#grayleaf

Clan: HemlockClan

Mother: Duskstone

Father: Grayleaf

Sisters: Vixenfern, Tawnystalk, Grasspool

Born beside six other sisters,  Waxpetal, Vixenfern, Tawnystalk, and Grasspool were the only ones to live during a harsh leafbare. The Clan saw them as walking miracles. They were highly praised and spoiled by the entire Clan. Waxpetal didn’t know how to respond to all this love, and after he came out as a tom, the Clan seemed to coddle him even more. His sisters were happy being the most respected cats in the Clan, especially as apprentices, but Waxpetal wasn’t sure he deserved it. This was all odd for HemlockClan, as they were mostly strict with kits and apprentices. But, still, these were the medicine cat’s kits. It was a bad omen when a medicine cat’s kits died.

He’d often leave camp to get away from his suffocating Clanmates. He’d just try to listen to the earth and breathe without anyone bothering him. He loved the forest and the small amount of meadows in HemlockClan territory. Eventually, a small hollow became his safe place and cats avoided him when he was there, seeming to take the hint.

When their strange Seer, Owlseer, began keeping her eyes on Waxpetal, he didn’t pay much attention to her. She was his cousin, but, of course, they weren’t close. Seers were never close to their family and friends. But, she seemed to want to become closer to him. She often asked him to walk with her, and they’d just sit together, looking up into the night sky. She’d ask he what he heard, and he’d perk his ears and listen carefully. He’d listen closely and hear whispering among the wind rustling leaves and grass. When he said what he heard, her eyes would light up.

Grayleaf pushed his way through the hedges, with his face getting smacked with their leaves. He narrowed his eyes and creeped along his steady path. His eyes widened when he caught sight of the two other medicine cats, waiting patiently for Grayleaf to arrive.

He stared at the two calico she-cats when he caught sight of them. The two were having a peaceful conversation, until Grayleaf showed up. The medicine cat of HollowClan stood.

"Nice to see you at last, Grayleaf." She mewed with a raspy voice.

"Hello," Grayleaf nodded his head. "Nice to finally catch up with you both. Listen, this is something we must discuss. It may benefit all of our clans."

The HollowClan medicine cat hesitated, but the FernClan one smiled and nodded ever so gracefully.

"Thanks for bringing this to our attention, Grayleaf. This prophecy may hold the future for all our clans. The FernClan medicine mewed innocently.

"Thanks for your cooperation, Sweetleaf. It seems that Ashfire may be a bit on edge." He suggested.

"It's Shadefire now, gray cat." Shadefire snarled. "Remember what the prophecy said! "Beware of the Ashes", and "Ash" was my name. I can't be associated with this... prophecy."

Grayleaf sighed and shivered while Sweetleaf remained respectfully silent. Shadefire may be a bit paranoid, yes, but Grayleaf suspected her the least out of any cat with "Ash" in her name.

"Well," Sweetleaf began, breaking the silence. "We must contact StarClan, before it is all too late."

"She's right," Shadefire nodded roughly. "Let's get this over with."

Grayleaf sighed as crawled closer to the blue water created by the Mystical Waterfalls. It felt soothing when his nose drifted onto the water ever so smoothly, and shortly afterwards, he felt the burning desire to sleep, and thus, he let himself fall into a deep slumber.

He then quickly woke upon where his prophetic dream last took place. He looked at an unrecognizable cat above him, shaded and dark with ominous dark green eyes staring down upon him. He felt himself shiver, which was out of the ordinary for him. Most, if not all cats saw him as chill and nonchalant, but now, he slipped out of character, as he let fear rush through his body.

"Fire will Rage," said one shaggy-furred cat with ice blue eyes, and then the figure said, "Ice Blue Eyes will Torment you."

Grayleaf let the dream swirl around him as he shut his eyes before opening them again to see another shadowy figure, this one even more hostile than the first one.

"Beware of the Ashes!" The cat said with an angry hiss as he physical lunged towards Grayleaf, until the vision shut out again.

"This is only between the medicine cats." Spotstar's words rang in his ears.

The last glimpse he saw of a cat was a two-toned gray one with green eyes. The figure looked at him as they rushed through the air in the speed of light. The tom quickly perked his ears to hear their last words...

