"Waiting" chair installation progress and first glimpse

Today I finished GAP chair #9. That makes a total of 19 fired and filled chairs  (Pre-op and Post Op) that I have mocked up on a board, and 1 Post-Op and 9 GAP chairs waiting to dry and be fired. I feel like I am progressing with the installation, and I am still engaged in the process of the piece, so I will continue moving forward!

Wonderful News on the Plastic Bag Ban in Portland with a note from Mayor Sam Adams

  Last Friday, I made public the City’s draft plan to ban single-use plastic carry-out bags and have stores collect 5-cent charges on paper bags. And over just the past weekend, support for the approach has been on the rise.  

• First, the Oregonian published an editorial on Saturday supporting our approach. You can read that editorial by clicking on this link: http://www.oregonlive.com/opinion/index.ssf/2010/07/time_to_take_aim_at_plastic_ba.html
  
  
• Then, on Sunday, Fred Meyer Stores announced their plan to stop using single-use plastic carry-out bags in all their Portland stores starting August 1, 2010! I applaud Fred Meyer for their leadership on this issue. Fred Meyer joins other great brands in our region that have made the transition away from plastic and toward paper and reusable bags. Some stores -- like Zupan’s Marketplace, Whole Foods and Market of Choice have shifted away from single-use plastic carry-out bags for years. Others, like New Seasons Market, have never offered plastic bags, responding to shoppers’ demands for paper and reusable bags.
  
  
• And great advocacy organizations like Surfrider Foundation and Environment Oregon continue their grassroots outreach, adding thousands of supporters in the region to their efforts to Ban the Bag. To learn more and get involved, go to: http://www.environmentoregon.org/great-pacific-cleanup/local-efforts/portland
  
  
• So, to add your voice to the conversation about banning plastic bags in Portland, visit www.mayorsamadams.com/bagban, take a look at the proposed ordinance and Frequently Asked Questions, and leave us a comment. The deadline for public comments is this Friday, July 23.

It’s time for Portland to take action. Portlanders are ready, Portland’s businesses are ready, and the approach is right. Please join me and thousands of your friends and neighbors, and remember to thank those stores that are making the move to ban plastic bags.

 

Sincerely,

 

Sam Adams

Mayor, City of Portland

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Ban on Plastic Bags in Portland Update

Moments ago, Portland Mayor Sam Adams announced that Portland will ban plastic shopping bags. He will layout his plan today at the Ban the Bag Rally, at 12 noon.  
After Oregon legislators revealed they are considering a ban on plastic shopping bags, the Ban the Bag coalition announced a Ban the Bag action occurring today,  Wednesday July 14th. The day's actions, sponsored by Environment Oregon and the Portland Chapter of the Surfrider Foundation,  started at 9 a.m. with supporters presenting a petition to city councilors urging them to ban the environmentally damaging bags.
Not only are millions of barrels of oil used to make the nearly 100 billion plastic shopping bags we use annually, but they can wreck havoc on the machinery at  recycling centers; which may be why 95 percent of the bags end up in landfills. 
The new statewide legislation being considered in Oregon would encourage shoppers to use fabric or other reusable bags by banning the plastic ones at checkout counters and charging a nickle for every paper bag shoppers used.
At the rally today, other speakers will join Mayor Sam Adams, there will be a display of plastic and entertainment by the Bag Monsters.
The day of action will conclude tonight at 6 p.m. with a  Pint Night, at the headquarters of Portland's hybrid shoe manufacturer,  Keen Inc.  Sponsored by Ninkasi Brewing, the evening will also feature raffle items:
* Gear from Portland companies NAU and Keen
* Gift certificates from Oregon Surf Adventures, Looptworks, Gorge Performance and Lizard Lounge
* 10 Jack Johnson concert tickets
* Dakine backpacks
* Smith glasses
12 noon, rally at City Hall, 1221 SW 4th Ave.
6 pm Pint Night and raffle at Keen Headquarters,  926 NW 13th Street.

Rest and Renewal

Today is the first day that I begin the GAPS program, and I am allowing myself some retreat time this week to nurture my body, mind and spirit, and through this I know I will do some deep long overdue healing. I am cooking away, creating bone broths for my intro cleanse using the crock pot lovingly given to me by my biggest supporter and coach through all this, my daughter Jenni, with her infinite wisdom about health, food and life.

