Stuff Worth Sharing with Unschoolers: a Gathering, a Group, and a Mailing List

This post came about when I was realizing just how many things, events and online groups and other things, that I wanted to let my readers know about. And, well, once you have more than one or two, it seems pretty silly to give each one it's very own post! So here are some things I really think you should check out.

Summer Montreal Unschoolers Gathering (SMUG) 2012 This event, organized primarily by my wonderful mother Debbie, is now in it's third year, and I'm sure will be every bit as fun as it was the last two years! For unschoolers (and friends of unschoolers), unlike many overnight (SMUG is a six day event) unschooling events, this is not a conference, but instead a gathering of like minded people with the express purpose of hanging out and having fun (not that unschooling conferences aren't also a ton of fun)! It also tends to have a very large percentage of young adults in attendance, so if you're a grown unschooler this might be an especially good event to look into (the first year there were also lots of young families, last year less, and this year I'm hoping there will be a nice mix of ages). So yeah, it's cool. You should come. Join the Yahoo! group, and list yourself as "going" on the Facebook event! It's been a little slow in the organizing stage because of a lot of things going on for my mother, but as long as we get enough people wanting to stay in the lodge (we know we have enough people combined camping and lodge to make a good gathering, it's just that we need a certain number in the lodge to get it all to ourselves), it's going ahead and it's gonna be great!

SMUG 2011, photo credit Patrick Morris.

Stuff Worth Sharing Network My sister Emilie just launched a Facebook group yesterday, aimed especially at the unschooling community! As the description says: "This group is about giving, trading, recycling, and generally providing for and receiving from your community! You can offer and ask for items, a place to stay on your travels, help with learning a skill, etc. I hope that this can be a tool to help unschoolers get things, be it help with a project or that rare book they've been searching for, that they can't find locally." Check it out here.

Freedom-Based Education Events Montreal I started this mailing list (for "sharing freedom-based, radical, and alternative education events happening in and around Montreal"), and then haven't really done anything with it. Yet I really want to change that, because I really think it's important! From the description:  "for several years I've been as involved as I can be with the freedom-based education community in Montreal.  During that time I've often been frustrated at how far-flung and disconnected the various people and groups interested and involved in freedom-based education are, and how hard it often is for people wanting to get involved to know where to start.  So I've started this list in an attempt to remedy those issues, to help people get involved and stay involved in the various events and projects going on, to connect with each other, and to help build momentum in this growing movement." Join the mailing list here!


Anything else you think other readers of this blog might want to know about? Events, groups, etc.? Share them in the comments!

Occasionally Sunday Means Links

I promise you, proper posts are coming soon!  How soon I cannot say, since I seem to be coming down with a cold and may not have much energy in the next few days, but they are coming (some possible/likely topics are: drug use among young people, parental trust, and bodily autonomy; You Know You're An Unschooler When...; a post on the relationship between anarchy and unschooling...)!

Until then, I give you a collection of the cool stuff I've found online in the last while, for your perusing pleasure.

Sex, Gender, GLBTQ, Sexism

The following reasons do not make it okay to call someone a slut

The opinion pages of the New York Times has this article entitled The Disposable Woman about the media, and societies, reaction to Charlie Sheen and his long history of abuse and violence against women.

"I've been really shocked and distressed to find out that 8- and 9-year-old girls are getting all their pubic hairs waxed off by their mothers. I think if I have any purpose at all, it’s to stand up there and say, ‘Oh, no, no, no, no, girls. You totally have a choice. You can wax it, you can shave it, you can grow it out, and this really is up to you.’ That’s the way that I feel about everything, that you just need to know there’s a choice out there."-Amanda Palmer Gives Pubic Hair a Shout Out! | Good Vibrations Magazine

"Women's breasts, originally intended to nourish babies, are greatly fetishized by men. In a patriarchal culture, this makes them sacrosanct, so they must be covered up as something dirty. Dirty = arousing to men. (Men’s chests might be similarly arousing to women, but in a patriarchal culture, what is arousing to women is regarded as being of no real importance unless it suits male fantasy.)

Of course, as fetishized objects, boobs must also be made into ornaments (just like cars, also fetishized by men). So, they are primped and prodded, alternately bound and pumped up, displayed like prize ponies. Even if you don’t want to. (Have you tried to buy a non-wire bra recently that didn’t look like a Playtex Cross-your-heart? Good luck with that.)

When I first wrote the Subversive Scholastic essay, I got a lot of reactions from males who said, basically: You wanna take off your shirt? Hey alriiiight! Do it, babeeeeeee!

No, no and no.

