Christian Allaire Land & Sea

Day One 2012

2012-01-01T09:43:00.000-08:00

Glen Ellen, California

Time is such a tricky topic. Philosophers still can't define time's exact nature. We can measure it, track it, but seem to struggle to explain why it speeds up or slows down. Yes yes, tis all in the mind. Another year has slipped on by.

I found this video below, and thought it looks compelling. The filming is really good capturing well what the sea looks like from the deck of a small boat. I find it interesting that more than a few people in their early 20's who decide to sail on rickety sailboats on a shoestring budget consider entering college or getting a job as "selling out." How did this come to be? If a young person wants to undertake an adventure, that is wonderful. If a young person instead enters college, and subsequently slays in the business world that's great to. Neither is a sell out and each path comes at a personal cost. Off me soap box!

Between Home: Odyssey of an unusual sea bandit - OFFICIAL TRAILER from Jack Rath on Vimeo.

2011 was the year I traded in my boat for my house as permanent living arrangements. That is big news. I lived aboard Christa for 12 years. Spurred by the fact my renters had gutted portions of my house and were growing dope to sell for the medical marijuana industry here in California. Oh, did I mention they failed to pay rent? Last spring was a tough time. I never did write about any of that in this here blog, as the monetary hemorrhage was to grand for me to continue to revisit in blog form. As with most things in life, bad experience illuminates the path to good and renewal. Turns out I love living in a house. Situated in the Sonoma wine country, I've been chipping away at fixing this 1930's ugly home into a small little oasis. I think I'm nesting, readying my life for the moment when a women appears for me to settle with. Here are some random things that occurred in 2011:

I discovered I love to garden.
I acquired a chicken, and now plan on raising the little critters.
I became a yoga teacher. Gasp! A Job!
I built raised garden beds, and began to refurbish an existing one.
I find AT&T more revolting than ever.
I installed two bamboo floors.
I read thousands of pages of text.
I increased my GPA to 3.94 percent.
Inducted into the Gamma Sigma Honor Society of Dominican University of California.
Began to write a Memoir.
Learned a great deal about the Roman Empire. Lessons abound. Wrote numerous essays, totaling hundreds of pages.
Completed a wonderful internship at a library.
Helped organize and write a play.
Basked in the California sunshine.
Hiked many of California's hills and valley's.
Made new friends, and deepened existing friendships.

All in all, I've no complaints concerning my life position. Surely I have disappointments, am left flummoxed with certain things, have real concerns about our counties path, but ultimately am optimistic about my future. My future can substantially be directed by my discipline and effort. Maybe some luck to! Lets all have a great 2012!

Capt C

Ernest Shackelton and Endurance

2011-12-27T09:47:00.000-08:00

Glen Ellen, California

Some stories should be read, reread, and fully absorbed by all hands. Sir Ernest Shackleton's life should be part of any amateur historians short list of epics. His book, South : The Endurance Expedition is a well thumbed volume sitting upon the physical and electronic shelf of my life. It can be turned to for inspiration during times of difficulty and tumult.

During my Coast Guard career leadership was a constant topic. What is it? Is it innate or developed, or maybe a latent gene activated during times of stress? What does it mean to "take care of your people?" What is the correct mix of nurturing and Bligh like discipline? The story of the rush to the South Pole is a terrific study in different leadership styles. Since I have been to the Antarctic while serving aboard a Polar Class icebreaker, The Polar Sea, I've always found all things Polar to be fascinating. Pictured below is Endurance's Lifeboat, the James Caired. Shackleton used this lifeboat to make one of the most treacherous journeys ever in the history of the nautical. He and a small crew crossed the Weddell Sea at the onset of winter in the JC, a 22 foot open lifeboat, navigating his way to South Georgia Island, and then mountaineering his way across the island to a whaling station. He continued to push to save his 28 man crew, and was successful. This unbelievable story took place from 1914-1917.

More than ten years ago, while on one of my numerous walkabouts around New York City, I stood at the chiseled marble steps of the The New York Metropolitan Museum staring wide eyed with my jam dangling. A huge banner read "The Shackleton Exhibit." Holy Ice Floes Batman!!! Within five I was running my fingers along the gunwhale of the James Caird, the actual boat pictured above. My heart thumping, nose pressing against the glass as I looked at Shackleton's journal, ships log, and the sextant used to navigate to South Georgia Island.

Picture of South Georgia By Frank Hurley, Endurance's Photographer

It was thrilling beyond imagination to be so near items I fully understood and appreciated. This morning while doing a quick news round up, I came across an article in the New York Times written by a Harvard business historian who did a leadership case study on Shackleton. Turns out, the case study is the most popular study on the business of leadership ever. The author, Nancy Koehn, argues that Sir Ernest is more relevant today than ever. Please read the NYT article by clicking here.

The Kid Front and Center Cape Hallet Antarctica circa 1988

One of the many things my ship, the Polar Sea, was tasked with during the deployment was breaking ice accessing Cape Hallet to remove old jet fuel sitting in a above ground fuel tank. Cape Hallet is an abandoned research base, and was an emergency refueling depot for aircraft that crisscrossed the icy continent. The tank was about two miles inland and was slated to be dismantled before she sprung a leak. Yours truly, and my shipmates pictured above, had to hump two miles of thick hose, fuel pumps, and other gear to pump the fuel from the tank to the ship. My point is that I've trekked the polar region much like Sir Ernest and I'm still tired. Well, "much like" is a stretch, but all my stories reap dramatics with time.

Cape Hallet 2006. Still looks chilly to me

What is factual is the above picture taken in 2006 is as dramatic as I remember when I was just 21 years old. Below is a 35mm shot I took with my little Vivitar in 1988. If you look closely you can ascertain the shape of the mountain peaks. The water was fully frozen over when I was there.

Capt C

A Chapter From My Memoir

2011-12-15T17:33:00.000-08:00

Glen Ellen, California

I've been working somewhat diligently on my book, likely named Land & Sea A Memoir. I was spurred to write by a senior project I must complete for my graduation from Dominican University in May. Once I learned how easy it is to publish, I thought, why not? I've got a story to tell. Below is a little sample of what I've been up to.

Photo Credit Jim Patterson Photography

Chapter XX It’s Turn Key

Boats are a funny thing. Men especially become neurotically attached to these floating affairs. Many become enamored with the dream of sailing around the world. Stroll the docks of any marina and you will see beautiful sailing boats, tricked out with every offshore amenity known to mankind. This is why sailors are fond of saying “You know what boat stands for? Break Out Another Thousand.” Everyone gets a good belly roll out of that well trammeled joke. Like all popular jokes and stereotypes they have a modicum of truth. Once the intention is set to head offshore for a long world-wide sojourn, a low-grade mental illness can set it. The lure of the sea is indeed powerful, and may be imbedded in the male human DNA.

Christa bobbed peacefully in her slip in Vallejo California just waiting to be loved by me. I knew right away that she was meant for me. The hatch was locked when I stepped aboard alone. So I jimmied the center hatch, and dropped through. Sitting in the cabin, with the California sun shinning through the port holes, new varnish gleaming, I felt her presence. She just spoke to me. I did a bit of a scumbag thing that I do regret. I found Christa listed on a yacht brokers flyer, and then proceeded to cut the broker out of the picture. A little detective work on my part revealed the owner, who had listed the boat with the broker but also in an advertisement on a website. It is somewhat of an ethical conflict, but I stood to save a few thousand dollars by dealing directly with the owner. Since it was listed both privately and with a firm, it injected just enough ambiguity for me so I chose the cheaper option. Once Christa whispered so sweetly to me, I contacted my buddy Jerry who was a master negotiator given his ownership of car dealerships, and I asked him to keep me from doing something stupid as my emotions were running high.

The couple, or more accurately, the former couple I bought from, immediately went into a relationship death spiral upon their purchase of Christa. Tim, a manager of a supermarket, like me had been ardently thumbing through sailing magazines, searing visions of dancing trade winds in his brain. Veronica, his beloved, just went along with her lover’s sailing dreams, plus she loved to decorate, and went into a spasm of interior design giving Christa a feminine touch. Two hours after they took delivery of Christa, the engine seized on the Sacramento River. Tim had wiped out his 401K to buy Christa, he then spent another $9500 installing a beautiful new 51 horse 4 cylinder Yanmar diesel to replace the irreparable original. While Tim tinkered, turned wrenches and hemorrhaged money, Veronica made cushions and pretty shades with tropical fish themes. As time dragged on, and Tim continued to bloody his knuckles in the engine room, Veronica tackled the enormous job of varnishing the entire interior. Once Tim had finished installing the Yanmar, the couple, now less happy and a bit strained, decided it was time for a sail. They proceeded out to San Francisco Bay, and immediately accidently jibed the boat in a typical blustery northern California day. The enormous mainsail came thundering across, nearly ripping their heads square off, came taut on the cinched in boomvang snapping the boom in half. Wuups, there goes another two grand. At the time, while sitting alone on the settee contemplating ownership of Christa, I knew nothing of these details. I just knew she shined, seemed well loved and cared for. Jerry did a brilliant job of negotiating. It was during the original negotiation where it became apparent all was not well with Tim and Veronica’s relationship. I started to get that weird feeling, that vibe thing that Californians speak about incessantly. Maybe Christa had been tainted? After all sailors are a superstitious lot, me included. I made sure no sailing or negotiating took place on a Friday to keep Neptune at bay. It seemed their relationship rancor had been triggered by the purchase of Christa. In fact, Veronica was not even on the boat with Jerry, Tim and me during the negotiations. Each time, we came to a number, Tim would go out on the dock, call Veronica, and engage in telephone combat, usually not relevant to the boat. They decided to cut losses, and sold the boat for $2,000 more than he and Veronica originally paid.

Once we settled on a figure, we had to go for the test sail. On test day, not a Friday mind you, dawned bright and shiny. Veronica showed up in her slicker, yellow boots, and sailing gloves. Jerry left this portion of the transaction to me. After all Jerry had a sensitive ticker with a recent triple by-pass on his resume. Veronica was very sweet. In fact, she decided in all her dreamy sweetness that I might want to know how to tie a bowline knot before we shoved off. Just as she began to teach me this skill she learned in a boating safety class, apparently a class they took together, Tim exploded on her in a verbal assault about how I’m in the Coast Guard and probably know fifty thousand knots. She replied, “Stop yelling at me!” Oy vey. Tim was eager to show me how that new Yanmar performed, and admittedly I was pretty excited about the engine myself. It was becoming apparent to me that Tim was like many boaters, he loved to tinker around on his boat, but when it came down to the actual sailing part, well he just wasn’t that into it, and labored to cover up this dark secret up. He talked a solid game though. He kept repeating, “It’s turnkey; it’s turnkey.” In fact to this day, when I fire up the diesel I still repeat “It’s turn-key.” Turn the key he did, and then he backed out of the slip at full throttle, shifted the rudder, and then popped it into forward gear, again at full throttle to demonstrate how 51 horses of Yanmar performs. This was his signature move, one he had down cold. I was a stunned. Professional seaman are taught to maneuver with as little power as necessary, so you can have some juice in reserve just in case things get tight. Tim must have missed this in boating safety class, and all I could come up with was, “Well Tim, its turnkey.” He beamed and nodded “yeah yeah.”

As we nosed out onto San Pablo Bay, Veronica kept her distance on the bow as Tim piloted us out the channel at full bore, ever more resembling Captain Bligh. He barked at Veronica to stow the lines and remove the mainsail cover. Veronica was visibly upset, on the verge of gushing tears, when Bligh centered up Christa’s nose to the wind, in the middle of the shipping lane, and issued orders to “Raise the main.” It was painful to watch. Neither had a clue what they were doing. Veronica was not strong enough to hoist the main, nor did she have a winch handle to assist. I stepped in and hoisted the main just in time for a tanker to come bearing down upon us. I saw the tanker moons ago, but didn’t say anything as I was just supposed sit back and relax. This is when Tim performed his other signature move, an unintended jibe. The main became back winded, and with the force of two tectonic plates colliding whipped from port to starboard with an enormous bang. Tim, acting as if he meant to do this, and proud of how that new $2,000 boom didn’t snap in half shouted to Veronica, “Prepare to set the jib.” Veronica replied, “Stop yelling at me.” I thought “Oh no…some push back at a time like this.” Bligh replies with “What the fuck is wrong with you?” Veronica is now crying, and then Tim turns to me and says in a raised tone “What the fuck is wrong with her?” I replied, “I’m not emotionally involved,” and Tim snarls back at me “WELL I AM!!” I gently let Tim and Veronica know I’d seen enough of the sails, and that there was no need to hoist more sail. Tim, visibly relieved, reached for the key, and fired up the diesel and says, “It’s turnkey.” Apparently Veronica and Tim’s relationship was not so “turnkey.”

Capt C

Yoga Independent Study Paper

2011-12-11T10:00:00.001-08:00

Glen Ellen, CA

I used my yoga teacher training I attended in October 2011 as an independent study for one credit hour at Dominican University of California. Because I am a philosophy major, I was able to parlay a little bit with the school. I was required to write a research paper on the experience, and the result is below! I hope you enjoy reading. To reveal the entire post, please click on the "read more" button at the bottom.

