Susan kick starts Pecha Kucha evening in Maastricht, Saturday, February 20, 2010, at AINSI Performance Theater. Photo © Bert Janssen
20x20 What is PechaKucha?
PechaKucha Night was devised in Tokyo in February 2003 as an event for young designers to meet, network, and show their work in public.
It has turned into a massive celebration, with events happening in hundreds of cities around the world, inspiring creatives worldwide. Drawing its name from the Japanese term for the sound of "chit chat", it rests on a presentation format that is based on a simple idea: 20 images x 20 seconds. It's a format that makes presentations concise, and keeps things moving at a rapid pace.
First performed at the Teatro La Fenice, Venice, on 11 March 1830. Editions Ricordi.
From their website:
The story is that of Romeo and Juliet, drawn from the work by Shakespeare, which has been the subject of many musical versions since the Renaissance. However, Bellini and his librettist Romani were inspired by the great English playwright only indirectly, basing their work instead on some Italian texts from the 15th century. The result, however, can be considered as one of the masterpieces of the Sicilian composer, who died prematurely at the age of thirty-four.
In this work, melody reaches perfection, offering pages of sublime music that is unparalleled in the entire history of song. The orchestration is simple and serves as a back-drop for the voices.
Liège welcomes two bel canto stars for this opera: Patrizia Ciofi, Giulietta, and Laura Polverelli, Roméo. After her magnificent performance of Maria Stuarda here, Patrizia Ciofi moved on to the role of Giulietta at the Opéra Bastille. She will soon be at La Scala for Il Viaggio a Reims and will sing the title role in La Traviata at the Chorégies d'Orange in summer 2009 and at La Fenice in September. Her schedule is unbelievably busy…
Alongside her, we will welcome Laura Polverelli for the first time. This pair of exceptional performers will undoubtedly lift this essentially beautiful music to its peak. To direct a work of such sensitivity, we can rely on the delicate, flowing direction of Luciano Acocella. We will also experience for the first time the work of Cristina Muti, founder and leading light of the prestigious Ravenna Festival. In parallel with this important role, the artist is currently pursuing a very successful career as a director.
Susan Schaefer performs
The Poetry of Change @
Sat 20 Feb 2010 @ 20:20
Location: AINSI, Kanaaldijk 112-113, 6212 NA Maastricht
Start: 20.20 hours, be in early!
Door: €5
20x20 What is PechaKucha?
PechaKucha Night was devised in Tokyo in February 2003 as an event for young designers to meet, network, and show their work in public.
It has turned into a massive celebration, with events happening in hundreds of cities around the world, inspiring creatives worldwide.
Drawing its name from the Japanese term for the sound of "chit chat", it rests on a presentation format that is based on a simple idea: 20 images x 20 seconds. It's a format that makes presentations concise, and keeps things moving at a rapid pace.
Needless to say I'm nervous and excited to be one of the 12 presenters. What a great opportunity to get back on stage after so long an absence. Years ago I was ringleader of a group of poets known as 'The Star Bards' taking our name from the alternative newspaper that i ran with my then-hubby, Bob Ingram, The South Street Star of Philadelphia.
In this poetic homage to change, I will weave my own and other’s poetry along with established theories of human development hoping to inspire the audience to consider their extra ordinary qualities to embark on self-transformation.
Pecha Kucha Maastricht is managed by a really cool group of local creatives who professionally video tape each presentation and post it to their incredibly professional website. Check out who and what has come before.
I will miss not having my far-flung friends in the audience, but at least you'll be able to catch the 'act'.
Susan & Martijn woven photo portrait
- D. Sippel
Two steps forward, one back. Time has a new quality, difficult to define.
I work at ‘discovering’ the life that is ‘waiting’ for me.
The year has been the best of times, the worst of times -
I struggle to find my identity, my sense of place.
Always mindful of my many blessings, family, friends and friendship,
I come to understand for the first time the ‘true’ meaning of process.
