Life, Squared.

discoverynews:

How Much Do We All Love Saturn?

Astronomer Mark Thompson shares his passion for the ringed planet, exposing some of its most enduring mysteries.

Of all the planets in the Solar System, there are none as stunning nor intriguing as Saturn. It has been known for thousands of years, though only with the invention of the telescope was its true nature revealed.

It’s an alien world that is easy to spot with the unaided eye and even with a basic telescope, Saturn’s true beauty is there to be enjoyed. April is a great month to take a look at the planet as it lies at opposition on April 12 — meaning it is opposite to the sun in the sky so is visible all night, rising as the sun sets and setting as the sun rises.

It only takes a magnification of around 20 to 25 times for the rings to become visible, so even a small bird-spotting telescope will resolve them, but a larger telescope is needed to see the gaps in the rings or the belts around the planet.

keep reading

(via npr)

discoverynews:

How Much Do We All Love Saturn?

Astronomer Mark Thompson shares his passion for the ringed planet, exposing some of its most enduring mysteries.

Of all the planets in the Solar System, there are none as stunning nor intriguing as Saturn. It has been known for thousands of years, though only with the invention of the telescope was its true nature revealed.

It’s an alien world that is easy to spot with the unaided eye and even with a basic telescope, Saturn’s true beauty is there to be enjoyed. April is a great month to take a look at the planet as it lies at opposition on April 12 — meaning it is opposite to the sun in the sky so is visible all night, rising as the sun sets and setting as the sun rises.

It only takes a magnification of around 20 to 25 times for the rings to become visible, so even a small bird-spotting telescope will resolve them, but a larger telescope is needed to see the gaps in the rings or the belts around the planet.

keep reading

(via npr)

This is the article I wrote for the next issue of 1300 Elmwood which is the magazine that is sent out to all Buffalo State Alumni. The article discusses the meaning behind the trip to Rwanda in January 2012. The magazine will be out this summer.

“Learn Properly”

In 2006 I played Anne in The Diary of Anne Frank at Buffalo State. It was a production in which Anne’s story was juxtaposed to the story of a young Rwandan girl (Anana) hiding during the 1994 genocide. The production was more than a theatrical performance it was education. People learned that there is an “Anne” in every genocide. The Diary of Anne Frank made me want to be an actor, an educator, an artist, and a public servant. I learned that making visceral and emotional connections to people’s stories will teach truth. It takes courage to tear down protective walls to learn each other in this way, but only then do we share humanity.

This journey took me to Rwanda in January 2012, six years after I played Anne. I met a woman named Veni at the Nyamata Genocide Memorial Site where many of her family members were buried. When we told her why our group was in Rwanda she confirmed that it was important for us to simply be there and learn properly what happened in her country.

To “learn properly” meant that the Anne Frank Project (AFP) at Buffalo State College needed to pack its bags and travel half way across the world to Rwanda to truly experience shared humanity. Our group consisted of eight students, Drew Kahn (Director of AFP), Carl Wilkens (an American humanitarian who refused to leave Rwanda during it’s darkest hour), and me. The Anne Frank Project (est. 2009) was created after the successful performance of 2006 to continue inspiring people to make changes in the world and end genocide. It is based on Anne Frank’s message about finding the good in the world, and the change we need to make in order to find it. Traveling to Rwanda meant that we were going to experience direct connections to genocide, and live a cultural, educational exchange using theatre to help communicate our experiences. The cultural outings to memorial sites, orphanages, and schools brought a whirlwind of emotions, which we needed to discuss and reflect upon regularly. We developed vocabularies about grief, pain, anger, joy, forgiveness, the human condition and social justice. Our clearer communication and storytelling aided us towards understanding the truth behind genocide and the current Rwandan culture. These are personal vocabularies, unique to each individual, that will allow us to intelligently and creatively express ourselves for the rest of our lives.

We spent time alone and together reflecting on what we were learning and how it was affecting us emotionally, intellectually, and physically. As we tapped into our rich emotional vocabularies, we wove our stories together with Mashirika, a Rwandan theatre company that devises performances for social justice. The studio was our safe place to sing, dance, and tells stories about social themes that represented the individual, and the world as a whole. After three days of rehearsal we devised a show that we performed for nearly two hundred students from the Kigali Institute of Education. The theatre turned into a forum for big discussions about using theatre in the classroom and the importance of storytelling to make social justice a reality. That discussion confirmed how necessary our work was in Rwanda. We needed to have a visceral connection to people and their stories in order to create change in us, and the people who watched our performance.

