Free State Observer

Emotional state for first 30 minutes: kept repeating “Oh God” over and over like a mantra. Emotional state for rest of the day: erratic. There was laughter, there were tears, there were moments of blinding panic. There were moments of telling myself to get a grip and remember that I had been waiting for this day for a long time. There was a moment of telling myself this might well be the biggest thing I ever did, and it would make a great story, and damn I’m cool. That was a good moment; I liked that moment.

I am notoriously bad with directions, and I managed to get off course within my first 1 1/2 hours of driving. I wound up getting a little closer to Sacramento than I had intended. At least it gave me an opportunity to send more hateful thoughts towards the Capitol. I found the right road eventually, and went hell-bent for Oregon Territory. I was really looking forward to crossing the state line.

I kept a travelogue of my drive across the country, and took a lot of pictures. I went north across Oregon and into Washington to Spokane, then headed east across Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ontario, New York, Massachusetts (which featured the worst traffic of the entire transcontinental journey), and finally, NEW HAMPSHIRE!

I’ve been here two months now, and I can honestly say that, so far, I love it. It’s beautiful, people are friendly, traffic is like a pleasant dream, the architecture is amazing. I’ve met lots of other Free State Project participants, who are an amazingly affable, upbeat and politically active bunch. If you want to fight for liberty, and be surrounded by others who do as well, New Hampshire is definitely the place to be. Hope to see you here soon.

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My original plan had been to leave California on Tuesday, May 17, loading up my car the day before, shrieking “Hasta La Vista, Baby!!” in the general direction of Excremento (the state capital) and hitting the road. Sadly, it didn’t work out that way. My STUFF (see George Carlin, Theory of: ) seemed to multiply as I packed, so that while the stacks of boxes increased, the quantity of unpacked STUFF remained static. Has a physicist ever studied this phenomenon in depth? I see real Nobel Peace Prize potential here.

So on Monday I was in a flurry of packing. My mother stopped by to give me a goodbye hug, and mentioned in passing “Don’t go to Yosemite”. Actually, that was exactly what I was planning to do. Apparently the melting snow pack was flooding the park and visitors were being evacuated. Now would appear to be a good time to rethink my game plan, from scratch. I pushed my date of departure back to Wednesday May 18.

On Tuesday I started loading my car, and it became painfully obvious that there was no way everything was going to fit! Things that had appeared indispensable suddenly became… dispensable. I packed and purged. The STUFF still wasn’t going to fit. I would have to make another “one last trip” to my storage shed Wednesday morning (it’s not open 24 hours).

May 18, Judgment Day, dawned dark and very rainy. This is unusual for the Bay Area in mid-May. I took the last load of leavable STUFF to my storage shed in driving rain, getting the interior of my car quite damp. Some of the boxes were visibly deteriorating. I said teary and painful farewells to family and friends, all of whom had jobs they needed to get to. So I was actually alone for the final loading of my car, which was just as well; I was pretty stressed out. And as the hours ticked by, and it continued to look like there was no way everything was going to fit, I felt increasingly panicked. I wound up leaving behind things I had intended to bring. But after a while, I just didn’t care anymore; I wanted to get out of there. At 1:00PM, the power went out, and I had to finish loading my car and walking up and down the stairs in darkness. If I were looking for some kind of cosmic sign to guide me one way or another, I think that would have been a doozy. Fortunately for the Free State Project, I’m not too hung up on cosmic signs! I finally finished loading my car, choked down a bit of cold Zachary’s Pizza for fortitude, drove out of the garage (lucky for me someone had used the manual override on the garage door, or I would have had to stay there and see just how long the power outage lasted), and waved goodbye to the high ’scrapers of Oakland, California. Death or Glory! Free State or Bust!! Live Free Or Die!!!

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Election season rolled around, and like other members of the Libertarian Party, I watched my party’s candidate receive a negligible national vote count. But what really disturbed me was discovering the systematic way in which the LP was excluded from mainstream media, preventing many Americans from even being aware that they had more than two choices. Somehow this one thing made me feel more politically insignificant and powerless than anything up to that point. The LP seemed futile. It ALL seemed futile.

