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Stranger in a Strange Land Newsletter: October 2007

Dear Readers,
I thought about going back to Mexico this fall to experience the Day of the Dead (last year I was in Guatemala, where they celebrate the holiday by flying kites in graveyards but it's still bigger in Mexico). Then I thought about going to Morrocco and Egypt to finally experience my first Arabic and African countries, plus make it over to Italy and Austria to visit friends. In the end, I decided on Iowa. Now I'm in Western Pennsylvania. I know it's a bit of a let down for some readers. Still, for some reason international travel didn't seem like the right thing this time. And I was staying in Fairfiled, Iowa which is most certainly a Strange Land, home of the Maharishi University of Management (MUM) founded by the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in 1974 on princilpes of Transcendental Meditation (that's the same Yogi the Beatles worked with not the kleptomaniacal bear: "Hey there, Boo Boo, let's go meditate!"). Now the town is made up of people attracted to the university called "meditators" or "ru's" (short for "guru") hailing from all over the world and the other half is local Fairfielders more like your average Iowans. I asked one local I was hanging out with what they think of the meditators and he said, "Some people think they're ridiculous..." then he trailed off. Maybe he was going to end with, "While others think they're ludicrous." I don't know. I think that does some it up: they think they have some strange ideas but people like to hype up tension and they actually seem to get along pretty well and each benefits from the other. There are no gang fights. Anyway, as a man from Boston, anywhere in Iowa is a Strange Land. And I've had adventures as I do everywhere and I've come to know more about this strange country. There's a lot of cornfields in the Midwest. And in general it feels more open whether walking around town or driving across the state.

(Here's an old but informative article about the relationship between the two groups in Fairfield and some explanation of TM: http://www.rickross.com/reference/tm/tm5.html)

I actually went to Fairfield to visit my friend Steve who I met at the Rethinking Education Confernce in Texas. He's organized lots of events for me to speak about unschooling, world travel and even transitioning into adulthood and they've gone really well. And slowly, as I speak at more and more events, I discover what in the world I want to say about those topics! As I said to Peter Kowalke when he interviewed me on the phone for Life Learning Magazine, "It's easy to talk about how bad school is and how good unschooling is, but the real challenge is to address the difficult challenges of living our lives freely and really following our purpose and what bring us joy and meaning. In some ways, educating oneself is disturbingly easy. But if you do it right it's the most challenging thing in the world." I'm still not exactly sure how to say it, and I probably worded it even less eloquently over the phone, but something along those lines.

But this is a travel newsletter. Some readers may be saying: "Enough about the whole homeschooling, no-schooling, whatever-you-call-it stuff! You said you've had adventures, let's hear about them!" Well, I did insprire a 16 year old girl who recently left school to tell her parents she now doesn't want to use any sort of curriculum at all. Then I spoke with her anxious father a few days later and that was a bit of an adventure itself! No, I enjoyed talking to him and I do have stories of actual adventures. For example, last week Uncle Tom of Texas (I was staying with a family that's all ru but half Texan) came into the living room, a.k.a. my bedroom for awhile there, and said, "I'm going to a Bob Dylan concert in Iowa City with some friends in about a half an hour, wanna come?" "Of course," was my answer. Even if it the Boston Red Sox were playing the first game of the World Series against the apparently unbeatable Colorado Rockies: this was Bob Dylan live, plus Elvis Costello was opening. We hopped in his friend's van and drove up to Iowa City, had some traditional American cuisine (Taco Bell/Kentucky Fried Chicken), and soon arrived at the basketball stadium where they were playing. Before we got there we drove by some cornfields. Okay, we drove by a lot of cornfields but specifically one where the setting sun was scorching the sky as the fields below it were blackened and a silouetted tractor travelled between the two. Beautiful sunsets come for free, pretty much everywhere in the world. At the concert Costello asked "What's So Great About Peace, Love, and Understanding?", as I've often wondered myself, but he finished with a "protest song." Bob, let's be honest, did too, grilling those "Masters of War" as only he can. He scared us that he wouldn't come back for the encore but finally sang about Alicia Keys and even a "Rolling Stone." How did it feel? Well, it felt pretty good actually: it was amazing to hear those songs. Other people enjoyed it as well: there were three girls behind us dancing and shouting for the song "Lay Lady Lay" and an overweight elderly man to our right was dancing like crazy the whole time maybe remembering his own youth.

