Lotophagi, Unite! We have Nothing to Lose but our Inertia

I confess. I found the word Lotophagus on Wikipedia when I checked to make sure I knew the story of the Lotus Eaters. Lotophagus is an inflated word for Lotus Eaters. I will be using it at cocktail parties soon.

The Lotus Eaters were a people who spent their days – and, to the point, months and years – in a swoon induced by their consumption of the lotus plants that were the main food staple where they lived. It was a narcotic, and it made them worthless lay-abouts. Any who ate the plant likewise ceased to care about anything. Odysseus is said to have had his crewmen who ate the fruit tied to benches on deck to keep them from returning to eat more. It's good stuff. But, you know, it steals your life out from under you.

There are lots of things for which I could use the Lotus as an archetype. Marx said religion was the opiate of the people. I and others have nominated television for that honor. Some have mentioned consumerism. Any addiction qualifies: alcohol, heroin, cigarettes, whatever. I'm going to talk about mine, but I hope you will take an opportunity to ask yourself if you are eating a Lotus of some type, and if so, what it is doing to you.

I'm lucky. My Lotus is maybe the most socially acceptable Lotus ever. There are probably genetic and environmental reasons why it has had such a hold on me for half a century. I had alcoholics on both sides of my family tree, and I am lucky as hell that alcohol is not my Lotus. But sugar is, and I have read that it is a common occurrence for the children of alcoholics to have "problems" with sugar.

I quit sugar a year or so ago. I had noticed, when I had whooping cough, that my arthritis no longer troubled me. I attributed that to either a lack of caloric intake or a lack of sugar, especially. (I lost 25 pounds in one month. You need a pertussis booster as an adult if you want to refresh your immunity to whooping cough. I recommend it.) So on September 27, 2009, I gave it up.

I decided not to be a "Sugar Nazi." I would accept 2 grams of sugar per serving of whatever I was buying, but no more. And I decided I would let myself indulge over the holidays. I did really, really well for two months before Thanksgiving. I'd say I eliminated 85-90% of the sugar from my daily diet. I even cut out coffee for a while, since I so often had it with a biscotti. It was not nearly so hard as I thought.

Then the holidays came, and went, and I never got back on the wagon. Recently, since my return from Germany, the effects of my sugar- and carbohydrate-heavy diet have become pronounced. My allergies were horrible when I got back. My arthritis has been a bit more insistent in its request for ibuprofen. My scalp is getting . . . well, crusty is probably the right word. But the most pronounced effect is this: I sleep like a 90 year old, all through the day. And my head is in a nearly constant haze. And, from time to time, I feel my blood pressure doing acrobatics, one time taking me to the brink of passing out. Also, what I have taken before to be back pain (since the pain was, actually, in my back) I have decided is more likely to be some internal organ protesting at the crud it is expected to process.

Tuesday, except for the time I spent at the Bosque del Apache and eating breakfast and dinner, I slept nearly the entire day. I also slept much of this afternoon.

But then angels appeared to warn me that I was on the wrong path, heading for the big sleep. (Ya like melodrama? I do. This is mundane stuff; it needs a little spicing up.)

My friend Andrea mentioned her ongoing battle with sugar a couple of days ago. And my friend Lauren, who is soon to visit, told me what she eats, in answer to my e-mail asking her how I should provision for her visit. She is gluten-free, and eats well, if idiosyncratically.

All of a sudden, I got the urge to go back on the wagon. Crackers went to the compost (sleep, little earthworms. Sleeeep.), and I went to Trader Joe's, where I bought soup, and fish, and veggies and nuts. I am so glad I didn't have to throw out any Klondike bars. I'm not sure I could have. Tonight I am going to go through my previous notes on sugar, the glycemic index, carbs, and nutrition. I will construct a shopping list of food that will feed me, energize me, and make my body go ahhhh. I expect to stay awake through the days until I am in my 80's. I expect I will lose some weight (I'm about 220 now). And I expect my arthritis and allergies will calm WAY down. I will probably lose some weight, too – especially since I will have more energy for exercise.

So, I'm marking my calendar. December 9, 2010: the day I grew up, took charge of my diet, and didn't look back. One day, as they say, at a time. Dinner tonight was butternut squash soup with herbs and spices added in, and edamame for fiber and protein.

