From Lake Manyara:
Today was a refreshing "people day" on the schedule. I kind of separate the days in my head by: people/animals. I know I've been disappointed that we're seeing less animals from here on out, but actually every day surprises me and I enjoy the days spent around people more. (As long as we're not on the streets with those obnoxious street sellers!) I simply despise being crowded like that and having those same necklaces thrust in my face!

Anyway, I guess by spending time with people, one just gets more of a feel for the country. And also, I'm finally getting used to being around people. I supposed I needed to be broken out of my uneasiness, and by going to the animal parks first, that never really happened. So, it's taken me awhile, but Im always so slow with everything that this only makes sense that I'm finally feeling splendidly (despite still feeling sad about some stuff still) to actually be able to walk out on the land and share it with these people, rather than being in a car all day.

We began our day seeing a hospital (and I have dubious notes on it but figure there's no need to type them here), and hoenstly loved this part of the day. When Brooke described the day and said we'd see more of a "modern Tanzania," it sounded exactly like everything I wanted to see. I was enamored by the system at the hospital, and also, this was my first time to see "US involvement" in Africa in a straightforward way, so that was meaningful. My mom is a neo natal nurse so she cares for sick babies, and I guess I took it all to heart to see this field before my eyes in Africa.
Today we continued our walking tour through the town and market (Mosquito River, TZ name Mtowambu in Swahili). I loved the walking tour and being out of the vehicle and walking around! Makes me think of Thoroeau's Waldon, or "Life in the woods" from literature. The message I got from it is, when when you walk to land and live on it, you really know it. That's the kind of thing I like--and sorta how I thought all of Africa would be! But, our trip is a mixture of both.

Something else I've been feeling bad about was cleared up by Brooke today as well. I haven't been giving any of the children anything, and Brooke told us it's okay and also that it's really our decision. If we do, we're essentially "training them" to beg-- changing the way they live and possibly to expect this again and again. We continued on to have a traditional Tanzanian lunch prepared by a women in the village. I guess the safari companies have an agreement with these places we've visited. We didn't really see much of the lady that prepared the meal either. What a surprise, everything was like Southern food -Brooke's words- very true. Chicken, potatoes, lots of vegetables in general... there was an indian bread thing I liked best. Crazy what a small world this is!

I did enjoy the savory tastes. I doubt I will want to touch another US chicken again though; they really are tasteless pieces of rubber in comparison to the fresh guys we dined on today (kinda sad that they were just running around in front of us). Still, nothing is worse than the truckloads of disturbed chickens I've seen being carted to the slaughter house in the "good ole USA." We also had a chance to taste some Banana Beer prior on our walking tour, but needless to say my head began aching, resulting in my stomach feeling unsettled; I was just waiting for the meds I took to kick in. Soon it passed, and my physical health back to normal. I didnt feel great because for whatever reason, I did not sleep well. Anyway, we ended up back at the wonderful paradise lodge later, just had to survive horribly bumpy roads. My mind really wonders a whole lot, and things, all of lifes experiences, seem to connect in someway, and I thought of sailing rocky waves on the MS gulf coast.


Local market

Just thinking about the beautiful porcupine from the night game drive.
*note* I'm in love with those porcupine! I can't believe we saw them! I was going to try and not use the term "cute," but, when the one that stopped in his tracks tried to pretend he wasn't there, it was adorable. That trickster! His quills are gorgeous! I guess this just turned into a rambling session about the porcupine. It was really quite a sight to see a whole family of them! The night game drive was DEFINITELY one of my favorite days thus far. 4 cups of coffee really works wonders!
Anyway, dear Porcupine, I think your quills looked finely sharp, and I liked the way you walked! I believe Andrew, Brooke, and I each got a fine view of him.

Mr. Quills on the left, and a fine bird on the right-can't remember his species.

Tarangire (2nd day)

Firstly, I'd like to say I love Jackson (Babu). We saw new sights in tarangire today, starting with a group of sleeping lions under a large Baobab tree. Also, a leopard! I think I witnessed though the truth of the statement regarding "safari colors," because that leapard took off as soon as he saw the flash of white of a shirt! It was a shame, but I still enjoyed seeing the big cat! I actually love the photo of him, regardless of whether its more a landscape shot. He is barring his teeth and underneath a piece of wood that looks like a dinasaur skeleton! Very cool to have been just across the road from him!

