Over the weekend, I visited a friend who recently moved to an area about 12 miles outside of downtown Ithaca, New York. He recently bought a patch of land and is busy transforming the property into a respectable homestead. It’s a really nice little plot, and it was great to see what he has accomplished thus far, mostly with a bit of ol’ fashioned manpower. I documented some of his goings-on, and we had a nice little formal interview which I thought went very well. Hopefully a solid little documentary will come out of it all. Great stuff all around. (Though I am very sore from chopping down those dead pine trees right now…)
(Finally have something to keep me busy, video-wise.)
But yes, Ithaca is a very intriguing little area. It has a surefire progresssive vibe that is hard not to notice. It’s diverse, with a hearty amount of forward-thinking activity brewing about. It’s got a burrito joint that uses locally grown, organic beans (and local tofu, too), a hemp clothing store, a massive farmer’s market (which I forgot to check out with everything else going on, erp!), another cooperative food store, a bunch of art galleries… And plenty of cars with peace signs, anti-Bush, etc. bumper stickers. Felt good, yea. I’m sure there is way more good stuff going on than I got to experience over those couple of short days.
Also, this was hands-down a shining example of why Ithaca is Ithaca, I think. On Saturday night, we went to a music show (in a Masonic Temple, no less) that featured African music in one room (complete with one fellow playing a Kora [I think], and the most powerfully loud hand drumming ever), and then some drum-n-bass/jungle/reggae-type stuff in a second, larger room (insanely loud), and finally some pop-y rock with some country-esque vocals. All in one night, in one venue, during one show… three totally different styles of music. After we left the show, we walked into some zombies coming out of a bar.
But yea. Ithaca. There’s a place to remember.
Note: Please find all of my cob building related content at my new blog, The Year of Mud: Building a cob house. Thanks! See you there!
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