Posts tagged with "Photography"

I wrote an article about how to organize a community swap/barter meet for Shareable

By Shira | Feb 4, 10 12:47 PM

Shareable, a website that "tells the story of sharing,” invited me to write a how-to article for their site and I seized the opportunity in the hopes of inspiring similar efforts in other communities.

Read the article: How to Throw a Community Swap Meet

New Ithaca Freeskool Mushroom Hunt Video

By Shira | Jan 12, 10 11:58 AM

Renowned local fungi expert Carl Whittaker led a Mushroom Hunt and Identification on August 30th, 2009 as part of the Ithaca Freeskool summer session, and I finally got around to editing the footage. Enjoy the beauties of the Danby State Forest while learning about many species of edible and inedible mushrooms.

Mushroom Hunt and Identification - Ithaca Freeskool Distance Learning from Shira Golding on Vimeo.

Photos from NYC and Thanksgiving

By Shira | Dec 4, 09 04:31 PM

My Life in Pictures

By Shira | Nov 14, 09 01:59 AM

HappyCommunity by Apak

By Ari | Oct 7, 09 08:49 PM

HappyCommunity
Originally uploaded by apak

I continue to love Apak. Imagine living in such a happy community!

They've posted lots of new stuff on Flickr, check it out.

Photos from My Family's Visit to Ithaca Last Weekend

By Shira | Sep 9, 09 11:27 AM

My parents Hana and Dov, my brother Amit and his wife Sharon, and their kids Eli and Natan all came up from Maryland to Ithaca for the weekend. They couldn't sleep at our place because Eli is allergic to cats, but their hotel was really close to The Commons and we managed to pack in a lot of antics - The Cayuga Nature Center, The Johnson Museum of Art and the Suspension Bridge up at Cornell, Cascadilla Gorge, The Farmers' Market, a 2-hour cruise on The Cayuga Lake Floating Classroom and The Science Center. We also took my parents see the land we might buy near The Dacha. Thank you, Ithaca!

Another Jam-Packed Weekend

By Shira | Sep 1, 09 11:46 AM

Photos from NYC and New Paltz

By Shira | Aug 19, 09 09:56 PM

I went down to NYC on Thursday for Meg's bachelorette party. Ari joined me Friday and on Saturday we drove up to New Paltz for Meg and Kevin's wedding. It was a great weekend!

New sites, new photos, new art

By Ari | Aug 14, 09 01:51 PM

Some recent work and updates:

The Amazing Hope Machine - a site about our friend Max's theatre work, with art by Matthew Duncan

Vintage Lucy - my mom's new vintage clothing shop; she's moving on from eBay. It's all used clothes, so it's good for the environment, and it has a vegan section, too!

Fundamentally Wrong - just started this blog about people doing messed up things in the name of god and religion

Lots of new art and photography and videos on Flickr

I've been blogging for freeDimensional

I post a lot of links and timely stuff (Ithaca and NYC events etc.) on Facebook and Twitter

And Shira and I have been posting a lot of great links on Delicious

Peace!

fD Outreach: Wasan Retreat 2009

By Ari | Aug 5, 09 04:15 PM

fD outreach: wasan retreat 2009
Originally uploaded by arimoore

Shira and I work for freeDimensional, an international network that fosters collaboration and resource-sharing between activists and art spaces. I recently became its Director of Communications. Fun! One of my first big projects has been helping to coordinate the follow-up documentation and outreach of our Wasan Retreat 2009.

We used Flickr and other social media including the Ning I set up for fD to record the happening, and to digest all we learned there so that it will be of use to a wider audience. Over time we'll be posting more and more videos and texts, but even now, you can see photos, videos, info on the amazing people who were there, and other coverage online. Check it out and join the Ning if you too care about free expression and the power of culture to change the world!

Learning to Make Pumpkin Cheesecake with the Ithaca Freeskool Vegan Cooking Skillshare

By Shira | Aug 2, 09 10:54 AM

So much fun, so delicious! Stay tuned for the video...

