Ode Magazine

What are you grateful for today?

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 17:45:41 EST

By: JoeMonkman

“The litmus test for self-realization is a constant state of gratitude. This gratitude is not something you can look for or find. It comes from another direction, and it takes you over completely. It’s so vast that it can’t be dimmed, or overlaid. The short version would be ‘mind in love with itself.’ It’s the total acceptance and consumption of itself reflected back at the same moment in the central place that is like fusion. When you live your life from that place of gratitude, you’ve come home.”

- Byron Katie, A Thousand Names For Joy

This year more than any other I feel like I have touched that eternal place of gratitude that Byron Katie speaks of. I have many people (I’ll start with myself!), events and situations to thank for helping me achieve that feeling. Each time I experience it I am overcome with a sense of oneness, deep connection and serenity. That sense of gratitude always brings tears to my eyes, no matter how long it lasts, and no matter where I am. It stops me in my tracks and nearly takes my breath away. Then it asks me to breathe deeply, see the magnificence all around me and hear the heartbeat of all things. The feeling of gratitude gives me a glimpse into what peace and acceptance really are.

Today I am grateful for a daily gratitude practice, my parents, siblings, friends and mentors, the work and words of Byron Katie, a clutter-free office, my students and clients, new business opportunities, the ability to think and act "out of the box." Also, Sunday music sessions, a sweaty workout at the gym, all of the money that I have now and that is on the way and the food in my 'fridge and in my belly.

What are you grateful for today?

(The gratitude image is from Twin Muses, the creator of "greener greeting cards.")

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Sawano Motohiro Sensei: A Jazz Musician

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 13:23:23 EST

By: Anne Thomas

The first time I met Sawano Motohiro Sensei (1) I was deeply impressed by his gentle nature and open mind. We met in a rather unusual way, so let me explain.

Early in the day I had been introduced to a young American exchange student, Evan. He was a jazz major, but also loved Japanese. So, he came to Japan to learn the language. As we chatted that day, I realized his real love was music. So, I told him I would like to hear him play. As luck would have it, we were near a Kawai Music shop. My new friend had the brilliant idea of going there and pretending to buy a piano. That way he could perform using the very best instruments they had.

I was stunned by the superb quality of his playing. And so were the store assistants and customers. Everyone crowded around and began asking for requests. As this impromptu concert was going on, it occurred to me that this budding master should give a formal concert during his year abroad. A Japanese friend with us liked the idea, too, so she started asking about how to book the concert hall.

Of course, we needed to check the place out, so all of us traipsed upstairs for a look. Evan was like a duck to water when it came to a piano, so even though another group was just packing up from an afternoon concert, he slid past them all and started to play. As soon as he did, the members of that professional ensemble stopped what they were doing and stood perfectly still, as a deep hush fell over the room. You could hear their thinking, “This young kid is really good. He could easily become one of us.”

In Japan that kind of thinking is quite rare. Japanese tend to be an exclusive, “in boys’ club” sort of people. They are fiercely loyal to those inside their circle, but have little or nothing to do with those outside, besides formal politeness or sometimes even downright rudeness. But as soon as Evan finished one piece, the leader of that professional jazz combo, Sawano Motohiro Sensei, walked up to him and started chatting.

After a while I heard, “Sure. You can play with us. Our next performance is on Sunday night. Can you be there?” And that is how things began. Evan often played with that group. And because of that, everyone’s world expanded. Evan got fabulous firsthand experience and the group got to learn the quirks of a foreigner’s thinking and behavior.

Motohiro Sensei, as he is often called, received excellent musical training. At age three he studied piano and at nine he took up the trumpet. Then from age twelve he took lessons with the main trumpet player of the Sendai Philharmonic Orchestra. That formal training gave him a solid base in classical music, which an important way to start out.

Motohiro Sensei’s mother is a classical singer and music teacher. Her students come to the house for lessons. Also his older brother started out playing the trumpet, but switched to the trombone. When he did that, Motohiro Sensei inherited his brother’s trumpet, much to his glee. He practiced a lot and loved it.

But when it became time to enter university, Motohiro Sensei failed the yearly entrance exam twice. Back then entering a Japanese university was extremely difficult, so many students were “ronin”, a term from Japanese history, which originally meant “a masterless samurai”. Now it means a student without a university thanks to not passing the entrance test.

Motohiro Sensei’s father, an architect, urged his son to go into architecture and civil engineering. He got accepted in a university in the far north, Hokkaido Institute of Technology. Once there, he immediately connected with the music scene. There was no wind ensemble, but there was a jazz big band club. He joined and fell in love with jazz.

Music had always been his first love, so he left school and headed for America to immerse himself in the world of jazz. He wanted to major in composition and arrangement, but also trumpet and flugel horn. He selected Berklee College of Music in Boston not only because of the excellent program there, but also because the English requirement was minimal. That matched Motohiro Sensei’s stumbling language ability perfectly.

“America was such a great eye-opener for me”, he said. “In Japan we focus so narrowly on our own circle. But at Berklee I studied and played with people from all over the world. In fact, every Friday night seven of us, each from a different country, would get together to jam, and then go out and hit the town. It was wonderful. Our levels of English varied tremendously, but we all spoke the language of jazz. In that arena we met as equals and could converse fluently and beautifully.

“When I was with that group, I realized I was truly a world citizen. I had a global vision. And I belonged to a whole process much larger than anything I had ever imagined before. It was also during those times that my identity as an individual came into focus. I am me, of course, yet I am also part of something that encompasses the entire world. That feeling opened my mind and heart very wide and I try to live from that place even now. Of course, I am very connected to the community where I live here in Japan, but I am constantly aware of being so much more.

“When I was in the USA I also had jobs. I worked in a bookstore, one where many Japanese went. And I got a lot of practical music training in various places in the city, too. I even considered applying for a seaman’s visa, which meant I could play on cruise ships. But in order to get that, I would have had to go back to Japan for six months and then return to the USA.

“I was still thinking about it when 9/11 happened. And then the entire world flipped upside down. Suddenly people weren’t going to clubs anymore. And cruises were cancelled, which meant there was no chance for that sort of visa at all. In fact, any kind of visa was hard to get. So, reluctantly I headed back to Japan.

“I spent two years in my hometown, Sendai, but I eventually headed to Tokyo. Almost all the high level players were there, and I wanted to be part of that scene. At that time I thought I could live anywhere in the world as long as I had jazz. But in Tokyo I learned I couldn’t. The air was bad. The place was overly crowded. It was really expensive. I got a serious rash and allergies. And then my father died, so I knew it was time to head back home. Even though the music scene was smaller, there were mountains, the sea, and fresh air. In other words, it was the place for me on many levels.

“It is never easy to get started, but I had the world of music as my cradle. So, of course, that is where I began. In Berklee I had run across several folks from Sendai, much to my surprise and theirs. They had also returned to Japan after 9/11. So it was with those few that I got my feet on the ground.

“Now I have a great sextet. We members understand each other perfectly. And we all have the same attitude towards music. We practice, of course, but we all love improvisation. And we all know how to take off and fly.

“If one member is having a hard time one day, we all work together to help him until he is up to the level of the rest of us. It’s a great team. And it’s a real joy to play together. We never know what will happen. Every time is an unfolding mystery. It is great!”

Now Motorhiro Sensei gives private lessons in trumpet, trombone, and piano. He is also the music director for the Tohoku University Jazz Club, which is a combo style group. In addition he has adult students, who also formed a big band called Time After Five. Motohiro Sensei is their music director, too. He is responsible for scheduling and booking all the venues of his students and the various bands they have created. Likewise, he plays in clubs around the city and occasionally goes to Tokyo to perform with friends there.

Stepping outside of music, Motohiro Sensei teaches English in an elementary school. “I can do that”, he says with a grin, “because the English is easy.”

“I have teaching in my DNA. My mother is a teacher, and so were both sets of grandparents. So, it comes naturally to me. And I love it. In the future I want to connect to young people more. I’m really concerned about Japanese young people. They are really lost and aren’t getting much help. They don’t even know basic things like how to introduce themselves properly. They communication skills are awful. They are sloppy and rude. I want to give them some guidance. I think I might be able to get to them through music. Then I can slowly introduce other structures into their lives.”

I asked Motohiro Sensei how he composed. And his answer was most interesting.

“I’m immersed in music all the time. I look at a scene and I hear music. I can immediately see the score floating across my vision. In fact, I constantly live with musical images and stories drifting through my mind.

“I can listen to any piece and see in my mind how it is written. I can listen to anything and then write the score for it. But it is really time consuming and a hassle. If five trumpets are playing different parts and there are other instruments as well, it takes a lot of concentration to get all that down on paper.

“Usually when I want to compose something, I create an image in my mind. I spend a lot of time building up and exploring that scene. After that I become very open and receptive. Then suddenly it is like a bolt of light shoots through me and I see the piece in its totality. I can catch everything in about three minutes at most.”

Occasionally he and his mother work together. Those productions are classically based. So, Motohiro Sensei composes and arranges to fit into that genre. Often in those concerts music accompanies poetry reading. So, in order to compose pieces for that, Motohiro Sensei will work with the poem itself, sometimes for days, until he can compose a piece that musically parallels the rhythm and message of the poem. Sometimes Motohiro Sensei adjusts a piece more than a hundred times before he is satisfied. “But that is what composing is about. Sometimes it flows. Sometimes it takes concerted effort. But that is all part of how it goes.

“But arranging is different. That’s like putting pieces of a puzzle together. It’s fun. I can do that with the TV on, with my wife practicing her flamenco dancing, with my kid throwing a ball at me or climbing into my lap. And actually that sort of thing sometimes jolts me to rearrange parts in ways I’d never thought of before.

“My life is good. And I’m lucky. I’m doing what matters most to me. My life is all about communication, about connecting with others. And of course, that is done mainly through music. I’m happy to be right where I am, doing just what I am. I live from the heart. And for me that is in the here and now, but also encompasses the entire world, and maybe the universe as well.”

* * * * *

(1) This name is Japanese style, with the family name coming first.
“Sensei” means “teacher” and is a polite form of address to a teacher. It literally means “One who has gone before”.

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Soap Hope: All-natural soap to end global poverty

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 12:49:12 EST

By: KristinSchutz

May 16, 2009: Doomsday. With a degree in public relations and an economic environment of fear and hiring freezes, I found it hard to have faith in finding a decent job in public relations and even less faith in a job that shared my vision for progressive change. Then along came a job at Soap Hope: a company with a deeply integrated social mission to end global poverty.

The first thing we learn as an introduction to PR at school is "Don't Lie." As a PR practitioner, I am well aware of the traps and narrow roads that challenge our paths as communicators. But at Soap Hope I have never once felt the need to lie or twist the truth. *Sigh of relief* It's nice to work for a social responsible company.

Serendipitously, Soap Hope brought hope to my career but more importantly it brings hope to women entrepreneurs locally and globally.

The founders, Salah Boukadoum and Craig Tiritilli, founded Soap Hope after selling their technology company. Taking a full pendulum swing in the other direction, not only in product and services but also in corporate culture. The two decided to found Soap Hope on a strong social mission to end global poverty. Soap Hope invests 100% of profits into anti-poverty organizations that provide microloans and business training for women entrepreneurs.

The social mission is based on the founder’s innovative business model called Good Returns, an innovative, sustainable paradigm in which businesses invest resources in non-profits that improve the lives of others and reciprocally the businesses benefit through returns on investments, increased community visibility and enhanced reputation. In this model a for-profit company simply delays dividends by one year in order to accomplish a positive social purpose.

Rather than donating a portion of a company’s profits to a charity, the Good Returns model engenders a cycle of mutually beneficial results.

In exchange, these nonprofits tell others about Soap Hope, helping to gain visibility in the market and giving customers a special reason to choose Soap Hope over other vendors. This completes the virtuous cycle of Good Returns.

Good Returns isn’t simply a charitable act, it is a sound business investment.

My days at Soap Hope are filled with cheery scents of the stacks and rows of all-natural soap in the adjacent room. Each day I leave smelling of lavender, geranium or some other flora or fauna. Each bar of soap represents money in a woman’s pocket, empowering her economic freedom. Giving back to the global community never smelled so good.

To learn more about the Good Returns model or to try some soap, connect with us at www.soaphope.com

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People 4 Earth Webinar: Revolution of sustainable products

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 12:22:21 EST

By: Mieke

Join the People 4 Earth webinar on the 4th of November for an exclusive discussion with bestselling author, Daniel Goleman, on how a new wave of information on the sustainability impacts of products is shifting the balance from seller to buyer. The experts discuss how 'radical transparency' promises to mobilize sustainable consumption among consumers, reward sustainability leaders in business with competitive advantage, and help drive a higher standard of business innovation. The briefing will take us from the farmer's market to the capital markets to the corporate boardroom.

How to attend?
To attend, please register here. The Moving Markets Webinar Series is complimentary.

Once you have registered, you will be provided with the information you need to join the conference, including dial-in numbers and passcodes. Be sure to save this information to your calendar or print this information.

Click here for more information.

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Creating a life of substance

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 12:18:26 EST

By: lexsisney

Imagine you’re a participant on a new game show called “Your Life”. The host of the show presents you with two locked doors and two keys. The door on the left is labeled “External Substance.” The door on the right is labeled “Internal Substance.” The rules of the game are simple. You can choose only one door. Behind each door is an unlimited substance of its type.

External substance is all the material stuff of the universe. Whatever your heart desires; gold, riches, houses, cars, the new MacBook Air, food, wine, travel, chocolate, books, art, planes, boats…essentially any and every external, physical thing you can consume or experience.

