We're all getting stronger.

They stopped showing each other their beautiful veils and began to see one another.  To love one another.

She was becoming a conduit--no longer claiming ownership over the beauty she created spanning one plane and the other.  Therefore taking ownership of herself, her essence.  She there, she here.  She arrived in Now.

We learned how we are at once water and entire.  Subject to the source and a vessel for it.  And we did not lose ourselves so easily now.

She took a deep breath and let the false tree crumble to ash.  She pulled out root after root, wincing with the pain but not closing her eyes.  Felt the cold air bite into all the empty spaces she'd made.  Spaces for truth to grow, for love to warm.

She took another breath and before she could think was spun into a tango.  Her steps were clumsy, unsure, but genuine.  She feared more pain when she saw another face smile at her, but kept dancing.  She found she had no more bricks to put around her, suspected she'd hidden them from herself in a dream.

She returned a love letter from the distant North a few days later, in her own words.

Together, many of them dug up the box they'd locked the Scale in long ago.  Another breath, opened it, looked.  Saw how they had to take all of the balance, love it all.

She grew very sick with the knowledge of what she had to leave behind.  She suffered three fevers, felt her blood killing things she never thought she would see die.  And as her skin cooled, she felt all of her, breathing.  Her eyes adjusted to the light, her lips and throat gradually found their strength again.  While she waited, she played with colors and water.

"Can I have you?" (Everyone and everything asked.)

"You do."





dedicated to my Loki family, many of whom I am loving from a distance. With love, xoxoxoxoxo Jack Jack.

Phase 2

Greetings and Salutations!

From a series of conversations over the past few weeks, it has become clear that we need to rethink our current plan as a crew.  So much growth, and such a wide variety of experiences over the last six months has been intense!  We find ourselves confronting needs that often get overlooked in our lifestyle...certain environments, personal space, individual goals relating experiences or skills we wish to have.  And we also recognize that such extreme togetherness inevitably needs balance...space will keep our relationships and selves healthy.  

Thus, it seems we are closing the first chapter of the Loki adventure, and beginning the next. 

We are pausing the veggie conversion until we secure more stable funding, for one.  That will take a while, but we do not want to continue the use of diesel fuel in the meanwhile.  It is looking like the bus will remain stationary in the interim...sorting out those details currently.

Kaley is seeking an education in herbalism, off on her own adventure already. 

Jeff is visiting friends and family in Philly right now, taking a personal vacation of sorts, playing music.  I hear he will likely stay for the Philadelphia Folk Festival in August.

Jason is planning on returning to Philly for August for the Folk Fest as well.  He and Max have been having conversations around the idea of focusing on music for a while, maybe arranging a small tour in the next few months?  Max has been writing a lot of new songs, and learning them, and Jay has been writing a lot of poetry that seems headed for songville.  (For the record, I would totally attend a Max and Jason show.)

Rabbit needs wilderness, so she will be leaving Asheville soon to decide how she wants to spend her time elsewhere.  I saw her browsing agricultural internships online yesterday.

Max and I plan to stay in Asheville at least until we decide what to do with Loki in the upcoming months.  I have a feeling she would be a great outdoor clubhouse for someone with property or a farm.  She just needs to be started up 2 to 4 times a month.  Not too worried about securing something for our bus...we have a bit of time.  We have been warmly welcomed to continue to participate in The Landing community, which feels like a good springboard from which to bounce to the next adventure. 

I am a little torn about what form my own adventure will take, though I have zeroed in on a lot of needs and wants I can address.  I need a personal space...haven't had my own room since May of 2011!  And of course I need to continue my studio practice, which has been healthily and steadily growing, taking up more of my time, in the past two months.  I am open to setting up a tour of existing communes and collectives, so I can pursue the social researcht hat has been my primary interest on the trip. And I am very interested in seeing Washington State.

Through all of these recent shifts in the adventure, a few important realizations have emerged.

We are each others family, and still share the same dream, of putting all these experiences and explorations into practice, in our Someday Space.  Have we talked on this blog about The Someday Space?  It is the idea that fuels this adventure, even when it begins to feel TOO difficult.  The Someday Space is where we want to settle, to grow food, to play music, and to support collaboration in all areas of our lives.  It is a venue for creativity and performance, and has a rich relationship with a nearby town or city.  It is not isolated.  It is a place to educate and be educated in any skill or method or practice that a resident or guest wishes to explore.  It will probably include a collectively run restaurant, dogs, zip lines, outdoor art installations, several dream houses, trails, slack lines, at least one bus, goats, a kale patch, and lots of bright colors.  We learn more about The Someday Space every day, with each experience.  And The Someday Space is what we on the Loki Crew are looking for in our travels.  We are looking for it in the people we meet, the land we tour, and the things we learn to make or do.  The past six months has been about looking for the Someday Space in learning how we best function as a family, what togetherness means (and doesn't mean), what is necessary for a conscious, respectful community to function.
 
