Photo by Mark Anthony

I knew I had a unique perspective on the panel as a younger lady, but the more interesting contrast came from my experience as a nonprofit professional. There were a few questions about setting personal boundaries in the online arena. In the nonprofit world, people tend relate to their work more intimately which can make it easier to share things of genuine interest. Still some asked about a nonprofit “secret to success.” The panel agreed that by-and-large the social media strategies that work for nonprofits are the same as they are for individuals and businesses.

Aside from all the minutia and specifics, I was surprised at the number of people in the audience who were still struggling to “get their heads in the game.” To these kind people, Chris had the following to say:

Unlike Chris I tend to baby people and reassure them that they will get the hang of things eventually. Chris’s approach is much better. People need to quit making a science out of it and roll up their sleeves and start posting!  Another lesson that hit home was the importance  and power of video. The Spovangelist currently has an empty YouTube page. You can expect that to start filling up with film clips very soon.

“Check out my turnips! I grew these!”

The last take home message for me was being more fearless about the frivolous. Everyone has had to ask themselves “To post, or not to post?” Most people don’t want to hear about what you ate for dinner that night. So when it came to my prize turnips I was definitely leaning towards keeping these beauties to myself. Thanks to Chris for popping my turnip!

Apparently the owners thought it too offensive to display the word “Ass” on their signage, so a Ren and Stimpy style donkey with obscenely large testicles takes its place.

Make of it what you will.

Scout’s book is a collection of essays that explore the emerging rewilding renaissance in which civilized people are awakening to their domestication through thousands of years of sedentary life. This lifestyle is posited as the root of all environmental destruction and social injustice.

Urban Scout has a wisdom and intelligence far beyond his years. He is helping us move away from this culture of death and toward a sane culture that will not kill the planet. -Derrick Jensen

Rewild Camp Skill-Share, Thursday May 20, 4-6pm

If you’ve got a skill you want to share or a craft you’re working on, let us know about it in the comments section. Example topics might include archery, bow-drill fires, nettle cordage, ivy basket weaving, story telling, language games, martial arts or herbal medicine, etc. Rewilding differs from other skills and crafts in its emphasis on respecting the natural world. The park does not allow harvesting of any material and we want to make nice with the park people if they are there, so come prepared!

Stuff To Bring:

• Raw materials for your project
• Water
• Snacks (to share?)
• A carving knife
• Dress for variations in the weather (cold and rainy!)
• A chair or something to sit on
• Some donation dollars
• Any materials you need for your demonstration

Rewild Camp Reading & Discussion, Thursday May 20, 6-8pm

At age 16 Urban Scout left high school to begin his life-long unschooled journey of rewilding. He keeps a popular blog detailing his rewilding projects and writings and created an international internet forum and wiki for fellow people-who-rewild. He has received local press (The Oregonian, The Portland Mercury, Willamette Week, The Portland Tribune), national press (ReadyMade Magazine) and international press (Chain Reaction AU, Positive News UK) for his efforts to promote rewilding. Using thoughtful, humorously cynical and at times angry prose, Urban Scout explores how the ideology of civilization clashes with the wild and how thinking, feeling and most importantly living wild is the only way to achieve lasting sustainability.

When I feel like surfing a bit nearer the edge, I check out Scout’s latest. It’s irreverent, angry, informative, and sometimes he’s not even nice. Urban Scout is out there exploring and inventing rewilding and contemporary tribal skills with style, and I admire that he doesn’t claim to know it all. Scout always takes me down an unanticipated path. We civilized folk have forgotten what he’s trying to remember for us. -Toby Hemenway, author of Gaia’s Garden: A Guide to Home-Scale Permaculture

One of Scout’s dreams is to create a network of rewilding communities across Cascadia. Rewilding is already happening in bigger cities like Portland and Seattle, but what about inland towns that account for the rest of the Northwest? It is in these places that there is a vibrant rural culture celebrating craft, localism, and environmental stewardship – a combination ripe for rewilding!

Urban Scout will be at Wentel Grant Park (1900 S. Inland Empire Way) from 4-8pm. This event is free and open to the public, visitors may come and go. All ages are welcome.

I found equal horror – and wonder – at the thousands of people here and the perversion of all the contradictions. It is really not that surprising to see this in Spokane. Judging by the license plates, no doubt a large number of the audience traveled from the North Idaho woodwork, a bastion of conservatism, as they would for a RV show.

