pant pant pant...

Wow! What a crazybusy few weeks!  I took today off just to get my head back to normal speed.  Woohoo!  So what have we been doing?  Weeeellllllllllllll......

We went up to Montreal to the bookfair up there, which was hectic & fun & energizing & exhausting all in one swoop.  I was so busy within the bookfair itself that I forgot to take pictures.  My favorite part of the experience was learning how to talk about our newest graphics campaign that focuses on the MesoAmerica Project of globalized industrial expansion and the grassroots resistance to that.  It's an overwhelmingly big topic and I have a lot to learn still.  But I was able to get the basics down while I was there and have some great conversations about it with folks who came through our "booth".

this is an abandoned train station that we stopped by on the way up to Montreal. Explored it just from the outside.

this is the group house that we stayed in.  Thats Matt sweeping.  He's an long-time Bee that I live with here in Machias. 16 people live in this house in Montreal and 10 of us crashed there for 4 nights.  The hospitality was lovely.

I went across the border between the US & Canada 4 times in one weekend.   This pic was taken after about 2 hours of  sitting in line, switching off and on the car to save gas.  Oof.

When we got back to Machias (after a meandering 12-hour car ride back from Montreal), we ran full speed ahead working on our next Kickstarter campaign.  The Beehive needs to fundraise bigtime in order to get $ to print the next run of posters for this MesoAmerica campaign.  The kickstarter is going to hopefully do that, as well as feed into a bigger film about the Beehive and its history & where we are going.

My role with the kickstarter this week was to create an animation that is, this very moment, being photographed for a stop-motion animation!  I hand drew a seed cracking open and growing into a flower.  Never have I ever done an animation before.  Now's a great time to start!  

This is the very beginning of the animation.  See the seed at the top left? Each line develops it's growth more and more.  In the end, I think I drew about 550 frames, which ends up being between 30 & 50 seconds, depending on how the editing takes place.

Light tables are a wonder.

This project of creating the drawings ended at 2am this morning so that it could be photographed today.  I'm crossing my fingers that it looks good.  I'll send out the link to the final once I have it.  That should be in less than a month.

So, that's about it for now.  I have lots to do, but I'm trying to chill out so that I don't burn out.  A slow burn is more useful that a spark if you're trying to boil a stew.  ....haha

Similar but Different... May 22nd

This is the print we were working on at the printer.
I'll send a link to a better photo of the poster once we have it up on the website.

Being amongst activists and artists 24/7 is awesome.  This is very similar to how I wish Cambria house had turned out, but with different people and different motivations.  I'm super glad to be here. For example, yesterday about 4 of us got sucked into a conversation about color theory, what websites to go to for ideas about colors, how to build our own fonts, and then passing around graphics that we had made in years past for inspiration.  Then later, after work was done, we dove into news sites, informing each other on the different activist movements in Mexico, Colombia, and the states.  Yup. I can exist well here.

Tomorrow we leave for Montreal. We're going to the Anarchist Book Fair up there and showing this first run of the poster that we got from being at the printer last week.

We already lost one member.  Well, really, 3 members. There was a couple who decided before May 10th that they weren't able to join us because of complications with their 3 year old. Then this morning, another guy who just got up here a few days ago had to leave because he's hyper allergic to mold. Bummer. I think all of them would have been great additions to the group, but we've got a solid crew still here- still about 10 people.

 Below are a couple of patched I made by cropping & coloring parts of the poster. They'll be for sale  this week (hopefully) and in the future.

The bee is making out with the flower.  As they do.

Well, I thought my adventures were over... May 18

I moved to Machias, Maine last week! Woohoo! I moved into this grand old house at the same time as 10 other folks joined 3 other folks who were already here. I might be off in my numbers, but whatever. It's a LOT of people.  And we're all getting to know each other and we've all dedicated to spend the next 6 months to a year together and wow. It's gonna be awesome.

So my blog from here on out is going to be sparse because my life is way different now from a WAM-WAM-WAM adventure.  It's more of a slow burn and I want to let that glow and live without commenting on the world wide web about all the gritty details.

The great thing about this last week (besides the lovely people I just moved in with) is the amount of work we're doing together. I spent a lot of time at an off-set printer outside Boston for most of this week working on the print of the Beehive's newest poster. It was really intense and overwhelming.  We had some serious late nights and some all-nighters, but I think it was worth it, or will be very soon! 

Last night was our welcome party into the neighborhood. We had a potluck, a couple bands played, and had an epic fire the burned for so long. It was lovely to meet a bunch of neighbors and to lay low and defuse after a wild first week here.

And then today we cleaned up after the party, then took a gorgeous walk through the magestic Maine forest.  Um... I think it was Destiny Bay area.  Pictures here are only glimpses of why it is so great here.

this is a little ecosystem tucked into the huge rocks on the shore. I believe that is a clam in there, but I was pretending it was an oyster and it made me happier.  Ha.

