Reading about the commuter plane crash in Upstate New York has caused some old worries of mine to resurface.
I live under a major flightpath to my local airport.
This wasn't too worrisome until commuter/business charter flights became a tour-de-force there a few years ago. Now, on top of the heavy air traffic from the local National Guard unit, all sorts of commuter craft are added to the mix, especially after 5pm. The noise is stressful and I've always wondered where exactly do they dump out the lavatory (can you say "potential disease vector")? There are also strange science fiction-type noises that I hear on occasion that I flat out cannot identify- is someone testing experimental military aircraft (like maybe the crash-prone Osprey plane/helicopter hybrid?) or is it just the sound of planes breaking the sound barrier (this close to the airport?). Even before September 11th, the day-to-day sound and sights of living under a flightpath gave me terrible nightmares of horrific crashes and flaming death. So you can imagine that those nightmares have by no means decreased in frequency.
Add to this mix the "dusting" planes that my state uses to spray for mosquitoes that have on more than one occasion flown so close to the tree line that I could throw a baseball at the belly of the beast and probably muck up its landing gear. And I can't fail to mention the giant arse at the port who owns a helicopter and likes to take the occasional joyride at HOUSE level over where the old farm used to be just a few houses away.
Clearly, my environment has had a profound effect on me in regards to flying. This recent crash is another brick in the wall for me. The only way I'm ever getting on a flying vehicle is if someone pulls an "A-Team" on me (B.A. hated planes and the team had to drug/incapacitate him to get him on one without a bodycount). I love how the FAA and various flying experts like to kick around numbers that show that flying is safer than driving, etc. But to the experts these are just numbers, to people who lose loved ones in these statistically insignificant accidents, they are sons, daughters, husbands, wives, uncles, aunts, and grandparents- they are losing their world. One life lost is one life too many in my book. When flying can meet that goal, then I'll call it "safe".
Friday, February 13, 2009
Monday, December 1, 2008
Save the Sami Reindeer Forests!
I was working on an idea for Christmas and wound up trawling the internet for pictures of real reindeer. I came across this photographer's blog and followed a link for more pictures that led me to a Greenpeace-related page. There, I read about the plight of the Sami reindeer herders and was moved to write this blog.
I will take a moment here to say that the recent acceptance of extremism into causes that I used to support is the very thing that turned me away from those causes. I don't feel that affected parties want to come to the negotiation table to talk with someone who is a known raving lunatic for their cause. I see diplomacy (and dollars- as in buying up endangered lands for an ecological trust) as the way that most effectively serves the interests of preserving endangered ecosystems. Call me conservative, but, how easy is it to get someone else to consistently use their natural resources in a way that caters to the bigger picture? Where I live, urban sprawl is rampant, over-population results in rolling electrical blackouts during the summer and constant traffic congestion during rush hour, and strangely, commercial interests and developers largely seem to get their way. The historical society can't seem to preserve anything that doesn't have ties to the industrialist family that took our state from "po' dirty South" to some semblance of a metro area. And local municipal entities seem keen to use eminent domain to improve their flagging tax bases. Anyway, I digress- now the subject at hand...
Like the forests of Western Ireland, the Sami reindeer-herding grounds in Finland are some of the few standing ancient growth forests in Europe still standing. The indigenous Sami people have lived in the extreme Northern reaches of Norway, Sweden, Finland, and the Kola Penninsula of Russia for thousands of years. One of their traditional and cultural institutions is reindeer-herding. The semi-domesticated reindeer need free-grazing areas to survive. As always, the ecological niche vital to these reindeer is also vital to the life cycles of other species. The main crux of the plight of the Sami is the destruction of these forests by logging interests. In the particular case of the Sami living in Finland, the main logger is the Finnish State. What happens to the wood harvested from these forests? Most of the wood ends up as magazine and periodical paper for European consumption. Is a glossy copy of your favorite Euro magazine that is probably destined for the trash bin after you've read all of the articles worth the destruction of an ancient livelihood and vital ecosystem? Recycling those periodicals helps remove some of the guilt of consumption, but does an old-growth tree miraculously pop out of nowhere to replace the tree that was lost? Um, no. Beyond the replacement of trees, what about heavy machinery-related pollution, compaction of soils, etc.?
