January 20, 2008 -- Sunday afternoon

At the Revolution cafe,

In the realm of--as the wall says--FREE WIRELESS, reading Ishi in Two Worlds: A Biography of the Last Wild Indian in North America, by Theodora Kroeber.

His sister, who is an outdoors education teacher, gave him this book for Christmas. His sister knows him well. Like Ishi, he lives in two worlds, constantly weighing city life vs. a rural existence and stability vs. mobility. Ishi wanders into civilization in 1911 and strives to balance his own history with the modern world, teaching arrow and bow making classes in San Francisco while being freaked out seeing thousands of people together in one place.

Though Ishi's battles are extreme and unique, he relates. He studied horticulture and has recently returned from a farm isolated in a jungle in Central America where he was part of an organic, sustainable community. It's difficult being back in the city, but, when you're away, he said, there's nothing that sounds more appealing than to be able to hang out at a cafe.

Favorite book of all time--For Whom the Bell Tolls, by Hemingway. The main character, Robert Jordan, reminds him of his Grandfather who was also in World War II.

Something good he read recently--A Language Older than Words, by Derrick Jensen. It's about the inherent language of the earth and our mass denial of its destruction.