Tuesday 31 May 2011
Churchill Time in my life
Blog duties have mainly been transferred to http://kaleighinchurchill.blogspot.com since that is what this summer has become.
Friday 25 March 2011
What are three things you know to be true?
There are Three things that I know to be true.
Number one:
I’m scared
I’m scared of a lot of things,
But today, I’m scared of being trapped,
of being trapped in the dark,
where trying to claw out only pours down more dirt into my eyes.
I’m scared of going down a path I can’t jump off of
because my feet are glued to the ground,
with walls closing in on all sides and all the doors locked.
It is entrapment and claustrophobia.
No. You see, the problem is,
I like choices
I like choices way too much
I like the choice to explore perpetually.
I like choices so I can keep dreaming my dreams of a future,
Parallel futures in parallel verses and parallel universes.
In one, I can be that researcher in hip waders with a teeming net of organisms to keep me curious for years.
In another, I can be that photographer hunting human faces, their smiles and tears, to remind the world of life.
In another, I can be that writer with heart torn out and life blood dripping on the pages to be read by strangers.
But as I slide from course to course,
I’m finding that I’m missing prereqs,
that doors have closed around me,
slamming without me knowing
until I’m looking back
and wishing
that I had kept that one door open, and that one too...
What is left is this hallway I’ve been molded into,
shoulder shoved through the crowd
until I’m the last standing and not knowing where I am.
And I’m scared that this path is trapping me.
I’m scared.
But I know this too, my number two.
The second truth:
I don’t know where I will end up.
Two years from now:
Will I be in grad school working on a thesis?
Or in Africa playing soccer with the local kids?
Two minutes from now:
Will I be enjoying the warmth of applause?
Or sneaking off stage to the sound of crickets?
I don’t know where I will end up.
And that the path in front of me, it’s taking me somewhere
but I can’t see into that darkness
so maybe it will trap me for a while,
but then it will open up
because paths always open up
They fork and branch and even at a dead end, I can always go back
So I will be ready.
I will carry all of those dreams I’ve been dreaming,
of kayaking around the world and watching a sunset for a continuous 24 hours,
down every single dark path I tread I will carry these dreams
because who said I can’t go back and follow a frayed dream thread
and make it shine again?
And who said I can’t braid all those dreams together
and find a way to do everything, anything, I want to do?
Because I don't know where I will end up.
And that’s ok.
Cause you know what? It doesn’t even matter
My third truth:
It doesn’t matter where that place is that I will end up.
I mean, it does matter, a bit.
Because it is that goal I’m trying to reach
and it is important to have goals to strive for
and to reach – to reach out and touch the stars or at least feel the sun on your face.
But everything changes,
that winding path
that goal, that place.
Even me. I change.
And that place I’m trying to get to, it won’t be there when I get there
at least not the place that right now I’m thinking that I’m trying to get to
Because, you know, I think that I think too much about the future
and worse, I think that I worry too much too:
that I won’t study enough for my final,
that I won’t enjoy the party because I don’t know anyone there,
that I won’t be ready to be thrown out of the safety of undergrad into that big, scary world.
And all this worrying makes me focus on a goal, that endpoint.
And I forget
that I’m not really at point A trying to get to point B
that I’m somewhere in between.
Point A is long gone, my journey began before I could breath!
Maybe even before my parents could breath or maybe even before that!
So I’m not at point A anymore.
And point B is somewhere out there
in the fuzzy, murky future
So it shouldn’t matter where point B is anyway!
So refocus, rethink, reimagine.
I’m here, right? I’m here, right now, somewhere between where I started and where I’m going to end up
And right now, where I am right now,
It is only going to happen once.
And where I am now is where I can enjoy being
because I’m not lost when I’m here
I’ll never be lost if I live from moment to moment, now, now, now.
And where I am now is surrounded by friends.
And where I am now is happy.
I’m happy.
So the three things I know?
I’m scared
I’m scared I don’t know anything
But it doesn’t matter, because I’m here, I’m happy.
http://www.ted.com/talks/sarah_kay_if_i_should_have_a_daughter.html?awesm=on.ted.com_sarahkay
Number one:
I’m scared
I’m scared of a lot of things,
But today, I’m scared of being trapped,
of being trapped in the dark,
where trying to claw out only pours down more dirt into my eyes.
I’m scared of going down a path I can’t jump off of
because my feet are glued to the ground,
with walls closing in on all sides and all the doors locked.
It is entrapment and claustrophobia.
No. You see, the problem is,
I like choices
I like choices way too much
I like the choice to explore perpetually.
