Archive for March, 2011
Supporter Spotlight: Catherine Macary, Santosha Space
This next supporter has really gone above and beyond by donating their space for this weekend’s fundraiser. Catherine Macary at Santosha Space graciously offered her studio to this event and we literally could not be doing this without her.
We spoke with Cat below about what motivated her to get involved:
We at Santosha Space are supportive of events and workshops that help people in need of healing and abundance. We support the fundraiser Voice from Chernobyl to remind the community that the World still must heal and to remind everyone that we must remain conscious of our planet which in turn means to remain vigilante to the constant nuclear threat that affects humankind. We want to be a sanctuary for healing, wellness and peace. This is why we hare thrilled to offer our space for the Voices for Chernobyl fundraiser.
Namaste!
To reserve a ticket for Sunday’s Global Healing Benefit, click here.
Supporter Spotlight: Virginia Applen – Magnetic Healer
Next up is Virginia Applen who has generously donated services to our upcoming fundraiser. Check out our conversation with her below to hear what she will be providing and why she is getting involved!
Because we ask everyone – what did you know about Chernobyl before becoming involved in this project?
I remember the horror and sadness that befell the world when the nuclear accident happened. I was a young woman and all the warnings about the dangers of nuclear power could not prepare us for the devastation that besieged the Ukrainian people. And now Japan.
We at Voices From Chornobyl are so grateful to everyone who is participating on April 3rd; share with us what you will be providing during the fundraiser
I work with natural earth energies to promote the healing of both the physical and emotional body. These energies include electro-magnetic, far infrared and ionic energies.
Can you tell us a little bit about why you chose to donate services to this project?
I am thrilled to be a part of this project because I want to show that the powerful energies available to us here on earth should be used to heal and not kill.
Man has been using magnetic energy to heal for over 3500 years. Many indigenous and ancient civilizations, including the Hebrews, Arabs, Indians, Chinese, Egyptians, and Greeks used magnets for healing. Legend has it that Cleopatra slept on the magnetic Lodestone to keep her young, strong, healthy and beautiful.
Today physicists, String Theorists, and Quantum Mechanic adherents alike, all agree that the basic substance of our Universe is comprised of electro-magnetic energies. One of the main components of all cells are ions. Ions are positively and negatively charged particles that conduct electro-magnetic pulses from within the cell. The electro-magnetic pulses allow the cell to function. Without ions a cell cannot live. The magnetic currents of a healthy body, when super-energized with a healer’s magnet, can be used to promote healing.
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Interested in attending the event? Purchase tickets here!
Supporter Spotlight: Create Your Health
Our April 3rd fundraiser is fast approaching and as we gear up we would like to take the time to call out and thank all the amazing organizations and businesses donating their time and services during the event to help raise awareness.
First up is Peter Bedard with Create Your Health – expect more in the days leading up to the event!
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What did you know about Chernobyl before becoming involved in this project?
I certainly haven’t been an expert on Chernobyl. In fact other than being aware that it was, at the time, the largest nuclear disaster in the world, larger than the Three Mile Island disaster in New York, my knowledge is pretty limited. I do know that an entire city had to be closed down and all of it’s inhabitants moved due to a nuclear accident at the plant, that the plant was shut down, that radiation levels there some 20 years latter are still problematic, that birth defects in that part of the world are too common, and that it never should have happened.
Can you tell us a little bit about why you chose to donate services to this project?
I chose to donate my time and services for a few reasons. First because the fantastic Thea Pueschel asked me to. Second because I’ve never been a supporter of nuclear energy. And third, because I think it’s important to
let people know that nuclear energy is never safe. Advertising agencies and politicians have been telling us for several years now that nuclear energy is safe and efficient that it’s a “clean” energy. This is a flat out lie and it needs to be addressed. In fact, nuclear energy may be the dirtiest energy we have ever harnessed. The bi-product of coal is carbon dioxide and coal ash. The bi-product of nuclear energy is radioactive material that at it’s core is deadly to all life forms on this planet and that poisons our environment for thousands of years to come. for some reason people seem to understand that coal is bad for us but they don’t seem to understand that nuclear energy is a million times worse. As a advocate for alternative therapies it is totally congruent that I support not only true green energy solutions but that I also speak out against harmful and polluting behaviors – personal or political.
April 3rd Fundraiser!
The Global Healing Event is a fundraising effort for Voices From Chornobyl to facilitate a broader dissemination of information and awareness on the precipice of the 25th anniversary of the nuclear tragedy. Santosha Space and Hypnotiq Solutions have joined forces in hosting the Global Healing Event, to bring relaxation and calm to a chaotic world by facilitating and providing practitioners of various modalities to offer a momentary reprieve into the realm of calm, and help raise awareness as well as funds to improve the lives of those still affected by this nuclear disaster.
