My most-favored bookstore isn't in Minneapolis. It is the St Paul Ruminator Books (nee Hungry Mind). The reasons are several, mainly that from 35W over to the river, there aren't many (or any) stores selling new books. And Ruminator is close to all kinds of places I go on a regular basis. And I can order form them online and then pick up my book when I get an email that it is waiting for me. And Dave Unowsky has led the resistance movement against total ownership of the book retailing industry by giants. Most book retailers don't have a "holy calling".
My recent reads? Well, I'm reading a political book by Kathleen Hall Jamieson right now called "The Press Effect". When I'm not reading non-fiction, I prefer mysteries. I read the whole Rex Stout opus not long ago.
Issue: Rationality in Traffic
A list member brought up traffic and KMart, and I think that case does show how rationality in traffic takes a back burner. And it relates to the Access project in that both are cases of private business exercising heavy influence over how highway projects get designed, relegating the input of ordinary citizens to the margins. So, I'm not sure how, knowing that, we expect our commuting experience to be peaceful and enjoyable. If that mattered to politicians, why would we get a process like this? But I will add that having detached myself from EXPECTATIONS (as if I were a good Buddhist), my traffic experience is a lot more enjoyable than if I focused on what my so-called "rights" should be. I simply live in the moment and react to the ebb and flow of the traffic. I don't measure against some mythical timetable "if things were going right". I simply accept that the voters will choose this kind of system again and again. They won't, for example, vote to merge all the local traffic departments into one supersized state department and then say that "engineering to meet specified universal goals will determine all designs". I KNOW the bikers will never sign on for that. But even a lot of drivers won't. After all, if highways were built soundly and lights timed correctly, they'd just have to find another thing to complain about. Nope, this is the reality we're stuck with, so no sense in suffering any stress damage over it. I could quote Bobby Knight, but that would lead to non-relevant digressions.
Issue: Elms
Yeh, always sad to see an old tree go. But trees do die. Beetles actually sometimes knock off a tree that's due to go and will be knocked down in a storm. When you get it taken apart by tree cutters, it doesn't do as much damage to what is around it. I had a tree that was gutted by carpenter ants fall on a couple of houses across the street. The city had to cut it apart, but the two houses had to be repaired, too. So, think about that. But plant trees. Plant LOTS of them. I have driven through some nice neighborhoods lately. And it hit me that what MADE them so nice was the forested aspect. Prospect Park is like that. Cooper is like that, but less so. Trees do all kinds of nice things. They support the wildlife. They shade the street and houses. They not only produce oxygen, they absorb carbon dioxide and prevent the houses from making more to cool themselves. And the more we plant, the less the sense of loss when an oldtimer goes. So, next time you in a garden store, take home a couple of trees and plant them. I'm eyeing our front lawn that looks kind of bare because, unlike my neighbors, I don't HAVE any trees there. Been a slacker, I'm afraid. But I've got RELIGION. HallelOOjah, brothers and sisters. I've seen the LIGHT.
________________________________________ Jim Mork Cooper Neighborhood Longfellow Community Minneapolis, a great city getting greater (tree by tree)
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