"Gift Economy" AKA Free Stuff!!

In response to a friends article here: http://animacenter.org/blog/?p=773 , and in recognition of the fact that I'm not going to be working at the Clothing Stash much longer, (but still really want to keep and expand on the principles of what that is) and the rad Really Really Free Market event that's about to happen, I decided to compile some awesome articles and resources about Free Stuff! So here we go...

The following two links are articles on the Gift Economy concept, which I only discovered recently...

http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Gift-economy

http://blogs.salon.com/0002007/2005/07/31.html

This one's about "Collective Autonomy", which is just awesome... So sad that the woman who recently started working on this movement died last year... We should honor her memory by helping to expand on this project!

http://www.collectiveautonomy.net/mediawiki/index.php?title=Building_Collective_Autonomy

And of course, the Food Not Bombs Website for anyone who doesn't already know...

http://www.foodnotbombs.net/

The Freecycle group...

http://www.freecycle.org/

The Really Really Free Market!! Like the Clothing Stash!! Only less frequent :( Here's a link to the one in San Fransisco, with some info for starting one of your own elsewhere...

http://www.reallyreallyfree.org/index.php?l=home

And here's the Facebook page for the one happening here this weekend...

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=108363469411&ref=ts

Rewild Eugene often has cool workshops for free on how to make stuff from natural sources that you can gather for free. They will also be at the Really Really Free Market teaching folks how to start a fire with a bow-drill...

http://primitiveeugene.blogspot.com/

Plus, although not necessarily "free", this is a really cool website with neato how-to videos for alternative energy sources, including how-to make your own solar panels (which looks ridiculously tedious, but is cheaper!) ...

http://greenpowerscience.com/

Please feel free to reply and contribute your own "Free Stuff" resources! :) Thanks!

Me and Neil'll Be Hanging Out With The Dream King

Neil Gaiman wrote this book for Tori Amos and her daughter Tash. It is the best kids book ever and Neil Gaiman is the most handsome, amazingly awesome writer in the whole world. He is my one and only "Celebrity Crush" and he is obviously dating the wrong Amanda, if you ask me. ;)

Who cares if they are obnoxiously cute together...

And since reading that book last night got me thinking of her, here's a little Tori... This lady and this album in particular got me through my angsty teenage years. Definitely in my top 5 of all time/most influential albums of my life... Enjoy!