alexis also worked with me, and we mostly worked in the lumber yard pulling nails out of old wood and the like.
we also recycled paint.
all of us are almost done with out documentaries. and have been working on them and cleaning the house all day
Dec 16, 2010
Nov 25, 2010
Road Trip #2
These videos are viewable at http://www.youtube.com/brownledgegapyear . Unfortunately day #6 (our last day) was too long for youtube so Instead i filmed a short tour of the house while cooking thanksgiving dinner. Someday Day #6 might be available but I have to re-edit it before that's possible.
Until then enjoy days 1-5 and a short update from Taylor.
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5
Short little update:
tour of the house:
Thanks
-Taylor
Until then enjoy days 1-5 and a short update from Taylor.
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5
Short little update:
tour of the house:
Thanks
-Taylor
Nov 17, 2010
A Report on the Trip from Salt Lake City to New Orleans
Day 1. We got up super early, did a last pass through the house, threw the last things in the truck and got on the road almost on time. This amazing feat was slightly tarnished by having to go back for a forgotten cell phone (ah well). Breakfast at the waffle house on the Southern outskirts with the charming/crazy waiter. I'm not sure which is a weirder breakfast food, waffles with ice cream or chicken fried steak. Both were consumed. Then on the road through the Wasatch Valley. Much beauty outside the van; much sleeping in it. Got to Zion mid-afternoon and set up camp. A stunning setting and hard gravelly tent sites. Took a short hike up to Emerald Pond, which wasn't very emerald, but great views of the valley and cool red-rock formations. It's a beautiful time of the year in the park; there are aspens all through the valley, which turn a brilliant yellow in the fall. They make a great contrast with the red rock mountain walls and the evergreens hanging to the cliffs. There are lots of pictures of Zion on the Smugmug page, blgy.smugmug.com. That night we cooked burgers and samores over a fire, saw a great night sky in the clear desert air and retired to our uncomfortable sleeping quarters.
Day Two: Up early again and a more ambitious hike up the walls of the valley. Not long in miles, but a lot of altitude. Went up Walter's Wiggles, a series of tight switchbacks carved into the edge of a cliff. Every once in a while as we were stopping, gulping for breath, looking out over the edge of the mountain falling in front of us, we would think about the workers who carved out this path. Amazing what the WPA did. Most of us stopped at Scout's Lookout (or something like that), admiring the view and the intrepid chipmunks. Taylor, Christian and J went on up to Angel's Landing, an outcropping jutting into the sky, with a path so steep that you have to clamber up holding onto a chain that is attached to the rock. It looked a little daunting, but they had a great time. From Zion, the plan was to race the sun so that we could watch the sunset over the Grand Canyon, but as we drove through the seemingly endless stark beauty of Arizona, it became clear that we were going to lose that race. Instead, we stopped at Cave Dwellers, Arizona, which was largely deserted except for a lone Native American woman selling jewelry. There were all these bizarre balancing rocks and a few buildings that were put up by a woman in the 1930's whose car broke down there and she fell in love with the spot. She used the rock outcroppings as a wall and ceiling and then built more walls to close in the spaces. There are pictures on Smugmug. From there we drove on to Flagstaff, had dinner at a shockingly good Indian restaurant in a strip mall (shocking only in that a Flagstaff strip mall would not be my first guess at where to find really good Indian food) and then off to bed.
Day Three: Spent some time in the Flagstaff old town in the morning. Flagstaff is mostly a huge sprawl of big box stores and motels aimed at Grand-Canyon-tourist traffic, but tucked in the middle are a few blocks of cute old buildings, with quaint cafes and galleries and new-agey stores. My favorite detail was that the Flagstaff Professional Building had four offices in it: two psychotherapists, a cultural consultant (whatever that is) and the Temple of the Sacred Mother. Very Professional. After Flagstaff, it was back in the van for a long day of driving, at first through Arizona mesa, then rolling hills of National Forest that was mostly isolated scrub trees and then into the mountainous pine forests of the New Mexico/Arizona border. The original plan was to camp in a New Mexico state park , but when the weather forecast said that it was going to be around 35 degrees that night, we opted for a motel in Deming. First we had dinner in Glenwood, New Mexico at a great local restaurant. The town is mostly a setting-off point for hunters, and was the first town of any kind we saw for at least fifty miles (by town, I mean anything with a gas station). The food was a combination of steaky pub food and Mexican, and the clientele was a mix of hunters in full camo, elderly couples with the men wearing Stetsons and a bunch of families with the kids running wild, chasing each other with pool balls from the pool table. It was a great place. I highly recommend it, although I don't remember it's name. It wouldn't be hard to find, since it's the only restaurant in Glendale, and one of about four buildings. The motel in Deming was also a hoot. It was run by a very old couple and had huge rooms with dingy carpets and random old peeling furniture. It was a little like sleeping in your grandmother's basement. But it was actually pretty comfortable.
