Iris Willow in Peru

Hola amigos y familia,

Feliz ano Nuevo! I figured it was about time for another little update from me in South America. A few things have changed since my last update. Three weeks ago, Bert's six month StartUp Chile program ended and we left Santiago to spend three weeks in Peru. We had a great time in Santiago, but were really ready to travel and it was perfect timing since many of my English students are on summer vacation from med December until March. So headed off to Peru.

We had a fabulous time in Peru. We were a little worried about heading to Peru in January, as it is the rainy season there and they've been know to have flash floods requiring tourist evacuations in past years, but we got lucky. It was actually kind of nice to travel in off-season, although the weather was chilly, a big change from the hot weather we left behind in Chile. We had a bit of a rough start to the trip when we arrived 12 hours late for our flight out of Santiago (thanks military time!) and thus had to forfeit the entire roundtrip ticket and purchase a pricey last minute one-way ticket there (and return to Santiago by 30 hour bus). But we finally made it to Cusco, the takeoff point for treks to Machu Picchu where we spent a couple days adjusting to the super high mountain altitude (10,900ft). Cusco has an interesting mix of Inca and Colonial architecture, but is pretty touristy, so you are constantly bombarded by people wanting to sell you everything from Alpaca sweaters, ponchos and massages. It can get pretty overwhelming, so we took a day trip outside Cusco to the luscious Sacred Valley where we visited two Inca ruins full of grassy terraces and impressive stonework.

Bert Fan & Iris Willow -- Christmas in Santiago

After adjusting to the altitude, we left Cusco for a four day Inca Jungle Trek to Machu Picchu which was action packed and tons of fun. On the first day they drove us up to the top of a mountain that was over 15,000ft high and we coasted down on mountain bikes. Unfortunately, the weather didn't cooperate with us and we got absolutely drenched as we biked down the twisty turny fog-filled and sometimes flooded mountain roads, but it was a blast! Then after lunch we went rafting on some super wild class 3-4 rapids in the Wilkamayu (Sacred) River. Since it was the rainy season, the river was moving super quickly, which was exciting and a little terrifying at the same time. About five minutes into the trip, we flipped and all fell out which was quite the rush, but luckily our experienced guide was able to pull us all back in to continue bouncing down the river. The next day was spent hiking on one of the Inca trails along the side of a mountain, which was really beautiful. We ended the day at a hot springs beside the river - the perfect way to ease our aching knees. The third day we ziplined between two mountains and over the Wilkamayu river, before walking to Aguas Calientes, the gateway town to Machu Picchu. The next morning we got up early to get to the gate of Machu Picchu just before it opened. When we arrived, it was fog covered and rainy, so you would see a part of the ruins and the next minute they were out of sight, but slowly the fog lifted and we were surrounded by the magical Inca city hidden away in the mountains. It was fun exploring the ruins, but we really enjoyed the view from Huayna Picchu, one of the mountains guarding over ancient Inca city. It was neat to see the city as a whole from afar.

Next, we headed to visit the Amazon Jungle outside Puerto Maldonado. We did a three-day jungle tour with an amazing local guide and since it was the slow season, we had the tour completely to ourselves! The first day we canoed around a jungle lake where we saw bats, birds and monkeys. The next day we traveled three ours up the Tambopata river to stay at their remote jungle lodge where we went on jungle walks and night boat rides to see caymen. The highlight was a visit to a huge clay lick where colorful wild parrots and mecaws frequent to lick the minerals out of the earth. We saw so many beautiful colorful birds. We spent our last night at a jungle lodge in Puerto Maldonado that was home to several mischievous monkeys that we made friends with.

After the jungle, we headed to Lake Titicaca. We spent one night on small island called Isla Traquile, which as it name suggests, was amazingly tranquil. We hiked around the island, which was filled with locals who wore beautiful colorful hand-woven hats, belts and pouches. We also stumbled upon a beautiful little beach, where we spent some time relaxing looking out at the lovely blue lake.

Our last stop was in Arequipa, Peru's second largest city were we took an overnight trip to the amazing Colca Canyon, which is the second deepest canyon in the world - over twice as deep as the Grand Canyon and is a morning hangout spot for Condors. It was lovely to watch these giant birds swoop and circle through the canyon, we were lucky that is wasn't raining and we were able to see many of them!

