Remembering Chris Carson

Above: Tom Nogler, left, and Audrey Henley remember the life of Olympia activist Chris Carson at the Capitol Theater Monday night in downtown Olympia. Carson passed away of cancer on January 6. 

By Janine Gates

Little Hollywood

https://janineslittlehollywood.blogspot.com

The life of Chris Carson was remembered by friends and family at the Capitol Theater in downtown Olympia Monday night.

Carson passed away of cancer on January 6 at St. Peter Hospital.

The celebration was quickly organized by friends in a way that was very Olympia: with a potluck, live music by Dusty Rhodes and friends, and storytelling.

Carson was involved with social, economic, and environmental justice issues in Olympia for decades. 

Due to vision issues, Carson did not drive and relied on friends to drive her home.

When someone asked for a show of hands of how many in the audience had ever given Carson a ride home, about 100 hands went up.

Carson was an eyewitness to the shooting of unarmed students by members of the Ohio National Guard at Kent State University in 1970. 

There is no doubt the experience dramatically shaped Carson’s life and work with peace and justice issues.

Calling Facebook a “toxic swamp,” in a recent chat with Little Hollywood, Carson eschewed social media platforms, and made relationships the old-fashioned way by sharing her thoughts and truly listening to others.

Many friends shared their stories about Carson.

Audrey Henley, executive director of the Olympia Film Society, said the Capitol Theater was Carson’s second home. She volunteered there for at least 18 years and helped to sustain the Olympia Film Society in a variety of capacities.

“She was a huge course of change in the community,” said Henley.

In written remarks, former mayor of Olympia Mark Foutch said he sometimes gave Carson rides home from the theater.

Appreciating her faith and confidence in Olympia, Foutch said Carson left him with two wise thoughts that expressed her opinion of the Olympia community, and also why she loved it: 

“Olympia should have signs at the city limits saying, ‘Welcome to Olympia - Leave your baggage HERE,’ (Of course, she meant to free yourself of the past; this is your place for a new start) and “Olympia is a place where you not only can pursue your dream, it will help you get there.”

A Go Fund Me fund in Carson’s name has been established at https://www.gofundme.com for cremation services and a tree planting memorial burial, and hospital and home related fees. 

Any additional funds will be donated in her name to the nonprofits she loved.

Above: Chris Carson, beloved sister and friend.

Asked to give a eulogy for Carson on Monday evening, I offered these words:

Going Home: Chris Carson

Last night, I was asked to say a few words about Chris Carson.

Luckily, I’ve been writing about her ever since Rick (Fellows) texted me the day she passed away. 

I’ve lived in Olympia for 35 years and I don’t remember a time without her, but it was only recently that I found out that we’re originally from the same part of Ohio.

My last conversation with Chris was on November 1. It lasted three hours, sitting in my car after I had taken her home after a city meeting.

This was not the first time we had done this. I always enjoyed hearing Chris speak. It was a cold, windy night, but I was warmed by her sweet voice.

As we were leaving city hall that evening, she had tripped on a curb - badly. Her vision was compromised by a rare eye disease, chronic cyclitis, and she had been part of a research case about it for several years in California.

She said that early on, doctors had given her a prognosis that was bad in the long term. She said she was heading toward blindness but felt positive about the future because she had good color perception and was smart and healthy.

Because of her vision issues, she had given up driving.

An avid bus rider, the Intercity Transit bus used to run past her house until 10:30 p.m. until the budget got slashed due to I-695. Fourteen bus routes were eliminated and never restored.

Buses in her neighborhood stopped running at 6:00 p.m. and weekend service was cut, so, basically, she felt like she was living under a total curfew.

All this could have limited her ability or desire to participate in community activities and evening meetings, but she relied on us, her friends, to drive her home.

She got involved with the Alliance for Public Transportation and attended Intercity Transit community meetings and asked them to bring back routes. She said she knew people who had to move and lost their jobs because they couldn’t get to work.

