finding resonance

Sun King

2011-08-14T09:42:00.003-05:00

We spent half of last week on the northern part of Isla del Sol, which sits in the the majestic Lake Titicaca (haha, caca).

There are no cars on the island and only about 800 families live there. To get there, we took a 2-hour ferry from Copacabana. We slept in a cute, little clay cabin, perched on the side of a small mountain, overlooking the lake. We paid 30 bolivianos (about $4.50) per night, and ate fresh caught trucha (trout) for lunch everyday.

At dinner everynight, we wathed sheep, cows, goats and donkeys pass by our restaurants´ window, being escorted home by their sheperds, after a plentiful day of grazing.

After Isla, we headed back to La Paz to board a 17-hour bus to Santa Cruz. Shira packed PB and J sandwiches, clementines, oreos, chips and water. Two ridiculously violent movies were shown overnight (Bloodsport and Desperado), and before we knew it, we pulled into Santa Cruz at around 11 am yesterday. From there, believe it or not, Shira and I stuffed ourselves into the front-seat of a tiny white cab, and rode another 3.5 uncomfortable hours to the small and charming village, Samaipata. All in all, we spent about 24-hours in transit.

El Choro

2011-08-06T09:34:00.004-05:00

The night before heading off on the 3-day, El Choro trek, Shira felt kinda funny. And by funny, I mean sick and disoriented. It must´ve been the altitude in La Paz. We had just finished up some saag paneer and chapati (you´re welcome, dad), at an Indian restaurant, when Shira felt like she was gonna throw up. I helped her up from the table and began to lead her to the bathroom. ¨Everything started going in circles,¨ recounts Shira. And then, in the middle of the restaurant, she didn´t throw-up...she fainted. I began yelling her name, lightly slapping her face, while the waiters around us scrambled to help. After 10ish seconds, she woke up and said she was having a dream.

Later that night, on our way back from the ATM, Shira began to feel faint again. She stopped in the middle of the sidewalk, and proceeded to yack...a lot...on the street, on her crocs and on her pants. Fortunately, she began to feel better after unloading.

The next morning we got up early and Shira said she was up for the trek. We met our guide, Ronaldo, in La Paz, and drove an hour in a van to the beginning of El Choro, at about 4900 meters (16,000 feet). It was cold and windy up there, but we were dressed in layers and felt energized, breathing in the clean, mountain air.

The El Choro trek is unique in that the majority of the trail is a descent. In the first day alone, we moved from 4900 meters to 2800. Walking downhill, hour after hour, having to step on and around jagged stones and rocks, was brutal on our knees. In the higher altitudes, we saw tons of sheep and llamas and stone pueblos and yellow mountains (not our photo). But by the end of the first day, we had decended low enough to find ourselves in warmer weather, in the forest (not our photo), where we remained for the next two days of trekking. We camped in tents each night along the forests' ridge lines at these little rest-stops, ran by locals, who sold water, coke ad beer to the trekkers. Ronaldo prepared our meals each day, mostly consisting of rice, eggs, salty cheese, carrots, green peppers and hearty vegetable soup.

Though we completed a 10-day trek in Nepal, El Choro felt much harder on us. If you saw Shira trying to walk down the flight of stairs at our hostel this morning, you might laugh out loud, but also cry a little too. We are VERY soar, but so proud to be done!

We're now in the small and charming town of Coroico, resting for the next day or so, until we head back to La Paz, and from there, bus to Isla del Sol. We´re never walking again.

Amazon (not the e-commerce website)

2011-08-02T16:11:00.005-05:00

Well, the food is definitely better in India, but Bolivia has still got it goin´ on in its own unique, South American way.

Shira and I have just returned from the Amazon Basin region of Bolivia, where we spent a few days with the indigenous-run, Mashaquipe Eco-http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifTourism project, which, according to their website,

¨should help to conserve their culture and environment and give them a earning to improve the situation of their life and enable the education and apprenticeship of their children. They have the only tourism office in Rurrenabaque which is organized by the indígenas themselves and that's profits are exclusively used to improve their situation.¨

To get there, we flew on a tiny 18-seat plane from La Paz to Rurrenbaque. From there, we boarded a wooden motorboat and cruised 3-hours in a river to our camp in the jungle. Our gorgeous little cabin was made entirely from native trees and built entirely and masterfully by the people running the program, all of whom were born and raised nearby.

Our guides taught us how to make rings out of coconut seeds and how to treat both basic and serious ailments with infusions and tonics made from native plants and barks. We were humbled and energized by their ingenuity.

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Now we´re back in La Paz. Tomorrow, we leave for a 3-day trekking adventure.

Boliva Bound

2011-07-24T10:20:00.003-05:00

Shira and I have been married for one-full week, and I've got to tell you, it's been pretty pretty good. To celebrate our 7-day anniversary, we're on our way to Bolivia for a month. Bolivia is here.

Over the next 30 days, we'll trek through these mountains, take night hikes with this communutity-based eco-tourism project, swim in this lake, and explore this city, among others.

I'm not sure how frequently I'll be updating the blog, but I'm shooting for one post/week.

Hasta Pronto!

48222

2011-06-14T15:12:00.002-05:00

Detroit's Floating Post Office from WBEZ on Vimeo.

Speaking of Finding Resonace!

2010-11-21T01:12:00.001-06:00

On Language
‘Resonate’

Hauschka Prepares the Piano

2010-11-18T20:22:00.000-06:00

One Hello World

2010-10-04T00:57:00.002-05:00

DG just turned me on to One Hello World, wherein you can call (316) 247-0421 and leave a message, and a composer will write music behind your narrative. "Call it a soundtrack to your thoughts."

Strange Fruit

2010-08-09T11:50:00.001-05:00

Hava Nagilah, What is it?

2010-07-12T10:51:00.001-05:00

'Hava Nagilah, What Is It?' - Fundraising Trailer from Katahdin Productions on Vimeo.

Nowtopia

2010-04-19T00:10:00.001-05:00

"We need to stop doing all the stupid work we do, and start doing the work that matters." - Chris Carlsson

This Program is about Music

2010-01-02T10:55:00.002-06:00

You're the Winner!

2009-11-18T21:29:00.001-06:00

(thanks ea)

Music for 100 Carpenters

2009-11-09T15:02:00.008-06:00

On Sunday night, a small warehouse full of people showed up to hear a "theatrical surround-sound music performance, enlisting 100 skilled and unskilled tradespeople." The performance was written by Douglas Henderson, a celebrated sound artist and composer. In his words, here's what he was going for.

Prying at Stockhausen’s convolution of rhythm and timbre, 100 hammers, 100 blocks of wood and some 10,000 nails of varying sizes are brought to bear in a real-time, real-world articulation of complex computer synthesis. Under the guidance of job supervisors, thousands of hammer blows become waves of tonal murmur, threaded with rustlings of nails and occasional snarls of righteous indignation. The performers are organized into work crews with lists of tasks and closely timed schedules, and arranged in a circle around the audience. Toolbelts, sweat and lunchboxes are part of the score.

(photo courtesy of David Scher)

My favorite part of the 30-minute performance came after the first round of synchronized nailing into 2x4s, when all the carpenters took a granny smith apple from their metal lunch boxes, and bit into them.

From Nov. 13 - Dec. 20, a video and 6-channel surround sound audio recording of last night's performance will be projected at the site of the performance, where you can see "debris from the show left in place."

Go Listen. It's worth it.

The Recess Ends

2009-10-29T15:37:00.001-05:00

Thanks to my friends at DCOH for bringing this project to my attention.

The Recess Ends: Extended Trailer from B-Rilla on Vimeo.

Close Your Eyes in Your Ears

2009-10-09T19:05:00.000-05:00

The Books ~ Group Autogenics from Ciao Music on Vimeo.

Talking Bikes

2009-10-05T15:16:00.003-05:00

In his new book Bicycle Diaries, David Byrne shares the thoughts, adventures and observations he's experienced while cycling through some of the world's major cities. Here he is on Weekend Edition Sunday

Read an excerpt from the book here.

Cachoo

2009-10-02T00:16:00.000-05:00

I Met The Walrus

In Verse

2009-09-14T12:22:00.002-05:00

In Verse is a collaboration between poets, photographers and radio producers to create a new model of storytelling in journalism.

In Verse: Congregation, Witness from InVerse on Vimeo.

This installment of features Pulitzer Prize winning poet Natasha Trethewey, photographer Joshua Cogan and producer Lu Olkowski as they cover the ongoing recovery on the Mississippi Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina.

This amazing project was created through Public Radio Makers Quest 2.0, an initiative of AIR, the Association of Independents in Radio, Incorporated. Check out two more pieces here.

What's Happening in the Mind's of Little Babies

2009-08-28T10:46:00.002-05:00

Since this has been the year of the baby for my family, I offer up a recent Radiolab podcast about how babies might experience the world.

Creative Coincidences

2009-08-20T13:39:00.004-05:00

After Merce Cunningman's recent passing, Fresh Air re-aired an enlightening interview with Cunningham's partner, the experimental composer, John Cage. It's not only really interesting to hear Cage's ideas in 1982, but also so cool to hear a much younger, and more wordy Terry Gross navigate the discussion.

Check it.

While My Guitar Gently Bleeps

2009-08-18T13:26:00.003-05:00

Skeptical about the "Beatles: Rock Band" video game? Have a look at this past Sunday's feature about the game, and the making of it, and that skepticism will likely turn into sheer excitement.

