loving art, science and creative kids
6/24/2023 10:37:51 AM
SHOCKED
I Don’t Understand You!
Though language is constantly evolving, I don't always like it. But to understand what young people are saying, I’m forced to stay up with the times. I'm not talking about slang. I'm talking about losing the good old common words I grew up with.
Adapting to change, whether language, fashion, or climate, creates problems in every generation. A cheater was originally an officer who looked after the king's escheats-the land that returned to the Crown when an owner died without heirs. Today, a cheater refers to a gamester, swindler, or unfaithful spouse. In the 1300s, naughty people had naught (nothing). They were needy and poor. It was in the 1400s that the meaning shifted to being morally wrong or wicked, indicating that the person was worth nothing. My grandmother used to ask if I fell off the roof when she wanted to know if I was menstruating. I didn’t understand her when she asked me that question. To her, cool was the temperature desired for a hot summer’s drink and had nothing to do with her having a risk-taking son you thought of as cool.
I wasn't happy when the homosexual community took over gay. I like that word. There was a time the word was used to express a sparkling sense of happiness and joy. Today it's only uttered when speaking of same-sex partners. I was concerned when the LGBTQ+ community repurposed the use of rainbow by putting it on their flag in 1994. I'm glad it's still acceptable to use rainbow when the ark of the color spectrum mystifies our sky.
The English language evolved slowly in the past, but in our generation, technology spurred a dash to change meanings. Canceled once meant to disregard or terminate, as in "I canceled my subscription." The word now refers to people who have lost popular support, especially for having done something racist, sexist, manipulative, or violent. Harvey Weinstein and Kevin Spacey are examples of people referred to as canceled.
As a writer, I find using pronouns such as they and them to describe non-binary people confusing. Who decided it was okay to use them to describe an individual when they have historically been used to describe a group? "They (the individual) stood out when they (the group) walked into the concert hall together." I wish someone with imagination would coin a new word.
In the 1960s, during the woman’s movement, safe space was used to imply physical distance from men and patriarchal thought. In the 2010s, safe spaces became places where individuals could express themselves without fear of being challenged because of sexual orientation, race/ethnicity, cultural background, age, or physical or mental ability. The University of Chicago told 2016's incoming first-year students that they don't "condone the creation of intellectual 'safe spaces' where individuals can retreat from thoughts and ideas at odds with their own.” Critics consider safe spaces on campuses a way of retreating from differing opinions.
I grew up with fairy tales about trolls under bridges waiting to pounce on unsuspecting travelers. Today's internet trolls start arguments or try to upset people online to sow discord. Trolls use inflammatory messaging for personal amusement or political gain. Trolls are now known to swarm websites to put an end to honest discussions and to outnumber those who disagree with them.
Woke became popular in the Black Lives Matter movement following the shooting of Trayvon Martin. Social media posts initially used #StayWoke regarding police brutality and racism. Though people still say, She woke me up, and I woke up coughing, the word has more facetious meanings. "I drank lots of coffee to stay woke.” For the left, Woke is a good word that describes someone politically savvy, especially regarding racism, sexism, and classism. On the right (and to some on the far left), it’s used negatively to describe ideas, viewpoints, and policy changes they believe would radically and negatively alter society. They see it as a power play that removes their rights, freedoms, and autonomy. Intellectuals see people who are not “work” as true critical thinkers.
I am an avid cloud watcher, especially when driving through high deserts or prairie lands that provide a more incredible view of the sky. I keep a chart in my car to identify the different types of clouds. These masses of condensed vapor suspended in the atmosphere tell me whether or not to carry an umbrella. To my grandchildren, growing up in cities, the cloud is a place on the internet for processing and storing documents and data. I doubt they go outside in the morning to see if rain clouds are on the horizon.
Yesterday, I picked up a pot by its handle, nearly spilling its contents because it was hot. Today's handle is my screen name, the moniker I use on the internet. I often follow people by subscribing to their updates on social media. Sometimes I give a bump to their post by adding a new comment to their thread. There was a time when I followed behind my husband when hiking. I was careful not to bump into him, fall, or rip my jeans since I didn't pack a needle and thread.