"Only a Shaded Cat can Help you." The last voice finally edged out.

The vision then ended quite abruptly, putting Grayleaf back in the eyes of morning. But this time, both Sweetleaf and Shadefire were gone. He was on his own now. He shivered one last time before ducking his head and heading back to MoonClan's camp.

(All of this is in StarClan's paws now. I trust them to carry us all through this, whatever the circumstances must be.) Grayleaf thought, grandly.

It had been 3 moons after Jaggedstar's passing, as two cats looked out at the starry night above. One of them was the new leader of MoonClan. The other was her medicine cat. Both experienced at their jobs, they are aware of the duties that they are required to partake in. One of a medicine cats' major duties is to let their leader know of their prophetic dreams sent by StarClan themselves. The gray tom looked uneasy.

"Well Spotstar, the dream all started the same as any other. I woke in the lands of StarClan, only to be taken out of them as fast as a falling star. I ended up in some kind of firey scene. Fire was everywhere, and then there was a ghostly cat with bright, almost blinding blue eyes staring into my own ever so menacingly. Then the figure said this: "Fire will Rage, Ice Blue Eyes will Torment you, and Beware of the Ashes." I had heard this before, but I'm all wondering, what this could mean?"

"I don't know, Grayleaf." Spotstar said hesitantly with a sigh. "I know I just became leader, but I'm so unsure of all this..."

Grayleaf said nothing, only looking at the sulking Spotstar, who was also sharing an uneasy look.

"There is something we must do, but, it might be hard to figure it out. If only either of us had a good suggestion..." Grayleaf mewed quietly.

Then Spotstar shot up with her flopped-over ears perked. That only told Grayleaf that she had an idea.

"Go to both HollowClan and FernClan and ask to chat privately with their medicine cats. When you do, meet with them at the crystal waterfalls. Ask both Sweetleaf and Ashfire about the dream. And make sure they know it must be kept private, away from other clan members, including their leaders. Do not mention my name. Let this be known only to medicine cats." Spotstar finished grandly.

"Alright, I can do that. I'll be as quick as I can." Grayleaf nodded curtly before bounding off out of the leader's den.

grayleaf asked a question:

Hello! Just a random follower here. I have noticed that you sometimes post regarding capitalism/economic theory, and that’s something I’d like to do some reading on. It seems like you’ve read a bit about this stuff, although that might be a wrong assumption. If you have, I was wondering if you had any books/texts that influenced your perspective re: economics that might be a good intro? I understand that this is completely out of nowhere but I’ve been intrigued by things on your blog. Thanks!

Hey Ryan. Great ask. It got borked from my messages so I’m answering it in this text post instead.

Until your ask, I never realized that I’ve actually read a crap ton of books about economics.

So I went through my shelves and made a list of the ones that I think were the most interesting, most useful, and most formative in my own thoughts about economics.

(A caveat for anyone reading this in a reblog: I am not an economist. I have no formal training. But economics is very real and very important to me. It affects how I live, how I work, how I run my company, what I do or don’t spend money on, and how I vote.)

Here are the three most important books in forming my own worldview on economics.

Debt: The First 5,000 Years by David Graeber. Before there was money, there was debt. This makes this book a great place to start. One of my favorite books of the last decade.

The Death and Life of Great American Cities, The Economy of Cities, Cities and the Wealth of Nations, and The Nature of Economies by Jane Jacobs. Jane Jacobs was not a traditional economist but her work in understanding how cities operate made me see economies not as a product of nations but as the result of the activity within cities and regions. ‘Death and Life’ and ‘The Economy of Cities’ are so important to me that I gift them to people like missionaries hand out bibles. Here’s a nice writeup of two of her books.

Civilization and Capitalism (Vol. 1-3) by Fernand Braudel.The single most important book in getting me to understand the connection between capitalism, markets, and everyday life. It also introduced me to the Annales School which is full of interesting ideas. Note: this one is loooooooooong and it took me years to read all three volumes (ok tbh, I’ve read two and half volumes.)

If I were to start reading from scratch, I would start with one or more of these books as an intro. They’re clever and fun and great texts for getting your bearings.

