Ok, here's a line up of potential flyers and bumper stickers for Earth Week Charlottesville 2006:
Variety--no theme
1. When did "If I Had a Hammer" become "If I Had a Hummer"?
2. Earth Week. It's not just for trees anymore.
3. Free the cows! (Drink soy)
4. Start a career in Resource Management. Become an Environmentalist.
5. [small print] America consumes 1/3 of the world's resources, so [large print] Conspicuously Consume [opt: Local] Organic Produce
6. [picture of T-shirt & pants] Hemp: It's not just for smoking anymore
7. [mutant chicken in a Tyson's truck] Genetically modified food, already at a grocer near you
8. Support fossil fuel consumption, buy polyester.
9. [Wal-mart, Exxon & Dow logos]Petroleum. It's everywhere you don't want to be.[pic of Iraq]
Lorax Series
1. Who took my barbalute suit?
2. I didn't elect the Onceler
3. The Lorax for President
4. Swami Swans Unite!
5. Keep your axes off my truffula trees
31 August 2005
Lick that Bong!
YES! You have to love the ingenuity of necessity. Finally, a plastic has been made from something other than dinosaur platelets.
Hemp Plastics
I see the future, and it's got edible bongs....
Hemp Plastics
I see the future, and it's got edible bongs....
Shameless Promo #1
Earth Week Charlottesville now has an official web site: http://www.earthweek.org
It ain't much yet, but it will become something over the next few months.
And if you haven't bought it yet, pick up "Green Living," the handbook for living lightly on the earth put out by E, the Environmental Magazine. The best "short course" in how to take personal steps to improve your environment I've ever seen. Available at emagazine.com, Amazon.com, and B&N.
It ain't much yet, but it will become something over the next few months.
And if you haven't bought it yet, pick up "Green Living," the handbook for living lightly on the earth put out by E, the Environmental Magazine. The best "short course" in how to take personal steps to improve your environment I've ever seen. Available at emagazine.com, Amazon.com, and B&N.
14 August 2005
The Green Life
A week ago last Thursday, I was at the Conference on Homelessness, where I had a great 20 minute chat before the keynote speech with one of our Councilors, and he mentioned that he'd like to speak with me about some ideas he had. He said he thought it was time for a task force or council to be formed that dealt with umbrella environmental concerns in our area. Friday we met at the monthly Dem happy hour at Rapture, and the canvassing began.
Out of the 34-40 Dems who showed up and were talked with, all were in favor (to varying degrees) of the concept, with the stipulation that the council would advise both City Council and the Albemarle County BoS. General consensus was that Charlottesville wouldn't get very far on it's initiatives without Albemarle. The top concerns seemed to be property rights & values and watershed issues, with pollution and traffic tying for third.
So the question becomes (1) how to form environmental legislation that appeals to both Dems (predominantly Charlottesville) and Reps (predominantly Albemarle), and (2) how to tie those environmental initiatives to the issues that concern people most, which are much more personal (e.g., taxes) and directly effect their daily lives.
Well, over the weekend it occurred to me that there were a number of things the residents of C-A could do to improve the environment if they could be encouraged to act. And the easiest way to encourage anyone to act is to effect their pocketbook.
Property values in C'ville, as those of you who have heard me rant know, are overinflated. That means tax assessments are very serious business around here. So I came up with a way to tie green living with a property tax break. I've cheekily called it the Natural Lawn & Garden Act of 2005.
Gardening seems to be the #1 hobby in these parts. Anyone with a scrap of lawn has planted something in it, and our Historic Garden Week would even impress the British. However, modern gardening, with its emphasis on chemical fertilizers, pesticides, and weed killers, dumps tons of Round-Up and similar toxins into the soil and water of our environment, and our water quality is showing the effects. Add to that a Weed Ordinance that has gas-powered lawn mowers dumping emissions into the air nearly daily. Did you know that older lawn mowers emit as much noxious fumes in 1 hour as the average car does in driving 18.7 miles? And a Trash Ordinance that forbids organic composting by outlawing any visible refuse on your property--it specifically mentions organic matter as refuse too.
So, why not create a variance designed to encourage organic gardening practices by giving residents who apply for a "natural lawn and garden certificate" a property tax break?
It helps the watershed quality and conservation (a percentage of native plants, which are required in the proposal I wrote, require less special treatments and less watering), it propagates native flora and fauna, improves soil quality, and lessens trash removal (which is now being shipped out of C-A at a hefty cost to local government). It also provides a monetary kickback for those who want to use their property to improve our environment and reduce the City's costs.
The idea isn't new. In fact, it has also been tried several times. Lonnie proposed a version in 2002, I proposed another version in 2003 and neither of us was First. I haven't figured out why we can't get it passed. Perhaps we're just that unremarkable. Nowadays, it takes a gimmick to hold anyone's attention for more than 30 seconds.
So... Where did my barbalute suit get to and can it be dry cleaned in time for the next Council session?
Out of the 34-40 Dems who showed up and were talked with, all were in favor (to varying degrees) of the concept, with the stipulation that the council would advise both City Council and the Albemarle County BoS. General consensus was that Charlottesville wouldn't get very far on it's initiatives without Albemarle. The top concerns seemed to be property rights & values and watershed issues, with pollution and traffic tying for third.
So the question becomes (1) how to form environmental legislation that appeals to both Dems (predominantly Charlottesville) and Reps (predominantly Albemarle), and (2) how to tie those environmental initiatives to the issues that concern people most, which are much more personal (e.g., taxes) and directly effect their daily lives.
