If you want to travel long distance within the US, you really have four main options: drive a car, fly, take a bus, or take the train. (There are, of course, other ways, such as taking a ship, biking long stretches, or even walking across the country--which I've heard tales about.) There are a bunch of airlines if you decide to fly, but if you decide to take the train or bus (which both have a much smaller carbon footprint than flying or driving--alone anyway), there is really only one option each. If you're traveling by bus, your only real option is Greyhound; it acquired Continental Trailways, its main long-distance rival, in 1987. If you want to take a train any long distance, you need to take Amtrak.
When the small rail systems began losing passengers and money in the late '60s, the US Congress (prodded by the National Association of Railroad Passengers) began looking into the possibility of a national rail system. In 1970, they passed the Rail Passenger Service Act to create that system. As the Amtrak brochure, Amtrak America, 2011-2012, states: "Officially known as the National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Amtrak began service on May 1, 1971 as the country's first centrally managed, nationwide rail network."
When I realized how much I'd be traveling this fall, I was debating between taking Greyhound or Amtrak. Greyhound looked cheaper, but friends pursuaded me to do most of my travel on Amtrak--pointing out (because they knew me) Greyhound's difficult union history as well as it being a private corporation and Amtrak being a publically owned enterprise. I have and will do some of my travel on Greyhound but I'm doing most of it, including my long trip to California (see my last post on Eco-Oakland, Riveting Richmond, and Groovy SF, for details about what I did when I was out there) on Amtrak.
The trip to California was a long one. I left South Station in Boston, Friday, September 28th, on a bus that replaced the train west, because they were working on the tracks. Luckily the bus went directly to Albany, New York, saving lots of time. Unluckily, that meant being stuck longer in the station in Rensselaer, NY (the train, or in this case bus, doesn't actually go to Albany), which was not near anything. (From a roadway near the station I could see the capital building in Albany in the distance.) Eventually the train came for Chicago and by the next morning we pulled into the 'Windy City', where the most exciting thing I did was dash across town so I could see Lake Michigan in the distance for a minute.
At 2pm on Saturday I left Chicago on the California Zephyr. For the next three days I saw cornfields and mountains (the Rockies, the Sierra Nevada), towering cliffs, looming mesas, and miles and miles of desert. I saw the Mississippi River as we crossed it and I saw bits of Denver, Reno, and Sacramento (not to mention Grand Junction, Colorado, where the train stopped for forty-five minutes and I got to run around outside for a bit). At about five-thirty on Monday, October 1st, the train pulled into Emeryville, California, its last stop.
My train ride back last week was equally long--four days--in the other direction. The biggest differences were that I was longer in Chicago this time around (and got to stand on the shore of Lake Michigan for a while) and when the train reached the 'Albany-Rensselaer' station, it actually split in two, with one half (that I was in) going on to Boston and the other half heading off to NYC. Pretty clever.
And I'm getting to be a regular on the Northeast Corridor route. I'll be taking Amtrak down to Charlottesville, VA, in a few weeks to go to Twin Oaks, and later (because I'm also planning to visit a community in Pennsylvania on this trip) taking it back from Harrisburg to Boston (via Philadelphia).
The most important thing I can say about taking the train, or the bus, (other than notice the smaller carbon footprint) is that, unlike flying, you get a real sense of what lies in between your destinations. I feel like I've experienced how big the US is and a lot of what lies in the 'heartlands', and with every trip to Virginia, I see more and more of the east coast. Which is why I'm 'riding the rails'.
Quote of the Week: "There was a time when taking a trip in America meant taking the train. But by the end of the 1960s, the national highway system and a growing aviation industry had changed travel habits. Private railroads clamored to eliminate their unprofitable passenger operations. But the government knew that the country needed passenger rail and stepped in to create Amtrak." - Amtrak America
Monday, October 22, 2012
Thursday, October 18, 2012
Update 4: Eco-Oakland, Riveting Richmond, and Groovy SF
I can't believe that I'm out in Oakland, California. As someone who seldom likes to leave New England, it seems bizarre to me to be traveling the country. But I have a very dear friend out here who has wanted me to visit for a long time and this seemed like the best opportunity I'd have. I took the train out here and I will write a post on my train adventures in the near future.