Many young people aren't concerned about word usage. Rather than text their thoughts, they rely on images that portray emotions. I happen to like written responses to my writings. They are fun to reply to and often the start of a stimulating discussion. More frequently, however, my inbox is filled with shortcut emojis that aren't intellectually challenging.
References:
Barrow, J (2019) 10 Words Transformed by the 2010s. ALTA Language Services. retrieved from https://www.altalang.com/beyond-words/10-words-transformed-by-the-2010s/
Law. W. (2022)English words That Have Completely Changed Meaning, Culture Try. Retrieved from
https://theculturetrip.com/europe/articles/10-english-words-that-have-completely-changed-meaning/
Dewey, C. (2015) 24 words that mean totally different things now than they did pre-Internet. Washington Post. retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-intersect/wp/2015/10/15/24-words-that-mean-totally-different-things-now-than-they-did-pre-internet/
Art is always for sale. SHOCKED is a mixed-media framed painting on canvas. It is 23" x 18" and available shipped to your home for $650. For questions, contact me at [email protected]I
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6/17/2023 11:12:05 AM
Grand Prize
Secret Lives of Plants
More than thirty years ago, Martin Eichinger was invited to meet Stevie Wonder at a preview showing of the documentary, "The Secret Life of Plants." Though an unusual gathering took place before the screening with women waiting outside his bedroom to be chosen as the evening's escorts, Marty found the movie illuminating. The film, based on a bestselling book by Peter Tompkins and Christopher Bird had a psychic documenting how plants communicate pain and joy. The plants were wired to oscilloscopes, electroencephalograms (EEGS), and other recordings to demonstrate Cosmic Consciousness and the mystical interconnectedness to life.
Marty reminded me of a segment showing plants connected to monitors reacting to a person in a monster mask chopping a plant to pieces. Other plants in the room responded to the brutality with silent screams. Several days later the masked monster returned again. The plants responded to its presence even though the monster acted in a passive manner this time. Was this science or fiction? Not sure, but the soundtrack by Stevie was a true Wonder.
Over the following decades, the science moved on. High-voltage imaging techniques show coronas around leaves that scientists call "a cold emission of electrons." Occultists say it's the "aura" some psychics see and use to detect illnesses.
Since becoming enamored of trees, I've read about how they communicate through chemical, hormonal, and slow-pulsing electrical signals that scientists are starting to decipher. To reach their enormous heights, Douglas Firs, for instance, depend on a complicated web of relationships and alliances known as the world wood web. It is a place where mother trees feed saplings with liquid sugar and warn neighboring trees when there is danger. When young foolhardy trees drink too much water, shed leaves when they shouldn't, or light chase, they die.
Peter Wohlleben, German forester and author grabbed public attention when he wrote of the inner life of trees. No longer do foresters think of them as disconnected loners competing for nutrients and sunlight. They are not simply wood-producing systems battling for the survival of the fittest. Instead, they are communal and share collective intelligence through an underground microscopic network of hairlike root tips joining fungal filaments. The network provides a lifeline for young saplings in shaded parts of forests lacking the sunlight necessary for photosynthesis.
Distress signals about drought and insect infestations are also sent through the network. I've witnessed how stressed trees that are vulnerable will increase the number of seeds they produce in cones or in flying wing-like pods. A year two later the tree is dead and needs to be removed.
Trees also communicate through the air using pheromones (chemicals outside the tree that carry information to the receiving tree) and scent signals. Wohlleben writes, "When elms and pines come under attack by leaf-eating caterpillars, they detect the caterpillar saliva, and release pheromones that attract parasitic wasps. The wasps lay their eggs inside the caterpillars, and the wasp larvae eat the caterpillars from the inside out. "Very unpleasant for the caterpillars. Very clever of the trees."
A grad student in British Columbia found that when bears eat salmon near trees, they leave their carcasses on the ground. The trees absorb salmon nitrogen they share with other trees through the network.
