Lanee gave me a poetry book by Billy Collins--The Trouble with Poetry. I had never heard of Collins, (a reflection of the waning currency of my literary education), although I have since learned that he was poet laureate of our country a few years back, including on September 11, 2001, which I suppose is both a grave responsibility and an immortal opportunity for a poet, whose gaggle of humanity generally lacks responsibility and is easily forgotten.
Collins is fun to read. A native New Yorker, he has spent most of his life teaching college in the Bronx, a setting which has doubtless contributed to his unpretentious style. He has a keen eye for the commonplace, not as symbols really, as poets often contrive, but as playing integral roles that evade inspection, taking their turns upon life's stage, sometimes with a single line of timely occasion. The salt shaker may reside in a darkened cabinet most of the time, but what is more important when served a baked potato?
So I have enjoyed his refreshing work, despite my usual comfort in structure, meter and rhyme. Collins could care less about any of these, as he is the poet of experience, part common and homespun like Frost and part coarse and plain-spoken like Whitman, mixed with dollop of e.e. cummings' iconoclasm and irony for an American stew made palatable for today's tastes. Here's one I liked:
Flock
It has been calculated that each copy of the Gutenburg Bible ... required the skins of 300 sheep.
--from an article on printing.
I can see them squeezed into the holding pen
behind the stone building
where the printing press is housed,
all of them squirming around
to find a little room
and looking so much alike
it would be nearly impossible
to count them,
and there is no telling
which one will carry the news
that the Lord is a shepherd,
one of the few things they already know.
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Sunday, April 27, 2008
Wonderland
Just spent a few days in beautiful southern Utah. Thursday I joined a bunch of guys to hike Buckskin Gulch, the longest slot canyon in the world. It's a very lovely route, emptying into the Paria River, for a total of 22 miles of slot canyons flanked by towering 300-foot sandstone walls.
I guess I'm not used to hanging out with guys my age, because it felt a little like a senior citizen group. Six of us were about 50, one was 61 and one 41. But we still managed the entire trek in eight hours, and no one seemed worse for the wear. Good company, great weather, beautiful canyon. Followed with a surprisingly tasty dinner at a Kanab diner. Life is good.
Friday Brett Pinegar and I headed to Rock Canyon, between Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park and Zion National Park. Finding the trailhead proved difficult as we had to navigate criss-crossing rancher roads through sand that demanded 4WD attention. After some backtracking, we found our destination, loaded our gear and headed down Rock Canyon. A few nice rappels and some terrific downclimbing later we were in the Paranuweap River (East Fork of the Virgin). This was my first time on this part of the river and it is truly lovely. We enjoyed a sizable petroglyph wall and then walked the river to the exit, then up French Canyon, which was also quite pretty, starting with a narrow little passage and finishing with a neat little climb. All in all a great day, and a fine introduction to canyoneering for Brett. Didn't see another soul, unless you count the few cows grazing along the river.
I'll never tire of these canyons. I love working my way down them, then the physical challenge of climbing back up, and all the mystical delights along the way. My wonderland.
Friday, April 18, 2008
A Day in the Life of Grandma
This is a true and accurate catalog of yesterday's events, as best as I can recollect them:
11:15 a.m. Bill takes Stacie and MJ to the airport after visiting from Phoenix.
3:30 p.m. Rebecca, having cried three times already, cries again, already missing her grandchildren.
4:45 p.m. Courtney calls, mentioning that she is buying a car from Angelica, but doesn't know how she is going to get it to here from Phoenix.
5:00 p.m. Rebecca suggests she may be available to pick up car.
5:15 p.m. Rebecca calls Angelica. They scheme.
5:30 p.m. Layla calls Rebecca (with Angelica's help) and gives ticket details.
5:40 p.m. Rebecca packs bags for Phoenix. No more crying. Very excited about seeing grandchildren. Schedule includes Layla, MJ and all parents.
7:00 p.m. Bill takes Rebecca to airport to fly to Phoenix.
10:00 p.m. Grandmother reunited with grandchildren after a traumatic 11-hour separation.
11:15 a.m. Bill takes Stacie and MJ to the airport after visiting from Phoenix.
3:30 p.m. Rebecca, having cried three times already, cries again, already missing her grandchildren.
4:45 p.m. Courtney calls, mentioning that she is buying a car from Angelica, but doesn't know how she is going to get it to here from Phoenix.
5:00 p.m. Rebecca suggests she may be available to pick up car.
5:15 p.m. Rebecca calls Angelica. They scheme.
5:30 p.m. Layla calls Rebecca (with Angelica's help) and gives ticket details.
5:40 p.m. Rebecca packs bags for Phoenix. No more crying. Very excited about seeing grandchildren. Schedule includes Layla, MJ and all parents.
7:00 p.m. Bill takes Rebecca to airport to fly to Phoenix.
10:00 p.m. Grandmother reunited with grandchildren after a traumatic 11-hour separation.
Saturday, April 12, 2008
Quit Hitting the Bottle
I guess I should practice what I preach, so I'm making a commitment. No more bottled water. I've been leaning in that direction, but today I stumbled upon an article that for some reason I can't find again. (It was a featured story in Yahoo. But I've managed to source most of it.) A few things:
-60 million plastic bottles a day are going into U.S. landfills.
-Plastic bottles can take up to 1000 years to biodegrade.
-In the U.S., we spent $15 Billion on bottled water last year.
-More than 25.5 billion plastic water bottles were sold in the U.S. last year.
-About 1 in 5 plastic water bottles used in America are recycled.
-Producing our plastic bottles uses 1.5 million barrels of crude oil annually. That's enough to fuel over one million cars a year.
-Last year bottling water produced 2.5 million tons of carbon dioxide.
-Three gallons of water are used for each gallon of bottled water produced and sold, while one billion people in the world do not have easy access to potable water.
-Tap water is under even more stringent regulations than bottled water. Many experts believe that overall it is as good or better for you than tap water. (See this Readers Digest article as one among many.)
-Bottled water costs (ranges I've read) between 500 and 2000 times more than municipal water.
-Much of the bottled water purchased is simply tap water. This is true for both PepsiCo's water (Aquafina) and Coke's (Dasanti). There are no labeling requirements.
-And more and more research is demonstrating that in blind taste tests, tap water is preferred to many brands of bottled water.
