Where to start? I'm 31, a Euro-American whiteboy longhair with a dash of Amerindian heritage, and I've dedicated my life to avoiding the average - quite successfully, so far. I love my country in many ways but absolutely despise my current government. Anyone who supports the Bush administration at this point is stupid, ignorant, evil, or some combination thereof, IMHO. I am rather highly political, BTW.

Although I have never worked a "real job" for more than a couple months and compared to most Americans I am poor to the point of destitution, nevertheless I have accumulated a fantastic collection of shiny objects like the computer on which I'm typing this self-congratulatory bio.

I am getting steadily more radical as I become more informed, and I am sure that some large portion of this blog will consist of ranting and railing against a system wherein some people work for pennies an hour while others enjoy (if that is the right word) gross luxury and every form of excess.

[If you're a Republican, a neocon, a collaborator, or otherwise mentally and/or morally defective, don't bother reading further.]

After our basic needs are met, the desires of all sentient beings are identical; we want to make a meaningful contribution to our society and our world. We want, in a word, to be useful. The question, when we finally realize it, is how to be effective at this. I am currently in hot pursuit of usefulness, and have found bits of it here and there, mostly in the form of being a decent person to my fellow humans. I'd like to be more useful still.

When I'm not pontificating, I write, and sometimes work in film and video production, among other things. I'm working on a documentary concept and a dramatic screenplay at the moment, both of which deal to some extent with our global culture, consumerism, media, corporatism, and related issues.

I think that we have maybe ten years at the outside before some major changes happen on a global scale (not that they aren't already moving), so get out there and travel while you can. Oil will not be cheap forever, for one thing, and when the oil prices spike, the world economy will quake, if not collapse outright. At a minimum, most goods and services will become very expensive. 2012 keeps coming up as a probably turning point, and I wouldn't be surprised to live in a very different world after that. Bets, anyone? I will bet a million US dollars that the international money economy will never collapse. Think about it... That's the bet that everyone except those fortunate to be living really sustainably are making daily.

Back to reality; I'm taking this trip with my lovely partner Maryse, who is Quebecoise. She is the sweetest human being I've ever met, and everyone loves her. Opposites attract, they say... In any case, we have maintained a sometimes long-distance relationship for the past four years, and are working on finding a way to be together somewhere we can both agree on. The bureaucratic nightmare of permanent residency in either Canada or the US is, well, a nightmare. Maybe we'll keep travelling for a while; don't know. If anyone knows of a little island somewhere where one (two, actually) can get away and live without all the garbage of modern life, email me, please. Until I find that paradise, I'll keep living in this flawed world with all its beauty, pain, and exquisite paradox.

The bottom line is that we are spiritual beings having a human experience. Within that, there are three main points to life: learning, having enjoyable experiences, and helping others. When all of the above combine, that's as good as it gets. Otherwise, remember that "This too shall pass." Especially in the case of bad fish tacos.