I am blessed by waves of inspiration every time thoughts of Rasha fill my mind.

See NY Times article about Rasha’s life. There was also a piece on WNYC yesterday morning about her. When I can find the stream, I’ll post a link.

In loving memory,

Alison

This celebration and tribute will be an all-day event at multiple locations. Please join us in saluting our beloved Rasha.

Date: Saturday, August 16th from 11 am onward
Saturday’s Schedule:
11 am: Catholic Funeral Mass at St. Anthony-St. Alphonsus Catholic Church
Location: 862 Manhattan Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11222 [Read more →]

We will miss you forever Rasha. I love you!
-Alison

Rasha Shamoon, 1976–2008
At about one a.m. on Tuesday, August 5, Rasha Shamoon, 31, received what would be fatal injuries when she was struck by an SUV while riding her bicycle home to Greenpoint, Brooklyn. When the paramedics arrived, she was not breathing. They revived her and transported her to the hospital.

For the next several days, her friends and family gathered at New York Presbyterian/Cornell Medical Center and waited for news. She never regained consciousness. On Saturday, August 9, Rasha was declared brain dead. On Monday, August 11, she was removed from life support after many of her organs went to help other people. [Read more →]

First of all, happy birthday to His Holiness the Dalai Lama (and to my Grandpa!!).

We wish long life to the both of you. 

One week ago, Aaron and I threw our first screening and potluck party.  [Read more →]

This morning, we received an email from our good friend and Pema Ts’al School graduate, Tenzin Sonam. He is now in Manali and tomorrow will set out for his homeplace of Ladakh to lead treks through the Himalaya.

While we were in India with Tenzin last year, he mentioned his dream of starting his own trekking company after having many years of experience in the field. He’s had such good recommendations from trekkers past, that he has been supporting himself by gaining new clientele strictly by word of mouth!! And now, without further ado, he has launched the website for his company: Adventures Trek. Please check it out and if you’re interested in walking atop skyhigh snowy Ladakhi mountain ranges to gaze upon ancient cave monasteries or even sitting camelback through the hot deserts of Rajasthan, you know who to contact…

Alison

Greetings Friends.

We’ve been so busy lately that we haven’t had any time to post updates on our projects.

Our movie is nearing the finish line.  Expect much more on that soon…

I’m happy to announce that Alison’s photos are starting to pop up all over the place.  Several large prints of her Tibet photos are on display at George Washington University, and they  look fabulous.

Also a very nice photo of hers can be seen at the really exciting circleofblue.org

She also has her first magazine photo in this months Black Enterprise, with a great portrait of the owners of Nubian Heritage.

So, once again, way to go Alison. The career change is paying off!!

Ok, more soon.  I promise!

-Aaron

It’s a swell time to visit San Francisco. It’s my first time and everything going on has already been proven historic. Tomorrow, April 9th, the Olympic Torch will be carried through the streets to celebrate the upcoming summer games in Beijing. Yesterday, activists scaled the Golden Gate bridge to adorn it with banners in support of a Free Tibet. And today, hoards of Tibetans from all over the US and their supporters marched through the streets of Frisco showing solidarity and appealing to China to end human rights abuses in Tibet, among other requests–like releasing the Panchen Lama, and stopping the Olympic torch from traveling through Tibet.

Somehow, I got very lucky and was able to flock with the journalists for much of the day’s protest. Juggling a video camera in one hand and an SLR in the other, I managed to get some decent coverage. Then in the later part of the day, I showed my support for Tibetans with friends Marilyn and Manon by marching and attending the candlelight vigil in honor of hope for Tibet and all those who have lost their lives around the world in the struggle for independence. Desmond Tutu, who stood up against apartheid, among other courageous people, spoke at the vigil tonight. They offered inspiring words to an awed audience.

With that, I’ll leave you with a slideshow of some images from today’s events. Click on the screen if you want to see larger images. More to come after I attend the Olympic Torch Relay tomorrow. It’s exciting to see what will happen. Some funky precedents have been set in London and Paris.
Alison

Free Tibet!!

Alison is currently in San Fransisco filming the protests involving the upcoming Olympic torch marathon. While she’s gone I’m holding down the fort in New York, editing feverishly. Our June 1st deadline is fast approaching!

Also I wanted to take this opportunity to announce some really exciting news!!! Several of Alison’s photos from Tibet will be on display at the George Washington University Spring Colloquium, “Bringing Buddhism to Varied Lands” on April 14th.

Here’s some more info from the George Washinton University Department of Religion website:

Spring Colloquium on Buddhism: Bringing Buddhism to Varied Lands-April 14, 1pm-7pm
We are excited to be holding our second Colloquium on Buddhism on Monday, April 14. The topic of this colloquium will be “Bringing Buddhism to Varied Lands” and will feature papers and presentations from a wide variety of faculty members and honored guests, as well as the first- and second-place winners of the Student Research Paper Contest.
The colloquium will be preceded by a presentation of Buddhist art and artifacts, featuring cataloguing and research work conducted by students of Buddhism classes at GWU.
For more information, see the flier for the event here. (pdf)
See also the agenda of speakers for the day here.(doc)

It should be a really exciting event. We’ll be taking the train there to attend and I’m sure we’ll have lots of photos to share.

Way to go Alison!

More news soon,

Aaron

Yesterday afternoon, Lama Pema gave a great interview on the “Happy Hour” news show on Fox Business News. His performance is especially impressive to me since the interview took place in a strange environment for a Tibetan monk…

He was questioned about many things including the Olympics, the ongoing protests, President Bush potentially boycotting the opening ceremony, what the world can do to help, what the solution to the problem is and if peace is truly possible.

You can watch it online here (you’ll have to sit through an annoying, but short ad).

-Aaron

The little monk that we sponsor, Tsewang Gyurmay, has written us a letter (see him marked as “ME” with the whole Pema Ts’al group above)! Upon entering his new home at the Pema Ts’al Sakya Monastic Institute in February, he was given a new monastic name, Jampa Rabgey.

It appears that he has settled in quite nicely, along with all of the other young monks from different villages of Mustang. He told us that he remembered us from the time we first met, in his home village of Kagbeni!

Here is his drawing that came with the letter:

It thrills us to no end to help this little guy!!

Signed, Happy Sponsors Alison + Aaron