Tampere, Finland

Above: Hirvitalo (Moose House): an artist run ’squat’ in Tampere.

I’ve spent my last three days in Tampere, Finland, a city 110 miles north of Helsinki. I dumpster dived, visited a squat, gathered raspberries and currants, found money, wrote in cafes, went out to thai food with Saara, made a phone call to Steve from an apartment building elevator (no one knew where the phone bill went to!), and made a makeshift ‘food not bombs eugene’ apple crisp for some new friends…

Back to Helsinki on Monday, and then the archipelago on the southwest corner of the country.

I have not had much time to post about what’s going on with my internal landscape. Maybe i’ll write a little bit right now.

In the past month, a lot has been moving both inside and outside of me. I was in Cascadia (Oregon and Northern California) for most of July, and this has left me thinking a lot about my approach toward primitive skills. In the past, I have had in my mind an idea or ideology about where I want to be with a certain set of skills, and their importance for my future survival. While the latter might well be true, I think I have been approaching skills from a fear-based perspective: do this, or else. And this has not even been true to my own interest. I don’t need a discourse about ‘the collapse of civilization’ (again, however true or possible) to rationalize or authorize my choice to practice these skills. Instead, I can practice them simply because I really enjoy them; because they provide me moments of joy, focus and growth, and admittedly, frustration.

In Tampere, I spent some time at Hirvitalo, an artist-run gallery and ’squat’ (they pay the city a small amount of money each month to stay there, so techically it isn’t a squat). There, I picked up a zine called ‘Lost Stories,’ which is written in both Finnish and English. At Saara’s house, I glanced through another zine called ‘Our Dark Passenger: Anarchists Talk About Mental Illness and Community Support.’ I want to write about both of these, in addition to my changing perspectives on rewilding, and some thoughts I have about the politics of relationship, language barriers, and the ’self in relationship.’ But it’s quite late right now, and I want to connect with people who are in this room.