Maybe tomorrow I can get some work done.

If you think sugar or carbs may be a problem for you, check out this web site. It may give you some ideas about what the symptoms are of someone who is sugar sensitive. Then, you know: do your own research or talk to your doctor or nutritionist. Also, if you are interested in any other dietary or weight-related issues, I recommend The Philosopher's Diet. It is about dieting the same way Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance is about motorcycle maintenance.

Got a Lotus? Or does a Lotus have you?

Coming in for a Landing at the Bosque del Apache

I went to the Bosque del Apache on Monday and Tuesday of this week. It was warmer than usual, about 30º F just before sunrise. It is one of my favorite places in the world. Saw bald eagles, a pheasant, a skunk, and lots of deer, in addition to the usual, and magnificent, cranes and geese. If you live in New Mexico, I recommend visiting. If you live elsewhere, I recommend visiting, too: I'll be happy to be your driver and tour guide.

What I Miss from Santa Fe - and Will Miss from Berlin

It does NOT go without saying that I miss my friends, and I look forward to seeing you soon after I return.

But the statement is WHAT I miss. I miss America's breakfast culture. I haven't had what I think of as a real breakfast since July. I look forward to going to Harry's Roadhouse and Real Food Nation almost as soon as I return.

I miss riding my bikes. On the quiet roads of Eldorado and Old Las Vegas Highway. And I pledge to do more of it, not because I should (but as an environmentalist and old fat white guy, I should) but because absence has made the heart grow fonder.

I miss wrastling with Boz, and visiting the dog park and touching the other dogs (and talking with my friends there, but I covered that in paragraph 1). And wrastling with Boz. I hear my house sitter has taken exemplary care of him, so I expect my homecoming to be met with a shrug from Boz, which is as I would hope.

Berlin has most of what I love about life, and I have sought it out here. You know, beer . . . Also, it has what I've come to think of as the scarf culture. Once the weather turned cold, everyone with any style began wearing big scarves, diaphonous scarves, bright scarves, serious scarves. Also, women's shoes here . . . I never notice women's shoes at home. And men's shoes here are nothing special, either. But women's shoes and boots are - pardon the expression - fabulous. Not to mention their stockings, which are richly patterned with the clear intention (or so it seemed to me) of demanding that you notice the legs. And so I have. Love Berlin. Hamburg, too.

Berlin is not green Mecca. They still wrap their fruit in globes of plastic. But they take recycling seriously, and do little things like stop the escalators if no one is near; when you approach, it starts right up again. Same with the lights in some, but not all, hotels. Hallways are dark if there is no movement. Enter the hallway and the lights near you come on, and precede you down the hallway. And their bike-friendly traffic rules, bike lanes, and bike-friendly mass transit all make it silly for most people to own cars, much like in New York.

And then there is Berlin's Leute, the people. Stern of mien at the outset, but accessible. They resent Americans' too-easy vapid excuse for friendliness, that asks "How aer you" without making eye contact or waiting for an answer, but they are ready and willing to talk about serious things and to make friends, if you really want to. I'll return to Berlin. Soon. But first, I need to get some breakfast.

How Can One Lack Enthusiasm for the Democrats?

A good friend asked me on Facebook why I was lacking in enthusiasm for Democrats as another fucking Election Day approaches. My reply follows. Any similes or metaphors you would like to add?

You really can't understand a lack of enthusiasm for the Democratic Party? Really? Explaining it feels like having to explain a joke: once it's explained, it won't be funny anyway, so maybe it's not worth explaining. But I'll try.

Getting excited - not just doing my (dubious) duty and voting, but getting UP for it, fired up, ready to go and all that - for the Democratic Party is a lot like getting excited at the news that there will be a Matrix 4 movie.

It's like trying to get it up for a date who just told you she'd do you in spite of the fact that you smell kinda funny and the dinner you bought her is making her a little sick.

It's like learning you won a free trip to California, and then finding out it's for a Trekkie Convention in Modesto.

It's like learning you inherited property . . . in Española.

It's like getting excited about being on hold for only 20 minutes. Or like being excited about going to the dentist because you don't have to have ALL of your teeth pulled.

It's like Rosemary being excited about having a baby.