While I've been in Oakland I've visited some of the community groups that my friend has been working with. One is Phat Beets Produce. They have a garden where they teach young people about growing food and make all of what they're growing available to the neighborhood. They also run a great little farmer's market, which we visited on last Saturday. Another cool group that he is involved with is the People's Grocery. They have a garden behind the California Hotel--a place which houses people with disabilities. When we visited the People's Grocery they were hosting an event where they made 'smoothies' with fresh vegetables and fruit and offered them to anyone who came by the busy urban intersection by the Hotel (located in a very low income area). The MC for the event managed to pursuade on young skeptical kid to try a smoothie--which he then spat out. Turns out he likes eating nachos. But the MC stayed with him and got the smoothie makers to create a fresh food drink that he liked. Maybe this will spark an interest in eating better--or at least create a seed that might flower later. I was very impressed with the work that both of these groups are doing.
My friend and I also took a bike ride up to the Rosie the Riveter National Historical Park in Richmond, CA. (Richmond is few towns north of Oakland.) This is an amazing exhibit about how the needs around World War II led to changes that eventually sparked many social change efforts. It gave me a view of the situation of women, blacks, and Asian and Latin groups in the 1940s and how the war changed everything. It was a good reminder that the movements of the 50s, 60s, and 70s, did not come out of nowhere. (For more on this time in US history, see my posts on World War Once More, 3/2/09, through Social Movements in the Seventies, 3/30/09.)
Recently we had a great time in San Francisco, which is across the bay from here. We did Sunday morning meditation with the Gay Buddhist Fellowship which had a nice group of mellow men, took in some of the 'Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival' (which featured Patti Smith--who is truly hardly bluegrass and who we didn't see--and Emmy Lou Harris--who is sort of bluegrass and who we caught a little of), and spent a night at the Red Victorian in Haight Ashbury which is not only a bed and breakfast, but also "a living peace museum". Needless to say, wandering around Haight Ashbury was a trip. Monday we biked around Golden Gate Park where we saw bison, as well as a whale off in the distance in San Francisco harbor and a blue heron up very close up in the lagoon behind the Tree Fern exhibit (very prehistoric looking) in the Park.
There are some wild and amazing things happening out here in the Bay Area. But, much as I've enjoyed it, New England is still my home and I'm still hoping to settle down somewhere on the east coast.
Quote of the Day: "What We Work For, What We Want:
While I've been in Oakland I've visited some of the community groups that my friend has been working with. One is Phat Beets Produce. They have a garden where they teach young people about growing food and make all of what they're growing available to the neighborhood. They also run a great little farmer's market, which we visited on last Saturday. Another cool group that he is involved with is the People's Grocery. They have a garden behind the California Hotel--a place which houses people with disabilities. When we visited the People's Grocery they were hosting an event where they made 'smoothies' with fresh vegetables and fruit and offered them to anyone who came by the busy urban intersection by the Hotel (located in a very low income area). The MC for the event managed to pursuade on young skeptical kid to try a smoothie--which he then spat out. Turns out he likes eating nachos. But the MC stayed with him and got the smoothie makers to create a fresh food drink that he liked. Maybe this will spark an interest in eating better--or at least create a seed that might flower later. I was very impressed with the work that both of these groups are doing.
My friend and I also took a bike ride up to the Rosie the Riveter National Historical Park in Richmond, CA. (Richmond is few towns north of Oakland.) This is an amazing exhibit about how the needs around World War II led to changes that eventually sparked many social change efforts. It gave me a view of the situation of women, blacks, and Asian and Latin groups in the 1940s and how the war changed everything. It was a good reminder that the movements of the 50s, 60s, and 70s, did not come out of nowhere. (For more on this time in US history, see my posts on World War Once More, 3/2/09, through Social Movements in the Seventies, 3/30/09.)