Bottled water became popular when smart marketers from French companies (first Perrier, then Evian) convinced trend-setters that it was cool. I predict that in five years, drinking bottled water will be considered as uncool and irresponsible as littering or driving cars that burn oil. So drop by REI and get a nifty-looking Nalgene or refillable sports bottle. (Don't refill plastic water bottles for health reasons.) How hard is that? And if you don't like the idea of simple tap water, get a PUR or another filtering system, which are cheap and easy to use.
Yeah, bottled water is convenient. That's the same thing decent people used to say about throwing dirty Pampers out their car window. What would you think of them now? C'mon, be cool, responsible and ahead of your time. Quit hitting the bottle!
-60 million plastic bottles a day are going into U.S. landfills.
-Plastic bottles can take up to 1000 years to biodegrade.
-In the U.S., we spent $15 Billion on bottled water last year.
-More than 25.5 billion plastic water bottles were sold in the U.S. last year.
-About 1 in 5 plastic water bottles used in America are recycled.
-Producing our plastic bottles uses 1.5 million barrels of crude oil annually. That's enough to fuel over one million cars a year.
-Last year bottling water produced 2.5 million tons of carbon dioxide.
-Three gallons of water are used for each gallon of bottled water produced and sold, while one billion people in the world do not have easy access to potable water.
-Tap water is under even more stringent regulations than bottled water. Many experts believe that overall it is as good or better for you than tap water. (See this Readers Digest article as one among many.)
-Bottled water costs (ranges I've read) between 500 and 2000 times more than municipal water.
-Much of the bottled water purchased is simply tap water. This is true for both PepsiCo's water (Aquafina) and Coke's (Dasanti). There are no labeling requirements.
-And more and more research is demonstrating that in blind taste tests, tap water is preferred to many brands of bottled water.
Bottled water became popular when smart marketers from French companies (first Perrier, then Evian) convinced trend-setters that it was cool. I predict that in five years, drinking bottled water will be considered as uncool and irresponsible as littering or driving cars that burn oil. So drop by REI and get a nifty-looking Nalgene or refillable sports bottle. (Don't refill plastic water bottles for health reasons.) How hard is that? And if you don't like the idea of simple tap water, get a PUR or another filtering system, which are cheap and easy to use.
Yeah, bottled water is convenient. That's the same thing decent people used to say about throwing dirty Pampers out their car window. What would you think of them now? C'mon, be cool, responsible and ahead of your time. Quit hitting the bottle!
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Seeing the Light
Ran into a very cool, fun, refreshing and original website called www.unscrewamerica.org, which promotes the usage of incandescent light alternatives--LED's and CFL's. Be sure to hit the space bar, and play around on the website, which is clever and upbeat, but still provides plenty of credible arguments for all of us to switch. Why? Well ... they are both cheaper over the long run, save energy and reduce greenhouse gases. That ought to be enough, methinks. Here's something I learned--95% of the energy used by an incandescent bulb is lost in heat. The light is merely a byproduct. Gee, that sounds pretty wasteful.
Over the past six months I have reflected on various elements of my lifestyle, with some nagging persistence in the area of environmentalism and conservation. (I've long admired the ancient wisdom from Socrates: "The unexamined life is not worth living.") And sadly, in many areas I am unable to justify my actions. When confronted by these realities, I either do a fetal curl in denial, or seek refuge in the protective embrace of crowds and customs. For instance, I can question the research, without the inconvenience of further study. Or, I can ignore it, content with the fact that everyone else uses incandescent bulbs. Why should I have to be weird?
Another example: I recently read about how our oceans are becoming increasingly polluted by plastics, floating on the surface, coalescing toxic chemicals and endangering ocean wildlife. According to the article, "Currently floating in the Pacific Ocean: a giant field of plastic trash that's twice the size of the continental United States." It's nearly impossible to destroy plastic, so when bags, bottles and manufacturing byproducts hit the waterways, as plenty do, they have nowhere else to go.
What can we do? Quit using plastic bags. Cut out bottled water. Buy less disposable stuff. Recycle. And maybe all of those are a little inconvenient. Maybe these changes are too hard. Well, maybe so. But does that make us any less accountable? Then there's the greatest rationalization: I'm only one person and won't really make a difference. I think just the opposite--real change is only going to happen by individuals leading the way with their personal decisions and commitment. Example is the only effective way to teach, and the best way to change the world. It is my responsibility to do what I can.
Unfortunately, these ruminations can be frustrating, as I continually find myself living at odds with my ideals, and must suffer the burden of culpability, no greater or less than anybody else. On the other hand, maybe CFL bulbs can lighten my load.
Over the past six months I have reflected on various elements of my lifestyle, with some nagging persistence in the area of environmentalism and conservation. (I've long admired the ancient wisdom from Socrates: "The unexamined life is not worth living.") And sadly, in many areas I am unable to justify my actions. When confronted by these realities, I either do a fetal curl in denial, or seek refuge in the protective embrace of crowds and customs. For instance, I can question the research, without the inconvenience of further study. Or, I can ignore it, content with the fact that everyone else uses incandescent bulbs. Why should I have to be weird?
Another example: I recently read about how our oceans are becoming increasingly polluted by plastics, floating on the surface, coalescing toxic chemicals and endangering ocean wildlife. According to the article, "Currently floating in the Pacific Ocean: a giant field of plastic trash that's twice the size of the continental United States." It's nearly impossible to destroy plastic, so when bags, bottles and manufacturing byproducts hit the waterways, as plenty do, they have nowhere else to go.
What can we do? Quit using plastic bags. Cut out bottled water. Buy less disposable stuff. Recycle. And maybe all of those are a little inconvenient. Maybe these changes are too hard. Well, maybe so. But does that make us any less accountable? Then there's the greatest rationalization: I'm only one person and won't really make a difference. I think just the opposite--real change is only going to happen by individuals leading the way with their personal decisions and commitment. Example is the only effective way to teach, and the best way to change the world. It is my responsibility to do what I can.
Unfortunately, these ruminations can be frustrating, as I continually find myself living at odds with my ideals, and must suffer the burden of culpability, no greater or less than anybody else. On the other hand, maybe CFL bulbs can lighten my load.
Thursday, April 03, 2008
April Quotes
"The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
--Winston Churchill
"A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worthwhile."
--Herm Albright, writer
"Pain is mandatory, but suffering is optional."
--Sylvia Boorstein, Buddhist-Jewish teacher
"The three great essentials to achieve anything worthwhile are, first, hard work; second, stick-to-itiveness; third, common sense."