McCartney said he believed this larger- and neater-than-life portrayal is the appropriate one. “I think it reflects where the Beatles are at,” he said. “We are halfway between reality and mythology.”

"Lazy Journalists Love Pictures of Abandoned Stuff"

2009-08-13T13:37:00.002-05:00

Here's a piece from Vice Magazine about the cavalcade of journalists descending upon Detroit, looking for things falling, or fallen apart.

"If you live on a block near one of the city’s tens of thousands of abandoned buildings, you can’t toss a chunk of Fordite without hitting some schmuck with a camera worth more than your house."

"not a huge, tragic collapse, but a transition"

2009-08-04T16:30:00.002-05:00

Detroit Wildlife from florent tillon on Vimeo.

On Georgia St.

2009-07-23T01:17:00.003-05:00

Drive down a random street in a Detroit neighborhood, and you might see just as many abandoned houses and vacant lots than lived in homes. With that said though, many Detroiters are finding hope and potential in what others might see as despair. And in a neighborhood on the eastside of Detroit, Mark Covington is trying to figure out a way to bring his neighbors together, despite all the factors working against him.

I produced this story as part of WDET's Facing the Mortgage Crisis series.

---
To learn more about Mark Covington and the Georgia Street Community Collective's efforts, check out their website or their blog.

http://www.georgiastreetcc.com/

or

http://georgiastreetgarden.blogspot.com/

Single Barrel Detroit

2009-07-20T11:41:00.004-05:00

Single Barrel Detroit is basically a Detroit-version of la blogotheque, in which musicians perform their songs live for a handheld camera, and in-front of something beautiful. For example, you can see the great Rodriguez performing solo in-front of the Diego Rivera mural at the DIA, or Daniel Zott walking around Woodbridge, or Charlene Kaye in the empty Lee Plaza Hotel. Metro Times Arts and Culture editor (and fellow former Groves alum), wrote about the project last month.

"Fame, Death, Fear, and Money"

2009-07-11T03:11:00.003-05:00

An insightful and fascinating look at Andy Kaufman's genius and influence airs this week on Studio 360. Erik Molinsky put the piece together. My favorite part unfolds 1-minute and 52-seconds in.

Bike Among the Ruins

2009-07-05T11:02:00.001-05:00

Despite the press, survival here isn’t so hard. Businesses like the Wheelhouse and the Hub have already shown how well Detroit can work as a new business hothouse. With the legendarily affordable real estate and without needing to pay for car payments, gas or insurance, bicyclists could rebuild Detroit into a model of a two-wheeled economy. They could pass laws promoting bikes over cars and designate entire avenues motor-free zones, which, given the state of many of them now, wouldn’t be so much of a stretch.

Maybe it sounds far-fetched, but then again maybe it’s just destiny. Look at a map and you’ll see that Detroit is designed in the shape of a wheel, with streets emanating like spokes from the downtown hub. It looks like a premonition, a city uniquely designed to alter transportation forever.

The Entire Op-Ed by Detroit's Toby Barlow

G.M., Detroit and the Fall of the Black Middle Class

2009-06-29T11:41:00.002-05:00

"They were among some six and a half million African-Americans who left the South from 1910 to 1970 in what became known as the Great Migration. They were drawn to the North by the promise of equal treatment but also by the hope of finding work: the mechanization of agriculture, in particular the advent of the cotton picker, decimated black employment in the South. As Nicholas Lemann wrote in his 1991 book, “The Promised Land,” what in fact awaited most blacks was a more subtle form of discrimination. But in Detroit at least, there were the auto plants. Ford started hiring African-Americans in 1914, offering them the same $5-a-day wage it paid its white employees, even as it limited them to sweeping the floors and pouring hot steel in sweltering foundries. To discourage African-American employees from improving their lot by unionizing, the company offered free coal to ministers of black churches who preached the Ford gospel."

Read the entire article here.

Don't Stop Till You Get Enough

2009-06-26T13:07:00.002-05:00

The first person I thought of after I heard about MJ yesterday was the guy who you'll often find dancing to classic Jackson tunes off Liberty St. in Ann Arbor, in that graffiti filled alley across from Borders. This man, who will always smile or wave when you stop to watch him strut, devotes the majority of daylight hours to dancing to Jackson in public. I wonder what he'll do now. Will he hang up his moonwalking shoes, or continue to Dance The Night (day) Away?

As of yesterday evening, after the news, he wasn't on stage.

Stochasticity

2009-06-22T20:50:00.001-05:00

"You have to be careful not to find meaning...when it's just coincidence."

Abandoned Places

2009-06-22T15:40:00.006-05:00

Detroit Lives, a new design team/website is up and running. I met the founder, Phil, last month when he was spending his day off digging a trench in an eastside community garden. The site offers some really cool t-shirts, and a heartfelt mission.

In their news section, there's a post about places around the world that are far more "abandoned" than the D. Check out this picture below from Bodie State Park in California. Pretty stunning.

Distillation

2009-06-20T09:40:00.002-05:00

Ze Frank on Iran

The North End

2009-06-19T14:28:00.001-05:00

Detroit’s North End might be best known as the birthplace of Aretha Franklin, Smokey Robinson, and Diana Ross. The Gold Coast running along Oakland Avenue used to be a bastion of successful black owned businesses. But, as is the case in many places around Detroit, things aren’t like they used to be. The area has been blighted, disinvested from, and in many ways, ignored for decades. And now, the foreclosure crisis has compounded a lot of these issues. But maybe because of the hard times we’ve fallen upon, Detroiters are now be banding together more than ever. Really.

North End Vacant Lot Program by WDET

Full Power

2009-06-12T01:24:00.002-05:00

I'll be concentrating my blogging for the next two months here, at WDET's Facing The Mortgage Crisis series page. My first of what will eventually be eightish stories aired this afternoon on DT.

Mitch and Gina For Web by WDET

More context here.

A Primer

2009-06-10T15:06:00.001-05:00

A Primer, by Bob Hicok

I remember Michigan fondly as the place I go
to be in Michigan. The right hand of America
waving from maps or the left
pressing into clay a mold to take home
from kindergarten to Mother. I lived in Michigan
forty-three years. The state bird
is a chained factory gate. The state flower
is Lake Superior, which sounds egotistical
though it is merely cold and deep as truth.
A Midwesterner can use the word “truth,”
can sincerely use the word “sincere.”
In truth the Midwest is not mid or west.
When I go back to Michigan I drive through Ohio.
There is off I-75 in Ohio a mosque, so life
goes corn corn corn mosque, I wave at Islam,
which we’re not getting along with
on account of the Towers as I pass.
Then Ohio goes corn corn corn
billboard, goodbye, Islam. You never forget
how to be from Michigan when you’re from Michigan.
It’s like riding a bike of ice and fly fishing.
The Upper Peninsula is a spare state
in case Michigan goes flat. I live now
in Virginia, which has no backup plan
but is named the same as my mother,
I live in my mother again, which is creepy
but so is what the skin under my chin is doing,
suddenly there’s a pouch like marsupials
are needed. The state joy is spring.
“Osiris, we beseech thee, rise and give us baseball”
is how we might sound were we Egyptian in April,
when February hasn’t ended. February
is thirteen months long in Michigan.
We are a people who by February
want to kill the sky for being so gray
and angry at us. “What did we do?”
is the state motto. There’s a day in May
when we’re all tumblers, gymnastics
is everywhere, and daffodils are asked
by young men to be their wives. When a man elopes
with a daffodil, you know where he’s from.
In this way I have given you a primer.
Let us all be from somewhere.
Let us tell each other everything we can.

SBTB!

2009-06-09T16:04:00.001-05:00

Video Recaps | Full Episodes | Webisodes

Whatever Works

2009-05-28T23:37:00.004-05:00

You know how all of Woody Allen's movies start with the credits, always in the same font? Well that font is actually called "Windsor Light Condensed." That trivia was revealed in a great feature from New York Magazine that unravels the evolution of jewish humor, then asks whether or not it still really exists. It's also about Woody Allen's new film, Whatever Works, in which Larry David stars.

(go here to see some vintage Woody photos from Life Magazine.)

"Pioneers"

2009-05-23T14:56:00.005-05:00

I realize that I'm two years late in acknowleding a really wonderful and cool project, brought to us by Jon Brumit. You might recognize Jon from ABC news. He's the guy, who, with his wife, recently bought the 100 dollar house in Hamtramck. Now he and the Mrs. are getting ready to move here permantly, from Chicago. He's also one of the people directing NPR, Neighborhood Public Radio!

So, about the project. For the Shrinking Cities exhbit in Detroit in 2007, he made a "radio-based driving tour of Detroit featuring 12 mini-programs continually broadcast at 107.9 FM from short-range transmitters in 12 different locations." Learn more here.

La Petit Zinc

2009-05-21T18:04:00.011-05:00

I ate lunch yesterday, and the day before, at Le Petit Zinc in Corktown. If you haven't yet been (I hadn't), you've gotta go. Amazing coffee. For my first lunch I had ratatouille served on a fresh baguette, and yesterday I tried their house special, the crepe, mine with chocolate and banana. Here's the menu, and you can read the owner's interesting story here.

