peace hope songs

jolted out of blogger complacency to do a post after way too long.

peace and hope songs!!! focused radiation prayer of miraculous possibility!! change, evolve, balance!!!
youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=g1ZEJWVSiEI#at=37
youtube.com/watch?feature=fvwp&v=Hzi4sUwiO6E&NR=1
youtube.com/watch?v=aEW0BtFuj5I
youtube.com/watch?v=axfe6Pl1SbQ

ela is just back from japan. he performed in the japan international children's festival.
nuclear energy is thus on our minds.
highly recommend anything by helen caldicott
helencaldicott.com/books/nuclear-power-is-not-the-answer

we are heading to atlanta in a week and a half to participate in the elevate art above underground atlanta.
we will have the honor of performing in the opening gala and ela is creating a totally rocking installation that will be up from august 26-all souls/all saints 2011. the exhibit will be our lelavision analogy for artificial photosynthesis. we're collaborating with the emory university bio inspired renewable energy lab and the center for chemical evolution / nasa / national science foundation.

here's the blog on the festival:
elevateatlanta.blogspot.com


then we do some "secret" corporate party stuff before we head to this festival in germany:
kinderkinder.de/festival/2011_Seiten/kinderkinder-2011-kl.pdf

finally i love the idea of give to get, get to give. here is a shoe company that gives a pair of shoes to a needy child for every pair sold! love it love!!
toms.com/our-movement



somalia, sudan, afghanistan, iraq, palestine, israel, libya, pakistan....on my mind

blessings from the lelavisionaries

spring updates!

we have been in such a flurry of work activity! residency at the museum of glass, moisture festival performances, residencies at homestead school and chautauqua elementary AND rehearsing our buns off for a bunch of shows at the chicago humanities festival. we ship our equipment in a week!!

here's a recent tv spot link....only up til the beginning of may:
king5.com/on-tv/evening-magazine/Lelavision-to-perform-at-Moisture-Festival-89647512.html/

here are some features on lelavision:
thenewstribune.com/2010/03/07/1099649/news-brief-07lelavisionc.html
cityartsmagazine.com/issues/tacoma/2010/03/above-and-beyond

and here is an update on the camino seguro school in guatemala and our sponsored students there!

we got a computer donation from the evergreen school, thanks to julio bustamante, the spanish language teacher there.
his 8th grade spanish students are pen pal-ing with our sponsored 6th grade class in guatemala. this computer donation with camera and skype capability will allow the students at camino seguro to have video chats with their sponsors as opposed to the current method of communication....3 weeks to receive a letter, 3 more weeks to reply via postal service.
also, this donation will assist the students in learning more about using computers. we hope to get more laptop donations.
...currently students share a small number of computers. most of them just use the "word" program.

we've coordinated numerous pen pals for the sponsored classes and individual students. here is a shout out of gratitude to them!!! THANK YOU!!!!!
Debby Gouge Wood and her students- Hull Sanford Elementary ( Athens, GA)
Kristine Stoneberg and her students - TOPS (Seattle, WA)
Julio Bustamante and his students - Evergreen school (Seattle, WA)
Moving in the Spirit Apprentice Corporation -
Randi Williams, Iza Gutin, Aaliisha Shabazz, Tenesia Benson, Kacey Harbison, Juana Farfan (Atl, GA)
Lovorkah Hamilton
Laura Trevellyan
Vernon Trevellyan
Ruth Adams

special thanks to the Vashon Community Care Center. the residents there made and sold honey buns to the other residents in order to sponsor a student. they will continue to make and sell them periodically to continue their support!
here is a recent photo of the most of the students:



vashon artist, anne moses will be creating a video on crocheting plastic bags for the women's literacy program at the school. there are so many plastic bags at the dump in guatemala, the literacy program director is jazzed to figure out a cool use for them! .....something the ladies may be able to sell for income instead of working at the dump. more on that later.
finally, we will be doing a benefit workshop in chicago during our run of shows at the chicago humanities festival.
our shows begin may 6th to may 16th. check out the schedule of shows ("physical music" and our science art collab, "the accumulation of change")
chicagohumanities.org/Genres/Arts-And-Architecture/2010-Lelavision-Physical-Music.aspx

here are details of the workshop next. if you are in the area come over or send friends!!


