CGI on the fly

I’m in New York this week, volunteering with the fourth Clinton Global Initiative annual meeting.  About 650 “members” — CEOs, current and former heads of state, entrepreneurs, foundation directors, celebrities — gather to talk about and commit to large development projects.  This year they’re talking about health, education, climate change, and poverty alleviation.  It’s an incredible, star-studded show.  The number of people in the building is many times that of the members — with their handlers and staffers, the army of volunteers and CGI event staff, speakers, security and hotel personnel all congregating, talking, working and doing deals in every corner of the event.

Two days ago, the hotel was a construction site, with temporary walls being erected, wall hangings and lighting being hung, and a veritable florist’s shop being set up in the executive center.

So far it seems like everyone is having a good time (except for one older member who remarked to me that he found the panels boring).  It’s certainly been a good show, and a great place for people to meet and share ideas.  It’s also a platform for people to get publicity for the good work they’re doing, and the partnerships they’ve formed.

Development projects, though, remain incredibly difficult.  Once the money and the plan is committed and announced, perhaps 0.5% of the work has been done.  Implementing a project effectively is a huge next step.  Beyond that, measuring and reporting on its successes and failures is an essential — and far too often overlooked — step.  Perhaps next year CGI could have a session of accountability reports and discussion, and a session on how to do accountability and measurement.  Then we might know better if we’re actually doing a good job.

Two Events!

[update] Here’s a better link for the art show: http://sallywalkerman.com/allure-of-rocks.html

If you’re in the Burlington area, there are two exciting events coming up that you might want to consider attending.

October 4 and 5, my yoga teacher, Jill Satterfield, will be leading workshops in Burlington.  She’s fantastic, and any time spent with her is time well spent!  Saturday will be a workshop on working with yoga as a way of working with the mind… this stuff is really neat.  It runs 1-7 pm.  Sunday, there are two hour-long sessions if you want private attention.  Jill’s teacher trainees will help you individually, with practice questions, alignment, and any special training.  Jill will be observing and helping out.  Go to Burlington Yoga’s web site to register for any of it.  It’s not to be missed!

October 5 is the gallery opening of my first art show!  I will have three photographs in Dianne Schullenberger’s gallery, with about 12 other artists.  The show is called “Allure of Rocks”, and runs Oct. 5 to Nov. 9.  Please come for the opening, from 2-5 on the 5th, to see some beautiful work and support me!  More information here.  No need to RSVP, but please feel free to be in touch if you have any questions.

The Disaster of 1871

About this time of year in 1871, just over 1000 whalers were abandoning their ships off the Arctic coast of Alaska.  It wast termed “The Disaster of 1871″ and was the subject of my senior thesis at Brown.

39 ships chased to the whaling grounds of the right whale, on the northern coast of Alaska.  Previous decades of non-stop whaling had made this the only location of promise for summer whaling, and captains were pushing further and further, hoping for good catches.  Sea ice was a constant presence, even in the summer, but it would blow offshore in the summer months, allowing ships to snake between land and ice to hunt for whales.  In 1871, the currents and winds that held the ice offshore did not kick in strongly enough, and 32 whaleships were stuck.  The log book of the whaleship Henry Taber noted, “…light winds from the NW, the ice closing in fast on the land….”

Ships began to be crushed by the ice.  The bark Roman was furthest north and the first to go.  She was “crushed in the ice…she was stove a little S of the Seahorse Island in five minutes after the ice struck the masts went over the side and she went down side first all hands took to their boats.”

The captains met and drafted a letter, stating their intent to abandon ship. An excerpt:

Know all men by these presents, that we, the undersigned, masters of whale-ships now lying at Point Belcher, after holding a meeting concerning our dreadful situation, have all come to the conclusion that our ships cannot be got out this year, and there being no harbor that we can get our vessels into, and not having provisions enough to feed our crews to exceed three months, and being in a barren country, where there is neither food or fuel to be obtained, we feel ourselves under the painful necessity of abandoning our vessels, and trying to work our way south with our boats, and, if possible, get on board of ships that are south of the ice. We think it would not be prudent to leave a single soul to look after our vessels, as the first westerly gale will crowd the ice ashore, and either crush the ships or drive them high upon the beach. Three of the fleet have already been crushed, and two are now lying hove out, which have been crushed by the ice, and are leaking badly….

Evacuees found seven ships that weren’t stuck, and they evacuated the others, just over 1000 people (including a few captains’ wives and children) back to their Pacific home base, Honolulu.  This was a major rescue, and a major economic loss.  My thesis looked at some of the effects of this event, on the whaling economy and its culture.  It’s been of some use to scholars in this area, and I’m now posting it online in the hope that it will be more findable by those who are looking to learn more about the wild world of whaling.

It’s here, in pdf.

free as in music

Free music is mostly a misnomer these days, relegated to summer concerts and the odd open-mike night at the local coffee shop.  But to some bands, free is an opportunity.

Jim’s Big Ego, the tongue-in-cheek, clever, insightful brainchild of Jim Infantino, just released online its fifth album, free*.  Free* will be available in physical form in a few weeks, but for now you can download the full album for any range of money.  The more you spend, the higher quality download you get.

Jim is a Bostonian and (I hope he won’t mind me outing him) a meditator.  He was my next-cushion neighbor on retreat this summer.  I had a sneak preview of some of these songs, as Jim pulled out a borrowed guitar a few evenings after everything else was finished.

<Pause for an interlude about the music on this retreat> The picture below is of Jim composing some napkin poetry during one of the retreat celebrations.  He is accompanied by some of the most talented musicians I know.  Eli Gordon, on flute, jumped in and improvised on just about anything the others played.  Alex Van Gils writes songs, plays guitar and piano (and probably other instruments), in multiple genres.  Impromptu music sessions also enjoyed the participation of many others, on piano, guitar, drums, singing, dancing, etc.</pause>

Jim professes that he doesn’t write love songs.  Perhaps not in the standard sense, but this album is full of lines that poke at the most universal parts of our modern human experience.  He caricatures our most common neuroses, and so betrays the necessity of love.  Check it out, and go see him if you can!