article

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ava's website

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It remains to be seen, however, whether such virtual, viral efforts can serve as a replacement, or even a stimulus, for face-to-face networks such as church groups or labor unions.

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At an early age, Ava revealed herself to be more zealously political than her parents, and more left-leaning. By the seventh grade, she had persuaded her mom to let her be homeschooled. Ava didn't fit in at regular school, being more interested in the Electoral College than the latest gossip. She told me her teachers teased her for wearing a Gore-Lieberman T-shirt or reading Dude, Where's My Country? in homeroom.

_soundcheck: femi kuti: do your best

"We asked for workers, but we got people."

_posted in africa | sunday morning news catch up | the world | 24 June 2007

on most sunday mornings i read news i may have missed during the week or just honestly didnt have time to get to... so i thought i should post the most interesting ones...

those who know me know im all about learning about what's going on in the world, the shit thats not on cnn and the rest of the 24hour crappers. charlie rose is my favorite interviewer... amy goodman is close behind... i love the new yorker and think it should be required reading for all americans regardless of your political lean... if there's anything that can teach staying power and in depth understanding of a subject, its a new yorker article... the norm is at least 9 pages for any article... and you do walk away a more informed citizen...

anyway.. on to the news...

Aborigines lose right to run their lands over child sex abuse scandal

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"I'm absolutely disgusted by this patronising government control. Tying drinking with welfare payments is just disgusting. If they're going to do that, they're going to have to do that with every single person in Australia, not just black people."

In a World on the Move, a Tiny Land Strains to Cope

my introduction to amilcar cabral was the first time i saw chris marker's Sans Soleil

Full Article

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An estimated 200 million people live outside the country of their birth, and they help support a swath of the developing world as big if not bigger. Migrants sent home about $300 billion last year — nearly three times the world's foreign aid budgets combined. Those sums are building houses, educating children and seeding small businesses, and they have made migration central to discussions about how to help the global poor. A leading academic text calls this the "Age of Migration."

quote 2

Countries that want migrant muscle and brains also want more border control. Many of them see illegal migrants as a security threat, especially in a terrorist age, and worry that large-scale migration, even when legal, can undercut wages, require costly services and subject national identities to bonfires of religious and cultural conflict.

In Ethiopia, Fear and Cries of Army Brutality

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In village after village, people said they had been brutalized by government troops. They described a widespread and longstanding reign of terror, with Ethiopian soldiers gang-raping women, burning down huts and killing civilians at will.

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It is the same military that the American government helps train and equip - and provides with prized intelligence.

The Possessed

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"In general, anything that is patrimony of the cultures of the world, whether in museums in Asia or Europe or the United States, came to be there during the times when our governments were weak and the laws were weak, or during the Roman conquest or our conquest by the Spanish. Now that the world is more civilized, these countries should reflect on this issue. It saddens us Peruvians to go to museums abroad and see a Paracas textile. I am hopeful that in the future all the cultural patrimony of the world will return to its country of origin."

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Because she is of European origin, she was derided by her many enemies as la gringa and dismissed as the particular sort of gringa who latches onto indigenous styles in a sentimental and condescending way.

Incredible Eddie

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"I gave up caring about my career $80m ago."

Self-Described Economic Hit Man John Perkins: "We Have Created the World's First Truly Global Empire"

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I can make sure that this man makes a great deal of money, he and his family, through contracts, through various quasi-legal means, and I can also- if he doesn't accept this, you know, the same thing is going to happen to him that happened to Jaime Roldos in Ecuador and Omar Torrijos in Panama and Allende in Chile, and we tried to do it to Chavez in Venezuela and are still trying - that we will send in the people to try to overthrow him, as, in fact, we recently did with the President of Ecuador, or if we don't overthrow him, we'll assassinate him.

_soundcheck: mokobe: mon afrique

"what did you learn in school today?"

