Makers gonna make. And everything's better with a banner. And a hashtag.
Sunday, July 10, 2016
Thursday, July 7, 2016
The Scent of Wild Thyme
This photo was taken probably in 1990, when my husband was assigned to the US Embassy in Addis Ababa and we lived there for three years. It was taken at the Blue Nile Gorge at the escarpment near what is known as the Portuguese Bridge. I'm on the left, and my friend Judith, whom I had known at our previous post in Jakarta, Indonesia, is with me. I just spoke with Judith yesterday, who has remained a friend all these years, and who currently lives in Anchorage.
The Proust memory is the scent of wild thyme.
Loved those red Minnetonka moccasins.
The Proust memory is the scent of wild thyme.
Loved those red Minnetonka moccasins.
Monday, July 4, 2016
This Time Next Week
This time next week we will be in the air, flying to Addis Ababa. I've been packing and re-packing, putting in and taking out. Wondering how I'll get all the books there. How are the students doing with their packing and final preparations? Are everyone's papers in order? I'll be glad to be on the other side of these concerns, on the ground and meeting our partners at ILAE.
I've kept a lot of travel journals. They've evolved over the years. Once I got into the DIY/Maker frame of mind I started becoming a little more creative with them. Inspired by my long-time friend and colleague, Lindi, I made this little scrapbook for a trip to the east coast one spring.
Then, a purchased notebook with lots of 2-D memorabilia for a Burma trip in 2012 with two of my kids.
After I took a book making class, I made my own coptic stitch journal for last summer's trip to Japan. Stuffed like a tamale. So many paper tschotchkes in Japan...
I made one for this trip using printed photos I took about 25 years ago for the covers. I have to review the directions for coptic stitch every time I make a journal, they just don't stick in my head. I can't wait to stuff it full!
I've kept a lot of travel journals. They've evolved over the years. Once I got into the DIY/Maker frame of mind I started becoming a little more creative with them. Inspired by my long-time friend and colleague, Lindi, I made this little scrapbook for a trip to the east coast one spring.
Then, a purchased notebook with lots of 2-D memorabilia for a Burma trip in 2012 with two of my kids.
After I took a book making class, I made my own coptic stitch journal for last summer's trip to Japan. Stuffed like a tamale. So many paper tschotchkes in Japan...
I made one for this trip using printed photos I took about 25 years ago for the covers. I have to review the directions for coptic stitch every time I make a journal, they just don't stick in my head. I can't wait to stuff it full!
Friday, July 1, 2016
The Library Project, Part 2
A library is more than a pile of books. Even if the books are carefully selected, catalogued, labeled, organized on shelves and circulated. Library users have to have access to the much larger world of information provided by electronic, online resources. So I have also created a Google site, ILAE Digital Resources, that provides links to free web resources in many subject areas.
It's not fancy, and the URLs are not neatly concealed under links, but I'm calling it a decent start on a collection of reasonably authoritative sites. I have tried to include resources beyond North American and European sites, but they needed to be in English, and I was using Google to search, so I know there's work left to be done in providing a greater variety of perspectives. Suggestions for additions to the resources are welcome.
The biggest challenge to access to these and other resources is the unreliability of the Internet in Ethiopia. There is only one service provider (the government) and electricity is inconsistent, with frequent power outages. Not to mention a lack of computers. But when the stars align, the resource is there.
Tuesday, June 28, 2016
The Library Project
I had been looking for a way to return to Ethiopia in a useful way. I had gone for two weeks during the summer of 2007 with a group called Ethiopia Reads, and marveled then at the changes since the civil war had come to an end and the new government had settled in. Lots of economic development, more emphasis on ethnic identity, t-shirts depicting Haile Selassie, which you would never have seen during the time of the Dergue.
A friend who knew of my interest introduced me to her friend, coincidentally an alumnus of the school where I worked, who was involved in setting up a new kind of high school in Addis Ababa. A group of Ethiopian Americans had approached the Northwest School and asked them to join in a partnership in making their dream a reality. ILAE opened its doors in 2013 with about 25 ninth grade students, hand-picked for their high academic performance and enthusiasm for learning. Those ninth graders are now rising seniors, the class of 2017, first graduating class of ILAE. They have since been joined by three other cohorts, and the school year will open in the fall with full enrollment in four grades.
I knew I wanted to be a part of this endeavor, but I needed to wait a year for the time to be right. I have been planning to work the summer program at ILAE for at least a year and a half. I'm so excited it's finally happening.
English is the medium of instruction in Ethiopian high schools, but my experience in 2007, and previously, had shown me that there was a serious lack of materials, textbook and literature, in English, in the schools. It seemed like a good idea to me to collect materials for a library-- not just cast-off old encyclopedias from grandma's attic, but a highly-curated collection, targeted at this group of students.