She said she had a friend who hosted EF students and, in order to host them, the home must be on a bus route. The friend lost the opportunity to host the students.

She was an advocate for us all.

Of course, Chris was perhaps best known as the voice of the Pet Parade for many years for Thurston Community Television (TCTV).

She was at Mt. Rainier one year when someone spotted her and yelled out to her, “Hey, Pet Parade lady!” She loved that.

Recently, she was active with the Strengthening Sanctuary movement and there was a meeting in September at the Temple of 14 or 15 participating congregations. She encouraged the Fellowship of Reconciliation to join the coalition. 

A couple hundred people were there, and someone came up to her and recognized her as the Pet Parade lady. They wanted a picture of her with them and of course, she obliged.

She managed Music in the Park for about six years in the late 1980s. She loved one of the phrases mentioned in the city’s downtown revitalization “Main Street” study. It said that “Sylvester Park is Olympia’s living room - a place where everyone is welcome and can sit down and relax.”

About that, Chris told me:

“That’s what I always wanted Music in the Park to be - to attract people of all types, ages and backgrounds and cultural groups and that they would come, enjoy some food, music, and be there comfortably together, and perhaps the next time they saw each other again, they wouldn’t have that fear of ‘the other’ so much, because they had had that positive experience. That’s the way I always looked at it.”

We talked about the seeds of our social and community service organizations, nonprofits, and unsung heroes. She was involved with Bulldog News and the Liberation Café and the nonprofits that shared the space upstairs like Books to Prisoners.

We talked about Carol Burns creating TCTV, Long-haired David creating EGYHOP, Gita Moulton starting SPEECH, Glen Anderson creating the Olympia Fellowship of Reconciliation and her involvement with Media Island.

She remembered how Herb Legg would see leaves as works of art, attach them onto cards and give them out to people. She talked about Scott Yoos and what a great Scrabble player he is.

We talked a lot about the delicacy of life and how one person can make such a difference.

Chris loved the poem by Rachel Corrie called “The Blind Eyed Salmon.” When Rachel used to live in the Cleopatra Apartments, Chris said she used to run into her along State Avenue. Rachel knew Moxlie and Indian Creek and knew the salmon were still trying to get home, she said.

Chris was involved with the Abolish Nuclear Weapons movement.

She enjoyed Jazz Jams at Traditions on the first Sunday of the month.

She was looking forward to the Women’s March on January 19.

She was keenly interested and knowledgeable about historic preservation.

She was an advocate for libraries and expressed concern about current Timberland Library funding issues. She was thinking about how to fairly fund libraries and intended to ask Representative Beth Doglio to find secure funding.

Chris used the library a lot and used their printer. I offered her a printer, but she declined, saying she enjoyed running into people there.

She used to work for the Washington State Library. She worked in Acquisitions, and eventually oversaw the mending of books.

For several years, she took care of the territorial collection and the State Constitution. At one time, the Library loaned her to the Timberland Library system, and she was caring for the collections of 32 libraries in Washington.

She taught classes at Bates College in Tacoma. She said she once got a standing ovation and was amazed that she had made book mending the most fascinating thing they had ever heard in their lives. She laughed about that.

I asked her how she repaired a book. She said that there is no one answer, but that she would start by inspecting a book, so she knew how to begin.

She said: “It’s like being a doctor looking at a patient, one on one, looking at how it is bound, seeing what you could do that wouldn’t damage the materials, and seeing what damage is reversible.”

And that’s Chris. She cared for us as individuals, all of us just a little damaged. We’re the pieces of our community and she was the glue that brought us together while making everything sound so fascinating.

It’s amazing how much you can learn about someone in so little time if you really listen.

Maybe some of you didn’t realize just how much she needed us. Now we are realizing how much we needed her.

It will take some time before I realize she doesn’t need a ride from community events and meetings.

She’s already home.

Above: The Capitol Theater marque reads, “Rest in Power Chris Carson - We love you!”

