Announcing Dragons Podcast: On Place + Purpose, hosted by Alum Student Bub Vernon
Posted On
12/16/19
Author
Dragons HQ
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You asked for it. And here it is:
THE DRAGONS PODCAST
hosted by Alum Student Bub Vernon
- EP. 6 PEPY's Executive Director Sarakk Rith on hope and struggle for education in Cambodia.
- EP. 5 Dragons Executive Director, Reed Harwood, on the role of Dragons in the lives of students and communities.
- EP. 4 Two Dragons fund students on "ah ha" moments and advice for future students.
- EP. 3 Veteran Instructor Rich Brown on the realities of immigration across the southern US border.
- EP. 2 Veteran Instructor Claire Bennett on "voluntourism" and an alternative approach to service.
- EP. 1 A mother & daughter who EACH did Dragons programs on their unique yet similar experiences.
LISTEN NOW on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and more.
PS. WANT DRAGONS BLOG UPDATES SENT DIRECTLY TO YOUR INBOX? ONE EMAIL A WEEK. NOTHING MARKETY. UNSUBSCRIBE ANY TIME. SUBSCRIBE TO DRAGONS BLOG AND STAY CONNECTED TO THE COMMUNITY. ❤️
[post_title] => Announcing Dragons Podcast: On Place + Purpose, hosted by Alum Student Bub Vernon [post_excerpt] => You asked for it. And here it is: THE DRAGONS PODCAST hosted by Alum Student Bub Vernon. Dragons is committed to cross-cultural education as a tool for breaking down barriers. Tune in to our podcast and hear for yourself how we can all make a difference... [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => open [ping_status] => open [post_password] => [post_name] => announcing-dragons-podcast-on-place-purpose-hosted-by-alum-student-bub-vernon [to_ping] => [pinged] => [post_modified] => 2020-01-01 11:36:31 [post_modified_gmt] => 2020-01-01 18:36:31 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => https://www.wheretherebedragons.com/news/ [menu_order] => 0 [post_type] => post [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 1 [filter] => raw [categories] => Array ( [0] => WP_Term Object ( [term_id] => 700 [name] => For Parents [slug] => for_parents [term_group] => 0 [term_taxonomy_id] => 700 [taxonomy] => category [description] => Blog posts specifically curated for parents wishing to know more about Dragons culture, programs, company, and community. [parent] => 0 [count] => 37 [filter] => raw [term_order] => 5 [cat_ID] => 700 [category_count] => 37 [category_description] => Blog posts specifically curated for parents wishing to know more about Dragons culture, programs, company, and community. [cat_name] => For Parents [category_nicename] => for_parents [category_parent] => 0 [link] => https://www.wheretherebedragons.com/news/category/for_parents/ ) [1] => WP_Term Object ( [term_id] => 640 [name] => Dragons Instructors [slug] => dragons_instructors [term_group] => 0 [term_taxonomy_id] => 640 [taxonomy] => category [description] => Featuring the words, projects, guidance and vision of the community of incredible staff that make Dragons what it is. [parent] => 0 [count] => 26 [filter] => raw [term_order] => 8 [cat_ID] => 640 [category_count] => 26 [category_description] => Featuring the words, projects, guidance and vision of the community of incredible staff that make Dragons what it is. [cat_name] => Dragons Instructors [category_nicename] => dragons_instructors [category_parent] => 0 [link] => https://www.wheretherebedragons.com/news/category/dragons_instructors/ ) [2] => WP_Term Object ( [term_id] => 641 [name] => About Dragons [slug] => about_dragons [term_group] => 0 [term_taxonomy_id] => 641 [taxonomy] => category [description] => Press, Essays from Admin, and Behind-the-Scenes HQ. [parent] => 0 [count] => 38 [filter] => raw [term_order] => 9 [cat_ID] => 641 [category_count] => 38 [category_description] => Press, Essays from Admin, and Behind-the-Scenes HQ. [cat_name] => About Dragons [category_nicename] => about_dragons [category_parent] => 0 ) [3] => WP_Term Object ( [term_id] => 654 [name] => Mixed Media [slug] => mixed_media [term_group] => 0 [term_taxonomy_id] => 654 [taxonomy] => category [description] => Featured Photography, Videos, Podcasts, Photo Contest Winners, Films & Art [parent] => 0 [count] => 42 [filter] => raw [term_order] => 12 [cat_ID] => 654 [category_count] => 42 [category_description] => Featured Photography, Videos, Podcasts, Photo Contest Winners, Films & Art [cat_name] => Mixed Media [category_nicename] => mixed_media [category_parent] => 0 ) [4] => WP_Term Object ( [term_id] => 669 [name] => Engage [slug] => engage [term_group] => 0 [term_taxonomy_id] => 669 [taxonomy] => category [description] => Activism, Advocacy, Leadership & Organizing. [parent] => 0 [count] => 19 [filter] => raw [term_order] => 13 [cat_ID] => 669 [category_count] => 19 [category_description] => Activism, Advocacy, Leadership & Organizing. [cat_name] => Engage [category_nicename] => engage [category_parent] => 0 ) [5] => WP_Term Object ( [term_id] => 651 [name] => Announcements [slug] => announcements [term_group] => 0 [term_taxonomy_id] => 651 [taxonomy] => category [description] => Announcements on: New Programs, Surveys, Jobs/Internships, Contests, & Behind-the-Scenes Activity. [parent] => 0 [count] => 51 [filter] => raw [term_order] => 14 [cat_ID] => 651 [category_count] => 51 [category_description] => Announcements on: New Programs, Surveys, Jobs/Internships, Contests, & Behind-the-Scenes Activity. [cat_name] => Announcements [category_nicename] => announcements [category_parent] => 0 ) ) [category_links] => For Parents, Dragons Instructors ... )WP_Post Object
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[post_content] => I vividly remember the first time the Andes Mountains were brought into my sphere of awareness.
Dragons Director of Risk Management, Tim Hare, has spent his life seeking connections with mountain landscapes and cultures. His quest led him to adventures throughout the western United States, the Andes of Bolivia and Peru, and the Nepali Himalayas. He called upon his personal travel ventures to inform the design of Dragons Andes and Amazon semester, which he instructed from 2007 to 2012. This photographic and written reflection recounts Tim’s lure to mountainscapes through the magic and mystery of story and music.
I didn’t yet know their names, but the recording burrowed into my psyche...
I vividly remember the first time the Andes Mountains were brought into my sphere of awareness. My mom had returned from a conference with a cassette tape of Andean flute music.
I was maybe six years old and she had my brother and I lay on our couch with our eyes closed so that we could hear the flutes fully, with our undivided attention. They soared and dipped, oscillating, cresting, crashing...tragic major to minor transitions, creating the emotion that is so visceral in most of the planet’s folk music. Dirges, diddies, ceremonial flights. I didn’t yet know their names, but the charango strings and then the zampoña, and quena flutes on that recording burrowed into my psyche.
“This music is from the Andes,” my mom stated. I inhaled with my eyes closed and am still certain that the air immediately felt different. Attenuated, crisp, moist.
Mountains captivated my imagination as a child.
Mountains captivated my imagination as a child. One of my first stories I wrote, perhaps in 3rd grade, was about a boy who wanted to climb Mount Everest. He set out on his expedition. Hardship struck when, after climbing through the jungles and up onto the glacier above, the boy fell asleep. The glacier carried him miles back down the valley before he awoke, and he had to regain the ground lost to the glacier’s speedy and slippery progress down valley.
The sound of the music felt deeply stored, perhaps existing on a cellular level...
On a conscious level I had actually forgotten my mother’s flute music by the time I first found myself bumping across Bolivia’s altiplano from Chile into the central Andes as a 20 year old study abroad student. It was in a bus a few days later, skirting the massive flanks of the Cordillera Real near La Paz, looking out at the stone agricultural walls, the glaciated flanks of the high mountains, envisioning the condors overhead, listening to the music on the radio, when I recalled the flute music on the couch. The sound of the music felt deeply stored, perhaps existing on a cellular level by that point (where, in fact, is memory actually stored?) It came fluidly then, as if freed by that Andean landscape, as if that music itself set in motion a series of events that led me to that bus ride near the Cordillera Real. As if I never really had a choice in the matter.
I thought of flutes in Tibet and Scotland, places with similarly spare and spacious landscapes. Landscapes must shape music.
I imagine that ethnomusicologists have much to say about the subject of landscapes, but I knew immediately that the flutes in Andean music must come from the wind, the wide open spaces, the lofty flights that the imagination takes in these high mountains. I thought of flutes in Tibet and Scotland, places with similarly spare and spacious landscapes. Landscapes must shape music.
From that first exposure my relationship with that Andes continued to deepen. I found a home in Sorata for four years, a mountain town around fourhours north of La Paz. I devoured books about Andean culture, politics, and history. I had the fortune to travel and learn throughout Bolivia and southern Peru, tracing old trails from the high peaks to the low jungles of the Upper Amazon below, finding wonder in the inextricable link between these two ecosystems. I made friends and found teachers as I went. With Dragons I also had the opportunity to conceive and develop our Andes and Amazon Semester, running its maiden voyage in 2007 as an instructor.
PS. WANT DRAGONS BLOG UPDATES SENT DIRECTLY TO YOUR INBOX? ONE EMAIL A WEEK. NOTHING MARKETY. UNSUBSCRIBE ANY TIME. SUBSCRIBE TO DRAGONS BLOG AND STAY CONNECTED TO THE COMMUNITY. ❤️
[post_title] => A Photographic Tale of the Central Andes
[post_excerpt] => This photographic and written reflection recounts Tim’s lure to mountainscapes through the magic and mystery of story and music...
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A Photographic Tale of the Central Andes
Posted On
12/11/19
Author
Tim Hare
Description
This photographic and written reflection recounts Tim’s lure to mountainscapes through the magic and mystery of story and music... Read MoreWP_Post Object
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[post_date] => 2019-12-05 14:37:40
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[post_content] => 
We thought you might like to see some sweatered goats. ❤️ which yes, you can have on your own wall. Each year, Dragons South Asia Program Director, Christy Sommers @talkingcentipede produces our favorite calendar with photos of these fashionable gals. More than 50% of the proceeds of the sweatered 🐐 calendars benefits Asha Deep Vidyashram, a school that serves over 200 K-8th grade students in an economically disadvantaged neighborhood in Varanasi, India. In 2019, the calendars raised $12,700 for the Asha Deep School! ✨ Calendars can be purchased on Etsy.
.
📸s by @sweateredgoats otherwise known as @talkingcentipede otherwise known as Christy Sommers.
PS. WANT DRAGONS BLOG UPDATES SENT DIRECTLY TO YOUR INBOX? ONE EMAIL A WEEK. NOTHING MARKETY. UNSUBSCRIBE ANY TIME. SUBSCRIBE TO DRAGONS BLOG AND STAY CONNECTED TO THE COMMUNITY. ❤️
[post_title] => Featured Instagram Photos of Sweatered Goats
[post_excerpt] => Sweatered goats photos and calendars, compliments of Dragons South Asia Program Director, Christy Sommers.
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Featured Instagram Photos of Sweatered Goats
Posted On
12/05/19
Photographer
Christy Sommers (@talkingcentipede)
Description
Sweatered goats photos and calendars, compliments of Dragons South Asia Program Director, Christy Sommers. Read MoreWP_Post Object
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[post_content] => Before Megan Fettig joined Dragons as an administrator, she served as a Peace Corps volunteer in a small rural community in southern Senegal from 2000-2002. Here's a series of black and white photographs she took while living in the community that, over the past 14 years, has welcomed, taught, and cared for over a hundred Dragons students. Her artist’s statement is included with the gallery.
This series of work has been exhibited at the Alliance Frances in Accra, Ghana, the National Museum of Ghana in Accra, Ghana, and PII Gallery in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. One of the photos in the series was awarded a second place prize in a juried exhibition at the University of Alaska. Please enjoy this digital version of her gallery!
Manthiankani: A Photographic Tale of Life in a Senegalese Village
Photos & words by Megan E. Fettig
The roosters crow, there is a consistent pounding of mortar against pestle as the women prepare the morning meal. My neighbors awaken, a baby wails, the men chat across the way in the Chief’s compound. A hot and unforgiving sun creeps above the proud palm trees on the eastern horizon and I rise from my spot of slumber under a growing mango tree. I wander out into the day, to greet each member of my family; my host mother, father, my grandma, my dad’s second wife, my teen-aged brother. My two year old sister spots me and runs in my direction on wobbly legs grinning to greet me as she jumps into my open arms. I greet the Chief and the women whose pounding stirred me out of sleep and then the children who somehow over the weeks turned into months turned into years, became mine. And I decide that the sun is just right, that my adopted family looks so perfectly beautiful in this rising light, that I must hold my clunky old Olympus passed down to me from my own father in a far away land. I hear the familiar click as each frame of film is exposed and the story of my relationship with Senegal unwinds. A story of connection, of beauty, and of how strangers took me into their homes and their hearts, how I became theirs and they, mine.
This is a story that was born of a dream. A tale of my experience living, crying, sweating, laughing, and growing in a small village called Mancankani (pronounced maan-chan-kan-ee) in the southern region of Senegal, West Africa where I spent two years as a Peace Corps Volunteer.
I arrived in Senegal in April of 2000 after having spent a decade yearning to experience life in an African village. I longed to witness something pure, some quintessential elemental way of living that I had not experienced among the materialistic tendencies and the spiritual inadequacies of life in America. I wanted to walk barefoot, to feel deeply connected with people, the cycles of the moon, and the nuances of each season. I wanted to live the naive and romantic ideal of an African life. I wanted to move to the rhythms of an African drum, carry babies on my back, dance in the first falling drops of the rainy season.
Little did I know that I would indeed experience all those things and more. I neglected to imagine the frustration of trying to communicate with people of a different language and culture. My daydreams didn’t include feelings of intense isolation nor the hours and hours of anguished boredom with sweat running rivers down my stomach. Slowly, towards the end of two years, the frustrations eased, the isolation somehow transformed into connection, my expressions learned to lean towards laughter. The strangers I lived amongst evolved into neighbors, friends, and family. Their lives revealed wealth to me, perhaps not the type of wealth we try to cultivate in the West; this wealth is more subtle, it dwells closer to the earth, it’s gem is the sparkle of an African sky on any given night, it’s heart is in family, in simply living close to each other.
My hope is that these photographs build a bridge from one human family to another. View them and set aside the traditional misconceptions of Africa; the idea that only poverty, illness and war stricken lives reside there. Experience the mornings when I picked up my camera as the sun rose over the distant palm trees, now two decades ago. See beauty in the face of simplicity so you can know a people who possess the traits of easy laughter, immense hospitality, and an openness to inviting a stranger into their home and calling her their daughter.
In 2005, Megan Fettig co-created and guided Dragons first program on the African continent bringing students to her Peace Corps village in Senegal. The holistic, community centered, and off-the-beaten-path style of Dragons programs captured Megan’s heart and in the past dozen years, she has continued her involvement with Dragons in several capacities including Instructor, West Africa Program Director, Marketing Director, and most recently, Co-Director of Adult Programs.
Ps. Want Dragons blog updates sent directly to your inbox? One email a week. Nothing markety. Unsubscribe any time. Subscribe to Dragons Blog and stay connected to the community. ❤️
[post_title] => Manthiankani: A Photographic Tale of Life in a Senegalese Village - A Photo Gallery by Megan Fettig
[post_excerpt] => Before Megan Fettig joined Dragons as an administrator, she served as a Peace Corps volunteer in a small rural community in southern Senegal from 2000-2002. Here's a series of black and white photographs she took while living in the community that, over the past 14 years, has welcomed, taught, and cared for over a hundred Dragons students. Her artist’s statement is included with the gallery.
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Manthiankani: A Photographic Tale of Life in a Senegalese Village – A Photo Gallery by Megan Fettig
Posted On
10/18/19
Author
Dragons HQ
Description
Before Megan Fettig joined Dragons as an administrator, she served as a Peace Corps volunteer in a small rural community in southern Senegal from 2000-2002. Here's a series of black… Read MoreWP_Post Object
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[post_content] => If you're wondering what type of thing reduces the Boulder HQ administrative team to tears, this is it:
(Thank you Nina Saligman, specifically, for featuring the faces of so many Dragons instructors we know and adore!)
Ps. Want Dragons blog updates sent directly to your inbox? One email a week. Nothing markety. Unsubscribe any time. Subscribe to Dragons Blog and stay connected to the community. ❤️
[post_title] => A Phenomenal Destination (Short Film) by Dragons Alum Nina Saligman
[post_excerpt] => If you're wondering what type of thing reduces the Boulder HQ administrative team to tears, watch this vide. (And thank you Nina Saligman, specifically, for featuring the faces of so many Dragons instructors we know and adore!)
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[category_links] => Alumni Spotlight, Recommended ...
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A Phenomenal Destination (Short Film) by Dragons Alum Nina Saligman
Posted On
09/19/19
Author
Dragons HQ
Description
If you're wondering what type of thing reduces the Boulder HQ administrative team to tears, watch this vide. (And thank you Nina Saligman, specifically, for featuring the faces of so… Read MoreWP_Post Object
(
[ID] => 155329
[post_author] => 21
[post_date] => 2019-08-22 14:41:20
[post_date_gmt] => 2019-08-22 20:41:20
[post_content] => Hey Summer Alumni,
Don't forget that Dragons annual 1-minute visual story contest is officially open! See below for contest details, and check out this lovely submission by Lula Alhussein from the Madagascar Summer 2019 Program for inspiration!
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Hello Summer Students!
Just wanted to share with you the details of our annual “1-Minute Visual Story” Contest…
The goals of Dragons Visual-Story contest are to:
- Share visual story through student and in-the-field perspectives.
- Highlight & offer gratitude/awareness to issues, stories, and people in our community.
- Encourage more diversity in the perspectives represented by Dragons social media.
- Offer insight into the Dragons program experience, culture, and character.
- Encourage tools for story-telling the experience with ethical media creation guidelines.
- “Visual-Story” can be interpreted as video, photo collage, or anyway you’d like. (Video examples at: wtbdragons.com/ytv)
- Contest submissions should be no longer than 60 seconds, (but see the next bullet…)
- You CAN submit multiple entries to the competition. As many as you’d like! (Though you can only “win” once.)
- Ensure that all content in your film/video/collage (including footage, music, images, props, etc.) is your own or that you have explicit permission to use it (audio/video recorded or written permission).
- For video, minimum 1080p resolution. If you’d like an official/branded opening graphic/title from Dragons, email us. Personally created graphic overlays and captions are okay. Entries may be in any language or have no dialogue at all. Closing credits not required.
- Contest is open to anyone with Dragons Summer 2019 Program Affiliation(Students, Staff, In-Country Community Members)
- Contest questions? Send an email.
- There will be 3 winners in total. All three winners will receive a Patagonia Nano Puff Jacket with Dragons Logo and promotion of your submission/video with your credits.
- The creator of ONE entry will be chosen by Dragons to receive a coupon for 50% off a Dragons program tuition that can be used either by themselves or transferred to a friend (Max Coupon Value: $4,000USD)
- Winners will be announced on October 1st on Dragons Blog and shared via Dragons social media channels.
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- A YouTube URL (subscribe to our YouTube channel while you’re there!)
- A Vimeo URL
- A link to your video on Instagram . Use the tags: #dragonsvisualstory and @wheretherebedragons.
- A link to your video on Facebook. Use the tags: #dragonsvisualstory and @wheretherebedragons.
- An actual video file or a link to a Google Drive folder where you’ve uploaded the video.
- Consider bringing a travel tripod & make sure your camera has enough storage space for footage.
- Plan your shoot or gather as a group and come up with creative ways to collaborate meaningfully with communities
- Throughout a project, seek patterns and sets of images that build cohesion.
- Take the time to set up your shots, removing logos, water bottles, other distracting objects.
- Choose landscape or portrait mode and stay in one mode. (Landscape is generally the preferred mode.)
- Clean your lens! Drop solution onto cloth, not on lens, use damp cloth in circular motion, center to edges.
- Try to optimize natural lighting. Avoid flash. Use tripods in low light. When shooting outdoors, keep the sun behind you.
- Avoid background noise (wind, crowds, etc.) but also consider recording novel sounds.
- Frame shots in interesting ways. Fill the frame, consider putting subjects slightly off-center, use angles to point attention.
- If you move while filming, make sure it’s subtle and slow so your camera has time to focus on each scene as you move.
- Take several shots of the same scene, from several different angles and distances; wide, medium, close-up, and details.
- Hold your shots for at least 10-15 seconds after you have stopped adjusting the composition.
- Time-lapses are great for scenes of prolonged time over an area that’s constantly changing.
- Keep it simple: Still shots with moving elements are often the best. If you move the camera, slow pans and tilts are best.
- Never enable digital zooms; it makes videos blurry.
- Take your time! Steady. Calm. Connect with your subjects. Appreciate the beauty!
- Use IMovie or other software or apps to edit, add sound/captions, adjust filters.
- Use the audiovisual Release Form on the back of this flyer if/as needed.
- Introduce yourself and your intentions to anyone represented in your video. Permission/consent should be free, prior and informed and should not happen until after a non-electronics-based relationship has been established. Consider showing another photo/video and telling them what it’s for, who will see it and why you want to share this image/sound.
- Ensure the media cultivates a respectful, kind, reciprocal, relationship that is sensitive to local customs and traditions. Consult with instructors for advice on navigating the pitfalls of stereotype-reinforcing, exaggerating, or exoticizing media. Do no harm. Be accountable. Film with integrity. Offer gratitude.
- Consider co-creation projects/elements by handing camera to others/locals — or even having them interview you! People love to be seen and heard if the exchange/listening comes with respect, equality, and the intention to honor. Offer others the mic and stage. And share the product with them!
- A lens can help illuminate an experience or story. But it can also act as an unhealthy barrier or shield to hide behind. Seek guidance from instructors on establishing healthy boundaries and practices in your relationship with the lens.
- “The quality of your product will be equal to the quality of the relationships that make it possible.” -Producer Vanessa Ragone
DRAGONS 1-MINUTE VISUAL-STORY CONTEST
Posted On
08/22/19
Author
Dragons HQ
