Ed Words

The Mindspring

2011-09-05T21:57:00.000-07:00

Back when I first set off to college, I had a mission to learn the craft of filmaking. It might as well have been philosphy. My intent was to learn a way to help lend exposure to all the great ideas i thought I was learning. Eleven years later I'm still learning 'all these great ideas' and in hands- on ways as well. Despite my time 'in the trenches' I still am often disheartend. Not only do good ideas and projects still need more general exposure, but, conflictingly, that exposure seems to patronize the efforts more than catalize them.

It's not that I don't absolutely respect the power of media. It's that in order to do something of value that media effort really needs a sophisticated strategy.

And what is it exactly that is of value to do? Perhaps I'm conceited, but with so many challenges facing us, how insignificant of ones am I willing to consider my battles. What scale am I content with as my lifes work?

Fresh in Mind

2010-11-16T19:58:00.000-08:00

I worked for 6 hours today moving around junk. In this case the junk is bikes and tools and bike parts stored in our outer storage area for the bike collective I work for. So many bikes that I've seen there taking up space since.... since.... well since about 2 years for some things, and that is not exactly turnover to be proud of.

I felt guilty the other day dropping off old books at the goodwill. They had so much stuff coming in to their donation area and really almost all of it is crap. My old books are crap. Obsolete- now kindle-able or at least the information can be referenced via the inter-web. the housewares holding up paper towels on the counter were just as useless- and the downtrodden staff were drowning in them.

I would like to reduce my own personal possessions to 100 items- as I suppose has become fashionable in the fruglista hipster universe. I realize the extreme challenge of this- especially because I seem to hold on to things that may -after finding that lacking accessory or after a little fix-....may just come in handy. Now that same neurosis has a collective form that has taken on horrific proportions at the bike co-op I help run. "These roof rack parts would be really expensive new..." or "these wheels just need a few spokes replaced and then a bearing overhaul and then..." Sure enough, The donors of these fine curses must feel just as I did as I unloaded my crap at the goodwill- "HA- some other sucker has to deal with this crap now!"

Yup- my community service has started to be making people feel good about unloading their crap- eerilly similar to my municipal job as a recycling coordinator- making rich people feel good about throwing things out. The real purpose, however, of the whole operation is to help provide bike repair to those seeking it DIY and those without any other choice. Selling used bikes and parts was just an auxillary- and it had become a man hour consuming monster.

So here -at last- is my resolve. Our shop will get rid of junk and sell valuable parts not useful for typical repairs by the end of the year. We will clean our operation and make it run smoothly.

From there on- new donations will get dealt with right then. New challenges will be taken up just exactly when they appear- taking on a problem fresh in mind will keep us from drowning in junk and being devoured by the man hour consuming monster. It also means we won't need so much storage space.

Togetherness

2007-12-27T19:08:00.000-08:00

ARgh! another holiday full of half-amusing half-enervating family togetherness. I've been living with my parents, not because I'm broke but to help care for my father with Alzheimer's, and its been good. Tolerable. Not really aggravating over these last nine months. The last few days, however, have reached the tipping point.

My girlfriend frannie's family is much the same in their overwhelmingness, or really the overwhelmingness is the far too frequent visits of family that isn't even her relatives! Mine is all my all too immediate 'nuclear' family, but either way we both end up without our own space and certainly without space to be together. Here I am sitting in a coffee shop writing waiting for her to get back into town so we can finally take a little time together in her friends abandoned apartment. Up. Never-mind, turns out she just called and the apartment is indeed NOT ours for the evening as her friend did not make it out of town this afternoon. Fcuk!

Well, I'm the now the third of three macbooks here in this coffee shop so it might be time to blow this joint. My writing hasn't occurred in ages, so at least I'll make a post, show that I'm alive, to my all but existent fan base here at Ed words.

Aside that here's a topic,
Unemployment, Collective Bike Shops, and feeling like an enormous loaf.

Discuss.

2007-12-13T11:29:00.000-08:00

Edward Garrett France - Community and Ecology Advocate

EdFrance@gmail.com, 310 936 0857, PO Box 2281 Santa Barbara, CA 93120

_____________________________________________________________________________________

WORK EXPERIENCE

Citizens Planning Foundation - Outreach & Development Coordinator

Duties: Execute short-term funding plan, external communications, aid in program and development planning for long-term work-plan (25-30hrs/wk)

Contact: Naomi Kovacs, 805 966-3979

Reason for Leaving: Philosophical differences with organization

City of Santa Barbara Administrators Office- Administrative Analyst II

Duties: Staff assistance to Sustainable Santa Barbara Program and other Organizational Development Programs : September 2006 to present

Supervisor: Nina Johnson, (805) 564-5307

Alternative Contact: Councilmember Helene Schneider, HSchneider@SantaBarbaraCA.gov

City of Santa Barbara Public Works- Recycling Coordinator

Duties: Public Area and Institutional Recycling, Green Purchasing, Composting and Conversion Technology program research and development, Green Business Program Monitoring: (FTE) May 06-September 06, (20 hrs/wk) April 04- May 06.

Supervisor: Stephen Macintosh, (805) 564-5678, www.SBrecycles.org

UCSB Dept. of Housing and Residential Services –Residential Assistant

Duties: conduct enforcement, personal and academic advising, organizing community activities (25-30 hrs/wk) 01-02, (returning) 03-04

Supervisor: Eeman Agrama-(831) 459.5668

_______________________________________________________________________

STUDIES

B.A. in Environmental Studies, UC Santa Barbara,

Department Award for Outstanding Service to the Environment

Universidad de Chile, Semester Abroad, co-author of academic article in environmental history, ‘El Desastre del Pueblo El Cobre’

Hawaii Cultural Ecology Field Study Program via San Francisco State University

____________________________________________________________________________________

TEACHING EXPERIENCE

Teaching Assistant., Integrated Waste Management:

Environmental Studies 172 UCSB

Duties: Web Page development, Assistance in class materials, guest lecturing, student interface.

Contact: Paul Relis, 805 569-0914

Class Coordinator, ‘Clean’ Transportation group studies project: Geography 190

Contact: Kostas Goulias, 805 893-4190

_____________________________________________________________________________________

LEADERSHIP ROLES

Founding Member, Bici Centro of Santa Barbara, A Bicycle Collective now partnered with the SB Bicycle Coalition www.BiciCentro.org

Interim President, Vice-President Santa Barbara Student Housing Cooperative Board of Directors 04-05 www.sbcoop.org

Chair, voting member UCSB Associated Students Bicycle Improvements Keep Everybody Safe (AS BIKES) Committee Winter ´01-Fall ’04, Chair 03-04 www.as.ucsb.edu/bikes

Co-Chair, Sustainability Chair, Community Chair UCSB Environmental Affairs Board www.as.ucsb.edu/eab

Founding Member, Campaign Coordinator, California Student Sustainability Coalition. June 02 thru June 05 www.sustainabilitycoalition.org

_____________________________________________________________________________________

ENVIRONMENTAL ADVOCACY

Co-organizer, Ecology Retreat (150-200ppl.) in Joshua Tree: 'Transforming Mindscapes and Landscapes.'

http://www.reverentialecology.org/conference2007.htm

Co-Founder, 'I'm Doing Something About It' campaign. Imdoingit.org 2007

Co-Founder, Founding Director, Associated Students Composting Program 'Department of Public Worms' 2005

