Thursday, March 22, 2012

Meet the Goodwin Project

I tripped and fell hard over these folks while researching farmer's markets on the North Shore.



To be honest I have mixed feelings about rejecting society and choosing a nomadic existence (where children are concerned), but I have enormous respect for the intention...the desire for a mindful and spiritual existence. Do I think "society" offers that? Definitely not.



I did my own version of dropping out in my late teens; following the Grateful Dead, hanging out on a commune, living in an Airstream on a bluff overlooking the Lost Coast (on a Native American burial ground no less), making pita in a wood burning stove, and studying midwifery. In my experience many get lost living like this; few find themselves.

Regardless, I felt some major soul-ache looking at these graceful and lovely people. It was a little bit like looking at what could have been and almost was.



Especially if you've never had the chance to shake free of the heavy responsibilities and demands of this system, I know that this kind of life can hold enormous appeal. Just read their compelling bios and tell me you don't want to know more:

"Aamion was bare handing prawns from a clear creek in Namuamua Village, Fiji, before he could talk. His vagabond dad made home not in one place, but amid a seasonal passage to outposts in New Zealand, Kauai, and Fiji. He is as much a son of nowhere as he is comfortable everywhere. Work and play are blurred for him, and done hard especially now that he and wife Daize have added a second child, True, to the brood.

Daize attracts people wherever she goes, for something more than her sunny magnetism. Whether noseriding over piercing reef or navigating a varied upbringing she got through unscathed. As a teen she was the face of Roxy, an icon in the rise of women’s surfing, and longboarding world champion twice. Through her resourceful creativity Daize has manifested a blessed life. Trolling the Hanalei farmer’s market for tasty mangoes so her kids don't crave candy, she’s a happy, purposeful mother who knows the earth provides.

Aamion is proof that the ocean does too, whether riding big barrels to the podium in the Volcom Pipeline Pro on Oahu’s North Shore, or landing a monster dog tooth tuna with spear while no one is watching. He intuits the less you say, the more people listen, and their son Given, 3, learns this first hand. The unassuming words from Given’s gravelly throat offer clues to his atypical worldview. The Goodwins drop into the bigger waves in life with clear eyes, setting up for the high line."



Do you have a secret (or not so secret) drop-out dream? What does it look like? Farm? Yurt? Costa Rica jungle?

Would you ever go "off the grid" with children?


UPDATE:

Their movie teaser is just shimmering with life...the millisecond-long birth scene had me crying, and I am so looking forward to the full-length movie. Try not to be so jaded, all you naysayers!





..................................

19 comments:

  1. Does moving to Buenos Aires to be professionally criticize things count as a dropout dream?

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    1. Um, sure? I guess if it's a completely different life than the one you currently have, it's a drop out dream!
      I would drop out in BA, fuh shu!

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    2. Thanks, it's my class photo from my freshman year in highschool..in 95(?). I'm sure you can imagine the extent to which I wrote purple poetry.

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  2. Is it really going off the grid if you are being followed by a camera crew?

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    1. I doubt they refer to themselves as being off the grid--it's just a term I used to ask a closing question.

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  3. I can totally relate! We always said that if we won the lottery, we'd take the kids out of school and backpack all over the world. Friends tease me about always looking for my unibomber cabin: off the grid with acreage-grow our own food, or scouting cheap ranch land to put an airstream on, blah blah. It's fun to dream like that..but, I need a miracle :)

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    1. Hey, you're the only person who didn't dislike the idea of these folks and what they do!
      Geez, bare minimum it made me think about changing little things in our lives...like tossing out the t.v., or finding a business that my husband and I could work at together so we can spend more time as a family!
      I like having my status quo shaken!
      When you find that cabin let me know...I'll have one of those awful wood burned signed made for it: "Unibomber Lives Here" with a little picture of a shotgun.

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  4. I second Anonymous....if you have access to a computer to make a blog and a team following you around (and probably paying you), you are NOT living off the grid.

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    1. I'm really interested in how controversial they are. Maybe people feel like they misrepresent themselves by cashing in on some false Earth-family image? I think they're totally genuine and legit and lovely, myself.

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  5. Anyone who refers to themselves in the third person as 'attracting people wherever she goes' is a creep. Also if you can travel to 18 countries and 'the earth will provide' then you probably have a trust fund and nothing to worry about.

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    1. Well, they were/are pro surfers, so likely "the earth will provide" in that they can surf competitions for $$$ and I'm sure they're involved in other, possibly paying, aspects of the surf industry. If my family had that opportunity, I would take it in a heartbeat. And they made a conscious choice to live the way they do, which can be inspiring in certain ways and brings up questions about what is necessary in life/what makes a happy life. I think their blog and movie suggest that life can look very different from the norm, and that's always useful to me in evaluating my choices.

      I'm certain their bios were written by someone else, else that would be creepy. They seem lovely and genuine and not the least bit creepy to me ;)

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    2. yeah, that third person talk scares Jennifer (me)

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  6. DUDE! I never you knew you lived in an airstream on a bluff. I keep trying to convince Sean that we should just buy a motorhome instead of ever buying a house.
    I think that family is awesome. I envy them. They in themselves prove why people need to be more like them. It's because our society is so stuck in generalizing and putting people into a "category" Why can't they roam the world, live off the earth and blog? Yes we have a responsibility to be responsible but Who ever said responsibility has to be about working full time focused on making money and having a big house with lots of toys?
    As far as the children, I have not a clue what raising kids is like, but I DO know that kids are very adaptable and the stresses that some may think kids will have living abroad or in a nomadic lifestyle can't be harder than the stresses that kids have to face in our society. They have the stress to conform, to fit the "american" lifestyle that is characterized by selfishness and technology, violence, crime, immorality, broken families etc. Not that those things can't happen somewhere else but in my opinion, living in a different environment or country helps children learn REAL life lessons. They get to see the bigger picture instead of just focusing in on one way of life. Yes they need a routine, but routines can come in all shapes and forms. Yes, they need education but education is more than just going to an overcrowded classroom and reading a book or being taught by college educated a teacher who in reality is just teaching from the book because the schools curriculum forces him to. Life is so much more than what our society says we have to do. But since I don't have kids, that is all just opinion, not experience.
    As for me, If we had a way to continually support ourselves I would be all over this planet in a heartbeat. This life here in our bubble is not all there is and I want my life to be characterized by experiences and what they taught me, not how many ipad's I got or how big my house is. People often make remarks to us at how much we travel but I don't regret it one bit. I've learned so much about myself and grew closer as couple on those trips. I've been forced out my comfort zone and tried new things. I've met hundreds of people and have formed friendships all over the world. It keeps my perspective on life fresh and if I could do that everyday I wouldn't regret it one bit!

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  7. so dreamy... i'm too uptight to ever do anything so rad. but i totally fantasize about being laid back enough to do it. so amazing you had that experience!! what a controversial post you've written. and i thought i was uptight... ;)

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    1. I can't believe you're uptight. Or maybe I can? Maybe that explains Dusty??

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  8. damn, a fellow deadhead in dreamland...
    i knew i liked you.

    my dream escape...beach house in peru.
    importing alpaca blankets and peruvian goods back to the states for $$

    growing coca in my backyard
    hammock in the front, facing the ocean

    is this too much to ask?!

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    1. I wish I had a normal blog set up where I KNEW WHEN PEOPLE I LOVE POST COMMENTS!!!

      Your escape fantasy sounds bueno to me...and let's do meet.

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