Late night on the last day of August, Peri wrote in her status that she is watching a Johnny Depp movie in bed with Sprite and Pauly.  Then came Paul (heemes) joining in, myself and then Doug.  It created a torrent of posts in "status" and grapevines exchanges as well.  What fun!  And I was shocked to read on heemes' grapevine that Doug said he only saw one, I repeat, one Johnny Depp movie.  We got to educate him.  LOL
Post your favorite Johnny Depp movies or your impressions of his movies, your favorite Youtube videos with Johnny Depp in it, your favorite Johnny Depp picture, etc.  Anything goes, this is a Johnny Depp Festival party. 

Eight years.

And nobody have ever been inside my place not because nobody wants to visit me  but I did not let it happen because I am "sheltered" and not fully open in this regard.  I thought I have nothing to offer.  I was wrong.

But now that is about to change.  I will have an open house with friends and family because of the love I feel and the love that I truly am. 

This question seems like an easy one to answer.  Sure, I can say eight years, that's it.  But this is important to me and there is more to it.  This may be short but true.  I'm happy.

let love come in,

Samme

Okay guys and gals, friends, I have a request and a neat idea.  I want this blog to be like a gallery of my friend's pictures.  If you have a picture already you can post in the comment a link to your picture, a clear picture of your face so we get to know each other.  Some of you have already pictures and that is good.  And some of us have not shown our faces.  I understand your reasons not to, I have been there.  But, no pressure, just a friendly nudge, only those who wants to can show us a link to their pictures.  With a digital camera and cell phone camera, it is easy nowadays to take a self-portrait.  I thought this is the decade of the self-portraits with the advent of digital camera.  This is a celebration of friends.  Come on take a new picture of yourself, upload to your Gaia photo section, then link here.  This was hard for me before, not anymore.  So, we'll wait for yours...,

This is just me.  When a person here in Gaia uses a screenname, which is not their real name, I address them or refer to them with that screenname.  If they use that screenname in their profile or to sign off with their blog posts or pod posts or comments, I will use that screenname to refer to them even if I know their real name.  Just as long as I have never seen the person wrote their own real name publicly online, I would never refer to them with their real name.  On personal email I use their real name.  If they have a screenname and they have put their real name publicly online, then I would interchangeably use both online. 

love and blessings,
Samme

I love ice cream!  I am lactose intolerant when it comes to drinking milk directly but eating ice cream pose no problem.  But I am impatient when I get the ice cream out from the freezer, it is so hard to scoop it out.  I tried thawing it in the microwave before.  But now I don't put the ice cream in the freezer anymore but on the bottom part of the fridge.  When I take it out, I can just scoop and scoop and eat immediately to my heart's content.  And besides that's how I like my ice cream anyway, not frozen hard but with some melting part.  

Do you have other un-common sense of doing things?  Please share yours.  Thank you!

saying what you mean and meaning what you say.

what else?

Whenever I hear or catch myself saying, "I should" instead I would say, "I choose to". 

Words are powerful!

How about you?





P.S.  This is a sister blog to my Authenticity blog down below.  : )

This is dedicated to each and everyone of you.  Thank you!

This is dedicated to each and everyone of you.  Thank you.

How do we promote women and the welfare of women?  How can we promote the advancement of women in today’s society and the world at large?  You think there is no problem?  You think that there is equality now between men and women?  Maybe in your world, or shall I say a ‘limited view’ of the world.  Go outside your world, your familiar world, your comfortable world, your circle and open your eyes and really look at the state of the world in the eyes of women.  You will see both a flicker of hope and a dark reality that women in all parts of the globe are struggling and their basic human rights being violated.  Yes, men and women from all walks of life both should work together and hand in hand in alleviating the status and dignity of women today. 

How do we instill in people’s values that it is not okay to rape women.  Maybe you cheer that a woman gets justice by having her perpetrator lost in court and got locked up for life but how do we prevent this from happening altogether?  And you are imagining that last sentence in ‘your own world’.  How about other parts of the world where women do not get justice at all?  There is a nation of women out there being raped and violated.  Horrible facts and it is the truth.  They do not want justice, they want dignity.  Don’t we all? 

