landing in nonworld

A new term has entered my life- Nonworld. It's sorta hard to explain out of context, but it's when things are so weirdo, so silly, so nonsensical- that it actually sorta makes sense and we know it couldn't be any other way- then you've entered nonworld.

I've officially landed in nonworld. I've yet to be able to escape. The questions is... is that a good thing or a horrible thing? Who knows. Either way, its a whole different planet than what most people live on and I'm excited to find the rocket that takes me back to planet earth. I assume it'll appear right after the March on Blair Mountain?

Anyway... the past month... in photos!

Mo and Ivan helping me learn the poster better by marking all the plants in the poster! So cool!

EKs folks came by for a weekend- and helped celebrate Nicks birthday. Yay parents!

Our doughnut man came to visit again. But the visit was short, and we were disgruntled. So, naturally we hid his suitcase in an attempt to prevent him from leaving. EK hid it outside on the back porch (it actually took the doughnut man a while to find it). Here- he spots the suitcase!

Attempting to get the suitcase- without getting locked out on the porch.

A failed attempt to block the door open...

In a last ditch effort he ran out the door grabbed the suitcase... and as you can see... had the door slammed in his face and locked. Did he end up being able to leave? Well--- yes. He climbed down the balcony and scurried to his car. Trickster.

Fern took Becks and I for a hike- and pointed out some wild edibles on the mountainside. Like... greenbrier shoots.

sassy pants.

During a Blair Crisis- we did the responsible thing and took the day off! We went to the New River Gorge for a hike, and tried to go to a coffee shop (tho- it was closed). On the way home, Katey and Rhodi snuggled in napland on the way home. Cutie Pies.

Fern took on an archnemesis. Why? I have no idea. But she likes it. One day, we woke up to this sign on our porch- "Dear Fern, Go Suck An Egg. Yr Wrst Enemy" Yup. its strange....

no words.

And then... I left my home on the mountainside to jet into columbus and do a beehive presentation at the Columbus Christian Academy HS, see my family, see some friends, see mattie... all of it was great, none of it was long enough. same old story. Then! I jumped into an airplane and headed to ME for a week and a half of meeting prep ad]nd Beehive meetings.

Arriving in Maine- it was still early spring there. Things were just thinking of turning green (vs WV which was so full of life it looked like mother earth was puking flowers everywhere). I had the great chance to have a bus ride from Portland, ME to Bangor with Agent M- then got to add Matt to the mix for the ride from Bangor to Machias. It was so nice to come back to one of my homes and see so many great people! Unfortunately, my head was left about a week behind and was still in WV doing work for the march- but I got to catch up with some folks a little bit.

Kyle put on his sassy apron and kept us well feed all week! It was so great, and so helpful!

One night at dinner, we did a show and tell about our springs. Lots of cool things and small stories were shared- giving some pretty lovely insight into highlights of our springs :)

Tyler brought us all little zapatista dolls home- a gift from the midwest- which now sit on our mantel. Sometimes, the irony of our mansion house is just... nonworld?

For 'reportbacks' we decided to get creative and practice our roles as story tellers- by doing sharebacks on our spring! Erin decided to do a skit--- including using masks of all the main characters from the Gulf Coast tour. If you know Erin, you know this was super hilarious! She played all of these people- plus herself- and narrated! Whhhaaatt??

Midwest team... took our 'no charts, graphs, or official-ness' norm and threw it in the trash. Charts you see here? A line graph about fun levels, a Pie chart on types of food eaten (i think burritos were the most common thing eaten), and a totally make believe chart of intoxication (oh tyler, so wasted all the time...). Also notice the confetti and cans of food representing oil rigs left over from Erins shareback.

Agent drew up a really amazing and shocking natural resource map of the west (her re-found homeplace). The struggles the west are currently in and the struggles to come... are... shocking. Heartbreaking. Coal, Uranium, Natural Gas, Oil, Water... you name it... they have it being privatized, extracted, and abused. Uh.

A mid meeting break- jumping on the trampoline! First step: sweep off the slugs. GROSS!

Erins Bus- all set up for making art work! Yeah yeah! Looking good. Plus, she made an etsy account with all sortsa cool handmade things- so check it!

Erin Loves Molly! Molly Loves Erin!

This wagon holds like 7 people! Including these funny two backwards seats.

During meetings, we decided to do some minitraveling and change up our meeting spaces. Matt took us to a beautiful house in the woods- about 20 min away from our home. He helped build the house and currently caretakes it when folks aren't renting it- it was SO beautiful! Here, Erin is being a weirdo (shocking?) and looking down the ladder that leads up to this little room at the tip top of the house. Super cool.

That little room leads out to a 360 degree balcony that looks over the very pretty, very evergreen forests and you can see the ocean, too! Dreamy.

Snacks. All the time!

