Stormy Day Pictures: April 30, 2022

Looking west at Sunset Park, Geneva, IL around 7:30 AM

Looking east at Sunset Park, Geneva, IL around 7:30 AM

Captured part of a rainbow. Looking east from my house around 7:30 PM

Book Review: Leave It As It Is by David Gessner

Leave It As It Is: A Journey Through Theodore Roosevelt's American Wilderness by David Gessner
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is a great book. I found his interpretation of Teddy Roosevelt’s life inspiring. Roosevelt had many flaws: he loved killing things, his enthusiasm for American expansion and military adventures, and his attitude toward and treatment of Native Americans. But he also did quite a bit of good when it comes to conservation: he declared 230,000,000 acres of American land off-limits to industry and development.

TR was quite progressive, not only for his time, but he would be considered progressive now – which speaks to how little progress we have made. This section from the book is about TR’s platform in the 1912 election (which he lost):

“The progressive platform was stunning in its modernity: a social insurance system for the elderly, unemployed, and disabled; strict campaign finance restrictions; women’s suffrage; an eight-hour workday; a minimum wage for women; an inheritance tax; worker’s compensation for injuries in the workplace; and a vow to ‘destroy this invisible Government, to dissolve the unholy alliance between corrupt business and corrupt politics.’”

Gessner sees hope, though I am not sure it is warranted. It is refreshing to read.

“We are changing. The culture is changing. Or rather the cultures. It is my dream that, despite recent evidence and recent politics, we will change into something more creative, more open, more fluid; something larger, more magnanimous, more inclusive, and ultimately more exciting.”

I hope he’s right, but it will take quite a bit to change our culture of greed and our obsession with growth. We can’t legislate it – that won’t work. But I think we need to change our culture somehow before we destroy each other and all that we have created that is good.

View all my reviews

New Arrival in Our Tree: A Robin!

We have had doves nest in the river birch in front of our house for many years. This is the first time we've had a robin and while doves are nice, robins do add a splash of color!

Why Do I Do It?

Why do I feel compelled to express myself online? Why do any of us?

I recently posted that no one reads these posts and directed people to my Twitter feed. Now here I am, not even a month later writing yet another post. What I found was that Twitter bores me. It can get me riled up when one of my friends retweets something political, but that feeling goes away quickly and ultimately leaves me empty. Facebook? I like Facebook for pictures: birds, ships, trains, and the occasional graphic meme usually about libraries. 

I still feel the urge to put something on this platform. I'm not sure why, but I'm tired of examining my motives. I figure I've got 15 years left and I should do what I enjoy. If I haven't figured out the why by now - who cares?

Ship Pics

 The 1,014 foot long Paul R Tregurtha left Duluth. 

#greatlakesships pic.twitter.com/yMPpELHjbc

— Kevin Moriarity (@kevin_moriarity) April 3, 2022