What's it to you?
One of the E 10 ST logos, it could be:
1) Padmavyuha
2) Brain listening to Indian Classical Music
3) Heart in longing
4) Mosquito coil
5) None of the above
Your choice!
Trump by The Mast
"Health + Wellness > Wealth + Hellness"
Song & Video by The Mast, edited by Haale Gafore. "We gathered footage from the Occupy protests in NY, Portland, Orlando, San Diego, Boston, and San Francisco along with other found clips to illustrate some of the ideas and visions expressed by the protestors. Here's to a system that places the well-being of people, animals, and the environment above profit."
Journey to Free Life
"You could have been a cricket before and you might be again," says one of the students, in a conversation about Rebirth and Karma, while stuck in NYC midtown traffic... Structured around the Four Noble Truths of Buddhist philosophy, this unconventional road story takes you for a ride with NY students of Tibetan Buddhism as they perform a ritual ceremony of purchasing imprisoned creatures, who are otherwise killed for food, and releasing them back to nature, where they can live and die with greater freedom.
Part 1
Part 2
The Tse-Tar ceremony is led by Lama Thubten Phuntsok Rinpoche, and was recorded spontaneously on the anniversary of Buddha's birthday (Saga Dawa) in 2005. Lama Thubten Phuntsok Rinpoche is himself a disciple of Chadral Sangye Dorje Rinpoche, who leads a large Tse-Tar in Kolkata annually.
Charlie Chaplin's speech in The Great Dictator, as well as the words of St. Francis of Assisi, inspired the editing of the black and white dedication sequence in this movie.
Featuring: Lama Thubten Phuntsok Rinpoche, Susanna Green, Gyatso, Laura Lopez, Christina Moses, Dave Zwieback. Camera, Editing, and Narration by Sandi Higgins. Tabla by Naren Budhakar. Guitar and Vocals by Deepak K Pareek. Written and Produced by Sandi Higgins and Susanna Green. Excerpt of "The Four Measureless Wishes" from the Buddha Puja of Dungse Thinley Norbu Rinpoche.
ༀམཎིཔདྨེཧཱུྃ། Om Mani Peme Hung (ओं मणिपद्मे हूँ Om Mani Padme Hum)
The Great Dictator Speech, Past and Present
"One of the most inspirational speeches in recorded history was given by a comedian by the name of Charlie Chaplin..."
The speech from The Great Dictator (1940), with an image remix from contemporary world news. Video by thelakeysisters ~ "If you like what you see please share the video any way you can and pass the message on." Song: Window by The Album Leaf
Charlie Chaplin as "The Phooney" Adenoid Hynkel
Some notes about The Great Dictator and its context ~
"The Great Dictator is a comedy film by Charlie Chaplin released in October 1940. Like most Chaplin films, he wrote, produced, and directed, in addition to starring as the lead. Having been the only Hollywood film maker to continue to make silent films well into the period of sound films, this was Chaplin's first true talking picture as well as his most commercially successful film. More importantly, it was the first major feature film of its period to bitterly satirize Nazism and Adolf Hitler... At the time of its first release, the United States was still formally at peace with Nazi Germany. Chaplin's film advanced a stirring, controversial condemnation of Hitler, fascism, antisemitism, and the Nazis, whom he excoriates in the film as 'machine men, with machine minds and machine hearts'." ~ Wikipedia
"In the light of our own egos we're all dethroned monarchs."
Paulette Godard as Hannah & Charlie Chaplin as the Jewish Barber
The globe dance, click here to watch it in action.
The Gold Rush @ the 49th NYFF
The pace of this silent film from 1925 is quite different from that of most films today... where did the romance go?
On October 10th, The 49th New York Film Festival at Lincoln Center gave a free screening of Charlie Chaplin's black and white masterpiece The Gold Rush, with live orchestral accompaniment by members of the New York Philharmonic and a new score restoration by Timothy Brock, who also conducted the performance. It was a delight. Chaplin's pacing and brilliant sense of comedic timing allows the audience to savor the jokes and underlying sentiment crafted onscreen. Watching The Gold Rush with the live philharmonic was less of a rush, and more of gold. Thanks to all who made it possible. ~ UP
A glimpse of the tramp dreaming that timeless bread roll dance.
