this afternoon, as i was motoring down the road that stretches from the northernmost part of my neighborhood, runs past my elementary school and the strip mall where the touring carnival always sets up, and empties out onto another road that leads to the mall (yes, ani difranco, they were both most probably farm roads), i saw snow falling. not like it usually does, flake by flake, but in clumps, branch-fulls. last night it rained cats and dogs for a few hours. it was still raining when i went to sleep, and when i woke up to drop my brother to school in the morning, there was a thin layer of snow everywhere. it was cold enough in the morning that the snow was sticking. but as the sun rose and smiled on our little GM town, the snow began to melt. it was beautiful. i started to imagine what saginaw looked like before it was invaded/occupied/settled. or modernized, rather. it must have been absolutely stunning. how much do we give up for modern convenience, technology, 'progress'? the other day, i walked into the house and ammi was watching link tv and i recognized a face on the screen: randy hayes, founder and exec direc of the rainforest action network. brandon and i had him at our symposium. he was an intersting fella, in more ways than one. anyway, link tv was showing a portion of an ethics conference that randy was a part of.

Link TV - Programming - Program Details

he was on a stage with other activists/environmentalists and the dalai lama, of all people. now, ill be the first to say that i have no love for the new pseudo spirituality, the trendy obsession with buddhism, sufism, kabbalah sans original meaning (which i guess now ill have to talk about later. im judgemental, i know). but it was an excellent exchange, i must say. one of the panel members was talking about how young people come up to him and protest their reality, lament and the mountains and mountains of work that need to be done to save the world and its people, claim that they should have been born a different era. youre wrong, he says, about the last one. as a result all the strides and 'progress', we live in a very very special time. in the age of such advanced technology, when humans have knowledge of so much, we must reevaluate how human beings live on earth. we're lucky to be here, on earth, now. i dont know if i did his comment justice, but i was pretty blown away by that.