From the video website:

In a small school a little north and a little west of downtown Durham, N.C., a group of eleven-, twelve- and thirteen-year-olds has been busy organizing a field-trip.

Watch as a middle school’s gay-straight alliance, GLOW, for Gay Lesbian or Whatever, embarks [...]]]> Courageous actions from wonderful children.

From the video website:

In a small school a little north and a little west of downtown Durham, N.C., a group of eleven-, twelve- and thirteen-year-olds has been busy organizing a field-trip.

Watch as a middle school’s gay-straight alliance, GLOW, for Gay Lesbian or Whatever, embarks on an adventure in civic engagement with real consequences for many of the club’s members.

“They don’t really see kids as having an idea of how they want their future to be like,” said Sarah, a GLOW member, “but when we actually voice our opinion it really does make a difference.”

Production: Mimi Schiffman
Music: Phil Cook & His Feat
Additional Camera: Patrick Mustain and Vanessa Patchett

Special thanks to:
Lisa Joyner
Carolina Friends School
Phil Cook

I just happened to come across this video and was glad I did.  Travel Portland put together an awesome video of Portland and its surrounding areas. Watching this makes me miss living there.  The nature, the bookstores, the rain, the people, the culture, the beer (oh, the beer!), the [...]]]> This is a cool video.

I just happened to come across this video and was glad I did.  Travel Portland put together an awesome video of Portland and its surrounding areas. Watching this makes me miss living there.  The nature, the bookstores, the rain, the people, the culture, the beer (oh, the beer!), the hiking, and the weirdness.  Someday I hope to return.  Enjoy!

As a review, chacha is made just like vodka except that chacha is made from grapes, not potatoes.  When I say grapes, I mean the parts of the grapes that are left over after stomping on them to make wine.

This is a video of the family making the white wine.  The red wine had already been made so I have no video of that.  Apologies in advanced for the poor video quality [...]]]> When last we met this subject, the wine container was being cleaned. Now it is time to make the wine.  

This is a video of the family making the white wine.  The red wine had already been made so I have no video of that.  Apologies in advanced for the poor video quality – the lighting was very bad.

My family has four clay wine containers buried in the ground.  The sizes are something like 1000L, 300L, 200L and maybe another 200L.  The video below is of the 1000L container being cleaned.  This container is about 6 [...]]]> It is that time of year to make wine.  But first, you must clean the wine containers.  

My family has four clay wine containers buried in the ground.  The sizes are something like 1000L, 300L, 200L and maybe another 200L.  The video below is of the 1000L container being cleaned.  This container is about 6 feet tall and Malkhasi, the dad, can easily stand inside of the container to clean it.  The last video I published was about the making of the wine container brush and this video shows the brush in action.  Can you guess what the next video will be about?

I made this video in the same fashion as the last one – no narration, just simple text explaining what is going on. [...]]]> I recorded a video of my family making a brush that is used to clean out the inside of the clay wine containers that are buried in the ground.

I made this video in the same fashion as the last one – no narration, just simple text explaining what is going on.  I prefer this method over the narration so that you can get a better experience of what it is like to be there at that moment.  There is a news station called euronews that will sometimes play videos at the end of shows in a segment called ‘no comment tv’ related to what is going on in the world.  I like this experience a lot and so I am trying to replicate that here.

If I am not too lazy, there should be two more videos coming within the week.

I plan on making more videos.  If you have any suggestions on what you would like to see, let me know.

The Mountain from Terje Sorgjerd on Vimeo.

There were about 6 events planned for the day, from watching old movie clips of him, to visiting his birth home, to visiting the [...]]]> Akaki Tsereteli was a very famous Georgian poet in the late 1800s and early 1900s. He was born in my town and last weekend was his 170th birthday. Party time!

There were about 6 events planned for the day, from watching old movie clips of him, to visiting his birth home, to visiting the home he lived in, to attending a concert. I started the day off by attending the movie. I had no idea what the movie was going to be and was pleasantly surprised to watch old clips from 1912 that had been restored. Most of the clips were of nothing important like a group of people crossing a stream. There were clips of Akaki standing in the middle of a group of people that were dancing around him and of people carrying Akaki sitting in a chair into a village. Overall, I thought it was very cool to watch the dress, mannerisms and environment from 100 years ago. It also stirred me that no one in the movie clips would be alive today while a lot of the trees and other plant life are probably still living strong. An interesting thought.

I ran some errands with Susie after the movie and skipped visiting his birth house. I actually think I saw it when I attended the family baptism. Susie and I rejoined the festivities at Akaki’s house, which is now a museum. We took a stroll through the house and observed that he had a great view of the valley from his balcony. We were ushered out of the house so the festivities could begin which consisted of different singers and dancers. Teachers from my school were there and had me pose with them for a group photo.

A little side story. When Susie and I were walking through Akaki’s house, a boy broke a glass box that was around a baby cradle. I saw something out of the corner of my eye and believe it was the boy purposely hitting the glass side. The side collapsed and the top shattered on it way down to the ground. Crash, bang, boom. The museum staff quickly went over and started to clean up the mess. And what happened to the boy? Not a damn thing. I believe he was with his grandma and she just stood there like, oh did he do that? No scolding, no yelling, not even a stern word like shame on you. Not a damn thing. They walked passed me as they entered the next room and the boy had a look on his face like he did nothing wrong. I hate Georgian boys/men and the way they are put on a freaking pedestal. They can do no wrong, but the girls/women are always in trouble. I see this in school all of the time and it drives me freaking batty. Boys with a sense of entitlement. Ugh.

I only took a few photos (or view full screen slideshow of photos here).

I also took a video of the traditional Georgian singers on the footsteps of Akaki’s house: