Here you get to read FireFly's innermost thoughts LOL!!

You know how it is... someone you met or something you read or saw, comes back to you days later with a smile or a jolt... it can be as profound as to provoke a change in thinking, a new direction, provide inspiration or be as simple and uplifting as the beauty of a smile or a flower.

So...this thread is about capturing those brief moments when something suddenly 'makes sense', or opens up a new chain of thought.

Feel free to post too...

I'll start with my interaction with AA.org - which has made me laugh, challenged my ideas, certainly challenged - and changed some of my ideas - educated me, insulted me, charmed me, embraced me. AA.org is in fact like a huge sprawling novel - almost a life's journal - chock full of so many lives and ideas, experiences, love, tenderness, ego and bittersweet memories crammed onto its pages.
With an ever-evolving storyline... a novel noone wants to rush to check the last page...

And at the core of this vibrant novel, I mean site, is a living breathing throbbing humanity, an unstoppable spirit, capable of pulling so many different people, temperaments, together day after day from across the planet.

The ultimate novel perhaps MBM?

I like your response art_gurl, I feel I have recieved some inspiration upon interacting with all of you. My biggest inspiration comes from my children. My own children and my 7th and 8th grade students. I am inspired to continually learn, as I instruct them to do so, for the benefit of everyone.

Pieter Hugo - photographer

I originally saw his photo of a man with a hyena at the World Press Photo 06 exhibition.

I find his pictures stunning. Powerful almost surreal subjects, and an artist's eye for how he crops his images. To me, this is compelling photography.

http://www.pieterhugo.com/

http://www.boingboing.net/2005/07/27/pieter_hugos_photos_.html

Pieter Hugo's photo series "Hyena People of Nigeria" is the result of a ten-day trek the South African photographer took with a group of wandering minstrels and their animal companions: three hyenas, two pythons and four monkeys. Shown here: "Mallam Mantari Lamal with Mainasara, Nigeria, 2005"
.

Pieter Hugo

of course, the people being photographed appear damn interesting too! One of the differences - to my mind - between photography and painting (unless it's portraiture) is the interaction with the subject. What stories these guys who travel with their animals as entertainers must have to tell...!?

This message has been edited. Last edited by: FireFly,

Pieter Hugo is a self-taught photographer who was born in Johannesburg in 1976. He documents social issues globally but has a special interest in Africa.

This featured set of images were captured during his time with a Nigerian tribe whose people employed animals as both entertainment and protection.

hugo2.jpg (35 Kb, 5 downloads)

JANE GOODALL
The Great Conservationist





Bio
Jane Goodall is the world's foremost authority on chimpanzees, having closely observed their behavior for the past quarter century in the jungles of the Gombe Game Reserve in Africa, living in the chimps' environment and gaining their confidence.

Her observations and discoveries are intemationally heralded. Her research and writing have made, and are making, revolutionary inroads into scientific thinking regarding the evolutions of humans.

Dr. Goodall received her Ph.D. from Cambridge University in 1965. She has been the Scientific Director of the Gombe Stream Research Center since 1967. In 1984, Jane Goodall received the J. Paul Getty Wildlife Conservation Prize for "helping millions of people understand the importance of wildlife conservation to life on this planet." Her other awards and international recognitions fill pages.

Her scientific articles have appeared in many issues of National Geographic. She has written scores of papers for internationally known scientific journals. Dr. Goodall has also written two books, Wild Chimpanzees and In The Shadow of Man. She pleads to thousands of people throughout the world on behalf of her career-long sponsor, the L.S.B. Leakey Foundation.

Jane Goodall attributes her dedication and insight to her work and her mission in life to her mother, internationally known author, Vanne Goodall.

In 1985, Jane Goodall's twenty-five years of anthropological and conservation research was published, helping us all to better understand the relationship between all creatures. She has now devoted over thirty years to her mission.

Dr. Goodall has expanded her global outreach with the founding of the Jane Goodall Institute based in Ridgefield, CT. She now teaches and encourages young people to appreciate the conversation of chimpanzees and all creatures great and small. She lectures, writes, teaches and continues her mission in many inventive ways, including the Chimpanzee Guardian Project.



Recent interview transcript from ABC TV Australia: http://www.abc.net.au/tv/enoughrope/transcripts/s1691815.htm

Lee Stringer





Lee Stringer lived on the streets from the early eighties until the mid—nineties. He is a former editor and columnist of Street News. His essays and articles have appeared in a variety of other publications, including The Nation, The New York Times, and Newsday. He lives in Mamaroneck, New York.


bibliography

Author, Sleepaway School

Author, Like Shaking Hands with God

Author, Grand Central Winter

MUM SHIRL
Shirley Perry Smith (Mum Shirl) ~ 1924-1998




Colleen Shirley Perry, tireless community worker, died on 28 April 1998 aged 73. Shirley was born on the Erambie Reserve, Cowra, of Wiradjuri descent. Born into a large family, young Shirley received great spiritual and moral guidance from her parents, Isabell and Joseph Perry, elders and grandparents.

Endowed with a prodigious memory and lively wit, she attended the Erambie Mission School, but her education was impaired by epilepsy, at a time when medication for the disease did not exist.

She moved with her family to Sydney in the mid 1930s.

Not long after the move, one of Shirley’s brothers went to jail. Visiting her brother in jail would start a lifelong and tireless involvement in welfare work.

After his release, the NSW consorting laws prevented her brother from maintaining contact with his friends in jail, so Shirley continued the visits on his behalf.

Her nickname arose from her habit of replying, "I’m his Mum", whenever officials queried her relationship with the prisoners.

Eventually the authorities recognised the value of her support for prisoners and allowed her access to any prisoner she wished to visit.

Her caring continued beyond prisons, with many people with no family or friends in Sydney arriving at Mum Shirl’s Redfern house seeking shelter.

By the early 1990s she had reared over 60 children.

In 1970, Shirley, along with Ken Brindle and Chicka and Elsa Dixon, were the guiding force behind a group of young Aboriginal men and women who were involved in the Gurindji campaign for land rights.

This same group helped to establish the Aboriginal Legal Service in 1971, the Aboriginal Medical Service in 1972, the Aboriginal Black Theatre, the Aboriginal Tent Embassy, the Aboriginal Children’s Service, the Aboriginal Housing Company and the Detoxification Centre at Wiseman’s Ferry.

Mum Shirl is survived by her daughter Beatrice, her sister Harriet and her brother Joe along with her grandchildren, great-grandchildren nieces and nephews, great nieces and nephews and great, great nieces and nephews.

quote:

Originally posted by FireFly:
JANE GOODALL
The Great Conservationist





Bio
Jane Goodall is the world's foremost authority on chimpanzees, having closely observed their behavior for the past quarter century in the jungles of the Gombe Game Reserve in Africa, living in the chimps' environment and gaining their confidence.

Her observations and discoveries are intemationally heralded. Her research and writing have made, and are making, revolutionary inroads into scientific thinking regarding the evolutions of humans.

Dr. Goodall received her Ph.D. from Cambridge University in 1965. She has been the Scientific Director of the Gombe Stream Research Center since 1967. In 1984, Jane Goodall received the J. Paul Getty Wildlife Conservation Prize for "helping millions of people understand the importance of wildlife conservation to life on this planet." Her other awards and international recognitions fill pages.

Her scientific articles have appeared in many issues of National Geographic. She has written scores of papers for internationally known scientific journals. Dr. Goodall has also written two books, Wild Chimpanzees and In The Shadow of Man. She pleads to thousands of people throughout the world on behalf of her career-long sponsor, the L.S.B. Leakey Foundation.

Jane Goodall attributes her dedication and insight to her work and her mission in life to her mother, internationally known author, Vanne Goodall.

