It’s April 28th, 2007 & I’m high above some state in the western United States, where the land is flat and cut into huge yet precise blocks by roads - nothing exists here to break up human-imposed geometries. A grid state. Possibly Nebraska.

I’m currently sad, excited, scared, hopeful, wounded, content, anxious, fascinated, and oddly happy. I guess at 38, I can hold more than one at once. . I’m thinking about my friend Greg’s book “Window Seat: Reading the Landscape From The Air”, global warming, a girl, human population (the *real* hockey stick!), wondering how attractive Cameron Diaz really is (inflight movie), and mostly, the beauty of it all. (Don’t think that you know which of the emotions tie to which of the subjects at hand, the combinations are remarkable and fluid )

A while back (Nevada? Utah?) I passed a small wind farm. Maybe 10 giant white windmills, standing silently on a hill, motionless (slackers!). The future is here. It is going to be quite a ride these next few decades. Buckle up I can’t wait. (wow! bravado? sarcasm? hope? anticipation!? bring-it-on-let’s-do-this-coz-i’m-tired-of-worrying-and-what-is-the-name-of-this-feeling-anyway?*)

Natural features have risen to contest the brute-force human ones of the grid state now past. The results, the combination of human geometry and natural diversity, are beautiful! (contour and strip farming - Thanks Greg!).

I never thought the Midwest was beautiful. Landing soon. The beauty has given away to standard farmland & now suburbia, but Chicago! Chicago is majestic in the afternoon light….I’m off on my latest adventure: a week in the south of France followed by three in the south of India, I guess there is a Southern boy in here after all. Hmmm… BBQ yes!, NASCAR not so much… ok so much for that thesis. My agenda:

• Eat every mango I come across.
• Avoid getting married off.
• Face time with mega-fauna.
• Observe humans in their natural habitats (both current & historical).
• Marvel at people’s ability to lead apparently functional lives without direct contact with ME
• Finally see India after all these trips, rather than just see relatives (god bless them and their kindness & hospitality nonetheless).
• Try to keep you people entertained!

To my peoples back home, I’ll miss you (I always do!). Please remember what I said about not having any fun while I’m gone. No. Really.
‘deep

*I bet the Germans have a name for that feeling, they always seem to…. with their easy to-make-new-words-without-needing-hyphens language. I bet they have a name for that too! Damn!

 
SAN FRANCISCO, April 20 - In a stunning victory for local dark-sock activists, the ‘Deep administration announced that it will begin phasing out wearing white socks with pants. “Here at ‘Deep, we take saving the planet very seriously and our White Sock Reduction Initiative is one of numerous efforts to meet our ambitious goals.” said ‘Deep, a spokesperson for the administration. The administration announced that it would begin purchasing more black socks, and reducing its wearing of white socks, unless it was wearing shorts, saying “Shorts and black socks just don’t work.” When asked about the remarkable reversal of its decades long policy, the ‘Deep administration spokesman said only “once the link between global warming, the current mass extinction event and our socks was made clear, we had to act.”

Local activists hailed the initiative and celebrated their victory while disagreeing on why they succeeded. “Our strategy of consistent nagging got the ‘Deep administration to look carefully at its sock choice” said Tom Radulovich, director of Nag For Progress. While Amy Laitnen of Better Straight Men Period, recounted asking a passing young lady about ‘Deep’s socks at a local breakfast eatery and said “I think it was our strategic use of attractive women combined with public shaming that really carried the day.” Added Wes Radulovich, “It has been a long road, but I think well worth it. The others can claim what they like, but personally I think the blunt force trauma was what did it.”