On 2/13/2002 10:55AM, John Perry Barlow wrote:

> Do you really want to leave Eugene? Perhaps what you really want to > do is to hit the road and to leave Eugene fully functional as your > axis mundi.

I've considered this.

Eugene may be a place to store some last few things until the new pod is formed, but the land here doesn't call me in the slightest right now, and once it did.

I can't lose myself in it any longer. I don't feel uplifted by it. I think I want some dramatic landscape that compels me - I want to go outside and have my breath swept away just by opening my eyes. I want to look at the planet's grandeur again, and be near the constant sound of a river or a stream; I want to be near a place that gets wind, and has big skies.

I think I'm still headed to land, but I feel like I'm going to India along Columbus' route. Actually, more like Lewis and Clarke's, really. I also realize that this may not be the next step, or it may just be a passing tone, and I accept that, too.

But I don't have much that's functional to leave behind, nor worth expending energy to maintain here. The store will be in new hands. The plants will be growing on their own. I own no property. I want no ties now unless they anchor me to what I need to survive and be nurtured.

I need some chunk of time to blow the stink off and just get still for awhile. Yet I need to fly free of Eugene's orbit, if only because I have the freedom to do so once again. I've been sawing at these bars with a fingernail file for over ten years. I may have to dig the last of the way through with a squeegee handle, like that cat in the WTC elevator, and that's what I'll do if I have to. Outside will be good.

I'll be back for visits - the plants will take at least 2 months a year, total time - perhaps more, but I'll simply park up river in the cabin or my trailer, keep the truck up there for working, maintain the Conservancy office at the Barn for as long as I can - and fundraise to pay others to do the actual tending and catalogue work.

I am enjoying living in downtown Eugene - I like the "downtown" of it, not the "Eugene" of it. However, I'm also heading into a mode that needs a *lot* of woodshedding, and so I may be much better off in a cabin (with some electricity and a web connection).

But the main thing on my calendar is Venice, 2003.

>>Anyhow, I'm still interested in connecting f2f with you.

> > So do I. Truly I do. >

> I don't feel like passing, though I certainly wouldn't hold it > against you if you did.

So, let's talk about making it happen. I'm not sure how successful a phone call is going to be in this arena, especially since - though you're well intended - you haven't been able to phone (and there's no wrong time for you to call, BTW). Seems like e-mail is actually better for making plans.

We're both getting well-booked. Aside from 2-3 day sprints that I can manage most anytime with some notice, I have a couple of definite periods when I'm planning on being mobile. Maybe we could talk about hooking-up then; just don't hold me to it...

APRIL --- I've been working to clear some time in mid-late April - this is probably the most loose I'll be til high summer. I have to get the books to my CPA by that first week. When that crunch is done, I was planning on leaving the store for about 10 days to let the guys have their first crack at doing daily deposits, keeping up with the ordering, and running the daily chores. I can leave after the 15th, and need to return by the first.

JUNE --- The family wants to do an early June road trip converging on Harlan County, with the Murphy Women hitting the old haunts. That's another 5+ day adventure that has some room in it, but not as much clear energy as the April vacation, and my head will be occupied.

I'm planning a summer block party over the July 4th weekend - a 30+-year neighborhood photographic retrospective centered on the natural foods industry's regional origins around the Red Barn, since I'm the last person working here who knows the history, and I'm leaving. Kind of a swan song, I suppose.

Mom and I agreed to be ready to sell the store when I do the operational hand-off (goal = my birthday this July). There's Country Faire, the weekend after the 4th, and the Field Trip, and my lease is up on my apartment in August. Time between trips will be totally focused on packing, getting the store ready for an escrow (I'm just being wildly optimistic and planning for the best) and tying up loose ends.

JULY-AUGUST --- I plan on visiting friends Joel McCleary and Dennis McKena in Colorado on Joel's and Lavinia's ranch in late July/early August. I'm also going to be scouting for a cabin to winter in if I haven't come up with any other ideas by then. I'll be driving, and taking detours.

LATE SUMMER --- I've never been to Burning Man. I want to go.

POST SUMMER --- I have to bed down the plants for the winter, sometime in the Fall. I have no idea what the Conservancy is going to be up to. Joel and Lavinia (you may remember I mentioned Lavinia Currier when we spoke on the phone) have a philanthropic Foundation, and Joel's said we'll talk about some kind of funding when I visit in the summer. It might secure me some money to pay the Institute upriver to cultivate the Conservancy's collection without me for awhile.

Post Red-Barn daily work, and all things flowing somewhat toward these ends, I have absolutely no idea where I'll be. I'm usually pretty good at implementing sets of steps like the above, so I'm confident that those things will unfold, barring some graduate-level course in obstacle management that Spirit springs on me mid-term.

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So, there's the Cynthia Itinerary. Are there resonant nodes on the Parabola of John?

love,

Cynthia

"Thus, the randomness in deterministic chaos is fundamental; gathering more information won't help." - Werner R. Loewenstein, "The Touchstone of Life"

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PLUR. Remember PLUR

Peace
Love
Unity
Respect

Peace
Love
Unity
Respect

Peace
Love


-- Anonymous, February 17, 2002