BIG CONCEPTS, SPLITTING TIME, SHOWING GREEN

A CONGRESS OF DANCERS

Yucca plants thrive in desert zones and give the terrain a populated feeling.

 They add color and texture to the brown and sand scape tones. They remind me of clusters of gesticulating dancers.

LOOKING FOR GREEN

    Following three years of drought Californians are beginning to see tinges of winter green. Two small rain showers in the last couple of weeks have charged the grazing slopes with something on which to graze.

  There is precious little green but even that softens the concrete gray and brown of the dry slopes. 

AN EPIC RIDE

    Everything about INTERSTELLAR is big. Big name cast, director, story, themes, concept and running time. 
     Christopher Nolan is an accomplished director and movie maker. He uses his full skill range in writing a storyline and then turning it into a film that is adventure, heartwarming, thrilling, mind bending, and stunning.  But it is long.
     Mathew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Jane Chastain, Casey Affleck, Matt Damon, John Lithgow and Michael Caine  live up to their reputations.  Josh Stewart and Bill Irwin as TARS and CASE, on board computers, were terrific. In fact I'd love to have one of those around here.
      Planet degradation, government cut backs in science, family dynamics, parental love, black holes, and time space continuums are all treated as part of the story line.  Unexpected but nicely handled was the scene where a teacher upbraids McConaughey and his daughter for using a text book that teaches about the Apollo flights to the moon. The teacher insists that was all propaganda by the US to force the Soviet Union to spend more than they had on space research. 
      There is a lot to this big and epic film and you'll need to enjoy sic-fi, science, space, action and mental riddles to love it. Lana enjoyed it less than I did. A buddy with whom we saw the film said it was a bit long.  However there is an act, series of scenes, where time, a moment in time, is portrayed across a spectrum of realities, dimensions and time itself. It was stunning to see as it played and I've found that I continue to roam back over the concept and the visualization of it. If theoretical physics could have been taught in such a way, I might have been seduced by that sense of "reality."  It will stretch your head a bit.  Or not! At any rate I'd like to put TARS or CASE on my Christmas gift wish list.

    See you down the trail.

CHANGE, SHIFT AND PORTENT-A NATIVE DRAMA and THROWBACK CORRESPONDENT

TRANSFORMATIONS

   Change can be proscribed even expected or not! Sometimes nothing is ever the same.

DROUGHT

    A telling face of the California drought is Lake Isabella in the southern Sierra Nevada. The 11 thousand acre lake sits where the north and south forks of the 

 Kern River meet in Kern County outside Bakersfield.  The reservoir can hold 586 thousand acre feet of water. It is a fraction of that.

   The recreational activity has been devastated. 

  However fishermen find an advantage in their search, as do the

   campers who have the diminished lake to themselves. Those small white spots are RV's

   From the high Sierra, through the central valley and to the coast, Californians need rain and live with the consequence.

DUST UP IN PARADISE

  The amount of water is a concern, but something this seaside mountain village suffers no shortage is opinion.

   We're electing Community Service District board members. The Cambria Community Service District (CCSD) is "government" in this unincorporated village. Roads, public space, water and sewage are under CCSD care. Nominally the board oversees the function of the professional staff who in turn manage utilities and crews.

    Three years of drought now fuel the latest chapter in a decades long battle over water sources, village size and the protection of nature including the rare Monterey Pine forest. The election has prompted a water paranoia but that is not without some value. California's Governor Brown asked everyone to reduce water use by 20%. Cambrians are as ingenious and caring as they are opinionated. The village has reduced use by as much as 30-40%. 

     This new "water sensitivity" reveals how gallons can be saved or recycled. But while they do it, Cambrians grumble. Catching sink or bathwater and carrying buckets to irrigate landscaping or flush toilets is not what people want to do. Nor has this village of gardeners been anything but distressed by the toll of drought and restriction on their hobbies and passion.  

