“My grandfather never took foodstamps, they did not have them back then. He pulled himself up by his own bootstraps.” This story is pervasive in our culture, a hubris of not wanting or needing to take handouts from the world. That we stand up on our own, are self-sufficient, worlds unto ourselves. Self-reliant, independent, strong [...]
I have been a very happy Pegasus for most of my life. I love flying, love the way the clouds taste as the tickle the underside of my nose. There is something delectable about saving Greek heroes from their folly, showing up unexpected with just the thing to say. It is not always easy being [...]
In much of the world, we talk about the notion of getting “rid” of someone in our life. As if there were a rubbish bin somewhere that we could toss away our relationships and have them no longer be part of us. There is no away. Even on the physical plane, there is no away. [...]
The scene had stopped and started a few times, like last time. My friend turned occasional play partner Skies was having a night of being unsure what to do with me, unsure what to do with himself. Ours has hot passion mixed with random moments of dissociative behavior, where we both step out of ourselves [...]
“Build me straight, O worthy Master! Stanch and strong, a goodly vessel, That shall laugh at all disaster, And with wave and whirlwind wrestle!” -from “The Building of the Ship“, by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Hidden inside many of the words of our lives are other words. Words that allow us to ponder and contemplate, to [...]
I have complex desires. I’ve had people say this to me a lot over the years, but most of the time what they mean is “I like women who wear boots” or “dominance turns me on.” The fact that so many folks think that this means “I have complex desires” or worse yet “my desires [...]
“Industrial agriculture, because it depends on standardization, has bombarded us with the message that all pork is pork, all chicken is chicken, eggs eggs, even though we all know that can’t really be true.” -Joel Salatin, quoted by Michael Pollan in “The Omnivore’s Dillema”At Polyface Farms, the chickens eat bugs. That’s right, they eat bugs. [...]
Divinity does nothing on accident. Monday, April 19th, I found myself in Berkley, working on projects at cafes, running into Dark Odyssey friends, and reconnecting with someone dear to me. Its dinnertime, and my friend Warren asks if I’ll be grabbing a bite here, or back in San Francisco. I say either could work… and [...]
Joel Salatin is the owner of Polyface Farms, a pastoral functional “beyond organic” farm that raises cows, chickens, pigs, turkeys and rabbits, produces eggs and milk, grows corn and a number of other vegetables. Joel refers to himself as a grass farmer. The slaughter their chickens on site, in an open-air abattoir where everyone who [...]