Wilderness vs. Wildness

Many times I find myself wanting to visit wilds places in the vast deserts of the Southwestern US. So I look up, using trustworthy ol' Google, where the wilderness areas are in my neck of the prickly woods. I tend to find only two options:

Numero Uno:

A national wilderness area that looks great on my little car atlas, but once there, I find the postcard views polluted with urban sprawl. These areas are directly adjacent to the urban centers of desert living, like Saguaro National Park (both East and West) or the Pusch Ridge area containing Sabino Canyon. The glow of the city casts its evil spotlight skyward and drowns out the glittery stars above.

Numero Dos:

The other option round these parts consist of beautifully remote wilderness areas, however conveniently blocked on all sides by private land. Access to these areas is often so difficult folks who rarely have more than a weekend for exploration (myself included) don't spend the time going through proper channels for permits and permission. Now, I cherish folks like Ed Abbey, who wouldn't allow something as simple as private land and no trespassing signs to hinder his progress into the desert he rightfully owns. However, I've made a place for myself as an educator, and a job so easily put in danger by being on the wrong side of a fence wreaks havoc on my otherwise nonchalant conscience.

Numero Tres:

I know I said that you usually find one of TWO options, but I suggest a third. I try to find places that may not necessarily be Wilderness, but are certainly more wild than some of those in option 1. The wild can exist in your own backyard if you don't clutter it with bermuda grass and oleander. It can jump out at you on a normal day hike in the Tucson Mountain Park (as in my experience with a rattler or two!) Or, you can find places not designated as wilderness, but no four-wheelers care to access, making them an oasis of wild near some sleepy town basking in the desert sun. Who knows, your neck of the woods may look like a concrete jungle that's as wild as any Walden Pond.

"In wildness is the preservation of the world" - Henry David Thoreau

Community= common + unity

In my life, I've had many instances of broken communication lines. I fought with my siblings, parents, and arch rivals at school (kind of like the unibrow baby in Simpsons). Either way, in each instance, someone was there to catch my mistake for me and guide me to a morally correct conclusion. Most of the time this happened I wasn't volunteering, but would go along with it. Why you ask? Good question.

Back to present. Kids can be so mean to one another without knowing it. Or they know it and don't care. So where do I fit into this? I can try to guide them with examples of respect and positive communication. I can catch them when they falter, and volunteer them to do the right thing, but everyone knows the saying about horses and water. Or at least seeing a man about a horse, or whatever.

I think I've found the link. Common unity, or community for short. I grew up with a strong community to embrace me when necessary, and show me the right track. Many of the kids I see today are losing that sense of community. Crisis fill our nightly news, and parents have less and less time to devote to building community. Now I'm ranting. I suppose I'm just pondering how to solve my dilemma, any suggestions?

Off Vacation, On Life

It's been quite some time since my fingers punched out the lines of a blog post, but once again the tingling feeling of words flowing into the void of internet floods my phalanges. I didn't decide to go on a blog vacation or anything, but I never felt like the world had slowed to a pace I wasn't just hanging in there with until this weekend.

A few little things have occurred since my last post from the Honduran islands. Just your average everyday things, like a new school year, starting the CSA, and a little shindig of a wedding. Oh yeah, I got married! (Even though its been over a month, it's still fun to say out loud.)

I was inspired by many of the beautiful things in life to start this blog, and it just so happens that one of those things is now my wife! Which brings me back to this weekend. We relaxed.

I had promised to take Emery camping, but the wind and rain rolled into Tucson on Saturday, and I had spent the morning dismantling furniture and rearranging rooms in our house. Emery cleared out most of the clutter, I moved stuff from one corner to another in an attempt to help, and now we're happier. So much happier in fact, that we went for a little picnic this morning. I'm sure she'll be blogging about the experience, so I'll save my reader base of 3 from the hassle of hearing about the details twice. But all in all, I feel as though life is back in order after the wedding rush, and fall has hit Tucson, and I'm settling back into life.

The beautiful things are still an inspiration, but also a goal. I plan on spending more time these next few months carefully observing how awesome the world around me can be. Friends, family, and those perfect strangers that work for something better than mediocre are on the horizon, a perfect sunset for me to chase.