genes, originally uploaded by sizzled.

i still wish i had bought a 32 in those apc’s.

Enter,
Milwaukee in late November
Late in the night, better late then never
Head straight to the East Side
Shots of Jame-0 and high fives
Start at the High Hat stumble to Nomad
But it’s so packed, no room to stand
They got
5 bucks for a shot, PBR and a cig
You can still smoke in the bars I forgot about this

A Berg and Lubus, we moving to Club Brady
We knew no one would be there, cept us and some Ladies
Kendra Julia and Brianna
4 dollar pitchers, i was a big fan of
Downed em then we bounced
out there to the couch

that sit in the middle of a garage rearranged
Where things were out of place but nothing looked strange
Books on the wall next to guitars that hanged
out by the bar and stained glass window panes

Made new friends as we burned incense
Woke up the girl on the couch it got tense
for a sec, but then-a-then again
We Burned something that wasn’t Egyptian Jasmine
A little something that left us all laughing

It turns out A-bar was par for the course
Another night in The Mil that made my voice hoarse
Drove past K House and hid like Freshman
Reminiscing a little bit while letting our heads spin

Walk in my house 3 oclock pass out
But mom and dad had the Spaghetti all ready
Jasper’s the cat of the house already
Is it weird to say it feels weird to come back here?
To stroll into town late and crack a beer?
Been a month, Feels like I’ve been gone half a year

Strange how the ordinary can seem so strange
Thoughts of Thanksgiving in my dreams as I turn off my brain

Inspired by nomadic Bedouin tribes, the Bidoun series by German designer Katrin Greiling for Dubai brand Traffic.

Rima is a very special artist and nomad from the UK.  I really like her graphic work and hope she does well.  She and her partner live in a very interesting house truck that is definitely worth a look if that sort of thing inspires you as it does me.  Check it out here:  The Hermitage

ARTIVIST : creative provide technical direction & visuals for NZ bands at AWME 2009 including Rhombus (with Sir Michel Tuffery), Little Bushmen, Mihirangi, Tama Waipera & NOMAD.

“It was an honor to work with such a calibre of act with such a high level of artistic integrity” said JoFF Rae… “the features of the Expo for me was hanging out with legendary graff artist HAHA, artists Ero & the NOMAD & the jam with the Mad Professor!”

The Expo in Melbourne was a success for CNZ & the artists with a stream of bookings!  The contingent from NZ had showcases in the Black Box at the Melbourne Arts Center, a nice room with an intimate feel & a capacity of not more than 250.

Looking forward to 2010!  Special thanks to CNZ , Koa & the NOMAD.

I fell in love with a nomad.

His skin is smooth,

sandpapered by beaches and dunes.

Cold desert winds sleep in his heart

His soul is restless,

It tears us apart.

His feet have walked many a path.

Fragrant and coloured by the clay,

they crush my heart.

Like the grapes at taverns he stops at.

Stop a while with me nomad.

Dry my tears,

with the roving suns,

that are your eyes.

How long will the wind carry you?

It must be tired.

Let it fly to a green grove.

While you find home in my arms.

A subject to which few intellectuals ever give a thought is the right to be a vagrant, the freedom to wander. Yet vagrancy is deliverance, and life on the open road is the essence of freedom. To have the courage to smash the chains with which modern life has weighted us (under the pretext that it was offering us more liberty), then to take up the symbolic stick and bundle, and get out! The healthy wayfarer sitting beside the road scanning the horizon open before him, is he not the absolute master of the earth, the waters, even the sky?… His estate has no limits, his empire no law. No work bends him toward the ground, for the bounty and beauty of the earth are already his.

To have a home, a family, a property or a public function, to have a definite means of livelihood and to be a useful cog in the social machine, all these things seem necessary, even indispensable, to the vast majority of men, including intellectuals, and including even those who think of themselves as wholly liberated. And yet such things are only a different form of the slavery that comes of contact with others.

- Isabelle Eberhardt

I have been living outside Calcutta for sometime and seldom feel the urge to return to the city. An occasional trip or two is fine, but not permanent settlement.

