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January 31, 2011

"If you would win a man to your cause, first convince him that you are his sincere friend." Abraham Lincoln

"Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power." - Abraham Lincoln

January 28, 2011

First the Nazis came…
First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out —
because I was not a communist;
Then they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out —
because I was not a socialist;
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out —
because I was not a trade unionist;
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out —
because I was not a Jew;
Then they came for me —
and there was no one left to speak out for me.

                                                                        - Martin Niemöller

Happy Friday!  

 

Wow! The weeks go by surprisingly quick.       

We’re looking forward to a weekend of relaxation, tranquillo and calm.

 

This week’s “stream-of-consciousness” writing exercise was difficult but I forged forth. I’ve thought about bringing out my writing books with exercises and lessons on writing. I have extensive notes from high school and college about the craft of writing and how to spark ideas for storyline, subject matter and visual aesthetics. In the weeks to come I’d like to try a week’s worth of Haiku writing.

 

I haven’t written a Haiku in probably fifteen years. The years do go by. So, I’m settling into writing this blog once more. I draw from a literary “tool-box” (On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King) to build, construct, develop and convey meaning through the medium of writing. I’ll have to work myself up to a Haiku simply because to me they require a great deal of concentration to write.

 

As for producing shorts I have a few proposals on the table and a few to write myself. I’m excited to exchange, barter and contract on some small projects depending on what they call for and who is proposing. I’m sure and DO have a clear idea of what I have to propose in return. As for others, I can greatly consider what they have and want to offer. I simply look at what’s being placed on the table and if it works with what our needs and sometimes our wants are for the development of future feature-projects then I do greatly consider any proposal to film, set-on our table.

 

We are at a crossroads.

 

Amazing, I didn’t think I’d get to say that in this decade rather in the next, but I’m writing it: At a crossroads.

 

We’re at a crossroads and yes, we’re excited to make a turn in the bend.

 

Nothing stays the same. I never thought that it would but sometimes change is abrupt and sometimes not.

 

I live for these types of moments in my life because it means that I get to be a witness to yet another aspect of maturity. Nine years ago I left an office building with a business loan in my pocket and I never looked back - most likely will not be the same again. Friends we’ve made and kept over the years, (correction: our friends, foes and strangers) we bow our heads in their direction because we understand the fragility and beauty in life and challenges we climb and find our way through new terrain. We know where we come from, we know where we are and we have a great deal of vision for where we are going. I’m inspired daily to become a better person by contributing to my community at large and by raising awareness to learning anything new.

 

Tonight I get the great honor to film another documentary filmmaker about his interests in organic gardening. I’m so excited to go and chill with this new friend as of the past year and a half. We get to discuss organic vegetable growing. I’ve bought an organic odd-year bottle of red wine to bring to my amazing and intelligent calm friend. I’m looking forward to peace, patience and clarity of mind with a chill and relaxed pace as we film tonight. My friend the filmmaker is bringing in lighting and I’m not above it I’m grateful for his efforts and consideration. I look forward to his lighting ideas and suggestions.

 

What a life!

 

On Monday I’m putting a counter-proposal on my friend’s table – he made a general semi-proposal for any filmmaker to make a short film in the exchange of a one free-of-charge room in his lovely home. Imagine that! Money isn’t everything. I know the art of bartering and I hold it more sacred than money.

 

A particular space to create in-is worth more than gold.

 

I like the adventure, insight and connection in friendships. I like free and creative collaborations inside already establish and respectfulness in regard to the relationships which uphold dignity, kindness and genuine interest at heart for the other person.

 

I like making animation films, collages, writing, script writing and upholding discussions in the homes and amongst the intimacy of my closest friends. I consider this man to be one of my closest friends in the last two years so his semi-proposal to write one-hour a day in his home is phenomenal to me – I did not think the thought – he did. He introduced it and made the proposal so I will write one to counter-offer it. I’m honored and happy for my friend and myself to continue to grow, develop and be.

 

That’s an offer of a lifetime when a writing nook anywhere in the world is sacred, calm and peaceful and it can be found amongst the thoughtful and creative. The exchange would prove incredible. Not only is my friend’s house a sacred space, a sanctuary and an artistic monastery, but his home comes with an “open-door kitchen policy” to the people in his life. Now, who couldn’t pass up one-hour a day of a writing studio at a friend’s beautiful home – hopefully for the next year? No, Sir! I didn’t jump the gun but I’m sure jumping at the chance to be a part of something creatively revolutionary and vibrant with so many great thinking humans passing through my friend’s kitchen. It’s quiet, peaceful and intelligent. I can’t wait to discuss this cushy and creative proposal to barter with some guidelines and considerations. I have quite a great deal to offer in the exchange, myself. I always do. I know my strengths and I do most certainly know my weaknesses. A short in exchange for one hour of writing a day would prove most creative.

 

I think about all of the spaces many writers before my time used to construct novels, poetry and plays. I lived in the Gaslight District of Iowa City where Kurt Vonnegut wrote. I looked over every nook and cranny of the house when I first moved in and I swelled with quiet pride and acknowledgement that Mr. Vonnegut had worked and lived in a home that I worked and lived in more than a decade ago now. I will never forget that experience for as long as I live. The “carriage-apartment” was conducive to analytical, creative and critical thinking. I’d like to think that Mr. Kurt Vonnegut’s literary spirit lingered there in that house and that’s why I read profusely in those months because a great man had created great works of art that changed me for life, forever. I would never be the same again.

 

Places call to artists and in the development and maturity of our human nature we follow that calling because it’s very rare that we’ll find places where we feel as though we have arrived home. Our friends are our home, our environments are our home and our hope for future creativity, sharing, learning and developing ideas are also our home. I can’t imagine not doing this with my friends by my side, they are quite lovely people.

 

I have responsibilities…

 

I’m wishing you an amazing weekend full of consideration, love, kindness and if you wish happiness.

 

Peace.

 

Gabriela

 

P.S. In the next week I’ve got to find some musica to go and dance to. Hooray for the arts. How nerdy is that? Cheers!

January 27, 2011

“Rudeness is the weak man's imitation of strength” - Eric Hoffer

Happy Thursday!   

 

I can only imagine that preaching a philosophy, crying-out emotional wolf and never having been taught how to use words rather than rudeness must be difficult for those who want to accomplish so much in this world but only have a limited finite ability and skill in how to do so.

 

Good manners and kindness are finite skills that can and should be learned and developed by every American. I understand that we’re lacking in educational equivalency to many other major world players, still yet good manners have never gone out of fashion throughout the world amongst great men and women.

 

Good manners and kindness are the only ways to keep the peace amongst the sexes otherwise men should be prepared to be put back on the shelf by confident, respectful and beautiful women who ultimately won’t have anything to do with overt displays of melodramatic tendencies like taking objects out of a woman’s hands, rushing off in huff and cutting off women when they speak or not answering their questions. I feel sorry for American men when they act this way because essentially and ultimately they get overlooked by great women.

 

The History of women has been one of dismissal, abuse and oppression. Think about how little girls get treated in America and you will discover a world of hurt from runaway young teenage girls who’ve described to me their Minneapolis existence as “nothing to hope for.” My heart hurts just thinking about it much less writing about it.

 

As a grown woman who has everything to look forward to in this new century I don’t share the same sentiment as my much younger female counterparts but I can truly understand the sentiment. My heart aches knowing that men exploit, use and discard woman in everyday life, especially those who are closest to them. It’s an embarrassment to see a man be curt, ridiculously rude and disrespectful to any woman especially a complete stranger to him but more so to the women he loves and knows in his life.

 

Bad manners in men have nothing to do with good mannered women.

 

Bad manners and a lack of judgment will never have anything to do with anyone except you – that’s something that you take to the grave with you and that no one will carry bad manners for you because they know a few things you don’t wish to acknowledge about yourself - yourself. When you are rude to others then you are rude to yourself.

 

Oh, men want to be treated like grown men but many men lack the judgment as to how to treat women like grown women. Don’t expect miracles from women especially while preaching “Random Acts of Kindness”. Sounds good but if a preacher-man can’t follow his own good example then what good is he, really, to society at large?

 

A rude man becomes his voice amongst many other voices that cry out in the night and his voice will get lost amongst others because well, there is nothing to really differentiate him from any other man, except for his bad manners but that already exists and is all too common in America. Of course women expect men to be rude and that’s a great Shakespearean tragedy. That is something that will have to change with the evolution of man.

 

Are humans still Neanderthals?

 

It must be rough for most men living in American because this is not the suffrage movement any longer and women have evolved especially not by what they say but through what they don’t say. Most women have the finesse NOT to come out with both barrels firing because ultimately they know a lot of things men don’t. Like oppression, dismissal and prejudice. Women live through this everyday and more often than not executed by our male counterparts who sometimes frankly are not our equals for simple reasons like not reasoning-out on how to best treat people.

 

Good men get passed up by amazing and wonderful women everyday for one simple reason. Rudeness. No woman in her right mind will want to have dinner, close-a-business deal or create anything wonderful in communication and in relationship to a man who mentally displays his penis and emotionally jerks-off in front of her. She may not look away but she will definitely not want to participate in his rude behavior.

 

Rude behavior and preconceived notions about women only implies that men believe their arrogance.

 

 Why should good women invest their time, energy and efforts in the dreams of rude men?

 

Why? There are so many men in the world. Period. It’s not necessary to invest in rude American men and it never will be a good investment. We live in an age of technology and having a vast wealth of interest in international change is not so difficult anymore. Women are changing the world – take notice because it’s happening although most women who are changing the world will never utter a single word about it to anyone because they know their standing power and have no need to make it known. How lovely for these women of power, self-control and keen intelligence.

 

No matter how intelligent a man may be about anything at all in the world he becomes a bigot when he places importance on a double standard yet he would fight for his right not to be treated the way he treats others especially women.

 

A rude man will not create any change in the world when he can’t even begin to have great consideration for those women he interacts with daily. You cannot preach one thing and act another. The discrepancy is too large and too difficult to believe anything that comes out of such a man’s mouth. Even if it’s not their fault for being rude and no one ever took the time to teach them any better on how to treat women it’s still their fault as adults for not learning on their own especially when they don’t seek the discipline to better and more direct communication, manners and refinement of philosophy in action.

 

Women are not delicate – that’s not the issue here.

 

Rude men sometimes get away with being rude in an age of evolution. Now, that’s one down fall of civilization if I’ve ever thought of one. As a matter of fact many women I’ve encountered throughout the United States are cynical, angry and often confused by their male counterparts. I’m not cynical, confused or angry about men in America but I am sometimes turned-off to the core of my bones with their inability to relate well to others. Why shouldn’t I be? I’m saddened and annoyed by the so many skills our American men lack in our culture and I know good men. Yet, their behavior will not do. Rude behavior will not take us into the next development of humanity. Think about it, because you can.

 

No man who has ever dealt with Nordic beauties, Indianas, Latinas, Blacks and especially Asian women or of any other cultural variety of women will treat women like emotional punching bags, emotionally derail them or the easiest thing in the world to do dismisses a woman who is directly addressing any man. No cultured man and especially, any well travelled man would ever dismiss any woman addressing him directly, because he knows all too well that to do so would prove to miss out on the opportunity to learn, observe and be a part of something much greater than himself – it would be a lost gift to his deepest person.

 

For those of you who consider yourselves men, if you’re being directly addressed and you dismiss a woman’s address then I’d say, it better be a matter of life, death, responsibility and of real circumstance because frankly nothing is so important that you must consider yourself incapable of spending a minute of your time being addressed especially by what you know to be intelligent kind women. You miss out. The joke’s on you when you rush off, slam doors and think women are intimidated by your non-thinking presence of mind. The only people I know who rush off to meet their destinies are self-important performers, politicians and half-witted billionaires without any regard for life. Who are you?

 

I am a woman of the world. I know who I am and where I come from and where I’m going forth.