Love our Local Fest 2016

Above:  The Psychedelic Shadow Show was one of ten bands who entertained vendors and street fair goers at Love our Local Fest, held in the northeast Olympia neighborhood on Sunday. The group plays throughout the Shelton-Olympia area, or “Shelympia” as lead singer Carolyn Malanowski called it after her gig, as she bought a few goodies from the 8 Arms Bakery booth. Groovy.

By Janine Gates

www.janineslittlehollywood.blogspot.com

Old friends hugged and spent the day catching up on old times, from afternoon through evening at the Love our Local Fest on Olympia’s northeast neighborhood on Sunday. What a long, strange trip it's been....

Plenty of new relationships were formed too as friends introduced friends and volunteers of local nonprofits explained the missions of their groups to newcomers.

Gathered around Bethel Street and San Francisco Avenue in front of the San Francisco Street Bakery and Roosevelt Elementary School, the annual event was filled with great community vibes, music, locally made food, arts, and crafts. 

Nearly 20 local sponsors, and tens of vendors helped make it all possible.

Above: Gita Moulton demonstrates her weaving skills as passersby watch her create a new guitar strap for City of Olympia Councilmember Clark Gilman, who stopped by her booth and put in his order. Gita also had key fobs, belts, dog leashes, and yoga mat straps for sale.

Above: City of Olympia councilmember Jeannine Roe sampled a handmade cream at Beth Mathew’s booth. Her business, Nature Nouveau, features vegan, cruelty-free, non comedogenic products free of synthetics, and can be found at the West Olympia Farmer’s Market at West Central Park, open for the season until October 11, on the corner of Harrison and Division on Tuesdays, 4:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. 

Above: Bev Bassett of the Olympia Confronting the Climate Crisis group explains her group's activities and gets more mileage out of a float that wasn’t allowed in the Capital Lakefair parade earlier this year. Nearby, Dave Peeler of the Deschutes River Restoration Team handed out beautiful, new Deschutes River Watershed Guide programs and Yestuary! bumperstickers.

First Day of Spring 2016

Above: Maddy Russell, 4, created amazing bubbles on the first day of spring!

By Janine Gates

www.janineslittlehollywood.blogspot.com

The first day of spring was welcomed with enthusiasm at an annual community bubble blow on Sunday by “The Kiss” statue on Percival Landing.

Sponsored by People-Who-Know-We-Live-In-A-Great-Place, the activity is held from noon – 1 p.m., regardless of wind, rain, hail, sleet, snow, high tides, or sea-level rise. 

This was the 24th year for the event, and while the sun has made an appearance some years, it is certainly not expected.

A special, earth friendly bubble elixir was painstakingly created just for the occasion. Wands were provided, but some folks brought their own. This year, someone cleverly brought an automatic bubblemaker! It really spit out the bubbles and added to the festivities! Sponsors hope they come back next year!

Above: City of Olympia councilmember Clark Gilman tries his hand at bubbleblowing. 

Above: Bubble Blow Matriarch Gita Moulton knows how to do bubbles.

Above: Wearing Batman boots, Wyatt Nichols, who will be four next month, created several great bubbles with his mom Joanne!

Above: Daphne Williamson, almost six months old, will be ready to blow some bubbles next year, says her mom, Shannon.

For past Bubble Blow events and pictures, go to Little Hollywood, www.janineslittlehollywood.blogspot.com, and type key words into the search button. 

Getting Back to Basics: Event Features Community Reskilling Workshops

Above: A reskilling event in Olympia in 2012 gathered over 150 very engaged community members to watch demonstrations on beekeeping, cheesemaking, basketmaking, candlemaking, building rocket stoves, and creating pop or beer can solar collectors.

