Check out my friend, Alice Johnson’s, one woman show, Saint Alice of the Chattahoochee.  I saw it last weekend and laughed uncontrollably for 75 minutes.  Her website talks about some recent travel dates at www.saintalice.com. 

Last night at a dinner party, I started talking to a friend about animal cruelty.  She was a girl from Indiana recently inundated with Southern hunting culture.  She was forced to deal with sightless fake eyes staring at her all over town.  She lamented that these big strong guys look and feel tough shooting deer with rifles.  She seemingly wanted to give the deer rifles and make it a duel.  Her premise was how unfair the situation is.  I decided to post this conversation because I feel so strongly in vocalizing my logic on this matter.

My first point to her was that the act of hunting is inherently violent and in some degree cruel.  No excuse can be made for the simple fact that killing an animal is difficult.  Now bear with me…

My second point is that humanity, as we progress, moves away from nature.  Our understanding of nature and its reality diminishes with the urbanization of our culture.

Hunting requires understanding the animal that you are going to kill.  Understanding the animal means knowing habitat, food sources, and mating behavior.  To learn all of this information a hunter must invest serious time, energy and money in developing these skills.  In most states, they must pay for a license and take a gun safety course.  All of these steps bring this person closer to the environment that civilization is moving them away from.

This hunter who has learned the craft and paid for the license now invests his money in establishing a place to hunt.  By doing this he has reserved more land for conservation and prevented habitat from being destroyed.  He has also supported the local Fish and Wildlife by buying a license.  The game wardens are dedicated to the flourishing of natural species in their areas.  These governmental agencies have helped the alligator, coyote, deer, and turkey populations in my area alone.  This week a bald eagle flew over my house site visible to ten people.

Killing is violent, but we should all remember where we are on the food chain.  Our bodies are built to handle the consumption of meat.  We are a hunting species. Even though killing is violent, the acts that led to the killing have created a better understanding of our natural surroundings.  This understanding help spur conservation of habitat and natural spaces. 

Humans are stewards over the natural environment, empowered by the fact that we can destroy it.   Because of our power we must protect our surroundings and live responsibly.

Currently, I am listening to Will and the World on tape.  It is an amazing book that describes the influences on William Shakespeare in England from 1580-1620.  It describes the events in and around Stratford and in his family.  From his father’s social collapse to an early marriage due to pregnancy, this book gives the gritty details of Will’s life.

Just finished, on a long travel day, The Final Solution by Michael Chabon.  A great book about an old detective in England after WWII.  Currently reading Jane Eyre  because I never did.  Pretty girly but I love it.

Musically, I have been busted singing the lyrics of Fergilicious by Fergie.  Also enjoying John Mayer.  I only hope to receive Tobes’ Xmas CD!!

Currently in America, there is a little known sport called Steeplechasing.  The basic premise is a horse race over obstacles.  The sport is broken down into two categories that include brush races and timber races.  A brush race is a race over soft forgiving obstacles.  The jumps used to be stuffed hedges but have been replaced by plastic portable hurdles. Timber races are over natural wooden fences commonly found foxhunting.

Every weekend in the spring and fall between New Jersey and Florida there is one steeplechase. Unfortunately, the people that participate and are involved are limited to a number around 150.  The sport is dominated by a committed group of about thirty people including trainers, riders, stewards and grooms.  These people travel around the country to different venues with their horses to compete.  At each event there are around 6 races that have an average of 8 or 9 horses competing.  Purses for the races range from $5,000 to $175,000.

The steeplechase competitions are put on by different groups of people.  These events are used to draw huge crowds to raise money for charities.  These events have raised huge sums for hospitals, arts, and the conservation of agricultural land.

Unfortunately, these events are the extent of the sport.  Casual access to the sport is very limited which is the primary reason that the number of people involved is small.  One organization, NAPPA, was created to allow participation on the lowest level.  NAPPA also educates and promotes the sport.  Hopefully, NAPPA will give people a chance to practice the sport and create new participants.  Check out the website at www.naptp.org. 

I am a person who invests a considerable amount of time and energy in preserving land and enjoying outdoor hunting sports.  Humanity as a whole has distanced itself from Nature and our appreciation of it.  Few people in the world understand that nature is a chaotic violent world.  Disney like visions of pastoral peace are just anthropromorphized views of our natual world. Nature is a continuous shift in equlibrium.  I hope that in my lifetime we can expose younger generations to nature in all its glory.    

