Fishing…

It’s been a while since we’ve checked in with the Story Migration Project. Recall, the whale made it Olympia, Wa., then east to the Methow Valley near the Canadian border. About a year later, it headed to Port Townsend, Wa., then to Seattle where is last came up for air and was rumored to be heading south. 

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This Whale Eats Stories

I’ve long been possessed by the beauty and strangeness of sea creatures. They float, they swim, they disappear suddenly.

No Accident

The California coast, north of Marin, is foggy, cool, and lightly peopled. Although there are countless headlands and beaches where one can go surfing all alone, there are still secret spots that are fiercely guarded by the locals. These spots are seldom crowded and outsiders rare. 

Story Time

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What’s the connection between a tiny folding knife, a Japanese passport, and a group of people huddled around a cedar whale sculpture? A good story.

The Story Migration Project kicked off quietly last spring. The “whale box” as it had come to be known was opened, and its unusual passenger, the whale, was passed around. At first everyone sat around waiting for someone else to start. My living room was dreadfully quiet. Despite hopeful looks, no one said anything, yet a sense of hopeful anticipation was in the air.  

Tearing it Apart

If you’re going to send a wooden whale on a migration, you need a vessel to send it in; so I designed a box. A few weeks later, Andy stepped up and said he wanted to help make it. Andy’s pretty handy with wood, and easily creates things with basic tools that I never could, so I thanked him for his offer. It would be fun to build the box with someone else. 

So Long

It all started when I acquired a huge piece of a Douglas fir beam at a construction site. Covered in mud and heavy enough that I could only carry it a modest distance, I knew that I had to have it. What I would do with it was another question altogether.