The Illustrated Man
Ava Arvest
http://www.midwestwomensherbal.com/myceliumpresenters?lightbox=dataItem-j3601wyc3
Olympia, WA (7-1-14) — With the 4th of July nearly upon us, the spirit of independence among Americans is alive and well, suggesting it’s time to re-examine how this plays out in our civic spaces and public places…e.g. Olympia’s City owned Artesian Well on 4th Ave near several taverns and an adjacent bike shop.
It’s the Water!
As always, a picture is worth a thousand words, but without a narrative, they don’t tell the whole story in this instance. A revisit to the Artesian was in order as the City was still altering it, installing an additional drain for runoff in the asphalt with nary a blade of grass in sight. Municipal fingerprints were everywhere. The City had blacked out thoughtful artistic graffiti honoring street heroes which requested the well be respected as a community resource.
Community Oriented Tasteful Graffiti Censored
Asphalt Jungle
The City has also installed a large steel strong box as if marking its territory. Some boxed flowers were hanging and in planters on the pavement. A couple of picnic tables had been added–and removed nightly so as to make it less inviting for the homeless.
The most miraculous sight was a public handicap accessible outhouse, though behind a wrought iron barricade. Bystanders said the City continues its policy of locking all of its public toilets at around 5 or 6 pm, and this one was no exception. But, a closer examination revealed the wrought iron gate had been WELDED open.
Anti-Homeless Barriers
Gate Latch Welded Open
How in the world did the City lock the public toilet when the wrought iron latch had been welded? They lock the fiberglass door on the outhouse itself it was said. This suggested a need for verification of facts and a closer inspection–camera in hand.
No complete hasp or holes for locking this particular door were apparent. Perhaps a closer inspection inside would solve the mystery? A tug on the door left it unyielding. A stronger tug on it produced a violent kick of the door and a woman (Ava Arvest) exploding out spewing profanities and accusing the photographer of disturbing her, to put it mildly. “Please don’t kill me,” was his first thought. She was violently angry…announced to those present, including a motorcyclist named Brian, the evil photojournalist had attempted to violate her personal space.
Other observers, having entertained an earlier dialog about the City’s counterproductive hysteria in locking public toilets assured Ava this wasn’t the case, that the shutterbug didn’t know the outhouse was occupied. Ava could have announced as much with the first tug, but given her nature, chose confrontation, and would have none of it. “It has an ‘OPEN’/’OCCUPIED’ indicator on the door!” she fumed. “It doesn’t always work,” said they.
Ava
Ava Arvrest (right) Cooling Off
Sensing her weak argument for a witch hunt, Ava segued effortlessly to gloating about the photojournalist having been assaulted and robbed by a mob of @narchists during a TESC event (Anarchists Convergence in 2013). “That crime continues to be investigated by the campus police,” came the response.
Ava Arvrest & Brian
Ava ‘Charlotte Renninger’ Arvest
Brian and Ava obviously knew each other well, but while Ava was too shy to mention her name, Brian let it slip. Ava, in fact, had recently sought legal advice over the internet from the paralegal and photojournalist, though rudely, as always. Both Brian and Ava eagerly argued the violent consequences awaiting any photojournalist insisting on the right to photograph in public without permission…ignoring the signs announcing video surveillance while oozing self-righteous violent repercussions over uninvited street photography. Brian even detailed how he would smash the photographer’s camera/face.
(UPDATE: Ava’s house & contents burned down)
When it was pointed out photography was not a crime, but assault was, Ava demurred it was only what Brian would FEEL like doing, not what he would actually do.
“It’s been a long time since I’ve seen you at Media Island?” Ava was asked. “That’s because there’s someone there who assaulted me,” she complained. “Really? Why don’t you file a complaint and/or take the person to court?” she was asked. Ava paused, then said, “No. They’d just want money.” Ava then sniffed disapprovingly at the reporter’s electric car as she panned, “Nice car you have there.”
Associates: Charles Waller, Alexander Raveane, Ava Arvest, Lisa Pangburn, Jacob David Fortuna, Donovan Michael, Chelsea Norris and Mike Norris.
The veiled threat was palpable. Ava, it turned out, had been in a romantic relationship with a Media Island regular–Bruce Wilkinson. The breakup had not gone smoothly. Ava wouldn’t disclose the details or who, but each had insisted other Media Island volunteers get involved to resolve their personal conflict.
Many hours were spent with little or no progress, but not before Ava attempted and was prevented from destroying Bruce’s bicycle locked to Media Island’s front steps. Clearly, Ava listened to a different drummer when it came to respecting other people’s property. The law, as with 1st Amendment rights, was an inconvenience, but no barrier to her.
