Bert and Holly Davis
Microcosm Publishing
2009
164 pages
This book is one of three volumes that anthologize the Message Post/Dwelling Portably print newsletter. MP/DP is a handmade publication full of practical lifestyle tips for people who ‘dwell portably’, or in otherwords, live without a house. The publication has run since 1980, and continues to be published by the Davises for the benefit of a loose community of proactively homeless people. This post pertains to the second volume which contains all of the issues of the newsletter published between February 1990 and ending in November 1999.
The book contains no introduction, or afterword, or table of contents. The book is simply the content of the newsletters, as they originally appeared (presumably), with an index at the back to help the reader find needed tips. All of the text is written in courier typeface and all of the images are hand-drawn diagrams or illustrations. Each newsletter appears exactly like it would have, with a unique heading, subscription/contact information, and a publication date. The individual newsletters vary in length, from 2 to 10 pages. The editors of the newsletter are Bert and Holly Davis, presumably a couple who live an ascetic lifestyle. Much of the content is submitted by others who live similar lifestyles and wish to share their tips, with occasional tips or responses to submissions written by Bert and/or Holly Davis. Some items are taken from camping magazines or other related publications.
Dwelling Portably is interesting for a number of reasons. The publication points to a community of people who desire homelessness and share tips on how to thrive without a house or many of the amenities offered by post-industrial consumer society. Bert and Holly, I think, live in a yurt, while many of their submissions come from people who live in cars or busses, in small tents with bicycles, in tree-shelters, or any number of variations. Also many of the entries contain practical information about tools, cooking, bedding, insulation, transportation, and re-purposing found materials for this kind of lifestyle. Many other entries deal with things like how to discourage potential assailants, how to deal with police who do not understand such lifestyles, etc. The entries I, personally found to be most interesting, were those that contained detailed descriptions for how such lives are lived. Many submitters described renovated old buses or vans for living (which recalls Dishwasher Pete’s description of his renovated van) some travelled on bicycle with a small tent with them and one man described life while travelling on horseback. These entries were not necessarily meant as lifestyle tips but perhaps rather as indications of possibility.
Some messages are very short and are requests for information on how to live a certain lifestyle that relates to the theme of ‘dwelling portably’. Someone may write stating that they would like information on how to live on a boat, or how to ride the rails successfully (see Ted Conover, Rolling Nowhere) for example. The inclusion of such requests suggests that the Message Post/Dwelling Portably newsletter is a chief point of connection between the people who live this way.
One interesting implication of Dwelling Portably is that the publication presents an alternative form of survivalism to the more apocalyptic second-amendment obsessed ultra-right wing milieu that the term usually applies to. When attitudes are expressed, Dwelling Portably is upbeat about light living, and otherwise the newsletter simply wants to provide some helpful tips. The publication is by and for people who already live survivalist lifestyles, and it does not need to declare that it is necessary to know this stuff in order to weather an impending Armageddon. The people who ‘dwell portably’ and contribute to the newsletter approach their lifestyle with more of a 1960s ‘drop-out’ attitude. They aren’t preparing for war or catastrophic scarcity, they have chosen such a lifestyle because it suits them.
Dwelling Portably: 1990-1999 is the middle of three volumes of collected newsletters. I suspect that the other two are similar in format, although I am curious about the practical matters of publishing the newsletter itself and I hope that one of the other books contains such information. Bert and Holly speak about their own circumstances occasionally, although usually in response to an idea another writer had, or to address a practical issue such as bathing or waste disposal. They move occasionally and the inside of the book’s back cover contains an email address from which a reader may receive their mailing address. I would like to know how they manage publishing a newsletter themselves while they move, and sending it to a readership who may, in part at least, do the same.
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