Might be a stupid question but...

[BrB]

... I will ask anyway!

What?s up with those cool Neo-Tribal nicknames you got?

Barking Turtle
Spitting Squid

and so on... they are cool, but what do they stand for? Is is some sort of community?

I?ve just tried to figure that out for quite some time and figured I should ask.

[SKIVIE]

Yes, You nailed it on the head Jeff. Im sure Tai or someone will chime in here soon and tell you how it all works.

You definatelly need one though.......:-)

Shane

[BrB]

Well Shane I don?t know if I need one cause I don?t know what it means.

I will respect the fact that it?s a community thing, something for members, and I wasn?t really thinking about greating one for me self. Just wanted to say they are cool and that I was curious about it, as I am sure others are. And I really don?t want to start a nickname race thing as well... getting all guys to make nicknames of their own.

I am like, trying to understand a tradition!

[AdamRidlon]

I'll chime in here. I might not be the best person to do so, but I'm here and I sure as heck don't feel like working.

It all started way way waaaay back in the infamous early days of Summer '04...

Smiths all over the nation were taking part in the creation of their 'blues names' due to a post on one of these here forums. The concept works by looking at a list of adjectives and nouns that correspond to letters of the english alphabet. One would pair the words with the initials of his or her full given name. For instance -- my name was (and still is) Adam Prescott Ridlon.
A = Fat
P = Back
R = Jefferson
My blues name became Fat Back Jefferson.

Our very own Tai Goo showed up with a list of Neo-Tribal apropriate adjectives and critters and the rest is history.

Many of those who consider themselves Neo-Tribal have chosen titles in the same spirit. As for Neo-Tribalism itself... well... Neo-Tribalism is a community just like any group of friends wanting to have fun could be considered a community, but it is really more of a state of mind. If you spend much time reading here at the Outpost you might as well consider yourself one.

-- adam
-- NT Wheeze'n Sloth Ridlon

[BrB]

Thanks Adam

That?s a neat story.

It is interesting to notice that I have been lurking around here for a long time and more and more I feel like my way of doing things is getting closer to the way the guys in the outpost do things. I cannot consider myself Neo-tribal yet, and might never, but if I ever do, I might get one of those cool names.

It?s more nice than funny once you get the historic side of the story, thanks for that Adam.

[Andries Olivier]

Do a web search on "neo tribalism". I did and found a truckload of info on the subject. The nickname "system" is there too.

[hammerdownnow]

Jeff, all it takes is to feel yourself "moving in that direction" to become a neo-tribal brother. You are already in. You don't really choose it, it chooses you. We have tried and tried to define it. It defies definition. It may be a core instinct of mankind, or an ingrained survival memory passed down thru generations to insure the survival of the species. Whatever it is, linking the two words Neo and Tribal has clicked a common button in our minds and brought us together. It is like a never ending circle. A base on which to start, and to end. The end then becomes the beginning and you then start over with fresh eyes and a new appreciation for the simple things in life. No matter where you end up in your journey, if given enough time, I think we would all end up with a handfull of black sand and a desire to build the original tool.

Talk about full circle. Here is a link to a thread that starts out with NT history, turns to trying to define NT. Then ends up back at a question on how to make a knife from steel scavenged from a nuclear reactor....heeheee.
a philisophical question

[BrB]

Hey Roc...

Well I read most of the messages, paid more attention to Tai?s point?s of view (or the lack of, cause Tai seems to have left the NT label becomes whatever NT?s own misterious will became, like a father who will let his son leave to make whatever he will of his own life, or a child who sets free a loved pet because it just looks better free in the wilds).

HEHEHEHE I am getting sentimental already...

I do lot?s of the very few knives I make with power tools, but few, mostly because I cannot buy belt grinders and all sort of other things. Same thing for the recicled metal I forge. What first really brought me closer to the Outopost was the TRIBE thing, the aura of brotherhood I felt when reading. That?s when I begun to stay around and listen. Of course my understanding on this became to change, is it still changes a lot.

And I guess it was my mistake to try to find a pattern... and I use the word pattern cause from the start I could see there could not be a good solid definition to NT. Thanks god it?s that way, definitions are hopes that tie us to a single way of doing things, wich is not a good thing in my humble opinion.

But the way I see it, I can talk about it as the quest into someone?s heart to find an opposing effort to counter the hollow industrial values within our lifes.

There is one thing that became a paradox in some point: if neo-tribal was somehow supposed to be a response to industrial, yet promoting freedom of method, no specific rules and diferent ways of doing things, it required innovation, and that leads to technology, even so it was primitive like technology. It was about finding out what we can about how people did things in the past and filling the gaps into those knowledges with modern technology and good NT research. It that sense, forging meteorite iron was, once in some point in history, the most advanced technology one could find.

Again, if that is the case, all of handmade custom knives have some NT on them.

I am not sure where this is leading me and I feel pretty confused in a good sense... and maybe that?s what NT is all about.

Having said all that... I might get a nickname in the future then. But not just now.

I might leave it up to you to keep this debate alive or let it die. As I have seen a lot of things were aleady said about NT and I do not wish to go that way, but it looks like we could start a new discussion with new ideas about where this more open view of NT is leading us.

[Sweany]

tribal is community
nothing more nothing less
Life is what it is
Life is too precious to be taken seriously

nicknames/ tribes give you sense of the greater whole

and the best reason
Get you name now before some jack leg from KS steals it........

[hammerdownnow]

I was expecting something profound from the barking turtle. heehee. Tai's tounge in cheek dry humor sometimes does not come across in the typed word. After you spend some time with him and see the twinkle in his eye when he jokes, you understand the irony in the way he communicates. I don't pretend to understand what NT means to him, maybe I will someday. maybe not.

We always get wrapped up in worrying about rules to being NT. But there is only one rule and that is that there are no rules. Nothing is forbidden. It is a blend of Neo and Tribal, of New and Old. What ever percentage of either you are at, at any given time is fine as frogs hair. One time I was all tied up in knots. I felt like a cheater and a failure because try as I might I always had to "resort" to power to fix some mistake I had made. In a casual thread Tai happened to mention that he would forge a little, grind a little, forge a little more. Just basiclly do what ever to get the job done. That hit me like a ton of bricks. When I got up a great weight was lifted off my shoulders. It seems it NT is not a destination, but a journey. Be comfortable along the road and stop to smell the roses. .

[BrB]

That all being said, I guess I have somem tribal on me too then.

And it feels good.