I Dream in Green

Actions: What You Can Do With the City

2009-02-15T16:19:00.004-05:00

Through April 19th, The Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCA) presents the exhibition Actions: What You Can Do With the City, an exhibition with 99 actions that instigate positive change in contemporary cities around the world. Seemingly common activities such as walking, playing, recycling, and gardening are pushed beyond their usual definition by the international architects, artists, and collectives featured in the exhibition. Their experimental interactions with the urban environment show the potential influence personal involvement can have in shaping the city, and challenge fellow residents to participate.

Action #85 is "Plastic Bag Feeds Neighborhood," a system for the transformation of vacant lots into community gardens, using plastic "grow" bags (pictured) filled with dirt, seeds, and water. In London, concrete lots lacking soil were planted with beets, kale, and broccoli, among other things.

Greenopia & the return of the Brown Bag Lunch

2009-02-05T11:24:00.007-05:00

As we call try to cut corners every way we can to save money during these tough economic times, a tried-and-true method is regaining popularity: "brown-bagging" it.

A recent study from The NPD Group, a market research company, reports that weekday lunches carried from home reached a new high point in 2007, with adults 18 and older carrying some 8.5 billion brown bag lunches last year. More than half of these lunches are consumed at the workplace, and most often at the diner’s desk or workstation.

According to Greenopia, a website that provides consumers with the means to make daily decisions that reduce their impact on the environment, the average school-age child who carries a lunch daily generates 67 pounds of waste per school year. That works out to 18,760 pounds of lunch waste for just one average-size elementary school. While brown-bagging might be good for family finances, in the long run, it can cost people more in terms of waste removal and environmental damage.

To decrease the amount of trash generated by home-packed lunches, Greenopia suggests:

–Replace paper napkins with cloth versions that can be washed and reused.

–Pack stainless-steel utensils instead of using disposable plastics. Do not send knives to school.

–Use reusable drink containers instead of disposable juice boxes, juice pouches, cans and plastic bottles.

–Avoid using plastic wraps, plastic bags, wax-paper bags and aluminum foil whenever possible. Opt for reusable containers instead.

–Cut down on packaging waste by purchasing foods in larger containers that can be divided into individual servings at home rather than buying many smaller packaged products.

–Choose sturdy lunchboxes or backpacks over paper or plastic bags. Remember to wash lunchboxes thoroughly before packing the next lunch, or at least wipe them out with a cloth soaked in an antibacterial product.

Yes We Can

2009-01-13T08:44:00.008-05:00

I recently created this graphic for the non-profit organization Just Food, which works to develop a just and sustainable food system in the New York City region. Organic t-shirts hand-printed with the design are currently on sale in the Just Food gift shop.

Among other things, Just Food connects local farmers to direct marketing opportunities in New York City. Their current Food & Farm Issue is a petition to legalize beekeeping in NYC. Beekeeping in the city is currently illegal, under The New York City Health Code Section 161.01. Many other cities, including Chicago and San Fransisco, permit and regulate urban beekeeping and have found that urban apiculture can benefit human, economic, and environmental health. You can learn more about the benefits of urban beekeeping and sign the petition on the Just Food website.

I have been fortunate to have developed on ongoing partnership with this fine organization. Just Food contacted me in 2007 after seeing someone wearing one of my "Beet the System" shirts at a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) pick-up. We talked and decided to print Beet The System shirts with their logo on the back. The LETTUCE EAT LOCAL and YES WE CAN designs were collaborations that came later - the Lettuce shirt this summer, in conjunction with their conference in early September called “Let Us Eat Local,” and the idea for the YES WE CAN shirts came after the election.

100% Cotton - India

2008-11-14T08:24:00.003-05:00

The maker of this shocking and revealing documentary says: "From its polluted landscapes to its poisoned workers, India is paying a heavy price for Europe's desire for cheap cotton. Pesticides banned in Europe readily find its way onto the Indian market."

Very interesting to watch. Will definitely convince you of the importance of buying organic rather than conventional cotton.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ol9LhGQJQ_w

Real Food and the Fort Greene CSA podcast

2008-11-11T08:31:00.013-05:00

New Idealist Podcast: Buy Local, Eat Local

Guest contributor Cambra Moniz-Edwards explores how Community Supported Agriculture is positively affecting the Brooklyn neighborhood, Fort Greene.

