Todd R. Townsend

Sailor, Writer, Wanderer

Posts Tagged Think and Feel

Can you really forget?

Jul 27

Posted by trt in Rambling | Comments off

In a little more than a week, the Beijing Olympics will start. I won’t be watching. The Chinese have done little to honor the commitment they made, in receiving the hosting of the games, to improve their human rights record.

In 1989, as many as 3000 people [Chinese Red Cross number] may have been killed when the government suppressed the Tiananmen Square Protests. Ten years later, the Chinese cracked down on the Falun Gong movement. This peaceful movement grew rapidly and threatened the government by peaceful protest of thousands of people throughout China. Their movement was banned and suppressed.

The Chinese Communist Government is virtually the only country doing business with the Military Junta of Burma. Chinese silence during the slaughter of Burmese Monks allowed it to continue. China could have shut the Burmese response down, but, apparently aware of the contradiction, they did nothing. The Chinese have their own problems with Buddhist Monks in Tibet. They couldn’t very well admonish Burma for doing something they have been doing in territory they claim as their own for years. The recent violence from both sides in Tibet is unfortunate and unhelpful.

Against this backdrop, it was amazing to me China was allowed to host the Olympics. The International Olympic Committee claims it is nonpolitical. By giving the Chinese Communists this venue for whitewashing, they have gone beyond mere politics. In turning a blind eye, they have given the Chinese an undeserved platform for propaganda; let alone the international recognition.

Further, the construction of Olympic Venues has resulted in the destruction of historic neighborhoods in Beijing and the forced evictions of many people. I’ve heard a report that I can’t confirm of a Human Rights Activist whose release from jail has been delayed. Who knows what else is happening behind the Silk Curtain?!

This is easy for me, I am not a sports person. Moreover, I am not asking for you to do anything but remember who you are dealing with.

Tags: ,

Quiet Graceful Power

Jul 19

Posted by trt in Rambling | Comments off

I find the most unusual books to read. The latest book outlet find, “The Cruelest Journey” by Kira Salak, I recommend for would-be vagabonds like me and for anyone seeking reassurance either that one person can do great things or that we can rely on each other even in the most barren environments.

Not only did Kira paddle 600 miles down the Niger River to reach Timbuktu, she often relied on locals for shelter and food. She writes of many historical and current issues in the Sub Sahara with a comfortable style and an accessible readability. And! then buys the freedom of two slave girls at the end of her journey. Ms. Salak carried two gold coins the whole length of her trip to give the two girls a start on their new life.

Her trip recreated the planned journey of a little known English explorer named Mungo Park. His journey began but did not finish for the inhospitable terrain and the ferocious local people. He died on the Niger. Some rumors have him killed after reaching Timbuktu, but history just doesn’t know. Kira met some of the same ferocious people almost unaffected in the 300 or so years since Park’s disasterous trip. She met many people with a third world kindness and generosity that far exceeds what most of us in the first world will ever do.

Kira is an adventurer who holds a PhD in literature. She writes with a depth and ease that anyone wishing to write would do well to imitate. I was greatly inspired by Kira and her adventure. Not only for her fearless grace but for her quiet Buddhism as well.

I think some people misunderstood my epiphany last Christmas. I really haven’t changed much at all. There were no signs squinted at from Milvian Bridge. I merely shifted (overtly) one fundamental leg that my personal philosophy stood on. To me it was as casual as shifting a foot I had stood on too long.

I spent 15 plus years calling myself an Objectivist; atheist by default. I was inspired at my cousin’s house to look at the leg I had been leaning on. It wasn’t where I thought it was.

Objectivism advocates the raw power of the individual. I don’t disagree with all of this but, in many ways, I haven’t been living my life that way. I have been helped by so many people; in large and small ways. I’ve managed to help a few, I think.

In my rediscovery of Buddhism [it creeps up at the weirdest places, see above], I found a “faithless faith” that honors a man, not a deity. While many strains of Buddhism are polluted by the gods and godheads of other faiths, at its core, Buddhism is a way of life that accepts cause and effect, and the efficacy of the human mind and senses. It is simply a path, a method, to discover the true nature of our existence. But it does it in a way that includes all of us. Rather than emphasizing a lone pursuit, it is the power in each of us because each of us is all of us. Buddhism is monistic. We are all one. If you’re on Myspace, I highly recommend my friend Emily’s latest blog. It reminds me of an intriguing comment by Brad Warner, the punk Zen Master, he described ‘getting it’ post enlightenment, when looking at a stranger, and feeling a recognition “like looking at himself in a mirror.”

