Thanks to Don Marenzi for identifying this photo of WP668 (the caboose in our San Jose backyard). The picture is by Eric Bracher, published in the January 1974 NMRA Bulletin (p.12). This is the first picture of WP668 we have found in her Western Pacific orange and silver colors! Here is a more current photo:
Images Copyright 1974 by Eric Bracher, and 2013 by Katy Dickinson
Last week, I started as the new Vice President – Mentoring at Everwise in San Francisco. I am delighted to join a team helping progressive, successful corporations and non-profits to create world-class mentoring programs. My first big project will be with InovAtiva and entrepreneurs in Brazil!
Here is some of what drew me to Everwise:
My new position at Everwise coordinates well with my ongoing activities. I will continue as the Chief Operating Officer for People to People (pro bono), as a volunteer for the TechWomen mentoring program of the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, as an accredited EfM Mentor, and as a member of the Anita Borg Institute Advisory Board.
My husband John and I will be commuting to work together from San Jose to SF, where he is the Principle Architect, Open Storage at EVault (Seagate). Since our son Paul is graduating this month from Foothill College and transferring to San Jose State University in September, he can get to class more easily on public transit.
Image Copyright 2014 by Katy Dickinson
My Episcopal home church in Saratoga, California, is spare in design – with most of the color coming from huge stained glass windows by Mark Adams. Visiting Ethiopian Orthodox churches and the Ethiopian Ethnological Museum last month presented me with the new world of brightly colored Ethiopian icons. Some were new and others were ancient but the color palette, style, and topics were similar regardless of age.
The icon topic that was very surprising to me was the Trinity (as seen in the last photo below). In my Protestant Christian faith tradition, Jesus is commonly represented in art but only rarely are God and the Holy Spirit shown, except symbolically (such as when the Holy Spirit is shown as a dove). Ethiopian icons showing the Trinity as three mature, identical, kingly men with haloes sitting in a row were disturbing.
Images Copyright 2014 by Katy Dickinson and John Plocher
Filed under Church, News & Reviews
I just got back from a trip to Ethiopia during which I was honored to interview US Ambassador to Ethiopia, Patricia M. Haslach, on behalf of People To People Radio. Check out her advice to women and girls in the just-posted video. Thanks to my husband John Plocher for managing the recording and processing!
Images Copyright 2014 by Katy Dickinson and John Plocher
Filed under Home & Family, Mentoring & Other Business, News & Reviews
Prior to my recent trip to Ethiopia, I had no awareness of traditional Ethiopian furniture. So the sophisticated execution and elegant designs on display in the Ethnological Museum in Addis Ababa came as a very pleasant surprise. Once I had seen the museum collection, I was able to go through my photos from the entire journey to find similar furniture in current use. Unfortunately, some museum examples were in reflective glass cases in rooms with big bright windows – so my photos leave much to be desired (as in the case of the covered-basket-table or mesob immediately below). Basket-tables when not in use are covered with a fitted cloth case – as can be seen in the very bottom photo.
Images Copyright 2014 by Katy Dickinson
Filed under News & Reviews
I was going to write a “Crafts in Ethiopia” blog entry like my Crafts in Rwanda entry from February. Then I realized that in Ethiopia there is heavy overlap between art, craft, and religious icons. Some of the works I brought home are between these categories. For example, if the two paintings on goat skin above were not religious in content, I would consider them crafts; however, because one is depicts Saint George and the other represents the Holy Trinity, and both are heavily inspired in design by ancient icons still in active church use, I am not sure into what category they fall.
The image below of coffee drinkers is clearly craft – even though its media, design, and execution are very similar to the paintings above. The baskets, woven scarves, and jewelry items pictured below are also crafts. The silver cross ear rings and bracelet are something else – maybe religious crafts? The great variety, symbolism, and social importance of Ethiopian Orthodox crosses puts them in another category.
Images Copyright 2014 by Katy Dickinson
Filed under Church, News & Reviews
Ethiopian coffee is some of the best in the world. According to the displays in the delightful Ethnological Museum in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia is the original home of the Coffee Aribica plant, and the word coffee refers to the Ethiopian province of Kaffa. We enjoyed the coffee ceremony which formalizes the roasting, grinding, and serving of the beverage.
While in Ethiopia last week, John and I regularly ate meals on injera (a sourdough-risen flatbread with a unique, slightly spongy texture traditionally made out of indigenous teff flour), followed by wonderful coffee, sometimes accompanied by popcorn. Injera is served either in rolls or as the platter for a variety of wat or tsebhi (stew). We particularly liked the fasting (non-meat) wat – largely made from lentils or chickpeas. We often drank St. George beer with the meal (or Ambo sparkling water), with coffee after.
Images Copyright 2014 by Katy Dickinson
Filed under News & Reviews
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