Cue scary music
"Make sure that you call Congressman X today and tell him that you do not want anyone messing with your Social Security! Tell him that you don't want a representative that let murderers free on bond who then went out and abused puppies! Tell him to stop smuggling aliens across the border from Canada with their pockets full of illegal drugs and smelt! Tell Congressman X to stop lying about his military service when he won the Silver Star! Tell him that you don't want Big Government messing in our lives but do not touch our medicare! Tell Congressman X not to tax your energy drinks, sodas, or bottled water! Tell him to repeal Obamacare but to keep his hands off your prescription drug coverage. Tell Congressman X that you want him to oppose restrictions on Wall Street. Tell him that he is ugly, overweight and dyes his hair. This message brought to you by Americans for an American America."
Cue more scary music and use black and white.
"Don't let this election be bought by foreign oligarchs! Stop the Russian mafia from trying to influence the outcome of this senate race! Ask the Americans for an American America why they wont divulge who supports them and their big business, big agra, big oil, big fat agenda! Don't be fooled. Don't be lied to! This message brought to you by Patriots for a Patriotic America."
\
Cue still more scary music, use black and white and a LOUD VOICE
"WAKE UP MICHIGAN! IF YOU ELECT X AS GOVERNOR THE BLACK HELICOPTERS WILL COME AND TAKE AWAY YOUR 401k, YOUR SWEET CORN, AND YOUR PUPPIES ABUSED BY MURDERERS RELEASED BY CONGRESSMAN X AND SHIP THEM ALL OFF TO CHINA! DON'T LET THIS HAPPEN! VOTE FOR Y WHO WILL CUT TAXES, CREATE JOBS, SEND YOU $1,000.00 AND COME AND PAINT YOUR HOUSE NEXT SATURDAY! (now, softly) This message brought to you by Honest Patriotic Americans from Michigan."
So, please all of you, make sure that you vote on November 2 so that we can stop all these horrible ads that keep interrupting Days of Our Lives!
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Friday, October 22, 2010
The Autumn Marsh of Inner Saginaw Bay
The big water of Saginaw Bay is surrounded by a fragile ecosystem that teems with life. The marsh is a buffer between the waves of Lake Huron and the land that supports the farmer. The marsh is not a simple thing but is composed of Phragmites and Reed Grass and Wild Rice and shallow mud sitting upon limestone. There is life there of all kinds: snakes and muskrat, white tailed deer, waterfowl and marsh hawks, yellow capped chickadee and snipe, minnows and those fish that seek them such as bass and perch and walleyes.
To experience the marsh and all it holds means that you must start in the dark of late night. Make your way down deer paths or overgrown channels that once could float your boat. At the shore, canoe out into the shallow water and look up. The dark sky is alive with the light of billions of stars. Constellations are written across the darkness. Shooting stars and meteors slash across the sky and flame brightly toward the horizon. The darkness plays games with our ability to determine distance. The expanse of shallow water seems much wider than it really is. The star light is just bright enough to guide your way to a marsh island where the earth is firm enough to bring the canoe ashore. The canoe becomes a steady perch to watch the marsh come alive.
The night is silent. No traffic sounds nor trains nor horns nor the sound of cottage doors slamming. All you hear is the breeze rustle the reeds. Occasionally something flies swiftly overhead in the dark. Then, ever so slowly, the night begins to dim, as if someone gradually turns down a rheostat. The black of night is dimmed into gray. Most of the stars disappear and only the brightest still is visible. Then, ever so slowly, the eastern horizon begin to change from black to gray to dark blue to violet. Shapes become ever more distinct. Distances shorten. Light grows in the marsh.
Then you begin to hear the mallards begin to "talk". They give their feeding call and it is answered further down the marsh. Other waterfowl begin to stir and you can hear their wing beats as the fly overhead. As the sky get lighter you see the geese as they begin to stir and head inland to eat on farmer's fields. Blue Bills, Red Heads and other divers begin to raft up and fly either along the shore out out to the islands. The clouds begin to shine as the sun, still below the horizon, colors them is reds and oranges and yellows and golds. When the sun finally comes over the horizon, the wild rice shines like woven gold. Marsh hawks begin their flights and an occasional eagle soars high overhead. The shore birds fly back and forth and Green Wing Teal zoom past low over the water. Gulls circle looking for the schools of minnows. Occasionally you see a white tailed deer dash through the shallow water heading to the firmer ground of a nearby island.
As the day grows brighter, the wind freshens and the phragmites wave back and forth. Mallards settle in pot holes looking for the wild rice. The day moves forward toward a repeat of the cycle. The marsh is alive.
