So today I spent more time with Brokenfeather at his hunger protest....he's on day nine, and although he's noticeably thinner, he's doing pretty well. He's going to end the protest on day ten (tomorrow,) and I have nothing but respect for him at this point. He made his point extremely clear; in fact, often when I ride the MAX (light rail,) past the place where he is sitting, I hear another person mumble something like "good for you brother, keep it up," or something to that effect. People are paying attention; he has raised awareness of the dire situation, he is the sort of Earth-Warrior we need more of in the world, if we plan on living here very much longer...
This weekend, in celebration of my twenty-sixth birthday, and in celebration of Mamma Gaia, I'll be camping with Brokenfeather's group, the Earth Community Alliance somewhere near Mt Hood...so that'll be interesting too.
In other news, I finally uncorked my first bottle of dandelion wine at Sunday Soup (a potluck that takes place at my house every Sunday, when we invite friends and partners to join us for soup, salad and cake...)
Dandelion Wine is soooooo good! It looked kinda funky, what with bloated raisins and dandelion petals bobbing around in it, but even my skeptical friend Daniel tried some and then really enjoyed it. It was super-sweet and made everyone who drank some super giggly; we ended up telling crude jokes and trying to use my fetascope to find heartbeats...without success, I should add.
I also attended the first Really Really Free Market here in Portland on Saturday, which was awesome, with a girl giving free haircuts, free tarot card readings being done, a skill share where Patrick and Wood taught basket making, lots of free clothes, toys, books and other stuff being given away, and talk of hitchhiking down to Southern Oregon in upcoming weeks, for kicks...later that evening, I helped out at the Monkeywrench Cafe, the monthly cafe to raise money for Earth First! So my Saturday was absolutely lovely!
So the world is both interestingly good, with sweet wine, inspiring friends and a growing segment of warrioresque folks here in Portland doing good, warrioresque things; while being depressingly dark and ugly. I saw flooding someplace in the Midwest (?) on the tv at my bank this morning while depositing a check and watched as a river literally picked this giant house up and washed it away; needless to say, with one giant natural disaster following another these days, Momma Nature is pissed, and as a human, I don't feel too safe from her wrath...
Love ya,
Carrot
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Ten days without food!!! I have done that before the tenth day was not so easy... Good for him. It sounds like your doing a lot to. Great refreshing blog to remind us what we all should be like. I might go try some D wine.
~T
All truths are easy to understand once discovered; The point is to discover them ~Galileo
That's the problem with living in fertile flood plains--they flood. But this one wasn't a bad as some others they've had down there. Looks like everyone will recover pretty well, so long as they had flood insurance. EDIT: Whoa... I just saw video of houses floating away across Wisconsin and Indiana. I guess that's what I get for watching local news last night. They didn't mention anything about what was happening elsewhere. That's a mess! And they're goign to get another 6-8 inches today.
I'm glad your wine turned out! Now I am SO curious!
http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/ediblewoman
Nice man. Good to hear there's actually stuff getting done in the world. My town, a little island mecca of supposed liberalism in Montana, talks a good game--'we need efficient mass transit, reliable recycling, glass recycling programs' and the like-- but towns like Eugene and Portland are succeeding and it's in part because of people who are willing to take stands. Good on you.
You've read the Monkey Wrench Gang, right?
my documentary...
Wanna smile on the spot?
Which little liberal town in Montana are you a part of? Kalamazoo? I had a friend named Ed in the Peace Corps who was from Kalamazoo...he lived off grid in a tepee and had dredlocks down to his butt (before he cut them off for Peace Corps...) He also played Mandolin like nobodies business....
Hey I wanna visit Montana maybe this summer....any recommendations of where to go? Montana has this romantic image in my mind...where can I go and hold that romantic view of Montana?
You know, Portland isn't as green as we should/could be....in fact, we've dropped down from greenest city to green city #4 in the US...this is mostly because relatively cheap housing makes us not as densely packed as say, San Francisco (which is actually #1 green city right now, believe it or not!) We do have great public transit, lots of bike commuters, car-free families, an awesome recycling program, lots of vegan/vegetarian restaurants, people who use greywater for gardening, and an urban growth boundary, but that is not enough! We are still consumers, we still buy into "greenwashing," most of our city isn't growing food in their yards, many people still don't bike to work because they don't feel safe, etc. We still have a long, long way to go....
But we are working hard to change things, and that is the important part.
I have yet to read The Monkey Wrench Gang...I'll have to check it out of my local anarchist library...I know they've got it...
Love ya,
Carrot
Kalamazoo is a real place??? I knew Hell was, I just thought kalamazoo was one of those made up things.
You learn something new every day.
~T
All truths are easy to understand once discovered; The point is to discover them ~Galileo
I've probably ran into Ed a few times in my life. After all it's a small state. Missoula is the town's name.
Glacier National Park along the Canadian border is a non-stop fun-zone--apparently you'd better make it there in 13 years or you won't see it in all its splendor, you know, with the glaciers and whatnot.
The Bob Marshall wilderness is a bit less touristy, as is the Selway Bitterroot. You're right though--it's not a hopelessly romantic place to be. You gotta come.
my documentary...
Wanna smile on the spot?