Having said that let me add that living in Uttar Pradesh isn’t special, neither. Once you’ve uprooted yourself, most other places you go to stay in appear the same — distant and impersonal.

True, it takes time to build an attachment and make friends. Three years aren’t long enough for this. But then I don’t feel the urge to drop anchor, at least not here. Neither can I prime myself to go out and seek people I can befriend.

Frankly, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with the city I live in or its people — just that I can’t imagine myself dying in a concrete jungle full of big cars, human beings forever on the go and fast drying greenery. Many years ago, Bhupen Hazarika had sung Aami Ek Jajabor (I am a nomad). Well, I don’t exactly call myself that.

I can’t run my life out of railway platforms and must have a place to call home. I can’t do without the comforts of life — a car, air conditioning in summer, a clean bed to sleep in and a clean loo.

Since a nomad never craves for any of these, I am not one of that tribe. Some years ago, I went to Darjeeling, Kalimpong, Kurseong and Shillong. A quaint little house in any of these hill towns would be wonderful. A cabin by the river at Corbett or Renukaji in Himachal would be a dream come true.

Would that happen, ever? There’s no harm dreaming. But what about the concomitants — medical facilities, children’s education and a steady source of income.

Precisely. Think of them and you’re jolted out of your reverie. Somewhere down the line, the practicalities always take over. I am driven by my expectations from life, also by the requirement to fulfill others’ needs.

I don’t have a business seeing myself in a peaceful mountain existence, at least not now when there are miles to go and commitments to honour, bills to pay.

But this doesn’t discourage me. There will come a time when all will be done. The children would have grown up, loans repaid and no elders to take care of.

The mountains would still be there and hopefully they’d be just as alluring as they are now. Nothing would have blemished Renukaji’s pristine beauty and the view of the Kanchenjungha from the Mall in Darjeeling would remain as spellbinding. Darjeeling’s rumbling meadows wouldn’t have gone bald.

Someday, this small-town man whose journey began from a faraway Orissa village in the woods would find a place to rest, removed from the rush and storm of tinned-air existence.

Till then, this traveler would pitch a tent wherever life takes him and call it home — just waiting for the right port to drop anchor.

Nomad. Basically means either a pastoral nomad, moving his herd every day in search of food, or a hunter gatherer nomad moving with the wildlife. Bruce Chatwin was forever fascinated by nomadic life and once spent years and years writing a book about his own thesis on ‘the nomadic alternative’. This brick of a book was according to his publisher almost unreadable and Chatwin ended up instead traveling Patagonia and writing ‘In Patagonia’. The rest is history.

I have spent the past 4 months attempting to realise my own Nomadic Alternative. On Monday the 23rd of November dreams become reality as I board my plane to freely travel the world, photograph, experience, write and live! New life. The road is the home. Nomadic Alternative.

I now own basically what I can carry. Well, carry with some help as there is an awful lot of camera gear, laptop, books and clothes. Still, my life and possessions is reduced to a mobile state and I have no home but the world, the road. Nomadic alternative. These are truly exciting times! Complete freedom and total liberation! I do know how lucky people consider me to be and I will live up to it.  But I have basically created this situation myself and I believe everyone can do this or parts of this. Most of what tie us down are in our minds!

While I do call it my Nomadic Alternative, like Bruce Chatwin would say, that is a truth and a half. Chatwin liked to say he was travelling with just a notebook and a backpack. In reality he carried a whole home with him, including a ton of books. In reality I will be jumping from base to base as a place to sleep is always quite nice! My first base will be with friends in Chiang Mai in Northern Thailand. A dear friend from Copenhagen will also join me in Chiang Mai and together we will explore Asia for the next 4 months. Thailand, Malaysia, Borneo, perhaps Burma, Laos and a little gday to Australia as well could be on the menu. No plans, except to live! photograph, experience, travel and be free, free!