     Enter the "blue shirts" who have upped the ante in the old fight. They remind the village of the 1990's twist in the tale. Cambrians for Water (C4 H20) rally to support two incumbent members of the board by remembering  how a previous board had hooked up funding and the permitting for a desalination operation until a recall election tossed the board members and reversed the desal plans. This new group, an amalgam of residents, lot owners and business people have taken to wearing blue shirts bearing C4 H20. They've begun speaking at CSD meetings, writing letters to the editor, campaigning for the incumbents and working to marginalize and even vilify the opposition. The blue shirts say the challengers are only a vocal minority of "no growthers" or environmentalists who are, in part at least, responsible for the lack of water.

    The challengers and their supporters are an amalgam of another sort. They are activists who have challenged rate hikes, residents upset by the manner in which the CCSD board has functioned, people who believe the advent of a desalination plant would be a green light to development, environmentalists who seek to protect the forest and/or natural habitat, and citizens who put a greater value on the needs of residents than the needs of tourists and the businesses that do the commerce with them.

     The lines are not always clearly drawn and there are those with even conflicting values. No one doubts the need for water and most admit to being worried about it. Saying you are "for" water implies others are not, which is a bit disingenuous. It appears to me the difference is over the means by which to get and/or protect the resource and the length and cost to which to go to do so. But it is a season when people are not inclined to search for agreements, so they've divided and have aligned with candidates who share their view or something close to it. It is the practice of electoral politics, though in a village. And it is a village where everyone is rather convinced of the rightness of their own view.

     People here are, or have been, decision makers, leaders,   successful in careers. Cambrians are literate, studied, individualists, achievers, committed, active, eccentric and thus produce a rich field of opinions. The official population is around 6,000, but fewer year round residents. It is very much like a big high school.

     The incumbents have approved the building and financing of an emergency water system (EWS) utilizing a desalination of brackish water and treated waste water that has been pumped back into the ground and reprocessed. The blue shirts like this and want to return the two to the board of five. Cost of the EWS is estimated between $9-$13 million.

     The challengers question the escalating estimated costs and the delays in the operation date. They criticize the inconsistency of CCSD actions. (The board began by saying they wanted to allow more water hook ups so there could  be more home building, then observed a water emergency and imposed restrictions on use while they allowed a 24/7 pumping from a community well for use on gardens, some of that water was even commercialized, then it declared emergency levels in the wells and stopped the give-away and warned the community could run out of water.) One of the challengers questions the, wisdom, business practices and transparency of decisions. Another says current residents should come first, he opposes much growth and wants to see the approved forest management plan funded and put into effect.

     In a broader context it is also a battle between those who favor growth and building and those who oppose changes that will require more water or impact on the forest and nature. There are some who want to maintain the village pretty much as it is. Others want to sell or develop lots and build up the population. The state has said growth will be limited until a new water source is in place. Is the emergency treatment plant just for droughts and crisis or will it morph into a permanent operation? At what cost? That too is a dividing line. Is the water for residents, or tourists or how do you achieve a balance that is fair and equitable? That is another demarcation. Should the board use emergency water system funds to pay for a hired mouth piece? There's a lot of choosing sides in a village where interaction cuts across social groups, clubs, tennis, lawn-bowling and pickle ball courts, service organizations, coffee shops, supermarket, farmers market, the board walk, hiking trails, dog park, beach and the drug store.

      And there are all of those opinions and expertise. It's been a little loud. It's been a little touchy and we are finally near the home stretch for the November election, ironically a couple of days after the new brackish water desal emergency system is supposed to start delivering water.

     My bias is toward sustainability and affordability.  Several years ago my daughter Katherine launched my conversion to belief in sustainability. It is the only practical way forward. This village needs to determine what sustainability means in this area given to historic droughts. I advocate for a better system of rainwater diversion and capture, implementation of home gray-water conversion systems, long term large scale storage. We should explore systems of fog harvesting as we are blessed with an abundance of marine fog. Those would help, but they alone are not solutions. Figuring it out will take the hard work of determining what vision of Cambria we pursue. How large is big enough, how much water will that require, what will it cost, how do we pay to manage the forest, how important is the forest, what makes Cambria unique, how do we achieve a balance between all of the opinions? And I wonder, is anybody listening in such a process or are we be too busy opining?
      Ebola, ISIL, mid-term elections, the world series, and all of the other news of the day are being trumped here. I guess we have chosen to prioritize that which is closest to us, opinion first and foremost.