Naked Economics: Undressing the Dismal Science by Charles Wheelan. A good introduction to general concepts in economics through fantastic storytelling. Check out socoftw's outline of the book here.

The Little Book of Economics: How the Economy Works in The Real World by Greg Ip. Nice primer. Some bits are a little too FREE MARKET RULEZ! for me but it was also a really good book for me to read. I recommend it because I was able to leap tall-ish articles in a single read after this book.

The Undercover Economist by Tim Harford. This is the book that explains why your cup of Starbucks costs what it does (among other things.)

These books are a good place to begin thinking critically about conventional economic theory.

Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner. A clever look at conventional wisdom in economics. Also just a fun read. Also available as an excellent blog, podcast, and twitter feed.

Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman. A summary of three decades of Kahneman’s work in understanding individual behavior in markets. Questions a lot of the “rational behavior” assumptions of neoclassical economics. 

How to Lie with Statistics by Darrell Huff. Statistics are stories told to people as “facts.” Considering how many economic decisions are made based on statistics, it’s important background to know. This book is a classic. (Speaking of facts: I got introduced to this book in high school by none other than George Gallup Jr.)

The Surprising Design of Market Economies by Alex Marshall. The government builds our markets through property law, taxation, and infrastructure and yet our political conversations purposefully ignore this. This would be lolworthy if not for, you know, people making really bad policy decisions that affect the rest of us.

Okay, now that I’m into this, I want to dive a bit deeper.

An Engine, Not a Camera by Donald Mackenzie. Finance theory doesn’t exist separate from the economy. By creating a theory of markets, you alter the fate of those markets over and over again.

Development as Freedom by Amartya Sen. Economic development shouldn’t be seen merely an increase in basic income but as an increase in personal freedom, political freedom, opportunity (including credit), and social security. (Excerpt here.)

The Work of Nations by Robert Reich. How do you value labor over wealth and reconfigure a workforce for a globalized economy? (I’d also follow his tumblr)

Capitalism: Its Origins and Evolution as a System of Governance by Bruce R. Scott. A comprehensive look at capitalism and market economies. (Note: this book is sitting on my shelf but I haven’t read it yet.)

These are the books that reflect my current interest in heterodox economics and economic dynamics.

Capital and Affects: The Politics of the Language Economy by Christian Marazzi. This book was a good introduction to “postfordism” which is a funny word for what comes after an age of industrial, mass market production.

The Science of Passionate Interests: An Introduction to Gabriel Tarde’s Economic Anthropology by Bruno Latour & Vincent Antonin Lépinay. How do you measure economics not solely in terms of money but as an intensification of passionate interests?

The Atlas of Economic Complexity by Ricardo Hausmann, CA Hidalgo, et al. Can you predict economic growth based on a measure of “productive” knowledge? Read an overview of the Atlas here. Peep all of the visualizations here and here. (Beware: charts are a highly evolved form of statistics.)

Complex Economics: Individual and Collective Rationality by Alan Kirman. We make lots of assumptions in our current economic models: rationality, independence, and impersonal interactions. These aren’t based in any mathematical or market truths — they’re just formalisms. So what happens if the purpose of economics wasn’t efficiency but coordination? (Note: this is another book that is sitting on my shelf but I haven’t read it yet.)

Reading Important Old Theorists Is Important Because Everybody Interprets Their Words For Their Own Ends.

The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith. I suggest reading the whole thing but also understand if you can’t — it’s a long ass book written for an audience from 200 years ago. In that case, the Wikipedia article is a decent summary as long as you follow the links.

Capital, Vol 1-3 by Karl Marx. I’ve only read Volume 1. Friedrich Engels’ synopsis is a great overview of the basics. The WP article is also a good primer.

Capitalism and Freedom by Milton Friedman. I would suggest reading the Wikipedia article about him.

The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money by John Maynard Keynes. Oh, so this is where macroeconomic theory comes from.

Oh yeah, these books are good too.

Principles of Economics by Greg Mankiw. This is a good 101 read but it’s also an overpriced textbook so look for a used earlier edition that only costs $20 or so. Also browse Greg Mankiw’s blog here.