It has been a year of outward and inward journey.
Soul Lodging: A Magical Mystery Tour
Awareness - the first step toward healing. Awareness of how encircled I am. Grateful for continued contact with dear ex-hubby Bob Ingram, for renewed relations with brother Allen Schaefer, for the love and support of countless friends, colleagues and family.
Now I seek ‘soul lodging’. So thoroughly entwined was I within my marriage nest, bathed in belonging - all else seemed safe. I adored and was beloved. Martijn was my life’s witness.
I am unsettled. My quest now - to locate a new settled sense of soul. The half regenerated. The soul having been unraveled, untwined by the uncoupling.
Family, friends, colleagues weave around me a warp and weft - a thick, soft protective cocoon: The remaining toil is a solitary assignment.
Unsettled. I now craft a new consciousness awash in the gratitude of your countless contributions.
Happy Healthy Prosperous Sane New Year.
Winter Solstice
Darkened hands seek
that crack beneath the door -
where shimmering
gloves of light
elongate
-Susan Schaefer
©2009
From the Writer's Almanac with Garrison Keillor December 21, 2009
In the northern hemisphere, today is the Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year and the longest night. It's officially the first day of winter. It's officially the first day of winter and one of the oldest known holidays in human history. Anthropologists believe that solstice celebrations go back at least 30,000 years, before humans even began farming on a large scale. Many of the most ancient stone structures made by human beings were designed to pinpoint the precise date of the solstice. The stone circles of Stonehenge were arranged to receive the first rays of midwinter sun.
December 10, 2009
Today is the 10th of December – a date prominent around the globe as that on which the Nobel Peace Prize is always awarded. Today it is particularly notable because Barack Obama, the first African American President of the United States of America accepted the honor in Oslo, Norway, because President Obama represents for many global citizens the hope for bringing peaceful resolution to places where conflict and repression reign, and because the peace prize represents ultimately the supreme attainment of peace - which is individual and societal freedom from repression and want.
US President Barack Obama wins 2009 Nobel Peace Prize
What many people do not know is that the Nobel Peace Prize is awarded on anniversary of the death of its founder, Alfred Bernard Nobel, a Swedish chemist, engineer, innovator, armaments manufacturer and the inventor of dynamite. I know this because it is also the date that marks the anniversary of the death of my mother, Emma Schaefer, whose parents, my grandparents, born in Europe, were denied the freedom from repression. Like so many European Jews, they were persecuted merely because of their choice to practice their religious beliefs freely. Both sets of my grandparents fled that Europe – the Europe of the Pogroms of the late 19th century, the Europe that denied basic freedoms to many groups because of their religion, beliefs, sect, color, or race. That Europe was the same that allowed Adolf Hitler to rise to power in an attempt to ultimately deny the Jews, among others, the freedom to exist, let alone to practice their beliefs.
And so it is fitting and poignant that this outstanding Black man, this global leader, the President of the country of my birth – the country that grants religious freedom to every individual entering its great shores, the country that helped the Allies to end such repression in Europe – should win the greatest honor in the world on the eve of a holiday that represents the celebration of just such freedom – the Jewish Holiday of Hanukkah, the festival of lights.
Photo by Rahel Sharon via Flickr
This year the joyous Jewish holiday of Hanukkah begins at Sundown on Friday, December 11th. Yet it is also poignant that many of my European friends are not aware of any Jewish celebrations and festivals. Here in Maastricht, like so many places in Europe, there are scant traces of Jews or Jewish culture.
In the city of my birth, Philadelphia, diversity became a ‘calling card’. Philadelphia wasn’t always so, but as I grew up, so did my city. In time, next to the gigantic Christmas tree and decorations in the grand City Hall courtyard, a giant Menorah was placed, the nine-stemmed candelabra that is the symbol of Hanukkah and the Jewish people. So, too, did Philadelphia eventually learn to mark Kwanza, an African holiday celebrated by many African Americans, and eventually the city began to note celebrations of many other cultural and religious groups as well.