I am very interested in changes in the wildlife in my local community.  My own personal experience includes watching the shift in the ecology of Georgia, the spread of white tail deer in the 1970’s, the wild turkey in the 1980’s , followed by the coyote in the 1990’s.  The success of these species comes at the expense of others.  The coyote in particular seriously damaged red fox, gray fox and bobcat populations.  In a attempt to dominate a territory, the coyote killed competitive species.  In recent years these species have managed to come back by populating areas closer to civilian neighborhoods than the coyote would comfortably inhabit.

Other species that have successfully restored populations include armodillos, wood duck, bluebirds, and other songbirds.  Why are these species becoming so successful in recent years? I ask that question and hope that I can understand it a little better in coming years.

I enjoy spending time in nature and pride myself in understanding my surroundings.  I hope that I understand the natural balance of conditions and will instill this understanding in coming generations.

I also hope that I can help children understand the value and responsibility of caring for other creatures.  Too few people realize that life and in particular life in America are gifts that must be earned through hard work and diligence.  A child that cares for an animal learns an important lesson in accountability and work ethic.  I think these values translate into all areas of life.

I know this is all very idealistic.  However, I believe in coming years misunderstandings about nature will cause serious controversy.  Urban intelligentsia will confuse education with understanding.  Rural knowledge will continue to be belittled and thought of as ignorant.  The majority urban culture will dominate and govern the rural minority.

The case model of this disaster is England.  98% of the country is urban.  The urban culture decided that foxhunting is too cruel and now it is outlawed.  Foxhunting is a violent sport.  It was decided that the stress put on the fox by running away from dogs was unnecessary.  Kinder ways of thinning the fox population include poison or shooting.  Regardless of your beliefs about this sport, the issue about animal welfare has been tried in a court of law.  If humans convey human beliefs about stress and cruelty to animals then all of human society is under attack. 

The HSUS (Humane Society of United States) is an organization whose mission is “a meatless, petless society.”  They believe all pets should be euthanized to free them from their enslavement to man.  Currently, this organization earns $160,000,000 per year which they put primarily to political campaigns.  Their political friends help push legislation to eliminate hunting and surprisingly they are very successful.

I believe in the stewardship of nature.  Man’s role in the planet involves the entire ecosystem.  As stewards we should help promote the success of species and realize at the same time that the planet is constantly changing.  These changes may eliminate species that are unable to adapt.

 I hope that the emphasis on urban living will diminish and that people will incorporate nature and the outdoor world into their families’ lives.

This blog is a first attempt so bear with me.  I hope that this becomes a chance for me to catch up with the rest of the people in my life without restrictions.  Toby Murdock, the ingenious co-founder of qloud.com, has urged me to spew nonsense into the online universe.  Thanks Tobes.

We are coming off an interesting weekend of cultural fulfillment at the GA-Auburn game.  Given the pitiful performance of the War Eagle contingent I will never again see the inside of an Auburn tailgate. No matter that I cannot talk or think straight at my own personal effort of screaming for the Orange and Blue.  We all enjoyed the religious activists sending us straight to hell.  They were are real buzzkill and set the tone for a bad day for AU.

 Jason Branch had a rough weekend.  Sitting depressed in a car about Auburn is bad, But having the battery go dead is worse.

Despite various hiccups, it was an awesome weekend with Toby and Sean Murdock, the Branchs, Whit and Snuggles, and my lovely wife.  She deserves particular universal praise for delicious meals and and preparations.

Recent Books,  A Brief History of the Dead, Brockmeier. -This story describes a city in the afterlife populated by the souls of people that are remembered by people still living on earth.  The city is in peril because of a pandemic virus that sweeps the earth.  This virus eliminates its citizens until there are only people connected by the last person on Earth.   The last remaining person, a woman stranded in Antartica, struggles to survive and understand what has happened.  Interesting view on the people that we interact with in life.  Unfortunately, the book has no great climax but reaches the boundaries of the rules it creates.  Three stars out of five. 

Cannot wait to see Borat! 

Thanks for reading a first attempt!

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