Availability of Time

Time is quickly moving to the top of the list of cherished things. It feels spare in these days of long work hours and building homes and traveling and raising dogs.

But, as you will see from the photos, we’ve also been saving some hours for fun and groovy times. If retirement is ever available to me, I will not have any trouble filling up the time. My hobbies and interests far outweigh my time available.

I had to make an unplanned whirlwind trip to Worcester last Tuesday. I drove from Black Dog Ridge to Lewisburg and dropped Marti at Tails ‘R’ Waggin (40 minute drive), then another 90 minute drive to Roanoke airport. Flight was ROA > ATL > PVD > ATL >ROA. Out Tuesday afternoon and back home Thursday afternoon after reversing the 2-hour drive and fetching the hound from the dog farm/day care.

A funny sidenote. At the hotel where I stay in Worcester, There’s a very cute older Latina lady that works at the hotel breakfast bar. One morning when I ordered my scrambled eggs and fruit, she said ‘is that all my love’? I was completely unblemished by that breach of social etiquette. I find it endearing—even though I know I am supposed to find it offensive in modern times. I shall not be filing a complaint. I tipped her instead. It reminds me of being abroad where there are fewer rules and more common sense.

Brittany and I had a great weekend. Saturday was a beautiful day. We took the Jungle Fox into town and hit the Farmer’s Market. We loaded up on veggies and treats and salad. Rich was there so we chatted with him along with Kaylie and Asfar from Ascend. We are making friends—getting to know the community. Sunday we floated the river from Doc Fox Road public access down to Ed’s house. It was only an hour but we had great fun. Yesterday we floated again–this time from Talcott Bridge and Lars came along in a kayak.

Lars and I got a few very nice motorcycle rides in as well. It feels good to have my German machine here with me now. We saw some stunning landscapes from the mountain passes. We didn’t stop for photos–preferring to focus on the ride and the memories. I get a little tired of talking about how beautiful it is around here. There are other beautiful places of course–I’ve lived in many of them. I am blessed.

Another quirky sidenote. On the ATM in the lobby of my hotel, there is a sign that says ‘Buy Bitcoin Here!’. Wow! Who knew? I guess you just put your debit card into that magic machine and the bank takes your actual hard currency and trades you some phantom currency that no-one understands. A securities dealer must go through training and have a federal license to sell securities because of the inherent risk of investing in stocks. But apparently you can invest in the far riskier venture of cryto bux at the local ATM.

I read an excellent interview with Barbara Kingsolver the other day. I recently finished reading Demon Copperhead, for which she won some award or another, and so the interview was a nice find. She is from Kentucky, but now lives in Southwestern West Virginia. Barbara had a lot to say about pre-conceived notions of Appalachia and how the people of this region are perceived and represented. I don’t completely disagree with her. People here are kind and clever and many have had difficult lives for one reason or another. Their traditional livelihoods of mining and timber have diminished to a shadow of their past. Many have suffered greatly during the opioid crisis.

And there is so much more. Many of the troubles of this area were calculated and intentional schemes by mining companies and even regional government to limit educational opportunities and constrict other industries from coming in that might provide competition for mine workers. And of course we now know that Purdue Pharma and other manufacturers of opioids deliberately targeted this area to take advantage of a vulnerable population.

I was raised on the edge of Appalachia. I went to a sub-par high school in a community where nearly everyone wound up working at the local steel mill or another factory. We lived in a pretty down-trodden community and while we were told we were middle class, it felt like that might have been aspirational. So I feel some kinship.

It’s always a mistake to try to broadly categorize a group of people in a region into a particular cultural or educational or political bucket.

Barbara’s viewpoint is that people of Appalachia are angry and justifiably so. So angry they want to ‘blow up the system’.  At one point she says if you want to have a conversation with someone you can’t start it with ‘you idiot’. True says I. But what do you say to those people who put their faith and trust in an obvious charlatan like Donald Trump. A man who after deceiving so many to get their support in getting elected, went on to cause pain and damage in so many ways. And most of those same people are still supporting him if the flags and signs around here can be trusted. So maybe it’s just idiotic behavior–which is different than being an idiot. Or perhaps ignorant is the better word.

It is definitely incorrect to say that people are idiots simply because they voted for Trump. But it must be said that many who did vote for him are 1) selfish and just want lower taxes, or to criminalize abortion, or support some other racist or xenophobic view that Trump espouses; or 2) simply misguided and ignorant. Ignorant meaning they cannot see the obvious—cannot tell fact from fiction. Can’t tell the difference between a cheap hustler and a serious politician. I clearly remember pro-Trump ads featuring coal mine workers claiming their support of Trump because he was going to bring back coal mine jobs. What is that if not willful delusion?

if there was/is another reason to vote for Trump, I would be more than willing to have that conversation.

So these few paragraphs are to respectfully ask Barbara to expand on her conversation. Help me understand. For I also want to blow up the system. I hate our institutional biases and economic model that serves so few at the expense of so many. A governmental approach that invests heavily in war and minimally in people and is so easily manipulated to that end by a flawed constitution and intense lobbying by the wealthy and special interests. I was not happy to have to choose between Hillary and Donald. It seems with 3 presidential terms of Bushes in my life, and 2 terms of Clinton’s, we should have another choice. Voting for Hillary was not sending a message I wanted to send–essentially that I also wanted real change. That frustrated me. But I was smart enough to recognize that putting a narcissistic demon in the White House would be catastrophically worse. Blowing up the system would have to wait. I actually think many of us do want the same thing. Massive change to the institutional injustices and all the other issues we speak so willingly about on this blog. But voting for Trump was not the right way to start this movement.

Maybe calling people idiots is not the right answer. But maybe more intellectual honestly and transparency is. People, even good-hearted people with good intentions, need to understand that when you vote, you are voting not just for your immediate need, but for many others who are also vulnerable and suffering. And votes have real consequences for many millions of people. And maybe spend less time vilifying Hillary and Joe based on GOP rhetoric and Fox Fueled fabrications and more time examining actual policy and outcomes instead of sound-bites.

Perhaps only revolution can save us now. And I think I’m ready for it.

I’ve had most of my insurances with USAA for a long time now. They’ve always had good technology and are reasonably competitive on rates. I’ve had to make some changes lately and so have been on the phone with them a bit. The agents nearly always say ‘thank you for your service’ (USAA membership is based on previous military experience). So that’s okay. One guy said ‘thanks for serving and helping to protect our freedoms’. A little over the top but I let it go. Who’s trying to take my freedoms exactly? Then, the other day, the male agent says ‘thanks for being a patriot’. Whoa, what? I’m no patriot— at least not to my definition. Patriot to me suggests ‘we are the best‘, which is not my view.

I was born in America by chance. I didn’t choose it. US is okay. Top 20 probably; top 30 for sure. But definitely would not have been my first choice of a country to be born to. We got some heavy legacy shit to own up to and so far we haven’t done that. And I could use a little universal health care and free university. A little less invading of other countries would be nice too. How about a little less institutional racism and a moderated form of capitalism that gives a little back to those in need? 

But I didn’t say anything to the poor bastard—after all he is working in a call center which can’t be that great. So I let it go. 

No other news of note.

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