Friday night I managed to extricate myself from a wounded mate (who’d had recent shoulder surgery, which seems to be an epidemic these days â€" everyone’s having it, just had it, or getting over it, it seems) I sat in at the AMOCAT awards and saw the glitterati of Tacoma arts society, including the Victory Music folk, beautiful Beautiful Angle dudes, and huge Swarner contingent (represent!) as well as the regular faces you know and love, like Traci Kelley greeting at the gate, Amy McBride trying (in vain) to “blend” and the Avilas and Zmoleks looking hipster cool. 

It was gratifying to me, to see such a politically well-supported arts community kicking off such a successful campaign (Art at Work month) with the backing of faces I recognized, even coming from such far reaches as Seattle.

Now that’s impressive.

On my way home after an urgent message from the pained dude, I saw the last of the Day of the Dead procession on Sixth Avenue â€" I Starskey and Hutch-parked into a not quite legal space, and made my way up to the Masa deck, open and fairly full â€" to say hey to friends Lia Craven, Di Morgan-Graves, Claudia Riedener, Dave Lisieki holding one of the oddest violin things I’ve ever seen, and numerous other friends whose names I know and can never remember.

Blasted 38.5 year old brains.

Sounds like the procession was a big success, with new faces showing up â€" and even a Vashon Island contingent! â€" I loved seeing the completed mermaid Morgan-Graves was working on at the papier mache workshop, as well as a fabulous boatâ€"complete with lantern and dead fisherman â€" and Riedener’s fabulously bright homage to the salmon.

Fun times, but I had to dash, as a man in pain needed my help with our daughter.
The man in pain, apparently drugged on Percocet, and sleeping kid had no more need for me by the time I arrived, though I had much need for sleep â€" the next day would be long.

We started off with swimming lessons for wee one at the Y, after which we dashed off to the new Tacoma Art Place to drop off some arts and crafts items I’d put together, which I’d been hording for years, promising to use at some point.

That point hadn’t come yet, so I decided it’d be much nicer for these items to add to the cooperative energy in the Tacoma Art Place, where the kid and I saw a great crowd milling, locals and arts crowd young and old mixing with big smiles as they created cool quilted postcards and even â€" thank you Ms Darling! â€" a tooth fairy pouch for the tooth the wee one lost as we walked into the action.  Jaime Chase taught some knitting, Theresa Owens worked some beads that rocked the kid’s world, and a very well-attended acrylic painting class all worked to focus some attention, though the space itself was so filled with vitality and action it nearly made my head spin in a giddy joy.

Linda Danforth was on-hand, beaming, to see the fruits of her idea, and the cooperative efforts of many hard workers and donors, come to fruition, and it was just a great way to spend an afternoon, soaking in the vibrance that creativity can bring to a community.

As there’s no rest for the weary (or is that wicked?) the kid and I had places to go and things to do â€" the next stop was the Bead Factory to make her a special bracelet that we’d been promising for weeks; after that, it was home again, eat quickly, and off to an artsy fun party Jennevieve Sclemmer and Trevor Redfern were hosting.

Fun times, wrapped up in fabulous food and a kitchsy theme (50 years in space!) were the context in which I met up again with Seattle artist Barbara, and met new Seattle artist friend Antoinette, while Abby played hide-the-stars with lovely lovely guests and two super cool astronauts with the last name Lisieki.

The wee one started to fade â€" I have to say, after such a long day, me too â€" so we were home again, home again.

Today’s fun and games include the Dia de los Muertos event at the TAM, as well as a trip to the Opera.  The kid will go to the former, but not the latter with me, and you know I’ll be here to tell about it.

Good thing there’s that extra hour today! â€" Jessica Corey Butler