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In a previous entry I mentioned my rubber band collection and intent to create a freegan rubber band ball. So I bided the half-hour waiting for my laundry in my buildings basement, stringing the bands around each other. 

My ball has gotten off to a good start!

Later in the week I received this message through the NYC freegan discussion list-serv:


I have an apartment full of items I need to pass on.  I will be backpacking through Asia for the next 6 months to a year and will be giving up my apartment. I have not been to any of the meet-ups but I do try to live by freegan principles... I am on a plane to Beijing on Tuesday, so I would like to have an open house this Sunday for anyone to take what they want... 

He then listed many items that he had available, including media (CDs, DVDs, books), appliances, furniture, electronics, and more. But the one item which really caught my attention:

-a crashed iMac, replace the hard drive and you are good to go

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And I've needed a new computer since January. I jumped at the chance and was apparently the first. So I brought home a like-new iMac computer on Sunday. "Excited" doesn't quite capture the feeling.

Most of the stuff was passed on to me, so I now wish to pass it on. This will help me shed the sedentary life for the simple life -- living out of a day pack.

I'm about equally thankful as jealous. Living up the slightly-less-simple-though-certainly-FREEgan life in NYC! And yes, the rubber-band-ball photo was taken with my new computer's built-in camera. This technology is novel for me, lol =D

 
A student journalist made this documentary about how the internet is facilitating freegan living. I feature pretty prominently =)
 
Last week I went to Boston to talk with student chefs at Newbury College about freeganism. Great times and great food were had by all. As seven student chefs prepared the meals pictured below, I snapped pictures and marveled at the great dishes they could serve up using only freegan food and their imaginations! Inspiring!
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To read more about that experience, click here!

On Tuesday evening I went on a trash tour with a couple folks from freegan.info. We made our first stop at Morton Williams and began rumaging. It wasn't long before passers-by began asking questions: who were we? what were we doing? why?

Before we knew it there was a group of 10-15 people standing around the enormous pile of trash bags (all filled with delicious, edible, usable food), talking about how terrible it was for so much food to go to waste. We hung out there for 45 minutes, rescuing food and talking with other concerned citizens.

I rescued a whole lot of fruits and veggies that night, as well as bagels. Lots and lots of bagels. I also nearly snagged a package of veggie lo mein, but somehow another person got to it before me :/

After I returned home and put all my food away, I had an e-mail from the nyc freegan discussion group indicating that a fellow freegan was planning a backpacking trip throughout Asia and wanted to bestow all his possessions on other freegans in the community (he said that all the same possessions had been gifted or passed down to him as well. Love it!). On the list was a iMac computer, 20-inch 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo purchased December 2007.

WHAT!

Picking it up on Sunday. God is good =)

I started a twitter account yesterday on behalf of nyc-based freegan.info, quite possibly the largest and best organized freegan group in the world. If you're on twitter, please follow! I'll be posting frequent updates (hopefully with help from one or two others) regarding freeganism, freegan activities in NYC, media coverage, and related topics.
 
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I don't know about you, but rubber bands are just one of those items that I can never find when I need them; and I find that I need them rather often!

In the past few months there were several instances when I actually considered going out to buy a bunch of rubber bands.

Tsk, tsk, tsk.

Then one day my eyes were opened. As I walked to the nearest subway station I saw not one but two rubber bands on the floor. Laid to waste.

"Freegan rubber bands?" I thought to myself. I can do this.

Over the next few days I found several more and figured I should collect them til I had enough to make a freegan rubber band ball. The photo above is a collection of twenty-three rubber bands I accumulated over TWO DAYS walking around Boston. That's a dozen bands per day.

Ridiculous.

Good to know I'll never have to buy rubber bands. Especially if I move to Boston. I'll be making that rubber band ball soon enough =D

On a related note, I've also found my fair share of paper clips. Any ideas what I can do with them?


 
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So I was busking on the subway today and someone gave me a flower (fake but awesome nonetheless). The tiny paper leaf has text that reads:

El amor se filtra como el agua dejando humedad para siempre.

Transliterally it doesn't make sense in English, the poetic meaning is lost. But it basically means that once you have loved, a part of that love will remain forever.

I don't even care. It's beautiful. Best. Barter. Ever.

 
I participated in a conference today about faith-rooted organizing. We were given some time to reflect on our dreams for our selves and our communities. I wrote the following:

Myself My dreams are to move to Chicago and plant a church there. To become financially secure. To do what I love, even if it's music, teaching, activism - even if it doesn't pay well... or at all. To rest in the father's goodness, love, and provision, so that I can work and give towards the Kingdom without distraction, anxiety, or fear.

Community Money is not the central motivator in life. People give and share freely, open-handedly, without price tags. All people are treated with dignity and respect, nobody is homeless or with need. We are propelled primarily by love.