Thanks for teaching us the recipe, Sharon!

Join us for the next class, every other Wednesday beginning June 3rd at 6pm. Check out the Facebook group for the latest info.

Photos from the Ithaca Freeskool Outreach Board Decorating Party

By Shira | Jul 28, 09 10:58 AM

We're planning on doing some tabling in the hopes of getting more people involved in Ithaca Freeskool. So we got together at Lily/Sharon/Marina's place to create an outreach board, science fair style. Check out the photos below...

Dear progressive media: As much as I like naked ladies, please stop displaying naked ladies.

By Ari | Jul 24, 09 09:55 AM

I try to stay positive when bloging - I used to be more critical, posting more firey activist ramblings, but have learned that that is not so productive. But. I have to post this.

What is with mainstream media and progressive blogs covering Michelle Obama's hairstyle and clothing? Why are they constantly taking polls to see who approves of Hilary Clinton's suits? And when someone in the public eye has a "nip slip" or poses naked in a magazine, or displays cleavage at an event, why does everyone republish those photos and ask for reader opinions?

This kind of objectification is not helpful.

This is sexism, and it perpetuates sexism.

We live in a society in which women's bodies are constantly under observation and evaluation. Yes, men's too, but the reality of our world is that women are under particular scrutiny. Ours is a history of exploitation and domination and systemic violence that has not stopped.

I visit a lot of progressive blogs, and some of them shock me with their seeming ignorance of the harm this objectification does to women and to the cause of feminism. I've started leaving comments and writing letters and speaking out when I see it, instead of fuming silently.

As long as I'm writing about this, I want to call progressive organizations and campaigns on the same fault. Yes, people might use their bodies willingly to draw attention to something they care about, and they may reach new audiences because "sex sells," but that does not make the sexist objectification of women acceptable or productive.

Dr. King said, "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." He wasn't speaking about this particular issue, but his words are true in every situation. There is no place for the perpetuation of sexism or any other ism in any social justice movement, and we all have a responsibility to root out these stale old tropes from our collective vocabularies so we can move on, together, in equity and in peace.

Foraging for Mushrooms

By Shira | Jul 22, 09 03:20 PM

We went foraging for wild edible mushrooms with our friends Lea and Danila from the Dacha Project in the Robert H. Treman State Park. Thanks to Ari's keen eye, we discovered a huge patch of chanterelles. In addition to enjoying them in salads and stir-fries for the last few days, we gave some to friends and traded some for sprouts and a zucchini from Dancing Turtle Farms at the Share Tompkins Swap Meet. Yay for foraging!

I ♥ Flickr

By Ari | Jul 15, 09 08:14 PM

smells good!
Originally uploaded by Yoshiko Oouchi

Posting things on Flickr, and enjoying the scenery. Had to share this amazing drawing I just came across, by Yoshiko Oouchi.

Things I've posted recently:

For my Flickr faves, go here. Also see Shira's Flickr.

Photos from freeDimensional's Emerging Art Spaces Retreat on Wasan Island

By Shira | Jul 11, 09 12:55 PM

Ari and I went to Wasan Island in the Muskoka Lake region of Canada to help facilitate and document a retreat for people working in emerging art spaces around the world. Organized by the nonprofit network freeDimensional and supported by Breuninger Stiftung Foundation, the week-long convergence provided an opportunity to connect, relax and delve into the interconnections between art, freedom of expression and human rights.

Despite my role as documenter - I was taking photos and shooting video for a large part of the time - I was still able to connect deeply with the group and with the island. It's a beautiful place that allows people from very different geographies to find common ground.

Check out the photos and stay tuned for video...

