Sonho
Keep a green tree in your heart and perhaps a singing bird will come
Friday, December 23, 2011
Thursday, December 22, 2011
December 22nd
Solstice + Dreams for 2012
Yesterday I rode the bus with my dad to São Paulo to meet up with Patricia Sogayar, her husband Paulo who works at Ethos, and Rodrigo about the Art of Learning Center Gathering here in Brazil. On the bus ride, my dad told me about a small house he's dreaming of building out of straw-bale, timber framing and cob. It was fun to draw the plan out and think of the natural lighting, heating, and ventilation. It made me realize how much I really know about sustainable methods of building... At least in theory. But there is sooooo much to learn through practice. So now I'm dreaming of taking a course at TIBÁ on bioarchitecture.
What are the first steps I can start to take to get things moving around Fazenda Bom Jardim? Thaís said it's obvious - plan a gathering to talk about dreams and a gathering to prepare the model and then have an Oasis. Alright!! Thanks Thaís! Simple enough right?
Today was the holiday party at Elos as well as the longest day of the year here in the southern hemisphere!
Yesterday I rode the bus with my dad to São Paulo to meet up with Patricia Sogayar, her husband Paulo who works at Ethos, and Rodrigo about the Art of Learning Center Gathering here in Brazil. On the bus ride, my dad told me about a small house he's dreaming of building out of straw-bale, timber framing and cob. It was fun to draw the plan out and think of the natural lighting, heating, and ventilation. It made me realize how much I really know about sustainable methods of building... At least in theory. But there is sooooo much to learn through practice. So now I'm dreaming of taking a course at TIBÁ on bioarchitecture.
What are the first steps I can start to take to get things moving around Fazenda Bom Jardim? Thaís said it's obvious - plan a gathering to talk about dreams and a gathering to prepare the model and then have an Oasis. Alright!! Thanks Thaís! Simple enough right?
Today was the holiday party at Elos as well as the longest day of the year here in the southern hemisphere!
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
December 21st
And today's theme...
drrruumm rollll - BATICUMBUM!
FOOD
one of my all-time favorites!
a tasty surprise is a cookin'!
a tasty surprise is a cookin'!
So what is food all about?
It's quite a complex theme! And definitely one I could explore for a lifetime.
But let's keep it short and sweet for now. Just a taste :)
It's the art of bringing the perfect blend of ingredients together, it's about timing, and temperature, and precision, and experimentation, about the art of savoring the company of friends and family, of connecting with the earth, with our souls,
of living in the moment.
cocinar & disfrutar, "Cozinhar é simultaneamente uma brincadeira de crianças e um prazer de adultos. Cozinhar com zelo é um ato de amor."
A banquete a year ago
Millets of Mewar
Sakhi's Gift
50 Classic Curries. My favorite so far is the Masala Okra! I've made it twice and it is sooo packed with flavor. I cooked an Indian feast at home for my family.
Hello my name is... , a recipe by Paola de la Concha Zindel
A banquete a year ago
Millets of Mewar
Sakhi's Gift
50 Classic Curries. My favorite so far is the Masala Okra! I've made it twice and it is sooo packed with flavor. I cooked an Indian feast at home for my family.
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
December 20th - So Hum
So this morning I had sooo many ideas of what to write about. There was inspiration and discovery everywhere I looked. I seemed to breath it in like air. I took pictures of the outdoor market, talked to the street vendors Roberto and Maria, who changed aprons because they wanted to look fresh and clean in the photo. I scanned some interesting things I had picked up during my time in India. But by mid day I was feeling like all the ideas were too much - how would I compose and squeeze everything into one day's post? I was trying to remember everything I had been inspired to write about and suddenly all my ideas seemed to evaporate in the afternoon heat. Sizzling brain cells... When I got off work, I went straight to the beach with my brother and passed out on the sand. So now that night has come and I'm dead tired from staying up till 2 last night (which is when the power outage happened and I had to light a candle to get into bed) i've decided to keep it simple. So here it goes: Big news of the evening: I finished "You are Therefore I Am: a Declaration of Dependence" that Emi lent me before I left for India. I'm going to share the last chapter with you because I love it so.
