That does a pretty good job of summing it up. “Kindness” covers all of my political beliefs. No need to spell them out. I believe that if, at the end, according to our abilities, we have done something to make others a little happier, and something to make ourselves a little happier, that is about the best we can do. To make others less happy is a crime. To make ourselves unhappy is where all crime starts. We must try to contribute joy to the world. That is true no matter what our problems, our health, our circumstances. We must try. I didn’t always know this and am happy I lived long enough to find it out.
– Robert Ebert
Robert Ebert’s feelings on life and death are very insightful.
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Part of the whole Common Folk Collective theme of things is appreciating art that is functional and finding ways to live life in creative ways, appreciating the difference between simply creating art and being a true artist. I’m really salty I missed The Trading Tortoise traveling art project when it came through Milwaukee.
Basically Souther Salazar and Monica Choy wanted to take a road trip across the states but also wanted to interact with the communities they drove through and give something back as they went along. Being the creatives they are, it was only logical (in their upside down, wacky, creative universe) that their trip turn into a traveling art project/trading post. They built a Trading Tortoise.
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“At each stop, they recreate their Trading Tortoise installation and invite people to bring a meaningful object, story or creation and exchange it for something else special that Salazar & Choy have found or traded for along the way. They hope to connect people in different places in America in this way, through a network of traded treasures and a mutual love of giving and receiving in a non-monetary exchange.”
This was traded for this for this
Pretty awesome. They get to pawn off an ultimate american road trip as a benevolent social experiment. And if that isn’t already sicky sweet enough, they’ve also been doing stuff along the way such as painting a mural for Children’s Hospital in Boston. Fucking do-gooders. Don’t they know they should just sit at home and bitch about stuff on a blog?!
Definitely check out their website for the project/trip, The Trading Tortoise. They’ve got tons of photos from their journey and fun stuff and even have a place to track all the trades made. Hooray for another ambitious power couple!
Each trade comes with a description/story
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Skateboarding. Bicycling. Roller Skating.
]]>People being bummed out or not having anything to do, so what do they do, they ride a skateboard or they make art or they write a letter to god even though…you know god won’t read the letter. So there’s just nothing, there’s nothing much you can do in life except for do art and skate.
]]>Ice Cube “Steady Mobbin”
You always gotta have your side hustle, whether the economy is good or bad. And embrace that creative, d.i.y. side of things, we don’t have to rely on anyone else cuz we can do it for ourselves.
]]>From MakeZine.com-
“Raul Lemesoff, an Argentine art-car artist, has taken a 1979 Ford Falcon that used to belong to the Argentine armed forces and turned into a ‘Weapon of Mass Instruction.’ Armed with 900 or so books Lemesoff travels the streets of Buenos Aires and beyond offering free books to all. He sees his ‘Weapon of Mass Instruction’ as a “contribution to peace through literature.”
(From Raul Lemesoff Flickr)
(From LaughingSquid.com)
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Couldn’t be more well put. Thank you to whoever you are.
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