“……Few are willing to brave the disapproval of their fellows, the censure of their colleagues, the wrath of their society. Moral courage is a rarer commodity than bravery in battle or great intelligence. Yet it is the one essential, vital quality for those who seek to change a world that yields most painfully to change. And I believe that in this generation those with the courage to enter the moral conflict will find themselves with companions in every corner of the globe.”
With the future turning into the present so fastly these days, I know that during the next couple months, when I feel lost or need some guidance with the quest I have of making my vision a reality, the words in this speech will inspire me to do what must be done.
I have some big news to tell you all, and by the end of this weekend I will spill the beans. I just have some decisions and last things to figure out.
With this been said, I want to express my excitement I have for the direction that America is hopefully heading in. I’m so glad I was part of such a historic event.
My mom and I arrived last night at the Amarillo Airport together and drove with my father and cousin to the city of Pampa, where my dads side of the family is from. Pampa has a total area of 8.7 square miles and is called the home of oil-fields and the famous ’O Texas Rodeo!! Something about this town has always intrigued me. The different landscape, lifestyle, and characters in this area always makes me eager to explore with my family that calls this place home…and of course, photograph. The last time I was here I drove my grandpas car all around this tiny town and out of it (considering the town size) and experienced some pretty “strange” things. This one time I got stuck in the mud at a random farm in the middle of no where, and found myself walking into a barn-house and apologizing to the German farmer woman about the huge ditch I created in her crop because I was “mudding” a Cadillac….oops.
However, this time i’m not here visiting to cause mischief . Sadly, my grandpa has been suffering the last week due to had had a stroke or fall that caused some serious medical issues and brought him to the end of his astounding life at age 94. Its been hard on the family, but we all know its going to be okay. My grandpa was a realistic man that bravely prepared himself for what was going to come and I know that he wants us all to be strong and deal with this as admirably as he had.
I thank him everyday for raising my father the way he did and supporting our family through everything it has gone through. If you guys didn’t know I am keeping my last name when I get married, and at least one of my children will have the TUKE name. He was the oldest Tuke left and I’m the youngest Tuke left. So I’m the only one that CAN pass on the Tuke name. When one tuke leaves, the world better prepare itself for more to come(in the future of course).
RIP Grandpa Tuke. I know you’re always there cheering me on, like you always have been.
Im snifflin like crazy though! I have the flu:/ I’m trying my best to cure it though…vitamins, orange juice, graduation parties, wait..what??..
………….Anyways, those are my business cards up there that I shot for the class I just finished (product shooting). They are TRANSPARENT if you cant realize that from the photo itself, and I added a little water in there to make it more personal.
Though I learned a lot this session, I’m sooo excited to shoot some PEOPLE in the next couple of weeks and get my Underwater section on my site up! Great White sharks, the open ocean and even some fashion underwater shots! mmmmm yes.
COMING SOON.
With that being said…I’m going to the Ocean Film Festival AGAIN tonight. It was sooo great yesterday..gets me all pumped and motivated to get more involved in the Ocean industry. One of my friends sitting next to me won the raffle ticket to this amazing hotel in Costa Rica for 5 days (2 ppl)!! LUCKY.
“if u go to the caribbean u will probably go to like Jamaica, Bahamas, PR or somewhere that’s relatively normal.. but sometimes u might end up steppin off of a boat and hear people speaking some weird german and portuguese ….. thats when u realized ur in st maarten, curacao, suriname or one of the other netherland antilles.. those are wierd places for sure. recently i was clubbin with atrak in amsterdam and hangin out with some of the kids in holland.. its a wierd mix in the clubs.. all the girls look like they are chinese african indonesian dutch martian and are hot and everyone knows the lyrics to house tracks and lil wayne.. its a special place. but the island kids there were makin wierd music for a couple of years.. i had to inspect this stuff.. seems back in the day in curacao or N.A. this DJ mortje.. was playin reggae at 45 and gettin parties turned out .. then later on the sound moved back to holland and kids renamed it bubblin’… now they put anything that represnts amsterdam under these drums.. paul johson - check, tiesto- check, ciara - check, wierd polka - check, jumpstep - hell yeah.. ok so basically this is a mad decent radio made in heaven.. big up infatda sound from Amsterdam and laid back luke for the help. big ups to any of my surinamese, aruban, bonairian, curacaoian, saba, sint eustatians and st maartians in the buildin” - NicktheV
What a surprise, one of the MAD DECENT DJs, NicktheV is representing good ole Bubbling! All the music in this mix is what I was raised on in Bonaire. Its funny because I have most of the songs in the mix in my Bubbling/Bonaire section on Itunes, even the crap dutch songs he mixed inn, haha. Its sooooo good to have someone mix all of these songs together so well. I dont even hate on the fact that he added the occasionaly bad song into it because what he did was trully encorporated the whole feel of those islands into one..(plus it wouldnt be the same without the odd DJ slur of “D-d-d-d-JAYYY…HEY SCHHHHATJEEE” and the dutch “JA JAAA” being repeated way to often) Theres tons of Papiamentu and Dutch being spoke, so be prepared…its too amazing to not love.
