Guess what came in the mail? Deeply honored to appear in this anthology with some of my favorite writers and thinkers, and some of the most influential libertarians from across the world. Buy YOURS today!
I bet y’all didn’t know I was once a red-headed “supermodel” for a day in Brazil, huh? Lol (This came up in my TBT memories from years ago.)
I’m sharing it because… why the hell not? I look hot and I’ll never be that young or that fit or have a red perm ever again.
I love that Carla, who was 21 or 22, just graduated from law school & I *think* this was the trip when Louis came with to visit my parents when Dad was Consul in Rio/Brazilia.
That Carla was brazen, excited, with her whole life ahead of her. Now, almost 30 years later, life hasn’t disappointed.
Yes, there have been challenges and dreams that haven’t come to fruition, most notably a devastating miscarriage in my second trimester a few months before we moved to NH in 2008.
Life ends up being highs and lows, some through the choices we make, and sometimes, through just plain, uncontrollable bad luck.
While you cannot control the shitty curveballs, you CAN control how you respond.
You can let crap knock you down and keep you there in a world of hurt and excuses and sadness, or you can pick yourself up, and plant your feet firmly back on your proverbial river rock.
I was taught to stand up every time, no matter what, and to accept the things I cannot change and focus on where *I CAN* make a difference.
Just as I stood on that rock all those years ago, bold and beautiful, I stand for liberty and freedom in the Free State of New Hampshire, the place I chose as my forever home.
Here I stand now, wider, greyer, wiser, but still bold and brazen and brave, because fighting for freedom these days takes balls.
Here I stand, ready for whatever life throws my way next! (I hope it’s a House seat! Lol)
SOURCE (OP):
This 79.6% “YES” to independence is from an online poll hosted by New Hampshire’s largest newspaper, the Union Leader on 9/15/21. Although entirely unscientific, it shows that Granite Staters appear to be fed up with the feds!
If the idea of independence is shocking or upsetting to you, remember, ideas need to be explored and then discarded or embraced. Nothing about NH independence is written in stone, and Granite Staters will have plenty of opportunities to weigh in on the process, starting with a bill that has been introduced this session to amend the NH Constitution to allow NH to peacefully leave.
The way I think about the issue is as follows: The federal government is no longer constrained by the US Constitution. They steal our money and break their promises. Right now, the Biden administration is trying to force unconstitutional health mandates on us, thereby denying us our most basic inalienable rights to self-ownership, body autonomy, and following our own consciences.
The federal government routinely oversteps its Constitutional bounds, regardless of which party is in power, and nothing we the people try to do to reform it, helps. The debt is unsustainable. The promised benefits are entirely unfunded and run into trillions upon trillions of dollars. The country is broke. The value of the dollar has been reduced almost 100% since 1913. Inflation is running rampant, and is likely to get worse.
Face it, New Hampshire: we are in an abusive relationship with the federal government. What do we recommend people do when they are in an abusive relationship?
LEAVE.
Think about it as a divorce. It can be amicable. If not, or if the feds say, as people sometimes do, that “the issue has been decided and you can’t leave,” ask yourself, do abusers get to tell the abused they are not allowed to get divorced? Of course not!
So, follow along on this journey with me! Nothing will happen without the consent of the majority, but instead of a knee-jerk “NO WAY,” consider…
YOU and your family will be richer
YOU and your family will be healthier
YOU and your family will have better schools
YOU and your family will have a greater say in your nation’s future… And much, much more!
Yes, you have questions! So do I. That’s why I’m starting this conversation!
Original post appeared publicly on Facebook on 09/16/21. SOURCE:
My friend Whitney Rossman died on Wednesday after a formidable battle with cancer. Why formidable? Because I have never seen anyone just drive, drive, drive with an interminable energy to simply keep going no matter what the Universe was throwing at her.
I met Whitney for the first time on a Freecoast cruise years ago. She and Jacob M Rossman and Louis Calitz and I shared a table on the boat, and something just “clicked.” It felt a bit to me like we were meeting younger, perhaps slightly cooler, “American” versions of ourselves.
