The Tides of March – Sunrise, Assassination and Sally Kern

Skywatch

This is the soul-warming view from the office today – the office this week being a hotel in Key Biscayne. It’s the last day of my work here in Florida before heading home to Oklahoma and I finally found a few minutes away from it to capture one of these magnificent sunrises that occur here nearly every morning. You see, watching sunrises and photography make up a big part of my “lifestyle”…as does birdwatching and hiking.

Which brings me to a small point I would like to make — but you need to read on – to the bottom of the post, past the pretty pictures. Tomorrow is the Ides of March and I am going to use my Skywatch Friday forum to make just an ever so slight protest. The recent controversy over a certain Oklahoman pulls at my heartstrings like these gravitational tides of March.

In the Roman calendar the term ides was used for the 15th day of the months of March, May, July and October, and the 13th day of the other 8 months. In modern times, the term Ides of March (Latin Idus Martiae) is best known as the date that Julius Caesar was assassinated to be removed from power. The term has come to be used as a metaphor for impending doom.

There is a disgust-inducing, mean-spirited Oklahoma state legislator, elected to represent the very same little humble square mile of district where I was born and raised that has put my little birthplace at the epicenter of controversy. This representative elected “by the people for the people” has gone on record saying my lifestyle is a bigger threat to the safety and security of America than the terrorists associated with September 11. That’s a serious indictment against birdwatching, hiking, photography and the appreciation of fantastic sunrises.

Perhaps her character assassination on me and, likewise, a decent number of the world’s population was timed for these Ides of March. I would hope that her removal from office would follow swiftly – swept away by the tide against her. The uproar and protest has been heard around the world. These loud voices of objection make me proud to be a resident Oklahoman and citizen of this planet.

Sally Kern you may be my elected representative but you do not speak for me or many of my neighbors. I hope you truly find your god someday – you might start by looking at these sunrises – they are full of god and short on words. If only you could find a way to be like them – for the moment it seems unlikely. What does seem likely, though, is that your words will empower people to hurt and kill. I shudder at the thought of the blood that will spill at the casual disposal of your irresponsible diatribe.

My “agenda” lately is birdwatching, hiking and admiring sunrises — if you should see me out there enjoying nature and marveling at god — remember — I am really harmless.

“O judgement!! though art fled to brutish breasts, And men have lost their reason. The evil that men do lives after them; the good is oft interred with their bones.”

(From Shakespeare’s Julius Ceasar on the eve of the Ides of March).

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

Tavalodet Mobarak

Happy Birthday Dear Caroline

Thanks for Coloring Our World!

That fantastic intellect, muse and artist Caroline at Crayons has a birthday today.  Please go to her delightful site and wish her a warm Happy Birthday.  Caroline has a beautiful spirit and colors the world with a whimsy and sensibility that is unmatched in blogdom.

Self-Portrait of the Artist by Caroline at Crayons

She’s my first blogger buddy and I wish her all the best on this special day!

Sunrise at Shoshone Lake with Wapiti

Skywatch

Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming

The magic of Yellowstone is endless and unceasing.  And the parable of the early bird could not be more fitting as this 5:15 am wake-up call proved to be worth its weight in….gold and worms.  I’ll never forget this morning, sitting on the rocky shore of the lake, the steam rising, wolves howling in the north at a rapidly descending moon, rutting bull elk bugling in the south with their whale-like fertility song in tribute to the flute-playing Kokopeli.  Show me a better symphony.

Nature proves once again that when we show up – when we become present and engaged – her offerings are unfailing and unforgettable.

Burma – Putting a Human Face on the Politics of Poverty

Photos from Pagan, Burma© TR Ryan – October, 2003

Warning, this post is definitely going to be a bit of a departure for me – no pretty pictures of birds or sunsets or favorite travel destinations or quiet nature walks on this beautiful spring day in the red dirt nation where I live.  My social conscious has gotten the better of me today and although I may be writing well out of my league and comfort zone — I do feel that at times we bloggers have a social responsibility to use our much cherished liberties to support those that have none.