In December I started trolling the plentiful thrift stores in the Seattle area for books that I thought would be suitable. Some classics, a lot of multicultural coming of age stories, everything by African authors I could find, graphic novels, history, and educational materials to support the STEM curriculum. I identified a number of titles for which I was able to collect class sets-- and I never paid much more than $2 for anything. Being a librarian, I created a catalog of all titles and put card pockets in them for simple circulation.
Now, well over 400 titles later, I am, with the help of the students and others who are traveling from Seattle to Ethiopia, and with generous donations from friends for the overweight luggage charges we will have, delivering a high quality print library to go with electronic resources that the school has been accumulating. (And which are still usable when the electricity goes out.)
I truly can't wait to get this little gem of a library up and running, with students trained to manage circulation. And now that I am hooked on Goodwill book shopping, I'm going to have to figure out how to keep the pipeline running!
A friend who knew of my interest introduced me to her friend, coincidentally an alumnus of the school where I worked, who was involved in setting up a new kind of high school in Addis Ababa. A group of Ethiopian Americans had approached the Northwest School and asked them to join in a partnership in making their dream a reality. ILAE opened its doors in 2013 with about 25 ninth grade students, hand-picked for their high academic performance and enthusiasm for learning. Those ninth graders are now rising seniors, the class of 2017, first graduating class of ILAE. They have since been joined by three other cohorts, and the school year will open in the fall with full enrollment in four grades.
I knew I wanted to be a part of this endeavor, but I needed to wait a year for the time to be right. I have been planning to work the summer program at ILAE for at least a year and a half. I'm so excited it's finally happening.
English is the medium of instruction in Ethiopian high schools, but my experience in 2007, and previously, had shown me that there was a serious lack of materials, textbook and literature, in English, in the schools. It seemed like a good idea to me to collect materials for a library-- not just cast-off old encyclopedias from grandma's attic, but a highly-curated collection, targeted at this group of students.
In December I started trolling the plentiful thrift stores in the Seattle area for books that I thought would be suitable. Some classics, a lot of multicultural coming of age stories, everything by African authors I could find, graphic novels, history, and educational materials to support the STEM curriculum. I identified a number of titles for which I was able to collect class sets-- and I never paid much more than $2 for anything. Being a librarian, I created a catalog of all titles and put card pockets in them for simple circulation.
Now, well over 400 titles later, I am, with the help of the students and others who are traveling from Seattle to Ethiopia, and with generous donations from friends for the overweight luggage charges we will have, delivering a high quality print library to go with electronic resources that the school has been accumulating. (And which are still usable when the electricity goes out.)
I truly can't wait to get this little gem of a library up and running, with students trained to manage circulation. And now that I am hooked on Goodwill book shopping, I'm going to have to figure out how to keep the pipeline running!
Two More Weeks
Two more weeks and we will be off to Addis Ababa to spend a month at ILAE, the International Leadership Academy of Ethiopia. We are a group of students, mostly from one independent Seattle high school, The Northwest School, but representing several other Seattle schools, too.
We have been preparing for this adventure for months, getting passports and immunizations, creating a packing list, informing ourselves about Ethiopian topics-- history, culture, geography, art, sports, economic development, environmental concerns and wildlife conservation, etc.
We will be participating in the summer school program, which consists of a 'boot camp' for entering 9th graders, national exams test prep for 10th graders, and enrichment classes for the rising 12th grade class of 2017, which will be the first graduating class.
In addition to the daily classes, we will have lots of field trips around Addis Ababa and several excursions with our Ethiopian peers to areas of interest. We will also participate in service projects that have been initiated by the ILAE students.
We are loading our suitcases with equipment and materials for the school, including a fleet of laptops, and nearly 500 books for classroom reference and a circulating library.
Satisfy your eagerness to get on the plane by looking at this 5 minute video.
YouTube video of ILAE
We have been preparing for this adventure for months, getting passports and immunizations, creating a packing list, informing ourselves about Ethiopian topics-- history, culture, geography, art, sports, economic development, environmental concerns and wildlife conservation, etc.
We will be participating in the summer school program, which consists of a 'boot camp' for entering 9th graders, national exams test prep for 10th graders, and enrichment classes for the rising 12th grade class of 2017, which will be the first graduating class.
In addition to the daily classes, we will have lots of field trips around Addis Ababa and several excursions with our Ethiopian peers to areas of interest. We will also participate in service projects that have been initiated by the ILAE students.
We are loading our suitcases with equipment and materials for the school, including a fleet of laptops, and nearly 500 books for classroom reference and a circulating library.
Satisfy your eagerness to get on the plane by looking at this 5 minute video.
YouTube video of ILAE
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