--Thomas Edison
“Follow effective action with quiet reflection. From the quiet reflection will come even more effective action.”
--Peter Drucker
"No plans survive first contact with the enemy."
--Carl von Clausewitz
"A pint of sweat will save a gallon of blood."
--General George S. Patton
"It is impossible to learn everything about a man, his soul, his will and his judgment, until he is seen practicing government and law."
--Sophocles (Antigone)
"Some day bemused students will try to see how we came to this decision and credit us with profound thought we never had. The thing as I see it is to get a definite, simple plan quickly, and win by execution ..."
--George S. Patton, on plans for the 1943 invasion of Sicily
"I may lose a battle, but I shall never lose a minute."
--Napoleon Bonaparte
"Many assume that half efforts can be effective. A small jump is easier than a large one, but no one wishing to cross a wide ditch would cross half of it first."
--Carl von Clausewitz
"When life gets to be more than you can stand, kneel."
“Meetings are a symptom of bad organization. The fewer meetings the better.” - --Peter Drucker
“Plans are only good intentions unless they immediately degenerate into hard work.” - --Peter Drucker
"Money is better than poverty, if only for financial reasons."
--Woody Allen
"However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results." - --Winston Churchill
"Finish last in your league and they call you 'Idiot.' Finish last in medical school and they call you 'Doctor'."
--Abe Lemons, college basketball coaching legend
"Doctors bury their mistakes, mine are still on scholarship."
--Abe Lemons
“One's objective should be to get it right, get it quick,
get it out, and get it over ... your problem won't
improve with age.”
--Warren Buffett
"One does not accumulate but eliminate. It is not daily increase but daily decrease. The height of cultivation always runs to simplicity."
--Bruce Lee
"Reading, after a certain age, diverts the mind too much from its creative pursuits. Any man who reads too much and uses his own brain too little falls into lazy habits of thinking."
--Albert Einstein
--Winston Churchill
"A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worthwhile."
--Herm Albright, writer
"Pain is mandatory, but suffering is optional."
--Sylvia Boorstein, Buddhist-Jewish teacher
"The three great essentials to achieve anything worthwhile are, first, hard work; second, stick-to-itiveness; third, common sense."
--Thomas Edison
“Follow effective action with quiet reflection. From the quiet reflection will come even more effective action.”
--Peter Drucker
"No plans survive first contact with the enemy."
--Carl von Clausewitz
"A pint of sweat will save a gallon of blood."
--General George S. Patton
"It is impossible to learn everything about a man, his soul, his will and his judgment, until he is seen practicing government and law."
--Sophocles (Antigone)
"Some day bemused students will try to see how we came to this decision and credit us with profound thought we never had. The thing as I see it is to get a definite, simple plan quickly, and win by execution ..."
--George S. Patton, on plans for the 1943 invasion of Sicily
"I may lose a battle, but I shall never lose a minute."
--Napoleon Bonaparte
"Many assume that half efforts can be effective. A small jump is easier than a large one, but no one wishing to cross a wide ditch would cross half of it first."
--Carl von Clausewitz
"When life gets to be more than you can stand, kneel."
“Meetings are a symptom of bad organization. The fewer meetings the better.” - --Peter Drucker
“Plans are only good intentions unless they immediately degenerate into hard work.” - --Peter Drucker
"Money is better than poverty, if only for financial reasons."
--Woody Allen
"However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results." - --Winston Churchill
"Finish last in your league and they call you 'Idiot.' Finish last in medical school and they call you 'Doctor'."
--Abe Lemons, college basketball coaching legend
"Doctors bury their mistakes, mine are still on scholarship."
--Abe Lemons
“One's objective should be to get it right, get it quick,
get it out, and get it over ... your problem won't
improve with age.”
--Warren Buffett
"One does not accumulate but eliminate. It is not daily increase but daily decrease. The height of cultivation always runs to simplicity."
--Bruce Lee
"Reading, after a certain age, diverts the mind too much from its creative pursuits. Any man who reads too much and uses his own brain too little falls into lazy habits of thinking."
--Albert Einstein
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Feeling Swell
The weather is turning its most beautiful in southern Utah so I seized the opportunity to spend a few days in the San Rafael Swell, just north of Goblin Valley State Park. Many people had told me that it was an interesting place, but this was my first visit, and I was not disappointed. Angelica, Zachary and I drove down after Easter dinner and found a nice backcountry camping spot where we gasped at the stunning display of stars and also a little at the cold, as it got down below freezing at night and made exiting our sleeping bags in the morning a test of our resolution. We passed, and after an oatmeal breakfast drove down to check out Chute Canyon, which would be our exit. There we met a couple of old climbing hippies from Boulder who had hiked Ding and Dang Canyons the day before and supplied some beta which got me thinking. (I say they were “old,” but probably no older than me!)
Back to the Crack Canyon trailhead and we entered the canyon as it was warming from the sun. It’s a fun little slot with some interesting downclimbs. Unfortunately, we missed the best and easiest cut-off to Chute, as I was using one of Michael Kelsey’s guidebooks, which are notorious for being incorrect. So we hiked longer than planned, but eventually turned just before Temple Mountain (which is quite majestic, if not religiously inspired) and found our way to Chute. All in all, maybe 13 miles of hiking, climbing and clamboring. Makes it easier to sleep at night.
We were going to do Wild Horse and Bell Canyons on Tuesday, but I became convinced Ding and Dang would be more fun and challenging. So off we went, despite not having a topographical map to find the canyons, and relying completely on Kelsey’s rough description. And naturally, given my keen route-finding skills, we were soon wandering aimlessly, with no idea where the canyons were. But we knew they went up to the reef, so we found a canyon that looked most interesting and climbed up, thinking that might be Ding or Dang. It proved to be a lot of fun, with some challenging climbs, stems, chimneys and a body-anchor assist. Eventually we hiked to a high point for lunch and reconnoiter, still not sure where we were, and decided one canyon up looked tougher and more fun than the rest, and that if we took it we could probably find our way east around a large fin, and that another canyon down also looked like it might be tasty. So that’s what we did, never knowing what to expect next. It was more exciting that way. I do enjoy spontaneity, and adventure even more, and I am often my happiest trying to peer through a veil of uncertainty.
