The name Jane Goodall  usually triggers the memory. For myself, her name triggers years of rich, interesting photos and stories I observed and read as a child from my mother’s vast National Geographic collection. I used to dream of what it would be like to live her life. In my young mind, it seemed to be the ultimate way to live, in the wild with animals. This young woman was living a dream.

Jane Goodall is  a trailblazer respected by all who learn of her work. She taught us about our commonality with the natural world and its inabitants. She introduced us to the humanity of the animal kingdom and developed our compassion for chimpanzees and other animals through years of tireless work and patient study.

A lifetime of memories about Jane Goodall’s work came flooding forth in a breathless moment last week as I was walking through the 2009 Women’s Conference in Long Beach. There she was. The icon, the legend, petite and lithe, graceful and calm. She was being taped during an interview for the conference. A small croud of fans surrounded her, I among them. 

Feeling like a child, I waited for the moment, opened my journal, and quickly asked her if she could sign my journal so I could share this moment with my children and grandchildren. She quietly obliged, looking at me a little strangely as if she was thinking,  “What does this have to do with anything?” I thanked her and stepped back, making room for others as I could see this window of opportunity was brief.  Her ‘peeps’ were getting ready to hurry her off to another important affair.

I never know what to say to famous people I admire! In hindsight, I always have a better response; the one I replay in my mind over and over, as if I will ever have a second chance.  The funniest memory I have of this repetitive dilemma in my life is the moment when I met Stevie Wonder. The story that led to that both memorable and regretful occation is worth another posting at a later date. During that moment when I met him so many years ago, all I could say to him was, “I take your Stevie Wonder Special” or something to that effect. The Stevie Wonder Special was only known to me, however.* Stevie could not have known what I was talking about, but I was so nervous I didn’t know what else to say that would make me stand apart from the hundreds of others surrounding him.

To make up for that wasted opportunity with Stevie Wonder, I went back to my home of Grass Valley the next week after meeting him. I found a braille specialist and wrote Stevie a 3 page letter in braille, which I sent to him, to get all of those unspoken thoughts out of my system. It was something that benefitted me more, not him and a silly thing to do in retrospect. But I really wanted him to know how one lifelong fan had been touched by his work.

Not every famous person leaves me speechless, only those I hold a reverence for, like Jane Goodall! So, this time, instead of dithering about what I should write to her, I will do something different.

Jane’s acceptance speech at the 2009 Minerva Awards this year was the closing speech and well worth every single word. She brilliantly formulated a message that spontaneously included the other winners, her life, and our future as a human race. It was intimate, powerful, inspiring! As a member of Toastmasters International, I am aware of the elements of an exceptional speech.

Jane Goodall  is an incredible speaker, a revolutionary leader, a doer and advocate for the natural world. To honor her work and support her latest project Roots and Shoots, I encourage you to check out: http://www.rootsandshoots.org/ and invite others to do the same. As an inspired young person that literally changed the world’s view of the chimpanzee, Jane Goodall understands the power of youth, especially when it is combined with meaning and inspiration. She is effectively empowering this generation of youth to be an integral part of the solution. Jane Goodall is synonymous with “change agent”. She knows like so many other memorable leaders, that when we understand our mission on the planet, our work is never done; nor do we every tire of doing it!

You are also invited you to listen to the eloquence of Jane Goodall’s timeless message. She expresses something we will all benefit from hearing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QlAC5llsOg&feature=channel

Thank you Jane Goodall! I aspire to follow your inspirational leadership and willingness to break through barriers, educate the masses, and to be an effective part of the global solutions we need.

WHEN AND HOW DID YOU FIRST LEARN ABOUT JANE GOODALL? ANY MEMORIES TO SHARE? I WOULD LOVE TO HEAR ABOUT THEM!

Christina Ivazes

aka Granny Pants

* Stevie Wonder Special: To be used for scratchy sore throats, laryngitis, voice loss, (many years ago I was watching Stevie being interviewed by Dick Cavett. Dick asked him how he kept his voice intact. This is what he said he used regularly:  red cayenne pepper, (about 1/8 tsp. powdered),  honey, and hot water. Drink as a tea. I have been using this for years with great success as well. It is very soothing and effective.