Photo Credit yogaschoolofindia.com

In October of 2011, I took a significant leap forward in personal transformation by attending a yoga teacher training in Austin, Texas. I’ve subsequently started teaching classes at a local yoga studio. This step, the training and teaching, was the culmination of an incremental swallowing up of my life, and a new way of being, by a consistent yoga practice I’d taken up a couple of year prior. This paper details my yoga journey, some historical research about Indian philosophy, the origins of yoga, the nature of charisma, and a powerful yoga master named Baron Baptiste.

During my inquiry of self via the ancient practice of yoga, and in concert with my academic pursuits at the Dominican University of California, I’ve come to a deeper understanding of the crossroads of philosophic thought. Including, Indian and Greek philosophy, Hinduism, Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras, modern day yoga masters such as B.K.S. Iyengar, and one of his famous students, Baron Baptiste whom I recently trained under. I was transformed during my week of Level 1 Teaching Training in Austin, and an honor to learn from Baron. Baron Baptiste is world renown, successful yoga teacher, and it’s no stretch to claim he has created a yoga empire via his Baptiste Power Vinyasa Flow yoga. I say empire in a respectful yogic way, as I found Baron to be impressive, charismatic, and possessing leadership qualities I admire. I find the development of personal magnetism to the degree that Baptiste has achieved to be fascinating, and worth a serious inquiry. In this essay, I will lay out the evolution of Baron Baptiste, his style of yoga, and to whom he takes his philosophic cues. A “cult of personality” somewhat surrounds him, much to his chagrin I surmise. I discuss some scholarly research in the field of charisma that feeds such cults.

It has been stunning for me to find myself as an engaged, active yoga teacher. I would describe my first 40 years of life as existing more as knuckle-dragger. A metaphor indicating a less evolved individual, less inclined (via intellectual ignorance) to wrestle with life’s deeper questions. Life is an unfolding, and as a life-long dream of mine, to sail around the world devolved after setting out to sea in September 2007, I realized something fundamental was missing in my life. I did a substantial amount of soul searching while spending nearly three years sailing mostly alone. I stopped sailing after years of constant movement, and entered Dominican University of California in the fall of 2010 to study the humanities, particularly philosophy. Philosophy opened up clarity of mind, unfurling guideposts, illuminating a path as fraught with uncertainty as any other, but containing a structure to grapple with the uncertainty. In hindsight, after immersion in the Liberal Arts, and finding a connection with ancient Greek philosophy, particularly Aristotelian thought, that I would connect the philosophical dots to find equal passion in Indian philosophic musings.

Two parallel tracks in my life were beginning to ease toward one another. My first experience with yoga happened several years ago, when my friend Amy causally mentioned we were going to a yoga class, and she thought it may be fun. I was in not bad shape, enjoyed a good cardio work out, and she also mentioned I’d enjoy all the women in the room. The first experience was totally overwhelming for me in every respect. Still being in my knuckle-dragger phase, I was heavily distracted by the scantily clothed women adding to my habitual mouth breathing. The combination of the heat, sweat, women, lack of yogic knowledge, and my over inflated sense of physical strength disconnected from the mental component, conspired to almost give me heart failure. Amy continued to encourage me, exposing me to Bikram’s yoga (which I found crushing on many levels). I sporadically attended classes, inhibited from practicing mostly by the practical nature of my sailing voyage I was on. I did not get serious about yoga until January of 2010 when I began to practice daily. As I engaged Baptiste Power Vinyasa Flow yoga, sprinkled with a Bikram’s yoga class occasionally, the yoga began to move beyond the physical realm, and into the spiritual. The two parallel tracks merged when I connected my study of ancient philosophy in my formal schoolwork, and my deepening yoga practice. My knuckles are no longer dragging.

One of my maxims in my life is when opportunity knocks on the door, swing the door wide, and invite it in for dinner. The yoga studio I’ve been practicing at since my arrival in California in May of 2010 is a wonderful supporting environment. I’d established a practical relationship with the owners, and demonstrated solid character, reliability by showing up on time for my work-trade, and engaging in a passionate daily yoga practice. They began encouraging me to attend teacher training to bring my love for yoga to the next level. With the opening of a second studio in the offing, they made it clear that a teaching position would be open for me. I pondered the implications deciding this opportunity was a path I wanted to explore, despite the heavy financial commitment, and the loss of a weeks worth of college classes. I swung the door of opportunity open, and attended Baron Baptiste’s Level 1 Training. I have been deeply changed by the experience.

My military background serving 20 years in the U.S. Coast Guard, had prepared me well for what I thought would be a standard training environment, but with a softer yogic touch compared to a military training environment. However, the Baptiste program veered into personal psychological analysis that caught me by surprise. The theme from day one was personal empowerment, cultivation of authenticity, and frankly psychotherapy. The Level 1 training dubbed “Bootcamp,” derives from the military’s highly successful indoctrination program where new recruits are mentally and physically stripped down, then built back up. It’s a filtration mechanism used to sift out those who cannot or chose not to participate. Baron Baptiste believes and I agree, that a yoga teacher should not be chock full of personal issues. This is not to imply personal perfection as a necessity, but a person must confront life experiences that have negatively scribed on their tabula rosa. If not confronted, the teacher’s students will surely sense inauthenticity. An authentic person must shine through in a yoga classroom setting. There also is a responsibility with using the Baptiste name as a selling point for a yoga instructor’s credibility. Baron has no problem with branding, which at first blush can appear un-yogic.

The first day of training began on a Saturday evening with most students exhausted from travel, some arriving from overseas. Baron stepped into a room of 140 people packed tightly together, and led us through a standard 90 minute yoga class. This was fine, and I thought, “Oh, I can handle this.” However, the next morning began with one hour of painful meditation, followed by an even more excruciating five hours of full-on Baptiste Power Vinyasa class. I expected a standard class, and I paced for a 90-minutes of flow. By the three-hour mark, in a heated room with the Texas sun beaming through the windows I thought I might perish. It was at this moment though, that I started to really tune into Baron’s voice, his cadence, and his ability to keep a level of energy in the room. He inspired everyone tremendously with his charismatic force. I made it through the class, as did all. After a large vegan lunch (all vegan all week, and no caffeine) we started an afternoon ritual of classroom type work with pen and journal in hand. Evenings consisted of a light meal, another two plus hours of yoga, followed by more classroom work. Our heads hit the pillow well after midnight each day. The rigorous daily routine, and long hours are all part of the breaking down to build back up process.

Baptiste’s charisma began to shine more thoroughly as he led the class through the afternoon workshops designed to force students to think deeply about how they view themselves. Baron would ask questions, students would jot down answers, then partner up and share. A quick method for the students to get to know one another as each question forced a new revelation to a new partner. Students were then encouraged to step up in front of the microphone, and share with the group. Baron would say, “Who wants to share? What came up?” The process was a terrific cultural study on the way groups form tight bonds instantly when of like mind sharing an intense experience. Most had a terrifying fear of standing up in front of 140 people, let alone discussing deeply personal issues. Most, if not all women in the class broke down sobbing at certain points during the week, and almost always when at the microphone. Baptiste would question the students gently but firmly. He would coax out more information, pinging for a “breakthrough.” I was impressed at his skillful questioning. Clearly his character was deeper than a person that just leads people through physical yoga sequences. He is a deeply spiritual man, and his questions never had the scent of being inauthentic. In fact, one student stood at the microphone for an hour and a half, having had his mental blockage at about midnight. We did not go to bed until 2 am that day. Baron refused to take “I don’t know” for an answer; he let silence permeate for truly uncomfortable stretches of time. It became so uncomfortable many people cried for their fellow yogi as he grappled hard with deep issues, and stuck energy. I was truly impressed by Baron’s dedication to this one student. I am not easily star struck, and have been in the presence of powerful people in my life, including admirals, governors, cabinet secretaries, one president, and one vice president. Baron Baptiste was of this caliber in terms of presence. The foundations of his charisma can be easily traced to his upbringing.

Baron comes from a unique set of family circumstances. His parents, Walt and Magana Baptiste were pioneers, not only in the yoga world, but also in the world of health and fitness when it was considered fringe in the 1950s. Walt was a world-class body builder, and won the title Mr. America in 1949. Three years later, Baron’s parents opened the first yoga studio, and health center in San Francisco. “ They were ahead of their time as early proponents of the whole healthy lifestyle movement. From the time I was a little boy, yoga was part of my life. We had famous spiritual masters coming through our home all the time, from Maharishi to Yogananda” (Baptiste 12). Baron acknowledges the strangeness of his upbringing, but also says that he was not completely aware of the uniqueness until he hit his “rebellious teenage years” (12). When most of his San Francisco friends were out prowling the streets of the city, Baron was at his parent’s spiritual retreat in Sonoma Valley tending to a stream of strangers from strange lands in strange clothing. The retreats were centered on self-renewal and personal transformation, but Baron was not necessarily a devotee. He just figured it was kind of fun, and never thought the life-style he was living as a child would be his path as an adult. He paid a heavy price in terms of being the odd ball out at school. “I got teased a lot at school, as you can imagine. The other kids would call me ‘Hare Krishna’ and laugh when I brought banana and honey sandwiches on whole wheat bread for lunch instead of lunch meat and Twinkies” (Baptiste 12). He claims that his rebellious nature was not necessarily being fed by his strange circumstances, but was fed by a natural penchant for growth and discovery. He asked many questions of teachers and felt let down, or that he was not getting the true scoop.

He dropped out of high school, managed his father’s health food restaurant, saved up enough money to travel the world and surf. Spending time in Mexico, Bali and Asia, he found himself consistently returning to his parent’s retreat center in Central America. After gaining some life experience and perspective while traveling, he connected well with many of the soul searchers that filtered through the Central American retreat center. During this period he started to read the Bible, the Greek philosophers, and Gandhi, triggering years of spiritual searching, trying to identify his path. This was a conscience decision on his part to “go for it” to “really seek out the enlightenment I had been reading about” and so he “moved to Yogananda’s men’s ashram in Encinitas, California” (Baptiste 13). At the ashram, he spent all his time practicing Kriya yoga (chakra energy), meditation, and working the farm. The ashram conducted business in total silence. He reports many insights, but after a year at the ashram, he still felt empty as if something was missing. Like most young adults, in moments of confusion, he headed back home to his parent’s nest in San Francisco where he picked back up working at the health food restaurant. One day his father asked him to fill in for him at the yoga studio, and teach a yoga and meditation class. Resistant, his father pressed telling him that he had plenty to share based upon his experience. His father also said he “had a responsibility to share what I knew, that if you don’t share it you lose it” (Baptiste 13). Baron received the shock of his life when he opened up his mouth and started teaching, that it came naturally to him, and he was good at it. “That was the first time it dawned on me that perhaps I would make teaching yoga my life” (Baptiste 14).

Even at a young age Baron Baptiste was a well-rounded individual, save for dropping out of high school. His lack of formal education in terms of standard American education is an interesting footnote worthy of study in its own right. It simply did not hold his interest. One of the reasons Baron is a great charismatic teacher is his exposure to numerous great teachers while growing up. Apparently not in the public school system however. He had been studying martial arts since the age of nine, and by eighteen had earned his black belt in tae kwon do. In fact he won the California tae kwon do State Championship title when he was eighteen. A calm discipline to pursue his interests had taken root.

At the age of nineteen he attended a yoga workshop in San Francisco conducted by B.K.S. Iyengar, a world renown Indian hatha yoga master. Iyengar is one of Baron’s foundational philosophic influences, he had a tremendous impact on him, and eventually Baron went to India to study under him. Baptiste reports, “it was at his workshop that I first witnessed the powerfully physical side of yoga that went beyond any forms I had practiced up until then” (14). Two years after his contact with Iyengar’s form of hatha yoga, Baron attended a workshop conducted by Bikram Choudhury (founder of Bikram yoga) and was invited to move to Los Angeles to be his protégé. Bikram is another top tier Indian yoga master, who created his own yoga sequence, known as the “original hot yoga.” Within a year, Baron was living in Bikram’s house in Beverly Hills, and teaching in his studios in California and Paris. All seemed to be humming along in Baron Baptiste world, but he says that despite his top notch physical health, his ability to do the perfect asana, he felt a hole in his heart, that something was missing. He wrote, “By all outward appearances, I was ‘yoga-ing’ right: I followed the advice of the gurus, practiced daily, was a vegetarian, didn’t drink any alcohol or do any drugs. But my relationships weren’t working, and inside I felt at a loss, and most of all, empty” (14). After achieving a degree of celebrity in the Los Angeles area, his classes were doing well in terms of numbers of students. But, he still couldn’t shake emptiness deep down, and had no idea where to turn, until happenstance intervened.

