In the past couple of years, the work that I have done is anything but a traditional “job” and it also paid as such… non-existant. So since finishing up a photojournalism degree and taking a job at a real Chicago paper as a staff photographer… I quit in a year. Quit for what you ask? Well to do do documentary work for a foundation in South India. When that ended I went and visited some friends in Nepal. Then I fell into another gig. For two years I taught English at a Tibetan Buddhist monastery.

So to re-cap newspaper pay = salary /quit\ foundation pay = low freelance /finished\ English to monks = free room and board, walking around money, but spending my time with the most amazing people and my kindred heart family = pricelss… but unfortunately the government doesn’t understand that whole priceless argument when it comes to repaying student loans.

So back to the states I came. Job market horrible. Newspaper freelance work hit or miss. Tons one weekend nothing the next. So my plan? I joined AmeriCorps. Health insurance = good, pay = crap, job= rewarding, I work with pregnant and parenting teens on social media and art projects in the south side high school.

But again the whole government not understanding the priceless-ness of a rewarding job that doesn’t pay much and want their student loans paid.

Bartending got me through college for photojournalism. Swore I wouldn’t be going back. Famous last words. But at least it’s on my terms at a place that is swank, sells amazing whole foods, has a super wine, beer, cheese, coffee and chocolate department under my semi-control. Ummmm and it pays WELL.

May have found a new dream job….. that is of course until I decide to float off and do something else out of the impulsive instinct of my heart and chase of to yet another dream that will make me horrendously happy and probably won’t pay. But like everything else, I’ll give it an honest go for a year. (Well nearly everything else)

So for now you will be able to find me as the associate bar manager of the new Whole Foods opening up in April / May. An yes, they have a bar. How cool is that?

At least I can surround myself in quality and orgnic products that I am proud to sell for a company that I am proud to say that I work for… Oh. And I won’t go home smelling like old man scotch, chicken fingers or riblets. And I certainly won’t have to smile and ever say , “oh yea the riblets are great”. PUKE

When life throws a lot of cool information at you, make a map!

So yes, there is a map for that. I am working with AmeriCorps on different communications strategies and loving it.

One of my current projects is planning out information for Martin Luther King Day Service Projects. So I started a google form to collect data, synthesized the spreadsheet, and made a map for it.

After the projects run we will be able to add photos and videos from the projects to the markers and it will become a living mapped out document of our service.

I know. These things are geeky. But goodness do I love data and web 2.0. This is the first run of the map made via Zeemap. Hopefully if all goes as proposed we will have a multi-user blog up and running soon to host all the great stuff that each host project will be putting out there into the world.

Check back for updates as the project unfolds, but for now, check out this really cool map.

I haven’t posted in quite a while. Things here have been beyond busy and hectic!

Where to start… I’m still freelancing a lot on the weekends and evenings, mostly for Pioneer, sometimes for the Red Eye. The freelance work keeps me shooting and pays the bills, so I certainly can’t complain there.

What is new, is that I’m also now working a 9 to 5′er too. Whew. I get tired just thinking of all the work hours I’m putting in. So about the new gig. It’s through Americorps and it has me working in the non-profit and development sector, which is beyond great.

I am working with Alternatives, Inc., a youth and family agency in Uptown. I am working on a media project with pregnant and parenting teens at Simpson Academy and The Night Ministry. Myself and an amazing intern from DePaul, Jaime, are working with both groups of young ladies to develop a website and a newsletter geared towards raising awareness of pregnant and parenting teens. It’s a tremendous challenge, but I absolutely love it.

Stay tuned for website links and more stories about the young women to follow…

Check out the gallery of my photos on PioneerLocal.com from the Skokie Health Care meeting on Monday night!

Since coming back home to the good ‘ol US of A, it’s been shooting some work, looking for more work and a bit of writing here and there.

One of the gigs that I am hoping to land is as a writer for Digital Photography School.  I kicked out a sample article for them, which you should check out, and I am working on a second.  They are looking for someone to contribute a few articles a month, which would be fantastic.  So check it out and check it often!

If you want to see what else I have been up to you can check out my photoblog and I’ll post some links to some assignments once they go live!

Creative Compositions: Finding Framing; An Article for Digital Photography School

I have been one heck of a busy bee here at IBA.

To begin with, every morning from 8 to 9:30; I have a teaching with Khenpo Jamyang Tenzin on The Way of the Bodhisattva by Shantideva.

Then at 10 I have Tibetan Language with Khenpo Jorden for an hour. Tomorrow is our first exam on Unit 1: This, that: Here, there: to be; You get the jest of it. I think I am ready…

Today I took a break from the 2:30 review class on The Way of the Bodhisattva to head out with two of my students, Thupten Phuntsok and Thupten Palbar, for a walk around the stupa and a juice run.

