All posts by jmp

Wild Horse Refuge – Wind River Reservation – credit: Wind River Country The current move to shrink some parts of the federal government feels like a slash and burn approach to downsizing. Unless we’re throwing away national treasures merely for the fun of it, we might give some thought to alternatives. Perhaps the exercise offers Read More

Pathways – credit nationalgeographic.org History is kinetic and ancient history very much so. What we know keeps changing with each new discovery. Those findings often begin as speculation that generates increased attention and finally gathers sufficient gravitas to overcome the entrenched opposition from the guardians of the norm. Keeping an open mind to the possibilities Read More

Peonies in May Is there a better month than May? Warmth, growth, color, fragrance, blooms, soft skies, the entire panoply of life ramping up another growing season. It always strikes me there’s a majesty about it. Like all the earth’s organisms are calling out: we’re back and better than ever! That’s why when I chose Read More

Photo: Jerome Weeks Did you ever imagine you’d end up panhandling? I didn’t, although I’m not terribly surprised. Little did we know at the dawn of the personal computer age that online commerce would require we persistently beg for support. It’s the nature of the beast and everybody does it. Please subscribe. Can we have Read More

Rites of Spring c. 1927 – credit: Shorpy.com Is it fair to say that a few degrees and a little more sunshine make a difference in our mood? This photo is only 98 years old but it wears well in what it conveys. Springtime! What more do we need to lift our spirits? Well, we Read More

Well, the cannabis leaf is added, but there was a certain sense of the psychoactive in the performances of High Street, the Colorado improvisational theater company that cut a very wide swath through the freeform radio scene back in the day. This was well before Firesign Theater but very much in the same vein, brilliant, Read More

Blood Moon Transit – credit: nasa.gov In the midst of earthly mayhem, a celestial event comes along every so often of such spectacular impact it humbles the brightest among us and lights the dimmest stars. The full eclipse of the moon is upon us tonight, this a blood moon in colloquial terms, an event that Read More

Does it seem to you that the world is in an uproar so far this year? Airplanes crashing, politicians thrashing, fires, floods, huge piles of snow on the ground for days on end in temperate Ashland, Oregon. Something’s going down, all right, although exactly what I do not know. Like that big rock rolling down Read More

credit: Pew Research Center Sometimes I wonder if young people today are having any fun. There is substantial evidence they are increasingly isolated. They date less, attend fewer parties, are less inclined to partnerships, marriage, and families. Their lives seem anchored to their phones. It has the trappings of a virtual existence. Derek Thompson in Read More

Birds in a Fog – photo credit: David Davies Well, it’s winter, after all. A new year, new administration, not so new sense of society in upheaval. Images of sandhill cranes in a fog. It seems the next line should be: the sun’ll come out tomorrow. Would you bet your bottom dollar? We can only Read More