 

I’ve travelled extensively to know that the rudeness in American men will not do. It must not do. In the same way that American dogs are taught to cry wolf when nothing is the matter. What shame to cry wolf when no body’s going to believe you the next time there is real danger. It’s a crime and a behavior taught by owners which puts the owners at danger. But that is mainly an American practice of owning dogs not a world practice of co-existing with dogs in any tribal setting.

 

“Men in these parts don’t know what to do with that type of enthusiasm.” A man told me after I ate a mango slice with all of the vigor of the world on my tongue.

 

I was having a strong and passionate physical reaction to a mango I was eating but by no means was I having an orgasm in front of five men. If I were having an orgasm then you’d know it and it would not be uttered with a single word…

 

Sexuality is seriously confused in America - if you’re not thinking about sex then someone else is thinking it for you – and – if you’re thinking about sex then you better hide it, cover it up – quick, before someone else finds out that you’re a sexual being filled with passion, with physical reactions and sensations which do occur throughout the world. It goes back to the Puritans. Another blog for another day.

 

My Father kept telling me while I was growing up, “You never know who you’re going to meet so be polite and keep your wits about you.” The moment that you stop treating people the way-you-think-you-deserve to be treated. Game over. Go home. You lost big time in the philosophical and emotional world of communication. The moment you create a gap between yourself and others, then you’ve created a double standard. A way you command to be treated and the way you treat others when you’re feeling like a little baby will not do. Others will want to laugh at you and in some ways the laughter would be justifiable. There is nothing like watching a grown man throw a tantrum. Its rather amusing.

 

I’ve been listening, mainly to American men in my life, tell me that they are well travelled, that they have seen many wonders of the World but when I witness them being overtly rude to the grown women in their lives then the possibility of them seeing the world is slightly difficult for me to believe how they’ve witnessed any of the world at all when they lack so much cultural astuteness.

 

Sometimes, it feels like a lie, because I’ve met many other men of the world and if anybody has ever met the men of the world then you’d know that they are good men to the women in their lives not out of duty or obligation but out of honor and respect. Other men of the world are citizens of the world because their cultures have thousands of years of development and nothing of value and importance is rushed. Women are important and so are men.

 

I like interacting with some Black brothers because they come from a lineage who understands slavery, oppression and dismissal and if you have ever had the honor of getting to know honorable Black Americans then you know that they’re in no hurry to dismiss anyone because their people were slaves, tormented and murdered. So, with that little bit of insight intelligent Black men DON’T dismiss, look down at and act like melodramatic silly little girls at the women in their lives. I’ve enjoyed the company of well-refined well-oiled men for cerebral machines. I’ve understood their plights but more importantly I’ve understood their noble intentions, actions and sincerity.

 

Culturally, many American men lack a lot to be desired in good manners, communication and relating well to others in general. At times, it seems as if they’re animals trapped in some cultural cage. Neanderthals, in the prospects to live rather than for the prospects of development.

 

What gives? Men want to be treated like grown men yet I’ve watched two men in my life just recently in the last week and a half be curt, rude and throw temper tantrums like little boys.

 

No, I’m not talking about my husband I married a grown man with all of the sensibility, kindness and appreciation of women and that’s the only man I... Every other sensation is either created through touch, taste, hearing, sight and smell or a memory trigger. It’s funny but more so it’s sad and frankly not something that I trust as a woman in general when I watch men act self-important towards the plights of the world. I don’t wonder why American men don’t have life mates. I don’t. Not for one single moment do I ponder the answer to that. I already discovered the answer and am arriving at a lot of my own conclusions about that.

 

I was so turned off by a friend last night that I did laugh and spit. What else is a woman to do but to laugh at the absurdity of a man’s rushed and gruff demeanor towards her?

 

How’s that for feminist theory?

Women of color do understand feminist theory all too well.

 

Grown men don’t owe grown women anything just as grown women don’t owe grown men anything as well.

 

People give of themselves willingly. I’d like to feel that my male friends can come to me at anytime they have a need or a call from the spirit to do so and ask for help, insight and friendship at anytime. I don’t keep score. I don’t live like that but I do take notice of the type of men they are in relationship to any women in their lives. People’s actions will speak volumes to the type of people they think and feel that they are.

 

Peace.

 

Gabriela

January 26, 2011

“Physical nature lies at our feet shackled with a hundred chains. What of the control of human nature? Do not point to the triumphs of psychiatry, social services or the war against crime. Domination of human nature can only mean the domination of every man by himself.” - Johan Huizinga

 

“And for any victim of a violent crime, when you actually get to go in and realize and see their faces and know that they can't hurt you any more, there is no feeling like that. It finally frees you from a lot of demons.” - Patty Hearst

 

“Violent crime is a solved problem - all they have to do is repeal the laws that keep those intelligent, capable, and responsible men and women from arming themselves, and violent crime evaporates like dry ice on a hot summer day.” - L. Neil Smith

 

Happy Wednesday!  

 

Good morning!                       

 

It’s was a cloudy dark January morning and still as ice out there around five. No wind at that time and hopefully it’ll get warmer than yesterday with all of the cloud formation keeping us insolated. Right? Right.

 

I’ve got a second episode of the first season of the “Addams Family” running in the “VCR”.

 

I like to watch Television with the audio set-on mute (on the remote control) (imagine, some day this equipment will be obsolete and disregarded and then what, landfills? – hopefully every single part will be re-used and re-cycled that’s a hope) with the closed captioning off, as nerdy as it may seem, to read along with the storyline and figure out what’s happening. It’s an exercise I remember most about learning how to deconstruct any visual image.

 

Filmmaking is the art of storytelling with running images and inside the frame life is captured or recaptured.

 

I regress in my subject matter because frankly I think about, how-the-moving-image in any genre and form of picture-making affects Generations?

 

The “Addams Family” is an incredible show to me. The first thing that comes to mind is the level of creativity with so much direction, intension and purpose in all aspects of “mise-en-scene”. I can understand a moral tale but more importantly I can respect and appreciate a-time-in-our national Television history that we can look back-on and speculate what the culture was living through.

 

What was culture like when “Addams Family” was nationally broadcasted in the United States in the year ____?

 

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Random Thought: (Simply, amuse me for one moment here.)

 

{In research as with any subject matter studied, if we begin with a year in history in-mind, then we can place any event, happening and occurrence. Events in the history of civilizations are not lost especially through oral traditional storytelling form I have that to thank a close friend who introduced Swahili to me at the University. Otherwise, it may have been another few years until I stumbled upon the Swahili language. My favorite aspect of Swahili students is that not only do they learn a new language all completely but also most students learn that language and storytelling are one in the same in many oral traditional forms.

 

Words, in some cultures are not to be rushed, wasted or used for exploitation or in self-interest and used to regard only for one’s own but for a much greater contribution to communication. Is that too idealistically-poetic? Maybe.

 

Please keep in mind that most people simply are establishing beautiful forms of communication through setting up their neighborhoods economically, peacefully while trying to educate their children, put food on the table and a roof over their family’s heads.}

 

A Linking Thought: (to the random thought.)

 

Life is incredibly simple for most civilians trying to communicate what works in their communities and what doesn’t yet there are obstacles such as violent crimes as in Homicide, Rape, Robbery of Business, Robbery of Person, Aggravated Assaults and Domestic Aggravated Assaults.

 

The moment any citizen enters into crime against another citizen there are serious repercussion to these actions. Cruelty and violence will be met with the power of rights. Period. No citizen ought to be demeaned, harassed and have their person violated by any system, person or government that’s what I learned in eighth grade social studies. I think I understood all too well.

 

There are laws in place to defend the most sacred of national prides in joy, “the pursuit of happiness” (it doesn’t mean that you automatically get to be happy it means that you-get-the freedom to pursuit happiness, to go after it without ever endangering others. Period. Otherwise, history has a painful way of making itself learned. The Treaty of Versailles is all that just about comes to mind from eighth grade social studies).

 

I bring up the treaty of Versailles only because when a government stops maturing, developing and starts putting its citizens at any moral and physical danger through a high violent crime rate and affliction then great measures have been taken in history this is not so uncommon in the history of laws and justice brought forth to the civilians of nations.

 

It’s a gesture that greatly counts not repeated words.

 

Source from Wikipedia

 

The Treaty of Versailles was one of the peace treaties at the end of World War I.

 

Of the many provisions in the treaty, one of the most important and controversial required Germany to accept sole responsibility for causing the war and, under the terms of articles 231–248 (later known as the War Guilt clauses), to disarm, make substantial territorial concessions and pay heavy reparations to certain countries that had formed the Entente powers. The total cost of these reparations was assessed at 132 billion Marks (then $31.4 billion, £6,600 million) in 1921 which is roughly equivalent to US$ 385 billion in 2011, a sum that many economists at the time, notably John Maynard Keynes, deemed to be excessive and counterproductive and would have taken Germany until 1988 to pay. The Treaty was undermined by subsequent events starting as early as 1932 and was widely flouted by the mid-1930s.

 

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Moving on with this writing exercise…

 

Every infrastructure begins with a strong concept, foundation and normally a well laid-out, designed and constructed frame. Art imitates life. Television imitates life. If that were to be the Hypothesis or the main thesis then let us speculate that there was something that could have been channeled into the sub consciousness and moral fiber of the society from storyboard creators to producers and civilians of the time.

 

What was being reported in 1946 when “Addams Family” made its first debut on Television? Who were the artists of the time, the politicians, the citizens and the guardians of peace, civility, civil welfare and education?

 

How does a Generational culture influence Television?

 

Mind you, I’m no journalist or artistic crusader nor have I ever set out to be one.

 

Nor am I, an authority on any subject matter simply a human with ideas and sentiments that I can’t seem to talk about because frankly I lose my voice trying. It’s my nature to be a snapping turtle when the world gets turned over on its belly. There is nothing more awkward than watching something else’s awkwardness and struggle. Life is complex, what more is there to say? Nothing, I suppose.

 

No, Sir!

 

I’m a woman of the world and a thinking breathing writing human.

 

I can and do make intelligent decisions about my life and that is something that any Generation can understand or “tune-into” because frankly we are fully grown adults, here, many with children trying to make the best decisions for the next seven Generations of Humanity.

 

What was happening in 1946 around the globe?

 

It might seem like a mundane, boring or stupid question yet it’s easy to answer according to the recorded “current events” of the time. Think about it because you can and if you can’t then look up the year 1946 it helps to be respectful of time, age and dates.

 

“She’s not the best keeper of time.” I’ve been told of a Finn Elder who spoke of me in the last year and I understood the sentiment from her Finn point of view and Generation. I understood and I felt loved because she knew my nature to go slow and keep curiosity and awareness about my surroundings even when I’m focused on the present I cannot help but get excited for a mature and developed future without rape, assault and arm robbery.

 

I remember the day, I decided not to work for any news source – It wasn’t the people nor the establishment and office politics that ultimately lead me to make that decision the day I went out into the field as a “photog” and covered three near-deaths in what I can only speculate was a matter of an hour.  Who knows? It could’ve been tree hours. Time slowed down for me in the deepest parts of my soul and I could not have foreseen what I was to witness that day as the bodies were pulled out from the water on a stormy dark cloudy early afternoon in August of 2003.

 

I lost any and all complete track of time.

 

Everything stopped and I wanted to capture that moment but not in the way a newsroom editor expects of his journalists to do so. I wanted nothing to do with covering footage of three young people being pulled from the water from nearly drowning as a segment of evening news that night.

 

I knew in my heart that it was wrong to record and capture life on the brink of death.

 

That day I recorded the afternoon sky as the clouds eventually broke through and sunlight sprinkled the beach. Mind you, I had turned off the audio and did not white balance before taping. Some shots were unusable for broadcast standard and some shots were so blue and washed-out that they could not be used in that evening’s news segment.

 

I had made a decision and I lived by it. Soon after I left the newsroom I also left the country and went to the beaches of Costa Rica to pray, look upon the stars, surf and eat fresh fruits and sit quietly amongst perfect strangers and some close friends.

