Travel Notes: New Mexico, Notes on Science & Consciousness

 

Science and Consciousness Conference, 5-04, Albuerque
After the 5-day conference, I rented a car and drove 2 hours west of
Albue. to a pueblo called Acoma. A local who gave me a ride from
Whole Earth store said it was her favorite. I can see why it’s
called the land of enchantment, as with the big sky always in view,
usually with scattered white clouds. You’re aware of the big
picture. You drive down into a valley looking at eroded fingers of
sandstone mesas. It reminded me of Tibet, the high desert with sandy
soil and scrubby bushes, homes built out of stacked rocks and fences
of tree branches.
Acoma is built on top of a tall mesa, two or three story adobe
structures with ladders. They believe humans came from the center of
the earth so they entered homes from the roof: Doors were introduced
by the Spanish conquerors. There’s no water on the mesa and the
elders don’t allow any power, so they use propane and haul water in
trucks. Few people live there full-time. It must have been selected
for safety, although the story is two young medicine men led a group
from the North and stopped when they heard the proper sound from an
echo, “techewee.” The guide told us they’re a matrilineal society;
property is passed on to the youngest daughter to reward her for
caring for the elders, her responsibility. The Antelope Clan picks
the leaders, men. The Spaniards imposed Catholicism by force, but
the guide at this pueblo and Taos said they combine it with
traditional rituals and beliefs, no conflict. They make pottery with
the coil method, no wheels or kilns, lots of images of rain and
clouds since they grew corn on the valley without irrigation. Also
lots of images of a fertility figure, a flute-playing peddler who
came up from Mexico and who brought in outside genes; it was
considered a good thing to have his baby.
Took the scenic route to Sante Fe, found a cheap motel (was able to
bargin, hadn’t expected that) and headed for the Georgia O’Keefe
museum by the downtown plaza. I’ve had the experience once before,
in British Columbia, of seeing a distinctive landscape and then
seeing it through an artist’s eyes—Emily Carr. O’Keefe’s work is so
vivid and colorful, I could see sky and horizon through her eyes as
I continued the trip. Walked around, found a recordkeeper crystal at
a rock shop. Wanted to eat blue corn tortillas, so headed for the
Blue Corn Café. I recognized a guy from the conference, the
Parisian, who came to dinner with me. A few seconds deviation on the
part of either of us and we would have missed each other. It became
clear that he needed the reading I gave him the next day about a
core issue. The next day we drove to Ojo Caliente on the way to
Taos. It’s the only hot springs to have 5 distinctive types of
pools, iron, arsenic, Lithia, soda and sodium. I really needed to
soak off all the vibes from the conference. The pools were outside
so you could watch the New Mexico sky. Driving on to Taos, we did a
releasing the past patterns ritual, throwing stones into the Rio
Grande, felt good.
The Taos Pueblo of the Red Willow people, is built on either side of
a stream, with 5 story homes. They guide said they were patriarchal
but wouldn’t tell me any more. It felt sad, not a lot of energy
there, people sitting inside their homes waiting for tourists to buy
pottery and jewelry.
We went next to a bridge over a gorge carved by the Rio Grande, like
a ribbon of jade green, that extends from Colorado. We ate, me—you
guessed it—blue corn, and headed for a Chimayo cathederal famous for
its healing dirt. It was closed, but people had left notes to God,
crosses on the fence, similar to white folded paper left in temples
in Japan. Felt like a power spot for sure. The landscape here was
pine trees, different from the high desert terrain.
The next day I spent enjoyable time at the Native Amer. Culture
museum, part of 4 others on Museum Hill, funded by Rockefeller,
great dosent who kept going even when I was the only one left. Then
back to Albue. to see the botanical gardens and acquarium and find a
$30 motel, jog. The conference is in Sante Fe next year, plan to go
back and see more pueblos, spend more time at the hotsprings with
massage and wraps.
*******************************
Most speakers were Ph.Ds, scientists, etc. who based their
presentations on quantum physics and chaos theory. A major concern
was a crisis about survival of the planet, as with running out of
oil, water, fish, trees. I’ll organize these notes in terms of
wellness, moving from macro to micro issues.
Brian O’Leary, Ph.D., former Princeton physics professor, said we
need to develop the new science of consciousness which is the basis
for quantum physics and is the 5th force of physics (along with
weak, strong, etc.) Human intention can change properties on both
the macro and micro levels. It may be related to dark matter ignored
by physicists. We’re studying UFOs, ETs, crop circles, ESP, PK,
NDEs, psi, etc. He thinks zero point energy from the quantum vacuum
is the key to our salvation. We’re oblivious that we’re in deep
dodo, a disaster, collapse of the US, in a dumbing down process,
although since 1950 the population of the earth has doubled, water
use has increased 4x, fish catch 8x. energy use is up by 5x, the US
uses as much energy as the whole planet did in 1950—we’re 4% who
consume 28% of the energy. Half of the water used in the US is for
animals, such as cattle grazing. About half of the planet’s trees
are gone. Most of the oil will be gone by 2050. We’re facing the
biggest mass extinction in 65 million years since an asteroid
whipped out the dinosaurs. The hydrogen cells pushed by Gov
Swartzineger require a lot of fuel use to produce, solar and wind
sources are intermittent, nuclear is unsafe. The Bush Administration
is pushing hydrogen cells and bio fuel. The solution is cold fusion,
zero point energy. See http://www.newenergymovement.org or
http://www.brianoleary.com. The first new energy conference will be held in
Portland next September 25 and 26.

Author and professor Danah Zohar feels the crisis has to do with
needing to develop spiritual intelligence, in addition to mental and
emotional IQ. Philosopher and author Peter Russell also said we’re
in a spiritual crisis, caught up in materialism. “The real challenge
of our times is exploring consciousness to find how to facilitate
awakening/
Einstein explained that no problem can be solved in the
consciousness that created it.

Huston Smith, Ph.D. believes we’re in dangerous, turbulent times,
doesn’t feel optimistic. The 20th century is the most horrendous
century in all history. 160 million humans slaughtered, mostly of
starvation. The gap between the rich and the poor is increasing and
never greater. Can’t continue to believe in progress. Mystical
traditions have the answers.

Judith Orloff, MD, psychiatrist, author. Advises isolate your
biggest fear, your root memory, and work with it. She used hypnosis
to recall hers. The truth sets you free.

