Birthdays and Anniversaries
Mark’s birthday is this week. As I’ve written before, he was a “Christmas baby.” A special gift—the best kind that two young parents 1,500 miles away from friends and their extended families could have been delivered in 1983. Mark would be 36 on Thursday.
As parents, we’re nearing the three-year mark on a host of sad anniversaries: we’ve already “celebrated” Thanksgiving. Next comes our late son’s birthday, Christmas, and of course, the date we’ll never forget: January 21, 2017. How does one deal with all this sadness that follows loss, and is part and parcel of the grief that comes from losing someone like Mark?
I think I can say with confidence that creating the Mark Baumer Sustainability Fund was one way two parents decided to push back. To do something more than simply grieve, even though it was our right to do nothing more than that. The fund, which just celebrated its second full year remains committed to the work that Mark taught us mattered—what he called “saving Earth,” or at least, trying to make a difference on the corner where we live.
Mark’s life mattered. We’ve both been reminded of this time and time again, but especially so with the release of a new documentary film about his walk and who he was as an activist, poet, performance artist—and for his parents, the loving son he always was and who we miss every day.
Barefoot: The Mark Baumer Story had its world premiere in Indianapolis, Indiana, at the Heartland International Film Festival, on October 12. It was fitting because Mark was a Hoosier, having been born in Hammond, on a brutally cold December’s day.
The film, directed by award-winning Pittsburgh filmmaker, Julie Sokolow, took home the festival’s Best Documentary Feature award. As others have written about the documentary, it’s a film that “inspires, engages, challenges, and entertains.” Kind of like Mark.
Mary and I flew out to Indianapolis and were at both screenings of the film. We got to spend time with Julie, who we’ve come to consider a close friend. Members of the Animal team (the film’s production company) were there, including the film’s producer, Olivia Vaughn, as well as musician Ryan Will Stewart, who contributed a beautiful score to the film. Here is a review about the film, from Richard Propes at The Independent Critic website. Propes wrote:
While Barefoot: The Mark Baumer Story may sound nothing like more than the latest quirky activist story, Sokolow’s too gifted of a filmmaker to not dig deeper and the story takes on tragic elements for Baumer and his family the day after Donald Trump’s inauguration
Sokolow is a compelling filmmaker whose feature doc Woman on Fire told the story of Brook Guinan, New York’s first transgender firefighter. Sokolow also directed the wonderful Aspie Seeks Love, a doc that picked up the Best Documentary prize at Cinequest in 2015. It’s pretty clear that Sokolow is drawn to unique yet richly human stories and it’s equally clear that she knows how to bring those stories vividly to life.
You can’t help adore Baumer, a passionate environmentalist whose videos become increasingly intense in the days leading up to the election that would bring Donald Trump, for the most part a climate change denier, to the presidency. While you may not always find yourself agreeing with Baumer, his eccentric sense of humor and unbridled enthusiasm are both infinitely contagious and Barefoot captures that all quite beautifully.
There’s a rawness to much of the footage that works to the film’s advantage and there’s also an emotional rawness to Sokolow’s interviews with Mark’s family.
At the end of every year, appeals to give are all around. So many needs and so many great charities and nonprofits are out there, making a real difference in people’s lives. I know Mark struggled at times with whether or not his final walk mattered. Could one man, walking barefoot, raise awareness about the issue of our time, climate change? I’d say the resounding answer is “yes.” He paid the ultimate price with his life for what he believed in.
As we’ve worked to build capacity, our board has been careful and cognizant of what we want to do as a foundation. First and foremost, we’ve remained focused on our mission, which remains to be a foundation committed to funding important projects that raise awareness about the environment, promote social justice, as well as involving under-served populations directly in renewing their communities.
Mary and I are both grateful to board members Dave Craig and Paul Scalzone who have stood with us the past two years. We’ve all grown by being part of the Mark Baumer Sustainability Fund.
We would appreciate your consideration in making a year-end contribution to the foundation. This will help us continue to fund scholarships, support local farmers, enhance opportunities for people to access yoga and other programs who many not normally have that chance. Additionally, we’ll continue to focus on the needs of local communities and the people Mark cared deeply about, those on the margins.
Dave Craig, who serves as vice president of the foundation, shared why he became our first monthly contributor. This is another way to make sure that the Mark Baumer Sustainability Fund is able to carry Mark’s message forward out into 2020 and beyond.
I give a monthly donation to the Mark Baumer Sustainability Fund. My donation is automatically deducted from my checking account. I love this method of supporting causes I care about. Small, periodic donations fit my budget and they provide regular, dependable support for foundations like the Mark Baumer Sustainability Fund.
Why do I give? There are many reasons: I am lifelong friends of Mark’s parents, Jim and Mary; I knew Mark—not as well as I wish I had—and I’m saddened that I’ll never have the opportunity to know him better; I care about the issues that Mark was passionate about; and I want to help continue his legacy of caring for the planet and the people on it.
Mark’s art and activism were a blend of poetry, prose, memoir, performance art, absurdist theater, comedy, philosophy—none of these descriptors adequately describe who he was or what he did. You just have to read or watch his work, observe it, absorb it, enjoy it, and take from it whatever makes sense to you. One of Mark’s “projects”, for want of a better word, was Every Day Yeah. I like to think of my automatic monthly donation as my Every Month Yeah. Won’t you join me by becoming a monthly supporter of the Mark Baumer Sustainability Fund? Just think what we can accomplish with my Every Month Yeah and your Every Month Yeah and all of our Every Month Yeahs allying together to carry forth the mission of the MBSF.
Won’t you help us continue Mark’s memory and work in 2020 and beyond?
-Jim