as i approach the summit i knew the earth was far beyond repair. what once was a serene landscape was now the last place to dispose of waste created by a society of over consumption and poor decisions.
what ever happened to the slogan "going green" or "reduce, reuse, recycle?" all i could think of as i sat atop the mountain of trash was that maybe "going green" really meant going, going, gone green or reduce the amount of beautiful countryside, and reuse it to store our waste.
the days of digging your toes into the earth are long gone. no more flourishing green fields filled with wildflowers or white sand beaches for a king to romance his queen at an afternoon picnic. shoes are mandatory in this new, forsaken land.
people in the past talked about other people having bad tastes in fashion. well what about the tasteless food that no longer grows from the ground, but comes from that big factory down the street. maybe if i moved a patch of this trash i can grow a few veggies! even though they might taste like petroleum, it might still be worth it. maybe i could clear an even bigger patch and give the animals a suitable habitat as opposed to boxes and cans, cars and refrigerators.
as i stepped back to get a good lay-of-the-land to make my ideas a reality, i tripped and started to stumble. all of a sudden the ground broke loose under my feet and i began to fall uncontrollably into a pit that must have been covered by trash. i couldn't see the bottom, and why should i, it took me what seemed like hours to get to where i was. what if my idea could have helped just a little bit?! what's that?!
ahhhhh! suddenly i spring up! i look around at the view in front of me. i am sitting in a green meadow filled with wildflowers, barefoot and next to my queen. it must have all been a dream! then i thought to myself, what if my ideas could help just a little bit?!
i had my students write hypothetical stories about what would happen if there was no more land to store the waste produced by humans. this was mine. enjoy!
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
in these parts
the weather has been braking just enough to get the wheels turning a little more than usual during the month of febuary. cabin fever is beginning to subside, to speak the truth, i usually spend most of my free time outside no matter what the temps are, just not so much on a bike. anyway, over the winter the cabin fever has been consisting of friday night bluegrass jams at the place that i call home. we have had some epic nights this winter just diggin' on a simple groove. 
another great aspect of the ending of winter is the harvest of that good ole nectar from mother nature, maple syrup! over the weekend, i grabbed the axe (guitar) and headed up the road to a good friends farm to party down for his birthday, play some tunes, and tap some maple trees. it is a long process that takes about a month to a month and a half when you tap trees in the old way, but well worth it when you have a huge stack of flapjacks in front of a fire with syrup from your local trees. the best thing about using the land is sharing it with the younger generations to pass on the love and knowledge of the earth. after the trees were tapped we celebrated pickin' some righteous tunes till the wee hours of the morning. in these parts, that's how it's done!
Friday, February 13, 2009
Saturday, February 07, 2009
filler up with unregular please!
so this here online journal hasen't been getting much love in the past few days, weeks, months, but what can i say, it is the winter. nothing much has been going on that is blog worthy or maybe everything is blog worthy? you never know what people will read. well, the reason for this post is that i got posed a question last weekend and gave what i think was a totally lame answer to the question, so i am re-answering the question. even though the person who asked the question might not even see this post, i still need to re-answer.
i was asked, might i add very late in the early morning, what my favorite band was. in a drunkin' haze, i gave my answer based on the first band that popped into my mind. for the past week that response has weighed, not too heavily, on my brain. i really like the band that i mentioned, but in the overall scheme of the question, i really do not have a favorite band. i love music in general. music had been a big part of my life thus far and i can not see it going anywhere. i have had so many good times, travels, spiritual moments and realizations during moments with in the experience of music. from the first band i really liked when i was in forth grade, to my teenage years being a straight-edger that couldn't get enough of robert nesta marley, to the many concert runs of various bands throughout my life. music is here, it is real and it has no boundaries. from the rhythm being tapped out during the daily grind, or exercise, to the cosmic metronome of the sun and the moon conducting the growth of the green earth. it comes in all forms, from any shape and size, to our senses to be interpreted in anyway we see fit.
