Cross-Cultural Outline

The Faces of Shanghai

2009-08-19T17:17:00.000-07:00

魏玉芳（山东籍小贩）我们的日子过得很苦，每顿都是煎饼就着咸菜吃，加上一杯白开水。孩子们想吃荤菜时，就烧一个鸡蛋给他们吃。只要不下雨，就天天早出夜归，每天做十五、六个小时生意。希望孩子们上好学，我那怕东借西凑也要让他们上大学，别象我这样没文化。大儿子很争气，每学期都得奖回家，我很开心。外出摆水果滩被地痞流氓欺负，让我伤心透了。

Wei Yufang (Shandongnese, Vendor): "We are leading a hard life and eat battercakes, pickles and a glass of water for all three meals. When our kids want meat dishes, we cook them an egg. We work more than 15 hours a day if it doesn't rain. We want our kids to be educated and not to live like us. I will risk anything if our kids can go to university. My eldest son is excellent and wins prizes every semester. I suffer being teased by local ruffians."

-:-Look into the faces of Shanghai residents through the lens of Hu Yang-:-

Photojournalist and artist Hu Yang has created a lasting record of Shanghai people in their living quarters. Each individual is introduced to us in their own words (see above). There is a total of 97 documentary photographs.

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Cross-cultural Commerce - a lampoon

2009-08-14T14:05:00.000-07:00

Global profiteering: The art of profit-taking by selling stolen goods to ignorant consumers, a time-honoured practice that knows no scruples or boundaries...
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The Abaqondise Brothers - Kobanga Te

2009-08-13T15:48:00.000-07:00

(Click on the left button - Turn up the volume on your computer - Wait for the sound file to load.)

Text: "Kobanga te , ibe kanta la" - "Hab' keine Angst, es gibt jemand, der passt gut auf dich auf." - "Don't be afraid, someone is watching over you."

Die südafrikanische Gruppe Abaqondise wird in ihrer Heimat bereits als die Nachfolger der weltberühmten und wesentlich mehr kommerziellen "Ladysmith Black Mambazo" angesehen.

Ihre rhythmischen Lieder mit den unnachahmlichen Klängen gehen einem sofort ins Blut.

"Abaqondise" bedeutet Freundschaft in der Xhosa-Sprache und man fühlt es deutlich. Es kommt in ihren Auftritten und in ihrer CD mit dem Titel "Kobanga Te" die ganze Lebensfreude Afrikas zum Ausdruck.

"Rhythmus hat keine kulturellen und sozialen Grenzen. Rhythmus kann von jedem Menschen erfahren werden."

That certain 'Je ne sais quoi'

2009-08-13T15:26:00.000-07:00

From The Paris Journals by Michael Howard, Essayist, Commentator and CROSS CULTURAL OUTLINE Contributing Writer

"French police cruise on rollerblades and wear big silver stars copied from western movies. They no longer have the billy clubs and weighted capes with which they were wont to bash students upside the head. Now they carry guns. Dark vans with tinted windows transport them around town to monitor the manifestations. A manifestation is a peaceful, prearranged parade by anybody for any reason. Sometimes the bus and metro workers strike in sympathy and the city shuts down. Cars jam the streets. The police blow whistles and shout at the stalled cars and generally make things worse. Many people take a holiday. The French love holidays and take them all the time."

"Everybody smokes everywhere. Cigarette boxes say "Smoking Kills" in big black letters on one side and "Tobacco Causes Impotence" on the other. A popular item is a cardboard container into which a cigarette pack can be inserted to cover the warnings."

"In Paris everybody does the Paris Walk. If you don't do the Paris Walk, people behind you will knock you down and step over you. The basic step is simple; you just shorten the length of your stride by half and walk twice as fast. Paris is one of the most crowded cities in the world and people walk closely together. You must do The Walk in an absolutely straight line. If you swerve, you will collide with oncoming pedestrians in a domino effect which tumbles walkers for blocks. Parisians can estimate distances in millimeters, which is why they drive the way they do."

"In a crowd you see faces from history. A Voltaire sharp-chin slit-mouth face, a pudgy big-nosed Louis face, a girl with the delicate features of an 18th-century marquise. Noble families who marry carefully can trace their ancestors back to the Norman Conquest."

"This is what happens at a good café in Paris. The owner greets you by name, body-blocks an elderly lady who is heading for your favorite table, asks whether you want the usual (a bottle of St. Véran), brings an extra plate of peanuts, and fills both glasses. Everyone in the café speaks French except the couple at the next table, who are in love and do not speak at all. When you leave, the owner grasps your hand, kisses your wife on both cheeks, and begs you to return."

"This is what happens at a bad café in Paris. You spot a good table for two on the terrace; but seconds before you arrive, a party of Americans steals one of the chairs. Your wife sits in the remaining chair to establish ownership of the table and you stand in front of it while 50 comfortably-seated people stare at you with amused contempt. You feel like a bad stand-up comic. Your wife lights another cigarette and pretends she doesn't know you."

"Finally you find another chair and order wine. The waiter appears with a pot of muscadet and two glasses. He sprinkles your glass with a few drops and pauses reverently, no longer a waiter at the Café Bonaparte but a sommelier presenting a dusty bottle of Grand Cru Chateau Lafite Rothschild to the Minister of Culture. He is in fact only a waiter bearing a carafe containing a vile liquid the color of tap water tinged with piss. Without tasting it, you motion for him to fill both glasses. You do not taste the wine because you are embarrassed. You know that you have ordered the cheapest, most abominable wine on the menu, the glass misty with sludge from the bottom of the keg."

"On your right, two New Yorkers complain about their meal at one of the best restaurants in town. On your left, an ancient British couple cannot understand their menu, which happens to be written in English. With pictures. In the corner, a group of Germans loudly recall their student days in Heidelberg. The waiter overcharges you ten dollars on the bill and later presents his girl friend with the lighter your wife forgot."

[Text © Michael Howard ]

[Photo Credit: French MBA Club]

12-19-95 to 07-28-09

2009-08-13T15:15:00.000-07:00

~ For O. & D. & W.: Forever Love ~

Jungle in a Pot

2009-08-08T14:04:00.001-07:00

Here you are, at home, sitting at your computer. Take a look around you: Is there any green you can rest your eyes on? Chances are, there is not.

Not everyone has a picture window with a view of a lush garden, park or copious greenery. For most of us, the view is that of the building across the street, or of the bus-stop, or of rooftops, or of the neighbor's garage, or of the fence around the adjacent property, all of them tiresome and drab.

And here we sit, pounding away at the keyboard, squinting at the screen, boxed in by walls, real or imagined. Time to make your space more user-friendly by adding a bit of green.

Asparagus densiflorus 'Sprengeri',or Sprenger's Asparagus Fern
is an evergreen perennial with delicate needlelike leaves and ferny green arching or cascading branches. It is extremely hardy and thrives not just outdoors, but in containers as a houseplant or on a window sill.

This plant is inexpensive. Of all the possible houseplants, it does not require that you have the proverbial 'green thumb', as long as you pour a glass of water in the pot now and again to keep the soil moist. Asparagus Ferns are very forgiving and do not need direct sunlight. They do, however, need a nearby light-source if grown indoors (preferably near a window). This plant is the perfect option for your office, your home office, your apartment or your room.
-:- It is, what we might call, a cross-cultural plant -:-
Whether you are in Johannesburg, Munich, Chicago or Caracas, or anywhere in-between, go ahead, bring an Asparagus Fern into your life to brighten your 'interiorscape'. Your overworked eyes and stressed-out mind will thank you for it. And, who knows, pretty soon you might add a second plant, or a third to make your own private jungle.

(Fine print: No, we are not commercial growers or salesmen. We simply report on what works best in a given situation based on our own experience.)

Do you have a favourite houseplant? Tell us what it is.

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Music For Your Eyes

2009-07-31T19:52:00.000-07:00

~ ~ ~
Enter a new Dimension of Sight and Sound

This is a unique multi-media fusion of computer-generated 3D animations and audio, based on MIDI music which is processed to simultaneously drive the audio and the on-screen visualization. As we hear the sounds, generated with software synthesizers, we see each virtual instrument in the act of producing them.

Introducing Romanian Poet Ana Blandiana

2009-07-31T18:42:00.000-07:00

Two poems found in CONTEMPORARY LITERARY HORIZON, a European independent bi-lingual literary journal of poetry and prose in the English and the Romanian language published in Bucharest, Romania.