 

I could do nothing but capture the sky and other news station’s photogs taping the bodies being pulled out.

 

‘No, Sir! That will not do!’ I remember thinking to myself.

 

My excellent liberal arts education taught me the moralities, ethics and decision-making skills necessary to be made when faced with very little options apart from the conventional consensus and status quo - whatever that may be.

 

I was appalled at the situation I was in and I felt that it was not my place in the world to capture and exploit any human or living organism if I could help it, not on my time, so I decided to quit and was let go at the same time with a decent severance package.

 

I would have not-a-single part in it because that’s not how I was going to live my life.

 

Newsroom work was never beneath me but some of the content was below my moral values as a young adult of twenty six years of age.

 

I learned valuable lessons that day when I met with the newsroom editor. After we negotiated my exit interview and severance package then he proceeded to ask me, “What will you do now?” I answered him with a smile, “I’m going to skateboard home, make a little lunch and take a siesta.” I left the happiest human being skate boarding the sidewalks of Superior and Michigan Street. I couldn’t skate any faster to freedom.

 

The whole world had been opened-up to me yet again and I could breathe.

 

I was free of a structure that was not conducive to creative-thinking and regard for how to communicate news across to the everyday viewers without selling them something, exploiting life and advertising false hope. News segments are brought to you by corporations and mostly local and major advertisers. Everybody knows that but more importantly news ought to be economically implemented by something more than funding commercials. I’m not arguing that the government should run broadcasting news such as in some European countries. National News - Could that be done in America? Like any structure for development it evolves over time. Sweet.

 

Facts are a must a necessary with regard for subject matter.

 

I’m not desensitized to news or any visual realm especially when I did work in News for three consecutive years and newsroom production work left me exhausted and yet smarter about what smart, factual and intelligent reporting is and the difference between self-promotion and public relations.

 

Working-behind-the-scenes made me a sharp viewer of news and also I would most likely never work for news again unless the world was truly coming to an end and there was nobody around for miles to give the slightest weather report. Even then I can’t really say that I would…

 

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Cheers!

 

It’s 9:03 A.M. and I’m going about my day slowly with a clear and purposeful pace.

 

It’s time for breakfast with the hubby.

 

May you have an amazing day!

 

May you be guided and guarded by some deeply fundamental moral views where life and death are concerned and hopefully honor that because what else is there to honor but life and death?

 

I will not fear the news as I do not fear the world.

 

My place in the world is as free as any other while I stand on my two little feet. Wherever I choose to go and be upon Tierra Firma I will not be desensitized to the times nor will I demoralize the world we live in.

 

Peace to all the peoples’ of the world.

 

I didn’t waste words I came to the table to write what I meant to write – ideas, thoughts and more thoughts.

 

Gabriela

 

Source from Wikipedia

 

The Addams Family is a group of fictional characters created by American cartoonist Charles Addams. Addams Family characters include Gomez, Morticia, Uncle Fester, Lurch, Grandmama, Wednesday and Pugsley. The Addamses are a satirical inversion of the ideal American family; an eccentric, wealthy clan who delight in the macabre and are unaware that people find them bizarre or frightening. They originally appeared as a series of single panel cartoons, published in The New Yorker between 1938 and Addams's 1988 death. They have since been adapted to other media, including television series, films, video games, and a musical.

 

Katarina Witt (born December 3, 1965) is a German figure skater and model. In Germany she was commonly called "Kati" in the past, but today her full name is used more often. She won two Olympic gold medals for East Germany, first in the 1984 Sarajevo Olympics and the second in 1988 at the Calgary Olympics. She won the World Championships four times (in 1984, 1985, 1987, and 1988), and six consecutive European Championships (1983–1988). Her competitive record makes her one of the most successful figure skaters of all time.

 

The German Democratic Republic (GDR; German: Deutsche Demokratische Republik or DDR), informally called East Germany (German: Ost-Deutschland) by West Germany and other countries, was the socialist state established in 1949 in the Soviet zone of occupied Germany and in the East Berlin portion of the Allied-occupied capital city. The German Democratic Republic, which consisted geographically of northeast Germany rather than all of eastern Germany, had an area of 107,771 km2 (41,610 mi2), bordering Czechoslovakia in the south, West Germany (officially: Federal Republic of Germany) in the south and west, the Baltic Sea to the north, and Poland in the east.

 

In 1989 a popular uprising overthrew the Communists.

 

The Soviets refused to intervene, and the country soon reunited with West Germany and is now part of Germany.

January 25, 2011

“Figure skating is a mixture of art and sport.” - Katarina Witt

“I was the very first athlete in East Germany allowed to go professional.”  - Katarina Witt

Happy Tuesday!  

 

What a World we live in no different than any other age in History or any other Civilization.

 

I had to ask the "hubby" to put down the tableta late last night.

 

I could look no more at the horrors in front of me… My husband told me about the bombing in one of Moscow’s main airports, Domodedovo. Reportedly, one hundred and seventy injured and at least thirty five killed. Murdered through the will and decision of a suicide bomber.

 

A rush of emotions went through my body as I looked at the footage of the bombing late last night when we sat down to connect to international news. I held my heart with my left hand and breathed in and out and said a silent prayer that rushed through my entire body.

 

I prayed for our Russian friends, their families and all of the Russian citizens.

 

I breathed in and took in as much life as one breath is allowed through the lungs.

 

I prayed because in times of such horrific violence what else is there to do but to inhale in a breath of life. No, I’m not being corny or childish. As a grown woman of the world any violence to anybody of civilians is of the highest crime and it hurts all of humanity from any cultural civilization, age and era.

 

Average civilians are not soldiers nor are civilians trained to be soldiers.

 

Anytime that any righteous crusader causes harm and murders another I just can’t seem to know how that is justified to any “Gods” of any peoples’ ancient and existing Religions.

 

I cannot begin to think that-not-a single “God” from any religious study be it Allah, to a Roman Catholic and Christian God, to a Jewish God from any and all Hindu and Buddhist sects of the Religion and any and other peasant “Gods” (rarely mentioned by mainstream culture) or any Indian Gods for that matter - Would ask of any thinking / breathing human animal to kill out of revenge, vengeance or out of sheer hostility.

 

Think about it? What “God(s)” ask the human-thinking-race to sabotage, kill and destroy another of its own kind?

 

What God(s) ask of one to kill of another of the same species?

 

If there is such “God(s)” then why not eat your young while you’re at it – on a crusade to save the world from – what? More violence, oppression and cruelty? It will not do. Killing in the name of anything will not do. Civilians are innocent victims and must be left alone. Period. Civilians are not a power-play in the war and struggle for the survival of the human race.

 

We must evolve as a human race.

 

We must. Murder should not even be a consideration or something that we have to contend with or address any longer. The human species is smart enough to evolve. So, evolve I tell you. Funny, isn’t it? Coming from a writer of the world and a citizen of the United States. What the hell would I know of such suffering? Plenty, as any other human who has endeavored pain and suffering – Most suffering is the same in that all suffering must be endured with maturity and grace after life has been disgraced.

 

Artists reflect back on the times they live in and often they have nothing to lose because they do not shield themselves behind bombs, violence and murder.

 

Artists protest with creativity, wit and observation. We must evolve as any civilization before us has. We must because there are two choices when faced with fear. Face the fear or don’t face the fear, but most likely life evolves and life never forgets the innocent nor those who get punished for disturbing the peace of any civilian. Period.

 

No man or woman who creates such devastating destruction through suicide bombing does rationally believe that they will not pay for such suffering and pain created at the center of their will and soul.

 

I come from a line of people whose ancient Gods were merciless, at times cruel and punished out of sacrifice. I come from a Heritage of people who outlived the ancients and peacefully co-exist quietly on the edge of barrios, cities and shantytowns or the rain forest. I come from a line of people who know all too well about the suffering and pain of history. Period.

 

What will it take for the human race to evolve beyond murder?

 

Really, can murder be justified in the name of any Religion?  

 

No, it cannot.

 

It will not do.

 

Religion is not the main component that keeps civilians safe from righteous crusaders. Laws are passed by a governing body of civilians and implemented by public servants such as politicians to keep civilians safe from each other and any other unreasonable type of violence.

 

As a woman of the world I honor life above all else.

 

No, I’m not being naïve. I’m being a citizen of the world and I understand the serious implications that come with being a grown adult. Life is not fair, it never has been and it may never be. One thing is certain, to murder another human is to take advantage of innocent victims and that will not do. Suicide bombing and crusaders will not do.

 

I’m a proud and patriotic American when I hear the American National Anthem. Tears swell up in my eyes and I stand a little taller and prouder because when I see any Olympian Athlete stand on any podium throughout the world I can imagine their hard work, dedication and mastery of their sport.

 

I cried watching Katarina Witt take the podium for East Germany when she won the Gold Metal at the Calgary games in 1988. I’d watched her long-skate performance and I got chills through my bones watching this angel skate and give the performance of a lifetime.

 

I felt in those glorious yet short moments that she was crying out for the misery and the beauty of the world. Now, I’m not any expert on any subject, simply a tax paying citizen trying to hone my skills at writing by building-up some literary muscle – I’m trying to make sense of this world and to record as much of it as possible.

 

Frankly, no matter how many precise words I may try to use here I will never be able to correctly express to you that even then at the tender age of eleven I understood oppression, political injustice and grace while watching Katarina Witt listen and sing along with the East German Anthem. As my Adopted Jewish values and Indiana Mayan Heritage I understood that she had skated for the hope of any future. Any human can see hope not in the things people say but more so in the artistry of what they don’t say through any artistic medium. To me, Katarina Witt became a lady of the world in front of the world. How miraculous and absolutely lovely to have witnessed and lived through such a thunderous humanitarian moment.

 

Katrina Witt stood before the entire world and against all odds showed us a face of humanity that we can all at least for some fleeting moments grasp and hang onto the maturity, boldness and frankness of artistry in any artist, athlete and civilian peacefully co-existing in these trying times.

 

I have hope because the grandiosity of beauty and nature exist and I hold onto that as I pray for the families of these suicide bombers. Imagine, being the parent of any suicide bomber? There must be so much pain and suffering in that alone that there is nothing more to say about it.

 

I’m wishing you a blessed night.

 

I have more words but I have written enough for now. There is no reason for me to waste any words.

 

So with that I bid you goodnight.

 

Peace.

 

Ciao.

 

Gabriela

 

P.S. I’ve been reading psychological articles about introverted vs. extraverted. Another blog for another day.

 

Source from Wikipedia

 

The ton is a unit of measure. It has a long history and has acquired a number of meanings and uses over the years. It is used principally as a unit of weight, and as a unit of volume. It can also be used as a measure of energy, for truck classification, or as a colloquial term. It is derived from the tun, the term applied to a barrel of the largest size. This could contain a volume between 210 and 256 gallons, which could weigh around 2,000 pounds and occupy some 60 cubic feet of space.

 

Source from Answers.com

 

How much does the average car weigh?

 

Average U.S. Car Is Tipping Scales at 4,000 Pounds.


The E.P.A.'s weight statistics show that the average weight of a 2003 car or light-duty truck, like a pickup, sport utility, van or minivan, was heavier than in any model year since 1976, when the average peaked at 4,079 pounds. Just five years later, after the oil shocks of the 1970's, the average had fallen by more than 20 percent, to 3,202 pounds. The figures take into account the sales volumes of different models.


January 24, 2011

 

“The nation that complacently and fearfully allows its artists and writers to become suspected rather than respected is no longer regarded as a nation possessed with humor in depth.” - James Thurber

 

“McCarthyism is Americanism with its sleeves rolled.” - Joseph R. McCarthy

“A fox should not be on the jury at a goose's trial.” - Thomas Fuller

“A jury consists of twelve persons chosen to decide who has the better lawyer.”  - Robert Frost

“They’ll nail anyone who ever scratched his ass during the National Anthem.” - Humphrey Bogart

Happy Monday!  

 

Its five thirty-one in the evening and the day has gone by all too quickly.

