Comments on: Transitioning Ann Arbor to Self-Reliance

By: Michael Andes

Michael Andes — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 19:47:24 +0000

Sorry,Pam (July 30) …I didn’t mean to leave you out! I bet somewhere we have something in common. “Actualizing our dreams” is another way of saying reaching our goals or working with a sense of purpose.

You’re invited to a gathering of the “Community Connections”
group on Monday, August 31st, at 621 W. Summit St, Ann Arbor. It’s a pot-luck beginning at 6, meeting from 7 to 9. We’re beginning to explore avenues for fostering our relationships
and recognizing our interdependence in these challenging times…

By: Pam

Pam — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 01:05:19 +0000

I missed the event and hope there is another one. I want to learn the skills that my grandmother could have taught me like darning socks, canning, weaving, etc. I do it because I want to have a deeper connection to my life, to reduce my costs, to ensure that I truly KNOW what I am putting into and on my body. I want to raise backyard chickens, eat their eggs, and them (in time). BYW, I am a left-wing female gun nut and will happily teach anyone to shoot who wants to learn. I intend to go duck and goose hunting this fall because $50 per bird (the price for a frozen goose) is simply out of the question for me.

By: Sara

Sara — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 21:10:59 +0000

Michael [#8] said: “But we both have kids to feed, a mortgage to handle, dreams to actualize, flat tires to repair, and a love of ice cream!”

I have no kids, rent apartment, am baffled by phrase ‘dreams to actualize’, have no bike or car (so no flat tires), and am lactose intolerant.

I guess we’re quits? :)

By: Rod Johnson

Rod Johnson — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 02:12:41 +0000

I’m not seeing the connection between your two sentences there, sorry. Or with what I was saying, which is that going about our daily lives as if our current lifestyle will last forever, while simultaneously knowing that it can’t causes cognitive dissonance. While you may be right about your coercion point, it seems kind of disconnected from mine.

By: jcp2

jcp2 — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 16:52:28 +0000

There actually isn’t much cognitive dissonance at all. While Ann Arbor may be relatively ordered, the scenario where a small group of individuals regularly coerces goods and services from a much larger group is alive and well in both this country and countless others.

By: Rod Johnson

Rod Johnson — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 14:31:10 +0000

“How did a festival about canning and sock-darning bring such dark commentary?”

I think the answer is that many folks are feeling quite fearful about this whole issue right now, and there aren’t a lot of places they can explore their darker thoughts, so they come out in places where there are opportunities. I know quite a few people who are entertaining scenarios of doom while simultaneously raising kids and going to work every morning. The cognitive dissonance has to be tough.

By: abc

abc — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 12:54:54 +0000

And I thought Bezonki was the only frictional comic. I guess I gotta get out and read more.

By: Linda Diane Feldt

Linda Diane Feldt — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 12:09:07 +0000

Self reliance encourages self reliance, and I agree it is also illusion. We need to work in community, and support activities that build a strong community. I taught a class at the festival on wild harvesting plants for food and medicine. I like having that knowledge now, and it has change how I view the world and my place in it.
What I like even more is sharing that knowledge. And it does make a difference in my food bill now, and in decreasing my health care costs. That’s an obvious benefit, and likely why the interest in this sort of thing is higher than I’ve seen in the last 20 years.

I like thinking about those skills and making time to practice them. They are useful today, not just if the world as we know it ends. This was a generous endeavor, all volunteers. The idea of sharing basic knowledge is really powerful.

Here is my part. I do a daily twitter on what you can harvest locally for food and health: Link to Wildcrafting Twitter feed. so that you can learn more about what is abundant and available in this area.

So no matter what, people know more now and can enjoy it.

By: CBuzz

CBuzz — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 04:16:37 +0000

I suggest reading the graphic novel, Apocalypse Nerd. It is a frictional comic about two friends who take a vacation in the mountains in Washington State during a nuclear attack by North Korean on Seattle. The book addresses many of the post apocalypse issues discussed on this forum. They have it at the library or you can order it from Vault of Midnight Books.

By: Emlbee

Emlbee — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 03:20:30 +0000

Wow. How did a festival about canning and sock-darning bring such dark commentary? I hope no one thinks these skills will help them confront the apocalypse. But I do think they are good skills to know right now (I missed the festival, but wanted to go). Not necessarily because they are really going to save us in some dire scenario, but because it just makes you feel good to take care of yourself, rather than relying on some external, and in our society, usually corporate, entity to take care of you for you.

And, speaking of Right Now, our current wealth in the US depends on the military might of our government, and slave labor that makes our cheap consumer goods. So, perhaps in some small way, growing one’s own food, etc., can help that. But IT IS NAIVE (and I think somewhat convenient) to think that’s all we have to do. We can’t disengage from the world and expect to solve GLOBAL problems.

Also, I hope Ann Arbor doesn’t turn into some kind of stockade where we hoard all the good stuff and leave the poor outside to starve. It’s close enough to that all ready. And if you want to live in a stockade, there are plenty of gated communities you can join. And there’s plenty of militias, too. If that’s the world you want to create, I encourage you to enact your ideals.