Now, we're back in Santiago for a few days to show Bert's parents around our home for the past six months. On Sunday, we head off on an amazing cruise around the southern portion of South America with them, starting in Valparaiso, Chile and ending in Buenos Aires, Argentina. I'll be sure to send an update after that trip and hopefully will get some pics up from Peru soon! Drop me a line and let me know what you're up too.

ciao ciao,

iris

Valerie Haugen poem

removed

Up Bear Creek / 19jan25012

Green Party prez candidate Jill Stein gives People’s State of the Union talk

GREEN HOUSE PARTY … It’s an exciting time to be co-chair of the Colorado Green Party. The Occupy movement has shown that a large percentage of our citizens are fed up with the military-industrial complex’s corporate hijacking of the national agenda … The Republicans have nearly bankrupted our treasury fighting foreign wars for oil (an energy source that global climate change demands we transition away from), and we’ve watched as corrupt Wall St. bankers are rewarded with bailouts and outrageous salaries, while unions and working citizens stand by helplessly as industries migrate overseas, their salaries diminish, and their jobs disappear … The Democrats promised us change, and yet have produced little but more of the same. Guantanamo’s still open. We’re still at war in Afghanistan. This current administration has offered subsidy incentives to stimulate the uranium industry – leading to a Canadian-owned mill proposal in our backyard. Pres. Obama (our great Black hope) has just signed a bill allowing the indefinite detention of American citizens by the military. And the universal health care coverage we were promised turns out to be a mandate that benefits most the health insurance companies … Yes, we know the American political system is skewed to favor the oil elites, Wall St. and the two major political parties. But it’s time for real change in the Republic. And Green Party presidential hopeful Jill Stein is proposing just that … Never heard of her? It’s not surprising. Few politicians surface in the media unless they’ve been vetted by millionaire party brokers (Dem and Repub). So, let me invite you to join us in Norwood for a Green House Party to hear Jill Stein give a People’s State of the Union address (and maybe in Telluride as well). Hear yourself what the Green Party stands for – and it’s a lot more than environmental protection, although that has to be one of our strongest platform planks … I’ve represented local citizens for going on 14 years as a Green county commissioner, and I’m very proud of what our county’s done – not just balancing our budget but building up a strong reserve that’s helping us through this Great Recession, so that we haven’t had to fire any employees – not one! As a board, we’ve fought for wilderness, tourism improvements, open space, local public transportation, clean water, clean air, energy reductions. The Greens may be a minor party in Colorado, but we’re clearly deep in the mainstream when it comes to smart, progressive governance … Jill Stein could bring us that same savvy on the national level. But don’t believe me. Come hear for yourself on Thursday, Jan. 26^th at 6:30 p.m. at the Hollinbeck residence in Norwood. Call me at 327-4767 for directions … There’s a strong chance the Wilkinson Library also will make Stein’s speech available on the 26^th, possibly at noon. Stay tuned … And if you want, watch it live yourself on line, Thursday, Jan. 25^th at 6:30 p.m. MST. For more info, visit <www.jillstein.org/peoples_state_of_the_union>

NFL FOOTBALL … Although I’m probably as counter-cultural a dude as you’ll find in this region, I was born in the Forties, and I carry a lot of cultural baggage from our patriarchal past – including a love of football. When I was young, in spite of my small stature, I played pickup games and various adapted-to-our-circumstances versions of America’s true national pastime. I still have some City of Mountain View summer flag football awards from the early Fifties. At 13 I was the quarterback, and my brother Greg (12) was the star halfback … Growing up, watching the San Francisco 49ers on TV with our dad, was one of our strongest family rituals. Vince would drink cans of super cheap, SF-based Burgermeister beer, which we three sons were allowed to open and get the first sip of – a practice that has continued to make one beer tasty and the second unappealing in my world of alcohol. Not a bad learning, really … This has been a wildly surprising season for the Niners (and for the Broncos, until they succumbed to the Patriots). Watching New Orleans struggle to overcome the Niners this past weekend at the Llama – my fav spot to watch football in Telluride -- my Niner fan buddy Lee Taylor and I enjoyed one of the most thrilling games of the season. It was the sterling Niner defense against the amazing Drew Brees and company offense, and yet in the end – after four lead changes in the final five minutes – it was quarterback Alex Smith and the Niner offense that won the game … This brings the Niners back into the NFC championship game for the first time since 1997, and this for a team with a first-year coach (Jim Harbaugh has done wonders with last year’s lackluster team) and a much-maligned quarterback on a one-year contract … Whatever happens next, it’s a great year to be a Niner fan.

