My hippie nature exposed

<-----Delicious

I watched a movie not too long ago called "Into the Wild" its about a guy who said he was going to Harvard for medical school or something but instead bought a book on wild edibles, gave his life savings to charity, burnt the rest of his money, wandered around for a couple years and eventually died of potato in Alaska. That being said I bought a book on wild edibles last week because the idea that I can eat my lawn is too great to pass up on. For whatever reason the idea of going out someplace and simply attempting to live off of what is available immediately in the area is incredibly fascinating to me, perhaps when I get to have my midlife crisis I'll be like surviorman and go and "survive" someplace for a week or so. I like to think of it as extreme camping. But regardless of all that I like still the idea that I can go out and find things that could be edible and potentially delicious while camping, hiking, or just around the house (literally(I share my sisters affinity for parenthetical annotation)). Wildlife and nature I think are wonderful things, these are the things that make me feel like hunting is fun, and eating wild lettuce from my ward is neat. While hunting may seem somehow contradictory to enjoying nature I would argue that there is a certain amount of ethical responsibility that goes into the act of hunting, after all we are the ones who killed off the predators and if we expect there to be balance in nature it must be provided somewhere and that is our job to provide it, but that may be a discussion for another posting. I think this ties in to a lot of the personal beliefs I have politically as well. While I'm not convinced that global warming is a man-made event I don't have any problem with conservation of our wilderness and nature. an argument that says "Global warming doesn't exist, it doesn't exist so much that I will pollute MORE!" seems a little bizarre to me. I think that wisdom lies somewhere in between. While I do not believe that humans should attempt to subsist soly on wild edibles, it seems like a good idea to take a little from the earth around you. And the crazy part of me thinks its a good idea to be able to identify edible plants for when doomsday comes and I will be forced to grow my own crops. I think we all have a little crazy in us, what matters is learning to live with it and accepting that our craziness shapes our viewpoints and understanding how it does so.

How the west was won

I have recently decided that there are few genres of movies that can be as impressive as the western when done well. I watched the movie 3:10 to Yuma tonight while doing my military duty at the front desk of a hospital telling people where a nearby gym is and realized there are many subtle layers to the movie. I think this is a fantastic story. Perhaps there is too much going on in there for me to go into, but ultimately the story is not really about the two main characters, it is about Dan's (Christian Bale's) son. In the end of the movie we see that good ultimately triumphs over evil, regardless of any other events simply by the actions of young Will. In the end good defeating evil, in one sense or another, is one of the defining elements of a western. Perhaps the other key element is redemption, and in some senses these two concepts are indistinguishably intertwined. The west, as portrayed in movies, was a place where the law had little sway and men where forced into extremes. Evil would be an easy choice and yet to see men make the right choice for the sake of it being the right thing to do and ultimately be vindicated for these choices. Unforgiven would be another great example. Clint Eastwood does a great job in this movie of showing how a man who had been wicked is struggling for redemption. It takes a while but he evolves into perhaps what he always should have been (had whiskey and wickedness not gotten the best of him earlier in life). Roger Ebert says that in the end good silences evil. I think that is a fantastic way of looking at this. While his character had done terrible things in the end he brought justice into a place where justice did not exist and evil was ultimately silenced by the deeds of a man who could not forgive himself, that- I believe- is why he is Unforgiven. There are a number of other great movies out there to use as an example, but I think these two do justice to my thoughts. Westerns, when not cast into the pot of stupid pointless action, are forced into an introspective light. The characters must have depth, because special effects have little room to hold sway. Dialogue becomes key and we see human nature at its most basic, simple people struggling to survive in an untamed land. Conversely, when a western is done poorly it hurts your brain to have to watch it (Badgirls would be an example, as well as the quick and the dead remake... ugh). But you must steel your resolve against these and be willing to witness scenes that are slow, yet relentless in their purpose. Well, that's enough philosophical waxing on movies for now!

Jacob laughs at strange things

Jacob began making word happen this past week. He chose to say "Dadadadada" we took that to mean Daddy. Though he now has expanded to saying ada and dada and aaaaahdadadadaaaaah. He made a "Ga" sound the other day too. I have to say that Jacob is a cool kid. He laughs at lots of silly things. we wiggle a blanket and he laughs and laughs. As a side note to all of this Jacob is pretty gross. As is demonstrated by this picture to my right, your left (I'm in the computer) he is licking my foot. GROSS. I didn't raise this kid to go around licking people's feet, I hope this is not a trend towards later in life. The good news is he is a sweet little guy, which means we like him. I like my baby probably more than I like my dogs. Yes, that is a fact I think that Jacob is far superior to either of my dogs, especially Smokey. Rebecca and I have decided that we are keeping Smokey around just in case we run across a hard winter sometime in the future. We

anticipate that she will be delicious. I really dont have much else to say, Jacob is silly, Smokey is tasty ( I think) and I need to go to Wal-Mart (stupid Wal-Mart). Carrie probably wants me to go to some strange organic land of crunchy delight, whatever I live in Raeford NC, the geometric center of waste. Baah.