Imagine how our politics, and our world, would be different if more people had the realization that we are all one; the same. Imagine spending a billion dollars a day helping each other, ourselves, rather than to tear another country down. The Buddha said “If you want to get rid of your foe, you have only to realize that that foe is delusion.”

Tags:

Yeah! This guy knows how I feel!

May 30

Posted by trt in Rambling | Comments off

I found another soul known for raving about the scenery . . . and doing something about too.

Gary Snyder is a great American Poet, Environmentalist and Buddhist. Check out his poem “For All.” It appeared on the Writer’s Almanac today. A good match for my Memorial Day Camping Post. I wish I’d heard Keillor read it this morning on the radio, but I found it on the website. Click Here.

Gary Snyder Quote:
“We are fouling our air and water and living in noise and filth that no “animal” would tolerate, while advertising and politicians try to tell us we’ve never had it so good.”

More Links:

An article called The Wild Mind of Gary Snyder in the Shambala Sun, a Tibetan Buddhist Mag.

A page of Poems and Quotes on Kerouac Alley, a Beat Generation Site.

Have Fun!

Tags:

2008/03/30

May 20

Posted by trt in Rambling | Comments off

If you haven’t read 2008/03/29, it is below and comes before this post. Or click here to read it.

The morning after the early spring blizzard in Wisconsin, I make my delivery; a drop and hook. The drop goes fine because the truck before me parked on the ice and snow. He couldn’t get out from under his trailer because he has no traction. I find a spot where they’ve just pulled a trailer. Parking on the small patch of asphalt, I get right out. Hooking is another story. The parking lot is covered in crispy snow and ice. Last night’s heavy snow was wet enough that after freezing last night it is like a rink. Where’s Snoopy and his Zamboni? I get under an empty just fine, but it takes a half hour of rocking back and forth to drag the trailer out.

I send my empty call and get my next load assignment. The comments say “Driver must have 50 to 75 blankets.” Where am I going to find blankets?! It’s a Saturday morning, there’s a terminal a couple hours away, but are they open? I ask dispatch for help. “Already taken care of” they say. It must be another drop and hook.

I drive through more of the aftermath of the blizzard. There are trucks and cars and their tracks in the snow of the ditch. My pickup is further north and west. In the stark snowy landscape of Minnesota, the place is easy to find. Finding someone who works there is another matter.

There were several cars on the north side of the building. Around on the south side, there are a few trailers and three locked doors. I check the trailer nose boxes for paper work, but they are all empty. Further around back, a couple more locked doors. I drive around to where the cars are; two more locked doors. There is one last door down by an overhead door. As I tentatively tug on the handle, it clicks open!

In a large open space under the yellowy haze of sodium lights, there is metal stock all around me. I can hear the steady chuck and clunk of metal forming machinery. Around a corner, there is a young guy running a shear. He is a good part of the chuck and clunk as his shear clips off a piece of steel and it drops into a bin. Looking up, he pauses just long enought to thumb over his shoulder to another guy. For all the cars in the lot, these guys are the only visible work force.

The second guy tells me to check the backs of the trailers for paperwork; trusting souls. Back on the other side of the building, I find my paperwork in an unlocked trailer with tens of thousands of dollars worth of equipment. I’m on my way.

The next day, I’m sitting outside a store in Indianapolis. I-465 was in much better shape than the last time I was here, so I’m early. I made a couple passes by to conoiter my approach. On the second pass, I just hit the four way flashers and get out to walk around. It’s going to be easier than it looks from the road.

Three hours later, and two hours past my appointment time, the guys show up to unload me. Then my box beeps and I’ve got a preplan for one o’clock about 45 minutes away. The unloaders manage to eat up all my time. I help them toss blankets back into the trailer.