After a few more contemptuous innuendos, the reporter and subject parted company. Olympia’s public spaces remain hazardous as various street elements try to virtually ‘privatize’ them as their own, substituting their own biases and violent impulses for the law.
The City’s police continue to treat this as a fait’ accompli’, throwing up their hands in a show of utter disgust and concession of defeat. Citizens will have to resort to their own strategies to reclaim public venues as the municipality cannot or will not protect them. Or, as Brian hinted, “Insisting on your right(s) [e.g. to photograph in public?] has consequences!” This cannot be denied, as Trayvon Martin found out too late.
“You didn’t ask permission!”
Video footage shows Nov. 4, 2016 fight at Olympia’s Artesian Commons Park. Pay close attention to the redhead.
Why on Earth are you gossiping about a woman whose name you don’t even know? And why the hell would you construct a wounded tale of injured pride for TUGGING TWICE ON A LOCKED BATHROOM DOOR? You knew it was occupied, or should have known, it’s called knocking. You didn’t try that, you tried to open the damn door. When you found it was closed the only sane thing to assume was that it was occupied. The response you got was predictable, and in no way reflects badly on those you stalk and gossip about.
I’m sure you will write PARAGRAPH after PARAGRAPH about what you consider to be your legal rights, completely missing the basic truth that you are a creep, a stalker, and a blowhard with no more insight into the law or rights than you have into journalism or its practice.
There’s more insight into the ‘law’ and rights here than you could possibly appreciate. It was predicted, right here on this blog, that you would lose your John Towery lawsuit, and you did for all the reasons then stated. So I won’t embarrass you over your own obtuse fantasies about ‘rights’ and where legal boundaries lie because they’re clearly beyond you while you waste everyone’s time chasing ‘snitches’ and whippoorwills.
Ava Arvest (DOB: 1-23-86?) is, in fact, well known, even here. She’s aggressive, gratuitously belligerent, erratic, and has warned she’s dangerous. Publishing that is hardly ‘gossip’. It’s reporting a relevant fact because she’s part of Olympia’s r@dical street scene and was the organizer for the Free School once held within Media Island. Gossip would be opining about who Ava is sleeping with or circulating rumors speculating who may be a ‘snitch’. (Sound familiar?) Or maybe ‘gossip’ is reporting on what you and yours are up to? Frankly, for a crowd that @dvocates theft, v@ndalism, violence, robbery, and assault–well, people are interested in that kind of ‘gossip’ if it reveals who the perpetrators are and whether downtown Olympia is safe in their presence. There’s ample evidence to show it is not–based on threats and @ctions. The police appear ill equipped or unwilling to take back the streets that belong to all of the public. Hence, the public will have to fend for itself–including documenting what goes on in those streets and who’s doing it. One man’s ‘gossip’ is another’s eye in the streets. Deal with it!
As for the facts, if you’d taken the time to exercise the same sleuthing skills you do while hunting ‘snitches’, you’d have noticed the door on the public toilet near the handle indicated “OPEN”. You’d have also taken note in the narrative how the regulars there in the Artesian Well lot stated the OPEN/OCCUPIED indicator often did NOT work/function. It’s just as reasonable to presume (a compulsion for you) any occupant would announce their presence if a door was tried rather than kicking the door open and exploding into a verbal altercation. Ava gained little sympathy from witnesses who attempted to mollify her as they’d been engaged in the discussion that led to Ava’s angst.
Ava Arvest is simply an unreasonably aggressive woman, as many men are (like you?). Her attempt to trash Bruce Wilkinson’s bike and hopeless efforts to involve others in a personal petty conflict is sufficient evidence to conclude an attention whore and drama queen is at work. So yeah, a person is reasonably entitled to try the door to an outhouse that doesn’t indicate it’s ‘occupied’, once…even twice, without risking having their head handed to them. Your assumption/argument to the contrary puts you in the same league as Ava–a match made in Heaven?
Olympia is so small, yet there are always new faces and names to learn…
I can’t see how you can blame that girl for yelling at you.
When I try a door, even if it appears to be unlocked, after the first tug with no open, I knock. And wait to hear if there is an answer. Think about this, say you were rattling the door and trying all your might to open it and there was an elderly person in there. Would you be trash talking them if they responded with anger, which is often a cover up for fear?
Restrooms are a place where someone is being most vulnerable. And to give in to go in a portopotty isn’t any fun. Then to have your pants down when someone on the other side is jostling the door and repeatedly trying to get into where you are, in a vulnerable space, is intimidating! Especially in that area of town. I have seen creepy old men licking their fingers and sticking their hands down their pants in broad daylight at the well. How could she have not known it wasn’t someone who would harm her? Being a survivor of perpetrators myself, and being a woman, I think it was smart for her to come out yelling like that. It could have been an unknowing bystander outside the door, sure… but it wasn’t. It was a man (I am assuming you are a man as it does come out in your writing), most likely with a camera (as you shown in this blog that you were photographing the area.) How even more upsetting for the person coming out!