By Janine Unsoeld

www.janineslittlehollywood.blogspot.com

A hands-on, community event featuring reskilling demonstrations and workshops will be held on Saturday, September 12, 12:00 noon to 3:00 p.m. at West Central Park on Olympia’s west side. The park is located on the corner of Harrison and Division. The local bluegrass band, The Pine Hearts, will also perform. The event is free and open to the public.

The event will have short demonstrations and activities related to old-fashioned, common sense skills such as pedal-powered grain grinding, knot-tying, making and cooking on rocket stoves, seed saving, managing waste with waterless toilets, and more.

Seeing a community need for such an event, an organization called Transition Olympia founded the popular festival several years ago. Pulling together skilled, local artisans to coordinate about 15 workshops, organizer Gita Moulton says that climate disruption is one of the most, if not the most, critical issue facing our planet and our community.

“….I don't see any indication that most folks are aware of just how uncertain our future is,” says Moulton. Moulton, 83, possesses extensive knowledge of carpentry and urban farming skills including chicken raising, abundant year round food production, and effective weatherization of old homes. She is eager to share her knowledge.

“I would love to see the skills concept not only continue but expand, because I think the need for young people, especially, to learn to use their hands for something besides texting is going to be really important for their future,” says Moulton.

There are many books that review reskilling and community survival concepts, but Moulton recommends starting with The Transition Handbook: From Oil Dependency to Local Resilience by Rob Hopkins.

“….As for skills, Back to Basics: How to Learn and Enjoy Traditional American Skills is a good place to start. My copy was originally published in 1981 and was updated in 2008. It has a lot of good information on specific skills,” suggests Moulton.

Transition Olympia was based on implementing the concepts in the Transition Handbook, but is presently inactive. 

“We chose to use the funds left in its account to sponsor the reskilling event. We are not charging for event participation, so there won't be anything coming in to replace the money for future events,” says Moulton.

Moulton hopes individuals and organizations will step up to help organize future events.

Above: Sara Vautaux will demonstrate her back to basics skills with a pedal-powered grain grinding workshop at the reskilling event on September 12. Vautaux also grows her own chamomile flowers to make into tea. The chamomile can be fresh or dried, and contains relaxing properties that can calm one's nerves.

Back-to-Basics Workshops

PEDAL-POWERED GRAIN GRINDING: The hand mill using two flat stones to grind grain into flour is one of the most primitive utensils in the world. The hand crank grain mill was certainly a great improvement, but grinding grain is much easier if you are using your feet rather than your arms. Try taking turns pedaling a bike which is hooked up to a grain grinder which turns whole wheat into flour. (Sarah Vautaux)

KNOT TYING: Knowledge of knots has been useful for hundreds of years, not only for boating and fishing but for many outdoor activities. It’s also useful for emergencies. Try your hand at some of the basic knots and pick up a diagram to take home so you can practice. (Mark Bock)

COOKING ON A ROCKET STOVE: Rocket stoves are low tech, ultra-efficient, clean burning, low cost, and easy to build. The technology, which was originally designed for third world countries running out of fuel, can also be applied to heating space or heating water. Find out how to make your own simple rocket cook stove with discarded tin cans.  (Gita Moulton)

Above: Tim Thetford demonstrates the efficiency of his homemade rocket stove at a reskilling event in Olympia in 2012.

FERMENTATION: Aside from the health benefits of the probiotics in fermented foods, interest in fermentation, one of the oldest forms of food preservation, is growing today as a way to prolong the life of food and preserve its quality without refrigerating or adding chemicals. Making sauerkraut and kimchee will be demonstrated. Maybe there will be samples! (Joanne Lee)

NATURAL BUILDING: There is a movement away from conventional resource intensive building with wood to straw bale and cob construction using local renewable resources. Joseph Becker has been experimenting and will bring his Rumpelstiltskin machine to make some "insulating earth" or "light clay straw." It’s fun to watch! (Joseph Becker)

