Ks Are Wild

As if I didn’t already love Paul Rudd.

From the Sesame Street DVD “Being Green: Elmo Goes Green to Help the Earth!”

Earth Rocks:

It’s Easy Being Green:

Betcha didn’t know he could sing?  Well, anybody acquainted with “The Anchorman” starring Will Farrel will remember his harmonizing talents in “Afternoon Delight.”  I’m thinking of you Julie and remembering this fondly!  Warning, this song will be stuck in your head all day long.

Did you know the actors came out with a music video for it?  Hysterical:

I heard about this through the local NPR because the women of Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington participated in this event.  It was so cool, I almost wished I was still in college so I could have participated.  Almost.  I like donating to groups such as these.  Such tangible results.

GU Women Walk April 23 for African Families SPOKANE, Wash. – Students from Gonzaga University’s Comprehensive Leadership Program will join forces with students from colleges and universities nationwide Thursday (April 23) to raise awareness for the need for clean drinking water in Africa.

The BH2O+ (“Bring Hope to Her”) event will take place at 11 a.m. on the Quad grass field on the west side of the Crosby Student Center is sponsored by Nuru International, a nonprofit, public-benefit charity committed to pioneering holistic, sustainable solutions to end extreme poverty in partnership with the poor.

The Gonzaga BH2O+ event will include a rally designed to educate students and community members on the plight of African women created by the lack of clean drinking water. The focal point will be a solidarity walk in which more than 50 women will carry containers of water on their heads, modeling the grueling daily task of African girls and women. The women will walk throughout the GU campus to a designated water source.

“I’m excited because it is a visual representation of the challenges of poverty and it connects students like us, who are so blessed, to women in Africa who face obstacles everyday in the struggle to just meet their basic needs.” – Sarah Arpin, BH2O+ Campus Coordinator.

As part of the national, GU students seek to bring hope to the women of the developing world, and to raise funds that will enable the drilling of four deep water wells at schools in Kuria, Kenya, as well as the engineering of rain-water harvesting systems in Kenyan homes. A full list of participating colleges and universities, as well as photo and video highlights from the events will be available at www.bhope2her.org.

“A critical part of Nuru’s mission is to inspire the developed world to confront the crisis of extreme poverty, and to help students become advocates for this important cause,” said Jake Harriman, CEO of Nuru International. “Through the BH2O+ events, collegiate women and men are taking powerful steps to educate their fellow students about the need for clean drinking water in Africa. In addition, their fund raising efforts will directly contribute to lasting clean water solutions in Kuria, Kenya and Malawi.”

The Crucial Need for Clean Drinking Water
The consumption of contaminated water is responsible for approximately 80 percent of all diseases and more than one-third of all deaths in developing countries. Access to clean water, as well as education about water sanitation, is critical to reducing illness in communities worldwide. In Africa, girls and women spend an average of three hours per day collecting water from distant sources. They must then spend additional time filtering and disinfecting that water so it’s safe to drink. Long walks to distant water sources take precious time from activities such as school or work, and they can prove a source of danger or physical stress: the average African woman carries 44 pounds of water on her head. Accessible wells with clean drinking water will not only improve health in these African communities; they will also give back needed time to each girl and woman, allowing them opportunity for education, development and family activities. More information on the importance of clean water and sanitation is available online.”

BH2O+ Pre-Event VDO from Nuru International on Vimeo.’,width:’100′,height:’100′” width=”100″ height=”100″ align=”" />

Here’s the write up by NURU:

We Did It!

Sunday, April 26, 2009 at 11:18AM | Nuru International

Eleven college campuses. Over 800 students participating. Hundreds of dollars raised by students, and thousands given by benevolent donors. “Be Hope to Her” is effecting change – real, lasting, sustainable change.

This campaign began because Nuru noticed a need in Kuria, Kenya – a need that is an injustice; women and girls, sacrificing education and opportunity to spend 20 hours of their week fetching water…a practice has gone on for hundreds of years in that community and has furthered the cycle of poverty, but is now beginning to change in that community because of our efforts and Nuru’s partnership with the Kurians.

I have been so inspired by the passion the students have shown in bringing the message of the need for clean water access in the developing world to their campuses. Both men and women students have rallied together to fight for equality for the women and girls of the developing world – because we choose to be their advocates; through solidarity, we walk alongside them and stand for justice.