How do we promote women?  Excuse me but the Miss Universe beauty pageant is not a way of promoting the advancement of women.  It is wonderful to celebrate the beauty of women but they don’t have to parade them in bathing suits.  It is a woman’s freedom when a woman choose to wear a bathing suit because she enjoys being a woman and celebrating her femininity, that is wonderful but not as a criteria in judging her beauty and promoting it in worldwide television.  What values are we showing the little girls?  Is merely boycotting from watching the Miss Universe enough?  I am not old-fashioned but I think Miss Universe and other adult beauty pageants should still go on but without the swimsuit competition.

There are still myriad issues.  Let us examine our choices and our subtle biases.  This is not a bashing of anybody at all.  If it is, this is a bashing of our egos, of our collective consciousness and traditions that are destructive to the dignity and soul of the world because we are all in this together.  United we stand, let us help those who fall.

 

Yes and I am ready to mail it back. 

Almost two years ago, I came up with a project I called Write A Letter To Yourself Project.  I kept the letters and will mail back the letters to the ones who wrote them now.  I did not read the letters.

If you read the comments, I am returning back this project with a new circle of friends who wants to do this. 

Accepting his 2008 TED Prize, physicist Neil Turok speaks out for talented young Africans starved of opportunity: by unlocking and nurturing the continent's creative potential, we can create a change in Africa's future.



http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/neil_turok_makes_his_ted_prize_wish.html

Ory Okolloh is a blogger and open-government activist. She runs Mzalendo, a pioneering civic website that tracks the performance of Kenya's Parliament and its Parliamentarians. With a vote tracker, articles and opinion pieces, the site connects Kenyans to their leaders and opens the lid on this powerful and once-secretive body. (This is a Parliament that finally agreed to have its procedings televised in August 2008.)

Okolloh's own blog is called Kenyan Pundit, and it tracks her work with Mzalendo and her other efforts as part of the rebuilding of Kenya, following the post-election violence in late 2007 (she collected a powerful series of diaries of the violence, dozens of essays from Kenyans and others -- well worth a read).

Okolloh is part of a wave of young Africans who are using the power of blogging, SMS and web-enabled openness to push their countries forward and help Africans to truly connect. Tools like Ushahidi help to link a people whose tribal differences, as Okolloh points out again and again, are often cynically exploited by a small group of leaders. Only by connecting Africans can this cycle be broken.

"We feel that Kenyans not only have "a right to know” but also need to take a more active role in determining their country's role -- this is our effort to do more than just complain about how things are not working in Kenya."

from "What Is Mzalendo?"




direct link
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/ory_okolloh_on_becoming_an_activist.html

Bill Strickland's journey from at-risk youth to 1996 MacArthur "Genius" grant recipient would be remarkable in itself, if it were not overshadowed by the staggering breadth of his vision. While moonlighting as an airline pilot, Strickland founded Manchester Bidwell, a world-class institute in his native Pittsburgh devoted to vocational instruction in partnership with big business -- and, almost incidentally, home to a Grammy-winning record label and a world-class jazz performance series. Yet its emphasis on the arts is no accident, as it embodies Strickland's conviction that an atmosphere of high culture and respect will energize even the most troubled students.

With job placement rates that rival most universities, Manchester Bidwell's success has attracted the attention of everyone from George Bush, Sr. (who appointed Strickland to a six-year term on the board of the NEA) to Fred Rogers (who invited Strickland to demonstrate pot throwing on Mister Rogers' Neighborhood). And though cumbersome slide trays have been replaced by PowerPoint, the inspirational power of his speeches and slide shows are the stuff of lecture circuit legend.

"With his potter's hands, Bill Strickland is reshaping the business of social change. His Pittsburgh-based program offers a national model for education, training and hope."

Fast Company

direct link
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/bill_strickland_makes_change_with_a_slide_show.html

Yes folks welcome to the one and only blog festival on the one and only lady, woman, mother, director, actress, singer extraordinaire and humanitarian, Miss Barbra Streisand on THE BARBRA STREISAND FESTIVAL.