Here is a link where you can find out more about Greenpeace's efforts to preserve the Sami reindeer-herding lands.
I will take a moment here to say that the recent acceptance of extremism into causes that I used to support is the very thing that turned me away from those causes. I don't feel that affected parties want to come to the negotiation table to talk with someone who is a known raving lunatic for their cause. I see diplomacy (and dollars- as in buying up endangered lands for an ecological trust) as the way that most effectively serves the interests of preserving endangered ecosystems. Call me conservative, but, how easy is it to get someone else to consistently use their natural resources in a way that caters to the bigger picture? Where I live, urban sprawl is rampant, over-population results in rolling electrical blackouts during the summer and constant traffic congestion during rush hour, and strangely, commercial interests and developers largely seem to get their way. The historical society can't seem to preserve anything that doesn't have ties to the industrialist family that took our state from "po' dirty South" to some semblance of a metro area. And local municipal entities seem keen to use eminent domain to improve their flagging tax bases. Anyway, I digress- now the subject at hand...
Like the forests of Western Ireland, the Sami reindeer-herding grounds in Finland are some of the few standing ancient growth forests in Europe still standing. The indigenous Sami people have lived in the extreme Northern reaches of Norway, Sweden, Finland, and the Kola Penninsula of Russia for thousands of years. One of their traditional and cultural institutions is reindeer-herding. The semi-domesticated reindeer need free-grazing areas to survive. As always, the ecological niche vital to these reindeer is also vital to the life cycles of other species. The main crux of the plight of the Sami is the destruction of these forests by logging interests. In the particular case of the Sami living in Finland, the main logger is the Finnish State. What happens to the wood harvested from these forests? Most of the wood ends up as magazine and periodical paper for European consumption. Is a glossy copy of your favorite Euro magazine that is probably destined for the trash bin after you've read all of the articles worth the destruction of an ancient livelihood and vital ecosystem? Recycling those periodicals helps remove some of the guilt of consumption, but does an old-growth tree miraculously pop out of nowhere to replace the tree that was lost? Um, no. Beyond the replacement of trees, what about heavy machinery-related pollution, compaction of soils, etc.?
Here is a link where you can find out more about Greenpeace's efforts to preserve the Sami reindeer-herding lands.
Friday, November 21, 2008
Snow!
It snowed this morning! And I didn't have to go work in it! I guess there are some benefits to being unemployed.
The New Domestic Arts
The New Domestic Arts
(of no relation to The New Math)
(of no relation to The New Math)
A few years ago, I heard about an interesting trend among younger feminists- they would get together and knit, feeling free to incorporate modern commentary and urban style into their pieces.
I found it interesting mostly because I distinctly recall reading several pieces of feminist literature written in the late-60s and early-70s totally condemning 'the housewife' and all of her accoutrements. Those arguments were not without their valid points, but I feel that those legendary ladies may have overlooked some of the reasons and historical context for some of the activities in which their mothers and grandmothers engaged, during those times before the 'Summer of Love'.
Before it was commonplace for women to work outside of the home and earn a comparable wage to that of men, a woman had to survive by her wits and ingenuity. If she was fortunate enough not to marry an alcoholic, a gambler, or an overly-charitable type, she still had to face the possible realities of what might happen should her husband lose his job, become an invalid (either through a tragic outplay of genetics or a work injury), or die (again, either through bad genes or a tragic work accident). How would she survive? How would her dependent children and/or extended family (an elderly parent or relative living under her roof) survive?
Said housewife had to be creative and thrifty.