RASTA STEVIE … made the front page of the Durango Herald Monday talking about employees at his Animas Herbal Wellness Center. There are nine dispensaries in Durango employing 60 people in total.

THE TALKING GOURD

Auto-Recognition

Her sparkle

fingers twinkling

like Christmas bulbs

as we dosey-doe

around a Fall Creek

curve

in the canyon of

St. Michael

the Archangel

greeting each other

in the flicker of

an instant

both of us

going at it

50 miles an hour

Up Bear Creek / 12jan25012

Salute to Bear Creek’s Elder of the Year

JOHN MICETIC … John was one of the earliest people I ran into, when I came back to Telluride, after my disastrous Placerville fire. Back when I re-invented myself from arts council director to freelance writer to cub reporter at the old Telluride Times (Scott and Karen Brown era). Covering Mayor Micetic I always felt -- as a member of the Third Estate -- I could ask any question that popped into my radical hippie head (those were the days when I was moonlighting as Earth First! poetry editor). And John always fairly called on me in turn, and usually let me get some sort of public answer for my story … Three decades later, his resignation Dec. 31^st as the County’s representative to the Telluride Airport Board, deserves some kind of fireworks recognition in this community … Whether you agree with the decision to build an airport in this high glacial park or not, there’s no hiding the fact that the Telluride’s financial health (aka the real estate boom) of the last couple decades depended in no small part on the airport’s creation – as much for its private jet access as its federally subsidized locally guaranteed commercial deplanements … And, into the future, for getting at least a foot in the door of the international luxury resort market (although I’m not yet convinced the airport has to remain commercial to do this, if it can’t compete in an unsubsidized marketplace) … John has been tireless in his support, defense and good operation of the airport, which has been an essential element of our financial well-being in San Miguel County. I suggest we all toast our jolly good John for 28 years of protecting the economic engine that allows the 99% to make a good living in these mountains.

LYNN PADGETT … Sorry to see incumbent Montrose County Commissioner David White feel the need to attack a fellow commissioner publicly in announcing his own re-election bid, as quoted in a past issue of the Watch … Ouray County’s Lynn Padgett has done an exemplary job of representing her constituents in state and regional forums (as demonstrated by her award two months ago as Colorado Counties’ Commissioner of the Year). And she’s been the hardest-working researcher on local, regional and even some national issues that I’ve met in my 15 years in local office … Of course, I don’t always agree with Lynn. Conflicting views are intrinsic to politics. But she’s always been willing to listen and compromise, if she can, without violating the trust of her constituents – who come first for her in controversies, as they should … If only as a gentleman, if not as a partisan politician, I think Mr. White ought to publicly apologize to Ms. Padgett for his unsubstantiated slur.

FOREST SERVICE … I think USFS got the message when a lot of us on both sides of the political aisle protested the federal agency’s not extending the timeline for comments on their new nation-wide Planning Rule last year … Our own Uncompahgre National Forest (part of the joint Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre & Gunnison National Forest -- headquartered in Delta but with a Ranger District office in Norwood) has tried three separate times to update its forest-wide planning rule – only to have it tossed out or pulled back for some reason. So, there’s no question a new rule is needed – both on the national level (thanks to a court ruling in favor of an environmental group) and on the local forest level (where they need the certainty of a new rule to finalize their own local planning). But not giving this big national change the opportunity for more comprehensive public comment from collaborative groups (as I was trying to form with enviro and timber interests) seemed unfortunate and politically driven. Bad public policy for good strategic politics was not a trade-off that I appreciated from folks I considered progressive allies. So, I kind of tossed in the national towel, and decided to focus on local issues for a while … But I just learned that Obama’s Sec. of Agriculture Tom Vilsack has proposed the creation of a national Planning Rule Resource Advisory Council to help implement the new Planning Rule that the USFS has officially adopted. As a long-time advocate of resource advisory councils (RACs) for the USFS (particularly as former Chair of the National Association of Counties’ Gateway Communities Subcommittee), I’m heartened to see the USFS embracing this important community feedback tool that the U.S. Bureau of Land Management has used so effectively in Colorado, and all around the country.

