SpaceKitty Wanderings

two quotes to chew on

Sat, 19 Jan 2008 21:44:51 GMT

Spirit turns you from one feeling to another and teaches by means of opposites, so that you will have two wings to fly, not one. Mevlana Rumi

When I dare to be powerful - to use my strength in the service of my vision, then it becomes less and less important whether I am afraid. Audre Lorde

stop before you shop

Thu, 06 Dec 2007 07:21:27 GMT

the <a href="http:\\www.storyofstuff.com" >story of stuff</a> is a 20-minute super inspiring on-line movie about the impact of our consumer habits. very timely for the season.

total awareness moving

Thu, 11 Oct 2007 21:28:20 GMT

The core of movement experience is the sensation of moving and being moved.... It is a moment of total awareness, the coming together of what I am doing and what is happening to me. It cannot be anticipated, explained, specifically worked for, nor repeated exactly.

-Mary Whitehouse, The Tao of the Body

today's tasty word salad

Wed, 26 Sep 2007 05:23:01 GMT

If only
I could throw away
the urge
to trace my patterns
in your heart
I could really see you.

-unknown

life is precious

Mon, 17 Sep 2007 16:36:17 GMT

my good friend paul died way too young. he had all the signs, but he had no idea, an avid dancer and healthy eater, that he was having a heart attack. so if you experience these symptoms, please please please get checked out:

extreme exhaustion
nausea
muscle pain, usually in upper body, but in his case it was in his legs.

friend, mentor, a positive force in my life. pure presence with heart. big love for you, paul. big love.

more books by my bedside

Sat, 15 Sep 2007 07:53:19 GMT

i'm usually a one book at a time kind of gal. but school has corrupted that pattern.

gift from the sea, anne morrow lindberg. written the 50s, a white middle-class housewife who takes a two week break for herself to write and reflect. surprisingly insightful and relevant. beautifully-crafted writing. "...woman must come of age by herself--she must find her true center alone."
omnivore's delight, michael pollin. a follow up to the barbara kingsolver book.
golden gate gardening. a classic. i went to go pick the squash flowers from the garden, inspired by a recipe to fry them, but they were covered in black bugs :(.
writing down the bones, natalie goldberg. a classic how-to writing book.
the prophet--kahlil gibran. i tried reading this while in high school. perhaps i will get more out of it now that i've lived longer.
playful perception, herbert leff. a book i picked up in college, but never read. has really neat exercises for changing your perception of the world. i just "discovered" 10 new details in my bathroom. spend a couple minutes... amazing how much you don't see what's in plain sight!

how i love lists!

see with your heart

Sat, 15 Sep 2007 03:25:33 GMT

It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye. Antoine de Saint-Exupery

i'm a fool for tools

Fri, 14 Sep 2007 00:29:40 GMT

I am embracing impending Fall and Winter. Last year I tacked up blankets to keep the heat contained in areas me and my roommate were using. We saved a lot of money on gas bills. This year, I realized it would be much nicer if I mounted the blankets on curtain rods.

What's a power drill-less woman to do?

Go to Berkeley's tool library of course! Now I can drill, rotototille, mix cement, electric snake, and sand to my heart's delight, all for free using my library card! Berkeley was the first to do this, since 1979. Find a tool library close to you around the world!

scorcher

Wed, 12 Sep 2007 18:25:53 GMT

Scorcher is the turn of the century term for those who rode their bikes too fast. Women, in particular, were not to exceed 7 miles per hour and ride upright to prevent "stimulation" (heh heh).

At first bicycles were impractical for women, given their confining clothes, but as the bicycling caught on and the machinery was refined, more women began riding. This gave women more freedom to roam than ever before, and paved the way for more practical clothes like bloomers. While pants on women are commonplace today, it was shocking at the time.