Exasperated, I ask dispatch what to do with the blankets. I’ve got about 40 minutes to do my 45 minute trip. I’ve driven to the next exit down the highway to a truckstop to do my paperwork. Dispatch asks how many and I tell them I’ve got 50 or 60 blankets. Their answer comes back “put them in the nose of the trailer.” My answer is a new ETA. I give myself two hours to deal with the blankets and drive to the next customer.

When I climb into the back of the trailer and start to fold and stack, I begin to realize there must be over a hundred! I’m never going to get all this done and get to the next stop on time. I’m tired and frustrated and then it hit me. . .

I’ve become a student of Zen Buddhism and struggle to keep it in my daily life as a trucker. I really enjoyed the book “A Complete Idiot’s Guide to Zen Living.” It is very Zen with just hints of Buddhism. The authors discuss adding Zen to any religious practice. I highly recommend the book and was glad to use it that day.

Part of Zen and Buddhism is mindfulness; a single minded focus on the task at hand. Even when that task is simply living your life. The extraneous and the negative get in your way. Another part is accepting life as it presents it self. Dwelling on the past or the future does not help you. You only have just this moment to do the right thing. If you do what is right, right now, the past and the future don’t matter. Byron Katie is a Author and Life Coach or something. She’s made a statement that oozes Zen whether she meant it to or not. She says: “Life is simple. Everything happens FOR you, not TO you. Everything happens at exactly the right moment, neither too soon nor too late. You don’t have to like it – it’s just easier if you do.”

When I realized that I was giving over to my anger and frustration, I remembered my Zen Mindfulness. I took a deep breath and dropped it; let it flow through me and out. Focusing on the blankets, I laid one on the floor like a tarp to rake leaves on to. I concentrated on just the task. I pulled a blanket from the pile; found two corners and lifted them over my head folding them together; then a fold the opposite way and another. I began a stack on the first blanket and reached for another. When I missed a grab at a blanket or dust got in my eyes, I let it go; barely recognizing the thought. I purposely did not check the time. A truck slowed as it went by the end of my trailer, I knew he was chuckling at me. I let that go too. Soon enough, I had a pattern, a routine. It wasn’t “Dancing With the Stars,” but I had a rythm.

In what seemed like only minutes, I was dragging my third and final stack toward the nose. I was done! I checked my phone for the time. I had lots of time to get down the road! I was winded but felt good in that tight way after some exercise or a morning hike. Maybe, if I had let myself get pissed off, I would have been done just as fast. The attitiude, however, was completely different. I felt good. I was smiling. The rest of the day did not carry the weight of upset. There was nothing to forget, to get over. This is the key. There was nothing. It is really that simple.

Mindfulness means many things. It can be brought into your life from different angles. Another angle I’ve used is about snacking. It is easy to have a bag of pretzels or something on the dash as I head down the highway. This leads to what could be called mindLESS snacking. Just driving, reaching in the bag for a handful . . . and then another, and another, not thinking at all. Applying mindfulness, I still snack, but I get a handful of pretzels and then close the bag and put it away. There is a beginning and an end to the snack. Even if I decide at some point to have another handful, by the time I reach my destination, I’ve eaten a lot less pretzels; mindful that I didn’t need the extra.

Broadening mindfulness, I can more easily defeat my rationalizations. I am one of the most creative and acrobatic rationalizers. This let me fall into the habit of eating in the truckstop more often than from my truck. Truckstop food choices are some of the worst. But it is so easy to just have a burger and fries. There are salads, if you look. I’ve gotten back to eating healthier again and mostly out of the truck. Mindfulness is not just about doing the right thing for yourself, it is doing the right thing for the universe. I am trying to eat only my share. It is so easy, in this country especially, to feel like you can just eat anything you want. Being mindful of the suffering of all sentient beings means most Buddhists are vegetarians. As my studies continue, I might get back to that myself.

It is easy to sally through this life without considering the consequences of your choices and actions. You can waste your days feverishly planning your future. You can live staring only at the carnival mirror of your past; all while life passes you by. Both are hollow. You can fill your days without really knowing where you are headed or what you want. Pull back into this moment. Think it all the way through and consider the full consequences of your decisions. Be mindful.

Tags: , ,

The Pope calls the kettle black.