Image by jasonEscapist via Flickr

Pedro ha rimesso le lancette avanti di vent’anni. E mentre mezzo mondo, affogato nello smog, scopre il bike sharing che lui ha inventato venti anni fa, ieri ha detto chiaro e tondo che «il bike sharing è ormai superato, serve solo per i turisti». Vediamo perché.

Fino ad oggi il “suo” bike sharing era l’avanguardia della sostenibillità. Cosa è cambiato? – Tutto. Quando lo inventai, nel 1989, le biciclette erano un bene costoso. Oggi i cinesi le producono per 4-8 dollari l’una, e se ne trovano ovunque per 60, 100 euro. Il risultato è che 1 persona su 4 ha una bici. Tutte stipate sui balconi, nei garage, mai utilizzate: mi vuol spiegare che necessità c’è, allora, di condividere una bici se già ne possediamo una? Non ha più senso.

Tuttavia la mobilità sostenibile era un problema e oggi lo è ancora di più… – Certo. Perciò le amministrazioni oggi devono chiedersi: una volta che la gente compra la bici, che fare perché la usi?

Come? – Ho presentato il mio progetto a Washington allo staff di Obama, e oggi al ministero dell’Ambiente italiano, perché sto cercando contributi per realizzarlo. Parto da un presupposto: la gente chiede alla mobilità comodità e sicurezza. Comodità: ho brevettato un complesso sistema di stazioni sosta interamente automatizzate. Lasci lì la tua bici, e non in cantina. Allarmi infrarossi, caricabatterie per mezzi elettrici e così via: basta uscire di casa e trovarla pronta: come si fa con l’auto.

E la sicurezza? Guardi: la storia delle infrastrutture non attacca: ci vogliono 20 anni per fare 1 metro di ciclabile… – Se ci sono, è meglio. Altrimenti la massa di bici che scenderà in strada condizionerà le auto, facendole andare più piano delle due ruote. È questa la vera rivoluzione.

Qualche numero per confortare la sua tesi? – Si parla molto del bike sharing di Parigi, con 20 mila bici. Se è vero che una persona su 4 in Occidente ha una bicicletta, a Parigi, che ha 12 milioni di abitanti, ci sono 3 milioni di biciclette. Mettiamo che di queste un quinto sia sensibile alla mia idea: sarebbero 600 mila bici in giro per la città. Che dice, meglio 600 mila o 20 mila? (ANDREA BERNABEO)

Il futuro? È adesso. Nome Pedro Kanof. Vive tra Washington eMilano. Cosa ha fatto: Nel 1989 ha inventato il bike sharing. Oggi però lo considera superato.

Da Metro news la notizia qui…

Intérprete : Stevie Wonder    Letras: Stevie Wonder y Ivonne Wright   Música: Stevie Wonder

” I never dreamed you’d leave in summer
I thought you would go then come back home
I thought the cold would leave by summer
But my quiet nights will be spent alone

You said  you’d be the life in autumn
Said you’d be the one to LEAD the way
No, I never dreamed you’d leave in summer
But now I find my love has gone away

Michael, Why didn’t you stay?

No more lying friends
Wanting tragic ends
Though they do pretend
They won’t go when I go
All those bleeding hearts
With sorrows to impart
Were right here from the start
And they won’t go when I go
And I’ll go, I’ve longed
To go so long  Away from tears

Unclean minds mislead the pure
The innocent will leave for sure
For them there is a resting place
People sinning just for fun
They will never see the sun
For they can never show their faces
There ain’t no room for the hopeless sinner
Who will take more than he will give, he will give, he will give, He ain’t hardly gonna give

The greed of man will be
Far away from me
And my soul will be free
And They won’t go when I go
Since my soul conceived
All that I believe
The kingdom I will see
And they won’t go when I go
When I go
Where I’ll go
No one can keep me
From my destiny.

MICHAEL, THEY WON’T GO, THEY WON’T GO WHERE YOU GO”

Today, as I sat next to my parents, on our living room couch, eyes peering up at the television, we listened to Singers, Actors, and prominent American Figures, including the president-elect himself, on the “We Are One, Inauguration Concert.”

