2015 AD

Why were early French Christians promised a sea of wine?

Christian priests had a tough job finding converts in the Roman empire during those first centuries after Christ died. Followers were not just persecuted, but killed. Would you go to church knowing that you might be punished or slayed for doing so?

So how to entice people to join the Christian flock and then keep the surviving faithful on board?  


Around 200 AD, Saint Irenaeus, bishop of what is now Lyon, France, developed a great marketing package. He offered incredible rewards in the afterlife—perfect just in case the convert was killed for his beliefs.

Early Christian marketing genius St Irenaeus, Bishop of Lugdunum in Gaul (now known as Lyons, France).

Irenaeus's afterlife reward package included the usual: lots of grain, delicacies galore, no work and "highly fertile" women. (No mention of the rewards for women.) 

For wine lovers, the best part of Saint Irenaeus's afterlife package included huge quantities of wine. (Vineyards were already well developed in France by this time.)

Here's his vino pitch: "vines shall grow, each having ten thousand branches, and in each branch ten thousand twigs, and in each true twig ten thousand shoots, and in each one of the shoots ten thousand clusters, and on every one of the cluster ten thousand grapes, and every grape when pressed will give five and twenty metretes of wine." 

I'm not sure how much 25 meters of wine is, but it sounds like a sea of Bordeaux red.
 
In the end, I couldn't find any records showing how well Irenaeus's marketing plan worked. 

Sunrise in Oregon vineyard.

The final question is: Would 75 feet of wine in your afterlife be enough to entice you to become a Christian?

 

What can American social media users learn from the AK47-toting Mursi tribe?

The news of the Virginia gunman who shot a TV crew during a live broadcast shocked and saddened me. And worst of all, the cold-blooded killer filmed himself. He wanted, and got, social media attention. 




While listening to the grisly details, I kept wondering if there was a way to use social media to do the exact opposite of what the Virginia murderer did?  Instead of deranged selfish purposes, I wondered how I could use social media in beneficial ways?

That night, a teaser idea came while editing photographs from my two weeks with the remote Mursi tribe in southern Ethiopia. (The Mursi women are known for their huge clay lip plates.) I stayed at one village the entire time to get to know the people.

Sun rays break through clouds over Mago Mountain (some call it Makki Mountain) and Belle Village, Mursi Tribe, Mago National Park, Ethiopia, Africa.

On this trip I brought point-and-shoot cameras so the Mursi could photograph tourists taking snaps of lip-plated women. 

A Mursi woman with a lip plate in the Omo region of Ethiopia, Africa.

Looking at the photographs just after the Virginia shooting, it struck me how in one aspect the Mursi and American cultures are similar. Guns are easily available in both social groups. The Virginia killer apparently could easily get a gun. And most Mursi men carry AK47s (aka Kalashnikovs) and are not hesitant to use them.

Belle Village, Mursi Tribe, Mago National Park, Ethiopia, Africa.

Well, no tourists showed up in my Mursi village during my entire stay; so I handed out the cameras anyway. After teaching my guide, Andu, how to use the cameras, he in turn taught several Mursi men, who in turn taught others.

My guide Andu teaching warriors how to use a point and shoot camera. Belle Village, Mursi Tribe, Mago National Park, Ethiopia, Africa.

While I've blogged about the Mursi camera adventure before, the social-media-induced killing made me look at these photographs differently.

Belle Village, Mursi Tribe, Mago National Park, Ethiopia, Africa.

The Muris are used to being photographed by tourists for money—10 birr per shutter click, thank you. Never had they taken photographs of themselves or of anyone. I mean never held a camera. This was the first time they were behind the camera instead of in front. 

Then, I don't know if what happened was because they had a new toy, or they saw a fresh perspective, or the stars were properly aligned. But a transformation happened.

Instead of waiting around of tourists and getting drunk, they were like busy bees taking photographs.

Belle Village, Mursi Tribe, Mago National Park, Ethiopia, Africa.

