The F-Word: Forgiveness

Their stories share the same elements: loss, grief, anger, intolerance, pain. They share the same ending and the same message to the reader: in order to heal thyself, you must forgive those who have caused you harm.

The Forgiveness Project aims to share modern-day stories of individuals who chose the path of understanding and forgiveness to repair lives torn apart by conscious acts of evil. Some acts of violence are wrapped in ideology. Many of the acts were state sanctioned. Others are utterly random crimes without purpose, without logic.

There is Andrew Rice, who has dedicated himself to trying to understand the underlying causes of violence after his brother, investment banker David Rice, was killed when the World Trade Centre collapsed.

Ghazi Briegeith, a Palestinian electrician living in Hebron, and Rami Elhanan, an Israeli graphic designer from Jerusalem, met through the Parents’ Circle – a group of bereaved families supporting reconciliation and peace.

The stories emerge from diverse lives: a nurse who treated innocent victims of sectarian violence and a former paramilitary in Belfast, Bishop Desmond Tutu and a former prison guard in South Africa, former rival gang members in Los Angeles, Palestinians, Isrealis, parents, siblings, children, survivors, killers.

That F-word, forgiveness, is the crux of the crucifixion at the center of Christianity. It is at the heart of Buddhist compassion; of the Torah's stories of family strife healed by fraternal empathy; of the Muslims' peace in the knowledge that Allah is gracious and they need not earn His forgiveness.

To atone means to make amends, to repair a wrong done. Biblically, it means to remove sin. In life, it means having the courage to say--and the patience to hear--those healing words: "I forgive you."

100 Miles for Kids (Update)

Many of you have asked for updates on Zach Warren, former Alphachimp intern who has been helping the Afghani Children's Circus in Kabul.

The full article contains a letter detailing his travels to Bamyan bazaar, a site where Buddhists and spiritual seekers have lived, studied, and gathered from all around the world since the 5th century (AD); the site of the famous Buddhas that were destroyed by the Taliban because they were considered images/false idols.

It is hard to imagine that a year ago, we saw Zach performing in West Park on Pittsburgh's North Side at a community arts fair. He was riding a 7-foot unicycle, juggling flames and inspiring awe and admiration from tough Northside kids.

In March, I was in Boston on business and walking away from Harvard Square when I spotted the inimitable profile of a skinny, bespeckled man with a flaming red beard and brilliant smile on an enormous unicycle (a sight one usually does not encounter outside Harvard Stadium on a blustery Spring afternoon). It was at that chance meeting that Zach announced his intentions to beat the World Record for the fastest 100 miles on a unicycle.

Well, read on for more interesting details in Zach's own words.
A brief slideshow of photos from performances in Europe and Afghanistan are here.
Zach Warren's first missive from Afghanistan is posted here.

_______________________________
from Zach Warren:

Salaam from Karte Seh, Kabul,

I hope this finds you safe and in good spirits.

Nearly one month ago, what little I knew of Afghanistan I knew by pictures and words, maybe a couple good books, like Kite Runner or An Unexpected Light and sound bites from the Boston Globe or Washington Post.

Even if I knew better, I still had in my mind images of stoic-faced men with turbans and rocket launchers hiding in caves.

The news wasn't pretty specific.

"17 suspected dead in helicopter crash...explosion in internet cafe kills several foreign NGO workers...U.S. forces growing closer to Osama... Concerns for escalated violence as Parliamentary elections approach...Hamid Karzai to root out "foreign spies" in government..."

What it didn't, and doesn't, convey about Afghanistan is what I consider so far to be at the heart of my experiences here: the laughter, tenderness, hospitality, and religious and ethnic diversity in daily life.

I hope I can share some of that with you, to round out the news reports.

A week ago I found myself bouncing around in a van with a cracked winshield on the famous road between Kabul and Herat with seven married Afghan men for ten hours at a time.

We passed through the former Kush Empire, through lands once under Greek rule by Alexander the Great, past the mysterious caves and mountain-castle of Zoroaster, through herds of goats and dozens of streams, past upside-down tanks and empty roadside rocket shells, and finally through the remains of the Bamyan bazaar, a site where Buddhists and spiritual seekers have lived, studied, and gathered from all around the world since the 5th century (AD).