Day Four: Drove down to El Paso and had lunch at Rock and Roll Taco, a generic taco joint with pictures of Elvis on the walls. Then some people crossed the bridge into Juarez. We'd discussed how to do this safely (during the day, always in a group, only across the border and to the market and back), and a bunch of kids were excited. Just the experience of crossing the bridge on the border, which 60,000 people a day do, is fascinating. A group who didn't want to go to Juarez stayed in El Paso, and I was with that group, so I can't really report on Juarez, but I think people found it interesting. In El Paso we wandered around the shopping district, which feels much more like Mexico than like the U.S. Then it was off through West Texas to get some miles under our belts. We had dinner at a good Mexican place somewhere and spent the night in Fort Stockton.
Day Five: Many more hours of West Texas, and then we stopped in Austin. Wandered around the funky chic shopping district on South Congress and then around the Sixth Street nightclub area before having dinner at a big honky-tonk place with live music.
Day Six: Much more driving. Wow is Texas big. The exits on Route 10 are numbered according to mileage, so you get a sense of just how long the journey is (879 miles if you're interested). Pulled into New Orleans (Yay!) in the evening, unpacked the truck and went for dinner at the Joint, a local dive with incredibly good barbecue and incredibly good macs and cheese and potato salad for the vegetarians.
Day One of Orientation: Walked to the French Quarter, planning on going to a show about life after Katrina at the Louisiana State Museum, but it was closed for Veterans' Day (a point for good planning). Then wandered around the French Quarter for a while, which is always fun, ate some beignets (the New Orleans version of fried dough) and took the ferry over to Algiers to go to Mardi Gras World, which it turns out moved from Algiers to New Orleans last year (another point for good planning). Took the ferry back to New Orleans and went to Mardi Gras World, which is the factory where most of the Mardi Gras floats are made and the warehouse where most of them are kept. It's fun just wandering around this hangar-like building stuffed with giant heads and floats and watching the artists working on constructing new pieces. After dinner we went to Zydeco Night at the Rock and Bowl, which was a great scene. There's a huge dance floor and a live Zydeco band and this weird cross-section of people from young hipsters to old couples dancing together. And there's bowling. What more could you want?
Day Two of Orientation. Had two interviews today, one with a civil rights lawyer who specializes in prison conditions in Louisiana and one with the Executive Director of the Gulf Restoration Network about conditions in the Gulf of Mexico. Both cool, knowledgeable women; we learned a lot. That night, a friend of Timothy's who works for an organization that handles all of the death penalty appeals in Louisiana, and also happens to live around the corner, came over for dinner. She chatted with us about her work and about the neighborhood. Later that night a group of people went to see the Dresden Dolls in concert (I didn't go, but I heard good things).
Last Day of Orientation. Visited two cemeteries in New Orleans, one a classic elegant cemetery with glittering white mausolea above ground in the New Orleans fashion (because the water table is so high, it doesn't work well to bury bodies underground). Lots of statuary and marble. Then, for a compare and contrast, went to a paupers' cemetery with lots of handmade headstones (here the bodies are put underground, but only a couple of feet). Then went to the House of Dance and Feathers, a private museum about Mardi Gras Indians that's in the back yard of Ronald Lewis' house in the Lower Ninth Ward. The collection is pretty cool, but the real reason to go to the museum is to hear Ronald Lewis talk about the Lower Ninth and Katrina and his experiences dancing with the Mardi Gras Indians (this is a separate African American Mardi Gras tradition. Blocked out of the main Mardi Gras Krewes, African Americans developed their own traditions, in which different neighborhood social and pleasure clubs would compete by building and dancing in outrageous costumes covered in beads and feathers). He's a really charming storyteller and I recommend anyone going to New Orleans include the House of Dance and Feathers on their itinerary.
