An Ode to Richard Proenneke

Dick Proenneke is famous for retreating to an isolated cabin in the Alaskan wilderness and living there for decades. He documented his experience in journals and on film, which is on DVD and on YouTube in the series "Alone in the Wilderness". He built a cabin from scratch with hand tools over the course of a month or so in the summer of 1968 and lived there into his 80's, hunting and fishing and making what was needed to survive and enjoy life. Living thoughtfully and carefully is probably an individual affair, although maybe, just maybe the Amish are an example of a group that does so..

The wilderness provides an escape from parasitic bureaucracy and the false world, and a life in harmony with nature and the cycles of nature. In Proenneke's case, his time was truly his own. He worked toward his own ends and built a relationship with the land and the animals that lived nearby.