Samuel Alexander on Jun 6, 2011 | 8 comments Posted byon

My essay, ‘Deconstructing the Shed: Where I Live and What I Live For,’ is about to be published in the Concord Saunterer: The Journal of Thoreau Studies. I sent out a draft to some of you a few months ago but have been given generous permission to post the final version here (see link below).

The essay gives an account of the two years just past that I spent living in a small, self-constructed, inner city ‘shed’ in the backyard of a rental property tenanted by some friends of mine. In the final 12 months of this ‘simple living’ adventure I meticulously kept account of how much money I spent, which came to a total of $6,792. In the essay I try to summarize the main lessons I learnt on this journey, while also acknowledging the limitations of my experiment.

My living experiment in the shed came to an end a few months ago when the landlord ended the lease (for reasons other than my presence, I should add). By then I had already written and submitted this essay, so it is written from the perspective of my life inside the shed, looking out. The editor of the Concord Saunterer has suggested that I write a follow-up essay too, which I hope to begin work on sometime in the near future.

The essay can be downloaded here: Deconstructing-the-Shed-Samuel-Alexander