May Day; M’Aidez
Longest blog yet at almost 2k words and 40% of them are about one cool event pertaining to sustainability. Let's go Meet the Ocean, a 501c3 nonprofit dedicated to creative science communication!
My intentions to post by the end of May were thwarted by living life and going out to hear live music and catch up with a friend on the phone rather than stay home and stare at my laptop screen. This week was quite busy as well, so we’ll just see how long my updates are offset. There are now 24 subscribers so at least that number is growing!
Yoga
For two weekends I covered a brunch-hours cleaning shift at the yoga studio while our karma yogi coordinator was on vacation. The first weekend I accidentally arrived eight minutes late and was locked out. Rather than wait in the parking lot, I was able to run a coffee bean grinding errand. The tidiness of all the laundry I did that day certainly made up for that morning’s tardiness. The following week, I made a point to clean every mirror in the studio – what an arm workout! Both of these Saturday shifts included an hour spent in a hot yoga class led by a teacher with my own name! I seriously adore the community here. Fridays, of course, continued to include upside-down silk time during Aerial Strength with Rylee, a 22yo with immense aura. Last week I ended up in a 90 minute deep stretch class with Paris and it really did feel nice to slow down for a while though I personally prefer an active flow.
Sustainability
The final Friday of this month brought a last-minute event for Meet the Ocean, a group I’ve intermittently volunteered with since October 2024. I know the founder by association, tabled an event last fall, and have been working on a temporary tattoo packaging project which is why I was involved Friday night! From 7-9p at Experiment PDX, an improvisational sound/science experience called “The Deep Speaks” was performed. It was a hilarious, collaborative affair between Paul North and a one-night-only DJ set by a member of Caicedo.
I kept an eye on the application station for plankton-shaped temporary tattoos and at one point even commandeered a near life size penguin puppet. I found out that at least one poster at an art store near a dessert shop brought in some of the audience. This improvisational experience began with an invitation: "I want you to feel at home in the ocean because in time we all end up in the deep." Only two rules were established for the evening; 1) you have to enjoy yourself and 2) when the music isn't playing, raise your hand to ask any questions. The first question was an identification inquiry for what ended up being a two-valve tunicate, a relation to humans via phylum Chordata.
To reiterate verbatim: sea stars are more important than celebrities! The purple ones on the beach are called ochre sea stars. They have an eye at the end of each arm and sea star babies have a mouth that eventually runs away from them. Wild. Sea urchins are known as echinoderms which is Latin for “hedgehog skin.” Speaking of eyes and sight and creatures of the sea, pirates often wore eyepatches to improve their night vision for going below deck or marauding! Did you see it before it* was gone? *It being the beauty of our natural world. Extinction is a four letter word!
Four letter words and four sided shapes have more in common than you’d think. Much like squares and rectangles, "dolphins are whales but whales are not dolphins; sleep on that one tonight." There is a system called laminar flow which all whales have. It is a mechanism to expend less energy while swimming through the water. Enchanting equilibrium! When dolphins talk to each other, they're essentially speaking shapes and can tweak this communication via higher or lower pitches. I’m hyped on their abilities, especially after seeing the dolphin show at the Georgia Aquarium, but disdainful of their violent tendencies. They’re really very like us. Want to hear a crazy ocean fact? Angler fish flesh merges between the much smaller male and host female to deliver reproductive material by the bloodstream — aka: cronenbergian as fuck.
Extinction is a four letter word. Polar bears don't like to swim. Nevertheless we saw multiple photos of polar bears swimming in the deep during the slideshow. To the surprise of most of the audience, polar bears are marine mammals with webbed toes. However, they mostly spend time on ice, avoiding the water for energy conservation. They are hypercarnivores with a biting pressure of 1200 psi still racing towards the end. Comparatively, the biting power of a crocodile is 3700 psi! Our attending guest DJ member of Caicedo was dressed as a crocodile. Could he handle a bear on his own? Hopefully he’ll never know. Though just one representative of the band was maestro of the night, it is a musical project with origins in Guadalajara Mexico. In honor of Hispanic heritage, there were relevant fun facts such as the first underwater photo of a polar bear being taken by a Mexican photographer. As the story goes, he nearly died when the polar bear swam out of sight and ended up behind him! Additionally, Mexico was the first nation to defend the whales. Five paragraphs into this subject and there are still details left out. You simply had to be there for the full majesty of this performance. That’s improv, baby!
Countless advancements have created a society where there is more knowledge than ever but less community than ever. On the whole, we always want to invent a solution instead of extracting our current status quo. Coming together for events like this proves that people care. This planet is our home and endless growth is impossible with finite resources. An attendee spoke with me afterwards and recommended the documentary “ALBATROSS” which is about how plastic pollution is impacting birds of the Midway Atoll. It’s heartbreaking but the dire state of the world must be addressed. Ignoring it won’t save us. In a feat of universal alignment, we returned to the car where the song continuing to play was “Sea Talk” from the album Stridulum by Zola Jesus. Catch her on her current North American tour!
