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!

Poor guy! In true military form, he patiently and respectfully listened to my woes and offered to buy me a drink. He then retreated back to his fellow soldiers and I enjoyed my beer at the bar by myself. After another hour he came back and explained my problem. Suddenly, a familiar Top Gun song started to play and I was surrounded by a bunch of dudes in duds confirming that I had indeed lost that lovin’ feeling.

Call me old fashioned, but there is nothing quite as arousing as a room full of uniformed men belting out the reason for my heartache. God Bless America! If young folks in uniform are your style, check out some of Spokane’s sexy single soldiers. There are thousands more where these two came from, so salute your friends in uniform today and blow them a kiss from me.

Name: Will Worrall, pictured far right.
Position: Environmental Engineer
Division: 92d Civil Engineering Squadron at Fairchild AFB
Status: Sexy and single!

Name: Jordan Barber, pictured far left.
Rank: Second Lieutenant, Civil Engineer
Division: 92d Civil Engineering Squadron at Fairchild AFB
Status: Sexy and single!

Go on a personal recon mission this patriotic weekend, you just might find your next great love under those military greens. Take advantage of the romantic fireworks and see if you can get something more than just sulpher, charcoal and nitrate to burst into flames.

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.

Spokane is a city full of khaki, blue and gray. When people deck themselves out in black around here it is often meant to signify something. To some it is anti-social and threatening. To others it is a sign that someone isn’t bound by confining social norms and is more likely to accept you for who you are.

Next time I’m riding around without my backpack I’ll just follow suit and clasp my U-Lock around my neck. Problem solved!

Three weeks and countless innocent make out sessions later, The Priest pulled the plug. The Priest had admittedly gone too far. After making out with me for what turned out to be the last time, The Priest told me that, up until then, he had never been so sure that becoming a priest was his life’s calling. ZING!

As I wallowed in self-pity, I realized that three weeks with The Priest had enabled me to ponder the role spirituality plays in my life. While I don’t advocate cruising the local temple or church for the next Mr. or Mrs. Right, I do recommend checking out the religious “scene” in Spokane. I was pleasantly surprised to find that Spokane offers some pretty cool environments that cater to the spiritually devoted, or spiritually curious, 20-30 year olds in the area.

Contact St. Mark’s Lutheran Church on the South Hill to find out what nights they hold Theology on Tap; a casual gathering at a local pub where points of religion are discussed over a pint. The Porch located on Broadway in the West Central neighborhood has a laid back, coffee-house-feel to the traditional idea of “church” Sundays at five and Pastor Deb, of Liberty Park United Methodist, holds small group gatherings for young adults outside of the traditional bible study format. Or for a more radical, non-traditional service, check out one of Whiskey Dick Mountain’s next gospel infuse shows which is sure to rock the devil right out of you.

Regardless of where your spiritual quest may lead you, I pray that the good Lord bless you with peace, love and a smoking hot soul mate in your near future.

Photograph by Old Timey Dave

As time moved on and the scar tissue started to build where my previous boyfriend had so willingly ripped my heart out, I started to yearn for something more, but alas, where does one go to find love in the Lilac City? I needed to veer away from the security of the dark lit, drunken dens of seduction I had become fond of, take a step out into the sunlight and open my eyes to all the potential mating grounds Spokane has to offer.

With this in mind, I was flipping through The Inlander, when I came across an article about the community gardens program in Vinegar Flats. While the article was heart warming, the photo of the guy who ran it was hormone warming and it dawned on me – if I took care of the community, maybe it would take care of me.

I shot Farmer Joe an email explaining that I was new to town and was interested in volunteering at the garden. He suggested that I help him glean plums one evening. Now, I’m not normally one to glean anyone’s plums on a first date, but I was curious so I agreed to meet him.

To my relief I discovered “gleaning plums” was the agrarian equivalent of picking plums. We met later that week on a warm, sunny evening. The smell of ripe fruit was intoxicating, the warmth of the sun comforting; things were wonderful. After a couple of hours of working we retreated to The Lantern for a pint. We chatted about me living in West Virginia and he told me about all the wonderful non-bar related things to do in Spokane. I was impressed to say the least.

No, this ambitious journey of plum gleaning love did not end in the happily-ever-after way, but it did introduce me to all the awesome ways to meet people in Spokane. This town is littered with groups and clubs for every interest. If you’re serious about finding someone, wouldn’t you want something more in common than the cheap beer you both prefer?

Take it upon yourself to seek out groups in Spokane that share your interests. Meetup.com is a great resource. With the weather warming up there are plenty of opportunities to get involved outside through trail or community clean ups. If you’re not one for physical labor, just getting out to one of the beautiful parks around the area might be more your style. You never know who you’ll meet. Or kill two birds with one stone and head to Spokane’s new Main Market Co-op. While you peruse the aisles for yummy local foods, let your eyes feast upon potential soulmates as well.