If I should take off my shirt, I want you to be as lackadaisical about that as if your best male friend took off his shirt. Are you saying Hey alriiiight! to your best male friend and encouraging him to take off his shirt? Then I don’t want that either. Optimally, it would be nice if you didn’t even NOTICE.

Hey, says authoritative male voice, you can’t expect guys not to even notice, okay?

Question: Do women act like asses when men shed their tops? You know, we might be as excited about that as you are, has that ever occurred to you? But we have learned to behave ourselves. I am utterly confident that men could learn the same, if expected to." -Women should have a right to be shirtless

"So many liberal dudes consider themselves political revolutionaries but then ignore or devalue gender politics as less important than other causes. Or they talk a good game about gender politics but then do the complete opposite in their personal lives. […] You think subcultures are going to have better more equal power dynamics, but then they usually reproduce the same fucked up power dynamics of mainstream institutions. It happened in the civil rights movement. It happened with hippies. It happens in indie and punk. It happens in everything when men are the only ones in recognized leadership positions. I wish that it never happened, but it does. Rather than bury our heads in the sand we must choose to engage with it, to figure out why it happens and how we can work on it." -Molly Lambert, In Which Your Ballroom Days are Over Baby

Unschooling, Education, Anti-School, Youth Rights

"It's not that I feel that school is a good idea gone wrong, but a wrong idea from the word go. It’s a nutty notion that we can have a place where nothing but learning happens, cut off from the rest of life." -John Holt

I'm in the process of writing an unschooling zine (tentatively entitled Free The Children!), and would love your input on the ideas I have so far. 

"Usually when adults say teens need to be responsible or complain that they’re not responsible enough, what they’re actually talking about is being submissive. A teen is called ‘responsible’ when they shut up and do as they’re told without complaining or questioning what the point of what they’re being asked to do is.” -Elisha

This article from Jeff Sabo is worth a read.  He talks about how teaching can definitely be a part of unschooling.  Unschooling is about freedom of choice, not about learning everything all by yourself!

This page is from a terrific book entitled ABC's of Anarchy, which you can see the entirety of here.

A new unschooling website called Why Unschool? has been launched by two grown unschooled siblings.

A post about why being friends with older people is a good thing is up at Un-Schooled. 

The similarity between prisons and schools:

And finally for this section, a list of the 50 Best Blogs in the Unschooling Movement is worth checking out, though note that not all of the blogs and sites listed actually focus on, or even mention, unschooling.  Some are simply about homeschooling or school reform.

Anarchy, Politics, Revolution, Freedom

"We should be in the business of living, not making a living.” -Lucien Bourjeily

An environmentalist is on trial for "eco-terrorism" for disrupting a land auction.

"(Many of) the greatest crimes in the world are not committed by people breaking the rules, but by people following the rules. It’s people who follow orders that drop bombs and massacre villages." -Banksy

"The first step — especially for young people with energy and drive and talent, but not money — the first step to controlling your world is to control your culture. To model and demonstrate the kind of world you demand to live in. To write the books. Make the music. Shoot the films. Paint the art." -Chuck Palahniuk

"Think of anarchism as an individual orientation to yourself and others, as a personal approach to life. That’s not impossible to imagine. Conceived in these terms, what would anarchism be? It would be a decision to think for yourself rather than following blindly. It would be a rejection of hierarchy, a refusal to accept the “god given” authority of any nation, law, or other force as being more significant than your own authority over yourself. It would be an instinctive distrust of those who claim to have some sort of rank or status above the others around them, and an unwillingness to claim such status over others for yourself. Most of all, it would be a refusal to place responsibility for yourself in the hands of others: it would be the demand that each of us not only be able to choose our own destiny, but also do so." -from Days Of War, Nights of Love: CrimethInc for Beginners

From XKCD:

Random Cool Shit

Have any particularly cool stuff you've found online lately?  Have you put together your own link roundup recently?  Please do share in the comments!!

Linky Roundup

Ages ago, I'd post semi-regular posts with cool links and stuff I'd recently discovered on this blog.  But, I fell out of the habit of doing so, and I've been realizing recently how much cool stuff I find online then lose completely, never to see again.  So, I've decided to start doing (roughly) weekly posts, most likely on Sundays (just because I arbitrarily decided I want to do so on Sundays), with the cool stuff I've read/seen/discovered in the past week.  Welcome to the first installment of the weekly link roundup!

Education, Unschooling, Learning, Youth Rights

A cool looking calendar put together by a couple who traveled through Asia visiting "innovative educational organizations", and are selling a calendar with photos from their trip to finance a documentary about said trip.