Bicycles have done more to emancipate women than anything else in the world, said Susan B. Anthony in 1896. "I stand and rejoice every time I see a woman ride by on a wheel. It gives women a feeling of freedom and self-reliance."

sf bike festival

Wed, 12 Sep 2007 18:23:58 GMT

if you love films and bikes--check out the sf bike festival, 9/19-22. this year's line up looks really great!

here are a couple of examples:

a documentary about snowboarders traveling the Northwest in a bikecar: a four-person, pedal-powered vehicle.

in ghana, a rural village eagerly awaits a shipment of recycled bicycles--the film chronicles the lives of two individuals before they get the bicycles and again one year later.

Localvore!

Sun, 02 Sep 2007 07:57:19 GMT

I am almost finished with Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver. She and her family ate locally grown foods for one year. Most of the analysis of why one should eat local wasn't new to me--though still interesting to read because she articulated the reasons so beautifully. The descriptions of her garden season by season was informative and entertaining, as each new crop had it's own particular chaos.

Halfway through the book, I returned my library copy and bought my own (so I can lend it to others) AND ordered a vegetable box from a local farm. Given that I live in such a food rich area, there is NO excuse to not be making more of an effort to eat local. And after reading her book, I'm looking forward to eating more items in their proper season, getting back in touch with the natural cycle of food and getting further away from our fossil-fueled corporate economy.

eleanor roosevelt

Thu, 16 Aug 2007 04:29:30 GMT

i never knew that much about her. but reading some of her notable quotes made me want to know more:

A woman is like a tea bag--you never know how strong she is until she gets in hot water.
Beautiful young people are accidents of nature, but beautiful old people are works of art.
Do what you feel in your heart to be right - for you'll be criticized anyway. You'll be damned if you do, and damned if you don't.
Friendship with oneself is all-important, because without it one cannot be friends with anyone else in the world.
Great minds discuss ideas; Average minds discuss events; Small minds discuss people.
I could not at any age be content to take my place in a corner by the fireside and simply look on.
I think that somehow, we learn who we really are and then live with that decision.
If someone betrays you once, it[base ']s their fault; if they betray you twice, it[base ']s your fault.
It is not fair to ask of others what you are unwilling to do yourself.
Justice cannot be for one side alone, but must be for both.
Learn from the mistakes of others. You can[base ']t live long enough to make them all yourself.
You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, 'I have lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.' You must do the thing you think you cannot do.
No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.
People grow through experience if they meet life honestly and courageously. This is how character is built.

what is a subprime loan anywhoo?

Thu, 16 Aug 2007 04:23:32 GMT

This summer I did some office work for the Center for Responsible Lending. And now that I am winding up my tenure, I thought it would be good to summarize what I've gotten from their literature re: subprime loans.

Subprime is a high interest rate loan given to borrowers with credit
scores lower than 620. They usually have features that increase the risk
of foreclosure, i.e. adjustable interest rates, balloon payments,
prepayment penalties. Whereas prime mortgages are more complex and
regulations are not adequate for borrowers to know the true cost of their
payments. Sub-prime loads were typically used for re-financing.

quake preparedness

Tue, 24 Jul 2007 09:55:25 GMT

of everyone i've heard discussing friday's shaker, i seem to be the only one that is minimally prepared (water, food, radio, candles, flashlight, first aid kit,,,). for a moment i felt geeky, like i'm a fear-hound. but then i realized, everyone else is just sticking their head in the sand.

well-presented site on EQs.

see where your house is on the shaking hazard map.

a few hours invested could make a BIG difference...

his photos are so beautiful they make me cry

Mon, 23 Jul 2007 21:49:53 GMT

A pod of whales was lying like long reclining Buddhas on the sea. My sister and I put our ears to the bottom of the boat so we could listen to their songs.

We turned to my grandfather and asked, "what do their songs mean?"

"The whales do not sing because they have an answer, " he said. "They sing because they have a song."

-gregory colbert, photographer

9 movie recs

Wed, 04 Jul 2007 07:42:21 GMT

These are my favorite movies I've watched in my home theater since the beginning of the year.

