Elizabeth Usborne isn’t like most girls you meet in the South. The 27-year-old Chicago native may appear to be a normal graduate student at Mississippi State University, studying biogeochemistry; and if you throw in her favorite hobby of playing roller derby, and see her on her motorcycle, some people might wonder if she’s just a little different … but you have no idea.
You see, Liz, or “Toxxic Vixxen” on the derby track, is one of the last true nomads. She’s a self-described transient being, filled with wanderlust. She’s lived scores of places all over the world, including her own vehicle for a year. And no, she’s not disadvantaged or crazy. According to her, she just likes to be free. This adventurer has traveled and lived on all but three continents, and has worked as everything from a dog groomer, to a lumberjack in Alaska, to a desk job in Colorado … and according to her, the desk job was the worst.
You’re getting your master’s degree at Mississippi State University’s Wildlife, Fisheries and Aquaculture Department in the College of Forest Resources. How you get interested in biogeochemistry?
My dad was a hobby naturalist and we used to spend a lot of time outdoors going fishing, playing in ponds or forest preserves with bugs and worms. At some point he tried to get me to play soccer, but I would just play with the grasshoppers in the field as the balls went right past me. I have a biology degree from Colorado College, but I felt like I was getting pigeonholed in that area and want to study the bigger picture. I targeted the Mississippi Delta region because it offers such a great classroom for water quality improvement and aquatic ecological rehabilitation.
What are you working on?
Aquatic restoration and rehabilitation or water quality. A lot of what I’m doing is controlling nutrient pollution off the agricultural landscapes. If there’s a problem with sediment or fertilizers, I work with that, and I’m working on ways to stop runoff pollution before it finds its way into the natural ecosystems. It isn’t just science, but you have to figure out solutions that make people happy and are effective economically. Everyone can get behind farms having fresh, clean water.
You said you’ve lived a lot of different places before moving to Mississippi. Where and what did you do before grad school?
After I graduated, I worked for the Colorado Division of Wildlife, but it was mostly a desk job. Since I was used to it and liked working outside, I applied for, and got a job with the Nature Conservancy in Florida, where I worked controlling invasive exotic plants with chainsaws, herbicide and fire. I’ve worked in zoos, as a dog groomer, in the Bahamas as a lizard morphology research assistant, and more. Everything was interesting for a while, but lost interest eventually.
I then decided I was tired of working and became homeless for a year living out of my truck and traveling North America. When I ran out of money, I got a job in Alaska for the Center for Environmental Management, again working with fire and chainsaws. I enhanced natural resource and timber management on military land, supervising a crew in remote areas often accessible only by bush plane or helicopter for extended periods. We would cut landing zones, fire breaks, bivouacs, hazard trees, and salvage timber.
So you were a lumberjack. How was that and were there a lot of women in that field in Alaska?
We would get dropped off in the Alaskan wilderness and live out of tents a lot. When I was home, I lived in a log cabin without plumbing, electricity or a floor. I paid rent by milking goats, feeding pigs, chickens, turkeys, and helping tend to the homestead. I hunted, gathered and grew my own food. Which I try to continue to do here as much as I can. There was another girl on my crew, and there were plenty of other females in wildland firefighting and natural resource management. It was Alaska. Chicks there are tough. I also played derby in Fairbanks, but not with any of the girls I worked with.
And before that you lived in your car for a year? Did you plan that?
Nope. Just kinda hit the road. I started in Key West, Florida, and then I meandered around the country. I visited friends, stayed in hostels, and camped out. I went to Seattle, and back to Key West, then I went through Canada and landed there. I just kind of made stops to see family and friends that I never get to see. It was cool because I never really knew where I was going to be the next day. I just drove, stopped where I wanted to, moved on when I wanted. There wasn’t a plan. It was very freeing. I also love traveling, especially in foreign countries. You meet the nicest and most interesting people who are so willing to just help you out of the kindness of their hearts. It restores my faith in humanity.
If you weren’t working, how did you afford that?
Well I didn’t have rent or utilities or anything. All it cost was gas and food. Gas was the biggest expense, and for food I would just stock up at grocery stores and stuff. Driving through California was great, because there are a lot of roadside stands that you could get fresh fruit really cheap. I lived for the year on $2,000. I had been working before I took off and was looking at stuff and realized that I didn’t have to work just then. I gave a lot of stuff to the thrift store and left. Maybe I’ll do something like that again after I graduate next year. Considering the job market like it is now, and since I’ve done it before, it wouldn’t be hard.
Wasn’t it an issue to get rid of anything that wouldn’t fit in your car and did you bring anything with you other than the necessities?
I’ve always had this kind of cowboy mentality that if it doesn’t fit in my trunk, it can’t come with. And after a while, you figure out that necessities aren’t seven pairs of shoes, but the experience of watching the sunset on a beach in California. Your body feels lighter when you get rid of stuff. I like not having things. It almost physically weighs you down. In the apartment I live in now, I have a chair and a bed and that’s basically it. It came with the place and I won’t take it when I leave.
The most important thing in my life right now is my relationships with people. My experiences are hopefully what I’m collecting in life. That’s the most important thing. No job or house or car will ever come before the people in my life.
But you’ve carried your roller skates with you all these years. How has derby fit in?
I was in my senior year of undergrad and I saw a flier in a vintage store in Colorado Springs, which is where I was living at the time. I showed up to one of their practices and immediately fell in love. That was 2005 with the Pikes Peak Derby Dames. I was on the Candy Sniper team and we were the 2006 undefeated champions. I took two years off, there weren’t any teams near enough to where I was in Florida, but when I moved to Alaska, I joined the Fairbanks Roller Girls. Now I’m a member of the Mississippi Brawl Stars here. I’ve been able to see three leagues now develop from fresh meat status. Colorado actually is well enough established to fund a travel team now. The first bout is April 2 at the Columbus Fairgrounds and it will be really cool. It’s just going to snowball from here, and take off like wildfire.
Is there anything different about the Brawl Stars from your other derby teams?
Well all derby teams tend to have their own personalities. Derby just kind of attracts that underground culture … the misfits, I guess. But the thing is that it unties a bunch of misfits that would never have met otherwise. It brings together kindergarten teachers and tattoo artists, which is awesome. Every league is a little bit different. Colorado was kind of psycobilly greaser zombies. Very punk rock and counter culture. Fairbanks was a lot more working class, people with day jobs that just came to
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