Kristy's Blog

http://creationwiki.org/Main_Page.

At a loss for words on this one. It’s great how science and fact can be waived away.

Maya Angelou was interviewed by Oprah on her 70+ birthday.. Oprah asked her what she thought of growing older.

And, there on television, she said it was ‘exciting…’

Regarding body changes, she said there were many, occurring every day…..like her breasts. They seem to be in a race to see which will reach her waist, first.

The audience laughed so hard they cried. She is such a simple and honest woman, with so much wisdom in her words!

Maya Angelou said this:
‘I’ve learned that no matter what happens, or how bad it seems today, life does go on, and it will be better tomorrow.’

‘I’ve learned that you can tell a lot about a person by the way he/
she handles these three things: a rainy day, lost luggage, and tangled Christmas tree lights.’

‘I’ve learned that regardless of your relationship with your parents, you’ll miss them when they’re gone from your life.’

‘I’ve learned that making a ‘living’ is not the same thing as ‘making a life.’

‘I’ve learned that life sometimes gives you a second chance.’

‘I’ve learned that you shouldn’t go through life with a catcher’s mitt on both hands; you need to be able to throw some things back…’

‘I’ve learned that whenever I decide something with an open heart, I usually make the right decision.’

‘I’ve learned that even when I have pains, I don’t have to be one.’

‘I’ve learned that every day you should reach out and touch someone. People love a warm hug, or just a friendly pat on the back.’

‘I’ve learned that I still have a lot to learn..’

‘I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.’

In preparation for my Tahiti trip!

The Tahitian alphabet contains only thirteen letters. Vowels: a as in car, e as in may, i as in machine, o as in cold, and u as in salute.

Consonants: f,h,m,n,p,r,t,v pronounced as in English with the exceptions of theh pronounced sh when preceded by i or followed by o and the r sometimes having a trill sound.

hello, good day, friendly greeting – ia orana
goodbye – nana
welcome – maeva
thank you – mauru’uru
no problem!, no worries! – aita pe’ape’a
how are you? – eaha te huru?
good! – maita’i
to your health, toast – manuia

house – fare
bank – fare moni
church – fare pure
post office – fare rata
hospital – fare ma’i
store – fare toa

doctor – taote
police – muto’i

man – tane
woman – vahine
child – tamarii

yes – e, oia
no – aita

small – iti
big, large – nui

islet in the lagoon – motu
ancient temple – marae
traditional quilts – tifaifai
traditional dance – tamurei
fenua – land
flower – tiare
ocean – moana
sun – mahana
moon – avae
star – fetia
earth oven – himaa
feast – tamaaraa

morning – poipoi
evening – ahiahi

Reprinted from the AzBurner Listserve:

I realize that many find it hard to readjust to the default world when we return and some folks take a few extra days to decompress. Sadly don’t have the luxury to ease back into work mode. We rolled into Phx on Monday morning and I was up until about 2am that night catching up on email (I opted to not bring a laptop and turned my phone off on Monday at BRC).

So here’s I suggest you do: You don’t leave Burning Man. Very simple – in your mind, in your daily tasks, and most importantly, in the way you treat your family, friends, and total strangers… be kind, be giving, do as you would at BM… within legal limits, and within reason. Gary, Grover, Scotto, NakedMike, Chromy, and so many others… they all live BM principals year round. For example:

• If someone is in need, help out without any expectation of receiving anything in return
• Smile, and greet people. So what if they don’t reciprocate. .. it’s their loss.
• When in the checkout lane, hang up your cell phone, and have a real conversation with the person running the register. They may be repeating their schpeil – but ask them a question and that makes them wake up from their stupor and talk.
• In a restaurant, look your wait staff in the eye, engage in a conversation as you ask for your meal. Don’t treat them like “servers”, rather as “people”… as fellow citizens
• If someone visits, invite them to join you for a meal.
• Find the clothes you don’t use and give them away to goodwill (and pick up some cool threads for the next BM event while you are there!)
• Volunteer at a soup kitchen… or an organization like http://handsonphoen ix.org/

The list goes on.

BRC is just a place. It is the attitude, the mindset, and the people that make it special… and you can bring that with you. Sure… there will be doinks in the default world. There are doinks at BRC. But you don’t have to be one. Nor do you have to sit and complain that others are doinks.

One year I flew out to BRC and on my way back at Reno airport I was so disappointed. There were many obvious burners (clean clothes but playa grey footware) who were back on their cell phones and avoiding eye contact. I was greeted by one burner – turned out it was Windpipe the Clown – and I was new to the AZB community then and didn’t know him, and he didn’t know me… but we smiled, waved, had a conversation. .. and years later I realized it was Windpipe. It was the way it should be.

