Olympia Free Choir Practice!!!

Here's a video from Free Choir practice! I'm not in it because it was the same day as a Margy Pepper show the time that this person videotaped it, but still totally worth the watch/listen.

Fun Fact: The house this is in is the same one that I checked out way in the beginning of the year with Davy and Spencer! Now Kimya lives there


Olympia Free Choir Practice from Ted Passon on Vimeo.

Morning Walks

I've been waking up early (ok, 8am isn't THAT early) with Erica to do morning walks in the woods.

Foggy view from the A dorm balcony:



A lumpy mossy tree:



A good climbing spot:



The gnome treehouse - named for a dozen gnomes guarding the area:



A little chair for a little gnome:

Holiday M&Ms

Are green and red. Is every holiday associated with green and red? I don't think so.

Here is something that I wrote recently, not a Margy Pepper (formerly 4skin) song, just a solo thing. I didn't work very hard recording it, and my voice is post-m&m scratchy (you know when you eat so much chocolate that the inside of your throat feels thick?) But here it is anyway:

Morbid

A-B-Cs

1. Check out 4skin's 2 recorded songs on our new music myspace: www.myspace.com/4skin4skin We've gotten a lot of good feedback! I check the myspace when I wake up, before class, after class, before I fall asleep.

2. Obama is going to win. Going to gather at a friend's dorm to watch it happen, and then probably dance all night. Wake up to a fresh, bright morning.

3. Gnarliest research paper of all time going on right now. If anyone wants a complete summary of the history and geography (pre-colonial up to the present day) of the Western Shoshone people, hit me up and I'll e-mail you a copy.

PLUS: Really neat guest lecture today about the Indian boarding schools. Did you know: Harvard and Dartmouth both started as institutions meant to christianize and "civilize" native people? Creeeepy.

RIOT

Here's the new work, this one is a bookbag and it is huge, it is designed to fit LPs:



My snazzy stitching job:



Finito:



The lining and the LP pocket (MOM - the lining isn't CAMO, its CAMO-COLORED clouds, not advocating militarism, just clouds that can hide in the wilderness)



I'm going to take my camera OUT of my room TOMORROW to get some good snaps of the red leaves around here, and halloween costumes.

How Nice !

Prospective House

Late for the Mail Room

I was late for the mail room today which means that I missed getting my blanket which means that I'll sleep through another chilly-ish night. It's getting chilly-ish, the days are getting shorter. The few trees around that aren't evergreens are turning yellow and orange.

Tonight I made a fire on the beach with some friends - It was also yellow and orange. We weren't out there for too long, because we meant to go out to see the full moon but .. the coastline faces the wrong direction. We figured out mathematically: We'd have to wait until 1am to see the full moon over the Eld Inlet. Can't do that. Gotta wake up early tomorrow (and pack a lunch!) to go to Squaxin Island with my class. I'm very excited and interested and I have a list of questions to ask.

Here are some new bags. Piers and I have a lot of interested customers, non of whom are interested in paying.... Might set up a stand in Red Square when we've got more product.

Another messenger bag - much cleaner:





And a fanny pack !! Made out of a wild 90s winter jacket found at Goodwill





Also! The girls I've been playing music with (girl band formally called "4Skin") are invited to play a show on campus in November with a few other local bands! Practice all day Thursday (Rock'N'Roll Thursdays, Rock'N'Roll for breakfast, lunch, and dinner).

Just wanted to give a quick update. I'm going to try to carry my camera around more often so that I can post pictures of this world out here.

Serious Business

Piers and I are making waterproof messenger bags !! We have a lot of ideas of different designs, and we're taking requests! These are our first monsters, pretty simple just to get the hang of it.









Watch out R.E. Load !

Dreams, Realities

Dreams:

Last night I dreamt that I was in an animal museum with my bathroommate Paula. We were looking at a giant white lizard in a white marble case. I was talking about how I love the way that lizards move, and I started mimicking it, and the lizard got insulted and began to climb out of the cage. We didn't believe that it was climbing out till pretty late, and we started to run away. We tried to climb over a barrier to escape its chase, but I didn't get over and it bit me in the neck. Didn't hurt too bad.

Realities:

My roommate Maddy and I pasted this reminder on the mirror.

