You guys might be interested in my latest guest post over at Leo Babuta’s blog, Write To Done:
Research Sources for Writers: A Guide to Backing up Your Words
The article is about writing and has little to do with the themes of this blog, but if you’re a writer or blogger it might be worth looking into.
Hope you enjoy it! If you do like the article, please Digg or Stumble! :)
This website is dedicated to my grandparents, Dowlin and Daisy, and to their California citrus nursery. Their story’s far from typical.
Their Story
Dowlin and Daisy met in 1955 and married 3 months later in California. Dowlin was 23 and had dropped out of high school several years earlier to work and support his parents (I followed in his steps, but left high school for very different reasons). Daisy was an 18-year old transplant from Tennessee. At the time of their honeymoon, they collectively had $50 to their names.
Their honeymoon lasted a day. The following morning they moved to Yuma, Arizona to start an agricultural labor gig. It lasted a month, and they were paid with a little money and 100,000 seedlings used to start a citrus nursery in California’s Sonora Desert. After starting the nursery, Dowlin worked 18-hour days, tending to his citrus nursery by day and working for others by night to maintain cash flow.
From these humble beginnings came the largest citrus nursery in the U.S. What touches me is not the nursery’s size, however, but the humanity it’s infused with. Yes, millions and millions of citrus trees were raised on that dusty, dry desert landscape. But my grandparents and their nursery also gave birth to aunts, cousins, families, as well as my mother, brother, and me. We’ve all lived there (at one time or another), grown up there, and have hundreds of memories associated with its every square foot. My psyche is inextricably bound to my grandparents’ nursery, to its desolate desert landscape, and to the truckloads of trees that have come and gone over the years. (more…)
You guys might be interested in my latest guest post over at Dumb Little Man:
8 Things a Pickup Artist Can Teach You About Seducing Your Spouse
It’s probably not something I’d post here, but what I most enjoy about guest posting is the ability to write about topics beyond the scope of The Growing Life (like writing, for example).
Hope you enjoy it! :)
"Don’t worry about what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive and do that. Because what the world needs are people who have come alive."
-Howard Thurman
In the song "My Roller Coaster," singer/songwriter Kimya Dawson recalls her mom saying "I hope someday you get paid for being Kimya Dawson." Here’s the song if you want to listen:
[audio:http://projectmojavesite.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/MyRoller.mp3]
Given how some parents encourage children to adopt unwanted professions or identities, Kimya’s mother’s statement is powerful. Kimya’s mother hoped she would get paid just for being Kimya. Kimya now gets paid for playing anti-folk concerts across the U.S. and for being her beautifully quirky and authentic self (you may have heard her 6 songs on the Juno soundtrack).
In a world of increasing competition and economic downturns, we’re working more hours for less pay, taking fewer vacation hours, and generally burning out. Perhaps this explains the popularity of alternative career books, stay-at-home jobs, and psychiatric medications. The societally scripted routes to success are failing us.
Clay Collins is widely regarded as one of the top internet marketers in the world. Now in his 30s, Clay left home at age 15 to start his first software company and has been practicing entrepreneurship, off and on, ever since. Clay has been behind the scenes (advising and writing copy) for some of the most important and highest grossing information marketing campaigns on the internet.