I like choices so I can keep dreaming my dreams of a future,
Parallel futures in parallel verses and parallel universes.
In one, I can be that researcher in hip waders with a teeming net of organisms to keep me curious for years.
In another, I can be that photographer hunting human faces, their smiles and tears, to remind the world of life.
In another, I can be that writer with heart torn out and life blood dripping on the pages to be read by strangers.
But as I slide from course to course,
I’m finding that I’m missing prereqs,
that doors have closed around me,
slamming without me knowing
until I’m looking back
and wishing
that I had kept that one door open, and that one too...
What is left is this hallway I’ve been molded into,
shoulder shoved through the crowd
until I’m the last standing and not knowing where I am.
And I’m scared that this path is trapping me.
I’m scared.
But I know this too, my number two.
The second truth:
I don’t know where I will end up.
Two years from now:
Will I be in grad school working on a thesis?
Or in Africa playing soccer with the local kids?
Two minutes from now:
Will I be enjoying the warmth of applause?
Or sneaking off stage to the sound of crickets?
I don’t know where I will end up.
And that the path in front of me, it’s taking me somewhere
but I can’t see into that darkness
so maybe it will trap me for a while,
but then it will open up
because paths always open up
They fork and branch and even at a dead end, I can always go back
So I will be ready.
I will carry all of those dreams I’ve been dreaming,
of kayaking around the world and watching a sunset for a continuous 24 hours,
down every single dark path I tread I will carry these dreams
because who said I can’t go back and follow a frayed dream thread
and make it shine again?
And who said I can’t braid all those dreams together
and find a way to do everything, anything, I want to do?
Because I don't know where I will end up.
And that’s ok.
Cause you know what? It doesn’t even matter
My third truth:
It doesn’t matter where that place is that I will end up.
I mean, it does matter, a bit.
Because it is that goal I’m trying to reach
and it is important to have goals to strive for
and to reach – to reach out and touch the stars or at least feel the sun on your face.
But everything changes,
that winding path
that goal, that place.
Even me. I change.
And that place I’m trying to get to, it won’t be there when I get there
at least not the place that right now I’m thinking that I’m trying to get to
Because, you know, I think that I think too much about the future
and worse, I think that I worry too much too:
that I won’t study enough for my final,
that I won’t enjoy the party because I don’t know anyone there,
that I won’t be ready to be thrown out of the safety of undergrad into that big, scary world.
And all this worrying makes me focus on a goal, that endpoint.
And I forget
that I’m not really at point A trying to get to point B
that I’m somewhere in between.
Point A is long gone, my journey began before I could breath!
Maybe even before my parents could breath or maybe even before that!
So I’m not at point A anymore.
And point B is somewhere out there
in the fuzzy, murky future
So it shouldn’t matter where point B is anyway!
So refocus, rethink, reimagine.
I’m here, right? I’m here, right now, somewhere between where I started and where I’m going to end up
And right now, where I am right now,
It is only going to happen once.
And where I am now is where I can enjoy being
because I’m not lost when I’m here
I’ll never be lost if I live from moment to moment, now, now, now.
And where I am now is surrounded by friends.
And where I am now is happy.
I’m happy.
So the three things I know?
I’m scared
I’m scared I don’t know anything
But it doesn’t matter, because I’m here, I’m happy.
http://www.ted.com/talks/sarah_kay_if_i_should_have_a_daughter.html?awesm=on.ted.com_sarahkay
Sunday 19 December 2010
Ultimate travel list
Imagine traveling the cultural world and moving from one culture to the next. That is Baraka. That is blessing. That is a goal.
The following is taken directly from wikipedia:
Baraka (1992) is a non-narrative film directed by Ron Fricke.
The film is often compared to Koyaanisqatsi, the first of the Qatsi films by Godfrey Reggio of which Fricke was cinematographer. Baraka's subject matter has some similarities—including footage of various landscapes, churches, ruins, religious ceremonies, and cities thrumming with life, filmed using time-lapse photography in order to capture the great pulse of humanity as it flocks and swarms in daily activity. The film also features a number of long tracking shots through various settings, including one through former German concentration camps at Auschwitz and Tuol Sleng (in Cambodia) turned into museums honoring their victims: over photos of the people involved, past skulls stacked in a room, to a spread of bones. In addition to making comparisons between natural and technological phenomena, such as in Koyaanisqatsi, Baraka searches for a universal cultural perspective: for instance, following a shot of an elaborate tattoo on a bathing Japanese yakuza mobster with one of Native Australian tribal paint.
