war!
war!
war!
war!
in the quest
for peace?
Friday, September 24, 2010
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Final Solution to the Palestinian Problem
The Palestinian problem has been an enormous thorn in the relations between Israel and the greater world. This has prevented a capable Western style government from bringing the full fruits of its democracy to the Middle East. With the constant niggling and debate of Rights, it is time for Israel to assert its full historic claim to the absolute and final occupation of Greater Israel, from the Mediterranean to the Jordan River, to Lebanon, and south to Sinai. We can stop the illusion and fantasy of a Palestinian state in the West Bank. Historically, this land was Israel, with stretches of time occupied by every power in the region. Though we had a period of Diaspora and left the area for two thousand years, does it matter whether it was two days or two thousand years? Of course not. It is now time to fully reclaim this land and come to a final solution to the Palestinian problem. The moral clarity of this solution will shatter any sentimental notions
Though one can object to some “final solutions” previously set forth, they did have their merits. Ironically, Germany’s final solution allowed for the creation of the state of Israel, and Adolph Hitler may have inadvertently done more for Jews than Herzog. Israel needs to stop depending on the United States for 3 billion dollars annually and stop spending 45% of its GNP on its military. We need to use this money to really bring back the garden of Eden. Before the creation of the state of Israel, the area was made up of farms, fishing enterprises, and minor industries, a society that lived for generations tending the land. It was only when Israel took over the so called Palestinian farms and made them into modern agribusiness, created arms industries and one of the worlds largest armies, and, yes, created a very capable nuclear weapons system, that a true transformation was possible. It’s time to rip off the veil of this illusion. Israel has the most powerful army in the Middle East, and the sooner it addresses the necessary and, albeit politically awkward, public relations problem of the Palestinians, the sooner we can get on with fulfilling the prophecies, that is the prophecies were whispered in the ear of Jews directly from the mouth of God some four thousand years ago.
Gaza can be a beautiful beach-front resort once Israel relocates Hamas to Somalia or Sudan. The Zionist homeland has worked diligently to get the world to see that this so-called home for Palestinians is in reality a terrorist organization and that all of our actions to wipe out this scourge are a blessing for Israel and all peace loving democracies. Not all Gazans need to leave. There are many positions available in the service industry where we will need man-power, but we must maintain absolute fealty to the fatherland -- Israel. Between the genius of Israelis and the labor of loyal Palestinians is a perfect solution.
All Palestinians who choose not to become citizens of Israel, (not full citizenship, of course, since full citizenship requires conversion to Judaism, but a limited citizenship in the way that Black Jews and other Palestinians have been incorporated into Israeli), would be shown the door to Jordan. In the way that the US uses illegal aliens, Israel needs people to work the farms, wait on tables, and perform necessary manual labor. Of course, as with the talented tenth, the extraordinary Palestinians who accept the notion of an Uber Israeli Jewish state can be part of the great Zionist state. After all, most Muslims in the region were Jews forcibly converted to that Mohamed or Christian thing. Those who choose not to participate in this great democracy will be removed to Jordan which is already sixty percent Palestinian. This would also provide a great opportunity for the people who claim displacement in Lebanon to reunite with their families, and that would solve the Right of Return. Our vision of a pure homeland that allows for democracy and security to flourish in the context of a Jewish state is a logical conclusion, wouldn’t you agree?
Though the removal will initially be traumatic, the final solution in greater Israel will allow for unprecedented opportunities for Palestinians in Jordan or other countries in the Middle East. Consider the preposterous notion of Palestinians having their own fully functioning, independent state in the West Bank and Gaza. Do we want the two-state solution of Palestine and Israel, or shall we create an Uber Israeli-Jewish state? The choice is clear.
Thursday, September 16, 2010
B 4 Peace 18 September Washington D.C.
B 4 Peace - Yom Kippur - The day of atonement. I do believe we, the older generation have failed the young generation that has marched off to war. As a 56 year old veteran of the vietnam generation I find it beyond comprehension for any of us who remembers the insanity beyond words of that travesty, that anyone of us would condone this ongoing militarism. Militarism is destroying the United States, it is killing the future of this country, its is robbing the tomorrow of the next generation.
As General Eisenhower said,
Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.
This world in arms in not spending money alone.
It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children.
The cost of one modern heavy bomber is this: a modern brick school in more than 30 cities.
It is two electric power plants, each serving a town of 60,000 population.
It is two fine, fully equipped hospitals.
It is some 50 miles of concrete highway.
We pay for a single fighter with a half million bushels of wheat.
We pay for a single destroyer with new homes that could have housed more than 8,000 people.
This, I repeat, is the best way of life to be found on the road the world has been taking.
This is not a way of life at all, in any true sense. Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron.
Our 5 star general and he also made another wonderful point, we cannot dictate ideology to another.
But it is not about the grand old USA, these folks, these people who run the General Electrics, and all the other companies are holding the USA as hostages. With their henchmen in the heist, disguised as standard bearers for the flag, they are looting the future of America. The lobbyists are the inglorious pimps for these military corporations as they scream "Fear!" "Kill the terrorists!...and... By the way, also write us a check for a few billion dollars.
The US we guesstimate spends up to 25% of its GNP on combined military, homeland insecurity, NASA, Department of Energy, and a myriad of military appropriations that would take a team of Sherlock Holmes and Scotland Yard a century to uncover.
We start the B 4 Peace we hope that it will inspire others to call out the names of the young men and women killed in these wars. More importantly, every voice, no matter how small and apparently insignificant that speaks against war and for peace, every voice and person who is insistent that the future of the USA is not as a military empire. My vision of the USA is one where we can be both PRO-PEACE and PRO-AMERICA, and PRO-Life for the future of the planet.
It is long past time to invest in the USA, while China is having a grand time making incredible economic gains with a fraction of the money spent for their military, the US is spending itself into bankruptcy. Bring the soldiers home! Invest in a green peaceful USA! If we declare way on anything - Let us declare war on poverty! Let us say it is immoral for an US American not to have a home. Every child who can and is able to go to school or college can afford to.
It is time to really invest in the future of America. The one way to do this, is to be for PEACE. Join us in prayer, spirit, or your presence on September 18 at 12 noon
As General Eisenhower said,
Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.
This world in arms in not spending money alone.
It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children.
The cost of one modern heavy bomber is this: a modern brick school in more than 30 cities.
It is two electric power plants, each serving a town of 60,000 population.
It is two fine, fully equipped hospitals.
It is some 50 miles of concrete highway.
We pay for a single fighter with a half million bushels of wheat.
We pay for a single destroyer with new homes that could have housed more than 8,000 people.
This, I repeat, is the best way of life to be found on the road the world has been taking.
This is not a way of life at all, in any true sense. Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron.
Our 5 star general and he also made another wonderful point, we cannot dictate ideology to another.
But it is not about the grand old USA, these folks, these people who run the General Electrics, and all the other companies are holding the USA as hostages. With their henchmen in the heist, disguised as standard bearers for the flag, they are looting the future of America. The lobbyists are the inglorious pimps for these military corporations as they scream "Fear!" "Kill the terrorists!...and... By the way, also write us a check for a few billion dollars.
The US we guesstimate spends up to 25% of its GNP on combined military, homeland insecurity, NASA, Department of Energy, and a myriad of military appropriations that would take a team of Sherlock Holmes and Scotland Yard a century to uncover.
We start the B 4 Peace we hope that it will inspire others to call out the names of the young men and women killed in these wars. More importantly, every voice, no matter how small and apparently insignificant that speaks against war and for peace, every voice and person who is insistent that the future of the USA is not as a military empire. My vision of the USA is one where we can be both PRO-PEACE and PRO-AMERICA, and PRO-Life for the future of the planet.
It is long past time to invest in the USA, while China is having a grand time making incredible economic gains with a fraction of the money spent for their military, the US is spending itself into bankruptcy. Bring the soldiers home! Invest in a green peaceful USA! If we declare way on anything - Let us declare war on poverty! Let us say it is immoral for an US American not to have a home. Every child who can and is able to go to school or college can afford to.
It is time to really invest in the future of America. The one way to do this, is to be for PEACE. Join us in prayer, spirit, or your presence on September 18 at 12 noon
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Art, Internet Technology, and Entrepreneurship
Internet technology has revolutionized how I work and create as an artist/ writer, peace activist, and entrepreneur. It doesn’t replace the creative process, but enhances it and enables me to reach a broader audience and market.
My internet technology includes my i-phone, computers, recording equipment, and the world of my internet support team. I have always admired the atelier (workshop) model for artists, where a lead artist has a creative team that works with him or her. The internet and the technology has enabled me to create a virtual atelier.
I have a team of part time workers that I only interact with via the internet. I have an administrative assistant and a web admin person in the Philippines, one short term assistant who is editing videos from a recent play, one SEO (Search engine optimization) person in Bangladesh, short term CAD designer in Italy who is from India who is translating my drawings of a Peace Garden Fountain to a CAD and engineering drawings, a telephone transcriptionist from Jamaica who transcribes my voice memos, a writing editor in Texas, and an audio person in Florida who is engineering my new CDs. Depending on my needs and the work flow, I can utilize these people as little or as much as I need. They have the choice to work on multiple assignments around the world and they set their own price. When I need photos edited there is a specialist in the Czech Republic who does this for me quickly. Today, I needed an additional staff person to assist with a Peace project in Washington D.C., I posted the job at 8:30, and at 9:30, a person with a terrific resume and long experience in this applied for the job, at 9:40, I hired the person for a week.
My virtual assistant world is at O Desk, where I can find the employees I need. More importantly, it gives me the time and the privacy to write and create using this group of very talented employees. By using this pool of workers, I can increase my creative time and effectiveness. I live most of the year in southern Vermont where the high-speed internet access is erratic. I wish that the authorities in Vermont recognized that internet access is not just "an interesting new fangled thing,” but an essential tool for work.
This current project "B4 Peace” I have SEO (Search engine optimization) people who are creating a social media, viral and twitter campaign. I use the team to manage and assist with our various community development projects like www.gracecares.com. When I went to Haiti for medical work my "virtual assistant" helped to coordinate many aspects of the trip. However, even for me, the technology can be a bit bizarre. This morning I went on the computer and my assistant in the Philippines was on my computer transferring files. It’s as if she was sitting at my desk instead of 5,000 miles a way. I am also able to reach out more effectively to a broader audience. It is the ultimate democracy of the marketplace. I publish my books directly on the internet at www.namayaproductions.com; E- books can be downloaded directly from my website; combined E-Book with photos, audio, and music Vermont My Home on Blue Heron Pond (pending); and a series of CDs without the hassle and ecological waste of CDS. It is far easier for someone to click a button and download songs, stories and music to the web with an MP3, and if they want the nice pictures and lyrics, we include them. The artwork like the Vermont My Home series we have as “physical copies,” but we’re working on downloading the “virtual art,” however, people can still purchase the pictures.
I plan and continue to use the internet in a variety of ways and see the internet and the social media marketing not solely as a tool to promote my art, but as “art” unto itself. In the project called “Pornography of War,” it is in a virtual museum tour of my artwork against war, videos, and performances. It is enormously difficult to get new and controversial works out, but with a relatively modest budget, the internet provides an opportunity to interact and engage with a very broad audience. More importantly, it provides a way for audiences and galleries around the world to see my work. My play “Beatnik Café,” is very expensive to produce and promote it, and what makes a far more cost effective way is to record it in a video studio, edit it, and then have it for view on the internet on a high quality site for the admission price of say $2. Again, the internet, like any technology can inspire us to think more creatively and to reach a wider audience. Live performances are ideal and will always be the preferred way to see a show, but the internet, wisely used can help us to achieve a broad market.
Some people have complained that I’m using cheap offshore labor, but as one assistant said, "I love working for you, I live away from the capital, and there isn't enough work for me as a programmer, but I can work remotely at home, for an excellent salary.” Though I do have profound concerns about all the cheap manufacturing abroad, as many other things in life, it is the wise and judicious use of resources. When I can, I use and work with my local workers, but the pool of talent is not always available; nevertheless, my Vermont Art Projects are produced and made in Vermont
The key is not to have the technology overwhelm my creative work, but to complement it and magnify it. Skype enables me to talk and have a video conference with employees in the Philippines, talk to my music director for a show and play music in real time during the call, plan a community development project with a colleague in the Dominican Republic, and even taking a guitar lesson from a teacher in England.
My new novel "Jubilation" I recorded the book on my I-phone for about 6 hours a day for two weeks, uploaded it to the computer, and then a program automatically changed it to written text. Unfortunately, the technology is a bit behind the curve on this, and my I-phone only uploaded 75 percent of the files. Nevertheless, I was able to send those files to my transcriptionists in Jamaica and the Philippines, and in a few days, a completed document arrived at my inbox. The creative process is intact and the same, but the means to get the novel written was done in a fraction of the time, and I was able to focus my energy on editing and rewrites.
This whole realm of technology is a phenomenal leap in all the ways that I work and create, it doesn't make my creativity any better, it just makes it far easier, and gives me more time to focus on creativity, and doing what I do best writing/ art.
Despite the technology, I love the care and the craft of what I do as an artist and poet. I love the privacy and joy of writing a poem with pen and ink. I thoroughly delight in working with my pastels and pencils, and working on a drawing or design. In all the technology we have, there is still the powerful necessary instinct for me to create directly, and explore the universe of potential in a blank sheet of paper. If I am creating a sculpture I want my hands to feel all the dimensions of this sculpture. If I am performing as a storyteller or performance artist I want the live audience. The internet helps me to make that connection with as wide of an audience as possible.
The internet technology for this artist and writer has opened a new world of possibilities and audience connection, and used wisely can be a marvelous ally. Nevertheless, while I like and well use the technology, I will always value the intimacy and art of a blank sheet of paper and a pen. As a musician, I want to feel the wood and steel of my classical guitar, and yet I still enjoy my electronic piano. However, it is empowering when I’ve finished a drawing, I can scan it to my website and publish it after I’m done, or having written this blog entry and now anyone can read it.
The internet can be a powerful took, used for immense creativity and social change, it can also be a tool for destructive ends, but I use this tool with great care, and I'm constantly discovering the powerful and creative uses of the internet and technology.
My internet technology includes my i-phone, computers, recording equipment, and the world of my internet support team. I have always admired the atelier (workshop) model for artists, where a lead artist has a creative team that works with him or her. The internet and the technology has enabled me to create a virtual atelier.
I have a team of part time workers that I only interact with via the internet. I have an administrative assistant and a web admin person in the Philippines, one short term assistant who is editing videos from a recent play, one SEO (Search engine optimization) person in Bangladesh, short term CAD designer in Italy who is from India who is translating my drawings of a Peace Garden Fountain to a CAD and engineering drawings, a telephone transcriptionist from Jamaica who transcribes my voice memos, a writing editor in Texas, and an audio person in Florida who is engineering my new CDs. Depending on my needs and the work flow, I can utilize these people as little or as much as I need. They have the choice to work on multiple assignments around the world and they set their own price. When I need photos edited there is a specialist in the Czech Republic who does this for me quickly. Today, I needed an additional staff person to assist with a Peace project in Washington D.C., I posted the job at 8:30, and at 9:30, a person with a terrific resume and long experience in this applied for the job, at 9:40, I hired the person for a week.
