out of step

Finding freedom in life's nooks and crannies
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  • Wally Conger

Psychologies Left and Right Jul 7, 2015

You can find valuable, long-lost gems when you take time to page through issues of Murray Rothbard's old Libertarian Forum newsletter (1969-1984). I recently discovered an article by Jerome Tuccille (he who wrote Radical Libertarianism and It Usually Begins with Ayn Rand). It’s titled “The Psychology of Opposites” and appears in the issue dated February 1, 1970. For those of us who enjoy debating what’s Left and what’s Right, Tuccille offered some interesting thoughts. “On the rapidly changing American scene,” he wrote shortly before the U.S. broadened its Vietnam War into Cambodia and four Kent State students were killed by...

By Wally Conger Vote11 2

A summer reading list for open minds Jun 24, 2015

Macrolife: A Mobile Utopia by George Zebrowski -- This mind-boggling epic spans one hundred billion years. It’s Space Opera Plus -- a future history, a polemic, a far-reaching meditation on the ultimate survival of humankind, and a call to action. Beyond this planet, beyond Old World cultures, beyond governments, beyond authoritarian institutions, there's macrolife. Good News by Edward Abbey -- I don't care if it's Abbey's least critically acclaimed novel. I like it better than all his others, including The Monkey Wrench Gang. Part dystopian Western and part anarchist manifesto, it tackles the oldest civil war of all, the city...

By Wally Conger Vote7 1

Face-down and pushing through Jun 22, 2015

"Endless night Long for light My head against this tomb And pushing through I'm pushing through Face-down and pushing through" -- Celldweller, "Eon," 2009 Just for grins, try this... Keep your face pointed down at your lap or feet for, oh, let's say 10 minutes. Don't tilt your head up. Keep your eyes aimed directly downward. For just 10 minutes. It'll seem like an ETERNITY! I bet you can't even make it for 10 minutes without rubbing your aching neck and screaming. Now I'm not trying to make myself sound like a goddamn hero or anything, but I had retinal...

By Wally Conger Vote4 0

How to light a cigar Jun 21, 2015

I recently received this email from an online friend: "Hey, Wally, I notice in some of your photos that you smoke cigars, and you’ve even mentioned them occasionally in your posts. Question for you: how do you light a cigar properly? I usually have a hell of a time getting one lit, and when I do, it never seems to burn evenly." Yeah, lighting a cigar used to be a pain in the ass for me, too. Then, about 20 years ago, the owner of the Ceegar Gallery and Lounge in Glendale, California -- I dunno if it’s even still...

By Wally Conger Vote8 2

Visionary tics shivering in the chest May 31, 2015

So I’m re-reading Jack Kerouac’s 1957 classic On the Road for, gee, the zillionth time. (“Zillion” includes all the times I’ve just opened the book randomly and read passages for inspiration. It’s one’a my bedside books.) If you don’t know the great Kerouac, WTF? He was one of the 1950s era Beats. On the Road is his American Odyssey, I guess you might call it. Kerouac wrote about freedom. Hell, Kerouac WROTE freedom. When he wrote, he got it All Out There, if you get my meaning. Today, I just wanna share with you his “Belief & Technique for Modern...

By Wally Conger Vote6 0

I’m trapped under my own shit and can’t get up! May 24, 2015

A couple’a days ago, I felt trapped. It happens sometimes. I felt overwhelmed... By thoughts of an upcoming surgery that will keep me (literally) facedown for a week or so. By household projects still undone after a year or more. By an upcoming trip, squeezed into what seems an already crowded schedule. Then I went to my go-to, self-help, inspirational mentors -- James Altucher, Dan Kennedy, Ben Settle... I dipped into their books and blogs. They all helped, but it was something I found from Seth Godin that yanked me fully to my feet. Lemme quote him… "Are you certain...

By Wally Conger Vote9 8

Putting the kibosh on lying asshats Apr 27, 2015

My 11-year-old niece would say I’ve got “tude” right now. That’s what she calls a crappy attitude. And yessiree...today, this dude’s got tude. I’ll spare you the gory details, but a friend broke a promise to me. Not for the first time. For the second. And you can screw third strikes. I don’t wait around for them. So I’m a little cranky at the moment. But to burn off some of that crankiness, please allow me to vent for a minute. The fastest way to shatter my trust in you -- whether you’re family, an old friend, a business owner,...

By Wally Conger Vote9 4

“My Taxes” by Karl Hess Apr 14, 2015

Tax Day is here. To commemorate that, allow me to offer this brief piece by the late Karl Hess (1923-1994), journalist, speechwriter, editor, gun smuggler, tax resister, and anarchist. Titled "My Taxes," it first appeared in The Libertarian, soon after called The Libertarian Forum, May 1, 1969. On April 15, I sent the following letter, accompanying my filled-out 1040 Form, to the Tax Collector: The Declaration of Independence of the United States of America establishes a bill of particulars in regard to intolerable infringements, abuses, and denials of political power which belongs to the people. The Federal government of the...

By Wally Conger Vote5 3

5 survivors from my latest “book purge” Mar 10, 2015

Owning a Kindle helps a great deal now, but I still have too damn many paper-and-ink books. I long for the days when I was single and could get away with throwing bedsheets over stacks of books in my apartment, creating unique pieces of furniture. But too little space means that an occasional “weeding out” is necessary. Choices must be made. What books must I absolutely keep? Well, five immediately come to mind... Thidwick the Big-Hearted Moose, by Dr. Seuss Any book by the good doctor was very big in my home when I was a kid, but this one...

By Wally Conger Vote9 8

Conspiracies from Left to Right Mar 5, 2015

While digging through boxes during my “book purging” this week, I found a “revised and updated” 2006 hardcover edition of Robin Ramsay’s Conspiracy Theories, first published in 2000. Of course, I couldn't resist taking a look before deciding whether to throw it in the discard pile. (This is why my efforts to “get rid of junk” are so damn overwhelming and frustrating.) Turns out the book's pretty good. I recommend Conspiracy Theories as an antidote to the “all theory, no research” conspiracy books that swamp the market. Ramsay is a Scottish author and co-founder/editor of the “conspiracy journal” Lobster, and...

By Wally Conger Vote9 1

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