Citizen Reporter

What I Didn’t Tell You About Tbilisi

Its a Saturday morning and the sun is piercing the sheer white curtains in the massive windows next to this unfamiliar bed I find myself in. The screaming female voice in a language I do not recognize feels like its coming from under my bed. I thought I had dreamt it, but now seemingly awake, I hear a young male voice responding to what sounds like the stern words of a mother to a son. Above my head, the loud and unsteady footsteps of what sounds like a giggling toddler. Behind all this, just outside my window, someone attempts to start an engine that sounds like it is not willing to start, over and over. Pause. Repeat. It sounds like all of these people are in my room this morning. But they’re not. – This is old Tbilisi. Where the walls are thin and secrets are hard to keep. You may think you live alone, but you don’t really.

I step outside and Im almost run over by a 10 year old on her bicycle. She smiles as she turns to avoid me, a young sister runs behind her looking like she wants a turn to ride now. The corner grocer is chatting with an old lady, they pause to watch me walk by, both probably deciding Im another one of those occasional tourists that wanders through to look at the leaning houses and abandoned churches. When I arrive at Guriashvili Square, the old men are all huddled around the tables, I can barely see the dominoes on the table. The square is surrounded by some of the most beautiful abandoned buildings Ive ever seen, some of them decorated with political graffiti about democracy and property. Looking to the windows of a new hippy café, I can see they’re cooking up some vegetarian friendly food. I step inside and immediately get into conversation with the young bearded owner, yes this place is new, yes, it used to be a nightclub. Yes, someone got shot here but I don’t know the full story, it was in the crazy 90’s, everything was different then.

After finishing some of the finest healthy food I’ve ever had, I make my way up towards the TV tower. On my way there and back I make sure to take wrong turns. I find myself in people’s front yards and wandering through scary yet beautiful alleyways. When spotted, I just act like Im supposed to be there and I have no doubt in my mind where this alley leads me. The exact attitude I see in the face of other people I occasionally see along the way. A dad walking his daughter to school, a university student on his way to class, an old lady carrying plastic bags full of vegetables. I pass them all and soak in a sunny, normal day, in Georgia.

A good friend of mine who lives in Moscow tells me over a big Georgian dinner that night, “The great thing about Georgia, is that here you can taste real food, drink real wine.. everything has a more real flavor to it here.” I think about his words in every bite I take after that. There is definitely something to it, this genuine heart that the country has. As I wander home that night, I listen closely at the now hushed voices, Armenian, Georgian and other languages I can’t decipher, I can hear them all through the thin walls of these ancient homes. I smell the home cooked meals as I walk by the windows.

As far as national and international economics go, Georgia is said to be a dead end. But as far as life and its flavors go – Georgia is alive and well.

Satire and News in Georgia

Every nation needs someone to question, ciriticize, and even make fun of its own society. Even if people don’t always like it, making satire of the news is an essential way to unclog the social and political arteries, to prevent a detrimental heart failure. In the Republic of Georgia, there is no shortage of humor and rediculousness to be found, but chiti.ge doesn’t just go for the low hanging fruit… they see the value of pushing the so-called limits of what can and cannot be made fun of. My guest is Saba Lekveishvili, one of the people behind Georgia’s finest fake news program.

Check them out at Chiti.ge

Hope in Georgia

Almost a year since my first visit to the Republic of Georgia, I am back in Tbilisi, working here for one week. And while last year many of my conversations and observations were related to conflicts and recent history, this year I’m going beyond the surface and learning about the many layers Georgia today. What strikes me, more anything else, is that no matter who I speak with, there is a flat out – lack of hope in this country.

It isn’t the first county I’ve ever experienced with no hope for the future, back in my Portugal people are also routinely negative and resigned that nothing good will happen in the future. Like the Portuguese, Georgians have plenty of reasons to justify this outlook: Georgia doesn’t make anything the world seems to want, the average mentality does not seem to have changed much over the past 20 years, and there is good evidence that current and future leadership has neither the capability or intention to do something about the mounting issues.

Despite all the despair, present and future, here we are. Countries like Georgia, where few believe anything will progress for the better in their lifetime, ramble on. Sure, I could point out the shiny new yellow mini buses found all over town, the vast amount of young people who have a global outlook and talent for languages (among other skills), or how police corruption seems to have faded when taking into account stories from the past involving bribery and illegal incarceration. I suppose none of these factors can make up for all the things that aren’t working and aren’t getting better around here.

