Your Inner Nomad

Note: The following is an article I wrote for the Spyglass magazine, inspired by the indigenous cultures of Australia. It's not super relevant to the theme of this blog but I still thought my blog followers may be interested in this. Enjoy. 

When I read a good historical tale, I almost feel immortal. It’s as if I’ve been transported to a different world and have been living a thousand different lives among people of various cultures. As silly as it may sound, sometimes I wonder if I was born in the wrong time period. I call myself an aspiring cultural anthropologist, hoping to gain some deep insight into human nature by studying the different ways in which various cultures view the world. I’d like to specialize in the native cultures of Mexico perhaps, but my most recent fixation is on a much older culture. In fact, it’s the oldest continuous culture in the world: the indigenous people of Australia. According to Australian Geographic, genetic studies have revealed that they’re descendants of the first people to leave Africa 75,000 years ago. They’ve also been a historically nomadic people, which means that my ‘armchair travelling’ through adventure stories would never content them. They live to wander.

There is something about these restless adventurers that all of us can learn from. The Australian aboriginals had a powerful oral tradition which included directions that acted as a sort of spoken map, something which anthropologists call the ‘songlines’. Every tribe had different songlines that covered their whole territory. If you memorized the songlines--which mention where to find waterholes, landmarks and food sources--you could have navigated throughout all of Australia. They also had a rite of passage called the Walkabout, in which adolescents would have to prove they could survive in the outback on their own. It is this emphasis on the act of walking in their culture that people find interesting. Sometimes, owning too many material possessions can be exhausting and tie us down. We are drawn to adventure because we want to escape. The desire to wander is one of our most suppressed instincts, and it’s something that has been passed down to us from our earliest nomadic ancestors. Perhaps it can be the explanation for why some people are natural thrill-seekers who search for experiences that can bring them out of their comfort zone, and wilt when faced with a boring routine.

The idea that some people carry this explorer gene certainly is a romantic one, but can it be backed by scientific evidence? The answer may lie in the research of Dr Richard Paul Ebstein, Professor of Psychology at the National University of Singapore, who believes that a gene variant known as DRD4-7R causes more risky behaviour in people. Carriers of DRD4-7R are less sensitive to dopamine, a chemical that controls the brain’s ‘pleasure system’, so they are more likely to seek out extreme pleasurable experiences. This not only includes travel, but also impulsive financial risks like gambling. Further research from the University of California found that the gene variant was more commonly found among migratory cultures than in settled ones. Of course, no gene variant can explain someone’s entire pattern of behaviour, but the idea of a wanderer gene carries an irresistible appeal. Some of us suffer from homesickness, but there are others among us who suffer from quite the opposite and will forever yearn for distant places.  

An Ancient village in British Columbia is older than Egypt's pyramids

It's quite well known that indigenous people have lived in the Americas for a super long time, but how long exactly? Archaeologists believed it was for around 12,000 years, but now they've discovered the ruins of an ancient settlement on Triquet island, northwest of Victoria, British Columbia which is 14,000 years old. They have unearthed lots of Ice Age weapons, fish hooks, etc. You can read more here: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/14000-village-discovered-triquet-island-british-columbia-canada-oldest-settlment-north-america-a7673726.html This is why indigenous people have every right to be outraged when they have to negotiate land rights with European settlers, who've only been here for a few centuries. Indigenous people have been here for longer than we've thought. Britain has only been occupied by people for 12,000 years. This discovery proves that indigenous people have been in the Americas for longer. Australian aboriginals have also been in Australia for longer than people have been in Britain, making them the oldest continuous culture on earth. Welp. That's all I have to say. Have a gr8 day everyone.

Shameless Self-Promotoion of my Worthless Creations

I haven't updated this blog in like four months because I am degenerate af. I also am too lazy to write anything decent right now, so I'm just going to use this post to highlight some drawings I've made recently and some poetry I've written. Do you think it would be cool if I made videos of myself reciting the poetry like some cool spoken word artists I know do? Let me know if you would like that.  The purpose of this post will mostly be to show my followers that I'm not dead. The pressure of school and the weight of existence have just prevented me from posting anything here. I'll never abandon this blog though. I hope this art will help to justify my absence. 

General Updates to the Blog 

I've made some layout changes, although this blog still looks like a website from the 90s. It used to be a bright lime green and orange colour, but I changed it to a dark navy blue, grey-green, and grey. The theme used to incorporate frying pans, but now it incorporates rainforests and mysterious Mayan ruins. I think that matches my personality more. Blogger has released new templates that look super modern, but I'm scared to implement the minimalist designs for now. Eventually I'll have to change the layout to one of the new templates to keep up with the modern bloggers. Maybe I'll even be able to look as good as a Tumblr blog. 

Before 



After 




Possible change 



There are also tabs at the top of the page which link to my DeviantArt and written works, but I assume people will be too lazy to check those out, so I guess I'll just dump all my recent good stuff here. 

