MOUND

Strange Things

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 07 Feb 2026 11:00:00 +0000

From the Prospect Park series, oil on panel, 2010-2014

It was a Friday night, mid-summer, at Elise Gardella’s salon, Presenting at 17. In a room of eight or ten people, I had already been presenting for twenty minutes when there was a knock at the door. When Elise opened the door, I was surprised to see the late Kanishka Raja had been waiting. He entered the darkened room, shuffled around chairs and legs to an empty seat three or four feet from me. On the screen were paintings from my Prospect Park series, among many other images I showed that evening. At Presenting, the artist could speak about anything of interest—any tangential item an artist might think about at the perimeter of their practice. I took full advantage of that by discussing my writing, sharing related images, as well as my work.

Raja was impatient. Our relationship was already pretty thin and when we did find ourselves in the same company, there was occasional friction. Why had he come? On the surface, we shared little. I couldn’t recall speaking with him about my work or his. Yet there he was, on a Friday night in New York City. He could have been anywhere, but there he was, waiting for me to finish my monologue about landscape, nature, and culture. Finally, when the lights had been turned on, he was able to ask the one question he had interrupted his evening for—why are your paintings so strange?  

At first, I wondered if he could not articulate the reason for himself, but then I thought that maybe he just wanted me to say it, to confirm what he had already thought. I still do not know why he went out of his way that night. The whole episode seemed rather performative: the knock at the door mid-presentation, the entry, the interruption, the impatient sitting, and then one question. I don’t recall what my answer was for him that night and I wish I did, but I am not sure it matters much now.   

When I graduated from my graduate program, I emerged into a painting scene that had begun to be dominated by abstraction. At Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculpture, the summer just after graduation, I had heard from artists in the prime of their careers that abstraction in painting would be the only way forward. What no one had learned that summer, possibly because they never thought to ask, was how in love with abstraction I had been, since a teen looking at art in New York.

  In undergraduate school, I learned painting from old men who were brought up at the height of modernist abstraction. Because my early work, although abstract, had absorbed the structural elements of landscape, I was informed by them that I should never try to make a career with landscape paintings. After graduation, I discovered painting never spoken about in school, much of it representational. Through that, I became acutely aware that I had little observational drawing skill or even the motivation to learn. In what seemed a vast period of time—the four years between undergrad and grad school—I also realized that my painting was largely emotional labor.

So, at twenty-seven, I went to grad school to learn how to observe, to draw, and that led me to paint en plein air. This practice wasn’t what I had intended, nor was it a lark. It was an intuitive understanding of what was necessary to bring that earlier emotional labor under control. The space in which I had chosen to do this was intentional. While most go to school to learn under people they admire, I chose New Mexico for a different reason—the connection I had to the land (discovered several years earlier) and the sense that it had something to teach me. I trusted my intuition despite not knowing what would come of it. After twelve months of figure drawing, I was ready to paint in a wholly new way. 

Mountain No. 1, oil on panel, 2000

That work, plein air landscape of the mesas and hills around me, in the Chihuahua Desert, is the mature combination of my prior interests. These paintings landed me a spot among sixty-four at Skowhegan, but I struggled with how my work fit into the space of contemporary art. Yet there I was. What I understand now is that the jury, some of them faculty, saw something exceptional in the work, yet they had difficulty articulating what that was. Maybe they saw a story written in Latin—they recognized individual letters, maybe even the roots of words they did know, but had little idea how to translate it, let alone how it could move forward.

It wasn't as if I didn't know that landscape, certainly in the register of en plein air, was a dead language. Its death was the force that allowed me to reanimate it, to fill it up with abstraction and emotion, and speak through it. If all that was seen was another landscape painting, sadly that dismissal meant a refusal to see the engine behind the work, something I believe is more important than how work presents at a glance.

For the sake of story-telling brevity, I now must package influence, thought and experience into a small container—one that may be unpacked another time. With this in mind, I jump to 2009: after economic collapse, two years of writing about parks and gardens, a few years of painting that struggled to resolve, and a month as artist-in-residence at Weir Farm (a park). In that year, I began a new series. These paintings compressed the emotional labor of my pre-grad abstraction, photographic mediation, the observation of plein air painting, awkward color, and the familiar spaces of Prospect Park, Brooklyn. With this work, I bring the conversation back to Kanishka’s one question.

In what does this strangeness lie?

In part, it is restraint. In the context of my work, restraint is a form of controlled emotion. It is deliberate containment: a way to shape how the viewer encounters feeling. In the Prospect Park paintings, restraint turns emotion into a structural element, rather than outlet for narrative or expressiveness.

By stripping emotion of narrative, expression, or catharsis, it leaves it suspended and unmoored; it is experienced as pressure rather than message. Emotion applied this way is treated the way abstraction treats color or form, but it refuses translation. It is present and alive—enough to be felt, but not fully discharged. It is abstract painting, but what has been abstracted isn’t form, it's emotion.

From the Prospect Park series, oil on panel, 2010-2014

Another element of the strange in my work is emotional ambiguity bound to the familiar in the form of Prospect Park. These paintings look as though they should explain themselves. After all, the park is recognizable, legible, ordinary—and yet they don’t explain, they don't tell for what reason they came to be. We know the park is not wilderness, but neither is it fully social. It is space that is regulated, designed, and enclosed. It is part ecosystem, part social infrastructure, part recreation ground, so that the spaces the park creates carry the anxieties and tensions of its hybrid status. The condition of hybridity and ambiguity is made visible, so that viewers confront how even green space can feel alienating in contemporary urban life. 

The paintings become an intimate psychological chamber, whose spatial emptiness can be filled by the viewer’s own relationship to public landscape. These park spaces are not merely seen, they are felt. Yet they don’t tell you what to feel, they make you aware that you are feeling.

All of this is heightened by the imposed viewpoint resembling that of a person already present in the park. That positioning is intentional: it places the viewer inside the painted space without offering a stable point of orientation or narrative footing. The result is a sustained psychological unease: the viewer feels present, attentive, and quietly unsettled, caught between certainty and incomprehension, and aware of their own act of looking. The lingering tension is that of being inside the scene yet denied any understanding of it.

Now anchor that tension to a field of green. A long time ago, a professor told me never to make a green painting (or a landscape, for that matter). Despite this possibly sound advice, I chose to make these paintings almost entirely green, compounding the sense of strange. How? Green is a neutralizing color, which can be unsettling where excessive because it lacks the emotional cues of other colors. Green, then, can act as a kind of emotional camouflage.

From the Prospect Park series, oil on panel, 2010-2014

These paintings deliver so much green that they appear gentle and approachable, while quietly intensifying their sense of estrangement. Such little tonal or chromatic contrast prevents the eye from resting or easily exiting the space. Instead, the eye is held inside a field of color. Nature, typically encoded as green, becomes a container rather than a refuge. By letting green dominate, I accepted its flattening, deadening tendencies and turned them into psychological content.

The result of all these choices, are paintings that are too psychologically charged to be decorative, too restrained to be cathartic, too familiar to be comfortably strange, and too strange to be comfortably familiar. The eye moves, but meaning doesn’t settle. In response, viewers begin to test possibilities, linger, hesitate, and return. They negotiate the situation, eliciting mental activity in response to the painting’s emotional uncertainty. The act of looking becomes slow, recursive, and self-aware—more like thought than perception. When painting withholds thought, it forces the viewer to carry it instead.

My youthful love of abstraction and its emotional ambiguity had been funneled into the apparent realism of these paintings. A paradox: painting that looks like it should explain itself, but doesn’t. Viewers feel both drawn in and resistant when confronted by work delivered without spectacle or irony that promises legibility and then quietly breaks that promise. The work also won’t tell you what to feel, doesn’t resolve the discomfort, nor does it aestheticize confusion. It may be a burden—the quiet transfer of unresolved feeling from painting to viewer, but it begs another question: How much should a painting give and what is the viewer responsible for?

A little late Kanishka, but thank you for coming out on a summer night and asking your question. You showed up for my work, in your own way, when few other artists had.*

Kanishka Raja sleeping: from a small series of quick paintings of participants asleep, 2000

*John O'Connor, Mark Albright, Steve Locke, Ridley Howard, Elise Gardella, Carrie Mae Weems, Jenn Viola, Felix Esquivel, Amy Finkbeiner and, of course, Betsy Alwin are on the top of that list of artists who have showed up for my work. I am grateful.

Weimar and US

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 04 Feb 2026 11:00:00 +0000

Another Mound-prompted AI generated article, this time on the parallel between Weimar and the US. The similarities aren't startling, nor perfect, but I thought to ask the question after delving into the Theory of Unitary Executive and the Fuhrerprinzip (or any other dictatorial regime). Why use AI? I'm not an expert, have some hunches, and AI has been trained on many academic articles, so to put it bluntly—efficiency (at least in terms of my time, if not actual resources). BTW, Babylon Berlin was one of my favorite shows in the last decade. If you haven't watched it, try to find it. It was on Netflix for years, but no longer.

Political and Cultural Parallels Between the Weimar Republic and the United States, 2008–2026

Why Compare Weimar and the Contemporary United States

Comparisons between historical democracies under stress are often misused, either to sensationalize contemporary politics or to flatten distinct historical experiences into crude equivalences. This essay does neither. Instead, it undertakes a structural and contextual comparison between post–World War I Weimar Germany and the United States in the period stretching from the 2008 financial collapse through the end of the Biden administration and the electoral defeat of Vice President Kamala Harris.

The purpose is not to argue that the United States is “becoming Weimar Germany,” but to examine how economic shocks, political polarization, institutional erosion, propaganda, and legal mechanisms can interact in democratic systems under strain. Weimar Germany represents a historically well-documented case of democratic collapse through largely legal and procedural means. The United States, while far more institutionally resilient, exhibits analogous stressors that merit close examination.

Economic Shock, Inequality, and the Crisis of Democratic Legitimacy

The Weimar Republic was born amid profound economic and psychological trauma. Germany emerged from World War I defeated, territorially reduced, burdened by reparations under the Treaty of Versailles, and politically delegitimized in the eyes of large segments of its population. Hyperinflation in 1923 destroyed savings and middle-class security, while mass unemployment during the Great Depression further radicalized politics¹. These economic shocks did not merely cause hardship; they undermined faith in democratic governance itself, making extremist alternatives appear rational or necessary.

The United States experienced no equivalent defeat or reparations regime, but the 2008 global financial crisis functioned as a delegitimizing economic rupture. Millions lost homes, jobs, and savings, while major financial institutions were rescued by the federal government. The recovery that followed was uneven and geographically polarized, exacerbating inequality and resentment². Trust in political and financial elites eroded sharply, particularly among working- and middle-class Americans who perceived the system as rigged in favor of insiders.

As in Weimar, economic distress did not automatically produce authoritarianism. Rather, it created fertile conditions for political entrepreneurs to frame democracy as incompetent, corrupt, or captured by hostile elites.

Political Polarization and the Erosion of Institutional Norms

Weimar Germany was characterized by extreme political fragmentation. Coalition governments were unstable, parties were ideologically rigid, and parliamentary compromise increasingly failed. Over time, faith in democratic procedures declined, opening space for actors willing to undermine them from within³.

A critical mechanism in Weimar was the normalization of emergency governance. Article 48 of the Weimar Constitution allowed the president to rule by decree during crises. Initially intended as a safeguard, it became a routine tool, hollowing out parliamentary authority and accustoming the public to executive rule⁴.

In the United States, polarization intensified markedly after 2008. The Tea Party movement, the collapse of bipartisan norms, strategic obstruction in Congress, and the increasing use of procedural hardball (including judicial appointment strategies) weakened legislative capacity and legitimacy. While the U.S. Constitution lacks a direct analogue to Article 48, the expansion of executive power, especially through emergency declarations and unilateral administrative action, has become increasingly normalized⁵.

Political scientist Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt identify this pattern—norm erosion preceding formal rule changes—as a classic pathway of democratic backsliding⁶.

Populism, Nationalism, and the Construction of an “Enemy Within”

A defining feature of Weimar’s collapse was the success of populist narratives that framed democracy as a betrayal of the “real” nation. The Nazi Party portrayed Jews, communists, liberals, and democratic politicians as internal enemies responsible for Germany’s humiliation and decline⁷. These narratives did not operate outside the system; they were deployed through elections, mass rallies, and legal political participation.

From 2008 onward, U.S. politics saw the growing influence of populist rhetoric that framed immigrants, political elites, bureaucrats (“the deep state”), journalists, and opposing parties as existential threats to the nation. Donald Trump’s political rise relied heavily on such framing, culminating in claims that electoral defeat could only result from fraud. These claims were not merely rhetorical; they delegitimized democratic outcomes themselves, echoing a key dynamic of late Weimar politics⁸.

Populism, as Jan-Werner Müller argues, is uniquely dangerous to democracy because it asserts that only one faction represents the “true people,” rendering opposition inherently illegitimate⁹.

Media, Propaganda, and the Breakdown of Shared Reality

Weimar Germany was one of the first modern mass-media democracies. Newspapers, radio, posters, and film were powerful tools for political mobilization. The Nazi Party mastered emotional propaganda, spectacle, and repetition to bypass rational debate and foster identity-based loyalty¹⁰.

The United States in the post-2008 period experienced a parallel, though technologically distinct, transformation. Social media platforms, partisan cable news, and algorithmic amplification fractured the information environment. Studies show that misinformation and ideologically segregated media ecosystems intensified polarization and undermined trust in institutions¹¹.

In both cases, propaganda did not merely persuade—it reshaped how citizens understood reality, weakening democratic deliberation and enabling more extreme political strategies.

Legalism and the Incremental Path to Authoritarian Power

Perhaps the most important—and often misunderstood—parallel lies in legal continuity. Adolf Hitler did not seize power through an outright coup. He was appointed chancellor through constitutional means and initially governed within existing legal frameworks. Only after consolidating authority did he dismantle democratic institutions¹².

Legal scholar Kim Lane Scheppele describes this process as “autocratic legalism”: the use of law to hollow out democracy while maintaining a façade of legality¹³.

In the United States, doctrines such as the unitary executive theory, aggressive use of executive orders, strategic judicial appointments, and selective enforcement of constitutional norms illustrate how legal mechanisms can be leveraged to centralize power without formally abandoning constitutionalism. Bruce Ackerman and others have long warned that democratic decay in the U.S. would likely occur not through revolution, but through gradual institutional deformation¹⁴.

Cultural Conflict and the Rejection of Democratic Pluralism

Weimar Germany was culturally vibrant but deeply divided. Modernist art, sexual liberalism, and intellectual experimentation flourished in cities, while conservative and rural populations experienced these changes as moral collapse. Cultural backlash fueled authoritarian nostalgia¹⁵.

Similarly, the United States from 2008 to 2026 experienced intense cultural conflict over race, gender, immigration, education, and national identity. Universities, journalists, and scientists increasingly became targets of political distrust. As in Weimar, cultural pluralism itself became framed as a threat to national cohesion.

Key Differences and Limits of the Analogy

Important distinctions must be emphasized. The United States did not suffer military defeat, territorial loss, or hyperinflation. Its constitutional system is older, more deeply entrenched, and supported by a robust civil society. Political violence, while present, has not approached Weimar-era paramilitarism.

These differences matter. They suggest not inevitability, but contingency. History offers warnings, not prophecies.

What the Weimar Comparison Clarifies

The Weimar Republic demonstrates that democracies often collapse not through sudden overthrow, but through accumulated strain, normalized emergency measures, legal manipulation, propaganda, and declining institutional trust.

The United States between 2008 and 2026 exhibits structural parallels: economic shocks that erode legitimacy, polarization that weakens norms, populist narratives that delegitimize opposition, media systems that fracture reality, and legal doctrines that enable executive consolidation.

The lesson of Weimar is not that democracy inevitably fails under pressure, but that democratic survival depends on vigilance, institutional restraint, and public commitment to pluralism. Authoritarianism does not require jackboots or coups. It often arrives through laws, courts, elections—and fear.

Endnotes

Adam Tooze, The Wages of Destruction (Viking, 2006).
Mark Blyth, Austerity (Oxford University Press, 2013).
Eric Weitz, Weimar Germany: Promise and Tragedy (Princeton, 2007).
Clinton Rossiter, Constitutional Dictatorship (Princeton, 1948).
Brennan Center for Justice, “Presidential Emergency Powers.”
Steven Levitsky & Daniel Ziblatt, How Democracies Die (Crown, 2018).
Ian Kershaw, Hitler: Hubris (W.W. Norton, 1998).
U.S. House Select Committee on January 6th Final Report.
Jan-Werner Müller, What Is Populism? (UPenn Press, 2016).
George Mosse, The Nationalization of the Masses (Cornell, 1975).
Yochai Benkler et al., Network Propaganda (Oxford, 2018).
U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, “The Nazi Rise to Power.”
Kim Lane Scheppele, “Autocratic Legalism,” U. Chicago Law Review (2018).
Bruce Ackerman, The Decline and Fall of the American Republic (Harvard, 2010).

15. Timothy Snyder, On Tyranny (Tim Duggan Books, 2017).

Methodological Preface: On Historical Comparison and False Equivalence

Historical comparison is an analytical method, not a claim of identity. This essay does not argue that the contemporary United States is equivalent to the Weimar Republic, nor does it suggest an inevitable trajectory toward authoritarian collapse. Rather, it employs structural comparison to examine how democracies respond to sustained stress and how institutional safeguards can erode through legal and political processes.¹

The Weimar Republic is used not as a rhetorical warning but as a historically documented case of democratic decline occurring largely within constitutional forms. The comparison focuses on process rather than outcome: how economic shocks, political polarization, executive expansion, propaganda, and declining institutional trust can interact in distinct contexts.

