Dr. Marcelo Venegas, Conscious Based Solidarity: A report back from Haiti.

On January 12, 2010, a 7.0 earthquake struck the country of Haiti with an epicenter near the town of Léogâne, approximately 16 miles west of the capital city of Port-au-Prince and its 2 million residents. The earthquake resulted in over 52 aftershocks ranging from 4.2 to 5.9 in magnitude. The Haitian government estimates the death toll to be as high as 230,000 and is expected to rise, with an estimated 1.3 million people displaced. International response called for immediate assistance to the country in attempt to mitigate further catastrophic suffering. One of those individuals motivated to act, was Dr. Marcelo Venegas, a doctor who specializes in HIV/AIDS treatment in New York City. I originally met Marcelo in the mid 1990’s and was fortunate to go with him and his brother, Rodrigo aka RodStarz of the hip hop group Rebel Diaz, as well as dozens of others from Chicago,  to join thousands in Cuba for an international solidarity conference. When I learned that Marcelo was traveling to Haiti to offer his medical expertise as part of the answer to the call to provide immediate assistance in the aftermath of the earthquake, I wanted to offer him the opportunity to share his experiences with the Insight Arts community and all others interested in receiving firsthand accounts of what was experienced the first few weeks after the earthquake.

Dr. Marcelo Venegas, has traveled around the world, and provided medical assistance in the aftermath of an earthquake that hit El Salvador in 2001, has also traveled in solidarity trips to Chiapas, Mexico, Cuba and many other countries. Marcelo graciously allowed me to interview him in the midst of his busy schedule. We began with him illustrating how he arrived at the decision to travel to Haiti.

Dr. Venegas: I have been an HIV doctor now for 6 years and I was working with this group which is the largest HIV organization in the country, located in NYC, called Housing Works. Housing Works has been working with FEBS in Haiti, for approximately the last three years. As a result, there has been an ongoing exchange of people from Housing Works going to Haitian HIV clinics and HIV community organizations already there. After the January 12th earthquake, we mobilized right away. There was actually a Haitian doctor whom I’ve worked very closely with for a long time, who lost her parents. After I heard of that loss, which hit very close, I decided to go and help set up a clinic that had been demolished by the earthquake. About five days after the earthquake, I arrived in Haiti, and created a make shift clinic that we stocked and propped up in one day, and started seeing patients right away.

So this was in Port-au-Prince?

Yeah, this was in Port-au-Prince, in this area called Delmas. We actually worked in two clinics. One is called Diaspora, it was actually a clinic that was run and supported by people in Brooklyn. There was another clinic that we set up outside one of the HIV community organizations there. They call them the HIV Associations and that’s the FEBS Plus clinic. I was there for a total of ten days. We began by announcing on the radio that the two clinics were open. I worked with a whole team including pediatrician who came down from Mass General of Harvard whom I had worked with before. We both belong to a group called Doctors for Global Health which is an organization for which he is the vice president and which I used to serve on the Board member. Doctors for Global Health does work in Central America. With them, I have done relief work in 2001 in El Salvador after an earthquake.  Planning for the trip to Haiti, we originally had a big group of like 8 doctors who were coming. We had a UN charter plane that, because it was really disorganized, ended up not leaving and finally had to pay for our tickets. In the end, only two of us, the pediatrician, Dr. Jen Kasper, and I went. As I don’t see children and she does, it was a perfect fit. We flew down into the Dominican Republic because the airport in Port-au-Prince was primarily taken over by US military flights for the first couple of days. So, we flew into the Dominican Republic, which was how most aid groups were getting in, and we crossed the border into Haiti and that’s how we got there.

At the height of the US military presence in the aftermath of the earthquake, there were approximately 20,000 US troops occupying Haiti. I don’t think the count was quite that high, by the time that you arrived. Did you have any interaction with the military? Did it impede the work?