In recent years, communities across the five boroughs have become more concerned with eating "locally" and developing a sustainable food system for all New York City residents. Community Supported Agriculture--the model of pairing groups of community residents with small local farms--continues to gain in popularity all over the city as an alternative to supermarket shopping. But how exactly does CSA work? What does membership in a CSA model mean for community residents?

In the latest Idealist.org Community Podcast, guest contributor Cambra Moniz-Edwards follows Fort Greene CSA Coordinator Jen Datka as she explains the ins and outs of one of Brooklyn's newest CSAs. For more information on CSAs in the five boroughs, and on developing a sustainable agriculture system in New York City, visit JustFood.org.

(I recently drew the above graphic for a Just Food t-shirt - available for sale through Just Food.)

The Election

2008-10-16T16:53:00.003-05:00

I know this is an environmentally-oriented blog, but the upcoming election is so important (and in fact will have an impact on the environment, as well as on so many other things) that I feel the need to post this.

This web page was put together by a friend, Brian Smith. Brian argues that it is of vital importance that Americans elect Senator Obama as president. I, of course, agree with him.

There are some videos to watch, and thoughts to ponder. If you are undecided about the candidate you will support, or if you are a McCain supporter, or know someone who is, please read this, and pass it on.

http://web.me.com/brian_edward_smith/Site_3/Please_Read.html

Garden Cycles Bike Tour

2008-08-11T11:52:00.003-05:00

In 2007, Liz Tylander, Kat Shiffler and Lara Sheets took three months to cycle from DC to Montreal to shoot a documentary film ("Garden Cycles Bike Tour") on urban and suburban farming and gardening.

I heard about their project in this Washington Post article. The three women have also put together their own blog about the film.

Hot Reusables

2008-07-24T09:43:00.003-05:00

Today I came across this article in Time Magazine, about Sharon Rowe and her company, Eco-Bags, which is my supplier for wholesale blank totes. Sounds like business is going pretty well...

Black Sheep Heap blog mentions...

2008-07-03T09:05:00.009-05:00

I've been away from the blogging world for couple of months, busy in the physical world of setting up a new studio, working on some custom projects and drawing up new designs (which will be trickling in on the Black Sheep Heap site in the next few months).

A few other people have done some blogging for me recently, though. Check it out:

Barefoot Rooster
My It Things
Brooklyn Flea
Eat Cake!
Green Upgrader
Roadside Scholar
Modish

Michael Pollan on changing "the cheap-energy mind"

2008-04-21T18:35:00.004-05:00

Why Bother?

If you do bother, you will set an example for other people. If enough other people bother, each one influencing yet another in a chain reaction of behavioral change, markets for all manner of green products and alternative technologies will prosper and expand. (Just look at the market for hybrid cars.) Consciousness will be raised, perhaps even changed: new moral imperatives and new taboos might take root in the culture. Driving an S.U.V. or eating a 24-ounce steak or illuminating your McMansion like an airport runway at night might come to be regarded as outrages to human conscience. Not having things might become cooler than having them. And those who did change the way they live would acquire the moral standing to demand changes in behavior from others — from other people, other corporations, even other countries.

All of this could, theoretically, happen. What I’m describing (imagining would probably be more accurate) is a process of viral social change, and change of this kind, which is nonlinear, is never something anyone can plan or predict or count on.

So says Michael Pollan, in this past Sunday's New York Times Magazine (The Green Issue). I found this article to contain a convincing argument for the power of the individual in the face of seemingly insurmountable problem of climate change.

go green, brooklyn style

2008-04-10T20:31:00.003-05:00

Habana Outpost, New York's first (and only?) solar-powered restaurant, in Fort Greene, Brooklyn will kick off its 2008 season with an Earth Day Expo (the restaurant is only open six months of the year - the sunny months!).

Owner Sean Meenan is often sought after for information about sustainability and green business practices - and so he organized the first annual Earth Day Expo at Habana Outpost. The focus of this two-day event will be to provide a place for the community to access information about sustainability in a fun and interactive way through a series of free events and workshops.

From 12-6pm, both days, shop green: local vendors and designers (including black sheep heap) will showcase green products and services in an outdoor market.

There will also be electronic waste recycling, a bio-diesel demo, and composting workshops.