Plants, as well as trees, navigate life through the five senses of touch, sight, sound, smell, and taste. Many of the ideas presented by psychics thirty years ago are being legitimized by research. For example, to prevent damage, Mimosa leaves fold inwards when touched. Venus Flytraps snap shut when an unsuspecting insect touches a tiny hair on its leaf, setting off a chemical timer in the leaf that starts it digesting the prey. Botanists at the University of Missouri recorded the sound of caterpillars chewing on leaves. It produced defense chemicals in Arabidopsis that were similar to those released when the chewing was real. In Tel Aviv University Experiments, flowers increase the sugar content of their nectar when they hear recordings of a buzzing bee.
Plants "sniff" out neighbors to avoid rooting near toxic substances. These chemicals are detected through specialized receptors. And though trees don't see as we do, they can distinguish different forms of light, from ultraviolet to infrared. Sunflowers face the sun and track its movement to maximize the sunlight they receive for photosynthesis. The Boquiila Trifoliate plant in Chile and Argentina, changes leaf shape, size, color, and vein patterns, mimicking the plant on which it grows. Why it's able to mimic artificial plastic plants as well, is still unknown.
Overstimulated and stressed plants are calmed by anesthetics. They produce these compounds to lessen their injuries when wounded. Though the lives of plants are less hidden than before, there still is a lot to learn. A study by the Royal Horticultural Society showed that music and human vibrations from talking help plants grow faster. Yet it takes more than a chat to develop a green thumb. However, talking to your plants s a good way to get things off your chest. They won't interrupt or argue back when you're speaking.
Replanting the Garden Floating Free
Please share your experiences with plants on my blog site at www. eichingerfineart.com/blog
References:
First,E. (1973) The Secret Life of Plants. New York Times. retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/1973/12/30/archives/the-secret-life-of-plants-by-peter-tompkins-and-christopher-bird.html
Grant, R. (2018) Do Trees Talk to Each Other? Smithsonian. retrieved from TALK.
Nichols,B.(2023) Plants have Feelings Too. BBC Earth. retrieved from https://www.bbcearth.com/news/plants-have-feelings-too
Calino, S. (2023) The case for talking to your houseplants. The Washington Post. retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/home/2023/01/11/talking-to-plants-grow-thrive/
Art is always available. Grand Prize is an acrylic on canvas painting, framed, 24" by 28", available for $799.
Replanting the Garden is acrylic on canvas, framed, 20" x 16"/ available for $495
Floating free is 29" x 23" acrylic on canvas framed painting, available for $725
Contact [email protected] with questions.
6/10/2023 1:13:28 PM
Blue Basin- artists rendition.
"Let us go," was the rallying cry I heard during last week's trip to eastern Oregon with my eighteen-year-old grandson. "Though one hundred percent of rural voters may vote against a proposed change to the Constitution, I repeatedly heard, "our concerns are ignored by legislators and city folk who outvote us with their progressive blue-state laws." They complained about family values, faith, gun control, wolves decimating cattle herds, mask mandates, and self-reliance. Would they be better off joining conservative Idaho?
Though I listened to what was said, I don't see their views as good for the eighty-four percent of the population residing in cities. Yet they must be doing something right. The people I met were friendlier, more helpful, less angry, and less frantic than their urban counterparts. It would be a shame if they succeded from the state. Oregonians would be giving up a lot.
Pioneer wagon tracks remain visible near Baker City where settlers stopped after overcoming rough mountain passes, deep gorges, and fast-flowing rivers that often capsizde their belongings. These hearty sould faced mountain lions, black bears, coyotes, and rattlesnakes, and overcame illness, thirst, and an inadequate food supplyon their search for fertile fields. They didn't have time to dwell on the state's beauty. Traveling through a wilderness thick with mammoth trees and uncertain weather was not easy.
In Pendelton I listened to tales of speakeasies, brothels, underground stores, and hovels for the 2000 Chinese who helped build the railroad. An underground tour was a good introduction to a western frontier town and wondered how I would have responded to an invitation to a hanging.