25 THOUSAND 12 … Not the year of our Lord or King or Emperor-Pope, but of the first Beringian to set foot on North America … It was an earlier Pleistocene warming trend (similar to our current Holocene anthropogenic catastrophe called Climate Change) that pulled back the Laurentian Ice Sheets and allowed humans a northern passage across today’s Bering Straits. In fact, a recent Scientific American piece pinpoints that possible land passage at some 17,000 years ago. And it goes on, if there were a sea passage, guesstimating first humans as far back as 25,000 years ago. So there’s my working calendar’s “birth” date. The birth of humans in the New World. I want to mark my brief passage on Turtle Island from that moment to this moment. To now.... No question, it’s past time for a new calendar in my life … I began as a very Christian young man. Even studied deeply in that tradition – philosophy, poetry, rhetoric, Latin, Greek, Hebrew, the Bible ... But the Psychedelic Sixties forced me to challenge all traditions. Everything I thought I knew. Everything I believed in. It all got thrown tossed salad up for grabs. I left college for a stint as Volunteer In Service To America on Montana’s Crow Indian Reservation. Where I found a deeper spirituality. Not mine, but one of many beautiful and powerful indigenous traditions … And then I came back to San Francisco in the Summer of Love. And have attended Rainbow Gatherings ever since. My spirituality has grown and shrunk and morphed many times. But the way I mark the days of my life have been stuck in (for me) an old paradigm … Time for a change, I’m thinking (if not at 66, then when?) … So I’ve taken to creating an Ancient North American Calendar (ANAC). Replacing our Julian/Gregorian system of keeping track of time from out the hands of one religion, and into the hands of science’s best guess … Not 2012 [TwentyTwelve] but 25012 [Twentyfive Thousand Twelve].

WILD HORSES … Community blessings on the Serengeti Foundation for purchasing several large Hughes Ranch properties adjacent to San Miguel County’s Spring Creek wild horse herd … I have a feeling our wild horses – probably direct descendants of the thousands of horses the Tabeguache Utes left behind that terrible summer of 1881 (23881 ANAC) when the U.S. Army forcibly evicted Ouray’s band from the San Miguel and Uncompahgre watersheds – have a much more promising future in store … And thank you to all our local and regional wild horse advocates for making this a political issue.

THE TALKING GOURD

Love

You will

never

understand me,

I will

never

understand you.

Love starts there.

-Jack Mueller

Log Hill Village

Up Bear Creek / 5jan25012

Visiting a New Mexico hippie haunt

Lama Foundation Winter 2006

LAMA … For many years in the Sixties those of us in San Francisco heard and read about the commune movement in northern New Mexico – places like the Hog Farm, New Buffalo and Morningstar East. While many of those places disappeared, Lama became a foundation and has continued as a communal haven of renown in the counter-cultural movement since its founding in 1967. Its prayer flag cottage industry has helped it survive economically, while the publication of Ram Dass’ Be Here Now also gave Lama a long-term financial grounding … This past weekend I got to make my first to the residential cluster of homes that surround the famous intentional community. It was a birthday party for an old friend, and in the process of celebrating I got to meet some incredible people … 

Morningstar East (1969)

 That included Rick Klein, the legendary musician and New Buffalo commune founder, and his wife Terry. Rick played some amazing music for us, and the two of us had some lovely talks about the hippie days … Annie Degen was a charming veteran of that same period, and lives in a beautiful adobe adjacent to Lama full of paintings and mementoes of her famous painter/poet partner, Bill Gersh, who was a legend in Taos throughout the Sixties and Seventies. I don’t think I’ve met an elder who more embodies the hippie spirit or keeps that flame alive than Annie … Musician and string instrument-maker Tony Sutherland was the wonderfully gracious host for the birthday bash. His song “Everything Is Everything”  can be found on YouTube … 

Wendelin Scott, Yoga Source, Santa Fe

Incredible yoga teacher, Wendelin Scott, was able to key into our group of newbies and experienced practitioners in a way that made the least experienced feel comfortable and at home in various asanas. She’s co-director of Yoga Source in Santa Fe and a devoted student of Advaita Vedanta. She holds a Masters in Eastern Classics and Sanskrit from St. John’s College … I’m hoping many of these folks will come up to join us for the Telluride Mushroom Festival this year.

