This is a down-and-dirty version of Synchronized Chaos. The website’s clearly not fully designed nor as user-friendly as we would like yet but I’ve put up the artwork so our contributors might get the exposure they deserve and so everyone will have a chance to view the work and dialogue regarding the themes and ideas brought forth here. Many of our contributors have experience in other fields (scientific research, academia, business management, marketing, etc) and hope to inspire creativity and innovation in all fields of human experience.
Many contributors have included contact information and/or purchasing info for their work, and we encourage you to patronize our contributors. Also our artists and writers would love to hear from viewers – so if you have questions, constructive feedback, ideas for them, even a simple note of appreciation, please contact them using the email addresses provided. Many are seeking professional networking and/or collaboration opportunities through Synchronized Chaos. If you would like to reach someone who does not have listed contact info please leave a comment to the post and I will pass on your message.
Thanks for following this webzine and for joining with us all in the wild ride that is zine creation! We look forward to a more beautiful, professional site in the near future.
My name is Julia Burton. I’m 21. I started writing in middle school, when encouraged by a teacher who thought that I wrote well. I am from Lexington, Kentucky. I am also an artist, but am a student and still learning. I am looking for a publisher to publish my work, I am open to any ideas regarding the issue. When I write, I don’t have any pre-designed poem in mind, I usually just spit out the thoughts and emotions in my head. However there are the rare occasions where something I’ve designed in my mind makes its way to the page. I am inspired by humanity itself, and the swirling emotions surrounding us.
June Whispers Undoing
Rays of golden hair
dancing in the sky, normal morning sun
mingled with
giddy laughter of friends
Gathered people
mulling around
as we moved through
Lights dull by day, horns and clowns
blazing the way
through this morning.
oh, this morning
I was rummaging, shopping for coffee mugs
when you were falling
descending a path
There is a call
my voice shaking as I answer
something begins to sink
so low inside of me
Stones to weigh down the time inside,
what is left
but a pile of fallen rocks
Placed upon the dingy earth
with nowhere left
to stand
I too, will fall
Small staggering streets
move beneath me, as we go to believe
the blurred masses, move around me
White walls glimmer bleach
the chaplain is waiting
to show me in
My mother is still as she
clasps your belongings
her face pale, we are all pale
we’ve called it.
The room expands,
then collapses
what?
To know the spark moves on
to feel empty
We huddle like broken sticks
gripping weakly the knowledge
of you
and the moment
How we did not see
what time so plainly could
what you told us
I know only
the missing you
I can’t forget now
coffins and sodden earth
rackets of grief
places you used to be
You are all around me now
lend me strength
to live
as you did
To live
without you
in the shadows
standing in the rain
From an email conversation with Jaylan Salah on life, inspiration, and writing:
…Being a woman who writes in Egypt isn’t a very easy task, usually you get laughed at or even considered impolite just because you are a woman & some will start calling you a freak but tell you what, this was exactly what made me more eager to write, to prove myself as an independent woman, even if others didn’t want to believe that or tried to put out the fire burning in my veins.
…Well to sum up all the beautiful commentary I have in mind about a beautiful country like Egypt in just a few words is like trying to describe every single wave of the sea separately. The whole image isn’t as bright as it may seem, you may imagine it as a clear sky darkened by grey clouds that grow thicker & thicker day by day. We have inspirational scenery, an amazing sea (that inspires me a lot) & a proud heritage, a rich history of different languages & civilizations – but at the same time we have religious extremists, anti-feminists & those who believe women were meant to be kept under lock & key.
…All this inspires me, along with daily life events that shock me entirely or dazzle me to the extent of running towards my desk, grabbing my pen & piece of paper & getting ready to write. I’ve been writing since I was 11 & although this may sound like an OLD age to some, I was just listening, reading, watching & learning right up to my 11th birthday when I decided to rebel & take matters into my own hands. I won’t just watch from a distance, I’ll be a part of that crazy, fast-paced world.
My mother & sister are my greatest supporters & they believe in me as much as I believe in myself; maybe a little bit more.
