Hi all… just wanted to introduce myself. I am Deslock Darkstar on the FTL BBS and chat, as well as numerous other places around the Interwebs (real name: Chris Davis). A few of you may have met me at PorcFest this year. I'm down in South-Central Pennsylvania, in Lancaster County. As one of the signers of the Shire Society document, I figured I'd sign up here to take part in discussions of that, as well as any other topics going on here that catch my interest. I read more than I post, though, so topic discussion will not usually deviate from Keene area activism… 
How did I find Free Keene? The short answer is from FTL. The longer answer would be a recitation of how I found the liberty movement and my history with it, which dates back to the early 90s… not sure I want to bore any of you with my first post. I'll save boring you for post #3. 
Anywho, feel free to chat it up with me whenever or ask questions, etc. etc. I'm a fairly social sort of guy.
Welcome - when are you moving up?
[quote author=FTL_Ian link=topic=3532.msg38777#msg38777 date=1279203373]
Welcome - when are you moving up?
[/quote]
No date set as of yet. At this point, I have a few barriers to overcome first. One is aging parents here in PA. Another is a girlfriend who lives in Baltimore who isn't quite convinced about NH and the FSP… yet. I'll be bringing her with me to Porcfest 2011, assuming she can take days off from work.
In the mean time, consider my alter ego (Deslock) to be living there already, in thought if not in physical form.
i had to deal with the aging parents thing too. it was easily the most difficult part of my decision. hope you can come to a acceptable compromise and in the mean time we'll be waiting for you in NH!
[quote author=mrddixon link=topic=3532.msg38785#msg38785 date=1279206040]
i had to deal with the aging parents thing too. it was easily the most difficult part of my decision. hope you can come to a acceptable compromise and in the mean time we'll be waiting for you in NH!
[/quote]
Hey, thanks mrddixon! I will make the move eventually… my Porcfest experience pretty much cemented the decision in my mind.
Since this is my 3rd post (in this thread at least), I may as well bore you all with a brief overview of my history with the liberty movement, as promised earlier…
"Once upon a time, a kid in high school started smoking pot…"
From there, I became active in the hemp legalization thing, going to pot protests in and around South-Central PA (we're talkin' somewhere around 1990 here). At this time, I was religiously reading High Times magazine, buying it each month right off the rack from my favorite head shop here in Lancaster, PA (which, interestingly enough, still exists but no longer carries High Times or any other publications since they got raided several times in the early to mid 2000s by the Lancaster County Drug Task Force and had all the magazines confiscated…). From reading HT, I first heard about this thing called "The Libertarian Party… what the heck is that? shrug (remember, this was pretty much the pre-internet days, so I didn't bother to call the 1-800 number for more information…)
Well, 1992 rolls around, and I see Andre Marrou, the LP's 1992 candidate for Pres, on C-SPAN and I was blown away… not so much by Andre himself, but by the overall idea of liberty that he was talking about. So, I track down my local libertarian meet-up group and start going to meetings.
December 17, 1992… I get busted for pot. Total amount: 12.4 grams. Final outcome (many moons later): 5 years of probation!
(On a side note, the 5 years of probation wasn't that bad. My P.O. thought 5 years of probation was silly for such a small amount, and eased up on his end as much as he could… he quickly changed the meeting schedule from monthly to bi-monthly to eventually every 3 months, only gave me 2 urine tests and only 1 home visit during the entire 5 years. Still a major government intrusion in my book, but the P.O. could have been much more of a hard-ass about it. Except for the length of time, the probation was pretty much a cakewalk.)
THAT bit of government lunacy got me really pissed… the energy of which I took and redirected into becoming an LP/libertarian movement activist here in PA, as further outlined below…
Early 1993: Helped form the Lancaster County Libertarian Committee. Spent 6 years as Treasurer.
1994: Co-wrote the 1994 Pennsylvania LP Platform. Proceeded to watch as it got ripped to shreds in committee
1994: Formed the Freedom Festival Committee, which was the organizing group for a series of rock concerts to raise money for liberty organizations.
Concerts held in 1994, 1995 & 1996. Got fairly burned out from concert organizing after 1996.
Fall 1995: Interned at The Cato Institute
1996: Co-founded an underground magazine (or in the '90s parlance… "zine") called Illicit Underground, which was heavily libertarian whenever political topics were discussed,
especially with me writing under the pen-name "R.U. Phree"
1996: Voting delegate to the National LP Convention (and again in 1998).
1993-1999: Numerous activities with tax protests, FIJA outreach, drug prohibition protests, manning booths at gun shows, county fairs and concerts, etc. etc.
Too many for me to document, or even remember for that matter.
Please note that I spent alot of this time period either unemployed or under-employed, so I had plenty of free time on my hands. In late 1999, I gained full-time employment as a graphic designer working 3rd shift, so I had to step off the front lines. Despite going dormant, I kept generally informed of what was going on in the LP and the broader liberty movement, so I was fully aware of the Free State Project and its activities and progress. It wasn't until I started listening to Free Talk Live regularly (maybe a year ago or so) that I started getting the old stirrings of being "fired up" happening again. Decided to go to PorcFest this year, and that leads us to the present day.
There… I hope that wasn't too painful to read.
Cool story. Sounds like we may have some mutual acquaintances. I look forward to meeting.