The New Constitution

There has been a considerable amount of turmoil in Iceland as of late.
I went to bed with sweet dreams of re-invented democracy and new constitutions in my head and awoke to an entirely new horizon.

Many people I speak to here in Toronto are immediately engaged with what is happening in Iceland. This is particularly true when we talk about the new constitution. I've been trying to think of how to break this down as simply as possible.

 

The Decision 

 

A decision was made post-crisis to re-write the Icelandic Constitution by using a direct personal election. Now it is argued that the constitution is not directly related to the economic collapse. Although many also see it as a beacon of hope and change for Iceland's future. Which if looked in that way, can be directly connected to actions being taken to ensure a crisis like the one in 2008 will not happen again. " The flaws in the government flow from the Constitution upon which it is based"- Bjarni Brynjolfsson.
 (History Note: The current constitution was actually written by Denmark and used even after Iceland gained its independence)
To begin this process an event referred to as the "National Gathering" took place, 1,000 citizens were chosen at random to compile a document that will be used as a reference in writing the new constitution. The assembly drafted an outline to be submitted to the elected authors of the upcoming shiny new constitution, crafting an image of the future of Iceland, according to it's people.

The Candidates 

 Lawyers, students, farmers, journalists, and teachers ran for a position on the constitutional assembly (Members of Parliament are not allowed to run). 526 candidates and only 25 seats open. I was in Iceland during this period of time. We were lucky enough to attend one of the meetings intended to coach those interested through the campaigning process and offer advice to the candidates running on how to properly represent yourself to the public. One of the organizers Thorglis said "It's a tricky thing to teach people how to be politicians overnight".  At this event dozens took the microphone, giving short speeches addressing their  interest in the constitution and a bit on their own personal background. The event was filmed and made available to anyone that wasn't living in Reykjavik and wanted to hear the various  candidates platforms.
             There was a cap put on how much could be spent per campaign, that number still worked out to much more money than the average citizen's budget allowed. Because of this, social networks such as Facebook became paramount in campaigning.

                                    The Election  

  The election was held on November 27, 2010. Each candidate had a number assigned to them, because there were so many in the running, voters needed to have a "rough draft" of the numbers associated with the candidates they wanted to vote for.

                                   The Results

                    The results were impressively fairly balanced between men and women. The line-up of the chosen candidates covers all sorts of backgrounds (i.e. physician, filmmaker, lawyer, student, radio personality, farmer)
                                      Things were about to get started, the process was to begin in February of 2011 and estimated to take between 2-4 months.
The elected 25 would spend this time in Reykjavik with the heavy duty of re-writing their nations constitution.

The Back-Lash

Then 3 lawsuits were handed into the courts. The claimants stated that the electoral process was not up to the standards needed to ensure fairness and voter confidentiality. (It may be worth mentioning that one of the claimants was an individual that ran in the election but did not win)
Why you may ask?

Here are the main issues the plaintiffs had with the election:
1) Due to the ballots being hand-written, a number of ballots were illegible and therefore not counted.
2) The box in which the ballots were placed did not have a lock and the forms were not folded, therefore exposing the voters choices.
3) The order in which each person voted, depended on when they showed up, therefore it was suggested in the law suite that one could trace back a voters ballot.

The Verdict

On January 25th the Supreme Court ruled the November 2010 constitutional election illegal due to its  deficiencies in execution.
Did your heart just sink too?

The Prime Minster Jóhanna Si gurðardóttir said that "The Constitutional Assembly was the nation’s tool to forge a new constitution and we cannot take the assembly away from the nation,”

               A Constitutional Assembly can be a badly needed champion for the people.  "margt smatt gerir eitt stort" ("many small things make one large thing")- Eyglo Svala Arnarsdottir.  "It can eliminate the effect of money from the political process and let political parties fulfill their proper role of advocating ideologies.  It can look beyond the clamour of those who proclaim the benefits of divisive, confrontational party politics and recommend a process that puts public interest above private interest."    Fred Gohlke, Carteret, NJ, USA

               I am considering the recent protest in Egypt, where its people gathered courage from watching Tunisia dramatically change their own political landscape. With smaller nations such as Iceland and Tunisia ushering in proof that we can change our situations and and are never powerless, I see that we stand a real chance at change within our own difficulties. I am not going to see this as a defeat for Iceland but rather a chance to re-claim how much they really want the constitutional reform. I look forward to reporting back to you when the assembly reconvenes.