So don’t mope about leaving BRC. Bring it, or as much of it as you can handle, with you back to the real world.

I’m not trying to sound preachy… so please don’t take this the wrong way. This is just what works for me… and I thought I’d share.

Cheers,

Ruvi

*Sigh*

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-lazarus9-2009sep09,0,7825195.column?page=2

burningman, tarot cards, bikes

Radical Inclusion
Anyone may be a part of Burning Man. We welcome and respect the stranger. Should anyone refuse to invite you to be a full member of their camp, their bar, or their artwork because they say you have invested no thought, effort, or planning into it, they are clearly Assholes and Don’t Get It.

Gifting
Burning Man is devoted to acts of gift giving. The value of a gift is unconditional. Gifting does not contemplate a return or an exchange for something of equal value. So shut up already about my preparedness and give me a fucking drink.

Decommodification
In order to preserve the spirit of gifting, our community seeks to create social environments that are unmediated by commercial sponsorships, transactions, or advertising. We stand ready to protect our culture from such exploitation. We resist the substitution of consumption for participatory experience. We hate to be reminded that we spend hundreds if not thousands of dollars on crap from big box stores, oil companies, vehicle rentals and other gas guzzling transport. Please remove all the labels from everything so that we can maintain the illusion that we are outside of the normal world that we depend on so heavily. For instance, please pretend that you own a big box truck and decommodify it by creatively covering over the name of the people you rented it from. “U-haul” is painful to observe and it will help our collective psyche if you can change it to “U-Fuck” or something equally creative.

Radical Self-reliance
Burning Man encourages the individual to discover, exercise and rely on his or her inner resources. Relying on your skills at begging, wheedling, and “setting your intentions for a miracle” are all ways to express your self-reliance.

Radical Self-expression
Radical self-expression arises from the unique gifts of the individual. No one other than the individual or a collaborating group can determine its content. It is offered as a gift to others. In this spirit, the giver should respect the rights and liberties of the recipient. You are a unique child of the universe and everything you touch is imbued with your own lovely artfulness. So wrap some yarn around a couple of twigs, call it art, and you can feel free to demand any other support from any True Burner. It’s artists like you who really make the place go, right? Anyone who does not support you is clearly not a True Burner.

Communal Effort
Our community values creative cooperation and collaboration. We strive to produce, promote and protect social networks, public spaces, works of art, and methods of communication that support such interaction. People will bring everything you need to live comfortably at Burning Man in support of the community. So don’t worry or plan. Someone else will take care of you.

Civic Responsibility
We value civil society. Community members who organize events should assume responsibility for public welfare and endeavor to communicate civic responsibilities to participants. They must also assume responsibility for conducting events in accordance with local, state and federal laws. Just kidding. Burning Man is totally rule free and lawless. Anyone who suggests otherwise is some kind of proto-fascist and not a True Burner. If you get busted selling ecstasy on Esplanade, the cop is at fault.

Leaving No Trace
Our community respects the environment. We are committed to leaving no physical trace of our activities wherever we gather. We clean up after ourselves and endeavor, whenever possible, to leave such places in a better state than when we found them. Be sure that the people you camp with handle this. Feel free to criticize anything that impacts your creative freedom. Real artists don’t do cleanup. They have People for that.

Participation
Our community is committed to a radically participatory ethic. We believe that transformative change, whether in the individual or in society, can occur only through the medium of deeply personal participation. We achieve being through doing. Everyone is invited to work. Everyone is invited to play. We make the world real through actions that open the heart. So please participate in anything you see – eat the food, drink the booze, sleep in the shade, climb on the art, ride the rides. It’s there for your participation. Your wonderful self is your contribution. Anyone who claims otherwise is not Getting It.

Immediacy
Immediate experience is, in many ways, the most important touchstone of value in our culture. We seek to overcome barriers that stand between us and a recognition of our inner selves, the reality of those around us, participation in society, and contact with a natural world exceeding human powers. No idea can substitute for this experience. That includes anything that attempts to see into the unknowable future, like planning or preparation. The playa will provide your intense, immediate experience, unmoderated by any off-playa reality. So just show up. The playa will provide.

Brilliant!

http://digitalroam.typepad.com/digital_roam/2009/08/american-health-care-on-4-napkins-now-all-together.html

Burningman live streams…

http://www.bmir.org
http://www.shoutingfire.com