The Thrilling Adventures of Escape Guy
You all know Escape Guy, don’t you?
He’s in the header of this very website and we used the same image on the cover of the magazine for a while.
He’s an ISO Standard symbol for an emergency exit. I was doing some research into this today and it turns out there’s variations on the theme. Loads of them.
For instance, here’s Escape Guy clambering out of a window:
Escape Guy always helps others to freedom:
He’s equipped for any occasion. Even leaving Planet Earth:
But mind that hole!
Catch him if you can:
But disembark carefully:
Escape Guy frees his mind by picking some mushrooms:
“Can’t. Reach. Drainage. Button.”
Almost home, Escape Guy!
Escape Guy takes a shower after a long day of fleeing:
Goodnight, Escape Guy.
THE END
PS: Be like Escape Guy and buy my book.
In Spite of His Indolent Ways
I’ve just read Little Women. There was a copy on a special display in the library and curiosity got the better of me.
Much of it is too winsome (is “twee” the right word?) for my tastes and the only March Sister I could remotely fall for was Jo. I like her mildly rebellious ways and she’s the only sister who seems to have a brain in her nut.
The “realer” chapters toward the end, which seem to be the ones best remembered, are very good though and I suppose you need the naff stuff if you’re to feel anything later on.
Anyway, there’s a line I wanted to share here for its Escapological energy:
in spite of his indolent ways, he had a young man’s hatred of subjection,–a young man’s restless longing to try the world for himself.
Isn’t that nice? It’s about Laurie, the March sisters’ only friend who is neither elderly nor an employee of theirs.
I must say I never got over the “hatred of subjection” or the “longing” described here so it’s not only native to young men. I’m 40 now (my first escape was at 26) and I still like to try the world for myself (despite my Laurie-like indolence). Keep the fire alive — quietly!
Luckily, there is advice from Jo March about what to do if you, like me, share this young man’s passion:
“I advise you to sail away in one of your ships, and never come home again till you have tried your own way,” said Jo, whose imagination was fired by the thought of such a daring exploit.
Will do.
For more inspiration on how to try the world for yourself, subscribe to our magazine here.
Kicky-Kicky, Start-Start
New Escapologist is a small-press magazine about escape.
We do not dwell on short-term or commercial escapes like television or beach holidays: we’re far more interested in well-planned, longer-term escapes from the worker-consumer treadmill into lives of imaginative creativity.
Yes indeed, there’s a Kickstarter campaign running RIGHT NOW to bring back New Escapologist as a small press magazine.
Thanks to a speedy response from the readers of our newsletter, the campaign is going extremely well but every single backer counts. Even if we make the target, we still want as many readers as possible. We’re trying to build a culture more than a “product”.
Kickstarter is currently the only way to buy the new issue or to subscribe (print and digital versions both available), so please visit the Kickstarter page to read more and to consider helping us along with a pledge. Why not get in on the ground floor of this amazing new cultural force to be reckoned with?
Thank you to everyone who has backed the project so far and to everyone else currently thinking about it. Let’s go!
Tinkers Bubble
Founded in 1994, Tinkers Bubble is England’s leading off-grid woodland community: an experiment in rural living that provides low-impact dwellings and a land-based livelihood to a changing roster of 16 residents.
From The Guardian:
It is owned by a community benefit society, and the current residents, most of whom arrive as summer volunteers, are sustained by the income from a steam-powered sawmill, apple orchard and press (which produces a lively dry cider) and cottage food production, including heritage salad leaves. The community’s 20 dwellings and outbuildings are dotted around a thatched communal roundhouse, all sitting amid the lofty firs.
And there’s a short documentary about it on YouTube:
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New Escapologist is returning to print. To bridge the gap, why not get a copy of I’m Out or The Good Life for Wage Slaves?