Drinking the Tigris: The World is Watching :: 11. 3.08
Just back from Malawi yesterday. A lot to report from there, but on the eve of the election, I want to share this instead:
From the Economist:
http://www.economist.com/vote2008/index.cfmThe whole world is holding its breath!!!
Bush League: New Shots from Malawi - Church :: 11. 4.08
A couple shots from the Catholic Church service in Zolokere:
Drinking the Tigris: Relief! :: 11. 5.08
What an astonishing moment in our history. From my perspective here in Iraq, while I love the message of hope and I believe in that whole heartedly, mostly I feel relief. Ethan Bronner wrote this in the NY Times from Palestine. It sums it up for me:
"But wonder is almost overwhelmed by relief. Mr. Obama's election offers most non-Americans a sense that the imperial power capable of doing such good and such harm - a country that, they complain, preached justice but tortured its captives, launched a disastrous war in Iraq, turned its back on the environment and greedily dragged the world into economic chaos - saw the errors of its ways over the past eight years and shifted course."
We have a Statesman at the wheel again, and for the first time in my life I'm looking at a (living) politician as a role model. It's strange to think that without 8 years of G.W. this probably couldn't have happened.
Bush League: New Shots from Malawi - Football ::
Some shots from the football pitch. It's the first time I've seen Malawi's dry season, it's really beautiful in it's own way.
Bush League: New Shots from Malawi - Vmbuza :: 11. 8.08
Vmbuza is a healing dance. It happens at the traditional healer's compound once a week, usually on a Friday night and lasts all night.
The women play a rhythm with wooden sticks. A couple guys play a second rhythm with hand drums. It's LOUD and it's POWERFUL. The traditional healer led the songs, which I think are partly or wholly improvised and can last 15 or 20 minutes.
The patients dance until they can't dance any more. I have no doubt that it makes people feel better. It makes me feel better every time I go!
I think this first shot may be one of the better pictures I've ever taken.
Rahul Das weighs in on Mumbai :: 11.27.08
Rahul Das is a close friend of mine from CalArts. He came to CalArts from India and we lived together for a year in abject artistic poverty. He posted this great insight about Mumbai on his facebook account yesterday. From Rahul:
The writer Suketu Mehta captured brilliantly the dogged, resilient compassion of Mumbai in his book "Maximum City: Mumbai Lost and Found."
In remarks he has given based on the book, he spoke of asking a man named Asad bin Saif, who worked at an institute for secularism, whether the chaos and slums and filth made him pessimistic about human beings. Here is how Mr. Mehta continued the story:
"Not at all," he responded. "Look at the hands from the trains."
If you are late for work in the morning in Bombay, and you reach the station just as the train is leaving the platform, you can run up to the packed compartments and you will find many hands stretching out to grab you on board, unfolding outwards from the train like petals. As you run alongside the train, you will be picked up and some tiny space will be made for your feet on the edge of the compartment. The rest is up to you; you will probably have to hang on with your fingertips on
the door frame, being careful not to lean out too far lest you get decapitated by a pole placed too close to the tracks. But consider what has happened: your fellow-passengers, already packed tighter than cattle are legally allowed to be, their shirts already drenched in sweat in the badly ventilated compartment, having stood like this for hours, retain an empathy for you, know that your boss might yell at you or cut your pay if you miss this train, and will make space where none exists to take one more person with them. And at the moment of contact, they do not know if the hand that is reaching for theirs belongs to a Hindu or Muslim or Christian or Brahmin or untouchable, or whether you were born in this city or arrived only this morning, or whether you live in Malabar Hill or Jogeshwari, whether you're from Bombay or Mumbai or New York. All they know is that you're trying to get to work in the city of gold, and that’s enough. Come on board, they say. We'll adjust.
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