Recently we had a great time in San Francisco, which is across the bay from here. We did Sunday morning meditation with the Gay Buddhist Fellowship which had a nice group of mellow men, took in some of the 'Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival' (which featured Patti Smith--who is truly hardly bluegrass and who we didn't see--and Emmy Lou Harris--who is sort of bluegrass and who we caught a little of), and spent a night at the Red Victorian in Haight Ashbury which is not only a bed and breakfast, but also "a living peace museum". Needless to say, wandering around Haight Ashbury was a trip. Monday we biked around Golden Gate Park where we saw bison, as well as a whale off in the distance in San Francisco harbor and a blue heron up very close up in the lagoon behind the Tree Fern exhibit (very prehistoric looking) in the Park.
There are some wild and amazing things happening out here in the Bay Area. But, much as I've enjoyed it, New England is still my home and I'm still hoping to settle down somewhere on the east coast.
Quote of the Day: "What We Work For, What We Want:
- Health Care Without Harm
- Strong Economic Opportunities for small, disenfranchised farmers [sic]
- Edible Parks, Edible Communities
- Neighborhood Based Food Micro-Enterprise
- Empowered Youth that Shape their Food System
- Resiliant Communities Organized Through Food and Healing" - Phat Beets Produce brochure
Sunday, September 23, 2012
Update 3: Life on the Farm
I'm now finishing up my time at Acorn. (See my last post, Update 2: The Acorn Community, for more about Acorn.) Here I want to focus on what it's been like living here.
I'm a city boy. For example, I always thought of morning glory as a pretty flower that grows on people's fences. Here at Acorn I've been trying to wipe it out because the vines were taking over and strangling the melons and squash that are being grown. And onions have always been just onions to me and garlic just garlic. Here I have been packaging 'Alliums' and I've been learning about many different varieties of onions, garlic, shallots, and leeks. (My favorite are 'Egyptian Walking Onion' and a variety of garlic called 'Music'.) And packaging seeds has taught me about many heirloom varieties of vegetables, beans, and grains.
(Incidentally, correction from my last post. I was told by another Acorn member that we don't actually buy produce from local farmers--almost every vegetable served here is grown here--or dumpster dived. They spend very little money on food here--at least according to someone who works in the gardens.)
The land here is beautiful--fields and woods and old farm buildings. At night I go out and look at all the stars (many more than you can see in Boston). I've been living in a tent for over three weeks and it's been fine--it's been kind of nice to be outdoors so much. (Although I suspect I'll enjoy being indoors in a real bed once again.) I've also been making friends with the dogs and the goats that live here--and and harvesting beans and okra and watermelons. Pretty heady stuff for someone who has never really lived on a farm before.
Today a group of us went out to Living Energy Farm, a community that's starting up about ten miles from here--it's really wild and green out there. The land is recovering from being clear-cut and they've started building some simple structures on it, as well as growing lots of vegetables there. They have been very slowly building on the land since they bought it about two years ago and the buildings are still pretty primitive. I'm not sure anyone lives there full time and the LEF community is really only a couple of people and a bunch of volunteer help. Very much a work in progress. I intend to visit them again when I'm at Twin Oaks in November.
And I don't think I've flushed a toilet since I've been out in Virginia. We're encouraged to pee in the woods here and they have composting toilets for creating 'humanure'. When I have used a regular toilet, I've followed the 'mellow yellow' rule. Truly we can live fairly simply here on the farm.
Quote of the Day: "Acorn Community is a rural community of people living on the same plot of land and managing business together. ... We will share our land, labor, income, and other resources equally or according to need. ... The members of Acorn Community will strive to live our lives in a way that supports the basic human rights of people here and in the rest of the world. ... The members of Acorn Community will attempt to live in a way that is gentle on the environment, attempting to show an example of how this can practically be done." - from Acorn's Mission Statement
I'm a city boy. For example, I always thought of morning glory as a pretty flower that grows on people's fences. Here at Acorn I've been trying to wipe it out because the vines were taking over and strangling the melons and squash that are being grown. And onions have always been just onions to me and garlic just garlic. Here I have been packaging 'Alliums' and I've been learning about many different varieties of onions, garlic, shallots, and leeks. (My favorite are 'Egyptian Walking Onion' and a variety of garlic called 'Music'.) And packaging seeds has taught me about many heirloom varieties of vegetables, beans, and grains.