The place seems to be a really refreshing symbol for what Detroit is right now. It was teeming with hipsters, elders, professionals on their lunch break, and a Eastern European guy looking for the police department. There's a really charming outdoor eating area, and behind that are two raised soil beds, which I'm assuming (hoping?) will be used to grow fresh herbs for their menu.

More pictures and context here.

I find it really encouraging that in the last year or so, two CREPE restaurants have opened in the city!

There is No Alternative to Building Alternatives

2009-05-15T00:07:00.001-05:00

The Creativity Stimulus

2009-05-14T14:33:00.003-05:00

"Deeply rooted in the communities that made Obama's victory possible, these centers understand their work as transformational. Their communities are the most vulnerable to assaults on creativity, but they are also incubators of the most innovative ideas and movements of our time. This "creative communities" approach has created a vigorous and vital alternative to neoliberal and neoconservative versions of change." Jeff Chang from The Nation talking about how places like The Boggs Center are integral in "collevtive leap(s) of imagination."

Speaking of The Nation Magazine and Detroit.

MELTDOWN AND RECOVERY IN DETROIT
The Economic Collapse and a People’s Plan for Recovery
May 23, 2009, 5pm to 7pm
Detroit MI
Cobo Hall 1 Washington Blvd.
Moderated by John Nichols of The Nation Magazine

America's economy is in meltdown. The banking system has crashed, millions are losing their homes to foreclosure, and unemployment is skyrocketing. As fears abound that a second Great Depression may be upon us, the crisis is clear—but what is the solution?

Join Congressman John Conyers, lifelong civil rights activist Grace Lee Boggs, bestselling author and Nation contributor Barbara Ehrenreich, Detroit City Councilmember Joann Watson, noted economist and Nation contributor Robert Pollin, long-time Detroit organizer and community leader Elena Herrada, and documentarian and activist Michael Moore* (invited) in a wide-ranging town hall conversation about what caused the economic collapse and how we can find a path to recovery for Detroit and for the country. .

The event marks the publication of Meltdown: How Greed and Corruption Shattered Our Financial System and How We Can Recover (Nation Books) by Katrina vanden Heuvel and the editors of The Nation.

The event will also preview national and local organizing efforts leading up to the 2010 United States Social Forum (USSF), to be held in Detroit. The USSF will provide space to build relationships, learn from each other's experiences, share analysis of the problems our communities face, and bring renewed insight and inspiration. It will help develop leadership and develop consciousness, vision, and strategy needed to realize another world.

Audience questions will be taken, and a book-signing will follow the conversation.

Good Smells

2009-05-13T22:53:00.004-05:00

Yesterday JB and I drove around parts of the city, including Belle Isle. Naively, I didn't even know about the Conservancy or how beautiful it's kept. The only other people there were an energetic elementary school class, and maybe one or two others.

With The Needle That Sings in Her Heart

2009-05-11T09:06:00.002-05:00

A new play about Anne Frank's last months at Bergen-Belsen, inspired by In The Aeroplane Over The Sea, is a meditation on the transformative power of music, art, and creation, and it's being performed by Massachusetts high school students!

Steal Away

2009-05-06T13:36:00.000-05:00

Aha Moment: The Underground Railroad

In the 19th century, the First Congregational Church of Detroit was a safe-house along the Underground Railroad. Today the church houses the "Underground Railroad Living Museum." For Therese Peterson, playing an Underground Railroad hero inspired her own act of bravery. Produced by Zak Rosen.

Blank Canvas

2009-04-30T16:03:00.003-05:00

Last night, I hung out with my old friend Justin from temple. He's a painter, hoping to forge a career in the arts, both teaching and painting. I was lucky enough to get a peak at the evolution of his work over the past few years (maybe more?) on this cool site.

He talked about, and I agreed, how daunting it can be to create art in the face of unequivocal open-endedness. The possibilities are literally limitless! And that can be overwhelming, no? But also liberating of course.

Our conversation reminded me of a quote (see below) posted by a sound artist on Transom's fascinating and poetic forum about the creative possibilities of radio, and the unfortunate demand in public radio for "LITERALness."

The most challenging aspect of cultivating “new” space (or anything new, for that matter) is the absence of time for reflection.
- Galen Joseph Hunter

My favorite radio makers are ones that embrace open spaces, both real and imagined. Their work inspires a sense of wonder and humility and reverence for the void (or whatever you want to call it). And I think this is so because they not only set aside time for reflection themselves, but also make art about that very notion/impulse.

Melodramatic Popular Song

2009-04-29T10:14:00.003-05:00

I've been pretty disappointed with the quality of Ben Folds' output since his Sunny 16 EP six years ago. I'm left wondering if I've grown out of my love for him, or if his songs are actually less inspired than they used to be. Yesterday he released his latest album, which is actually a compilation of University A Capella groups singing some of my favorite Folds songs (Not the Same, Boxing, Selfless, Cold, and Composed, Army...) The Wall Street Journal wrote about it this weekend.

I was feeling cynical about the effort after reading the WSJ article, and even after hearing "Not The Same" performed by The Spartones from Greensboro, North Carolina on the BF myspace page.

But then I watched this video of The Spizzwinks (?) singing "Landed," and most of my ill-will towards Folds and the new A Capella album evaporated.

Stella

2009-04-24T01:31:00.005-05:00

Finally, a great piece of writing about Stella.

Then watch this if you haven't already.

Then check this out.

Michael and Michael Spoof the Billy Bob Thornton Interview from Michael Black on Vimeo.

Now I'm catching up on the Michael and Michael have issues blog.

I can't fall asleep, btw.

Wanting to Believe in That Person

2009-04-19T01:33:00.003-05:00

I was so taken by this video that I went to My Brightest Diamond's website to check if she might be coming to the area anytime soon. Turns out she'll be performing, solo, at a place in Detroit called The Yes Farm on 4/25! The show's proceeds (donations from those in attendance) will go towards installing permanent electricity at the venue.

MY BRIGHTEST DIAMOND in series: Live From Other Music from Dig For Fire on Vimeo.

The Yes Farm, according to their blog, is "a group committed to living and creating in Detroit. We believe the arts play an important role in the community and we seek to bring art into the lives of the people and places around us. Our goal is to establish a permanent location for artists to live and work. In this location we would like to host workshops and events, and have space for visiting artists to create in. We also hold a deep commitment to ecology and would like to grow food, and create artistic open spaces in our neighborhood."

I'm totally going. You should too!

Middle Cyclone

2009-04-16T00:47:00.005-05:00

“The prison girls are not impressed, the ones who have to clean this mess. They’ve traded more for cigarettes than I have managed to express.”

It's now only every so often that I actually buy an album, usually via Itunes. Last week I got Neko Case's latest, Middle Cyclone. Sasha Frere-Jones wrote this about it recently. A great read.

Atoms, Motion & and the Void

2009-04-12T21:12:00.006-05:00

Now that I'm pretty much settled back into the D, I'm gonna steer this blog back towards its original function of highlighting "sounds and chronicles from the world we walk in."

Not only is Atoms, Motion & the Void the best podcast title I've ever heard, but it's also one of the best, certainly the most original and moving, audio series I've ever come across. But I don't think its fair to only compare this stuff to other podcasts/audio. It's so moving and evocative that it transcends the medium, I think.

I was introduced to the Sleeves saga when Re:Sound devoted an entire show to Sherwin Sleeves and the character's creator, writer/producer/stay-at-home dad, Sean Hurley. I think that might be the best introduction to the project.

I find Atoms, Motion & The Void to be timeless in a way few other things are.

You can and should subscribe to the AMV podcast on Itunes. It will lull you to sleep and remind you why stories are the best thing we have.

Back in the U.S.S.A.

2009-04-07T20:39:00.003-05:00

I'm back! And I've divided all of our pix into different albums according to geography.

Kodaikanal, Tamil Nadu

Annapurna Base Camp Trek

Upwards Over the Mountain

2009-03-25T06:37:00.002-05:00

It had been 10-days since our last shower. But now Shira and I feel so lucky to be back in our home away from home, Hotel The Wood Pidgeon in Pokhara, Nepal. We just got back from our trek, and we're a little sun-burnt, quite blistery on the toes, and truly exhausted after having spent the last week and a half walking over and around hills, amongst Himalayan mountains, and inside the forests of Central Nepal.

Before we really understood the reality of trekking, we thought we'd try the 3-week Annapurna Circuit trek, but luckily our nobel guide, Prem, talked us out of it (mainly because in his experience, those that walk the circuit usually have issues with the high altitude ((5400 meters)), and persuaded us to tackle the much more accessible, and visually stunning Annapurna Base Camp trek).

We had heard from travelers in Pokhara before we left that the ABC trek was amazing, and really not that physically demanding, so we were confident going into it... The basic premise of the trek is to walk/hike/trek to the foot of the Annapurana mountain range (4100 meters). To get there it took 4-7 hours of steady walking a day for 6-days. But to just call what we did walking would be a vast understatement. The majority of the movement was drastic upward ascents and downward descents, mostly on stone steps, and forest floors. By the end of our first day, we feared that we were in over our heads, and that we weren't strong enough to make it. On our second day, we had to walk up 4,000 steps, then walk a bunch more to reach our destination. Eventually we learned to take it not really one-step at a time, but more like one hour at a time.

Ok, one more hour and we'll eat a snickers, two more hours and we'll have lunch, four more and we''ll be done for the day..!