Please post your favorite Barbra Streisand songs and your 'memories' about them, link to your favorite Barbra's Youtube videos, pictures, recollections, favorite Barbra's movies, concerts, etc.




Why of all Barbra's songs did I chose to post this one here?  I want us to celebrate 'being alive' and reflect on how wonderful life is and our friendships here in Gaia and worldwide.

The Quilt of Love and Peace above is the result of putting together the icons of friends who made the first 12 comments.  This is my art vision for this day to commemorate oneness and peace.  I thank all who posted comments and I wish you all love and blessings.


The "Sacred Gaia" artwork below is contributed by our dear friend
Loriann Authentic Soul, Thank you Lori


In commemoration of this day and remembering the lives that were lost, I would like to create a quilt of love for unity and oneness, understanding, acceptance and compassion, a prayer for love and peace.

by letting God.

And it took me more than several life lessons to finally accept that.  I'm a work in progress, I'm not perfect and I have a kind heart that gets broken easily.  I learned and let go the brokeness.  Now I am working on wholesomeness.

I just received this letter from CG Walters.  Please read his email to me below and consider doing what is requested so that CG can have the chance of being published by Harper Collins/London.  Thank you dear friends.

Samme,

Many blessings to you and all you hold dear.

Could I as a favor, that will also be of interest to all writers?

 I just stumbled onto HarperCollins' new online slush pile last weekend–it's a community oriented process to get a book onto the editors' desk as HC/London. You have to place at least 10,000 words of your book out there for public viewing and critique. It is an online assessment process that can result in a publishing contract. My own book, Sacred Vow has gone up to #29 (up almost 700 places) in the last week, but needs to get to #5 in the next 16 days to be considered by the editors.

If you haven't heard already, could I ask for 15 minutes that it will take to register/login to the HarperCollins/London online slush pile, where if enough people add Sacred Vow to their “bookshelf” it may get reviewed by the editors for a contract.

This link http://authonomy.com/ViewBook.aspx?bookid=1557 is a listing the 1st 15 chapters of Sacred Vow on HarperCollins/London. If you registers on the site (create a profile), and search for Sacred Vow, you can read all 15 chapters any time you wish.

Once you have a profile, would you please add Sacred Vow to your “watch list” on HarperCollins (there is a “add to watchlist” link on the right side of the screen when you're looking at the Sacred Vow bookcover).

Then go to your own ‘me' (profile) page and click “manage my bookshelf” (about mid-page, under your bookshelf). This will open a new panel and show Sacred Vow that is now in your watchlist.

From this watchlist, then please click the add link by the green + sign, under Sacred Vow's cover. –this adds Sacred Vow to your bookshelf and could result in a foreign rights publisher for Sacred Vow.

Also, if you have time, please make a comment under Sacred Vow.

Thanks for your help and support! And please spread the word-both to other writers and people that might be willing to help with Sacred Vow.
–all writers should take a look at this new process. I suspect this is the coming way of the slush pile. Brilliant!!!

Let me know when your book is out there.

love and wonder,
CG

I love to be me.

This is an additional update (the first 13 comments ending with CG are made for the line above):

I love to help people without ulterior motives.  I voluntarily set up a workshop class to help people pass a test to be eligible for career employment free to everybody and had used a lot of my free time doing this and off-the-clock from my job.  Others see this in a negative light that I am rubbing nose and saying, " who does he think he is?".  Other people try to pull me down and happy to see when they think I do not advance.

Welcome friends to the Empowering Songs Festival.  Please post and share your favorite pick-me-up songs and empowering songs so that others may discover and be uplifted.  You can post a link to your blogs that have videos of songs that empower you. 

that underneath it all,
there is love.

This is the song by U2, I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For, with Bruce Springsteen

{ photo by mathieu ricard }

Body is nothing more than emptiness,
emptiness is nothing more than body.
The body is exactly empty,
and emptiness is exactly body.

The other four aspects of human existence --
feeling, thought, will, and consciousness --
are likewise nothing more than emptiness,
and emptiness nothing more than they.

All things are empty:
Nothing is born, nothing dies,
nothing is pure, nothing is stained,
nothing increases and nothing decreases.

