Category: Cultural critique
-
Distance learning
There has been a lot of discussion lately concerning the new, or newly rediscovered, hikers and bikers and outdoorspeople the pandemic has brought out of rooms amongst the trees. It is logical, and I see it as an extension of the last decades trend of increased outdoor participation in profile, if not as a percentage…
-
Picking
In the Bob spring comes first to the junctions, where flat grass melts on the south and ten steps north snow lingers, hollowing into unwalkable with a crust on top nothingness. Deer and elk pack into the sweet spots, and feed into the 3 percent of that 3 percent of valley, cliffs to cobbles, picking…
-
What hasn’t changed
In short, a great deal. Friday March 13th ended up being the last day of school here in Montana, very possibly for the school year. I recall it being a busy day, I got to my office around 950 after the usual Friday morning therapist meeting, and had a session each hour until school got…
-
The perfect winter
April had a good trick for us here in Montana, 4 inches of snow in our yard, and twice that in the mountains, with a nice wind chill well below zero. The skiing was fantastic, the snow sifted light enough that the air of skinning moves waves before you, the air cold enough for visible…
-
A scare
Little Cloud, Aka Littler Bear, turns 2 in a few weeks. As with all toddlers, the aspects of his personhood attributable to his life outside the womb have become reasonably distinct from those which formed within it. His time spent outside and younger sibling life of perpetual catch-up were recently in evidence when 2 days…
-
Montana social distancing update
On Saturday, the first day of our shelter-in-place order, we hardly left our yard. The day was blue and in the fifties, we oiled lawn furniture and laid a brick walk, and generally waited for our hearts to catch back up. Yesterday, Little Bear and I ventured forth in the face of the warmest day…
-
Today
We all use repetition to structure our lives. Wearing the half-mask of routine, this is habit. Draw with the straight line of intention, it becomes ritual. Ritual, axe edged with hope, splits the now equally between past and the future. Habit, for all its unconscious-ness, does not lack for emotion, only awareness.Since joining the world in…
-
Panic
This began two days ago as a hopefully un-trite post about how parks, mainly national, should not be closed during the current Coronavirus crisis. I wanted to point out how both explicible and sad it was that Yellowstone closed Tuesday. How parks, however grand, are generally in someones backyard. Moab had an entirely reasonable request…
-
The Open 2020
I updated the information for the 2020 Bob Open just now. Removing the mass start option seemed to be the most responsible solution for the uncertainty surrounding the virus. This means that I encourage everyone for whom the circumstances in two months time make it safe to do the walk, be it the circumstances of…
-
Things I’ve broken lately
Last month Little Bear and I went backpacking. In and of itself this was not unusual, though it was the first time just the two of us had walked in to camp under a tarp. It was noteworthy because it was February, and we were in shoes, walking over a inch of crusted snow and…
Bedrock & Paradox 
You must be logged in to post a comment.