Saturday, February 9, 2019




'I remember back in the 1960s - late '50s, really - reading a comic book called 'Martin Luther King Jr. and the Montgomery Story.' Fourteen pages. It sold for 10 cents. And this little book inspired me to attend non-violence workshops, to study about Gandhi, about Thoreau, to study Martin Luther King, Jr., to study civil disobedience.' 
                                                              -John Lewis


Friday, February 8, 2019

In yesterday's New York Times:


'Last year the company added 120 newsroom employees, bringing the total number of journalists at The Times to 1,600, the largest count in its history.'

Thursday, February 7, 2019




'I think it's really important to be conscious of yourself and the world around you. For me, that meant reading a lot and reporting.' 
                     -Ta-Nehisi Coates

Wednesday, February 6, 2019




'I hope the United States of America is not so rich that she can afford to let these wildernesses pass by, or so poor she cannot afford to keep them.'    -Mardy Murie
      
-Margaret Thomas 'Mardy' Murie (August 18, 1902 – October 19, 2003) was a naturalist, author, adventurer, and conservationist. Dubbed the 'Grandmother of the Conservation Movement' by both the Sierra Club and the Wilderness Society, she helped in the passage of the Wilderness Act, and was instrumental in creating the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. She was the recipient of the Audubon Medal, the John Muir Award, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom—the highest civilian honor awarded by the United States. (from Wikipedia)

She lived her last 75 years here in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. 

I'm booked on a plane out of Jackson this afternoon. It can sometimes be a hard place to get out of, and it's always a hard place to leave.


Tuesday, February 5, 2019



More beautiful snow came during the night. I wish I were a skier. No plane to get me home today. Tomorrow they say. I'm at the airport drinking a coffee and eating a blueberry muffin. It's nice to sit here. Big windows look out on snowy trees and cars. The guy at the table next to me has a long black canvas bag with his skis in it. I'll sit a while longer, then a cab or shuttle of some kind to take me back into town to the motel. On the ride back to town yesterday, the driver pointed out a moose. The roads and sidewalks can be very slippery here. But they won't use salt. It's not good for that moose or the other wildlife. 

Monday, February 4, 2019



I'm sitting in the Jackson, Wyoming airport. My Delta flight was canceled. Big snow. The road the shuttle van took to get me to the airport is now closed. I'll sit here for awhile before heading back to the motel when the road is open and I'll try again tomorrow. When I was at the motel for a week, I watched some TV news shows. I don't have a TV in my apartment in New York, so I only see some news that I get streaming on my laptop. I watch Anderson Cooper and PBS NewsHour. In the motel I sampled some other stuff. It all seemed too much, especially on a big screen. Same topics with different hosts each hour. The topics are certainly important. But I'll be glad to get home tomorrow and get away from the blizzard of conversation about them.