BOOK-READING & BROCHURE-FOLDING SHINDIG - with Ruth Ozeki

I’d like to invite all Cortes Island booklovers to join me this Friday night at Trude’s Cafe for an informal book-reading-and-brochure-folding party to help support the Whaletown Commons Project.

The idea for the evening came from a documentary film I saw about a Cuban cigar factory, which hired a reader to entertain the workers while they rolled cigars. The reader, a darkly handsome and dramatic young man, read from what appeared to be a very racy and exciting pulp fiction novel. The workers, mostly female, seemed transfixed.

Now, I’m not making any promises, but I love reading aloud, my novel “All Over Creation” does have some racy and exciting bits (and not just about pollinating potatoes and promiscuous squashes), and the Whaletown Commons Project has 500 brochures that need folding. So if you have a couple of hours free on Friday night, please come lend your ears and your hands!

“All Over Creation” is the story of a small town farmer, defending his seeds and staking his claim against the encroaching interests of a large multi-national biotech corporation. He gets some unexpected help from the Seeds of Resistance, a roving band of environmental activists, who are traveling across America in a biodiesel powered Winnebago, called the Spudnik.

The party starts at 7:00, on Friday, December 1, at Trude’s Café. Come be entertained and help support the Whaletown Commons Project and the Cortes Self-Sufficiency Coop.

ART WALK

The third event in the “Imagine the Commons” series will be an art walk, led by Dianne Bersea through the proposed site of the Whaletown Commons. The walk will start at 1:00 on Sunday, November 26. (In the event that the weather is windy and raining, the art walk will be rescheduled in the new year.) These walks are completely free of charge, and everyone is invited. No art experience needed!

Dianne will take us on a slow, alert walk through the Commons and teach us simple exercises designed to enhance seeing, hearing, sensing, and creative awareness. Dianne is a wonderfully accomplished artist and teacher who works in a number of media and is best known for her watercolor paintings of Cortes Island, which have sold throughout North America and Europe. She is an elected member of the Canadian Society of Painters in Water Color (cspwc). Feel free to browse Dianne’s website for information about her work, upcoming workshops, and online shopping for prints, greeting cards and original artwork: www.islemuse.com.

“Imagine the Commons” is a community outreach effort, centering around a series of thematic walks, sponsored by the Whaletown Commons Project. Novelist and writer Ruth Ozeki led a Haiku Walk in October, and photographer Richard Trueman led Photo Walk in November, capturing in images and words the beauty of the Whaletown Creek autumn. The walks have been loads of fun and very successful, and will be repeated once a season throughout the next twelve months, so that by this time next year, we will have a gallery of images depicting the four seasons in the Commons.

Other planned events include a silent walking meditation and a bird walk.

The walks are an invitation to appreciate this unique piece of land and to make an imaginative investment in its future. Every person will experience the Commons differently, and from this diversity we hope to build a common vision of our community’s future. Please come join us!

MEET: at the entrance to the proposed Whaletown Commons site, on Whaletown Road, next to the Firehall.

WHEN: on Sunday, November 26 from 1-3 pm

BRING: A pencil and a small notebook. Warm clothing recommended.

QUESTIONS: Please email Dianne at Dianne@islemuse.com,
or call 935-6791.