jb

Yo Folx!

At last count our snowboard design is in the running for the top 5 boards in the Arbor/REI snowboard design contest. It’s a pretty tight race, tho – anyone could win. The contest is over this Sunday, 1/10/10: please vote if you like our design...every vote counts!



For those having trouble voting, here’s instructions:
1) create an REI account here:
https://www.rei.com/RegistrationView?storeId=8000

2) vote with the “thumbs up” button here:
http://findout.rei.com/photo-detail/?id=9101782009154881036



The whole process shouldn’t take more than a couple of minutes. :)

If we win, we will donate the total amount of the gift certificate to the American Cancer Society in my mom’s name. The grand prize winner is $1000, the 2nd – 5th prizes are $500.

If you feel so inclined, please point folx to our facebook event invite here:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=191756493911&index=1


Thanks to everyone who has already voted and spread the word! Apologies if you’ve seen this message more than once.

Much love,
Michael

My adoptive grandmother, my Grammy, died on Christmas Day. I just found out.* I am on a red-eye tonight to Boston to make the funeral tomorrow in Maine. This could be a can of worms. I hope it's not. I may pass through Rockland while I'm there.

She was a truly sweet and pure-hearted woman; an absolutely wonderful grandmother to me while I was growing up. I have so many good and happy memories of her. She was the youngest of 17 children and grew up in pretty destitute poverty in Rockport. My grandparents created a comfortable, if tiny, home for themselves.

I have a lot of love for that woman.
















* Without going into graphic detail, let me just say that this family was heavily fractured. Her late husband had a falling out with his two natural daughters who are not listed on the obituary. I think that she was an innocent bystander in all of the tempest. I always felt awful that she got dragged into the drama. She is the purest memory I have of my childhood -- which is saying a mountain.

a small documentation of mural art along international blvd to west oakland. dig.

(also, there's no part 2)

- - - - -

Driving from East to West Oakland
to See Our Walls Speak (part 1)
By La Carpa del FEO: Fandango en East Oakland

Friday, February 13, 2009

One Sunday a week after the BART police killing of Oscar Grant III I took a drive from Oakland's eastern edge with San Leandro, driving down Foothill and then turning right on 103rd or so and driving west on East 14th, aka International Boulevard, all the way to West Oakland, to drive a bit on Mandela Parkway and the surrounding neighborhoods.

I took photographs of murals, graffitti and other commercial and non-commercial art on walls and in windows.

This is the visual record of that Sunday morning driving east to west with a beautiful sun shining on our tragedies and daily tribulations of work, family, community and survival...

read the rest here