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5/13/2010
4/27/2010
Next time... I'll wear a gas mask
Last Monday I began ripping out the carpet and padding and moldy bits of our 77 Cobra motor home. The carpet was just old more than anything (think 70's short shag old). It probably looked like the picture below 30 years ago but pulled up like thin sheets of cardboard.
A third of the way into the job I decided to put on one of those flimsy dust masks.
It didn't do the trick and I spent the next few days with one of the worst sinus infections I've ever had. Still fighting it now more than a week later. Thursday I am going back in to fight with the mold once more and will be wearing this.
Just kidding... I will be wearing a respirator however. We are currently looking into different hard floor options and trying to learn about the best adhesives to allow flexibility. It is really quite inspiring to see the ingenuity and creativity of people out there in the RV community and we are both looking foreword to making the space a little more homey.
4/18/2010
Cobra
If spirit guides could exist in the way that Neil Gaiman had portrayed them in his book, American Gods, then we may have been joined by a spirit who came into being during the late 70's.
One week ago we heard from my mother, Marilyn, who had been in a conversation with her neighbor who was about to pay someone to haul off a 1977 Dodge Cobra motor home. The RV had become a project of hers last year but needed some interior work and hadn't been started in at least 12 months. Mom had told her that we might be interested in it and her neighbor said that we could have it if we could start it. We took our shot the following day and fed it fresh gasoline, a battery jump, and two bottles of Marvel Mystery oil. After tinkering with the Cobras inner workings for about an hour it started up and ran smoothly. There is a small amount of interior work that needs to be done, a small section of water damage to replace, filters fluids and tires that need replaced, but it is in what I would consider remarkably good condition for a motor creature that has spent the better part of the last 3 years in hibernation. We are very excited to say the least and have marveled at the timing of the Cobras appearance along with our closing of the land deal and our recent loan troubles. (Side note; Student loans add up quickly) We have decided to make Cobra our home while we build on the property and likely to use it as a guest house or mobile apartment for visiting family after the yurts have been constructed. We have also been propelled into learning about an alternative life group, that we previously knew little about, made up of people who choose to live a nomadic or semi nomadic life within a motor home. These are a few links where you can learn more abouto a few people who have chosen this life style.
My point is that I find meaning and hope in the spirit of the 70's. The 70's were, after all, a period in which many people in this country tried to live in harmony with the earth and to embody the spirit of nature. It was a time of great change and big wins on the environmental front. Some people call Juliana and me brave while others laugh and good naturedly call us hippies for the decisions we are making in the way we want to live. But hey, the hippies had some pretty good ideas like living in peace, living simply, and living off the land. They were happy people and it makes me happy to be reminded of that time and place through Cobra.
One week ago we heard from my mother, Marilyn, who had been in a conversation with her neighbor who was about to pay someone to haul off a 1977 Dodge Cobra motor home. The RV had become a project of hers last year but needed some interior work and hadn't been started in at least 12 months. Mom had told her that we might be interested in it and her neighbor said that we could have it if we could start it. We took our shot the following day and fed it fresh gasoline, a battery jump, and two bottles of Marvel Mystery oil. After tinkering with the Cobras inner workings for about an hour it started up and ran smoothly. There is a small amount of interior work that needs to be done, a small section of water damage to replace, filters fluids and tires that need replaced, but it is in what I would consider remarkably good condition for a motor creature that has spent the better part of the last 3 years in hibernation. We are very excited to say the least and have marveled at the timing of the Cobras appearance along with our closing of the land deal and our recent loan troubles. (Side note; Student loans add up quickly) We have decided to make Cobra our home while we build on the property and likely to use it as a guest house or mobile apartment for visiting family after the yurts have been constructed. We have also been propelled into learning about an alternative life group, that we previously knew little about, made up of people who choose to live a nomadic or semi nomadic life within a motor home. These are a few links where you can learn more abouto a few people who have chosen this life style.
Tynan
Tara
If Cobra were walking around like you or I, such as in American Gods, then it might look like this family...
...or perhaps like this woman...