The Anne Frank Project is eager to use theatre to engage in social justice issues in other countries that have also suffered genocide. Rwanda is our model teacher for this global outreach.

This is BEAUTIFUL!!!

Hey Rwanda Family - I think it’s really important that we keep writing about or transitions back to our American lives after our trip to Rwanda. Keep writing! I am encouraged by your words, and we keep reminding each other and the world about the lessons we’ve learned.

To those who have been following our blogs, keep reading and keep responding. This is how we keep educating each other, and how we can keep the AFP movement going!!

iPhone Economy

Ever since I’ve been back from Rwanda I’ve been battling with culture shock. It’s hard not to. I almost typed “Rwanda has very different goals than the United States,” but it really doesn’t. A Mayor in Muhanga (Buffalo’s sister city) explained that she is most concerned with agriculture, the justice system, and women’s rights. All of these things tie in with the Rwandan economy. Agriculture is evolving into Co-Ops of large rice paddies, fish farms, corn and bean crops which means that the poor are no longer growing just to feed themselves, but they’re making a profit. Growers are also dedicating energy into figuring out which type of corn or rice is going to grow the best and taste the best in their soil. Did you know that Rwanda can feed it’s people by itself? They even have a small surplus in beans. It’s small, but it’s a surplus. Rwanda’s justice system is incredible and lawyers from all over the world come to learn the practices. Why? Integrating the Gacaca  court system into modern day. When once it was used to settle community arguments, since the genocide it’s been utilized in today’s law. The persecutor and the victim meet and discuss the problem. It give a place to debate, question, and aim towards reconcilliation. Since one person is already a jailed persecutor and one has been persecuted in this situation, why have a judicial setting that persecutes both individuals again through a legal battle that they barely get to fight? Removing a lot of nonsense talk of the lawyers and leaving it up to people who were directly involved yields better communication and relief, even forgiveness should the victim find it in their heart. To touch on women’s advocacy in Rwanda: I believe the figure is 30%, yes 30% of all political leaders in Rwanda must be women. I think that’s an excellent step forward. 

Back to my initial statement: “Rwanda has very different goals than the United States.” Hence, my culture shock. But no. The U.S is striving for a better economy and has focus on agriculture, women’s rights, and the judicial system. The process is bogged down by horrible news programs and politicians who speak in vague terms and act on very little for the American people. It’s hard to keep a process alive and pure when corporations have the people we vote for deep in their pockets. It’s also really hard when a huge nation of people is spoonfed confusion, fear, and false hopes on a regular basis because it creates deep apathy. However we keep talking and talking and talking about the same initiatives that Rwanda and the rest of the world is focusing on. I just think we’re blowing hot air, and we’re not listening properly, we’re not learning from mistakes, and we’re definitely not acting on what we preach. Listen Occupy Wall Street/Occupy Buffalo/Occupy “city name here”, I’m sitting here drinking my Rwandan green tea in a Koala sweatshirt with two BA’s and an MA under my belt. I voted for Obama. I’m a left wing, granola eating, nature loving, bird watching hippy, but I’m not out there sleeping in a tent because I need to live a life that will inspire others. I want to live a life that will teach others on a day to day basis. What’s more I want people to respect my life choices because in turn that will help them make better life choices. So get out of your tents, live in a co-op situation, volunteer and build projects in Buffalo. Or, go occupy the East Side of Buffalo and start an economy there instead of creating a makeshift commune outside of the city hall because they’re not probably not paying attention anymore.

To work I go!

All this from an iPhone economy video. Awesome. I love writing.

Hello, World. Now that I’ve arrived home in Buffalo I have the chance to write about Wednesday night’s performance with Mashirika at ISHYO. This performance was a presentation of two weeks worth of discoveries, reflection, and relationships that we fostered with the people of Rwanda and our new family, Mashirika. We devised our story over two and a half days at the end of our adventure in Rwanda and presented our process thus far on Wednesday night to a full house!