THROWBACK

NICARAGUA

   Earlier I posted on Gary Webb's reports on the CIA involvement in importing crack cocaine to fund the Contra War as depicted in the current film, Kill the Messenger. 

   December 1987, Leon Nicaragua the largest anti government rally and demonstration since the Sandinistas took control. This was during the height of the Contra war.
That is not an ammo belt over my shoulder, rather a battery belt that fed a camera and recorder.

    Getting home for Christmas.  Arrival at Andrews Air Force Base after flying with a US Congressional Delegation that had been in Nicaragua trying to get peace talks on track.

      See you down the trail.

     

LIMITED BLESSING-A POLITICAL THROWBACK

LIMITED MERCY

    A blessing of this area is the coastal fog, especially so in this third year of California drought .

     The marine bank begins to thicken and roll when temperatures rise on the eastern side of the Santa Lucia range.  

   Here on the western slopes, fog trickles around sunset and begins to billow into valleys.

   During the night it may remain in the valleys and cling to the slopes,

 or fill the sky and obscure the pristine star field over the mountains and pacific. Some nights it hovers thickly as though written into the moors by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle but  will quickly wisp away revealing an ocean of galaxies. Coastal dreams are woven beneath this dance of misty gossamer.

  Morning will dawn under a damp blanket of moist relief and cool.

   It is a dose of mercy.

    By late morning sun angles on the grazing slopes, orchards and vineyards.

     The great golden light and saturated color returns.

     Tender shoots nurtured by the fog and the cool are quickly gone. A dry land and its inhabitants await the start of a rainy season.

     And we hope.

THROWBACK CLASS OFFICERS

    Ball State University Sophomore Class Officers 1966. John Yount, Joe Peach, Joy Novak, Sally Staley, Tom Cochrun.

     See you down the trail.

FOOTBALL ABUSE, A JUDGEMENT-BETTER DAYS AT YOSEMITE-DROUGHT TOLERANT AND A THROWBACK

AN INEVITABLE JUDGEMENT

   A group of us sat around a table talking about the concept of judgment. I offered that most of us, despite any differences on other matters probably agreed about Ray Rice, the now suspended NFL star seen knocking out his fiancee.

   The current Sports Illustrated asks what the Ray Rice matter tells us about the NFL?  It's a huge enterprise, enormously wealthy and feeds a massive audience. At the bottom it is all about money, even greed perhaps.
    The league has serious troubles in that many of the gladiators are barely above the rank of street thug. Football programs since their childhood have permitted if not contributed to the condition. Schools tolerated only a pretense of education so star talent could play. Young men learn athletic skills but may know little about civility and how to be mature men. Character is rarely coached or taught. Strength, power and athleticism is valued. Off field violence and run ins with the law are all too frequent. The NFL has been woefully negligent in caring about much more than the big show and the big dollars.

    I know good men of up standing character who have been NFL players and even stars. There are many and some are truly extraordinary. Tony Dungy is a man I admire, respect and hold up as a role model. But all of the good men in the league, be they coaches, players or team executives, have less influence than the real power-that exclusive club of team owners whose primary interest is money. The Commissioner is their employee. They make the rules. They own the players. Sometimes they bilk money from cities to build huge stadiums where they can earn many more millions. They have extraordinary control and they can and should do a better job of riding heard on their combatants. 

      A small little personal experience is a window into the owner run league. When the league can tell a local television station where they can and cannot shoot, when they can and cannot shoot, even in a municipally funded stadium-public space, even if it is not football footage, it demonstrates the autocratic power they exert. So the democratic balance of power should be such that society can tell the league to get serious about criminal activity. They can control their fiefdoms, but the public can demand enforcement of regulations that respect and honor public law and statutes.
       There is news the owner of the San Francisco 49'ers suspended a team broadcaster for comments that could have been interpreted as insensitive. I think he just made a simplistic or even stupid comment about women who are victims of abuse. It is not just a matter of a victim speaking up as his comments implied. I don't think the radio announcer wanted to come even close to saying he condoned the abuse, but his comment underscores how little the public knows about the psychology and pathology of this kind of abusive relationship.  Still, he's out for two games. Yet you have to wonder about players, who are still playing, despite previous offenses of spousal abuse or criminal behavior. It's probably easier to penalize a broadcaster than bench a star.  Who's going to put the most money back in the leagues pocket?

