see/read into the wild

I've just finished reading 'How the West Was Ruined,' by Jonathan Raban, in the Jan. 2008 edition of Playboy. Yes, I read the articles. His argument states that John Muir's vision of the West, which obsessed over the sublime vision of 19th century romantics, is an outdated, elitist way of looking at the world.

"It's time to retire the language of the sublime, with its implicit class snobbery and muddling together of aesthetic pleasure with social hierarchy, and look freshly at the relationship between the ungussied-up townships of the American West and their natural surroundings."

you'll have to pick up a copy of Playboy to read the rest of the article - couldn't find the link.

But it's interesting, because I think of Christopher McCandless, subject of the film Into the Wild and book of same title, and his obsessive quest to throw off his suburban, well-to-do upbringing and live among the impoverished during his journey, which ultimately took him into the wilds of Alaska.

Chris McCandless is the young romantic searcher - with an almost unhealthy reverence for nature - which ultimately kills him. You're pulling for him, but you just know he's trekking towards disaster.

There's a poignant scene during his journey when he reenters society from a long, isolated journey down the Colorado on a kayak, which ultimately took him into a Mexican desert.

He hops on and off a train and visits LA, where he's aggrieved by both the plight of the homeless and its seediness and a trendy restaurant, where he could envision himself with other social climbers if he weren't the rough and tumble Alexander Supertramp.

He flees in desperation from the scene, back onto the trains, just like other romantics who view society with abhorrence and revere nature.

I say to hell with nature and Thoreau-esque journeys into the woods.

Try to live ethically in society - that's got balls to it.

I wonder how Raban would view him - did he escape his family - or did he try to create order in nature where it had been lost in his parents' lies? Were his intentions -similar to Tolstoy in his renunciation of money - socially conscious or elitist in their scope?

Because how can someone raised in wealth ever understand what it means to be poor? One cannot cast off his social umbrella completely. it's always there, isn't it?

It's present in his elevation of nature to the level of majesty. Noone who was truly penniless would see beauty in living in a stinky bus by himself in the middle of the woods. Maybe his priorities were out of whack.

The film, which I loved by the way, is shot in locations that are almost all what are considered majestic beauty-type shots. Grand Canyon, the coast, the top of a rock mountain near the Salton Sea where an old man and Chris climb to the top and see the light of God. It's all about some "higher" elitist? reverence in nature.

It's the difference between Western and Eastern Oregon. The warm fuzzies come out when you think of the Cascade and coastal ranges and thick evergreen forests. That's the type of environment that environmentalists protect. It's also got more $$$ than Eastern Oregon.

But I'm not so sure he would think of lost middle of nowhere towns in Eastern Oregon with the same reverence as say, the Oregon coast. Maybe that's the problem with young Chris McCandless, who would be approaching 40 if he were alive today.

He saw things from the eyes of a young romantic, not as they really were. He lived in the 19th Century, not the late 20th. What's so wrong about setting a forest fire that would have attracted the planes or at least someone to come rescue him? Probably didn't realize that the trees would grow back or that he squatted on millions of acres of forest.

why obama should be president

It would eliminate all criticisms that we are anti-muslim if we had a post racial, African-American president in office, according to a very good article in The Atlantic by Andrew Sullivan, http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200712/obama
Hillary v Rudy would revisit the culture wars that have plagued the US since the 1960s. Ellen Goodman, columnist for the Boston Globe, thinks a polarization of politics is not such a bad thing http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/opinion/left/orl-syn-good1209,0,7865626.story
because it engenders political change such as the end of Jim Crow laws, the end of Vietnam, etc.
I have to side with A. Sullivan on this one. The U.S. is being crippled by this culture war - every time the right wing uses gays, abortion or immigration to divide our country, we lose grasp of the real issues. I'm sure the Dems do it too.
I just don't think race, gender ethnicity issues matter that much anymore in the new climate of global warming, class disparity and global politics. We need to get over the issues that have divided us as a country and start thinking how to function and compete within a global society. Obama will help us do this because he's not tied into the war, he's not already damaged by his efforts at health care reform and he doesn't incite memories of the 1990s.
This is a different era with different issues -time for a new leader who can help the nation redefine our place in the world nonmilitarily.
I still need convincing that his stance on issues is to my liking. Part of this is not having cable, other part is sheer boredom at reading the candidates platforms.
But mostly, I think it's a reluctance to get too involved too early when I don't feel I have a say in the process. The primary system gives so much power to two states - Iowa and new Hampshire. There's something pretty whacked about that. Any thoughts?

