18 Comments
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Alexander Honkala's avatar

I’m sorry maybe this makes me a hater but, for real, were there no people who grew up rural among you? Washing dishes off in ditchwater…c’mon. The following giardia is such a pure allegory for hubris.

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deepfates's avatar

I have elided a few details of the water tank system but uh. yeah

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Meth Bear's avatar

Every single time I’ve visited one of these off-grid, “self-sufficient” communities, it’s immediately apparent that none of the residents has even been camping before.

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deepfates's avatar

Wrong! I have way more experience than the average American, most of us did. It's just actually that hard to live self sufficiently. Someone like you would probably not survive at all, for example

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Lydia Laurenson's avatar

I also have spent time in public health, albeit in a less applied way ( https://open.substack.com/pub/lydialaurenson/p/the-time-i-joined-peace-corps-and )

and it also influences my thinking about online virality and the flows of ideas. This is a great piece, thank you for writing it and I hope we get to talk about it in depth sometime :)

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Lukas Nel's avatar

“People rediscovering why people live in cities” - the countryside sucks and is full of parasites that will eat you.

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deepfates's avatar

deep read. thought I hid that message better

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Dreamhawk's avatar

You must be reading the collective internet's mind. because we've been thinking about vitality and virality. what sticks and how it changes us, and how its wearing the artificial borders thin. we're seeking to understand and mimic the organic and healthy semi-permeable membranes once more!

ICE feels like an autoimmune disorder. Biden was actual dementia, Trump is the talking head severed from the heart, Kamala was the black widow. Maybe a local government can actually be made to work. Maybe it is actually time, and the time for great deeds has fallen to us.

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SMA 🏴‍☠️'s avatar

This is really good.

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deepfates's avatar

thanks!

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batty oakes's avatar

this is cancer’s cure

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Buggy Tree Sap, Beaming Sun's avatar

ha, the whole time i was reading this i kept thinking “this really sounds like southern oregon”… then lo and behold 😂

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soul's avatar

i’m sorry great read but you saw there was only one towel, one shower, tanning roadkill near the kitchen, and cleaning dishes in ditch water and STAYED???

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Paul Grill's avatar

Hi y’all- came to your writing and thinking via “ the browser” a paid site that aggregates compelling writing, and shares it daily and weekly. Interesting work. Keep it up warmly, Paul.

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Tim Small's avatar

Thanks for the word. I have wondered about that option since a guy who looked like Charles Manson tried to recruit me for something like that - in approximately the same neck of the woods - decades ago in college. Will take your word for it all.

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deepfates's avatar

Oh that was me actually. U should have come with!

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Tim Small's avatar

There were certain promising…inducements on offer, as you may recall? But fate had different plans. Hey, maybe in our next lives!

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Obsidian Blackbird.'s avatar

Long time commune liver and scabies hoster here too!

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