… into the fire

By Lianna Davis in Community, People on March 15th, 2010 | 2 comments

Photos by Rochelle Bargo/Wired Oregon

EUGENE — At first glance, Jacob Anderson looks about like most other kids on campus.

This first glance is a deceitful one.

Anderson is 22-years old and these days you might mistake him for someone who has always enjoyed conventional living, but everyone has a story to tell and Anderson’s is anything but conventional.

When Anderson finally decided to set up camp in Eugene, he literally had to set up camp as he was just ending his journey squatting across America.

“I was down with the dirt,” he explained, elaborating on his daily routine as he slowly assimilated himself back into mainstream living, which included taking a job at the Office of Multicultural Academic Success at the University of Oregon. “I lived in the woods — which wasn’t unusual for me — when I first got this job, so I had to get up really early and come in before work to bathe upstairs in the bathroom every day.”

Originally from Florida, Anderson left home at 17 and spent the next few years trekking across the United States a nomad.

One year into his journey he discovered poi, a performance art that originated in New Zealand, where “poi” is the Maori word for “ball on a cord.” That definition is used loosely, however, as poi can be made out of knee-high socks, chains and scraps of cloth among other ordinary household items. Dancing with poi involves spinning the poi, which may or may not be lit on fire, in intricate patterns around oneself with the goal of keeping the two flying objects from clashing together. The dance of poi was used by Maori women to keep their hands strong for their weaving tasks and by Maori men to help prepare them for battle.

Anderson has been obsessed with the art ever since he first discovered it.

“There’s not a time when I’m not spinning, except when I’m in class or at work,” he said.

Anderson said he doesn’t generally do performances, but you might catch him practicing with his poi on top of the various buttes in Eugene.

Indeed, poi has led Anderson to interesting places. While on the road in Michigan, Anderson came across a traveling circus that hired him to be “the girl in the box” for a show, but the bosses soon discovered his skills in fire poi and promoted him to the opening act. He spent six months traveling and performing with the circus, the only professional spinning experience he’s had.

Anderson first visited Eugene during his first winter away from home; he and his traveling companion were searching for somewhere to spend the winter off the road and discovered a friend’s relative in Eugene willing to take them in. He liked the area so much that he returned for every winter of his nomad journey. The appeal of Eugene for Anderson, during his years of squatting was the atmosphere, the climate and the people.

“Eugene is incredibly squatter-friendly,” he said. “The weather never gets too unbearable, the people are nice and there’s an interesting squatter community.”

Not every stop on his trip was as safe and friendly as Eugene, though.

“It’s hard to live that lifestyle because there are so many things you have to take into consideration before you can go anywhere,” Anderson said. “It’s not like you can just up and go; if you don’t plan for the climate you could freeze to death. You have to have everything you need to survive on your back … like when you’re train-hopping, if you don’t ration your water and food correctly you could die, if you do it at the wrong time of the year you could die.

“There are no rest stops, and if you don’t pay attention to what your train is doing you could end up in South America instead of where you were supposed to be going.”

When Anderson realized that he wanted to settle down a bit, he chose Eugene as his destination, hopped a train and made tracks for Oregon.

“I spent three weeks train-hopping from Texas, through Nevada, New Mexico and California before I arrived here in Oregon,” he said.

Of his nomadic journey, he said “it really makes you aware of what you’re capable of as a human. I know, at worst-case-scenario, I’ll be fine.”

These days, Anderson lives in an apartment and attends Lane Community College in pursuit of his Associate’s degree, and he is contemplating becoming a high school math teacher. In the meantime, his journey has left a lasting impression.

“I’ve realized I have a lot more freedom now,” he said. “I can jump in my car and go instead of having to plan out how I’m going to survive for a week first.”

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