Sunday Breakfast: old fashioned bran banana muffins
I grew up going to the swap meet and auctions on many many Sundays (after church of course!) At the swap meet, my dad sold stuff that he bought at auction; some Sundays he was the auctioneer.
My dad specialized in American antiques and Americana; our home was filled with a rotating assemblage of antiques and various items: carnival glass, anniversary clocks, as many as seven sideboards and dressers at times lined our tract house hallway.
At an auction, you never quite know what you’re getting in any particular box. You think you know, of course, you think whatever it is is going to be worth much more than you paid for it, that you’ll actually find a buyer for whatever it is you picked up.
If it had worked out that way, where you find a treasure and make a fortune reselling it, where my dad scored a number of these items, I wouldn’t have had to pay my own way through college; for awhile I even worked for my dad and learned how to buy and sell furniture and refinish it.
Instead, over the years I have scored a hodgepodge of oddball items.
One of my most used is a copy of the Joy of Cooking from 1946. Read more…
Kids Arts Yogathon Schedule: Support your health & the ArtBarn’s too!
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To be in the running for the Island caretaker job, applicants had to produce a 60 second or less video highlighting their qualifications, including why they want the job, and sharing a little about the Great Barrier Reef.
In addition to years writing the Art Predator column and now this blog, plus other journalism and creative writing experiences, I had my own TV news show in high school, I’ve written scripts for PSAs and produced 7 spoken word videos.
So as soon as I heard about the job, I got right to writing a script. And rewriting. And revising. And writing completely different scripts. I won’t tell you how many.
And I enlisted the help of a friend, Imre Juhasz, the father of my son’s best friend Shimon. Imre works on films all over the world, most recently for the Discovery channel. He knows his way around a video camera AND is skilled with final cut pro.
Once we meshed our schedules, we had to work around the weather (rain, rain and more rain). My family being under the weather meant I had to revise the script so that it required very little of the man of my life who was down with the flu, and the small boy wasn’t well either.
So there went the funny script with both of them or even including them in much of the way of anything, certainly not anything athletic or adventurous!
We started at the beach down the street Read more…
Okay I had to take a break from all this serious Great Barrier Reef promoting and environmental activism promoting for some good old Burning Man FUN! So here for you viewing pleasure: BURNING MAN 2008 PHOTOS FROM WALDEMAR HORWATT who says “I finally finished my Burning Man 2008 photo gallery, posted, along with photos from 2003-2007, at: http://naturalturn.fotki.com/bm/2008/ -Waldemar.”
Maybe these will inspire you to put a little Burning Man in your life by joining us on a little artistic bike ride next Friday March 6!
And now back to our regularly scheduled blogging program: Tourism 101 and more about the Great Barrier Reef and my application for the Island Caretaker job!
CA Tourism Symposium, Dave Norton & Island Dreams
When I heard about the Best Job in the World as Island Caretaker on the Great Barrier Reef, I was attending the 5th Annual California Cultural Tourism Symposium at the Pierpont Inn in Ventura which just happens to be around the block from my house, has views of the Channel Islands, and is a staging area for whale watching boat tours and scuba trips.
I thought at the time that the Best Job in The World has got to be the best tourism marketing campaign EVER, and I wondered what all I would learn about viral marketing, social media and myself as I went through the process of creating a video and applying for the job.
Well, here I am, just a few days away from hearing whether my application video scored me a spot in the Top 50, hanging around a ning with a bunch of travel writers, adventure buffs, and the tech savvy all clamoring “Pick me! Pick me!” in whatever ways they can figure out from blogs to websites to ads to twitter to facebook. Look, even I am on facebook and twitter now!
So I thought I’d reflect a little on what I learned from the Tourism Symposium and see how it applies to my experience with the Island Reef Job, and tourism in general with the hope that this will be of value to others as well.
I took the most notes from Dave Norton‘s insightful talk (gostonemantel.com) and will post those first, then a second post with info from other sessions. Read more…
Gary Vaynerchuk, Howard Stern, social media & Island Caretaker Job
Gary Vaynerchuk
Gary Vaynerchuk of Wine Library TV and social media guru calls out radio phenom Howard Stern in this video from fall 2008.
According to Gary, Howard Stern doesn’t want someone else to become an authority and doesn’t realize that the platforms have changed, but not the rules.
Using a clip of Howard Stern discussing new media like blogs, Facebook, and MySpace, Gary points out that “Howard Stern sounds like your dad, sounds like an old man.” Because of Stern’s vested financial interests in old media, he lives in old media, supports it, and disregards and disrespects new media. Stern is not positioned to leverage the social media platform, so he puts it down, hoping his listeners will follow his lead.