Founding Member Students of the Land Farm Project, Spring and Summer 2005

Brought UCSB students to a local farm for self-directed commercial farming

experience

Director ‘Web of Sustainable Progress’ project (now a web component of Santa Barbara City College Center for Sustainability), August 2005-February 2006

http://sustainability.sbcc.edu/

Campaign Coordinator, CSSC’s MoveUC campaign (Moving the University of California toward Sustainable Transportation), Led statewide bicycle tour to lobby policy adoption at UC campuses. Spring 2005: www.sustainabilitycoalition.org

Student lock-in referendum coordinator; UCSB Broida Bike path construction, Campaigner Student Car Share program, Fall 04- Spring 05.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

ABILITIES

Exceptional written and oral presentation skills

Knowledgeable in transportation, agriculture, sustainable planning, energy, solid waste/recycling, and environmentally/socially responsible purchasing practices

Strong understanding of institutional decision making processes, individualized marketing (salesmanship), organizing/campaigning skills

Bi-Lingual in English and Spanish

Computer Skills: Advanced Proficiency in MS Office programs and media/database management. Proficiency in Final Cut Pro and audio/video format management, web content management. Experience in Dreamweaver, Illustrator,MS Access, Adobe Acobat, Quickbooks

Write it up

2007-08-08T08:30:00.000-07:00

A distinct lack of inspiration for writing has kept my b-log update free for a while now. A strange mix of energy, complacency, and a boring day job have all but routed my interest to write. Scarcely any letters or emails pass beyond my desk. Sigh, even text messages seem onerous. Well, there is a lot of good going on, and not good too, and those things combine to make a spicy story. so i pledge to write another story soon. (since this isn't actually a story)

WhyDoIt?

2007-04-26T22:48:00.000-07:00

I'm gonna do something about it because in every decision I make mountains shake
Unknowingly Celebrity, my fashion's followed, my actions re-enacted regularly.

Cognitive Dissonance destroys the fragile will. though the will to act reaffirms our passions.

I'm doing something about it because rationality and pessimism are as useless as rocks against a fire in this fight against a heating world.

My action may be minuscule, but my muscles flexed, more significant each step next.

I'm believing in the solution because I'm creating it.

I'm like all of you, powerless without resolve, but resolving to try to solve the troubles of the day. And a whole lot of us are moving this way.

So I'm gonna lead by example, and not worry about the debates. I'm making waves and what's left for my discussion is my own actions wake.

I'm doing something about it. Are you with me?

The Greywater Garden

2007-04-20T11:12:00.000-07:00

One thing i love is gardening. do as little work as possible, but give the soil some love, and either the right seeds or starters, and leave it go! Out i arid santa barbara, though, our gardens are artificial creations, illusions of a more temperate reality. So do we pipe in more water still from where it rightfully belongs? Why do we use culinary water, with all the energy intensive pumping and treating, to provide moisture from plants and soil with zero interest in filtered water? There's not much that's local about stealing water to keep gardens native to different climates.
So why not use greywater? When I wash dishes and rinse veggies, I use a ton of that culinary water, but it certainly doesn't need to be swept away to yet another energy intensive treatment facility. No, best would be to put that water to an appropriate use, and it seems to me that my little veggie garden is a perfect one. Save energy, save water, grow veggies. Here are my rules:

- Don't use chemical dishwash soap- I use oasis, designed to degrade to plant food

- Don't let the water sit for a long time, it needs to go straight to the soil!

So what I do, since I rent and am not a master of plumbing, is close the drain of the kitchen sink, wash my full batch of dishes, which about fills the sink. I use a 3 gallon bucket to transfer that water out to the garden. I don't do it every night, but every few days. By knowing that I'm not using any toxics, I have no problem putting the water in the garden, and with compost-rich soil in the garden, the extra nutrients of the greywater are getting eaten up by the soil microbes. I can't wait to eat some of those greens and tomatoes!

From Corner to Corner

2007-04-18T11:15:00.000-07:00

A corner seems a good place to start.

Rincon, CA

The southern tip of Santa Barbara County. This world famous surf break is the proving grounds for the regions most capable surfers. It defines the bend on the coastline where we move from west facing 'West Coast' to the south facing, 'south coast.' Its the corner, just as rincon means in spanish. Start the story:

So for the last three years I've become an avid surfer out here on the 'south coast.' It was all too easy to catch the habit finishing school at UC Santa Barbara. The School's campus, at one point a millitary base, is entirely situated on the shoreline. Yes, dormatory buildings will one day fall into the sea as the cliffs continue to erode. Numerous houses on the oceanside of Del Playa street have already been condemed. So a barefoot hop, skip, and a jump from the water, taking a 90 minute break during the day to catch a few longboard rides was part of the life living in our fair college town of Isla Vista. It was a fun aside, not something I was doing to become an ace at the sport.

There is this thing that seems to happen though, when one reaches a certain level at any given sport or craft. A second layer of complexity enters into the fold. The sport is surrounded by the magic of learning it for the first time. What had started to become routine enters a new dimension of challenge and interest. It becomes amazing again, as if the seeds you set in learning through the basics have come to pay back in droves.

This is how I felt at Rincon that day, paddling for the first time in my life through the place that had been only a specter before. I had never been good enough really to match up in the line-up out there, and the constant crowd had kept me out at bay. I had been doing more an more surf trips though, and my brief stint at the leisurely life allowed for increased discipline in my surfing pursuit. On this day the 'unemployment surf' was pumping, and those fools with day jobs were denied this divine recess. I was filled with adrenaline as I paddled out through a set of sizable an crisp waves. The lineup was still fierce, something to do with the relation between unemployment and surfing, and just about every wave was finding a rider well before it came down my way (and don't think for a minute that a sophmoric surfer such as myself is going to drop into, 'skunk' a wave in front of another rider, probably worlds more talented then myself). So after observing some of the most clean and strongly shaped rides I've ever witnessed, I found a few opporunities to drop in on a few of my own.

I was thoroughly trashed, sliding down not fast enough for the steep collapsing walls of water, and ending up going through the spin cycle of the ocean wash -machine. Avoiding embarrassment and the potential harass of 'kook get out of where you don't belong!,' I paddled quickly up the lineup to the anonymity of a different crowd. The rush of one of the highest drops I've attempted still flowing, I positioned out for another wave opening up seemingly just for me. Dropping in the magic took over, as a single moment time-lapsed into slowed reality. I moved from vertical (in the upside down positioning) to horizontal (perpendicular from the direction I had dropped from) in one swift motion. Moving anywhere on this fluid body was my charge, and I rocked smoothly (from my perspective, rather awkwardly from just about anyone else's) up to the top of the wave and back down to where its movement was drawing up hundreds of gallons of water. The sensation was trandscendent. The level of play here was quite high, and the skill involved was pushing my limits. I was falling in loving with surfing, or better said falling in love with the ocean, again.

Two months pass. new job #1 starts and settles. Adventures and mis-adventures both pick up, and new job #2 surfaces. Overwork, extended play, and lack of rest ensue. Bicycle fixing, shirt promoting, and event coordination pass leaving a lack of both leisure and writing time.

