Jim Putnam - Thinking Through My Fingers

Waking To A New Reality

As Marrianna said to friends in an email, "The election is, at last and at least, over!"  Its consequences aren't though.  For me, I am a bit depressed and worried, but hope that the divided Congress will somehow force them all to come together.

Six years ago, when George W. Bush won his second term I was actually much more depressed than I am now.  I actually thought there was a possibility that he and the Vice President would take over government to the result that we would lose rights and freedom.  I was wrong, it wasn't pretty but we survived, and I am sure that we will this time too.

TV analysts, bloggers, and pundits are trying to put together their best guess about what this election means.  My opinion is that it is much more complicated than anyone is writing today, and wont be determined for at six months, possibly a year.  Newcomers wont be seated until January, and it will take them some time to begin to exert their newly found power.

North Carolina turned to a Republican majority state house and senate for the first time since 1898.  That's amazing and scary because these are the folk who will redistrict, redrawing the lines for representative districts in accordance with the 2010 Census.  The redistricting process is well defined by statute, but no-one can predict what they will do to get around the statutes.  We have seen the strange districts drawn from the last census.

Changing the subject, as I've written several times I am very interested in education.  Today's "Learning with e's" post has an excellent column and video about exactly that.  The video is excellent, and the eleven minutes are easily the most interesting I had today.  Interesting not only for the content, but the technology behind the presentation.  I highly recommend it.  I will be researching more of Sir Ken Robinson't ideas about education.

I am finding Mr. Wheeler's blog to be one that brings more new material and ideas to my mind more than almost any other.  Ms Julie Heyward's Unreal Nature is another.  I envy both of them their ability to bring complex ideas to a blog entry.  Their methods are very different, but the effect, scratching the itch of my brain, is the same.  I appreciate them both.

I have to go spend time with Marrianna.  Though that sounds as if its a have to, actually it is a very welcome want to.

Rambling Thoughts

Tomorrow, November 2, 2010, is likely to be much more important in our future than anyone would thinks today.  It's the mid-term election day, in which all Representatives and one third of our US Senators are elected, and that is important enough all by itself.  The more important result of the decisions we make collectively tomorrow is going to be in the state legislatures.

These legislators will be tasked with re-designing the shapes of the districts from whom we elect US Representatives and Senators, using the data collected in this year's census.  If there is any doubt in your mind that the drawing of voting districts is a tool used by politicians to keep certain seats safe for their party, review the shape of the current districts in North Carolina, especially the Twelth District.  That strangely shaped district was challenged in Federal Court, finally reaching the Supreme Court, and some changes were done to conform to the lower court's ruling, but it is obvious to me that it remains a politically expendient district.

Seriously, with the mood of the populace today, I fear that redistricting is going to be even more contentious, producing more warped districts.  And that is going to have an immense effect of who we elect to our Congress for at least ten years.  At a time in our history that we are already partially polarized, the people who draw the new districts have the ability to legislate districts that keep us that way.

Returning briefly to yesterday's subject, "The American Dream", having re-read it I think I left out some important thoughts.  As I watch events in France, read of Great Britain's economic problems and their methods of approaching them, and hearing expectations of a US decade of doldrums similar to what Japan experienced, etc., my concerns sometimes verge on despair.  It seems that many people are unwilling to face the reality that the economic forces are going to have to be very different, and we will never return to old ways and jobs.

Facing a different future can be good if, and only if, viable replacement(s), economically and possibly politically, and probably also social changes can be expected and understood.  I don't get the feeling that either our politicians, business leaders, or academicians and social leaders are leading us in ways that will provide a secure, fair future for all, not only the US but other nations, other peoples and cultures also.  I don't see that occurring, especially in the more industrialized nations.  I suppose we've become used to our comfortable life styles and are resisting any change.  I hope that we can agree to the changes that are going to be necessary and don't have to concoct a war or wars to get out of this mess.  It's a really enormous challenge, and one I don't see anyone either explaining it to us all or, possibly more likely, that understand it at all, and less that seem willing to accept a new reality.

History doesn't have a very good record of adapting to large economic and social changes.  I'm not particularly hopeful that this technological change will slip in without upheaval that we've not prepared ourselves for.  We are accustomed to having jobs that allow an improvement from generation to generation.  Although there is evidence that environmental concerns have begun to affect how we live, there remain deep divisions about how much we will accept in terms of laws to inhibit pollution.

