Year of the Meniscus

In mid-December I was in Faber, VA. I had taken an pre-meeting walk to get ready for the day, and found myself laying by a river watching the water pour down and over some rocks. Not that this was a particularly new sight, but I really noticed something... the way the water sticks together. It's surface tension holds itself together, creating a sense of cohesiveness, to spite it's liquid state that makes me think it shouldn't be able to do that. It should fall apart, separate, spill... it should be chaos.

What am I talking about? well, do ya'll remember being in science class (cira 3rd grade, maybe) and learning about the meniscus?

{thanks for the image, wikki}

It's the specific curve created when you over fill a glass of water, but it doesn't spill out. This act is a fine line, just a drop too much and--- chaos!! there is water dripping over the edge and you've gotten the counter all wet (the horror). So, now that we're on the same page of the science behind my statement (err, are we?)- I'll elaborate.

This year, was the year of the Meniscus.

This year, was more packed than I ever imagined it could be. My glass was filled- past the top. But just barely, because I'm pretty sure it didn't turn into chaos (at least not the bad kind). I'm also pretty sure, that if anything more happened in 2011, chaos would be had. Or, at least I would have spent (more) time huddled in the fetal position thinking there was NO WAY i'd be able to do this. Whatever 'this' is...

I did a lot of moving around...

• I lived in Rock Creek, WV (Jan-July), Machias, Maine (July-Sept), in a truck- midwest style-(Sept-Nov), and in central Ohio (Dec)!

that- is a lot of places to live, a lot of beds to sleep in, a lot of kitchens to feed people in, and a lot of places to consider home- some for the long haul, and some of them with the understanding that a sense of home is short lived there.

In that time, I've (under failry strict meaning of the word) considered myself to have 22 housemates. WAY more if you consider folks who often stayed in a house i lived in, tented in a yard i lived in, or spent more than a week living together (say Blair Mountain).

• Spent time in 19 US states (Ohio, Maine, WV, VA, New York, PA, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Kentucky, Missouri, Iowa, Wisconsin, Nebraska, Minnesota, Washington DC, North Carolina, TN... at the least. I just can't fully recall...

• I went to Canada 3 times

Which, prior to 2011, I had been out of the country 0 times. I went once for an anti- fracking protest in New Brunswick, and crossed the border 2ce on fall tour.

I had the boarder patrol read my diary, and had the fear of god put into me (and probably for Nikki and Tyler, too) when a boarder patrol-er came from around the counter towards us, snapping on a rubber glove and asked 'which one of you had to go to the bathroom?'

Ah! none of us. not us, no sir, no way. I totally thought we were getting searched, like, really searched (we weren't)

I did a lot of work, or things I call work, or think of as work, most of the time, or at least some of the time...

• WV based work...
• programming co-coordinating for the March on Blair Mountain, with the amazing Becks, where we planned, scratched, replanned, canceled, planned again and mostly implemented the non-logistical schedule for the March on Blair Mountain (like evening speakers and musicians and the rally schedule and line up)
• I worked on the media team- mostly pre-march- and got practice in doing outreach in new and exciting ways, with a amazing and talented group of people (did you see the media that came outta the march!?! it was SO good!)
• I did door-to-door outreach in southern WV for the march. Both exciting and (at the time) scary.
• At CRMW I worked in small and large ways to revamp the Volunteer process- as the (what ended up being short term) volunteer coordinator
• I helped plan the programming for Mountain Justice Summer camp, and also did some work in with the group as a whole (like helping to facilitate)

• Beehive...
• Did over 60 beehive presentations- mostly the True Cost of Coal
• Work party- i helped host and run a month long marathon workparty for... so many people. i actually don't have a number, but not including the ball, i'd say over 100 came through for at least a while. a steady 60 people.
• facilitated the baking of hundreds of baked good for the bfb
• helped host, organize, and throw a 1000+ person dance party (blackfly ball)
• successful wrote and received my first grant- from NEST- for bringing a Klezmer band to the bfb
• Beehive Meetings- I did the most intensive, aggravating, and skill pushing agenda setting, planning, and facilitating thus far in my life during the january beehive meetings; played a similar (but more minor) role for our May meetings; and was in another intense (in a different way) set of 2 week meetings this Dec. We met a lot.
• i went on a mini research trip on fracking- in the Pittsburgh area. Where I learned a lot, and really began to question if i have the option of not living in ohio (i later decided, no. not really)

• other things...
• I was elected to the Ohio Alliance for People and the Environment (OAPE) board, and have begun doing work with them.
• sent 2 million and 3 emails (thats a joke. mostly)

I also had a personal life... (a what?) like things i don't consider 'work'...