A sampling of Jaylan’s poetry, translated into English:
Salem
It was a cold November day
I prayed to reach the stakes, before midnight
The flight to the moon was full of gloom
The executioner said, I’d soon be dead
I’d kick the box by noon, he said, I would never forget
The road to death was full of screams, begging and pleas
I held on to the bars of rusting iron
I fought back all the scars of blazing pain
I sniffed all the tears of distant fears
I watched the stake, fire and wood
I watched the faces of the people
Hatred filled eyes, despising with fear and loathing
All they did was point a finger, scorn with a look
I took my last weeds of wisdom, shut my senses
No preferences, today was the day I’d slowly die
The fire burned so scarily high, Mary was there, her hair was rising up to hell
Sarah was hiding, her tears were washing all my pain
Elizabeth stood both strong and frail, she hoped her trial would just fail
I laughed my heart out at the stake, I was in a hurry to embrace it
Hands tied roughly behind my back, hair trimmed coarsely in a bun
Eyes reaching the sky so high, ears deafened by church’s bells
I waited for the flames to flare, to burn my feet and burn my dare
But nothing came although the flames were piercing high
across the cloudy, foggy sky
they blew the fire and the wind, waiting for me to turn to dust
But I was higher than them all, saving my dignity and soul
I waited for the time to die, afraid to hurt my precious pride
The executioner’s vicious laugh was turned to gasps and doubtful glare
Maybe she isn’t guilty, someone shouted
But she must die, and die i should
Before I go and leave behind
nothing but ashes, dirt and slime
I had to say that I would pray, to see the day where they became
lesser than me and more than this
Their wings would succumb to distress
Their eyes would certainly behold
The death of an innocent lady, a woman with a heart of cold
A woman so pretty and bold, whose crime is turning dust to gold
They lit the fire and withdrew, that time, it hurt to watch it glow
My skin began to melt, my hair began to fume
But I would never beg, would sure not bend
The terror soon swept away, leaving a flower to decay
I wasn’t there when ashes sprang, from bodily hope and dreams and trance
I was above the cowards and whore
Flying across the distant stars, singing along the vale profound
smoke dancing with every single sound I made
I wasn’t dead, you pathetic twits
I was a symbol of resistance, a gale and holy princess
smoke that arose from me was twisted sending letters to the saints and children
Behold the witch in Salem lot
She was the bravest on the spot
Fields of Innocence
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I wish I could go back
to the long lost track
where you and I have been together
Always and forever
Go back to the lonely sand castle
to the twizzler and the whistle, the dreams we shared in bed
If only I could turn back time, I would go back
To the old oak tree, the spring and endless sea
to the deep dark woods, the goth tower roofs
The turmoil and the hoofs of a horse miles away
I wish I could retain, the kiss in the rain
The touch in the mist, the hug and the tricks we played on time
If only I could turn back time, wipe away the dirt, the mud
The fog and the dust, that came along as years passed by
If only I could break the unforgiving stake where we abandoned us
where our dreams and fears, our rain and tears were burned away
our hugs were pulled apart, our arms detached, souls distracted
love brutally crushed, under feet of people running in a stampede
The things we shared are lost, the frost destroyed the love we shared
I wish I could relive those days when we would walk for miles along the coast
when we would make a toast for ourselves
when we would cry if our eyes failed to see each others
where sand slipped through our feet, our skin tanned by the heat
that came from the evening sun
If only I could go back to being small and naive, covered in sheets
Knowing the world was only white and black; no shades of gray
I wish I may, turn my back on today
Relive the day when we were one and stayed together
Forever I will keep you in my heart…
Untitled
Close your eyes…
Whisper my name
Take my hands, teach me how to fly; otherwise
I’d sell my soul to the devil, I’d offer my body to the cannibals; I’d sacrifice…
I’d teach you, to listen to the sound of the waves, to watch the birds swaying in the dark blue sky; otherwise
You’d teach me how to live, how to change the truth & the lies…
It’s cold, chilling to the bone, on this lonely afternoon…
So teach me how to break free from the burden of the deep blue eyes & silver skies, in your gaze
Otherwise, I’d teach you how to march with petals, for you I’ll memorize,
my faults, my dreams & cries…
Save me, I can’t tell the wrong from the right, the day from the night
I can’t find the answers, I can’t compromise; otherwise
I’d burn the weeds of wisdom, I’d carry the world on my shoulders, I’d walk alone, head up & die…
So Close your eyes…
Whisper my name
Take my hand, I’ll teach you where to land
When to fly…
Word from a Teenage Rebel
Though I’m a lonely falcon flying far and free,
No one has ever dared to try and glide with me.
