May 2021
Books read:
- Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro
- Caramelo by Sandra Cisneros
- Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders
- Dark Money by Jane Mayer
- Sabrina and Corina by Kali Fajardo-Anstine
Trails walked:
- Deer Mountain in Rocky Mountain National Park (May 1st)
- Bierstadt Lake/Bear Lake/Glacier Creek Loop in Rocky Mountain National Park (May 6th)
- Walker Ranch Loop near Boulder (May 13th)
- Eldorado Canyon Trail near Boulder (May 19th)
Song of the month – Changes by Tupac Shakur (aka 2PAC)
Scientist Spotlight - Eran Halperin, social psychologist
May Summary:
As violence has erupted in Israel again it takes me back to one of the most memorable trips my wife and I have taken. Ten years ago, in May of 2011 we travelled to Bulgaria, Turkey, Israel, and Jordan. This was a few months after the start of the Arab Spring in many countries and our friends and family were concerned for our safety. I’ve read many books about the various conflicts in the Middle East and understood their concern, however I wasn’t concerned about Israel and Jordan at the time. We were traveling on our own which is unusual for American visitors to the Middle East (most go as part of a tour or church group). I would say that the two highlights of the trip were the Old City in Jerusalem and Petra in Jordan (although Istanbul was spectacular also). They were unforgettable not only for the stunning sights and sounds and tastes but also for the friendliness of the Palestinian/Arab and the Jewish people we met.
We experienced one situation that brought home for me all the “fear of the other” rampant in that part of the world. We were staying at a Jewish owned hotel near the Old City and I was asking about getting a ride to Beit Shean which was at a border crossing with Jordan so we could meet our Jordanian driver for the drive to Petra. The hotel found us a “safe” driver that could get us there for $200. I thought that was high, so I started asking around. One of our cab drivers said that his son could take us there for $100 so we set it up for the next morning. The people at the hotel asked if the driver was Arab. We said we weren’t sure. He said, was the taxi yellow? I said yes. He said that’s an Arab taxi and it would be very very dangerous for us to do this and highly recommended we cancel. My wife and I had no intention of canceling. The taxi driver was really friendly, and we just knew everything would be fine. Well, his son showed up at our hotel the next morning, right on time. He was very young and very nervous because we were in a Jewish section of the city and he was an Arab waiting for customers. The drive was fascinating as it followed the Jordan river border for around 40 or 50 miles north. We saw guns and tanks embedded in hillsides along the border, along with checkpoints at the various junctions towards the Palestinian cities in the West Bank (named after the fact that it’s on the west bank of the River Jordan). Needless to say, we reached the border safely and after an interesting border crossing (that’s a whole other story), we met our very friendly driver who happened to be a Palestinian refugee whose family home was taken over in the Six Day War in 1967.
There were many other memories on that trip, but other than the story I told above, what I remember most was how friendly everyone was in both Israel and Jordan. We were invited for tea many times and people were really interested in the fact that we were traveling on our own. Religion and Politics are doing their best to assure that there will never be lasting peace in the area, which is so unfortunate, because the everyday people in the region are beautiful.
This month ended with a family Memorial Day Weekend trip to the Roaring Fork valley near Aspen. What a spectacularly beautiful place; no wonder so many billionaires decided to make their homes in Aspen. Evidently the billionaires have kicked out all the millionaires to the smaller towns along highway 82. We stayed in one called El Jebel (Arabic for The Mountain). It seems like a town center was erected here within the past few months, with $2-3 million dollar homes surrounding it. It was a great weekend with our grandson and their parents. We drove to Independence Pass with views of many of the 14,000 foot peaks in the area, and we took lots of walks. Colorado is beautiful.
It was a good month for both reading and rambling. The hiking ranged from deep snow in Rocky Mountain National Park to shorts and short sleeves in the foothills; plus the creeks and waterfalls are getting full with spring runoff. Reading this month took me from robot companions in England to rich family history among Mexican migrants to ghosts in the graveyard where Lincoln’s young son was buried to the dark side of money in politics, and finally to stories of women overcoming life's roadblocks.