A Step Away
"'Thank God' we’re in a shelter that’s very clean. I’ve been in other shelters where it was like, if you had an ACS case, an ACS worker will tell you, 'This is not a plausible situation for you and a child to be in,’ but the city will put you in there... so they contradict themselves. It’s a never ending circle.” ~ Laurie
Dialogue with Laurie, single mother of a 3 year old child, panhandling in the St. Mark's Subway station, New York City. September 28th, 2011
Excerpts:
“I went to the job that Welfare sent me to... and it’s ridiculous. You sit in a room. They want you to be involved in like 40 hours, like 'a work person', but you sit in a room all day and do nothing, absolutely nothing. You just sit there, while these people get paid to just watch you in a room... It’s so frustrating... And then, they want you to do a 'WEP Assignment' which is, you go to work for the city, and it works out to something like 48 cents, or 30 cents a day, pay."
-- Working for the city?
"Working for the city... All day long in this tiny room with 50 people. And then we each had to clean a bathroom in this city building, but it was like 10 of us cleaning this 2 stall bathroom. So we’re tripping over each other, arguing, because somebody wants something to do, because you’ve just been sitting there. And it takes you what, all of a half hour to do a very very decent job of cleaning the bathroom? And for the rest of the time you’re just sitting in a room in this basement, like dingy... breathing in air from these machines doing who knows what."
-- And for all that, you’re payed 50 cents?
"Right. But meanwhile, they’ll pay like a thousand dollars a month for him to go to daycare, for me to just sit in that room. So where is the money really being wasted?"
-- What could you imagine as being a way to get out of this situation, from your experience?
"Right now they have me sanctioned because I don’t want to go sit in that little room in a basement somewhere. So they have me 'sanctioned' where they’ve lowered my money, and now, even if I decide I want to go to a school, say a certified home health aid 3 week course or whatever, where they’ll find me a job... I can’t. HRA won’t pay for it. I’m sanctioned. So, it’s just, they have you in this vacuum. You can’t make a move, you can’t do anything."
-- And you can’t imagine anything?
"You’re just stuck... But I still have dreams and goals."
-- What’s your dream?
"To be self-sufficient. To give my child a home."
I'd like you to meet Smiley
“I want to be remembered, whenever I decide to give this up, as being a nice guy, a nice humble guy.” ~ Smiley
It's one of those mysteries, where you meet someone in a dire circumstance who has nothing but a smile. You feel like they're trying to teach you something. And either way, it's awkward to leave home and regularly pass right by someone who doesn't have a home of their own, especially when it's the same person so often. Homeless people are not fixtures on the street. What led Smiley into his situation? How is he so cheerful? Is he really happy? Where does he go when it rains? September 29th, 2011
Excerpt:
“A really good day for me is sometimes $80 - $100... On a normal basis, I make about $25 - $30 and that’s good enough for me...”
-- “So what keeps you happy?”
“Just being able to relate to people. Just being able to communicate with people. You know what I’m saying, building a little legacy for myself.”
-- “What do you mean legacy?”
“You know, making a little name for myself.”
-- “Why is that important?”
“I want to be remembered, whenever I decide to give this up, as being a nice guy, a nice humble guy.”
-- “What do you mean, give what up?”
“When I give this hustling game up.”
-- “But you want people to remember that when you were panhandling, you were a nice guy?”
“Yeah. That’s all.”
-- “But do you think that if you were not panhandling, you would be a not nice guy, doing something else?
“Why not? Why change?”
-- “Why do you have to worry about making a legacy for yourself doing this, why not become a nice guy doing something else?”
“That’s my next step.”
-- "Well thank you for sharing your smile, Smiley. Now let’s get some shelter.”
“I would say so.”
And it rains...
The Smiley Journal
originally posted @ www.facebook.com/E10ST
June 11th, 2011 ~ It seems that Smiley, one of the most cheerful panhandlers in the city who's been sitting on the street outside St. Mark's Church for ages, was picked up by the police yesterday while he was sitting on a bench at Abe Lebewohl Park. Smiley use to work in the sanitation department and has since been unemployed. Asking him how it is that he's so smiley, he once said, "I'm just being me. We just gotta be who we are, nothing else. Some people look down on me since I sit here asking for money. It's not easy but at least it's clean. I'm not lying, cheating, or stealing to make money. I'm clearly asking for it. If people do or do not want to give something, that's up to them." Smiley, wherever the police have taken you, may your smile shine on.
June 14th, 2011 ~ Ran into Smiley near 4th Ave. as he was coming out of a phone booth. He looked a little shaken up but he has not lost his smile. He said he was taken by the police after falling asleep on the park bench, because when they woke him up, he did not have an ID card. Smiley was held for 3 days in police custody, where he said it was very embarrassing because the place smelled and the food was terrible, so he couldn't eat a thing. When the judge was finally ready to see him, he just told Smiley that he was free to go. He said the policeman was nice after all, and bought him lunch and explained that he did not want to arrest him in the first place, but he had to follow the orders of his superior. I asked Smiley if he was going to get an ID card now. He said, "Oh yeah, it's real easy actually, you know, I just gotta go to the church. They can give me one. It's the church that I usually go to around mealtime, over on the west side, you know. I'm gonna head over there today in fact. Hey, thank you for your concern." I told him that I was happy to hear that ordeal was over. We gave each other a hug. Welcome back Smiley.
June 16th, 2011 ~ Passed by Smiley again, on the way back from Viva Herbal Pizzeria with a hot slice of hempseed pizza in my hand. Smiley's hat was tilted noticeably lower on his head. I said, "Hey Smiley, I think I have a quarter for you tonight." He looked up with the usual sparkle in his eyes and said a generous, "Thank you very much." I asked him how things were going. He said they were going about as good as always. I said, "I wrote about you on facebook. After what happened to you with the police, I thought people should hear about it." He looked surprised. Then he said, "You know, it was embarrassing because people in the neighborhood, they know me, so to have them see me escorted out of the park in handcuffs, man, I just hid my face. You see, the police, they have a quota of how many arrests they have to make each month. I was just taking a nap on the bench, it was a hot summer day, you know. But they had their quota to fill, arresting the homeless. Who knows why they don't focus on being more helpful." He looked uptight just talking about it. I said, "We can have compassion for the police too, the fact that they have to follow a quota like that, they must be suffering too. Your story brings light to something we wouldn't think about otherwise. Both your situation and theirs. Thank you for sharing it." He said, "You know, when someone really needs the police, the police rarely arrive on time, let alone show up. One time I saw a girl passed out in the park, on the bench, real late one night, and a guy tried to mess with her, like he put his hand up her shirt and all. You know, she must have been drunk or knocked out, so I yelled and ran over to the bastard. Just like that, he stopped. Where were the police then? You see, there are some," Smiley paused and looked around the street, then lowered his voice and continued, "yuppy people, you see, who run the blocks and tell the police that they don't want to see any homeless around their neighborhood. So the police try to please them. But I'd rather be homeless than locked up in a shelter, it's like a prison in there, or in some dilapidated neighborhood where you're afraid of being attacked when you walk out of your door." I asked Smiley if he's ever lived in a neighborhood where someone had attacked him. He said he used to live in the Bronx, and it happened that he was attacked there. He said, "You know, that's why I like to sleep where there are people around, in the daytime, so I know it's safe." He said that in the summer, it's nice to sleep by the riverside; and in the winter, it's warmer in the subway. I asked him if he wanted to keep living like that, or if he would really prefer a roof over his head. He said, "The truth is, I can tell my body is getting older and it can't endure the harsh weather conditions much longer, so I know I need to get a nicer place to sleep, so you know, a better paying job. This is just, uh, you know, it's a stage I'm in. It's a phase I'm going through." Smiley started to look a little defensive. I said, "I respect that. We all go through phases. By the way, that was brave of you to intervene for that girl. Not a lot of people show that kind of courage, they just walk on scared. I've been attacked before too. It's terrible. It's great that you could help her." He said, "You know, it's the right thing to do. We have to help how we can, especially with the women. I have two sisters and a mom, you know." I said, "I'd like to give you a slice of pizza in thanks for that." He said, "I'd love to have it." I said, "Eat it while it's warm, Smiley." He said, "Oh you know I will."