Voices From Chornobyl (VFC) has partnered with the Chernobyl Children’s Project USA to raise awareness and money for the children whose health is still affected today. The VFC team is assembling more readings, an interactive children’s script, and expanding Chornobyl awareness events to include art exhibits and on-line outreach.
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Sunday, April 3 · 2:00pm - 4:00pm
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Santosha Space
3405 Glendale Blvd, Los Angeles, CA
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Tickets are on presale now for $20: http://vfc.eventbrite.com/
Tickets at the door will be $25
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Fact Finding about Fukushima
~ This post was written by team member Caroline Sharp
When Cindy first approached me about contributing to this project, I was pretty sure I knew about as much about Chornobyl as the next person, which is to say, next to nothing. Okay, so maybe (as our recent foray to The Grove demonstrates) a little more than the next person, but still nothing to hang my hat on. My journey in educating myself of the subject has been heartbreaking, rage-inducing, and really illuminating; not just about the situation at Chornobyl, but the human condition in general.
The recent events in Japan have put my Chornobyl education into very sharp focus: you know that place where you know just enough to be really frightened, but not quite enough to actually know what you’re frightened of? I’m a pretty resourceful person, and I want to know all the facts, so I thought I’d share some of the results of my research into what’s actually going on at the Fukushima Nuclear Plant. In moments of international crisis like this – misinformation can spread as fast (or faster if it’s particularly sensational) than the real story, and for non-experts, such as myself, it can be frustratingly difficult to separate fact from fiction.
NPR has been interviewing experts of every stripe for days. They have accumulated all their stories, interviews and commentary into this primer.
Mother Jones, a political news periodical, has gotten a lot of attention lately for it’s investigative pieces that seek to explicate complicated current events (the protests and instability in Egypt and Libya, the demonstrations and political maneuvering in Wisconsin, the budget debate in Washington, etc.) for the layman. They have a really excellent piece that makes the very complicated subject of nuclear science easier to grasp, and they’re updating it regularly as news from Japan comes in.
One of my favorite daily reads is the tech blog Gizmodo. They have a pretty well-documented interest in Chornobyl and in nuclear power in general, and they have a comprehensive breakdown of events as well. This article also has a whole mess of links, to Boing-Boing, the BBC, Salon, Al Jazeera, The Atlantic and more! It’s a black-hole time-suck of really good science lessons.
A significant link on the Gizmodo page is to this Salon article, which thoroughly debunks a viral blog post that you may have seen by a Dr. Josef Oehmen at MIT. MIT is currently hosting this blog post, they have not taken it down, but I would say read it with a grain of salt (or at least read it with this Salon piece.)
On the subject of misinformation, this map has been going around (before you look at it, know that it’s a hoax – I’m only including it so you’ll know what it looks like in case someone sends it to you or you see it come up in your research):
It purports to be an estimated trajectory of nuclear fallout from the Fukushima plant released by Australian Radiation Services and has their logo, but they don’t claim it and the map isn’t hosted or displayed anywhere on their website. (Another key factor that reveals this to be less than savory, is in the legend. A real fallout map wouldn’t be measured in RADs. RAD is a medical term that stands for Radiation Absorbed Dose, meaning how much radiation is absorbed by an individual, not how much material is in the air or how radioactive it is. http://www.nrc.gov/about-nrc/radiation/health-effects/measuring-radiation.html) I would be very skeptical about any source of information that includes this map.
For me, knowledge is the best antidote to fear. These are uncertain times in general, and after the tragic events in Japan over the last few days it is even more important to make sure we have as much knowledge and awareness as possible.
Poetry Submission- Peter Lach-Newinsky
I know our Call for Art is still going on, but I had to share this. Peter Lach-Newinsky sent in some of his amazing poetry with a lovely email attached. He is a published poet living on a small permaculture farm near Bundanoon, about 160 km south west of Sydney, Australia. Recent publications:The Post-Man Letters & Other Poems (Picaro Press 2010), On the Innocence of Clouds (Picaro Press Wagtail Series No. 104, 2011), The Knee Monologues & Other Poems (Picaro Press 2009). At the time of the incident he was living in Germany with a 3 year old son. He sent over a bunch of poems and I was so moved that couldn’t help but just share one a little early.
This is the first in The Chernobyl Series:
Drachenwind Dragonwind
die toten Murmeln der Augen dead marble eyes
fischverbissen scarmouth hanging on
der Narbenmund like a stubborn fish
über Krötenwolken ein Lichtei over toad clouds an egg of light
tönend im Wind tolling in the wind
es lebte ein Drache there once was a dragon
es lebte ein Drache there once was a dragon
es lebte ein Drache there once was a dragon
es lebte there once was
(30 June 1986)
March 16, 2011 at 8:22 pm Rachel Stoll Armstrong Leave a comment
Call for Art!
