VOA Connect Episode 185, A Breath of Fresh Air
Metadata
- VOA Connect Episode 185, A Breath of Fresh Air
- July 30, 2021
- Category
- Content Type Program
- Language English
- Transcript/Script VOA – CONNECT EPISODE # 185 AIR DATE: 07 30 2021 TRANSCRIPT OPEN ((VO/NAT)) ((Banner)) Green Transport ((SOT)) ((Sam Merrett, Captain/Team Leader, Schooner Apollonia)) There's an experiential side to it. And so, to some degree, engaging with people, getting them on boats, getting crew sailing again, keeping this wisdom alive is the only way it's going to persist, right? ((Animation Transition)) ((Banner)) From Past to Future ((SOT)) ((Mercedes Dorame, Native American Artist)) A lot of my work references, objects or culture has been erased from the history books, and so, I have to give a lot of history lessons and tell these stories in a way that people are not familiar with. ((Animation Transition)) ((Banner)) Pushing Boundaries ((SOT)) ((Lidia Reyes, Founder, Biker Chicks)) From time to time, you get looked at like, you know, like it’s almost like a joke. But to me, it's like “no, I can ride this bike, I can ride it hard, and I am not afraid.” ((Open Animation)) BLOCK A ((PKG)) SCHOONER APOLLONIA DELIVERS SAIL FREIGHT ((TRT: 10:00)) ((Topic Banner: Sustainability in Simplicity)) ((Reporter/Camera: Aaron Fedor)) ((Producer: Kathleen Mclaughlin)) ((Editor: Kyle Dubiel)) ((Map: Hudson River, New York City - New York)) ((Main character: 1 male)) ((Sub characters: 1 female; 7 male)) ((MUSIC/NATS)) ((Sam Merrett, captain and team leader, Schooner Apollonia)) Hi, I'm Sam Merrett. I'm Captain and Team Leader of the Schooner Apollonia which is the wonderful ship we're all aboard right now. The Apollonia is a schooner, which is just a fancy way of saying it's a sailboat which has more than one mast and we sail freight and cargo throughout the Hudson Valley from our home port, right back here in Hudson, New York, all the way down to New York City. ((MUSIC/NATS)) ((Sam Merrett, captain and team leader, Schooner Apollonia)) All right. Is everybody ready on their lifts? ((Speaker 1)) Yup. ((Sam Merrett, captain and team leader, Schooner Apollonia)) All right. Go ahead and pull away both lifts. Let's go. All aboard. ((Sam Merrett, captain and team leader, Schooner Apollonia)) We’re using the wind to transport things sustainably, but with the purpose of weaving together all of these amazing producers throughout the Hudson Valley. So, we're connecting people who make maple syrup right here, people who make hot sauce right here with consumers down in New York City and then we're even flipping things around. When we turn around, we're sailing up cargoes like coffee and things like that, that you can't really grow around here. ((Sam Merrett, captain and team leader, Schooner Apollonia)) Our primary cargoes on the Apollonia are brewers malt, oak logs for mushroom cultivation, bulk flour that was grown and milled right here in the Hudson Valley and other grains. And those are what we consider the like bulk cargoes or the large cargoes. We also have individual cargoes. We work with small-scale producers delivering everything from honey to maple syrup to hot sauce. The Apollonia is an old boat. She actually turned 75 this year. She's from 1946. ((Sam Merrett, captain and team leader, Schooner Apollonia)) That's the Hudson Athens Lighthouse. That's from 1874 and it's a fascinating little spot. But yeah, that is up until the 1940s, there was actually a family that lived there that had to keep a lamp oil fire burning as the only means of navigation there. Now, the coast guard runs it with a little solar panel and it’s kind of a much simpler ordeal. Matt, let's see if we can get a little speed up and then we'll tack. ((MUSIC/NATS)) ((Sam Merrett, captain and team leader, Schooner Apollonia)) The Hudson River's an amazing body of water. It presents all of the challenges of sailing anywhere that I've ever sailed. In some ways it's more challenging because it tends to be quite skinny. There's lots of commercial traffic. There's lots of shallow water, things like that. The wind is always changing and always fighting with you, but what's amazing about the Hudson River is the people that it connects. I think that's what really makes it work for me, is that we're constantly sailing past towns and people and we're interacting with them, right? We see our jobs very much as delivering cargo and also connecting