The creativity in spreading this message was unlike anything I’ve seen before! Yellow buckets dominated student unions, were featured in art exhibits and hung from trees; windows and walls were plastered with artwork, and sidewalks were chalked with the BH2O+ message; stickers were plastered on laptops, water bottles and guitar cases, and window clings stuck near water faucets and fountains; banners, t-shirts and poster boards were designed and displayed; Facebook status and Twitter updates spread the word; the BH2O+ promo video played on continuous loop in dining halls and student unions; the Dean of students gave an excused absence for event participants at one campus and personally paid for student buckets at another; students organized bake sales and a benefit concert to collect funds – and other students flat out asked their friends and classmates to give money to the cause – and they did! So many highly responsive, activistic students not only engaged, but invested, in this project for hundreds of families in Kuria, Kenya living in extreme poverty, and each bringing dozens of others with them for the ride.

As an example of the high get-it factor of the students involved in this campaign, read this excerpt from Kati Bailey, the volunteer student campus coordinator at Marshall University:

“You drink it. You cook with it. You shower in it. You brush your teeth with it. You swim in it. You flush the toilet with it. You wash your car with it. You may even make some delicious kool-aid with it. And you probably do all this…without a second thought. If you’re like me, that is. So what is it? What is this magical liquid that has so many uses? That’s right…Water. You know, H2O. That substance that pours so freely out our faucets and into our cup as we gulp it up and move on to our next task on the to-do list. Well for many, and by many I mean millions, it isn’t that easy. This year 2.2 million people will die from water-borne diseases. Numbers are really easy to scan over. But really soak in that. 2.2 MILLION. And each one of those people is just like you and me. They have hands. Hair. A personality. A soul. And they die. Because this liquid we pay no mind to is contaminated. I know what you’re thinking…ok Kati, I officially feel guilty. What more is there to say!? The most important thing is left to say, LET’S CHANGE THIS.”

And another excerpt from an email Darcy White, student campus coordinator at Stanford, wrote to rally students for the event:

“Girls and women in Africa have to miss school daily to carry water for an average of 3 hours. I can’t force you to skip class, but it is a good chance to join in solidarity and spend one day carrying buckets so that people in Africa don’t have to every day.”

I have been humbled to partner with these students and watch them rally together for this cause. Students groups and clubs who had never partnered together came together, meeting weekly for months, to make this an experience their campus would soon not forget. Students used their club networks, email lists and Facebook friend lists to spread the word about why we need to take action – and how.

As the students who brought us the BH2O+ campus experience have shown us, it truly is within our power to effect change. And I’m so grateful for the hundreds who did – who took a stand for Kurians needing empowerment, needing resources, needing opportunity.

We, together, are hope to her. And there is so much more you and I can, and will, continue to do.

Thank you! Tuko pamoja!”

I wanted to find more about the fundraising events forBRING HOPE 2 HER so I went to the website: http://www.bhope2her.org/.  I kept hearing about this NURU international.

It led me to ask the question, so who is NURU?  Here’s their self-description in their fact sheet http://www.nuruinternational.org/:

Nuru, a Kiswahili word meaning “light”, is a new humanitarian organization at the crossroads of innovation and extreme poverty.  Nuru is a grassroots movement of thousands who have grown tired of waiting for someone else to end extreme poverty in Africa.

Nuru International is a 501(c)(3) non-profit, public benefit charity committed to pioneering holistic, sustainable solutions to end extreme poverty in partnership with the poor. Its mission is to empower rural communities to achieve self-sufficiency and to inspire the developed world to confront the crisis of extreme poverty.

The Crisis
According to the World Bank, 1.1 billion people live below the $1 a day extreme poverty line. 70% of these extreme poor live in rural areas. In this age of stunning advances in the natural sciences, technology, medicine and business, where developed nations can afford to offer their next generation the hope of a better tomorrow, millions still struggle every day to find enough food to ensure their children even see tomorrow.

Nuru International is based on a groundbreaking eight-step model that addresses the interconnected problems of the extreme poor in a way that helps them lift themselves out of poverty, rather than creating a dependency on outside organizations. These eight steps are: (1) Listen, (2) Innovate, (3) Empower, (4) Partner x3, (5) Evaluate (then repeat), (6) Sustain, (7) Leave, (8) Scale.

Kham is so good at entertaining the kids. The other day he crafted these nifty inventions for the kids.  He’s always making little toys out of stuff or rearranging our playset to keep it interesting.  This time, he drew what they requested, cut and pasted them to cardboard, and added some screw for moveable wings and a hole where he inserted this pressure blasting gun toy of Kellen’s so he could pretend to be the Robot shooting.  I’m a lucky wife, that I have such a fun and creative father for my kids.  And my kids are damned lucky to have him for their daddy.

