ABOUT
My name is Yvonne Mokihana Calizar, most people call me "Moki" or Mokihana. Twelve years ago my husband, Pete Little, and I built a tiny home -- a vardo on wheels. We built this 8 by 12 foot home because we could literally, no longer live in a settled house. I had become over-burdened by the effects of chemicals -- particularly Round-up -- and fragrances in the environment and would need to call on all our resources (seen and unseen) to build a home safe enough for us; and learn what it takes to live tiny over time. (If you're interested in the whole story, Julie Genser, Founder of Planet Thrive did an elegant and in-depth interview with us in 2009.)
Over the past decade I have shared hundreds of posts and created dozens of blogs documenting our experiences living an unconventional and challenging life style. Being disabled by chronic environmental illness and living an unconventional wagon-centric life creates a double whammy in this world. In short, we have learned how to live a safety pin life ... depending on temporary 'fixes' that hold life together long enough to get by. And in the process we have learned safety pins (both the literal tool and the metaphoric) are a very valuable piece of common (and sharable) magic.
This blog is all about the small, simple and sustainable practices we use everyday. Posts, poetry and archival writing will show up here, too. We fasten them here, or there. Often times the safety pin is unexpected, especially if we allow for it. The magic works.The demand on the Whole is minimal. Gentle. That's what we share here ... magic that works with minimal demand and gentle hold on the Earth, her inhabitants.
When we began this Safety Pin Life, it was my apprenticeship as an elder-in-training in my Native Hawaiian culture, that prepared me for the ups and downs. That practice called Makua o'o sustains me now. Though no where in the original 9 tools of that practice, shared with me by my kumu Aunty Betty Kawohiokalani Ellis Jenkins, did she say 'pack safety pins' ... kumu did remind me:
Over the past decade I have shared hundreds of posts and created dozens of blogs documenting our experiences living an unconventional and challenging life style. Being disabled by chronic environmental illness and living an unconventional wagon-centric life creates a double whammy in this world. In short, we have learned how to live a safety pin life ... depending on temporary 'fixes' that hold life together long enough to get by. And in the process we have learned safety pins (both the literal tool and the metaphoric) are a very valuable piece of common (and sharable) magic.
This blog is all about the small, simple and sustainable practices we use everyday. Posts, poetry and archival writing will show up here, too. We fasten them here, or there. Often times the safety pin is unexpected, especially if we allow for it. The magic works.The demand on the Whole is minimal. Gentle. That's what we share here ... magic that works with minimal demand and gentle hold on the Earth, her inhabitants.
In many ways, our decade of practice with safety pins was preparing us to live in 'self isolation' and 'social distancing.' When I was first diagnosed with environmental illness there were suggestions for what we could do; but, the only 'cure' the MD said was: "Stay away from everything that makes you sick. It won't be easy, and it will change your life."
When we began this Safety Pin Life, it was my apprenticeship as an elder-in-training in my Native Hawaiian culture, that prepared me for the ups and downs. That practice called Makua o'o sustains me now. Though no where in the original 9 tools of that practice, shared with me by my kumu Aunty Betty Kawohiokalani Ellis Jenkins, did she say 'pack safety pins' ... kumu did remind me:
"Wisdom is found in many places." It was my mother who taught me about safety pins!
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| Pete and Moki at the Langley Fairgrounds Campground on an island in the Salish Sea, on Occupied Coast Salish People's Land |
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