Since this year since I will spend Hanukkah in Maastricht, where Sinterklaas, Christmas and Carnival are still the only public celebrations, I have decided to invite friends to share and learn about this festive and meaningful holiday. We will light the Menorah candelabra together, sing songs, share poems and stories, and of course, food and wine.
Perhaps someday Maastricht will grow more diverse and mark the various cultural rituals in a more open way. Until then, please let me share a brief description and explanation of this, my favorite Jewish holiday:
Many Americans are aware of the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah, with its ritual lighting of candles for eight nights, dreidel games, and festive mood, because it sometimes coincides with Christmas. But the Jewish calendar is lunar-based, having fewer months than the Julian calendar, and while Hanukkah is indeed a time for celebration amongst the Jewish people, the fact that it falls in winter near to Christmas is a coincidence – the two holidays have no common link, as do Passover and Easter. (Easter is determined the old fashioned way, by the moon.)
A Dreidel is a four-sided spinning top, used to play a traditional Hanukkah game
The Hanukkah celebration, like all Jewish holidays, centers on remembrance, song and foods. Although the terms “festival” and “miracle” are commonly associated with Hanukkah (which has accepted alternative spellings), its literal translation, “dedication”, is integral to the story of the first Hanukkah. In fact, the lighting of the candles symbolizes more than the well-known miracle of the bit of oil that lasted for eight days and nights: the act also represents the rekindling of the spirit of courage and dedication to preserving religious freedom.
It was in the second century B.C. that the Jews of Palestine found themselves once again being persecuted for their religious beliefs. Around 168 B.C., a wicked Syrian king named Antiochus Epiphanies, who had openly proclaimed his hatred of the Jews, intensified his campaign to obliterate the Jewish religion and replace it with Hellenism. His torture of Jews is said to have included forcing them to pay homage to Greek gods and perform blood sacrifices at the pagan altars of Hellenism.
Such practices were against the very heart of Judaism, but the ultimate act of indignity committed against the Jewish people was Antiochus’ erecting such an altar in the most sacred Temple in Jerusalem. An aged Jewish priest, Mahathais Maecabaeus, living nearby Jerusalem in the city Modin, not only refused to engage in blood sacrifice, he slew an apostate Jew who was about to do so, and thus, struck the first blow against this persecution in those times. For the next three years the aged rebel and his five sons led a revolt against Antiochus, Hellenism and religious persecution.
Maastricht synagogue
After Mahathais died, his third son, Judas, continued the revolt, finally defeating the well-fed, well-equipped army of Antiochus with his own raggedy troops. His ultimate triumph, however, was the restoration of the sacred Temple in Jerusalem. He and his followers cleaned and purified the desecrated Temple, expelling false idols and scrubbing the blood of heathen sacrifice.
And so, it was during this restoration that they discovered the precious vial of oil which had been used to fuel the Temple’s Eternal Light. On 25 Kislew, in the year 165 B.C., Judas and his people rededicated the sacred Temple, and although there was only enough oil to burn for one day, it miraculously lasted eight days and nights.
Hanukkah, therefore, represents far more than a miracle of lights, it represents the dedication of a people to the ideal of freedom. It seems so fitting that President Obama’s prestigious award in Norway, so close to Maastricht, sets the mood for this holiday precisely. May all of us, always have the freedom to celebrate our own customs in our own ways.
by Susan Schaefer
Schaefer Communications, LLC
December 10, 2009
The absence of hope can rot a society from within
- US President Barack Obama
Accepting the Nobel Peace Prize
December 10, 2009
Herman van Rompuy
And, while I don’t agree with his position against Turkey’s eventual ascension into “the club” also known as the EU, nevertheless, he has shown he knows how to herd cats. Cats in battleships. Just look at how he calmed Belgium’s tempestuous past political seas for proof. This guy knows how to use kibbles and clean up the litter!
Baroness Catherine Ashton
