tased and confused

Months before the event, before there is any indication of the scope or nature of protests at the Repbulican National Convention in St. Paul, the police are escalating the conflicts to come:

ST. PAUL -- St. Paul police are about to issue Tasers to all 370 officers on the force. Police say they are a safe way to stop a potential threat, but some people say Tasers are dangerous and sometimes deadly....

Shortly after the new shipment of Tasers arrives in St. Paul, the Republican National Convention will come to town, and with it, protestors who may or may not get violent.

Claims that tasers are safe, non-lethal options for crowd control are false. Between 2001 and 2004, more than 70 people were killed by Tasers. Since, studies have shown that the weapons are not as safe as the manufacturers claim, and long-term effects of tasing have not been well examined.

However more troubling than the lethality of the weapons is the decision to deploy them. Providing police with what they perceive to be a safe, simple option for controlling a non-compliant citizen and they are sure to use it. But don't we want violence by law enforcement — and to be clear, tasers are violent — to be the last resort and not the first?

Offering a supposed non-lethal weapon as an alternative to a gun makes some sense if tasers were used exclusively in situations where officers would otherwise be using a gun. But there are countless anecdotes of police using tasers to subdue subjects to don't comply with an officer but are not violent, examples like the now-famous "don't tase me bro" student.

In a loud, chaotic protest, where the line between passionate expression and dangerous activity may seem blurred, arming police with a more dangerous, deadly tool to control the crowd is ill-advised and could prove catastrophic.

an afternoon in the forest

The trees shoot skyward, thin and straight, seemingly defying physics to tower above. Their canopy darkens vast forest, making it intimate, private. Along the banks of the winding rivers the canopy clears, deepening the valley and offering smaller trees a change to tangle themselves into the moss and ferns and dirt.

The water winds its way through the forest, slowly until it finds a drop. Then cascading down it rushes into pools below, coating everything in a damp mist. Moss covers the nearby trees, their branches wrenched in crooked green tendrils.

Trails throughout lead us by several falls, each impressive. Some twist perilously close to a cliff's edge, others bend beneath a ceiling of rock and we stoop to pass.

At the end we brave ever increasing mist to stand underneath and behind the waterfall. The sound of a wall of water rushing by quiets everything, the air is warn and wet and my ears fill with an immense roar. It cascades from above in a torrent, trapping me within as it speeds perilously by.

60 hours in the Rose City

With a holiday weekend and a free plane ticket, it was again time for a trip across the country to Portland. It remains the my favorite U.S. city, green and , easy to navigate and to wrap my mind around. The city is close to nature of all kinds and full of culture and food and beer.

This trip, perhaps too brief given the hours of air travel necessary, was nonetheless satisfying. Spending time with Scot and Kelly is always terrific and they always entertain. The highlight of my trip was a visit to Silver Falls state park.

Winding paths took us behind waterfalls and through a lush green forest, trees glistening with damp moss. Recent storms had downed huge trees, roots ripped from the ground with alarming ease. While this closed a path, limiting our hike, it also reminded of the ongoing tumult in nature, forests constantly growing and dying, to grow again.

More pictures to come.

that time again

People ask me what I do in winter when there's no baseball. I'll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring.
-Rogers Hornsby

Winter’s end nears, and while not yet here, the three words "pitchers and catchers" signal its soon demise. And as those words promise baseball’s arrival, they also tell of longer days, warmer nights and another season to try again.

Hooray.

the buzzing of the lamb

My second week in Philadelphia I have settled in to a hotel with modest cooking equipment including a two-burner electric stove. Overambitious, I picked up some lamb tips from Trader Joes and returned to my room to make dinner.

Limitations of the provided cookware aside, I question the wisdom of providing cooking facilities in poorly ventilated hotel rooms. Within minutes of applying heat and lamb to the pan, the smoke overwhelmed the pathetic range hood. Realizing this, I tried hastily to abandon my plans, plunging the lamb and pan into the sink, but to no avail, as the smoke alarm began its horrible bleating above.

Hotel staff seemed accustomed to this, swiftly arriving at my room and disabling the siren. Happily the alarm for a little smoke in the room is separate from the evacuation alarm and the sprinklers and the only outcome was some mildly annoyed neighbors. Returning to my soggy lamb, I’ve decided braising to be the best form of cooking available to me, and indeed finished as such the lamb was more than palatable.

deployment haiku

Moments before flight:
A pause, thrust, and now off to:
Philadelphia.