Hi there.

Star Spangled Banner

So I was taking the kids to the park today and the coolest thing happened. Do you ever just feel really great in a moment? Like everything is just cruising along as it should be. Well I was driving down to Southside Park and was listening to NPR and the kids were talking in the back seat, and on NPR came this news story which I have heard recently but was being recounted again. So this guy Tan Nguyen running for a congressional seat apparently sent out a letter telling 14,000 Hispanic immigrants that if they were illegal immigrants and voted in the next election they could be deported or even arrested. While this report is playing my daughter is belting out the Star Spangled Banner in full voice. I had to just smile at the innocence of my daughter exalting our freedom while we were listening to a man who was trying to squelch it. I love that girl.

A Great Environmental Tale

I just started taking a UC Davis class titled, "Sustainability and the Built Environment" which is a broad overview of the sustainable or green architecture, planning, and building movement. I have long held a passion for this work and am finally being given the chance to pursue it under the guise of "my career". I love it. Anyway the professor opened the class last night by reading us the Lorax, by Dr. Suess. It was strange enough to be going back to college after so long but I really felt like we were reverting back to kindergarten. The professor stood up front and held the book open while he read to us. They even had snacks, not milk and cookies, but close.

The story is great. It walks through the product development process for a Thneed. It is something everyone needs. You should read it. It is an enlightening look at what can happen when capitalism runs rampant. So we walked through the things we could have consulted the Once-ler on in providing a much more sustainable Thneed. For one the Truffula trees should have been sustainably farmed or possibly only had the leaves harvested rather than cutting the entire tree down. Secondly the Bar-ba-loots could have been employed in the production of the Thneeds rather than run off. The factory should have been located outside of the canopy of the Truffula trees to preserve the habitat.

Anyway Dr. Suess must have been a little ahead of his time. Our children may wonder why we didn't listen to the stories we read them.