Tonight there is a fiddle festival.  I have to go to that now.  Cuz after the fiddle fest is a cantra dance.  And yes, KJ, I'm gonna do that!

Philthy

Dear Philadelphia,

I have missed you and have been so glad to be away from you.  You seriously drive me nuts with your rude drivers, drug dealers, and abusive mothers on the subway.  But you soften my heart with my housemates, the coffee shop where I'll always know at least 3 people inside, open arms of old friends, the Delaware river, and your nooks and crannies I've explored, giggled in and spilled tears in since I was a teenager. You hold my family here, you hold my heart here.  I know you and you know me.

I love you. I hate you.
Meg


I have been home since Friday night.  Ironically, also on Friday night, I got the job offer I was looking for.  I'm moving to Maine in May for 6 months.  I'm so excited (and have many mixed feelings)!  The job is with the Beehive Design Collective, who I've admired and sort of known for a couple years. I spent 2 weeks up there in 2011 and fell in love with their artwork as well as their tiny town, where they are heavily involved.  They are a design collective who are activists for different causes, using their art to create awareness and promote change.  For this 6 months, I'll be their Communication & Network Coordinator.  I look forward to growing alongside them!

For this month in Philly, I am working odd jobs here and there.  Of course, my computer completely died this week, which leaves me hundreds of dollars in the hole in order to fix it in order to do odd design jobs in order to pay it off.  ...life...  Blessings & curses all wrapped up with one big Life Burrito.  Nom nom nom.

...I just re-read this and it sounds a little bitter or sad.  I guess I'm having a hard time adjusting to being home, knowing I'm leaving again soon, fighting a cold, being in debt all of a sudden, feeling obligations, having no real schedule but lots to do, and really... all I want to do is sit in the embrace of those I love here. I literally want to do nothing else.  Humph.

I had my friend Stephen chop my hair off.  Well, into a short bob kinda thingy.  A mirror's reminder of a rejuvenated spirit, a lightened load.  This trip broke all my patterns and made me re-consider the ones I sit in comfortably.  I feel like a plant that's been uprooted and the dirt shaken out.  It's a beautiful feeling- the air running around my roots for the first time in a long time, and I look forward to sinking into the earth again.  Maybe in Maine for a while, maybe back in Philly afterwards. We'll see where my heart lands.  It seems to be enjoying being migratory at the moment.

I will roll in the dirt here for now, with my Philthy friends I hold so dear.

I'm On My Way Home Through Chicago...

A little photo recap.

A lil photo of me and Antler encouraging one another to build better lives.

Uncle & Aunt in Midland on a fancy bridge

the fancy bridge

The next photos are from Ohio, where Dove lives. We visited her family's land and dreamed & planned how she could utilize the land.  It's a beautiful place and has tons of potential to be a productive landbase to live off of.  

The girls created a hide out, which was awesome.  I love childlike spirit & creativity.
Wake up! View the world like a child!

Sweet sweet Moony, the older trail dog.

The land is part plains and part forest, with 2 springs.  2 SPRINGS! That's awesome.

Tappa tappa tappa, little woodpecker.

Dustin & Sunny

Dustin & Erin are Dove's housemates and they are so wonderful.
I was pumped to get to know them more and see how they are gardening, keeping chickens, and making decisions.

Shoot. I forget what these mushrooms are called, but we found them on the property and geeked out over mushroom identification when we got back to their house.

Found this fox skull next to a tree stump.  Yeah we took it home.

beautifully odd skunk cabbage.

The spring house.

This is no doubt the coolest truck I've run into. It's run off of veggie oil and has been built out in the back with a bed and lots of storage space.  The best roadtripping vehicle ever.

This is from inside, on the way home.

From Ohio, I made the trek over to NYC to stay with Lark for a few days.  I have to say, it was a bit jarring to drive into the big city.  So familiar, but so different from the open country I have been relishing in for the past few months.  Lark & I had solid catch-up time and watched "Guns, Germs, and Steel" (its on Netflix and you should totally watch it if you haven't already).  I started reading the book by Jared Diamond when I was in Albuquerque because of my conversation with my Uncle about why the Europeans had the ability to conquer so many places around the world.  What made them different from the other humans and other civilizations?  I don't totally agree with the conclusion that Diamond pulls, mostly because it ends up making modern Western civilization seem like it's the best way that all humans should exist, but I really appreciated the research that goes into this book & documentary.  

We took a day trip to Bear Mountain National Park, which was beautiful. New York state is glorious.

sisters forever.

This rock formation is so classic of NY. It is stunning at all times of year and I'm glad for land preserves like this one.

This sweet carousel was inside the below building.  I never though carousels were particularly "fun" to ride, but they sure are intricately decorated and fun to look at!