That's the news from BLGY
Day Two: Up early again and a more ambitious hike up the walls of the valley. Not long in miles, but a lot of altitude. Went up Walter's Wiggles, a series of tight switchbacks carved into the edge of a cliff. Every once in a while as we were stopping, gulping for breath, looking out over the edge of the mountain falling in front of us, we would think about the workers who carved out this path. Amazing what the WPA did. Most of us stopped at Scout's Lookout (or something like that), admiring the view and the intrepid chipmunks. Taylor, Christian and J went on up to Angel's Landing, an outcropping jutting into the sky, with a path so steep that you have to clamber up holding onto a chain that is attached to the rock. It looked a little daunting, but they had a great time. From Zion, the plan was to race the sun so that we could watch the sunset over the Grand Canyon, but as we drove through the seemingly endless stark beauty of Arizona, it became clear that we were going to lose that race. Instead, we stopped at Cave Dwellers, Arizona, which was largely deserted except for a lone Native American woman selling jewelry. There were all these bizarre balancing rocks and a few buildings that were put up by a woman in the 1930's whose car broke down there and she fell in love with the spot. She used the rock outcroppings as a wall and ceiling and then built more walls to close in the spaces. There are pictures on Smugmug. From there we drove on to Flagstaff, had dinner at a shockingly good Indian restaurant in a strip mall (shocking only in that a Flagstaff strip mall would not be my first guess at where to find really good Indian food) and then off to bed.
Day Three: Spent some time in the Flagstaff old town in the morning. Flagstaff is mostly a huge sprawl of big box stores and motels aimed at Grand-Canyon-tourist traffic, but tucked in the middle are a few blocks of cute old buildings, with quaint cafes and galleries and new-agey stores. My favorite detail was that the Flagstaff Professional Building had four offices in it: two psychotherapists, a cultural consultant (whatever that is) and the Temple of the Sacred Mother. Very Professional. After Flagstaff, it was back in the van for a long day of driving, at first through Arizona mesa, then rolling hills of National Forest that was mostly isolated scrub trees and then into the mountainous pine forests of the New Mexico/Arizona border. The original plan was to camp in a New Mexico state park , but when the weather forecast said that it was going to be around 35 degrees that night, we opted for a motel in Deming. First we had dinner in Glenwood, New Mexico at a great local restaurant. The town is mostly a setting-off point for hunters, and was the first town of any kind we saw for at least fifty miles (by town, I mean anything with a gas station). The food was a combination of steaky pub food and Mexican, and the clientele was a mix of hunters in full camo, elderly couples with the men wearing Stetsons and a bunch of families with the kids running wild, chasing each other with pool balls from the pool table. It was a great place. I highly recommend it, although I don't remember it's name. It wouldn't be hard to find, since it's the only restaurant in Glendale, and one of about four buildings. The motel in Deming was also a hoot. It was run by a very old couple and had huge rooms with dingy carpets and random old peeling furniture. It was a little like sleeping in your grandmother's basement. But it was actually pretty comfortable.
Day Four: Drove down to El Paso and had lunch at Rock and Roll Taco, a generic taco joint with pictures of Elvis on the walls. Then some people crossed the bridge into Juarez. We'd discussed how to do this safely (during the day, always in a group, only across the border and to the market and back), and a bunch of kids were excited. Just the experience of crossing the bridge on the border, which 60,000 people a day do, is fascinating. A group who didn't want to go to Juarez stayed in El Paso, and I was with that group, so I can't really report on Juarez, but I think people found it interesting. In El Paso we wandered around the shopping district, which feels much more like Mexico than like the U.S. Then it was off through West Texas to get some miles under our belts. We had dinner at a good Mexican place somewhere and spent the night in Fort Stockton.
Day Five: Many more hours of West Texas, and then we stopped in Austin. Wandered around the funky chic shopping district on South Congress and then around the Sixth Street nightclub area before having dinner at a big honky-tonk place with live music.
