Another kind of space
creating ecological dwellings and environments
Samples from the 'personal stories' section of
the book:
The Floating Neutrinos
Captain Betsy
 It
was just before Christmas 1975 that I arrived in New Orleans and
stumbled across a funky looking, 38' barrel raft tied up almost
right next to the Natchez, a big paddlewheel tourist excursion
boat. The contrast was huge - here at the end of the dock, within
sight of the tourists boarding the old-style riverboat, under
the tune of the wavering off-key notes of the steam calliope which
welcomed them aboard several times a day, was this conglomeration
of used plywood and driftwood, something more akin to Huckleberry
Finn than the modern French Quarter. In some sense it seemed to
me more authentic than the Natchez itself. This raft, the Ms.
Leslie, had been built from scrap and recycled materials in Sioux
City, Iowa, and had floated all the way here by way of the Missouri
and Mississippi Rivers.
It wasn't long before I joined the group onboard, led by Poppa
Neutrino, then known as David Pearlman. This was the beginning
of what would be an odyssey of 26 years, (and still continuing)
- building scrap rafts, travelling the rivers and the Gulf and
Atlantic Intracoastal Waterways of the U.S, eventually taking
the first scrap-built raft across the North Atlantic Ocean to
Ireland and then France. To date 9 rafts have been built, and
a 10th is soon to be launched.
Each of the rafts has been built almost entirely from salvaged
and recycled materials. Each has been designed for the environment
and waters upon which it was to be used.
Son of Town Hall
Now in southern France, this raft was built with scrap from the
streets and waterfront of New York City, and made the North Atlantic
crossing to demonstrate that it was possible to build a perfectly
safe, ocean-going vessel out of scrap and recycled materials -
a vessel which did not look like anything else ever to cross an
ocean, yet with purpose and reason behind every element of its
design. This was the prototype which was to prove the feasibility
of such a raft, so that our future Orphanage Raft could be designed
and built using the same principles.
When
we decided to attempt the North Atlantic Crossing, we spent years
designing, building, testing, and redesigning the raft so that
every possible problem at sea was handled in advance. The raft
that ultimately made the crossing was self-righting, self-steering
under sail, and capable of self-steering dead downwind in a storm,
thus keeping itself continually aligned at a right angle to the
waves and avoiding the danger of broaching and rolling.
Poppa Neutrino and I are Nomads at heart; we feel fully alive
only when freely moving from place to place. Over the years we
have supported ourselves, our children and our many students through
jewelry making, sign lettering, music, writing, art, and video
documentary making. We took a vow to each other years ago, never
to work for another person, and we have taken a vow of poverty
to the Universe. We vowed never to have for ourselves one thing
more than what we need for our basic necessities and to carry
on our teaching work, and always to pass on whatever came into
our possession beyond this level. We have given away whole rafts,
loaded with equipment, motors and shore boats, because it was
time to move on to the next step, and the material objects had
ceased to assist our progress and had become an impediment.
From the time I first joined Poppa Neutrino on the Ms. Leslie,
it was apparent to me that there was more going on than was evident
to a casual outside viewer. Not only was the mode of life unusually
primitive - for example, there was no electricity on board, and
no running water - not even water tanks, but buckets and one gallon
containers which had to be filled and carried, sometimes from
quite a distance. No shower - you just dipped from a bucket and
poured the water over your head, and knowing how far you might
have to carry that water, you were naturally as
conservative as possible with this valuable resource. In fact,
almost everything that I, in my middle class background, had taken
for granted, took on new meaning - either extreme value, or a
realization of how dispensable it was. Later I would come to understand
that, unlike accepted standards of living in the US, most of the
world lived in conditions equal to or more primitive than these.
There was a continually changing flow of crew members coming
and going - people from all walks of life were attracted to these
strange floating, travelling craft. There are incredible healing
powers in nature, and in being out on the water, away from the
direct influences of cities and highways. Poppa always made it
the first order of business to teach every new person an independent
method of earning a living. Having a trade which allows you to
earn a living without relinquishing your own timing has a tremendously
freeing effect. And in learning to build and to sailor a vessel,
you gain a sense of competence, resulting in an automatic raising
of self-esteem. Since many of those who came along were drifters
or down-and-out types with few skills and often with problems
with addictions or having been on the wrong side of the law, these
basic beginnings were essential steps toward recovery. But aside
from these simple and very basic healing and empowering factors,
this was an ongoing experiment through trial and error, to discover
basic psychological tools that would work for anyone, to free
yourself from whatever bonds, inner and outer, were holding you
captive; and then to find ways to make these tools available in
every medium on the planet, so that anyone searching could find
some simple starting points with which to move toward finding
a path. We believe each individual's path is different, even those
who choose to follow a well-defined path or a specific teacher.
But what we have discovered and distilled are some very simple
psychological tools, so rudimentary that even children can grasp
and utilize them, and be better able to find or forge their own
individual path toward self-realization as a result.
Random Lunacy
There is also a film about the Neutrinos called, Random Lunacy,
directed by Vic Zimet and Stephanie Silber.
This is the Neutrinos' website for the film:
www.poppaneutrino.com
And, here is the link to streaming the film online in the UK:
http://vod.journeyman.tv/store?p=3640
Also, you can find out even more about the Floating Neutrinos
at: www.floatingneutrinos.com
Other samples from Another kind of space:
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