“Not all those who wander are lost.” – Tolkien

"So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservatism, all of which may appear to give one peace of mind, but in reality nothing is more dangerous to the adventurous spirit within a man than a secure future. The very basic core of a man’s living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun." -Chris McCandless

The road is home

Let us conclude with the road, in this case a lovely red dirt road from Karijini, Australia. Red and blue dawn at it’s finest. Into the Wild.

Karijini Red and Blue Dawn
© Flemming Bo Jensen Photography

If you know some great photography locations in Thailand – and Asia – I would love to hear about them! See you on the road.

Good God, this is going to be an amazing event. All of 2009’s best new producers in one room playing all the songs we’ve lusted after and blogged about. It’s Bristol bad boy of dubstep, Joker with his homey Nomad helping out. Then from southeast London is the Nightslugs‘ Lvis 1990 and Bok Bok. Wait, just when you thought it couldn’t get any better there is Fool’s Gold rookie of the year, Kingdom from Brooklyn. To round out the bill you have the DJ Sega, Dirty South Joe, Flufftronix and Lady Prowl to get down to.

So, If you’re in Philly do not miss this show! If you’re around Philly take a train or the Chinatown Bus. I’m flying in from Los Angeles and Beats™ is flying in from Chicago. It’s going to be legendary. To get you hyped, I’m lacing you up with some hot mp3 action:

Gucci Vump – Sha! Shtil! (L-Vis 1990 Remix)
Jinder – Youth Blood (Bok Bok Remix)
Marcus Price & Carli – Mat, Bira, Kvinnor, Weed (Kingdom Remix)
Passion Pit – The Reeling (Flufftronix Remix)
Smarttech – Took The Trompeta (Dirty South Joe is 1/2 of Smarttech)
Turboweekend – Trouble Is (Joker Remix)

Markus G

- Där man har sitt bibliotek där bor man.

Det sa Salman Rushdie i en intervju om sin nya bok Förtrollerskan från Florens.

Det fick mig att tänka på utvecklingen mot digitaliserade böcker.

Om jag har alla mina böcker i min bärbara dator blir jag nomad då?

CARRO NOVO NA COLEÇÃO

I’m getting pumped for GENaustin’s Girls Now! conference, which is taking place today at the Ann Richards School. I’m doing two music history workshops with Kristen, along with GRCA alums Izzy and LaRessa and we’re gonna rock. 

I also wanted to remind you that the Austin Asian American Film Festival is still going strong this weekend. AAAFF is showing Persepolis for free tonight at Town Lake. I’ll be at a friend’s birthday party and won’t be able to make it, but hopefully I’ll see you at the JenRo/MenRG show at the Music Gym later tonight. Before swinging by Nomad for Karaoke Underground, of course. And while I won’t be able to attend the first Paradise Titty show at the Creekside Lounge, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t.

Since AAAFF’s got me thinking about independent and/or arthouse cinema, I thought I’d highlight a music video that was clearly inspired by the avant-garde. I present Milla Jovovich’s “The Gentleman Who Fell” music video, which was inspired by Maya Deren’s “Meshes of the Afternoon.” If you have any arthouse-inspired music video suggestions, please share!

Milla Jovovich
“The Gentleman Who Fell”
The Divine Comedy
Directed by Archard/Garner

Inspired by Maya Deren’s “Meshes of the Afternoon”

“Balm”

November 10th, 2009

I don’t need to tell you that “Balm” was an exceptional hour plus of television: for about two weeks, critics have been waxing poetic about how this could be the show’s defining moment, and how this is the episode that raises Sons of Anarchy from the upper echelon of television drama to the upper upper echelon of television drama. The result is that Sepinwall, Fienberg, Ryan, Poniewozik and every other critic under the sun have already made their position extremely clear, to the point where I don’t really have much to add in terms of singing its praises.

However, that’s never particularly stopped me before, so I still want to talk about how great this episode is, or, more accurately, why this episode manages to be great despite some significant challenges. This is an episode which builds its tension around an action that before last week was almost entirely foreign to its audience (at least those with no deeper knowledge of MCs than what the show offers) and that creates an emotional climax you can see coming by the time the episode gets going, and yet manages to pull it off so brilliantly that it’s as if we as viewers have always known what ”going Nomad” refers to and that we could never have expected the kind of emotion the episode’s final moments bring.

