Early Morning

On my walk this morning, I caught the glimpse of a couple taking their boat out for an early morning journey. Most of the other people on the bicycle paths and sidewalks were rushing on towards their offices or school classrooms. I imagined the couple standing near on the top deck with the thermos full of hot coffee and a sunny day in front of them, and was envious of their freedom.

Then I realised that I also had the freedom to take a short journey of my own.

So, I sat on the sunny bench in an empty playground and listened to Krista Tippet and Alan Dienstag's insightful conversation titled, "Lessons from the Lifelines Writing Group 
for People in the Early Stages of Alzheimer's Disease: 
Forgetting That We Don't Remember".

It was a wonderful stolen hour.

Strolling along the my favourite Café

If I remember correctly, I told you about my favourite café that is located in a flowershop not far from where we live. Here is a slide show of photos taken last week...



On a side note, my favourite season in Germany is spring. My favourite season in Canada (east coast) was autumn.

Since I am at home looking for meaningful employment, I tend to go out for a lot of long walks. Sometimes I go along, but not always. I have a handful of friends that occasionally accompany me during these meanderings. Their company and our conversation is as much a comfort, as it is an opportunity to explore all things vast and small.

Life of a Slouth

For the first time since January, when I became unemployed, I have this feeling of quite anticipation in my belly. A joy to be able to work on whatever projects I want to do. There are no deadlines. There are no outside pressures. There is just a whole notebook full of ideas and the will to translate these ideas into concrete actions.

For instance, do some research on various projects:



The “8 Goals for Africa” song is part of an awareness and advocacy campaign developed by the United Nations System in South Africa on the eight Millenium Development Goals. The program began in 2000 and is supposed to finish in 2015, so that means the program is the last phase and yet, there is so much more to do.

I heart TEDxNYED

Ok, I know, I know, not more TED, but heck, yes to more TED. Just spent the day watching the TEDxNYED videos. My mind is sizzling. My butt is numb.

I won’t bore all of you who are not educators or parents of children in schools, by embedding all of my favourites. Rather, I just want to make a list of links to a few of them and explain why they are worth watching.

Dan Meyer’s presentation introduction is a grabber:

“Can I ask you to please recall a time when you really loved something: a movie, album, a song or a book. And, you recommended it wholeheartedly to someone you also really liked. And, you anticipated that reaction, you waited for it, and it came back, and the person hated it. So by way of introduction, that is the exact same state that I spend every working day of the last six years… I teach high school math.”

He then goes on and explains with passion and precision five factors that contribute to this situation of having to teach math to unmotivated students, as well as five factors that can change this.

Dan Cohen’s presentation is titled, “The Last Digit of Pi”, and is an entertaining, but probing story about pi, which is “a story about the psychology of change and the inertia of the past systems of knowledge, and past systems of education”.

Mark Welsh is always an interesting person to listen to. In this talk he is no less so. He tells a very funny story at the beginning that explains the tortures and joys of culture shock, but also discovery of and participation in these new cultures. “This is actually why anthropologists do what they do. We want to become children again and learn a new world in a new way with open eyes.” How marvellous is this description of the journey all of us should venture on, anthropologist or not. Yet, in the end, his talk is not one of inspiration, but of caution (sometimes when we try to use media (for social changes), media uses us) and we would do well to listen.

Jay Rosen’s presentation is called, “Pragmatism: Look for really good problems…”. Watch it. Enjoy.

Mother’s Day

Making a bit of a fuss of Mother’s Day is fine with me, but I really feel it should be more of a big to-do about our children. Where would we mothers be without all of the joys and challenges our children introduce into our lives? I know there is International Children’s Day, but it never is quite measures up to all the kind gestures of cake-eating-flower-giving-card-making celebrations of Mother’s Day.

My son sent me a link to the following cartoon animated story from Story Corps. Twelve-year-old Joshua Littman, who has Asperger’s syndrome, interviews his mother, Sarah, and the their conversation is very poignant at times.


Q&A from StoryCorps on Vimeo.


It would be nice to have a Family Day, don’t you think?

Spring Colours

There is a wonderful flower shop downtown that runs a café on Fridays and Saturdays. I love going there, particularly on a grey raining day like today, so that I can feast upon the variety colours and forms of the flowers. I'll have to see if I can take a photo of this.

Janelle Monáe - Something Fresh

Janelle Monáe featuring Big Boi of Outkast, “Tight Rope.”

I just love this fusion of song, dance, storyline, and music video production. Janelle Monáe and the other musicians and dancers have created something fresh, though there is some very old about the moves too. Maybe not old, but classic. Can you make something new that is already classic? I've watched the video now five times and with each viewing I learn to like it better each time.  

Good Guy

Thought you might enjoy this poetry reading of Bill Murray's. Good guy through and through.