Totul

Frunze, cuvinte, lacrimi,
cutii de chibrituri, pisici,
tramvaie câteodată, cozi la făină,
gărgăriţe, sticle goale, discursuri,
imagini lungite de televizor,
gândaci de Colorado, benzină,
steguleţe, portrete cunoscute,
Cupa Campionilor Europeni,
maşini cu butelii, mere refuzate la export,
ziare, franzele, ulei în amestec, garoafe,
întâmpinări la aeroport, cico, batoane,
Salam Bucureşti, iaurt dietetic,
ţigănci cu kenturi, ouă de Crevedia,
zvonuri, serialul de sâmbătă seara,
cafea cu înlocuitori,
lupta popoarelor pentru pace, coruri,
producţia la hectar, Gerovital, aniversări,
compot bulgăresc, adunarea oamenilor muncii,
vin de regiune superior, adidaşi,
bancuri, băieţii de pe Calea Victoriei,
peşte oceanic, Cântarea României,
totul

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Everything

Leaves, words, tears,
match boxes, cats,
sometimes tramways, queuing up for flour,
lady birds, empty bottles, speeches,
images stretched by the TV set,
Colorado beetles, gas,
bannerettes, familiar portraits,
Champions League,
gas cylinders, always turned down for export,
journals, white loaves, mixed oil, carnations,
airport welcomes, sodas, bars of chocolate,
Bucuresti salami, low fat yoghurt,
gypsy women with packs of Kent, Crevedia eggs,
rumors, the Saturday night soap opera,
coffee substitutes,
the peoples’ battle for peace, choirs,
the yield per hectare, Gerovital, birthdays,
Bulgarian compote, the assembly of workers,
superior wine, trainers,
jokes, the boys on Calea Victoriei,
ocean fish, Cântarea României,
everything

:: Romanian lyric poet, essayist, and translator Ana Blandiana, born Otilia-Valeria Coman on March 25, 1942, in Timişoara, is considered one of her generation’s most significant literary voices and is known internationally as one of Romania's most outstanding poets. Deeply spiritual in her sensibility and patriotic in her loyalties, she wrote verse of traditional beauty and elegance. During her country's communist period she became a prominent dissident and later a respected public voice for freedom and democratic change. Ana Blandiana authored a total of 17 volumes of poetry, 6 books of essays and 4 books of other prose writings. Her work has been translated into 16 languages.
::

Întrebări

De ce nu se-amestecă totul?
De ce nu se-acoperă
Pielea lucioasă a pământului cu blană?
De ce nu răsare iarba verde şi fragedă
Pe spinarea fierbinte a fiarelor din păduri?
De ce nu le cresc pomilor aripi
Şi păsărilor rădăcini?
De ce nu ciripesc pietricelele fericite
De pe marginea râului?
Eu de ce nu învăţ să urăsc?
Eu de ce?
- O, Doamne, ce copil obositor,
Oftează îngerul.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Questions

Why doesn’t everything blend together?
Why doesn’t the shiny earth skin
Get covered in fur?
Why doesn’t green and tender grass spring
On the burning back of forest beasts?
Why don’t trees grow wings
And birds roots?
Why don’t the happy pebbles chirp
On the river bank?
Why can’t I learn to hate?
Why not me?
- Oh, Lord, what a tiresome child,
Sighs the angel.

[Published in CONTEMPORAN LITERAR ORIZONT, Anul II, nr. 5 (10), Iunie 2009]
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- AMALGAMATED PERSPECTIVES presents 'Childhood' and 'Journey' by Ana Blandiana. Click here -

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Ana Elsner shows Poetry as Theater

2009-02-09T17:41:00.000-08:00

Co-producer and director Ana Elsner is proud to present

Three Nights of Performance Poetry

at the RANDALL MUSEUM THEATER

Showcasing Thirteen Distinguished Poets

on March 5, 12 and 19, 2009

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

This special three-part poetry series is designed to appeal to a large and diverse audience, targeting especially all those who are newcomers to poetry events.

It highlights select poets whose unique voices represent a sampling of the vibrant contemporary poetry scene.

If you reside in, or will be visiting the San Francisco Bay Area, you are invited and encouraged to attend this exciting and dynamic event.

: V e n u e :

The Randall Museum Theater in Corona Heights Park, 199 Museum Way at Roosevelt Way.

Maplink: Click here to see map

Free parking lot.
Muni #37

Call 1-415-554-9600 for directions.

Wheelchair accessible.

: P r o g r a m :

- First Night: "View Point Vistas"
on Thursday, March 5, 2009 at 7pm,
with featured poets Jerry Ferraz, Charlie Getter, Don Brennan, Rosemary Manno;
special musical guest Betsy Stein, violin;
hosted by Stephen Kopel

- Second Night: "Passion Unveiled"
on Thursday, March 12, 2009 at 7pm,
with featured poets Stephen Kopel, Jari Bradley, Christopher Bernard, Joan Gelfand;
special musical guest Don Prell, acoustic bass;
directed and hosted by Ana Elsner

- Third Night: "Lasting Impressions"
on Thursday, March 19, 2009 at 7pm,
with featured poets Ana Elsner, Al Averbach, Richard Beban, Lunation (Clara Hsu and Bill Mercer);
hosted by Stephen Kopel

-Admission to all events is free-

: S p o n s o r :

The San Francisco Recreation and Parks Department

-

: Photo Montage of the PASSION UNVEILED Show :
(art work ©Ana Elsner)

::

A Word in Your Ear

"In an age when city coffers are depleted and public and community venues and facilities such as the San Francisco Public Libraries, SFPL, the San Francisco Free Civic Theater, SFFCT, director Glenn Havlan, several neighborhood rec centers and many other free city-run programs are being threatened with cut-backs, it is especially important to come out in support of local literary and community events before they vanish forever.

The Randall Theater Poetry Series is one such program. Attending one, two or all three of the poetry shows will not only inform and entertain you, but will also send a message to the appropriate city agencies that events such as these are in demand, are vital to the local community and deserve continued funding.

Yes, we are soliciting your engagement and presence at these three shows, not just for the benefit of the featured poets and musicians who are giving so generously of their time and talent without monetary compensation, but also to help us make an important point.

So go ahead, jump on our (poetry) bandwagon. There's room for all of us!

Thank you."

- Ana Elsner
Poet, Producer and Patron of the Arts

: P E R F O R M E R S :

A Panoply Of Personalities
_______________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________

Click here to see
The Cast
of
"LASTING IMPRESSIONS"

::

Click to see highlights of Elsner's past events and appearances

A Tribute to TONY VAUGHAN by Ana Elsner

2008-09-29T14:03:00.000-07:00

:

On the night of September 27, 2008, the San Francisco literary community lost one of its most forthright, giving, gentle and beloved members, the poet, artist and musician

Tony Vaughan
(July 14, 1947 - September 27, 2008).

Cancer struck him down and took him from us, but his courageous spirit and his compassion for all living things lives on in his legacy of poems and paintings and in the hearts of all who knew him. We publish here a poem that was written by his fellow poet Ana Elsner and is a tribute to Tony, his life and work, and his sojourn on this earth.

- The Commentator, blogmaster of CROSS CULTURAL OUTLINE

(Photo above: Tony Vaughan performs at the UCSF Cancer Center, Healing Garden Music Series)
::

TONY VAUGHAN
by Ana Elsner

so much
so much
LIFE,

so much
so much
LIVED;

hard
jabs
heart
break

the tyranny
of love and tenderness
transcended,
transcending,
and lapping
at the shore of consciousness;

this valiance
of gingerly rebelling against
the intimacy
of a merciless reality

in soft words
in gentle song
in pastels
on paper;

drifting

on a whiff of the herb,
on a whim of the soul,
on the threadbare sole
of street-corner anonymity
and bus-stop penance;

retracing your footprints,
embedded
in the un-cured clay of mind,

and always seeking by feel,
by feel;

wagering in the currency
of song,
of poem,
of shape and color,
pinned-down,

at times half-veiled in riddles
and distant echoes,

yet decoded to all those
who hold the key of
shared mysticism and wonderment.

You navigated
the un-fathom-able BEING of it all
with stubborn tenacity

while doing battle with the ever-present
specter of resignation.

You kept on moving,
kept on riding the rails,
kept on strumming your guitar,
perhaps to an inattentive crowd,

kept on sketching and re-sketching
the outer reaches
of self.

I call you POET

I call you FRIEND

I call you BROTHER

I RECOLLECT YOU

© Ana Elsner

Click to see event dedicated to Tony Vaughan

-:-

Ana Elsner reminisces at a gathering of friends:

"I see Tony sitting across from me at a table outside Café Trieste. I don't remember him ever sitting inside the café. Always outside, with his hat on. He has just taken his guitar out of the beat-up case and cradles it in his lap, while continuing our conversation. Then, almost subconsciously, he fingers a few riffs. He tells me about his novel and the ongoing struggle he has with it, a sort of love/hate relationship with (his) life. I buy him a glass of wine. Later we walk a few steps up Vallejo Street to where the steep alley goes down to Broadway and share a smoke. We are not in a hurry. It's only late afternoon. A fogbank is pouring over the top of Russian Hill. We shiver just a little. But we don't care."

-:-

To sample Tony's poems and artwork please visit this site:
San Francisco Poet Tony Vaughan

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Ana Elsner Reading and Book Signing at SFPL

2008-08-21T12:56:00.000-07:00

The San Francisco Public Library presents:

Ana Elsner speaks Words that are Poems

Event Type:

Author reading and book signing

Date/Time/Location:

Wednesday, September 24th, 2008, 6:30 p.m.
at the San Francisco Public Library - Glen Park Branch,
2825 Diamond Street (near Bosworth), San Francisco

Event Description:

Polyglot poet and world citizen Ana Elsner delivers poetry for everyone in a performance of her poems from Ciphers of Uncommon Origin - Poems by Ana Elsner.