As a traveler by trade, I’ve always felt the added responsibility while out there in this big round world not only to be a good American but to endeavor to be a responsible human being as well.  I’ve always believed that we should cherish the places we call home, embrace the wisdom of our ancestors that came before us and then rise up and become citizens of the world.  And part of that equation to my mind is taking the time to get to know my neighbors out there in the temporary places I call home for a week or two.  And in doing so…learning to understand and celebrate not only that which makes us different and unique but inherently recognizing our commonalities — it might be the unusual that delights or frightens us but it is our sameness that will unites us.  It is in the spirit of that oneness that I hope you read on.

In October of 2003 I had the opportunity to work for a few weeks in Burma and everywhere I went I met these beautiful, smiling faces – not unlike my own nieces and nephews.  And in those big round eyes I saw the hopes and prayers of a fractured nation staring back at me with a longing for a better life.  A life that a greedy military regime operating an illegitimate government has robbed from its very own people for nearly 50 years. (And imagine some of you thought 8 years too much to bear).

What I didn’t know, until I read Chanpheng’s, the scribe of “Mekong River Tributaries“, January post is that in addition to all the egregious human rights violations tied to the most brutal and oppressive military dictatorship on earth (torture, rape, genocide, mass killings, religious persecution) this never-elected government has fomented such disparity and poverty between its people that now nearly 400 children die every day in Burma from malnutrition and preventable diseases. 

Chanpeng writes, “After the government crackdown on peaceful protests led by Buddhist monks in September, things have gotten worse.  According to the Unicef State of the Children Report, up to 400 children are dying every day from preventable diseases in Burma, which has a population of about 60 million people, about 1/5 the population of the US. If children were dying at the same rate in the US as in Burma, that would mean 2000 children a day.”

If 2000 children a day were dying of starvation in this country would you not be screaming, taking to the streets and demanding change?  Look into these eyes – they are not unlike those of your grandchildren, children or relatives.  How do we standby and let a handful of men allow a nation to suffer and starve to the point that 400 children die each day?  The litany of human rights abuses by the Burmese junta grows longer everyday. Burma, where torture and child labor has become an institution, is known to have the most brutal and oppressive dictatorship that publicly embraces and acknowledges an endless list of violations of basic human rights  - don’t you wonder for a minute that we might be fighting the wrong war?  Tell me again, how do we pick these battles?  I remain baffled.

The Burmese military junta has now conscripted 70,000 child soldiers into its war on its own ethnic tribes.  Hunger makes for strange bedfellows.  I believe that a government that starves its own children in order to force them to serve as killing puppets against their own people should be crucified.  

To be continued…but not for all these children.

According to the statistics – one of these kids pictured here has now died from malnutrition or another preventable cause.  Three of these children are now soldiers pushed to the front lines of a war against their own people carrying guns and munitions supplied by China. 

Can you guess which ones?

Parallel lives:

A matter of chance

And time and space

Of course

That I stand here 

And you, there

Never intersecting

Never meeting 

On some distant horizon

In some distant future

I have to remind myself 

To notice you.

But look at us:

I could be you 

And you, me

So close, so alike

So alone

It is a matter of chance

It is all the same

I am you,

You are me

by Sandy Carlson

from

Writing in Faith

Wordless

Wednesday

Burma (Myanmar)

October 2003

Wordless Wednesdays are fun but there are times when remaining Wordless is not such a good idea . For more on Burma, with words, follow the post above.

‘Round Midnight

Sky Watch

It’s just past the midnight hour and likewise bewitched I arise from a deep sleep to find that outside there still remains an overwhelming blanket of blackness that obscures the thin line of horizon between the sea and the sky.  The ocean-going vessel that carries me is barreling headfirst into the last remnants of a late winter storm. The lambent light of moon and stars is shunt by this storm that rages across the sky – stargazing and navigating must wait for another evening.  The night air is sonic with wind shear and the purl and roar of waves. The ship grinds and rattles as it careens through the storm and sleep is cut short – I rock and sway in my cabin with a delightful giddiness – in this roller coaster ride I am a child again. When I close my eyes and free my body to move with the motion of the water it is not difficult to imagine the nine-month passage in my mother’s womb. I rock once again in the boughs of her tender love.

