The following excerpt is from an article concerning Wilderness Walkabouts, which I’ll be participating in in a couple weeks.

I once heard Tom Brown Jr. proclaim that, "If you don't have any place to be or a time to be there you will never be lost." This is the essence of the art of a Walkabout. You are searching, but not necessarily for anything in particular. You are following your heart and the mysteries that the world leaves for you, be they elk tracks, the top of an unknown peak or a "blank" spot on the map. Your goal is to discover beauty and blend into the landscape. Along the way you sample the wild edible plants, gather your water from the creek or spring, shelter yourself under an ancient tree. When it rains you get wet and when the sun beats down you are hot. Whether it's one day or a week, by yourself or in a small group, on a good wilderness walkabout you are constantly faced with the unknown, both in the world around you and within. Where does this canyon go? Where will I sleep tonight? How will it be to not see anyone else for an entire day? What sort of tracks are these? Will I be able to start a fire in the pouring rain? You have left behind the known comforts of family, school, home, work, four walls and electricity in exchange for a chance to interact with Mystery for a time. The world around you becomes a metaphor for your internal landscape as you face your fear of a dark starless night and the unknown future that waits for you when you return.

I went to a presentation by Forest Ethics about the Inland Temperate Rainforest (the only one in the world) today. It’s a pretty amazing region, in some ways like the Amazon, but is being destroyed by clearcutting. Forest Ethics puts pressure on logging companies by annoying people like Victoria’s Secret (who put out 1,000,000 million catalogs a day) and hardware stores to stop doing business with loggers who operate in the region.

For those interested in training and discussion in more direct action, and aren’t afraid of the FBI, Forest Defenders is hosting a Cascadia Action Camp this weekend and Wild Earth is a 4 day conference happening this June in B.C.

Northern Thailand is flooding. You know what the funny part is? It’s not even the rainy season yet. The rainy season starts in June/July, exactly when I’ll be kicking around the North.

I suppose that’s one way to put my fancy moisture-wicking clothing to the test.

You’ll notice things are looking a bit different around here. I’ve rewritten the whole thing, from the ground up, using only vim. I’m still fiddling with things here and there, but figured it was mostly decent looking enough to move it over. As time allows, I’ll move all the other pages over to this template. Hopefully this next weekend.

I’m not sure I like the text wrapping around the sidebar. That may change.

Last night was my first time NightWalking since the Redwoods. It seemed much darker than it ever was in California and I was afraid I’d fall off the ridge I was walking on, but, as always, my feet found the path.

It really does work.

I just got back from hearing Ward Churchill (who’s a registered Republican) speak. He was amazing. The lecture wasn’t really on anything in particular – he went all over the place. He doesn’t use notes, powerpoint, any of that, but you can really feel the passion in him. He shakes, cries, laughs, everything.

He also invited one his friends from the audience, a member of the Black Panther party, to come up and speak for a bit. Among a few other things, he described the morning he was walking around the sand-bagged Seattle Panther office with a riot shotgun and got the call that Fred Hampton had been assassinated. Not something you hear everyday…

Churchill is going to be speaking again tomorrow morning on a panel. If I wake up early enough (doubtful), I’ll go.

Oh, and he’s even larger in person.