So, in emptiness, there is no body,
no feeling, no thought,
no will, no consciousness.
There are no eyes, no ears,
no nose, no tongue,
no body, no mind.
There is no seeing, no hearing,
no smelling, no tasting,
no touching, no imagining.
There is nothing seen, nor heard,
nor smelled, nor tasted,
nor touched, nor imagined.

There is no ignorance,
and no end to ignorance.
There is no old age and death,
and no end to old age and death.
There is no suffering, no cause of suffering,
no end to suffering, no path to follow.
There is no attainment of wisdom,
and no wisdom to attain.

The Bodhisattvas rely on the Perfection of Wisdom,
and so with no delusions,
they feel no fear,
and have Nirvana here and now.

All the Buddhas,
past, present, and future,
rely on the Perfection of Wisdom,
and live in full enlightenment.

The Perfection of Wisdom is the greatest mantra.
It is the clearest mantra,
the highest mantra,
the mantra that removes all suffering.

This is truth that cannot be doubted.
Say it so:

Gaté,
gaté,
paragaté,
parasamgaté.
Bodhi!
Svaha!

Which means...

Gone,
gone,
gone over,
gone fully over.
Awakened!
So be it!

TAO IS Music: 25 Composers. A Classical Tribute

by Samme S. Samareta

VIVALDI

Word painting nature

violin concerto

evoking mood and atmosphere

plucking the strings

of my heart

poem's a sonnet, quatrain

an allegro in E major.

 

HANDEL

Water music

alternating strings,

woodwind and brass.

Melody, ascending with

leaps and trills.

Descending in minor key

Returning to opening in

major key.  Dance!

 

BACH

fugue…, flight

point…, counterpoint

contrapuntal.

voices…, interweaving

exposition…, alternating

subject…, countersubject

theme…, countertheme

entrances…, episodes

sections…, interludes

Baroque, Supreme

A Mighty Fortress

Is Our God!

 

MOZART

simple…, elegant

songful melodies.

divertimentos and symphonies.

colorful…, dramatic

a little night music.

master…, prodigy

Don Giovanni.

Art

that conceals

Art

Wolfgang

Amadeus

Mozart.

 

HAYDN

Symphonic experiments

Motivic development

Notes behaving like waves

Up, down

Crest, Trough

Can you see the mountains?

Percussions, repercussion

Expressive orchestration

then suddenly,

SURPRISE!

 

BEETHOVEN

Classical…, Romantic

Nine symphonies,

monumental.

Influential.  Revered.  Heroic.

Supreme architect in music.

Turning ideas into tones.

Resounding.  Roaring.  Raging.

Until he heard, no more.

 

SCHUBERT

Sing!  Songs,

that echoes the prime

interests of this

new romanticism.

A fascination with nature.

Rustling brook

Horse riding through the night

Winter's Journey.

 

SCHUMANN

“Music is to me

the perfect

expression of

the soul.”

A Poet's Love

Scenes From Childhood,

Butterflies

Carnaval

Fantasy

Year of song.

True romantic!

 

CHOPIN

Cristofori would

have lauded the

“poet of the piano.”

Nocturne turns

day into night.

Tempo rubato.

We are living in

“borrowed time.”

Sad ending.

 

CLARA SCHUMANN

Music

A great part of

her inner self.

The very air she breathed.

Living in the realm of imagination.

This woman desired to compose.

 

BERLIOZ

Memoirs of a Romantic;

Fiery youth

Gave up medicine for music

Fell madly in love

Symphonie Fantastique

Violent scenes

Attempted suicide

Boldest innovator.

 

SMETANA

My Country,

The Moldau

Beautiful countryside

The rhythm of folk songs, dances

The pomp and pageantry of its legends.

River flowing out to sea.

 

DVORAK

Folk poet

A lover of native folk tunes,

African-American Spirituals.

Turning “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot”

to New World Symphony.

The product of the soil.

 

BRAHMS

Variations on a theme

Superfluous notes,

falling under the table.

A German Requiem.

Love,

Nature,

Death.

Song without words.

Free but happy.

Dance, Hungary!

 

MENDELSSOHN

Their home,

a meeting place

of Berlin intellectuals.