      So, yes, there is a lot opportunity to judge. A judgement most of us have made is that if there had not been video of Ray Rice knocking out his fiancee, he'd still be playing. What does that say about how serious is the league?

DROUGHT TOLERANT

      It is a fascinating mystery how Coyote Brush can remain green when all around it withers and browns in drought. Also called Chaparral Broom it is not only drought tolerant, it's a nectar source for wasps, butterflies and flies.

    Wild fennel also tolerates drought.

   We've hiked past this plain when its nature as a wetland is apparent. Life here awaits rain.

   A lot of nature seems stressed by the third year of the California drought.  The owner of this Live Oak said he's never seen it produce acorns, let alone such an abundance.

   Those who know say it is a type of self protective response. 

   Dying Monterey Pine will often produce an abundance of cones, apparently as a kind of last hurrah. So many rhythms and subtexts in nature.

WHERE YOSEMITE BURNS

   Revisiting shots taken on a trip to Yosemite-trying to get my mind around the fire.

   More than a hundred people were helicoptered out the area near half dome. About 4,500 acres have been burned. 400 firefighters and 8 helicopters have it about 10% contained.  Hoping for cooler and damp weather to help.

     Those who helicoptered from here have adventures to tell.

 THE THROWBACK

     1965- On assignment, covering a county fair. That square microphone and cable?  They connect to a reel to reel recorder, now ancient technology. I was a college freshman, working on room and board. This is the first "promotional" shot I participated in. That's a polaroid I'm holding, probably the photographers test shot.

See you down the trail.

THE ALL AMERICAN WHAT? A BIG SMILE AND A THROWBACK

NOT SMART
THE KID AND THE UZI

    The incident in Arizona is tragic. A shooting instructor is dead and a 9 year old girl must live the rest of her life with the trauma of having killed a man. Tragic yes, but avoidable and criminally stupid.

     There is something repugnant.  Pay a couple hundred dollars and go from your hotel in Vegas to a shooting range where your child is given a chance to handle serious and obviously deadly weapons and then finish with hamburgers?Bullets and Burgers! Has the All American vacation come to this? What impression does that leave on a young mind?

     Having used an Uzi and knowing the kind of power it possesses, I think it should never be put into the hands of a child for commercial purposes. I've been instructed by FBI firearms instructors and US Army trainers and state police trainers and know from personal experience that lethal weapons are meant to be handled and used in ways other than at a tourist shooting range where sissy or junior can fire away and eat a hamburger before going back to that cultural bastion of Las Vegas.

      A friend wrote yesterday she thinks the parents should be charged with manslaughter. Maybe so. But certainly age limits should be imposed or perhaps the operation shut down entirely.

ALSO NOT SMART

   That is smoke above the camp chairs, drifting into the 70 degree plus late morning temperature. It comes from the  fire ring located immediately adjacent to bone dry grassland scrub near a forest suffering the third year of a drought. I can think of no sane reason the state of California permits open fires. That is more so during summer, especially in drought years.  A careless act or a wayward ember could create a disastrous consequence.  It happens.  

   I've enjoyed camp fires in California parks, but during winter, near a stream or the Pacific and never in a drought.  Even then I thought the practice was foolish, deep in a forest or under majestic redwoods. The potential consequence is simply too much for a practice fraught with carelessness, inexperience and hazards. 

    Stupidity stalks us when you see a cigarette butt on a dry and dusty trail.  It is rude when people drop butts in public places, but it is idiocy A) to smoke on a trail and B) to drop a butt near tinder like scrub in a drought.  Duh! How can anyway not see the folly in that?  As is obvious this offender failed even to stomp and mash the butt to assure no hot ash could be left to create a fire.

AND NOW, MORE PLEASANT DIVERSIONS

NOSTALGIC

ANOTHER THROWBACK

     Indianapolis Raceway Park in the '70's.  There was a time I'd jump at any chance to get in any racing machine.

    On this day we were running hot laps, going for speed with no one else on the track. That was probably a good thing.

     See you down the trail.