Key differences are explicitly acknowledged. Weimar Germany emerged from military defeat, territorial loss, and reparations; the United States experienced economic crisis, pandemic, and political polarization without national collapse or foreign occupation. These distinctions matter and argue against deterministic conclusions.

The analysis further distinguishes between capacity and trajectory. The United States retains stronger constitutional durability, an independent judiciary, and a robust civil society. The concern raised here is not inevitability but vulnerability—particularly where legal mechanisms enable the concentration of power without abandoning democratic form.

Finally, this comparison is preventive rather than predictive. Historical analogies are most useful when they illuminate early warning signs and institutional pressure points. As history demonstrates, democratic erosion more often proceeds incrementally, legally, and with public acquiescence than through sudden rupture. Recognizing these patterns is a prerequisite for democratic resilience, not an exercise in alarmism.²

Methodological References

Theda Skocpol, States and Social Revolutions (Cambridge University Press, 1979).
Kim Lane Scheppele, “Autocratic Legalism,” University of Chicago Law Review (2018).

All Heil the Chief

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 31 Jan 2026 11:00:00 +0000

A few months ago I asked AI to compare the often pushed Conservative "theory" of the unitary executive with Fuhrerprinzip, which is basically the doctrine of a singular power in govt in Nazi Germany. Why? It struck me one day that I had been hearing about this theory for years from various news outlets, more so since the Supreme Court had become conservative majority. Presidents always sought more authority, but what happens when the belief that power should be invested in a singular "executive" and those forces change norms, destabilize bureaucracy, gain the advantage in the Supreme Court and have a completely compliant Congress? Read on...

How the Unitary Executive Has Reshaped American Power and Tested Democracy

Origins and Doctrine: Unitary Executive Theory

The unitary executive theory (UET) holds that the U.S. Constitution vests all executive power exclusively in the president, meaning that the president should exercise comprehensive control over the entire executive branch, including regulatory agencies and enforcement functions. This interpretation originates from Article II and legal decisions such as Myers v. United States, which affirmed the president’s authority to remove executive officials without Senate approval and emphasized presidential supervision over the executive branch.¹

In theory, UET is a constitutional doctrine debated among scholars and jurists. In practice, however, when embraced by a political leadership committed to maximizing executive power, it becomes a practical blueprint for centralizing authority — particularly when institutional resistance is weak or norms are eroded.

Historical Preconditions: Setting the Stage for Power Consolidation

Before 2025, multiple developments weakened democratic safeguards and laid groundwork for executive consolidation:

Blocking Merrick Garland (2016). Senate Republicans refused to hold hearings or a vote on President Obama’s Supreme Court nominee, Merrick Garland, in a calculated procedural move. This ensured a more conservative judicial majority later, shifting the Supreme Court’s ideological balance and affecting future checks on executive authority.

January 6, 2021. The attack on the U.S. Capitol by supporters of then-President Donald Trump — driven by claims that the 2020 election was “stolen” — exposed vulnerabilities in democratic norms and demonstrated how narratives of illegitimacy could mobilize political violence and pressure institutions to reconsider electoral outcomes.²

Electoral denialism. Post‑2020, repeated claims of widespread election fraud, including false assertions of systemic voter fraud and racketeering, eroded public confidence in elections and normalized distrust toward democratic processes. These narratives set important social precedents for future institutional conflicts.

The Second Trump Presidency: Unitary Executive in Practice (2025–2026)

Immediate Executive Actions and Agency Control

Executive Orders reshaping governance. Beginning with his second inauguration, President Trump issued a series of executive orders aimed at consolidating control over the federal bureaucracy and limiting independent authority:

Initial orders rescinded policies and shifted agency priorities, signaling an aggressive reshaping of administrative governance.³
A February 18, 2025 order (per White House fact sheets) required all federal agencies, including previously independent commissions, to submit regulatory actions for White House review and consultation, dramatically expanding presidential oversight.⁴
Critics described this and related orders as effectively eliminating the independence of regulatory bodies, bringing them under direct presidential supervision and interpretation of the law.⁵

These actions, in essence, operationalized UET by subordinating so‑called independent agencies to direct executive control, diminishing one of the last bureaucratic checks on presidential authority.

Electoral Interventions and Legal Resistance

Election administration overhaul attempts. On March 25, 2025, the Trump administration issued an executive order seeking proof‑of‑citizenship requirements for federal voter registration, federal oversight of state election systems, and conditional funding for non‑compliant states. Legal experts argued this order exceeded presidential authority, intruding into election rules constitutionally reserved for Congress and the states.⁶

Federal courts permanently blocked key provisions of this order, finding that the president lacked authority to unilaterally alter election procedures and affirming that those powers belong to legislative and state authorities.⁷ This legal resistance underscores that constitutional constraints still operate even amid executive overreach.

Nevertheless, the attempt reflects a strategic exploitation of executive powers to influence electoral processes, particularly voter eligibility and data control — mechanisms with potential long‑term impact on turnout and representation.

Federal Enforcement and Selective Application of Constitutional Rights

Federal law enforcement actions. In early 2026, a series of controversial incidents involving U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and other Department of Homeland Security (DHS) agents drew national scrutiny. According to reporting, federal officials publicly justified at least 16 shootings involving DHS personnel before investigations were completed, with several incidents resulting in civilian deaths and injuries, including U.S. citizens.⁸

In Minneapolis, two fatal shootings — of ICU nurse Alex Pretti and Renee Good — occurred under controversial circumstances and sparked widespread protests and demands for accountability.⁹¹⁰¹¹ The administration’s characterization of these incidents, followed by reassignment of leadership and promises of investigations, reflects selective narrative control and law enforcement deployment with minimal disciplinary consequences.

These enforcement actions highlight how executive power can be exercised with limited transparency or judicial constraint, especially when empowered by broad discretionary authority over federal agencies.

Narrative Control, Propaganda, and Intimidation

Propaganda and delegitimization. Political rhetoric during this period has repeatedly framed opposing political actors, protesters, and critics as threats to national stability. Language describing elections as “fake,” “rigged,” or “corrupt” reinforces narratives that democratic institutions themselves are suspect if outcomes don’t align with the executive’s agenda. Such messaging erodes trust and sets a foundation for legitimizing extraordinary measures.

Intimidation through investigations and funding threats. Subpoenas and legal actions against state and local officials who oppose federal policies, combined with threats to withhold funding, illustrate how legal tools can function as intimidation mechanisms. These produce chilling effects on bureaucrats, universities, law firms, and political actors, effectively discouraging institutional resistance.

Public fear and elite influence. Major business and tech leaders, including high-profile executives, publicly condemned federal enforcement tactics such as the Minneapolis shootings, signaling elite pushback against fear-based governance.¹² However, the existence of both corporate opposition and pro‑administration commentary illustrates how propaganda and narrative influence are contested arenas shaping public perception.

Mass Protest and Civic Response

Despite executive consolidation efforts, significant civic resistance has emerged. The “No Kings” protests in mid‑2025 drew millions of participants nationwide, uniting diverse groups in defending constitutional rights and opposing what organizers described as authoritarian tendencies.¹³

Similarly, the 2026 Minnesota general strike — triggered by federal enforcement actions and labor organizing — showcased how localized resistance can connect to broader political and civil rights concerns.¹⁴

These civic movements illustrate that public readiness to contest perceived overreach remains a powerful counterweight to institutional consolidation.

Mechanisms of Consolidation and Erosion

The events described reveal several recurring mechanisms that together facilitate institutional capture and democratic erosion:

Judicial alignment: Conservative judges, installed through prior political maneuvers, often defer to broad executive interpretations, weakening judicial checks.
Legislative acquiescence: Rather than serving as an independent constraint, Congress frequently aligns with executive preferences or fails to assert oversight effectively.
Bureaucratic control: Political appointees replace career professionals, reducing independent enforcement of statutory and regulatory norms.
Electoral manipulation: Structural changes to voting rules and administrative attempts to shape election procedures impact political competition and civic participation.
Propaganda and intimidation: Narrative framing and legal pressure create social conditions that discourage dissent and normalize executive dominance.

Collectively, these mechanisms demonstrate how legal doctrine, political strategy, and social psychology converge to concentrate power within the executive — a process that can be gradual but transformative.

Parallels to the Führerprinzip and Authoritarian Outcomes

Although the United States has not adopted full authoritarian rule, the convergence of centralized executive power, narrative control, and institutional compliance exhibits functional parallels to the Führerprinzip. In Nazi Germany, the leader exploited legal mechanisms, crises, and popular narratives to consolidate authority within existing structures. In the contemporary U.S. context, the unitary executive doctrine, aggressive executive actions, and propaganda campaigns show how authoritarian dynamics can occur within a constitutional framework.

Unlike overt dictatorship, this model relies on a blend of legality, narrative manipulation, and strategic intimidation rather than force. Fear, reprisal, and delegitimization — rather than tanks or uniforms — become tools of power consolidation.

Conclusion: Threats to Democratic Governance

The timeline mapped here illustrates that the erosion of democratic norms can be incremental, legal, and highly strategic. While formal constitutional checks remain in place, their effectiveness is diminished when norms are disregarded or selectively applied, when institutional authority is weakened, and when public trust is undermined.

Innovations in governance, such as executive overreach into electoral administration, selective enforcement of constitutional protections, and intimidation of opposing actors, create a cumulative effect that significantly shifts the balance of power. The result is a system where executive dominance becomes normalized rather than exceptional, raising profound questions about the future of democratic governance in the United States.

In such a context, civic engagement, judicial independence, legislative vigilance, and public scrutiny become essential defenses of democratic norms.

Endnotes

Unitary executive theory. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unitary_executive_theory?utm_source=chatgpt.com
Online Emotions During the Storming of the U.S. Capitol. arXiv.org. https://arxiv.org/abs/2204.04245
White House Fact Sheet, “President Donald J. Trump Reins in Independent Agencies.” https://www.whitehouse.gov/fact-sheets/2025/02/fact-sheet-president-donald-j-trump-reins-in-independent-agencies-to-restore-a-government-that-answers-to-the-american-people/
Ibid.
Critics warn that executive orders centralizing agency authority undermine regulatory independence. American Bar Association, “Trump’s Executive Orders on Federal Agencies Threaten Independence,” 2025. https://www.americanbar.org/news/abanews/aba-news-archives/2025/02/trump-executive-orders-threaten-agency-independence/
The President’s Executive Order on Elections Explained. Brennan Center for Justice. https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/presidents-executive-order-elections-explained
Ibid.
“Trump aides declared 16 DHS shootings since July justified before probes completed.” The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/2026/01/27/ice-border-patrol-shootings-immigration-trump/?utm_source=chatgpt.com
“Biden condemns ‘our own government targeting’ US citizens in Minneapolis.” The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jan/27/biden-minnesota-minneapolis-ice-shooting-reaction?utm_source=chatgpt.com
“Minneapolis shooting: Tim Walz calls ICE tactics ‘illegal’.” The Times. https://www.thetimes.com/us/american-politics/article/ice-shooting-minneapolis-latest-updates-alex-pretti-862sqt8mq?utm_source=chatgpt.com
“US court allows ICE to arrest and pepper‑spray peaceful protesters in Minnesota.” The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jan/21/ice-arrest-pepper-spray-protesters-minnesota?utm_source=chatgpt.com
“Business and tech leaders react to Minneapolis ICE shooting.” Business Insider. https://www.businessinsider.com/ice-shooting-minneapolis-alex-pretti-business-tech-leaders-react-2026-1?utm_source=chatgpt.com
“October 2025 No Kings protests.” Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/October_2025_No_Kings_protests?utm_source=chatgpt.com
“2026 Minnesota general strike.” Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_Minnesota_general_strike?utm_source=chatgpt.com

Artificial Intelligence and the Coming Authoritarianism

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 28 Jan 2026 02:33:00 +0000

In 2025, in a dialogue with Chat GPT 3, I asked it to compare the Theory of the Unitary Executive with the Fuhrerprinzip, the Germany ideology of the absolute leader that was in place in Nazi Germany. Because GPT 3 training stopped in October of 2023, I had to inform it of changes that had taken place. The conversation is below:

ChatGPT said:

In the long term, democratic backsliding is often slow, subtle, and difficult to reverse. If left unchecked, it can lead to a situation where citizens wake up to find their democratic institutions significantly weakened, as the phrase you mentioned suggests. Vigilance and active participation in defending democratic norms remain essential for preserving American democracy.

I said:

It has only gotten worse after 2024

ChatGPT said:
It sounds like you’re observing an alarming trend that may be deepening in recent years. While I don’t have access to real-time data or events after October 2023, I can understand your concern that the erosion of democratic norms may have continued to worsen in the wake of the 2024 election and the subsequent political landscape.

Many of the historical dynamics we've discussed—like the undermining of the judiciary, consolidation of executive power, and increasing political violence—can snowball over time if they’re not checked. If the 2024 election (and its aftermath) continued to see trends like election denialism, attempts to invalidate legitimate results, or even political violence becoming normalized, that would signal a significant backslide in democratic governance.
It would be reasonable to expect that polarization and undermined electoral integrity have continued to grow. For example:Increased challenges to voting rights or new voter suppression laws aimed at limiting access to the polls.

More executive overreach in the form of executive orders, where laws are bypassed.
Judicial independence further compromised, with partisan battles over judicial nominations continuing.
The public trust in elections might be at a historic low, especially if post-election challenges, claims of fraud, or violence persist.

If we were to assess this in light of Führerprinzip (the consolidation of power into a single leader, bypassing democratic institutions), the continuing normalization of authoritarian tactics would make it increasingly difficult to reverse course without significant institutional resistance.
Given these developments, there’s always the possibility that the checks and balances—which are supposed to act as guardrails—become further hollowed out through either political apathy or partisan control.

Would you say the erosion is happening more rapidly now? Or do you think that what we’re seeing is a gradual deepening of trends that have been building for decades?

I said:
It is both. I know you can’t check, but Trump is president again and he moved fast after taking office.

ChatGPT said:
It sounds like you’re describing a rapid consolidation of power under a Trump presidency in 2025, if he’s indeed in office again. If that’s the case, there’s a possibility that we’re seeing accelerated shifts in the way democratic norms are being eroded, especially if executive power is being concentrated with less regard for institutional checks.

The Speed of Change
When a leader with a populist, authoritarian-leaning agenda, like Trump, gains power again after a contentious election, there’s the potential for swift moves to weaken institutional constraints, particularly when the public is divided or disengaged. Fast action often comes when a leader has political momentum, or when they're attempting to consolidate authority before opposition can mount a serious challenge.

Executive overreach becomes more pronounced, and executive orders may be used not only to bypass the legislative process but also to push through controversial policies without significant debate.
Judicial appointments could be accelerated, tilting the courts further in favor of the administration's agenda, as we saw with Trump's three Supreme Court nominees in his first term.
Attacks on institutions, especially those perceived as checks on executive power, can become a primary strategy to solidify control. This includes targeting the media, courts, and even Congress when they stand in the way of his agenda.

Potential Shifts in 2025:
If Trump’s presidency in 2025 is marked by rapid moves toward centralization of power, some indicators of authoritarian trends would include:
1. Dismantling of the Bureaucracy:

If the civil service or bureaucratic institutions—often seen as nonpartisan—are being purged or sidelined to make room for loyalists, this could signal a weakening of checks on the executive. We’ve seen this trend before, and it’s dangerous because nonpartisan agencies are what protect the long-term stability of institutions. Once they are politicized, it becomes easier to push forward policies without the usual oversight.

2. Continued Undermining of Electoral Integrity:

If post-2024, Trump continues to push baseless claims of election fraud or attempts to overturn legitimate results, it could delegitimize the democratic process itself. Any attempts to alter election law to favor one side, or even stacking the courts to support a partisan view of electoral fairness, would raise alarm bells about the integrity of the system.

3. Authoritarian Rhetoric and Actions:

The use of national security concerns, like border security or the “war on terror,” as justifications for sweeping executive actions can be a clear path toward centralization. If Trump moves quickly to expand surveillance, limit protest rights, or even repress political opposition, this would be a stark sign of autocratic tendencies.

4. Judicial and Legislative Subversion:

With a hostile judiciary or a pliant Congress, Trump could have greater freedom to implement drastic changes without worrying about legislative pushback. This could involve packing the courts with loyal judges, signing sweeping executive orders, or bypassing Congress altogether on major decisions.

5. Normalization of Political Violence:

The normalization or tolerance of political violence, especially from groups loyal to the administration, could be another sign that the U.S. is headed down a dangerous path. If such violence is not condemned or even encouraged, it sets a precedent for civil unrest and the use of force to maintain power.

Is There a Risk of a Shift Toward Unchecked Power?
If Trump moved quickly in 2025 to centralize power, there are real concerns that we would see a drift away from democratic norms toward a more authoritarian system of governance. There would be a significant reduction in institutional checks and balances if Congress and the courts either refuse to challenge executive power or are unable to do so. With a divided or fractured political system, there’s always the risk that public disengagement could make it easier for an authoritarian leader to consolidate power.

The historical parallels to the Reichstag Fire and other moments when authoritarian figures gained power in moments of national crisis are striking. In those cases, political crises were used as pretexts to push through emergency powers, suspend civil liberties, and ultimately establish a dictatorial regime. If Trump’s actions are positioned as emergency measures in response to real or manufactured crises (e.g., political violence, economic instability, or national security concerns), this would be a significant red flag.

Vigilance and Resistance
In this situation, vigilance is essential. Civil society, political opposition, and media must continue to function as checks on power, but this requires an engaged electorate and a willingness to challenge authoritarian actions.