My virtual assistant world is at O Desk, where I can find the employees I need. More importantly, it gives me the time and the privacy to write and create using this group of very talented employees. By using this pool of workers, I can increase my creative time and effectiveness. I live most of the year in southern Vermont where the high-speed internet access is erratic. I wish that the authorities in Vermont recognized that internet access is not just "an interesting new fangled thing,” but an essential tool for work.
This current project "B4 Peace” I have SEO (Search engine optimization) people who are creating a social media, viral and twitter campaign. I use the team to manage and assist with our various community development projects like www.gracecares.com. When I went to Haiti for medical work my "virtual assistant" helped to coordinate many aspects of the trip. However, even for me, the technology can be a bit bizarre. This morning I went on the computer and my assistant in the Philippines was on my computer transferring files. It’s as if she was sitting at my desk instead of 5,000 miles a way. I am also able to reach out more effectively to a broader audience. It is the ultimate democracy of the marketplace. I publish my books directly on the internet at www.namayaproductions.com; E- books can be downloaded directly from my website; combined E-Book with photos, audio, and music Vermont My Home on Blue Heron Pond (pending); and a series of CDs without the hassle and ecological waste of CDS. It is far easier for someone to click a button and download songs, stories and music to the web with an MP3, and if they want the nice pictures and lyrics, we include them. The artwork like the Vermont My Home series we have as “physical copies,” but we’re working on downloading the “virtual art,” however, people can still purchase the pictures.
I plan and continue to use the internet in a variety of ways and see the internet and the social media marketing not solely as a tool to promote my art, but as “art” unto itself. In the project called “Pornography of War,” it is in a virtual museum tour of my artwork against war, videos, and performances. It is enormously difficult to get new and controversial works out, but with a relatively modest budget, the internet provides an opportunity to interact and engage with a very broad audience. More importantly, it provides a way for audiences and galleries around the world to see my work. My play “Beatnik Café,” is very expensive to produce and promote it, and what makes a far more cost effective way is to record it in a video studio, edit it, and then have it for view on the internet on a high quality site for the admission price of say $2. Again, the internet, like any technology can inspire us to think more creatively and to reach a wider audience. Live performances are ideal and will always be the preferred way to see a show, but the internet, wisely used can help us to achieve a broad market.
Some people have complained that I’m using cheap offshore labor, but as one assistant said, "I love working for you, I live away from the capital, and there isn't enough work for me as a programmer, but I can work remotely at home, for an excellent salary.” Though I do have profound concerns about all the cheap manufacturing abroad, as many other things in life, it is the wise and judicious use of resources. When I can, I use and work with my local workers, but the pool of talent is not always available; nevertheless, my Vermont Art Projects are produced and made in Vermont
The key is not to have the technology overwhelm my creative work, but to complement it and magnify it. Skype enables me to talk and have a video conference with employees in the Philippines, talk to my music director for a show and play music in real time during the call, plan a community development project with a colleague in the Dominican Republic, and even taking a guitar lesson from a teacher in England.
My new novel "Jubilation" I recorded the book on my I-phone for about 6 hours a day for two weeks, uploaded it to the computer, and then a program automatically changed it to written text. Unfortunately, the technology is a bit behind the curve on this, and my I-phone only uploaded 75 percent of the files. Nevertheless, I was able to send those files to my transcriptionists in Jamaica and the Philippines, and in a few days, a completed document arrived at my inbox. The creative process is intact and the same, but the means to get the novel written was done in a fraction of the time, and I was able to focus my energy on editing and rewrites.
This whole realm of technology is a phenomenal leap in all the ways that I work and create, it doesn't make my creativity any better, it just makes it far easier, and gives me more time to focus on creativity, and doing what I do best writing/ art.
Despite the technology, I love the care and the craft of what I do as an artist and poet. I love the privacy and joy of writing a poem with pen and ink. I thoroughly delight in working with my pastels and pencils, and working on a drawing or design. In all the technology we have, there is still the powerful necessary instinct for me to create directly, and explore the universe of potential in a blank sheet of paper. If I am creating a sculpture I want my hands to feel all the dimensions of this sculpture. If I am performing as a storyteller or performance artist I want the live audience. The internet helps me to make that connection with as wide of an audience as possible.
The internet technology for this artist and writer has opened a new world of possibilities and audience connection, and used wisely can be a marvelous ally. Nevertheless, while I like and well use the technology, I will always value the intimacy and art of a blank sheet of paper and a pen. As a musician, I want to feel the wood and steel of my classical guitar, and yet I still enjoy my electronic piano. However, it is empowering when I’ve finished a drawing, I can scan it to my website and publish it after I’m done, or having written this blog entry and now anyone can read it.
The internet can be a powerful took, used for immense creativity and social change, it can also be a tool for destructive ends, but I use this tool with great care, and I'm constantly discovering the powerful and creative uses of the internet and technology.
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Peace Arts Education Volunteers Needed
Job & PROJECT Description
Peace Arts Education Volunteers/ Work Study Students
Department: NPI 4 Peace
Number of Positions: up to 4
Job Title: Peace Arts Education Project
Hours per Week: 40 plus
Email: b4peace@namayaproductions.com
B4peace at Namaya Productions is the creative laboratory for Peace Arts and Education Projects.
Project Description and Job Duties/Responsibilities:
Peace Arts Education Volunteers/ Work Study Students
Namaya Productions Inc. (NPI)
booking@thejazzpoet.com
b4peace@namayaproductions.com
Namaya Productions is the home base for the jazz poet, multimedia
artist, and peace activist Namaya www.namayaproductions.com. Revenues from Namaya productions supports www.gracecares.com not-for-profit grass roots community development organization and peace education projects. Grace Cares is a 5013C not-for-profit.
NPI is looking for volunteers/ work study students who have a passion for
peace and social justice, and art/ multimedia work. We are accepting
applications from students and their work study programs, and volunteers.
These projects can be incorporated into your program of studies, and used
for a thesis. For volunteers these are fun projects to engage the community
Peace Education Volunteers/ Work Study Students
Creative, independent, task oriented, passion for peace and social justice issues, well organized. Social Media and computer literacy. Flexible schedule. People from a variety of skills social media marketing, art,
business, videography, music, etc. are encouraged to apply.
Projects
NPI is a multimedia arts, performance, and education organization that focuses on performance and art for Peace and Social transformation.
Current Projects
1. Be All That You Can Be
http://www.bloggersunite.org/event/be-all-that-you-can-be-b-4-peace
18 September 2010 12 noon at the Washington Monument in Washington, D.C. 4800 people, men and women, children dressed in military clothes or fatigues will gather and walk through the streets of Washington DC with helmets, Army ponchos, each with a 6 foot length of rope, and army boots. Each one of the participants will have the name of the soldier killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. They would be walking marching in a single file through the streets of Washington, connected with the rope that is knotted one to another. It moves through the streets of Washington filmed and recorded. They would move towards the Vietnam Memorial and pass in front of the Vietnam Memorial. They would then proceed to an open spot. There is a cauldron or a small vessel placed in the center and the names of each one of the soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan are then called out.
I. Pornography of war: Redemption of Love
The pornography of war is a multimedia, photography, drawings, installation, and sculpture project.
II. Peace Gardens: The creation of gardens using old military equipment.
III. CD Peace in Every Land: Songs and stories of peace
IV. Teach Peace: Community projects around the theme of Peace
V. Videos/ Plays
I. Pornography of War
1. Be All That You Can Be
http://www.bloggersunite.org/event/be-all-that-you-can-be-b-4-peace
18 September 2010 12 noon at the Washington Monument in Washington, D.C. 4800 people, men and women, children dressed in military clothes or
fatigues will gather and walk through the streets of Washington DC with helmets, Army ponchos, each with a 6 foot length of rope, and army boots. Each one of the participants will have the name of the soldier killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. They would be walking marching in a single file through the streets of Washington, connected with the rope that is knotted one to another. It moves through the streets of Washington filmed and recorded. They would move towards the Vietnam Memorial and pass in front of the Vietnam Memorial. They would then proceed to an open spot. There is a cauldron or a small vessel placed in the center and the names of each one of the soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan are then called out.
2. $680 Billion Dollar Penis:
Wall vinyl panels and blow up balloons of penises shaped like ICBMs represent the top 10 to 15 countries around the world and their military expenditure. The USA has the tallest penis at 14 feet tall and represents the approximate 20 to 25% of the US GNP. The US spends app 51% of all global military money – or app 20 -25% of US GNP. The other countries like France, Germany, China, Russia, Israel, Iran, Brazil, etc. are significantly less. Also, the quality of life index i.e. the level of homelessness is in a bar-graph beside it.
3. Make love not war .
a. Make love not war is a series of photos of men, gay and straight, and couples making love. It shows men and women in their uniforms. Taking their uniforms off and making love. Location sites in Washington D.C. and at memorials.
b. Do Ask and Do Tell – For soldiers, airmen, and sailors who are in the service and choose to come out as gay/lesbian. We will photograph and document their coming out.
4. Sculptures and installation
a. Return Home: This is a sculpture about 15 feet long of black sand with impressions of feet and soldiers returning home from war. There are a series of prosthesis marching with boots on, some others without. The bed of black sand is about 2 feet wide
b. Humanite – Life size sculptures using barbed wire. Sketches complete as of 8/10 waiting for studio space.
c. Liberte - Life sized cutouts in colour representing the evolution of the figures in the Humanite series
d. Women of the Veil: Paper Maiche heads 4 feet tall – of 4 Muslim
women with Hjab with eyes shut with barbed wire, mouths taped with duct tape.
5. Drawings and cartoons
a. PENTAGON MAN: Series of cartoons of Pentagon Man the 9 foot tall creature with an ICBM penis.
b. Make Love Not Wall: Drawings and sketches.
6 The Wall:
Recreating the wall of separation in Palestine in a public space like
the Boston Commons.
http://www.vermontpoet.com/thewall/
7 Land Mine Stop
A video had been created http://www.tnamaya.com/landmine/landmine-hop/. The website will have a page dedicated to the Landmine stop. The objective is to have it interactive so that children from around the world
can log on in record the chorus for the song in their own language. The tracks will be mixed down to create a chorus of children from around the world singing "Land Mine Stop." Also, to include photos or videos
of children maimed by Land Mines. The project focuses on the impact of landmines and war on children.
The other component is creating public installation "Land Mine Gardens" in a public space like Boston Commons, etc.
8 Rape the Bitch: Stop Sexual Slavery
Installation project of a brothel to highlight and illustrate the millions of women and children in the international sexual slavery trade. The installation project will consist of creating a “stage set,” of a brothel about
20 x 25 feet with a labyrinth and inside are live model children and their clients. The “bitch” is the indifference and silence of the international community to stop slave traffic.
9 Arms Merchants
Portraits of the leader merchants of war – the largest military contractors,
lobbyists, & US corporations that benefit from the military industry: General
Electric, Lockhead, Boeing, General Motors, Motorola, and the CEO’s of
those corporations.
10 One Hundred Flowers - Translating the poem 100 Flowers of Peace
into 100 languages so far we have ten languages. 90 more to go.
II. Peace Gardens
We have been creating a series of sculptures and designs using old military weapons. For example, the central design is two large cannons surrounded by a spiral helix of helmets. The CAD drawings are complete and the
assistant will help to secure grant support and work with community groups
III. TEACH PEACE:
Though each aspect of “Pornography of War” is a “teachable moment”
the following are specifically as community peace education projects with
children and adults
Cost of War:
Cost of war: Community project with schools, where labels and tags of the
price of war is distributed around a community. For example, the cost of an M 16 is between $10,000 to $15,000.00. What will that cost provide in terms
of education, childcare, healthcare, etc.? An education project for communities and schools.
The War that never was: On the Island of Binga Bonga
Namaya’s children’s story “On the Island of Binga Bonga: The War that never Was,: was made into a children’s play by a colleague Naomi Bennett of Boston who used it as part of her classroom curriculum on conflict resolution
B 4 Peace – Is the proposed children’s curriculum for peace education.
IV. Videos
If there was no more wars, what would the children do
Tommy Got His Gun:
Wake up America:
Amerika Uber Alles: This is on “You tube” currently
How to Make a Child a Suicide Bomber: This is on the website
www.namayaproductions.com
Land Mine Stop: Already on the website.
Women of the veil: An MTV video to be incorporated into
the new play “Four Profits.”
V Plays
Major General Smedley Butler in 2010: War is a Racquet
A one man play of the two time medal of honor winners condemnation of war.
V.Addendum:
Project Profile of Dinner Party at the World Economic Forum
We are creating an installation project "Dinner Party at the World Economic Forum" as the description below details. This is interactive project with students and community members, to explore and understand the issues and disparities between first world and Third World communities. In particular, the resources that are available and sustain first world communities, at the expense and to the detriment of Third World countries. It might also be possible to have a fund raising project for www.gracecares for one of our community development programs or another similar group working on issues of community development and economic disparity.
Namaya is a poet, performance artist, and has worked extensively in Third World countries, as well as holding a Masters degree in International Affairs/ Third World World Development. www.vermontpoet.com. I have also taught graduate classes in Cross Cultural Communications. I will work in tandem and guide the process, as well as helping to facilitate discussions.
If this is of interest, please contact me directly at namaya@vermontpoet.com.
Installation Project:
Dinner Party at the World Economic Forum & Third World Village
Interactive project created by a communities &/or college students as a means to discover and explore the issues between First and Third World communities.
Project
At the center of the gallery, two long dining tables and approximately 15 Meters by 15 meters long. A meter to two meters wide.
Surrounding these tables are heavy velvet ropes like at a reception and barbed wire, and surrounded by armed security guards, Blackwater (despite whatever they call themselves.) There are candelabra's made from old machine guns.
An elegant table setting, elegant china, forks and knives. On the table are many of the elements that feed the first world: energy, books, education, medication, minerals, cell phones, computers, military weapons (which they usually sell to the Third World to make their greatest profit), etc... Served in elegant bowls. For example, one study says, the USA consumes 25% of the world but only has 5% of the worlds population.
Each chair/ place setting will be an oil barrel or a barrel of toxic waste, a barrel of chemicals etc..
The waiters are dressed in rags and white gloves, barefoot. They serve the people at the world economic forum.
The invited guest to the world economic forum are, ultra wealthy, white, black and brown ones, like the Kuwaitis and Saudis.
The men and women are wearing suits and long Arabic style robes. The brand name of their corporations are on their suits and robes.
For example:
General Electric
Monsanto.
Citi bank.
Microsoft.
Lockhead
Carlyle group
All the characters who are part of the first world economic forum. The enactors will be present during the exhibition.