hawks chat

seattle is a better team than they were last year at this time. Clayton is right http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/columns/story?columnist=clayton_john&id=3148322 when he says that they pick up their intensity as the season goes along, just like the SF 49ers used to when they were champs. Last year, they were marred by injuries -remember, they had a Home Depot salesman playing cornerback in the playoffs against the Bears - and should have won that game. not that they would've beaten new orleans in the Dome, but just saying, they are a better team this year with fewer injuries. They are peaking at the right time. They've figured out the pass is a more valuable weapon than the run on 1st and 2nd downs. The Lofa Tatupu-led defense, even though he went to USC, is toight.

housing mess

What once looked like a good investment is now turning into a kind of debtors' prison. My house, which I bought in June 2005, is nice and everything. I bought it for $168,000 - actually the listing price was 164, but I couldn't pay the closing costs so they added that to the price of the purchase. already 4k in the hoc by the time I signed the papers. A year passed and I struggled with payments. I made everything on time - I actually did pretty well my first year. But last year I made the calamitous mistake of taking out a home equity line of credit. I wanted to take a vacation, after all, I had worked so hard to make the payments the first year and I was about to start a new job after working so hard at the old one for two years and home values were appreciating so much....Actually, I should have seen the warning signs when an appraiser only said my house was worth 207. Anyway, people were listing their homes for 250 - similar 2 bedroom homes without a nice view of the irrigation ditch. So I thought, why not, and I still had those pesky credit card debts that I had consolidated and wanted to eliminate. So I rolled those into the house as well. Hey, property taxes come around - why not use the line of credit - that's what it's there for, right. A new bike - gotta have a new toy. whenever I had a month where I'd fall behind, write myself a check, it's all good, i'm still ahead.
Until I realized that I wasn't ahead. The collapse of Central Oregon's housing market, which some say is just beginning, http://www.bendblogs.com/Bend_Bubble_2/ reared its ugly head this summer. When I tried to put my house on the market in June, I listed it for $ 218. Good lord. That wasn't going to happen. Eventually, my price came down to $205, but that didn't sell either. My realtor and my listing were pulled.
Now, I'm facing realty of the housing market for the first time.
I met with another realtor who said that she could maybe sell my house for $189. I owe $190 and that wouldn't include her fee or closing costs. So basically I'm fucked with a house that will not appreciate any time in the future and continuous problem of credit card debt, an additional 5k, and a job that takes up all my energy and pays $33k a year.
I've got a world of hurt looking at me in the next year. I am thinking it's time to pull the plug on this house and either rent it out or take a hit and sell for below market value, whatever it takes. Either way, i've got to pack up my things and move back in with mom and dad with my tail between my legs.
At least I have that option. Total debt if I sell the house for $189? About $15k. And that's if I can sell or rent out my house. All of which I will have to pay before I could get out of parents' house. I spose it's a lesson learned. After all, I didn't know much about buying a house when I started this mess. I'll know a helluva lot more when I get out of it. I hope. By the way, those houses listed for $250, they never sold either.

news

Reading the news is always an interesting experience, especially when you've reported it. I mean, what do you really know from a story? Has the writer really looked at all sides or are his or her personal biases slyly hid from view? What was his or her frame of mind when she wrote the story? I am less convinced that we have an unbiased media the more I see my own viewpoints, and how they interact with a story. I try to clear my mind, ask tough questions and present all sides to a story.
The reporter's mind is always under siege by questions of objectivity. I am sitting in an interview, formulating questions, trying to steer the conversation towards my questions, and I can tell my subjects see where I'm heading. It's somewhat easier when you know your subjects, but that's the rub. You cannot protect them from serious questions when you know them. You must become a vessel through which the serious questions are asked.
In a way, this form of journalism is impersonal. I am not taking sides, nor am I jumping to conclusions. I am asking the questions that I know will be asked by my editor, and my readers. I am the only one who can ask these questions.
And I love it when people want their stories to be told. I don't love it as much when I am faced with evasive subjects. But that's the challenge!
Here in Central Oregon, there are so many interesting stories to be told. I am learning to find a variety of viewpoints for every story.