Mar 25

Posted by trt in Nonsense | Comments off


Nancy Gibbs wrote in Time Magazine about the Vatican’s new sins. Yes, the Seven Deadly have grown stale; confession attendance, not to mention church attendance, is way off. In a sad attempt to remain relevant, Pope Benedict is out with sins to watch out for in the modern age. I won’t give them any help in this matter by listing the new sins, but you can read them in Nancy’s column which is very good.

Hypocrisy has hit an historic low with this new list. On the list is “becoming obscenely wealthy.” A sin of the highest order apparently. This coming from one of the world’s largest holder of real estate; this from a church of ostentatious cathedrals on every continent, save the Antarctic. The picture I’ve used today is a cathedral in Cartegena, Columbia that is embellished with gold. The Pope visited this place and blessed it and the crown that is the central feature of the altar. It will take years for the Catholic Church to become irrelevant, but I think we’ve just seen the lurch of off balance above a slippery incline.

Friends that knew me when I was a geek will be amazed by this but who is a greater positive force in the world? I think Bill and Melinda Gates far eclipse the Catholic Church of today.

Furthermore, do you remember the Rev. Sun Myung Moon of the Unification Church? The leader of the “Moonies” who competed with the Hare Krishna to sell flowers in Airports in the 1970′s? Do you realize that he is a powerful figure in CONSERVATIVE REPUBLICAN POLITICS in our nation’s capital?

The Rev. Moon believes that he is the Messiah. He is here to unify all religions under him; hence the church’s name. Rev. Moon tried many ways to become powerful in this country. His success: The Washington Times, a newspaper more partisan than any other in the country. A trumpet for conservative beliefs and schemes that makes Fox News jealous.

I listened to a radio program today with the author of a new book,
Bad Moon Rising. Apparently, Moon founded this newspaper that reports outrageous stories about conservative opponents that then get carried by conservative commentators and other rags as “it has been reported . . . ” Moon gives a lot of money to Republicans and apparently some to Democrats as well. He has tremendous influence in Washington. There was a ceremony, attended by Washington elites, to celebrate and declare Rev. Moon as the Messiah. Two congressman were on had to present a crown to Moon’s wife and a huge, flowing robe to Moon.

There are tales of corruption, drugs, and business empires, like a monopoly on sushi in America of all things. Check out The Dark Side of Rev. Moon and Sun Myung Moon on Wikipedia.

Tags:

Burning The Future

Mar 11

Posted by trt in Rambling | 2 Comments

It has been a long, hard fall from radical capitalist, but my ears and eyes are open more often than my mouth lately. There are things that make me angry today, that I wouldn’t have listened to just a year ago. I am humble.

I listened to another radio program about a documentary film. “Burning the Future” will be on the Sundance Channel later this month. The film “is director David Novack’s searing expose about how the coal mining industry in West Virginia has transformed the naturally lush mountain landscape into a wasteland, destroyed the region’s fresh water supply and caused widespread health issues for area residents.” [1]

Setting aside Global Warming, I think that we can agree that burning coal is not good for the environment. Or, if you must, not a net positive. See me after the meeting. The U.S. Industry has been cleaning up since the 1960′s, we thought [more on that in a moment], but we forget that the cliched drab, grey-snowed Dickensian Victorian England or Soviet Era Eastern Europe got their cheery patina from coal smoke.

The preview I got of the film, and reading their website, made me angry. The two examples I am about to give you, will make you angry. To make it worse, I’m going insist, first, that its your fault. Make no mistake, this is on us. Our insatiable appetite for inexpensive electricity is causing this to happen. From the garish lights of Times Square and Las Vegas, to your local shopping district, and even the fools with their houses covered in Christmas lights, or just that light that is still on in an empty room; it is our fault. Here is the trailer for the film:

You’ve heard of scrubbers probably; the units installed on smokestacks to clean the smoke before it leaves. Or at least you are aware of the latest oxymoron; Green Coal is all the rage. The cousin of Lancelot Link in D.C. even spoke of Green Coal in his State of the Union Address.

