Random FSP trivia: comedian Doug Stanhope played at Milly’s in Manchester years ago, and, at my invitation, hung out with us at the Quill afterwards.
Soon after, Merav Yaakov and I wanted him to come to Liberty Forum, so we mailed him a First Class plane ticket, several FSP branded copper rounds and silver, a handle of his favorite cheap vodka (plastic bottle, no less) all branded as having won “The Golden Ticket” ala Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. There may even have been glitter involved!
I had his phone number (old phone in which many Contacts perished in the Loo Drop Incident of 2015) and we chatted a few times and then… nada.
So Dougie-Doug, if you’re reading this… come to PorcFest June 20-26, and come hang with some of your most ardent fans!
If YOU want Doug to come to PorcFest, you can help get his attention by liking my Tweet response: https://twitter.com/CarlaGericke/status/1519307547081162753
Back in January, I was honored to sit down with former Maine Senator Eric Brakey on his show Free America Now. In this hour-long discussion cut into 2 parts, we chat about what makes the Free State of New Hampshire so wonderful and special. This is Part 1.
I love my life in New Hampshire! As someone who moved from New York City in February 2008 (during, yes, a blizzard because LIBERTY IS WORTH IT!), and as someone who has been actively involved in increasing Liberty in Our Lifetime here in the Free State since then, it is SUPER VALIDATING to see the massive interest and growth in the Free State Project that is happening right now, including yesterday’s “pre-game” events that took place across the state before our SOLD OUT Liberty Forum 2022. [Looking to get a flavor from the past? Check out this Bitcoin Magazine coverage from 2014.]
Firstly, the bus tour! Dennis Pratt, Chef de Village at PorcFest, has been putting together several regional luxury bus tours to showcase this incredible little country-state we get to live in to newcomers. Everyone I spoke to said the tour was amazing!
I met up with the passengers for lunch at Brian B’s Appeal to Heaven spot in Weare, where he is renting his property to a brand-new homeschool initiative, Granite Minds Homeschooling, spearheaded by Michelle McC.
Brian put together the lunch, catered by Lauren N, with venison or vegan stew and salad, to show off the barn on his property that recently became available after an antique store closed. I love me a good roughhewn New England barn (hey, we all our have our weird loves!) so I wanted to check it out for myself, and I was not disappointed. This beautiful old barn is a great space that will likely get snagged by the homeschoolers, but it would, nudge nudge, wink, wink, make a great interim FSP Museum while I figure out the final location. [HERE? HMU if you want to invest!]
About 70 people attended the luncheon, and Brian spoke about his journey to NH, how he moved in 2016, left for a while and as he travelled extensively, realized ONLY NEW HAMPSHIRE AND THE FREE STATE make sense as a long-term strategy for freedom for him, personally. So he came back. While it still hurts when people leave (but you can’t control other people’s choices), everyone who comes back gets forgiven! 😉
Late afternoon, I headed over to Liberty Forum to help set up the merch table, and ran into these incredible women working tirelessly to expand liberty for themselves and their children. If you want a Porcupine Day VI mug or a copy of my book, The Ecstatic Pessimist: Stories of Hope (Mostly) please stop by today ($20 each). You can also sign up for the hosted dinners for tonight, so make sure to stop by and say “hi”.
We’re the fab women of the Free State and we’re making Liberty in OUR lifetimes happen in the @FreeStateNH. Excited to share our community with newcomers at Liberty Forum this weekend! @RachelBTCsmith @chrislopez2004 @Constance_603 pic.twitter.com/6F7dhhOSnh
— Carla Gericke, Live Free And Thrive! (@CarlaGericke) March 4, 2022
Ran into some of my favorite visiting speakers, including Brownstone’s Jeffrey Tucker, who is a stalwart speaker at our events. He looked dashing, as always, with his bowtie and sporting a new, somewhat superhero-y cape. It gets cold in New Hampshire in the winter so as one fashionista to another… I geddit!
Louis and I topped off the evening by hosting a dinner at 110 Grill on Elm Street in downtown Manchester. About a dozen people came and we chatted about life and liberty, about where people live now and what it would take to persuade them to move (A.B.C., baby!) and even some locals came [<–#winning]. Of course, Covid-Mania was the main topic, but it was cool to learn about the activism and passions driving people interested in the Free State Project. I hope y’all move (or stay!).
Today, Saturday, March 5th 2022, kicks off with Rachel Goldsmith, Liberty Forum 2022’s main producer, opening the event at 9AM and then there is an amazing day of speakers. Nothing beats learning from some of the greatest free thinkers of our times!
I’ll catch y’all over there for Jeffrey Tucker’s 10AM talk, and then I am very much looking forward to hearing from Wikipedia’s co-founder, Larry Sanger, especially since Jimmy Wales, the other Wikipedia founder, refused to speak at Liberty Forum back when I invited him years ago because I supported Ross Ulbricht and encouraged Lyn to speak at our events.
I’ll report back with more details as the weekend progresses, but follow me on Twitter to stay tuned in the meantime!
This week, I sit down with Constance Spencer of Team Porcupine Real Estate. We talk about her journey to the Free State of NH, PorcFest, Liberty Forum, and more! We talk about how, as a single mom of 4, she turned her life around by making small incremental changes, and is now a very success real estate broker.
Join me for an in-depth chat with Dennis Pratt, a philosopher and gentleman. We talk about his “Coming to NH” story, some of the myriad of projects he is working on, including an upcoming Seacoast bus tour and comedy festival in December at the SHELL, and what you can expect at PorcFest XIX.
CLICK HERE to watch my recent interview about The Ecstatic Pessimist (buy yours directly from me now), the Free State Project, my activism in New Hampshire, and more!
