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Post by Salome Weil on Mar 30, 2005 17:03:40 GMT -5
"You have a nice car. I have never met an anarchist with a car like this." I say as a criticism rather than a compliment.
I look through his books and see some by Peter Kropotkin. I pick up the Conquest of Bread and Memoirs of A Revolutionist.
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Post by Shurochka Kropotkin on Mar 30, 2005 17:10:05 GMT -5
"You're welcome." I say, a little annoyed with her comment about my car.
"You wanna go for a drive? Helsinki's a beautiful city." I say as though I were a tour guide.
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Post by Salome Weil on Mar 30, 2005 17:12:00 GMT -5
"I suppose I could. I rarely go for car rides. I can't remember the last time I was in a car. I always use public transportation, so this will be a treat. It will be like hanging out with a capitalist."
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Post by Shurochka Kropotkin on Mar 30, 2005 17:19:05 GMT -5
"Well, I'm glad to own your means of production." I reply, turning the ignition. I pull out of the parking spot, and begin to drive.
"Have you seen much of Finland? Are you from France originally?"
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Post by Salome Weil on Mar 30, 2005 17:22:34 GMT -5
"No, I have not seen much of Finland and yes, I have always lived in France."
I try to buckle up but get slapped in the side of the head with the automatic shoulder belt.
"Ouch...nasty thing.." I say of the shoulder belt.
"It is more impressive to have less than more, in my opinion."
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Post by Shurochka Kropotkin on Mar 30, 2005 17:25:42 GMT -5
"Who said I aspired to have more? I have enough to get me by, but I'm just as materialistic as anyone I guess." I say, somewhat apathetically. She's starting to get on my nerves.
"Unless of course, you were thinking aloud."
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Post by Salome Weil on Mar 30, 2005 17:28:37 GMT -5
"I'm sorry, but I always struggle to be the best anarchist I can be. That requires a lot of self examination and at times, sacrfice. But never mind...I am making too big a deal out of the car. So you have a nice car. It should mean nothing. A car is a car, this one just happens to be nicer than most people's. Then again, most people don't have cars. I am sure it is useful to you. Getting you from place to place...impressing those you want to impress...oh, well, I mean, I don't mean to be critical of you, but it does bother me a little." I ramble.
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Post by Shurochka Kropotkin on Mar 30, 2005 17:33:30 GMT -5
"That's not very fair." I begin. "I spent a lot of money on a car because I need a car to get me places, and I need a reliable one. I don't work in a factory so I can't use public transportation. I make enough to afford this car, so why should I deliberately make my life impossible for the sake of... For what? Why would I even do that?" I reply, starting to get visibly annoyed, though my driving remains a consistent 1 or 2 kph over the speed limit.
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Post by Salome Weil on Mar 30, 2005 17:36:25 GMT -5
"We can drop the car issue. I can see it annoys you and your driving is suffering because of it. I don't need to answer your questions. I am sure with proper contemplation you can decipher where I am coming from."
With that I turn from him and face forward, looking ahead of us.
"Let's go somewhere scenic. I never see enough nature."
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Post by Shurochka Kropotkin on Mar 30, 2005 17:40:11 GMT -5
I shake my head, and let out a laugh that sounds unintentionally desperate.
"Ah, yeah, scenery is nice... Finland is a pretty woodsy place. It'll be a little bit of a drive. If you've got nothing going on, I could show you Lapland. It's absolutely gorgeous out there." I say, letting the car issue die.
"It's quite a drive though, this would be an all night commitment. And I assure you my intentions are pure."
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Post by Salome Weil on Mar 30, 2005 17:46:41 GMT -5
"Hmm, I am not sure. I suppose I don't have anything going on, but I just met you. I normally don't go on overnight adventures with men. You don't strike me as all that trustworthy either. It seems pretty unwise." I say in an insulting fashion.
"But I am asexual, taking me along would be like bringing a map or an interesting book with you. I am sure it would be educational and challenging to have someone like me around. Much more interesting than those twitish women I imagine you spend time with. It might be good for you if I went along. Better for you than for me, surely."
"Very well. I have decided that I will accompany you."
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Post by Shurochka Kropotkin on Mar 30, 2005 17:52:18 GMT -5
"I'm glad you can stoop to my level and humour me enough to come along on this little adventure." I reply somewhat cynically. "Give me a little more credit than that, I didn't even ask if you wanted to go to a dinner and a movie." I take the turn onto the freeway that leads into the Laplands.
"You know, you must have a very boring and passionless existance to deny yourself something like that. You force yourself to work in a factory, you say it's rewarding although I'm skeptical, you think all sex is bad, and you berate me for giving my phone number to someone I've only known as a political contact. You remind me of the left wing counterpart of a 'right to life'-er." I fire back.
"There's more to life than books and trees."
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Post by Salome Weil on Mar 30, 2005 17:56:50 GMT -5
"That's an interesting statement."
I look out the window at the scenery and am quiet for a long time after that.
"I had the most unusual childhood. I was raised in an upper class family in Paris. My mother and father were both professors, but came from well off families. It was funny. My mother had everything so clean. She was afraid of germs. She wouldn't let anyone outside of the immediate family touch or kiss my brother and I. She thought it would spread harmful germs to us. She was worried about us like that."
I watch some more trees passby.
"I try very hard to seperate myself from that class identity I was raised into."
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Post by Shurochka Kropotkin on Mar 30, 2005 18:04:13 GMT -5
"It's something we all struggle with." I reply sympathetically. "At least you don't own a nice car."
Immediately after saying that, I begin to feel guilty for having such a nice car, though I don't say anything.
"I never knew my parents. I grew up in an orphanage in Kronstadt right as the Soviet Union was at its worst. It never really hit me, what it meant to lose the USSR, and I still don't know the severity of it to this day." I'm quiet for a little bit. "I guess 'capitalist reform' was what made me an anarchist. They were pretty open minded at the orphanage, but pretty traditional as well. They would discourage me reading Bakunin, but wouldn't outright take it away. I probably wouldn't have protested if they did." I begin to feel guilty about my life story as well. I don't know oppression, I came to anarchy on an intellectual basis.
"Ah fuck... Maybe Antero was right..."
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Post by Salome Weil on Mar 30, 2005 18:06:21 GMT -5
"Yes, I think he was. But does that mean anything? It is a priviledge to be an intellectual. Had I been born into the working class I would have the experience but not the knowledge. The two must come together. We are lost without one another."
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