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Michael Evans, painter of light - full frame
Thursday, December 5, 2024
In a nutshell
Having said that, there is one thing about Texas I love and that is the pecans. Well, the pecans and the 72 ounce steak in Amarillo. I have fond memories of stopping in Quanah, Texas with Leslie on our last cross country jag and buying and eating the best pecans I have ever tasted.
Well unfortunately nothing lasts forever and that includes Texas pecans. See https://www.kxxv.com/news/local-news/in-your-neighborhood/severe-weather-leads-to-total-crop-failure-at-local-pecan-orchard#google_vignette' The state that doesn't believe in climate change is getting hit with a lethal dose.
"We had two years of drought here in a row, and that followed that horrible freeze," Gail said. "We lost about 50 trees totally to drought, completely dead, and then another 80 are super stressed. It is sad, and a lot of people love the pecans, so it's hard."
Scientists are trying to get a hold of and reverse the problem. Climate change is obviously wreaking havoc in the state. Texans are being told to prepare for more extreme weather, heat, fire and floods.
The newly updated assessment of extreme weather in Texas draws on data from 1900-2023 to predict trends through the year 2036, and shows a significant uptick in extreme temperatures and droughts, wildfire conditions and urban flooding risks, among other changes. The report was authored by Nielsen-Gammon, a Regents Professor in the Department of Atmospheric Sciences, in collaboration with the nonprofit public policy organization Texas 2036.
“We have national climate assessments, but they can’t do justice to Texas’ specific climate conditions,” Nielsen-Gammon said. “With this Texas-specific study, we focused on observed trends as much as possible rather than emphasizing climate model projections. The historic climate trends are part of our lived experience in Texas, and our report puts them in long-term context.”
In recent years, Texans have come face-to-face with the realities of a warming climate, sweating through record-breaking heat waves and lengthy droughts that have taken a toll on agricultural and water resources in many parts of the state.
“During the past couple of years, we’ve gone through two of the hottest summers on record,” Nielsen-Gammon said. “That has altered the trend of 100-degree days, making the increase even more dramatic than it had been. We’ve also seen new research that indicates that surface water supplies might be becoming less reliable, with increasing evaporative losses coupled with increasingly erratic rainfall.”
According to the report, those trends are expected to continue and intensify, with Texans in 2036 experiencing quadruple the number of 100-degree days compared to the 1970s and 1980s. The report also predicts a 7% increase in water lost through summertime evaporation by 2036.
All part of the good lord's plan, right Texas? By all means keep your head buried in that hot Texas clay. Deny, defend and demise.
A team from UTEP is studying ways to mitigate the Pecan kill.
The research is supported by a grant of nearly $250,000 from the National Science Foundation and led by Hugo Gutierrez-Jurado, Ph.D., associate professor in UTEP’s Department of Earth, Environmental and Resource Sciences.
“Climate change is increasing the frequency and severity of extreme weather events, which are already having a profound impact on the crops in large agricultural areas across the country’s arid regions,” said Gutierrez-Jurado. “We are seeing decreases in crop productivity due to plant stress from excessive dry and warm conditions.”
Pecans are one of the most economically significant crops for communities across the Chihuahuan Desert region on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border, Gutierrez-Jurado said. According to Iowa State University’s Agricultural Marketing Resource Center, the pecan crop in the U.S. alone was valued at $500 million in 2022.
The UTEP study will look at how drought, heat waves and soil impact the cycle of water and carbon between plants and the atmosphere in dryland agricultural ecosystems. It will focus on two orchards, one in the El Paso area and another in the Conchos River basin near the city of Delicias in the Mexican state of Chihuahua.
Similar efforts are being made to save the pecans in Georgia.
If you’ve been watching or reading the news, you’ll have likely seen climate change dominate headlines. And with good reason: it can affect our food supply, and that includes trees bearing the iconic Georgia pecan.
Climate change occurs when greenhouse gasses trap heat in the Earth’s atmosphere, causing the temperature to climb. This can spark an early spring, causing plants to bloom earlier than they normally would. And while blossoms may be a welcome sight after a long winter, an early spring makes plants more susceptible to a cold snap. In turn, this increases a growers’ risk of not only crop loss, but of diminished revenue.
It’s no secret that when it’s hot and dry outside, trees require more water. Young (first-year) pecan trees, that don’t yet have enough of a root system, are particularly stressed when the temperature hits the high 90s.
