foss journal

Howler my Friend

fossilosopher — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 05:52:02 GMT

I started using tribe a few years years ago, about the time I met Howler. I see the connections between us all the way through his tribe profile and mine. After i met him at the intention retreat and was greatly impressed by his work to draw people together and share out of each one's truth, I looked through his tribe profile and recognized a friend's back yard in a picture on the album and went and stalked him. We got to be very close friends, even lovers for a while. He wrote comments on my blogs and photos and i on his. I am aligned and resonant with Howler's expressed intentions and last year, in response to his callout on tribe, we worked on two projects together, a communication board game and a sacred dance floor. We were both really sensitive and, well, ended up angry at each other, also aware of deep love on both sides. Howler has now moved on to the afterlife. I and hundreds of others are deeply heartbroken by his sudden departure. He was a wounded healer. His influence on my life is enormous. Friend, our closeness is this: Anywhere you put your foot, feel me in the firmness under you. How is it with this love, I see your world and not you? ~~Jalaladdin Rumi

b:c:clettes stoking sustainable culture

fossilosopher — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 19:48:37 GMT

i rode up the sshcoast to meet my friends who did a one week bike tour of georgia strait. they are an all female dance group that presents an inspiring model of womens empowerment aligned with sustainability and creativity. their dances are all about cycling and they accomplished a tour with four performance gigs on bicycles. some of their boyfriends went along for support and help with hauling a sound system. the group energy is physical and grounded, with good communication and collegiality, the partying, beer based. the last performance was a free show on the mandala at the beach in roberts creek, where i know some galactic elves. no elves came to see the show. some of the audience were old white people who had sung in zulu harmony together just before the clettes show. the clettes were most excited about the gig they did at rathtrevor park near parksville. hundreds of kids camping there had bikes and a bunch of little girl campers made a dance troupe too. it is so sweet that they can take sustainability culture out there and inspire regular folks in campgrounds and smaller towns. i was stoked to hang with them and wore femmy red and black clothes while riding with them.

haircut

fossilosopher — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 16:10:17 GMT

the dog had just chewed the ear off my teddy bear. my mother made a big deal about it and moved teddys arms to the top of his head so he looked like a dog or a rabbit. she made new arms out of holey socks. after she died a few years ago i realised teddy was dead too and i cremated him in the fireplace. note the costume. i still hate shirts and pant legs. other pictures of the budding foss show him shirtless on a trike with a chariot, or playing a tambourine on the trike. Carmen The past lives only in the present, not in crippling nostalgia or artifacts. Glad that the Foss remains prone to innovative haircuts! foss it looks like i d cut my hair myself. i wanted to match the teddy...?? good thing i didnt cut off my ear.

thriving by thrift

fossilosopher — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 16:16:12 GMT

thrift is an old word that has changed its meaning. it used to mean abundance, not stinginess. the british wildflower is called thrift because of its abundant blooms. the word is derived from the verb "thrive" in the same way as "drift" is derived from "drive" or "shrift" and "rift" are from "shrive" and "rive." this is etymology for a recession. it is hard to have a sense of abundance and thriving when we have to cut back our expenditures. i think the consumeristic culture we are soaked in makes us think that thriving and thrift are almost opposites. it is a challenge to have a sense of gratitude and abundance when we have to say "no" to ice cream. the quaker community has a strong tradition of non-consumerism sometimes called voluntary simplicity where people with abundant resources look shabby because they never show their wealth. if my income falls and i have to cut back on luxuries, i have to work extra hard inside my mind to keep an attitude of gratitude and volunteerism, that i choose to consume less because i really do have all i need, and that not shopping is connected to my thriving.

what's my sign?

fossilosopher — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 03:13:52 GMT

this is my hereditary sign. the hand holding a star and moon is like the cosmological alignment that i do, and the motto means that virtue alone is the source of nobility, which represented a very modern ideology when it first appeared in the renaissance. i take it to mean that right livelihood and stoking sustainability brings personal empowerment. the belt means that i am a commoner. my ancestors were peasants and protestant clergy.