THIRD WORLD VILLAGE
At the other end of the gallery.
Is another village, third world village.
The Third world village is basically open air shack made of tin, bamboo, and scraps. You are invited in and can have a drink of water from an open well. You can have some food, rice beans and some bread. People cooking out in the open, music playing, maybe there is a latrine there as an open pit. You're welcome to come into the Third World.
There is no security, and you are freely welcome to the Third World
Concept
The concept of a Dinner party at the First World Economic Forum and Third World village as a way to bring students and other people into understanding the dynamics of the First World Economic forums, like IMF, Devos, impact on Third World Communities. People are building and creating this project, and keeping a journal video, writing, and other means.
For further information contact:
namaya@vermontpoet.com
Qualifications: Motivated, willing to learn, a passion for peace education and art.
Peace Arts Education Volunteers/ Work Study Students
Department: NPI 4 Peace
Number of Positions: up to 4
Job Title: Peace Arts Education Project
Hours per Week: 40 plus
Email: b4peace@namayaproductions.com
B4peace at Namaya Productions is the creative laboratory for Peace Arts and Education Projects.
Project Description and Job Duties/Responsibilities:
Peace Arts Education Volunteers/ Work Study Students
Namaya Productions Inc. (NPI)
booking@thejazzpoet.com
b4peace@namayaproductions.com
Namaya Productions is the home base for the jazz poet, multimedia
artist, and peace activist Namaya www.namayaproductions.com. Revenues from Namaya productions supports www.gracecares.com not-for-profit grass roots community development organization and peace education projects. Grace Cares is a 5013C not-for-profit.
NPI is looking for volunteers/ work study students who have a passion for
peace and social justice, and art/ multimedia work. We are accepting
applications from students and their work study programs, and volunteers.
These projects can be incorporated into your program of studies, and used
for a thesis. For volunteers these are fun projects to engage the community
Peace Education Volunteers/ Work Study Students
Creative, independent, task oriented, passion for peace and social justice issues, well organized. Social Media and computer literacy. Flexible schedule. People from a variety of skills social media marketing, art,
business, videography, music, etc. are encouraged to apply.
Projects
NPI is a multimedia arts, performance, and education organization that focuses on performance and art for Peace and Social transformation.
Current Projects
1. Be All That You Can Be
http://www.bloggersunite.org/event/be-all-that-you-can-be-b-4-peace
18 September 2010 12 noon at the Washington Monument in Washington, D.C. 4800 people, men and women, children dressed in military clothes or fatigues will gather and walk through the streets of Washington DC with helmets, Army ponchos, each with a 6 foot length of rope, and army boots. Each one of the participants will have the name of the soldier killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. They would be walking marching in a single file through the streets of Washington, connected with the rope that is knotted one to another. It moves through the streets of Washington filmed and recorded. They would move towards the Vietnam Memorial and pass in front of the Vietnam Memorial. They would then proceed to an open spot. There is a cauldron or a small vessel placed in the center and the names of each one of the soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan are then called out.
I. Pornography of war: Redemption of Love
The pornography of war is a multimedia, photography, drawings, installation, and sculpture project.
II. Peace Gardens: The creation of gardens using old military equipment.
III. CD Peace in Every Land: Songs and stories of peace
IV. Teach Peace: Community projects around the theme of Peace
V. Videos/ Plays
I. Pornography of War
1. Be All That You Can Be
http://www.bloggersunite.org/event/be-all-that-you-can-be-b-4-peace
18 September 2010 12 noon at the Washington Monument in Washington, D.C. 4800 people, men and women, children dressed in military clothes or
fatigues will gather and walk through the streets of Washington DC with helmets, Army ponchos, each with a 6 foot length of rope, and army boots. Each one of the participants will have the name of the soldier killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. They would be walking marching in a single file through the streets of Washington, connected with the rope that is knotted one to another. It moves through the streets of Washington filmed and recorded. They would move towards the Vietnam Memorial and pass in front of the Vietnam Memorial. They would then proceed to an open spot. There is a cauldron or a small vessel placed in the center and the names of each one of the soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan are then called out.
2. $680 Billion Dollar Penis:
Wall vinyl panels and blow up balloons of penises shaped like ICBMs represent the top 10 to 15 countries around the world and their military expenditure. The USA has the tallest penis at 14 feet tall and represents the approximate 20 to 25% of the US GNP. The US spends app 51% of all global military money – or app 20 -25% of US GNP. The other countries like France, Germany, China, Russia, Israel, Iran, Brazil, etc. are significantly less. Also, the quality of life index i.e. the level of homelessness is in a bar-graph beside it.
3. Make love not war .
a. Make love not war is a series of photos of men, gay and straight, and couples making love. It shows men and women in their uniforms. Taking their uniforms off and making love. Location sites in Washington D.C. and at memorials.
b. Do Ask and Do Tell – For soldiers, airmen, and sailors who are in the service and choose to come out as gay/lesbian. We will photograph and document their coming out.
4. Sculptures and installation
a. Return Home: This is a sculpture about 15 feet long of black sand with impressions of feet and soldiers returning home from war. There are a series of prosthesis marching with boots on, some others without. The bed of black sand is about 2 feet wide
b. Humanite – Life size sculptures using barbed wire. Sketches complete as of 8/10 waiting for studio space.
c. Liberte - Life sized cutouts in colour representing the evolution of the figures in the Humanite series
d. Women of the Veil: Paper Maiche heads 4 feet tall – of 4 Muslim
women with Hjab with eyes shut with barbed wire, mouths taped with duct tape.
5. Drawings and cartoons
a. PENTAGON MAN: Series of cartoons of Pentagon Man the 9 foot tall creature with an ICBM penis.
b. Make Love Not Wall: Drawings and sketches.
6 The Wall:
Recreating the wall of separation in Palestine in a public space like
the Boston Commons.
http://www.vermontpoet.com/thewall/
7 Land Mine Stop
A video had been created http://www.tnamaya.com/landmine/landmine-hop/. The website will have a page dedicated to the Landmine stop. The objective is to have it interactive so that children from around the world
can log on in record the chorus for the song in their own language. The tracks will be mixed down to create a chorus of children from around the world singing "Land Mine Stop." Also, to include photos or videos
of children maimed by Land Mines. The project focuses on the impact of landmines and war on children.
The other component is creating public installation "Land Mine Gardens" in a public space like Boston Commons, etc.
8 Rape the Bitch: Stop Sexual Slavery
Installation project of a brothel to highlight and illustrate the millions of women and children in the international sexual slavery trade. The installation project will consist of creating a “stage set,” of a brothel about
20 x 25 feet with a labyrinth and inside are live model children and their clients. The “bitch” is the indifference and silence of the international community to stop slave traffic.
9 Arms Merchants
Portraits of the leader merchants of war – the largest military contractors,
lobbyists, & US corporations that benefit from the military industry: General
Electric, Lockhead, Boeing, General Motors, Motorola, and the CEO’s of
those corporations.
10 One Hundred Flowers - Translating the poem 100 Flowers of Peace
into 100 languages so far we have ten languages. 90 more to go.
II. Peace Gardens
We have been creating a series of sculptures and designs using old military weapons. For example, the central design is two large cannons surrounded by a spiral helix of helmets. The CAD drawings are complete and the
assistant will help to secure grant support and work with community groups
III. TEACH PEACE:
Though each aspect of “Pornography of War” is a “teachable moment”
the following are specifically as community peace education projects with
children and adults
Cost of War:
Cost of war: Community project with schools, where labels and tags of the
price of war is distributed around a community. For example, the cost of an M 16 is between $10,000 to $15,000.00. What will that cost provide in terms
of education, childcare, healthcare, etc.? An education project for communities and schools.
The War that never was: On the Island of Binga Bonga
Namaya’s children’s story “On the Island of Binga Bonga: The War that never Was,: was made into a children’s play by a colleague Naomi Bennett of Boston who used it as part of her classroom curriculum on conflict resolution
B 4 Peace – Is the proposed children’s curriculum for peace education.
IV. Videos
If there was no more wars, what would the children do
Tommy Got His Gun:
Wake up America:
Amerika Uber Alles: This is on “You tube” currently
How to Make a Child a Suicide Bomber: This is on the website
www.namayaproductions.com
Land Mine Stop: Already on the website.
Women of the veil: An MTV video to be incorporated into
the new play “Four Profits.”
V Plays
Major General Smedley Butler in 2010: War is a Racquet
A one man play of the two time medal of honor winners condemnation of war.
V.Addendum:
Project Profile of Dinner Party at the World Economic Forum
We are creating an installation project "Dinner Party at the World Economic Forum" as the description below details. This is interactive project with students and community members, to explore and understand the issues and disparities between first world and Third World communities. In particular, the resources that are available and sustain first world communities, at the expense and to the detriment of Third World countries. It might also be possible to have a fund raising project for www.gracecares for one of our community development programs or another similar group working on issues of community development and economic disparity.
Namaya is a poet, performance artist, and has worked extensively in Third World countries, as well as holding a Masters degree in International Affairs/ Third World World Development. www.vermontpoet.com. I have also taught graduate classes in Cross Cultural Communications. I will work in tandem and guide the process, as well as helping to facilitate discussions.
If this is of interest, please contact me directly at namaya@vermontpoet.com.
Installation Project:
Dinner Party at the World Economic Forum & Third World Village
Interactive project created by a communities &/or college students as a means to discover and explore the issues between First and Third World communities.
Project
At the center of the gallery, two long dining tables and approximately 15 Meters by 15 meters long. A meter to two meters wide.
Surrounding these tables are heavy velvet ropes like at a reception and barbed wire, and surrounded by armed security guards, Blackwater (despite whatever they call themselves.) There are candelabra's made from old machine guns.
An elegant table setting, elegant china, forks and knives. On the table are many of the elements that feed the first world: energy, books, education, medication, minerals, cell phones, computers, military weapons (which they usually sell to the Third World to make their greatest profit), etc... Served in elegant bowls. For example, one study says, the USA consumes 25% of the world but only has 5% of the worlds population.
Each chair/ place setting will be an oil barrel or a barrel of toxic waste, a barrel of chemicals etc..
The waiters are dressed in rags and white gloves, barefoot. They serve the people at the world economic forum.
The invited guest to the world economic forum are, ultra wealthy, white, black and brown ones, like the Kuwaitis and Saudis.
The men and women are wearing suits and long Arabic style robes. The brand name of their corporations are on their suits and robes.
For example:
General Electric
Monsanto.
Citi bank.
Microsoft.
Lockhead
Carlyle group
All the characters who are part of the first world economic forum. The enactors will be present during the exhibition.
THIRD WORLD VILLAGE
At the other end of the gallery.
Is another village, third world village.
The Third world village is basically open air shack made of tin, bamboo, and scraps. You are invited in and can have a drink of water from an open well. You can have some food, rice beans and some bread. People cooking out in the open, music playing, maybe there is a latrine there as an open pit. You're welcome to come into the Third World.
There is no security, and you are freely welcome to the Third World
Concept
The concept of a Dinner party at the First World Economic Forum and Third World village as a way to bring students and other people into understanding the dynamics of the First World Economic forums, like IMF, Devos, impact on Third World Communities. People are building and creating this project, and keeping a journal video, writing, and other means.
For further information contact:
namaya@vermontpoet.com
Qualifications: Motivated, willing to learn, a passion for peace education and art.
My Letters to Sam Clemens, Oscar Wilde and Friends
I had always valued my letters from Sam Clemens, Oscar Wilde, Picasso, Octavio Paz, Salvador Dali, and others. I've decided to gather them in a book, "Letters to Sam Clemens, Oscar Wilde and Friends,"
In the introduction to the book, I made it clear my shameless name dropping is not to drop names but draw attention to the conversation with these artists I’ve had over the years. Vincent, tempestuous with friends, but his letters are elegant and brimming with passion. The letters on "Starry Night," the meditations I've had in front of "The Women in White," "the Gates of Hell by Rodin," the visits with Dali at his museum in Spain, these are the conversations and correspondences with the famous, near famous, and the simple noble people whose names will never appear in a newspaper.
Even my conversations with Jack Kerouac have made their way here. I had grown to appreciate the curious place of Jack in the place of American writers. Like many writers and artists, we are exiles in our own time, intimately alive and brimming with curiosity, but in the pursuit of elusive we must often step outside the realm of the expected norm and pursue our own truth.
Joyce in his love affair and despair of Ireland lived in that sanctuary. Picasso with his insistent curiosity danced in realms few of us could imagine. Rimbaud who disappeared after his fame burned brightly, perhaps descending into the realm of the flowers of evil
That is the imperative for artists…to live, dance, breathe, and savor the realm of the extraordinary intimacy with your soul -- your fears, and imaginings so powerful they threaten to drown you with their beauty. This is this quest, this insistent quest, the imperative to be present with you in the most intimate place possible
Vincent had written, ‘It is not just the colors that inspire my imagination, it is the play of sunlight and light in all its moods that enchants me, as discovery light and the darkness of the human soul. When I painted "The Potato Eaters," the feeble light that illuminated their hut, was as precious and divine as the light when God first brought fire to man. The colours in my paintings are a mere imitation of what I see when I see the fire of colours, feel the as it sweeps across the wheat fields of Arles, and the sirocco winds come with their memory of the desert. Cher poet, can I offer you a taste of these colours for your poems? My colours are filled with the kisses of lovers, with the moist taste of sex, and the poignant longing when lovers part. The blues are painted from my memory of the skies of Arles in late summer, the yellows as if the sunflowers offered their most secret pleasures, and the reds are taken from my blood that I offer to each painting. The colors that are most alluring are the ones that don’t appear, the coarse texture are these peasant hands that caress my lover’s face, the light in the window of a starry night that calls me home after a day of working in the field, these futile conversations with god, and the love… yes, the love in all its ways of being, of absence and presence. Poet, are you able to speak of these longings? “ Vincent.
I heard rumors from friends of his tenuous grip on the day to day, the rages and the tears, but I knew the genesis of this. I knew of the intense loneliness drawn from the eidolon of god posing as a muse. He painted me love sonnets like “Sunflowers” drawn on thick postcards. His last letter was brief , “Dream and live that dream of a life as deeply as you dare. These are the colors i want you to hold in your soul.” Vincent .
In the introduction to the book, I made it clear my shameless name dropping is not to drop names but draw attention to the conversation with these artists I’ve had over the years. Vincent, tempestuous with friends, but his letters are elegant and brimming with passion. The letters on "Starry Night," the meditations I've had in front of "The Women in White," "the Gates of Hell by Rodin," the visits with Dali at his museum in Spain, these are the conversations and correspondences with the famous, near famous, and the simple noble people whose names will never appear in a newspaper.
Even my conversations with Jack Kerouac have made their way here. I had grown to appreciate the curious place of Jack in the place of American writers. Like many writers and artists, we are exiles in our own time, intimately alive and brimming with curiosity, but in the pursuit of elusive we must often step outside the realm of the expected norm and pursue our own truth.