In an Opera Winfrey type “Aha moment” while stuck in traffic, a radio talk show host said something that struck Baptiste like a thunderclap. He had been meditating and chanting all these years, finding stillness, but had a blind spot of sorts that prevented him from dealing with personal problems. He never faced them head on in a meaningful way resulting in a stifling of his authentic self. He had been living everyone else’s truth; riding on their advice, doing what the experts told him was necessary. He had been rattled one day when a famous yoga master, someone he respected sat him down and said, “You know Baron you’re a good teacher, but to be great you need to let me train you.” This is indicative of experiences that created self-doubt. He implemented the changes suggested by this yoga master, and his class attendance fell off sharply. People could tell he was not teaching his own words, not intentionally, but the results spoke for themselves. After that critical moment in LA traffic, he began to deal with his personal issues, made amends where necessary, and dumped the yoga masters advice letting his own way of being shine while teaching. His class attendance surged again. He writes in his workbook Journey Into Power Teacher Training Workbook, “I remember when I first started teaching yoga from my heart, people loved my classes. I didn’t know the ‘right’ way to teach, but I had a lot of fun” (8). This new way of being for Baptiste propelled him to achieve a great deal, including owning his own studios, sponsoring hundreds of Baptiste Affiliate studios, founding the Baptiste Power Yoga Institute, working as the Peak Performance coach for the Philadelphia Eagles, creating a teacher training empire, and most recently the Africa Yoga Project. Nobody achieves this level of impact without charisma.

The nature of Baron Baptiste charisma developed much like the concept of charisma itself, not in a linear fashion, and slightly peculiar. I would not regard Baron Baptiste as a religious leader even though he is a religious person. The delivery of the Baptiste yoga method does emphasize spirituality, but it clearly is not forced upon the students. The nature of charisma has sociological and psychological foundations. The first systematic study of charisma was conducted by the German sociologist Max Weber in his work Economy and Society, published posthumously in 1922. Weber’s musing is complex, and even he acknowledged difficulty in ascertaining the exact nature of charisma. He broke the concept down into “ideal-types” in which his formulations distinguished between “institutional” and “individual” forms of charisma.

An example of one institutional ideal-type, Weber discusses “Charismatic Leadership Democracy” (Kim, Stanford Philosophy Encyclopedia). This is Weber’s notion of the impossibility of genuine self-rule. His belief is of a muscular (intellectual) charismatic leader at the helm of state, to organize unity of effort of its citizens toward general societal goals. Kim goes on to say, “Leadership democracy is, however, not solely reliant upon the quality of its leaders, let alone that of a caesaristic dictator. In addition to electoral competition, Weber saw localized, yet public associational life as a breeding ground for the formation of charismatic leaders” (Stanford Philosophy Encyclopedia). This highlights the lack of solid demarcation between the two ideal types of institution and individual. “Weber himself was uncomfortably torn along two dimensions in his uses of charisma” (Turner 8). Institutional and individual charisma exist in a symbiotic relationship feeding off one another, each relying upon the other for its survival. In contemporary society, an example I can point to is Apple Inc. It will be interesting to see how reliant the company was upon the charisma of Steve Jobs, and how much of Jobs charisma seeped into the Apple culture.

My experience with Baron Baptiste was on an individual basis, but his “institution” surrounded all 140 participants. While in Austin most were wearing Baptiste Lululemon apparel, and he brought along enough staff to open a store each day selling the full range of Baptiste merchandise. This was on the periphery as far as I was concerned, because it did not seem to have an impact on my opinion of Baron. Did I drink the Kool-Aid? I am versed in the manifestation of power and influence via art, to include things such as beautiful yoga clothing in beautiful yoga bodies with the Baptiste branding. The Roman Empire used this method to great effect, with numerous statues of emperors such as Augustus and Marcus Aurelius, the use of public baths to soothe the population, and social control mechanisms such as Roman theaters. While maybe a bit of an apples to oranges comparison, my point is easily seen, and just a matter of scale. I have come to learn in my research for this paper, that the “cult of personality” that surrounds Baron Baptiste relies upon the foundation of an already culturally charismatic tight yoga community to begin with. This is Weber’s thesis of institution and individual charisma feeding off one another.

Stephen Turner in Charisma Reconsidered finds some troublesome notions with this thesis as it further muddies exactly what the nature of charisma is. He says, “By extending individual charisma to cover institutions” that “charisma now seems to collapse into culture-the charismatic is that which is culturally predefined as charismatic” (13). Mr. Turner is perturbed by the lack of cut and dry explanation of just what charismas entails. He says, “leaders fulfill prior cultural expectations, and in some sense call for the fulfillment of core religious ideas that are part of the pre-existing culture” (13). This quote could explain Baron Baptiste’s successful yoga empire. However, Mr. Turner does not account for why some become leaders in the first place. Any pre-existing institutional charisma may be the spark that propels, but is not the premise. What is charisma as it applies to the individual?

Disturbingly, in doing my research on charisma I came to the conclusion that we only understand charisma on the surface. In fact, much of what I read sounded like a bunch of intellectual mumbo jumbo, by people grappling with a difficult topic. Much of the difficulty has to do with charisma arising originally from theology, seeping into the social sciences, and now it’s ingrained in the culture. The genius of Max Weber still stands, as I found his analysis still to be the most cogent. Weber asks the question, “What kind of man must one be if he is to be allowed to put his hand on the wheel of history?” (Dow 87). The short answer is a charismatic one. “Weber’s account of individual charisma focuses on success, and this suggests the idea that the power of the charismatic leader arises from the ability to confound and surpass expectations-to be extraordinary” (Turner 5). The tricky thing with charisma as it manifests in the full range of individuals is charisma does not discriminate between good and evil people. Impactful figures from history, such as Gandhi, Adolf Hitler, Che Guevara, and John F. Kennedy, all were full of charisma with differing results. Baron Baptiste is imbued with charisma based upon his influence, his magnetic presence, his concept of duty to others, tenacity, and maybe most importantly, his inner compass being grounded in spirituality. He has motivated me, and thousands like me to reach higher, and to do good things. Ultimately, judgment of individual charisma is simply based upon a feeling, and appears to be as shifty and difficult to explain as love. You know it when you feel it.

In our Western lexicon yoga has become popular and trendy. “The teaching and practice of yoga, at least in the aspect of techniques of body poses and stretches, are now thoroughly mainstream activities on the Western cultural landscape” (Bryant XV1). As western students become exposed to yoga it starts to dawn on them the juicy complexity of yoga practice “ To the orthodox Hindu mind, it represents something very high, beyond the ken of the man on the street-indeed, something very auspicious and to be achieved only by virtue (punya) gathered over many past lives” (Joshi 53). Of the numerous definitions, I love what one of the Upanishads had to say. “The Katha says, when the mind becomes steady long with the five senses, and the intellect also remains unshaken, the highest state comes into being.” Many Indian philosophical treaties reference yoga, for example, the Bhagavad Gita discusses karma-yoga, and tantra-yoga, each widely known within the Western yoga community. Patanjali, who is credited with compiling the Yoga Sutras, a masterpiece of Indic philosophy, cogently defined yoga as “the elimination of the modifications of the mind” (Joshi 58).

Like most Westerners, my first exposure to yoga practice was purely for the physical benefits. As a healthy male, the ratio of men to women, skewed heavily toward female practitioners, came into sharp focus providing natural motivation. However, immediately the full-force of the difficulty of each asana spanked my mind. I recognized the other students were laser focused, and their practice wasn’t flippant or for trendy purposes. My close proximity to the minimally clothed women was distracting in the extreme (and still is, but on a much more subtle level), resulting in no focus, and compulsive rubber necking. I was astounded to realize the effort, awareness, and concentration it takes to stand still in a posture. Indeed, this is anathema to mainstream cardio exercise, which raises heart rate by vigorous movement. It is paradoxical to the Western mind, that the combination of stillness, balance, pranayama breathing, and an understanding of a properly stacked (balanced) skeleton can raise heart rate to chest bursting levels. Part of the magic of the practice is how the student is forced to concentrate or simply collapse. I told myself within the first week of practice, either you stare at the goddess on the adjacent mat, or focus on my own practice. You can’t do both. This aspect of yoga, the meditative component, is by far the most important with the obvious physical benefits taking a back seat on an individual level. This was a paradigm shift and not what I expected.

The marriage of knowledge and experience is a powerful force. I’ve synthesized what I thought were disconnected things, and in fact turned preconceived notions upside down. To highlight this point I quote from Huston Smith’s book. He said, “Raja yoga works with the body even while being ultimately concerned with the mind. More precisely, it works through the body to the mind. Beyond general health, its chief object here is to keep the body from distracting the mind while it concentrates” (44). He goes on to say, “Yogic postures protect the meditator from disruptions from the body in its static aspects, but there remain bodily activities, such as breathing. The yogi must breathe, but untrained breathing can shatter the mind’s repose” (45). As a student of yoga I’ve come to learn that physical strength is not the limiting factor in posture prowess, but lack of breath control. Concentration flows from breath, and appropriate breath control develops concentration. I had a real epiphany when a teacher scolded me for being a “mouth breather.” As heart rate increases the reflex to breath heavily through the mouth becomes almost overwhelming. Exertion coupled with mouth breathing releases adrenaline triggering the “fight or flight” reflex. This destroys concentration, the rational thinking brain becomes anestitized, and all you want to do is get out of that room. This is why Bikram teachers tell neophytes that the goal of the 90-minute secession is to simply stay in the room.

An aspect that makes Baron Baptiste’s story so compelling is the complexity of the Indian philosophy he was surrounded by while growing up due to his family circumstances. Taking into consideration the Judeo-Christian dominant culture of the United States and his respect for Christianity, Baron eventually was able to thread the needle of seemly disparate thought. He developed his own style of yoga infusing just enough Western flavor to make in assessable to the masses. He created a multimillion-dollar business integrating Western capitalism, furthering yoga’s viability as a business model, with the intention of delivering the practice to societies that desperately need it. He did not operate to create personal wealth. It merely is a by-product. There may be some clash between the values of capitalism and yoga, which has centered Baron in the eye of some yogic storms. The benefits of yoga are so substantial though, that it is worth some sacrifice of the purity of yoga with the goal of exposing the practice to the Western world. Baptiste can take substantial credit for driving the Western yoga movement.

Baptiste style power yoga does not fit neatly into any classical yoga model, “but rather it breaks out of tradition and embraces the intuition of each student” (Baptiste Workbook 15). This statement speaks to the years Baron spent searching, immersed in numerous styles of exercise, and philosophical thought. Ranging from his years as a Karate student through his years with professional football. He says the “Baptiste system is an innovative model of yoga that believes that yoga is ultimately a practice of adaptation: adaptation to the times, culture, and people who are directly being influenced.” (Baptiste workbook 14). Baron points out that his brand of yoga should not be seen as “rebellious,” but more a revolution in personal transformation. A personal revolution triggered by differentiating “between rote knowledge and habitual ritual and the central, universal and timeless principles that exist at yoga’s core teaching” (Baptiste workbook 14). At first blush it may seem like Baptiste is far off the yoga reservation, but in reality it is not. Baptiste power yoga takes it cues from two sources; Hatha yoga for the physical practice, and The Eight Limbs of Yoga (Patanjali’s Ashtanga Yoga).

Hatha yoga is the root of most Western style yoga today. Including, Iyengar, Anusara, Ashtanga, Vinyasa Flow, and Power Yoga. The differences between the styles are not significant, but each has its own brand name stamped on it. The branding of yoga is in response to its exposure to Western culture ushering more un-yogic like controversy. I find it interesting that some feel the Westernization of yoga is perverting this method of enlightenment that is thousands of years old. Or is it? “It may come as a surprise that the first in-depth writings on Hatha yoga and related explanations of asana practice are just a few hundred years old, not thousands as is often claimed or intimated in the popular yoga media and literature” (Stephens 16). Other than sitting in the Padmasana (Lotus Pose), the older yoga texts such as the Patanjali’s Sutras are concerned with meditation, Atman, Braham, and other more spiritual sides, not the physical asanas. The first writings on hatha yoga stem from the fourteenth century in a texted called the Hatha Yoga Pradipika written by Swami Swatmarama. The term hatha means several things. It derives from “ha, meaning ‘sun,’ and tha, meaning ‘moon,’ symbolizing life force and consciousness” (Stephens 17). It can also mean “power” or “force,” but is more in tune with personal power squaring well with the Baptiste yoga philosophy. “Hatha yoga uses all of who we are-physically, mentally, emotionally, our most subtle and elusive inner nature” (Stephens 17).

The meditative or spiritual component of Baptiste yoga comes from The Eight Limbs of Yoga (Patanjali’s Astanga Yoga). The Yoga Sutras are the philosophical foundation that most Westernized yoga works from. As a student of Aristotle, I’ve come to realize commonalities between the Eight Limbs of Yoga, and Aristotle’s notions of human flourishing, or eudaimonia in the Greek. Each is concerned with a person’s character being a composite of human habit. The eight limbs are; Yama, Niyama, Asana, Pranayama, Pratyahara, Dharana, Dhyana, and Samadhi. Each limb represents a piece of the whole. If one piece or limb is missing or substandard then it impacts the whole. For example, earlier in this paper I expressed my lack of breath control in my first yoga classes. Pranayama is the breathing practice, of which mine was incorrect, adversely impacting my asana (physical practice), leading to a disturbed Dharana (mental focus or sharpness). A cascade of negative events is triggered when any one of the eight limbs is neglected impacting all limbs. Aristotle discussed this same phenomenon when crafting his Doctrine of the Golden Mean two centuries prior to Patanjali compiling the Yoga Sutras.