Internal substance is all the etheric stuff of the universe. Whatever your heart desires; love, bliss, freedom, knowledge, transcendence, power, esteem, confidence, romance, friendship, connection, happiness…all the good stuff you can’t consume but you can experience as a human being.

Here’s the catch, according to the rules of this particular game, when you unlock and walk through one door, the other door is closed to you. If you choose External Substance the world of Internal Substance is lost. For example, you can have the mansion and the boat but you can’t have the experience of fun, friendship, and belonging (all internal states). And if you choose Internal Substance you can experience enlightenment, knowledge, and bliss but you can’t experience the physical world.

It’s an extreme choice. If you had to choose, which door would you unlock and step through? I’m willing to bet that if your basic needs of food, shelter and safety were met, you’d walk through the door of rich internal substance and leave the external substances behind.

Thankfully, real life doesn’t present us with such an extreme choice. As a human being, you are blessed with the ability to experience both external and internal substance in rich abundance. But the game show is still a worthwhile exercise because it can help liberate us from being overly consumed with acquiring or defending more external substances, when at the end of the day, it’s the internal substances that we truly value.

One of the secrets of a life well lived is to place your energy and attention predominantly on the development of your internal substance while enjoying and appreciating all of the external substances that life has to offer.

Here are three things you can apply in your life right now to cultivate a richer internal life of substance while you’re actively engaged in building your external desires:

1) Appreciate what is. What we appreciate grows in value. Make a ritual of recognizing and sincerely appreciating the little things that you value as precious. The smile of a child. The strength of your body. The ability to see, taste, and smell. A beautiful sunset. A good conversation. A delicious meal. When we open our eyes, life is magical. So open your eyes and consciously recognize the magic around you everywhere.

2) Love more. There are two primary states of being: love and fear. When we are afraid, we feel separate and vulnerable. When we feel love, we feel connected and powerful. Make a commitment to love a little more each day. Love the little things; love the irritating things; love even your fear. Love is the source of all that is. When we love more, we tap an inexhaustible supply of power, joy and creativity (all exquisite internal substances) and radiate them out into the world. Love more.

3) Bring forth the authentic you. When you make a conscious choice to bring forward your authentic core - life purpose, unique talents, contribution to others, core values and a positive vision for the whole - the richness of your internal world powerfully takes shape around you.

If you’re ready to clarify and bring forward your most sought after internal substances, I invite you to take this free interactive email course, Seven Days to Align Your Life for Success. The course is designed to help you clarify the authentic you and bring it forward in the world. Enjoy.

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Radio play for peace

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 11:30:00 EST

By: PeaceCorso

It’s called “It’s Up To Us Alone,” and it’s a world debut radio play featuring Ed Asner. I’ve heard the first half of the piece, their sneak preview. Click here to have a listen.

It’s a little hokey, but so what? Asner is his wonderful, talented self, and a good point is made about peace. If we’re not cooperating with it, we’re against it. It’s that simple.

More info: Radio Play for Peace CD

Introducing the Knowmads

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 11:18:53 EST

By: Knowmads

For more information about Knowmads, visit http://www.knowmads.nl. If you want to meet one of the Knowmads, get in touch with pieter@knowmads.nl.

We are happy to have you!

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Dr. Lyly Rojas teaches peace to business students

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 16:45:23 EST

By: Amanda_TWW

Humanitarian Dr Lyly Rojas is teaching the culture of peace to business students at the University of Applied Sciences and Technology in Vienna, Austria. Her challenge to future business leaders is to make waves in the corporate world and drive a culture change.

In the current economic climate, her message to the business world is particularly poignant. “I don’t think of the financial recession as a financial crisis, but as a human crisis,” she states. Rojas explains “The current economic situation is a consequence of the way the business world has conducted itself; economic greed has eroded the quality of human life and unraveled many of society’s structures. Now is a transformational moment”.

Rojas understands firsthand the importance of a culture of peace. She was born amidst political turmoil in Nicaragua and their political views and economic conditions forced her parents to flee to the United States. Her childhood experiences greatly influenced the humanitarian direction of her life. Consequently, both the United Nations (UN) and the Vatican have used her as a consultant. Rojas also spent a harrowing time in Kosovo as a consultant for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

Turning her attention to future business leaders, Rojas’ aim is to make peacemakers of her students by showing them alternatives to adopting the predatory and aggressive nature of the corporate environment. She maintains there is an alternative to the caveman mentality, to the bullying and domination that prevails to maximize profit and get ahead in the business world. Rojas is promoting a culture shift.

“We are in our minds, not in our hearts. We buy clothes made by Taiwanese slaves and chop down 2,000-year-old trees. We don’t need more knowledge about problems; we know how to solve them,” she explains. “What we need is encouragement that we will prosper without greed.”

She gives her students the example of how child slavery relates to the business world; she tells them about the dresses that child slaves make in a far off land and companies sell for €4,000. In response, her students’ develop projects to change this. “Can you imagine how this makes me feel?” she asks excitedly. “Students come from different countries. Some are children of politicians and will have influence when they return home.”

Whatever the background and nationality, Rojas explains that students need to learn to get along with each other and deal with conflict in a constructive manner. She provides them with the tools to realize this through assigned tasks; case studies, cross-cultural simulation and group projects, some based on her time with the UN. “Some students refuse to work together because of nationality; men team up against women and some students from former dictatorships ask ‘can’t we bribe people?’. The experience is about finding a collaborative point,” she reveals.

Rojas’ teaching method is a holistic one; she wants to see a shift in her students from the automatic, impersonal “I’m a business person” to “I’m an ethical, thinking, feeling person who conducts business”, an ability to know themselves in order to be better leaders. She says: “I hope the feedback is ‘we are better at conducting business and we are better humans all around’.”

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My recovery through meditation

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 11:04:53 EST

By: mjuneja111

Back in June 2007 I was 29 years old, living a balanced life as a business management consultant, yoga practitioner, artist, and philanthropist in Austin, Texas. I had nothing to complain about; life was good. I could not foresee the ways that my life would change as I was simply waiting to get on the highway. My car was suddenly rear-ended, and it was while I was being treated for a concussion that I learned of my benign brain tumor.

The head injury from the accident led to frequent partial complex seizures caused by microscopic level bleeding from the newfound tumor. These episodes manifested at various levels of intensity in the forms of false visualization, altering emotion and speech and movement impairment. Fortunately, my mind, strengthened by over 10 years of daily mediation, was able to control the seizures’ activity of the brain. I learned much about this mind-brain relationship during a five-day video electroencephalograph (EEG) study. My life changed dramatically as I became dependent on friends and family to help me with basic life functions. Yet, the situation didn't stop me from living my life with energy and enthusiasm. I believe that life’s moments are often placed in a rightful way, and we only need to choose to see them for what they are.

After three months of on and off trials of various drugs, which only left me feeling languid and sedate, Dr. Hansa Raval suggested surgery. Dr. Hansa Raval is the angelic doctor who introduced me to meditation over eight years ago, and I valued her opinion. After much consultation, I agreed to this high-risk surgery. In preparation, I settled various legal issues and wrote many emails and letters to those who are dear to me and also to those I needed to forgive and get forgiveness from. The days prior to my surgery I spent in silence, observing my thoughts, strengthening my mind and being present.

My neurosurgeon Dr. Prabhu operated on my head diligently. I am thankful for his skills, talents and empathetic nature. I now have a lemon-size hole in my brain behind, but surgery was a positive decision; I have not had any seizures since. The bleeding stopped, but the full recovery had just begun.

“You should be thankful that you can walk perform the basic functions of life,” replied my cognitive therapist as I tearfully expressed the changes in my life post-surgery. The active lifestyle I once enjoyed seemed out of reach, blocked by effects of the operation. I experienced sciatic nerve pain that went down to my left toe and imbalance and lack of strength in the right side of my body. Weakness and numbness took over both my legs if I tried to stand for over 10 minutes, run or sit cross-legged. One thing I could do, however, was attend vigorous yet grounded classes at Dharma Yoga. My legs shook; I often knelt down and cried as I tried focusing my attention on using mind and breath to channel physical energy.

Yet miraculously, two years since the surgery I can practice almost every yoga pose with grace! None of this would have been possible if I gave up my recovery spirit. I spent six months in a cognitive therapy program. I performed brain exercises to strengthen the neurosynapsis, improve memory and speech and language abilities. Many clinical trials have concluded that meditation improves and cures various mental and neurological disorders. My cognitive therapists and neurophysiologist encouraged me to use a meditative state of mind while doing these exercises, as it drastically improved my response scores. Meditation is a form of therapy, and can uniquely alter our state of mind and cause neurochemical and neurobiological changes in our brain.

Meditation and yoga helped me on my path to recovery. I no longer suffer from my traumatic injuries and unforeseen health conditions, spanning from a brain tumor to epilepsy to memory-speech challenges and a herniated lumbar disk. I accomplished this without using drugs. Instead, I relied on the courage and hope I found in a strong mind, a holistically functional brain, and experience with meditation and yoga. I only have this present moment, and I choose to live each moment with strength and empathy that comes from my spirit to overcome physical injuries.

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21 things I appreciate about you

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 18:45:51 EST

By: lexsisney

A husband and wife recently celebrated 21 years of marriage. Still deeply in love, the wife has been battling episodes of depression and it hasn’t been easy. For several months now, she hasn’t felt like her old self. Desperately searching for ways to feel clear, happy and healthy again; she’s tried all of the standard medical remedies.

To celebrate their anniversary, the couple met for drinks at their favorite restaurant. The conversation and the date started poorly. Saddened and slightly frustrated at what seemed to be a missed opportunity for a joyful anniversary celebration, the man was at a loss for how to save the evening and reconnect with the woman he loves. Then, in a flash of inspiration, the husband said, “Honey, I love you so much and I am so grateful and lucky to be your partner. I am going to share with you 21 things I appreciate about you to represent the 21 years we’ve been married.”

As he stated each appreciation, he reflected on all of the joys and trials, the funny and the mundane life experiences that two people collect over 21 years. “I appreciate what a wonderful friend you are to me and how you always help me see the big picture. I appreciate that even back when we were dating you made me feel like I can accomplish anything, and you still do. I appreciate how you’ve cooked such nurturing meals for the family over the years. I appreciate what a fantastic lover you are.”

By the fifth item, the husband began to weep in awe and appreciation for this beautiful, magnificent woman in his life. She at first felt shy and slightly embarrassed. She laughed and tried to sweep away the love and praise, but as he continued something deep and profound surfaced and cut through the fog. Crying and laughing together, they caused quite a scene in the restaurant. It didn’t matter one bit. The more the husband shared, the more he cried tears of joy. The more she took in, the more she felt filled up.

By the twenty-first sincere appreciation, there was a palpable feeling of love and care filling the entire restaurant. Overflowing with a feeling of buoyancy, support and love, she felt like she hadn’t felt in a long, long time. The husband in turn felt open, caring, and protective.

After I heard this story I felt inspired to share twenty-one things that I appreciate about my own love. To my surprise, as I shared my 21 things she began to cry tears of joy. Man, it feels great to make the one you care for feel loved and appreciated. If you want to make the ones you care about overflow with feelings of love and support, look into their eyes and say, “I love you. I want to share 21 things that I deeply appreciate about you…” Try it today.

www.LexSisney.com

Real family values

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 18:00:21 EST

How suppressed emotions cut us off from loved ones and ourselves.

Photograph: David Servan-Schreiber

Tom had a successful career... in the mafia. He'd been a millionaire, able to have any woman he wanted, and rubbed shoulders with influential people. Yet when he came to see me after a lifetime of alcohol, drugs and crime, he was like a lost child who needed direction. To "succeed" in his world, he'd had to learn to block his emotions, and didn't know who he was any more.

Tom told me about the time he was a new recruit and he'd agreed, for a substantial sum, to cut his best friend's ear off because his friend owed money to the Mafia. As he used all his weight to pin his friend down, Tom repeated mechanically, "It's nothing personal, Jimmy. It's just business." Back home, he collapsed into bed and stayed there for two days. When he recovered, he swore to himself he'd never let himself get emotional like that again. He never did cry after that, and moved rapidly through the ranks of "the family." But after years of that type of life, he couldn't sleep at night unless he'd had a few drinks, and his only real pleasure came from prostitutes or cocaine, or both.

At 55, broke and alone, Tom started to recognize the Faustian pact that dominated his life. Having cut off his emotions to block out the pain he inflicted on others, he was no longer able to experience the kind of wholesome pleasures essential to growth. After a few months of trying to listen to what his heart was telling him, Tom finally rediscovered his lust for life. He described the warmth of a child's smile, something he'd never noticed before, and the tears he shed when a young woman whom he'd protected from the Mafia said to him: "Tom, no man has ever done what you just did for me. I'll never forget that." Said Tom: "It's better than winning a hundred grand at poker."

How many of us have fallen into the same trap as Tom, without realizing it? A manager who no longer cares about the devastating effect of losing a job, who tells himself that the severance package is more than reasonable compensation. A doctor who bows to pressure from the family and forces an old lady into a retirement home, even though he knows that staying in her own home is the most important thing left in her life.

How many of us are suppressing the emotions that make us human? It may have helped us climb the corporate ladder, gain status at work or among our friends, but it has also cut us off from the consequences of our actions. Nowadays we're discovering how our behavior toward those close to us, whether colleagues or family members, often leads us to cut ourselves off from our feelings. Yes, it's only through contact with our emotions that we can become whole and fulfilled. That's the lesson I learned from Tom, and I try to apply it every day of my life.

