11, originally uploaded by Epic Change.Teachers, parents and students stand in-line at the internet cafe to vote for Epic Change on IdeaBlob
My good friend Stacey Monk CEO of Epic Change has taken full advantage of every opportunity she can find to fund the program she works with in Tanzania. A school that has in its turn taken full advantage of every opportunity that her efforts and theirs have provided. They placed #1 out of 107 schools in their district during the National exams this year. This is one of many milestones that Mama Lucy the founder and head of Shepard’s Junior Primary School has reached through hard work and a little helping hand from Epic Change. They are now working on their next big hurdle. A technology lab for the school. A technology lab that not only needs equipment, but also a way to connect to the internet we here in the luxury of the western world can access with out much thought. A mighty challenge indeed. They are making it happen. As finalists in IdeaBlob’s $10,000 competition they are very close indeed to making this dream a reality.
How ironic that they should be raising funds for this school through a medium that that school has limited access to. Stacey blogged about the voting happening in Tanzania. They are leaping past all the hurdles in their way to vote on-line so that they and their children can get access to all the opportunities that connectedness can offer. Including fund raising events such as IdeaBlob. Without a partner like Epic Change, their chances of successfully accessing these opportunities is slim. Which points to huge flaw in the system. If home grown solutions can’t flourish… if social innovation from outside is granted advantage over that from the inside; based not on the merit of the plan or but on their access to the right technology, then we are just making another elite club and excluding the people who care the most from the process of change. That’s no way to change the world!
I invite you to vote for Epic Change on Ideablob . The voting ends May 31st. So don’t delay. Mama Lucy, the kids at the school, the town of Arusha and Stacey Monk and all the folks who have worked to make Shepards Junior the best primary school in its district deserve that technology lab!
This blog post is part of Zemanta’s “Blogging For a Cause” campaign to raise awareness and funds for worthy causes that bloggers care about.
Today at 5:15 my Great Uncle Buck passed away. What a strange phrase. He would have said, he went to be with Jesus, or entered life eternal… and honestly, I believe he did.
He was a giant of a man and a gentler soul you would be hard pressed to find. He was the oldest of 3 and was the only boy. His mother… my great-grandmother was a pistol. A women that could shoot a snake and miss the chicken it was wrapped around, spin a yarn that would keep you enraptured for hours and had a boyfriend well into her 80’s until she broke up with him because at almost 90 she did not think it was good for him to keep driving to see her.
My Uncle loved long and loved hard. He loved two things more then anything else. Jesus and Jane, his life long bride. I remember as a child I would go to his house and it was filled with silly love notes to Jane. Dancing hippos with pink hearts drawn with love by his own hand, messages on the mirror… the whole deal. He wanted her to know how much he loved her every single day. As a child I found it strange, how nakedly he loved her. He never hid behind gruffness or any of the other tools we use these days to disguise our stronger emotions. He loved her and it did not matter what anybody thought about it. We should all be so lucky. I think he was able to do this, because he loved God first.
As a child I remember his booming voice and loving smile. He had the voice of a preacher and that was what he was. Tragically I don’t have that many memories of his voice because he lost his ability to speak due to a degenerative neurological disorder that left him with no way to earn a living and slowly but surely robbed him of his dignity. He could not eat in public due to the extreme shaking the disease caused in his jaw. Something which you would think would cause a man to lose his faith… but it never stopped him. He had drew and wrote his own tracts that he would share with anyone he met. He would talk to us all as much as he could about the grace of God and the pure love of Jesus Christ. Even without a pulpit, he shared the word with anyone willing to listen. He would go down to the community center and talk to all comers… and they came. They loved him. They wanted to hear his message and the truth is… if you had met him… you would have wanted to hear it too. Love just shone out of him, and his spirit made all the negative ideas you might have about tracts and evangelism just melt away.
Sadly in his later days, his mind betrayed him and dementia stole even this little joy from him. He always had Jane who stuck by him and loved him through all the hard times. He was a big kid in a giant’s body filled with love, humility, naiveté, and a loyalty rarely seen these days. I know these final months of his life were difficult and it is a blessing that he finally gets to be with the man he loved the most, Jesus Christ. So all I can say is:
May the road rise to meet You
May the wind be at your at your back
And until we meet again
May God hold you in the palm of His hand
So, my cousin and I decided to go out for drinks and some fun. After tossing around several ideas… mostly boring Addison chains. We finally decided on Al Amir, we hear good things about the food, the drinks were supposed to be pretty good, and there was the belly dancing and hookah. I mean really, who could ask for more. Admittedly we got there very early for a Friday night, but I was hungry! So in we went. The place was empty, but it was early so no big deal. We went into the no smoking area.. where we find out later, there is no Hookah and no belly dancing. No worries, we could just go into the main area after dinner. So the waitress seated us in the empty non-smoking area and we began to look at the extensive drink menu… I got the Pom-tini, and Lee got the Coconut Mojito… They came, and looked lovely. However, my Pom-tini was a disappointment. The Coconut Mojito on the other hand was quiet nice. We also ordered the olive and pickle plate and the hummus. Both came timely, and the hummus was actually pretty good, the olives and pickles were nothing special, good but ordinary.
