Aliveness Project

Aliveness project is located right down the street from me. It provides services that fill a gap - such as veterinary services for a friend's adorable kitten. Ami Thompson hosted an evening of making Christmas stockings for Holiday project. Thank you Ami for inviting me, and thank you for supporting a great program

Inukshuk - then and now

Reactions around the world

It's eye-opening to view people outside the U.S. reacting to news of Obama's election

Not as pessimistic

People have hope for change, their hope led to support and action, and I have to say it felt so good to see people crying tears of joy. I have a shroud of cynicism that pervades my views on politics. I do cautiously believe that change is coming. Today is veteran's day and I worry for those we have sent to war.

Scaring myself

Bare Bones Halloween show took place at Hidden Falls. I had fun stopping by Bedlam to watch the build, to hear about the story and to loan my nephew's bike to the show. The first Saturday was warm and well attended. Sunday's show was canceled because of rain. I just got back from the final show - I took Dante and he had a hard time settling down so I didn't hang around to help with t-shirt sales.

On Thursday I skipped the rescheduled performance to go to the Soap Factory Haunted Basement (these pics are from SF's website). Super scary and fun! Thanks to Alan and Mary Jane for coming back to rescue me from the clowns. Dave came out with a bump/ cut on his head - guess that's the reason for the signed waiver. Josie got creeped out by a persistent angel.

Life in the tropics

My son brought me over some orchids and other beautiful leafy plants. I tried to figure out what they were but didn't have much luck.

Having some fun

I went to NYC just over a week ago for a short trip to see Louisa. We saw the homecoming football game (Columbia lost to Princeton), got autographs from They Might Be Giants who were playing on the lawn, and put stuff up on the walls of her room. A lot of activities focused on food. We had a lunch and a brunch courtesy of parents weekend, ate greek take-out in her dorm room, went to a nearby Chinese restaurant with her friends, had a cafeteria meal, and picked up bagels the morning I left.

Last week Mina and I also took a kombucha class taught by Heather and we went to the St Paul Art Crawl where we checked out Larry Labonte's pics including ones of the Missile Dick Chicks, very cool mobiles by Tony Beyer, water colors and inukshuk by Ian Begg, and bought a photo of Jill Waterhouse at the Black Dog cafe.

Playing for Change: Peace through Music

Back at Bedlam - reflections on the RNC

Not much time for posting.


More fun with Minneapolis MDCs.

Thanks to Chante Wolf for her photo.

Seems like fall

Yesterday I spent the day in Martin's Vineyard helping harvest the grapes.

Today I cooked red cabbage with onions and apples. In the next room my son was over watching football, and I could hear the orchestral notes of the NFL theme music.

kiva.org

Magda Dompedro Urbina

Magda lives in the Comarca Sabana Grande neighborhood of Managua. She is thirty-eight years old and is married with three children of fifteen, sixteen, and eighteen years of age. All three children are currently students, and her husband works buying and cutting up cattle and pigs. Mrs. Magda works with her husband in this business, cutting up and selling pork meat from her home. She has been in this business for the past eight years. Her greatest difficulty has been finding a means of transporting these products. She hopes, in the future, to collect the money necessary to buy a small truck so as to facilitate product transfer. Initially, Mr. and Mrs. Magda were able to launch their business thanks to loans from AFODENIC, and through these they have been able to improve their business. If able to obtain this new loan, they hope to buy ten more pigs, which will be raised so that their meat can later be sold to both old and new clients.

Missile Dick Chicks at the RNC

I had the great pleasure of hosting (and performing with) the Missile Dick Chicks last week at the RNC. Even now I smile as I come across red, white and blue feathers and sequins in my house, my car and my yard. This group was so full of energy and extremely dedicated to engaging RNC delegates.

Some Republicans proclaimed them as their favorite protesters. Of course the chicks assured them that they were not protesters - they were supporters of the war. Other Republicans had expressions more like Condi's:

Liberty Parade

On Sunday afternoon the Liberty Parade followed Nicollet Mall to Loring Park. The day was a lot of fun. Greg is on his ass, and Dean is on the elephant. They had great stories of riding around Minneapolis with Bob.

Niwebinaan indaakoziwin

We went to the river and threw our sickness at the moon.

The Cost of War

One Day = $720 Million

Old topic - new stuff

Video from the Rake.
Article in vita.mn
Fox9 story by M.A. Rosko

Winter!

It seems aberrant to post this when it's -15 degrees F with a -25 windchill, but this wonderful picture of my extraordinary friend Mina totally captures the feel of last weekend. The photo was taken by Max. That's Midnight in the passenger seat.

If you need something to ease the pain of Johan leaving - try heading to Medicine Lake!

Another weekend on Medicine Lake

Unfortunately I loaned out my camera so I don't have my own photos. The dog and the teenagers and I spent five hours on Medicine Lake yesterday. The temps were in the twenties and the ice was 2 feet thick (learned that fact in the HQ and told the compelling story of "how I learned I was allergic to wool"). I visited Misfit Toys, Mobile, Limnology, Norae, and the Taxi shanties. The teens went to the Survival shanty and some others as well. Dante split his time between running with the roving pack of dogs and looking at people eating hot dogs. I'm selling "art cars on ice" buttons (50 cents) and patches ($1) if anyone needs these particular items.

Here are some more links to press on the art shanty projects:
Dwell Magazine blog (the comparison to Burning Man's alternative on ice is something I keep hearing)
MinnPost article by Molly Priesmeyer (with slide show)
Star Tribune slide show

Opening Day is tomorrow

Sweet Video:
Ice Cold Shanty Art // Current

Winter in Minnesota!
It's predicted to be minus 12 around 9 am tomorrow when I head out and there's a wind chill advisory too. So it will be too cold to take the dog. He has a coat but no boots.

Art Shanty

For the past month a dedicated team of art car artists have been working every weekend at the Soap Factory to create a taxi stand / warming shanty for the Art Shanty Projects that start next weekend on Medicine Lake. The ice is thick enough and we'll be installing the shanty tomorrow. Woo hoo! I can't wait.