Nothing to Report

Dear Reader,

I do apologize for my extended absence. I really only feel that my writing is worth your time when I have interesting experiences to relay and as of late my life has been a little blasse. That is bad for my blogging but just fine by me. But, I kind of miss you guys so I am going to give you a few tiddlie-bit updates and then barrage you with some speculation.

What does one talk about when there is nothing to actually talk about? The weather. The weather has been tripping the Mallorcans out as of late. Winds, cold, rain. "It is NEVER like this," they all complain. They are wrapped in sweaters and coats and I wander around in a T-shirt and jeans. I am almost about to start bundling up just so they will stop feeling the need to point out my inadequate attire and asking if I am not cold. The other day I walked out into a sunny, low 60s, crisp morning. I enjoyed my walk to the bus stop. The heaters on the bus were on full blast and, while I was originally excited to have claimed one of my three favorite seats on the bus, I quickly had to relinquish it because it was too close to the heater. Then I walked into my first morning class and the teacher, Pillar, stood in front of the be-sweatered first graders, wearing a long sleeve shirt, a sweater, and a jacket. Madness I say. Pure and simple.

Aside from that, my schedule at La Purisima has changed a bit. I now work with an English teacher for all my classes and actually am getting to be a lot more involved with the kids. I get 20 minutes of the class time to teach them and, so far, I have taught my first graders 'twinkle twinkle little star' and 'I'm a little Teapot.' They love it. My second graders recently went to see the Wizard of Oz so I have talked about it being the first color movie and we have learned a few of the songs. Also fun.
This past week I presented a Power Point I made about Alaska to several of the older classes and they all seemed to enjoy it and were fascinated by the dogs and the lifestyle.

I have recently begun to explore the world of 'podcasts' and delight in listening to a weekly array of political, international, musical, and historical information. And by 'delight' I mean 'frequently feel impelled to react strongly to.' I listen to Obama's 5 minute address to us each week as he keeps on complaining about what Bush has left him and making statements which give us very little indication as to what exactly he is intending to do to get us moving again; other than the promise to throw money at the problems. I am a simple mind that needs things laid our plain and clear, would it be too much to ask for a President to lay out a basic, bullet point version of his step by step plan to move us forward? A long term plan and a short term plan would really help our confidence. Or have I just missed it? I listen to a variety of reporters and news providers from around the world and from different perspectives as they talk themselves into a tizzy. I am somehow ever more awed at how confusing they are making this whole thing and am further resolved that a bigger government is not the answer to our problems.

Life lesson: things go wrong. This is the universe informing us we were going in the wrong direction. Responding to the situation by running around, exuding fatalism and panic while placing blame and throwing fits does not help in any way. Gay taught me that when I was 17.
It all seems pretty simple to me and I am going to lay it out here so that maybe you can help me understand where I am thinking wrong:

The number four comedy singing duo in New Zealand, Flight of the Concords, presented me with my starting point for this tirade. An American comedian is interviewing them about their rising careers. They are interviewing him back. He enthusiastically asks them "So, how big are you guys gonna make it?"
"Umm...probably, about medium. Yeah. Medium. Maybe medium large," they answer.
He laughs and informs them that, in America, we go BIG. Like, their ambition should be to take over the comedy world.
"No. no, thanks, We like medium."

We dream and scheme for that next step up. We don't just want the biggest house we can buy, we want the house that is bigger than we can buy. So we take out loans that are bigger than we can pay because a salesman with ulterior motives pours sweet dreams into our ears. We furnish these houses on credit cards that we don't even think about having to pay back because They promise us that we don't HAVE to worry about paying them back for a year at least.

It is the rapacious consumerism of the first world that has gotten us into this mess and now we seem to be under the preposterous presumption that we can buy ourselves out of it. It is like we think putting a different spin on the same faulty mentality is going to trick the system into working like it did before. America seems to intend to do this to the tune of 800 billion big ones. I really don't understand how printing more little green pieces of paper is going to help us when we are already so in debt to other countries anyway, but that is something for the economists to work out.
It seems pretty obvious to me that, just like with the laws of gravity, everything that goes up must come down. This is something that I am happy to see more and more people coming to terms with. I am just not sure why we have to think it is such a bad thing. So, okay, you had to move out of your dream house a few months ago and then lost your job last week. That feels terrible and frightening, no doubt. So, instead of huddling inside, waiting for someone to pass the magic law to restore you to your borrowed lifestyle, why don't you go into your back yard and plant a garden? Start growing your own vegetables, save yourself some money; be doing something. Trade some of your tomatoes for your neighbors peppers. No harm in that now is there? That was how Voltaire's Candide finally came to appreciate his life, maybe we can peel ourselves away from the boob tube and internet long enough to try it. Oh but no, I forget, the world's weather patterns are freaking out so the vegetables wouldn't even know how to grow. So, let's look at some other, big scale possibilities.
Obama wants us to go Green. Neat. That can't be a bad idea. Let's draw what we can from it. If he is going to pass laws to make us reduce emissions, let's get scientists in on developing technology. Something America has always been good at is kicking butt and getting to that cutting edge first, let's do it again. New methods will require new infrastructure. Okay, so there, now we have jobs for scientists, architects, builders, and anyone else who can find a niche in that sector. New products will require testing and new shops. Those are markets that will just have to shift. Easy enough. Yeah it will take time but let's get a little cliche and remind ourselves that Rome was not built in a day. To me at least this sounds a lot more practical than inventing highway construction work.
A big deal lately has been the auto industry. We have pushed our use of fossil fuel use to the max anyway. Also, if we get away from our oil dependence and we can leave the Middle East to tear itself apart in peace. The average American home has more than enough cars, I am pretty sure we could make it a year or two without needing too many new ones out on the market. Besides, with auto makers manipulating vehicles into the 'digital' plan, whereby they give themselves exclusive power to fix anything that is wrong, is a step which I do not mind seeing get cut short. Men who can fix their own cars are incredibly attractive and I will not have the industry rob me of that pleasure in life.
Develop new ways to power the factories. Design new cars. Minivans fueled by children's excess energy. Sports cars powered by ego. Whatever, get to it, the sky is the limit. I am willing to bet that Ford's assembly line idea will still be applicable and soon enough the Unions will have their platforms back and everyone can return to their old routines, just in an updated environment.

And, so, yeah. Those are some of the ideas that keep me lying awake at night. I have faith that we will eventually get around to moving everything into order but it really depends on how long we insist on looking around for the answers inside our own sphincter.

*Update: In a recent flurry of emails and phone calls I have been invited back to work on the glacier in Alaska and have accepted. This means I will be heading back to the states earlier than I had thought. I will probably be looking at a ticket back to KC around mid to late April and then back up to Alaska to start work May 1st. I am really excited. Like, really, really excited.