Deep Democracy Retreat and the Arcata Formula Retail Ordinance

This has been quite a month. I am going to miss this place--its loving atmosphere, beautiful gardens, sweet chickens, awesome workshops, and caring people.

This last weekend, I was fortunate to be a part of Duck's Deep Democracy Retreat (DDR). We spent 3 days getting ready--cleaning, cooking, setting up the spaces inside and out. It was a lot of fun, not to mention a nice break from ordinary tasks. The workshop itself was fantastic. All the reservations I held about trainings (mostly from TDEL) vanished with this training. They have their shit together here at the Duck House.
During the retreat, we sat in large circles, sometimes splitting off into smaller groups, where discussion was the primary tool for learning. It reminded me a lot of SIT. We talked about what democracy means and its possibilities, the history of corporations in the United States and how it has evolved, how corporate personhood and all it entails inhibits democracy, and what we as individuals, and more importantly, as united communities can do to restore democracy.


As far as my work with the Arcata Committee on Democracy and Corporations goes... I have continued my business outreach project, and tabling at the local co-ops, farmers markets, and community events.

As the ordinance is in the beginning stages, we are spending a lot of time educating the general public about our ideas and why we see the ordinance to be important, and, in return, we are asking the community for feedback and suggestions. Again, the ordinance is being designed to restrict formula chain stores in Arcata, CA. Mostly, the community is very receptive of the plan--in fact many are angry it is not already in place. This is Humboldt County!!

What a nice day for rapids...

Yesterday, Claire, Tanvi, and I went inland to Willow Creek with my host Jon and a friend, Shawn. We had been dying for some warmth and decided to escape East where is was 30 degrees warmer!! It was a beautiful day and the beach was just wonderful. The air was warm and the water cool--a perfect combination.

The river, which felt more like a really small lake, wrapped around a bend and gave the illusion that the calm waters went on forever. As Claire and I were splashing around in the water (and Tanvi perched on a rock watching) we realized there was a slight current. Claire told me it was getting stronger and it probably would be a good idea to come over to her, but it was too late--we were in the current. I wasnt too concerned--that is until I saw the rapids. But even then, they were small and did not seem to threatening. But then the current got worse and I knew there was no way I was going to get out of it and I braced myself for the rapids. Claire soon followed. There were two sides: The fast side on the right (the side Claire got), and the rocky side on the left (the side I got). It happened really fast--maybe a minute and a half at tops-- but it felt like forever. The first drop got me paniking. My head went under and if it werent for my hands behind my head would have scraped the rocky bottom. I couldnt get back up and when I finally did I went right back under. All I could think about was that I had to get to the side or I was going to drown--and that I was just like Sassy in Homeward Bound :) I grabbed the first rock I saw but I couldnt hold on, so the next one I threw my body at. It worked, but I banged up my leg pretty good. When I finally crawled out of the water I was shocked that I was out--I thought surely it would take me longer than that. My legs were not working very well from the fright I suppose.

I looked around and I couldnt see Claire. I never did see her, but she was out and OK. I did see Tanvi though and she was pretty panicked. Apparently there had been a helicopter getting water for a fire somewhere and when she had called for help no one could hear her. By the time she got back, we were out. She pointed to a metal pipe sticking out of the water. Water was pouring into fast and I realized how close I was to have been sucked in there (not to mention that 15 min. before I told Tanvi to jump off her rock and get in the water---just a few feet in front of the pipe!!!). If either of us had been unfortunate enough to end up in there--it would have been nearly impossible to get out!!

Meanwhile, Claire was stuck on the other side of the river--too far away to talk to. She would have to cross the current to get back to the beach we were at!! Tanvi and I ran to get help from Jon, and he managed to get Claire back to the right side. Once all together again we talked and laughed about it. We learned a valuable lesson about swimming near moving water.