Joyce in his love affair and despair of Ireland lived in that sanctuary. Picasso with his insistent curiosity danced in realms few of us could imagine. Rimbaud who disappeared after his fame burned brightly, perhaps descending into the realm of the flowers of evil
That is the imperative for artists…to live, dance, breathe, and savor the realm of the extraordinary intimacy with your soul -- your fears, and imaginings so powerful they threaten to drown you with their beauty. This is this quest, this insistent quest, the imperative to be present with you in the most intimate place possible
Vincent had written, ‘It is not just the colors that inspire my imagination, it is the play of sunlight and light in all its moods that enchants me, as discovery light and the darkness of the human soul. When I painted "The Potato Eaters," the feeble light that illuminated their hut, was as precious and divine as the light when God first brought fire to man. The colours in my paintings are a mere imitation of what I see when I see the fire of colours, feel the as it sweeps across the wheat fields of Arles, and the sirocco winds come with their memory of the desert. Cher poet, can I offer you a taste of these colours for your poems? My colours are filled with the kisses of lovers, with the moist taste of sex, and the poignant longing when lovers part. The blues are painted from my memory of the skies of Arles in late summer, the yellows as if the sunflowers offered their most secret pleasures, and the reds are taken from my blood that I offer to each painting. The colors that are most alluring are the ones that don’t appear, the coarse texture are these peasant hands that caress my lover’s face, the light in the window of a starry night that calls me home after a day of working in the field, these futile conversations with god, and the love… yes, the love in all its ways of being, of absence and presence. Poet, are you able to speak of these longings? “ Vincent.
I heard rumors from friends of his tenuous grip on the day to day, the rages and the tears, but I knew the genesis of this. I knew of the intense loneliness drawn from the eidolon of god posing as a muse. He painted me love sonnets like “Sunflowers” drawn on thick postcards. His last letter was brief , “Dream and live that dream of a life as deeply as you dare. These are the colors i want you to hold in your soul.” Vincent .
Saturday, August 28, 2010
Be All You Can Be: B 4 Peace
Finally, this project that has been in my sites for a few years is now ready to launch. This is part of the on-going series of "B 4 PEACE" Social Media/ Peace projects that are part of the long term series "Pornography of War."
The twitter campaign is undertaken in Bangladesh by our twitter campaign coordinator Mr Arif and Ms. JC in the Philippines, and our Vermont crew. The project in DC we hope is straightforward, though rarely is anything so direct, but it is the campaign for 4,800 plus people who have died in Afghanistan and Iraq. Though I would have also preferred to commemorate the several hundred thousand dead civilians who have been killed in these wars.
Come out to Washington D.C. on 18 September 2010 at 12 noon on the north side of the Washington monument. Check out www.namayaproductions.com and the B 4 Peace campaign.
More projects coming.
The twitter campaign is undertaken in Bangladesh by our twitter campaign coordinator Mr Arif and Ms. JC in the Philippines, and our Vermont crew. The project in DC we hope is straightforward, though rarely is anything so direct, but it is the campaign for 4,800 plus people who have died in Afghanistan and Iraq. Though I would have also preferred to commemorate the several hundred thousand dead civilians who have been killed in these wars.
Come out to Washington D.C. on 18 September 2010 at 12 noon on the north side of the Washington monument. Check out www.namayaproductions.com and the B 4 Peace campaign.
More projects coming.
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Creative Joy the Modern Renaissance
A sublime and joyful summer of creativity in Vermont. In the beginning of the summer since February I was hip deep in the Beatnik Cafe production for NYC in April and with the Richmond Shepard Theater. The learning curve on creating and making a play is profound, especially someone who learned their craft as a "shade tree mechanic" but in many ways the various productions I had done along the way both of the Jazz Beats, the other plays I had written, and the poetry have all served well for this. Yet, as everyone who works with theater knows, every component of theater is a world unto itself. The world has become so divided into people who only create one kind of theater, one kind of drama, etc.. Or, only a poet of Vermont. Or a jazz poet. Or a photographer of nature. Or a painter. Or a poet of erotica. I am having one of the truly glorious moments where my spirits and sense are alive in my creative journey. Like the Shakespeare sonnet, Summer has too short of a stay. For whatever moment of creativity and joy like this, it does come to an end, it transforms, and like some artists like Picasso, Matisse, O' Keefe and others they were creating until the end of their life. Yes, at 55, though a spry fellow, I am aware of the the vicissitudes of health and life, but as I had said in my other writings and postings on "Obligation" my obligation is to wake up every day and create. My creative pallet is writing (poems, plays, essays), painting/ drawing, photography,design, sculpture, multimedia, and performances.
I do not feel overwhelmed or manic. Though sometimes I do feel a little bewildered -- I start to draw and the power of a poem draws me in. The pastel drawing is a collage and then realize there is a part that is a jazz guitar lick. Curious. I am allowing myself to float on that river of creative instinct,allowing the winds and the changing tide to carry me along. That is freedom! The line from "To Althea from Prison, "Stone walls do not a prison make nor iron bars a cage:minds innocent and quiet take that for an hermitage, if I have freedom in my love, and in my soul I am free, angels alone that soar above enjoy such liberty."
This personifies the power of creativity which is love. The love of life, the affirmation, the connectivity to the power of life. Though the journey is about "my" creativity, it is very much an invitation for other people to engage in their own discovery. A sublime joy is a blank paper and box of pastels or pens. Playing, my classical guitar and listening to what the guitar wants to bring forward. The exquisite phenomenology - the paper- artist- life. That is the dialectic. The essential conversation.
I am sometimes distracted by all the commotion of the world, all the glitz, excitement, and that isn't even including the commotion in my mind.
In this age of instant messaging, instant oatmeal, instant everything...there is such a paucity of genuineness. The creative process brings us right into that moment. The creative process is the bell in the meditation hall, it says, right now. The breeze that comes with the new morning light says, right now. The laughter of an infant says, right now. This conversation I'm having with you now, is right now. Ironically, the "rightnowness" is not instant and it is. It is connecting to your creative soul/ your first breath you took as an infant, the first colors of the world that filled your senses. It is part of the perennial philosophy and it is part of the sublime moment now. The "sublime moment" is when the only moment is here as you breathe and it is as if you had the eternity of time to enjoy it. William Blake said, "To see a world in a grain of sand, and a heaven in a wildflower, hold infinity in the palm of your hand, and Eternity in and hour."
As an artist, when I am at my best, through my poetry, photography, or performance work -- it is about the creative experience right now. With my performance stories I am at my greatest joy when I can create the entire show on stage drawn from the suggestions of the audience. At the same time, there is a profound joy in taking the time to create an elegant and well crafted work. The task is to find the balance, the spontaneity of the moment, and the depth of time to fully develop the work.
I am a Renaissance artist, in a non-renaissance world. Other might say, hyperactive, hypercreative, even more pejorative? I want to so very much share this creative joy, delight, and power in this discovery process. Yet, I use the appellation of Renaissance artist with great care, as a person who is profoundly connected to their creative journey, the constant process of "Rebirth".
Painting and drawing: I have some of my new drawings on the website. Some are abstract. Some are representational such as my series "Pentagon Man" a nine foot tall Pentagon headed creature with a large ICBM penis, serviced by Miss. Liberty, Congress, and the American Lush Bimbo dittoheads.
$680 billion dollar Penis - This project has been on my sight for awhile. Now it is creating the time to finish the earlier drawings and bringing a student on board to help with the execution.
Beatnik Cafe - Figuring out what is the best way to move forward with this will be a large creative task.
Jubilation: I am your mountain - This amazing story of my grandmother who was an indenture servant from Ireland, who works in an old house in New Orleans with an old black former slave by the name of Sally Jubilation. Sally is a wise woman, herbalist, and the housekeeper. She was "bought" by the Mistress of the house Miss. Emma before the Civil War. Miss Emma from the old Southern Aristocracy though only a teenager bought her with her own money and then freed her. Miss Sally has chosen to remain with Miss Emma. Miss Sally when she meets a person of good character and worth says, "You are a person of worth and dignity." Yet, in the sixty hours I have recorded she is always able to find the worth and dignity of most people she has met. I am almost feeling like I am "channeling" the spirit of Miss. Sally, as I am sitting down with my tape recorder and taking notes, as if I am across from the table. My "grandmother" Miss. Rosa is telling the story from her journals and her memory of this incredible women she met when she was young.
Jazz Lullaby: Dulcita - A new jazz guitar piece I wrote and will record soon.
Many other projects going on. No solo performances schedule besides looking at Beatnik Cafe performances this fall. All of my energy and time will go in the foreseeable future will go to finish the recordings I've started and continuing to coordinate and focus on projects for the Pornography of War:
Tio Namaya - Two CDs worth of children stories and songs
Celebrate Life- Stories, poems and music that are a celebration of life.
Vermont My Home - Stories, music, and poems
Jazz Mu- This is the least commercial but artistically the most important in terms of music and performance. This is the best of my avante garde and experimental jaz word improvisations and sound poems
I have a young audio engineer now on board starting in August for 20 hours a week to help with this and the podcasts
"Turn on, tune in, and drop in to your creative soul."
Sunday, July 11, 2010
Updates July 2010: Pornography of War
Namaya update July 11, 2010
Creative Window: I am having a marvelous time waking up in the morning with pencils, pastels, pen and paper, my guitar close by, and a camera on the tripod. My creative tools are at the ready. One morning, I was watching a butterfly dance on an echidnae flower, and the words could capture part of the dance, but the camera was a few meters away from the butterfly, and I caught her dance. For a small window of time, I have created this time to write, draw, design, write music, and most importantly, allow my spirits to soar. In this age where so much is in the public domain, and our history and lives is an open book to the wider world the time to be alone to create from the core of who I am and my connection to life is a gift. I value this privacy of time to create and the time by Blue Heron Pond.
Beatnik Cafe we had a wonderful run in Boston and in New York City with this. The video and the film are on the web at www.beatnikcafemusical.com. Our plans are to take it to various colleges within the New York City area. We are also shopping for promoter or producer to take this project forward. I have been thinking about this and a number of ways. I love the idea of the story of Jack Kerouac, Charlie Parker and the way this musical revue puts the story together. It is a powerful, wonderful story. Though I believe in a Broadway run, producers will try to make it more about the beatniks, which was the least interesting part of the period, humorous at times, but largely not very interesting. The real interesting work was the jazz and this period of tremendous social transformation. Stay tuned for more notes.
I also like how my understanding of the music deepens and greater understanding of this music called bebop and jazz evolved.
I also wanted to capture my growing appreciation for Kerouac and understanding of him, he was very committed to his writing, and some parts of the writing are sublime.
Terrific group of singers, performers, musicians. Finally, with a good director, and a lot of work this production is moving forward. Maggie one of the Beatnik singers is off to Poland and is trying to secure shows there and in Scandinavia. Always it is about following the money
Four Prophets:
This is the other main project in the next year- Jesus, Mohammed, Moses, and Satan meet in a public restroom. Satan calls for Judgment Day. She says, “Humans are not to be trusted.” This will be shot as a 10 minute trailer in a local studio and hopefully interest a theater or production company to take this play forward.
This is a major work and after my extended creative hiatus need to refocus on getting this out. I have a feeling that it will make its debut in Europe not the US, this is a hunch, as the funding climate to put on new works is limited, and this is so controversial.
Video
Women of the Veil
I had a fascinating vision one night. I was deep in the Sahara and the moon was up, there was a woman standing on the dune she was dressed in a long black sharh shaf, the wind was blowing, I heard music an oud and this melody, and the song started this chant, “Women of the veil. Women of the book. Daughters of the prophet. Let you spirits be free. Let your veil fly free. Let your hair flow.” The wind blows, the veils rise, then more and more women appear. The Uuuala sounds out. More women appear. The wind blows the veils back and away, the chadors blow away, the hair now flies in the wind. “Women
of the book let your hair fly free, let your spirit sail in the wind, let true freedom for women begin.” A short 3 minute video
Pornography of war:
This is one of the main directions I am moving in and over the course of the next five years, perhaps even longer. The pornography of war is a multimedia, photography, installation, sculpture project. The one we are starting with now is called make love not war .
The outside of the exhibition space looks like a cheap porno shop, with the entrance blocked, “No one under 18 permitted.” Inside is the PORNOGRAPHY OF WAR.
Artistic Statement: Simply, two people having sex, or people naked is not pornography, but one person killing an another is obscene. In the words of one judge, “Pornography, I know it when I see it.” It is not only raising the voice against war, it is posing the dialectic question: Is War Pornographic? I also see it is vital to offer the alternative – war is Thanatos & life is Eros. We squander our children’s future with militarism
Make love not war is a series of photos of men, gay and straight and couples making love. It shows a man and a woman in their uniforms. Taking their uniforms off and making love.
Be All That You Can Be: this has been in my vision for about four years or more. I think with the social media sites we can now move forward with this. The idea is very simple. 4800 people, men and women, children walking through the streets of Washington DC with helmets, Army ponchos, each with an 8 foot length of rope, and army boots. Each one of the participants have the name of the soldier killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. They would be walking marching in a single file through the streets of Washington, connected with the rope that is knotted. One to another. It moves through the streets of Washington filmed and recorded. They would move towards the Vietnam Memorial and pass in front of the Vietnam Memorial. They would then proceed to an open spot. There is a cauldron or a small vessel placed in the center and the names of each one of the soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan are then called out. There is a gong that rings out with each name called.
Return Home: This is a sculpture about 15 feet long of black sand with impressions of feet and soldiers returning home from war. There are a series of prosthesis marching with boots on, some others without. The bed of black sand is about 2 feet wide
$680 Billion Dollar Penis:
This project is long in the works. We are shooting some samples in the next few weeks. There will be the 14 foot tall penises as the US penis is the largest since the US spends app 51% of all global military money – or app 20 -25% of US GNP. The other countries like France, Germany, China, Russia, Israel, Iran, Brazil,etc
PENTAGON MAN:
Series of cartoons of Pentagon Man the man with the ICBM penis that I’ve been drawing.
The Wall: Recreating the wall of separation in Palestine in a museum
PEACE GARDEN: as I had detailed in previous writings and in the sketch attached.
Audio Book.fm.
Love Tap Message – Daily inspirational messages. We are starting a url called
www.yourlovetap.com
www.wakeupamericans!.com is the other new dimension of our on-going podcass
Luscious Wet Kisses
A friend reminded me I had been talking about this project for five years. It is a series of nudes/ partial nudes in nature at Blue Heron Pond with male and female models. Then combining this with poems from previous books EROS TO GODHEAD and GOD SEX POLITICS. Probably, it will inspire a new series of poems based on the photos. First photo shoot tomorrow 12 July.