David Servan-Schreiber is a French psychiatry professor and the author of Healing without Freud or Prozac and Anticancer .

Issue: September/October 2009

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Tales of the credit crunch

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 13:04:35 EST

Filmmaker Johan Kramer finds inspiration in the financial crisis.

Photograph: Wouter Westendorp

A Japanese woman walks two dogs along a winding path in a well-groomed park. The dogs sniff around the bushes as the woman walks patiently behind, plastic bags in hand, ready to clean up after them. This scene is from The Crisis and Us, the new film from Dutch film director Johan Kramer (photo), who previously gained international acclaim with The Other Final, about a soccer match between Bhutan and Montserrat, the two lowest-ranked teams at the time, and Sing for Darfur, about the tragedy in Sudan. If you saw only the images—shot in black and white using eight-millimeter film with grainy and nostalgic qualities that create a nearly dreamlike intimacy—you'd wonder what was happening. Who is the woman in the park? How long has she had the dogs? What are their names?

The stories, written by Kramer, answer all those questions, which had moved Kramer more than a year ago to launch an experiment in which he filmed everyday situations that struck a chord and were inspired by chance: people on the street, encounters in the park, the view of an office building from a hotel room.

On Monday, September 15th, 2008—which the media dubbed "Black Monday"—the American banking giant Lehman Brothers declared bankruptcy and the global financial crisis became a reality. Kramer knew right away that this would be the topic of his next film: the crisis that would affect the everyday affairs of ordinary people across the globe. The result is a lovely film comprising 38 portraits of people from all over the world. Combined, these stories create an image of what the crisis is doing to us. Using voice-overs by the fantastic David Saire, a British actor, and the music of Tom Holkenborg, aka. Junkie XL, a Dutch performer who rose to world fame as a remixer, Kramer calls the result "a film that is really for your ears."

According to him, the stories show the ways you can look at the crisis. "It's not difficult to make a very gloomy, pessimistic film about this experience," Kramer says. "But I'm curious what we can learn from it. I think it forces us to take a different path, which is why there's also a lot of optimism in this film."

The stories, often based on newspaper reports, make the audience chuckle, thanks to the hilarious situations Kramer describes—like the woman walking her dogs in the park. She's married to a Japanese banker who consistently overworks himself and is afraid he'll lose his job due to the crisis. His wife's desire for a child is continually put off because he works 16-hour days. She wants a divorce and, in an act of revenge, gets two dogs she calls Kiniu and Kiki. These two words, spoken in succession, mean "financial crisis," which drives her husband crazy. Thanks to the dogs, which symbolize her longing for a child, she's ultimately able to divorce. So the story goes: Kramer's story.

Things to do in Iceland during the slump

Bubbles, but not the financial kind

Dieter, the sausage astronaut

Issue: September/October 2009

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A good kind of group think builds sustainable small businesses

Wed, 30 Sep 2009 12:35:03 EST

Ernesto Sirolli taps into the collective genius of communities.

Sirolli says the businesses he’s helped build have an 80 percent success rate.

Photograph: Sirolli Institute

If you happen to ride your bicycle to Ernesto Sirolli's Sacramento, California, residence, as I did, your effort won't go unrewarded. When he opens the garage door, you'll be treated to a glimpse of his prized possession, a white 1951 Morgan Roadster. The Morgan Company, he'll quickly and enthusiastically tell you, is a family-owned business in England founded by H.F.S. Morgan that this year celebrates its 100th anniversary. "They have completely flown in the face of conventional business wisdom!" says Sirolli. "Their cars are all hand-made! Look, the body is made out of wood. And there is a seven-year waiting list for a new one!" It's clear that beyond the typical automobile fetishism, Sirolli is enthralled that a company of that kind could continue to stay small and produce beautiful objects into the 21st century.

It's a great introduction to the lifework of Sirolli himself, who over the last 23 years has helped communities around the world grow small businesses from the ground up. By his reckoning, he and his disciples have aided in the start up, expansion or survival of 30,000 businesses on four continents. At a time when businesses around the world are being rocked by the global economic implosion, Sirolli's methods could help struggling entrepreneurs not just survive but thrive. More than bolstering bottom lines, the Sirolli Institute helps communities help themselves, reinventing local networks and building the social capital that's the foundation of true prosperity. Sirolli fires himself up an espresso on the stove, then we move to his Japanese rock garden living room so he can explain how he accomplishes this.

"Enterprise facilitation" is the name Sirolli has given to what his Institute does. If that phrase makes your eyes glaze over instantly, you're not alone. The modern corporate vagueness, and the little trademark bubble that follows it in print, can be a bit off-putting at first. But in person, Sirolli is skilled enough as a pitchman to get the message across. With his dark, wavy hair and moustache, Sirolli could be the Italian Tom Selleck, although his robust accent and barely controlled enthusiasm have me thinking "Borat" more often than I'd like.

Before he explains his methodology, Sirolli insists I understand the idea at its core: A successful business requires three essential components—product, marketing and financial management—and no single human being is capable of delivering all three with equal passion and competence. "The death of the entrepreneur is solitude," he says. "If you're alone in business, you'll die." This isn't some casual observation, but the core of his faith, what he has come to call "the trinity of management."

On the face of it, this idea doesn't strike one as particularly radical, but it goes against what Sirolli considers a pernicious but enduring myth: To start a successful business, you must be able to handle all three aspects yourself. Not one to shy away from absolutes, Sirolli lets me have it: "Henry Ford, Walt Disney, Bill Gates: None of the greatest companies in America was started by one person! I've done the research. Not even one! It's always two, three, four people."

The other distinguishing principle that guides Sirolli's methodology and permeates every aspect of the enterprise is this: One should never go where one is uninvited. To explain this, he takes me on a tour of his early years as an aid worker in Africa, a part of his story recounted in his 1999 book Ripples from the Zambezi: Passion, Entrepreneurship, and the Rebirth of Local Economies. Sirolli worked for six years with Italian aid agencies in Zambia, Kenya and the Ivory Coast, the results of which, in typically superlative fashion, he qualifies as "disastrous," adding, "We always did it from the top down and it never worked. We had zero respect for people. Everything we touched we killed." In the midst of this rolling disaster, Sirolli got a copy of the 1973 alternative-economy classic by E.F. Schumacher, Small Is Beautiful. There he encountered a few sentences that changed his lifework forever. Sirolli's paraphrase: "‘If people don't wish to be helped, leave them alone.' This should be the first principle of aid."

Sirolli taught Rob Miles, who runs a canoeing/camping company in rural Oregon, that he didn’t have to do everything himself.

Photograph: Imperial River Company

A few years later, in 1985, Sirolli was a grad student in psychology at Murdoch University in Australia. He was seeking a subject for his doctoral project, on the intersection of psychology and entrepreneurship. One of his advisers invited him to try an experiment in Esperance, an isolated and depressed fishing town on the country's West Coast. Sirolli dropped himself into the community, offering merely to help anyone interested in starting a business. After days of inquiring, he managed to find an unemployed fisherman with a dream of opening a fish smokery. Sirolli helped him gather a team and guided him through the million hurdles it took to get up and running. As word got out in the small community, people started coming to Sirolli with their dreams. From Esperance, the news spread to other rural outposts in Australia, before jumping continents to North America and the U.K., and a chain of launches that still carry him today.

Over the years, what started out as a social experiment has coalesced into a methodology, and this is what the Sirolli Institute offers to interested communities around the globe. The story usually unfolds thusly: A town or a county invites the Sirolli Institute to help. The Sirolli people have its leaders put together a council of 20 to 50 volunteers that meets monthly for a specified amount of time. The council hires and lines up funding for an enterprise facilitator, a paid professional with business experience and the right personality, who'll be trained by Team Sirolli and released back into the community.

From there, it's the job of the enterprise facilitator to wait to be approached by clients, to make sure he has the three parts of the trinity in place. If not, she begins the search in the immediate community with the council, and expands the circle until she finds them. Then it's the enterprise facilitator's job to do anything and everything to make the client's dream come true. Anything, Sirolli says, with a few conspicuous exceptions. "Two reasons you get fired. No. 1: You get fired if you initiate anything; if it is your idea, you get fired, because you only work in response. And No. 2: You get fired if you motivate anybody; if we catch you convincing somebody that they should be doing something in business, we will fire you!"

Sirolli clearly enjoys stating this so baldly, but beneath the laughter he's dead serious. Facilitators are trained to hold back, to work only with those who already have the drive to succeed. "You do not chase clients," he tells them. "You don't put ads in papers. All introductions are through word of mouth." Sirolli's dream is that this new type of public service will become a more widespread and recognizable institution. "The enterprise facilitator becomes this kind of strange new professional who is strange for the first year. But after two or three years in the community, there is this concept that there is this person who can help you."

As for marketing his own services to an unknowing world, Sirolli has tried to walk the talk, which explains in part why his Institute flies for the most part well below the radar. "We don't advertise," he explains. "We can only do something good and wait for people to invite us. Can we educate people about what we do? Yes. The only way we get work is to go to conferences and speak but it's very, very, very, very slow. We are the opposite of Anthony Robbins," a reference to the ubiquitous motivational speaker. Besides that, Sirolli knows that when you work with rural, economically disenfranchised communities, you don't exactly find yourself in the world's major media hubs. But gradually, the mainstream is drifting toward Sirolli's way of thinking. In 2005, he was invited to address the National Conference of Economic Development in Washington, D.C.

Over the course of a couple of decades, the number of communities Sirolli has worked with has grown to about 300 around the globe—in Kansas, South Dakota, Texas and Oregon in the U.S.; in Lancashire in Britain; in three rural counties in Scotland; all around the western rim of Australia; and, coming full circle, a new project in Katanga, in eastern Congo. Of course, the figures wouldn't mean much if those businesses failed at the usual rate—80 percent within the first five years is the oft-repeated statistic. Sirolli is particularly proud of the survival rate of businesses that implement his methods, claiming a success rate of 80 percent of the businesses that he directly or indirectly helped guide.

Rob Miles runs the Imperial River Company, a paddling and lodging provider on the Deschutes River in rural Oregon. He'd been struggling for years before he attended a three-day seminar Sirolli and his people ran in a small town on the other side of the state. "I had always been told that no one can do it as good as you can," Miles recalls. "‘You're the owner. You have to be the best at it. You have to be the best at marketing. No one can manage the finances as good as you. It's your money.' The entrepreneurial myth was pounded into my head. Learning that that's not true, that it's an incredible lie, was huge to me."

Thanks to support from the Sirolli Institute, Elaine Aragon has made her hairdressing salon/gym/athletic jacket outlet in rural Texas work.

Photograph: Laura Hardin

Miles went home and fired himself as marketing director and hired someone who, unlike him, didn't hate every minute of it. He credits this move with helping him endure the economic implosion that has ravaged so many businesses around him. "In this down economy that we're in, my 2008 year ended up $3,000 ahead of 2007. A zero growth year, in this recession, I would say is fantastic." Miles has gone on to join the five-county council that meets once a month with the regional enterprise facilitator to brainstorm solutions for would-be business owners like himself. "That's the beauty of the collective genius," he says. "Building capacity at a grassroots level by tapping into the resource that is already there. It's not bringing in a factory and creating 1,500 new jobs. It's finding the person who has the passion to do something and helping them find the other people they need to know in order to make that passion a reality."

Elaine Aragon has put together the kind of category-defying business you wouldn't find in Soho, say, or on Melrose Avenue. Under one roof she's got a hairdresser, massage therapist, gym, tanning salon, local high school athletic jacket outlet and candy store. "We kind of do everything," she says. But located as it is in the rural town of Littlefield, in northwest Texas, JoJo's Attic serves as much as a cultural hub as a money-making venture.

Aragon had worked in somebody else's business for 19 years, but nothing she learned in that time prepared her for putting together her own business plan. Through word of mouth, she heard about a local Sirolli-trained facilitator, who helped her figure out all the ducks she needed to line up—from projected income and overhead down to the logo and the lettering on the door—to get her bank loan. "Every time we would meet, I would have to do my ‘homework,'" she says. "They don't do it for you. [The enterprise facilitator] doesn't sit there and babysit you. You have to have the desire to do it. But I'd still be spinning my wheels without her." This September, it will be two years since JoJo's Attic opened. Within the first year, Aragon was able to double her revenue and keep that money in the community.

The Sirolli Institute is an institution of the mind; there's no campus and no headquarters, which explains in part how Sirolli can get away with living in Sacramento. For seven years he operated out of Minneapolis, enduring the soul-crushing Midwestern winters. Returning from a lecture in California's State Capitol one January, he told his wife of the roses he saw blooming there—in January. She wept. They moved here with their teenaged daughter in 2002 and have been able to run the non-profit out of their house, with a marketer in Alberta, Canada, and hundreds of facilitators around the globe. Now they're moving the curriculum online so they can train people with video modules and video conferencing, saving the environment and the airfare in the process.

Before I climb back on my bicycle, I make sure I ask Sirolli about the global economic crunch, and the relevance of his programs. He can't suppress a chuckle of well-earned relief. "All the communities and all the people we have worked with have always been in terrible economic shape. We've been dealing with this forever. We are specialists!" As I ride back to the train, I wonder if somewhere out there, in a garage in South Dakota or western Australia, there's this century's H.F.S. Morgan, developing a car that runs on sunlight. If you happen to run into him, hook him up with Ernesto Sirolli, will you?

Larry Gallagher has been employing the preposterous scheme of using freelance writing to support his songwriting habit.