Corner 2 arrives. Another trip to Rincon. Heading out of the office at 4:15, just getting out ahead of the traffic, joining the army of determined outdoorspeople who have been relegated as well to the day job world. The surf spot was going to fill out to unsurfable proportion, but this day it never did. The swell was just angling in to provide consistent smaller waves as well as more than a few sizable head-highers. I had in the meantime surfed in a tremendous south swell of just a week previous, a wave larger and more powerful than I'd ever attempted to even paddle out through, and one that pushed me well past the comfort zone (a solid dash of raw fear can be a great thing!). My experience in the ocean was becoming something entirely new, as if my eyes just blinked into a whole new vision of the water. The session this day was superb, throwing me off with fury where I was too lazy to push at 100% effort. The waves a I did catch sent endorphins instantly through my system. I felt comfortable in the water, out in the lineup. I felt a sense of mission, a sense of grounding. The rest of my world, the hectic bunching of responsibilities, desires, habits, faded away as the sun started to set upon us and we paddled into waves until our arms turned weak as wet spaghetti. The lineup disappeared and three of us ended up the last ones out of the water from the top of rincon's break.

Set the Sun over one of the corners of my world.

Quick Hello and over the falls.

2007-04-11T00:05:00.000-07:00

So no posts as of late. And I'm supposed to write every day! Well, good thing no one reads them though. Except that posting to the bloggy has nothing to do with publishing and others so much as with discipline and my own creative excersizing. so real quickly..

I've been overwhelmed of late, and not just boring stuff. Its not that theres no material to write about but in fact that there is too much to write about. Overactive imagination. Anyway here's one of the stories of today:

Fighting to Fall in Sync:
Or launch maybe. Today I surfed in the biggest swell of my life, and it was a hair raising experience. It was great, the fear swept in but so too did the awe. I couldn't catch much, I went through the grinder on some and most I paddled for I simply couldn't catch up to ( these big south swells demand you have some intense speed and be right in the sweet spot in order to catch them). to be out there though, in the thick of some amazing raw ocean power, reinstilled a reverence for the might of the ocean. And catching one of those waves was a thrill indeed...

okay that's all for now, more soon...

The Dog Lies in the Sun

2007-04-01T13:27:00.000-07:00

Contented in thought. Though also perhaps overwrought, overactive in thought, being that there isn't all to much get done, as a dog, in a small yard. Prevented from fulfillment through action and responsibility, thought can grow cancerous. But for the sake of this dog, lying in this particular sunday sun, in a pleasant yet small lot on a small street in fair santa barbara, let's assume he's made peace with his lot in life.
What thoughts pass amidst the glow of the sultry sunshine? One after another, little philosophies, positive recollections, musings provide a constant internal stimulus. But how can the dog express himself? Does he even desire to do so? Perhaps in buddha- like transcendental bliss, there is no wish to explain one's inner thoughts. Instead, dogs get to play, the fortunate ones anyway, with other dogs. A bliss of this world as opposed to abstractions about it. But who knows, maybe the relentless barking of some is in fact the embodiment of the frustration of philosophies with no outlet to explain themselves.
Philosophy seems out of style in these times, but I think they are a big part of what we live for. Work is, or can be, therapeutic, fulfilling. But it could all -all of it- be merely busywork in the big scheme of things. Play- enjoying the bodies we've been bestowed with and the settings given to us to enjoy. Terribly important. But what gives us inspiration, a boost to our outlook on things? Thought put to meaningful means of communication. shared ideas. Connection with other sentient beings in an abstract way. Knowing that we aren't alone in this crazy never to be explained adventure and challenge called life.

Support Staff

2007-03-27T00:15:00.000-07:00

Did you ever think about the whole idea of what it is we do? Like the work we do. Here's an example. I spend a lot of time working on bikes. preparing for the times that i take a bike out for a mountain ride. Or I spend a lot of time working on the computer, managing the computer system. Basically just providing IT support to the office. Or even washing the dishes/ food preping for a meal. Its all significant amount of time, perhaps the bulk of our energies, to support the little bits of 'meaningful' work we or even someone else may perform.

I dunno. It was just a thought.

Too many gumballs.

2007-03-23T22:31:00.000-07:00

Um. I don't know what to write. Not for lack of things, but more like a gumball machine that is over stuffed and when you insert a quarter and turn the handle nothing comes out. That happens to my brain all the time. You see, I have been found guilty - repeatedly - of overstuffing the gumball machine.

So my work ethic runs like an old malajusted gas lawnmower machine. Don't have the energy to start it, and it just putters. Get it finally going and it fires up on full, quickly cutting through anything it can and burning through the gasoline along with it. Yeah, moderation of commitments, thats a tough one...

My fit of unemployment is now fully over. I have more jobs than I can handle already and quite a few pro-bono projects to boot. What will come out successfully? nothing if the gumball machine stays overstuffed. I'm going to help host a free bike repair event tommorow and then from there. I'm going to relax as if still in unemployed mode and decide what gumballs have to go. Tough calls, but quality work beats out all in the end.

Gumption. Gumption and Gumballs for all!

Bling it Biatch

2007-03-22T23:53:00.000-07:00

Rich upper class kids, one of which I am - I'll admit, can really get to me sometime. Something about how the pursuit of sex, drunkenness and social status has been built up to be almost a noble pursuit. Guys and girls each play their part in the masquerade that has become 'the' social institution of our day. Don't get me wrong, I'm down for a solid party on occasion. But I resent the cultural cues to make my lifestyle out of it.
Because culture it isn't. Real Friendship and activities that make up social interactions are about more than public displays of sex and alcohol overconsumption. It's about learning and joking and conversing and action. Doing something.

I'm all about enjoying life, but my philosophy keeps on being: ENJOY MY LIFE IN A WAY THAT HELPS OTHERS ENJOY THEIR OWN. and drinking away life isn't going to work with this. How can someone be a public servant while acting as the town drunkard? Neither is anyone in a good place to make their contribution when hung-over.

Operation Save the Children

2007-03-22T12:21:00.000-07:00

Ed- Standby to Save the Children:
Okay- Houselights up...
Stagelights out...
and...I'm OFF headset...

I climbed up and ran through the catwalks. Climbing down the two story ladder to the rear exit, I had to beat out all those little buggers to the street. We had set up roadblocks to save the children. From what? Their parents and their oversized SUV's. The kid Choir had just gotten out and 160 little ones needed to be reunited with their parents. We let them flood the street and we put our lives to the line to stop all vehicular traffic on the road. A solid ten minutes later, exhausted from standing vigilant guard, our mission was accomplished. This time, We hadn't lost a single one.

These kids were from the different Palos Verdes area schools - like my alma mater- Montemalaga. They sang their hearts out and they sang for peace. Save the Children.

