Daily Blues & Views

The only journey is the one within                           Ranier Maria Rilke Alone To be alone... To be able to be alone One of the more popular television shows in the genre of "survival" is simply called "Alone."  10 skilled survivalists are dropped off miles apart in a remote region of the world.  From Canada to Patagonia, they must survive using only their skills and a few personal items.  They have clothing appropriate to the climate and sometimes a few simple items like fish hooks or a knife.  One participant actually brought down a moose with a bow and arrow.  Not a high-tech weapon, just a simple, self-made bow, and arrow.  These folks have real skills.  One of the women on the show once made herself a sauna.  She lined a shelter with found materials, built a fireplace with rocks and heated water for steam.  There was even a mossy path to the sauna that she...

Two things that happened yesterday converged in my mind.  I learned that there were at least 3,000 homeless people in my hometown, and I began reading the most interesting and unusual book called The Stranger in the Woods.   The book is the story of a man who willingly pulls himself off the grid and lives hermit-like for 27 years.  Before he was discovered and subsequently arrested for burglary (he stole food and supplies from cabins and institutional camps) he had no contact with any other humans. These two lifestyles have much in common, but their differences are what resonates even more loudly.  They both live in the margins...on the edges...until discovered.  The homeless in my area seem to be always on the move, while the hermit in the woods of Maine is able to stay put for decades.  Both are dependent on the world around them for basic necessities. I suspect the emotional conscience of the homeless is more complex because they are visible....

Various theories of representation with regard to congressional members exist.  They essentially say that an elected representative, either Congress or Senate votes with either his/her conscience, party, or constituency.   That's logical, but in today's political climate, there seems little place for the conscience if the representative has any hope of re-election. As the current impeachment debate slogs along, more and more members of Congress are struggling with which theory best serves them. My bias is that an act of conscience is the preferred choice.  To me, it's much higher on the moral reasoning spectrum.  That skill seems most desireable for a lawmaker in my book. Not so with so many in Congress today and their districts.  The country is awash with divided political opinion and most shocking is that so many are having a difficult time deciphering just what it is that they think                   ...

                 They say everything can be replaced                  Yet every distance is not near                  So I remember every face                  Of every man who put me here                                                 -Bob Dylan                                                 I Shall Be Released I'm watching much of the Impeachment hearings.  My attention wanes on occasion.  It's tedious. But then we knew that.  This time around, the division is palpable.  It is wearily all-consuming.  Both sides see the same set of fact...

              It's OK to look back at the past, just don't stare.                                                                   -Benjamin Dover I've always been fascinated with the past.  From pointed questions about who my ancestors might be to regarding my history book as one of my most prized possessions, I enjoy looking and thinking about things that have happened...people who came before me. By high school, all I ever aspired to was becoming a history teacher.  That almost happened.  The reality of public education tacked on English and Psychology to the 11 or 12 other history courses I taught in a 30 plus year career. I read historical novels and easily as much or more non-fiction and autobiography/biography than other genres.  I am a student of the past...

I've been volunteering at my neighborhood elementary school.  There is a program called SMART, an acronym for Start Making a Reader Today.  I read with and to kindergarten kids for an hour.  I have three charges, all girls, and I spend 20 minutes with each, one day a week.  It goes quickly, most of the time.  These kids can't read yet, but they are learning to love books.  We read together whatever they choose from among hundreds of titles distributed around the small classroom.  Most of the books are clever little titles that can be read in about 5-7 minutes.  I did read one last week that was 48 pages long.  It took almost the entire 20-minute segment. My three "Smarties," as they are called, couldn't be more different.  The first little girl is very quiet and shy.  But she smiles freely and responds to my occasional questions with bright, alert, answers.  I've learned her favorite foods, animals, and colors.  The third...

I used to explore the theme of childhood with my Junior English classes.  In literature, it's very popular...also a winner.  Everybody has one.  Everybody loses one.  The stories are important and valuable.  Usually, when teaching the novel The Catcher in the Rye, I'd ask my students to bring in an object that represents their childhood.  I'd do the same.  This exercise came early on in the year and would work as an ice-breaker and help us all get to know one another better.  Of course, there was all manner of Barbie dolls, and model cars, airplanes, rocket ships, and superhero toys.  Some kids would bring books and others went conceptual, like the student who poured a container of water through the air into a container and said that water represented his childhood because he almost drowned.  One of the most memorable was the student who brought in some clothing from her native Iran and proceded to tell a story about how she and her...