It’s been rather quiet around here. There are two reasons for this:
All my writerly energies are going towards finishing the book project. Once that’s done I will be re-directing that cognitive bandwidth towards content here (posts and podcast episodes).
The rest of my creative output potential is going towards a business project.
Since my career ended unceremoniously in 2021 I’ve only taken on a few small paid projects here and there, opting instead to solarpunk worktrade across Europe, do road trips, bikepack, build stuff, make podcast episodes, write a book, learn how to spend even less money while having more fun, et cetera.
But a few months ago an opportunity to spin up a hustle doing something I enjoy and am already good at landed in my inbox and I’m going for it. So I’m now rather fully engaged as far as creative output goes.
However, I have an idea for an experiment. Answering questions takes much less creative oomph to get off the ground, and could lead to some interesting threads to explore.
So, here’s the deal: send me some questions, and I’ll answer them. Just reply to this email. Ask me anything, but bonus points for being halfway related to what I nominally talk about around here:
Postconsumer praxis
Pragmatic skill development
Digital minimalism
Bikepacking, road tripping, outdoor fun-having without spending a fortune
Off-grid life
How to avoid the trap of existential despair and ennui
Composting toilet life
Book recs
etc
What I’m Reading
The Alpha Strategy by John Pugsley. Contrarian and straightforward financial advice. First section is an unorthodox explanation of how the economy works, and the second half is an uber-defensive strategy to beat inflation by buying everything you need ahead of time. (Starting with education and skills training, then tools and materials needed for production, then consumer goods, then tradable stores of real wealth like industrial metals.) Google The Alpha Strategy and you’ll find a free PDF.
That pairs well with John Michael Greer’s series on lenocracy. Here’s an excerpt from his post Walking Away from the Marketplace for a taste:
There’s another side to this whole issue, of course. Just as a pimp can’t survive without the sex workers he exploits, while they can survive very well without him, the lenocracy depends for its survival on the willingness of ordinary people to keep supporting it by their purchases, their labor, and their loyalty. Whether or not you continue to give it that support—why, that, too, is something you will have to decide for yourself. - John Michael Greer
The Art of Being, by Erich Fromm. Excerpt:
The desires and thoughts that the suggestion apparatus of society fills him with, chain him more thoroughly than outer chains. This is so because man can at least be aware of outer chains but be unaware of inner chains, carrying them with the illusion that he is free. He can try to overthrow the outer chains, but how can he rid himself of chains of whose existence he is unaware? … History has clearly shown that one ideology without the other leaves man dependent and crippled. The only realistic aim is total liberation, a goal that may well be called radical (or revolutionary) humanism.