Well, over the weekend it occurred to me that there were a number of things the residents of C-A could do to improve the environment if they could be encouraged to act. And the easiest way to encourage anyone to act is to effect their pocketbook.
Property values in C'ville, as those of you who have heard me rant know, are overinflated. That means tax assessments are very serious business around here. So I came up with a way to tie green living with a property tax break. I've cheekily called it the Natural Lawn & Garden Act of 2005.
Gardening seems to be the #1 hobby in these parts. Anyone with a scrap of lawn has planted something in it, and our Historic Garden Week would even impress the British. However, modern gardening, with its emphasis on chemical fertilizers, pesticides, and weed killers, dumps tons of Round-Up and similar toxins into the soil and water of our environment, and our water quality is showing the effects. Add to that a Weed Ordinance that has gas-powered lawn mowers dumping emissions into the air nearly daily. Did you know that older lawn mowers emit as much noxious fumes in 1 hour as the average car does in driving 18.7 miles? And a Trash Ordinance that forbids organic composting by outlawing any visible refuse on your property--it specifically mentions organic matter as refuse too.
So, why not create a variance designed to encourage organic gardening practices by giving residents who apply for a "natural lawn and garden certificate" a property tax break?
It helps the watershed quality and conservation (a percentage of native plants, which are required in the proposal I wrote, require less special treatments and less watering), it propagates native flora and fauna, improves soil quality, and lessens trash removal (which is now being shipped out of C-A at a hefty cost to local government). It also provides a monetary kickback for those who want to use their property to improve our environment and reduce the City's costs.
The idea isn't new. In fact, it has also been tried several times. Lonnie proposed a version in 2002, I proposed another version in 2003 and neither of us was First. I haven't figured out why we can't get it passed. Perhaps we're just that unremarkable. Nowadays, it takes a gimmick to hold anyone's attention for more than 30 seconds.
So... Where did my barbalute suit get to and can it be dry cleaned in time for the next Council session?
03 August 2005
My Times
On rare occasions an event happens in your personal life which forces you through a "wondernous of earth," a personal earthquake which rattles your structural bones and leaves you with your foundations bare and your rubble to be cleared away.
My father's massive heart attack in 1998 was such a time. With a dozen balls in the air, I abandoned my job and my house to sit in his hospital room for the better part of two months, waiting for some sign that he would recover his life, watching his bodily systems shut down one at a time. In the process, I lost quite a bit of mine. I threw myself fully into his life, making his decisions, trying to think as he would if he could, trying always to act on his behalf, fully conscious that, in the end, it would probably make no difference to the outcome. When I returned to pick up the pieces of my life in Virginia, I found there were virtually none that were intact, because the Tatyanna who returned to that life was entirely different from the Tatyanna who had left it.
He made a miraculous recovery by heart attack standards, though he never did regain full function and, when he finally did die in 2002, he was ready to go. I said goodbye to him in 1998, in those early summer weeks when, daily, we had to remake the decision to keep on life support. I knew I'd never see him alive again, and I was right in a way. I did not make it back to Michigan throughout the remainder of his life. I don't know that I regret that. I know that I feel I should regret it. But I also know that I had no remaining resources after 1998 with which to support a closer relationship in the following years.
And now it has come again, another wondernous of earth, this time occasioned by Mary's situation. And again, I pulled back from everything else to focus on her needs and help her through this time. And again, I find that, upon being returned rather rudely to the land of Uncrisis, my character has changed and I no longer recognize large chunks of the landscape that I had so recently inhabited with ease.
How will my priorities sort themselves out? When will I gain a sense for the new balance? What resources do I have to reweave the threads of my life and what pattern will that tapestry now take? These are the questions that spin through my brain. These are my times.
My father's massive heart attack in 1998 was such a time. With a dozen balls in the air, I abandoned my job and my house to sit in his hospital room for the better part of two months, waiting for some sign that he would recover his life, watching his bodily systems shut down one at a time. In the process, I lost quite a bit of mine. I threw myself fully into his life, making his decisions, trying to think as he would if he could, trying always to act on his behalf, fully conscious that, in the end, it would probably make no difference to the outcome. When I returned to pick up the pieces of my life in Virginia, I found there were virtually none that were intact, because the Tatyanna who returned to that life was entirely different from the Tatyanna who had left it.
He made a miraculous recovery by heart attack standards, though he never did regain full function and, when he finally did die in 2002, he was ready to go. I said goodbye to him in 1998, in those early summer weeks when, daily, we had to remake the decision to keep on life support. I knew I'd never see him alive again, and I was right in a way. I did not make it back to Michigan throughout the remainder of his life. I don't know that I regret that. I know that I feel I should regret it. But I also know that I had no remaining resources after 1998 with which to support a closer relationship in the following years.
And now it has come again, another wondernous of earth, this time occasioned by Mary's situation. And again, I pulled back from everything else to focus on her needs and help her through this time. And again, I find that, upon being returned rather rudely to the land of Uncrisis, my character has changed and I no longer recognize large chunks of the landscape that I had so recently inhabited with ease.
How will my priorities sort themselves out? When will I gain a sense for the new balance? What resources do I have to reweave the threads of my life and what pattern will that tapestry now take? These are the questions that spin through my brain. These are my times.