Back home on Tuesday night I looked at the map and realized we had totally missed Ding and Dang, and hiked unnamed canyons, which I will blame at least in part on the Kelsey hand-drawn map. But no worries about the canyons not taken. I will save them for another day. Yet knowing how way leads on to way …
Back to the Crack Canyon trailhead and we entered the canyon as it was warming from the sun. It’s a fun little slot with some interesting downclimbs. Unfortunately, we missed the best and easiest cut-off to Chute, as I was using one of Michael Kelsey’s guidebooks, which are notorious for being incorrect. So we hiked longer than planned, but eventually turned just before Temple Mountain (which is quite majestic, if not religiously inspired) and found our way to Chute. All in all, maybe 13 miles of hiking, climbing and clamboring. Makes it easier to sleep at night.
We were going to do Wild Horse and Bell Canyons on Tuesday, but I became convinced Ding and Dang would be more fun and challenging. So off we went, despite not having a topographical map to find the canyons, and relying completely on Kelsey’s rough description. And naturally, given my keen route-finding skills, we were soon wandering aimlessly, with no idea where the canyons were. But we knew they went up to the reef, so we found a canyon that looked most interesting and climbed up, thinking that might be Ding or Dang. It proved to be a lot of fun, with some challenging climbs, stems, chimneys and a body-anchor assist. Eventually we hiked to a high point for lunch and reconnoiter, still not sure where we were, and decided one canyon up looked tougher and more fun than the rest, and that if we took it we could probably find our way east around a large fin, and that another canyon down also looked like it might be tasty. So that’s what we did, never knowing what to expect next. It was more exciting that way. I do enjoy spontaneity, and adventure even more, and I am often my happiest trying to peer through a veil of uncertainty.
Back home on Tuesday night I looked at the map and realized we had totally missed Ding and Dang, and hiked unnamed canyons, which I will blame at least in part on the Kelsey hand-drawn map. But no worries about the canyons not taken. I will save them for another day. Yet knowing how way leads on to way …
Friday, March 21, 2008
Bluebird Day
Is there anything better than snowboarding/skiing in light fresh powder on a beautiful sunny day with your family? Nope. And that's the way it was on Thursday at Solitude--maybe 8-10 inches of soft, fluffy pow at the top and by 11:00a the snow had stopped and the sun was shining brightly on Tim, Zach, Brandon and me. We were the second ones on the lifts and first-tracked a couple of blues before heading to the top, where we found virgin powder nearly everywhere we looked until a well-deserved lunch. In the afternoon we hit the trees and chutes where the snow was still soft and in many places untouched. What a paradise we live in!
Tim was in town for four days of skiing--Alta, Snowbird, Solitude and Grand Basin--and lots of other fun. Craig and Teddy Lopus joined in today and Rebecca, Angelica, Zachary, Brandon, Courtney, Lanee and Sam all hit the slopes for at least one day. Overall, a great time with family and friends. Life is good!
Tim was in town for four days of skiing--Alta, Snowbird, Solitude and Grand Basin--and lots of other fun. Craig and Teddy Lopus joined in today and Rebecca, Angelica, Zachary, Brandon, Courtney, Lanee and Sam all hit the slopes for at least one day. Overall, a great time with family and friends. Life is good!
Monday, March 17, 2008
My Irish Eyes Are Smiling
It’s St. Paddy’s Day and as is always the case my thoughts turned to my Irish father, Victor William Farley. I lost track of my dad when I was a few years old and didn’t see him again until after I was married and had children. It was a pleasant reunion, however, and I greatly enjoyed getting to know him. Perhaps the highlight of our relationship was when we went to Ireland (I think in 1997), after he retired. It was one of the great times of my life, getting to know Dad while we visited our ancestral home for the first time. As we drove through the countryside, roamed castles, explored cemeteries and ate at pubs we discovered we were alike in so many ways.
My dad was an unusual man with a colorful past. At 15 he left home and tended bar in Chicago. Then he lied about his age and enlisted in the army in World War II. They kept him stateside so he went AWOL, not once, but three times I think. Exasperated, the Army sent him overseas, and I think he mainly served in India. When he came back he ran bars again in Chicago and Miami, sometimes for organized crime and sometimes his own. He was a very tough guy, and was proud of the fact that in all the years he ran “saloons” (as he called them), he always “handled his own business” and never once called the cops. I have heard stories about him handling his own business. Although he was a kind, good-natured and overly accommodating man, it was wise not to cross him, for he had an Irish temper and iron fists.
I think of him as a great servant to friends, family and strangers. Numerous times I observed him helping others in unusual ways that would never occur to me. Another highlight in my life was going to a Cubs game with Dad in 1998—my first at Wrigley Field—and watching Mark McGuire and Sammy Sosa bash homers as they both chased Babe Ruth’s record.
So today I put on the sweater that I bought with in Ireland and we looked at the Irish photos and I put on my favorite album of Irish pub songs and reminisced and thought about Dad. And it was good.
Saturday, March 15, 2008
Tales of Two Men
Last weekend I had plenty of driving time down and back to Death Valley. And since I was alone, there were no negotiations on what played on the iPod. So I decided to listen to a few audiobooks. On the way down, Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin, about the political leadership style of Abraham Lincoln. This was recommended to me some time ago and I’ve been waiting for the right time to listen. On the way home it was Bob Spitz’s biography of The Beatles, which was on my iPod when I bought it, and one of the few book-length choices that I had available.
I was struck by the enormous contrast between the two. I have read some about Lincoln before, but prior to this had never really appreciated him as man. Beyond his intelligence and sagacity, he was a man of extraordinary character and goodness—good-natured, humorous, forgiving, long-suffering, patient, kind and considerate. I was humbled as I listened to his story, and deeply saddened when it came to his assassination, for the world lost too early one of its noblest souls.
Listening to The Beatles provided some interesting background to their music, which I have enjoyed and admired since I was a kid. The White Album was one of my first, and Hey Jude was an early favorite that I learned on the piano. But I must admit to being disappointed in discovering them as people, and particularly John Lennon, often considered the soul of the group. Lennon was certainly a gifted songwriter and the catalyst for the development of the band. But he was also a cruel, arrogant and insecure individual whose penchant for hard drugs and later heroin addiction squeezed out his humanity and left him and Yoko parading as symbols and seeking publicity and attention at every turn. It is a sad and unfortunate story, and one that I rather wish I had not wasted my time on.