...and maybe even like these guys...
My point is that I find meaning and hope in the spirit of the 70's. The 70's were, after all, a period in which many people in this country tried to live in harmony with the earth and to embody the spirit of nature. It was a time of great change and big wins on the environmental front. Some people call Juliana and me brave while others laugh and good naturedly call us hippies for the decisions we are making in the way we want to live. But hey, the hippies had some pretty good ideas like living in peace, living simply, and living off the land. They were happy people and it makes me happy to be reminded of that time and place through Cobra.
As a spirit guide the snake symbolizes a balance with the earth. It is said that the snake is the closest animal spirit to the earth. Since Cobra came into our lives at a time of transition I think that it will be important to learn from snake spirit and keep in mind our balance with the earth during our home building journey. Our totem seems to be growing as we now have a hawk looking down from high who can see the big picture and a snake hugging the earth to keep us grounded.
More pictures to come.
4/09/2010
Recreational marijuana and the end of a prohibition
Over the last few weeks I have noticed an increased buzz about the legalization of marijuana. It seems that Californians are on the cusp of ending prohibition on the recreational use of this plant. In the same way that alcohol prohibition created criminals out of non-violent users, marijuana-related crimes have filled our prisons and drawn government resources away from social issues that really matter. This is relatively old news. What has been of more recent interest to me is the parallels between marijuana distribution, especially coming out of South American countries, and the distribution of legal crops such as fruits and vegetables coming out of the same countries. If you are interested in learning about the darker side of the fruit trade, (this is why we will try to buy locally or from a fair trade importer), check out Juliana's blog about the banana trade industry and the paramilitaries that they employ: http://spiritofdreammountain.blogspot.com/2010/03/yoga-mats-flexible-babies-and-bad.html
How many of you out there who smoke pot or who have smoked or who will smoke if the prohibition is lifted have ever considered the morality of your supplies' origin? You might think twice before throwing down on that next sack. In 2000 the DEA estimated that between 40 and 50 percent of marijuana in the United States came from Mexico alone. In 2006 the Justice department estimated that the four largest drug cartels (the Federation, the Tijuana Cartel, the Juarez Cartel and the Gulf Cartel) were operating in about 195 US cities. So what's the big deal you might ask? Well the cartels are warring factions of highly developed gangs who fight against one another in territorial disputes catching innocent civilians in the cross fire. They also use brutal tactics to run off small scale marijuana farmers in order to broaden their growing territory. According to an NPR broadcast that aired today "More than 10,000 people have been killed in Mexico in drug-related violence since Calderon deployed the army against the cartels in late 2006." As I listened to the broadcast this morning a reporter described the small hut he was speaking from where he said the door was stained with blood from the farmer who had been executed by one of the cartels earlier this month. Mexico legalised the recreational use of marijuana in 2006 as part of the ongoing effort to combat the cartel violence however the U.S. market has continued to fuel the cartels and enable their brutal tactics.
What it comes down to is that with any purchase it falls upon us all to make an informed decision. The end of recreational marijuana prohibition in California likely signals a nation wide end in the near future. As we are given back this freedom we will have new choices to make. Whether we chose to grow this plant our selves, buy from a local farmer, or purchase it from afar, we must accept some responsibility within the global community and realize that this choice may have real impacts on a very humanitarian level. Let's just make sure that our decision to relax, and have a good time doesn't come at the expense of some unfortunate farmer. Let's not facilitate violence with an act that is all about getting along and getting together.
