Joe, as an aspiring writer, you are my new hero. The "Revenge of the Mutt People" was so brutally honest and familiar to me, I read it several times. I spent my high school years in Portland, Oregon, not Winchester, Virginia, but we have shared many of the same experiences. Cars, fighting and fucking.
I'm one of the only people in my circle of friends who has built a cabin in a roadless coastal forest. Few people I know have killed their own food or managed a farm as I have. I have seen the same desperate people in dead-end careers that you described in "Mutt People", and I have also seen people in the rat race with brilliant job opportunities who are incredibly unhappy. Perhaps it is the lack of imagination and flexibility that both classes have surrendered.
With that, I'll confess to being one of the happiest semi-poor dudes I know, with a lovely wife, steady employment, and a spiritual quest through the martial arts.
From Orcas Island, off the coast of Washington State,
John
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Yo John:
My hat is off to you. We are more alike than you think. I had a cabin in the deep north Idaho woods, skidded logs with horses, hunted and cut 14 cords of firewood a year to keep our stoves going. (I'll have to admit, I'm glad to be back here where all the firewood is hardwood. No more fast burning doug fir for me!) I'd do it now if I were a younger man and had a decent back again. I'd rather cut firewood than write a book any day. I really would, but only folks such as yourself can understand why.
Take care of your lovely wife and life.
In brotherhood,
Joe
