(See Scout, I DO cut you some slack! Imagine if I had written the whole original comment in that tone Also, you are not the first person to accuse me of being a ball-buster. I’m not sure whether I’m proud of that or not.)

Also, I suspect that the college experience has a lot to do with which department you are in. I was in the English Department, where there is absolutely no expectation of future employability, “future monetary success”, or status. It’s one grand ego-masturbation, which you can milk out for a good 6 years, and people will give you all kinds of loans and grants for it. It’s totally a con job, but one that can be worked if you choose to do it.

Lately I’ve gone to places which bear no reminders that human beings are on the planet (except for my backpacking gear) - no litter, no footprints, no motor noises, and no speech sounds. I listen to a different language, breathe different air, drink wild water. Then when I return to Portland, it feels like returning to a max security prison after being free. So, it’s good to hear the agony in the voices of others.

I went back to “school” to become a nurse - a profession which I thought would allow me to do ethical, meaningful work, plus would pay well enough that I wouldn’t need to work much. Right. It’s all about profit for the insurance, health care, and pharmie corporations. It’s impossible to do the kind of nursing and healing I know people need - it just isn’t allowed because they overload us with work.

Also, although I enjoyed some college classes - in one sociology class we read “Ishmael” - I have to say that college perpetuates the current dominant society by instilling its thoughts and values into the students, promising them, what else, future monetary success and the status to speak authoritatively on the major of their choice - based on the standards of the dominant society. To me, it’s just a con job.

One thing that kind of bothers me about one tiny part of Deanne’s otherwise well-thought-out comments: being a Native American, I have to say it sounds a teensy bit like we are planning to use the red man for our personal benefit; of course, that would not be a nice thing to do (it’s what the US is founded on).

Thanks for sharing your experiences U.S. and everyone.

I tend to scoff at people who say “it’s about finding the balance between work and leisure”. What balance? There is no balance. There is “civilized, capitalist workhorse” and then there is “free”. Partying it up every weekend in a vain attempt to drown out the previous week’s depressing worldly bullshit is not “finding the balance”; that’s called “fucking yourself up to get away”.

I couldn’t possibly agree more about the concept of getting that taste of freedom away from work. The reason I wind up quitting my jobs is specifically because of this. I left my last job after attending a ranch and riding horses for 4 days. Aside from the fact that the ranch is also out to make money, it is the closest to being away from civilization I have had the opportunity to experience. Coming back to the city after being out there destroyed me. The symptoms on return are not entirely psychological either; you don’t realize *how much _noise_* civilization creates until you come back from the country and discover you’re getting a splitting headache simply from the usual background noise like traffic.

PennyScout, you’ve struck the topic that unnerves me about most people. Somewhere along our history’s time line, children began being raised with the mentality that “that’s just the way things are”, “you have to accept the world for what it is”, and “do whatever you have to to get by”. If you try to have a serious conversation with the typical civ-brainwashed person about the world’s problems, you quite literally get a shrug and either “oh well” or “that’s just how things are, you have to deal with it”. It’s horrible how the average person can’t see that they really are being treated like a poor peasant who isn’t worth the dirt they’re standing on, so far as royalty is concerned. The fundamental basics of social castes really haven’t changed much over the centuries — we’re just too fucking dumb to revolt and reclaim our rightful way of life.

I also agree 10000% that a human being was not designed to do the same task every day for the duration of their entire life. How did we go from being entirely self-sufficient to being dependant on a system that “rewards us” with materialistic things if we give our lives to the system?

I start a new job August 1. Why? Because I’m realistic. Wait, this sounds familiar…. oh, that’s right! “That’s just the way things are”, “you have to accept the world for what it is”, and “do whatever you have to to get by”. I need to work, because I don’t have the power to change the world. That about sums it up.

DeAnna, Thanks so much! Many great ideas… but do you have to be such a ball-buster!?! Geez. Cut me some slack! …just kidding, I love it.

Thanks again.

2. Grants: Using language that other people can understand is an important part of being able to build community. If people need to hear the word “sustainable” in order to understand that you are doing something worthwhile, that’s not lying, it’s speaking a language that other people understand in order to speak your message.

3. Write a book. Do it. Not only do you need money now, you’ll probably find money handy in the future, whether you need it or not.

4. Google ads: Think outside this particular box. There are other companies that do ads. Look into AdWords. Also, you can direct sell your ad space, thereby allowing you to format it however you like. I know that my blog traffic has increased significantly since you listed my blog in your Links List. Are there folks out there that would be willing to pay a small amount in order to be listed in a separate list called “Sponsors” or something like that? How about local small businesses that would be willing to pay a small monthly fee to have a business card included in your sidebar? Also, as a sidenote, I think text ads are far more annoying that graphic ads. There is plenty of text on a blog page already, more text looks cluttered no matter how well you format it. Tasteful, non-animated graphics can add an artistic touch, text can’t.