It’s too bad that we look for so many of our “heroes” in the world of pop culture. There are great people among us, and many more to be found in history. Listening to Abraham Lincoln’s story inspired me to be a better person, and I would be wise to spend more of my study in that direction. John Lennon’s story went the other way, glamorous and successful but morally empty. What we read, what we listen to, turns out to be an important decision. I’ve certainly had my fill of pablum at the expense of more fulfilling options. And unfortunately, I can’t go back. But now in hindsight I see how readily I have sacrificed my mental and spiritual health by partaking of demoralizing junk food and popular swill.
I was struck by the enormous contrast between the two. I have read some about Lincoln before, but prior to this had never really appreciated him as man. Beyond his intelligence and sagacity, he was a man of extraordinary character and goodness—good-natured, humorous, forgiving, long-suffering, patient, kind and considerate. I was humbled as I listened to his story, and deeply saddened when it came to his assassination, for the world lost too early one of its noblest souls.
Listening to The Beatles provided some interesting background to their music, which I have enjoyed and admired since I was a kid. The White Album was one of my first, and Hey Jude was an early favorite that I learned on the piano. But I must admit to being disappointed in discovering them as people, and particularly John Lennon, often considered the soul of the group. Lennon was certainly a gifted songwriter and the catalyst for the development of the band. But he was also a cruel, arrogant and insecure individual whose penchant for hard drugs and later heroin addiction squeezed out his humanity and left him and Yoko parading as symbols and seeking publicity and attention at every turn. It is a sad and unfortunate story, and one that I rather wish I had not wasted my time on.
It’s too bad that we look for so many of our “heroes” in the world of pop culture. There are great people among us, and many more to be found in history. Listening to Abraham Lincoln’s story inspired me to be a better person, and I would be wise to spend more of my study in that direction. John Lennon’s story went the other way, glamorous and successful but morally empty. What we read, what we listen to, turns out to be an important decision. I’ve certainly had my fill of pablum at the expense of more fulfilling options. And unfortunately, I can’t go back. But now in hindsight I see how readily I have sacrificed my mental and spiritual health by partaking of demoralizing junk food and popular swill.
Monday, March 10, 2008
Death Valley Days
I had the unique pleasure of spending a few days in Death Valley over the weekend, enjoying its canyons with some very nice folks from Las Vegas. It was my first time there and the place is truly awesome in its desolate loneliness, appearing nearly lifeless and with intimidating ruggedness. From Dante’s Peak you can look over the vast expanse of the valley, all below sea level and covered with immense salt deposits, leading to an inevitable feeling that God did not create this bleak tract of earth for human habitation. And in fact, few have lived here over the course of history, mostly miners, battling the mountains and elements to extract precious deposits of gold, silver, copper, chloride, borax, lead and even cyanide.
The canyons are equally stark, surrounded by black, craggy mountains with approaches filled with slippery talus-covered inclines, one of which carried me on my butt for over 40 yards while I grasped desperately for something to stop my fall. At the bottom, looking at my bloody hands, I was reminded of why I brought my gloves, and kept them by my side for the rest of the trip.
Day One was Styx Canyon, which includes 13 rappels and plenty of challenging downclimbs, dropping nearly 5000 vertical feet. Unlike Utah sandstone, these canyons offer many layers of mineral-laden rock, from crumbly limestone to hard-edged quartz and large igneous deposits. This made for a very different sort of canyoneering experience, and although not as beautiful as Utah, they are certainly as impressive and awe-inspiring. And after a 10-hour day in Styx, I would say equally challenging as well. Day Two was Coffin Canyon, another 4600 feet down and seven rappels, including one 190-footer and another that passed sea level during the descent. Both canyons finished about at about -250 feet in elevation with walkouts over vast alluvial fans overlooking the saline-covered valley floor.
I would like to return to Death Valley. I've read about a stunningly long line of petroglyphs west of the park that sound fascinating. I've heard that the mountain wildflowers are awesome a little later in the spring. Of course, there’s the infamous racetracks, where the rocks leave long traces in the sand as they roll imperceptibly across the perfectly flat desert floor. And then there are more canyons to do. But I think I’d most like to walk in the salt-covered valley in the middle of July, baking in the sun in the hottest and driest place on this earth, enduring for a while this one extreme, and taking the best and worst of what the sun can give.
Thursday, March 06, 2008
Getting Needled
When it comes to pain removal, I’m willing to try almost anything. So when a back pain started to flare up again recently, I was pretty open-minded. I’ve tried vigorous stretching. I’ve also had a series of chiropractic treatments. But nothing has worked. Which is how I found myself doing a Google Maps search for “Acupuncture” businesses in my area.
I had only one important criteria for choosing an acupuncturist off of Google—I wanted a real Chinese guy. From China. The worse English the better. I wasn’t looking for some New-Age acupuncturist who learned her trade in southern California and would make me listen to Michael Bolton while she pricked my back. Nor was I interested in a former junkie turned tattoo artist who had traded up their needles along the way. No, I wanted an old man, with calluses on his feet, who had learned the secrets of acupuncture deep in mainland China, gaining wisdom quietly passed down by wise and aged Oriental shamans over many generations.
Google showed me Master Lu’s Acupuncture. Now that sounded pretty good. I pictured the old blind guy on the Kung Fu shows I watched as a kid. But I called and it turns out Master Lu had a heart attack, sold his business and moved back to Taiwan. No good. Then I tried Yancheng Acupuncture and Herbal Clinic. Dr. Yancheng answered the phone. I didn’t understand a word he said. Perfect. I made an appointment for the next day.
Dr. Yancheng has a spartan office—a house which he has converted half into his place of business. I was led from the reception area into a back room which had his desk and several bookshelves full of glass bottles filled with many curious-looking herbs. But fortunately, no bongs around, so I figured he was probably ok. (I’m not sure exactly what an eye of gnewt looks like, but I think I saw one.)
Dr. Yancheng told me he was also an orthopedic doctor, but preferred acupuncture to conventional methods. When I described my problems, he assured me he could fix them, showing me a book written completely in Chinese as some sort of reassurance to me. Turns out that mine was problem #117. Or maybe he was recommending the Kung Pao Shrimp. Anyway, we went into a little room and I laid down on a massage table and he stuck me in the back with needles and hooked me up to an electric current for 15 minutes and then proceeded to twist, prod and massage my back and neck, cracking it vigorously, bending me roughly and poking at me mercilessly with his knife-like fingers.