This was the site of the famous Buddhas that were destroyed by the Taliban because they were considered images/false idols.

Along the way, Hamid, Du'ad, Nadir, Asad, Jamil, and Sher Khan have more than a dozen laughing fits.

I'd never seen a group of Afghan men laughing playfully until this trip, even though it happens all the time here.

They sing to the radio and clap until my ears echo with Indi and Afghan pop music. We stop along the way and squat by a river, eating fresh mangoes and watermelons, then for daily prayers.

They tease me like a close friend and we break bread together at every meal, eating naan flat bread for breakfast, then potatoes, rice, oils, and naan for lunch and dinner.

In Bamyan, we gave six performances in different schools, for both boys and girls. One of the MMCC girls even gave a juggling performance at a girls school. (Imagine the impact on a young girl's sense of self confidence and self agency from juggling three clubs in front of hundreds of her peers, meeting great applause and laughter!)

Attached are a few pictures from the Bamyan performances, including one where you can see the smaller Buddha in the background (or the great rock inset where it used to stand over 100 feet tall.

It is said to have had a gold plated face that reflected light onto the town of Bamyan in the morning sunlight).

We also performed beside the green waterfalls of Banda-amir, and at schools in Shaidon and Didir.

These performances were entertaining for the audiences, but they always deliver important messages in powerful ways.

Skits include, for instance, a piece on conflict resolution that uses a frog, a horse, and a bear, where the frog and the horse can't get along, and the bear enters as the peace-maker.

Since it would be inappropriate for the MMCC performers to speak about conflicts between Afghan ethic groups directly, the metaphorical use of animals conveys the same message indirectly. Other skits teach about hygeine, malaria prevention, and safety measures to avoid land mines.

In a region where culture and custom is often said to trump laws and rules, the use of persuasion through circus arts is an especially pragmatic method of promoting social change. Simply handing out brochures, posting posters, or talking to local elders seems to change very few minds alone.

Now I'm back in Kabul, training a group of Afghan kids for an upcoming tour of Germany and Denmark, beginning August 3rd. For most of them, this is the second time out of the country.

The first time was when they fled to Pakistan or India during the Taliban regime.

Nearly all of the MMCC kids are refugees, and the population of Kabul continues to soar as Afghan families return to their native lands (some ethnic groups have waited generations for this chance).

In other interesting and unusual news -- I received a call from the White House in May, to my surprise. They wanted a performance in June, but because I was out of the country, my friend Ben Sota (www.zanyumbrella.com) went in my place. Now he tells a good tale of having a food fight with a few Senator's children, at least until their parents intervened...

I'll likely perform there over Christmas instead, if exams allow it.

Also, the www.Unicycle4Kids.org website has been updated, and so has the MMCC's website: www.AfghanMMCC.org .

If you're curious, I invite you to check them out, and of course feedback is always welcome.

Hodahafez, blessings, and care,

Zach

zach.warren@gmail.com
zwarren@hds.harvard.edu

The Eve of Genetic Construction

Ah, who knew genetic slicing could be so fun? Perhaps, for example, the artist Alexis Rockman, whose nouveau-dioramas depict pernicious acts of cross-breeding and super-engineered sports stars.

So, what happens when the Adam of the future cuts out the middleman (aka God) and creates his own helpmate and romantic interest, Eve, through genetic re-engineering?

Eve: The Novel by Aurelio O'Brien is no slickly-oiled vision of the future, but a throw-back to the monster truck playing cards of the '70s: walking eyeballs, multi-headed deer, a stink-on-demand skunk, and a real, live beetle car.

The characters in the novel are described as "the same ones who use supercomputers to make cartoons, Hummers as commuter cars and think actors should lead governments; who are simultaneously clever and idiotic, charming and vulgar, childlike and childish."

O'Brien's promo site, www.evethenovel.com, is one of the best use of Flash-as-teaser I've ever seen.

From Lee Potts' blog, The Eyes Have It:

In order to promote his book, Eve: The Novel, Aurelio O'Brien created a number of bizarre animations illustrating some of the more mind-blowing (and humorous) possibilities of genetic manipulation in the forth millennium. It looks like a good story but I can't be the only one who finds that sink animation seriously disturbing.

From the author's description of the novel:

The time is the fourth millennium. The storyteller is a robot, Pentser, a lone relic of times lost, a museum piece of electronic memorabilia, an automated antiquarian of long forgotten information and, in his own humble opinion, mankind's most perfect creation. The premise is simple: what if you created your perfect mate?

Pentser's user, a 600-year-old-but-doesn't-look-a-day-over-twenty man, Govil, is unhappy. Although he--and everyone else on Earth--lives in a luxurious, genetically designed paradise of eternal health and ceaseless pampering, Govil wants something more. He doesn't know what it is, but he wants it anyway.

The Farm, 2000 by Alexis Rockman,
oil and acrylic on wood panel, 96 x 120 in.

Listen to Rockman talk about his art and his creative process.

Monkey Mind

From News.com.au:

'Human-Brained' Monkeys by Nick Buchan

Scientists have been warned that their latest experiments may accidently produce monkeys with brains more human than animal.

In cutting-edge experiments, scientists have injected human brain cells into monkey fetuses to study the effects.

Critics argue that if these fetuses are allowed to develop into self-aware subjects, science will be thrown into an ethical nightmare. READ FULL ARTICLE

[via Jarrell McAlister of Donkey Top]

Full article available at:
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,15891104-13762,00.html#1

Security Data Maps

There are two ways to use data: (1) to reveal a story about the past, the present or the future; and (2) to hide the truth.

Worldchanging.com has a combo of data visualization tools that reveal a story along the vectors of location, time and crime.

From Mapping Politics: The Means of Expression - Media, Creativity and Experience:

Maps are not neutral -- or, rather, the creation of maps is not a neutral process. The choice of what the map covers, and what details to include or exclude, is an inherently subjective process.

~ Jamais Cascio, www.worldchanging.com

We've been waiting to see a modern version of Minard's data map portraying Napoleon's catastrophic march to Moscow in 1812.

Designed by Tim Klimowicz, The Iraqi War Fatality map is as poignant as it is elegant.

Built in Flash, the animation charts the US and coalition military fatalities that have occurred in the war in Iraq since March 2003. As a counter ticks off the days of conflict (well past the May Mission Accomplished mark) black dots and red flashes appear on the map indicating the death of a coalition soldier.

There are no marks for wounded, for killed international contractors, for Iraqi civilians or for Iraqi civil security forces. That would result in a very different map.

This map, however, drives home the message that every day is a dangerous day in Iraq. Data is taken from www.icausulties.org with geological information from www.globalsecurity.org. The Project plans to continue as long as the war does.

In Simming the City, Cascio discusses the uses of data and simulations, ala real life SimCity, to guide city and community leaders in real life American cities. Chicagocrime.org is a freely browsable database of reported crimes in Chicago.

In a unique integration of resources: Google maps and the Chicago police department's website.

With the SimCity model in mind, a wealth of new ideas for GoogleMap applications spring to mind, both directly taken from the game and simply inspired by it. School ratings, fire scenes, public transit outages, Critical Mass events, recent store closures (perhaps mapped against big box retailer locations), LEED-certified and registered buildings... A key step to making a change to a system is seeing its underlying patterns. GoogleMaps may well turn out to be a critical tool for recognizing where action is needed as we reinvent our urban environments.

For six years, I lived on the 800 block of Buena Avenue in the Lakeview neighborhood on Chicago's northside. It's a half mile from Al Capone's old gin joint in Uptown, The Green Mill, now a popular site for brutal poetry slams.

When our landlord, a retired fire chief, bought the building it was an abandoned structure across the street from a deserted lot filled with crack vials. Around the back was a burned out church which was a favorite hangout for transvestite hookers.