To experience the marsh and all it holds means that you must start in the dark of late night. Make your way down deer paths or overgrown channels that once could float your boat. At the shore, canoe out into the shallow water and look up. The dark sky is alive with the light of billions of stars. Constellations are written across the darkness. Shooting stars and meteors slash across the sky and flame brightly toward the horizon. The darkness plays games with our ability to determine distance. The expanse of shallow water seems much wider than it really is. The star light is just bright enough to guide your way to a marsh island where the earth is firm enough to bring the canoe ashore. The canoe becomes a steady perch to watch the marsh come alive.
The night is silent. No traffic sounds nor trains nor horns nor the sound of cottage doors slamming. All you hear is the breeze rustle the reeds. Occasionally something flies swiftly overhead in the dark. Then, ever so slowly, the night begins to dim, as if someone gradually turns down a rheostat. The black of night is dimmed into gray. Most of the stars disappear and only the brightest still is visible. Then, ever so slowly, the eastern horizon begin to change from black to gray to dark blue to violet. Shapes become ever more distinct. Distances shorten. Light grows in the marsh.
Then you begin to hear the mallards begin to "talk". They give their feeding call and it is answered further down the marsh. Other waterfowl begin to stir and you can hear their wing beats as the fly overhead. As the sky get lighter you see the geese as they begin to stir and head inland to eat on farmer's fields. Blue Bills, Red Heads and other divers begin to raft up and fly either along the shore out out to the islands. The clouds begin to shine as the sun, still below the horizon, colors them is reds and oranges and yellows and golds. When the sun finally comes over the horizon, the wild rice shines like woven gold. Marsh hawks begin their flights and an occasional eagle soars high overhead. The shore birds fly back and forth and Green Wing Teal zoom past low over the water. Gulls circle looking for the schools of minnows. Occasionally you see a white tailed deer dash through the shallow water heading to the firmer ground of a nearby island.
As the day grows brighter, the wind freshens and the phragmites wave back and forth. Mallards settle in pot holes looking for the wild rice. The day moves forward toward a repeat of the cycle. The marsh is alive.
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Autumn
If you are lucky enough to live across the northern tier of states, you are in the midst of the greatest season of the four. Autumn skies are clear and the deepest blue. The air is crisp and scented with the smell of leaves. The maple in my backyard has a golden yellow color that blends with the yellow brown of the pin oak next to it. The burning bush at the corner is a deep red and the sumac are aflame.
At night, the stars seem brighter because the air is clear. During the day, the sun tracks across the southern sky and colors seem brighter and not as washed out as the summer sun.
All of the beauty of autumn has one cause - death. The leaves take on their colorful beauty because they are dying. The sun is "dying" as it tracks lower in the sky. The air is crisp as the earth cools. The dying of summer is beautiful.
If nature can paint dying with so much beauty, how much more can our own dying be beautiful? We die a little bit each day. Old skin flakes off and reveals new skin underneath. Aging saps us of our strength but that gives us more time to think, ponder and reflect. Infirmities cause us to be less self-reliant and to rest on the arm of another. These dyings can be beautiful if seen in the right light.
We are all heading for the final death of our bodies. Each day brings us closer to that moment when we will pass from this life. Our deaths may be violent, sudden, lingering, tomorrow, planned for or decades away. However that moment comes, it will come. I do believe that the moment will be beautiful. The passage from this side of life to the other will be the beginning of a new experience of life. That moment will be wonderful.
The season of autumn needs campfires, cider, plain cake donuts, a nice warm sweater and a good rake. Enjoy.
At night, the stars seem brighter because the air is clear. During the day, the sun tracks across the southern sky and colors seem brighter and not as washed out as the summer sun.
All of the beauty of autumn has one cause - death. The leaves take on their colorful beauty because they are dying. The sun is "dying" as it tracks lower in the sky. The air is crisp as the earth cools. The dying of summer is beautiful.
If nature can paint dying with so much beauty, how much more can our own dying be beautiful? We die a little bit each day. Old skin flakes off and reveals new skin underneath. Aging saps us of our strength but that gives us more time to think, ponder and reflect. Infirmities cause us to be less self-reliant and to rest on the arm of another. These dyings can be beautiful if seen in the right light.
We are all heading for the final death of our bodies. Each day brings us closer to that moment when we will pass from this life. Our deaths may be violent, sudden, lingering, tomorrow, planned for or decades away. However that moment comes, it will come. I do believe that the moment will be beautiful. The passage from this side of life to the other will be the beginning of a new experience of life. That moment will be wonderful.
The season of autumn needs campfires, cider, plain cake donuts, a nice warm sweater and a good rake. Enjoy.
