Desdra Dawning

For the past 18 years at the Olympia Procession of the Species, we animals have been silent witness to the joyful exuberance of our human counterparts.  So very many of you—of all ages—have come together in playful abundance, animating the Community Studios, up to your elbows in multi-colored batik dyes, glue-gooey paper mache, chicken wire and rice paper, paints and glitter, creating us so that you can BE us.

The Procession of the Species, a yearly, dearly-loved event that happens in tandem with Earth Day and Arts Walk, has many supporters in the Olympia community. 

I would like to apologize to Works In Progress readers for an incorrect statement I made
in the article "The Truth About GMOs", published in the February online version of WiP.

In my list of what we know about GMO's I made the following statement: "The USDA Organic label ensures that the product is 95% free of GMO's. (Organic Standards allows 5% to get

by.)" That should have read: "The USDA Organic label ensures that the product is 95%
organic. (Organic Standards allows 5% non-organic ingredients to get by.)" I have been
informed that the USDA Organic Standards allow for NO GMO's to get by. This means
that they stand behind the guarantee that when you purchase anything with a USDA
Organic label, you are getting a product totally free of GMO's.

The Procession of the Species, Olympia’s yearly one-of-a-kind celebration of the natural world, is in preparation for its 19th year of both joyful revelry and serious creative intent. Yet as integral as the event is to our community, its existence is fragile. 

I recently saw a photo of a little girl holding a sign protesting the presence of GMO's in her food supply.  It said "I am not a science experiment." The next thought I had was, "well, unless we totally feed ourselves from what we grow and raise at our own homes, Americans are pretty much ALL "science experiments" in one way or another. 

Homelessness in America, these days, comes dressed with many different faces, and the stories of how those brothers and sisters of ours ended up on the streets, are rich, poignant, and broad in scope. The stories that follow go further yet. They speak not only to how a couple of the folks that wear these faces found themselves homeless, but also to how SideWalk, an organization new to Olympia, Washington, brought each of them into shelter and a new life.