Day Six: Much more driving. Wow is Texas big. The exits on Route 10 are numbered according to mileage, so you get a sense of just how long the journey is (879 miles if you're interested). Pulled into New Orleans (Yay!) in the evening, unpacked the truck and went for dinner at the Joint, a local dive with incredibly good barbecue and incredibly good macs and cheese and potato salad for the vegetarians.
Day One of Orientation: Walked to the French Quarter, planning on going to a show about life after Katrina at the Louisiana State Museum, but it was closed for Veterans' Day (a point for good planning). Then wandered around the French Quarter for a while, which is always fun, ate some beignets (the New Orleans version of fried dough) and took the ferry over to Algiers to go to Mardi Gras World, which it turns out moved from Algiers to New Orleans last year (another point for good planning). Took the ferry back to New Orleans and went to Mardi Gras World, which is the factory where most of the Mardi Gras floats are made and the warehouse where most of them are kept. It's fun just wandering around this hangar-like building stuffed with giant heads and floats and watching the artists working on constructing new pieces. After dinner we went to Zydeco Night at the Rock and Bowl, which was a great scene. There's a huge dance floor and a live Zydeco band and this weird cross-section of people from young hipsters to old couples dancing together. And there's bowling. What more could you want?
Day Two of Orientation. Had two interviews today, one with a civil rights lawyer who specializes in prison conditions in Louisiana and one with the Executive Director of the Gulf Restoration Network about conditions in the Gulf of Mexico. Both cool, knowledgeable women; we learned a lot. That night, a friend of Timothy's who works for an organization that handles all of the death penalty appeals in Louisiana, and also happens to live around the corner, came over for dinner. She chatted with us about her work and about the neighborhood. Later that night a group of people went to see the Dresden Dolls in concert (I didn't go, but I heard good things).
Last Day of Orientation. Visited two cemeteries in New Orleans, one a classic elegant cemetery with glittering white mausolea above ground in the New Orleans fashion (because the water table is so high, it doesn't work well to bury bodies underground). Lots of statuary and marble. Then, for a compare and contrast, went to a paupers' cemetery with lots of handmade headstones (here the bodies are put underground, but only a couple of feet). Then went to the House of Dance and Feathers, a private museum about Mardi Gras Indians that's in the back yard of Ronald Lewis' house in the Lower Ninth Ward. The collection is pretty cool, but the real reason to go to the museum is to hear Ronald Lewis talk about the Lower Ninth and Katrina and his experiences dancing with the Mardi Gras Indians (this is a separate African American Mardi Gras tradition. Blocked out of the main Mardi Gras Krewes, African Americans developed their own traditions, in which different neighborhood social and pleasure clubs would compete by building and dancing in outrageous costumes covered in beads and feathers). He's a really charming storyteller and I recommend anyone going to New Orleans include the House of Dance and Feathers on their itinerary.
That's the news from BLGY
Nov 13, 2010
Road Trip #2
The videos from Day 1 to Day 6 of our road trip from Utah to New Orleans are now available on youtube at
http://www.youtube.com/brownledgegapyear
If they are not curently all processed they will be within 24hours.
Also, they will all be available on here in awhile.
-Taylor
http://www.youtube.com/brownledgegapyear
If they are not curently all processed they will be within 24hours.
Also, they will all be available on here in awhile.
-Taylor
Oct 24, 2010
(no name)
The past reverberates through our ears,
As we release our collective storm raging visions sears the sky.
Freeing the closed
Breaking the shackles
Releasing the broken
Pen to paper, brush it ink, they will rise from the streets, corners….. alleys underground, rising, rising screaming the rebellion not though violence but through, their passion , illusions and thought.
Resistance turning an obsessive panic
Turn to dust
Turn to Dust
Dust!!
You’re every needs….
Thoughts and will….
To be taken cared for in the
Governing collective
Fearing
Desperate to pacify the rising raging storm of irregularity and creativity
Come don’t listen don’t listen that voice, revolutions in sound lies!
There will be No fear, no pain no need wonder why, when or where.
….. No
….No
Realize…
this thought, look inside cut the parasite feel the light
~luke?