Wanted to mention this yesterday, as we traveled to Tarangire the first afternoon. Looking out the car window as we travel from one place to another lends each sight as the perfect photograph. There was a school children rally once we passed through a city area that peaked my interest. And also just the people walking down the road. I saw a woman in a business suit, and then a different woman, carrying a bucket on her head. I looked for 2 seconds longer than I should have so I missed a grand photo of this combination of "old and new ways". But, still enjoying just seeing the people, their livestock, and of course, these very different scenes. The "ordinary" always interests me. They are my favorite photograhs thus far despite all the animals we've been seeing-- though I kind of fell in love with this quirky "smiling" zebra.

Actually, I'm really loving the zebra. They make wonderful photographs. My favorites seem to be ones of zebra. Their black and whites are so pretty.

This lodge is so wonderful, because there are animals in the horizon. And it thrills me to no end that zebra approached the tents at night and could be heard chewing!

Today featured an afternoon game drive in Tangire National Park.! I am sure I will not be the only person to say this, but the landscape is constantly changing it seems. The big difference I noticed is Tarangire seems much drier, flat, and the trees aren’t as lush as they were in Arusha.
Let me backtrack to our arrival after the airport! We had dinner and met Brooke's boyfriend Ben. They are a good match, and our class of girls all agrees on that! After eating we departed down a lantern lit path to our rooms. My friend Kurt would love this place, again I’m constantly finding myself thinking of more people I wish I could share this with.

At night, the avocado trees dropped their fruit, and I don’t hear one fall, not one.
What else fell while I slept? In the morning, we packed and left for breakfast. couldn’t help feeling I was leaving something behind, even though I checked the room. I suppose I’m speaking metaphorically here, because we’re each leaving a part of ourselves behind.

Special mention : Christina landed us each an avocado from Joe at the lodge.

*note* Got slightly stressed to find I needed to call home today! But, thanks to Bailey I made a quick call from her phone and there was nothing to be worried about---just minor misunderstandings concerning study abroad.


*additonal notes*
In Tarangire this afternoon, well, the park was much different from Arusha! Not as close to the monkeys as we were in Arusha, but this park featured many Wildebeast, zebra, and..elephants! Also Impala, guineas, this eagle..and the Superb Starling a lot (quite a name!). Yesterday was really exciting in Arusha, today was a bit more "relaxed" in my opinion. We come back to this park tomorrow morning, in search of lions and a leopard!

Gray Sky Morning : Today, woke up early for breakfast, then raveled to Arusha National Park. But, prior to this, a large water buck pranced through the lodge! These are the spontaneous moments I live for. Brooke saw him take a dive through the pool first. Anyway, I hopped into the safari vehicle with Mi’chel, Nicole, and Christina, driven by Elisa. It was an invigorating day on safari. Meryl couldn’t join us because she was sick, so Brooke stayed behind with her at the lodge leaving us in “good hands.” This definitely had an impact on the morning, and I think our hearts sunk a little because it could have been any one of us that was sick. But she has a mountain of a medicine bag, very well equipped. The morning and afternoon it was kind of grey and cloudy. These are my favorite days to photograph. (grey, clouds, haze, fog, the elements... you name it!) Nicole (Brooke's best friend traveling with us college students!) spotted three giraffe right in front of us! I was able to walk close and really “see” the giraffe! Spokes of light emanated from tiny stars deep in his eyes. I truly enjoy the first gray of early morning. Let me just close and say I really bonded and enjoyed the peaceful presence of the giraffe. I look for him and find him still anywhere, in any distance, in any gray.

*additonal first day safari notes*

We did so much more than cruise through the foresty-like park standing up with the rooftop of the LandRovers open and watch monkeys soar from trees and bark at one another as they ran across the road. We finally saw a huge lake of flamingo, and soon these beautiful (exotic!) black crowned cranes, as we made our way down to a salty lake to go canoeing, and possibly approach animals on the shore to photograph them from the water!
Never been canoeing before, seriously this trip is all "firsts" for me! So, I ended up in a canoe with one of the guides (not one of ours, Jackson or Elisa, so sadly I don't know his name), and he was such a smart teacher! He spoke rapid Swahili across the water to the other guide, who was canoeing with Christina. I really loved this guide though, he was encouraging and told me I did "really good" and he didn't know I'd never canoed before. He asked me what I wanted to see, and broke out in laughter when I told him I'd love to see a snake. Now that would be true Africa! ...he seemed surprised! But he actually kept us closer to the shore than the other canoes, I believe, and actually as if he were looking out for snakes! We saw a deer, and a hidden buffalo that was in the grass. Surprisingly I never was tired while paddling, but I had a feeling once the excitement wore down I'd just wanna go to sleep at the end of the day!



