Who said you have to be still to achieve relaxation? A friend (feat. in photograph #8) and I traversed from the South Bay to attend the Power to the Peaceful concert set in San Francisco’s Speedway Meadow, Golden Gate Park. An estimated 65,000 people were in attendance throughout the day’s festivities. While I could go on about the concert itself, I felt the highlights were Alanis Morisette’s playful lyrical adjustment to her song, “Ironic” with the line: “It’s like meeting the man of my dreams, and then meeting his beautiful husband” and the AcroYoga troupe. All other experiences throughout the park glazed along like typical festival pleasantries.
AcroYoga is fascinating. On one hand it’s presents the same challenges acrobats strive to trump, on the other, it demonstrates how relaxing (at least from an audience standpoint) and beautiful this physical art is. The two, like ingredients in a tasty dish, mix well and serves a healthy dose of entertainment and enthrallment. The performers were masterful and their cheerful disposition seemed to offset the rather overcast (of course) San Francisco weather. As if spurred by curious eyes, the founders of AcroYoga skillfully transformed each other into a display of subdued energy exuding an air of trust, warmth and playfulness. While the World may move in mysterious ways, the human body, moves even more mysterious.
For more information about the concert, please visit: http://powertothepeaceful.org / For more information on AcroYoga, please visit: http://acroyoga.org
*Note: This is the shortened version. A fuller, more in-depth documentation is currently in the works.
In chronological order from the 24th-26th: Gilroy Garlic Festival [Gilroy], Festival of India [San Francisco], Italian Street Festival [San Mateo] For the rest of the set, please visit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kreenpananas/
Location: History Park San Jose (Kelley Park)
http://www.diadeportugalca.org/index.html
For the complete set, please visit: http://www.flickr.com/kreenpananas
For the entire selection of photos from CARNAVAL SF, 2009, please visit http://www.flickr.com/kreenpananas
Foto picks for the week of June 1st, 2009
Locations: San Jose, Downtown San Francisco, Home
For the full collection of Cinco de Mayo 2009 photos, please visit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kreenpananas/
There’s a sense of irony when you show up to an event late when the event is slated three days earlier then when the event’s name suggests. Confused? Me too, let me restart. I showed up 45 mins late to the Cinco de Mayo parade which was held on May 3rd, and not the 5th. I also found it ironic that there’s a fireplace in the Rose Garden Public Library, but I digress.
The parade was in full procession when I arrived. The streets were lined with people bathed in the spirit and electricity of traditionally dressed Mexican dancers, music blaring from generously over the top musicians, pirates drabbed in authenic looking swashbuckling outfits complete with ship and plank, and of course, the slew of enthused cowboys and their highly polished rope tricks. I don’t envy event photographers, I remember at some point trying to find the right balance between enjoying the moment(s) and photographying the moment(s). It’s rough trying to get it right.
Let’s break from the vibrancy of the event right quick and remember what Cinco de Mayo is all about. It’s a safe assumption that majority of people relate Cinco de Mayo as Mexico’s Independence Day. In fact, that day is September 16th. No folks, Cinco de Mayo is a voluntary celebration of Mexico’s victory over the powerhouse (at the time) army of the French. (Cinco de Mayo on Wiki).
The parade cut through downtown and beelined itself towards Discovery Meadow, a large sprawl of land littered with tents and vendors. It was a beautiful transformation which took days of hard work to complete. The next day, this meadow would be void of evidence that indicated a gala.
What struck me as heart-warming was the solid sense of “coming together”. On a micro-level I came across countless children playing, teenagers and adults on common ground enjoying food and drink, and parent’s parents laughing and dancing. And from a distance, it was a demoncratically-chaotic glob of people who, despite the threathening weather, were out to celebrate pride of their heritage.
And rightly so.
I’ve always been a firm believer to always remember where you’ve been to help guide you to where you’d like to go. The photographs remind me that, despite the experience affecting me in the present, it’s a strong link the past while continuing to shine positive hope for the future. And I’m not even of Mexican descent. Irony? Nah, just a good time.
Cinco de Mayo 2009.