Scientist Spotlight – Eran Halperin is a full professor of psychology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and he is trying to use his field of study to help understand, and perhaps eventually resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in his country. Now that is a bold undertaking! His research uses psychological and political theories and methods to investigate inter-group conflicts. His team is working on ways to set social change in motion towards democracy and peace, especially with what he calls the "natural laboratory" of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
I heard about one of his experiments from this article in Quartz. Here's a teaser from the article: "...a 28-year-old political science student at Bar Ilan University in Israel, was paid 110 shekels (around $30) for his time, and didn’t know he was about to become part of an experiment attempting to change his mind about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict." In this particular experiment a team of psychology researchers begin to challenge the subject's ideas using a technique called “paradoxical thinking.” The premise is this: Instead of presenting evidence that contradicts someone’s deeply held views, a psychologist agrees with the participant, then takes their views further, stretching their arguments to absurdity. This causes the participant to pause, reconsider, and reframe their own beliefs. It's an interesting concept. Halperin has written several papers on the topic of conflict resolution. Here's hoping he can eventually find the Rosetta Stone which will do the job.
Shakur
wrote this song in 1992 about the war on
drugs, the treatment of black
people by the police, racism, the perpetuation of poverty and its vicious-cycle and the difficulties of life
in the ghetto; which goes to show how little has
changed since then. He was shot and killed in Las Vegas four years later
at the age of 25; the number one suspect (Notorious BIG) was subsequently shot
and killed six months later in Los Angeles. Tupac is in both the Hip Hop
and Rock and Roll Halls of Fame. There are many documentaries out on this
talented young man's too short life.
The version of this song that become famous was remixed in 1998 by Poke from
the hip hop group Trackmasters. He mixed it with Bruce Hornsby's 1986 hit
"That's Just the Way it Is" which was a brilliant pairing. This
version earned Tupac a posthumous Grammy nomination for best rap performance in
2000. Check it out here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TnwU2iMRUqA
The novel is set in the near future. Klara is the narrator and is an AF (Artificial Friend). AFs are sentient robots meant to befriend young people in their early teens in this new somewhat dystopian world of rampant unemployment (due to robots) and questionable ethical decisions made on behalf of children. Klara’s observations of the people and the world around her are the key to the story and show the brilliance of Ishiguro. There are many mysteries and surprises in this book, and the ending is perfect.
Here are a couple of great lines from the book:
…what became clear to me was the extent to which humans, in their wish to escape loneliness, made maneuvers that were very complex and hard to fathom…
“Hope,” he said. “Damn thing never leaves you alone.” He shook his head almost resentfully, but there was now a new strength about him.
Our initial plans were to hike to Skye Pond further south, but unfortunately the road to that hike was closed due to too many people loving this national park. It was interesting to see the change in the trail in just over one month. Only the upper part of the trail had snow this time rather than the entire trail. Microspikes were a big help on the upper portion although there were several people sliding up and down the trail without them, a few of them taking big spills right in front of us! The day was beautiful, partly cloudy, high in the 50s and not much wind. The views on top were just as spectacular, but we had to share it with several people on this beautiful May Saturday compared to a Thursday in March when I had the summit to myself. We didn’t see deer on Deer Mountain, but DIL spotted two wild turkeys here on “Turkey” Mountain. On the drive out we spotted the deer and tried to direct them to the correct mountain; we also got to see several elk and big horn sheep. A good day in RMNP.
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| Nice views as the trail heads uphill |
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| Views over the pine trees |
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| View from the summit |
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| Still looks wintry in May |
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| Heading back to the trailhead |
Published in 2002, this beautifully written novel spans four generations of the Reyes and Reyna families, from Spain to Mexico to the US and back to Mexico again. I believe that it’s somewhat autobiographical as the narrator in the novel is Celaya who has 6 brothers and lives in the Chicago barrio but visits relatives in Mexico City every summer (Cisneros was raised with 6 brothers in the Chicago barrio). Not only do you read about this incredible family, but you learn about the history of Mexico and its relationship with the United States over the years. Maria Nieto, in Para Mi magazine wrote this about the novel: “Cisneros' intricately spun novel takes us through equal parts history and family lore as we travel back through lifetimes and borders, recounting the lies made fact by time, and the truths not even time could touch.”
