AMP Magazine Blogs

Built on Respect: Puppies, DIY, and tattoos

2009-11-01T03:15:47-05:00

I’ve definitely settled into my schedule here. Last week, one of my oldest friends here, Wangdu, got his Visa, and left with his wife for the US.

The evening we went to the bus station, i found a small group of puppies.

I love the dogs here, I’ve found so many puppies and always blog about when I do. I guess I wanted to say WHY I love them so much. There is something pure about puppies: they love everyone. They waddle over to you, they don’t care if you are young or old, what color your skin is, they just want to give kisses, get hugs, and play. They haven’t been destroyed by fear or hate, they just unconditionally love. There are 8 of these little guys in all, and I’ve been taking them milk everyday. They are refreshing!

I also decided to start to do some interviews with my friends here. My friends who live in exile here have had drastically different life experiences than my friends in the West. I realized that often I only share these stories when I’m with my friends in New York.

After Inked has been helping to sponsor the work that I do here, so when I met Tamding, a Tibetan tattoo artist, designer and musician, I thought it would be really cool to interview him for AfterInked.

The interview is up in two parts, it is one of the longest ones I’ve done here.

Part 1:

Part 2:

Also this week, Built on Respect gained the support of Jailhouse Records, and one of their bands, Teenage Rehab. TR’s third album, Let’s be Enemies is out on November 10th. It’s available on http://www.Interpunk.com, and most independent retailers, however, there is currently a package deal available at http://www.jailhouserecords.com. A percentage of album sales goes to Built On Respect.

Best!
Heidi

Built on Respect: Mac vs. Paypal - A Parable

2009-10-15T04:10:26-05:00

Yesterday, there was a massive power surge in Dhasa—enough that it started to fry my Mac power cord (thank god not my computer!) It was bad enough that the power was shut down in the whole state for 8 hours yesterday while they fixed it. Such is India.

As my cord is currently held together with electric tape, and I’m here for another month and a half, I freaked, and talked to my friend in the States to send me another. Luckily I had had the presence of mind to get AppleCare after I got my Mac.

I called into Apple, and got through in less than 2 minutes. I gave them my serial number, and explained that my cord was fried. Within another 2 minutes, they made a note on my account, and said my friend could go to ANY Mac store, and get it for free to send to me.

Simple, polite, and cool. Seriously, Mac has got it together.

That brings me to PayPal. Back in August, I had made a transfer for the Hope Center, from their PayPal to their bank account. Since day one, there have been problems, things like their monthly limit not lifting because of ‘bugs’. Every month I have to call in, explain to no less than 4 people the situation, before I can get to an ‘escalations’ department manager. Well, since August, that large transfer has been missing. I called in before I left the States to hear, “You need to verify your bank information.” Well, when we started the account, we uploaded no less than 10 forms of ID and paperwork. I could go on for a while, but let’s just say that last nite, and midnight I talked to the third person in escalations, who really wasn’t sure why a trace hadn’t been started, even after we submitted the band information no less than 8 times, and why there had been no reply to 8 emails in the past week.

It has taken now 2 months to get PayPal to start a trace on the Center’s money. I still don’t know where it is, but I’m supposed to get a phone call today.

Seriously, I think this is a parable for so many things. You can take responsibility, trust someone who comes to you with a problem, and say, “Yes, I can help you and will do it now.” Or, you can be mistrustful, only worry about yourself, “There’s a problem? That’s not my problem. Not sure why that happened.”

I Love the ‘Mac’ people in the world—one’s that are proactive, that want to help, that look at the big picture. I understand that there are ‘PayPal’ people too—one’s that believe everything is someone else’s problem, not theirs, and maybe if they wait long enough it will all just go away. As of today, I am just reminded that it takes all kinds, and at least I’m learning to be patient. But when you know a small non-profit needs that money desperately to pay their rent, and provide books for their students - books that will change their students’ lives through education—I’d be lying if I didn’t say it puts a really sour taste in my mouth.

That aside, things are moving forward here. I’ve found a location for the SamaSource program—that too took patience. I’m looking now for a project manager, and then to set schedules to bring the trainers here.

The Dalai Lama is teaching for the next 7 days, so the town is full, and my regular class schedule is tentative - trying to get in classes in between the teachings.

My friend Chin is in from Australia, so I’ll be catching up with him throughout the week. In the meantime, I just wanted to say, I hope everyone has a ‘Mac’ kind of week!

Best, Heidi

Built On Respect: The quest for spirituality in Hardcore contines

2009-10-03T05:43:20-05:00

Saverio Sgaramella of Concrete Block

heidiminx: You grew up in Turin, tell me about the city?