To be very honest, I voted for Ralph Nader, mainly because I do not believe in a two party political system, and Ralph’s policies were much more sound to me than Obama’s. But one thing I always knew was that this man inspired hope and change in the people who mattered most- you and I. President-elect Obama is always reminding us, even today, that we must get involved and stay active, keeping him informed of what we, the American people think, what we want to see as ‘the change.’

My eyes filled with tears on many occasions as I saw, these artists come together in a manifestation of what we want to see on a larger level, on a local level, ingrained in our every day selves. It is Love. While it was in the limelight, yes, and the world always shows it’s harsher edges after the glamor has faded, it was still something truly remarkable. And let me say this, it is beauty that never fades, it only changes.

I think the moment that caught me off guard, other than when Stevie Wonder came on stage and I jumped up screaming and dancing, was when Bono from U2 sang to the President. He sang his famous song, written in 1984 for Martin Luther King Jr, Pride. As the song neared it’s close he said these words.

“This is not just an American dream, but also an Irish dream, a European dream, an African dream … an Israeli dream and a Palestinian dream,” Bono said in the middle of U2’s performance of their 1984 hit “Pride (In the Name of Love).”

This was beauty. For so long, the issue of Israel and Palestine has been taboo, especially when any positive light is shown on the Palestinians. And, especially when the issue is in congress. It is time to stand up for justice, of our people at home who live in poverty and in the face of racism, and in the middle-east, where we have financed 1000 times over ongoing massacres in Iraq, Lebanon, and the Palestinian Territories.

Tears streamed down my face as I heard, what Bono had said, and I looked over at my parents, my Lebanese mother and my European father; they too were crying. These two people who created six mixed babies, all of us trying to make this world more just, peaceful, and sustainable. I owe everything to them, and I owe everything to all of you.

I chose Catch-22 as my text to translate because it was a book that truly inspired me. Reading it for the first time made me physically want to do something, not only in literature, but in life in general. Originally I had chosen (or rather been given via a ‘lucky’ dip) a six hundred page opus about a hermaphrodite and loathed it, so it was a relief to be given a book to read of both style and substance, and it’s something I’m extremely thankful for.

My translations were a doctors note masquerading as a suicide note, and a recipe. Both were relatively simple and basic translations, but that was a key for me as I felt that the book itself was darkly complicated in itself, and I wanted to write something that was far away from the claustrophobic nature of the book. Whilst on first glance the two pieces may be seen as not as worthy, or as skilled as other more complex options for translations, I find that there is an innate beauty in the simplicity of certain writing styles, rather than adhering to more stringent policies.

The doctors note was based on the character of Doc. Daneeka, the squadron physician who hates everyone and everyone, except the books main protagonist Yoassarian. Daneeka goes through the book in a perpetual state of miserableness, save only for a brief personality change towards the end of the book. Part of the books abstract and absurd theme comes directly from his character, specifically his ‘death’ at the tail-end of the book. The death being ironic, due to him not actually being dead. With this information in mind, I sought to make the note darkly comic, yet with some genuine emotional credence, which Daneeka occasionally showed.

The opening maxim I used, “Someone once joked to me that I should fake my death to catch up on work”, was used to symbolise the comic nature of the book, and also the confusion at times. Literally faking your death to catch up on work would result in your life being in limbo, which is exactly what fate fell on Daneeka. His ‘work’ in this instance, was not being a doctor, or even a friend, but actually being human. In my translation, it takes death to make Daneeka realise that he’s actually somebody “still with a beating heart, still with a brain”, rather than the robot that the war, and life in general had made him.

Doing a doctors note seemed relevant considering Daneeka himself was in the health practise.  To stop the translation from getting particularly dull, I decided to add the added intrigue of it also being a suicide note – but one that reads when the person is still alive, as Daneeka is. My repetition of the word ‘was’ symbolises the past, but repetition of questions, such as “why me?”, and “can you imagine that?”, are to show that despite the desperation and the anguish, Daneeka is actually stuck in a balance between life and death, and thus he cannot distinguish in his language what he should use. The indecision and the confusion are related to his angst in the book, wherein he blames everybody for his ill fortune except for himself – until he realises that perhaps he only has himself to blame. Hence he refrain of ‘why me’, turns into ‘why them’, a sign that his entire outlook on life has changed.