“You very stiff,” I think he said. (Or maybe it was “Blue fairy skip,” I’m not sure.) He indicated that it would take a lot of work, then made the next two appointments while I imagined I heard a cash register in the background go “ka-ching,” a universal sound which I think originated in China. I told him that had been my first ever massage and he was surprised. If he had known that before, I think he would have been more gentle. Anyway, we talked for a while, and eventually I began to understand him a little. “Chinese medicine not like American medicine,” he said. American medicine want to fix you after you get sick. Chinese medicine want to help you never get sick.” Now that made perfect sense to me.
And next time I'm going to ask about the jars.
Tuesday, March 04, 2008
March Quotes
There are many ways of going forward, but only one of standing still.
---Franklin D. Roosevelt
Time is the thing that keeps everything from happening all at once.
"A team is a group of people who may not be equal in experience, talent, or education but in commitment."
-- Patricia Fripp
"I have learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but they will never forget how you made them feel."
-- Maya Angelou
"What we become depends on what we read after all of the professors have finished with us. The greatest university of all is a collection of books."
-- Thomas Carlyle
"The man who makes no mistakes does not usually make anything."
-- William Connor Magee
"A great pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do."
--Walter Gagehot-
"Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall."
-- Confucius
"Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do."
-- John Wooden
"The quality of a person's life is in direct proportion to their commitment to excellence, regardless of their chosen field of endeavor."
-- Vince Lombardi
"Do not go where the path may lead, go instead were there is no path and leave a trail."
--Ralph Waldo Emerson
"It is no use saying, 'We are doing our best.' You have got to succeed in doing what is necessary."
--Winston Churchill
Nothing ruins the truth like stretching it.
"Setting an example is not the main means of influencing another, it is the only means."
--Albert Einstein
"You have to know how to accept rejection and reject acceptance."
--Ray Bradbury
Scarecrow: I haven't got a brain... only straw.
Dorothy: How can you talk if you haven't got a brain?
Scarecrow: I don't know... But some people without brains do an awful lot of talking... don't they?
--From the Wizard of Oz
"Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler."
--Albert Einstein
"Why do I rob banks? Because that's where the money is."
--Willy Sutton
"Paradise is here or nowhere: You must take your joy with you, or you will never find it."
--O.S. Marden, founder of Success Magazine
"Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there."
--Will Rogers
---Franklin D. Roosevelt
Time is the thing that keeps everything from happening all at once.
"A team is a group of people who may not be equal in experience, talent, or education but in commitment."
-- Patricia Fripp
"I have learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but they will never forget how you made them feel."
-- Maya Angelou
"What we become depends on what we read after all of the professors have finished with us. The greatest university of all is a collection of books."
-- Thomas Carlyle
"The man who makes no mistakes does not usually make anything."
-- William Connor Magee
"A great pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do."
--Walter Gagehot-
"Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall."
-- Confucius
"Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do."
-- John Wooden
"The quality of a person's life is in direct proportion to their commitment to excellence, regardless of their chosen field of endeavor."
-- Vince Lombardi
"Do not go where the path may lead, go instead were there is no path and leave a trail."
--Ralph Waldo Emerson
"It is no use saying, 'We are doing our best.' You have got to succeed in doing what is necessary."
--Winston Churchill
Nothing ruins the truth like stretching it.
"Setting an example is not the main means of influencing another, it is the only means."
--Albert Einstein
"You have to know how to accept rejection and reject acceptance."
--Ray Bradbury
Scarecrow: I haven't got a brain... only straw.
Dorothy: How can you talk if you haven't got a brain?
Scarecrow: I don't know... But some people without brains do an awful lot of talking... don't they?
--From the Wizard of Oz
"Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler."
--Albert Einstein
"Why do I rob banks? Because that's where the money is."
--Willy Sutton
"Paradise is here or nowhere: You must take your joy with you, or you will never find it."
--O.S. Marden, founder of Success Magazine
"Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there."
--Will Rogers
Sunday, March 02, 2008
Fantastic Voyage
I just finished reading the book Fantastic Voyage (Live Long Enough to Live Forever) by Ray Kurzweil and Dr. Terry Grossman (see www.fantastic-voyage.net/). I first encountered Kurzweill some years ago, when I read his fascinating book, The Age of Spiritual Machines. He’s one of the world’s foremost technology futurists, with scientist credentials and an impressive track record of seeing what’s ahead.
A few months ago I ran across his book The 10% Solution, which I read with interest. It advocated an extremely low-fat diet to virtually eliminate your risk of heart disease and other life-taking ailments. The led me to discover the latest book, which has a rather dramatic premise: In the next 20-30 years, biotechnology will advance far enough that it should be able to eliminate most diseases, including arteriosclerosis, cancer, diabetes, Alzheimer’s and others, primarily through nanotechnology, which will provide molecular-sized robots with the ability to destroy, rebuild, replace or reprogram your cells. The result: If you can keep your health until the time comes, you should be able to live forever. Ponce de Leon, eat your heart out.
Kurzweil approaches the subject like a scientist, looking at all available research and concluding with what existing knowledge suggests about optimizing our health. It is a comprehensive look, covering not only diet and exercise, but other factors which include cell phone radiation, stress, etc. He takes a three-fold approach:
1. How each one of our body’s systems work, including what can go wrong and why. I’ve never been a capable student of science, but I found his explanations both interesting and readable.
2. Based on the best available research, how should you take care of each system? In most cases, this includes rather extreme dietary principles and lots of natural supplements.
3. Developments in technology that address the deterioration or diseases we incur. Most enlightening for me is all that is happening now, especially with testing done on animals, in many cases successfully. I was pretty skeptical when I started, but finished as a believer.
Two things. Thing One: I’m not really interested in living forever on this earth in its present state, and I’m doubtful that will really happen. But Thing Two: If I knew I had the option to live to a ripe old age with the benefits of a healthy mind and body, well, that’s worth some radical diet and lifestyle changes in my book, and in Kurzweil’s, too. Whether I die at 65 or 100, I’d like to do it with my boots on.
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Highways and By-the-ways
In the 1950’s, President Eisenhower championed a national interstate highway system, which was approved in 1956, with construction continuing into the 1980’s. This was obviously a grand ambition, leading to transportation infrastructure that positively affects most Americans on a daily basis. The Interstate system is the heart of our commercial operations. Plus, it’s the only place you can find a Cracker Barrel.