The movie was filmed at 152 locations in 24 countries: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Cambodia, China, Ecuador, Egypt, France, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Iran, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Kuwait, Nepal, Poland, Saudi Arabia, Tanzania, Thailand, Turkey, and the United States. It contains no dialogue. Instead of a story or plot, the film uses themes to present new perspectives and evoke emotion purely through cinema. The film was the first in over twenty years to be photographed in the 70mm Todd-AO format.
The title Baraka is a word that means blessing in a multitude of languages. The score by Michael Stearns and featuring music by Dead Can Dance, L. Subramaniam, Ciro Hurtado, Inkuyo, Brother and David Hykes, is noticeably different from the minimalist one provided by Philip Glass for Koyaanisqatsi. The film was produced by Mark Magidson, who also produced and directed the film Toward the Within, a live concert performance by Dead Can Dance. A sequel to Baraka, Samsara, is planned to be released in 2011.
Following previous DVD releases, in 2007 the original 65 mm negative was re-scanned at 8K (a horizontal resolution of 8192 pixels) with equipment designed specifically for Baraka at FotoKem Laboratories. The automated 8K film scanner, operating continuously, took more than three weeks to finish scanning more than 150,000 frames (taking approximately 12–13 seconds to scan each frame), producing over 30 terabytes of image data in total. After a 16-month digital intermediate process, including a 96 kHz/24 bit audio remaster by Stearns for the DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack, the superior result was finally re-released on DVD and Blu-ray Disc in October, 2008. Project supervisor Andrew Oran says this remastered Baraka is "arguably the highest quality DVD that's ever been made".[1] Chicago Sun-Times critic Roger Ebert describes the Blu-ray release as "the finest video disc I have ever viewed or ever imagined."[2]
The following is taken directly from wikipedia:
Baraka (1992) is a non-narrative film directed by Ron Fricke.
The film is often compared to Koyaanisqatsi, the first of the Qatsi films by Godfrey Reggio of which Fricke was cinematographer. Baraka's subject matter has some similarities—including footage of various landscapes, churches, ruins, religious ceremonies, and cities thrumming with life, filmed using time-lapse photography in order to capture the great pulse of humanity as it flocks and swarms in daily activity. The film also features a number of long tracking shots through various settings, including one through former German concentration camps at Auschwitz and Tuol Sleng (in Cambodia) turned into museums honoring their victims: over photos of the people involved, past skulls stacked in a room, to a spread of bones. In addition to making comparisons between natural and technological phenomena, such as in Koyaanisqatsi, Baraka searches for a universal cultural perspective: for instance, following a shot of an elaborate tattoo on a bathing Japanese yakuza mobster with one of Native Australian tribal paint.
The movie was filmed at 152 locations in 24 countries: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Cambodia, China, Ecuador, Egypt, France, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Iran, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Kuwait, Nepal, Poland, Saudi Arabia, Tanzania, Thailand, Turkey, and the United States. It contains no dialogue. Instead of a story or plot, the film uses themes to present new perspectives and evoke emotion purely through cinema. The film was the first in over twenty years to be photographed in the 70mm Todd-AO format.
The title Baraka is a word that means blessing in a multitude of languages. The score by Michael Stearns and featuring music by Dead Can Dance, L. Subramaniam, Ciro Hurtado, Inkuyo, Brother and David Hykes, is noticeably different from the minimalist one provided by Philip Glass for Koyaanisqatsi. The film was produced by Mark Magidson, who also produced and directed the film Toward the Within, a live concert performance by Dead Can Dance. A sequel to Baraka, Samsara, is planned to be released in 2011.
The original Baraka 65 mm negative being scanned at 8K resolution
Locations
[edit] Africa
[edit] Egypt
[edit] Kenya
- Lake Magadi
- Mara Kichwan Tembo Manyatta
- Mara Rianta Manyatta
- Masaai Mara
[edit] Tanzania
[edit] Americas
[edit] USA
[edit] Arizona
- American Express, Phoenix
- Canyon de Chelly National Monument, Chinle
- Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Tucson
- Kitt Peak National Observatory
- Peabody Coal Mine, Black Mesa
- Phoenix
[edit] California
[edit] Colorado
[edit] Hawaii
[edit] New York
- Empire State Building, Manhattan, New York City
- Grand Central Terminal, Manhattan, New York City
- Greenhaven Correctional Facility, Greenhaven
- Helmsley Building, Manhattan, New York City
- McGraw-Hill Building, Manhattan, New York City
- New York City
- Stormville
- World Trade Center, Manhattan, New York City
[edit] Others
- Shiprock, New Mexico
- Arches National Park, Moab, Utah
- Canyonlands National Park, Moab, Utah
- White House, Washington, D.C.