The dangerous feedback loop of polarization and subverting democratic processes means that democracy can be undermined from within if institutional safeguards (such as the media, courts, and elections) fail to function properly. As you said, Trump has moved quickly—and if this trend continues, democracy in America could face its most significant challenges yet.

It’s a chilling thought, but if you feel that this process is already underway, it’s important for people to remain informed, active, and resilient to safeguard democratic principles. The erosion of democratic norms cannot be underestimated, and we may be witnessing another chapter in a long historical struggle to protect freedoms from authoritarian impulses.

Now, we have AI in the form of ChatGPT5 which has been trained until August 2025 and has access to web articles to improve understanding. I will post that soon. Thanks for reading.

Robots Like Me

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 04 Dec 2025 16:19:00 +0000

I asked ChatGPT what my artwork was about and it wrote a poem...

🌿 Land, Like a Quilt — a poetic metaphor for the artist's sensibility

The land is a quilt sewn from what remains.
Scraps of meadow, a corner of yard, a forgotten ditch,
a seam of woods stitched to a field of light.

Every fragment remembers something—
a childhood fort made from weeds,
the soft press of footprints in thawing soil,
the bright flags of a scientist marking
what the earth already knows.

These pieces do not match.
Plastic veil against prairie grass,
shadow stitched to sunlight,
human longing tacked to the slow patience of trees.
Yet together they hold.

Beneath each surface lies another:
root under soil,
memory under grief,
uncertainty under the beauty of a morning haze.
Layer folded over layer,
held in place by threads of care and time.

To walk the land is to pass a hand
over a quilt that never stops changing—
a patch added, another worn thin,
colors fading, textures gathering themselves
into a story too large to tell at once.

In his looking, the land is mended,
not into perfection,
but into recognition:
that we live inside a fabric made of wildness and work,
loss and leaf,
the ordinary and the sacred—
and that every piece belongs
to the same trembling whole.

Careers for the Seaworthy

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 20 Nov 2025 11:00:00 +0000

An early study, circa 1995, for a larger copy, made later, of A. P. Ryder's 1896 painting "Constance"

A career is an oar-less boat floated upon the oceans. Was it the excitement of launch or sheer ignorance that kept eyes from those empty oarlocks until far out at sea? No matter, now, how much muscle can power it, no matter how well the eye and mind can read the stars, this boat floats aimlessly. In calm waters, the disorienteer looks over the side, an experience of self-loathing in such reflection. A longing develops for useful distraction; maybe the rage and terror of storms because survival, itself, seems victory over this condition. Still, no change is to come; the boat remains adrift.

The oar-less are never alone at sea. Those that float become drawn to each other by the pull of great currents and gyre's collection. There is comfort and salvation as each boat clings to the other, but some push off as the apparition of fate is seen in the other. For those who hold boats together, there are dreams of ports and harbors and many imagined destinations, until the next storm overcomes the hold each has on the other.

Currents, at times, move the boat in shore's sight. Finally, a chance to be seen. Surely they will come; surely they'll pull this boat ashore. But no one looks up and no one looks out. How did they find their place ashore? Had they pushed off at the ready, with oars in their locks? With such bitterness and jealousy the boat now takes on, it would rather move out of sight of this unwelcoming shore; far from the landed, a boat finds its peace. Out there, adrift, back pressed to the stern, eyes follow heavens arc toward hope's endless horizon.

A Lovely and Observant Reflection

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 14 Nov 2025 00:07:00 +0000

The comment below was dropped into the comments section on my post about Mountain Bluebells. Read it and weep.

"What a lovely and observant reflection — it perfectly captures the joy of discovery that comes from truly *seeing* the landscape around you. I like how you walk readers through your identification process, weighing the clues like altitude, bloom time, and leaf texture with a naturalist’s curiosity and skepticism toward app results. The reasoning between *Mertensia brevistyla* and *M. fusiformis* is thoughtful and shows real field experience — that mix of science and wonder. The image of this small, hardy patch of bluebells thriving beside a weedy roadside at 8,500 feet is wonderful; it reminds us how resilient and surprising nature can be, even in disturbed spaces. What a treat to have such a find so close to your new home to watch as the season unfolds."

The red text, above, was a link to some scam remodeling site. For those of us not in this for the money, readership and comments were the only pay dirt. But, given AI search, AI content, and now the uncanny AI poet-commenter, I am reassured that the long form, no ad, free blog is dead [to me].

Now back to my regular programming (writing a novel).

Inside Cedar Creek

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 07 Sep 2025 10:00:00 +0000

The morning after I arrived at Cedar Creek Ecosystem Science Reserve, a cup of coffee in my hand, I leaned against the deck railing that frames ICON house. A ghostly cloud of mist floated five feet above the opera mauve inflorescences of an entire field of Little and Big Bluestem. Without weekday highway traffic, a mile or two away, rising sounds of pewees and katydids were audible. The sun rises, just as I'd like to always remember it, between the copse of oaks and a large, heavily-limbed birch on the edge of a tamarack wetland. Then the mist evaporates just as a breeze stirs, its whooshing through trees and tall grasses bring into and out of focus the trilling of a thousand crickets.

The old farm field turned prairie is framed by a wall of oak, aspen, paper birch, and box elder, and where there is a lack of drainage, two perforations reveal the tamaracks and willows beyond. Its northwestern perimeter is stitched by undulating, pale gray utility lines that connect urban conveniences to the contemporary cabin I reside in. And this is enough. There is nothing grand at Cedar Creek —no river of great magnitude, nor hill of significant height, no rock outcrop stoically silent about its ungodly age, no chasm pulling humanity deep into its spell. No, on the whole it simply unfolds layer upon layer of details.

Roundheaded Bush Clover among Little and Big Bluestem

There is a car-width trail comprised of two parallel, nearly white lines of sand across Fawn Lake Drive. Walking it is like crossing a dry, sandy beach. Bordering the path are clumps of Big Bluestem, but more sparsely than in the field across the road. Gray stems of Artemisia ludoviciana flicker like ghostly flames among the grasses, and primrose blooms float like lemon drops here and there. A white-flowered species I've not yet seen at this location called Pseudognaphalium obtusifolium, Rabbit Tobacco, is now blooming.

Pseudognaphalium obtusifolium, Rabbit Tobacco or Sweet Everlasting

Countless grasshoppers bound with every step as move swiftly across the sand prairie toward the edge of the forest. Here, there is a slight descent into a flat that remains wet, even in some of the drier years. A perforated, aluminum walkway rises just as countless ferns reach over it. The pathway is shaded, yet punctuated by dappled sun, in a moist environment supporting purple stemmed aster, turtlehead, and tickseed, now in bloom.

As the walkway angles to the right, things change. The once brightly shaded spaces grow much darker under the canopy of Minnesota's only native cedar, Thuja occidentalis, White Cedar. Although there are specimens in a few cooler, wetter pockets within some southeastern counties, the tree's contiguous natural habitat in Minnesota has its southern terminus at Cedar Creek. Cinnamon colored trunks grow upright, but some lean, and many have tangles of roots partially detached from the ground —a casualty of strong winds and soggy soil. The ground beneath has two layers, the uppermost a hummocky terrain of moss-covered, rotting dead wood and previously shed dry, rust-colored fans of scaly leaves. Underneath, it is dark, moist, and often filled with standing water. Despite the darkness, at least two species of fern can be found growing thickly among the cedars as well as occasional Marsh Marigold, Caltha palustris, Jewelweed, Impatiens capensis, Crowned Beggarticks, Bidens coronata, and a few patches of Bluebead Lily, Clintonia borealis.

The exit from the cedar swamp is a sandy rise of mesic forest that contains several spring ephemerals, such as Hepatica and Bloodroot. This spot is sometimes referred to as Crone's Knoll —named for Martha Crone, the self-taught biologist and horticulturalist who was the curator of Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden from 1933 to 1958. Crone and her husband, William, owned forty acres of what was then called Cedar Creek Forest. The rise was described by the Crones as an island as it was bound by swamp, bog, and a small lake.

What is visible upon exiting the cedar swamp, today, is a large forest meadow of Pennsylvania Sedge, Carex pennsylvanica, appearing to flock the entirety of the knoll. It is beautiful and a testament to the idea that Pennsylvania Sedge thrives in formerly disturbed forest conditions. It is difficult to ascertain how this spot was shaped by a plant enthusiast such as Martha Crone, whose activities included digging and planting species at this site. Having been engaged with horticulture from her earliest years, she was undoubtedly a sharp observer of plant habitat, but also not bound by 21st century concepts. Several plants she found within the Cedar Creek Forest were relocated, successfully and not so, to the Butler Wildflower Garden. One species was the Ram's Head Ladyslipper, Cypripedium arietinum, which thrived in its first year at the garden and drowned the following, presumably from heavy rainfall and poor drainage.

Winterberry, Ilex verticillata in full fruit at the wetland's edge.

The trail follows an arc around the lower portion of Crone's Knoll, again reaching a boundary formed by water. Stepping onto the aluminum boardwalk, the deep space and ground-hugging vegetation of the forest sedge meadow immediately gives way to a wall of lush, wetland species. Winterberry, Ilex verticillata, a few feet from the walkway, announces this shift with brilliant red-orange berries. Water Arum, Calla pallustris, Arrowhead, Sagittaria latifolia, Purplestem Aster, Symphyotrichum puniceum, Jewelweed, Beggarticks, are blooming to either side of the bright metal planking.

At the bog's perimeter, the walkway suddenly in full sun, a small body of water reveals itself. Here, the boardwalk terminates in a floating platform that resides at the acute point of the tear-drop shaped lake. American Water Lily, Nymphaea odorata, dots the water's dark surface. From this viewpoint, it becomes clear that the entirety of the lake is hemmed in by a single species, Swamp Loosestrife, Decodon verticillatus*, forming a sculptural presence around the plane of water.

Although late in the season, I found a few remaining magenta flowers on stems extending up through the bog vegetation. Around the lake, however, blooms have withered to brown, some have set seed, and herbaceous stems form arcs of lanceolate leaves that, waterside, appear to be reaching for the lake. It can be unclear whether the stems lean toward the water or grow up from under it's surface. This is because the terminal ends of stems often root when they are submerged, or only near water, and its leaves reorient upwards, toward the sun. With the coming cold, decodon's herbaceous stems will die, detaching newly rooted plants from its parent, but most will survive and eventually root into the underlying peat or muck.

________________________________

Alone on the floating platform, I leaned on the railing and took in the entirety of the widening lake. Framed completely by decodon, then a stand of tamarack, and beyond that, white cedar, and just upland, possibly Jack Pine, and then...then nothing —nothing but sky. The feeling of isolation, here, is far greater than what it should be. Could this lake and its scrim of trees be the entire world? Here, maybe, is a way of being inside the outside.

I wonder if Ray Lindeman picked up on this when he first emerged from the wetland thicket and thought, this is the place, here is where I will collect the data, here is where the numbers will reveal in detail what intuition had already insisted was true. Here is where my inside exists outside.

Swamp Loosestrife, Decodon verticillatus and Tamarack, Larix laricina, behind.

*In Minnesota, the habitat favored by this MNDNR listed special concern species is centered in Anoka County. Despite all the lakes in this state, Swamp Loosestrife, Decodon verticillatus is uncommon. This is because the species is at the western-most edge of its natural range, here, but also because lakefront is so often developed into lake access and views where boulders and lawn are favored over natural vegetation.

What It Sounds Like

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 17 Aug 2025 23:30:00 +0000

The Leading Ladies, courtesy Netflix

The KPop Drop

About a month ago, on PBS Newshour, Mike Sargent, of Black Film Critics Circle, recommended the animated film KPop Demon Hunters saying “It blends K-pop, girl energy and demon-slaying. And it’s got a really fun soundtrack." You can find the PBS segment here.

Was that his best pitch? His recommendation of 28 Years Later was more my speed, but I haven't watched it probably because, after a decade or two of zombie apocalypse as allegory for our political and social issues, I've had enough. I did, however, recently choose to watch K-Pop Demon Hunters —once, in full, and again to scroll through to the musical segments, and then once more when I forced my wife to watch it (she suffered it). In between, I began to think about why this animated movie has become so compelling to so many people, some of which I lay out, below.

Not only have several songs from the soundtrack reached the top of music charts, the animated feature has become the number two most watched movie, of all time, on Netflix, and may become number one soon [UPDATE: It has become number one]. This accomplishment, alone, is enough to ask why it is such a phenomenon. One reason, as the film so neatly illustrates in many scenes of young fans (fandom) entranced by both Huntr/x and Saja Boys, is as simple as tweens and teens —this was made for them. The music is the other part —it's catchy, contemporary pop with lyrics specific to the narrative, yet generalized enough that anybody can relate.

In 2023, my friends' 20 year old daughter, Lily, suggested that I should give K-pop a try, that it will hook me —way more than any K-drama I've watched (and I've watched a lot). But I didn't seek it out. All I thought about the K-Pop industry was that it had absorbed, processed and rehashed many western popular music styles and motifs of the last 40 years to create idol machine boy bands, like BTS and girl bands, like Blackpink, and then turned it up to eleven. It's entertainment designed to addict (mostly) young people with narrative drama, beauty, fashion, choreography, dance-inducing beats and catchy musical hooks. I may have even cynically compared the world of K-Pop to the manufactured theater of World Wrestling Entertainment (formerly WWF).

K-Pop Demon Hunters, however, was a charming, occasionally humorous, fast moving journey that cleverly adapted stylistic flourishes from film, television, anime and music video, something we consciously or unconsciously recognize as it flies by on the screen, mixed with a big enough dose of Korean culture to make you ask, "Is this a US or Korean production?" Answer: it's American, but the story idea and co-director is Korean born Canadian Maggie Kang with plenty of Korean talent pitching in.

Its focus on sense of purpose, unity, and creativity contrasted with the hollow, manipulative and toxic vanity of the boy band. While the women band Huntr/x (contemporary play on huntress) might be fighting supernatural demons, the movie suggests that, in our world, demons may really be an army of abs-forward "bros." The movie's core message is self-acceptance, honesty, and the power of sticking together, but I began to wonder whether K-Pop Demon Hunters functions as a reprieve from the rotten, cynical direction we have seen in this country and across the globe. It's possible —culture is a soft power that can often provide what politics cannot (this is why culture is under attack) and populist culture is influence scaled up, up, up, as the song goes.

Contextual Sidetrack

If you are a fan of K-Drama, or even some of Korean films, like Parasite or Snowpiercer, you are familiar with Korean culture's class consciousness and deep distrust of those in political and corporate power. Consider that, just this year, the president of South Korea, Yoon Suk Yeol, was removed from office after the Constitutional Court voted unanimously to uphold his impeachment, following his failed attempt to impose martial law. This is a population immediately impatient with authoritarian impulses in part because of a persistent cultural memory of fairly recent authoritarian dictatorship, military rule, and hardship. But don't misunderstand, the same political tricks are being used by Korea's extreme right as are being used in the United States and the world over, the tactics just haven't worked quite as successfully as they have here, or elsewhere.

Music

Much has been written about the music in K-Pop Demon Hunters. Yes, every song is good, none of it is filler. These songs carry the entire movie, hitting it hard right out of the gate with How It's Done layered with music video visuals, attitude and humor. The sound, its production and emotional impact, is elevated well beyond what I would expect in an animated film. I'm not well-versed in music, so don't take my word for it. Listen to this vocal coach or that vocal coach analyze songs and vocals from the Demon Hunter soundtrack.

Christian Elements

I like to compare K-Pop Demon Hunters to the 1999 hit The Matrix. It was an action movie with influential production design, fashion, score/soundtrack and CGI. Those slow-mo battle scenes in Demon Hunter have influences in visual effects first seen in The Matrix (and wire-fu). The film also blatantly referenced biblical religion —"The One" (aka savior) in Neo, there was a Judas figure, even the ship was named Nebuchadnezzar and a lead character, Trinity. The film's slick styling repackaged a handful of Judeo-Christian notions, providing audiences a familiar framework for absorbing the narrative, but ultimately there was no spiritual there, there. Given its timing at the apex of first wave Internet, it's no surprise that our cultural memory of The Matrix is glued to red pill/blue pill, conspiracy and the nature of reality in the information age.

K-Pop Demon Hunters also relies on common religious, some might say spiritual, concepts, but does so with broad strokes. One of the clearest examples is character Gwi ma's fiery appearance and soul-sucking purpose which clearly represents what the West understands as the devil. Gwi ma (voiced by actor Lee Byung-hun of Squid Game, but more important, Mr. Sunshine and Iris, fame) happens to be a reversal of the Korean magwi, I think it is written 마귀, which can be translated as "devil." However, Gwi ma's wall of fire visuals are generic and abstract enough that the audience never dwells on its Christian devilishness.

Jinu, the Jeoseung Saja in a Gat. Courtesy of Netflix

For those new to Korean entertainment, a boy band with tall black hats, beads and dark "cloaks" might seem like a contemporary fashion choice, but any fan of KDrama historical series recognizes the semi-transparent, head gear as a gat (said kind of like gaht, without a hard t sound). The look is a visual reference to the Jeoseung Saja, the messenger/undertaker from the world of the dead. So Gwi ma is the lord of the underworld and consumer of souls and The Saja Boys are messengers. What better way to deliver the message than through the sugary "Soda Pop," a song whose carbonated lyrics easily shift between desire for a girl and the consumption of souls.

We also have the idea of the false idol —in Christianity, it's anything or anyone that becomes an object of ultimate devotion or trust, that is, instead of God. "Your Idol," the last song by the Saja Boys lays it all out in its lyrics: I can be the star you rely on; Don’t you know I’m here to save you; I’m all you need, I’ma be your idol; Your obsession feeds our connection...give me all your attention. Really, just the whole song. What is creepy is how many of the lyrics can be subtly changed to mimic the words coming out of the mouth of this country's current political idol.