Issue: September/October 2009

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Open Medicine provides medical knowledge to the public

Tue, 29 Sep 2009 11:31:13 EST

Palepu believes medical publishing should be free from corporate influence.

Photograph: Eugene Lin

Anita Palepu was an associate editor at the Canadian Medical Association Journal in 2006 when the publisher fired two editors in a conflict over editorial independence. Angry at what she felt was a move to allow advertisers to dictate what appeared in the journal, Palepu and some other colleagues resigned. But she says cheerfully, "Instead of being outraged, I'm doing something about it." Within a year, Palepu became co-founder and co-editor of Open Medicine, a free, independent online quarterly that offers peer-reviewed science and analysis. In the first issue, the editors stated that "medical knowledge should be public and free from undeclared influence."

Palepu, a professor of medicine at the University of British Columbia, emphasizes that renowned medical journals "such as The Lancet and The New England Journal of Medicine derive substantial income from pharmaceutical advertisers." She's concerned this may cause physicians to make decisions based on brand recognition rather than on scientific rigor. Moreover, she adds, "these advertisers may sponsor a trial, pay for publication and then purchase tens of thousands of copies to distribute among medical professionals." That doesn't necessarily mean the science is invalid, she acknowledges, but she does wonder about the "competing interests." With Open Medicine, that's never a question since it doesn't take advertisements. Palepu says the initiative runs on the "labor of love" of many academics, mainly from Canada, plus donations from medical schools and individuals.

Recently, the journal started an experiment in collaborative publishing. One of its articles is set up as a wiki so registered users can edit and add material. Palepu believes it's too early to draw any conclusions, but stresses that "we're very careful, and we're only learning how to execute a wiki in a medical context." Meanwhile, in July, the U.S. National Institutes of Health announced its collaboration with the Wikimedia Foundation to improve the online availability of medical information. Palepu considers her editors part of a broader movement advocating a free culture with open access, something mostly visible in free downloads of music and books. "Medicine is a very traditional profession, so some will think we're quite radical," Palepu says, "but for others it's completely normal what we do."

Issue: September/October 2009

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Vitamin Angels combats malnutrition with nutritional supplements

Mon, 28 Sep 2009 11:40:12 EST

How giving every child basic nutrition may provide a starting point for tackling Africa's other challenges.

At Alupe Hospital in Busia, Kenya, pregnant women take supplements to increase their chances of having healthy babies.

Photograph: Matt Dayka

Touching down in Eldoret, a rural town about 185 miles (300 kilometers) from Nairobi near the Ugandan border in western Kenya, everything seemed calm and peaceful. The countryside is lush; indeed, most of the residents are farmers, growing wheat, coffee and tea as well as rearing dairy cattle. Suddenly, there was a commotion outside the airport and a loud, rhythmic chanting started. It turned out to be for Selina Kosgei, the runner from Eldoret who recently won the Boston Marathon. She'd just returned home and was greeted by a throng of supporters.

Kosgei is one of the few things the people of Eldoret have to celebrate. In January of last year, violence erupted in Eldoret and throughout Kenya after disputed elections. In Eldoret alone, hundreds of people were killed in tribal skirmishes, while thousands of others were displaced. Howard Schiffer had come to Eldoret to fight another killer: malnutrition. As founder and president of the non-profit Vitamin Angels, Schiffer has so far helped distribute 400 million nutritional supplements to needy children in more than 40 countries. Schiffer and other Vitamin Angels staff members had traveled to this remote Kenyan town to launch Thrive to Five, a program that provides daily doses of essential supplements to local people, especially children. "Essential nutrients save lives," says Schiffer, a tall, bespectacled man who has been involved with nutrition for more than 30 years. "It is measurable, it is scalable and we don't need to spend a penny on research or 10 years trying to find the cure. We only need to make the decision that these children are worth it."

Schiffer's philosophy, and the guiding principle behind Vitamin Angels, is that vitamins and other nutritional supplements are crucial to the health of young children and pregnant and lactating mothers. Supplements containing selected vitamins and nutrients—particularly vitamin A, iron, iodine, folate and zinc—mitigate the effects of undernutrition and malnutrition, Schiffer says, and dramatically reduce the likelihood of low-birth-weight babies. Low birth weight is a key indicator of chronic malnutrition, and low-birth-weight infants are at greater risk of dying from simple infections and common childhood illnesses. According to the British medical journal The Lancet, chronic malnutrition is responsible for a third of all maternal and child deaths every year.

Schiffer's approach to the problem is backed by the World Bank, which argued in a 2006 report: "Investments in micronutrients have greater returns than those in trade liberalization, malaria, water or sanitation. No other technology offers as large an opportunity to improve lives at such a low cost and in such a short time." An example of how effective supplements can be, Schiffer says, is that two vitamin A capsules given to a child every year increase survival rates by 23 percent. Schiffer hopes the Thrive to Five program will help children under 5 not just survive but thrive, both physically and cognitively.

And Kenyan kids need all the help they can get. Infant and maternal mortality rates in Kenya are among the highest in the world. Of the country's 37 million inhabitants, some 58 percent live on less than $1 a day. Tourists wonder at Kenya's spectacular wildlife and stunning beaches, but most Kenyans are subsistence farmers with no running water, electricity, reliable transport or proper food. Diseases that are all but eradicated in the West—spina bifida, malaria, TB—kill about 2 million Kenyans a year altogether. About 300 people, predominantly children and adults under 35, die of AIDS every day. In the past 20 years, life expectancy has dropped from 54 to 47.

Vitamin Angels founder Howard Schiffer in Alupe Hospital’s maternity ward.

Photograph: Matt Dayka

Schiffer started his career as a midwife, becoming involved in childbirth education, maternal health and the homebirth movement. That led him into the natural products industry. But after 14 years and a fair amount of commercial success, "I was honestly bored," he says. "I kept thinking, There has got to be something else I could do with all of these connections." He launched Vitamin Angels in 1994.

Vitamin Angels' standard operating procedure is to "find organizations within a country that are doing good and help them do better," says Schiffer. Vitamin Angels piggybacks on other educational or maternal and child health projects in a given country and adds a nutritional component. Vitamin Angels staff members then work with the partner organizations to distribute the vitamins. This keeps costs low and logistics efficient. The cost for vitamin A supplements, including everything from transport to education to administration, is 25 cents a child per year.

At Alupe Hospital in the Teso North district of western Kenya, where Vitamin Angels is also active, emaciated pregnant women cram into a tiny maternity ward. A single nurse tends to them. Mary Goretti Amoit, a 19-year-old primary school dropout, is among the patients. Pregnant with her first baby, she's being treated for chronic malnutrition. Her husband is a casual laborer who hardly earns enough for medical care. "At home, we don't have enough money to get the kind of food a pregnant mother is required to eat," Amoit says. "We just survive."

Most of the inhabitants of this hilly, semi-arid and sparsely populated region are nomads. They move from place to place tending their cattle, goats and sheep, always in search of water. Poverty is widespread. Most girls marry in their early teens. Very few, if any, make it to secondary school.

Lydia Anyokort, 15, has just had her first child, a boy delivered by Caesarian section. Caesarians are common here; malnutrition can make it difficult to carry a baby to term. "I was in school and had to drop out when I realized I was pregnant," Lydia says. Lydia's 40-year-old mother, who has 10 other children, sits by her bedside. "It means I have to take care of her little son, then send her back to school," she adds. "We live by the grace of God. We can't afford a decent meal. That's why we always appreciate the vitamin supplements."

Vitamin Angels serves some 10 million needy children and mothers worldwide. Next year, Schiffer wants to reach 15 million or more. "I want to get past vitamin deficiency diseases and start reaching women pre-conception, so the day children are born they have the opportunity to reach their full intellectual and structural capacity," he says. "We don't get to choose when a disaster will strike but we always get to choose how we will respond. We have it within our sights to see extreme poverty, malaria, TB, vitamin A deficiency and chronic malnutrition eliminated."

Kenya, and Africa as a whole, has a lot of problems. Schiffer is trying to fix just this one—malnutrition—in the hope that this will provide a starting point for tackling the continent's other challenges. If Schiffer could write a global constitution for children, he says, it would start with, "Every child has a right to basic nutrition." Thanks in part to Vitamin Angels, that truth is starting to become self-evident.

Reuben Kyama is a journalist based in Nairobi, Kenya.

Issue: September/October 2009

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Two-wheel wonders: The bicycle enjoys a renaissance

Thu, 24 Sep 2009 12:37:32 EST

No other form of travel can quite beat the joys of cycling.

A cyclist heads out early from Lewis and Clark Caverns State Park, Montana.
Photograph: Wessel Kok

In western Montana in August, crickets leap from heat-radiating roadways, bounding up from the pavement and brushing your legs. In Indonesia, boys will race you through their villages. Along the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina in July, the scent of skunk hovers in the air. If you're blasting downhill, the potent perfume lasts but a second. But pedaling uphill at, say, four miles an hour, the smell lingers in your nostrils.

I've traveled by foot, car, plane, train, boat and on horseback, but nothing comes close to connecting me to places and people the way bicycling does. Whether I'm alone, with friends, on organized vacation tours, with charity events or with bicycle club outings, biking is usually how I want to spend my free time. I've cycled most of the eastern U.S., some western states, several European countries, Indonesia and Argentina. That still leaves a lot of territory. I've ridden on paved bike trails, gravel roads, city thoroughfares, cobblestone streets (not advised) and even an interstate highway (yes, it was legal). Every outing is an adventure, whether it's a three-hour ride near my home or a two-week cycling and camping tour.

If you don't ride much, or at all, you might mistake me for hard core. But it's all relative. Plenty of men and woman have logged many more miles and back-to-back days than I have. I didn't learn to ride a bike until I was 10. I was afraid to cycle on roads with cars until I was in my 30s, when I finally learned how to switch gears on my 21-gear hybrid. Yes, I can fix a flat tire, but only by reading the directions, and it takes me forever.

One of the wondrous things about cycling is that it's a great equalizer. You can be on a junkyard beater, a three-wheeler with a granny seat or a high-performance racing bike and you're still cycling. You're still going places, seeing the smallest of sights, smelling the faintest of smells, hearing the most distant of sounds. I'm not knocking road trips by car; I love those, too. But from my car, I'm often thinking, I wish I were on two wheels, outside.

As recently as the 1980s, cycling in the U.S. was viewed as mostly for kids living on cul-de-sacs. The advent of group rides, especially charity rides, changed that in the 1990s. Almost every year, I set aside time to take large and small rides, starting with vacation tour outfitters that do everything for you. One friend, Alice, opened my eyes to the world of bike touring, wherein you carry your overnight gear on the bike. In her case, it means camping and even cooking, though some more luxury-inclined cyclists stay in hotels and eat out. I've since done it Alice's way several times, sometimes with children along. On one of Alice's "family tours" with friends, we had a show-stopping "quad," or bicycle for four, in our group. While Alice and many of her bike buddies have completed a "Trans-Am"—a ride across the country—my longest tour was 12 days. That's enough for me, for now.

Two enthusiasts of RAGBRAI, an annual week-long bicycle tour across Iowa.
Photograph: Wessel Kok

Touring does take some training. But the reward, and it's major, is a fully self-contained outing, which lets you soak up everything the universe offers and think only about routes, weather, food, water and shelter. That's about as "sustainable" as travel can get. I met my lifetime cycling partner in 2003: my husband. As soon as I learned he was Dutch, we were talking bicycling. Every Dutch person has, and rides, a bicycle at some point, often for life. Our most spectacular bike trip so far was last's year tour around Lofoten, above the Arctic Circle in Norway.

In 2005, I blissfully joined the world's oldest and largest organized bicycle tour: the week-long Register's Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa (RAGBRAI, pronounced "RAG-bry"), started by two columnists at the Des Moines Register in 1973 who've proved Iowa isn't all flat. While organizers offer 8,500 official slots, anywhere from 3,000 to 7,000 more cyclists jump onto the tour unofficially. Sixty percent of people on RAGBRAI come from beyond Iowa, representing all 50 U.S. states and close to 20 countries. The event is a bit of a zoo, but the fellowship and revelry among folks on two wheels (or one, or three) and the local townspeople who host them is magical and moving. And there's never a lack of bathroom facilities. A pit stop is but a cornfield away.

Diane Daniel is a globe-trotting writer who aims to preserve community and the environment. bydianedaniel.com

Fancy a spin?

Check out these cycling groups.

Commercial bicycle tour operators are plentiful. I've used several, and was pleased with them all. But compared with self-supported or no-frills trips, they're pricey and less environmentally friendly. They typically include more food than an average human can eat, non-green lodging and the use of support vehicles, which often traverse the route several times. My favorite bicycling groups:

Adventure Cycling Association

adventurecycling.org

Founded in 1974 as Bikecentennial, a ride across the country in honor of the nation's 200th birthday, Adventure Cycling is America's leading touring association. It publishes a series of route maps and organizes many trips a year, including some with luggage support and lodging.

The Register's Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa

ragbrai.com

Everything you want to know about RAGBRAI, the oldest and largest touring bicycle ride in the world (in Iowa) is here. RAGBRAI also has inspired dozens of states to start their own bike tours.

International Bicycle Fund

ibike.org

Based in Seattle, Washington, the International Bicycle Fund covers many topics, including rural mobility, urban planning, safety education, energy conservation and responsible tourism. For travelers, it offers affordable and fascinating "cultural immersion" bike tours in the Americas, Asia and Africa.

