The Spring Equinox Festival on March 22nd, 2013, was held simultaneously in both Ottawa and Redmond (Ben's home city), with Ben's parents joining the audience from Portland during the storytelling. It started a little before 1 PM PST when Brandon, Shelley, Sequoia, and Ren arrived at Ben's apartment, then we all adjourned to a nearby sushi restaurant for a vegetarian lunch. Shortly thereafter, at 1800 EDT (3 PM PDT) Eric and his family also ate a vegetarian sushi meal in Ottawa.
At 1930 EDT/4:30 PM PDT, we began the storytelling via Skype and shared four stories across the continent:
- Sequoia shared a brief retelling of the story of Peter Pan
- Ben shared a story about a bird who lived through the Fifth Great Extinction
- Brandon shared a futuristic tale of a girl choosing between immortality and motherhood
- Eric shared a story of a battle between two hyper-advanced arboreal ecosystems
In Redmond, we finished the day with an excursion to the playground in my apartment complex and the neighboring riverbank, followed by dinner and sci-fi trivia at another nearby restaurant called Flying Saucer Pizza.