I am most concerned about education.  As I read "Learning with 'e's", I can see that there are educational leaders who are aqdopting and adapting to new methods.  I read a lot in the US that people will be subsidized to return to schools, normally Community Colleges, to learn new skills.  That is, to me, a weak, false answer to a much larger problem.  There's no sense retraining folk for jobs that will be phased out in the persons lifetime.  Elementary and secondary education that prepares a person for jobs that haven't even been thought of yet must begin now.  I have no idea how that can be done, but it's damn certainly necessary, and there seems to be enormous resistance to any kind of changes at these levels. 

Where does that leave the people in the middle today, the middle-agers whose jobs have disappeared and need another one?  That's a very difficult question.  And though I can see the problem, I have to leave it to others who know a lot more than I do to solve it.  I can envision that it's going to be the most difficult part of adapting to the new reality which I think is already upon us.  I think there's going to be some very difficult decisions, approaching social engineering, to solve it.

As I read what I've written, I am obviously an old guy who has retired and doesn't have to worry about it at all, spouting off about subjects which I have no expertise.  And that is very true.  But, as I observe polarization, angst, ignorance, and pure veniality permeating our political and social framework, I am concerned.  Writing here and voting is about all I can do.  Thanks for reading.

The American Dream

I've read and re-read Fareed Zakaria's "How To Restore The American Dream."  As I read it my thoughts switched back and forth several times, and there remain serious questions about his solutions.  Basically, however, he has pinpointed a serious problem and one I know we need to address quickly.

Let me begin with a minor quibble with the idea that there is an "American" dream.  Much of what he describes as the dream is the product of the entertainment industry.  Its location in America is certainly so.  But truthfully, the dream is not solely American.  I believe every man and every woman dreams of a better life, physically, financially, and emotionally, a life in which their children can be safe, educated, and able to work toward their full potential.  That entertainment and politicians have set that dream in America is wrong on many fronts.  But that's a small disagreement, and doesn't actually change the points that Zakaria makes in the article.

This recession may not have been on the scale of "The Great Depression", but I believe it will affect our future in a much deeper, longer lasting way.  Technology has changed everything.

Jack Welch explained the process succinctly on CNBC last September. "Technology has changed the game in jobs," he said. "We had technology bumping around for years in the '80s and '90s, and [we were] trying to make it work. And now it's working ... You couple the habits [of efficiency] from a deep recession [with] an exponential increase in technology, and you're not going to see jobs for a long, long time." Welch gave as an example a company owned by the private-equity firm with which he is affiliated. In 2007 the business had 26,000 employees and generated $12 billion in revenue. It will return to those revenue numbers by 2013 but with only 14,000 employees. "Companies have learned to do more with less," Welch said.

In the early 1980s, I worked for Jack Welch, many (many) layers down, when he was CEO of General Electric.  General Electric Information Systems provided teleprocessing services to small and large industries and companies.  The US was then in a smaller recession, but GEIS prospered because we could provide teleprocessing services to allow companies to function without as many workers.  I could see the up and down side of it even then.  We did a good service, but as a result some good people lost jobs, or had their functions redesigned.  Truthfully, our services allowed many people to focus on aspects of their jobs that were usually more interesting and certainly more productive, but it was evident that over time fewer people would be needed to provide innovation and ideas.

Changing course slightly, between the previous paragraph and this one, Marrianna and I went to an 80th birthday celebration for a friend of Marrianna's.  There were lots of people, and I got into a conversation with another guy.  He is about my age, perhaps a couple of years younger, and is a retired investments manager.  Our conversation drifted through several topics, and then touched upon our current recession and what is going to happen as we come out of it.  We agreed that Jack Welch was correct that the number of jobs would be much less with implementation of technology.  Neither of us had an answer about what will provide jobs for people that need them.  He is convinced that the politicians and fiscal managers of our government will try to inflate ourselves out of the mountains of debt we are in.

Zakaria states the obvious, "There are solutions, but they are hard and involve painful changes — in companies, government programs and personal lifestyles."  He prescribes several parts of a solution: Shift from consumption to investment; training and education; Fiscal sanity; and Benchmark, Benchmark, Benchmark.  He may be correct, and certainly some portion of each of these need to happen.  But to me there just seems to be something more, something missing from his article.  I am not sure what it is, but I think it is something akin to trust.  Recent years have eroded the trust that is essential to an effective society, culture, or nation.  We don't trust one another, states don't trust the federal government, businesses depend on lobbyists to buy an edge over competitors, and nations seem to be trying to dance around one another because they don't have a sense that the other can be trusted.