But most of my time has been spent in Fairfield staying in a crazy but great, family home, with board games, lots of food, and lots of books. Half the people in Fairfield seem to have stayed there at one point or another. The people are really cool, the house is surrounded by a garden that's chaotic but fruit/vegetableful and they seem to use something from it in every meal. The main thing for me was that I felt welcome from the beginning and that's really special to me. One real Fairfield moment was when Alaris, the unschooling daughter was putting avocado on her organic quinoa pancake and I commented that it looked good: I'd never seen someone do that. "What? I know lots of people who put avocado on their pancakes." "That's because you live in Fairfield." was my response. And I love the odd names I've encountered like Alaris, Sudevi (Sweet Goddess! there's a lot of Indic influence in the town!), Samara, Pooki (not sure where that comes from), Darjil, and Phoebe with a silent "p" and an "h" pronounced like an "f". Those crazy ru's.

As I said, I'm in Western Pennsylvannia, the edge of the Midwest and I'll soon be moving to the realm of the East Coast and may make it down south to Tennessee: plans are forming for another mini-conference but I'll keep you posted! Read on for more details about Iowa. Love to hear from you all in general and I'd love to hear about what sort of things you find helpful to hear about or any questions you have. I really like questions. I know for some just hearing a 23 year old who didn't go to high school or college form a sentence is impressive and hearing that I travel and run my own little landscaping business is even more impressive but I think I can do more than that!

All the best,
Eli

I was actually thinking about staying in Fairfield. People warned me that a lot of people come to visit Fairfield and end up never leaving! At first I wasn't at all worried about being tempted to stay. No offense. But it got to the point that I actually wrote a newsletter saying I'd be staying for another few weeks but decided against it. Basically, I realized it's a cool place but I couldn't fulfill my purpose by staying in Fairfield. Part of my purpose is to travel, discover new things, and not have a clue where I'm going to sleep in a couple weeks or even tomorrow night. By freely following my heart for years I've realized that I am not free to avoid travelling freely. It's something I have to do. I wrote a rap at the end of the summer inspired by how upset I was because some very cool people I knew who were going to college when I didn't think it was the best thing for them. Now it seems like it might have been wrong about that and the rap itself, was really about me, as may often happen. I rap about the need for purpose or else you're "Spinning in one place/afraid to look life in the face". Who wants to actually fulfill their purpose, to create and make true changes in the world? It's so much easier to work, sit around, chase after girls, and talk and talk and talk. But life keeps offering me too many things that are too close to my ideal dream that I can't refuse. And really, I'm inspired by inspiring other people to live their purpose. Because I know it's easier to do something after you've seen someone else do it. It's made things easier for me, it's meant a lot to me to hear or read about other people's meaningful struggles. For one thing it means it's okay for me to struggle too. And when you know someone else is struggling with something truly meaningful to them, it can be comforting. And knowing that your success might be inspirational for them to do their work is the most inspiring thing of all. I've probably used the word "inspire" and "struggle" more than is legal and I've been vague. But do you see what I'm saying? I'm not inspired by fantastical Gurus. Just not my thing. I'm inspired by people who are fully here on this earth struggling with truly meaningful things. For example, someone in Fairfield told me about a woman who is a "breatharian": she doesn't eat food but lives and is still healthy. That's an amazing skill. Really, I don't doubt that that's possible. But there'll be plenty of time to exist without needing to eat food when you are dead! You know? I'm eating food, all kinds of food, while I'm here! And I'm going to like it. And I'm going to do all that I can to make sure that I can continue to eat food and feed whoever I'm taking care of, no matter what happens in this crazy world. There's nothing wrong with feeling hungry, jealous, angry, lustful, or even violent. It's what you do with those feelings that matters. And there's nothing wrong with not having those feelings. Maybe you don't want to eat for awhile. Okay. I ate dinner hours ago and yet I'm not feeling hungry when I normally would. Though there is an ancestor offering I need to eat... but that's not for me, it's for the ancestors! It's like the guy who always orders three beers because it reminds him of when he used to drink with his brothers. One day he comes in and only orders two beers. The bartender asks with great concern if one of his brothers has died or something. He says, "Oh no, nothing like that, I just decided to quit drinking."

You can read the rest of that rap I mentioned above, called "Lookin' For a Test", here: http://www.eligerzon.com/article.php?id=39