Thursday, September 17, 2009

Today I was sent a video filmed in Uganda, about children suffering of hunger. I usually am incapable of watching through such films, and this one was no exception. I couldn't understand how someone could be filming the baby being washed by his older sister, and commentating on their precarious situation, instead of just helping the children and feed them. How could a watcher just allow a child to endure one more second of that horrible state... I just broke down and cried and got mad at myself and resented being a witness, an accomplice to all and any starving children in the world. Our little daily mishaps, our daily tiny frustrations, once the core of our lives, become quite unimportant and ridiculous when we are faced with such picture of misery. I am truly ashamed and can't help a feeling of responsability welling upon me. Somehow, I must act and start feeding the world, one mouthfull at a time...

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

From Harvey Milk to Michael Jackson

I was finally able to finish watching "Milk" and the most arising thought that came to mind throughout, by recognizing this enormous victory Harvey Milk achieved in his last few years of life is that to form a peaceful revolution, where people join together to give voice to a common 'loving' goal is, above all, a semi-safe ground.
His foundation started from a neighborhood, but not any neighborhood, THE neighborhood where it could all begin. To all uneasiness going on in the world, to achieve a peaceful revolution and to battle with each voice, that's exactly what we need more than anything else, a semi-safe ground. This is the determining point to raise into a peaceful agreement of any sorts. From only the semi-safe ground, we can enthuse peaceful revolution through thought provoking ideals...
Looking back to the peaceful Portuguese Revolution of April 25th 1974 I recognize the semi-safe ground where it all began, in the midst of a fearful dictatorship regime, the semi-safe ground was the radio, that was the determining subject of formation of the peaceful revolution.
The other day I was reading comments about the situation of the conflict between the Uyghur, the state Chinese Police and the Han Chinese residents, and the comments were coming from a Muslim source saying that if this conflict would have been in Tibet, that many celebrities would rise against. And although that was a very bitter comment, I understand why so many would raise against a conflict in Tibet, clearly because their leader has firmly conducted a peaceful protest, something admirable and easy to move many, while unfortunately the same cannot be said about Muslim groups till date.
I would propose to the World, in the common interest of settling conflict to create a semi-safe ground, where each party can have a peaceful protest and inspire or not the public, and settle issues in a peaceful manner.
Another thought that came to mind in the last moments of the movie, reminded me a little of MJ, I admit to have been truly shocked with MJ's untimely death and although I feel honored to have lived during the generation when he made a big difference in the World, I can't help but feeling that we didn't give enough, that he gave us far more than we allowed him to receive.
In this time and age is it really too much to ACCEPT anyone the likes of MJ, his physical appearance changes, his life choices, his vulnerability? I made a stand to myself and have decided to not allow small journalism to come through my television and my internet, I have decided to never again purchase a gossip magazine and nowadays most people are raising awareness to each and everything, like global warming and the whales and the animals for human consumption, so what if we stop buying gossip magazines, they are butchers too, they make people, no matter how much famous they are, be on show, encaged in their talent. Let's stop paparazzi, let's stop small journalism, let's stop gossip makers. How low can our society really get? Having pleasure on reading the dirt - these are people's lives we're talking about...
And as a last thought, I firmly believe that your life eventually will resume on how many people attend you funeral, who they are, what will they say about you, how will you have touched them with your legacy of life. And then you'll see your greatness...
Love you Harvey Milk. Love you Michael Jackson.

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Romani in the World

I was watching an interesting documentary about the Romani or the Roma population in the World, commonly known as Gypsies, their origins, their settlements around Europe and, to my surprise, their massive human loss in the Holocaust
In my upbringing in Portugal, I was always familiar with the Gypsy communities around us, I learnt that their designation in this area is Iberian Kale. My understanding of their culture relied on their business activities mainly in mobile or seasonal markets, in the circuses, moving bands. I would be amused by their 1 to 3 week long weddings and all night long musical parties, when I was lucky enough that they would chose a near-by parking lot to set their tents. And my recollection of it all was that the interaction between them and the rest of the population and the authorities was pretty much pacific. Any gadji (non-gypsy) would be welcome to join their celebrations. I remember that our government was always trying to fit them into our standards of living, giving them apartments because their settlements would be sometimes seen as unsanitary, trying to educate them and give them jobs, as there is high unemployment in their communities, they tried to empower women in their society because their main culture would be based on the elder male authority (their ethnic name comes from Rom which means male, "husband"). I remember that these efforts at times would flop, and other times it would be successful, which in my view, is all good, when there was an interest from their side to fit in, they would be given that chance, when they weren't interested in fitting into any other culture than their own they would emerge in their culture roots, which ways I believe have its own value.
I think it's a common belief that Romani are originally from Romania, part of that belief maybe comes from the fact that there is a significant population of gypsies in Romania or maybe it has to do with myths surrounding Count Dracula... Either way, the Roma population actually is originally from Medieval India, their language is unique with traces of Sanskrit, sadly one of the dialects Bohemian Romani used in Central Europe was extinct during World War II due to the extermination of most of its speakers in Nazi Concentration Camps.
Although there is no exact number of Romani lives lost in the Holocaust it is suspected to come up to a million and a half... This is an extraordinary serious number to be left unmentioned. Most of the Holocaust stories are of Jews, but when I made a small research on other ethnic minorities exterminated they count to higher number than the Jewish life loss. It is believed that the genocide accounts approximately 6 million Jews plus other groups reaching in number up to a believed 17 million of Holocaust victims.
Among these ethnic groups the Romani, ethnic Poles, Soviet civilians, Soviet prisoners of war, people with disabilities, gay men, political and religious opponents.
Unfortunately, unlike the Jewish, the Romani survivors never received the same status, remain stateless, and up until recently they were not recognised as Holocaust victims.
Former ethnic studies professor Ward Churchill has argued that the Roma population suffered proportionally more genocide than the Jewish population of Europe and that their plight has largely been sidelined by scholars and the media.
An interesting account from a Romani Holocaust survivor in the site below:
http://www.annakari.com/portfolio/holocaust.html

Friday, May 29, 2009

Change The World

Just saw this clip and absolutely adored it, thus me posting it!!! Enjoy,



Sunday, April 19, 2009

Scrapbook-ing

When I was first introduced to a scrapbook club I thought this would be an art for old ladies and some others that had nothing better to do, but after going through my boxes and finding stuff I have no courage to through away nor making much sense to keep I decided to make a scrapbook out of them, this is history in the makin'!!! Let's see how I do... Hehehe... I'll post some pics as we go along...

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

When Women Ruled Society...

Yesterday I was watching an interesting documentary about the first native Americans, they were suspected to be Mongolians from Siberia but they have found some skulls older than the ice age that have negroid characteristics most commonly found in East Southern Africa, South Asia and Australia. The only population remains of that era can be found in Tierra del Fuego, an island forming the Southern end tip of South America and according to records of an expedition made to this part of the world in the 30’s they could match the way of daily life and dance rituals performed with the ancient rock paintings where the skulls were found…
Now, what interested me most was that, while the scientists were investigating and matching the way of life of this tribe, with the records from the 30’s and interviews with what seems to be the last 2 women from the same descent, they mentioned a tribal dance that only men were allowed to know about and the reason behind it was that there was a time in a very distant past when women ruled society. So the women should never know, lest the man loose their grip on power. And they mentioned that the same legend is common among aboriginal tribes in Australia.
I KNEW IT!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/low/sci/tech/430944.stm

Monday, February 23, 2009

Mr. Oscar

I can't hide my joy for the 8 awards Slumdog Millionaire took away last night... I absolutely love Danny Boyle's movies, from Shallow Grave to Trainspotting to A Life Less Ordinary to Slumdog Millionaire, the one thing they have in common is: no matter how low or sad report of life he exhibits, he always leaves us with a high positive note in the end...
And to film the life of Mumbai, well, it could only be a winner!!!
One great moment of the night I think was Dustin Lance Black acceptance speech for Writing Original Screenplay of MILK, the story of California's first openly gay elected official, Harvey Milk. Black - who was wearing a White Knot for marriage equality - spoke about how Milk inspired him:

"When I was 13 years old, my beautiful mother and my father moved me from a conservative Mormon home in San Antonio, Texas, to California, and I heard the story of Harvey Milk. And it gave me hope. It gave me the hope to live my life; it gave me the hope that one day I could live my life openly as who I am and that maybe even I could fall in love and one day get married. (...)
Most of all, if Harvey had not been taken from us 30 years ago, I think he'd want me to say to all of the gay and lesbian kids out there tonight who have been told they are less than by their churches, or by the government, or by their families, that you are beautiful, wonderful creatures of value. And that no matter what anyone tells you, God does love you, and that very soon, I promise you, you will have equal rights federally across this great nation of ours."

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Extraordinary!?!

I have a question... What are the boundaries of the extraordinary? What makes something ordinary into special? What is it that makes it all different between disgusting into being distinguished? Well, I think it is the difference itself... Just that - the difference...
I just saw an albino cockroach!!!! And instead of feeling the normal disgust, I was just staring - amazed!

Thursday, January 22, 2009

ZEN

I was reading a book about Zen and I found one of the passages hilarious and very significant, here it is:

While staying at a shrine, master Tan-hsia was feeling cold, so he took a wooden statue of the Buddha off the altar and threw it into the fire. The keeper of the shrine was dismayed and angry. In response, the master began looking among the ashes. "What are you doing?" inquired the keeper of the shrine. "Looking for holy relics in the ashes" replied the master. "You won't find them in the ashes of a wooden statue" said the keeper. "If that is so" the master concluded, "can I have another couple of Buddhas for the fire to keep me warm?"

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Branding Bush

I really don't like to be political here but I can't help myself from posting this image I found as part of the worldwide celebrations of Barack Obama's presidency inauguration ceremony.So I guess the Iraqi journalist has successfully branded Bush!!! Throwing shoes will be a registered trademark of Bush's public appearance...

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

BOOKS

I’ve been in introspect, very quiet, no music in the car (although I updated my mp3 player with the coolest sounds going on in the world at the moment), I find myself looking into empty spaces and trying to listen to the silence in between the noise…
Coupled with that, I feel like a bookworm, over the last few weeks I’ve been through new books I bought, old books I bought and never read and old books I read and keep re-reading…
More intensively than what happens with movies, when you pick up a book you have read before it’s like having a memory of a story you lived, like re-living that story over and over again, never loosing its sense and the heart of it. Two examples of my favorite books that I keep on going back to are Baltasar and Blimunda by Jose Saramago and The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy both I read in both my native language and in English because I was curious to know how the translation would affect the perception associated with it...
A priceless question-quote from The God of Small Things is “If you’re happy in a dream, does it count?” And the same can be asked about books and stories, as the intensity of what is lived in a dream or read in a book is some times superior to that of our own daily routine lives… And that’s what makes me go back there, to books, new and old ones, because for me it does count. I find happiness, beauty, humanity in all of these books. And these feelings count, they do!
Of course Dubai with all its fast moving pace, has no time for books and nobody discusses books, the very limited portion of friends I made here used to read books and stopped after moving to Dubai – big void!
So I experienced a rather awkward moment the other day, when I went to a book shop looking for some books: one that I lost after reading half way through (I felt lost myself when I realized it!) – Khaled Hossaini’s The Kite Runner; one that I started reading at my friend’s – Paul Auster’s The Invention of Solitude; and another recommended by a friend Jon Krakauer’s Into the Wild.
I looked for them, but couldn’t find Jon Krakauer’s and Paul Auster’s but found The Book Of Illusions instead and The Kite Runner there were lots of supplies, so I decided to ask IT help with the bookstore staff (something I do in last resource, as it can be stressful at times with the level of ignorance of English, let alone book knowledge).
Well, I was so positively surprised with the gentleman that served me, not only was he knowledgeable about the authors and titles I was talking about, he even corrected me in something I didn’t know and when he saw the book I had in hands he said: "It’s ok, this is a much better story!" pointing to The Kite Runner… I was awestruck! The man started blushing all of a sudden, I guess it was because of the way I looked at him, as if he was made of gold (and he probably is!), my immediate feeling was to invite him out for coffee and talk about books…
Of course I stopped myself from doing it, firstly I didn’t want to scare him even more and second I realized what a depressing thing this is that you feel like inviting a complete stranger out for coffee to chat about books, how lacking must my need be…
But this is Dubai, I have no friends here to discuss books with, shopping and gossip goes over here, but books, nahh! My book reading friends are all far away, truly annoying, and funny enough I feel like reading mostly when I’m away myself… It’s like this is a non-reading territory…
Anyways, I’m surely defying this tendency as I’ve been reading everywhere lately (I even stop the car at the side of the road to read a bit) and I might defy my self containment and might ask that man out for coffee next time I visit the store… I’m sure he has wonderful tales to tell… And for a moment there I felt a tiny bit of envy of him, how wonderful can it be to work among that that you love the most…

