...Back in MN at last, enjoying friends and taking a break from work.

A number of people who gave moved away from the area are back for the holidays. One surprising thing is to hear that everyone who has moved away found it more difficult than expected, and many eventually want to move back to the Twin Cities. Travel is fun and exciting, but home is home.

We've also been assessing where we are in our lives. It's disappointing (but unsurprising) how most have dropped their ideals and taken the narrow, conventional but minimally fulfilling path. In some ways, I've taken that conventional path, but in another way--school was always my skill and I had never thought that I wouldn't take advantage of that skill. Despite learning about pesticides and other land-destroying techniques, I'm completely devoted to the agroecological movement, to put humans back in a better balance with everything surrounding us.

Despite feeling the pull, there are still holdouts--people who continue to travel or find alternative ways of supporting themselves. It's highly admirable and the only way to be happy oneself in the long run, I think--you can never run away from what you truly want. You can't truly leave yourself.