Noah’s Ark no longer a myth…

In 2005 a Dutch contractor made a replica of Noah’s Ark, built to half scale. The creationist fanatic built a roadside attraction 8,000 miles from Route 66… and it’s kinda epic…. biblical even…

This thing is the size of a football field but I can’t tell if it’s a boat or if’s built on a dock. It probably doesn’t actually float.

The builder, Johan Huibers, believes in the LITERAL TRUTH of the bible. I’m glad someone believes in something. I’m having a hard time believing someone built a friggin’ ark!

I want to let visitors visualize what the Ark looked like to bring the account closer to those who believe but also to those who don’t. Noah’s story speaks to them mostly because of the animals on board.

There are many realistic polyester animals! Children can view various films, visit the Bible story displays and follow the footprints of the elephant while searching for the answers on the questionaire.

I think Mission Hipsters should take it over, call it the Elitist Ark. Cool animals only.

Is it starting to rain? Uh oh….

For more on the project see: http://www.arkvannoach.com

images via arkvannoach.com

So our friend Hollis Hawthorne (who’s part of the bicycle dance team The Bay Area Dérailleurs) falls off a motorcycle in India while exploring the planet. Hits her head and tumbles into a coma. Sad. Scary. Mom flies over, hospitals, information gets passed around… and this thing happens. I’ve seen it before. It’s amazing. Activation. People activate. It’s almost like a hive mind thing. It’s like: boom. All business. Someone found a program at Stanford Medical Center for head injuries that she qualifies for. The program is free. Hollis has no medical insurance. So we just needed to get her from India to Stanford. She would ride in an air ambulance.

$150,000 meter on that cab ride. So fundraising started on Monday.

Today we are somewhere between $60 and $70 thousand dollars.

Huh?

We have collected over a thousand donations from $1 to $5,000. It’s incredible. But that’s not the juiciest part. We contacted the Motorcycle Association. Someone knew someone that was part of that group. Someone else was the ex-boyfriend of the lobbyist of the Head Injury Association. Someone from Senator Dianne Finesteins office called asking if we need a jet that Bank of America’s has jets and are looking for good press… maybe they can donate. Knows a guy. In our small community, we were able to find plane people, doctors, lawyers, lobbyists, immigration people, fundraisers… on and on. I’ve got the cell phone of the #7 guy at Paypal. There isn’t anyone we don’t have access to. Really.

Hollis cast the chains of her respirator aside yesterday, and today is banging out 24 breaths a minute. She forgot how to breathe for a bit. Hopefully in a minute, she’ll remember to wake up. Stretch her legs. Complain about the food. (is hospital food in India terrible? Can that even be possible?) We are all hopeful. She’s young, strong. Did a lotta yoga and all that crap. I think that stuff matters.

It’s just an inspiring and amazing thing to watch unfold. It’s like basic Chaos… possibility turning into actual with no blueprint. And the most beautiful part is that it’s all action and people and emails and donations and 7 fundraisers to be booked and shows and dinners and art auctions and blogs and facebook and mailing lists and on and on and on and on……. all happening whilst this delicate little flower just lays sleeping. A slightly Elven look to her… you could almost see pointy ears tucking out from her hat. Trucks being loaded and unloaded, banks changing money, DJ’s blaring that awful music, artists feverishly applying paint to canvas, the stages being set up, the bloggers ticking away on their laptops in a café, signs being painted, people standing in front of the benefit shows smoking, 20 million phone calls… all this chaos in a million different directions costing billions and billions of calories, and in the center: this peaceful creature. Snoring.

To donate something to Hollis to reach the $150,000 goal to bring her home, or to check in on her, please visit the blog that has been set up:

friendsofhollis.blogspot.com

Or write something here in the comment section. Thanks to everyone who kicked down. It’s really just amazing.

And I’d like to leave you with this:

“The essence of all beautiful art, all great art, is gratitude.”

Friedrich Nietzsche

UPDATE: “This just in, if you give today before 6:00, a donor known only as Mr. Dragon will match your donation… up to $3,000!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” Please put “Dragon match” in your donation note field… Thank you, Mr. Dragon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Please add your donations to the comments, so we can keep trackk. At this rate, Hollis will be home for dinner on Monday!!!!!!!!!!!!!

photo by unknown

American Apparel is a cool company. Hailing from East LA, they make shirts that actually fit, tube socks that feel good to wear and their hiring practices are sterling. Their advertisements are amusing, sexy and are the rococo of our time. Super hip. When comparing them to the Gap, or to the Levis Strauss company; there seems to be little in common. Better products. In touch with what is going on. Turning fashion on it’s head. They tend to put their stores in urban locations, staying away from malls. They have over 260 current stores in 20 countries, with plans to open another 20 this year.

The Starling. Do you know the story of the English Starling? In 1890 a helpless romantic named Eugene Schieffelin released song birds that had some connection to Shakespeare. He thought that having the birds singing would be beautiful. Without realizing it, he introduced an invasive species entering a healthy but fragile eco system. The Starling became an infestation by the 1930’s. The word ‘meddling’ comes to mind.

American Apparel rented a storefront on Valencia Street at 20^th in the Mission District of San Francisco. As many of you know, San Francisco is the city of Art and Innovation. The Mission district is a unique little niche of local independent business’. For the most part. But Valencia Street is devoid of any chain stores, except one: T-Mobile. Valencia Street is to SF like Bourbon Street is to New Orleans.

I’m wearing an American Apparel shirt as I type this. It’s all so confusing. Because although I want to believe that American Apparel is a progressive company with my values and stuff… I gotta wonder if I’m not just projecting that onto a blank canvas that they are providing for me? I think of the Starling. What began as a romantic gesture turned into an infestation. The Valencia Corridor is a fragile eco-system. No place like it exists anymore. Anywhere.  It is not uncommon or rare. It’s a singularity. Weird little shops. Neat night life. Holistic healing potions. Bike lane. Cafes. Books. Wicken shops. A friggin pirate store. And an American Apparel?

I don’t see it. Not the store, I can totally see American Apparel on Valencia Street. And Starbucks. Abercrumbe and Fitch. Urban Outfitters. I don’t wanna see it, but I do. The thing that I don’t see is why? Why do they want to be the Starling of Valencia Street that displaces and starves the indigenous species? Why do they want to be the company that sets the prescient? Can’t they see what I see? Don’t they know that once one store get in, the fight becomes harder and harder? American Apparel is saying that the T-mobile store hasn’t set a precedent. Which is defeating their own argument. With 2 (!) formula retail chains on Valencia, it will be nearly impossible to defend the next formula retail store.

American Apparel in my opinion is unwittingly assaulting the very thing that made the company relevant. And as far as it opening the store, I think of it as the leading edge of a wedge, with the other end being Wal-Mart. The next thing that gets tolerated. Like the experiment with the frog and the boiling water. We have to JUMP right now!!! Or the next store will be slightly more obnoxious.

And I think that this is possibly a larger trend. We find ourselves calibrating to products. Brands. Unwittingly, and sometimes even knowingly. But maybe American Apparel doesn’t realize they have become a HUGE company? Maybe that’s what happens. Whatever it is, it’s kinda amazing. This is it, right here. Where culture and commodity collide in confluence of confusion. You have a few different arguments to chose from… but at the end of the day you find that you’re arguing on which path to take.

Because we all wanna end up in the same place.

So I report this story from this perspective. If you are interested in following this story further, or if you would like to come to SF’s City Hall on Thursday at 2:30 to participate in the Planning Commissioners to either approve or deny the permit application, you can find the latest about this issue on the Stop American Apparel 988 Valencia blog.

And if you are interested in keeping up with me, Chicken John, you can join my mailing list.

More Coverage:

- SF Weekly

- SFist

- San Francisco Metblogs

- Curbed SF

- Mission Loc@l

- San Francisco Chronicle (C.W. Nevius)

- San Francisco Chronicle (Caille Millner)

UPDATE 1: On February 5th by unanimous vote The San Francisco Planning Department denied American Apparel a conditional use permit to open a store on Valencia Street. [update by Scott]

UPDATE 2: American Apparel has posted a peace offering on the window of 988 Valencia. [update by Scott]

photo by hexodus