Ken Ilgunas
Sep 2, 2011
How to afford college
Just this afternoon, a couple high schoolers writing for the youth section of an Indianapolis newspaper interviewed me, seeking ideas...
Ken Ilgunas
Jun 3, 2011
Leaving Acorn Abbey
This true people took the stranger And warm hearted housed the ranger They received their roving guest And have fed him with the best....
Ken Ilgunas
May 31, 2011
Simplifying
(Coldfoot is where the red thingy is) As I mentioned in my concluding post, I am moving out of North Carolina and heading up to Alaska to...
Ken Ilgunas
May 29, 2011
Why aren’t we revolutionaries?
David—a boomer who lived through the 60’s—recently posted an entry noting the curious absence of revolutionary discourse among today’s...
Ken Ilgunas
May 26, 2011
RIP: Charlotte and George
We named the chicks after our favorite 18th and 19th female British novelists, Charlotte Bronte and George Elliot. (I wasn’t the one so...
Ken Ilgunas
May 21, 2011
Conclusion to vandwelling experiment
In the early morning on the day of my graduation, I woke up in the corner of an Embassy Suites hotel room in Raleigh, North Carolina. The...
Ken Ilgunas
May 12, 2011
Frantic
(A different version of this entry was posted a day or so ago and then mysteriously vanished in the internet abyss. I apologize to those...
Ken Ilgunas
May 8, 2011
Groundhog Day
There’s a groundhog that lives in a hole near the orchard. We’re don’t know its sex, but we’ve been calling it “Mr. Groundhog.” Mr....
Ken Ilgunas
May 8, 2011
Spring growth
After spending two weeks at Duke, I came back to a very different Acorn Abbey. Not only had the plants grown and greened considerably,...
Ken Ilgunas
May 5, 2011
Getting ready to sell the van
It’s time to sell the van. I’m not sure how much I’m going to ask for it. The Blue Book values for a ’94 Ford Econoline with 126,000...
Ken Ilgunas
May 2, 2011
Last day at Duke. Last day in the van.
(Let’s not consider this the concluding post to my vandwelling experiment, even if it may sound like it. I have my graduation ceremony on...
Ken Ilgunas
Apr 24, 2011
Duke and the outdoors
My liberal studies “exit meeting” went well. Despite my reservations about the current state of my book, my advisor and department chair...
Ken Ilgunas
Apr 19, 2011
Last week at Duke
This afternoon, I drove the van to Duke for the last time. In a couple days, I’ll have my liberal studies “exit meeting” in which my...
Ken Ilgunas
Apr 14, 2011
Uncertainty
In exactly one month, I will graduate. Soon after, I will leave North Carolina. I am eager and ready to move onto the next stage of my...
Ken Ilgunas
Apr 7, 2011
Acorn Abbey nature shots
Ah, summer’s coming, or it least it feels like summer’s coming. Things are blooming, bumble bees are buzzing, and the insects have begun...
Ken Ilgunas
Mar 17, 2011
Back at Duke
I came back to Duke to attend the second of two “final project seminars,” in which liberal studies students in their final semester share...
Ken Ilgunas
Mar 11, 2011
Duke University—an evil institution?
“There is a strange interdependence between thoughtlessness and evil.” –Hannah Arendt “Goldman Sachs.” “Hedge fund.” “CitiBank.” For the...
Ken Ilgunas
Mar 6, 2011
Spring at Acorn Abbey
It’s been a rough week for the writing life. I started editing my first 13 chapters (45,000 words so far), and much to my horror I found...
Ken Ilgunas
Feb 6, 2011
The writing life
I have spent the last month and a half writing a book about the last five years of my life. I’ve written some 30,000 words and drafts for...
Ken Ilgunas
Dec 25, 2010
An irreligious education
I’ve been told that I’m going to hell more times than I can remember. It’s actually been quite a while since someone has reminded me of...