07.14.08
Posted in Colorado, Hiking, My issues, Travel journal at 12:19 pm by Alyce
I’ve just written about a hike to Fern Lake last Saturday at my Practically Shameless blog, and a cathartic experience I had while hiking. Here, I’d like to add that I’m feeling so good about hiking right now, and I’m feeling very happy to be living in Colorado where there are such amazingly beautiful places to hike.
This was my sixth hike of this summer season. By that, I don’t mean to suggest that I don’t hike at all during the winter, because I do, but not at higher elevations because there’s so much snow up there. During the winter I hike pretty regularly at lower elevations at places like Rabbit Mountain. And in order to not get incredibly bored with Rabbit Mountain, I avoid it during the summer and hike up in Rocky Mountain National Park as much as I can. (And I should add, with some guilt about the gasoline I’m using to get up there.)
After six hikes, I can tell that my leg muscles are already in much better shape than they were two months ago. The elevation gain to Fern Lake is 1,375 feet, which beats my hikes up Deer Mountain by 200 feet, or the equivalent of a 20-story building.
I also want to say something about forests. Having lived in the Midwest most of my life, I’m a lover of forests, and the forests here in Colorado are quite different. Some of them are rather dry, with dusty soil or pine needles underfoot, and they just don’t do for me what the leafy forests of the Midwest do. But the Fern Lake trail is one example of a Colorado trail that feels to me like a real forest. (The Cub Lake trail is another.) I took this photo with my cell phone (it looks like a photo from a cell phone, doesn’t it) of one of many lovely forest scenes on this hike.
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06.26.08
Posted in Film, Media, Science at 9:13 pm by Alyce
I can’t remember how I first came across the films of David Attenborough, a month or two ago, but I suspect I saw it on Netflix. I’ve since been watching one series after another. What an amazing assortment of films, with the later ones representing by far the best cinematography I’ve ever seen in nature documentaries, particularly those produced for the BBC.
I’m quite taken with Attenborough himself and plan to read a bit about him to see if I can understand him better; so far I’ve been unable to nail down which Enneagram type he is. I’ve been noticing his predilections: for superlatives, for example (the biggest river, the deepest lake, the largest omnivore, the fastest predator, etc.). I think one of the reasons he’s both entertaining and informative is that he’s so good at reframing, by which I mean giving things a different name and/or seeing them in a different context than we normally would. He reframes all the vegetation in a forest or floating in the sea as food, he reframes animals by categorizing them as chisellers (rodents), social climbers (monkeys and apes), “plant predators” (animals that graze), and “opportunitists” (animals that will eat whatever they can find). It makes for remarkably clear narration. And I’m impressed that on none of these documentaries does his name appear as the writer.
Now that I’m on my fifth or sixth series of his, I’m beginning to notice the superlatives more, and to notice the ones that seem to contradict one another (both the cheetah and one of the whales are described as the fastest creatures on earth, but perhaps the whale was described as fastest in the sea and the cheetah on land, I don’t remember).
In the later series, the moer his love shows for the animals he introduces us to. I began noticing it while watching the Mammals series when he staked himself outside the hole of a kangaroo rat, when he watched a grizzly bear eating salmon in Alaska, and when he watched from a speeding boat a blue whale beginning to surface from below. His love for the natural world is contagious and very appealing.
My history with documentaries in general has been that I enjoy them enormously and then forget nearly everything in them within a very short period of time. This has happened with countless episodes of Nova, for example. I’ve concluded from this that it’s because I don’t learn well by watching video and learn much better by reading. However, after watching 3 episodes so far of The Life of Mammals, I think I’ve learned fundamental characteristics of mammals that I never thought much about before, and in a way that will stay with me.
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Posted in Links and resources, Shadow Work, Wellness and illness, email and the web at 5:17 pm by Alyce
A BMW colleague, Drea Knufken, interviewed me several months ago for an article she was writing on homeopathy. It appeared in April at the BNET (Business Network) website. Here’s the link.
Drea described me as a therapist instead of as a Shadow Work facilitator, which is understandable since then she’d have to explain what Shadow Work is. She listed three of the remedies I remember taking as a child; I probably forgot to mention aconite for colds, which may have been the most common remedy Mom gave us.
I told her the story of rediscovering homeopathy in the 1990s as I was driving to work with a bad chest cold. I was terribly congested and stopped at a health food store to ask for a recommendation. The owner, a woman named Marlene, recommended a homeopathic remedy called “Dry Cough.” I bought some, took a few pills, and resumed my drive to work. After 15 minutes, I noticed that there were changes happening in my chest; the congestion was breaking up. My cough was gone within 2 or 3 days. Although Drea’s description makes it sound as if I was miraculously cured in 15 minutes, that’s not what I meant to convey, only that I began to feel a real difference in a very short period of time, which at the time was quite startling.
You can add to the remedies I use regularly: Arnica pills for muscle aches and Arnica gel for bruises.