Calendar time for the next 5 months... all the way up to Sept! Wait? May is over and June already happened? Or- something. NONWORLD!

Tyler explains the very complex machine he drew to help us learn how to make better financial choices. Lots of gears and turning and spitting out and going back in... ending with sound choices! We weren't up to decision making- but it was cool to hear about possibilities!

And we also went to another really amazing spot for meetings- at the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts- located on Deer Isle. They were so lovely to have us, we got to sleep in their dorms, eat amazing food they made us in their kitchen, use their meeting space, and of course- enjoy the scenery!

Heading down the stairs- which leads not only to the dorms- but also to the ocean!

Our dorm room- Dorm B (Bee?)- which was overlooking the ocean and for the first time in my life (that i remember?) I fell asleep to the sound of the ocean waves crashing against the coast. So lovely!

Meeting in the dinning room...

Meeting in the dorm room...
And one of the reasons we were hosted at such a lovely spot, was because we were invited to participate in a community event- called Pecha Kucha- at the restored Opera House! Pecha Kucha is a fast paced presentation- where each presenter has 20 slides, with 20 seconds per slide.
Per usual, we stole the show- by taking up a large amount of space with all of our freshly printed posters! During the presentation- we had 10 of us bees all presenting the full story of who we are- in only 6 min! We each took 2 slides/20 seconds. It was amazing and totally fun!

Distrrrooo.

That night, we stayed at Haystack and in the morning- took some time for a foggy shoreline hike.

Heading up the stairs...

meetings in the meeting space...

Food overlooking- what else? the ocean, of course!
Brohive lives on! Travelin' safe.
On the way back from Maine, Tyler, Kyle and I stopped in Boston to do a workshop at a youth climate conference. It was super cool, and all the young folk at the workshop were incredibly smart! From there, we drove to a small town near Hershey, PA- where we stayed with Kyles totally hilarious and wonderful family... before driving into columbus. Whew! on the move.

Once in columbus, i rested my head for a brief moment, spent hours and hours on a computer, and then... hit the road again.

After spending my morning in a staples (in columbus), my day in a car, and my afternoon in front of a computer desperately catching up on work (or at least trying to)--- and then getting lost... I was feeling a little stressed (and a lotta tired). Then... as I found my way and drove up the mountain into Mountain Justice Summer camp in Letcher County, KY... I got to see this amazing sunset as the clouds settled into the valleys. Worth it.

Camp Schedule! Yup, I helped craft that megababy-- whew! It was a great year for camp!

I lead my first ever workshop on facilitation. I think it went pretty well, and I feel like I learned a lot by doing it. Win win win!

The movement will not be malnourished! Thanks Seeds of Peace and friends :)

Napping and giggling during a quick break during MJS.


I got a chance to briefly help out with the art build to make signs and puppets for the March and party to show oppositoion to the permits to blast Ison Rock Ridge- in Appalachia, VA.

We also took a little field trip to Jeff Chapmans studio- they are really amazing folks and it was so great to see their beautiful art!

Evening music--- with that beehive banner at work!

Camp photo!! yeeaah Mountain Justice!

Those signs we made at work...

Yeah, Yeah! Rockin MJ volunteers heading to WV with us to do some mega work and help do work in prep for Blair! Did you register for the march and get a phone call asking making sure you have all the info you need? You can thank these fine folks (and some more!).

catching some zzzz's in the backyard...

And here we are. Moved into the March on Blair Mountain Headquarters in marmet. Working all the time, like crazy people. Crazy people working really hard together and gearing up for something really amazing and huge! I feel incredibly excited for the march... and incredibly humbled by the amazing people I am working with to pull off this momentous event! It's amazing.

And yesterday, we reached 500 registrants. The numbers keep growing. Amazing.

And then it was April...

Woahhhh. Somehow, it has become April. Late April, at that! Who knew? (Hopefully most of you already knew...) Since last posting, I've been pretty busy--- buzzing around doing all sorts of things--- and here are some highlights and clips:

I got a few tubes of the magical new print run- courtesy of all the fine folks that helped support us with the kickstarter campaign- i may or may not of had an excited freak out- which included pulling them all out and saying 'ahh!! yesss!!' alot.... the landlord was doing a check in at the time, and probably thought i was a total crazy person...


the doughnut man came to hang out- and we made delightfully colorful (red, white, and yellow!) beer batter vegan onion rings.... deeelightful!

Strategy session for the media working group... outside on the porch-- success!

haha. oh my.

birthday birthday bithday!


Dartmouth College students came for a visit to the coal river valley- and we had a hang out/chat about the work volunteers do with CRMW... followed by a beehive presentation in big room.

I complained to my mother about the John Kerry sticker that was on my new car---- so mom decided to get me a cover up sticker.... Give Bees a Chance... so so so cliche and so perfect.