Because the new MAC laptops were released, I got the Macbook pro at suchhhhh a good deal!! Im so excited!
I got the 15″ macbook pro with 500gb HD, 4 gb ram, 3 year warranty, and cover to protectors all for $2300.
I finally finished my COMP book…It required my friends and I doing 3 day all nighters and practically living in the only 24 hour coffee place IN SANTA BARBARA….. SPUDNUTS donut shop…ew…we were obviously ridiculously desperate. I think ive finally got it through my thick skull about how stupid procrastinating is, it just isn’t worth it. Im still suffering from those 3 days of not sleeping and taking care of myself..
With that being said, I am trying to get back to my normal routines today despite the random 1 hour nap in the park. Back to bettering my life !! Organization will be a main goal this week with my brand new computer (since most of my life revolves on being a computer w/ images). This laptop will be treated like the Queen of Sheba, i promise.
So yea, im back to blogging. hello.
and byebye.
Nato Tuke
P.S. Reason #9783812 why I love my dad. His new voicemail goes ” Hi, this is Richard, leave a voicemail and ill get back to you……….maybe.” BEEP
When I was in 4th grade, I remember being taken out of school because Hurricane Lenny was starting to impact the island. Bonaire is considered to be on the outside of the so-called “Hurricane Belt” but Bonaire definitely felt the impact of Hurricane Lenny ( it was even 150 miles away!). It effected mostly the waterfront properties and of course, the corals and ocean life. That day I watched much of my childhood get torn and pounded down powerfully by waves and wind. Because the coast was being impacted to heavily, my father sailed the Samur until the storm passed(about a day later), so thankfully our boat made it through the storm. Sadly, many were not as fortunate. Bonaire is so small that even though we are all very different, the island is still like a family, and when tragedies like this happen it really effects everyone.
When I was informed today that Tropical Storm Omar had hit Bonaire full force out of nowhere, my heart sunk. Ive been watching the updates on youtube and talking to my friends on the island and though i’m not there anymore, I feel the islands pain..its horrible. I know many of my very close friends and their families businesses have already been torn down. Im not even sure where the Samur is? I’m trying not to get too worried, because i’m sure its fine….right?… I was thinking maybe the storm would be gone by tonight? But I just read this on someones blog:
“It is 12:32 A.M. right now in Bonaire. I came back from the shore-side soaking wet. The island is still filled with rain, and the waves are still hitting hard. I think it is hitting harder than it did this morning. But the update for Hurricane Omar is that it is still wickedly strong. And it is trying to used every bit of its strength to take other things down in its path. So if you are in its path, be prepared.”
Doesn’t make me feel so confident. We shall see….my thought and prayers are with all of you being impacted in Bonaire.
Hay! Its my birthday…im 20…ahhhhhhhh…idk how I FEEL ABOUT IT. Ive gotten calls from all over the world today and want to thank you again friends/family, for never letting me forget that I couldn’t be anymore lucky than I am to have you all in my life.
I have a very busy day today…but since its my birthday I feel like its okay to talk about things i want want want want want. :) so I put this together while waiting for my cars new part to be installed, enjoy!
2. MAIL! i loveee mail and packages and postcards. (like sending it out toooo)
3. MONAYYYY. $$$$$
4. Amazing fun big hair to dress up with and costumesss
5. A big saggy beanie hat
6. axolotl!!!!!!!!! WHEN I SAW THIS I almost died. This will be mine one day, in the cutest HUGE tank.
7. ATOMIC MASK!! (so i know this is stuff i “want” but im adding some stuff in there that ive wantED and just got) I just got this as a gift from Stephen Frink! I cant wait to try it out. Its so intense!
8. STORM CASE is everything ive needed and more. I just received this a couple days ago in the mail…itsss sooo bigg and i cant wait to put all of my equipment in there!
9. Frye boots. I know i can probbbablyy find a pair like this in a thrift store.. haha i loveee them though!
Its been said, that the hardest part in of dealing with challenges in your life, is to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Its when one has no hope, that difficult issues seem unsolvable. What people tend to do when they see nothing but a black tunnel, (if they don’t give up altogether) is attempt to bring some hope into their life. This is done through MANY things depending on the person (can be anything from religion to drugs to getting pregnant, to name a few). There are good ways to create hope, that will last and lead you to the end of the tunnel where issues are resolved, and there are temporary fixes of hope that might tease you with success, and in the end send you farther back into a tunnel of complete blackness.
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How are you going to bring hope to your issues that seem impossible to accomplish? Don’t choose quick fixes, instead choose the one that will help you fix issues with much control and (usually) time.
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-Nato Tuke
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( My fix is not procrastinating, which if i spend anymore time checking my email right now it will happen. So goodbyeeeee)
Hi! I'm Nato Tuke and this is my blog.
I am a trilingual, 19 year old that grew up in Bonaire.
I live my life by experiencing it, both the good and bad. I enjoy traveling, writing, photographing, expressing, THE OCEAN, making goals, and accomplishing them.
I attend Brooks Institute of Photography in Santa Barbara, CA.