Las Visitas

2007-03-21T03:04:00.000-07:00

Whatever happened to the idea of a visit? Here's what I mean, a drop in unannounced, checkin in old friends, kind of just in the neighborhood type of visit. It's just not done anymore: unless you're Ed France that is. Life for so many of us is now busy busy busy- there's just no time to set aside for friends. But being able to sport a visit with a buddy of ole' isn't supposed to be an imposition. Its an important grounding time as a shared ' checkin in' as friends and fellow human beings. I've been out in the South Bay and West LA area for the last few days, and extremely fortunate to have four great 'Visits'.
My first hang time linked up with my jazz musician friend of old. He went to my elementary, intermediate, High school, and college. I'm not following him to harvard dental school though. We had a great morning connect: we went out to the Hesse Park to through around the frisbee and talk story. He spelled out some fascinating story lines from the front of us young men's constant strange pursuit: dating.
Homeboy Howie, was the second friend I visited; he's recovering still from getting hit by a car while bicycling. He's got the plush federal government job, though is struggling with his location, far from his home base of san francisco. West Hollywood doesn't match him well, and especially with his recent loss of mobility, things are rather grey. Isolated from the things that previously kept him going, he could do for a brush up on Leisure Literacy...hmmm a later story, perhaps.
Next I caught up with an old pen pal. This unique young lady had fascinated me so much a few years past. My last interactions with her though had been disappointing and dull, but I was thrilled to see her in a positive and pensive spot. Before I had felt she was zombified, cutting connection with the life force, Spent of the zest for enjoyment of things. But this time I felt her as alive. As a result I had too many excited ideas and unfortunately went on ranting in response. She is a wiley one , and it is a warm sentiment to see an old friend coming out strong.
Then there's notorious TK. When I remember high school, he always comes to mind: saying a goofy line, or just doing something to keep things light. He's got a few tests of character coming over the next few weeks, and I feel for him. I know though, that his humorous and upbeat attitude will power through and keep his boat afloat through storms ahead. His strength for that gives me hope.
As memories or even as forces in my own life, I feel such grounding in reconnecting with these folks after sometimes a number of years. A good visit is meaningful thing indeed. Certainly worth making the time for.

De Ida y Vuelta a Montemalaga

2007-03-17T16:09:00.000-07:00

Return to where I came from: Palos Verdes. Its always different but the same. Same trails, same spirit, new facades on buildings, new growth on the shrubs on my trails- somehow managing to change the feel of it all. There are invariably people I know, but one's I'd like to see are missing, gone from the scene. Sentimentality flavors the visit, but no expectations are fufilled- it is its own experience always.
Castle Norris: This is where I worked when I was in high school. The tech guys. Except not computers, but the fly rail system, electrical, sound, event set up, show cue execution. Ironically the show I am working today is 'The Magic Show' because what we do is its own magic: a ton of prep and organization allows for two hours of sensation. Theater.
Montemalaga: So this morning I went to my elementary school. I was just driving past, but I had to stop. Then, ready to go, I took a look at a soccer ball accidently left on the field. Soon It was dunked as i played around by myself on the school basketball nets that are only eight feet high. I felt like a giant! Strolling through the nooks and crannies of the school grounds, I was assulted by the memories of the time when life was just opening up. I loved elementary school, fell in love, made first real friends, starting running, adventuring, thinking, gardening, ran for school vice president, did a fake act with my best friend in the talent show. What was not to love?
A few short blocks from the school is a fire access trail. The 'hill' upon which palos verdes gets its nickname is too steep in this part, so aside the paved trail, it is here undeveloped and to the limits of southern california, wild. At the end of this fire access trail, the creek which scarcely exists on the top of the trail becomes so big as to require a full bridge, concrete pylons and all. strolling under the bridge then connects to the 1000 acre nature preserve alongside which I grew up. It was a fifteen minute drive by car, but to think; I could have walked entirely from elementary school to my house with only 3 blocks of actual vehicular streets. The rest being protected path or even deep in the nature reserve on singletrack footpath.
So what did I do this morning? I hiked through these trails and then back up again. It was trancendent, putting me into the same peace and daydreams of adolescence. I was unbelievably fortunate to grow up in the community, and in the geography where I did. It is the things like this that don't get communicated when I say "yeah, I grew up in LA. a simplication that for all intensive purposes is false.

We're Doing It....

2007-03-15T10:07:00.001-07:00

Get a van. Make a plan. Climate Challenge Party. Berkeley. Rock.

Activist Kids become 'Advocate' Adults. Me, Kristian, and Logan too went out to assemble a crew of UCSBers and bring them out to a summit at UC Berkeley called the California Campus Climate Challenge. CCCC. Addressing how how colleges can help to put a check on global warming. In fact, The University of California Chancellors have all just agreed to getting carbon neutrality -AS SOON AS POSSIBLE! This is crazy. Years ago: simply unimaginable. By carbon neutral- and no one seems sure of the scope of what they've committed to- the UC's have committed to entirely cutting fossil fuel emissions and/or agreeing to buy carbon offsets for the rest of what may be produced.
Four years ago, deep in the struggle to get the regents to agree to our wildly ambitious green building and renewable energy (portfolio) campaign, it was as if we were speaking another language to these people. Now its them telling us what is possible. What a difference a movement makes. Here we are in whole new roles, with an interesting new coalition, helping to foster a whole new generation of activists.
The 'I'm doing something about it" van rocked out in its job of bringing ten kids up to berkeley to help spread the stoke - the stoke to put out the flame of global warming over our planet. Like the seasons, the cycle of new activists turns, and a new success builds on the last once again.

Bike it

2007-03-08T00:35:00.000-08:00

Do you drive a car?

A bike. Sometimes I take the bus.

Good. That's good. I like that. I can see why they put us together.

- Tommy Corn. - Albert Markovski. I Heart Huckabees

I'm doing something about it.

So I bike. Most of my friends bike. Most of the girls I date even. We could drive, can drive a car, do sometimes, when its really necessary. Most of the times though, its pedaling. Sometimes waiting for a bus. and sometimes it sucks. When its cold or there is a lot going on one particular afternoon to evening, it would be so damn convenient to take out the car. motor from spot to spot with little effort. But that isn't a lifestyle or a worldstyle that is sustainable. Personally, I saved a ton of money not driving and i can thank that for not being in debt nor indebted. As far as the future goes I intuit that the motor age is done for and, well, I'm doing my best to usher in the new.
But it isn't just about that. About worldview, morality or an agenda. Its about fun. I don't grit my teeth and masochistically push to avoid fossil fuelish ways. Instead i live more richly for it. Discover things along the way. I may hesitate to jump into the ocean sometimes, but i love to be in the water. Riding through town on my tricked out fixed gear bike is more funthan just about anything, and unlike most people in the workaday world, I look forward to my commute. Minus the occasional motorized jaunt,I am locomotively self propelled. While that may have been out of need and compulsion at first, nowadays its all a matter of fun, and its all part of my bikestyle.

Biking. one way I'm Doing Something About It

LOQUATS!!!!!!!!

2007-03-07T18:43:00.000-08:00

So, in a sudden burst, just about every loquat tree in town has fruit now ripe for the picking. How did this happen? just two, three weeks ago we were in the midst of an unbearably chilly winter cold snap. Especially in my completely uninsulated 1920's home. But forget all that, because winter in southern california lasts just about that long, and long gone it now is.

SPRING IS HERE!!!!!!
rejoice! the oppression of our thin skins vs. cold nights is past, and the days of easy living, romance in the air, and fruit in the trees ripe for the picking, are all now upon us. If you don't believe me, walk down your street, not after too long you'll find a tree with large spade shaped leaves and clusters of little yellow fruits. originally from china's mainland, cultivated in Japan, smuggled to Hawaii, and finally imported as an ornamental in California as far back in the 1870's, most people have no idea that the fruit is even edible, or certainly not what it is. Well, its delcious, despite the 3-4 big tough seeds in the center, so grab the lightest colored ones and dine it up! In my morality, fruit that wasn't known to be such can't be stolen. Liberation it is.

Its' the first of spring. Go liberate some loquats!

To find out more about this superb fruit: http://www.crfg.org/pubs/ff/loquat.html

Bid Farewell to the Life of Leisure

2007-02-28T11:47:00.000-08:00

"Leisure and the cultivation of human capacities are inextricably interdependent" - Margaret Mead

Tommorow at ten am in morning I hang up my SSUP hat ,'Secret Society of Unemployed Persons,' and walk again through the threshold of the workaday world. This time though, I'm ready. I've learned a lot in this last few weeks of free time, hours I had not contracted to sell for money. It was liberating. I abruptly caught ties the the City bureaucracy, moved into my downtown abode, and started a shakedown of the habits of old. I will remain true to the new leisure. The attitude that time is precious, and that between excersise, keeping up the home, socializing, and exploring creative outlets, selling time to an institution for pay is not only impracticable but vulgar. There's simply too much to do in a day to actually 'work'. and besides, if you ever are 'working' then maybe you just have the wrong attitude.

So I decided, after finding a local group i would enjoy spending some time with, the citizens planning foundation, that I would agree to work some part-time, flexible hours and in addition to expanding on my abilities, accept pay for those hours i did choose to spend with them. This seems a workable agreement. Am I still going to swim at the montecito YMCA in the mornings? absolutely, and lounge in the hot tub and sauna as well. Still take a surf trip when those bumps in the water line up? Hell yeah. Conspire bike kitchens? Certainly. Still go on runs out to nowhere and find my way back? Yup. Kick it with the parents? oh yeah. set up fat dinners and have the crew over to grub? you know it. Write out Kookie quasi-creative stuff- mos' definate.

Six weeks ago, when this whole experiment began, I was a slave to the state. my institution was the City of Santa Barbara and I gave to it far too much of my spirit and effort. Allured by a nice salary and beaucoup benefits, I was letting the rest of my life fall by the wayside. So, with the boon of some office tensions to spur me on, I split from the City three years about from when I started that stint. Now, refreshed, refocused, moving a little bit more to the beat of my own drummer, I step into the next adventure.

Secret Passages and One Thousand Steps

2007-02-19T18:35:00.000-08:00

A run beyond filled the morning. There are twenty minutes 'justgetinarun' runs, there are hour weekend runs, and there are run until i get lost and then find my way back the long way runs. It was great. I went to a trailhead I had noticed out on the mesa. I fixed geared as far as i could along the back-breakingly steep carrillo hill, locked it up, and started running. The trail head took me through a deep oak grove, an obscenely beautiful meadow lined with eucyalptus, and ultimately into the backyard of some unsuspecting Mesa area resident. The fence hopped and front yard landscaping tip-toed through, I was in a neighborhood as yet undiscovered (by me). It was so funny, how dated the area was. It belonged in a montery/Santa Cruz, MorroBay/Pismo type beach town of the late sixties. The kind that writers like steinbeck enjoyed during their retirement years. There are so many neighboorhoods, so many little cultural nooks here in Santa Barbara, that's what I love about it.
So endorphins high,and pace speedy I headed into a cul-de-sac. Stop. The end was a cliff. A little path to a make-shift view spot revealed the breathtaking pacific. I hopped over to the next cul-de-sac over and the view spot had a sign: Thousand Steps. Beach Access. Rock! I jogged down the concreted step in this creek infill that would deliver me to the sand. Determined I was to count and demonstrate that it was not exactly a thousand steps. The steps soon were covered with algea and water attempting to flow to the ocean. Jogging past a beautiful women i quite lost count and just ended up refreshed to find the light reflecting off the pacific.
Wet sand on a low tide makes for a brisk running pace through a course with just a few rocky hurdles. The beach meandered its way through to hendrys' and the arroyo buro preserve. The preserve path leads straight to the mesa's bluffs, so called 'Douglas Familly Preserve'. Bluffs lead quickly to another, somewhat more high-brow mesa neigborhood, leading past the famed Mesa Lane surf break beach access and into 'the' neighborhood for fancy ocean view abodes. The Camino de Luz then ends into a pedestrian bridge that spans over a 75-yd creek bed. The path leads into LaMesa Park right at the foot of the backside of Carrillo Hill. Theres no finer way to end a long run then to have a steep long uphill finish.
On the bike i felt no pain. the jostiling of foot over foot on a run are cut away through a bikes wheels and spinning pedals. I took through to Miramonte(where a secret path cuts through a hidden cul-de-sac to Carrillo) down to its base where it re-unites with the street I call home, Victoria. To cross down on my victoria route, i sneaked off to the also newly discovered footbridge (remember this: to walk through cross to Anapamu) and rode up the corkscrew to quite a view. You see Santa Barbara hides its freeways from town quite well, and to be up and above this unique-to-us freeway is like a view over the canopy, especially when you aren't on some overpass full of traffic. The path rolls nicely into the up and down slide to my home. Whew!
So to treat myself i made myself a beer float of tj's vintage ale and some vanilla ice cream. Delicious! and yes an excuse to drink at 11:00am.

2007-02-15T15:39:00.000-08:00

Self-Suficiency vs. the System, via sailing

2006-10-23T20:18:00.000-07:00

Maybe in years from now it will flip around entirely. I'll be off sailing into my own adventures, and my friend will be some big organization man. But here and now we're on other sides of the divide, he's been living entirely off 'the grid' of conventional life, and Me? I am the grid.

Just five years ago Kristian and I participated in the Youth at the Melinium conference together. This event formed a brotherhood amongst all of us 'delegates,' indeed it somehow stands out as a turning point in most all our memories. Kristian and I paid our debt of conference 'dues' by helping to make a documentary from footage of the event. Neither of us knew where we were going but recent inspiration filled us with a meaningful ambition.

Flash forward to a friday evening five years later...

Kristian was back in town, on a brief landing, from more than a month sailing the channel islands, alone, without a motor. Indeed he had been living aboard his sailing vessel the past three years. After his mediteranean travels, he elected to opt-out of rent, bills, and the grid-tethered life. He put together his funds, bought a mid size well-older sailboat, and headed north from it's former southern california port. He settled up in Moro Bay's 'back bay' where a complex lack of jurisdiction or oversight allowed free anchor in the area along the tidal estuary.

Meanwhile I'd been solidifying myself in Santa Barbara after my experiment with Santiago, Chile. I'd embraced working within instituitions. My experience working with the UC system landed me a job working recycling programs for the local City Government, and my life and passions became incremental improvements of the systems upon which the vast majority rely or better said overely upon. Getting deep into solid waste, I quickly ended up working City Hall, pushing the greening of City operations. the very grid, Kristian had successfully abandoned.

Sailing and Sustainability

Kristian soon invited me to a lecture he had been invited to give at a class at the local City College. Here it was:
Start slide show - lots of beautiful photos of friends, open water and Islands. Kristian speaks of Morro Bay free anchorage, sailing waters with friends and family; the live aboard experience, and finally his solo motorless channel island sailing experience.
Next to the powerpoint: Energy, waste, food, transport. The boat as a closed system. Self-sufficiency by design. Simplicity by neccesity. Sustainability naturally.

En Sum: life off the grid in all of its grizzly beauty. The sailing experience as the vessel not a possesion but as the sailor a belonging of it...

As I watched I was agape. There I was in a completely different, though equally good, but diametrically opposed spot. Not only was I quite well dependent on the grid, but in a manner of speaking I AM THE GRID- at least in the sense of helping to make that system more sustainable. Attempting to get folks to understand the why, the drive behind 'sustaining' is one of our biggest challenges, but here the sailing self-suficiency lifestyle simply set all that as pre-requisite.

2006-03-11T00:49:00.000-08:00

Ed here in a mulberry tree in Utah

'Decomposition' happens- or starts to

2006-03-10T23:38:00.000-08:00

So today was the first day of filming for my documentary video project 'decomposition.' Oh I was anxious- I woke up at 6:45 to start getting ready for the 9am interview with Marc McGinnes. After doing about 45 minutes worth of work at my job I headed over to ucsb in the truck I have on loan from my housemate in mexico. One key flaw- I had no lavelier microphone! I had mike equipment but only a cardiod- the type that news reporters always used to have back in the 70's and 80's -remember then? So setting up in serence proffesor emeritus marc's office, I had no choice but to use the terrible sound of the on camera mic-(its like recording someone speak in the boiler room with all the associated high pressure noises in the background), or sitting near marc the whole interview with the mic. I chose the later. aside some stiff ankles after a half hour shoot, the only failing was that he looked so far off-screen when he spoke! The sound was great, but him not looking near the camera might make some troubles for editing later on. Not to mention that every question I asked he failed to repeat the body, so he makes statements like "Absolutely, its essential" instead of saying what exactly it is that is essential. oh well!
So I got in a short interview in an outside patio with an original route rider from the department of public worms, who was awesome, and the video quality was awesome- but this time without the cardiod mic the sound was terrible! well, we'll fix it in post!
last interview- wasn't. Mel the awesome energy and environment professor refuses to be on camera. he takes the documentary I am making very seriously and demands time to research and prepare his statements. understandable. Anyway after an hour discussion, where a ton of his quotes i would have killed to get on camera, he turns to me and says, 'well darn, after an hour we should have recorded this and edited out 99.9%. I couldn't have agreed with him more.

oh well, for next time.

onwards with decomposition!

Fired Up!

2005-11-28T22:02:00.000-08:00

In a tranquil, reserved manner, yes, I am fired up. What about? about what's next. About creating. Here's a line overheard: " you know, all life I've been trying to find myself, find my community, searching. But what I've learned is that you don't find it, you create it." This set me into thought. dangerous.
So what kind of stuff to create? we'll have to see...

Floating

2005-11-05T16:51:00.000-08:00

Friends I am floating. who knows where this time of introspection and disconnect from the normal stimuli of daily life will take me.
ha!

How I almost moved to Montecito

2005-10-09T18:40:00.000-07:00

So, its time for a change. Something, adventure, audacity, something different, bold is needed to get me out of this post-graduation rut i'm in.

Here's the skinny: I finished school last winter. Without a moment to sit down between my last exam and flying to central america, I started a trip that fuffilled a long dream of mine to adventure through Latin America and reconnect with someone I care deeply about. Then I returned, and on the day of my return, I knew something was amiss. My social network had frayed. I didn't feel like I belonged.

Two weeks later my friendship with my housemate and best friend at UCSB was over. Our relations had been on the rocks for a few months before I left, but the crash really saddend and angered me. I felt like there was nothing I could do- and I felt betrayed that a girlfriend could come between us. Two weeks after all this he moved out.

Lots of friends had left, and some just drifted as their minds shifted gears. I no longer did anything with the University- the former bastion of my advocacy and activism. And my since of passion about Isla Vista activism had calmed. What do you do when you lose what it is that you define yourself by?

Yes, there was the farm. The farm promised to shoo away all of these concerns. It fed the soul. It was a new project to play with. A new group to work with. But its originator left. Most volunteers disappeared. Pressure fell increasingly on me to keep it going-I started getting jaded- and I questioned if it was even worth it.

Then came the garage. So yes, I live in a garage. A garage in Isla Vista. A spot in Isla Vista that is very loud and gets trashed on weekends. I do not live with any friends from earlier. It is frustrating, a little. I am trying to feel professional about my work with the City of SB, but I felt far from professional.

So work with the City. I am supposed to be the Recycling Coordinator for the City. My official title is Eng. Tech. 1. Sometimes I feel like an intern. I have no benifits, no permanecy in the job. Its aggravating. There is no motivation to raise the level of professionalism in my work. Projects take so long that it feels as if the world is passing me by.

So enough of the griping. It's as I say, I'm in a rut. Up comes this place in Montecito. $475 a month. Studio. Beautiful Neighborhood. I could work to make it a really nice villa type place. It would take me away from Isla Vista. It would lend me legitimacy.

I'm not going to do it.

I am going to figure this all out. I am going to make a plan. I am going to get out of this rut. And best of all- I am going to Europe.

vivez sans temps morts

2005-09-29T23:28:00.000-07:00

just hanging with my man tal

Utah

2005-06-29T12:30:00.000-07:00

Travel Notes:
Traveling the good Vibes

Traveling can sometimes be just about the worst decision you made. Car trouble, issues at home, slow internet; they all leave you wondering, why did I trek out here in the first place. But hidden gems of places is why you go, legitmate surprise that can only occur when you do make those bad decisions to hoof out of the normal routine and take the unknown road.
For those of us lovers of art, ecology, culture and anything otherwise ‘buena onda,’ those little nooks of aliveness are the stuff of life. At least the stuff of good travels. That undescribable wear of the road, be it on bus, car, bike, foot or whathaveyou etches at your phsyche, and can really jade you. The antidote, is not returning home, but spontaneous mixing with good folk of similar interest and witnessing something cool that you wouldn’t have expected.
Out here in Southern Utah, with a car breakdown after scaling some of the most breathtaking canyons just past Bryce and Zion, we found our such place. Robber’s Roost books & beverages seemed like a simple place to stop and quickly do some neglected internet chores. “High-Speed internet” grabbed our view initially . Coming up close, It had a creek circling the property and seemed to be one of the few places covered in green and shade. Walking in past the front folk art and plantings, we could tell that this was our needed eco-oasis .
The internet wasn’t too “high-speed,” but then again neither was the rest of the place. The lacsydasical pace of the place allowed us to relax and look out the window at the red rock canyons intead of the slowly loading computer screens. Our writing or reading goals sidelined to chatting with the shopkeepers. The couches, book selection, view, and for my friend Aaron –outdoor hammock, were calming to weary travelers, but the “Entrada Instituite” piqued my interest.
Turns out the coffee shop is by evening a community space where music shows, workshops, lectures, and anything else local folks want to put one are hosted. The shtick is that the Entrada , twelve years old, “continues to bring people of diverse backgrounds together to enjoy music, art, writing, and landscape events in the red-rock desert.” If we stay around a day or two, there’s an indy rock band touring through, some earth painting, and such coming. While we’ll probably be gone, a place like this, and the jovial conversations with the folks running it is what makes this trip memorable and worthwhile in the firstplace. You can see the natural sights on TV, but travel is the only way one can really expand their horizons by interacting with real folks and the natural world.

Tomando Once en Isla Vista

2005-05-11T01:10:00.000-07:00

...or taking a snack with friends in Isla Vista (anglican pronounciation this time)....

three weeks pass and life finally sets traction. my south american interlude is over, my processing time mostly complete.

I spanned the continent in a month, and traveled through a good part of it with the women of my dreams. It was good.

South America made me think -which is always dangerous.

Meaningful human relationships are key to all. It's what we seek. What's sad is when we don't know that its what we seek. This is what I seek.

Working as a public servant is paying the bills and serving to mentally stimulate, but not emotionally or spiritually. What to do there is the next big question.

Physically it looks like my body is atrophying or starting to if I don't get going on some excersize in short order!

Interpersonally, however, I'm on a good harmony, as the title suggests, sitting down with some snacks and tea in Isla Vista, conversing over whatever, its what we were meant to do.

That and sipping on mint julips in the summer heat on sun porches, sitting in rocking chairs, chatting, and waving at neighbors.

Flying Home

2005-04-23T11:34:00.000-07:00

America flys first class.

I don't, but then again I can't shake my shock at the difference in material wealth between home and south america.

I was mugged in Quito, Ecuador on my last night before flying back. by luck I held on to my passport and tickets, which were on my person while two large and intense fellows ripped every single thing they could off of me. Further luck, I had $100 folded away in a secret belt -it has a zipper on the inside to hid bills-that otherwise looks just like any other belt.
One hundred dollars paid the airport tax out of Quito, a place to crash in LA, and the bus and train back to Santa Barabara.
$22.20 is what I had left upon my return, which was on the earthday for Isla Vista, a rocking celebration. I spent my first day back tending the garden and boogying down with 1000 close friends- Earth People, at the fabulous Environmental Affairs Board Isla Vista Earth Day.
Home. but the chronicles do not end there.

until next time...

Despedir a Chile

2005-04-14T16:46:00.000-07:00

hm. sad.
The dream came to an end. I said goodbye to my much loved Carolina, my ex-girlfriend the artist, my quite hip ecologist friend, and my chilean partner in Crime -my old housemate Javier. unfortunately this trip has made me realize again how much these people mean to me. hmmm.

goodbye Chile -I love you despite you´re schitophrenia, smog and stratification of wealth.

in the Swing of things in Santiago

2005-04-13T06:52:00.000-07:00

Whew.
Somehow friendships down here don`t miss a beat. Navigating this gigantic city to reunite with friends in different parts can be a bit of a challenge, but despite this place works out to be such a small world.
So yesterday I visited a few of the Facultades or campuses from my studies two years ago. oh sentimentality! I didn´t miss a beat with my old housemate and law school friend. In fact I think he assumed I was down here to move back, and so he started discussing how we could find a new apartment to rent and all that. Ha! Then an old friend from my environmental history class - an unbelivebly kind ecologist who happens to look quite like bob Marley (yes one of chile´s few blacks) and I ended up talking all afternoon and he even took me to `Green Drinks` which is a reunion of Santiagos environmental movement leaders.
So after a pisco sour and meeting some amazing folk I reunited with my old chilean girlfriend in my old haunt of Plaza Ñuñoa. This intense artist is always a trip to spend time with- she beams creativity. So anyway as I crashed at her place and she was cruising by bike, instead of taking a bus and meeting her I rode Santa Barbara style- sitting on the bike rack and holding around her waist. We rolled through Irrararasaval -a main drag that is normally a traffic nightmare- except late in the night it was almost totaly vacant. Except those occaisional bursts of traffic, which yes, did scare the bejeusus out of me.
Anyway having a blast down south -with 48 hours between me and the North again.

Back, Back to where I once belonged

2005-04-11T14:54:00.000-07:00

Last night we arrived in Santiago. Carolina and I completed our four day hitch hiking journey through sothern Argentina and Chile with a bus ride on a rainy sunday from Temuco to Santiago. When we disembarked I realized that we were in the exact same bus terminal where Carolina and I met, one frigid cold Saturday 6am in the morning two years ago- it was where the Montañismo group met up to leave for a onforgetable five day backpack. ah, sentimentality.
So I have just a few days to mix with my good friends from my studies here. I feel like a traitor visiting for so short, the first question people have is if I am here to stay or for how long. I say three days. the response: ahhh! ¡que lata! and a look of hurt.
I am fired up about my wosup.org (Web of Sustainable Progress) media projects! just you wait!
Anyway I find myself now snuck into the Escuela de Derecho computer lab and don´t want to neglect my hosts. best from my former home!

Playing in Patagonia

2005-04-03T16:03:00.000-07:00

yup. playing in patagonia. "or" Two Vegetarians in the back of a truck with a dead lamb.

when you are a kid you don´t have any money and every day trip you take becomes an adventure that you might just not make it back from.

So I´m "Northern Exposure"ing it out here, except it is southern exposure, and the town of Natales is small and things move pretty slow. Tourist season has slowed to a trickle, and I find myself mixing with the local artesanía folks, conaf (park rangers), and Hollanders who are working on a sustainable development program (enviru.org). Of course almost always I´m alongside the amazing Carolina Rodriguez, who lives her life like we all wish we did.

I like mixing with locals during the nighttime, chatting in bad spanish, or sometimes bad english, but I LOVE adventuring during the daytime. Patagonia is lots of things, especially cold and windy, but most of all REALLY BIG. Its one of those places that reminds you how small you are, and as such is a great place to play.

Today we left early to go to Caverna de Milodon, by hitch hiking of course. We got picked up by a scottish fellow who is now a chilean resident. Turns out he came here to fight the battles of the faulkland islands (UK versus Argintina) , and then ended up staying down here the rest of his life. So he was going fishing at lago sofía, which we hear was pretty beautiful, so we decided to go there instead.

It really was that beautiful! And we figured that the caverna de milodon was on the other side of the mountain , that we could just hoof it across and see both.

Long story short we really had no idea where we were going, but we made it! we traversed some of the most beautiful landscape Ive been in, even taking time to take a siesta on a grassy knoll. We made it not to the first cumbre but the second, and then, we navigated some thick forest and somehow made it right plop at the base of the cave, only from behind.

So it turns out this cave is a tourist site that one must pay to enter, but since we already made it in, as Carolina says "Yeah, pero se paga la entrada, no la salida."

The cave was gigantic, you could fit 2000 people in it, but then again we did have a 30km walk home. It was a good walk, but as dusk fell we sure needed a ride. As luck would have it a truck swung by -full of the whole familly in the cab- and slowed as we hopped into the truckbed.

What luck! We felt pretty good seeing the dusk fall and knowing we had a ride back all the way to Natales, but what was that smell?

Two vegetarians in the back of a truck with a dead lamb.

Where am I? How did I get here?

2005-04-01T08:49:00.000-08:00

Okay. We are now officially half done with the vacation. I made it pretty damn far south and now slowly will be making it back north to get to Santa Barbara just in time to celebrate the earth- and that is something I really like to do.

Making it south has also really slowed me down. like a meditation where the heart beats slower and slower and the breathing relaxes the same, I am quite quite calmed.

Now to wake up. Slowly and with lots of streching. Traveling with Carolina might well accellerate that process, she is quite an intense one, in fact I think that she has pipi longstocking beat.

Puerto Natales and the Magellanes (la duodecíma regíon de chile) is basically being in Alaska, but southern hemisphere alaska. Its really cold but really beautiful, and yes, you do feel that you are pretty damn far from just about everything.