Temperatures higher than 95 °F can kill feeder roots in shallow soil depth, putting more pressure on an already-stressed root system that’s trying to establish itself.
I know that politicians in some southern states are forbidden to use the term climate change. These pecan scientists better watch their back. Dumb is a badge of honor down there.
Shoot one man...
See Murdered Insurance CEO Had Deployed an AI to Automatically Deny Benefits for Sick People.
Many people online are siding with the shooter.
While I do not, I can understand the pain of those who have watched loved one's die as a result of being denied coverage they felt was necessary. According to ValuePenguin, UHC had the highest denial rate in the industry, twice the average.
Last November, the estates of two former UHC patients filed suit in Minnesota alleging that the insurer used an AI algorithm to deny and override claims to elderly patients that had been approved by their doctors.
The algorithm in question, known as nH Predict, allegedly had a 90 percent error rate — and according to the families of the two deceased men who filed the suit, UHC knew it.
As that lawsuit made its way through the courts, anger regarding the massive insurer's predilection towards denying claims has only grown, and speculation about the assassin's motives suggests that he may have been among those upset with UHC's coverage.
Though we don't yet know the identity of the person who shot Thompson nor his reasoning, reports claim that he wrote the words "deny," "defend," and "depose" on the shell casing of the bullets used to shoot the CEO — a message that makes it sound a lot like the killer was aggrieved against the insurance industry's aggressive denials of coverage to sick patients.
Beyond the shooter's own motives, it's clear from the shockingly celebratory reaction online to Thompson's murder that anger about the American insurance and healthcare system has reached the point of literal bloodlust.
As The American Prospect so aptly put it, "only about 50 million customers of America’s reigning medical monopoly might have a motive to exact revenge upon the UnitedHealthcare CEO."
A friend of mine was recently denied the most basic testing for his wife, which was requested by Scripps, she died a month or two later of pancreatic cancer. In a similar situation, I could see myself getting very angry.
Ever prescient, I wrote about this very subject in October, Evi(L)Core is denying your insurance claims.
The biggest player is a company called EviCore by Evernorth, which is hired by major American insurance companies and provides coverage to 100 million consumers — about 1 in 3 insured people. It is owned by the insurance giant Cigna.
A ProPublica and Capitol Forum investigation found that EviCore uses an algorithm backed by artificial intelligence, which some insiders call “the dial,” that it can adjust to lead to higher denials. Some contracts ensure the company makes more money the more it cuts health spending. And it issues medical guidelines that doctors have said delay and deny care for patients.
They have very good pictures of the assassin's face, I predict that he will be apprehended shortly if he does not take his own life first. It will be somewhat interesting to hear his story and justifications.
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Words On Ammo Used In CEO's Shooting Echo Tactics Used By Insurers
A message left at the scene of an insurance executive’s fatal shooting — “deny,” “defend” and “depose” — echoes a phrase commonly used to describe insurer tactics to avoid paying claims.
UnitedHealthcare provides coverage for more than 49 million Americans and brought in more than $281 billion in revenue last year as one of the nation’s largest health insurers. UnitedHealthcare and its rivals have become frequent targets of criticism from doctors, patients and lawmakers in recent years for denying claims or complicating access to care.
Critics say insurers are increasingly interfering with even routine care, causing delays that can, in some cases, hurt a patient’s chances for recovery or even survival.
Doctors and patients have become particularly frustrated with prior authorizations, which are requirements that an insurer approve surgery or care before it happens.
This was the remark that hit me the hardest:
"When you shoot one man in the street it's murder. When you kill thousands of people in hospitals by taking away their ability to get treatment you're an entrepreneur," an X user wrote.
Tuesday, December 3, 2024
Jacket Jive
Pat Shubin sent me this page from my Oxnard High graduating class yearbook of 1975.
I guess I was part of some creative writing venture, I have no memory of same. The theme was following directions which was never exactly my forte but it does say somewhere in the fine print that satire was permissible. I may have contributed some artwork.
Years earlier at Desert Sun I was suspended for creating an underground comic called Duck Fat that depicted the administration in a poor light. The fat really hit the teacher when it was determined that I had engaged a very sweet faculty member, teacher George Creelman, to mimeograph the comic and distribute it. He got in trouble. Sorry George, that wasn't right, my bad. Damn instigator.
