Today Is Earth Narrative Control Day!

by Travis Mateer

Don’t worry, I was NOT arrested again during the Clark Fork Cleanup yesterday. Instead, the police were responding to a man who appeared to be passed out in his vehicle while the car was running and a small child was moving around inside. This happened after a couple told me they thought staff at the Poverello Center were selling drugs, an accusation I’ve heard before. I guess this is what one can expect when trying to improve the area around the California Street walking bridge.

If you want to read an in-depth account of picking up trash along the river in Missoula, Montana, then I suggest checking out an article at Outerlimits about how picking up trash in Missoula could land you in jail. Here’s an image from the article of the homeless sex swing removed during my ECLIPSE THEIR BULLSHIT event on April 8th:

After declaring an autonomous zone with my Trash Truck at the former Sleepy Inn site, I shifted to a more mobile form of trash alchemy. If you see me around town parked with an open tailgate that means the Trash Alchemist is OPEN FOR BUSINESS!

What’s my business? Breaking narrative control with my tools and talents, that’s my business, and I’ll keep doing it despite IMMENSE opposition to my efforts, which now includes fucking with my public comment. I wonder what it’s like to have effective legal representation to preserve my rights as the criminal justice system gets weaponized by a professional victim?

Me? I’m a professional poet, which means I know when things rhyme, like CAPTAIN and CHAPLAIN, and rhyming is how we got EARTH day. From the link (emphasis mine):

The solution to the first problem came from an unexpected direction. Shortly after the turn of the year, Julien Koenig stopped by the national offices and volunteered to help. Koenig was a Madison Avenue giant. His campaign for Volkswagen, “Think Small,” was later cited by Advertising Age as the “greatest advertising campaign of the 20th century.”

Over coffee, Hayes confided that the “teach-in” moniker was not working and asked whether Koenig had any ideas. Koenig asked for a few days. A week later, he returned with an assortment of mock-ups for ads, laid out around the announcement of “Ecology Day,” “Environment Day,” “Earth Day,” and “E Day.” Koenig said that his personal favorite was Earth Day – in part because April 22 happened to be his birthday, and “birthday” rhymes with “Earth Day.” Hayes immediately agreed. Koenig offered to prepare a fully refined ad. Hayes insisted that it include a small coupon soliciting funds for the threadbare operation. Koenig’s ad was visually arresting, and perfectly summed up the issues and values, the feisty-but-welcoming tone that the campaign had adopted. Hayes loved it and decided to bet the farm. He committed about half of all the money in the campaign’s bank account to buy a full page in the Sunday New York Times opinion section.

See the power of rhyming? Also, it probably helps to have a Madison Avenue “giant” working on your campaign. And money, money definitely helps, so how about throwing a donation at Travis’ Impact Fund (TIF)?

Thank you to those who have approached my educational display with curiosity and questions, I appreciate the attention, especially since I’m working so hard to get it!

Thanks for reading!