"For [David] Brower [who led the Sierra Club] wilderness was the place "where man could be alone, where you could rescue your self from what Ortega calls the other — all the extraneities that pile on you too deep." From Nature's Altars, p216 This is my way of saying I'm going to hit the PacificContinue reading “Brower: Wilderness a place to rescue yourself”
Category Archives: thinking out loud
What makes this New York subway pic so disturbing?
It's a question. I really don't know…but I do think this pic is scary. Is it because we can't tell if this is a man or a woman? Is it because we can't tell if he/she is just surprised, or really angry? Is it the surreal aspect — the fur coat versus the scuzzy subway,Continue reading “What makes this New York subway pic so disturbing?”
Love as a force of nature: Jeanette Winterson
From an untitled post at Soaked in Soul: "I used to be a hopeless romantic. I am still a hopeless romantic. I used to believe that love was the highest value. I still believe that love is the highest value. I don’t expect to be happy. I don’t imagine that I will find love, whatever that means,Continue reading “Love as a force of nature: Jeanette Winterson”
Why gay men like Marilyn Monroe: Caitlin Flanagan
Caitlin Flanagan, the writer, has a lot of nerve, and the arrogance can grate on a reader. (And maybe grated on her editors at The New Yorker too, which might explain why she's not there anymore.) A writer who reviewed her most recent book went on air with her and Tom Ashbrook a year ago andContinue reading “Why gay men like Marilyn Monroe: Caitlin Flanagan”
What to do about cigarettes, and why: Mayor Bloomberg
Mayor Bloomberg thinks cigarettes are bad for you and should be kept out of sight, like porn: Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, fresh off a defeat in his campaign to limit large servings of sugary drinks, proposed legislation Monday requiring stores to put cigarettes out of public sight and to increase penalties on the smuggling and illegal salesContinue reading “What to do about cigarettes, and why: Mayor Bloomberg”
Why Obama should ask a farmer to lead on climate change
The acerbic Timothy Egan of the NYTimes has an interesting idea, re: the politics of climate change: It’s one thing to persuade hipsters in Portland, Ore., or Brooklyn to grow organic — hey, how cool is an artisan radish — in their rooftop gardens. It’s a much tougher push to get Big Ag, made upContinue reading “Why Obama should ask a farmer to lead on climate change”
Could climate change explain good spring job numbers?
David Drayen thinks out loud: …experienced jobs-report watchers have noticed an odd trend over the past several years, one that could temper optimism over the positive indicators for February. Since the start of the recovery in early 2010, the BLS [Bureau of Labor Statistics] reports have shown solid growth numbers in the winter and earlyContinue reading “Could climate change explain good spring job numbers?”
The Sierra Club High Trips and why women liked them
In the High Trips, for about thirty years at the start of the 20th century, the Sierra Club as a mountaineering club peaked, surely. On those brilliantly organized journeys, as many as 200 people at time went into the High Sierras, having committed to a walk of a minimum of two hundred miles, over several weeks of hiking. Though theContinue reading “The Sierra Club High Trips and why women liked them”
Be true to your depression: James Hillman
The late great Jungian analyst James Hillman, on depression. Christian myth, the soul, and the path depression offers to those who experience it. From his compilation A Blue Fire: "Depression. Because Christ resurrects, moments of despair, darkening, and desertion cannot be valid in themselves. Our one model insists on light at the end of theContinue reading “Be true to your depression: James Hillman”
Fracking: Pro, Con and (possible) Compromise for CA
The Wall Street Journal is excited about the possibilities of fracking for California: California has Saudi Arabia-scale oil resources, notably in its largely untapped Monterey shale field, which stretches northeast for more than 200 miles from Bakersfield in central California. New technologies, especially smart, horizontal drilling and hydrofracturing, aka "fracking," make that oil accessible, andContinue reading “Fracking: Pro, Con and (possible) Compromise for CA”
Kit Stolz 