Australian Aborigines 

Their culture has fascinated me and I will continue to read about them. Here is a poem I wrote inspired by them, called "the Nomad's Walkabout": 

The nomad wanders through the desert,

Many things can hurt him.

His tribe is nowhere to be seen and all he has is a boomerang to hunt with,

He must wander from waterhole to waterhole,

He sings as he does so,

As if it would make the waterhole appear faster,

As though he was born singing.

Perhaps the first language of humans was in song as we learned to imitate the calls of birds,

As the nomad is now doing with the voice of a kookaburra.

He comes across the nest of an echidna but he can not eat it though his stomach rumbles,

The echidna is the totemic symbol of his tribe, after all,

He kills a wallaby instead,

The nomad wanders through the desert,

Many things can hurt him.

He must survive in the desert for many weeks alone,

Only then will he be allowed to return to his tribe,

Only then will he be permitted to start a family,

He needs to prove his adulthood,

Such is the way of the ancient walkabout.

The nomad wanders through the desert,

Many things can hurt him.

He takes out his didgeridoo and begins to blow a long, echoing note as lonely as the world around him,

He believes all problems can be solved by walking,

The nomad's way of life was already old when the pyramids were being built in Egypt,

But he keeps an ancient world alive,

The nomad is overwhelmed by the desire to walk.

He's never had such freedom before.

He wants to see the whole world and walk until the point where the orange sky meets the golden dunes.

The nomad wanders through the desert,

Many things can hurt him.

Wandering is in the blood of every human.

It is one of our most suppressed instincts.

Even a mother goose abandons her fledglings if 

they can't migrate with her,

The desire to fly becomes more important than her love for her offspring.

The nomad is me.

I can not sit still as long as there are places to see and worlds within this world,

As long as there are beautiful cultures.

You do not really understand the worth of humans until you travel.

Wanderlust is the most dangerous type of lust.

The nomad wanders through the desert,

Many things can hurt him.

I've been occupied these days by wondering about different cultures and wanting to know how they think. Here is a charcoal drawing I made of a didgeridoo player: 

The Mexica and other Nican Tlaca

Indigenous people of the Americas are my favourite thing. Here are some drawings I have made: 

Here are some cross stitches: 

National Romanticism 

After reading about the history of European thought, the cultural epoch that stood out to me the most was National Romanticism. Here is a poem that I wrote inspired by all that called "the World Spirit": 

The lyre has been left outside by the musician who plays in the forest, 
now it plays a ghostly chain of notes as the wind blows across its strings, 

Waves gently reach the shore, 
as a scientist is reduced to a child gathering shells on a beach, 
just mere shells washed up from the vast, infinite sea of knowledge,

The mountains stand proudly, 
and many artists have wandered that way, 
failing to capture the immutable forms of the eternally beautiful snow capped peaks, 

An enchanting flower unfurls its petals, 
as a poem unfurls its lines, 

and the whole universe is contained within everything, 
inside every tree are mysterious woods on which hundreds of stories of lost children and talking animals can be written,

all of us are capable of of wondering about the starry heavens above us, 
being outraged by injustice because of the moral law within us, 

History is just the journey of the collective human spirit, 
evil ideas were conceived but they did not know the power we have, the strength we have to survive, 
and as the hatred grew stronger so did our resistance,
we learned to stand up for Truth, 
that Good and Evil aren't subjective, 
they are innate knowledge, 
which is why those who stand silent in the face of Evil are part of the Evil themselves! 

Within every culture the World Spirit reflects itself, 
in the hearts of the nomadic and the settled, 
all cultural groups of the human race know what is wrong,
and they punish wrongdoers, 
they must punish the evil members of their own culture most severely, 
to keep pure their nation and their descendants, 
for no nation can be great until it acknowledges its flaws and rights its past wrongs, 
takes responsibility, 

The World Spirit does not freeze to death in the Arctic, nor dehydrate in the Sahara desert, 
it lives everywhere humans live, 
manifesting itself in tribes and nation-states, 

It beckons us to stick to our internal moral law, 
even if you stand alone, you must stand!
Forgive but do not forget! Do not be weak! 

and if you feel powerless, 
voiceless, 
hopeless, 
and melancholic, 
if they silence you or if you see others oppressed and feel guilty for being free yet being useless, 
if you feel yourself being driven to madness by pondering the world's condition, 
then let wanderlust be your source of healing, 
and travel far from the eyes of humans, 
and listen to birdsong, 
and dress as nomads do, 
and listen to waterfalls, 
and see that even in that atmosphere of divine sublimity, 
predators still hunt prey and natural selection occurs, 

Lean over the clear pool of water not yet polluted by your kind, 
and see through to the bottom, 
to the fish, 

Now your hands have made a ripple, 
and to the edges of the water it will spread, 
and to the ends of the earth your good deeds will spread, 
your name shall not be forgotten, 
and the evil will forever tremble at the sound of your name as it rings throughout the ages.