It’s an episode that turns the viewer into an active participant in the lives of each and every single character, to the point where we are sitting at the dinner table with the characters in that final scene and responding as they are to the news being delivered.

And that’s some damn fine television.

The strategy of this episode is as elegant as the rest of the episode, really. After last week’s ending, the show has is forced to problematize “going Nomad” to the point where the eventual decision to allow Jax to leave the charter becomes painful for us to watch. We already know that Jax has good reason to hate Clay, and that while Jax is wrong to presume Clay was behind the warehouse attack his logic of leaving the club in order to avoid the larger blowup between the two men is not without merit. What the episode needs to establish, then, is why going Nomad is something that could tear this club apart, and more importantly something that will eventually drive Gemma to speak the truth regarding her horrific experience at the hands of the League of American Nationalists.

The episode achieves this through a calculated strategy of reintroducing characters that we haven’t seen active for a while to remind us what a charter truly means, and what Jax is giving up (or giving up on) to become a Nomad. We get his conversation with Piney, who feels as if Jax’s decision to leave the club puts any and all efforts to gain revenge on Clay and Tig for killing Donna on ice, which is followed by having to break the news to Chibbs who sees the Sons as his only family (albeit I’ll get to his story in a moment) and can’t imagine leaving it. While telling someone like Tara the news gets only confusion and uncertainty, and eventually trust in his judgment, when he tells Juice he gets an emotional plea. The Juice sequence was perhaps my favourite of these visits because of how earnest he was: he was once a prospect, and he repeats to Jax the words that he told him when he recruited him (or something of the sorts) in order to indicate that the club is what holds you together. Heck, even the dead rise to warn Jax about the consequences of going Nomad, as John Teller’s book features a passage that cites going Nomad as too uncertain for even his restless soul.

It all results in the scene where, as everyone votes around the table, it’s not entirely clear what we’re supposed to want here. What was so interesting about the sequence is that it’s preceded by Jax going to Clay and basically offering him an out: he knows that Clay didn’t burn down the warehouse, so he’s willing to stick around so long as Clay is willing to have him. However, Clay tells Jax straight to his face that he wants him gone, a decision he makes because Jax is a constant challenge to his authority and, more importantly, knows too much that could hurt him. The season has not made it a secret that Clay’s hands will at some point soon keep him off of his bike, and that the power would got to Jax who has made it his mission to get in Clay’s way isn’t something that makes the President very comfortable. Scenes like this one, and the vote which takes place afterwards, take the idea of going Nomad and turn it into a both a referendum on the club’s direction (testing whether anyone is willing to defy Jax’s wish in an effort to keep him around and truly try to fix things) and an interpersonal struggle for Jax.

However, the one person who we are to believe is most able to make a judgment on Jax’s decision is the one person who isn’t sitting in that room voting on it, but instead holds a meeting of her own. Gemma is in a unique position in this way, mother to one and wife to another, and more importantly she is someone who has read John Teller’s book and who understands its message perhaps better than even Jax does. The scene where Gemma tells Jax what she believes John Teller learned in his life is mighty complicated, including an insinuation that John took his own life (which perhaps goes against previous assumptions that Clay might have had some part in his death as well), and is as expected a great piece of acting from Katey Sagal. The message is that Jax is very much like his father, and that his death and his words should serve as a warning to Jax as much as they could serve as a manifesto. The book is of two minds, that’s always been clear, and as Jax tells Piney it’s not exactly what one would call a clear guide to success. However, Gemma points Jax to the passage about going Nomad because it indicates that John, in all of his complications, needed that sense of identity to keep himself sane, just as Jax might well need it to keep himself safe. The reason the book is so disjointed is that for all of his issues with the club, it was something he couldn’t live without, which Gemma believes ultimately tore him apart.

