Poetry Slam

Ever since I moved to Vancouver, I have been wanting to check out the Monday night Poetry Slam on Commercial Drive.  A mere two years later, I finally made it! On Monday night, Scott and I squeezed into Cafe Deux Soleil with a hundred others, eager to hear spoken word. It was youth night and it was brimming with activity and excitement! It was standing room only with a line up that went out the door for an hour after the show started. Skinny jeans, pig-tails, hipsters, and red lipsters.  Parents, teens, grandparents, university students, and the miscellaneous patrons like me all piled into the Cafe to feed our right brains.

What a vibe! It felt like summer camp with lots of quirky traditions. For example, after every newbie that spoke, the crowd chanted "Please come back!" in a super man tone.

This is one advantage I'll give to growing up in the city. I mean, what an amazing opportunity for high schoolers (if one goes out and finds it)! This definitely wasn't available to me when I grew up in the Cowichan Valley.

A 15 year old guy named Jacob won the Poetry Slam and he inspired me to write this poem. It's not really how I feel (I mean, I'm only 27 and I hope I have plenty of future left!) but the idea for this poem jumped into my head and I thought I'd write it regardless of whether it depicts my perspective or not :)

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I miss the future.

I miss the wonder and mystery that held it
in a foggy picture frame
where characters were just out of reach
Their faces slightly blurred
their shapes existing to tantalize my curiousity.

I miss blissful assumptions.
A future brimming with happiness, accomplishment, satisfaction. Triumph even.
As if life were something to win.
Something to accomplish.

I miss waiting for Christmas morning with more excitement than my small body could contain.

I miss the wonder of not knowing where I'd get to in the unknown world. Where would I settle down? Definitely not on the Island. Definitely not in Canada. Europe? Africa? South America? Who knew?

I miss knowing with certainty that I would find Mr. Right, share motherhood with my best friends, have 3 adorable kids, settle down with a front and back yard and make awesome tiramisu for my neighbours' parties.

I miss anticipating that I would change the world.

I miss knowing that I can be anything when I grow up
I miss not knowing what I will be when I grow up.

Anticipation.
Vagueness is a perfect conduit for hope.
Loose boundaries breed possibilities.
Loose expectations nurture satisfaction.

I miss the future.

Or do I miss the past?

What's the Story of Your Food?

Since the beginning of human existence, life has revolved around food. The pleasure of seeking, harvesting, preparing, and sharing food is a core part of cultures around the world. It's something we all have in common and it reminds us that we are a part of a larger system. We depend on the seasons, water, healthy soil, bugs, worms and on each other!

Today, it is easy to forget our connection to water, soil, and seasons because we can hop into any grocery store to buy food strangers have grown (and often prepared) on the other side of the planet. Alice Waters outlines the relatively recent fast-food values and assumptions (illusions) that permeate our homes, schools, and institutions:

1) Food is cheap and abundant, and this abundance is permanent.

2) Resources are infinite, so it's perfectly okay to waste.

3) Eating is primarily about fueling up in as little time as possible. 

4) Meat, fries, and sodas are actually good for us - and they should taste exactly the same everywhere.

5) Where food comes from, or how fresh it is, doesn't matter.

6) Advertising confers value.

7) Preparation is to be avoided at all costs.

She goes on to remind us of the slow food values that have acted as central expressions of life and community for thousands of years of human existence. Food can teach us the things that really matter - care, beauty, concentration, discernment, and sensuality - but only if we take the time to think about what we're eating.

I've recently joined a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) box program and share the box with my friends Ryan, David, and Michelle. On Sunday, we had our first "family dinner" in which we made a meal together from the veggies in our box. What a great way for food to bring people together! Let me tell you our story.. 

The story begins with our farmers at Inner City Farms. 

This small group of friends decided to convert lawns throughout Vancouver into small-scale organic farms.

Every week, they get together, harvest their veggies, and put them into boxes for their customers (how's that for local and fun!)

We were thrilled with the veggies in our box this week and set to work preparing our dinner. Michelle got started with the cauliflower and made her mom's recipe with yummy cheese sauce while Ryan boiled the rice, and David and I chopped up the onions, beets, greens, zuccini, garlic, carrots, and tofu. 