How many of you out there who smoke pot or who have smoked or who will smoke if the prohibition is lifted have ever considered the morality of your supplies' origin? You might think twice before throwing down on that next sack. In 2000 the DEA estimated that between 40 and 50 percent of marijuana in the United States came from Mexico alone. In 2006 the Justice department estimated that the four largest drug cartels (the Federation, the Tijuana Cartel, the Juarez Cartel and the Gulf Cartel) were operating in about 195 US cities. So what's the big deal you might ask? Well the cartels are warring factions of highly developed gangs who fight against one another in territorial disputes catching innocent civilians in the cross fire. They also use brutal tactics to run off small scale marijuana farmers in order to broaden their growing territory. According to an NPR broadcast that aired today "More than 10,000 people have been killed in Mexico in drug-related violence since Calderon deployed the army against the cartels in late 2006." As I listened to the broadcast this morning a reporter described the small hut he was speaking from where he said the door was stained with blood from the farmer who had been executed by one of the cartels earlier this month. Mexico legalised the recreational use of marijuana in 2006 as part of the ongoing effort to combat the cartel violence however the U.S. market has continued to fuel the cartels and enable their brutal tactics.
What it comes down to is that with any purchase it falls upon us all to make an informed decision. The end of recreational marijuana prohibition in California likely signals a nation wide end in the near future. As we are given back this freedom we will have new choices to make. Whether we chose to grow this plant our selves, buy from a local farmer, or purchase it from afar, we must accept some responsibility within the global community and realize that this choice may have real impacts on a very humanitarian level. Let's just make sure that our decision to relax, and have a good time doesn't come at the expense of some unfortunate farmer. Let's not facilitate violence with an act that is all about getting along and getting together.
Or perhaps to paraphrase a more recent piece of wisdom Think Globally Smoke Locally!
For more info on the drug war in Mexico check out this link to the NPR story:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=124703094
For more info on the drug war in Mexico check out this link to the NPR story:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=124703094
4/06/2010
Environmental themes in Japanese animation
So, I have a nerdy confession to make. Last December we bought a new lap top for me and named it "Agito" after the main character from the animated film "Origin: Spirits of the Past." I was so taken with the film and its interpretation of the nature vs. man theme that I have even given some thought into incorporating its images into a tattoo design. Films like Origin, Princess Mononoke, Howls Moving Castle, and Nausica are a few amongst a sub category of animated epics, many coming out of the Japanese animation studio "Studio Ghibli," whose moral underline fall closely to those of our little family. Yes, the films do have some scenes of violent acts but I do not find these scenes to stand out as brutal simply for the sake of shock value. Rather they seem to take lessons from our past, a past dotted with acts of humanitarian and environmental atrocity, and transpose them onto a new landscape where one can feel compassion for a wide range of characters including humans, animals, gods, demons, and even the land its self. It is interesting to me that the characters in these films are rarely polarised to one side of good or evil and I believe that in this they represent a more realistic interpretation of humanity and the natural world. These are the types of stories that I want my daughter to grow up remembering. I remember how shocked I was to learn that Studio Ghibli, the animation studio brain child of Hayao Miyazaki, had close ties to Disney in the US market. Only recently did I learn of the fighting that took place between Miyazaki and Disney over the release of his films in the US. It seems that Disney, Miramax, and a few other distributors have tried to heavily edit the content and even change plot points of the films for the US market. Now that sounds more like the Disney that I know! Fortunately Miyazaki stood up to the corporate power houses and though the films US release dates were often pushed back for months they maintained their original philosophical and artistic integrity. We recently began watching the Nickelodeon animated series "Avatar: The last air bender" and have happily discovered it to be a close similarity to the environmental themes of the before mentioned films. If you have not watched the series I highly recommend checking it out as well as the following list of movies.
Naussicaa of the Valley of the Wind
Castle in the Sky
My Neighbor Totoro
Princess Mononoke
Spirited Away
Howls Moving Castle
Origin: Spirits of the Past
WALL-E
Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within
4/03/2010
Nothing thing
We are in a holding pattern. This week has been marked by days of intense business with land purchase dealings, finance institutions, and creditors. At this point we are waiting to find out whether we will be able to receive a loan or whether we will have to zap our savings in order to purchase this piece of land. The comfort in this waiting period comes from the realisation that we will be able to purchase the land if the financing falls through.
Taking no small part in our credit woes are my mounds of student loan debt. I have been feeling more and more disillusioned with the university system as the last few years have ticked by. I can't help but feel that there is an inherent fallacy in supporting the idea that a college education will facilitate a better quality of life. In our society it seems to mostly facilitate reliance on a class system that one can never truly be free from. For the vast majority of Americans the reality is that we die as members of the same class that we are born into. The amount of work you put into a day does not necessarily determine your chances of success. Some of the hardest working men and women I know are constantly struggling to keep their financial necks above water.