What Gemma ends up doing is heart-wrenching, even if it was easily choreographed from the moment that Gemma started gazing into the distance and talking to Unser about protecting her boys. The predictability should have limited its emotional impact, but Sagal was having none of that, and everything just tore down my defences. There’s a nice irony in the fact that what was supposed to tear the Sons apart has now been deployed at the very time it will bring them back together, but there’s also a tragedy in Gemma having to speak those words and seeing how hard it hits someone like Clay. Gemma realized very quickly that Jax and Clay were missing the big picture, that their squabblings within the club were keeping them from seeing how they could best protect against external threats. The same thing that killed John Teller, she believes, is the same thing that was about to kill Jax and Clay if not for something to bring them together, and as such she sacrifices and tells the tale she, to this point, has told to no one in full. Sagal was amazing in this episode, as she has been all season, but that last season was as much about Hunnam and (especially) Pearlman’s reactions, and they both nailed it.

What’s interesting is that you could argue much of the above wasn’t actually “plot,” per se, which says a lot about the confidence Kurt Sutter and Co. have in the show to be able to do an episode like this late in the season. It was possible not just because of the execution but because we got some forward momentum in Chibbs’ return into the middle of the ATF/IRA battle brewing. Titus Welliver was great as always as the newly arrived IRA bigwig Jimmy O’Flannery, but this was really more about Chibbs than it was about him. Chibbs, we learn, has reason to hold a grudge: Jimmy got him kicked out of the IRA, stole his wife, and raised his daughter as his own. The episode places a lot of discussion on the value of the charter as family, which is especially true for Chibbs since his situation meant that his actual family and his gang family were both taken away from him. However, what we see in “Balm” is Chibbs sensing that his real family has been victimized long enough (especially when Jimmy threatens to take Chibbs and Fiona’s daughter as his new sex toy once Fiona’s looks fully fade away) and turning into a rat in the process. Having Ally Walker back is always welcome, and a circumstance where Chibbs assists the ATF on busting the Irish and Zobell happening just as news of Gemma’s rape breaks is the kind of chaos that the show thrives on.

“Balm” wasn’t some sort of unexpected greatness from this show, as we critics have been praising it since the end of last season, and especially so during the past few months. However, it’s the kind of episode that has never felt quite so integral to the show: in the midst of chaos the episode switched gears to a series of conversations and confrontations that were not so much dramatic as they were emotional, leading to a conclusion that makes us teary-eyed even when we know all of the facts being stated. It’s an episode that takes us so far into this world that we imagine we’re sitting listening to Gemma speak, or sitting at a diner table as Jimmy threatens Chibbs’ daughter, and where we wanted to cast a vote in that meeting as much as some of them didn’t want to cast a vote at all. Just a really fine episode of television, and one which promises greatness yet to come.

Cultural Observations

• I loved the final montage as we panned down from each person as Gemma continued talking. It was a scene that mixed the comic (Prospect helping heal his swollen prosthetic testicle in the mud) with the dramatic (Tig breaking down under the influence of the mushrooms, signalling his inner turmoil over Donna’s death), and was just really evocative and effective. I do have to wonder, though: was the show insinuating that Piney killed himself? It was such a small moment, and without any indication as to its conclusion, that it’s left a dangling thread which could be either followed through on or ignored.
• Tara sure seems kind of uninterested in whether she keeps her job or not, although I don’t blame her for not liking that administrator.
• Speaking of that administrator, she’s effectively playing the same character as Anna Deavere Smith on Nurse Jackie but without the prop comedy.
• And since I wasn’t able to include it within the logic of my opening since he didn’t get the episode early, do check out Zack Handlen’s great review of the episode over at The A.V. Club. It’s down as I post this, but it should be fixed eventually.

I was hoping to attend two shows tonight, post yoga: Wayne Brekke’s opening at Nomad and the Terry Rosenberg opening at Gallery 616. But after a total butt-kicking workout I’m not making it. If you attended, let me know your thoughts. I plan to check out both shows when I’m less sore and tired. I’m especially excited to see Wayne’s new work; he’s been creating art for more than 20 years, and I can’t wait to check out his solo effort.

