the last leg

Well, tour is over. I'm currently in Columbus, GA and we're all resting after a long weekend of cross-pollinating at the School of Americas Watch mobilization. We've been on tour since Appalachia Rising, and since tour has started, I've probably traveled more than I have in my collective life up to that point.

I believe (though, it's hard to remember) I spent time in 12 states- Vermont, New Hampshire, New York, Massachusetts, Rhodes Island, Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. Woah.

After Michaela left us in NYC, we headed to Dickenson College in PA, and then off to Swathmore, outside of Philadelphia. We had dinner with a up and coming artist collective at the school- who is currently planning a mural about local and sustainable food in their dining area- and had a really great show there. Awkwardly, we stayed in a very fancy hotel-type-place.

We were very out of place and the fellow visitors had a hard time believing we were supposed to be there.

It could have something to do with our weird habits of rolling posters in public spaces...

We also had a chance to check out their very beautiful campus- including the outdoor amphitheater, rose garden, and very elegant buildings.

We headed to a community art space in Wilmington, DE- where they had our posters up as art in their gallery and many other amazing pieces of art (like drawings of bees!)

It was a small, but great crowd.

In baltimore, erin and i both got hair cuts and stayed with Sara and her partner.

We left baltimore, and got to have breakfast with my Aunt in Rockville, Maryland before she headed out of town. We were able to stay there for 2 days, and do a show near by at the University of Maryland, as well as see my uncle. We also got to see (some of) the Appalachian tour- group photo- horrah!

A.
B.
(hahah!)

Before leaving, we switched cars. Sam and Recent said bye to Claire- allowing Claire to ensure Erin and I's safe and un-broken down travels for the rest of tour (plus- when it rains, there isn't the constant fear of the duct tape/ply wood/tarp back window leaking and destroying all of our posters!).
And Erin and I said good riddance to little red (just kidding- little red treated us well and we tried to be stewards of the truck- making sure to get it a new tire, an oil chance, check all fluids- and even get to windshield wipers) before sending it home to Maine, to be back with Nicole and the rest of the hive.

We stayed with Erins lovely grandparents in Greensborow, NC for a couple days. Erins grandpa- 'bamboom'- played us some music on the bagpipes.

And Erin gave her nanna and some family friends and relatives a small kitchen table presentation- which- they loved.

Erin and I stopped to watch the sunset for a bit on the way to her fathers in Charleston, SC.

I don't know who would write 'erin smells'- but some things... are undeniable.

Drawing in the sand.

Brea bought erin and i wax mustaches- grape flavored- which we tried on together while packing the cars (with the midwest tour- Sophie, Tyler, and Nikki!!!!) outside of the home of an ally in Atlanta GA.

Yup, that's a dollar in the toilet in our hotel room in columbus, ga. I think we all need to drink more water...

The six of us- Nikki, Sophie, Brea, Erin, Tyler and I- all set up bright and early saturday morning for the SOA watch mobilization.

Last moment sign making and patch prepping...

followed by many hours of story telling...

and more story telling. in between- talking and listening to folks about the beehive, coal, war, free trade... the works. Its a pretty strange event- but it was fun to be there with the beehive and chat a million and two people up about the work.

And now- we're all in the hotel letting things wind down and getting ready to all head out on our various adventures- florida, new orleans, machias... and ohio. And while tour has been fun (and challenging, educational, empowering, scary, motivating... and many other things) the idea of sleeping in one place for a while sounds really nice- particularly with the knowledge that when I do ground my feet, it will be in Ohio with all my family and many wonderful friends.

Go, Go, Go around the east coast

So- per usual it's been a while since getting more stuff up here. Just a testament to how busy things are I suppose.

Right after the last post- my camera broke. wha whah. So there are some epic things missing in photograph form...

We spent a couple days in Ithica NY- which- was perhaps my favorite part of tour thus far (well... top 5 at least). We hiked around a bit, saw some amazing gorges, waterfalls, and a cool cemetery. We stayed with some anti-fracking activists at a place called Ghost Cat (where Ryan gave me my first real banjo lesson- renewing my faith and desire to actually play!) Maria and other Ghost Cat friends gave us the downlow on Fracking, including a copy of Gasland. It took us a bit to watch it- but once we did I realized that everything I was hearing about it is not just rumors- but real. And it's horrifying. Not only is it really awful, scary, and all other things bad- but it hits super close to home. Too close.

