Re: inquiring about travel through Africa

I first wrote Paula Constant

when I was 21 after reading an article about her

trek

across

the Sahara...

Paula Constant has walked over 12000km through eight countries –

including 7000km through the Sahara with her own camel train.

Her acclaimed books describe the journey, which began

in Trafalgar Square in 2004,

and was ended by civil war in Niger in 2007

I was surprised to not only get a response from Paula but an in depth letter about how to prepare for this kind of journey and an invitation to contact her with more questions.I did.

Anyway I'm not sure why I feel compelled to share this first E-mail. I guess, after rereading it tonight I'm still blown away with anyone who, after accomplishing their goals can take the time for some total stranger and help with her life's goals as well. So anyway, thanks Paula I hope that our conversations are not over and that one day I'll be training my own camels :)

Thu, May 1, 2008 7:39:57 PM

Re: inquiring about travel through Africa

Hi there Ashley,

thanks for your email.

Firstly, the thoughts you have regarding no amount of planning being too much,
are entirely accurate, particularly if you are thinking of heading straight into
Africa. I actually did a 5000km practice walk down through Europe first, which
helped me to sort out what I needed to learn before I headed into the Sahara.
The first 3000km I did in the Sahara I actually hired a local tourist operator
to help me plan and learn what I needed to about camels, the desert, and Arabic
culture and custom; whilst I have been solo for the last 4,200, those first
months served me brilliantly well in terms of learning how to actually get
through hard country. IN the desert I usually take local guides - I have yet to
hear of a Western woman walking with camels alone for any length of time in the
Sahara - they do actually die, largely due to misunderstanding or simple,
avoidable accidents. Although I have walked certain stretched entirely alone, I
would not recommend this unless you had some kind of vehicular back up (which I
do not). It is traumatic, exhausting, and, I believe, very dangerous. Having
local languages helps, but if you are walking through notorious bandit areas
where there are up to 9 different dialects - as there are in Mali, for example -
it is a big ask to be fluent in all of them, and to have the kind of local
knowledge that could see you get through unscathed.

On the other hand, taking a local guide and learning local languages to at least
an elementary level, will ensure you have a safe, wonderful, experience, and see
nothing but kindness and hospitality. Africa and Africans, int he Sahel region
where I have walked (Western Sahara, Mauritania, Mali, Niger) are welcoming and
kind to strangers, particularly women.

If you are planning to walk in countries outside of the Sahara, then I have
little in the way of advice to offer - my experience has been confined to
walking amongst desert Bedouin with camels, so my walk with a pack was back in
Europe and Northern Morocco. I would never say "don't do it" - but I would
advise strongly to consider taking roads off the beaten track, stopping in
villages and offering a nominal fee to the local chief to give you a
guide/guard/companion to walk you to the next village. IN my experience this is
the safest and most interesting way to navigate Africa, although it will
inevitably involve endless marriage proposals, and some very tiring nights when
you are fed up with being asked the same questions and being the centre of
attention. However, to think of tackling the continent entirely solo is to my
mind, to give yourself serious problems. Africa is communal and lacking in
notions of personal space. You will not get it, so you are better off accepting
that and realising that your walk will be a communal thing. Embrace this, and
you embrace Africa; deny it, and you live in misery and resentment. If you want
a solo walk, do the Appalachian trail or something, because Africa is not the
place to seek solitude. Even in the Sahara!

My home phone number is (..............). From what you have written I rather
think you are serious, so if it would help to talk to me directly, I would be
more than happy to chuck my two bucks worth in. I don't pretend on any level to
be an expert, but I have learned a bit through trial and error, and may be able
to answer some questions. If you want to trace my route through Africa, these
are the major stops:

Morocco - Tangiers, Rabat, Casablanca, Marrakesh, Ouarzazate, Zagora, Mhamid el
Ghizlaine, Tan Tan, Laayoune, Boujdor, Dakhla
Mauritania: Nouadhibou, Atar, Tidjikjia, Aayoun el Atrouss, Nema
Mali: Tomboctou, Gao, Menaka
Niger Tillia (where I was stopped by civil war).

Cheers
Paula

Artist Profile: Julia Dales

Julia's Tools: Mouth, teeth, tongue, lips, vocal chords

The

Canadian

beatboxer has been writing songs since she “was a fetus” and her dedication has apparently payed off. A 17 year old Julia won the 2009 Online Beatboxing World Championship and since then has been mentioned by Pop big names like Justin Timberlake and Ashton Kutcher, made an appearance on Alexa Chung’s MTV show and become quite the online sensation via her beatboxing YouTube vids and she did all this before she could legally buy a pitcher, crazy eh?

