Back to Kentucky

Bees have spent the last week with folks at Mountain Justice Summer Camp in Blanton, Kentucky where we participated in workshops, discussions and film premiers about strategies for education and resistance to Mountaintop Removal coal mining. Also at the camp were powerful speaking presentations from Appalachian activists Larry Gibson, Ed Wiley, Maria Gunnoe and best selling author, Silas House. 

We held two workshops of our own to solicit feedback of the developing Coal poster storyboard and were fortunate to have collaborated with historian and author, Chad Montrie, to discuss the past, present and future of resistance in the coalfields. His book, To Save the Land and the People, is an excellent historical account of opposition to surface mining and can be found at, or purchased by, your local library. 

Several Bees were also able to reconnect with folks from KFTC and Appalshop in Whitesburg, Kentucky this past week to share our evolving storyboard and discuss with them potential holes in our research and strategies for further development and long-term communication. 

Thanks to ALL who have helped us throughout our travels in Appalachia. And while we must go home to Maine for the summer, we are already strategizing for our return in the fall and will be tireless with the poster in the meantime - going to print in Early August!

Here's to the Long Haul!

in solidarity

- The Bees

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Appalshop Projects

Up the Ridge, released by Appalshop and produced by Nick Szuberla and Amelia Kirby, is an excellent documentary and an "in-depth look at the United States prison industry and the social impact of moving hundreds of thousands of inner-city minority offenders to distant rural outposts." The film also features the Appalshop radio project, Holler to the Hood, connecting prisoners to their families every Monday @ 8PM. Catch the live webcast of Appalshop radio, WMMT 88.7 FM, on their website.

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Coal Graphic Halfsheet

(Click to enlarge)

Please feel free to Save, Print and Distribute this half-sheet

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Mind Mapping!

Mind Mapping is a tool we frequently use in meetings to create a clear visual deconstruction of content and to better understand the interdependent systems supporting coal extraction.

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Leaving the Farm

Our intensive stay at Hickory Hill Farm is coming to a close. The grazing sheep during meetings, the screams of red-tail hawks at dusk and those honking, slightly obnoxious geese at dawn will all be missed. 

What to say of our time here? The poster is slowly piecing together, and surely, when working collaboratively in a group of 9, it mustn't move any faster. We have been regular with our metaphor push-ups and been consistently stretching our mindfulness muscles while we live, work and recreate with each other every moment of every day. 

We Bees also watched the new coal documentary, Burning The Future, just last night on it's, Citibank sponsored, "green" premier for the Sundance Channel. While there are many documentaries which we feel may provide a larger perspective, you oughta catch this one if you can and share your thoughts with friends and neighbors. Watch the trailer here.

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Update from Hickory Hill Farm

Our research of energy flows, ecosystems and peoples history is beginning to come together into some solid storyboard systems and preliminary sketches for structure and composition. Next week we will be returning to Kentucky to present our models and get feedback from groups like KFTC, Appalshop and the folks at MJS camp. So there's a lot to do, and never enough time to do it in.

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Throughout the research trip our documentary team has been working to film, photograph and record our travels, challenges, methods and surrounding flora. For a visual tour, a number of select photographs can be viewed on our public web album, here. 

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A word from coal lobbyists

We share with you this inspiring photo taken from the website of the Kentucky Coal Association, demonstrating how strip mines are turned into valuable community assets once the coal has been removed.
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Blacksburg, VA

For the next two weeks the Bees will be basing post-field research out of an 800-acre family farm where sheep and donkey graze the rolling hillside along side many a barn swallow and opossum. With this resting point in travel we are able to begin process of reflection and further the breakdown of all that's been absorbed thus far. With pencil and paper in the tool box, construction of some preliminary sketches and mock-ups for the poster project should begin to take shape.

A nearby shed, complete with two-makeshift drawing boards and plenty of sunlight, has been cleared to serve as temporary studio space while on the farm. Walks across fields (to collect pollen, of course) and dodging cow patties should keep us focused and provide some creative rest before we're off again to Kentucky for Mountain Justice Summer Camp in the Blanton Forest.
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