Aside from that excitement--we had a wonderful time!! The heat was much needed :)

Humboldt County

This last week has been pretty exciting.. My first day started out leaving Luv Field on a flight to Vegas in a plane filled with college kids, eager to lose their money, drinkin it up on the plane. If that wasnt bad enough, I had to squeeze in next to a guy who was large enough to fill both his seat and mine. It was the last seat left--my prize for barely making the flight due to the thorough search conducted on my sewing machine which I HAD to bring. I didnt mind having my face pressed up against the window because the flight attendant had told us the plane was going to make a quick stop in Lubbock to shift passengers before proceeding to our final destination. However, when we got to Lubbock we were told that under no circumstances would we be allowed to change seats because they did not want to have to count us too many times to make sure they had everyone--this, we were told, would insure a speedy take off. No such luck. Some girl got off the plane in the confusion (?) and we were counted a dozen or so times. This made us over an hour late to Las Vegas-- and three of us on the way to San Fran missed our connecting flight. Long story short (I know, too late), I sat in the Vegas airport for 3 hours watching people play slot machines, arrived in San Francisco late, and missed my bus. But, good news! So did Tanvi, another intern. We found a each other by a miracle and later found a couple on Craigslist seeking a ride to Eureka. We convinced them to go in on a rental car with us and 7 hours and $40 later we arrived. Yay!

Skipping ahead... On Wednesday the 17th, Claire, Tanvi, and I distributed Humbolt Exchange newspapers and Local Business Directories around the various towns. Not my idea of a fun time, but there is a plus side to the story. We got to stop at many beaches along the way. Trinidad was my favorite because of all the large rocks in the water and on the shore. It was a beautiful sunny day, however it was windy and a little cool. Did I mention yet that Humbolt County is COLD?!?! Well... not cold. At least not in the direct sense of the word. But for summer--yes, it is cold. 60 degrees to be exact. Coupled with gray skies and fog. Nevertheless, I like it here. The hiking is amazing.

Friday, Claire and I went hiking a little north in the Redwood National Park on a trail called Fern Canyon. We found it simply by searching online, and It turned out to be simply wonderful. In fact, it is one of the places where they filmed Jurassic Park: The Lost World. And if you look at the picture you can see that it is true. The redwoods are so incredibly tall and the moss is so green and thick (not to mention the wild Elk)--is was like no place I had been to in my life.

Now that I have painted a picture of my new surroundings, next time I will write about what I am actually working on--because today I am fresh out of words..

Seth 2008 Video

The video can be found here: Seth 2008

Enjoy!

making a dress form: part 1

A few days ago I decided I really wanted to make a 1950's bathing suit. The only problem was that I did not have a dress form. So, I got online and found a website that showed how to make one yourself.
Last night Kacy and I started what we felt would be a 1 hour project of covering my torso in duct tape. We would be doing this in order to make a dress form casing which we would then fill with foam insulation. It ended up taking about 3 hours! It got pretty uncomfortable at times, but I believe it will be well worth it. Here are some pictures of the process:
We added Chicken Wire to keep the body from changing shape when we filled it with foam. It was extremely uncomfortable, but it made for good effect. Nic even made me a duct tape face mask so that I could pretend I was in a Woody Allen film :)

New Semester

Mama: "I think popcorn is the best thing God ever gave us" (Joking because Seth hates popcorn)


Seth: (very serious) "No mama... brown sugar".


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It is cold. Very, very cold here. I don't think I could ever get used to it. To escape from the outside, Seth and I have adopted things to do inside. We have become avid readers of C.S. Lewis, at least The Chronicles of Narnia. Before that, we read Julie of the Wolves and the books that followed, My Side of the Mountain, and select Jack and Annie Books. I have really enjoyed reading Seth chapter books as it gives me a guiltless escape from school work. We have also rented the Star Trek: Next Generation series from blockbuster online. We watch an episode a week or so. It brings back fond memories for me. Besides venturing into other worlds via books and television, I am learning to knit and Seth is learning to crochet and do needle point. It is a great pastime.

Although we have only been home (in VT) for a little over a month, it feels like forever, and it doesn't help that we have been sick off and on through most of it. I completed 2 weeks of intensive language classes and I am on into my finals week of the Spring I semester. The nice part about living in a cold state, is you get to have Winter Break! This happens for me on the 16th. The problem is-- Seth has his winter break the following week... so he gets to go to class with me those days. Poor thing.

In school, Seth has been learning how to ice skate as part of their winter sports program-- he just missed the age cutoff for skiing! He loves it and I cant wait to take him myself so I can see all his fancy new moves :)

I this winter, on the other hand, have not been active at all. With my busy time schedule, I don't see this changing anytime soon.


Pictures of our previous semester:

More conversations with Seth

Seth: "I love peanut butter and pickles"

Nic: "No you don't"

Seth: "Yesss... "

Nic: "You must have some Corry in you then".

Seth: "YAY!"