So, this idea of a phase 2 makes perfect sense.  Six of us, with the Someday Space in mind, diversifying our experiences and skills, enriching the collective dream.  Balancing our relationships with adequate space.  Strengthening our relationships by nurturing ourselves in the ways we individually need to.   Widening our perspectives.  Spreading out our tendrils and scoping out the country in six places at once.

I hope you keep following our blog!  It's likely to become much more interesting, if anything, in the next few months, as we report back from our variety of experiences.  Stay in touch!

Love,
Jackie

Head shots

Our friends Esteban and Alyssa from our Durham stay way back in February came to visit us in Asheville recently.   Esteban is an awesome photographer, and shared some shots he got of the visit.  Awww!

Yesterday we said goodbye to our friend Les, who came to visit from Texas last month and told us good stories and made us delicious raw food...we'll miss himmmmmm!  (he's the one with the dinosaur hat eating the unicorn hat eating his head:

The Loki Post

So, the latest project I've been working out is a newsletter a lot of you have probably received invitations to on facebook or in your email:

The Loki Post

The newsletter is NOT the same as our blog.  It is about YOU...all the teachers and sources of great ideas and inspiration that make up our network and support system.  The idea behind this newsletter is to expose our network to itself...strengthen it by encouraging a better interconnectivity, exchange of ideas.  We see so many people doing amazing things, and I am constantly thinking, oh my YOU should meet THIS person and talk, or these projects would make an AWESOME collaborative.  And for the most part, when we do connect people actively, good things have happened.  Our hosts at the Landing just took their circus show up to philly, Loki's birthplace, and so many amazing new relationships happened when they hooked in with people we knew from the circus scene, Occupy scene, urban garden scene.  So we are attempting to do that regularly by setting up this newsletter as a nexus.  We will include descriptions of projects we are seeing, and contact information for the people in charge of them (better still have the people in charge of them write that description themselves), talk about communities we've stayed with and how they are uniquely making it work, and then all the ideas, recipes, sustainable living methods, gardening tips, discussions surrounding said people and projects will have a place to be shared.

I am seeing the bus more and more as a vehicle of communication.  This is definitely how my personal mission on the bus is evolving, but I suspect it might be beyond me, too.  We could become a thread between all the cool stuff non-nomadic folks are doing.  There is so much good happening on a small scale in this country but it can be so isolated...a lot of people don't think about how much more independent they could be from the structures they are criticizing if they were more interdependent, resourceful, collaborative with others seeking the same freedom.  This idea is already showing its merit in the local food movement...small communities and farms supporting each other, creating a well-rounded selection but maintaining their ethical codes and quality by centralizing on a small scale (the farmers' markets, CSAs, etc).  But I think there are a lot more aspects of DIY living and innovative sustainable lifestyles that would benefit from this sort of organization.

I hope you're all into it!  I appreciate any feedback too...email lokithespacebus at gmail if you've got ideas!

Love,
Jackie

These are really good

Our refreshed Etsy shop!

Hello friends and family,

We would like to make you aware that we are revamping our effort to earn money through our creative practices on the road.  We will be updating our Etsy shop regularly, so subscribe or just stay tuned to check out the latest Loki road-gifts!

Available now is the first edition of our cooking ZINE, in the Belly of the Beast, an awesome necklace made by Rabbit, and a series of paintings by Jackie

Visit our storefront HERE !

the full days of summer have found us.

You haven't heard from us in a little while because we are oh so busy with a number of projects.


We've been graciously welcomed into a little circus commune in West Asheville called The Landing, to stay until Dr. Dave is ready to pay attention to our bus for a week.  Here, we've been spending our time learning on an intimate level just one way people are managing to live creatively, collaboratively, and sustainably.  Many that live here are acrobats and circus performers and yogis, but there is a LOT more than that going on every day.  There are organic gardens to tend to and goats and ducks and fencing projects for the aforementioned.  Painters, sculptors, musicians, singers, dancers, and bavarian pretzel makers round out a flourishing creative community.  Tree has been teaching us acro-yoga.  Iz and Rich are campaigning at Occupy for Ringmaster and Ringmistress of the United States.  Everyone loves hiking, swimming, and adventuring around these mountains.  