I really like that grey green colour now, after having been on DeviantArt for so long. 

Other notable creations 

This attempt at a sonnet:

Behind your world the silver shadows flow,
Under your great resplendent wings
the shadows would be all that most would know,
had they not met the sage above all kings

Your words knew no eloquence but the truth,
Saved hordes from drowning in a sea of lies,
The confusion only your help could soothe,
made me become enchanted with your eyes,

Waiting for my knight in shining armor,
was replaced by a more hopeless desire, 
to win the people's fine dragon slayer,
The sin of lust had scorched my soul like fire,

I wanted this lord of humanity,
never to see me as ordinary.

I like drawing cute couples sometimes:

That's all for today, folks. 

Alternate History Hub: What if the Americas Never Existed?

So I found a Youtube channel recently called Alternate History Hub and I'm obsessed with their videos, especially this one. Give it a watch, fam! The topic of this one is "what if the Americas Never Existed?" (then ¿what would I do with my life? I wouldn't have anyone to obsess over. I wouldn't even be able to eat chocolate.)

Another great video by the same person who made this one is called "What if Africa was Never colonized?" and that video is very interesting too so I suggest you watch it too by clicking this link.

Even though the Americas and their history are my life (true story), I agree that there would be a positive and negative effect of them not existing. 

While brainstorming this list I realized that the negatives and positives of the Americas not existing are similar to the negatives and positives of Europe never colonizing the world (because it wouldn't be possible for them to colonize the world without first starting with the Americas.)

Negative effects: 

• We'd be less technologically advanced if an entire culture which made so much scientific progress was taken away. The ideas of the Aztecs, Mayans, and Incas were taken by Europeans and spread to other continents. If this never had never happened, inventions like computers, phones, etc. would appear much later as these were created by Europeans using things they had learned from other cultures. 
• Certain crops such as potatoes, corn, quinoa, tomatoes, coffee, chocolate, pumpkins would not exist. Now this is important because POTATOES WERE VERY IMPORTANT TO EUROPEAN COUNTRIES WHO COULD NOT FEED THEMSELVES ;_; also corn is probably one of the most important crops in the world, not just because it is the staple diet of many people but because its in everything. Many every day products such as gypsum dry wall, toothpaste, paint, diapers, dog food, makeup, and hand soap are made with corn. Weird processed ingredients that you find in unhealthy processed scary diabetes-causing food also contains corn sweeteners, corn preservatives, and other strange substances. You can thank indigenous Mexicans for genetically modifying a type of grass to create corn. 
• It would take a much longer time for Europe to get out of the Dark Ages. The Dark Ages were a time after the fall of the Roman empire. During the Medieval times/dark ages, Europe had almost no technological advancements because of, you guessed it, isolation. The Renaissance would've happened much later for Europe if this alternate-history video were reality, so Europe would be behind the rest of the world. But so would Australia and Sub-Saharan Africa because they relied on European discoveries to help them advance. Some continents however (not Europe) can do just fine while being isolated such as the Americas, Asia, and North Africa. The Americas would obviously be much better off with no biological warfare spread by Europeans! But would Europe be better off without the Americas? Absolutely not! Where would they get the gold and silver to trade for slaves from Africa and silk from China in order to become rich? and most importantly, where would they get super important crops like corn?
• No chocolate. That would be awful.
• No one to stalk.
• NO CURE FOR SCURVY D: (but at least Jacques Cartier could die from it then.) 
• "less filthy heathens to convert to Christianity." ~ a Jesuit missionary
• People will hate me for saying this but sub-Saharan Africa would not benefit at all if the Americas didn't exist, because Africans relied on Europeans for many things (and the Europeans relied on the Americas for many things.)
• As for Australia, it depends on how you approach the situation. On the bright side, at least 99% of the indigenous population wouldn't be wiped out. On the negative side, no computers until a much later date.
• Perhaps the economies of some Asian countries would suffer, because less trade partners (Europeans would be too dirt poor to trade with them.)
• There would be a higher need for slave labor, so slavery would not go away. 

Positive effects:

• No European colonialism! yaaay!!!! 
• A greater understanding would probably arise between different cultures. 
• Asia would become the most technologically advanced continent. 
• 99% of Australia's indigenous population wouldn't get wiped out.
• Slavery would still exist, perhaps even in a higher scale, but it'd be internal. I mean that a race wouldn't exclusively own slaves of another race. Slave masters would have slaves the same race as them.

Well that was the most controversial thing I ever wrote. What do you think?

I bet this post made people of all races hate me. 

10 Dark Secrets Australia doesn't want you to know - Buzzfeed

Did Australia have concentration camps?! yes. Read this article to find out about Australia's crimes against its indigenous people: http://www.buzzfeed.com/pemulwuy/10-dark-secrets-australia-doesnt-want-you-to-know-pz24