The foam rocket can "shoot"

Anybody recognize this quote from American Beauty? – Fantastic movie that I own that’s good to rewatch now and again to give yourself some perspective on life.

I have so many moments like that here in Oregon.  Fall used to be my favorite season but as I’ve become a gardener and better recognize plants and their itty-bitty beginnings or emergence and reawakening from winter, I’m starting to love Spring.  Besides, Fall plants aren’t a very fragrant bunch.  Spring air is loaded with fragrance – blossoms of trees, daffodils, narcissus, hyacinth, Daphne Odora, sweet box…

Around these parts the bright yellow Forsythias are finishing their blooms, the trees are dropping their blossoms, Daphnes are still going strong, and Daffodils are on their way out just as the tulips are coming to their peak.  But because I planted my daffodils a little late in the season, many of mine still look excellent.

There’s a deciduous tree that is used extensively in landscaping around here for both homes and businesses and lining the streets. It flowers pink in the spring and has black/purple foliage for the rest of its leaf life.  I don’t remember whether it changes color in the fall.  My point is that, despite its commonplaceness (something I try to avoid), I am in love with it.  I really want one for my backyard next to the veggie garden to block views to the neighbors.  The blossoms really make the air sweet and they are incredibly gorgeous against our grey skies.  I think it would look stellar with our plum/wine colored home nearby.  I thought it might be a Thunderchild or Royal Raindrops crabapple but their blossoms are too dark a pink.  These are clearly light pink.

All of these pics were taken from my moving vehicle.  So please excuse the framing and quality.  These aren’t even the best specimens about town but by the time it occurred to me to take them, they’re not looking as perfect anymore.

Used to line the streets by a school.

Maybe a different type of tree? Starting to lose the petals.

After they've lost most of their petals.

Drifts of petals in driveway

Lots of different types of Magnolias are in bloom too.

The blossoms don’t last long but I’ve been savoring the view every morning I commute to my daughter’s school.  It’s been a few weeks now and the blossoms are floating down and pooling like pink snow drifts.  The other day as rain approached and the clouds dimmed the sky the wind kicked up and swirled the blossoms around in little funnels and I stood stock still mesmerized by the ribbons of color in the currents.  The scene from American Beauty when the boy shows his home video of the plastic trash bag bandying about in the wind lept to mind.  I completely understood his line, “Sometimes there’s so much beauty in the world I feel like I can’t take it, like my heart’s going to cave in.”

I’ve been pulling out books the kids are beyond from their shelves to make room for more age appropriate reading. One of the books we’ve been reading is one of my old, little, paperbacks called, “Tales of Amanda Pig.” At the back of the book was a stapled envelope glued onto the flap, with a scrap of paper tucked inside. I had totally forgotten how I spent days cataloging my entire book collection as a kid to make it like a library. Now I’m thinking it was a sneaky way to keep Kelli from stealing my books too. Do you remember the old school library system where you’d sign the inserted card and they’d stamp the due date? That’s what I was imitating.

The childhood work of a wannabe librarian

This is a nice concrete example of my longtime love for organization. I spent an awful lot of time creating the worlds for my Barbies and Ponies (In the front yard or beach sands of Hawaii) but I rarely got around to actually playing with them (aside from the typical mass orgies). I enjoyed the set design, location scouting, and costuming so much more than the actual play-acting. I guess I’m more the idea woman.

You’d think that my house was totally organized but alas, no. I have let go a lot of my Type A habits since raising children. I think it’s a matter of Don’t or Die in my case – I’d go insane from the impossibility of perfection.  However, additional shelves/cubbies, drawer dividers, fancy labels, and file folders make me hot   Organization, or at least the appearance of organization, makes me very happy.

Best Fracking Easter Egg Dye Job Ever award goes to Kham!

The Kids had fun too.

We have one disc left of Season 3 of Battlestar Gallactica.  After this, I think there’s an offshoot disc called Razor, then Season 4, and then the final 5th season (which just ended the series a few weeks ago).  We’ve been watching them pretty obsessively, watching at least one a night.  Kham and I make plot predictions all the time, and I love that we’re wrong a lot.  It’s not the typical American canned formulaic series.

Kellen sees the picture on the disc face in the machine and is dying to watch it with us.  Of course, we’re not letting him.  However, Kham has shown them the old Cylon machines in YouTube clips.  Our obsession has trickled down to our kids now as they are playacting running and hiding from the Cylons.

