a walk in california

Working on a Christmas present and looking for fun facts about New York, I began reading the introduction to a New York City travel guide.  It described how the city is full of people who don’t seem to ever work because the sidewalks are always crowded and the cafes and diners are always full.  Since [...]

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contemplating america

In a nation of exploding pipes, flooding tunnels, and collapsing bridges, the dominant bipedal species seems to have forgotten that, by definition, they have two legs. Though it may be uncomfortable to these long, sinuous limbs for transportation in extreme heat or over extended distances, it is not impossible. Technology has advanced us [...]

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for future reference

This afternoon, I went shoe shopping with another member of the trifecta. I swore I would only buy a single pair, but wound up leaving with two (without a shopping bag and recycling the boxes). Both pairs will slide comfortably into my wardrobe. The brick red pair replaces my battered Italian bowling [...]

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l.i.g day 6 – no hills to die on

During my teacher training institute, the man who led my summer school asked us to consider the question “Is this the hill I’m willing to die on?” before gong overboard as future teachers. In this context it means metaphorically dying emotionally or professionally because you risked too much and fought the battle you knew [...]

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l.i.g. day 5 – the wing-maker

The Wing Maker is arriving next Thursday. It’s been confirmed that he’ll be driven into upstate New York and sent down by train. He’ll remind me daily of how effortlessly he can be low impact and unconcious of time constraints. He wears used clothing, pulls his canvases out of dumpsters, and eats [...]

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l.i.g. day 4 – lessons so far

I miss non-water beverages. I drink a lot of juice, smoothies, hot chocolate, tea, milk, and fruit soda. I do not notice the absence of meat. I had a burger on Sunday and I rarely eat beef, so my tastes are satiated.
I like arriving at work clean, dry, and in [...]

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l.i.g. day 3 – why i’d be a bad hermit

The idea for low impact week developed slowly over time, but the sense that it had to be this week came suddenly and certainly on Memorial Day. This week looked full on my calendar because the school schedule contains a half day, a professional development day, two days of testing, and the semi-finals for [...]

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l.i.g. day 2 – silent film clips

If you had watched my day like a silent film edited to capture the moments that form the sum of my day, you would have seen this.
In the dim light of 6:30, before the sun rose beyond the highrise at the end of the block, you would have seen me stuffing potato chips into my [...]

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l.i.g. day 1 – hair dryer, oj, and ziplock

So far, even with the rain, low impact has gone smoothly. I can count on one hand everything that I’ve thrown away today: rotting alfafa sprouts (I saved the container to pack chips for the rest of the week), leftover macaroni and cheese from over a week ago (I don’t have composting), a yogurt [...]

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