-Once back in the Rover, everyone was pretty exhausted. We cruised for animals on the way out, and saw the carnivorous Hyena! He was hurt, limping, in fact.



Our initial view after entering the park. See--cloudy!

6/15 The arrival to AFRICA, aka, the Kilimanjaro airport, is exactly how I thought it would be: Standing in a hot, crowded room, with almost nothing standing between us and the Africa land waiting on the outside. The lines were long and Africa has no reason to hold regard to what time it is or how long it takes to get things done—which is fine with me. I am writing from Rivertrees Lodge, and am happy to say the first African creature I was greeted by was nothing less than a lizard—He was very short, much different from any I’ve seen in the US.

I loved the dark ride from the airport to Rivertrees lodge. Something about the night and being able to only see what the car (rover) lights illuminate in front of you creates an aura of excitement and thrill about what is to take place. We also had Brooke (!) and all the wind coming through the window in gusts as we made our way over to the lodge, nothing can defeat us.

Writing again

Today is my 21st birthday. The idea of being 21 in Tanzania means nothing to me, but being in Tanzania means everything to me. So, here’s to that!
I still sure wish friend and confidant, Micah woodford could have made it. Looking back on the plane rides one last time, just wanna say I’ve been very lucky to be seated by pretty cool people that eased some of my traveling tension. This Math grad. student (rob) from Cali traveling to France, challenged me to the plane’s multi-player games, really funny guy. Meryl cracked out a "ya'll" on the plane also, after that everyone wanted to know where she was from! The other person I met was a guide that leads people up mount Kilimanjaro. This was impressive in itself because reading Rick Ridgeway's The Shadow of Kilimanjaro a few months ago, I know that hike is intense! I truly can’t imagine. (An interesting note is that when Kilimanjaro guy left to go to the bathroom, The math grad. informed me that he was on the last plane with him and he is a real jerk). I started to watch a movie, but am writing instead. I did watch 101 Dalmations under the ‘family” category I think, from Amsterdam, and man do I feel silly!
Will write more, after I LAND in Africa!

6/14 Memphis, Amsterdam, Africa!

*Note* In lieu of my first International travels, and the writing requirement to journal during our Tanzania trip, I started a journal specifically for the trip, and brought an extra (just in case).

6/14
I haven’t actually been seated by anyone in our photo class since traveling en route together, but I enjoy that it makes it all more of a personal adventure. The sounds on the plane are loud; the wind rings in my head like clothes hangers clicking against each other.

On the plane to Dar es Salaam / Kilimanjaro. This flight is by far the most exciting— everyone on the plane traveling to Tanzania! So this time I have some space and kind of surveyed the plane a little to see “who” exactly is traveling and interestingly there’s just a big mixture,but the group that sticks out the most are these people wearing “Tanzania mission trip” sweatshirts. And a couple next to me that is going on safari before they start a family.

I want to express this flight lends a special place in my heart because I can see the land via a window seat for the first time! As a first time traveler I guess I’m excited about a window seat, though with night settling in, I won’t see much in a little while. On the last plane I gave myself a headache peering over to steal someone else’s view the whole time while we the sun started to set over the Atlantic. I’ve never seen an ocean before—only the murky waters of the MS Gulf coast.

Africa Bound!

Alas, and I thought I would never be able to go....!

digital photo

sp 08

Rural MS

poplarville, ms

Alt. Processes

WI 08


the Van Dyke Brown process to develop the images generates a soft image quality which will create an individual, personal emotion to be associated with the insects. The printmaking paper, offering this worn and soft image, helps symbolize one’s personal relationship with the insects by bringing the human touch back to a progressively mechanical and digital medium.

Hairy the tight-rope walker

The artist is a receptacle for the emotions that come from all over the place: from the sky, from the earth, from a scrap of paper, from a passing shape, from a spider's web.
-Pablo Picasso

ps-merry christmas from harry the spider!

bird v2

bird

This afternoon, I was walking down a sidewalk, when overhead, a bird passed by me, and dropped a berry on me. my first thought was, "Thank GOODNESS this wasn't what I thought it was!" Then, I wondered, how often does it happen that a bird decides to share his lunch with you!

Bathed by the Gentle gift of the Universe

Project 1 cont'd; Photoshop and Photomontage, Print #2 A simple remembrance of the rain, seeks to connect the viewer with the outdoors, though using less stark greys and blacks, and creating a colorful array to display the sensation of wetness, and rain.

Photomontage

Faces appear to be searching for nature from the past, but cannot find it in this digitized world.