The Solarsupermama on the EcoTrain: A Reintroduction

I have now been on Steemit for more than six months. When I first came on here, my intention was to write about kids, parenthood, traveling, living as an immigrant, brewing beer, life in Belize, education, remote work, and how easy and awesome it is to switch to solar power. I always intended to write about permaculture and earthbag building after we get our land. I have written about all these things at least a little.

Me and my four. I made dem!! Aren't they cute?!

I have four kids: 19 (@anarchyandbread), 16 (@sophieharling), almost 6, and 4, so that dominates a lot of my life and my writing. I have wildly radical ideas about education, so that is something I have a lot to say on. I grew up pretty mainstream in SC in the US, in the Baptist church even. Somehow I ended up a radical, unschooling my kids in the jungles of Belize, so that journey must have something interesting in it somewhere. Just living in Belize is pretty wild actually. A lot of people don't know where it is or a lot of the amazing things here. In case you don't know, it's just south of the Yucatan peninsula of Mexico and just east of Guatemala. It's beautiful, though it certainly has its own set of problems.

One of my favorite trees in Belize. It's about to wash into the ocean.

As most of you can probably identify with, as time has gone on, I started to feel like I needed to expand into other topics and other passions. I'm honestly not sure why. When I look at the list now, there's really a lot to go on. I guess in part I didn't want things to get stale on my page. Something else happens on here though. It's a combination of getting lots of practice writing and finding an incredible community that is so loving and supportive. I have grown a lot in the last six months. I have met people who have expanded my views and ideas and reminded me of things that used to be important to me.

Joining @ecotrain is a really good example. It's a really lovely group of people committed to making a difference in the world. We have dove into a wide variety of topics on our questions of the week from spiritual to social. I have immersed in lovely posts on permaculture and gardening and remembered how passionate I used to be about that and started getting really excited about doing it here. I have revitalized my meditation practice and learned about chanting. I have absolutely gotten fired up about my utopian visions as we have explored our thoughts about patriarchy and matriarchy. It simply thrills me every time @eco-Alex talks about building Earthships. We have also talked about and supported @familyprotection and their mission of protecting families from CPS.

Me and my oldest girl. She's a powerful feminist in her own right, and having daughters is a good reason to be a feminist!

I have also recently discovered @teamgirlpowa, and that has grown me quickly. I was a feminist studies minor in college and have always considered myself a very proud feminist. It seems to me that the backlash against feminism and feminists has heated up in the last year, and that simply won't do. Standing up, not only for the equal rights of my sisters, but also for my sisters to be honored for whoever they are and whatever they choose for their lives is a crucial part of who I am. And it's nothing without intersectionality. Whatever progress happens for women is meaningless if people of color, people of different abilities, LGBTQ+ folx, and people from oppressed religious and ethnic groups continue to be oppressed. And if history has taught us anything, the likelihood is that none of us will be free until we are all free. Solution? End patriarchy, which, by the way, will also stop the freight train we are currently on to making life unsustainable on this planet. So, yeah. Pretty passionate about that.

Little man creating revolution through music and meditation at the ripe old age of 5.

I am sure I will continue to write about the things I originally intended to write about. I am probably more wildly passionate about children and education than anything else to be honest. I think, though, that my writing has shifted to whatever I'm really feeling in the moment is most important for socio-political revolution. Obviously that includes everything from spirituality and education to permaculture and feminism. I think we are doing something really special here on Steemit, and I think if we stay focused and continue loving and supporting people who are working to make a difference in this world, we can impact larger change.

Just for fun I checked to see what my last ten posts were about: Matriarchy, my Belizean friend/hero Emmeth, a journey to Bolivia where a friend died, pictures of lobster traps on the beach, Patriarchy, Russel Brand talking about patriarchy, my week of chanting, a day with my daughter in beautiful Hopkins, a black and white photo challenge, and some advice for helping Family Protection grow.

Thanks for reading. I'm so very grateful to y'all. Please check out ecoTrain on discord. Be part of the conversation. Drop links. Read links. Be excellent to each other.

All the pics are mine except the ecoTrain logo which is used with permission.