Contextual Sidetrack:

In South Korea, roughly 30% of the population identifies as Christian, from which over 10% identify as Catholic. Over fifty percent identify with no religion, but methods of data collection may conceal various beliefs and practices like Buddhism, shamanism, and agnosticism among a large part of the population.

Spiritual Elements

The lead character's name, Rumi, has linguistic roots in Japan (the past colonial occupier of Korea), so it seems an unlikely choice. However, the mystical overtones of the movie tells me that her name refers to another well-known Rumi, aka Jalāl al-Dīn Muḥammad Rūmi, the Persian mystic poet. Is it a stretch to tie the Honmoon, a spiritual barrier created through music, to the poet's belief that music, poetry (lyrics) and dance can lead to the divine?

Rumi, the lead singer of Huntr/x, is only one part of a triad, the three figure principle found in too-many-to-list spiritual and supernatural conceptualizations across the ages. Conveniently, a triad of singers with different vocal ranges can also create powerful musical harmonies. The best example is the song "What it Sounds Like," which brings Rumi, Mira, and Zoey (the triad) physically and harmonically together toward their triumphal establishment of the Honmoon. It is this musical finale, particularly its powerful harmonies, that brings deliverance —something that could only be wished for in the earlier song "Free."

Unwittingly, Rumi, Mira and Zoey produced a new kind of Honmoon, one that we might describe as enlightened. This new Honmoon recognizes that shame and concealment can be a tool of control and a destructive force to individuals and ultimately, humanity. Where Rumi's shame had been imposed on her, for simply being who she is, Jinu felt shame for his actions. Although she made the argument, earlier on, that he is more than his "sins," the new Honmoon didn't seem to have any room for grace nor did he for self-forgiveness. There was no saving him, so Jinu sacrificed himself to free Rumi, and ultimately humanity, from their collective shame. Imperfect as the comparison may be, his sacrifice may be the most Christian element of K-Pop Demon Hunters.

The masculine characters of KPop Demon Hunters, from Gwi Ma to The Saja Boys, appear to rely on Christian concepts, while the pan-spiritual concepts are delivered through the feminine characters. Whether or not audiences absorb and internalize these concepts is not within my purview. I can imagine, at least, that in a time of political idolatry, when religion is used cynically by right wing politicians and media in lockstep, and mainsteam clergy are quiet, that relatable characters finding purpose underpinned by generalized spiritual values, just might provide needed support for what battles lie ahead.

Addendum (8/23/25)

Is the current running through KPop Demon Hunter's storyline more tied to mental health than spiritual health? I won't argue that it isn't there —Rumi's story focuses largely on coming to terms with who she really is and the struggle to share that with those closest to her. I think, however, that this sharing is a kind of confessional. Not confessing up to power institutionalized in the Catholic Church, for instance, but the healing power inherent to the act of confession, something the script does speak to. Where closely holding your secrets (Rumi) or sins (Jinu) is a kind of hell, confession to individuals or communities is the beginning of freeing yourself (the song Free, again).

For confession to be a freeing act, however, it requires the receiving party to be capable of seeing humans as flawed beings. They must also be willing to offer grace where they are not capable of forgiveness. Where there is confession, but no grace, a person's hell will only continue, compounded further by judgement. It is the forgiveness offered by Zoey and Mira, once they hear Rumi's truth, in song, that allows the three to come together to sing harmoniously and create the new Honmoon.

Addendum (9/14/2025)

I began to wonder whether the aforementioned themes in KPop Demon Hunters are more deeply rooted in conservatism than I had considered. It isn't radical by any measure, but its soft-feminism, quasi spiritualism, and even the maternal-like care for the band's fans act, at least, as a counterpoint to the patriarchal, Christian punishment represented in Gwi Ma, Saja Boys and even the prejudice of Celine, Rumi's caregiver and former demon hunter.

New Year, New Garden

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 12 Aug 2025 12:00:00 +0000

Raised beds at the boundary of the chapel and the golf course.

There is a chapel, Snowmass Chapel, adjacent to the grounds where our cabin is located. The property also functions as a park funneling walkers, bicyclists, and dog-walkers and baby strollers through it along two paved paths. I had been looking at this path-side landscape, planted roughly 20 years ago, for a month or so. Clearly suffering from inattention, it had fallen into weediness, and had a good dose of invasive species.

When Dames Rocket showed its dusky pink blooms, I emailed the chapel's operation manager to ask if I could pull them. She responded positively, and thus began my weekly pull of different species, from Spotted Knapweed, Centaurea stoebe to Western Salsify, Tragopogon dubius. Thistles of various species get cut down at the base, but the proliferation of Cornflower, Centaurea cyanus, was left alone.

The cornflower, sometimes called Bachelor's Buttons (will the real bachelor button please stand up), is quite pretty in early to mid-June, growing lush and blooming prolifically off May snow-melt. And then, as we might say, it craps out, in July, after this region's driest month of June. Centaurea cyanus is at home in Europe, where it said to be in decline in many regions. However, in the U.S., it is considered a noxious weed in some states as it spreads from yards and sunny fields to open woodlands quite easily. I've seen that on our grounds, as well as the chapel grounds and other properties. Although it should be removed, it is a daunting task given deep roots and high numbers. That project will require more than just myself.

At some point I had mentioned to Julie, the chapel's operations manager, that I was looking for space to grow some garlic (whenever possible, I avoid the grocery stuff). As it turns out, one of their parishioners had donated funds to create a raised bed garden for their children's summer day camp. Boulders were brought in, then fill, to build out an area level enough to garden. And so, an opportunity was born. They purchased three pre-fab raised beds and brought in three pallets of bagged soil. I offered to build two raised beds of my own in trade for my past weeding of their semi-wild grounds.

Redwood 2x6x8 lumber

You can only special order Western Red Cedar in this area, yet Redwood is available at the one retail store that carries such things (Lowes). Its price is equivalent to what we would pay for rough sawn cedar in Minnesota. After waiting on a heavy metals soil analysis (more on that in another post), I set to constructing two boxes 48 inches wide, 96 inches long, and 16 inches tall.

I prefer well-aligned, level beds. The chapel-assembled beds I'll attempt to level, later.

A pallet of bagged soil

Lumber is expensive in this area, as are most things. I spent about $450 dollars to build these two boxes, but that was offset by the chapel-provided soil. A pallet of 55 bags would likely be, with delivery, at least $250, and I needed about forty five bags per bed. There was just enough on site for me to fill my two beds and leave eighteen bags to top up their three beds —quite a bit of settling had occurred since they had filled them.

I'm not a fan of bagged soil, in part due to so much waste plastic. In Minnesota I could get deliveries of compost and chipped bark for my nursery. Although the stack of soil smelled like manure, the emptied bags showed a lot of wood chips. The material was quite fluffy and moldy. I do not think it will make a great soil for growing garlic and I will need to add lots of nitrogen to initiate further breakdown of the carbon-heavy wood. I believe this product is made on the Front Range of Colorado (where most of this state's population lives), and my supposition is that the "topsoil" includes manure/bedding (the nitrogen to balance the woody carbon) from the cattle feed lots that extend out into the high plains east of the Front Range.

I will receive my new garlic seed stock in September and plant these two beds. Hopefully there will be a return to moisture within the coming weeks. It is so dry here that the vegetation on the slopes, and even some trees, are already turning to autumn color.

LOL —Amazon Gave Me the Boot

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 31 Jul 2025 15:42:00 +0000

After selling off the last of my nursery, Shelterwood, and moving to be with my spouse in Colorado, I attempted to earn some revenue with the Amazon Affiliate program. I continue to get a fair amount of traffic on some how-to posts, so why not. Well, that didn't work out: hardly any clicks, and then no purchases where someone did click. Turns out, people already know how to find what they want to buy! Of course. Amazon blasted me with "ideas" on what was hot selling so that I could blog that into existence, here. But that wasn't my interest, and so, this blog will remain ad-free and monetization free for another...who knows how long.

Much like a writer nudged me to start a blog in 2007, another writer is nudging me to start a Substack (to use the shorthand). Of course, that relies on SEO, much like this current blog, which happens to continue to get trafffic for, in general, the same 20 posts across 18 years of posting (where does the time go?). And so, that leads to the question: where does the time go? Do I, now, have the time or want to spend the time to develop a new platform and attempt to get paying subscribers —because if I do not try to get paying subscribers, what is the point in starting at the beginning?

All Quiet on the Blogging Front

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 26 Jul 2025 19:39:00 +0000

Where lies the path to obscurity? Is it here, within the blogosphere?

I scanned a minor conversation on Reddit earlier today where people wrote about using Chat GPT to create blog posts —this is now common. Writing is difficult, it's nice to find help, yet writing is so much more than the ability to string together words. It's about having something to say, something relevant (relevance can be chased or it can be created), the drive to put it into words and then, to move readers.

I spend too much time on a little device, fat-finger typing character-limited essays that exist at the algorithmic whims of Instagram. Why? We say the people we want to reach are there. Are people we want to reach landing on this page, by organic accident, by a too loosely formed question in the square hands of Google's AI? Are these reasons I do not write much, here, any longer?

A writer I met at MacDowell (formerly Colony) encouraged me to start a blog —in 2007. It was the thing, a new frontier of communicating directly with people. For a few months I struggled to begin; what will I say, how will I say it. By October, however, I finally etched a few words onto the ephemeral pages of the Web. Those words can still be found with a little exertion on the part of the reader, but I won't point to them. Frankly, they're embarrassing. A decade later, after chronicling so many activities and events, what I had to say had changed, the form those words took had changed, and I believe I became a better writer and, maybe more importantly, a better editor. The effort became less about chronicling and, I think, more about synthesis and more about connecting the visual arts, my visual practices, to broader cultural themes and questions. The writing became a way to pull it all together.

By the time I was running my native plant nursery, Shelterwood, I had little interest in journaling the effort. Much older now, close to 20 years after initiating this blog, I question how I became who I am, what had motivated me toward this self. This has led, among other creative endeavors, to writing privately. And this private activity was effortless, at first, until it became a lengthy bit of writing. I understand its form, in totality, but within it is a palimpsest of words and ideas that are hard to unravel —a tangled mass of strands that needs to be pulled apart, then tied together, end to end, then some parts untied and retied.

Living in the mountains of Colorado, the spouse of an artistic director at a well-known arts center, wondering what is next, with a few projects on the table that I wish to complete and want to avoid, simultaneously. This is where I am.

Desert Demo

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 26 Apr 2025 10:30:00 +0000

The site from above: trailer, addition, casita and two metal sheds.

Coordinating this demolition took some work. Capping the septic, shutting down water and electricity were the easy parts, although getting the electric meter removed required a visit to the electric co-op to ensure they did it on time. For a reason that still escapes me, getting an old propane tank removed by the company Amerigas was the hardest of all. If it wasn't for the BBB, aka Better Business Bureau, I think that tank would still be there. I reported Amerigas to the BBB, who then contacted the company. Afterward I received an email from corporate Amerigas. After a back and forth, they eventually confirmed the tank could be removed, but not before I sent them a death certificate to get them to close the account. When the trucker came to pick up the tank, he was bewildered by how complicated it was to remove their tank. Google searches of "Amerigas" show how difficult they can be. After buying up independent propane dealers across the States, they then closed all their local offices to the public. The call center, across the oceans, had little ability to resolve the problem. Thankfully I was able to resolve it because its removal was necessary to pass inspection.

An assessment of what needs to be removed before demo can begin.

Unique rocks collected by my wife's uncle Sid (he worked for the USGS) were moved to the center island made last year when I cleared the dead plants in front of the trailer. The bricks and pavers were to be saved, but I did not have the time to get them out first. I assumed the track-loader Kubota could ride over them easily enough, but instead the skid-steer function of the machine simply turned them into the ground. While the bricks survived, the 8x16 pavers are light duty and most broke. This ended up requiring me to hire another crew to haul and stack the bricks. All cinder blocks were removed via a "free cinderblocks" ad on Craig's List —plenty of takers.

An assessment of the metals to be recycled and trees in the way.

The trees are mostly Mesquite and, in this area, are found in riparian zones where moisture is more prevalent. Here they were planted by Sid and kept watered. Having no access to water, they died in the four years after his death. I brought our small chainsaw to cut these down. The large tree, in front, is an olive and was hanging on. I cut that down as well as it was going to interfere with the demolition and is not native to the States.

The back of the trailer reveals an addition, deck, and more trees to cut.

More masonry blocks on the backside of the trailer, facing south. Here there are three Mesquite trees, the utility post, a loosely constructed deck, plenty of pack rat nesting materials and Cholla spines. The trailer addition would be the last structure to be demolished.

Pavers are heavy to dispose in a dumpster, so they are stacked out of the way.

Bricks were saved. Unfortunately, only after the Kubota turned them into the sand.

Rocks collected by my wife's uncle were placed in the center of the turn circle to be saved.

Skinning the trailer.

I could've attacked the trailer with the Kubota and then separated the metals, but it was more efficient of time and fuel to be more organized. First job was to remove the windows and doors, all of which were glass and aluminum. This aluminum is the good stuff, most desired by the scrapper that I had with me to process and haul the metals. Anything with glass was brought into the dumpster (out of sight) and smashed of its glass. The metal was then stripped of its non-aluminum components so the scrapper could get top dollar for "clean" metal.

Under the aluminum skin was, surprisingly, foam-core.

After removing windows, the aluminum siding and trim was removed. This material is essentially the "dirty" metal, bringing in a lower price. Although I prepared for asbestos, I found nothing that indicated asbestos materials —everything was either a wood or cellulose based product or plastics.

Skinned of siding and foam-core, I then removed the fiberglass batting.

Although I didn't want to do it manually, it made much more sense to remove the fiberglass batting filling the wall cavities before demolishing the trailer and casita. Insulation is light weight and would blow away without removing it by hand and depositing in the dumpster. All that remained after was the studs and wood paneling on the interior.

The Kubota with grapple-bucket. Open bucket allows sand to fall through.

The Kubota was going to do the heavy smashing of the remainder of the trailer. Although it could be done manually, it would take much longer —especially for one person. The main benefit is the ability to reach high, crush, and move heavy materials to the dumpster or recycling stacks. The downside is the amount of dust that is made when sand and materials fall through the bucket's bottom grate. Unfortunately, this Kubota was not outfitted with a fully enclosed cab which meant that I experienced all dust clouds. I attempted to outfit the grate with metal mesh to hold onto smaller pieces of debris, but the aggressive action tore that off in short order.

Full hazmat due to the extreme amount of pack rat feces and no water to minimize dust.

My original intention for the full hazmat suit and face shield with P100 respirator was because of the potential for asbestos in a 1971 trailer (for the curious, a Bainbridge). Yet, that concern didn't turn out. However, I knew there was a ton of rat poop in and around the trailer and this was yet another potential hazard.

Insulation and Cholla spines are a favorite nesting material. The black spots are feces.

The rats made Sid's place their playground in the four years since his death. They had nests all around and so regularly traversed the trailer interior that the floors were covered in feces. When I lifted a structure, disturbing their daytime hiding spots, I was a bit startled by their large stature. Pack rats are large with bulging black eyes and, with eyes like that, they were likely blinded by the bright sun. Most did not want to scurry away, although they had tunnels nearby to retreat to.

I was already familiar with Hantavirus from my time in New Mexico, but the death of Gene Hackman and his wife Betsy foregrounded the possibility. Pack rats are not commonly carriers in the Sonoran, but they can be, and the large turds of the pack rats overshadowed the possibility of other rodents that are more common carriers. The dust stirred among feces and urine is the most common vector for humans to pick up the virus.

The two demolished sheds. Scrap metal, mostly aluminum and steel, were recycled.

The first structure to be demolished were two metal sheds that were located to the east of the casita and trailer. These were the easiest to take down. This metal was taken away by the scrapper.

Attacking the casita. Note how the machine made a mess of the bricks.

After the front part of the casita was demolished.

Although the machine makes it look easy, there is still plenty to do around the machine work. Thousands of little pieces of building materials are scattered about or ground into the sand. These need to be picked up and is the most tedious of demolition tasks. To do this demolition work, I needed to get a county permit. Along with the permit comes pre-demolition and post-demolition inspections. The site is required to be raked clean which means all the little remnants need to be disposed of. This isn't fun work in a hot hazmat suit with full face shield.

At the end of day two with the machine, I had yet to fully skin the rear of the casita.

I stopped here because it was a long day, but also because I had revealed two Diamondback Rattlesnakes. One was injured by the demolition, the other not harmed. Both decided to hide under debris for the night. The next day I called in the removal service -expensive but at least he came quickly, was willing to search for the snakes, and relocated them to an appropriate site. The possibility of snakes was anticipated as we had always known there were rattlers living under the casita. However, it was surprising that the snakes and rats would live virtually on top of each other.

Finding the first Diamondback for removal and relocation.

Into the bucket. With cool nights, they are reasonable at this time of the year.

Demolishing the trailer required me to, first, hack away at the front wall.

Another view, from the rear at the end of day three with the Kubota.

Everyone was worried about how I would take on the roof.

I learned years ago that wood structures fall slowly, so I was confident that my plan for the roof, while difficult, would work. It did. As I removed the remaining studs on either end of the trailer, the roof fell as planned. Tearing the metal from it was more annoying, and it was the only metal that went into a dumpster instead of to the scrapper.

End of day four with the Kubota.

Another view, end of day four.

Interlude: Leaf cutting ants.