Kellen, I’ve noticed, is becoming more imaginative in his play.  Thank God.  Because that’s been pretty much Kosette’s sole territory thus far.  I was beginning to think he was so engineering minded that he was completely devoid of a creative play side to his nature.  But HE’S the one who started that and dive bombed behind the couch.  He also saw Kham take something out of the oven with my green oven mitt and said that he looked like a Sleestak (lizard men from Land of the Lost).  As you can see below, he was spot on with that observation:

The last episode on Disc 5 of Season 3 Battlestar Gallactica was entitled “Maelstrom”.  I thought it meant turbulent storm at sea but I wasn’t positive, plus I wondered as to the origin of the word, because you just know it isn’t English.  Turns out it’s Dutch.  I thought it a fitting title for the episode because the Battlestar “ship” goes through some times of figurative upheaval.  But after researching it, I appreciated the preciseness of the title for the episode’s goings ons – both figuratively and literally.

Somebody else was curious as to the entymology too, Charles Hodgeson.  I’ll make the most pertinent parts BOLD.  He wrote:

“I checked the New York Times to see how people were using the word “maelstrom.”

To be honest I needed to check the spelling first.

• There was a story on the war in Iraq and the maelstrom in Bagdad;
• another about a family crises maelstrom; and
• one on a maelstrom in public education.

These match with one of the definitions given in the New Oxford American Dictionary that says the word has a figurative sense of a scene or state of confused and violent movement or upheaval.  According to Urbandictionary maelstrom is also a Kickass band and according to Wikipedia it’s more than one role playing game as well as several pieces of music.

But the root of the word, as hinted by the spelling, isn’t English, it seems to be Dutch.

And in fact there is a place, not in Holland, where this word—if not comes from—at least is associated with.  On the coast of Norway there is an island called “Moskenisoy” and nearby the combination of submarine rock formations and tidal currents set up a whirlpool that gurgles and sucks in a rather frightening manner if you happen to be in a boat nearby.   To sailors 500 years ago it was frightening enough that rumour got around.

Here is what seems to be the first quote in English:

There is between the said Rost Islands, and Lofoote, a whirle poole, called Malestrand, which..maketh such a terrible noise, that it shaketh the rings in the doores of the inhabitants houses of the said Islands, ten miles of

The story went that this whirlpool could suck any ship down and grind it to splinters.

The Dutch root words for maelstrom are maalen meaning to grind and whirl—which is also related to our word “meal” as in “corn meal”; and stroom  which is a stream or current.

The New Oxford American Dictionary says the word denotes a mythical whirlpool, but I’m thinking that by mythical here they mean it doesn’t really rattle the doorknobs ten miles away or grind all ships to matchsticks.”

(SPOILER ALERT: Cara Thrace goes down a stormy whirlpool in space, after dreaming about the symbol and doodling it throughout her life.)

This, and other words were researched by him and published at this site, along with free podcasts available for download.  http://podictionary.com/?p=238

This post is mainly for Herma, because she asked.  Soon she’ll be the crazy WICKED fan that I am and my musical mania will have consumed the entire cul-de-sac  HAHHAHAHAHHAHaaaa!

Idina Menzel originated the role of Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West, in the Broadway musical WICKED.  Kristen Chenowith co-starred (search for her in previous posts).

Here is THE song from WICKED, as performed by Idina and Kristen at the TONY awards:

Personally, I think this song is mega fun to sing too “No Good Deed”.  Kosette and I like to blast it with the windows down.  That costume was incredible.:

Yes, she can belt things out and reach the high notes and sustain things, but it was this quite song that pitches high to low and whose tempo is very inconsistent that impressed me so much.  It would be very difficult to sing.  And that was the song that wowed me for its technical skills.  “I’m not that Girl”:

Here she is singing with her husband, Taye Diggs, (He’s now starring in ABC’s Private Practice and they recently announced that they’re expecting their first baby) in WICKED “As Long As You’re Mine”:

She has a website: http://www.idinamenzel.com/ and an entire “channel” devoted to her on YouTube where much of her stuff is centrally located:  http://www.youtube.com/user/idinamenzel?blend=1&ob=4

Talking about the greenification process and her character in WICKED:

An awesome PBS special about WICKED that shows clips and the prepwork:

Her acceptance Speech for her first Tony award in 2004 where she was pitted against her costar for her role in WICKED as well.

