Blah blah blech

I've only posted this Elina Brotherus photo once before on this blog, but for years now it has been my go-to mental image whenever I feel stressed or creatively stagnant (conditions which not only come hand in hand, they're usually makin love in the green grass behind the stadium). I don't blog about work, but I will say that there's overwhelmed and then there's out of my mind. I would be the latter.

I consider myself a creative person, so it's particularly frustrating when I am busy to the point of a survival-mode existence. I've finished two amazing books recently (Angelina Jolie's "Notes From My Travels" about her work with UN refugees, and Jannette Walls charmingly messed up memoir "Glass Castle") but haven't had time to compose ISBN posts (which I really enjoy doing). I'm scattered at best with my First Friday Film posts, even though I've recently seen movies worth talking about. I also want to post about my work with Tabesha and have only done so a couple times. It's not that I feel any superficial obligation to keep this blog current - the lack of posts is merely symptomatic of the fact that I'm not indulging my creative side. Ultimately, that's what's bothering me lately.

Lights at the end of my creatively-stagnant tunnel? Ewan McGregor and Charlie Boorman. If I can't road trip around the world right now, I can at least enjoy watching them do it. The Family Diversity Project that I've been wanting to see for a long time is now on display in Salt Lake. The Present Tense exhibit about the work of local artists on the 337 Project is open at Salt Lake Art Center. And if nothing else, for the first time in a long time, I have substantial vacation plans on the horizon.

I know myself well enough to know that these events will pull me out of my stress-induced stupor...so hopefully the posting will resume soon.

20 January 2009!

While absolutely hysterical, I do wish they had provided actual statistics. The damage, though parodied well in this video, is unfortunately quite real.

The Girl Effect

The Girl Effect: The powerful social and economic change brought about when girls have the opportunity to participate in their society.

From The Girl Effect website: "Why Girls? Because there’s poverty, and war, and hunger, and AIDS, and because when adolescent girls in the developing world have a chance, they can be the most powerful force of change for themselves, their families, communities, countries, and even the planet. But while those 600 million adolescent girls are the most likely agents of change, they are often invisible to their societies and the world."

I have possible pipe dreams and/or possible career goals that involve living/working internationally. Specifically, focusing on community organizing and the empowerment of women. There's a theory of international development that (rightfully so, in my opinion) claims that when you involve women in the building of communities (politically, socially, economically, etc.) then you exponentially increase the chances of those initiatives taking hold and truly transforming the community. It's a generalization , but men tend to channel power and influence to their singular advantage, where women channel power and influence to the advantage of the children, the village, the collective.

Check out this fantastic video:

The John Mayer Concert Experience...

...as relayed via Facebook status updates. For those not familiar with the completely unnecessary and completely addicting social networking site known as Facebook, status updates are a tool intended to keep your close friends, random family members, and complete strangers that friend (read "friend" as a verb) and poke you and who you think you remember from high school but aren't quite sure, abreast of every single mundane detail of your rather ordinary life. Posted to your profile sequentially, updates are meant to be read bottom to top.

Matt is living my dream

You may think it's corny at first, but wait for it. Wait for it. It will make your entire day bright and shiny.

If you want to watch a high-resolution version (I don't know why the embed quality is low, visit YouTube directly and click "Watch in high quality" in the bottom right hand corner of the video)