Russell Targ, physicist, author, remote viewing expert. He explained
psychic ability is a non-local awareness independent of space and
time, as Buddhists explained long ago, who we are is non-local. It’s
easier to do diagnosis than remote viewing. Give up the desire to
read, grasping, naming. To prompt remote viewing they ask tell me
the shape, from, not what is it? http://www.espresearch.com

Steven Halpern, musician. A stressed or egotistical performer
affects the listener negatively. William Tiller explained in 1975
that every cell has a keynote frequency which emits and responds to
tone. Can make a siren sound with the vowel o and focus on where it
feels good in the body for an internal massage. Violin, oboe and
trumpets are not relaxing, while electric piano, crystal bowls are.
Musician Don Campbell reports on a Japanese Sendi university study
of the impact of music on the immune system, measuring saliva. He
recommends slow Baroque music for healing, also New Age music,
drumming, humming and toning. Say the vowels oh, ah, ehh. George
Washington University study of elders that found one hour a day
spent in arts resulted in 20% less medication. He thinks ADDH is
hyperactivity of the ear, hypersensitive to sound. He led us in a
fun percussion session using paper plates—try them.

Candace Pert, Ph.D., cell biologist, author of Molecules of Emotion.
We have 1000s of cell receptors on each part of the body. Any drug
acts all over the body. Peptides are the informational substances
influenced by emotions which enter the cell receptors. Cells from
the bone marrow can become neurons in the brain. We make new neurons
every day around the ventricles unless heavily addicted, as to
alcohol. Millions of cells leave the bone marrow to got to their
next stage of development, which means we can change our bodies.
Mind becomes matter. Peptides regulate how quickly the cells divide,
where they migrate, so emotions guide regeneration of the body.
We’re in an epidemic of depression, have an over-medicated society
due to chronic stress. Our 30,000 years old bodies were not designed
for chronic stress. Depression is not caused by lack of serotonin,
as antidepressants take two weeks to kick on but inhibition of
serotonin uptake occurs the first day. Drugs cause the receptors to
shrink, reduce the number, and are less sensitive.

Bruce Lipton, Ph.D. cell biologist. Signals come from the
environment and affect the proteins, the building blocks, which
influence the DNA. Disease is caused by protein or the signal is
off. Signals get off due to trauma, toxins, and thought. Our gages
of our perception are sensation, emotions, and symptoms (which is
the only thing treated by doctors).

Meir Schneider. http://www.self-healing.org
When sitting a lot, bend over in your chair and rub your back with
the back of your hand and massage around the waist. Sitting
contracts the lower ab muscles. Massage the groin, do leg lifts of
foot to buttock and breathe. The main cause of back pain is shoes
and cement. Avoid shoes when possible. We use 50 of our 600 muscles.
Weak toes cause tension and gripping, so strengthen them by walking
with your toes pulling you forward, walk backward, do toe exercises
where you rotate each one independently, and pull it back with the
toe resisting coming back up. Put your fingers between your toes and
shake the foot. Rotate different parts of your foot on a tennis
ball. For eyes, palm frequently, look at details (as of faces), look
at distances like the sky, and do sunning where you stand in the sun
and rotate head from shoulder to shoulder with eyes shut, rubbing
the eyebrow. Talk walks at night. Look at finger moving from side to
side without moving head. Blink 22x a minute. Wave hands at
periphery of your face for peripheral vision.

Olga Kharitidi, MD, psychiatrist from Siberia. Technique to deal
with trauma by poking with pen on palm of hand associated with
trauma, then on the other hand associated with positive experience.
Raymond Moody, Ph.D. Evidence of NDE’s—wave of empathetic NDE
experience by bystander.

Jane Katra met Russell Targ when he was given 6 months to live due
to masticized cancer and she was his healer. She says to change the
host so the illness doesn’t recognize it. The healer has to unlearn,
forget yourself, be used by the higher power, empty mind, willing to
be used. She’s had communication from his deceased daughter
Elizabeth.

Donna Eden at Science and Consciousness Conference
Muscle testing: Say, “You push up and I’ll push down.” The hand
should be relaxed rather than in a fist. A self-test is to hold an
allergen, vitamin, etc. to the solar plexus. If you move forward,
like a pendulum, it’s positive, if you fall backward, it’s negative.

Don’t wear an underwire metal or plastic bra because it interferes
with the lymphatic system. You can test the impact by muscle testing
the arm with a finger on the wire. Also avoid carrying bags and
purses over the shoulder. Test after walking a few steps. Correct
with a cross crawl. It’s better to wear a fanny pack around the
waist.
For sore shoulders, tap on them with a hairbrush.

Travel Notes: Costa Rica

My son Jed and I set out on what he described as a mother-son
bonding two weeks in Costa Rica. He did a semester abroad there so
he was a terrific guide, naturalist, and translator. I was glad
though I’d listened to Spanish tapes driving around town before the
trip so I could be courteous and get the gist of some conversations.
We flew from Chico, to SF, to LA, to Guatemala City, (the largest
city in Central America) where we were welcomed by lightning flashes
randomly moving across the horizon (this is the rainy season which
mean fewer tourists and lower costs), and finally to San Jose.
The guide book said CR’s main industries are
electronics, as well as tourism and coffee and bananas. The
indigenous population is very small, because Spanish invaders in
search of gold didn’t find it but left devastating diseases, but we
noticed native people in the rural areas. It’s a country with no
army, but lots of guards in San Jose, in front of a furniture store,
etc. as well as the more obvious bank armed guards. Windows in homes
are barred and grilled, sometimes with barbed wire on top of fences.
We picked up our little Korean four-wheel drive and headed
out of the city to see Volcano Arenal. Somehow I end up by a volcano
when I travel—power spots. Lush and green, kind of like the rainy
side of Hawaiian Islands, we saw impatiens, birds of paradise,
bougainvillea, and hibiscus, growing along the road. Tourists
complain most about those roads because outside of the city there
are lots of rutted, potholed dirt roads. Probably good because it
keeps some visitors away. We found a little café and had what became
the usual meal: grilled fish, rice and beans, fried plantains,
tomatoes and cuke, for about $5 each. That includes a fresh fruit
drink, just fruit and water. I started mixing them, say mango and
pineapple.