Their garden house,

the scene of memorable concerts

basking in

A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Cultured, serene.

 

AMY CHENEY BEACH

Racing clouds.

Giving us music

of real worth

and beauty

American romanticism.

A gifted singer, pianist,

composed song set to

Longfellow's poem.

 

VERDI

Success is impossible

if he cannot write

as heart dictates.

Go, thought,

on gilded wings!

His death,

mourned

throughout the world.

Viva, Verdi, Italia!

 

WAGNER

A terrible

curse on

the ring!

Gods,

and heroes

Mortals and

Nibelungs.

Leitmotifs, recurring themes.

A total work of art

unifying all elements.

Gesamtkunstwerk.

 

PUCCINI

The Butterfly Goddess

whispered,

“write for the theater.”

Always falling in love,

make my funeral,

when I no longer.

“Here ends the master's work.”

 

TCHAIKOVSKY

Musical confessions

of the soul.

The world did not hear

what you were trying

to tell us.

Unburden nature with sound,

madness with music.

 

DEBUSSY

The Afternoon of a Faun

Gushing forth in open-air.

Art boundless as the elements.

The wind,

the sky,

the sea.

“I love music passionately!”

 

STRAVINSKY

.

p P o O l L y Y t R o H n Y a T  l H i M t S y

.

N r  E e  O v  C o  L l  A u  S t  S i  I o C n I a S r  M y

.

I p M r P i R m E i S t S i I v O i N s I m S s M

.

C s  L e  A r  S i S a  I  l C i  I s  S m  M

.

h M a E r L m O n D y Y

.

R m  H e  Y t  T e  H r  M

.

T e  W i  E g  L h  V t  E      t T o  O n  N e  E

.

w H  h A  o L  l F  e      t T  o O  n N  e E

.

B C A H  R A  B O A T  R I  I C C

THE RITE OF SPRING.

 

SCHOENBERG

Counterpoint.

Transfigured Night.

Atonal-expressionist.

d C i O s N s S o O n N a A n N c C e E

A              A#                 B

C                  C#               D

D#                  E

F                F#                     G

G#

moonflecks and

moonbeams

Moodrunk.

The Sick Moon.

 

COPLAND

Music,

came out of

the drab.

Leaps over barriers of race,

religion, and nationality.

Billy the Kid,

Rodeo,

Appalachian Spring

Western frontier

heard worldwide.

 

GERSHWIN

.

Porgy and Bess

An American in Paris

Rhapsody in Blue

and all

that

JAZZ!

S' Wonderful

The Man I Love

I LOVES YOU, GEORGIE!

 

ONE

I'm Jean.  She's Jan.

I'm yin.  She's yang.

I'm lesbian.  She's not.

One kiss.  She's hot.

Two women.  Seventies era.

We burn.  Our bras.

 

TWO

There's joy.  There's fun.

There's season.  There's sun.

We sing.  We write.

We bring, out light.

Play guitar.  Play gigs.

Money's tight.  Creativity's amiss.

 

THREE

Night clubs.  Gay bars.

Folk music.  Disco bars.

Small tips.  No tips.

Just lick.  My nips.

We sing.  You pay.

You don't.  Go away.

 

FOUR

Life's hard.  Life's sh*t.

For women.  Forget it.

Move on.  Work hard.

Don't need.  No men.

Just us.  Not lust.

But love.  To last.

 

FIVE

We're human.  We're women.

No “man.”  We're womyn.

We're strong.  In spirit.

In bodies.  Name it.

Law sucks.  Lesbian rights.

Gay rights.  Human rights.

 

SIX

Years passed.  No progress.

We're taxpayers.  Not evaders.

We're citizens.  Law abiding.

Our treatment, it's undermining.

No difference.  When meditating.

Our style, calm abiding.

 

SEVEN

Several jobs.  Different shifts.

Screw this.  Paradigm shift.

Soul searching.  Spirit moving.

Humanity's calling.  Luck's improving.

Record deal.  Records pressed.

Records first.  CDs next.

 

EIGHT

Summer concerts.  Fall Jams.

Winter Festivals.  Autumn bands.

