Kolleggerium

Ramblin On

Wed, 29 Jun 2011 23:55:20 -0400

Haven’t blogged in a while, barely taking time to rest, but in a few days I do believe it is time for me to ramble on.

A road trip across some of these United States, starting after liberty, traversing from sea to sea.

Kinetic Triptych

Tue, 04 May 2010 13:59:08 -0400

Kinetic Triptych

Homeward Bound

Sat, 27 Mar 2010 20:31:03 -0400

Only tonight did I notice that my place here is on a flightpath, the distant train whistle of a passing jet reminding me it is time to go home. Peru, will I see you again? Maybe, maybe not. Seeing isn’t everything. We’ll stay in touch either way.

Nice

Thu, 25 Mar 2010 10:26:11 -0400

I’m nice. When I arrived last week I dropped my bags on the sidewalk to help a taxi driver who was trying to self push-start his car. Cynicism is important. Be critical. Just don’t use it as an excuse for doing nothing. Question everything, including yourself. Make fun of the cabbie, wonder why his car is even allowed on the road, then give him a hand.
Cynicism can make being nice seem un-cool. Here in Peru, it does not have to compromise your machismo. Yesterday my Nacho Libre-esque cabbie drove like a madman, bullying his way through traffic, flicking on a faux police siren when anyone got in the way, but sat patiently holding up traffic to allow an elderly man cross the road. He’s nice.

Sacred Valley Monorail

Tue, 23 Mar 2010 12:55:09 -0400

The Incas chose well when establishing their territory. Beautiful, fertile, and defensible, unless maybe when facing a cannon, the Sacred Valley is a fine place to call home. Fellow tourist Sam from Australia was so struck that she also started wondering about a move. Again, wait for the photos.

Postcard Peru

Sat, 20 Mar 2010 23:25:08 -0400

Mountains, Incan ruins, llamas, Spanish colonial… Wait for the photos.

While I carve up this alpaca, my current rumination is this: could I live here?

Sell the house: - the Andean flute players are way better than at inner harbor - Andreas sounds great with a rolled r - man this alpaca is good. And the ceviche? Mas por favor - I could do something useful here

Spin the globe again: - Lima’s air should come with a surgeon general’s warning - I’d have to start curing my own bacon - cholera is both a disease and an emotion in Spanish
- staying global may be tough

Free wheeling

Fri, 19 Mar 2010 22:04:45 -0400

The Universidad Cayatano is 30 minutes from my apartment, 28 of which minutes are a thrill ride in creative traffic flow, a higher speed version of the cooperative right of way I’ve seen in other countries where livestock tempers the pace. As a component of the self-queueing index from Zambian what’s-a-road to Germanic riding-on-rails, I’d give it a 4.

Tomorrow, er-lie in the morning I fly to Cusco chasing that tourist high, on an actual tour. Switching cameras.

Cesar Vallejo park.

Fri, 19 Mar 2010 22:00:07 -0400

Cesar Vallejo park.

The best camera for a photo

Thu, 18 Mar 2010 22:38:08 -0400

is the one you have with you. The best subject is whatever is in front of you.

The train to Machu Pichu is washed out, which is such a relief. Free of the junky-like need for extraordinary sights, mine is the voyeurism of every crumbling wall, shuffling foot, honking horn, stumbling translation, smiling face, and pile of meat chewed down while enjoying a medley blending The Ramones, B-52s, a-ha, Cheap Trick and Bryan Adams, and oh wait, yes… Scorpions.

Mabel tells me that mostly Peruvians like to talk and eat. To that I’d add that they’re an affectionate bunch. It’s a highschool dance of making out. Winding taxi rides have exposed poverty that would motivate robbing a silly gringo, but the streets I’ve walked have been city streets like any other and I’ve yet to feel uneasy.

Starbucks San Miguel, Lima.

Wed, 17 Mar 2010 21:34:35 -0400

Starbucks San Miguel, Lima.

No hablo castellano

Wed, 17 Mar 2010 21:27:07 -0400

Neither do I speak Nepalese, yet I felt no shame relying on English in Nepal. But Spanish? It teases with familiarity. Lucho has arranged for his 5-words-of-English father to drive me to la Universidad mañana. We’ll debate the merits of Cesar Vallejo vs Pablo Neruda.

Goodnight: I’ll play this once, for old time’s...

Mon, 15 Feb 2010 02:54:00 -0500

Goodnight:

I’ll play this once, for old time’s sake

Last night I had a dream
it wasn’t about anything
but it made me smile
it made me …

All the faces come and go
talking of the falling snow
All that it can hide
with a city wrapped in white

I wonder if you’re there
can’t see you though I stare
I stare at everything
everything around

I stumble and I fall
it’s all I ever want
I want to fall with you
with you again

All the faces come and go
talking of the falling snow
All that we can hide
with a girl wrapped in white

Maybe I’ll see your face again
across the sea, a glass of gin
In a world so much brighter
wherever you say goodnight

goodnight

Open Window

Fri, 01 Jan 2010 22:45:26 -0500

Open Window

Open Window

Fri, 01 Jan 2010 14:05:24 -0500

Somebody opened a window
I don’t know why, it’s cold outside
I think that there’s somebody out there
Could be wrong, but I think they’re trying to get in

Conservative, I

Mon, 21 Sep 2009 08:55:06 -0400

Conservative, I:
all for me,
but first for you

nord: Kraig Greff playing the nord for the Slow Learners at...

Sat, 08 Aug 2009 05:19:16 -0400

nord:

Kraig Greff playing the nord for the Slow Learners at Fletcher’s.

"I knew them too: the men and women still powerful seventy-five years and twice that and twice that..."

Fri, 07 Aug 2009 23:05:12 -0400

“I knew them too: the men and women still powerful seventy-five years and twice that and twice that again afterward, still powerful and still dangerous and still coming, North and South and East and West, until the name of what they did and what they died for became just one single word, louder than any thunder. It was America, and it covered all the western earth.”

- William Faulkner, “Shall Not Perish”

GATHER Blog

Tue, 20 May 2008 11:22:17 -0400

GATHER Blog:

I’ve started to post about the ongoing development work I’m doing for the GATHER project.

"Unfolding Complexity is like reading the Sunday Paper — start with a relevant headline over a nice..."

Wed, 27 Feb 2008 10:09:00 -0500

“Unfolding Complexity is like reading the Sunday Paper — start with a relevant headline over a nice photo, gradually exposing the reader to more information as they unfold the page”

- Kollegger

"Simplify the problem, don’t complicate the solution"

Wed, 12 Dec 2007 09:27:00 -0500

“Simplify the problem, don’t complicate the solution”

- anonymous