STICKING TOGETHER:
Exploring healthy communities through science and play.
An intergenerational workshop of movement, music and art making
Thursday, May 13
5:30-7:30 p.m.
Ravenswood Presbyterian Church 4300 N. Hermitage Ave., Chicago

Could it be that the characteristics that create healthy molecular and cellular bodies are the same characteristics that create healthy individual and communal bodies? Participants will explore the idea of well functioning bodies micro and macro through movement, art, music making and science. Emory Biochemist, Dr David Lynn will join in with fun and informative stories and visuals. Then using improvisational movement games, model building and instrument making, Lelavision’s collaborators, Ela Lambin and Leah Mann, will facilitate playful analogies and examples of emergent formations, supportive environments, and collaboration. Lelavision is PLAY to the third power (playing with sound + playing on sculpture + playing through space). They weave movement, sculpture and sound to astonishing results. Inspired by biochemist Dr. David Lynn, the company has recently created work based in the chemical origins of life, assembly of matter, and the theory of evolution. Come play with artists who push the edges of the term interdisciplinary.

Cost: $10 ages 13 and up/$5 for children ages 8-12 with a paying adult
Aportion of the proceeds will go to Carmino Seguro School in Guatemala safepassage.org
Register by May 1 and receive a 25% discount!:
Contact Jane Siarny (630) 674-8891 InterPlayChicago@msn.com
For directions contact:
RavenswoodPresbyterian.org

This workshop is sponsored by InterPlay Chicago and Body Wisdom Inc. in conjunction with the Chicago Humanities Festival Stages, Sights & Sounds. Lelavision Physical Music performs in Chicago May 6-16. For information contact www.chfestival.org The views expressed in this workshop are not necessarily those of Ravenswood Presbyterian Church. InterPlay® inspires individuals and communities to foster creativity, build community and promote change through the art of PLAY. InterPlay.org

lago atitlan

we've moved on from the city to lake atitlan. i have treasures on scrap paper....the letter on spiral notebook paper from our sponsored teen, the notes from the encargada de alfabetizacion (literacy program) and the email contacts from the chicago travellers that will retrieve our i phone adaptor pony express style from our previous hotel and take it to our nanny*** who will then give it to us on the plane ride home. our daughter kairos has been a wonderful traveller. she did fabulously on the winding road that led to the town of pana where we caught the boat to casa del mundo. ironically she keeps wanting to listen to and sing her favorite song, "i love trash" by oscar the grouch of sesame street and steve tyler of aerosmith. there are 7 volcanos that circle the lake and many villages. we so wished we could climb them...not a toddler adventure for this time. the main challenge at lago atitlan is the fertilizer run off from the coffee plantations...even over the non existent plumbing or waste disposal services in the villages. (starbucks plantations especially.) everyone in guatemala drinks nescafe. all the beans are exported. and for our morning pick me up, "we" pollute this beautiful world treasure. there are many folks working to help the situation. one of the largest grants has been awarded to the vashon island rotary club, where we live, stateside. so there is hope extending in many directions between vashon, guatemala city, lake atitlan. casa del mundo means house of the world. it is the mayan metaphor for the individual body and then the village. may we care more and more for the body micro and macro. bendiciones.
****laura trevellyan, social worker, emt, organic gardener, horse trainer, fluent spanish speaker came as our ninera (nanny). she rocked it for us on so many occasions, navigating rides or details. when we left for lake atitlan, she stayed behind and interpreted for the team of doctors from maine who were treating the families at camino seguro.