I really can’t explain what happened next; just one of those mysterious inner tipping points was reached. Nothing had changed within the FSP, or within New Hampshire (unless you count the embarrassing fact that it was one of only two states where the LP presidential candidate wasn’t even on the ballot); but something had changed in me. Perhaps, like the Grinch, my heart grew three sizes that day. My new motto became “If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em”, and I rejoined the FSP. And about a month later, I announced to family and friends that I’d be moving to New Hampshire “after the thaw”.

It has been a challenging few months. Not only was my family not supportive of my decision to move to New Hampshire, they actively tried to dissuade me. While I knew a few other Free State Project participants from the northern California local group, and had seen Jason Sorens speak at a convention once, I didn’t personally know anyone in New Hampshire except through my online interactions. I had no job leads and so little money left that even making the security deposit on an apartment would be challenging. I hadn’t lived anywhere with snowy winters since I was 6 years old. All of my friends were in the San Francisco Bay Area. But I felt that time was of the essence. I want to see “Liberty In My Lifetime”, and let’s face it, statistically my life is half over already. If it was going to happen, I needed to get busy making it happen.

After analyzing my various relocation options, I finally decided to just do it as simply and cheaply as possible. I’d take what fit in my car (a Subaru Outback), and leave everything else behind in storage in California. I settled on a plan to drive fairly directly and quickly across the U.S., but following a northerly route so that I’d get to see several states I’d never been to before and do a bit of sightseeing along the way.

I made a second exploratory trip to the Free State in April 2005, and met some other early movers for the first time. Luckily, I had amazingly great weather the entire week I visited; in fact, I got back to California tanner than I had left. I met with two Porcupines who had bought houses in Manchester and had rooms to rent. I figured that was the logical place for a city girl like me to land.

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This time of year the days are very short and many of us are extra busy shopping, baking, visiting family and friends, sending out cards. resting merrily, wassailing, bringing figgy pudding… What with all of that, AND moving, and all the Free State Project activities going on, I’m a holly jolly wreck. Last Saturday we had a Holiday Party/Meet N’ Greet, partly to welcome a new arrival from Kentucky and partly just because. There was a mountain of food, profuse quantities of alcohol, and a squirming pack of… ferrets. Twelve of them, to be precise! I had been to this house several times and had no idea that the owners run a ferret rescue organization in addition to all of their political activity, and have a basement full of one of my favorite creatures. I was enthralled.

Sunday was the second annual U.N. Flag Burn in Robin Hood Park in Keene. I didn’t attend myself (flag burning’s “not my bag, baby”), but about 20 others did and apparently had a lot of fun making a political statement while roasting weenies on pitchfork tines. There are some great photos of the event. After the burning, the Free Staters adjourned for a birthday party for one of the participants.

Last night, there was another birthday party at Jillian’s, an enormous bar in one of the old mill buildings by the river in Manchester, with numerous pool tables, big screen TV’s and video games. There was a surprisingly large turnout considering it was a weekday evening. One person came directly from manning the polls for a special election in Londonderry, where the candidate who had attended the FSP eminent domain rally at the airport won! I managed to sink two pool balls, which, if you’re familiar with my athletic ability (or lack thereof), is reason for merrymaking and tidings of great joy.

After the party, I loaded yet more boxes into my car, mostly filled with books. I have a personal policy of moving all my books myself every time I move. I think of the pain of lugging all the boxes as a form of penance, or an incentive to cut back on my purchasing. Didn’t work. In fact, on the way from Manchester to Nashua, I stopped at Barnes & Noble and bought another one.

I had to, though. There is one book that I read every year, “The Dark is Rising”, by Susan Cooper. It’s a classic tale of the eternal struggle between good and evil, and I’m embarassed to admit how many years I’ve been reading it. My worn copy is back in a storage shed in California, and, acutely aware that it was Midwinter’s Eve, I felt compelled to obtain another one.

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For many years I’ve enjoyed reading Money Magazine’s annual “Best Places to Live” issue. I guess it feeds my “grass is always greener” bent, and it’s comical to imagine myself living in some of the places it rates very highly.

