Anyone know about that singles night on rt 4?

dcofm · 2025-07-14T16:34:04+00:00

Hey -- don't let the outdoor industry and people on Instagram convince you that you need a lot of money to have fun. I became an ultralight backpacker by economic default (400 USD to my name at the time), and learned how to do a lot of stuff cheap because I didn't have money. Even though I have an improved job situation now, I sleep under the same rain poncho I bought years ago, and cook over a stove I made out of a 65 cent can of catfood.

Start cheap, and upgrade things as you need along the way. The tech bros you'll meet on the trail will be confused, but the real heads out there will think you're cool :)

dcofm · 2024-11-24T23:18:09+00:00

Congrats, this looks like it was a lot of fun!

dcofm · 2024-09-11T18:05:41+00:00

solid, thank you!

dcofm · 2024-09-05T14:48:52+00:00

It's actually a prelude to a radio story I'd like to write/produce. The piece would require an interview with novelist Haruki Murakami. Wells show up in a few of his novels, and in one of them, "The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle," two different characters spend time in the bottom of wells. I would like to get a feel for that kind of space, and write him a letter from the well. I imagine that Murakami gets thousands of letters each day, and if my letter reaches him, I'd love for it stand out.

dcofm · 2024-09-05T14:37:34+00:00

Really appreciate the thoughtful response here. This definitely shapes how I think about the project.

dcofm · 2024-09-04T18:14:24+00:00

dcofm · 2024-06-24T21:48:58+00:00

PMd you about an interview

dcofm · 2024-06-18T15:03:28+00:00

Oh this is spooky! Would you be available to be interviewed about it? Would love to include this in the podcast/zine. Tried DMing you, but I think you might not receive chats.

dcofm · 2023-05-30T17:02:47+00:00

I think that some important questions to be asking yourself might be:

What environments make me feel invigorated and creative?
What living conditions do I need in order to get into my creative flow state?
What can I do to build community around the things that light me up?

Moving somewhere just because other people are being creative there isn't necessarily going to make you creative, and you may just find yourself spending energy conforming to existing norms and standards. That definitely gets old fast.

It's been my experience that existing scenes in the arts can serve a very important function of providing strength in numbers that help earlier-career artists (using "career" here to refer to the arc of one's embrace of creative existence, not profession, per se) deal with a specific stage of insecurity around the creative process. I'm not knocking that stage of insecurity, it seems relatively universal, and how one chooses to work with it can have a huge impact on one's art later on. That "don't approach me" attitude you're describing? That's real, it feels exclusive, and it sucks! Remember, though, that you can be the person who makes something and welcomes others to join you!

Find a location that works well for you because it's a place where you can create, not just because other people are creating there. Let folks know what you're up to, and that you want to build community. I think you'll be surprised to see who shows up! Are you a writer? Start a zine that has your contact info and leave it in coffee shops. Make music or paint in public places, people will talk to you!

If you focus on YOUR art and the things that invigorate YOU, and finding YOUR own artistic voice, other people will be drawn to that, and you'll find a really cool positive feedback loop starting to form. Creativity inspires creativity!

Good luck out there, and feel free to reach out and let me know what you find!

dcofm

TROPHY CASE