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Current Status (Summer 2002)
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Some years ago I made the choice to build a house. While it was a fairly major decision in that it affected my entire family as it involved moving from the city, living on less money and putting the weight of building a home on my shoulders, I did not realize the scope of that task. This realization might have stopped me had it occured early on but as they say ignorance is blitz or at least a factor in much what is classified as innovation and progress.
The initial dreams I had will never be and through fate, luck or lack there of, I continue forward. I've stopped, surveyed the landscape, made plans, chuckled at the futility of those plans and continued to march. In the last year I've lost a wife, a friend and a brother, yet I continue. My son and daughter each have there own struggles, just as each and everyone of us and still I continue, I pull up my beat up old wheel barrel, fill it full of earth and continue to build in the midst of death, in the midst of what might be on the surface be called an act of futility yet I still find light and love, laughter and joy.
What I've found is that when most people says "my house" or "my home" it generally means more than a physical location, for it is a nest, a store of memories, a subtle or not so subtle symbol of who we are. When I am gone people will see this house, a place deep in the woods, deep in a country that attempts to standardize houses, people and life into nice neat easy term payments just sign on the dotted line packages, and these people will say who in the hell build "this" place. The walls are not straight, the floors have low and high points, and just as no amount of standardization can eliminated the messiness of life, I hope they will see a home made of earth and realize that homes can be build from the earth, from the scrapes of other buildings, from dumpsters and from the get rid of section of building supply stores. Perhaps they will think that things can be done differently , not necessarily my way, just another way then is required by well meaning zoning laws, by one size fits all building techniques, maybe they will rediscover the freedom that is our legacy, but which we are loosing to standardized fear and the war against... fill in the blank... path we seem to be treading. Perhaps there is a correlation between the freedom we have to build and the freedom we have in our lives, as our homes are a reflection of us and our society.
So as I reflect back on my decision to build this house I see that initially it was only a shelter, a simple solution. I now realize that it is so much more. We need more freedom, not less. We need more even in the face of terror, even in the face of fear, for if we don't, we have already lost. Many zoning and building codes are designed primarily to maintain property values of existing property. What we are saying is that money is more important than freedom. If I am not asking a bank for financing, if I am not creating a rental property, why can't I experiment with new ideas or re-explore old ones.
This fear was recently displayed in an editorial from the Clarion-Ledger in Jackson Mississippi. In this article whose text can be viewed in this link , the newspaper expresses the opinion that a tree house in the front yard of Scott and Mary Welch in Clinton MS should be torn down. It even states that "the public, naturally, wants to side with the kids". The paper further states that "... this will not be a popular decision, but the mayor and alderman should stand firm on zoning. This is not about a tree house, but neighborhood protection." Protection? Protection from whom? Certainly not from over zealous bureaucrats whom seem to think their ideas of what "our" communities should look and are willing to, by force if necessary, push these ideas on everyone, even against popular opinion, even against our individual rights which exist regardless of popular opinion. Do we really want "big Brother" to dictate our lives to us? Luckily folks are fighting back. A group rallied at www.saveourtreehouse.com . While the tree house itself may be a small issue, I believe it illustrates a problem in our society today. When I started this house there were no building codes in the county in which I live. I was able to get a permit for a mere $30. Now the cost for permits in this rural community will run closer to $200, and it is doubtful that I could even get a permit now days using alternative building techniques. We need to change this.
I don't ask this so much for myself, but for those that come after me, those that still have that decision to make. The opportunities need to be more than facing a large mortgage with a mortgage whose interest is more than the cost of the house itself for a housing solution with questionable consequences for the planet itself. Let us open up to alternative options for the act of a person building there own house as this will assist in building stronger families and stronger communities.
I will continue this journey, this struggle started so many years, this journey we once call a Newberry adventure, yet today I see this small adventure as part of a greater journey with it's connections to the others on this plant as we travel together.
Love and Light
Patrick Newberry
Mauk Ga,
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