Habana Outpost Earth Day Expo
April 19th & 20th, 12-8pm

EcoEtsy Blog shout-out

2008-04-06T17:35:00.004-05:00

My tree tee was featured on the EcoEtsy blog today.

EcoEtsy is a group of like minded people who are coming together to spread the word about reducing, reusing and recycling. We concentrate on educating other Etsyians to be more aware of the waste we create when packaging our items and therefore offer tips and tricks to help other members create a greener way of life in their shops and in their personal lives.

EcoEtsy is open to all sellers who want to waste less in the process of selling, packaging and shipping, and to encourage buyers to do their part as well.

green pop!

2008-04-02T06:05:00.003-05:00

Poppytalk Handmade is a curated monthly online street market to showcase, buy and sell handmade goods of emerging design talent from around the world. Currently they're having an eco-themed market.

Read about it on Crafting a Green World, where Black Sheep Heap got a shout out!

Brought together by a beet

2008-03-30T20:05:00.006-05:00

Last fall, I teamed up with a local non-profit, Just Food, to create "a fashionable and eco-friendly way to inspire New Yorkers to discover the importance of participating in and advocating for a just, sustainable, regional food system."

Just Food fosters new marketing and food-growing opportunities that address the needs of regional, rural family farms, NYC community gardeners, and NYC communities. I think this organization is doing really important work.

Below are some excerpts from the press release.

---

The sustainably packaged and cleverly conceived t-shirts, hand printed and designed by Harris, feature a bunch of beets below the slogan, “Beet the System”. The T’s drew the attention of Just Food, not only because their logo happens to be a beet, but because the designer, and the organization, is homegrown, and eco-minded. Jen P. Harris has been designing and hand printing t-shirts and totes with an eco-bent since 2005.

Most of Harris’ designs are printed on 100% recycled or organic cotton, and all are packaged in recycled brown paper bags. “I'm excited about this partnership with Just Food. [Their] holistic approach to food, hunger and agricultural issues is a perfect match for my commitment to design that raises awareness about environmental and social concerns,” said Black Sheep Heap designer, Jen P. Harris.

Just Food makes fresh locally grown food available and accessible to all New Yorkers by connecting rural farmers, urban gardeners, and NYC residents. Through workshops, hands-on trainings, cooking demonstrations and a commitment to food justice advocacy, Just Food continues to increase public awareness around the connections between healthy farms, healthy communities, and a healthy environment.

“Beet the System” t-shirts, and more information about ways to participate in and protect the local food and farming system are available at justfood.org.

fresh start

2008-03-28T07:45:00.002-05:00

Hello all of you out there!

I haven't posted for a while but I am back with the intention of using this blog in a slightly new and different way. While in the past I mostly posted drawings and designs, I am now going to be posting mainly written accounts about events I have and will be participating in, other artists and designers I like, and updates about my own work in both design and fine art.

water columns: jellies

2007-07-26T09:10:00.000-05:00

Three small paintings - about 12"x26" each. Studies for larger works.

new animation stills: swimming lessons

2007-06-29T09:58:00.000-05:00

The top two are stills from a tiny movie called, "swimming lessons"; the bottom one is a detail from the second still. I did all of the art direction and animation from June 10-19 (and I am continuing work on editing the final version). The text was written and the storyboard created by Bonnie Scott Jones, who also co-directed the movie and thankfully served as grip, pool-boy, moral-supporter, etc. I'll be screening it at an indy film night on July 25th at 8pm at Think Coffee (248 Mercer).

At work in the studio on a new animation.

2007-06-12T09:29:00.000-05:00

photo by bonnie scott jones

2007-05-04T21:31:00.000-05:00

i'm painting now. it takes longer. be patient.

band of silhouettes

2007-02-01T17:51:00.000-05:00

This is the cover art for an soon-to-be-release EP from Kristen Gass. The album is called "band of silhouttes" and you should check it out; the music is beautiful - at moments etherial, at others raw and fleshy.(http://myspace.com/kristengass)

your brain on coffee.

2006-10-24T01:11:00.000-05:00

my design for a limited edition "think coffee" t-shirt (which i will be printing this fall). http://www.thinkcoffeenyc.com

dream show flyer

2006-10-07T18:22:00.000-05:00

For a show at Think Coffee. Figure I might as well post all these little design things so I can keep track of 'em.

beet the system

2006-10-01T01:12:00.000-05:00

a lot of designy stuff lately: this is a new t-shirt design, a companion to the avant-gardener. i'm trying to wrap up existing projects, and this one's been on my plate for over a year...