European Cyclists' Federation

ecf.com

Founded in 1983, the ECF represents 60 member organizations in 37 countries to promote and encourage cycling and cycling tourism in Europe and beyond. Its website contains links to bike routes throughout the Continent.

Sustrans

sustrans.org.uk

Sustrans, formed in 1977, is the U.K.'s leading sustainable transport non-profit, working to promote transportation that benefits people's health and the environment. It started the National Cycle Network, an ever-growing network of bicycle routes throughout the U.K.

Dutch National Cycling Platform

fietsplatform.nl/english

The good news is that the Stichting Landelijk Fietsplatform manages a signposted network of cycling routes (many on dedicated paths) throughout the Netherlands, arguably the world's most bike-friendly country. The bad news for most of us is that the dozens of touring maps it publishes are in Dutch.

Issue: September/October 2009

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“If you are not sure where you are going, it is possible you are on the right road”

Time banks thrive in the midst of the recession

Tue, 22 Sep 2009 11:49:09 EST

Autumn Rooney (left) and Lisa Gerstein take the saying “time is money” literally.
Photograph: Kevin Scanlon

Even in the midst of the recession, Portland, Maine, has a bank that's generating an unusual amount of wealth. It's a time bank called Hour Exchange Portland (HEP) and the wealth is an alternative currency called "time dollars." Spend an hour doing something for somebody else; deposit an hour into your time bank account as a time dollar. You now have one time dollar to spend on having someone do something for you. It's a simple idea that can help neighbors weather the recession while building stronger communities.

Time banks often have websites that list which services are offered and which are needed, like computer help, meals and pet-sitting. Members go online to arrange exchanges. Each bank is unique, reflecting the talents and skills of its members. HEP has more than 700 members, including a "muffin lady," a graphic artist and a physical therapist, and provides more than 1,600 services. Membership is exploding, according to several time bank programs, because the recession increases the number of under- and unemployed people who have more time on their hands and less money to purchase goods and services.

Autumn Rooney started a time bank as an experiment in March of last year in the Echo Park neighborhood of Los Angeles. Twenty or so friends tried it out for the first few months, doing odd jobs for one another: A lawyer helped a photographer with copyright issues; a tailor fitted a wedding dress. But after a story about the group appeared in the Los Angeles Times, Rooney was flooded with applicants. Now she runs the Echo Park Time Bank full time, and has helped two nearby neighborhood groups get started.

"The goal is to get people to trust each other and to think differently about value," Rooney says. "Our current money system encourages competition, hoarding and scarcity. Time banking is different. We'll never run out of time dollars, as long as there are people."

According to Edgar Cahn, founder and CEO of TimeBanks USA, the practice is growing around the globe. Twenty-two countries host time banks, including the Dominican Republic, Israel and Japan; the U.S. has 200 programs and the U.K. has 110. Time banks can be grafted onto non-profit groups, churches or businesses, and each program has its own twists. London recently started a time bank program called Tutor Commuter that matches individuals with others who take the same bus or train so these folks can pick up a new skill like, say, speaking another language.

Portland, Maine, has many seniors wanting to remain at home, so nearly 30 percent of the HEP exchanges are health-related, says Lesley Jones, HEP's regional manager. Members also patronize other members' businesses, which helps them survive and grow despite the recession. "We are part of a vibrant community that supports its members and the Portland we love," says Jones.

Issue: September/October 2009

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The Tao of arugula

Mon, 21 Sep 2009 11:33:59 EST

How to get maximum flavor with minimum effort.

Photograph: Elbrich Fennema

To achieve a harmonious life, the Taoists propagated a curious recommendation: wu wei, or do by not doing. In our action-oriented society, not doing something is underappreciated. Of course, not doing isn't the same as doing nothing. Wu wei is the art of taking the right action at the right moment to allow what is to be, in all its glory. For the modern cook, however, it isn't easy to prepare a satisfying meal from ingredients that are watery, unripe and tasteless because they're shipped from afar or come from a can or the freezer.

Thankfully, there's arugula, which allows us to experience the wu wei principle immediately. It's as simple as cutting it and putting it into your mouth. If you'd like to glean more lessons from arugula, grow it yourself in a pot or in your garden. Once the plant has formed rosettes, snip off the top, leaving a height of one inch (three centimeters); it'll grow back. Those spicy leaves are good with just about anything. Sprinkle them over your salad, soup, pasta or stir-fry dish. If you've missed the right moment to act, not to worry. The little flowers are also edible. And if you missed your opportunity to harvest the flowers, allow the plant to form seeds and try again. Where else would you find such a friendly teacher who gives you so many second chances?

Elbrich Fennema is a Dutch writer with a passion for cooking.

Issue: September/October 2009

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Armstrong's TED wish: A reminder of the golden rule

Fri, 18 Sep 2009 16:53:17 EST

Karen Armstrong hopes to promote tolerance through compassion.

Armstrong launched her call for compassion in a 2008 TED speech.
Photograph: Andrew Heavens/TED2008

In all her studies of religion, Karen Armstrong says one idea kept coming up again and again: "Compassion was the major test of any true spirituality and the chief means by which human beings come into contact with God or Nirvana or Brahman. And yet you rarely hear people talking about compassion." In fact, with the rise of fundamentalist strains of all the major world religions, Armstrong says religious leaders are failing to challenge the views of the intolerant and promote the compassionate message of their faiths. Now she's doing something about it.

As the winner of the 2008 TED prize, she has received $100,000 to make her wish come true: to create a Charter for Compassion, a document that will promote tolerance, and serve as an antidote to fundamentalist interpretations of religion. Through a dedicated website, TED helped Armstrong gather input from thousands of people around the world. Now 18 religious leaders are crafting the final wording of the Charter. "The idea is to change the conversation so people feel empowered to demand compassionate speaking from their priests, monks and rabbis," she says.

The Charter will launch on November 12th and will be signed by religious leaders, such as the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu. Thirty partner organizations, including the UN Alliance of Civilizations and the World Council of Religious Leaders, are planning hundreds of events and Armstrong hopes this will be the start of a movement that spreads to houses of worship, schools and other organizations. She wants people to realize that compassion isn't just a sentiment. "It means to give people practical support and loyalty, to look out for their best interests."

In a world divided along multiple fault lines—religion among them—inspiring tolerance isn't just a nice idea, says Armstrong; it's vital to our survival. "Our task is to create a global community where people of all beliefs and races can live together in peace," she says. "If we fail to achieve this, we will have failed the task of our time and it is unlikely we will have a viable world to hand on to our children."

Issue: September/October 2009

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The reason of faith

Fri, 18 Sep 2009 11:42:20 EST

Religious scholar Karen Armstrong on how we lost the knack for religion—and why we need to get it back.

Religion isn’t easy, Armstrong says: “You have to practice quite hard, like you do with any art form.”
Photograph: Geraint Lewis

Modern science knows how to fix a hole in the heart. It can diagnose a hole in the ozone layer and prove the existence of black holes at the edge of the universe.

But when it comes to explaining what's often described as the "God-shaped hole" in our lives, neither quantum physicists nor geneticists nor neuropsychologists appear to quite have the measure of it.

If anything, the rate of scientific advance in recent decades has only served to polarize religious debate. At one extreme is a resurgent atheism—epitomized by Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens, who've both written best-selling books denouncing religious belief—which trusts that this hole, like every hole, will be filled in time by knowledge. At the other extreme is religious fundamentalism—epitomized by political spats over headscarves and creationism—which believes this hole is brimful of scriptural truth. For most of us in between, the hole in the soul gnaws away at our subconscious, like a hunger. And all of us, believers and non-believers alike, rush to fill the void with words.

One way or another, according to Karen Armstrong, "We talk far too much about God these days." Which might sound a bit rich coming from the English author of almost 20 books on religion as well as two memoirs about her becoming—and then unbecoming—a Catholic nun, who has been decked with religious prizes and who regularly lectures the high and mighty of church and state around the world. What's more, according to her new book The Case for God, the things we say when we do talk about religious faith are often "facile," "stupid" or "primitive." Ammunition, perhaps, for Armstrong's critics, of whom she has had her share, ever since her breakthrough book, A History of God, in 1993.

In that and the books that followed, Armstrong has traced the tangled roots of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, liberally reinterpreted the lives of Muhammad, Buddha and Jesus, and dived headlong into the maelstrom of theological debate around fundamentalism, both before and after 9/11. Some have criticized her idealistic interpretation of the Koran; religious academics berate her for shortcomings of scholarly rigor; atheists dismiss her for refusing to engage in debate on their terms.

Yet Armstrong's consistently eloquent arguments for compassion and commonality as an antidote to Islamophobia and the "clash of civilizations" have struck a chord, particularly in the U.S., where she has addressed both houses of Congress. She's also increasingly in demand on the lecture circuit in countries like Pakistan and Egypt, and is to be found on book stalls in 40 languages around the world. Drawing together the main threads of her previous research, The Case for God is Armstrong's most concise and practical-minded book yet: a historical survey of how rather than what we believe, where we lost the "knack" of religion and what we need to do to get it back.

Jama Masjid mosque in Delhi, India
Photograph: Jim Zuckerman/Corbis

"A lot of the arguments about religion going on at the moment spring from a rather inept understanding of religious truth," says Armstrong, settling into her theme and a winged easy chair in her early-Georgian home in north London. The furnishings and decoration suggest Jane Austen may have just stepped out of the room. Like Austen, and in a polished English accent, Armstrong is sharp-witted, quick to ridicule nonsense, and a good storyteller. "Our notion changed during the early modern period when we became convinced that the only path to any kind of truth was reason. That works beautifully for science but doesn't work so well for the humanities. Religion is really an art form and a struggle to find value and meaning amid the ghastly tragedy of human life."

Armstrong's The Case for God begins with the cave paintings of Lascaux in the French Dordogne, made some 17,000 years ago—seemingly religious art works in which the hunter assuages his unease at killing his prey through shamanic rituals in honor of the Animal Master. Such myths were born because, Armstrong writes, "As meaning-seeking creatures, men and women fall very easily into despair. They have created religions and works of art to help them find value in their lives, despite all the dispiriting evidence to the contrary."

From that point on, the religious impulse took the form of creation myths like Tao and Brahman from the East, on through the gods of ancient Greece and eventually the emergence of the world's three main monotheisms—Judaism, Christianity and Islam—and their founding scriptures. But none of them, says Armstrong, were meant to be taken literally. "The cosmology of the ancient world was telling you about the nature of life here and now. Genesis is not about the origins of life. There were many other creation stories current in Israel at that time and no one was required to believe in that one."

Reason, science and logic—what the Greeks called "logos"—were also evolving as ways of understanding the world, but always in concert, not competition, with the stories—the mythos—they relied on to deal with the mysteries of the human psyche. Pythagoras, for example, a founding father of mathematics and astronomy, sought the geometric truth of the universe from within a religious community dedicated to Apollo and the Muses. He also called himself a philosopher and expected his students to lead an ascetic and monastic kind of life, undergoing rites of purification and silence "in a search," Armstrong writes, "for transcendence and a dedicated, practical lifestyle."

In conversation, Armstrong spins the threads of her research with agile, unhesitating precision, leaping across centuries of scripture, philosophy and theology. She dissects the writings of Denys the Areopagite, the pseudonymous 5th-to-6th-century Christian theologian; explains the roots of Greek words like pistis (faith); pauses to unpick the purpose of Socratic dialogue or the classical atheism of Ludwig Feuerbach, the 19th-century German philosopher and proto-Marxist.

But through all the twists and turns, the notion of transcendence is the one she returns to time and again as the beating heart of all pre-modern theology. "The idea was that when we spoke about God we were speaking of something that lies beyond words," says Armstrong. "People like Thomas Aquinas would say we can't talk about God as a creator because we can only have in our heads the idea of a human creator and that can't apply to God. We can't even say that God exists because our notion of existence is too limited to apply to God. People were instructed to think about this in those terms."

Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, France
Photograph: Pascal Deloche/Godong/Corbis

In Armstrong's scheme of things, it was with the dawning of the Age of Reason that the problems started. As philosophers and mathematicians both, Descartes and then Newton well understood that science and religion—logos and mythos—were discrete realms in the search for universal truth. But when the foundation for modern science was laid, the conceptual nature of truth itself began to blur.

"Newton and Descartes started to try and prove that God existed in the same way as they would try and prove something in the laboratory or with their mathematics," says Armstrong. "And when you try and mix science and religion you get bad science and bad religion. The two are doing two different things. ... Science can give you a diagnosis of cancer. It can even cure your disease, but it cannot touch your grief and disappointment, nor can it help you to die well."

Newton seeded not only the idea that God was reducible, says Armstrong, but also that understanding religion would be easy. So easy that by 1900, the German mathematician David Hilbert could confidently assert that precisely 23 problems remained to be solved in order to complete the Newtonian view of the universe. More than a century later, few of us can even comprehend those problems, let alone calculate the answers or grasp the significance of all the things we've learned since. Worse, as our theories about the universe grow ever more abstract, a sense of bewilderment is replacing the sense of transcendence. "It's not easy to talk about transcendence, just as it's not easy to play or listen to a late Beethoven quartet," says Armstrong. "You have to practice quite hard, like you do with any art form. Religion is hard work."

And as with great art, the realization that God defies understanding can be a source of the profoundest joy. For Einstein that sense of the existence of something impenetrable was, as he wrote in a 1930 essay, "the sower of all true art and science" and "the centre of all true religiousness." Armstrong herself calls this experience "the stunned appreciation of an otherness"—a state she says she can occasionally glimpse in the long, silent and solitary hours of study that fuel her writing.