You can make a case for all of those things having upsides. (Hey, Matrix 4 means someone is working!) And you can say that these developments are better than bad news (say, a new Paris Hilton movie.) But getting excited about them requires a level of compartmentalization that seems unnatural - or maybe supernatural.

So, I've almost never missed voting in an election. I will probably, if only by force of habit, vote in this one. Unless, you know, it's cloudy or something. But no, I don't think I'll be putting streamers on my car and honking through the city at night. But if you feel differently, go for it.

Everything Holds: A Dream Journal Entry

Yesterday, political commentary courtesy of Dudley Do-Right. That's NOTHING compared to today.

The Christmas Holstein. I had a picture of it on ny iPad. But that's not all. It was the Jewish Christmas Holstein. Not Hanukah. Not Jewish New Year. Jewish Christmas. And the Holstein was collapsed on the brick hearth, next to the Jewish Christmas tree, as if it had had too much kosher egg nog. This was taken at . . . Megan Sisco's house (sorry to drag you into this Megan. I've never even seen your house.).

Where was I looking at this picture of the Jewish Christmas Holstein in Megan's house? Why, funny you should ask.

Me and a groupa guys were hanging out at the top of a ladder going down into this pit, you see. This was, near as I can tell, somewhere in the Four Corners: New Mexico, Arizona or Utah, I'd guess. Just hanging out there at the mouth of the pit. One guy pointed out the name of one of the peaks, which I don't recall (that's another thing: I NEVER remember my dreams. Maybe once a year I do.).

And just before I awoke, there was a discussion about not holding the iPad over the pit - which we then did because guys fool around like that. So, of course, the iPad gets bobbled, and one guy falls into the pit, so we lose, not just the iPad, but one of the guys. Nope! REWIND! He's back! The iPad gets bobbled, the guy gets bobbled, all of us get bobbled, and everything holds.

Why Berlin?

A number of friends have asked me how or why I have ended up in Berlin on this trip, when the plan was to spend my time in the Balkans, Greece and Turkey. Here's your answer.

It was really, really hot down there. The same level of heat - high 90's, low 100's - that contributed to Russia's tragic fires. My reluctantly aging body reacted with repeated attacks of heat rash. I had to respond. Some ideas on the table were 1) to come home, 2) to continue as planned, but to upgrade my accommodations - ergo, the cost - to hotels and hostels with air conditioning, and 3) do what animals and plants do when the weather changes on them: head to more pleasant climes. I wanted to go with the second option, but the idea of traveling to these places, only to stay in a hotel room most of the day, seemed like a waste of time and money. The only reason to do it was to be able to check those places off of my list.

So I looked north. Far north. Denmark, Sweden, Finland north. Arctic Frigging Circle north, and no, I am not kidding. As I looked that way, I saw Berlin. I wanted to visit my former neighbor, John, who lives and works in Berlin almost half the year. But I was still thinking of covering a lot of territory. I had heard good things about Poland, especially Warsaw and Krakow. I had made a friend from Copenhagen. I'd have loved to see the parts of Norway I missed seeing when I was there ten years ago. And then there were the Baltic states, which are blossoming since coming out from under Soviet domination. And lots of other parts of Germany, too, like Lake Constance, the Black Forest, Hamburg, and on and on.

You can see how I'd basically just like to travel for the rest of my life. There is a lot to see and learn.

But then I began to consider spending some extra time wherever I landed in Germany, maybe taking some classes, trying to resurrect my high school German. I was in touch with John, trying to coordinate my visit with the time when he would be in Berlin rather than Berkeley. I had planned on just visiting for a couple of days (you know the old saying about house guests and fish), but when I told him I was thinking of staying longer, taking classes, he offered me the use of his flat while he was away.

Decision made!

How could I resist? Berlin is one of those cities - like Paris, New York, Istanbul - that are world cities, not just representative of their home country. To be able to stay for a while, take classes, maybe even for a month, and make weekend excursions to surrounding towns - it seemed ideal. So I hitched a ride with a hostel friend to Bucharest from Bulgaria and caught a flight to Berlin.

John was here for the first few days and helped me to settle in. I rested up from the stresses of the heat, did a little sightseeing, and placed an ad in Craig's List Berlin for a German teacher. I met Olga and interviewed her, and a few days later signed on to have her teach me German. We've been meeting three hours a day, three days a week. It's slow going, but es geht, as they say.

