weekend

It was a long week, very productive and busy. it had some highlights and some disappointments.

I borrowed a truck from my friend Callie and went uptown with David to the MTV studios to pick up the vinyl. My friend Janna met us there.

David and her got along really well. ...










They decided to take up residence in a large cardboard box on 44th Street but it wasn't big enough for the two of them....

The guys in the MTV studios were so generous with me, especially George, he made sure I got a bunch of banners that would have ended up in the garbage otherwise. I tried to take a picture of the guys but they all ran away like little shy girls when I pulled out my camera. So I took a picture of the graphics on the walls in the hallway instead






Later that night, my friend Elizabeth drove me to pick up a couple of heat welding machines for vinyl from my old work mate Mitch who was working a late night gig at the Natural History Museum. We decided to go incognito:

The next day I carried the two heat welders over to Bushwick Project for the Arts on my xtracycle, but I forgot to take a photo of that or of the welders themselves, but they really do exist, I swear! I now have a stash of supplies over there to begin the cover construction. That night I picked up the cut conduit pipes with Callie's truck and brought it over to Zach's metal shop in Greenpoint and we started pressing the ends of the stuff with this hydraulic press they have over there. Here is a photo of the press:


















and one of Zach hard at work with the pumping of the press

We both came to the realization that it is kind of insane to try to make all the domes by hand like this, I mean it took us two hours just to do half of them and as it was it was really difficult to get them consistent. Then I had this idea that I should approach a technical high school with the project and ask them if they would want to have their students do it for credit.
That would be an amazing project for a group of kids, they could learn about sustainability, recycling, metal working, humanitarianism and good work ethics. I am going to follow this train.


All during the week I have been having trouble sorting out the bureaucratic aspect of the project. Paypal has given me all kinds of hoops to jump through, each one creating new ones nestled inside of them kind of like those Russian dolls you see sometimes, one within another within another, seemingly endless and sort of sinister in the right light.

Today I went to work at the Hudson Theater and when I arrived there I discovered that there is a Women's Summit on Global Activism there all weekend. That was kind of amazing to me and totally inspiring and frustrating at the same time. I think there was alot of people there who would love this project and who have the money to support it, but how to connect to them???

I was working in the lobby, focusing lights when I looked down and saw a giant roll of vinyl on the floor. It looked like gold to me. I was like HOLY SHIT! That could make ALOT OF DOMES!!
Actually, now that I am remembering this I remember also before I even arrived at the theater today walking through Times Square and gazing up at all the billboards and my head spinning with the imagining of people being housed within a crazy collage of them. Of course, the collage would be on the inside of the domes because I would put the white part on the outside to serve as more of a heat reflector.

So I approached the scenic dude and told him about my project and he was very receptive to it and said he'd give me as much vinyl as he could if I came back on Sunday for the strike. (strike in theater lingo is the de-install of a show) The name of his company is Scenicorps and they are based out of Brooklyn Navy Yard. Y'all should support them, they are awesome.

At the event today I learned that the founder of one of the organizations I want to send a dome to in Haiti, Magalie Marcelin, died in the earthquake on January 12th. It's a shelter for battered women called Kay Fanm.
http://www.truthout.org/magalie-marcelins-death-haiti-a-loss-whole-nation56993
I was watching the video in the lobby and crying, knowing I would never get to meet this wonderful sister activist. What a loss.

I was totally engrossed in the performance of the play called "Seven" which featured some very fine acting from Meryl Streep, Marcia Gay Harden, Shohreh Aghdasloo, Lauren Velez, Archie Panjabi, Stephanie Okereke and Julyana Soelistyo. I was especially moved by the piece read by Archie Panjabi about a real life woman named Mukhtar Mai, a Pakistani who was illiterate when she was raped by 4 men and then she took them to court and won. She took her settlement money and started a school to teach girls how to read. It was an incredible story as were all the other ones, but hers in particular really hit me in the heart.

This weekend I am going to be taking it easy, doing some research into finding a technical high school who wants to take on this project. The idea of having high school kids build domes for orphanages in Haiti is one I am very excited about.

I am also hard at work at home trying to find a non profit umbrella organization to help us out.
Doing things DIY is great and all, but sometimes we artists need legitimacy that other people have already. What I really love about this project is how its all about networking within a community of creative people and collaborating and pooling resources. Someone over here has a drill press, someone over there has a heat welder, someone over there has a truck,.... we all lend a hand and the result is larger than any one person

As with most things I have done in my life, this project is evolving as I go. If I were to have it all figured out before I began, I would never have began because the figuring happens as you do the thing. So I took the first step and then some obstacles appeared, so I dealt with those obstacles and took the second step and so on. One thing is clear to me and that is that my commitment to achieve the goal is 100%. I will do everything it takes. I will adapt to any obstacle thrown my way and become stronger for the adaptation.

tuesday

Today was another spectacular weather day. I rode over to Manhattan on my bike to open a bank account for Domes for Haiti.

I went back to Brooklyn and brought the vinyl I have over to the Bushwick Project for the Arts. They are good folks over there, willing to allow me full access to their space to work in. I measured out another pentagon to use as a pattern for more, and then realized I dont have enough vinyl yet to complete one cover. MTV is supposed to be giving me a large amount of it on the 15th, but in the meantime, I need more!

So tomorro I will get on the phone to some scenic companies to see if I can find another source. I will also be going tomorrow evening in Clyde, Elizabeth's truck, to pick up two heat welders from Mitch on 75th st. Yes, Elizabeth's truck's name is Clyde.

Tonight a new volunteer, our first off of craigslist turned up and turned out to be a total gem. Jim and I cut up the first batch of conduit pipe to size and ground down the ends to make them pretty.

Next step is taking them to Zach's shop in Greenpoint to smoosh the ends in his hydraulic press. I am having a challenging time finding access to trucks. I am thinking I could probably carry that shit on my xtracycle. I mean, my bike can carry 500 lbs, right? So what's 100 lbs of conduit pipe? con do it= can do it, afterall.

I had an offer today to be the subject of an MTV reality tv show. I asked the producer, "how much does it pay?" and she said, oh we dont pay, but it's great exposure. I wonder if this nice woman is also working for the exposure? How does one pay the rent on exposure?

peace out, thanks for reading.

moonday

A good day today, the weather has been amazing. I had a few days of recuperation after a minor surgery. I am almost back at 100%.

I started cutting out the vinyl for the first prototype dome. I will be cutting more tonight. I hope to receive the heat welder soon from Mitch.

build this week.....

We are getting ready to start building this week. If you want to volunteer a few hours in the metal shop at third ward please let me know. Email me at info@domesforhaiti.org.

I've got the key for the Bushwick Project for the Arts. Will go check it out Monday or Tuesday to set up the workspace for the covers.

Still looking for funding to buy the conduit pipes needed. $250 per dome.

If I can't get enough funding, I will be using reclaimed conduit pipe from the yard next to the Ferry boat. That pipe is only 3/4 inch though and it's not as strong as the 1" pipe. Also exploring the possibility of using old scaffolding from the same place. It would be alot more work to carry those heavy scaffolds over from across the street to third ward, but it's a potential free source.

I'm a little distressed by certain companies who seem to be using the disaster in Haiti to bolster their sales. Wonder what people's opinions are about getting paid to do disaster relief. Shouldn't it be volunteer work so that any moneys donated go directly to supplies to help the survivors rebuild?

The guy at the electrical supply place said he has two generators that he wants to send to Haiti. I have to remember to go by there and talk to him, see if we can ear mark them for the orphanages.

Spoke with Suncere today about sending the first dome to his project near port au prince. Sounds like he is doing some good work for kids....
http://www.move4haiti.org/

That's all for now, I had a little pause in work on this project because I am recovering from a surgery I had yesterday, but should be back on track by Monday.
Thanks for reading, please feel free to comment

It is in my personality that sometimes when people tell me what I am attempting to do "cant be done" It creates more motivation in me to make it happen to prove that person wrong. It's called reverse psychology, hello.
Thank you to everyone who is using straight up encouragement and support. Thank you to those of you who are telling me this cant be done.
All of you are making me more determined then ever to do this thing.

I may have to resort to Robin Hood tactics.

Can do it = Conduit

Today was a very productive day.

Duncan came to Brooklyn and I took him on a little mini-tour of Bushwick. We visited my friends on the infamous Ferry Boat and he filmed me yakking on the helm of the boat with the glorious New Town Creek in the background. I brought him over to 3rd Ward and he met David Seigel one of the co-conspirators of this project and the shop manager there. He then drove me to this Electrical Supply store in the neighborhood and I bought 36 10' sticks of 1" EMT Electrical Conduit pipe! We then delivered it to 3rd Ward.

When we were on the Ferry boat, I noticed the plethora of electrical conduit pipe that is chaotically scattered in the yard next door. Surely no-one is using that stuff? It's not 1" pipe and some of it is bent, but maybe I should try to scavenge it? I wonder about the strength of that size, i think it is 3/4".

The 360 ft of conduit pipe I bought today cost $234 ! I just noticed that. The guy said he was giving me a "good deal" ??? I should have been paying more attention because when I called up the quote I got was like $5.80 a 10' stick. shit.
We need to raise money! Or use recycled pipe!

I am feeling very good about this project. I know it will be successful. It's a good exercise in patience for me.

I am getting ready to launch a full scale announcement to the world about it.
I think about creating press packages or some sort of flyer to hand out, but I dont want to waste resources. Is that insane? I am sure if I had a team of kids to hit the streets and go into businesses they could raise some money and interest for this project. I am also thinking about making an ad for craigslist to seek volunteers. Also to get written up on the Gothamist and Idealist.org.

I want my MTV

I got confirmation today of the donation of vinyl from MTV. They said I could come pick it up on the 15th of March. Anyone want to give me a lift in their truck?

I got confirmation of the heat welder donation today, but still need a good location to fabricate the covers inside of. I am hoping to go visit Bushwick Trailer Park tomorrow as well as speak to the 3rd Ward directors about using the second floor of their building on Morgan in the meantime before they demolish it. It would be cool to use that space because it would be easier to make the frames downstairs and then build the covers upstairs. Not to mention that I have some friends who are working in that building :) However, friends are everywhere.

I want to be getting more done and faster, however, health issues are slowing me down a little bit. I messed up my back at work the other night on a load out and am getting some chiropractic work done. Also I have something very serious happening on Friday that I dont really want to talk about in public.