Well, the best way to summarize my experience with the publishing industry presently is crickets. Maybe the agents and editors are all on vacation; maybe they are all at conferences; or maybe they are all just hunkered down somewhere reading manuscripts. So, in the meantime, I am continuing to read memoir. I just finished the book The Man Who Quit Money by Mark Sundeen. I am attempting to broaden my memoir horizons by reading memoirs written by and about men; big applause from my husband. This particular book was a journey about a guy who actually did leave his last thirty dollars in a telephone booth in the year 2000 and then basically went to live in the Moab Desert. He grew up in a fundamentalist household in Colorado and slowly becomes disenfranchised with our capitalist system of buying and selling as well as debt and credit. Admirably, he worked at several interesting career positions where he assisted in a homeless shelter and a women's shelter. He did not like the abuses of the system by his boss at one place nor the way people were treated at these facilities. He even travels to India initially to pursue Hinduism, but eventually he studies Buddhism and the life of a monk. If I remember correctly, at one point he joins the peace corp and lives and
serves abroad. The main point comes when Suelo as this man is known drives his car off a cliff in order
to commit suicide and lives. If there ever was a person that "goes with the flow", it is truly this man. At one point, he drives with two people to Alaska and takes on salmon fishing. He works at community gardens, participates in the concept of Free Meals, and basically could be classified as a jack of all trades. In this book he has made his home in a cave in the Moab desert. He routinely goes searching for food in dumpsters. Honestly, at various points throughout the book I was fearful for him. I am glad he found peace,
security, and happiness living without money, but I have to say it is definitely not for me.
I would worry about the following issues: brushing my teeth and having my teeth cleaned every four months; cleanliness, food (I am not one to dumpster dive), medications (if I didn't take these I probably would have gone blind, deaf, and fallen over dead a while ago); medical care; shelter (I don't even like camping much less cave dwellings; clothes (I really like having freshly laundered clothes; if I had to wash them in a river I probably could, but what about wrinkles and appearing disheveled); water (I would probably obtain a parasite drinking from a river and that would be the end of me); shoes and deodorant (I do not have as many pairs of shoes as some of my acquaintances, but I refuse to smell bad); hair cuts ( I have short hair and I don't like long hair. Yes I could cut my own hair, but that could be disastrous); travel (I am not one to hitch a ride with any person because there's a good chance I would never be seen again or found dead); and finally, I think the one premise I agree with Suelo on is finding spirituality in nature because let's face it, I know way too many supposed "Christians" who attend church every Sunday and are still some of the most greedy, evil people I come across on a weekly basis. Just drive around Atlanta and watch how many people with Jesus bumper stickers cut you off, cuss you out, or just plain veer into your lane and run you off the road. So while I admire this man for his courage to lead a simple life without money, I know I could not lead the same life. Also, what is more important is that I do not think I would want to live this type of life. I still think you can be moderately secure monetarily and be quite generous as well.
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