• 2 new babies were born in my family! i'm the aunt of 5! holy shit!
• Started dating someone- who is really amazing.
• some ohio friends came ALL the way to maine to see me- holy smokes- that's so great!
• i got to dance over bad little falls and experience the magic of celebration (bfb)
• traded vehicles, and now have a car that- for now- runs smoothly.
• made new amazing friends from all over the county- and feel incredibly lucky and blessed to know so many folks who i love and care about.
• i screen printed something! me! i did that (and will continue to, i think)
• made a zine for my nephews- and shared it in a public way
• actually started to learn the banjo- then forgot and will re-learn in 2012
• i made 13 blog posts (many of which, have more details about the things listed on here...)
• my aunt and uncle moved to central ohio- win!
• my grandmother moved away from central ohio- not win.
• mama went to dc to stop the xl pipeline (ok, i didn't have anything to do with it, but it's just SO dang cool!)
• i read some great books:

The God of Small Things (Arundhati Roy), Bossypants (tina fey), Prodigal Summer (barbara Kingsolver), Girl with the dragon tattoo (0% recommended), The Dispossesed (ursula k le guin), Percepolis: the story of a childhood (again; marjane satrapi) Parable of the Sower (octavia butler), Flood! (Erik Drooker), sister outsider (audre lorde), Blankets (Craig Thompson), Kindred (Octavia Butler), Off the Map (crimethInc), The Red Tent (Anita Diamant), the Gnome Lexicon (illustrated by my friend, nate!), and read lots of zines.

• i finally filled the journal i've been writting in since early hs- the first date being '4/23/06 3:02 am' the last being '9/9/2011' Actually, there are about 20 blank pages, but I wanted to start a new one so i could bring a smaller book to journal in on tour-- which i did- and successfully made a entry EVERYDAY of tour. wham!

Looking back through my old journal, i found a page, where i am struggling with the 'why bother?'-ness of the world. I actually wrote, that i wanted 'a cause to believe in, a reason to be here...' (3/9/07) During that time in my life, I wouldn't say I was happy. These days, I continue to struggle, much of which is a similar internal debate about life and what I will do with it. But the tone is different, and at the beginning of this year, i made another entry (1/19/2011, NYC), where I spoke to the struggles in my life, but how i was happy. Actually happy.

Today, that remains true.

• I went to my first church serivce (that is not a UU- which, I enjoy and doesn't quiet seem to fit into the category of church, in some ways) It was the United Church of Christ in Machias... I went to hear my inspiring friend Cole speak at the service that day.
• I found out my mother is planning to sell the house I grew up in. Smart, and sad.
• I have lots of new music to enjoy and listen to. According to my Itunes, the most listened to music that I added in 2011 is: Thao and Mirah (self titled), Jessica Lea Mayfield (tell me); Big Tree (self titled). Itunes says I listened to 2,614 songs in 2011, and my most listened to song? Wild Young Hearts by the Noisettes. (Though, I'm pretty sure that is an inaccurate read of what I actually listen to...)
• 117 horizontal drilling permits granted in ohio (ok- that isn't really my list of things that i did... but... fuck.)

Looking back through my journal entries from the past year, and generally thinking about 2011, I think I learned one really important thing for myself. I have- on a fundamental level- accepted that my life is a choice. I am the only one who gets to choose what I do, how I do it, when I do it. (of course, there are exceptions to this, and in my opinion, saying there are not is a major act of privilege. for most things in my life, i have that privilege). While I have personally debated this for myself, for much of the year (and probably more), I really had it driven home by a conflict mediator who worked with us this Dec.

This is my life, and I get to choose what to do with it. Everyday, every moment.

It's like having access to a compass rose. I can see where I am, and see whats around me. I get to make the choice where I move, and accept the consequences of that choice, both the foreseen and the unforeseen.

As for what 2012 will bring, I just don't know, but I know I get to decide. I intend to be in Ohio- to live here. Work here, take care of myself and those i love here. At least 6 months. I am having a hard time making a plan for myself, but am picking up a habit i used to be in- creating a wish list for the winter. A list of things I would like to hold myself to, a way to commit to myself (and others) to being more interested, interesting, and having more fun. Here's what I've got- for Jan, Feb, and March.