Black Dahlia Posters 2006-2007

2006-09-23T16:25:00.000-05:00

A set of posters/postcards that I designed and painted for the 2006-2007 season at the Black Dahlia Theatre in Los Angeles.

prospects.

2006-09-15T02:26:00.000-05:00

08.19.06 - greenpoint ave/west st (brooklyn)

2006-08-19T13:56:00.000-05:00

08.18.06 - franklin ave/noble st (brooklyn)

2006-08-18T23:26:00.000-05:00

08.13-08.17 (composite)

2006-08-18T01:26:00.000-05:00

(a composite of the five previous drawings)

08.17.06 - 23rd st/broadway (manhattan)

2006-08-18T01:13:00.000-05:00

08.16.06 - 23rd st/broadway (madison square park, manhattan)

2006-08-17T02:19:00.000-05:00

08.15.06 - e. 11th st/2nd ave (manhattan)

2006-08-16T01:59:00.000-05:00

08.14.06 - green st/franklin ave (brooklyn)

2006-08-15T00:19:00.000-05:00

08.13.06 - 5th ave/park place (brooklyn)

2006-08-14T01:36:00.000-05:00

2006-07-27T02:15:00.000-05:00

2006-07-15T22:55:00.000-05:00

2006-07-04T00:55:00.000-05:00

2006-07-03T15:09:00.000-05:00

Some things

2006-06-23T22:48:00.000-05:00

like unpacking and repacking the mirror are time consuming but that does not matter because they are important

(i can't take credit for the title of this one, but i can thank T.)

There are those nights when I erase myself.

2006-04-13T00:41:00.000-05:00

This was one of them.

something to think about.

2006-04-09T01:06:00.000-05:00

for those of you following such things,

2006-02-25T20:13:00.000-05:00

the clouds are almost done.
here are 5 stills with 1-second intervals.
for those of you following other things,
i am falling through them, and yes i am
falling hard.

bare thoughts, white and black

2006-02-12T14:06:00.000-05:00

body language*

2006-02-10T23:50:00.000-05:00

*There are three phases to falling in love and different hormones are involved at each stage (thank you bbc)

2006-02-02T21:45:00.000-05:00

nothing special- just a drawing i like that i found in a notebook when packing up some boxes. i made it this past summer.

spirit rules secretly alone the body achieves nothing

2006-02-02T00:50:00.000-05:00

we're splitting up.

2006-02-02T00:20:00.000-05:00

oops

2005-12-16T21:44:00.000-05:00

nest-rest

2005-12-15T10:59:00.000-05:00

greetings fellow terrestrials.

2005-11-18T11:29:00.000-05:00

welcome to the sky. (this is a rendering for an animated film i'm working on, one reason i am posting so infrequently lately)

the other side of that darkness, 2: life underground?

2005-11-08T22:46:00.000-05:00

once again, it was autumn

2005-10-18T14:39:00.000-05:00

and i had nothing.

this image was inspired by a poem by josie bliss...

burn bush, version II

2005-10-08T21:02:00.000-05:00

The most perfect crab ever seen

2005-10-02T19:41:00.000-05:00

Among Chuang-tzu’s many skills, he was an expert draftsman. The king asked him to draw a crab. Chuang-tzu replied that he needed five years, a country house, and twelve servants. Twelve years later the drawing was still not begun. “I need another five years,” said Chuang-tzu. The king granted them. At the end of these ten years, Chuang-tzu took up his brush and, in an instant, with a single stroke, he drew a crab, the most perfect crab ever seen.

This is a story I read in an essay by Italo Calvino about two years ago, and that I suddenly remembered today. It resonates with how I have been feeling, intermittently, lately, about the creative process... about my own creative process, I suppose I should say.

