Sge:no
I go by many names, but most call me Sam G. I may be the youngest person on this forum (still in high school) but I look forward to being a part of the rewilding community.
MY STORY: (it’s long even though I haven’t lived that long)
I live in the land that the Gayok:hoño (Cayuga) once lived with. Even though I have lived here my whole life, I always had a limited connection to this place. When I could first walk, I spent my time in the woods, covered in mud. I may not have understood nature that much, and I certainly didn’t spend all of my time in nature, but I loved the outdoors. As I got older, I started spending less and less time in the woods, even though I all but lived in the woods. As a result, fate moved me away from that area and put me and my family smack dab in the middle of a windy field.
The flames of my relationship with the earth started to rekindle when, during the fifth grade, I went on a school trip to a “Wampanoag village,” which was populated by a great variety of Native historical interpreters. I remember entering a beautiful wigwam and marveling at the handcrafted tools and furs. Something about that experience caused me to stir from my civilized state, but nothing much happened.
A year or two later, during the summer, I participated in an overnight with a primitive skills-oriented camp (which I currently work at). We made 2-person friction kits and slept in primitive shelters. I didn’t have a shelter to sleep in, so I couldn’t fall asleep. Eventually I went to tend the fire. Something about spending a night around a fire, alone, listening to the sounds from the woods, awakened something primal in me. I started pursuing primitive skills and a relationship with the earth. I also became a CIT at the program I now work at. I read “The Tracker” by Tom Brown Jr,'who I currently have mixed feelings about, but I can’t deny that reading that book inspired me greatly.
Being in high school taught me much about rewilding, or more about the the pain civilization causes. My friends got addicted to drugs, had parents/siblings that abused them, or suffered from poverty. Almost all of my friends (myself included) have experienced some form of bullying, and almost all of them (myself included) suffer(ed) from depression. After tasting these aspects of civilization, I realized the vitality of rewilding. I discovered my path in life. During school breaks, I grew closer to the plant people, spending days eating mostly wild foods. The program that I work at hired me as a paid instructor. I started to realize the vitality of a community after I suffered from a debilitating injury. I felt extremely powerless due to frequent depression, and ended up hurting the people who care about me. Fortunately they understood my pain and did what they coould to help me.
Recently I’ve been learning more about myself and the world, as well as what I can do to give back to the earth that provides for me. My interests include rewilding, most aspects of primitive living, foraging, acorn processing, percussion and drumming, and (recently) learning the language of the Gayok:hoño (Cayuga) in order to better relate to the place I live.
I hope to teach and learn much from you all!
(I wrote this post in e-prime, and now I’m sweating… Oh no! I messed it up!)