Friday, October 1, 2010
HOMECOMING
It is homecoming season across the land. High schools are gearing up for the annual exercise of school spirit. Faces are painted. Color days are decreed. Cheer leaders practice their flips and twirls. Football teams practice trick plays to ensure victory. Floats are constructed. Kings and queens are selected. Bonfires are alight and, across the Midwest, cider and donuts are doled out to returning graduates who still wear their varsity jackets and tell stories of past victories.
Homecoming is an interesting event. Once it was a celebration of a returning college team that had been on the road across the Ivy League. Fur coats, straw hats, pennants, are a game made up the event. Now days, it is not so much about the returning team. Two years ago, our homecoming game followed two home games. Last year there was the story of a team that played their homecoming game away, because their field was under repair.
Homecoming is not so much about the return of the team, but the return of past graduates and it can be bittersweet. Those who graduated last spring and have gone off to college return to their schools and are roundly ignored. Those who, as seniors just last year, were honored just find that they have been replaced by a new group of seniors. People nod "hello" and then go about fawning over this years seniors, this years football heroes, this years homecoming court. Last year's graduates tend to gather together and slowly begin to walk away and go back to their new lives.
Then there are returning graduates from years past. They are the guys who once a year blow the dust off their varsity jackets and the women who can still wear their high school uniforms. They come back with their children and walk the halls again and show junior where daddy made the three pointer at the buzzer to win the league championship basketball game. They stand with other classmates and talk about all the hi jinks they pulled, the tackles they made, the jocks they dated and the about of hair spray they used to get the big hair look for the dance. For past graduates, homecoming is a time to remember a more simple time. It was a time where the only worries where who to take to the dance, what color shoes went with the dress, and if a powder blue tuxedo was too tame. It was a time when friends were made for life. It was a time when a student could practice being an adult while still having the safety net of home. It was a time when someone could dream of the future and make some plans. It was a time when students from even small high schools could still feel the fame that comes with success on the field, gym, diamond and classroom. Homecoming is a time for remembering a past that might be more fantasy than fact but that is okay. Returning graduates can step back into the past, if even for a couple of days, and touch what it really means to "come home."
There are places in our lives that can be called "home." It can be our childhood house, our parish church or our high school. Home is a place where we can feel safe, even if it is only in the dreams of the past. Home can be touched by actually going home. It can also be touched through photos and videos. Home can be touched by touching those friends who were a part of our lives then.
For those of us who live in the Midwest, homecoming also has the add extra of autumn with cool evenings, changing leaves and the smell of burning leaves. What a great way to spend a weekend. Rah! Rah! Rah!
Homecoming is an interesting event. Once it was a celebration of a returning college team that had been on the road across the Ivy League. Fur coats, straw hats, pennants, are a game made up the event. Now days, it is not so much about the returning team. Two years ago, our homecoming game followed two home games. Last year there was the story of a team that played their homecoming game away, because their field was under repair.
Homecoming is not so much about the return of the team, but the return of past graduates and it can be bittersweet. Those who graduated last spring and have gone off to college return to their schools and are roundly ignored. Those who, as seniors just last year, were honored just find that they have been replaced by a new group of seniors. People nod "hello" and then go about fawning over this years seniors, this years football heroes, this years homecoming court. Last year's graduates tend to gather together and slowly begin to walk away and go back to their new lives.
Then there are returning graduates from years past. They are the guys who once a year blow the dust off their varsity jackets and the women who can still wear their high school uniforms. They come back with their children and walk the halls again and show junior where daddy made the three pointer at the buzzer to win the league championship basketball game. They stand with other classmates and talk about all the hi jinks they pulled, the tackles they made, the jocks they dated and the about of hair spray they used to get the big hair look for the dance. For past graduates, homecoming is a time to remember a more simple time. It was a time where the only worries where who to take to the dance, what color shoes went with the dress, and if a powder blue tuxedo was too tame. It was a time when friends were made for life. It was a time when a student could practice being an adult while still having the safety net of home. It was a time when someone could dream of the future and make some plans. It was a time when students from even small high schools could still feel the fame that comes with success on the field, gym, diamond and classroom. Homecoming is a time for remembering a past that might be more fantasy than fact but that is okay. Returning graduates can step back into the past, if even for a couple of days, and touch what it really means to "come home."
There are places in our lives that can be called "home." It can be our childhood house, our parish church or our high school. Home is a place where we can feel safe, even if it is only in the dreams of the past. Home can be touched by actually going home. It can also be touched through photos and videos. Home can be touched by touching those friends who were a part of our lives then.
For those of us who live in the Midwest, homecoming also has the add extra of autumn with cool evenings, changing leaves and the smell of burning leaves. What a great way to spend a weekend. Rah! Rah! Rah!
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