All this to say that I may or may not be posting as many things as frequently, that instead I may be posting more-fully developed things more sporadically.

flash flood

2005-09-28T07:40:00.000-05:00

auspicious art

2005-09-25T08:26:00.000-05:00

This is a kolam I made for a Long Island workshop led by three teachers I studied with in India last winter. Kolams are like temporary welcome mats. Drawing this was my way of honoring these women for whom I have so much respect. [Kolam is an auspicious art of decorating courtyards and pooja rooms/prayer halls in South India drawn mainly by women and girls. Some women use rice flour to draw a kolam, which is the traditional medium to be used while others use sandstone or limestone powder. I used rice flour and corn starch to make this one.]

garden: the other side of that darkness

2005-09-13T19:00:00.000-05:00

red rubber heart

2005-09-06T12:38:00.000-05:00

For those displaced by Hurricane Katrina

2005-09-05T08:49:00.000-05:00

plant-brain

2005-09-05T08:46:00.000-05:00

the view down through the hole in my heart

2005-08-29T11:17:00.000-05:00

for k.g.

the view down from the fire brake

2005-08-23T22:29:00.000-05:00

The Impossible Color (de)mystified

2005-08-21T13:24:00.000-05:00

After seeing my blog, Steven sent me an email, saying, "I remember the impossible color dream... I remember it vividly, actually. Not sure why - it struck me as an artist very deeply - the impossible chase of the artistic journey..." And I thought, shit, if my dream had had such a profound impact on him, what did that mean for me? Why did I name my blog after a dream I had over 6 years ago anyway??

I had this vision in either the summer of 1997 or 1999, while living in Italy. Back then I was living and breathing and painting landscape. Anyone who has painted naturalistic landscape knows that one of the most difficult challenges is mixing GREEN (well, not if it's a desert I suppose, but even there one might come across a cactus). Because green isn't really green. It's brownish orange or blueish or purpleish yellow. It's all the other colors that makes green LOOK green. Young painters tend to squeeze out some green from the tube and try get away with it, but it doesn't usually work that way.

So. Back then I was being haunted by green. I had been working on this one big painting of some fields, for weeks. And it was bad. I mean, really bad. I was sure then that it was the worse thing I had ever made. Just awful. And yet I kept at it, and the more I worked on it, the more over-worked and stiff it looked. And the color was terrible!

Then I had this dream. In the vision I was in the landscape, I was part of the landscape, and I arrived at a particular hill. And when I saw this hill I just started screaming, "oh no, it's the impossible color! it's the impossible color!" There was something about the green of that hill that just terrified me. I think I even ran away.

What does this mean? I'm not sure, but for some reason it's stayed with me all of these years. I know that at the time, it was a sign that I should abandon that atrocious painting (and I did, eventually). And now? Now I see it as a challenge. What will I do when I encounter the impossible color again? Will I run, screaming, away from it? Or at it?

I intend to lop it's head off.

For P.K.

2005-08-20T14:11:00.000-05:00

My friend and housemate had to put her cat (Kalam) to sleep today. He's been sick for nine months and she spared no expense or effort to keep him alive for this long. Kalam's been her companion for ten years. I made this drawing yesterday morning.

2005-08-18T15:52:00.000-05:00

Lately I find myself sitting in Brooklyn and traveling around on the internet, seeking out virtual, faraway places to draw. Today I dug into my archives and I'm posting some work I made while sitting in real places, both near and far: from left to right, Italy, Brooklyn, India...

the healer

2005-08-17T20:46:00.000-05:00

inspired by aimee bender

2005-08-17T10:25:00.000-05:00

2005-08-17T10:21:00.000-05:00

still running, after nearly two years...

my hand begins in my heart and ends in yours

2005-08-14T21:31:00.000-05:00

2005-08-13T21:50:00.000-05:00

she dances with death

2005-08-09T21:40:00.000-05:00

Yes, she does.

I had a Six Feet Under dream the other night. My first. Here is what I wrote down when I woke up: "I dreamed that Nate walked out into the woods and took a dive into--into what?--it was light, blinding light, I was in it and so could not see what it was. and someone saw, and looked worried, and said, oh no, not that, that's mine."

crowd flock

2005-07-30T19:06:00.000-05:00

Kristen Gass, a singer-songwriter and spoken word artist (and a dear friend), commissioned me to design and print a limited edition run of t-shirts inspired by a line of text from one of her pieces.

This is an image I came up with after reading her words.

On the finished design, the frontside reads, "here I stand/ humbled proud & amazed/ in solidarity with all those who showed up to say..." and the backside says "i will be bold today." The image on the back is a single bird in flight.