This was the most expensive hotel area; we paid $55 for a
simple room with a volcano view ($17 was the least expensive). It
has daily lava flows but we didn’t see much activity because of
cloud cover. We drove closer to observe the volcano and then took a
14 k loop trail in the rain forest below the mt. We saw and heard
howler monkeys which sound like sea lions barking loudly, big
lizards (anole) which Jed promptly caught to examine closer, lines
of busy leaf cutter ants used to garden some fungus in their
underground colony, and toucanette birds. The hotsprings headed by
the thermal activity beaconed and we soaked in them, a warm natural
Jacuzzi in a lovely garden setting. European and American tourists
spoke in many languages, so I could use my French a little.
Fireflies and lightening gave a lovely evening show.
We drove past huge person-made Arenal Lake, a major source
of hydroelectricity, the main power source. We also saw windmills on
the dirt road to Montverde, the cloud rain forest. It’s like hiking
in a greenhouse of our houseplants. We were going to do the zip line
whizzing through the canopy and walk the suspension bridges, but it
was cold and rainy so we decided to head for the coast. Lots of
dairy farms on the way down from the hills, tended by cowboys on
horseback.

We came out at Playa del Coco and then in great desire
for snorkeling went south to Playa Conchal I saw a sting ray and
large blue trigger fish eating along the rocks; didn’t see any reefs
although I saw corral washed up on some beaches. Walking back to the
hotel, I saw an iguana walking up from the sea and then a yellow and
an orange butterfly showed me their colors. That was to be the only
beach with snorkeling during the rainy season, will have to get my
fix in Maui on the back from Japan workshops in October. Next time
will bring bogie board and take surfing lessons to adapt to the
waves. Had dinner on the beach overlooking the sunset and lightning
show.
The next day we swam out to a little island to check out its
tide pools, shells, and birds. We got stung by little invisible jellyfish
coming and going but it was worth it to go to an untouched place and
the rash didn’t last long. Moving south down the Nicoya Peninsula we
checked out Playa Tamarindo, a surfer beach, but it had too many
gringos so we went to Playa Grande where turtles lay their eggs.
Stayed in a lovely $25 hotel, as usual with the sound of the surf
lulling us 24 hours. At dinner a young surfer came up to me, asked
to see the Tao of Medicine book I was reading. I realized how hungry he was for info on alt. Health, told
him about Bastyr in Seattle, the best naturopath college.
Playa Nosara has lots of Europeans and Americans living
there and a terrific yoga center. We took a couple of classes in
their tree house with a distant view of the ocean. Really liked this
Angel Wings breath: Bend knees, circle arms to the sides, lower
hands in front of your public bone palms pressing downward in prayer
position, raise back of palms together above the head and behind the
ears, touch your heart, and lower hands. Our teacher said there are
180,000 yoga positions! I also liked happy baby where you lie on
your back and hold your feet in the air, rolling around on your
back, and one where you roll your forehead and skull on the mat.
I went for a hike in a nature reserve in a mangrove swamp,
serenaded by howler monkeys. It was maize, got lost, and was a bit
late for massage apt. The Viennese therapist and her assistant were
calmly waiting in chair hammocks in the Tico relaxed spirit.
Americans are the most stressed out people I’ve seen…. She started
out the massage tracing the meridians, a good idea. She told me it’s
common for Tico husbands to have girlfriends and babies on the side,
but when her husband indulged she separated from him. I asked about
local schools and she said the worst teachers are sent to the rural
areas. She also said the leaders of CR have put the land up for sale
to the highest bidder. The local expats push to keep the roads
unpaved to preserve their environment.
We went kayaking up a river looking for crocs—only saw the
bank where they sun and rest. We got out and looked at a deserted
black sand beach. It lightly rained but no biggy when it’s so warm.
I went swimming in the ocean to warm up when I got back.
Our last beach was Samosa; as we headed there on a dirt road
we rounded a corner and saw a river flowing over it. Oh merde, but a
Tico guy on a scooter said it was OK to cross. Good that Jed speaks
Spanish so well. That night there was a salsa band with 12
instruments and three dancing singers, very tight, in an outdoor
palapa. Dogs and young teens enjoyed the dancing. I started taking
salsa lessons in preparation for Cuba trip several years ago.
Then we took a ferry to the mainland and drove to San Jose,
did some Christmas shopping in central markets. Their crafts are
wood, pre-Columbian style ceramics, leather, plus Guatemalan
textiles. The towns in CR are laid out similarly to Mexico and Cuba,
and I’m assuming other Latin countries, around a central park/soccer
field, bordered by a church, school, and little shops. Then we flew
to DC and back to Chico to lovely weather.

Travel Report: Southern Japan

I visited Kyushu, the southern most Japanese island because it’s more rural, more traditional. I saw very few geijin (westerners) while I was there and few people spoke English. It’s amazing what you can do with a small vocabulary. I was looking for a little lake, for example, and said excuse me, small water where is it, with my arms making a big circle, and the rice farmers got it. (People say excuse me, suimasen, a lot, and also, hi—yes. People went out of their way to show me what I was looking for. My friend Mariko (a former student) and her 2 kids met me. She had a hotel rented with 3 beds (twins, everything is smaller in Japan, hotel rooms, cars, roads, people—I’m usually as tall as the men standing in trains, food packaging). The next day we rented a taxi and saw shrines and historical sites, including a reconstruction of a village that existed BC with sunken floors and thatched huts. We saw a shrine to what Mariko called a “man-god,” a brilliant poet and intellectual. Then to an onsen (hot springs) with baths that made your skin silky, and buffet dinner and breakfast. We ate a lot of seafood and yummy tofu, etc. We slept on futons, which the maids put out after clearing away the table where often dinner is served in other ryoken (Japanese inns). Efficient use of space. Everyone walks around in the comfortable kimonos that come with the room.

The next day we went to see a man who is like Uri Geller. Of course he bent spoons (I have one), but he also made cigarettes float around, put a knife through a bill without tearing it, changed the shape of plastic cigarette lighters, shrunk coins, predicted what cards would be drawn by an audience member, in what order. He took a Polaroid photo of a young woman with the intention of including the card she drew plus a childhood memory. I saw the card and a white dog near her face in the photo. She was amazed, said a dog that looked just like that bit her when she was a child. The guy gave a little lecture saying our thinking is conditioned and that we can expect unusual happenings.

Then we parted company and I took the train to Nagasaki. Didn’t have time or the guts to visit the bomb museum. I asked for a non-smoking room, but they don’t have that concept except in big hotels. People smoke in restaurants, bus drivers smoke in their empty buses, etc. my only complaint about Japan besides expenses. I took an all day bus ride across the island, stopping to see the active volcano Aso. We could see gas coming up and smell the sulpher but they wouldn’t let us go to the top and look in. The bus stopped at little goodie stores for tourists. They have sample boxes. Their treats are pickled veggies and fish, crisp flat bread with nuts, or sweets (gelatiny coated with powdered sugar, bready with fillings, not much chocolate. Drove through green mts, terraced rice fields, then to a pension in Yufinin. It had it’s own hot springs and served an incredible dinner with salmon sashimi, a small chef salad, corn soup, rice, something au gratin, mushrooms, shrimp with carrots and potato sticks, then yummy black sesame ice cream and a coconut cream. I rented a bike and stopped at shrines, visited the lake a bunch of times. Nice Tori shrine on the lake was very picturesque. A couple of people wanted to take my photo with them, maybe bec. I’m tall geijin?

