My ancestors were some of the first people (I have a very saturated LDS lineage), to move into indigenous Nuwuvi/Nuwuvu/Paiute/Shoshone land and begin colonizing the areas surrounding Las Vegas and the Moapa Valley. As a result of my ancestral research the concept of land ownership plays an important role in my value system. It is the primary reason (along with having an able body, access to healthcare, financial security, and other privileges) that I am adopting a more nomadic life instead of “settling” down and purchasing land. After college I’d originally planned on founding a non-traditional environmental school in the pacific northwest, but these days egalitarian ideals feel more aligned than power hoarding by way of land ownership. 

So I choose to live a small, semi-nomadic life in service to communities that need what resources I can offer, and that are collaborating on tasks that holistically serve the earth. I currently live in my childhood home that was built by my father, and I work part-time on restoring it. My father and I are simultaneously building my future mobile dwelling together, and the ancestral collaborative work between us has been deep. Because I have been fortunate to access my family’s past, I get a shot at shifting its future. I choose not to own land, not to have children (of my own), and not to work within systems that perpetuate colonial harm and desecrate the earth. I have come to know and love my ancestors and their stories deeply. We are doing this work together because I am them and they are me, and together we are stewards of the earth, its people, and its resources.