2022 is over.
Thank god.
2022 was a challenging year for me. I was laid off from a well-paid tech job in June, dealt with long-term Covid fatigue, and the normal wear-and-tear of living in NYC.
I won’t belabor the point. If you read most any previous TTSE posts, I go deep into what 2022 was like for me there.
And now I’m on the road!
At this point I’ve gone from:
NYC to Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh to CHI for Christmas
CHI to Paoli, IN
Paoli to Champaign, IL for NYE
Champaign to Paoli for a night
Paoli to St. Louis for a night
St. Louis to Fayetteville, AR
Fayetteville to Dallas
I’m in Dallas right now. It’s warm, about 20 minutes after Noon.
I’m sitting outside a coffeeshop at a small table on the sidewalk of a modest strip mall. Next to me are two women who are discussing their college-aged daughters’ experiences at college, as they get ready to go into their second semester.
I’m thinking about all of the people I met along the way on my trip. I met my girlfriend’s parents and brother in Chicago.
I met A. and K. in Paoli. They live in a converted tomato factory that they’ve spent seven years converting into a living space and community center. I stayed with them for a few days and really enjoyed getting to know them.
I followed A. on some chore runs: grabbing eggs from his friend D. and discussing intentional communities in D.’s beautiful and evolving cob house. D. gave us a tour, and showed us the tropical plants he’s growing in a greenhouse, as well as a tour of his fruit tree orchards.
I also helped A. clean out his greenhouse on his property, and we also went to his friend’s property and filled A.’s pickup truck with manure from goats, rabbits, and pigs, for a mushroom-experiment A. is planning.
Paoli is a neat place. My experiences there deserve their own post so I’ll leave it there for now.
Things I’ve Been Listening to on This Trip
I love lists, let’s make a list.
Here’s what I’ve been listening to:
I recently met Ron Rivers via Twitter. We had a video call in the week before Christmas and I really enjoyed speaking with him. He was recently on Kevin Owocki’s GreenPill podcast to talk about his book, Self-Actualization in the Age of Crisis. I’m reading Ron’s book right now. What impresses me about it is that it is a holistic manual for living, and it integrates recent theory on the nature of the universe and time, as a guide for navigating the present and deepening crises that are happening. You can read his book online for free here, or buy a copy to support his work!
Another friend from Twitter was on another equally good podcast. My buddy Ioan was on the Doomer Optimism podcast, which is a podcast about homesteading, and taking a hopeful, yet pragmatic approach to an intensifyingly-complex world.
Ioan runs Elkenmist, a 125-acre modest intentional community in the Pacific Northwest. There he is the “benevolent overlord”, which means he’s the one responsible for taking care of the property and paying property taxes, among other things. On the podcast, Ioan shares his experience running Elkenmist, along with two other residents of the project.
One topic that was discussed on the podcast, is how, by living on the same property, peoples’ shadows will go through natural periods of conflict and confrontation. How “the shadow” relates to community is becoming one of my favorite topics to write about in this newsletter, and I plan to write a post about it soon. Listen to the podcast here.David Richo’s book, How to Be an Adult in Relationships. I listened to the audiobook about three years ago, and now I’m in a relationship again, and so it’s relevant. I started listening to it again, because my partner asked, “Are there any books that have really shaped how you think about relationships?”. This is the one.
When I first started listening to the audiobook again, it felt like I’d heard all of this stuff before. I was wrong. After the first chapter, the book gets deep. One thing that jumped out at me was Richo offering the idea that, in a healthy relationship, your partner only needs to meet 25% of your needs, and the rest of needs-fulfillment should come from friends, family, work, and your community. That feels about right, although before hearing that, I probably would’ve guessed much higher.
Lastly, I’ve been listening to Cocaine and Rhinestones again, the second seasons, C&R is the definitive podcast on the history of country music. If you like country music, check it out.
Looking Ahead
That’s all for now.
Shipping this post because my computer is about to die and I’ve already bounced from bougie coffee shop(no power or wi-fi) to bougie donut shop(closed at noon), back to bougie coffeeshop.
In 2023, expect more frequent writing from me. I’m going down to Cabin, blogging my way to a book on How to Buy Land with Your Friends here, and launching a podcast around this newsletter.
I’m also looking to guest on podcasts to talk about this newsletter. If you have one, hit me up!
I’m also excited to explore ideas around community care, and shadow work in the context of community building.
Ok bye!