So I was planning on writing four to six articles about food without getting sidetracked, but the food articles will have to wait; I just have to write about May Day!
As you may or may not known, in the radical/anarchist community, May Day is considered a special holiday since it has traditionally, the world over, been a day to protest for worker's rights. Originally, May Day was a pagan holiday known as Beltane,(a Celtic holiday,) also known as Cross-Quarter Day, since it fell halfway between an equinox and a solstice. Since then, it has been adopted as a worker's holiday and here in Portland, demonstrations and marches are held every May Day, in solidarity with people around the world struggling for basic human rights.
I unfortunately didn't have time to join the marches, since I had a very important Basic Skills class this afternoon that I couldn't miss, but I did have time to join the anarchist May Day picnic in the North Park Blocks Park. I'm glad I went. Anarchists know how to have fun! Food Not Bombs was there, serving a vegan lunch, the Blackrose Bookstore which I volunteered at a lot last year was represented with a bunch of free books they where giving away, Earth First! was represented and they where passing around filers advertising a benefit, and my favorite anarchist cartoonist, the author of the Happy Anarchist Fun Pages was there with a trunk full of his work, which he was also giving away (he also had an accordion he was skillfully playing!) A man in cowboy gear played a guitar, while black clad men with bandannas over their noses spray painted cardboard signs. And, in the middle of it all, a man from the Oregonian videotaped us and waited for the protesting to begin, so he could get some good pictures for the paper, I'm sure.
It all felt so alive, and so edgy. The energy of the group was one of change, of spring, of new ideas and new radical ways of being...two men sitting next to me where talking about starting a free child care service, the girl on the other side of me was talking about free art classes she is holding weekly at her apartment..all around me, there was so much energy, so much potential, potential to change our culture, potential to change ourselves. It felt warm and alive and right....and I smiled as I thought to myself; "this is what I want...this is what I crave...warm, alive community with a sense of change and a passion to bring down the destructive parts of our civilization..."
I've been doing a lot of rationalizing about why I am reluctant, at twenty-six, to just "grow up" and have a "normal" life; why the idea of a career, a family, and my own house and car just don't feel appealing to me, today I realized that I don't have to rationalize these dreams of mine to continue to live radically, that I can continue to be an activist as long as I live; that getting old is no excuse to stop living life to it's fullest potential. In fact, I realized today that I've been reluctant, for whatever reason, to really dive into the radical community here in Portland at the level that I want to; so today, sitting there on the grass, listening to men my own age talk about starting a free child care service, I vowed not to let age or anything else stand in my way of being fully alive and fully free...
And then, like a terrible radical, I forgot to throw my trash away when I left....
Love ya,
Carrot
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
Your post today reminds me of how everyone always says that the best years of your life are the ones when you are young and in college before spouses, careers, kids, etc. For me, this is a lie. If you really are committed to living life to the fullest, then each year you live is the best year of your life.
www.progressiveu.org/blog/americangirlinchina
Sounds to me like you are excited to live an authentic life, a life that you define according to your values and desires. Career, family, and home ownership are what you define them to be as well. I have all of those and find each very exciting. What is the radical anarchist community like? I'm amused by the prospect of destructing something that is destructive.
it is a common misconception that all anarchists are about is destruction...in fact, most anarchists would define themselves as people who want to govern their own lives, without any formal government. This does not have to be a life based on destruction and chaos...in fact, many of the people I know really living the principles of an anarchist; meaning a free person who is not bond to wage-slavery or anything else they find restrictive (note: this does not mean anarchists do not hold down jobs, they usually do, they just don't take jobs they don't find fullfiling and meaningful to their lives,) do not subscribe to the anarchy=chaos lifestyle.
that being said, I know a whole different group of anarchists who do subscribe to the chaos lifestyle; binge drinking, moshing at shows, showing off "battle wounds" from fights and protests..don't get me wrong, I believe this group serves as much of a purpose as the other, and I absolutely love chaos myself sometimes. But mostly, I want order and peace, but at the same time, the freedom to choose to live anyway I please.
I can't speak for the radical/anarchist community as a whole, or even very much of it here in Portland (I actually only really hang out with my house mates and my school buddies,) but I'd say the overall lifestyle emphasizes freedom, in the most basic, as well as the most overarching ways. Freedom to express sexual orientation anyway you'd like, freedom to be as sexual as you'd like, or not, (or at least, that is the ideal,) freedom to dress, or wear your hair anyway you'd like, freedom to listen to the social norms about hygiene (or not,) freedom to become a hunter-gatherer if you'd like, freedom to work if you choose, but a way to take care of yourself if you choose not to work (groups like Food Not Bombs and the free childcare group are making choosing not to work more of a reality.) Anyway, these are all ideals; of course they don't always happen perfectly, as with any culture or group, there are many, many, many issues.
Love ya,
Carrot
Your story was really interesting to me. Before I had been unaware of these anarchy communities like yours, were people simply want to live life their own way. As a high schooler I've always just know the image of anarchists as these crazy people who want to just be able to live life with no rules and drink and smoke and party as much as they possible can. Its facinating to hear about this different kind of anarchists.
As for your dilema about not wanting to "grow up" and get a career, well that lifestlye is not for everyone. As for me, all I want is to be successful. In whatever I end up doing with my life, if I feel successful and happy with myself then Im just fine. The whole dream of a house with a white picket fence and two kids and a dog isnt for me. I like kids but Im not sure I'll ever what one of my own. And the whole white picket fence thing? What to normal and boring for me.
So dont be afraid to follow you own path and dreams. The greatest thing about this country is we are allowed the oppritunity to be as idividual as we with.