Morning shows.  Noon talks.

Evening news.  Late nights.

Barbara Walters.  Kathie Lee.

Katie Couric.  Oprah Winfrey.

 

NINE

AIDS era.  Our brothers.

Our sisters.  Slowly dying.

Uncle Sam.  Don't forget.

Your citizens.  Best assets.

Creativity suffers.  Creativity dies.

Creativity forgotten.  Creativity rise.

 

TEN

Billboard Chart.  Top Ten.

Number one.  Now, then.

Women Festivals.  Lilith Fair.

Concert's sold-out.  Tour again.

On stage.  In Miami.

Jan collapsed.  Help me.

 

ELEVEN

Oh, no!  What's this?

I'm waiting.  Like eternity.

Then suddenly, Doctor's out.

His diagnosis.  Breast cancer.

It's chronic.  That's ironic.

This life.  Bad comic.

 

TWELVE

Shows cancelled.  Tours stopped.

Contracts breached.  F*ck that.

What's important.  Not fortunes.

Not fame.  Not tunes.

Come, Brigid.  Mother Gaia.

O, Sappho.  O, Hypatia.

 

THIRTEEN

East spirit.  West spirit.

South spirit.  North spirit.

White Tara.  Green Tara.

Red Tara.  Blue Tara.

I'm calling.  I'm pleading.

I'm invoking.  I'm praying.

 

FOURTEEN

Breast operation.  Chemo sessions.

Women's friend.  Not radiation.

Hair loss.  Head's bald.

Weight loss.  Weight lost.

Women's soul.  Women's breasts.

Women's courage.  Women's blessed.

 

FIFTEEN

My love.  My song.

My woman.  I long.

Tender kiss.  Sweet embrace.

Honey lips.  Summer days.

Man's intelligent.  Man's superior.

Find cure.  For sure.

 

SIXTEEN

When meditating.  Pay attention.

Look inward.  Do introspection.

Breathing in, absorb energy.

Breathing out, release energy.

Walk slowly.  Step lightly.

One day.  Fly gladly.

 

SEVENTEEN

Chant mantras, with mala.

Chant Om, Nama Shivaya.

Read books.  You miss.

Shakti Gawain.  Carolyn Myss.

Alice Walker.  Maya Angelou.

And I, love you!

 

EIGHTEEN

Support group, every Monday

Cancer Survivors, every Tuesday

Qigong healing, every Wednesday

Shamanic drumming, every Thursday

Labyrinth walking, on Friday

Vocal Toning.  Saturday, Sunday.

 

NINETEEN

Nineties era.  One March.

We march.  In Capitol.

Million women.  Women issues.

Seeking dignity.  Not superiority.

Find cure.  Human rights.

Equal pay.  Equal rights.

 

TWENTY

Pro choice.  Pro life.

Our bodies.  Our rights.

Stay away.  Your laws.

Women discrimination.  Your loss.

Sexual harassment.  Military rape.

Children's future.  At stake.

 

TWENTY-ONE

New millennium.  Sounds like…,

New asylum.  Feels like…,

Old millennium.  Towers' smoke,

Like mushroom.  In Iraq,

Men like…, playing Doom.

Katrina's like…, not woman!

 

TWENTY-TWO

Pink ribbons.  Red ribbons.

Yellow ribbons.  Postal Stamps.

Yellow bands.  White bands.

Black bands.  Blue bands.

No ribbons.  No bands.

Find cure.  Live strong.

 

TWENTY-THREE

Still here.  Older, wiser.

Sixpence none the richer.

Not desperate.  Not lost.

Not housewives.  Golden girls.

We're alchemists.  We're goddesses.

Not puppets.  We're sorceress.

 

TWENTY-FOUR

We birth.  We nurture.

Everybody's nature.  Woman nature.

Women's Day.  Not enough.

Women's Month.  Not enough.

Women's Year.  Not enough.

Mother's Day.  Not enough.

 

TWENTY-FIVE

Senior years.  Reality survivors.

Two women.  Still together.

No marriage?  You say?

Okay, dear.  Let's play.

Let's sing…, until eternity.

Our song…,  for humanity.