ballots and bullets

yesterday was a 6 1/2 hour ballot measure smackdown at Fillard's house for which i'm eternally grateful. hoping to share the love this sunday with a little cinematic snack thereafter. anyone want to come?

monthly gazette

so much to recall since the last posting! portland is a whirlwind of wondrous activity, leaving it difficult to participate and still allow time to sleep. here are some basic updates:

CASTAWAYS
we've started up the arduous yet hopefully successful venture to gain sponsorship, which could take us to china and hawaii. i only have eyes for china, myself, for reasons that are not difficult to ascertain. thoughts of visiting Rebecca wherever she is (and since her daughter is marrying a man with a different passport, so this could be anywhere) fill idle timed thoughts. more soon. in the interim, we've taken to asking everyone for bios which i get to collect and, oh yes, READ! you think you know a person after paddling in the same boat with them for a year . . .

PARTICIPATORY DEMOCRACY
the bus project met their goal of registering 15,000 young voters. they did over 16,000 young and over 20,000 cumulative. way to go! it took thankless tasks like pub crawls, post-concert sifting, line hustling, pioneer couthouse square trawling, and a host of innovative questing i can't keep track of. just before the 5pm tuesday deadline, i hustled the street where i work downtown. 10 voters in 25 minutes. very cool, and yet quite sad. i wonder at a mail-in ballot system that disenfranchises the often-moving youth vote and negates the cultural aspects of the voting process even as it increases overall voting participation (and when the average age in the last primary was 62?)
Alex and i went out on the sunday before the tuesday deadline and headed up the:

Voting Bike Brunch Brigade - sunday morning a few folks met at Bus Project HQ and whirled out to southeast p-town to attack the unsuspecting, unregistered brunch-munching hopefuls on belmont. Alex and i registered at least 10 in a couple of hours with time to stop for coffee in between. today (tuesday, 17 october) is the last day to register voters. deadline 5pm. just thought i’d mention.

Candidates Gone Wild - Ben, Corey, Lauren, Adam and i sat in the audience for this little ditty, an evening of discussing the dense (of either meaning) ballot measures and heckling gubernatorial candidates. sadly, the republican abd democratic candidates felt unable to make an appearance (boo hiss), so we were treated to lambasting Saxton and Kulo's absenteeism as well as a better spotlight on the other candidates. Joe Keating is a wonderful fellow who's talent show entry included a headstand on a yoga mat.

PTT
i met with Mark Lear for an hour this past wednesday to discuss my "road user's manual" project, and he suggested as an alternative to research delivery truck and intra-city freight trainings which drivers are required to take every few years. this would be a great way to learn how the hell insurance companies work to ameliorate their liability risk. personally, however, i have to admit that individual drivers are less-than-adequately trained with ped and bike roadsharing laws almost nil, and these are the roadusers who are at highest risk of plowing into traffic that's not enveloped in tank-like cradles.

yesterday we went to our professor, Rick Gustafson's, house, and he took us on a tour of traffic calming installation in the portland metro area. fascinating! and there are some great people in the class, i tell you! we went back to his house afterwards where his wife had kindly laid oiut some nibblins for us, and we drank beer on his porch and kibbitzed for longer than we politely should have. he's going to sagrada familia in barcelona next week, which arouses a tinge of jealousy. gaudi! what a guy what a guy.

BIKEYNESS
a group of us are exploring the possibility of starting an umbrella nonprofit. don't want to say any more than this because the nuances of such a potential organization is rife with differing vision and questions. a good group of people and an interesting process.

Africa Women’s Bicycle Initiative at Mississippi Pizza saturday evening - i actually got there a little early because i was supposed to meet a friend whose sickness prevailed in the end and couldn’t attend. all the better for eavesdropping, my dear! the folks who were organizing the event sat next to me in the parlor and talked about last minute details. as with many events, there is an equal fear of just too many and too few people turning up. but it was definitely a baby bear event with the attendance “just right”. some bike helmets in the audience, small packs of “the youth”, some world travelers - a healthy mix. great music. i didn’t stick around for the auction and wonder how they did.

that's all i have time for today! trying to get a junk to funk submission ready and don't know whether i'll be able.

thank you, two devoted readers.

linfield debut

friday was one heck of a crazy day! i woke up at about 5am, and Sparky and i snookered our way to downtown in just enough time to get hot water for Breakfast on the Bridges, voter registration cards, and signs made such as "exercise . . . your right to vote" and "are you registered to vote at your current address? reg. cards available here!". on the way to work, Sparky and i telepathized to finally name our lovely bambina trailer. so next time you see that three of us, kindly tell Minerva what a cute trailer she is. she likes that.
so anyway, we got to the bridge, broke out some hot water and plums that Joan our FABULOUS volunteer brought to the office, registered folks to vote, then busted away to prepare for Green Empowerment's Board of Director's meeting. five minutes before the meeting, i called Gwen Leonard to say that my voice still wasn't back (curses!), and she informed me that i was already on the program for the dedication to the Vivian Bull Music Building at linfield. this is my fault, as i didn't call her the day before. luckily, Gwen suggested that i could sing a little chinese ditty, which is about all my voice could handle.
just after the Board meeting, mom called and agreed to drive us to mcminnville. we arrived just in time for the earlier concert to hear the glorious personages of Brian Bartley and Joe Theissen sing (they're performing in ragtime until oct. 25th, and they are not to be missed). one person couldn't make it through the parking lot of dundee in time for the concert, so i pinch hit. it turned out much better than i was fearing! i asked for the audience's forgiveness and offered in trade an introduction to the songs in chinese. thankfully made it through "Yue Liang Dai Biao Wode Xin" and "Mai Tang Yuan" without too garish a passaggio.
everyone was there! it was a reunion of about an entire town that i had been missing! Wynn and others from the first baptist church, Donna Root, two Susans, Tiff, Tom Gressler and the Marshalls (sounds like a great band), a number of other professors, a lot of alumni with whom i share fond memories, they were all there. i think i hugged everyone on the planet. after the dedication and second concert, Gwen took any performers who could stay out to sushi. what a great conversation. what an utterly fantastic day! mom and i were glowing all the way home, and i couldn't stop gleaming all saturday.
more about saturday soon, but i don't want to bore my two readers any longer.

famous for a week

i'm blushing, positively blushing!

TOUR DE VOTE: ROUND 4

Stephanie Routh: Tour de Vote victor of the week!

Stephanie was a continually awesome presence in Building Votes office last week. On Monday, she showed up at the office with registration cards. On Wednesday, she helped-out with our captain training. And on Sunday, Stephanie ran into BV staff member, Alex, at Red and Black Café and handed him three more registration cards!

It was absolutely wonderful! For all her hard and persistent work we are happy to award Stephanie with a $25 gift certificate to Coventry Cycle Works on Hawthorne Blvd.

HAVE YOU JOINED THE TOUR? Register now to let us know you're participating -- and get to work! Opportunities abound. Register your friends and neighbors.