S Tree homies

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One of my oldest friends flew into town this weekend for a visit. Senor G. Ferreira brought with him some good laughs and a much needed hangout time after all of the work we've done around here getting settled. It was truly cool to go on adventures with someone whom you don't need to explain yourself to – all the time - as seems to happen so much when you're making new friends in a new place. We both grew up on Sequoia Tree Lane (the bad part) in Irvine, CA. and have known each other ffor 35 years. It is just so easy to be around people you love and have deep history with. I needed it and it was good to see our experience here through some new eyes as well. A great berfday present for sure. It was the first really hot weekend and we swam in the lake and in one of the outlet rivers - until a guy pulled a snake out of the water right near us and killed it ('wsa cottonmouth but ah, keeled it, is how it was explained) spooky kansas moment all around. good times, though catching up and laughing about how lucky we are to still be around. We both had our heads screwed on reasonably straight at the same time for the first time in some time.


Gab brought his delightful girlfriend with him which was nice. Her name is Ya. They just bought some 40 acres of amazing land out in Sonoma County and are going to build a home out in the middle of the most beautiful nowhere you could imagine. A couple of springs for water, solar power and an hour and a half ride into town. 4,000 ft. up into the open California Woods. Amazing. Back to nature. Simple and beautful. How many people talk about something like that and never do it. All power to you, my friends!

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Free Staters and Border Ruffians

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A little history about Lawrence, KS.

Bleeding Kansas, referred to in the history of Kansas, was a sequence of violent events involving Free-Staters (anti-slavery) and pro-slavery elements that took place in Kansas–Nebraska Territory and the western frontier towns of the U.S. state of Missouri between roughly 1854 and 1858.

By 1863, Kansas had long been the home of strife and warfare, from both sides of the slavery versus Free State issue. In the summer of 1856, the first sacking of Lawrence sparked a guerrilla war in Kansas that was conducted for months. Lawrence, Kansas had, by the beginning of the American Civil War, already become the target for pro-slavery ire, having been seen as the anti-slavery stronghold in the state. There was also organized immigration to Kansas from southern states, most notably Missouri, to secure the expansion of slavery. Proslavery settlements were established at Leavenworth and Atchison.

Few of the Border Ruffians actually owned slaves; they were too poor. What motivated them was hatred of the Yankees and abolitionists and the prospect of free blacks living in neighboring areas. Southerners were driven by the rhetoric of leaders such as David Rice Atchison, a Missouri senator, who proclaimed the Northerners to be "negro thieves" and "abolitionist tyrants." He encouraged Missourians to defend their institution "with the bayonet and with blood" and, if necessary, "to kill every God-damned abolitionist in the district."



the river as you enter the downtown Lawrence area today.

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free air, silos and pig pits

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amen.


there are a lot of these grain silos all over the place. mostly where the trains run (in a few places the trains run through them and get filled from above). they're enormous. they feel like a holdout from a much different era (although I can't think of a better solution). they fascinate me most likely because of the scale and verticality in such a flat place, but they also remind me of something in the planet of the apes or 2001: a space odyssey.



this place is hiring.
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Medium sized in Japan

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My old friend Kurt Porter has just returned from a few weeks in Japan with some amazing photos. Here are a few. Some more can be found here: http://www.lomography.com/homesDeLuxe/profile.php?cid=867729&ref=

We were co-collaborators on the ill-fated (due to what else but lack of funds) but always dynamic, cable-access program, "by the banks of the mighty santa ana" which aired in the early nineties.

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long division resurfaces

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here is a new flyer for my book (the link is down on the left) that i found on some wall. actually for a local band, but i took it just the same. looks like my friends, dr. hotdog had a hand in this, but it's not true. www.drhotdog.com

we're moved. there will be more pictures and words later. promise. the re:Active mag is going into production and getting ready for printing. thanks to dr. dan monick for persevering and getting this batch of youth through the arduous process of creating a magazine from scratch. more info later...

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the endless kitchen experiment

Just in case you are in a high risk group for deciding to 'antique' your kitchen cabinets, please allow me to redirect your energy to something useful. This is going to look nice but will have taken us a month of all of our free time spent on these cabinets and drawers. All I can say is that it better look nice.

They are totalling my car from the hail damage. Looks like someone took a hammer to it. Welcome to weather.