By the end of the first day, we were able to see the mountain peaks, and from there, we kept getting closer. Some mornings we'd wake up to a stunningly clear view of the mountains that were so big and pristine and overwhelming, they became almost unbelievable to comprehend. "How are they so huge, I've never seen this before, Is it close enough to touch, How do people actually climb these monsters!?"

The path we walked for the entire time was well worn and established. People have been doing this trek for decades. It's hard to go more than an hour or two without passing a guest house/restaurant that serves everything from dal bat to cheese pizza. Interestingly enough, all guest houses have almost exactly the same menu, and are required to charge a pre-set amount for each item, depending on where they're located. The higher the places are, the more the food/drink/toilet paper/filtered water, etc. will be. The only way for restaurants/guest houses to get items to their doors is for porters or donkeys to bring them up themselves. Apparently, there didn't use to be any type of regulation for how much weight a porter could carry up or down, but now there are. However we wouldn't have had any idea because these guys were carrying MASSIVE loads on their backs. Everything from gigantic cans of kerosene, to cases of beer, to a dozen live chickens!

By the beginning of the third day, my right knee started to give me some real trouble (it might have been a pull), and ten-minutes into the hike I was hobbling along desperately. I wanted to give up and turn back, but Shira wouldn't let me give up! She was able to motivate me through the 5-hour hike with words of praise and confidence. The thing about trekking is, you can't really give up. Once you've walked for a few days, the only way out is to walk. There are no roads for a car to rescue you, so once you're in it, there's really no turning back.

After the grueling limp-fest, we decided to take the next day (my b-day) off. We slept in (till 6:45) and took in the much needed r and r. I was ready to go by the next day, and that's when we finally started to believe that we'd actually make it to the base camp. To pump each other up we'd ominously whisper to one another, "in a few days we're gonna summit." or "The ascent is upon us..." Then we'd see a 65-year old Korean woman move diligently past us, as if the trek was no big thing for her! And then finally we found ourselves, on the sixth day of the trek, moving up and toward the Annapurna Base Camp in sub-freezing temperatures. The final leg of our ascent to was so dramatic and like nothing i've ever felt. For some reason, Shira, Prem and I we're the only ones climbing from the Machhapuchre Base Camp to the Annapurna Base Camp at that particular time in the afternoon. It was just us, heaps of untouched snow, and the mountains surrounding us from all directions. We were too tired and too spread apart to talk, and the solitude was staggering. All we could hear was the chilling wind and our thudding hearts. And then, finally after two-hours of walking uphill in the snow, we had made it!

We were and are so proud that we did this, and both agreed that we haven't ever challenged our bodies like we have for the last 10-days. We agree that it was an incredible trip, unforgettable really. And we agree that we have no desire to ever do it again!

"Don't Forget Me"

2009-03-11T08:29:00.002-05:00

This past week, we've been doing a whole lot of nothing, and really enjoying ourselves in the process. Shira and I have both buried ourselves in some great reading (Into Thin Air, Mr. Nice, A Fine Balance, Brooklyn Follies), and have eaten some really excellent pizza (four out of our last seven dinners), while sadly missing Indian food for every meal.

This past weekend we ventured to what we hoped would be Lumbini and then Tansen. Lumbini is the actual place that Gautama Siddhartha (Buddha) was born. And Tansen is a charming hill station, situated b/w our base here in Pokhara, and Lumbini. So from Pokhara, we boarded an early morning bus and drove for about 7-hours until we reached Butwal, a town still about 55 km north of Lumbini. When we asked why we were stopped there, we learned that there was a bus strike in progress, and that we wouldn't be able to bus further south to Lumbini because of it. We wondered why no one thought to tell us this earlier, or why none of the Nepalis really seemed surprised by this. We were told that the only way to get to Lumbini from where we were was a 2000 rupee rickshaw, so instead of that, we got right back on a different bus and headed back north, for about 2-hours to Tansen.

When we finally arrived, we couldn't yet see why our Lonely Planet guide gave Tansen such a warm write-up, but as we settled in, the charm of the place started to seep in. Tansen is nothing like Pokhara in that there's only one tourist restaurant there and less than a dozen hostels. The streets are so steep and narrow that cars are seldom seen. The architecture is simple but beautiful and medieval. While there for two days, we only saw two other white people! We took a nice 1-hour hike up to a ridge, past a Hindu temple just north of town, and there we saw for the first time, the snow-capped peaked of the Himalayas (we would have been able to see them by this time in Pokhara, but unfortunately, it hasn't rained here for over 6-months, so the air is dusty and thick).

That night for dinner, we decided to eat at the tiny and dank one-table establishment across from our hostel instead of going to the one tourist restaurant for the second night in a row. Literally every time we've forgone the touristy restaurant for the questionable looking, astoundingly cheap local place, we haven't been disappointed. The Tansanians ? embraced us with so much humor and hospitality that soon after sitting down to our plate of cold, yellow, potato curry and spicy hot pan-fried noodles, the men sitting at our table (the only one!) offered us home brewed Nepali wine (think gin + water), and began good-naturedly making fun of our accents.

And then a young mother, and her two daughters joined in on the fun, and soon after invited Shira to their one-room home a block away to take pictures. They eventually invited her to sleepover there but she graciously declined. Before we left our friends at the hangout to go to sleep, a young Nepali man who I had been talking to at our table gently spanked my butt and quietly said, "Don't forget me...And when you go back home don't tell everyone that people in Nepal are all sad and poor." As we left that night, after having had an experience we won't possibly forget, my perception of Nepalis as a poor and sad people couldn't have been further from what we've experienced so far.

Chicken Soup for the Foreigner's Bowl

2009-03-02T05:45:00.002-06:00

Sorry for the long delay since our last update, but here in Nepal, there are only 8-hours of power per day. It's easy to get frustrated with that reality, but then I have to remind myself that I don't live here, and it's not me that's really inconvenienced, but the Nepalis who rely on power for much more than writing a blogpost...

We flew into Kathmandu from Delhi on Friday, and stayed in the capital city until this morning when we took a 7-hour bus ride (only 200 km!) to Nepal's 2nd biggest city, Pokhara. We were received at the bus station by radio friend, Laura's dear friend, Prem. He works here as a trekking/tour guide and looks a little like a young Nepali Elvis. In a bit, Shira and I are going to eat dinner, dhaal bat (a rice, lentil, and vegetable dish that most Nepalis litterally eat for every meal)with Prem and his wife and their baby boy at his apt. And then in a week or two, Prem is gonna take Shira and I on a 17-day trek in the Annapurna region, just outside Pokhara. We'll likely walk the Jomsom and Annapurna Base Camp trails.

In the meantime, we'll enjoy our three-dollar a night hotel room right on the lake and take some day trips/hikes/excursions in the area.

But first, some noteworthy India stuff.

Much of our last days in India were spent in Kodaikanal, as I mentioned in the last post. Towards the end of our stay we met a really fun and sweet American couple at a Tibetan restaurant I couldn't get enough of. The four of us decided to venture out on a long walk to a supposedly gorgeous lookout in an area called Pillars Rock. When we got there though it was so overcast that we couldn't really see anything except the local red-faced monkeys fighting over any scrap of human food/human food container they could get there hands on. After having posed with random Indian families wanting to take a picture with Americans, Shira and I and the couple we were with were talking outside an area where tea and t-shirts were sold. At one point I looked to my left to see an older Indian man standing in our conversation circle, nodding his head in acknowledgement, as if he had been there for the whole time. Naturally, he asked us where we were from, and when he learned we were American, he told us about his son who used to work for GM in Detroit! I was so excited to make the connection, then even more excited when his son came sauntering up with the rest of his family to greet us. The older man was so gracious and told us that it was "his duty to welcome us." Then he bought Shira and I two cups of chai tea and put his arm around me like he was my grandpa.

_______

India was really amazing and perplexing and idiosyncratic that it's hard to sum up in this post. Spending what seems like a long time (5-weeks) in a foreign place isn't the way to get to know it fully. Instead, my observations and thoughts are fragmented and confused. I knew next to nothing about India before landing there, but now, after having spent some time there, it feels like I know even less in a way. The country is developing so fast and is dealing with so many big issues; its relationship with Pakistan, its crowded cities, its still present caste system, its gender roles, its widening gap between rich and poor, its balancing act between tradition and modernity... To me, these are just concepts that were in small ways illustrated during my time there, but for Indians, they're obviously much more. I think the main thing I learned in India is how important Michigan and Detroit and of course all of you are to me. Shira and I have met so many travelers so far that seem to disavow where they came from. But conversely, we both feel, even more so now, a real pride and commitment to our own roots.

The Whole World Whispers

2009-02-19T09:40:00.004-06:00

I thought my life of normalcy was boring me...

so I floored it over foreign seas, exchanged a little currency, now here I am in old Hampi...

But now I'm swerving in uncertainty, cause personally...

I kind of miss my family tree. But oh my GOD look at that banyan tree! I think I heard it speak to me.

"My twisted roots are all stories; my humble, outdoor history. But this is not just my story, please continue, Zachary!"

Thank you tree. Your primordial telepathy inspires me, but oh GOD, there's a bug crawling on the back of me!

...

So what's this life in front of me? Is backpacking my destiny, or is it just a test for me?

Is all the rest infinity..?

Princess of Hill Stations

2009-02-17T04:07:00.002-06:00

The coast of South India was getting too hot and sweaty (90 degrees, all day everyday) for us, so a few days ago, Shira and I took yet another overnight bus to Kodaikanal, a former hill station, 2100 meters up, on the border of Kerala and Tamil Nadu. The days are cool (60-70) and sunny, while the nights have forced us to put on long undies and climb into sleeping bags.