Day at the fair-practice movie from bl camp- christian t
This a practice video I made at Brown Ledge Camp. The footage is from the Champlain County Fair.
disclaimer: the "s" word appears late in the video after an incredibly surprising event.
Youtube Videos
VIDEO #1- A Short glimpse into the Brown Ledge Gap Year Program
Link to video
VIDEO #2 - ROAD TRIP: Ottowa
link to video
VIDEO #3- ROAD TRIP: Detroit
link to video
VIDEO #4- ROAD TRIP: Chicago
link to video
VIDEO #5- ROAD TRIP: South Dakota
link to video
VIDEO #6- ROAD TRIP: Yellowstone
link to video
VIDEO #7-UTAH
link to video
Road trip #2 coming soon, expect more videos from that
-Taylor
Link to video
VIDEO #2 - ROAD TRIP: Ottowa
link to video
VIDEO #3- ROAD TRIP: Detroit
link to video
VIDEO #4- ROAD TRIP: Chicago
link to video
VIDEO #5- ROAD TRIP: South Dakota
link to video
VIDEO #6- ROAD TRIP: Yellowstone
link to video
VIDEO #7-UTAH
link to video
Road trip #2 coming soon, expect more videos from that
-Taylor
Oct 21, 2010
SLC and me
For me coming to Salt lake City
The house that we are staying in is a duplex with our part in the ground floor and it’s the bigger of the two parts. I haven’t been in the other part so I don’t know what is in it, but we have 2 hot tubs a “steam shower” and a few game tables.. so its pretty sweet.
I’ll get pictures up as soon as I can.
Salt Lake and New Orleans 5ish weeks. This is where we will be working on our main Documentary projects.
Here in SLC (salt lake city) we started out with a tour of Welfare Square, where they walked the group around to the various buildings and talked about what they did and how it helped the Mormon cause or humanitarian aid or both.
This was mixed in with being surrounded by religious paintings for most of the time.
Later we saw the Tabernacle Choir who were pretty good but it lasted to long for my liking.
The following day I believe we went to temple square, and were guided around by two missionaries which was… interesting to say the least. That weekend was either the annual or bi-annual mass Mormon Conference to hear what their leaders had to say.
Over all it was a little too much Mormonism for my personal liking, but that’s just me.
We were also given a tour of the most spifftacular program that I’ve seen so far, called “Spy Hop,” which is for students to come and work at after school. They are a lot like what BLC wants to be in a while imho. They also have a music studio and a graphics and computer game making. During those days we also got to meet some polygamists, who aren’t the stereotypical / or pop vomit view of what “Mormons” are.
They were really nice and im sure that it takes a lot of courage to do what they do, by that im speaking of the fact that what they do is breaking the law. The talk with them helped curb what bias that I had coming into SLC and that meeting.
The next big event that we did (I can remember) was a rally/protest against some of the things that the Mormon president has recently said about GLBT etc groups and on the topic in general that were really nasty.
A few us, went to the meeting site along with 4500 supporters and those that are GLBT in silent protest against what had been said. We all gathered around temple square and either sat or lay down head to foot around the square. It was a really wonderful experience.
We haven’t done much else so far in terms of big things like that. A few concerts have been seen and a few movies such as RED and Jackass 3D and the Facebook movie.
All of the kids have been working in service jobs, such as the Utah
I worked in the food bank for a while then moved to the animal shelter which for me was the best move and that choice has helped my on my documentary decision.
Work at the animal shelter usually consists of getting there around 10 ish and taking care of the dogs and cats. Changing the water/ food and litter boxes for the awesome and friendly cats, and changing the water, washing and sanitizing the kennels for the dogs. These don’t take that long at all. We usually follow that up with folding blankets, cleaning up the play pens and of course spending tons of time with the dogs and cats.
Work usually ends between 1 and 4 pm .
trip part 2
After we crossed the border and had a most memorable lunch…
We drove the however long time to Detroit Heidelberg
In Chicago
After that most of the people orders some fair ground rides with a side order of white round balloon thing and a giant mac n’ cheese noodle. After the fun was over we went to millennium park(?). and saw a large bean… >.>
That night we saw Second City, which is a Comedy group that in the past included the likes of Stephen Colbert… and others….