You can see the completed design (with both image and text) at http://www.blacksheepheap.com.

Are you an Avant-Gardener?

2005-06-23T16:02:00.000-05:00

The seed for this design was planted last fall by my friend Giulietta. She's really into bringing together bands and farmers. She has "revolt" tattooed on both of her wrists. I made her a "Beet the System" t-shirt for her birthday, took off for India, and didn't think much of it for a few months. But as my return to New York loomed closer, I kept thinking about that shirt, and others that I might make when I got home. (This was in part due to the fact that I was asked to design a t-shirt for a South Indian conservation council while I was abroad.)

Both "Beet the System" and "Avant Gardener" were phrases that Giulietta brought with her to Brooklyn, from Georgia, so, really, this design (and the forthcoming "Beet the System" design) was the product of an intercontinental collaborative effort. You can get your Avant Gardener shirt from black sheep heap. I'll also be selling them at the Union Square Greenmarket in August. Five % of the proceeds will go to support community gardens in New York City.

The Underbelly

2005-03-05T04:58:00.000-05:00

I don't want to give you the false impression that it's all shiny sci-fi over here. When I remember to leave the marble-clad campus where I'm studying, I'm immediately swept along, along with the wave of unceasing movement and color and smell that is India. This is a bit of the not-always-so-glamorous version of this story...

There is the use of buckets. Splashing cold water, with one's hand, onto one's butt. Yes. Need I say more? There are the insects. Flies. Mosquitos. Unidentifiable flying black bugs. Spiders. Ants, big ones, even on white marble. In Kodai, giving into late-night hunger pangs, I would sometimes stumble into the kitchen through the dark and, upon switching on the light, be greeted by a constellation of scurrying red ants, rustling across the stale, stained newspaper covering the countertop... There is the smell of body odor and Indian air that accumulates in the stitching under the arms of shirts worn thin. There are the toilets that won't flush and taps that don't produce water. There was the month of bathing once a week with a bucket and a cup for a shower. The hikes through the rainforest, the afternoon spent smoking a joint and admiring a chunk of meteorite with two middle-aged Indian hippies. There are the men who gape at women eating alone in restaurants and the teenage boys who can't stop asking questions. Then there are the questions that must be asked thirty times. There was the baby who cried all night long on the train. The smell of urine in the city rivers. The men—rich, poor, clean, dirty—pissing on the side of the road—any and every road. There are the families of five, sitting serenely on a single motorcycle in the midst of chaotic traffic. There were the cooking lessons, and the coconut chutney vomit in the bushes. There was that day I woke up, brushed my teeth, and discovered my spit was brown. When I looked in the mirror I saw my tongue was greenish-black. There was the lizard that pooped in my hair, the monkeys that stole my peanuts (and saved me from tsunami!), the 8-foot snake that slithered by ten feet away. The countless wild dogs I almost stepped on, and the two that chased me. The puppy I shared breakfast with for a few weeks. The shit and tsunami rubble on the beach, and the perfect seashell lying amongst it all.

This is where I am, and it is real

2005-03-01T19:28:00.000-05:00

imagine this:

It's the 1960's and you are making a movie. Your film is set in the year 2005... your futuristic vision includes white marble floors, enormous banquet halls with strange echoes and electric hums, soundproofing, and banks and banks of fluorescent lighting, a conference center with plush blue seats and microphones every two feet: an entire institution built with the purpose of accommodating and providing all of the needs of large groups of International Yoga Students of The 21st Century. In order to welcome these esteemed travelers-- for they are, after all, the Healers of the Future-- you arrange dozens of red roses, and assemble a highly dedicated and capable staff to cater to their every whim and need. Because the Students are in such a state of receptivity, you bring into their unsuspecting midst the wisest and most capable Indian yoga teachers on the subcontinent. And these teachers will teach them...

