Quotes

We love quotes. Here are some favorites and their back story...

Alternatives and work-arounds. Special agents in families bring other members of those families to think about the qualities assumed to reside in the states "special", agents, agency, and agencies. And to think about alternatives and work-arounds to these states. Sergei found the following quote in a book about poet and outdoors-man Kenneth Rexroth and he likes it so much he decided to share it - and the book it comes from - here:

Pick your companions carefully, be sure they can adjust themselves to coordinated group work; examine yourself, be sure you can and do. Nothing will spoil a camp [or venture] more effectively than someone who bickers or shirks his responsibilities. Then divide up the work, either permanently or in regular rotation....Be sure the work is evenly divided, then stick to the division. The ideal camp [or venture] is a miniature anarchist community, straight out of Kropotkin. Each goes about [her] his appointed task quietly and efficiently, the functions of the group are shared with spontaneous equality, problems are settled by consultation rather than controversy, and whatever leadership exists is based solely on experience and ability. The mountains and glaciers, the forests and streams of America [the planet] are a heritage shared equally by all people, and they are not simply "recreation areas" [or sources of endless resources] but training grounds for group living and group sharing. Each group that hikes or rides along the trail by day contented and alert, and makes camp at night "decently and in order" is a sort of test tube or kindergarten of the good life. So don't forget, when it's your turn to wash the dishes, the centuries are watching you.

From In the Sierra: Mountain Writing by Kenneth Rexroth, edited by Kim Stanley Robinson [A New Directions Book, 2012].

Feel free to share your ideas about agency with us....