Baron Baptiste crafted his Level 1 Teacher Training “Bootcamp” by culling from hatha yoga and the Yoga Sutras what he believes to be the most relevant to the Western mind without destroying its essence. Another way of looking at the program is non-spiritual types can easily engage in Baptiste style yoga without being turned off by abundant talk of chakras or overwhelmed by eastern music and dress. On the flip side, enough exposure is given to the student in Baptiste yoga, that when the practice takes hold, the more esoteric spiritual components of yoga can be incorporated. Aristotle would say that Baron has found “The Golden Mean” in his delivery of yoga. Baptiste’s bootcamp program has five parts: Rewiring Your Mind, Daily Power Yoga Practice, The Cleansing Diet, Meditation for Truthful Living, and Journeying into Real life. Within the five parts, resides The Eight Limbs, and hatha yoga.

In conclusion, my recent experience with Baron Baptiste has been a tremendous force-multiplier in terms of bringing my personal yoga practice and my life up several notches. Additionally, a solid foundation has been structured for me to really engage with the community as a yoga teacher thanks to the Baptiste methodology. I’ve come to learn while writing this paper that a substantial amount of rancor swirls around successful yoga masters such as Baron Baptiste and Bikram Choudhury. A company called Yoga Works has started a chain of studios opening throughout the United States furthering yoga purists concerns of yoga’s Western taint. They claim independent studios will be squashed much like Amazon.com and Barnes & Nobles have squashed small booksellers. Baron Baptiste has been accused as a ruinous influence on yoga for amassing wealth as if he started out with such intentions. His charisma and wealth is a by-product of a lifetime spent searching for a truthful self-seated in his soul, and simple tenacity. He has changed many thousands of lives for the better. In other words I salute his success and wealth. It’s funny how the most politically progressive embrace yoga, but are the first to bark if any changes come to the original form.

This paper is a companion piece to the seven days I spent in Austin, Texas training under Baron Baptiste. In it, I discuss my Level 1 experience, my thoughts on Baron Baptiste, his family history, and some of his prominent mentors. I also detail the origins of his own style of yoga called Baptiste Power Vinyasa Flow. I furthered the discussion by researching some history regarding charisma, and how this applies to Baptiste. I also briefly survey some of yoga’s history that is relevant to Baron Baptiste. As of today, I am still in the infancy stage of learning about yoga, and I hope to continue to practice, teach and evolve.

Works Cited

Baptiste, Baron, and Richard Corman. Journey into Power: How to Sculpt Your Ideal Body, Free Your True Self, and Transform Your Life with Yoga. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2002.Web.

Baptiste, Baron. 40 Days to Personal Revolution: A Breakthrough Program to Radically Change Your Body and Awaken the Sacred within Your Soul. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2004.Web.

Baptiste, Baron. Journey Into Power: Baptiste Power Vinyasa Yoga Teacher Training Workbook. Baptiste Power Yoga Institute, 2009.

Barnes, Douglas F. "Charisma and Religious Leadership: An Historical Analysis." Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 17.1 (1978): pp. 1-18. Web.

BILLARD, MARY. "Mind, Body, Spirit; Flow Or no, Following the Yogis." New York Times (2005): 1. Web.

Bryant, Edwin F, and Patañjali. The Yoga Sūtras of Patañjali: A New Edition, Translation, and Commentary with Insights from the Traditional Commentators. New York: North Point Press, 2009. Print.

Hamilton, Sue. Indian Philosophy: A very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001. Web.

"Interview with Power Yoga Innovator Baron Baptiste "Web. 11/15/2011 <http://yoga.about.com/od/poweryoga/a/baptiste.htm>.

Jeremijenko, Valerie. "How we live our yoga teachers and practitioners on how yoga enriches, surprises, and heals us." 2002.Web. /xwc/.

Jeremy Page, Delhi. "American Attempt to Patent Yoga Puts Indians in a Twist." Times, The (United Kingdom) Web.

Joshi, K. S. "On the Meaning of Yoga." Philosophy East and West 15.1 (1965): pp. 53-64. Web

"Kim, Sung Ho, "Max Weber", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2008 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), <http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2008/entries/weber/>."Web.

Potts, John,. A History of Charisma. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire; New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009.Web.

"Title: Becoming A Yogi: Resocialization and Deconditioning as Conversion Processes Author: Stephen R. Wilson: Sociological Analysis, Vol. 45, no. 4 (Winter, 1984), Pp. 301-314Publisher(s): Oxford University Press." Web.

Stephens, Mark,. Teaching Yoga : Essential Foundations and Techniques. Berkeley, Calif.: North Atlantic Books, 2010.Web.

Turner, Stephen. "Charisma Reconsidered." Journal of Classical Sociology 3.1 (2003): 5-26. Web.

Smith, Huston, The World's Religions: Our Great Wisdom Traditions. San Francisco: Harper San Francisco, 1991. Print.

Weber, Max, Economy and Society; an Outline of Interpretive Sociology. New York: Bedminster Press, 1968. Web.

Photo Credit yogaschoolofindia.com

My Rooster the Squater

2011-12-02T10:20:00.001-08:00

Glen Ellen, California,

I've never written a blog post regarding how I came to own, and now live in my little house in the California wine country. I came to own my house in 2003, purchased while I was stationed here in California. I kept it rented out during the duration of my service time, and subsequent sailing adventure. Painfully, my management company rented the house to some dirt bags who gutted the place, and started to grow pot inside, and outside the house to fuel the burgeoning medical marijuana industry. I got them out of the house, and just did not have the stomach to be a land lord again, especially in a down economy which attracts economically in stable people. It is an old house to begin with making it even harder for me to find good renters. The laws are stacked against landlords, California is the worst, especially in Sonoma county. It is a shame, because affordable rentals are few. But, more and more people like me become freaked out because the laws become so complicated, resulting in the need for lawyers for the smallest of issues, because a mistake can send you reeling into the 7th circle of hell. I will spare the details of my 7th circle of hell getting my renters out. I feel lucky as my experience could have been much worse than it was.

Shot with my Canon G11

Thus, I found myself moving off of Christa after living aboard her for 12 years. Surprise surprise, I found I loved living in my house. Even at 1000 square feet I marveled at all the room. I fired up a garden for the first time, and enjoyed that experience. In fact, just this morning I plucked tomato's, and fresh spinach from my garden.

Onward. About a month a go, a Rooster simply showed up in my driveway. No idea where the fella came from. Sonoma county has a fair amount of farming going on, but I know of none that is with-in a mile or two of my house. Maybe someone has a small operation going in the backyard. He showed up on a weekend, I feed him some bird seed, thinking I'll just call animal control on Monday, and they will come by and scoop him up. No joy. They won't come pick him up until I catch and cage him. Thanks for nothing. Another ding against Sonoma county. Now, I've actually taken to the guy. He greets me in my driving and then runs in front of my car down the driveway squawking as I pull up. It is pretty funny. He knows me now, and will eat out of my hand. He never crows, but makes little noises when I emerge in the morning as if to say "good morning."

I have no idea what I will do about my pet Rooster. I figure, nature will take its course, and an owl or hawk will swoop down and make Darwin proud. Meanwhile, it kind of reminds me of being in Puerto Rico for 8 months. Chickens everywhere.

One of the real treats with living in Glen Ellen, which sits squarely in the Valley of the Moon, is the hiking and true beauty. Jack London called Glen Ellen home from 1909 until his death in 1916. Below are two pictures I took on a hike the other day. Trail head starts starts a half mile from the Rooster Ranch. Enjoy!

Please tell me what you think! Don't forget to become a subscriber!

Valley of the Moon

Looking West Over Jack London's Ranch

Manifestation of Power Via Art In the Roman Empire

2011-11-29T15:52:00.001-08:00

San Rafael, CA

ancandid.com

I took an Art History class this semester that is now coming to an end. A theme in my life has developed over the past couple of years of being astonished at some of the things I've become interested in. Yoga is a total no brainer on the astonishment scale. I mean who would have ever predicted that? If you had told me I'd be teaching yoga in the near future when I was anchored not long ago in Bequia, I would have accused you of shopping for fruit as a cover at the Rasta Man Stand. He sold more than fruit. As an aside
I am teaching class after class now, and loving it so.

Another pleasant surprise has been my Art History of the Greek & Roman World class. I give substantial credit to my professor, Heidi who is so dog gone passionate about the subject, that you just can't help but get swept up into her historical narrative. Art boring? NOT! I really learned a ton, and would have worn a Toga to class, but Dominican University has a Convent on the campus, and that would have been weird.

I wrote a paper about Roman power in Art after learning that the Saddam Hussein statue that was yanked down in Baghdad after the U.S. invasion in 2003 was inspired directly by the Romans. I started to do some more research, and I've come to learn almost all art is used to project messaging in some fashion. Anyway, below is the paper. Read it if you will or not. Maybe you'll see some connections. Jefferson's Monticello anyone?

CC

Manifestation of Power Via Art In the Roman Empire

Today the Roman Empire is discussed in the context of a once great empire, its spectacular fall spurred by unchecked pride. The inevitable comparison between contemporary America, and her apparent hubris leading to over reach. The breath, scope, achievements, and length of the Roman Empire are truly amazing. Like all giants, the Romans stood upon the shoulders of those who came before. This famous metaphor, “Standing on the shoulder of giants,” was propelled into our modern lexicon by Sir Isaac Newton in 1676. However, the first usage of this metaphor stretches back to ancient mythological Greece when Orion, the blind giant god carries his servant Cedalion on his shoulders. Indeed, the Roman ruler Hadrian highlights his respect for his much admired predecessor Trajan, by inserting himself in panels on TheArch of Trajan at Benevento; thereby communicating to the Roman citizenry whose shoulders he stands atop.

Ancient Greece is the foundation to which The Roman Empire was built upon. In this essay, I briefly explore how Roman art is based upon Greek art, and how this came to be. Focusing in on the Roman Empire, I discuss the notion of propaganda, how the Roman rulers used visual imagery, including architecture to assert, and maintain power to control the Roman population. I will point to several rulers, projects they initiated or completed, discussing how this effectively rippled throughout an enormous area, creating a shared Roman culture.

Pinpointing the duration of the Roman Empire is difficult, and open to interpretation. However, factually, it lasted a long time. Rome was founded roughly in 750 BCE, but at the time was a simple town, and not a great empire. The traditional ending came when Romulus Augustus was driven from power in 476 CE. Originally governed by the Etruscans, who developed their own artistic style displayed mostly in their palaces and tombs. In a cultural process known as Hellenization, after the founding of the Roman Republic in 500 BCE, Roman art began taking its artistic cues less from the Etruscans, and more from the Greeks as it came into contact with the flourishing Greek states in Italy. However, art influence has no distinct line as “one important line of influence from Greek art comes directly through the Etruscans traditions that Rome adopted” (Ramage 33). The Romans absorbed Greek art, and their artists into the Roman fold. Author Peter Stewart points to Roman art history as being “abnormal in a variety of respects, but one of the most striking is the relative absence of artists” (10). Most cultures tend to have a distinct art flavor that is easily identified, however Roman art is lacking somewhat in a cultural identity as a whole. This is not to imply that the Romans did not create. In fact they did produce (copy?) an astounding number of pieces. They used their art to build, maintain, propel, propagate, and shape Roman cultural values, thereby extending the empire itself.

Art is much more than an object to be admired for admirations sake. It’s used to transmit messages to sway or assert any number of principles and values. Words clearly have power, and a great orator can influence on a grand scale. Art does the same thing, but in a more stealthily, impactful, and longer lasting fashion. The centrality of rhetoric in Roman education is unquestioned. A rhetorician was greatly respected in Roman civilization. What I will highlight is how the Romans connected their respect for the speaking tradition to its art. “There is thus an important parallel between rhetoric and the design of Augustan statuary” (Oneonta.edu). The statue Augustus of Primaporta has “strong parallels to the statue entitled the Doryphoros by the Greek mid fifth-century BCE artist Polykleitos” (Oneonta.edu). The Augustus of Primaporta has the idealized archetypical concept of what a male should be. The extension of Augustus’s right arm is a symbol for speech connecting the importance of rhetoric to the idealized masculine ruler poised and strong. The Romans were masters in using “Art in the service of the state” (Ramage 19). “Civic leaders were well aware of the power of art to promote their political ends, during both the Republican period and the imperial age” (Ramage 19). The tendency of Roman rulers to use art as a form of manipulation or propaganda seems to imply nefarious purposes. The term propaganda has taken on a different meaning in contemporary society much like the term rhetoric insinuates someone is full of it. The word propaganda automatically triggers thoughts of less than altruistic motives. This is not the case.

There are two sides to propaganda coin. The notion that propaganda is only used for subversive activity, or to sway a population to level its government is incorrect. Author Jacques Ellul as quoted from Silverstein’s piece defines this type of propaganda as the “propaganda of agitation” (49). Ellul goes on to explain the more potent form of propaganda, a form that the Romans mastered. He calls this “the ‘propaganda of integration’ to promote acceptance and support among its citizens for that system” (Silverstein 49). This is relevant to the Roman Empire, as the shear size and diversity of cultures conquered required a methodology to promote the state for societal cohesion. Virtually all-Roman rulers used art as “propaganda of integration” as “no society can function for long without at least the implicit support of most of its citizens” (Silverstein 50).