Yeah. First of all they closed the airport, so, it really was like an occupation. They took over the airport and then sent away the aid groups like Doctors Without Borders and others that wanted to land there, like the Red Cross, etc. They essentially took over the airport and allowed only their military to have priority. So my first encounters with the military were with the airport. When we went to the airport to try to pick up supplies, it was fully militarized with US troops everywhere. They let us in because we had US passports when we went to get our supplies, which was a pallet of stuff that we had sent to us. But what impressed me from being in the airport was how much aid was there and not being distributed. I had patients that needed crutches, I had patients that needed other items that we didn’t have or had access to, that were all there in crates. To this day, the big question remains, where is the aid? It was all in the airport, in these huge crates. I’m talking about rows and rows, almost like a mile of crates that was not getting to the people.

What were the people on the ground saying?

Well the people were still in shock, but I just would have expected this massive immediate tent distribution. To this day, people are using sheets for makeshift tents. They’re not real tents. So the question remains, where the heck are the tents? Where’s the food? There’s a lot of criticism, especially from France and Venezuela and Cuba saying that the United States is taking over the relief coordination, and yet it’s so horribly organized. Then on January 28th, you have Bill Clinton at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, with the world’s top business leaders and powers, and he’s there asking for trucks, which is ridiculous. With all the aid that countries were sending, the telethons and so on, you would have expected more. It’s understandable that there is a lack of infrastructure because, first of all, there was a complete lack of government presence. And I understand that the UN was hit, the compound was almost destroyed and they lost a lot of their key workers and people who were in charge of a lot of logistics. But the inaction was just horrible. The issue of Haiti is a longer issue, where there was already a disaster before the earthquake in terms of hunger and poverty. I mean severe, severe poverty, where you read these stories with people eating these mud cakes to have their stomachs filled. Before the earthquake, you would have seen kids in a regular clinic that hadn’t eaten in two days, depending upon what sector you worked. But seeing these children still there after the earthquake, in addition to the horrible trauma that people had from facial lacerations to broken bones, to everyone still in shock… I would see patients in the morning and I would see them for 12 hours a day, nonstop. We’d see like a hundred patients a day. I remember everyone was in shock as a result of losing relatives. This one guy I saw for a pelvic fracture showed me a picture of his daughter who had been killed as a result of their house falling on top of them. You can’t even fathom the extent of human pain, you know? So yes, going back to the military question, we’d see military guarding the main hospital shooing people away that would show up for care. It’s the typical kind of the arrogance characteristic of all military. We saw these UN soldiers shoving people away and we actually saw people throw rocks at them.

Oh wow.

Yeah, they’re just so arrogant and the thing is it just doesn’t make any sense. You have this military, that doesn’t even speak the language, in somebody else’s country and just acting extremely arrogant. We went in a motorcade and were separated by the UN who was on the same road. They were passing and told us to go take a different route. I tried to explain to them that our convoy was going one way and if we turned another way we would break up. They were just very, very, arrogant. So they were arrogant to us, imagine how arrogant they are to the people there. The military have just a complete lack of cultural training. They were giving instructions in one place, and giving out food in English. They didn’t know how to work with people. They were trying to read instructions in Creole and got scared when the people began to come, so they packed up and left. That almost caused a riot.

Based on news reports, we knew that the presidential palace was destroyed. Was there any communication from some of the municipal governments in response to what was going on? What was the organization on that level, if any?