Chances are, it's better with you

With the amazing online tool Kickstarter, Wilma's Wish Productions was able to launch a platform to fuindraise for our second film shoot in Iceland. The best thing that could have happened for our little project born out of a insatiable love for Iceland and it's creativity. Just in time for the holidays, we would like to thank our patrons. Each individual pushed the wave of our filmmaking tide. These cultural contributors who donated to our film, 

Karen Helena Wallington
Gail Einarson-McCleery 
Amy Jerrett
Chris Gostling

Lori Grace

Michael Evans

James Lovich    

Jamie Sanchez
Chelsea Muth

Brett Brownell

Lynne Thorkelsson

Carol Westdal

Heather
Ronley Teper

Joseph Seliga
Kathleen MacKey
Kathleen Chung
Fin Hirschoff 
Anna G. Torfadottir
Catherine Raphael
Ernie Sears
Heidi Williams
Ilona Biro
Paul Robinson
Douglas Dankel
Ann Ten Cate
RY10
Kieth Collins
Adam Brown
Donna and Ted Jerrett

thank you.

Icelandic Art

                                                            (image from Rice Boy Sleeps)

In the beginning I was pulled to iceland due to this intense flood of incredible art coming straight from the island. In every medium there seems to be an oozing of good coming out. Since being in the country I have asked countless creatives why they think this is and the most common answer was "I don't think this is any different than any other country". I know that seems to take a bit of the magic away but wait right there. How often have you made something and not given it a second thought whether it be a doodle on a notebook, apple pie, the way you set up a spread sheet and received some unexpected praise? I think it's a lot to ask of someone to be the creator and theorist. Why do we do what we do? Does it matter?
As a gift to Bria (the producer) a couple of winters ago I bought her a handmade book by artist(s) Jonsi (from band: Sigur Ros and solo project Jonsi) and Alex (from band: Parachutes) whom work under the heading of "Rice Boy Sleeps". This is a very romantic multi-media project that combines antiquitious images and atmospheric music.  You can't imagine my happy surprise to find this one Tuesday as I am rushing get to an interview with musician Svavar Knútur, I see an entire gallery filled with the original works from the book!  Here is a video of that experience.

There is so much more to discover! Please let yourself be as excited as I am over this!
Here are a few links of artists in different mediums I have been blessed to come across. I will update as they find me.  Please feel free to add to the list. It's fun to see + hear the beautiful ways others are interpreting this world.

Click on name for website:
1) Anna G. Torfadottir 
    (printmaker)
2) SeaBear
    (band)
3) Lilja Birgir
    (photographer)
4) Ingunn Fjóla Ingþórsdóttir
    (installation artist)
5) The Weird Girls Project + Olafur Arnalds
    (video artist collective)  (musician) 
6) Andri Snær Magnason
    (writer)
7) Þórunn Hafstað
    (filmmaker)

There are so many more. I will let you and your interest lead you down those paths.

Re-writing a Constitution

          Did you know Iceland is re-writing their constitution? It's actually incredible. On November 27th Iceland will hold elections for candidates interested in being the authors of the new constitution. The election process is interesting in itself; current politicians are not allowed to run and to discourage special interest  groups from using heaps of money to campaign, many candidates are running on the platform: "commercials are lame but Facebook and other social media forums are cool". There are 532 running but only 31 seats.
We went to one of the meetings where 50 of the 532 canidates were given a chance to state their background and platform (this is one in a series of these meetings. IF they tried giving all candidates a chance to speak in one sitting it would've taken a full 48 hours to get through all 532 presenters). The entire event was in Icelandic (as it should be) but we had a good friend giving us periodic translated "cliff notes".
People came from varying occupations, ages, and areas in the country, all interested in seeing a change for their country.

  The writing process will take in between 2-4 months and then the draft will be handed over to parliament.
It's actually shocking how little international press there is on the re-writing of the constitution. I feel this is one of those incredible historic events that happens rarely in ones lifetime. Don't you?
When was the last time YOU were around for the re-writing of a constitution? And better yet this is being written by the people. I am eagerly awaiting. What does that look like? If given the chance what would we state as the fundamental principles of our nation? I will keep reporting on this and the various stages the constitution must go through before it's declaration. .

Here is a short video of the meeting we attended. 