"Love Letter To Albuquerque Public Schools" is a truly terrific group slam poem.

 

"Reading articles about 'school reform' is like reading articles about how to build a better zoo. God bless all the kids who are running wild in the woods whether they 'get an education' or not. There are more important things in life." -Bob Collier

 

“Education itself is a putting off, a postponement; we are told to work hard to get good results. Why? So we can get a good job. What is a good job? One that pays well. Oh. And that’s it? All this suffering, merely so that we can earn a lot of money, which, even if we manage it, will not solve our problems anyway? It’s a tragically limited idea of what life is all about.” -Tom Hodgkinson

"Whenever I see kids in school uniforms I think of totalitarian societies and their unfree subjects. I think of prisoners in their jumpsuits. I sometimes think of the UPS guy and the clerks at Home Depot. I never think of freedom. Not ever." -PS Pirro, in her book 101 Reasons Why I'm an Unschooler.

"Breakthroughs are made by the non-conformists and unconventional people. And that requires stepping outside of one’s comfort zone, outside of the familiar or the contrived. It requires imagination." -Beatrice Ekwa Ekoko, from this months Life Learning Magazine.

The November issue of The Carnival of Unschooled Life is out.

I found this wonderful anti-school video on Facebook, called Herd Mentality - The Schooling System. "School is an 18 year forced government training program..."

Recently released is the English version of the trailer for a web series on education which will be airing soon. The translation is a bit shaky, but not too bad! The first few episodes will focus on what's wrong with schools and schooling, and the following episodes will focus on solutions (he talks to freeschoolers, homeschoolers, & unschoolers, including me and my mother). The director is a co-conspirator in multiple cool projects here in Montreal, and I'm really excited to see this!  


"When we adults think of children, there is a simple truth which we ignore: childhood is not preparation for life; childhood is life. A child isn’t getting ready to live; a child is living. The child is constantly confronted with the nagging question, 'What are you going to be?' Courageous would be the youngster who, looking the adult squarely in the face, would say, 'I’m not going to be anything; I already am.' We adults would be shocked by such an insolent remark, for we have forgotten, if indeed we ever knew, that a child is an active participating and contributing member of society from the time he is born. Childhood isn’t a time when he is molded into a human who will then live life; he is a human who is living life. No child will miss the zest and joy of living unless these are denied him by adults who have convinced themselves that childhood is a period of preparation. How much heartache we would save ourselves if we would recognize the child as a partner with adults in the process of living, rather than always viewing him as an apprentice. How much we would teach each other… adults with the experience and children with the freshness. How full both our lives could be. A little child may not lead us, but at least we ought to discuss the trip with him, for after all, life is his and her journey too. – Professor T. Ripaldi, discovered via this blog post.

Equality, Social Justice, Radical Politics.

Charges against G20 activist dropped.

“Institutions will try to preserve the problem to which they are the solution” -Clay Shirky

"I don’t believe in charity. I believe in solidarity. Charity is so vertical. It goes from the top to the bottom. Solidarity is horizontal. It respects the other person. I have a lot to learn from other people.” – Eduardo Galeano 

Miscellaneous

Unjob Yourself!: A New Paradigm of Work and Life by Wendy Priesnitz is a great article on unjobbing and working for yourself.

Unschooling Grows Up: A Collection of Interviews

A collection of interviews with grown unschoolers, both on this blog and on other sites.  If you're a grown unschooler who'd like to answer a few questions about your unschooling journey, please find out more about how to do so here.  I'd love to hear about your experiences!

On this site:

Hannah Thompson: "My unschooling experience has taught me to follow my passion without restraint."
Anna J. Cook: "The experience of unschooling helped me to remain confident in myself." 
Cheyenne La Vallee: "Everyone has it in themselves to be passionate and motivated." 
Jaclyn Dolamore: "Art and stories are woven through the fabric of every subject." 
Jasmine Carlson: "You don't feel pressured to 'be' something, you are allowed the space and time to create."
Vanessa Wilson: "As an unschooled kid, the world is full of so much that a school cannot give."
Tara Wagner: "Amazing things happen inside of freedom." 
Chloe Anne Spinnanger: "The best thing about unschooling is freedom!"
C. Kennedy: "I was unschooled from the day I was born."