She had to make the most of whatever groceries her family could afford- from finding 100 ways to make leftover Thanksgiving turkey appealing and meal-worthy to finding creative uses for marginally food-worthy ingredients like those which are found in scrapple, souse, and hog's maw. She had to horde whatever stray monies came her way. And it would have behooved her to have some marketable or barterable skill to fall back on. Skill sets like those found in weaving, tailoring, embroidering, crocheting, knitting, basket-making, quilting, etc. These skills not only benefited her own house (she did not have to buy goods that she herself could make), but any excess could be sold at the church bazaar, grange hall, county fair, etc. Although without much economic power, women became skilled in self-sufficiency.
Even after the Great Depression and the more prosperous times that followed the end of World War II, these were still valuable skills, and a boon to women who were still able to sock away any profits for times of need.
But as the United States became a consumer economy, these skills fell by the way-side.
The most obvious reason for this change being that, after a long day of working outside of the home, only to return to manage the affairs of the home (preparing dinner, washing dishes, cleaning house, etc.) women simply did not have enough time (or were too weary!) to pursue the old arts. A dawning consumerist mentality obsessed with 'keeping up with the Jonses' also did its part to discourage women from being so resource-conscious and thrifty.
Shortly after the 'sexual revolution', the United States again found itself in financially troubled times.
And what does one find in the women's magazines of the day?
Crochet and knitting projects.
Articles on making clothes for the whole family.
Hints and tips on thriftiness and living a simpler life.
The very types of knowledge that have always served a woman in good stead.
Now, again, we find ourselves in hard times. Men and women with the necessary skills and resources are producing goods whose domestic industries have long dried up and fled to places where their production serves someone else's economy.
It is a mistake to call these skill sets a 'hobby'- they have long proved themselves to be tools of survival.
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Halloween: Things To Do In Delaware (To Meet The Undead)
I love Halloween!
Halloween encourages us to reach back to the most primal of feelings about the dark of the year. It encourages us to think about times and people past. And it encourages creative thinking.
How do I celebrate Halloween? I usually trek out to some dark and rural corner of the world and I wonder if these are the sights and sounds that were a daily part of my ancestors' lives.
So what is there to do in the Delaware region for Halloween? Plenty!
Here are some events that I have discovered:
October 17,18,24,25 Spirits of Fort Delaware: A Night of Haunted Tales Delaware City, DE
October 17 Delaware Ghost Tours (Wilmington and Western Railroad)
October 18-19,25-26 Halloween Days and Spooky Knights Mount Hope Estate Winery, PA
October 20 Halloween Parade Middletown, DE
October 24-26 19th Annual Sea Witch and Fiddlers Festival Rehoboth, DE
October 25 Monsters of the Sea Day at the Zwaanendael Museum Lewes, DE
October 26 Halloween Express (Wilmington and Western Railroad)
October 26 Halloween Parade Newark, DE
October 29 Halloween Parade and Party Seaford, DE
October 30 Strasburg Lions Club Annual Halloween Parade Strasburg, PA
November 1 Dracula's Ball (Shampoo Night Club) Philadelphia,PA
You might also be interested in checking out farms that offer 'pick your own' apple orchards and pumpkin patches. Some farms may also have offerings such as 'build your own scarecrow' and the obligatory seasonal farm stand. I know of one farm, Quigleys, that offers 'haunted hay rides'.
Of course, this list would not be complete without mentioning Frightland, a seasonal amusement park in Middletown.
Check back for more Halloween thoughts!
Halloween encourages us to reach back to the most primal of feelings about the dark of the year. It encourages us to think about times and people past. And it encourages creative thinking.
How do I celebrate Halloween? I usually trek out to some dark and rural corner of the world and I wonder if these are the sights and sounds that were a daily part of my ancestors' lives.
So what is there to do in the Delaware region for Halloween? Plenty!
