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Rowan Mangan

Writer. Mom. Wild Inventurer.

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Welcome to Looking for America!

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Parenting inventures

August 17, 2021

As you might already know, “inventure” is my word for a way of living that puts nature before culture. It’s all about living in a way that feels right to you, even if it looks weird to others: our extended families, our friend groups, our ethnic communities. You name it, there’s a culture trying to […]

Filed Under: Parenting inventures

What are Wild Inventures?

August 17, 2021

I’m so glad you asked! Let’s say that an ADventure is a quest or mission you go out into, much like Frodo Baggins and his friends do in Lord of the Rings. I like adventures fine, and I’m lucky enough to have been on many in my life. An INventure is a different kind of […]

Filed Under: Parenting inventures

Pandemic babies, lockdown life

August 16, 2021

In some new parent spaces I visit online, I often hear some version of “OH NO! My pandemic baby has had an unnatural life in lockdown! He’s going to be socially stunted!” It’s easy to get hooked by big fears like this, especially when you’re new to the parenting gig. So I spent some time […]

Filed Under: Parenting inventures

Precious precious wild

July 21, 2021

Every night when I put Lila down in her crib, this is the last thing I say to her: “Strong back, soft front, wild heart.” I touch her back, her tummy and her chest as I say the words, and then I tell her I love her. It has become like an incantation, magical words […]

Filed Under: Parenting inventures Tagged With: Lila, parenting, wildparenting

My Bullet Journal friend

October 3, 2019

Embarrassing revelation: when I look at this grubby, scuffed little yellow notebook—my bullet journal—I feel a genuine affection. A warm, swelly sensation in my heart, such as one might feel for a dear friend, or humankind. It’s odd, yes, but also kind of cool. It makes me ponder the concept of inanimate friends, like the […]

Filed Under: Work inventures Tagged With: bujo, bullet journal, inanimate friends, productivity

The Turning, a poem

September 10, 2018

THE TURNING I. My sweet darlings, however did you stay afloat for so long and never suspect you were built to breathe underwater? Why did you never toss thoughts around in three dimensions, never loose them like dragonflies into the deep sky? How could you fear falling? Didn’t you see the spiders stringing safety nets […]

Filed Under: Work inventures Tagged With: poetry

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We’re trying to break the cultural story that says We’re trying to break the cultural story that says, “If you work, you’ll be just all right—as long as you keep working. If you don’t work, you’ll die.” ☠️

That’s the loop we’re all caught in, often without noticing it. In this episode of Bewildered, we’re looking at how to remember to step off the rotating stage and actually look at the story.

When we look at something as magnificent as the Broadway show Hadestown, we’re watching the story we’ve been told be made into art—something that lifts it far beyond the prosaic, everyday context of work and survival.

Art itself is a category that can excite our psychology and inspire us toward something new.

Remembering death or mortality is not the only way to step out of cultural conditioning around work. We believe we can also be inspired, enchanted, and invited into a different way of being and a new consciousness. ✨

Join us for this conversation to find out more!

🎧 You can listen to Bewildered episode 135: Hadestown and the Mythology of Work, access the show notes, and find links to resources on our website at the link in our bio—or on your favorite podcasting app.
A feminist gardening dilemma 🌱 The personal is po A feminist gardening dilemma 🌱

The personal is political. The garlic is groomed.

#gardening #garlicharvest #homegrownfood
“Why are you doing this? Why are you wasting time “Why are you doing this? Why are you wasting time on this? What’s it for?”

That’s the “culture worm” talking... 🐛

Culture says everything we do has to be for something: for prestige, power, wealth, and status. Even practicing an instrument becomes preparation for a moment that has to exist.

On this episode of Bewildered, we’re asking: What if that moment doesn’t have to exist?

What if you can just keep getting better and better, not for anyone or anything, just for the moment and the sound of the notes?

Tune in for the full conversation to hear about cultivating the play vibe, living in the present moment, and breaking free from culture worms to pursue what you love.

You can listen to Bewildered episode 133: Playing Without Performing, access the show notes, and find links to resources on our website at the link in our bio—or on your favorite podcasting app. 🎧
Big day at Coven Farms… #backyardchickens #freeran Big day at Coven Farms… #backyardchickens #freerangechickens
Ah, Saturday Ah, Saturday
We were talking to Ro’s father about songwriting a We were talking to Ro’s father about songwriting and the process of writing songs and playing music, and he said, “Just don’t forget that it’s called playing the guitar.” 🎸
Emphasis on playing.

