Did I say Free?

Please note that this is a work in progress. The running title for my manuscript is Finding Satori Within Nature. There are currently 14 chapters being edited. I will attempt to post the following chapter within 2 weeks.

Thank you for your collective interest.

Previous chapter:

The Metal Journal: Part One

A couple of cats are asleep on a living room couch as I join them with a cup of mint-sage tea. The Sun has yet to come up. On a coffee table lies a metal-tipped pen, a freshly finished fifth daily journal, and this sixth journal you have currently started reading. The completed journal holds a large set of pages within a set of aluminum covers, spiraled together. It’s been opened and closed so many times, that the binding has become stiffly frail and audibly creaks when opened. Today may as well be the last chance to condense the Metal Journal through this new journal before the pages begin flying away when forced open again. The task at hand is to reminisce through the discombobulated present moment to reorient what I wrote. Neither you nor I, as of this sentence, knows where this transcribing process will take us in this chapter. As of this introductory paragraph, I feel like I wrote about perseverance and resilience. We shall see.

As you read this, a road trip has been prepared for a trip up North to my childhood home for a warm Thanksgiving meal with wild rice and stuffed squash. The Sun will rise soon, and with it, the first leg of the day-long trip. Charging stations have been mapped to bounce up Interstate 94 out of the Twin Cities. The site of the wetlands at the road’s end will be well worth any restlessness. The bog and marshland at my parent’s house are living proof of successful dedication to environmental rehabilitation with decades of work to show for it. I, for one, am excited.

A cooler is filled with local veg and organic snacks from a food cooperative to keep me away from fatty fast food temptations. A shiny cheap electric car is charging in the driveway to slowly absorb energy from a 110w outlet. I can travel from Sunup to Sundown to prevent purchasing power from foregone fossil fuels.

There is no need to be patient, much less impatient, during the 4-hour charging sessions. There is editing to be done! There is rereading to be had. Not to mention, there is a wee bit of perspective writing to check in between entries. When else will there be a more perfect time to hash out dreams of reforestation and sustainable living than when on vacation? Maybe that’s just me. I’ve been having so much fun going back through my journals.

The car is fully packed and will be fully charged in a few minutes, but the Sun is not quite ready. I’ve set down the Metal Journal on the table. I crack open the binding. Wind passes through my hair. Drums are heard, building intensity in the distance. . .

. . .hmm. Something tells me I have secrets in here I have since forgotten about. I am not going to be sharing everything out of here. Ideas are humming about on the page as the introductory page is flipped. Random questions bounce around almost becoming tangible thoughts and eventualities. They aren’t quite there yet though. This journal doesn’t start with a fully conceived entry, but rather idle thoughts I have. I will attempt to extrapolate them here:

• How much rooftop solar energy is sufficient enough to supply my basic needs?
• Is there a way to build a house with a steel frame to make it recyclable after my lifetime?
• What is an occupation where I can spend more time outside than inside?

I do not have answers to these questions, not as of yet at least, but what I do know is this: the Sun just peeked over the couch casting a ray onto the wall in front of me. The cats have quietly, as if on queue, gotten up to stretch knowing fairly well their bowls are about to be filled momentarily. Ooooooooh stretch time. I do believe it is time to feed ourselves and hit the road! I will check in again after I edit an entry at the first charging station once my range is low.

I picked up a coworker named B__ today amidst a satisfying misty rain. We’re heading to our tree nursery to gather with our nonprofit. Usually, we have Fridays off. This weekend we’ve been summoned to a small conference at a county library down in the Cities. Our district’s presence will no doubt fill a large fraction of the library parking lot.

The conversation in the Corps truck, now that we join with the crew, has started with…well, conferences. The National Shade Tree Conference is hosted by Bethel University in Arden Hills Minnesota and catered by Sodexo. It just so happens, it does it does, that I work there on weekends! I’ve been continuing to pick up shifts at the deli counter even though it’s been 9 months since I resigned from my position as foreman. I wonder if any of the students I’ve been serving would attend a course on tree climbing or Emerald Ash Borer identification.

Our crew leader C________ continues the conversation by suggesting we look into the Upper Midwest Invasive Species Conference in Wisconsin. As I note this, B__ is wistfully looking out the window next to me in the back of the cab.

We have arrived at the library to join with even more Americorps folks than expected. Fellow members from the social services outreach program Public Allies immediately greet us with interested eyes. The mood of roughly 4 dozen people focuses on elongated introductions with more pouring in. Our district director is taking the podium to launch us in a constructive icebreaker. We are to explain to a person we have never met our passions, values, fears, challenges, and hopes. Well hello everyone.