Whitney was a force of nature. A wild woman. But also, she listened, and helped. Years ago, she connected me with a friend of hers who found herself with an unwanted pregnancy. We tried to figure out a private adoption, but in the end, the woman chose to terminate. Even though that happened, I was grateful to Whitney for trying to create a better outcome.
We attended the kids’ birthday parties when we could, and if I saw Whitney somewhere, at a party or PorcFest, I would try to be around her because she was always simply an awesome, laugh-out-loud hang. I loved soaking up her shine.
From her fierce way of no-bullshit talking to the way she owned her hair loss and her treatments, I admired her. I admired how I never heard her complain. I admired how she showed up at the health freedom rallies, advocating for the right to remain un-vaccinated and still receive medical treatments. (How sad is that sentence?)
In looking back through our DMs, I admire how she would follow up on small and big things. I loved that she read my book and found value in it (see Memory below).
Some people burn too bright on this plane, and that is how Whitney struck me. Like her fire was simply too much for this time and place.
I am so sad she is gone, my thoughts are with Jake and the children, but I am also relieved she is no longer in pain, no longer has to put on a brave face, no longer has to push, push, push through.
R.I.P. Whitney Rossman. You were so-super baller, every moment I spent with you was time spent wisely (even when we were perhaps doing unwise things 
), and I will miss you. Dude! Peace out. 
UPDATE: We attended Whitney’s memorial on Saturday, and it is testament to her amazing spirit to see more than a hundred people, from the nurse from her ward to her best friend from Kindergarten, attend.
I read “AMUSING OURSELVES TO DEATH” way back, and might have to take another look at it, but, while everyone has been wondering whether our future dystopia will be Orwell or Huxley (I actually suggested these to Facebook as buttons once ), I have come to the conclusion it is actually all KAFKA, all the time!
Our injustice system is the best example of this, with its never-ending bureaucratic loops, circle upon circle of hell. So yeah, okay, maybe Kafka plus Dante.
Instead of getting frustrated about this on a global scale, here in the Free State, I carefully choose where I can make an actual, on the ground (not “Big Mouth on the Internet”) difference, and then exert my efforts to those issues.
Successful Free Staters all do this, whether it is running for office and introducing bills to expand liberty in NH, or starting a Ladies-Only shoot, or a homeschooling co-op, or a cool little Youtube channel… We find what we’re passionate about and lean into it.
I do Right-to-Know work because I believe open and transparent government is the only way for us to hold our officials accountable. I do independence work because I believe the US federal government is immoral, corrupt, bankrupt, and cannot be reformed, although I would like to be proven wrong. I submit op-eds and letters to the editor because we should be talking to our neighbors in ways they can relate to and meet them where they are so we can persuade them there is a better way, and we have it: Freedom!
If YOU moved to NH as part of the Free State Project, how are YOU exerting your “fullest practical effort”?
Have you found the issues you are passionate about and have you been able to connect with people working in that area already?
Perhaps you’re interested in something so niche that YOU need to be the spearhead?
The Free State is always looking for more doers, volunteers, and folks who want to help make a difference. Please reach out!
My Life No. 100!
Well, here we are folks! My ONE HUNDREDTH “My Life: In Balance”!
This started as an experiment last year that came to me during a 5-Day Fast. I’ve been exploring ways in which I might unleash more of the energy I’d like to put in the world: my creative self together with my growing wise-ass-don’t-give-a-damn self.
I’ve learned, you will never heal the world until you have healed yourself, and I’m at the stage where I understand that childhood experiences, and brain-worms stuck in unhelpful grooves, sometimes need to, want to, and CAN BE JOLTED.
What better way than letting it all hang out?
I was meditating on Day 4 of my fast–I was probably just really hungry! LOL–but the second I “had it,” the moment the balancing design came to me, I made a note on a, you guessed it, yellow Post-It that said: “Make this is trope for CarlaGericke.com,” my website where I regularly post about exerting my fullest practical effort in the Free State, i.e. “My Life”.
The first one said: “Crushing Mob Rule” vs. “Becoming a Populist”.
In short, this “My Life” exercise was my own devised cognitive behavioral therapy, done in public, to help me let go of my perfectionism, my inner critic, and my fear of judgement.