Belle Village, Mursi Tribe, Mago National Park, Ethiopia, Africa.

After taking some images, they would run to the battery powered printer set up at my camp. I had solar chargers to keep the electricity flowing.


Andu, my guide, edited and printed the digital files. Since I didn't have enough paper to print everything, Andu selected what he thought were the best photographs.

Belle Village, Mursi Tribe, Mago National Park, Ethiopia, Africa.

Belle Village, Mursi Tribe, Mago National Park, Ethiopia, Africa.

After people snapped groups, couples and individuals, they started photographing their possessions—including guns and knives—and themselves doing everyday things. 

You could feel the excitement in the air. 

Kids and an elder using one of my Nikon cameras to take photographs of everyday life in Belle Village, Mursi Tribe, Mago National Park, Ethiopia, Africa.

Belle Village, Mursi Tribe, Mago National Park, Ethiopia, Africa.

Watching them was like looking over the shoulder of an American teenage Facebook user. Except this was a printed version of Facebook—a Mursi Facebook. 

Andu, my guide, kept telling me that in his 12 years with the Mursi, he had never seen them so "relaxed." It seems they had momentarily peeked out of their everyday paradigm of tourists and handouts. 

Belle Village, Mursi Tribe, Mago National Park, Ethiopia, Africa.

While I don't know how to translate this Mursi photo experience to using social media positively in a gun-happy America, I do think here among the AK47-toting Mursi, just might be an idea seed for how to use social media beneficially. 

Learn about Chinese Wineries at University of Oregon, then taste wine

Workers in the vineyard at Chateau Changyu AFIP Global, just one hour out of Beijing, China.

Please come to my surprising presentation on Chinese wineries on Wednesday, July 8, 2015, at 5:00pm at the Ford Lecture Hall of the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art on the U of O campus in Eugene, Oregon. 

Hey, if my talk makes you dry in the mouth, there will be wine tasting after the presentation. 

Unbelievably, this event is sponsored by The Confucius Institute in conjunction with the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, along with some Oregon wineries. 

So you ask what I know about Chinese wineries? I wrote the biggest and baddest, and only, table-top book on the subject written in both Chinese and English. The book even won Best in the World. 

Also, I have a Chinese driver's license.

Our House for Sale

Sunset on Mt. Hood during a storm seen from the Great Room.

View of the house and deck from the pond. In another month the pond will be covered with blooming water lilies.

The great room with stand alone fireplace and panoramic views through the picture windows. The space opens continuously to the kitchen and dinning room. Imagine watching storms through the picture windows with the gas fireplace crackling in the background.  For those who like to chop wood, the downstairs has a wood-burning fireplace.

Mt. Hood during a rain storm seen from the deck.

Panoramic view from our deck with Mt. Hood in the top center, the pond on the right and neighbors great rural barn on the far left. Our two llamas can be seen eating in the pasture. Their barn can barely be seen center right.

 

View of our house during a snow day.

Some years it does snow creating a quiet white paradise.

One of the garden paths.

Stream and waterfall pour into pond full of goldfish, salamanders and frogs. A heron regularly glides in to go fishing. What a sight to see him flap his wings and circle out of the pond area. If you are not a bird lover, you will automatically become one with the quail, eagles, hawks, owls and the dozens of smaller birds.

Ordinary eyes categorize

Ordinary eyes categorize human beings. That one is Muslim. This one Christian. 

Bedik tribe child sleeping. Dambakoi village, Senegal, Africa

Walk instead with the other vision given you, your first eyes. Bow to the essence in a human being. Do not be content with judging people good and bad. Grow out of that. 
(inspired by Rumi, translated by Coleman Barks)

 Five Fingers Project

Seven billion leaves

Seven billion leaves on the tree, each moving differently in the wind, yet we're all connected at the root.

Konso tribe children at the compound gate. Busso village, Ethiopia, Africa. Five Fingers Project