The Lone Ranger Hopefully, readers of this blog will regard the title as semi-facetious and not boorish ego-basking. Being the facilitator of Biodesign was often exhilarating, delightful, humorous, dramatic gratifying and many other positives. It could also be terrifying, aggravating, traumatic, chaotic and many other negatives. Dealing with negative forces sometimes required me to … [Read more…]
Assume The Virtue Though You Have It Not William Shakespeare At least one time each year a student would ask, “You know a thousand quotes, how do you do that? I usually laughed and said, “It really is not as hard as it may appear. It is simply a matter of starting with the … [Read more…]
Thoreau, Lemmings and Simple Gifts When our son-in-law gifted us with a computer, the first thing I “Googled†was the story about the Alaskan Lemmings launching themselves into the sea, as a means of population control. According to Google, Disney had to go to elaborate (and deceptive) staging to accomplish the footage necessary for … [Read more…]
Three Clerics Three clerics, representing three of the world’s great religions, met at a conference on World Unity. They became fast friends and agreed to meet monthly to compare customs, rituals and the logistics of operating their respective houses of worship. During one of the meetings the subject of gathering and disbursing monetary donations arose. … [Read more…]
UFOs or Not The recent reference to UFOs was not based on science fiction. When Christie and I moved to St. Helena, Ca. (1970) we had a lot of work to do restoring an old Craftsman-style home. I was working on the roof, shortly after sunset, when I noticed three bright orange lights in … [Read more…]
Out Of The Mud Comes The Lotus It is striking to see beautiful Lotus flowers in mucky, smelly swamps. The overarching theme is that from dead, decaying vegetation something of great beauty springs forth. Although the colored varieties can be striking, the metaphorical contrast between muck and pristine white can be stunning. Many world … [Read more…]
This photo is being offered as an invitation to “Vashon Jane,†and other mountain lovers, to make a spirit visit to one of the most sacred Biodesign trail junctions. This one was not a typical right/left junction; either of those options would have resulted in death. This option was of a vertical nature and involved … [Read more…]
Perfect Sincerity and Vulnerability Part II When the slide-show team completed their program they announced that they wanted to show it to the class before the parent’s night. They felt that there were potentially intimate moments that they wanted their classmates to see before they shared with a larger audience. They asked the superintendent’s … [Read more…]
Perfect Sincerity and Vulnerability Every Biodesign trip ventured into the uncharted and unpredictable wilderness of the teenage mind. In the class of ’81, one of the girls wanted to invite her dad (VB) along as a chaperone on the Yosemite Trip. We always needed chaperones, but her dad posed some scary potential issues. … [Read more…]
The Power Of The Circle “You have noticed that everything an Indian does is in a circle, and that is because the Power of the World always works in circles, and everything tries to be round … Everything the Power of the World does is in a circle.â€Â  Black Elk Christie thought that … [Read more…]