the mysterious "seattle dave" & challenges to veganism

i cruised back down to seattle after making jam, because it was dave's birthday and i love seattle. it was a flipping fantastic night. i honestly love his crew of friends - he is a magnet for people from texas, so somehow, the backyard of the ArtChurch became a west texas saloon, but it was amazing. here: meet dave.



everyone was on a really good intellectual plane, too, and i had some good discussions about food. dave gave me a challenge about my veganism that totally shifted a paradigm for me. it went something like this: "you don't like the way big farmers treat the animals they are raising and selling. so you're boycotting and taking yourself out of the market. however, in capitalism, the way to make an impact on those farmers, because they are businessmen, is to move your market share, not withdraw yourself from the market completely. you not being a part of the market at all? makes your vote not count. tyson? knudsen? they don't care about you. you're not a blip on their radar. if you were BUYING organic milk and organic, free-range chicken, eventually, they'd pay attention to that." i'm not saying he changed my mind and now i eat meat, but it was the first kind of convinicing argument i've heard regarding how to be responsible with my philosophy & eating/buying choices. one of his friends referred to this as "responsible capitalism" and i liked that term. SOMEONE is going to profit on every dollar you spend, so it's your responsibility as a consumer to choose wisely - who do you want to profit? (i.e. local businesses or mega corporations?) i'd love to hear your thoughts if you have any.

no one knew his address.

i'm working on a spreadsheet, right? of my roadtrip... an updated version of what's posted below. it'll have where i'm stopping and starting every day, with addresses, mileage, time frames - as accurate as i can get, at least. especially after seeing the hangover yesterday (which was hilarious, but i am NOT recommending it unless you are highly appreciative of very, very inappropriate raunch humor) (i got carded TWICE before seeing it), when the guys were looking for their friend and trying to retrace his steps, i realized, if, horror of horrors, something should happen, i'd want some way for my parents to track where i was last - or where i was supposed to have been next.

except, of course, that my iphone has GPS, right? and hello, i tweet every hour like clockwork. i can't go too far off the map, can i, now?

but it dawned on me that i didn't take the same precautions last february. i headed up to the northwest with my iphone, dave's address, and a mental map of how to get to anacortes from seattle. i didn't have bus or train tickets, and in fact, i got lost after leaving the airport. and i made it, just fine, to the artchurch (you remember that seattle dave lives in an abandoned lutheran church that's been renovated into a live/paint/play structure they've renamed the ArtChurch,) although he was still at work when i got there.

seattle dave is not a serial killer. but, like, you don't know him. raise your hand if you've met him. my dad has, as it turns out, met him, but that was for 6 minutes, because we were in town for my grandfather's funeral, and my dad happens to be a horrible judge of character - he's a sucker for anyone with good taste in music (which dave has) (that's actually how we met) (that's a story for another time).

you guys, nobody knew where i was. i was in seattle for three days, untraceable. yes, i was updating my facebook. yes, i was calling and emailing. but no one actually knew where i WAS. no one knows dave's last name. he's always "seattle dave." i know it, but i never use it. i'm sure cindy assumed my dad knew where i was staying and my uncle dan assumed i'd told jenni where i was staying and i just reckon that everyone assumed someone else knew but the truth is, that at the end of the day, nobody knew exactly where i was sleeping for two days.

anyway. i'm realizing that, just like everything always needs to be renewed, the way i do human relationships needs a little reworking. and this is one of those things. i'm wanting to be missed, i realize, while i'm gone, and so i'm going to tell a few people exactly where i'm going to be. that's the risk - the scary fourth-grade valentine moment, where i hand a favorite person my folded up road trip itinerary with just a little bit of my heart attached to it, because i'm saying, care that i'm gone? and i think - i'm not positive, but i think: that less-robot/more-human vulnerability - it's a step in the right direction.

BTW, the ArtChurch is located at the corner of 22nd & 61st in Ballard in Seattle.

road trip planning, in progress

so, in about 30 minutes, with some notes from 4 months ago, some decent working geography of the west coast, google maps, and ical, this is what i just came up with. now i just need to let my bosses know that i'm changing my vacation days a bit. and i realized as i changed my spreadsheet into a jpeg to post it here - "wait! why's there no #15?" oh! because i only have 2 weeks off work. so i'll need to get home in 3 days. :)

northwestern vacation, day one

vacation: it's about time.
seattle dave: we met 3 years ago in a dive bar, here in seattle; it's kind of a shady story but it's worked out nicely; he lives in a re-vamped lutheran church with a bunch of artists in ballard.
iPhone: has google maps w. bus directions & is amazing. get one.

thoughts for today:

i don’t know how to evangelize. i honestly don’t know the “four spiritual laws”. and i also don’t spend a lot of time with people who aren’t christians (note: that’s not something that i like). i don’t know how to start a conversation with the intention of telling someone about Jesus. i don’t even know what telling someone about Jesus means. except, i just know who Jesus is to me. tonight, three people told me about their faith. specifically, they shared with me how they’d come to where they are now, which is not following Jesus. these conversations didn’t start because of anything i did. as i said, i don’t even know how to start those conversations, and i really like not knowing. my Jesus, as you know, is not canned, and frankly, He’s not easily explained. it’s kinda complicated, and as much as i’m violating my own beliefs by saying this, i don’t really like getting into it. it’s so volatile, faith is. so invasive. and i’m so much more concerned about my relationships with people than with HAVE YOU ACCEPTED JESUS CHRIST AS YOUR LORD AND SAVIOR that you will not quickly find me asking someone about their spirituality. i will also point out that Jesus tended to be that way, himself. anyway, seriously, three people tonight launched into it with me, and it was great to share my side of the story – how i got to where i am in my faith. i was really pleased & encouraged by their open-mindedness – it was great to be listened to, and i felt like i was treated with the same respect i always intend to extend to others.

i love seattle. i love the musicians busking on the corner, i love the crazy alleyways that require you to back into diagonal parking spots, i love walking to a dive bar when it’s raining, i love the graffiti in the bus tunnel downtown, and i love that the neighborhood pub serves a mighty fine vegan artichoke sandwich.