How Changemakers can Change the World

I am in Miami, meeting some incredibly creative people at a Global Summit sponsored by Ashoka.  With over 3000 innovators around the world, and more being added every year, Ashoka nurtures social entrepreneurs who work on solutions to the world's social and environmental problems.  Each of Ashoka's "fellows." as they are called, identifies a problem and works on a way to solve it.  www.ashoka.org

Here are just two examples:
Nicole Rycroft established Canopy which safeguards the world's forests by harnessing the power of the marketplace to change business practices.  Canopy is best known for greening the Harry Potter book series globally. Nicole engages the paper companies' largest customers like book publishers and newspapers like the New York Times to reduce their environmental impact. As she puts it, it's hard to ask a paper company not to cut down a 1600 year old tree, opting for a rapid grower. But, when the paper company's customer raises the issue, it's compelling.  www.canopyplanet.org

Felipe Vergara made up a whole new system for student loans by removing the fear of debt.  Instead of a traditional loan repayment plan, Felipe's idea requires students to repay a fixed percentage of their income for a fixed number of months after graduation. The student obligation ends at the end of that period  regardless of the sum paid. If the student can't get a job, they don't have to be saddled with the debt. If they get a well paying job, they repay the loan.  Moreover, Felipe's company, Lumni, operates at a profit.  www.lumni.net

Ashoka's founder, Bill Drayton, was honored the previous day at the Kennedy School at Harvard for dedicating his life and career to pursuit of knowledge and serving the public good.

Gangaramaya Temple goes to Portsmouth

My photo of Gangaramaya Temple in Colombo, Sri Lanka was chosen for a juried exhibit at the Portsmouth, Rhode Island Arts Guild. I am honored to have had one of my images selected, in the company of some very accomplished photographers.
I had stumbled on this temple when I visited a Buddha museum in Colombo. The museum is a hodgepodge collection of memorabilia and gifts loosely connected to a Buddha theme. Very little was labeled - or displayed - for that matter. The dark cases contained a jumble of items, neither particularly well lit, nor available for view. The Temple is in a courtyard near the museum and is a delightful, serene, spacious place. I don't know why there was a saffron sash draped over only one of the statues, but I thought it was an eye-popper. It reminded me of those software programs where you can color a spot on a black and white photo. Except that this is real.

Artsy Edgy Savannah, Georgia

Savannah's historic downtown is jazzed by the presence of SCAD (the Savannah College of Art and Design).  SCAD's Museum has several rotating exhibits in its large, white, accessible gallery space.  Until June 3, 2012 sculptural creatures by South African artist Jane Alexander are on display in a large installation. They have human-like eyes and political overtones.  This thoughtful solo poses in front of a group of soldieresque marchers.

Lunch in a converted garage.  Great way to spend a rainy afternoon, especially if you get rained off the golf courses on Hilton Head Island.

Photos at an Exhibition

I was fortunate to be invited to exhibit some of my travel pictures at a photography exhibition this week, in Newport, Rhode Island.   Suzy Conklin Nance assembled the work of three travel photographers and hosted a show at her offices at Capitol Realty on beautiful Bellevue Avenue in Newport. The exhibit also raised awareness for Bring Peace Not Pain.  I appreciated the friends who came to see.

Here are the photos I showed at the exhibition.

Eyeing London (Big Ben from the London Eye)

Hot Air Ballooning over Goreme, Cappadocia, Turkey

Table Mountain Clothed in Clouds, Cape Town, South Africa

Gangaramaya Temple, Colombo, Sri Lanka

Serious Shaded Boy, Huilloc Village, Sacred Valley, Peru

Pursed Lips Boy, Huilloc Village, Sacred Valley, Peru

Tilted Hat Girl, Huilloc Village, Sacred Valley, Peru

Stuck, Serengeti Migration Camp, Tanzania

Road 6 from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap, Cambodia

Estancia La Candelaria, Argentina

Community Toilets, Langa Township, Cape Town, South Africa

Just Met Johnny Jet - Tips on Jetlag and more

Johnny Jet is a blogger and speaker, and most importantly, a guy who has figured out how to travel fantastically around the world all the time, write about it and take pictures.  He spoke tonight at a dinner hosted by insuremytrip.com.
Insuremytrip is the best place to get trip insurance. When you need trip insurance, go to their website, where it compares 21 different travel insurance companies' offerings in detail. They also have agents available by phone.
Although I had stumbled onto Johnny's blog before, I never had read his bio or knew much about him - other than he publishes lots of information about frequent flyer miles and other tips. Johnny's real name is John DiScala, and he is a fabulous storyteller who describes how he overcame a fear of flying to traveling fiendishly -- 20 countries a year, and away 220 nights. Weaving in beautiful sentiments about his mother who he lost to cancer, he says the best way to use frequent flyer miles is to take your mother to Europe.
Besides using frequent flyer miles for Mom, he offered a couple of other tips.
I was surprised by his answer to the question of how he combats jet lag. He does not take Ambien, or anything for that matter. He does the usual setting his watch to the time of his destination as soon as he gets on the plane. If he is really exhausted when he arrives, he will take a nap of ten minutes or so - sometimes outside on a bench, but not in a cozy hotel room under the covers. Sorry, Johnny, sleeping outside on a bench doesn't work too well for women travelers. But, I agree with the idea of giving in to a quick nap but NOT a full sleep.
On how to get through to airlines on the phone, he uses gethuman.com to find a phone number when you must talk to someone about a flight.
Always travel light. You save money on baggage check fees. I agree and I carry on whenever I possibly can. The more you travel, the greater the odds are that your luggage won't be on the baggage claim carousel.
His final tip: Be really nice. You might get upgraded or get special treats. But most of all, it's just nice to be nice.
I like that guy, Johnny Jet. I am going to follow him.