Self-Sufficiency Can Be Our Common Ground to Independence

As the growing desire for simple independence and the increased awareness of the instability of our system, the lack of health in manufactured foods and the freedom in simple self-reliant communities more and more people are beginning to turn to doing more things themselves, insuring their own survival and guarantying themselves more fulfillment in their daily lives. People desiring this type of life are all around us and they are beginning to form little communities, some of these communities are people that literally live close and some of these communities are born on the web bringing like minded people together though they maybe many miles apart. I find it somewhat funny and yet exciting at how people from so many walks of life, that on the surface may have starkly different ideologies and beliefs, can come together on this one subject and share a unified desire to provide a life for themselves and their families. A life that is healthier, more stable that they themselves hold their own responsibility and not some far off company or bureaucracy. 

Everyone from the right-wing prepper to the hippie communes can come together on this one subject and find common ground.

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Trendy Self Sufficient Living vs. Reality

Waking up to a chilling fresh air as you roll out of your warm bed covered in vintage handmade quilts. Then rushing to the wood stove to stoke the fire and heat a blackened old coffee pot as you peer out the window of your quaint cabin, soaking up the sun as it glistens across the dew covered grass has now become a typical morning for you. This may sound like a dream morning to most but to many of you living a simpler, more sustainable life is not just what you dream of but is what you are striving for each day. This sustainable movement, shall we call it, is growing more and more with a growing number of people realizing the healthier, sustainable and more fulfilling life can be had with less from the modern world and more from becoming closer to nature. 

For almost two decades now this is what I have been striving for and I have noticed so much change in this area and a continual steady growth in popularity. When I first began this journey I could rarely find anyone who desired this same kind life, we were sparse and hidden away but now it seems I can find them all around me. This, of course excites me to know that I am not alone and that there are more and more people out there waking up and working for a simple lifestyle. This increase in popularity brings advancements and innovations that helps make this lifestyle more attainable, but like with many things, an increase in popularity can bring commercialization and a loss in  authenticity and that is where I want to take this article. 

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We have become slaves to our own indifferences.

So a couple of days ago I posted a video on YouTube asking is it possible for at least some in the anarchist community to come together, put aside their differences  and work together on issues they can agree upon. Hopefully this video is just the first of many more on the subject. 

Although I'll be the first to admit that the video is not my best work and making videos and being able to properly express myself in front of the camera is not my strong point, it is something I am trying to work on. I do know I am very passionate about freedom and living life without boundaries and controls. I know that I have been this way for as long as I can remember so if I can find a way to express that with you through video it is something I want to try to do. 

The point of these new videos are to hopefully begin to bring together those that are willing to talk openly and respectfully with each other on the various differences of anarchism, and yes maybe even bring in those theories that come close to anarchism. To begin to make some actual progress. To stop the infighting and tearing each other down and not just between the more separate theories but even the fighting going on within these groups. This kind of behavior does no good to anyone or any movement. I believe in my heart there are enough good hearted and well intentioned people out there, regardless of the "color" of anarchism they embrace, that can agree to disagree on some things and work together to find common ground so that real progress can be made. When real progress is made it doesn't just glorify one person or group or theory, real progress will improve all of our lives and those lives that are yet to come. 

You see I'm a dreamer. I envision things. I daily strive to see this world differently. Yes, I understand all the complex social economic theories out there regarding power, control, markets, socialism, individualism, etc. I get them, I've read them but quite frankly I don't care about that, at least not now. What I do care about is seeing myself, my family, my friends, those around me and the rest of humanity begin to live a life to their fullest extent. This can only ever be accomplished with the full liberation of human kind. I know what you're saying though, those other things I said I don't care about so much are important, and they are, but the continual focus and debate on them does nothing but bottle up the full potential of true freedom. These subjects have been debated now for centuries and we have gotten no closer to freedom because of those debates.  We have only been successful in creating a bigger divide amongst ourselves. This, unfortunately is what we as humans do best, divide ourselves and weaken our causes. 

