In the beginning god… or there was a ‘BANG’. Wait, I’m not sure what happened at that beginning, and neither are you. This blog on the other hand is a little bit different. In the beginning of this blog I was living on an anarchist collective in a little town called Lake St Peter called Dragonfly. Dragonfly has been seeing a down time where there has been low membership, interpersonal issues, and lack of motivation. My random summer of 2013 left me here with no money, no tools, and no knowledge of living off the land. Since then I have learned to survive one of the worst winters in 15 years, successfully failed at gardening, but with that failure I began a medicinal tea company which I am calling the Dragonfly Tea Company. There is plenty more to tell you about my dealing at Dragonfly, but let us get on to the topic of myself.
In 1984 I was born into a poor family of Toronto, Canada. Then about 19 years of changes occurred where I lived in about 12 different places with my mom. Single mom, only child scenario. Most of the things that I learned were self-taught. In an unstable home that seemed like the best way to occupy myself. Once 19 hit I was out. Free to do as I chose, or so I thought. I’ve lived in my car, in parks, and at friends places. Pretty much anywhere that was comfortable enough for me (I’m pretty easy to please). My first job out of high school was pretty good. I was an apprentice for a transmission repair specialist at a GM dealer. That dealership closed due to fraud and I found myself at a Mister Transmission, a transmission repair chain. My life was okay. I had a cool group of friends, enough money to save some, a car, and my hobbies. Everything was going the way of the blue-collar, which is fine for some, but not for me.
“THIS IS FUCKED UP!” I said amongst my friends. We were all smoking sacrament while watching Everybody Loves Raymond and his voice was so annoying, so bloody annoying. What was even more annoyed was my mind at myself. I wasn’t doing my best, but just doing enough to get by. I stood up and told my friends I had to leave, to think about things on my own. They were shocked and concerned, but there I wasn’t the one that they should be concerned about, it was themselves. At that moment I broke the cycle of uneducated mediocrity.
The next day I went to my old high school and grabbed as many college calendars I could. I didn’t think at the time that I could cut it in University. That night I spent hours highlighting different programs which interested me. About a week later, and after talking about my options with old teachers and college professors, I had made a few final decisions.
Oh, I forgot to tell you. When I was 17 I was waiting for a bus after football practice and started a conversation with a young man and our conversation led us to what he was taking in College, Mechanical Engineering. “What does a mechanical engineer do?” I asked. “You see the garbage can there? Or, the bike passing by? Or, that sweet car? And that airplane in the sky? Engineers design those. and make sure that they will not fail ad hurt people.” I grabbed my bus and that was it.
My final decision…. Mechanical Engineering Technology Design at George Brown College. It was my first choice and my first acceptance.I entered the 3 year program in 2005 and my first stop was to the Student Association. I instantly got involved into student politics which eventually led me to hold the Vice President of Student Life Position for 2 years.
Upon graduation I went on a bike trip to and through California. I had some family there and I wanted to have a new experience. Which was awesome! I swam in the ocean near some dolphins, I climbed the Sierra Nevada for a week solo, listened to the water crashing into Big Sur, and walked along the warm sand in San Diego.
When I returned to Toronto I wasted my time looking for a job in engineering. I found nothing that interested me and when I did find something that was was interesting the employer was racist, sexist, or just a sad soul. I don’t work into slavery, I work out of it.
In 2009 I decided to apply for University and my friend Tiffany (she will pop up on here every once in a while) said that I should go to York University at the Glendon Campus for Political Science… and I did. My first class covered Plato’s Allegory of The Cave. it was my first philosophical topic and ended up being the topic of my final paper. I graduated with an Honours Bilingual Degree in Philosophy and a Certificate in Law and Social Thought. I refused to go to my graduation, and my reason was based of the sheeple principal. At Glendon I helped get the Lunik Cafe going and helped with its operation. Lunik is, what I call, and anarchist cafe. It works by donations and a student levy.
Spring of 2013 was the time of completion. I began by going to electronic music festivals, and the first on my journey was Om Reunion Fest. My main mode of transportation was thumbing it, and that is still my main mode of transportation. That summer Tiffany and I were gearing up to organize the Global March for Peace and Unity. I was finding a niche as a street artist in the city while blasting tunes from my bicycle. The next festival was Open Mind in Quebec. I spend 3 weeks there setting up, repairing machines, and making new and great friends. I left there with a great sense of my intentions in the world and someone I fell in love with.
My last festival was Harvest Festival in Ontario. This was intense! The community was so welcoming and grateful for my presence. Climbing the pyramid was a poetic dance of spins, holds, and gasps of fear. By the end of the festival I was an expert at climbing it. This was the last festival of my 2013 year. It was a great end to all of the new experiences I had throughout the year.
I returned to Toronto for a week to get my stuff ready and packed for Dragonfly. Oh, how I found Dragonfly is another story. Maybe if you ask I’ll post it. On October 2nd I arrived at Dragonfly, and here is where a new chapter has begun…
Peace, Laugh, and Love…
Peter
Anarchy On The Land 