Disco Underworld #11

disco under w o rld

issue #11 september 2009

the Gold Edition 2009

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issue #11 features

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22 Positive Impact

56 mike’s space

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Next issue’s theme is “Legal Alien: life in another culture.”

direct address

Drop me a line if you have anything to contribute: [email protected]

disco underworld, september 2009 Hello again, welcome to our “Positive Impact” issue! It has been awesome learning about some of the things people are doing to make a positive contribution. From giving back knowledge to biking 16,000 kms across Euroasia, it is nice to know that there are people out there who are, in whatever way they can, doing their bit to make the world a little more positive place.

If you haven’t yet, please grab your copy of The Gold Edition, it is going to be a beautiful collection of all the best photographs and interviews from the past 10 issues of disco underworld. You can’t get this in stores, only online here. That’s it from me, please enjoy this issue, and if you have any thoughts/photos for next issue’s theme be sure to send them through, Stacey [email protected]

Join Music Sandwich! A little bit club, a little bit toasted, a little bit jam, Music Sandwich is the digital music publication which lets you share your work with the world. Do you have a music video, audio, photography, reviews or events you’d like to share with others? If so jump on to facebook, find the Music Sandwich page, become a fan and start posting your offerings on the wall. Invite your friends and once we have 150 facebook fans, we will publish the first issue.

Cover image by Gregory Christie. Read his article on page 8.

disco underworld is published by Online INsight Limited © copyright 2009. By reading and interacting with our magazine and website, you agree to the terms laid out under the “terms of use” on the site www.discounderworld.com. Editor: Stacey Childs [email protected] Contributors: Mike Woodruff, Blanca González, Amanda Gray, Dillie Baria, Stacey Childs.

If you aren’t on facebook, email: [email protected] with links to your contribution.

Coming up in the next few pages:

Each issue will be available here as it is published: www.music-sandwich.com

Ways we can get to know each other better

Gregory Christie

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regory is a freelance American artist with an interest both artistically and socially in illustrating children’s books. Influenced and inspired by Picasso for his talent and Oscar Wilde for his ability to use language, Gregory began his career scrawling in grammar school notebooks, and now travels the world giving lectures in schools and libraries, and mixing with artists.



“I've enjoyed sponsored trips to create art for private parties, and live paintings on Scandinavian stages with Jazz musicians. I’ve sold watches with street kids in Indonesia, given books to small villages in Western Africa and been a travelling children's book art gypsy for many years.”



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Through his work in schools and with illustrations, Gregory is as he puts it, “sweeping in front of my own house while giving out brooms to others.” He tends towards children’s books that focus on history and culture, using the medium to build bridges between people that may otherwise never come in contact with each other.

Coming up in the next few pages: Ways we can get to know each other better Positive Impact

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“Some kids know how to dive on the floor when a gunshot fires, others live in pristine environments with tons of resources.

For me it seems like some children are being prepared for jail and others the corporate world.”





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A belief that there is a basic social and economical foundation from which all humans beings have a right to start, drives him to work with children from all walks of life. “Real nourishment, protection, education and opportunities should be a base. From there, it is up to the individual to make their own way.”

Check out Gregory’s website for more details on his work: www.gas-art.com

If you would like to vote for Gregory to appear in our print issue, enter your email here and hit vote. Your vote will count once your email has been verified. Only one vote will count per email and person.

get to know each other a little better

ways we can

Join us on

@discounderworld a become fan

cool u o y p e e It’ll k

We are always on the hunt for new people to interview. Don’t be shy your mother wasn’t, email [email protected] if you have something to share.

Join our newsletter to get each issue of disco underworld delivered to your inbox. Email [email protected], and she will add you to the list. Thanks!





P

e v i t i t s c o pa im

At the heart of disco underworld lies the desire to learn about people from around the world. Not when they are convicted of atrocious acts or killed in a horrific way or flash their boobs on television, but in a good way. This issue I wanted to highlight some of those people in our communities and world who are doing great things. I thought I would only highlight people already in my community to prove that there are people in everybody’s lives doing great things. Stacey Childs

I

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lived in South Korea about two ½ years ago, teaching English. The foreigner community there is awesome, and I met and worked with many many very cool people. Three of those people were Tom McCloy, Jared Mitchell and Katie Tibbets. I left South Korea, but all three of them stayed, and they are now doing something I admire very very much.

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Tom (Irish), Katie (American) and Jared (a Kiwi) are right now are cycling all 16,000 km (9941 miles) from Seoul to Dublin. So far they have passed through South Korea, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Georgia and are currently in Turkey. Why you ask?