Thanks to rampant yuppization of the area around Wrigley Park, things have tamed. When I checked out the RSS feed of crimes on my former block, I found only five crimes committed, most of them sounding like scenes from a 1950s film on street racing: motor vehicle theft, criminal damage, criminal trespass, reckless conduct, and, the most innocuous-sounding of all, deceptive practice.

Funny how one becomes nostalgic for depravity.

For a glimpse of the truly bad old days of Chicago, complete with the windiest politicians, rollicking red-light districts and most notorious vice games, you can always book a ticket on the Chicago Untouchables Tour.

Let's Go Logo

Every kid with a Mac and a pirated copy of Photoshop eventually gets asked to design someone's logo.

Whether the request comes from family, a good friend, or friend-of-the-family, the assumption is: "Hey now, don't all you graphic types just know how to shake a logo outta that there electronic box of yours?"

Truth be told: No, but we know how to fake it!

If we can't fake it, then we rip stuff off. As Pablo Picasso is said to have said, "All artists borrow; real artists steal."

Creating a corporate identity is as challenging for the family-owned pizza shop as it is for a newly formed global conglomerate; the client is usually inarticulate as to their expectations or what direction to take, and yet they seem categorically opposed to actually listening to the opinion of the designer whom they have contracted for the job.

Oft times the client feedback sessions come close to echoing the words of Homer Simpson's boss, Monty Burns: "I don't know what I want, but I know what I hate. And I hate that!"

And what's more, a swank logo does not a brand make.

For the latest trends in logo design, check out the Third Annual Visual Trends Report at Graphic Design USA by Bill Gardner of LogoLounge.com. Bill writes:

The word “trend” seems to raise the little hairs on the back of some designers’ necks. Everybody wants to be a you-know-what-setter; no one wants to acknowledge the aftermath. But as we march toward LogoLounge.com’s fifth anniversary, we’ve discovered that trends have become something impossible — and maybe unwise — to ignore.

Some of the 15 trends include leaves, weaves, dots, blurs, washouts, whips and more.

[via Mark Hurst at Good Experience]

Also at LogoLounge, Rob Camper, Principal and Creative Director for Times Infinity
(www.thebrandiseverything.com), writes a guest editorial Brand Discipline Redux: Beyond Brand Identity.

Camper writes of the need for designers to expand--and standardize--their branding language lexicon. He sees The Brand as having multidimensional and constructed of different companents: the Concept, the Promise, Identity, Personality and Values:

Making Design Relevant
So how is a discipline that is more neural psychology than visual imagery supposed to benefit designers? First, the work gets focused, targeted, uber-revelant, and is turned out much more efficiently. We have also seen that an otherwise overly fussy client will bow to a design that might be outside of their personal tastes, when they recognize the opportunity of a greater good being served.

Second, the savvy designer will know when to steer a client toward a real branding regimen when the problems run deeper than needing a new logo. Several years back, Sean Adams (AdamsMorioka) did that for a music video network (VH-1) that was primarily interested in a new visual identity. His recommendation: conceptual ownership. Adams and his team came back with a tighter focus, new programming ideas and a comprehensive visual makeover. The network wanted a Band-Aid; Adams performed a triple-bypass and followed up with serious group therapy.

And third, if designers are to reclaim their position up the food chain with other executives, we need to become more relevant – and that means understanding 'brand discipline'.

For a dose of the counter-branding counter-culture, there is Naomi Klein's No Logo.

Favorite American Movie Posters

From our pal, Bo “The Hip-Hop Hillbilly” Maupin, we learned about Internet Movie Poster Awards:

I figured most folks might like this link. It’s a really well organized reference to a deep selection of movie posters from 1974 until now. Of course there are commercial links, but still a nice source none the less. I still have my original Scarface poster. I didn’t know it was going to be a requirement in everyone’s house on MTV Cribs.

I am lucky to have a group of friends from my home town who continue to harrass each other via email.

We heard about this poster resource when another hip-hopping hillbilly, Craig Bates of Knoxville, sent an image that looks remarkably similar to one of the crew.

The poster is for the upcoming film The Forty-Year-Old Virgin starring Steve Carrell, currently the star of the American version of "The Office".