5. I got nothing on this one.

6. Lots of blogs out there have a link directly to the writer’s personal PayPal account so that people can donate if they want. Lots of people call them a Tip Jar. You can see one at http://www.crazyauntpurl.com/ and scroll way down to the category called “Buttoned Up” on the right hand column. There’s a button that says Make A Donation, and it’s super simple. (I’m not suggesting that her site format is a good one, just showing you how the little donation button looks, in case you haven’t seen it.)

7.8. I got nothing.

9. Yesterday I drove by a fairly healthy-looking 20-something guy with a sign that said, “Living Outside, Anything Helps” and it had a little picture of a tent drawn on it. I was really torn about whether I would hand over some cash, as I sometimes do to panhandlers. On the one hand, living outside sounds pretty good to me, especially this time of year. I was tempted to just ask him if he knew about all the salmonberries, huckleberries, nettles, and miner’s lettuce growing abundantly in the park behind him. Maybe he needed some information more than he needed the dollar I had in my ashtray. On the other hand, having read your blog and read about the frustrations of this process, I could see that there’s more to living outside than just finding berries. As it happened, I pondered too long, the light turned green, and I drove past. This is undoubtably what would mostly happen to you. That is, when people weren’t rolling down their windows to yell at you to get a job and calling you a hippy.

10. Seems to me that your real sticking point is that you are trying to change all of society while holding firm to your rather rigid diet. And as much as I respect your wish to eat in a way that makes you feel really heathy, I would just like to throw down the smallest little call of bullshit. Drinking to the extent that you wake up the next morning with unexplained homemade tattoos on your forearm indicates to me that you have priorities which trump your healthy diet. While numbing yourself to the evils of civilization is obviously a noble cause and all, why not allow re-wilding to trump your healthy diet instead? That way you get to escape the monetary culture, avoid getting a job or panhandling, and in the long run become healthier through a decrease in the need to drink yourself numb to the evils of civilization.

11. There already exist communities that are working on similiar things to your goals. http://www.sidhefire.com is a community where I live where they offer room and board in exchange for a certain amount of help around the community. They encourage people to pursue whatever they’re passionate about that fits with the community vision, so if someone wants to help convert the old chicken coop into a meditation hut they can, or if they prefer to catalogue the edible plants growing on the property and create a system for increasing the diversity of wild edibles on the property, they could do that also. I think the Sidhefire’s are a little on the hippy side of the spectrum for your taste, but there are no doubt similiar communities near Portland. Start thinking about trade rather than money.

12. Think trade rather than money. You do some web design right? I trade web design with my local salvage company in order to afford the wood for some of my raised garden beds. I trade marketing photography for classes at Wilderness Awareness School. Everybody needs more marketing, and most small businesses I’ve talked to would love to trade goods and services rather than pay more money for marketing. My local co-op grocery store accepts volunteers in exchange for store credit.

13. Find an “In” with the local tribes. When civilization collapses, it seems like a good idea to have some connections with the people who have a legitimate claim to the land off which you hope to be living. And reservation cultures seem a lot more open to barter systems in the meantime. What do you have to trade (classes?) with local tribal schools. Do they have stuff you might want? (skills? tools? information? permission to hunt and trap on their land, which is not governed by Fish and Wildlife?)

14….

1. Rewild
2. ?
3. Profit

I suggest you write a book, if only because I’d be interested in reading it. =)
You’ll still have find something else to immediately remedy your current funding dilemma, but it may bring a somewhat steady source of income in the future.

I was thinking the other day what is one thing I could do for 10 hours a day, 40 hours a week and enjoy it? I couldn’t think of one single thing even among things that people typically enjoy. Sex? No. Drugs? No. Lying in bed? No. Watching movies? No. Dining? No. Browsing the internet? No. Hiking? No. Gardening? No. Some people could probably enjoy concentrating their energy. Heck for one summer I was a crazy self-driven botanist, but that was just one summer. In general I think people just aren’t meant to specialize so severely. It’s bad for the body (carpal tunnel anyone?), bad for the soul and has arisen as a result of civilization and ultimately serves civilization by keeping people unable to provide for their basic needs. Hunting, gathering, cooking, arts and crafts, singing, dancing, swimming, sports, relaxing, raising families, love making. Once upon a time people had time for all of those things, those exact things that now everyone wishes they had more time for.

-Suburban Scout

I think “sustainability” could be a really good aspect to focus on in grant writing–also, just plain “research” and concepts of “local” focus. Can you write something that makes it sound like you want to research the local and bioregional sustainable methods of living noted among the prior hunter-gatherers of your bioregion to see how they can apply to modern living methods in a continually declining economy?

Understand your dilemma.

Would go with classes, camps and write on the side as time permits.

You are a wonderful teacher!

Christine