The response was almost absent. The one thing that they did have before I left, was this program where they paid people, particularly women, $2 a day to help remove the debris and clean the streets. They wore yellow shirts, so that seemed to at least work; at least people were getting paid, because see the problem was lack of income. Daily life was destroyed. Jobs people previously held were just destroyed. A lot of people would receive money through Western Union. You’d have these huge lines at banks and at Western Union for those getting money from abroad. But I had this sense that the government was just missing, especially the President René Préval government. Préval did this one radio announcement at the beginning and that was it. The coordination, at least from the health field, the main hospital specifically, was passed on to Partners in Health designated by the World Health Organization, not by the Haitian Ministry of Health. I knew the people from Partners in Health and I asked one main guy, “So you guys are running this?” He responded, “No, we’re running this on behalf of the Haitian people,” and I responded, “Yes, but you guys are still running it.” You would expect the Ministry of Health to be coordinating the healthcare and they were just absent. We had this guy at our HIV clinic, who is in charge of HIV representing the Ministry of Health, who pretty much sat in our clinic and said that people had access to HIV medications, which wasn’t true because when we drove down to the main site where the distribution points are, they were all demolished. We even went to the main hospital where he said they were also distributing medication, but people didn’t have access into the main hospital.   This guy would just sit with us in the clinic; he asked if he could eat some food, would hang out, you know, typical bureaucrat giving a bureaucratic answer. He was a doctor too, so I asked him, “Why don’t you help us see patients as opposed to just sitting there?” I felt kind of bad for him even after he asked for some cream for his feet when we were leaving one day. I don’t really condemn him, but how can someone in that position not play a more active role? This is the guy from the Ministry of Health who is responsible for HIV/AIDS. I said to him that these patients really needed their HIV/AIDS medication because what happens is that when you don’t take your meds for a window period, you build resistance to them. And that’s the issue right now in Haiti. You have all these people who are HIV positive, who were on medication, and who haven’t had access in the last two months, and who probably built resistance to re-starting their meds.

What were the rates of HIV infection prior to the earthquake in Haiti?

It’s one of the highest. I believe it’s upwards of 5%. It’s one of the highest in the world. It’s the highest in the Western Hemisphere, which goes right along with poverty. Haiti also has one of the lowest amounts given by the world, by the global fund for combating HIV/AIDS, even though they get a lot of Pet Fund money. The big criticism of Pet Fund is that, it’s a lot of money but it’s a lot of money for the drug industry and the makers of HIV medication, like Phizer, etc. They’re not for generics, there are still many, many, many, I would say nearly a million others that who don’t have access to medication.

What do you think are the political implications of how the earthquake emergency response has been to this point, to the 230,000 who died, and their families who are now living through the aftermath and rebuilding Haiti?

Well, you know, a friend who just came back, this doctor that I have worked with here in New York, came back with some impressions. One was that he said that what he experienced was like a re-colonization. His other impression was that it was like another Katrina. That may explain a lot of this militarization by the United States. He is this very mainstream Jewish guy from New York, Dr. Weinstein, who doesn’t have a lot of politics, but I was touched by his impressions. One thing he was very sharp with, was how all these NGOs are involved in this power play to see what region each organization will take over, in terms of whether it’s the healthcare field, or whether it’s distribution of food, etc. Who should really be responsible, who should really be organizing all this is the government and they’ve taken a back seat to the United States’ role there. I think the political implication is first of all, what’s going to happen with all of these people who are homeless? People who have pitched up their homes in tents and pretty much any plaza, any green area in the city, in the street even, they have blocked off streets, on the sidewalks, anywhere that can be set up with tents. You see these tent cities, refugee camps set up everywhere. The immediate issue is infectious disease. The immediate issue is protection of the vulnerable, like children and women, you know, in particular where there are accounts of rape going on, there are these 5,000 prisoners that escaped from the penitentiary and only 400 who were collected and picked up again. The streams are being overrun with human excrement. There are infectious diseases like dengue and cholera that are huge issues requiring immediate attention. Dysentery, you know, diarrhea, I’ve seen in children, lack of actual access to food. You have these coupons that were given out by the United States for 55 pounds of rice, which is ridiculous, which women couldn’t even carry, and that was a flop. The distribution of food is just immediate. People are still going hungry. So what’s going to happen with these people? There’s really no plan in terms of whether to re-distribute them into the rural areas or some kind of plan for the building of homes or alternate places for them to live. It’s a political issue because the question is, where is the money going to come from and how soon can it be done? The thick rainy season is just right around the corner and it’s really going to be a situation of chaos, where in a lot of areas it is already chaotic.