No need to show images of the remaining two days with the Kubota when I tackled the floor of the main trailer and had the scrapper cut the steel I-beams that supported it. The following day I took on the rear trailer addition. After that it was one day of collecting brush for a burn pile, and two days of picking up pieces of debris.

Debris is a mix of household items, construction materials and rat nasty.

Endless pieces of debris, cholla spines, and cinderblocks to pick up.

Always a surprise when reaching for a piece of trash becomes another rattlesnake.

The inside of the turning circle, looking to the northeast.

Looking to the southeast from the turn circle.

Looking toward the southwest from the old driveway. I left one mesquite standing.

The entire demolition took about nine days and doing it myself cost at least half as much as the quotes I received in 2024. There were some planning mishaps —primarily the removal of bricks and pavers. This needed to be done first, and although the junk hauler I brought in at the beginning of the project said it was possible, the crew that showed up said they couldn't. I ended up bringing in another hauler who did most of the brick and paver stacking while I dug them out of the sand. I also had to bring in a junk hauler to remove broken pavers and cinderblock, costing way-too-much. Both of these added about two grand to my original estimate.

Lessons learned, still we saved at least 50% on the quoted prices and on my last day in Arizona, the inspector came and the project passed inspection. I was also able to protect the native plants on site, even those very close to the structures. which the demolition companies said could not be guaranteed. We also recycled nearly all the metals —one of our goals we had from the beginning. Job well done.

Montane Bluebells

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 17 Apr 2025 10:00:00 +0000

I tend to scan the ground as I walk, in this case on a path, roadside, to check on another possible community garden. Spotting blooms is often only a matter of right place and time and today I got lucky.

From a distance I spotted the little patch of blue and I could see its forget-me-not qualities, yet it's awfully early for a potential garden escapee to be blooming.

This is where ID apps can get the amateur and skilled plant person on the right path, but with caveats. A) it's mid April at 8500 ft, B) this plant is real short and in full bloom before total leaf-out C) it's growing on a road embankment in full sun. I didn't trust the app identification choice of Mountain Bluebells, Mertensia ciliata, even at this montane elevation, and I already knew I was looking at a bluebell-type flower.

Readily observable traits like short stature, pubescent (fuzzy) leaves, and high elevation —these had to limit the choice of species. M. ciliata's subalpine bloom is in July, so it's hard to imagine a thousand feet or so would make this species bloom mid-April. Yet, we are definitely having an early spring!

A quick search leads me to two choices: Mertensia brevistyla and Mertensia fusiformis. I'm leaning M. fusiformis, but as stated in SW Colorado Wildflowers website, the short stature montane Bluebells can be really difficult to positively ID and there's lots of historical debate on the differentiation of high elevation, short Mertensia species. I didn't think I'd see Bluebells in bloom in the mountains before I'd have seen them in MN.

This patch is comprised of about 50 scattered plants, with none to be seen anywhere within eyesight of the rather disturbed, weedy site between a highly trafficked road and the town golf course. It's a six minute walk from where I will be living, beginning this weekend, so I'll be able to keep my eye on it.

In Search Of Community Garden and Garlic

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 13 Apr 2025 11:00:00 +0000

If there's a community garden nearby, I will find it. The path to this one was circuitous, but I was determined. It sits between Aspen and Snowmass Village, Colorado —south of the airport on land donated by a family ranching in the area for generations. There is a sign with contact info for joining, but my survey of this territory suggests fully occupied. Above, the novel western-style gate latch. As with many community gardens, the sign says come on in, just don't touch. So I did.

Inside, a mix of well-kept plots, a few tangled messes, and way too many plastics degrading in the sun. Funny, for gardens that are organic, only, to have so much plastic lying around.

Although I did tend a community garden plot, F12, on the ocean at Fort Tilden, Queens, years ago, I suppose 8500 feet in the Rockies ain't so bad, either. Not that this is mine, but I am looking.

The insolation up here is no joke. It's more like the equator than the 39 degrees latitude. At solar zenith on the spring equinox, the rays of sun strike this region, were it flat plain, at 51 degrees. But, as you might have guessed, the slopes of these large mountains angle upward so that on the southern exposures the angle is much more direct, closer to 90 degrees than 51. Of course, the altitude, thinner, drier air also allows much more sun rays to strike the ground.

I know what this will do to my skin, but how does it affect plant growth in a short growing season? I'll have to find out. Although I do not have a place to plant anything, yet, I just bought new seed garlic for the first time since 2012 —it's 50-100% more expensive than pre-pandemic. Up to the 2024 season, I relied on my own seed stock from my Hudson Clove days, when I was growing ten thousand or so heads of 8 varieties and many more strains. That dwindled to one to two thousand in Minnesota, but I continued to rely on my many times better garlic than I've had to use since running out this past January.


Vinca spilling out —a likely problem plant for this region if it gets out of bounds

My old sources for garlic have already sold out, unheard of before the pandemic. It used to be practice to order in April for fall delivery, but I suppose that time has past. I found one new supplier in a similarly semi-arid mountain location and had good communication with the owner, a former chef — Garlic Gods and at a fair price comparable to pre-pandemic prices. For a couple of strains I depend on, I went to Mad River Garlic Growers, who are growing in the completely different climate of Ohio, but I'll make it work. Prices are higher, but not as high as the completely sold out Filaree Garlic Farm, where I used to get my special strains long ago.

I haven't been able to locate available Creole Red from a supplier I trust, so I went with the creole from Italy's Abruzzo region. Creole are invaluable as a long term storage garlic that is truly comparable to the flavor of short storage Rocambole strains. Even grown in MN (creole are considered warm climate garlic), my 1.5" heads served me well into early spring. However, you must resist eating them until you run out of the short and mid storage varieties.

A Tale of Two Cameras

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 02 Apr 2025 11:00:00 +0000

2014 Olympus EM10-I, left, and 2019 Olympus EM1-III, right.

In November of 2014, I finally bought a digital, interchangeable lens camera —the Olympus EM10. This camera served me well for a decade and still functions quite well today. My first Olympus (really my second —I had a Stylus XZ-2 compact sold to a young man in 2024) has been a great value and, possibly an even greater value is the 12-40mm F2.8 Pro lens I bought with the body. The Em10 had 3 axis stabilization, which allowed me to shoot as low as 1/15th when braced. I hate carrying a tripod, although my 30 year old Tilt-All has continued to serve me well.

I wanted 5 axis image stabilization offered with the newer, better equipped Olympus cameras, so had been thinking on it for a couple fo years. Then Olympus, in a tighter and tighter camera market, sold off its photo division. I remained unsure, maybe foolishly so, of the new company and was put off by its branding -something I later learned was in Olympus heritage film cameras when my high school art teacher gave me her deceased husband's Olympus OM10 with OM System Zuiko Auto S f1.8 50mm lens.

I didn't really need a larger pixel count or better buffer rate or continuous shooting speeds, nor AI animal tracking. I did need a lens longer than 12-40, so when I stopped at National Camera Exchange on my way back from a brief, post house sale respite in Grand Marais, I picked up the relatively new f4 40-150 Pro lens. I wouldn't have minded the f2.8 Pro, as I am sure it is better beyond the extra stop of light, I could not justify double the cost or the weight of all that glass.

This EM1-III has only 249 shutter actuations.

By chance, the day I stopped had also been day one of a two day Olympus event, or I guess I should say OM event. The U.S. rep was there and, well, not so many customers. So, I spent a good amount of time chatting with the fellow, sharing some of my favorite Olympus photographers (Karen at Focus on Nature, for instance). The only new piece of information gardnered from my exchange is that the camera business, as a whole, is now committing to roughly 3 years of firmware updates. For years the industry has been moving faster and faster into computational photography, thanks in large part to the capabilities and tech introduced by mobile phone photography.

I was surprised to see I had pressed the shutter only 54,835 times in 10 years.

So, when I held the OM1-II, I found it satisfying to hold and the viewfinder's OLED screen was a different world, but could not justify the cost of the OM1-II nor did I need much of its capability. At the same time, the not-quite-ready for prime time OM1 was being offered, brand new, by Amazon for $1300. A steal, really, until I discovered on some forum that Olympus had a distribution outlet on Ebay, where I could find the OM1 for $1100. How could I resist?

My EM10 is smaller than the EM1, but not by much.

Now, I had already looked up used EM1-IIIs and they were going for well over $1100 on all the quality used camera sites. This was a good indication of the quality and enjoyment of that camera. So I was surprised to see a few low shutter count EM1-III for about on the Olympus Ebay store about $800! I had read over and over again the complaints about the stiff front dial on the OM1 and the rubberized dial on the OM1-II that was an apparent admission of the problem, so I was concerned about buying the OM1 at a great price only to have to send it back. I held the OM!-II at National Camera and the rubberized dial was no problem at all.

The EM1 has the vertical only tilt screen and I lost the eye-cup several years ago.

My solution was to buy both —the EM1-III and the OM1. They arrived within about 7 days to my remote location on the western slope of Colorado and I spent a few days with both. Again, that OLED viewfinder is the beginning of confusion between optical reality and digital. Both cameras performed admirably. I admired the smaller focus points on the OM1, but was all too familiar with the "chunkier" grid on the EM1-III as it is nearly identical to my EM10 in that respect. It was a tough choice, but there was 300 dollars between the two, and adding cost was that there isn't an external charger provided with the OM1. Further, although the OM1 was brand new, the EM1_III had only 249 shutter presses, which is virtually new, and the camera looked as if it had been tried and returned. I also preferred the feel of the EM1 in my hands —smaller and edged out the OM1 better ergonomically. I could have gotten used to the OM1, but the EM1 fit immediately. The OM1 was faster to find focus, but not by that much and given that I was upgrading from a 2014 EM10, anything was an upgraded experience. In fact the EM10 revealed its weakness with my new f4 40-150 lens. It hunted much more and sometimes never fully resolved focus (although this never really happened with my 2014 12-40 Pro).

After three days I chose to return the OM1 in favor of the lower cost but highly capable EM1-III. Of course, although I have held onto my EM10 as the "back up," I haven't picked it up much since acquiring the EM1-III. The only purchase made for my new camera is the larger eye-cup and an additional battery. I found the smaller eye-cup harder when pressed against my brow, and although the larger one isn't a game changer, it is softer with the pressure spread across a larger area. Sometimes I see reflections in the viewfinder glass due to gaps created in the cups most comfortable position and need to shift my head to the left, but for the price and capability, I find that a small compromise.

And my camera says Olympus, meaningless, but desirable. Below are some shots from my new, used EM1-III and new F4 Pro 40-150.

Black Cap Chickadee, shot through window at F4, 1/1000sec, and 150mm (=300 FF)

Black Cap Chickadee crop. I find the f4 40-150 sharp, quick, but also busy in the bokeh.

Below a comparison of essentially the same shot, taken by the EM1-III and F4 Pro 40-150 (first image) and my 2014 EM10-1 and F4 Pro 40-150 (second image). Subtle, but noticeable differences in tonal range (aka dynamic range), although the EM10 image is a little overexposed.

Olympus EM1-III at F4, 1/125sec, and 150mm (=300 FF)

Olympus EM10-I at F4, 1/100sec, and 150mm (=300 FF)

And a few shots taken, diagonally through window glass pane, of a surprise fireworks display across the creek.

Update: I haven't taken out my 2014 EM10 since, yet I'm using my camera more often, and am carrying all three lenses: 60mm macro, 12-40 F2.8 Pro and 40-150 F4 Pro (semi, anyway).

Desert Clean

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 31 Mar 2025 12:30:00 +0000

The character Jackson Bentley, in Lawrence of Arabia, asks "What is it, Major Lawrence, that attracts you, personally, to the desert?"

T.E. Lawrence replies, "It's clean."

That desert is not this desert.

In July, 2021, my wife's uncle Sid died and upon his death his four acre property, over the mountains, just outside of Tucson, AZ, was transferred to us. We sat with the idea for a year, and then, in late 2022, we began the clean out of 50 years of accumulated things. That first trip was to package and store what was to be saved —and a fifteen yard dumpster was filled with trash. We also widened the drive by cutting back cactus that had been encroaching for years.

In February of 2024, I returned, solo, to sort through the remaining objects in the casita, laundry-storage building, two metal sheds and clear out all that remained in the trailer. There was little precious left to find, by then, so that what was extracted was the detritus of a human life —the mattresses, sofas, shelving, VCR tapes, CDs, clothing, and, well, you know the rest as our lives are filled with the same. The trailer had extensive leaks in the roof and was penetrated by pack rats in the two and one half years since Sid's death. Although I had never seen a rat, here, I also had never seen so much feces.

My first task, in 2024, was to clear the dead trees and plants in front of the trailer. Sid took to watering species near his dwelling, so that they suffered or died without his attention. More than that, I knew space would be needed to bring in trucks to clear the trailer contents and, later, to demolish the structures.

Fortunately the location of dead plants and Cholla facilitated a circle drive allowing large vehicles to turn around. In the center of this new circular drive, I cleared rat nest materials from under non-native agave, pruned dead wood from Palo Verde trees, and moved Prickly Pear to open areas just off the driveway. This work was completed manually with a battery operated reciprocating saw and coarse-toothed wood blades, a shovel, and where necessary, an excavator —mostly for removing the olive tree, Cholla, Prickly Pear, and to grade the circle after ripping it up. After all that was done, I purchased a permit to burn off the giant pile of brush collected from the work zone.

Prickly Pear, in green, were moved while Cholla and dead Olive was sent to the composter.

Cleared cactus went into a 15yd dump trailer to be composted, but dry brush was burned.

Once the land clearing was completed, I called a junk hauler. If ever you are in the position to choose between clearing out a home yourself, with dumpsters, or bringing in a crew with a dumpster-truck, leaving price out of the equation, I suggest using the crew. Although I could have purchased a 40yd dumpster for the price of one 20yd truck and crew, the speed of their accomplishment made up for the difference of volume. Clearing 525 square feet of casita-storage room, 950 square feet of trailer, two storage sheds and a variety of objects occupying the landscape required six 20yd trucks and four to six guys over eight hours to haul away.

My job was to quickly move through boxes and objects, setting aside anything that may have had sentimental or other value. The crew was respectful and often asked if I wanted something that seemed, to them, out of the ordinary. We also established a scrap metal pile as I contemplated scrapping for dollars in the future. Later I decided the work, for the price metals are bringing in, was not worth the effort, however I did bring in a scrapper to haul away the metals for the demolition phase of the project.

From the air, landscape imagery belies the lushness of the Sonoran Desert.

The structures to be demolished and removed.

The trailer as I left it in late February, 2024.

Before I left the region, I brought in a couple of companies to get a sense for the price of demolition of two sheds, the casita-storage, and the trailer and addition. The project would require the cutting of dead or nearly dead Mesquite trees and the live, non-native Olive tree —both require more water than this region's precipitation and alluvial deposit will provide. It would require capping of the septic, cutting of electrical service, a permitting process, moving of bricks, pavers, cinder block, stones, and sparing without injury the large Saguaro you can see in the photo, below. This, of course, while demolishing all the buildings.

The quotes were between 15 and 20 thousand dollars. I know enough about construction to have guessed this range, but still I wanted to see it written. The following day I left Tucson for Colorado (another story) to pick up my wife from the airport (from China, yet another story), afterward heading back to Minnesota as the nursery season (another story!) was ramping up early due to excessive warmth.

The trailer in March 2025

Part II: Desert Demo

May I Tempt You With Some Polyfluoroalkyl Substances, This Evening?

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 06 Feb 2025 12:00:00 +0000

Beginning on January 1, 2025, the state of Minnesota's multi-stage ban on the sale of products that contain intentionally added PFAS, aka Perfluoroalkyl or Polyfluoroalkyl Substances, begins. The list of products that contain what most people associate with non-stick cookware, is surprisingly long (see category list, below). According to the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency...

"Implementation details for three parts of Amara’s Law will be developed through rulemaking. The rulemaking process allows for active participation by residents, community organizations, and industry to ensure the law protects human health and the environment while providing the private sector with the clarity needed to operate businesses."

However, in our current politics, where any environmentally impactful policy that results in inconvenience is now subject to rhetoric and grandstanding. Some legislators, in my former state, are now angling to reverse course on eliminating products with PFAS. This comes as no surprise because PFAS chemicals are manufactured by 3M, whose headquarters and some manufacturing plants are located in Minnesota. PFAS have, for decades, been a 3M chemical solution looking for a product problem —they have been pitched to and purchased by a huge array of industries, from agriculture to pharmaceuticals. That the implementation of Amara's Law will be "developed through rulemaking" suggests that government agencies will be responsible for determining the impact of the law. This ordinary practice has been one of the rallying cries of the current Trump administration: that "unelected bureaucrats" are deciding our future instead of elected officials. In others words, the deep state, big government, liberal elites are coming for your frying pans, just like they did your tungsten light bulbs.

PFOA as seen in an emulsion. ©️North747 CC Share A Like 4.0

There is no need for me to recount the history of 3M's perfluorochemical manufacturing, as it has been thoroughly laid out by the Minnesota Reformer —read the article (links may go 404). What troubles me is that we live with the near total distribution of this highly stable, biologically active group of chemicals into water, soils, plants, all animals, including you and me, from the north to the south pole. It isn't a matter of how much is "healthy" or toxic, but that we consider it acceptable to be present at all.

We know that 3Ms interest is revenue and that manufacturers interest is the chemical group's active purpose, i.e. stain repellency, non-stick, etc. What is in the public interest? Consider that, in the U.S., we've been adding PFAS (and plastics) to our food since the 1960s, we've been washing PFAS from our Northface waterproof and LLBean stain-resistant clothes into our well water and rivers for years, and we've been adding PFAS to snow melt, and consequently nearly all rivers, for two decades thanks to ski wax. Do the benefits of water repellence, faster skiing, and fewer stains outweigh the global distribution of several bio-accumulative chemicals?

