Perennial Conventions: An Invitation

Ahh, PNW trees…

The Evergreen Echo

An examination of our cultural rejection of humanity’s interconnectedness with each other, the ecosystem, and various natural cycles for the sake of endless exponential growth and parasitic profit margins. Putting life, death, and internal inclinations into perspective through the cyclical nature of the seasons. And questioning the need to appear evergreen —a resource ready for use - always in a state of doing, just to get by.

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As we approach the Winter Solstice, it is an appropriate time to remember the cyclical rhythms that guide our world. These rhythms are constant and the effects they have on us are evident, but in the pursuit of capital and perfect efficiency, we humans have lost the familiarity with the world around us…and I truly believe it is destroying our ability to cope. 

We have blurred the line of overcoming impulsive or violent behaviors for the good of society and rejecting the body for exclusive rights to consciousness and productivity. A handful of people throughout history have claimed to have the key to “success,” and now children have to use the bathroom on schedule, life functions around business hours, and and roughly 5% of the U.S. population (or 16.5 million people) have seasonal depression. It’s truly a wonder that the other 95% are convincingly able to maintain the same energy during winter that they had in the summer and throughout the year. 

As part of the 16.5 million, winter typically means my regular depression and anxiety have +5 to all checks against will to live and ability to leave the couch, and their opponent (me) has the disadvantage. With vitamin D, a SAD lamp, and as much pushthrough as I can muster, I’ve survived 28 winters so far. But for my 29th winter I want to do something different: I want to thrive. I want to unlock the secret of finding joy in the long night and more importantly (providing one has adequate shelter) the internal darkness that comes with it. Through this winter I will be looking into ways to celebrate and honor the season. I will allow myself to complete the cycle by resting and reflecting on the year past before looking towards the spring. 

My hope with writing this column will be to create an almanac of sorts for the emotional, biological, and cultural experiences that come with the seasons and discover better and more sustainable ways to embrace the consistent fluctuations through my actions and intentions.

Some of the things I look forward to documenting are nature documentaries featuring other species during different seasons, Indigenous cultural perspectives, and historical and idealistic future perspectives. Accessibility issues and mental health will also be examined. And an anti-consumerist, anti-productivity, digital minimalist take on getting through each season on the path to living well and dying anyways. I only get to experience this precious suffering once, and thus far I’ve been working so hard to be the exception, to survive the society built to chew me up and spit me out, that I never got to stop and question anything. But now I can question everything, I can learn and grow, and determine how I want to move through this life. 

I hope, fellow creatures, that you will join me and share what you’re learning, how you’re surviving, and what you’re questioning. 

Welcome to: Perennial Conventions