Curiously, Eisenhower conceived the system as a means of national defense, with the extremely wide roads and no intersections to allow the military to quickly transport men and armor in a time of war or crisis, patterned after the Autobahn that he had seen in Germany. In fact, the official name of the funding bill is “The Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways.”
Since World War II we have never been invaded, and the defense benefits of the interstate system have been negligible, or at best a deterrent. And now the nature of war has changed and we no longer associate freeways with the military. Sure, Ike was off a bit in his reasoning. We almost always are when we project the future. But the positive impact of the Interstate system has been enormous. It was a big idea on a grand scale, taking 35 years and over $400 billion in today’s dollars to complete.
And the lesson is: It usually pays to be bold.
Which reminds me that a few months ago we had a full car and all starting talking about standards and conventions of the Interstate. Most of us knew some of the general rules listed below, but hardly anyone knew all of them:
• North-south freeways are odd numbers, while east-west are even numbers.
• Nationally, freeways are in numerical order, going west to east and south to north.
• Belt routes go around cities, using a three-digit number that generally includes an even single digit followed by the main interstate number (i.e. I-215 goes around I-15). There are no duplicate belt loop numbers in any state.
• Spurs do not reconnect to the Interstate, but are numbered like belt loops except with an odd first digit.
• Exits numbers are coordinated with mile markers almost everywhere. On the exit signs, an exit number on the right indicates the exit will be to the right, and vice versa on the left.
Maybe it’s just me, but sometimes I find even common things most interesting.
Curiously, Eisenhower conceived the system as a means of national defense, with the extremely wide roads and no intersections to allow the military to quickly transport men and armor in a time of war or crisis, patterned after the Autobahn that he had seen in Germany. In fact, the official name of the funding bill is “The Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways.”
Since World War II we have never been invaded, and the defense benefits of the interstate system have been negligible, or at best a deterrent. And now the nature of war has changed and we no longer associate freeways with the military. Sure, Ike was off a bit in his reasoning. We almost always are when we project the future. But the positive impact of the Interstate system has been enormous. It was a big idea on a grand scale, taking 35 years and over $400 billion in today’s dollars to complete.
And the lesson is: It usually pays to be bold.
Which reminds me that a few months ago we had a full car and all starting talking about standards and conventions of the Interstate. Most of us knew some of the general rules listed below, but hardly anyone knew all of them:
• North-south freeways are odd numbers, while east-west are even numbers.
• Nationally, freeways are in numerical order, going west to east and south to north.
• Belt routes go around cities, using a three-digit number that generally includes an even single digit followed by the main interstate number (i.e. I-215 goes around I-15). There are no duplicate belt loop numbers in any state.
• Spurs do not reconnect to the Interstate, but are numbered like belt loops except with an odd first digit.
• Exits numbers are coordinated with mile markers almost everywhere. On the exit signs, an exit number on the right indicates the exit will be to the right, and vice versa on the left.
Maybe it’s just me, but sometimes I find even common things most interesting.
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Pooh on Metaphysics
LINES WRITTEN BY A BEAR
OF VERY LITTLE BRAIN
by Winnie-the-Pooh
On Monday, when the sun is hot
I wonder to myself a lot:
"Now is it true, or is it not,
"That what is which and which is what?"
On Tuesday, when it hails and snows,
That feeling on me grows and grows
That hardly anybody knows
If those are these or these are those.
On Wednesday, when the sky is blue,
And I have nothing else to do,
I sometimes wonder if it's true
That who is what and what is who.
On Thursday, when it starts to freeze
And hoar-frost twinkles on the trees,
How very readily one sees
That these are whose - but whose are these?
On Friday --- when the moon glows bright,
The woods are filled with such a light,
My friends can see that I am near
Why, here I am! --- Why am I here?
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Made to Stick
What do the following three statements have in common?
1. The Great Wall of China is the only man-made object visible from space.
2. Children must be careful what they eat on Halloween, to avoid poisoned or tampered foods.
3. You use only 10% of your brain.
Two things in common. First, they are all false. You can’t see the Great Wall from space. There are no known instances of Halloween candy tampering. And we use much more than 10% of our brain. And second, despite having no truth, the statements are all incredibly “sticky,” or memorable. I’ve heard each one dozens of times. They have endured for decades.
That’s the opening of Made to Stick, a book I read recently by brothers Chip and Dan Heath. They have studied this “sticky” phenomenon and derived certain principles that we might apply to many of our communications, be they marketing, leadership or interpersonal. Here's what "sticks": Simplicity, Unexpectedness, Concreteness, Credibility, Emotions and “Stories.” (Cheesy enough, these spell “SUCCESs,” well, sort of.) I know, they don’t sound very groundbreaking when listed professorially. But the Heaths spice up the concept with plenty of interesting examples and research. And while I’m not sure if I’m a “stickier” communicator having read the book, it’s at least caused me to think about the goal of stickiness.
Here’s an example. John F. Kennedy, in his famous 1961 address to Congress, laid out a bold and dramatic goal for the country: “I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth.” Sticky? You bet. Why? Well, it’s simple, unexpected, credible and concrete. And then we did it, just to Stick It to the Russians.
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Disastrous
I recently finished a two-week Community Emergency Response Training (CERT) class, training for local communities to quickly mobilize in times of disaster, such as floods, earthquakes or terrorist attacks. I wouldn’t ordinarily be very interested in this type of thing. I’ve never had that survivalist mentality, and have always equated being prepared with living a life of fear. Instead, I have chosen to ignore the risks in passive comfort and hope that it would never happen to me. Truth be known, even my presence at the class stemmed from a mistake—I thought it was about family preparedness. But once in, I stuck it out for the entire 16 hours, which proved to be interesting, valuable and impactful.
The CERT program is a child of 9-11. In the aftermath, the president asked citizens and communities to proactively prepare, and placed the general call to action under the aegis of FEMA, which developed the Citizen Corps program. CERT is a fledgling concept and operates very much as a starfish organization (see blog from 1.14.08). Anyone can get certified and establish the program in his/her community. There is no chain of command or centralized structure.
Our instructor was Ken Moravec, whose incredible disaster experiences include working for an unnamed government agency in foreign countries to help prevent nuclear and chemical attacks, time in Iraq during key gas attacks (he had haunting footage), being twice exposed to severe radiation (after one attack, still flying a helicopter 1000 miles), having been shot nine times, assisting the Red Cross in recovery and extraction after a Mexican earthquake, getting stuck on a collapsed freeway in Oakland during the famed 1989 earthquake, volunteering at Katrina, and more. If all this is to be believed, and coupled with his extensive knowledge, his credentials are extraordinary.