We're staying at a quaint and really pretty hostel built into the side of a hill, so when we look out the window of our room, we see miles of misty, mini-mountains and valleys. I love the feel of the place and we're thinking we'd like to settle here for about a week.

After another amazingly delicious Indian dinner (vegetable makhani, rice, protha) last night, Shira and I walked back to the hostel to hang out with some of the other travelers staying with us. The whole night felt so complete and bizarre that I kind of mistook it for a dream. There was the goofy and loving middle aged English woman traveling with her goofy and loving son. Then there was the local trekking guide who openly talked about how he likes to hug and converse with trees for 40 minutes at a time. Then there were the dozen Tamil men, ranging in age from 20-60, who were stopped at our hostel for the night, on their way to their friend's father's funeral the next day...I shouldn't forget about the Israeli physicist who happily told me about the diarrhea he had in the Indian Himalayas.

Kodaikanal is really different (but still similar) to the other places we've been in that it was actually settled in the mid-1800's by Americans who started a private school which is still an anchor of the town today. Apparently the Kodaikanal International School is the most prestigious private school in the country, and it attracts richies and smarties from around the world. Walking near the campus feels like the area in and around Cranbrook in Bloomfield Hills, which is both strange and comforting for sure.

If we stay here for a week or so, that means we'll only have a few days left in India, before flying north into Nepal where we'll be for 5 weeks. There we'll spend the majority of our time trekking through the Himalayas on the Annapurna Circuit. My radio friend, Laura has spent many months at a time in Nepal and has set us up with her dear and trusted friend Prem, who will likely be our guide for at least part of our trek.

If you're curious about what the Annapurna experience might sound like, I wholeheartedly encourage you to step back from your day for 30-minutes, put on some headphones, and listen to this. It's what attracted me to Nepal in the first place.

Loose Ends...

We didn't end up going to hug the mother at the Hugging Mother Ashram. We were ready to get out of Alleppey after having spent a tranquil, beautiful, but ultimately over-priced day and night on our own houseboat, floating along the amazing Keralan backwaters.

The Hugging Mother

2009-02-09T04:12:00.005-06:00

We've been in the southern state of Kerala, in the Wayanad District, since we left Hampi on Friday. Kerala has been unique for us in that the people are fantascically friendly and gentle. Like yesterday, as we scaled a mini-mountain on top of the Eddakal Caves, masses of locals greeted us with their pleasentries and proud attempts at english.

Hahlo...Whed you from...what is yord good name sir...how ahd you...

Sometimes small groups would spontaneously look at us and exclaim...OBAMA! Shira especially loved this, and at one point when we were seperated, I looked over my shoulder to see her and a group of young men clapping and dancing for Obama. After telling this same group that she's planning on becoming a doctor, they started calling her Dr. Shira...

___________________________

Food...

I don't why I failed to predict that we'd be doing this while in India, but we've been eating Indian food for pretty much every meal since getting here. At home, makhani, samosa, aloo gobi, pakora, kingfisher, palak paneer, are special (and expensive) treats, but here, they're cheap, and now for us standard. We even eat Indian breakfasts in the mornings. Like this morning we had chai tea (not like the chai we drink at home. The Indian version is majority milk and sugar and delicious), and a dosa masala, which is essenctially a big, flat pancake filled with onions, potatoes, and masala spices.

____________________________

This evening we'll board another bus, this time heading further south into Kerala to a town called Alleppey. We'll likely stay for a week, maybe two. We also plan on going to our first Ashram of the trip. This one seems cool beacuse the guru there is a young woman, Matha Amrithanandamayi, better known as The Hugging Mother (because this is how she blesses people, sometimes holding all night hug/bless sessions)!

___________________________

Gopi

2009-02-01T04:08:00.003-06:00

Our last few days in Arambol, Goa were action packed and restful at the same time. Shira went paragliding off a cliff with a trained Ukrainian jumper! We hiked through the woods to a river where I covered myself in therapeutic mud, then we made our way to a mythic banyan tree that's said to have special powers. We sat in front of the tree, around a fire, with other tourists, and a mystic from Sweden who lives there, keeping the spirit alive. We left Goa feeling good that we stayed for longer than we originally planned, but also feeling like most of what surrounded us in Goa was there for tourists, so we left.

We've been in Hampi since Shabbat, and, unfortunately a lot of our time so far has been spent taking it very easy as Shira has been having really painful stomach aches and bouts of nausea. Worry not though, she's starting to feel a lot better and more like herself. We were blessed and lucky enough to have found an incredible place to stay here with an extremely caring and dedicated staff.

To get here we rode a "sleeper" bus 12-hours through the night from Goa. We heard the ride, with all the bumps and wind and noise was going to be treacherous, but luckily we slept for most of it, side by side, in beds (seats that reclined almost parallel to the ground). We pulled up to the bus station at around 10 a.m. and were instantly swarmed by young Indian men with promises of cheap guesthouse and cheap auto rickshaw. One of the salesman was wearing ear muffs in the 75 degree morning sun.

We had heard from our friend in Goa about a place to stay, "on the other side of the river" that sounded amazing and tranquil, but we didn't have directions so we figured we'd just find someplace else. Luckily though, as soon as we crossed the river we saw a sign for the place, "Whispering Rocks," and hired an auto rickshaw to take us there. We were soon headed out and away from the hustle bustle of touristville and towards an area that's is profoundly gorgeous and serene and mainly untouched by development.

On the way to our new digs we passed woman working and wading in the many rice paddy fields that make up the region, we saw grown men wearing dress shirts and traditional skirts as they rode their bikes down dirt roads, and there were roosters, and calves, and buffalo doing their own thing too. All this unfolding in front of us within a landscape covered in boulders and blue sky, and wooden shacks and not much else.

Whispering Rocks is not a guesthouse, or a hostel, per se. It's more like it's own little resort that, for the last few days, has only been open to Shira and I. There are about 10 little one room tepees, and 3 self-standing mini-houses, one of which is built into a cave. The whole layout sits inside a bouldered valley, with a lake on the other side of the rocks. We were amazed as we first saw the place and thought it might be out of our financial league. Again, Shira gritted her teeth and negotiated one of the mini-houses for 350 rupees a night (about 7 bucz). We seemed to have found ourselves in heaven, really. Then as the sun went dowm that first night, we learned that heaven involves many many creatures, namely mosquitoes, all up in our business. We deeted the hell out of ourselves, and lit a mosquito coil and soon adjusted to the swarms of them (Shira much better than me). At sunset we also witnessed a big family of black faced monkeys jumping infront of our house, from one set of boulders to the next.

Whispering Rocks is ran by a 50-something Muslim, 30-something Christian, and 50-something Hindu chef. When Shira got sick, they treated her almost like a daughter as they asked about her bowel movement variations and called her a doctor. Ah yes, they also helped secure a moped for us for the week that we've been riding into town to make phone calls and use internet.

We love you and miss you.

I Squat Therefore I Bend

2009-01-26T03:48:00.000-06:00

After 24-ish hours of travel, starting in Ukraine (and in Detroit for Shira), the two of us finally made it to Arambol, Goa, a small beach town, about 10-hours from Mumbai (by bus, or 1 hour by flight).

On the afternoon of our fourth day, we’re starting to synch to life on the other side of the planet. Our stomachs are still far from settled, but that’s ok, for public restrooms are very easy to come by here…most of them squatters!

A huge portion of commerce in this town, mainly open air restaurants, guesthouses, and shops dealing Gandhi t-shirts, Vishnu blankets, and ornate cloth pants comes from the tourists. A question we keep asking ourselves is, What was this place like before it was saturated by tourism? What did the beggars do with their time when there was no one to beg for money? Was there this much garbage strewn about..?

Though we’ve only been here a few days, we’ve already learned how to walk right past local woman and their adorable children as they put their fingers to their mouths asking without words, please give me something so that I can feed my skinny belly. We’ve heard that it’s best not to give money to those who ask, and that it’s more beneficial to donate to a local non-profit working on issues of hunger and poverty…Still uncomfortable though.

Now that I’ve painted that somewhat bleak looking picture, I want to express how happy Shira and I are to be here, together. Because even though there are the issues I mentioned above to think about, the more prevailing feeling between us has been one of joy, and laughter, and bewilderment that we are here, in India, a place we’ve mythologized and thought about and talked about so much for so long.

The first few days were tough as we didn’t know anyone, or have our bearings, but yesterday, we had an undisputable breakthrough. Here’s a breakdown of the day.

9:00 a.m. Wake up and pack for a 10:30 a.m. checkout from our 600 rupee (12 dollar) hostel.

10:30 a.m. Sit down for breakfast and at a restaurant 50-yards from our hostel, 200 yards from the Arabian Sea, ½ mile from “town.” There are no walls, and the floor is sand. We order a sliced banana, wrapped in a pancake, covered in nutella, a masala omlette, Indian hash browns (essentially home fries, sautéed with onions, tomatoes, garlic, peppers, and a light sweet and sour sauce, aka, the best variation on breakfast potatoes I’ve ever had), a bottle of water and black coffee with milk (may not have been pasteurized).

11:00 a.m. Finish up breakfast, pop our daily malaria pill and get ready to head into town to buy bus tickets to our next destination.

