Returning that matter of bohemian identity, here are ten more options.
- Peace activist.
- Yogi.
- Organic gardener.
- Vegan.
- Feminist.
- Civil rights activist.
- Environmentalist.
- Poet.
- New England contradancer.
- Sanctuary volunteer.
What more would you suggest for the list?
Well said! I would include the Walking Adventurist, which I am, especially if we consider that most of the people are still just standard tourists, and they are travelling mostly by motor vehicles or bike. There are so little people that are travelling by foot, and especially all the way (even the backpackers are considered weird, even do they are travelling by foot only for a small period of time; mostly they hitchhike, waiting for a car drivers to pick them up)…
Good point. Somehow my mind leaps ahead to slow food, too. You know, savoring what we’re doing and where we’re going rather than simply rushing through.
Yes, we have to live our lives, to explore, imagine, always searching for the better. As one of my friend would say, most of the people on this world are not living, they’re only breathe the air…
Feminists as a bohemian identity? I find that ironic, given that feminism as a movement is often criticised as being driven by, and prioritising the concerns of, straight white middle-class women. Is it bohemian to think the most pressing problems of sexism are how I can manage childcare while I work? (I say this slightly tongue-in-cheek, and as a self-consciously straight, white, middle-class woman).
I wonder, Jnana, are you perhaps straining your categories beyond credibility, here?
I’m using “bohemian” to go beyond the “hippie” label, which carries too many negative connotations for much of the public.
What I do remember is the rising call for sexual equality in the late ’60s, from the going braless and not shaving legs or armpits as a protest, on one side, and a kind of back-to-the-land affirmation of, well, a more natural state. And then we had the “male chauvinist pig” epithet and “I ain’t taking this shit no more” assertion.
Of course, a lot has changed in the 50 years since, including the definition of “straight.”
How do we reclaim and revive some of the vision, including more communal households where childcare might be better shared and managed?
You and I might see that befitting the Gospel vision in everyday life. Which brings us to today,
Hope this is a glorious Easter for you and yours. And I’ll encourage my readers to read the sermons you’ve posted on your blog. Yes, a new creation!