Cameron

Hey kids! How was your week? Mine was awesome, thanks for asking!

My class went on a field trip around Olympia looking at businesses and organizations that specialize in different forms of sustainability. We visited the GruB farm, (Garden Raised urban Bounty), which was started by two Evergreen grads. They believe in cultivating community by cultivating the land. They have about 2 acres of land on which they have a green house and a diverse array of plants, and they let local high school kids come and learn how to properly grow a healthy garden. They also do team building exercises. They even go to the homes of low-income families and build vegetable plots for them, give them soil, and teach them how to grow their food. GruB also just built a new very sustainable building, so we got the grand tour of that too. They are a truly amazing organization that really stands as a testament to the great kinds of work that Greeners do to help better the community.

We also visited Oly Salvage; a local company that deconstructs buildings that are going to be torn down and salvages everything they possibly can so they can resell it at very affordable prices. Their warehouse is full to the brim with cool stuff, and people come from all over to buy it. Organizations like this remind me of the great potential to do some good out there. You just got to find your niche.

The only thing I’ve ordered so far from the Flaming eggplant was a gingerbread muffin, which was seriously delicious.

Last night I went to a Karl Blau show and stood in the front row. I swear this was the fourth or fifth show I’ve been to since I got back up here! And it was amazing! The music scene here is so unique, and it will probably just get better with the opening of a new all ages venue next month. Oh, and please check out Karl if you’ve never heard of him before!

http://www.myspace.com/karlblau

And of course, I was excited to see Mt. Rainier looking fabulous as she usually doe. Honestly, I swear she looked the most stunning I’ve ever seen her the other day. She was floating on a huge cloudbank, all 14,000 feet of her looking like a huge castle in the sky.

Well, my first week of school is over and I can honestly say, I’m pooped. I started class on Monday, (I’m taking a class called green studio, which focuses on sustainable design) and right off the bat I got to start building things! Well really, I got to build my desk, which I will be using as a drafting table for the rest of the program. There are 46 students in my class, which is really a diverse mix of different ages, races, genders, gender orientations, and interests, and I can’t wait to get to know all of them. There will be a lot of time spent very closely with them working on projects, so I’m sure I will be friends with them in no time.

The first week of school has also been quite a week for local culture. A few nights ago was the 37th annual Olympia Arts Walk, A night when a bunch of streets in downtown are blocked off from cars and people walk in and out of shops that have local art posted in them. Lots of bands and street performers come out for this event, although the rain kind of extinguished the hopes of the fire spinners and jugglers. It was really amazing, and I discovered an incredible Olympia artist named Nikki McClure (Check out her Website: http://www.nikkimcclure.com/)

There were also like three other indie music concerts, on of which was called “Homecoming”. It was a fundraiser for there to be an official all ages venue in Olympia. Kids grabbed their dates and their fancy attire and went out to dinner and went to the dance, where you could even get your picture taken! It was almost like a real school dance, except more fun and better music.

Stay tuned next week for news on the grand opening of the Flaming Eggplant Café!

Peace out.