This poem was written for a Peace Project organized by Judy Fisk Lucas. I wrote it thinking of the flooding along the Mississippi a few years back, but it seems relevant every time another place falls to waters, like Nashville, just recently.
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My first assignment as a park ranger for the National Park Service was at Glacier National Park – home to one of the largest Grizzly bear populations outside of Alaska. I was a technical climber, naturalist, and Grizzly bear manager. Actually, you can’t manage Grizzly bear. You manage people to stay far way from the bears. As rangers, we patrol the backcountry, take reports of bear sightings, close trails, post signs, and observe the interactions of bears and humans – from a safe distance!
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The fact that political ideologies are tangible realities is not a proof of their vitally necessary character. The bubonic plague was an extraordinarily powerful social reality, but no one would have regarded it as vitally necessary. ~ Wilhelm Reich
Here is a girl, standing at the end of an alleyway in Chengdu, in the Sichuan province in China, in the early days of the Gregorian year 2010. The longer I look at these photos the more love I feel for her.
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Sometimes, quite often really, I’ve forgotten the simple fact that we’re here to revel in the world, to soak in the awesomeness of it. We’re meant to enjoy the “ride.” Instead, we buckle up, hunker down, and keep our nose to the grindstone. I’d like to ask, instead, that you lift your eyes to the horizon, and walk toward it. Take small steps, if necessary, but find a way to make those innermost desires a reality.
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It’s a well kept secret going back to the glorious days of the Kumeyaay (our native peoples) and the early mission friars. The Kumeyaay Trail and Friars Road both led down Mission Valley and ended at a stunning paradise-like peninsula called Mission Beach. The San Diego River flows into the ocean from Mission Valley, dividing Ocean Beach from Mission Beach while feeding a remarkable estuary called Mission Bay. Few people realize that this beach and bay were a significant food source for our native peoples, important habitat for wildlife, and a point of recreation, relaxation, and exploration for the friars and other early community members.
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Ever wanted to live in a truly green town, full of energy-efficient homes and people working together for the environment? Then follow the lead of Craik, Sask., and start up an eco-village.
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Don’t think for a blue minute
peace lies in dreamy eyes of smiling Buddha
blinking across fields of pink blossoms.
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That the hands of the sisters Death and Night incessantly softly wash again and ever again, this soiled world. ~ Walt Whitman
Sometimes people speak of how people are destroying the planet, and while that may be true in a limited sense, I tend to think that the planet will simply shrug and issue some stern correctives if it becomes absolutely necessary.
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Diagramming Won’t Help This Situation
by Kevin Brown
Grammatical rules have always baffled
me, leaving me wondering whether my
life is transitive or intransitive, if I am the
subject or object of my life, and no one
has been able to provide words to describe
my actions, even if they do end in –ly.
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A beautiful environment promotes health. Beauty and health are almost synonymous. Throughout creation they are intimately related. When we speak of a healthy forest, we see a beautiful and fertile natural environment. When we see a beautiful person, we see a healthy human being.
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