Nothing will change, not in companies, government programs, or personal lifestyles until either a rock bottom is reached in which there is no other option or we decide to trust one another.  And, to me decide is key.  Somehow or another, we must simply make the decision to change ourselves and our systems of living with and governing ourselves.

Deciding will have to occur in many ways, some of which Zakaria has outlined.  It may sound defeatist, but I believe that the people of my nation, the United States of America, also need to understand that we are a part of a much larger world.  We have to accept that we are a part of the problem and must be a part of the solution.  If that means slower growth, then we must adapt.  We cannot continue to consume the ugly proportions of world resources we have for so long.  We have to decide that global warming is real and change accordingly.  Our allocation of funds to the military must change.  There's no excuse or need for our military to have so much of our limited resources. 

Another de- word that is necessary is demand.  This frightens me to say, but it's time that we demand better of ourselves and our government, and I'm not speaking of demanding more for ourselves and our personal pocketbooks.  We urgently need to demand more of our representatives.  And if we don't get it, then it's time to cause change.

I dream of an America that leads and is an example for others by the way it lives rather than by its entertainment exports.  My dream has us partners rather than competitors.  In my dream, we are secure but not dominant.  There remain problems, but they aren't considered insoluable.  Our education systems provide the skills required for graduates to achieve their highest dreams.  There's no barrier to upward mobilization by race, gender, or culture.  Our poorest are provided support and incentive without demoralizing or demeaning them.  And, in my dream, those who are most successful financially will contribute more to help others, either through their own giving or through a tax system.

And in my book, that is the American Dream.

Violence, Culture, and Gender

Though it has taken over a week to get around to writing the column I promised in my last post, I've finally gathered my thoughts, or at least think I have.  I've also discussed the blog posts referenced in that post with Marrianna, and have a sense of what she thinks.  Actually, her thoughts and mine aren't very different.

Getting directly to the point, I am very sure that violence is culturally based, more prevalent in males than females, and that we carry the cultural norms of our youth with us as we age, and change cultures and locations.  Men are more likely to resort to violence than women, but even that is a generalization that can't withstand close examination.

In my opinion, it is more than cultural norms.  Ta-Nehesi Coates, to his credit, recognizes that his "I ain't no punk" response was inappropriate.  But, in my opinion, it was completely understandable, understood, and probably more effective without necessarily following through with the implied threat.  It immediately changed the situation from confrontation to retreat and withdrawal.  It's a confrontation that perhaps I would have, or at least like to think I would have, made in a similar situation, though I would have probably not been capable of backing the threat with the implied violence.

TNC's Baltimore streets certainly instilled a certain culture.  For the most part, he was able to leave parts of it behind as he moved into other cultures, but it shook him a bit that there were remnants that reappeared when pressed.  That's key, it seems to me, and expressed by Marrianna.  To Marrianna, his most impressive trait was his awareness that his response in that situation had been partially a return to old norms.  And, that he realized those norms were inappropriate.  Marrianna said he realized his reactions had been influenced by old norms.  To her, his awareness was important.  Awareness is important to assist people to change.

Violence as exhibited by female gender is a completely different subject.  Marrianna says that gender differences are probably instilled by parents, that they teach girls different responses to physical confrontations than they do boys.  I disagree.  I think it's more likely a result of eons of responses to physically dominant males determining better ways of survival than violence.  Though I am certainly no geneticist, and therefore have no credible evidence, by this time it may have become imbedded as a genetic trait.

When I was a kid my mother taught my brother and me that we should avoid fighting whenever possible.  But if we were to get into a fight, for whatever reason, to fight fairly until it was evident that we were losing, and then to do whatever necessary, pick up the biggest stick, to win.  I've thought of that several times over my years, and wonder whether I would be able to do it.  I've actually fought very few fights, most under some sort of street rules in which picking up the stick would have been extremely bad form.  For much of my teen years I lived in fear of two guys in my neighborhood.  One, a very good boxer, would beat on me whenever he saw me.  I never won one with him, but never picked up the stick either.  I did learn to box a little, out of necessity taking some lessons from a high school teacher who had boxed.  Other fights, and there weren't many, l lost some, won one.

When street culture is extended to national politics, it is rarely thought of as street culture, but I can, in hindsight, see that some of the US nuclear policy was, and current Iraq and Afghanistan policies is, based very neatly on TNC's street culture "I ain't no punk," and to an extent on my mother's methodology.

I've lost the subject somewhere, but that isn't particularly important to me.  I think the important lesson to take from all this is from Marrianna.  The important thing is to be aware of the origins and causes of violence in one's responses and to change when necessary.  The same lesson would be good for the US.