As I have class in another hour or so, I must go. I am also moving out of John's place in the next day or two, into a flat I have rented while its owner - a German bureaucrat and rock star who spends much of her year working in Hanoi - is away. Later, I will catch you up on my neighborhoods, my trip to Hamburg and its repercussions, and what the bicycling culture is like here.

Oh, and I should tell you, too: my original itinerary had me returning home in late September. My plans, such as they are, are now for me to come back to Santa Fe in late October. My flexibility is thanks to Rick Lass, who is sitting Boz and my house while I am gone. Thanks, Rick!

Revised itinerary

And so I have come to Berlin. This wasn't planned, but it seems to be a good place to have landed. I am waiting, at a small cafe called Butter, for a potential German language instructor who answered my ad on Craig's List. Somewhere along the line, before I even landed here, I decided that I would stay as long as I could, get to know a great city well, and try to resurrect my high school German. I am staying with my friend John, an old neighbor from Oakland, who lives here half of the year. He has been kind enough to offer me the use of his flat while he is gone for the next three weeks. So I have time and opportunity to settle in, see the sights, and see what it's like to live here. And I can consider what this long, strange trip is about anyway.

One of the first things I have noticed and liked is that a LOT of Berliners ride bicycles here - a fact that is best substantiated by being on a sidewalk around 5 PM when work gets out. The other thing I like is that I have yet to see a single bicyclist wearing anything other than street clothes. No special equipment or clothing is necessary. Makes me a little embarrassed by my biking wardrobe.

Another thing I like is how well-organized the mass transit systems are. In contrast to every other city I have visited on this trip, in Berlin you never have to guess at which stop you are arriving. If it is not announced verbally or on a lightboard on the train or bus, there are large signs at every station. There are also color-coded maps listing every stop and connection for the train system, and the maps of Berlin that are for sale do a good job of showing the same. In short, whether you are a visitor coming here for the first time or a Berliner going to a new part of the city, the uncertainties are kept to a minimum. And if you ARE unsure of something, Berliners are happy - happy! - to be of help if they can.

My only minor complaint is the difficulty in finding a place to log on. My Lonely Planet guide said WiFi is everywhere, but I have not found that to be the case. When I DO find it, it is either not free or requires a code, which means sitting at the coffee shop or restaurant, ordering something, and then asking for the code. That gets expensive, so I am going to investigate the cost of a mini SIM card and a monthlong subscription so my iPad and I are always connected.

The church bell ringing goes on forever here on Sunday morning! The weather has been cool and fresh since I arrived, and I have slept with the window open every night, only reaching for a blanket the last two nights.whether rain or church bells, everything sounds good coming with fresh air through an open window.

Unfriendly

I have to say that, so far, I'm not feeling the love.

There are exceptions, of course. The young folks at Daily Fresh this morning were quite pleasant and seemed to have good senses of humor. But as I was walking down the avenue, from the main square (trg in Croatian - take THAT, spell check!) to the train station, I walked past one woman whose look translated as, "what are YOU doing here, you fuckin' fuck?", and another who pressed her lips togeher and shook her head as I walked by, as if she KNEW there were times when I returned my library book late and forgiveness of the debt - indeed, even payment of the debt - would never remove the blight I had visited on the world just by being here.

These encounters are common here in Croatia, and even more common in Bosnia. Perhaps Balkan folks are just kind of . . . curdled. Perhaps it is the result of the troubles they have endured in the last three decades. It isn't only a generational thing: I was sneered at by a clerk in a bakery in Sarajevo.

Regardless, these encounters make the good encounters much more satisfying, like working up a serious thirst before slaking it. The van driver who took me from Plitvice back to Zagreb - who resembled George Clooney in profile, by the way - was great fun as he explained places we were passing and complained about other drivers in his rudimentary English. He showed me a picture of his family, and as he referred to his wife or girlfriend he called her, with unself-conscious sincerity, his "darling."

The architecture oozes Zagreb's long and difficult history, the cafes are comfortable aeries to watch people move through their lives. But I cant say that I'm getting much in the way of warm fuzzies. And let's not even start with the weirdness at the Catholic cathedral yesterday (Jesus is apparently deeply offended by the appearance of womens' deltoids.). But the grilled calamari with marigolds made it all mostly worthwhile, except for this morning's sourpusses. Tomorrow, off to Belgrade, Serbia.

- John

Location:Pavla Radića,City of Zagreb,Croatia

Best T shirt of the trip, so far

The one at top right, seen in Mostar. If I was Muslim I'd have bought one.

Everyone Likes a Good Slap

Slap is Croatian for waterfall.

Plitvice III

Like Hawaii, Yosemite, and Alaska, the problem here is what NOT to photograph.

Plitvice II

These blokes were so accustomed to human passersby-by that they didn't even think to take a break from grooming time.

Plitvice I

I hadn't walked even fifty yards and already was taking photos. The walkway was a work of art, perfectly suited to the park.

My new friends from Rotterdam

I met Nessim and his mother, Soara, on the bus from Dubrovnik to Mostar. We had a great conversation, and though I saw them in passing in Mostar, I was sorry to not have had a chance to continue our conversation while there.

But then, in Sarajevo, who should spy me on the street? I was so pleased to see them. We went to a Turkish coffee house and talked for a long time. They were going home the next day, so I was thrilled to see them. Travel is all about encounters just like this. I wish they lived next door.

My new friend in Sarajevo

Soara, bibliophile and linguist, employee at Connectum Bookstore in Old Town. W had some great conversations about Islam and agnosticism and fundamentalism. Oh, and about Old Church Slavic.

Migratory Thoughts

The first two weeks of this trip were brutally, debilitatingly hot, between 35 and 41 degrees centigrade. I had two bouts of heat rash and began to reconsider my itinerary - even, at one point, considering coming home. It made no sense to travel to places if I was going to be able to go out in the early morning and late at night, but otherwise have to sequester in air conditioned refuges.

Then it rained. No drouth-breaking rain in Santa Fe was ever more welcome. I was in Mostar, Bosnia. But the damage to my original itinerary - tentative in form as it was - was already done. I began to research other itineraries. I jotted down some notes on my options:

Go home
Do whirlwind tour of most favored destinations, go home early
Go everywhere I was planning to go, just go with AC...but will that mean going to Delphi or Athens, for instance, and only going from air conditioned facility to facility, or staying in and doing nothing?
Travel elsewhere. It makes no sense for me to stay in this heat if I can't be out, meeting people and learning new things. After Sarajevo, make a plan that includes taking in Athens, Delphi, and Istanbul.
Go north after Sarajevo or Sofia.

I considered adding some or all of the following destinations

Bucharest
Budapest
Prague
Krakow
Wroclaw
Zakopane
Warsaw (I met a couple from Poland who are teaching ESL, and they made some suggestions about visiting their country)
Vilnius
Helsinki, Finland
Berlin

My next step was to decide where I wanted to go, and why: university towns, national parks, inexpensive locations, zen monasteries, hamlets conducive to writing and WiFi?

Then I met a Columbia University student in Sarajevo as we were both heading to the train station, both heading toward Zagreb - me to it, her through it - and she loaned me her Lonely Planet guide to Europe on a Shoestring for the 10 hour ride. During that time I decided that I will abandon the Balkans for the Baltics. So I will be going to Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia. That means I will probably also go to Poland, Budapest, Hungary, and might even make it to Berlin. This means missing out on Albania, Macedonia, Romania and, most likely, even Greece. It may also mean that, in order to get to Istanbul, I will probably have to fly there. Either that or go there directly after Sofia and then fly north from there.

As you can see, there are still decisions to be made. I need to sit down with a map and a calendar and sort out what works best.

For the moment, I will say this: Zagreb looks like love at first sight. I would love to live within weekend getaway distance of Plitvice Lakes. I can really do without all the cigarette smoke in the Balkans. I'm immensely relieved that the heat wave has broken, and am a bit bemused that I now need a sweater to go out, even in midday. I hate that Europeans eat songbirds. And I miss my friends and Boz. Will you visit me if I decide to stay?

Dolce Vita, a small serving

After the Devastation, Magic

Ruminations on Dubrovnik
Sometimes, though certainly not always, the world rewards a risk. It certainly rewarded my impulsive decision to end my time on the sailboat and set off on a Friday night in search of a place to stay in Dubrovnik. On a weekend, let me emphasize, in high tourist season. My friends, Marina and Carmela, went in search of a taxi while I waited at the bus stop in an effort to make sure I found a way into town to look for a place.
In a country that is strange to me, where I don't know the customs or the clues to knowing whether someone is shooting straight or taking advantage of a rube from America, three people at the bus stop, traveling together, began to chat with me. I mentioned that I was going to town to look for a room, planning to stop at the travel agency mentioned in my tour book. Steve, the husband of Tea (two syllables), said that agency was closed, and anyway, no agency would be open at 9 PM on a Friday night. Tea, clearly perceiving that I was adrift, made a phone call to a friend who just happened to have a room available, even though I only wanted it for two nights (3 nights is the usual minimum). It was 70 Euros per night, about $90, but it had AC, which my heat rash made a necessity. I protested that the price was high, but Tea informed me that I was lucky it was available, that I would like it, and the price, it seemed, was not open to discussion.
About that time, Marina and Carmela came by in a taxi, offering me a lift. I let them know that it appeared I had a room, so they could go on into town and I would connect with them later.
But I really wasn't sure. I didn't know these folks at all, and had no idea if they were setting me up to take my money, put me up in their sister's boss's cousin's hovel at triple the usual price, or if they were on the level.
So I got on the bus with them, and got off where they did, outside Pile Gate into Old Town. They said the proprietress's son was coming to take me to the house. And there was Alberto. He looked alright. He and Tea and Steve (the third person at the bus stop was Marc, from France) greeted each other warmly, and Alberto led me away.
Through dark, winding alleys. Late at night, in a strange town. And me without my brass knuckles. We walked a few blocks, all uphill, me sweating buckets, mostly from the heat. He finally put his key into a large metal door set into a stone wall that was two stories high if it was a foot. And opened it onto a well-tended garden that smelled of lavender and rosemary. He led me up still more steps, and opened the door into an impossibly neat, divinely cool room with herringbone wood or parquet floors. He came back shortly with a large bottle of water for me, and wished me a good night without even asking for a deposit.
I dropped my packs, stripped off my sweat-soaked clothes, drank a bunch of water and fell gratefully into bed.
Travel magic makes me believe all is not lost.

My hostess turned out to be very gracious and accommodating. Her dog, a little terrier named Moki, barks and snaps at people as they leave, never having become accustomed to new friends leaving week in, week out.
The couple I met at the bus stop own five galleries in town, and Tea is a local celebrity who authored a book on Dubrovnik for visitors, complete with charming illustrations by a famous Italian illustrator. I ran into her and Steve the next day at two separate times (it's a small town). Tea showed me their atelier, told me I mustn't leave town on Monday, as I planned, so I could come to the opening exhibit of Marc, from France, who turns out to be a very fine artist (who I ran into the following day). Tea enjoyed showing me around, teasing me that I distrusted this "old woman" at the bus stop who turned out to be my benefactress. We had a good time teasing each other for a bit, until she dropped me in a chair at Dolce Vita, the locals' favorite gelateria, with instructions to make myself fat there. The next day I found a way to extend my stay until Thursday morning in order to accept Tea's invitation to attend Marc's opening Wednesday night.
What a pleasure to be here. The main question I have now is this:
How does a city, that was pretty much obliterated in a civil war (ludicrous term) fewer than twenty years ago, rebuild not only their city but their sense of hospitality so they can be, not just welcoming, but playful and artful? I'm enchanted.

Taking on Tolle

"The most common ego identifications have to do with possessions, the work you do, social status and recognition, knowledge and education, physical appearance, special abilities, relationships, personal and family history, belief systems, and often political, nationalistic, racial, religious, and other collective identifications. None of these is you." ~Eckhart Tolle

 

I've not read Tolle – this quotation was sent to me as is – so I don't know the context. Taken as is, this statement is both true and not true. If none of those are me, do I still have responsibility for them? Cannot others describe me accurately, if incompletely, by referring to them? It's true that none of the qualities, singly or in aggregate, are a complete definition of us, but they do serve a function in knowing who we are, so they are not useless or entirely false.

Our Job Description

The Obama campaign asked Americans to write about what the Inauguration meant to us. My response was as follows:

On Inauguration Day, Barack Obama will stand as proxy for every American: as he takes the oath of office, every one of us must renew our dedication to the work that gave our nation its life. President Obama will face challenges that he will only be able to meet if Americans continue and build on the work begun by our forefathers.

We are the children and grandchildren of the “tired, poor, huddled masses, yearning to breathe free.” They did not want and would not tolerate life without the freedoms needed to do good work, raise loving families, and build vibrant communities. Refusing to acquiesce to a government that curtailed their dreams, they fought instead to design one that would protect our freedoms, check our baser instincts, and further our aspirations.

On American Torture

My friend Tom got me started on this when he said, apropos my letter to Obama about torture, that "I only wish we had done to them what they did to Nick Berg and Daniel Pearl." You may recall that both of these men were beheaded.

Before I get to torture, let me take a short digression to fanaticism.

On Marriage Equality

I wrote this on the New Mexican's web site in a discussion responding to the article about NM Dems including marriage equality in their platform. (I go by a pseudonym on some blogs.) This is in response to Mary Lou, who said, in part

How are you not treated equal? [. . .] Why do you gay and lesbians think you're owed something different. Marriage for last time is between a man and woman. get it through that thick skull of yours. (sic throughout)

On the Response to "Bombing" the Moon

I've been a part of three discussions on FB with the same basic theme: bombing the moon is not only a boondoggle, it is profoundly, epically immoral. I'd like to summarize the two points of view which oppose this mission, and then invite discussion.

How to Improve America, Part One

1) Whenever a politician or media person appears in public, they must wear patches, a la NASCAR drivers, identifying their top 5 corporate "sponsors". In print or on TV they must be identified as follows: "Rep. Smith (D-NM; BAC, GS, XOM)" or "Glenn Beck (Fox; AIG, C, PFE)" citing the stock symbol for each major contributor/advertiser. On radio, this information should be read by way of introduction. This should include major contributors by industry, e.g., pharmaceuticals, carbon-based energy, churches, etc.

Dear Mr. President

January 19, 2009

Dear Mr. President,

I’ve often said that, when we were remembering September 11, we were remembering the wrong day. September 12, 2001, was the day we all stood united in compassion for each other. While September 11^th was the day when so many loved ones died, September 12^th was the day when we showed how resilient are our hearts – a greater tribute to our dead than all the fretting over tributes and monuments and security strategies.

I am writing this on the observance of Martin Luther King’s birthday, which you have made a day of national service this year in anticipation of your inauguration. Today I feel that America is returning to the heart we showed on September 12^th. Today I feel hope that we might meet the challenges that face us as a nation and a species.

Do It Yourself Revolution

There is an e-mail that circulates every year that tells people not to buy gas on May 15^th. It dubiously claims that a similar protest against gas prices in 1997 resulted in a 30-cent drop in the price of gas "overnight". A version of this e-mail has been going around since e-mail was invented.

There are three problems with this suggestion, the least of which is that it won't work.

Dolphins and Repentance

(In response to a conversation begun by Mary Trainor-Brigham, author of Deep Cinema: Film as Shamanic Initiation, on Facebook. Edited.)

Fascinating, seeing Ric O’Barry’s film, The Cove, as a kind of hero’s journey. I have chosen not to see the film, as I have difficulty processing scenes of graphic violence. I felt like I had seen all I needed or wanted to when I saw the trailer.

What strikes me, though, is how complex it all is, this living and making sense of living – especially for those who attempt to live mindfully and do good in the world.

Energy: Should We Buy It, or Grow Our Own?

"Economies of scale" is not a phrase often heard around Farmers' Markets, but perhaps it should be, once it's been stood on its head. It is an idea that has been used to justify and support the dominance of large, national or multi-national operations of all kinds. It's often used in discussions about efficiency and avoiding waste, and it must be said that there ARE efficiencies to large operations. But there are costs – not so much hidden as not discussed – as recent experience with banks insurance companies and oil companies has proven.

Though global agribusiness provides blueberries in winter, the costs are compelling: lack of freshness and nutritional content, chemical and genetic alterations that many find less appealing than the benefits promised, and the gigantic carbon footprint from transportation, deforestation and fertilizers. A global agricultural infrastructure does have upsides – if you simply must have blueberries on your cereal in winter – but the downsides are giving rise to discussions about organics, family farms, foodsheds and locavores: all about economies of a smaller scale.

Massive producers of meat can put a chicken in every pot, and a burger on every Weber grill. They do it so cheaply that the food of choice for the poor is now fast food meat accompanied by a soft drink that is sweetened by (government-subsidized) corn derivatives. To get meat this cheap, we have to set aside any semblance of humane treatment of these animals, either during their lives or in their deaths. We have to give them hormones to get them ready for market much more quickly than Nature could do it, and antibiotics because they are living, in the case of chickens, literally right on top of each other, and illness would decimate their population without drugs. Cheap meat has a downside, especially for the animals, but also for us. (Author Isaac Bashevis Singer said he became a vegetarian, not for his own health, but for that of the chickens.) Most meat found at Farmers' Markets, from local or regional ranchers, avoids at least some of these problems, and some ranchers are exemplary.

The changes we are making in the way we grow food can provide a model for improving the way we generate energy.

For generations we have enjoyed the benefits of a cheap, centralized, carbon-based economy. Gasoline, natural gas, coal and oil have given us the gifts of fertilizers, home heating without a lot of smoke and soot, the freedom to "drive around and think," as I did when I was a new driver and gas was nineteen cents a gallon, the convenience of plastics. Honestly, it's been a blast. No wonder a lot of people want to deny that the solutions to earlier problems have themselves become a problem. You can't blame them, really, except the ones who know better. "It is difficult to get a man to understand something," said Upton Sinclair, "when his salary depends upon his not understanding it."

Like Food, Inc., however, Carbon, Inc.'s downsides are eclipsing its benefits: asthma at epidemic levels, landscapes ruined for generations, fouled air, climate changes of uncertain severity, wars for oil, a blight on ecology and economy alike.

Consider these consequences of our continuing reliance on carbon fuels:

• Americans spend $1 billion every single day on imported fuel.
• Much of this money goes to regimes with which we are at war.
• So we finance armies, and then spend more money (and lives) fighting them . . .
• while they control our fuel lines.
• Sending this kind of money abroad costs us about 2 million jobs at home . . .
• and buries us under massive trade deficits and debt . . .
• while our fuel and our money literally go up in smoke.

 

We haven't always been painted into this corner, but we're here now, and it's time to get out. Past time. According to The Breakthrough Institute's November 2009 report, "Rising Tigers," China, Japan and South Korea are all already ahead of us in developing clean energy technologies. They are investing at a level three times that of the U.S., even counting the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act's dramatic increase in funding. Allowing our competitors to gain this early lead is madness, when we have it within our power to end our dependence on other nations for our energy. We're dependent on OPEC now: why not sell clean energy in the new economy, instead of buying it?

The good news is, thirty-three states, including New Mexico, began the transition to clean energy over the last decade. It's already generating jobs. A Pew Charitable Trust study in June found that the clean energy economy grew at more than double the rate of the rest of the economy: 9.1%, compared to 3.7%. In New Mexico the contrast was breathtaking: 50.1% compared to 1.9%.

Clean energy also attracts investment: one company with operations in New Mexico has made jet fuel from algae: they have received almost $250 million from private and government sources in just the last two years. At an Investor Summit on Climate Risk, hosted by the UN this year, investors representing $22 trillion (that's with a T, yes) in potential investments are waiting on governments to show resolve before they invest. The money is there. Will we let it go to China, Japan and South Korea?

Call your state and national representatives. Tell them you want us, not just to compete, but to lead. Tell them you're tired of seeing our economy and our environment mired in oil and up in smoke. The really good news is that, as the truth has come out about big banks and big food conglomerates, it is coming out about the deficits of a carbon-based economy. New technologies are on their way: whether we have a hand in creating them is up to us.

Christian Nation?

The following is a response to an article bemoaning the fact that this country, a majority of whose citizens are Christian, is not defined as a Christian nation. His column is at http://www.nmpolitics.net/index/2009/12/the-majority-of-americans-overruled-by-a-minority/#comment-9481.

The author's line of inquiry is utterly befuddling, because it leaves so many obvious questions unasked, as well as unanswered. Are not Christians free to practice their Christianity, whichever form they practice, here? Yes, unequivocally. So what is missing? Is there a point to defining this as a Christian nation? Is it not enough to know that one can practice and believe as one wants, and to know that more of our citizens are Christians of some kind than any of the minority faiths? Doesn't the author's desire to ask candidates if they would uphold this as a Christian nation go against the spirit, if not the letter, of Article VI of the Constitution?