The yellow line marks their approximate route



Tom explains, “first and foremost, there is the desire to prove to that with the right attitude, proper preparation, and careful planning, a few determined friends can take on the world.” Proudly doing it all without sponsorship or trust funds, any money anyone wants to donate to help is being paid forward to the charity KIVA. “What to do with offers of help and financial assistance? Why not, we concluded, pay it forward to those who really need it: people struggling to achieve their own dreams and ambitions, people for whom that helping hand, that timely gesture, might mean all the difference.”



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And this is what you can do to help too. If you live near their planned route (keep tabs on them on their Facebook page), let them know that you have a hot shower or home-cooked dinner for them to enjoy, or you can help their KIVA cause by pledging just $25 US. The three friends have a whole catalogue of great stories, movies and amazing photographs on their website www.brakingboundaries.org. They have also catalogued ferry timetables, cheap accommodation, visa processes and other random notes about things like where to find internet cafes and supermarkets to help fellow intrepid travellers.

Scenes from Uzbekistan, one of the Braking Boundaries Team’s favourite countries so far. Videos from Uzbekistan include “Black markets are fun,” “Our Uzbec Family” and “Private Registan Tour.” Click on the video title to be taken to the video on www.brakingboundaries.org

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Just some of the thousands of photos on the Braking Boundaries website: www.brakingboundaries.org Best of luck for the rest of your trip guys oxo



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Claire Sawyers is a young Aucklander who saw things lying around in her garage and cupboards, and wanted to find somewhere meaningful for them to go. This led her to came up with the idea for DonateNZ: an online portal where one man’s trash is a school or kindergarten’s treasure. Established in 2006, the website acts as a matchmaker, pairing those who have something to give, with a charitable organisation who can use it.



For example, Claire’s mother owns a flower shop. She used to throw the off-cut ends of ribbons used to tie bouquets away, now bags of them are snapped up by early childhood centres for the children’s creative projects. There are nearly 900 organisations on the site, based right throughout New Zealand. They consist of everything from animal rescue services, to playcentres and schools, to migrant services. DonateNZ allows community groups to save money for other resources, and donors to see what was previously trash be re-used, helping the environment and community. You can even donate your time if you have nothing to give, but still want to help out: www.donatenz.com

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Click to watch a video of Claire explaining the DonateNZ concept on YouTube

These are just a couple of the positive contributions people in my community are making, if you can, please support them, and please support any initiatives in your own community, sometimes just an encouraging email makes all the difference :)

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blanca

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lanca, a Spaniard living in England, and her partner Jon, spent 10 months of last year travelling and volunteering in South America. During their trip, they visited Chile, Argentina, Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, Colombia and Uruguay. Blanca did a lot of research into finding the right volunteer projects to be involved with before leaving England. She wanted to find a “grass roots” organisation to support, avoiding organised volunteer holidays, which can be more based around lining the operator’s pockets, than helping communities. “It was important for us to make sure that we would really be making a difference, working with organisations with long term goals, and on projects that help empower the locals, rather than providing them with short term solutions,” Blanca explains.

Coming up in the next few pages: Blanca Gonzalez cont. Devika Bilimoria



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Quilotoa Lake, Ecuador

They ended up deciding to spend two months in Quito (Ecuador), working with an organisation called CENIT, and another two months working with Swiss organisation, Cielo Azul, based in the north of Ecuador. CENIT is a school in the South of Quito that provides basic and flexible schooling for working children, and Cielo Azul (Blue Sky) provides school materials and organises volunteers to teach in the small village schools around Otavalo, an indigenous region in the Ecuadorian mountains.



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“In both places, we were working with kids. I remember being apprehensive before I started. I didn't know what to expect, and I wasn't sure how the children would react to yet another stranger coming to work with them. But they were so welcoming from the



beginning, and I soon realised that the children only craved love and attention.” Working with two different organizations gave Blanca and Jon the chance to experience two very different environments. “In Quito, we

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were working at the markets where the children work. Sometimes they get there as early as five in the morning and work all day. Most of them don't go to school because they have to help support their family, so we provided basic education for them.”

The volunteers would collect the children from their market stalls and give lessons in a small classroom inside the markets.

Two of the children from Mayoristas markets



Blanca and Jon's second voluntary project was in Otavalo, where they worked with Cielo Azul. Blanca organized reading and writing workshops for the children at the schools where she worked. One of the activities that she recalls fondly was helping them to write a story. “At first it was incredibly difficult to get them to create something by themselves, they simply didn't know how to use their imaginations.” The effort however, paid off. “By the end of my time there, all the children had written a short story and created a mini book to write it in.” Blanca is convinced that through creativity, especially writing, these children can grow enormously, express themselves, and imagine a better future.



