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Birthday Thoughts

Today is my birthday. Maybe that means that 2 posts in one day is alright. At any rate, it is always an interesting to think about what I was doing a year ago, where I was at, how I was feeling. This time last year I was still in the beginning of film school in L.A. I still didn't have a set group of friends, but I did have some that became great friends. I remember going to get Thai food and to the beach, it was nice.
24 isn't all that old I keep telling myself, even though I realize that it is almost 1/2 way to 50. I don't like to think about things like that. I think I have a fear of aging, and it is something I've been noticing more and more as I get older. I don't want to loose track of what is new and cool--the hip crowd. I think I might drag all of that with me throughout my years. Yes, I might be the one who is listening to radio hits when I'm 50, oh well, I know several people who might be there with me. At any rate, it is nice to be 24, and it is nice to have people around me that are supportive and wonderful. I've found that the key to a birthday isn't to dwell on what I've done or haven't done, and it isn't to look ahead for the coming year, but to live in the present and soak in the moment. There are 24 hours today and I turn 24, is that so strange?

Hearing Voices

I was recently reading a magazine article in National Geographic Traveler about this new project they have started to track DNA throughout time, following the movements of people and different ethnic groups around the globe. People like you and I can send in something like $100 with a DNA sample and within a few weeks they will send you back a very detailed list of your more ancient ancestors, where they were from and from which world groups you are a part of. This doesn’t mean they are going to tell you where your great great great grandpa lived and came from, it is more like telling you that you are a descendent of people from Egypt or ancient Rome. We aren’t talking 200 years or historical background more like 20,000 years of background. One of the first people to have this done was writing an article about his findings about his own background. He talked about how his descendants came from England in the 1600’s and how his grandparents passed down stories and documents to prove it. With a quick swab of his inner cheek (for the DNA) he was able to get a bigger perspective of his past. From Tanzania to Lebanon and Uzbekistan to Spain and finally England, his past involved a lot more than just jolly old England.
Throughout the article he tells us how he visited each of these groups now, wanting to see something of his past, meet the people that might be his relatives and discover a bit more about himself in the process. The one thing that he found, if nothing else, is that even in today’s world, a society brimming with modernization, Wal-Mart’s, fast paced societies, there are people in different parts of that world that still hold a connection to each other—a connection that has lasted thousands of years. The Hadzabe tribe in Tanzania welcomed him with open arms, as if he was one of their own villagers that had been away on a long trip. The chief of the tribe welcomed him home. At one instance while in Tanzania, the chief told him “We are all descendants of this tree”, referring to the large baobab tree that women for thousands of years have given birth under—somehow connecting him to that place, that tree, that experience, those people. Through this one mans account of his trip to far off lands, he has connected with me. It isn’t often that I find a magazine article that happens to say many of the things I have been contemplating. In my last passage I was talking about finding a piece of me in each place that I go, and I found this article, these words to connect with that beautifully. In each place, Mr. Webster was able to find a pieces of himself—many of them sitting and waiting for maybe thousands of years to be found. He found them though and with those pieces, he is able to start putting himself back together. It all makes me wonder where my ancient ancestors came from—what they contemporaries do, think, worship and feel. Where they live and how the world is affecting them. I wonder where in the world I would be taken with the same such journey—possibly some of the places I’ve already been, probably many new ones.
It was a good feeling to know that someone else was on the same sort of life journey that I feel like I’m on—a journey that I think, in a way, I’ve been beaconed to by the forces that be; God if you like. A light is flashing in front of me, guiding my movements, wayward as they might become, it always brings me back on course.

Finding time to Think.