As I write this review on Mother’s Day, I can't help but think of my Hispanic mother and the many Sundays we spent at her parents’ small adobe house in Belen, NM with all the kids playing in the yard while tortillas and empanadas were being made in the kitchen by the grandmas and aunts. This novel brings back all those memories, even the smells and the tastes.
Here are some of the great lines from the book:
It’s no disgrace to be poor, Uncle says, citing the Mexican saying—but it’s very inconvenient.
Descriptions of Mexico: Church bells ringing over and over all day, even when it’s not o’clock. The smell of somebody roasting coffee, the smell of hot corn tortillas along with the pat-pat of the women’s hands making them, the sting of roasting chiles in your throat and in your eyes.
Elvis, Aristotle, and Byron are Uncle Fat-Face and Aunty Licha’s kids. The Grandmother says to Uncle Fat-Face—How backwards that Licha naming those poor babies after anyone she finds in her horoscope. Thank God Shakespeare was stillborn. Can you imagine answering to Shakespeare Reyes? What a beating life would have given him.
Inocencio’s best friend since the first grade was El Reloj, the clock, because he was born with his left arm shorter than his right.
Grandpa: “I sleep and it makes me so huuunnngry. Then I eat and it makes me so sleeeepppy.”
We are all born with our destiny, but sometimes we have to help our destiny a little.
Women like men like this, to tidy and take home for improvement.
It would be untrue to say everyone lived happily ever after, because ever after is a very long time and happiness rather on the short side.
Everyone said motherhood was sacred, but all the everyones who said it were men.
Everyone knew how the story was going to end except me. Isn’t that always the case with love?
I like her way of calling me mija and walking alongside me arm in arm, the way women do here when they walk together, with a lot of affection and protection radiating from them like the sun.
God gives us the urge for love when we’re still children, but the age of reason doesn’t arrive till we’re well into our forties.
There’s no sin in falling in love with all your heart and your body but wait till you’re old enough to love yourself first.
Mother and father dancing like they’ve danced with each other forever, like only two people who have put up with each other and love each other can.
Next, I headed uphill another mile or so and another 400 feet towards Bear Lake which is a very busy place near the large parking lot at the end of Bear Lake road. I skirted the eastern portion of the lake which provides the best views, then headed down a connecting trail towards Alberta Falls which were just starting to rage with spring runoff. This is another popular trail with many tourists. I missed my junction to hike along Glacier Creek because at this time of year there IS no junction because the Glacier Creek Trail is covered with many feet of show. But I decided to try it anyway. Nobody has been on this trail since the last snowfall, and it was two miles of very difficult and adventurous walking. Snowshoes would have been so great to have (lessons being learned for next year). I was post-holing many times up to my hip and had to keep prodding with my hiking poles to make sure I wouldn’t disappear into the abyss. The hike along the creek is beautiful and I heard lots of rustling in the trees from large animals, but I never saw them. A highlight on this section was coming upon this beautiful small pond with reflections of the snowcapped mountains in the water. I stayed here for a while just enjoying the beauty (and hoping to glimpse a moose, but only found their tracks). The “trail” finally ended at a huge junction I’ve heard named confusion junction. From here I headed down towards the Storm Pass trailhead and then a few yards later back to my car, exhausted, but with a big smile on my face after 8 plus miles of partly easy, partly difficult, and mostly beautiful walking.
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| Just a few yards up the trailhead the views begin |
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| Aspen couldn't decide which way to grow |
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| Pine tree with a view |
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| Really opens up near the top |
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| Sure, let's hike around the lake! |
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| Lake was still partially frozen in May |
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| Pretty |
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| Half buried signs |
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| Framed view at Bear Lake |
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| More open view at Bear Lake |
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| I imagine this sign is attached to a post |
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| Alberta Falls starting to gush |
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| I believe that's the trail |
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| Someone following me would have an easier time |
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| Small pond with great reflections |
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| Same pond, different view |
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| Moose tracks? |
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| Nice view just before reaching the trailhead |
At the beginning, the novel was frustrating to read. I really had no idea what was going on which reminded me of William Faulkner’s The Sound and the Fury. But knowing that it was so highly regarded, I plodded on. After around 50 pages I started getting a better understanding of it and by the end I’d wished it hadn’t ended. If you plan to read the book and figure it out on your own, then stop reading this review here. The story goes back and forth between the living and the (un?)dead. One chapter will have snippets of actual newspaper or magazine articles from the day describing the sickness and eventual death from typhoid of Lincoln’s son, Willie. Then a subsequent chapter will include a dialog among these named characters discussing the new arrival, Willie, at the cemetery. It turns out that these dialogs are among people who are currently “stuck” at the cemetery after being buried there. They haven’t made it to their final destination and wander the cemetery grounds each night. It’s an interesting way to tell a story, combining actual press releases, diary entries, and essays along with a fictional account of the undead trying to help Willie in his quest to communicate with his father again.