_posted in the world | 13 June 2007

ralph nader's dad asked him, "what did you learn in school today? did you learn how to believe or did you learn how to think?"

what a parent he must have been to ask a child of 10 years old such a question, in the 1940s no less, during the second world war. in a country that did extraordinary things, a few bad ones, as well as fostered a culture of fear and hatred. they don't call it the cold war for nothing...

i wonder today how many parents are asking their kids the same type of question. are we blindly leading the next generation of american kids to believe in america and our fight against terrorism, believe that immigrants are stealing jobs from hard working americans, believe that war is a viable answer to all the worlds woes, believe that you should vote your religion and/or your pocketbook, believe that your success and access to education is available to everyone?

or are we teaching them to be critical thinkers, thinkers who want to truly question the fact that we live in a country filled with potential, unrealized potential, and why that is... question the possibility that the war on terror is a construct, an abstract created to sum up something that is beyond summation... question why a country built on the back of immigrants, mine and your parents, grandparents or great grandparents, etc. would shut there doors to so many... question themselves and their worldview (or lack of worldview) and become informed voters, not just voting for what is best for their pocketbook, their religion, their state, or even for america, but for what will change the world... question that maybe their circumstance is not the norm and that they do have a social responsibility to make sure everyone else is afforded the same opportunities.

i can only hope when i have kids i can leave them a little something to pass on to someone else... the desire to question it all, and it will no doubt guide them to the making of a good person.

update: hungry planet

_posted in photography | the world | 12 June 2007

found a link to more photos about what the world eats mentioned in a previous post.

also, a coworker linked me to a map that shows each state in the US' GDP in relation to countries around the world. its staggering! we have the highest GDP in the world, but to see it broken down like this is just something to think about...

_quote

The creator of this map has had the interesting idea to break down that gigantic US GDP into the GDPs of individual states, and compare those to other countries' GDP. What follows, is this slightly misleading map - misleading, because the economies both of the US states and of the countries they are compared with are not weighted for their respective populations.

Pakistan, for example, has a GDP that's slightly higher than Israel's - but Pakistan has a population of about 170 million, while Israel is only 7 million people strong. The US states those economies are compared with (Arkansas and Oregon, respectively) are much closer to each other in population: 2,7 million and 3,4 million.

tipping the point...

_posted in education | news | the world | 08 June 2007

malcolm gladwell talking about genius

malcolm gladwell talks about genius at a new yorker conference. he starts off by suggesting that we "abandon our romantic notions of the importance of genius." that even within genius and its three steps; obsession, isolation and insight, there are two types of genius; premodern and modern. michael ventris is his example of premodern genius while andrew wiles is a "modern genius and problem solver we need now and in the future."

ventris is an ametur who has a gift who mastered a subject. he takes a huge amount of acquired knowledge and solves an unsolvable problem. he sequestered himself to achieve his goal.

wiles' insight is seen as modern since he has a social approach in his knowledge seeking. for ten years he focuses on this problem, researching other mathematicians and the collaborating with those working on various theorems. his approach is about "effort and training" and educating himself.

gladwell goes on to talk about the ten thousand hours rule which more or less means it would take about 10 years to obtain the special expertise to master a field. it really puts things into perspective. the process has always interested me when i come across the work of my favorite filmmakers, artists and writers. i always wonder how much time and effort it took for them to get to their present state, to master their craft.

he again uses wiles as the best example of genius and what makes him unique is his "willingness to set everything aside and focus on one specific problem." to find collaborators to reach his end goal. the one genius vs. thirteen smart guy problem; quantity over quality. a large number of smart people will solve a problem more easily than one genius. modern problems require persistence and stubbornness.

"are we actually selecting people for stubbornness?" are we taking the potential to do something vs. those who actually do something seriously?

gladwell touches on education and how we as a culture see genius. when thinking about our schools, we do push that idea and competitive nature of those high above the curve while leaving the majority behind. i remember high school being exactly like that. there were some of us treated really well due to our gpa and accomplishments, while the others were barely paid attention to, barely seen as viable; students or future problem solvers. it's the same at the university level as well.

when we begin realizing that educating a large number of people to be those stubborn problem solvers; to educate themselves in order to solve our various problems, to become social (collaborative) thinkers, we could actually find answers to a lot of our woes.

_soundcheck:andy palacio & the garifuna collective: watina

the material world

_posted in africa | photography | the world | 06 June 2007

recently while at manual arts high school i came across these amazing photographs of people's homes, turned inside out. im really late finding out about them, but i thought the concept and the images are just profound. nova has a site dedicated to "the world in balance," and the material world is featured. seriously take some time to read through "the world in balance," there's a lot of great information and stories there.

