New Island in the Media

Imaginary or real? You must decide.

 There are stories going around in the Real World Media about New Island and that guy responsible for it. Val Christell claims that "New Island is a New Reality" in a recent article for The Third Coast Digest.  Also, in July, Bill Glasheen produced an audio slideshow For the Appleton Post-Crescent newspaper, with the claim that it's all imaginary! In 2007 Takeuchi Makoto wrote a story titled "Three-Piece Story" that includes New Island in Episodes 7, and 8. The characters in the story are determined to get to new Island but don't quiiiiite find the Rudyard ticket office in Fremantle, Western Australia. They did get hold of some NI currency and put a one-roger coin on the title page!

New Island: the movie

New Island is up on YouTube ! This is a tour of New Island with questions-and-explanations!

New Island Exhibition Arrives in Kaukauna, Wisconsin USA

New Island will  present its entire art collection of landscapes, beach paintings, drawings, original maps, and a wide variety of artifacts such as the island's flag, coat-of-arms, printed maps, the guide book, coins, postage stamps, and sand samples from some of the island's beaches! Listings for available land on the island will be on display for the first time. New Island's artist-ambassador Lee Mothes will host an evening reception from 6 to 9 pm on Friday June 11, 2010.

Come and enjoy refreshments while exploring this 12,600-square-mile work of art!

Imagine having your own property on New Island! Anyone 13 and older is invited to claim land on the island, then think about a second home on the beach, a writer's retreat, a business, a vineyard, a dance studio, or other dream. Deeded parcels of New Island acreage are now available, and will be on display at the Gallery. To help make your dream place "real", Lee will create a painting of your improvements if you wish. You may also simply state your dream, or make your own images, and have it all posted on the New Island website.

New Island is being hosted by the Oceans and Dream Gallery, located above the Kaukauna Coffee and Tea coffee shop at 127 W. Wisconsin Ave., Kaukauna, WI.

Northeast Wisconsin is easily accessed by airports in Green Bay and Appleton. Both are near US Highway 41.  Get on 41and then follow the map at left.

We hope you can make it!

Education

 

School is the OTHER way, not this way!

All New Island children, whether from tribes or towns, attend a public school or are home-schooled. Kids begin primary school at age five and study math, science, history, social skills, reading, writing and drawing for about six years. They also hear and sing a variety of music, from old Irish folk ballads to rock and roll. They begin high school at age 11, where they learn among other subjects, the seven basic skills, those subjects thought to be the most nourishing for young minds. Private boarding schools, in the English tradition and in the Japanese tradition, offer programs with emphasis on the arts, science, engineering, traditional crafts or spirituality.

The Seven Basic Skills are:

1. Animal and plant husbandry
2. House design, building and transportation maintenance
3. Food-and-nutrition, simple medicine, physical health, massage therapy
4. Literacy: reading, writing, communicating skills
5. Visual depiction: Drawing, painting, sculpture, design and art history
6. Math and science: from arithmetic to the Gaia Concept
7. Spirituality: loving, caring, being, music and dance

After public school, Putney University, New Island's oldest (and only) university, offers degrees in Holistic medicine, Engineering, Oceanography, Sustainability, Social Issues/Religion, Fine Arts, Traditional crafts, Spirituality, and other more esoteric fields. Victoria College in Penhill (near Victoria Harbor) offers studies in marketing, accounting, industrial design, software development, and the like. Many high school graduates might choose one of the isolated 'outback colleges' for esoteric studies in Tantric Yoga, Art of tatoo, Zen meditation; Blues, Reggae, and African music; Organic produce production, book design and bookbinding, living-on-nothing, and Advanced being.

Next: The Great Walk

Growing up on New Island

Children grow up with lots of help from not only from their parents but from aunts, uncles, grandparents and nearby neighbors as well. This is especially true in tribe settlements and tribal neighborhoods.

Kids learn from nature first-hand by wandering the countryside and exploring among the plants, rocks, bugs, creek beds and beaches, knowing they are trusted to not do stupid things; to look before they leap! They are literally pushed out the door when the usually mild weather allows it; and are generally ignorant of TV, electronic media and cell-phones. (Only within the last five years have computers been introduced in schools!)

