The Race that Got Away

The Baker's Dozen race has come and gone, and we did not go. The first date was rained out, but the second was ambushed by pollen. Last Thursday, the stars aligned and the oak trees and their autotrophic associates threw the biggest punch I've experienced in recent years. Unfortunately, it downed me just enough to catch some sort of 24-hour illness that made me feel bad enough to lose our entry fees AND one night's worth of cabin reservation. Money was just not enough of a motivating factor to overcome the pounding my head was taking. Besides, they were sort of like taxed contributions to good causes. The trails could stand the maintenance, and the state employees could stand the extra funds.

On that note, I continue to note that any story in the local paper that has anything to do with tax expenditures produces more comments than almost any other kind of story. The only others that receive more are those that highlight crime as it pertains to race. I'm beginning to think that our paper is selecting what stories to publish based on how many comments they predict will result. In one way, this seems a good thing. In another, it seems like a really bad thing. It does lend a democratic element to what is published by reacting to public input. On the other hand, that input is commonly tinged with racism and lack of understanding as regards those social investments also known as taxes. This type of input, while approximating honest portrayal of our local citizenry, is, ultimately, counterproductive. Ninety-nine percent of the time, those making comments offer no practical solutions, even though they prefer to boil down nearly every issue into so few words that a reader may be led to believe that issue is really very simple. If those same comment generators were to take the time to send responses to elected officials every time they felt motivated enough to write, what actual change may occur? Do these desktop quarterbacks REALLY want actual change?

I do, which is why I will, shortly, be sending a one-page summary of my general political opinions to every elected official that is supposedly out there "representing" me. I will post any real responses I receive, though I will not be publishing any platform papers for anybody. If the response looks like cookie cutter, it will not be receiving mention. I may or may not publish my own letter. I am tempted to wait and see what kind of feedback I get from the recipients, first.

The photograph is of a blue jay nest in the back yard. In more than seven years of teaching natural history, I saw hundreds of active bird nests, but never one with blue jays. Weird.