A 24-foot camper is already on the small side for a living space, but when you add 2 parents and 9 kids it seems impossibly tiny. Even so, Dorian Paskowitz and his family lived this way throughout the 60s and 70s, eating 7-grain cereal and surfing North America's best beaches. We caught "Surfwise" over the weekend, the new documentary about the Paskowitz family's life on the road and on the waves...
The film is an intriguing peek into the consequences and rewards of choosing a lifestyle that's not considered normal. The many problems the family (and especially the children) faced are explored in detail, as are the reasons why someone would choose to live this way.
We didn't leave the theater with the desire to start a huge family in an RV, but we did leave with an appreciation for conscious decision-making regarding the way we eat, live, and spend money.
The Paskowitz family's story provides a complex and insightful look at the positive and negative things that can happen when you veer off the path that most people take. For more information and previews of the movie, click here.
Top Photo: The Family Camper
© 2009 Apartment Therapy
11 people living in a 24' camper for any length of time is just plain crazy under any conditions.
view Daily Nuance's profile
OK, now after watching the movie preview, I'm now also convinced the father was both a lunatic and an irresponsible father, IMHO
view Daily Nuance's profile
DN--
An irresponsible lunatic - because he chose to give up what he viewed as suburban conformist misery for a unique life experience of travel and adventure with his family? Perhaps he was clinically depressed, but would it have been better for him to "blow his brains out" (as he put it), beat the kids, have an affair or simply ignore his family and vegetate in front of the television set as so many others do?
Incidentally, I've been to Central America and seen large families living in huts as small as that camper, with no electricity or running water. While they may not have much, they take care of one another, look after their neighbors and are willing to share everything they have. They seem relatively content and nobody calls them irresponsible or lunatic.
view bepsf's profile
i wish this film were playing closer to where i live - at least in NYC! everywhere that i checked on their website playdates list is about 4 or more hours away!!
:-/
view little flower's profile
Not everyone wants a debt load and a 9-5 job.
view scarletdog's profile