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06.18.08
Posted in Media, My issues, Politics, Radio, War at 9:43 am by Alyce
I sent this comment to the hosts of Morning Edition:
“I’m an avid NPR listener, you might say junkie. And Scott Shafer’s story this morning marks the first time I can remember hearing irresponsible journalism with a possible hidden agenda. To ask Pelosi after 18 months as Speaker why she hasn’t ended the Iraq War is like asking Eisenhower why it was so hard to get up the beach on D-Day — because there’s an entrenched opponent with very big guns! Pelosi doesn’t have the votes to override a veto or a filibuster, and that should have been his first point, not his last. Considering the people Shafer interviewed (the “liberal” who felt “betrayed” because Pelosi didn’t end the War, and the Republican strategist who gave Pelosi a “D” for her “toxic” relationship with President Bush), I found myself wondering if he’s a Republican with a partisan agenda, or a sexist who’s after Pelosi because she’s a woman. He failed to ask the liberal what she thought Pelosi could have done differently, or to ask the strategist if his relationship with President Bill Clinton was by any chance “toxic.” I also found myself wondering if Shafer was used by one of them to get their point of view across on NPR — the liberal to speak to her constituents who really wanted the war to end, for example. Sloppy reporting, NPR.”
And now, back to work.
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Posted in Media, Politics, Radio, War at 9:19 am by Alyce
I often mention news stories I heard on NPR on this blog, and generally with praise for the expert reporting. So I feel obliged to say this morning that for the first time I’ve heard a news story on NPR that represented irresponsible, shoddy journalism and possibly one or more hidden agendas. The story was Scott Shafer’s about Nancy Pelosi’s ”failure” to end the Iraq War after a whopping 18 months as Speaker of the House.
If we were to imagine a design meeting for the Titanic, we could imagine that someone in the room pointed out that more lifeboats were needed. Shafer’s story did the equivalent of blaming that person for the lack of sufficient lifeboats on the Titanic — it’s simply ridiculous, it’s obvious that he was overruled. Pelosi doesn’t have enough votes to override a presidential veto or to stop the Republicans from filibustering. Only if she were president herself could she single-handedly stop the war.
Listening to Shafer’s story left me feeling really angry and full of questions. After hearing him interview a Republican strategist who gives Pelosi a “D” for her “toxic” relationship with President Bush, I find myself wondering if Shafer is a Republican and whether the Republican’s relationship with Bill Clinton might have been “toxic” while Clinton was in office.
I searched on Shafer’s name at npr.org to see what other political stories he’s done. I don’t see one dated 2006 in which he asked one of the Republican leaders what he’s done about the Republicans’ pledge to ”clean up Washington” considering the Abramoff scandal, the Congressional page scandal, the Senator Craig scandal, and the umpteen other Republican-related sex/corruption/lobbyist scandals?
I found myself wondering if he’s a sexist who’s sorry to see Hillary Clinton out of the presidential race because he’s no longer got a woman politician to target. Or if he was the unwitting pawn of one or more politicians who used him to get their point of view on NPR. There would be at least 3 candidates: (1) Pelosi herself, if she felt a need to justify her actions; (2) the “liberal” Congresswoman who said she felt “betrayed” because Pelosi didn’t keep her promise to end the war (if this Congresswoman is so stupid as to believe that this is Pelosi’s fault, she doesn’t belong in Congress); or (3) the Republican who gave Pelosi a D.
I’ve never had a reaction like this to an NPR story. And I’m an NPR junkie, I listen to NPR a lot. (And yes, I am a member.) Usually their reporting is excellent. That’s been extra clear this week, actually, as they’ve interviewed various reporters in Iowa and Missouri about the flooding, and those local reporters are so much less articulate than NPR reporters at the national level.
I sincerely hope I’m wrong about Shafer.
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06.16.08
Posted in Colorado, Links and resources, Media, My issues, Radio, Writing, email and the web at 11:58 am by Alyce
Last week I talked by phone with Kristina Tabor, producer of “Colorado Matters” at Colorado Public Radio. I had joined KCFR’s “Public Insight Network” and had responded to an email requesting comments on how people were dealing with high gas prices. The input form looked like this. I talked with Kristina for perhaps 20 minutes, and a few sentences from our interview can be heard at the beginning of this morning’s program. The show is called High Fuel Prices in Colorado: Why So High. I’m not sure audio is available yet, but it will be at some point.
It’s always a kick to hear my voice on the radio because I listen to the radio so many hours of the day. After my phone conversation with Kristina, I actually felt pretty idiotic about the things I said, but she chose the best of it to put on the air. There are times when that inner voice I call “Glib” comes out, and my comments sound inauthentic to my own ears. (I talked about Glib in an essay last year.) It would have been helpful if I’d thought in advance about what I was going to say, from a reporter’s point of view. A reporter would ask, “How have you been dealing with high fuel prices?” and I could have had a list of bullet points to refer to.
