Climate Change SOS: Are Americans Waking Up?
George Carlin once said, "the planet is fine, the people are f***ed." Well, it's the people I'm worried about. Long after people are gone, the planet will find its equilibrium once again, and all of...
View ArticleThe School That Broke My Heart (+SoCal Benefit Dinner)
The children at the school wore ragged clothes, and many lacked shoes. They had never seen a mzungu - a white person - before, so they were fascinated by me. They crowded around me, begging for me to...
View ArticleGiving Thanks, Giving Gifts, and Giving Back
I've been working on a book about U.S. foreign policy vis a vis world hunger, and that means I've had to travel around the world and meet a lot of desperately poor people living in abject poverty. When...
View ArticleTwo Words: Baby Goats (Ok, a third word: Pictures!)
Last year, San Diego legalized miniature goats and my friends got some. You can have two miniature goats - no more, no less. They cannot have horns, and any male must be neutered. The preferred dairy...
View ArticleDKos Tour Series: Joshua Tree National Park
This is actually a joint diary by yours truly and richholtzin, the geology genius who usually treats us to this fantastic series. I got in touch with him a few months back when I first planned a trip...
View ArticleGorgeous Farm Photo Diary
Two years ago, I visited a friend's farm in New Hampshire and I had a bit of a "Charlotte's Web" experience.This weekend, I had to be out east for a conference, and it provided an opportunity to head...
View ArticleA Beautiful Christmas Story
I just witnessed perhaps the most beautiful thing I've seen - if not in my life, then in a long time. It wasn't quite as cool as San Francisco's "Bat Kid" story, but for the people involved, it was...
View ArticleUPDATED: Coming to Terms with Myself as an Introvert
If you've met me and I told you I'm an introvert, you'd laugh. In fact, I've met me, and when my therapist told me I'm an introvert, I could have laughed. Me? An introvert? But I love to talk! (Too...
View ArticleNatural Beauty Photo Diary: Suicide Rock
I'm in the seventh year of an intense, torrid love affair with the state of California. Not with the government - I've got a few nasty things to say about that, in fact (repeal prop 13!). Nope, I'm in...
View ArticleBeautiful Wildflower Pics
I don't know if I've shared this here yet, but this is my last year (for a while) in San Diego. In August, I'm moving back to Madison, WI to attend grad school for sociology at UW. So that means that...
View ArticleA Photo Hike through Cuyamaca Rancho State Park
Good things from our government exhibit A: national and state parks. Yesterday, I visited Cuyamaca Rancho State Park in California. Gorgeous.The name Cuyamaca is taken from a Kumeyaay word meaning...
View ArticleCalifornia Nature Photo Diary
I've been taking photos around SoCal for several months (under Eddie C's tutelage), and I've got quite a few that are pretty nice, so I thought I'd share them. The one below is from a hike this...
View ArticleSuper Amazing Cute Critter Photodiary
Hello from Monterey, CA. I drove up the coast from San Diego, visiting fellow Kossack David Atkins on the way up here. And I've ended up seeing tons and tons of what can be called "charismatic...
View ArticleRedwood and Wildflower Photodiary
I'm just back from a trip up the coast to Monterey, and I took advantage of the opportunity to do a bit of hiking in Big Sur. About Big Sur, I must say: I now get what all the hype is about. Yes, it's...
View ArticleYosemite Photo Diary
I'm just back from my first trip to Yosemite, which occurred right after the park's 150th birthday. Thanks to permit issues, I did not see some of the more iconic parts of the park, and thanks to the...
View ArticleMy Cat Almost Died and She's Still Not Out of the Woods
My little girl Meg nearly died the other night. Her problem is one that shocked me, so I want to share with other cat lovers out there. You should know about this problem, and know to prevent it in...
View ArticleBook Review: No Land's Man
In the midst of all of the controversy over race coming from various police shootings of unarmed black men (and various grand juries' failures to indict any of them), I decided to read Aasif Mandvi's...
View ArticleCedwyn Update
Hi folks, I am writing this at Dulles Airport, and I've just come from Cedwyn's parents house, which is where she's staying. Her parents are wonderful and they are giving her the best possible care...
View ArticleThoughts on Cedwyn [UPDATED]
For those who haven't heard, MsSpent Youth got word this morning that Cedwyn's gone downhill overnight. We haven't had any word since then (that I am aware of) and I think everyone's decided to leave...
View Article[UPDATED] Life with a Strange, Invisable Disability
Today, I read a chapter on teaching students with disabilities for a class I'm taking in grad school. As someone with a disability myself, I decided to write up a few comments and send them to the...
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