ended

As of today $15,303.00 has been donated to my project. Thank you to everyone who has donated -- and to everyone who has contacted me with support and encouragement.

I now have funds to complete and document the first two stages of my project:

First, I will build a 17.5' wherry and inscribe onto its surface the text of John Kenneth Galbraith's book, The Affluent Society.

And second, I will get into that boat and push off into the harbor of Mattapoisett, Massachusetts -- and drift with the tides for eight hours while reading aloud from Adam Smith's seminal book on capitalism, The Wealth of Nations. If I can read the tide charts correctly, I will drift along the same trajectory as my great-great-great-great grandfather when his rowboat was blown out of the harbor in 1827; however, he froze to death, and his body was found off the coast of Martha's Vineyard. I plan to undertake this stage of the project during better weather. I plan to survive.

After I drift for eight hours, there is still a third stage and ...

the third stage still needs funding ...

I am more than happy to accept additional donations, which will go towards the final stage of this project: For this third stage, I will go to the place where the body of my great-great-great-great grandfather was found, off the coast off Martha's Vineyard -- and I will row back to his home town of Mattapoisett, Massachusetts. This will be a voyage of about 20-25 miles through Wood's Hole and across the open water of Buzzards Bay. A few prints are left from my USA Projects fundraiser. I've posted images of the prints below. If you'd still like to donate, please do. However, these additional donations will no longer be tax deductible nor have oversight from USA Projects. Please select the donation level from the pull-down menu. Afterwards, click "add to cart" (update summer 2014: fundraiser closed) Donors at the $150 level will receive the above print, Acknowledgements (The New Industrial State, part 2). 2013. Pigment print on Mylar, ed. 25. 5 1/8" x 5 1/8", unframed. Donors at the $500 level will receive the above print, Foreward (The New Industrial State, part 1). 2013. Pigment print on Mylar, ed. 12. 8" x 8", unframed.  Donors at the $2,000 level will receive the above print, Change and the Industrial System (The New Industrial State, part 3). 2013. Pigment print on Mylar, ed. 5. 13" x 13", unframed.

Tennis Elbow

After I've built my boat, after I've drifted with the currents of Buzzards Bay, after I've tested water and pumped out poop and greeted visitors for the Buzzards Bay Coalition, and after I've spent two years rowing with the New Bedford Community Rowers -- Then I will go to the spot where my great-great-great-great grandfather's body was found and row across Buzzards Bay to his home town.

This will be a huge undertaking. And one of the biggest challenges is building the physicality necessary. It has been and continues to be a very slow process. Last fall, I dealt with tendonitis in my right elbow. Now it's struck in my left. I slowed down my rowing work-outs to twice a week. Then, last week, I reduced them to zero. Again, this week, I can not row.

Unfortunately, my bargain health insurance does not cover physical therapy. So I am using internet research to find exercises that will get me back on track. I have less than a year until my big row. So I am feeling some urgency. These look good:
Rehab For Tennis Elbow: The Super 7 The "super 7” exercises are an important part of treatment for tennis elbow. They are designed to strengthen the muscles in the forearm and increase flexibility through stretching. In most cases te these exercises will help relieve elbow pain in about 4 to 6 week Each stretching exercise is held for 15 seconds and repeated 2 or 3 times. This pattern is repeated 5 times a day.
Exercise 1. Stretching the muscles that extend the wrist (extensor muscles): Straighten the arm out fully and push the palm of the hand down so you feel a stretch across the top of the forearm.
Exercise 2. Stretching the muscles that flex the wrist (flexor muscles): straighten the arm out fully (palm side up), and push the palm downward to stretch. Strengthening exercises are performed twice a day following the stretching exercises. To perform these exercises, the patient sits in a chair with the elbow supported on the edge of a table or on the arm of the chair the wrist hanging over the edge. Use a light weight such as a hammer or soup can when performing the strengthening exercises. Repeat the exercises 30 to 50 times, twice a day, but do not push yourself beyond the point of pain.
Exercise 3. Strengthening wrist extensor muscles: Hold the weight in the hand with the palm facing down. Extend the wrist upward so that it is pulled back. Hold this position for 2 seconds and then lower slowly.
Exercise 4. Strengthening wrist flexor muscles: Hold the weight in the hand with the palm up. Pull the wrist up, hold for 2 seconds and lower slowly.
Exercise 5. Strengthening the muscles that move the wrist from side to side (deviator muscles): Hold the weight in the hand with the thumb pointing up. Move the wrist up and down, much like hammering a nail. All motion should occur at the wrist.
Exercise 6. Strengthening the muscles that twist the wrist (pronator and supinator muscles): Hold the weight in the hand with the thumb pointing up. Turn the wrist inward as far as possible and then outward as far as possible. Hold for 2 seconds and repeat as much as pain allows, up to 50 repetitions.
Exercise 7. Massage is performed over the area of soreness. Apply firm pressure using 2 fingers on the area of pain and rub for 5 minutes. 
If exercise aggravates any of your symptoms, contact a physician or physical therapist These exercises can be used to prevent or rehabilitate injuries in people who play sports or in those who do repetitive forearm work.
Tim L. Uhl, P.T., A.T.,C.

Prints Still Available

I was unable to post an update about my fundraiser because my domain name expired -- and because of a catch-22, I couldn't renew it until 19 days passed and google released it to a third party. Very irritating and a waste of everyone's time -- but mostly mine. The good news is that my project is fully funded -- and then some. The extra money will be pushed forward into the next phase of the project (more about this below). My full project budget that was approved by USA Projects was for $14,000 in expenses. The fundraising process involved a lot of stress. If the project raised less than $8,000, then USA Projects would have kept all the money that had been donated. That fact really lit a fire under me. I did not want anyone to think that they were donating to my project only to have their money go somewhere else. I was incredibly relieved when we passed the $8,000. mark. This meant that I would receive the money donated -- and it is the minimum amount that I needed to get this project going. However, the bad thing is that USA Projects, at that point, placed a "THIS PROJECT IS FUNDED!!" message across my fundraising page -- even though the budget I gave them states that the project's full budget is $14,000. As could be predicted, donations have really slowed down after they put that message on there.  As readers of this blog may know, the project that I'm trying to fund is something of a memorial to my great-great-great-great grandfather, who died at sea. The sculptural part of the memorial will be a rowboat that I will cover with handwritten text concerning economics. And since I reached the minimum, I've started burning the text onto the wood that I'm going to use to build the boat (images of the progress can be seen below). The waves of text are starting to coalesce and give a sense of what the boat is going to look like. The idea is becoming a real thing. The $14,000 will cover all expenses associated with building the boat as well as the expenses associated with a first on-water performance, in which I will drift on Buzzards Bay while reading aloud from Adam Smith's seminal book about capitalism, the Wealth of Nations. I am incredibly grateful to all those who have emailed me with support as well as those who have offered financial assistance. The next major phase of the project will be to go to the spot that my great-great-great-great grandfather's body was found and to row back to my family's home town. USA Projects is keeping my fundraising page open until the end of the month so that I can raise additional money for that phase. So anyone who is still interested in helping or in getting a print, there's still time. Donors to the project can choose from several framed prints as a thank you. If you're interested in seeing images of the prints, please visit my fundraising page: http://www.usaprojects.org/project/the_conventional_wisdom