My engine never weakens moving so fast and wild,
A firm belief in me, that I was not a child.
Too bold to take all risks, I always shed my tears,
Roughed up by beasts and ghouls this made me kill my fears.
I dreamt of a vacant world a place for heavenly cries,
No borders to prevent my reach for the Seven Skies.
Crashes of waves do thrill me; thunder knew me by name,
Without hunters that trail me, world stays so dull and lame.
I love my rare adventures, the territories I gained,
Never joining the crowd nothing left me restrained.
Missing a lover makes me enjoy the lingering pain,
I yell and call for someone; my cries are still in vain.
Shall I bear this flight one eighty towards hell,
The brakes are missing or am I blind; I dare if you can tell.
Whom shall I ask for help, who will receive my letter?
I cannot leave the sky coz Earth is nothing better.
Needn’t I keep in me this charming rebel free?
To know I’ll always lead the stormy cruel sea…
I can be; no body else but me…
Jaylan’s work can be found online at http://community.livejournal.com/jaypoetryoasis/ and she welcomes comments and correspondence with other writers around the world. Her email is joly16_blackpearl@hotmail.com
…My chemical engineering background has certainly affected my work. For instance, chemistry and mesothermodynamics classes showed me that despite how still and stable objects appear to the naked eye, they move constantly at a molecular level, guided by invisible fluctuations in energy. Impressed by this, I decided to make my paintings about movement. I paint what I know, what I have learned. Aside from school, my family members are mostly chemists and engineers and household discussions familiarize me with the latest news in the science world.
…Genesis at Epsilon and The Moments After Are More Than the Moments Before are my favorite paintings because they are my clearest explanation of how I see. Genesis at Epsilon portrays the dramatic movement of molecules and stars, which is a refreshing break from how life often appears. The objects in the foreground are much larger than the dots at the origin; it is as if an explosion has occured a fraction of a moment after the Big Bang, a fraction of a moment after God spoke the world into existence. The Moments After Are More Than the Moments Before gives the appearance of solids spontaneously forming in a soupy mixture. Viewers look at it for a longer period of time than my other paintings. As if gazing at a cloud or a lava lamp, they appear relaxed and tell me that they see a bird, or, no wait, a knight on a horse.
…I can talk about my painting process. It involves little planning. I will read or see something and immediately race to make the first mark. After that, I use rules of composition to balance the product. I imagine that my painting is a reaction about to occur. I mix colorful solutions, and watch the substances try to diffuse into a harmonious relationship. The canvas is my system. The rules of composition have a similar result to laws in a physical system. When one side of the canvas becomes too densely populated, marks rush over to the other side.
Press releases and news of upcoming shows also available on the site.
You may contact Emily at emily_chimiak@hotmail.com and she recommends “Nature Loves to Hide” by Shimon Malin, a sidestory incorporated into a book on quantum physics.
Random gentleman I met at a MUNI stop in San Francisco who let me know he was a poet seeking publication when I asked for directions. He goes by Catvonhaufecooper and can be reached at 415-331-1461. Said he’d found that when he stopped pushing things and simply looked around him for opportunities, that the very things he sought from the world arrived.
Hello. I’m S. Korhonen, known as Anáryawe, far too young to be taken seriously, and from Finland.
Currently I do images, working with non-digital equipment. For me making art is more about the process than the result – for me it’s leaping into the general mishmash of everything a.ka. into the chaos, and trying to discover and figure out some pieces I see&feel&sense there and bring them some form. It makes me feel worth something and I have nothing better to do. Mostly I combine drawing and painting and collage forms of art and put these works on the Internet, but I also photograph and write and mime and make music, cause for me irrational life is art and irrational art is life.
Spontaneously organized chaos could very easily be used as an explanation of my whole attitude towards life.
