Today is Tuesday the 20th of January. I’m currently posted up at my longtime friend Gardner Halsey’s kitchen table in Porter, Maine. He’s taking care of a brown lab named Cleo who is overly joyful and continues to make me crack up this morning with her enthusiasm. Gardner has let me use his home this week to work on Smooth Feather things.
Since finishing our filming in South Dakota, Adam flew back to the east coast and Pancho and I said our goodbyes to Jesse, Sarah and the whole Weston crew. Pancho and I then climbed into “Bonne”, Smooth Feathers loyal 1990 Pontiac Bonneville :). We then embarked on a road trip west towards San Francisco. One of the highlights of the trip was when Pancho and I pulled off at a rest stop in the middle of the Utah Salt Flats. See picture below.
When looking out into this endless expanse of glory, we both decided to strap on our running shoes and embark on a long run. With the white salt under our feet in every direction it felt like we were running in a different dimension of space. Soon the distant traffic appeared to be floating 5 feet off the road and the curvature of the earth could visibly be experienced. After crossing the 7-mile abyss we finally came to a mountain, which we summited with burning legs (pancho’s idea, he doesn’t know when to call it quits). On top of the mountain we struggled to make out the rest stop that was wavering in the distance. There is something that the desert does to you, which deeply humbles your soul and can even make you uneasy at points with no bare essentials in sight. In the above photo you can actually make out Pancho if you look very carefully. Although it was his idea to summit the mountain he hadn’t taken into account that we still had to go back,.. and that he hadn’t run in 3 years since his knee surgery. :) So I was able to get this photo of him finishing strong on a wobbly knee.
After this adventure we continued westward on interstate 80 and for the last 300 miles drove Bonne without brakes. :) For a week I was in Berkeley with Pancho and also got some needed rest in Robby Stacey’s hot tub as well.
And so today, I have since traveled to see my family in Maine, and begin gathering my thoughts for our latest film “Dakota 38”. I have so much gratitude for all of the people that I have met in the last 4 months in the Dakotas. Each one of them has given me great insights into life and myself.
A friend asked me the other day what the film is going to be about, and I responded with, “unconditional love”. This is the number one point that I personally have taken away from the journey in December. As Jim Miller led us on this journey he opened every interaction and meeting with the following, “I want to tell each and every one of you that I love you very much.” And as Adam once pointed out, it never got old. It never lost power or became a mundane saying. Every time you could feel the genuine love behind his words. And so that energy trickled down throughout all of the riders. Jim even hugged the guys from the Fox network and told him that he loved them. We got some great footage of their response afterwards.
The second element that I’ve taken away from the ride is another quote from Jim, “I live my life as an open book” I’d heard this saying many times yet this time it was different. I started asking myself what I’m hiding from the world. How can I be more transparent with everyone that I encounter, and most importantly myself? And this is exactly why I’m writing this blog right now. I’ve often times had mixed feelings about sharing my thoughts through a blog and I have actually been less active with blogging in the past year. Yet since the ride, I’m inspired to live in a way that is more transparent and open. I want people to experience the process of making these Smooth Feathers projects and not only the final films.
I’ve gotten lots of emails in the past year from people that want to help out…which is so awesome. Yet I find myself overwhelmed with managing these requests. So if you or someone you know is inspired to coordinate glorious people and find ways for them to fit into Smooth Feather projects than I’d love to talk to you. :) Which brings us to the latest Smooth Feather idea, which was born a couple weeks ago when Adam Mastrelli visited me in Maine. Here are a couple emails that Adam and I wrote to one another last week.
Adam’s Email to me,
So there's something with physical activity, exhaustion, and people sharing that together that brings people closer together into a community. Of course there needs to be an interactive site, where people can share, interact, but I feel there's a deep, deep need for people to connect on a human level and not just in meeting and coming together to have conversations. We need to get them up and moving, physical activity, building something together, being a part of an activity larger than themselves which then will mirror the mental and emotional state of feeling like they belong to something bigger. I'm passionate about this. I thought about it again this morning after watching a TED talk, but was also thinking it over the weekend. There were many examples, you and your father building a tree house together, Kristin and I, walking up that hill and keeping the fire going together, your father, mother, Kristin, Willy, myself, putting logs onto the sled...That's what the ride provided in a lot of ways. An activity. The sharing at night I feel was made possible by people working together during the day on a project. Something physical. This is attempted in office life with projects...the problem being they're not physical enough. There's no sense of play or building. It's too mental. People are dealing with projects (not all the time, but mainly) from their logical, headspace...I believe that it takes physical activity to break that, get blood pumping to our hearts and to incorporate more of what people have been doing for 10,000 years, building, physically working together...I'd like to see whatever we continue to work on incorporate some of these things, activities....:)adam
My email to Adam
LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVEEE IT BABY!!!!
That's exactly what I'm talking about son. I really dig it man.
I've begun thinking more about the question you posed about my grandest vision for Smooth Feather.
And today I envisioned pulling into a driveway that lead to the top of the mountain here in Maine. That open field on top of the hill would have a film/music/performance studio space that is solar powered and full of sunshine and glorious people coming together. There would be a couple grills going out front, people tossing a frisbee in that large soccer field to be. And sheep wandering amongst the scene. Willy and the horses are eating the grass close by and then you hear some loud music coming out of the windows of the studio from someone who is getting creative.
Mastrelli then says, "Alright, we've been heart storming & working all morning who wants to take a run to the river for a swim." Then a motley crew of New York City Vagabonds mixed with the dude next door, jump into the back of a pickup and head for a swim break.
After lunch, a few people are inside working on the latest projects, and the other half are outside working to pull weeds in the garden. When the computer people are getting bugged out, we switch.
That night we all have dinner on a large table that is on one side of the studio room. And we laugh about the day’s antics.
After that, people start a bon fire and maybe we project some film work onto a large screen under the stars. Or maybe we host a gathering where the neighborhood sees some footage from our latest project. Or maybe we host an evening with a local band and we have a small stage for them to play from.
After that people head back to their tents that are set up in cool spots throughout the woods. I see this happening in different blocks throughout the year. They could be 2-week gatherings where anyone is welcome to join. Seeing as though many of us are often times on the move with different jobs or tasks, this would be one solid schedule throughout the year where our community could converge on this glorious spot in nature and get recharged, sweat to the bone and create magic for the world.
We've got the land, we've got amazing trees we can cut down to have lumber for building,....Pancho wouldn't have to engage in this part :)
One of my best friends works with a green building company that we can work with.
If we build it they will come. :) Also we can host a triathlon, we can involve local artists, we can build crazy sculptures and play soccer into the night.
Let me know what your thoughts are man, and what you would like to see on this mountaintop. i.e. a room for this, a section of land dedicated to this, a basketball hoop, etc.
Much love from cold air brother,
Si
p.s. I love you buddy :)
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So that’s the latest idea, and as you can see we’ve taken on Jim’s “I love you buddy” :) At first it felt a bit awkward, yet I’m getting better at it.
Sending much love to all of you from deep snow in Maine,
Silas
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