Food
In case you didn’t read my previous blog, it was my birthday! To celebrate, we went to an altogether too-late dinner (should’ve eaten a snack before) at an excellent German restaurant in town called Gustav’s. I ordered Kohlrouladen (beef, veal, & pork cabbage rolls, tomato stock, mashed potato) and salmon crostinis which were on the specials menu for Mother’s Day. Martyn had Sauerbraten (braised beef, spätzle, red cabbage, sweet & sour gravy) and Bier onion soup (beer-braised onion, beef broth, crostini, swiss). We went back again in between films on a double-feature day and shared an appetizer of Currywurst (pomme frites, bratwurst, curry ketchup) followed by the Cordon Bleu (chicken, black forrest ham, swiss, mashed potato, haricot vert, and mustard jäger sauce) then ending with Brotpudding (croissant, vanilla custard, raisin, whiskey caramel, and ice cream).
Music
It bears some marginal level of celebration that Taylor Swift regained ownership of her masters. Years of hard work and talented, catchy, money-making music deserve to be in the hands of those producing the work. Any artist deserves recognition and profit from their efforts. I am writing this while streaming Reputation for the first time in years, not including the numerous times I watched The Eras Tour on Disney+. After witnessing The Deep Speaks and purchasing a vinyl copy of Pasará by Caicedo, the record was enjoyed while lounging in the golden glow of a late-spring afternoon. The days grow longer, yet tunes spring eternal. The evening after this event we went to what felt like a house show, but the space was certainly set up for crowds. Just Portland things, I guess! My favourite act of the night was an indie folk act called Wild Flowers. One can do no better than following up a fine musical act than with a glorious smashburger and drink at a clown bar. I repeat: Portland Things!
Photography
Remember when I said I had a tale of woe regarding photography? Well! In the words of the subject, I am a photography necromancer and found the secret folder where I had saved 1300 proposal pictures! More tears were shed finding them than were in thinking they had all been somehow deleted. Not crying at the first thought of losing all those beautiful memories could have been an expression of shock. I was in utter disbelief at them not being find-able and perhaps counted on them turning up (denial) to postpone mourning. Thank GOODNESS they were hiding deep within my laptop! The words of wisdom I intended to impart were going to be about investing in an external harddrive and backing up anything important to you. Regularly! Have a digital copy. Have a physical copy. Print your photos. Make a scrapbook and live a little! Life is too short to almost delete your client’s proposal pics. All of this holds true in the universe where those photos are gone and in this one where they came back. A photographer friend recommended this portable harddrive and I would trust her professional opinion.
Death Doula-ship
This month, one year after I began my educational foray into traditions around the end-of-life, I received approximately 20 hours of training to be a hospice volunteer for PeaceHealth. Two half-day sessions in person and 12 online hours have equipped me to mindfully spend time with the dying and accurately report each visit. While I was focused on that, I skipped hosting a community death cafe. I’m wondering if I should start another Substack specifically for the contacts I make in that realm of work. Would they want to read the rest of this blog? Maybe.
Film
Thoughts on “Clown in a Cornfield” between Martyn and I were as divided as at least one head in this camp-claps-back cinematic masterpiece. I was a fan of the protagonist’s exaggerated movement in various scenes — particularly while running. Sometimes it felt a bit like overacting, but if you’re not going to give your all, why get into acting? The family dynamics developed well, there was a queer relationship and a character who reminded me of a college friend. Would 100% watch again during prime spooky time. During “Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning” Tom Cruise goes full hell yeah mode. At one point my heart was racing and my hands were so sweaty from the IMAX action onscreen before me that I was gripping my cardigan sleeves and doing circle breathing to calm my nervous system. This was overacting in a league of its own! “Friendship” — if Paul Rudd and Tim Robinson don't get butts in seats, what will? We've been watching for tickets to be available at a wider selection of theaters for weeks. We tried to buy seats so quickly the widget couldn't handle it! We're flinging lines from I Think You Should Leave and They Came Together and Wet Hot American Summer far more than your average couple. Perhaps this still isn't enough. Do I have your attention? Go see Friendship. “Thunderbolts*” was a Marvel movie. Darker. Topical. Set up the coming iteration. What else is there to say? Florence Pugh is stunning in everything she performs; I’m just hoping she keeps up the indie films as an Avenger.
Congratulations and thank you for making it to the end! This was a long one, but May had a lot happening. April showers bring May flowers and this one felt like a bouquet. Don’t forget to subscribe and share with anyone who may enjoy these topics and my quips. Cheers!