It’s in this vain that the Roman rulers utilized art. Rome clearly exercised brute force to project power, but its leaders realized this form ultimately would fracture society, and not bind it together if used exclusively. “Insofar as power is a matter of presentation, its cultural currency in antiquity (and still today) was the creation, manipulation and display of images. In the propagation of the imperial office, at any rate, art was power” (Elsner 53). In the years prior to Augustus Caesar taking power in 31 BCE, Romans had spent many grim years involved in a civil war that sapped the civilizations energy. Indeed “an atmosphere of pessimism pervaded the Roman state, and there were many who, in there own moral decadence, considered Rome on the edge of destruction” (Zanker 1). Augustus ushered in 45 years of stability and prosperity. How did he accomplish such a task? He engaged in a sustained, large scale, long-term cultural program shifting the Roman mood, and art was his Modus Operandi.

Res Publica Restituta means “restored the republic.” Augustus had saved the republic and now it was his duty to restore it. “On the arch put up by the Senate for the victor in the civil war stood the legend ‘res publica restitute’” (Zanker 90). A persistent reminder of the societal debt owed to Augustus fostering their allegiance. In another example of Augustus as savior of the republic, a coin was minted 10 years after he returned power to the Roman Senate in 29 BCE. Stamped into the coin “the res publica, represented in the scheme usual for a conquered province, kneels before Augustus, and he helps her to her feet. The savior stands beside the restored Republic, which is in need of his leadership” (Zanker 91-92).

The coin was ubiquitous throughout the Roman Empire, and a small way (at least in physical stature) to build Roman allegiance, and project the power of the ruler into the citizen’s daily lives. However, during the Flavian’s reign, Vespasian commissioned the enormous and consequential Colosseum, originally named the Flavian Amphitheater. “The message was surely not lost on the Roman people: the Colosseum was the grandest amphitheater anywhere”, and its purpose was for “entertainment, including mock sea battles, gladiatorial games, and wild beast hunts” (Ramage 170). This forum was wildly popular with the Romans, and thus was useful to the leaders in building Roman nationalism. Images of the games were found in numerous pieces of art including the “Campana relief with gladiators, a panther, and a lion in the Circus Maximus” (Ramage 174).

Many art historians have debated on the significance of the arena. The Colosseum, and other like facilities are a complex piece to the Roman social fabric puzzle. The architecture itself, and the innovations built into the Colosseum shout out to the citizenry a message of greatness. In fact, sitting here 2000 years later, the glory of the Colosseum makes me want to be Roman. This is power. Beyond the messaging of the structure itself, “The arena plays an important role in the moralization and maintenance of Roman social roles and hierarchical relations” (Gunderson 115). It can be argued that the Colosseum, and other like institutions, were built by the emperor with full knowledge the institution was a social mechanism, a tool, used specifically to reinforce social norms, and maintain the state power. Furthermore, the emperor could use the institution as a barometer to gauge the mood of the governed.

In his essay, The Ideology of the Arena, Eric Gunderson acknowledges previous scholars who “diagnose the ills of Roman society and politics by interpreting its spectacles, their performance, and their audience” (115). Gunderson goes much deeper in his analysis of the meaning of the arena in Roman society. Some of the spectacles present in the Colosseum may be brutish to contemporary sensibilities, but the message that it propagated to the wider Roman society, is less barbarous blood sport, and more about societal structure as a whole. Gunderson writes, “The arena can thus be taken as an apparatus which not only looks in upon a spectacle, but one which in its organization and structure reproduces the relations subsisting between observer and observed” (116). The seating arrangements in the arena was serious business, and as far as the arena can be viewed as art, the various rulers of the empire used the arena to make it crystal clear to which class one belonged. “The Romans themselves were acutely aware that seating involved dignitas and honor” (Gunderson 124). In fact, the seating arrangements don’t tell the entire classism story of Roman society as a whole, as not all the populous was represented.

Gunderson’s thesis is “the arena as an Ideological State Apparatus in Rome” in which the arena is a factory of sorts that duplicates Romanness. He says, “the arena serves to reproduce the Roman subject and thus acts as an instrument of the reproduction of Romanness as a variously lived experience” (117). This idea of reproduction of Romanness can be extended to numerous other Roman institutions, and works of art. The precise engineering of the aqueducts, public baths, and the design of Roman villas are all examples of unique Roman culture. They all are in some form “ideological functionaries supporting and generating Roman social structure” (Gunderson 117). Mary T. Boatwright’s study of Roman theaters also supports Gunderson’s thesis. She writes “In the Roman world, theaters embodied the close relationship of spectacles, religion, society, and politics” (185). Boatwright also makes the distinction between the Hellenistic theaters of ancient Greece, and the later Roman theaters. The Greeks tended to build into hillsides, where as the Romans built actual structures, with enormous substructures. This allowed the Romans to integrate urban planning into the structures to make it “possible for prominent theatergoers to keep from mingling with other spectators as they made their way to and from customary seats” (185). This is another innovation allowing the state to exert control by design. The Romans also embellished their theaters with significant works of art, usually portraying gods or highlighting present or past emperors. In the theater of Orange in France for example, Augustus, the first Roman emperor has been erected in a larger than life relief in the “central niche of the scaena forns” (Boatwright 187). The first permanent theater built by Pompey the Great in 55 BCE featured a prominent temple to Venus. An interesting observation is the states consent in letting wealthy benefactors contribute funds to the building of the theaters. In return the benefactors secured permanent inscriptions into the building adding to their social position within society, an ancillary benefit to the state, helping to keep the wealthy somewhat happy. A type of insurance policy against social agitation by the wealthy.

In my final example of the Roman state projecting power to its people via art, I turn back to my favorite emperor, Augustus. The Ara Pacis, or “Alter of Augustian Peace” is a tour de force in propaganda as integration. Commissioned by the Roman Senate on July 4^th 13 BCE for the specific purpose of commemorating an age of peace ushered in by Augustus that extended throughout the entire empire. The altar itself is enclosed in marble with magnificent art adorned everywhere. “Attempts to identify the source for the form of the altar have suggested close parallels to the fifth century BCE Altar of the Twelve Gods in the Agora in Athens. This is one of many links connecting the Roman work to Greek and especially Athenian mid-fifth century monuments” (Oneonta.edu). The panels on both sides of the entryway depict the legendary founders of Rome, supporting my thesis of “standing on shoulders of giants.” The four panels on the north, south, east and west sides contain significant reliefs telling the Roman story. They contain “four major themes of Augustan ideology: Piety and respect for traditional custom (Aeneas sacrificing); War (Mars with Romulus and Remus); Victory (Roma with Honos and Virtus); Fruits of Peace (Tellus panel with the fertility of the land and sea)” (Oneonta.edu). The Ara Pacis’s art work covers nearly every significant value or principle that the Romans held dear. The scenes depict the centrality of the family; the long lineage that Augustus descended from, themes of honor, and dignity all support the notions of a great empire.

In conclusion, once I was trained to look at Roman works of art, and ask myself “what is this piece trying to say?” I had a real paradigm shift. The Romans conquered far and wide, were the first to realize the importance of urban planning to placate its huge population. Numerous projects were undertaken by the rulers to propagate Romaness, to build institutions to remind the citizenry of past emperors, and their accomplishments. This served to send the signal that rising up against the state was futile, and that the state is powerful. Besides look what the empire is providing in the form of public baths and other like institutions. Who wants to dash off to war when a hot bath is right around the corner? It made the citizenry proud, and more prone to contribute to the empire instead of chaffing against it.

In this essay, I pointed to the Roman Empire’s reliance on ancient Greece to propel it greatness. I discussed the term propaganda, explaining how the Romans used it via art to great effect to integrate its massive conquered territory, and assimilate diverse cultures. I used Augustus of Primaporta as an example of the Roman emperor projecting his power, the message of controlled masculinity, and expert rhetorician. I provide more support for the manifestation of power via art by pointing to the Flavian Amphitheater, the symbol it provides, and its use in providing Roman social structure. The Roman Empire was a complex, and a totally absorbing society. I wish to study it further.

Works Cited

Art Department. SunyOnata, “Roman Power and Roman Imperial Sculpture” Web. 04 Nov 2011. http://www.oneonta.edu/home/default.asp

“Blind Orion Searching for the Rising Sun” 1658. Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Artchive. Web. 04 Nov 2011.

Boatwright, Mary T. Hadrian and the Cities of the Roman Empire. Princeton, N.J: Princeton University Press, 2000. Print.

Elsner, Jaś. Imperial Rome and Christian Triumph : The Art of the Roman Empire AD 100-450. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 1998.

"Frequently Asked Questions "Web. 10/30/2011 <http://www.roman-empire.net/diverse/faq.html>.

Gunderson, Erik. "The Ideology of the Arena." Classical Antiquity 15.1 (1996): pp. 113-151. Web.

Ramage, Nancy H., and Andrew Ramage. Roman Art : Romulus to Constantine. [London]: Laurence King, 2005.

Ramage, Nancy H., and Andrew Ramage. Roman Art : Romulus to Constantine. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2001.

"The Roman Empire "Web. 11/4/2011 <http://www.roman-empire.net/>.

Stewart, Peter. The Social History of Roman Art. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2008. Print.

Silverstein, Brett. "Toward a Science of Propaganda." Political Psychology 8.1 (1987): pp. 49-59. Web.

Zanker, Paul. The Power of Images in the Age of Augustus. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1988. Print.

Happiness on the Otherside of Success

2011-11-25T12:03:00.001-08:00

Glen Ellen, California

Another awesome video from Teds.com. This chat is from Shawn Achor who wrote the book The Happiness Advantage. This a great video. Please take the time to view, and comment if you will.

CC

Quest Entry. Meet Yael of Houston Texas

2011-11-13T17:13:00.001-08:00

Ahoy! Below is the lovely Yael, who is the leader, and core of the six person team dubbed the Transformers, or maybe it was Transformation In Motion. I don't remember. We named the team, and I subsequently started to call us the Transformers. Anyway, we bonded, as did our entire team. We did a whole lot of laughing. You can see a picture of the entire team by clicking here. The experience has left a rather permanent mark on me, as it did on most who put their heart into the experience. Here is Yael's experience in her own words. If you like, leave a comment or sent her and email.

Houston, Texas

Had to Cut Ray Out. Sorry Buddy!

So, I’m new to this whole blog thing. I don’t have one of my own and honestly, before Christian, didn’t know anyone personally who had one. I don’t even know how I got roped into this. One minute we’re talking about acne (?) and the next, I’m being invited to write a guest blog. At first, I think our dear friend is soliciting gratuitous self endorsement, but he assures me otherwise and tells me I can write about whatever I want. I think an appropriate topic to share on someone else’s blog is my viewpoint on our shared experience: Baptiste Yoga teacher training boot-camp! It’s nice and G-rated!

Post Bootcamp, Operation Fixa-Flat Near Austin

I’ve had a couple weeks to sit and reflect on the experience- not to mention several dozen conversations- I always have my deepest moments of clarity after I verbally articulate my thoughts, which I have to say really came in handy at boot-camp- since there is no way you’re going to get out of talking and sharing during that experience—EVER.

When I arrived at boot-camp, I had no idea what to expect. Despite the many opinions I solicited from my various yoga teachers, no one really shared with me what teacher training is about.

I think in my head, I assumed it would be yoga practice, followed by intense yoga lecture and finish with practice teaching. While all of those pieces certainly had a place in the program, they were not the sole focal point.

Teacher training can best be described as part teacher training/ part group therapy (and I use that term lovingly- I assure you!). I would say that would have been good information to share with a rookie, no?? Apparently it’s “common knowledge” and not that important to be so “forthcoming” about. Whatever. While I’d like to say I wish I had known upfront, in hindsight, I really don’t. I’m quite pleased that I didn’t have the opportunity to over think (or set expectations) ahead of time and feel pretty confident saying that it made for a richer experience.

So, on we go. I show up on day 1 and find there are about 130 participants and that the chef is preparing a low fat, low mucus, gluten free, “life giving” menu. I don’t even really know what most of those words mean, but I’m an open minded girl (and starving), so I eat. [As an aside, I think it’s important to note that I thought I had been focusing my entire life on a low mucus diet- isn’t that really the main reason to be nice to the waiter? (yes, yes, of course, treat others as you wish to be treated, blah, blah, blah, but really??) We all know what happens to the token jerk before his food leaves the kitchen, right? Come on, work with me here.]

After dinner we are treated to Baptiste’s signature “journey into power” sequence. It’s challenging and hot, but you can’t imagine how amazing it is to be in a room with 130 other people, whose mats are no more than 1” apart, and whose excitement and enthusiasm are palpable! I left feeling energized and ready to start the week! Oh and sweaty. Very sweaty. This becomes a theme, by the way.

Day 2 starts out with an hour long, excruciating meditation followed by 5 hours of yoga. Why excruciating, you ask? Have you ever sat in the same position on the floor for an hour and tried to clear your head of the chatter? Trust me when I tell you it’s harder than it looks. My feet fell asleep, my hips starting aching and my back was screaming! Unlike the owner of this blog, I was far less successful. The rest of the day is filled with therapy and more yoga. All in all, they set the precedent for the 16 hour days which will fill the rest of the week.