It took us a bit to order our entrees we were perfectly happy to sit and linger, we had plenty of time after all. However, the waitstaff, although really sweet and attentive, did seem a bit thrown by the how slow we were with the ordering. So we order Lee the Lamb Shish and me the Beef Swarama. The Lentil soup that came with the entree was really nice and I enjoyed it tremendously, but the Swarama was not what I was expecting. It was described as having creamy garlic… Which I think was supposed to be squash with a creamy garlic dressing. The beef itself was tasty, but dry… I could have really used some sauce. The Zucchini and Squash were under cooked, although the sauce that dressed them was yummy. Lee’s Lamb on the other hand… was really very good. I wish I had ordered that. I would have enjoyed it tremendously. The rice that came with was very very good. Not that most people get excited about rice, but it was good.
We wrapped up our dinner and retired to the bar to enjoy the show. We ordered the Passion Fruit Hookah. I personally had never smoked a Hookah before. It was nice. Really a puff or two is all I would need though… after that I was content to smell the smoke. I am no Hookah expert, but I think it was pretty good. The Belly Dancing was also nice, but the show was short and she never came over to our part of the bar… which was annoying. So over all…. Its ok. I would probably go again, but I would not say I love it.
Lovely, comfortable, good food, AMAZING SERVICE, good drinks, great selection of liquor and wine. I have to say, I can’t believe this place is not packed all the time. Situated in the back of Preston Center, near Houstons and Sevy’s it is not a place you are likely to spot from the road. Really except for the fact that it is in Preston Center its location could not be worse for drive-by discovery. I have actually been by it many times and had a fleeting moment of curisity. “Wonder what that place is like” I think to myself and then promptly forget all about it. Last night a friend and I were going to go to Houston’s for a drink and conversation. We walk in and it is packed to the gills and loud a busy city street. 45-50 minute wait?! No thanks.
So out we go in search of another spot to sit and chat and drink a nice G+T for him and a nice glass of wine for me. We look across the parking lot and there it is… R+D Kitchen. We make a bee-line. We walk in and it is lovely, muted, and homey in a completely elegant way. We are greeted promptly and seated immediately despite what appears to be a reservation policy. I have a moment’s pause, we are seated next to the kitchen, across from the sushi bar and in most places this means Grand Central station. Still, it seems nice and so we sit down in our little elevated booth for two.
Someone is by immediately to take a drink order, shortly there after our waitress comes by to introduce herself and get a sense of what we need. We need a minute, she flashes a smile and is gone in flash. Drinks appear promptly along with water and menus. Tiny little thing this menu… appetizers are limited strictly to sushi. (I had the spicy tuna… and I have not been having much success with those lately… these were AMAZING… best I have had in ages) There are a few items in their sides menu that can be ordered as an appetizer… most notably… Deviled Eggs. Woot!
I had a respectable Tempranillo from Spain. Not bad at all, and my friend had his traditional Gin and Tonic, with which he had no complaints. So we hung out there at our table taking notes and making plans for our upcoming projects and were just super busy bees… As soon as my wine glass was empty there was a waiter there with another glass and whisked away the empty… such perfect timing. I don’t think I have ever had that happen before. Water magically appeared in our water carafe, Gin and Tonics appeared from thin air… no one bothered us unless we needed something… It was wonderful. Several hours later all our conversation and planning done. Notes taken, tasks assigned. We raised our bleary work weary eyes and decided…. We could eat.
We split the special, Grilled Swordfish with some sort of Lemon, butter, wine sauce… the perfect amount btw. It clung to the fish but did not pool on the plate. Garlic mashed potatoes and spinach. It was perfect. Perfectly cooked fish, potatoes were the perfect texture and tasted buttery and lovely… but not overly oily, like they can when an overzealous cook puts in too much fat. The spinach was wilted, loveliness that seems to also have some cabbage with it… Sooo… good. All in all this was one of my top dining experiences, and the most comfortable Dallas restaurant I have eaten in.
I highly recommend. I did not take pictures and there is a startling absence of information about it on line even though there appear to be two other restaurants in other cities. If you have one on your town… check it out. If you live in Dallas… check it out! I think you will like it as much as I did.
You know how you can get bogged down and forget to do the things that fill you up? Well I think the light has dawned… I am tired because I am not really doing the things I need to do to take care of me. Firstly, shutting off my brain and letting other creative souls fill it. Reading has always given me a real place to go and rest. There are other things that I have always done to get me back in the right place. Painting, writing, walking… and guess what? I had stopped doing all those things. Bad Tracy!
Writing and painting both operate the same way in me. I create and something flows through me. I don’t feel like I am making stuff, but that stuff is coming from outside, through me and ending on the page/canvas/screen. The end result was not there when I started… The painting is a surprise, the revelations that come from journaling did not reside in me when I started. The thoughts, feelings, ideas, emotions are all brand spanking new to me when I get to that place. I always feel so energized, so happy, so right when I finish. Why did I stop? Stupid lack of focus. I just need to remember what is important… and knowing what makes me tick is got to be at the top of the list.
Walking on the other hand works a whole other way. I just go and wander. In wander I can see… see in a way I have not seen in ages. Observe, discover, absorb. I spend so much time at work MAKING things happen it is nice to sit back and let things happen to me. So, now I need to get my paint brushes out and make a place and time to let the creative spirit flow.
I am at home on a Saturday, doing laundry and some very boring file saving and stuff for project diaspora and I am getting extremely depressed. I blame it on
Vickie, Christina Barcelona
and as much as I shy from drama, I wish I was as passionate about life as Maria Elena. I don’t want to live in maelstrom of drama, or be so unhappy that I try to kill myself or someone else. I feel like all that is boiling inside of me, but I am don’t let it out. I don’t really give a fuck what people think of me most of the time. I, however, don’t want to impose what I feel on other people either. I am learning to be more open about my softer emotions. Love of my friends, minor sadness and stress… I want to be more open. What about the more powerful emotions though? Rage? Passion? Deep Sadness? Intense Joy? What about that? Most people shy away from that… when I open the box just a little, people shy away. I feel judgment crawl up the back of my neck and I fold my emotions up and pack ‘em up and put them back in their little box.
So what do I do? I really don’t know… I mean I really don’t. A part of me wants to quit my job, sell my house, and leave everything behind and go out and travel and do whatever strikes me… but I want a place, a home, a family. So how do I get both?
La niña del bello rostro
está cogiendo aceituna.
El viento, galán de torres,
la prende por la cintura.
Pasaron cuatro jinetes
sobre jacas andaluzas,
con trajes de azul y verde,
con largas capas oscuras.
“Vente a Córdoba, muchacha.”
La niña no los escucha.
Pasaron tres torerillos
delgaditos de cintura,
con trajes color naranja
y espadas de plata antigua.
“Vente a Córdoba, muchacha.”
La niña no los escucha.
Cuando la tarde se puso
morada, con lux difusa,
pasó un joven que llevaba
rosas y mirtos de luna.
“Vente a Granada, muchacha.”
Y la niña no lo escucha.
La niña del bello rostro
sigue cogiendo aceituna,
con el brazo gris del viento
ceñido por la cintura.
Arbolé, arbolé.
Seco y verdé.
Haworth’s Zody: 51% recycled content, 98% recyclable at the end of its life span
“Repurpose, refurbish, recycle” was the guiding principle for a metals broker in Ontario who harnessed his passion for–and knowledge of–industrial materials to create a new house from old scrap. Read the whole story at Dwell.
These images tell a story. A story of a passionate people, in a culture that is more violent and more beautiful than anyone really understands. Wanting justice, freedom and opportunity, who can blame them for the fight? I have always been in love with Guatemala and these images really remind me why.
Comunidad Santa Anita La Unión is a community of survivors of Guatemala’s civil war - former guerillas and former refugees - who now collectively own an organic coffee plantation in rural Southwestern Guatemala. After the Peace Accords were signed in 1996 to end the 36-year internal armed conflict, refugees returned from years of exile in Chiapas, Mexico and guerillas who fought the oppressive regimes emerged from the mountains. As refugees and guerrillas reunited with their families, a group of them orgainized to form Comunidad Santa Anita La Unión.
The 38 families who now form the community purchased a fallow plantation - or “finca” - on which they now live and cultivate organic coffee for sale on the international fair-trade market. They are primarily of indigenous descent and more than one Mayan dialect is spoken by the people of Santa Anita. Though life on the finca is simple, they are an empowered community with a remarkable story.
Ok so if you are wondering who the heck I am… I am a 30 something person with a TON of interests that very few people really want to have long discussions about. So rather than burden my friends with my thoughts on design, food, books, politics, faith and technology, I have decided to share [...]more →
We wrapped up our dinner and retired to the bar to enjoy the show. We ordered the Passion Fruit Hookah. I personally had never smoked a Hookah before. It was nice. Really a puff or two is all I would need though… after that I was content to smell the smoke. I am no Hookah expert, but I think it was pretty good. The Belly Dancing was also nice, but the show was short and she never came over to our part of the bar… which was annoying. So over all…. Its ok. I would probably go again, but I would not say I love it.