08 July 2005
It's a Shore Thing
By 2100, a mere 95 years from now, the United States will lose more than half of its over 33 million denizens through climate change unless we rethink the use of our land space. 23 of the top 25 most populous counties are coastal. Why do we insist on overbuilding these strips of sand which represent a mere 17% of our total national territory? Don't believe my statistics, then try the government's. The population trend report is at http://marineeconomics.noaa.gov/socioeconomics/Assesment/population/pdf/Coastal%20Population%20Report.pdf
In case no one has been watching lately, what with Jacko and Cruise making so many headlines, our weather has been steadily changing. That too has been marked by the government. http://www.usgcrp.gov/usgcrp/Library/nationalassessment/overview.htm and http://www.usgcrp.gov/usgcrp/Library/nationalassessment/overviewcoastal.htm
Now, maybe a rise of 19 inches of sea water doesn't seem like a lot to you. But each inch of sea level equates to 9 inches of flood level. Think of it this way: 19 inches above current sea level effectively wipes out all of Florida and Louisiana, large chunks of Texas, and New Jersey and New York. You think the fall of the Twin Towers was bad? Wait long enough and you'll see all of Manhatten disappear.
Guess what? This isn't even NEWS, unless you can call a 1998 article in the CNN archives "news": http://cnnstudentnews.cnn.com/EARTH/9804/07/global.warming/
Here's a novel idea to combine sustainability with political sensibility. All you Blue staters who are predominantly on the coasts -- Move en masse into higher altitude red states. Not only will your children be able to inherit your homes, you might even change the voting demographics enough to elect a President and Congress critters who might do something to extend instead of decrease our national environmental lifespan.
Interested in more? For the attention-impaired, you can get an update at Grist's article on the subject at http://www.grist.org/comments/soapbox/2005/06/15/kay-coastal/ No independent research required.
In case no one has been watching lately, what with Jacko and Cruise making so many headlines, our weather has been steadily changing. That too has been marked by the government. http://www.usgcrp.gov/usgcrp/Library/nationalassessment/overview.htm and http://www.usgcrp.gov/usgcrp/Library/nationalassessment/overviewcoastal.htm
Now, maybe a rise of 19 inches of sea water doesn't seem like a lot to you. But each inch of sea level equates to 9 inches of flood level. Think of it this way: 19 inches above current sea level effectively wipes out all of Florida and Louisiana, large chunks of Texas, and New Jersey and New York. You think the fall of the Twin Towers was bad? Wait long enough and you'll see all of Manhatten disappear.
Guess what? This isn't even NEWS, unless you can call a 1998 article in the CNN archives "news": http://cnnstudentnews.cnn.com/EARTH/9804/07/global.warming/
Here's a novel idea to combine sustainability with political sensibility. All you Blue staters who are predominantly on the coasts -- Move en masse into higher altitude red states. Not only will your children be able to inherit your homes, you might even change the voting demographics enough to elect a President and Congress critters who might do something to extend instead of decrease our national environmental lifespan.
Interested in more? For the attention-impaired, you can get an update at Grist's article on the subject at http://www.grist.org/comments/soapbox/2005/06/15/kay-coastal/ No independent research required.
05 July 2005
Food Fight
For those who are unaware, I recently joined both Nicozan and Weight Watchers' programs. It's been an uphill battle, changing my habits, because it wasn't something I wanted to do. Rather, it was something I was told I must do, and both programs were given to me as birthday gifts a month ago from people who have the possibly mistaken opinion that another 45 years of my company would be a Good Thing.
I knew, going into my vacation, that using my time to return to the family bosom would either be the best thing I could do or the worst for my overall health agenda. The best, because I've always felt supported by my family and there would be a surfeit of family around who would care about my health and help me through the long hours of down time that come with 10 days off work. The worst, because my mother's side of the family are farmers, which means food is an ever-present member of our social structure. The latter ruled.
I understand the psychology behind what happened. When you belong to a small, poor, rural community you share what you have with everyone. When you are farmers in that community, you share food. Thus, whenever someone is getting married, feeling poorly, has just lost a loved one, or has moved in or out of the neighborhood -- and sometimes just even because -- the appropriate expression is food. Food is celebratory, food is sympathy, food is comfort, food is love. By extension, to reject the food offered is to also reject the love. I get it. Really I do.
Now maybe my aunt and cousins can work off a high dairy (read: high fat, high cholesterol), 2,500 calorie per day diet working in the fields, gardens, and barns for hours, but I, who am chained to a computer desk job, cannot. Nor can I bring myself to go up there for 1 week every 2-4 years and reject their offerings. Probably I could if I were a part of their lives more frequently. But I know the symbolism behind the gestures and I have a really hard time rejecting it out of hand. They are telling me they love me and I am telling them I love them. Food is the language we have to use as a substitute when what we both would really like is more time together. Because it's basic, it's integral to our communal mindset, it's understood. And yes, I know that's lame and I accept my own wussiness in this matter. But, really, what would you do in that situation?
I knew, going into my vacation, that using my time to return to the family bosom would either be the best thing I could do or the worst for my overall health agenda. The best, because I've always felt supported by my family and there would be a surfeit of family around who would care about my health and help me through the long hours of down time that come with 10 days off work. The worst, because my mother's side of the family are farmers, which means food is an ever-present member of our social structure. The latter ruled.
I understand the psychology behind what happened. When you belong to a small, poor, rural community you share what you have with everyone. When you are farmers in that community, you share food. Thus, whenever someone is getting married, feeling poorly, has just lost a loved one, or has moved in or out of the neighborhood -- and sometimes just even because -- the appropriate expression is food. Food is celebratory, food is sympathy, food is comfort, food is love. By extension, to reject the food offered is to also reject the love. I get it. Really I do.
