Gen Next and the barter system
Barter bazaar to raise awareness that age-old solutions may work for future’s problems

Fort Lewis College students, fom left, Aaron Goodman, Jeremy Osheim and Christina Pavek pose for a shot amid planning for next week’s “Loco Local Bazaar” at the college’s amphitheatre. The bazaar will run solely on the exchange of goods and services. The event is a porject for Kalin Grigg’s Social Change class./Photo by David Halterman

by Missy Votel

They’ve been called “Generation Next” or the “MySpace Generation,” the first crop of Americans to come of age fully wired and technologically savvy. Nevertheless, a group of local twentysomethings is poised to take on the problems of tomorrow, and it doesn’t involve a single I-phone, text message or high-speed connection. In fact, they’re resorting to one of the oldest forms of free marketing there is: the barter system.

“It’s going to be a little Mad Max. It’s going to be chaotic,” said Fort Lewis College student Aaron Goodman. He, along with classmates Christina Pavek and Jeremy Osheim are planning next Wednesday’s “Loco Local Bazaar,” an afternoon of haggling, wheeling and dealing, during which your money is no good, thank you very much.

“Rather than just consume, consume, consume, it’s about trading what you have for what you need,” said Pavek. Added Osheim, “it’s not just about gaining more, but keeping current goods circulating.”

Themed “Liberate Your Own Subsistence,” the bazaar, which takes place Wed. Oct. 17 from noon to 4 p.m. in the FLC outdoor amphitheatre, is a project for Assistant Professor Kalin Grigg’s Social Change class. As part of the class, students were asked to form groups on their own and come up with a social dilemma to work on changing. The three came up with the idea based upon a film and accompanying lecture by FLC Professor Dennis Lum on the concept of “peak oil,” whereby the world’s oil reserves have peaked and are slowly in decline.

“It’s sort of an ongoing theme with our classes,” said Pavek. “We were asked to choose an issue that concerned us, and that’s the one that inspired us.”

One theory on the fall out after peak oil is that communities will have to become more self sufficient in order to survive. “Basically, without gas, food is not going to be carted across the country, and travel won’t be just for pleasure anymore; it will be a luxury,” said Osheim.

Continued Goodman, “A lot of communities are going to be coming together to rely on each other.”

The students noted that this way of thinking flies in the face of traditional capitalism, and thus, changing that mode of thinking is also part of their effort.

“For the first few weeks of class, we talked about paradigm changes and how things aren’t changing because our society is structured on old ways of thought,” said Pavek. “Capitalism is destructive and just feeds off the world. That’s going to have to change if we want to go on living here.”

However, the students noted rather than fight capitalism, the bazaar is a way to circumvent the entire process. “It’s about renouncing capitalism and saying, ‘We, as a community have what we need, and if we can unite, we can help each other out with what we have,’” said Pavek.

As such the students are encouraging all purveyors of goods and services to attend, as well as anybody sampling wishing to unload some items. “We’re going to have a space set up outside for people to set up their stuff,” said Pavek. “And we want people to know, it’s not just goods for goods, but goods for services.”

That means everyoane from window washers to massage therapists, dog walkers to musicians. “We also see it as a good way for people to get their names out there,” said Pavek.

However, they did not there are exceptions. “I had one kid ask if he could sell his body, I told his that’s probably out,” said Osheim.

In addition, the bazaar will feature live music, giveaways and raffle items. The students said they have received an outpouring of community support, from everyone from grocery stores and restaurants to bike and snowboard shops. “People seem really excited, we’ve got a lot to barter,” said Pavek.

Wrapping up the festivities will be a talk by keynote speaker Lum, who will be retiring after this semester. “He is brilliant, and he has a lot of good things people need to hear,” said Osheim.

In fact, raising public awareness is foremost on the minds of the students, who realize that such grassroots change often is slow to take root. “We’re just trying to spread awareness for the cause,” said Osheim. “If we can just provide a new way for people to see thing and put thoughts in people’s minds, maybe we can spark some inspiration,” he said. “Things won’t change overnight, but we can show other kids and people that you can make something happen if you try.” •