While we have been busy sheltering in place during the COVID-19 pandemic, and not taking dirt or any other paths, a lot of people have promoted how the planet is taking a breather: the air is cleaner, animals can move about more freely.
But Sierra Club lobbyist Jim Hines says he has been busier than ever because work continues full sped ahead in the executive offices of the U.S. Dept. of the Interior and at the White House.
- APPROVED: building a new section of the Keystone XL Pipeline
- APPROVED: building a LNG terminal to send natural gas from our public lands in Wyoming to the Chinese market
- GOING FORWARD: opening up new offshore oil drilling
- DONE: eliminated protections for migratory birds
- DONE: shuttered the federal endangered specie act
- DONE: prevented all public comment on destructive projects
- APPROVED: mining for uranium on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon
- STOPPED: enforcing environmental laws on the fossil fuel industry
- APPOINTED: completed reappointment of anti federal lands zealot as BLM director
- CONTINUED: work on a BLM Director vision to create an autonomous region in the west from our national public lands
“Our challenges facing our nation are huge right now,” says Jim, “and to add to the problems each one of us has in attempting to stay alive some of us have to deal with an administration out of control when it comes to destroying America’s national parks, national monuments and other national public lands units and the protection of wildlife.”
- working through the courts
- reaching out to congressional members and staffs
- reaching out to Administration officials who are doing all of this
- informing the American public about what is going on behind the scenes right now…..of course all done remotely at this time.
Wearing boots and a skirt but no bra, I pull weeds, plant seeds between storms.
From Ginsberg’s “Guru”:
“It is the city that vanishes; I stay with my forgotten shoes.”
which reminds me of Ray Carver’s “New Path by the Waterfall.”
“Guru” can be found on The Lion for Real by Allen Ginsberg which features musical accompaniment by Bill Frisell, Philip Glass, Paul McCartney and others and on Ginsberg’s 1994 two part disc Holy Soul Jelly Roll; this track was produced by Hal Willner who died yesterday. Scroll down to listen to it. Read more…
From California to Kilimanjaro 1: My Journey to the Roof of Africa plus a link to Tony Fletcher’s Podcast
Kilimanjaro is the Holy Mountain of Africa. Standing at over 19,340 feet, it looms majestically over the countryside and dominates the horizon in Tanzania and Kenya. It’s the highest point on the African continent and the highest freestanding mountain in the world.
In spring of 2017, I made a “to do” list of sacred journeys. I’d already done part of the Inca trail but wanted to do more, I had been to the Pyramids, I’d walked around most of the Welsh island of Anglesey, and I wanted to do the Camino de Santiago. In 2021, I would circumnavigate Mount Kailash in Tibet. I slated Kilimanjaro for summer 2020.
But in December 2018, I was invited by Tony Fletcher to join a climbing expedition in August of 2019 to Kilimanjaro. I debated and finally in late July, I committed to the trip– one that Tony would record for a planned podcast, a series that would kick off his “One Step Beyond” travel adventures.
Originally presented on four Fridays February 7, 14, 21, and 28, it’s available online, and you can listen to Tony’s podcast here.
Right now because of the novel corona virus pandemic, we can’t travel. we can’t even really leave our homes, much less our countries.
All dreams to go there, do that have been put on hold, my own included.
(Yes that’s an American Sentence…)
Today Read more…
National Poetry Month: April 7, 2020 — Decide to Decide
Art by Daniel Arsham. Photo by Gwendolyn Alley. Willing model in Amsterdam July 29, 2019.
During days of corona possibilities, decide to decide.
April is National Poetry Month plus locked down with stay in place orders so I’m posting an American sentence or two every day along with an image that reflects the sentence and my experience during this time.
The American Sentence above was inspired by a Facebook Live with Seth Godin this morning. I took the photo when I was in Amsterdam on a long layover last summer on my way to Tanzania to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro. It’s Travel Tuesday and I know many of us are longing to travel and missing out on planned trips; I should be coming home from a ski trip and packing for a festival and then next week going to France and Germany. But of course none of that will happen so I need to decide to decide what to do amongst the possibilities my life presents me. Read more…
National Poetry Month: April 6, 2020– Covid Be Gone
If we’d posted a Facebook “stay at home challenge,” Covid’d be over.