Looking forward to the next few weeks, there’s a ton of places where I can’t wait to take in some art. This weekend, Jess Benjamin’s open studio starts at 4 p.m. and runs until 10. I’ll be there when I get off work. I visited Jess’ studio recently and took in all her most recent work; she had some new projects she was just about to start and I’m hoping to see what came to fruition.

Next Wednesday, Pecha Kucha six is happening at Slowdown. I haven’t been to a Pecha Kucha Omaha since the event moved from Nomad, so I’m looking forward to checking it out. Then the next night is also packed: the Bemis Auction preview party starts at 6, and my sister, Lindsey, is doing a reading at the Empty Room as part of the Seven Doctors Project.

Saturday is another two-event night: My talented and lovely yoga teacher, Megan Minturn, is part of yet another great event at the Empty Room called Yogatry, which encompasses yoga, music and poetry. After that, I’ll be at the 11th annual Bemis Auction, along with most of the Omaha arts community.

So what are you planning to attend? And what’s not on my list that I should be checking out?

I remember feeling quite haunted the first time I saw this image after watching the wonderful film, Into The Wild. The film itself was very well done and I was quite taken aback by the story. Seeing this image at the end of the movie and realizing it was in fact a true story just heightened the impact of the film for me and began my quest of finding out everything I could about the story of this inspirational man.

For those who have not seen the film Into The Wild or read the book of the same name Chris Mccandless was a very intelligent man who always shined academically. In 1990, He donated $24,000 that was meant for his college fund given to him by his parents, to Oxfam after graduating and began his travels under the name Alexander Supertramp.

This blog post seems apt given the nature of my previous posts about the way the world is and Alexander is someone who acted on these qualms by escaping his life and ‘living off the land.’ Alexander almost drifted through his adventures; hitchhiking a lot of the way and meeting many people in the process. He would stop to work if he needed money for equipment and then move on whenever he felt ready.

It’s hard to describe quite what it is that makes me so found of his adventures and ideals. I guess its the freedom that he so often illustrated, that nothing had to be set in stone and that we can so easily just fall into the repetitiveness of many of life’s ’shoulds’ and ‘ought tos’ It is so common (myself included) to hear many people complaining about many things but doing very little to change because “that’s just the way it is.”

Alexander is someone who captures the freedom, adventure and self-sufficiency of us all, but unfortunately it is something which is so rarely put into action. I believe that many of the worlds aspects has changed how we are as people for the worst. We live by expected norms and are afraid to take risks and listen to our own voice over those of others.

Rather than love, than money, than fame, give me truth

Henry David Thoreau quotes (American Essayist, Poet and Philosopher, 1817-1862)

I think this quote can be adapted not just to communication but our way of life too. If we are true to ourselves and those around us then I think that things would be in such a better place than we currently stand. Unfortunately we have created a society which is run by greed, lies, profit and power and when something is based on these things, we get to a position like we are in today and I think there has to be a climax where all this changes and we have to re-find our true values.

As always, I will take my words as a kick-start to re-tune my values and live by the ways that I think are true but I think it always important to be aware of ourselves and those around us and the relationships we have and create. If we do good to ourselves and those around us then it will not take long for this to become the norm and base our society on much stronger and longer lasting values.

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Crunchy Sandwich

presents

 COMMON GROUND

An Art show for the San Diego Asian Film Festival 2009

Featuring the artwork of:

 Alfie Ebojo

 Chris Legaspi

 Terry Matsuoka

 Joseph Naval

 Nomad

 Jarrett Quon

 Yumi Sakugawa

 Steven Taing

 Nicole Terzic

New York City really knows how to do coffee.

We stayed in the quite rightly named Ace Hotel located in Nomad (North of Madison). It’s uber cool with a really rock ‘n’ roll edge to it. In each room there are Smeg fridges and city guides written by the members of Sonic Youth. The hotel lobby is constantly busy with DJ’s, bands playing, photo shoots going on and cool New Yorkers just hanging out eating food from the Breslin bar.