And what does this one person have to do with the city taking over a parking lot and the once-freer use of the well area? How did you link these two separate topics together? Seems to me you have a personal vengeance out for this person. Which makes me wonder why you couldn’t find another means to either communicate with this girl or why you couldn’t just move on in your life doing your best to avoid the girl. Like how it sounds like she is trying to do about not going to ‘Media Island.’
Have you ever tried to take someone who has violated you to court? To file a report on (sexual?) assault is a lengthier step process than maybe you realize. Not to mention emotionally striking. To also quote someone who is a survivor of assault in such a bad light is … well down right wrong. Most women who have been assaulted fear so many consequences when taking their perpetrator to court. This is why there are places such a “Safe Place” and the like. Its more difficult than what I assume you may realize. Also to brush a woman off, publicly mind you, for being assaulted and then publicly ridiculing her for what is obvious, not wanting to go into it with you, is shocking. Sounds like to me, having also professionally worked with (sexually) assaulted victims, she may still be trying to learn to verbalize openly and come to terms about being an assaulted survivor… and for you to further victimize her is outlandish. How can you not be ashamed? Would you brush off a sister or mother if she admitted openly that she couldn’t return to a place in which her attacker hung out? Where is your empathy?
Yup, sounds like she and that Bruce person have history and stuff they have to figure out, whether together or separately… But why trash talk their lives on the net? You, sir, have gone from activist to tabloid.
Yelling is almost a daily occurrence around here. It’s taken in stride. But, there’s much more to the story including Ava’s warning of how a male can be hurt and her @ffinity circle assaulting, vandalizing, and robbing a photojournalist at TESC. Ava is emboldened by her perceived ‘anonymity’. Her friend, Brian, made threatening references as he accounted for the consequences of public photographs without the subject’s permission. i.e. There a culture of violence, intimidation, and threats downtown, especially in the vicinity of the Artesian well…to the point many would-be patrons will no longer shop downtown. Still others have been coming regularly to the Artesian well without incident for decades.
The ‘freer’ use of/access to the well has been reported here and is missed. The attempted gentrification of the well appears problematic and disingenuous–not a single blade of grass, locks everywhere, steel posts/barricades, and $185,000 worth of fresh asphalt. It looks like a prison courtyard. There is STILL no 24/7 public toilet–anywhere!
The next move will probably be some homeless bumps/spikes near the walls to inhibit transients from laying down. The City should install a full carpet of grass–wall to wall, and shrubs with automatic sprinklers at night to discourage camping/sleeping.
Bathroom etiquette is no excuse of threats or violence. That it is used as a pretext is consistent with a culture of violence in downtown Olympia’s tenderloin. Not everyone who tries a defective public toilet door is a pervert. It was broad daylight with dozens of bystanders. Ava is far from completely unlikable, but she has a history of gratuitous conflicts and insulting remarks/behavior. She’s resentful and made disdainful remarks about the property/vehicle of another. It felt threatening. Hopefully, she’s doing well and there’s no apparent reason to believe she’s not. The personal encounter was probably a tempest in a teapot as melodramas so often are except for the fact it reflects a pattern apparent to those who care to notice downtown.
Post Script: It looks as if you found pictures of this person elsewhere to somehow use them against her… Thought you’d like to read through this:
“If you find yourself about to publish something that could harm another’s reputation, you should spend some time familiarizing yourself with the various laws that protect reputation. The sections that follow are not intended to make you an expert on libel law, but merely to help you identify potential “red flags” so that when you publish something that might negatively impact the reputation of another person, group, or organization, you will know to be extra careful and will take the necessary steps to minimize your potential legal liability.
First, ask yourself whether what you intend to publish would UPSET YOU if someone else were to publish the information about you. This simple test won’t tell you for sure whether you will be liable if the information you publish turns out to be false, but it will get you focused on the statements that should be of greatest concern. Moreover, putting aside the legal implications of what you publish, statements that upset others are more likely to draw their ire and result in a lawsuit, even when they don’t actually have a viable legal claim. Depending on what you say and how you say it, you will likely need to be concerned with two different, but related, legal doctrines that aim to protect against reputational harm:
Defamation: Defamation is the general term for a legal claim involving injury to one’s reputation caused by false statements of fact and includes both libel and slander. The crux of a defamation claim is falsity. Truthful statements that harm another’s reputation will not create liability for defamation (although they may open you up to other forms of liability if the information you publish is of a personal or highly private nature).