meditate globally, celebrate locally

fossilosopher — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 04:19:12 GMT

local celebration is like the 100 mile diet of sustainability stokers. i am delighted to live in a vibrant cascadian community full of artists and artisans in which there are opportunities to share fun in our neigbourhood as part of developing the local sustainable economy. celebrations of local people in their geographic community are a fun damental expression of green economics and even spirituality. so even a house party in january can be a cabaret of class acts and i can walk there or get there on my bike. i have been to fun arty bike culture parties in bellingham and in victoria and intentional dance parties in roberts creek that i got to by bike and ferries. i share rides or take the train to portland a couple of times a year and stay there one or two weeks. in february and june. burning as little fossil fuel as possible when going to a party really feels like being part of and creating a sustainable community. i love it when celebration is intentional as my yoga raver peeps do it. and i love getting there only burning my glutes. so you see, i dont go to burning man on labour day, i party in my own town.

what is fossilosophy?

fossilosopher — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 00:53:08 GMT

hot old eastvan dude, dancing encyclopedia? just before the turning of the millennium, when the dinosaurs against fossil fuels were rampant, carbonisaurus trix (carmen) crowned me "fossilosopher king." this is about a science, a lifestyle and a wisdom tradition woven by fossilosophers as we ride bikes or dance between the fossil record and the galaxy. fossils are part of theoretical fossilosophy because we study the earth story and understand about past extinctions and the global warming today and its implications. the fossil record also shows that creation is an ongoing process of which our tiniest choices can become an important part, rather than something god finished long ago. in fossilosophy, the earth is the holy book. fossilosophers do not respect ancient human texts more than the story of the rocks. the applied part of fossil awareness is about minimizing the burning of fossil fuels and making choices about transportation and diet that will not cause the extinction of life. bikes are part of fossilosophy as a way to reduce fossil burning and a way to get into our bodies. we can develop a more immediate connection to our world and a stronger experience of acting locally. this can include the commitment to party only in one's bioregion or to face winter hardships. the theoretical side of this is what we would call sustainable technology and on another level, a bike can be a prayer wheel and an altar representing the galaxy, upon which we offer our intention and our sweat. the galaxy is a god we can see and align ourselves with. it is shaped like a wheel or a powwow dance floor of celebrants. the galaxy created the earth and solar system and at its heart is an unknowable singularity. the alignment of the earths solstice tilt with the galactic plane is a fact of our age, but fossilosophy is not focused on the year 2012. fossilosophy is about aligning reason and intuition, evidence and mystery. the lineage of fossilosophy is in the living cosmology and creation spirituality of hildegard of bingen, thomas berry, brian swimme and matthew fox. we most respect taqwcoblu and xacz'olton among salish elders. fossilosophers pray in cold water!!!

riddle

fossilosopher — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 22:39:58 GMT

foss' best riddle in foss riddle script it is in english, a rhymed couplet riddle, written in standard spelling the answer is a common noun

depth

fossilosopher — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 23:11:57 GMT

travel can broaden our experience, so that's why we gotta travel. now how do we deepen? does travel and cross cultural experience make a person deeper? [farwell canyon, chicotin river]

sockeye

fossilosopher — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 07:33:45 GMT

the sockeye is the best fish in cascadia. most elegant, strong and mysterious in its knowing home, richest in fleshgiving, most dramatic in journey, most shamanic, emptying, transformative genius loci of the mountain coast. bioligists cant really understand its comings and goings but salish peoples say it is holy and most to be respected among living things the sockeye run is the new year festival. endangered. still here. the river song carries the salmon bones down to the ocean wide. this is the circle dance of death and life, the mystery of renewal and change. oh, the swimmers, the swimmers, the gift of the swimmers. ======================================= linguistic trivia: three words in english come from the fraser river salish language (Halkomelem or hon'q'o'mi'nom') sockeye is one. what are the others? hint: another fish and a mythological creature.