Accompanying Ana Elsner's reading will be special guest Chad Ostwald on double bass.

Immediately following her recital, Ana Elsner will answer questions about her poetry and her creative life, which spans half a century and two continents.

At this event her book will be for sale by the Friends of the San Francisco Public Library.

The poet will autograph copies of her book by request.
Click to read about Ana Elsner's book
CIPHERS OF UNCOMMON ORIGIN
and about the publisher InstaPLANET Press.

Contact person: Kate Brown (415) 355-2858

Click here to view event listing at the San Francisco Public Library Blog

This poetry reading and book signing by Ana Elsner is a Library Sponsored Public Program.

:: Click here for more details ::

Get together right now

2008-08-10T16:44:00.000-07:00

: :

All geo-politics aside, all nationalism aside,

the Olympics belong to the athletes,

competing in ultimate democracy without prejudice.

______________________

This is perhaps the only forum that fosters true World-Citizenship. And, at least for the next 14 days, it belongs to all of us who are ready to embrace it.

同一个世界同一个梦想

One World, One Dream

: :

May we learn to practice World-Citizenship and make it last well beyond August 2008.

On this occasion, may all people of all nations adopt a global perspective of peaceful coexistence for the sake of this planet and future generations.

: :

Newsflash - Thursday, August 7th, 2008:

Sadly,
in yet another part of the world
the opposite seems to be true,
as a new bloody conflict has broken out again
between Russian and Georgian military forces
over the province of
South Ossetia.
[show map]

________________________________________

Find the complete schedule of all the Olympic events here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_Summer_Olympic#Calendar

Click to check broadcasting times and channels (U.S. only)

Uncensored Testimony

2008-05-11T18:28:00.000-07:00

"Truth will ultimately prevail where there is pains to bring it to light,"
George Washington

Marking the occasion of the fifth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq, a three day Press conference was held in Missouri by the group IVAW - Iraq Veterans Against the War, aka "Winter Soldier", bringing together veterans, service members and civilians to share their eyewitness accounts of the occupations in Iraq. Many spoke out about the indiscriminate violence ordered by their commanders, about the cover-up by American military of widespread civilian killings in Iraq, and about other hair-raising ordeals.

The IVAW is calling for
(1) the immediate withdrawal of all occupying forces from Iraq
(2) Veterans benefits and healthcare
(3) reparations for the Iraqi people

(Note: This event was not reported by any of the U.S. mainstream media...)

Luis Montalván, a 34-year-old former captain with a chest full of medals and two Iraq tours under his belt, said he joined the anti-war movement to denounce the statements put forward by high-ranking officials and to disclose the rampant corruption.

Captain Luis Montalván who is now tied to a cocktail of medications for ailments ranging from post-traumatic stress disorder to chronic pain resulting from an attack, slammed the Bush administration for "perpetrating high crimes and misdemeanors, committing dereliction of duty, lies and mismanagement" in Iraq.

As the medals on his chest caught a glint of spring sunlight,
he called on Americans to "vote the right way"
in the November presidential election:

"Vote for the candidate
who is most likely
to extricate us from Iraq," Montalván said.
(via Middle East online)

[See also: "No, thank you!"]

[Related link: How to pick and choose]

::

Do as you are told

2008-05-02T19:49:00.000-07:00

:

Under the Economic Stimulus Act of 2008, aimed at averting a looming recession, more than 130 million American households will receive economic stimulus payments beginning in May.

Our leaders in Washington, DC - George W. Bush along with Congress - have deemed it appropriate to send YOU, the taxpayer, $300 to $600, a so-called economic growth incentive, so that you can help revive the flagging U.S. economy.

Here's the catch: For this plan to work you've got to go on a wild spending spree just as soon as you receive your check, preferrably adding an extra chunck of your cash "into the bargain". (Good luck finding ANY merchandise not made in China...)

Don't go doing something selfish like putting that money in a savings account or using it to pay down your credit cards, "No siree Bob". That would spell disaster: If you try to use the windfall in a responsible way, then this entire house of fiscal cards is going to collapse. Do you want to be responsible for bringing down the already limping American economy? Of course not! That is why it is your PATRIOTIC DUTY to go out and spend, spend, spend!

: Wouldn't you know it :
Asian stock markets respond positively to America's economic stimulus campaign. With the U.S. being the biggest importer of Asian goods, Asia's lucrative export market is hampered by an ailing U.S. economy and welcomes a speedy turn-around.

"We are going to give rebates to taxpayers, and that is great. But what will most of them do with it? They are going to buy things that were imported from China,"
said former Republican Presidential Candidate Mike Huckabee.

: Stop and think :

A hackneyed plot: The tax-rebate plan would cost the Treasury about $150 billion this year, according to the Joint Committee on Taxation. The U.S. government is giving taxpayers money that is essentially "invented money", by increasing federal debt, debt, that all taxpayers and all check recipients are, in one way or another, on the hook for...

"We can't keep on mortgaging our children's future $150 billion at a time,"
said Representative Jim Cooper, one of 10 Democrats to vote against the bill.

The bottom line:
There is no such thing as *free money*

[Read about Recession: Economic crisis of 2008]

[Choose your News]

:

Hearing Other Voices

2008-04-29T17:35:00.001-07:00

-:- -:- -:- -:- -:- -:- -:- -:-

Conceived of and implemented by Roger B. Humes in June of 2004,

The Other Voices International Project

is a cyber-anthology that erases the boundaries of nations, ethnicities, religions, cultures, and age in order to collect and present some of the world's best poetry.

To date, April 2008, Humes, himself a poet, has published 32 Volumes of poetry on his othervoicespoetry.org site. Each volume showcases 15 poets from around the world with samples of their work and a short biography.

Among the chosen poets are

Poet Laureate of the United States from 2001 to 2003, Billy Collins;

Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish;

Jean-Michel Maulpoix, auteur d'ouvrages poétiques;

Multi-culturalist poet, artist and translator Ana Elsner;

Russian poet Yevgeny Yevtushenko;

Freelance poet, poetry organizer and essayist Mario Petrucci;

Arab-American award winning poet and novelist Naomi Shihab Nye;

Jimmy Santiago Baca, of Chicano and Apache descent, founder of Cedar Tree, a non-profit organization for the empowerment of impoverished and imprisoned people through literacy.

Humes, founder and director of this international poetry project, goes about the choreography of content in a very selective way. As stated on the index page: "Participation in Other Voices is by invitation only". Humes is assisted by his artistic partner and co-director, Iranian poet and human rights activist Sheema Kalbasi.

An excerpt from the Mission Statement:

"The soul has become an endangered species and Art must regain its voice to save humanity from extinction.... To help you and I rediscover some semblance of our humanity, these OTHER VOICES INTERNATIONAL POETRY PROJECT writers creatively share the adventures, desires and dreams of the human heart and spirit, wherever it resides. Through this singular poetic voice we can claim unity in our diversity and strive to live in honor of human dignity."

The Other Voices International Project has been indexed by the World Poetry Directory of UNESCO under "journal", United States.

Other Voices is an outstanding resource to anyone who wishes to explore the vast world of international poetry. It is continually growing as new poets are added.

::

[Read A Poem about the Oboe at AMALGAMATED PERSPECTIVES]

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[Related link: Read a biographical article about international poet Ana Elsner]

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The reason

2008-04-15T16:19:00.001-07:00

"Let us remember ... that in the end we go to poetry for one reason, so that we might more fully inhabit our lives and the world in which we live them, and that if we more fully inhabit these things, we might be less apt to destroy both."

- Christian Wiman, poet, essayist
and editor of
Poetry Magazine
-:- -:- -:- -:- -:- -:-

Read a sample poem
by multi-national poet Ana Elsner:

"Poetry"

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Black and White

2008-02-13T19:45:00.000-08:00

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POETRY IN BLACK & WHITE -

Devorah Major and Ana Elsner:

Two Colors, Two Voices

In honor of Black History Month, international Poet Ana Elsner and former San Francisco Poet Laureate devorah major give a joint performance of poetry in a dialogue between a European-American and an African-American voice.

This unique event
takes place in
San Francisco's famous North Beach district
on Tuesday, February 26, 2008 at 7p.m.

See and hear two strong women poets coming together in this dynamic program choreographed by Ana Elsner.

One night only.

'Poetry in Black and White - An Attraction of Opposites'

held at: The North Beach Library, 2000 Mason Street at Columbus

This is a free event, sponsored by The Friends of the San Francisco Public Library.

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View Event Listing for this program posted at the Redroom.com website on Ana Elsner's author page

:
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Click to see other highlights of

Ana Elsner's 2008 performances

-:-

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We are

2008-02-13T18:24:00.000-08:00

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"We are
the ones

we've been waiting for"

- Barack Obama, born August 1961 to a black Kenyan father and a white American mother, is the junior United States Senator from Illinois and a leading candidate for the Democratic nomination in the 2008 U.S. presidential election. In the course of his campaign Obama has emphasized ending the Iraq War, increasing energy independence, and providing universal health care as his priorities. He has written two bestselling books: a memoir of his youth titled Dreams from My Father, and The Audacity of Hope, a personal commentary on U.S. politics.