_quote

His resulting book, Material World, offers extraordinary images of families in front of their dwellings with all (or nearly all) of their possessions. Experts at the United Nations and World Bank helped determine the criteria for average families according to location (urban, rural, suburban, small town, or village), type of dwelling, family size, annual income, occupation, and religion. Here, we present five of the photographs Menzel and his team produced, along with updated statistical data for each country.

the photographs and ideas are that of peter menzel. i never knew about menzel's books but i've seen a few of his images over the years and never thought to look him up... i enjoy photography for the sake of art, but i love when photography (film, literature, any art for that matter) puts a mirror or even a different lense of how we see the world. if you can find a great balance between commerce and your passion, then you're alright in my book.

he's extraordinary in taking basic everyday activities and making you think beyond your own experience. his exploration on the economic divide; the haves and the have-nots is very honest. there is a huge disparity in material wealth the world over, but he creates no victims in his images, he gives you the honest truth of people's situations, for better or worse.

the images below are a great example of the genius of his work. the first image is one week's worth of food for a family in nunavut, canada, while the second image is that of a darfur family at a refugee camp in chad. i was dumbfounded by this comparison. these images are part of his latest book, hungry planet: what the world eats.

npr has interviews with menzel and d'aluisio (co-author) about the material world and hungry planet books. great thing about the npr interview is a complete cost breakdown for one week's worth of food. the interviews are very interesting as well.

i think the reason i find menzel's images so amazing is because of the process he goes through in creating them. working on my documentary in the last few months has been hard to say the least; working and school, while trying to get that done at the same time, but can you image putting your life on hold, in order to make a mark the only way you know how, with your camera and your ideas. i can only hope to get to that point, sooner than later, no doubt.

_soundcheck: andy palacio & the garifuna collective: watina

happy friday 13th

_posted in dayedayerocks | film | the world | 13 October 2006

tuesday, while walking across campus through the sculpture garden, i felt this ever so gentle swirling wind pushing at my back... it was one of those playful winds, that gently nudge you across bridges and through corridors, not the kind that push you forward abruptly and then disappear as quickly as they appeared. marina's class had just let out and it was one of those amazing classes where i leave feeling hopeful... hopeful that all the ideas and goals i have are within reach... that even if it takes time to reach said goals, its time well spent. after having one of the most unproductive summer's ive had in years, its been nice jumping back into the idea bag and getting the juices flowing... today is going to be another good day (although i woke up in a very pissy mood) because i start filming again. this is for the first assignment for the semester, but im hoping to be able to use some of the footage for my final project at the end of the year.

i forgot how completely amazing and wonderful it feels to stand behind a camera. it seems so strange to think that this could be my career. that i can, as marina puts it, do something that touches my heart, touches "the spot that you push and it hurts." being a filmmaker is an amazing thing. its like giving birth to something every time you pick up the camera, no matter how common or extraordinary the images you capture. i remember constantly thinking that maybe moving to los angeles was a mistake, how this whole filmmaking thing was a dream and should stay as such, never evolving into a reality. but damned if this wasn't probably the best decision i've ever made. two years of being away from family and friends, feeling very much a fish our of water and trying to just calm the fuck down and get a proper groove going has been a definite challenge. but something i wouldn't trade for the safety of back home.

_in other news
today is friday 13th and i was planning on watching some horror cheese, instead im going to watch one of my favorite films, in honor of gillo pontecorvo. pontecovo directed the battle of algiers and died yesterday at eighty-seven. if you've not seen this movie, it should be at the top of your list. the battle of algiers is an amazing piece of filmmaking and one of the best political movies ever made. It goes beyond the cliches and the propaganda. If only movies today with their grand ideas could achieve what this 40 year old movie is able to achieve on every viewing.

It hits my political g-spot and my sense of outrage and desire to understand the world. But most importantly it tells the story of algiers fight for independence from french colonization. The algerian struggle raised the standard of rebellion and was a watershed moment for the so called third worlds raising up against colonial rule. politics aside, its a great bit of filmmaking as well. with a score by ennio morricone, this is an example of cinema verite at its best. a documentary couldn't and wouldn't capture the romantic nature of the story, the push and pull of the language of the narrative film. you walk away feeling dazed and so unprepared for what the world is doing to itself; knowing that as a citizen of this madness, you have to take a side. no matter your view on armed rebellion or on nationalism, you walk away determined to pick a side and stick with your decision. and you do pick a side... you either accept the fact that innocent people in the streets of france are killed for a cause or you accept the fact that the french military is just doing its job; protecting the citizens and interests of france.

the interests of france, of england, of europe, of america, of the west has outweighed the interest of so many other countries and millions of people for so many years. colonization; neocolonization in the guise of globalization still makes sure that the interests of the few are looked after, while the majority sit in a pressure cooker. and you can't watch this film without finding parallels to mirror today's confusion.