Just hanging out in Charleston...

Beehive show at the Covenant House in Charleston



Our little ballerina

This is the pressure I have to deal with... everyday. I just wanted to make dinner...

My mama came to visit---- buttermilk biscuits for breakfast!

haha....


triple wow! heading to dc for a Training for Trainers for powershift stuff. The trip was horrendous-- including the worst anit-oppression workshop I've ever been to. But there were some highlights: meeting our new friend Reece- whos family is from WV and he has worked as a union organizer for years and now lives in DC and plans to come to the march, eating sprouts in the most obnoxious fashion during a session at the training, pressuring andrew to sing opera in front of everyone, and getting Georgetown cupcakes. Worth it? No, but those are some pretty great bonuses.

Open house pot luck at New House...it was so nice to have folks over and the weather was just perfect to be hanging out outside

Emma came to visit (the same week Mattie came to visit- what a week!)- we went for a hike up the the ridge behind our house... a few days after I had just hiked up there. It was so amazing to see how much the plants had come to life and peaked out---

We found a nice big patch of ramps... the first time I had pulled some out this season. And Em got to take some home- win win win!

Ramps, Fiddle Heads, and the first morel of the season!

We went for a family hike at the New River Gorge--- it was pretty much a cluster, lots of running around, getting there late--- the usual. But it was awfully pretty and things were on the verge of bursting out of their winter time shells... so exciting!

I was being serenaded by these two lovely folks from above that rock--- "If i fall, will you let me down easy. If I leave my heart with you tonight will you promise me that you're going to treat it right?"

Exploring

mountains + hiking= happy dave!

Family photo!
awwweee we love each other!

love bug

CRMW strategy meeting... we were able to rip open the big bag of 'what is our strategy, what are we doing, how are we doing it, and why are we here?' a long day of meetings, but totally productive.

More strategy session break outs- at the end- we came to the conclusion that one day is not enough and we have scheduled a follow up session to put that bag we ripped open back together... woohoo! (i love meetings, i love strategy, and i love collaborative conversations... even if they take us a while to get through!)

The only photo taken at Powershift (from my camera). Lord Andrew leading the crew...

Powershift 2011--- ended up being rough. The trainings went better than I expected, but still felt like an un-strategic use of resources (time, money, people power...). Blair Outreach went really well, to spite not having a table (which means there was no CRMW outreach- bummer!).

Most notable and summary report I can give? We made the very smart choice of bringing a coffee maker with us- and setting it up in the training room. So on sat morning, we got the the convention center at 7:30 or so, and immediately put on a pot of coffee (duh). EK, Becks, and I all fell asleep, right next to the coffee maker- waiting for it to brew. So sad, so true, and so telling. We were woken by James yelling 'hello beautiful people' and Andrew opera singing us to our feet... yup. that's powershift 2011 in a nut shell.

Question: How do you make a 5 day march more accessible to more people? Well, you have 40 cots shipped to your house so people who need them can have another option other than sleeping on the ground or being driven to a hotel each night....

Of course, those cots may be damn near impossible to put together (as the reviews promised). We tried pulling, tugging, wiggling, inching... and every thing else to get the polls into the slots. EK and I even tried a game of tug-o-war to stretch out the canvas... no luck. Just impossible!

And then-- out of the mountains- come Ivan and Maureen. Who, after the standard push, pull, and tug- ended up using a root digger tool to pop the polls in. Next step? Test out the comfortability of them.

Conclusion of the cots: Well, it might be better than sleeping on the ground. maybe.

Mountains providing dinner for us- Morels, dryad saddle mushrooms, fiddle heads, nettles, poke, green brier shoots, chick weed, ramps, solemn seal, water leaf, dandelions, Japanese knot weed.... so. so. amazing! (plus- i'm learning a lot about wild edibles--- woo!)

Dryad Saddle mushrooms... beautiful and delicious!

Ek petty the very very cute baby goats we had at our house for a bit. William and Julia got these two babies- blacky and spot- to raise and make into dinner once they get big. They have been moved to a new home now (thanks to the extreme patience and understanding of William and Julia)...


And now- April is somehow coming to an end. What's next? Well- a week and a half of go time here, then zooming to columbus for a few days (beehive show, family/friends, work time mania), flying out to Maine for a week and a 1/2 of Beehive meetings, stopping in Boston for another show (with tyler! who i've never done a show with- sounds fun!), getting to columbus and quickly heading south for MJ Summer Camp in KY, and getting back to WV by the end (very end) of May... oh and then you know- getting ready for this totally amazing, totally huge, totally overwhelming, and totally great March thats happening starting on June 6... woah.

If you didn't catch it- the March on Blair Mountain is happening in June. You should come, and you, and you, and your friends, and your sister, and your parents.... yup- even you. Oh, and especially you!


its go time!