Sorry I disappeared there for a few days, was feeling a bit under the weather. Now I am back, posting first 10 minute webisode tomorrow!
We are safely in Spokane for a few days, getting the car ready to hit the road and will be Portland bound the middle of next week. It's looking like we will try to work something out with Lovecraft for the veggie oil conversion down in Portland.
We've done fairly well in the gear acquiring department, here's what is left:
- bike attachment for roof rack
- wireless lapel mic
- Shotgun mic attachment
- 1 or 2 terabyte external hard drive
- extra 16gig SD memory cards
- spare battery for Canon Vixia HF100
- AAA membership / insurance
- Veggie oil 2 tank conversion (kit or homemade)
***Also, gas cards or Biodiesel donations, I still need a little diesel when running the WVO***
Thank you to everyone who helped get us this far. Seriously!
Thursday, August 7, 2008
Monday, August 4, 2008
Photos from first part of trip posted! ...
On our new flickr account! Add jessicaandolivia [username] to stay abreast of what we are up to. (It's amazing what you can do even if "attached" to your children!)
For those of you who prefer deviantart.com... I'll have my best photos loaded on there soon from the trip.
Enjoy!
For those of you who prefer deviantart.com... I'll have my best photos loaded on there soon from the trip.
Enjoy!
Monday, July 28, 2008
Faith is a funny thing...
So yesterday, I was again amazed.
Someone that I had never met in person, hearing of my frustrating car trouble, drove up to take my daughter and I out to lunch and pledged a matching $500. Also, as we are waiting to leave, a mechanic friend of mine set up a situation were we could join his household for a few days as we prep to leave, and is going to help us with our car.
More and more places to stay/eat have been offered to us along the route, car stuff is getting handled, and I'm starting to get emails from people donating gear for us to use on our journey.
So, the advice I was given yesterday was "keep planning, you might have to change your plans, but at least you are heading in the right direction." I'm still planning on leaving in a few days to start this journey, I need your help to make this possible. Let's raise the $500 to take full advantage of this matching donation... even if you can only give $10 your money will be doubled to $20!
Thank you for being here with us, and to help get these stories out there. It's time we take our country and our future back.
Saturday, July 26, 2008
T minus 18 days?
Joy of joys (or so I thought.)
More people are coming to me with stories of bodies of immigrants murdered and buried in the Arizona desert. Many of these workers I am finding are coming here as there own livelihoods in Mexico were ruined by the "free trade" policies, desertification of farm land from climate change and water rights issues... So there men with guns wait to shoot refugees of an economic system that we've created with our consuming and needing more and more for less.
So, back the car goes to the shop Monday... and off I go trying to find the funds to make this happen. I'll take anything you got, including prayers.
After dropping an unbelievable amount of money into my car to get things with the axle/CV joint/hub kosher for the road, I finally picked the Mercedes from the mechanic yesterday afternoon. I've put about 40 miles on her since then, and the rattle from the rear passenger side is back.
Between that and the yo-yo game going on between me and Western on whether or not this can be a project supported by the school and for credit I'm running on faith fumes. Everything else has come together, in such a short time. I'm planning on leaving Bellingham in five days, if somehow this will all turn out. Someone want to buy me a car?
Or loan me the money? Maybe between the two cars I can have one sweet ride, and spare parts.
In the midst of wondering how on earth this trip is going to happen I find myself yesterday talking to a lady at a coffee shop who is leaving the next day to finally start rebuilding her life in New Orleans three years after Katrina. She vents about the Army Corps of Engineers blowing off the Dutch offer of assistance... what to the Dutch know about dykes and levies? The trailers that were housing Katrina victims and poisoning them have been removed, and tent cities of displaced working poor dot the landscape. Oh, and celebrations and political events celebrating the Katrina rebuilding success are planned. She was beyond overjoyed that someone was coming down to show what was happening.
More people are coming to me with stories of bodies of immigrants murdered and buried in the Arizona desert. Many of these workers I am finding are coming here as there own livelihoods in Mexico were ruined by the "free trade" policies, desertification of farm land from climate change and water rights issues... So there men with guns wait to shoot refugees of an economic system that we've created with our consuming and needing more and more for less.
We've allowed our rights to be taken away. We've become complacent in alternative energy and sustainability being squashed in favor of what makes corporations money. We've allowed our spirituality and faith to be redefined to suit us for servitude.
So, back the car goes to the shop Monday... and off I go trying to find the funds to make this happen. I'll take anything you got, including prayers.
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
T minus 22 Days (and counting)...
This is a not for profit project for school credit. We will be having a final project of a full documentary that will be hosted free online and submitted to film festivals. It is also a hope to have free or at cost DVDs to be distributed for educational purposes. Due to the nature of this project and my status as a college student "surviving" on financial aid and loans while raising my daughter on my own, this is a call to have some help supporting this timely project. Every little bit helps!!
This is our current project status of what we still need at this point (11:50am on the 23rd of July), I will be updating this blog as we get each item addressed. We appreciate any help in getting this done! Essential items are noted with a *
We need:
- 2 man ultralight tent
- two sleeping pads (ala camping style, like Thermarest)
- Coleman or like propane/gas camping stove *
- gutter mount roof rack for car (Thule or Yakima) *
- bike attachments for roof rack *
- cargo pod for roof rack
- padded backpack for 13" laptop, camera and gear *
- wireless lapel mic *
- Rode videomic shotgun mic attachment
- 1 or 2 terabyte external hard drive *
- extra 16gig SD memory cards *
- spare battery for Canon Vixia HF100 *
- food suitable for traveling *
- AAA membership / insurance *
- Veggie oil 2 tank conversion (kit or homemade) *
- Better quality cell phone with unlimited plan
- Satellite internet connection for MacBook
We welcome loans of goods to be returned at end of trip, gifts of goods, sponsorships by socially and environmentally conscious businesses in return for advertising on www.jessicaandolivia.com, cash donations to our PayPal account (jessicaandolivia@gmail.com) on the website or mailed to my parent's address (contact for info, if you would like the funds earmarked for a certain purpose let me know) or...