SPEAKING OF SHROOMFEST … We’re offering a special discount price for a full weekend pass to the Telluride Mushroom Festival for locals (anyone reading the Watch) – good until the end of January. Just $125 -- $50 off the full price … For more info, call me at 327-4767.

ELECTRO MAGNETIC FIELDS… The issue of “smart meters” continues to confound many of us. I don’t appear to have any personal effects from all the invisible waves and rays piercing my home walls. And yet it’s becoming increasingly hard to ignore how strongly they affect certain sensitives. And information keeps coming in that they may have unknown long-term effects on many of us … 

Smart Meter demonstration in California

The recent article in Scientific American (January issue) on animal behavior, “The Compass Within” speaks at length about the magnetic sense in animals that scientists are just now zeroing in on, and how it works. As the article begins, “Franz Anton Mesmer’s 18^th-century belief in ‘animal magnetism’ – the notion that breathing creatures harbor magnetic fluids in their bodies – had long been relegated to the annals of charlatanism.” But recent research has documented that dozens of species of animals exhibit a magnetic sense. Maybe even humans. But scientists aren’t exactly sure how it works … Magnetism is, as neurobiologist Steven M. Reppert suggests, “the one sense that we know the least about.” Various mechanisms have been suggested and tested, but results are still not conclusive … Thorsten Ritz, a biophysicist at the University of California at Irvine, does note that “radio waves induce electric fields that could disrupt biological processes in unpredictable ways.” While he was speaking to animal orientation in long migratory flights, the concept of EMFs affecting animals (and humans) in ways we don’t understand seems to be becoming more accepted. Clearly, we need more and better research to understand how our increasingly electrified world is affecting us, not just technologically but physiologically too.

A solar Glory

THE GLORY … My teacher, Dolores LaChapelle, was always fascinated by the solar phenomenon called a “glory” – a circular rainbow of light seen in alpine regions, often surrounding one’s shadow form on nearby clouds. First reported by a French scientific expedition to Ecuador in 1748, the exact mechanism of this rare but fantastical light show has been explained in many ways. But H. Moysés Nussenzveig’s article about it in the same issue of Scientific American is worth reading … Turns out, it’s not nearly as simple as has often been explained. Three effects are involved. However, geometric-optic axial back scattering has only a small part to play, edge rays aren’t all that big a contributor, but Mie resonances arising from the tunneling of light seem to be the main effectuator.

THE TALKING GOURD

Vocation

Seminary for me

was R.C. boot camp

Basic training

for church, not state

Our mission to tithe

& save, not tax

& kill. Now elected

to local office

I serve the people’s will

The statutes my bible

Compassion my skill

Blindfolded

at the altar of balance

Genuflecting

still

Up Bear Creek / 29dec25011

Heading into a world of uncertainties

CALENDARS … Great to welcome in a new year (who among those of us conceived in World War II and having survived Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, etc. thought we’d still be here?). We’re a dozen years into millennium change, whether you keep count by the Christian calendar (2012) or by the Ancient North American calendar (25012) or Gary Snyder’s Cultural calendar (50012)… Will the purported end of the Mayan calendar bring great changes or merely another round in the cycle? What with elections and the world racing into a future both frightening and exhilarating, all we can do is hang on for the ride.

Shroompa's New Mayan Calendar (illustrator: Aaron Cruz Garcia)

NICARAGUA … You might remember Paul Dix and Pam Fitzpatrick from a lecture they gave at the Wilkinson, back in 2008. Hastings Mesa recluse and world-renowned climber Jack Miller alerted me to their new book, Nicaragua: Surviving the Legacy of U.S.Policy. It’s a dazzling bilingual book of photographs and testimonies from 1985 to 2010 – tracing lives before and after Reagan’s shameful covert Contra War (how anyone could celebrate that dissembling president for his murderous legacy in our Central American neighbor to the south is beyond me – he, Col. North and the many less visible conspirators in that sordid affair should have been prosecuted as war criminals) … As Jack notes, “Paul and Pam explain what happened better than anything I’ve read” …Nicaragua was all the news back in the Reagan era, now you rarely hear about it. But the scars and wounds from our actions there, while healing, still exist. And this book gives you a clear insight to what happens when we let the military-industrial complex dictate our foreign policy -- using CIA spooks as our brain trust … It’s available at the Wilkinson and Ridgway libraries, as well as at Between the Covers Bookstore in Telluride and Cimarron Bookstore & Coffeehouse in Ridgway. Highly recommended.