MAKING FIRE: Knowing how to start a fire without matches is an essential survival skill. You never know when you’ll find yourself in a situation where you’ll need a fire, but you don’t have matches. And whether or not you ever need to call upon this skill, it’s just really cool to know you can do it. Watch a quick and simple demonstration on how easy it is to do using just a piece of flint or quartz and a piece of carbon steel. Try it for yourself!  (Glen Buschmann and Janet Partlow)

CANDLE MAKING: How many of us are prepared with candles for light when there is a power outage from windstorms or other emergencies? Having a supply is easy if you have old crayons or candle stubs on hand. And even if you don’t, it’s easy to make your own with local beeswax. Here’s your chance to see how it’s done and give it a try.  (Scott Bishop)

PINCH POTS: A pinch pot is a simple form of hand-made pottery produced from ancient times to the present. Simple clay vessels such as bowls and cups can be formed and shaped by hand using thumb and forefinger, a basic pot making method that’s good for beginners. Try making one! She might even fire it for you if you ask. (Jen Olson)

TOOL SHARPENING: Tool sharpening can be an intimidating skill to master but it’s also an important one to learn. You simply can't do many jobs with a dull tool, and you can perform any cutting task much better and more easily with a sharp one. Watching Rama can give you an idea of how to start with maybe a kitchen knife before tackling the pruners or a hatchet. (Rama Lash)

WEAVING ON A FRAME LOOM: Weaving is one of the oldest surviving crafts. Long before looms were invented to make cloth or rugs, the concept of interlacing fibers was applied to using branches to create fences for protection or twigs to make baskets. Working on a simple frame loom, which you can easily make yourself, is a good way to explore the concept of weaving or maybe make a handbag or placemat. (Barb Scavezze)

WATERLESS TOILETS: There are many good reasons to think about waterless toilets, especially now as we continue with our drought, but primarily, they conserve water. They also manage waste on site or they can convert the waste into fertilizer. Many models, like the one Pat will show you, are available commercially, but you can also build your own. (Pat Holm)

BIKE REPAIR: Economic instability, ever-increasing climate change and the environmental risks associated with oil extraction are three of the many reasons why riding a bike is an excellent reliable alternative to driving. But it won’t be reliable unless your bike is in good working order. If you bring your flat tires or other minor adjustments or problems, Tim and Michael will help you fix them and give you good tips on tune up and maintenance. (Tim Russell and Michael Loski) 

         

SPINNING WITH A DROP SPINDLE: There is evidence that drop spindles were used to spin fiber as far back as 5,000 BCE. They were the primary spinning tool used to spin all the threads for Egyptian mummy wrappings and even the ropes for ships for almost 9,000 years! It’s a little trickier to learn to use, but a $6 drop spindle will give you yarn just as good as you can get with a spinning wheel. Try your hand at it and maybe pick up a spindle for further practice at home. (Shannon Rae Pritchard)

SEED SAVING: All domestic crops were once from wild seed which Stone Age farmers saved to protect their food supply from unfavorable climate conditions or invading tribes.  Learn how to protect the seeds that perform best on your own land with your own unique growing conditions, and protect them from corporate control. It’s not difficult. (Tanner Milliren)

For more information about the event, contact Gita Moulton, (360) 352-9351 or gitamoulton@earthlink.net.

 Above: A cheesemaking workshop with Kim Gridley at the reskilling event in 2012 was very popular.

For past stories and photos at Little Hollywood about community resiliency and reskilling events, go to www.janineslittlehollywood.blogspot.com and type key words into the search engine.

First Day of Spring in Olympia

 

By Janine Unsoeld

Babies in strollers, puppies on walks, cherry blossoms in bloom, and children of all ages blowing bubbles on Percival Landing…hey, it’s the first day of Spring!

A 22 year tradition continued with bubble blowing on Percival Landing by “The Kiss” statue during the noon hour today. The event happens no matter what the weather – wind, rain, hail, sleet, snow, and yes, sun! This year, it was all sun, blue skies, and puffy white clouds, with just the right amount of wind to help blow the bubbles up into the air.