Here are some events that I have discovered:
October 17,18,24,25 Spirits of Fort Delaware: A Night of Haunted Tales Delaware City, DE
October 17 Delaware Ghost Tours (Wilmington and Western Railroad)
October 18-19,25-26 Halloween Days and Spooky Knights Mount Hope Estate Winery, PA
October 20 Halloween Parade Middletown, DE
October 24-26 19th Annual Sea Witch and Fiddlers Festival Rehoboth, DE
October 25 Monsters of the Sea Day at the Zwaanendael Museum Lewes, DE
October 26 Halloween Express (Wilmington and Western Railroad)
October 26 Halloween Parade Newark, DE
October 29 Halloween Parade and Party Seaford, DE
October 30 Strasburg Lions Club Annual Halloween Parade Strasburg, PA
November 1 Dracula's Ball (Shampoo Night Club) Philadelphia,PA
You might also be interested in checking out farms that offer 'pick your own' apple orchards and pumpkin patches. Some farms may also have offerings such as 'build your own scarecrow' and the obligatory seasonal farm stand. I know of one farm, Quigleys, that offers 'haunted hay rides'.
Of course, this list would not be complete without mentioning Frightland, a seasonal amusement park in Middletown.
Check back for more Halloween thoughts!
Would anyone really want to be President of the United States of America?
Our economy is lying on the sidewalk bleeding, we've gotten a whole smattering of our good international buddies involved in our morass, we've got a frightening about of national debt going on, and the U. S. dollar has lost even more value versus the Euro and Pound. We're not on the best of terms with Russia. We have a schadenfreud relationship with China (they own our debt, and a lot of our heavy industry has been outsourced there). You personally get blamed for every "bad" thing blamed on Americans. Some paparazzo is hiding in the bushes to take pictures of you every time you scratch your butt! I can't imagine how a President can sleep at night or escape chronic ulcers!
What's sad is that the two major parties have grown so similar in their political machinations, that recent Presidential elections seemed for the most part to be a pit fight between two unexciting fellows whose names the bulk of Americans will not remember in 5 years. The thing that we the people need most from whoever "wins" the election is someone who can work with Congress to fix the mess that we're in. From what I've heard, both gentleman seem keen to do this. But do they really know what other wonderful prizes they've won?
Maybe Harry Truman said it best- "My choice early in life was to either be a piano player in a whorehouse or a politician. And to tell the truth, there's hardly any difference."
What's sad is that the two major parties have grown so similar in their political machinations, that recent Presidential elections seemed for the most part to be a pit fight between two unexciting fellows whose names the bulk of Americans will not remember in 5 years. The thing that we the people need most from whoever "wins" the election is someone who can work with Congress to fix the mess that we're in. From what I've heard, both gentleman seem keen to do this. But do they really know what other wonderful prizes they've won?
Maybe Harry Truman said it best- "My choice early in life was to either be a piano player in a whorehouse or a politician. And to tell the truth, there's hardly any difference."
Monday, September 22, 2008
Welcome Autumn!
Autumn has finally arrived! This means that as the nights grow cooler, the fog of mosquitoes that takes over my yard from late June or early July finally starts dying off! I can finally enjoy my yard again instead of slapping at bloodsuckers every thirty seconds!
Autumn usually ushers in the milder weather that I like so much. However, in recent years, the milder weather seems to last for all of two weeks before it becomes cold enough to require use of the heater. Maybe I'll be lucky this year and I won't have to turn on the heater until Thanksgiving.
Autumn is also special to me because it is the season of Halloween, the season in which I married my studly husband, the season of half of the birthday celebrations in my family, and the season for hot apple cider! Because I am not spending large amounts of time dwelling on how oppressively hot summer is, I am inspired to revisit my pool of creativity. Creative expression is like an adventure for me- I never know where it will take me, but a large amount of the joy stems from the journey itself.
Autumn usually ushers in the milder weather that I like so much. However, in recent years, the milder weather seems to last for all of two weeks before it becomes cold enough to require use of the heater. Maybe I'll be lucky this year and I won't have to turn on the heater until Thanksgiving.
Autumn is also special to me because it is the season of Halloween, the season in which I married my studly husband, the season of half of the birthday celebrations in my family, and the season for hot apple cider! Because I am not spending large amounts of time dwelling on how oppressively hot summer is, I am inspired to revisit my pool of creativity. Creative expression is like an adventure for me- I never know where it will take me, but a large amount of the joy stems from the journey itself.
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