Ruminating the paradox of global loneliness since 1993
Life, Humor, Sex & Dating, Politics
Michelle’s a 22 year old linguistics student born and raised in the granola suburbs of the Portlandia metro area. She is the writer representative for The Lonely Tribalist with emotional support from her partner, Moose. Like any proper millennial, she still doesn’t know what she wants to be when she grows up (something to do with travel and/or writing and/or dogs would be groovy), but is both anxious and excited to explore more of what the world has to offer.
Moose is a 36 year old transplant from Phoenix, AZ. He’s been traveling the world since his 
teens: hitchhiking across continents, being robbed at axepoint, and tasting cultures and peoples in over 40 countries. A longtime fan of Daniel Quinn, specifically the book Ishmael, he’s been set on the quest of “re-tribalizing” our society. What that looks like changes all the time, but he’s not going to give up until we as a community replace our unhealthy contrivances for sustainable lifestyles – going beyond merely recycling and actually implementing radical mind change. Oh, and he’s a fan of cats, too (the fuzzy animals, not the musical, although he has nothing against the musical, really).
FACTS ABOUT MOOSE & MICHELLE
What was the last book you read without skipping any pages?
Michelle: I think it was The Stranger by Albert Camus.
Moose: Like 4 different Noam Chomsky books at once. The last one I probably read was Understanding Power: The Indispensable Chomsky.
What is something you’ve always wanted to try, but have been too scared to?
Michelle: Two things: bunjee jumping and jumping out of an airplane. Both are on my bucket list and both scare the bejeezus out of me. Oof, thinking about both of those right now just made my heart skip a beat.
Moose: I’ve done everything (just kidding). For me, I have a lot of fear around approaching women. The feeling of “deserving” is a big issue for me. I want to approach an attractive woman and not be afraid of her, not be afraid she’ll just be better than me and want to control me. I want to get to the point where I can go up to a woman and have her not be afraid of me and my aggressively nervous energy.
What trajectory are you hoping to push yourself onto? Where do you want to head?
Michelle: To be honest: I don’t know. I’m 22, almost 23, and I’ll finally be graduating from college later this year. Ever since I made the decision to switch from the potentially lucrative field of Computer Science to the far less respected field of Applied Linguistics, I’ve realized that not knowing what I want is okay.
Don’t get me wrong – it still stresses me out from time to time, usually as I’m ringing up other people’s books at my part-time job. However, I feel like the world is pretty much my oyster. There’s still so much time to do so many things. There’s no need to try to live the next 40-60 years of my life right this second. One thing I am sure of is that I want to become part of a community where I can feel supported and where I can contribute back in a big, super committed way.
Moose: I want to create or become part of a tribe and teach people how to live sustainably. We are overpopulated and won’t come to terms with the fact that our “civilized” way of living is precisely the thing killing us. We are unhappy in this culture and we need to learn how to look at our living counterparts that actually live sustainably “in nature.” Tribal peoples live without destroying and consuming the planet whole. We have to rediscover our tribal roots – we are just tribal, end of story!
I want to get to a place where people come to me for advice, for critique on how they can better develop themselves and, by extension, our culture. Becoming a consultant is a big dream of mine. Who knows how much longer the human animal has on earth? We might have already passed our point of no return, but we have to keep trying.
Check out more on Lonely Tribalist:
GUM | Growing Up Millennial 