_soundcheck: bob marley, natty dread

happy refugee day

_posted in africa | dayedayerocks | film | photography | the world | 20 June 2006

today is national refugee day*. of course it makes me think of many things and people, but something that stands out for me is my friend nesanet's story... she's originally from ethopia and awhile ago should told me about her family having to trek to sudan, to a camp, a refugee camp. they were refugees. as much as i pride myself on being aware of the world; the injustices, the cruelty, the need for checks and balances not just for governments, but organizations (like the wto and imf) as well corporate entities, i've been pulled in so many directions that i've not done as much as im sure im capable of doing at this time, in this place. and even though "[insert-social-ill-here] day" is something that i'm sure is meant to evoke some sort of reaction, i find the concept lacking and just another fucking thing we do to make ourselves feel good... "i observed blah-blah-blah day."

_*

me : happy world rufugee day
sp : yeah
sp: i saw that
sp: wieeerd
sp: guess it's logical
me: yea a friend of mine lived in a rufegee camp with her fam when she was younger
sp: you regulate everything else to a single day
me: walking from ethopia to sudan
sp: like love and respect and etc
sp: no shit
sp: that's hardcore
me: indeed... fucking culture of those in control
me: **** day
me: we're so stupid that we cant see further than... world aids day... worlds rufugee day... world imperialist day...
sp: lol
sp: world imperialist day
sp: awesome
sp: that should totally be a holiday
me: it is... 4th of july
sp: that doesn't have the same ring to it
me: hehehe
me: indeed it does not... i think initially we were meant to be a shining beacon of blah blah blah
me: there are no shining beacons... and i wish people would admit to it... and stop acting like america, britain, or any other western country has all the answers...
me: fucked up fuckers that we are
sp: very true
sp: speaking of beacons, i loved that klimt story
sp: that's awesome
sp: surpassing picasso
me: yea im gonna go see it on next week...
sp: very outstanding

the skirball has a photography exhibit by michal ronnen sarfdie, rwanda: after, darfur: now now showing... to coincide with this exhibit they are showing the documentary, refugee allstars as well as a live performance by the band. the band is comprised of six sierra leonean musicians who met while in refugee camps in the republic of guinea.

being very interested in design and how design plays a HUGE role in social issues, i found these gems to be worth mentioning...

the refugee radio created by mareike gast, german designer, who worked at Freeplay. you can buy a radio (for $55) and it will be shipped to a community in need... a few of these have taken the place of a few items on my "must buy list," let's be honest half the shit on my "must buy list" isnt even worth looking at, let alone buying....

came across vestal design a while back and thought they are doing some really great things... one of their ideas, The SHRIMP (Sustainable Housing for Refugees via Mass Production), refugee housing....

a refugee camp in the heart of the city... i really wish this was going to be los angeles... check out the pictures... this will be in atlanta in september... i suggest those of you at home check it out!

_in other news...

i had this meeting with a friend concerning some business opportunities and it seems i was something of an oddity for him, since my goal wasn't to make money with my various ventures, but to establish community and/or community-minded organizations and goals. he says in business school you are taught to "go for the kill" monetarily speaking, the way of the business jungle and all that... i figure along the way money will find its way in my pocket and ill live more comfortably than i do at present. its already a sad state of affairs when money (lack thereof) is the determining factor for so many of my decisions, can you see it being the determining factor for my goals and behavior if it were to be in abundance. i can see myself being one of those many people (look to hollywood) whose reality is a construct of their own making. right now its a moot point even thinking about this since im as poor as a church mouse. but, as of late ive been concerned about my responsibilities as an individual and how little things have the ability of pushing my focus from here to there... although my fundamental belief structures are sound, i can at times, easily be pulled away from my responsibilities.

it's ten days into my summer and i've not done much. i have filmed a lot and gotten maybe 4 more hours of footage which is great, but damn if im not as focused as i should be for someone excited about finally working on her documentary. there's been too much drinking and too many distractions (making up for a semester of good behavior) and me being the extrovert i tend to be, too much wanting to hang out, when sitting at home working would benefit me more.