On other sites:

Growing Up Unschooled, Melissa's Experience on Woman, Uncensored
A Lifelong "Unschooler": Interview With Quinn Eaker on Woman, Uncensored
Julian Baptista; Grown unschooler, musician from Enjoy Life Unschooling
Unschooling: An Interview with Everett Bogue from On Top The Cage
Carsie Blanton, Grown Unschooler & Musician (video) from Kelly Halldorson - Unscensored
Interview With Anna Hoffstrom, Part 1 and Part 2, from Mr. Haines
Jason Hunt: Grown Without Schooling from The Natural Child Project (originally published in Unerzogen)
Notes from an unschooled world wanderer from Skipping School

From Life Learning Magazine:

Ilana Ofgang, jazz musician, age 24 
Patrick Meehan, video game entrepreneur, age 29
Laura Brion, musician, urban agriculturalist, age 24
Brian Walton, librarian, age 27
Selina Hunt, industrial designer, age 26
Sarabeth Matilsky, mother, age 26

From Radio Free School:

Cameron Lovejoy: "Is this what I want to be doing the day I die?"
Eli Gerzon: "I love my life."
Unschooler Jessica Barker: "Redefining success."
Brenna McBroom: More time is more freedom
Looking back on unschooling: Kate Cayley (video)
Grown Unschooler Kate Fridkis: Embracing the Weird
Sean Ritchey: Grown Unschooler

From The Unschooler Experiment:

Sean Ritchey: So Many Projects, So Little Time
Idzie Desmarais: Not Alone in the Woods
Courtney Clay: Building a Sustainable Community
Beth Kander: The Due Diligence of Writing for Fun and Profit 
Carsie Blanton: Ain't So Green
Brenna McBroom: Skipping College
Peter Kowalke on the Sociable Unschooler
Brian Walton: How to Be a Librarian
Lynda Young: Second Generation Unschooling and New Zealand Yarn

If you know of other interviews with grown (17 or older) unschoolers not listed here, please pass the link along to me!  Thank you.

Happiness

I've been thinking a lot about about the answer to one of the questions I gave on the Radio Free School blogs interview a couple weeks back.  Here's the question and answer:

"Going against the middle class/mainstream entrenched believe that to have a successful life you have to get higher ed can you define your idea of what success means?"

To me it's quite simple: success to me means nothing more or less than being happy. I find it pretty hard to comprehend how EVERYONE can not see this! Nothing really matters if you're not happy, or working toward finding a place in your life that brings you happiness.
----

Now, to me, happiness is a BIG word.  When I think of happiness, and of living a happy life, SO MANY things come to mind: sharing passions, following joy, becoming personally empowered through self and community reliance (versus reliance on only authority and experts), helping others become empowered through self and community reliance, being a part of a community...

Photo taken fall 2008

But of course, I made the mistake of using such a vague word, one that means many different things to many different people, and which doesn't encompass, for most people, all of the things that come to mind when I think of it!  When people read that original answer, from comments I got, I think many people interpreted it as being entirely....well, self-centered.  As missing all the bits about simply being a good person.  To me, all that was packed into the word "happy": all my dreams and goals and hopes.  As social creatures, humans generally love being  good people.  I feel great happiness when I know I've helped someone, or affected their life in a positive way.  But let me put things in a better way...

On Formspring (a site where you can ask and answer questions), where I finally decided to jump on the bandwagon and get my own account, I was asked this question:

What's your goal in life? Aside from happiness, what important thing do you want to do before you die?

And I answered...

I want to be able to look back on my life, and know I did the best I could, by my ethics, beliefs, etc. Basically, my life goal is to have as positive an impact on the world, and on the people around me, as I can. That would make me very happy indeed. :-)

Does that explain things better?  I hope it does.

I also invite you to check out the other two interviews with grown unschoolers who skipped college that Radio Free School has done:

Cameron Lovejoy: "Is this what I want to be doing the day I die?"
Eli Gerzon: "I love my life."

Peace,
Idzie

Unschooling Gets Publicity...In a BIG Way!

If you're an unschooler, or a homeschooler, or interested in alternative learning, and are even *slightly* involved in any of those communities online, you've most likely heard about the Good Morning America segment on unschooling.

Unschooling has been moving steadily into the mainstream awareness in the last few years.  I've seen a marked increase in people talking about unschooling since I started paying attention to that type of thing a few years ago.  But never have I seen this level of attention.

In case you haven't seen it yet, here is the ridiculously biased, negative, and over-edited segment that appeared on Good Morning America yesterday:



I didn't even finish watching it the first time I tried to.  I just kept cringing at how horribly ABC was slanting things, and just imagining the reactions it would get...

Sure enough, if you read just a few of the 830+ comments on this piece, you'll see just what I was afraid of!  There are multiple lovely unschoolers commenting positively in the comments section, but there are also a huge amount of ignorant, uninformed, and downright nasty comments.  I always attack schools, never people who go to, or went to, school, but even if I did think schooled people were "losers" (discounting the fact I don't think life is about competition, and don't believe you either "win" or "lose", PLUS know a large amount of seriously awesome schooled folk), I can't imagine ever making such vindictive and cruel comments!  Why do people feel a need to do that??  Do they feel better in their mediocre life choices if they can believe firmly and with great smugness that there are people out there who chose MUCH worse paths in life than they did...  Is it because, if they admitted that there were better, more joyful ways of living life, then much of their own life has been wasted?

Today the Bieglers, the family in the first clip (whom I've met, though don't know well.  What I have seen of them has led me to believe that they're intelligent, kind, and caring people!), where given a chance to speak briefly live on Good Morning America, without all the editing.  It was MUCH better!!  They were articulate, passionate, and just did a great job.  I wish they'd been given longer to speak.



Sadly, I'm afraid the feedback from the general public was just as negative.

The first video was on Yahoo homepage (not sure if it still is?).  Twitter and blogs are abuzz with talk of this new-fangled thing called "unschooling" (I keep patiently pointing out to people that it's not new at all!).  I have never seen this much attention paid to unschooling before.

And I have to say, it's kind of scary.

I've been watching hits come in on my blog from people searching stuff life "unschooling cons", "unschooling negatives", "unschooling sucks"...

Suddenly the masses are being exposed to something that challenges everything they've always taken to be The Way Things Are (and The Way Things Should Be).  Many people don't seem to be reacting well. 

Yet, at the same time, I think that publicity is important.  I liked reading some comments from Wendy Priesnitz on Twitter, one of which reads: "In the 70s, people were scandalized by idea of homeschooling; now [they're] scandalized by unschooling. This will pass. Evolution happens."  I really do think that publicity is good.  I WANT more people to know about unschooling, I want more people to understand it, I want more people to accept it, and I want more people to do it.  So how can I be against publicity, even if it isn't as positive as it could be?  At least we're getting the message out there!  And for better or for worse, the message is most certainly out there now.

The Bieglers are going to be on the Joy Behar show on CNN tonight, so you might want to tune into that.

Several unschoolers have written great responses to ABC's portrayal of unschoolers, so I want to share those:

Unschooling Stephanopoulos: Good Morning America Fail From Swiss Army Wife
Unschooling: How Good Morning America Got It All Wrongfrom the Huffington Post
Unschooling on GMA from Child's Play

What do you think of the segments?  What do you think of the huge amount of publicity unschooling is getting?  Does it make you excited to know more people are finding out about it, or scared it just opens things up for stricter government regulations?

Peace,
Idzie

P.S. I'm going through old blog posts and comments and putting together an Unschooling FAQs page...  I figure I've answered so many questions, I should gather it all in one place to make things easier!

A Teenage Brain

Something I have heard oh so many times is that, because as teenagers and young adults our brains are not "fully developed", we are "bad" decision makers, and not to be trusted.  It's a very frustrating attitude, that really seems to twist scientific data to suite anti-teen feelings in our culture.  What constitutes "bad decision making", anyway?  That's a very subjective opinion.

When I found this post a while back, I simply loved it.  It deals with just that subject, and does so in such a wonderfully positive, pro-people way.  It reads in part:

"Though Teen brains may indeed not possess myelin sheaths that adults brains have, that doesn’t make them 'unfinished', in the sense that the article portrays: foolish, flawed, poor decision makers.

Without Teen’s 'unfinished' brains 99% of the risk taking done in the name of love, art, idealism, adventure, protecting family, would disappear.

Teens excel at taking risks because they have perfectly developed brains for doing so.

Saying they have unfinished brains compares to saying a new moon hasn’t 'finished' until it swells to a full moon. The Teen brain marks one moment in the cycle of the brains life where it has enormous potential for one kind of behavior - risk taking, adventure, romantic expression."

I urge you to read the whole post.  It's not very long.  Personally, I just loved it, and will send it straight to the next person who seeks to silence and dis-empower a teen by telling them of their faulty brains!

Peace,
Idzie

Green Anarchy

If I wait until I feel ready to explain green anarchy in my own words, I will never write that post.  So I decided, instead, to give you the link to a great introductory article on the subject, and to comment a bit on specific parts of that article.

