My 2007th year of Western Culture

Inspired by Kyle, I offer a brief sketch of my past year to serve as a sort of Christmas letter and a reminder to myself of just how much I live.

In January I moved out on my own for the first time. I joined two roommates unlike any friends I'd known before. Casey sketched beautiful art on canvases littered about the room and taped emptied beer boxes to the wall in the shape of a palm tree, and bats swooping. Miles interned for the public defenders office and echoed the grandest music against my wall.

For Jan term I studied Chaos Theory applied to leadership, permanently changing the way I perceive individuals in groups. An example: when fish swim in those pulsating schools, veering from dolphins while never losing cohesion, they do not do so by any complex communication network or ordered steps like a marching band. Each fish acts as an individual guided by a few simple principles: go the same direction as the other fish, at the same speed, and don't bump into any other fish.

In Spring I undertook a pesca-ovo-vegetarian diet. I only eat meat if a host serves it, or if it would be rude to refuse it. My body had more health than ever. I also studied and accepted philosophies of community and pacifism. The philosophies' complexity befuddles me; even now I wrestle with conflicting desires for sustenance and mobility without harming others' with my food and fuel needs.

I continued my transformation into a proletariat by helping design a protest at Whitworth. It occurred on the 8th of May and its effects are continually visible. I interned at the Center for Justice. I didn't get much done, but I learned more about me (don't give me paperwork. It bewilders me).

I totaled my car. USAA, the insurance company, didn't pay for the whole car, so I'm still paying for a car I don't own.

In Summer I moved to New York City. I lived in Washington Heights and worked three food jobs. Clinton and Mike showed up the first week of August, but Mike left after three days. Clinton and I spent the rest of the month bumming around (I quit my jobs) and exploring. I left for a week on August 7th to visit Emily in Maine. I got to volunteer on an Island through Ripple Effect. I hitchhiked in four states when I left Maine, traveling through New Hampshire and Vermont and back into New York.

Fall I took a number of required courses, but did the bulk of my learning through blogs, outside readings and thinking. I wrote for the Whitworthian again.

I attended two conferences on sustainability and eucology on November 1, and November 2-5. The latter, Powershift '07, occurred outside D.C.. After panels and workshops on various topics like eco-pedagogy, green investing, mountain-top-removal and faith-based environmentalism, 3000 of the conference attendees proceeded to lobby meetings with most of the representatives and senators in congress. I met with aides from Maria Cantwell, Jim Reichart and Patty Murray's offices. I presented my learnings to Whitworth's Sustainability Committee.

On to 2008!