tribal identity

fossilosopher — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 01:00:02 GMT

i hear the word "tribe" used more in the voluntary association with which i celebrate [the dance tribe] than the one in which i have many earthier economic relations [the bike tribe]. on this website most of my connections are with the dance tribe. i believe this site has helped us learn more about our shared interests and aspirations than we would just by grinning at each other on the dance floor. but my house sharing for many years, my important volunteer work and much of my social life are with the bike tribe. i think neo-tribalism is an intentional social movement, a subcultural alternative to industrial alienation. it uses the word "tribe" to show how we reconnect to more organic or primally spiritual life-ways, not because we are a genetic self-sustaining local community like the salish nations. our tribal autonomy might be more ideological than economic or political. what is your sense of tribal identity? how grounded is your tribal membership? [the photo is a few years old: the wholesome undy was the bike tribe alternative to the molson indy]

acknowledging the east

fossilosopher — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 04:01:23 GMT

east is whence our rivers flow rivers of salmon and salmonberry fragrance rivers of generosity and reciprocity rivers of life and sustainability the east is the home of dawn, of hope, prayer, springtime and new beginnings the east is the home of saints and prophets, wise teachings of peoples near and far ========================= shirt free fossilosophy ::: experiencing and representing immediacy and simplicity of connection. fossilosophers pray and align themselves with the universe in ritual nakedness. shirt off is a ritual costume of the galaxy goddess who does not wear a bodice.

circling great crystal mountains

fossilosopher — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 21:21:08 GMT