Kids run free most of the time here. The general
rule is that they have to be home by dark.

Kids likely grow up in houses hand-built by their own parents or grandparents, and are often asked to help with repairs or additions. Many kids wind up building their own bedrooms or small cottages in the yard! Children can wander among different neighboring families and sometimes stay with their friends' families for long periods. Older kids (10 years +) often move in with a friend or cousin, yet still keep close to their parents. This way, kids get practical experience, and learn to socialize with other parent-figures a variety of siblings.

Kids are loved and nurtured with games, stories, art projects, and help with emotional upheavals. In raising their offspring, most parents have found that hugs, vitamins and benign neglect seem to work the best.

They rarely get bored!

Next: Education

Gardening

A garden planted in beach sand near Samas, on the island's

western shore. A note to sand-gardeners: for lush
growth in sand, mix old manure or peat from the local bog
about 50-50 with sand, plan t your plants or seeds,
then water thoroughly.
(Courtesy Samas and Lizard Garden club)

Gardens in front of some getaway cottages in the dunes near
the Hook, a sandy peninsula at the island's west end.

Islanders express their love of nature by planting whatever they can find around their homes, preferring near-chaotic combinations of herbs, climbing vines, fruit trees, veggie patches and wildflowers to formal hedges or lawns. Indeed, much of the island is too dry most of the year for lawns. Instead, islanders favor miniature desert or dune gardens with succulents, or wild grass gardens with a fish pond, or they just let nature take its course. Many settlers have left their surroundings un-gardened altogether except for a kitchen garden for food.

Settlements, Towns and Cities

Here is downtown Irian's oceanfront.
The street ends under the old Russian-built "Liberty Bridge"
whose lamp-posts are miniatures of the Statue of Liberty!
Irian was once a Russian resort town that has kept
quiet about it's beautiful beach. Scully's is an old Irish pub whose
walls are covered with limericks that some might call poetry.

Hopp's Store, in the Sheffield Desert, is the island's smallest
settlement. Bernard Hopp sells food, drinks, and various
supplies to travelers on their way to the northern coast.
Bernard also has the largest collection of comic books,
now also called graphic novels, this side of San Francisco;
some of which he might part with.

Here is the settlement of Womby, at the mouth of
Lizard Creek on the far western coast. Womby has no
commons area, library or shops, and it's residents
share a mutual laid-back view of life. They sometimes
by chance meet and gossip on the beach.
An abandoned Russian lighthouse can be seen in the distance.

New Island's communities range from isolated settlements of 1 inhabitant to cities of 50,000 residents.

Settlements: These are marked with a tiny square on the map, and are usually a tribe. Some are non-tribe settlements with no local government, but often have some sort of public school, a post office and a commons, which is usually a park in the center with a community hall and or a 'shed TV'. The smallest settlement is Hopp's Store, population 1, (Bernard Hopp) or 2 when his girlfriend is there.

Towns: These are marked with a circle on the map, have a town council and are usually larger than settlements. Towns may have tribes within neighborhoods or tribe-enclaves, and more traditional families in other neighborhoods. Towns all have a town commons, a town hall and a library, as well as one or more schools and some shops or a central market.

Cities: Putney and Victoria Harbor are by far the largest cities on the island. (See city maps at bottom of the map.) Here are New Island's universities, major train and ship terminals, government centers, libraries, markets and everything else one would need. Neighborhoods in both cities can be tribal enclaves or traditional-family in nature. All neighborhoods have off-street walkways connecting their commons-parks and shops to other neighborhoods. When walking, you can easily notice the change from one neighborhood to the next, and its easy to get lost, but kind of fun too: asking directions might lead to new friendships... Rosslea, Skegness, Merritt and Wheatland call themselves 'cities' but that can be argued.

Government

New Island  Coat-of Arms contains icons of the

island's discovery, abundance, shelter, joy-of-being, ocean energy and year-of-founding, 

all surrounded by flowering eucalyptus-branches.

Once New Island's settlements began to grow it became clear that some sort of island-wide representative government was needed.