I am the long haired ringleader front and center surrounded by young lasses. Not sure why I was wearing the Steinem style specs. This was after a major bout of hepatitis that almost killed me. I think I weighed about 130 lbs. when this was shot and it was mostly hair.
When I moved back the year before from New York with my jewfro, people had never seen anything really like it in these parts. It was a real source of amusement for the jocks and muggles. I cut approximately 14" off before this picture, it stretched all the way down my back.
I lived in Oxnard Shores. A few years later it turned out our apartment was sited on top of a Chevron pcb ridden superfund site, might have contributed to my ill health during my time there and subsequently.
Never been back once, no plans in the future.
Who's to blame?
The Democratic party is engaged in a spirited debate and self examination after getting shellacked in the recent national election. The moderates are blaming the progressives and excessively woke, and the progressives are blaming the moderates for not appealing with the working class.
I was reading this article the other day and couldn't help reacting to this sentence:
...for Ken Martin, chair of the Minnesota Democratic-Labor-Farmer Party and a candidate to lead the Democratic National Committee next year, the election represented “a damning indictment” for the Democratic Party.
“People do not believe that the Democratic Party is fighting for them or for their families or gives a damn about their lives,” Martin told The Associated Press. “We lost ground with almost every group except wealthy households and college-educated voters.”
I agree. Liberals need to make more ground with the poor dumbshits.
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There are already calls to make military leaders, prosecutors and journalists walk the plank.
The question is if we will hear a peep from the republican Senate and any sane souls that remain in the party if he commences with the firing squad idea.
You know the House GOP will be on board, that is a given.
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Today a group of Senate Republicans gave Pete Hegseth a rousing endorsement after a meeting where they decided not to even look into the giant heap of sexual allegations against the nominee.
The guy's own mother says he is an abusive misogynist but we will just look the other way because the right is so fascinated with the whole macho proud boy incel thing right now.
And you thought Idiocracy was just a movie?
Pa Ashi
I thought that this article from earth.com was interesting about the newly appeared Tulare Lake. At one time, it was the largest body of fresh water west of the Mississippi. The native Yokuts called it Pa Ashi or Big Water.
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| The schooner Water Witch on Tulare Lake, 1883 |
Historically the lake supported the largest population of indigenous people north of Mexico. The lake is back after a hundred and thirty year absence and has buried approximately 94,000 acres of farmland.
For the first time in about 130 years, Tulare Lake reappeared in California’s San Joaquin Valley, stirring both wonder and concern among locals and experts alike as it submerged almost 100,000 acres of privately owned farmland.
Vivian Underhill, a researcher formerly at Northeastern University, has been studying this unexpected phenomenon.
“Tulare Lake was the largest body of fresh water west of the Mississippi River. It’s really difficult to imagine that now,” she says.
Often dubbed the “ghost lake,” Tulare Lake vanished about 130 years ago due to extensive human intervention.
But in the spring of 2023, after massive winter storms and significant snowmelt from the Sierra Nevada, the lake roared back to life.
The water overwhelmed human-made systems designed to drain the basin, submerging thousands of acres of fertile farmland that once produced pistachios, almonds, cotton, and safflower.
One thing that I found fascinating was this passage;
Underhill notes the historical significance, saying, “Once, there was so much water that a steamship could carry agricultural supplies from the Bakersfield area up to Fresno and then up to San Francisco.”
That’s nearly 300 miles of navigable waterways that connected communities and supported commerce.
To travelers passing through the arid San Joaquin Valley today, the existence of such a vast lake seems almost mythical.
“It’s hard to imagine such a large body of water co-existing alongside such an arid landscape,” Underhill remarks. Yet, in the 1800s, “Fresno was a lakeside town.”
Back then, Tulare Lake was fed primarily by snowmelt from the Sierra Nevada.
“There’s no natural outlet within the valley,” Underhill explains, “so the water collects to form a lake.” The indigenous Tachi Yokut tribe called it “Pa’ashi,” and it was central to their way of life.
The disappearance of Tulare Lake began in the late 1850s and early 1860s.
“The state of California’s desire to take public land and put it into private ownership propelled the lake’s decline,” Underhill explained.
“When we say ‘public land,’ that is historically indigenous land that the state of California blanket-proclaimed as ‘public.'”