Along the way, you are drawn into discussions of life, death, the civil war, slavery, and a snapshot of the political divisiveness in the country at that time. Really an experimentally brilliant novel. I hope to read some of his short story collections in the future.
This is a really nice 8-mile loop with an ever-changing landscape and some good elevation gain to keep the heart rate up. There are 4 different parking areas to choose from, so if you’re up here on a crowded weekend you have options. I started at the Walker Loop trailhead and hiked counterclockwise. The first mile is mostly downhill with expansive views of the area as you head towards South Boulder Creek. The trail follows the creek for a bit (which was flowing pretty good on this spring day) and then heads uphill towards Eldorado Canyon State Park. As the trail turns east you get some great views of the backside of the Flatirons, including a nice view of South Boulder Peak which is a really tough hike I wrote about in the September blog. Eventually you reach a stairway (mountain bikers have to carry their bikes down, or up, this) that ends at a narrow canyon where South Boulder creek rages. This is a great lunch spot, and I took full advantage to snack and rest for the climb back out. The remaining 3 plus miles are mostly a nice walk in the woods which eventually opens up to the same expansive views seen at the beginning of the hike.
It was a beautiful day on this Thursday, and I ran into a few hikers and bikers but found myself in solitude for most of the hike. No animal sightings on this day other than birds and squirrels.
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| Rock head, cloud hat |
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| Lots of water flowing in South Boulder Creek |
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| Lots |
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| Flower trying to get some sun after a long winter |
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| A peak at some snow capped mountains |
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| View of the backside of the Flatirons |
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| Steps installed to get down into the canyon |
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| Lunch spot |
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| Narrow canyon |
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| Hmm, maybe I'll do this Eldorado hike next week.... |
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| Trail rising up |
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| Trail art |
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| Expansive views up high |
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| Glancing back again behind the flatirons |
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| Really nice walk |
The New York Review of Books described it as "absolutely necessary reading for anyone who wants to make sense of our politics.” And, unfortunately, I believe they are correct. Those of you who have read this blog for a while know that I have little hope for our democracy and this book pretty much confirms that pessimism. The subtitle of the book is The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right. The book centers around Charles and David Koch, but also mentions other billionaires who, along with the Kochs, have used their dark money in ways that have moved the Republican party further and further to the right since the 1970s (interesting note: the 1970s was a time when income inequality was at its lowest in the US, but since then income inequality has grown to where it is now, competing with the Gilded Age and Great Depression for highest income inequality – Google it). Much of the billionaires’ motive is bottom line economics for their many businesses, but it’s also ideological from the standpoint of minimization of government and reduction of taxes for the rich (However, if the government is involved in enriching the businessmen's bottom line it’s ok -- they’re perfectly happy with the government providing subsidies and tax breaks for fossil fuel production).
The term Dark Money is in reference to the complicated maze of “non-profit, charitable” tax-deductible organizations that move money around eventually financing campaign ads and political candidates that tow the line. Mayer also briefly mentions the billionaires on the left (Soros, Gates, etc.), but they are not the focus of this book. The 2010 Supreme Court decision on Citizens United gave corporations the same rights as individuals which resulted in an exponential growth of dark money in politics at the national and local levels.
But it’s not only politics. The money has been used to sway academic institutions, think tanks, and the courts. It’s been used to fight action on climate change, including personal attacks on the most vocal climate scientists like Michael Mann and Katherine Hayhoe. Do you get the feeling politics has gotten uglier and uglier since the 1970s? Read this book and you will understand why. Or don’t read it, because it will just depress you and make you give up any hope of things getting better politically in this country. It will make you want to go on a long hike on a beautiful mountain….