The rules of this game were:
1. Telling myself there is no wrong way/No judgement/Nobody cares! <— That’s freeing, not depressing, btw. One of my most popular ones was “Nobody Cares!” with a sad face on one side and “Nobody Cares!” with a smiley face on the other.
2. I had to post the first take, unless the writing was illegible. I did about 10 over, and only on few had more than 2 takes. <—This was surprisingly hard bc of the brain-noodles trying to thwart forward progress: “But the line is skew!” “But the ‘A’ is wrong!” Exercise override function: IT DOESN’T MATTER!!!
3. No deadline beyond “Just do 100 to start; doesn’t matter how long it takes” <— Important because one of my issues is if I set a goal for myself and I don’t crush it immediately, I give up because I’ve “failed,” instead of either a) creating a more aligned goal, or b) giving myself grace for the slide and then continuing on my merry way.
4. I told myself after I’d completed a hundred, I would figure out a book. I realized the other day I can start using the content in other ways, too… Maybe 3 minute vids on what they mean to me/universal truths, as I eke out this book, probably as I add some essays.
I appreciate everyone who has followed along so far, commented, and shared your thoughts. I’m so happy I figured out a short and sweet way to show you some of what’s in my head!
As humans, I think this is our main compulsion: To be seen and understood, but here’s the kicker: You cannot be understood if you cannot articulate your thoughts.
For years, while advancing a successful legal career, I knew my real desire was to be a writer, you know, the people in the business of articulating their thoughts. I remember how, after I returned to college in my mid-30s to get my Master in Fine Arts, angst-y students would ask, “When can I call myself a writer?”
When you claim it.
I started saying I was a writer in 2008, after I sold my first story, but it didn’t feel non-Impostor-real until I held my first book, THE ECSTATIC PESSIMIST, in my hands.
But, over the past year, I’ve realized, I want more: I want to be an ARTIST.
The moment I wrote “ARTIST???” in my journal (yes, with all the question marks; hey, not all the self-confidence and self-awareness comes at once, m’kay? ), it made sense to me in the same way the Post-It series did.
Why this word? Why does ARTIST give me freedom in a way that I need to embrace?
Because through ***habitual*** journaling, I now understand that to me, the label ARTIST is freeing…
Art is subjective.
Art is permission to be weird and not care.
Art is misunderstood.
Art is individual.
Art is trying to make sense of your own thoughts, your own imagination, and the world around you, through your own spark.
Art is showing your soul and hoping someone likes it.
Art is continuing to create, even if no one does.
Art is unstoppable.
So am I.
And so are YOU.
“While we wait for life, life passes.” ~ Lucius Annaeus Seneca
Are you pretending to be someone you’re not? What do the words self-loathing and self-love conjure in you?
I’ve been pondering how people are showing up in my community, the collision between internet personas and real life, and what this means for those of us seeking balanced lives filled with personal integrity.
A while back, it occurred to me that “compartmentalization,” or putting things in “silos,” or even, as many of us say these days, operating under our “different hats” is… kind of bananas?
Aligning thoughts and actions is where human flourishing lies.
Yet, we are forced by government decrees and corporate structures and stories told to us by people trying to distract us, to pursue this SPIRITUAL DISCOMBOBULATION as though it is “normal”.
Pretty sure it’s not.
Pretty sure splitting yourself into different personas is… bad for you.
Pretty sure keeping you confused about who you are, is standing in the way of your happiness, and possibly even in the way of universal human enlightenment.
If you’re constantly seeking drama, being an asshole, criticizing people, or advocating hate, harm and violence online, even if you tell yourself it’s for the eyeballs and laffs, you might want to consider what you’re calling into your life in return for what you are putting out.
If you are feeding your ego with yuck… you become yucky.
We only have this life. The constant now.
If you’re working to build a world without top-down government, are you waiting until you find this perceived “utopia” to start “behaving properly” (which at a minimum would be: treat others as you yourself want to be treated), or are you just going to be a raging asshole in this Brave Not-So-New World too?
Because if you’re just planning to be a jerk, I’m building something else. I’m building a community striving to be their best selves at every moment. I want to be surrounded by people who want to lift each other up and seize this short gift we’ve got to EXIST in the real world we find ourselves in! It starts with each of us, individually, striving to be our best selves in every moment.
It’s never to late to start! You will fail. And then we try, try, try again! Live free and thrive!