The Haitian people also have an amazing resolve and it amazes me. I think they are some of the most patient, calm people whom I have ever met. They have a lot of spirituality and they have been through a lot already. Many other people I worked with that were from countries like the Dominican Republic, were saying that if this happened in their country there would be riots, and so forth. Really the Haitian people have been very calm till now. So, in terms of political implications I think there are going to be both short-term and long-term effects where you are going to really see a massive exodus of people, some of which has already started to happen through a small program into the countryside, and into the rural areas. You’re going to end up with massive either shantytowns spreading, or refugee camps, like that which exists in other parts of the world, where you’re talking about a year plus, where people are not re-located and just stay there. Of course that leads to another broader issue related to living in refugee camps and so on. Which then leads to the question of what role will the United Nations play? What role will the United States play and other humanitarian agencies that are currently competing with each other? This is where my friend’s comment returns regarding the NGO power plays and their struggle to see who can get the bigger piece of the pie. Because obviously, a lot of these agencies are getting money to do the work in Haiti, and I don’t know how accountable that money is in terms of direct care to the Haitian people.

In stark contrast with the earthquake in Chile, the loss of life in Haiti is currently

You know I’m from Chile right, Aislinn?

Yeah I know, that’s why I have to bring it up (laughter). The loss of life is significantly higher in Haiti compared to the enormous record-breaking earthquake that occurred on February 27th in Chile. Can you speak to some of the reasons to this immense variance?

Yeah, I think that the immediate response to the variance that comes to mind is the gross national product. Chile, the Jaguar of Latin America, is what it was called, is probably one of the wealthiest, most economically stable governments. With the recent economic downfall, the reason that Chile did so well is because they kept a lot of the industry, the copper, really going and they didn’t invest in the people. Chile continued the privatization of a lot of their resources, particularly copper. Chile has become very wealthy from the Pinochet years where there was complete control (On September 11, 1973, with active support from the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA),General Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte led a coup d’état against President Salvador Allende’s democratically elected government. Human right’s reports state Pinochet’s government killed at least 3,197 people and tortured about 29,000[1]). You had the Chicago Boys[2], coming in with the Milton Friedman Group[3] which was really the model for neo-liberalism[4], where you have no organized labor, no unions to fight the complete privatization of pretty much all of Chile; Chile where everything that used to be public from social security, to telephones, to water, to electricity all now privatized. The interesting thing about the earthquake in Chile is that it showed the contrast between the rich and the poor, which has been hidden, pretty much by the press and by the Chilean government. There’s a huge mass of poverty that still exists in Chile and has been hidden because of the popular illusion, and image of Chile as a wealthy country. In contrast with Haiti, what are not as affected are the buildings, mainly because of the history of Chile’s strict building codes. In the 1960, the strongest earthquake ever recorded with a magnitude of 9.5, hit Chile and ravished many, many, buildings and killed many Chileans. Chile has a history of earthquakes. So you have these strict codes in the 1960’s that required that every building built had to be earthquake-proof. From that point of view, Chile’s history of being in earthquakes line of the fault, resulted in building regulations that limited the amount of damage, unlike what you have in Haiti. You can still see the wealthier buildings standing, like the US embassy, and so forth that were built with strict codes. These buildings are still standing and being occupied while pretty much every other building, was destroyed or not left standing. In the affected areas, like 70% of buildings were destroyed. There is a long history of poorly constructed buildings in Haiti. For example, in 2008, two Haitian schools collapsed a week a part that had been poorly built killing almost a hundred students. Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, so obviously when you have natural catastrophes of any type, the poor are always going to be more affected, whether in Chile or in Haiti, and that’s exactly what you see in Chile. The poor are really, much more affected. Their homes are destroyed, and they are now homeless. There are tens of thousands of people homeless in Chile, particularly in the south where the epicenter of the earthquake hit. Obviously, the wealthy will shack up with their family members; or go to another home, or whatever. In the case of Haiti, where in Port-a-prince, the majority of the people were already poor, there’s really no hope, no alternative housing for them. The Haitian earthquake also affected some of the wealthier areas. When I went to this area called Pétionville, which is like where the wealthy are, after seven days of not having any real access to electricity or running water, in the middle of all this chaos, one of the guys who were working there at the compound said, “Marcelo, do you want to go and have a beer?” I was kind of shocked, I said, “OK”. We went to this restaurant which was like an oasis, with waiters and waitresses, electricity from a generator and running water. This was in Pétionville, and there were a whole bunch of white people there, French, a lot of relief workers too. Here was this restaurant that was open and running, and had the only light in the whole neighborhood. And this is in Pétionville which is like a wealthy neighborhood and suburb of Port-au-Prince. A lot of the houses were still standing. Everybody was still outside because they were scared to go in but it wasn’t as chaotic and crazy as other areas like Delmas or where we were working, where every building was pretty much destroyed.