Sevario: Turin has changed a lot from the 70’s (when I was born). It changed from an industrial city to a tourist town. In the ‘80 when I was a teen, the city was tough, a lot of heroin destroyed two generations of adolescents, including lots of my friends, but on the other side, the hardcore scene gave birth to some of the best bands ever in Turin including Declino, Negazione, and Indigesti.

The scene became active again in ‘99 when I started my old band, Woptime. That band lasted 6 years, I think we were one of the most influenced bands of that decade for the Italian hardcore scene.

HM:What is the music scene like there?

S:Now we have some good bands like Collision of My Axioms, Hardknocks, and Afterburner. People are really getting interested in hardcore again—the last three years were terrible.

HM: How did you get into hardcore music?

S: I got in the scene in 85; my first seven inch was Negazione, back then I didn’t know what to do in my life, I had many problems with my family and I hated to go to school. I was always in the street, but at same time I didn’t want to join the mob.

In 1985 it was impossible to find a job; nowadays the situation isn’t much better in Italy, particularly in Turin! Anyway, I liked hardcore and the lifestyle immediately. My friends and I listened to lots of Italian bands and great American bands like Agnostic Front, Cro-Mags, Suicidal Tendencies, Crumbsuckers, Ludichrist and so many others.

At some point I bought a skateboard, and in 86 I won the national skateboard street style championship, I was one of
the best steet-style skaters until 89. Unfortunately my career ended after I busted my ankle.

HM: How long have you studied Buddhism?

S:I get into Buddhism one and a half yeas ago; I follow Nichiren Daishonin Buddhism (if you’re interested in more information check out SOKA GAKKAI INTERNATIONAL)

HM: How did you get into it?

S: My life was broken in 1,000 pieces, I drank a lot – did drugs, and I didn’t care about anything – I think I was just waiting to die. I felt lonely and useless, most of my friends were in the same condition, so it was really hard to find an escape from that shit.

I knew about Buddhism cause when I stopped my skate career in the early 90s, I started to practice martial arts such as Karate, Muay Thai, JKD, and Savate. When one of my best
friends asked me to start to practice I said to myself, “Yes, it’s time, I’ve got nothin’ to lose, do it.”

HM: Is there a connection for you between Buddhism and hardcore? If so what is it?

S: For me the connection is the positive message. I play HC – my current band is called Concrete Block—cause I’m not
satisfied with my life. I practice Buddhism to help my self and people closer to me to push into positive direction. We don’t know why we live into pain and sorrow, so I’m trying to change my karma, change poison into medicine.

Built on Respect: Humility amongst other thoughts….

2009-09-18T09:06:34-05:00

Humility and selling don’t always go hand in hand. I know, totally strange sentence to start a blog with, but it was what came to mind after Monday’s occurrences.

The weekend for the most part was quiet. I had dinner with some friends Friday evening, Saturday it was a holiday, so I caught up on rest, and Sunday I met with two friends to help them with a Rowell Grant.

This week the Dalai Lama is teaching for three days, so class schedules have been disrupted, but I digress.

Monday I went to IBD to teach; homework had been a short essay on 9/11, and the problems that hate and racism cause. I’m totally fascinated with the thoughts I read in their essays.

At the end of class, Geshe Yonten gave me a DVD, asked me to watch it, and said he had some questions.

On my mid-day break, I watched it, it was a movie. The best summation is by the film maker, Frederick Marx:

“Two Buddhist monks fulfill their pledge to the Dalai Lama by leading a group of 17 poor children aged 4-12 on a journey from Zanskar in remote northwest India through the Himalayas. To seek an education: On foot. On horseback. By jeep and bus—whatever it takes. These children won’t see their families again for 10-15 years. 30 years ago, when they were children, these monks walked the same path themselves. Friends close to His Holiness led them from the Tibetan plateau to monasteries in southern India. Now, it’s their turn to lead the next generation - to keep the flame of Tibetan culture alive. But it won’t be easy.”

Hence, the humility. In our first class, Geshela had not mentioned this project, though my first question to them was, “Tell me about your self.”

It made me think, a lot. I talk about everything I do here, a LOT. The aim is to spread awareness, to bring faces to people on the other side of the world who are working for changes: to keep culture alive, to keep art alive, to regain independence, to fight political oppression—to gain educations.

While I might be here now 6 month out of the year, I am still in a safe county. I watched the full movie, and couldn’t begin to put myself in that situation—hiking the mountain passes, responsible for 17 children’s educations, and lives.

So, as usual, I said, what CAN I do? I called Geshela immediately, and we met extensively yesterday. I will be helping him set up his non-profit here, he would like to bring 70 children over the course of the next several years.

I also spoke with several people involved in the film, who were lovely. In addition to helping with the non-profit, I have volunteered to built a website to support the project, and will help try to apply for several grants.

