A Passion for Green

In June, I went with my sister to a dinner at the Peoria country club, which has a fantastic view of the Illinois river.  I was going to have “rivers” be my theme for 2009, but really, I’ve seen more caves than rivers this year.  Still, this one is a beauty.  I love it as much as I love the Mississippi River.

Have you ever thought about what makes a river?  The rain falls, what doesn’t soak into the ground may make its way into a little creek or stream and those get collected into rivers.  In the past few years, I’ve run into the term “multiple streams of income”, meaning instead of having one job, people have several ways of making money.  The theory is, it makes you much less vulnerable to changes and upheavals, it makes your river of economic sustenance stronger.

It seems I can’t help but get pulled into the raging healthcare debate these days.   As a social scientist, it’s just fascinating to try to figure out what is happening and where all the emotion is coming from.  I don’t have the answer, but I did realize today that “multiple streams” could be a good idea to consider in the healthcare debate too.  Maybe we’ve gotten too dependent on the one stream of “employer provided health insurance”.   I was reading about some fiercely independent citizens in Montana that didn’t want the government messing up healthcare, and yet, one of those same people was at a clinic for those unable to afford insurance, a clinic already supported by the government.

Whether we like it or not, no matter how independent we feel or want to be, we are part of a community.  We can’t just think about ourselves and we need to realize that one day we might find ourselves less independent than we want to be.  We need  multiple options for multiple situations in order to keep the whole society strong, just the way a river has multiple sources of water.   No man is an island any more.  The pioneer days of rugged individualism are just gone.

And now, you see why I don’t write about politics very often!  Please forgive, and enjoy some river pics!

The last two pics are of the veranda at the country club, including a single photographer’s “self portrait”!

I caucused at a local elementary school on Jan. 3. Before entering the school I tried to take some photos of the surrounding area. I live in a mixed area of very nice houses, starter homes and college student apartments. The one photo I didn’t get was of the trailer park where some local Hispanic men appear to live. That may have been significant, considering what happened later. As I entered the school, I was struck by what a neighborhood event the caucus was. The parking lot was full, but many people also walked to the school and even brought their children along to observe. Four years ago when I caucused here, the school was packed with around 300 people attending. 2008 brought around 480 eligible caucus voters and you could tell it was going to be a hot night as soon as you entered the door and saw the line of people waiting to register as first time participants.

Once everyone got into the gym it became clear that we wouldn’t all fit, at least for very long, and it would be impossible for anyone to move, and so the first surprise of the night was that all the Obama people were asked to move to the media center. Even though I was standing for Edwards, I was rather dismayed at the Obama people being singled out, but as they streamed out of the gym, it did become clear that they had more supporters than any one else. The second surprise – at the end of the first round, someone announced that Richardson only needed two more people in order to be viable..would anyone be willing to move to Richardson…and two people did! The horse trading continued and the Obama floor managers did come in and out to keep track of what was happening. As an Edwards supporter, I think I counted off as number 11 or 12 about four times until the final numbers settled down to the following: Obama 200 something, Edwards 102, Clinton 80 something and Richardson 80 something.

These aren’t the greatest pictures, and no, John Edwards wasn’t blowing raspberries at me, I think he must have been saying “THank you for coming out on this cold night!” Living in Iowa, one can get swept up with the caucus hoopla, especially this year. Four years ago I went to my first caucus and was just amazed. What a sociological/psychological event! So….on the eve of the new year of 2008, I went north to Mason City, Iowa to see the candidate I plan to caucus for, John Edwards.

Steven had his trusty new smart phone so we googled the Edwards headquarters for an address of the new year’s eve stop, used google maps to refine our approach and pulled into downtown Mason City just behind the Edwards bus. The headquarters was already full with people spilling out onto the sidewalk, even in the wind and the the single digit temperatures. Cars started blocking in behind us and it was clear I’d never get a parking space before Edwards made his appearance, so I hopped out and Steven baby sat the car.

I managed to get a few pictures through the storefront glass. At first I didn’t think I would see anything, but then I realized he was right by the front of the room, and like any good communicator, he was making eye contact ALL around the room, including straight in my direction. I fancy he even saw me through the glass and smiled, although my slow shutter speed missed that and captured only the “th” part of thank you!

Why Edwards, you ask? I’m not sure really. As a supporter of sustainable agriculture and sustainable lifestyles, I feel that corporate excess is one of the worst threats to our society, and John gets that. Or maybe, I just feel that someone who has lost a son and responded by having more children, or who has survived his wife’s cancer diagnosis and responded by including her in his run for the presidency, is the kind of person I could trust as president of the United States. Today, someone has to have a positive enough outlook to be able to foresee a better future, so I am going with the hard working optimist.