Have you ever read a book that you so totally agreed with you that if felt as thought the author had somehow gotten into your head and wrote down your thoughts? One of those books that you talk back to — in a positive way.

The book that has my rapt attention right now is Radical Homemakers by Shannon Hayes. It is a smart, well researched book and it is a pleasure to read. This is what John de Graaf, coauthor of Affluenza has to say about it:

“Imagine women with masters degrees and PhDs who choose home over career advancement. Imagine wives (and husbands) who reject the false promise of endless paid labor to tend gardens and children and friendships. In a time when Wall Street MBAs-producing nothing of value but rewarded with million-dollar bonuses and blinded by greed-have driven our country to bankruptcy and despair, Shannon Hayes’ stories of women and men who choose simplicity, authenticity and community inspire hope. Outside the boxes of both conservatives and liberals, this book is radical thinking at its best. Read it and think.”

This is what we used to call “dropping out” in the 60′s. Just say no to corporate America and follow your heart to the simple life.  There are many of us that have done just that in small and quiet ways. Maybe not by raising and slaughtering our own goats but by choosing time over money and doing without rather than earning big bucks to buy what we think we need. Many of us are artists in various media, many live quite comfortably even though below the official “poverty level”. We don’t need 5-star hotels to have a great vacation; give us a little camper trailer and we think we are living in luxury!

Hayes says that Radical Homemakers “are learning how to create lives that honor social justice, ecological sustainability, personal creativity, true freedom and the joy of family and community.”

The story of my life includes radical homemaking and now finally someone has written a book about it. What’s the book that tells the story of your life?

This entry was posted on Monday, June 28th, 2010 at 3:15 pm and is filed under Arts. Tags for this post: Affluenza, Radical Hommakers, Shannon Hayes, stories, story. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.