Pulling a 10-Ton Truck through Cleveland

Photo by Cool Cleveland - @MartinBielat

A drab, cool evening as I drive down to the Beachland Ballroom to “Pull” an old GMC truck through the city - a performance piece promoting work by Artist William Pope.L. Quite honestly, I was getting a little nervous about this task ahead of me. How easy or difficult will this be?

A brass band playing to a good crowd gathered in front of the Beachland Ballroom anticipating this historic event that was about to take place. Photographers, videographers, art enthusiasts, residents and “pullers” gathered around an old truck that was transformed with bold typography, imagery and headlines stating: Wealth Vs. Money; The Right to be Lazy, What is the Point of Working? I Can’t Wait to Get Off Work, and I Love My Job. I noticed an image of a Homeless man on the lower left of the truck along with a headline promoting the Men’s Shelter metal works program creating bike rakes for the city - A photographer took my picture as I was awestruck of this wonderful project.

How did I learn about this project? My sister sent me an email where the subject line simply said, “Pull.” My curiosity peaked and looked up the event. I wasn’t wild about the time (8:30 until 12:30 A.M.), but it was right in my neighborhood so I decided to sign-up. I have been tweeting and talking about this event all week. Moreover, I won the Cool Cleveland Hashtag contest where a representative was sent to publicize my event. How cool is that?

Push off time was 9:00 P.M., and I was getting antsy to get the ball rolling. There will be eight-pullers (four on the right and four on the left of the vertical bar) in front of the truck pulling this crazy one-wheeled, wooden apparatus. I stood confidently on the driver’s side, both hands on the second wooden bar. I wanted the first shift for this historic event. We all wore bright yellow safety vests with a yellow and black PULL sticker. I was excited and nervous at the same time.

The Spaces executive director explained this has been a two-year project that has finally come to fruition plus verbalizing all the partnerships that helped make this event a reality. Walking in front of the truck, the band continued to play as we “pullers” began to move the truck awkwardly along the uneven asphalt with the police as our guide. We’re off! All pullers were hooting and hollering and waving to onlookers. Driver’s in their cars wondering what the heck is going on. Priceless expressions.

One young driver has such an emotional response to the truck, “What happened?” I can just image what it looks like to people who have no idea what this project is all about - eight people with bright yellow jackets pulling an old jalopy. Our truck brought interest from a young family - a stroller with baby and dog, Rex to walk along with us.

We moved on a good clip along Waterloo Road along a neighborhood that I haven’t really experienced before. As you pull, you have the time to see homes that are abandoned or need some tender loving care. This is also the time to see how people live in these troubled times - a time to reflect. There were potholes and standing water that you needed to be aware of. I was surprised how hard I was working especially in my biceps. I am in good shape, but this was kicking my butt.

After about 20-minutes, it was time to turn the reins off to the other volunteers anticipating their turn to “pull.” We all rotated from pulling to pushing - the back of the truck. The hardest part of the “pull” was pushing from the back, a sharp incline along St. Clair. We were all spent when the truck reached the top - huffing and puffing, at least I got a good workout after that stretch of road. Everything was going well; we were doing such a good job that we were way ahead of schedule - one-hour. We reached our destination at 11:00 P.M. “Seriously, we’re done.”

I was sadden that we reached our destination so quickly. I was enjoying watching passersby looking dumbfounded by what this truck signifies; the smartphones taking photos and local residents waving as we traveled along their street. What I learned? There are so many people that need help; there are local businesses trying to survive and this project has embraced volunteers that really wanted to come together to be apart of “PULL.” What can we achieve as we “pull” together? I’m so proud that I was a “puller.” Thank you Spaces and William Pope.L for bringing this project to reality.

Spaces PULL Project
http://www.spacesgallery.org/project/pull

The Cleveland Plain Dealer
http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2013/06/pull_offers_city_a_labor_of_ar.html