Pug on a Pile

Has anyone seen my pug? Oh, there she is!

Access: An Idea

Photo: Agence France-Presse -- Getty Images

"By 7 a.m. Tuesday, few Cubans had heard the news, which was published in the online version of the Communist Party newspaper Granma....Cubans are not allowed to have internet in the home. So word of mouth will spread rapidly as people start to wakeup and head to work..." - NPR, February 19, 2008

"..now allowed to have internet..." and "...so word of mouth will spread rapidly..."

These are the phrases that caught my attention this morning and have stuck with me as I've casually skimmed online news media sites throughout the day.

Word of mouth. In the age of technology, the primary method of sharing news of the end of Fidel Castro's presidency is being shared in the most rudimentary method that any historical story has been shared - from person to person, voice to voice.

And then tonight, just as I was closing the various windows and checking the papers one last time, I noticed this - the BBC has ended its English shortwave radio service in Europe after 75 years of transmission.

How is it that in the same day, one society can end its most basic communication services in favor of higher technology, while another society continues to stretch the limits of its most basic - and far less efficient - method of communication to spread what is possibly the most important news in its history.

The juxtapositions are endless. The comparisons. The stories within the stories.

I am amazed that more has not been written yet about how Cubans found out that Castro resigned (though I have admittedly not done that much research on it today). Media outlets mention that the news was released online, but at most skim over the fact that Cuban families are not allowed to have internet in their homes. However, a simple Google search for "Cuba, internet access" confirms that Cubans are forced to wait hours in line for access to a computer and that internet service to individual homes has been shut off since January 2004.

Yet, as one BBC article notes "It is true that whenever a new law comes into effect here, Cubans - who are famed for their inventiveness - tend to find a way around it. "

This has sparked incredible interest and curiosity in me. It touches on all of my areas of interest - technology, access, storytelling. Not to mention it adds to my long desire to visit Cuba and adds just another item to the list of reasons to go.

hmmmm...ideas percolating.

where i'd like to be

Dancing Monkeys

For the lovers in the house...

His and Hers

homework

Tonight, I give you with a quote from one of the greatest storytellers we have ever known. Not just stories to amuse or please us, but to push us, make us think and always, without apology, to bring forth the truth.

I present this tonight in the wake of those of have not upheld the legacy of Edward R. Murrow, and who in their negligence and laziness, are putting this great profession to shame. They are not only doing a disservice to their predecessors, but they are discrediting the work that so many others are doing to make this new profession credible and viable. Not only that, their actions are doing more harm to the movement then helping. And for that they should be truly ashamed.

With that, I leave you with this:

"To be persuasive, we must be believable; to be believable, we must be credible; to be credible, we must be truthful."
- Edward R. Murrow

the workspace

Floating

I have this postcard...somewhere. All of this digging has made me start remembering things I have miss-placed.

But I love this image, the feeling of it. I want to be floating like them. No knowledge or concern of what is beneath. Just flying in the air.

It's a good "reminder" image for me.

(I will try to find the title and photographer's name, but it comes from this box of Magnum Postcards.)

Get in the booth!

It seems like everyone is jumping in a booth of some kind these days. As they should be! With the triumphant passing of Super-Duper-Fat-Tuesday, I thought I'd keep us in the spirit of "boothing" it.

A few days ago a friend of mine sent me a link to a fabulous website, Photobooth.net, a site that tracks photo booths across the country and around the globe. And not these new digital photobooths - the real ones, complete with chemical-peeling, smelly goodness.

The second she sent it to me, I was reminded of my favorite photobooth experience ever. No, not making out with a my high school boyfriend. Sheesh. I've been pinning this photostrip to bulletin boards in my various offices and workspaces, but in the craziness of my last move, it never emerged to join the latest batch of ephemera on my walls. So I dug it out. (See it. It's to your left).

Now this isn't any old photobooth shot. It's from Brett Ratner's "Hilhaven Lodge" photobooth. How on earth did I get my picture taken in his photobooth you ask? Well, he doesn't just keep his photobooth at his home, he takes it places. Parties, social gatherings, anywhere that people will jump in and "pose" for him.

I ended up at one of these gatherings in New York City a few years back and jumped at the chance to have my "portrait" taken with my favorite camera. (Ironically, it was the same party where I met Chelsea Clinton. I was more star-struck by her than anyone else in the room... as you might all imagine.)

After I climbed out of the booth, I waited patiently for my photostrip, eager to see how they came out. The little photobooth man (he was actually quite short) pulled out the strip, handed it to me, watched me smile, and then took it back. I was shocked. I couldn't believe he wouldn't let me keep my photostrip. But I tried. The exchange went something like this:

"What?! You're taking my photostrip? How? Why? Oh, wait, you want to put it in Brett's book? Oh...ok! Can I take another one to keep for myself? No. ...hmmmm... please. No. Pretty please. Sorry, kid. I've never seen a photobooth before. Well....okay! But don't tell Britney. Jump in!"

Ok, that last part isn't true. But, the little photobooth man did let me sneak in once more to take a second photostrip to take with me. He even let me choose which one I kept for myself. (Thanks little photobooth man!).

And sadly, no, I did not end up in the book. But believe me, I checked.

"photography is...

"photograhy is bringing life into focus"

I heard that tonight, and thought it was worth adding as a gentle reminder.

Hobo Post #2

"Hobo Post #2"
Attached to wood post in the park behind N Street between 22nd and 23rd
Watercolor on paper

I stumbled across "Hobo Post#2" on my walk home this afternoon. I love this kind of art that's "given" to people to experience on their way home from work, carrying groceries or walking the dog.

When I found it, "the post" was hanging upside down, the top push pin having come loose. So I flipped it around, pushed the pin back in and started walking away. It was just a few steps later that I decided to take a quick shot of it. I don't expect that it will still be there in the morning, but I'll be happy if it is.

Here's what the poem reads:

who does not love
the hot cocoa headed cowbird
fribbling away in his nest
the sparrows drawing baths
in the dust

o who can forget
the steaming puzzle
of a velvet muzzle
emerald scattered pastures
tumbling
like the rumbleseat of giggling garters

where is that freckled face
i nenver get over
in the lavender smoke
& the chipped china teeth
of my sleepwalking lover

Update: "Hobo Post #2" was still posted in the park the next morning. As I walked by, another woman was standing looking at it. She touched the paper gently to see what it felt like and then walked away. Hopefully there will be more soon.