Camille Chalmers, the coordinator for the Platform to Advocate Alternative Policy, who is in Haiti now and has been there for a while, is communicating via blogs and email, states, “We call on people to found an international solidarity network in the same spirit as the Sandinista international brigades, to help us in reconstruction tasks and also in getting out of our social crisis.” What are some suggestions, you have, or ideas you have for people interested in building solidarity bases here in the States?

I think there is a wonderful opportunity now. I support this group of young women who are going from New York to this clinic on the border with the Dominican Republic in Haiti. My ex partner, who is also a doctor, she’s going down with them in April. They have this whole kind of holistic medicine, more conscious based solidarity approach to working with people. This clinic they are going to has been running for a while on the border. The opportunity is about building.  There is a wonderful opportunity to build international solidarity. The work now is the long-term. The crisis, the immediate crisis, in terms of the traumas, and the effect because of the earthquake has passed. It has experienced this kind of sequella, where either, surgeries have to be re-done or infections are discovered because of poor hygiene during the surgeries. Looking at the more long-term conditions, the concerns are going to be dealing with the poverty and the lack of resources. The opportunity for international solidarity is definitely there and you know, I think it’s always been there. There have been brigades of people who have gone to Haiti in the past, such as Housing Works. Housing Works is an NGO that works with HIV/AIDS at a very conscious and progressive level.  I think this is where people who are progressive and people who see the issue is one of a political nature can really have a tremendous impact in terms of really getting resources there, as has been done with the Cuban Solidarity Movement, or the caravans that go to Cuba in a similar vein. There’s an opportunity to do the same here with the Haitian people and really build a more continuous and pragmatic way to deliver resources but to also really work with the people.

One of the thoughts we were tossing around was, “What if we really kind of had a progressive military?” We would see these US marines, two in the front and two in the back with a US medic or a doctor walking around, (resulting in) teams of five. The group Doctors Without Borders has this sign on their cars that has a rifle with a circle around it and a cross through it, indicating that they don’t have guns. We were saying, “Why is there a need for military here? This is not a war. And if there are military, why are they going around with their guns?” From the UN military to the US military, we were saying, “What if there was a progressive military that was really dealing with aid?” You’d need maybe one military personnel per block in order to have them work with the people to really reconstruct, and to remove the debris. We ran into countless Haitians that were from the United States, working with their families to remove the debris from their homes, either to find dead relatives or to just start cleaning the mess that they had that was their home. So this is an opportunity where you can really have people provide solidarity, but a conscious solidarity that really understands the dynamics of what’s going on there, and understand the historic dynamics of Haiti. Haiti where you have a president that was pretty much kidnapped by the United States and taken to Africa (Jean-Bertrand Aristide)[5], Now is an opportunity to organize people who understand the historic conditions of Haiti in terms of the role of the IMF and the role international powers have played to stop Haiti prospering as a country. I think there is a wonderful opportunity now to build conscious international solidarity with the people of Haiti.