(Example: There were far more environmentalists than tea partiers at the Earth Hour protest in front of Spokane City Hall.) Idaho Governor Butch Otter spoke which lends a scary legitimacy to the proceedings and his words of state rights whipped through the crowd to a standing ovation. The biggest shock were candidates shaking hands, as an obscene passing sign said “Obama is doing what Osama did,” showing their true colors. They were:

• Steve Salvatori, (R) running for County Commissioner
• John Ahern, (R) running for State Representative
• Michael Baumgartner, (R) running for State Representative

Two of three have been endorsed which is precisely why they will lose. If there is one profound reality in Spokane politics, it is that when the city makes any advancement, it is going to be met with creatively crazy opposition such as “Get The U.N. out of Spokane” (as a rally sign read). So far, local conventional wisdom says the Tea Party is toxic to any politician they endorse. One wonders why Salvatori – who has won over some local greenies – tip-toed around a Tea Party endorsement even after taking the Lincoln Day and Medical Lake Polar Plunge with party celebrity Sherriff Ozzie Knezovich?

Perhaps he’s uncomfortable associating amongst Tea Partiers after watching Mike Fagan’s unsuccessful bid for City Council go down with 37% of the vote in District 1. However, he was comfortable enough to be there and perhaps has different plans than he wants the public to know.

One sign said “Remember November.” Indeed. The hypocrisy will not go unnoticed.

• Read the Spokesman spin here.
• Read the Inlander spin here.

Spokane’s P-Jammers at the last MLK Jr. Day march.

The P-Jammers (or PJAMRS, standing for the Peace and Justice Activist Musical Rascals of Spokane) are a rag tag bunch of folks that love to get out and be the life of any social or economic justice party. They often accompany events organized by the Peace and Justice Action League, and can also be heard at a smattering of other relevant political gatherings.

In no small part due to our vigorous sports culture and our position as  a hub to hundreds of small rural towns, marching bands are actually still a pretty big deal around Spokane. But they tend to be of a stiflingly traditional nature that emphasizes militaristic uniformity to the detriment of personal creativity and expression. Not so with the P-Jammers! This funky bunch fashions itself after the Sgt. Pepper Lonely Hearts Club Band, and members often make their own uniforms by hand out of reused materials.

While I might cringe a bit at some of the comments made by the crazier bards in this video, you’ve got to hand it to them for entertainment value. When people talk about a city being “vibrant,” for me this is the pinnacle of good old fashioned public fun.

Apparently these Honk! Fests aren’t unique to Seattle, they take place in a small number of cities all around the country. Not to wax nostalgic about Portland or anything, but in the brief time I lived there I encountered several Honk! style groups. There was the No War Drum Corps, a percussion booster band that often plays for the Rose City Rollers, and the unforgettably talented March Fourth, to name a few.

If we ever made a cultural asset map in Spokane and came up with indicators to measure our local creative health, I think the number and vitality of Honk! bands could be used as one of the canaries in our culture mine. They require a high degree of coordination dedication and guts, and thus would do well in reflecting our creative surplus. So cheers to the day when our people can go to Seattle to represent without the inevitable comment, “I didn’t know you had [insert cultural/social whatever it is] in Spokane!”

• Apologies for not mentioning the recent Musical Freedom Rally in Riverfront Park. Apparently it was a big success.

While it might be considered flattering to receive such scrutiny from our friends in the valley, what is the point of such a petty accusation? To get me to write more frequently on an ongoing basis?

If there is one thing SVI thrives on it is controversy. Their link feed on Facebook is riddled with condemning headlines delivered in an egregiously political tone. Some of my favorite SVI re-posts are the story about massage parlors getting busted in Boise, and tips on how to tell if your teen is a tagger.

All the sordid, sometimes silly details remind me of what we called the “CSO Blotter” in my college newspaper (CSO being short for Community Safety Officer). Bizarre tidbits about stolen shopping carts and freakish campus interlocutors sent a clear message to students: Don’t let this stuff include you!

SVI performs the same public service with unforgiving zeal. Through the lens of the Insider, an outsider might get the impression that the Inland Northwest is one big “I Am Legend” meth-induced zombie wasteland where people are left to fend for themselves in a vicious atmosphere of total chaos. Rapes, murders, pile-ups on the freeway, the message of this forum is that you’d better watch out or you’ll get what is coming to you.

It could be entertaining if it weren’t for the blatant racism.

When are the politicians going to FINALLY stop with this muslim butt kissing contest and PROTECT our country? -SVI, 1/7/10

If the right to vote was so important to minority groups then they should use that right as motivation to stay out of prison! -SVI 1/5/10

This is exactly the kind of rhetoric we don’t need in the Inland Northwest. It is offensive and unacceptable. I only point it out here because people should be aware that racism is still a big problem in our community.

