Pursue Vermont Study Session

Before I drop my upcoming post on the Vermont youth diaspora, take a look at the PursueVT outreach program website at http://www.pursuevt.org/ ...context is key for this one.

Jonesville floods, Richmond celebrates by further tightening local zoning regulation

Painting is underway and we are to open soon! More importantly, yesterday brought with it some phenomenally warm rain and a corresponding river adventure with friends at the Huntington Buckets.

Last week I had a great discussion with Rachel Sherman, staff writer at the Champlain Business Journal. We talked about the store, about the Jonesville community, and about Vermont's shrinking youth population. We met this week for a walkthrough and to continue our conversation. Near the end of the visit, I took a few minutes to make introductions with Gary Svetlik, who operates a custom wood design studio next door. Few people, including many Richmond residents, are aware that Jonesville has a vibrant and expanding business community. Gary is continually flooded with new orders for custom cabinetry, tables, vanities, etc., while starting renovations for his new showroom. Peter Mumford runs the successful Perfection Motorsports & Trailer Sales operation just up the road, and we have three mechanic shops servicing small engines, motorcycles and automobiles respectively…and that's just along Rt. 2 corridor.

I'll be posting later to discuss the Vermont youth diaspora. The state wants us penned and fixed to the tax milking station, The University needs us to continue its diabolical experiment in mutating itself beyond the city's carrying capacity (a groovy sidestep from eugenics) and the towns just want to know when we plan on shutting up.

Gnome remains discovered in Jonesville

The LTCM archeological team has recently uncovered the remains of at least thirty-six individuals of the H. genomos horti species, commonly referred to as lawn gnomes. The bones were recently transported to the Smithsonian Institute for radiocarbon dating. Leader of the militant lawn gnomes, Che Gnombre, will be holding a press conference on the findings.

...stage one, complete...

Guerrilla adventures in Jonesville

It's been a great couple of days-projects, hiking, friends, and food. Last night we had a late night gathering to work on some secret projects and brainstorm on our latest guerrilla marketing adventures. We've got some really inventive stuff in the offing…brace yourselves! Our latest designs are with Tess and Torrey at New Duds. "Backcountry Pizza: Stick To Your Morels," and "Jonesville Works For You," are available for sale at fifteen bucks a pop…give us a shout at 802.434.7197. You may see a few individuals rockin' the "Jonesville Underground" tees, but we can't say much about that. ;-)

...don't forget to follow us on Twitter too!

Oi!

Good to have Mel back...confirmed that the buzzzzzzzzzzz is OUT and STRONG!









...secret projects underway!

Trendy marketing makes me gag

I hate texting, don't own a television and swear by my walks in the woods, yet through this little venture I've been forced to invest heavily in Borg technology. It's bad enough I had to add a phone line at the store so telemarketers could harass me in the wee hours of the morning, but now I find myself confined by the insidious trappings of web market mechanisms. Facebook is literally one big add. From time to time it gets poked and prodded to look like the user has more control, but that's really not the case. You are either forced to suffer their sidebar adds, or worse-make them go away by providing free market research. The trouble is, you've unwittingly enhanced their ability to accurately profile you...so now, Facebook knows that I'll be going to Gathering of the Vibes even before I do. Blogging sucks equally, especially when combined with Google Analytics. It gives you way too much to think about, and it becomes a slightly narcissistic indulgence every time you see how many people read your posts. Plus, it's fun to cheat...try dropping a post on craigslist or any number of your other soul/time-sucking marketing apperatii, link it back to your blog, and boom! Your numbers go through the roof. Twitter, on the other hand, is nothing more than a voyeuristic indulgence. Don't get me wrong, I love spontaneity, but Twitter begs compulsion and immediacy, which is why they allow you to post from your cell phone via text message. For example, if I had Twitter a few days ago, I would have been furiously "tweeting" away on my phone as my delightful neighbor berated me earlier in the week...


...mark my words, by 2020 we'll be detaching usb cables from our babies instead of umbilical cords!

Watch me relax on telephone lines and drop gifts on car windows at:
http://twitter.com/IndieMarket

Jonesville works for you!

A little bit of history behind this design…In 2006 I spent two weeks in Nicaragua, just prior to the fall elections in which Daniel Ortega was re-elected president (having previously served from 1985 to 1990). I went down to oversee construction on our hotel, and to negotiate real estate tie-ins for our travel agency. One of my partners had a direct familial affiliation with President Arnoldo Alemán, one of the world’s 10 most corrupt leaders according to Transparency International.

Unlike most people who visit the area as tourists or relief workers, I stayed as a guest with some of the most influential people in the country. I had the surreal experience of spending my time with the men whose classist perspectives and racist tendencies shaped the economic and political landscape I found myself operating in. The events of that trip haunt me to this day, and prompted the immediate shift into social and community services; a self-imposed penance for my naivety as much as a desire to do good work.

The figure depicted is that of El Guerrillero sin Nombre (The Nameless Guerrilla Soldier), a monument in the capital city of Managua. It is the vessel through which I process the events of my adventure in Nicaragua. The rest of the imagery is pretty self-explanatory. Questions and comments are always welcome.

Thanks again to Shawn Patrick Rice for helping me visually articulate this process.

Get ready Richmond!

Brooklyn artist and Jonesville native, Maxwell, has escaped the hedonic, bourgeois-bohème innards of The City for a few weeks of clean air and adventure. Max will be collaborating with us on some projects, and helping out with principal photography on our series…as if the blog wasn't terrifying enough, now we've added cameras!




…run.

A very good day

"Water" was theme for Friday at the LTCM project. It came first in the form of surveyors who will lift us out of the floodplain, making the process of conducting business with the town significantly easier. It removes one of the largest obstacles to our long-term viability.

The second came in the form of a watershed event; a confrontation I had to endure, the end of which has been dramatically recreated:

"The youth could not hear the man's petty howls of insult as he walked away, only the seed of desperation on his tongue. For the first time, the man had no audience-no one to placate his wild demands and no sympathetic chorus echoing up from the tired, gray buildings. On this morning, there would be neither kowtow nor surrender from the confident youth, only stoic disengagement. The message hit the man with immeasurable weight and clarity. He knew that his days of riding roughshod over the peaceable were finished."

Scratching the surface

It was yet another delightful morning in Jonesville, Vermont. The survey crew was over gathering preliminary data for the site design of our new well. One of our neighbors stopped by to wish us luck on the project.

Logo!

Many thanks to the very talented Shawn Patrick Rice. Check out his phenominal work at http://www.imakeart4u.com/