Before going into that, I'm going to say this: I'm not looking to start debates, and as I've mentioned previously, I find posting highly politicized posts to be nerve wracking.  I've decided to keep the comments on this post open for now (depending on the nature of the comments, I *may* choose to close commenting at a later date.  I don't think I will, and I don't want to, but I also want to keep that option open in case I find the feedback I'm getting is stressing me too much!  Yeah, I know, I'm overly sensitive.), but I ask that you please refrain from attempting to start any big political debates!  I feel a need to add a bit extra to this anti-debating thing, that I feel in my last couple of posts I didn't address as much as I should have.  I have no problems having my opinions questioned.  I do have a problem with my opinions being questioned in a confrontational, adversarial, disrespectful, way.  I love talking in person about my views with people whom I know to be open-minded and respectful, and the person I spend the most time having in-depth conversations with is my sister.  She's a more analytical thinker than I am, and we complement each other wonderfully in discussions.  She'll often point out things I may not have seen, or tell me when something I say doesn't seem thought through very thoroughly.  I don't, however, like having those conversations online, where it's often hard to tell how the other person feels.  But I seriously digress.

There's a lot of information to be found on green anarchy online, but almost none of it is information for "beginners", just for those who already have a basic understanding of green anarchist philosophies.  So I was very happy to find this article, from Green Anarchy magazine, called An Introduction to Anti-Civilization Anarchist Thought and Practice.  I warn you, it is quite long, but it's also a wonderful introduction to the types of things that most green anarchists question and think about.

This article covers many different things, including the all important thing, when talking about being anti-civilization, of What Is Civilization?:

"Green anarchists tend to view civilization as the logic, institutions, and physical apparatus of domestication, control, and domination. While different individuals and groups prioritize distinct aspects of civilization (i.e. primitivists typically focus on the question of origins, feminists primarily focus on the roots and manifestations of patriarchy, and insurrectionary anarchists mainly focus on the destruction of contemporary institutions of control), most green anarchists agree that it is the underlying problem or root of oppression, and it needs to be dismantled."

And in the section Biocentrism vs. Anthropocentrism, it talks about one of the things I consider to be my core values:

"Biocentrism is a perspective that centers and connects us to the earth and the complex web of life, while anthropocentrism, the dominant world view of western culture, places our primary focus on human society, to the exclusion of the rest of life. A biocentric view does not reject human society, but does move it out of the status of superiority and puts it into balance with all other life forces. It places a priority on a bioregional outlook, one that is deeply connected to the plants, animals, insects, climate, geographic features, and spirit of the place we inhabit. There is no split between ourselves and our environment, so there can be no objectification or otherness to life. Where separation and objectification are at the base of our ability to dominate and control, interconnectedness is a prerequisite for deep nurturing, care, and understanding. Green anarchy strives to move beyond human-centered ideas and decisions into a humble respect for all life and the dynamics of the ecosystems that sustain us."

In Division of Labour and Specialization, another important point is brought up, that of how disconnected we are from the mechanics of our own well-being:

"The disconnecting of the ability to care for ourselves and provide for our own needs is a technique of separation and disempowerment perpetuated by civilization. We are more useful to the system, and less useful to ourselves, if we are alienated from our own desires and each other through division of labor and specialization. We are no longer able to go out into the world and provide for ourselves and our loved ones the necessary nourishment and provisions for survival. Instead, we are forced into the production/consumption commodity system to which we are always indebted."

It also talks about decentralization, something I think is incredibly important. From Against Mass Society:

"We reject mass society for practical and philosophical reasons. First, we reject the inherent representation necessary for the functioning of situations outside of the realm of direct experience (completely decentralized modes of existence). We do not wish to run society, or organize a different society, we want a completely different frame of reference. We want a world where each group is autonomous and decides on its own terms how to live, with all interactions based on affinity, free and open, and non-coercive. We want a life which we live, not one which is run."

Of course, as the author even says in Influences and Solidarity, many green anarchists come to different conclusions on various points from those of the author:

"It is also important to remember that, while many green anarchists draw influence from similar sources, green anarchy is something very personal to each who identify or connect with these ideas and actions."

However, I definitely think that this is a very good introduction!

I hope that if you're interested in truly learning about green anarchy, you choose to read the entire article, not just the bits I've included in this post, because those bits really only give you a part of the whole story (hell, they just give you part of the whole story, taken from an article that is itself just a small part of the whole story!).  And I hope that it gives you a better understanding of where I'm coming from, as well!

How I ended up considering myself a green anarchist was actually by process of elimination: anything that didn't jive with my core values, I just didn't agree with.  I had no faith in politicians or governments, and had been interested in anarchy, in a very vague sense, for years.  However, I just always believed everyone around me when they said that it was a load of crap, and so I didn't look into it myself for a while...  But when I did, I sure liked it!!  However, with most anarchist philosophies, I saw a major flaw: they were concerned entirely with humans and with human society, and didn't really seem to consider the environment or the greater web of life.  So when I found green anarchy, it just felt right.  Here was something that finally made sense to me!