We get very regular intermissions to reflect and discuss what is going on in our heads and our hearts and we start to get to know each other- one on one and then, if you chose, one on 130. At first, I’ll be honest. It freaked me out! The first time someone openly cried in front of the group (which was on Day 1), I thought to myself: “Sweet Jesus What on EARTH is happening?!?!”

I came to learn that I was one of very few who did not know what the program was about and the overwhelming majority was more than ready to dive in. They NEEDED this. So did I. I needed it just as much as everyone else. If not more.

For me specifically, it was a huge challenge. I needed it, but that certainly did not mean I was ready to receive it. I think the people who know me best would use the word “strong” to describe me (of course among other things, like smart, funny, and really pretty). And I would agree – about the strong part. This means however, that it’s extremely hard for me to show vulnerability- especially with people who don’t know me.

They did an amazing job however creating a very safe place for people to share, break down and be built back up. I feel like the program was designed to create a “crisis” of sorts. You are repeatedly and constantly fatigued to the point of exhaustion- physically, mentally and emotionally, so that you can no longer fight back, repress, or avoid the feelings you’re having. You have no option in the matter, really.

NOW, picture sharing that with 130 people – your deepest insecurities and fears. It’s amazing. Added bonus: they found 130 truly REMARKABLE people (which I’m still baffled by- Every. Single. Person. Amazing.) You build pretty deep, very rich relationships and friendships—quickly! It’s not like anything I have ever experienced before. It’s hard to believe that I’ve only known these people for 30 days. I feel like I’ve known them for years. And I feel I am a better person for having known them.

If you’re out there reading, THANK YOU. From the bottom of my heart. You changed my life. Namaste.

---

Yael Iffergan
yiffergan@alumni.utexas.net

Yoga Instructor. Yup I Have a Job!

2011-11-12T08:47:00.001-08:00

Glen Ellen, California

Last week, on a Tuesday morning before the sun had risen, I stepped in front of a room full of yoga students for the first time as a teacher. The back of the bicycle seat had been let go by my instructors, and I was on my own. It was awesome, and humbling all at the same time!


4th Street San Rafael, Shot with Canon G11

I think that being a teacher is a real calling. Most people who end up in a yoga room for the first time, and subsequently stick with the practice become amazed at the impact in short order. Some, me included, get so jazzed with the whole thing that they want to teach. When I decided to stop sailing (you can read about why I stopped sailing by clicking here and scrolling to the bottom) and go to college, my initial thought was to become a high school teacher. I love to teach, and instruct, but getting involved with the another bureaucratic organization turned me off huge. I've backed off on the high school teaching idea since.

It's funny how things normally work out in the end. How plume boring life would be if you could plan everything in advance, and then have the plan work out to the letter. I may not be a high school teacher, but I am now a yoga teacher.

I now have a smooth four classes under my belt. The first class, at least for me was a little rough. You don't walk into a yoga room as an instructor or as a student with confidence for the first time. Confidence comes with practice. As a student, you can tuck in to the back of the room for anonymity. As a teacher, you just have to open yourself up, and not take it personally. There is no other way. Even in only having taught four classes, the difference between class four and class one was substantial. Class four was a Friday evening hour class, fit students, and well stretched out after having been up and about all day. It flowed, and I just loved it!

The above pictures are of the new Red Dragon Yoga studio in San Rafael, California that is to open in the coming week. I've been attending RD since I arrived in California, and it is a special place. The owners Stephanie & Craig have a generous work trade program, where you work 2.5 hours per week for free yoga. Yoga is not cheap, so I took advantage of the program. This is how I got to know everyone so well, and before you know it, they encouraged me to get some yoga teacher training. So I did, and all of a sudden they plugged me into the schedule! Now with the opening of the new studio I have two regular classes I will teach per week. With the holiday's bearing down, many subbing opportunities have come up. So I'm teaching at every available opportunity. Practice is the mothers milk of improvement. So jazzed!

Yogi C

Cool graphic from Google +

Pearl Jam 20

2011-11-09T08:28:00.000-08:00

Glen Ellen, California

I downloaded and watched Pearl Jam 20, the documentary by Cameron Crowe about the bands first 20 years. Apple TV rocks! I wrote a blog post regarding my time living in Seattle during the grunge explosion. Please read that post by clicking here. It did not disappoint in the least. PJ fans obviously will love the film. I love a good story, especially captured in a documentary. This is in keeping with my latest theme of odd ducks. My respect for people who may do things a little different. Pearl Jam clearly followed the road less traveled, and still does. The first thing that popped into my head as the credits rolled is this is a band with a lot of heart. Not the fake kind, but true believers in their craft. Kind of in the vain of what I wrote in my last post about Sterling Hayden. Neither Sterling nor Pearl Jam were/are conformists. Not that I advocate

PJ20 Promo Shot. Pearl Jam: Matt Cameron, Eddie Vedder, Jeff Ament, Mike McCready, Stone Gossard

necessarily how any of the people I write about live, but having a massive population consistently going along with societal flow breeds a boring society. One that is just not exceptional in any way shape or form. People who are in a constant state of protest over every conceivable injustice is fatiguing. But, they are the ones to agitate pushing back against those (me included) who like consistency.

Many long term cruisers end up feeling like the odd duck. Each new harbor a sailor sets his anchor in is quickly reminded that they arrived to this new land in an odd way. Odd in the sense of contemporary society. Before the Wright Brothers, arriving by ship was the norm, and then those non conformists, Wilbur and Orville Wright had to go and shake up the world.

Capt Chris

PS: Little admin item here. I've started to use page breaks so each post does not take up the entire website. The read more button is at the bottom of the post on the left. It is small and difficult to see. I'm working on correcting that.

Also, please comment and subscribe to my blog! Appreciate you guys!

Sausalito Californa and Sterling Hayden

2011-11-02T13:58:00.000-07:00

Glen Ellen, California

News flash. I am writing a book soon to be named, maybe Land & Sea A Memoir. Over the past year and half while attending Dominican University of California, I've done a substantial amount of experiential writing. This is the reason christianallaire.com has suffered a little bit. I love maintaining this blog, and am kind of bummed I don't have as much time write blog posts. I'm graduating this coming May, and must complete a "Senior Project" to satisfy my humanities portion. I have wide latitude on what to do for the project, and have decided to write a book with the intention of publishing to iPad, Kindle, Nook, ePub, and old school book format as well. Adobe's InDesign is the incredible software that allows one to format properly, and Amazon is/has revolutionized the book publishing world. Any shmoe like me can publish a book, and disseminate it widely with a push of a button. The electronic versions will contain picture and video. While researching the portion my life spent in the awesome town of Sausalito, situated just north of the Golden Gate Bridge, I was reminded of the actor Sterling Hayden. Hayden called Sausalito home for many years, and died there in 1986 at the age of 70. Like I always say, I have a soft spot for odd ducks. Mr. Hayden was a very eccentric fellow, and lived a really interesting life. Many things he did one can only shake their head.

To get this rolling, here is one of many great quotes from Sterling:

To be truly challenging, a voyage, like a life, must rest on a firm foundation of financial unrest. Otherwise, you are doomed to a routine traverse, the kind known to yachtsmen who play with their boats at sea... "cruising" it is called. Voyaging belongs to seamen, and to the wanderers of the world who cannot, or will not, fit in. If you are contemplating a voyage and you have the means, abandon the venture until your fortunes change. Only then will you know what the sea is all about.

"I've always wanted to sail to the South Seas, but I can't afford it." What these men can't afford is not to go. They are enmeshed in the cancerous discipline of "security." And in the worship of security we fling our lives beneath the wheels of routine - and before we know it our lives are gone.

What does a man need - really need? A few pounds of food each day, heat and shelter, six feet to lie down in - and some form of working activity that will yield a sense of accomplishment. That's all - in the material sense, and we know it. But we are brainwashed by our economic system until we end up in a tomb beneath a pyramid of time payments, mortgages, preposterous gadgetry, playthings that divert our attention for the sheer idiocy of the charade.

The years thunder by. The dreams of youth grow dim where they lie caked in dust on the shelves of patience. Before we know it, the tomb is sealed.

Where, then, lies the answer? In choice. Which shall it be: bankruptcy of purse or bankruptcy of life?

- Sterling Hayden (Wanderer, 1973)

Sterling would NOT have approved of my sailing adventure. He rightly would have leveled the "security blanket" charge squarely at me! And he would have been correct! He'd say "Your a cruiser not a voyager." He was a bit class conscience for a commie. That's ok. I don't endorse Hayden's lifestyle, I just find it interesting.

In the late 90's I was on active duty stationed at Lake Tahoe, California. I'd grown tired of being inland, and desperately wanted to be transferred to south California so I could sail and enjoy the Channel Islands. So Cal was not in the cards receiving orders to San Francisco. I'd pretty much had a provincial attitude about San Francisco, and was not all that stoked about living in SF. How wrong I was. My first recon mission to SF Bay Area after receiving orders was an unintended breakfast stop in Sausalito. I was immediately sucked in. Sausalito is a beautiful Mediterranean style town, both in its geography, and climate. Beautiful mansions cling to the hills overlooking the San Francisco Bay meshing nicely with the bustling waterfront. It was Sausalito's deep and rich nautical heritage that attracted me, indeed, I had no clue of San Francisco's nautical history. I figured it rained all the time, everyone must be gay, and a bit freaky. Who wants to go to a place with no chicks? I was really narrowed minded, and the bay area has turned out to be nothing like I grew up believing. Once I moved aboard Christa, and started living at the Sausalito Yacht Harbor and the Travis Sailing Center did I start to notice the eccentric social conditions that has always existed in Sausalito.

Sterling Hayden in Dr. Strangelove

Hayden was a fixture along the Sausalito waterfront. Hard to miss a six foot five barrel chested wild haired Nordic. He created a stir where ever he went. I'll quote from a website named 12gauge.com from a writer named Chris J Robinson. He wrote this about Hayden:

"Hayden, as it turns out, was an interesting fellow off the screen. In life, Hayden had sailed around the world by the age of 20, ran guns for Tito, ratted on fellow commies during a HUAC hearing, headed out to sea again, against court orders, to Tahiti with his four kids, wrote two acclaimed books, was an alcoholic, got busted for weed possession in the 1980s, all the while beginning to resemble a Greek god with his long white hair and freakish moustache-missing beard."

This accurate description really could depict any number of people skulking around Sausalito. In fact the fellow that Jimmy Buffet's song "A Pirate Looks at Forty" was loosely based upon, was a Sausalito native who's dead body was plucked out of Sausalito's Richardson's Bay. In fact Mr. Buffet has spent time along Sausalito's waterfront where he owned two restaurants.

Hayden grew up in a dysfunctional family with a stepfather name "Daddy Jim" who was a real loser. Old Sterling (not his original name, which was Montaigu Relyea Walter, just another bizarre chapter in his life) started hanging out along harbor waterfronts on the U.S east coast. He eventually shipped out, and had sailed around the world by his early 20's. He was quite the seaman. He won a sailboat race in Gloucester, Massachusetts, and was interviewed by a local newspaper afterward. The paper subsequently ran a story on him mentioning his Nordic Hollywood good looks. He eventually parlayed this into a screen test with Paramount Pictures and scored.

He did two movies initially, fell in love with his leading lady, and to woe her he joined the Marines at the start of World War 2. He did all kinds of crazy things overseas behind enemy lines earning a Silver Star. During the war he developed some sympathy for communism, and the passion of those trying to assert this economic model. Eventually his involvement with communism would land him in from of congress where he ratted out his Hollywood friends during the Red Scare.

He eventually married three different women. But, in 1947 he met a random woman on Laguna Beach in southern California. They lived on ships in harbors, drifted, and eventually had 4 children. In fact, he married and divorced this same women three times in one decade. This was wife number two. Hayden acted sporadically during the period, always on the edge of financial ruin, or actually in total financial ruin. In the 50's his acting career picked up, and he played several memorable parts including Clay in Stanley Kubrick's 1956 picture The Killing.

Sterling was a hard drinking harbor rat his entire life. By the end of the 1950's he was in the throes of financial ruin, in a nasty public custody battle with his soon to be ex-wife for his four children. Here is where it really gets fun. He won the custody battle for his children, and had planned on dumping Hollywood and taking his children on a sailing voyage to the South Seas aboard Wanderer, his 98 foot schooner he was living on in Sausalito. However, his wife filed to prevent Hayden from taking the children. Sterling, not really stoked about task direction, promptly borrowed money, and sailed out San Francisco's Golden Gate and turned south with his children aboard heading for Tahiti. He was now a fugitive.

This adventure was the basis for his for his autobiography named Wanderer which was a smash hit. He wrote it in the pilot house of a docked San Francisco ferry in Sausalito years after his South Seas sojourn. Pretty wild that he rented the pilot house of a ferry as an office space. Later still he would buy an abandoned railway car and use it for an office. However, broke as usual, the repo man took it his railway car.

The stories of Sterling Hayden go on and on. His drinking eased up just slightly when he discovered the joys of marijuana when he was in his early 60's. But, he was drunk for most of his life. I'd say not a real great template on how to conduct a life. I can say though, this was his life to live any way he saw fit and this type of uniqueness is something to admire.

