Today was a good day raptorwise:
– brown thrasher
– American kestrel
– osprey
– two peregrine falcons (I saw them copulating a few weeks back and I think they have a nest around here)
– bald eagles
– turkey vultures
– waves of yellow-rumped warblers
Seems like a lot of birds are passing through. In addition the toads are trilling and the chorus frogs are chorusing.
While walking back from the Minnehaha Falls the other day i thought about Maslow’s hierarchy of needs again. I really like this concept. It seems so right. One version of it i saw recently included “freedom from prejudice” right near the top. This was surprising to me but it’s true, individuals need freedom from prejudice to reach a state of peace and integrity.
I thought about conservatives in this country and about Trump supporters. They claim to be all about freedom. Some even have an appealing message if you look only at their slogans. And some libertarian ideas are attractive to me and to a lot of young people. However, they seem to be selective about freedoms. What about:
Conservatives think their way of life is under threat, that people are out to take their guns and their religion. And as a result their horizons are narrowed. And they miss out on freedom from prejudice.
I weighed in on this with my city council member and actually got a response (from an aide).
(http://www.startribune.com/communities-push-for-limits-on-sober-homes-other-group-housing/374384441/)
…almost identical to article on same topic from 2008:
(http://www.startribune.com/neighbors-can-weigh-in-on-sober-houses/15858292/)
I think local politicians need to recognize that neighborhood groups are not representative of the residents of an area. Minneapolis officials have actually pointed this out, to their great credit.
These groups are founded and run to use political power to protect the real estate investments of incumbent homeowners. Their mission statements might as well be some variation of "Keeping everyone everyone out and preventing any and all change".
I’m sick of these groups.
Dear Councilmember Derp,
I have followed the recent debate over increased sober house and communal living restrictions and I encourage you to vote against tightening these requirements.
People with addictions are considered disabled under the law. In addition the disparate impact concept upheld by the Supreme Court last year makes it clear that local housing restrictions will come under increased legal scrutiny in the future. In 2008 Mayor Coleman warned the Council about the risks of litigation that come with further restrictions. Saint Paul housing administrators also told the Council in 2008 that the current rules were confusing and complex.
In their Powerpoint submitted to the Council, the Merriam Park neighborhood group emphasized intangibles such as "balance" above tangibles such as the dire need for housing for vulnerable groups. At best this represents honest people who want an idyllic traditional neighborhood. At worst it is incumbent homeowners using the power of law to keep out anyone who does not look like them: students, disabled people, those recovering from addiction.
In any case the neighborhood group did not cite any specific problem that would warrant more restrictions.
Please consider this input in your vote. Thank you for your hard work.
Sincerely,
Bob Bobison
3820 Brown Dookie Parkway
Saint Paul MN 55116
I said goodbye to a special person recently. Ryan died young of neurofibromatosis, which he had since childhood. Surgeries and other treatments kept it under control for more than 30 years, until the benign tumors that characterize the disease became too numerous and impinged on too-crucial central nervous system structures for him to survive. In fact toward the end he was without hearing, but he used the sign language he had learned in college to communicate, and joke around quite a bit, with family and with his hospice nurse.
The service was fantastic: it was in a new stone building with lots of natural light and it was a bright day. The night had left a coating of snow that melted and exposed the cemetery grass as the service proceeded. Ryan’s uncle and cousins performed Dylan songs. There were good snacks and coffee and photos and watercolor art from Ryan’s dad. There were no arid religious hymns to chant, no mummery. It was about friends and family assembling in joy and remembrance over a maimed loved one. The focus was on him, not on gods and crossings and spirit worlds.
Everything I learned about Ryan’s condition I learned from others. I never heard him speak a self-pitying word. He always engaged in friendly conversation despite his stutter, and he zeroed in on my own interests and recommended movies and books I wouldn’t have discovered otherwise. I never had any interest in Dylan before meeting Ryan but came to appreciate his music because of him.
Each speaker touched on Ryan’s passionate interests, demonstrating my own belief that one’s genuine joys and pursuits make a lasting impression on people. The grandmother was sad but when I spoke to her she expressed gladness and consolation over her other grandsons and over her large extended family. Some people there showed very lively expressions of grief, others were contained, but almost everyone cried as the words of remembrance reached an emotional peak.
I felt profound sympathy for Ryan, then sadness, and finally a sense of fellowship as I looked around and recognized the full significance of all my friends being there with me to say goodbye and to support Ryan’s brother.
This service was on March 19th. In the intervening weeks I have ruminated over the exact sense and meaning of what I experienced in knowing Ryan, knowing he died, and then seeing him off. I came up with three things:
Firstly I will try to emulate Ryan’s blend of humor and fighting spirit if I ever must face a lethal and outrageously unfair medical condition like his.
Secondly I will not look away from the seemingly intolerable truths of our existence, nor will I euphemize when speaking and writing about them. Neither will I be flowery and maudlin for quick effect or false profundity.
Lastly I will exult in Dylan’s music, in friends and family, and in this glorious spring season that was not given Ryan to enjoy.
Included: Old Cedar Ave Bridge area
pseudoisaac 