“All energy flows according to the whims of the great Magnet.”
― Hunter S. Thompson, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
Across the world on cool evenings as suburban homes go dark, Dumpster divers wander across city landscapes hunting for treasures in the trash. The adventure quickens their heart beat, adrenaline flows through blood and they escape “normal life” for a reality full of risk, lawlessness and freedom. This is the thrill at the heart of dumpster diving.
A thrill of spending evenings out in the world, finding supplies, playing music loud and enjoying friendship. Dumpster diving also becomes a hunt, a primordial jaunt through the corridors of our cultural survival. Mysterious excursions into the night using a intuitive metaphysical magnetic drive to fulfill necessity.
metaphysical magnetism: a form of intuitive drive towards an unknown significant beacon of meaning.
In my 20 plus years as a dumpster diver, it is hard to describe the pull, that magnetic instinct to find exactly what you need. Like manifesting through magic anything just by looking the right direction or jumping in the right dumpster. One must have an Intuitive trust that the Great Magnet will provide exactly what you seek..
Dumpster diving is an exciting adventure through alleyways, neighborhood trash days, urban landscapes filled with commerce and the byproducts. We, the dumpster divers of the world are just scavengers enjoying the overflow of capitalism and it’s many wastes. The fact is, dumpsters also fill with people’s history, household refuse, private paperwork, recycling and usable items that people just …don’t need.
One could say it’s a public service; dumpster diving serves to save things from trash oblivion.
I know, I know….privacy is a hot topic these days. Our phones record everything about our lives, our needs and desires as our search history, mobile microphone, and social media presence….collects every morsel of data from our lives. Trash isn’t much better as a name, letter, address and e-waste speak volumes about our existence on this planet. Real tangible information can be gathered about every part of a Life, from more sources than you can imagine.
Digital allowances and fine print are as much a part of Modernity, as trash so one must be aware and not ignorant to the reality of Privacy. You don’t want someone to read your email/mail…erase or shred it. Most corporations have learned that trick as paperwork is almost obsolete across the Modern Corporate Shared Universe (MCSU). Digital spaces are the new home of all privacy issues. Dumpsters are the past…literally.
A fraction of our privacy is broken every time a dumpster diver trespasses and yet re-purposing/recycling/crafting and magic can occur as well, giving new life to old trash. These “things”, these death purges, these dumpster dived artifacts are just …..Trash/Unwanted. Does the benefits of reducing waste outweigh the cost of a world with more trash?
Dumpster divers are like raccoons, we want the free swag but don’t want to be spotted.
That is the thrill of dumpster diving and the cost is taboo in nature. The revulsion people feel when you tell them you eat from dumpsters is a cost. The dirt, smell and hunting effort is a cost. However saving a lot of money on “stuff” is also a factor and making art that breaks the code of privacy is a cost. I am the sly raccoon, barely domesticated and doing what I love, spending nights in adventure with magnetic pulls toward metal boxes full of trash.
Picture a beautiful warm night, windows down, blasting a favorite CD, curving through streets, under translucent lights in dumpsters with flashlights spinning. Finding food, a laptop, a bike, a brand new bag of makeup or maybe the biggest score of all….A giant Story! The thrill of the hunt is addicting and fills my adrenaline needs, the art, furniture, books, and so much more free swag are foraged honestly and at the core….. no one really wants these things.
The truth is no one gives you permission to thrive, to hunt, to live, and this freedom is taboo and full of dangerous risk. That is the thrill of dumpster diving!