It's pure genius, I tell you. And a total time warp. I feel dizzy and blessed.

one day you finally knew what you had to do,

2005-02-26T17:38:00.000-05:00

and began, though the voices around you kept shouting their bad advice

Bumping and Screeching

2005-02-25T23:14:00.000-05:00

kodaikanal emits this invisible magnetic force, drawing towards it's center those unsuspecting visitors who stumble into its range. i can't begin to tell you how many people i met here who came for a "visit," never to leave again. my experience has been no exception- i am already making imaginary plans for my return- even entertaining the thought of applying for a job at the international school here. but. by the time you read this, i will be moving further and further outside of kodai's physical limits, bumping and screeching away on an eastward-moving train.

sitting here in front of the computer, i find it difficult to encapsulate my five weeks in this oasis. more than anything, being in kodaikanal has been about the people i have met. after only a week i was already beginning to run into familiar faces in town, and after two weeks i had more invitations for tea and dinner than i had time for...

leaving here, i'm entering the last phase of my journey. after spending two weeks at another yoga course in chennai, i will make my way back to bombay airport, where a plane will be waiting to carry me back to new york.

What I'm doing in Kodaikanal

2005-02-06T15:46:00.000-05:00

Here’s a little something about where I am and what I’m doing here…
One of the things I wanted to do while in India was some environmental work—and so here I am, working for an NGO--the Palni Hills Conservation Council (PHCC). I'm working on several projects. Making botanical drawings of some of plants, for reference purposes; designing a t-shirt; and reading and compiling information on various topics (medicinal plants, forests, water quality, tribal knowledge, etc) for some brochures.

More about Kodaikanal:
I arrived in Kodaikanal just after sunset on a Tuesday morning—the 25th of January. Known as “Kodai” (pronounced KO-DEE), this town is one of a number of “hill stations” set up by the British in the 1820s. As far as I understand, hill station locations were selected for the benefit of officers of the British Indian Government, and for their suitability for “sanitariums” (hhhmm). In the case of Kodai, the British chose this spot, which has an altitude of 2,100m, because of its climate (it has only one monsoon season, Oct-Dec, and a very dry winter) and its freedom from Malaria (malaria-carrying mosquitoes don’t live about 1,500m). Americans also liked this place—missionaries from the States came here in the 1840s and established what is now the prestigious Kodaikanal International School.

Of all the hill stations in India, Kodai is said to have the lowest maximum temperature in summer and the highest minimum in winter (this is lucky for me—if it were any colder at night I’d be in trouble. As it is I couldn’t sleep the first two nights. I wasn’t really prepared for such cool weather, though now I’m getting used to it. Nights are cool (I’ve been making a fire almost every evening), but when the sun comes out, it’s pretty toasty. Mists roll through often and suddenly, though, making temperatures drop in a second.

The name Kodaikanal comes from the words “kodai” and “kanal.” “Kanal” is Tamilian for “a dense forest,” and “kodai” has numerous etymological possibilities, including “creeper,” “the end,” “summer,” and “gift.” Dense forest—called a shola, the Indian rainforest—covered this area less than 100 years ago, but was devastated by the introduction of exotic commercial plantation crops like eucalyptus (a.k.a. “blue gems,” from Australia). The street-vendors of Kodai all sell bottles of eucalyptus oil, which has several medicinal purposes. There is also a lot of chocolate for sale here!?!?

Thanks to the PHCC and other people interested in conserving the amazing biodiversity here, many of the eucalyptus plantations are gone, and a lot of native tree species have been replanted. Did I mention it's gorgous?

Kodaikanal

2005-01-25T08:59:00.000-05:00

well, after a whirlwind weeklong ten-person eurocentric bicycle tour of the weird-yet-inspiring auroville - "the new universal city"- cycling under the guidance of a very french new-agey woman named ambre (say aaaaahmbrra) mind you, i landed this morning in kodaikanal, a hill-station way way up in the western ghats, a mountain range than runs north-south along the border between kerala and tamil nadu, india's two southernmost states. the bus-ride from the plains (a town called dindigal, where i disembarked a train at 5am) to the upper altitudes was breathtaking. it reminds me of umbria, italy (lots of farmland etching patterns across the earth), only with bigger mountains in the distance. i was snapping pictures all the way, while the bus driver performed acrobatics at the wheel (i lost my breath on some of the hairpin curves)... right now, i am wearing three shirts, a jacket, and hankerchief and SOCKS! it's much cooler here.

this place is a dream. i think my heart belongs in the mountains.

The Pongal Installment

2005-01-15T18:40:00.000-05:00

When I left you last there were big waves. Today there are purple cows.