Love in an Age of Aids
This is another photo shoot using saran wrap. Two models male/ male or male female nudes. These photos are done on a stage and will be part of a dance/ stage performance
of Love in An Age of Aids. The lovers meet, then the saran wrap surrounds them, it is the attempt to reach and to get close, but the density of fear and AIDS, impedes that journey
“Dinner Party at the World Economic Forum” – The dinner party at Devos
A few of the projects we are working on - Create Loving rEvolutions. This is the imperative.
Enjoy your own creative journey.
Namaya
Monday, June 28, 2010
Namaya Update - Post Beatnik Cafe
Curious, writing continually, drawing, new design projects, but not a great interest in blogging these days. Not feeling as if I want to draw people into my creative journey except when it comes to the finished work. In the past month, I've been intensely working on Beatnik Cafe and discovering a lot of new dimensions to the work. I've been working with a good cast and a solid director Debra Whitfield. Post the 11 April show i went back and reworked the script based on some suggestions and feedback. A far more solid show in this incarnation with a more fluid time line. The characters not cutout figures but real flesh and blood folks ... Jack Kerouac as a genuine person who was innocent and naive, who loved jazz and life, and then drowned in fame. I was very pleased with my script and the show in Boston.
Creative projects in the next six months
Celebrate Life! Absurd & delightful - CD of stories, music, and poems.
Vermont My Home: Vol 1 Stories, music and poems that celebrate the Green Mountain state.
On the Island of Binga Bonga: Tio Namaya children's stories.This is already on my home co
Jazz Mu - Jazz Avante garde stories - Murder in the Cathedral of Love.
*** Not to sound maniX, but I have about six good CD length work that I've been struggling to figure out how to get the work out. I have so much material and stories
Beatnik Cafe
Shooting a studio quality video of this show. Also, seeing if there is a producer or promoter who wants to take this on. It really has turned into a very solid show.
Love Tap - Available at www.namayaproductions.com - Appearing as an MP3 file for download and as an I-phone application. Positive messages, secular, focusing on celebrating life.
Four Prophets: Jesus, Mohamed, Moses and Satan meet in a public restroom. It is a play and installation project
$680 Billion Dollar Penis Project Wall Art that illustrated how much the US and other countries spend on the military.
Coming back to Vermont, guests at the end of the week, new assistant/ associate for the web and the projects. I need this quiet space to work and dream again.
Creative projects in the next six months
Celebrate Life! Absurd & delightful - CD of stories, music, and poems.
Vermont My Home: Vol 1 Stories, music and poems that celebrate the Green Mountain state.
On the Island of Binga Bonga: Tio Namaya children's stories.This is already on my home co
Jazz Mu - Jazz Avante garde stories - Murder in the Cathedral of Love.
*** Not to sound maniX, but I have about six good CD length work that I've been struggling to figure out how to get the work out. I have so much material and stories
Beatnik Cafe
Shooting a studio quality video of this show. Also, seeing if there is a producer or promoter who wants to take this on. It really has turned into a very solid show.
Love Tap - Available at www.namayaproductions.com - Appearing as an MP3 file for download and as an I-phone application. Positive messages, secular, focusing on celebrating life.
Four Prophets: Jesus, Mohamed, Moses and Satan meet in a public restroom. It is a play and installation project
$680 Billion Dollar Penis Project Wall Art that illustrated how much the US and other countries spend on the military.
Coming back to Vermont, guests at the end of the week, new assistant/ associate for the web and the projects. I need this quiet space to work and dream again.
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
minor chords
key of Q
screaming violet
iNdigo…
who was never one to suffer
the indignation
of a Question that
lingered
like
rain in a puddle.
Q
like a key to
a world in side
of the rarely
spoken
laughter of a relative
sixth
V
violent shades
of indigo
whispered like a
siren waiting dockside
for the sailors from
the sixth fleet.
the allurement of
love in the guise of
desire
vermillion cool
v bop – voutee mo’
Bach in a fugue
falling to a simple
gracious
f minor.
curious to wind up
in the room where
the F minor was
lounging in a peignoir
a slatternly
amorous amalgam
of Blues basted with
be bop thrilling
arpeggios and slow
roasted in the savory
stew of an unresolved
32 bar blues… E7
to A then a minor B
in the transcendent key
of desire.
When the Bird and I would
jam, him rifting in the seductive
shadows of heroin,
and I in the garden tending
lilacs and poppies, hearing rooms
imagined with the sweet ascension.
Was he talking to god?
Did he imagine god as a lover,
seen, but never held.
Peonies purple, lilac,
luscious
plump
a juicy ripe C brimming
delightful with the
possibility of redemption.
Cheery, bright without
any of the existential
angst of minor chords - -
fragmented shards of
atonal rifts…
Coltrane make rapturous
l
o
v
e
with the goddess of memory.
Memory
god and the divine
we draw sustenance
from.
Not poppies nor Lethe,
we are not absolved
by bathing in Styxs
memory
desire
love
a blues in
one
four
five
flat the seventh
and open the
soul to the
seventh house
love is the
transcendent
note
alpha
omega
and
key of Q
querulous
little bugger.
to give
to love
to surrender.
Quom.
Q
Kwa
Notes in
the key of Q.
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Mi Amor
we’ve had a tempestuous
relationship over these years…
much love and tenderness,
intimacies unimagined.
our love and love making
voracious and savage…
passionate,
sotto voce,
much kindness.
voyages to the
inner sanctum of memory.
journeys to the
periphery of imagination.
mi amor,
mi poesia,
mi alma.
relationship over these years…
much love and tenderness,
intimacies unimagined.
our love and love making
voracious and savage…
passionate,
sotto voce,
much kindness.
voyages to the
inner sanctum of memory.
journeys to the
periphery of imagination.
mi amor,
mi poesia,
mi alma.
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Peacable Domain
kings of old would be jealous.
emperor’s fortunes envious.
no standing armies to keep,
no widows mourn and weep.
in my dominion, no need for war.
violence, a tale from days of yore.
so peaceful some would be bored
with the sounds of pleasant snores.
every child loved and well cared
not a whisper of lonely despair.
not an ache or worry to fear,
someone to care for each tear.
in our peaceable dominion of love
we’re graced by the power of love
emperor’s fortunes envious.
no standing armies to keep,
no widows mourn and weep.
in my dominion, no need for war.
violence, a tale from days of yore.
so peaceful some would be bored
with the sounds of pleasant snores.
every child loved and well cared
not a whisper of lonely despair.
not an ache or worry to fear,
someone to care for each tear.
in our peaceable dominion of love
we’re graced by the power of love
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Grace Cares Update
“A girl from Chestnut Ridge inspires hope in Dominican Republic”
Grace Goldberg-Springer a twelve-year-old girl from Chestnut Ridge means it when she says she believes in taking action to help other people. Grace began helping children in La Lomita an impoverished community in the Dominican Republic when she was 10. For her 10th birthday, she asked her friends not to bring her presents, but instead school supplies to help the approximately 100 school age children who live there. Her commitment to the community did not stop there. This year Grace is in the process of raising $1,500 by making and selling necklaces and earrings to start an egg business in La Lomita. This will help the community become more economically sustainable. Part of the proceeds will support and feed the poorest people in the community.
Grace learned about La Lomita through GRACE Cares a 5013C not-for profit founded by her aunt Dr. Zoe Kopp, uncle Dr. T. Namaya and cousin Ken Giancola. The acronym for the organization is: Growth, Resources, Action, Community, Empowerment. The not-for-profit helps with small sustainable community development projects that assist poor communities to become self- sufficient.
La Lomita and surrounding communities are some of the poorest on the island with a lack of food, education, clean drinking water, high birthrates, lack of employment, and a host of on-ongoing needs. With the participation of the local community and Dominican project leader Ruben Ottenwald it was decided to start a small enterprise of raising chickens to produce eggs for the children as well as for sale. This project will provide both health and economic benefits to the community.
This past week Grace Springer-Goldberg traveled to the Dominican Republic to meet the people of La Lomita, and help build the chicken coop that will hold 100 chickens. Her experience at the farm at Green Meadow School in Chestnut Ridge prepared her to help not only with the building of the coop, but enabled her to share her knowledge of growing beans and tomatoes.
While in the Dominican Republic, Grace participated in meetings with community leaders to review future projects, which will include the formation of a local community non-governmental organization and an agriculture cooperative. Grace said, “We must continue to focus on helping people help themselves.” The people of La Lomita were inspired and grateful that someone so young from so far away had done so much to assist them.
Grace Goldberg-Springer a twelve-year-old girl from Chestnut Ridge means it when she says she believes in taking action to help other people. Grace began helping children in La Lomita an impoverished community in the Dominican Republic when she was 10. For her 10th birthday, she asked her friends not to bring her presents, but instead school supplies to help the approximately 100 school age children who live there. Her commitment to the community did not stop there. This year Grace is in the process of raising $1,500 by making and selling necklaces and earrings to start an egg business in La Lomita. This will help the community become more economically sustainable. Part of the proceeds will support and feed the poorest people in the community.
Grace learned about La Lomita through GRACE Cares a 5013C not-for profit founded by her aunt Dr. Zoe Kopp, uncle Dr. T. Namaya and cousin Ken Giancola. The acronym for the organization is: Growth, Resources, Action, Community, Empowerment. The not-for-profit helps with small sustainable community development projects that assist poor communities to become self- sufficient.
La Lomita and surrounding communities are some of the poorest on the island with a lack of food, education, clean drinking water, high birthrates, lack of employment, and a host of on-ongoing needs. With the participation of the local community and Dominican project leader Ruben Ottenwald it was decided to start a small enterprise of raising chickens to produce eggs for the children as well as for sale. This project will provide both health and economic benefits to the community.
This past week Grace Springer-Goldberg traveled to the Dominican Republic to meet the people of La Lomita, and help build the chicken coop that will hold 100 chickens. Her experience at the farm at Green Meadow School in Chestnut Ridge prepared her to help not only with the building of the coop, but enabled her to share her knowledge of growing beans and tomatoes.
While in the Dominican Republic, Grace participated in meetings with community leaders to review future projects, which will include the formation of a local community non-governmental organization and an agriculture cooperative. Grace said, “We must continue to focus on helping people help themselves.” The people of La Lomita were inspired and grateful that someone so young from so far away had done so much to assist them.
Monday, April 26, 2010
Community Development in San Jose DR
Over the past few days in San Jose section about twenty minutes from Santiago. At Ruben and Anna Marie's place with all of their kids and extended family, always someone is around, Viejo, Andres, Pablito, and the girls Roselita and Naomi. Feels like our extended family, food prepared, house open, and of course it is a two way street. But so value their open, gracious hospitality.
Over the weekend with Frederico and Fatima and their kids, with Theresa and her family, so much fun. DR is always about family and friends. Americans would have freaked out, we had shown up with a group of maybe ten people, Frederico and his families opened their arms wide. Thoroughly enjoyed connecting with him as it had been too long. My close friends and buddies scattered around the globe. The visionaries, the rainbow makers, the rEvolutionaries, and dreamers, and the do ers.
Zoe, Grace, and I working with Ruben and Theresa, and others in helping Ruben articulate his vision of development for this community. At first appearance it is an overwhelming task but the question is how to bring this vital discourse forward to an organized development process. Identifying what needs to change, what are the elements for transformation, how to engage people in a genuine conversation. The work of Paulo Freire always stay with my mind, engaging people in the critical dialectic "What is your condition?" "What is your poverty?" Respecting folks, even the poorest of people that they have the possibility of changing their poverty. The challenge as the educated is that we believe we "know" we only know "our" perspective of "their poverty" The hubris is that as change agents we can only initiate that conversation.
I am not a patient person, I am by nature a visionary, a poet, and view the world with the lens of that perspective. The vision of what is possible, not always pragmatic, not defined or limited.
Enjoying the time to get back to community development work, meeting with Ruben and the workers, and exploring and understanding what are the needs of the community. We are trying to help Ruben set up a foundation/ development organization that harnesses his vision and helps to translate it into a long term and sustainable vision. The UGGGH part that I hate to do, the institutional, the formalization of informal relations. The part that I struggle with in my art work, the artist working with the tools of organization, structure, taking the idea and vision and making it real.
I'm missing the daily writing, the daily attention to the new productions, the new plays, and other work, nevertheless,I'm enjoying stepping back to this much slower pace, the pace of late nights under cloudy nights with Ruben and talking. The time to spend with Gracie and getting to know her, watching her open her eyes to the world of the less fortunate, the poor. At times those labels of poor and wretched are ripped away, and the laughter is heard. Most times, for the poorest of the poor, which is the La Lomita community, the poverty is so overwhelming. The poverty that leaves me exhausted, overwhelmed, but ultimately from this we are able to articulate a few programs to assist Ruben and the community.
The other component is a program of art, drawing, music. In development, with the most desperate of circumstance, we forget that music, art, all of this elevates the spirit. This was especially true in Haiti with the art and musical instruments we were able to provide. The kids playing music.
Tomorrow we go back to NY, back to the Beatnik Cafe, and where there is much to do. Also in taking the program to the next level. Much work to do in the world. I also see the balance between this community development work on a pragmatic level, and the art work like Peace Gardens, the Brothel projects, Four Profits, and other art.
Over the weekend with Frederico and Fatima and their kids, with Theresa and her family, so much fun. DR is always about family and friends. Americans would have freaked out, we had shown up with a group of maybe ten people, Frederico and his families opened their arms wide. Thoroughly enjoyed connecting with him as it had been too long. My close friends and buddies scattered around the globe. The visionaries, the rainbow makers, the rEvolutionaries, and dreamers, and the do ers.
Zoe, Grace, and I working with Ruben and Theresa, and others in helping Ruben articulate his vision of development for this community. At first appearance it is an overwhelming task but the question is how to bring this vital discourse forward to an organized development process. Identifying what needs to change, what are the elements for transformation, how to engage people in a genuine conversation. The work of Paulo Freire always stay with my mind, engaging people in the critical dialectic "What is your condition?" "What is your poverty?" Respecting folks, even the poorest of people that they have the possibility of changing their poverty. The challenge as the educated is that we believe we "know" we only know "our" perspective of "their poverty" The hubris is that as change agents we can only initiate that conversation.
I am not a patient person, I am by nature a visionary, a poet, and view the world with the lens of that perspective. The vision of what is possible, not always pragmatic, not defined or limited.
Enjoying the time to get back to community development work, meeting with Ruben and the workers, and exploring and understanding what are the needs of the community. We are trying to help Ruben set up a foundation/ development organization that harnesses his vision and helps to translate it into a long term and sustainable vision. The UGGGH part that I hate to do, the institutional, the formalization of informal relations. The part that I struggle with in my art work, the artist working with the tools of organization, structure, taking the idea and vision and making it real.
I'm missing the daily writing, the daily attention to the new productions, the new plays, and other work, nevertheless,I'm enjoying stepping back to this much slower pace, the pace of late nights under cloudy nights with Ruben and talking. The time to spend with Gracie and getting to know her, watching her open her eyes to the world of the less fortunate, the poor. At times those labels of poor and wretched are ripped away, and the laughter is heard. Most times, for the poorest of the poor, which is the La Lomita community, the poverty is so overwhelming. The poverty that leaves me exhausted, overwhelmed, but ultimately from this we are able to articulate a few programs to assist Ruben and the community.