A Declaration of Dependence
The American Declaration of Independence in 1776 may have been right in its time and context. At times of slavery, colonialism and imperialism, it is right and proper that the colonized stand up for their dignity and claim freedom from oppression.
But now the age of Ecology is dawning and a new consciousness is being born. In the wake of multiple environmental crises, we are rediscovering the ancient wisdom that we depend on each other and we depend on the ways of nature. We depend on the Earth.
The Industrial Revolution, scientific discoveries and technological inventions have created the illusion that we, the human race, are the rulers, that we can take nature's laws into our own hands, and do what we like with them. We are the masters of creation; we are in charge of the natural world - its forests, rivers, mountains, fishes, fossils, animals, birds, oil, gas, coal. We have dominion over the land, the oceans and the sky. We can split the atom, engineer genes and walk upon the moon. We can ever diminish the wild, enslave the animals, dam the rivers and deplete the energy reserves accumulated over millennia. There are no limits to our power.
This is human arrogance at its worst. As a result we have turned the abundant bounty of natural gifts into scarcity. Time is infinite, yet we have turned it into a limited commodity. We have reduced the Earth, our planet, our home, to a battlefield where we are competing and fighting for materials, markets, power.
Now we are at a crossroads. We can continue to follow the same path. We can continue to live in the illusion of perpetual economic growth. We can stick to our technological addiction. We can pursue genetics, robotics, nano- and nuclear technology. We can take the road to ruin. We can drive to the abyss. Or we can turn towards ecology: the path of values, ethics and aesthetics, the path of love and reverence for nature, the path of participatory science. We can relinquish the knowledge which enables us to lord it over the Earth. Like the Chinese in the middle ages, who discovered gunpowder but decided to use it only for fireworks, we can be wise and say enough is enough.
For survival and for the good life we need humility. We come from the soil and will return to the soil. We are part of nature, neither above it nor separate from it. Nature is the source of all life: the source of joy and celebration, the source of arts and imagination, the source of poetry and inspiration, the source of skills and inventions. Earth gives us experience of time and space, it gives us seasons and change. We work and rest in response to the earthly cycles. Earth grants us a sense of place, from which we derive our identity and belonging. Earth is the source of music, dance and delight. It is the source of beauty, wisdom and insight. For our existence and experience, for our happiness and health, for our nutrition and nourishment, we depend on the Earth. We depend on the love of the beloved, the beauty of the beautiful and the goodness of the good. Embracing vulnerability and humility, let us declare our utter dependence on the Earth, and on each other: You are, therefore I am.
A Declaration of Dependence
The American Declaration of Independence in 1776 may have been right in its time and context. At times of slavery, colonialism and imperialism, it is right and proper that the colonized stand up for their dignity and claim freedom from oppression.
But now the age of Ecology is dawning and a new consciousness is being born. In the wake of multiple environmental crises, we are rediscovering the ancient wisdom that we depend on each other and we depend on the ways of nature. We depend on the Earth.
The Industrial Revolution, scientific discoveries and technological inventions have created the illusion that we, the human race, are the rulers, that we can take nature's laws into our own hands, and do what we like with them. We are the masters of creation; we are in charge of the natural world - its forests, rivers, mountains, fishes, fossils, animals, birds, oil, gas, coal. We have dominion over the land, the oceans and the sky. We can split the atom, engineer genes and walk upon the moon. We can ever diminish the wild, enslave the animals, dam the rivers and deplete the energy reserves accumulated over millennia. There are no limits to our power.
This is human arrogance at its worst. As a result we have turned the abundant bounty of natural gifts into scarcity. Time is infinite, yet we have turned it into a limited commodity. We have reduced the Earth, our planet, our home, to a battlefield where we are competing and fighting for materials, markets, power.
