Jim Boyd, Ninja Cookies, Kyra Kopestonsky, Science Ethics, Odd Bodkins, Talking Gourds and a poem on the Gunnison Sage Grouse

 Slipping into the mystery

JIM BOYD … Guess I’m still reeling from his quick leaving. Heard around Christmas there might be some issues. Wasn’t prepared last week to hear of his hospitalization. Then hospice. And within a couple days, he was gone … Both his wife Ellen and daughter Mari are strong women, but our hearts go out to them. It’s wrenching when such a loss comes so suddenly … I had a hand in bringing Jim and Elle together, back when Jim was a fresh-faced Natural Resource Conservation Service agent for the USDA, batching it in Norwood. And Elle was a river rat poet friend done rafting the Animas in La Plata County and scouting for a new home … And we’ve had our share of holiday dinners, djembe drumming lessons, ice-fishing at Miramonte, helping load 25-lb. native seed bags onto a Olathe spray plane to drop over the Burn Canyon Burn post-fire. On the County Open Space Commission Jim was a voice of moderation and reason, an ally in looking at how NRCS programs might dovetail with a County Regenerative Ag project … He turned a bare sloping lot west of Norwood into handsome rural grounds – a pond, firepit, garden, yard, workshop, sheds and a snug south-facing shelterhome of compact design with lots of light. Built most of it himself … When Mary passed, he bought a pine seedling to plant behind her yurt. Helped us dig a hole and shoe it in. That memorial pine is chest high today … As I wrote in a poem, “A comrade in arms, legs & getting things done.” May we remember his positive, creative, generous spirit.

SISTER LOVE … “They made ninja Christmas cookies this year, because my nephew likes ninjas. When I said that sounds kind of violent and I’d prefer the typical gingerbread people (typical for the Kopestonsky sisters, i.e. elaborately decorated as a Russian folk dancer with fancy trim on her shirt, a hula dancer with a flowered bikini, lei, grass skirt, +headdress, and an avant-garde Santa with purple hair and a green suit), they assured me these ninjas are socially conscious – they’re fighting prejudice, trampling the patriarchy, smashing misogyny. Or helping Santa … Only my sister could make me feel joyously fond of ninja cookies! They even made a deep-sea scuba diving ninja … Now the fighting ninjas and gingerbread dancers are co-existing peacefully in my stomach – ninjas learning to dance while gingerbread dancers learn to fight against injustice, all gradually being incorporated into my cells as I find my own balance between fighting against my resistance and dancing with life as is.” – Kyra Kopestonsky

WEEKLY QUOTA … Citing an earlier piece in Scientific American, a reader’s letter suggests the story “exposes a paradox that experimenters must ignore if they wish to preserve the illusion of behaving ethically when studying infant monkeys. Researchers perform tests on primate infants to understand the behavior of humans raised under stressful conditions. For the results to have any value, they must therefore recognize that human and monkey brains and personalities share similar developmental pathways. But if monkeys are similar enough to be useful experimental models, how can these trials be anything other than cruel and unethical?” –Bill Tarver, Wokingham, England (SA, October, 2015)

ODD BODKINS … No cartoon strip tantalized the minds of Sixties’ hippies as well as Dan O’Neill’s brilliant hallucinatory four-part panels that ran in the San Francisco Chronicle, back in the day (before the Hearst thugs bought out the paper). Then he unwisely roasted Disney characters with a violent comic book spoof and faced the full force of corporate fury. He’s been in hiding up in Nevada City (CA) ever since … The only paper he publishes in now, and that very sporadically, is Downieville’s Mountain Messenger. My poet buddy Doc Dachtler sends me copies. If you can find him (his books are out of print) and get access to his cartoons, you risk becoming an O’Neill groupie. Not recommended for the straight of heart.

TALKING GOURDS … Whiz bang! It was a jolly good show of alternating energies at Arroyo’s last Tuesday as our generous local gem of a celeb Jewel performed her relevatory poetry in a quiet, lyrical voice, while showstopper Judyth Hill raised the roofbeams with a dazzling, ecstatic, wild woman performance. Some 60-70 folks crowded into Arroyo’s. Mayor Murphy gave welcome … And the Gourd circle after heard many amazing pieces, including a haunting Vietnam-era song sung a capella by a graying veteran and Elissa Dickson’s hot jive slam rap that won the largest applause of the night … February’s First Tuesday will feature Jared Smith, a master poet whose work appeared in the same Bay Area journals my poems did, and that award-winning independent journalist and Mark Fischer finalist Samantha Tisdel Wright of Ouray. Don’t miss.