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I've always hated non-stick pans and felt this way before my awareness of the ease with which molecules transport from one substance to another. "But why, they are so easy to clean?" In brief —it requires plastics to "protect" the non-stick surface, inevitably becomes scraped up, enters the waste stream much more frequently than other pans, and just feels "wrong" to the touch.

Teflon, the Dupont branded non-stick surface found on many household pans is technically PTFE, or polytetrafluoroethylene. Break it down to poly (many) tetra (four atoms) fluoro (flourine) ethylene (hydrocarbon made from oil or natural gas). Put simply, it is flourine bound in a polymer which is simply a string of hydrocarbon molecules. The binding of flourine to a polymer is the reason a non-stick pan manufacturer might claim their chemical is safe for use —it should stay put in the coating.

Teflon, at one point contained PFOA, aka Perfluorooctanoic acid, but now does not due to a nationwide ban, by the EPA, on that specific substance. However, PFAS is short for Polyfluoroalkyl Substances, of which there are thousands of variants (PFOA is one such variant). The argument that one substance is safe, because its not the banned other, is a slippery one. It remains to be seen whether PTFE will be banned along with other PFAS in Minnesota, but experts agree that PTFE has the potential to contain an amount of PFAS, intentionally or not, from the manufacturing process, cross-contamination, or from the breakdown, over time, of PTFE.

A properly seasoned cast iron pan shouldn't need Teflon

In an age where we concern ourselves with hot water in polypropylene kettles and BPA lined cans, it seems counterintuitive that nonstick pans should still be popular. Although PFAS are in too many everyday products to list, including Gore-Tex apparel, drugs, cosmetics and ski wax, it's the nonstick pan that most people think of, and don't want to give up, when bans like Minnesota's are put on the table. Putting aside all those scraped up, nonstick pans in home (and Vrbo or Airbnb) kitchens across the country, the citizenry might rise up to say "Hell no! I don't need PFAS in my lipstick or Lipitor," because they don't see the need to ingest these substances or value what they add to them. The convenience of the non-stick pan, on the other hand, is highly valued, making it the poster-child for PFAS.

But there really is no such thing as convenience. Work saved by products, today, is often work or pain kicked down the road or placed on someone else. When we use any of the thousands of consumer products that we didn't realize contain PFAS, there is also the production and post-use release of these chemicals to think about. Although easy to ignore or dismiss, the chain of release and exposure is quite long. Consider the "regrettable substitute" for PFOA called GenX, used in food packaging, paints, cleaning products, non-stick coatings, outdoor fabrics and firefighting foam that found its way from its manufacturing plant into North Carolina's Cape Fear River. Over 350 types of PFAS were discovered at high levels in the river, a drinking water source for Wilmington, NC. Or that, in 1976, 3M began sampling employees’ blood and found workers at their Cottage Grove, MN plant had up to 1,000 times the "normal" amount of fluorochemicals in their blood (for more on this, see the Minnesota Reformer article).

The extent to which PFAS have found their way into so many everyday products, agricultural and industrial uses suggests that they may be hard to restrict or replace. Or that their replacement, like GenX, could be worse than what it was intended to replace. We won't be able to eliminate PFAS from the environment, but we can reduce the amount in our bloodstream. It's logical and reasonable to begin replacing the product we most associate with PFAS —non-stick pans. It so happens that they are not only one of the most ubiquitous PFAS products, but also the easiest to replace and it is entirely in our power to do so.

"If I toss my non-stick into the trash, I'm not only wasting a pan, I'm adding PFAS to the environment."

True, but you would toss it, eventually, and then replace it, repeatedly. Non-stick pans tend to be inexpensive and are easily damaged, creating a short replacement cycle compared to cast iron, carbon steel or stainless pans. When we moved to Minnesota, I found hundred year old cast iron pans in the garage. Some were sold for a high price and others were cleaned up, seasoned, and put to use. We continue to use a stainless saute pan that was given as a wedding gift, in 2006. When was the last time you heard of an heirloom non-stick pan?

So what do I use in the kitchen? Carbon steel and cast iron fry pans, stainless saute pans and pots, and enameled cast iron Dutch ovens. My rice cooker is stainless and seriously, water and my fingers do less than 30 seconds more work than I do for non stick rice cookers. I bring a small pan and pot with me when I stay at Airbnb when I plan to cook and review hosts positively who offer something other than non-stick options. Below is a list of my cookware and links to them on Amazon. If you find this info useful, and want to support the effort, please click through my links if you want to purchase a new pan (of any kind - it works whether you buy the one I use or another brand).

Carbon Steel

Because carbon steel is probably the kind of cookware people are the least familiar with, I want to share some thoughts about it. Prices have more than doubled on carbon steel pans since 2021. I bought my made-in-France, Matfer 10" carbon steel pan for $32 in December 2020 and the same is now $74. Still, given its lighter-than-cast-iron weight, all steel construction, and long service life, I'd say it is worth the cost.

Matfer is a French made carbon steel pan -my favorite "alternative" to non-stick

Tips: I recommend starting with a smaller pan and note that all pans are measured at the rim. If you are cooking on flat-top, electric range, excess electric heat can warp larger pans into a slight wobble on a flat surface —this is not much of a concern on gas top ranges. These pans are used in many restaurant kitchens and, like all professional products, will take some practice.

The seasoning process is fairly simple, but you will need to remove the anti-rust coating before seasoning. You only have to do this once! Carbon steel, like cast iron, is not good for acidic preparations like tomato sauce —use your stainless for that. Although it is suggested by some not to put water in a hot pan, I've done it for a quick clean right after cooking. I also use soap on these and my cast iron. Shrug, its fine for me, but I probably should do another seasoning at some point. There are those that like Matfer and those that like de Buyer, both linked below.

My pan: Matfer Bourgeat Black Carbon Steel Frying Pan, 10"
Alternative made in France pan: Mineral B Carbon Steel by de Buyer

Cast Iron

We use a variety of cast iron in our house. Note: If you can get "antique" cast iron, you will find that it is often thinner and lighter. We own some Griswold, like the number 5 in the photo, below. Old Griswold pans would be a great garage sale find. New cast iron is significantly heavier, so that pans over a certain size tend to have a second handle. Although seasoning was a common practice with cast iron, these days cast iron tends to come foundry-seasoned. Lodge is a USA brand and, compared to much cookware or vintage cast iron, is inexpensive for the longevity it offers. They use vegetable oil in their seasoning process.

Griswold no. 5 is an 8-inch, lightweight, cast iron pan. Some are higher valued than others.

Our Everyday Cast Iron:

Lodge 13-1/4 Inch Cast Iron Pre-Seasoned Skillet (not pictured -great for searing a steak)
Lodge Cast Iron Round Griddle 10-1/2 Inch (we use for pancakes -on right, below photo)
Lodge Pre-Seasoned Cast Iron Loop Handled Double Dutch Oven, 5 qt (we use this for camping, stew, chili. Pictured is the lid which we use a lot as a medium size fry pan)
Lodge Enameled Cast Iron Dutch Oven, 6-Quart (used for sourdough bread baking)

Assorted cast iron we use regularly. Not pictured: our 13" skillet & 5QT dutch oven bottom

Stainless Steel

Stainless is essential for acidic foods, boiling water, soups, saute without blackening (use the carbon or cast iron for that) and what else? Stainless has come down in price over the last 25 years, primarily due to Chinese stainless manufacturing and export. We have one All-Clad fry pan that was a wedding gift and has shown no signs of failing after 20 years —it's the pan on the left in the photo below. All-Clad is made in the USA and this, in part, makes these more expensive, but also a good investment that is unlikely to need replacement. We have a few sauce pans (aka pots) of different sizes, but my primary is a heavy duty, glass-lidded Oneida, seen on the right, in the photo below. I'm not sure if these are still available, but there are comparable brands if you stay above the mid-level price point. Spread the cost of a pan over the span of its use —a good pan can be passed down to the kids, and that makes it a bargain.

All-Clad D3 3-Ply Stainless Steel Fry Pan 12 Inch (left in photo, below)
All-Clad D3 3-Ply Stainless Steel Sauté Pan (not shown, large!)
My sauce pan/pot is Oneida, heavy with glass lid (right in photo, below)

Carbon Steel Woks

This is a trickier arena that frying pans. I could not locate a wok just like the one I have, pictured below. I know that I bought it in NYC at the Broadway Panhandler, a store which I believe has long ago gone out of business. We've had it for 15 years or more. It's "bowl" is definitely machine made and likely wasn't very expensive for the time period. A Chinese grocer just might carry this wok in their housewares section.

What is important to look for in a wok? For most in the US, we need a true flat-bottom wok to sit firmly on our range tops —whether gas, induction, coil, or glass top. Round bottom woks require a ring to stabilize it and only work well with flame. Size is another important feature, but only the cook can decide what they need. Our wok is about 14 inches across the rim, 6 inches at the bottom flat, and about 4 inches deep.

Care, after cooking, for our old wok is to boil water, sponge wipe, rinse, then dry on low heat.

Another cook-subjective feature is the angle of the handle. One wok I recommend, below, has a steeper handle than the wok we currently use. Some don't care for that, yet I find using a wok is sometimes a two hand affair, regardless of the handle angle. Most of the time I do not pick up the wok, anyway, except when placing it on the range or cleaning it. Wood handle vs steel handle? Again, subjective, but most have wood or bamboo handles. I'd rather see no rivets on the inside cooking surface, but rivets won't be a deal breaker if its other qualities match my needs. Lastly, there is the option of the "helper"—the added "D" handle opposite the stem handle. I think it's useful if moving a fully-loaded wok and adds only a minimal amount of weight. How much you use it depends on your cooking.

Reading reviews of woks I see too many people who expect their pan or wok to be non-stick out of the gate. They are freaked out by metal scraping metal, which is normal since stainless utensils are harder than carbon steel. Of course, seasoning will also become scraped, especially if using metal utensils. Options include not worrying about it, using bamboo or wooden utensils, or additional seasonings over the years of use.

There is a lot of confusion around the color of the steel: blue carbon, black carbon, silver. The "pre-seasoning" that creates blue/black finish on the wok is a heat-induced iron oxide that protects the pan from rust in storage and shipping. It is not permanent and not the color of the steel. It is, however, the alternative to coating the steel in a resin that needs to be scoured off —as is needed with the French carbon steel pans.

Let's not get excited by a sexy looking blue steel pan no matter how good it looks out of the box. You'll want to get on with seasoning it with oil and cooking in it to improve its non-stick properties. That said, expectations for non-stick created by the Teflon option are too high! Food sticks, so its necessary to season appropriately, which takes time, and grow our cooking technique which is mostly gaining experience with heat adjustments.

One last point is about my cleaning regimen for our old wok. I seasoned our wok a long time ago and should redo it. Starchy foods can stick with our current coil range top. To clean, I add some water to boil, wipe out, rinse and place back on the now cooling coil. It usually dries in a minute or two and the entire process doesn't take very long.

I recommend two woks, below, both with wood handle and flat bottoms, but at very different price points.

ZhenSanHuan Hand-Hammered Iron Wok Flat Bottom (hand made wok from China, no rivets, either metal or wood handle, with or without helper handle)
Yosukata Carbon Steel Wok Pan 13.5 inch (Chinese wok made with Japanese steel, has rivets and more steeply angled wood handle)

Rice Cooker

In 2015, I bought our first stainless steel pan rice cooker. It is still in service with no issues, however, no pictures as it is still in storage from the move. The only difference between it and a non-stick version is that it has no Teflon. Cleaning does require me to put a little water in it, to soak, if I won't get to cleaning it until after eating. If not, simply go at it like any stainless pot. I run my fingers around to dislodge any starchy rice, rinse, then sponge with soap and rinse. A stainless rice cooker will add 20 or 30 seconds to your clean up. A trick to reduce sticking at the center bottom of the pot (it sits on the heating element) is to remove the pot, keeping the lid on, when cooking is complete. I tend to just unplug it when done. It always stays warm (think about the warm white rice in a box that made it all the way home from the takeout place).

Rice Cooker: Aroma Stainless Rice Cooker With Uncoated Pot, 14-Cup

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If you agree with my thoughts on PFAS, write your state reps. I'd hate to see this ban, only the second in the nation, turned over like an egg on nonstick. Otherwise, consider getting new pans because it is the easiest thing we can do to reduce exposure to excess industrial chemicals. Unfortunately, Minnesota hazardous waste sites, like those in Hennepin County, do not yet include information for those looking to disposing PFAS containing home products. Although it is likely that some of the wastes they accept do contain PFAS, products like carpets still go to the conventional landfill.

The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency has stated that intentionally added PFAS will be prohibited in consumer products that fall under 11 categories*:

carpets or rugs
cleaning products
cookware
cosmetics
dental floss
fabric treatments
juvenile products
menstruation products
textile furnishings
ski wax
upholstered furniture

*This is by no mean a comprehensive list of all products, industrial and agricultural processes and products that utilize PFAS.

_____________________

Since 2007, this blog has provided valuable information and entertainment without the use of ads or any other commercial enterprise. As of January 1, 2025, some of my blog posts will have links to products that I have personally used, have found helpful for completing projects, or are of similar quality. I would not suggest, nor link to, a product that I did not find helpful, useful, or otherwise high quality for its intended purpose. If you have found a post helpful and would like to purchase a suggested tool, book, or other product, please consider clicking through the Amazon Affiliate linked product. If you do, you will support the creation of even more informative posts. Thank you! This post contains links to Amazon: As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. For lack of click-through purchases, Amazon booted this blog from the program.

Aesthetics Of Melancholy

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 30 Jan 2025 12:00:00 +0000

Wildfire Sunrise, Colorado, 2024, framed pigment print on matte cotton paper, 15.75"x21"

My exhibit, Aesthetics of Melancholy, at Rosalux Gallery in Minneapolis, opened on November 2nd and closed on November 30, 2024. This new work builds on my last exhibit, Don't Go Into The Light, also at Rosalux, in November, 2022. Below are images of some, not all, of the pieces in the exhibition and thoughts on the process and meaning of the work.

Aesthetics of Melancholy, Installation View.

These works were made between the summers of 2023 and 2024, in locations as varied as New York's Hudson Valley, Gettysburg National Park, and the Roaring Fork Valley of Colorado. Despite appearances, each image is entirely in-focus. Image capture is triggered after I place various studio-made, custom plastic filters in front of the lens. The plastics distort the intensity, saturation, contrast, and wavelength of incoming light. The photographs are not digitally altered beyond common color correction for screen or printing.

Kaaterskill Falls, New York, 2024, framed pigment print on matte cotton paper, 15.75"x21"

On Process

First I see something. Then bring the camera viewfinder to my eye. I then see something entirely different and, at times, less engaging. If it passes this test of first transformation, I press the shutter, and review. Now, I see something else, twice removed from what I originally saw. Later, I slip the card out of the camera to view on my laptop, press the space bar, and what is seen is new once again. Images that looked great on a three-inch camera screen, now fully backlit, fall short. The original excitement for an image may have dissipated.

Still, one out of a series may go on from here. Finally, there is my input as I edit an image for yet another, even greater transformation —the print. Now, the image is viewed on my large, matte screen capable of 98% Adobe RGB color gamut. For each test, the "proof," I act as a kind of translator between two similar, yet distinct, modalities where I could spend hours on subtle differences between the two. Each re-proof changes how the same image, last printed, is perceived. Detail and tonality are often unchanged, proof to re-proof, but color is ever shifting with my subjectivity, ambient light, paper choice, and in comparison to a prior proof.

The final print can be, possibly must be, as different from the screen image as a negative is from a wet print. Printing is as necessary to the art-making process as that first sight which compelled me to lift the viewfinder to my eye. Because of this, there is no proper way to select a suite of images from a screen for an exhibit of prints. The solution is to create many more prints than a space can hold so the relationship between images, which creates meaning, can be fully understood. Only then can the depth of the work come together and become visible to you.

Monument, Tsé Biiʼ Ndzisgaii, AZ, 2024, framed pigment print on matte cotton paper, 22.5"x30"

On Presentation

I've always had difficulty with common display modalities of photographs, i.e. frame, mat and glass, so like my prints on polyester, for my prior exhibit in 2022, I wanted to explore something new. The images are low contrast and highly saturated due to the process of photographing through plastic sheeting, so I felt printing on a matte cotton paper would be appropriate and transformative —elevating each image beyond the screen on which we so often view digital photographs.

The work is printed on either Epson Legacy Fibre —a Rives BFK-like, matte cotton rag paper made by Canson, or on Hahnemühle Photo Rag —a matte cotton paper with a subtle, watercolor paper-like texture. Heavy ink deposits on textured, matte papers harmonized with the painterly imagery born out of the filtered photographic process. This physical presence is part of the experience of the work, blurring the boundaries of photography and painting.

Placing prints behind glass would work against the physical presence I was going for. So, despite the good advice of more than one framer, I chose to mount the prints on Dibond (a plastic panel sandwiched between two thin pieces of aluminum) within a frame with no glazing. It's unsettling for me to give part of the process over to someone else, but I could not accomplish mounting of delicate prints in my studio, so had the mounting done by a Minneapolis print shop.

I also decided to make my own white-pickled, maple frames with one quarter inch float-gap all around the mounted print. I ripped maple stock to size for this project, mitered, constructed, pickled, and finally wired each frame. The frame face sits about one eighth proud of the print surface to offer a bit of protection. The resulting aesthetic matched my expectations, although I recognize that, without glazing, the delicate print surface is exposed to abrasion, spittle, light, and atmosphere. For this exhibit, I accepted the risk and it turned out well.