False Light: False light is similar to defamation. Claims for false light generally involve untrue implications rather than directly false statements. For instance, an article about sex offenders illustrated with a photograph you pulled from Flickr of an individual who is not, in fact, a sex offender could give rise to a false light claim, even if the article and photo caption never make the explicit false statement (i.e., identifying the person in the photo as a sex offender) that would support a defamation claim.
Publication of Private Facts: The legal claim known as “publication of private facts” is a species of invasion of privacy. You commit this kind of invasion of privacy by publishing private facts about an individual, the publication of which would be offensive to a reasonable person. This legal claim can only be successful, however, if the facts in question are not legitimately newsworthy. So, for instance, if you disclose the fact that your neighbor has an embarrassing health condition, you might be liable for publication of private facts. If, however, this medical condition is particularly relevant to some topic of public interest — say, your neighbor’s fitness to serve in public office, a court might find that your publication is lawful. Determining what facts are of legitimate public concern is often difficult to determine, so you may want to get permission before disclosing potentially embarrassing information about an individual you interview or write about. If your work sometimes involves this kind of publication, then you should see the Publication of Private Facts section for further details.
Keep in mind that the republication of someone else’s words can itself be defamatory. In other words, you won’t be immune simply because you are quoting another person making the defamatory statement, even if you properly attribute the statement to it’s source. For example, if you quote a witness to a traffic accident who says the driver was drunk when he ran the red light and it turns out the driver wasn’t drunk and he had a green light, you can’t hide behind the fact that you were merely republishing the witness’ statement (which would likely be defamatory).”
http://www.dmlp.org/legal-guide/publishing-personal-and-private-information
That’s good advice for those who need it. Truth is a complete defense against allegations of defamation, etc. Nothing intrusive happened at the artesian well during this incident. It was a typically sunny summer day in a public venue with a lot of bystanders.
Yep, there’s a lot of pictures online. While she’s a public figure in Olympia, Ava doesn’t deserve a broad brush. She was the motivating organizer behind the Free School, is environmentally sensitive, and speaks her mind, though often in a very confrontational manner, particularly with males. All in all, she’s an asset to the Olympia community, but an acquired taste. In contrast, Steve Hall, City manager, is not. It’s largely his vision you see today at the artesian well.
AVA writes the following on her deviantart.com blog:
Oly Culture of Violence
by Ava-Arvest, Jul 29, 2014, 10:43:13 AM
Journals / Personal
Mood: Love
Listening to: love
The most interesting thing happened to me. Someone who claims to side with free speech has written a blog about me that comes off as them trying to document intentionally, after antagonizing me and trying to break into my bathroom stall, a moment of me being aggressive, and “erratic” as they put it. It is entirely funny to me however because this person is known for their behaviors of malice towards activist type folks, and specifically anyone affiliated with the term anarchist. This has been an overwhelming experience, because they went out of their way to bring in a situation with another person who assaulted me. I can only conclude that these two are working together in some fashion to hate strong female bodied women. While that ambiguous claim is probably true in some form, the truth is rather even more concerning.
Being an activist has many draw backs and obstacles, and one of those that we face is that there is a well known culture of intentional sabotoge and malice that is created to try to tear apart communities or tear down people, intentionally, one by one. This disturbing bit of information is backed up by the case of Judy Bari (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judi_Bar…). It is sad but true that agencies, and affiliates that feel threatened by free speech go out of their way to destroy the lives of those who use it.
This is only one horrific example of someone who was affected by the intentional deconstructive efforts of organized crime… In the face of great danger we must wield great love.
The facts belie the above demurrer. Ava posted a photo of a convicted child molester, comparing the photo to her recent boyfriend, Bruce Wilkinson, even “down to the lazy eye” according to her. This libel was, of course, irresponsible and untrue. But Ava does not apologize for such egregious acts. The ‘@ctivists’ she references boast of acknowledging no laws, consider property “theft”, declare they are at war with the state, society, and even civilization. If this is is ‘love’ and they are the alternative to a broken system, we’re all in deep trouble. Ava’s “moment of aggression” was par for the course. Upon first contact, she pronounced how being male was no shield against being hurt. This male in particular agreed with the obvious. She greeted Peter Litster upon first meeting him at Media Island with, “Oh great–another white penis!” That’s not an ‘activist’ but an @ccolyte. Bruce and Ava’s issues are their own. No common cause, political or otherwise has been established with him despite Ava’s paranoia other than a natural distaste for witch hunts and falsely labeling/comparing someone to a child molester. Ava’s whining pales in comparison to the potential damage resulting from such libel.
Ava has a lot of potential that may be realized as she matures. Currently, she spends more time looking for bogey men than allies. An ‘activist’ spends most of their time seeking the latter.