I can’t help but wonder what the opposite of SVI might read like. Called the Downtown Spokane Outsider, it might report on random acts of kindness, have some interesting conspiracy theory about Republican obstructionism to health care reform, and feature an animated banner of Glenn Beck eating off the heads of small animals. I don’t know, I can’t even pretend to think this way.

It’s been great to watch all the pedestrian double takes out in front of the gallery where I lock and unlock my bike. On any other given month people have a hard time acknowledging that the gallery is even there. Not only do I get to mention the interesting and relevant concepts behind the current show, I’m able to invite them to participate in the exhibit’s next event. This is how you build a buzz machine, beehives not included.

A recent review completely failed to address the participatory elements of this exhibit. Thankfully, Spokane Arts provided people with some heads up on the exciting events that were held in the gallery. Did you know that the now open Main Market Co-op hosted Curt Ellis (co-producer of King Corn) to speak about his new follow-up documentary? This and other attractions helped draw a whole new audience to the gallery: the gardening set, an otherwise mixed bag and beyond. Let’s admit it, the catchy conflation between the gallery co-op model and the novelty of the show in this article subtitle didn’t read well at all.

Is it art? As long as it is relevant, fun to look at and interesting, who gives a crap? The reviewer says “Chickens, food, fertilizer. Recycling. Rethinking. OK, we get it.” But do we? My take home message from this exhibit was that if you truly get it, you’ll be doing it. In San Francisco the city requires compost separation to achieve their goal of zero wast by 2020. In Spokane, we can’t even embrace a framework to help set goals for the future. Hopefully that will have changed with the local elections, but I digress…

Last time we talked about what is next for golden boy Gabe, but what about Mr. Rimas? In the long term we will be loosing him to the lack of fine art grad school programs in the area (Eastern, we’re looking at you!) but in the interim he is on to an interesting, albeit less participatory, group show at SOIL in Seattle.

Through lenses of industrialization, environmentalism, consumerism, and scientific advancement, the artists in Fertilizing Utopias examine the ideals of Western culture with a playful and critical eye. Dark realities are placed in counterpoint to utopian goals as these artists inspect the possible futures our civilization is cultivating.

In the end I hope you’ll be able to come to the gallery for the closing reception of Chicken Sh@#: Exploring Urban Ecosystems! Especially if you haven’t been in yet. Tomorrow between 6-10pm at 25 W. Main.

• RSVP to Chicken Sh@#: The Party! on Facebook

Yes, that is a Spovangelist worm!

Now the purpose of hauling one’s work across state lines is not simply to add more notches to the artist’s exhibit belt, it is also to reach out to new audiences, encounter new perspectives, and discover opportunities for collaboration, inspiration and partnership. Gabriel’s next foray outside Eastern Washington will be to participate in PSU’s Open Engagement conference in Portland this May.

The artists involved in Open Engagement challenge our traditional ideas of what art is and does. These artist’s projects mediate the contemporary frameworks of art as service, as social space, as activism, as interactions, and as relationships, and tackle subject matter ranging from urban planning, alternative pedagogy, play, fiction, sustainability, political conflict and the social role of the artist.

This free conference will include “A variety of transportation that draws on Portland’s bike culture and takes advantage of its excellent public transportation. Contributors will be housed in Portland homes, paired with a host based on common interests. Several meals during the conference will be provided that emphasize slow food, community cooking and underground cafes. Other meals will highlight Portland’s food cart culture. Nightlife and social activities will be integrated into local businesses, using local pubs and cafes as conference hubs.”

As if that weren’t enough, the conference will also feature presentations by three internationally renowned artists: Mark Dion, Amy Franceschini and Nils Norman.

Despite all of our technology and money, when we destroy a natural system it’s virtually impossible to get it back. In a sense we’re building a failure. -Mark Dion

First, imagine if the arts community in Spokane had the social infrastructure to pull something like this off. Second, imagine the impression that would be made if a couple dozen Spokane artists stormed the conference to represent the 509. People would be scratching their heads saying “I had no idea Spokane has such a dynamic art scene. I’ve got to go over there and check it out!”

As with many things, however, leaving Spokane is not a prerequisite for finding what creative people seek. Gabriel stumbled across Rimas Simaitis, his upcoming show partner, while bringing vegetables to the Youth Sustainability Council’s PARK(ing) Day display. Remis was busy making grass cut outs and web-like cradles in front of the Saranac Art Projects gallery on Main.

