hello world,

this has been a rather quiet week at the office, as various team members have been attending different trainings and such. the quiet has been conducive to getting a lot of work and research done, yay! I've been polishing up the logo and postcard designs for Wisdom Gardens. Hopefully, they'll have their debut next week. 

Also, we did our weekly garden visit yesterday. Below are some progress photos. We're really rooting (haha pun intend) for our watermelon plant!

grow baby watermelon, grow!

err'body in the garden plot watering & weeding.

happy weekend everyone -- it should be a sunny, warm one!

-- kaitlyn

If You Build It, They Will Come.

Hello world of the internet, it's time for your weekly update from the fantastically fabulous Fox!

This week has been filled with lots of exciting research! Everything from economics to environmental concerns to running silent auctions, no topic is too elusive to be read and comprehended! Most excitingly was my stumbling upon the Legislative Environmental Impact Report from the Washington State Department of Ecology.

Their prognosis for climate change?

Western Washington will be underwater, the rivers will all dry up, Eastern Washington will burn, and all the salmon will die!

YIKES!

Looks like we've got alot of work to do to be ready for 2080!

office eats & garden update

Some photos of an office lunch potluck we had a couple weeks ago! We made Charred Corn Tacos with Zucchini Radish Slaw from the Smitten Kitchen blog. All the produce was bought from local Portland farmer markets. Speaking of local produce, check out our cucumber plants below. We've been getting a pretty good harvest of a few cucumbers a week from our three plants. Aren't they cute when they start out?

The cucumbers were planted in a lot of compost and nutrient rich top soil, which has really helped them along!
Our office community garden plot at Earl Boyles has a new fall harvest of radish, kale, red beets, and an optimistic winter squash. We've been using heirloom seeds from the American Center for Sustainability. Thanks guys!

World News!

Well, my world news at least,

Many new things, much to tell. I have been reading, writing, planning and preparing for all kinds fundzies. Most exciting is the speaker event at Ecotrust, where we have Dr. Maresca speaking about ethnobotany and Native Traditional Medicine. I am also preparing for a trip to Bozeman, Montana where I will be attending a grant writing conference for the organization.

Lastly, as shown in the photo, I had the privilege to attend a "Discover Our Story" recording held at Portland Community Media in North Portland. This was a wonderful experience to witness. Myself and a couple other fellow VISTA's learned, watched and tried to stay out of the way as the production team rose to the occasion and seemed to create a polished work out of thin air. Effortless. It was thrilling to watch.

I hope all are happy and healthy out there. I look forward to next time.

-Jacob

Meetings, Databases, and Publicity, Oimoi!

Greetings from NISA! Been quite the productive week, advertising the festival and mentorship program to the four corners of the Pacific Northwest. I've contacted the storytellers guilds of the region and they're each putting our festival in their newsletter and forwarding the information to their boards of directors.

Next step is contacting the equivalent of a cultural office for each tribe in Washington to spread the word as far as possible. We have one master storyteller who has submitted their application, and four who have confirmed their interest in the program. So we're about half way there!

PCM Rocks My Socks

Last week we had a meeting with some folks from Portland Community Media, who are awesome! They offer classes on all elements of producing professional video and audio that are perfect for the economically impaired. Once you are certified, individuals and groups in the community can borrow their cameras and editing equipment. Such an amazing community resource!

As part of our training for the year, some of us are going to be taking classes on video production and editing. I just signed up for a Final Cut Pro class that starts in September. Exciting!

Also, in case you didn't know, Wisdom of the Elders has a tv show on Public Access, which is run by PCM. The show is part of the Discovering Our Stories project and airs the first Sunday of every month. Click here to check out past episodes.

happy viewing!

isobel

Meet Jaap and Sven

The long awaited video of our Netherland Dwarf rabbits being moved into their freshly cleaned, spacious, new rabbit hutch! Meet Jaap, the mother, who is darkish brown and Sven, the daughter, who is orange-y. We thought it was only appropriate that they have culturally reflective names, even if they're traditionally boys names :)

This week I've been lucky enough to sit in on a session of the Hollywood Theatre's Project Youth Doc program. For those of you who haven't heard of this awesome organization, formerly known as Film Action Oregon, they provide top-of-the-line film production education to youth over a one month period. The instructors (two members of Wisdom's own production team!) cover everything from the basics of camera operation to post-production with Final Cut Pro. At the end of the month each group of youth in the program has produced a stellar documentary short which is ready to be screened on the big screen at the Hollywood Theatre - stay tuned for details about the screening in early Sept. and get excited to learn more about marijuana and teens, queer teens, and the 2012 apocalypse!

To learn more about the Hollywood Theatre, and PYD in particular, check them out at: http://hollywoodtheatre.org/education/project-youth-doc/

NISA Festival and Mentorship Announcement

With the completion of endless revision of our materials our poster for the Sixth Annual NISA Festival has been sent out along with our announcement and application form for the upcoming Tribal Storyteller Mentorship Program! Immediately after release of the WOTE Newsletter e-mails began coming in expressing interest in the program, so hopefully soon we'll have the ten teams assembled and accepted but until then spread the word!

Paddle to Swinomish

The week of July 25-30 was spent at Canoe Journey for the Paddle to Swinomish. People from Alaska to Mexico, Australia to Maryland came out to join in the amazing time of cultural sharing and revitalization known as Canoe Journey. I arrived just as the canoes were pulling onto shore in droves in the pouring rain, coming into the inlet in groups of three to five and waiting to be invited into Swinomish before being assisted by the community up the sandy hill. Nights were spent sharing stories at a freshly created firepit at the NW Indian College along with the California Indian Storytellers Association.

The experience was truly awe-inspiring. So many people from all over coming together in the right way to share of each others company, culture, and hospitality. I learned a great deal about myself just from listening to the stories that the elders shared, and met many amazing people. Next year's journey is headed to Squaxin Island just outside my hometown, and I am definitely going to make sure I can make it out there as well!