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SOMETIMES I SUFFER FROM DISTRACTIONS: Miller Island Meditations

“When I'm sampling from your bosom / Sometimes I suffer from distractions like / Why does God cause things like tornadoes and train wrecks?” - Crash Test Dummies Heritage Landing is strategically placed near the confluence of the Deschutes and Columbia rivers. Pulling into the parking lot, I noted that there was only one other car and it might as well have been abandoned, considering all the other people that I saw, which was none. The sun was hot enough that I imagined skinny or fit young people might do things like take their shirts off in public and try to get some color. It was considerably more nipple-y in the shade. The river was benign if not friendly and inviting. The surface of the water was wrinkled by waves, like a forehead thinking about something, but not thinking about it all that hard. I prepared the kayak and wiggled into my new dry-suit. I’d been saving up for one ever since my trip to San Juan Island where The Oracle explained to me that my...

Marching for Peace

“Nice War, Ass-face!” Sentiments expressed on placard at 03/18/07 Peace Rally & March “…Christianity says that you should love your enemy. It certainly doesn’t say that you should vaporize his children. But it goes much further than that. It says not just abide your enemy, not just tolerate him, love him. Well it is important to ask, what does that mean? Is this just window dressing, or do the Christians mean it?” Carl Sagan – The Varieties of Scientific Experience I observed Portland’s Peace Rally and March on Sunday. According to the Oregonian, there were likely more than ten thousand people demonstrating a desire to end the war and get our troops back home. In a stunning example of cognitive dissonance, a tiny portion of ‘peace’ marchers appeared to be practicing terrorism, hatred and/or police-baiting. These marchers proved to be the exception to the rule. Creating a solemn moment, these participants use draped coffins to educate viewers like me that for every Americ...