SKI MAG … Telluride got another cover story in the December issue, once again relishing the spotlight in the industry’s premiere downhill magazine. Rob Story did the piece – part of a series on “Colorado’s Secret Stashes.” Alpino Vino get’s a hefty boost from Story who notes the European-Telluride connection with waitstaff lederhosen and a “stunning blonde in a St. Pauli Girl dirndl” … But he’s true to our place’s unique niche – “While Telluride has witnessed an infusion of luxury lodgings and day spas, it remains the odd, funky outpost…”

WI-FI BIRTH CONTROL … Argentine researchers are claiming that “electromagnetic radiation in wireless devices positioned near the male reproductive organs may decrease human sperm quality,” according to a report in the Dec. 16th issue of The Week (my news organ of choice at the moment – thanks to Richard Arnold and Marshall Whiting) … “Electromagnetic radiation from a single wi-fi enabled laptop may be strong enough to cause cell damage in sperm” … With wireless radiation and electromagnetic fields increasing in intensity and numbers in our built environment, we seem to be conducting an unwitting experiment on our population whose end result is entirely unclear as to its long-term health impacts.

TWACS … That’s the two-way automatic communication system San Miguel Power is installing throughout its service territory to replace its old meter-reader-read system with something “smarter” and cheaper … Trouble is, a few people are raising serious questions about the technology (and let’s hope former Tellurider and EHS sufferer Jean McDonald is recovering after her collapse at a Ridgway meeting) ... Another former Tellurider Eric Doud sent me this hearsay comment from a friend of his in the energy business (I think anyone with questions about these “smart meters” ought to be talking to SMPA ‘s board and staff who have researched the issues and feels this technology is both safe and beneficial) … “My cousin (an oral surgeon and anesthesiologist) gave me a book on grounding that says that EMF creates a negatively charged atmosphere that can cause sleep disorders and other health problems that can be corrected by periodic contact with the ground. I think a lot more research is needed, but funding for this kind of research could be hard to come by because of the fallout that an identified health threat would cause.”

KUDOS … Nice to see Richard Betts elected vice-chair of the Colorado Health Benefit Exchange Board of Directors. He’s been a leader in our local community for many years – one I admire and whose advice I most value … It was heartening to see that in these partisan times, when state and national governments are not trusted by most of our citizens, local government won two-thirds approval ratings in Gallup’s annual fall Governance Poll. Maybe it’s because we balance our budgets, we’re accessible to the average joe and jane every day of the year, we aren’t swayed by big corporate lobbyists, and we see the job as one of balancing the people’s needs and assets – not a game of partisan warfare … Nice also to see SMPA’s General Manager Kevin Ritter giving a wrap-up commentary for the year regarding our local utility co-op. It’s especially important when controversies arise that the community hear first-hand what San Miguel Power Association is intending. As we are all learning, energy – what kind we use and how we employ it -- is a defining measure of our occupation of this place.

THE TALKING GOURD

Occupied

-for Rio

Shape the tongue to the song

Stick it out • Lick it on

It’s hard to see luck

in the world’s bitters

So let fire rub off

like resin in bowls

Sing hot • Sing old

Sing what singes our souls

Up Bear Creek / 22dec25011

Occupy sign Oakland Port Bart Station, 2011 (Goodtimes)

Questioning the country’s underlying structural values

FAMILY OF SECRETS … As award-winning investigative journalist Russ Baker says of his own book, “…[I]t’s explosive, and it questions some of the underlying structural values of our country” … I’d missed this Bloomsbury Press blockbuster when it came out two years ago, and then my friend Reed Balzer loaned me a copy the other day. I can’t put it down … All the things I thought I learned in concept in Peter Dale Scott’s Deep Politics and the Death of JFK (Univ. of California Press, Berkeley, 1993), now appear documented in fact and footnote. Carl Oglesby’s secret Yankee/Cowboy power structure analysis gets fleshed out into real names, verifiable dates, specific places. And new light is shed on the whole painful reach of my understanding of our nation’s political history over the last 50 years … 

