Far Horizons - by John Bullaro

 

2011 and 2010 Columns

 

 

November, 2011      Haunted Personalized Plates

 

Many drivers have custom / personalized license plates. These plates may portray one's personal philosophy of life, political affiliation, or how they see themselves. Mine says: MTN GUY, a gift from my daughter.  However, I never expected my personalized license plate to bring me a few days of grief because of some crazy "mistake." Here's what happened

 

October, 2011          Where One Lives Matters

 

In Wallace Stegner's book,"Where the Bluebird Sings to the Lemon Springs," he talks of "place." Stegner argues, "If you don't know where you belong, or feel connected, you may not know who you truly are." Stegner suggests your place can influence who you are in a very subtle way. More on this point later.

 

September, 2011      Good Luck Fellow Americans

 

This recent news took my breath away. I watched grown men and women in Washington act like pre-schoolers and calling each other names, all while a doomsday clock is ticking and the ship of state is about to be scuttled. I'm said to myself, this can't be my country. Then I realized it is and these are our leaders—ego maniacs playing Russian roulette with the citizens of this country and the rest of the world.

 

August, 2011            Refreshing a Life II

 

The ancient Kogi people live at 17,000 feet in the Sierra Nevada Marta Mountain in northern Columbia. They have lived in these mountains for thousands of years. They managed to avoid the invading Spaniards 500 years ago by hiding and persevering their life style. They depend entirely on the bounty of their land. Nature is their living partner.

 

July, 2011                 Refreshing a Life I

 

Reading a daily newspaper or watching a CNN news sows dissatisfaction in me. At these times I want to hide under a rock or run away to some remote place to feel safe and less vulnerable. At other times I yearn for a past where I imagine (erroneously) that life was less stressful.  Yet over time I have learned a strategy that relieves my stress and restores hope. My secret: indulge in pure recreation as part of my recreation curricula.

 

June, 2011               Twisted Logic

 

The world is full of naysayers, non thinkers, and logic twisters—the world is flat, the moon landing was staged, the Holocaust never happened. Fortunately, these nutty ideas have not as yet found their way into our public school curricula.

 

May, 2011                A Matter of Opinion  Compromise is NOT a Dirty Word

 

Bill O'Reilly, Glen Beck, and Rush Limbaugh—and others—preach to the choir that global warming, or climate change, is a hoax. Unfortunately millions of Americans sing in their choir. These duffers eschew science in favor of ratings and big salaries. They'll never talk about how in 1997, at the Conference on Climate Change in Kyoto, Japan, fifty-six Nobel Laureates signed on to the idea that climate change is real and the world leaders need to take action.

 

April, 2011                The Dreamer

 

Talk about slippery slopes. The slide from affluence to bankruptcy took less than one year. My ex-wife greased the skids by hiring a shyster divorce attorney, known by his colleagues as Dirty Harry. About this same time my employer—(High-rise Engineering) moved our operation to India. The boss hired a Swami living Sri Lanka to do my job (actually he was an engineer). When I came up air for the third time, a civil law judge awarded our house on the beach in Cayucos, California to my wife, Betsy Gent. She produced a bogus prenuptial agreement with my signature forged. For good measure he threw in the furniture, cars, and a boat. I was grateful he didn't order me to be her man--servant.

 

March, 2011             Deliverance of the Wild

 

In my youth, I often imagined I was born 150 years earlier, mostly for romantic notions of trapping and roaming the woods free to do as I please. In my adult life this wish for an earlier existence never left. I felt the lightening fast pace of modern life, the isolating effect of electronics, the mad pursuit of materialism, and society's arbitrary rules were suffocating me. Walking along a busy boulevard I often felt alone, unconnected to what was happening around me, a stranger in an artificial land. I yearned to be connected to a real life.

   

February, 2011         Life in the Far Horizons  

 

A recent publication of The Futurist magazine states, "We can do nothing to change the past, but we have enormous power to shape the future."  What I am referring to is not fortune telling, guessing, or playing what if. I am referring to a tactic that helps anticipate what events are likely to shape the future in a chosen area of life that could affect you.

 

January, 2011          Renewing the Spirit

 

In San Luis Obispo County the recreation industry employs over 68,000 people. It is a major employer and revenue producer for the county. The terms leisure, recreation, and play are often used interchangeably. However, they have different intellectual values.

 

December, 2010       Stop—No Right Turn

 

Thank goodness the recent agonizing, torturous, and hateful political season is over. It was a long season, filled with lies, name calling, distortions, and angst that filled the days and nights with lots of muckraking but few workable ideas

 

November, 2010      Who Am I?

 

To paraphrase Wendell Berry, the nature writer, "You don't know who you are if you don't know where you belong."  Wallace Stegner reminds us that every American is several people, and one of them is identified by a single place or type of place. Chicago didn't cut it for me. I liked the Cubs and loved the Bears, but the city, no way.

 

October, 2010          Don't Squeeze the Chipmunks

 

From my observations, it appears that residents fortunate to live in the Central Coast area of California generally think of themselves as environmentally conscientious people. Many recycle, don't dump trash in the woods, drive fuel efficient cars, and when outside, believe in the mantra, "Take pictures and leave only footprints."

 

September, 2010     A Short and Sweet Primer on Bicycle Gearing and Safety for the Recreational Rider

 

Riding a bike can leave you breathless. Well, maybe not breathless, but gasping for air. Bicycles today have multiple speeds. Some novice riders use only one gear and struggle as if shifting required an engineering degree. A few adults put on a comedy act when they ride. Their seat's so low so their knees almost reach their chest. Often the bike's too small so riding a straight line is nearly impossible.