Walkers, Storm King Art Center, New York, 2024, framed pigment print on matte cotton paper, 15.75"x21"

On Meaning

My landscape photographs depict places of personal or cultural significance, all potent sites of melancholy, and are evocative of my artistic influences from American Luminist painters to German painter Gerhard Richter, photographers Edward Steichen to Richard Misrach. My intention is to create an experience of melancholy linked to the experience of nature; to synthesize the pleasure of living on this planet with the grief of change.

Melancholy is not sorrow nor depression, but an aesthetic-emotive response to internal or external stimuli. Landscape, a memory, an image, quality of light, a thought, or even scent —these things, and others, can trigger or sustain it. Melancholy has a counterpart in the sublime, and both have roots in nature experience and human emotion. Where sublimity is the transmutation of terror into awe, melancholy is the intentional contemplation of transience, longing or a faint promise of hope; it connects the past with the present, harmonizes the painful with the pleasurable, and links imagination to emotion. Melancholy, like the sublime, is a reflective experience capable of elevating us above unprocessed emotions and synthesizing feeling, memory, imagination, experience, place, and time.

The path to this show was not a straight one. It began within the context of an artist residency at Cedar Creek Ecosystem Science Reserve where I discovered the concept of hauntology, revisited folk horror, and imagined an occult practice in the artifacts and landscapes of ecology science. Then there is my time in the construction and nursery trades surrounded by, and viewing the world through sheet plastics. Of course, there is climate change, apocalyptic thinking and the raw emotions surrounding our culpability. There is also my history of training and practice as a painter, which undoubtedly influences my photography.

In 2022, a young student came to my exhibit "Don't Go Into the Light" (a reference to the film Poltergeist) and, as I was there that day, told me that the work was "so beautiful, she needed to cry." I think that response to the work was, to some degree, the impetus for the theme of the current exhibit.

As I often do, in preparation for an upcoming exhibit, I began exploring possible show titles through the practice of web searching relevant keywords. This research yielded an article titled Melancholy as an Aesthetic Emotion printed in the journal Contemporary Aesthetics, Volume I, by Emily Brady. I was floored by her consolidation of the many disparate notions and thoughts I had about where my work was and is going. The ideas it presented also helped me recall how, in childhood, I would get lost in an experience I could only describe, now, as an intentionally sustained, internal experience of sadness and beauty whose net outcome felt positive. The experience was most often stirred by a landscape, a quality of light, something as simple as staring, alone, out a window at dusk.

The images above and below each have their own background story —the moment of image capture as well as the significance of the site for me, personally. However, I do not consider myself a photographic story-teller. It is preferable that I do not interject my "reason" for working with a location as it could focus the experience too much on the artist. Many sites are compelling, but that alone doesn't make the work, and sometimes, hard as one tries, imagery from a location might yield little, if any, art. Lastly, a little self-criticism is warranted —I could have developed greater connection between individual images, either by placement or selection.

The gallery frontispiece, so close to the window, is hard to photograph.

Mountain-Side House, Colorado, 2024, framed pigment print on matte cotton paper, 15.75"x21"

Fishing, Smith Point, New York, 2024, framed pigment print on matte cotton paper, 22.5"x30"

Oil Spring, Seneca Nation, New York, 2024, framed pigment print on matte cotton paper, 15.75"x21"

Wedding Party, Pickett’s Charge, Gettysburg, 2024, framed pigment print on matte cotton paper, 22.5"x30"

Dumpster Fire

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 19 Jan 2025 12:00:00 +0000

In a string of texts with a friend, this morning, following the news of the death of filmmaker David Lynch, I mused that what I had read of national and world affairs, via news and social media, was a Lynchian experience. It is the difficulty I (we) seem to have establishing credibility; how unchecked suspicions are projected as sinister expressions onto media-represented entities, whether they be bland bureaucrat or billionaire. For instance, a Reddit comment thread I scanned, this morning, on the Supreme Court's decision to allow banning Tik Tok, was full of competing arguments featuring a discordant cast of malicious actors intent on political realignment or global ruin for personal gain.

My friend texted back "fever dreams and dumpster fires." I knew what he meant —the chaotic mess in which our world appears to be. Had the phrase been spoken I may not have lingered on it, but in textual form, I stared at it, my mind wandering to whether or not my sense of the phrase was the same as his. Whatever the intent, I suspect that he and I would agree that "dumpster fire," its moving image, would have felt at home in a David Lynch production to the extent that my memory could have inserted it, falsely, into any one of his films.

Image: Ben Watts from Ottawa, Canada, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

"Dumpster fire" is one of those terms, as NPR pointed out, that may only be understood when you see one. It is the act of "seeing" that grabs my attention, because seeing requires a degree of emotional distance, a level of safety or, at minimum, comfortable disengagement from the dangers of fire. Aware that this may induce eye-rolling from any casual user of the phrase, still, try to follow my disambiguation of the dumpster from "dumpster fire."

Dumpster is a trade name turned colloquial term —like Kleenex, Brillo or Coke. My image of a dumpster is what those in the trade would call a "roll-off." A roll-off comes on a large truck and is temporarily placed at a construction or demolition site. The container is slid down a rail and, as its rear-end wheels make contact with the ground, is rolled off as the truck slowly pulls forward. This dumpster, or roll-off, is taken away when the cleanup is complete.

For some, a dumpster's image is a lidded bin, like this trash container, often on wheels, covered with a steel or plastic, single or double lid. This dumpster collects refuse at institutions, campgrounds, apartment complexes, and behind commercial strip malls. It is "tipped" with a side or rear-mounted pickup mechanism on a truck that makes rounds, on a regular schedule, collecting mostly bagged, non construction trash.

Two blue common institutional trash bins, aka dumpsters

Are these differences significant to the meaning of dumpster fire? Both share the concept: containers that hold trash. Although, as a large, heavy plate steel container, welded all around with steel reinforcements along its sides, and a wide swinging gate requiring multiple maneuvers to open, the roll-off is the better visual to support the phrase. It is a solid, rectilinear volume that acts not only to contain trash, but also to frame the fire. Significantly, the roll-off dumpster holds the trash of a single entity, whereas the rolling, lidded bin of apartment complexes and campgrounds holds the trash of many. So, whose trash is this, that burns? Mine, yours, or our collective trash?

"whatever is in any sort terrible or is conversant about terrible objects or operates in a manner analogous to terror, is a source of the sublime." –Edmund Burke, 1757

To call something a dumpster fire is another way of saying "there is a hot mess." The dumpster fire isn't mine —it is always someone else's burning trash. If it were mine, calling out dumpster fire would be of emergency, but it can't be because the phrase is always sardonic. Any fire can be threatening, but this fire isn't, after all, it is so well-contained by that heavy steel roll-off, that it is merely entertaining. Fire, framed this way, is an aesthetic experience with some root in the sublime. Viewed from a position of safety, the terror is experienced comfortably; the threat is close enough to trigger emotions, yet comes without serious risk, enabling the intellect to overcome the emotional. Like the sublime, then, the dumpster fire idea has a way of inhabiting sophisticated spaces.

An example could be found in the 2016 election cycle. A Democrat who followed the Republican primary might have said that it was a dumpster fire, proclaiming that Trump could never win. However, a Democrat commenting on the results of the November, 2016 election might not, and probably shouldn't, have said that it was a dumpster fire. This is simply because the results of the Republican primary belonged to the Republican party, but the 2016 election belonged to all Americans, regardless of any deployment of "not my president."

Somewhere over the last decade, "dumpster fire" broadened from its plausible, original intent of stinky but insignificant, to unmitigated disaster or out of control. Stinky (burning plastic), but insignificant (because it is not mine and contained), fits well enough with my analysis. Still, in 2025, a Swiss diplomat might say, all too self-assuredly, that the U.S.A. is a political dumpster fire. But we know all too well, now, depending on what is burning and the conditions under which they burn, that fires (and phrases) begin insignificantly and have a way of getting out of hand.

Gardens Throwing Shade Pt III: You've Got This

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 14 Jan 2025 11:30:00 +0000

Nodding Trillium, Trillium cernuum, emerging in spring among buttercup and Jewelweed.

In the previous post,I discussed the various ways the recent history of your yard affected soil quality and your ability to plant woodland species. In this third, and last, post on growing sensitive woodland species in your yard or garden, I will address simple things you can do to make your soil more hospitable to these special plants. Well above ground, a community of trees we call forest or woodland, is quite different from most yards, even those in neighborhoods full of trees. In many woodlands, certainly the mixed deciduous forest known as the Big Woods, in Minnesota, trees have fewer branches. Why is this?

Big Woods understory includes shade, fallen leaves, few plants and fewer lower branches.

The main driver is competition for light. Trees will not expend energy growing horizontal branches like those found on a specimen tree in a yard full of sun. The branches they do have are usually striving upward toward sunlight —light that is often the result of a larger tree that came crashing down. It probably took out some neighboring tree branches along the way, reducing lower branches even more. This is not to say there are never lower branches found on mature trees in the woods, but that their growth is limited by available light. Branches support leaves, and leaves are there to collect light to make food. Yard trees do not look like forest trees because they are exposed to so much light and can create that much more food.

The forest canopy is extensive, spreading across the entire woodland to shade the soil beneath and protect it from drying winds and hot sun. In a blow down, where storms knock down trees, several quick-growing species take advantage, beginning to protect the soil beneath once again. The expansive canopy, its layers of leaves above, and understory species below, reduces the impact of heavy rain on soil below. This happens under that big old maple in your yard, too, but it does so without the reinforcing elements of a forest context.

Rainfall, tapping leaves that slow its descent to the forest floor, is less likely to erode soil and accumulated organic matter. Fallen leaves and wood, not dried by the sun or blown away by wind, can decompose. What's more, the sun's heat, but also wind, act as a draw on tree canopy's transpiration, but trees with fewer branches have fewer leaves, and fewer leaves means reduced transpiration —effectively limiting ground moisture from moving back into the atmosphere. Forest soil retains moisture more consistently than yard soil which allows tree roots to grow deeply, less laterally, making it easier for woodland plants to grow under trees. The forest creates its own atmosphere of higher humidity, cooler and a shallower temperature range. Moist, organic soil helps seeds germinate while the moist atmosphere is hospitable to emergent woodland species.

I believe you may now be getting the picture. Common yard soil needs to mimic the soil that sensitive woodland plants require (moist —not wet, organic, and cool). The yard in which these plants are sited must be shaded by trees, protected from harsh wind and sun exposure to increase humidity and regulate temperature.

How To Do This?

1. Collect as many fallen leaves as you can, from your yard or others

Tip: Mixed species are best, pine needles fine, but all maple leaves are not ideal

2. Pile leaves in shade

Tip: Shred leaves to halt blow-away and jump-start decomposition

Tip: Mow leaves with a mulching mower with bagger or cart to streamline process

Tip: If leaves aren't shredded, place chicken wire or similar on top to hold in place

3. Keep leaves moist, but not soaking wet —average rainfall is usually enough

Tip: In drought, sprinkle every so often

4. Wait 3 years

Tip: Add new shredded leaves to the same pile each year

5. Harvest duff-like, partially decomposed leaves from bottom of the pile

Tip: Do not place newly shredded, or whole, leaves thickly onto garden beds

6. Use this duff-like material around sensitive woodland species.

Tip: No need to incorporate it deeply, just add an inch or two near plants.

The number 5 tip —why is that?

Spreading shredded (or whole) leaves thickly over your garden, then covered in a winter's heavy snow, will create a smothering mat. Microorganisms attempting to consume/breakdown all that carbon (brown) will rob the soil of nitrogen (green) needed by your plants. Garden soil, probably already compacted, and plants won't benefit much, or at all, from either of the above.

Conversely, a large, moist pile of shredded leaves in a shady corner of your yard will not be entirely consumed by (non-native) earthworms. A large, moist and matted pile will also lack an amount of oxygen that will alter the way the material breaks down, leading to the creation of a duff-like substance (the desired produce!). Isolated from the garden, you do not have to worry about how a lot of leaves will affect your plants. There are other factors, like mycorrhizae, that may or may not be present, but this is beyond the scope of this article.

Will it really take 3 years?

Wet or dry years may affect how long it takes for the first year's leaves to turn to duff. Leaves from different tree species may affect timing as well. The number of leaves piled is another factor. My experience in our mostly shaded, upland wooded location is that shredded Bur and Red Oak, Basswood, Sugar Maple and Hickory leaves combined began to create useful material in 3 years. Add more leaves, yearly, as the process is ongoing.

How big of a pile?

Depends on how much ground you need to cover, how much space you have available for a pile, and how many leaves you have access to. Eventually duff breaks down & needs replenishment —just like a compost pile. You will be surprised how small a big pile will become over just a few years. Eventually, if you do not add more leaves, you'll hardly notice it was there except for that duff-like material where the pile was.

What else can I add to the pile?

Think of the woods you aim to mimic. What breaks down in that woods -add that. Aside from improbable items like insect & animal carcasses, you can add pine needles, rotted or finely chipped wood, but not too thickly and not cedar or southern yellow pine. If adding chipped wood, layer it thinly (the lasagna method). If you or a neighbor have a chipper, small branches and twigs are a good addition. In spring, add fallen, cracked acorns. Do not add compost materials like vegetable scraps or garden trimmings. We do not want excessive green material added to our carbon, as this will lead to compost, not duff. Of course, avoid weeds.

The duff pile is your primary investment in improving conditions for sensitive, woodland plants like many spring ephemerals or species like Blue Cohosh. Consider asking why you want to grow ephemeral species like Trillium or Bloodroot. What is the benefit? How long will they last? If you have yet to grow other, easier woodland species, why might Dutchman’s Breeches succeed?

Hepatica acutiloba blooms through leaf litter on the plain of the Whitewater River, MN.

After all, plants belong to communities of species and we are attempting to create a limited, artificial version of that community. If you want Cutleaf Toothwort and Blue Cohosh, have you first tried White Avens & Lady Fern? If you want Nodding Trillium & Hepatica, consider beginning with PA Sedge & Early Meadow Rue. If you succeed with these easier, readily propagated and available species, you may have that much greater success with cultivating the more challenging woodland species.

Upland forest habitat, early spring with PA Sedge, Ramps, Trillium, and more at Shelterwood

Lastly —remember that nearly all upland plants like decent drainage and abhor compaction. And for difficult environments, like a large Norway Maple in the yard with a ton of surface roots or under the eaves on the north side of the house, another approach may be required. Consider limbing-up the tree (or taking it down), adding irrigation (if you must), yearly dressing with duff, or researching species which can deal with thin, shaded soil and dry conditions during the growing season. Heavy mulching with bark or wood chips won't do much for the long term improvement under that big yard maple.

The images below are from my leaf pile. My 2023 year leaves, not shown, were freshly mulch-mowed and piled over the 2022 leaves.

These leaves have been piled for a year and have begun to compress into a mat.

These leaves are half-way there, with some 2022 layer visible, top right.

Close, but not quite there yet, give it another year.

Frozen chunk of duff-like layer under a 5 year pile of mixed leaves.

For comparison, look closely at the prairie garden soil, below. Prairie soils can be quite different —from very sandy to silty to gravelly, but what they tend to have in common is lower quantities of organic matter (than forest soil) and good drainage.

Prairie soils are different than forest soil —no duff layer and little organic matter.

Closeup of prairie soil —a mix of sand, small coarse rock and some clay.

Previous Post: Gardens Throwing Shade, Pt II

Gardens Throwing Shade Pt II: All Shade Is Not Created Equal

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 01 Jan 2025 11:00:00 +0000

As I stated in my first post, woodland soil is very different from the earth found around our homes. Sensitive woodland species that many of us would love to grow in our shaded gardens, like Trillium or Blue Cohosh, won't do well without serious amending (tips, later). Before I address the challenge of yard soil and sensitive woodland species, I'd like to give a few short answers to those who wish to plant around their home.

If we take soil quality out of the equation, for part-shade to part-sun, up against a home, your best bet is to selectively choose savanna or prairie species. No problem —we love prairie flowers 🥰! Prairie species work best on southern, eastern or western exposures with five or more hours of sun, and savanna species can work with as little as two or three hours over the course of a summer day. Soil should be relatively lean (not rich) and well-draining (to go into depth on this will require a future post).

"But what about shade cast by a wall, or deep house eaves, or our new six foot fence, grandma's lilac hedge, and even grandpa’s Norway Maple 😫?"

These are all quite different scenarios where shade is a common factor. Behind a fence or shrub hedge where you find consistently dappled sun, or early or late direct sun, you can try semi-shade savanna species like Columbine, Zig Zag Goldenrod, Wild Strawberry, False Solomon's Seal and others. If you need a longer list tailored to your site, I am available for consulting. Again, this very short list of recommendations, above, is made apart from the question of soil quality. The most successful native plant gardeners are those who understand the composition of the soil found in their yards.

Dry, savanna garden: shaded by large pine & garage from southeast to west, and eaves.

Fully-shaded beds up against north-facing house walls can be inhospitable to many plants, including woodland species. The shade on the north side of a house can be exceptionally dark -darker than a forest! Further, house eaves, or even trees planted too close to the home, can block rainfall leading to exceptionally dry soil near the house. On the other hand, north-side soil can also remain consistently cool, damp, compacted and infertile. If house eaves drip, that can further compact soil and splash away added topsoil or compost.

Compacted soil near the home, or anywhere in the yard, is a problem gardeners inherit from the home building process. The excavation of the home site and foundation, at the time of construction, leaves subsoil and substratum on the surface. These were scraped and dug, piled high, and then spread around the yard and pushed against the newly built foundation. Heavy machinery compacts that subsoil, which is often a dense, sometimes chalky, silt-clay.