My recent bike tour was a circuit around the glaciated granite peaks of the southern coast range and a prayer wheel turning with the galaxy goddess. It was a time of crossing space by human power, a time of learning about teamwork and sustainability. I have long wanted to cross the Chilqotin and joined a group ride with John, my bike friend from Vancouver and our Cariboo man Dennis, who drove John and me from Vancouver up to Quesnel, whence the ride set off with Kate and Beth. Dennis is a elementary principal in Quesnel, Kate a physio in Wells who coordinates fun bike tours with friends. Beth from Smithers brought youth and joviality but not padded gloves or toeclips. The three guys are older and queerer than the women. We picked up a bike boy right away, a world traveller, and Johan the Basque joined our route for a while riding down the west side of the Fraser to Mackin Creek organic farm, where we stayed the first night. The second day we bade farewell to Johan on his ride down to Tierra del Fuego and headed west into the Chilqotin. John and Kate had the maps, and I let them lead the ride until the road on top of the plateau turned northward, judging by where the sun was. So that turn was a mistake and we camped by Bullshit lake and filtered the shrimp out of the water but not the alkali. Next morning when we got back to were we'd made the bad turn, I spread out the tarot cards and asked each person to choose one to show what they want from the ride; we got an auspicious spread. Then, by way of the Toosie Res, where we bought up all the granola bars, we carried on to Farwell Canyon. The drive train was creaking on my recycled bike, but I was glad to be on it, for it is custom built and most comfortable, and stokes sustainablitiy wherever it goes. In the canyon, ChilqoTin (Dene) people were dipnetting at the bridge and we went to camp just upstream. It was a spot where people had been drying salmon for millennia in the dry canyon wind, and a rock in the ground there had a mark like the Creator's footprint carved into it. I prayed by riding naked around the rock, and at night I glimpsed a bit of galaxy between clouds. The next leg of the trip was harsh, sharing with many empty and full logging trucks. We could ride in the wheel ruts but it was hard to change between ruts when there's lots of loose gravel. You have to water ski through it. Trying to get out of the way of a truck, Beth crashed in the gravel and bruised her knee. The skin wasn't so badly cut, but a muscle she needed for pedalling kept getting sore and tense. We celebrated John's birthday at a mozzy camp at Fletcher Lake, then went on in the morning to have a cafe breakfast back on the paved highway at Lee's corner. We continued West. I'd brought an extra pair of fat tires that were neither new nor good quality, and one sidewall blew at Redstone. We camped by the Chilqotin river again, at the Provincial Campsite "Bull Canyon" and soaked our arses in the cold water. Beth's knee was sore. The next day when it started hurting, she hitched a ride ahead to set up camp at Tatla Lake forest service campsite. My creaky bottom bracket bearing started wobbling just a little at first then more and more as we rode west on the plateau of dead pines toward the back side of the coast mountain peaks. For a while the road pointed straight at the white peaks of the Waddington range by Bute Inlet. Then the the bottom of the bike screeched and the cranks wouldnt turn, so I pedalled backwards a little and they worked again. When I reached the camp at the lake, I got in the water to chill off my ars and was promptly rimmed by an invertebrate, a danger of which coastal people like me are ignorant, to the amusment of upcountry folks. It was a total bottoming out experience on the backside of the crystal mountains. I put my bike on the campfire grate (there was no fire) and put flowers on it for a funeral and was super sad. The crystal mountains are about memory and integrity. On the backside I remembered not to take pride in my knowledge. The next morning, the bike squeaked in to the hamlet of Tatla Lake, where we were able to have another nice breakfast. The others rode on and I, a middle aged city guy with a broken bike, tried to hitchhike. Well, there were few vehicles passing by. I waited. For ten or fifteen minute stretches, I could neither hear nor see any moving vehicles in the valley. It was quiet. Around noon, a woman with long grey hair driving the other way turned around to talk to me at the same time as a german grandmother and her granddaughter walked up to the road from the store where the r.v. their family had rented was getting fuelled up. All of a sudden I was visited by three strange women of different ages. The German lady wanted to know how long I had been there and said they really didn't have room for me and my broken bike. The hippie lady had been at the music festival in Bella Coola and offered to phone her friend there to pick me up. She gave me her cardboard window shade with three dolphins on it, so I could make a sign. Then I waited by the road all afternoon. Around 5:00 I was ready to quit for the day when a forest service worker who had been passing the bikers all day and wondering what was up gave me a ride. He was interesting to chat with because he is also a cattle rancher and keeps horses to give rides and riding courses to tourists. He slowed down to check for bike tire marks every place my friends could have pulled off the road to camp, but we finally found them in the Nimpo Lake cafe. We camped by the lake and we chatted with old couples who go fishing there every year. They were intrigued by my net suit. The next day we had the best breakfast ever in the same cafe and when everybody left, the sullen man in the back of the cafe offered me and my bike a ride to Bella Coola. This grizzled driver didnt talk much, but at the end of the ride I learned he is a radical political anarchist who wants to abolish property rights, time and the Crown. He learned that I was the fossilosopher on a prayer ride. He let me and my bike out at the top of "the hill" and waited a while before coming down and picking me up at the bottom, so I was able to bomb down one of the longest steepest roads in Canada, in the mist, with slurry and broken rocks all over the roadway zigzagging down a cliff. http://www.bcadventure.com/adventure/travelogs/discovery/discovery.htm The anarchist took me to the r.v. park-motel in Bella Coola town. I rented a little old house trailer for four days, and when the others arrived they pitched their tents there. One evening we had a few drinks at the hotel, then went walking through the res. A res dog accompanied us to the river, where we met a young grizzly investigating the salmon run. The bear ran away from us, the dog ran the other way and we walked fast after the dog. I bought a new bike and sent the broken one home by post for only $25. The last day we were there, it was rainy and we went to see the petroglyphs, ancient faces peering out of the side of the crystal mountain. I'd been in this valley before; its special The Nuxalk people speak a Salishan language that separated from the central coast Salish languages long before the interior languages developed. John and I said goodbye to the others, who were going to be picked up by a friend from Quesnel, and we got on the ferry to the North end of Vancouver Island. It was a 24 hour milk run, passing where McKenzie scratched on the rock when he'd crossed North America by land in 1793 and stopping at two villages. We chatted with some of the other tourists. There was a group of boomer dads with big sons who were dropped off in middle of Dean channel in their kayaks, a large group of Christian Aboriginal youth on a preaching tour and several euro germanics in rented cars and r.v's. At night all passengers bedded down on the recliner seats or on the floor in the lounges, and when we the ferry got into the North Pacific swell, it was really hard to get to the washroom on just two legs. I didn't sleep much but got attuned with the Ocean, which keeps dissolving rocks and mountains and is the mother of life. We went from Port Hardy to Alert Bay and had lunch in a pink restaurant and walked around the town and over to the old residential school, now an admin building and to the Kwakwakawakw' Museum that houses the mask collection the Government of Canada confiscated in 1925 at a big potlatch. http://www.umista.org/home/index.php We took pictures of the Anglican church because John's great uncle had been rector there. We learned more about him when we missed the ferry and went to the museum, where a bright eyed old lady, the local historian, pulled out files about John's family who'd lived there. The great uncle had been the first principal of the residential school, which was initially for industrial training for boys. I know the school as the main destroyer of aboriginal languages on the central coast, so I took a picture of John in front of the it, standing beside a Tsonoqwa basket ogress figure. She is like Hansel and Gretel's witch who steals children to eat, like Canadian Indian policy did. We stayed at a motel in Port McNeill then took two days to get through the North-Island tree farms to Campbell River, where I once lived and worked in the mill. Back in Salish country, I lost John in Courtenay, where I waited 20 minutes for him after crossing the old bridge. I thought he'd got a flat or something so I rode all the 12k back to Merville where I'd seen him last. He'd taken the bypass, which I didn't remember from the 70's, and waited for me for hours in Bowser, then rode on to return to Vancouver a day before I did. John and I both ran into and chatted with our bike mechanic buddy from OCB, Carie, who was riding to Hornby. I woke before dawn on the last day of my circuit of the crystal mountains and had a dip in the cool salt chuck, facing and acknowledging the ice clad peaks before riding down-island to the ferry. (( There are some photos of the ride in my album: http://people.tribe.net/fossilosopher/photos/ ))