But it’s the on site coffee shop, Stumptown that I want to tell you about.

‘Too cool for school’ tattooed barristers dressed in country casuals serve up the greatest coffee with a smile and some friendly chat. Just look at that logo too, it’s a tattoo isn’t it?

The french toast was both the best and the filthiest breakfast I have ever had. Juicy and sweet and far too unhealthy. It was the perfect sugary kick start to a day pounding the Streets of NYC.

They also sold these beautifully designed Brooklyn chocolate bars in there. We scoffed this one in Central Park in the sunshine. This really is the life.

The stairs in the Ace Hotel promised us, ‘Everything is going to be alright’ and after a morning in Stumptown I truly believed them.

forrás: Weiss, Bernard G. – Green, Arnold H.: Az arabok rövid története; Kőrösi Csoma Társaság, Budapest, 2oo9;

1. Arabok az iszlám előtt (p. 21-22)

-          kezdetei a BCE. 1ooo körüli időkbe nyúlnak vissza

-          az arab (عربي) szó tevetenyésztő pásztorokra utal, akik az Arab-félsziget nyugati, északi és középső részein éltek, a beduin (بَدَوِيّ) szó szinonímája

-          a nomád arabok megélhetése teljes egészében a legeltetéstől függött

-          dél-arábiaiak: arabok csak az iszlám elterjedése előtti arabizálástól számítva

-          Arábia lakossága két nemzetségból áll a hagyomány szerint:

-          qaḥṭān –قحطان  - al-^cāriba – العاربة – akik délről vándoroltak be

-          ^cadnān -عدنان  - al-musta^criba – المستعربة – akik a félszigeten laktak

-          dél-arábiai nyelv: szábeus

-          Arábia határai: délről Dél-Arábia, északról a termékeny félhold (Róma, Bizánc 395-1453), keleten a szászánida Perzsia – 227-642, nyugaton a szeleukida Mezopotámia és Szíria, a ptolemaida Egyiptom

1. A régi arabok értékei és intézményei (p.23-26)

-          legfontosabb társadali intézmény a törzs – qabīla – قبيلة

-          ez klánokra – qawm – قوم – oszlott, amely pedig családokra, mindegyik család külön sátorban élt

-          az egyén önazonosságát a törzshöz tartozás adta, az individualizmus elképzelhetetlen volt

-          törzsi szolidaritás – ^caṣabiyya – عصبية-

-          egyén beduin eszmék: nagylelkűség – karam –  كرم -, vendégszeretet – ḍayf -ديف  -, becsület – ^cird – عرد -, ezek arra kötelezték a törzset, hogy felelősséggel viseltessen a szegények és gyengék irányában

-          egy törzs ideális létszáma kb. 6oo fő

-          genealógia – nasab – نسب  -, minden törzs számon tartotta a testvértörzseit; endogámia a leszármazás tisztán tartása érdekében

-          egy másik törzsebelinek vendégjog és védelem; kliens – mawāli – موالي  -

-          állatok: birka, kecske, teve, szamár, ló

-          minden év májusa és júniusa: nyári szálláshely kút vagy forrás közelében

-          egypupú teve: camelus dromedarius; háziasítása kb. BCE. 1oo körül

-          a vagyon mércéje: az állatok száma, a nyári szálláshely és víznyerők birtoklása, téli legelőkhöz való hozzáférés

-          portyázás – ġazwa – غظوة -

-          heti piac – sūq –  سوق-; a piaci nap vagy időszak fegyverszünet

-          a karavánutak melletti állomások piacként is működnek

-          a karavánutak mentén kialakul egy kiskereskedő réteg

Random Lunacy: Videos from the Road Less Traveled (2007) is a great documentary following the life of William David Pearlman (more commonly know as Poppa Neutrino) and his family. Seamlessly splicing many interviews with home videos draws you into his life and…  http://www.dainsmoviereviews.com/2009/10/random-lunacy-videos-from-road-less.html

“Flexibility is power.”

