See my photo essay on Flickr
Taking protest against oil drilling in Arctic Ocean to the consumer end of the equation. The filling station on Holly Street.
Protest in Bellingham also addresses the lack of snow for our annual Ski to Sea Race. The ski leg of the relay has had to be cancelled in 2015, due to practically no snow on the course.
Protest started at the regular Friday vigil by Federal Building. Then it proceeded to Shell Station on Holly where it provided a good photo op to remind consumers of their role in the oil economy as well.
After that, it headed to Bellingham waterfront near a rig that is being readied in Bellingham Bay to help with the oil drilling.
Protest in Bellingham was on May 22 2015 after a similar protest in Seattle where hundreds of kayaks were seen around a drilling rig being worked on in Seattle harbor.
See link to my photos on Flickr.
When I was in college, I made some sculptures out of Elmer's Glue. The glue dried into clear drops that I could color with felt pen to look sort of like stain glass. Thinking these might sell as Christmas ornaments, I took some home to Pullman, where I am from, for Christmas Break. Thought I would try selling from a sidewalk stand. First I checked with Pullman City Hall to see if it was okay and found out that one needed a vender's permit. That cost around $10 which isn't too bad, but one also needed a liability insurance bond just in case someone stumbles over the stand and tries to sue the city. Premium for said insurance was around $140. Good for one whole year, but I only needed it for a few days. Needless to say, I gave up on the idea.
Upon returning to Bellingham, I decided to try selling at Vendor's Row near Viking Union Building on WWU campus. Process was much more accessible as no insurance bond was needed. After some easy paperwork, I got a table and tried selling my ornaments for a few days. They didn't sell. It was a learning experience and I'm glad I wasn't out the insurance bond.
Eventually, I glued my unsold inventory of ornaments into an odd looking wreath. Then I baked the wreath till it looked like dried lasagna. On the last few days of my table reservation, my strange looking wreath was an attention getter. I used it to pass out flyers for a friend, Rebecca Valrejean, who was doing a concert on campus.
Photographers from Klipsun (WWU campus feature magazine) took some photos to use with a feature article on gross food. The article may have been published, but those photos never made it in. A moral of the story is that it was nice to have a space with low overhead to experiment even if the experiments didn't lead to commercial viability.
Below: Another sculpture made from dried Elmer's Glue pieces that I still have. Took a month for the pieces to dry. Pieces made from pouring glue into small forms that I made from card paper. I used the wax from color crayon to cover the card paper so the water based glue would not stick to the forms. When the glue pieces dried, I glued it all together and then baked it in a low temperature oven.
Written piece I did in my dorm room to accompany sculpture.
