Gnarlos – Behind the Name
Thursday, December 9, 2021 3:33 PM
Le mono.The idea behind Gnarlos – that our expression of human can evolve in this lifetime to be a connection described by most as a pipedream - has been in constant evolution. It is fueled by each lived experience, each moment, each learning experience. It is driven by the soul felt belief that our relationships as consciousness, as life expressed as human have an intelligence far greater than any one individual can be thinking. That we have yet to scratch the surface of our potential, of the ecstasy we can experience as physical beings.
There is, however, an exact moment in time when this ever-evolving idea was given a name – Gnarlos. This moment was on Wednesday, May 24, 2017 between towers four and five of Lenawee Mountain Lift at Arapahoe Basin Ski Area sometime between 11am and noon. Following the completion of my junior year of college, before the start of my summer of chemistry research, I was back home for a week to celebrate my brother’s high school graduation.
Erikson and one of our best buddies, a soul of gold, Juan Carlos (Charlie) Aziz and I were enjoying a May corn harvest at A-Bay. The skiing and ambiance were deeply enjoyable; Charlie brought out his mono-ski and we were taking turns clowning around on le mono. Our lift conversations were jumping from silly stoke jokes to deep meta-picture topics.
We got into the exploitative basis of present capitalist society. The exploit of land, of labor. The history of the past century, the past millennium. The relationship dynamics certain human cultures with others. The power dynamics of these relationships - the extraction of different spheres of energy. The misunderstanding behind these dynamics. That misunderstanding of generations’ past expressive of today. The Trump/Anti-Trump divide. The deep expressions of sexism, of racism. Of human enforcement of power over resources with violence, with fear.
We were dreaming of how…. The joy we were sharing on skis… could… touch the world of human...
How
, for example, could the supply chain of a tee-shirt could become so deeply connected? To know the land growing the cotton is alive. That the people of that land are alive too. To maybe know the exact plot, the very people making such possible. But to go much deeper. To know the conditions of each factory used to produce the garment – the carding, combing, blending, the spinning, loom knitting. The wet processing, the bleaching, printing, dyeing and softening. And the conditions of each factory to make those factories possible – the machine manufacture of the loom, the bleach and dye synthesis. And the process of these raw materials, the mining, oil drilling, refining. The conditions of all the people, all the land, all the labor involved to make possible a single tee-shirt. How could we fully know it is connected, that each involved is alive, is connected, is free of energetic exploitation. How would such a supply chain contribute to the joy we were presently feeling? And our joy in that moment, how could the energetic productions in our consumption, this joy on snow, be regenerative to the abilities of production?
, for example, could the supply chain of a tee-shirt could become so deeply connected? To know the land growing the cotton is alive. That the people of that land are alive too. To maybe know the exact plot, the very people making such possible. But to go much deeper. To know the conditions of each factory used to produce the garment – the carding, combing, blending, the spinning, loom knitting. The wet processing, the bleaching, printing, dyeing and softening. And the conditions of each factory to make those factories possible – the machine manufacture of the loom, the bleach and dye synthesis. And the process of these raw materials, the mining, oil drilling, refining. The conditions of all the people, all the land, all the labor involved to make possible a single tee-shirt. How could we fully know it is connected, that each involved is alive, is connected, is free of energetic exploitation. How would such a supply chain contribute to the joy we were presently feeling? And our joy in that moment, how could the energetic productions in our consumption, this joy on snow, be regenerative to the abilities of production?
We talked of many strategies proposed then, blockchain, regulations, deregulations… and how they all feel they are not a solution. That essence of their energy is only some other expression of the exploitative basis of present capitalist society, not wholly invested in a transformative change. That it is our being which can learn to connect the dreams we shared through the joy of our day to our lived reality. Supporting this energetic value being our ‘business’ idea – to connect the value of life expression.
Asking what to call this project, we looked down at the snow passing beneath us as the chair carried us up. Charlie’s old-school mono ski was radiant beneath my feet. His homemade sticker, the combination of two gnarly stickers caught my eye. The joy of the monoski origin story - his DQ in a bump competition in Tahoe made me laugh. Gnarlos?!? We laughed. Perfecto! Gnarlos Projecto! There was a name for the idea.
Now time to ski.
-Trexler