Who knew?
Unfortunately the water buried a lot of fertilizer and pesticides, Tulare Lake is facing some serious environmental issues. Here is the full and fascinating report on the lake at Open Rivers.
Time Out
I was driving into town on my road on Sunday to buy a sprinkler part when I found myself behind a beautiful young bobcat. Lovely features and a dark bobbed tail.
I gave him his space and he leisurely sauntered down the high canyon road, unbothered by my proximity. Eventually he darted into the scrub and I saw him enter his lair, inside a very spiny native cactus patch.
I live on the fringe of the wild and you wonder sometimes where the predators live and sleep? It is rare to find out.
This actually made a lot of sense. The opening in the opuntia cactus was just big enough for the small feline to enter but probably too big for a puma or coyote to get into without getting seriously pierced.
In fact, it is rare for me to see a cat in the wild, let alone photograph one.
But I certainly treasure the times that I do.
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We people in the San Diego region live in a Mediterranean climate. It is defined by winter rain and hot, dry summers. The parts of the world that share such a climate are few.
One of the things I have noticed is that we get unusual plants blooming at unusual times in the fall, rather than the spring. Many palms, agaves and aloes are blooming right now, among other things.
The spike is just starting to flower, from the bottom up!
I would estimate its height to be about fourteen feet tall.
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Yesterday I saw both Lesser goldfinches and Laurences, which are fairly uncommon.
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I decided to play hooky for the afternoon and drove up to the wildlife area, after a three month hiatus.
It was still pretty dry and I didn't see a lot of birds but did see some.
Sunday, December 1, 2024
Ralph in Nepal
My friend Ralph is in Nepal with his brother Sky. They have been going for many years, I believe that they have contributed a lot to the health of a village there but don't know much about it.
Probably will never happen now.
Ralph is a videographer but this platform doesn't do well with long films so I will share some photos that he dropboxed me instead.
Grateful Dead - A Photofilm by Paul and Linda McCartney
Saturday, November 30, 2024
Holy Mack'rel
For a guy who pretends to know it all, I have some remarkably wide holes in my knowledge base. There is a smart rabbi from San Jose named Reuven Goldstein on Linkedin who offers very interesting historical posts and I saw this one the other day that got me to thinking.
My first thought was wondering if I had it all wrong and if the fish on Friday deal for the Catholics could have been a later invention than I had surmised. On second reading it made more sense.
These people were fleeing the inquisition in Iberia and merely bringing one of the customs of the old Catholic culture with them.
So when did the fish on Friday thing start? Supposedly in the first century b.c.e.
This article says that Jesus died on a Friday and he was a warm blooded animal so we don't eat warm blooded animals. Fish live in cold water so they are cold blooded so they are okay to eat.
Here is the original article at NPR.
Fish are coldblooded, so they're considered fair game. "If you were inclined to eat a reptile on Friday," Foley tells The Salt, "you could do that, too."
Alas, Christendom never really developed a hankering for snake. But fish — well, they'd been associated with sacred holidays even in pre-Christian times. And as the number of meatless days piled up on the medieval Christian calendar — not just Fridays but Wednesdays and Saturdays, Advent and Lent, and other holy days — the hunger for fish grew. Indeed, fish fasting days became central to the growth of the global fishing industry. But not because of a pope and his secret pact.
And what else did they eat? Herring. I got news for you, my ancestors ate it too, once it was pickled.
At first, says Fagan, Christians' religious appetite was largely met with herring, a fish that was plentiful but dry and tasteless when smoked or salted. And preservation was a must in medieval times: There was no good way for fresh fish to reach the devout masses. Eventually, cod became all the rage — it tasted better when cured and it lasted longer, too.
U.S. Catholic has a slightly different take on the subject , more religious in tone, which reaches back to Genesis in the Hebrew Bible.