 Max and Jeff have each been producing a lot of music, and Jackie hasn't been able to stop drawing for a week.  Jay has been reading us some great poetry from his journal.  Max and Jackie are painting a mural in the Landing's warehouse of some curious looking creatures in a circusy scene.  Jay and Max have been getting really good on the slack-line.  Brit and Kaley have each taken personal leave from the bus for a stretch, and Jeff plans to embark on his own adventure within the week. 

Aside from carpentry and fencing projects, garden work, animal care, creative and circus practice, the crew has been putting together a kickstarter campaign to raise the funds to pay for the veggie conversion, which includes shooting and editing an informational video.  All of which you will see activated, with a little luck, (Kickstarter has to approve our project) within the month! 

Finally, we will be posting new items in our Etsy shop throughout the next week. Art and zines and jewelry!  Check that out HERE!

Journey Paintings

While I am away from my bus family for a couple of weeks (O! How I miss them so!) visiting my other family, I have revamped my personal website, and put up selections from the sketchbook I've been traveling with. Check out my perspective of our experiences thus far under "From the Sketchbook!":

www.britbrennan.shutterfly.com

loving & missing my crew,

rabbit.

Snaggy in a Nutshell

<3 Gwen

<3 Brad

Photos complements of Jared. Thank you for everything, we love you!

NOW (a manifesto)

Roll and flop like a bear in blueberries.
Tumble together like marmots.
Tousle my hair if it's too straight.

Think like moss.

Grow like a painting.

Drink your fill of honeysuckle, until days have passed in one swollen moment.

Hop over, swing up, slide down.

Lubricate your hinges!

Stick your whole hand into:
1. A barrel of lentils.
2. A bowl of dough.
3. A coast of sand.
4. A cool creek.

Create feasts, retell dreams, point to clouds, hold hands.

Bestow crowns of wild things.

Show yourself to the sun!

Cross stuff out.
Love what you want.
Desire what you have.

Remember seconds before fear was born and walk into those open fields.

Break glass cages and lick the cuts on your fingers.

Be your light, and care for your guides.

Jackie, June 2012

something about conscious evolution and the bus

We had a group meeting the other day to talk about the way our purpose has evolved based on our experiences so far in our journey, and found a great sense of focus, and a renewed feeling of purpose.   We brainstormed ways to better walk our talk, and steps we can take towards evolving consciously.  See the Mission section of the blog for an updated statement of what we are trying to achieve, and read excerpts below!

Our bus seeks to become a model for an alternative way to coexist, in which individuals are empowered to sustain themselves and enrich a community through their strengths and passions.   We want to demonstrate through our project that creative and critical exchange with diverse voices and networks is imperative for this lifestyle to function well.  In this way, we seek to learn and teach life practices that are sustainable, responsible and respectful to ourselves, each other and our environment. 

Before we can really move forward we must find an alternative to powering our trip with diesel fuel, and move cleanly between communities.    If we can afford to modify a vegetable oil fuel system to power the Spes Bus we can stop wasting energy and time traveling with an expensive, unsustainable technology that contradicts our most basic values.

We will be working with an alternative automechanic in Asheville over the course of the next month to outfit our bus with a veggie oil system.  We will need to add an extra, heated tank for the oil and a filtration system so we may recycle waste oil into our fuel.  Dave, our mechanic has been converting diesel vehicles to veggie for years, and has an outstanding reputation in the Asheville area.   He has agreed to apply his experience in veggie mechanics to our house on wheels, and furthermore to teach us his design as when we install it in his shop.   This enables us to maintain and teach our system as we travel.

Our kit, including all parts Dave needs to build his system except the giant tank we'll need to squeeze somewhere in the undercarriage, comes from the Organic Mechanic, a trusted source of equipment for the diesel to veggie conversion.  It costs 2, 229 dollars.  We will also need to buy a second large tank to hold the oil to be recycled.  The remainder of our minimum budget is to compensate Dave for his time installing and teaching us about our modifications.  To afford the project, we will attempt to have it approved by the well known creative fundraising platform called Kickstarter. Alternatively, we will create an independent fundraiser here on the blog following their model.

This conversion is imperative for the short and long-term success of our endeavor.  One foundational promise we have made as a community is to live as sustainably as possible, taking good care of our planet, creating a cycle of good health.  We wish to treat the towns, collectives, farms and families we visit, however large or small, with the same respect, using our time and skills to incite creative collaboration in the arts and participate in community projects.  Relationships formed in these contexts yield mutual education and inspiration, understanding and happiness.   When we spend our time well in a place, we leave behind us, in gratitude, finished projects, musical experiences, works of art, creative ideas and thoughtful dialogue. 