11:01 a.m. Find bathroom

11:30 a.m. Walk into town, which is essentially one road, situated not far from the beach, where locals sell wares and food from their inviting shack-stores.

11:45 a.m. Get to a travel agency ran by two Goan twins. Here we buy two bus tickets, set to depart at 7 p.m., that will head into the majestic ruins of Hampi, about 15-hours away. My stomach continues to reek subtle havoc.

11:50 a.m. Start talking to a young North American couple who met a year and a half ago in Canada, and moved to India together a year ago. They tell us where we should go in Hampi, why India has been so amazing for them, and then they invite us to drink tea at a nearby restaurant (which was really just a few tables set up in front of their modest, one-room home).

Noon. Drink tea with our new friends as a few more of their friends join us. My stomach whispers (Zak, do you really want to be on a bus all night with me doing this to you?)

1:00 p.m. We decide Hampi isn’t the best move for us at this point, and essentially tear up our tickets (no day-of travel refunds)

1:30 p.m. Go with our new people to a rooftop terrace café, to hang out some more.

4:00 p.m. Leave our friends to head back to our bags which have been sitting in storage at our hostel.

4:15 p.m. Stop on the way home to sit on a bench near a little shrine, in-front of a calf and his daddy, tied to a tree.

4:17 p.m. Watch the bull and calf owner walk from his house across the street to retrieve his little friends. He’s wearing a cloth, and nothing else.

5:30 p.m. Grab our bags from our first hostel and set out to find a different cheaper hostel.

5:32 p.m. Climb on the back of a local guy named Reggie’s motorcycle. He takes us to the top of his family’s house where he rents us a room for 300 rupees (Shira bargained down from 350)!

6:00 p.m. Walk from our new home to the beach where we swim in the warm waters of the Arabian sea as the sun falls.

8:00 p.m. Sleepy

Hey kids, DO try this at home!

2009-01-16T05:59:00.003-06:00

Mas Dibujos

2009-01-15T05:50:00.001-06:00

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Israel Pix

2009-01-10T14:30:00.002-06:00

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Journeymen

2009-01-10T10:24:00.005-06:00

In preparing for India, Shira and I were talking (over e-mail) about how we'd rather spend more time in a handful of places, than get to more cool-seeming cities, while spending more time in transit in the 30-45 days we'll be in the country. This point was rammed home as Jordan and I made our way from Krakow, where we had just spent less than 3 days, back to his village in the south of Ukraine. Here's the transit rundown.

1) 4-hour train from Krakow, Poland to Presmysl, Poland.

2) 20-minute bus ride from Presmysl to the border of Poland and Ukraine.

3) 1-mile walk from bustop to the actual border. Luckily, a Polish born, Ukrainian dwelling Opera singer led us to this checkpoint.

4) 20-minute bus ride from border to a nearby town.

5) 1-hour taxi ride with the opera singer, and an english teacher from Toronto whom we met in step-2, to Lviv, Ukraine (This leg cost us less than 8 dollars each).

6) 15-minute tram ride from Lviv Train Station towards our hostel.

7) 2-minute walk towards our hostel after the tram broke down.

8) 4-minute taxi ride towards our hostel after we got lost.

9) 6-minute walk to the hostel after our cabbie couldn't get by a road block.

10) (After a night's sleep at our Lviv Hostel) Taxi to the Lviv train station.

11) 23-hour train ride from Lviv to Dzhnky.

12) 1-hour bus from Dzhnky to Jordan's town, Krasnoperekopsk.

13) 1-mile walk from Krasnoperekopsk Bus Station to Jordan's Apt.

Having seen all the steps we took to get home, it might look like a gratuitous and unrewarding trip, but, it was actually just the opposite. Our fun came within, and between the varying legs of the trip, and in each other's company just as much, if not more, than the sights we saw.

Krakow

2009-01-05T15:28:00.006-06:00

Today's objective was clear, find bagels for Jordan, preferably with cream cheese and lox (he can't find them in Ukraine). So we looked for a while, while making a handful of stops in Krakow's Old Jewish Quarter, Kazimierz. We found the Old Synagogue, the Jarden Jewish Bookstore, a photo exhibition titled Yiddishland at an old temple. But the task was clear, find bagels! So we pressed on in the harsh, but gorgeous snow storm. After getting directions from a few people, we thought we were close, but...nope. No bagels! So we gave up and found a hip little bar/restaurant that specializes in honey-flavored dishes. JB got some kind of Polish egg scramble, and I got a salmon omlelette (neither of us opted for honey influenced meals, btw).

After the hearty brunch, and few cups of black coffee, we headed back into the snow, and the city, with no real plan or intention. We just wandered around, stopping at a castle here, a music shop there, etc.

We finally made it back to our hostel and watched a movie, The Meaning of Life, with a young Australian couple who were nothing but sweet and sincere. Having only known us for 20-minutes, the female half told Jordan how proud she was of him for volunteering over two-years of his life for the Peace Corps. I agreed.

For dinner we found a delicious Italian place where we feasted on caprese salad, red wine, pizza, and cheesecake. Then we remembered at the end of our meal that the one thing we set out to do today, find bagels, we managed not to accomplish. But we both agreed that we couldn't have imagined spending the day in a better way.

Tomorrow we'll have a much different dynamic, as we are planning on making a day of Auschwitz and Berkenow...

B'Simcha

2008-12-30T09:27:00.005-06:00

The first leg of the journey is over. I left Israel on Sunday to head for the south of Ukraine. But first, I had to layover for 17-hours in Istanbul! So, I got to my $12 hostel at around midnight, then woke up early yesterday to see what I could of the city before heading back to the airport in the early afternoon for a short flight to Simferopol, Ukraine (even though the flight was only about 90-minutes, they served a meal). So, obviously, I didn't see much of Turkey, and the areas I did hit (Blue Mosque, Grand Bazzar)were so infested by tourists that it made the experience feel very rushed and inauthentic. What did I expect though? I had only a few hours to look around. The city however, as you know or have imagined is really gorgeous, the people are friendly, and the Turkish coffee very strong.

...

Now here I am in Krasnoperekopsk, Ukraine. A town of about 30,000. Jordan has a cozy little studio apt. where I'll spend the next 3-weeks (aside from the 7-8 days of travel we've sketched out). As I type, he's making us a huge batch of hummus, that will feature the tahini I smuggled here from Israel.

Oh yeah, Israel! Let me backtrack a bit. As I mentioned in my last post, the trip ended in the magically, mystical northern town of Tzfat. The birthplace of the Kabbalah and Kabbalat Shabbat. Most of the town's resident's are artists, and almost everyone in Tzfat is a very observant jew. Meaning, that on Friday nights, and Saturday's, you'll rarely see a car in motion, or a shop open.

It was so incredible and special to spend Shabbat there. After having Friday-night dinner with our group on the Livnot campus, I took a walk through the windy, cobble-stoned streets with three other guys from the trip. We were feeling especially rambunctious and spiritual as we made our through town singing the few songs we had learned earlier that day. At one point, Travis, who recently converted to Judaism (and couldn't possibly be happier about it), yelled a hearty "Shabbat Shalom" to a group of about twelve young black-hatters walking about 50-yards away. As soon as they heard this (they probably ranged in age from 8-14), they ran over to us with seemingly no hesitation and began to embrace us with hugs, kisses, and well wishes. They didn't speak a word of English, but that didn't matter at all! They formed ad-hoc circles with, and around us, and began dancing without a hint of self-consciousness. Then together we all sang "Ivdu," my new favorite song.

Ivdu Et Hashem B'Simcha
Bo'u Lfanav Birnana

The message is, basically, The service of God should be done with joy.

Which is, admittedly, a tenant of Judaism I either never embraced, internalized, or perhaps even learned. However, that night, and during many other moments of my trip, the spirit of Ivdu coursed through me like it never had before.

Birthright Mission...accomplished.

Finally

2008-12-24T14:12:00.002-06:00

Hey Team!,

It's been very difficult to find time to check my e-mail, let alone think about composing a blog post. But here I am, in the ancient city of Tzfat in the north of Israel. I just left the other 39 people on my Livnot Birthright trip to let you know how amazing its been to connect/re-connect to Judaism and Israel. As I type, the rest of the group is dressed in costume, celebrating Purim. I'm wearing my hiking boots, tight, black long underwear, and eye-liner whiskers for I am Mr. Mistofolis! I know I know, it isn't actually Purim, but our imaginative trip leaders thought this a good time to simulate the holiday as a way to bring the group closer together, while educating us about the true meaning of the holiday.

The goal of this trip, seemingly, is to provoke our 21-26 year old selves to think about the way Judaism and spirituality fit into our lives, while simultaneously building a really intimate, comfortable, and loving community amongst ourselves. And for the last 10 days (4 more to go), that's pretty much what has been going on.

To get a feel for the things I've been doing, click here.

I spent today playing with a dozen Ethiopian Jewish immigrants at an absorption center (mainly blowing up balloons, letting them play with my camera, and carrying them on my shoulders), exploring the art galleries and schwarma restaurants of Tzvat (I ate meat...SO GOOD!), and napping in the cave that I'll call home for the next 4 days on the Livnot campus (pictures pending).

I miss you, and my Detroit routine, but more so, I feel so lucky to be unhinged for the next four-months. I'm adapting to life out of a back-pack, and am very excited for the next leg of my journey (I head to Ukraine on Sunday to see the indomitable JB).