 

Midday, there were big beautiful and thick snowflakes hovering the atmosphere.

 

How about that moon last week! I had to stop and stare. I could do nothing else but to look at that large moon and think about the film “Moonstruck”. How about that moon! Solstice came and went… we look forward to the days getting longer, celebrating life amongst our closest friends and family… living for the present and letting the future unfold.

 

I have still yet to plug into any news source…

 

For now I’ve been going-on the basis of what I hear out and about town from people who contribute to their small and large communities. It’s quite interesting. I’ve yet to run into anyone who knows anything about Futbol. I’m aware that there is no World Cup since we celebrated it this summer in the pubs but like any televised sport in the world there is always a tournament, match, play-off and some type of contest going on when it comes to world sports.

 

The first topic that comes to mind since many discussions, statements and commentaries have been made about Hu Jintao, the President of the People's Republic of China visiting the United States in the last week. According to others and their tone in conversation it seems to me that President Hu Jintao presented the United States with several challenges. According to others’ conversations and insight both Presidents displayed their diplomatic missions, it seems, like a scene from the film “Love Actually”.

 

It seems that President Hu Jintao did not come to visit the United States to be bullied into any sort of negotiation, yet to pose questions and solutions.

 

There is a scene from the film “Love Actually” where the character of Prime Minister speaks in a press conference about the arrived negotiations between the United States and the United Kingdom and the following speech is delivered by the main character of Prime Minister: “I love that word "relationship." Covers all manner of sins, doesn't it? I fear that this has become a bad relationship; a relationship based on the President taking exactly what he wants and casually ignoring all those things that really matter to, erm... Britain. We may be a small country, but we're a great one, too. The country of Shakespeare, Churchill, the Beatles, Sean Connery, Harry Potter. David Beckham's right foot. David Beckham's left foot, come to that. And a friend who bullies us is no longer a friend. And since bullies only respond to strength, from now onward I will be prepared to be much stronger. And the President should be prepared for that.”

 

Other aspects of news people spoke about in the last week was about the Australian floods, storms in the East Coast, in the Southern United States people were still digging themselves out from snow and cold, flooding in many different parts of the world.

 

Closer to home in the news people sadly with disappointment and anger spoke about the Minneapolis case against a group of professional male citizens who ran a prostitution ring and called themselves “Minnesota Nice Guys”. The ring leader of this professional group of working men will not be sentenced with any prison time due to his health and having polio. Another blog for another day!

 

Even closer to home 28th Street South all-the-way to Cedar Avenue is torn up like it’s been gone through with a cheese shredder. Please be careful out there are gouging holes of pavement missing. The same can be said for on Franklyn Avenue from Cedar to an Uptown Avenue South. Please keep in mind that it’s the time of year. Also, we have a lot of outstanding inner high school and college students who frequent the West Bank, being that the streets are as bad as they are please drive slowly and watch out for the bicyclists and walkers.

 

As for those aggressive pedestrians who don’t follow street lights and traffic flow, please be aware that people drive about two tons of machinery (average cars) that can out-crush your little one-hundred and fifty pound bodies to two-hundred and some pounds. Please, do the mathematics. Any civilian that jumps out in front of traffic and expects no repercussion to their actions is a “fool-of-a-took” without any real power in the world and arrogant enough to think that only you exist in the flow of traffic of the world. Please. If you’re not in any hurry then cutting traffic off is something that you can refrain yourself from.

 

I understand for those pedestrians who cut drivers off in traffic, who don’t have any courtesy or mindfulness about co-existing in the city that if you’re not a savvy pedestrian then most likely you won’t survive the city. You will come across a lot of foolish lessons to learn and savvy-city folk will consider you foolish and without reason.

 

The city is a gritty, dirty and smart place for any human who can co-exist and survive. I don’t find Minneapolis the most metropolis pedestrian savvy of places because if you visit other metropolises twice / three times as large as Minneapolis you will learn one thing, smart city people in other places don’t jump out in front of moving traffic because they’re smart, savvy and frankly urban cool as hell.

 

This is not only my personal sentiment this is the sentiment I hear by-and-by from people who move here from well-oiled-machined metropolises. Cheers for that!

 

If you’re a driver who cuts people off and drives backwards into traffic on one-way streets, on your cell phone or selfishly distracted by anything other than the responsibility of your driving then “fool-of-a-took” to you as well. What more can be said until accidents become larger problems to anybody of citizens. It is not necessary.

 

I’m in love with the thought the city of Minneapolis gave into making room on the streets for bicyclists, yet it leaves much to be desired in design and layout. The bicycling lane used to be laid-out on the middle of Hennepin Avenue downtown. Now the bicycling lane is on the right hand side of traffic. First off, Minneapolis Streets are quite narrow and more so in the winter with three foot snow banks. Bicyclists simply do not fit on the right hand side of our streets. When the infrastructure of Minneapolis gets rebuilt and restored as the decades go on hopefully the tax payers will consider making more room for a large growing bicyclist population in town.

 

My only constructive criticism of the bike lane that was reinvented this summer is that it was painted in green and at dusk, in snow and rain - green is a very difficult color to spot. So, I thought maybe neon orange or red would be a far more distinctive color and drivers could really differentiate the bicycling lanes. It could be a matter of life and death for that matter. Yearlong bicycling is not going away and it has taken Minneapolis by storm. People want different modes of transportation in a beautiful city that has so much to offer so offer it.

 

As for the FBI and the head of it Mr. Patrick Fitzgerald, Knock it off! I’m joking yet not really. Contemporary Americans don’t live in times where witch hunts are legal, Nazism and McCarthyism exist.

 

People have the right to freedom of speech, the right to organize, oppose war because that’s what this great country of ours was founded on. What a joke to think that peaceful demonstrators, students and activists should be subpoenaed to stand before a Grand Jury when their homes were raided.

 

Who do you think you are? We do not live in the times of Maoism nor is this Cold War former U.S.S.R.

 

Anybody who takes the rights of the Nation’s citizens for granted is nothing but a bully and a “fool-of-a-took”.

 

We do not live in times of McCarthyism and this is not the film “Brazil”.

 

All there is to say as any intelligent taxpaying citizen is that Mr. Patrick Fitzgerald is taking some serious steps to being close to facing a Grand Jury himself. No citizen will be bullied and raided in their homes: “I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands: one Nation under God, indivisible, With Liberty and Justice for all.”

 

I pray Indiana prayers for the following anti-war and solidarity activists facing a Grand Jury: Tracy Molm, Anh Pham, and Sarah Martin along with nine other activists. I wish you peace, love and support from many people who bravely are responding favorably on your side. We’ll think of you on January 25, 2011 as you face a Grand Jury. May you be justly judged, guided and delivered from any falsity, prejudice and misjudgment. May you be fairly treated as you should be.

 

“Innocent until proven guilty” is the saying in these parts.

 

Peace.

 

I’ve got to literally run out and meet the hubby.

 

Cheers!

 

Gabriela.

 

Source from Wikipedia

 

McCarthyism is the practice of making accusations of disloyalty, subversion, or treason without proper regard for evidence. The term has its origins in the period in the United States known as the Second Red Scare, lasting roughly from the late 1940s to the late 1950s and characterized by heightened fears of communist influence on American institutions and espionage by Soviet agents.

 

Originally coined to criticize the anti-communist pursuits of U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy, "McCarthyism" soon took on a broader meaning, describing the excesses of similar efforts. The term is also now used more generally to describe reckless, unsubstantiated accusations, as well as demagogic attacks on the character or patriotism of political adversaries.

 

Maoism, also known as Mao Zedong Thought (mao zedong sixiang 泽东思想), is a form of Marxist communist theory, derived from the teachings of the Chinese political leader Mao Zedong (1893–1976). Developed during the 1950s and 1960s, it is widely applied as the political and military guiding ideology in the Communist Party of China (CPC) from Mao's ascendancy to its leadership until the party was taken over by Deng Xiaoping, who implemented Deng Xiaoping Theory and Chinese economic reforms in 1978. Nonetheless, although not fully adhered to by the government of the People's Republic of China anymore due to the reforms, Maoist parties and groups exist throughout the world, most notably in Peru, India, and Nepal, in the latter of which, the Maoist party won the elections in 2008.

 

The Cold War (Russian: Холо́дная война́, Kholodnaya voyna, 1947–1991) was the continuing state of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition existing after World War II (1939–1945) between the Communist World – primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies – and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States and its allies.

 

Although the primary participants' military force never officially clashed directly, they expressed the conflict through military coalitions, strategic conventional force deployments, extensive aid to states deemed vulnerable, proxy wars, espionage, propaganda, conventional and nuclear arms races, appeals to neutral nations, rivalry at sports events, and technological competitions such as the Space Race.

 

Source from A Teacher’s Guide to the Holocaust

 

The years 1927-37 were critical for artists in Germany. In 1927, the National Socialist Society for German Culture was formed. The aim of this organization was to halt the "corruption of art" and inform the people about the relationship between race and art. By 1933, the terms "Jewish," "Degenerate," and "Bolshevik" were in common use to describe almost all modern art.

 

In 1937, Nazi officials purged German museums of works the Party considered to be degenerate. From the thousands of works removed, 650 were chosen for a special exhibit of Entartete Kunst. The exhibit opened in Munich and then traveled to eleven other cities in Germany and Austria. In each installation, the works were poorly hung and surrounded by graffiti and hand written labels mocking the artists and their creations. Over three million visitors attended making it the first "blockbuster" exhibition.

January 21, 2011

“In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.

Happy Friday!  

 

Its quarter to twelve and we’re on the couch with a David Lynch film.

 

Many different aspects of life occurred at a human friendly pace.

I did not make the time to blog as I would have liked but I did sit and journal for a complete hour.

 

The writing made me happy, clear headed and in the moment.

 

I fulfilled many responsibilities that I wished to do before the end of the week.

 

We’re heading into a weekend full of relaxation, gentleness and comfort.

 

It’s the type of cold in which the difference between life and death may occur. I came in and out of many establishments today and each time I felt the intensity of this cold.

 

I took time to help out a friend, text, e-mail and respond to many different people and hold dialogue about future projects, ideas and considerations.

 

We’re working on phase one of an animation film that will take us into the next decade - stop-motion. Need say more? It’s a very slow moving process but we’re not going any faster than need be. We’ve got another project on the table to animate a film about a WWII POW based on an individual and his journal entries – a film we began to storyboard five years ago. We’re beginning to conceptualize a series of films on parenting styles, immigration and different species of flowers. We’re working on finishing up our shooting schedule for the year of our latest feature doco on food, and then we go into full post production. We’re six months behind schedule and it’s anybody’s guess if we’ll be out of post production in time to feature a film this year.

 

We hope that we will premiere but we’re not under any deadlines.

 

Since, we can premiere anywhere in the Western Hemisphere to enter into the world film circuit we’ve been looking to premiere anywhere from the northern tip of the North Pole to the very southern tip of Antarctica. Some of the places we’ve begun to look into are Missouri, Texas, South and North Dakota, Minneapolis, Iowa, Duluth, Moose Lake, Costa Rica, Panama, Paraguay, Uruguay, Argentina and Peru.

 

We’ve got time and we’re in no hurry.

 

One of the prerequisites to the world film circuit is to have the premieres open and free to any public, so we figure a premiere in a different city every year could be a great potential for diversity, learning and travel. We’re excited there are many possibilities and much communication must take place before we produce any of these concepts and ideas to life.

 

We’re excited as any creator, filmmaker and producer ever can be.

 

Wishing you an amazing night.

 

We have big ideas and dreams with the hopes for development and learning.

We’re excited just to be doing what we do and with one foot in front of the other.

 

Cheers!

 

Gabriela

January 20, 2011

"Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity." – Martin Luther King, Jr.

Happy Thursday!    

                                                         

No time to blog today.

 

Most of my afternoon was wasted.