James Denby, the regrettable martinet who founded New London (later Putney) came close to handing New Island over to the British, and probably should be credited with accelerating the government's creation. Denby's free-settler followers, who were grateful after Roger Putney's gift of stickyballs (see the Stickyball Incident), joined Captain Hayes, Roger and several early Elders to form an island-wide government, and to prevent Denby from sailing to Australia, thus alerting the British navy! The Japanese also were willing to participate, for defense reasons mostly, as long as they could retain their village-life and customs. The Russians, under agreement, allowed New Islanders their autonomy in trade for military allegiance.

So over many years New island's government emerged as a laisses-faire, free-market, cooperative partnership among all New Islanders. The essence of it is this: every resident is essentially a partner and has certain rights such as freedom of speech, press and assembly; and certain responsibilities such as respect for nature and to 'Do Unto Others as You would Have Them Do Unto You'. Failure here could result in permanent exile.

After independence in 1992, the Elders mandated that the..."Government shall be as non-intrusive as possible, yet shall exist to assure an adequate infrastructure, preserve the social order, and provide for national defense. " The Commonwealth of New Island has been thus set up with the following structure:

Legislative Arm: Youngers and Elders
Neighborhoods, tribes and small outlying settlements appoint Youngers who in turn elect and advise the nation's Elders. The Youngers meet regularly to advise the regional Elder, who in turn meets at the month-long Council of Elders. The Council is New Island's legislative body that meets every April and October on Government Hill, the onetime Russian colonial headquarters outside Victoria harbor. Elders serve six-year terms but only one-third are up for election at every two-year interval. Youngers and Elders can be re-elected indefinitely.

Executive Arm: The Ministries
Trade, Transportation, Commerce, Energy, Education, Caring, Antiquities and The Arts are the Commonwealth departments or ministries. The Council of Elders appoints the Ministers, whose actions are closely watched by the Elders. The Ministry of Trade, which oversees tourism and residency is considered the most powerful. Since there is no Prime minister or President, the Minister of Trade is called upon to represent New Island at international summits. Currently, Mr. Wainwright Stevens is our Minister of Trade. Ministers may hold their appointments indefinitely, but can be voted out by a majority of the Elders.

Judicial Arm: The High Court
The High Court is made up of seven Jurists-Major and meets in Victoria Harbor to hear all cases that cannot be resolved locally, and that usually have island-wide implications. Jurists-Minor, or more commonly, Jurists, hear both civil and criminal cases in the local courts. The Constables, besides enforcing the laws, also help settle minor arguments on the spot if possible.

Police and Military:
New Island has no national police entity or military force except the Commonwealth Coast Guard. The CCG emerged as a coastal guerrilla force in the early 1800's and also proved effective in helping the Russians maintain ownership of the island, at least in the days of wooden ships. With its fleet of modern patrol vessels and motorized surf boats, the CCG is now charged with helping distressed ships, small boats and swimmers. It also monitors ocean and shoreline pollution and watches for piracy, overfishing or other shenanigans within the island's 12-mile limit.

That's government in a nutshell!

New Island Culture: Families and Tribes

Some New Islanders literally live on The Very Edge
and sometimes they dance in storms.

In those first years of settlement, women not only outnumbered men by about 4 to 1, but they became a powerful force in building the island's cultural infrastructure.

When the first year ended it became clear to the island's 500-odd survivors that they were going to stay put here for the long haul. Talk of new ideas about family structure began almost upon arrival, when the natural urges of males and females resulted in numerous under-the-fence assignations and inevitable pregnancies!

Cecelia O'Hassett and several others, with the consent of Capt. Hayes (that Enlightenment experimenter) set up marriage rules allowing unions with more than one wife per husband, and also with any number of wives and no 'official' husbands at all. These new family-units could legally raise kids, enter into legal contracts, and generally be given protection under English Law. Though some brought up the sanctity of marriage within the Church, most everyone believed they would do better be redefining the whole institution. And so they did. By the way, Captain Hayes performed many marriage ceremonies with Christian rites for those who so desired. (He was an Anglican but eventually affiliated himself with the Old Way.)