If you are interested in joining a solidarity brigade to Haiti, please send an email to info@insightartsliberation.org. To donate to organizations that Dr. Marcelo Venegas is a part of that continue to conduct work in Haiti, please visit the following link: http://www.housingworks.org/donate/. To learn more about Housing Works’ programs throughout the globe, please visit http://www.housingworks.org/.

[1] http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/10/AR2006121000302.html

[2] The Chicago Boys (c. 1970s) were a group of about 25 young Chilean economists who trained at the University of Chicago under Milton Friedman and Arnold Harberger.

[3] In October 1975 the New York Times columnist Anthony Lewis declared that “the Chilean junta’s economic policy is based on the ideas of Milton Friedman…and his Chicago School” http://reason.com/archives/2007/02/21/the-life-and-times-of-milton-f

[4] Neo-liberlism refers to economic policies based on neoclassical theories of economics that minimizes the role of the state and maximizes the rights of the private business sector.

[5] http://edition.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/americas/03/01/aristide.claim/

[Via http://undergroundinsight.wordpress.com]

Producer J. Staffz Interview On The Come Up Show

Toronto producer J. Staffz was recently interviewed on The Come Up Show, a hip-hop and R&B radio show hosted by DJ Chedo. J.Staffz has produced for over 100 artists, including Tony Yayo, Belly, 40 Glocc, Yung Berg, Joe Budden, and Sean Kingston. Watch the interview to hear J. Staffz make a beat LIVE on the show, freestyle, and talk about working with Tony Yayo.

J. Staffz just released his first single “Can’t Say No” on Toronto’s FLOW 93.5 featuring Ashley De Carvalho and Drew James. So get familiar, because the future looks real bright for this producer. Check out his website http://www.producedbyjstaffz.com.

You can catch The Come Up Show on 94.9FM CHRW and Rogers Digital Cable 943 in London, Ontario, live every Saturday from 6-8pm ET or at www.thecomeupshow.com.

[Via http://thegoodiebag.wordpress.com]

C.A. Milson Books Available Soon in U.S. Bookstores

Horror Novelist, C.A. Milson has been in the writing world for years. Milson will see his book “The Chosen: Rise of the Darkness” re-released in American bookstores and online in early April.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

PR Log (Press Release) – Mar 19, 2010 – Horror Novelist, C.A. Milson has been in the writing world for years, but it is today that he is finally seeing all of his efforts pay off. Recently picked up by Washington D.C.-based publisher, EDGE Publishing Company, Milson will see his book “The Chosen: Rise of the Darkness” re-released in American bookstores and online in early April.

“I am very excited by this opportunity,” stated Milson. “It’s one thing to be available online, but when it comes down to it, the true book reader wants to be able to go into a bookstore and pick up a copy any hold it in their hands before they purchase it. Being in stores and being represented by a real publisher who is going to have your back in printing and marketing is very important, not only for sales, but for credibility.”
Milson was originally introduced to EDGE Publishing Company by his agent, Charlotte, North Carolina-based, Amanda Clark, who is also President of Grammar Chic, Inc. Clark founded her company in 2008 and has a history of working with authors to help them realize their dream of being published.

“I started working with Chris on an entirely separate project in early 2009, but one day we started talking again and brainstorming and before we both knew it, we were arranging a time to speak with Phil Vera, President of EDGE Publishing. I had known Phil from a book that we collaborated together on in summer of 2009 and I just knew that Chris would be a great fit for EDGE,” stated Clark.

EDGE Publishing Company works with first time authors who are looking for an advocate to help them navigate the sometimes confusing publishing industry. A veteran in the printing industry, EDGE President Phil Vera has surrounded himself with experts in various facets of the publishing trade and has brought together a fantastic team that is going to be releasing approximately ten titles this year.