The show was really funny. In the first half they do all skits, the 2nd half is improv stuff. The hostel that we stayed in was a former institution and a nursing home (?)
… Doesn’t exist J
The Badlands.
Beautiful.
Wonderful
Whisperings of the wind slipping thought spires of sand holds ethereal voices caught in praise to the deity of this sand necropolis
Reaching unto blue expanse conjuring forth the Celestial napalm eye….
In the dark a rebellion is stirring creeping crawling, reaching out silver fingers.
Grabbing, clutching conquering driving back the existence of not knowing.
Purging the world of the logical, the know, releasing the dancing Satyr, lifted on the melody of the muse and Passions of fantasy…
The Badlands were simply amazing, sitting on the top of a sandy spire, looking over the vastness that was before you and in every direction. It was a sight to see. We camped here for 2 or 3 days.
Watching the sun set that first night was.. spectacular, J during our stay in the Bad lands we saw a very bi-polar slideshow about stars.
The day or days after that we went to the local reservation to learn about the massacre at wounded knee and got on the local radio there, which was a big highlight.
Yellowstone
Yellowstone was another wonderful place where we camped yet again. We saw old faithful and some elk/ buffalo. At night we heard the sounds of the park, and saw other geysers and hot springs
After that we did a 10 hour drive to Salt Lake City
Oct 5, 2010
hey all, currently we are in Salt Lake City,, having driven across Canada and the US. We stopped in Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Detroit, Chicago, the Badlands and Yellowstone national park on our way here. The house that we are living in for the next 5 ish weeks, has 2 hottubs ( 1 is working) a steam shower, various game tables and a really wonderful kitchen for whoever wants to cook. i'll be making dinner tonight :)
places of note that we stopped in on our way over!
Montreal
we had a really grand time, just sightseeing and, a few of us went to see the band " the bad plus" and got to meet them also. They are a jazz cover band that also has some of their own songs. immediately after that, ( just after we walked out of the concert) we walked into an "art exhibit" of sorts, where music, lights and water fountains were synced perfectly.
we also had to stay in a hostel that night due to our van (Ethel ? ) being locked up in a parking garage.
Ottawa
we had some really tasty Ethiopian after a tour of the city were i got a tribal arm band.
Toronto
well what can i say, this was one of the coolest places that we went, first and foremost for the resturant, O'Noir, where you eat in total darkness, so that you can experience what its like to be blind, for a while. and to really, i mean really, taste your food for the first time.
i had the "surprise" dishes ( which is a random dish from the menu, and you dont know what you will get until you get it)
we all had an awesome time there, trying to figure out what we were eating and how to eat it, ( ie stabbing the plate and not the food multiple times).
for Dessert we had some kind of chocolate mousse cake.
so this is it for now i have too go make cookies with Alexis
places of note that we stopped in on our way over!
Montreal
we had a really grand time, just sightseeing and, a few of us went to see the band " the bad plus" and got to meet them also. They are a jazz cover band that also has some of their own songs. immediately after that, ( just after we walked out of the concert) we walked into an "art exhibit" of sorts, where music, lights and water fountains were synced perfectly.
we also had to stay in a hostel that night due to our van (Ethel ? ) being locked up in a parking garage.
Ottawa
we had some really tasty Ethiopian after a tour of the city were i got a tribal arm band.
Toronto
well what can i say, this was one of the coolest places that we went, first and foremost for the resturant, O'Noir, where you eat in total darkness, so that you can experience what its like to be blind, for a while. and to really, i mean really, taste your food for the first time.
i had the "surprise" dishes ( which is a random dish from the menu, and you dont know what you will get until you get it)
we all had an awesome time there, trying to figure out what we were eating and how to eat it, ( ie stabbing the plate and not the food multiple times).
for Dessert we had some kind of chocolate mousse cake.
so this is it for now i have too go make cookies with Alexis
Sep 2, 2010
Welcome to our blog!
Welcome to the Brown Ledge Gap Year travel blog! This is where we will be posting text, audio, pictures and videos from our documentary adventures across America. Feel free to subscribe to this blog to get our updates emailed directly to your inbox.
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