people, connecting whether that's a producer to a consumer or whether that's just someone who lives in Hudson with the whereabouts of something cool that just happened in Kingston. You know, like that’s what ships were historically as they were messengers, not only of cargo and freight, but also of news and weather and you'd send something to a friend at another town. And so, I think as we're trying to encourage folks to think about how the Hudson River is a way to move things, understanding the connection is really important. ((MUSIC/NATS)) ((Brad Vogel, Partnerships and Logistics)) This is definitely a new thing at the same time because it just started within the last year to make these runs from Hudson, New York, down the Hudson River, to here in Brooklyn, New York, ((Photo Courtesy: Grain de Sail)) and really connecting a lot of different towns and communities along the way and showing people that there's a way forward on sustainable freights and cargo. ((Sam Merrett, captain and team leader, Schooner Apollonia)) Sail freight has been something people have done for thousands of years,150, 200 years ago in the Hudson Valley most of what was moved was moved by sloops and schooners like this on the Hudson River. And of course, today, there's this crisis we're having with the climate and we're looking for some solutions and I feel inspired by the past and feel like this is still a realistic solution. So, the concept is to try it out and see how it goes. We are looking to the past, but not in some living history kind of museum way, just in what were practical solutions like horses, total renewable energy. The wind obviously still exists. The Hudson River, still a resource that's here. Once it was the super highway of the region. Maybe it has a utility as such again. ((Jamie Pierce, Customer)) Today, I came down to pick up some honey and some cider that I ordered on the Apollonia. ((Sam Merrett, captain and team leader, Schooner Apollonia)) So, Lou right here, is riding our.....this is our standard distribution rig right here and you can just take off whenever you want. ((Sam Merrett, captain and team leader, Schooner Apollonia)) It is a Tern e-bike equipped with a Carla trailer. In the trailer is 400 pounds of malt from upstate farms and Lou is about to ride it for distribution. In addition to that, what we've got today is some friends came out with a team of horses. I mean, this is kind of, we've got in some ways reappropriation of 18th century technology to be the green version of the future and horses are obviously a renewable solution. ((NATS)) ((Sam Merrett, captain and team leader, Schooner Apollonia)) The next load is going to Van Brunt, ((Robert Tronsky, Owner, Triple T Farm)) Okay. ((Sam Merrett, captain and team leader, Schooner Apollonia)) which is the closest delivery. So, that should be nice. Nice and refreshing load after last time. ((Robert Tronsky, Owner, Triple T Farm)) Yeah. Last one was a boatload. ((Sam Merrett, captain and team leader, Schooner Apollonia)) Yeah, totally. This one's right around the corner and it's the rye, which is the unmarked bags. Same stuff we got you. So, yeah, and he's using that to make a white rye whiskey. ((Robert Tronsky, Owner, Triple T Farm)) Oh. ((Sam Merrett, captain and team leader, Schooner Apollonia)) So, it should be good hopefully. ((Robert Tronsky, Owner, Triple T Farm)) Yeah. ((Sam Merrett, captain and team leader, Schooner Apollonia)) Actually, we will be ready by this fall. So, when we do this again in the fall, ((Robert Tronsky, Owner, Triple T Farm)) Yup. We'll go back out. ((Sam Merrett, captain and team leader, Schooner Apollonia)) you can taste some of the products of our labor. ((Sam Merrett, captain and team leader, Schooner Apollonia)) And on the way up, we're going to bring whiskey from Van Brunt Whiskey, and we're going to bring a bunch of mead from Enlightenment Wines. We're also rendezvousing with a French ship ((Photo Courtesy: Grain de Sail)) that sailed wine and chocolate over across the Atlantic Ocean on Monday. ((Sam Merrett, captain and team leader, Schooner Apollonia)) So, we're going to have some wine and chocolate in our northbound cargo. And there's probably something else I'm forgetting, but that’s, you know, it's been a long trip, been underway for about a week now. So, yeah, we're just trying to get the boat unloaded and things being squared away. ((MUSIC/NATS)) ((Speaker 2)) Hoist up the