Contractors often finish a site with driveways, patios or sidewalks (aka hardscaping) near the house, increasing poor soil and compaction near the home. When all is completed, topsoil reserved from the original site grading, or brought in from elsewhere, is spread thinly around the property. This establishes the convoluted O and A horizons (see image, below) found in most small yards. If you want to learn more about soil compaction and how to mitigate it, check out this page from the MN Pollution Control Agency.

Original: Wilsonbiggs Vector: EssensStrassen, CC BY-SA 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

It is entirely possible that your home was built in a region with a different subsoil profile —maybe sand or a mix of silt, sand and gravel. This is less common, but is possible in glaciated zones across North America, especially where glaciers terminated and retreated ages ago. In these cases you may find your property has different challenges, although no less problematic for sensitive woodland species. If your entire property is larger than the average city lot (1/20 to 1/10 acre) or suburban lot (1/10 to 1/4 acre), you may find intact native soil horizons in parts of your property. However, near the house, especially one with a basement, you are unlikely to find native soil, or even good garden soil if it hasn't been modified by years of amending.

"Okay, so that's mostly near the house, but what about the barren spot under the Norway Maple —way out in the yard. It used to be lawn. Why can't I grow woodland plants there? 🤔"

To reiterate —away from the home, native soil horizons may still be intact. However, where home lots are small or extensive grading was done, it is likely that subsoil was spread and topsoil added, then a carpet of sod was laid. When they planted the non-native Norway Maple, a common practice in many regions across the US, it was but 10 feet tall. As the tree grew tall and wide in the open sun, its long, low, and leafy branches shaded out the bluegrass lawn.

"So the Norway Maple killed my lawn? 🤔"

In part, yes. Yards and streets have individual tree specimens —each with a large canopy much wider than those found in a sunlight-competitive environment like a forest. While there are shade and drought-tolerant grass species, U.S. lawns tend to be a mix of sun and water-loving bluegrass and rye. Because of ample sun, the Norway Maple maintained and lengthened its lower branches, creating an ever-widening ring of shaded ground beneath it, making the lawn stressed by low sunlight. However, the lawn and maple, together, made for a feedback loop that spelled the end for the lawn and nearly anything else that you may try to grow under that maple.

😳 "Isn't there anything I can plant there?"

Not much. The tree's sunlight-driven horizontal growth, its exposure to shallow lawn irrigation, constant runoff, low organic matter due to raked leaves, already compacted soil made worse by foot traffic, and lawn fertilizers strewn about pushed the Norway Maple to grow longer, larger lateral roots at or near the soil surface. These same conditions forced it to develop a dense network of surface feeder roots across an area even wider than its canopy. The conditions created by this combination of lawn and tree are nearly inhospitable to growing other plants, native or not. Where these conditions exist, landscapers and gardeners chop and till feeder roots, add fresh soil, each year, just to grow shade-loving annuals like impatiens. Irrigation is a necessity to grow anything other than the maple because its feeder roots suck dry all moisture that makes it through its dense canopy.

Trees are the dominant species, after all, so they get first dibs. As you can see, in this case scenario, there is little you can do, without constant work and amending, to grow woodland plants under that tree. You could, of course, cut down the Norway Maple. Not to pick on this particular species —in a maple forest much less grows in its dark understory compared to an oak woods or mixed deciduous forest. A lawn environment, combined with any number of tree species planted as individual specimens, can create a set of problems similar to that described above.

"Wait, it can’t be this way everywhere and I've seen yards with trees and lush gardens!☝️🤨"

Right. This is a generalization. Every yard has its own set of unique conditions to be understood before setting out to plant. Variables from construction methods to pre-development land use to garden and arborist practices over decades can change outcomes. However, the concepts above are sound.

In this series of three posts I set out to address growing sensitive woodland plants in a home garden, but this niche, especially when it comes to the woodland ephemeral species, can be challenging. The quantity of variables appears to be one reason for so much failure, but the most important factor is you —the gardener. In part 3, I will reveal the simplest thing gardeners can do to sustain sensitive woodland species in their shade gardens.

Go To Post Three...

Go To Post One...

Gardens Throwing Shade

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 29 Dec 2024 11:00:00 +0000

I was in the MN Landscape Arboretum Bookstore to pick up 𝘚𝘱𝘪𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘋𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘪𝘯𝘨: 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘕𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘚𝘬𝘺, 𝘐𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘒𝘯𝘰𝘸𝘭𝘦𝘥𝘨𝘦, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘓𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘊𝘰𝘯𝘯𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘊𝘰𝘴𝘮𝘰𝘴 by Travis Novitsky and Annette S. Lee. Travis presented his work for my landscape photographer speaker series in early December, 2023 —just a month after his book had been released. He was the third of five guest artists I brought in for my last event as photography programs manager at the institution colloquially known as "the Arb." His presentation was full of connections made between the night sky, photography, seasonality, human experience and how these come together through storytelling. If you have the chance to hear him speak, do it -or pick up his book.

Book in hand, I turned to look across the aisle, and eyed 𝘓𝘪𝘧𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘚𝘰𝘪𝘭 by James Nardi, a book I read a dozen years ago in my Brooklyn apartment, merely 3 feet from our garden and its mixed-blessing soil between the apartment wall and sidewalk. In this book, Nardi describes the soil as a cosmos under our feet, and within it, a universe of chemical compounds, ionized atoms, and organisms. If you want to understand how over-watering can be toxic to a plant or be able to explain how electrical charge relates to fertility, this book is a good read.

Next to Life in the Soil was another book on earthworms. While paging through this book, I got to thinking about failures common to native gardening under shaded, home landscape conditions. Out in the park, the gardener sees Trillium grandiflorum or Caulophyllum thalictroides, and thinks "I’ve got shade and medium soil, so this should grow in my yard." After purchasing these difficult-to-find plants, siting and digging them in, they don’t make it. The gardener questions the plant (was it healthy?), the sky (too much sun, not enough water?), or the source (can’t trust that nursery!).

Blue Cohosh, Caulophyllum thalictroides, in bloom at Shelterwood

These questions should be asked, but are only the beginning. Forest-dwelling plants have a complex relationship to the earth conditioned by millennia of dead leaf and wood deposition, decayed and partially decomposed, along with fungi, insects, and microbes. The chemical composition of such healthy soil is light years apart from scraped, compacted, replaced, overused, apparently healthy but relatively lifeless earth around our homes. Even in apparently natural woodlands, soil in human-occupied regions has often declined to simple mineral soils that lack layers of organic matter. These layers are necessary in support of those plant species we desire for our yards. In other words, trees alone are not enough. Yard trees have a very different relationship to yard soil than forest trees have to forest soil —something I repeat to Shelterwood customers each year.

You may be wondering what a gardener can do to grow more soil-sensitive species among those species well-adapted to survive less hospitable conditions (I’m looking at you, PA Sedge). Before addressing that, a brief discussion about the types of shade that can be found around common home sites in the U.S. is necessary. See the following post to learn more (to be published on Jan 1, 2025).

Part Two: Gardens Throwing Shade: Not All Shade Is Created Equal

Cutleaf Toothwort, Cardamine concatenata, in coir pot at Shelterwood

Autumn Changes

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 27 Dec 2024 11:00:00 +0000

Two months ago I closed my native plant nursery, Shelterwood Gardens. Although 2024 was my most successful to date, with sales doubling each year since 2020, it was also the year we decided to sell our always-too-big house on acreage we could hardly keep up or afford to have others help. The strictly retail nursery was small, typically no more than 5000 plants, all raised in pots with most over-wintered at least once. Peak species count was about 230 -all native or nearly native to the counties surrounding the Minneapolis Metro region.

What set Shelterwood apart from the other native plant nurseries in the state was my focus on mature potted plants and time with the customer. I understood that a customer's native plant research often mixed with desire and the web's most popular, most reiterated information. Since the nursery was never very busy with customers, I had time to help each choose species appropriate to their site and conditions.

Nursery in early spring

The information I provided was built on my experience growing individual species, observations of species in the "field," and research -in other words, not fool-proof. In some ways native plant gardening can be quite easy and at times, especially as a gardener aims to mimic natural communities more precisely, it can be overwhelming. The goal was always to keep those new to native plant gardening interested, curious, and motivated to carry on despite the common setbacks like prominent weeds, species failure, and excessive herbivory.

Nursery in mid June

In the Upper Midwest, where native plant gardening has its roots in the work and thinking of Aldo Leopold, among others, there are many native plant nurseries -most of them focused on prairie and wetland edge species. Although I also grew and sold these, Shelterwood increased the number of woodland and sand prairie species for those many woodland and sandy soil lots. In this arena there is opportunity for growth -for gardeners and nurseries, should they choose to take it on.

Nursery in winter

Below are my closing words to a list of about 150 customers who had subscribed to Shelterwood Gardens native plant nursery newsletter.

_____________________

Dear Native Plant Enthusiasts,

Another summer is coming to a close. Water-stressed trees, primarily sugar maples in our woods, are beginning to show their fall colors. There's also the sound of crickets and katydids, which arrived early this year, but are more pronounced in August. This chorus of rhythmic chirps and trills, what is called stridulation, I consider one of the goals of gardening with native species. Order, in the garden, can and should be expanded beyond sight alone, into a panoply of the senses. Where a neighbor might comment on apparent chaos they see in habitat you've helped create, redirect their attention to the aural order's assurances that all is as it should be. Check out this great website to identify the August singers supported by your gardens.

If you sense wistfulness in late August -this is the season where we still actively enjoy the wonders of summer, but anticipate its end. In this anticipation there is an aesthetic, emotional quality of melancholy. This feeling is sustained with diminishing light, the hours shifting cool then warm then cool again, morning dew, the flash of fiery senescence on our eyes, and crisp blue sky. Autumnal melancholy is neither sad nor bittersweet; it is no less a yearned for comfort than plush sweaters, spiced hot milk, wood smoke, and squash's sugary starch.

With late August upon us, Shelterwood has only a half dozen or so open weekends left before the close of the season. This season will also be Shelterwood's last. I opened Shelterwood at the outset of the pandemic, making this my fifth season growing Minnesota native plants to maturity. Having worked within horticultural and educational settings over several years, I wanted to bring to the native plant business what I wanted to see and hadn't found -even in Minnesota, a state rich with native plant resources. I think that I have created in Shelterwood a proof of concept that native plants can be grown to maturity, overwintered, and that there are customers who want them.

Minnesota's native plant trade has focused on prairie species for it is in prairie that we find flowers, therefore pollinators, and these two things people have come to want to see more of in their yards and gardens. There is, however, much greater depth to be found in Minnesota's numerous ecoregions,from northern Lake Agassiz Plain to the southeastern Driftless. Woodlands, of which Minnesota has such great diversity, has long been overlooked in the native plant trade. This, however, is beginning to change and will continue to change as long as there are customers who expect to find native woodland species at their favorite native plant nursery. As a small nursery, I was able to grow species that were difficult to germinate or grow at commercial scale. I was able to depend on seedlings emerging in pots of their "choice" instead of rows of hothouse cell trays. Where profit is not the motive, small can do many things big cannot.

I'd like to extend my heartfelt gratitude to those customers who've returned, year over year, to support Shelterwood as well as 2024's new faces. Business improved this year due, in large part, to finally getting on the Lawn2Legume grant list of nurseries and participation in two additional off-site sales. It would be great to see these off-site sales extended from May into June and then again in late August to early September. If that is of interest to you, request it from your favorite retailer of native plants. Without the big growers on board, it is unlikely a fall sale could take place. Another opportunity would be to orchestrate sales in each quadrant of the metro, i.e. NE, SE, NW, SW because if there is one thing I've heard frequently -it has been "this is far." More native plant "expos" can help growers sell plants but also bring in new, native plant curious gardeners. The greater the number of gardeners looking for native plants, the better the opportunity for those growers to keep their business growing.

Shelterwood still has over 2300 plants to send to homes. To be sure, some popular species have sold out, but there are plenty to make a trip worth it. If you, or someone you know, has received a grant for a pollinator or rain garden, come out as soon as possible. It is quiet enough that I have been spending an hour or more with customers to help identify the best species for their project. For now my hours will remain similar, Friday through Sunday. I have shortened Sunday hours to 9am-1pm, as there are few to no customers in the afternoon on Sundays. However, please reach out to make an appointment if you cannot make it within open hours. I will continue to serve native plant gardeners as long as is possible.

Some may be wondering "what's next?" Well, for one, you will notice the "for sale" sign at the entrance to Shelterwood. I am also writing. In 2007 I began what became a popular New York City garden/nature/art blog back when people, not AI, did the writing. It's still out there, although I changed the title when we moved to MN, and I occasionally add new material. Unfortunately ads, SEO, and AI have ruined what used to be a valuable Web form. Social media changed things too, starting with attention spans, what is seen and what isn't, and forced character limits on writing (on IG, anyway -I left FB in 2016). Typing on a phone is impossible anyway. Last winter I started working on a long form story -some call that a book.

About what, you may wonder. Keywords: plants, people, ecology, love, boundaries. Fiction -something new to me, and a great challenge. I'm also working on my upcoming exhibition, this November at Rosalux, in Minneapolis. You can see the details here. If you follow Shelterwood on Instagram -I will keep that going and am uncertain what I will do with the account once the nursery closes for the season. Whatever I choose to do, I will announce it there.

Hope to see you soon and enjoy the remainder of summer and return of autumn.

Best

Frank
Shelterwood Gardens

________________

Some responses I received in reply to this late sumer newsletter, identifying details removed...

Hello Frank,

Wow sounds like a lot of change is coming your way. Will yall stay in Mn? Still working for the Arb? I feel sad about Shelterwood closing as you offered such a ray of light for us native gardeners. But I understand there are lots of challenges to remain profitable.

Thank you for all you do!!!!!

Kristy

Dear Frank,

It’s not often an email makes me weep. Yet yours this morning did just that. (Weep is a strong word, but I truly did just that!)

The opening paragraphs were so beautiful. It’s exactly how I feel about this time of year but have never been able to put into words. And also how I feel about native gardening – it’s so much more than what we see, which many don’t often understand.

Then to learn this is your last season…what sadness this brings to me. Shelterwood has become my go-to place for natives. Because you have such a variety of woodland natives, which are so hard to find. Because you sell larger pots, which give the plants a fighting chance to survive among the many and challenging tree roots in my yard…and the dry soil as a result. Because your nursery is peaceful. And mostly because you have taken time with me, offering your knowledge, teaching me so much. I wish I had learned of Shelterwood a few years earlier.

Life changes, though – just like our gardens. I wish you all the best in whatever comes next.

As I’ve watched my garden over the summer, I’ve taken lots of notes and kept a list of possible plants to buy for end-of-summer planting. I’ll be out to visit soon, hopefully this weekend.

Warmly,

Kimberly

Nursery late summer

That’s a lot of news! Some good some sad for those of us who have enjoyed you and your plants at the Mound Market or at your beautiful property that you have so graciously opened to so many of us!! How much I will miss my stops there in the spring…… thank you for all you have done and you will be missed !! Wishing you continued happy, successful adventures!!!!!! I hope to stop by one more time?

Best Regards,

Marie

Nursery in early fall

Hi Frank, I'm saddened to hear you are closing the nursery! I also read that you are selling the house? Where are you moving to?

I wanted to tell you that you have been an inspiration of sorts for me. Over the past few years I have successfully winter sown a large variety of native plants. I divide them up in the late spring and then plant in the fall. I'm amazed at the success rate of this method (however, Coreopsis palmata has, for some reason, been a tricky one).

Anyways, thanks for all of the great info you've shared over the years.

Mark

Squirrel Appreciation... 🤔

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 20 Dec 2024 19:01:00 +0000

We don't blog because, well, social media apps. Instagram is where I am (@shelterwood_gardens or @frankmeuschke), although it delivers more grief than blogger, but there is an instant audience. That fact seems to keep many of us long-time bloggers on our phones. I will try to upend that by, at first, reposting and building upon wordy posts from that other platform. This is one from January 21, Squirrel Appreciation Day, 2024.

____________________

The squirrels have had quite a winter so far. Is it the lack of snow or the mast year full of acorns? In winter they often emerge after sunrise, warming up in the sun, before making as few journeys across the land as possible. Not this winter. Daily, up before sunrise, chasing each other, bounding from tree to tree, and remaining active for most of the day. Earlier in winter the larger Fox Squirrels were more abundant, but now the gray dominate. When I leave our place in the woods, it may be the squirrels I’ll miss more than any other wildlife as they animate the yard, living as close to us as possible with only modest interaction between us.

I know this is not the position of many people. There are few posts on this blog more visited than the one about drowning squirrels (not me!). In urban settings squirrels are often considered a pest. They bite each tomato! They nip the rose buds! They destroy my house! Curiously, they do none of those things at our place. Why? They have what they need within the woods here. They treat the house like a big boulder, present but of no interest. I have yet to see them take interest in the vegetable garden, but we also protect it from more interested parties.

Cities are the ultimate walled gardens. Within the city, ideas are cultivated about the value of wildlife, out there, in the wilderness. Yet wildlife, within its walls, is subject to other values. We aim to protect distant wilderness, and the creatures we identify with it, while we struggle with the wilderness within the walls of the garden.

We hold dear the preservation of wilderness. We head out to it for a taste of beauty, clean air, and wildlife. Given over to the experience, it can teach us that the way of wilderness is not aesthetic, is not perfection, is not harmony as we tend to think of it, but that wilderness is the walls torn down.

Happy Squirrel Appreciation Day.