This post is before my upcoming solo backpack trip to Boucher Creek in the Grand Canyon. I’ll provide a little background beforehand, then follow up with another post after the trip with photos and commentary. The plan calls for a spiritual retreat, similar to what some Christians do when they, for example, go to a … Read more
People today yearn for spiritual things but are less and less attracted to churches. Religion provides an organized way to delve into spiritual matters, but most people would rather wing it. Why call yourself Christian, Buddhist, Muslim, or Jew when you can simply be a spiritual person? This attractive idea suggests that we should be … Read more
Of course, that title is a riff on the essay by Sigmund Freud about how societies need religion to function. He was not religious but saw the ideals of selfless love, generosity, and care for poor people as foundational for human communities. The title also riffs on a song that riffs on the Freud essay. … Read more
Many people sometimes feel a certain sense of place. This feeling can come from varied ideas and experiences and, therefore, be impossible to pin down. Whatever it is, many acknowledge it, and few are oblivious. While physical places take up space, like cities, houses, restaurants, mountains, and beaches, the sense of them is primarily mental. … Read more
In college during the mid-1970s, I couldn’t help being strongly impacted by a Dannon Yogurt commercial set in Soviet Georgia that suggested a link between yogurt eating and longevity. Yogurt was not something our family knew about at that time, and the grocery stores did not yet have entire cold cases filled with it. This … Read more
If you have read Les Misérables by Victor Hugo, you know the novel is long, and the author goes off on numerous tangents. These can be engaging, depending on the reader’s personality. None of them make it into the movies. One side story is how the evil innkeeper, Thénardier, had previously been at Waterloo with … Read more
The typically dreary, drippy spring weather in Northwest Oregon had ended early this year, firming up the muddy forest trails. Even as a new resident, Blake White knew these conditions were atypical. Warm, sunny weather is never guaranteed here until July. But this morning, Blake slept in, feeling perfectly comfortable in his tent. Early June … Read more
The title, Words Connect Us, is a hypothesis if one asks, “Connect us to what?” I suggest two primary connections: ourselves and other people. The third way is connecting to our physical surroundings, the world, the universe, and the simple fact of our existence. Humans use words as symbols, metaphors, and mental placeholders associated with … Read more
We live on the northwest side of Portland, Oregon, about elevation 500 feet, with the ridge line of the Tualatin Mountain Range rising to over 1000 feet to our north. Skyline Drive runs along the crest, with Forest Park to the northeast. Straddling Skyline Drive and to its southeast, homes lie on large wooded lots, … Read more
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People come in many shapes, sizes, and colors. And with widely varying music tastes. I’m a boomer, so Taylor Swift doesn’t do much for me. Yet, that might not be the only reason, O Reader, that you may avert your eyes or click away from this post. I will try to keep you here a … Read more
Consider the humorous convergence of human ideas separated by thirty-five centuries. We think we are so advanced, yet two things spoken of mythologically in the Bible have acquired literal meaning today. Lately, I delved into how humans might have gained language and whether any of the other animals could learn to communicate with a smidgeon … Read more
We humans live in a water world. Our bodies are about 60% water. We and all the other animals cannot go long without drinking it. Earth’s surface area is 71% liquid water. Earth’s atmosphere soaks up moisture like a sponge. Clouds move it from place to place, condense into rain and snowfall, and wet the … Read more
If you have ever felt that previous times were pretty good, maybe great, you might long for them with a sigh and mention the good ole days. Probably many of us have no such experience unless we want to include the least bad days. But you’d be short-sighted to feel deserving of pity. No matter … Read more
Social media can encourage people to think ideas have great weight based only on popularity. The more creative a statement, the more it proliferates. The funnier ones get lots of laughs, and who wouldn’t want to enjoy a momentary escape from life’s difficulties? This relatively new form of worldwide communication has precedence: the Wild, Wild … Read more
One of the oddest cultural features of the new millennia is the concept of alternate facts or the idea that we are each entitled to a personal reality regardless of what anyone else may think. Perhaps influenced by postmodern philosophers, these people insist they have certainty about their viewpoints. In the past, we accepted that … Read more
For both nature and history, the peninsula draws curious investigators. Named by the early Spanish explorer Sebastian Vizcaino “la Punta de los Reyes” (Point of the Kings), the area is now a National Seashore. From Highway 1, access the peninsula via a non-descript road going west from the town of Point Reyes Station. Following CA … Read more
Aaron and I headed down the Grandview Trail in early May 2023. This backcountry trailhead is about 12 miles east of the main park area. The trail is not well maintained and a sign at the top cautions users. Here’s a map of the south rim area and the blue box shows the zoomed in … Read more
As scientists progress at mapping genomes, many ordinary folks may wonder if any of these researchers are also gnomes. Who could do the job better than someone combining both manifestations? The Basenji genome is particularly interesting among domestic dogs because this canine is among the most genetically unaltered dog types. Calling the Basenji a breed … Read more
A glaring human failing underlies two seemingly unrelated global problems: planetary degradation and war. We cannot unite as a human family enough to change either threat. Easier of the two, environmental degradation might have a built-in fail-safe mechanism: humans cannot sustainably live off the land. They will kill themselves before recovery goes beyond a tipping … Read more