Nowtopia: Pirate Programmers, Outlaw Bicyclists & Vacant Lot Gardeners at work & play
By a strange fluke of the universe, a friend sent me a book he meant to send to another friend. The book, Nowtopia: How Pirate Programmers, Outlaw Bicyclists, and Vacant-lot Gardeners are Inventing the Future Today by Chris Carlsson, immediately grabbed my interest.
Afterall, I’m an active blogger about progressive causes as well as poetry (almost a pirate programmer!), I planted what I called a guerilla wildlife habitat garden of native local plants on a vacant lot on Thompson, and I was in the midst of planning a Santacon ride to various art spaces in downtown Ventura when the book arrived at my door.
Nowtopia: How Pirate Programmers, Outlaw Bicyclists, and Vacant-lot Gardeners are Inventing the Future Today by Chris Carlsson, author of Critical Mass: Bicycling’s Defiant Celebration from (AK Press) discusses work, the emancipation of the working class, biodiesel, Burning Man, Critical Mass, Bicycle Kitchens, permaculture, urban gardens and more as it offers perspectives on practices we can participate in to change the world to one we want. Nowtopia reminds us to ask: Is who we are what we do–our job? Or is what we do as creative individuals shaping the world who we are? What is our “work”?
Richard Walker, a profesor of Geography at UC Berkeley, highly recommends Nowtopia saying, “Chris Carlsson is one of our most original and compelling voices for radical social change in America. Nowtopia opens a window onto today’s vibrant subcultures of technical experimentation and cooperative work…these renegade innovators are pioneers of new ways of living beyond the market and ordinary jobs.”
Not only will the revolution not be televised, it will be accomplished through the articulation and the understanding of how to be in NOWTOPIA. Or as Chris Carlsson puts it, “Nowtopians work in the invisible corners of daily life.”
Chris Carlsson will be in the Los Angeles region this weekend talking about his books (below):
- FarmLab at noon on Friday,
- LA Ecovillage talk on Friday night
- Booksoup LA on Saturday,
- Monday 9 am-12 noon at CalArts Valencia
Next time we’ll get him to come visit us in Ventucky–and maybe he’ll bring his Burning Man bike and ride with us on a First Friday ArtRide!
Nowtopia
How Pirate Programmers, Outlaw Bicyclists, and
Vacant-Lot Gardeners Are Inventing the Future Today!
Available now from AK Press!
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From City Lights Foundation
Edited by Chris Carlsson
City Lights Foundation / ISBN 1-93140-405-4 / $17.95
Reflections by 25 San Francisco activists and writers on elections, war, urban hell and transformational politics.
Join us in the invisible corner of daily life! And let’s make the invisible visible–Light up your bike! check this site out: http://vibelights.com/index.html
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I like the concept of Nowtopia, we really do need to all start thinking like that. I also like the mix of people involved in it.
Lately I’ve been thinking about the power of a cult and the need for one to gather around a fundamental text in which they can place their faith. A radical concept perhaps and one best not spoke of out loud too, in case they catch onto us. Hi, Chris.
Thanks, Crafty and Paul, for contributing to the conversation.
I agree with you, Crafty! I was surprised when I realized how much I fit into the paradigm shift he describes.
Paul, “cult” has such a negative connotation. I think we’re talking a radical movement!