sarahpeters's blog

I’m gonna attribute to what we sometimes refer to as “parking gods” the fact that the bus ended up parked right in front of a bus mechanic.
Not just any bus mechanic. A bus mechanic who has worked on the type of engine in our bus for the past six years.

We’ve got an appointment for tomorrow morning.

We made a 1-bus parade around New York that led us to Albert Maysles and a truly inspiring chat about art and film and people.

He has a silly smile that he pulls out sometimes when he makes a joke. I think just remembering that smile will get me out of future funks.

Tasty bus meal = red thai curry and chicken tikka masala
Note: I love dumping water out the emergency side-exit. It makes me feel like a gypsy traveler.

Vox Pop is a political bookstore and coffee house and community meeting place in Ditmas Park, Brooklyn.
When we told people on the street we were doing a presentation there, they said, oh, that’s a very popular place. Sweet!
I really loved this presentation. It was friendly and fun and we met good new people and saw old friends. Hey! That’s why I’m producing this film!

Three cheers for the band The Golden Birds. Those people have luscious voices. I hope I ever get to hear them sing again.

On our way out of town, we saw a crowd gathered in a square. Using our investigative powers we found out that Montel Williams was giving a presentation. For an organization called the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America! Hmm.

The parking gods, who love us so, made a space for us right in front of all the action. Nirvan, Lisa and Mike took off to try to get a meeting with Montel, and the rest of us talked to all the people who came up to check out the bus.

By the time we drove away, we were in love with Baltimore. We met some of the coolest, sweetest folks during this stop. We were third in line to talk to Montel, but then the Big Man in the Suit decided that Montel wouldn’t have time to get to us AND we had to more our bus NOW. So we piled in.

Hello number one:

I road my bike a mile and a half to the Mondawmin Mall Radio Shack to pick up battery/adapter/cord. This was a cool ride of economic diversity - from the well-maintained downtown, through a sort of run-down neighborhood with many boarded windows, then up past Druid Hill Park where a development company has renovated some old walk-ups.
On the way back, I saw a tiny little girl walking... well, it was more a skip-tottering home from school, her mother following her, chatting on the phone. She was a preschool aged, 3-foot tall tiny dancer. As I passed her on my bike she yelled out with a face you'd make if you were playing peek-a-boo.

Hello number two:

Such a short visit to our nation's capital and so 1 Second Filmee-Style.

Step 1. wave to people from the bus
Step 2. put on the jumpsuits and visit the Lincoln Memorial (play "home")
Step 3. stage a long-shot of the bus driving by the Capital Reflection Pool
Step 4. Look at/take pictures of BATMAN'S CAR!!!!
Step 5. drive by the US Capital Building at sunset playing music on the roof

That's right. We stumbled upon Batman's car when we turned the bus around in a park by the river. Whoever owned it didn't come back before we left, but it drew quite the crowd.

Naomi had warned us to be quiet in the a.m. so Barbara could sleep. So, in the morning, Lisa and I were whispering in the kitchen, "Shh, we've got to be quiet," when a big ole rooster came up on the porch and shouted right in. We've laughed three times about it today.

Naomi and Lisa made a bunch of pancakes and Barb gave us a big bag of veggies from her garden. The house was even more beautiful in the daylight.

Whirligig is a word that Vollis Simpson says he did not make up, but that other people came up with. I walked up the sandy road next to his whirligig farm in NC, and thought about the cotton fields and the tin-roofed homes and the history of this place that I don't even know. What a wonder that this big place is one country.