Thinking of Pakistan this holiday season*

At the end of October, I watched the video below, which was taken six weeks after the flooding outside Pakistan's southern city of Sukkur. There is no commentary, only music and images. Please watch it. The video shows footage of enormous areas of land still under water and unconceivably large number of people living under tragically insufficient conditions as a result of the floods.



It doesn’t take any intelligence to know that while the news media has moved on to the next sensational story (i.e. today’s arrest of Julian Assange), the victims of the floods are still in desperate need of our attention and help. It is for this reason that I’ve decided to take this holiday season to offer what assistance I can, but also to take some time each day during Advent and study about the history and culture of Pakistan.

There is no time like now to shine some light upon my ignorance concerning this country and its people. If you have any suggestions as to which online newspapers, books, or blogs I should read, please leave me a comment or write me an email at the address given on this blog’s sidebar.

If you wish to find out more about how you can help, please go to the following two links (1 and 2) and learn more.

* I am not one to celebrate anniversaries, but this is my 1,111 blog posts, which is called a Schnapszahl in Germany and considered a luck number. 

Pace of Life

Something to consider. If the pace of life differs between countries, cultures, and religions, do you think it differs throughout your life various phases?

"Past-oriented vs. present or future-oriented personalities differ across many landscapes, and factors like religion, geography and culture greatly influence how individuals experience time."



linked from Neatorama

Concentration at Work/ Working with Concentration

It took six days for a group of Buddhist monks to create a mandala of compassion out of coloured sand. I think this is the first time-lapse video that I’ve seen that was captures the work of someone producing a singular piece of work over such a long period of time. The monks of Drepung Loseling Monastery who created the work apparently then destroyed the mandala and scattered the sand into a river for it to be carried off into the world.



To read more about the creation of this mandala you can go to the following links (here and here).

Man with an Imagination

I saw the funniest thing this afternoon: a fellow riding an Harley (old model) wearing a motorcycle helmet covered in white feathers. He was obviously trying to make the thing look like the head of a bald eagle. Totally bizarre.

Why Social Media

If you have ever asked "What is all this crazy hype about social media?", here is someone who makes no apologies, is in your face, and yes, is blatantly up front about saying "enough with the stupid question" and urges you just to get going.

What the F**K is Social Media: One Year Later

View more documents from Marta Kagan.

I found it surprising the 2/3 of the global internet population uses social networks. It seems as if a large part of my own social circle belongs to the 1/3 that doesn't. Why is that?

Small Blessing

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

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

Dance

Worth a definite look!

The Wonders Of The Internet (2/3)

Continued from yesterday's post...

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



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

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

City of Graffitti and Angels

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

Finding Your Truth: Living a Soulful Life

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

Speaking of Faith Interview

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

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

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

Easter Midnight Concert

We enter the dark cathedral. A glow of subtle moonlight offers us a suggestion of light to guide us through the darkness to the slowly filling pews. Faint mummers catch the corners and wander fluidly along the floor. Hundreds of people sit quietly. In prayer. In expectation.

One candle lights the darkness accompanied by rarefied voices of Gregorian chant. Darkness. Twilight. Midnight. Dawn. Winter Deprivation. Hope. Heresy. Faith. Science. Senses. Sensations. All aspects of the momentous transformation from darkness to light studied though words, voice, song, sounds: and graciously carried by ten thousand glorious candles into the Easter morn.

Proud as a Peacock

If I was male and I was a peacock, I’d be strutting like this fellow. My darling daughter’s school’s big band performed in a concert along side the NDR big band this evening. And, they played well. That is, the band my daughter plays in played well. The NDR band played veryvery well. Unbelievable.

Trying Unsuccessfully To Move With The Mood

I just recently decided to renew my membership to a fitness studio again. I went a few years ago, the best times were during the Sydney Olympics. Boy, I never did so much fitness-y stuff as during the Sydney Olympics. We don't have a television at home, and that was before our Broadband Days. Gosh, I'm so old.

So, I'm back on the bicycle and trying to move with the mood of the gym; with its bodybuilding commando, its perky personal trainers, and, sigh, yes, it's television screens. But, now the sports channel is showing reruns of ski jumping, another an advert channel for Canada tourism, and on two more MTV reality shows.

In the last weeks, just about any time I've gone, there has been this lesbian-bi-you-get-to-sleep-with-Tira reality show on the screen while I am pedaling away in the studio. With subtitles. Everywhere you look. I just do not get it. I really wish I could option out of this whole reality show stuff.



Here's a wonderful adieu letter to hip hop that is a very powerful voice of someone who had decided to stop trying to unsuccessfully move with the mood.