We started up the steep Eldorado Canyon trail, hiking through juniper and eventually up into the pines and aspens after 2.5 miles and 1,200 feet elevation gain. Then it was downhill for a mile and around 700 feet elevation loss where we stopped for snacks at Eldorado Falls. It’s more of a fast rapid through a narrow crack in the canyon than a waterfall, but it was impressive on this day. After resting we headed back up the steep trail for a mile and then it was downhill the final 2.5 miles with great views all around, including a freight train cutting through a mountain pass on the other side of the canyon. Green was the color of the day as spring has come to this pretty canyon. The threatening rain never revealed itself even after a bit of thunder, so we stayed high and dry.
The drive up this this canyon is interesting. It’s a rock climbers’ Mecca evidently with several pull outs and climbing routes. You pass several trailheads along the road which take you up into the Flatirons and beyond. And then you pass the quirky town of Eldorado Springs, with its famous swimming pool which in the early 1900s was the largest swimming pool in the country and known as “The Coney Island of the West”. Dwight and Mamie Eisenhower spent part of their honeymoon here! One of the main attractions in the early 1900s was watching Ivy Baldwin walk a tightrope across the narrow canyon 600 feet above the ground…he made his last tightrope walk here in 1948 at the age of 82! At one time there was a plan to install a dam by a group of businessmen in the 1920s and 30s, but a series of floods and fires thankfully put the brakes on that idea. We saw some survey spikes on the hike which may have been related to this idea. The little town has a population of 585 and is a mix of funky artist homes, nice, renovated homes, and very old and never been renovated homes. All of them with their own charm along the banks of South Boulder Creek.
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| Steep climb up to nice views |
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| This little guy making a life from a rock |
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| Nice views east |
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| DIL checking out the high point on the trail |
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| I think I'll grow this way, no I mean this way |
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| I passed this sign last week on a different hike |
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| Eldorado Falls raging |
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| Eldorado Falls |
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| DIL heading back to the trailhead |
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| Denver way down below |
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| More stairs |
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| The train! The train! |
Sandra Cisneros, who wrote one of the other books I read
this month said of this story collection: “Here are stories that blaze like
wildfires, with characters who made me laugh and broke my heart.” And this was Fajardo-Anstine's first book! She’s had short
stories published in various magazines and online publications prior to this,
but holy cow, what a debut!
I really enjoyed the stories. There are eleven of them, all set in Colorado
and all of them about women (from teens to grandmas) dealing with all that life
throws at them. Embedded in all the
stories are the author’s (and characters') commentary on social issues from gentrification to income
inequality to drug and domestic abuse to religion to prison reform. There is a real talent in telling short
stories. The author has to find a way to describe a lifetime in a few lines and Fajardo-Anstine has this talent. In just a few pages you feel like you’ve watched
these women grow up and seen their views on life evolve and you see them growing
as a person, including all the mistakes made along the way. It’s hard to pick a favorite story, but if I
had to it would be Galapago, which has this for its first line: “The day before
Pearla Ortiz killed a man, she had lunch at home with her granddaughter Alana.” Now if that first line doesn’t grab your
attention, nothing will.
Some other great lines from the book:
Sometimes a person's unhappiness can make them forget they are a part of something bigger, something like a family, a people, even a tribe.
I had experienced enough Cordova deaths to know one pot was filled with green chili, another with pintos, and the last one with menudo. Deaths, weddings, birthdays -- the menu was always the same.
She was young and blonde with a sheen to her skin that only comes from years of good nutrition, expensive moisturizers, and generations of tragedy-free living.
She claimed all old people died in the order of who was poorest, sickest, and loneliest.
Mother insisted that working wasn't only about money - it was about structure, purpose, keeping track of days.
It had never occurred to me, but there was a time before that scar, before my mother knew my father, when her face was still unbroken and she was still young.
I watched in awe as she slipped into rage as easily as she had slipped into her bathing suit.
..white kids in Carhartt hoodies and Red Wing shoes, the clothing of work they'd never knew.
Until next month, happy reading and rambling!