- ohio rocks presentation

- one book a month

- martial arts once/week

- bread 2x a month (and give one loaf to someone else!)

- love letter to non-here friend 1x month

- stretch 5x a week

- go to one 'new' event a month

- screen print something!

- uphold my commitment made to myself in a PSU workshop

- don't accidentally watch tv

- research organizations in central ohio i can do support work with, that actively fight racism (directly or indirectly)

So, here goes!

into the coal river valley

It's true! I live in WV these days. I've been pretty dang busy... and haven't had much time for things like a blog post- but it seems well overdue! So, since I've been living here for about 2 months, there are photos from all sorts of things- an exact flow and time sequence doesn't really apply here... but here goes! The past 2 months of my time in WV....

First things first, new house! I live up Rock Creek holler with 5 other delightful people. We rent our house, and it sits on 178 acres of land on the side of Coal River Mountain. It's incredibly beautiful- with trails that lead all over the place in our back 'yard' (is a mountain a backyard? i guess so...), lots of random little out houses, a cemetery, and a stream that ranges from a trickle to a roar (it's a small little one- but sure does sound nice!)

two of the little out houses on our property- there are hopes and dreams of fixing them up enough to provide seasonal housing--- but... for now that's just a dream.

William (housemate!) showing the watershed of the coal river valley to a passerby at the capital building in Charleston--- perhaps my least favorite place to be in WV (well, next to going shopping in Beckley... maybe)

And even tho I live and work in WV these days- I've remained pretty connected to things happening in Ohio. I've been in WV for... 2 months or something now- but have spent many many of my weekends away. One of those weekends I went up to Athens for help facilitate OSEC meetings. The first night, we had a packed house as folks crammed together to hear mattie share the history of osec.

Besides having a ton of people come out for the retreat and seeing people i care about- there is one really rad thing that sticks out from the weekend- OSEC took on the 'Don't Frack with Ohio' campaign! Hells yeah! Folks spent several hours in a break out group (above) trying to figure out how OSEC can help create an Ohio movement to stop fracking.

On sunday, we finished the weekend retreat strong with a moment for closing thoughts. And as extra bonus- we were able to do it outside (mind you- this happened in... early feb... so being outside was particularly exciting)

Group photo- osec Streeting retreat Winter 2011, Athens, OH

And then there was our households valentines day celebration--- which mostly consisted of EK writing beautiful poems for everyone and hanging them in our dining room (plus- some baked goods... duh)

I went with Rooster and William to see the Edwight permit-- a MTR site. We made it up the mountain side (on a very small, very bumpy road) just before 4 pm. Which is when we heard the alarm go off and moments later heard an explosion, felt the ground move a bit, and watched as the mountain was thrust into the air. It was the first time I saw a mountain actually get exploded. As it settled, you could smell the air-- it smelled a bit like matches. Here, you can see the dust settling after the explosion. It makes it look almost small, but it's not. Oh, and that little patch of trees in the upper left of the photo- is a family cemetery.

That same day, we went for a hike on the side of Rt 3 to look at some drainage that... well... shouldn't be there. It's funny how beautiful it can look and peaceful it can feel, just moments away from the active destruction of these same mountains.

The not-so-natural drainage coming out of what we think is an old mine... it was called in to the DEP, but I don't know that anything has really been done.

This is Frankie- Beccas new teacup pig. Frankie lives outside in a pin (tho, they sure do escape alot), loves apple cores, and hates being picked up. Unless its by Becca- on a good day.

The incredible exploded flat tire- that resulted in an eye opening and incredibly awkward experience for becca and i. Long story short: after several failed attempts of changing this flat into a doughnut (think: jack falling over twice, then falling over again and getting stuck under the car... fail), we knocked on a the door of a near by house-- which was home to what turned out to be perhaps the friendliest person.

So, I found myself sitting in a strangers home with becca drinking bad coffee with even worse powdered creamer, and trying to make small talk. As one can assume- what we do around here was a question- and after trying to beat around the bush- the real answer came out- we work with CRMW. i could barely say it, as i was afraid she'd know what that meant and she'd... i'm not sure... react strongly- be angry, kick us out, not help us with our tire? the woman had never heard of it before, and i was able to talk up projects that dont directly address mtr. But the fear of how she may have responded had she known, was very telling to me- and emphasized my role... as an outsider. A radical. An environmentalist. I am those things- and there's no denying it (nor would i want to), but the combination of the 3 creates a heavy challenge- and it's not a new challenge. it's not something i didn't realize before this, but--- it made it hit home and realize exactly who i am in this story.

