Photo: Steve Rogers, Bread and Butter Adventure Media

A few months back my friend Todd, of The Range Life, sent out an email linking to a slideshow of the previous weekend’s adventure. Usually his shots capture his standard weekend exploits: kayaking and skiing around Washington and British Columbia. These shots were a little different in nature, and had me wondering if Todd had just joined the setup crew for Cirque du Soleil. The first couple of shots focused on a bunch of guys in the woods climbing high into trees, setting all sorts of lines, yanking on z-drags, and smiling really big. The effort looked to be led by climbing extraordinaire Matt Maddaloni, who I’ve personally known as the climbing mastermind behind the zip-line setup used to shoot the whitewater footage in Bryan Smith’s Collective Video, 49 Megawatts, and who has been involved with the construction of most of the zip-line canopy tours around Whistler. With him behind the wheel, this project was bound to be cool.

The remainder of Todd’s shots focused on Matt attempting to free solo a 5.13 named “Young Blood” on a monster boulder adjacent to the site they’d been working on. It seemed like he was making the first few moves just fine, and then kept having issues with the crux of the problem … and falling off. Shots of Matt climbing. Shots of Matt falling in midair. Shots of the ground thirty or forty feet below the boulder. And a few pictures of the mind-blowing creative rope-work that tied the whole event together.

Bryan Smith captured that day on film, and put together a short film, “Young Blood,” that we recently posted to The Collective. Although I’d seen the photos and some small clips of the event, this video really brought home the magic that can happen when a few creative and educated minds go out to expand the boundaries of play. I will be forever impressed and inspired by folks like Matt who have mastered their craft and keep pushing the boundaries of their physical and mental abilities, use available technology in new, daring ways, focus on a minimal footprint, and do it all within a realm of safety. Keep after it!

Check out the video.

Back in November Josie came hopping back to my desk to deliver a very bright box that had just been dropped off by the postman. Handing it to me, she seemed very excited to know what it was. Having no idea myself, we sat down to take a look. The box, a five-inch cube, sported a Pollock-esque paint job of dripping splotches of blue, yellow, purple, magenta, and turquoise on a mauve ground. One side was signed and dated, like a piece of artwork, and a band of clear packing tape wrapped all the way around to hold it together. It was very light and a jiggle revealed no noises from inside. After this once-over of the curiosity, our attention was drawn to the top of the box, where we found postage, my address, a return address, and a large sticker advising in bright red, “HANDLE WITH CARE / FRAGILE / Contains: PEACE.”

The box suddenly gained some heft, and questions began to pour into my head: There’s Peace in here? How does it fit? What does it look like? Will it fly out if I open the box? Do I want to open the box? What can I do with this? Who can I give Peace to? Who needs it most? How on earth did this Peace get addressed to me in the first place? I have to be careful with this!

The mysterious contents of the box beckoned to be seen, but I resisted the urge and did some quick research instead. The home-printed return label listed the sender as “Franck de Las Mercedes” of New Jersey, and listed a website, fdlmstudio.com. A trip to the artist’s site revealed this artifact as part of an extensive series titled, “The Priority Boxes Project,” and along with a form to order one, provided this explanation:

“By using a box format painted on the outside, sent by mail, Franck aims to have people interact with a work of art, from the person requesting one, to the very first change of hands at the post office, all the way to its receiver. By holding and observing one, the recipient can consider what the box suggests it contains, realize the fragility of what they are holding, and in that relation become aware or activate their ability to take action and influence change. The boxes must be free, in order to reinforce and remind us that things like peace and hope are not only free but also a priority.”

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A few weekends ago my family and I headed over to the Tryon Life Community Farm to celebrate in their second annual Harvest Festival. TLC farm, as it is affectionately called, is the product of an ongoing collective of volunteers and 10-15 sustained residents who have put thousands of hours into acquiring the land, staving off development, and fund-raising to pay the mortgage, all while living and promoting their mission, “to grow community learning in Portland while preserving common green space, restoring native ecosystems, and demonstrating sustainable urban density living.”

The small farm, nestled into the woods bordering Tryon Creek State Park, is only a five or six minute drive south from downtown Portland. However, the short walk from the road into the heart of the farm seemed to transport us miles and miles from the energetic pulse of the city and into an urban yeoman’s dream come true. At the harvest festival we checked out the diverse garden and agricultural techniques used on the farm, explored a sauna and adjacent open-air living space made of cob, watched the farm’s chicken tractor in action (a portable chicken coop, left in place for a day or two, will break up the soil and deposit fantastic fertilizer), met a few of the goats used to mow future garden-space, and enjoyed eating and drinking the uber-fresh/organic/local products of a successful harvest. Live music, a raffle, and a gaggle of jubilant children (and adults!) made for a legitimately refreshing, rejuvenating, and inspiring afternoon.

The way a crow
Shook down on me
The dust of snow
From a hemlock tree

Has given my heart
A change of mood
And saved some part
Of a day I had rued.

–Robert Frost’s “Dust of Snow”

A few of us drove towards Mt. Hood for some rock climbing last Saturday, only to find cold rain at our destination. An impromptu hike further up-valley led us through the first snow of the season, and turned into a bit of a recon mission for tours in the coming months. Hooray for snow!!

Chris Jordan recently released a series of prints that describe parts of American culture through the lens of statistics. I find it amazing how the presentation of these numbers affects how we perceive them. Although I’ve been very conscious of our outrageous rates of consumption, gun-related deaths, and incarceration for some time now, no statistic I’ve ever read has evoked the raw emotional impact these prints did.

Last week I had the pleasure of joining several hundred Portlanders to hear author and activist Bill McKibben speak at our colossal local bookstore, Powell’s Books. He began by talking a bit about his latest book, Deep Economy: The Wealth of Communities and The Durable Future, which challenges the premises of our current growth-based economy, provides examples of vibrant local economies around the world, and suggests that many of our current social, environmental, and monetary ills could be alleviated if local regions generated more of their own food, produced more of their own energy, and provided more of their own culture and entertainment.

As McKibben neared the end of his obligatory summary of Deep Economy, his eyes brightened and his voice grew excited for what has been his latest endeavor: organizing a nation-wide collective of events calling on Congress to “Step It Up,â€? and cut carbon 80% by 2050. As I write this, 1,349 “Step It Upâ€? events are planned in all 50 states, and McKibben has been garnering national news attention as the event date, April 14th, grows near.

Although significant downtown rallies are being planned around the nation, most events are spread throughout urban and suburban neighborhoods, so participants won’t have to travel far to find one (what’s the point in fighting climate change if you have to burn a lot of fuel to do it?).

Here in Portland there are ten grass-roots events planned across the city. Between a Polar Bear Plunge in the polluted Willamette River, a Climate Change Awareness Bike Ride, a conference on Melting Mountains, and more, Portlanders have the opportunity to celebrate this “National Day of Climate Actionâ€? however and wherever they see fit.

To find out more about “Step It Up!â€? and learn what events are happening in your community, check out www.stepitup2007.org. Hope to see you here, there, and everywhere.