Classic.  Her dad would be so proud. We drove to a tiny town near Bear Mtn and ate at Andy's, a tiny restaurant that supposedly had been there since 1903.  Food was delicious and hot chocolate was a must.

This is a shot of the hawks above Bear Mtn. 

We were delighted to use a gift certificate Lark had been given to a sweet spot on the West Side.  The food was great. Dell Anime, I believe was the name.  A lovely romantic dinner for 2 lovely ladies. Afterwards, we met up with some friends for drinks around the corner. A perfect evening.

Resolve to...

What do you do around a fire at the end of a roadtrip with a dear friend but to recap your experience, build each other up, and write some goals that came out of your time together.  I didn't get to do my 2013 new years resolutions and this list is a bit extensive for resolutions, but they are some goals that I've been meditating on and want/need to follow through with over the next year.  

Mind-
- read "Cost of Discipleship" by Bonhoeffer
- apply to 5 jobs per day (work day) (if possible) in horticulture, gardening, non-profits, design firms...
- our prayer is for us to have faith that God already has a plan and that we submit to it
- get together with Tiffany about jobs
- learn from others instead re-inventing the wheel

Body-
- daily exercise
- redefine relationship with meat
- see if Cambria can join a CSA
- garden (with Jess?)

Soul-
- pray for Lindsey regularly as she will also be praying for me
- catch up with one another about all this stuff
- come to a place of peace with a few specific relationships
- move into new life with the church
- build more fires

Art-
- break down the tower of intimidation between art and lifestyle
- keep creating visually
- dance dance dance

Lifestyle-
- less talk, more action
- build shelving unit for window
- braid that rug!
- help with the bees
- find learning spaces/groups geared towards alternative living, homesteading, etc.

M A P L E T R E E spells Maple Tree...

This is a french fry that we got, admittedly, at Wendy's one day.  I told Dove about how French Fries have so many preservatives in them that they never mold or deteriorate.  She was afixed.  HOW could this BE?  And so she put one in plastic and has been carrying it around with her in her pocket for a week now.  No mold, still golden brown, and somehow still makes me want to eat french fries.  How do they do that???

Dove, Antler and I walked around Evanston for a day and this is the view of Chicago from the water.

Dove & Antler.

This is the drive up to Petoskey. It was finishing up a beautiful snow storm up there and it was like driving through a winter wonderland.

We actually got into town an hour early, so had some $3 margaritas.  "Tart" doesn't begin to describe that taste.

When Dove & I walked around the state park in Petoskey, we were delighted by the freshly fallen snow.

These next pics are from my other Aunt & Uncle's visit. She used to work at the nature center, which is now just starting their annual tapping of their sugar maple trees.  So we headed down after our zumba class (amazing) to see the process of boiling down the maple into syrup.  Real fast about zumba, though.  It was a class full of ladies (and one man) who want a less-impact form of zumba, so there's a lot of older ladies in there.  I was introduced to an 80 and 85 yr old.  And they totally were awesome at it!  My favorite part was looking in the mirror and realizing that these 80 and 85 yr olds were better at doing gangnam style than I was, and had been doing it longer.  Like I said... amazing.

So this is the building where they boil down the maple sap into syrup.

The brown section is the only place IN THE WORLD where maple syrup is harvested. We so special...

Aunt EllaMarie demonstrating the use of the yoke for carrying sap back to the boiling center.

Sugar Maples being tapped.

We have more pics of this adventure, but these are what I had on my camera.  It was wonderful to see my Aunt & Uncle and I'm glad we stopped there for a bit.  I'm spoiled that I get to see them every couple of years, but it was nice to spend some one-on-one time with them, as we don't often get that.  

As a parting gift, they gave me a CD with songs about Michigan on it. Perfect for my themed music in the car, which I'm still enjoying from Old Dog.  The CD is kid's music, but it's really great- talking about maple trees, identifying different kinds of poop in the woods, how animals get ready for winter, and songs about different state parks.  It's adorable. We listened to it twice and chuckled the whole time.  I look forward to sharing it with some families I know.

Yesterday, Dove & I made it down to her home in Ohio, where she lives with a family (the two girls pictured below).  Today we walked through the woods over to the library and a little pug ran up to us with a leash on it.  We knocked on a few houses and no one knew the dog.  So we went down to the park office, where this man (TERRIBLY photographed below) just fell in love with her and said he could find a home or keep her himself.  Seriously, this is an awful picture of him. He seemed perfectly sane and just melted when he met Stormy (that's what the girls named the dog within the 17 minutes they knew her).  I hope she has found a good home.

So I'm here for a bit, then hitting NYC to hang with old friends there before making that final 2 hour drive home.  I have no idea what that will be like.  I guess I'll find out.