John B’s sails. See how the main sail sets. ((Sam Merrett, captain and team leader, Schooner Apollonia)) You have to understand that the people we work with are very passionate about what they're making and very thoughtful about that. And they've thought about the taste. They've thought about the impact. They've thought about the producers. The idea of supporting local farms to a lot of these people is common practice, right? And the idea of organic produce and fair trade and how the labor is treated. And they're really trying to make the best product and that's not just flavor. That's also story and impact. And then I think, by and large, they all take the trucking part for granted, right? You build it. You need to get it to someone. You make it. You need to get it to someone. What do you do? You throw it on a truck that, sort of, is how our distribution network is set up. And so, when we approach them with the idea that there was an alternative, I think at first, they, sort of, didn't really believe us and then we've been, sort of, demonstrating that that's the case and building a network of people who have faith in us. ((Tanya van Renesse, Crew Member)) There's a lot of people who try and do something like this. I mean, when he got this boat, it was just bare bones. There wasn't no mast, no booms and in just a couple of years, he put it all together. If it wasn't for his just like amazing like drive and energy, it would never ever been able to take place. ((MUSIC/NATS)) ((Speaker 6)) I feel so broken up, I want to go home. ((MUSIC)) ((Sam Merrett, captain and team leader, Schooner Apollonia)) For us, part of this is that sailing and many of the, sort of, traditional crafts, you can't preserve them in books. I mean, you can write amazing stories about sailing. Obviously, you could write down the goods. But the truth is, if you don't do it, you'll never really know how to do it, right? There's an experiential side to it. And so, to some degree, engaging with people, getting them on boats, getting crew sailing again, keeping this wisdom alive is the only way it's going to persist, right? ((Matthew Soltesz, Crew member)) When people hear we're delivering by sail, they're first confused and just, "No way." Like, "No, really. No fossil fuels?" "Yeah, none." And then, "Interesting." And then their second question is, "Well, do the numbers add up?" I was like, "Well, that's the point. That's what we're working on." And I think when we explain what we're doing, I think people overwhelmingly just understand that, you know, the system that we have working now just does what's not working. The system that's in place right now is not working and it's not sustainable. And it's just the power structure, trade structure, everything. It's not sustainable. It's good for now. It's good for maybe 10 years, but it's not going to be good in 50 years and sure as hell not good for our grandchildren. So, there's got to be a way to change things. And this is a small attempt. It's a test case, but it gets the conversation started. So, that's the point. ((MUSIC/NATS)) TEASE ((VO/NAT)) Coming up….. ((Banner)) Reclaiming Home ((SOT)) ((Mercedes Dorame, Native American Artist)) So, I always have this feeling that I’m, you know, moving through Los Angeles, moving through this territory that's my ancestral homelands, but there’s all these private property signs and people call me a trespassing or call me a trespasser. And so, it’s this odd feeling of, you know, this deep connection and then kind of also being told that I don't belong here. BREAK ONE BUMP IN ((ANIM)) BLOCK B ((PKG)) NATIVE AMERICAN ART IN AUGMENTED REALITY FORMAT ((TRT: 04:28)) ((Topic Banner: Native Art Augmented)) ((Reporter/Camera: Genia Dulot)) ((Map: Los Angeles, California)) ((Main characters: 1 female; 1 male)) ((NATS)) ((Mercedes Dorame, Native American Artist)) I grew up in Los Angeles. Part of my cultural ancestry is Tongva, which are the original people of Los Angeles. And a lot of my work revolves around looking at land, land access. Our tribe is not federally recognized, which means we don't have sovereign land base. So, I always have this feeling that I’m, you know, moving through Los Angeles, moving through this territory that's my ancestral homelands, but there’s all these private property signs and people call me a trespassing or call me a trespasser. And so, it’s this odd feeling of, you know, this deep connection