I'll try to respond to the other link, "How To Restore The American Dream." in my next post, probably this weekend.  In the overall context of today's policies and politics, it could be the more important post.

Thoughts From Others

We've been home over a week, and other than a post recapping our trip, I've had nothing.  While excuses still seem like elbows, I have one.  I acquired a bad cold and have spent more time sleeping than thinking.  That, along with Marrianna's wonderful home-made chicken soup, have returned me to semi-normal state, though there are those who would say semi-normal is my norm.

I have managed to drag myself to the study and read both books and blogs.  While the books I've read are entirely useless in terms of requiring thought, I did read a recent blog that has me thinking.  I've enlisted Marrianna to read it to provide a sociologist's perspective and clarify my thoughts on the subject, but she hasn't yet responded.  So this will introduce the blogger and the blog post(s) that started my thought process.

This blogger, Ta-Nehesi Coates, has in my opinion consistently well written and thought out posts over an impressive range of subjects.  He is on my Bookmarks Toolbar, and I read him almost every day.  His post that I've been thinking about since yesterday when he posted it is "A Culture of Poverty."  There's a follow-up post today, "Violence, Culture, and Gender".

As I say, I've asked Marrianna to read this, and that she also read the comments.  TNC has a set of readers and commenters that carry on a, for the most part and with some exceptions, well educated, intelligent conversation.  Of course - well maybe of course is inappropriate - that would be expected with readers of "The Atlantic."  I urge you to read the first post and comments at least, and hopefully the second also.  When I get Marrianna's thoughts I intend to write about this again.

Another article I read that has me thinking is in Time's online magazine, and probably the printed version as well.  It's by Fareed Zakaria, and titled "How To Restore The American Dream.  This is long, but about a very important subject, and Zakaria has stirred thoughts I've had muddling around since this "Recession" began. I don't have time to explore them this evening, but I believe Zakaria has some good ideas.  I think his premise of restoring the American Dream is too narrow.  I don't partricularly want to restore the American Dream, because I think the American Dream was too USA-centered and based on erroneous assumptions, but he does have some good points.  I urge you to read his article, and I will be returning to this too in various ways.

Notes From Our Trip

We arrived home Wednesday afternoon and I'm just getting around to posting about our trip.  I may be a tad slow, but heck, I'm retired and don't have to hurry anywhere.  We had a wonderful trip, in three very different parts.

New York is just a wonderful state, at least upstate New York.  At this time of the year, even when it is raining, the scenery is beautiful.  Most folk up there take care of their roadsides and it's difficult to find trash and junk scattered alongside the road.  I congratulate them for their ecological sensitivity and wish that my own state of North Carolina would take lessons. 

It was raining for much of our travel time, but while we were settled in one place, the weather was absolutely perfect.  I have several photos of NY scenery, but much of it looks dreary in the rain.  This one may be an exception.  I can't recall which this is of the many lakes of that part of the state, but I like the mood of the photo.  It was raining, but the color kept the eye's attention.

 

They live in a wonderful house in a little town named Paul Smith's, about nine miles from Saranac lake.   Marrianna has told me several times there is no apostrophe in the name, but there's one on the walls of the entrance to the campus, and I'm sticking with that.  The house is on five acres with a large hill rising behind it.  There is a small cabin on the hill that can be used for different things.  Anastasia has used it for yoga, and Morgan has retreated there to write, but I sure don't know how they are going to do either when the snow comes.

The underlying reason for the trip was to see Quinn, our grandson.  Of course, we also did other things, like tour the countryside, see a Native American's personal museum, visit Lake Placid and Saranac lake.  These are all great, but still Quinn garnered the most photos.  I'm just going to pull two here.  The first is outside, and it's obvious that the weather was beautiful.

The second is one of a series of about thirty taken over less than twenty minutes as he sat in his high chair with Cheerios finger food.  There are a few good ones, but this one is my favorite.   When this kid laughs, he really gets into it, throwing his head back and having a good time.

We left New York and drove south through the most beautiful color I've ever seen.  We stopped for the night in Bradford, PA, and the next day continued to Deep Creek Lake and Garrett County, MD, where we visited friends for four days.  The local towns were having their Autumn Glory Days festival, and these folk know how to do it.  In fact, they do their October festival so well that MSN rated their Octoberfest at the best in the world, over second place Munich, Germany.  It's fun, and there is something for everyone, every age.