 

I was prepared to write but rather I ran around town, got stuck paying for someone else’s meal and came home and still could not catch up with my daily responsibilities. The thirty minutes I had set aside for a late tapas – (afternoon snack) were taken up by my eating companion who was on the phone the entire thirty minutes. Then proceeded to ask me repeatedly why I was ready to get up and leave right after thirty minutes and like any mature adult I had responsibilities. When it came time to pay the bill then my companion left and was nowhere to be seen.

 

How should I have answered that?

 

Sometimes, no answers are necessary.

 

The most valuable aspect of my life is my time.

 

Ciao.

 

Gabriela

January 19, 2011

“Lukewarm acceptance is more bewildering than outright rejection.” – Marin Luther King, Jr.

Happy Wednesday!    

                                                         

The days move quickly.

It’s a cold day out there…need say more?

As Minnesotans we’ve hunkered down for the long haul.

We don’t mind otherwise we wouldn’t choose to live here.

 

Since jury duty as a literary exercise I’ve stayed away from magazines, newspapers and Television news as well as International News simply to experience the “reports” from other sources, mainly the folks in many different types of local communities and discussions.

 

News doesn’t affect everyone, but - how, people’s interpretation of what’s being reported does. I stay tuned to the local co-ops, groceries, markets, fisheries, panederias, carnecerias, tents and shops anywhere I go. People have voices and they are voicing their needs, wants and frustrations with budget cuts.

 

Yes, this is a topic of conversation because it affects people’s way of life, education and medicine. The average citizen is being squeezed so tight and no one will stand up to dispute how budgets are made, kept and divided amongst many different parties.

 

If the system in the distribution of wealth is archaic then I suggest a suggestion box. Citizens could e-mail to suggest new ideas on how we’re going to distribute wealth into this new century – the government is finally tech savvy enough to implement an online suggestion box that could display a public forum of suggestions. The top suggestions from all over the world could be put on the table as an offer to passing new laws that would prohibit large corporations and oil and medicinal manufacturers to stand in the way of any citizens’ three meals a day and shelter.

 

Nothing should ever stand in the way of food and shelter in this new century of ours. Not in-an-age where we have so many resources and technologies available to us. The structure is crumbling and either we perish with it or we decide to make changes that are frightening yet exciting to think about. No citizen, ever be called a “bottom feeder” because frankly the human animal is just too intelligent for that. Resources are in abundance but the cost of living has not matched wages for many Americans and so forth on with a realistic struggle of many.

 

We’ve witnessed three centuries of North American struggles, malcontent, racism, classism, gender and age biases; Why not begin a new century with the citizens coming up with the ideas and politicians passing new laws in the equal distribution of wealth starting with the minimum wage to twelve dollars ($12.00 per hour) raise because that’s the average living cost to any working class citizen yet most make it on $7.25 per hour beginning July 24, 2009 in Minnesota.

 

Recently, I was told by a man that the middle class was anywhere from twenty thousand ($20,000.00) to two hundred thousand ($200,000.00). I was astounded to here such a wide range. I’ve learned from teachers that many barely make thirty thousand in some rural areas of the United States.

 

Teachers wished they made two-hundred thousand a year, and then the job would prove rewarding rather than difficult, without resources and over filled classrooms. What a joke to ask our educators to endure physical and verbal abuse, threats and violence in the name of education. No, Sir. Who wants to sign up for that? Just like who signs up to be a soldier? The Patriotic do, because they can see a long term vision of a world and a life of literacy and thoughtful humans who will prosper from human advancement, development and maturity.

 

For those of you who are outside of the middle class and into the realms of the upper class status – reportedly two-hundred thousand ($200,000.00) or more per year is considered upper class - Can you imagine living with the struggles of American families who live on minimum wage ($7.25) on one or two salaries?

 

Imagine, because you can. Imagine your life this way if you are of the upper class? Why is the middle class being taxed like the upper class when there are budget cuts made to the middle class citizen, their families and communities? The middle class and the upper class should never be taxed the same because we speak of two distinctly different types of survivals. Period.

 

Imagine, many children who attend the public school education system and who hope to learn as much as they can from art, math and science programs but if these programs don’t exist then we won’t have future writers, stock market experts and chemists.

 

The world is run by local middle class citizens and I would not dismiss their voices if our government expects to survive over population and wreaking havoc on the environment. I don’t believe physical education should ever be cut from the school systems - we are faced with the difficult problem of obesity in our young. Bring back the arts and art education that is not a luxury that is a discipline to future leaders.

 

Where did we go wrong? Why is the upper class willing to accept tax breaks and incentives when they know American children starve every single night and day? What will give? Money is not enough of an incentive to accepting bribes and benefits while others suffer at the very extend of that. We left Clinton’s Administration with an erased deficit for a while and then what? Yes, 911 and here we are a decade later – ten whole years later at war in the Middle East. Where did we go wrong and more so when will we begin to look to new prospects, solutions and abilities?

 

People are brilliant out on the streets but they’re also shy because most middle class citizens live quietly and peacefully amongst their own. If any Nation under “God” is cruel to their citizens and overlooks the needs of its people then that particular government is choosing to do so. Choosing to overlook, dismiss and misguide the needs of the people such as National Free Health Care and National Free Education for all citizens for the entire of their lives is to be ignorant to those very needs that will only benefit beyond the survival in the struggle of the human race. We need the human race to get smarter about distribution of wealth, medicine and education. This can’t be all there is in store for us? Can it?

 

People cannot afford Health Care as it is - not even Government Health Care as it has been changed. Free National Health Care and Free National Education should be “Birth-Given-Rights” to the citizens of any Nation. Don’t forget people work hard, too-hard in America and they have real and true health worries about their families and loved ones as it is. Americans worry too much as it is about everything – imagine a mentally healthy society where people are present, focused and dedicated to their communities. This kind of mental acuteness only comes with a human friendly pace and a positive attitude about relaxation instead of seeing Holiday as something of a negative outcome. As Americans we’re not as classy as the Europeans in the approach to sit back and relax. We’re a new country so we feel that we must prove ourselves to the rest of the world but with that we take every aspect of our worker’s souls and we dispense them at will and over work our civilians and that’s called economical slavery. It’s an institution that must change for the betterment of people’s health. Period.

 

If  middle class citizens continue to be squeezed then we won’t have a future. We won’t have anything to set our sights on because people will be too worried in the struggle to survive and struggle for basic necessities rarely brings development, production and maturity to any civilization in the long run. This is how civilizations die off when a government – any government overlooks the rights of its people. It’s not enough for the middle class to get by. It never is. It will not do. Every living human has a right to education and medicine at no cost. Let that be a futuristic outlook because if you can think it - then it can happen.  What are we being taxed for and what are our soldiers fighting for if not the care of their citizens and their many freedoms.

 

Citizens struggle in their jobs and placement in life. They suffer from frustration, physiological and mental stress because more often than not their jobs don’t even pay enough to cover the so-called-benefits employers provide. Something must change because our citizens are frustrated of being marketed to, sold on ideas and advertised false hope. People want to believe that the human race will survive and at this rate the environment is being destroyed. Why won’t the government take responsibility for its citizens? When did government become a business? Has government been in business since the beginning of time or is greed more ramped when corruption rules Nations? This is nothing new - History has taught us many difficult lessons whether we understand them that's quite another thing altogether. What will bring change?

 

America has lived through many difficulties – horrors, unimaginable to many of us today but we have in our socio-physics the history of slavery, genocide and encampment of our citizens. What a history already! We must learn as any difficult lesson proves to be worth of value.

 

People are frustrated as they should be. When budget cuts are made and still citizens continue to pay high taxes, in the everlasting financial demand that comes with higher lifestyle costs, education and healthcare. “Who’s looking out for the little guy?” That’s a question I heard recently while running errands around and about town. Incredible. People are raising questions. The system will change, but how?

 

Civilians are impacted by the decisions our government makes now. We’re entering a new modern era. We live in a new age of technology, creativity and intellectual property. This contemporary era has the capacity to bring the end of many world problems. An abundance of ideas are out there, search, explore and adventure. Creative, intelligent and dedicated people from many fields are raising questions, ideas and thoughts on how to better the future so that the human race survives itself.

 

We fight ourselves as a human race.

 

Nothing will get in the way of our survival except us.

 

We are not the Industrial Revolution anymore.

We are not any other revolution.

 

We are citizens in the struggle to live.

We live in this new era and we will bring the human race into a future.

Whether we survive that’s anyone’s hope that we do.

 

I have all the confidence and hope that we will survive because we are not cockroaches or mice, yet here we stand at the crossroads of evolutionary development once more. Imagine, because you can. Believe because change is around the corner… It always is.

 

Peace.

 

Ciao.

 

Gabriela

 

P.S. The sky this afternoon was a perfectly bright baby-blue with all the potential to dress any human in royal garment. If there were such material in such color I would’ve worn that blue as the daughter of the world.

 

Okay, so now I’m getting too poetic.

 

Next.

January 18, 2011

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.

Happy Tuesday!                                                  

 

May you be safe, respected and regarded with reason anywhere you go, travel or pass through on your errands, journeys and paths may you be judged not by the words of others and their preconceived notions or suffering and pain but by your character.

 

As travelers and citizens of the world everyone has a right to non-violence, a right to think logically and to make sense to communicate to-the-best of our abilities with reason, fairness and to the best of our knowledge. Anytime, any human violates, misguides and misjudges a situation creating disorder, harm and pain to the wellbeing of others that is a human who not only violates a code of conduct but also a great code of honor to never forget to always conduct, oneself with regard for others no matter how uncivilized a situation may occur.

 

People, civilians everywhere come to the grace of others – those considered “Good Samaritans” are by law regarded above all others, those who do nothing in a time of crises. It is a responsibility for certain to volunteer one’s knowledge and assistance, but also a responsibility that comes with a title and without blame of all and any responsibility to mistakes if they happen. This is an example of civility and justice in America. Thank Goodness this law still applies because for the most part the world is still a safe place for strangers, travelers and part-time residents who reside throughout the world. Truly, think of all of the people who travel every-and-each day at anytime and anyplace in the world. People on bicycles, by foot, car, mass transit, plane, boat and any other justifiable way of travel. People take that risk and that freedom to exercise a “Birth-Given-Right” to come freely in and out of civilizations without any harm to their person, body and spirit.

 

I’ve met cruel strangers on my travels. Strangers who had but little heart for the consideration of others and the manner in which they interacted with their fellow humans. I’ve met people who give the human race a terrifying name. People without the ability to hear all matters in point have jumped to conclusions and wished for something close to witch hunts, Lynching’s and murder. I’ve met people who’d probably considered scalping another if they didn’t trust. I’ve met others who’d put a bullet through another’s belly if they so much as stepped one foot onto private property.

 

Mistakes get made.

 

Severe and serious mistakes become larger problems for citizens, but sheer and pure random violence leaves citizens frightened and worried. To create fear in any community is to commit spiritual-genocide the moment one creates fear in the minds of others for their wellbeing. No human may resort to that kind of spiritual violence it is not for any one person or persons to create such destruction and injustice.

 

Recently, I heard of a crime that occurred here in Cromwell, Minnesota.

 

I’m glad I was sitting otherwise, that very story would’ve brought me down to my knees.

I was horrified hearing of such a murder, but more so appalled for the living.

 

Correction: ALLEGEDLY, a couple – man and woman committed two murders in Cromwell, Minnesota in the last two weeks. These murders were not the crimes by Native Teens, but by the hands of a grown Caucasian and Native Peoples.

 

ALLEGEDLY, the crime seemed something of... The murders took place in a trailer home, one white man was murdered, a husband. The man and woman proceeded to cover up the man with a blanket and became pre-meditative while they sat around waiting for the wife of the murdered man to come home. The couple captured the wife and left her for dead.

 

In the account of the story I’ve heard when the woman came home she sensed something was wrong the moment she proceeded to enter her home so she made one call and went in through a basement door and that was the last time she was heard from while alive, she was caught and murdered by this particular man and woman. (Wow. Not as incredible, but as in I have no words here at this point… what were they thinking? Have our citizens lost their minds at this time in history? What a shame. What a tragedy. What a travesty for all cultures of all lands when our citizens kill their own species for sport. I’ve never seen or heard of one buffalo killing another buffalo.)