We titled the performance: When the Walls Come Down - TRUTH. The title came about after we examined the three themes that we focused on during rehearsals. We wove these themes together to create a one large story. The themes were (in order of performance): My Story is Your Story, Live to Change, and In Every Horror There is Beauty. Each theme had a specific story that reflected the message. After rehearsing and watching everyone’s stories we recognized the common spine that was felt in each of the three themes: when we share our stories and listen to each other we reveal the truth. Without this action we only make assumptions and create walls that barracade us from other people. This doesn’t help to educate or build community, it destroys the possibility. Therefore, in order to break down walls we have to speak up and act out to let the truth be known. We learned in rehearsal that living through these themes can be uncomfortable because we were exploring intense topics, but we gained the most from giving our all to tell these important, pressing stories. If the sadness is deep and the joy is great in a play, then the learning curve will be even more intense, and the story will be more meaningful to the audience. Also, the actor’s will appreciate the work they created. 

Our performance started everyone playing with each other, running around the room with lots of energy, and laughing. Then, one by one we broke off and walked down stage to tell the audience what we learned when we were young that started to build our walls around us. For example, I said, “When I was young I learned that girls with short hair were gay.” Another statement was, “When I was young I was told to never bring home a white girl.” After these statements were shared we hunched over each other to form a wall extending from down stage to up stage. Two people were left, one on either side of the wall, and they wanted to play with each other. However the wall started hissing at them saying that they can’t play with each other for numerous ignorant, racist reasons. Then we (the wall) stood tall and clasped our hands over our head to form a tall wall, impenetrable to the kids that wanted to play. We forced them to give up on each other because they believed the walls that were built between them. 

Then through song and dance we moved through each of the three themes. Each story ended in failure, as the characters could not figure out the answer to their struggles. They did not have the strength and the know-how to break down the walls. At the end of the last story half of the actors sang a song that expressed our fight, and the other half danced to the song. The choreography reflected the mood of the song. Here are the lyrics:

Are you really listening?

Are you really there?

Can you feel my sorrow?

Can you feel my pain?

(repeat)

Are you really listening?

(Spoken: “I can’t hear you”)

Are you really there?

(Spoken: “Not with these walls between us.”)

Can you feel my sorrow

(answer singing: “I can’t feel you”)

Can you feel my pain?

(answer singing: “Not with these walls between us!” x2)

Are you really listening?

(spoken: I can’t hear you)

Are you really there?

(spoken: not with these walls between us)

Can you feel my sorrow?
(answer singing: I can’t feel you)

Can you feel my pain?

(answer singing: not with these walls between us! x2)

Then we bust through the wall that the chroeography created, the tempo picks up, and we start to clap and dance to African drumming. Then we change the lyrics to:

I am really listening

I am really there

I can feel your sorrow

I can feel your pain

With no more walls between us!

After we discover the truth behind our problems, we celebrate by dancing and howling with each other, and finally gallop off stage. 

The audience shared their feedback with us after the show finished. It was a fantastic audience filled with literature students, theatre students, education students, teachers, artists, and humanitarians. They appreciated our performance and had lots of questions on the “style” of theatre we chose; Why the mix of song, dance, and drama? We had feedback about what we should add, and what demographic should be represented as we developed the show. A few students commented that this theatre performance was a very good representation of how the arts can simplify and expose larger thruths in a short period of time. They appreciated that immensly and encouraged us to keep working hard. We had invitations to do it in Uganda. There was a short intense debate between an artist/theatre professor and our cast about the reality of using the arts to change the world, and if it is actually possible. This was a great opportunity to defend our beliefs and also help other artists believe that it is possible. Finally, we also had an excellent conversation about the affects of theatre in education and why it is a fantastic tool to teach people. 

Clearly our 30 minute performance did what it needed to do. It sparked a lot of questions, concerns, and excitement within the audience. It also created very dynamic conversations around difficult topics. Our theatre production and our theatre space gave a large group of people the chance to voice their stories and share their truths about real situations. That’s what this is all about, bringing down the walls to reveal truth, and make change.

The truth never burns.

Three days ago I was building a performance in Africa… And tonight I ski! I love life.

Thursday’s sunset during our flight home.

The stone amphitheater at Agahozo Youth Village. The performances this evening were fantastic and it turned into a big dance party at the end.