The first night we weree there we went to the town fire hall for an Octoberfest dinner.  They had a band playing inside, and a night parade of fire engines, bands, and local celebrities.  I used my new camera to make a slightly over one minute movie of the band and one drummer lady in particular.   I don't think you'd like to see the entire movie, but here's one still of her playing.  She's a pleasure to watch, and if I decide that the slightly over one minute strip, with music, isn't too long or large for the blog, I'll post it later.

There was also a glass blowing demonstration, and other events that we didn't have time to fit in.  There was another parade, an antique show, an old car show, and a quilt show that we did.  The quilts were wonderful, though I don't think any were better than what I do.  Marrianna saw one quilt that she had to have, so we are now the owners of another quilt.   This is the one she bought, and it is now hanging on the banister above the living room.

After stopping to see Marrianna's Aunt Thelma, we came home.  It was good to sleep in our own bed after almost three weeks in other people's, even though our hosts completely made us comfortable and were wonderfully gracious.  Marrianna and I have looked at each other several times since we got back and said how absolutely wonderful this trip has been.  We are thankful for friends and family that made it so.

From Asheville, NC

We have stopped in Asheville to visit Marrianna's Aunt Thelma.  She has had a very rough two plus weeks, with two hospitalizations and multiple problems.  She had the family worried, so we decided to come here on our way home to see her. 

She said that she had been sick - everything just stopped were her words.  She knew everyone had believed she was dying, but that reports of her death had been wrong.  Now she is feeling much better, and I have no doubt that she will be with us a while longer.

This morning when we walked into her room, expecting her to be in bed and unable to communicate, we discovered once again how resilient this old lady (91) really is.  She was sitting in her chair, eating the last of her breakfast, greeted us with delight, and carried on a good conversation for two hours.  Marrianna is with her now, while I'm supposed to be napping. But this is the first internet connection I've had for over a week, and I'm not going to let a nap get in the way.

Tomorrow we will go home, one day shy of three weeks after we left.  It has been a wonderful trip, with beauty in both the scenery and people who we have visited.  New York, Pennsylvania, western Maryland, West Virginia and Tennessee are at the height of their leaf color seasons, and we thoroughly enjoyed driving through them all.

Yesterday was a bit long.  We knew the drive from Deep Lake, Maryland to Asheville would be long, 450 miles approximately, but we made it much longer by making a wrong turn in Bristol, TN, adding about 75 miles to the trip.  We had expected to be in Asheville about 7:00 PM, instead it was after 9:00, and we were exhausted.

I'm going to close here, for now.  I'll try to write more and include a few photos this evening.

Trip Report With Photos

 I said that I would include some photos of our trip when I could.  This post is an attempt to follow-up.

As I wrote, we went to the Newseum in Washington, DC last week.  I actually took lots of photos, but to me pictures of a museum, even one as interesting as the Newseum, are about as interesting as watching paint dry.  I actually got more interesting photos of DC outside the Newseum than I did of the Newseum itself.

I like geometric patterns, and this photo of DC street markings reflected in the glass of the Newseum just grabbed my eye.  I have several of these, but this is the best I think.

  Ialso took some of DC landmarks.  These two are my favorites.  They're shot from the third floor deck of the Newseum.  The first shows the flags of the  
Canadian Embassy next door, with the Capitol in the background.  This second shows the Capitol  alone, shot with a digital telephoto. 

I can't emphasize enough how interesting, well designed, and informative the Newseum is.  It is a real pleasure going through it.   There are six floors of exhibits, as this next photo shows.

We all rode DC's Metrorail downtown and back.   I took  lots of people photos, and some of what I consider very nice graffitti on walls next to the tracks.  Here is an example of each.  Some may not consider graffitti either interesting or art, but I do.  Another example of graffitti is on the Berlin Wall segment in the Newseum.

 

 

A fun photo taken on the Metrorail is this.  The good looking one is our Maryland friend.  The guy is me, playing with the camera.  I suppose I should be glad I didn't break it.

 

 

We left Maryland for New York the next day, stopping for a day in Cooperstown.  As expected, New York is ablaze with color.  This is taken from behind our motel  in Cooperstown.

Cooperstown has more than the National Baseball Hall of Fame.  The James Fennimore Art Museum is there, and there is an excellent Farmer's Museum there also. 

These photos are taken behind the Fennimore.  First, I've indulged my geometric patterns.  We were sitting at tables outside, my camera was on the table.  I noticed the camera was on, with the table top filling the screen.

 

 

Interesting though that may be (to me), this is more interesting to anyone with good sense.  It's taken of the lake. 

