Yes, winter is now breathing down our backs, and it’s cold. Sort of like walking around with one’s neck exposed. I was told by the Tai Chi people that an exposed neck is a bad thing but was not given a reason why. They didn’t provide reasons for many things.

They came to Alaska and got their Alaskan experience, then left. I think that they had disagreements with one too many people. They treated me poorly, so I stopped attending their classes. Too bad, because their basecamp was close by.

Now it seems funny, but it was not at the time, how I was unable to learn the requisite Ti Chi moves. I think that it had to do with my lack of depth perception. The same thing happened when I took a Bones for Life class. Actually, it was a class in which, had I passed, I would have become certified Bones for Life instructor.

Post windstorm of 2022 detritus

It was costly, and I never completed the course because the teacher gave up on me. She did not refund my remaining fees. Some things in life you just have to let go of, and this was one of them for me.

The exposed neck is okay, but cold wind on the skin’s surface is supposedly a bad thing. For sure, it does not feel good.

The wind has been roaring the past few days, and it is looking like this will continue. I saw a box like object blown over at Buggee Park, when I went to put up Leap into Literacy signage, and upon closer examination noticed that the box was the park Port-a-Potty.

I noticed that a fellow coming from the other direction didn’t even take notice of this. Maybe he was focused on his cold neck. This got me to thinking that some people are not at all that curious about things. They are even less curious than previously – I blame cell phones. I see so many people, heads down, eyes to the screen, looking at their most recent message. This is no way to live. I am wondering, is it possible to go retro with technology, or is this an impossibility? Has this form of technology seized us by the neck and is shaking us to death?

And I wonder about the same with books in relation to Kindles.

Today I heard a talk on NPR’s Science Friday, about the use of metaphor in science. I was inwardly cheering about this because I agree with the premise, that the words we use to talk about things, for example, the term battle when talking about cancer, rather than cohabitation, shape the way we think about our conditions.

My ears also perked up when it was said that a woman has recently written an essay in which she talks about using the metaphor of quilting, to explain science.

The last line was, “Well, perhaps scientists should take a poetry class.” Hearing this I cheered out loud because this is the premise behind writing across the curriculum.

Next: 284. 10/19/24: Palmer Fire Station Storytime