Check Point

As our trusty mechanic, Jim says, it's time to

"Check your oil.  Check your tire pressure.  Check yourselves."

We on the space bus have been talking a lot about how the moment feels like the closing of the first chapter of the trip, and the opening of another.  We are comfortable with each other...trust and patience abound within the family.  We are all beginning to get a grip on our personal struggles and to define our personal goals, and encouraging and supporting one another in all this.  Problems on the bus these days seem to be external, rather than internal, which almost make them not problems, because what is a problem up against six creative and optimistic heads, hearts?

We've made our current priority the addition of a veggie oil system to Loki, so we might have a chance at affording to continue our quest across the country later this summer.   The list included a tour of our neighbor's veggie school bus (front engine, 90s), research on what system would work best for our old girl (rear engine, 80s),  finding a suitable mechanic or enough people who know what they are doing to help us, then to install a veggie filtration system, extra tank, heater and additional fuel lines to the engine.


Yesterday I spoke with Dr. Dave, veggie oil man in Asheville, yesterday, and worked out a deal where if we pay him for parts and labor, he will not only convert our bus but teach us how as he does so.  Great!  Because we were nervous about paying someone to convert Loki and then not having a clue about how to troubleshoot and maintain the system.  Dr. Dave is well reputed in Asheville as a guy who knows his stuff, recommended to us by a girl who converted her own bus and another guy who runs his own machine shop in the river arts district. Says the tank, the kit, and some additional valves are going to  run us just under 2,000, and figure 15 hours at 80/hr in labor.  So onto our list goes the task of raising 3,000 dollars in the next month. Today I will make headway into a brand new kickstarter page with which we will fundraise just for Loki's operation.


The first priority indicates it's time to leave Burnsville and head to Asheville, where lie the resources.  Which brings us to the next overdue project...thanking everyone who has made our stay in the Burnsville area so rich, rewarding and enjoyable.  So we threw a party last night on the farm!  A potluck, in honor of our Philly roots and a Southern tradition, and everyone we know from three towns was invited.  Fried chicken, and sliced watermelon, and soup with the greens Jeff and Brad and Max and I weeded for down the road, peach moonshine and pasta salad, an evening jam around the piano in the trailer bed still hitched to the truck, a fire and old sing-alongs underneath a huge Carolina night sky.  Much laughing, hugging, strong voices, love, gratitude.  One huge family all together, who we know we will come back to now and again. 

 

There's talk of reevaluating our mission statement, paying special attention to the transition between our intentions leaving Philly and our understanding of what we are after now.  The trip took us, in many ways.  We have been so much in the moment every day for the past five months that the journey has molded our values, dreams, perspectives a little each day. As a result, what we say we want today is much closer to the truth than it was five months ago.  It is still community, still to live according to values we develop through experience, rather than scripture, still a better understanding of unconditional love, and even more so today than ever to nurture our creativity and gifts to the world.  We are still looking for a space to ground the community, rooms of our own.  I think our mission has evolved to include the very important need to be ourselves, check in often with what we want as individuals, make sure we are giving ourselves permission to be it, do it, find it.  That, we have learned, is when a community functions best, when communication becomes second nature and cooperation not a hurdle.  We have not, as we thought, been able to squeeze extra travelers on the bus comfortably, but we have much more than we thought shared creative space and projects with others as our paths intersect along the way.  Local and healthy eating have become much more fundamental to our vision for the trip and especially for the Someday Space, wherever it puts down its roots.  A farm is most definitely on the blueprint, now.


I would add to our mission statement and current priority list CONNECTIVITY.  One of our surrogate road moms, joy, used the word when she was describing what is important to her in her life now, by the campfire last night.  We have been so blessed with being raised by supportive families, by our Fuhrly extended family back in Philly, by each other, and by all the adoptive siblings, parents, guardians who we have picked up throughout this trip.  Our network is such a special one, and so enormous, at this point, I think we must be very committed to nurturing it, reviving it often with correspondence and visits.  I'm not sure we would be successful at what we are trying to exemplify without such a magical family, and to lose touch would be taking our very foundation for granted.  And I certainly want to be a part of this family as it grows, which it must.  I am going to compile a master contact list for Loki in the next couple of weeks.  So, if you would like to be added to it, please send whatever contact info you would like us to have to lokithespacebus@gmail.com. If not,  I will come find you!

Thanks for reading, family.  Be well.

special moments