FSP Founder and board member Jason Sorens pens an op-ed re zoning and the housing shortage.
This reminds me, when we talk about NH, we should start framing the value proposition of a “Live Free and Thrive!”-life through a scarcity lens… Yes, house prices are staying high despite the drop elsewhere… Why? Because this is a better place to live, we are seeing record in-migration, and there is a limited supply of houses until we can fix this problem.
At this past weekend’s FSB-DAC Conference, I framed it this way:
Imagine you are still getting in early on Switzerland. Yeah. Not so pricey then, eh?
This weekend was one for the books! I went to three Free Stater-led events, and had to bail on several others! If you feel like you’re missing out, know this: Your one stop source for goings-on around the Free State can be found on the FSP CALENDAR. We make an effort to keep the calendar current and up-to-date, so let Chris know if you spot something awry.
Saturday morning kicked off with MVP, the Merrimack Valley Porcupine meetup, which has been running for almost 20 years. This event, which conveniently takes place on the first Saturday of the month from 11:30AM-1PM is an excellent place to come find out what’s happening over the next month. It’s where you can meet candidates and other activists, pitch ideas, and generally ease into life as an activist and Free Stater in the Merrimack area.
I learned there’s a lot cooking (will post more later), including this important CALL-TO-ACTION for tomorrow/Tuesday, Sept 5th:
STOP IRL SOCIALISTS AT CITY HALL! 9/5 Tues at 6PM, before New Movers, come tell real life communists that we don’t want a city department dedicated to homelessness because we know: WHAT YOU SUBSIDIZE YOU GET MORE OF and we don’t want more homeless people! Stay at 7pm to give your 3 minute remarks on why a brand new “Housing Instability” department is nonsense.
Next, I attended West Manchester Day, hosted by We <3 West, where my husband, Louis Calitz serves on the board. This family friendly event, now in its third year, was held at a new, more convenient locations at 300 Prescourt Street, where the soccer fields are located. Parking was easy. Toilets were available. Definitely a good location to scale the events. Hopefully more people will learn of the great work We <3 West is doing to revitalize the west side without demanding our neighbors pay for it.
On Sunday, I went to Durham to speak at the Fifth Annual FSB-DAC event at the Fenton’s Farm. I have spoken at 3 of the 5 events, and it was an honor to do so again. I spoke of the close ties between Free Staters and crypto, and some of the FSP’s history with Bitcoin, where Free Staters in New Hampshire were very early adopters, starting in 2012. The world’s first Bitcoin ATM was developed in Manchester!
Porcupine Real Estate, where I now work as a Realtor, was well represented, and I was delighted to pitch the crowd the following idea: Every libertarian and liberty lover in the world should own a piece of the Free State! And, through tokenization and a DAO, I am going to make that happen!
I also gave an impassioned shout out to Free Ross, which I have consistently done since I started attending this event. I won’t stop until we Free Ross!
AG issues cease-and-desist order about illegal electioneering payments to Sununu at Gunstock???
Hmm. Say it isn’t so. Didn’t Free Staters say Gunstock’s management was doing shady shit…? And now, there’s proof Free Staters were… RIGHT.
Remember how Free Staters; together with Belknap Republicans said there was deep corruption at Gunstock, and instead of taking us seriously, the corrupt people bandied together to get rid of the whistle-blowers & truth-seekers, and destroyed some honest folk? Because I remember.
I find it fascinating that the NH AG’s office simply created a wild new legal standard for government-aligned-officials who break the law (if they’re connected, you see). The Conclusion of the C&D Letter is basically: “Oops, guess you broke the law, but since you didn’t mean to break it, we’re just going to tell you not to do that again, m’kay?”.
I categorically herewith demand that all Free Staters be treated with the same deference when they make “mistakes”.
I further find it fascinating that this corruption was hidden by a coalition of RINOs and Democrats who colluded together to POINT THE FINGER AT THE PEOPLE SEEKING THE TRUTH. But here’s a lesson for free: Follow the money. Every damn time.
This is just the tip of the iceberg about corruption and cronyism in New Hampshire’s political class, and in the end, THAT’S why they fight Free Staters.
And I, for one, will keep fighting back!