brrrr....

According to weather.com, the local forecast says its fair and only 5 degrees but feels like minus 9 degrees. I just came inside. I think its bitterly cold, bright and sunny, and to say that it only feels like 9 degrees below zero is a generous estimate. But I parked far away on a hill and it was very windy when I left the car. I'm just gathering the courage to venture outside again...I want to see if my school's bookstore sells better socks than the ones I'm wearing.

When I was 8, I left New York state. I was young but loyal. I vowed to myself that New York would always be my home. But after living in other places, who knew I'd feel like such a transplanted westcoast/southerner when I finally came back?

I just read "Seeing Red," an article in the Jan. 16th Washington Post magazine about the outcome of the election. The author states: "The decision to vote for Bush instead seemed wrapped up in the age-old city vs. rural dichotomy, change vs. tradition, theory vs. horse sense, new vs. familiar." This is what I remember about the election outcomes: I was in a cafe with an old friend and his friend, and both of them were railing against the voters who had re-elected Bush. They did indeed seem to embody what this author criticizes. That is to say, they were making broad generalizations in saying that the people who had voted for Bush were obviously so very closed minded and ignorant, etc. etc. etc. I told them I had many friends and family members who had voted for Bush. They treated me to an chilly, unforgiving, piteous silence and then resumed their railing against those voters. They'd also both donated to Kerry's campaign, and I do think that maybe it was just the heat of the moment and a bit of post election bitterness on their part. But I'd also have to say that, in that state of mind and verbal expression, they certainly were not the sort of people I'd nominate to go out and recruit to influence the vote. As an aside, in that chilly silence, I couldn't help but remind myself that both of them were in much better straits financially than I was, and had a lot more free time on their hands. (They didn't seem much happier for it in light of their supposedly wasted efforts due to the election results however!) So in reading this Washington Post article, I could relate to this author's take on the situation, i.e. that maybe there were a lot of people who voted for Bush, not because they absolutely loved him, but simply because he was less threatening and more importantly, because he didn't represent this idea that the "elitist intellectuals" don't respect their opinions. I personally disagree with that stance and I did not vote along those lines, but in light of that post election get together with a friend and an acquaintance, I feel like I can understand it. I thought that it was a good article with interesting photos, and a compelling graphic of "red America."

After reading Long Quiet Highway, by Natalie Goldberg

it is also very important to follow it up by reading The Great Failure.

http://www.nataliegoldberg.com/

Link to Bandelier

http://www.nps.gov/band/