A road awkwardly traveled…

Hinterland has been an idea of mine for the past few years now. It has taken on many different names and formats in my mind as I juggle the ins and outs of creating a well informed business with the everyday responsibilities of paying to live in modern day America. Making progress on this venture has been slow. While I would love to give all of my energy towards research and action in service to Hinterland, the reality of needing to continue my day job to simply survive has meant that I don’t always have enough spell slots at the end of the day to devote towards growing this business as much as I would like.

This year in particular has thrown many moral challenges my way, forcing me to truly consider if I want to continue investing my energy into a business that will likely come to fruition as the only country I have ever called home falls deeper into fascism. There have been multiple moments throughout this year that I have played with the idea of up and leaving, possibly pursuing my aspirations in a different country. Afterall, the idea behind Hinterland is to create a space that honors nature and art, inviting others to come and honor nature and art with us- something that I believe is deeply needed throughout the entire world.

It is an idea that has both excited and frightened me, changing gears and exploring the possibility of pursuing this dream in a different country. Toying with this idea has caused me to reckon with the idea of further setbacks to making this dream a reality. Moving countries would mean I need to not only navigate the legal logistics of buying land and opening a business on foreign soil, but also navigate the lengthy process of moving my family across national borders. It would undoubtedly add years to the process of getting Hinterland up and running, which is something I could learn to be patient about. But it would also add thousands of dollars to a growing list of needed funds to make this project a reality.

And that is something I have a harder time swallowing, considering I am already struggling to generate tangible funds for this dream. Thinking about the increased funding needs forced me to think more critically about what actions I can realistically take to make the world a better place. I view the current direction of our country and administration to be vile and represent everything that I think is wrong with the world- greedily overconsuming, depleting our natural resources, and further disenfranchising the already disenfranchised to benefit the absurdly wealthy. But instead of running away and ignoring it, what if I instead stayed and did my best to be the change I want to see? What if I utilized my stubbornness to defiantly tell America that a better, more just and sustainable world is possible in this country? Like I said, this year has been exploration of moral quandaries around what it means to me to try and start a business as we grapple with relentless injustices and abuses of power. It took me until the end of the summer to come to the conclusion that, in spite of the horrors, I still want to pursue this dream here.

With that moral dilemma resolved, I was immediately faced with yet another daunting dilemma. Funding. Corey and I don’t come from generational wealth. Everything that we have built has been painstakingly amassed through minimum wage jobs that have only recently blossomed into higher paying careers. To get Hinterland off the ground, we were going to need to find funding of at least a quarter million dollars just to get the ball rolling. And, I have to be honest, asking for any amount of money right now feels like a disingenuous fool’s errand to me. There are so many more pressing issues in the world that are in much more dire need of funding than my brain child. If I can convince anyone to help fund something right now, I would much rather they donate their money to a local food bank, wildlife conservation effort, or research effort that has seen their funding slashed thanks to this current administration.

Yes, I need money to get Hinterland off the ground. But I can focus on building my own equity as a way to make that possible. Sure it will take more time, but I have already discovered that I am okay with taking more time to make this dream a reality if it means I can stick to my morals of forming an ethical business that demonstrates its values in every aspect of how it functions.

So if you have read this far, this is my very longwinded way of saying that Hinterland is still a dream that is in the process of transforming into a reality. Its transformation is just taking on a new shape. While Hinterland won’t see a physical location for people to reconvene with nature and connect through art any time soon, it will instead make its presence known by building equity in our local communities as I build equity to eventually be able to buy land and make this dream more physical.

That starts with a couple of small steps, like me making more blog posts for starters, and organizing community focused charitable efforts. I already have ideas for hosting community clothing drives, food drives and fundraisers for other local organizations that are also putting in the effort to make the world a better place. So follow along if you are so inclined! The road to making Hinterland a reality has been mostly solitary up until this point, and I’m excited to start sharing it more openly as it winds and changes on its metamorphic journey.