It is odd to me. I never thought my skills, mostly communication, could be as useful as they are. I can’t build a house, I can barely build a fire, I have no idea how to climb a mountain, or grow my own food—I would be useless in a rural village. But somehow here, knowledge is a strong currency. I can share my skills with a very amazing man—one who is accomplished not only as a professor of Buddhist philosophy, but who is taking responsibility as an individual for making a positive change in the lives of so many people.

Yet again, I continue to learn—and I’m very happy to be able to share these stories with you, as I make AMAZING new friends.

Built on Respect: New blog from India

2009-09-13T06:55:35-05:00

The week was amazing. The past two days I was literally working 14 hours straight.

The Rowell fund is accepting applications this month. It is only for Tibetans, and I’ve been helping several non-profits fill out their forms.

One of the new people I’ve met is Lamsang. He’s just started a small non-profit called Shideling. It is based about 20km away from the main McLeod Ganj area. Many of the new arrivals from TIbet live in that area, is it is much less expensive than the MG area. However, there are very few social services there.

Lamsang has started Shideling to fix that problem. He is trying to start a job training workshop to teach carpentry. With the proceeds raised from selling furniture, he hopes to fund a computer lab, and also be able to assist area residents with medical expenses. Many of the residents are ex-political prisoners.

Three of the women who started the Shideling cafe are ex-nuns who were imprisoned. Through a mutual friend I learned their stories.

While in jail, they had refused to sing the Chinese national anthem as a Chinese flag was raised over the prison. For this, they were put in solitary confinement for many months. They frequently must visit the doctor for other problems; being forced to stand outside in ice-cold water (with their shoes put in reach) for many hours at a time led to kidney trouble.

I am really enjoying my evening English classes, I alternate nights between the beginner class at Hope Center that is sponsored by Built on Respect, and teaching Ngawang—the President of Gu Chu Sum. Teaching Ngawang is truly an experience. He is so lovely, smiles and laughs so much. The human rights violations against political prisoners is astonishing. There are rare pictures in the halls of GCS. Pictures of tortured bodies, and corpses. The Chinese prison guards have a particular affinity for the electric cattle prod—using it on every sensitive area of the body imaginable.

Ngawang and I are working on his English, so when he is asked to speak regarding this issue, he is comfortable with his English. I really can’t convey how simultaneously angering and heartbreaking it is to discuss the words associated with torture—especially knowing the beautiful person in front of you has gone through them.

That said, there is a beautiful converse. My friends and students here love to cook and socialize. Ngawang (GCS) , Lhakchung and Tenzin (Hope Center) and I made dinner this week. They know I adore momos, a Tibetan dumpling. We worked together for almost 2 hours preparing them.

Thank you for reading!
HUGS!
Heidi

originally posted at: http://www.builtonrespect.com/blog2.php? recordID=107

Built on Respect: In India!

2009-09-06T03:04:05-05:00

After about 35 hours of travel, where I inadvertently lost a day, I arrived in Dhasa on Friday afternoon. Luckily I had that DIY presence of mind to keep the plastic utensils from my flight, as my new room here doesn’t have anything in the kitchen!

On Friday evening I got to see my dear friend Tashi, he is a thangka painting master. See his work here!

The SOLO Foundation, which oversees my non-profit is purchasing one of his thangka for an auction to benefit the Tibet House in New York in November (http://www.tibethouse.org/Programs/Benefit_Auction.html). He is creating a new piece especially for this event.

I’ve also been working on a larger program—I still don’t want to give away too many details until it is firm—but after meeting with the Office of Tibet in New York, I was referred to Gu Chu Sum, the ex-political prisoners association.

On Saturday, I met with their director to talk about the program. We are working hard to make it happen, and in the meantime, he has asked me to help him with his English. I am beyond flattered, and would highly encourage you to learn more about their work. Check their site!

One of my friends here referred me to the Institute of Buddhist Dialectics—some of the senior Geshes are in need of an English teacher. Dialectics is the study of Buddhist philosophy, it takes about 20 years to become a Geshe—the best way to describe it is as a Doctorate in Buddhist Philosophy. The Geshes at IBD will go on to teach Dharma (Buddhist teachings)—many will teach in English, so it is important for them to study it. Since many of the monasteries in Tibet have been destroyed, or are under the control of the Chinese Government, it is not possible to for many monks there to receive a Geshe degree. This work is particularly important to me and when I received the call, after meeting with them on Friday, that they would like me to be their teacher, I literally jumped up and down in the street!

Friday evening I stopped by Tibet Hope Center, which I have worked with now for over a year. There is an evening beginner English class that I sponsor there. My friend Tenzin is the teacher. When I left last, I had him start the class, there are now about 28 students. When I left, they knew NO English—not our roman letters, anything. Since I have been gone, they have learned the ABCs, and are already doing written home work assignments. I am SO proud of Tenzin! I sat in, and after Tenzin taught new words, I worked with the class on pronunciation.