Above: Ten children from Debbie’s Daycare in Tumwater participated, and many others who heard about the event, or just happened to be walking by. Many said they will come back next year. The tradition will continue!

There are many critical life lessons to be learned during the tricky craft of bubble making and blowing. For the adults, the secret formula for the perfect bubble juice is very exact and concoction amounts must be measured carefully for the creation of awesome bubbles.

For the children, patience, too, is key: bubbles don’t always work out, depending on the wind and other factors, especially when other children take great joy in stomping and popping them before they get too far away.

Above: One boy received a private lesson on the art of bubble making from Gita Moulton, left, as he used a special wand that opened and closed. He showed great patience and his efforts paid off splendidly.

Above: Devon D., an artist who was making a rubbing of nearby tile art onto black construction paper, also came by to participate in the festivities.

A great time was had by all!

 

 

 

First Day of Spring Brings It On

 

Cedar, 5 1/2 years old, tries his hand at bubbleblowing today on Percival Landing, as Julia Crane-Jacobs, 6, upper left, does not seem to know that a bubble is following her home.

by Janine Unsoeld
www.janineslittlehollywood.blogspot.com

A few brave, bundled up folks continued a 20 year tradition of greeting the first day of spring with a celebration near The Kiss statue on Percival Landing today. Bubbleblowing and camaraderie kept muscles moving throughout the noon hour.

"This is a lot harder than it looks!" said Hildi Flores, who participated in the celebration for the first time. Wind gusts often stole her bubbles away before they ever had a chance.

Cedar, 5 1/2, felt the heavier bubble wands played a factor in the making for better bubbles.

Gita Moulton said she has experienced snow flurries during the celebration on the first day of spring before, but heavy rain and sudden wind gusts are worse, and do not make for good bubbles. Brief bursts of sun were welcomed.

Sponsored by People-Who-Know-We-Live-In-A-Great-Place, come wind, rain, sleet, snow, hail, or high water, or maybe even sun, the celebration occurs regardless of the weather.

The weather today provided for some dramatic scenes, as a rainbow threatens to burst forth over The Kiss statue and Budd Inlet.

Skill Sharing Promotes Community Resiliency

Above: Tim Thetford demonstrates the efficiency of his homemade rocket stove at a day of re-skilling workshops in Olympia today.

Skill Sharing Promotes Community Resiliency

By Janine Unsoeld

www.janineslittlehollywood.blogspot.com

Many excellent events were scheduled throughout the South Sound today, on what turned into a beautiful sunny day, extending summer into fall. Over 150 people chose to attend a day of interactive activities and hands-on learning held at the Quaker Meeting House in Olympia near Priest Point Park.

About 15 workshops and several on-going demonstrations centered on the idea of “re-skilling” – the learning of basic skills that were often common knowledge to our parents and grandparents.  These skills, needed to survive potentially tougher economic times, climate disruptions, and energy shortages ahead, encourage personal and community self-sufficiency.   

“This is everything I needed to know!” exclaimed Diane Grace, of Olympia, after attending the “How to Build a Rocket Stove” presentation by workshop coordinator Tim Thetford. A retired dietetic technician, Grace is a compost instructor at Sunrise Garden. She was interested in learning how to prepare food in emergencies.

“We need to know how to prepare food in an emergency (without electricity), how to heat water to cook legumes, and have a knowledge of complete nutrition in such a situation…,” said Grace.

Workshops such as learning how to make solar collectors, rocket stoves, and cold frames, beekeeping, candlemaking, cheesemaking, wild harvesting, weaving, animal husbandry in an urban environment, and bio-sand water filter demonstrations kept coordinators and participants busy all day. Several short films on these issues were also featured in a quiet side room.  Regular refreshments allowed many people to stay all day.

Throughout the day, as new people continued to arrive, many workshop coordinators patiently repeated their presentations as people milled around, ducking in and out of activities throughout the grounds. Children also had plenty to do and learn.