I also hope that by reading that article, it'll cause you to think about and question some things that you may never have thought of before...

For a currently small but ever growing resource list of interesting stuff on green anarchy and post-leftist anarchy, go to the bottom of my Links and Resources page!

Peace,
Idzie

Latest editition of the Carnival of Unschooled Life!

The November edition of the Carnival of Unschooled Life is here! Check it out for a whole bunch of posts on various aspects of living an unschooling life. :-)

Peace,
Idzie

Thanksgiving and Columbus Day

This past weekend was the Canadian Thanksgiving (celebrated on the second Monday of October), so I wanted to write some type of what I'm especially thankful for post, even though I don't really consider the holiday all that important, myself, but honestly I wasn't feeling all that thankful. It's been a rough few days, with lots of family drama, so the only thing I ended up really feeling thankful for is the fact that I have my family, whom I love dearly, despite it all (all up to and including the fact that my father said yesterday that he thinks homeschooling at all was a mistake... Thanks papa, thanks a lot.).

However, I don't want to dwell on that, and I do still want to recognize both of the holidays that passed this weekend (Thanksgiving and Columbus Day), so I'll share something for both.

I wrote this post on a bunch of things I'm grateful for close to this time last year. It's overly soppy, but made me happy to write, and makes me happy re-reading it, as well! :-)

And as for Columbus Day, well, I have a feeling that many of you already know the dark side of Columbus, and perhaps are also rather disgusted that there's a holiday celebrating a genocidal slave trader. Firstly, this article is simply a long excerpt from Howard Zinn's A Peoples History of the United States, which starts with stuff specifically about Columbus. Also, this post gives ten reasons to NOT celebrate Columbus Day.

I'm thinking lots, trying to figure things out in a slightly different way from the way I have been trying to figure certain things out, and just generally have a lot going on in my head. As I start to get those things a bit more straightened out, they'll probably make it onto this blog! :-)

Peace,
Idzie

Albatross zine

A totally awesome zine just came out, which includes my old post Anti-Civilization and What That Means (which I no longer like particularly, but that's beside the point. :-P). It's full of interesting stuff on green anarchy, DIY stuff, natural parenting, and similarly cool things. You can view it here: Albatross #1, or download it here. You can also send me an email (open.eyed.slave@gmail.com) and I can send the file directly to you, if you'd prefer. :-)

Peace,
Idzie

Political dump (aka interesting stuff to my green anarchist self)

Attractive title, right?

Anyway, I realized that I've only really talked about unschooling for a while now, and been really quiet (for me, anyway) about my political (or lack thereof) views. However, that doesn't mean that I haven't been watching, reading, talking, and thinking about said lack of politics views. So, I decided to share a bunch of stuff that's been interesting to me lately. I hope this is of interest to at least a few of my readers!

Firstly, I absolutely LOVE Submedia.tv. They have a show called It's The End of the World As We Know It every week or couple of weeks, usually around 15 minutes, that just does a wonderful job of putting current events, news, and information on green anarchist (anarchist in general, but with a very definite green lean) stuff in an amusing, engaging, and informative way. You should definitely check it out: Submedia.tv

The newest episode:


Next, I also enjoy watching videos by these two guys on YouTube, AdamHintz and MeursaultBateman. They both talk about issues of green anarchy, sustainability, and similar things.

Something I'm very against is the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia (if you look at the sidebar of my blog, you may have noticed that I have a badge against the Olympics). Lots of people react with surprise when I say that. "What's wrong with the Olympics?", they ask. Well, here's what's wrong with the Olympics: Why We Resist 2010 (taken from the website no2010.com)

I've also been looking into the G20 summit protests since I got home from camp, and there seems to have been the seemingly fairly normal amount of police brutality. Here are a couple of videos showing what I mean:

Police State Uses Violence Against Protesters - Intro by Howard Zinn



Police Attack Students at University of Pittsburgh



Also, I may have mentioned a while back that I really wanted to go to the Rethinking Education conference, especially so I could hear Daniel Quinn speak. Well, I didn't end up making it, but his speech was posted online! Thanks to both Eli and Josh for sending the link to me! :-) Check out part one here.

Oh, and here's Derrick Jensen's newest article from Orion magazine: Side with the Living

FINALLY, for a long time, I didn't like rap or hip-hop music. However, relatively recently I've discovered that there's some really good stuff out there! The main thing I never liked was the lyrics. The whole gansta hip-hop thing, with ho's and money and guns, never appealed to me. Radical political hip-hop, on the other hand, is totally different! So here are a couple of my favorites...