By using short sentences frequently, I intended to replicate the concise form of doctors reports, interspersed with longer and compound sentences to stop the piece from becoming too snappy. Exact and correct terminology and facts, such as “96.8 degrees”, are there to symbolise that he actually is a doctor, and whilst he is a broken up shell of a man, he (and indeed all of us), never quite lose the person we actually are, even in times of extreme hardship.

One of the more interesting aspects of Daneeka in the book, is his relationship with Yoassarion. It is essentially a one way friendship – Yoassarion offering a metaphorical shoulder to cry on, whereas Daneeka offers no sympathy to Yoassarions plight. The whole ideal of Catch-22 is first mentioned in the book by Daneeka when explaining why Yossarion and the rest of his crew cannot be excused from flight duty. Another irony here, in that what ‘killed’ Daneeka was apparently him being in a plane that crashed, which he had pretended he was in. In essence – he had killed himself.

Daneeka, like all the other major and peripheral characters in the book have their own chapters dedicated to them in the book. In this case it was chapter four for Daneeka, and thus I had a plethora of information that could be garnered from there. Part of the beauty of the book was that I was able to use my own imagination, as the book is deliberately obtuse at times, which enables the reader to put the pieces together as they see fit, rather than having everything spelt out for them. I tried to make the report a little bit spiritual and haunting. One man having a lonesome conversation with himself is one of the staples of classic literature – think Holden Caulfields constant monologues to himself in ‘The Catcher In The Rye’, to Hamlet’s constant malaise in Hamlet. Whilst I’m not comparing my work to any of the greats, I felt that there was comparisons to be made, and I took (perhaps too liberally) from those two, and others.

The recipe translation on the other hand, was perhaps a course too many, pun intended. I had struggled to come up with an idea for my second translation, which was always intended to support the Daneeka doctors report, rather than be the central point of my coursework. After discarding some frankly terrible ideas – the Chaplain doing a hip hop sermon for example, I settled on Milo, the insane mess hall officer come corrupt businessman writing a recipe explaining exactly how to become as successful, but ultimately soulless as he became.

Following the template of an internet recipe I pilfered on Rhubarb Crumble, I attempted to replicate the fruity undercurrent and golden topping usually found on the popular after dinner treat, but sadly ended up with a botched idea that never implemented itself properly. It could be said that I ended up with my just desserts.

I thought that the idea was sound, but I found myself struggling to give it substance due to the limitations found in a recipe. Whereas in the doctors note I had some room and scope to write fairly freely, I felt more chained writing the faux recipe. If the first translation had been a delicious mouth watering quiche, the latter turned out to be a stale digestive biscuit. Looking back, the shotgun approach I used on the recipe was inspired by my study of magnesium iron silicate hydroxide. Whilst science and English have never had the best of relationships, I found it fascinating that the metamorphic amphibole grew from humble beginnings into a decidedly ugly brute, rather like Milo.

I decided to induce some comedy into the proceedings, to get away from the rather earnest tone of the doctors report. Using Milo’s initially captivating but ultimately chilling catchphrase of ‘everybody gets a share’ as a starting point, I was able to weave that into the recipe, and it subsequently became the catalyst of it. Using a list enabled me to keep faith in the translation. With an end in sight I was able to follow it through. Although I struggled, I hope some semblance of fun came across, along with a slight eerie undertone of greed and ultimately, shattered dreams. I suppose the proof is in the pudding on that one.

Ultimately, looking back on both translations, I attempted to utilise my talents, rather than trying anything too experimental. All joking aside, I hope that I showed some signs of poise and understanding. Initially, during the struggle I was going to treat everything with jokes and basically be a miscreant about the entire thing, but as soon as I started writing the Daneeka report, I actually felt an emotional resonance with what I was doing, which is extremely rare for me and thus was doubly special. Despite having not used an abundance of techniques and traditional style, I wrote from the heart – and as long as I can stand up and be proud of myself, I can live with anything – even bad marks.

Thanks Animal Kookies! >^.^