Is he the future?

   In a striking way, Dr. Stephen Hawking may have been the first of the new breed of human being. He charted new horizons and boundaries in science and left an intellectual imprint that is among the giants of all bipeds who have inhabited this terrestrial ball. He did it of course despite a body that was betrayed by a disease. 
   It was the brain and the spirit of Hawking that lived while his body barely did. That he defied the odds of his demise for a half a century is in itself extraordinary, then we are left stunned by the output of his life, mind stretching output. Hawking defined the point of a human life. The intellect and what we do with it. All of our bodies will fail eventually, either by age or disease and the sum of our existence will derive from the output of our brain and our spirit. What did we do?
    Wealth, fame, athletic accomplishment last for only so long, no manner how grand they may be. Hawking shows us that human spirit and the mind is unlimited.
     Who knows what awaits human kind as we continue to poison and despoil our planet, as disease, famine, and war, continue to threaten as they have through all of history, or as we surrender our mental health to screens, entertainment, commercialization and when materialism erodes spirituality and intellectuality. Regardless of any or of all of the above, Hawking demonstrates true human potential resides in that unique link between the on board human computer-the brain and our uniquely human essence, the spirit. 
      It may be that our progeny will live more as brains, human computers, cyborg fused connections of mechanical bodies. They may live where birth right, disability, illness, are simply complications that are transcended and barely relevant to the power of mind and the capacity of our spirit.
     We are in debt to Stephen Hawking for being a great intellectual power and scientist, but also for overcoming the frailty and certain failure of physical existence by living powered by his mind and spirit. In the vernacular of our age he was the real Super Hero.

     As if we really need another indication, but the dismissal of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson by social media demonstrates the despicable nature of the person in question. It is the act of a coward, unfit and unqualified and completing lacking of character.  
     The man who occupies the oval office is as far from the standard of a good or worthy human being as we can imagine. He is as far from a Stephen Hawking as light is from dark.
     I am no less convinced of the danger he poses now than when I was first reviled by the slimy way he conducted himself in the republican primary. We had warnings from his previous life. And it was back in the election cycle that dozens of former military, state department, intelligence and political leaders took the unprecedented action of warning the public about him.
    Though he is perhaps the most reviled and unpopular president in history, he has defenders, still.  And so on this day when we mourn Stephen Hawking, the president is a kind of litmus test or bell weather of how far down the road of selfishness, greed, depravity, lack of knowledge and stupidity this nation has stumbled. That is why the extraordinary life of Stephen Hawking is such an inspirational antidote. 
     Hawking is human worthy of celebration. The president is a low life hustler worthy of our contempt. Let's close with one of the president's main stream media friends-of course it's tabloid, just like him.

     Sorry, but we can't accept this regime as normal. It remains a danger to the republic. 

      See you down the trail.

URGES, FORCES OF NATURE AND HOPE IN "EVERYTHING"

JADE SEASON

  Seasonally appropriate, one of our Jade plants is looking festive.

DEER ROMANCE

   This young buck, one of my transitional neighbors, attempts to be low profile.

  It is just after the rutting moon, earlier this year and he's in the rut frame of mind.

  These fawns, out for a stroll are driving Mr Young Buck  crazy.  They decide to cross the road and head down slope,

  and he takes note.

AND, WE COULDN'T BE HAPPIER

 The solar panel and battery-converter box are soaked in the first wave of what promises to be a rainy week on the California central coast. 

   Irrigation rain barrels tied into the downspouts fill quickly though by photo time the rain amounted to just .2, an amount of little consequence in many places but a valued two-tenths here. 

REDMAYNE AND HAWKING

     Eddie Redmayne's extraordinary portrayal of Stephen Hawking should earn him an academy nomination though it is even more significant in its imprint. In adopting the physical manifestations of Hawking's disease Redmayne helps to make even more prominent the unprecedented accomplishments of Dr Hawking. 

     Redmayne is nothing less than brilliant, as it should be in  giving screen life to one of the leading minds in history. In his tortured poses and when he can no longer speak, Redmayne projects an indomitable spirit and magnetic personality. Hard to do as an actor, but then again it underscores what a towering accomplishment it is that Hawking has achieved by A) staying alive, B) expanding scientific thought and theory, indeed The Theory of Everything as the film is called.

     The story is taken from the book by his first wife Jane Wilde, played magnificently by Felicity Jones. They met in University and she persisted in staying with him through the early agony of the diagnosis of ALS. Jane was his partner until they separated in 1990. They are the parents of three.

     It is not missed though the film dusts over the truth of his relationship with nurse Elaine Mason who became the second Mrs. Hawking. It's been published that during their 17 years of marriage Dr. Hawking was unhappy and possibly the object of abuse and injury.  The film avoids all of that and the role of Elaine is played by a celebrated Royal Academy graduate and veteran actress Maxine Peake. 

    The personal journey is rich and revealing and lends itself to a great love story, but more than anything it is a celebration of life.  As Hawking said where there is life there is hope. What he has done with a life devastated by the horrible disease is perhaps miraculous. My deepest appreciation is for that element of this multifaceted and textured film. Everything about the Theory of Everything is magnificent.  Everything is about hope!

AND IT IS THAT SEASON

   A Morro Bay oak with Holiday aspirations.

    See you down the trail.