"talk to us"

2009 - MAY 25

folk life 2009 (with lenny) in seattle, washington, usa

Folk Life is a free summer festival in Seattle, and it is a three-day festival for individuals of all ages. It has come to be recognized as Seattle's "hippie" festival, but people of all walks of life go simply because it's a free community event. It's probably Seattle's most-attended event of the year, and folks who head to Folk Life are generally pretty open-minded. Here are some photos just so you can get some idea of what Folk Life is like.



This was my second year doing "Talk To Us" at Folk Life, and it was fruitful, as expected. This year, we chose to do a more controversial sign just because the "Free Hugs" thing had gotten out of control. We decided to subtly challenge it in a way. Usually, I write about these experiences right after the event, as it's all fresh in my memory. Unfortunately, this time, I slacked a bit and as I'm writing it now, I only have notes to go off of. The individuals without hefty descriptions are unfortunately the individuals I kind of forgot about. Apologies.

THE SIGN:
TALK TO US! (TALKING IS BETTER THAN GIVING HUGS SOMETIMES)

---

Vegan Pamphlet Redhead

Two Guys With Maracas
We had a discussion about language with them. Don't remember anything more.

Bilo?
A man with family members, and he was taking video. Mystery.

Banjo Man
This guy told us that there are four kinds of banjos, and they are tuned on fifths. Details hazy.

Steel Guitar Man
He approached while Banjo Man was talking to us. They briefly discussed music.

The German And The Australian
They were students who were studying abroad, and they were doing a social experiment of their own. They each had sign. The Australian's reads, "SMILE IF YOU THINK I'M CUTE," and the German's reads, "SWAP SUNGLASSES?" I think that by the time they talked to us, the German had swapped sunglasses with people three times. I knew right off the bat that he was German, from his accent, and he was really surprised.


Mamiya Camera Guy
Only talked to this guy briefly, but he had a really intense-looking camera, so I asked him what it was. It turned out to be a Mamiya medium-format camera, and they are in fact intense. Intensely expensive. Information here.

Moss Agate Guy
This guy was really, really hilarious, and he was all good vibes. I wish I remembered what we talked about, but all I remember is that he had a plastic bag of moss agate stones. I guess he was a jeweler or something. In any case, he gave us each one. I thought it was funny because I'd gotten a moss agate necklace in Asia, and it was actually extremely cheap, but they had charged me a lot!


Sign Analyzing Guy
This guy was interesting. He was going around basically analyzing the array of signs that people were carrying at Folk Life. There were a lot, after all. Somehow, he decided that our sign -- and all signs -- ultimately boiled down to the monetization of money. It was really intense and only vaguely made sense. He was cut off by the next person...

Confused Lady
This lady kind of walked in while the other guy was talking, which is fine and all, but she was suuuuuper intense and kept talking and talking. She must have been a drug addict at some point, because she looked extremely young -- kind of -- but there were these super unnatural wrinkles and weird teeth. In any case, she was from San Francisco and was basically talking about how people in San Francisco are way nicer in Seattle, and how in San Francisco you can always talk to anyone off the street, but you can't in Seattle.

Language Tattoo Guy
This guy, Danny, actually became my friend and the two of us later went on an excursion to Seattle Center to talk to people ourselves. He was really intruiging... running around barefoot, and really obviously just a cool person. He had traveled extensively and was getting different language tattoos all over his arms which say basically the same thing... something regarding world peace.


Water Conservation Friend
His friend Alex later came by, and he is studying something related to water conservation.

Tattoo Artist
One of the guys who had done Danny's tattoos came by later, and basically tattooed people from his home. Pretty good quality stuff, though. I think he was Tibetan.

Hempfest

Beer $ Olympians
The last people to talk to us as we were leaving were Olympians who were begging for money so that they could buy beer. They said that they were unemployed, and that's why they needed money. I said I was unemployed, too, so suck it! (Just kidding, but the unemployed part is true.)