Mission @: He's got to land somewhere.

It's no good, It's no good, we aren't stopping!

With that, Ras disengaged the reverse thrusters and powered up the throttle.

We got to get back in the air.
Come on baby, come on!

With 40 yards to go the nose pointed skyward.

The wheels were still scraping the runway as they just lifted off the ground.
"Wow, we are so close, you can see the fishes in the sea."

Forget the fish Ras, what will we do?

BANG, POP, BAM!!!

What was that?
The thruster mounts snapped from all the pressure, now they were really on a wing and a prayer.

Ras had a brainstorm.
I have my Jamaican cell with me.
If I can only contact My man Markospoon.

Ring, Ring.

Hello?
Hey Marko, It's me Ras!

Hey man, how was your flight?
I'm still in the air! Look up.

Ras, all I see are clouds and a low flying plane.

It's me god---- it.
Yeah, sure, right Ras.
How long till you get here.
I'm here!!
I'll wave the plane.
Ha Ha, Marko said.
"sure mon, I....Holy mothership connection, the plane is waving!
Ras!, that's you flying the plane?
"That's what i been trying to tell you!"

It's a long story, but i need you to get help.

Ok, i'll call my man, ace driver/pal Nick?

Yeah, I'm gonna try to land on that old abandon runway in Mt. Airy.
Meet me there.

Ok, Ras, i'm on my way.

Lets go nick.
Nick, always ready, always prepared started his car.
Hurry man and step on it.
Mon, I always step on it.

True, true.

Soon they were at mount Airy.

Nick turned on his car's high beams to light up the runway.

I will call Ras back and see what's what.

Ras, come in, this is Markospoon, come in!

I sputtering engine came into view.

It was dropping like a hot potato.

I can't look, Marko said to himself.

All of a sudden the plane went silent.

The plane just ran out of gas.
Ras was in glide mode, but coming in fast.

He slid onto the old landing strip with a bump and grind.

The plane came to a stop just 100 feet from the cliffs.

A hatch opened up and Ras popped out his head and said.

"Any one got a cold beer?"

Mission: Get Ras safely to Negril!

It was tense, people were sweating bullets.
Ras kept cool.
"we will make it honey"Ras said.

His wife looked into his eyes and squeezed his hand.

The Traffic controllers in Jamaica had walked out that morning, demanding more money.

"Well folks the pilot said, we are over the water, low on fuel and we are beyond the point of no return"

"CUBA!" somebody yelled out, lets try to land in Cuba!

Ras became uneasy.

Last time he was in Cuba, the local authorities were kicking down his hotel room door as he jumped out of the window, down a dark and lonely alley and out of sight.

No, said the pilot.
By hook or by crook we will make Jamaica!

Flight 105, this is tower, over......
FLIGHT 105 this is Tower! over..........

Tower this is flight 105, what the ---- is going on?
We have been requesting permission to land for over 30 minutes! over.......

Do not land!
Repeat, Do not land!

Tower! We're on fumes now!
We're coming in come hell or high water!

And with that, the jet dived down, down it came, leveling off just over the green and blue water.

The pilot chose that moment to have a heart attack.
The co-pilot already out of commission due to some bad fish was no help.

Then, like a bat out of hell, Ras charged the cockpit, threw the pilot to the side, and pulled up just before the jet nosed dived into the drink.

The plane was coming in high, too high to land!

"What am i missing, Ras said?

A very cool and calm stewardess
said "try the flaps Ras"

That's it! Down Flaps, decrease speed!!

Ras throttled back 60% thrust and the you could hear the wheels squeel!

The plane hit the runway, bounced and they were back in the air.

Again Ras downed the flaps and again the plane bounced off the runway.

We are running out of runway the stewardess said.

Ras had to think, think damiit!!

"REVERSE THRUSTERS!!
REVERSE THRUSTERS!! "
RAS Shouted as if he were talking to god himself.

He applied 100% Max control, and you could feel the plane burning rubber.
Closer the water came, closer to the drop off at the end of the runway.

HOLD ON EVERYONE, HOLD ON!!!!!

Our blog reaches hundreds of people worldwide so we get occasional e-mail requests for information on Negril. Today we received this e-mail and I felt that I should pass it along here. Some of you may want to help with this wonderful Whitehall school project -


Dear Markospoon -

I'm writing because I hope you're going to be interested in helping me help a bunch of really great students in Negril.  If you think the project sounds fun and worthy, please help me spread the word!

I recently got back from doing a mosaic art residency with elementary students at Whitehall Preparatory School in Negril, Jamaica and going back in January of 2012 to build on our project.

I brought over 100 pounds of materials and tools and spent three days working with 90 students, two assistant/collaborators and five teachers to make a mosaic flower garden mural and a big tiled mirror for the school.  The students were bright, eager and did really great work!  If you haven't seen the photos from the project, take a look at all their cute, proud faces here:  www.flickr.com/photos/lisaarnoldresidency/ (in the Whitehall Mosaic set).

It was a really rewarding experience, being able to give back to a community that has provided me with so many happy hours and beautiful memories, especially because it is a place in such need.  There's little way out of poverty there and many people struggle to get by, but the school is a really colorful, happy place full of smart and enthusiastic children.  Alas, they don't have an art teacher, art program or art books, but they do have are motivated teachers and principals with vision.  Before I left, Mrs. Myrie (one the teacher/principal/founders) thanked me and told me plainly, 'Now it's time for you to go home, do something for us from there and return.'  It seems a big challenge, but I am up for it!

So, here is my idea...  Whitehall's motto is "Hard work is the key to success" and their logo is a key.  When I go back in January 2012, the students and I are going to make a BIG mosaic of a key to adorn the school -- made out of keys!  It seems everyone has an old key lying around that will eventually end up in a landfill.  Instead of throwing it away, I'm asking that you send the one in your junk drawer to me.  And maybe, if you are able, you could wrap it in a dollar bill?  I did the project in January as a gift and am looking for a way to make it on-going and sustainable.  I hope that by doing micro-fundraising, making it easy, inexpensive and fun to participate, you'll accept my invitation and invite others to learn about the work and take part too!

Since I've been back, a school in Whitehouse, Jamaica has heard about the project and asked me to teach mosaics to their students too -- looks like my work is cut out for me!  I'm really excited to continue and eventually expand the project.  Not only do I believe arts education is important for everyone, I know that mosaic skills could be put to real use there -- as a way of beautifying and raising money for schools and even for people to make a living.

My goal is to raise $2000 and receive 500 keys by December 1, 2011.  I could do soooooooooo much with that!  I think it's going to be pretty amazing for the students to look at a huge pile of keys and know that each represents a stranger out in the world who cares about them.  I hope you'll want to be a part of that!

If you do, I thank you for sending your contribution to

Lisa Arnold
Whitehall Mosaic Key Project
Box 6055
Minneapolis, MN  55406