A Little Sunshine

As I was walking from Ekstrom to Schneider I was handed a rose by one of the tutors, Mampu, who works in the Computer Resource Center. She didn't explain why she was handing them out but there I had one and it made me happy. Why do flowers make us happy? Is it their bright colors, their delicacy? I remember meeting a homeless lady on Bardstown road who handed me a flower and told me all I had to was pass it on so that someone else could enjoy it. I did it then and I remembered to spread the wealth again when Mampu handed me this rose. Is it wrong to pluck a rose? I don't know. But it seems only right to circulate its endorphin releasing corpse to someone else with the hopes that they'll pass it on too.

Samsara

Samsara, scheduled for release in 2010 is a follow-up to Baraka (1992) and similar to the groundbreaking Chronos (1985), directed by experimental filmmaker, Ron Fricke who worked previously as the Director of Photography with director Godfrey Reggio on the Qatsi trilogy. Like both the Qatsi trilogy (Koyaanisqatsi, Powaqqatsi, Naqoyqatsi) and Baraka, the film deals with Fricke's perrenial theme of humanity's relationship with the eternal.

The word, Samsara is Sanskrit संसार for the endless cycle of suffering caused by birth, death and rebirth (i.e. reincarnation) within Buddhism, some sects of Hindu, and other religions.

I'm looking forward to it.

Updated Video - Ephemeral Art

I reworked my video with a voiceover and edited it to a shorter length. This piece was submitted to the WeRock Video Festival sponsored by iTechConnect, the REACH Digital Media Suite, and the Delphi Center for Technology. You can view all the videos in the contest at www.louisville.edu/itunesu and look up WeRock Festival. The screening of these videos and subsequent awarding of winners, will be November 13 at the iTech Zone (previously South Computing Center in MITC). 

You can view my finished product here:

Dead

In the spirit of the Day of the Dead celebrations gaining speed during this time of year, Welfare State International provides us with a look at the very personal and introspective topic of death and ritual. To fund this ritual performance function of the group, they presented an art auction with many contributions by a variety of artists who focus on the topic of death.

Here is the link

Unfounded Fear

Does this image make you jump? I don't know where I first made such a bad association with roaches but since I became a vegetarian 5 years ago I have feared the day I would find one in my home and be faced with the decision to end it's life or find some other alternative. Looking at this jpeg makes my skin crawl. But why this unfounded fear? They are the "other" and I've never known a time I was not terrified by their familiar shape and freakish movement, yet they really can't harm me. As pests, they, like mice eat our food and leave toxic droppings but they don't bite, sting, or do any of the things that some bugs do which cause human fatal results.

Here is what Wikipedia says about the little guys. When I read that wasps sting and subdue the roach to drink a small portion of their blood and then leave them slightly alive to house the eggs of the hungry wasp larvae -  Link to Roaches - I suddenly began to feel a small bit of empathy for the hideous little things. How do I learn to love the roach?

My landlady recently turned on the heat in our apartment building and for the past two mornings I have been faced with that brutal decision in unfounded terror. Yesterday morning, with a little ingenuity and teamwork, my boyfriend (Buddhist, pacifist) and I (vegetarian, pacifist) managed to corral and capture a 2+ inch roach from its discovered location on the towel ring in my bathroom inside a plastic cup, where he slid my T-mobile bill between and transported the unloved creature across the street and into an abandoned field. He got lots of affection for his bravery and kind intentions. I myself, have not even mustered that bravery. But he makes me want to work on it.

Toxic Dumping

I often question justice.

How do you pin this on one person. How do you send one person to jail for 20 years after 3 hours of deliberation for a crime this big? I guess I'm just depressed - why can't everyone just not do things that hurt other people - or in this case kill them by negligence and inconsideration.

I have no answers.

Do geese die for your pillows and comforters? Do you care?

Their little bodies were once so warm, so that now they're dead, your bed can be.

Here are some spirited discussions about goose down, and the nature of making products with it.

One

Two

DMS presents WeRock iMovie Festival

If you thought about making a statement about sustainability or art, registration is open for the 

WeRock iMovie Festival

The Digital Media Suite and iTech Express on campus support students who need to check out a camera or learn editing software.

Feel free to learn a new skill set and represent for the art department.

Woot.

Veggie Delight!

 

More cool stuff, right here in our own town:

This group, EarthSave Louisville, hosts vegetarian community potlucks. Homegrown. Delicious. Inspiring.

http://louisville.earthsave.org/

Derby City Custom Drums

I visited my friend Adam's crazy drum-making shop beaneath his carriage house apartment somewhere close to Sunergos coffee. He apent some time abroad in Australia in a drum-making workshop and is now back in Louisville making some very peculiar and fantastic things. Totally at home amongst the sawdust and polyurythane, I took a round about his shop where he showed me his frankenstein machine - a lathe motor turned on it's side with various clamps and welded steel arms attached and a small router hung firmly at a 45 degree angle to the whole device. "What's is for?" I asked, and he explained to me his process. A pile of old bourbon barrel timbers from a local brewery, nearing disposal had been collected for his current drum making project. His custom-made drums, fashioned from these recycled bourbon barrel planks and his own brass hardware, were some of the most beautiful things I've ever seen. He's made them also from reclaimed cherry and other woods. I got to see the whole collection. I was floored by the craftsmanship. And this is happening right here in Louisville.

You too could have a set of Derby City Custum Drums.