I wonder if people in other states ask people where they are from all the time.  If you live in Illinois or Alabama, is it just assumed that you are from there?  Of course, here in California, most people are NOT from here, so that is a common conversation topic to get to know a […]

I recently watched Al Gore’s documentary, An Inconvenient Truth.  I didn’t learn anything new since I had already studied this stuff in college.  15 years later, it is totally mainstream.  Although I believed it all along, the fact that it has become more widely accepted has still made it feel bigger to me, more impending, […]

Over the years, I have participated in many collective working and living projects.  Several years ago, I was recruited by a group called the Matchbook Learning Project. We sponsored classes for adults in the anarchist community.  The vision was a way to keep people in community in times of life that it is harder to […]

Back in the day, A- had a zine called the Buick ate my Planet.  I don’t remember how many issues came out, but I do remember that it included suggestions of car-free trips and resources and told stories of living car-free in the bay area.  Anyways, I only bring it up to steal the great […]

I am not exactly anti-car these days. I was REALLY REALLY anti-car for years.  Then, in 2005 I got a dog. In 2006 I got another.  With one dog, it was reasonable to keep her exercised by walking around town and to get her to the vet by foot.  With two, it was not so doable.  Also […]

I certainly don’t want to underrate the power of the banners hung on the Golden Gate Bridge or the sheer numbers of people that showed up for the torch protests. In a time that Americans are being given questioning glances by the world because of our bifurcated voting, the results of our last election […]

I suddenly dropped off the face of myspace.com. It wasn’t really working for me, anyways. I suppose that I did start semi-serious blogging there, but I knew I wouldn’t last there. I had started a facebook account, which seemed much more fun and I also am on tribe.net, where I like the topic-based forums.
J- came […]

Human social systems and technology are not capable and never will be capable of understanding land on a large scale in a sustainable fashion.
Where does the desire for understanding foreign lands come from? A desire to understand the other. To participate in, specifically to dominate, the exotic…By understanding the scale of […]