It was something of a revelation to me that in most major disasters, public service teams are spread very thin, and often take 3-5 days to reach many neighborhoods. So we were trained (including simulations) in search and rescue, triage, damage control and even creating temporary morgues, as well as disaster preparation and management. It was all quite fascinating. And while I’m not ready to build a bomb shelter in my backyard, I was motivated to take some steps to be more prepared. Further, I’ve been asked to head the efforts in our community, which I agreed to do, although not without reservations.
Final tidbit of more than passing interest: Our house is located a stone’s throw from the Wasatch Fault, which has erupted with a large earthquake every 300-400 years, and is overdue for the next, which could be devastating. Various experts cite the likelihood of a major (Richter 7.5 or higher) Wasatch quake at 25-57% over the next 50-100 years.
Maybe the Boy Scouts are right. It's good to be prepared.
The CERT program is a child of 9-11. In the aftermath, the president asked citizens and communities to proactively prepare, and placed the general call to action under the aegis of FEMA, which developed the Citizen Corps program. CERT is a fledgling concept and operates very much as a starfish organization (see blog from 1.14.08). Anyone can get certified and establish the program in his/her community. There is no chain of command or centralized structure.
Our instructor was Ken Moravec, whose incredible disaster experiences include working for an unnamed government agency in foreign countries to help prevent nuclear and chemical attacks, time in Iraq during key gas attacks (he had haunting footage), being twice exposed to severe radiation (after one attack, still flying a helicopter 1000 miles), having been shot nine times, assisting the Red Cross in recovery and extraction after a Mexican earthquake, getting stuck on a collapsed freeway in Oakland during the famed 1989 earthquake, volunteering at Katrina, and more. If all this is to be believed, and coupled with his extensive knowledge, his credentials are extraordinary.
It was something of a revelation to me that in most major disasters, public service teams are spread very thin, and often take 3-5 days to reach many neighborhoods. So we were trained (including simulations) in search and rescue, triage, damage control and even creating temporary morgues, as well as disaster preparation and management. It was all quite fascinating. And while I’m not ready to build a bomb shelter in my backyard, I was motivated to take some steps to be more prepared. Further, I’ve been asked to head the efforts in our community, which I agreed to do, although not without reservations.
Final tidbit of more than passing interest: Our house is located a stone’s throw from the Wasatch Fault, which has erupted with a large earthquake every 300-400 years, and is overdue for the next, which could be devastating. Various experts cite the likelihood of a major (Richter 7.5 or higher) Wasatch quake at 25-57% over the next 50-100 years.
Maybe the Boy Scouts are right. It's good to be prepared.
Friday, February 15, 2008
Is That a Fact?
I’ve found that it’s virtually impossible to ferret out truth from rhetoric during a presidential campaign. Often the best you can do is seek out a variety of sources and try to determine who is lying. Unfortunately, when claims and counterclaims are volleyed back and forth, I find that I am a poor polygraph. I don't think the press is any better, neither the liberal New York Times and major networks or the conservative Fox News and Wall Street Journal. There must be conscientious editors and publishers that try hard to be unbiased, but I’m never sure who they are. Further, in their effort to be non-partisan, the best they can manage is bi-partisanship, so the unfortunate reader has to settle for factional distortions from both sides.
One site I really like is www.factcheck.org. Their sacred mission is to expose the dishonesty, hyperbole and shady tactics from both sides of the fence, and hold all candidates accountable for their campaign rhetoric. The result is a bright light on the dirty world of American politics, which suffers badly from the illumination.
For the next nine months (what a painful gestation period!) the FactCheck RSS feed is in at the top of my home page. One unfortunate side-effect is that on November 4th I'll have to vote for a candidate who I know has dealt in lies and treachery at worst, or distortion and sophistry at best. And sadly, that's a fact.
One site I really like is www.factcheck.org. Their sacred mission is to expose the dishonesty, hyperbole and shady tactics from both sides of the fence, and hold all candidates accountable for their campaign rhetoric. The result is a bright light on the dirty world of American politics, which suffers badly from the illumination.
For the next nine months (what a painful gestation period!) the FactCheck RSS feed is in at the top of my home page. One unfortunate side-effect is that on November 4th I'll have to vote for a candidate who I know has dealt in lies and treachery at worst, or distortion and sophistry at best. And sadly, that's a fact.
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Treading Lightly
Two items in the latest issue of National Geographic Adventure caught my attention. First, in Learn the Ancient Way, author Charlie LeDuff spends time with Navajo rancher Tom Big John (Uncle Tom), who lives in Monument Valley in northern Arizona. The Ojibway (Chippewa) author describes his house like this: “Uncle Tom’s cabin was the simplest, most rural home I’ve ever visited in the United States: 200 square feet of plywood, a bed, a table, a wood-burning stove, a washbasin. No electricity, no plumbing… He had six dogs, four horses, a half-dozen cattle, and twice as many sheep.”
Uncle Tom spoke very little English, and living alone, was used to speaking hardly at all. But there was a surprising revelation: “Uncle Tom told me about his life and showed me a copy of a check made out to him from the United States Treasury--$100,000. ‘Two more,’ he said in English. Next year two more checks, he meant. A settlement, it turned out, for years spent in a mine. Uncle Tom was wealthy. And he lived like this not because he had to, but because he wanted to.”
The next article, The Vanishing Breed, was about the Nenets, an indigenous band of Russian reindeer herders—Komi people. This small band has no permanent residence, but move with their herd of 2500 reindeer, travelling on sleds and living together in a skinned chum (like a teepee). Their people have lived like this forever. They were ignored during the Russian revolution and again forgotten during Stalin’s purge. And curiously, some have experienced life in Russian towns, but choose to brave -30°F temperatures in the winter and +90°F in the summer and live in the chum. “We live better than in the village,” said one women. “It has always been that way and will always be.”
I’m continually amazed at how quickly we dismiss lifestyles that deviate from the American dream. Most of us have little idea what will truly make us happy, but scurry along with the rest of the lemmings over the cliffs of self-indulgence and mindless profligacy. But I am inspired to read about Uncle Tom, and the indigenous Nenets, who may not have all of life’s answers, but are willing to turn from the endless road of acquisition and consumerism and tread lightly on a different path.
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