What I hadn’t known was a process by which coal is “washed” before it is shipped to power plants. Impurities, thus removed, allow for cleaner burning coal. Good, right?!? WRONG!!! This washing process leaves behind a toxic, greasy, black pudding called coal slurry. Much worse than the black mayonnaise I had in my bilge. In West Virginia, where coal is king, there are retention ponds, euphemistically called impoundments, filled with this poison. There are billions of gallons, yeah, ‘B’ billion, of this toxic pudding behind dikes in the mountains there.

These impoundments are not lined. The stuff just sits there leaching into the ground water! Moreover, there have been dike failures, flooded hollers, and deaths already. Yet, we keep hearing about Britney and Lindsay and not this! Google News has 473 related articles about Britney’s Custody Costs; 209 about Mountain Top Removal, see below.

The people of Appalachia have always been close to the land. There are still people there who forage wild food plants and medicinal herbs. Ginseng is a high dollar cash crop. The families of hard working coal men supplimented their income and their diets from the mountains. Now this is not just being taken away, it is being destroyed.

The latest method to extract coal is called Mountain Top Removal. Yes, it is exactly what it sounds like. Rather than the tiresome and expensive digging of coal, the coal companies literally blow off the top of the mountain and scoop the coal out like a cantaloupe. How someone ever thought this was a good idea, I’ll never know. Rather requiring expensive mining equipment, when the dust settles, the coal can be sifted and rounded up using off-the-shelf construction and earth-moving equipment. The industry argues that this practice should be expanded. It’s about jobs they say. Yet, coal mining employment is down to less than 10% what it was 20 years ago. These new “modern” mining practices use much less labor.

The good people of West Virginia, many of them with current and former family connections to the coal business, have their homes shaken and their dreams, literally, shattered by the massive explosions of Mountain Top Removal. One small boy was killed when an explosion threw a rock through the roof of his room. As much as 750 feet of mountaintop can be lost to one of these operations. Further, the forests and meadows that occupied the mountain top are lost. With nothing left but rock, rain washes off the mountains in torrents taking anything loose and leaving nothing to grow. Families that used to get flooded from below when the creek backed up, now get flooded from above too. The chemical residue of the mining operations sweeps down and soaks into lower soil. Homes and land have been swept away. One woman lost about 5 acres of land that she used to grow vegetables.

Ironically, I have felt a connection to West Virginia. I spent a weekend there a few months ago and have driven through many times. The hardwood covered Appalachians with ubiquitous rock outcroppings poking through here and there, have a special rugged beauty. The people are wonderfully nice. I rode a City Bus into Charleston from Nitro; at least a half hour ride. I had pleasant conversations in both directions. There is an active music and arts community. Just recently, I mentioned “Mountain Stage” a fabulous PRI radio show, it comes from West Virginia. [Hi, Adam] The thought occurred to me that WV would be a beautiful place to live for a while [after the boat, after the boat, after the boat. . . ] However, I find it is being poisoned, blown up, and defaced on an almost biblical scale.

John Prine sang of missing Paradise in Muhlenberg County, Kentucky. Literally, missing it because “Mr. Peabody’s coal train has hauled it away.” In WV, hauled away might even be preferred to stewing in a toxic, black, greasy pudding. There is an elementary school downhill from one of those dikes. Next time, you walk by an empty room with a light burning inside, think of West Virginia and step in there to turn it out. If you can, speak out against this.

Check out John singing “Paradise” with some friends:

Tags: ,

Yeah, Me and the LDS

Mar 5

Posted by trt in Rambling | 1 Comment

I think it is the Church of the Latter Day Saints that runs a TV commercial I’m thinking of. A young woman helps an older lady to cross the street. The camera pans to a guy in a work truck noticing significantly. Cut To: The guy from the truck helping a woman who has dropped her groceries. The camera pans to a man noticing significantly. Cut To: The second man helping someone who . . . You get the idea. And you’ve probably seen the commercial. I think it is the Mormons. Regardless, it is some church suggesting that we ought to be nice to each other; help each other; care about each other.

Many people think that Buddhism is simply “living in the moment.” Almost, but its really just doing the right thing at this very moment. Knowing yourself well enough, dropping your trivial likes and dislikes, getting to the heart of you, then making good choices. However, since we are all in this together, doing the right thing for you at this very moment is, actually, doing the right thing for the universe at this very moment. This is where I find myself agreeing with the LDS or whoever airs the ad.

