“scissor-poke cowardice and reservation in the eyes”

Walden on Wheels REVIEW

Chapter One: Cart-Pusher

1. How would you compare Ken Ilgunas’ experience of getting into college debt compare with your own experience? How does he find himself, as he says on page 9, “trapped in school”?
2. What non-monetary benefits does Ken Ilgunas feel himself receiving from his education in this chapter and what does this have to say about the purpose of college in your mind?
3. Ilgunas speaks to the matter of freedom in this chapter. What does freedom mean to him? How does he suffer as he feels that it is being lost and how does he strike out to regain it? Is his approach a logical one in your mind? Why or why not? Note his comment on pages 12 and 13, “I became afflicted with a burning restlessness that stirred up irrational, impractical dreams and coaxed out strange, subconscious voices.”
4. In concluding the chapter, Ilgunas says that we are nothing but our stories. – “an accumulation of experiences that we have fashioned into our own grand, sweeping narrative.” If you sat down like Ilgunas does, to write the narrative of your experiences, could it be made into an interesting readable book?

Chapter Two: Cheechako

1. “Climbing this mountain was my chance to start over,” Ilgunas writes of Blue Cloud on page 25. He says that that one climb took on mythic proportions. How does this event determine much of what follows in the book?
2. Would you describe Ken Ilgunas as foolhardy or adventurous? Or both? Why?

Chapter Three: Applicant

1. “By 2009, 17.4 million college graduates had jobs that didn’t even require a degree.” As Ken tries to figure out how to pay his college debt in this environment, how does he envision his alternate futures in “career world” and as an adventurer? Page 38. Do you think his perceptions are accurate or skewed?What does the view after college look like to you at this moment?
2. Do you think Ken Ilgunas makes a wise or a foolish decision after he graduates? How does one know when to surrender and when to persist in a dream anyway?

Chapter Four: Tour Guide

1. What is Ken Ilgunas’ attitude towards work (page 46) and how does it compare with Jack Reakoff’s? Do you think either or both attitudes are healthy or unhealthy?
2. Ken manages to reduce his financial burdens by shifting some of them to his mother (though he intends to pay her back and begins to). How did you determine when to accept help and when not to? This is a question Ilgunas will come back to later in the book by the way.

Chapter Five: Garbage Picker

1. Ken’s gets excited about Bob Abrames proposal to travel in a canoe through Canada. Have you ever experienced a similar excitement about a task or job or adventure?
2. Ken’s description of working as a garbage picker doesn’t sound all that appealing. What has been your worst job thus far? How does that job fit into your narrative? Your story?

Chapter Six: Night Cook

1. Ken starts chapter six by describing some of the people who live and work in Coldfoot Alaska during the winters. His ability to draw caricatures of people is one evidence of his ability to write. Have you ever tried to describe people that you work with? Are they interesting enough to write about?
2. “Everyone else seemed to be decomposing,” Ilgunas says of people he works with. How are people in Coldfoot affected by the weather and climate where they live? How does where you live matter as much or more than what you do?
3. “My life was so monotonous, so goaless, so pathless. What was my purpose? To service truckers who worked for the oil industry?” p. 70 What does Ken’s estimation of his life in Alaska say about the relative importance of WHERE you are over WHAT you do?
4. Ilgunas says that he felt anger when he first saw the stars in Alaska. “It was as if I had just learned of an inheritance that had been stolen from me. If it wasn’t for Alaska, I might have gone my whole life without knowing what a real sky was supposed to look like. . .. what other sights had the foul cloud of civilization hid from my view?” What is the most amazing thing you have ever seen in nature? Why is experiencing such things valuable to human beings?
5. Why does Ilgunas say that people often WANT to have their freedom taken away?

Chapter Seven: Maintenance Worker

1. Thoreau made me feel like I’d been a sane man wrongly assigned to live in a madhouse.” (p. 78) Like Thoreau, Ilgunas discovered that he is better off when he is “doing without.” I wonder if you would agree with him or with Thoreau? Make reference to some passages from Thoreau’s Walden in your response.
2. Both Thoreau and Ilgunas like to calculate their accounts. What can be learned from the figures that they use to represent their personal economies. When you look at your own budget, how are you different or like them? What do these numbers say about you?
3. “James Suburban left me speechless. It was a mockery of conformity , an affront to conventional wisdom, a symbol of his complete lack of regard for the rules and norms and standards of our age.” Have you ever met someone who inspired you somehow?  How do you explain why different people inspire us in different ways?
4. How does Ilgunas deal with rejections letters (0 for 35 he says on page 86). How do you deal with rejection?

Chapter Eight: Hitchiker

1. What does Ilgunas mean when he says that he wants to “scissor-poke cowardice and reservation in the eyes” on page 96? And “It was time to find out for myself” on page 97? How does this compare to Thoreau’s passage in walden where he says that he wanted to “live deliberately”?

“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practise resignation, unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms.”

