Intellectual Development

We all have a story that helps us explain who we are today.

I was recently challenged to specifically identify the parts of my personal history that turned me into the person I am today with the values I hold today. If that’s a little too weighty for you, consider this a getting-to-know-you post.

Here’s a brief overview:

• I went to a montessori school for 15 years. It was essentially generically liberal, with emphasis on learning by experience, freedom to choose what to work on, having discussions by sitting on the floor in circles, etc.
• My parents are both Republican-types. So far as I know, they voted for Reagan twice and Bush twice. They approved of the war and are only now (like much of the rest of the country) souring on Bush.
• I grew up on science and science fiction books. Star Trek, Heinlein, Neal Stephenson, Feynman. Generally a libertarian outlook comes from these books. Note that I have never read Ayn Rand!
• I spent most of my high school years on IRC. The people there taught me that freedom is a good, especially in relationships. That is, people should be free to associate with each other emotionally, socially, and sexually as long as it’s not causing anyone physical harm. This is when I started thinking of myself as a polyamorist (though I have never put those beliefs into practice).
• I went to Grinnell College. I was still essentially a generic liberal, albeit with these weird ideas about sexual and emotional freedom. Some of my best friends were anarchists of various stripes. One was a tribalist, and one was a Marxist. I described myself as a “futurist.” We had frequent and vociferous arguments about tactics and results, but tended to agree that people should be able to choose to live freely and simply in societies made up of the people they wanted to associate with.
• In my final year I met a nihilist who had turned into a staunch Catholic with aspirations of being a monk. We talked about religion and metaphysics almost every day. He showed me that deep convictions cannot prevent one from being rational.
• In my last few years at Grinnell, I started reading blogs, mainly liberal ones like Atrios, Matthew Yglesias, The Poor Man, etc. Yglesias would often link to some of the more libertarian blogs, and I started reading some of those as well, like Reason Hit and Run, Will Wilkinson, Julian Sanchez, Unqualified Offerings.
• I still read most of those libertarian blogs, and some of the liberal ones, but I mainly find myself in agreement with the people who believe in both the principle of Non-Initiation of Force and that big corporations are not the end-all and be-all of civilization. Jesse Walker, Kevin Carson, and Jim Henley loom large on this list.

If you have a blog, please share your own personal history.  If you don’t, e-mail it to me or start a BLOG!