It wouldn’t be that hard to be a little nicer to people. Maybe its the election cycle, but I think we’ve lost our way. People are just being nasty. We’ve lost our sense of community and our honor. We need to care about, and take care of, each other.

Most often, I am driving down the highway with the CB off. I turn it on when I need it; in a traffic jam, in bad weather or at a big warehouse facility. On a daily basis, people are just stupid and ugly on the CB. There are plenty of exceptions but MAN! Take it easy, people!

Ohio seems to be a bad place for racist crap on the CB. Today, the discussion was how long Obama would last in office, because someone was just going to shoot him. There were volunteers. It made me sick. Finally, before turning it off, I grabbed the mic and told them I hoped Barack would choose Jesse Jackson for his Vice President. “None of you stupid MFers could shoot him then, could ya?!??.” I felt better. Actually, I felt better when it was off again. Damn traffic jam got me all worked up. When a couple guys suggested they needed some practice, and might start by hunting me down, it was time to go.

After stopping for the night, I got in line at the fuel desk to get a shower, the girl behind the counter was Generation “Why Me.” She had the thingy in her nose and a tattoo on the inside of her wrist and she was having trouble. She bristled with attitude. Come to find out, they had updated the computer system and some of the items weren’t entered yet. One driver gave up when a case of bottled water just wouldn’t ring up. He actually put it back on the shelf. The managers were gone and the girl was alone in the store.  This wasn’t all generational, she wasn’t getting the support she needed. My buddy Jim and I were always pushing for training and support during system changes where I used to work. We often wrote had to write instructions and do training. I knew the heartache of half implemented changes.  I felt for her.

The showers were being remodeled as well, so I had to go out to a trailer in the parking lot to clean up. It was on the way back in, when I had a great idea.

It really is more work to be a complainer. And, it comes back on you eventually when you don’t help others. Its much simpler to be cheerful and helpful. And isn’t that much extra work. Like Willie Nelson sang “It’s the little things that mean a lot.”

Let me tell you about an Ol’ Trucker Trick I know, to show you how easy it is.

Back in the store, the poor girl was snarling with frustration. She might have had an attitude, but tonight, she deserved to. I’m sure she doesn’t get paid nearly enough to deal with a bunch of cantankerous truckers who have to shower out in the parking lot, and can’t even buy water. A couple guys walk by with duffel bags, shaking their heads not believing that the showers are outside.

Back at the fuel desk, my girl was huffing again because some older trucker had brought his wife in who also needs a shower.  The day shift had been using both sides of the trailer for Men, now she had to figure out how to get the wife a shower.

“Man, I need some chocolate. What do you recommend?” I asked up at the counter.

She paused, struggling to shift her understanding, but recovered to suggest a Take Five bar.

“What are they like?” I asked, faking I’d never had one.

“Oh, it’s peanuts and caramel and a pretzel or something crunchy like that.” She was just glad to be able to empty her mind of the store issues; she’s getting into it now. “I like ‘em,” she adds at the end.

Bingo, I had her right where I wanted her.

“Back in the middle aisle,” she shouted as I wander toward the junk food.

I brought back two King Size Take Five bars. There were five people, counting the old couple, hanging around waiting for a shower. The unease hung around the place, like a foggy road. I dropped the bars on the counter and start shuffling through my wallet.

“Two Ninety Eight.”

I handed her three dollars and pushed one of the bars across the counter. “This one’s for you. Maybe your night will get better.”

“Oh, WOW! Thanks!” She smiled wide and chuckled. It’s like a whole different person showed up. Now that’s magic, and I didn’t have to saw anyone in half.

As I walked out the door, I heard my two pennies drop in the “Share a Penny” dish. The trucker’s wife smiled as I passed.  Just as I pushed the door open, I could hear the rustle of the other Take Five wrapper.

Try it you’ll like it. The candy bar’s not bad either.

Tags: , ,

I never wanted to be a treehugger!

Feb 12

Posted by trt in Nonsense | 2 Comments


You see the weirdest stuff out here on the road. I see a lot of shoes; just one at a time. Once, I remember seeing a woman’s belt in the middle of the highway. How did that happen?!

