years ago. At the time Matt Del Porto was a high school student growing up on the east side of Salt Lake. A kid trying to find his place in the world, Del Porto started making new friends outside of his neighborhood. He hung with punks, activists and artists. Soon, he learned about dumpster diving. Since that time, Del Porto has become Salt Lake’s biggest diving advocate. Once a month, he leads hands-on workshops, guiding newbies around to his favorite bins. It’s an unthinkable practice in most cities. Good turf is a closely held secret among most of the world’s divers. But, in friendly Utah, sharing the best bins seems natural. Curious to learn all I could before joining Del Porto on his rounds, I dug up an essay by Texas writer Lars Eighner. A quintessential text on the
Dumpster diving, picking food and necessities from other’s trash, is a firm element of anarchist culture. Groups such as Food Not Bombs use “food recovery� as a way to fight poverty, collecting excess food and putting it to use. subject, On Dumpster Diving, Eighner authored the essay during a period of homelessness he experienced on the streets of Los Angeles in the 1980s. His writing reveals the ethos, habits, quirks and gritty or simply functional details behind diving. I was reassured by Eighner’s observation that “even respectable employed people will sometimes find something tempting sticking out of a Dumpster.� Maybe I wouldn’t be so out of place. But, Eighner clarified, being willing to eat from the dumpsters “separates the dilettanti from the professionals.� The night of the ride arrives. I can tell immediately that Del Porto is,
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Boulder Mountain Zendo is changing its name to
Two Arrows Zen Center
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