Projects

1. "The Sitting Room Gallery": There are a few sitting rooms outside of bathrooms at Evergreen. They are pretty much white cement rooms with a mirror and a chair. As soon as I've collected enough student artwork, I'm going to curate a show in one. Will go up and come down in one night.

2. "The Lil John Tribute Band": Exactly what it sounds like. I play the mandolin, everyone sings. Will perform in an electrical room found on the rooftop of the library.

Philadelphia -> Olympia

I'm here, and it's 11:40 pm but it feels like 3 in the morning which makes sense because that's where my brain is at. I just got home from a bonfire in the rainforest which was pretty sweet, meeting people making fire. You can walk up to anyone smiling and make a friend.

Here is my ode to Philadelphia:



Peace yall. Keep the weave tumbling.

Rowhouse

Its quick entrance and foreseeable exit. The distance between is suspended, sipping light from the front and back doors. There is an underwater pulsing there, in the middle room, a fisheyed darkness. It is a thick place to walk through.

She's standing outside of the front door and talking loudly, though its daytime, and I try not to hear it but the screen door barely filters flies.

Boomp3.com

Checklist

Each day has become a checklist: pack your things, Items that shouldn't be counted, are: say goodbye, go on a bike ride.

Days are ending all of a sudden and I've answered the same questions so many times that the truth of the answers has been lost --

Are you worried? No
Are you excited? Yes
Are you going to miss Philly? Not too much

(If I keep answering this way, I am convinced, I will never worry, I will always be excited, and Philly will always be my home.)

Checklist: Go to college, make friends, graduate from college, retain friendships, get a farm, smash capitalism, live happily

ever

after

Made Fresh Daily

Hey, so, I want to get used to using this thing again so that when I leave I'll be ready to report. I have six more days in Philly, and I am here at home, an empty house, sipping coffee and plucking my mandolin. I'm getting over a little summer cold, which seems to be going around (or maybe I am spreading it around?).

I found an unfinished song by the Sisters just now. All the music was down in Maine, I added some words just now. It's about biking. I don't know if that was the initial intention, but... Here it is:

Boomp3.com

If anyone would like a copy of the complete Sisters collection, give me your address (in Florida or wherever) and I'll send a lovely little thing your way. Keep in mind: These will be worth a lot of money one day.

Two More

This song is about needing a foot more space:

boomp3.com

This is Sarah and the waves and some strumming from my fingers:

boomp3.com

Where We've Been

This one is called "Notes For Out West", and it should play even though it says that the file is deleted. Maybe it won't play, I don't know.

boomp3.com

This one is called "Ode To The Androscoggin". The Androscoggin is a river, and Umbagog is the body of water that that feeds it.

boomp3.com

Poetry-gone-photo-blog.

Funny:

"Here are a few tips on how you can make yourself more exciting:

1. Know where you are going in life. Have dreams and ambitions.
2. Have good tastes.
3. Write poetry or music.
4. Be culturally intelligent. Enjoy the arts and read the latest novels reviewed by the New Yorker.
5. Pick up a third or fourth language.
6. Have hobbies you are passionate about.
7. Do crazy things such as sky-diving or rock-climbing.
8. Travel, travel, travel.
9. Stay away from computer and video games. (Spend your time doing things that can make you more interesting or improve your quality of living instead.)
10. Act cool. If you act like you're cool, most people will assume you are cool."

Where Babies Come From (Free Write)

Babies come from
flour that has puffed over
tin jar walls, and seems to disappear
but actually floats together
to a secret meeting place
in the garden, to make a floury
whole wheat baby.

Copper sulfate reflects blue light
and that is why the sky is blue.

The part of your brain
that is your memory
is locked in a nutshell -
thick, brown, like my bedroom door, hard to crack -
locked so that memory won't seep into the sack
that is your imagination (a fishnet sack, like the French
carry at the marketplace to hold fruits and veggies, when empty
you can ball it up very small) and there are these separations
in your brain, God made them, God help them,
so that you can distinguish what is real
from what is pretend.

Printmaking

In the style of old newspapers - sepia ink lines - a hand fisted around fabric, the same fabric it is printed on, a delicate, sheer fabric. What is ownership?