A few first answers…

A waterfall of questions splashes the once-calm, reflecting pools behind their eyes.

“Where do you sleep?”

“How do you eat?”

“Do you hitchhike?”

“How do you pay for things?”

Everyone wants to know how they can be so free. How they can take their lives in both hands, as I have done, and travel the Earth as if it were all one giant community park. How they can escape the constant burnout and find fulfillment and meaning in their lives without the call to prayer or struggle for social justice.

I’m sure too, that in some way it seems a sort of return to roots, in a religious sense, leaving it to God and returning to Eden. Maybe for some it seems zen or something a Boddhisatva would do. For me, although in a way meditative and more peaceful, this isn’t at all my reasoning.

Strangers ask, “what does your family think?” I reckon they think the same about it as most people do: it’s antisocial and lonely, more or less homelessness, and downright different to a degree that’s recognizable. Dare we say; dangerously different.

I’ve always stuck out as unique and strange, among friends, family, and the majority of my peers, so as far as antisocial and lonely goes, I can’t say it’s a radical change for me. I always felt alone and misunderstood. At least now I can practice making myself understood in multiple American dialects.

I’ve made a lot of new friends as well, so, Ha!

Per the homelessness portion of that, there’s a lot to unpack there, and a much larger conversation about that topic to be had. There’s a lot of stigma around homelessness; period. To be clear, I’m camping and staying with other people who have travelled similarly, I don’t consider myself homeless, but maybe houseless.

To that also: I did my research before heading out and created a route. I track the weather, plan for resting, and follow a number of rules of my own in order to make it safer to rest, fast, be vegan, and walk hundreds of miles. I also downloaded a couple useful apps in addition to reaching out through Facebook groups.

First: Facebook groups. As a trans woman, I find other trans women to be immensely supportive and a good place to start in said groups. Basically, seek out your community wherever you’re going. Seven billion people live here; no matter what, you’re never alone. Find your religious sect, your brand of feminism, or, goodness, if you’re a Nazi, find your party.

Only after I’ve done what I could to find accommodations, etc. in my community did I download these apps. Start with your peers or community regardless of how you feel, you’ll feel a lot better with a reminder that you’re never alone.

Now, those apps you can download: Couchsurfing and Travello. The latter is still growing but it’s a nice way to meet fellow travellers before reaching an area, plus — is this a plus? — the creators are like Tom from Myspace, they’ll be the first to add you.

Couchsurfing on the other hand, I can’t recommend enough. It’s had more gestation time than Travello, for one. For two, there’s a lot more people actively using it.

There’s an initial membership fee for most of the services I’ll mention, but most if not all are very useful and completely worth the annual or one-time fees. In another article I’ll go into more detail regarding all of these services.

Before that, I must mention Wwoofing and HelpX. They’re both great places to look to to exchange accommodations and food for labor. Volunteering is a similar route, but may be less hands on than you’d like unless you’re working with a relief organization such as Habitats for Humanity.

That aside, you’ll find it’s pretty easy to pick up temporary work almost anywhere. A helping hand is often rewarded, even if you don’t want to be. However, plan ahead for those times that you’ll need the cash, plan a place to stay, and inform employers before they hire you, that it’ll be temporary in nature. Thankfully, and unfortunately, many entry-level positions are insecure jobs and only part-time, making much of your competition spread finely

That last point, as well as a discussion on this lifestyle’s difference from others, will be the subject of a future article. In that subsequent piece, the financial insecurity of today will be parsed out in regards to this. Spoiler alert: financial insecurity is more common now than cows’ milk in grocery stores.

What’s stopping you from living well and living well within your means?

The Stars over the Hudson Valley

If you’ve known me for a few years, especially in person, you may be familiar with a monthly habit that I have. And no, I don’t mean my time of the month habits… I mean the habit that I have had since 2015, on the first of every month.

Monthly Horoscope Readings!

I live in the Hudson Valley. It’s New York, USA’s most reputable river valley and has been home to many of the country’s greats: Jimmy Fallon, Billy Joel, FDR, Willem DeFoe, Liam Neeson, Emma Roberts, and maybe even Snooki in addition to so many more. I don’t know about them, but living here makes me a little more interested in reading local publications. One such publication, which I’ve been reading since 2015 is Chronogram.

Chronogram is a culture, news, art, etc. magazine that comes out once a month. In the summer of 2015, I was introduced to it through it’s groundbreaking horoscopes section. My good friend Elizabeth and I, at the time, travelled the Hudson Valley working as canvassers for the New York Public Interest Research Group (NYPIRG), trying to save the environment, we enjoyed stopping at local, organic, and vegan cafes around the region for our lunches.

We weren’t alone, as our team at any time consisted of two or three other people about our age, so we would sit at a table together and read our horoscopes aloud.

They were ALWAYS on point and breathtaking.

Up until recently, June, the horoscopes were written by Planet Waves’ Eric Francis Coppolino. (Planet Waves, not to be confused with the album by Bob Dylan, another prominent figure of the Hudson Valley.)

Coppolino wrote brilliantly about the stars, moons, and planets, and how they interacted with each constellation of the zodiac. Every. Single. Time. We would read those horoscopes aloud, each one had it’s own weight in each of our chests. They spoke directly to our own experiences and feelings either at the time that we were reading them, or sometime down the road during the month.

They became a ritual for reflection, not only for myself, yet, very likely, many others. And while it was possible to reflect over the words being viewed on a screen, there really is nothing like feeling the large pages of a magazine, and reading them, and keeping them chronologically on a shelf for later annual reflection.

What happened in June?

That’s the question now, isn’t it? In June, Eric Francis Coppolino fell off the Chronogram map. Not on pages, as far as I could tell online, I had to turn to other methods of monthly horoscope such as Horoscope.com or Astrosofa. While these were wonderful, they certainly didn’t have the power in their words that Coppolino had in his.

This month, August 2018, a new writer has taken up the mantle left by Coppolino in Chronogram: Lorelai Kude. With her, less artistic representations of the twelve signs have also been installed. Read your horoscope in Chronogram here.

We’ll have to investigate further for next month’s post, what happened to Coppolino and why the post was left vacant by the writer.

Criticisms

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Planet Waves

While you can sign up for Planet Waves’ newsletter, read the weekly and monthlies online, and maybe even still read some of Coppolino’s work in other publications such as the Daily News, Marie Claire, Harper’s BAZAAR, and others, there’s still something missing when it no longer appears in local print. The feeling simply isn’t the same.

Chronogram

Although it’s a really great thing to have someone back in the horo-sattle, I’m not impressed with the work of Kude. In comparison there’s a lot to be desired — call me spoiled by Coppolino.

For instance, my horoscope begins cute: “Fun fact: Virgo is the largest constellation of the zodiac, and the second-largest (next to Hydra) constellation in the Milky Way galaxy!” By the end however, it feels as if you’ve been listed at. It’s not so much cold and calculating as it is a drag in comparison to the almost personal style of Coppolino, that felt as if he knew more about you than sometimes you did. It’s scientific to the point of boring. There’s no story that goes with it suggesting more of a scientific approach and less of a writer’s touch out drawing out a reader’s interest.

After looking at other horoscopes, it’s possible that, after this or next month’s, readers may start losing intrigue and yearning for their Chronogram horoscopes. Readers want the story of their lives, not recommendations or matter-of-fact advice from their horoscopes. At least, that’s what I’ve noticed in groups, with friends, and in myself.

Let me know what you think about your monthly horoscope from Chronogram in the comments!