Ray of Hope

I had a job interview just before Easter. The position is as a teacher in a industry and trade school. I've been invited back for a second interview next Monday. Please keep your fingers crossed.

Personality of Things

A while ago, I saw a photograph exhibition in a café in Berlin that was a series of images of the contents of women’s purses. The contents were either neatly positioned in a sort of collage, or just randomly dumped out onto the surface of a table or sidewalk. The images were rather provocative as well as informative. They did seem to speak of the personality of the owner.



I’ve always wondered whether the same thing could be said for what you find on pin boards or how you arrange your office desktop. What do you think?

Audience Experience versus Musical Participation

I know a couple that is very active in a charity organisation that brings classical music into people’s everyday lives. They arrange for very talented musicians, mostly master students from the local music conservatory, to play music in concert halls, churches, school auditoriums, hospital wards, prison cafeterias, senior citizen homes, women centers… anywhere people gather, they try to bring music to them.

One of the perks of this couple’s volunteer work, is they get to know many of the musicians personally. A few years ago, three musicians mentioned how they were preparing some pieces for an international music competition. They were concerned that they had only practiced the pieces, but not actually preformed them. So, began a series of home concerts in my friends’ living room.

The next concert is just around the corner (piano and violin) and I am very much looking forward to going. It is hard to describe how magical it is to hear music of such beauty in the intimacy of a living room. There is something visceral, physical, and emotional about the experience. It cannot be compared to recorded music, and not even music performed in a concert hall.

I watched this video today with much interest:





On the TED site, the video is explained as follows:

“185 voices from 12 countries join a choir that spans the globe: "Lux Aurumque," composed and conducted by Eric Whitacre, merges hundreds of tracks individually recorded and posted to YouTube. It's an astonishing illustration of how technology can connect us.”

Initially, I was very intrigued by the idea and even the realisation. Then it started to remind me of some science fiction film, a little eerie, if not unsettling. Then I realised that, from an audience point of view, it just doesn’t work for me.  It couldn’t be further from the experience of sitting in the living room with a group of friends and hearing every nuance of a musician’s genius.

The merit of Eric Whitacre’s idea is perhaps in the experience the people performing the piece felt. The opportunity to sing in the comfort of your home and still participate in a virtual concert.

What do you think, would you rather be in that living room as the audience, or in your bedroom as a participator? 

Impressive Images and Good Graphics

photo by Olivier Vandeginste

The Big Picture has another series of spectacular photos of Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull volcano outbreak.

My son has been stuck in southern Italy these last days due to the reduced air traffic in Europe. The gods willing, he is making his way home today.

One of the reasons I so enjoy the Information is Beautiful blog is that the author asks the right question and finds the clever answer so often.

David the creator of the graphic above just posted the following information:

"We got our figures wrong on the CO2 emissions of Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajoekull. Badly wrong.

So we want to apologise.

We pride ourselves on good data and solid information. Despite detailed research and feedback from Icelandic vulcanologists, our figures were out by a magnitude of ten


The volcano is emitting 150,000 tons of CO2 per day, not 15,000 tons."

Even though David made an initial mistake, I still think the corrected image shows how graphics are good for presenting both the big picture and the small details of a situation.

Media Production in the Warmth and Comfort of Home

(making of film of a Belgium natural gas advert, the advert is shown at the end of the film)

Stop-motion animation is one of my favourite forms of filmmaking. When I was working in schools, it was the sort of project that children “get” right away. It doesn’t matter whether they are grade 2 students or grade 13 students, you explain the basics and off they go. What is so transparently unique about stop-motion is how a simple idea (e.g. warmth means wool) can be translated into a charming story.

Many children tell extremely complex stories that are often unintelligible to their listeners or readers if they are given free reign of their imagination. Stop-motion storytelling is most effective way of slicing the storyline down.



Take a look at the video above if you want to see how making a very simple stop-motion film allowed this young fellow, Pep, start creating media rather than just consuming it. This is the sort of media production educators (principals, teachers, and parents alike) should be encouraging their students to do.

For a detailed and interesting analysis of what Pep is saying in the film, please go to this post of Henry Jenkin’s Confessions of an Aca-Fan blog.

I’ve published numerous stop-motion animations in the past, so I won’t bore you with any more. If you want to know more about how to make your own stop-motion, please go to this post at makeuseof.com.

Everyday Heroes V

Everyday heroes we encounter are important influences on our lives. They have the ability to alter our thinking and, often, even the direction of our decision-making. This post is part of a series I am writing about the heroes I have met.



