Thursday, July 5, 2007

Not a girl, not yet a Ladyhawke.


The 1984 Ford Econoline 350 motorhome become our battle-ready Ladyhawke when she left her sleepy home in Chesnut Hill, Pennsylvania on Saturday and began her new career as a full time grease-powered roadwarrior. We were given a heart warming send off from Fredrik and his two toe-headed children/jaguars/t-rexs. Fredrik was so incredibly kind and generous that we had a hard time not cancelling the tour to move back to Sweden with he and his family. He sold us an RV perfectly suited to our needs at a very reasonable price and threw in all sorts of extra things for free like pots and pans, an extra fuel injector and a half-eaten bag of gummi bears. The packaging had the trademark message, "Haribo macht Kinder froh und Erwachsene ebenso" which Jeff, our filmmaker translated as, "Haribo makes kids happy after they eat the luscious bearmeat." It's so great to travel with a group of such multilingual individuals.
So now our Lady is parked in Boston so that Pat Keeney, the green grease monkey, can inspect her parts and decide on the best kind of grease conversion. After we dropped the Ladyhawke off in Boston, Jeff, Kate and I drove to New York to try to close on some loans that are still processing and that we need before we really go anywhere. We rented a car and drove like mad down to Catonsville where we played a concert in the yard at Julia's mom's house. The audience was 15 or so friends of Julia's mom insofar as I could tell, so I decided to hold off on such technologically advanced songs as Machine Girl, in order to save myself any awkward concert moments like the one Marty McFly had in the Back to the Future where he said, "I can see that was maybe a little bit much for you guys...but your kids are gonna love it."
We filmed a 4th of July parade the next day on the main drag of Catonsville. Alas, A killer rainstorm rendered the ground too wet for a fireworks display, but we stayed for a barbeque and then began our journey back to Boston to see the Ladyhawke through her transformation. We tried to bring some of the hotdogs from the barbeque with us, with humorous results.

9 comments:

Hannah Downs said...

Damnation! Here I is minding my business and surfing the ol internets when I spies a couple of lovely young wenches from MY HOME TOWN of Fru-ita CO. Well, I sees that these ladies are galivanting across the country in a RV runnin' off grease from old hippies hair or some such stuff, and I can hardly believes myself. Is that Katie, the same girl I used to swim in the warsh with all naked ( pronounced "neck-id" ) away back when? And is that the Mavourneen that I sat next to in middle school band and passed wind with into our instruments? Well, you've probably guessed by now that this is none other than..................................................................................Sam Ragsdale!! But seriously folks, you are so awesome and you look totally hot in your pictures. If you make it all the way to Portland OR in your greaser mobile give me a call for a good time. I intend to be your #1 blog commenter!! Love and wedgies, Hannah 503-254-4530 nanabe7@yahoo.com

The Break Free Project said...

NO WAY Josana!! (as you used to say) It's like a peanut butter and banana reunion right here on our blog!!! How on earth did you find us!? We were pretty sure that we'd attract all fans of the movie Ladyhawke with this and sure enough it worked! Heh, heh, heh.
We are in Athens, Georgia now and are having a grand old time. What a friendly, beautiful and smart place, sort of a sister city to beautiful Portland! I'm gonna email and call you too...perhaps a conference call with Ms. Graves! We are just tickled pink to hear from you and could not be more excited at the thought of seeing you in the Northwest! We'll chat soon,
Katie

ap hawthorne said...

Hi kids, love,"m"

ap hawthorne said...

Hi Kids, (cont.) now that I think it might actually work. What a wonderful thing this is, oh yaa, and the blogging is neat ,too. Kate's dad says," Hey", too. keep up the excellent adventure. Love to each, "m"

Doc M said...

Athens,GA- July 10-12, 2007
Not a Ladyhawke, but a Ladyhog!!!
Imagine my proprietary annoyance as I pulled into my morning parking spot at Wilson's Soul Food Restaurant and found my regular space obscured. “They didn't even have the grace to show their license plate,” I mumbled to myself Tuesday, July 10, 2007. It was an inappropriate thought for two specific reasons. First, it was not my parking lot; I was the recipient of a generous kindness extended to me that saved me the ridiculous parking rates extracted from The University of Georgia Parking Services. Second, Ladyhawke’s inhabitants were unaware that I was on earth, a parking lot hog, or a license plate hawk.