I have teamed up with a hopeful social worker named T______ who starts by saying, “I respect honesty and complexity when people express themselves.” I nod and respond, “Being with peers who want to be where we are helps in communicating through the more challenging conversations.” She agrees, looking a little wry. We both move on to a new set of partners.

I continue with another B__ who is serving with the Water Trails CCMI Crew. Our prompt is to talk about how we can serve our communities through Americorps ethics. “Conversational transparency helps us to connect with our peers and elders,” I start. He continues, “‘cause we’ll become supervisors and managers in the next generation.” We proceed to divulge into a light-hearted unrelated conversation.

A representative from Public Allies has noticed the collective distraction from the prompt and walks up to the podium to contextualize the activity. “We must be able to tell our own stories,” J___ B____ tells us, “Engage in your own life!” He successfully presents a pep talk about purpose and how to present ourselves as professionals to future employers.

Our lunch break has commenced and I have unpacked myself a PB & J. I have also approached Mr. B____ to agree with his sentiment. Boy is he having a good day. As we begin a conversation, two Public Allies managers step in to suggest eating at a nearby restaurant. So now, I find myself in J___ B____’s car articulating base sets of values on our way to get some grub.

At the restaurant, we are exchanging thoughts on how to find outlets for actionable solutions. For example, there are movements in Asia that deserve activism in my opinion. For me to become truly involved would entail going there to obtain an understanding for myself with my own eyes, and my own actions. “Self-guided leadership,” manager F________ is saying,” is a way to find ourselves in situations of networking with those who share our values.

We had a pleasant lunch and J___ B____ wound up liking us so much he bought the table. We’re heading back and I’ve asked him for advice. “How can I provide leadership to those who I want to teach?” He glances at this journal, “Stick with this.”

“What if we built a contemporary nature center around here?,” B__ is contemplating where he wants to work after the Corps. The group is discussing our afternoon prompt: Resume Building and Individual Potential. Every concept I introduce seems to address a need for solutions to our changing climate. Drastic efforts MUST be instigated to stabilize and reduce exacerbated droughts, hurricanes, fires, and floods. The glaciers are dying.

My partner from Public Allies is raising her eyebrows at me and looking away as if I were talking about chemtrails or aliens. She doesn’t care and is moving on from our conversation. Good thing the conference is coming to a close. A bunch of millennials talking introspectively about our futures is bringing up a lot of self-conscious existentialism into the room’s atmosphere. The two directors have noticed this and are reconvening the crown to wish us all to think proactively about our futures. Tables are being taken down. Our crew has regrouped. I am ready to drive us back.

As B__ and I say goodbye to our mates back at the nursery, we find ourselves going for a drive on a cultural tour of Lake Street in Minneapolis. No other street in the Cities gives a better taste of the diverse culture in my opinion. B__ is testing out city Life for the first time by moving into a house with some high-school buddies. I get to expose him to a few good corners I think he should explore. I’ve also curated a Spotify Playlist to bubble up some ideas as our Friday Summer drive will bring us to Hymie’s Records.

Since I’ve Been Loving You by Led Zeppelin

Caravan by Van Morrison

Space Oddity by David Bowie

Riders on the Storm by The Doors

Summertime by Janis Joplin with Big Brother and The Holding Company

White Room by Cream

Ruby Tuesday by The Rolling Stones

The Boxer by Simon and Garfunkel

Breath in the Air by Pink Floyd

Harvest Moon by Neil Young

Hot Love by T-Rex

Albatross by Fleetwood Mac

Oh! Sweet Nuthin by The Velvet Underground

B__’s new Grateful Dead album spins around lazily on his roommate’s turntable. We’re chillin’ in the living room where I’ve struck up a conversation with his other roommate M___ about nature centers. He talks about their other roommates who are in a local band called The Natl Park Srvc. To get a signed copy of their EP, I am making a bet. We have shaken hands. Unfortunately for him, he has been unable to recite my computer password back to me even after telling it to him slowly twice. This is no lie, my login is actually this long: * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *.

B__ takes me into the kitchen where a plastic grocery bag is on the floor filled with CDs. Just in time too as J____ (the bass player?) walks in after getting off of work. M___ spits out $5 to a confused J____ who autographs the CD and heads up the carpeted staircase.

A late-night stroll for local takeout has been mentioned as the vinyl finishes and we join with B__ on the couches. We all agree on getting pizza after the week we’ve had. This week was filled with long hours of cutting and pulling Buckthorn, harvesting native grass seed, and prepping ball and burlap trees for planting next week. This weekend I am warm from conversations with interesting people. I see myself writing for hours into the night. I bet a typewriter would make my Saturdays all the much richer. Man alive, I want one. I am beginning to designate more and more and MORE time weekly to get away from Wi-Fi to enjoy this concept called Life.