Christians have fasted (gone without food) and abstained (gone without certain foods, especially meat) since the beginning. The Book of Genesis teaches that all the plants and animals that God created and entrusted to human beings are good, especially those given to us as food (Genesis 1:29). Jesus taught that nothing that a person eats makes him or her evil (Mark 7:18). So why then do Christians fast and abstain?When the devil tempts Jesus in the desert with a comfortable life and a full stomach, Jesus recalls the wisdom of Deuteronomy: “One does not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God” (8:3). Fasting and abstaining makes this real. It also hones our appetite, training us for the basic stance of a baptized person in this world: gratitude. Doesn’t something taste better once you’ve truly hungered for it? Aren’t we more grateful for what we’ve hungered and thirsted for?Jesus recommended fasting, but not as a mere formality—and certainly not as a burden to be imposed on the poor who have to eat when they can, even if in violation of religious tradition. Instead Jesus recommended fasting when one fails to sense that God is near.The practice of eating fish is related to the day we typically abstain from meat: Friday. This is the day that Christ died, so abstaining from the shedding (and consuming) of blood seems appropriate. Friday, the sixth day, was also the day that God created animals, so abstaining from meat is a symbolic “stay of execution” for cows, pigs, and sheep—just as the cross saves us from eternal death.
So the Jews and the Catholics were down with the fish thing. What about the Protestants? Glad you asked. You probably know that Henry VIII started the Anglican Church when the Pope would not let him become Catholic because of all the divorces.
Henry jumped gills first into the fish on Friday thing. Made it the law in fact.
Henry ascended the throne in 1509, fish dominated the menu for a good part of the year. As one 15th century English schoolboy lamented in his notebook: "Though wyll not beleve how werey I am off fysshe, and how moch I desir to that flesch were cum in ageyn."
So now back to the kids. Their tradition predates so many Christian ones, were they eating Fish on Friday too, before the previously mentioned Portuguese started the fish and chips craze in England?
Well, that's a good question. I found this on a Jewish site.
It is the custom of Jewish communities to eat fish on Friday night. Fish are seen as animals that are protected from the evil eye, since they live in the water and cannot be seen from outside the water.
Another explanation attributes the custom of eating fish to the fact that the eyes of the fish- as opposed to other animals- are always open, which is an indication to Devine Providence.
An interesting midrash states that in the desert the people of Israel tasted in the heavenly manna every flavor in the world but fish. Therefore, some link the custom to eat fish with the wish to complete the missing manna favor, thus creating a perfect "oneg (joy of) Shabbat".Gefilte Fish
The stuffed fish, known by its Yiddish name "Gefilte Fish", is considered in some Jewish communities as a "must" dish for Friday night meals. The filling hints to the manna, the bread of the sky which did not fall on Shabbat, and was places between two layers of dew.
Meat and Fish
According to the Kabbala literature, the Shabbat is called 'a taste of the world to come'. Various midrashim describe miraculous animals such as the leviathan and the wild bull, which will be used to make a banquet in the world to come. Eating fish and meat on Shabbat reminds us of that meal.
P'tcha
Hasidic literature explains that p'tcha- jelly made out of calves' hooves- is eaten on Shabbat because it is a day of truth. Since 'lies will not stand', the p'tcha is eaten to emphasize that Shabbat symbolizes the truth, which unlike the lie, stands on firm feet.
And more from Chabad.
In Talmudic2 times, fish was considered a “delight” and was often savored on Shabbat. In fact, the Talmud relates the story of how Yosef Moker Shabbat, “Yosef Who Cherishes Shabbat,” would always buy fish in honor of Shabbat. He thus merited to discover a precious gem in the belly of a fish, which resulted in him becoming very wealthy.
So on a basic level, it seems as though fish is really just a preference, and if one prefers another food over fish, there is no reason to specifically seek it out and serve it on Shabbat.
However, the mystics explain that one should try to have fish at the Shabbat meals.3 In the words of the Shulchan Aruch Harav (quoting the kabbalists):4
It is desirable to be meticulous and partake of fish during every meal unless [a person’s physical constitution is such that eating] fish is harmful to him or he dislikes it, i.e., it brings him discomfort, not pleasure—for Shabbat was given for the sake of pleasure.
Jews throughout the generations have been meticulous to eat fish on Shabbat. In fact, halachah discusses the not uncommon scenario where non-Jewish fishermen would specifically raise the price of fish before Shabbat due to the demand.
There are many reasons given for the custom to eat fish on Shabbat. Here are 11 of them.