Peanut tattoos

By Ari | Jun 12, 09 11:28 AM

lovebirds
Originally uploaded by picklepuff

Shira and I post a lot of our photography and art on Flickr with Creative Commons licenses so it can be used and shared. A while back I posted this sheet of tattoo art ideas that I sent to my brother Ant in Massachusetts. And then the other day I heard from picklepuff on Flickr; she wanted to know if she and her friend could use this little peanut guy I drew for matching tattoos! Ant said yes, so they got inked. Here's a photo. Eeee!

This is the second time that I know of that someone's actually gotten art by me tattooed on them. I've had some other art requests but I don't know if they panned out... I'm always too shy to check in. What do you say, "hey, did you get my goofy sketch permanently painted on your body?" Anyway, wow. I'm so happy to get this photo. Thanks to picklepuff and friend for bringing this peanut to life.

Capitalism is dead: London Protests G20 (photos)

By Ari | Apr 2, 09 09:02 AM

Yaaaay, we're not the only ones wondering how making bankers and other capitalists richer is going to help everyone else. Check out this amazing slideshow showing London protesters clashing with police at the G20 summit, courtesy of ABC News.

While I wish that all of the protesters had remained nonviolent, it seems most of them did. What a turn-out. Seeing the huge crowd gives me hope that a world made for people and not for profit is just around the corner.

(Top photo by PA/AP, bottom photo by Andrew Winning/Reuters. Please don't sue me for using these without permission.)

DIY Holidays

By Ari | Dec 7, 08 05:53 PM

he needs help sitting up
Originally uploaded by arimoore

Kirsten Dirksen and Nicolás Boullosa wrote an article called Holiday shopping guide? 15 tips, and used this photo of this little tofu guy I made for Shira to illustrate it. Thanks Kirsten and Nicolás! The gift guide is fantastic, all about creating a joyous holiday with a sustainability-oriented, "buy nothing" ethos. Yeeah!

Recycling...The Least You Can Do

By Shira | Nov 13, 08 01:23 PM

Did you know that November 10-16 is International Recycling Week? Neither did I, until it showed up in one of my RSS feeds. Recycling is a good thing, but really, it's the least you can do. If there is a recycling system set up in your region, how could you not wash out your cans and bottles and put them curbside? In Ithaca, recycling actually saves you money because it's free, whereas you have to pay for garbage collection by weight. The problem is that so much public campaigning goes into promoting recycling, and very few people know that there are much more drastic ways to reduce your waste.

For the past month, I've been participating in the Ithaca freeskool reading group on permaculture. We're reading David Holmgren's Permaculture: Principles and Pathways Beyond Sustainability. In Holmgren's chapter on waste, he outlines that in an ideal system there is no "waste" - only material that can be repurposed for food, fertilizer or some other utility.

Most people have heard "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle" in which the first is preferable and recycling is only what you should do after you've exhausted use, but Holmgren adds a couple more key Rs to the list - Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Repair, Recycle. To refuse is paramount, especially in the United States, which is disproportionately responsible for resource consumption and carbon emissions. To refuse is pretty easy when you start asking yourself "Do I really need this?" before purchasing new stuff.

Repair is another key step. Do you always get holes in your jeans in the same place - how many times have you patched your pants and kept wearing them? It might be easier to get a new DVD player when yours breaks but why not get it repaired - even if it takes a little more time and maybe even more money? The problem with our culture is that we're focused on convenience and money and have lost our understanding of true cost and true wealth.

Recycling is great and definitely something we should be doing as a society, but it is still very expensive and frustratingly limited. Even in a green oasis like Ithaca, there are only certain containers that can be recycled and the rest go to landfills. And don't even get me started on Tetra Paks.