Photos of a Playground

My son takes interesting photos. Or, at least I really think so. I've spent the whole day listening to podcasts* and going through hundreds of photos he took last week in Montreal.

This slideshow is a series of photos he took at a playground near to where my sister lives. I love the fact that he climbs up, or under, or around the playgound and catches the beauty of the slides and climbing equipment from other angles.

* Today's listening include podcasts from: Speaking of Faith, The Moth, The Daily Mayo, Writers & Company, and This American Life.

Thanksgiving

It's Thanksgiving Day in Canada. There is next to no activity going on in the kitchen. As far as I know, the turkeys (yes, there are two) are not yet thawed out and the rest of the food is still lying in wait. Think I might start cutting the vegetables or washing the potatoes, just to send a subtle message.

Men in Pantyhose

It’s a fine late summer afternoon. All of the outdoor café tables are filled with customers soaking up the golden warmth of the sun. A man passes me, elegantly dressed in chic nautical attire: topsiders, cut-above-the-knee navy blue shorts, white polo t-shirt, and a linen duffle bag strapped diagonally across his back… at first glance very dapper, though a tad conventional here on the Baltic Sea coast.

Then I look at his legs and realise he is wearing tanned silk pantyhose. His legs are shaved and there is an ever so slight sheen shinning off the back of his calves.

I remember seeing this photo yesterday in The Satorialist blog. At that time, I questioned how many males would have the nerve to wear fishnet stockings. Now, a day later, here is the first brave man walking down the street in front of me.

The whole effect is very elegant, almost unremarkable, except for the sheen. That is what catches the eyes of all the people passing him in the opposite direction, and the café customers people-watching. I start to watch people’s reactions to the pantyhose.

It is both an astonishing and heart-warming experience. First, it astonishes me how many people notice. I would say that nearly 90% of those he passes notice. Secondly, it is a heart-warming experience because the people’s universal reaction is to smile. Not a strained there’s-a-freak-if-I-ever-saw-one smile, but a ear-to-ear smile that speaks of tolerance and love of idiosyncrasy. I’m no sure how many of the people realise the pantyhose is a fashion statement, rather than a person quirk. It really matter if they do, does it?

My Personal Vantage Point

Just after I moved to Germany from Canada 26 years ago, Ronald Regan sent in American troops to Grenada. My parents who live(d) in Grenada happened to be visiting me in Germany at the time. In the days after the Americans landed, we were desperate to find out what was happening back at home. The American newspapers were proclaiming victory in their “intervention”. The British, French and German papers were affronted by the lack of propriety of the American “invasion”. Very few people were listening to the Grenadian points of view. It was difficult to know what was true or not.

Living through this experience made me realise, a) how tainted or biased the media is by political agenda, b) how confusing it is for concerned citizens to formulate our own opinions when hearing or reading so many conflicting points of view, and c) yet, in the end, I believe it is very important for us to make up our own minds about what is true. For the truth is a matter of vantage point or personal perspective, and not something absolute.

When Ronni asked us all to write about topics concerning the up-and-coming American election, I thought immediately about writing how the media in Germany is presenting the presidential election. But, after a few failed attempts, I realise I can really only write about how I am experiencing the election from afar. In some ways this experience is like that which I experienced long ago: wading through oceans of biased reporting, listening to conflicting points of view, and eventually believing in something new.

It might surprise many Americans to know just how interested Europeans are in politics overall and specifically in American politics. Even though there was countless media coverage on the judiciary debacle in Florida during the 2000 election, and puzzlement over Bush’s re-election in 2004, this year’s election is not so much about the American electoral system, it is about Obama. What interests the media is whether the American people will elect this intelligent, informed, and articulate politician who promises change, or his opponent who just gives lip service to it. I am not personally sure whether this is what European citizens are most concerned with. It's perhaps an over simplification of a more complex situation.

To understand the discrepancy between the information the media presents and the viewpoints of the citizens, take the example of Obama’s speech in Berlin. As much as the press would like to say that people came to hear Obama speak because they think he is a rock star. It just is not so. They are curious about his so-called rock star status, but they travelled from far and wide to hear him speak about history, politics, and his vision for America. Is it so hard to believe that hundreds of thousands of people are interested in such matters?

In Europe they do things like gather in masses. Just a few weeks ago, millions of people came to London to celebrate Mandela’s birthday. Yes, they came for the festivities, but they also came to honour and celebrate history, politics, and Mandela’s vision.

In the end, I don’t know if Obama will be elected. The American electoral system is too confusing to understand and the American voters too volatile to predict. There is also the question whether Obama and his party can live up to the promises he makes even if elected. One thing that I am convinced though, he has already made change. He has shown the Old World cynics in Europe that the American Dream is still alive. Who would have thought three years ago… that Obama could win the primaries, that a political underdog would refuse funding from lobbyists, that so many young citizens would stand up to be heard, and that Internet technology content could fuel such a lively global debate?