In 1985, Jane Goodall's twenty-five years of anthropological and conservation research was published, helping us all to better understand the relationship between all creatures. She has now devoted over thirty years to her mission.

Dr. Goodall has expanded her global outreach with the founding of the Jane Goodall Institute based in Ridgefield, CT. She now teaches and encourages young people to appreciate the conversation of chimpanzees and all creatures great and small. She lectures, writes, teaches and continues her mission in many inventive ways, including the Chimpanzee Guardian Project.



Recent interview transcript from ABC TV Australia: http://www.abc.net.au/tv/enoughrope/transcripts/s1691815.htm

I loved Goodall when I was growing.

My friends could be running around, "I'm Superman!" "I'm Spiderman." "I'm the Hulk!"

I was Jane Goodall.

quote:

Originally posted by ma'am:
I loved Goodall when I was growing.

My friends could be running around, "I'm Superman!" "I'm Spiderman." "I'm the Hulk!"

I was Jane Goodall.

yep, she's certainly a woman who walks the talk. ...and so much more interesting than Julia Roberts or Beyonce... I have her book Black Market - Inside the Endangered Species Trade In Asia. It should be required reading in primary school.

I went to hear architect Teddy Cruz speak the other night, he has a practise in San Diego - his company is located at the border of Tijuana. He was invited to speak in Sydney at the prestigious annual Lloyd Rees Memorial Lecture.

His firm is Estudio Teddy Cruz - and has won nemerous awards from the American Institute of Architects. He recyles space into liveable, workable environments.
Cruz is Guatemala-born and has been doing some very interesting public housing initiatives for creating higher density inner city housing for Tijuana, by providing affordable and legal retrofitting alternatives to dodgy housing, and designing safe alternatives for 'nomadic' residents who illegally squat on vacant space along the Tijuanan border.

He is very concerned with social policy... and how to create public housing (and up-scaling shanties used by squatters) that is cheap and flexible and maintains a social focus, and community interaction.

Cruz addresses how borders discriminate against cultures and restrict entrepreneurial activity for minorities, within mainstream activities. He reacts against the growing white culture of exclusion - gated white communities with high security cameras by providing alternative, actionable ideas that are respectful of culture and community-focused.

A doer, not just a dreamer.

Salt: Preserving the Musical Traditions of an Impoverished People
Ilha do Sal, Cape Verde Islands
Johnny Fernandes, Project Director



Johnny Fernandes was born in Zimbabwe in 1965. He spent the first ten years of his life in Mozambique until the civil war there forced him to return to Zimbabwe. He came to America in 1985 where he completed a Bachelor's and a Master's degree in Computer Science at Gonzaga University and Western Washington University respectively.

Johnny worked in the high-tech industry for 15 years before committing himself fulltime to social issues. Besides Salt, he is also currently helping AIDS orphans in Zimbabwe with a project called A Wall for Social Consciousness. Johnny Fernandes resides part of the year in Seattle.

~ ~ ~



"The first time I heard the music of Cesária Évora, I knew that I had to follow it to the source. That was in 1997. Three years later, I was on my way to Cape Verde, armed with a portable DAT recorder, a camera, and a smile. The moment I landed in Sal and walked across the tarmac, I understood what the music was all about. The isolation, the longing, the poverty, the songs of lost love, the joy of family — it made sense all of a sudden; it was palpable in the warm September air. I felt like I had come home.

I met incredibly talented musicians, none of whom had any formal training and most of whom did not own musical instruments. I met beautiful, friendly people, resigned to a life of poverty. Despite their hardships, however, they displayed immense resilience and an unmatched richness in spirit. I met very intelligent children who ran on the beach all day because they had nothing else to do. No books, no computers, no organized activities.

How could it be that such gifted musicians did not have the tools of their trade? What would happen to their musical traditions that had been passed down for generations? How could it be that these children had no guidance in their formative years? What future would they have in an environment being over-run by beach resorts and expatriate communities?