This expansive interview covers many of the essays in the book, including a 420 rally gone wrong, growing up in South Africa under apartheid, issues like police accountability, libertarianism , and more!
We chat about the seemingly unlimited hypocrisy of the people who constantly call us names, PorcFest, school choice, and more!
The 18th Annual Porcupine Freedom Festival ended yesterday, but lament not, tickets are already on sale for 2022. Get yours TODAY! Why come to PorcFest? Because if you’ve ever wondered what the Free State Project is about, there’s no better way to get a flavor of our growing and thriving community than spending a week camping with us in the woods.
Over the years, PorcFest has often been described by attendees as “a gateway drug for the liberty curious.” PorcFest draws people who sense something is unbalanced in our world and are seeking answers–whether it is to the violence we see, the pain and suffering caused by the state in the name of control, the destruction of our purchasing power through inflation and unsustainable monetary policy, or, well, frankly, whatever the f*ck 2020 was–PorcFest is the place where free-thinkers come to share their visions for a better world.
After almost two decades, we know that mingling our community’s “porc power” with the “liberty curious” turns attendees into movers. We also know the more like-minded, peaceful people we can gather together in New Hampshire, the stronger our chances of building the “prosperity-for-all” future we seek.
We are on a mission to create a peaceful free state based on voluntary human interaction and consent.
This year, we sold more than 2,500 tickets. We had scores of intellectuals and academics speaking about a myriad of socio-economic topics, including feminist writer Naomi Wolf (read THIS) and antiwar spokesman Scott Horton. For the first time, both the Anthem Film Festival, and Gene Epstein’s SOHO Forum were present. We were also delighted to welcome back some of our favorites, like economist David Friedman, podcaster Tom Woods, writer Jeffrey Tucker, and comedian Dave Smith.
PorcFest XVIII had 15 main stage sponsors and 10 facilities sponsors. About 500 decentralized events were hosted by smaller hubs, villages, and individuals across the campground. Topics ranged from knitting and knives, to body positivity and health freedom, to tiny homes, off-the-grid living and how to raise chickens, to school choice and unschooling, to teaching newbies gun safety and how to shoot.
Hundreds of free-range children spent the week playing together. Some sold printed programs, knickknacks, and walked dogs for cash. Drones flew over drum circles. A Thriller flash mob appeared on the field before the Bardo Pork roast on Saturday, which took place opposite a Shrimp Boil. [Aside: I had incredible #freedomnomnom noshes all week long, including authentic bánh mì sandwiches and phở. I’ll do an entire foodie post later!]
PorcFest epitomizes the best of the Free State movement: individualism, team work, selling and buying things, crypto and other alternatives to the coercion of the state, sharing ideas, agreeing, disagreeing, growing, thriving, teaching and learning, all always, always PEACEFUL.
Reporters often ask me, “Explain who Free Staters are,” and, after I have a good belly laugh, I explain that as individuals, we are all different, but if there’s one thing you might say unites us, it’s the ethical stance of the non-aggression principle. As one of PorcFest’s sponsors, Free the People’s t-shirt says: “Don’t hurt ppl; don’t take their stuff.” Easy enough!
I’ve been doing this “Liberty lives in New Hampshire” thing for a good long time now. I attended my first PorcFest in 2005, and moved to New Hampshire in 2008. I organized PorcFest in 2009 and 2010, doubling attendance. In 2020, I proceeded with PorcFest XVII as a First and Second Amendment protected assembly, with no negative outcomes.
This year feels different, like we’ve arrived. PorcFest XVIII’s Chef de Village, Dennis Pratt, somehow managed to take the picture I’ve had in my head for years and years and made it appear before my eyes. I am in awe of what Dennis accomplished.
By engaging and energizing hundreds of others to bring their best and brightest, to bring their ideas and passions, to bring their swagger and game, i.e. by decentralizing and trusting one another, we had the biggest and best PorcFest yet!
A HUGE, SPECIAL THANK YOU to Dennis Pratt and the entire volunteer team, especially the core heavy lifters, Chris Lopez, Constance Spencer, Shawn Grissom, Pete E, Scott S, Frans Honer, Katie, Aureus H, Zoe Noctum, Anie, Stephen Nass (and their relevant partners!), and all the other amazeballs, incredible, awesomesauce Free Staters who worked hard to make PorcFest a smashing success!
As totalitarianism grows around us, so too does interest in the opposite: self-respect and human dignity through self-ownership. As I jokingly said throughout PorcFest XVIII: “2020 was good for those of us in the freedom business!” The more the boot of the state stomps down, the stronger our movement grows.
Remember: There is safety in numbers.
Think of the Free State movement as creating a “libertarian safe space” where we can choose to “Live Free and Thrive!” Surely we too are allowed to exist somewhere? In many ways, Free Staters are refugees, seeking safe harbor from the exploitation of a corrupt, immoral, unrestricted, and unaccountable federal government.
We seek one place to exist, and we come in peace to New Hampshire in order to preserve and expand the liberties we find here.
If YOU are liberty curious, I encourage you to follow the Free State Project, PorcFest, and me personally (Twitter; Facebook; Insta; MeWe; YouTube–where I host a weekly political show and have a cooking show called #Freedomnomnom). The FSP will be hosting more events as we grow, so stay tuned for more info, but in the meantime, buy your PorcFest XIX tickets TODAY for June 20-26, 2022.
I will be writing more pieces about PorcFest in the coming days, and encourage you to seek more information online (see #porcfest on social media). I will update here on The Art of Independence with news pieces and other speakers media and social media posts as I gather them.
Thank you to everyone who attended, love ya, and see YOU next year, if not before! My heart is full.