i'm alive

i'm here! i promise. i've been quiet lately because in the spring learned i have to go for brain surgery. hopefully it will cure my epilepsy. i'm going in october 15th.

in the meantime, i'm still listening. :) bee stories, please! the music is underway....

Death of a Colony

Maala reminded me of an emotional day with this story. It was the first time one of our colonies died, and she recounts it so beautifully. The thing I remember is how some of the bees seemed frozen in mid-action. Thank you, Maala, for sharing this. Would still love to hear your bee stories too. 

Can't Resist

What happens when bees and all other stinging insects are weirdly attracted to you? Marie tells us about her husband's plight! Share your bee stories too and they may end up in a track for our honey-making friends: call for voices

Einstein's Words

Justine is terrified of bees, as so many of us are, but she knows they are important because of what Einstein said about them. We want to hear your thoughts about bees too.

Copycat

drawing by Ella

Running around with bees in the clover, trying to copy their actions.... Natasha remembers playing with them as a child. What's your story? Tell us :)

The First Story

drawing by Uma

The first story about bees to arrive in the subtlebeing inbox comes from the amazing and talented Mr. Rahul Nair in Pickering, Ontario. I hope you'll tell us your tale about bees too. Find out how here.

Call for Voices

Bee Friend. This bee landed on my chest one afternoon and stayed there for about twenty minutes while we were tending the hives at the Amma Canada Centre.

I hope you’ll help me with my music project for the bees! It’s going to combine my pursuits as a radio documentary maker, an audio artist and a beekeeper. I want to make electronic music that tells their story.

We have known for a while now that bees around the world are mysteriously disappearing. In March 2011, the United Nations issued an official warning. Honey is not the only thing that will go with them. Bees and other pollinators are responsible for at least one third of the human food supply.

In Victorian times, flowers had different meanings and they weren’t all love and beauty. A red columbine stood for anxiety. A yellow carnation was disappointment and rejection. A pink camellia represented longing. A red daisy indicated that the beauty was unknown to the possessor (that one is my favourite). Each song will select one flower and its meaning and tell that aspect of the bees’ story.

This is where you come in. I want to mix in human voices speaking to the bees. I’m hoping you will email me short audio files (mp3, wav, aiff, aac (.m4a), mpeg-4) that contain different messages for and about the bees. Video files are fine too, i.e. quick ones recorded with a smart phone.

Here are some questions you could answer:

• How do you personally feel about bees? It’s okay if you’re afraid of them or don’t like them….
• Have you ever had a closeup encounter with a bee or bees?
• What do you think it would be like to see the world through a bee’s eyes?

The address is subtlebeing - (at) - at subtlebeing dot com.

Thank you for your help. I look forward to hearing what you have to say. In the meantime, I’m taking singing lessons. :D

I lay this project at the feet of my beloved Guru, Sri Mata Amritanandamayi Devi.

Loka Samastha Sukhino Bhavantu. Loka Samasta Sukhino Bhavantu. Loka Samastha Sukhino Bhavantu. (May all beings everywhere be happy.)