Olympia Confronting the Climate Crisis held a few events over the weekend, ranging from tabling at the Olympia Farmers Market (we'll be there again next Saturday, the 25th,) to holding a forum at the Olympia Center about oil trains (more info here,) to a truly glorious day of Kayaking on the Bay. That event was co-organized by the Olympia F.O.R. Confronting the Climate Crisis project, and the Backbone Campaign, as well as with participation from Idle No More Washington, Seattle. Thanks to Dean Hobbs of O3C, Bill Moyer of Backbone Campaign, and Sweetwater Nannauck of Idle No More, as well as a host of others for organizing and attending this event.

Here is a link to some photos by Rob "Berd" Whitlock, and a link to the Facebook event page where you can find more information, photos and video from the event. Stay tuned for event video to see some more of the sights and sounds of the citizen's flotilla of kayaks.

The weather was incredible today. There was a downpour, and the Sun came out, so there were rainbows in the sky for the peace vigil at Percival Landing. Those clouds were intense, if you saw them, maybe you would agree.

Here are some photos and video and a little more commentary:

Signs for peace at the peace vigil at Percival Landing, the vigil happens every Friday, and you're welcome to join.

Bang what you got! Whether it's pots and pans, or if you're a marching band, your instrument of choice. Saxophone? Sauzaphone? Trumpet? Trombone? Glockenspiel? Banjo? Drums? Symbals? Cowbell? Bang it! for peace! Great tunes, thanks to the Artesian Rumble Arkestra

A little of what the sky looked like with dark clouds contrasting with bright sunlight... at Percival Landing.

What a day, what weather!

14 May 2013, Olympia WA—At a little after 5pm seven military cargo aircraft in formation flew over the eastside of Olympia.

Interested in running for local public office in the 2013 elections? The narrow window of opportunity is May 13-17. Check out your County Auditor websites for more details:

Thurston County

Mason County

Lewis County

Grays Harbor County

Pierce County

The graphic above comes from a minicomic I drew in 1999 entitled Write-in Morty the Dog for McCleary Mayor.

Thursday 2 May 2013—Bearing ceramic proppants destined to support the Bakken Oil Formation oil shale fracking industry, the Star Dieppe, latest in a series of ships to bear the same cargo, enters Budd Bay to arrive at the Port of Olympia. Fracking has become popular slang term for hydraulic fracturing, the act of fracturing rock below the Earth's surace for access to fossil fuels, gas and oil. The Bakken Shale formation is in Western North Dakota, and Southern Saskatchewan Canada. Some of the fracked oil is being routed by train back to West Coast ports, and more oil export facilities have been proposed. For more information, please visit 1) academic.evergreen.edu/g/grossmaz/oilconnections.pdf, 2) www.olympiafor.org/Climate_Crisis.html, and 3) Olympia Port Fracking Resistance on Twitter.

People have been organizing to oppose and now resist these shipments. Efforts to persuade the Port to stop importing the shipments (including educational events and public testimony at Port Meetings) have so far been ineffective. People are now considering possible next steps. One idea includes asking people with downtown businesses and residences how they feel about the Port importing materials that promote climate change and sea-level rise. The next educational event will be Saturday the 18th of March, 1:30pm, at the Olympia Center, downtown.

Obscuro Comrades,

I've been hiding Morty Comix around Washington and Oregon as sort of little art bombs for awhile. Also sending them via US mail at random to hither and yon. Most of them are in secret places in Thurston and Grays Harbor counties. Have you come across one? Occasionally I'll hear from someone who was found by one of these little guys. This is an experiment in comix distribution and I'm attempting to gather data.

This method of artistic expression, being a bit unusual, has forced me to develop my own code of ethics in where and how I place them. The dropoff and documentation of this event, which frequently has the elements of a caper, has become more interesting to me than the comic art product itself.

Although the Morty Comix series is over 30 years old, it continues to evolve and is more fun to produce than ever.

The West Central Park Project

Thurston County Fire, EMS, and Law Enforcement

(((Stereo Feed))) LEFT Side = Olympia, Lacey, Tumwater Police, Thurston County Sheriff, Washington State Patrol *** RIGHT Side = Olympia, Lacey, Tumwater FD/EMS, Thurston County FDs, Medic One

Oly May Day 2013

Spring Artswalk and Procession seemed to have been great this year. The weather on Friday was excellent and the crowd was large, and turnout for the Procession main event on Saturday seemed to be great. Stationed around the intersection of Jefferson and Legion, along with thousands of others downtown, I watched the whole Procession go by. The Whale was awesome, as was the Slime Mold with the rainbow trail, and how about that Giraffe, incredible—its neck was able to bend down for its head to get a few feet away from touching the ground. Wow. People must have a lot of stories about their experiences over the weekend, I hope you made it to see the wonders!

Tony Overman has photos on The Olympian website: here.

Laura Killian posted photos (see Procession of the Species Celebration Collection 2013), including this one of the Giraffe:

Jerry the Giraffe Clears the First Lines

I used a video camera, on loan from TCTV, to help get footage for the YDHWM (Your Daily Hour With Me) program.

Here are a couple samples, some more were shared on the program recorded live last Saturday night, and schedueld to go hyper-live broadcast next Saturday night (at the customary 11:30pm time, TCTV Channel 22.)