Now maybe my aunt and cousins can work off a high dairy (read: high fat, high cholesterol), 2,500 calorie per day diet working in the fields, gardens, and barns for hours, but I, who am chained to a computer desk job, cannot. Nor can I bring myself to go up there for 1 week every 2-4 years and reject their offerings. Probably I could if I were a part of their lives more frequently. But I know the symbolism behind the gestures and I have a really hard time rejecting it out of hand. They are telling me they love me and I am telling them I love them. Food is the language we have to use as a substitute when what we both would really like is more time together. Because it's basic, it's integral to our communal mindset, it's understood. And yes, I know that's lame and I accept my own wussiness in this matter. But, really, what would you do in that situation?
19 June 2005
Stand Up for DMB
I don't frequently do out-and-out reviews, but Dave Matthews Band's latest deserves one.
There are two kinds of DMB listeners: Those who knew or discovered them at the beginning who loved them because they were fresh and unafraid to explore the limits of their capabilities, and those who know or discovered them after radio play made them popular when they began to package their tunes for "listenability." I belong to the former category. Thus, it is a great sense of relief and joy that I cheer their latest studio CD, "Stand Up."
"Stand Up" is most like "Crash." There is no seeming beginning or end to these songs, and yet each is a stand-alone piece. I was prepared to be bored and am fortunately disappointed in that expectation. Each song caught my attention in its turn. Prepare yourself for long intros, long solos, and a different style every 5 minutes. It's a testimony to what they've recorded that I cannot ignore a single track on this CD, yet I've managed to ignore all of "Everyday" and "Busted Stuff." You can tell Dave's lyrics are off-the-cuff, written at the end of the creation period, not the beginning. Even his ever-present "mad ramblings" fit and add to the rhythms in a way that his pre-thunk lyrics never did. The point of this album doesn't seem to be so much "Listen to what I have to say," as it is "Listen to our sound." That sound is big, brash, and invigorating in a purely musical way that hasn't been heard from them on a studio album since "Before These Crowded Streets." Producer Batson has an ear for a hook AND for a line and sinker; even the most repetitive of these tracks ("Louisiana Bayou") draws you in to the diversity and talent of the individual band members. Grunge bass with funk sax? Classical violin pizzicato with R&B vocals? Piano licks with metal guitar? It's all in there, a party for the ears if you care to listen to your music instead of let it wash by you.
I predict a lot of people will hate this CD, but those people are the ones who never developed an appreciation for the individual genius of each of DMB's talented members to begin with. Let them whine. I, on the other hand, want to celebrate.
Welcome back, Dave, Boyd, LeRoi, Carter & Stefan!!
There are two kinds of DMB listeners: Those who knew or discovered them at the beginning who loved them because they were fresh and unafraid to explore the limits of their capabilities, and those who know or discovered them after radio play made them popular when they began to package their tunes for "listenability." I belong to the former category. Thus, it is a great sense of relief and joy that I cheer their latest studio CD, "Stand Up."
"Stand Up" is most like "Crash." There is no seeming beginning or end to these songs, and yet each is a stand-alone piece. I was prepared to be bored and am fortunately disappointed in that expectation. Each song caught my attention in its turn. Prepare yourself for long intros, long solos, and a different style every 5 minutes. It's a testimony to what they've recorded that I cannot ignore a single track on this CD, yet I've managed to ignore all of "Everyday" and "Busted Stuff." You can tell Dave's lyrics are off-the-cuff, written at the end of the creation period, not the beginning. Even his ever-present "mad ramblings" fit and add to the rhythms in a way that his pre-thunk lyrics never did. The point of this album doesn't seem to be so much "Listen to what I have to say," as it is "Listen to our sound." That sound is big, brash, and invigorating in a purely musical way that hasn't been heard from them on a studio album since "Before These Crowded Streets." Producer Batson has an ear for a hook AND for a line and sinker; even the most repetitive of these tracks ("Louisiana Bayou") draws you in to the diversity and talent of the individual band members. Grunge bass with funk sax? Classical violin pizzicato with R&B vocals? Piano licks with metal guitar? It's all in there, a party for the ears if you care to listen to your music instead of let it wash by you.
I predict a lot of people will hate this CD, but those people are the ones who never developed an appreciation for the individual genius of each of DMB's talented members to begin with. Let them whine. I, on the other hand, want to celebrate.
Welcome back, Dave, Boyd, LeRoi, Carter & Stefan!!
26 May 2005
My Psychosis
It's late and I'm reviewing the day with a certain sense of satisfaction. After a very emotional and difficult week, I feel equilibrium return like a welcome friend. So of course, being me, I have to program in some music to cut my brain loose and let it roam. Because of the reflective tone my life has taken of late, I chose the recordings of piano days. There aren't that many, perhaps 5 altogether, though to people who hate classical music I'm sure they would seem like an entire CD in themselves. And as I listen to myself circa 1984, I realize what large chunk of me has been missing.
Passion. Not conviction, not anger, not enjoyment, not whimsy, love, or commitment. Pure emotional passion.
The music is a testament to the fact that, once upon a time, I felt with every nerve ending in my body. And poured it out through my fingertips. I could buy a piano tomorrow, practice 5 hours every day for the next 2 decades and never produce the music I produced then. Back then, music was such a psychotic experience for me. I still transcend everything when I sing, but I don't lose touch with reality. Then, I was gone--in Neverland, in a world created by the emotion and the keyboard and the sound of notes cascading through my brain. I didn't belong to the space-time continuum. And if I close my eyes as I listen, I can still see the lushly surreal, fantasmagorical worlds I visited when I played.