since i was young, i was very interested in creating music. i took basic drum lessons when i was in elementary school for a few years, but wasn't really into the structured format to learn what seemed like something that comes from within. i bagged the drum to later return when i was 18 once i heard the drumming of jim donovan, rusted root fame. i picked up a djembe and have been creating rhythm for the last 12 years. the best teacher for drumming, that i have found, is nature. the rhythmic patterns created by nature are the most organic and can flow consistently as long as you can. some of my favorite lessons have been with the local water falls, and with, of course, the energy of the lehigh river. as of late, i have been quenching my musical palatte with the guitar. this instrument has always intrigued me, and since my friend shawn showed me a few chords a few years back, i haven't looked back and have been learning as much as i can.
another great part of music, to me, is the way it makes you feel. hearing that same song over again that makes you think of good times, bad times, or the inbetween times. the feeling i get when i listen to a bootleg of a concert i was at, remembering my state of mind at the time or the memories of my old man and i hitting a few shows of the crosby, stills, nash and young reunion tour. that shit transcended generation barriers! the feeling is amazing not just from listening, but also from creating. joining in on a raging drum circle, to standing around in a friday night pickin' circle with some close friends, the connection is far beyond conversation and really can't be described in words, but can be conveyed throughout the surrounding area to connect everyone in the vicinity. this question has been on my brain ever since i gave the wrong answer, like it was a test or something, but i had to return with a proper answer. i can give one definite answer for right now and that is that one of favorite songs, right now, was written by joshua finsel and is called "the lehigh river song." the vibe in the room last night was brought on by the energy of that song. there will never be a definitive answer to the posed question from a week ago and i'm sure my new answer would have been better as conversation at the time of the question, but what the hell, it now has become some good reading. "You know the nearer your destination, the more you're slip slidin away." ~ paul simon ~
i was asked, might i add very late in the early morning, what my favorite band was. in a drunkin' haze, i gave my answer based on the first band that popped into my mind. for the past week that response has weighed, not too heavily, on my brain. i really like the band that i mentioned, but in the overall scheme of the question, i really do not have a favorite band. i love music in general. music had been a big part of my life thus far and i can not see it going anywhere. i have had so many good times, travels, spiritual moments and realizations during moments with in the experience of music. from the first band i really liked when i was in forth grade, to my teenage years being a straight-edger that couldn't get enough of robert nesta marley, to the many concert runs of various bands throughout my life. music is here, it is real and it has no boundaries. from the rhythm being tapped out during the daily grind, or exercise, to the cosmic metronome of the sun and the moon conducting the growth of the green earth. it comes in all forms, from any shape and size, to our senses to be interpreted in anyway we see fit.
since i was young, i was very interested in creating music. i took basic drum lessons when i was in elementary school for a few years, but wasn't really into the structured format to learn what seemed like something that comes from within. i bagged the drum to later return when i was 18 once i heard the drumming of jim donovan, rusted root fame. i picked up a djembe and have been creating rhythm for the last 12 years. the best teacher for drumming, that i have found, is nature. the rhythmic patterns created by nature are the most organic and can flow consistently as long as you can. some of my favorite lessons have been with the local water falls, and with, of course, the energy of the lehigh river. as of late, i have been quenching my musical palatte with the guitar. this instrument has always intrigued me, and since my friend shawn showed me a few chords a few years back, i haven't looked back and have been learning as much as i can.
another great part of music, to me, is the way it makes you feel. hearing that same song over again that makes you think of good times, bad times, or the inbetween times. the feeling i get when i listen to a bootleg of a concert i was at, remembering my state of mind at the time or the memories of my old man and i hitting a few shows of the crosby, stills, nash and young reunion tour. that shit transcended generation barriers! the feeling is amazing not just from listening, but also from creating. joining in on a raging drum circle, to standing around in a friday night pickin' circle with some close friends, the connection is far beyond conversation and really can't be described in words, but can be conveyed throughout the surrounding area to connect everyone in the vicinity. this question has been on my brain ever since i gave the wrong answer, like it was a test or something, but i had to return with a proper answer. i can give one definite answer for right now and that is that one of favorite songs, right now, was written by joshua finsel and is called "the lehigh river song." the vibe in the room last night was brought on by the energy of that song. there will never be a definitive answer to the posed question from a week ago and i'm sure my new answer would have been better as conversation at the time of the question, but what the hell, it now has become some good reading. "You know the nearer your destination, the more you're slip slidin away." ~ paul simon ~
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)