I considered it an honor to work with Peter and Willem on the new Rewild.info. When they first suggested narrowing the focus to organizing Rewild Camps and Rewild Havens, I reacted with skepticism. “Wouldn’t that cut out a lot of really important discussions?” After we talked about it, though, I saw their point. But apparently others have had the same reaction I had. So, I took the time to sit down and write out what the new Rewild.info sets out to achieve, why I consider it important, and what part you might play in it. The new focus doesn’t exclude any of the discussions that the old site supported—it just reframes them in a context that points back to the real world.

The Medicine Woman’s Roots is having a blogparty! I have no idea what that is, but it sounds like fun. Apparently, to participate, you’re supposed to write a blog post on the topic of “Sweet Medicine” – “the many delicious ways of preserving herbs, from cordials and elixirs to meads to herbal honeys and syrups!” I am the most amateur of amateur herbalists, but I did once take an herbal medicines class at Raccoon Creek State Park where they taught me to make horehound cough syrup. It’s basically just a mixture of horehound tea and honey, it tastes delicious, and it works like a charm. The natural response to trying it out, in my experience, is, “Mmm, this is good! Now, how can we maximize the honey content?”

I spend a lot of time staring at screens. My job requires me to spend my days staring at computer screens, and my ambitions tack on a few hours more. To relax, I typically look for a television screen. I probably do somewhat better than some of my colleagues, though; I camp, hike, fish, take walks, tend a garden, and generally seek out a connection with a more-than-human world that people I work with consider something between a quirky hobby and a bizarre obsession. Still, I think I know how Linda Buzzell would diagnose my periodic bouts of depression and anxiety. Co-editor with Craig Chalquist of the new anthology Ecotherapy: Healing with Nature in Mind, just released by Sierra Club Books (May 2009), she describes how she approaches patients with similar complaints. “I ask them to keep a time-journal in which they record the hours and minutes spent each day outside, as well as the hours spent inside in front of a screen. My clients are often shocked to realize how disassociated they have become from nature and our species’ natural ways of living, and the effect this disconnection is having on their psyche. In fact, a 2007 study from the University of Essex shows that a daily ‘dose’ of walking outside in nature can be as effective at treating mild to moderate depression as expensive antidepressant medications that can sometimes have negative side-effects.”

Yesterday, I took my stand against personal responsibility. Yes, against personal responsibility. I’ve certainly never had to overcome any shyness about making bold statements when I had reason to make them. Over a year ago, I wrote about vicious and virtuous cycles, including their role in my own life. I wrote about getting a new job, and a new apartment.

The move away from the start-up culture afforded me more time away from work, though not at first. I worked fewer hours, but the location required a long commute through heavy traffic. I came home exhausted, and because I no longer walked to work, my health suffered further. I remained trapped there until my lease finally ran out. Once that happened, I returned to suburbia.

If you look for “personal responsibility” on the internet, you’ll find endless pages of editorials, blog postings, forum discussions and rants on how nobody believes in it anymore. And yet, amongst all that, you’ll find no one questioning it. It seemed ironic to me; amidst all that outrage, try to find someone who genuinely doesn’t believe in it, and you’ll come up short.

One of the major symptoms of depression is withdrawing from other people. So it’s interesting that as we civilized folks have withdrawn as much as we can from the rest of the community of life, depression has gotten more common. Much like someone suffering from depression distances himself from other people, most of us Americans distance ourselves from nature. A depressive thinks he’s alone; we wonder if we’re alone in the universe, as if theoretical life on other planets would somehow make more legitimate company than the life on our own. Is it any wonder, then, that taking a walk in the country has been found to help treat depression?

Jon Young emphasizes the idea of a “sit spot” in a tracker’s education: a spot where you go, daily if possible, to spend time observing. You see how things change according to time of day and time of year; you learn to sit still and observe the world closely; you become intimately familiar with one spot and begin to understand the different relationships and encounters that go on there. I could go on forever—in fact, Jon has often said that your sit spot will become your best tracking teacher, and that nothing will teach you more about the more-than-human world.

For many years, I maintained that I had a black thumb. The few plants I’d foolishly bought all withered and died. I even managed to kill plants that others assured me were unkillable – spider plants, bamboo, etc. I am currently in the process of slowly killing an aloe vera. Don’t ask me how, I couldn’t tell you. Eventually, I gave up on ever having plants, as each experience just made me feel like a raging plant-murderer. I’m half-Catholic, half-Jewish; trust me, I don’t need any more guilt in my life.

Writing, Language & Thought from Jason Godesky on Vimeo.

• Audio on Archive.org
• YouTube (Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
• SlideShare. Listen to the “SlideCast,” browse, share, or download the presentation slides.

I’ve made what some people call a “slidecast,” syncing an MP3 with online slides over SlideShare. Tomorrow, I hope to finish editing the video, and will post that.