Sausalito has so much history, I wish I could type it all right here. Jack London rented a room for awhile in town while building his beloved Snark in nearby Oakland. All the crazy Haight-Asbury beatnics in the 60's used to come over and hang out. Indeed Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix jammed a number of times along the waterfront in a joint that is now called On Dine Restaurant. Hope you enjoyed a slice of Sausalito.

Capt Chris

Baron Baptiste Yoga Bootcamp

2011-10-29T13:41:00.000-07:00

Glen Ellen, California

It was a powerful week that I spent outside of Austin, Texas. That is about the best way to describe it. Powerful. My commitment to spending a week in total immersion is part of my goal of becoming a yoga instructor. You can read some commentary I wrote about becoming a teacher by clicking here.

Savasana with 140 Others

It's tough to know where to begin. I'll start by saying that the week consisted of NO COFFEE, and the food was excellent, but only fruits and veggies. I've never gone more than 24 hours without coffee. The impact of no coffee is tough to quantify, because the days were simply packed tight with no chance to start joanzzin for coffee.

These are all Naples Florida Yoga People from BV Yoga with Baron

The day started with a tight breakfast schedule, and immediacy into the main yoga room (pictured above) for about a half hour of meditation. Meditation is a skill that takes some doing. At first it feels like you might be going insane. Your spine starts to collapse, your butt falls asleep, legs cramp up and on and on. After a few secessions though, you start to learn to kind of detach from the sensations and stop fighting them. Eventually poof! They go away.

Baron Baptise leads the bulk of the activities. Immediately after meditation, we'd discuss as a group what came up during meditation, and then we'd go straight into a 4.5 to 5 hour yoga class. The first day's five hour physical practice was crushing. Just unbelievable. As with the entire week, the students were not informed of what was to unfurl. As that first class proceeded, It became clear I had exerted myself pacing for a standard 90 minute class. After three hours I was struggling huge. So was everyone. Most of the 140 or so yogi's were advanced teachers and practitioners, but the amount of groaning and child posers keeper me inspired. I was not the only one struggling! The heat the heat! Remember this was all happening in a heated room in the Texas heat!

Sweet Danielle from Texas

This program is referred to as bootcamp. Military bootcamp is a weeding out process to filter those who may not be cut out for military life. Yoga bootcamp is similar in terms of becoming a teacher. This program was much less about the physical aspect of yoga, and much more concerning the mental aspect. We spent a ton of time doing personal exercises with the class, and partnering up to unearth your authentic self. Toward the end of the week, the "psychotherapy" aspect of the program started to become a little much for me. But, I understand and support the underlying intent behind doing such things. For many, me included the week was a real emotional experience.

The Baptiste Team, Good & Dedicated People

I think every girl in the glass, did a serious amount of sobbing. So here is the thing I learned, or I guess more accurately solidified what I already knew. Stress and emotions are stored in the muscles. When we get stressed or upset muscle contraction is what occurs. Emotional energy is literally stored in muscles, but the meaning attached is in the knoggin. Obviously the larger the muscle, the more storage space is available. In the physical practice of yoga, the body is stretched and compressed repeatedly, resulting in vigorous blood flow, tons of sweating and a total flushing of the body. Each person is different. Some have much emotion bound up in the muscles, others not so much. Life circumstances drive this sort of thing. This is why it is not so unusual to have people start to cry for really no apparent reason.

As far as my week of bootcamp, the crying was pretty intense for some due to the intense physical practice stirring things up, but the real stirring occurred in the exercises and group type discussions that were happening. Lots of journaling exercises and soul searching.

A key component of becoming any kind of teacher is the ability to stand in front of a group and be judged. For some this was by far the most difficult aspect of the week. People just were not prepared to stand in front of 100 plus people and discuss deeply personal issues. In the yoga world this type of thing is very important. It is the authentic teacher part.

So I did ball my eyes out, but my emotional release was triggered by laughter. We did a really funny exercise about the contagious nature of laughter. By god it worked! The funny thing is no man, even the gay dudes, didn't stand in front of the class and cry like many many women. But, I think most of the men became hysterical with laughter to the point of tears during this exercise. There is no difference between laughter and crying. Both are mechanisms in the body to release pent up emotion. It was crazy how hard I was laughing, seemingly triggered by nothing but another persons laughter. A room full of 140 people laughing for a good 1/2 hour is pretty funny. Just when things would calm down, and people would come back into a seated meditation position, someone would giggle triggering an explosion of laughter. This went on and on, until finally Baron broke up the class.

The Transformers

Group dynamics is a interesting things. When people come together with a shared culture, in this case yoga, connections are made easily and intensely. Add to this notion, the fact that during class the mat are butted up plum against one another. It brings an entire new thing outside of the norm. All that bending over in someones face really does build camaraderie! I'm pleased 90% of the class was women. Also we did these exercises where you be toe to toe with someone and the game is to stare into each others eye's for a very long time.

So, all that said, it was well worth the money and effort to go to yoga bootcamp. I teach my first class at Red Dragon Yoga Studio in Mill Valley California this coming Tuesday! That grateful for it all!

Taken at Red Dragon about a year ago

Austin Texas is a really awesome place. The kid is giving serious consideration to apply for grad school in an institution in Austin to see if maybe I want to relocate to Austin. Here are a couple of pics I took while skulking around with Yael. You can see Yael in the picture above, I've got my hands all over her, for yoga purposes only of course.

Downtown Austin Texas

Austin's Favorite Son SRV

Yogi C

The Death of Steve Jobs

2011-10-04T22:28:00.000-07:00

Glen Ellen, California

The passing away of Steve Jobs today at the age of 56 years is a real loss to the country, and the world. Please take the time to read the story published in Forbes entitled "What We Owe Steve Jobs." Not a tribute to Jobs, but discusses the moral nature of his achievements. The more I learn about the humanities the more I appreciate the genius of Jobs. Hope all is well for him on the other side.

On Becoming a Yoga Instructor

2011-10-03T07:19:00.004-07:00

Glen Ellen, CA

I took my first yoga class about three year ago. In June of 2010, after arriving in San Francisco Bay Area, after the big sailing trip, I began to attend class five to six days a week. I've kept said pace, doing both Bikram and Power Vinysa.


Creative Commons

I crossed some kind of line when I realized that I was scheduling my life, my college classes, my living arrangements all around the studio yoga schedule. Like most, I've tended to get swept into some things that are a flash in the pan type thing. Time filters these temporary distractions, but are an important part of the learning and growing process. Yoga is not like that for me. This will likely be a life-long activity.

Red Dragon Yoga Studio Fall 2010

There is a very solid reason, a nearly 3000 year old reason that yoga is picked up such popular steam in the western world in the last decade. Just like Steve Jobs asserts that Apple products "just work," and so it is with yoga. It flushes out the body and the mind in substantial way. The same kind of results can occur through cross-fit or spinning classes no doubt. However, yoga seems to be life golf in that you can swing your entire life, and there always is room for improvement. The body is different each day, and thus a yoga secession will be different each day. The suttle difference will only be known to the student.

I've decided to become a yoga instructor. I leave next Friday for Austin Texas to attend Baron Baptiste Power Yoga Level One training. It lasts a week, and is the first step, albeit an expensive step toward becoming a yoga instructor. The studio I go to has been a wonderful wonderful place, and has agreed to teach and train me when I return. Hopefully I can start subbing classes, and then step into a consistent thing.

I'm totally excited!

Jazzed, Happy and Exhausted after a 90 minute class.

Full report when I return!

CC

PS: Oh yeah, and there is the women factor. Talk about motivation.

Kindle Fire Will Santa Claus Deliver One?

2011-10-02T09:04:00.000-07:00

Glen Ellen, CA

I really enjoy technology. I'm also an avid reader, a decidedly old school habit. The marriage between reading and technology is fantastic. What is really amazing about e-readers and tablets like the Kindle Fire or the Apple iPad, is it is the first technology being embraced by the older generations who did not grow up computer savvy. Why? Simply the font size can be adjusted to ease the strain on eye sight that becomes diminished with age. All the high tech bling that comes with tablets are an ancillary benefit older people ease into after receiving their new machine.

As a full time student, these e-readers are a gem. More material is offered for free, sometimes eliminating expense, and of course you don't have to hump around a ton of books all the time. I think I may have to ask Santa for a Kindle Fire!
Capt C

P.S. I'm currently writing my own book to publish in both e-format and old school style using Adobe InDesign Stay tuned!

Midway Islands Current Plight

2011-09-24T19:22:00.001-07:00

Glen Ellen, CA

While stationed in the Hawaiian Islands aboard CGC Washington, I made two separate trips out to Midway Island in 1993 and 94. Midway is actually part of the Hawaiian Island Chain. If you look at a chart you can see the string of islands that are old volcano's. Midway being the northern most volcano that is now just a hair above sea level. The southern most volcano in the island chain is the Big Island of Hawaii. Anything but flat, with its active volcano's.

sailing in the lagoon

Pat Hood and the Kid

The island was unbelievable for a number of reasons. Remote as remote gets. The number of goonie birds, otherwise known as Albatross was just staggering. They are the goofiest bird on the planet. I'm proud to say I've sailed in the Midway Lagoon, and surfed on the northwest side of the island. I got friendly with one of Fish and Wildlife scientists on the island. She took me all over the place, teaching me about her world of observation of the birds and the endangered Hawaiian Monk Seal.

Apparently this have changed for the worse at Midway since I was there really not that long ago. Read below, and watch the trailer for this Documentary.

The Journey

"Midway Atoll, one of the most remote islands on earth, is a kaleidoscope of geography, culture, human history, and natural wonder. It also serves as a lens into one of the most profound and symbolic environmental tragedies of our time: the deaths by starvation of thousands of albatrosses who mistake floating plastic trash for food.
The images are iconic. The horror, absolute. Our goal, however, is to look beyond the grief and the tragedy. It is here, in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, that we have the opportunity to see our world in context. On Midway, we can not deny the impact we have on the planet. Yet at the same time, we are struck by beauty of the land and the soundscape of wildlife around us, and it is here that we can see the miracle that is life on this earth. So it is with the knowledge of our impact here that we must find a way forward"

Why Midway

"Midway Atoll is a collection of three small islands in the North Pacific, and one of the most remote places on earth. In many ways, this film could be shot in many places on the planet where we find tragedy and despair, but here- about halfway between the U.S. and Asia- on an island teeming with life and wonder, it is the proverbial canary in the coal mine.
Midway Atoll is located near the apex of what is being called the Pacific Garbage Patch, a swirling soup of millions of tons of plastic pollution. In fact, much of this plastic can not be seen at, but it can’t be avoided as it comes ashore on these pristine beaches and in the stomachs of the birds. The islands are literally covered with plastic garbage, illustrating on several levels the interconnectedness and interdependence of the systems on our finite planet.
The ironies are unmistakable- the first trans-atlantic cable was connected here on Midway; the scars from the Battle of Midway are unmistakable. Yet now, as a protected area, we can’t help but look at the role this island had in the past, and think about where we are today. This place, a historic moment in World War II, stands a turning point that launched America’s economic dominance of the 20th Century. And so it is here, sitting halfway between the consumers of North America and the consumers of Asia, that we get to stop and consider some of the unintentional consequences of growth, and the responsibilities that we have for our planet."

Pearl Jam 20 A Documentry by Cameron Crowe

2011-09-11T21:30:00.000-07:00

Glen Ellen, CA

I was more than a little excited to learn about a project that has been ongoing, and now is complete. I like odd ducks so to speak. Cameron Crowe fits said description nicely. I've been an admirer of his for quite sometime, based upon his remarkable life, and the awesome films he writes and directs. I can hardly believe that Pearl Jam is now over 20 years old. PJ would also fall under the heading of odd duck. Aside from their fantastic music, and singer Eddie Vedder's distinct, almost ethereal voice, I have a bit of a connection to the Grunge scene of Seattle that they emerged from. I joined the U.S. Coast Guard in 1988 and had my first duty station aboard a ship, the Polar Sea, homeported along the Seattle Waterfront. It was a crazy crazy time. Seattle seemed to be exploding with clubs and music. My mates and me were in the thick of it all. About a block from the Coast Guard Base on Alaskan Way was a neighborhood called Pioneer Square. The hood, not surprisingly, was prominently featured in Cameron Crowe's way cool 1991 movie called Singles. It was a real bohemian situation. The movie promo picture below was taken in Pioneer Square. My shipmates and I would pay a 5 dollar cover charge and have access to about 10 clubs within the square. Bands like Mother Love Bone, and the folks from Soundgarden would play along with old school jazz and blues bands. Vedder and company along with Nirvana jammed at these clubs during this stretch of time.

Pearl Jam had just released their huge hit Album named Ten. Crowe, ever the roving reporter for Rolling Stone, as well as a Hollywood director, smelled the musically rich phenomenon that was occurring in the area. This is why Singles was based in the Seattle area, and features many folks from the Grunge scene. This was the birth of the friendship between Crowe and PJ, with the band doing several great cameos in the flick. Since this time, both Crowe and Pearl Jam have been super super successful. Pearl Jam, and especially Eddie Vedder are quite known for having a revulsion for fame and all the trappings that goes along with it. They really have kept true to their ideals, whether you believe in said ideals or not. They have given few interviews over the past two decades, and because of their spotlight shunning ways, a lot of history has been locked away until now. Because Cameron Crowe is a trusted friend of the band, and one of the best story tellers of all time, Crowe has been given the green light to do a documentary on the bands first twenty years. I can't wait to see the movie, and the companion book that is being released in conjunction with the film. Below is the trailer and then a clip of Crowe on a talk show discussing the project.