As the ratio of women to men became more balanced over succeeding generations, traditional one-wife, one-husband marriages became more common, especially in the large towns and suburbs. (yes, there are a few 'suburbs' on the island!) But in many of the back-country settlements, the Old Way marriages are still practiced.

*********************************

Tribes on New Island are a big part of the social structure. They can be defined as close-knit groups of several families which have banded together for some specific purpose. Nearly every tribe produces or provides some specific product or service for its income, which is usually defined in their Charter of Intent issued by the Commonwealth. Subsistence tribes, once the majority, rely entirely on their own food and craft production, build their own shelters from materials at hand, trade very little with the rest of the island, and have no Charter. They seem to enjoy their isolation!

Tribes are common in the country and in town. Many of the isolated settlements shown on the map are tribes of roughly 150 members, which can be identified by the commons-yards and buildings surrounded by small homes. Within the neighborhoods of the larger towns, the tribes are smaller, perhaps 50 members, and have laid out their own compounds within a city block or two. These are often intricate warrens of narrow lanes that can enchant the wanderer!

Tribe members decide on the tribe's management structure, such as work hours, who does what, and pay. Profits are shared or reinvested into the tribe business. Some tribes are better at this than others, so the Ministry of Commerce is available to help.

If a tribe grows to more than 150 members, it will often split off and establish a new 'daughter' tribe or members will scatter to other tribes. Young tribe members often take off at about age 16. (see The Great Walk on a later post)

Ethnic Cultures and Languages

Sata, a wayside fishing village on New Island's
northeastern coast, has changed little in 200 years.
It is constructed exclusively with
traditional Japanese methods and materials,
including bamboo brought on the initial
voyage here from southern Japan in 1807.

New Island was uninhabited when the first modern outsiders arrived, but ancient ruins indicate someone had definitely lived here in the past. The mystery of who these people were, and what happened to them, has always provided a subtle undercurrent to New Island's culture.

Irish and English rural traditions provided the early bedrock of the island's culture, but with a matriarchal twist that reverted to very old nature-oriented traditions. Wiccan celebrations were revived from the old stories, and also influenced by the harmonic buzz and the Otter visits. Multi-family groups began raising kids together and calling themselves tribes. Farming and cottage-manufacturing grew cooperatively in these same tribe-settlements. Work was important for survival, but was not considered secondary to singing, dancing under the moon, or hugging!

Other peoples have made their mark on New Island as well. Most notable are the Japanese Fishing Families who arrived on a huge home-made raft in 1807. They settled the then-uninhabited northeastern coast; planted rice and bamboo and eventually built several villages from Kofu Bay north to Cave Heads. These families and their descendants have generously shared their Japanese traditions over the years. Buddhism, rice production, the furo bath, house construction, traditional Japanese crafts and green tea have all become part of New Island's culture.

The Russians left their mark of course, though surprisingly little in the way of culture. The island simply did not attract Russian homesteaders as was hoped, but a few have settled in the Russian-speaking neighborhoods of New Russ, Gorika and Vernon near Putney; and Old Bay-Penhill near Victoria Harbor. Russian-built roads, the railways, dams, government buildings, clinics, a few resorts, abandoned military installations (nearly all recycled now) and isolated mansions are their legacy.

A few other nationalities have found their way to New Island. Some Polish construction workers who contracted to help build roads had stayed on, and their descendants live mostly along the Putney Bay Shore. About 400 current residents can trace their Spanish ancestry back to about 25 survivors of the wreck of the Juan Alvarez in 1833. Another 140 have traced their ancestry to the six surviving American sailors of the Dunrovin whaling ship incident of 1840. (The Dunrovin, an American whaling ship was "suspiciously sunk" by a Russian whaler off the island's southern coast. The exact circumstances remain a mystery.)

A few Australians, Asians, Africans, Latin Americans and Europeans have also wandered ashore over the years and all have (eventually) been welcomed.

***************************

Island Languges: The Common New island dialect is a peculiar kind of English-Irish brogue that is fairly easy for other English-speakers to understand. Japanese new Islanders speak their own hybrid tongue of 70% Japanese and 30% Island. The remaining Russians speak a Russian-Island dialect, and tell great stories to a patient listener. Islanders speak rather slowly so any visitor can usually follow a conversation.