Thursday, May 18, 2006

Dear Editor at Adbusters

Dear Editor at Adbusters

My name is Sarah Fowler. I am currently living in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania; however I was born in Ontario, Canada. My interests include independent cinema, exotic languages, environmental circumstances and empowering children. I came to East Africa to direct a feature documentary about spiritual evolution; however I am still patiently awaiting the experience. The main theme emerging is that patience & persistence pays and that wazungu write the cheques.

I dwell in a small library and just had No Logo for dinner, it was delectable. At present I volunteer for Roots & Shoots, which is part of the Jane Goodall Institute; I get to talk to children about their 3 tiered environments and ask them what they can do about it. I spend lots of time connecting the dots of the plant-animal-human/mind-body-spirit/ thought-word-action ménage-a-trios. It works on many levels. Eventually I’ll get an experimental film out of the process.

A friend recently got an issue of Adbusters in the mail and I scooped it up. I understand you are looking for an African correspondent and you should know, I am your girl. Nimeishi katika Tanzania kutoka tarehe mwezi tatu na kabla nakaa Kenya mpaka semptemba. I am planning a trip to Uganda and Rwanda in June and will be returning to Kenya in August. Plus I have a lot of opinions, and a photo essay about the mental environment of city life in Tanzania. These photos will immediately follow your response to this application, until then... rambling poetry is what I got. I have also included as writing the press release from a fundraiser I am organizing as well as an outline and treatment for an under-funded film project currently under mental and physical construction. All this on top of my Curriculum Vitae, oh la la!

If you need more (check out www.aries-iris-arts.blogspot.com) or have any pertinent questions please do not hesistate to contact me in cyberspace via smfowsy@gmail.com ASANTE SANA & Enjoy!

Sincerely
…………………smf
Sarah Marie Fowler
Cineaste & Fundi za creativities


Hapo yote- (all there) even to…………Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
A developed third world landscape. A 3 part photo essay by smf

Watu katika bahari, (people in the ocean)
Negative net effect, more leaving than coming to a hungry pahail (place)
Tax free embargo shoppers, enjoy exotic sugar!
Soil poison, cotton, and perenthyum in the binadamu cradle (humanity)
kahawa (coffee) and chai, (tea) picked by alien communities
isolated from where they came from
babies working in the fields on mama’s back
sisal takes over the landscape but is
less profitable than making ropes from synthetics
fossil fuels are my friendJ
public transport dangerous but costs only a dime

Mental environment- Ndoto (dream) brain, thought,
Reading an article in the gazeti exposing the fact that municipal tax revenue pay the hydro bills of the illuminated billboards.
Some people gets rich; other get brainwashed
Vodacom families are happy, successful ones
Cell phone phenomena, ring tones make people feel prosperous
Resources and inner health all traded for knock-off cars and tv’s
Asia makes stuff that works in Africa

Everywhere you travel in this country you can buy korosho (cashews)
The nut harvested by the extremely pour , for the enormously wealthy
Also available for sale on the streets is….
bottled water, hardboiled, 16 year old kids, sugarcane,
chew it up and spit it out…..
cookies, mbuzi (goat) afro combs and toothpaste,
rural families hold large bunches of banana above there heads
advertisements to the passing transport
keep the gari (bus) clean, please throw your rubbish out the window
given away in the same manner it came in.
oblivious

1 comment:

Stecki said...

SMF I'd love to see the photos/cinematography that would match that rambly poetry. When might we ever get that chance?