Music may be the most powerful communication tool ever created. It provides a direct patch from the emotional center to the subconscious. It's visceral in a way no other medium or art form is. It requires no interpretation, no conscious or logical facility to be experienced and understood.
Kirk, if you are reading this, I love you so much for dubbing this stuff over into digital for me. I rediscover myself every time I play it.
Passion. Not conviction, not anger, not enjoyment, not whimsy, love, or commitment. Pure emotional passion.
The music is a testament to the fact that, once upon a time, I felt with every nerve ending in my body. And poured it out through my fingertips. I could buy a piano tomorrow, practice 5 hours every day for the next 2 decades and never produce the music I produced then. Back then, music was such a psychotic experience for me. I still transcend everything when I sing, but I don't lose touch with reality. Then, I was gone--in Neverland, in a world created by the emotion and the keyboard and the sound of notes cascading through my brain. I didn't belong to the space-time continuum. And if I close my eyes as I listen, I can still see the lushly surreal, fantasmagorical worlds I visited when I played.
Music may be the most powerful communication tool ever created. It provides a direct patch from the emotional center to the subconscious. It's visceral in a way no other medium or art form is. It requires no interpretation, no conscious or logical facility to be experienced and understood.
Kirk, if you are reading this, I love you so much for dubbing this stuff over into digital for me. I rediscover myself every time I play it.
21 May 2005
Poetry
Lately, in my spare time, I've been going through my old and not-so-old writings. Much of it is poetic, so I've started a separate blog for that. Noetic Decay at http://noeticdecay.blogspot.com/
10 May 2005
In the Eye's Mind
In one of the last scenes of Waking Life, Richard Linklater states a theory that this entire journey called Life is nothing that instant of moving from the No to the Yes, from rejection to acceptance of God's love. I would change it and add this:
All of this life is series of moving from the No to the Yes. Yes, you choose to experience. Yes, you choose to participate. Yes, you choose to love. These are all action verbs which require a decision on your part. And each Yes adds up to a greater Yes -- the Yes to live fully, conscious that you are manifesting your own reality.
You cannot truly live if you fear death for without death you cannot be alive. It is all the same journey. Once you say Yes to Death, the fear of it dissipates. It becomes, as it has always been, just another rite of passage to experience. You find your priorities shift from holding on to what you can own of this earth to what you can create within it.
And with each Yes the next comes easier, until saying Yes becomes a reflexive muscle.
This does not mean we do not have to live within boundaries and limits. We exist in a physical form and that fact imposes its own limitations. I should know better than most what it means to burn yourself out saying Yes to too many things at once because I still do it too frequently for my body's full health. However, the life fully lived means risking everything you fear and everything that causes you pain.
So here's your task, should you choose to accept it. Say Yes to some action this week, and take the ride of that choice as far as you can. Expand and live.
All of this life is series of moving from the No to the Yes. Yes, you choose to experience. Yes, you choose to participate. Yes, you choose to love. These are all action verbs which require a decision on your part. And each Yes adds up to a greater Yes -- the Yes to live fully, conscious that you are manifesting your own reality.
You cannot truly live if you fear death for without death you cannot be alive. It is all the same journey. Once you say Yes to Death, the fear of it dissipates. It becomes, as it has always been, just another rite of passage to experience. You find your priorities shift from holding on to what you can own of this earth to what you can create within it.
And with each Yes the next comes easier, until saying Yes becomes a reflexive muscle.
This does not mean we do not have to live within boundaries and limits. We exist in a physical form and that fact imposes its own limitations. I should know better than most what it means to burn yourself out saying Yes to too many things at once because I still do it too frequently for my body's full health. However, the life fully lived means risking everything you fear and everything that causes you pain.
So here's your task, should you choose to accept it. Say Yes to some action this week, and take the ride of that choice as far as you can. Expand and live.
04 May 2005
Creative Changes for Education
Imagine if your high school class was run like a D&D game. You are a 14-year-old adventurer and you walk into this unknown classroom. You know about 4 other people out of the 25 gathered there, so you and your buds slink into seats in the back of the class. The GM/Teacher looks everyone over and starts counting you off in groups of 5. You are separated from your buds and you're moving your bookbag into the desk between the pimply-faced nerd and the snooty girl with an accent that could cut diamonds. You and your team, which includes the nerd, the snoot, a jock-wannabe, and a reject from the local stoners' bar, are given your assignment: To pass 9th grade. 80% of your overall pass rate will come from your own work. But the other 20% will come from teamwork and how well the other members your group also succeed at mastering their classes.
Think of it -- 20% is not enough to flunk you if you are a generally excellent student, but it will sure make a dent or a difference to anyone attempting to get by with a "Gentleman's C."
It also fosters teamwork and a sense of community, and motivates helpfulness through use of self-interest. Could it work?
Think of it -- 20% is not enough to flunk you if you are a generally excellent student, but it will sure make a dent or a difference to anyone attempting to get by with a "Gentleman's C."
It also fosters teamwork and a sense of community, and motivates helpfulness through use of self-interest. Could it work?
03 May 2005
Small Blessings
Among the small blessings I count in my life is a city council that has a sense of humor. They certainly needed it last night.