- Southlake, Texas
[edit] South America
[edit] Argentina
[edit] Brazil
- Carajás Animal Reserve, Pará
- Iguassu Falls, Paraná
- Ipanema, Rio de Janeiro
- Caiapó Village, Pará
- Porto Velho, Rondônia
- Represa Samuel, Rondônia
- Rio Preto, Minas Gerais
- Rio de Janeiro
- Favela da Rocinha, Rio de Janeiro
- São Paulo City, São Paulo
[edit] Ecuador
- Barrio Mapasingue, Guayaquil
- Caldad Blanca Cementerio (Misspelling for Cementerio Ciudad Blanca (White City Cemetery))
- Galapagos Islands
- Guayaquil
[edit] Asia
[edit] Cambodia
- Angkor Thom
- Angkor Wat
- Angkor
- Bayon
- Phnom Penh
- Preah Khan
- Siem Reap
- Ta Proum
- Tonle Omm Gate
- Tuol Sleng Museum
- Sonsam Kosal Killing Fields
[edit] China
- Beijing
- Great Hall of the People
- Guilin
- Kowloon Walled City, Kowloon, Hong Kong
- Li River
- Qin Shi Huang
- Tiananmen Square, Beijing
- Xi'an
[edit] India
- Calcutta, West Bengal
- Chennai, Tamil Nadu
- Ganges River
- Ghats
- Kailashnath Temple
- National Museum of India, New Delhi
- Vandharajan Temple, Varanasi
- Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh
[edit] Indonesia
- Borobudur, Java
- Candi Nandi, Prambanan Temple, Java
- Candi Perwara, Prambanan Temple, Java
- Gudang Garam Cigarette Factory, Kediri, Java
- Kasunanan Palace, Surakarta, Java
- Istiqlal Mosque, Jakarta, Java
- Kediri, Tabanan, Bali
- Mancan Padi, Bali
- Mt. Bromo Valley
- Tampak Siring, Bali
- Tegallalang, Bali
- Temple Gunung Kawi, Bali
- Uluwatu, Bali
[edit] Iran
[edit] Japan
- Green Plaza Capsule Hotel
- Hokke-Ji Temple
- JVE Yokosuka Factory
- Kyoto
- Meiji Shrine
- Nagano Springs
- Nara
- Nittaku
- Ryōan-ji Temple, Kyoto
- Sangho-ji Temple
- Shinjuku Station, Tokyo
- The Hachikō Exit, Shibuya Station, Tokyo
- Tokyo
- Tomoe Shizung & Hakutobo
- Yamanouchi-Machi
- Zoujou-Ji Temple
[edit] Kuwait
[edit] Nepal
- Bhaktapur
- Boudhanath Stupa
- Durbar Square, Kathmandu
- Hanuman Ghat
- Himalayas
- Kathmandu
- Mount Everest
- Mount Thamserku
- Pasupati
- Swayambhu
[edit] Israel
[edit] Thailand
[edit] Turkey
- Hagia Sophia, Istanbul (European part)
- Galata Mevlevi Temple, Istanbul (European part)
[edit] Saudi Arabia
[edit] Oceania
[edit] Australia
- Bathurst Island, Northern Territory
- Cocinda, Northern Territory
- Jim Jim Falls, Northern Territory
- Kakadu National Park, Northern Territory
- Kunwarde Hwarde Valley, Northern Territory
[edit] Europe
- Oświęcim, Poland (Auschwitz)
- Bytom, Poland
- Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Chartres, Eure-et-Loir, France
- Notre-Dame de Reims, Reims, Marne, France
- St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican City
Sunday 14 November 2010
Reasons to celebrate the world
(or at least keep working towards celebration)
http://www.countdown2010.net/biodiversity/the-2010-biodiversity-target
http://www.un.org/en/events/iyof2011/
http://onedollaraday.weebly.com/index.html
http://www.countdown2010.net/biodiversity/the-2010-biodiversity-target
http://www.un.org/en/events/iyof2011/
http://onedollaraday.weebly.com/index.html
Monday 13 September 2010
Stop learning and the world will pass you by.
pg 6 of A 21st Century Ethical Toolbox by Anthony Weston
I have been a great-granddaughter and I hope to be a great-grandmother. That puts me in the centre of seven full generations of ideas and practices, of the changing of the world. "Remember who you are!" as the Native decree announces and you will be aware and engaged with your world, from the clothes you wear, the soil that grew your food, the people you bump into. Seven generations. Think.