The other component is a program of art, drawing, music. In development, with the most desperate of circumstance, we forget that music, art, all of this elevates the spirit. This was especially true in Haiti with the art and musical instruments we were able to provide. The kids playing music.
Tomorrow we go back to NY, back to the Beatnik Cafe, and where there is much to do. Also in taking the program to the next level. Much work to do in the world. I also see the balance between this community development work on a pragmatic level, and the art work like Peace Gardens, the Brothel projects, Four Profits, and other art.
Friday, April 23, 2010
Rice and Beans
Friday at Ruben's farm on the mountains overlooking the fields of Santiago. Meals are some 9 to 12 people, family, workers who are building the new chicken coops. Neighbors stopping by, big plate of rice, beans, and some vegetables. Eating always commences with grace. As we sit out under the "dining room" a big tin and palm leafed open patio. Laughter, chatter in Spanish and English, mostly Spanish. Last night sitting in the living room playing guitar, listening to Naomi and her funny stories. My niece Grace is getting on rather nicely, a too tempting target for mosquitoes as she is is covered in bites, but otherwise she is enjoying herself.
This morning spending time with Ruben teaching him guitar, talking about his plans, and seeing how we can help. Z and I helping to shape his vision, offering feedback. He is a man with the the kindness of a saint, and sometimes that works against him. But most times he does very well. There is so much need in this area. THis morning we went to La Lomita and one of the villages there. There was laughter and children playing, but there were children everywhere, as if the main produce of DR is making babies. This 4% population growth is overwhelming any ability for the country to escape the on-going poverty; unless they make their way to the US, Miami or New York. But uneducated and poor, the only jobs that are available are the brute labor jobs or the most unskilled. In this poorest of area, with no work, and children flooded everywhere. This kind of poverty feels overwhelming. Yet, we had put in a well with electricity that is providing clean drinking water. Another project with Grace Cares provides a new covered community space. But the lack of work, high population growth, and generations of poverty create a desperate poverty of spirit. A few escape to the US and come back, but most flee this verdant prison of paradise.
Our interaction and conversation with Ruben is looking at how do we help to create some kind of sustainable economic activity. We had been researching Rocket Stoves a very simple home made design for stove efficiency. Some years ago I had worked a lot with Appropriate Technology and liked the very simple technology like this. Rocket Stove plans are on the way.
Other suggestions on the table are the chicken and egg project. But as we are vegetarians we will support the egg production but not raising chickens to be eat.
Other projects like growing specialty crops -- perhaps saffron, herbs,and so forth. But these are lengthier conversations
Though I have been a vegetarian for some thirty give years plus I didn't like to impose this perspective on others; however, this is one of my core values, the respect for all life, the belief that all life has Buddha nature, and life is sacred. When we approach life with this perspective that life is sacred, we in turn bring this awareness to all dimensions of our life. The environment, the waters, and this entire world we live in needs to be interacted with as sacred. Not something to be exploited, killed or ravaged. Life is sacred. Our interactions with each other should be filled with love and care. A very simple prescription.
In approaching this work with Ruben, and seeing his sense of care and responsibility in his community is inspiring. He approaches all he meets with great care and kindness. It is wonderful connecting with him again, my brother Domicano. This morning we had a couple of hours to talk, play guitar, and talk about art and politics.
Today looking at a few more community projects
This morning spending time with Ruben teaching him guitar, talking about his plans, and seeing how we can help. Z and I helping to shape his vision, offering feedback. He is a man with the the kindness of a saint, and sometimes that works against him. But most times he does very well. There is so much need in this area. THis morning we went to La Lomita and one of the villages there. There was laughter and children playing, but there were children everywhere, as if the main produce of DR is making babies. This 4% population growth is overwhelming any ability for the country to escape the on-going poverty; unless they make their way to the US, Miami or New York. But uneducated and poor, the only jobs that are available are the brute labor jobs or the most unskilled. In this poorest of area, with no work, and children flooded everywhere. This kind of poverty feels overwhelming. Yet, we had put in a well with electricity that is providing clean drinking water. Another project with Grace Cares provides a new covered community space. But the lack of work, high population growth, and generations of poverty create a desperate poverty of spirit. A few escape to the US and come back, but most flee this verdant prison of paradise.
Our interaction and conversation with Ruben is looking at how do we help to create some kind of sustainable economic activity. We had been researching Rocket Stoves a very simple home made design for stove efficiency. Some years ago I had worked a lot with Appropriate Technology and liked the very simple technology like this. Rocket Stove plans are on the way.
Other suggestions on the table are the chicken and egg project. But as we are vegetarians we will support the egg production but not raising chickens to be eat.
Other projects like growing specialty crops -- perhaps saffron, herbs,and so forth. But these are lengthier conversations
Though I have been a vegetarian for some thirty give years plus I didn't like to impose this perspective on others; however, this is one of my core values, the respect for all life, the belief that all life has Buddha nature, and life is sacred. When we approach life with this perspective that life is sacred, we in turn bring this awareness to all dimensions of our life. The environment, the waters, and this entire world we live in needs to be interacted with as sacred. Not something to be exploited, killed or ravaged. Life is sacred. Our interactions with each other should be filled with love and care. A very simple prescription.
In approaching this work with Ruben, and seeing his sense of care and responsibility in his community is inspiring. He approaches all he meets with great care and kindness. It is wonderful connecting with him again, my brother Domicano. This morning we had a couple of hours to talk, play guitar, and talk about art and politics.
Today looking at a few more community projects
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Evening in Santiago
Leaping into the world of Ruben and,his family on the tiny farm nestled about 20 minutes from the town of Santiago in DR. Email works, after a fashion, but most of the life and pace could easily be centuries ago. Today we went with Ruben to visit many of the poorest families on his route, passing out good words, notebooks, where needed some money for food. But my interest is getting away from the charitable model and more to development. How to help people become self sufficient and independent. Many of the folks who are surviving are dependent on money from relatives in the US. A $30 a month or so contribution goes a long way.
Enjoying the time and opportunity to spend with Ruben, his good nature an humor is a delight, he is unfazed by all the poverty and laziness, unfazed by the hopelessness of the task, and still there is a part that is very optimistic. Today, helping with the chicken coup, a little bit, Grace is a real trooper working with the wheel barrow and helping to lay the floor down. She is a real sweet spirit with the younger girls, drawing and teaching them math, and English. It is good to see her thrive in this environment, though it is a brief moment in a poor country it is important for her to get a taste of this. I wish more affluent children from the USA can see this and immerse themselves.
I am appreciating this stepping back into a very slow pace, a bit hard since I am use to a very intense pace of creativity. One of the things you see is that for many life is reduced to the basic survival, there is little of the creative world, it is reduced to if you eat or not, sometimes the choices are very bleak and limited. The farming is marginal, even in this relatively lush paradise. There is a chronic shortage of water and the land is of a poor quality for farming.
Today Zoe and I spent time with Ruben, exploring possibilities for economic activities, and how to move forward with the proposed chicken and egg project. Which comes first?Also, spent over an hour with Ruben teaching him basic health and herbal medicine care. This will be exciting to get the Appleseed project off the ground and to do a version of this here.
Still keeping my hand into the work of the play production. I am enjoying our all too brief visit to Ruben's family. This evening playing guitar, singing with the girls. Thoroughly enjoying the delicious and simple food, and most of all the company.
Enjoying the time and opportunity to spend with Ruben, his good nature an humor is a delight, he is unfazed by all the poverty and laziness, unfazed by the hopelessness of the task, and still there is a part that is very optimistic. Today, helping with the chicken coup, a little bit, Grace is a real trooper working with the wheel barrow and helping to lay the floor down. She is a real sweet spirit with the younger girls, drawing and teaching them math, and English. It is good to see her thrive in this environment, though it is a brief moment in a poor country it is important for her to get a taste of this. I wish more affluent children from the USA can see this and immerse themselves.
I am appreciating this stepping back into a very slow pace, a bit hard since I am use to a very intense pace of creativity. One of the things you see is that for many life is reduced to the basic survival, there is little of the creative world, it is reduced to if you eat or not, sometimes the choices are very bleak and limited. The farming is marginal, even in this relatively lush paradise. There is a chronic shortage of water and the land is of a poor quality for farming.
Today Zoe and I spent time with Ruben, exploring possibilities for economic activities, and how to move forward with the proposed chicken and egg project. Which comes first?Also, spent over an hour with Ruben teaching him basic health and herbal medicine care. This will be exciting to get the Appleseed project off the ground and to do a version of this here.
Still keeping my hand into the work of the play production. I am enjoying our all too brief visit to Ruben's family. This evening playing guitar, singing with the girls. Thoroughly enjoying the delicious and simple food, and most of all the company.
life on the farm: Ruben Uber Mensch
In Dominican Republic this week to work with my friend Ruben who has a little missionary project of sorts in the middle of the island. A couple of hours from Puerto Plata. My niece Grace and Zoe are here too. We have an on-going relationship with Ruben and his community. We have sponsored a number of community development projects through Grace Cares - well water project, feeding of the elderly, and now this new poultry project. my niece grace 12 years old has raised funds for a poultry and egg project as part of her batz mitzvah - mitzvah. good, so very good to have her with us. my other nephew Kenny had started this community development work about a decade a ago. Not a big project this is one of the great joys to work and bring our nieces and nephews into this work. this essential work. there is so much need in the world, and though our efforts may only be a tiny drop of care in a desert of need, every drop counts.
this work of gracecares and other community work is invaluable to me, as it reminds me of the essential work in the world, to care and assist those less fortunate.
ruben is a mensch. he is a tremendous inspiration. he is the "priest" the "caretaker" "the community mensch" a former Cappucian monk, he gave up the monastic life to return here by the small community la lomita. This is the real spirit of Christianity, i imagine.
As I am watching this implosion of the Catholic Church caught up in their defense of the sclerotic Vatican and the symbols of faith, i recall the numerous nuns and priests i had worked with in the past, and their truly noble and selfless spirit. i think of my friend Father Marty Jenco who i worked with in the Middle East, Sister Stella from Yemen, Father Gannon and later Bishop, who were fearless in their faith and committed to the poor.
Ruben without church with this own sweet kind mission --- his mission is Love. In a world of cynicism, my cynicism notwithstanding, it is too easy to mock this sweet beautiful sincerity of charity and love. These are the people who are my heroes in the world. Ruben who could have had an easy life, a big farm, people working for him, or living in the USA -- instead he is the community leader without title. When someone needs help, he works with them, not in charity that robs them of their dignity, but in a spirit of care and love. A family needs some medicines he finds it for them. Others need help with housing or transportation to a hospital he helps them. He organizes a feeding program for the elderly. A program to assist the local school.
Ruben said,"I grew up very poor, I grew up hungry, I had the opporuntiy to go to the Unitied States, I always thinking of all the people who did not have enough to eat. I want to go back and do something, i want to do something, i want to help. A piece of bread to a child who is hunger. A tylenol to a person with pain." He says this without vanity, as a matter of fact, this is life, "There is a need, and I help."
"But I cannot have a long range vision, i have to worry about right now, the next emergency, the next crisis, and it is difficult for me to plan for the future. But by God's grace we are able to help people. I can not choose to do otherwise. I am putting a band"
Things rarely work smoothly, crisis to crisis, but it is all with the sense of grace and that it is in the hands of God.
In this small community in the middle of Santa Domingo is a miracle that is happening every day, it is the miracle of dignity, the miracle of faith, the miracle of community, undaunted by the poverty. In the morning, many workers, local people come out to see Ruben. A powerful spiritual presence without the slightest bit of ego, filled with humility grace and humor.
There is NOTHING noble about poverty, poverty that is hunger, poverty that robs one of dignity and the sense of self worrth, but the good works of Ruben and the people around him elevate the people and the community. He enables them and us. One fellow John from the US made a generous donation to this community, and he said, "Ruben inspired me."
Today, Grace, Zoe, and I will spend time visiting the community. Helping with building the new chicken coop, as much as we can, though the community workers will do most of the work. We had visited some local children with developmental problems, health issues of other kinds. Many of these congenital issues I cannot help, but we are hoping to create the Appleseed project here.
Appleseed is our long term project where we train community lay health workers how to treat the top 20 ailments, injuries, etc. using herbs, homeopathy, and where necessary over the counter medicines. Most of the basic primary care illnesses can be safely treated at home.
Roosters at 3 am and continued for hours, couldn't get back to sleep, life on the farm. Yet, Ruben gave us his best guest bed. A shower with a bit of cold water. All of this is middle class here. Though in the west we might think of this as "poverty" in reality this is pretty luxurious. I am back and forth in 3rd world countries that I would find it difficult to lose this perspective, but i am grateful to come back here with Zoe and Grace. Working with Ruben to see if we can help and create a longer term and sustained program of community development. Community development with the spirit of Ruben, not charity that robs people of their dignity, but community development that empowers people and enables them to make positive choices for them and their families. Community development with love as the center.
A beautiful day on the farm, roosters crawing, workers in the field, birds calling in the trees, children off to school in their blue uniforms and pink backpacks, verdant fields and pastures glistening green after a good rain last night.
More to come, right now I need to go, open my eyes, open my spirit, listen to the conversations. Where I can, I treat the sick and ill, one man came by this morning with an injured back, I stopped writing, and treated him. My open air clinic and office, sitting in Ruben's workshed, workers coming in, a few patients, and then i return to writing. Life at Ruben's farm.
this work of gracecares and other community work is invaluable to me, as it reminds me of the essential work in the world, to care and assist those less fortunate.
ruben is a mensch. he is a tremendous inspiration. he is the "priest" the "caretaker" "the community mensch" a former Cappucian monk, he gave up the monastic life to return here by the small community la lomita. This is the real spirit of Christianity, i imagine.
As I am watching this implosion of the Catholic Church caught up in their defense of the sclerotic Vatican and the symbols of faith, i recall the numerous nuns and priests i had worked with in the past, and their truly noble and selfless spirit. i think of my friend Father Marty Jenco who i worked with in the Middle East, Sister Stella from Yemen, Father Gannon and later Bishop, who were fearless in their faith and committed to the poor.
Ruben without church with this own sweet kind mission --- his mission is Love. In a world of cynicism, my cynicism notwithstanding, it is too easy to mock this sweet beautiful sincerity of charity and love. These are the people who are my heroes in the world. Ruben who could have had an easy life, a big farm, people working for him, or living in the USA -- instead he is the community leader without title. When someone needs help, he works with them, not in charity that robs them of their dignity, but in a spirit of care and love. A family needs some medicines he finds it for them. Others need help with housing or transportation to a hospital he helps them. He organizes a feeding program for the elderly. A program to assist the local school.