I’m optimistic that this change will continue. I believe it will create other changes, not only in American politics and government, but also in the politics and governments of other countries as well. And for this belief I am thankful, in part, to Obama, but more so to people like Ronni and other bloggers who have opened my eyes to new facets of your political culture.

Vultures Eyes, Lucky Nuts

My two children have come and gone again in a whisper of time.

My son was in Montreal for ten days: to keep his grandmother company after the death of her brother and to help my brother and sister in various practical ways. He came home from Montreal yesterday, four hours late and with no luggage. He had a shower. I made him a meal. He packed another suitcase with what clothes were left in his cupboard. Then he went off kayaking with his father and sister on the Poland Ukraine border.

My daughter arrived back four days ago from a two-week trip with friends to Gran Canary. Tonight she went off with another friend and her family to the west coast of France. Last year she had trepidation to travel to Montreal alone with her brother. One year later, she has become fully a teenager and revels in her independence. It is exceptional. It heart-breaking.

I tell you that I am proud of their self-reliance and trust in living life’s adventures. I am also not doing too well at showing this pride gracefully. There is a Squirming Wailer in me that takes an effort to dampened down and doesn’t let that stalwart matriarch shine, as she deserves to shine. This is unfortunate, since, when it comes to a joy of travel and an ease of preparation, my children take after me, which is actually something to rejoice. For those of you who know my husband, you know what I mean.

There were two separate instances yesterday and today, when my son and daughter were doing their packing (on their own), they came into the living room, and when I asked them how they were doing, they each answered, “Nearly finished. I just need the lucky nuts.” My heart tripped each time. For, they were referring to a custom I’ve practiced for the last thirty years or so.

After storms, on the beaches of Grenada, it is possible to find a nut that is locally called Lucky Nut, Vulture’s Eye (the brown speckled variety), or Donkey’s Eye (the grey variety). This nut is reputed to bring seven-years of luck when you rub it and make a wish. Every time I walk on a beach in Grenada, I look along the tide line of debris to see if I can find such a nut nested there. The nuts are supposed to float up from the Orinoco River in Venezuela with the tides.

This is all lore from my childhood and yet, it pleases me to place one lucky nut in each piece of luggage whenever we travel anywhere. I infuse each nut with prayers for a safe and pleasant journey. And, mercifully, our travels have been plenty and pleasurable.

The fact that my children wish to carry on this tradition of their own volition, makes me smile tonight, when actually I feel rather melancholy. Safe and pleasant journeys, children of mine.

P.S. This is my 777th post. A Schnapszahl in Germany... lucky number.

Private Matter

A few months ago, there was a weekend public art event held in private homes in Luebeck. The event is called PrivatArt, which translates as private art, or private matter, or private manner. Numerous homes opened their doors to the public so they could view art in various forms: e.g., painting, sculpture and music.

A dear friend and I attended at cello concert in a home that was also showing an exhibit of India inspired collages. The woman of the house performed the concert. She is, other than being a masterful cellist, also a grade school teacher. Thirty people or so squished into the small living room of their 17th century home, to hear her play old and new compositions.

It was a very personable affair. She explained the difference in music notation of old (leaves more to the artist’s interpretation) and new (detailed instructions telling exactly how to play the notes). Each notation form has its challenges, each piece its joys and frustrations. The cellist brought both the composers and their compositions close to her audience.

What surprised me most when I saw the cello played up close was how three-dimensional the bowing of the cello is. I had always presumed that bowing was similar to sawing, there being a back and forth, a long or short movement, but that is it. That is not it at all, for sawing is only a two-dimensional description. The third dimension occurs because the cellist can move the bow 90 degrees, from the side over across to the flat of the bow. On the side, all the hairs of the bow act as one taunt wire, and then on the flat side, each hair is acting practically as an individual, and thus creating another tonality of vibration in the cello’s strings. What magic!

Here is a video of Jacqueline Du Pré playing the cello, when she was young.



She and Yo Yo Ma were my inspirations when I was a teenager and young adult.

Luebeck is blessed to have so many artists living here. We are also blessed to have so many cultural events, like PrivatArt.

Next, is the Museum Night, where all true blue Luebeckers and visitors wander in and out of the museums and galleries looking at art exhibited and preformed of every form until mid-night. A few years ago, I had the pleasure of hearing an actor read Gunther Grass’ erotic poems to tango music and seeing three couples dancing tango to the poems. Once again, it was magical.