Brandymore Castle

Our approach to nature is framed by the narrative where "...an original pristine nature is lost through some culpable human act..." "The myth of Eden describes a perfect landscape, a place so benign and beautiful and good that the imperative to preserve or restore it could be questioned only by those who ally themselves with evil." Echoes the appeal to nature. The similar religious zeal with which science is protected from dissent by accusing those who question prevailing thought as either delusional or malicious. This similar approach to questioning emerges from Enlightenment thinking, ironically, since this is the source of the "question anything" admonition, yet is also the source of dogmatism, once an idea has been baptized as "fact," which can only be questioned by the allies of evil (witness the scientists who say a "new dark age" is threatened by advocates of intelligent design. The imperative becomes hysterical when the prevaili...

"This habit of appealing to nature for moral authority is in large measure a product of the European Enlightenment." Explains why "science" is used as a non-negotiable trump card against dissenters--one must be delusional, ignorant or malicious to oppose "scientific truth" used as a cudgel by opinion shapers to silence their enemies. My ideal of nature has always been the one that suits humans, which we have every right and obligation to construct and maintain in order to sustain our existence. This includes the city, which I love, the suburbs, like Arlington with its special character, where I was raised and live and also love, and the country, which I am not so much in love with, but respect and enjoy visiting. (refer to p.36, Cronon, Uncommon Ground )

Life is an occurrence. People come and pass, pass into the night like thunderstorms while you dream. What threat is a thunderstorm once it has passed into the night? To me, people hung like specters over me, long after they had passed into the night. For me, the past was always real and peopled, like the other world peopled with willful spirits. But life is an occurrence, and the spirits have passed into the night like thunderstorms while you dream. -sek, 2008

Trapped in the situation room I long for peace and freedom. Trapped in the situation room until I turn off the television. -sek, Mar 2008

Reflections and shadows Ebb and flow in Cadenced oscillations Brushing silvery washes of shadowy branches Across the dark mirror of The silver stream, a Picture developing And redeveloping In hypnotic fascination Steve Knoblock, 2002-2005 Relating to an experience visiting Silver Lake, DE and my fascination with photography.

I always admired the Olympus OM-2 when I first got into into photography in the late 1970s. I could not afford one then, but I gravitated to the smaller, light weight SLR cameras represented by the OM-1 and OM-2. I decided on a camera I could afford, the Fujica ST-605, which was introduced in 1977 and designed along the same compact pattern as the OM-1. When it came time to look for a digital SLR camera, I was impressed by the compact Olympus E-410. I decided on the E-510 because the 410 lacked image stabilization and a few other features. It was aimed at a less serious photographer, although a fine camera in the hands of anyone. At the time, I thought this would make a wonderful "street photography" camera if it had small fixed focal length lens available, especially a thin "pancake" lens. Olympus has answered our prayers with the E-420. An upgrade of the E-410 with a 25mm f/2.8 pancake lens. The first pictures are out. The pancake looks nice, very much like the l...

With publication of Pollan's In Defense of Food, I think we are seeing the emergence of folklore into the mainstream. Most people think folklore is something they have very little in common with. It is old fashioned music or people dancing around in costumes they wore hundreds of years ago. People feel it has very little relation to their lives. They also believe that we live in a scientific, rational world and somehow folklore does not belong. There is also an association between myth, legend and folklore as meaning fraudulent, fantasy, lies. This is a problem of perception and mis-perception, which is not new. Shortly after becoming literate, the Greeks abandoned and ridiculed their own folklore, the "myths" we read about today. For a new perspective on what I call "folk knowledge" or what might be categorized as "folk culture" instead of folklore, since it is more correct and encompassing, we need only look to authors like Adrienne Mayor . Through l...