(Incidentally, correction from my last post. I was told by another Acorn member that we don't actually buy produce from local farmers--almost every vegetable served here is grown here--or dumpster dived. They spend very little money on food here--at least according to someone who works in the gardens.)
The land here is beautiful--fields and woods and old farm buildings. At night I go out and look at all the stars (many more than you can see in Boston). I've been living in a tent for over three weeks and it's been fine--it's been kind of nice to be outdoors so much. (Although I suspect I'll enjoy being indoors in a real bed once again.) I've also been making friends with the dogs and the goats that live here--and and harvesting beans and okra and watermelons. Pretty heady stuff for someone who has never really lived on a farm before.
Today a group of us went out to Living Energy Farm, a community that's starting up about ten miles from here--it's really wild and green out there. The land is recovering from being clear-cut and they've started building some simple structures on it, as well as growing lots of vegetables there. They have been very slowly building on the land since they bought it about two years ago and the buildings are still pretty primitive. I'm not sure anyone lives there full time and the LEF community is really only a couple of people and a bunch of volunteer help. Very much a work in progress. I intend to visit them again when I'm at Twin Oaks in November.
And I don't think I've flushed a toilet since I've been out in Virginia. We're encouraged to pee in the woods here and they have composting toilets for creating 'humanure'. When I have used a regular toilet, I've followed the 'mellow yellow' rule. Truly we can live fairly simply here on the farm.
Quote of the Day: "Acorn Community is a rural community of people living on the same plot of land and managing business together. ... We will share our land, labor, income, and other resources equally or according to need. ... The members of Acorn Community will strive to live our lives in a way that supports the basic human rights of people here and in the rest of the world. ... The members of Acorn Community will attempt to live in a way that is gentle on the environment, attempting to show an example of how this can practically be done." - from Acorn's Mission Statement
Friday, September 14, 2012
Update 2: The Acorn Community
Acorn is at least three different things: an egalitarian community, a farm, and a business (Southern Exposure Seed Exchange).
As a community it is an outgrowth of and sister to the Twin Oaks community (which I will visit in November) and they compare themselves to Twin Oaks a lot. Some differences which were pointed out to me in my orientation here are that Acorn operates by consensus (whereas Twin Oaks has a complicated Planner/Manager system) and Acorn members don't need to fill out labor sheets--although visitors like me do. Both Twin Oaks and Acorn require members and visitors to work 42 hours a week.
Here at Acorn work can be farm work in the gardens or with the animals (I've been doing some weeding), office work (I've spent a lot of time packing seeds for SESE), or house work (I've been doing some clean up after the meals and did the dishes once--which is a lot of dishes when it covers breakfast and lunch for around forty people).
As a farm, it has extensive plantings--plus chickens, rabbits, and goats. However, most of the plantings are in support of the seed business--food is usually grown for the seeds rather than as food. Someone said that what was left after the plant reached the seed stage and had the seeds taken out was not thrilling food. They buy most of their food from local farmers (and occasionally dumpster dive some).
The seed business is what keeps Acorn going--it's the community's work and they're very serious about it. Most of their seed is organic, as well as adapted to the area, and much of it is heirloom varieties. They see this as righteous work, something they believe it, and it also makes quite a bit of money for the community. They feel lucky to have something that can support them well that they also feel so good about.
Acorn is a spinoff from the Twin Oaks community (see my post on Communities of Communities, 6/9/12, for details) and has been around for nineteen years now. At the moment they are so full that all the visitors are staying in tents in the woods on their property. They tell folks that even if they are accepted for membership it may be at least six months before there could be an opening that allow moving in. The place is full, the waiting list is long, and the people here work hard. This is a community that's working.
