(see another story linked below)
(This report basically touches on a small portion of a 28-day ride around portions of Washington state, in which i chose to wear my "phull artz regaliah" and accompanying neon signs only a few times (not the entire ride), including the western side of the northern WA mountains ((if you know of the pre-settler name for any of these locales, please email me)), through an Indian rez north of Seattle, then entirely through that city; next, at an "undisclosed locale" (heh), and finally, in Ellensburg, during a parade.)
from the Indymedia summary:
To go see the Lady of whale artz on the Isle of Orcas, or to the People of the enforted cities? In fully wilde artz regalia, this *crucial artz* bicyclist, on his 13th day, is still at it, messin with paradigms while sending out various depths of inspirational charge!
article:
One has been dubbed "wizard", another "psychedelic dundee", and both may be coming to a town or woods near you! One walks, carrying a sign with one word on it: PEACE, in black, grey, and white. Carrying his bare necessities in a smallish hemp (?) bag.
The other, his "pack" seems over-flowing and impossible to move, even via bicycle. "If I didn't have my arte stuff, i'd have just one pannier," says 'psychedelic dundee'.
By fate, perhaps due to the magix of the Great Loving Dawg In the sKy, these two *met* on the northernmost road that goes over the Cascades (on the u.s. side).
"I was just coming back from oooing and ahhhing at the big giant old trees, and something was whispering to me to go up on the road, just go," says 'dundee (who got his name from a guy when he did his action in Madison, WI a summer ago).
"And then there he was, walking on just a tiny area of road that i could see. i couldn't believe it. It was like what some call a "godsend". Out there in the middle of nowhere!"
The Wizard, who's known in the Rockport area by the name, had decided to take his vision and walk up to the pass and possibly all the way to Winthrop. And he accepted 'dundee's invite to stay at his camp and visit, and share arts.
"I was having trouble donning my regalia; mundania was starting to get to me. But then this 'wizard' dude, he totally INSPIRED me."
And they sat talkin and sharing depth medicine and care, and early the next morning parted from there.
Psychedelic dundee is still going, we don't know about 'the wizard'.
Dundee's vision? To inspire the creative yet too much hidden inner FIRE of our heavily colonized and corralled hearts!
"i've been spontaneously stopping by all sorts of folks. There was the young band up near Stanwood whose music i heard while pedalling by, and i stopped in and said, hey, why don't they take their music off the stage and away from the corrall?
Then just today, a wild young dude i happened to meet who had painted up his FACE in black and white native-style feat! And his hair was all arted, totally phreaque! aNd we inSPIREd each other just by seeing!
summary:
Sportings neon-colored signs, weird but catchy clothing, a wild-looking 'masque' that messes with paradigms, this semi-crazy solo bicyclist has been riding across Washington state for the past 15 days, inspiring creativity and consciousness! (with pics)
article:
(apologies for a rough-written article, but choke-hold on time at library computers forces such)
Signs including:
"We are kept hyped-up and divided against each other"
and:
"DARE TO ART YOUR HEART"
...this guy, dubbed "psychedelic dundee" --back in Madison, WI (when he arted himself there as part of a national "tour" of over 20 cities and other localities)-- is "art-bent" on seeking to INSPIRE creative-leaning persons towards ARTING THEIR HEARTS in UNPRECIDENTED styLe!
Everything is art! Everything we do, everything we are! Dressing in the morning for slave wage jobs, or "just" for fun; we're ALWAYS doing art, or art is doing us!" says psychedelic dundee, meaning, in the last part, that if you don't "do" yourself creatively, corporations--complete with piles of corporate logos, will be glad to "art" you.
The angle is about putting our DESIRES, our HEARTS, our too-long-hidden and restricted PASSIONS back into our lives, not only against whatever single issue the Left brings up (i.e. the Iraq war), but the WAR OF EVERYDAY Life.
Everyday life is a kind of war, with all the ways we have been taught, programmed, "socialized" to play what can be called a "meta game".
The way the whole society is structured, the "social" we take for granted is a war-oriented society. We learn young to shut up and get "with the program". To subordinate our individual desires to "the group" (but whose values win out in group politics? always a very narrow frame--vanguard-like). If you don't conform, if you don't at least put on the APPEARANCE of conforming, there are consequences.
And it is this kind of corralling, this kind of pressure to conform, which keeps us from even exploring our desires, the spirit and energy that inspires us to LOVE LIVING ON THIS PLANET.
Getting out on a bicycle, slowing down, you start to hear more going on in the world than the ever-present narrative on TV and in "normal" society.
Now, if an authentic peace movement is going to happen, not just due to some crisis (like upper middle class kids being drafted), it's going to come via some angle of liberation--of individual spirits finding ways of freeing their hearts from all the armor and fortresses we so often **feel** forced to live under.
Hysteria and anger trying to lull our guilt isn't gonna do it. Desires are gonna promote the largest authentic inclusivity, and that is what peace is about.
Anyway, getting out on a bicycle sure has a beautiful way of connecting one with the Earth, or "MomEarth". Slowing down from the perpetual hectic pace, listening to birds and squirrels (have you ever had a squirrel play with your hair while you're sleeping outside your tent?), to our fears of the unknown; getting re-connected with our pre-colonized SPIRIT. The *ways of living--CREATIVELY--which open up a whole HIDDEN world; or as Jon Strongbow (artist of Seattle) points out: the REAL world!
See an old version of a flyer 'dundee was passing out:
People who inspire 'dundee:
www.johntrudell.com
also here (variety of articles by/with Trudell):
also see: Saul Alynsky's tactics (not his politics), i.e. "mass ju-jitsu" Return to index pages of creative nonviolent crucial arts interactions