and then kind of also being told that I don't belong here. ((Mercedes Dorame, Native American Artist)) So, I make these kind of constellation cosmic spaces as a way to kind of point people into interacting with something that they can recognize. A lot of my work references, objects or culture that has been erased from the history books, and so, I have to give a lot of history lessons and tell these stories in a way that people are not familiar with. ((Banner: "Portal for Tovaangar" by Mercedes Dorame is one of five augmented reality works set up by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) in collaboration with Snapchat.)) ((NATS)) ((Mercedes Dorame, Native American Artist)) Translating my physical work and my installations into this digital kind of augmented reality space, really points this Indigenous presence, this Tongva presence, to the future for me. ((Stuart "Sutu" Campbell, Extended Reality Artist)) If I create an augmented reality artwork, that is, you're looking at it through your phone and it's activated in that physical space, that's a spatial artwork. So, what we have at LACMA is a spatial artwork. ((Stuart "Sutu" Campbell, Extended Reality Artist)) As my hand moves around this environment, I am holding down the trigger and the red strings growing out of the controller. So, what I am doing here now is like I can grab the artwork with my controllers and I can scale it up and look at it very closely. And what I've done, I've pulled in a photo of Mercedes' artwork, which I am using as a reference at the bottom of this sculpture, and I am then sculpting on top of it everything else, the ropes and the rocks, and then I recreated it in a 3D program. ((Stuart "Sutu" Campbell, Extended Reality Artist)) This is Snapchat's Lens Studio, what we are looking at the moment. So, what you can see here is the same painted artwork. It's now being placed on the floor in this 3D environment. So, I'll send it to my device. ((Stuart "Sutu" Campbell, Extended Reality Artist)) So, now we have the artwork. It's in my living room. I don't have a lot of space in my living room, so I'll shrink it down a bit. And you can see the artwork is now on the floor and then I can go in close and I can look at the details. ((Stuart "Sutu" Campbell, Extended Reality Artist)) We have these big, long ropes stretching out everywhere in every which direction and immediately when I gave it to my friend's daughter, who is like five-years old, she started crawling under the ropes and climbing over the ropes and like literally on her back on the ground, sliding around the ground. And it was really motivating her to explore the art from all those different vantage points. ((Stuart "Sutu" Campbell, Extended Reality Artist)) We can do that with physical art, but it was interesting to see that we also can do that with these virtual artworks, that something that's not tangible, has that power. Like you know that you can walk through it, but still she was kind of going underneath it. ((Mercedes Dorame, Native American Artist)) The stones kind of have their own life. The stones, which was really fun, which I can't do when I’m making an installation like that, are like up in the air and they kind of create their own little constellation around the piece. Utilizing these new technologies and these things that, maybe, I haven't engaged with in the past, is a way for me to insert and proclaim that, you know, Tongva people belong in the future visions of place, the future visions of art and the future visions of technology. ((NATS)) TEASE ((VO/NAT)) Coming up….. ((Banner)) Taking Control ((SOT)) ((Vanessa Flores, Member, Biker Chicks)) You have a machine that you are in total control of. You just sit on it and take it for a ride, and you have a power to slow it down. You have the power to throttle all the way through. It's an amazing freedom. It's an amazing feeling of power. And for Latina women, our struggle is real. So, when we get behind these bikes, that struggle is gone. It disappears. BREAK TWO BUMP IN ((ANIM)) BLOCK C ((PKG)) LATINA BIKERS/BIKER CHICKS ((TRT: 04:11)) ((Topic Banner: Freedom on Wheels)) ((Reporter/Camera: Genia Dulot)) ((Map: Los Angeles, California)) ((Main character: 1 female)) ((Sub characters: 3 female; 1 male)) ((MUSIC/NATS)) ((Banner: In the last decade, the percentage of female motorcyclists doubled, with women now accounting for one in five riders in the US: Motorcycle