CLICK ME FOR VIDEO

Until next time please have a happy Monday and know cool things are happening

Night Walks

This night I took a walk. A long walk...

It's so chilly. I wrapped myself up just like you do when you are 6 yrs old and ready to embark on a snowy backyard adventure. I feel free enough here to explore without looking like a weirdo. Another thing that feels really good is no one has "cat called" at me. You know when you are 

walking down the street happy in your own thoughts and then someone yells out "yeahhhhh baby" ?

It seems funny to repeat but each time I feel it chips away at you. 

I have grown so fond of not tensing up as I pass a group of people outside a bar here in Iceland. I know when I get back to Canada things will return to the same way they were. For now, I greatly appreciate the distance and respect. 

       

I climbed high over piles of half built structures and stony sea sides all night.

I am thinking about how much I miss my family and friends. Maybe I should be spending more time with them. 

During an interview tonight the very interesting musician I was speaking to said that there is a school of thought that suggests that there is never a totally original idea. That all ideas are just things in the air that visit some people and not others. This explains why someone from one end of the earth could come up with a eerily similar melody as someone from a totally different region. 

        The same thing goes for paintings, poems, choreography, and anything you could create. 

This frees us to not clench our ideas with an iron fist. Because it was never ours to own.

What do you think?

       

                     I can tell you that there are cats all over the streets here. Not the sad farrow cats that need you to scoop them up and just give them some sardines and a warm window cil to sit in. NO!
These cats seem like the guardians of the streets, predatorally following me through the alley ways, ducking behind statues and stair cases once spotted. They are well fed, fluffy, sprightly and want absolutely nothing to do with me petting them. I even tried the "kiss kiss" sound, averting from my old bird like sound. This hasn't helped lately. These furry balls of avoidance are breaking my heart daily. Thanks for nothing cats of Iceland.

Oh the Lights

Word on the street; there is a crazy light show in the sky but it can end at any moment.           

                                              Quickly, move!

1) Boots: on 

2) Camera: charged 

3) Wicked excited face: ready

.                     Click Me For Video

I sat on a rock on the edge of the sea and saw all of this over me. 

I heard myself yelling things like "WOW!!" and "No Way!!!

I would like to tell you that I thought and said something more profound but to be honest it was just beyond summations. I made this video to share a bit of the Wow's. 

Goodnight. 

Airwaves on the Quietest of Days

On the quietest of days I am curled up in a warm cafe, picture windows make the whole rainy city a dry lovely moving picture. People walk in, they don't know me, I don't know them, it's sad and nice married. I start to reflect and try to channel a hemmingway frame of mind. And as I put the pen (<<<< Amiina)to paper to write my first analogy, I dip my entire necklace in my Americano- tipping it over and soiling my rainy day in a cafe dress. Grace has left me today. And I shut my journal.



There are two kinds of events going on at the Airwaves Festival (music).
1) Large bands from all over the globe (many Icelandic) at a variety of venues. The festival is sold-out so it's a crowded pushing fiesta (normal show).
2) Off-venue shows: which are fantastic! Many of the bands from the main line-up played free acoustic shows sprawling from a small cafe to a youth hostel. This gave me the chance to see these artists I have loved for years, close + personal, just the way I wish all shows could be.

Imagine having your dream playlist. These are the songs make you sing along the hardest, the muse to your strongest ideas, and your escape when you're about to burst from the "real world. Now imagine two of those songs are sung inches from you in person. This is what happened to me this week:
These are the original versions that I used to play over-and-over:
1) Lay Low- By and By
2) Svavar Knutur- Emotional Anorexic

And here is the video that I was able to take of those same songs just this last week!!

CLICK ME!!

Below I am going to take you through what I saw and felt during this high impact few days. Grab any of these band names and look them up, you may have a new favorite (I would be willing to bet on it)

(Hjaltalin)

(Hjaltalin)

(Hjaltalin)

(Olafur Arnalds)

(Seabear)

     

  (Lay Low)                                                                                          

                                                                      (Lockerbie)

(Hafdis Huld)

(Ljosvaki)

(Blood group)

Music in Iceland Day One

If you are part of the school of thought that all Icelandic music sounds like Bjork and Sigur Ros *
you would be an upset panda to know, they are a rarity... even in Iceland. I guess this stereotype is also a sore spot for some Icelanders. Tourists often come and seem disappointed by the lack of bjorkyness in the air. But please don't let that ruin it for you because there are actually many bands in Iceland that will make you laugh, boogie, sway, and tear up. This band for example (shot today at one of the concerts)

 This week I am lucky enough to be around for the Iceland Airwaves and with a media pass.