I spent an amazing month on the islands, getting to know the people and their customs. It was all so familiar to me in a way that can't be explained. In a short amount of time I developed friendships that will last a lifetime. I left with great recordings, photographs, and a bigger smile. I also made a promise to my friends — to José, to Magno, to Evaristo, to Adriano, to Nelson, to Leina, to Iza, to Zeca, to Miguel — that I would do everything I could to help them get a leg up.

Since that first trip, I've returned three more times, most recently in November, 2004. Over the years I've seen the Cape Verdeans become increasingly marginalized as foreign corporations build beach resorts on the islands with little benefits for the locals. There is little interaction between tourists and the local population, and what could be a rich cultural experience turns invariably into isolation on private beaches. I have been working with Nelson Evora, the elected government representative responsible for culture, on creating a vision that benefits his constituents beyond his term in office."
Johnny Fernandes

Visit the Salt website: http://salt.nimekula.org

I don't always want to be negative but I am compelled to comment on/question Jane Goodall.

I never understood how she was heralded as so great when she was in colonial Africa and never spoke out against the human suffering.

It's cool she studied chimps and was pro-environment and all, but the glaring contradiction of a White women in Africa who 'just so happened' to not comment on the painfully obvious Race based oppression and exploitation of fellow human beings(on their land I might ad) was always a bit too much to swallow.

Kinda like PETA, it erks the hell out of me.

I understand your perspective Oshun A.
And I'm sure there is much more she and each of us can do.

Perhaps she has followed a predestined path, and perhaps she can only be 'effective' if all her energies are directed in a single focus.

As well as her work with apes, Goodall's current primary focus seems to be the fragility of the environment and ecosystems, and raising an awareness of the internconnectness of the relationship between plants, animals and people. I see that as quite spiritual and of the essence of harmonious universal human survival.

Hers is quite a lonely voice in speaking up against the use of animal body parts sold to "improve" the sexual performance of how many million asian men? I will always champion her for that. It is an ugly trade based on patriarchal sexual myth.

On a positive note, I believe she is working on a lot of programs with children, including child soldiers in Africa, with the hope of reconnecting them with nature, and perhaps reversing the dehumanising effects of war.

Perhaps that's only a small step and doesn't address the larger issues, but perhaps there are more able and effective people for that job.

I personally believe if we - as humans - worked more closely with animals and nature - as in early times - we would have more respect and nurturing for the planet, ourselves and others - a truly harmonious existance for everyone - and not impossible to achieve even at this 'late' stage of evolution. Call that naive, or call it ambitious but hopeful.

After seeing the interview and knowing his efforts to free David Hicks from Guantanemo Bay, and at least give him a LEGAL and fair trial, and his efforts to fight an unjust and illegal US system, on behalf of an Australian, Major Michael Mori gets my vote for American of the Year.... and a big Thank You!




a snippet from the interview....

ANDREW DENTON: So you're his defence counsel...

MAJOR MICHAEL MORI: Yes.

ANDREW DENTON: ...And you can't even define what the term 'unprivileged belligerent' means. How do you defend that?

MAJOR MICHAEL MORI: Well, their view was, everybody on the Taliban side. Anybody on the Taliban side was a war criminal because they resisted the invasion of their country. I didn't quite understand that. Then it was, as you heard the administration, their position was, "Well they didn't wear proper uniforms." So I started thinking about that. I said, "What about the Northern Alliance? What about the CIA they were fighting in Afghanistan? They weren't wearing proper uniforms." So it really can't be a crime and it's not a crime, but they had to try to fabricate something.

http://www.abc.net.au/tv/enoughrope/transcripts/s1709428.htm

[read the above link for the full interview.]

For more information about David Hicks: http://www.fairgofordavid.org/htmlfiles/main.htm

For more info about the campaign to bring David Hicks back to Australia: http://www.getup.org.au/