Ruben said,"I grew up very poor, I grew up hungry, I had the opporuntiy to go to the Unitied States, I always thinking of all the people who did not have enough to eat. I want to go back and do something, i want to do something, i want to help. A piece of bread to a child who is hunger. A tylenol to a person with pain." He says this without vanity, as a matter of fact, this is life, "There is a need, and I help."
"But I cannot have a long range vision, i have to worry about right now, the next emergency, the next crisis, and it is difficult for me to plan for the future. But by God's grace we are able to help people. I can not choose to do otherwise. I am putting a band"
Things rarely work smoothly, crisis to crisis, but it is all with the sense of grace and that it is in the hands of God.
In this small community in the middle of Santa Domingo is a miracle that is happening every day, it is the miracle of dignity, the miracle of faith, the miracle of community, undaunted by the poverty. In the morning, many workers, local people come out to see Ruben. A powerful spiritual presence without the slightest bit of ego, filled with humility grace and humor.
There is NOTHING noble about poverty, poverty that is hunger, poverty that robs one of dignity and the sense of self worrth, but the good works of Ruben and the people around him elevate the people and the community. He enables them and us. One fellow John from the US made a generous donation to this community, and he said, "Ruben inspired me."
Today, Grace, Zoe, and I will spend time visiting the community. Helping with building the new chicken coop, as much as we can, though the community workers will do most of the work. We had visited some local children with developmental problems, health issues of other kinds. Many of these congenital issues I cannot help, but we are hoping to create the Appleseed project here.
Appleseed is our long term project where we train community lay health workers how to treat the top 20 ailments, injuries, etc. using herbs, homeopathy, and where necessary over the counter medicines. Most of the basic primary care illnesses can be safely treated at home.
Roosters at 3 am and continued for hours, couldn't get back to sleep, life on the farm. Yet, Ruben gave us his best guest bed. A shower with a bit of cold water. All of this is middle class here. Though in the west we might think of this as "poverty" in reality this is pretty luxurious. I am back and forth in 3rd world countries that I would find it difficult to lose this perspective, but i am grateful to come back here with Zoe and Grace. Working with Ruben to see if we can help and create a longer term and sustained program of community development. Community development with the spirit of Ruben, not charity that robs people of their dignity, but community development that empowers people and enables them to make positive choices for them and their families. Community development with love as the center.
A beautiful day on the farm, roosters crawing, workers in the field, birds calling in the trees, children off to school in their blue uniforms and pink backpacks, verdant fields and pastures glistening green after a good rain last night.
More to come, right now I need to go, open my eyes, open my spirit, listen to the conversations. Where I can, I treat the sick and ill, one man came by this morning with an injured back, I stopped writing, and treated him. My open air clinic and office, sitting in Ruben's workshed, workers coming in, a few patients, and then i return to writing. Life at Ruben's farm.
Sunday, April 18, 2010
And so what…
planes will not fly
vacations postponed
business trips canceled
weddings missed
engagements lost
births not witnessed
emergencies unattended
…as if our entire busy
world suddenly
paused
vacations postponed
business trips canceled
weddings missed
engagements lost
births not witnessed
emergencies unattended
…as if our entire busy
world suddenly
paused
Thursday, April 8, 2010
The Final Solution to the Palestinian Problem
The Palestinian problem has been an enormous thorn in the relations between Israel and the greater world. This has prevented a capable Western styled government from bringing the full fruits of its democracy to the Middle East. With the constant niggling and debate of rights, it is time for Israel to assert its full historic right to the full and final occupation of Greater Israel from the Mediterranean to the Jordan River to Lebanon and south to Sinai. We can stop the illusion and fantasy of a Palestinian state in the West Bank. Historically, this land was Israel, with stretches of time occupied by every power in the region. Though we had a period of Diaspora and left the area for two thousand years does it matter whether it was two days or two thousand years? Of course not. It is now time to fully reclaim this land and come to a final solution to the Palestinian problem. The moral clarity of this solution will shatter any sentimental notions
Though one can object to some “final solutions” previously, there were merits to it. Ironically, Germany’s final solution, allowed for the creation of the state of Israel, and Adolph Hitler may have inadvertently done more for Jews than Herzog. Though it is easy to condemn Hitler, I’m sure there was a grain of clarity to his final solution. Israel needs to stop depending on the United States for $3 billion dollars annually and to stop spending 45% of its GNP on military. We need to use this money to really bring back the garden of Eden. Before the creation of the state of Israel, the area was farms, fishing enterprises, and some minor industries, a backwards society that lived for generations tending the land. It was only when Israel took over that we took the archaic farms and made them into modern agribusiness, created arms industries, one of the worlds largest armies, and yes, a very capable nuclear weapons systems that a true transformation was possible. It’s time to rip off the veil of this illusion. Israel is the most powerful army in the Middle East and the sooner it takes the necessary and, albeit politically awkward public relations problem of the Palestinians, the sooner we can get on with fulfilling the prophecies.
Gaza can be a beautiful beach-front resort once Israel relocates Hamas to Somalia or Sudan. The Zionist homeland has worked diligently to get the world to see that this so called National Liberation Movement is in reality a terrorist organization and that all of our actions to wipe out this scourge are a blessing for Israel and all peace loving democracies. Not all Gazans need to leave there are many positions available in the service industry where we will need manpower, but maintaining absolute fealty to the fatherland -- Israel. Between the genius of Israelis and labor of loyal Palestinians is a perfect solution.
All Palestinians who choose not to become citizens of Israel, of course not full citizens, since full citizenship requires conversion to Judaism, but a limited citizenship in the way that Black Jews and other Palestinians have been incorporated into Israeli, would be shown the door to Jordan. In the way that the US uses illegal aliens, Israel needs people to work the farms, wait on tables, and do the necessary manual labor. Of course, like with the talented tenth, the extraordinary Palestinians who accept the notion of an Uber Israeli Jewish state can be part of the great Zionist state. After all, most Muslims in the region were Jews forcibly converted to that Mohammed or Christian thing. Those who chose not to participate in this great democracy will be removed to Jordan which is already sixty percent Palestinian. This would also provide a great opportunity for the people who claim displacement in Lebanon to reunite with their families and that solves the Right of Return. Our vision of a pure homeland that allows for democracy and security to flourish in the context of a Jewish state is a logical conclusion: Wouldn’t you agree?
Though the removal will initially be traumatic the final solution in greater Israel will allow for unprecedented opportunities for Palestinians in Jordan or other countries in the Middle East. Unless there is the preposterous notion of Palestinians having their own fully functioning independent state in the West Bank and Gaza?
Though one can object to some “final solutions” previously, there were merits to it. Ironically, Germany’s final solution, allowed for the creation of the state of Israel, and Adolph Hitler may have inadvertently done more for Jews than Herzog. Though it is easy to condemn Hitler, I’m sure there was a grain of clarity to his final solution. Israel needs to stop depending on the United States for $3 billion dollars annually and to stop spending 45% of its GNP on military. We need to use this money to really bring back the garden of Eden. Before the creation of the state of Israel, the area was farms, fishing enterprises, and some minor industries, a backwards society that lived for generations tending the land. It was only when Israel took over that we took the archaic farms and made them into modern agribusiness, created arms industries, one of the worlds largest armies, and yes, a very capable nuclear weapons systems that a true transformation was possible. It’s time to rip off the veil of this illusion. Israel is the most powerful army in the Middle East and the sooner it takes the necessary and, albeit politically awkward public relations problem of the Palestinians, the sooner we can get on with fulfilling the prophecies.
Gaza can be a beautiful beach-front resort once Israel relocates Hamas to Somalia or Sudan. The Zionist homeland has worked diligently to get the world to see that this so called National Liberation Movement is in reality a terrorist organization and that all of our actions to wipe out this scourge are a blessing for Israel and all peace loving democracies. Not all Gazans need to leave there are many positions available in the service industry where we will need manpower, but maintaining absolute fealty to the fatherland -- Israel. Between the genius of Israelis and labor of loyal Palestinians is a perfect solution.
All Palestinians who choose not to become citizens of Israel, of course not full citizens, since full citizenship requires conversion to Judaism, but a limited citizenship in the way that Black Jews and other Palestinians have been incorporated into Israeli, would be shown the door to Jordan. In the way that the US uses illegal aliens, Israel needs people to work the farms, wait on tables, and do the necessary manual labor. Of course, like with the talented tenth, the extraordinary Palestinians who accept the notion of an Uber Israeli Jewish state can be part of the great Zionist state. After all, most Muslims in the region were Jews forcibly converted to that Mohammed or Christian thing. Those who chose not to participate in this great democracy will be removed to Jordan which is already sixty percent Palestinian. This would also provide a great opportunity for the people who claim displacement in Lebanon to reunite with their families and that solves the Right of Return. Our vision of a pure homeland that allows for democracy and security to flourish in the context of a Jewish state is a logical conclusion: Wouldn’t you agree?
Though the removal will initially be traumatic the final solution in greater Israel will allow for unprecedented opportunities for Palestinians in Jordan or other countries in the Middle East. Unless there is the preposterous notion of Palestinians having their own fully functioning independent state in the West Bank and Gaza?
Friday, April 2, 2010
Love is the Imperative
Sweet ecstasy of morning and robins singing that sweet eternal spring song, nascent dreaming Spring. Opening to that possibility. The glorious sweetness of Spring The freshness of the day with unlimited possibilities. Unlimited creative possibilities as well stay focused as part of the morning meditation on Blue Heron Pond. Tremendously creative spirit right now, centered. Awake! Awake the morning is calling to awaken.
My center grounding to this spot here on Blue Heron Pond. Enjoying the absolute simplicity of the morning by Blue Heron Pond.
Do we have the strength of conviction and courage to sit by the pond with exquisite attention to the sound of robins and to the creative inspiration, the crackling vivacious scintillating energy of life. The glorious rhapsody of spring, the affirmation of continuity. The awe and connection to eons when people first felt the awe and hope of Spring. For millennia, after long hard winter the first shoots of green and flowers. A long winter all the food supplies exhausted. The animals scarce. The old and infirmed died. Children born. The circle of life starting over again. This is the continuity. My imperative as an artist or as a person it is very simple: Look! Listen! Be awed!
This is the imperative that I wrote Vermont my home,
CARE WELL
The last poem is
for this elegy to the pond –
sacred body of water
who has taught me more
of reverence than any church.
wiser in its quiet wisdom,
than any holy book or tome.
care well!
it seems to say.
care well!
swimming in the freezing
waters, ice cold springs
surprise and awaken me!
finches, darts of yellow
race across the fields.
blue jay screech warns!
robins, plump, are ready to nest.
care well!
it seems to say.
care well!
frogs’ night chorus more
joyous and godly than any
Bach chorale; tulips divine
the intersect of mystery,
revelation from the earth
and desire from the sun.
The Blue Heron is
nowhere in sight, sage
of these meadows who
nests high in the hemlocks,
is patiently biding her time.
Care well,
she seems to say.
Care well!
In a few years or less
I will be dead, but I
don’t grieve this passing.
I will grieve if we have
not loved this earth with
sublime tenderness,
reverenced the pond as
dearly as our gods, cherished
the wisdom of a flower,
and held the divinity of
each living creature as a
mirror of god’s love.
I believe that as god
spun the planet earth
on her course and
brought it to life
She set it free with this
single blessing:
“Care well!
How do we live in the world with reverence, not for some god or gods of our imagination, not some external moral authority based on our fears and fantasies and miasms of childish emotions. How are we truly coming close to that spirit of a truly wise and tender spirit?
There is too much violence and destruction, our interactions with such misunderstanding and malice, our phenomenal capacity for greed, and our rapacious interaction with the planet. Our spirits should be joyfully singing and opening the our souls to the ecstasy of life and love, yet we choose the lesser. Do I choose personal vanity of anger over the wisdom of the Earth; we choose greed over generosity of spirit. We have far greater capacity to choose a life-affirming way of being in the world. Yet we choose to often, a world such violence and greed. What is the legacy that we leave the next generation?
Violence in all levels is on my mind this morning in all the guises it wears. The destruction of the planet, global warming, militarism, the insane volume of hatred and violence we see on the television, movies, and all the video games. We are culture it seems that worships violence and war. The USA sacrifices the education of our children, the health of a nation, the safety of the environment, and spend more than all of Europe, Russian, and China combined on military. What is this insanity all about?
The Buddhist principle is the mandate --Do no harm. It then compels us to ask, what does this mean? What is the principle of no harm? By opposing this violence in the world do we become a force a power and energy presence for a greater Love? A profound love needs to hold us close, as close as a suckling child to a mother. We need to fill our spirits with the capacity for genuine love. Love that is transformative. Love that embraces the world as a sacred gift.
My imperative as an artist is to celebrate the magnificent beauty of the planet. To hold dear the water, to savor the sweetness of the air, the clarity of the skies, the preciousness of each breath.
How do we live and act in the Miracle Mind?
I sit in meditation by Blue Heron Pond the sun is making its mark around the stand of pines. Sunlight illuminates white rock sits implacable in the center.
Act wisely and well in the world. Turn off the television. Fold the newspapers. Look at this wisdom of a Spring day. The wisdom of the day is a conversation of love. Love as a celebration. Love as joy. Love is the imperative.
Love is the imperative
tender
loving
spirit
care
love
courage
you
other
the Earth
love
is
the
imperative.
namaya @Blue Heron Pond
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Museum of An Extinct Race: A People formerly Known as Palestinians
"We must expel Arabs and take their places." David Ben Gurion l937
There is a living museum in Israel called the Museum of An Extinct Race. The Israeli government will commemorate the memory of a nearly extinct race, a people formerly known as Palestinians (PFKP), who had been living in the fatherland, Eretz Israel, from the Mediterranean to the Jordan River. These primitive folks lived on farms and cities, before the rightful owners, the Jewish people, returned after a two thousand year absence. The Museum of an Extinct Race is another example of the leadership of Israeli in addressing the so-called Palestinian issue and coming to a final solution.
First, it is necessary to correct some misperceptions of these so-called Palestinians. As Prime Minster Golda Meir said, "There is no such thing as a Palestinian people... It is not as if we came and threw them out and took their country. They didn't exist." The anti-Zionist conspiracy has endeavored to undermine the state of Israel, a state founded on the moral bedrock of the old Jewish testament. Though the Israeli flag has a Star of David, the symbol of Judaism, nevertheless, we do not intentionally exclude Muslims. The sooner Muslim Arabs adhere to our European Jewish values the quicker they can be fully incorporated into the greater Zionist vision of the state of Israel, and finally put to rest this, frankly, silly notion of this so called people – Palestinians. Otherwise, in the words of David Ben Gurion our founding Prime Minister, “We must drive them out.” Or, more vividly by Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir, “The Palestinians …crushed like grasshoppers ... heads smashed against the boulders and walls.” How can the world or any reasonable person argue with such moral clarity? Nevertheless, the Museum of Extinct Species takes a more enlightened perspective and wishes to preserve the memory of this culture. In as much as Israel has and continues to eradicate the blight of Muslim communities, we wish to preserve the Oriental je ne sais quoi so endearing to tourists.
