Lauren Zitney
has long been interested in “doing things differently.”
In high school, this meant layering several skirts atop one another to create many-colored, multi-textured, one-of-a-kind tiered skirts. Heading into college, it meant soaking up education policy courses in order to “reform the American Education System.” Lauren wound up accidentally majoring Economics – she felt she needed to “do it for the women” who were underrepresented in the field. And Lauren hoped she could “do things differently” with the language of economics to help build back better the world she saw crumbling all around her. This led her to explore climate science, government contracting, Effective Altruism, and she really, truly intended to reform the United States’ Congress.
Lauren eventually realized that many things needed to crumble (e.g., systemic racism) that didn’t seem to be crumbling; and much of the rest was crumbling (e.g., all of Earth’s ecosystems) – and there didn’t seem to be politically feasible ways to stop, let alone reverse the damage. This constellation of ideas coalesced into an understanding of “collapse,” catalyzed by Korey and Kellan’s “Breaking Down: Collapse” podcast.
Now Lauren is learning to understand and claim her identity as a white woman with Appalachian roots, and is working to decouple her identity and self-worth from “wage labor” to give space for her full humanity to unfurl. Simultaneously, she is working to “unravel” herself from dominant systems, while braiding an ever more intricate and beautiful vision of what she hopes humanity can be, and how she might be able to create spaces where that vision can become reality.
Some of the most recent ways Lauren has been working to “unravel” from dominant systems include turning a school bus into a tiny home with her fiancé, Noah, and their cat, Indie; joining the EcoGather community; and stepping away from clock time when she can as a part of building ritual. Before you go thinking she’s too poetic, keep in mind this just means burning incense as an approximation for 45 minutes while moving leisurely around on a yoga mat doing…distinctly not yoga.