Light It Up 2.0, produced by Ratatat, and as far as I can tell, lyrics and (obviously) sung by zzz33333



You're a Fucking Terrorist by Resident Anti-Hero (you can listen to, and download, all of their music for free at their site)



Annnd that's all for now! Hope I didn't make this too long!

Peace,
Idzie

Interesting articles

Some interesting articles I've found recently are:

The Left? No Thanks! by John Zerzan. A short critique of the left as a whole.

Parenting... A Radical, Political Act by Tabitha Tucker is about how very radical being a stay-at-home-parent actually is.

Mourning a Daughter, Celebrating a Son by Adriana Barton. A cool article about transgender teens.

Education Needs to be Turned on its Head by Leo Babauta is a good introductory article on unschooling. As usual for these types of articles, some of the comments are very frustrating!

Home Birth With Midwife Safe as Hospital from CBC. Overall very positive article on the safety of home births. From what I've read, home births are actually safer, but at least more people can see that they really are at least as safe as hospital births!

Peace,
Idzie

Super Soak the Olympic Torch

I love this show. I'm sure the style would turn some people off, but if you can get past that, it always has wonderful info, fascinating interviews, and is put together in an engaging way. Check out past episodes and other cool stuff at subMedia.tv.

This particular episode deals with some of the shit that Obama has been doing, as well as having extensive info on the 2010 Olympics and why they're a bad thing. The previous episode, Blame Canada, was also good.



I tried to embed the video from the subMedia site, but since it's not working from there, I embedded it from YouTube. To see the full video, you'll need to go here.

My sister and I have decided that we're going to check out the protest when the torch passes through Montreal, since we both want to lend our support...

Peace,
Idzie

My mother's blog

My mommy is actually posting again on her (extremely) long forgotten blog!! Check out her post Some Thoughts on Unschoolers Fitting in. I enjoy reading what she has to say, so I think I'm going to start poking her to write more! :-P

Peace,
Idzie

New issue of unschooling blog carnival

The latest, "Not-Back-To-School", issue of the Carnival of Unschooled Life is out. Check it out here!

Peace,
Idzie

50 Eye-Opening Unschooling blogs

I was notified today of a new collection of unschooling blogs, including mine, entitled 50 Eye-Opening Unschooling Blogs. Check it out!

Peace,
Idzie

Cool links

The Wisdom of Hunter-Gatherers is a wonderful, short article on how children in hunter-gatherer societies learn.

Whatever Happened to Mother? Is an absolutely WONDERFUL story of the vanished mothers of old. Not wonderful as good, since it's incredibly sad, but wonderfully written. I love how it's literally written as a story. There are actually multiple 'Chapters', but since they seem to repeat a lot of the same material, I'll only link to the first one I read.

Look on the Bright Side is an article on the good things, environmentally speaking, that are happening right now, as well as a call to action.

Atrocious Advice From "Supernanny" The title says it all. It's horrifying to me that people actually watch this crap, and even think that's it's the "right" way to parent! That bothers me on such a deep level, and makes me incredibly sad.

The Hand That Rocks The Cradle Rocks The Boat: Life Learning as the Ultimate Feminist Act Again, the title says it all.

UPDATE:Forget Shorter Showers is the newest Derrick Jensen article from Orion magazine.

Links on unschooling and radical environmentalism

The Six-Lesson School Teacher is an essay by John Taylor Gatto damning the school system.

Who Needs School? A video interview with Holly and Sandra Dodd

Resist Do Not Comply is a moving video on Arctic wildlife, climate change, and militant action. Link courtesy of Misko (thanks!).

World At Gunpoint is the first installment of a new column in Orion magazine written by Derrick Jensen. Thanks to ps pirro for the link!

Cool articles and posts 2nd addition

Unschooling food. A lovely post on why you shouldn't limit food.

Hunter Gatherers and the Golden Age of Man is a very positive article on hunter gatherer societies, and all the ways that their lives were, and are where they still survive, better than our "civilized" lives.

Freedom in an Hour is a lovely post on how wonderful it feels to collect your own food.

Breastfeeding is Priceless: There is no Substitute for Human Milk. Basically, a list of a bunch of reasons why breastfeeding is good! It boggles my mind how many people don't breastfeed. It seems to me that breastfeeding is such an obviously good choice, on so many levels...

On the Importance of Whole Soul Safety or the Real Reason to Rise-Out of School. A quite wonderful take on why it's so important to not be in school.

It hasn't even been a whole week since my last list of links, but since I can't think of anything to write myself at the moment, I figured I'd share these instead!

Peace,
Idzie