So, while it's International Recycling Week, and I have your attention, why not think of some significant ways you could reduce your waste before recycling? Here are a few things we're doing:

Buying very little and whenever possible, getting stuff for free or stuff that's been owned and used by someone else first. We're planning on building our future home from mostly salvaged (and natural) materials.
Buying local to reduce the amount of resources and waste that go into transporting goods across the world.
Using tote bags instead of plastic/paper bags and buying food in bulk in reusable containers. The Greenstar coop has an awesome bulk food section, including shampoo and cooking oils!
Fixing stuff. Ari has a knack for sewing and has breathed new life into many pieces of clothing. When the cassette tape part of our stereo broke, we found a shop in Brooklyn that could fix it. Now we can keep listening to our cheesy tape collection from the 80s and 90s and there's one less piece of electronics in a landfill.
Composting. We're looking forward to having our own land and building a composting toilet. My dream is to convert methane gas produced by our poo into energy. In the meantime, we compost all of our organic material. We drop off our food compost at the coop, but in the spring, well put it into our garden.

So yes, recycling is good, but it's still a compromise when it comes to consumption and waste. Don't forget to first refuse, reduce, reuse and repair!

Previously:

The Ithaca Green Buildings Open House

By Shira | Oct 17, 08 04:25 PM

Ari and I spent the first weekend of October climbing on people's roofs, investigating their toilets, and befriending their goats. No, we weren't being inappropriately nosy - it was all part of the 2008 Ithaca Green Buildings Open House!

In partnership with the American Solar Energy Society's National Solar Tour, Cornell Cooperative Extension of Tompkins County, Ithaca Green Building Alliance and the Northeast Sustainable Energy Association organized the two-day event in which twenty-seven sites were open to visitors.

As aspiring owner-builders with a vision for a naturally-built, sustainable ecovillage, the tour offered an amazing opportunity to see what building and energy techniques work locally, and to meet a bunch of really cool people. In addition to a lot of photovoltaic systems, we checked out some amazing living/green roofs, unconventional stoves, outhouses, vegetable gardens, and really, really long driveways.

Folks were using a variety of building-techniques including timber-frame, strawbale, earth-berming and round construction. We also learned, not surprisingly, that a lot of green home-owners love animals. We made friends with many cats and dogs and even a couple of goats!

We managed to visit six homes, but my favorite was the first - Sarah Highland's straw-clay timber-framed house-in-progress. Sarah designed and is building the house herself, with help from friends. It's surrounded by beautiful land featuring a pond, an adorable sauna, and a composting toilet outhouse, which Sarah and Liz lovingly refer to as their "room with a view" and which is also temporarily housing their solar panel equipment.

While some of the other homes on the tour were just as beautiful, Sarah had designed and built the house mostly by herself, which is pretty damn impressive. The masonry stove itself, is something to behold.

All in all, it was a great tour. My take-aways are:

It's all about the land.
If you're not too far from the road, being on-grid has some benefits, even if you're generating most of your own power.
Wood is a beautiful building material.
Solar systems are easier to maintain if they're not on your roof. Unless of course, if you have a solar hot water system on top of your earth-bermed green roof like the Bensons.
Water catchment is easy - all you need is a barrel.
Being a bit of a gadget geek is good.
It makes sense to design a home where you can age in place.
Salvaged and vintage stuff is awesome.
Make friends with your local saw mill.

Here are some of my favorite photos from the tour...

liz says she likes big "crazy" ideas like bike generators - me too!

approaching tina macdonald's place

visitors on the bensons' earth-sheltered living roof

the bensons' roof is so cool...

Hopefully it won't be too long before our home is part of the Ithaca Green Buildings Tour...

Goodbye NYC Flickr...

By Ari | Oct 3, 08 06:48 PM

I'm paring down the many groups (305!) I'm in on Flickr and I've just realized I should say goodbye to the NYC-specific groups I likely won't have many submissions for, at least not until we visit one day. So sad! I really liked a lot of them so I thought I'd post them here, in case anyone out there is also on Flickr, and wants to meet other NYC photographers or share their NYC work.

Brooklyn
Brooklyn Graffiti
11 Spring St
Nature NYC
Figment*
Bushwick, Brooklyn
New York City
Arts in Bushwick
NYC Text Art

Shirari Industries