Quote of the Day: " Our community encourages personal responsibility, supports queer and alternative lifestyles, and strives to create a stimulating social, political, feminist and intellectual environment....
"Remember, this stuff is hard! Living and working together, having fun and running a business, making decisions together and sharing income, are all challenging every day." - from the Acorn Website
As a community it is an outgrowth of and sister to the Twin Oaks community (which I will visit in November) and they compare themselves to Twin Oaks a lot. Some differences which were pointed out to me in my orientation here are that Acorn operates by consensus (whereas Twin Oaks has a complicated Planner/Manager system) and Acorn members don't need to fill out labor sheets--although visitors like me do. Both Twin Oaks and Acorn require members and visitors to work 42 hours a week.
Here at Acorn work can be farm work in the gardens or with the animals (I've been doing some weeding), office work (I've spent a lot of time packing seeds for SESE), or house work (I've been doing some clean up after the meals and did the dishes once--which is a lot of dishes when it covers breakfast and lunch for around forty people).
As a farm, it has extensive plantings--plus chickens, rabbits, and goats. However, most of the plantings are in support of the seed business--food is usually grown for the seeds rather than as food. Someone said that what was left after the plant reached the seed stage and had the seeds taken out was not thrilling food. They buy most of their food from local farmers (and occasionally dumpster dive some).
The seed business is what keeps Acorn going--it's the community's work and they're very serious about it. Most of their seed is organic, as well as adapted to the area, and much of it is heirloom varieties. They see this as righteous work, something they believe it, and it also makes quite a bit of money for the community. They feel lucky to have something that can support them well that they also feel so good about.
Acorn is a spinoff from the Twin Oaks community (see my post on Communities of Communities, 6/9/12, for details) and has been around for nineteen years now. At the moment they are so full that all the visitors are staying in tents in the woods on their property. They tell folks that even if they are accepted for membership it may be at least six months before there could be an opening that allow moving in. The place is full, the waiting list is long, and the people here work hard. This is a community that's working.
Quote of the Day: " Our community encourages personal responsibility, supports queer and alternative lifestyles, and strives to create a stimulating social, political, feminist and intellectual environment....
"Remember, this stuff is hard! Living and working together, having fun and running a business, making decisions together and sharing income, are all challenging every day." - from the Acorn Website
Sunday, September 9, 2012
Update 1: The Twin Oaks Community Conference
The Communities Conference was an amazing three day combination of workshops, activities (a dance at Twin Oaks, dinner and a bonfire at Acorn), and many opportunities to network. I found out about a forming community in Pennsylvania that I intend to explore--along with being able to be part of the formation of Chubby Squirrels.
I also got to be in a workshop on Economic Leveraging throug Income Sharing hosted by Laird Schaub, two workshops with Debby Sugarman on Conscious Connection and a process called Heart of Now, and Paxus Calta's unexpected, apologetic, and totally brilliant workshop on Radical Transparency.
I am thrilled that I was able to be part of the biggest conference in years and one that people are still raving about. It was a great start to my fall journey in search of community.
Quote of the Day: "It is more important than ever that we find alternatives to the mainstream system....
"Intentional community... is one answer.... At Twin Oaks and Acorn Communities, for instance, our ability to share cars, houses, businesses, farm work and more reduces our financial dependence on 'the system' and lowers the amount of electricity and fossil fuels that we as individuals consume by as much as 80% when compared to the average Virginian.
"...How can all of us who see the need for change in modern America work together and learn from each other? What can we do to shift the culture away from one of isolation and greed towards one of sharing?" - Janel, Conference Manager
Thursday, August 30, 2012
And I'm Off...
Tonight I take a bus down to Virginia for the Twin Oaks Communities Conference. This is the beginning of my fall adventures. For details of what I will be up to, see my post A Long, Strange Trip, 6/28/12. The one change in what I wrote there is that I won't be visiting the Missouri communities this fall. It got too expensive and is probably just as well, seeing how much I will be doing.