Somewhere along the way, the “culture worm” gets in there and stops us from doing things for their own sake. We stop playing and start performing, even when there’s no one watching.

On this episode of Bewildered, we’re dissecting what it means to reclaim the play in whatever you do. Come play with us! ✨

You can listen to Bewildered episode 133: Playing Without Performing, access the show notes, and find links to resources on our website at the link in our bio—or on your favorite podcasting app. 🎧
Just a rooster, standing in front of a lesbian, as Just a rooster, standing in front of a lesbian, asking her to ignore gender stereotypes
Did you know that you don’t have to do everything Did you know that you don’t have to do everything by yourself?

For example, you can be the one who makes the thing, and someone in your community who enjoys photographing the thing can do that part. 📸

No matter how introverted we are, we just keep landing back in community because it’s never supposed to be self-sufficiency. It’s always supposed to be interdependence.

You can have a part yourself that makes the art, and you can have other parts that do other stuff, but you can also externalize those things to actual other people.

We can help each other. What a concept. 🤯

The culture’s monetization of everything often makes us forget that it doesn’t always have to be a transaction. It can just be a favor.

We saw this happen at our Pure.Wild.Self retreat in Costa Rica. There were twenty-five people there, and Liz Gilbert stopped by one day, and the whole thing turned into people rejoicing in each other’s genius.

Person after person connecting with someone whose joy would help them make their joy into something sustaining. They were trading passions, trading specialties. It was a little village of 25 people, just bursting with interdependence.

That’s what we’re talking about on this episode of Bewildered. Join us!

You can listen to Bewildered episode 132: Enriching Your Enclosure, access the show notes, and find links to resources on our website at the link in our bio—or on your favorite podcasting app. 🎧
We’re always trying to hack our own psyches, right We’re always trying to hack our own psyches, right?

We’re looking for ways to game the system…to reframe things from Sunday-scaries mode into exciting mode.

One hack we keep coming back to is: Money equals points. If you can get the little Pac-Man part of you engaged in money (nit-nit-nit-nit), suddenly you’re moving.

A friend of ours said it best. When Ro asked her what was pushing her to her desk every day to finish her book, she looked up and said: “Well, I’m really looking forward to getting paid.”

It was such a great cut-the-bullshit, cut-all-the-highfalutin-stuff moment.

One way of tricking yourself so that you can move toward the money thing and not get stopped by the switch into “I have to do a job now!” panic, is this: Just make something. Anything.🧶

To hear more about the hacks, tricks, and reframes for getting more of what you love into your life, join us for the full conversation!

You can listen to Bewildered episode 132: Enriching Your Enclosure, access the show notes, and find links to resources on our website at the link in our bio—or on your favorite podcasting app. 🎧
Happy Lughnasadh, festival of first harvest! It’s Happy Lughnasadh, festival of first harvest! It’s lovely to meet some of the potatoes and onions I’ve been talking to these past few months. I just love these midsummer vibes ☀️
We will not be taking questions at this time. #chi We will not be taking questions at this time. #chickens #chickenswholunch #chickensbigdayattheraces
Some recent summer moments 🥰 Some recent summer moments 🥰
When opportunity arises, the culture tells us to m When opportunity arises, the culture tells us to make a pros and cons list. Count up the columns and follow whichever one has more items. It’s all about return on investment: minimize the effort, maximize the reward.

That’s the rational way of navigating, right?

But here’s the thing: You can’t actually know your return on investment ahead of time. It’s always only a projected ROI. And we are not living life in an environment where that’s easy to project, whether we’re talking financially, emotionally, or experientially.

How the f*ck are we supposed to know how to do any of that? 😅

We don’t think a pros and cons list is the answer. On this episode of Bewildered, we talk about what we think works better, and why it might feel a bit counterintuitive at first. Join us!

You can listen to Bewildered episode 130: Following Your Inner Pull, access the show notes, and find links to resources on our website at the link in our bio—or on your favorite podcasting app. 🎧
Nothing like hanging out with my favorite people i Nothing like hanging out with my favorite people in #WilderCommunity with Bilbo Baggins’s chin on my leg. Is this what absolute contentment feels like? 🐾 🌀
These so so precious summer days These so so precious summer days
A summer adventure with my girl A summer adventure with my girl

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