I'll check back soon.

All My Love.

Send me updates about what's going on with you!

Shalom,

Z

Motorcity Rebound

2008-12-12T09:51:00.003-06:00

I'm working on a new public radio show called, State of the Re:Union. The idea is to show listeners how we are more alike than we are different and the many ways our differences are celebrated. Multi-facted artist Al Letson employs his talents to discover how a particular city, town or area creates a community. From Washington, DC to Jena, Louisiana, SOTRU will travel our great country one significant spot at a time to capture the stories, the challenges, and the culture that not only make it unique, but work together like chords to compose our rich commonwealth.

Transcending a glorified travel guide, State of the Re:Union finds the resonating fragments that create the cornerstone of every community. Hear from the artists, activists, politicians, teachers, preachers and every day people that are making a difference arranged with the music, sounds and styles born of the area in focus.

We just finished work on the Detroit episode, and now you can listen below. We'd love your feedback!

Mumbai

2008-12-03T10:38:00.001-06:00

In other cities, if there’s an explosion, people run away from it. In Mumbai, people run toward it — to help. Greater Mumbai takes in a million new residents a year. This is the problem, say the nativists. The city is just too hospitable. You let them in, and they break your heart.

Mus-ik-ol Spasms

2008-11-11T00:12:00.001-06:00

Virtual Dining on 360 This Weekend

2008-10-31T10:38:00.001-05:00

The Detroit Institute of Arts wanted visitors to feel more connected to what they were seeing behind the glass cases. So they decided to renovate, redesign, and re-think how people experience art museums. A year ago, it re-opened its doors, so the DIA sent me to discover how the D.I.A. remade itself for the 21st century.

RIP DFW

2008-09-25T16:31:00.000-05:00

"But if you've really learned how to think, how to pay attention, then you will know you have other options. It will actually be within your power to experience a crowded, loud, slow, consumer-hell-type situation as not only meaningful but sacred, on fire with the same force that lit the stars -- compassion, love, the sub-surface unity of all things."

Sweet Juniper Daily Photo

2008-09-23T14:12:00.003-05:00

"God, I hate what the highways have done to this region."

PAF

2008-09-17T14:41:00.006-05:00

Rebecca Mazzei just wrote her last article for the Metro Times as their arts editor. (She took a job at CCS as an assistant dean at CCS)

"Constantly walking in the same surroundings, what could I do but dream?"

"Detroit, through misfortune, has one natural resource which every other major city in the world except for Paris, with its extensive parks system, covets: land space. It allows for many opportunities transforming the land or placing objects on it. Working with vacant land in some manner is probably the least expensive way to make transformation. You could change the city landscape more cost effectively than a $20 million building could."

"So many spots in this city seem as if they represent civilization's absence; we refer often to "empty" lots and "abandoned" buildings as our burial grounds of industrialization and capitalist enterprises. But that land bears centuries of footprints. Long ago, those who lived here believed in the intense influence of physical contact with nature — it was the very definition of existence. Maybe that's what is felt in tremors below the surface. The layers of "progress" have been peeled back. And like Whitfield says, now it's time to wake up the neighborhood, and let the rules change."

I Wish That Everything Were So Simple

2008-09-16T14:39:00.002-05:00

I haven't felt like this* in a while.

* - everything is magic, everyone is nice, everything is beautiful, and gauzy and sad all at once.

This guy got me in the mood. Thanks to this guy for turning me on to him. And thanks to her for making me exicted to travel.

Fake City, Real Dreams

2008-09-02T11:07:00.001-05:00

Zak Rosen is a radio producer. Neil Greenberg is a map-maker. They’re both from Detroit, but their hearts are in a different city, a city they think is possible—at least in the imagination and maybe in reality.

The radio piece they made together treats this place as if it were real. It is a creative exercise that hints at a plausible future. Fake City, Real Dreams is unlike any “arts feature” you’ve heard before.

The Cut

2008-08-21T13:10:00.003-05:00

Kind of a weird video, but you'll get the point. The Dequindre Cut is a huge step forward for Detroit's walkability/bikeability factor. I rode down it last weekend.

Hipsterdom

2008-07-31T11:04:00.001-05:00

We are a lost generation, desperately clinging to anything that feels real, but too afraid to become it ourselves. We are a defeated generation, resigned to the hypocrisy of those before us, who once sang songs of rebellion and now sell them back to us. We are the last generation, a culmination of all previous things, destroyed by the vapidity that surrounds us. The hipster represents the end of Western civilization – a culture so detached and disconnected that it has stopped giving birth to anything new.

Generica

2008-07-15T15:00:00.002-05:00

Generica diminishes each of the five senses...

Entering the 'Real World'

2008-06-12T10:21:00.000-05:00

Don’t be afraid to trust a homeless person on the street, to do something that doesn’t make any money, to love someone society tells you not to, to take real risks for justice, to imagine that a new world is possible, to follow a vocation your parents don’t want you to, to hope in the midst of despair, and to live with fearless joy. Don’t be afraid to stop right now, right here, and change the direction of your life. It is through freeing ourselves from fear that we begin to truly live.

less hip

2008-05-28T15:27:00.000-05:00

"I feel like people are getting less and less pretentious and less and less hip-- hopefully".

p e h d t s c k j m b a

2008-05-22T17:17:00.002-05:00

Black Bottom

2008-05-16T13:09:00.004-05:00

During the performance, I wanted to grab the man’s hand sitting next to me. Not a stranger, just a neighbor who I hadn’t yet met.

(The Paradise Theater on Woodward, later restored as Orchestra Hall, featured all the top black entertainers of the era.)

LOL

2008-05-08T10:52:00.001-05:00

The only thing that separates a mess of seemingly disparate observations and a song is a moment of excessive confidence.

Bird

2008-03-28T09:20:00.000-05:00

I never worry about the melodies drying up. Since I can remember, I’ve had melodies in my head. I chew my food to them.

long time, no blog

2008-03-14T21:41:00.002-05:00

This is what awaits me in the morning...

Dear Inventive Reality Participants:

I am really looking forward to Saturday when we get together and do some collective soundmaking.

I have been asked by one of the participants what they can do to prepare. Here are some suggestions:

To Recap, the focus of the workshop is on merging the subjective and the objective. My starting point is that the poem you develop during the day will be rooted somehow in an event you've seen, an experience you've had or something that you've heard.

You might already have some ideas about something you're already working on that fits this description. If you do have something you are already working on, please feel free to bring it with you. For those of you who don't have an idea yet, there will be time to develop an ideas from the brainstorming, idea and sound gathering that we will be doing in the morning.

My method in putting this workshop together is a similar experience to what you would experience if you were working in a newsroom. You come in at 10 am, the assignment editor says "I need a story from you". S/he may have a suggestion or two, but will want to hear your ideas. That's one of the reasons you were hired .. because you bring new ideas to the table.

And then you have the day to get things done before you go to air at 4 pm (I won't be a harsh taskmaster about this .. if you don't get it finished in the time allotted, that's fine too. You can work on it in your own time after the fact. But we'll try to meet the deadline .. it will be more productive for you that way)

Morning: we'll brainstorm possible topics, talk about the kinds of sounds and issues in the immediate neighbourhood. then you'll go on an explore of the neighbourhood and collect sounds and voices for a piece. Don't worry if the idea takes a while to emerge .. I often start my pieces with a lot of walking around, looking and listening. Be patient, welcome the ideas and they will appear. The Muse will come when she is invited.

Here are a couple of ideas to get you thinking: the NAISA studios are in a neighbourhood which is becoming quickly gentrified. It's on the edges of a district known as Parkdale, a place historically populated by immigrants and mental patients (there is a major psychiatric facility not too far down the road). The artists moved
in a few years ago .. one of the hotspots in the area is the Drake Hotel .. that's a story in itself. There are also a lot of galleries in the area. But some of them are now being forced out too .. typical story .. the artists move in and the developers are right behind them.

For example -- If I was going to be choosing a story to do, I think I'd do a contrast of the fashionable Drake Hotel and the mental hospital down the street. What I'd be listening for are the sounds that speak of the affluence of the area, and the poverty that comes with mental illness. The affluent sounds should be pretty easy .. not so sure about the poverty sounds. there's an art gallery in the
hospital, so maybe I can capture that part of it by collecting some words of the gallery curator .. it's a bit sensitive so I don't know how that part will work out. Or maybe my own words will have to carry that part of it. That's the good part about this assignment .. it's just as much about your perceptions as it is about the people around you. In this exercise, you're not just reporting, and you're
not just listening to literal reality. You are shaping reality as you hear it and see it. (yes, you are allowed to use your eyes too. The challenge is to translate what you see into something you can hear)

Think of your creation as what you would get if you took a journalist and a poet to the same event and had them develop their piece together. See what I mean?

So what I want you to do in the morning is take out a recorder and explore. Talk to people. Record sounds. Pick up the flavour of the neighbourhood and then see what sparks your imagination in a way that you want to do a piece about it. or, you might find something that gels with an idea you've already been developing ...

You can either work in pairs or in groups ... we can figure it out when you get there.

Lunch -- we can figure out a place where we all want to go and have a working lunch (pay your own .. not included in workshop fee)

After lunch .. start working on your piece. sift through your ideas, sift through your sounds. Dub them on computer. Master sound artist Darren Copeland and I will be there to help you work through what you want to do and how to do it. Don't worry if you don't have an idea right now .. we'll do some targeted exercises aimed at getting your imagination flowing.

