{"id":8131,"date":"2020-02-20T23:58:23","date_gmt":"2020-02-21T07:58:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/douglaslucas.com\/blog\/?p=8131"},"modified":"2020-03-01T20:34:15","modified_gmt":"2020-03-02T04:34:15","slug":"summer-2019-adventure-british-columbia-part-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/douglaslucas.com\/blog\/2020\/02\/20\/summer-2019-adventure-british-columbia-part-3\/","title":{"rendered":"A USian escapes the bubble: Summer 2019 adventure to British Columbia, Part 3"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Note: In 2020, I\u2019m writing 52 blog posts, one per week<\/em>, released on Mondays or so. Here’s this week’s post, the one for Week 7…a few days late\u2014try asking for a refund?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Note: This post obviously belongs, as Part 3, to a series of posts about my trip from Seattle, where I reside, to British Columbia in Summer 2019.<\/em> Here\u2019s <\/em>the completed<\/em> series<\/em><\/a>, a USian escapes the bubble: Part 1<\/a>, Part 2<\/a><\/em>, Part 3<\/a>, and (forthcoming) Part 4.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Uh, USians…are missing almost all the world<\/p><\/div>

When I was preparing for my adventure, my acquaintances, much like the border g\u0336o\u0336d\u0336 guard, asked me what I was planning to do. Would I visit the Butchart Gardens? “It is so lovely, and it looks much better during the day than at night, and [on and on].” Years ago, planning for a different adventure, a road trip across half the United States, I was asked my take on whether the route should have us see Nature or cities. “Neither,” I said. “We should see people.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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To learn what likely simpatico people in Victoria were thinking and feeling and doing, and to bring that psychic samizdat back to Seattle, I primarily had in mind, even from the early planning phases, three missions: 1) check out the anarchist bookstore Camas Books & Infoshop<\/a>; 2) check out and participate with Food Not Bombs Victoria<\/a>; and 3) check out and participate with whatever alternative mental health stuff might be springing up in the city. Much of my offline activism my first few years in Seattle involved Seattle Food Not Bombs<\/a> (especially as a driver!) and working with folks in or around, uh, the Seattle chapter<\/a> of the, uh, Hearing Voices Network<\/a>, which as you know is the oldest academic honor society in the United States<\/a> complete with secret handshake, engraved golden key, and notable members including US presidents and Supreme Court justices, Ursula K. Le Guin, Henry Kissinger, and me<\/a>. Aiming to improve my irl<\/a> understanding of subject matters like (radical) education, food security, and replacing<\/a> dumbass psychiatry<\/a>, I hoped to gain a bit bigger view of the world, to escape the typically reactionary<\/a> USian default me me me dolla dolla bill lol unrealistic fake news<\/em> lol me me me<\/em> dolla dolla bill<\/em><\/span> \u2014 and also, to just interact with everyday Victoria people hanging out, the ordinary Victoria public transit system, and so on. That seemed far more valuable to me than tourist traps. In Seattle my hands have been nicely dirty with real life, so why would I not want that elsewhere?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, this post covers those three \u2014 successful! \u2014 missions, each of which took place on a different day of my adventure. I didn’t take any photos of the missions, however, so throughout this Part 3, I’ll rely on others’ photos or funny images.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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OMG no :\\ (Source<\/a>)<\/p><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Find the real people? I’m not afraid to die! (Source<\/a>)<\/p><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Mission one: Camas, anarchist bookstore in Victoria (Wikipedia<\/a>). They recently sent out this communiqu\u00e9<\/a> regarding supporting Unist\u2019ot\u2019en<\/a> and Gidimt\u2019en camps’ resistance against proposed pipelines<\/a> in the area, (Amnesty<\/a>; blockades shut railways across Canada<\/a>), which I unfortunately know little about. I walked to Camas from my hostel, something of a 1\u0336.\u03362\u03365\u0336-\u0336m\u0336i\u0336l\u0336e\u0336 2\u0336.\u03361\u0336-\u0336k\u0336i\u0336l\u0336o\u0336m\u0336e\u0336t\u0336e\u0336r\u0336 2.1-kilometre hike one way. I arrived, looked around inside at several of the same books that already existed on my bookshelves back home, and got into a great conversation with a staffperson there. I told him about the drop in ambient anxiety in Victoria relative to the United States, and how I assumed that was due in part to the universal health insurance and the lack of mass shootings. He said he understood how I would perceive Victoria that way, but from his vantage point, everything seemed too calm. “Unrest,” he said, “is best.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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From the Camas Books & Infoshop website<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Also from the Camas Books & Infoshop website<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Camas is really cool. Relative to other anarchist bookstores I’ve been to in the United States, Camas much more strongly emphasized First Nations or indigenous related material. Were I living in Victoria, or staying for a longer duration, I’d go back to get some different books, meet people, find out about projects, etc. Camas is open daily. Fantastic. Just typing this, I miss it, and wish I were there chilling out in those chairs, reading a book, waiting for an intriguing passerby to inevitably come in and strike up conversation far more interesting than what I usually hear offline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(In middle school, I drew anarchy signs into my handwritten name and drew them into the steam on the shower door at home. Maybe I saw them first on nineties electric guitars<\/a>, or maybe on the ANSI art<\/a> of bulletin board systems. That kid and this adult would get along well.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mission two: Food Not Bombs Victoria<\/a>. Part of the global conspiracy to feed people. Gathering surplus food leftover from restaurants, distributors, and other sources, then cooking it and bringing it to a downtown park, on a shoestring budget, and sharing it with everyone, particularly people who might really need it. All the world has chapters, so if you’re looking to help someone yourself, instead of voting<\/a> for someone to instruct someone to instruct someone to consider another vote or two or thousand about paying someone to instruct someone to pay someone to instruct someone to pay someone to pay someone to pay someone to maybe help someone someday \u2014 or not \u2014 and plus you can make friends and participate in your community…why then, go find a Food Not Bombs in your area<\/a> or start one<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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