Who would have thought that, because of the Free State Project, I’d wind up actually living in one of those unfathomable locations. Since Thanksgiving I have been gradually moving from “Manchvegas” to Nashua. Nashua is the only city to have been rated “Best Place to Live in America” twice. And it’s very proud of that fact; it’s printed right there on the “Welcome to Nashua” highway sign.

I’ve been getting some grief from other Free Staters about my decision. As people on both sides of the political spectrum will tell you, Nashua is pretty different from the rest of New Hampshire; some people don’t even consider it to BE New Hampshire. It’s right on the border with Massachusetts, and is filled with stores and businesses situated here to take advantage of NH’s lack of sales and income tax, while still being within commuting and shopping distance of Massachusetts residents (commonly referred to in these parts as Massholes). Although I work in Nashua, most of my coworkers are Massachusetts residents, and *they* give me grief because they think NH is a godforsaken wasteland that doesn’t plough its roads properly. Both factions tell me there’s nothing to DO in Nashua.

I think they’re all full of it! I’m now closer to Boston, making it more feasible to go down there for evening entertainment. I’m an easy 20-minute drive from Manchester, where a lot of Free Stater activity takes place. If the price of having better ploughed streets is instituting income tax, I’ll take the streets as they are, thanks very much. Nashua has a great, sales-tax-free, mall, and a zillion restaurants, and a charming downtown with several outdoor dining options in the summer. And for a renter such as myself, it has a lot of apartment complexes to choose from.

It must be said that NH is a very WHITE state, ethnically speaking, but Nashua is definitely less white than the rest. There are many south Asian immigrants who come here to work for BAE, Oracle and numerous other high tech/biotech companies. They say that some apartment complexes smell so strongly of curry, it’ll make your nose bleed. Whatever… spice is the variety of life, right?

NH also isn’t particularly gay friendly. But Boston is far more cosmopolitan than any place in NH, and being closer to it may improve things on that score. I can tell you that, at my company holiday party (which, by the way, it’s OK to call a CHRISTMAS PARTY here beyond the city limits of PC-topia), Patti brought her domestic partner, Maria, while Jeff brought his better half, Ricky, and as far as I could tell, no one batted an eye. It’s clearly possible to be openly gay in the Free State.

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Southern New Hampshire reached absolute zero* this week; actually, a couple of mornings ago it was -7 F. Last Friday we had the first real snowstorm of the season, and yesterday we had an icestorm. I can now add scraping my windshield to my list of life experiences.

The weather is, far and away, the most common excuse I get from people who otherwise think the Free State Project is a great idea, but who refuse to move to New Hampshire. As a person who spent the past 25+ years living in the San Francisco Bay Area, I approached New Hampshire weather with a certain amount of reasonable trepidation. Many people in California warned me gleefully that I would hate it here. What’s weird is that, now that I’m here, natives also keep warning me gleefully, or even a tad vindictively, that I’m gonna start hating it real soon now.

Thoughts on summer weather: not nearly as bad as I was expecting. Yes, it’s hot and humid, and there are mosquitoes. When I first arrived in the state, my hair started falling out in handfuls. I was rather concerned for a while, but I now think I was just shedding. The mosquitoes weren’t nearly as bad as I feared; in fact, I was more bothered by them in California! Almost all buildings are air-conditioned here. There were just a few days that were quite unpleasant, where some sort of evil temperature inversion turned the sky dark and dirty-looking while it was stiflingly hot and humid. But most days were, in my opinion, quite pleasant. There’s also a palpable feeling of happiness in the air when there’s a break in the heat, which happened several times during the summer. Everyone is smiling, cruising around with their windows rolled down.

Thoughts on autumn: people said this was not a good year for foliage, but it still looked pretty nice to me. Scuffling around through the fallen leaves provided a guilty, and NOISY, pleasure. The trees looked like they were on fire: red, orange and gold. The smell of wood smoke lingered in the air. Everybody had pumpkins and scarecrows in their front yards. The squirrels scampered like they had a purpose: those nuts had to be hidden, pronto! The chipmunks’ cheeks were so bulging with seeds, they looked like they’d mutated. And they were much too focused on the task at hand to bother running away in fear. The nights were cool, but the sun was still warm. And locally-grown apples were so full of flavor, it was hard to believe they’re good for you. It was easy to see why fall is many people’s favorite time of year here.