So I think that's it for now. If you have any questions, let us
know ...

Looking forward to seeing y'all at 10 am sharp on Saturday!

Aha

2008-01-14T11:32:00.000-06:00

a new story on studio 360

Vacant/Occupied

2007-12-19T10:13:00.000-06:00

It's not all about production and bottom line. For us...the bottom line is human beings, so that's where are focus is.

Cream Soda(s)

2007-11-20T09:14:00.000-06:00

Faygo Pop Turns 100. Their Factory isn't as cool as Willy Wonka's, but it's a close second. Hear the story here

Peter Leonhard Braun

2007-10-24T12:16:00.000-05:00

all is based on that acoustic explosion in the beginning, the long big bang of liberating the radio feature from narrowcasting to broadcasting or boundless sound.

sweet lowdon

2007-09-25T09:32:00.000-05:00

Detroit: "A Stronghold of Possibility"
By Grace Lee Boggs
Michigan Citizen, Sept. 30-Oct. 6, 2007

A good way to keep abreast of what's happening and what's possible in Detroit is to listen to Detroit Today WDET 101.9FM, M-F,10-12,

I caught the October 20 discussion on "buying and eating locally produced foods" featuring Jackie Victor, co-owner of Detroit's Avalon International Breads; Susan Schmidt, Food Director for Henry Ford Hospital; and Kami Pothukuchi , Wayne State University Urban Studies professor.

This year's six busloads garden tour was "a tipping point," Jackie explained. Developing a local food economy, she said, has now become the metaphor for our living simpler, healthier lives, revitalizing our neighborhoods, bringing hope to our city, and transforming our relationships with one another.

Each panelist gave a good reason for buying and eating locally grown
foods.

Kami pointed out that it keeps money in the local economy. The processing of locally grown foods can also promote state economic development.

Jackie emphasized the importance of explaining to our children the huge difference between the taste of an irregularly-shaped tomato just picked from your garden and that of a beautifully-rounded one picked over a week ago and forced to ripen during its long journey from a distant state.

Susan explained how at first she had difficulty finding local food suppliers for the huge Henry Ford Hospital complex. But that situation changed quickly when the word got out.

The panelists also suggested ways for everyone to become part of this movement, It can be something as simple as asking the waiters or owners of a restaurant where the food you're served came from. We can insist that public school lunches be prepared from locally-produced foods. We can protest legislation that favors agribusiness over the small farmer.

Comments from listeners opened up all sorts of possibilities. One listener recommended "Detroit seed banks, both for research, and also for conservation. Also training in designing and developing green houses." Another suggested transforming warehouses into greenhouses. "Acorns," one listener volunteered, " make a great food, and have been used for centuries by the natives. We need to look at native plants, and their usage. Detroit needs to do a waterfront restoration
project, and also restore parks with native species."

In many cities across the country urban farmers are growing communities, greening the landscape and revolutionizing food politics, according to an article, "Farming in the Concrete Jungle," in the August 24 In These Times.

But the movement in Detroit is unique because it is so organically connected to the end of the industrial epoch and includes Detroiters from so many walks of life.

Nearly 20 years ago Gerald Hairston created the "Gardening Angels," a loose network of African American elders raised in the South who were planting community gardens in Detroit's vacant lots not only to produce food but to give city youth a sense of process.

At the 4H headquarters on the east side William Mills used gardening to connect young people with elders and at the Catherine Ferguson Academy on the near west side Asenath Andrews and Paul Weertz made raising farm animals and building a barn an integral part of the education of teenage mothers,

On the southeast side of the city the Capuchins created Earthworks to promote social justice, sustainable agricultural practices, nutrition,and care for the Earth. At the University of Detroit Mercy architectural students created Adamah, a vision of how urban agriculture could revitalize a 2-1/2 square mile neighborhood within walking distance of downtown.

This "quiet revolution" has been evolving in Detroit over the last few decades. As Rebecca Solnit put it in the July-August Harper's:"This is the most extreme and long term hope Detroit offers us: the hope that we can reclaim what we paved over and poisoned, that nature will not punish us, that it will welcome us home – not with the landscape that was here when we arrived, perhaps, but with land that is alive, lush, and varied all the same.It is a harsh place of poverty, deprivation and a fair amount of crime, but it is also a stronghold of
possibility."

a few months late

2007-09-13T12:27:00.001-05:00

It aired a few months ago, but now, for the first time, my one-hour Mother's Day Special is ready for re-consumption. Listen to a barrage of essays, commentary, music, and poetry reeling on the themes of motherhood by clicking here...

arts and farts in detroit

2007-08-27T11:25:00.000-05:00

...I'm sick of tripping over heels and wheels. I'd rather hang out some place where you can still smoke and draw on the walls...

Living For Change

2007-07-18T11:51:00.001-05:00

Grace Lee Boggs says we've got to past the idea of overthrowing whomever is in power and replacing them with a differant group of people. We've become slaves to this structure of power, and our efforts should be about changing the structure itself! Check out this interview from Democracy Now!, and watch how she challenges legendary poet and activist Amari Baraka. She takes nothing for granted. She'll be on DT tomorrow!

The Shining City At The World's End

2007-06-20T15:30:00.000-05:00

Detroit may be the shining example we can look to, a post-industrial green city that feeds, clothes and entertains itself...

Tu Madre

2007-05-11T14:26:00.000-05:00

In honor of Mother's everywhere...

Please tune in to WDET, Detroit Public Radio 101.9fm

www.wdetfm.org

Saturday, May 12 @ 7: 00 a.m.

Sunday, May 13 @ 10:00 a.m.

Mother's Day is Special:
A Mother's Day Special from WDET, Detroit Public Radio.

songs, essays, stories and a walk down memory lane

cohosted by Zak Rosen & his Mother Jo Strausz Rosen (...and an endearing public radio debut from David Fredric Gluckman)

detrizzle todizzle

2007-04-09T19:32:00.000-05:00

it's been quiet around here of late, namely because I’ve taken my blogging elsewhere!

We've just started to develop the blog for our new local affairs show, Detroit Today.

The show is mostly live (and usually lively!) discussion between our host and local newsmakers, policy analysts, journalists, teachers, clergy... We encourage listeners to call in / blog to weigh in on the issues as well. We're also moving forward with somewhat regular feature reports, essays, live music performances, and the occasional album review.

(Bernice and Reverand Jones on Good Friday)

Tune in daily from 10 - noon on WDET to get your fill on all things Detroit (and the surrounding areas).

Saturday's at 7 a.m. and Sunday's at 10 a.m. is Detroit Today Weekend. A one-hour collection of the previous weeks most awesome segments. Producer A. Le Clair and myself co-host this one-hour, pre-recorded, weekend show! The first week was shaky, and I hope we'll get better as we move forward and learn more about this daily thang.

bst,

freaker by the speaker...

2007-03-25T19:15:00.000-05:00

Each week the Third Coast Festival presents the documentary-based program Re:sound on Chicago Public Radio.

On Re:sound you'll hear intriguing radio stories culled from around the world ranging from personal narratives to investigative documentaries, experimental sound art to humorous essays. The host of Re:sound is independent producer and essayist Gwen Macsai, who presents this remarkable work along with behind-the-scenes interviews and other "bonus tracks," and spins it all together with music for your listening pleasure.

I'm excited to share with yall that this weeks, "March 24 , 2007 (#67)- The Epistolary Show" Re:sound features a piece I made last October. "As part of a Third Coast Conference session in 2006, Brendan Greeley asked Zak Rosen to explore the potential of bloggers as subjects, fixers, and correspondents in radio stories. So Zak selected an arbitrary place (Antarctica) and to then found a blogger who could talk about this place in an interesting way."

cccchhhheck it outtt

cositas

2007-03-19T18:17:00.000-05:00

I think well-being and frequency of blog posts in my life are mutually exclusive. I haven't posted in about a month. So, I haven't shown my face in the blogosphere or the regular world sphere. I have however been listening to some wonderful and inspired audio work.

jesse thorn's the sound of young america is a weekly hour long show about things that are awesome. he produces it out of his living room. he interviews awesome people like vendala vida, michael showalter, amy sedaris, bob edwards, and a guy that wrote a book about jay z. i've been listening to jesse late at night and early in the morning. i think he's only about 25.

the third coast festival is currently exhibiting some really bizarre pieces about hair

what would rob do as well as the newest love and radio make me smile

i just listened to a sean cole story about animals and creativity. he's VERY good and makes me want to get better at making radio.

mike ludwig took the photo you see up there. he nice

save your voicemails!

2007-02-24T12:24:00.000-06:00

The Voicemail Project is...If you're like us, you've probably got a few voicemails you've been saving on your phone for ages. It might be your mom singing happy birthday…or your friend talking in a funny accent…or just your drycleaners. Whatever the message, it can act as its own, full-length story—like a time capsule of earlier parts of your life. Now we're collecting those messages for this project we're calling the Voicemail Project, and we hope you'll share yours with us. Email us at voicemailproject@gmail.com and we'll show you how to get the messages off your phone!

My radio-making friend Laura is behind this really heartfelt project, and is even getting independent study credit for it at Northwestern! I've been saving my favorite messages for a while, and I really recommend doing the same. One of my messages from The Goatman is featured on the page right now. eh?