The term PFKP, people formerly known as Palestinians, eliminates the tedious pretensions of identity and ownership. By eliminating the confusing Muslim names where virtually everyone is Mohamed or Ali, we assigned numbers to them, PFKP 1, PFKP 2, and so forth, and give each a small tattoo for record keeping. The Museum of an Extinct Race is a sure path to a final solution to the Palestinian issue by eliminating the remotest pretension of a “Palestinian Identity.” As Menachem Begin, the Nobel Peace Prize winner said, “There can be no Jewish state without the eviction of the Arabs and the expropriation of their lands.”
The germ of the project began when our leader Alfred Rosenberg created Hohe Schule or the Academy, a center of education to lay the foundation for this museum and an institution to study the PFKPs. The institution serves as a repository for their books, rugs, and primitive artwork. The PFKPs were mostly agrarian bumpkins and their Muslim ideology of fatalism was a hindrance to their development and failure to adapt to the modern industrial age of capitalism. This underscores some of the arguments of Social Darwinism that some races are inherently more successful than others.
The museum will view how these Arabs came to settle in the greater Levant and for centuries remained in the region, until the return of the Jewish people to their ancestral homes after 2,000 years. Though there was some displacement and readjustment with PFKPs in ancestral villages, and according to the biblical maps these were Jewish settlements or at least had Jewish place names. We acknowledge what David Ben Gurion had said, “There is not a single place built in this country that did not have a former Arab population."
In the great liberation of historic Israel in l948, many of these PFKPs fled before the Anschluss to Lebanon and their true homes in Arabic countries. This was a blessing and it gave the rightful Jewish owners a chance to reclaim this land, and after all, as the chosen people, a two thousand year history of absence is a trifle.
The museum will also correct the absurd world-view that the rightful annexation of the land from the Mediterranean to the Jordan River south to the Negev, to the Golan Heights, was wrong. With the final removal of the Arabs from Jerusalem, the full rightful occupation of all of the area to the west Bank, the deportation of unruly and ungrateful Arabs to Jordan or wherever this scourge came from. As Jerusalem is cleared of the last remnants of the PFKPs, they will realize the superior culture and ontogenetic imperative of the Jewish people to achieve an ethnic purity. The Museum of an Extinct Race will be a fitting tribute to the policies of Israel in dealing with PFKPs, or as our scholars have called it “Arabfrage”, the Arab Question. There had been discussions of deporting the remnant people to Madagascar or elsewhere in Africa more accommodating to their Arabic disposition; yet, we wish to preserve the memory of their sejour. For example, the Muslim quarter in old Jaffa, is very charming without the clutter of Muslims, and their old schools and buildings make very chic bistros.
Imagine the possibilities as we contemplate a Final Solution to the thorny Arab Problem. Yes, the ethnic purity of the Israeli homeland will be a profound step forward, and a fitting memorial is this Museum of an Extinct Race.
There is a living museum in Israel called the Museum of An Extinct Race. The Israeli government will commemorate the memory of a nearly extinct race, a people formerly known as Palestinians (PFKP), who had been living in the fatherland, Eretz Israel, from the Mediterranean to the Jordan River. These primitive folks lived on farms and cities, before the rightful owners, the Jewish people, returned after a two thousand year absence. The Museum of an Extinct Race is another example of the leadership of Israeli in addressing the so-called Palestinian issue and coming to a final solution.
First, it is necessary to correct some misperceptions of these so-called Palestinians. As Prime Minster Golda Meir said, "There is no such thing as a Palestinian people... It is not as if we came and threw them out and took their country. They didn't exist." The anti-Zionist conspiracy has endeavored to undermine the state of Israel, a state founded on the moral bedrock of the old Jewish testament. Though the Israeli flag has a Star of David, the symbol of Judaism, nevertheless, we do not intentionally exclude Muslims. The sooner Muslim Arabs adhere to our European Jewish values the quicker they can be fully incorporated into the greater Zionist vision of the state of Israel, and finally put to rest this, frankly, silly notion of this so called people – Palestinians. Otherwise, in the words of David Ben Gurion our founding Prime Minister, “We must drive them out.” Or, more vividly by Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir, “The Palestinians …crushed like grasshoppers ... heads smashed against the boulders and walls.” How can the world or any reasonable person argue with such moral clarity? Nevertheless, the Museum of Extinct Species takes a more enlightened perspective and wishes to preserve the memory of this culture. In as much as Israel has and continues to eradicate the blight of Muslim communities, we wish to preserve the Oriental je ne sais quoi so endearing to tourists.
The term PFKP, people formerly known as Palestinians, eliminates the tedious pretensions of identity and ownership. By eliminating the confusing Muslim names where virtually everyone is Mohamed or Ali, we assigned numbers to them, PFKP 1, PFKP 2, and so forth, and give each a small tattoo for record keeping. The Museum of an Extinct Race is a sure path to a final solution to the Palestinian issue by eliminating the remotest pretension of a “Palestinian Identity.” As Menachem Begin, the Nobel Peace Prize winner said, “There can be no Jewish state without the eviction of the Arabs and the expropriation of their lands.”
The germ of the project began when our leader Alfred Rosenberg created Hohe Schule or the Academy, a center of education to lay the foundation for this museum and an institution to study the PFKPs. The institution serves as a repository for their books, rugs, and primitive artwork. The PFKPs were mostly agrarian bumpkins and their Muslim ideology of fatalism was a hindrance to their development and failure to adapt to the modern industrial age of capitalism. This underscores some of the arguments of Social Darwinism that some races are inherently more successful than others.
The museum will view how these Arabs came to settle in the greater Levant and for centuries remained in the region, until the return of the Jewish people to their ancestral homes after 2,000 years. Though there was some displacement and readjustment with PFKPs in ancestral villages, and according to the biblical maps these were Jewish settlements or at least had Jewish place names. We acknowledge what David Ben Gurion had said, “There is not a single place built in this country that did not have a former Arab population."
In the great liberation of historic Israel in l948, many of these PFKPs fled before the Anschluss to Lebanon and their true homes in Arabic countries. This was a blessing and it gave the rightful Jewish owners a chance to reclaim this land, and after all, as the chosen people, a two thousand year history of absence is a trifle.
The museum will also correct the absurd world-view that the rightful annexation of the land from the Mediterranean to the Jordan River south to the Negev, to the Golan Heights, was wrong. With the final removal of the Arabs from Jerusalem, the full rightful occupation of all of the area to the west Bank, the deportation of unruly and ungrateful Arabs to Jordan or wherever this scourge came from. As Jerusalem is cleared of the last remnants of the PFKPs, they will realize the superior culture and ontogenetic imperative of the Jewish people to achieve an ethnic purity. The Museum of an Extinct Race will be a fitting tribute to the policies of Israel in dealing with PFKPs, or as our scholars have called it “Arabfrage”, the Arab Question. There had been discussions of deporting the remnant people to Madagascar or elsewhere in Africa more accommodating to their Arabic disposition; yet, we wish to preserve the memory of their sejour. For example, the Muslim quarter in old Jaffa, is very charming without the clutter of Muslims, and their old schools and buildings make very chic bistros.
Imagine the possibilities as we contemplate a Final Solution to the thorny Arab Problem. Yes, the ethnic purity of the Israeli homeland will be a profound step forward, and a fitting memorial is this Museum of an Extinct Race.
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Old Farmer Joe, the Flying Finn
Yesterday trudged through the snow, drifts of snow that would swallow a child, huge drifts that captured pickup trucks, mountains of snow so sensuous that a bent and gnarled Vermont dairy farmer by the name of Joe leaped up from his wheelchair by the fire, slapped on a pair of rusty skies from the wall, put on his GI helmet from WW II, and roared, "If I die in this last run, let it be with a fit of glory." With a stiff shot of Wild Turkey, a bellowing roaring hellacious shout that woke up the black bears from their slumbering winter reverie Farmer Joe took off like a greased pinball. Well not that elegant, he looked like marionette on Ritalin and a double dose of espresso, he flew in a whirling pirouette, akimbo, the geometry of space and time defied, one ski to the ground the other at an impossible angle defying the expectations of physics and a withered arthritic body.
His wife Maude looked out the window and said, "Damn!" Get the hell off the mountain you crazy old coot!"
She was so angry and knew that Joe couldn't hear a damn thing since he lost his hearing aid nearly a decade ago. A determined tenth generation Vermont woman, she grabbed her 12 gauge shot gun from over the fire place, popped in a few shells, and turned to the mountain where Joe was coming over the hill so fast and with such acrobatic improbability he could pass for Shaun White or one of those other snowboarding fools.
Joe was ready for the last half mile when Maude let loose with a shotgun blast to get his attention. As she was to tell the police, I didn't want to hurt the SOB, I just wanted to get his attention. Well, the road to salvation and perdition are both lined with the best of intentions, and in equal measures in some cases, most time not. So when she aimed at the mountain ridge, a good 25 yards behind his head, she didn’t fully take into account the wind, barometric pressure, or the fact she didn’t have glasses on. Maude couldn’t find the thick coke bottle glasses, but she could find her way around the house just fine. As to the shot, well, it was a fine and splendid shot, as accurate as one could expect. Amazingly enough, it was exactly 25 yards behind his head, so crisp and powerful, it knocked her half way cross the kitchen, but the real fun was just about to begin, or at least from some people’s point of view.
The ledge of snow, ice, and debris that had been building up on the rock ledge gave a ferocious shudder, and even old farmer Joe who was in the most glorious rapture, envisioning himself as the Flying Finn, as a an Olympian athlete trapped in the rusty vestments of an old coot, that was until the avalanche woke him up. He took a gander behind him, it looked like the jaws of death with jagged white teeth ready to chomp him up. Not just, chomp, chomp, and chew him up. This one was going to chew him up and spit him right out into the Pearly Gates, perhaps delivered in a few dozen pieces.
Even the Flying Finn never flew in such a fleeting ferocious flurry. In the midst of fear that would have killed even the most mortal of men, Old Joe, casual as a professional assassin was unmoved. He moved the wad of Red Chief chew tobacco to his other cheek, gave a long gnarled brown spit, crouched down as much as he could, tucked the poles under his arm, and gave a banshee come hell or high water scream, “Yahooooooo! It’s death or glory!” Some accounts who witnessed old Joe’s race down the mountain some described it as a Baryshnikov on skis, others as the Flying Finn, and those more jaundiced like his friend Josiah said, “Damn fool, put on his hat and jacket, but forgot to put on his pants! The boy gotta’ be careful, something important might fall off.” Yes, folks, a half naked Vermont dairy farmer out of control, skiing on one leg and the other at the most peculiar of right angles, chased by an avalanche down the side of the steepest mountain in all of Southern Vermont.
Death and old Joe were neck and neck, Death nipped at his skis and chewed a chunk or two, a boulder of ice flew by his head and nicked his ear, the avalanche was gaining, but Joe determined to beat the old SOB of Death. “I’ve been here for 90 years and Death I ain’t going with you!” As he took the most monstrous of moguls, a sixty-foot ravine and faster than a Shelby Mustang in fifth gear, he hit that mountain. Up, up, up high he flew! For good measure, or perhaps for dumb, real dumb luck, he did a double back flip and through some miracle no one could quite explain, he fly so high and far that he wound up in a feathery soft snow bank outside his front door. Head peering up from the snow, skis impaled on the wall of the house, and he looked up to see the beet red face of his wife.
Maude said, “What took you so damn long to get off the mountain!”
His wife Maude looked out the window and said, "Damn!" Get the hell off the mountain you crazy old coot!"
She was so angry and knew that Joe couldn't hear a damn thing since he lost his hearing aid nearly a decade ago. A determined tenth generation Vermont woman, she grabbed her 12 gauge shot gun from over the fire place, popped in a few shells, and turned to the mountain where Joe was coming over the hill so fast and with such acrobatic improbability he could pass for Shaun White or one of those other snowboarding fools.
Joe was ready for the last half mile when Maude let loose with a shotgun blast to get his attention. As she was to tell the police, I didn't want to hurt the SOB, I just wanted to get his attention. Well, the road to salvation and perdition are both lined with the best of intentions, and in equal measures in some cases, most time not. So when she aimed at the mountain ridge, a good 25 yards behind his head, she didn’t fully take into account the wind, barometric pressure, or the fact she didn’t have glasses on. Maude couldn’t find the thick coke bottle glasses, but she could find her way around the house just fine. As to the shot, well, it was a fine and splendid shot, as accurate as one could expect. Amazingly enough, it was exactly 25 yards behind his head, so crisp and powerful, it knocked her half way cross the kitchen, but the real fun was just about to begin, or at least from some people’s point of view.
The ledge of snow, ice, and debris that had been building up on the rock ledge gave a ferocious shudder, and even old farmer Joe who was in the most glorious rapture, envisioning himself as the Flying Finn, as a an Olympian athlete trapped in the rusty vestments of an old coot, that was until the avalanche woke him up. He took a gander behind him, it looked like the jaws of death with jagged white teeth ready to chomp him up. Not just, chomp, chomp, and chew him up. This one was going to chew him up and spit him right out into the Pearly Gates, perhaps delivered in a few dozen pieces.
Even the Flying Finn never flew in such a fleeting ferocious flurry. In the midst of fear that would have killed even the most mortal of men, Old Joe, casual as a professional assassin was unmoved. He moved the wad of Red Chief chew tobacco to his other cheek, gave a long gnarled brown spit, crouched down as much as he could, tucked the poles under his arm, and gave a banshee come hell or high water scream, “Yahooooooo! It’s death or glory!” Some accounts who witnessed old Joe’s race down the mountain some described it as a Baryshnikov on skis, others as the Flying Finn, and those more jaundiced like his friend Josiah said, “Damn fool, put on his hat and jacket, but forgot to put on his pants! The boy gotta’ be careful, something important might fall off.” Yes, folks, a half naked Vermont dairy farmer out of control, skiing on one leg and the other at the most peculiar of right angles, chased by an avalanche down the side of the steepest mountain in all of Southern Vermont.
Death and old Joe were neck and neck, Death nipped at his skis and chewed a chunk or two, a boulder of ice flew by his head and nicked his ear, the avalanche was gaining, but Joe determined to beat the old SOB of Death. “I’ve been here for 90 years and Death I ain’t going with you!” As he took the most monstrous of moguls, a sixty-foot ravine and faster than a Shelby Mustang in fifth gear, he hit that mountain. Up, up, up high he flew! For good measure, or perhaps for dumb, real dumb luck, he did a double back flip and through some miracle no one could quite explain, he fly so high and far that he wound up in a feathery soft snow bank outside his front door. Head peering up from the snow, skis impaled on the wall of the house, and he looked up to see the beet red face of his wife.
Maude said, “What took you so damn long to get off the mountain!”
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