the Rat

The Rat is a great mystery.

The power of the 2002 Rat is difficult to comprehend from photos. It was beautiful and scary-looking -- like a real rat, only green, with red eyes! The form was created from branches that had fallen in a storm, like a wicker rat, and then great drifts of moss were laid over for fur. It had creepy little ears and shiny red Oregon grape leaf eyes. Even rodent teeth and a long lashing tail of taut vines -- to which we attached the spine of some roadkill.

This year there will probably be no storm. The US Forest Service prefers that you not strip the forest clean to make your fires and other typical camp necessities such as giant Rats. We will bring materials from elsewhere. Each of us will bring one piece of the Rat; perhaps we can find a quickly-decomposing, natural material to use in his construction. Whatever we create will be original and will be made of us. And it will drown.

Whatever you come up with: it should dissolve quickly and be environmentally sound.

Tif, Enrique, & the Rat photographed by Seano