B__ is a kind, albeit country-folk sort of guy. Our pizza boxes are being opened after walking back. He flips on the TV for his favorite show: The Twilight Zone. He is doodling, with permission, in my other journal in an armchair. I have since become enveloped within. He hands it back after completion to the title Balance. Mountain tower over buildings and boats putter about under a tree canopy. He is quite the sketcher. I feel comfortable knowing that I am in a fellow company that yearns to be outside in peaceful landscapes.

My friend C_______ is texting me for an update on the travel visa I was asked to obtain. She is a good friend who doesn’t have to try hard to get me to smile. She is off finding purpose at her new job at Lake Geneva in Wisconsin. I would relish taking an adventure to India with her to explore Rishikesh, Dharamsala, New Delhi, Varanasi, Uttranchal, and Amritsar. Creating a tentative packing list could be a fun activity regardless if we actually go or not. Would a typewriter be too extravagant to pack? Nah.

The episode B__ was watching is over and I was completely distracted and absorbed in this page. The guys have begun to head upstairs for their beds. I guess I’ll keep these ideas to myself in this journal. I’ll ponder an itinerary for meeting water buffalo and walking along busy streets aand exploring ancient temples aaand aaaabout drifting…

…off

…to

…sleep.

Good night.

I enjoy editing these stories regardless if you become as absorbed as I do or not. Hello again. If you haven’t figured it out yet, I drove the first leg of the trip. I’ve been charging for free in a Goodwill parking lot. Did I say free? I meant free. Goodwill probably has an agreement with GE and the state to receive tax incentives for sustainable practices. Their administration probably has a mandate because there are several Goodwill with EV stations popping up all over now. It’s great to see honestly. I can safely say I am inclined to stop in to shop. Environmental mitigators such as Annie Leonard of Greenpeace are doing their due diligence to advocate for corporate contracts such as these. Renewable and cyclical energies are more efficient and cheaper to operate, not to mention they are less harmful in the mining process.

The drive up I-94 was accompanied by Rubber Soul, Abbey Road, and Let it Be. For those of you who do not know the Beatles, simply put, today has had a great soundtrack. During the top of the hours, the news headlines have been succinctly condensed into 5 minutes on frequency 91.1 KNOW. 10 a.m. fast approaches, so let’s take a look at this day in history:

• Renewable energy now makes up over a quarter of Minnesota’s power portfolio
• President Trump is threatening to mine protected lands in Alaska
• Monsanto has been condemned in court for knowingly supplying carcinogens
• Greta Thuneberg’s speeches on resilience have spiraled upwards into a climate march with an estimated 4,000,000 participants worldwide

It is inspiring to acknowledge the young generations recognize our international duty to divest from fossil fuels. We need to let our Earth’s lungs recharge and take an uninterrupted inhale. Ms. Thuneburg has taken the initiative in her international spotlight to sail to the U.N. Climate Summit from Sweden to New York. How awesome is that? Though admittedly, she is being supported by investors, her actions are giving hope and precedence to any in the U.S. who may be taking the hint to have more productive legislation in the works for our future generations.

Taking the time to schedule a month-long sail or even to charge a car on your way North to visit family is an acknowledgment that we are restructuring our energy grids. Through effort, I am practicing my own words. Sustainable energy usage and decreasing consumption become a balancing act of preparatory scheduling. The path to realizing more efficient resource expenditure is, in my opinion, the combination of two inconveniences: when we don’t have enough time, and when we have too much time on our hands. Or to put this differently, I now have a hobby that is stored away for that ‘rainy day’ and I now have time because I am weaning myself off the internet. Combining the times when we are impatient and when we feel we are falling behind. Everyone has those tasks, activities, projects, or hobbies they’ve stored away for that rainy day. Today is that day and I love this storm. I get to, let me repeat this, I get to edit these writings because I have made the time to do so. There is no reason to complain about having to charge for four hours when everyone has those projects or paperwork they saved for later. Do you have that hobby you say you do, but haven’t actually done in years? Did you end up scrolling last night instead? Did you decide on an extra episode or a whole lineup of episodes? Then you have time! I’ve been there. Tangible activities that require input instead of being shown output help build up the mind. Life will continue without the black mirror, trust me. I could easily be restless or impatient after having been here for three hours, but here I am instead finishing up chapter nine. I am telling you I feel enriched.

If I am to take the words of J___ B____’s teachings seriously, this is what I have to act upon. Here I am, actively divesting. I am getting from point A to point B on renewable energy and telling my stories. I am ready to drive the next segment. Read ya there…

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Copyright 2024 Casimir Curney. All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the author, except as permitted by U.S. copyright law.