This is hard to ask, especially during a time when our economy is uncertain and many are facing donor fatigue with election season fast approaching. However, if we weren't facing so many uncertainties there would be no need for someone to undertake a project like this. We want to show you everything from new innovations, interviews, the Democratic National Convention, grassroots movements... you name it... from coast to coast and from the North to the South, from a non-biased standpoint not being currently conveyed by our media. So many stories are not being told, including how we are going to save the middle class, rebuild our economy and address issues of climate change and environmental degradation.
This is a once in a life time opportunity for all of us. Please join my daughter and I in making this documentary happen.
Note: in process of putting together full grant proposal. Will have it posted soon (tonight?), including complete budget, methods, objectives... if interested please request one at jessicaandolivia@gmail.com.
_______________________________________________
This is our current project status of what we still need at this point (11:50am on the 23rd of July), I will be updating this blog as we get each item addressed. We appreciate any help in getting this done! Essential items are noted with a *
We need:
- 2 man ultralight tent
- two sleeping pads (ala camping style, like Thermarest)
- Coleman or like propane/gas camping stove *
- gutter mount roof rack for car (Thule or Yakima) *
- bike attachments for roof rack *
- cargo pod for roof rack
- padded backpack for 13" laptop, camera and gear *
- wireless lapel mic *
- Rode videomic shotgun mic attachment
- 1 or 2 terabyte external hard drive *
- extra 16gig SD memory cards *
- spare battery for Canon Vixia HF100 *
- food suitable for traveling *
- AAA membership / insurance *
- Veggie oil 2 tank conversion (kit or homemade) *
- Better quality cell phone with unlimited plan
- Satellite internet connection for MacBook
We welcome loans of goods to be returned at end of trip, gifts of goods, sponsorships by socially and environmentally conscious businesses in return for advertising on www.jessicaandolivia.com, cash donations to our PayPal account (jessicaandolivia@gmail.com) on the website or mailed to my parent's address (contact for info, if you would like the funds earmarked for a certain purpose let me know) or...
This is hard to ask, especially during a time when our economy is uncertain and many are facing donor fatigue with election season fast approaching. However, if we weren't facing so many uncertainties there would be no need for someone to undertake a project like this. We want to show you everything from new innovations, interviews, the Democratic National Convention, grassroots movements... you name it... from coast to coast and from the North to the South, from a non-biased standpoint not being currently conveyed by our media. So many stories are not being told, including how we are going to save the middle class, rebuild our economy and address issues of climate change and environmental degradation.
This is a once in a life time opportunity for all of us. Please join my daughter and I in making this documentary happen.
Note: in process of putting together full grant proposal. Will have it posted soon (tonight?), including complete budget, methods, objectives... if interested please request one at jessicaandolivia@gmail.com.
and so it begins...
I'm afraid some overzealous college students might mistake the begs under my eyes for beanbags that would be great for their apartment.
Yes, I'm tired... but I love it. I must be a bit of a glutton for punishment, but I am excited to see what will happen from all of this.
In the last two weeks my daughter and I have subleased out our house, sold or given away most of what we own, and are gearing up for an ambitious cross-country adventure. During this time I've been in school full time summer quarter and have been working an internship for Governor Chris Gregoire. (Thus the lack of sleep) We will be filming a documentary on the current state of our environment and the American political and social landscape. We hope this will be informational, inspirational and entertaining all at the same time (even when we are covering difficult topics).
Over the last few days I've been learning how to use my new Canon Vixia HF100 and my new Final Cut software on my MacBook. This whole project is very DIY (Do it Yourself) and it's felt like going to a driver's ed class with a Ferrari. I hope that our finished product is not only good, but beneficial to those who watch and who were a part of making it.
Here's the promo (to watch in HD click on the "HD off" logo for link):
Jessica and Olivia Documentary Promo from Jessica and Olivia Lewis on Vimeo.
There will be many short video updates and blog entries, so subscribe to our YouTube, Vimeo and or Blogger to take this trip with us. We welcome letters, video responses, comments, emails and the like and would love to start a dialog about where we really are as a country and where we should go from here.
It's going to be quite the ride.
Yes, I'm tired... but I love it. I must be a bit of a glutton for punishment, but I am excited to see what will happen from all of this.
In the last two weeks my daughter and I have subleased out our house, sold or given away most of what we own, and are gearing up for an ambitious cross-country adventure. During this time I've been in school full time summer quarter and have been working an internship for Governor Chris Gregoire. (Thus the lack of sleep) We will be filming a documentary on the current state of our environment and the American political and social landscape. We hope this will be informational, inspirational and entertaining all at the same time (even when we are covering difficult topics).
Over the last few days I've been learning how to use my new Canon Vixia HF100 and my new Final Cut software on my MacBook. This whole project is very DIY (Do it Yourself) and it's felt like going to a driver's ed class with a Ferrari. I hope that our finished product is not only good, but beneficial to those who watch and who were a part of making it.
Here's the promo (to watch in HD click on the "HD off" logo for link):
Jessica and Olivia Documentary Promo from Jessica and Olivia Lewis on Vimeo.
There will be many short video updates and blog entries, so subscribe to our YouTube, Vimeo and or Blogger to take this trip with us. We welcome letters, video responses, comments, emails and the like and would love to start a dialog about where we really are as a country and where we should go from here.
It's going to be quite the ride.
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