(anyway... back to photos of what i'm doing these days...)

In late Feb, the CRMW office hosted the March on Blair Mountain:Appalachia is Rising general meeting. About 50 folks came from all over Appalachia to jam together about the march. It was a pretty amazing moment, where I was able to put names to faces, catch up on the current permits (there are currently 7 permits that are of eminent threat to the historical site of the Battle of Blair Mountain), see the incredibly beautiful color prints of the poster (photo!), connect with the media working group, and generally feel a part of something big.

Outreach break out group for the march... And just as a bit of back story for why this March on Blair Mountain is happening (and why you should totally come...) : Remember those 7 permits I mentioned? Well those are permits that are planning to blow up Blair Mountain- a mountain where in 1921, thirteen thousand miners came together to take up arms against the company and fight for their rights to safe working conditions and collective bargaining. It was the second largest armed insurrection in Unites States history (second only to the civil war), put down only when the coal bosses brought in federal troops. The battle proved to be a landmark fight for fair wages, safe working conditions, and the right to unionize. The Battle of Blair Mountain set a powerful precedent for the rest of the country that resounds today in the continuing fight to defend collective bargaining. Now, that mountain is set to be blown up by the coal companies- an attack not only on the mountains but also an attack on the history of WV and of labor on the whole. Guess we better stand together to protect it, eh?.

A group sing along of Solidarity Forever... with the totally awesome DustBuster Sisters from Sylvester, WV (just up the road from where I live now). If you're not familiar, check out their story (or ask me about it!)

Coloring together at our dining room table. Awww ethanpants!

Baking in what appears to be a totally crazed kitchen. Since then- improvements have certainly been made and it's less of a crazy place (tho- still not what I would call 'fully functional') Either way, getting to bake and cook food for my housemates is still an enjoyable break

Ethanpants, becca, and EK in the back seat- heading up to kayford mountain. Crossed eyes may or may not be a major part of the way we communicate with each other...

We headed up to kayford to show beccas father- Leonard- the site. We went to a viewpoint I had never seen before, which took us by this giant crack in the earth--- it's hard to see how big and how deep it is- but it's huge. Just imagine if you're house was built near where the land just broke apart like that from all the blasting happening on nearby mountains...

Becca and Leonard... looking over the eerie green hills, large roads, and moonscape that was once kayford mountain. heartbreaking- no matter how many times i see it.

Meal sign up for the collective dinners ... sat night... awww!
(also notice: Friday night reads: '{Cookies} or burritos')

Dropping Ethan off at the train station in Price, WV. That morning- the morning we HAD to be on time, I woke up late and it decided to randomly snow- making rt 3 a scary drive. We got there just on time-- to learn that the train was going to be 3 hours late (that's just the way it is... doo do doo do doo do...). After that- Becca and I headed to Wise County VA to do a beehive presentation and the VA Mountain Justice Spring Break, where I got to meet some of beccas friends and see a lot of folks who are joining the movement, as well as some old timers who were putting the week long training camp together. it rocked.

And then there was the week we all spent doing support work (cooking food!) for a group of about 40 folks, who were in the valley working with Restoring Eden, doing research for a health study. The kitchen work was stressful, but the study went really well, getting more participants than expected, and the group of students was really appreciative and nice.

One challenge of the week, was making 'normal food' (what does that even mean???)- which included packing 40+ sacked lunches everyday (sandwhich meat anyone? barf!) On the bright side, Dave now feels prepared to have 40 children....

Cole slaw for everyone!

EK eating a chocolate glaze doughnut off a string- hands free- at a birthday party. I would share the post game photo of EK but that just feel cruel....

Oh just... you know... loving each other a whole lot in the E council....

While shit got real- and then got bad- in Ohio... and while things continue to rage in WI... a whole lotta folks in West Virginia attended a solidarity action. On the down side, it was a lot of politicians encouraging people to act with their vote (only), but on the bright side lots of folks came out, Nick spat a mean game about acting beyond your vote, Brandon rallied for the march on Blair, and we passed out lots of fliers for the march. So---- win win loose?