_soundcheck: wolf parade, apologies to queen mary

"it's not happening here but it's happening now"

_posted in art | the world | 07 June 2006

great execution... notice that in the first image that child is in front of a FULLY STOCKED GROCERY STORE!!! thats powerful! Walker Werbeagentur Zuerich created some amazingly provocative pieces for Amnesty International.

new music wednesdays (is back!)

_posted in africa | new music wednesdays | the world | 29 March 2006

imagine my complete utter delight when i found out that salif keita had released a new album (in november of 2005!) im shocked i wasnt on top of this, but last week i got the album and i wanted to wait until i had some serious downtime. so last night i listed to it three times! and ive already listened to it twice this morning. i heart salif keita!!!! and i thought that moffou was my favorite of his albums... but this definitely gives me that... that feeling... i cant even describe it... its visceral...

of all the things pulling me to africa, the music has been the strongest force. can you imagine seeing salif keita live in africa! youssou n'dour! amadou & mariam! pape & cheikh! ladysmith black mambazo! baaba maal!cheikh lo! femi kuti! angelique kidjo! and so so so many more... and ive been thinking since music and film have been these amazing forces in my life, and the things pulling me to the continent, that id try for this years WOMAD in rivermead, but the fam is going to be in l.a until july 24! so thats cutting it close... but damn, youssou AND salif are going be there!! so im gonna keep my eye out for next years festivals and see what i can get going... and if anyone knows of some choice film and/or music festivals i should be hitting up let me know... in africa? definitely let me know...

_"thus africa"
salif keita: m'bemba
amadou & masriam: dimanche à bamako
mulatu astatke - ethiopiques, vol. 4

_tried and true
ben harper: both sides of the gun
matisyahu: youth
spearhead: chocolate supa highway
elmore james: dust my broom
elmore james: the sky is crying - the history of the elmore james

_on another note, the "makin move and shakin fools" came from the sp... he bitched and moaned about me stealing his thunder and how his "intellectual property is being infringed upon." hehehe...

_update
daye(who rocks) : you happy now cry baby
daye: you got your props
sp(who sucks) : lol
sp: bitched and moaned?
sp: lol
sp: i recall just a sentence.... something like, bitch you're a thief
sp: lol
sp: yeah
daye: heheh
sp: you need to take your ass to africa
sp: use that bank you got and go
daye: i know
daye: right

_soundcheck: salif keita, m'bemba

indigenism

_posted in the world | 04 January 2006

im hoping that evo morales is going to be true to his word to make yet another latin american country, made poor by corruption and other countries' foreign policies, richer off its own resources. it's not hard to find poor countries in south america, but to be the poorest country in south america, means its a ridiculously poor country... bolivia's had a host of issues to contend with; privitization, free trade, five presidents in four years...

now bolivia has an indigenous president, it's first indigenous president... i learned a new term today... indigenism

christopher anderson does a nice piece on the bolivian elections...

_soundcheck: gregory isaacs, ras potraits

world aids day

_posted in africa | interactive narratives | photography | the world | 01 December 2005

today is world aids day... get tested... learn a new fact about hiv/aids... better yet, teach a new fact about hiv/aids... be informed... be safe... be smart... be caring... be...

_links

global business coalition on hiv/aids
keep a child alive
stop aids campaign
unaids: i love the fact that the united nations programme on hiv/aids reads as unaids; as in to release, free, or remove from aids... smart...
we all have aids: kenneth cole's public service campaign... definitely worth checking out...
world aids campaign
world aids day
world health organization

_important things to watch

pandemic: facing aids is a five-part series that shows the effects of aids around the globe... it doesnt shy away from the pandemic and how it effects us all...

yesterday is amazing! i'll talk more about this movie later... you have to watch it! the fact that leleti khumalo is the main character was enough for me... because i can't get enough of the music in sarafina!...

kristen ashburn's photo essay on aids in africa

_soundcheck: damian marley, welcome to jamrock