Niurka

“There are two types of minds – the mathematical, and what might be called the intuitive. The former arrives at its views slowly, but they are firm and rigid; the latter is endowed with greater flexibility and applies itself simultaneously to the dive”

Blaise Pascal

“Adaptability: A wise man adapts himself to circumstances as water shapes itself to the vessel that contains it”

Anonymous

Being flexible is a powerful resource state, to paraphrase my friend Niurka’s quote. Looking back over these past months, a fundamental skill I have honed over this time has been my ability to be flexible, not simply in the physical plane about housing accommodations, but perhaps more importantly flexible on the mental plane. Having flexible thinking kept me adaptable, willing and nimble. It is truly the core of being inspired.

I have met and observed many individuals, groups, tribes and communities that have shown inflexible thinking, as I suspect you have as well. The rigidity that comes from inflexible thinking is a brittle and reactive place to express from. The tendency to be reactionary, judgmental, and at the mercy of outside influences (as in victim), makes for an unhappy and unfulfilled person.

What is flexibility? For me it is being adaptable, flowing with the changes, and willingness to adjust are all attributes of flexibility. All these aspects have served me in this adventure these past (now) 16 months.

Flexibility does not mean flimsy, limp or weak, it means nimble and adaptable. Truly effective martial arts trainings rely more on flow and flexibility than on brute strength or rigidity. As much as flexibility is an advantageous foundation of martial arts, yoga and most sports, so inward flexibility in our thinking and emotions is a fundamental skill that serves us powerfully to be healthier, stronger, more willing and effective in life.

Flexibility is a powerful tool in communication, relationship, business, functionality and freedom. Perhaps the greatest skill in life is having a flexible mind.

There are many examples of inflexible thinking in the world, in the media, in politics, in world-views, and religion too. In nature, the elm tree is prone to wind impact due to its rigid structure and shallow roots. A strong wind can literally knock an elm tree down. The willow tree on the other hand is very flexible and is much more capable of withstanding a very strong wind.

One of the lessons I have learned, and which I impart to my clients is to plan their goals, but not the path to get there. This is not the most often taught method! Don’t set up a goal, and plan out every step along the way to get there. Rather, define your goal, take the first step, then review feedback (both inner and outer) to determine your next step. Achieving goals is rarely, if ever, a linear process. It requires adaptation and flexibility.

When an airplane flies from Los Angeles to New York (or anywhere else for that matter), the plane is off course upwards of 95% of the time. Yet the plane (and its passengers) still get to their destination. Amazing? Actually, it is simply the application of feedback and adjustments in course-correction that get the plane to its destination. It is also a demonstration of flexibility, allowing for adaptation to changing conditions.

I have had an intention to embrace and express my purpose more fully, to serve and inspire others for quite a while. I had no sense or idea of how I would get there, just a feeling and vision of what it would be when I get there. I have strong images of being in front of excited and joyful audiences in large rooms, and also an array of the faces of my dedicated and highly successful coaching clients. How I would be getting to that, step by step? No picture or clear vision. I certainly had no suspicion that being without a home of my own would be perhaps the biggest and more profound vehicle to get me closer to my goal! This past sixteen months has shown me who I am, more powerfully and richly than at any time in my past. And it has deepened my purpose and passion for working with my clients and audiences. I had no idea I would be taking this route, yet the end result has been that which I asked for! I am grateful I have learned to be flexible.

And through this journey, I have been expressing some deep lessons of my own in a format that I trust will benefit others, in the form of these blog posts. I hadn’t touched my blog in a long time as I had not felt pulled to write. Yet now I am posting this series of lessons (and other thoughts!), and have the intention and pull to create a book based on the lessons. Who knew?!!

So I recommend, highly, that you learn the skill of flexibility, it will move you more rapidly and gracefully to your goals and dreams. If your flexibility could use some support, contact me for some coaching, I know this journey!

Be inspired!

PB&J

Barry.

* Time passes and house-sits change, hence the count evolution from 37 into 15 to 38 into 16. I am so grateful for the support, and am inviting my next residence immediately!!