The People of Kibera, the Largest Slum in Africa

This is ... wow. Wow, wow wow. This is a short documentary film about Kibera's residents screened on Al Jazeera English. Kibera is the largest slum in Africa, and it is also where I spent the summer of 2009, working on a water and sanitation project.

I am kind of shaky after watching this -it 'took me back' in a way I haven't experienced since getting back. The images are extremely powerful, and portray it much in the way I remember it. The part that is most important to me, is that it portrays the slum through the eyes of real people - it shows the human side, not just the numbers or statistics. If you have a minute, and want a glimpse into one of the world's largest slums, I highly recommend it.

Warning - the beginning few minutes are graphic, and show a birth.

Shout out to Africa is a Country for posting the video.

Bad Ideas

"The problem is that you can't have good ideas unless you're willing to generate a lot of bad ones." Read more at FEAR OF BAD IDEAS.

a friend just send me this blog post a minute ago.
and it made me feel validated for coming up with about 347 bad ideas every day.

Things I'm Loving

pandora radio
rocks my world. seriously.


plotting
my life is... so up in the air right now... but some exciting ventures are coming together

and brainstorming is one of my very very favorite things to do...

zen green tea
mmmmm!

my new camera
(thank you so so so much v)

grey's anatomy
i started watching this in kenya on the 'rough days' -- kelli brought her sainted hard drive with all sorts of wonderful things on it that got us through the nights that followed the days of walking through feces. anyway, i'm hooked. thursday nights = grey's.

ginger soda
for real, i can't get enough.
ginger anything, really.

meditating/breathing
sometimes i forget to breathe.
especially when i start worrying about what is next, which happens A LOT lately.
So, breathing/meditating is my new friend. Usually this lasts about 1 minute at a time, but my amazing friend jen and i meditated for 20 whole minutes straight together!

cleaning out stuff
my mom and i are doing this big time. it feels SO GOOD to purge STUFF.
My goal is to only have as much as will fit in my car.

re-reading blue like jazz
his writing blows my mind.
and makes my soul happy.

reading made to stick
i was supposed to read this when i was a teacher
but... i think i was too busy working 90 hour weeks
so i'm reading it now
and it is SO GOOD!

playing the piano
i'm amazed that my fingers remember how.



what are you loving??

Another side to MLK

On MLK day (or Civil Rights day, or whatever we're supposed to call it), I got to wondering....

What if Martin Luther King Jr. had not been assassinated?

Would his living legacy be as strong as the one that has developed with his death?

Would it be the SAME legacy if he had had the time to evolve as a speaker and advocate?

Would his messages have evolved?

Would he hold the same place in American popular media as Jesse Jackson?
Would he have run for president?
Would he go on Oprah?
etc, etc.

Today I read this post by The Edge of the American West about the MLK who isn't as remembered... the MLK who wasn't quite as 'safe' as the way we have immortalized him.
Its a super interesting read.

MLK

"Man is man because he is free to operate within the framework of his destiny.
He is free to deliberate, to make decisions, and to choose between alternatives.
He is distinguished from animals by his freedom to do evil or to do good and to walk the high road of beauty or tread the low road of ugly degeneracy."

-Martin Luther King, Jr., The Measures of Man, 1959.

PS - The Dream speech gets me every time. I mean EVERY TIME. And every stage of life I'm in, it hits me a different way, and every time I have heard it, it has been more powerful.