America's young voters
respond to Obama's words
in a unique way,
chiming in with their own lyrical rendition of

"Yes We Can"

An excerpt from the lyrics:

Yes we can to justice and equality.

Yes we can to opportunity and prosperity.

Yes we can heal this nation.

Yes we can repair this world.

Yes we can.

We know the battle ahead will be long, but always remember that no matter what obstacles stand in our way, nothing can stand in the way of the power of millions of voices calling for change.

We have been told we cannot do this by a chorus of cynics ...they will only grow louder and more dissonant ... We've been asked to pause for a reality check. We've been warned against offering the people of this nation false hope.

But in the unlikely story that is America, there has never been anything false about hope.

...we will remember that there is something happening in America; that we are not as divided as our politics suggests; that we are one people; we are one nation; and together, we will begin the next great chapter in the American story with three words that will ring from coast to coast; from sea to shining sea –

Yes. We. Can.

:: Click this: The Adjusted Pie Chart ::

Keep your finger on the 2008 pre-election pulse:

click here

for links to major
public-opinion pollsters
on the Democratic field vs. the Republican nominee.

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Visual Vibrations

2007-12-02T17:01:00.000-08:00

:
Here is a treat for both eye and ear:

Description:
_______________

This a multi-media fusion of computer-generated 3D animations and audio, based on MIDI music which is processed to simultaneously drive the audio and the on-screen visualization. As we hear the sounds, generated with software synthesizers, we see each virtual instrument in the act of producing them from beginning to end.

Enjoy!

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Nationwide Outcry

2007-10-25T13:50:00.000-07:00

:

About the October 27, 2007
National Mobilization
to Fall Out Against The War
- People everywhere want the war to end. They know that with each passing month, the Iraq war and occupation claims the lives of nearly 100 U.S. service personnel and countless Iraqis, most of them civilians. They are aware that the Iraq disaster drains 12 billion tax-dollars away from much needed social programs, from communities and individuals.

- They want their voice to be counted and make Washington take decisive action to end this outrageous war.

- Many of them take their first step in transforming their antiwar feelings into antiwar action by marching in massive nationwide demonstrations for peace.

- Thousands from all surrounding regions and all walks of life travel to 11 cities around the country in a national expression of the breadth and depth of antiwar sentiment in this nation.

The participating cities are: Boston, Chicago, Jonesborough, Tenn., Los Angeles, New Orleans, New York City, Orlando, Philadelphia, Salt Lake City, San Francisco, and Seattle.

Commentator:

"I am marching in memory of Rabha al-Hamzawi, Iraqi, female, civilian, Muslim Women's Rights activist, member of Manar Women's Association, killed on 24 June 2007 near the Jamaliya orchards in Balad. IBC database file #k6772."

:: Click here to see pictures and video ::

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Check List

2007-10-13T02:20:00.000-07:00

CROSS CULTURAL OUTLINE congratulates Al Gore and the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change for winning the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize

How about taking some time to pay attention to even just one or two of the global issues on the list that are due to the effects of human activity on the natural environment.

How about finding and defining your own personal strategy to help preserve our planet?

: Climate change - Global warming; Greenhouse gas emissions; Sea level rise

: Conservation - Invasive species; Species extinction; Habitat destruction

: Energy - Energy conservation; Petroleum dependence

: Genetic engineering - Genetic Pollution; Genetic Erosion

: Agriculture - Intensive farming; Overgrazing; Irrigation; Monoculture

: Soil - Soil conservation; Soil erosion; Soil contamination; Herbicides; Pesticides; Soil salination

: Land degradation - Desertification; Crop decimation; Famine

: Overpopulation - Urban sprawl; Increased longevity

: Air Pollution - Acid rain; Air Quality Index; Atmospheric dispersion modeling; Chlorofluorocarbon; Global dimming; Haze; Ozone depletion; Particulates; Smog

: Water Pollution - Marine pollution; Ocean acidification; Oil spill; Surface runoff; Thermal pollution; Wastewater; Waterborne diseases; Drinking water quality

: Depletion of natural resources and non-renewables - Overfishing; Deforestation; Depletion of fossil fuels; Over-consumption

: Waste - Waste types; Waste management; Waste collection; Toxicity; Contamination; Waste treatment technologies

It is easy for us to forget about how much garbage we produce because once a week the truck comes along, sweeps up that trash and whisks it away to a landfill out of sight and smell.

Checkout:

Commenting on winning the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize Gore said,

"We face a true planetary emergency. The climate crisis is not a political issue, it is a moral and spiritual challenge to all of humanity."

Gore plans to donate his share of the $1.5 million that accompanies the prize to the non-profit Alliance for Climate Protection.

[See also An Indictment]

[Pass on the plastic]

[Try out a different product]

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Color Art

2007-09-28T16:35:00.000-07:00

Art work and images © Konstantin Grabowski

Konstantin Grabowski was born 1965 in Siberia, and lives in Germany. He graduated in painting and graphic design from the University of Omsk, where he studied from 1985-1991.

His oils and acrylics on canvas span colorful abstract, semi-abstract and figurative painting that is modern, yet has a somewhat dreamy quality.

The works are typically rich in relief and textured with multi-layered paint.

Grabowski began exhibiting in 2000. He is represented by galleries in Europe and in the U.S.

Von einem Katalogtext für Konstantin:

" Ein gutes Bild ist wie gefrorene Musik, eine Landkarte vergangener Bewegungen. Paul Klee sagte: 'Das Auge folgt den Wegen, die im Werk für es angelegt worden sind.' Aber es ist noch mehr: Schwere wird unschwer, Leichtigkeit unleicht, der Raum selbst wird aufgehoben und wie von falschen Beweisen entlastet. Es ist so wie der österreichische Schriftsteller Robert Musil sagt: 'Man hat noch eine zweite Heimat, in der alles, was man tut unschuldig ist.' "

"The function of art is to make that understood which in the form of argument would be incomprehensible."

Constantin Brancusi (1876-1957), renowned Romanian early-modernist sculptor

[See also: Art for our sake]

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Hikikomori by Shahar Golan

2007-09-24T15:45:00.001-07:00

© Shahar Golan
From 'Almost Finished'
(via Frgdr)

Hikikomori, a Japanese term for "acute social withdrawal" is a noun that describes both the problem and the person suffering from it and is also an adjective, like "solitary"). It defines a societal group of reclusive individuals, primarily young Japanese males, who feel uncomfortable in public, are suffering from social anxiety, and have chosen to withdraw from normal life, often seeking extreme degrees of isolation and confinement in small spaces. This seclusion and lack of interpersonal stimulus results in the gradual loss of the social skills and reference points that are necessary to integrate and interact with the outside world.

[Read the NY Times Article about Hikikomori and their families, by Maggie Jones]

-About the Poet-

Shahar Golan was born and lives in Israel. He is an emerging photographer and digital artist and recent graduate of the Musrara School of Art in Jerusalem who decided to leave a comfortable IT position in order to fulfill his lifelong passion for poetry and the arts.
In July of 2007, Shahar Golan published his first book titled 'Almost Finished'. It includes mainly Hebrew poems and short stories.

-:- -:- -:- -:- -:- -:- -:-

[Check out Other Voices]

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Roundup Remembered

2007-09-23T19:02:00.001-07:00

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.
.

In 1942,

Dorothea Lange (1895-1965), prominent American photographer and photojournalist, was hired by the War Relocation Authority of the U.S. government to document the evacuation and relocation of Pacific coast Japanese Americans.

Executive Order 9066, authorized by President Franklin Roosevelt, sent 120,000 civilians of Japanese ancestry to various detention and concentration camps with armed guards and barbed wire.

This was an immediate and drastic response to the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.

Strong sentiments of prejudice and dehumanization of "Japs" in the general population were fueled by anti-Japanese propaganda during World War II.
These hateful sentiments were extended indiscriminately toward the enemy forces along the South Pacific battle lines as well as, unjustifiably, toward the peaceful and loyal citizenry of Japanese Americans at home in the U.S.

When justice fails

Up and down the West Coast, Japanese Americans, from doctors to shopkeepers, to farmers right down to school children and babies were summoned. The majority did not even speak Japanese, only English. All pledged their loyalty to the United States, their homeland, but to no avail:

Entire communities of Japanese American families were rounded up and herded into horse stalls at the Tanforan Assembly Center in Northern California. There they were inventoried and tagged and held for up to six months at what had been a racetrack before being transported to more permanent camps in the deserts of Arizona, Utah and New Mexico and other remote locations, such as North Dakota and Arkansas. One of the first things the prisoners did was form baseball leagues to pass the time while in captivity.

