French Lick trolley
Lunch at the West Baden Springs Hotel
Impractical utopians: a bit more on the smartphone conversation
I have an longstanding interest in what could be called alternative modes of living. Examples: Hermits Tiny houses Permaculture food forests In fact, I participated in an alternative mode of living by growing up in a radically fundamentalist Christian church that practiced separation from the world through strict rules for living. (When Rachel and I married we had neither wedding rings nor a television!) Having lived through experiences of what can only be called religious abuse, I believe I possess some clarity about the dangers of these exercises.
Finding a third way to address smartphone addiction
Dave Danielson @ddanielson has a good post on the choices presented by a lot of writing about smartphone use: The choice of device is not an all or nothing proposition, but is often presented that way. We can choose our own level of engagement with a device, and govern our behavior to use a device as we choose. This is also useful to think about in the context of the NYT article on Luddite teens shared by Patrick Rhone.
Wendell Berry: from saving the planet to local care
Wendell Berry, “Word and Flesh” in What Are People For?: The question that must be addressed, therefore, is not how to care for the planet, but how to care for each of the planet’s millions of human and natural neighborhoods, each of its millions of small pieces and parcels of land, each one of which is in some precious way different from all the others. Our understandable wish to preserve the planet must somehow be reduced to the scale of our competence—that is, to the wish to preserve all of its humble households and neighborhoods.
I’m making fire cider in an attempt to beat back all the sickness going around right now. Unfortunately it won’t be ready for a couple of weeks. Anyone ever tried this stuff?
You know those paragraphs of SEO pablum on recipe sites these days? Annoying. But a garlic bread recipe flavored with leftist politics? I’ll take it.
A Fragment of the Creation Story
… And the Mother of All gave to another of her children the gift of storytelling. “With this gift, you will be able to remember me and your siblings to your own children. You and your children will dream whole new worlds. With the skills that come with your gift, some of your children’s dreams will become real and they will make things never before seen in this world. “But your gift comes with unique dangers.
I’ve created a linkroll page–a sort of directory to my favorite places online.
What is the point of poetry?
Bless the English teachers hearts, but the most boring question you can ask about a poem is “what does it mean?” It’s why people hate poetry. Such a question assumes a poem is a riddle. That, for some reason, this writer decided to eschew plain speech in favor of “sounding smart.” That, if the writer wanted to, they could have simply used other, clearer words to say exactly the same thing.