Serendipitous Inspiration
I had to do it!
Yap! Write about this week - cuz it has been amazing!
I just keep coming across inspirational ideas, re-discovering friends, and being surrounded by opportunity.
This is what got me reflecting. This morning i read an article about Susie Smith, who rewrote the rules of engagement on poverty, she:
- believed - "that charity without social justice was an indulgence, the politics of the empty gesture".
- brilliantly researched, wrote, passionately argued to comprehensively demolished the argument that "development charities could, and should, keep politics out of development".
- achieved change by changing minds, by mentoring people - and by leading from the front.
- "was also brutally honest about the impact of corruption and indifference to the poor on the part of governments in Africa and elsewhere."
- She was "never renowned for her diplomatic skills, she told it like it was".
I serendipitously followed the headline to the article, and am so thankful for women like her in the world! Imagine if we all followed our hearts and devoted ourselves to actualize our dreams. Not too hard really! As i sat dumbfounded by this womyn, i reminded myself, that no matter what just keep doing it, and now and again, look up and see how it is all coming together. Also, never take the good fortune & priveledge for granted.
- The week started with a skype call with Anya Light (swedish born Australian with Equadorian Children, activist & green partyer). We had not touched base for 10 years, and there we were, starting off right where we left off. Anya continues her work on Rainforest conservation in Japan - Sloth Club, JATAN, Rainforest Information Centre, & Green Party Australia. She was in Fujino-Machi where I used to live visiting Scan. Ah! Her and I were quite the rascals - still are - and she has encouraged me to write about the work I did spearheading the permaculture movement in Japan which now has a centre Permaculture Centre of Japan - PCCJ. Stay tunned as I scan some documents stored in my lurkium basement to bring up some historical records on how it all got strarted!
- I submitted a book chapter on a topic near and dear to my heart - Geospatial Data Infrastructures to Sustainably Inform the Reconstruction of East Timor. I really hope these ideas can skip into some Aid Agency dollars to get these things off the ground sooner rather than later, & inspire East Timorese to develope a culture of data & knowledge sharing to inform the ongoing planning of their small island state for the long term. The Chapter is part of Global Spatial Data Infrastructure - GSDI-9.
- This was followed by a wicked soccer game where The Untamed remain undefeated & the wisdom on the sidelines is awesome!
- A wonderful surprise dinner with Kathleen, Brian and Tristan, the political economy of body hair, social constructed notions and expectactions of womyn in their 40s, how we just can’t seem to do what we are supposed to do
, fuzzy logic approaches to claimed accuracy and precision notions in objective science, experiments with colour and of course, worshestershire (spelling?) sauce and broccoli! - A wonderful time conversing with a globetrotting Mtl friend til the wee hours about life, the universe and everything. Always invigorating & refreshing!
- I already wrote about Wednesday
- My youngest rascal is getting ready for his trip to Helsinky as part of the Children’s International Summer Village (CISV) program. Soo Exciting!
- My work on East Timor was accepted by the Southeast Asian Geography Association (SEAGA), a scientific and educational society, conference in Singapore. Don’t know if I can go but we will see!
- I am preparing my travel arrangements to attend the AirJaldi Summit & World Summits on Free Information Infrastructure (WSFII) Association in Dharamsala India. I am a complete novice here but am really keen on learning! (Thanks to mtl3p for introducing me to these ideas!).
- I am also getting prepared for my first holiday in 15 years - whether i need it or not! I will be going to Montreal and can’t wait to meet the CivicAccess.ca gang, Amanda, Jessy & Afka, Omar & Michael and going to the Shidokan and coco the cat who i will be caring for.
- Cottage trip avec famille is this weekend!
- I have acquired my first significant piece of art from the ever so wonderful Erin Robertson - see the small girl dressed in blue with a skipping rope.
- Am getting ready to go to Los Angeles as part of the IP2 Research project for the last workshop!
- This week I also had the good fortune of inspiring and potentially being able to actualize the creation of an open, free, distributed, interoperable institutional repository to archive Canadian state funded scientific data! Stay tuned for this one!
- My dear friend Henry Foken found me today, he helped me fall in love with the Philippines by personally introducing me to his home village of Maligcong in the rice terraced mountains of the Cordillera.