Ethics is the awakening to the complexity of the world and all its issues and the internalization of how to fit into that world. Ethics is also "a concern with the basic needs and legitimate expectations of others as well as our own." (pg 5)
I have been a great-granddaughter and I hope to be a great-grandmother. That puts me in the centre of seven full generations of ideas and practices, of the changing of the world. "Remember who you are!" as the Native decree announces and you will be aware and engaged with your world, from the clothes you wear, the soil that grew your food, the people you bump into. Seven generations. Think.
Ethics is the awakening to the complexity of the world and all its issues and the internalization of how to fit into that world. Ethics is also "a concern with the basic needs and legitimate expectations of others as well as our own." (pg 5)
Tuesday 7 September 2010
20
This is what it feels like to be twenty.
I’m happy with who I am and where I am.
Greatest accomplishments:
Getting into university
Winning NEOSEF and ISEF and going to the Nobel Prize ceremonies
Witnessing a unique fish behaviour
Running in a half-marathon
Kayaking 100 miles down the coast of Lake Superior – Pukaskwa 2009
Working at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History - 2009 - Mudpuppies
Seeing wild beluga whales
Seeing a wild polar bear
Seeing a wild black bear
Seeing wild moose
Seeing a Massasauga rattler
Seeing a wild arctic fox
Seeing wild hawks and eagles
Next ten years?
Have a picture featured in National Geographic
Publish a scientific paper
Fall under a spell
Learn German
Learn a dying language
Be fluent in Spanish
Run a marathon
Graduate with a Masters
Graduate with a PhD
Add to scientific thought
Kayak trip in the ocean
Camp in the winter
Ski a mountain out West
Write a book
Publish a poem
Sell a painting
Write until every page of a notebook is filled
Buy a new pen and write until it is empty
Line a room with books
Lifetime:
Study in the Antarctic
Study in the arctic
Study in a tropical rainforest
Study in a desert
Study in a tundra
Study in a boreal forest
Study on an isolated island in the ocean (Ascension Island?)
Study in Africa
Study at high elevation
Stand on a volcano
Visit each ecozone – Palearctic, Nearctic, Afrotropic, Neotropic, Australasia, Indo-Malaya, Oceania, Antarctic
Watch the sun rise for 24 hours continuously
Watch the sun rise on each continent
Physical
Intellectual
Emotional
Spiritual
I’m happy with who I am and where I am.
Greatest accomplishments:
Getting into university
Winning NEOSEF and ISEF and going to the Nobel Prize ceremonies
Witnessing a unique fish behaviour
Running in a half-marathon
Kayaking 100 miles down the coast of Lake Superior – Pukaskwa 2009
Working at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History - 2009 - Mudpuppies
Seeing wild beluga whales
Seeing a wild polar bear
Seeing a wild black bear
Seeing wild moose
Seeing a Massasauga rattler
Seeing a wild arctic fox
Seeing wild hawks and eagles
Next ten years?
Have a picture featured in National Geographic
Publish a scientific paper
Fall under a spell
Learn German
Learn a dying language
Be fluent in Spanish
Run a marathon
Graduate with a Masters
Graduate with a PhD
Add to scientific thought
Kayak trip in the ocean
Camp in the winter
Ski a mountain out West
Write a book
Publish a poem
Sell a painting
Write until every page of a notebook is filled
Buy a new pen and write until it is empty
Line a room with books
Lifetime:
Study in the Antarctic
Study in the arctic
Study in a tropical rainforest
Study in a desert
Study in a tundra
Study in a boreal forest
Study on an isolated island in the ocean (Ascension Island?)
Study in Africa
Study at high elevation
Stand on a volcano
Visit each ecozone – Palearctic, Nearctic, Afrotropic, Neotropic, Australasia, Indo-Malaya, Oceania, Antarctic
Watch the sun rise for 24 hours continuously
Watch the sun rise on each continent
Physical
Intellectual
Emotional
Spiritual
Friday 20 August 2010
Favorite Movies
LOTR
The Last Samurai
Avatar
Star Trek 2009
WALL-E
Up
Lion King
Pocahontas
Dragon Heart
Sin City
Slumdog Millionaire
The Truman Show
Hot Fuzz
Robin Hood Men in Tights
Braveheart
Catch Me if You Can
Schindler’s List
Pleasantville
Ghostbusters
A Good Year
Dr Strangelove
Resevoir Dogs
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Inglorious Bastards
Blade Runner
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