fire altar

fossilosopher — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 21:34:59 GMT

Fossilosopher Mon, June 18, 2007 naked fire most of our fires are boxed for more efficient combustion. an open fire makes more smoke, but we like looking into an open fire and watching it dance and change. for more connection and less pollution, make a small fire, get naked and close to it and pay attention. i urge others to learn to pray and make carbon-neutral ritual by burning the internal fire of life in our own bodies. for example, we can burn carbs and offer our sweat on the altar of the dance floor or the bike ride in the intention of bringing healing to the earth and all our relations. this is a strong way to pray. check it out. ============================================================== Fossilosopher Wed, April 5, 2006 what is happening when we light a fire to mark the specialness of a prayer or a celebration? what are the qualities of fire, its symbolic associations that make it the seal of consecration for you? why fire more than earth or air? what are your water rituals like? i am wondering about fire because of something we are learning on a global level: that our species is burning the earth. gawking at firelight enthralled the first humans and now we are enthralled in our fossil burners and our fine nets of electronic light and we end up in ash heaps. some fires make more air pollution than others. how do air pollution and prayer or partying relate? are they necessarily disconnected? have you heard of any ways of celebrating or focusing intention that acknowledge the carbon balance? a community ritual that means a lot to me for this is the spiral that sobey makes in earthdance. the joining of hands and meeting of eyes feels earthy, the movement and the emotion is airy, the spiral shape flows like water and the intention burns without smoke. i really love it that sustainability stokers get together to party or make a parade and show a fun side to a way of life that is about letting go of some aspects of comfort and convenience. and how does fireplay get to be countercultural? ====================================================================================== Sobey Thu, April 6, 2006 fire is primal, and energy, it's a reminder of solar power. it is dancing all the time..i have not spun fire but have been in an art installation at Burning Man intended to give people the experience of dancing with fire..the warmth of it in the cold night is a gift. Burning fossil fuels on the other hand is something we have to collectively ween ourselves off of and I don't see it happening all at once and don't want to fall into constant judgement about it with self or other. If i could drive i would but would prefer to make it running off of biodiesil , water, air, or hydrogen-whatever is most sensical. I want to see both bicycles and sustainable transportation becoming predominant and for it to be accessable to more people. =========================================================================================== RainbOwPen Dragonly Fri, April 7, 2006 interesting angle foss fire spinning is really a trend! But should we allow the trend to flower and empower the gems who shine in the radiant light of this slightly more polluting fire? I've never spun fire before but feel that it is a very sacred act. Fire returns the organic to the earth, reduces the mighty tree to ash. Fire is Hot bright passionate desirous excitement jumping and licking at the darkness with terrible destructive beauty. It's hypnotic & essential. Fires need to be fed to stay alive. *brainstorming* They eventually build a foudnation of glowing embers that appears to me in the most vivid gold shine that i've ever seen anywhere. Primal and ancient. Thanx for the reflective oportunity love ~O~ ====================================================================================================== Mercury Sun, April 9, 2006 My Dear Fossilosopher, I so appreciate your spartan outlook, your daring questions... It's one thing to light a fire that is consecrated and held as sacred. It's another thing entirely to light fires without awareness or appreciation. Too little fire, no spark of life. Too much fire, pile of ashes. Is there a middle way? -Mercury =================================================================================================

