33 Comments

Whereabouts are you in Canada, Ruth and Paul? Winnipeg is the place!

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Southern Ontario, near Toronto. Winnipeg seems two worlds away from here :)

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Inspiring account of a most wonderful gathering! Wish Peco and I could have joined in and resonnate with your desire to host gatherings filled with "food, debate, poetry, and music". Maybe we need a Wagon Box "North" for those of us up here in Canada :)

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I was also thinking how great it would be to have this in Canada!

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Nov 2Liked by Brandon Daily

What a great weekend!! All the best, Grant, to you and your wife and miracle baby 3! Love it!! You are doing God’s work right where you are, throwing sand in the machine, as you say.

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Marilyn- It was such a pleasure to meet and get to know you. Grateful for your work. I would have mentioned you specifically in the last section but waiting for people to doxx themselves!

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Nov 1Liked by Grant Martsolf, Brandon Daily

Come do something here in Ohio/the Midwest! I for one would LOVE to participate in an event like this, and I'm sure my husband would too. Right up our proverbial alley!

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How far are you from Pittsburgh? We are trying to plan some gatherings here.

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I had not heard from The Doomer Optimists for a while so this was a great surprise. Then to read that you are in Pittsburgh! I would be interested in getting on your local list for a future event.

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Rachel- Send us your email address. savagecollective@protonmail.com We're planning on hosting something (tentatively) the 3rd Saturday of the month starting in January. Planning on starting small and intimate but you'll get an invitation. Where are you in Pittsburgh?

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Correction savagecollective@proton.me

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I think they will both work! But yes—@proton.me

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Nov 2Liked by Brandon Daily

Thanks so much for this. So so much of it resonated with me. I too was left wing atheist until about 5 mins ago. I don't know yet what I am now, but most certainly not that. Ontario-born, Australian-grown.

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Great overview!

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Keturah- It was great to meet you! Hoping that we can get you and Andy for a visit to coal country. We'll take you around. We have lots of forgotten places here in SW PA.

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Also wanted to add for those interested in exploring near future "advanced reproductive technologies", Peco's novel Exogenesis (Ignatius Press) explores this theme in depth.

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Yes, it's really good. We talked about this during our interview together. Why ART appear in every future dystopian novel. We sort of know intuitively that this seems wrong but it promises such a good (children).

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I’ve read it—great novel

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Nov 2Liked by Brandon Daily

I actually signed up and paid for this event and then Life intervened and I could not attend. Happy to read this account, and fingers crossed you do it again and I can join you!

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Amazing recollection!! Thank you for coming!!

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Ashley- Again so grateful for the invitation. It was such a transformative weekend. Thank you!

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Nov 4Liked by Grant Martsolf

Thanks for the highlights! Sounds like a great time of connection and hope. I'm in Western, NY, I hope I cross paths with some of these great people in the future!

If you need encouragement for hosting monthly dinners, we've hosted weekly open invite dinners most weeks for the last eight years and highly recommend trying out experiments in hosting:

https://faithandwitness.org/2024/07/16/how-about-dinner/

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Kate- Thanks so much for sharing. This is a great article.

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Nov 4Liked by Brandon Daily

Thanks so much for this lovely recap!

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It was great to meet you and your family. Thanks so much for the note. I let Michael T know that we met.

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Nov 2Liked by Brandon Daily

Hey Brandon -- sounds like it turned out to be a great event. Glad to hear it!

On my way to Wooly Pig today, where they're tapping their bock and doing the "spiking" with the hot poker. Fun times/great beer!

https://www.woolypigfarmbrewery.com/

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Oh man. Wish I could be there! Their beer is some of the best I have ever had. We need to get together soon. Don might come out my way today or tomorrow. You ever out New Stanton direction?

I sent your regards to Paul, by the way.

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Thanks for mentioning me to Paul.

I don't get that way much, if at all, but it's close enough for a day trip, and I would be fine with meeting up in that vicinity!

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Thank goodness things like this are finally happening. Thanks for reporting. I would have fit in, as another Eastern Orthodox convert living in a rural town. May we have more such events -- and further movings in the same direction: every time I talk to a large group, talk of intentional communities that are basically unmachined comes up, yet no one is quite sure how to do it, or are scared of all the failures hippies had. We'll see!

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JM- Thanks for the comment. Some of the attendees joked about being "right wing hippies." Though to your point they are a warning case. They didn't have lasting power and were eventually incorporated into the Machine.

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Uck, that makes the Machine sound like the Borg. Which might be right -- but disheartening, indeed.

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Sounds like a wonderful gathering and I wish I had been there. An interesting synchronicity too (A sign from the Powers that Be?!) because I am affiliated with a retreat center in Margaretville: The Blue Deer Center. I think it would be an excellent venue for a Wagon Box gathering next year if the organizers are looking to have it in the same area. It's a very special, sacred land--a good place to 'get rooted' if only for the weekend...

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English is the language of alien robots, and makes abstractions and orphans of us all. Uprooting us from nature and each other. It objectifies the sensual, wrecks the spiritual through its literal and obtuse approach, and has no place in actual humanity. It requires a crass mentality, and takes a clever wordsmith or poet to lift it out of its baseness. If humanity is to survive, we will have to use a different language.

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