In her studies, Armstrong, at 64, now finds what countless hours of obligatory prayer as an unhappy Catholic nun in her teenage years had flatly failed to bring into focus. Suffering a lost vocation and physically frail, she considered her eventual departure from the convent in 1969 as a relief of sorts. But coming to terms with the world outside and the God she'd left behind triggered a profound spiritual trauma. After a diagnosis of epilepsy and disastrous spells teaching at a university, Armstrong's convalescence proper began in 1981—it's still underway, she says—when she poured her pain into a memoir of her convent days, Through the Narrow Gate. A second volume Beginning the World related her adjustment to the outside world, but Armstrong later recanted it because of the false heartiness she'd adopted to satisfy both her publisher and her own delusion of contentment.

In fact, Armstrong's adjustment wasn't going well, and a brief spell as an erudite but pungently skeptical presenter of religious TV programs in the U.K.—egged on by the producers, she claims, to say ever more outrageous things—did little to help matters. But in the course of that work, Armstrong found herself drawn back to the theological texts underpinning the monotheistic religions and to what they really mean. To do that, says Armstrong, "I had to put my clever, post-Enlightenment, Oxford-educated, aggressively logos self on the back burner, and enter into the mind of someone like Muhammad, who believed he'd been touched by God. Because if I didn't sympathetically and compassionately feel with him, I would miss the essence of it and just write another clever riposte."

A report by the Pew Forum, a U.S. research body on religion and public life, recently painted a startling picture of religious faith in America. About half the population appears to have changed religious affiliation at least once, while the number of believers unaffiliated with any particular faith is rising faster than those of any of religion. Yet more than half of those who grow up unaffiliated later choose to join one. Of the reasons people give for this restlessness, far more cite disenchantment with their religious institutions than a loss of faith per se.

Across Europe, in contrast, while many still identify with a religious denomination, Pew's Global Attitudes Project report last year showed that only a fraction value religion as "very important" in their lives, compared to America, where 55 percent consider it so. In secular-minded France, only 10 percent take that view. Even in traditionally Catholic Spain, the figure is only 19 percent. Among young Europeans, religion's importance appears to be still on the wane. That's somewhat true in America, although 49 percent of adults under 40 value it like their parents and grandparents do, while in places like Egypt (69 percent), Turkey (88 percent) and Pakistan (95 percent), many more young people are keeping the faith.

That longing for spiritual uplift and communion, along with the sense of being let down, have no doubt driven the popularity of New Age beliefs in the U.S. and elsewhere in recent decades. It may also have contributed to the rise in eco-consciousness and the emergence of a "Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability" (LOHAS) demographic, said to include some 40 million people in the U.S., socially responsible green consumers interested in spiritually tinged practices like alternative medicine and personal development.

Armstrong for one isn't surprised at these shifts. "We—the British and the northern Europeans—are beginning to look endearingly old-fashioned in our secularism. The rest of the world is becoming more religious." But while God-centered religion may not own the copyright on transcendence, she warns, "None of it is of any value unless you translate it into practical compassionate action for others. In Buddhism, yoga is properly about the dismantling of egotism; if you just do these things to lose weight or to get a warm glow, that's not religion."

For Armstrong, it's compassion that's the defining virtue of religion, the Golden Rule articulated by Confucius two and a half millennia ago as "Never do to others what you would not like them to do to you." Practicing compassion is, she says, a form of "ethical artistry" that requires the dethroning of ego—a virtue, Armstrong believes, that's alive and well for the majority of the faithful in all religions, but one often singularly lacking in the higher echelons of the various faiths she addresses.

Last year, that message earned Armstrong a prize from the TED Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to fostering big ideas, allowing Armstrong to promote a Charter for Compassion that aims to get religious leaders to commit to a program of compassionate principles (see sidebar). For some religious commentators, like the U.S. rabbi Brad Hirschfield, the Charter amounts to little more than "a ‘Kumbaya' moment" for "a world filled with hate-driven faith." Armstrong disagrees, believing the abundant supply of compassion among religious communities the world over will win out. She does have a poor opinion of religious committees though, and admits she was nervous before the first meeting of the high-profile, multifaith, multinational body convened to draw up the Charter. Until, that is, the first speaker got up and said, "We must include a sentence saying that we, that religious people, have failed." Everyone agreed, nodding, says Armstrong with a grin. "As soon as I heard that, I thought, ‘We're going to be all right.'"

Michael Brunton is a writer living in London who agrees with Voltaire on the necessity of god and gardening.

Issue: September/October 2009

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The cowboy couture of Kenya

Thu, 17 Sep 2009 12:31:21 EST

The cowboy shirts created by Kimani (left) and Sullivan are made from secondhand clothing.
Photograph: Hilary Cole

In 2007, Bartholomew Sullivan's cream-colored Stetson cowboy shirt was beginning to fade. The Vancouver native had recently arrived in Kenya to help create a lunch program for a charity called Hands Up For Africa. Sullivan's friend and co-worker—activist Andrew Kimani—was familiar with Nairobi's secondhand fabric shops and local tailors. So the two decided to start a clothing company. Kilakitu Clothing specializes in "one-of-a-kind cowboy shirts made from secondhand clothing." Kilakitu's re-used, recycled and remixed fabrics tell a distinctly global story—and so does Bartholomew Sullivan.

How much is Kilakitu involved in the local community?

"Kilakitu was born out of a lunch feeding program that we continue to support when we can. We're also looking into partnering with a local NGO to set up a tailoring school partnership that enables women to learn and study for a year."

How is it to combine a "western" look with more local sensibilities?

"The tailors have fun within the constraints of the western cowboy shirt form. They take their creative liberties with color combinations and assembling the patterns in certain ways on the shirts. Everything we get is from secondhand clothing markets, so you get some really interesting stuff."

What do Africans know about cowboys?

"For Africans, the cowboy image and lifestyle relate to another part of the cowboy ethic: roaming the land and looking for work as hired help. A large rural outback is very much a part of life here in Africa. You see Kenyan politicians wearing big cowboy hats and shirts, and you will find musicians like [regional entertainer] Mike Rua singing Kenny Rogers, Garth Brooks and other cowboy cover tunes. The names behind the shirts [such as Upepo, Hakuna and Nyayo] are our way of bringing attention to the fact that each shirt is one of a kind, and they also allow us to tell the story of Kenya. In little ways, through the names of the shirts, we get to tell the real story about Africa—one shirt at a time."

Issue: September/October 2009

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Teaching emotional intelligence

Thu, 17 Sep 2009 12:31:06 EST

Roots of Empathy, Mary Gordon, The Experiment

After she became a kindergarten teacher 40 years ago, Mary Gordon learned there was only so much she could do in school. She started working with families caught in cycles of abuse and domestic violence, which taught her that children need to develop empathy to become good citizens and loving parents. So in 1996, Gordon founded Roots of Empathy, a Toronto-based program that aims to teach elementary school students an understanding of themselves and their peers. How? By bringing an infant and parent into the classroom once a month for half an hour and having trained instructors coach students to observe the babies, identify their feelings and investigate their own. This way, as Gordon writes in Roots of Empathy: Changing the World Child by Child, youngsters “learn how an understanding of temperament and gaining insights into their own emotions and those of others lead to empathy and build rich human relationships."

In this engaging book, Gordon describes how her program—which has expanded to other countries, including the U.S.—has helped reduce incidences of aggression and bullying. Through anecdotes, Gordon shows that the students sing out loud when the baby enters the classroom, ask questions, discuss the baby's behavior and celebrate milestones like the first tooth. This “emotional literacy" allows Roots of Empathy to educate, as Gordon puts it, “both the mind and the heart."

Issue: September/October 2009

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Simplifying supplements

Thu, 17 Sep 2009 12:30:41 EST

A user’s guide to vitamins and minerals, from calcium to omega-3s.

“The consequence of not getting enough [micronutrients] is that your body cuts back on certain functions that affect long-term health. … When you’re short of micronutrients, there’s a lot of hidden damage going on” —Nutrition researcher Bruce Ames, Children’s Hospital Oakland Research Institute
Photograph: Jim Block

Natto, a brown, gluey mass of fermented soybeans that emits an ammoniac stench, is served oozing over a bed of rice. In some regions of Japan, natto is a breakfast staple. To most non-Japanese, however, it's an acquired taste at best. Yet the dish is more than a culinary curiosity. It may be a key to understanding the importance of vitamins and minerals to health.

Natto is rich in micronutrients, especially vitamin K, which means regular natto eaters take in more vitamin K than most other people. The fact that natto isn't, shall we say, universally savored has allowed nutrition researchers to conduct population studies in Japan showing that natto aficionados have lower incidences of heart disease and bone fractures. Bruce Ames and Joyce McCann, nutrition researchers at the Children's Hospital Oakland Research Institute in California, have reviewed research into natto, along with a body of other evidence. They conclude that vitamin K, which has so far only been known to support blood coagulation, could be important for heart health and bones as well.

This vitamin K analysis supports Ames' overall theory that shortfalls of essential micronutrients—minerals, vitamins, fatty acids and other biochemicals—may lead to many of the chronic diseases that afflict us as we age. While emphasizing that healthy eating is key, Ames, along with many other experts in mainstream as well as alternative medicine, argues that nutritional supplements can play a valuable role in health as well.

The modern diet is "energy rich and nutrient poor," Ames says. On average we eat too much processed flour and sugar, poor-quality fats and meats and not enough fruit, vegetables, nuts, beans and whole grains, which have more nutrients per calorie. "If people fill themselves with sugary soft drinks they're going to be full, yet they're starving for micronutrients," says Ames.

Ames and McCann aren't alone in finding a link between chronic disease and lack of micronutrients. It's well established that poor dietary patterns increase the risk of many illnesses. A lot of people turn to supplements in the belief that it will lessen the risk. This has contributed to a dramatic expansion in the supplement industry over the past several decades. At least 50 percent of Americans take a supplement, and 35 percent take a multivitamin. Some $4.2 billion was spent on multivitamins alone in 2005, according to the Council for Responsible Nutrition, a trade organization representing the industry.

Ames says nutrient shortfalls in modern diets are now so widespread, and the increased risk of major chronic disease so likely, that we can't afford to wait for definitive scientific proof of the role of supplements or for our habits at the table to improve. If you aren't sure you're eating a perfect diet (and who among us is certain we eat five to nine servings of fresh produce each day?), supplements can even the score. "My feeling is you try to eat a good balanced diet, cut out sugary soft drinks and empty calories, but take a multivitamin as insurance," says Ames.

Most of us already know we need to eat well to stay healthy. Still, when it comes to diet, a lot of us just aren't able to put our knowledge where our mouths are. "We are inundated with appealing advertisements for fast foods, highly sweetened beverages that provide empty calories, and fad diets," physician and alternative medicine expert Andrew Weil wrote in an e-mail interview. "Compounding the media message to ‘eat more of everything' is the plethora of highly processed and refined foods on the market, easy access to rapidly digestible carbohydrates, busy schedules that preclude cooking at home, and frequent travel."

“Supplements are not substitutes. You can’t eat a terrible diet and take supplements and think you are okay” —Jeffrey Blumberg, nutrition scientist, Tufts University Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy
Photograph: TK

Studies have repeatedly shown that the typical Western diet corresponds to higher risks of heart disease, cancer and other chronic conditions, such as diabetes. Ames has a theory about how the diet-disease connection may work. "There are about 40 micronutrients you need to run your metabolism," says Ames. "If you don't get any one of them, you die. What we're learning is the consequence of not getting enough is that your body cuts back on certain functions that affect long-term health. … When you're short of micronutrients, there's a lot of hidden damage going on."

The World Health Organization has stated that diet is second only to smoking as a preventable cause of cancer. Indeed, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), American Heart Association and American Cancer Society have made dietary recommendations a central part of their disease-prevention messages, suggesting we eat more fruit and vegetables, replace refined carbs with whole grains and cut down on junk food. Yet according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) surveys, only 11 percent of Americans meet the USDA's guidelines for eating five to nine servings of fresh fruit and vegetables daily. The nutrient shortfalls are dramatic. According to data gathered from 1999 to 2002 and compiled by the CDC, 93 percent of Americans don't get enough vitamin E, 56 percent don't get enough magnesium, 31 percent don't get enough vitamin C and 12 percent don't get enough zinc. Another CDC survey indicated many people are low on vitamin K, calcium and potassium, and many seniors lack B vitamins.

The first step to fixing nutrient shortfalls is to improve diet, says Yale University nutrition researcher David Katz. The 40 or so isolated micronutrients that scientists study—and supplement companies pack into capsules—are only a fraction of the array of organic compounds found in food. Indeed, many vitamins are not a single "vitamin" but a family of compounds. And our bodies need these complementary nutrients to make use of these vitamins. When you get your vitamin C in a piece of fruit, for example, it comes with a lot of other ingredients—fiber, antioxidants and trace minerals—that might help you more consumed together than if you down vitamin C alone in a supplement. "It may be that the active ingredient in broccoli is broccoli," says Katz. "People who don't want to eat broccoli and take a vitamin instead will probably be disappointed. If you want the benefits of nutrients in foods, you need to eat foods rich in nutrients."