On Thursday, bus to airport, fly to Tokyo, train to Yokahama, then to Fugisawa. Remember the old folk song about riding forever beneath the streets of Boston, he’s the man who will never return? I felt like that trying to get to Yokahama. I can ask for directions but don’t understand the answer. But I made it to Kaori’s house, had my beach walk and got organized for the workshops. Also did individual sessions, very powerful because they’re not accustomed to getting therapy, a lot happens. So much faster than talk therapy when I locate the issue without them having to talk about it, then use various tools to clear blocks.

Then off to Maui and the Big Island to do some more nitty gritty sessions and swim with spinner dolphins. Both times we kayaked out to the dolphins then snorkeled with them. So beautiful to see them swimming underneath you. I also took the ferry to Lanai to snorkel and see another island. It used to be all pineapple and now the economy is based on tourism. I walked through the two big resorts, one for their snorkeling and the other to see their orchid collection. The variety of colors of the tropical fish and the flowers is an awesome testament to the creativity of the universal intelligence.

Travel Notes: Brazil

 

Brazil occupies almost half of the continent, the world’s largest predominantly Catholic nation. One third of the land is jungle. Brazil is one of the fastest growing economies in the developing world,[i] with a population of 200 million and abundant natural resources, including huge oil reserves and a growing technology sector. It’s the world’s fifth largest population. Over half of the total population of South America is Brazilian and speaks Portuguese. This culture is known for its acceptance of various races and lack of discrimination. However, even in Brazil whites tend to have more education and earn more than black and mixed race people. Many poor people still don’t live in houses with drinkable water or sewage system and 7.5 million earn less than $1 a day. The World Bank reported that 21% of Brazilians lived below the poverty line in 2009 and almost one-third of secondary school-age youths are not in school.[ii]

Low-income workers with children under the age of 14 receive a small benefit of up to $115 a month depending on number of children and income, if the child is in school and receives health check ups. Around 12 million families receive the Bolsa Familia benefit, one of the largest programs in the world.[iii] However, this is often less than what they pay in sales taxes.[iv] Still, 1.4 million children between ages of 5 to 13 work without pay, mainly in farming. Brazilian films show us the lives of the poor, such as City of God (2002), Bus 174 (2003), The Middle of the World (2003) about a poor family with five children who ride their bikes 2,000 miles from the northeast to Rio in search of a job, and City of Men (2007) about two 18-year-old boys who grew up in the slums.

Brazil is also an emerging economic power, one of the BRIC nations. I asked why, and Christine Rizzo told me it’s because they’re hard workers, the middle class is growing, and because of mass media the poor are more aware and active in fighting for their rights in a country with abundant resources. She also told me it’s a macho country that has no problem with women leaders like the current president. Said to be the richest Brazilian, Eike Bapista, stated, “We believe that in five years Brazil will be the fifth-largest economy in the world. Obviously, the oil discoveries will [bring about enormous changes]. We’re talking about 100 billion barrels of recoverable oil.” [v]He added that China is becoming their biggest market and the US is lagging in technological development.

Travel Notes, 2007: Buzios is a cobble-stoned resort town three hours drive from Rio. Beach vendors sell coconuts with holes for a straw, grilled shrimp, etc. From the beach, you look domed islands, part of the remains of when Africa and South America were one continent. Middle-class people have a maid most days of the week to cook, clean, and do child care because they only earn $150-$300 a month. Wages have gone up because now the homeowner I visited pays $190 a month for housecleaning one day a week—all day. People smoke in the house and in public places; I realized I live in a small California bubble that’s conscious of the harmful effects of second-hand smoke.

I visited schools (see photos) and interviewed kids. I was told teachers are not well paid (around $350 to $750 a month, compared to $1000 for a university professor) and there aren’t enough spaces for the students, so some schools are in double or tipple sessions, as in common in Latin America.[vi] Instructors with bachelor’s degrees who work for state secondary schools in a middle-ranking system only earn about $7,000 per shift per year, so many work at least a double shift. The average wage for a secondary school teacher was $299 month in 2004 (compared to $4,055 in the US) and a professor averaged $790 (compared to $4,638).[vii]

Public schools aren’t considered good quality education with teacher shortages and absenteeism and lack of preparation, so parents who can afford it send their kids to private schools (around $500 a month). To send a child to the private school in Buzios costs around $1,500 if paid in advance and includes access to a room full of computers, English class, and lunch. About 14% of Brazilians are in private schools, according to 2009 figures from the Ministry of Education. Brazil’s schools have risen from the bottom of the rating list in the International Student Assessment in 2000, to 53^rd out of 65 countries in 2010.[viii] (Chile scored highest of Latin American countries but all of them were in the bottom third globally.) If students do well on the college entrance exam, they can go to public universities, sought after because they are free. A class system is perpetuated, as poor families can’t afford to send their kids to private schools to get the preparation they need to do well on the entrance exam. In Rio de Janeiro, 19-year-old Joao told me in all of Rio there are only two or three good public high schools and those require doing well on preliminary exams to be admitted. Some politicians are arguing for quotas to set aside university slots for low-income and students of color.

I interviewed a former physical education teacher. Claudia told me the public schools often divided into a morning and an afternoon session, and some have triple sessions. Kids get breakfast and lunch at school, an incentive for parents to send them to school. But the kids get the worst quality rice and beans because of government corruption. The school, books, and uniforms are free. Students only pay for copybooks and pencils. She taught PE in a high school in Rio in a good residential area, but her equipment consisted of one ball and no money to buy more. The other PE teacher at her school told her not to bother coming to school when it rains; you can still collect your salary. But Claudia did go to class, and the unattended students came to her classroom to do exercises, causing resentment from other teachers. Teacher absenteeism is a problem in Brazil, as in other developing nations.