Despite the winter war waged by the weather – the behemoth vessel cuts a firm and steady swath through the chop of water like an artist’s hand drawing a fine line across a crisp paper map – dissecting longitudes and latitudes as we travel away from the narrow isthmus of Central America toward the Florida peninsula. Tomorrow out of this murky darkness, Cuba will rise out of the ocean – inviting but untouchable. I will cling to the railing awash in sea-spray and watch for her rise out of the sea and ache to know her terrestrial beauty – so close, yet so far away.

Earlier this evening, from the flat light of dusk emerged a flotilla of gunmetal gray clouds racing across the horizon careening toward the equatorial waters of South America. Clouds are still flying south for the winter. Where are the equatorial breezes that will send them and spring sailing back? In Belize today I saw a fat restless scarlet tanager bouncing from tree to tree and was reminded of the promise of that not-so distant spring. I’ve read that spring travels 15 miles a day – I calculate when the tanager might finally arrive to the place on the map I call home and I decide its not soon enough. I too am restless for spring’s return. No matter where I travel in the world I remain always grounded in the landscape and geography of my home. Despite my tropical location tonight – I am very much aware that winter rages on where I live and I wrap this warm air around me like a sacred blanket and carry it back home in the hopes of finally freeing winter’s bitter grasp.

In A Different Light

Portrait of a Lady (with a really big forehead) 

On some days this is a nature blog with a little travel twist – other days it tends to gravitate towards a travel blog with a little nature twist. In almost every instance I like my blog to celebrate creativity – either that which mother nature renders with her slow, steady hand or…um, basically whatever I can come up with looking down the lens of my Canon 20D. Natural selection versus My selection — either one will do in a blog pinch. 

Ah, but then are times like this week when work gets in the way forcing today’s post to wander well outside the blogger box.  My blog has been stuck for an entire week on a wind-blown pyramid in Egypt in 2005 because I have been stuck in an underground ballroom in a make-believe world run by a mouse with big ears and suspenders in 2008. 

Let me tell you – this is my idea of hell – stuck in the dungeon of the most visited entertainment complex in the world with a staggering 25 million visitors per year.  And nowhere in this entire fantasy-land-run-amok-with-materialism is there anything with a semblance of “natural” or “nature” for that matter to celebrate in a blog post (keep in mind for a brief second in history I was number 59 with a bullet on the Nature Blog Network and my seven fans are rather demanding!)

So what does a jack-of-all-trades-master-of-absolutely-nothing Leo do stuck in an underground ballroom while both nature and his Canon 20D remain completely unavailable to him – he gets creative with what’s available — a computer, a couple of glamorous colleagues and an imagination that might make old Walt proud.

So, in lieu of the usual travel or nature posts, I present to you this collection of my beautiful, smart, saavy co-stars down here in the basement ballroom – photographed “in a different light” with the fun-house camera on my computer, artistically rendered by the “painterly” effects in my Photoshop CS3 and all done “whistling while we worked” in the true spirt of, ahem, Disney Magic.

Betty, Embracing Her Ugly

The Mona Lisa of Minneapolis (ya betcha!)

She Nose Her Wine

Paris at the Hilton

Pretty in Pastel

Throwing Witty Barbs

Chin-nook of the North

Yes, these are all real people —  as seen through the creative eye of…

Yours truly

(madly, deeply)

thanks for letting me out of the box!

Many thanks to these incredible women for participating in my creative whimsy and allowing their generous beauty to be seen in a different light: Kelly Egan from NYC, Pam Wagner from Minneapolis, Leslie Knopfler from Currituck County, NC, Nellie Lorenz from Los Angeles, Tonya Batty from NYC, Barb Blauman from Dayton, OH, Marianne Ranick from Northern California.

Sky Watch 2.15.08

Sky Watch

Giza, Egypt – October 8, 2005

The sun and sky were ominous that morning having been washed with a fast-moving dust storm spreading across the desert.  The quiet moments after made for some interesting photographs.

Wordless Wednesday

From the little lake near the ruins of Coba

Yucatan, Mexico

Wordless Wednesday

How is this for a “Wordless” NO SWIMMING sign?