Represent Yourself

It is windy today. A day for men with lazy comb overs to be shaking their fists at uninterested clouds. Living in a van, especially a minivan, you are at the mercy of the weather. At least it’s sunny here---snow in South Texas??---people in other parts of the country well….they have every right to be shaking their fists at violent, capricious clouds.

The American Outback---(out April 3rd)---is 250 pages of me shaking my fist at things, hopefully in an entertaining fashion. This piece is not about me being down on the United States, I think this country is better than many others, but I see the downside of us electing very wealthy folks (for the most part) to “represent” us. How can people who have never struggled with medical bills or student loans represent us? How can people who have never been a paycheck from being homeless represent us? How can we expect the wealthy to ever be taxed fairly when it’s wealthy folks who vote on tax bills? Money is not evil, even capitalism isn’t evil---the problem is human nature, greed---

But I don’t want to dwell on the problems. Really.

I want to find another way to live, I know it’s out there and after living in a van for nine months I have experienced it; I have waded out to my knees, felt the cool cleanness of it brushing against my calves. I’m going to keep walking out, deeper into the briskness of it, the starkness, until I’m up to my neck.

The system is not going to change. The way it is set up, only the wealthy or those who are funded by large corporate entities are going to be U.S. representatives or senators or presidents. If you expect the people who this system works for to vote for something that isn’t to their advantage, well---

All we can do is prepare ourselves, teach ourselves to be more self sufficient. A year ago, when I was joining all the other anxious people in the empty grocery stores at the beginning of the pandemic, I realized “Yeah, I really need to sort out growing food. I need to learn how to can and all those other things our ancestors did.”

This whole vanlife thing is just steps towards that: Build the inside of the van. Build a camper with solar power. Build a small cabin---

Have land with small animals and a garden.

Install solar and wind turbines, design the roof for water cachement.

I want to be as self sufficient as possible, I think it’s a good idea.

The American Outback is not a book about hopelessness. Actually, it’s about my optimism of finding a way of life that works better for me and I believe would work better for everyone. A world where you’re not as rushed, where you work twice as hard because you’re working for yourself but you’re getting many times the reward because what you’re doing means something to you. This world of stress and traffic and empty jobs and debt isn’t for me and I know I’m not alone. I don’t think we can change this country, but we can make it so we can have a good life even if the situation in the United States continues to decline.

Izk