Thoughts on winter thus far: the human body’s ability to adapt is really amazing. I wear the same clothes I wore in the Bay Area, for the most part, only now I wear them when it’s in the 20’s and 30’s outside rather than the 50’s and 60’s. On days like today, in the upper 30’s with bright sunshine, a coat seems like overkill; I just wear a cotton sweatshirt or a wool sweater. When it gets below 20, I do put on my parka, a hat and gloves. The one thing that is bothering me is the dryness; my skin is splitting and bleeding, and I have to make myself slather on lotion multiple times a day.

Winter in New England does make you pay respect to Mother Nature, I’ll give it that. It takes far more thought and advance planning than I’m accustomed to. It takes time to mince across an icy parking lot without falling on your ass, time to let your car engine warm up, time to scrape ice off your windows, time to drive far below the speed limit on icy roads. You never know when you’re going to have to crunch through a bit of snow, so waterproof shoes or boots are a must. Is any of this a big deal? Not to me! If this is the small price I have to pay in order to live in a place that offers me far more freedom and the hope of more to be achieved, I’ll pay it gladly.

I still think snow is pretty. Sue me!!

* I know I’m misusing the term absolute zero. However, due to a quirk in my education, I never had a physics class. I’m combining that excuse with the standard “poetic license” cuz, hey, I just like how it sounds.

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In case you don’t know, you can fly in and out of New Hampshire without dealing with the nightmare that is Boston traffic. Manchester has a perfectly good airport featuring daily transcontinental flights. It was also the site of a protest that took place immediately after the Merrimack Valley Porcupines monthly meeting.

What prompted the protest was that the city of Londonderry (which is right next to Manchester) is using the power of eminent domain to force 70 city landowners to sell some of their property to the airport. As you probably learned in first grade, it’s not NICE to take stuff that doesn’t belong to you, and that’s pretty much what eminent domain is: government taking stuff that doesn’t belong to it. To draw public attention to this situation, and to show support for the abused landowners, the founder of the New Hampshire Underground organized a protest.

We let the airport know in advance that we were coming. In response, we received an amusing list of requirements in order to peacefully exercise our First Amendment rights at the airport. They included such things as “activity must be carried out a minimum of six feet from the outermost entrances of the passenger terminal and must occupy only one-half the width of the sidewalk and allow unrestricted access to the building”, “Each location may have up to 8 picketers for a total of 16″. and “please provide me with a copy of any handouts that you may be passing out”. In the immortal words of Dr. Evil: riiiiiiiiiiiiight. The Undergrounders very politely responded that we did not intend to leap through any silly hoops.

A good 30 Free Staters, including 6 of the affected Londonderry landowners, converged in front of the airport and braved a chilling December breeze until past sunset, waving signs and handing out informational fliers to passersby. Not only were we not seriously hassled by the airport guards (of which there were an insane number, in my opinion), we were told by at least one guard that he supported our cause! The protest made the front page of the Concord Monitor.

Free Stater Russell, aka the “Unidentified Flying Objector”, who has previously been arrested at the Manchester Airport and spent a weekend in jail for refusing to show identification to board a flight, returned to the airport completely unintimidated. In addition to exercising his First Amendment rights, he wanted to exercise his Second. Not being a gunny kind of guy, he decided to “openly carry” a large pitchfork. Needless to say, this caused several security guards to raise an eyebrow, and at least one to chatter excitedly into his walky-talky “There’s a protester out here with a.. PITCHFORK!” This issue had probably never come up before in the history of the airport, and despite causing a bit of a ruckus, no one could come up with a good excuse for taking the pitchfork away.

I carpooled to the airport with Katherine Albrecht, founder of CASPIAN and author of the critically acclaimed book Spychips. On the way home, she regaled us with tales of the creepy things done to her by some of the businesses that she has gone up against in her battles for consumer privacy. I have met so many brave and inspiring people through the Free State Project; it’s quite amazing.

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