pre school , literacy program

yesterday was the first day at the camino seguro pre school. with the pre school and the main school, camino seguro teaches just 40 % of the children who live in the dump community. the others just stay in the maze of tent / shack structures, older siblings caring for the younger siblings...even if that means 3 yr old taking care of infant, while their moms go to work. the moms and some dads work long hours amid a huge flock of vultures, graves falling off the hill from the municipal cemetary, and 1/3 of the trash in the country. it is their cycle of life. apparently, last week a dead hippo from the zoo ended up in the dump. a company did studies of the largest emissions of methane in the world. the guatemala city dump won! so the company will try to make a system to harness the methane for fuel possibly training the current workers there. 7 yrs ago they predicted the dump would close in 2 yrs....but locals predict it will be here for decades more. just 2 weeks ago a piece of land that was cleared by the dump land owner for camino seguro use was squatted by 250 huajerros. at this time they think there are 1000 people living in this relatively small area maybe 100´ x 100´. workers are still coming to be in the dump and children are growing up to work in the dump...all needing space. the school is in a quandry....they need space too. yesterday pre school started. the volunteers walked into the compound smiling, crying, frightened, delighted children from 1 yr old up. the kids ate breakfast, learning to use forks and spoons, then all brushed their teeth before going into the montesorri style classrooms. their moms have to volunteer to help at the school in order for their children to attend. some of them have begun to take literacy classes as well. somewhere between 45 and 60 will begin some sort of literacy training either beginning where their preschoolers are or trying to finish 6th grade. there are a few at the high school level....there is even a 78 yr old and an 82 yr old learning! the men have begun to show interest as well. so far 8! ela and the director of that program, gabe, are scheming to figure our a craft for the men to do in addition to the literacy program.
.....meanwhile, our sponsored teen, jose 16yrs old,spent a couple hours that morning writing a note to us in english with some of his airbrush style art. gonna have to frame it. we are hoping to set up a system to skype with the students throughout the year.

"what is rich?" ....happiness?!! ....satisfaction?!! being here in guatemala city with the "huajerros" has us thinking about this. 80% of the workers in the guatemala city dump are women supporting their families. we have 3 sponsored teenagers whose mom´s do this challenging work to support up to 9 children. they all live in small shacks of wood poles with metal or plastic placed on top, on land which they are squatting, crowded with their siblings and with thousands of other people packed in closely....no running water. yesterday we took these hopefilled teens to macdonald´s (their choice) for the first time. they graciously tried to interpret our spanish and they practiced their english beautifully. and they told us their hopes. we are inspired by their tenacity and determination. they get themselves to school, they self motivate to study, they are raising themselves and often caring for their siblings while their moms work incredibly hard to bring anything to the dinner table. they are even inspiring their moms to learn to participate in the literacy program. with every odd stacked against them they still dream of being a mechanic or stewardess or architect. ....and they walked home after school with the bag of food we gifted them hoping not to be robbed of it so they could share it with their families.

we're off to teach at camino seguro in guatemala city, guatemala. we'll post some pics of the experience. til then, here are some collages of the sponsored classes with some pics of the students. we'll take whole class photos when we are there!

so we have continued our fun raising for camino seguro with holy day presents....through the month of january to usher in the this time of the heart! they are made by our family and our friends from mandala design works and luma fused glass. so far we will sponsor 3 classrooms of students and 2 teenagers soon to graduate. more donations are still coming in and an organization has chosen camino seguro for matching funds up to 100 for any new donor. so, most of the donations we've sent in will be doubled!!! here is the link to the "give blog" then photos of our art sale still in progress. you can follow the link to our website where you can still buy/donate any of these items for a good cause!!
give.typepad.com/give/2009/11/launching-the-give-blog-our-50000-challenge-to-you.html

....coming next, i'll post pictures of some of the students we'll sponsor and some of their stateside pen pals. happy new year!

go to lelavision's site to donate to the cause!! lelavision.com