Now we are at a crossroads. We can continue to follow the same path. We can continue to live in the illusion of perpetual economic growth. We can stick to our technological addiction. We can pursue genetics, robotics, nano- and nuclear technology. We can take the road to ruin. We can drive to the abyss. Or we can turn towards ecology: the path of values, ethics and aesthetics, the path of love and reverence for nature, the path of participatory science. We can relinquish the knowledge which enables us to lord it over the Earth. Like the Chinese in the middle ages, who discovered gunpowder but decided to use it only for fireworks, we can be wise and say enough is enough.
For survival and for the good life we need humility. We come from the soil and will return to the soil. We are part of nature, neither above it nor separate from it. Nature is the source of all life: the source of joy and celebration, the source of arts and imagination, the source of poetry and inspiration, the source of skills and inventions. Earth gives us experience of time and space, it gives us seasons and change. We work and rest in response to the earthly cycles. Earth grants us a sense of place, from which we derive our identity and belonging. Earth is the source of music, dance and delight. It is the source of beauty, wisdom and insight. For our existence and experience, for our happiness and health, for our nutrition and nourishment, we depend on the Earth. We depend on the love of the beloved, the beauty of the beautiful and the goodness of the good. Embracing vulnerability and humility, let us declare our utter dependence on the Earth, and on each other: You are, therefore I am.
Monday, December 19, 2011
december 19th
This morning I received a heart-shaped cookie from Lia "pra a Ariane é de coração", she gave me a kiss and my heart melted instantly.
'tis the season of gifting
and of embracing,
of sweeping out the old
and kissing those fuzzy dust bunnies good-bye
to make room for what's to come -
all those surprises and gifts life has to offer!
The Elos holiday card went out today... or maybe it was on Friday, I'm not sure because it was sent out titled: Teste. Val forgot to change the title when she sent it out to all of Elos' contacts. This was a blessed mistake because we think it left people more curious and resulted in a record-number of viewers!
Also on the menu today: A sneak peak at my design process for the Warriors Without Weapons 2012 participant handbook. The themes I'm exploring today are speach-bubbles, hands, and line-drawings.
Sunday, December 18, 2011
dec 18th - surprise!
hmm, this trying to post every day. I dunno :P but here it goes! A quick post before bed...This morning we woke up early to go watch the Santos vs. Barcelona game for the finals of the Copa Mundial happening in Japan. It sounded as if a war was being waged outside with the fireworks and all. We headed to the beach where we watched the game on a big screen near the stage set up for New Years festivities. Even before we arrived, Barcelona had scored 2 goals. Santos fans were not happy, but Barcelona is clearly the better team and I think everyone knew that. Their passing is impeccable and they work really well as a team. So the final score was 4 to 0. Not even one little goal from Santos, which was super disappointing. Soccer is a funny thing. While one side is so extremely happy, the other side cries...
The sun was toooo hot so we headed back home. Then around lunch time the doorbell rang... I thought it was my dad who had just stepped out returning. When I opened the door... Surprise!!!! my cousin Julia! my aunt Irene! Sonia! Eliane! It was a total surprise. They had been trying to call but my phone wasn't getting service for some reason. And the other day they had said they wouldn't be able to make it. So the day basically turned into a party- going to the beach, listening to some live music, walking, talking :)
At the end, after my aunts and Julia left, we returned to the same stage where we watched the Soccer match in the morning to see the São Paulo Orchestra play. It was during sunset and the light made me feel expansive. There was an elegant crowd and beeautiful instrumentals and the whole experience was quite moving.
And now starts the week... I'm curious to see what's in store.
