Do you know any hermits?

Mrs. N., you've got a lovely daughter.

Um, no. No hermits. Herman claimed his a long time ago already.

Sometimes I wonder if it's not a good thing.

I am probably in London on October 3rd, though. I'm going to see a film. Highlight of the year, etc.

Resisting the urge to call Suzy to thread

Reminds me of the Tom Waits song, "What's He Doing in There?"

http://www.gq.com/news-politics/newsmakers/201409/the-last-true-hermit?printable=true

i hate how there's so much focus on this guy's robbery lyfe

it kind of seems like, if you live in the woods in total isolation, it's ok for you to just live however

idk i think it was interesting to think about this guy as someone who was not really equipped to survive in the woods and did so by keeping this link via theft to civilization.

i mean obviously they talk about it because he seems to be kinda hung up on it

but still

He also stole the occasional handheld video game—Pokémon, Tetris, Dig Dug

I tipped to the public's side when I read about the guy who kept finding his flashlight emptied of its batteries. AFAIC, there's a hermit around here stealing my pencils.

There's a conversation to be had about Knight's mental wellness, but that aside, if you're going to go live off in the woods all by your lonesome, you're going to have to leave behind the Playboys and Marshmallow Whip too.

who sez

The National Association of Solitaries & Hermits ratified that one at their 1974 convention, everyone's aware of that.

it's not good to frighten people, but this prob puts me on his side 4ever

I'd mentioned in my letter that I was an avid reader. From what I could tell, Knight was, too. Many victims of Knight's thefts reported that their books were often stolen—from Tom Clancy potboilers to dense military histories to James Joyce's Ulysses.

Hemingway, I wrote, was one of my favorites. It seemed that Knight was shy about everything except literary criticism; he answered that he felt "rather lukewarm" about Hemingway.

also love that he maintained his glasses

+ this touched me

When Perkins-Vance asked why he didn't want to answer any questions, he said he was ashamed.

The constant banging and buzzing in here," I said, "must be so jarring compared with the sounds of nature."

...

"It's jail," he said.

his glasses, with chunky plastic frames, were extremely outdated.

Judging from the picture, I object

he said he was looking for a better prescription the whole time so maybe they gave him new glasses after they caught him

having reached the unexpectedly pleasant ending i think that seven months in jail for a guy that desperate to not be around people is a pretty respectable punishment for stealing ho-hos and never hurting anybody. glad to hear they're so humane up there in white america, i guess.

"YOU! ON YOUR KNEES! DON'T FUCKIN' MOVE. NOW PUT *THESE* ON!"

lol

He explained about the lack of eye contact. "I'm not used to seeing people's faces," he said. "There's too much information there. Aren't you aware of it? Too much, too fast."

so true

When I mentioned Thoreau, who spent two years at Walden, Chris dismissed him with a single word: "dilettante."

XD

He explained about the lack of eye contact. "I'm not used to seeing people's faces," he said. "There's too much information there. Aren't you aware of it? Too much, too fast."

so true

― cross over the mushroom circle (La Lechera), Saturday, August 23, 2014 3:14 PM (47 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

amazing

ps i might be a hermit, sometimes

The family is extremely private and did not speak with me. Their next-door neighbor told me that in fourteen years, he hasn't exchanged more than a word with Chris's mom. Sometimes he sees her getting the paper. "Culturally my family is old Yankee," Chris said. "We're not emotionally bleeding all over each other. We're not touchy-feely. Stoicism is expected."

When I mentioned Thoreau, who spent two years at Walden, Chris dismissed him with a single word: "dilettante."

I mean, Thoreau could only eat the regular El Monterey chimichangas - the spicy ones would interrupt his meditation.

I've read that during those two years, Thoreau fairly often left the woods for the tavern and his Mom's home-cooked meals.

He had the newspaper delivered each morning

I'll confess, I've never read On Walden Pond. Too busy playing Dig Dug.

thoreau describes his visits to town in the book itself, and anyway it's fairly clear that he's in contact with the town most of the time, what with the descriptions of supply-gathering, visitors, and ice-harvesters, among others.

This is interesting

http://siberiantimes.com/other/others/features/f0039-reclusive-siberian-hermit-agafia-lykov-comes-out-of-isolation-to-say-happy-new-year/#.VKV_XThSTPg.twitter

Wonderful. I wonder how many people actually live like hermits in Siberia. Every odd year someone's discovered and written about, but there must be dozens out there right?