My friend C and I are on a mission to challenge ourselves. So, based on the movie “The 5 Obstructions” we have came up with a plan to send missions, in a sense, to each other and see what happens. The first mission that C gave me was based on the song “Boots of Spanish Leather” a Bob Dylan cover by Nancy Griffith. My constraints are as follows: I must take photographs. I must be within 5 feet of my subject. I must set my aperture and shutter speed for the first picture then use that setting for all of the pictures. All of the pictures must be outside.
I listened to the song a few times over. I like it, and at first I didn’t realize it was a Dylan cover. I think it works for me and I’ve managed to get some inspiration out of it. I’m working now on getting my pictures together in my head before I head out to take them. I’ll post a couple of them on here when I’m finished.
Keeping along the lines of my friend C, we have been debating lately the thoughts of a possible road trip ala moped. Now, to some this might sound a bit ridiculous, or it might sound like a knock-off of the Motorcycle Diaries, well that it might be, but if you can picture 2 20 something guys on small 1970’s Vespa’s, then you get the picture of this sort of trip. Road trips are interesting in that sometimes, we feel it might take something like that to help us “find ourselves” in a sense. We go out on the open road and just see what happens. There have countless movies and books on this sort of subject and probably the most famous of them all might possible be “On the Road” by Jack Kerouac. I myself have not read this book yet, even though I own a nice old copy of it. I’m waiting, of course, for a road trip to inspire me to read it. I recently heard that the director Walter Salles (Motorcycle Diaries, Central Station etc.) is planning on adapting the book to film. This, I feel, is a great challenge for not only Salles, but also the writer and actors. Bringing a book of such great heights to the screen is never an easy task. Of course, Salles has the Motorcycle Diaries under his belt, also a road trip story, but he wasn’t starting to mess with the likes of Kerouac. Beats around the world will either a.) flock to see the film in droves or b.) not because of the pure nature of adapting such a classic of that culture. I salute Salles for making the attempt.
So road trips. Ah, finding yourself. I think it is interesting the ways that we go about finding ourselves, looking around Europe, and on the open road of the United States or anywhere else for that matter. I myself attempt each time I travel overseas to find some piece of myself that I feel is lost in each one of those places, waiting on me to come and claim it. It’s like a big puzzle, and each piece is in a different country. The puzzle can’t be completed until all of the pieces are put together. Granted that a lot of those pieces have been right here in the US at school, at a friend’s house, at a concert, in a coffee shop or perhaps on the road. Sometimes these pieces are terribly difficult to track down, but then just when I’m not expecting it, it just appears and I calmly pick it up and realize that my time there might be over soon.
I once heard this quote:
“Maybe what we go in search of abroad is what we hunger in vain for at home”
and realized that sometimes it is true. I go in search of so much other places and sometimes all I have to do is look around the place I’m in.

Keep walking, there's no place to go.

I’ve been reluctant to start this for a long time now. When I returned from L.A. this past winter, my friend Z and I were amazed to see how many people were now addicted to this little web page called Myspace. What is myspace, we would ask. We were reluctant to get into something that, to us, seemed not only to be amazingly impersonal, but also we are both out for true community to win over the newly created e-community. Blogs, for the longest time, I felt were the same story. A place for people to be heard, but not seen. To tell it like it is, even though if they were standing on street corner things might be different. A place where they can keep up with their friends, family and those afar, just by posting a single entry. I must admit, that this side of a blog does appeal to me. I think I could get used to not sending mass emails, and just posting a little something on here once in a while, when I’m overseas. But to get back to my point, I was discussing this with someone once this past month, when they said Hey did you know that Prof. H has a blog? I said, no. Of all the people to get a blog, he never crossed my mind. I was surprised and intrigued. I found out the address and I’m now a relentless reader of his post of wisdom, encouragement, peace and thoughtful reflections. He has in a sense, restored my faith in the blog by creating a space that isn’t about ranting, raving or merely discussing gossip with friends, but a space that is about thinking, challenging and addressing ideas and thoughts that are important not only to him, but to the community that he lives and works in. This is great, I thought. I check in to see if there is anything new almost daily, and if there isn’t, I continue to read anyway, refreshing whatever ideas he has presented. So, as I begin this blog, I’m not for sure if I will be able to keep such a rigorous routine of posting quality work or thoughts, but it is my proposed purpose to try. I will try not to rant on and on. Likewise, I will try not to rave on and on. Not to say that I won’t mention a good film or some piece of interesting news once in a while. And, once I moved back overseas I will probably update every now and then with something interesting about life there. Don’t get me wrong; I will never abandon email for this blog. I still value those long, rambling emails from friends near and far as well as the occasional real pen and paper letter that sometimes finds its way to my post box. Thanks to those who still buy stamps.

P.S. I don’t mean to diss the myspace community too much, I realize how important it has become to upcoming bands and the like. But honestly, walk down the hall and say hi to your friends.