Poor education stands in the way of Brazil’s progress, according to a World Bank report in 2008: “Unfortunately, in an era of global competition, the current state of education in Brazil means it is likely to fall behind other developing economies in the search for new investment and economic growth opportunities.”[ix] Students score low on international exams for basic skills and 10% are illiterate, despite the Bolsa Familia subsidy program requirement of school attendance. Under President da Silva, the government created a scholarship program for low-income students to attend private colleges and opened vocational schools, but he often boasted that he got as far as he did without going beyond the fourth grade and critics say he didn’t do enough to expand educational opportunities.

Lula was followed by his Minister of Energy, Dilma Rousseff announced, “I will not rest while there are Brazilians without food on their table, homeless in the streets, and poor children abandoned to their luck.” called education “the most important issue facing Brazil,” according to The New York Times. One of her campaign slogans called for a computer for every child. A member of President Dilma Rousseff’s transition team, Roberto Mangabeira Unger, observed, “despite all of these tangible and intangible advances the central problem of the country has not yet been solved. The central problem is this disparity between our vitality and the consequences of our inequality.”[x] He adds, “Successive Brazilian presidents have affirmed the priority of political reform and then failed in power actually to bring it about. The point of departure, the first step towards this future is to sever the link between politics and money, to create a state that is not in the pocket of a plutocracy,” as is needed in the US as well. He advocates more spending on education and changing from rote learning to analysis.

Minimum wage was raised to $328 a month in 2011. People were disillusioned with their leader Lula (Luiz Ignacio Lula da Silva) and socialism because of scandal and corruption among about half of his top politicians, although he has created some good education programs. Two Brazilian students I talked with, Dalca and Vini, felt his Bolsa Familia welfare program for the poor is a ploy to get votes, encourages having more children to get more money, and discourages work, although it does require that children attend school to receive the family allowance. Health care is free, but crowded public hospitals are not considered high quality and may require long waits. People who can afford it buy health insurance or pay for private care, averaging $85 a visit,[xi] just as those can afford it send their children to private schools.

Claudia’s sister lives in Rio and doesn’t feel safe, as more than 1,000 favelas (slums) have spread down the mountains around Rio, housing 2 to 3 million people, about one-third of the city’s population. They’re second generation now. Her sister carries a fake purse with a small amount of money and an old cell phone to give to robbers and is considering putting expensive bulletproof windows in her car. Many street kids are homeless and grab jewelry from pedestrians.

Rio has 10 million people, an informal beach culture, with people on the beach playing soccer, volleyball, and surfing. I also saw families and kids living on the streets (see my photos and Bus 174, a documentary film about a former street kid who hijacks a city bus in Rio). The highlight for me was visiting a favela called Rocinha, the largest of around 600 in Rio, with 250,000 people, located between two rich neighborhoods.[xii] The film City of God (2002) shows crime life in a favela/slum in Rio. Brazilian students told me in 2010 Rocinha is one of four the government cleaned up to be free of gangs, bringing in soldiers to do the job to clean up for the 2016 Olympics.

Currently, about 1 in 5 Rio residents lives in a favela, a frequently lawless community that often lacks basic sanitation, water, lighting, and policing. They are governed by drug gangs and militias who charge residents a security tax. The outcome is violence, over 6,000 murders in Rio de Janeiro in one year. Some view Rio’s situation like a low-level war with murders so common they no longer make headlines; check out http://www.riobodycount.com. The government was motivated by planning for the 2016 Olympics to get a handle on the violence, as by having police officers on patrol, asking about the needs of the people.

I was shown around a fevela by an Italian woman named Barbara who came to Rio for a holiday and fell in love with it. (See photos) She lives in the favela with her husband, a handsome favela man. It’s an informal society separate from the surrounded wealthy areas. The inhabitants don’t pay any taxes and don’t get any services. They do get electricity, as you can see in the photos from the wires strung all over, and are billed for it. The sewage flows down open conduits, very smelly of course, especially for the people who have houses near the sewage. When it rains, the sewage floods the narrow pathways between the homes. Barbara has staph infections on her legs from walking in the dirty water. Houses are built on top of houses, with brick and mortar, wider than the original structures, creating narrow sunless alleys and a high rate of tuberculosis because of the humid sunless air.

The favela is run by a drug gang, which Barbara said is connected to international traffickers. Some gang members are dealers and some are soldiers. Drugs come from Columbia to Rio and then move on to the US and Italy. As we walked, she said hello to a middle-aged man who she said started killing men when he was 14. He protected her when she first came to the favela. Everyone knows her and the gangs offer her safety. We saw young men on motorcycles near the entrance to the community, guarding it. She asked me to put away my camera when we saw them. They administer Wild West justice. For example, we talked with a 14-year-old mother, who was raped by a neighbor. The gang soldiers gave him a choice, death or pay for a home for her. The rapist picked the latter. Barbara asked the girl if she was in school and of course she isn’t. The gang members often don’t live past age 25 because of shootouts, and they all carry guns. We could see bullets in house walls where the police and gangs had gunfights.

When I talked with a psychologist who works with the young people in the favela, she outlined the common problems she hears. Fathers are usually missing, or may have other families. Even those fathers who live with their kids often  don’t pay attention to them. Mothers struggle to provide for their kids and some are addicted to drugs or alcohol, and are victims of domestic violence. Their sons in turn may be violent with their girlfriends. A grandmother told Barbara that her daughter, the mother of three children, was useless to them, a prostitute. The grandmother admits she herself is an alcoholic, but knows the children shouldn’t have to suffer. Barbara enrolled them in her preschool. Sixty children are cared for in her day care center for ages four months to age six. There are 110 kids in the pre-school. In the after-school program they can get help with homework; if you would like to donate money to her projects, you can do so on www.roupasuja.org.

Mayra Avellar Neves was 15-years-old when she organized a protest in her Rio favela. She organized a peace march with 300 young people to get police out of the favela during school hours, so teachers could come to the school without gunfights. Now Mayra is 17 and continues to fight for children’s rights. She got the Children’s Peace Prize from Desmond Tutu in 2008. She said, “Everybody has a part to play in improving human rights, in particular the rights of children as the future generation. We can and must stand up for these children, whose rights are being violated and whose lives are at risk.”[xiii]

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[i]Sharon Lobel, “Work-Life in Brazil,” Boston College Center for Work & Family executive briefing series, October, 2009. The next two paragraphs draw from this report.

[ii] http://data.worldbank.org/country/brazil

[iii] Gary Duffy, “Family Friendly,” BBC News, May 25, 2010. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10122754

[iv] “When Toucans Can’t,” The Economist, April 7, 2011.

http://www.economist.com/node/18529819/print

[v] Charlie Rose, “Eike Batista: Rich Man. Richest Man?,” Bloomberg Businessweek, February 11, 2010.