Nestled at 4500 feet in the Wallawa Mountains is the city of Joseph, remining me of the Alps. To get there we passed ranches with grazing pastures that supported hundreds of cattle. Their cowboys would ride horses to town when hungry for a working mans breakfast. Mounds of pancakes, french toast, and omelets filled bellies and ranch talk was the norm. The chatter was lively as they downed cups of hot coffee.
Wilson Hunt directed John Astor's Overland party in the early 1800s and was deceived into thinking the Madd River (today called the Snake) would lead to the Columbia. Bare of edible game, and over 8,000 feet deep it places, the canyon is not a place to spend the winter. When his party separated, some men died of starvation and others were left behind while Hunt continued to search for a way out. The Madd River he canoed on didn't connect with the Columbia as he had hoped. But he finally found a way through the mountains that future wagon trains followed.
Our next stop was The John Day Fossil Beds in east-central Oregon. Among the most dramatic sites in the state, they are my favorite place to visit. Our journedtook us back fifty million years to a time when the oceanended at the present border of Idaho. The water receded when repeated volcanic eruptions spread ash and rock to build the mountains, clifts, and high desert lands seen today. The marshes that once supported a semi-tropical paradise for plants and animals left fossil traces in the rocks for visitors to explore. As the eruptions continued, the mountains grew taller, with the Cascades the last to be formed. The ten feet of annual rainfall that supported a jungle-like habitat, dimished to a drizzle. Entire species disappeared with their bones and leaves covered by ash. Today, the high desert (approximately 2,300 feet above seawater) receives between 10 and 16 inches of rain annually. The remnants of what once was is recorded in the rocks. Paleontologists have uncovered fossils of banana trees, palms, chestnut trees, and towering oaks disappeared. The remains of tortoises, crocodiles, tiny three-toed horses, camels, and rhinos are on display at the Clarno Paleo Center.
Three miles from the center is a hiking trail through the Blue Basinthat shows this journey through time. The creek that runs through, turns bright blue-green in the spring. Unfortunately, it was dry at the end of May when we were there.
Continuing east are the Painted Hills, a soothing place to meditate on creation and evolution.
To the north, we stoped in Fossil where budding paleontologists dig for treasure behind the high school. If you look carefully at the rock below,you will see if you can find the image of a two-inch leaf.
What would a trip out west be without a ghost town? Shaniko, once a thriving sheep herding area, succumbed to the marketplace when Lycra and other synthetics replaced wool. Imagine what it was like when the town was thriving with a train running through it. The owner of the historic Sheniko Hotel is fixing it up with plans to be in business again before fall. Thankfully, a cafe serving sandwhiches and ice cream already opened on the ground floor.
A short distance from Fossil you can walk through time at the base of basalt colonnades.
The drive over Mount Hood was the perfect way to end our journey. The afternoon was warm and sunny; the snowboarders by Timberline Lodge had packed it up for the day. But my grandson and I had a wonderful tiime sloshing through the snow and freezing our hands molding snowballs.
Oregon has it all, oceans, mountains, lush valleys, tall trees, and desert dunes. Approximately fifty-three percent of its 61 million acres is on federal land managed by BLM, the Forest Service, and Parks. State and local governments care for another three percent. Crater Lake, Mount Hood, and the John Day Fossil Beds are all National Parks.
By now you might understand why I don't want an inch of Oregon to go to Idaho. But what can be done when city and country folk don't agree on the way forward? Perhaps it's time to stop thinking that one size fits all and pass laws that give rural communities greater leeway to self-regulate. I might be willing to bend a little as long as there they have a willingness to acknowledge diversity, recognize that guns are a city problem that has to be solved, and preservation of the environmentis important to future generations. Pendleton sets an examplee of what could be. For years the city has acknowledged its support of the LGBTQ. They have a Proud Together Pride Parade that is complete with drag queens in full flamboyant attire. Way to go Eastern Oregon!
Please share your opinons below. Should we let sisty percent of the state succeed from the state?
Art is always for sale. For information about Blue Basin contact me at [email protected]
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