Seeing a diversity amongst those in attendance, the power of social media, community groups, and good, old-fashioned word of mouth were attributed as the answer to my question for people I did not recognize, when I asked them how they heard about the event. In order are their responses:

“Facebook”

“Facebook”

“At a VBC event” (Village Building Convergence)

“Email, through the TESC Crier” (the internal email system for The Evergreen State College)

“StreetBank”

“FOR” (Fellowship of Reconciliation)

“My friend Joe”

“Lisa Smith” (Smith is coordinator of Enterprise for Equity in Olympia)

“Through my Permaculture Design Certification class” (at Evergreen)

“Joseph Becker”

“Through the Quaker meeting”

“From a flyer at the Lacey library”

“A friend told me”

“FaceBook”

 

 

Above: David Wittenborn demonstrates how to make a pop and/or beer can solar collector.

David Wittenborn of Yelm provided a lesson on creating a pop and beer can solar collector. Wittenborn is new to the area, having arrived from Chicago two and a half years ago.

“I worked on Wall Street, quit that in 1998, and have been self-employed ever since,” said Wittenborn. He is now a dealer for a solar oven company and creates websites.  Later, Wittenborn announced that the solar panel he had made earlier and placed in the sun was now registering a 177 degree air output.  “It shows you what you can make with trash and found materials…there are so many ways you can make this work.  It’s not the Space Shuttle,” he told the crowd. His solar panel cost about $8 to make, he said.

 

 

Above: Scott Bishop shows the Jennings-Mapp family, Calder, 4, Athena, 12, and mom Kendra, the fine art of candlemaking.

Nearby, Scott Bishop demonstrated how to recycle the wax from used candles to create new candles. Bishop said he’s been making candles for about 20 years. “Don’t leave it in too long, it’ll melt right back off,” he cautioned Athena Jennings-Mapp, 12.  When asked by a workshop observer, Bishop did not recommend using crayons for adding color to candles. “It makes candles smoke when lit,” he said. Bishop says he gives his homemade candles to his church.

Building a money-free economy through local skill trading builds a stronger community.  Robin Lee and Joanne Lee co-coordinated a workshop featuring alternative currency models. Playing a game with workshop participants, each person described what skills they have, and what they need.  Noting hesitation, the coordinators told stories about how hard it can be for some people to think about what skills they could offer.

“We all have something to give,” said Joanne Lee, a life coach. “For example, I’m a yoga teacher, and I need someone to take pictures,” she offered.  An Evergreen student with a Canon digital camera offered her photography skills, then kept the ball rolling by saying she has about 15 large storage containers full of beautiful fabrics such as bridal silks, satins, and wool.  She said she was a seamstress and could make clothing. A man said he repairs electronics, and needs some mulch, help stripping wallpaper, and access to a lawnmower. The conversation continued, with everyone pretty excited, exchanging business cards and contact information, by the end of the workshop.

“Random exchanges – our needs can be met.  It just takes us to be active,” said Joanna Lee.

Robin Lee agreed. “Networking, meeting your neighbors, weekly street potlucks…We can come and share to be nourished in different ways and attend to individual needs.  When we exchange skills, hours for hours, we’re generating a different kind of wealth.  I feel rich when I come home to a clean house, when I can get that service that I ordinarily wouldn’t be able to afford.  I have really seen how a community is built.”

Gita Moulton, the tireless and dedicated community organizer who put countless hours into making the event successful, along with co-coordinator Susi O'Bryan, said she wants to do another re-skilling event in February, centering on crafts and cooking local foods.  

“We need to keep this going,” she said, humbly setting out more homemade refreshments and preparing yet another pot of coffee for attendees.

Several local organizations and resources encourage skill sharing and community transition building. Go to www.oly-wa.us/transitionolympia for more information.

Above: Gita Moulton made sure workshops presenters and participants had plenty of nourishment through the day today.