Creativity
Expressing my experiences, observations and curiosity in an artistic way has become more important to me. These
expressions primarily take the form of visual art -- either film or photography -- or ornately decoupaged, but still utilitarian art
(tables, chairs, boxes).
Expressing my experiences, observations and curiosity in an artistic way has become more important to me. These
expressions primarily take the form of visual art -- either film or photography -- or ornately decoupaged, but still utilitarian art
(tables, chairs, boxes).
RIVER OF LIFE--a documentary film
The men and women in Southern Europe spent their childhoods in the last days of kings and empires. While still young,
many fought Fascist oppression and wars of national liberation.
No two countries took the same path after the War, through communism, into the transitions of the late 20th Century and on
into today. Some nations sank into anarchy or civil war, others are in the house of Europe.
Few people in the West appreciate the tenacity and dignity this generation has summoned not once, not twice, but three times
and more. The 20th Century sent repeated challenges and opportunities to the United States, but when Americans awoke on
January 1, 2000, they still lived in a presidential democracy, guided by a Constitution and stable political institutions as we
had 100 years before.
What resources did men and women of the Balkans draw from to navigate their lives? What have they won in this era of
democratization? What has been lost? How can their stories inform their grandchildren’s lives, now overtaken with
aspirations of a modern consumer lifestyle? What can their stories tell us in the West about continuity, change, and choice?
What values and strengths carry over to improve and strengthen the societies now developing in each of their nations?
The first phase of this project explores the lives of citizens from Balkan nations and territories in post-Communist transition:
Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Kosovë, Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, and Montenegro.
The lessons of this generation will be lost soon forever if they are not chronicled in a systematic way. This is a project of
urgency.
The men and women in Southern Europe spent their childhoods in the last days of kings and empires. While still young,
many fought Fascist oppression and wars of national liberation.
No two countries took the same path after the War, through communism, into the transitions of the late 20th Century and on
into today. Some nations sank into anarchy or civil war, others are in the house of Europe.
Few people in the West appreciate the tenacity and dignity this generation has summoned not once, not twice, but three times
and more. The 20th Century sent repeated challenges and opportunities to the United States, but when Americans awoke on
January 1, 2000, they still lived in a presidential democracy, guided by a Constitution and stable political institutions as we
had 100 years before.
What resources did men and women of the Balkans draw from to navigate their lives? What have they won in this era of
democratization? What has been lost? How can their stories inform their grandchildren’s lives, now overtaken with
aspirations of a modern consumer lifestyle? What can their stories tell us in the West about continuity, change, and choice?
What values and strengths carry over to improve and strengthen the societies now developing in each of their nations?
The first phase of this project explores the lives of citizens from Balkan nations and territories in post-Communist transition:
Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Kosovë, Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, and Montenegro.
The lessons of this generation will be lost soon forever if they are not chronicled in a systematic way. This is a project of
urgency.
Film, Photo, Art
Poverty is wrong. That much I know.
When I look back at my life, I divide
it by the way I lived. If I had 5 cents
to buy bread, I worried about what I
wasn’t having at home. Poverty and
want were the beginning, later I had
work, a family.
The changes in 1991 should have
moved things forward, but in reality
they are going backward. They
destroyed everything that we spent
50 years building. We can’t go
forward if there are no jobs.
If we had better leaders, we would
have better lives. They don’t think
about the people, they just are for
themselves.
Poverty is bad. Working hard is the
only way to be good. I would tell
you to behave well, to work hard,
and to make your own way.
Fadil, Kavaje, Albania
When I look back at my life, I divide
it by the way I lived. If I had 5 cents
to buy bread, I worried about what I
wasn’t having at home. Poverty and
want were the beginning, later I had
work, a family.
The changes in 1991 should have
moved things forward, but in reality
they are going backward. They
destroyed everything that we spent
50 years building. We can’t go
forward if there are no jobs.
If we had better leaders, we would
have better lives. They don’t think
about the people, they just are for
themselves.
Poverty is bad. Working hard is the
only way to be good. I would tell
you to behave well, to work hard,
and to make your own way.
Fadil, Kavaje, Albania
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