Jubilee

To be honest, I have no words of my own to describe my experiences from the summer thus far. (If you still don't know or understand what I'm doing this summer, click here.) I expect that I will be processing the constant influx of information some day, but that day won't come for a while yet. Instead, all I have to offer are photos and the words of Wendell Berry. 

"Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front"

Love the quick profit, the annual raise,
vacation with pay. Want more
of everything ready-made. Be afraid
to know your neighbors and to die.
And you will have a window in your head.
Not even your future will be a mystery
any more. Your mind will be punched in a card
and shut away in a little drawer.
When they want you to buy something
they will call you. When they want you
to die for profit they will let you know.

So, friends, every day do something
that won't compute. Love the Lord.
Love the world. Work for nothing.
Take all that you have and be poor.
Love someone who does not deserve it.
Denounce the government and embrace
the flag. Hope to live in that free
republic for which it stands.
Give your approval to all you cannot 
understand. Praise ignorance, for what man
has not encountered he has not yet destroyed.

Ask the questions that have no answers.
Invest in the millennium. Plant sequoias.
Say that your main crop is the forest
that you did not plant, 
that you will not live to harvest.
Say that the leaves are harvested
when they have rotted into the mold.
Call that profit. Prophesy such returns.

Put your faith in the two inches of humus
that will build under the trees
every two thousand years.
Listen to carrion--put your ear 
close, and hear the faint chattering
of the songs that are to come.
Expect the end of the world. Laugh.
Laughter is immeasurable. Be joyful
though you have considered all the facts.
So long as women do not go cheap
for power, please women more than men.
Ask yourself: Will this satisfy
a woman satisfied to bear a child?
Will this disturb the sleep
of a woman near to giving birth?

Go with your love to the fields.
Lie down in the shade. Rest your head
in her lap. Swear allegiance
to what is nighest your thoughts.
As soon as the generals and the politicos
can predict the motions of your mind,
lose it. Leave it as a sign to mark the false trail, the way
you didn't go. Be like the fox 
who makes more tracks than necessary,
some in the wrong direction.
Practice resurrection.

The Northwest

This post is beyond overdue. It's not "oh, I've been 'busy' and haven't had any time" kind of overdue, but the kind of overdue where I've had very limited access to reliable internet for the last three weeks. (If you want to know why, or what I'm doing this summer, you can click here. There will hopefully be more on that later.) Before embarking on this summer's adventures, however, I got the chance to do a little exploring with my mom, which was rejuvenating and wonderful and what a vacation should be. We started in Portland, drove north along the coast, and finished the trip in Seattle. Here are some photos (and a time-lapse--scroll down!). Enjoy!

This time-lapse was more of a challenge to make (relatively) than the others I've made previously due to gimpy tripod issues and struggles with the new version of iMovie, but I thought I would share it anyway.