The trouble, argues Lynne McTaggart, editor of the monthly U.K. health journal What Doctors Don't Tell You, is that even if you do eat your broccoli, you may not be getting what you need. "Food isn't as nutritious as it once was," she says, pointing to research that shows a decrease in nutrient levels in produce compared with what was harvested a few decades ago. In 2007, Brian Halweil, a researcher at the Worldwatch Institute, reviewed several projects that examined nutrient levels in produce. In a report published by the Organic Center of Boulder, Colorado, he concluded that breeding for high yields has diluted the nutritional quality of the plants we eat. According to data collected by government agencies in the U.S. and U.K., modern harvests are lower in many nutrients than those in the 1940s and 1950s, including magnesium, iron, potassium, calcium, riboflavin and vitamin C.

Halweil also highlighted research suggesting that conventional produce grown in poor soils and bathed in synthetic fertilizers may have lower levels of nutrients than that grown with organic techniques. But even organic food has come in for criticism; a report commissioned by the U.K. Food Standards Agency (FSA) found no substantial difference in nutritional content between organic and conventional food, a finding strongly contested by the Organic Center, the U.K. Soil Association and others.

Still, to many nutrition experts, supplements make a lot of sense. "Even people who consistently eat well can benefit from supplementation," says Weil. "Optimal intakes of key nutrients, in amounts sufficient to enhance health beyond the prevention of deficiency states, can be difficult to obtain through diet alone."

Vitamins were first discovered in the early 20th century when researchers observed that certain diseases correlate to dietary patterns. After the widespread adoption of milled rice throughout Asia, for example, there was a sharp increase in beriberi, a debilitating disease of the nervous system. Researchers eventually determined that this was caused by a deficiency of an organic compound, thiamin (vitamin B1), which disappeared from Asian diets along with the rice husks. Thiamin is now used to prevent the disease.

In the 1920s and 1930s, scientists discovered links between scurvy and vitamin C, blindness and vitamin A, and rickets and vitamin D. Though these deficiency diseases have been virtually eliminated in the West, through fortification and greater access to a wide variety of nourishing foods, many people in the developing world still suffer from them.

While most Americans don't suffer from overt deficiencies, Ames argues many of us may be suffering from less obvious shortfalls that contribute to disease. Nevertheless, research into vitamins and other micronutrients produces conflicting results. In 2002, the Journal of the American Medical Association published a paper recommending that everyone take multivitamins. But earlier this year, a study of 162,000 post-menopausal women at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, Washington, found no reduction of mortality from cancer or other causes among women who'd taken combined multivitamin and mineral supplements for eight years. "One study will show benefit and then another will come out and show no benefit," says nutritionist and author of What to Eat Marion Nestle. "What that shows me is that whatever is going on is so trivial that you can't design a study big enough to show effect."

Children's Hospital of Oakland Research Institute scientist McCann argues that the real problem with long-term studies like this is that they're inherently flawed. Since long-term health is what's at stake, a good study would need to track people for many years and have some way of controlling exactly what they ate, whether they consistently took the pills (or as controls, didn't take them) and all the other lifestyle factors that could color the results. "To directly demonstrate that experimentally is almost impossible," McCann says.

McTaggart argues that many of the studies demonstrating the effectiveness of supplements don't get the attention they deserve because the medical community has a bias against nutritional healing. The assumption among medical scientists, McTaggart says, is that "the body is a machine that gets broken and there's only one way to fix it—with chemicals or surgery." In contrast, nutritional healing treats the body as a dynamic organism that can be affected by its environment in subtle ways, including through deficiencies in diet. "There are many diseases that could be a long-term consequence of being deficient in one or more nutrients," argues McTaggart. "There's a lot of evidence that vitamins and minerals protect against illness."

Jeffrey Blumberg, a nutrition scientist at the Tufts University Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy in Boston, Massachusetts, points out that certain benefits of supplements have been verified. Vitamins A, C and E can help protect against age-related macular degeneration, an eye condition that can lead to blindness, and vitamin E boosts immune response. A combination of vitamin E and selenium looks promising for fending off cancer, he says, and several studies support a potential cancer prevention benefit from vitamin D and calcium. There's also good research linking omega-3 supplements to reduced risk of heart attack. "About 60 years ago, we started fortifying some staples like milk because it was clear that people were not meeting the requirements," says Blumberg. "We put iodine in salt and now we're putting folic acid in refined flour. If we fortify the diet, taking supplements is not any different."

But which supplements should we choose? How many should we take? And in what form should we take them? It's easy to be confused by the choices in the supermarket and the claims on the labels. But leading scientists in the field of nutrition and supplements agree on a few basics, outlined below, that are generally helpful for healthy adults. If you're not sure what's good for you, or if you seek nutritional support for a specific condition, see a qualified nutritionist or naturopathic doctor. The key to choosing supplements is to analyze your own dietary patterns, says Yale's David Katz. "Look at your diet and figure out what nutrient you might be deficient in. Make the supplements match the likely pattern of gaps in your diet."

Multivitamins

Since it's hard to determine which nutrients you might be missing, taking a multivitamin supplement is a good choice for many, says Blumberg. "Only about 3 percent of Americans follow the dietary guidelines. I think it's a prudent thing for everyone to take a multivitamin-mineral supplement."

Blumberg, like many others, recommends choosing a multivitamin containing moderate dosages of nutrients, between 100 and 200 percent of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences' Dietary Reference Intake levels. Avoid pills that have high amounts of single nutrients. Irwin Rosenberg, a Tufts University scientist who helped set these levels, cautions against taking too much of vitamins A and D, which can accumulate in the body and become toxic, leading to liver damage. He also says to watch out for excessive minerals, many of which can be harmful in high doses.

In addition, says Victoria Maizes, director of the Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine, avoid any supplement that contains pre-formed vitamin A, which appears only in food from animal sources and can be harmful in high doses. Read labels carefully, she says, and choose a pill that contains mixed carotenoids, compounds found in colorful fruits and vegetables that are formed into vitamin A in the body. Carotenoids have additional antioxidant effects and no risk of toxicity. Also, check what type of vitamin E is in the pill; the best is natural mixed tocopherols, which are absorbed more efficiently. Finally, it's a good idea to choose a pill designed for your gender and age, as nutrient needs vary. Women of childbearing age, for example, need to make sure they're getting enough iron, so multivitamins for women typically have more iron. Older people have different requirements as well, and in general need more vitamin D and vitamin B12.

Calcium, vitamin D and magnesium

Since calcium, which helps protect bones, is a bulky molecule, most multivitamins don't have more than about 10 percent of the daily requirement, says Blumberg, so an additional pill is a good idea. Your body can't fully assimilate calcium without vitamin D and magnesium, so if you decide to take a supplement, choose one that includes all three.

Bone health is affected by protein-rich foods and excessive sweets, which disrupt the acid/alkaline balance in our bodies. "The body doesn't want blood to be acidic," says Amy Lanou, a nutrition scientist at the University of North Carolina at Asheville and author of Building Bone Vitality, "so it pulls calcium compounds from bones to neutralize acidity." This contributes to the high rate of bone fractures and osteoporosis among the elderly. To protect your bones, Lanou recommends eating more alkalinizing foods—beans, whole grains and vegetables.

Taking vitamin D alone, or with calcium, may decrease the risk of some cancers, yet many of us don't get enough vitamin D. The vitamin doesn't appear in most foods; the primary way we get it is through our skin when it's exposed to sunlight. The trouble is, many of us don't go out in the sun enough. Yale nutrition researcher Katz says most people with darker skin living in northern hemispheres are deficient. To ensure enough vitamin D, many experts now recommend about 20 minutes a day of sun, without sunblock, or a supplement.

Omega-3 fatty acids

Essential fatty acids found in vegetable and animal fats are important building blocks for cells and regulate many of the body's functions. Evidence is mounting that the typical modern diet, which is high in animal fats and vegetable oils, overemphasizes omega-6 fatty acids, which can cause inflammation. They also deliver too few of the anti-inflammatory omega-3 fatty acids found in green plants, certain nuts and seeds, fatty fish and fats from animals that graze on grass.

To combat this problem, experts recommend increasing omega-3 intake with a fish oil supplement. David Servan-Schreiber, a physician and professor of psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine as well as author of Anticancer: A New Way of Life, says having the right balance of essential fatty acids can reduce the body's inflammatory response and protect against illness. "All the chronic degenerative diseases stem from a high level of inflammation in the body," he says.

The U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) reports that most Americans get about 10 times more omega-6 fatty acids than omega-3s; other estimates suggest that number may be as high as 25 times more. The NIH has determined that adequate consumption of omega-3s can protect against heart disease, and the American Heart Association recommends the supplement for heart disease patients. Other research suggests omega-3s may also protect against cancer, bone disease and mood disorders, including depression, and support brain health as we age. Research by Oxford University physiologist Bernard Gesch even points to a decrease in the incidence of violence and aggression among prisoners who took a daily supplement of vitamins, minerals and omega-3s, compared with a control group that only received placebos.

One reason many of us may have an omega imbalance is that the meat, dairy and eggs we typically consume are from animals raised on corn and soy. Corn and soy are high in omega-6 fatty acids, while grass is rich in omega-3s. Most packaged sweets and snacks contain soy oil high in omega-6s. To get a better omega balance, choose grass-fed sources for animal products and eat fewer packaged snacks, fried foods and cheap vegetable oils, such as salad dressings made with corn or soy oil. And eat more fish, beans, tofu, flax seeds and walnuts.

Yale nutrition researcher Katz recommends taking supplements made from dehydrated whole fruits and vegetables. Whole foods supplements contain more of what you'd find in the plant, so they're more likely to deliver the best antioxidant benefit, since isolated compounds tend to have fewer antioxidants than whole foods. Experts suggest avoiding ingredients such as dyes, synthetic sweeteners, flavorings and preservatives.

Another point to consider, particularly regarding multivitamins, is whether you have the discipline to take more than one pill a day. One-a-day pills usually contain isolated nutrients. Some supplements are formulated with extra food-based ingredients and these need to be taken several times a day to get the suggested amount of nutrients. But they may also have added benefits. "The food-grown stuff is closer to food and lower in potency and is very well absorbed," says Don Summerfield, co-founder of Pharmaca Integrative Pharmacies, a chain of natural medicine stores based in Boulder, Colorado.

Supplements can come in either tablet or capsule form or as a liquid. There's no real difference, according to Katz, unless the tablet is poorly formulated and doesn't break down well in the digestive tract. To avoid that, choose a high-quality supplement from a company that follows federal Current Good Manufacturing Practices or has a seal from United States Pharmacopeia, NSF International or ConsumerLab. If you're not sure about quality, ConsumerLab independently tests supplements to verify that they contain the alleged ingredients and are free of toxins.

But all experts agree good health isn't simply a matter of popping pills. "The basic principle is that supplements are not substitutes," says Tuft University's Blumberg. "You can't eat a terrible diet and take supplements and think you are okay."

"While it is possible to obtain sufficient amounts of important nutrients through a healthy diet, it is nonetheless difficult," concludes Weil. "This is especially true for micronutrients, including vitamins, minerals, fiber and the range of unique phytochemicals. Improving your diet will certainly contribute to your health, but getting a consistent level of nutrient intake through diet alone is a challenge, one best met through appropriate supplementation." So, if natto is just not your thing, you can always try a supplement.

Carmel Wroth has sworn to give up junk food, but can still sometimes be found nervously clutching a soft drink.

Issue: September/October 2009

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Rats can save human lives

Thu, 17 Sep 2009 12:30:21 EST

As a child, Bart Weetjens, from Belgium, bred rodents to sell to pet shops. Now he’s the founder and director of APOPO, an NGO operating from Tanzania that trains rats to detect landmines. APOPO’s team of mine-sleuthing rats is active in Mozambique, and will begin mine-detection operations in Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Colombia.

Photograph: Sylvain Piraux

Why shouldn't we use advanced technology to detect landmines?

"Machines require batteries and maintenance, and you end up with a high technological level that won't work in a tropical environment in a low-resource setting. High-tech devices—infrareds, robotics, multi-sensor platforms, ground-penetrating radar—constantly need experts around and are way too expensive. We can provide a detector that is low-tech and maintainable, and create local expertise in low-skilled operators."

But why rats?

"When I realized in the 1990s that landmines form a structural barrier to development, I was looking for an appropriate detector. I found out scientists had researched using gerbils to detect explosives. I'm a big rodent lover and I had rats and mice throughout my youth, so I knew rats are very intelligent creatures and one of the most adaptable species. But I didn't know then that rats can save human lives. At APOPO, we use an approach based on positive behavior reinforcements. Rats are happy performing repetitive tasks—once they know a trick, they like to do it endlessly for food. We socialize them when they are four weeks old. We expose them to all kinds of environments and teach them to trust humans."

Isn't it expensive and slow work to train rats?

"No. We can de-mine for 14 cents a square foot, which is 60 to 70 percent cheaper than with metal detectors. And using machines is extremely slow, as you will get a lot of false indications. A manual de-miner can do up to 60 square yards (50 square meters) in a day, while a rat can do that in 15 minutes. And the logistic advantage is huge. The animals don't require a lot of attention and are easy to transport and train. It's a very useful tool to speed up the detection of mines."

Issue: September/October 2009

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Belgian organization APOPO trains sniffer rats to detect explosives such as land mines and diagnose disease. Watch the story of how APOPO was born and see the rats in action.

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Book Excerpt: In search of an “ultimate concern”

Fri, 14 Aug 2009 11:57:25 EST

How the new atheists fail to understand what religion really means.

The Taj Mahal in Agra, India
Photograph: Doug Pearson/JAI/Corbis

Exclusive excerpt from Karen Armstrong's new book, The Case for God.

Much 20th-century science had been cautious, sober and highly conscious in a disciplined, principled way of its limitations and areas of competence.

But since the time of Descartes, science had also been ideological and had refused to countenance any other method of arriving at truth.