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/10_08/b4167014984348.htm

[vi] Seth Kugel, “Brazil’s Unequal Education System Amounts to Big Problems,” GlobalPost, September 22, 2010.

http://www.thehawaiiindependent.com/story/brazils-unequal-education-system-amounts-to-big-problems/

[vii] http://www.worldsalaries.org/teacher.shtml

http://www.worldsalaries.org/professor.shtml

[viii] “No Longer Bottom of the Class: Weak and Wasteful Schools Hold Brazil Back.” The Economist, December 9, 2010.

http://www.economist.com/node/17679798/print

[ix] Alexei Barrionuevo, “Educational Gaps Limit Brazil’s Reach,” New York Times, September 5, 2010.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/05/world/americas/05brazil.html

[x] Rodrigo Camarena, “The Rousseff Presidency and Beyond: Interview with Roberto Mangabeira Unger,” Brazil: the World Affairs Blog Network,

January 18, 2011

http://brazil.foreignpolicyblogs.com/2011/01/18/the-rousseff-presidency-and-brazil%E2%80%99s-future-interview-with-roberto-mangabeira-unger/

[xi] Virigina Rsende, “Designing a Low-Cost, High Performance Primary Health Care Chain in Brazil,”  http://accessh.org/index.php/list-of-existing-blogs/223

[xii] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-OqJNRiZv0

[xiii] http://www.childrenspeaceprize.org/en

Travel Notes: Switzerland

 

I flew to Zurich after leaving Tanzania in 2007. The contrast with the open air, four students to a desk, and no textbooks in the classrooms in Tanzania to the well-equipped schools in Switzerland is amazing. Here students have access to many computers, musical instruments, books, gyms and playground equipment. They come to school, not on foot, but by bike or scooter, train or auto. I visited two schools in two towns in the country—see photos. The countryside was just like the pictures with green mountains, happy cows with a big bell around their necks, snow covered peaks in the distance, very homogenous people in the country, while the city is more diverse, with some Africans, Indians, and Italians.

Tension about immigrants is an issue for European youth: The European Union reported 900,000 new immigrants in 2009.[i] For example, fueled by fear of unemployment, anti-immigrant sentiment is a youth problem in Germany, where neo-Nazism is embraced by an increasing number of youth.[ii] Some wear New Balance shoes, stating the “N” stands for “national.” In a 2006 survey, 69% said they were afraid of unemployment, 58% say fewer immigrants should be accepted in Germany, 39% are interested in politics, and only 30% believe in a personal God. Another survey found that most German youth are to the left politically and are concerned about protecting the environment, animals, the poor and elderly.[iii] They have a good relationship with their parents and are staying home longer because they’re in university longer. They’re success-oriented and prepared to work hard.

American consumer culture is an issue in Europe. A French newspaper, Le Figaro, ran an article in 2002 declaring, “American enterprises have disseminated veritable commercial traps for the young generation,” as firms like MacDonald’s and Nike sell “cultural rootlessness to European youth.[iv] A more recent article by Tommi Laitio reports that urban youth cultures that began with US imports like hip hop, have developed their local spin in music using local dialects, street fashion, and independent publishing and share on sites like MySpace, YouTube and Facebook.[v]“Foreign influences are thrown into the blender with the local concerns and peculiarities.”

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[i] Sam Roberts, New York Times, July 29, 22010

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/30/world/30population.html

[ii] http://www.goethe.de/ges/soz/dod/jug/en1795468.htm

[iii] http://www.tatsachen-uber-deutschland.de

[iv] Quoted in James Whitman, “Consumerism versus Producerism: On the Global Menace of ‘Consumerism’ and the Mission of Comparative Law” (2006). Faculty Scholarship Series. Paper 6.

http://digitalcommons.law.yale.edu/fss_papers/6

[v] Tommi Laitio, “Superlocal Identities: The European in the Youth Experience, Eurozine, December 13, 2007.

http://www.eurozine.com/articles/article_2007-12-13-laitio-en.html

Travel Notes: Russia

 

I visited Russia before the fall of communism. People on the streets didn’t smile and when I visited a Russian friend he told me not to speak English so his neighbors wouldn’t report him to the secret police. After I returned home, the police told him not to correspond with me and jeans I mailed to him didn’t make it to him. Apartments were small and crowded. Women spent a lot of time waiting in line to buy food. To buy something in a drug store, I waited in one line to order, in another line to pay, and another line to pick up. Clerks used an abacus to add up sales. These modernizations mean fewer jobs with one person doing the job that four used to do. Consumer goods were in short supply, including birth control, so abortion was the main form of family planning. Soldiers checked under our seats and used mirrors to look under the train when we left for Berlin, looking for people who might try to escape.

This has all changed with economic prosperity, Dr. Kate Transchel reports, although women still do the double job of paid work and family work. They’re not in the highly paid jobs. It’s just beginning to be accepted for father to take care of their children by themselves. Women get child custody after divorce. Russia hasn’t developed a feminist movement though. Communists considered it bourgeois and women were too busy to organize. The few feminists are likely to be academics who’ve traveled to the West.

An urban youth trend that emerged at the end of the 1990s is trying to be glamorous or read about it in reaction to Soviet drabness and post-Soviet bleakness: “Russian glamour has become the cultural equivalent of unchallenged globalised capitalism.”[i] Women read about and go to workshops about how to glamorous and use one’s sexuality to marry a rich man, “the fine art of manipulating men.”[ii] Some middle class people spend much of their income to buy imitations of fashion brands worn by wealthy celebrities. They read glamour magazines and novels, listed in bookstores under “Glamorous Paperbacks.” Women’s magazines like Gloss continue this type of instruction, including Russian editions of Glamour, Cosmopolitan, etc. which are mostly advertisements.

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[i] Birgit Menzel, “Russian Discourse on Glamour,” Kultura, December, 2008.

[ii] David Schonauer, “The Russian ‘Sterva’ [bitch] Class, PopPhoto.com, February 9, 2007http://stateoftheart.popphoto.com/blog/2007/02/in_russian_the_.html#%23

Travel Notes: India

 

I spent six weeks in India on a study tour in 1977. Like China and Japan, it has had an advanced culture for over 3,000 years. My main impression was the wonderful bright colors on the streets, in women’s saris, in markets in pyramid piles of colored dye. The streets are crowded with honking cars, bikes, rickshaws, and animals. The spirituality of the people is evident in photographs and statues of deities seen in taxis, shops, homes, and numerous temples. I sat next to a man on a plane and commented on his beautiful emerald ring. He told me his guru, Sai Baba, manifested it for him from the either. When I was in the holiest of cities, Varanasi, I could feel the intense devotion of the people who came there to be purified of their sins in the holy Ganges River or bring family member’s ashes.