 

My Gods. I held my heart and could barely breathe hearing something so tragic and painful.

 

People, civilians come in and out of cultures constantly and believe it or not people do co-exist peacefully but for those times when a human commits arm robbery, arson, battery, murder and rape, that’s when I’m glad that laws apply because retribution is not essential ultimately but rather reconciliation. Creating a balance in the culture through laws is a significant way to keep citizens at peace and with civility.

 

What is but human life if not something living, thinking and developing.

 

I’m greatly saddened by the violent behavior of our Native teen brothers in these parts.

 

Native Peoples will you not become contributing citizens to this country of ours? I implore all Native Peoples to consider but this: If you don’t like the system then why not participate in it and bring change because you can? Will you not look to alternatives and consider yourselves a part of something rather than apart? Why must you be so violent and cold in your brutality? Why do you not think for yourselves and make different decisions? Murder is taught, we are not born hating, discriminating and evil. We are born and out of that may stem greatness. I write to all Peoples of America – will you not show us something great – greater still yet?

 

Not all the stories of warriors, great men and women have, yet been written. Your name has a slot in history. Your name, deeds and contributions for the betterment of the human race will not go unnoticed even if you’re never acknowledged in this lifetime. Will you not lead us into greatness? When is it time for any eagle to soar? Does the eagle not know its place in history and its silent ability to look throughout the land and know its truth in times of great harvest and in times of great need. We need you to become leaders of yourselves. We need you to look into your deepest natures and give the world something that it has never seen before such as your wisdom, knowledge and timing. A lot of hard work will be required of you. You will have to prove yourselves ultimately as contributing citizen adults who can and will co-exist amongst your species, the human race.

 

I implore you, I challenge the Native Peoples of America to show the world the decency, honesty and honor of all those who’ve come before you in the past seven generations prior to your birth. Will you not think of your ancestors – those who lived, learned and did not destroy life for the sport of killing. Every time, a man or a woman dies by the very hand of a Native Person I shall say a prayer to my Mayan Gods, because my ancestry knows bloodshed all too well. I’m one citizen of this world as you are and may we all co-exist and continue the human race, peacefully, respectfully and with regard for all living things.

 

We live in troubling time but no more and no less than any other time in history.

 

Be not afraid of this country of ours, I’ve spoken directly with citizens of small communities. Take back what is rightfully yours under the law and find peace. Be smart and do not allow for hatred to take over your communities or you will find yourself in a world of trouble fighting regret, wasted time and energy. Neither blame, accuse nor judge another unless you would  yourself or as your own.

 

Life is full of pain and suffering, indubitably.

 

Buena Noche.

I’m trying to meet with a friend but I’m an hour and twenty minutes behind schedule today.

 

It’s 5:14 P.M. wishing you a great evening. The sky was a glorious bright baby blue color this afternoon.

 

Ciao.

 

Gabriela

January 17, 2011

“Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.

Character is much easier kept than recovered.”  - Thomas Paine

“I am America. I am the part you won't recognize. But get used to me. Black, confident, cocky; my name, not yours; my religion, not yours;

my goals, my own; get used to me.” - Muhammad Ali

“I never had a policy; I have just tried to do my very best each and every day.”  - Abraham Lincoln

“But there are certain very practical things American Negro writers can do. And must do. There's a song that says, "the time ain't long." That song is right. Something has got to change in America — and change soon. We must help that change to come.” - Langston Hughes

“Love all, trust a few, do wrong to none.”  - William Shakespeare

“One ever feels his twoness-an American, a Negro; two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings; two warring ideals in one dark body,

whose dogged strength alone keeps it from being torn asunder.” - W. E. B. Du Bois

“Character is higher than intellect.”  - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Happy Monday.

                                                  

For those of you, who had Martin Luther King, Jr. Day off I hope you’ve had a great time celebrating your many -freedoms, such as all race-intergraded public places, equal opportunity and the right to live anywhere in this great country of ours. Hooray to you and your neighbors for being civilized for forty-three years after the African-American Civil Rights Movement ended.

 

For those of you who did not have the day off from work but did manage to celebrate the many freedoms founded on our great system of justice and pursuit of happiness, I implore you to take the time to consider anybody’s history and the humanity and justice served by this great judicial country of ours. People, civilians can and have always made a change, if not for their children, than for anybody’s children to continue the human race. Cheers! Cheers to that! That, will do.

 

My generation, The X Generation, I grew up in a time of profound music and life changing lyrics. I’ve always been a great believer of music and the greatest manifestation of universal understanding. I came to understand political activism at the tender age of fourteen because of the alternative undertones of our political and social generational culture at that time.

 

My generation was active in creating music videos. I did not rush off to concerts but I kept interested in music videos wherever anybody had cable in their homes, newspapers and magazines. I might have gotten a chance to see a great music video once every six months and that would change me for a whole year. Consumed by the creativity of how music videos were shot and their many messages, I’d have writing material to deconstruct because some of the musica I’d grown up with was profound and there is no other way to put it. Profound. Period.

 

I took great courage to step out of my comfort zone and listen to anything from rap to country, classical, opera, jazz, instrumental, electrica, house, reggae, salsa, tango, meringue, campasino, underground vs. commercial, nationalistic, and world musica. I mean, I took great interest but had no idea what any of it meant as a kid who happened to be English as a Second Language. I didn’t get it at the time, but I most certainly could sway and dance to any tune worth dancin’ to in my living room with my sister in tow. We danced for hours and listened to the lyrics. I was fourteen and my sister was seven. The whole world stood before us in that living room and we wore our flannel shirts and baggy “skater” clothes to represent that we were outside the norm. We wanted to change the course of the future in the same manner a great vessel changes course, slowly and directly.

 

We understood at a young brave age that we would step out into the world and we would become a part of it fully dressed in our character no matter how many people disliked us for the color of our skin.

 

I hoped that my sister would not have some of the same difficulties that I had had as a teen.

 

I was followed around in clothing stores and asked to hang things up or commanded to bring a smaller size shirt to a woman in a dressing room when it was clear to me that I did not work there. It was assumed that I should service another and so I would. I’d run right over and get a shirt but rather than in a smaller size I would bring in a much larger size. Finally, exhausted of the game after handing the woman the wrong size three times she finally stepped out of her dressing room and said to me, “Do you even work here!” “No, no I don’t.” Her face went the hardest shade of red lipstick I’ve ever seen because she had assumed a position for me in the world.

 

Many assumptions have been made because of my Latina-Indiana approach to the world. I wasn’t sure what it was all about but I knew one thing for certain that my dada kept telling me, “Don’t worry what others are thinking about you because more often than not, others are mainly concerned with how others think about them.”

 

His words had struck me like an arrow through the heart and I understood that I was free to be a lady – a woman, like any other citizen of the world. I would carry forth and never turn my back on justice, political meaning and social activism even if it was only a practice in my own home… but that’s what meant, something – anything, to overcome the racism of my youth. How could I not be political? Down to what I purchased, regarding politics and race? Please. How could I not consider the whole world around me while looking out from behind large dark brown eyes that were judged and sometimes badly treated?

 

I endured, as I endure anything that must be endured like a grown and mature woman.

 

Racism has taught me that.

 

I live by the common sense and good will of my character and my actions, everything else is simply a slice of the American Apple Pie. I get to live. I get to let others live. Live and let live. I have a motto and that’s it. Any man or woman has the right to freedoms due to their character, person and deeds. Period. Everything else is human made. The rules don’t apply to hatred, disobedience and ignorance out of sheer comfort and laziness to break down stereotypes and prejudices.

 

I wanted to believe that I, too, could make a change no matter how small. I wanted to be a participant in the civility of being a citizen and being judged by my actions and by my character not by other’s ideals, notions and prejudices of how I should act, behave and be. Change, occurs when we begin to shed our preconceived notions, attitudes and prejudices towards others. Just when we assume that we know everything there is to know then something naturally occurs and humbles us because ignorance is not bliss, it’s tragic.

 

And, if I had not had musica to help me make it through those years where my English was more than sufficient but my accent got in the way and I felt embarrassed so I would try to sound as much as I could like a textbook. I stripped myself of all culture except this: culture of consideration, common sense, courtesy and good manners as well as decency for my neighbors, my community, friends, family and strangers, other civilians and citizens of the world I believe everyone has the right to such rights.

 

Like any open minded individual and a bi-product of my generation I witnessed the “L.A. Riots” on the Tele, “Rodney King Beatings”, “O.J. Simpson’s Trial” and hardcore rap that was making its way across from the West Coast through the Mid-West to the East Coast and back again from 1990-1996 and then I dropped off the planet and went twelve years without Television.

 

I won’t forget the musica of my youth. If anything it gave me hope to hope for a better future. A future with less racism, more activism, National pride and equal opportunity for all. I believe in these principals because I want them to be around when my children are in their early thirties as I am now. I’m glad to be alive in this modern era. I’m glad to be a witness to this magnificent history we’re making now and to be a free woman of color of the world.

 

I believe in Martin Luther King, Jr. and his dream.

I believe because he believed it for his children’s sake.

 

Wishing you an amazing night.

The word “amazing” I reserve for when I have not another word to describe the intensity and grandiosity of change.

 

Peace.

 

Gabriela

Source from Wikipedia:

The African-American Civil Rights Movement (1955–1968) refers to the movements in the United States aimed at outlawing racial discrimination against African Americans and restoring voting rights in Southern states. This article covers the phase of the movement between 1954 and 1968, particularly in the South. By 1966, the emergence of the Black Power Movement, which lasted roughly from 1966 to 1975, enlarged the aims of the Civil Rights Movement to include racial dignity, economic and political self-sufficiency, and freedom from oppression by white Americans.

January 14, 2011

“In human intercourse the tragedy begins, not when there is misunderstanding about words,

but when silence is not understood.” - Henry David Thoreau

 

Happy Friday!

 

It’s been a long day.

 

I’m wishing you a happy night with your loved ones, friends and familia.

We’ve settled into a night of Brit Dramas, movies and discussion about our days.

I feel like I haven’t seen the hubby all week.

The hubby and I are happy to be back together on the couch doing absolutely not a thing.

 

I’m exhausted.

This week took more effort, communication and understanding even when I was being judged

for not being understanding enough, but I think I’m reasonable and keep an open mind especially when I challenge,

question and oppose the approach of anything I don’t agree with otherwise I become completely apathetic if I don’t care.

I have that right in any relationship, friendship and interaction to question anything especially an approach to professionalism.

 

I have the right to question, challenge and oppose and so does anybody else.

The last thing an open minded person is afraid of is misunderstanding.

 

Anyway, I regress.

More blogs for later… Many more blogs to come about this week…

I didn’t make much time to blog this week, but I did take an hour a day and wrote down dictation about life in general.

 

I’m wishing you an amazing weekend.

I’m so glad to be home and to be relaxing.

It’s close to midnight and we are ready to close our doors to the world for the next two days.

 

Ciao.

 

Gabriela

January 13, 2011

“Justice consists not in being neutral between right and wrong, but in finding out the right and upholding it, wherever found, against the wrong.” - Theodore Roosevelt

 

Happy Thursday!

 

It’s been a long day.

 

Many responsibilities were met at a slow and consistent pace, with focus and intention.

 

We’re not making films for the muse of it but for the work of it, storytelling and teaching of it.

Although, I’ve been contemplating on shelving our latest film…being that we’re six months behind schedule.

We make films because they’re important and they don’t come cheap but we make them anyway. We’re in the

business of making one feature a year.

 

I’m looking forward to my work as a producer, filmmaker and storyteller.

We’re making headway – little by little.

 

Another personal goal is to write another screenplay this coming year. I wrote two fiction screenplays last year

and they are no good so I’m continuing to better myself as a writer.