While physicists have felt comfortable with the unknowing that seems to be an essential component of intellectual advance, some biologists have remained confident of their capacity to discover absolute truth, and some have started to preach a militant form of atheism. In The Blind Watchmaker, biologist Richard Dawkins explained that the appearance of design [in nature] was natural selection, a blind, purposeless process with no intelligent plan. For Dawkins, atheism is a necessary consequence of evolution. He has argued that the religious impulse is simply an evolutionary mistake, a "misfiring of something useful," a kind of virus, parasitic on cognitive systems naturally selected because they'd enabled a species to survive.

Dawkins is an extreme exponent of the scientific naturalism. For Dawkins, like the other "new atheists," religion is the cause of all the problems of our world; it's the source of absolute evil and "poisons everything." These individuals see themselves in the vanguard of a scientific/rational movement that will eventually expunge the idea of God from human consciousness.

But other atheists and scientists are wary of this approach. The American zoologist Stephen Jay Gould [believed] everything in the natural world could indeed be explained by natural selection, but he insisted science wasn't competent to decide whether God did or didn't exist, because it could work only with natural explanations. Gould had no religious ax to grind; he described himself as "atheistically inclined agnostic," but pointed out that Darwin himself denied he was an atheist. Atheism didn't, therefore, seem to be a necessary consequence of accepting evolutionary theory, and Darwinians who held forth dogmatically on the subject were stepping beyond the limitations proper to science.

But the new atheists will have none of this. They adhere to a hard-line form of scientific naturalism that mirrors the fundamentalism on which they base their critique: Atheism is always a rejection of and parasitically dependent on a particular form of theism. Like all religious fundamentalists, the new atheists believe they alone are in possession of truth; like Christian fundamentalists, they read scripture in an entirely literal manner.

As its critics have pointed out, there's an inherent contradiction in the new atheism, especially in its emphasis on the importance of "evidence" and the claim that science proves its theories empirically. As [20th-century philosophers] Karl Popper, Thomas Kuhn and Michael Polanyi have argued, science itself has to rely on an act of faith. Dawkins' hero Darwin admitted he couldn't prove the evolutionary hypothesis, but he had confidence in it nonetheless, and for decades, physicists were happy to have faith in Einstein's theory of relativity, even though it hadn't been verified.

The fact that these intemperate antireligious tracts have won such wide readership not only in secular Europe but in religious America suggests many people who have little theological training have problems with the modern God. Some believers are still able to work creatively with this symbol, but others are not. They get little help from their clergy, who may not have had advanced theological training and whose world views may still be bounded by the modern God. Modern theology isn't always easy reading. Theologians should try to present it in an accessible way to enable congregants to keep up with the latest discussions and the new insights of biblical scholarship, which rarely reach the pews.

There are many circumstances in which human beings have to lay aside objectivist analysis, which seeks in some way to master what it contemplates. When confronted with art, we have to open our minds and allow it to carry us away. If we seek to relate intimately to another person, we have to be prepared to make ourselves vulnerable.

Men and women continually feel drawn to explore levels of truth that go beyond our normal experience. This imperative has inspired the scientific as well as the religious quest. We seek what [theologian Paul] Tillich called an "ultimate concern" that shapes our life and gives it meaning. The ultimate concern of [the new atheists] appears to be reason; this has seized and taken possession of them. But their idea of reason is different from the rationality of Socrates, who used his reasoning powers to bring his dialogue partners into a state of unknowing. For [medieval philosophers] St. Augustine and Thomas Aquinas, reason became intellectus, opening naturally to the divine. Today, for many people, reason no longer subverts itself in this way. But the danger of this secularization of reason, which denies the possibility of transcendence, is that reason can become an idol that seeks to destroy all rival claimants.

Physicists aren't wary of unknowing: their experience of living with apparently insoluble problems evokes awe and wonder. The wonder of modern cosmology seems derived from their inherent inability to answer all its questions. They know the terms they use to describe these natural mysteries—big bang, dark matter, black hole, dark energy—are metaphors that cannot adequately translate their mathematical insights into words. Unlike Newton, modern physicists aren't introducing God or the supernatural into their cosmos. But the mythical character of these terms is a reminder that what they point to isn't readily comprehensible; they're straining at the limits of scientific investigation, and these terms should carry an air of mystery because they name what cannot yet be investigated.

This is an edited excerpt from The Case for God by Karen Armstrong, published by Knopf. © 2009 by Karen Armstrong.

Issue: September/October 2009

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Doctor makes music that crosses cultural divides

Fri, 14 Aug 2009 11:57:25 EST

Physician and singer Rupa Marya is on a mission to break boundaries musically and nationally.

Rupa Marya gives voice to a “Shared global identity.”
Photograph: Spencer Hansen

Rupa Marya felt a sense of pride mixed with disbelief when she learned last year that the album she had just released was the top seller in the world music category on iTunes. A welcome bit of good news during Rupa & the April Fishes' first European tour, but a little awkward, too. "World music is brown music presented for white people's consumption," Marya says, with a look that makes clear that this is a category with which she has no desire to be associated.

Extraordinary Rendition, the debut album that has continued to sell consistently in America and in some European countries, has been in the iTunes top 100 for more than a year. While the title refers to the transfer of terrorist suspects to countries with less stringent safeguards against human-rights abuses (critics refer to extraordinary rendition as "outsourcing torture"), music reviewers quickly realized this wasn't a typical collection of political protest songs—yet the same reviewers have struggled with the indefinable character of the sound. The music—a lively combination of melancholic French chansons, exuberant Gypsy swing, alternative Latin, dreamy Indian ragas and soothing avant-garde—can't easily be pigeonholed. The instrumentation is also eclectic: trumpet, accordion, cello, upright bass, drums and Marya herself on guitar. Plus, Marya sings her richly imaginative lyrics in French, Spanish, English and Hindi.

But musical boundaries aren't the only thing Marya wants to break through. She's on a mission to declare national borders superfluous, too. This is the topic of a couple of her songs on her second album Este Mundo, due for release in October. But she's doing more than singing about it. Marya is launching an art project this fall to make Latin American migrants to the U.S. aware of their rights to health care. (Marya works part-time in a hospital as a physician.) Earlier this year, she and the band traveled to the Mexican border to perform and draw attention to America's immigration policies, which she believes lead to horrendous personal dramas. "I just can't believe immigration was not an issue in the presidential elections last year," she says. "It feels strange to me that there is not a brighter spotlight on it in this day and age."

Before we step inside her apartment in the Noe Valley neighborhood of San Francisco, Marya, 34, apologizes that the place looks a bit like a tornado blew through. She's packing the second time this year for a European tour. In her living room, which doubles as a rehearsal space for the band, a painting leans against the wall, portraying a bird with outstretched wings flying over the U.S.-Mexico border. Asked what speaks to her about it, she replies, "It captures a simple gesture of freedom of movement that feels more congruent with life than the rigid boundaries we create. It speaks to me of the borders we create in our own minds."

She herself has been a nomad since birth, thanks to her restless Indian parents. Before she was 12, the family had moved to the foothills of the Himalayas in the north of India, the southern French city of Aix-en-Provence and back to the Bay Area where she was born after her father, an engineer, found a job in Silicon Valley. Since finishing medical school, she has been living in San Francisco, a place she says she feels at home, perhaps because of the cultural diversity that characterizes both her life and that of the city.

We leave the homey chaos for a nearby bistro where—much to the delight of the French waiter—she demonstrates a perfect command of his language. (She later tells me she wants to sing in French and other languages to show that there's a beauty in things that may sound different.) As we slowly nibble away at our cheese plate, Marya describes the daily impact of the border that lies more than 500 miles to the south.

Rupa & The April Fishes traveled to the Mexican border to promote freer immigration policies.
Photograph: Judith Burrows

As a doctor at San Francisco General Hospital, she was often dismayed to see that immigrants, especially those without proper documentation, only go to the doctor when their illness has gotten out of hand. The reason? Fear of deportation. Then one day, one of her patients died of breast cancer. Marya knew it had taken the woman eight months to gather the courage to seek treatment, thinking she had no right to medical care. "Her death sparked a quiet rage and an unstoppable sense of injustice in me," Marya remembers.

Her aim with ¡Catapulta!, the art project she set up in cooperation with local artists and lawyers, is to educate immigrants in her city—through photographs, film, graffiti, dance and circus acts—about their right to health care. "I want to remind immigrants that they're not in a hostile environment," Marya explains. "They came here to work, we appreciate their work and we want to take care of them."

Marya realizes illegal immigrants are violating American law, but she stresses that society directly benefits from their labor. They pick our vegetables and fruit, prepare our meals in restaurants and clean our homes and streets—work that, she argues, many Americans aren't willing to perform for such low pay. "What kind of upset would we see if all undocumented people in the U.S. did not come to work for one week?" Marya wonders. "Our economy is fueled by a large labor force that works without getting compensated well, can't organize in a union and is being denied access to health care. Some people are even afraid to send their children to school. They have no way to speak up for themselves, and this country doesn't offer them protection for their dignity or human rights." She even dares to call it "slave labor."

Marya acknowledges she's inviting a barrage of criticism with her welcoming stance toward illegal immigrants. "Some people are really upset and angry with me for championing the rights of the people who support and sustain the society we live in," she says. "But especially in this land of immigrants, we have a moral calling to do better than that. Until we fix a broken system [that causes such economic disparity around the globe], I would hope for respect."

During her six-day trip along the border, Marya realized once again the lengths to which Mexicans must go to remain under the radar of the border patrol. In Casa del Migrante, a shelter in Tijuana for Latinos sent back during attempts to cross without valid documents, Marya met a 22-year-old man, Roman Tlapa Ortiz, who'd broken his ankle after jumping off a 12-foot wall. He was left behind by a small group of men who'd said they'd stick together until they were safe. "He survived 11 days in the desert on two loaves of bread, walking on his hands and knees, gathering rain water in a plastic bag so he could drink," Marya recounts. "When I heard his voice, I could hear the terror of what he had experienced, being so close to his mortality and realizing he was only doing this to make $12 an hour instead of $12 a day so he could send money back to his family in Veracruz."

The meeting with Tlapa was even more touching, Marya says, because it clarified for her the limitations of her work as a doctor. "When I met him, Roman had still not been seen by a physician." Even now, months later, Marya, recently appointed associate professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, can't hide her incredulity. "He was three weeks out of his injury and still he was not going to get an x-ray or surgery, even though he clearly needed medical assistance. He will never walk properly again. To me, it was the greatest feeling of impotence as a doctor—to be there and to feel like I have nothing for this patient. It was a very powerful feeling of powerlessness."

For years, she's been ignoring advice to pursue a single career. Marya nods at the thought of it. "What I'm writing about comes from being a doctor," she explains. "It allows me to not see the separation between Jews and Muslims, or between black and white people, and see life at its most bare level—everyone has the same concerns about matters of life and death. If I were only a musician, where would I feel the sense of intellectual and practical satisfaction? When I go to the hospital and make sure my patients have their medications set up, it brings a certain level of satisfaction that I just don't feel as a musician, no matter how great the gig is."

Not all Marya's songs are about breaking down barriers. Inspired by the life stories of her patients, she sings about love, loss, hope and pain—universal themes, sung from an infectious sort of naïveté. It's no coincidence "April Fishes" refers to French slang for idealists so caught up in the beauty of the newly arrived spring that they believe the impossible is possible—a wonderful life motto, she thinks.

Marya often finds herself caught up, too, by whatever fuels her passion. "It wasn't like I wanted to be a border-busting musician visiting shelters for rejected immigrants," she explains. "But what's always driven me were the transitional zones, the space where two things rub against each other and smash up." That's visible in her medical work, which forces her to deal with issues of life and death, and in her musical work, as she mixes the sounds of countless traditions in an attempt to "build bridges between groups to reflect and give voice to a more complex shared global identity," she says. "I think we all need to find the space to carve out our own identities, realize who we believe we are and discover our place in the world—literally."

Read Rupa Marya’s blog posts about the Mexican border tour here.

Issue: September/October 2009

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Could private investment be the solution to the clean water crisis?

Fri, 14 Aug 2009 11:57:25 EST

Photographs: istockphoto.com/Deejpilot (water); istockphoto.com/imagedepotpro (money)

A billion people live without access to clean water, 2.5 billion without proper sanitation. Some water advocates believe private investment and management is the solution to this crisis, arguing that the public sector lacks resources, is inept—or both. Adriana Marquisio, president of Uruguay's water workers' union, is determined to prove them wrong. Water and money don't mix, Marquisio insists, and for-profit initiatives leave the poor underserved or priced out of the market and prevent long-term investments from being made. "At its heart, water is a commons that belongs to everyone and to no one," Marquisio says.

She concedes that there's plenty of room for improvement at public utilities. But she's convinced that efficiency must be measured in broader terms than liters per second. An efficient water utility should operate according to new principles, Marquisio says: maximize public involvement through transparent disclosures of water charges and investments, guarantee public health, encourage community management and ensure that the Earth itself receives its necessary share of water. Marquisio points to her country as an example of how these principles can work in practice. The aqua-activist led a successful 2004 referendum to return Uruguay's water utility to public hands; today, 98 percent of Uruguay has access to inexpensive drinking water.

Marquisio is also creating "public-public partnerships," through which utilities in different countries can learn from one another. "The transfer of expertise and technology has meant water for thousands of people," she says. "It's a new style of solidarity, beyond the neo-liberalism in which everyone looks out for their own interests."

Issue: September/October 2009

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