Saturday. It’s day three of Pongal, a four-day harvest festival here in Tamil Nadu (the state where I’ve been living for the past month). This day is for the cows. The ones lucky enough to live in a village get washed and painted and covered with flowers and bells. !!! Here in Chennai, the animals are grazing in the garbage, as usual, and it’s strangely calm.

Women here draw intricate chalk designs on the street (kolams), in front of their gates and doors—they’re like enormous welcome mats that change on a weekly basis. Usually they’re simply white line drawings, but yesterday they were special: filled in with all different colored dusts, and labeled, “you have happy pongal!” At the Yoga Mandiram, too, there was a special sidewalk design—this one was filled in with flower petals. It was for us--the international students--yesterday was the last day of our month-long intensive.

The program was, well... intense. The teachers were unbelievably dedicated, wise, inspiring. I'll spend the next month digesting as much of what they taught as I can (and in late February I’ll come back to the Mandiram for another course).

Today I’m packing. Tomorrow I leave Chennai, in search of cleaner air.

First stop: Pondicherry and Auroville, a small French town and a “universal city in the making…” just south of here. Next, it’s into the woods I go… back across the country by train into the Western Ghats, a mountain range that runs parallel to India’s western coast. Almost one-third of all the flowering plant species in India are found here, but population growth and tourism has wreaked havoc on the ecosystem. I’ll be there for a few weeks, doing some work for a conservation council there—probably some drawings for publications and t-shirts. It’ll be cooler there. Um, I might even get to wear my jacket!

The Christmas Installment: Thieving Monkeys, and an Unfortunate Buffalo

2004-12-25T10:41:00.000-05:00

today:

a monkey stole my bag of peanuts. proceeded to reach into my backpack. throw my waterbottles aside. started to reach for my books. -HEY!!!- i'm standing up now. barefoot. a couple walks by -PLEASE! can you help me!?!-

["are you writing a story? some funny story?" --yes! i'm writing a letter to
all of my friends at home, about some things that happened here.--
"oh.."
--listen to this: today i was at the temples-- "alone?" --yes, alone.
watching the sun set. it was beautiful.....]

(yes. i am scared of the two-foot-tall monkey. he is baring his teeth and growling. and he is extremely dexterous with his little monkey hands.) "no leave out eat-ables! no eat-ables!" (the couple) -SKAT!- he pulls out a plastic bag -GET!- reaches for my hat -HEY!- three more monkeys and a goat are circling. shoes on now. waving arms. "no leave out eat-ables" (uh thanks....)

["ah hA HAhaha. next time you shouldn't go alone. _I'LL_ go with you!"]

hmm. maybe.

so much for the glorious sunset.

--
hi! i'm in mamallapuram, a sea-side, stone-carving town about 50 kilometers south of chennai. i last left you in mumbai... in the time since--

i leave bombay via taxi, passing mile after mile of slums on the way to the train station. board train, find bunk, spend 28 cramped hours heading south. arrive (finally!) kochin, kerala (land of coconuts), board up in guest house, where i share a bathroom with miss lilly and her very-catholic family (they are preparing for christmas). lilly cooks me fish curry. also in kochin: rooftop yoga, a tibetan restaurant run by a tall, bald indian man who wears shortwhiteshorts, speaks in a loud nasally voice, and plays dylan on the stereo at full blast (he was raised on american comics, he explains, MADD and the like, after an american missionary came to town when he was a boy; he proposes various business ventures involving art ranches by the seaside; gives me his card. the restaurant is below my bedroom window); lunch at an all-organic restaurant (they have brown rice!); kathakali (a keralan form of dance); a local photographer who tells me about the demise of the spice-trade in jew-town, a tiny, fading jewish ghetto... rickshaw drivers who see me drawing their "ferraris" and promise me elephants, poetry, and evenings by the ocean... and how could i forget Kashi Art Cafe?- a restaurant (owned by an american) where the coffee is black (french press no less), the art is local, and the clientelle look like they've been transplanted from the east village. the only thing missing is laptops!

ahhhh, kerala: between us is a thirteen-hour train ride--stretched to nearly fourteen because of the poor buffalo who happened to be crossing the tracks at just the wrong moment.

yup.

still to come: hairy black tongue, the search for mind, adventures in eating out, cycling in chennai, and the increasingly forward advances of the internet cafe guy!

which will pretty much bring you up to date.

three birds

2004-12-14T13:10:00.000-05:00