Industry Council)) ((Lidia Reyes, Founder, Biker Chicks)) My husband’s the one that got into it because of his brother. They wanted to go, and I was like, "I want to go too." So, my husband's like, "All right, let's go." So, we took the class. It was like a four-weekend course. I passed, they didn't, so that's the biggest joke ever. ((Edgar Reyes, Lidia’s Husband)) That's because she was a girl and the instructor was a male. I’m kidding. I don't know what happened but yeah, that’s true. ((Lidia Reyes, Founder, Biker Chicks)) At that time, when I first started riding, there wasn't females taking the class. It was predominantly men and the fact that my husband was like, "Okay, let's go", I, honestly, I thought it was a joke because I never saw myself riding, especially because I am super short and I can never reach the floor on a regular bike. So, when I got there, they had little bikes. They had like, you know, like smaller bikes and I was able to reach on my tippy toes. After I got on that bike and I figured that I can actually do it, there was no stopping from there. When you start learning how to ride and you conquer that fear and learning to face your fears, that was for me what really got me into riding. ((NATS/MUSIC)) ((Lidia Reyes, Founder, Biker Chicks)) From time to time, you get looked at like, you know, like it’s almost like a joke. But to me, it's like “no, I can ride this bike, I can ride it hard, and I am not afraid.” ((NATS/MUSIC)) ((Edgar Reyes, Lidia’s Husband)) Clubs, riders, you know, they feel like it’s a man’s world. The women need to be on the back end, and they do and say as the man does. I look at it different. You know, if they are capable of doing it, why not? More power to you. Let's do this. ((NATS)) ((Vanessa Flores, Member, Biker Chicks)) You have a machine that you are in total control of. And this machine can do powerful things and you have control of it. You just sit on it and take it for a ride, and you have the power to slow it down. You have the power to throttle all the way through. It's an amazing freedom. It's an amazing feeling of power. And for Latina women, our struggle is real. So, when we get behind these bikes, that struggle is gone. It disappears. ((Susy Romo, Member, Biker Chicks)) For me riding is, I know it's going sound cliché, but it's freedom. I don't worry about anything. I don't worry about the house. I don't worry about the kids. I don't worry about having to cook. Do I need to do laundry, dishes? None of that. I don't have to worry about any of that when I am on my bike. When I am on my bike, I am me. I am not the wife. I am not the mom. I am me. So, I get a little of me back every time I get on. ((NATS: Susy Romo)) I need help getting up because it's heavy and I am short. ((Mayra Martinez, Member, Biker Chicks)) I just feel very proud of myself. To be a Chicana and be able to say that I am an independent woman and I have my own business and I am able to afford these things for myself. Coming from poverty, because nobody has ever given me anything. Everything I have, my lowriders or my Harley Davidson, like it's all because of me or my hard work. ((NATS/MUSIC)) ((Lidia Reyes, Founder, Biker Chicks)) Biker Chicks Inc. is a non-profit organization. I created it to bring the community of women together that ride, and to help out different causes. So, that's the main reason behind it, is to unite with other women that ride, that we have that in common, and we can help either children, animals, other people in need, through the biker community. ((NATS/MUSIC)) CLOSING BUMPER ((ANIM)) voanews.com/connect ((PKG)) FREE PRESS MATTERS ((NATS/VIDEO/GFX)) ((Popup captions over B Roll)) Near the Turkish Embassy Washington, D.C. May 16, 2017 President Erdogan’s bodyguard attacks peaceful protesters “Those terrorists deserved to be beaten” “They should not be protesting our president” “They got what they asked for” While some people may turn away from the news We cover it reliably accurately objectively comprehensively wherever the news matters VOA A Free Press Matters ((PROMO)) A DAY IN THE LIFE OF REFUGEES CLOSING BUMPER ((ANIM)) voanews.com/connect BREAK THREE BUMP IN ((ANIM)) SHOW ENDS
- NewsML Media Topics Arts, Culture, Entertainment and Media
- Program Name VOA Connect
- Network VOA
- Expiration Date August 29, 2021 13:12 EDT
- Embargo Date September 17, 2021 13:10 EDT
- Brand / Language Service Voice of America - English