Russ Baker, author of Family of Secrets

Yes, it’s about the Bushes. But also about the whole oil-dominated era of assassinations, obscene consolidated wealth and foreign military actions that make up America the Empire (a mirror few take to our “imperfect union,” as Pres. Obama likes to call it) ... Gore Vidal calls this one of the most important books of the decade. And I don’t disagree. You can’t read it and not be changed in how you view this nation of ours … And it makes one mindful of how important it is to create resilient local communities in the face of such power madness … Highly recommended.

THRIVE … Then along comes a new video to question all one’s assumptions. A “documentary” of mainstream-eroding social, scientific and political anomalies that we’ve long avoided facing, haven’t quite believed, or have been told are mere conspiracy theories … Unfortunately, debunkers have already ripped many of its outré claims to shreds. Indeed, many of the film’s “facts” seem dubious. Plus, Foster Gamble’s narrated script is clunky at best … But as a spacey, crazy speculative imagining, it’s fun. The graphics are trippy. Whatever the physics behind the torus and vector equilibrium, they make good candidates for unifying principles. Plus, many wonderful and respected experts make fine pronouncements, and tell clear truths. It sure appears that the world banking elites are maneuvering us towards a new world order of some kind and that global domination may very well be the goal of the small eye of the dollar’s pyramid. And Thive’s eventual solutions proposed are things that it wouldn’t hurt doing … So, there you have a questioning that seems mired in its own inconsistencies, while pushing the limits of our imaginings of what might be … Curious, mind-bending but a bit loose at the reins.

OAKLAND … I never had a lot of respect for that city across the Bay from San Francisco, my first home. But thanks to the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) system, the whole region is more a Bay Area metro area than individual cities. Not unlike Denver – where the other metro cities are really just extensions and outliers of the Mile High City … 

Staying at the Convention Center downtown adjacent to Oakland’s Chinatown, we got in on their Friday Farmer’s Market. Booths overflowing with dishes, products, produce, meat, mushrooms, and mounds of fruit – especially persimmons, one of those remarkable delicacies that rarely make it out to Colorado … Prices were super low. Competition was stiff. The crowds were mostly Chinese, with a sprinkling of Anglos. Organic was a big presence. And musicians included a wonderful Anglo blind woman on guitar at one end of the four block market, and an elderly Chinese gentleman playing a bowed zither at the other … Thanks to friends, we found a Vietnamese lunch spot frequented mostly by Asians, with only four or five tables, but a long line of customers because the food was delicious and unbelievably inexpensive … There’s two of the principle allures of the city for me, embedded as I am in the middle class – delicious food at inexpensive prices.

HIT ‘N’ RUN … In between sessions of MAPS’s Cartographie Psychedelica, our Shroomfest crew hiked from the snazzy Marriott Hotel downtown out to the Oakland Port, searching for the Occupy folks, who had scheduled a port shutdown on the 12^th. But we arrived too late for the morning action and too early for the evening protest. We saw little of cops or protestors until we circled back to the 19^th Street Station and saw a small welcoming crew of three protestors and a couple signs planted in a median … Tactics in the movement had changed from encampments to protests. The port shutdown was “successful” – commerce ground to a halt as thousands marched. Photos and headlines dominated the local papers … But the day after many of the 99% who got caught in the demo (mostly truckers) grumbled that they’d lost pay, and the 1% hadn’t been inconvenienced at all.

Phil Woods

THE TALKING GOURD

Prayer for the Holidays

Wake up and make green tea

For a sore throat.

Order a pretty pink tee shirt

With humming birds on it

For the young woman I care for.

It’s her Christmas present.

Listen to Joan Baez

--a voice of an angel

For over half a century

Read Peter Matthiessen

Describing his travels

In Indian country.

So many sad tales

& resigned anger.

What would it take

For this troubled land

To heal?

All my relations...

-PhilWoods

Denver