I saw cows wandering in the streets in the capital of New Delhi, because Hindus are not supposed to kill them.[i]  Elephants can also be seen, hired for weddings, political rallies, and store openings. A young man told me about his babysitter when he was a kid, an elephant who was partial to kids because one had rescued him from a cruel master with a whip. The elephant would pick up the kids with its trunk when they got too near the stream.

The contrast between the rich with their cars and the poor with their donkeys, or the beggars on the street crying, “Ma, Ma,” was striking. A poverty rate of around 25% drags down the country, as around 250 million people earn less than a dollar a day.[ii] One of the SpeakOut teens said, “I would build houses for poor people and secondly the beggars are so bad. I would like to stop begging.” (Naba, 13, f, India) Caste is alive and well, as seen in marriage advertisements, caste-based social clubs, political parties, or higher castes not going into restaurants run by lower castes. I put on my sari incorrectly, a mistake as I was told it made me look like a street sweeper (code for outcaste). The government has set aside reserved places in educational institutions and government jobs for lower castes and tribes. Called Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, they make up around one-quarter of the population.

India, the country with the second largest population (1.1 billion), is the world’s largest democracy. A Deli high school teacher told her assembled students and their elected leaders, “India, with all its diversity, is truly the first nation of the emerging world, where, despite all odds, democracy rules. Nehru called it ‘the star of freedom in the East.’ Our greatest resource of hope, according to Professor Amartya Sen, is our tradition of questioning, self-criticism and debate.”[iii] In 2020 India’s population will be 34% youth (defined by the Indian government as ages 15 to 35). The average Indian will be 29 years old, compared to age 37 in China and the US, or age 45 in Western Europe and Japan. It’s more socially diverse than any other nation, according to Ramachandra Guha, with its Hindu fundamentalists and Maoists, its tribal people and urban sophisticates.[iv] India has many languages (18 recognized ones, with Hindi as the official language), religions (the birthplace of four major ones), ethnicities, and castes.

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[i] www.religionfacts.com/hinduism/things/cow.htm Includes photos.

[ii] “India at a Glance,” World Bank, September 24, 2008.

[iii] Speech by Paramita Roy, Deli school, 2011.

[iv] Ramachandra Guha, “A Nation Consumed By the State,” Outlook India magazine, January 31, 2011.

http://www.outlookindia.com/printarticle.aspx?270136

Travel Reports: China

Crowded like Indian cities, poor people spend time on the streets, cooking, sleeping, and talking. The first time I was in China, the streets were packed with bicycles amazingly moving in harmony. The only time I saw an accident was in Xian when cyclists collided looking at the foreign women—my friend and I–in a rickshaw. Now, 2011, cars have taken over the roads and the Chinese city skies are even smoggier. Cranes are everywhere, tearing down old buildings, although they are an ancient symbol of longevity.

Then everyone was dressed in dark blue Mao suits, but now the cities are filled with fashionable women and men in dark suits and ties or young people in jeans and Ugh boots. In Beijing, a friend and I went jogging in the early morning in our special running shoes when Red Army soldiers ran past us in cloth slip-on shoes. Going to Lhasa in Tibet was the most exotic place I’ve been with the Buddhist temples built into hillsides and the stark beauty of the Himalayan Mountains. It was very sad to see the Chinese government impact there, destruction of Buddhist temples and punishment of monks and nuns, and forbidding any photos or mention of the Dalai Lama. One of the first things I saw was a bound man in the back of a truck being driven to his execution by Chinese soldiers. The Chinese government censors any mention of Tibetan protests.

China has about 367 million people under the age of 18, greater than the population of the U.S. Chinese youth are 20% of the young people in the developing world. As more kids are in school and fewer are employed, the age of marriage is rising. There are more boys than girls because of the one child policy where urban families are expected to have one child, while in rural areas they can have more. Parents who don’t follow the rules get fines and reduced social benefits. Therefore, some parents abort female fetuses or abandon baby girls. The consequence is more than 24 million men could find themselves without a mate by 2020.

In China, some worry about these “Little Emperors” not being disciplined enough, but Chinese kids I surveyed point out these kids work hard to please their parents through school success, which is believed to lead to a good job to help support the parents in their old age. One of the outcomes of fewer children and Mao’s teaching that women hold up half the sky, is most women are employed full-time. Almost one-third of senior managers in business are women, compared to the global average of 22%. Six of the ten richest self-made women in the world are Chinese, according to the Hurun Report.[i]

Another outcome of the one child policy is the divorce rate (now 20% and higher in Beijing) doubled in a decade. Cheng, a young divorced woman explains, “Marriage requires forgiveness, understanding, tolerance and compromise. Yet we post-’80s generation neglect this entirely. No one will compromise. We just argue. Of all my friends who are married, 100 percent are unhappy. Next time I’ll look for a husband with siblings.”[ii] Until 2003, a married couple needed permission from their work unit to divorce. Some of the divorced parents don’t want custody of their child because they think it will hurt their chance of remarriage. Divorce counselor Ming Li reports, “It’s very selfish. That makes up about a third of all cases we see of the post-’80s generation.”

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[i] http://www.chinaherald.net/2010/06/chinese-take-over-top-10-rich-list.html

[ii] Louisa Limm, National Public Radio, November 9, 2010. www.npr.org/2010/11/09/131200166/china-s-me-generation-sends-divorce-rate-soaring

Travel Report, Tanzania

 

Tanzania: travel notes 2007

Dar-es-salam is on the Indian Ocean, with lovely palm trees along the coast. My goddaughter, Nora, and I drove north from Dar to the game reserve and saw wildebeests, hippos–the part that came up for air anyway, impalas and giraffes who stay close together, elephants and warthogs. We drove on very rutted dirt roads, typical of most except some potholed paved roads in the cities.

About one-third of the people are Muslims (I saw a few women in full purdah in black from head to toe, even their faces covered, but most wear headscarfs), one-third is Christians and another third are animists (the belief that animals and natural objects such as trees and rocks have souls, using shamans to communicate with nature). Over 120 tribes live in Tanzania; I heard people ask each other about tribal background. The Massai stand out as the men wear traditional red or purple wrap-around cloth and white sandals. They often carry a spear or dagger, employed as guards in the city for protecting houses or cars in front of restaurants and bars.