Dorothea Lange's photographs vividly denounce this cruel, hysterical and racist policy. Her lens captured the quiet dignity of the forgotten men, women and children even as their lives were tossed into turmoil and deprivation.
:

Over 90% of Dorothea Lange's documentary photos were suppressed and never published until much later.

Although she did not live to know it, 23 years after her death her photographs would help remind a nation of its tragic wrongdoings and might have contributed, in some small measure, to the passing of the Civil Liberties Act of 1988, a United States federal law that granted reparations to Japanese-Americans who had been interned by the United States government during World War II.

Beginning in 1990, the government paid reparations to surviving internees.

[Read an interview with Dorothea Lange]

[See also: Discrimination]

[Related Abu Ghraib]

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Mustapha Tirkaa Cek a bu cekrudh

2007-09-21T19:13:00.000-07:00

Mustapha Tirkaa is a young and dynamic star of Arabic Chaabi (popular) music also known as Chaâbi, Sha-bii, or Sha'bii. Chaabi comes in numerous varieties which are descended from the multifarious forms of Moroccan and Algerian folk music. These songs are characterized by a swift rhythmic beat accompanied by syncopated clapping. Lately, a new generation of vocal artists and bands is experimenting with incorporating western elements such as rap and hip-hop.

presenting:
Cek a bu cekrudh
(via NODAR - Berlin, Germany)

[Note: The link opens the Adobe Flash Player and runs the x-shockwave-flash application. It will open in a new window. To activate hit > play button. To stop anytime hit the pause button or close the window. If you don't have this player installed or if you have the Adobe player blocked you will not be able to receive this audio file.]

CROSS CULTURAL OUTLINE
is dedicated to showcasing
newly emerging and groundbreaking World-Music
that is not as yet well known internationally.

.

Mark Twain elucidates again

2007-09-21T17:53:00.000-07:00

Mark Twain on the subject of War
(edited and abbreviated)

There has never been a just one, never an honorable one on the part of the instigators of war. I can see a million years ahead, and this rule will never change. The handful in power, as usual, will shout for the war. The pulpit will warily and cautiously object at first; the great, big, dull bulk of the nation will rub its sleepy eyes and try to make out why there should be a war, and will say, earnestly and indignantly, "It is unjust and dishonorable, and there is no necessity for it." Then the handful will shout louder.

A few fair men will argue and reason against the war with speech and pen, and at first will have a hearing and be applauded; but it will not last long; those others will outshout them, and presently the anti-war audiences will thin out and lose popularity.

And now the whole nation, pulpit and all, will take up the war-cry, and shout itself hoarse, and mob any honest man who ventures to open his mouth; and presently such mouths will cease to open.

Next the statesmen will invent cheap lies, putting the blame upon the nation that is being attacked, and every man will be glad of those conscience-soothing falsities, and he will by and by convince himself that the war is just, and will thank God for the better sleep he enjoys after this process of grotesque self-deception.

Mark Twain (1835-1910), was a popular American writer, humorist and satirist, with a keen wit. Twain is perhaps most noted for his novel Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (published in 1884), which deals with overcoming the entrenched racism of the time.

[See also: A poem by Walt Whitman, and Siegfried Sassoon's Aftermath]

[Related: a Theodore Roosevelt quote]

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新詩 DREAM

2007-09-17T13:14:00.000-07:00

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[Read about 中国古代诗歌 Chinese Poetry]

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[See also: Great Chinese Poets]

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Look and Listen

2007-09-16T15:23:00.000-07:00

CAN you look him in the eye

can YOU look him in the eye

can you LOOK him in the eye

can you look HIM in the eye

can you look him IN the eye

can you look him in THE eye

can you look him in the EYE

CAN you re member his mess age

can YOU re member his mess age

can you RE member his mess age

can you re MEMBER his mess age

can you re member HIS mess age

can you re member his MESS age

can you re member his mess AGE

Commentary

The anger and condemnation in the kid's voice is entirely justified. We were not the first to pollute and damage our planet. That process started along with the industrial revolution. We are, however, the first to have scientifically researched and assessed the devastating scope and consequence of global warming. Despite this knowledge we have failed take crucial countermeasures.

Our guilt is that of denial, inertia, lack of responsibility and near-criminal neglect. We have sold out to the instant gratification of consumerism, no matter the cost, and to the mind-numbing falsehoods of a morally bankrupt leadership.

Time has come to face up to the undeniable reality of climate change and to join in taking effective steps to halt and maybe even reverse it. The ways and means to accomplish this objective are already at our disposal waiting to be enacted and applied.

Not only do we owe this to our kids, we owe it to ourselves.

[See also: Preserve our eco-system]

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Navy vs Whales: Navy one - Whales zero

2007-09-10T21:20:00.001-07:00

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The U.S. Navy has long been pushing to conduct training exercises off the coast of Southern California using high-powered sonar. This particular stretch of coastline is an important habitat for orca and humpback whales and other marine mammals. Applying this invasive military technology in the waters of this coastal region poses a significant threat to the resident marine life.

[Caption: A disoriented and injured humpback whale mother and her calf at the Port of Sacramento, where they hit a dead-end after traveling 90 miles through the San Francisco Bay and up the Sacramento River in May 2007.]

The Natural Resources Defense Council, the plaintiff, alleges that the Navy's sonar causes whales to beach themselves. It may interfere with their sense of orientation.

"There is evidence that very loud noise from anti-submarine warfare sonar may hurt whales and lead to their beaching. On numerous occasions whales have been stranded shortly after military sonar was active in the area, suggesting a link."

(Found on Wikipedia)

On Friday, August 31, 2007, a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco ruled for the Navy and against the welfare of the whales.

The justification for the panel's decision was written by Judge Andrew Kleinfeld and reads:

"The public does indeed have a very considerable interest in preserving our natural environment and especially relatively scarce whales. But it also has an interest in national defense. We are currently engaged in war, in two countries."

This ruling allows the Navy to use high-powered sonar in 11 planned training exercises.

This ruling is also a demonstration of the harmful tentacles of a dubious war reaching as far as our Pacific backyard, all under the guise of 'national security interests'.

Why is this not surprising?

Because, sadly, environmental and humanitarian concerns have always been subjugated by militaristic ones. This, however, is fast becoming an unsustainable rationale.

Some folks take a dim view of "tree-huggers", "whale-lovers" and "the Birkenstock crowd". But the fact is that we can no longer afford to tolerate this kind of self-righteous cynicism as the issues of preservation and rehabilitation of our eco-system become more pressing with each passing day.

Wake up and smell the scorched land
and the plundered oceans!
::

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Pavarotti unparalleled

2007-09-09T18:50:00.000-07:00

The World of Music Mourns

A Reflection about a Man
and his Voice

By Ana Elsner

Luciano Pavarotti (October 12, 1935 – September 6, 2007), the world-famous Italian tenor, was one of the most charismatic, talented and celebrated vocal artists of opera stage and concert stage alike. Born in Modena, Italy, Pavarotti studied voice and gave unpaid recitals for several years before embarking on a professional singing career that proved to be of stellar proportions. In 1961 he made his opera debut as Rodolfo in 'La Boheme' in the footlights of a small regional Italian opera house.

Soon he debuted at the most distinguished opera houses of Europe and eventually became a beloved regular in the international world of opera and concert, garnering the affections of thousands of devoted fans.
His perfect pitch and the unique brilliance and deeply resonant beauty of his voice, reaching far into the upper register, earned him the title of "King of the High Cs" and made him one of the most successful recording stars.

Pavarotti, like no other, brought his signature arias and brilliant performances, previously limited to the trained ears of the opera crowd, to a far wider audience.

Hearing him sing, one cannot help but open one's heart to the man and his voice.

Beyond his fame as a tenor, he is noted and remembered as a humanitarian hero for his tireless charity work, raising millions for hunger, HIV/AIDS and refugee issues and for countless other charitable causes.

This is a man who was large in life.
His legacy is and will always be larger than life.

Pavarotti passed away in the early morning hours of September 6, 2007, from pancreatic cancer. He is survived by his first and his second wife and by four daughters.

Many tears will be shed in his memory.

Pavarotti in his own words:

"I think an important quality that I have is that if you turn on the radio and hear somebody sing, you know it’s me. You don’t confuse my voice with another voice."

"I think a life in music is a life beautifully spent."

[See also: 'Luciano Pavarotti Is Dead at 71' by Bernard Holland of the NY Times]

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Are you a Lark or an Owl

2007-09-07T14:51:00.000-07:00

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Sleep Habits: What are yours?

"We would all live better if our existence is not constantly dictated by an alarm clock," says Camilla Kring, who has a PhD in Work and Life Balance. According to Kring, an individual's preference for early rising (an A-person, or 'lark') and late rising (a B-person, or 'owl') is as genetically determined as hair or eye color. Far from the stereotyping of people who can't get out of bed in the morning as 'lazy', 'unproductive'and 'lacking in ambition' it all comes down to different circadian rhythms.

"B-people find it easy to stay awake at night, preferring to go to bed at around 1am or 2am, but have difficulty waking in the morning, not feeling fully awake until after 10am," explains Kring.