First of a regular series, this interview spotlights a group or individual which people with Synchronized Chaos find interesting for some reason. People bringing about positive change in their communities, people innovating something new in some field of human experience, people with a compelling story. This month we focus on the Virunga Artisans, an international business cooperative marketing the craftsmanship of skilled weavers and carvers in central Africa’s Virunga montane forest region. This interview explores the opportunities and complexities of adapting products and business models for a world market and provides readers a glimpse of the cross-cultural learning process. Also, we intend to provide a wider audience for works of art which also serve as practical household objects. Many works of art challenge boundaries and dichotomies and blend purposes and styles – and these baskets and carvings bridge the gap between the pragmatic and the ‘artistic’ and show that even practical human activities can be seen as ‘art’ when approached with a high level of skill, craftsmanship, and innovation.
Virunga’s history and products are available here: http://www.virungaart.com
Entrepreneurs Richard Cunningham and Katie Doyle regularly traveled through central Africa’s mountain highlands, but nothing prepared them for encountering one of the last remaining mountain gorillas.
“The experience of sitting just a few feet away from a 500-pound silverback and his family, and making that connection with our closest relatives, was truly a life changing experience,” describes Doyle.
According to the International Gorilla Conservation Program, the mountainous forested park encompassing parts of Uganda, D.R. Congo, and Rwanda provides a home for the world’s roughly 700 still-existing mountain gorillas.
On the park’s border lie several country villages with skilled weavers, carvers, and coffee and tea farmers. Within the past few years, Cunningham and Doyle helped to create an international business venture, the Virunga Artisans (named for the Virunga/Bwindi highland areas.)
The Virunga venture provides extra capital and international marketing for the baskets and other useful household products produced by the region’s people, offers profitable alternatives to developing land within the gorilla reserve, and allows a percentage of profits to fund continued gorilla preservation. <!–more–>
Virunga Arts products have spread around the United States mostly through word of mouth and personal connections, and are now featured in galleries and specialty stores far from the project’s U.S. headquarters in Orinda, California.
I discovered Virunga’s product line in a Pleasanton art gallery this past spring, and became intrigued by the story of how the project got started – through the grassroots efforts and creative thinking of individual people from various parts of the world.
I believe the Virunga project represents a workable, rational, profitable and sustainable business model, and that their baskets, carvings, and other projects could benefit from being marketed as quality ordinary household products as well as works of art. Items people would consider buying when they need a jewelry basket or table centerpiece, tea, coffee, or something to decorate a living room – and found in regular department stores and not restricted to the upscale boutique market.
Through email and through an introduction by the gallery owner, I’ve conducted an interview with Katie Doyle, one of Virunga’s founders. She shared some unique, interesting, and generally positive stories about the business’ startup phase and overall success.
What was the process of setting up Virunga like? Were the local people receptive to the idea of producing their baskets for a world market? Has it been difficult to expand the scope of the business?
Sorry for the delay…good news is we are very busy!
The process of setting up VA was positive. The people, especially the women, were very excited about making money. Some of the women in Uganda had never held money before. The carvers were a little more apprehensive, as folks had come and made promises but never delivered.
Do you have any interesting anecdotes about the people involved in the project, about your experiences becoming familiar with East African culture, about the story of Virunga? What has it been like working with people on the other side of the world? Was it easy/difficult/interesting to bridge the cultures?
It has been very challenging working with people on the other side of the world. We had no idea what we were getting into, as there is no culture of commerce at all in this region. They have so little, that explaining the need for consistent sizes, quality, or colors didn’t seem to mean anything to them at first.
Cultural differences. One of our key goals is to for the artisans to be able to make a decent living while maintaining the integrity of local economic and social values. We want to respect and encourage the local culture, just help them have better lives. But it is challenging, as our worlds are so far apart.
[Once they made a whole set of orange baskets] when we had ordered many other colors (none orange) and when we asked why they said it was because they had orange dye. And they couldn’t understand what the problem was…we still got our baskets [and they’d be useful regardless of color!]
It is like peeling an onion, the more you know…the more you don’t know. Why don’t the women come to the hut to make baskets and why don’t girls go to school every day? Answer: they have no underpants or sanitary products! So then we had panties made for all the women and girls so they could make baskets and go to school. Why didn’t they fill an order that we sent? Answer: they have to harvest the crops that month, and with no electricity they couldn’t work at night. Yet they won’t tell you that in advance.
