In the shadow of the tower...
Created | Updated Jan 28, 2002
In the Shadow of the Tower
~Kumetanzuka
We are standing in the shadow of things so long forgotten.
Places, people, great works slip away until even the
fleeting memories no longer pass us by.
A faded puzzle, each piece fit to make the picture whole --
people building a dream, reaching toward the sky.
The people divided. The image shattered.
"...Because the Lord did there confound the language of
all the earth: and from thence did the Lord scatter
them abroad upon the face of the earth."1
No one understands one, and so one is left to reach
alone.
And so the dream must be set aside.
One settles for what one can build with one's single stone.
If, over time, one can exceed one's one-ness -- bond
with another one to forge a link -- one is no longer one,
but family.
Singular stone touches singular stone. A stronger structure.
A structure buttressed by the others finds greater strength
in community.
We dance, we speak, we laugh, we jump, we paint, we sing,
we design, we cry--
we express.
Until we learn to understand one another
such expression -- sent but never received -- is
meaningless.
But here, the dream remains alive.
One day every piece will fit, every wall will be built,
and every soul will have the means to be understood, to
understand.
On that day, "...Behold, the people is one, and they have
all one language; ...and now nothing will be restrained of
them, which they have imagined to do." 2 The tower we
will build together will reach beyond the heavens and --
triumphant -- forever stand.
Rebuilding the Tower...
Welcome to my section of the Guide. My name is Daena, which in Persian mythology means that which was revealed. My Guide name, Kumetanzuka, is my best Swahili translation of the same phrase. Most people around here call me Lady K, but I have many identities, all of which I will likely answer to. Here are some you might come across:
Lady Dae - after the late great Billie Holiday
Lady Tremayne - for my middle name
The Upright Lady - after Raymond E. Feist's The Upright Man
Trem - my Dragonriders of Pern RP character
Korho - my vampire character, a Swahili word for a type of bird of prey
A bit about Kumetanzuka
I am 100% Canadian, but I have roots just about everywhere, and branches everywhere else. I've built this Space around the ruins of the Tower of Babel to be inspired by its ancient awe. My purpose here is not to build a tower that reaches Heaven, but to rebuild the understanding and intercommunication that allowed the creation of that great marvel that was the focal point of Bab-il-anu.
I love language and expression. Je parle Francais, yo hablo Espanol, und ich spreche kleine Deutsch. I am working with some other languages, and am beginning to develop a working understanding of Italian and Latin. I read a lot - mostly sci-fi, fantasy, and crossovers/variations thereof (ie. sci-fi fantasy, horror, horror-fantasy -?- like vampires and witches). I write everything from papers to poetry to plays. I act, sing, and play several instruments, listen to any kind of music, and even dance (when nobody's watching).
Here at H2G2, I'm best known as Lady K. I am the Muse of aLtErNaTive expressiOn, and the Keeper of the Dream Tree and the fruits of its harvest. I am also a member of several guilds, clubs and organizations around the Guide:
The Freedom From Faith Foundation is a forum for non-Christian researchers to discuss and debate different and disparate points of view.
The Classic Goo Fan Club is for those Hitchhikers who refuse to give in to the "corporate bland" that is Alabaster. Unfamiliar with the Exquisite beauty of Goo? Click here to find out what all the rage is about!
The h2g2 Musicians Guild is a place for all the Guide's music aficionados to ask questions, share thoughts, post performance information, and do research about one of our favourite topics! 
If you're interested in Virtual Government and Foreign Affairs, visit The Alabaster House - h2g2's seat of Virtual Power, where I am the Ambassador to Earth.
The Terran Embassy to h2g2 is the realization-in-progress of The Babel Project. I hope that soon, with a lot of help from researchers like YOU, we can help to make the Guide a multilingual, truly universal community.
Une sorte de "Revolution Tranquille"
As a member and loyal user of the pre-BBC-h2g2, I find myself bewildered and upset by many of the changes that have overcome one of my favourite online forums of expression. What have we come to when we can no longer use languages other than the cyber-dominant High Speech that is English? While I believe that attempting to change the status-quo by breaking, bending, and loudly protesting the new rules is impotent at best and damaging at worst, I understand and share the feelings of my fellow researchers. Many of us have joined H2G2 because it was a forum where we could really express ourselves around topics we enjoyed in whatever way best suited us. While I do NOT agree with all of the tenets of the Zaphodista movement, I feel that the new Guide needs to be re-examined in light of its original intent and of what it had grown to become before the advent of Moderation.
Feel free to drop in for a chat!
Physch 
(my pet Babelfish) and I 
love conversation, as do Eli, Physch's chameleon companion, and Squidge, their algae-eating snail.
The dragons may not be so amenable to conversation, but as long as you're civil, they won't hurt you. Ignis Nox may try to scare the pants off you. And Custos will give strangers the evil eye and a menacing growl. Qing-huo is rather excitable and very opinionated. And Iarinth may snap at you if you interrupt her preening. But they wouldn't hurt anyone. I made them all promise.
I
Can fly
Like a bird in the sky!
~Nikki Giovanni
