Thanks to Flourish, here's a fantastic idea for how to spend Buy Nothing Day:

Go out and create art, a la Andy Goldsworthy! (More of his work here ... and here.)

It's so simple! I love it!

I don't know about all y'all, but when I opened my email this morning and saw the headline that Obama had won the Nobel Peace Prize, I literally yelped out loud and sloshed my tea all over myself. I know the peace prize has a controversial history, but still... this was a shock.

Now don't get me wrong -- I am a staunch supporter, even though like many others I am a little disappointed in certain decisions he has (or rather, has not) made. And I do believe that he has ushered in a new era of American politics. But.... isn't this a tad early? 

Comments, anyone?

For those of you with a conservation bent (*ahem*, that should be everyone...), it's well worth checking out these photos of endangered and threatened species, compiled by Conservation International for the BBC. Yes, they're done in part for the scare factor of what we're killing off, but on the other hand -- they're gorgeous.

Take a look: A Struggle to Thrive

You've got to be kidding me. THIS is what Spokane is in the national news for:

Spokane Parks to detonate squirrels.

This headlined the Yahoo! news page today: Drought threatens 'Garden of Eden' marshes in Iraq

Is anyone else hearing the echoes of the Old Testament here? There are way too many stories of drought and desertification as punishment (or consequence) of human wrongdoing... have we learned anything in the last two thousand years?

I listened to Democracy Now! this morning for the first time in months - probably years, actually. The headline story, on Somali pirates, caught my attention; in it, Amy Goodman interviewed a Somali-Kenyan consultant/analyst who makes quite a lengthy argument that the pirates are really a community-mobilized coast guard, of sorts, who are acting in response to ongoing overfishing and toxic dumping by vessels from the US and Europe.

Let me repeat that: the now-heated, international hostage situations taking place off the Somali coast are actually an environmental problem.

Interesting, to say the least. I haven't sleuthed around to uncover any other information to corroborate his statements, but it does make some sense. Overfishing is a worldwide crisis - so why wouldn't this be connected? Anyhow, it certainly lends a different perspective through which to see the entire situation. (transcript)

In other news: my taxes are done (on the last day, as always, despite my best intentions). This day always leaves me feeling conflicted. The pacifist in me is dismayed, because I know that a good portion goes toward a System that I don't want to support. The socialist in me, though, is proud to do my part in contributing to The Common Good. (And the realist in me has to admit that I probably wouldn't get around to it at all if there wasn't a chance of being audited.) In the end, though, I suppose it makes no difference; my taxes are now in the pipe with everyone else's, and what happens with them, happens. Until there's a way to earmark what they're used for (wouldn't it be nice?), there's not much more to do except wait until they're due again next year.

Ok, so it's nerdy as all getout, but I love the story that NPR ran yesterday on E.O. Wilson's research of the scent that ants emit when they die. Maybe it's because of my fifth-grade science experiment, which involved trapping ants from our backyard in quart jars and applying various powders from my chemistry set to see which would kill them, and how fast; or perhaps it's the Monthy Python-esque "I'm not dead yet!" frantic self-cleaning by the live-but-smelling-dead ant of the story. Or perhaps it's just that I have great admiration for a man who sees the greatness of the world in its minutae.

Regardless, it's a very amusing four minutes. Listen here.

AHA!

Classical quartet played inauguration to taped music.

I had wondered out loud how they managed to play in such cold weather (especially the clarinetist)... now we know!

I feel like I should have something profound to say. After all, it is The Day After, hopes are high, and everyone has something to say. However, finding myself short of eloquence, I'll leave it yet again to Maureen Dowd in her NY Times editorial: Exit the Boy King. Even if you're burned out on watching and reading and hearing about the inauguration, read this essay!

And even though I'm not typically a fan of will.i.am, I do love the energy of his performance at the Neighborhood Ball: It's a New Day. 

It's a new day, indeed!

Happy birthday, freespirit82!

'Tis the time of year for making the things-I-read-this-year list. It's considerably shorter this year than last, and in retrospect it looks like I must have been self-enrolled in an American Literature 101 class. 

Without commentary, here's my 2008 list, in chronological order:

Greg Mortenson & David O. Relin Three Cups of Tea                 

Anne Lamott                             Blue Shoe                               

Peter Chapman                        Bananas: How the United Fruit Company Shaped the World         

David Guterson                         Snow Falling on Cedars 

Alexander McCall Smith             The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency       

Bailey White                              Sleeping at the Starlight Motel and other Adventures on the Way Back Home        

Sue Monk Kidd                         The Mermaid Chair                    

E. Annie Proulx                         The Shipping News                   

Barbara Kingsolver                    Prodigal Summer                      

Michael Pollan                           The Omnivore’s Dilemma                      

Kurt Vonnegut                           Cat’s Cradle                             

John Updike                              Rabbit Redux                            

Kurt Vonnegut                           A Man Without A Country          

 

Ok, here's a question for you who know your typefaces (I know there are a couple of you out there...):  what is the italicized font used in this article? It seems familiar, but I can't place it.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/01/opinion/01opart.html?th&emc=th

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! I hope you've all had a restful day with family and friends. Even the opportunity to spend a day like this is evidence that we have much to be grateful for.

If you're not observing Buy Nothing Day tomorrow, then consider at least making it a Buy Fair Trade Day! The Festival of Fair Trade kicks off tomorrow and runs through Sunday at the Community Building (35 W Main in Spokane). Whatever you do, please refrain from visiting a box store tomorrow... do you REALLY need those hidden-cost "deals" anyway? I didn't think so!

Jubilee went VERY well this year ... much better than we expected, actually, especially in the midst of this 'recession'. It was so good to be back on the Fair Trade bandwagon, and back in this tiny little niche that I know so well.

Final packing and wrap-up is still to come tomorrow, but for today, rest is very welcome.

Miriam Makeba, one of South Africa's most well-known and beloved musicians, died yesterday while performing in Italy. 

There are plenty of news agencies and websites offering tributes:

Yahoo
BBC
YouTube

Go and familiarize yourself! She was an extraordinary woman!

Jubilee International Marketplace
at First Presbyterian Church, Spokane

Friday 10am-8pm
Saturday 9am-4pm

Come and support your local Fair Trade vendors!

Happy Birthday, 1mrchristopher ! 

   This morning I happened upon a statement from John Muir that I hadn't heard for quite some time. I am reminded of Muir's sometimes overwhelming love of both wilderness and words... perhaps spending more time alone on moutaintops would make all of us more richly prosaic?

But I defer to his own elegant verbosity:


All the wild world is beautiful, and it matters but little where we go, to highlands or lowlands, woods or plains, on the sea or land or down among the crystals of waves or high in a balloon in the sky; through all the climates, hot or cold, storms and calms, everywhere and always we are in God's eternal beauty and love.

Maureen Dowd came out with this gem in her NY Times Op-Ed column today (regarding the preferred method of decision-making by our current president):
It seems that if you trust your gut without ever feeding your gut any facts or news or contrary opinions, if you keep your gut on a steady diet of grandiosity, ignorance, sycophants, and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, those snap decisions can be ruinous.