1. Triple Blessing
Rabbi Tzvi Elimelech of Dinov, known as the B’nei Yissaschar, explains that during the six days of creation, G‑d blessed three things as they were created:
- On Thursday, He blessed the fish: “G‑d blessed them, saying, ‘Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters of the seas . . .’”5
- On Friday, He blessed mankind: “G‑d blessed them (Adam and Eve). G‑d said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth!’”6
- On Shabbat, “G‑d blessed the seventh day and He declared it holy . . .”7
“A three-stranded cord will not quickly be broken,”8 says Scripture. Thus, we combine all three: man eats fish on Shabbat, and is thus blessed with the threefold Priestly Blessing:9
- May the L‑rd bless you and watch over you.
- May the L‑rd shine His countenance upon you and grant you grace.
- May the L‑rd raise His countenance toward you and grant you peace.10
2. The Number Seven
On Shabbat, the seventh and final day of the week, we eat foods that are associated with the number seven. The Hebrew word for fish is דג (dag), which has the numerical value of seven.11
3. Souls of the Righteous
The mystics explain that if the souls of the righteous must return to earth, they are often reincarnated as fish, which are one with their surroundings. Unlike other animals, fish don’t need to be slaughtered, and thus they cannot become unkosher due to the preparations or any damages to their innards.
On the holy day of Shabbat, we have the extra merit and energy to elevate these souls through using them for the mitzvah of delighting in Shabbat.12
Another take.
Religions always have their fair share of strange and arcane traditions that begin to lose their meaning over the centuries, even for the most devoted of followers.
One such tradition that is well known among Catholics around the world is the practice of only eating fish on Fridays during the Lenten season.
While this tradition has many proposed origins floating through the rumor mill, the true basis for the practice of abstaining from meat is actually much simpler and interesting than most of the standard urban legends that many people believe.
Historically, the Jewish people would fast on Tuesdays and the Sabbath, or Friday evening to Saturday evening, and many early Christians were Jewish converts.
However, some time in the late 3rd century, the practice changed and fasting during Lent occurred on Wednesdays and Fridays. Wednesdays were significant because it was the day Jesus Christ was betrayed by Judas, and Fridays because he was crucified on a Friday just before the Sabbath began at sunset.
And there you have it.
Abandoned
There is an interesting article at the Guardian, The great abandonment: what happens to the natural world when people disappear?
In many parts of the world, people are fleeing rural communities and moving to cities for work. Coupled with a declining birth rate, many areas are literally going back to seed. Nature is reclaiming many once urban landscapes, both here and abroad.
Bulgaria lies at the extreme end of this kind of demographic change, but the forces reshaping it are acting everywhere. Over the past half century, the global portion of people living in rural areas has decreased by almost a third. Farming is becoming increasingly industrial and concentrated. More than half of all people now live in and around cities, and that figure is expected to rise to 70% by 2050. In many countries, birthrates are dropping steadily, and while the global population is projected to keep growing until 2080, around half of that growth is being driven by fewer than 10 countries.
As populations move and shrink, people are leaving long-occupied places behind. Often they leave everything in place, ready for a return that never comes. In Tyurkmen, Christmas baubles still hang from the curtain rails in empty houses, slowly being wrapped by spiders. In one abandoned home, a porcelain cabinet lay inside a crater of rotted floorboards, plates still stacked above a spare packet of nappies for a visiting grandchild. Occasionally, abandonment happens all at once, when a legal ruling or evacuation sends people scuttling. But mostly, it is haphazard, creeping, unplanned. People just go.
Since the 1950s, some scholars estimate up to 400m hectares – an area close to the size of the European Union – of abandoned land have accumulated across the world. A team of scientists recently calculated that roughly 30m hectares of farmland had been abandoned across the mainland US since the 1980s. As the climate crisis renders more places unliveable – too threatened by flooding, water shortages and wildfires to build houses, soil too degraded and drought-stripped to farm – we can expect further displacements.
I will never forget the photos a few years back of trees growing through old factory ceilings in Detroit.
Entropy can be a beautiful thing, especially for an artist. But the back to nature scenario is not all rosy.
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| An abandoned house in Kreslyuvtsi village, Bulgaria. Photograph: Ivo Danchev/The Guardian |
According to the article, when a dominant species like man moves out of the landscape, unfortunately a dominant monoculture moves right back in, usually an invasive species.
