Essays
Philosophical and Political
Thoughts From My Journal – Misinterpreted
Last night I sat watching the moon, barely gibbous at its zenith directly above, with a halo holding on about 15 degrees radius. Also the stars with Orion not far west of the moon. Wispy cloudy. I love desert nights and can sit for hours keeping an eye out on the sky....
Thoughts From My Journal – The Cactus Wren
One of my favorite sounds is the call of the cactus wren; no sound is more distinctive of the desert, at least as far as my ear is concerned. I’ve been so fond of it and them for so long that Lynn found a woodcarver to sculpt one for me: life-sized, painted exactly...
Thoughts From My Journal – The Sonoran Desert
Before returning to Organ Pipe Cactus three months ago I had come only twice: once while I wrote my dissertation 30+ years ago and again about fifteen years later. I let its remoteness get in my way even knowing how uniquely it affected me. The absurdity of letting...
Thoughts From My Journal – A Natural High
I think it’s unfortunate, even if unavoidable, that we pay so much attention to the early, intense, romantic, brief phase of new relationships. The old expression about the triumph of hope over experience in certain situations applies here, although while infused with...
Thoughts From My Journal – At the Canyon Rim
Walked to the Canyon rim, first view from there this trip and as always, a shocking sight; besides the unique beauty it invariably takes me into deep time: six million years to carve the Canyon and the side canyons, formations, and myriad astonishing features, a long...
Thoughts From My Journal – Essays After Eighty
I’ve just finished Donald Hall’s Essays After Eighty. As with Le Guin’s book, he was in his mid-eighties when it was published and like her he has died since. I bought his book shortly after it became available in 2014 but didn’t finish reading it; since I was only in...