This is @Sasha and her most valuable project to date:
A book. But a book is not simply a lot of words or a pile of paper. It is memories, emotions, worldviews, and a lot of work to put them all together. Her book is a story that spans over 15 years. But these years are hardly what most people experience on this planet.
She was born in Russia but at age 8 had to move to the United States and deal with a new world. New language, new culture, new people; her mom, her bother, and some pets. Her father went back to Russia, and that affected her a lot.
A mountain of changes to absorb as a kid which led her to a world of drugs and anger.
She details these struggles which at times feel like hard to believe stories - a 17 year old girl selling drugs in New York, crazy mushroom trips and adventurous thefts.
But she managed to pull herself together and change her life for the better. She was not impressed by the imaginary borders humans create and call countries, so she went on flying like a free bird :). From Canada to Mexico, Australia to Europe, Russia to Thailand. 15 years of adventures with almost no money. Because money won't stop Small Sasha :).
A way to discover the world and yourself.
When you get to experience so many cultures and places, you can understand much better what humans are, and what makes them who they are.
The places she saw and the people she met are extraordinarily described in the book, in a way that you feel like you are there. No photos needed. You'll laugh, wonder, or feel uncomfortable reading some of her uncensored experiences.
It is a galaxy of stories that she had to put together using notes from the past, photos, and her own memories stored in the mushy pile of cells we call the brain.
She managed to compile this massive story in a way that it is super fun to follow, but also to get a feeling of how she grew a mind in all of these years.
That mental growth and her experiences, made her realize how fucked up this society is and how much we are destroying this environment and the creatures in it.
She started to volunteer for some organizations over the years, eventually getting closer to the project I made, TROM. And so here we are, a book later, spending our lives together.
I cannot describe how wonderful this book is, how emotional and funny. So much fun, but also a lot of reality check for many people who are going to have their values challenged.
She crafted this book so much, that at times you feel like Carl Sagan, David Attenborough and George Carlin contributed to the book :).
A wonderful read! A massive CONGRATULATIONS to Sasha for the immense work she put into this. I know too well how for the past 4 years she worked so much on this book that it almost put our relationship under a big question mark. I never saw anyone putting so much effort into anything. It was too intense!
But now it is OVER. Finally! I thought I will never see this happen. Wow!
After so many years of work, and almost no money, she is putting the book for free on her website bigworldsmallsasha.com/ in digital format, despite us not having much money to make a life for ourselves on this planet. But of course, if you want to support her (us) you can buy the physical copy too. Or donate if you can.
I helped design the entire cover and I am quite proud of it :).
Go read it! I know I will read it again. This time the physical copy, in a hammock somewhere in nature.
Sasha you fucking did ti!
PS: The book was made with trade-free software. LibreOffice, Krita, Inkscape.
#nature #traveling #society #capitalism #trade #book #bookrelease #foss
codeDude
in reply to Tio • • •Tio
in reply to codeDude • •codeDude
in reply to Tio • • •Tio likes this.
Tio
in reply to codeDude • •codeDude
in reply to Tio • • •Tio
in reply to codeDude • •codeDude
in reply to Tio • • •Tio
in reply to codeDude • •It is true that most trades translate into "money" in today's society. But increasingly cryptocurrencies are getting more popular. However the focus should be on trade else we lose sight with whats happening online where data ant attention are traded without people realizing it.
The incentive is bad overall, from small to big companies, or individuals. Yes most have to trade to survive, and that is very bad and we should change this situation; it is also true that google and the like are not trading in order to survive, but to thrive in an unequal and ass backwards society.
codeDude
in reply to Tio • • •Tio
in reply to codeDude • •The entire premise of my original post is that it is not good saying "if it's free, you are the product" since for one it makes it seem like whatever is "free" is not to be trusted, and second it gives google and the like approval for using the word "free" for their trade-based services.
Google is trade-based. Facebook is trade-based.
Nextcloud is trade-free. Friendica is trade-free.
This wording makes a lot more sense.
codeDude
in reply to Tio • • •Inken Paper
in reply to Tio • • •Tio
in reply to Inken Paper • •Capitalism is a manifestation of trade, and ill defined for that matter.
As for "it's not trade if it's coerced" - we are mostly coerced to trade nowadays. Want food? Trade your time, energy, skills to someone else, get a currency, go trade it for food. Food is essential yet you have to trade for it, you have no other choice. And so it goes for pretty much anything.
Trade is an exchange, voluntarily or not.
Inken Paper
in reply to Tio • • •if you didn't trade consensually, then you were coerced, and that's not trade, that's stealing.
a form of trade exists in capitalism, but trade is not the same thing as capitalism.
all employment under capitalism is coerced, if the choice is between "work or die".
Tio
in reply to Inken Paper • •You run a business selling food, you have little choice, you have to pay your rent. I need food. I work, make money, then buy food from you. We were both coerced into this game, now who is stealing from who in his situation?
We can have endless debates as to what we mean by trade, but I go with what is generally understood - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trade
I also wrote a book about the evolution of trade - tromsite.com/books/#flipbook-t…
"all employment under capitalism is coerced" I would say most employment on this planet, currently, is coerced. From US to China.
Inken Paper
in reply to Tio • • •capitalism is global. there is no part of human society than capitalism doesn't touch.
no one forced anyone to hoard food for profit. that's a choice. no one forced anyone to exploit workers by paying them wages. that is also a choice. no one forced anyone to enclose the commons and demand rent. that was also a choice.
writing a book doesn't mean it isn't full of nonsense. Hitler wrote a book too, as did Ayn Rand, but neither of these people had any ideas worth considering nor do they make any sense.
Tio
in reply to Inken Paper • •The book that I wrote is digitally available for everyone and every claim is sourced where I claim it. Click and see.
That being said, these isms are a lot of mushy ideas. Also the theory of these ideas can be widely different from their implementation.
And by "no one forced anyone to do this or that", I do not know what you are saying. Of course so many people are forced by others or circumstances. All choices are influenced by external factors: needs, efficiency, fear, etc..
LautreG, souvent dans la Lune
in reply to Tio • • •@CyborgHT
When there is no ads and no tracking, you arn't the product.
Why not install #Yunohost at home or in a VPS?
It's easy to install. Yunohost.org
And there is many apps available by one click.
And, you can look at #Chatons where there a lot of services, sometimes free of charge.
chatons.org
Tio likes this.
Tio
Unknown parent • •Tio
Unknown parent • •You certainly misunderstood. I did not justify what they are doing, I said what they do is not free to begin with, it is trade-based. This cuts the confusion when people think google and the like are free, and when some say "you are the product". Better say google is trade-based.
I dedicated the past 10+ years showcasing how this is fucked up. How trade is the origin of most problems.
See:
Documentary - tromsite.com/documentaries/tro…
Book - tromsite.com/books/#flipbook-t…
We showcase how we can create trade-free alternatives. And we create/enable a bunch. Just look at tromsite.com and trom.tf.
You got it 180 degrees wrong my friend.
Tio
Unknown parent • •Thats exactly what I argue there are many trade-free things out there, google aint one. Nor is any that forces you to trade your attention (ads) or data. They are trade-based. BAD
btw learn how to use quotes in friendica.....else it is very confusing....
TROM
Unknown parent • •