cosmology

fossilosopher — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 03:30:39 GMT

starsong, born of mystery ocean, starsong, born of ocean music, starsong, this world we live in, starsong, this world we know. lightcloud, spiral weaving, lightcloud, this world we see. the heartbeat of the universe pulses and sings from out of dreaming on one drum, on one rimless drum.

reconquering south cascadia

fossilosopher — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 17:50:22 GMT

last weekend the loyalist militia of east van bike punks descended on south cascadia and successfully reconquered it in the name of queen boudica. much roman blood was spilt and booty was taken. my favourite videos: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPpdkBa_CRE http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRvM9YM-uAs http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxWpYqhoYPk

the chariot

fossilosopher — Sun, 24 Jun 2007 22:27:48 GMT

i set up my chariot to pull little kids and others around the east van chopperfest at the carfree drive festival. the coloured streamers are inspired by my fave bike art designer in portland. the picture was taken by dustin sacks. he has other pictures of the festival on flikr. http://www.flickr.com/photos/dustinq/sets/72157600394937645/

wht.I.like

fossilosopher — Thu, 20 Apr 2006 14:38:06 GMT

paraphrase of the big words in the first two lines: i like to understand the deeper meaning of our culture of fossil burning in the context of the story of the universe. i have studied thomas berry and brian swimme. i find wisdom in simplicity and the foolishness of nakedness and i connect strongly with a sense of place in coastal salish territory of georgia strait and puget sound.

leeside tunnel

fossilosopher — Thu, 13 Apr 2006 06:34:54 GMT

leeside tunnel is now full of beautiful murals dedicated to lee "avers" matasi. i am really proud of the skater kids in my neighbourhood who are speaking out against guns and violence. http://leematasi.spekt.net/ http://www.skateboarding.com/skate/news/article/0,23271,1138502,00.html http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20051212/LIVES12/TPComment/Features

one less car

fossilosopher — Sat, 04 Mar 2006 00:37:25 GMT

i donated my old car to charity and a towtruck came and took it away. i d inherited it from my parents but didnt use it much. i used to drive it in the winter months and the summer months (to carry the canoe) but not spring or fall and i never drove to work: my bike has always been fast and and fun and way healthier. now i am totally car free!!!!!!

persistence of vision

fossilosopher — Thu, 19 Jan 2006 08:34:27 GMT

my friend ian made me a hightech l.e.d. flasher with my nickname. it can be programmed to show a text or a picture when moving http://www.ianpaterson.org/projects/spokepov20050704/index.htm foss its a nickname made from my title: the fossilosopher. the title is unique so i have something in common with the pope. my homies chop it down for familiarity