On a lighter note, I was reflecting on a few photo accomplishments this past month,. I submitted three photographs that I have taken on my many excursions in Portland, and out and about in Oregon accompanied by my trusty friend, my camera. I was honored to have them posted on various sites and given three wonderful gifts to honor my participation and the beauty of my pictures. I have been gifted with a rafting trip down the Deschutes River, a gift card to a local coffee shop, and 6 pounds of organic local coffee!! How cool to be rewarded for doing what I love to do. Very encouraging and wonderful when others see and honor the beauty of my labors of love! Although I wish I could totally let go of "ego",  I am admittedly human,  and external acknowledgment,  just plain feels good!  

I also unloaded my first "Chair Installation" kiln firing. I then mounted the white ceramic chairs on a wall to begin building and creating my installation. At present, I have 3 pre-op and 18 post-op chairs that are mounted, and each holds and item of special meaning to me that represents time, the detritus of everyday life, the things I have been collecting and saving along the way to my healing, be it hand, health, spirit, and/or life. The working title of the piece is "Waiting". I will be posting pictures as soon as I take them. Until then, I am continuing to sculpt chairs....... one down ??????? to go! Will I actually end up creating 365 hand built small chairs, or 105? Time, patience and engagement in the process will tell.

I need to focus on these positive accomplishments more than ever now, when I am feeling a bit drained and lacking the physical and emotional energy to create in a concrete way. For now I am germinating~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Pain vs Pleasure

We began the dance evening Tuesday with a casual discussion, dealing with the idea that Tony Robbins addresses, that we are much more likely to do things in the avoidance of pain rather than just in service of pleasure. What is it that motivates us to change to intentionally create a life filled with less pain and more pleasure?

"A real decision is measured by the fact that you've taken a new action. If there's no action, you haven't truly decided."~ Tony Robbins

This all resonated with me as I embark upon my journey to health beginning this Sunday by implementing the Fourfold Path To Healing

We continued our intent to all dance to the same chosen line for the evening, a shared language, still from Mary Oliver's poem Blossom. The line for the evening was......... "before death, nights in the swale- everything else can wait but not....................." We went around the circle and each read the phrase in our own way, each of our intonations lending a different meaning to the phrase. We then each pulled a word that spoke to us the most. Mine jumped out to choose me....BUT..... It made me think about the buts, the excuses that I make to myself to avoid pleasure, to allow pain, and to not implement the steps that I must empower myself with, in order to create health. I danced, I danced hard, I danced dark, I tried to dance in community, I danced alone, I danced the buts, and I danced the hopes and I danced the possibilities, the change. The final song of the evening, that seems to always be played just for me, to totally fulfill my needs of the moment...............once again, the Sam Cooke song, A Change Is Gonna Come, with the yet forever relevant and very powerful lyrics "It's been a long, a long time coming. But I know a change gonna come."  I truly believe it is!............ I have to.

Working toward Baning Plastic Bags in Portland

Portland Mayor Sam Adams told Sustainable Life last year that he favored a ban on plastic bags in the city, and he tried to have a committee work on the issue. But then the issue was dropped when the recession hit. Adams said in February 2009 that it wasn’t the time to impose a 5- to 20-cent tax on plastic bags when people were struggling to make ends meet.

But Stiv Wilson, a Portland environmental activist who’s leading a “Rise Above Plastics” campaign, says it’s time to revive the proposal for a bag tax or outright ban. The Northwest Grocery Association is even willing to work with the effort, Wilson says.

“To us this is low-hanging fruit, a no-brainer, a win-win,” he says. “I think we’re falling behind.”

As communications director for 5 years – a nonprofit group that also aims to ban plastic bags globally – Wilson says he went to Geneva, Switzerland in June to talk to the United Nations, at the U.N.’s request, to discuss plastic pollution in the world’s oceans.

Wilson plans to address the Portland City Council July 14, then hold a day of events including a 6 p.m. celebration at the Keen Inc. shoe company’s Pearl District headquarters, 926 N.W. 13th Ave.

“What I cannot stand is we live in this progressive community, we have a fairly progressive City Council, and every time the economy is in trouble, this argument between environment and jobs comes up,” Wilson says. “It’s false, it’s just not true.”

For more information on the campaign, see www.banthebagspdx.com .

– Jennifer Anderson