Saturday, December 17, 2011
december 17th
Boas Novas of the day: Paola's project got funded!!! It was so exciting to follow the funding process because it was as if they had a huge leap at the last minute! When I checked before going to bed on the 16th, they had 9 hours to go and still needed $3,000 to reach their goal of $29,500. They ended up raising $30,155 with 264 backers! Mindblasting! :)
"This year, we want to encourage five Latino-American mural and graffiti artists who are currently living abroad and have never been to Mexico to come to Puebla in April 2012. This is an opportunity to celebrate an exchange of talents and experience through a collective effort towards the restoration of these Xanenetla homes.
Destination of funds
With your generous donation, you will be contributing to the project by helping five Latino-American artists come to Mexico and contribute to Latinamerica by painting murals with the community of Xanenetla, as well as twenty other local artists. Donations will go towards all the necesary materials to paint twenty five murals including the restoration of the twenty five facades, coordinate several workshops with the artists during the two-week mural painting festival, and document the entire creative process on video and printed material. Every single dollar will support us. If we are successful together, we will be celebrating the triumph of art over anguish and economic struggle. We shall celebrate community effort over dispersion. We will celebrate the joy of coming together as friends and families over territorial limits. We will celebrate color over deconstruction. We will celebrate the voice of cooperation and the power of sharing.
Puebla: Mural City by Colectivo Tomate
"We are part of the web of life, not the owners, nor even the managers nor the stewards; instead we should consider ourselves to be the trustees of the Earth.
The idea of trusteeship was first formulated by Mahatma Gandhi. He believed we humans should hold the Earth in sacred trust on behalf of all living beings and on behalf of future generations. It is the responsibility of a good trustee not to squander the original capital - only the interest can be spent, without depleting the capital.
As trustees, we need to look for ways and means to replenish and enhance rather than diminish the Earth.
If we continue along the path of ownership and hope that all people - six billion of us - can have access to the same resources, we will soon be disappointed. If everyone were to seek a Western standard of living, we would need the resources of four to five planets, which is absurd. We need a new purpose in life which is different from the ideology of high living standards for everyone. This new purpose could be termed 'trusteeship and elegant simplicity for everyone', where quality of life is more important than quantity of possessions."
Friday, December 16, 2011
Thursday, December 15, 2011
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
A random act of creativity and kindness...
The other day I wondered... what if I had to play the way of the warrior game over again? What would I do? and then I remembered my days in art school... my balloon and letter project... random acts of creativity and kindness, leaving money in decorated envelopes hidden in between the pages of library books for a random reader to find. Anonymous, secretly spreading beauty and affection and care. Then I remembered my FOOD class - setting up the monday brunch stand and making sourdough pancakes for people as they walked by in downtown San Francisco. Churning butter, grinding flour, offering homemade jams we made using fruit picked from trees growing in the streets of Oakland. Aahh glorious memories. Sharing with classmates, sharing with people as we picked the fruit. art and life. omg, and I just remembered... the date on the video was December 15th... that's tomorrow. Aniversary of my random act of creativity and kindness project...
cheers to posting and postcards and balloons and seekers and inspiration and love and life
*sigh* a hazy day of searching for inspiration. of feeling lost and wandering... my family gets here tomorrow... appreciating simple beauty... wanting to curl up in a ball and sleep... Letters, letters, letters... thinking of my dreams for next year... deciding to post more things on my blog... intentions... art of living the future now... wanting to create... wanting something spicy and filled with chocolate... mmm...
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Thursday, August 11, 2011
Learning Journey India
This is setting out.
The leaving of everything behind.
Leaving the social milieu. The preconceptions.
The definitions. The language
The narrowed field of vision. the expectations.
No longer expecting relationships, memories, words, or letters to mean what they used to mean.
To be, in a word: Open.
-Rabbi Lawrence Kushner
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
The Road
what gifts do we discover as we slow down, look around, invite more people in, and enjoy our well-companioned journey?
-Walk Out Walk On
caminante, no hay camino, se hace camino al andar. Wanderer, there is no road, the road is made by walking.
-Antonio Machado
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