Kudos to Stratton Salidis, who knows how to put on a good show. My bad that I didn't bring enough popcorn. The issue at hand: Development the Meadowcreek Parkway and the eastern connector. Specifically, the $1.5 million set aside to do yet another study on how it can be accomplished. This is a road project which has been debated and rejected for 30 years. Stratton's cast of characters who spoke before Council last night included a woodchuck who moved his family into McIntire Park and would be displaced if the Parkway was built and a "developer" who wanted to spend more money on sprawl and needed the roads in order to bear the traffic of new housing and shopping center plans on his table. Most of the councilors could not keep a straight face through the procession. (Rob Schilling, the exception and the sole Republican, looked as if he thought the dignity of the council was being affronted by such tactics.)
I do not want the Parkway. I understand why it is needed, but, IMO, there's a better way to handle it.
We have made Charlottesville City a very attractive place to visit, to hang out, to shop, and to live. Unfortunately, this attractiveness has resulted in a very expensive place to live. Because of this, Albemarle County is in genuine danger of becoming overdeveloped. Certainly the road system from the County into the City that exists now barely bears the traffic required of it.
Instead of using the monies set aside for the study, or for the project itself, on paving over sections to relieve traffic congestion, why not use the money to create the kind of environment in Albemarle that Charlottesville has in abundance?
We don't need more shopping centers and residential communities, so much as we need more neighborhoods, with work and amenities within easy walking, bussing, and biking distance. Charlottesville has the Downtown area, with it's charming street mall, the University area, with its kitschy stores and trendy bars, and Barracks Road, while still a strip mall, manages to attract foot and bus traffic by the virtue of combining easy accessibility with diversity of storefronts and services.
Albemarle and Charlottesville, if they are truly concerned about traffic, should work harder to make such community settings in Albemarle territory. No one wants to go to Albemarle Square, Seminole Square, Rio Hill, or Fashion Square Mall. One needs to shop at Circuit City, Office Depot, TJ Max, or Sears. These malls are driving destinations: not a joy for window shopping, hanging out with friends, or grabbing a quick bite or drink at the local pub. They represent everything that is wrong with current development. If Albemarle had more user-friendly destinations, business, and, thus, traffic would want to develp around those neighborhoods instead of everyone driving into C'ville. What C'ville has is the ambience which makes people want to make the trip in for the day or evening. C'ville will lose that ambience unless smarter development takes place.
Kudos to Stratton Salidis, who knows how to put on a good show. My bad that I didn't bring enough popcorn. The issue at hand: Development the Meadowcreek Parkway and the eastern connector. Specifically, the $1.5 million set aside to do yet another study on how it can be accomplished. This is a road project which has been debated and rejected for 30 years. Stratton's cast of characters who spoke before Council last night included a woodchuck who moved his family into McIntire Park and would be displaced if the Parkway was built and a "developer" who wanted to spend more money on sprawl and needed the roads in order to bear the traffic of new housing and shopping center plans on his table. Most of the councilors could not keep a straight face through the procession. (Rob Schilling, the exception and the sole Republican, looked as if he thought the dignity of the council was being affronted by such tactics.)
I do not want the Parkway. I understand why it is needed, but, IMO, there's a better way to handle it.
We have made Charlottesville City a very attractive place to visit, to hang out, to shop, and to live. Unfortunately, this attractiveness has resulted in a very expensive place to live. Because of this, Albemarle County is in genuine danger of becoming overdeveloped. Certainly the road system from the County into the City that exists now barely bears the traffic required of it.
Instead of using the monies set aside for the study, or for the project itself, on paving over sections to relieve traffic congestion, why not use the money to create the kind of environment in Albemarle that Charlottesville has in abundance?
We don't need more shopping centers and residential communities, so much as we need more neighborhoods, with work and amenities within easy walking, bussing, and biking distance. Charlottesville has the Downtown area, with it's charming street mall, the University area, with its kitschy stores and trendy bars, and Barracks Road, while still a strip mall, manages to attract foot and bus traffic by the virtue of combining easy accessibility with diversity of storefronts and services.
Albemarle and Charlottesville, if they are truly concerned about traffic, should work harder to make such community settings in Albemarle territory. No one wants to go to Albemarle Square, Seminole Square, Rio Hill, or Fashion Square Mall. One needs to shop at Circuit City, Office Depot, TJ Max, or Sears. These malls are driving destinations: not a joy for window shopping, hanging out with friends, or grabbing a quick bite or drink at the local pub. They represent everything that is wrong with current development. If Albemarle had more user-friendly destinations, business, and, thus, traffic would want to develp around those neighborhoods instead of everyone driving into C'ville. What C'ville has is the ambience which makes people want to make the trip in for the day or evening. C'ville will lose that ambience unless smarter development takes place.
28 April 2005
Heavenless Hells & Homeless Homes
"unlove's the heavenless hell and homeless home
of knowledgeable shadows(quick to seize
each nothing which all soulless wraiths proclaim
substance;all heartless spectres,happiness)"
Condoleeza Rice made a statement today to the effect that it is the duty of democracies to "tell the world that tyranny is a crime of man." (See MSNBC article at http://famulus.msnbc.com/famulusintl/ap04-28-180748.asp?reg=americas&vts=42820051848.)
It is my personal opinion that Ms. Rice needs to give her Pradas to charity and walk the streets of DC more often before she has earned the right to tell the world anything about tyranny. If, by "tyranny," one means the unjust or abusive exercise of a governmental power to benefit itself at the expense of its citizenry, then the United States is no stranger to it. If, by "tyranny," one means a government in which a single ruler is vested with absolute power, then there are many examples in history in which a tyrant has given much better service to his people than Condoleeza Rice and her cohorts in Washington.