 

Nothing more nothing less.

 

I’ll take an hour here or there when I’m not working and I’ll play with imaginative screenplay ideas.

I do it more as an exercise than to get the screenplays made into films.

I’m building literary muscle if you will.

 

Jury duty is over and I’m so grateful for the experience.

It’s eleven thirty at night and we’re watching “Downton Abbey”.

 

Wishing you everything you dream for and more.

I took ten minutes to look through social media today at noon and the structure and layout has changed yet once again.

Funny thing on-line social media. I love looking through people’s fabulous lives and their pictures of recipes, dogs, kids and more life.

 

Cheers to you!

 

Gabriela

January 12, 2011

“Great men in judicial places will never want authority– Proverb Quotes

 

“The judicial system is the most expensive machine ever invented for finding out what happened and what to do about it.” - Irving R. Kaufman

 

Happy Wednesday!

 

It’s been a long day while fulfilling jury duty.

I’ve never experienced our judicial system so close and in action as I did today.

I’m exhausted in ways I haven’t ever been in years.

 

I’m wishing you an amazing, cozy and wonderful January night.

I look forward to getting back on schedule after jury duty is over and continuing our work.

I’m mentally exhausted…

 

More next week on the many notes I’ve made this week about life in general.

Salud.

Cheers to your health.

 

Cheers!

Cheers to you!

Cheers to us!

 

Ciao.

 

Gabriela

January 11, 2011

“There is hardly a political question in the United States which does not sooner or later turn into a judicial one.” - Alexis de Tocqueville

 

Happy Tuesday!

 

It’s been a long day.

Jury duty…

 

I look forward to discussing the process of being on jury duty once I’m done.

I’m wishing you an amazing Wednesday tomorrow.

 

The days are passing by quickly.

I’m taking them one day at a time.

 

Gabriela

January 10, 2011

"It is not only his [the juror's] right, but his duty . . . to find the verdict according to his own best understanding, judgment, and conscience, though in direct opposition to the direction of the court." – John Adams

 

Happy Monday!

 

It’s been a long day.

Jury duty…

 

I’m wishing you an amazing week ahead with much responsibilities, happiness and common experiences.

 

Good night.

 

Gabriela

January 7, 2011

“We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we're curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.” – Walt Disney

 

“All the adversity I've had in my life, all my troubles and obstacles, have strengthened me... You may not realize it when it happens, but a kick in the teeth may be the best thing in the world for you.” – Walt Disney

 

Happy Friday!

 

We’re on the homestretch towards a long two days of relaxation, tranquillo and calmness.

 

I’m hoping your week was full of wonder, questions, curiosity and learning.

 

As I travelled throughout the city in the last week I didn’t assume anything about people, because frankly who am I to know what others have lived through and understand the world to be? I simply watched people’s actions, civility and interactions and that spoke more about them than most words uttered.

 

Everywhere we go we meet nice, incredible people. The world is this way. Truly. The world is full of hard-working people hoping to put food on their tables and a roof over their heads while everything else is simply homemade apple pie. For those who are difficult to get along with and have power issues and pushiness embedded into their cultural or gender systems, well, here’s a kiss blown out to you across the atmosphere. Life is far more in depth than our intrinsic ego-powered struggles so when we walk out our door in the morning and go and face a civilized public we do have responsibilities and civilities that must be maintained in any civilization. I wish you the same…

 

I have two personal goals set aside for the next two months. I’ve got a sewing machine that’s been sitting out for almost two full winters now. I’m still trying to make sense of the silly thing. I learned how to turn on the sewing machine but I’m having troubles with feeding the thread through the eye of a mechanical needle. I’ve watched others do this process, they’ve given me auditory instructions and frankly I just need to make the time to get a manual or look at an instructional video several times until I make a connection and then I’ll never look back again. This process of a sewing machine and thread and needle is something that I’m stubborn to learn – not because I don’t want to but because it’s confusing, too many parts and I just need to learn this one part for now. 

 

I sow by hand. I have for twenty seven years. Sometimes, I have great ideas and other times I have awful design and construction ideas. I play. What’s a woman to do? I’d love to make clothes, ultimately – someday that are tailored to me. I’d like to use incredible materials and lines to shape clothing that could fit like a glove. For now, I’m content learning the sewing machine. Someday, that’s a lovely goal for me. I love designer clothes that I don’t buy but frankly there is nothing like, tailored-clothes that fit you to perfection.

 

Two, my reading list is well, juicy.

 

Oh, gods, I love to read. I used to read three novels a week. I used to have a collection of a thousand mind provoking books. I read all of them at least once. Seven years ago I gave all of the books away. No, I did not sell the books.

 

I was considering a move back to the East Coast and I decided that I did not want to carry the books with me any longer. If you’ve ever moved across country by plane several times, or car or any other transport than you know that stuff weighs even if you ship it and it tends to need to be carried from one flight of stairs to another. So, I let them all go to bookstores in my hometown. I have this habit of writing my name inside my books, so there are one thousands little books out there floating around in the universe and hopefully someone will see the value in them that I did.

 

Before I left as a young adult I burned ten boxes of journals with a close friend, we shared a cheap bottle of white wine and we hauled boxes one December night down to a beach and set a most tremendous and glorious bonfire.

 

We laughed and read through some of the silliest things ever written. Oh, we came short of swimming in the ice and stopped cold in our tracks and went home. We hugged each other under a yellow street lamp against the backdrop of a warm cloudy night and we knew that nothing would ever be the same again because we understood that what we had lived through three hellish years of poverty had licked us good, but we had also survived and nothing would ever get in the way of life again. If he didn’t know it then I did, but by his touch and mine he understood that it was the end of a creative era in our hometown for us. We were going to get out as adults in our late twenties before it consumed us and we lost our way inside other people’s dreams of success, drama and self-promotion.

 

Anyway, I regress. The books. I can’t wait to be enlightened. I don’t read the way I used to anymore, but I’ll pick up free reading material everywhere I go. The market, galleries, museums, rock shows, bars, theaters, restaurants – anywhere. I read whatever appears to be local and accessible wherever I am even if it’s in Korean, Russian and Portuguese. I like free local reading material because it helps me understand where culture is at in the hands of the people. Hell, I’ll read anything at least once from front to back. I take free reading materials home and pile them up on my desk until I make time at the end of the week to go through everything. It’s fun to me. It gives me quite a bit of thinking material. I found forty new “Zines” this week. I can’t wait to read through forty hardcore anarchist ideas and poetry.

 

I’m simply throwing out random thoughts.

I’ll continue with “So Dear to My Heart.” I’m not doing this film any justice there are just too many parts to cover but I’ll continue to give it the good old try.

 

I’m wishing you safe, lovely, kind and considerate lives this weekend.

We’re excited to “chillax”.

 

Tonight, I’m taking my butt dancing in boots and not in stilts.

 

I tried on a pair of stilettos for the first time ever in my life this week.

I felt powerful.

Powerful.

Incredible and definitely a woman.

 

I look forward to red lipstick, comfortable clothes and gear for this cold weather. You will not catch this woman in a short skirt, tank-top and purse running around the club scene in the middle of winter. No, Sir! This is Minnesota and the women here are strong and lovely and also smart about how to dress in such cold conditions. It’s the difference between life and death sometimes.

 

I’m wishing you everything you wish for and more.

I hope that you don’t make any assumptions about the lives of others. You never know what people go through.

I can’t wait to sweat out a long week of long hours and hard work and sleep in really late tomorrow with the hubby.

 

Cheers!

Cheers to you!

Cheers to us!

 

Ciao.

Salud.

 

I’ve got to run…I’m meeting friends. Wow the day flew by – it’s already five at night.

 

Gabriela

January 6, 2011

“I do not like to repeat successes, I like to go on to other things.” – Walt Disney

“I have been up against tough competition all my life. I wouldn't know how to get along without it.” – Walt Disney

Happy Thursday!

It’s been a fast and furious week at a slow pace…

 

Much is happening…

 

Part II: “So Dear to My Heart”

 

“So Dear to My Heart” a 1948 feature film by Walt Disney concentrates on the daily adventures of Tildy and Jeremiah. Tildy and Jeremiah are two children who aside from all of the freedoms and responsibilities of growing up in rural America at the turn of the last century are surrounded by the innate significance of their environment, a swamp. The greatest aspect of their relationship is sincere care and trust between the two cousins.

 

Tildy is not only “girly”, soft spoken, kind and generous, but also truly curious and lovely in her ponytails with the intelligence and know-how of when to and how to travel through the swamps of Indiana with the help of Jeremiah. Jeremiah is a character who looks out for the best interest of his younger cousin but also argues with some of her sentiments, mistakes and ideals about the world. In other words, Jeremiah’s character is the portrayal of an adventurous and open minded child but also a dedicated one to those who are significantly important to him.

 

The story ultimately unfolds into the last peak of four major plot points (there are others minor subplots but the main points carry the story forward) and the last one deals with Jeremiah given permission by Granny to go to the Pike County Fair and enter his sheep into a contest.

 

Jeremiah does not win the blue ribbon for best sheep rather he wins a Special Award of Merit not granted to anyone else in four years at the Pike County Fair.

 

The top judge awards Jeremiah with a purple ribbon and the judge says in front of a crowd just as Jeremiah is about to walk out of the ring, “Just a moment, son. It’s a fine lamb you’ve got there. I want to compliment you on it. It’s fine a greater wool as I’ve ever come across. The only trouble it’s a… It’s black. There ain’t much market for black wool. I’d put your lamb in a class by itself.” The crowd laughs. “I’m not trying to be funny folks. This lamb is the class by himself. And while he has no pedigree it just goes to show what extra special care will do when raising a fine life stock. It’s what you do with what you got that counts. This little lamb is a champion in every sense of the word.”

 

The Pike County Fair’s band explodes into an uplifting musical score and our protagonist finally accomplishes those goals which he set out from the beginning to raise a winner lamb and Jeremiah does. Jeremiah and his family are greeted by the town’s people at the rail station and Grundy’s Mercantile Store. The closing scene is of the town’s folk going to Grundy’s for a celebration, a musical track syncs into a pep song and the dogs enter frame-left fade to Jeremiah adding his purple ribbon to a scrapbook, fade to a wide-shot which tracks backwards away from the scrapbook to two closing credits, fade to black, The End.

 

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I’m in love with “So Dear to My Heart” for so many significantly obvious reasons but mainly with the struggles our main character faces, addresses and confronts. I love stories of those protagonists who can harness and channel a strong will and much creative energy into something tangible and worth fighting for even when others find it silly to even consider entering a black sheep into a lamb contest at the Pike County Fair. I was fascinated with all the elements of “mice-en-scene” from beginning to end. I could’ve studied the intro credits for about an hour alone. I enjoyed seeing stills of quilts used for backdrops over credits.

 

For me, aside from all of the filmic structures I love that this was Walt Disney’s favorite film. He fought for the Christian content and moral fables to be intertwined with music, animation and real time lessons of this little boy’s main character’s obstacles and challenges.

 

As a producer of indie films I can only begin to try to understand the content struggles which Walt Disney Studios must’ve had to overcome in a world of so much religious content to choose from, thoughts and ideas. I like that Disney himself green lit such religious content for the preservation of his “Black Sheep” tale. He would not have it any other way and found it essential that the religious overtones would not be eliminated nor changed for the development of the storyline and it’s moral lessons.

 

I was fascinated to watch the transition of Jeremiah going from blaming Tildy for letting his sheep get lost one stormy night to walking proud and sincere out of the ring with his reward of something greater than greatness for merit – in other words for trying to do well by the sheep.

 

Not only was Granny proud of Jeremiah, all his hard work and his efforts but also his recognition that all things of value are undertaken with a great deal of consideration, love, want and need for their survival and not for recognition, greed or pride.

 

I’ll pick this up again…

I must go onto other responsibilities in my day.

My day is far from over yet but I’m on the homestretch now that it’s seven at night.

 

Wishing you an amazing cold and dark January night.