For something very different, here she is singing “Life of the Party”  from the Off-Broadway production of Andrew Lippa’s “The Wild Party.” in 2000:

But I first knew her from the musical RENT where she played the lesbian, Maureen.  This clip is her in the movie version:

Man, I wish I could find a good clip of her singing the incredibly difficult and powerful song from HAIR, “Easy to be Hard” – It’s a perfect song for her voice:

Fantastic little clips of her talking about her gigs as a wedding singer before fame:

Here she is covering Seal’s “Kiss From a Rose” while doing a concert in Boston:

Telling interview with her about her and her movie, Enchanted:

Idina performs in the musical, AIDA, “My Strongest Suit”:

She also starred in the Chess Benefit Concert that was recorded live last May 2008 at the Royal Albert Music Hall in London (For More Information about the concert click here) and will play this June 2009 on PBS.  I hope we get it.  Here she is singing “I Know him so Well” duet with Kerry Ellis (Famous from Les Miserables and also played the role of Elphaba in London’s WICKED) – on a side note, I think Reba MacIntyre does a recording of this too that was pretty darn good.  Who doesn’t like a little Reba?

There you go, Herma.  Now you just gotta go and see WICKED for yourself and borrow my cd!  I’d be happy to talk you through what’s happening and show you the appropriate clip on YouTube so you can piece it together if you’re not able to make it to a live performance.

After publishing the last post, out of sheer curiousity I checked YouTube to see if there was anything for Windjammer or “Kari Waits for Me” (The song for which I was named that my dad recorded with his group, and Terri Gilkinson wrote.)  Some of you might remember that Kham sang this with my dad and the surviving members of his group along with my cousins during our wedding reception to me.  And those who have really known me for a freaky long-ass time might remember that my dad played his guitar and sang it to me for my Sweet Sixteen birthday party tea at the Huntington Gardens in Arcadia, CA.

Here’s the two clips I found:

The first is someone’s personal slideshow to it.  Please note, this is not my father’s or Terri’s rendition:

Does anybody know if this is German or Austrian or Bavarian…What?

Man, this makes me want to figure out how to get the sound clip of my dad’s group up.  Kalani, care to help me with that?

When I was a kid, my Dad always substituted our names into songs he was singing to us.  Unlike my siblings, I was fortunate enough to be named after a song he recorded called “Kari Waits for Me” that was used in the old movie Windjammer.  Anyway, I have continued that tradition with my children.

I sing “Goodnight, My Someone” from Music Man inserting “Good night, my Kellen Goodnight, Kosette…”  This was the made for television special version of it starring Kristen Chenowith and Matthew Broderick.  Her rendition with the little cowgirl yodelly “True love” parts amuse me (she is from Oklahoma).

We’ve been transposing songs for them since Kosette was born.  But one that we still use frequently was messing with the lyrics to “Springtime For Hitler” from the musical The Producers.

Not only does that tune get scarily imbedded in your brain, but it’s easy to adjust to your names and needs.  For instance, “Bath time for Kellen and Kosette” or “Bed time” or “Poop time”…  Come to think of it, lots of them were potty related as I reflect back on this.  And lots of them were ABBA.  (How can I not be an ABBA fan when it was one of like 10 tapes my mom listened to repeatedly in the car while I was growing up – along with Crystal Gale, Enya, Kenny Rogers, Liberace, John Denver, and Neil Diamond.  Wow!  That was an old memory – the little plastic cupholder box that sat over the hump by the front middle seat in our old station wagon all grody from melted crayons, greasy money, and coffee drips.)

Take the song, “Mamma Mia” for example:  “Poop and pee-uh  Here she goes again My, My, I’m not gonna miss this….”

Or, “Money, Money, Money”: “I work all night and work all day to wipe the butts I birthed today.  Baby it’s sad…Poopy! Poopy Poopy.  Lots of Poopy!  You’re a poopy girl!”

I know there are a lot more but that’s all I can think of at the top of my head.  Maybe Kham could pitch in here.

So, are there any songs with which you play with the lyrics while parenting?

Woah.  The title intrigued me so I had to click to read it and I loved it.  I did feel a little lingering guilt over the old sacrilege debate but…I know I might get a lot of crap for posting it, but so what.  This is what I believe.  And I’m not trying to indoctrinate you (Indoctrinate: cause to believe something: to teach somebody a belief, doctrine, or ideology thoroughly and systematically, especially with the goal of discouraging independent thought or the acceptance of other opinions).  You don’t have to read it if you don’t like atheistic sentiments.  In fact, I suggest you not.  However, aside from echoing the format of The Lord’s Prayer, I don’t think it’s too disrespectful to believers.  I like the straightforward revisionist take of it.