"A-people are the opposite, they love the mornings and immediately crank into full gear but then collapse at about 10pm."

Researchers believe that 10-20% of people are extreme owls, 10-15% are extreme larks and the remaining 80% fall in between and the rest of the population are something in between.

Comparative findings on Lark versus Owl:
According to professor Angela Clow from the University of Westminster in London, research showed that over 10 weeks early risers were more likely to suffer from aches, colds and headaches. Meanwhile, a Southampton University study found that those who burned the midnight oil and slept-in the following day were no less healthy than the early risers.
(via Guardian New)

Ready to join B-Society?

The international web site of the 'B-Society', founded by Camilla Kring in Denmark, contains detailed information on B-Human and B-Work. It started a movement calling for 'an uprising against the tyranny of early rising' and creating a new, adjusted daily rhythm in schools, other institutions and on the job as a viable alternative and for a more enlightened world where a diversity of daily rhythms is acknowledged and respected.

: Still in its infancy, B-Society has attracted about 4800 members in only four months. :

[Follow this weblink to learn more about B-Society]

[Read an article in Deutsche Welle World]

:: CROSS CULTURAL OUTLINE never sleeps. What about YOU? Please comment ::

The Lives of Others

2007-09-06T15:27:00.000-07:00

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CROSS CULTURAL OUTLINE Film Pick

Das Leben der Anderen

Dieser gründlich recherchierte Film von Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck erzählt von der Verlorenheit des Individuums im erbarmungslosen System der Kontrolle und Überwachung. Ost-Berlin, November 1984, fünf Jahre vor der Öffnung der Berliner Mauer. Hier spielt das Drama über Verhörspezialist Stasi-Hauptmann Gerd Wiesler (Ulrich Mühe), der im Verlauf seiner Spitzelei an sich selbst zu zweifeln beginnt. Dieser Zweifel an seinem Auftrag und an der Staatsmacht der DDR schlechthin wächst, bis er ihn letztendlich in hoch riskante Tat umsetzt.

Ein eindringliches, spannendes Drama um Liebe, Leidenschaft und Mut, und um die ewige Faszination der Freiheit, das in 2006 mit einem Oscar ausgezeichnet wurde.

Der Schauspieler Ulrich Mühe starb am 22. Juli 2007 in Walbeck, Sachsen-Anhalt, an Magenkrebs.

Sein letzter großer Erfolg war die Hauptrolle in dem Oscar-prämierten Film "Das Leben der Anderen".

The outstanding actor who portrayed the main character, Stasi agent Gerd Wiesler, in the oscar winning German thriller/drama "The Lives of Others" died in July from cancer of the stomach.

CROSS-CULTURAL OUTLINE featured film:

The Lives of Others

German director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck debuts with his feature The Lives of Others, which earned an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film in 2006.

The film is set in 1984 East Berlin five years before the fall of the Berlin Wall. It provides an exquisitely nuanced exposé of life in a totalitarian regime. The main character, Gerd Wiesler, played by Ulrich Mühe, is a secret police (Stasi) surveillance expert trained to perpetuate the oppressiveness and the lack of freedom in communist East Germany, the former GDR. His professional stoicism gradually melts as he becomes swept up in the lives of the artistic community he is spying on. Eventually, he secretly and heroically intervenes in the outcome of his investigation.

This role had particular resonance for Mühe, who was himself under surveillance by the Stasi at the time he was a star of East German theater.

[Read about Ulrich Mühe in Der Spiegel (in German)]

::Have you seen this film? Post your review under "Comments"::

A Russian Tale

2007-09-05T16:27:00.000-07:00

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Добры́ня Ники́тич

Dobrynya Nikitich,

Medieval Russian Knight
and Dragonslayer

The theme that Palekh artist Dmitry Bonokin has chosen for this miniature painting is the ancient Russian bylina (Russian oral tradition, folk legend) "Dobrynya and The Dragon". This bylina tells how the mighty bogatyr (Russian knight) Dobrynya Nikitich killed the evil Dragon for devastating Russian land and for kidnapping the niece of Prince Vladimir.

In the middle of the composition is the heroic figure of Dobrynya, of the noble warrior class, sitting on his faithful steed and trumpeting his horn to announce his victory. Just under Dobrynya's figure, the artist depicts the body of the dead Dragon.
To the right we see Prince Vladimir and different citizens of Kiev triumphing and saluting their hero, while on the left girls are laundering clothes in the Puchai River (according to ancient legend, the citizens of Kiev were baptized in the waters of this river).

In the upper left corner of the composition the artist writes in gold paint this excerpt from the folk tale:

"Wherever you were brought from, each of you go in your own direction, and the Dragon will not touch you, the evil Dragon has been killed!"

In the upper right corner of the composition there is another quote in gold letters from this bylina:

"The blood of the Dragon flew from the east down to the west, never more will the Russian and Christian people be imprisoned, for the Dragon was killed!"

Historians believe that the personage made imortal by this tale evolved from the real Slavic warlord Dobrynya, who led the armies of Svyatoslav the Great and tutored his son Vladimir the Fair Sun.

Dmitry Bonokin is a young artist and graduate of the Palekh Art School of Miniature Painting. This particular piece is Bonokin's diploma work, signed, titled and dated 2002, and was shown in the Moscow exhibition "Origin and Contemporaneity" in 2003. It is pictured in the exhibition catalogue. The painting now resides in the Ana Elsner Collection, U.S.A.

[More about The Legend of Dobrynya Nikitich as portrayed in Russian Miniature Art]

[Read the entire story on Wikipedia]

[See also: An early history of Palekh art]

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Hollow Man

2007-09-03T16:36:00.000-07:00

CROSS CULTURAL OUTLINE presents:

Ryan Larkin (1943-2007)

Ryan Larkin was a Canadian animator, famous for his 1969 Oscar-nominated short 'Walking' which influenced a generation of fledgling animators. He worked at the National Film Board of Canada from the early 1960s until 1978. He created countless storyboards, tracings, drawings and paintings for his unique and often surreal animations. Ryan was homosexual but had a long-term close relationship with a young woman named Felicity, the "love of his life".

Larkin's chronic abuse of drugs, cigarettes and alcohol eventually lead to homelessness and a dismal subsistence from panhandling on the streets of Montreal. He died on Valentine's Day, February 14, of this year at age 64 from lung and brain cancer.

"To possess your soul in patience, with all the skin and some of the flesh burnt off your face and hands, is a job for a boy compared with the pains of a man who has lived pretty long in the exhilarating world that drugs or strong waters seem to create and is trying to live now in the first bald desolation created by knocking them off."

- Charles Edward Montague (1867-1928), British Author, Journalist and critic

This is a video of Chris Landreth's 2004 CGI (Computer-generated imagery) film 'Ryan', a docu-mation, as CROSS-CULTURAL OUTLINE has dubbed it, which reveals and visualizes his character's personality and emotional scars.

In the Oscar winning animated short film 'Ryan', we hear actual recordings of the voice of Ryan Larkin in conversation with Landreth and with other people who knew him. These voices speak through hollow, twisted, broken and disembodied 3D-generated character images. Landreth, born in 1961, calls his style of bizarre, sometimes humorous and often disturbing animation "Psychorealism".

[See also: Ryan Larkin Dies (Video)]

[Related: A Greg Anderson quote]

[See Part Two of the video on AMALGAMATED PERSPECTIVES]

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Goliath

2007-09-02T21:00:00.001-07:00

:
Examining the Power that is Google

Friend or Foe
Google's page ranking monopoly, also known as "Google-opoly", has been a source of endless frustration to owners and webmasters of modest, strictly non-commercial websites who are exercising their right of free speech and want to be heard amidst the din of blatant consumerism.

It is like pitting an Internet David against an Internet Goliath of dubious integrity, namely google.com, who has been shown to exert unfair dominance over the search-and-ranking business giving giant commercial and ad-laden sites the highest rankings and thereby the greatest prominence. Contrary to the legend, prospects of David winning this (mis-) match are slim to none.

On the other hand, it is an undisputed fact that Google is the world's largest and most widely utilized search engine, fielding about 150 million search requests a day. Beyond that, Google offers an overwhelming menu of tools and services, most of which a mere mortal average web user is blissfully unaware of. The Google development team is comprised of a slew of whizz-kids coming up with ever more far-reaching widgets and applications to enthrall the google-devotees and keep them firmly in the fold.

The Google Cheat Sheet shown above and below lists a total of 44 Google Services URLs, 9 subsidiaries owned by Google, 13 Google blogs, 11 additional tooli-gigs and countless Google domains world-wide.

Impressive? You betcha.

You will probably need to use magnifying glasses in order to make out the topmost illustrations in this post. The reason: 'Blogger',that is to say 'Google', imposes a limitation of a 408 pixel width on each image.

Squint and sigh.

The two opposing camps of Google fans and Google critics are clearly defined and equally vociferous. There seems to be a lot of emotionalism at play here. Few web users have a neutral attitude about the Google phenomenon. Surely, you have made up your own mind in this matter.