Peace.

 

May you be blessed where ever you are and wherever you go…

I’ve got to run…

 

Gabriela

 

P.S. Some random thoughts: {The hubby bought a desk calendar and I’m set for the year – I’ll make it a point to get the date right, with the exception of taking long camping trips and getting lost in the beauty and time of nature. A personal goal is to drive through the South of the United States this year. I may still yet get out and see the buffalo while winter camping through any rugged element and environment. I got boot-cleats for the ice and I’ve got rugged cooking and sleeping gear to hold up through these temperatures. I dictate time by the sunrises and sunsets, everything else is ________.

 

I’m back on track with the date because frankly dates, titles of books, places and time seem quite arbitrary to me while in post production, sometimes I have to look up the date as much as ten times a day if I’m writing something official or dating food especially in the dark days of winter against the backdrop of bitter cold. Once we start creating the rolling credits then I’ll really need to know the dates on that phase of post.

 

Although, (numbers are quite essential and so are titles of books, time and places) I find that life is full of stories and inside those stories we begin to get lost through the timing and rhythm of numbers and how they get applied to the significance of life. Otherwise, numbers on-their-own stand on their own, apart from the complex weave of an entire rug. I’m not a mathematician by any means but I can use math to my benefit and safety. One of the main reasons as to why calculated risks are as such is because well, truly, numbers can dictate the outcome of any story. I’m in love with storytelling but much more so with the poetry of mathematics, social physics and psychology especially cognitive thinking and behavior modification. I’m not an expert in any of these fields nor am I striving to be one but I do take them into daily consideration. Furthermore, I can and do decipher intellectually through any of these concepts whether I agree with their specific forms, structures and processes is quite another matter and another blog for another day.

 

I’ve got about ten books on my desk since September 2010 that I’d like to get through in the next four months. Along with titles of books strangers have recommended on the journey. I’ve written them down in my journals and will go through 2010 journals to take down these titles and create into a list for 2011. Those are just little things that help get the year going with organization, structure and anything else that comes along the way…}

January 5, 2011

“If you can dream it, you can do it. Always remember that this whole thing was started with a dream and a mouse.” - Walt Disney

 

“Crowded classrooms and half-day sessions are a tragic waste of our greatest national resource - the minds of our children.” - Walt Disney

 

The days have been long already this week and I’m going at a slow pace with great nutrition, H2O and some hard rest…

 

I meant to get back to Walt Disney’s production of “So Dear to My Heart” 1948, but frankly I ran out of time yesterday. The day blended into a long night and my body ached for sleep, nutrition and rest so I went at an extremely slow Tortuga pace while burning the midnight oil.

 

So, with that said…

What’s an adult to do but begin someplace?

 

(From Memory what comes to mind about this particular production “So Dear to My Heart” will be a bias perspective but I’ll try to deconstruct the film positively on the subject matter as well as some minor points.)

 

Let us begin someplace…

 

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Part I: “So Dear to My Heart”

 

Source from Wikipedia: Plot for the feature film “So Dear to My Heart”.

 

Set in early 20th century Indiana (in 1903), So Dear to My Heart tells the tale of Jeremiah Kincaid (Bobby Driscoll) and his quest to raise his 'champion' lamb, Danny (named for the famed race horse, Dan Patch, who is also portrayed in the film). Jeremiah's dream of showing Danny at the Pike County Fair must overcome the obstinate objections of his loving, yet strict, grandmother Granny (Beulah Bondi). Jeremiah's confidant, Uncle Hiram (Burl Ives), is the boy's steady ally.

 

“So Dear to My Heart” is a feature film produced by Walt Disney and premiered in Chicago on November 29th, 1948 a story by Sterling North is a film that illustrates many aspects of animation technology of its time, religious (prominently Christian) subject matter with old folklore of “The Black Sheep” tales braided into the storyline.

 

The film “So Dear to My Heart” depicts the main character “Jeremiah ‘Jerry’ Kincaid” as a ten year old boy who happens to live on a farm in rural America at the turn of the last century along with his family.

 

The supporting characters are by name “Granny Kincaid”, “Uncle Hiram Douglas”, “General Jackson” is the family’s farm mule, “Danny” (literally the family’s barn animal a twin lamb who happens to be born with a black coat and gets rejected by its mother after birth), and finally but not least his younger cousin “Tildy” and his human companion through swamp excursions looking for honey to sell Mr. Grundy at Grundy’s Mercantile Store to make enough money (eventually as the storyline unfolds) to take the whole family to the “Pike County Fair” a few towns over by train to compete in a sheep contest.

 

“So Dear to My Heart” begins with an introduction of a wide-shot of an ornate forgotten scrapbook in an attic of an old house and the narrator sets the tone to the wisdom of the tale, “The greatest wealth a man may acquire is the wisdom he gains from living. Sometimes, out of the small beginnings come the forces that shape our whole life.”

 

In a transitional medium-wide shot a page of the scrapbook turns over into an animation sequence and the camera slowly trolleys forward into a short animated montage set against the backdrop of the main score of the film which sets an endearing sentiment of the coming-and-going of the seasons portrayed in timeless ornate flowers and Victorian looking cutouts and distinctly hand-drawn animations. 

 

“I can still see the old Kincaid homestead…” The narrator brings us back to his story with a first person approach looking back on his boyhood life with a medium-wide shot of a fence and a cow standing in a pasture in front of a barn. “Just the way it was then with split rail fence, a red barn…” "...Where I used to do my dreaming.”

 

The film develops into a series of scenes that go back-and-forth between real time and animation. Hilarity ensues when “Danny” the black sheep gets himself into a heap of trouble by going through four screen doors, running through Granny’s vegetable garden and breaking her rocking chair. Granny steps in at this time and decides that the lamb must be on a trial basis. Jeremiah makes up his mind that he will enter the sheep contest at the Pike County Fair and win the blue ribbon along with his black sheep and its black coat even if his contemporaries and town’s children tease him a bit.

 

Ultimately, “Danny” gets lost one stormy night and Jeremiah spends most of it looking for his lost companion out in the swamp. Granny, sick with worry goes and finds Jeremiah shivering and cold in the rain. That night as Jeremiah is about to fall asleep Granny comes into his loft and delivers the following lines to Jeremiah. “Oh, this is all my fault. I’ve seen it coming. I’ve seen it coming all along. You’ve turned your heart away from the things I’ve taught you ever since you were a little baby. No, Jeremiah. You can’t do this. It’s one thing blaming poor little Tildy for letting your lamb get away when all she was trying to do was to help you to feed him, and it’s one thing blamin’ me, but it’s another thing when you start blamin’ your maker!”.

 

Because I’m so exhausted I’d like to pick this up tomorrow.

Wishing you an amazing night…It’s close to ten and we’re ready to fall into comfort, relaxation and tranquillo.

 

Gabriela

 

P.S. I Volunteered to cook a dish at an organic food share today with their staff. I tasted the most amazing Squash-vegan and Tomato Bisque. Oh, gods it was incredible food. I made rice with cut-up tomato and Mate tea. It was that simple for me but I made it well and dunked the rice in tortilla and the bisque to make it saucier instead of dry. It took me forty minutes to cook four cups of rice. I’ll be cooking on Wednesdays at noon for the next few weeks possibly even months. I’m excited to be volunteering again and to be learning to cook more vegan dishes.

January 4, 2011

“It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.” – Confucius

“In the long run, we shape our lives, and we shape ourselves. The process never ends until we die. And the choices we make are ultimately our own responsibility.” - Eleanor Roosevelt

 

A New Year!

It’s Tuesday, January 4th, 2011!

(Okay, I’m still mentally on Holiday – the days are moving by quickly).

I’m getting a desk calendar today…

 

Wow, the year started out with a bang and here we go on a roller coaster ride.

I look forward to the adventures, growth, open mindedness, understanding and civility.

 

“May the peace be with you.” Said a Lutheran Minister in a Northern, Minnesota church.

“And also with you…” Answered a small congregation Christmas Eve.

 

I’d like to deconstruct a film produced by Walt Disney titled “So Dear to My Heart” 1948.

I’ll try to come back to it later on today…I’ve got many responsibilities to meet before the day is out.

 

Cheers!

 

Wishing you a crisp, clean, clear and windless cold January morning. It was cold out there around seven

and the light was a beautiful baby blue and orange.

 

Gabriela

January 3, 2011

“We never really grow up, we only learn how to act in public.”  - Bryan White

A New Year!

It’s 2011 and I’ve got to get the date right on the blog…

So much happened in 2010 and we’re looking forward to what’s ahead.

 

Happy Monday!

 

The day was furious and fast.

So many things happened.

 

It’s close to midnight now and well, we’re starting to get ready for bed and winding down with a little Tele. I just saw my first two episodes of “The Partridge Family” tonight.

 

I’m looking forward to continuing our work, meeting new personal goals and being inspired in a brand New Year. We eased ourselves into today with Fair Trade Organic coffee and oatmeal for breakfast but eventually we hit the ground running once we left the house and stepped outside into a Brave New World.

 

It was the first Monday of 2011 and people were out and about running errands, going back to work and school and we went along with the flow of the world. It was nice to be out amongst people. For the Holidays we holed up and did not leave our home unless we had to go someplace, but not even then did we try to make an effort to go outside unless necessary. We entertained one of our closest friends for New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Night. It was a blast! We watched the ball drop on Tele and drank, ate and were merry!

 

I have some thank you letters I look forward to writing to the elders in our family for some of the very wonderful gifts we received. Amongst the adults in our familia we don’t do too many gifts but the few gifts we did receive were nothing but astonishing and quite thoughtful. We had a blast for the Holidays. We loved giving as much as we received… It’s all part of the fun of gifting.

 

In 2010 we had four family members retire and enter the world of elders. I look forward to seeing these four individuals slow down, enjoy themselves, continue old hobbies and pick up new ones, along with other interests and outlooks. We’ve dealt with health concerns and deaths in our familia in the last year. We lost some elders along the journey of 2010 and we pray for their lives, deaths and kindness. We shall never forget the elders of our past. I’m honored to have met and have held such intimate relationships with my adopted Grandparents.

 

I finally gave in and bought an all vegan, organic tube of bright red lipstick. Get this: It cost me a whopping seventeen dollars at the local Co-Op. No, I’m not complaining about the price. I made the conscientious choice to make such a purchase. For those of you who are makeup experts this may not seem like much money for a nice cosmetic product, but truly this is the most I’ve ever paid for a single tube of lipstick and if it will truly make a difference in the world then more power to it. Plus, lipstick is the only makeup I ever wear, if I’m going to wear makeup at all.

 

I bought Mate Tea, hemp vegan lip balm (my hubby is terrified that I’m going to turn into a “reefer addict” J - mind you, I’m wearing the stuff not smoking it being that it’s lip-balm) and I also bought organic platanos. That was a very intimate yet small portion of my day but also significant because I’ve been thinking of switching over to these organic / vegan / hemp products for about a year.

 

Here it is to a brand new year with new personal goals. Cheers!

 

I learned to make Monkey Bread and caramel sauce from memory. I just recently had Monkey Bread at my dear sister-in-law’s at Christmas brunch. I had never had Monkey Bread before in my life and it changed my life. So, from memory I made it for First Day brunch and it was a hit! The caramel sauce took no time to melt in low heat in a sauce pan with olive butter, a little nutmeg and cinnamon. My mouth watered as I ate this new favorite food.

 

Next week I have jury duty and I have never done that in my life. I’m mentally preparing for it, even though I don’t know what to expect.

 

All is well.

Many thoughts floating around as always. Many questions as well.

I’ve written a lot in my chicken scratch journals, and I look forward to deciphering them for blog ideas of the future.

 

I wish you a beautiful night with amazing sleep, happiness and kindness.

 

We feel truly blessed.

We hope you are as well.

 

Cheers!

 

Gabriela

 

P.S. More blog tomorrow when it’s earlier and I’m not so tired. Buena Noche.

 

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