She continued on to say that "freedom is the universal longing of every soul." Not in my experience. In my experience, love is the longing of every soul. As a nation, we have demonstrated just how much of a heavenless hell and a homeless home unlove can create through our actions in Iraq, our lack of economic and environmental stewardship, and our unmitigated arrogance that the rest of the world would benefit from following our selfish example. The rest of the world loves us not. Why? Because we are in the winter of our discontent, making the clouds that lower over our heads.
"lovers alone wear sunlight. The whole truth
not hid by matter;not by mind revealed....
Here(only here)is freedom:always here
no then of winter equals now of spring;
but april's day transcends november's year"
Instead of dictating to other nations how they should emulate us, I suggest that it's long past time that we show those other nations something worth emulating.
(Quoted poetry from ee cummings, "unlove's the heavenless hell and homeless home," 95 Poems (1958).)
of knowledgeable shadows(quick to seize
each nothing which all soulless wraiths proclaim
substance;all heartless spectres,happiness)"
Condoleeza Rice made a statement today to the effect that it is the duty of democracies to "tell the world that tyranny is a crime of man." (See MSNBC article at http://famulus.msnbc.com/famulusintl/ap04-28-180748.asp?reg=americas&vts=42820051848.)
It is my personal opinion that Ms. Rice needs to give her Pradas to charity and walk the streets of DC more often before she has earned the right to tell the world anything about tyranny. If, by "tyranny," one means the unjust or abusive exercise of a governmental power to benefit itself at the expense of its citizenry, then the United States is no stranger to it. If, by "tyranny," one means a government in which a single ruler is vested with absolute power, then there are many examples in history in which a tyrant has given much better service to his people than Condoleeza Rice and her cohorts in Washington.
She continued on to say that "freedom is the universal longing of every soul." Not in my experience. In my experience, love is the longing of every soul. As a nation, we have demonstrated just how much of a heavenless hell and a homeless home unlove can create through our actions in Iraq, our lack of economic and environmental stewardship, and our unmitigated arrogance that the rest of the world would benefit from following our selfish example. The rest of the world loves us not. Why? Because we are in the winter of our discontent, making the clouds that lower over our heads.
"lovers alone wear sunlight. The whole truth
not hid by matter;not by mind revealed....
Here(only here)is freedom:always here
no then of winter equals now of spring;
but april's day transcends november's year"
Instead of dictating to other nations how they should emulate us, I suggest that it's long past time that we show those other nations something worth emulating.
(Quoted poetry from ee cummings, "unlove's the heavenless hell and homeless home," 95 Poems (1958).)
Delay's Left-Wing Conspiracy
I'm disappointed. There's finally a social club I want to join, and no one from the vast left-wing conspiracy has called me up and asked me to. Not even a solicitation for non-deductible donations. I have to say that I'm hurt. I've been a vocal leftist for over 20 voting years and they left me out in the cold. < pout >
27 April 2005
Joie de Livre
I admit to being more than a little in love with life. I wish I could hug the universe just because being alive within it is a joyous thing to feel.
However, there isn't much modern writing which falls in the category of the simply celebratory. For those who feel the world is closing in, or that it is collapsing around their ears, take a dandelion break with any any poem by e.e. cummings. Or Google him; there are several websites dedicated to this poet and author. In cummings' world, slatterns are the subject of love sonnets and even crumbs become mysterious. If you haven't discovered the craziness in a daisy, then let your soul arise and sing with any collection of his.
26 April 2005
SWF ISO SC 4 LTR
My classified ad:
Single white female in search of sustainable city for long-term residence. Must have neighborhoods, the kind where you can walk w/in 6 blocks to do all your shopping, and I don't mean at 7-11. (Resident butchers, bakers, and fresh produce included.) Rents low enough for a SINK and well-supported public transportation system required. Good cultural programs and a liberal-minded population are pluses. All qualified applicant cities will be considered.
Single white female in search of sustainable city for long-term residence. Must have neighborhoods, the kind where you can walk w/in 6 blocks to do all your shopping, and I don't mean at 7-11. (Resident butchers, bakers, and fresh produce included.) Rents low enough for a SINK and well-supported public transportation system required. Good cultural programs and a liberal-minded population are pluses. All qualified applicant cities will be considered.
The Mac & Cheese Vote
We've all seen it many times before: Given a choice between on a train or on a plane, from a cote or from a stoat, whether green eggs or green ham, Sam I Am will always choose that with which he is most familiar and comfortable.
David Toscano, all-around good Democrat and former mayor unextraordinnaire, is that familiar choice for the 57th House of Delegates seat. Everyone knows his name around town. He's a solid administrator with no major vices and, unfortunately, no major drives. He's the mac & cheese on the menu, the comfort zone choice who is expected to ride into Richmond on Mitch Van Yahres's coattails. (See http://www.toscano2005.com)
We all know that a HoD chair is like getting tenure at UVa: you have to sexually assault a student in order to be kicked out once you are in. Whoever we vote in will likely be our bump on this log ride for the next 26 years. Toscano is not Van Yahres's equal, so why is my community so hell-bent on making him Van Yahres's successor?
With apologies to Virginia Dems across the state, Charlottesville likes to consider itself the last bastion of Blue in the southern Red sea. Let's say, arguendo, that we are. Don't we owe it to ourselves to elect someone who is less of a paper tiger than Toscano? I have nothing against the man. If he gains the Dem nomination, I will vote for him. But in this, as in all things, I like to think I can do better.
WAKE UP CHARLOTTESVILLE! If you want to make a difference in the direction Virginia heads, Toscano is neither strong enough nor progressive enough to do it. He'll shortly become a party critter in a Rep-tie zoo. Just my opinion.
David Toscano, all-around good Democrat and former mayor unextraordinnaire, is that familiar choice for the 57th House of Delegates seat. Everyone knows his name around town. He's a solid administrator with no major vices and, unfortunately, no major drives. He's the mac & cheese on the menu, the comfort zone choice who is expected to ride into Richmond on Mitch Van Yahres's coattails. (See http://www.toscano2005.com)
We all know that a HoD chair is like getting tenure at UVa: you have to sexually assault a student in order to be kicked out once you are in. Whoever we vote in will likely be our bump on this log ride for the next 26 years. Toscano is not Van Yahres's equal, so why is my community so hell-bent on making him Van Yahres's successor?
With apologies to Virginia Dems across the state, Charlottesville likes to consider itself the last bastion of Blue in the southern Red sea. Let's say, arguendo, that we are. Don't we owe it to ourselves to elect someone who is less of a paper tiger than Toscano? I have nothing against the man. If he gains the Dem nomination, I will vote for him. But in this, as in all things, I like to think I can do better.
WAKE UP CHARLOTTESVILLE! If you want to make a difference in the direction Virginia heads, Toscano is neither strong enough nor progressive enough to do it. He'll shortly become a party critter in a Rep-tie zoo. Just my opinion.
25 April 2005
What's in a Theory?
Global warming, like macroevolution, is just a scientific theory, right? Let's take a look at some of the CNN headlines of the past month:
One-fifth of world's reefs destroyed: http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/science/04/25/seychelles.coral.reut/index.html
Snow makes unexpected return in Midwest:
http://www.cnn.com/2005/WEATHER/04/23/spring.snow.ap/index.html
Earthquake shakes southern California:
http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/04/16/california.quake.ap/index.html
University to research melting ice caps: http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/science/04/12/polar.ice.grant.ap/index.html
Spring blizzard slams Colorado:
http://www.cnn.com/2005/WEATHER/04/10/colorado.blizzard.ap/index.html
Earthquake strikes near Sumatra:
http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/asiapcf/04/10/sumatra.quake/index.html
Quake rattles Japan's main island:
http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/asiapcf/04/03/japan.quake/index.html
Disaster looms in coastal, urban regions:
http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/science/03/29/disaster.risk.ap/index.html
Australian wave warning for west:
http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/asiapcf/03/28/australia.warning.ap/index.html
US in "battle mode" following quake:
http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/asiapcf/03/28/us.indonesia.quake/index.html
Global warming is happening every day, and we are doing nothing concrete to stop it. How can the Bush administration send so much relief aid to so many countries and then propose to lower emission standards and drill in the arctic. From where does this "That is them and this is us" attitude derive? Is this the world you want to live in?
Ian McEwan discusses the topic frankly on Grist at http://www.grist.org/comments/soapbox/2005/04/25/mcewan-climate/index.html It is definitely worth a read. The problem with his solution is this: International measures hold no weight in the US. We allow for no law above ourselves.
One-fifth of world's reefs destroyed: http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/science/04/25/seychelles.coral.reut/index.html
Snow makes unexpected return in Midwest:
http://www.cnn.com/2005/WEATHER/04/23/spring.snow.ap/index.html
Earthquake shakes southern California:
http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/04/16/california.quake.ap/index.html
University to research melting ice caps: http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/science/04/12/polar.ice.grant.ap/index.html
Spring blizzard slams Colorado:
http://www.cnn.com/2005/WEATHER/04/10/colorado.blizzard.ap/index.html
Earthquake strikes near Sumatra:
http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/asiapcf/04/10/sumatra.quake/index.html
Quake rattles Japan's main island:
http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/asiapcf/04/03/japan.quake/index.html
Disaster looms in coastal, urban regions:
http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/science/03/29/disaster.risk.ap/index.html
Australian wave warning for west:
http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/asiapcf/03/28/australia.warning.ap/index.html
US in "battle mode" following quake:
http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/asiapcf/03/28/us.indonesia.quake/index.html
Global warming is happening every day, and we are doing nothing concrete to stop it. How can the Bush administration send so much relief aid to so many countries and then propose to lower emission standards and drill in the arctic. From where does this "That is them and this is us" attitude derive? Is this the world you want to live in?
Ian McEwan discusses the topic frankly on Grist at http://www.grist.org/comments/soapbox/2005/04/25/mcewan-climate/index.html It is definitely worth a read. The problem with his solution is this: International measures hold no weight in the US. We allow for no law above ourselves.
The United State of Europe
Well, finally someone has the balls to print what those who have traveled Europe already know. The EU is a fait accompli and the European self-identification is becoming normal. I do love the International Herald Tribune. See article at http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/04/26/news/enlarge2.php
While individual nations' media mouthpieces cast doubt, it has been evident since the borders opened that increased travel would make states of the nations. And, as they have had the sense to be nations for several centuries before becoming an ethnic fondue pot, I trust that Europe will, once again, show the US what our job should have been all along. I only hope we're smart enough to follow their example.
Yeah, I know, maybe I should just up and move there.
While individual nations' media mouthpieces cast doubt, it has been evident since the borders opened that increased travel would make states of the nations. And, as they have had the sense to be nations for several centuries before becoming an ethnic fondue pot, I trust that Europe will, once again, show the US what our job should have been all along. I only hope we're smart enough to follow their example.
Yeah, I know, maybe I should just up and move there.
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