I knew it was in PA, and happening all over the place- but then I learned it's all over Ohio, too. The Marcellus Shale covers LOTS of Ohio- way more than I thought. AND after emailing an Ohio oil and gas organization, NEOGAP, I found out that on the eastern boarder of Ohio- companies are already working on leasing land. Terrifying. I still have a lot to learn about Fracking, but just thought I'd share that little bit of info I have and encourage folks to watch Gasland.

But anyway- after Ithica we did other cool stuff- like a presentation at a community garden in Providence (where we saw many cool things- like an old firehouse that is now a community space and apartments, a cool and amazing place called the Steal Yard, and did a great show at Brown University), an amazing show at Food for Thought Books in Amherst MA, and a couple of other things... all before getting to NYC (and getting a camera!)

Just testing out the new camera in staples...

Hahaha.

Flip book in action at the Commons during a dismantling monoculture presentation in Brooklyn.

Erin and Sully= friends foreveeer.

Subways and folding Wannabee booklets- the usual.

The massive show we did a Laguardia High school- a couple hundred students were there. Yikes!

Laquardia students getting up close and personal with the poster

After a short presentation on the True Cost of Coal, we did a mind maping at the Renaissance school.

It was ab0ut Police Behavior- and folks shared some very scary stories about police in their community with us.

And then we had lunch with Juan at school- yay!

And got to hang out while Juan taught students there how to screen print- using crayons!

Central park snacks with Roger- horrah!

Practicing trumpet on the dock of the house boat we stayed on in Brooklyn

Rolling posters on the top of the boat- getting ready for the mini-RMO show later that night.

RMO let us practice with the dance team that night- which was super fun! After we learned the dance to matador, the band took their practice to the street and did a small show for anyone who was around!

Mini show for RMO!

And Michaela and I practiced a new way of presenting the poster- using a technique of highlighting each scene in the poster by extending a hand to push it out more than the other images. We have a few details to figure out... but watch out for this new style soon!
(kidding.... clearly).

Hanging out on the boat.

And then- we went canoeing on the Gwanus. It is perhaps the most disquesting water i've ever seen...

But it was really fun and we avoiding touching the water at all costs- rumor has it the water its self has gonorrhea.

Erin- just hanging out in front of the ghost ship.

On the way to the Grange, we saw... a double rainbow! Oh My God! It's so vivid!!

It's starting to look like a triple rainbow!

We went to an old factory to see the very amazing acre of roof top community garden.

The garden is called The Grange- so naturally we had a minor freak out about how cool it was.

City scape meets food scape

Later that night, we played games at Johns house with many delighful people.

Of course, we played the drawing game... which one of the best ones went like this...
"(1) molly and erin picked a pack of moichi ice cream balls.
(2) erin and michaela pick and eat dandelion flowers under the sun.
(3) heres the thing about those bees: they graze like sheep.
(4) When the bees saw that they couldn't free the ram, they were so upset they threw up in the grass.
(5) sheeps milk makes bees vomit. "
haha! so great!

The we jumped out of NYC for an afternoon show in NJ

And then we headed back to the big city and... It was Halloween! In a last ditch effort for costumes- we decided to embrace the cliche and all three go as Bees! So we did a show at the very amazing Bluestockings book store dressed as bees... ahaha!

We even had wings!

She's cute. I like her.

We took this opportunity to have delicious photo shoots in the corner... (haha).

Dancing at the c-squat after party for critical mass (which- we missed because of the presentation that evening).

And that night- Michaela had to leave the US of A because of these weird and horrid things they call boarders. We stayed out as late as we could (which- wasn't very late...) and stayed up with her until she had to run out the door at about 4 am to catch a train to get the airport. She was flying out to Panama and then busing to Guatemala to do solidarity work with folks impacted my mining there. She's great.

We miss her a lot.