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Anarchists Coming Together

Well I have finally started the philosophical video series I've been wanting to start. Fellow #anarchists beware. I am not trying to lose friends or step on toes but build relationships and coalitions to find our similarities and stop fighting about our differences. I truly believe we share more common ground than we think and if we are ever going to really move forward and make any real impacts in our communities we must be more open minded and welcome differences and discussion. Please feel welcome to join in the discussion.

P.S. Sorry for the wind noise. It is something I am working on. 

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Hospital Update and Sharing Some Wisdom

It's my third day in the hospital following my brain surgery. Man it's been a painful one for sure. They've been giving me morphine and Percocet  every two hours with only minimal relief. I'm told I get to go home tomorrow and all the staff have been shocked on how fast I have recovered. I also made this video to kind of reflect on how we become so busy in our lives that we forget what really matters. Just don't wait for something like this to happen in your life for you to realize that. Time with the people you love means more than any paycheck.

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Personal Update from Travis and a Big Thank You For Your Support!!!

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Just a personal health update....

Just wanted to give everyone an update on what's going on. Had my appointment with the surgeon today and my brain MRI came back clean, no tumors. I was glad to hear that but we are going to have to surgery. I have what's called a Chiari Malformation but he still doesn't think that's the cause of the cysts or syrinx in my spinal cord but he wants to go a head and do the brain surgery on that anyways. The two cysts in my spine are very large and advanced and he's almost sure that a surgery on them would leave me with some paralysis. He's not sure if doing the surgery on the Chiari malformation (CM) will allow enough pressure to be released so that the cysts will shrink but he feels because of the overall risk it's worth the shot. The CM surgery has some risk too but not as much. My surgery is scheduled on February the 5th at 7:30 AM. He said afterwards he will give it a couple of months to see if they start I shrink in size and if they do then we may not need the spinal surgery for a while. Basically the CM surgery will be removing some of the bone from my skull and first vertebra to hopefully allow for some room for spinal fluid to flow and allow the body to possibly fix the problem itself. As it is now there is so much swelling and pressure there isn't enough room for the fluid to flow to allow the body to possibly heal itself. His fear is that since I've had this from birth that my body may be beyond the point of healing the problem on its own. He said it's really hard to tell because the spinal cord is so unpredictable. 
I'm optimistic either way. I'm a pretty tough cookie. Unfortunately this will do nothing to relieve the pain I'm having which is worsening daily. I'm currently averaging 45-55mg of oxycodone daily and it's barely having any affect. 
The recovery will be at least 6 weeks. I'll be in the hospital for 4-5 days. The biggest risk is infection in the brain since it's opening the skull and cutting into the protective brain membrane. 
All in all I'm doing ok and trying to keep as busy as I can stand. Thank you all for the love and support you've given.

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Life changes and my openness on cannabis

I wanted to take a few moments and write about a couple things that I hope will open your eyes and heart and give you some awareness. One is about something that has become a very large part of my life and caused significant changes. The other is something that could alter or improve that.

A few weeks ago I was diagnosed with a rare spinal disease called Syringomyelia. I don't expect many, if any, of you to know what that is, most doctors don't even know about it. It's a rare debilitating disorder that attacks the core of the spinal cord with cysts that are incurable and barely treatable. My form is from a congenital birth defect and is fairly advanced. In three months time I have gone from being perfectly normal and healthy to walking with a cane, not being able to tie my shoes and experiencing high amounts of pain 24 hours a day. My spinal cord is swelling and crushing the nerves in my spine. It's painful, debilitating and can lead to crippling of the limbs and paralysis.

Not much is known about this disease. Very little research or awareness is being done and many times patients have to teach their doctor what it is and how best to treat it. This, as expected, has changed my life forever. It's caused me to stop and rethink my goals and plans in life and begin to set new ones, and although one could become very depressed with this news (and I certainly have had my down moments) it is teaching me more everyday to appreciate the simple things in life. To slow down and enjoy the present. To learn that life isn't what is thrown at us but what we make of what is being thrown at us.

Now this brings me to my second subject and something that sparked the idea for this article in the first place. It is the right of every human being to be able to choose and use the best treatment available to them. We, along with our families and physicians are of course the best at knowing what is the best treatment for bodies and the illnesses we might face. It is not a politician, body of elected officials or any other spurious group that claims any authority over us. 