Name: Ruth
Profession: corporate law
Marital Status: married
Children: a daughter
Place of Origin: Cameroon

How we met:

Ruth came to live in Germany with her young daughter a year and a half ago. She came in the dead of winter. Ruth knew how to speak German and she had conscientiously studied all the facts and figures of this new country she was marrying into. What she couldn’t learn in the warm and wonderful climate of Douala, was what winter cold feels like. How deep damp winter weather can hurt you teeth and bones.

How the winter darkness can sap all the residues of sunny joy stored from childhood memories from the marrow of those bones.

How impenetrable are the blank facades in the faces of her German neighbours.

How confusing is the bureaucratic machinery that every citizen and resident must comply to.

Yet, Ruth proves to have more resilience and resourcefulness and quiet charm than all those dour beings and circumstances that are scattering stones in her way. She has forged loving relationships with her new extended family. She has become mightily efficient at navigating herself around the labyrinth called German bureaucracy. She’s helped her daughter find a place in her new neighbourhood. She has become a wise and kind friend.

What she has shown me:

She has shown an ability to move with assurance in a strange culture. She has show me that even if you are confused and at times desperate, you can’t stop moving in the general direction you see as forward. Whether it is forward or not, is almost irrelevant, just take purposeful steps as best you can.

The Moipei Quartet

Photo of The Moipei Quartet

Rafiki Kenya blog post a few days ago included some information about the Moipei Quartet,

“The Moipei triplets Mary, Martha and Magdalene and their younger sister Seraphine form the all girl music group, Moipei Quartet. These talented Maasai girls have very beautiful voices (well trained by their father Nicholas ole Moipei who is also their teacher) and often perform 'a capella' or accompanied by piano only, mostly in classical styles. Some of their songs also bring us a message, like Mbiu ya Mgambo, which highlights the plight of girls in the Maasai community.”



They have just brought out a new CD. Can imagine some of you (that means you, Fee) might like to order it.

I loved this song way back when, when my family and I used to watch John Denver sing it on his television show.

Everyday Heroes IV

Everyday heroes we encounter are important influences on our lives. They have the ability to alter our thinking and, often, even the direction of our decision-making. This post is part of a series I am writing about the heroes I have met.



Name: Karen
Profession: librarian
Marital Status: married
Children: two daughters
Place of Origin: Ohio, USA

How we met:

When I first came to live in Germany, all those years ago, it was winter. It was dark and dismal outdoors. Indoors it was lonely. I felt lamed.

Not knowing how to speak German was a barrier. As the only woman in a large department of socially inept engineers, it wasn’t easy getting to know people. When I met an American woman, Karen, whose husband was an officer in the US Army Base down the road from where I worked, my world changed.

Karen was actively immersed in the social and cultural life of the city; unlike many of the officers’ wives who lived very isolated lives on base. She was a member of the Bach Choir, part of the women’s literary society, and active in the neighbourhood community where she and her husband lived on the outskirts of the city.

What made her special was her willingness to (learn and) speak German, as well as her willingness to (learn and) respect the various social norms prevalent to the area. Up until the time I met Karen, I had been struggling unsuccessfully to learn German. And, my attitude towards the mountain of social norms I was being buried under was, “If you could just leave me alone, I’d love to leave you alone.” Karen, in her infinitely gracious and gentle manner helped me to surrender myself to my lot. Through example, she taught me more about how to be happy living as a foreigner in a foreign land than anyone I have met before or since.

What she taught me:

The first way to get to know someone is through language, then shared interests and experiences, and finally, through shared sense of humour and value system. She also showed me that there wasn’t any short cut to get there.

Story Missing II

About a half of a kilometer away from the last photo there was a pair of shoes on the sidewalk next to a bank.

When I saw the shoes, I instantly imagined that they were the pair I took a photo of a few days ago. They could have wandered to their new abode in the dawn hours. I had to laugh at the thought. 

Then I realised that this is the time when many proper housewives do spring cleaning (I'm not one of those). So these random pair of shoes could well be what Tine and Ian are talking about in their comments of the last post, just one of many items left out for people to take.

Story Missing

The other morning I work up very early, probably about 5 o'clock, and looked out our living room window. I saw two large shoes placed neatly on top of our electrical connection box. It gave me pause: how did the shoes get there, who did they belong to, what would happen to them now?

A few hours later, this is what I saw,

The shoes were gone! What happened? Surely a story that has gone missing. Have you any idea?

In the Pines

For her 15th birthday, my daughter requested a gift of an ukulele. She plays the piano and saxs, but this is her first string instrument. I really hope that she can in the future be a part of a group as fun and fantastic as the one above. Do enjoy.

April Fools

This is an April Fool hoax BBC broadcasted in 1957 on Switzerland’s magnificent spaghetti harvest. Apparently, it is legendary, but it is the first time I saw it and wanted to share it with you. I excuse myself if you have seen it every year since then.

Happy birthday, Tine!