AM: SO.. life was pretty epic before you turned 18 ...
What have you been doing since you won the beatboxing world championship??

JD: Since the contest I went to university and am now taking time off
school to record some of my own original songs.


AM:It seems like you completely dominated the beat off with Rahzel. Were you nervous when he came out on the show??

JD: I was too ridiculously excited to think about being nervous, and I
definitely didn't dominate him he was scratching to compliment the
song I was covering. It wasn't a battle, he was just giving me the
gift of beatboxing alongside him.


AM: How did you get into beatboxing?

JD: I got into beatboxing when I was a little kid because my tennis
instructor could do it and I realized I could make a bunch of weird noises
too and then I became obsessed.



AM: How long does it usually take you to learn a new sound/beat?

JD: It doesn't take long to learn a new sound, its more just mental and
trying to figure out exactly which tiny muscles to use and often I
stumble on sounds accidentally.


AM: music mentors?

JD: My beatbox mentor was Chris Perry. My beatbox idols are Beardyman and Rahzel.


AM: other interests?


JD: playing Squash!

AM: Where do you see yourself in ten years?

JD:I would love to be a professional musician in ten years but if not
then probably in another field of communications

SACHA PENN

As a new addition to TROOP(read details below about website coming soon!) I will run an artist profile at least once a month. The first AP features good friend and wickedly talented artist, Sacha Penn who let me show off her painting which is the first of, I hope, many in a series of anatomic splendor in which Sacha dives beneath the surface of the human skin and makes even a mass of fibrous connective tissue curiously beautiful.

I'm excited to brag that I will be posing for the ocular muscle next week when I head down to visit her in Southern California and I can't wait to see the finished painting!

Sacha's Tools:

Paintbrushes - mostly sable, sold by the mysterious brush lady. "It's best not to question where or how she gets her brushes."

Shin Han Watercolor paint - sold in China Town in LA. Bad part of town, great paints.

Arches watercolor paper - ridiculously expensive paper found online or at art supply warehouse in westminster. It smells really bad. When I have time I'll make my own paper and not be poor.

Palette - can be anything, but I like to use something white and big.

I also spend a lot of time studying anatomy books and drawing the human figure so that I can understand how the muscles and bones relate to a specific pose.

AM:I see you have an interest in anatomy, is this a theme which carries through most of your artwork?

S:Unfortunately it isn't a constant theme. I am fascinated by human anatomy but it is rare that I get to indulge in it. If I had it my way all my work would in some way revolve around the intricacies and beauty of the human body inside and out - but a girl's gotta eat!

AM:Any artists that have inspired you? Mentors?

S:

Jenny Saville

Sam Webber

Vincent Van Gogh

William Wendt

Andrew Wyeth

Gustav Klimt

John Daugherty

and my mentors:

Peter Zokosky

Yu Ji

George Zebot

AM:What other interests do you have ( besides art)?

S: I have so many! Metalworking, baking, flying, nursing, farming, sewing, running, jumping and falling. I just love learning and working with my hands.

AM:Where do you see yourself in ten years?

S: I hope in ten years to be splitting my time between doctors without borders (as a biomedical illustrator/RN) and my ranch in Montana.

Finally, If you had to paint using only food items/ingredients what would your canvas taste like???

S: It would taste like the air on the first truly warm summer day after a long winter... and mangos

Ordinarily you'd just throw that stuff away

but for some designers...

your junk,trash, crap,rubbish,riff-raff, garbage are in fact their treasures. What you may discard as manufactured leftovers are the instruments for their expression. One of my favorite examples of 'resourceful art' is a boutique where the interior designers conceive over-the-top installation pieces with materials that look like they came from the yard sale around the corner. At Anthropologie it's the ordinary item that often is tweaked and manipulated to visually create the extraordinary. When I see an Anthropologie it's nearly impossible for me to pass the wonderfully strange shop without going inside and getting a glimpse of whatever new spectacle of interior design floats, drapes, dangles or appears to come crashing through the store wall. I've become slightly obsessed with the ephemeral charm of an Anthropologie-esque style. With a whimsical flair and a sort of vintage decadence the designers combine art with
fashion in a way that's often both impressive and unpredictable.
these are just a few of my favorites images

Three things I'm into right now...