 

The next is of the grounds. 

Last, another of the grounds.

We continued on to Paul Smith's the next day.  As I've said, this is a beautiful area, but it is really time to close this post and save some of those photos for another post.

Update:  In closing, I've reviewed the actual blog post, and have attempted to correct placement of the photos, but am not sure I've made it any better.

 

Saranac Lake, NY

Upstate New York is among the most beautiful areas I have seen in the US, not THE most beautiful but certainly among the best.  Even though there have been clouds and rain, this area is beautiful in the fall.

On Monday, our friends and Marrianna and I went downtown to the Newseum, Washington DC's latest museum.  We were there over five hours, and I can report that this museum is the best that I have visited in the city.  I hope to go back again, and there aren't a lot of museums I can say that about.

We drove to Cooperstown, NY Tuesday, stayed two nights, and then continued to Paul Smith's, NY, a small college town about 15 miles from Saranac Lake.  Everywhere you look around here is another lake.  Paul Smith's - yes its name is hyphenated - is a small college whose primary major study areas are forestry and hospitality management.  I hear their graduates get excellent starting positions in hotel and travel management.

Anastasia, Morgan, and of course Quinn are fine.  I have photos - in fact of every place since we left home - but have not had time to get them loaded into the laptop so as to facilitate getting any included in the blog.

This morning, we drove to Saranac Lake, a small town itself but probably seven or more times as large as Paul Smith's.  We did a  bit of shopping and had lunch.  Saranac Lake is a really bustling small town, located approximatelu 9 miles from Lake Placid, NY. 

I like this entire area, though I have never been here for any part of winter.  Now that the kids, and especially Quinn, is here, there may be enough draw to get me here to see how it is when covered with snow.  Who knows, I may even learn to enjoy winter. 

Realizing that I'm rambling along merely to get a blog post in, I think it's time to post this and go to bed.

Greetings From Silver Spring, MD

We're visiting long-time friends for the weekend prior to going on to New York, Anastasia, Morgan, and Quinn.  Marrianna and Cathy just left on a shopping trip, John left early this morning on a prior engagement, so I am at home alone.  It doesn't even feel strange being in someone else's home alone as we've been friends for over a quarter century.  They have a home network, so I can easily post from here.  I hope to be able to do so in several places before we return home.

Yesterday, I had it reinforced how happy I am to live in North Carolina.  We arrived at the southern edge of Washington just before 4:00 PM.  Traffic was backed up almost a half mile to get on the beltway, and as a result it required almost an hour and a half to get to Silver Spring, just about 20 miles.  That's the most frustrating part of coming up here, getting those last 20 miles.

This summer as we traveled west, somewhere in Missouri or New Mexico, we stopped at a reminder of how different travel is now that in the late 19th century.  There was a memorial of the train the wagons took moving west.  The ruts they had caused over a century ago were still visible in the prairie grasses.  I took pictures, but they are on the home PC so I can't insert them here.

As I travel I often think of how different the scene must have been to the first European settlers.  Sometimes, I get a little disgusted with them, especially in the prairies.  When they cut the sod to build houses, and farms, they essentially destroyed an ecology.  We saw a prairie museum that had a sod house, and there was evidence that the sod had been over eight or ten feet deep.  When it was removed, there was nothing but dust.  And then they bitched about the dust and moved further west.  The sod is being allowed to come back some now, but I can't imagine that it will ever be restored to its original conditions.

I also wonder at our cultural self-centeredness.  Whenever I read that the first people to have seen such-and-such a view, or settled this-or-that place, I wonder whether the people who write such rot even think that there were Native Americans, Africans, or Asians viewing and living in these places long before Europeans arrived.  "The first "  means the first white, European person, even though others had made that place their home for centuries.

We continue to make the same arrogant assumptions in Africa, South America, and very many other places.  There seems to be an assumption that the Euro-American way is best and must replace whatever culture was there, possibly for centuries.  I get tired of it.

I also wonder whether humanity, especially Euro-American humanity, has learned anything from all this.  As we move to new frontiers, and I am sure we will and that it is good that we do, are we going to assume that whatever is there is ours to be exploited, or would be improved by us, without regard to an ecology that has been in place for eons?  Lots of science fiction has been written asking this question much better than I can.  History doesn't give much hope.

The colors of fall are just beginning to show here, and I imagine they will be even more established in New York.  I'll take photos and hope that some of them are good enough to make it onto the blog.  I'm about to enjoy a wonderful weekend with friends and to go on to even more delightful times.