UPDATE: We are extending this through Friday, March 25th. We have gotten fantastic submissions, but have a large space to fill. Details are below!
Are you an artist that has been inspired by Chernobyl? We are looking for artists of all types to help share their art and help spread awareness of the 25th anniversary of the disaster this April!
Any and all art will be considered for incorporation into our lobby designs, website, campaigns, etc. We are looking for photography, painting, music, dance, theater, anything that will help generate interest and awareness about Chernobyl.
Have a submission? Want for more information? Please email Rachel at rach.stoll@gmail.com!
UPDATE: Submissions Guidelines !
Being Relevant is Hard – Japan
I have a lot of thoughts about what is currently happening in Japan. In the wake of a natural disaster, an even larger disaster is slowly beginning to form. As I’m writing the fire in the 4th reactor has been extinguished and there is so much more happening and to be done.
My news feed on facebook has been inundated by the news of the disaster. Comparing it to Chernobyl. The word has seemed to magically reappear in our consciousness as a people. Chernobyl. 25 years ago in just a little over a month now. This project which once felt so obscure has been forced into the limelight and pushed back into our social conscious. In a way I’m thankful for that. Not for the disaster and for the lingering impacts, but that people are talking about it.
People didn’t talk about Chernobyl in the immediate aftermath. There wasn’t a large international dialogue about what should be done or what the potential lasting impacts will be. While it is extremely unfortunate that most of the Japanese cannot watch the news due to power outages and other issues, it is incredible how much I am seeing about Japan and Chernobyl right now.
Someone asked me what my opinion was about Japan and the impending nuclear disaster. I wasn’t sure what they were really asking about. Was it my opinion on nuclear energy? I don’t talk about that. Was it my opinion on how it’s being handled? Maybe. The person clarified their question, asking me if I thought Japan was going to be the “next chernobyl”. What a loaded thought.
In some ways what is happening now will never be Chernobyl. Technology is more advanced and we are in the USSR in 1986. Will the environmental and social impacts be as bad? Preliminary calculations have suggested it may be or it may not be.
For now, the world watches and waits.
For now, I read my facebook feed and am happy Chernobyl is being spoken about. I just wish it was under much better circumstances.
March 15, 2011 at 4:22 am Rachel Stoll Armstrong Leave a comment
Japan: A Reaction
I was one and a half years old when Chernobyl happened. I learned about it later on but everything was always in the past tense; Chernobyl was a cautionary tale, not a living breathing disaster. Only after becoming involved with Voices From Chornobyl did I truly realize the ongoing implications of what happened that day in 1986.
Like many people I stayed up late last Thursday evening watching the heartbreaking footage of the aftermath of both the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. At the first mention of the state of Japan’s three nuclear reactors in the area my stomach dropped. Even as I write this there are new developments, the situation is constantly changing, and no one can be certain what will happen next. While authorities are assuring the public nothing like Chernobyl or Three Mile Island is possible the parallels are hard to ignore. For me it’s somewhat surreal, after learning so much about Chernobyl – the events leading up to it, the immediate aftermath and the ongoing effects – to have an event happening in the modern day, that in many ways brings these elements into my daily life, was not something I was prepared for. I have to admit even after all the awareness we have been doing for VFC I never expected to be confronted with these realities in this way.
I don’t want to be reactionary, I think the major news stations do a good enough job on their own, and I don’t even mean this as a criticism of nuclear power per se, but the events of the past few days have made the topic of nuclear plants and radiation very real for me. But despite the fear of what might happen I think it’s important to point out the differences we have seen in the reaction to these ongoing events. Most evident is the amount of information available, in the age of the 24/7 news cycles and social media the global community is much more aware of what is happening than in the days after Chernobyl. Transparency is key to dealing with disasters and can truly impact the outcome in many ways. The early evacuation of those that live near the endangered reactors is a positive example of the difference between what is happening now in Japan and how the Former Soviet Union dealt with the events at Chernobyl.
The best test of course is time, to see how this is handled going forward and what the true aftermath might be. As I have learned from Chernobyl the effects of radiation go on long after all the foreign journalists have left and even after the major clean up is done. To quote a line from the play “this is for thousands of years”; for my part I’m hoping this will never be said of the events unfolding in Japan.
- Jane
Team Interviews – Cindy Marie Jenkins
Team interviews are back! This time we have creator and author of Voice From Chornobyl, Cindy Marie Jenkins.
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Jane Whitty: As we are fast approaching the 25th Anniversary events what is your top priority right now?