Also, [it’s been challenging] trying to explain about our web site and the internet. We’re used to the idea that people see a photo and expect to receive something which looks close to that, but the concept at first seemed to go right over the artisans’ heads. There is now one computer in Nkuringo but it has no internet access, so they still don’t really know what we are talking about…except now they trust us as we have been true to our word about providing long term buyers.
What has been the most personally interesting, or gratifying aspect of working with Virunga? What would you say has been your greatest success, and your greatest challenge so far?
[We all have] great positive stories also about how Virunga Artisans has changed the local people’s lives. One woman bought a cow, many bought chickens and started egg businesses, one bought an ax and saw (her husband might watch out!), many bought pencils and uniforms for their girls to go to school for the first time….all so rewarding for us.
The women have gone from looking at their feet when we first met them with no hope, to dancing and singing for us in a very formal ceremony each time…now optimistic about the future.
The most gratifying has been seeing the change. Women are now very positive…and the carvers are changing from surly teenagers to highly productive young men, several with cell phones.
How is Virunga able to be competitive in the slowing Western economy? What special features do your products have that continue to attract customers? How do you generate interest/help get the word out about the project?
There’s been a very positive response to our story here in the US. Great woman-to-woman connection between the artisans and the largely female consumers.
And people such as Manda Heron, owner of the Bodytime chain, totally embracing our project, carrying all of our products even though her store sells primarily soaps and lotions. And she has sold them all! She put up a 36”poster of the Kinigi weavers in her windows and this was the most successful promotion they had ever had. So her loving what we were doing…and being willing to support our products…ended up being a real positive for her too.
And the wonderful people I have met, like Manda, and folks involved in the Fair Trade Federation all seem to be really nice with their hearts in the right place…very different from my corporate experience.
[Both Katie Doyle and her husband Richard Cunningham have MBAs and experience with the Western corporate world.]
We generate interest through personal connections primarily. A friend of a friend who has a store, connections at the African Wildlife Foundation and the World Wildlife Fund (used to be on their national council), Fair Trade Federation, and the Global Philanthropy Forum (they used our large baskets as centerpieces this year.
There has been a bit of a slowdown for us due to the economy and our prices are increasing due to fuel. But if folks are going to spend money they seem to support the Virunga Artisans because we have the highest quality at a good price…and we “do good” …makes them feel like mini philanthropists.
[Note: To give Synchronized Chaos readers an idea, the baskets are available online for cheaper prices (around $20/$30 each) than I have seen in the galleries.]
Are the local people interested in gorilla preservation? What is their attitude towards wildlife and nature? Do they visit the gorilla refuge and park?
Most of our artists have not seen the gorillas, except if they have come out of the park to raid their crops in Uganda. That doesn’t happen too much in Rwanda. The weavers don’t really want to go, but we are paying to have the carvers visit them a few at a time. They are very interested in gorilla conservation, especially when they see that they can make money from tourists.
I am aware of the 17% increase in local gorilla populations recently – please share more about what’s happening ecologically and the successes with wildlife.
You can find out a lot more about mountain gorilla conservation at AWF.org under species “gorillas.” With such a dense population it is challenging work to protect the gorillas. We are finding that the greatest threat is human interaction and disease transmission (more info at the Mountain Gorilla Veterinary Project’s website, MGVP.org). The tourists who have brought in the revenues to keep them alive are now themselves the greatest threat.
MGVP is developing a ‘one health concept’ to include care and attention for people and animals and gorillas…very innovative. Of course it is totally different in the Democratic Republic of Congo, as people and animals are threatened mainly by charcoal warlords showing their power and the soldiers getting way too close to the gorillas.
[Editor’s note: According to the MGVP website, mountain gorillas are the only great ape species whose numbers are actually growing. Although still seriously endangered, their numbers have grown from around 248 to around 360 just in Rwanda alone.]
Thanks for your time, and for the detailed answers and information you provided about the Virunga Artisans project! Glad to hear of a grassroots business model for developing a region’s resources for the benefit of humans as well as local wildlife that has proved profitable and successful.