Update to the this Post September 17th 20011 I have to thank my pal Brad for sending me this below link from NPR Music. It is a fantastic article giving cogent explanation about the PJ20 project. Just click on the link and read it.

https://www.npr.org/blogs/therecord/2011/09/16/140535104/band-together-documentary-tracks-pearl-jams-20-year-run?ps=mh_frimg1

Capt C

10 Years Seems Like Yesterday

2011-09-11T07:33:00.001-07:00

Glen Ellen, California

These are tough to watch. I had just woken up aboard Christa in Sausalito California on the morning of 9/11. It also was a gorgeous picture perfect day out west. I was pretty stunned. I went up to Cafe Trieste had some coffee and watched the big screen TV with the water front crowd. I was scheduled for my normal watch that evening in the command center at the Coast Guard Base on Yerba Buena Island. I knew things would be very different, and the course of my career would change. It did.

TEDS Videos and Some Musings

2011-09-06T08:37:00.000-07:00

Glen Ellen, California

The video below is really amazing. It is short, and I encourage you to watch. I've some thoughts on the topic. But first a quick word on TEDS Video. Here is the websites motto

"Riveting talks by remarkable people, free to the world"

My snazzy Apple TV tracks podcasts for me that I subscribe to, TEDS videos being one of my subscriptions. Nearly each day a video is posted. Short in nature, and each fascinating. I'm hooked!

He is the description of the actual talk from the TEDS website.

Psychologist Philip Zimbardo asks, "Why are boys struggling?" He shares some stats (lower graduation rates, greater worries about intimacy and relationships) and suggests a few reasons -- and he asks for your help! Watch his talk, then take his short 10-question survey: http://on.ted.com/PZSurvey

There is no doubt that women/girls have been treated unfairly and with disdain in many cultures throughout history. I wrote a paper about a year ago entitled "Women and Work" regarding my experience with women in the military. You can read that paper by clicking here. During the research it started to become apparent that parity has been achieved among the sexes. Please keep in mind that absolute equality is impossible.

I'm now starting to believe, supported by evidence that women are in the infancy of ruling the world. Men/boys seem to be regressing at an alarming rate. My university is an easy study of the phenomenon. Fully 3/4 of the population is female. This in my view, radically changes the tone of the university, likely for the better, but I'm not sure. There is nothing wrong with restrained, responsible masculinity. Most women desire such a thing.

As a man navigating in such an environment, I can say it really is an experience. Especially considering the bulk of the students could be my children. However, I am not a faculty member, and therefore collaborate on a student to student basis.

One other recent "women ruling the roost" experience was my internship at the Mill Valley Library in Mill Valley California. It is a women's world in said library. I participated in collaborations organizing rather complicated events that the library sponsors. To say that there is a ton of chattering during meetings in an understatement. While my gut reaction is what a waste of time all this chattering is, the overall productivity of the group was significant. I am a humanities and cultural studies senior now, and these are the types of topics I spend a lot of time thinking about. So, please view the video and reflect on what the good doctor has to say. What is going on with males?

Capt C

General David Petraeus an Extradinary Man

2011-09-01T19:17:00.000-07:00

Glen Ellen, California

Yesterday David Petraeus retired from the U.S. Army after 37 years of service. We, as a nation, should salute him.

Ever since I became aware of the general during the heat of the Iraq War I can only say that he really is a hero of mine. His accomplishments are just staggering. I mean right out of the gate, Petraeus is the son of an old school Sea Captain who I immigrated from the Netherlands. This gives him a good head start in my humble opinion.

What impresses me about General Petraeus is his holistic, vast scope of interests sustained over such a long period of time. His brain functions, apparently, on a higher plane than most. One of his aids called him "scary smart." He was shot accidentally on a firing range that almost killed him, and had a parachute failure which resulted in a busted pelvis followed by months of rehab. He is a cancer survivor after beating prostate cancer in 2009. His physical fitness is world renown. An up at dawn five mile run, and at 57 still manages a sub six minute mile. His run is followed by a weight lifting routine with a single iron bar.

What impresses me most about the general is his intellectual nature, and its impact on the Armed Forces. Over the centuries soldiers have held the stereotype of knuckle draggers, suited only with a passion for blunt force. Petraus breaks said mold smashingly. He obtained his degree from West Point in 1974, followed by a Master in Public Administration, and also earned his doctorate in 1997 from Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. I think he tends to down play his PhD status as it seems to clash with the warrior culture of the Army.

He would be termed what academia calls a "critical thinker." Critical thinking is well, critical these days. A good working definition of critical thinking is "a mode of interpretation and evaluation to guide beliefs and actions." What makes the general so effective has to do with my original statement of him being a holistic type person. What this just means is he is not a specialist only. He has had education in the liberal arts, coupled with numerous jobs within the military that has enabled him to apply a substantial number of skills. From simple budgeting matters, to enormous political problems, health problems, strategy, technology, writing of doctrine, and personnel issues. Petraeus is also equipped with a well-spring of self-discipline honed over decades that has allowed him to use experience, knowledge, and his wisdom to adjust when necessary.

As you can tell, I'm pretty Pro-Petraeus. I'm pretty stoked to be a citizen of a country that can recognize such talent, and has the institutions that allow such a talent to thrive. Ultimately the investment in such a man has paid off handsomely for our country. Now, he moves to the CIA. He is the gift that keeps on giving. Welcome to the retirement rolls!

Capt C

&lt;p&gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;span style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% yellow;" class="goog-spellcheck-word"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;lt&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/span&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;span style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% yellow;" class="goog-spellcheck-word"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;br&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/span&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&lt;/p&gt;

Hurricane Irene

2011-08-27T08:39:00.001-07:00

Glen Ellen, California

Here is an Image from NASA of Hurricane Irene as she exits the Bahamas and move north. Pretty crazy! So happy I don't have to worry about hurricanes anymore......for the moment anyway!

Good Luck to all hands on the east coast!

Below are two images from my first day at Infineon Raceway with my buddy Jeff and AJ Foyt Racing.

In the Pitts. Vitor Meira on set-up day

Danica Patrick. Her Pitt is right next to AJ Foyt Racing. I was right in the mix!

Enjoy!

Capt Chris

Indy® Grand Prix of Sonoma

2011-08-23T13:33:00.004-07:00

San Rafael, California

Ahoy race fans! This is a little blog tease.

My little kingdom in Glen Ellen, California is about 10 miles to the north of Infineon Raceway. When I commute from Christa to my house 2 or 3 times per week I pass right by the race track. Plus one of my yoga teachers is also a newly minted professional motorcycle rider and is the founder of Pranaforce Racing. He races at Infineon and I like to go watch and support him. You can see my post on the last trip to Infineon by clicking here.

So, meet my buddy Jeff Britton pictured below.

Image Compliments of AJ Foyt Racing

Jeff and I grew up together in Pennsylvania, but lost touch for a number of years. Then I reunited with him again at my 20 year High School reunion, only to lose track of him again. But, I tracked him down again. I shall not lose track of him again! He is now the Chief Engineer for AJ Foyt Racing team. He is an Indy car guy, low key, mellow and calm by nature. I recon he is superior in his high pressure job. Always analytical. We were a great team. Me a spaz and Jeff at the opposite end of the spectrum.

AJ &amp; Sammy Hagar. The Race Team and Sammy have a relationship

Jeff was always a motor head and pretty smart to boot. He had a 1977 Camero Z-28 identical to the one pictured below. One day in his parents garage he started to re-build a GM Small Block 350 while I just looked on. I held some wrenches here and there with no desire to learn about said engine. I was more interested in chasing girls and doing burn-outs. Now Jeff simply did all of this mechanical work from the manual by trial and error. Once that Chevy Orange engine was dropped in, she was a rocket. That dude "Mayhem" from the insurance commercials had nothing on us! We were a menace to society, and labeled as trouble makers. I suppose we were, but we seemed to have turned out OK. Both of us marveled that we did not die in that vehicle. I remember getting pulled over by "Officer No Slack Ricklack"on more than one occasion.

Jeff is going to be racing this weekend at Infineon and yours truly has a pit pass. That's right baby, I'm going to be in Pitts with Jeff and my Canon G11 blazing away. So excited to see Jeff and an Indy Car race up front and personal. Here are a couple of pics from the race team website.

Stay tuned!

Capt Chris

Fall Semester at Dominican University

2011-08-19T09:05:00.003-07:00

Glen Ellen, California

This summer I completed a 6 semester hour Finite Math class and an internship at Mill Valley library. My 3 week break is coming to a close, and this coming Monday I report back to school to start my senior year. Here is a quick run down of what's on tap for the Fall 2011 semester.

East side of Guzman Hall

Digital Media Convergence (Monday and Weds)

1. Course Description:

Facebook and Fox News, Tivo and TV, YouTube and Yahoo, books and blogs, ipods, iphones, itunes, ieverything – we are pretty much swimming in information. How do we navigate through it all? How do we find the good stuff? Which kinds of information should we use for which kinds of research and creative projects?

Through readings, lectures, tutorial demonstrations and hands-on exercises in multimedia technologies, students will explore the convergent forms of digital media, including production for audio, video, and web, as well as interactive communications. Students will be encouraged to articulate the stories they wish to tell and to develop the skills to communicate their messages. Students will develop a critical awareness of their own work and be able to place it in a broader social and cultural context.

Linguistics ( Monday and Weds)

1.               Course Description

Introduction to linguistics: the scientific inquiry into human language, its structures and uses and the relationship between them, as well as into the development and acquisition of language.

Classical Arts: Greek & Roman (Weds)

1. Course Description

Architecture, sculpture, painting, and minor arts of ancient Greece and Rome from the early Minoan-Mycenaean period through the late Roman Empire. The development of the Greek temple and the Roman city and the influence of classical culture on the development of Western civilization.

Special Project Cap/1 - Senior Project

1.    Course Description

Specific work on the senior project with the student’s primary reader. Requirements depend upon the student’s Concentration Track

Senior Project Workshop

1.    Course Description

A two semester practical workshop with other students working on their senior project. The workshop orients students to thesis or project options, choice of primary reader and the process and requirements of the senior project.

So grateful I am able to attend school full-time, and dedicate my life to the aquistion of knowledge.

Capt Chris

Gardening So Appealing

2011-08-18T14:46:00.002-07:00

Glen Ellen, California

My little house here in the Valley of the Moon in the Sonoma wine country is a small plot of land no doubt. But, I do have space to grow organic veggies and what not. I have been really surprised at how I've been sweeped up into gardening. I've positively gotten in touch with my inner farmer. I've never grown anything in my life. When I moved into the house in June I planted a sunflower seed. You can see the results in the picture below. When that little plant popped its head from the soil in a week, sadly perhaps, it was one of the most satisfying things I've ever done! It was truly gratifying.

My First Flower

Since, I've planted tomatoes, strawberries, cantaloupe, and melon. Just recently I built two raised garden beds, both 2 feet by 8 feet. I've now planted an assortment of lettuce and kale. Within the week I've sow some carrots and celery. These are all my fall garden plantings. You see, I'm already conversant with terms such as "fall garden plantings." Living in the wine country it should be obvious that its prime growing territory. With my PVC hoop design I should be able to grow year round. Man, am I into it!

What's really wild about this new interest of mine is that many many retired sailors move inland and become farmers or ranchers. Just take Robin Lee Graham, who in the 1960's was the youngest circumnavigator at 16 years old. He moved to Montana with his wife and lived off the land. The whale industry in New England is another example. Most sea captains owned working farms. Also, my friends from SV Someday Came, the Tillman's, post circumnavigation bought and now operate a Lavender farm in Virginia. For some crazy reason there are strong commonalities.

With all my veggies I will defiantly be slurping on a lot of green smoothies.

Capt Chris

Adventure in California Wine Country

2011-08-16T11:33:00.004-07:00

Glen Ellen, California

This Sunday past I lit out on a fun filled day with my pal Lena, and couple of her friends to Healdsberg California. Of course, I don't consume libations, but my entourage surely does. We hit some wineries for heavy duty tasting while I safely piloted transport between destinations. By late afternoon, we picked up some steaks, culled fresh veggies from the organic garden in the backyard, and had a fantastic home cooked meal. It was a great August summer day in northern California with sunny blue skies and temps in the high 80's. I have to say the highlight was a visit to Francis Ford Cooppla' s winery. Click here if your not familiar with who Francis is. The place was amazing with bars, restaurants, movie memorabilia, and a huge pool with cabana's. For $15 bucks you can lounge at the pool all day. The place was mobbed. So I leave you with so photographs that I shot with my Canon G11 and edited in Apple's Aperture 3.


You Gotta Respect Old Glory

&lt;p&gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&lt;/p&gt;

I hope you enjoy! Please don't forget to subscribe! Capt Chris