Cindy Marie Jenkins: Getting the business side set up while continuing the artistic work and outreach; I can’t really narrow it down more. We’ve set reachable but ambitious goals, and have a lot of great people basically waiting for us to say “Go.” We have to keep thinking and exploring new ways to reach new people, get them interested and to our fund-raising and April Awareness events. In order to make any of this possible, we are increasing our infrastructure and really professionalizing the events more than they have ever been. A great part of these priorities actually happening has been due to the Awareness Team (you, Rachel, Carolyn, Karen Jean and Caroline) handling a lot of research and organizational work. I’m really excited at the prospects of moving this piece beyond a theatre reading. It’s not really about the play, it’s about the stories within the play, and however we can express that so that any audience feels invited, the more awareness of the 25th anniversary we can spread. The ensemble has also been incredibly supportive and honestly keep me going on the project, since 2006. Their willingness to jump into whatever situation will work, whether it be a library conference room, an empty movie theatre, a comedy theatre (don’t get me started), or wherever this year leads them, truly allows the project to move into new areas and possibilities.
JW: What unexpected obstacles have you run into while working on this project?
CMJ: Since the beginning of the project it’s been difficult to explain my interest in the topic, or even why I wanted to do it. Is your family from there? I am often asked as people squint to see how they missed the Ukrainian in my face before that. No, no I’m not from Eastern Europe, just the East Coast.
Even more than that, though, is telling the stories in a compelling way without succumbing to guilting the audience, or taking a stance on nuclear power. The woman who started Kiva delivered a great speech at the Mashable Social Media for Social Good Conference (not sure that is the exact name). She made it clear that guilt is not how to sustain lasting and meaningful contributions. Giving people a way to actually help is a better model for social good.
The other obstacle is always time. Everyone over the years volunteers to bring awareness to the Chornobyl disaster, and as such we are all doing it on our own time because we believe in it. There is never enough time to explore every aspect of the topic or all of the different ways we can reach out and include people. So I’ve surrounded myself with great people who bring completely new and revised ideas. When you’ve worked on a project like this for five years, new blood reminds you of the purpose behind telling these stories. I am shocked at how much the team takes on and amazed at everyone’s intelligence and creativity. It’s a great group.
JW: As the creator of the Voices From Chornobyl project how has your vision for this project changed over time?
CMJ: At first it was really more of an exploration so I can learn. I knew nothing about the accident until reading the book in 2005 and then it was a way for me and other interested artists to learn about everything through the genre/method we know best: theatre. If I were a filmmaker, then I probably would have written a screenplay, but I process stories through live performance, in whatever form it takes. I learned more about history and Japanese culture through dramaturging Pacific Overtures than in any history class.
After the first 2006 workshop, the goal became for people to walk out of the show and pick up the book. I even had books in the lobby to test the goal, and it worked. I had to buy Los Angeles (and some surrounding areas) out of their copy of the book of interviews because people wanted to take it home with them.
After the first workshop, I connected with the Chernobyl children’s charities, and that’s when the entire vision changed. I realized there were so many ways in to the stories, because they are all just human stories, humans dealing with ideas beyond their imagination. Knowing exactly how the conditions in the area affected and still are affecting children, and that they have only known this kind of life, spurred the project to bring much more awareness to the ongoing struggle the charities face. Many have trouble raising money because people don’t know about the accident or don’t realize it’s still a large problem. If we can break that wall down for them, and give their potential supporters and volunteers a need to help, that’s the ultimate goal.
JW: There is a new kids script in the works. Can you talk a little about the decision to create an adaptation for a younger audience?
CMJ: On the same vein as above, I felt a kids accessible script could be an excellent learning tool, and making it interactive allows us to involve the kids’ imagination as well, which I firmly believe will keep their interest. We are basically just asking, “What is radiation? which is what everyone in the play needs to know. By taking an audience of children on that journey, I hope they’ll learn about the accident and the needs, of course, but more importantly I want to open their minds to critical thinking. I want them to ask questions of their environment and their leaders, and even more importantly in this adaptation, to talk to their parents. Children need to know they are in a dialogue with the world; it’s not just something they should let pass them by or something they need to fight.
JW: Voices From Chornobyl is a multifaceted project. What is the one element you are most excited to see realized?
CMJ: Bringing the stories in all their different forms to audiences outside of Los Angeles theatre. The play has been heard around LA, and I look forward to sharing it with more theatre artists and patrons, but it’s even more important to deliver the stories to everyone. We have a show lined up with students and professors at Cal Tech, with children’s storytimes at the Atwater Village Public Library, and more in the works. Live performance draws a connection with its audience that few other mediums can. Audiences can talk with artists and vice versa, sharing ideas and hearing their questions. Then we as a project stay in touch with the charities regarding the responses and questions our audiences had, which may help their outreach efforts.
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