Follow me at Twitter.com/LeeCamp

Moonlight, a male American barn owl. Moonlight was bred in captivity
for educational purposes

by Talbot Eckweiler

Part three in a five-part series.

Ava, Moonwink, Bella, Starlight: they are but a few of characters cast in Eagle Dream. Ava is a hunter; Starlight is a dancer. Moonwink has trouble keeping his eyes open, and Bella hails from across the Mississippi river.

Each has a distinct personality, a personal history. Each is a raptor, a bird of prey.

Some are rescue cases; others were bred in captivity for falconry or educational purposes. Their keeper, Mark Baker, started his chapter of raptor rehab just last year, and already he’s rescued an estimated forty birds.

When Baker rescues a bird, he does his best to release back to nature as soon as possible. “Because I have so many birds, when I release them, I like to split them up so they’re not all released in one area. Sometimes, I go to the state park area,” Baker says. Full story »

by Talbot Eckweiler

Part two in a five-part series.

While driving North on I-90, I caught my first view of the city of Niagara Falls’ skyline. Tall spires of concrete, metal, and glass snaked toward the heavens: the miracle of man, evident in many a metropolis. To the right, in front of the city, squat patches of orange, yellow, red and green huddled together. My eyes may strayed from the road one more moment to watch a wide, rolling puff of hazy gray matter rise off the clustered trees and partially obscure the view of the city.

My first thought: “There’s some sort of forest fire! How am I going to get to the park?” However, there were no siren wails, no fire trucks rushing down the middle of the road. Nothing on the radio suggested there was anything wrong. Full story »

I’ve probably watched more NBA games this season than ever before, and those of you who have indulged my rantings in the past know I have … issues … with The League. Frankly, I wish they’d bring back Tim Donaghy so we can all stop pretending.

[Aherm]

Anyway, I am now more convinced than ever that I see a predictable, systematic pattern (of a non-objective nature) in how certain games are officiated, and I bet I could prove it. Here’s how the study would work. Full story »

Agree? Disagree? Let me know on Twitter @LeeCamp

Well, the 68 participants in the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament have been announced, and boy are people pissed. The selection committee is defending its choices, the most controversial of which seem to be the inclusion of Alabama-Birmingham and Virginia Commonwealth at the expense of teams like Colorado, Alabama, Virginia Tech. Given the way the Hokies lollygagged down the stretch I’m not sure I have much sympathy for their plight, but Buff and Tide fans can certainly make a case that they’ve been hosed. Full story »

On February 16, the New York Times ran an article on the “Shy U.S. Intellectual” who “Created Playbook Used in a Revolution.” Author Sheryl Gay Stolberg reported:

Few Americans have heard of [political scientist Gene] Sharp. But for decades, his practical writings on nonviolent revolution — most notably “From Dictatorship to Democracy,” a 93-page guide to toppling autocrats . . . have inspired dissidents around the world.

According to a recent BBC article

. . . Sharp provides in his books a list of 198 “non-violent weapons,” ranging from the use of colours and symbols to mock funerals and boycotts. Full story »

Dear Saif—

Hey, it turns out that we’re neighbors! Isn’t that great? Not really neighbors, exactly, like living down the street or something, but we do live in the same part of London. We’re in more of a low rent part of town, but still, it’s nice to know that we have the same taste in real estate. Which must be some comfort for you these days, considering the fact that many of your countrymen don’t appreciate your leadership qualities, or those of your father, for that matter. It’s hard to find a decent place to live in London these days, I have to admit, and to have all these other problems too—it makes me feel better knowing that you have this peaceful retreat to come to if, for whatever reason, you may feel the need to leave Libya. Although I have to say there are some issues for you to deal with here in London as well. First there’s the fact that the London School of Economics is now investigating whether you actually wrote your own dissertation. And then there’s that pesky little issue of the large donation to the LSE from your foundation. Of course, things at home look a bit complicated as well, and probably not helped by the support of the Arab League yesterday for a no-fly zone. And boy, what’s with France recognizing the rebels as the government of Libya? What’s that all about? You’ve got a lot on your plate there, Saif! Sometimes it seems like the whole world is against you, doesn’t it?
Full story »

I live on a hilltop on a once-paved rural road. In winter, the west wind races uphill through open fields, driving snow before it, stacking drifts that challenge passage into my driveway. I like winter’s fierceness. I teach late and arrive home from university after dark. I’m a few weeks post-op from foot surgery. I walk on that road at night, but not as far as I did before surgery. Baby steps, the doc says, baby steps.