“Howard Stern lives in old media,” Read more…
Yogathon 2/28 & Electric Light Bike Parade 3/6
This could be YOU! Why light your bike and the night? Check out the video below to see:
Beyond having a lit up bike being more FUN!!!! and possibly saving your life, lighting your bike with
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a white light in front
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a red light in back
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reflectors on the sides
is the LAW in California!
At the First Friday ArtRide Feb 6, Lynne Okun of the ArtBarn showed us the new LED light on her spokes from MonkeyLectric and it looks way cool! She got hers for $50 at the Promenade Saturday arts and crafts fair, but that was a lucky fluke; normally they’re $65 as ordered from their website.
To help you light up your bike for the First Fridays ArtRide and Electric Light Parade Friday March 6, join us at the ArtBarn Thursday from 7-10pm and we’ll help you light up your bike! Maybe even get some free reflectors on!
Get It Done Get It Together 2 Light Your Bike & Your Life: Thursday, March 5, ArtBarn with Lynne Okun & Art Predator & YOU??
Still no light but you want to ride with us? For a small donation of $5 to VCCOOL, you may be able to buy a small, detachable white “sun” or red light blinking light.
We may be also offering bells at the next ride, the Bunny Hop April 3!
Stay tuned for more details about the Prom Ride on the Promenade May 1; for this ride we plan to start at the government center and ride all the way to the promenade stopping along the way to pick up people to join us. Of course, prom attire is encouraged!
Also scheduled:
First Friday June–Summer Solstice Santacon
First Friday July-Indendence from Fossil Fuel Ride
The ArtBarn is an important resource for our community. Every Saturday morning from 10-12 noon, children of all ages join together with staff at the the ArtBarn to make art! On Thursdays, the ArtBarn hosts poetry readings and sing alongs around the fire. Guest speakers discuss permaculture, rain harvesting and other important topics on a regular basis.
Please support KidsArts and the ArtBarn this Saturday Feb 28 by attending all or part of the First Ever YOGATHON!
Oh and remember to rank my Great Barrier Reef application with 5 stars! A yogini bicyclist like me is perfect for the job! Help me get into the Top 50 and then the Top 10!
Let us BIKE! City Council Testimony: Victoria Corridor 2/23/09
Hi. I’m Gwendolyn Alley.
I know the Victoria Corridor well. I grew up in Morningside, a little neighborhood squashed between the 126, Victoria, and Telegraph and surrounded by schools: Mound, Balboa, Buena with Ventura College and HP Wright Library about 1 mile away. I went to these schools, walked to the library, the grocery store by foot and by bike. That’s the main reason why my mom and dad chose this neighborhood. My sister lives there still with her husband and their three sons.
My neighborhood used to be a walkable, bike-able community. I remember riding my bike at 9 and 10 to swim practice at Buena. We rode to the store and the library. I remember as young as 11 riding my bike from my house across town to the Pier to go to the beach.
Over the years, I have seen Victoria Avenue grow from a steady stream of cars to a roaring river of monstrous multiple lanes of traffic devouring yards and frontage in its way, forcing houses and business establishments to huddle up next to the ravenous roadway.
Two years ago, I participated in a march from Ventura College to the government center. My son rode on the bike seat and I walked the bike there.
On our return to the college, imagine my shock to discover there is no bike path Read more…
Next Step: Get Short Listed March 2!
| Thanks Gwendolyn,
Your video application for the best job in the world has been accepted.
The Selection Panel from Tourism Queensland will review all applications and announce the 50 short-listed candidates on March 2, 2009. Eleven candidates will then proceed to the interview stage, including one Wild Card based on popular votes. So make sure all of your friends and family vote for your application. Good luck! Kind Regards |
Thanks for supporting my application by clicking on the link, forwarding the link, and rating me with 5 stars! The viewings and ratings don’t actually count much in this stage but they do help your video get viewed. I’m trying to et my ideas and words out there by contacting media for a story because I figure if you have very few views and a low ranking, it seems unlikely I’d get the next email SUNDAY MARCH 1 which will say
You’ve been shortlisted!! Tell your friends to vote for you!
The Rainbow Bridge: How we & dolphins came to be–A Chumash origin story
The Chumash people say Hutash Earth Mother
grew us from magic seeds she planted
out in the Channel Islands, on Limuw,
Island of the Blue Dolphin. The people grew
from seeds Hutash planted. The people were
happy. There was plenty of fish and plants to eat.
Sky Snake, the husband of Hutash, saw
how pleased Hutash was with the people she
made, and saw how happy the people were.
Sky Snake, Milky Way, decided to gift
the people fire which he sent down as
lightening bolts from his slender forked tongue.
Now the people could warm and cook their food.
Now the people could stay warm in winter.
Now the children were warm and happy.
Now the people could stay up late into night
telling stories, singing songs, making babies. Read more…
art predator 