Neanderthals and Stepford Women

During the months leading up to the presidential election, I intentionally avoided watching news reports. Unfortunately, that did not protect me from being inundated with campaign hype and propaganda, from Facebook posts to phone calls. I hate politics. I distrust politicians… all of them. However, I did exercise my right to vote, which is my duty as a citizen and something I don’t take for granted.

A Harp By Any Other Name

Every musical instrument deserves a name and my harp would be no different. I started picking out a few names before I even got it; however, it didn’t seem right to select a name until I could actually see the harp. Whatever name I chose would have to reflect its character. Once I received my harp, I realized that it also had to reflect the beauty of the craftsmanship that went into its making and the richness of its magnificent tone. It needed to exemplify the air of wealth and prosperity that it gave to the room without even making a sound.

Moving In and Checking Out

Not posting regularly on a blog can mean the death of any credibility to an author. While it’s been several months since I’ve posted anything on my own blog site, I meant to write many times, but each time I chose to ignore my audience. This is not to say that I didn’t care about them or that I had nothing meaningful to share. On the contrary. Like Mozart’s music with “too many notes,” my head was filled with too many thoughts. (Anyone who saw the movie, Amadeus, will understand that analogy.) Which idea deserved a voice? There wasn’t enough time in the day to give them all equal billing.

Off-Grid Living: Part 3 - Creating a Healthier Life

Part of my experience in off-grid living has had nothing to do with the lack of community-provided utilities or alternative building designs, but with a change of diet – and I don’t mean a foolish deprivation of food or endless calorie counting or obsessive weighing on a scale. Instead, I’ve been more active and I'm eating much healthier foods. More to the point, I’ve also become more conscious of when I eat meals, what I eat, where my food comes from, how it’s processed, why it was grown or raised as it was, and who profited from the sale of it. These have become very important questions to ask whenever I’m at the grocery store, ordering at a restaurant, or preparing a meal at home.

Off-Grid Living: Part 2 - Ignoring Stereotypes

“So you’re one of those weirdos who lives in their van in a hippie commune, sits around smoking pot all day, and doesn’t believe in bathing, aren’t you?” That’s a question that I guess must cross the minds of most people when they think of someone living off-grid. Imagine if I mention that I’m living off-grid in an Earthship. Cue the blank looks of complete unawareness about this particular subject.

Off-Grid Living: Part I - Sustainable Living

How many times do we think about where our water comes from when we turn on the faucet in our kitchens or where it goes after we flush the toilet? How often do we think about what happens to the water when it leaves our homes? I never really gave our water supply much thought until recently. Since I’ve been living off-grid for the last two months, I’ve given water a lot of thought.

11-11-11: The Beginning of the End?

The day is finally upon us. This is the date that many believe will be the catalyst for a major shift in Earth consciousness, a day that marks the beginning of the end, the final segment of time between now and December 21, 2012 – a date many consider to signal the end of the world. Many have been counting down the days and hours with great anticipation, but does extraordinary phenomenon really occur simply because a date has all of the same numbers in sequence, like 10-10-10 or 11-11-11? Or is it just that some mystical property of the number eleven itself gives this particular day a rare significance?

’Twas A Foggy Mourn Long, Long Ago

Out of a deep slumber the ringing awakened me. My mother’s unusually calm voice spoke on the other end. “Your father is gone,” she said. As I hung up the phone, I looked at the clock. It was about 5:30am. I woke up my sister and, without uttering a word, we got dressed to leave for the hospital. It seemed to take forever to get ready, but once we were, we gathered our wits and opened the front door only to be stopped short in our tracks. Fog!

The Elusivity of Time

Time is elusive. Is it linear or not? Can one travel through it? We never seem to have enough of it. Once time is spent, is it gone forever? If not, how do we get it back? Whether or not you believe in the notion that events can be repeated through time loops or revisited through some sort of time travel device or ability, time remains indefinable. It just exists. However, if we were to treat time as an object, something tangible to hold in the palm of one’s hand, what would you do with it?