Archived from TacomasOutsidersGuide.com circa 2018·Today this work continues as THE WALL & Stars 4 Peace: y2112
Tacoma's Outsider's Guide Contents
Tacoma's Outsider's Guide — 1 Sound 1 Life, w/ Artists 4 Life in the Sound

The header above is the original 2018 site banner — its links are part of the picture. To move around this archive, use the “Site navigation” menu just below, or the “Start here” links at the top of the page. The photos for the guide will be re-added over time.

Progress in Access

Recovered from the Internet Archive capture of 15 March 2018. Images not recovered: 7.

Tacoma's Lumins Festivus Celebrates South Sound Life,
Then We Learn About It All Year Round

'In a free culture we get the best of what we celebrate.'

Sept 28, 2013 we celebrated Oceanic Life in the South Puget Sound. 
Now we begin to partner with educators and engaged professionals
to assemble a perspective of Oceanic life accessible to all.

The Oceanic Theme
& The Stark Mind of It 

More life is better life, so we seek to better understand and appreciate the waters we have, and encourage more mindfulness of the life we share in the South Puget Sound. 

2013's Oceanic theme highlights the work of 
Dr. John Stark, the world renown ecotoxicologist presiding at Washington State University's Puyallup campus. 

The foundational truth scientifically established by his work is simple:  Decreasing the reproductive rate of any species in the wild is the same thing as increasing its mortality
rate.  The effect is, if fewer salmon, for instance, are born, eventually the whole species will die out.   


His work constitutes a substantial contribution to our understanding of oceanic life cycles and of the impact our actions bear on life in the waters of the South Puget Sound.
  


Dr. Stark's work stands testament to the effect one person's work can have on her or his community, the region in which they live and indeed the entire world - his contribution to his field has led to important legislative changes in the European Union and Washington State legislatures respectively.

Action in Education
SAMI: Science & Math Institute

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The teachers at sami employ a great amount creative ingenuity when it comes to conveying complex information in simple, understandable terms.  

A public high school in the Tacoma Public Schools district, sami is located in Ruston, Washington. The school offers an integrated inquiry-based curriculum for students in grades 9-12 that combines the arts, science, math, and environmental and marine studies. It operates in partnership with local science organizations, including Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium and local universities. SAMI also operates in partnership with other local schools, including Tacoma School of the Arts (SOTA) and James P. Stewart Middle School.

Puget Creek Restoration Society protects, enhances, and restores the Puget Creek Watershed and other streams, wetlands, and green spaces, serving the South Puget Sound communities and inviting their participation through hands-on restoration, research, education, and advocacy, and by promoting a sense of stewardship

  The Heart of Discovery

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Click for Website
Every year we celebrate a single element of South Sound Life - then we learn about that element all year as a community.  Presenting the mindful perspective gathered from teachers and professionals active and respected in their fields, we learn this year about life in our waters, the effect we have on them, and the effect they have on us.

Surfrider Foundation's South Sound chapter works actively with sami (Tacoma's Science and Math Institue), educating our community about aquatic life and actively doing the work to keep our beaches and our waters clean. 

Read Here of recent beach closures due to dirty waters, and learn here about the work of Surfrider Foundation.


Neighbors Near that Also Care

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Gig Harbor's Harbor Wild Watch is a marine and environmental education organization dedicated to inspiring stewardship for the Puget Sound.  Educational programs are fun, interactive, and aim to engage participants in the preservation of our natural marine resources.

The UPS Ocean Intellect

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The UPS group known as The Ocean Intellect Group has a proactive core specifically dedicated to protecting and advocating responsible treatment of our region's waters.  Involved in outreach for outdoor education, highly active win beach clean up, they have an Oceanography and marine science emphasis.

Access is Progress

    Access to a high level of learning is a key component
of Tacoma's Lumins Festivus.  Coordinating the perspectives of educators, together with the understanding of those at the ground level working to affect our preferable ways of life, we begin to develop an accessible introduction to the dynamics of Oceanic life throughout the South Puget Sound - and show others where to plug in. 

Our community possesses a great amount of wisdom and understanding.  Combining and sharing this wisdom, coordinating our knowledge and making it accessible to those desiring to broaden their own perspective, we begin to learn about life in the South Puget Sound. 

Organizations like the Puget Creek Restoration Society, Surfrider Foundation, Harbor Wild Watch and UPS' Ocean Intellect Group work at the ground level effectively cleaning the beaches and waters around the South Puget Sound.

Plug iN:  How & Where

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Luminaria are simple, enjoyable, fun and rewarding to make. Materials are readily available and inexpensive, the creative potential of making them is endless and this activity is open to access for all. 

In coming days we will be coordinating with classrooms across the South Puget Sound to invite participants to join in creating luminaria for 2014's Festivus in the theme of The Soil of Earth. 

Stay connected to learn more: 
Email me here for ways to participate.

Why After All (a Region-Wide Call)

        'In a free culture you get the best 
                             of what you celebrate.*' 

Celebrate the life we desire most, and we get that for our children and for ourselves. Awareness spreads, and more mindful living in and around our community results. 

Few cities the world over promote the variety and quality of life we enjoy in the South Puget Sound.  Our culture and ways of life are unlike any the world over - life here cannot be replicated, not anywhere else on earth.  So we acknowledge the wonder of life here, that it is a rare and valuable phenomenon that must be honored if it is to prosper.  So every year we choose a single element of our local Northwest life to bear in mind as we fully and joyously celebrate the best of all lives possible in Tacoma, WA and the South Puget Sound.

This year we promote the work of those dedicated to the work itself of preserving the quality of our waters:  Institutions like Tacoma's SAMI (Science & Math Institute), the South Sound's Surfrider Foundation and organizations like the University of Puget Sound's Ocean Intellect group all promote our better ways of life by actively educating us of the importance our waters hold for our lives, and at the same time they do the work required at the ground level to increase the safety and cleanliness of aquatic life in the South Puget Sound.

                                                                                        *D. Kamen