Things really haven't changed much in our country over the last few hundred years when it comes to the haves and have nots. The people with political power hold the vast majority of the nations wealth and with that they reserve the right to make the rules up as they go. Giving themselves special privileges while writing laws to discourage their competition. They create lop sided taxes to levy hard earned dollars from private citizens and small business owners while throwing fist fulls of cash at corrupt business executives and war mongers. They tell us that if we work hard enough, if we go to college, if we keep quiet, we will get a little slice of the pie. So we do this and we think "this is the right thing to do and this is being responsible" but we walk out more hopelessly reliant on this tilted system than ever before. This is another of the reasons for our current life plan. I feel that the only way out of the cycle is to play a different game than they are playing. Stop relying on the self value images that they force feed us through media and advertisement. Find things to value in our lives that do not fall within the category of material possession.
Taking no small part in our credit woes are my mounds of student loan debt. I have been feeling more and more disillusioned with the university system as the last few years have ticked by. I can't help but feel that there is an inherent fallacy in supporting the idea that a college education will facilitate a better quality of life. In our society it seems to mostly facilitate reliance on a class system that one can never truly be free from. For the vast majority of Americans the reality is that we die as members of the same class that we are born into. The amount of work you put into a day does not necessarily determine your chances of success. Some of the hardest working men and women I know are constantly struggling to keep their financial necks above water.
Things really haven't changed much in our country over the last few hundred years when it comes to the haves and have nots. The people with political power hold the vast majority of the nations wealth and with that they reserve the right to make the rules up as they go. Giving themselves special privileges while writing laws to discourage their competition. They create lop sided taxes to levy hard earned dollars from private citizens and small business owners while throwing fist fulls of cash at corrupt business executives and war mongers. They tell us that if we work hard enough, if we go to college, if we keep quiet, we will get a little slice of the pie. So we do this and we think "this is the right thing to do and this is being responsible" but we walk out more hopelessly reliant on this tilted system than ever before. This is another of the reasons for our current life plan. I feel that the only way out of the cycle is to play a different game than they are playing. Stop relying on the self value images that they force feed us through media and advertisement. Find things to value in our lives that do not fall within the category of material possession.
3/28/2010
Tribal counter-culture
For as long as I can remember tribal cultures have held a fascination and draw for me. As a young boy my mother would take me to American Indian gatherings where I was able to observe and participate in the arts and ceremonies of the culture. Juliana and I now find ourselves moving to North Carolina, which has one of the highest populations of American Indians of any state, to live out a more simple existence. A life more in tune with some of the aspects and spirit of tribal culture such as living in greater harmony with the land.
I recently picked up a copy of "The People's History of the United States" by Howard Zinn. Over the first chapter Zinn explores a lesser told tale of tribal society as it existed among North Americans before the onslaught of European settlers. Zinn paints a picture of an egalitarian society whose members lived in harmony with their natural surroundings, avoided gender discrimination, fought but never exterminated, and avoided defining them selves through material possession. They had no word for poor. Only members of a group working toward a common livelihood. It is sad to think how far we as a society have come in the opposing direction. Now nearly all is defined by material wealth and the average American thinks of casino owners and baseball teams when considering a modern American Indian.
I recently picked up a copy of "The People's History of the United States" by Howard Zinn. Over the first chapter Zinn explores a lesser told tale of tribal society as it existed among North Americans before the onslaught of European settlers. Zinn paints a picture of an egalitarian society whose members lived in harmony with their natural surroundings, avoided gender discrimination, fought but never exterminated, and avoided defining them selves through material possession. They had no word for poor. Only members of a group working toward a common livelihood. It is sad to think how far we as a society have come in the opposing direction. Now nearly all is defined by material wealth and the average American thinks of casino owners and baseball teams when considering a modern American Indian.
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