I’ll be the one with a six-pack of PBR in my basket.

With all the graduations last weekend, many young people are now faced with how to start paying off that pesky student debt. But the question of achieving financial independence begins long before the loans go into repayment. Students (and their parents) are often wondering about employment prospects right out of high school, and rightly so. This question of gainful employment plays into the programs of study students choose to pursue, and the extracurricular experiences they seek out while in school.

Too often college students try to “follow the money” without understanding the complex demands of the modern job market, or having the faintest clue about the kind of work they might actually *enjoy* doing. There is an assumption that a law degree or a business degree with high marks is some kind of ticket to employment entitlement. Think again kids. While the traditional college job fair might be fine for those going into accounting or insurance, the knowledge economy is evolving faster than degree programs can keep up, and has an insatiable demand for students with interdisciplinary skills that can prove their worth in real work settings.

Internships are a familiar, if underutilized tool for businesses to trial run the next generation of talent before signing on the dotted line. The challenge is how to reach out to these new recruits, and effectively manage them once they get into the work environment. For many organizations the risk and the burden are too high. Finding the right student for the right internship at the right time can be tricky. College career offices are great resources, but are not equipped to offer one-on-one services for every business and student that comes through the door. If you are a local nonprofit, chances are you don’t even have the resources to think about which door to knock on. Resolving these dilemmas is the domain of a social enterprise called InternMatch.

Click the picture above to get a glimpse of an InternMatch reception.

The founders of InternMatch are young people themselves, and have proven adept at utilizing the tools that many college students use to communicate. They have tested their match making models in Seattle, and are preparing to branch out into other markets. I’ve encouraged them to consider working in Spokane. If you think there is a need for this kind of service locally, let us know in the comments section below.

• InternMatch on Facebook
• InternMatch on Twitter

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.

From the EWU Flickr photostream.

But what does it say about a culture when the heart of that society resides in a shrine to sex-driven conspicuous consumption?* Since there are few public meetings that take place in the mall, maybe it isn’t fair to say that RPS is the heart of Spokane. All political activity has been sequestered behind the sign-in desk across the street at City Hall. If the park is the recreational center, the mall is the commercial center, and City Hall is the civic center, I would like to posit that the Museum of Arts and Culture be recognized as our region’s cultural center.

While this is an obvious statement to some, I don’t think enough people see the museum in this way. It is interesting to think about the effects of these four areas of society being separated in terms of physical space, but my real purpose here is to invite you to participate in BeGin! at the MAC, tonight from 6-8pm. BeGin! is a series of open house-style happy hours to celebrate the resources that the museum provides to the public, and to remind folks that the museum depends on their support.

With live music, appetizers, drinks available and good people, these events are a guaranteed good time. They are similar in demographics to the Spokane Metro Magazine parties that were wildly popular until the publication’s eventual demise. Let’s not allow our precious museum to experience the same fate. BeGin! is also part of an effort by the museum to cultivate new audiences and foster an environment of participation that helps the institution stay responsive and relevant to the public’s interests.

I believe that at this time The MAC is in a sort of courtship with the younger generation of Spokane. We’re trying to find new ways to speak their language…to let people know that their voice matters and that the MAC is listening. Creating an environment where the public feels welcome – where they feel like they are a part of something – is a huge step in the right direction. In my opinion, establishing this atmosphere is just as important as the programs we promote or the exhibits we choose, as we journey towards our goal of becoming a cultural hub for the Spokane Community. -Ginger Ewing, Museum staff organizer.

Whether you’re going for the party or going to support an essential cultural institution, at least you will be there for BeGin!

• The Museum of Arts and Culture on Facebook.
• RSVP to BeGin! on Facebook.

*Small locally owned and operated businesses like Anemone paper flowers are a notable exception. I’m referring to chains like Abercrombie & Fitch.

Spokane is like one of those hologram pictures that you got in the Cracker Jack box as a kid. If you hold it one way it appears to be one image, yet when you shift your viewing angle you get an entirely different scene. There are so many layers, so many different expressions of faith here I am often pleasantly surprised by their diversity.

Just the other day I was treating myself to a little retail adventure in a lovely second hand store called Area 58. Such thrifty retro shops renew my imagination and invite me to remember a past to which I did not belong. You can always find something strange and interesting in these eclectic stores. This time I found a statue of Guan Yin, the Goddess of Compassion. I thought to myself, “How oddly fantastic! A statue of Guan Yin in Spokane!”

Despite the fact that the majority of local churches are some branch of Christian, Spokane is the kind of place where non-Christian religious relics may be found. The ideal of religious pluralism is to have many different religions on the ground, with the people who profess them living more or less peacefully with each other. This does not dilute the essence of the different faiths as some deterrents might claim, rather it can enhance the perspectives and worldviews of people where religious pluralism is thriving. Not to mention it makes for far more interesting thrift shopping.