If we stood our brooms up again, it’ll close the portal; Covid’d be gone.
April is National Poetry Month so I’m going to post an American sentence or two every day along with a image. Above is my window with flowers from my yard.
Allen Ginsberg came up with the concept — an American sentence is like a haiku in that it has 17 syllables but it’s not three lines in a stanza but one line, a sentence. As haiku seeks to offer an image that generates emotion and conveys a moment in time, the best Sentences do more than just be a sentence in 17 syllables.
I learned about American Sentences from Paul E. Nelson who I met at the Taos Poetry Circus in 2000.
According to Paul, the key to writing a good American Sentence comes from Ginsberg’s notion that poets are people who notice what they notice.
He has been writing one a day since January 1, 2001. Learn more about American Sentences and how to write good ones from Paul here.
Why you like Malbec: it has some cajones! It’s not just a fruit bomb.
Hope for a miracle—that’s what you do every time you bottle wine.
So said Bruce Freeman, winemaker at Clos des Amis, on his birthday after we bottled up some birthday bubbles and enjoyed his chocolate birthday cake. Read more…
Saturday 7am loud beeping concrete trucks require more distance.
April is National Poetry Month. It’s also life during the time of the corona virus. So I’m going to post an American sentence or two every day along with an image that attempts to document what it is like.
Allen Ginsberg came up with the concept, and he says that an American sentence is like a haiku in that it has 17 syllables but it’s not three lines in a stanza but one. As a haiku seeks to conveys an image that generates emotion and conveys a moment in time, the best Sentences do more than just offer a sentence in 17 syllables.
I learned about American Sentences from Paul E. Nelson who I met at the Taos Poetry Circus in 2000.
According to Paul, the key to writing a good American Sentence comes from Ginsberg’s notion that poets are people who notice what they notice.
He has been writing one a day since January 1, 2001. Learn more about American Sentences and how to write good ones from Paul here.
I took the photo of the rodent on a hike at Arroyo Verde Park in March 2020 before they closed it down because of the Corona virus. On April 4, from 7am-8pm, they were working on the construction site next door pouring concrete then cutting it; the previous day they were LOUD as they compacted gravel from 7am-5pm. Learn more about this wretched construction project “Brisa 29” here.
Clos des Amis Chambang Rose Sparkling wine made by birthday boy Bruce Freeman from grapes from Saticoy near Ventura not far from the beach
Bottling Bruce’s birthday bubbles by hand in sun is messy business.
April is National Poetry Month so I’m going to post an American sentence or two every day along with some image — art or a photograph. Allen Ginsberg came up with the concept — an American sentence is like a haiku in that it has 17 syllables but it’s not three lines in a stanza but one. As a haiku seeks to conveys an image that generates emotion and conveys a moment in time, the best Sentences do more than just offer a sentence in 17 syllables. Read more…
National Poetry Month: April 2, 2020– Traces of Trees
They are everywhere — these traces of trees–growing from outline to draft.
Six small tuscan kale and six sugar pea plants wait in warm earth for rain.
April is National Poetry Month so I’m going to post an American sentence every day along with art. Allen Ginsberg came up with the concept — an American sentence is like a haiku in that it has 17 syllables but it’s not three lines in a stanza but one sentence. As a haiku seeks to conveys an image that generates emotion and conveys a moment in time, the best Sentences do more than just offer a sentence in 17 syllables.
I learned about American Sentences from Paul Nelson who I met at the Taos Poetry Circus in 2000. He has been writing one a day since January 1, 2001. Learn more about American Sentences from Paul here.
National Poetry Month: April 1, 2020 — April Fools
We all agree there is no need for April’s Fools in 2020.
If I could only write this April’s Fools I’d be a better person.
April is National Poetry Month so I’m going to post an American sentence every day. Allen Ginsberg came up with the concept — an American sentence is like a haiku in that it has 17 syllables and it conveys a moment in time.
art predator 