I have many more people I need to meet with on Monday, including some of the staff who work here with International Campaign for Tibet.

I will keep you updated!

Hugs, Heidi

Bookmark and Share

Back To Blogs

Built on Resepct: Death Metal and Tibetan Buddhism Collide

2009-08-18T20:04:20-05:00

I came to meet Shenpenn through one of my girlfriends in Dharamsala. When I returned to the States, we finally got to talk. You’ll find I get really excited when I meet someone else who is entrenched in both rock n roll, and spirituality. After seeing his movie trailer, I knew I wanted to share it with readers.

HM: Life is full of dualities, some happen to be more pronounced than others. Introduce yourself, and define the duality in your life.

SK: My name is Shenpenn Khymsar and i am a Tibetan Canadian. I live in Vancouver, BC. I was born in Darjeeling, India and I am the first son in my family to be born in exile after the Chinese invasion of my country, Tibet.

I am a Tibetan Buddhist, Tibetan activist and the first Tibetan Death Metal musician in the world.

This is a very complex and a distracting time we are living in today and it is not an easy task to follow the principles of the Buddhist teachings at all times. I found my outlet in heavy metal and it is very very unusual for a Tibetan to adapt to this extreme culture.

I try to lead a meaningful and a mindful life, but just like all human beings I have my vices and weaknesses—but Death metal has helped me become a better person because it helps me balance my dark side. It keeps all my demons in check and I let it out on stage and through my guitar. I am a Buddhist metal head.

It is perceived that death metal is satanic and sinister—but that is absolutely not true at all, in fact it is the only genre that has the most dedicated fans in the world. I am all about peace and compassion, my struggle for a Free Tibet will continue and my love for metal is inseparable.

HM: You’re working on a movie – in the trailer, it shows how you got into music – which seem VERY far removed from the music you play today. Can you talk about that a little bit?

SK: Well like most things in life, my taste in music has evolved a lot. When I was growing up in Darjeeling I used to listen to anything western, genres did not really matter.

I was very influenced by the local rock musicians too, who played all kinds of classic rock music; at the same time I was very drawn to Indian, Nepali and Tibetan music.

I think all my influences, life experiences and inspirations have effected my music and my song writing. I used to listen to Indian classical music, Bollywood music, Wham, Aha, Pet Shop Boys, Duran Duran, The Doors, Pink Floyd, Def Leppard, Van Halen and almost all the 80’s metal bands. Then I started listening to Iron Maiden, Metallica and Megadeth—after that kicked it up a notch with Slayer and Pantera. Now I listen to Lamb of God, Gojira, Messhugah, Arch Enemy and many more.

I love Death metal as a musician, but I do play all kinds of music. I am also working on my first ballad Hindi album so my range in music definitely varies. My favorite is always metal because it has saved me— and is the best outlet I could find to channel all my demons.

My documentary Journey of a Dream is a juxtaposition between Tibetan Buddhism and death metal.

Journey Of A Dream

Learn more at:
http://www.shenpenn.com or http://www.myspace.com/shenpenn

Broke, but want to support Built on Respect?

2009-08-11T19:07:13-05:00

Built on Respect is now on SocialVibe.com as a CAUSE!

How it works: click the link below, and join SocialVibe. It’s FREE, and it’s easy!

Validate your email and log in!

SV will generate code, you can add it to your MySpace, FaceBook, WordPress etc. The more people that view it, the more money that is raised directly for Built on Respect—it is seriously THAT EASY!

http://www.socialvibe.com/builtonrespect

Protagonist Webisodes: 1

2009-08-11T17:11:35-05:00

http://www.myspace.com/protagonist

The Raven’s Official Blog - 2nd Entry

2009-08-11T16:21:17-05:00

Its 10 a.m in the morning and I am sitting back home in Geneva, Switzerland. I am reflecting upon last week with a grin on my face I cannot take off. We filmed our first music video for One Last Time in Germany last weekend, and it was an experience I will probably never forget. The video is now in the editing process and should be finished in a couple of weeks. No idea on a release date yet, but I will of course let you know. I have never imagined the amount of work that is put in by everyone to make a proper music video. Besides the music video I had a photoshoot at Xtrax underground fashion. Which is an incredible place! I had a fantastic time and would like to thank Monaco for having me over at his studio. I cannot wait to go back for another round of trying on all kinds of sick clothing. If you like my style and would like to get some incredible clothing please visit them at

Well I cannot give away anymore about the video but here are some pictures to keep you waiting… I hope you will enjoy it.

-Davey-