Shortbus--by the same director who did Hedwig. Sex is like the soundtrack. Fun movie.
Together--about a Swedish coop in the 70s. I'd already seen this film years ago, but loved it enough to watch it again. Very sweet, lots of interesting characters.
The Science of Sleep--interesting fantastical French film about dreams and insanity. Not your typical romance movie.
Tipping the Velvet--I read and loved the book years ago. The BBC did a great job translating this story about male impersonators/lesbians in the 1890s England.

In the doc section:
Jonestown: The Life and Death of People's Temple--this doc has so many layers to it. I've always found the story of Jonestown fascinating--ever since I heard the b-side of record a band put out of a recording of Jim Jones telling the mothers to keep their children quiet ("We must die with dignity!") as they are screaming in pain as they drink Kool-Aid laced with cyanide. Wow, haunting.
Pumping Iron--I did not expect to like this movie. Just thought I should watch it. A fascinating documentary of a freaky subculture. Watching grinning Arnold doing push ups with women sitting on him in L.A., while Lou Farigno (later to become the Incredible Hulk) suffering and cursing in New York definitely shows how accepting pain in order to gain makes the whole experience more rewarding.
Fidel--Interesting look at Cuba
Napoleon--PBS special into that nutty little fellow.
The Life of Mammals--Well done nature flix.

Gifting

Tue, 03 Jul 2007 17:21:22 GMT

Another world is not only possible, she is on her way. On quiet days I can hear her breathing. Arundati Roy

This is one of the quotes on a beautiful slideshow by Other Worlds about Mali's gift exchange economy.

A reminder that I want to participate in Berkeley's "bread" local money economy.

Where you shop

Wed, 30 May 2007 07:53:22 GMT

interesting link from Sarah:

"Co-Op America is a great green resource! They have an online resource called [base "]Responsible Shopper: Global Research and Action to Stop Corporate Abuse.[per thou] You can search for and investigate corporations and companies to find out more about their environmental and social footprints, and read a number of competing reports on their environmental/social record. Co-op America promotes responsible investing/shopping, letter-writing, boycotts, shareholder activism and a whole host of green/social investment resources and links through their national [base "]GreenPages."

get your robot on!

Wed, 30 May 2007 07:50:04 GMT

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3175605566987372498

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5075558491735867311

thanks Scott!

Expectation

Sat, 12 May 2007 06:45:25 GMT

went to my meditation group tonight. the theme was expectation. a few nice quotes from tonight's talk:

"expecting that nothing bad will happen to you just because you're a good person is like a bull not charging you because you're vegetarian."

or
"expecting perfection is like looking for a turtle with a mustache."

better to cultivate intention instead of expectation.

other zinger from an earlier talk. respect. re-spect. to look at something again. respect! it's such a great way of breaking down what respect is, giving someone or something the room to be different, to see it as it is at that moment. a great life reminder.

Re-born

Thu, 25 Jan 2007 22:50:19 GMT

A few years ago I produced a 5-minute piece on my sister giving birth. Now, parts of it (my sister grunting and groaning, my nephew being born) are going to be aired in March for a documentary on birth.

StoryCorps

Fri, 05 Jan 2007 01:08:07 GMT

StoryCorps is a large scale oral history project run by one of my favorite audio producers, David Isay. His organization has a recording booth in Grand Central Station in New York, and also has traveling recording booths. Here are a few samples of stories they've collected:

Danny and Annie
Joshua and his mother
Bobbi and Sandi

for more stories and pictures

keeping it simple

Fri, 05 Jan 2007 00:47:37 GMT

i went to a wonderful restorative yoga class on new year's day. the teacher jay kumar says that all we need is breath and intention.

what's standing in your way?

Sun, 31 Dec 2006 23:39:11 GMT

someone asked me the other day what i think about what is the difference between saying "I want to/should do" xyz and actually doing xyz. I have a lot of my own thoughts on this, but I'd rather let this stand as a question as it is. something to ponder as you make your new year's resolutions.

i'll meet you there

Sun, 31 Dec 2006 23:31:54 GMT

Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing
there is a field. I'll meet you there.

When the soul lies down in the grass,
the world is too full to talk about.
Ideas, language, even the phrase each other
doesn't make any sense.

-Rumi