And now--- I'm sitting on the porch (where it is a lot warmer than in the house), listening to our little stream roar, catching glipses of Frankie running by, preparing myself for delving back into my to-do list (and thinking about how things on my wish list- like spend time outside and post blogs 2x a month, seem to be the first to fall off), being excited spring is here (to spite not getting in a sledding adventure), and getting excited for a quick weekend visit to columbus of a statewide fracking strategy session (plus- seeing Mattie, Megan, Mom, Ian, Bobb, Erin...).

(oh and trying not to think about what seems to be the apocalypse just around the corner...)

enough with the bad news already!

Moving on from bad news about fracking and how devastating it is (though: brief bonus good news is that I am continuously hearing about new anti-fracking folks in ohio... yes!), I wanted to share nice photos from Pittsburgh and Ohio.

Pittsburgh: It's note worthy that I no longer am fighting with Pittsburgh (as a city- though i am still trying to fight the city to pay for my computer...), and am developing a slight crush on it.
boyz. doing boy things (like crochet and reading)

waddling to breakfast

The Sandwich Shop: the greatest place for greasy and amazing diner food (and good company!)

reason number 10 to like Pittsburgh: great dumpsters!

fudge dumper success!

sammerton in the kitchen


nate drawing away

And then there was Ohio--- family, friends, cuddling... the works. I never seem to manage to be there long enough.

my first night back- i was able to see casey lane play open mic! Which was extra special because last time i was in ohio- casey was not. AND he played a bunch of ryan adams for me. yip!

pizza with the family!

Chai Cupcakes for Emmas birthday... success! I made the frosting with a rue (flour and milk)- so it was less sweet than normal and still thick and great (and it was ginger frosting)! Ah- I'm officially into experimenting with frosting types (and icings... but less so).

Recipe for Chai cupcakes:
2 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cardamom, 1/4 tsp nutmeg, cinnamon, and ginger.
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar (a little less would be fine--- since the frosting was not over sweet)
2 eggs
cap full of vanilla
1/2 cup brewed chai tea, room temperature
1/2 cup milk
Method: Whisk flour, powder, salt, and cardamon. Cream butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Blend 1/3 of the flour mixture with the butter. Add Chai tea and combine. Then another 1/3 of flour, then milk, then the rest of the flour. Bake for 15 min at 350. Makes about a dozen delightful cupcakes.

Birthday dinner with the delware gang (where cupcakes were had by all!!)

silly/sleeping/thinking friends

best friieeenndz

group photo! it's been years since we've had one...

For emmas second birthday dinner- she had a pizza party at a friends house in columbus. She made about a million pizzas- all as delightful as this one!

no time for sitting down to serve pizza!

pizza dinner party- horray!

Annndd then I left Ohio once again. So it goes. But I headed to the Kentucky 4-h Leadership Center to do my first ever full-on beehive solo presentation at the Kentucky Sierra Club Winter Meetings! Whew! (don't worry- i think it went well).


And then... I drove to Rock Creek WV to move in! I promise- updates on my house, my work, and all my new friends and adventures are to come! But first- heading to Athens for the weekend to help facilitate the OSEC steering retreat (and fit in visiting friends, dancing really hard, and getting to the bulk food depot!)

it hits hard, when it hits home.

Once again, the pace of life has been very very fast. Since my last post- I've moved to WV, did a show in KY (by myself!), spent time in ohio (never enough), and learned a lot about fracking. So first things first... fracking. (what the frack!?)

I recently went to Pittsburgh to learn about Hydrological Fracturing, with some other bees. I'd seen gasland, I spent some time reading about it online, and speaking with a woman from an Neogap working on fracking issues in ohio-- and I knew it wasn't good. To spite feeling fairly uninformed- I felt it was really bad.

(Gas drills in Hickory, PA)

After spending a few days around PA, speaking to different organizations and individuals that are connected to fracking- my fears have been fully confirmed (and then some). It's hard to give the full download of what's happening with fracking (and I'm sure I couldn't give it even if I wanted to), so instead I'll just encourage a few sites for the basic information...
Gasland: What's Fracking?
Sierra Club Natural Gas site (with side links to 'what is fracking')
Fracking 101 (wordy, not very user friendly- but a useful over view)

(This is an image of a drill site in Hickory, PA. A place that's been very hard hit by fracking.)

The process- in a very general sense- means drilling 3,000- 8,000 feet down and then out ('a mile down, a mile out') in order to push high pressure water/sand/checmical solution (frack fluid) down so that it fractures the shale formation and releases lots of gas. Above is a general diagram of the geology that is being drilled into... notice the ground water it goes through.