I thought that I would apologize for my postless blog by offering you a few photos and a quote from the text this week. I hope that it in some small way makes up for my absence.

In this quote by Shantideva, he condenses one of the most important principles of the world (to me anyway) in a few short but sweet four line stanzas:

All the joy the world contains

Has come through wishing happiness for others.

All the misery the world contains

Has come through wanting pleasure for oneself.

Is there need for lengthy explanation?

Childish beings look out for themselves,

While Buddhas labor for the good of others:

See the difference that divides them!

If I do not give away

My happiness for others’ pain

Enlightenment will never be attained,

And even in samsara, joy will fly from me.

And now for some photos and a trip to the juice stand…

I spent 10 days with over 300 people from over 40 countries studying the text and commentaries on Parting from the Four Attachments at the International Buddhist Academy.  The retreat morning teachings were with Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse Rinpoche and then the afternoon Calm Abiding Meditation sessions were led by Lama Chodak Rinpoche.

The experience was beyond amazing.  I am learning a little bit more every day about what it means to have faith.  After taking refuge with Khenpo Jorden in Chicago, that was one thing that I have yet to fully grasp.  I am feeling a little bit closer to understanding faith each day.

Go enlightenment.

Check out more photos on the flickr album page!

Today was a pretty event filled uneventful day.

I thought that I would narrate it for you and give you a little photo tour.

At 6 am I got up. I went to the kitchen and helped Tamdin make chapatis for breakfast. My chapatis are never round, they are either oblong or square.

I met Jane at the Tinchuli Chowk (intersection) to go with her to this Tamang family’s home where their grandfather, who is a lama, was doing pujas.

The grandfather of the Tamang family explains in Tamang about the puja and ceremonies.

They were amazingly hospitable and fed us breakfast. I will be returning there soon, I hope. In a week or so they will be having “lama dances” to celebrate the commencement of the months of pujas.

Fried up white chapatis, channa dal, and some sort of aloo are served up for breakfast, as I catch Jane off gaurd with her mouth full.

Then Jane and I left and met Belén near the chowk. We grabbed a taxi and headed to the Kumari Cinema where we went and saw Star Trek. Can you believe it? Star Trek… And right when it released in the states too. My how Nepal is growing!

Belén is a new friend of mine. Jane has known her for a while. She studies annually at the I.B.A. She is a yoga instructor from Spain. She has an amazingly loud and contagious laugh. I absolutely adore her. Surely one person to be blessed to meet in Kathmandu.

Stunning Belén, in her looks and her surprise!

On the way to Kumari Cinema, in the taxi, we passed the goat woman. So in honor of my previous travel partner, Allison, I had to pop a photo of the darn goats that are tied to the tree. Throughout the day, the goats become decrease. They become dinner. Not my dinner, but someone, somewhere in Nepal is eating them right now.

On the way to the cinema there are four goats tied to the tree. How many will be tonight's dinner?

Looks like no part of the goat was spared.

So after Star Trek, we went to Bhatbateni, a huge supermarket with anything you can think of craving. Most of the items are imported, they are comparable in price to the west. It’s not a daily do, but it is an outing to cherish.

Then we headed back to Jane and Belén’s house, had a little lunch, and watched an episode of Friends. Ahhh yes, I did say Friends!

From there I headed out in search of a protest rally to photograph, which I had somehow missed. Which led me to head to the café where I am now, Flavor’s, typing away on the internet, sipping on an iced tea, and contemplating my dinner.

the sunset I was waiting for…

Sunset over Kathmandu...

For those of you not in the “know”, loptuk is the Tibetan word for student.

Farewell feast as TG heads back to Sakya Center in Rajpur, India for the summer. Gonna miss him tremendously!!

Thupten Gongphel and myself; with a feast fit for monks and teachers!  It was a great afternoon send off.  Thupten Gongphel really has become one of my best friends here.  I adore him and always look to him for guidance and advice.  Though I often try to squash his ego and tell him that I am not going to follow his suggestions, though I really usually do anyway.

TG got on a bus to India today at 5 or so and then I had dinner in the now quiet and empty dining room of IBA.  It really hit me that he has gone when my favorite routine was once again gone.  Everynight TG and I would walk around the garden of IBA for an hour or so, just talking and chatting about this and that.  I really do cherish that routine and will surely miss it in the upcomming months.

So I guess that the smart thing to do would be to replace these routines with ones filled with studying my philosophy and Tibetan, learning to finally commit to mediation, and to go out and take some great kick butt photos! Ahh if only I could follow my own advice!

Its amazing that in just a few short months time I became so close to these guys. I really do love my students dearly. And I am already eager for them to return.

Tsering Norbu and Thupten Gongphel during our farewell lunch at The Garden.

Some of them will be staying around Kathmandu and I have elected them to help me study my Tibetan and philosophy. All the while it will be them studying English as well. What a great summer exchange.