Talking about hope is considered a lame and worthless line of conversation for many people. Back in 2008 it was a big group of Americans who decided to believe in change and hope. Now you can’t even say the words. Here in Georgia, though there’s no Obama, don’t bother mentioning hope, you’ll just sound silly.

Life, Death, and the Unglamorous Era of Ad-Men

John Hall remembers the advertizing business in the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s, and there was nothing glamorous about it. His personal policy in the work place was not to pursue wealth and happiness, but to pursue work that brought meaning to life, which in turn has always given him a feeling of being content and the richest man around. As a business man, a hospice nurse, an english teacher for French people, and a business teacher – one thing shines through no matter what he is working on – John Hall is a force to be rekoned with in the best possible way.

John joins me on the phone from Paris in this very insightful and fun conversation about the lessons he’s learned from fantastic life experiences, and his struggle to convey that to future global business leaders.

Getting Off Nuclear Fast

I had to read the sentence a few times out loud to friends in order to understand if I was getting it wrong: “all but two of Japan’s 54 nuclear reactors have been shut down since the Fukushima disaster last year.”

How could that be? A nation that was so, seemingly, dependent on nuclear energy, within a year after a major disaster, goes almost completely off of nuclear energy. In my mind this would leave Japan completely in the dark and in a terrible situation when it comes to availability of power. That’s not because I like or want nuclear energy, it is purely from the thinking that Japan was so dependent on that type of energy.

As it turns out, Japan was not quite dependent on nuclear. Officially 1/3 of their energy came from their 54 reactors. So the country would be operating on only 2/3 of its normal power capacity. Of course it is also winter, so the air conditioners haven’t kicked in yet, which could amount to a massive amount of increased power demands. Meanwhile it has been reported that the government has been pushing for big power conservation activities in both business and residential buildings. Add to that whatever quick power generating solutions the country could setup within a year, and you’ve got the current situation for Japan. But will this hold?

To get a better idea of what is going on, I turned -not to the media- but to a concerned citizen on the ground in Tokyo, to find out what information is available there and what they’re experiencing on a day to day basis. Frequent guest of the podcast and my good friend Karamoon replied to my questions as follows:

Very few people in Japan are aware that almost all the nuclear
reactors are still offline. The situation is not mentioned in the
Japanese media.

No black outs here at the moment. Things *may* be different in the
summer when people start using air conditioning and the load on the
power grid could therefore be much greater.

I guess there are 3 reasons that we have enough power here. The main
reason is that the non-nuclear power plants usually operate at much
less than 100% of their maximum capacity. When the nuclear power
plants were taken offline, the non-nuclear plants started to run at
full capacity, making up for the shortfall. The cost of running a
nuclear plant is the same regardless of the output level, so they are
always run at close to 100% capacity. Non-nuclear plants are more
efficient when running at lower capacities, and are used to provide
flexibility when the load on the power grid changes with the seasons,
for example.

A second reason is that companies are making their own power, and may
even be able to sell surplus power in the near future. A third reason
is that companies have been taking measures to use less energy.

It is important to remember that nuclear power is essentially a myth.
Also, nuclear power plants require vast amounts of oil during their
life cycle and, therefore are clearly not carbon-neutral. (whatever
that really means)

Once again it is only one wise citizen’s observation, but he touches on several important issues that clearly aren’t making it into the media in Japan and nations that have nuclear energy are often afraid to discuss: the real cost of nuclear energy, what we could really do if serious conservation efforts were made. We’re so often told nuclear energy is necessary because our lifestyle demands so much energy, but then in one short year one of the most modern nations in the world shows that if people really have to, they can change their lifestyle and still live well.

Stories for Those Who Love Storytelling

Annie Correal knows all about the nature of the news reporting business and the internet of news feeds and hypersharing. But she also knows a world where people take time to tell their stories and listen to one another. The online world of reading, writing and recording where taking time and moving perhaps a little more slowly, is well worth the wait. Her work with both Cowbird and Radio Ambulante reveals two such places where people from all walks of life are coming together, and sharing life in a very significant way.

Today on the podcast I get to know Annie Correal, and ask her questions about how she got started as a journalist to how and why these two special projects became part of her life. Join us for what I believe is a very important and enjoyable conversation. Then go tell stories of your own!