A cold winters walk through a favorite canyon reveals ephemeral moments to enjoy.
I've weighed the way three institutions have historically unshaped our idea of democracy as a model of human relations. I now turn to look at how these cultural tendencies impact public discourse and our apparent inability to settle any public issue.
A curious thing. One never knows what story is waiting to be told as we venture outdoors.
The validation of a personal, individualistic point of view in American culture to the exclusion of an objective, shared, and collective perspective constantly puts us at odds with one another because individuals normally disagree in judgement, interpretations, and opinions.
The Center Gallery Fine Art and Sierra County Arts Council have once again partnered to present the second annual Sierra County Student Art Show.
Continuing my discussion of our turn towards individual points of view to the exclusion of larger concerns, I propose that in the last half century, American education has focused on student subjectivity pushing the culture towards individuation rather than cohesion.
The Constitution created a government around the arguments about democracy, but it did not resolve those conflicts. The resulting ambiguity allowed traditional hierarchical, undemocratic structures, institutions, and values to inform American life. Those hierarchical ideas still dominate American social thinking today resulting in a complex and often self-contradictory identity.
Those of us who call southwestern New Mexico our home, are very fortunate to have two very special places totally over 755,000 acres just a short distance from home. The Gila and Aldo Leopold Wildernesses are wild, rugged and nearby.
Looking back over the series of essays called "Assaying Entropy," I summarize what has been said: why the topics so far covered are a continuous investigation of loss and time, how that process of thinking got to the question of democracy; and where that may be going.
Some aspects of American society might make us more prone to what psychologist Daniel Kahneman calls fast thinking and thus more prone to make mistakes in judgment when it comes to complex issues like Covid.
What do you see when you look out over a landscape? When you gaze or glance at somebody? Do you glance or do you really LOOK and wonder?
Sierra County’s best kept secret is Damsite Historic District, which is undergoing restoration and worth a visit any time of year.