“I started EDGE Publishing Company to help authors. I had met many people who just didn’t understand the industry and when you have a quality piece of work, this can be upsetting and discouraging. I am proud to say that we are going to be putting many imaginative, incredible stories in print this year, including Chris’s work. I am very excited that I have been able to help him increase his exposure in the U.S. book market, especially since it was challenging for him, geographically, to be noticed,” stated Vera.

Milson, an Australian native now living in Samara, Russia has two television appearances scheduled in March and April to discuss his publishing deal and the re-release of his book. He will be appearing on SOBYTIYA TV on Monday, March 22, 2010 and on SKAT TV Vashe Utro (Your Morning), a local Samara, Russia TV show on a currently pending date in April.

EDGE Publishing Company is located at: 8939 Sweetbriar St., Manassas, VA 20110. You can reach the staff at EDGE Publishing Company by calling: (703) 724-9235. President Phillip Vera can be reached by email at: pvera@edgepublishingcompany.com. EDGE Publishing Company is online at www.edgepublishingcompany.com.

Grammar Chic, Inc. can be reached online at www.grammarchic.net or at (803) 831-7444.

C.A. Milson, through Grammar Chic, Inc., can be reached online at www.authorcamilson.com or at (803) 831-7444.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

For additional information or a sample copy, Contact: Amanda Clark, (803) 831-7444 or info@grammarchic.net. Please reference author C.A. Milson in the subject line of your email.

[Via http://authorcamilson.wordpress.com]

insane grocery bag interview

Insane Grocery Bag: First of all, I’d be a stupid idiot if I didn’t thank you for agreeing to this interview. Thank you.

Jeremy C. Shipp: I appreciate the thoughtfulness, but I never agreed to anything. You drugged me and locked me up in this broom closet against my will.

IGB: Oh yeah? Then why, pray teller, did you sign this consent form?

JCS: That’s a coconut with the words “Greedy Macadamia Nuts” written all over it.

IGB: I rest my case.

JCS: If I cooperate, will you let me go?

IGB: Of course. Like I always say, if you love someone, you have to let him go, and if he doesn’t come back to you, then you never really had him in the first place. I read that in a fortune cookie once, back when I was living inside a fortune cookie.

JCS: OK. Can we get on with the questions?

IGB: Right. The other day, a grape vine told me that you’re a writer. Would you mind writing “Greedy Macadamia Nuts” all over my face?

JCS: You don’t even have a face.

IGB: Then why, pray teller, did I buy this Halloween mask?

JCS: It’s pray tell. Not pray teller.

IGB: If your goal was to hurt my feelings, you just won first prize. Here’s your medal.

JCS: That’s just a tissue box with the words “Smarmy Hoof Cheese” written all over it.

IGB: Moving on. What inspired you to start writing?

JCS: Well, I—

IGB: Wow, that’s really interesting. Do you want me to shave your head?

JCS: No.

IGB: You didn’t let me finish the question. I was going to say—do you want me to shave your head now or later?

JCS: Never.

IGB: My ears of corn must be playing tricks with me, because it sounded like you said, “Feathered Milk Cruise.”

JCS: Alright, I’ve had enough. I just realized these chains are made of spam. I’m going home.

IGB: But Jeremy. You are home. That’s the twist ending.

JCS: Great. Well then, I’m moving back to my old house.

IGB: I didn’t see that one coming! With skills like that, you could be a writer.

JCS: Thanks.

[Via http://jeremycshipp.wordpress.com]

Shin Hye Sung: “My real goal is to pursue singing steadily”

Singer Shin Hye-sun, a member of the group Shinhwa, recently released his second album “Keep Leaves” in his third album collection. In the first album, he attempted various genres including alternative rock, British rock and swing, but the sale results proved unsatisfactory.

But Shin, smiling, said, “My company doesn’t think of it as a failed album. My initial strategy was to have two albums from very different genres comprise my third regular album collection. I wanted to do something new, maybe unfamiliar to the public. But fans loved the album (laugh). So thankfully, now I hear demo tapes not only of ballads but other music genres. My choice has expanded.” His second album features ballad songs, as he planned.

The title number “Why did you call,” composed by Ha Jeong-ho, tells the story of a man who can’t forget his love even after parting. Shin is particularly proud of his recording of “Even if it’s a Lie” written by a member of his concert band. The magnificent string sound of “I’m dying” composed by “Wanted” member Kim Jae-seok is comparable to a film O.S.T.

The ten-track mini-album will also function as a regular album. It topped weekly album sales on a domestic portal, and “Why did you call” climbed to number three on various music sites. Shin says he is upbeat and confident because he has returned to his forte of ballads in addition to the good response.

He says his hope, as a solo singer, is to have a song not only appreciated by fans but becomes a national hit like the Wonder Girls’ “Tell Me.” He said it’s tough for ballads to be enjoyed by all people, but he was inspired by the example of Baek Ji-young’s “I won’t love.”

He also noted that his group Shinhwa has yet to produce a national hit in the ranks of GOD’s “To Mother” and H.O.T’s “Candy.” He said Shinhwa has been a performance-heavy dance group and has thus been less recognized for their actual songs.

He has been a part of Shinhwa for ten years but as a soloist, he’s released just three albums.

He said, “Looking back on my band days, up until our fourth album ‘Hey, Come on!’ I don’t think I knew much about music, why I was singing, what songs worked for us, what the lyrics were about, what the album’s concept was and so on. I just mechanically sang.” Releasing his first solo album, he realized that the many years as a Shinhwa member was actual a “precious asset.” He realized he was even too shy to look straight into the camera, ducking his face in embarrassment.

“I was a complete novice but I couldn’t let it show. I wished I had studied more music from the Shinhwa years. Back then, our schedule was packed; we had no time to think about anything else. Fortunately, band groups these days seem to study music a lot.”

After an 11 year singing career, Shin stated his humble but number one goal: “My real goal now is to pursue singing steadily.”

Source: KBS Global
Credit: seoulfull.wordpress.com
Date: 4 Mar 2009

[Via http://shinhwalegend.wordpress.com]

Are you ready for that interview?

With a tough job market comes more competition and a greater need of preparation for the job seeking, application and interviewing process.  It is important to consider your answers, if not practice your responses to, questions that a potential employer or interviewer may ask.  In talking to attorneys, paralegals and others, I have gathered some sample questions.  I make no promise that these are the questions you will be asked; however, they are probably similar to some that you will be asked.

1.  What is your greatest strength?

2.  What is your greatest weakness?

3.  Where do you see yourself five years from now?

4.  What is the last book you read?

5.  What is the last movie you saw?

6.  What technology/software are you familiar with?

7.  Why did you leave your last job?

8.  If I went out right now and looked in your car, what would I find?

9.  What is the subject of CCP section 2034?  (A question for a person who claims to have experience as a litigation paralegal.)

10.  Do you have any questions?

The “correct” answer to these questions will depend on the interviewer and the situation, but you could prepare yourself by considering what you might respond to some or all of these questions.  It is important to prepare for as much as you can.  Your preparation will be obvious to the interviewer.

[Via http://paralegalessentials.wordpress.com]

Interview with Stephane Le Baube

The interview went well and was very interesting – Stephane hated the idea of the Red Book of Bali !
I did my best to try to convince him that it was beneficial, but he was set in his ideas… he said that a french man tried to do the same thing a few years back and it completely backfired, so hopefully the Red Book has more hope !

He justified his point of view quite well though, he has been working in Bali for more than 20 years now and I think he understands how things work here.. Then again, he might be wrong..

-> to see more about the interview, check out “Villa Bali/Gili”

O

[Via http://redbookbali.wordpress.com]