I like walking best when the mercury coldly congeals and the wind lashes at me hard, driving the snow into me. I remember, as I walk, fragments of my life spent above tree line in New England, Colorado, the Northwest, the Sierras, British Columbia, and Alaska. I am meeker now, less foolhardy, more fearful of injury. I walk east on the road with hiking poles. Headlamp, reflective vest, and an LED blinker ward off the rare car or pickup speeding by to get from somewhere to somewhere else. But nothing insulates me from muscle memory.
Full story »

A few weeks ago I asked a question: is the Huffington Post a force for good or a liberal sweatshop? In the wake of HuffPo‘s megamillion-dollar sale to AOL, it struck me as appropriate to question the ethics behind an allegedly progressive business operating in a fashion that was indistinguishable from the greedmongering corporate entities it professed to oppose. I know a number of people who have written there (uncompensated, by and large) who feel that they benefited significantly from the arrangement, and I respect their perspectives.

Not everybody sees it that way, though. Full story »

The destructive impact of the Japanese quake and tsunami have effectively pushed the struggle in Libya off the front page and news cycle. The lack of action by the U.S. and its NATO allies to help these rebels has spelled the doom of their fight and will teach a lesson to young, idealistic people across the region. The lesson: don’t count on the western democracies for help despite all they spout about freedom and choice.

The people of the Middle East have long memories. This is a young generation that dared to hope and dream. I believe we will pay a high price tag in the decades ahead for our dithering.

Anne Marie Slaughter, a former Obama administration State Department official now at Princeton University, made a cogent argument for a “No Fly Zone” on PBS Newshour earlier this week.

Part 5 in a series.

In a piece about the American cult writer David Foster Wallace, who committed suicide on September 12, 2008, James Ryerson writes: Full story »

Sign carried by religious picketers during Mardi Gras 2011

Full story »

Text and photos by Talbot Eckweiler

Part one in a five-part series.

EDITOR’S NOTE: New York again faces a devastating state budget shortfall. Last year, when wrestling with an $8.2 billion budget shortfall, then-Governor David Paterson considered massive cuts to the state park system as one way to close the gap. The impact on the state’s conservation and preservation efforts would have been calamitous. As lawmakers again consider ways to shore up another catastrophically wobbly budget, a look at last year’s controversy can serve as an important reminder about the educational, recreational, and economic value of the park system. At a time when other states are also looking at severe budget crises, this can serve as a cautionary tale for others.

In the spring of 2010, my Facebook newsfeed showed several of my friends had joined a group called “Save New York State Parks.” I followed the link and learned that the New York State government drafted a proposal to shut down parts of the park system. In a press release on the Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation’s website (OPRHP), Governor Paterson explained shutting down the parks was a better alternative to cutting costs in education or healthcare, and that the changes to the parks would be good for the overall well-being of the state. Full story »

Wonderland
     - Club 1350, Long Beach, California

Tonight I want to go to hell, I want
to know there are Hearts more rock
than the granite in me. Down
Anaheim Street, the yellow dandelion street lights
spread more sparingly in the rear view,
the city reaches—like a garden
of hungry blossoms and weeds—to me. Full story »

This headline stopped me in my tracks: “The case for Book of Mormon socialism.” Wait a minute, I thought, that’s got to be a mistake. After all, Mitt Romney’s a Mormon and he’s opposed to socialism. Orrin Hatch, seriously conservative Mormon Senator, called health care reform the “Socialized Health Care for All Act of 2009.” Glenn Beck practically foams at the mouth when he says the word “socialism.” Utah legislator Charles Buttars lumped “social and political democracy” in with socialism.

But I was wrong–the headline was no mistake. Full story »