Say Yes to Carrots(or Tomato or Cucumber): The Israeli based skin-care line which promotes “ healthy eating for the skin” can be found at Target. It’s cheap( like $8-$12 a bottle) and paraben free although their ingredients do include chemicals like propanediol and benzyl alcohol in their formulations so if that bothers you then walk two feet to the left and pick up some Weleda also found at Target though for a much higher price per ounce.

Raw Local Honey

That unheated, pure, unpasteurized, unprocessed goodness, that concentrated nectar of flowers is not only tasty but can provide all 22 minerals and enzymes the human body needs to sustain life. An alkaline forming food, raw honey contains ingredients similar to those found in fruits, which become alkaline in the digestive system. It doesn’t ferment in the stomach and it can be used to counteract acid indigestion. Most honeys found in the supermarket are not raw honey but “commercial" honey, which has been heated and filtered so that it looks cleaner and smoother, more appealing on the shelf, and easier to handle and package. When honey is heated, its delicate aromas, yeast and enzymes which are responsible for activating vitamins and minerals in the body system are partially destroyed. Hence, such honey is not as nutritious as raw honey. I purchase my honey at a market just outside of Napa for about $12 a jar. Why buy local? Well first off it benefits your local economy but also local honey contains the immune stimulating properties needed for your body to adapt to its environment.

Patti Smith: I like to think I have a pretty varied music taste but after going over my playlist I realize I have been living on a steady diet of blues, folk, Holiday and Cat Power for waay too long. Sure I have the odd 70’s punk band thrown in the mix but otherwise it’s just a melodic orgy of fiddles, mouth organs and the ol’ acoustic gee-tar. Also there’s a point where you can only listen to so much of Newsom’s harp before your sulking in the back of poorly lit cafés every weekend waiting for your turn so you can play some acoustic rendition of that song you wrote. You know the one, it’s upbeat,quirky, delightfully ironic but still has the underlying theme of…death?!?

It’s unbelievable that at 24 I’m just getting into this wonkey-eyed punk goddess but she’s great, I love her and she’s one of the last bad-ass old school rock mamas still playing live shows. I think she plays the Bowery in New York a few times in the next couple months. Even one more reason to move back to the city.

Mouthful of Memories

In keeping with the theme of photography, I’d like to make a quick mention of a totally brilliant weirdo named Justin Quinnell who’s body of work includes a series of film shot with a pinhole camera positioned on the inside of his mouth. Admittedly, I found him while trying to think of clever ways to make my own pinhole camera. I tinkered with the idea of a beer-can-cam but then after finding Justin’s site I think I’m more qualified to just drink a beer and look through this guy’s pictures instead.

Dang is that a safety pin through Bert's nose?

Poladroid

When I
first heard that... Polaroid would cease manufacturing instant film I was working in England. A friend, and sort of quirky photog genius sent me an E-mail warning me to stock up on the stuff because soon I would be paying an even higher price for those little squares of insta-magic. He was right. For awhile I even gave up on my polaroid scrapbook which was filled with a cast of eccentric, strange and lovely characters I had met during several years of traveling. The single images of faces flooded my brain with memories far more than any of the scenic crap I sometimes shot on a digital cam. Also, I hate digital cameras. I never take the time to read the instructions and I rarely change any settings accept for flash or no flash. I like having an old clunker of a machine, I like the crude lines, the imperfections, I like having only one button to push,and I like the 'instant' satisfaction of a picture in hand. shake, shake, shake et voila! Actually I think they tell you not to shake but I can't help it.
Since then my digital camera broke and I've actually been taking all my pictures on my phone. I literally have two years worth of life documented behind the cracked screen of an Iphone.Recently I had a good friend move back to Poland and I wanted to send him a personalized package with some artsy random pics. I wanted to use Polaroids! So I gave in and bought some film from a site online called the 'impossible project' (www.impossibleproject.com) and 20 euros later ($26??) I received a pack of 8 monochrome instant pictures. The site says "using this film is like shaking Edwin Lands hand." I'll let you know if that's true when I'm ballsy enough to take a $3 picture. So I went back online and tried to figure out how to get the polaroid effect without raping my wallet and that's when I found 'Poladroid' (www.poladroid.net ) the free online downloadable program which polarizes your pic with the simple drag and click of a jpg image. It even develops in front of you on your desktop. Now I'm not pretending that this is even close to as cool as it's real-life counterpart but it did the trick and I kind of liked how they turned out plus you can try as many images as you want. For those more tech savvy people I'm sure there's a way to photoshop this and make it look much better but again I'm lazy and I want it easy-peasy or not at all.