And, oh, by the way, have fun trying out some or all of the goo-features listed (you must type each individual URL into your browser window).

Google away...

[See also: 'Google vs. Evil']

[Related: Frick and Frack]

:: Are you google-eyed? Please comment ::

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Where is the Wisdom

2007-08-31T16:03:00.000-07:00

Where is the wisdom

we have lost in knowledge?

Where is the knowledge

we have lost in information?

- Thomas Stearns Eliot (1888-1965), poet, dramatist and literary critic

"La injusticia me hace hervir
la sangre"

- Fernando Botero, Colombian painter and sculptor

Dam ist der Name der ersten und bekanntesten Rap-Band Palästinas. Auf Arabisch steht das Wort für "ewig", im Hebräischen für "Blut". Seit 1998 rappen Tamer Nafar, sein Bruder Suhell und ihr gemeinsamer Freund Mahmoud Jrere aus der palästinensischen Siedlung Lod in Israel gegen den Frust über die Situation des palästinensischen Volkes und für ein größeres Bewusstsein für dessen Schicksal.

Palestinian rap group DAM (Da Arab MC's) created this Hebrew music video about the struggle of Palestinians in Israel. Living in Lod, a town between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, they are Palestinians with Israeli citizenship, so-called "Israeli Arabs".
DAM's music is a unique fusion of East and West, combining Arabic percussion rhythms, Middle Eastern melodies and urban Hip Hop.

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[See also: Uncensored Testimony]

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Hermann Hesse on Learning

2007-08-29T15:22:00.001-07:00

Lesen ohne Liebe, Wissen ohne Ehrfurcht, Bildung ohne Herz, das sind die schlimmsten Sünden gegen den Geist.

- Hermann Hesse, deutsch-schweizerischer Lyriker, Essayist, Erzähler und Kritiker (1877-1962)

Reading without love, knowledge without tribute, education without heart, those are the worst sins against the mind.

- Hermann Hesse, German-Swiss poet, essayist, novelist and critic

(Translation by Ana Elsner)

Published in many languages, Hesse is best known for his works:

Siddhartha, an allegorical novel about the search for enlightenment, first published in 1922,

Steppenwolf, a demonstration of the duality of human nature, pub. 1928,

and The Glass Bead Game (Das Glasperlenspiel), a futuristic novel, describing how people construct, deconstruct, signify, encode and program their perception of reality, pub. 1943.

"The above quote of Hesse reminds me of his novel Unter dem Rad, where the protaganist's spirit is crushed by the rigid educational system of the day.

Hesse's short stories called Märchen deal with the artist's struggle to create great art. They are told in painstakingly beautiful detail and sometimes with humor and irony.

Hesse is one of the greatest psychological novelists since Dostoyevsky. He was a manic-depressive who was not afraid to delve into the depths of his soul. One can clearly see the influence that Jungian psychology had on his work.

In his novel Narcissus and Goldmund, the two protagonists embody the two necessary components of the creative spirit: logic/abstract thought balanced with intuition/emotion. Narcissus, the ascetic monk, is of the Father world coming to terms with the processes of individuation through his intellect. Goldmund, the woodcarving icon artist, is of the Mother world feeling his way through life in the quest for discovering his true Self. This novel is literally steeped in Jungian archetypes and dream symbols on just about every page.

Applying the Riso-Hudson enneagram personality theory, Narcissus represents the five (the Thinker) and Goldmund the four (the Artist) on the scale of personality types. It is no surprise that Hesse, himself, was a four with a five wing."

Vincent Russo, Composer, Orchestrator and Conductor

[Take your own Personality Test]

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DAWN by Ana Elsner

2007-08-27T16:39:00.000-07:00

Suddenly and uninvited Dawn appears

and reaches deep inside of you

piercing your outer shell

of eyelid skin and flesh cushion.

OH DAWN OF STEALTH!

Mercilessly it jolts your mind

out of its cocoon of amniotic Suspension

which transcends all laws, natural and man-made,

out of blissful Disembodiment from self,

out of Fantasy beyond description,

where that palpable state of Omnipotence resides.

OH CRUEL DAWN!

Now dreamscapes evaporate under morning sun's invasive glare,

Sleep-drunk torpor gives way to the inevitability of purpose

Synapses twitch into brain-controlled efficiency.

OH DAWN OF DUE-DILIGENCE!

When the bathroom mirror reveals a light crusty stain on your cheek,

the tracks of your tears cast a slip-shadow of remembrance,

as fleeting as the hummingbird darting away,

of that un-chartable nameless territory,

where your subconscious mind is a nightly Explorer,

pouring out and being replenished,

shedding the tears of Pain,

shedding the tears of Ecstasy.

OH DAWN, INTERCEPTOR OF DREAMS!

© Ana Elsner

From 'CIPHERS Of Uncommon Origin - Poems By Ana Elsner' Volume I,

Instaplanet Press, Language Maker Poetry Series,

First Edition June 2007

(Reprinted by permission)

[See also: About the poet]

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Click to read three more poems:

Ana Elsner's The Intervention Rhapsody In Three Movements

Poetry by Ana Elsner

Oboe

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The Adjusted Pie Chart

2007-08-22T15:35:00.000-07:00

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According to the latest U.S. Census Bureau report, nearly one in ten of the nation’s 3,141 counties has a resident population that is made up of more than 50 percent of so-called 'minorities' when sorted by (age,) sex, race and country-of-origin. This demographic brings the total number of minority-turned-majority counties to 303. The most recent counties added to this statistic are Denver County, Colo., and East Baton Rouge Parish, La.

So, now what? Hadn’t the U.S. Homeland Security Department better put up fences around each of these 303 counties in order to control the spread of this 'alarming' trend? (Heaven help us...!)

"Luckily," America's wealth, resources, corporations and polticians are still owned and controlled by 2% of the white male population (hello...!). Imagine what these new upstart majorities would do if they ever took over, a prospect unfathomable to the rich ruling class which considers itself omnipotent and uncontestable.

In some areas, minorities and others who were equally marginalized have gained a foothold in the new political power structure.

While it took hundreds of years before Blacks in America made the slightest political impact, they now have an opportunity to vote into office a candidate from their own ethnic background.
American women finally gained the right to vote in the 1920's. It is only now that they are in a position to support one of their own for president.

The question is, whether or not these formerly unempowered segments of the population will assert themselves at the ballot box in large enough numbers to cut the as yet unbroken chain of white male dominance in the White House.

Some of us dearly hope so, while others don't...

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Sit and ponder this

2007-08-21T16:55:00.000-07:00

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I Sit and Look Out

I sit and look out upon all the sorrows of the world,
and upon all oppression and shame;
I hear secret convulsive sobs from young men, at anguish with themselves, remorseful after deeds done;
I see, in low life, the mother misused by her children,
dying, neglected, gaunt, desperate;
I see the wife misused by her husband -
I see the treacherous seducer of young women;
I mark the ranklings of jealousy and unrequited love,
attempted to be hid -
I see these sights on the earth;
I see the workings of battle, pestilence, tyranny -
I see martyrs and prisoners;
I observe a famine at sea - I observe the sailors
casting lots who shall be kill’d,
to preserve the lives of the rest;
I observe the slights and degradations
cast by arrogant persons upon laborers,
the poor, and upon negroes, and the like;
All these -
All the meanness and agony without end,
I, sitting,
look out upon,
see, hear, and am silent.

-Walt Whitman, (1819-1892),
American humanist, poet, journalist, editor, teacher, and clerk at the U.S. Department of the Interior

[Two poems by Friedrich Hölderlin , translated by Ana Elsner]

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Have you forgotten yet

2007-08-15T18:36:00.000-07:00

Siegfried Loraine Sassoon (1886-1967) was a British poet, diarist and author, known for his anti-war verse which resulted from his own experiences while in military service during World War I.

Horrified by the brutal realities of war, Sassoon's writing took a drastic turn away from the romantic sweetness of his early verse. This new stark and unembellished war poetry was intended to disclose the ugly truths of the trenches to an audience that had been seduced by patriotic propaganda.

Graphic descriptions of mangled limbs, rotting corpses, horror, depravity and despair are the trademarks of Sassoon's poems about WWI. These word-paintings are rendered in a rich and compelling language and with the utmost candor.

In 'Aftermath' the poet admonishes us, not to be lulled into complacency, to always remember "the slain of the War" and to "stop and ask, 'Is it all going to happen again?'"

Sadly, since Sassoon's time in WWI many more wars have been unleashed on mankind right up to the current U.S. war with Iraq.

Yes, Siegfried, it did all happen again, is all happening again and will continue to happen again...

[Related: Looking back on World War II ]

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Personality Cult

2007-08-14T18:21:00.000-07:00

Stalin personality cult adapted to post-election parody in the US in 2005

This 'Official Inaugural Cover' envelope is an acerbic spoof about the narrow election of Washington State Governor Christine "Chris" Gregoire who won by a mere 133 votes and only after two recounts and several court challenges at that. The Stalin image and quote "It's not who votes that counts. It's who counts the votes" is employed here in a sadonic way as a post-election jab, most likely attributable to her right-wing Republican opponents.The cancellation stamp spells 'Olympia, USSR' in cyrillic letters with the date mark of 12.01.05, the Russian/European version for January 12, 2005, the day of Gregoire's inauguration. On the postage stamp itself is a montage of Stalin flanked by Lenin and Gregoire with the caption "Democratic People's Republic Of King County" and "All Hail The Selection Of Commissar Gregoire" and with a 'Provisional Postage' value of 37 Kopeks.