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06.15.08
Posted in American Culture, Links and resources, Media, Politics, Radio, email and the web at 9:55 am by Alyce
I’ve been wondering how Senator Obama was going to fight the inevitable smears being thrown at him by the Republicans. Thanks to a report by David Folkenflik on NPR’s “All Things Considered” last Thursday, I found out: a website called FightTheSmears.com.
It’s a great idea, I hope it successfully avoids the kind of last-minute sabotage that John Kerry faced.
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06.03.08
Posted in Politics at 8:20 pm by Alyce
John McCain has been charging this week that Barack Obama is wrong to propose that the United States have unconditional dialogues with the leaders of regimes in Iran and elsewhere. And Condoleeza Rice has chimed in to agree, saying that in order to talk with us, Iran or Hamas or whoever has to meet certain conditions.
I’m surprised that McCain would choose such a weak point on which to attack Obama. It seems patently obvious that the Bush administration’s insistence on certain conditions being met by Iran or Hamas is a complete failure. Bush has had 7 years in which to negotiate a settlement between the Palestinians and the Israelis, and he’s failed. Condoleeza Rice has not, to my knowledge, made any noteworthy breakthrough anywhere in the world. The “meet this condition” diplomatic policy has failed. It’s time to try something different.
And what’s more natural and sensible than to reopen dialogues and see what can be done. While no dialogue is happening, no change can occur. Dialogue is the very beginning of any kind of relationship, and without a relationship it’s silly to expect a change from the other party.
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06.02.08
Posted in History, Politics at 6:07 pm by Alyce
As I’ve listened to the news of the final primaries these past few days, I’ve felt both sad and anxious about the ending of Hillary’s campaign. Sad that a woman won’t become president this year, and anxious about how she’ll end it. I’ve been hoping to hear her find some very graceful way out of what I consider an extremely difficult situation.
It occurred to me yesterday while hearing coverage of a speech she gave that she can’t give up without people saying, “A woman isn’t tough enough for the job, she gave up before she really had to.” Perhaps that one small reason why she’s hung on so long. I hope so, I hope that it isn’t only ego or an unwillingness to see the inevitable. There’s no question she’s proved her toughness.
Giving Hillary the Vice Presidential slot is the only compensation prize I can think of that would be sufficient reward for all her hard work and sufficiently historic. I don’t know if Obama is thinking along those lines, and I wouldn’t necessarily blame him if he weren’t, because he may need to balance the ticket in some other way. But the compensation Hillary would get by becoming Vice President is the only one I can think of that would be truly groundbreaking. Women have been in every other major post for which she is qualified, even if, like Condoleeza Rice, women have done their jobs incompetently. The posts for which she is not qualified include Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and Head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, so those are out. A few times in history, a president’s wife has taken over in some sense or other when he’s been ill, but officially no woman has ever been a heartbeat away from the presidency, and that would be a first.
There are often jokes made about the vice presidency, that it’s a job that buries you before you’re dead. I’d love to see what Hillary can do with the post, and I have no doubt she would make it truly useful.
Before the campaign, Hillary was doing good work in the Senate, particularly in getting bills passed with support from both sides of the aisles. She could be Obama’s most powerful ally on the Hill.
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05.18.08
Posted in Gardening, Weather in Colorado at 10:18 am by Alyce
My garden this year is doing so well, and considering how little effort I’ve invested, it seems kind of miraculous. The Veronica ground cover I planted along my front sidewalk (see numerous previous blog entries about the trials and tribulations in doing so!) is really thriving, and it seems I’ll need to break up the roots to divide the plants either later this season or next. (I didn’t know that would be required but discovered it in researching some ground cover plants for my back yard.)
Right in front of the house is a strip of garden that I’ve done nothing to at all since moving in two years ago, except for watering and weeding. It features brilliant red peonies, lilies of the valley, and dark purple iris. And a solitary yellow crocus that comes up so early in the season that I’m not outdoors doing gardening yet, so I can’t even remember where it is exactly. (I guess I can look for the foliage, which must be somewhere.)
I’m particularly enjoying the iris plants this year and have brought several inside to put in a vase. They include a bud that I wasn’t sure would open indoors, but it did. Having irises in this particular garden is a bit tricky because they’re so tall and fragile, and in taking the garden hose out and putting it back again, I’m always guarding them from damage.
I thought that iris had their own distinctive smell, but I’m no longer sure about that; it may simply be the fragrance of any outdoor plant, because it’s very similar to the fragrance of these red peonies. My mother grew white and pink peonies around our house, and I’ve always loved their fragrance. These red ones don’t smell like regular peonies at all, so I’m enjoying them just for their vibrant color. I told my mother about them yesterday, and as I remembered, she said they were her favorite despite their lack of peony fragrance.
Along the south wall of the house are another row of iris that I planted the fall of 2006 after receiving them, for free, from a fellow member of freecycle. I recently received another bunch of free iris which sit in a plastic bag by my back step, waiting for me to plant them, perhaps today. It was 80 degrees yesterday and will be even warmer today; it seems summer has already begun, which means getting the swamp cooler in working order.
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