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

What does this mean? It means that I will be able to report directly from dozens of shows featuring Icelandic musicians. These are happy times for me because this lass has spent many hours in Toronto watching Icelandic musicians playing on podcasts and thought "one day my eyes will really see this and my ears will really hear this"

I will have much more to report in the next couple days and you can delight with me in Icelandic tunes. 

Speaking of pretty things to the ears. There is this sound that I have heard a lot since I have arrived. The sound is something Icelandic women often do when talking, they breath in and speak as well as breath out and speak. It's really gentle and quiet and I have most commonly heard the word já (which sounds like "yow"). A friend told me today that it is a bit of a faux pas to do but I find it very beautiful. 

(Disclaimer: It is all up to taste, there are some bands I do not stand behind- if you find a bad Icelandic band do not come to me with angry pointing fingers). 

And lastly, this morning I woke up to this at the kitchen window. It looks like a dragon. 

*(if you don't know who they are click BJORK and/or SIGUR ROS)

Yoko's Imagine Peace Tower

On John Lennon's 70th Birthday (October 9th, 2010) Yoko Ono turned on the lights to her memorial to Lennon called the "Imagine Peace Tower".

I didn't bring a camera for the lighting ... I know that may sound weird being a documentarian but I thought it was more respectful to just tell you what happened and not add light (flash) that would distract from the focal light (the memorial). The images on this post are borrowed for reference purposes. We will however be filming there in one week, so do not fret.

I however wanted to bring you with me on the experience so I kept notes on the back of a receipt as not to forget the many feelings/thoughts.

I preface this with: I am not a hard-hitting Lennon, Yoko, nor Beatles fan...sorry
                      BUT
It felt really amazing to be there.

The light installation is located on a tiny island off of the coast of Reykjavik called Viðey 

Yoko paid for free ferry rides for everyone and the big ol tug boat started puttering us towards the rolling hills of Videy. As we are approaching I am trying to think of why Yoko chose here? In an interview she said "Thank you, Iceland and Icelanders for being what you are – a family of wisdom, showing the world how we can protect our Earth and its spirits." 
        I like this story too- Yoko told an audience once that Lennon used to smoke and she said to him "why would you put that ugly black smoke up into that beautiful blue sky" and then ...he quit smoking.

  Can you imagine living your life for a partnership without your partner? This is what hit me tonight. Yoko is still doing the work that they both set out to do and it sank my heart. Maybe because I couldn't fathom the weight of such a loss or that I felt such admiration for her unbridled dedication. And to have this huge (car show times 20) light beam straight into the sky, seems to be the most symbolic way to speak to the heavens (with out trying to denote any religion) and say "I am doing our work".

I went alone. I thought maybe I could hear her message clearer if I wasn't filling the air with mindless chatter. You know all those times we think of questions to ask just to say "something"?
I kept thinking of a quote I read of hers while I was sitting quietly in the tall grass:
"May all of us heal ourselves and learn to love each other in peace."


All sorts of people came. I could hear at least five different languages. Munchkins ran around and fearlessly threw themselves at the ground falling flawlessly into somersaults. There was no pushing or crowding. Some brought sandwiches and some just laid flat back and stared at the sky.
The island was exactly how you would want it to feel to sit with nature. Each footstep sounded like you were walking on a wooden box and the long grass bowed in a wave every time the sea shifted. I loved it so much. I haven't been this quiet with my mind... maybe ever.

The first beam of light shot up in the air with no warning and it was awesome. It was a soft light so you didn't have to squint. The second, then the third, fourth, each one was followed by "ohhhs" and "ahhs". All of the light beams together formed one unified beam at the top that pierced through any possible cloud. 

When we were standing in line for the ferry to leave I wondered if people would push and bully their way to the front, totally ignoring the premise of "peace". And to my delight, no one did. Then from the back I can feel someone forcing through and low and behold it's a camera man

... shame on you media man. 

I wanted to have a better understanding of their relationship and Lennon's life after this and so I found this short documentary on the life of Lennon. (link)

 Goodnight lovely eyes. 

A day off from Words

Today is a day with out words. We don't need them... not today.