Fotos de Donna Brennei

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Resumen

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  • Idiomas que habla bien English
  • 81, Mujer
  • Miembro desde 2011
  • Author/Writer/Editor
  • I graduated with a B.A. in English literature from the Un...
  • De I grew up in Monrovia, California and Newport Beach, California.
  • Has completado un 75% de tu perfil

Sobre mí

CURRENT MISSION

I will be travelling in the Western Cape of South Africa from July 29 to approximately August 15. After about mid-August, my plans are to travel to Durban, Jo'burg, Botswana and Istanbul.

ABOUT ME

Mother of two daughters and I have two grandchildren. My grandson is autistic; my granddaughter is a singer, actor and dancer who aspires to Broadway. I adore my small family and circle of friends. I have two hobbies: working with paper art and crystals and stones. My favorite music is the blues.

I am one of two co-authors of "the TRUTH is on the WALLS" that sets forth some of the participation of coloureds in South Africa's history, coloured oppression, the forced removals of District Six and the efforts of two Muslim women who struggled against British segregation and the apartheid regime: Naz Gool Ebrahim (author of "the TRUTH is on the WALLS") and Cissie Gool. Nonfiction is presently scheduled for publication August 2011 in Cape Town, South Africa.

Co-author, with others, of "Central American Education Project...Beyond Contragate: The US-Nicaragua Conflict."

Recently published a book review in the magazine ReConnect Africa on "Peeping through the reeds" by Musuva, which is a history of the Griqua people and coloured oppression that continues to be an issue in South Africa.

I like to write poetry, but have only published a couple of good ones in two UC (University of California) publications.

Worked as a union organizer in the San Francisco bay area for six years in the 90s, taking cases to mediation and arbitration; worked in corporate environments, to include health care, for about two decades. And, in a work life that I have nearly forgotten worked as an Interior Designer for about four years.

As a Californian I have a fair amount of activism and organizing in my background that grew out of the 60s but began in the 70s and includes: helped to set up a VD Clinic in Orange County when venereal disease had reached epidemic proportions; helped to establish an Environmental Nature Center in Orange County; raised money for the Orange County Indian Center and scholarships; organized around renters' rights issues in Santa Monica and El Monte, California; volunteer ESL (English as a second language) instructor in Santa Ana and Berkeley; co-ordinator of Chicano Literary Contest at UC; organized to raise money for the Atlanta Mothers when children were being murdered in Atlanta, Georgia; tried to organize neighborhoods against, and employees of, the west coast San Onofre Nuclear Generating Facility in the late 70s; participated in the Bishop Poetry Marathon to try and raise money for the Indian reservation at Bishop, California; began the organizing for a southern California neighborhood that had serious environmental toxics issues. At the time, case became the largest toxics case in California; have worked in successful political campaigns (as Press Chair) in Oakland and organized to get out the vote (GOTV); worked with grass roots groups in Nicaragua to send office and medical supplies to the country after the revolution; as a participant in one of Jerry Brown's (Governor of California) committees, worked with delegates (coal miners) from the southern states at the 1984 Democratic Convention in San Francisco when Jesse Jackson was a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination. Tried to interest US citizens in South Africa's plight under the apartheid regime during the 80s and 90s; worked for the non-profit organization Project Open Hand (in San Francisco), raising money to provide meals for AIDS patients who were home bound; organized around single-payer health care in the San Francisco bay area and immigrant rights in Sacramento. And that's enough. I have long forgotten so many names that it is embarrassing.

Presently working on a screenplay about the two civil rights activists I mentioned above.

PHILOSOPHY

I am a grandmother now and have made my share of mistakes as I have really lived. I live my life authentically and I am an independent thinker. I dislike injustice and greed. I continue to want to make contributions to my family, friends and the world. If I could, I would redistribue the wealth in the United States as we have a small percentage of people who have billions while others have little food, have no health care, no homes, no real access to an educational system that really cares about children, and more. I dislike the greedy worldwide bankers/Wall Streeters. I don't like being around alcohol or drug abusers. I prefer genuine spirituality (not gooey) vs. organized religion. I feel everyone, at the least, has a right to the basic necessities (food, shelter and clothing) along with decent education and health care so that people have the opportunity to become who they really are rather than trying to escape the harsh realities with which they are faced. I don't like a lot of meaningless talk. I prefer action. I'm bored by intellectuals who theorize only. Just some of my thoughts and feelings.

Por qué estoy en Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I recently joined the CS Project. I am just getting started. The only thing I have done is make a contribution to the CS Project.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

None, so far, but my friend Spike Kahn has couch surfed all over the world and she loves it. We will be travelling together in South Africa, Botswana and Turkey.

Intereses

I am interested in:
my family, hobbies (paper art and crystals and stones), friends, writing, reading, music (I love the blues, Stevie Wonder and opera), short trips in the U.S., world events and history, healing arts, art exhibits, tea, activism, anything decent, screenwriting, education, candles, honesty, film, great food, maintaining old friendships and making new friends with whom I share similarities. I also have an interest in bike riding and own a bicycle, but I was hit by a car last year and have been skittish ever since to return to bicycling. When I rode, I loved it. Those are some of my interests.

  • arts
  • writing
  • books
  • literature
  • poetry
  • design
  • interior design
  • acting
  • dancing
  • civil rights
  • education
  • dining
  • cooking
  • marathon
  • instructor
  • clothing
  • reading
  • traveling
  • music
  • blues
  • opera
  • cycling
  • martial arts
  • teaching
  • history
  • religion
  • volunteering

Música, películas y libros

Favorite music is the blues, beginning with Muddy Waters, Little Walter, Howlin' Wolf and Etta James. My favorite operas are "Tosca" and "Phantom of the Opera." Favorite ballet: Giselle. Favorite period: The Romantics for art, literature and music. My favorite novella is "Heart of Darkness," by Joseph Conrad. Some of my favorite books include: "Their Eyes Were Watching God," by Zora Neale Hurston; "The Death of Artemio Cruz," by Carlos Fuentes; "Of Love and Shadows," Isabel Allende; "Kiss of the Spider Woman," Manuel Puig; I have really enjoyed the entire "Twilight Saga," and I am currenly reading Orhan Pamuk, Karen Armstrong and Stieg Larsson's Trilogy. I adore the "#1 Ladies Detective Agency" series and Nicholas Sparks. My reading interests are broad. Some favorite movies are: "Social Network," "Tuskegee Airmen," "All That Jazz," "Under Fire," "The Bang Bang Club," "Godfather," "Casablanca," "Foreign Correspondent," "On the Waterfront," "One-Eyed Jacks," "Reds," and the British version of "Death at a Funeral" for a few. I love film.

Algo increíble que he hecho

What I saw, did and all the people I met while living in a township in South Africa in 1988 when the Tri-Cameral Municipal Elections were taking place during the apartheid regime.

Enseña, aprende, comparte

I would love teaching literature and writing and I am talking about the kind of writing as seen in the film "Freedom Writers." I make beautiful to exquisite paper art. I know something about stones and crystals. I would like to know more about the discipline of martial arts, people who live in my international community and French cooking.

Países que he visitado

Canada, India, Mexico, Nicaragua, Philippines, South Africa, United Kingdom

Países en los que he vivido

United States

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