Music that warms my soul

Each week I am going to feature a CD that has touched me in some way.



My first album is Beauty & Crime released in July 2007 by Suzanne Vega

I have been enjoying her music for the past 20 years for it's storytelling, lovely melodies and her distinctive voice. I have downloaded 5 songs from this album and put them at the top of the music 'thingo', if anyone would like to have a listen.

Suzanne has made the following comments on the album's songs:

1. Zephyr & I: a conversation between the graffiti artist Zephyr and myself, West End Avenue remembered.
2. Ludlow Street: for my brother Tim who lived there, memories of parties and rehab.
3. New York is a Woman: NY personified as a woman who has had a hard time but is still beautiful.
4. Pornographer’s Dream: what would he really desire?
5. Frank & Ava: a couple who gets along in bed but not out.
6. Edith Wharton's Figurines: women past and present, how we suffer for beauty.
7. Bound: a love song to my husband.
8. Unbound: a spiritual song about a plant.
9. As You Are Now: to my daughter who is a natural treasure.
10.Angel’s Doorway: A cop is stationed at Ground Zero and his wife wants him to leave his clothes at the door. Also about troops returning home.
11.Anniversary: The anniversary week of 9/11 a year later in NYC.

As I was doing a bit of research on Suzanne I was surprised to find she had a BLOG......I am now a bigger fan, if that is possible, than I was before.

Twilight Zone Revisited Vintage 1960

'There is a fifth dimension beyond that which is known to man. It is a dimension as vast as space and as timeless as infinity. It is the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition, and it lies between the pit of man's fears and the summit of his knowledge. This is the dimension of imagination. It is an area we call......The Twilight Zone!'



You may well ask why I am blogging the Twilight Zone!!
Well it all started with avt coach and flygirl sharing the same birthday and each commenting on many serendipitous likenesses they share.
As the list grew avt coach mentioned 'the Twilight Zone music was getting pretty loud'. From then on we all started commenting on the imaginary 'twilight zone music' playing in the background!

My theory is the 'Six Degrees of Separation' angle.....but that is another subject for another time.

Lastly but not least octamom joined in the conversation and said 'cue the Twilight Zone music!!!'.....so that was 'the straw that broke the camels back'.......I HAD TO BLOG IT!

Postscript: avt coach, flygirl and octamom were not born when the Twilight Zone show first appeared on television.......I WAS!

Feed the World and Feed your knowledge!!

On the rare occasion of sitting down and reading a newspaper (I spend way too much time of the computer) I came across an article about FreeRice.
The photo in the article caught my attention first, then upon reading it I thought wow what a great concept.
FreeRice has two goals:
Provide education to everyone for free.
Help end world hunger by providing rice to hungry people for free.

Here are a few excerpts about the organisation:
“FreeRice.com is one of the most ingenious websites of 2007. In the best spirit of the Internet, it offers education, entertainment and a way to change the world ― all for free.”
- Los Angeles Times

“What type of computer game could get kids excited about learning vocabulary words? One that also helps feed hungry people around the world!”
- Scholastic News Magazine

“A simple way to bring kids to the Internet for a good reason, a way to feed their minds and . . . to feed a whole lot of people . . . helping fight world hunger, one grain of rice at a time. ”
- NBC Evening News

I know I will be testing my knowledge and learning as well, by regularly visiting this website.

Please click on now to FreeRice.com and join in and share the site around your blogs.

THINK

I have just finished my Philosophy class for this term, so I am feeling all energised and profound.....it will be interesting to see what I post next week!!

Here is a little ditti for all to ponder upon:

If you think you are beaten, you are;
If you think you dare not, you don't;
If you'd like to win but you think you can't,
You can almost be certain you won't.
If you think that you'll lose, you are lost,
For out in the world you will find
Success begins with a person's will;
It's all in the state of the mind.
If you think you're outclassed you are;
You've got to think high to rise.
You've just got to be sure of yourself
Before you can win the prize.
Life's battles don't always go
To a stronger or faster man;
But sooner or later the person who wins
Is the person that THINKS they can.
- Anon.

Journey to Rwanda

This new header is a photo I took when I travelled to Rwanda, Africa in November 2006. Jessen and I were there for 5 weeks teaching photography at an orphanage.
We took with us 10 digital cameras, a printer and some photographic paper.
The children aged between 15 and 20 had never seen a digital camera before but it didn't take them long to learn to take some fabulous photos.
Just before we left we helped the kids put on a photographic exhibition at the orphanage and invited the whole village....it was a huge success.
The latest exciting news is at the beginning of 2008 the lady that runs the orphanage set up a photographic studio in the village which the students run and it pays their wages as well as some money going back to the orphanage.
I'd love to return to Rwanda to see the beautiful countryside again and catch up with those lovely young people.
I also made a scrapblog of the time we spent there, so at the click of a button I can be transported back in time.

I was in the right place at the right time for this photo
One of my favourite photos
Some of the orphans we taught photography

Children watching footage of themselves in the video camera

Jessen and Amiee at the photo exhibition the kids put on