Imagine my delight when Ladyhawke moved to the far corner of the lot, and revealed her Pennsylvanian license plate. “Who lives here?” I humbled to myself on Wednesday morning, July 11, 2007. I did not hesitate to interview the shadowy figure within, when I finished teaching my Multicultural Literature class. The voice that answered my greeting materialized as a friendly filmmaker named Jeff Larson. We exchanged cards, he called the same afternoon, and “The Breakfree Project “agreed to perform in my class the following day.

Now imagine my students and myself totally engaged in the beautiful melodies of Mavi Graves, Kate Hudson, and Julia Massey. Thank you!
Love, Peace, Joy…
maria inez winfield

REF said...

REF
A Poem
Learning to respect those around you is an invaluable lesson. But most people do not participate in this simple practice. As a student searching for some form of sanity in this senseless world, I have found that I must ever more decidedly demonstrate my abilities as a scholar, by practicing what I have learned. I used to blindly do what I was told, and practice the biases that I had grown up with. But now, I see the need for change. I want nothing more than to show the respect that has been shown to me. After God only knows how many years of suffering under ignorant perceptions, it is time for a change…in me. I release you, fear, so you can no longer keep me shrouded in the darkness of ignorance, hidden from equality. How can you reform society, and teach respect to others if all you give back is your own image? There is no room for hateful actions or views. Society has quite a load to bear without the additions of new generations. It is a daunting task to teach racial respect to many because the color line thrives, because people who live with it have been desensitized to its significance. I have learned that these issues are the burden of my generation. I used to believe that these issues were not mine, but now it is plain to see that they are. Respect is a home that welcomes everyone. Home isn’t far but it’s not close either.

Morgan-Taylor Copper said...

Hey, you guys visited my English class at the University of Georgia. Your sheer candor and willingness to share your stories is truly commendable. Thank you for taking the time to share you music and lives with us. It was simply our pleasure. Also, below is a poem I'd like to share:

I, too, am coming back

I used to equate passiveness
with quiet solitude
But now I equate passiveness
with fear…
Fear of speaking my mind
Fear of stepping on toes
Fear of being myself
The way so many women sit their sadness on an elbow.

According to society…
I have inherited
various disabilities:
Female
African American
Fearfulness
But I don’t want to inherit her place by the window.
Resting my sadness on an elbow.

Allow yourself to be spelled differently.
It will feel like falling.

I used be comfortable in my assigned cubbyhole
But now, each day I live.
I strive to be better.
Simply better.

I belong but do not belong to.
I’m still not completely at ease among white people
I used to feel I owed you nothing
But now I do feel I speak
on behalf of my people,
my African American people

I would prove, in due course,
that her color or race did not make her
any better than me or my people

I became a student and eventually a scholar
And I found…
that nothing in the past is more mysterious
than the behavior of the present
As long as this continues
we will be divided as a nation

I used to be discouraged by
superstitions and quaint notions
But I have gone away to come back

For the ones I left behind.
For the ones who cannot out.




Thank you,
MCopper

Note: this poem is my writing along with excerpts from different literary works. Enjoy!

The Break Free Project said...

Wow! It was truly our pleasure to spend time with your class. The University of Georgia is blessed with brilliant and talented students and we were very glad to have met you. Thanks REF and MC for sharing your writing! Looking forward to future time in Georgia,
The BFP

cunning1 said...

Thank you so much for visiting our class at UGA. Here is another poem for y'all...
Climb into
this story.

I myself
met me face to face at a crossroads.
I used to have
innocence
But I lost
the idea of a perfect world.

I see in my face
a stubborn expression, and a
hardness in the eyes.
I used to have a
wall built up
But I lost
my feigned confidence…
peeling layers down
to vulnerable stuff.

Child is proof of purity,
purity which
we drop and we drop
everything.

If only we could go back to
innocence
where children say,

I am not afraid to be black
I am not afraid to be white

what would you say if you could?
Thanks again, KC