Check out these beautiful beets! That's no lemon...it's a Touchstone Gold Beet!!

I was so mesmerized by the beauty of the food itself that at one point Michelle said  "Karen, I feel like you're high right now. You're acting like the double rainbow guy." Hmm..I wasn't high though..I was simply enjoying the delight of preparing beautifully good food. I was captured by the visual stimulation of chopping the bright and colourful beets and I was expressing it!

When the delights of prepping and cooking the food were over, it was time to serve up and tantalize our taste buds. Buon Appetito Dave!!

There are so many opportunities for pleasure in our daily lives, if only we take the time to notice and appreciate (especially at meal time!).

Although I'm unable to share the taste of our yummy meal with you, I'm able to share the visual.

Feast your eyes folks!! 

A Global Village Construction Set

What do you need to run a small, sustainable civilization with modern day comforts? If you eat bread, you rely on an Agricultural Combine. If you live in a wooden house, you rely on a sawmill. Each of these machines, in turn, rely on other machines.

The farmers and engineers from Open Source Ecology have broken down this complex web of machines into a reproduceable, closed-loop system and are sharing the technology with everyone! Their Global Village Construction Set (GVCS) outlines how to build 50 low-cost industrial machines that are needed to build a small civilization. The cost of making or buying their machines are, on average,  eight times cheaper than buying from an industrial manufacturer.


What kinds of industrial machines does the GVCS include?
- Bulldozer
- Bioplastic extruder (which takes plastic and extrudes a useful form, such as greenhouse glazing or water tubing)
- Hydraulic motor
- Industrial robot
- Open source truck
- 50kW wind turbine

This life-sized lego set of modular tools reduces barriers to entry into farming, building, and manufacturing. Whether you're living in Vancouver,  Hong Kong, or Kenya, you can use these tools to build a sustainable civilization with modern comforts.

Marcin Jakubowski (founder) and his team are putting their theories into practice at their Factor e Farm (picture above). You can check out his Ted Talk for more info!

Using Karma to Create a Better World

"It's good Karma" 

"You don't want bad Karma!"

I hear these phrases tossed around often, perhaps as a reminder to follow the Golden Rule. So, what exactly is Karma and how can it help us create a better world for ourselves?

According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, Karma is defined as: 

"the force generated by a person's actions held in Hinduism and Buddhism to perpetuate transmigration and in its ethical consequences to determine the nature of the person's next existence"

Essentially, be nice in this life and people will be nice to you in your next life. Be "bad" and "bad" things will happen in your next life. This leads us to believe that Karma mainly impacts our future lives or that Karma impacting our current lives was predetermined in a previous life. What if we don't believe in past and future lives? Can we do whatever the heck we like? Or, does Karma impact our current (and perhaps only) life?

I've recently come to think of Karma in the sense of a more immediate time frame. To build on my previous blog, I think Karma is related to story-telling. How we act will impact the stories we build and will dictate the stories we have of others. If Joe lies a lot, Joe will think everyone is lying to him; his actions will erode his ability to trust others. If Mary thinks only for herself, she will think everyone is thinking only for themselves and she won't feel supported by others. If Susan judges everyone in her life harshly, she will believe everyone is judging her to the same degree. Joe, Mary, and Susan are all creating their own realities through their own actions.

So, what we do in our lives will directly come back to us. In a sense, our behaviours control our perspectives, our daily experiences and our quality of life.

This is great news! Why? Because this means we have the ability to  draw positive and nourishing qualities and perspectives into our lives through our actions.

How can we bring positive Karma into our current lives? I guess the greatest guide is the Golden Rule: "Do unto others as you would have done to you." What kind of world do you want? This is the fun part! You can create a vision for the world you want and begin to act in that way...then see what kind of world you create for yourself and those around you.

What kind of world do I want? I want a world in which everyone looks out for and supports one another. A world in which people focus on commonalities, and respect differences. A world full of love and respect and authenticity. A world full of appreciation! The best way to create this world for myself is to start with my own actions.

I heard this a month ago and I feel I am still unwravelling its meaning:

"We should concentrate on our actions, not on who we are." (Buddha)

Perhaps because concentrating on our actions is where it all begins.

Enjoy creating a world you feel nurtured and supported by!