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She also believes that when you volunteer you receive as much as you give. “You get immersed in a fascinating culture, meet interesting people, make friends... We have beautiful memories of our travels, South America is an incredible continent: the dramatic landscapes, the chaotic cities, the bustling colourful markets, but what stands out are all the people we met whilst volunteering, especially the children, their faces, their energy and their laughs.” “In the future, I'd like to volunteer again. Hopefully, for a longer period of time.”



For more information on the volunteering projects Blanca worked on: www.cenitecuador.org and Cielo Azul: www.cieloazul.ch To read more about Blanca and Jon's travels in South America: www.oursouthamerica.wordpress.com

If you would like to vote for Blanca to appear in our print issue, enter your email here and hit vote. Your vote will count once your email has been verified. Only one vote will count per email and person.



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Article by Amanda Gray

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M

elbourne is literally in photographic artist Devika Bilimoria’s work.

“It is a photo with a moth, not of a moth.” Coming up in the next few pages: Devika Bilimoria Mike’s Space

Her camera-less images feature everyday objects from her studio and local community. With Polaroid paper, she creates “photograms”, through a process of placing objects on light-sensitive paper and exposing them to light. “The presence of the object eliminates a degree of separation or manipulation between the photograph and the object - it is a photo with a moth, not of a moth,” she said.

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For her first collaborative project, Devika worked with musician Jody Lloyd to create 12 Polaroid images which corresponded to each individual track on his CD. (Jody was interviewed in the last issue of disco underworld, you can read his article and hear tracks from his album here). “For this project, I applied my unique Polaroid process, where handmade 35mm positive/negatives are created from a selection of found objects (dead or alive), and liquids,” she explained.

Devika describes the discontinuation of Polaroid paper as a “sad and challenging affair.” Part of her daily routine includes searching the Internet for remaining supplies, as she aims to stockpile as much as possible. Working from a warehouse studio shared with 14 other artists, Devika also makes jewellery from pantry items and other found objects, collects tea bags and edits videos.

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Experimenting with photography at secondary school led to the creation of Devika’s first photograms. She has since refined her technique by using vibrant colour to show objects in greater detail. Born in Fiji to Indian parents and raised in Melbourne, Devika graduated from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) with degrees in Fine Arts Photography and Media Studies. Melbourne shaped her expectations, education and encouraged her artistic pursuits.



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Devika’s also credits her Indian heritage with influencing her aesthetics, and her Indian classical dancing classes with keeping her grounded in the history of her culture. In the future, she intends to expand her jewellery design and extensive Polaroid collection. Visit her website at

www.devikabilimoria.weebly.com

If you would like to vote for Devika to appear in our print issue, enter your email here and hit vote. Your vote will count once your email has been verified. Only one vote will count per email and person.

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The Best Reality Show You’ll Never See

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always chuckle a bit when I tell people I work at a group home for kids and they say, “Oh, I would love to work with kids. It must be sooo fun!” Ha! Here’s the deal. Children of all backgrounds are not nearly as sweet as they seem. They’re inherently selfish, greedy, inconsiderate of others and generally evil. Stamping out these problems and making children less inherently evil is what’s referred to in society as “parenting.”

By Mike Woodruff

Mike Woodruff lives in Los Angeles. When not writing, he enjoys playing basketball and eating Flamin’ Hot Cheetos. You can find him on the internet at www.mutinouswombats.blogspot.com

Read last month’s Mike’s Space here.

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“Children of all backgrounds are not nearly as sweet as they seem. They’re inherently selfish, greedy, inconsiderate of others and generally evil.”

Not everyone has parents though. I work with six teenagers getting ready to “emancipate.” Which basically means they leave residential treatment and head out into that big world on their own as prepared as we can make them. I humbly submit that watching all this preparation happen would be the best reality television show in all the land.





w

While talking about a school project:

kid 1: I need to do a report on saints. Is Don Quixote a saint? me: No. kid 1: I know who I'm going to pick. Obi-wan Kenobi.

It would be like The Real World sans perpetual douchebags and replaced with potential douchebags. Now, the thing is, for all the bad times we have at work, there are also equally poignant times were you really see a light flicker on in someone’s head and they begin to get it. These moments make it all worth it. Which would make watching on television worth it as well, because you always want your characters to grow in a story, whether those characters are real or not. And boy howdy! are they characters...

