I_BUTTERFLY 2022
I_BUTTERFLY 2022 was a great success! From September 9th to October 26th the East Coast crew rode bicycles from Portland, ME to Gainesville, FL. Allied Events included a milkweed seed sharing dinner at Habitable Spaces (Kingsbury, TX), milkweed planting party at Fiddlehead Ranch (Canaan, NY), the 2nd Annual Monarch Butterfly Celebration hosted by the Sustainability Department at University of Alabama Birmingham, and a screening of Deep Astronomy and the Romantic Sciences at the Alamo Drafthouse Theater (San Francisco CA). Film screenings of Deep Astronomy and the Romantic Sciences with Q&As were hosted at the Alamo Drafthouse Theaters in NYC, Raleigh NC and at the Hippodrome Theatre in Gainesville FL. Live performances of Cultured Cell Culture were hosted at the Apohadion Theater (Portland ME), Slipper Room (NYC), St. Bab’s Church (Cape May NJ), PhilaMOCA (Philadelphia PA), Central Rappahannock Regional Library (Fredericksburg VA), and the Firehouse Theatre (Richmond VA). Tea Parties and tours were hosted by participating green burial grounds, the Mount Auburn Cemetery (Cambridge, MA), Steelmantown Cemetery (Steelmantown NJ), Goshen Cemetery (Cape May, NJ), Southwestern Burial Ground Quaker Hybrid Cemetery (Upper Darby PA), and the Prairie Creek Conservation Cemetery in Gainesville, FL. Our closing celebration was hosted by our wonderful friends at the Alpin Bistro in Gainesville FL.
A special Thank You to:
The Green Burial Council for their support
Co-riders who joined us for portions of our journey
Our hosts for welcoming us into their homes
Our emergency truck drivers
Every bicycle repair shop that kept us going
Captain Ahab’s Motorcycle Club
Seewee Restaurant in Awendaw, SC
Everyone who waved at us as we rode
Our wonderful friends at the Alpin Bistro in Gainesville FL for hosting our closing celebration!
Thank You to supporters the at Patreon.com/smalleststar and at the I_Butterfly Fractured Atlas page. Without you none of this would have been possible.
Key Riders / East Coast
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Cory McAbee
Queens, NY
World-renowned writer, director, composer, actor, animator and illustrator. He has lectured on alternative media and the collaborative process at conferences and universities throughout the world.
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Mark Brecke
San Francisco, CA
Internationally award-winning filmmaker and photographer. For over 25 years his work has documented the stories of individuals victimized by war, ethnic conflict, and genocide.
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D. Forest Gamble
Raleigh, NC
Animator, illustrator, graphic designer, author. Guest instructor of stop-motion animation at select universities. His work centers on fictional narratives derived from environmental issues.
The life-blood of the tour proved to be the vinyl sticker giveaway. The East Coast Team gave a sticker to every gas station attendant, every food server in every diner, every pedestrian, every bike rider, every truck driver who wanted to know where we were going, anyone walking through a parking lot, people sitting in cars waiting for the light to change, everyone got a sticker. Very often people would approach us because of the bikes. When they heard we were riding from Maine to Florida to support monarch butterflies almost everyone wanted to talk about it and everyone got a sticker.
Because of the QR code on the stickers many people went immediately to the “TOOLS” page at ibutterfly.net to find native milkweed for their gardens. We also talked about the overall decline of our world’s insect population, green burial, bike travel. The response was always enthusiastic and kind.