One of the bigger village homes I visited in Mang’ula, in rural Tanzania, had no closets, as the family has few clothes, no books, and no toys. (See photos of the house on flickr) There’s no need for closets, just a few folded clothes in the three bedrooms, which don’t have doors. Made of mud bricks, it has a tin roof set above the house with open air and dirt floors. The roof is open above the walls for ventilation so nets over the beds are needed to keep out mosquitoes. In addition to beds in four rooms, the central space has a table with four chairs, a sideboard, table and two couches.

Food is cooked outside in unhealthy aluminum pans over charcoal or wood heat over simple bricks outside. We saw men riding bikes carrying large bags of charcoal. They eat tomatoes, eggplant, bananas, rice, potatoes, maize, onions, eggs, okra, cabbage, and beef, goat, and chicken. The main dish in east Africa is called Ugali, a dumpling made from maize. A small room outside the house has a stool on one side of a wall to bathe and a toilet hole on the other side. This family is fortunate to be near an outside water pump. (See photos of another Tanzanian village.[i])

Even in Dar-es-salem, the largest city, there are basic infrastructure problems in addition to the very bumpy dirt roads. Until recently, water had to be delivered. Now it comes in pipes and is stored in large tanks; you turn on the pump when water pressure gets low. Power goes out almost daily, a problem mentioned by youth surveyed in Dar and many other developing countries. Corruption is a problem: Policemen might stop you while you’re driving to ask for a bribe. Most of the consumer items are imported, including African design fabric from India (few women dress in western clothes), pans from China and so on. I visited a large Muslim school that looked similar to schools in any city.

Mawana is a Muslim resident of Dar. I asked her about the Muslim school survey responses:

Q: Where do students learn English slang like “hanging out with friends?”

A: They learn from friends at home or from their sisters and brothers or even Internet chat too. These students speak good English because they are not allowed to speak Swahili within the school environment.

Q: Students complained about power outages.

A: You know here in Tanzania, we have no security on electricity, it goes off regularly, and we can’t end a week without having a power problem. We experience no electricity on each weekend (either the whole day on Saturday or Sunday), and it goes off without having been announced.

Q: Some of the girls mentioned equality for women.

A: Islam stands for human equality, men and women are equal on getting basic needs and rights, on practicing religious events, rules and principles and in some places women are favored more. I hope they have an Islamic knowledge subject where they learn about equality for girls and women according to Qur-anic teachings, or they attend Qur-an madrasa/school after school so they get that insights from there.

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[i] www.inourvillage.org/vv_village_scenes.html  Tanzanian village photos by kids.

Travel Report Japan and Lanii

Here are travel notes from the fall, 2006. In Japan I noticed:

Black and white: Japan looks like zebra colors, as school uniforms are black suits for boys and black or grey for girls with short pleated skirts—very short. It’s out of fashion now, but in Chiba where I was staying I still saw bunched up leg warmer socks at the ankle. Office workers mostly wear black suits and white shirts too, including women. In a clothes catalogue, I saw one page with red accessories and that was it, all the rest black, tan, and brown.

Great healthy food: I even ate fish testicles. Fish is served whole, including the head. I always tell my students avoid white sugar, rice, and flour linked to the health problem of two-thirds of adults in the US are overweight. My favorite food is kaiseki, developed for tea service, many and I mean many, small dishes in a variety of pottery. They don’t value a matched set. I ate this at a traditional ryokan inn with hot springs bath my last night in Japan. It was across the street from a huge Buddhist temple complex dating from the 900s, including lovely ponds and gardens.

Toilets: big variety from squat to fancy ones with warm seats, water sounds, automatic seat rise and lower.

Time: Japanese are serious about time; the trains come on the minute they’re scheduled. Check in was at 3:00 PM; I arrived an hour early because it was raining and only had my daypack, no umbrella. They wouldn’t let me check in although I said rain exists, but did lend me an umbrella (casa).

Education: students in my energy tools workshops often ask questions about specific getting it exactly right techniques, indicating that this is the way they’re taught in school to pass the dreaded college entrance exams. They also don’t jay walk, they obey signals, and pick up after their dogs. I had only one guy who asked more meaning-based philosophical questions. This was a good group, I didn’t have to twist any arms to get them dialoguing. As always, terrifically focused, on time, enthusiastic.

History: In Tokyo I visited an ancient garden with ponds and bridges, coy, rocks and plants developed in the 16^th century. Also went to an architectural museum because I love the sculptural look of old houses with mats, sliding paper doors, thatched roofs, with a deck around the raised house.

Worship: everywhere you go there are Buddhist or Shinto shrines. You pour water over your hands and wash out your mouth, maybe light incense in a big burner, then clap your hands three times, bow, and repeat. You can also tie on a white paper as a prayer or purchase a wooden plac where you write your wish and hang it on a line with the others. At big shrines little stalls line the entrance selling food and souvenirs. They often have little samples of the pickles, variety of rice crackers, and mochi rice sweets. I got to see two Buddhist rituals conducted by the shaved head priests clad in yellow, purple or green satin robes with a kind of apron hanging in front and back. They used drums, rattles, chanting, and fire. The priest took people’s possessions and blessed them over the fire at the temple in Narita.

Love: We think there’s something wrong if a couples doesn’t sleep in the same bed or have frequent sex, but they think you sleep better in your own futon. I’ve done individual session with married people who stopped having sex after they had kids.

Hawaii

I spent three nights on Lanai, where I spent most of my time on the beach, snorkeling and swimming with the spinner dolphins. I realized they decided if they would come around me or not. The first day I was surprised to see them so close to the beach, put on my snorkel gear and jumped in and the darlings swam around me. I sent them Reiki symbols. I’d read dolphins and whales help hold together the planetary grid so I asked them to work with me on healing it. I felt so much love for them, I guess because they’re curious and intelligent. I know they’re also effective hunters so I don’t overly romanticize them. The second day I got hyper about seeing them and didn’t. The third I relaxed and they came to visit around three times. A friend and I just chatted and tread water way out in the bay looking for them and they’d come and go.

Lanai hosted the opening of Aloha Week with the investiture of a court and king and queen dressed in formal black satin. Governor Linda Lingle was there to participate. It was a small gathering so I knew I could talk to her about my friend Dolores’ project. D has worked extremely hard and effectively to preserve the sacred sites and rare plants at Waimea Gardens on Oahu. I waited behind the grandstand after her welcoming remarks and summarized what Dolores’ report found.