Joseph Stalin (Иосиф Сталин), 1878-1953, General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee, turned dictator, initiated an unprecedented campaign of lethal propaganda, political repression, persecution and executions which cost the lives of millions of Russians.
Stalin, much like Hitler, created a personality cult around both himself and Vladimir Lenin, who was the first head of Bolshevik Russia.

[Related: 'The Solution' by Bertolt Brecht]

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Looking back on 1945 - Memoirs of a US Soldier

2007-08-14T16:26:00.000-07:00

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...The City Square (in Leipzig) looks a little like the square I was in with the 69th. We were at the near end and a Kraut ran across the far end. We all shot at him, but I don't know whether he got out. It was almost dark.

Some time after that, Dan Carey and I captured one. I just recall Carey talking with the guy in his high school German. The Kraut seemed to be a decent guy so we treated him well.

I have a picture of a few guys from our squad sitting on a curb waiting for orders to move out. Carey was the one who liberated a camera and took the photos I have. He had a German print copies for some of us.
He's also the guy who shot his rifle right next to my ear and left me with the ringing I still have after all these years.

Carey really was some piece of cake as was a guy he used to pal around. (I think the guys name was Rowe.) Once they went kind of crazy and went into a German home and ripped it apart for no reason whatsoever. The only German Rowe knew was, "Guten tag. Fraulein. Haben sie Kinda?" (For John: Ich weiss. "Kinda" hat Recht nicht. When he saw a Fraulein, he would ask her that stupid question, looking straight at the woman and rubbing his hands together. (That wasn't in Leipzig.) ...

One other thing I remember in Leipzig was being in a large cellar
with booze all over the place. Don't remember how or why I was in there.

[Military humor: How to prepare for Deployment]

Now as Then - A Message

2007-08-14T15:01:00.001-07:00

In Ephesians 6:12 the Apostle Paul (A.D. 10 - A.D. 67) wrote:

For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

[See also: Learn From History]

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Engineering Consumerism

2007-08-12T18:18:00.000-07:00

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The following is a documentary about mastermind Edward Bernays (1891-1995), the grand-daddy of mass manipulation and propaganda. It shows a glaring exposé of his systematic manufacture of a brand new avenue for the benefit of corporate gain by shamelessly exploiting the principles of psychology and behavioral science. (Via Google Video)

Synopsis of Episode

In the 1920s Bernays was hired by the American Tobacco Company to break the existing taboo against women smoking in public. In a bold move he made an announcement to the press that the female women's-rights marchers in the New York City parade would light so-called 'Torches of Freedom'. Then, on his signal, a group of young models, hired for maximum effect, lit Lucky Strike cigarettes in front of the eager photographers. Predictably, from this moment on, it was considered 'chic' for women to smoke in public which increased cigarette sales exponentially.

Engineering Consent - Bernays postulated: "If we understand the mechanism and motives of the group mind, is it not possible to control and regiment the masses according to our will without their knowing about it?" He went on to prove his point in the most skillful and amoral of ways.
Not surprisingly, one of his biggest fans was Hitler's propaganda chief, Joseph Goebbels.

[Click to see more film footage at AMALGAMATED PERSPECTIVES]

[Related: The Corporation]

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How to pick and choose

2007-08-11T15:22:00.000-07:00

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It's that time again in American politics: The candidates are atwitter, the campaigns are abuzz and the debates abound. Even if you are a diligent voter and make an effort to follow all the hype, you will soon find yourself buried under an avalanche of (mis)information.

It is a common strategy, employed by campaign managers everywhere, to comingle political issues with popular culture in order to attract even the most a-political of citizens.

Many like to think that our personal lives, our family concerns, our health issues, our financial matters, our social contacts, our recreational activities, our private pursuits, our religious affiliations, our choice of entertainment exist in a separate sphere from our town halls, our state houses, our courts, our Congress and our president.

This widespread misconception is being exploited by skilled campaign strategists who wrap their message inside more popular and innocuous slogans and images so it will penetrate down to "where we live".

The question: - How do we separate fact from fabrication?
The answer: - Focus on the issues that matter to you, and examine each candidate's stand on them.

Here are some examples of what might, or should, be of importance to you, your future and the future of your children and grandchildren:

* Assault Weapons Ban
* Arctic National Wildlife Refuge Drilling
* Iraq War
* US Patriot Act
* Universal Healthcare
* Kyoto Protocol on Climate Change

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[Picture THIS]

(Sidebar: 'Democracy' by Leonard Cohen)

:: Was this article helpful to you? Please leave a comment ::

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Human Body Plastination - Science or Exploitation

2007-08-10T19:41:00.001-07:00

Thanks to a technology called plastination, the general public now has a chance to physically view what only doctors and scientists could once see: the very real and intricate architecture of human anatomy and individual organs, unaffected by decomposition.

Actual human bodies are preserved by a process called polymer impregnation,whereby water and lipids in biological tissues are replaced by curable polymers,silicon rubber, epoxy resin or polyester (all commonly known as plastic).

The plastic is initially pliable, enabling the bodies to be placed in different life-like positions.Depending on the plastic used, it can be hardened by heat, light or gas (see image right) so to retain their shape.

It takes from two to six months to transform a cadaver into a full-body plastinate. Organs are identical to their pre-preservation state down to the microscopic level, providing durable specimens invaluable for study and analysis.

Properly plastinated specimens are completely dry and odorless.

Before plastination, the only method for preserving human cadavers was by storing them in formaldehyde.

[Further reading: Body Worlds]

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The 'Universe Within' is a travelling public exhibit of plastinated human bodies that has been shown in Europe, the US and Japan, presented by the Chinese Society for Anatomical Sciences and the Museum of Life Sciences in Beijing.

It is allegedly supported by Beijing University and the University of Vienna.

The human bodies in this display were said to have been donated to the Museum. Nobody knows who they are.

The assertion by the exhibitor is that these corpses were unclaimed and unidentified at the time of death. Non of these claims can be verified.

One may question whether the cadavers had been properly obtained in a nation where individual rights are not always respected.

With ticket prices ranging from $15 to $20, with a discount for children (!!!), to view the preserved remains of real people, this exhibit of flayed and dissected human corpses artfully exploits the technique of plastination:

One male body stands holding his entire skin draped over a hanger like a coat, his mustache and beard still on the flayed face.

Another, muscles exposed, is poised to throw a baseball.

Down the hall, a man sliced down the middle, so that his internal organs will be displayed, is in an odd minuet with himself, one half reaching out to the other.

What was once a 5-foot-10-inch woman is cut in pork-chop-thick wafers from skull to toes and stretched out to 20 feet in what is essentially a CAT scan made real.

This exhibit and others like it, where bodies of dubious provenance are used for commercial exploitation purposes, have met with huge regional and international outcries of protest on moral and ethical grounds.

[See also: Gunther von Hagens' website with online store]

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Inadvertent Discrimination

2007-08-10T17:18:00.000-07:00

"Most people, no doubt, when they espouse human rights,
make their own mental reservations
about the proper application
of the word 'human',"

Lafollette, Suzanne (1893-1983), American Journalist

Get a grip on Time

2007-08-10T16:11:00.001-07:00

Clockface hip-hops away the hours, dancing to the rhythm of day and night.

He skips and jumps from continent to continent, humming a different tune, telling a different time. To pin him down on his journey around the globe there is a handy device, the Time Zone Converter.

Say, you're in New York and want to know what time it is in Tokyo, click here.

For an overview of local time in major cities and countries around the world at any given moment, consult The World Clock and... ... Get a grip on Time!
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MOKU - The New Haiku

2007-08-09T12:47:00.000-07:00

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Moku stands for "modified haiku" and was established by contemporary poet Ana Elsner. It has three lines, the same as haiku, but allows for more syllables per line. Ana Elsner's moku present rich and condensed imagery, illuminating moments in everyday life or interpreting existing conditions or human nature at large, - Commentator

Moku Number Nine

screeching siren ambulance

rents in half congested one way street

canyon of uncertain fate

© Ana Elsner

[See also: Haiku versus Moku]

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[Read more Poems by Ana Elsner]

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Veni Vidi Video

2007-08-08T13:36:00.000-07:00

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~ WATCH AND WEEP ~
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On Declaring Death:

"What an arrogant thing, to think we [doctors] have the right to name the moment when a person's life is no more, when some of the person's cells are still living, when we don't even fully understand what life is and how it arises..."

[Read more: Pronouncing]

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[See also: Eulogy of a loved one]

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New Window

2007-08-08T13:06:00.000-07:00

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Use caution when editing your Life Template

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[See also: The Baptists]

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