I'm not sure how often I will get to blog--I may not be able to write again until December, or I may be able to put out periodic updates. Hopefully somewhere along the line I'll be able to write about what I've learned.
At this point it's all a gamble. I'm going to check out the various Virginia communities as well as keeping an eye out for people who want to create community up in the northeast US--preferably in New England. Who knows what I'll find.
Have a good fall folks and we'll see what it all brings.
Quote of the Day: "In a world of possibility for us all, our personal visions help lay the groundwork for political action. ... In our world, divide and conquer must become define and empower." - Audre Lorde
I'm not sure how often I will get to blog--I may not be able to write again until December, or I may be able to put out periodic updates. Hopefully somewhere along the line I'll be able to write about what I've learned.
At this point it's all a gamble. I'm going to check out the various Virginia communities as well as keeping an eye out for people who want to create community up in the northeast US--preferably in New England. Who knows what I'll find.
Have a good fall folks and we'll see what it all brings.
Quote of the Day: "In a world of possibility for us all, our personal visions help lay the groundwork for political action. ... In our world, divide and conquer must become define and empower." - Audre Lorde
Friday, August 17, 2012
Biology 101: A Premature Wrap
I'll be traveling soon so I'm trying to tie up lots of loose ends. I'm still reading that Biology book, but I have neither the time nor the energy (at least at this point) to cover any more topics.
In any case, even at this point the most enlightening things I read were the stuff on cellular respiration and photosynthesis and I'm glad I put out detailed posts on them. (See Biology 101: Cellular Respiration, 5/10/12, and Biology 101: Photosynthesis, 5/17/12.)
I've since studied things like cellular communication, genetics, evolution, plant biology (aka botony), and I'm currently reading through "Animal Structure and Function" (aka anatomy and physiology--with a side trip through nutrition). I just finished an interesting chapter (and side readings) on the immune system (which is a *lot* more complicated than I thought) and I'm currently reading about temperature regulation, water balance, and the excretory system. I'm hoping to finish all the animal A&P before I leave, but I know I won't have time to get into the final section of the book which is on ecology, something I'd really like to have a mainstream scientific understanding of. So I will be keeping this big heavy textbook, both so I can read the ecology section at some point and because this is such a great reference for so many things that I'm interested in.
I would recommend to anyone interested in knowing how life works that they pick up a used (or free, if you can find it) relatively current college Bio textbook. You may be surprised at what you learn.
Quote of the Day: "Biology, the study of life, is rooted in the human spirit. ... Biology is the scientific extension of this human tendency to feel connected to and curious about all forms of life. It is a science for adventurous minds." - Neil Campbell and Jane Reece
In any case, even at this point the most enlightening things I read were the stuff on cellular respiration and photosynthesis and I'm glad I put out detailed posts on them. (See Biology 101: Cellular Respiration, 5/10/12, and Biology 101: Photosynthesis, 5/17/12.)
I've since studied things like cellular communication, genetics, evolution, plant biology (aka botony), and I'm currently reading through "Animal Structure and Function" (aka anatomy and physiology--with a side trip through nutrition). I just finished an interesting chapter (and side readings) on the immune system (which is a *lot* more complicated than I thought) and I'm currently reading about temperature regulation, water balance, and the excretory system. I'm hoping to finish all the animal A&P before I leave, but I know I won't have time to get into the final section of the book which is on ecology, something I'd really like to have a mainstream scientific understanding of. So I will be keeping this big heavy textbook, both so I can read the ecology section at some point and because this is such a great reference for so many things that I'm interested in.
I would recommend to anyone interested in knowing how life works that they pick up a used (or free, if you can find it) relatively current college Bio textbook. You may be surprised at what you learn.
Quote of the Day: "Biology, the study of life, is rooted in the human spirit. ... Biology is the scientific extension of this human tendency to feel connected to and curious about all forms of life. It is a science for adventurous minds." - Neil Campbell and Jane Reece
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