July 19th, 2011 ~ Smiley flashed a bright smile from his usual spot, paper cup jingling with change in his hand. The day was much hotter than usual. I was walking by with my dog and said, "Hey Smiley, how's it going?" He said, "Well, I'm doing great, thank you very much. Just had a lovely morning by the East River. And how are you? I haven't seen you in forever." I told him I'd been out of town, and wasn't sure if I was happy to be back in this heat. Smiley said that no matter how hot it gets, he loves this city. I asked him where he goes when he's not here, meaning in NYC, but he interpreted it differently. He said he use to spend a lot of time on 5th Avenue, but he hasn't been there as often lately, since the hooligans have taken over the street. I wondered what he meant by 'hooligans' - all the shoppers, or other homeless people. "Do you mean, you got tired of the competition?" I asked him. He nodded his head in a yes, and said, "But I don't mind competition, you know, when it's clean. That's healthy. Like here, there are fellas workin' around me, you know (he nods towards another panhandler down the street) and it's not a problem. We respect each other's space. It's cool. What I can't stand is when the competition is ignorant, when it drives people away, you know, that's not cool." By 'hooligans', he was referring to other homeless people like him, but who, unlike him, had no respect for anyone, let alone themselves. It reminded me of something Smiley had said another time, about all people having their vices. I'd said, "Maybe all people just have 'afflictions'". Smiley replied, "Maybe by 'vices' we mean 'hidden afflictions'." He told me about some men who had hit on him, and wanted to pay him for sexual returns, and how uncomfortable that made him feel. Then Smiley asked me what I thought about gay marriage. I said, "Gay or not gay, marriage has a difficult reputation; but love is love, and when it's mutual and mature between two people, be they gay, or straight, or zig-zagging, their rights as a couple should be the same."
YoU aRe LoVeD @ Occupy Wall Street
"Where the mind is without fear, and the head is held high; Where knowledge is free; Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls; Where words come out from the depth of the truth; Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection; Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit; Where the mind is led forward by thee into ever-widening thought and action; Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake." ~ Rabindranath Tagore
A glimpse of the Occupy Wall Street settlement at Zuccotti Park in downtown Manhattan. Mobile phone video by UP ~ 25 September 2011: Julia and Troy, both 22 from Delaware, had already been participating in the occupation for several days. They talked about the trash/recycling cleanup team that the two of them had started, and described the spontaneous organization of community that took place pretty fast, with everyone dividing and sharing responsibilities and supplies for the well-being of all. Julia had never slept outside before, and was very much enjoying it, even through the rain. The occupation had been receiving care packages and donations from all over the country, including organic cinnamon buns from California. The few unfortunate conflicts that they witnessed with the police were mainly triggered from misunderstandings with protesters wearing masks that hide their face, or with police pulling out their guns, and like dominos triggered by fear, one aggressive move on either side escalated to another. Otherwise, Julia and Troy said that everyone there was super caring, collaborative, and welcoming, and most people, including the cops, expressed their solidarity in the call for a happier world. Workers on Wall Street also came by on their lunch breaks and donated food and money, feeling just as fed up with the program, but afraid to leave their job.
The unedited dialogue, with surprise guests and tips for composting:
"I think people should talk more about what it is like to live here, because people keep filming the marches, and people keep saying how up in arms everyone is. Most people I talk to, they're like, 'We're here because they need us. We're here because the world needs us to be right now.' That's just kind of what it's come to… I mean, it's good, really, if we have one complete purpose as to why we're here, and to present to the world; but I kind of like the fact that there are so many different voices here with different issues, so everybody outside can relate. We've got people who are like, 'We need to be more green,' and everybody outside who supports green peace is like 'Yay!' Or... there's a women's organization, and people outside who like feminism are like, 'Yay!' Everybody's just like, 'Yay!', basically… And we just want the people of the world to know, 'Hey, we're not leaving... We have a home here now… As long as people are needed and still coming, this will keep going.'" ~ Julia Hardman
An inspiring musical mix of the 5 Elements
"Human beings stand between Heaven and Earth, our external existence on this plane made possible by the circulation of the Five Elements. These same Five Elements also pervade us internally. It is the healthy movement and transforming actions of these subtle energies that allow us to maintain our physical health and well-being, our mental health, and our spiritual growth… By respecting the external Space where nature resides, we learn to live harmoniously with the external world as well as our own internal world. We begin to see that we are One." ~ Khadro School of Chi Nei Tsang
Indian tabla maestro Samar Saha performed with Cuban drum innovator Dafnis Prieto at the Cornelia Street Cafe on Tuesday night, September 27th. The concert promised and delivered "an inspiring musical mix of the five elements".
Concert flyer courtesy Andrew Shantz
Which elements can you sense while listening... Fire, Water, Earth, Air, Wood, Metal, Space?
Thanks to the artists for permission to share a clip from the performance, recorded via mobile phone.