The brambles illustrate the first force that abandoned land faces: when humans leave en masse, new dominant species can make a clean sweep. The worst offenders are not brambles, but imported, invasive species. In Poland, where about 12% of farmland was abandoned after the fall of communism, the fields have turned thick mustard yellow, blanketed by the bright pollen cascades of Canadian goldenrod. This species has colonised about 75% of the country’s abandoned fields, and where goldenrod grows, little else thrives. Scientists studying this abandoned land found that wild pollinators decreased by 60%-70%, and the number of birds halved. In Bulgaria, an emerging threat is the Tree of Heaven (Ailanthus altissima), a hardy, fast-growing, disease-resistant tree from northern China, with bitter-smelling sap that repels other plant, animal and microbial life.
These monocultures can create “biological deserts”, where just one species grows. The need to diversify them is not only an aesthetic, human preference. Monocultures are associated with soil degradation and nutrient depletion, extinctions of other species, difficulty purifying water, catastrophic wildfires, vulnerability to drought and the rapid spread of disease.
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I have been wrestling with personal feelings of abandonment. One of my closest couple friends has just left for Asia for four months for their annual pilgrimage. Another very close friend has sold her home and will be leaving the area forever. Another close friend has died after a short illness.
I started compiling a list this morning.
Jack and Jill - Spring Valley
Lemon Avenue - La Mesa
Lancaster Elementary - Lancaster
Mariposa Elementary - Las Cruces
McArthur Elementary - El Paso
South Woods - Syosset
Hauppauge Middle School - Hauppauge
Lewis Junior High - San Diego
Desert Sun School - Idyllwild
Dwight York Preparatory School - New York
Walden School - New York
Oxnard High School - Oxnard
I think that is all of them, might have missed one.
These are the schools I attended through high school graduation. Twelve schools. I spent a year and a half at Lemon Avenue, four years at McArthur and a miserable year and a half at Oxnard, fighting Hep C. Everything else was a year or less. Some were six month stretches. You keep your suitcase half packed, like I do today.
My parents divorced when I was four and my mother married a guy who designed missiles and rockets.We moved from missile base to missile base for his job. He was also a physically abusive alcoholic who could only be trusted for two things, to beat my brother and I with regularity and to drink to oblivion. My mother started drinking too and popping pills, mainly valium, darvon and librium. Life was serious hell for us.
My late brother and I shuffled back to California for one stretch in 1970, when things became completely unbearable. Alone to the world. Unfortunately my father, a wealthy man, was now married to a woman who wanted nothing to do with us and I was sent to boarding school and Buzz to military school.
I don't think I need to spill much further into my personal bio, but I developed some weird habits and phobias. My real father never paid child support and we never had a dime when I was growing up. I was the middle child in a house full of strays. Food was scarce at times. And I would steal bread and hide it in my drawers. They would find these old rye crusts in my dresser. WTF?
I think that I was afraid that I would starve one day and it was security for me. Who knows? Perhaps that is why I overeat today, I'm not a shrink?
But the point I was getting around to is that when you move every six months or year or so, you gain and lose friends real quickly. You expect things to be taken from you and for things to fall apart. Wait for the shoe to drop. Without fail, until my sophomore year in New York, I never reconnected with anyone from my past.
I was exceedingly good at being a chameleon, making friends and recreating my persona at will and then it was on to the next gig. Poof. All those people gone forever.
As an adult, my life changed. I developed friendships that have lasted in some cases fifty years or more now. I talk to certain people every day of my life. I put incredible effort into being there for my friends and showing up and holding each other accountable.
And I hurt deeply when I or they don't, a rare event.
Perhaps that is the reason I have written a blog for eighteen years now, a virtual network for friends and strays that can be counted on, that offers some solidity and fellowship in this transient world of ours. Because I need to maintain friendships, something that was denied me most of my fledgling life. I have this inordinate and unnatural need to hold people together.
I hate feeling abandoned and I hate feeling tossed aside. I have let people go too but only when it became absolutely necessary for me.
I lost my best friend in 1985 over something stupid. He invited me to New York but unbeknownst to me he was in the middle of a break up. I stayed a week and he said I was not sufficiently sympathetic to his cause so I was jettisoned. That damn objectivity again.
I hurt for a long time. It was actually a good thing all in all because I realized that our whole friendship was asymmetric. He lived at my home for free, blah, blah, blah. I mourned the loss for a long time but at a certain point realized that I was being used and that I no longer cared if he lived or died.
I stopped associating with people who failed to live up to their word or bargain. Thankfully there are a lot that do.
Whew, I got that off my chest.