So here´s what I am thinking: Capacity for Sustainable Development. That is the term I remember Tiajoga Rugé using (the undersecretary for Environment in Mexíco) and it makes so much sense.

All of these places of the world are so distinct and in such subtle ways. As good old George Pernstiener, our former Vice Chancellor once stressed,´one must work to understand the unique campus culture, any changes must come from that understanding´.

anyway thats where I am at. I also just finished reading the little prince in spanish. El Principito by Saint-Exupéry. A gift that I really treasure (mi tesoro).
that makes the list of books i have finished reading in spanish:
Harry Potter
2 books by Vonnegut
Siddartha
The little Prince.

too bad I don´t speak spanish.
Ha!

Tremendous Torres del Paine

2005-03-30T16:00:00.000-08:00

here´s the skinny.
I came down to south chile to visit my good friend from when I studied at U de chile, Carolina. trouble is that Chile is a really really long country, so the trip in all from Santiago was about 50 hours on the road. Yeah.
So weary and unsure of what exactly I was doing, we approach the park and I can see a figure on the horizon running towards the park gate. There was Carolina, and the all the travel was justified right then.
turns out Carolina just quit her job at the park, and set it up so that I could enter for free, stay for free, and eat for free. So we lived with the park staff for a few days and meanwhile worked on a recycle and compost program. -We also managed to get in a few huge hikes, one to the base of the Torres del Paine themselves. It was incredible.
I will write more on the Hosterìa los Torres son, in fact I am working on an article about it, it really is a place driving toward sustainability- although ecotourism and sustainability definately do have a dicey relationship.
anyway looks like Carolina and I will be slowly making the trip up to Santiago before I return to the US. Quite a vacation indeed.

Torres del Paine

2005-03-28T20:19:00.001-08:00

I am in the South of chile - really the independent republic of magallanes- in the most fun place ever. more later -my best thanks to Carolina.

Torres del Paine

2005-03-28T20:19:00.000-08:00

I am in the South of chile - really the independent republic of magallanes- in the most fun place ever. more later -my best thanks to Carolina.

to the south of the world!

2005-03-25T14:01:00.000-08:00

Friends my journey is now not a trip but a journey.
I find myself between long bus routes on my way to Punta Arenas, and the far south of things. I need a few things that I lack, namely cold wether gear of all sorts, but I´ll find some stuff, I´ll put it all together.
chile really feels like a developed country after my time in Peru, and being in Santiago the other day made me realize how gigantic it is! everyone is talking about how the chilean economy grew 6% last year, which really is huge. Is it spread equally, no, but it really does feel like chile is improving things.
I am in PuertoVaras right now, in the region de los lagos, or the tenth region of chile. It is a tourist hop, but it is also leading up to easter, or Pascua, and so things are both busy and shut down. I have been here before, two years ago, and this really is a unique opportunity, retracing my steps. I am glad to be traveling alone, the whole trip has been a meditation.
more to come.... I will be meeting some other environmental minds and helping to work on a environmental program that they are developing for Parque Torres del Paine- all the master work of my good friend carolina, of course. it will be both fun and challenging.

Some Dangers

2005-03-23T12:50:00.000-08:00

So the first thing one has to know is that Latin America in general is not always the safest place.

Yesterday, sitting and taking a coffee I spoke with a furious and shaken up old swiss man. In broken spanish he explained to me how he was robbed by a gang just a few blocks out of city central the day before. the expensive camera he was carrying was probably what instigated it. A group of 7 or so jumped him and took everything on his person. I think he should be glad not to be injured, he is furious though that this happened in the afternoon and there were people watching and no one did anything.

The day before I arrived here in Lima there was an assualt on a tourist bus where a screaming elderly american women was shot in the stomach and her husband stuck on the temple with the butt of a gun. Both survived but they and the rest of the tourists were robbed of everything.

My french roomate here in the hostel was robbed of everything on the bus back from Cusco. The driver got out and ran after the theif but it was fruitless. Luckily he was on his way back to Lima and made it to the french consulate- and got to spend a night in the visitors suite.

Even tranquil Costa Rica wasn´t also rocked by violence. in MonteVerde, the week before I arrived, there was a botched bank robbery that resulted in 7 dead. The bank was one of two for the small town of Santa Elena, and was, in fact, right accross the street from my hostel there.

Anyway I am ready for the stability and safety of Chile. Today I was followed on the streets of Lima and got really really creeped out. It has been fun but realities too have sinked in. I love this place despite the poverty and crime that plagues it.

ah well, off to Chile!

Peru

2005-03-21T19:35:00.000-08:00

Here I am in Lima -en el centro- the colonial capital. I am staying in Hostel España and the four story classic spanish colonial (one of those buildings that you can get lost in, and because of multiple plazas, forget which floor you are on.
There is a Semana Santa procession right now- which is an unreal sight- the menfolk-dressed to the nines in religious garb- bear the wieght between 24 of them of a statue and base of Jesus (with its own lights and power), that must wiegh more then a car.

Plaza de Armas here is perhaps the most breathtaking view of any spanish colonial design I have ever laid my eyes upon. Taking a tea and reading the paper with a view of the plaza, the colonial government former hq and Cerro San Crístobal (with a cross -lighted of course) romances my senses.

This trip is affecting me in a way I could not foresee. My love for this land, for its people -for the Amerícas -grows.

I will write more as I can. my best to you all.

2004-12-30T16:00:00.000-08:00

A duncan moon, and our small attempt at christmas lights

2004-12-30T15:53:00.000-08:00

The france kids - all were born crazy

2004-12-30T15:51:00.000-08:00

Snow on Christmas day in Duncan, Mississippi

texas day 2

2004-12-22T21:53:00.000-08:00

Galveston bay is beautiful, but Houston is not.

Maybe I won't put it to words, but we as human beings have a role on this planet to create but to coexist with the rest of things. the scale to which we make things is really a matter of taste.

And the people who made Texas have no taste. But when the Gods did they sure did, a bayou is one of the most beautiful sights you'll set your eyes on. 40-acre strip malls are not.

coming soon.... pictures!

Ed's time in texas Day 1

2004-12-21T16:45:00.000-08:00

Last night I flew into an airport known as "Bush." Ahhhh!

My parents house out here is nice though, its right up between Galveston Bay and the Bayou -a thick wetland forest. Not much of it seems to be left though, the roads in Texas are huge, the MegaMalls gargantuan, and worst, the Freeways, which are at least 4 lanes on each side are butressed by three lane "feeder" roads on each side. Doing the math: 4+4+3+3=14 lane freeway. And there still is the worst gridlock anywhere in the country in Houston, Texas. Great Job, Texas!

My parents are still cool though, they recycle AND watch PBS, which pretty much makes them the coolest Texans outside of Austin.

I worked all day in the garage with my dad. As we were working a huge crash snapped our attention out to the driveway where a branch from our old old tree fell smack on the winshield of his old BMW. My Dad's luck is pretty bad.

Apparently, by divine grace of eager labor and windshield abundance, it will cost less then $200 to fix. Yes! We then went to the BMW shop to see if we could get some new black rubber winshield trim. That fine material would be a small cost of $600 + . Great. this makes a lot of sense.

Anyway I haven't watched a good dose of Nova in over 4 years, so I'm going to go catch my fill with my folks, just like the good old days.