Take a gander at a few of these gems w

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me: You can't do that. kid 1: Why not? me: Two reasons. One the Catholic Church has not yet recognized Obi-Wan Kenobi as a saint, and two, he's not real. kid 1: So? Neither was Don Quixote. me: He wasn't a saint either, dude. kid 1: Whatever. Shows how much you know. kid 2: (eavesdropping, sweeping the floor) Wait. Don Quixote was in Star Wars?



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While driving a kid to school:

kid: It’s really windy today. Think we might get a hurricane. me: We don’t get hurricanes in Los Angeles. Just the East Coast. kid: Really? me: Yeah. They come in from Africa and hit the Gulf of Mexico. kid: Like the one that hit New Orleans. me: Yup. Sometimes they hit Florida too. kid: I thought Florida was in New Orleans. Isn’t it? (Me shaking my head, silently criticizing curriculum taught in Californian geography classes.)



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At the Getty, all of us in a room full of Greek statues. Kid stops in front of a statue: kid: Wait. Wait. I know who this is. Don’t tell me. me: Okay. kid: (scratching his head.) It’s um…um…HERPES. There it is. HERPES.

(Everyone in the room turns to give a curious stare. Kid knows he said something wrong.) me: (walking away laughing) It’s Hermes, man. Hermes.

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How can you go wrong with incredibly articulate kids who are trying their best to succeed with the bum hand they’ve been given? Answer: You can’t.

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Unfortunately, you really can’t find out because the best reality show on television will never happen. There are way too many legal hoops to jump through to get kids in the system in front of a camera, and sadly, the State of California would never allow it. Too many privacy laws and potential lawsuits. Maybe in a perfect world… but then, in a perfect world, this opportunity would never exist.



collette fergus



by Dillie Baria

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C

ollette Fergus leads a colourful life.

Bright, bold acrylics and canvases fill her days, of which no two are the same. She happily juggles managing an art gallery, running an art space and voluntarily working as a motivational speaker to help other artists create a business out of their art.

Collette says she has mastered time-management, working on her own pieces between her other commitments. She dedicates a great amount of time to preparation, which involves a lot of research. “This can mean anything from workshops on materials, to spending time visiting different locations for inspiration and to take photos of what I require,” she says.

Coming up in the next few pages: Collette Fergus cont. Last issue’s favourite



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With a family background in painting, art inevitably became an intricate part of Collette’s life. Yet she admits that the biggest challenge she has had to face was being told that art was not a real job. “I was always told this and being the rebel I am, I set out to prove you can!”

“Most of my social life is also based around gallery and exhibition openings… who doesn’t enjoy socializing with others in your field with a few glasses of wine in the process!”

Her immense passion for painting also spills over into her social life. “Most of my social life is also based around gallery and exhibition openings… who doesn’t enjoy socializing with others in your field with a few glasses of wine in the process!” Speaking of wine, Collette’s other part-time love is experimenting with winemaking. She’s even painted up wine labels for the wines she has made, as well as created a wine group (which you can find on her website).





One of them called us ‘boozehags.’ It was meant as a derogatory title, but I thought I’d turn it on him and create a character called Boozehag, who was fun and interesting.”

Collette has combined both her loves into a successful brand; Boozehag. Boozehag was developed in 2002, when while working as a hairdresser she would regularly have drinks with a co-worker after work. “We got to know the staff quite well. One of them called us ‘boozehags.’ It was meant as a derogatory title, but I thought I’d turn it on him and create a character called Boozehag, who was fun and interesting.”

Over time, the so-called in-famous character has become something of a trademark for Collette. She has painted over 100 Boozehag paintings, and there is even a merchandise line, with many women around the world embracing the term. “Sadly,” she says, “some didn't get the fun of it and thought I was glamorizing alcoholism, which is far from what I intended.”

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But people have tried telling Collette what she should and shouldn’t be doing before. Her successful career as an artist and successful brand have shown that with a little passion and a lot of hard work, anything is possible. Check out Collette’s website for more details on her work and wine groups: www.thecollection.co.nz

If you would like to vote for Collette to appear in our print issue, enter your email here and hit vote. Your vote will count once your email has been verified. Only one vote will count per email and person.

is your favourite from last issue, and the person to be included in the Gold Edition at the end of the year.

Amanda jessicaRatcliffe stewart

Check out Amanda’s blog here: www.myspace.com/i_love_nz Get your copy of The Gold Edition by clicking here.