So come on down to the Saranac next Thursday to feed the chickens (yes, there will be live chickens in the gallery) and plant a seed in a bottle that you can take home. This will be worth braving the elements to learn a thing or two about urban farming, and to think about the ways in which our consumption impacts the ecosystems around us.

Despite the descriptive title,  most people’s first reaction is “Trick or what?” The idea of adding political engagement into a holiday festivity is just not intuitive for most. Once people grasp the novelty and purpose of this approach, they tend to warm up to the idea. “Well that could be fun…” is a common second response.

Some would-be volunteers expressed concern about this activity being taken as a little too “tricky.” On the west side such worries don’t seem to crop up. Could this be a side-effect (no pun intended) of the visibility and spin lent by their media partners? Or does it say something deeper about Spokane’s ideological and social culture? The ever-astute Inlander was keen enough to comment:

“[Trick or Voters] will dress up in their most blood-curdling outfits and try to win people over by making them think they’re harmless trick-or-treaters. After the initial shock, most people will be relieved to find out that the adult-sized Batman standing on their stoop doesn’t want candy, just political chat.”

*Gasp!* To some Spokanites it seems that nothing could be more petrifying than “political chat.” We pride ourselves on having a “tight-knit community” where people deeply value their social and professional relationships, but sometimes this “tightness” becomes a bit strangling when people feel dread at the prospect of engagement for fear of ruffling a relationship – even one with a perfect stranger.

We’ve heard it said by several state-spanning political folks that Spokanites are less likely to divulge the direction of their vote when asked over the phone or in person than people on the west side. While we don’t have any hard evidence to substantiate this claim, there is a documented difference in views about the need to retain domestic partnerships between Washington’s western and eastern voters. According to the Washington Poll, while people in Puget sound are approving Referendum 71 by 25%, we in Eastern Washington are rejecting it by 3%. This is a difference we are not proud to boast.

Despite the attitude disparity, for every ten Trick or Voters in Seattle this year there was one brave volunteer right here in Spokane beating the pavement for Yes on 71 and No on 1033. Thanks to all the college students, parents and everyone else who turned up to turn out the vote!

As he described the services available through his agency, I was watched closely for any hint of reaction or understanding. After all, in such an all-American god-fearing city you can never be too careful about the leanings of your audience.

So here’s what we do: We go to clubs, bars, parties, events, and have fun! We network with limos, photographers, other models, promoters, bands, and more and bring the fun where ever we go. Think of us as “Coyote Ugly Gone Mobile”. We dance on bars, do sing along songs, host limbo competitions, trivia and interact.

It appears that the Flirts have a large presence on Model Mayhem, and are of a variety of backgrounds and professions. Looking on the bright side (no pun intended) this kind of party troupe might lend some flair to an otherwise stiff social atmosphere. If delivered poorly, however, such a service risks ending up beyond embarrassing. The Flirt’s next big gig will be at SpoCon, which is not to be confused with the Spokane Comicon. (A whole different universe of local sub-cultural glory.)

While checking out the Flirts, we stumbled across another surprising outgrowth of Spokane’s bar/club scene: the Buzzin Clubbin ning site.

BuzzinClubbin.com is a social network designed specifically for 21-39 year olds who enjoy the nightlife and go out one or more times per week. We constantly update our event list giving you all of Spokane’s latest nightlife events, drink specials, happy hours, music and more.

We combine an online community with real world bars, clubs, dj’s, musicians and party goers all to help you make the most of your night out on the town. Our site provides extensive coverage of Spokane’s nightlife and is accessible from most cell phones. We allow members to share pictures, music, videos, slide shows and links to other websites as well as exchange email, write blogs and post messages.

The Spovangelist is all about informed consumerism, so we applaud efforts to provide suggestions about where to go and what to do when roving around town after hours. Maybe we’re a little out of the loop, but we were surprised to find profiles for local bars we’ve never heard of. (Reader beware: you may be asked to register as a Buzzin Clubbin member to access site links.)

Also interesting is the Buzzin Clubbin FAQ page, that advertises 1500 visitors each month (even though there are only 178 members in the network) and profile management services. Yes, that’s right, for a mere $30/month you can hire out “Buzz” to manage your Buzzin Clubbin profile page, and for $50/month they will run your MySpace profile too! This includes responding to questions and comments, updating events and pictures, and forwarding important emails.

In conclusion there is no accounting for taste, only opportunism, hedonism, and trying to make an honest buck at the end of the day.