THE TALKING GOURD

Gunnison Sage-grouse

still puffed up & dancing

after ten thousand years

Sugar, Nanoparticles & Other Strange Relations Dec16015

Some recent science finds of note

SUGAR SHOCKER … “Contrary to parental belief, sugar may actually cause drowsiness, not hyperactivity,” says Laura Sanders in Science News (Aug. 8^th). According to a recent scientific study in the Journal of Neuroscience, key brain cells awash in glucose put mice to sleep … “We all experience this strong feeling of sleepiness after a very large meal,” reports French co-author Christophe Varin of the Lyon Neuroscience Research Center. Those study results suggest that sugar is the cause for these post-meal naps … This correlates with a 2006 study published in Human Psychopharmacology: Clinical and Experimental which found that high-energy drinks, often loaded with sugar, can lead to quick surges of alertness. But over time, such high-sugar drinks, that have little caffeine, may actually enhance sleepiness.

NANOPARTICLES … According to Science News (Oct. 31th), many of us have been noshing on all manner of nanoparticles for some time. Explained Susan Gaidos, “Over the last two decades, nano-sized components – smaller than 100 nanometers – have found their way into a wide range of products: clothing, electronics and cosmetics as well as food” … Some of the more common teensy tiny additives include titanium dioxide, silicon dioxide and zinc oxide. Recent studies have suggested that these tiny compounds may not be as benign as originally thought, and most studies have focused on potential harm to the intestinal tract. But Dr. James Waldman is worried about studies that show that these nanoparticles don’t stay in one place in the body. “Particles are getting into the bloodstream,” he noted, “and once they’re there, they can go on to any other organ” … Foods with significant amounts of titanium dioxide include Hostess powdered Donettes, Kool-Aid blue raspberry, M&M chocolate candy, Betty Crocker whipped cream frosting, Trident White peppermint gum, Jell-O banana cream pudding, Mother’s iced oatmeal cookies, Albertson’s mini-marshmallows and Vanilla milkshake Pop-Tarts.

STRANGE RELATIONS … Science News reported in August on an article that appeared in Science magazine earlier in the year, which turns our view of evolutionary branchings on its head. Gone are the “kingdoms” of the old biology tree of life. Humans and animals get lumped in with mushrooms and eukaryotic microorganisms under the supergroup heading “Opisthokonts” – derived from two Greek words meaning “rear poles.” Opisthokonts refers to the common characteristic of organisms having flagellate cells, such as the sperm of most animals and the spores of chytrid fungi, which propel themselves with a single posterior flagellum … I suppose we might start fine-tuning our insults of variously undesirable humans from ass-holes to ass-poles.

ARCHIVE … It’s a little tricky to find my column’s on the Watch’s on-line site. You have to go to the “E-edition” hot key, get the issue you’re interested in, and scroll down to the column … So, I’ve created a personal blog in case some folks want to see the column and make comments. Go to upbearcreek.blogspot.com … I currently have four columns up and running and will post future ones after they’ve been published in the Watch.

POETRY … In 1992, 17 percent of Americans said they read a poem at least once in the past year. In 2012 that number fell to just 6.7 percent, according to the Washington Post …  But this January the Telluride Institute’s Talking Gourds Poetry Club will be attempting to turn that focus around with a First Tuesday reading at Arroyo’s in Telluride that will feature famed Southwestern master poet Judyth Hill teaming up with international pop sensation and poet Jewel (Kilcher). It’s free. Don’t miss.

KEVIN RITTER … The general manager of San Miguel Power Association is retiring after eight years on the job. And what a productive eight years it has been … Taking over at the start of a significant economic downturn and in the middle of a lawsuit controversy over a new 115kV line across Wilson Mesa, things did not look promising in 2007. But working together, the County and Ritter, along with other partners, were able to broker a compromise that allowed the line to be built and undergrounded across much of the region’s most scenic mesa. SMPA went on to build the largest single community-owned solar array in the country, converted its system to automatic metering, retired capital credits (paying money back to its member/owners), shelled out $1 million in Christmas credits in 2014, instituted its EnergyWise newsletter (which I read religiously), is working on a fiber-optic network for the region, offers a green block program, is focused on renewables – the list goes on and on. Of course, to accomplish all this it took strong board backing from the likes of the late Wes Perrin and others, a dedicated local staff and the support of its member/owners … But one has to think Mr. Ritter deserves a huge thank you from our regional community for a job well done.

THE TALKING GOURD

Tucson

the desert breaths

thin and spare

January air

no way to soften the sun

no escape

from truth's sharp edges

Carol Anne Modena

Port Townsend