When we were in Pittsburgh, we had a chance to chat with a handful of people who helped us get a grasp of what was what. We talked to some amazing organizers with Marcellus Protest, who also have a very great website that is worth checking out. We met with the Shadbush Collective as well, who had a Fracking 101 workshop at the Pittsburgh free school we went to. We also met with Mountain Watershed Association, based in Melcroft. There we learned a lot about leases and permits- which was incredibly useful to me. We were shown a very useful website, called fractracker, which if you log into it the 'datatool' page, there are maps of all the wells in PA. We also learned there that only 1% of drilling jobs are going to folks from PA. So much for a job boom, huh?

The biggest overaching thing we heard about was water. The fracking process uses TONS of water. Literally. Each time a well is fracked, it uses anywhere between 1 and 8 million gallons of water- and each well can be fracked many times over. That's a lot of water! But it gets worse, because the water isn't just 'water' but instead it becomes frack fluid. Which means that there are all sorts of gnarly chemicals added to the water- like formaldehyde, naphthalene (moth balls- a neurotoxin), and ethylene glycole (antifreeze). Lots of the chemicals that are used (70%!!!) effect our skin, eyes, or other sensory organs.

Ok, so that doesn't sound good, but what's worse? Not only does that frack fluid likely make it into the aquifers (I mean, check out that diagram again...), but in PA it gets put into the drinking water... on purpose! Since oil and gas are exempt from the clean water and clean air acts (what!? it's true!), this frack fluid is being sent to municipal water treatment plants. But, 'treatment plant' suggests it gets treated. Nope, instead it just gets diluted. Above is a map of the treatment plants that accept it. And this is an interactive map that shows where this frack fluid is going in more detail.

Another way they get ride of Frack Fluid is by creating frack ponds. We met a woman names Jenn who has a frack pond 900 ft away from her home. Many of the chemicals that are used are VOCs (volatile organic compounds), which means they pretty easily get into the air. Over and over again, people (including Jenn) have reported getting nose bleeds, headaches and experiencing memory loss when their homes near fracking wells/ponds.

We met with Erik in his home to hear about whats going on in the area, and also meet with a powerhouse names Dorthy who gave us lots of context.
Erik was lovely enough to show us around Hickory--- we drove around pretty randomly. Pretty much every turn had a whole new sight line of gas drills.

We came up one road with, which ended at a farm which had all of these signs. That's a whole lot of leases and future wells. Yikes.

There are lots of smaller caps around. These are wells that (mostly) have been fracked- and perhaps will be fracked again but are currently pretty passively collecting gas. They look pretty similar to shallow well collectors, like the ones around my mamas house.

Flaring is another big issue that many folks talked about. Gas will be light for days at a time- creating huge flames that shoot out. This is not only bright and loud, but it's also releasing all sorts of things into the air.

We also had a lovely 'mixer' pot luck with lots of different folks in Pittsburgh who are working on Fracking. It was so nice to be able to connenct with folks there. I was able to connect more with Anne who is also from ohio and trying to get a handle on what's going on there, as well as other folks from shadbush.

So that's sort of what I learned. Mostly what I learned was that this shit is scary. I learned that with the current loophole in regulations for fracking, preventing leases from being signed may be the best 'first step' thing to do. Right now, there are well over 400 leases signed in ohio. I also had it ingrained a bit more that it takes all angles of resistance to be effective- landowner coalitions, community bans of fracking (like in Pittsburgh!) and challenging corporate personhood, legislative work- like the house bill- the FRAC Act (Fracturing Responsibility and Awareness to Chemical Act), large scale media work or protests, water testing and legal battles over getting clean water to individuals effected by fracking... all of it. All of the time, from every angle and every place and every person. Which- makes me feel totally crazed and is shaking my view pretty hard about what role I do, or do not play in this movement.
I've been trying to reach out to anyone and everyone I know in Ohio who is working on this. They've put in a verticle test well in Belmont County that will drill down 14,000 feet, which suggests gas companies are looking into the Utica Shale. This significantly ups the ante- not only because it's deeper, in some good old NIMBYism fashion ('not in my back yard'), its scary as hell because it covers almost all of ohio- including Marion County, Morrow county, and Delaware county (sisters family, brothers family, mother and father- aka all of them).