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Meditation/Prayer for Peace in Gaza

Following current events, and the burst of communication in the press and the common feeling of injustice and helplessness towards what is happening, I made a decision!
I don’t like to discuss issues that have been discussed over and over again without a solution being made, I don’t like to see horrid pictures, I know they exist but clogging my brain with them doesn’t help either parties, I don’t like to face something unless I’m willing to do something about it if I don’t like what I see…
So, based on all this, and based also on things I’ve learnt I decided to Meditate for Peace in Gaza. I prefer Meditation, because the self is left behind, Prayer will have the same effect as long as you can focus your mind on the prayer and the purpose of it.
Why I think Meditation/Prayer will work? Based mainly on the following concepts:
A) There was a study made in Washington D.C. where a group of individuals started practicing Transcendental Meditation and the crime rate decreased by 25% (http://www.istpp.org/crime_prevention/)
B) If you’re into Kryon, he states that: “Less than one half of one percent of the earth has to be aware of their own divinity and their own light to send this power through meditation and prayer to the rest of the planet and create peace on Earth. I'll say that again. Less than one half of one percent.” So let’s be that less than one half of 1%! (http://kryon.com/k_62.html)
C) Dr. Masaru Emoto’s work shows that intentions do go a long way on water, intentions can go a long way on humans too (for more info check the entry in Dec 2008).
D) Behavior generates behavior, so based on that principle, violence will only generate more violence, the opposite, which I am more interested in, works the same way, peace will generate more peace, love will generate more love…
So along with some friends we meditate for peace in Gaza. If you can do it together in a group good, but it works on your own as well, what is important is for us to concentrate on what we want for Gaza not what is happening already…
Forget the horrid images you have seen on the news, and imagine Gaza a peaceful ground, imagine the building destruction you saw are being rewinded into intact living grounds, see happy Palestinian families living a better life, imagine life flourishing in Gaza, send out peace and love thoughts and intentions.

And for whoever lives in the UAE, Aramex is collecting aid for Gaza until the 11th Jan, please help providing them with First Aid and Medical Materials, it's needed the most...
Drop Off points are Deira CityCenter, Ajman CityCenter, Sharjah CityCenter, Mall of the Emirates by Centrepoint, if you have any difficulty moving around, I would gladly pick them up or buy them for you and take them to Aramex grounds personally...
Just contact me. Thanks!!!

Saturday, January 3, 2009

Gematria

Beautiful people, listen up!
The new century medicine has arrived that will truly revolutionize health as we know it - light energy!
Dr. Todd Ovokaitys, MD, developed the products of Gematria basing all of his work on the following principle: the more light energy directly enters the cells, the more pure energy the organism is supplied with. Dr. Todd has researched to finally develop a laser technology which, through light activation, greatly increases the amount of energy available in tissues and cells.
His goal is to develop smooth and efficient therapies for illness such as cancer and HIV, and to combine classic and alternative medicine with modern technologies.
In co-operation with the WHO and the UNO he is developing approaches on how to improve the health situation in the poorer countries of this planet. If you decide to purchase his products, not only you're improving your health but you're also helping Dr. Todd make further progress in this respect.
If you wish to purchase from the U.A.E. feel free to contact me, we can combine our orders and shipping...
Here's the link:
http://www.gematria.net/