2. How does Ilgunas characterize the people he meets hitchhiking? What does he mean when he writes on page 104, “I walked a tightwire above a net of compassion, stretched out by the hands of strangers”? What do you think of his estimation of people’s character? Is it naïve or accurate or overly pessimistic? Have you ever questioned just how much an appropriate amount of trust one should have in strangers is.

Chapter Nine: Voyageur

1. “Life was good and simple” Ilgunas says of his experience as a voyageur. He finds himself “daily shedding the traces of his century.” Perhaps you have noticed that at every step of this book, the author is getting more adept at doing without. Is this a skill you should like to encourage in yourself? Or is it a coping mechanism for the lazy and undisciplined?
2. Ilgunas talks on page 116 about how the “coming of age” adventure has been abridged from a young person’s life experience, leaving no bridge, no moment of real freedom in between school and career.” What do you think would make a good post-highschool pre-college adventure?
3. At the end of this chapter, Ilgunas tells us about “standing up” for himself in a way he had never done before. Can you think of a similar experience in your life?

Chapter Ten: Corpmember

1. In this chapter Ken Ilgunas describes his relationships with the girls he meets in Mississippi as an Americorp worker. How does his description of falling in love with someone compare to your own experiences? How does Ilgunas explain himself to himself and does he seem to be as good at observing his internal self as he is at observing nature and character in other people?
2. The psychologist, Carl Jung suggests that what we look for in a romantic partner is often the part of ourselves that we are too repressed to let out. How might this be illustrated in Ken’s description of Sami? If we were to ask Sami to write about her attraction to Ken, what might she say?
3. How does Ken’s friend Josh’s experiences at Westwood College contribute to the theme of the book (p. 135) You might want to read pages 159=161 as well.

Chapter Eleven: Son

1. How does Ken respond to Sami’s news and what does that tell you about him at this point in his life?
2. How does Ken imagine parenting and how does the responsibility of parenting fit into that all-important “narrative” that he enjoys telling? Could this book have been written if Ken had become a parent at this point?
3. On page 142 AND 143, Ken Ilgunas explains why the relationship with sami is “unsustainable.” When relationships break up, there is usually an “initiator” and it is not unusual for them to begin laying the groundwork for their exit before informing their partner (as Ilgunas does here.” Does he seem like a noble person to you? Or does he come across as someone who “uses people”?
4. On page 145, Ken inventories his feelings about huis parents’ lives. This is often an important exercise in the individuation process as we figure out how we want our lives to be different. “I wanted to work but I wanted to be free” he says. To what extent are these two things mutually exclusive.
5. On page 149 and 150, Ilgunas tries to understand the allure of video games in the modern world. Would you agree or disagree with his observations?

Chapter Twelve: Ranger

1. “Let the intrepid few have wild places where they might be stunned by the extraordinary, and let the sedentary many have such places too. “ What is Ilgunas’ argument for making some National Parks inaccessible to any but the dedicated? Compare Ilgunas’ views of nature in the National life to the conservationist, John Muir. You can easily find a few of his writings online.
2. “Why did they hire me?” When Ken starts his job as a park ranger, he can’t believe he could be so fortunate. Why do you suspect he was hired given what you know about him thus far?
3. “Dwelling in me also was an unmotivated suburbanite, a lazy couch potato, a sometimes alcoholic, loser. If I put myself in a comfortable situation, my lesser self would take over …” (p. 162) Is this a criticism of most people’s lives? Does it seem arrogant or realistic in your experience.
4. “What had our relationship been? IT was about to fall to the ground in a cloud of dust like a demolished building. It was a young cottonwood about to be charred and splintered by an errant lightning bolt. It was a wild river doomed to be damned. … it wasn’t supposed to last forever. It was simply a means of getting from one point to another, of helping us get from our past selves to our future selves. And like the hitchhike, we’d take from it, learn from it, say goodbye to it, be the better for it and think back on it fondly. Devestated and completely unsure about what I was doing, I kissed her forehead and left the café.”  (p. 163)
   
   We can have a tendency to make a declaration about our experience of something as though our perception of it is the experience itself. One wonders reading this if Sami’s narrative and Kens would diverge about what is happening here. But it provides an opportunity to think about your own approach to ending relationships that you form in life. What advice from your experience would you have given to Ken Ilgunas at this point in his story?

Chapter Thirteen: Package Handler

1. Ken begins this chapter talking about his friend Josh’s job at Westwood College. When we take jobs, we generally have some impact on them. But they also have an impact on us. What impact does your job have on you?
2. “If I didn’t do it now, I might never,” Ken says of applying to graduate school after he pays off his debt. What do you think of doing when you think like that?
3. On page 171, Ilgunas prepares for an interview. What can you learn from him about the achievement of goals? This can include more ideas than simply his approach to college interviews?
4. What would be the advantages and disadvantages of attempting to graduate from college or graduate schools debt free?

Chapter Fourteen:  Purchase

1. “When you have got nothing, I guess you have got nothing to lose.” Time for a reality check. Ken Ilgunas has just paid off his debt with money that he made from the American Park Service – money that the park service has solely because millions of people are working and paying in taxes to the National Treasury. He lives without health insurance and soon, the new President will be driving a health care reform process that has, as a central tenant the idea that young people like Ken must be forced to pay a fine if they do not provide for their own insurance. His decision to live in a van will mean that he will not be contributing property taxes for the local school system. His hot water and electricity will be funded by other students at Duke. Is he being admirably frugal here or is here merely externalizing his costs to others? Feel free to take a position.

Chapter Fifteen: Renovation

1. Vandwelling is an entire lifestyle choice as we will soon learn. Does it appeal to you? Why or why not?
2. Ken Ilgunas explains why he decides to become a van dweller on page 191. It reminds one very much of Thoreau’s explanation for why he lived in a cabin by Walden (thus the title of the book). Does his defense of his lifestyle strike you as compelling? Or is there something about the insecurity of it all (as he describes in the introduction) that more than offsets the benefits?
3. “While I had hoped to sneak my way around college tuition,” Ilgunas says on page 192, “ I’d met warty mustachioed border patrolmen on all the conventional roads to an affordable education.” What alternative routes to affordable education have you tried and thought about trying?
4. Have you ever created a detailed budget like Ken does on page 199? How might it help you?

Chapter Sixteen: Acclimatization

1. “In order to graduate debt free, I’d have to lie. There was no way around it.” This is as good a place as any to talk about Ethics. What is your take on Ilgunas’ argument here. How might his logic be applied by others in different ways and this an argument against doing what he is doing? Or understandable. (Note for instance how he feels about Westwood College lying to potential students for money.)
2. “I preferred to remain useless at everything” Ilgunas says of his decision to pursue a liberal arts degree on page 211. “I didn’t want a ‘marketable skill – I could learn one later if I wished.” For Ilgunas “figuring stuff out,” is a priority. What are the best and worst arguments for taking liberal arts programs and classes so far as you can imagine them?

Chapter Seventeen: Adaptation

1. I am a member of the “careerless generation,” Ilgunas says on page 221, “the screwed generation.” “We are the first generation in a while who will less well-off and less well off than their parents.” Is this your estimation of the situation and if so, how do you explain it and feel about it?
2. Ilgunas turns down his mother’s offer to send him money on page 222. Why? What is your estimate of his decision? Would you turn down parental help if you had it?
3. Ilgunas concludes the chapter by saying that he was only one accident or injury away from bankruptcy. These ar typically the sorts of people that predatory lenders look for because such people must charge at high interest rates when emergencies happen. Ken Ilgunas mentions that his mother tried to convince him to put some of his debt payment into savings. Debate the wisdom of her advise. Does Ken’s approach only work because he is fortunate enough not to have an accident or illness?

Chapter Eighteen: My First Guest

1. On page 236, Ilgunas addresses the issue of loneliness (something he had to live with in exchange for his frugal lifestyle and obsession with freedom). “I found that Icould not due without people the way that I could ddo without luxuries” he writes. Has he made assumptions about himself that have not turned out to be so? And if so, what does he do about it?
2. “I met students everywhere,” Ilgunas says on page 241, “who had devoted half their twenties to something they had little passion for. Eventually, they would be hyperspecialized and would only be qualified for work that didn’t at all fit their true interests or character.” Is this something likely to happen to you and if so, it as bad for your life as Ilgunas suggests? He defines smart as knowing and being willing to follow your passions. What is your estimate of that determiner of intelligence?
3. Thorough made a habit of critiquing the lives of farmers in Concord. Ilgunas begins to criticize the career choices of some of his fellow students at Duke. He sees them as “squandering their lives.” Is this fair? Explain.

Chapter Nineteen: Solitude

1. Loneliness, no doubt caused anquish,” Ilgunas writes, “but over time, solitude gave me something I never would have expected: a culture of my own.” “Why should I listen to society? Society was insane.” What are the advantages and disadvantages of having a culture of your own?

Chapter Twenty: Ranger

1. “I was happy to have suffered. I was happy to have been miserable. I was happy to have been alone. And I knew that I would soon be happy to have been scared half to death by that bear.” “Comedy is tragedy plus distance” someone has said. What is the process by which you turn your suffering into happiness?
2. Ilgunas insists that “you have to become you.” That there is no happiness outside doing so. What does that advice mean to you?

Chapter Twenty-One: Pilgrim

1. Ilgunas tells us that he eventually decided to make his van experiment public in an article in Salon magazine (a contact provided him by one of his teachers). You can find his article here:
   
   http://www.salon.com/2009/12/07/living_in_a_van/
   
   What would you write an article about if you had the chance?
2. On page 281 of the book, Ilgunas begins to self-reflect on his obsession with frugality and independence. Is he, in your opinion learning to compromise and is this a good thing?

Chapter Twenty-Two: Graduate

1. “James Joyce said, ‘When the soul of man is born, there are nets thrown at it to hold it back from flight.’” What are some of the nets that have been thrown at you?
2. Why does Ilgunas say that he leaves Duke feeling wealthy even though he is almost twenty five and has almost no savings, no possessions, no assets, and no job?
3. “Go for it.” What would “it” be for you?