We should never allow that to happen but in fact, that is exactly what we have done.

Cannabis, among many qualities, is one of the best treatments for my disease. It not only has proven to be a great pain killer with no side effects, as opposed to the many side effects of life long treatments with prescription narcotics, it has also shown in study to help promote new spinal tissue growth which over time could possibly begin to heal the damages done to my spinal cord by this disease.

Now I am not a new advocate for the legalization of cannabis, I have supported that for many years. I am not a recreational user and never have been but I also see that as a personal choice and not of some bureaucrat who has no authority to control your life. I am now though, faced with this in a personal way. To make the decision to use a treatment for pain that will cause damage to my body as I continue to use it and only offer moderate relief or to risk imprisonment if I choose to use a medicine that will offer a safer treatment for my condition.

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A personal update on what is happening in my life

Travis Maddox Medical Expense Fund

Well I don't know where to begin. First of all I am so thankful and greatful to our dear friend Danae for setting this up. True friends are really hard to find and she's about as true as they get. For those that know me personally know I'm not the type to ever ask for anything. I tend to be a little stubborn that way. I tell myself I'm not asking for me but for my family. I'm thirty five and have a wonderful wife and four kids and have worked hard my whole life. I enjoy working and have been told I'm a workaholic. Guess my story begins with my whole life having bad headaches and pains. Usually I just tuff it out through those times and deal with it. I had been to doctors in the past but usually they would say I have a strained muscle or I'm over worked. In Oct of 2013 it began to get much worse. The back pain became severe and shot down my arms and I had a lot of numbness and started to notice difficulty with dexterity in my hands. Again I went to the doctor only to be told I had simply pulled a muscle in my back and should be fine in a few weeks. It never got better. It became very severe at times bringing me to tears. On January 2nd I was running the closing shift at my job and sneezed very hard and began screaming out in pain and ended up on the floor. My wife took me to the ER where they did a MRI and discovered that I had Syringomyelia. Of course I had no clue what that was but I knew from how the doctor was talking to me that it must be serious. Within a few days I was seeing a neurosurgeon and it seemed the news only became worse. I did have a Chiari Malformation of the brain but unlike most cases this was not the cause of my SM (sryingomyelia). He said it was a birth defect and I've had the cysts so long in my spine that the vertebras are growing around the cysts. The worst cysts was in my cervical spine area and is so large it is beginning to rupture. This he said is why my pain is so rapidly worsening and why I am daily losing the strength and the use of my body. I have my first surgery coming up soon and most likely several more after that. The pain I am going through cannot be fixed. It is something I will have to learn to live with and the loss of strength as well. Because my condition is so advanced I stand a very good chance of having some level of paralysis the doctor tells me.  I cannot work anymore and most likely never will. I am on a 5lbs weight restriction until further notice. My long term outlook isn't great. I am daily accepting this. I've already lost the ability to do so much. It's difficult not being able to pick up my children anymore or ask them for help for simple things like tying my own shoes or picking something up for me. They are troopers my kids, doing their best to understand this rapid sudden change and helping in every way they can. I know my life will never be the same and the goals I had for it are now changing. But I have not lost hope and I'm horrible at giving up. I am looking at this as a new adventure with new and exciting challenges. The one thing that does excite me is that I will be able to spend a lot more time with my family. 

The reason this fund was started was to try and help us get through this. Yes we have insurance for a while still and things like disability will kick in eventually but even with all that there are still expenses that can be difficult to cover. We live like most people pretty much from paycheck to paycheck. I'm already in need of home medical equipment. I can't stand long enough to really shower and I can't get out of a bath tub. I now use a cane to walk and soon will be in a wheel chair. I don't expect people to pay for my problems but those that are able to do a little it would be nice and lessen the stress a little for my family and it doesn't just have to be money. Your thoughts and love and friendship mean so much that no price can be put on that. Thank you all so much. I never dreamed I would be going through this but having a wonderful wife, family and friends is making all so much easier. 

I love you all so much. 

Travis 

Travis Maddox Medical Fund

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