“we are so both and onefulnight cannot be so skysky cannot be so sunfuli am through you so I” e.e. cummings (100 Selected Poems) Some of e.e. cummings fans regard this untitled poem as his finest work. However, with nearly 3,000 poems published, it might be a fool’s errand to judge. However, what may not … [Read more…]
“The Canyon is even more wonderful in color and atmosphere than in rock strata and countersunk River. It is not the eighth wonder of the world, but the first.” – John Van Dyke: Author, The Grand Canyon Of The Colorado Thirty St. Helena High School Biodesign students shivered on a brisk February morning outside the … [Read more…]
“A spiritual partnership is a partnership between equals for the purpose of spiritual growth. Spiritual partners use their delightful experiences together as well as their power struggles to learn about themselves and change themselves.” – Gary Zukav Excerpt: Biodesign Out For A Walk, Forward by Linda Williamson. I now realize that one of the great … [Read more…]
“And where better to grasp in one panoramic sweep the reality of time and change but on the rim of the Grand Canyon, the world’s greatest geological gash?” – “The Thread Of Life,” by Roger Lewin. GRAND CANYON is also, arguably, the greatest page of biological history and therefore the greatest biological “laboratory” on planet … [Read more…]
Zora Hurston (“There Eyes Were Watching God”) is credited with coining the phrase, “You got to go there to know there.” While I have found her axiom to be generally true, it is paradoxically true and untrue regarding Grand Canyon. Although, in order to experience “The Canyon,” one must “go there,” it is humanly impossible … [Read more…]
Sometimes it is aggravating when IT “reads” my posts and sends me links and ads that “they” think I will like (or buy). However, this was not the case when, after I posted the blog involving Darwin, Mozart and Sunny Choi. Quite mysteriously, a YouTube video of Yeol Eum Son’s performance of Mozart’s Piano Concerto … [Read more…]
“This follows from the extreme difficulty or rather impossibility of conceiving this wonderful universe, including man with his capacity of looking far backwards and far into futurity, as the result of blind chance or necessity. When thus reflecting I feel compelled to look to a First Cause having an intelligent mind in some degree analogous … [Read more…]
Even though I am not a Biblical scholar, I don’t think it is possible to find single Old Testament reference to God as having a sense of humor. Michelangelo’s dour image of God, painted on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, reflects the pre-renaissance pessimism common at that time, however, I fear that countless millions … [Read more…]
Even though St. Helena is a relatively small town (where everyone knows everyone else’s business) I suspect that only Tom Burke’s family, a few friends and colleagues knew that, before he became a teacher, he seriously considered entering a Catholic seminary in order to become a priest. Obviously, his children and the nearly 1000 ex-students … [Read more…]
It is intriguing to note that, even though Teddy Roosevelt traveled the world seeking adventure, one of his greatest experiences occurred in 1903 when he camped with John Muir near Yosemite’s Glacier Point. He was inspired and encouraged by Muir to initiate the American Antiquities Act which led to creating 18 National Monuments preserving over … [Read more…]