If your moving in the near future, please take some extra care tying stuff down. I see single couch cushions and box springs almost every day. Just the other day, I saw a whole series down the same highway; had to be the same guy. First, an oscillating fan; like you’d buy at Walmart or somewhere – in a couple chunks on the shoulder. Then one of those 3 drawer Sterilite storage units – blown to bits. And finally, three resin patio chairs – all with only three legs left.

I won’t gross you out with road kill stories, but two beavers in 36 hours is not just sad; that’s weird. I also shouldn’t tell you that I think I saw a bear cub once. That is really sad. My sister will get a weird satisfaction in amongst the sorrow. When she was a single digit age, about when you want to “have” things that are your own, she claims she saw a bear; presumably a live one. The family was traveling through the north woods of Michigan, on the way to Grandma and Grandpa Townsend’s in Cadillac. We were on US131, I think, a backwoods highway with steep banks on either side. The forest only trimmed back to the edge of the banks. By the time the ridge crested away from the highway, the forest was already thick. Amy exclaimed that she saw a bear. No one else did, but we were running up this highway in the woods. She probably saw a bear, but that hasn’t stopped my brother and I from saying “A bear!?! . . . yeah, right” for the last 25 years.

Another thing that I see way too much of out here on the road – plastic grocery bags! Wow, I’ve never been a treehugger and I used to be a plastics guy, but those bags are everywhere.

When I was in the plastics business, and involved in recycling, we successfully lobbied against a mandate to put corn starch in plastic grocery bags. The corn starch was added to make the bags somewhat degradable. It wasn’t perfect but it supposedly would have sped up the breakdown of the bag. It also polluted the plastic and made it un-recyclable. We argued that the bags would be collected, recycled and used in other products. It is time to revisit this issue. Bags are blowing everywhere.

Now the trouble with corn starch is the corn part. Food prices are rising, in large part, because of the increased demand for corn to make ethanol. Don’t get me started on corn! Corn is used, directly and indirectly, in almost everything the average American eats, but that’s a story for another day. I listened to a radio program about an incredible sounding documentary called King Corn.

There is actually a lot of trash around. I don’t understand it. Growing up in the 70′s with “Give a Hoot; Don’t Pollute” and the Litterbug, I wouldn’t dream of throwing something out the window. There is a certain percentage of truckers who live like Neanderthals but they are not responsible for it all. Two summers ago, I was walking a Lake Michigan beach that I knew very well as a kid. I was deeply saddened by all the trash I saw in the sand. I’ve never thought this way, but I was disgusted. We need to be better stewards of this world. That is not a political statement; that is a fact.

Tags: ,

And while I’m at it . . .

Feb 9

Posted by trt in Nonsense | Comments off

Click for Background on the horrendous situation in Burma. The Junta has announced they will hold a referendum, in May, on the constitution that they wrote and plan to hold elections in 2010. This in a country without even the right to assemble or the right to criticize the Junta or their “path to democracy.” The constitution purportedly disqualifies opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, perhaps because she already won one election they refuse to recognize.

Tags:

Think about it . . .

Feb 9

Posted by trt in Nonsense | 3 Comments

This may give away the punchline, but I was listening to Mountain Stage, a very cool PRI show, and the Guthrie Family Legacy Tour made a stop. Arlo was talking about his dad’s early life and I had an epiphany.

California was invaded once before by migrant workers. They showed up with little more than the clothes on their backs, driving vehicles that barely ran. They had large families and camped along the sides of farm roads. These migrants were so desperate, they would do any work for very little money. They weren’t exactly legal and they were definitely not invited, but California came to rely on them.

. . . they were from the Oklahoma Dust Bowl!!!

We are tossing around the Immigration Issue during this political season without considering that we are discussing human lives. They are us; We are them. The question of legality is really a symptom of a system that is broken.

The Okies helped to tranform the San Joachin Valley into the Agricultural juggernaut that it is today. Today, Mexicans are working those same fields. If you would really like to pay $10 for a head of lettuce, go ahead build the wall. Walls have done so well for Germans and Israelis.

We need to fix the system and to treat each other, all of us, as equals in this world. Sorry, this blog is usually not political; I couldn’t stop this one.

Tags: