The “United” States?

When one considers the depth and breadth of the “left – right“, “liberal – conservative” ideological split in the United States today, it’s not too much of a stretch for some to consider violence as their means of achieving what they see as right.  From Mary’s & my point of view, we are at a critical juncture in our 241-year experiment in democracy. It is absolutely correct for us to have different points of view and to disagree with one another.  However, it is also absolutely required that we learn the spirit of compromise and togetherness as a nation in worldwide leadership toward responsible values, culture, heritage and caring for all of the world’s peoples.

Were you to choose one place to visit which would demonstrate what might happen if this spirit of compromise and cooperation were not achieved, you could hardly make a better choice than to visit the National Park Service’s Antietam National Battlefield, Sharpsburg, Maryland.  Mary and I visited on the eighteenth of this past September.  On the previous day, 155 years earlier, 23,110 Americans were killed, wounded or missing in one twelve-hour battle—American vs. American—the bloodiest one-day battle in the history of our nation!

As you go about your day, you will see and hear examples, even from educated people in positions of leadership, who either didn’t learn these lessons or have forgotten them. We’ve just posted our visit to Antietam on our website.  We hope you’ll click the button below to read our visit story, internalize our poem, and visit this park.

Provocateur in Poetry?

Side Trip

New England Fall, the trees ablaze,

We drove to take them in;

And took a side trip, pure amaze,

At Emily Dickinson.

©  F.W. Heaton  October 2017

Daguerreotype.  Taken at Mount Holyoke College in 1846, age 16, recognized as the only authenticated portrait of Dickinson taken later than her childhood.

This write-up is for all you kind souls subscribing to our Blog or periodically visiting our website, many of whom may or may not have an interest in poetry.  This piece focuses on poetry; however, we certainly invite the rest of you to follow along.  In October 2017, Mary & I had driven to New York City for a four-day NYC Holiday with our daughter, Mandy, and spouse, Steve, followed by visiting a friend near Hartford CT, dining with her two evenings and, on her recommendation, taking an impromptu side trip during the intervening day to the Emily Dickinson (1830-1886) Museum, an hour's drive north in Amherst MA.  Although basically unpublished during her lifetime, in the now 121 years since her death, Dickinson has become recognized as one of the greatest poets in the English language.  There is so much fascinating history to learn about Emily, her family and the times in which she lived, we'll leave that for you to research as your interest dictates and perhaps make your own visit to the Museum.  The same is true for her poetry: so much to learn; we'll leave that for your research as well.   With limited time available for this piece, we'll focus on just one aspect of Dickinson's poetry: "Meter".

For those of you who have read our book, "The Sixty-Minute Poet", you know that, in poetry, "meter" is the count of words/syllables/accents/emphasis points in a line and between lines which give the writing a "feel", a "rhythm", quite different from the reader's feelings when reading prose.  With that brief explanation, let's look at Dickinson's opening lines in Poem "Number 428" (Note: Dickinson did not title her poems; those researching/compiling her poems after her death ascribed a number to each):

"We grow accustomed to the Dark

When light is put away"

We've put underlines under the un-emphasized syllables and marked in bold each syllable intended as a point of emphasis. Note that the first line involves eight counts with counts numbered 2, 4, 6 and 8 the points of emphasis.  The second line involves six counts, again the emphasis points numbered 2, 4 and 6.  For those of you putting in a bit of time studying poetic meter, you'll recognize this as "iambic"—an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable.  

Examples include: behold, deserve, the sun.

Additionally, most of Dickinson's poetry utilized alternating lines of eight counts followed by six counts, identified as "8686".

Now, why devote this piece to just this one aspect of her poetry?  It is because one learns when studying Dickinson's life and poetry that, in the time of her early and middle years, the poetry of the time in Puritan New England for the most part followed the meter of the hymns written for and sung in the churches of the day.  Just one example can well make the point, "Amazing Grace":

"Amazing grace, how sweet the sound,

That saved a wretch like me ..."

Can you now "feel" the similarity of the rhythm in Dickinson's "428" and "Amazing Grace", not to mention my "Side Trip" poem above?  The tour guide taking us through Dickinson's home and particularly her bedroom from which she wrote most of her 1,800 poems explained that, to be considered "poetry" in her time, the work almost had to be written in this meter.  However, as an original in non-conformity and ignoring social convention, she wrote her poetry for herself, changing meter as desired for emphasis or meaning, changing the poem itself with multiple versions of the same poem, marking the poem with multiple notations meaning much to her but challenging to those trying to interpret the author’s true intent.

There's so much to learn about her poetry including subject matter, word selection, multiple creations of the same poem, style, tone, rhyming, "slant rhyming", punctuation, notations, making the abstract tangible, expressing possibilities not yet realized, and much more; but hopefully you've found this glimpse of her work of interest and, perhaps, inspiring for you to learn more.

 We thank you for your interest here,

In our blog and website;

Inviting you to come on back,

When time for you is right!

“The Homestead”, taken with my iPhone 12Oct17 from the garden which was the subject of many of Dickinson’s poems, the majestic white oak to the left possibly planted by Emily’s brother, Austin, around 1850.  You’ll notice a marker lower center-right; the grounds are well marked for you to take a cell phone audio tour, the audio at each marker providing the history of that area of the landscape as well as a reading of one of Dickinson’s poems written about that particular spot.

Who’s for the birds?

Bird Migration

Paying no attention to lines drawn by each nation,

Birds annually take flight in pre-winter migration;

Absent Rachel Carson, here is the thing,

There might be no birds returning next spring!

©  F.W. Heaton July 2017

It seems to Mary & me that each of us has a triple responsibility when it comes to our fragile spaceship planet Earth: 

1)  Become knowledgeable about natural and environmental issues.

2)  Provide conservation, protection, and education.

3)  Get out and enjoy it! 

This post focuses on birds, these elegant creatures and teachers of flight: what is happening to them via habitat loss, environmental degradation and climate change, what you might do about it, and where you might go to celebrate them as they migrate.

For our part, Mary & I, not birders but wanting to learn, spent a night and two days early this past September in Cape May, New Jersey, visiting the Cape May National Wildlife Refuge, The Cape May Bird Observatory – Northwood Center, the Cape May Bird Observatory – Center for Research and Education, and Birding by Boat on The Osprey—admittedly brief, but a good start.  Clicking the below link will take you to our write-up of the visit, just posted.  We wish you good learning with this write-up and  much excitement in the migrations you choose to celebrate.

Poet in the Park?

Position & Mind

Both physical position and an open mind,

Determine gifts you may receive;

Such a plethora await, extraordinary and kind,

Peace, your choices retrieve.

©  F.W. Heaton  October 2017

Rick Smith, my Albion College roommate and life-long friend, has a favorite saying: in order to receive a gift from nature, you've got to put yourself in position to receive it. Rick, a now retired 31-year career National Park Service employee, was chiefly referring to experiencing the glories of our natural world such as witnessing a bald eagle in flight, the wildness of the wolf, geese teaching their goslings, and endless other examples. Whereas Rick was referring to gifts from the natural world, in later years we've expanded the notion to include all aspects of the human condition.

That said, yesterday, Sunday 8 October 2017, Mary & I, along with daughter, Mandy, and spouse, Steve, experienced an excellent example of that notion as it applies to parks and poetry.  We were on our first day of a 4-day New York City visit, were walking to a restaurant for dinner, and chose, as our route, to walk through Washington Square Park, a ten-acre park in Greenwich Village, south Manhattan.  Entering the park and approaching the open square, we came upon a single individual, his back to us, sitting on a short chair at a small table facing the throng coming and going through the square.  People were approaching him, apparently curious to see what he was doing, offering?  As we moved closer, we realized he was typing on a small portable manual typewriter. Closer yet and coming around to the front, we read his small sign in chalk under his table: "You select Topic and Price. Stoic Prose.  Poetry on Demand." 

Now, think about this.  Here are Mary & me, two people who have two e-books for sale on Amazon, one on how to write poetry and the other on how to enjoy parks, and here we are face-to-face with someone who has already shown himself to be both kind and good by virtue of watching his interaction with and poem-writing for three young girls, perhaps from China, who were more than pleased/intrigued with his poem and their experience with him.

And now it was our turn. Steve introduced himself and then me to him, asking him to "please write a poem to my father-in-law about parks and poetry."  He studied me for a few moments, put a piece of paper into his typewriter, thought a bit more, and then began to write. His keystrokes were thoughtful, deliberate, and . . . permanent—he had no eraser.  The one piece of paper on which he was writing measured approximately 4" x 3". He seemed to talk to himself from time-to-time as he thought through what he wanted to say.  When done, his entire process from introduction to completion had taken perhaps four minutes. He pulled the paper from the typewriter, looked up, made sure our eyes were connected, and then began to read his poem to me aloud:

"What would we do?  Without you who looks

over a park like this where the human

race can sit for a moment; trading

tears and shedding fears to hear sweet

music of birds frustling and the wind

bringing a mist, allowing fist's in the

air to dare a fairness for all; a tall

order as the days grow shorter and the

lightpost grows older and the kids get

bolder, the smolder stays the same,

no matter the name of sacred places

like you."

Approximately three-quarters of the way through his reading, it became apparent tears were beginning to form in his eyes while he was reading.  Realizing this, I started to cry as did Mandy.  When done, it was a most extraordinary moment of gentleness, kindness, connection—caring and sharing with a complete stranger, as though we were long-time friends.  His reading complete and wiping his eyes, he handed me the piece of paper, our eyes still locked, me not knowing his mind, but me knowing mine: thankfulness for his gift, appreciation for his skill, admiration for his courage to not only make an extraordinary offer of on-demand creativity to all comers, but to deliver on the promise!

As we were departing, I returned to give him our card, advising we are writers, have e-books available on Amazon on writing poetry and visiting/supporting parks, and asking his permission to post on our Website and Blog our photo of him, his poem, and a write-up of the experience.  He gave us an enthusiastic "Yes".  There are a number of choices involved in this story: Steve deciding to get off the train a stop early and walk through Washington Square Park instead of training under it, us choosing to approach the person with his back to us, curious as to his activity, learning what he was doing/offering, deciding to say yes, Steve paying for his requested poem and choosing the topic, spending a bit more time afterwards with the poet.  As Rick advised, you may not receive a gift each time, but you'll receive them more often if you keep your mind open to them and put yourself in position more often to receive them.  Thank you, dear park poet!  We celebrate your gift!

Poet in the Park, Washington Square Park, Greenwich Village, New York, NY, by Mandy Heaton, camera iPhone 7, 8Oct17

How do you price the priceless?

Like Teddy Roosevelt, we need to stand,

Protecting: values, heritage, culture, land!

©  F.W. Heaton   3 November 2017

On 24 October 2017, the National Park Service issued a press release proposing entrance fee increases at 17 parks “to address the maintenance backlog”.  This is both a complicated and an urgent issue: complicated because of the anti-national park/anti-environment positions of the current administration, urgent because of Congress’ lack of funding the national parks and, specifically, the $12 billion NPS maintenance backlog that has been building for years.

We do not object to fee increases for visiting our parks (many of which are visited at no charge and most of which are not involved in this current fee increase proposal) when warranted and carefully thought out.  Unfortunately, the current administration has no interest in what the public has to say on this issue, giving just a 30-day comment period which expires 23 November 2017.  

Here’s what we request you please consider doing:

Write Your Congressperson And Two Senators. Request that they:

-     Stand against this entrance fee increase as currently proposed.

-     Request NPS examine alternative fee proposals with longer public comment time.

-     Reject the current administration’s proposed 13% cut in the NPS budget.

-     Fund the $12 billion NPS maintenance backlog.

Contact Your Administration. If you click on the button below labeled TAKE ACTION NOW!, it will direct you to the National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA) website and walk you through sending the administration a comment. Once at the website, read the NPCA’s position and recommended letter of public comment.  If the letter reflects your feelings on the matter, follow these steps:

      Step 1.  Click the button “Copy To Clipboard”; puts letter on clipboard.

      (Note: If you are using a mobile device you will need to manually copy the letter.)

      Step 2.  Click “Go To The Comment Form”.

      Step 3.  Fill out your information and paste the letter into the Comments box.

      Step 4.  Click “Submit”.

It’s that easy to be heard! There is power in numbers, let’s do this together.

 Thank you, dear readers, for taking your stand!

How much is Enough?

"Of all the questions which can come before this nation, short of the actual preservation of its existence in a great war, there is none which compares in importance with the great central task of leaving this land even a better land for our descendants than it is for us."  Teddy Roosevelt

This post is to 1) highlight an urgent funding issue at the federal level and 2) set the record straight (from our point of view) on whether or not the current Secretary of the Interior, Ryan Zinke, is, as he likes to put it, in the Teddy Roosevelt mold.  Born and raised in Montana, Zinke claims strong roots in conservation, even resigning in 2016 as a delegate to the Republican National Convention when federal land transfer to states was added to the Republican platform.  Zinke's prior service to the country has been strong, twenty-three years as a U.S. Navy SEAL. His desire to join the administration of the current President, however, calls into question his more recent judgment. The League of Conservation Voters has given Zinke a lifetime score of 4% (vs. their top rating of 100% for solid conservation performers.)  Meanwhile, oil and gas companies donated $350,000 to Zinke’s campaigns.  Whereas working for the 45th President makes land protection in the John Muir style difficult at best, Zinke’s performance in his first nine months in office has revealed he may not be who even his western supporters hoped he would be.

While Zinke "swaggers" through our national parks, his staffers back in Washington, many if not most coming from the oil and gas industries, are diligently working to dismantle our National Park System and roll back protections for the environment. First on their list are 27 national monuments created since 1996. It is important to note: no President has ever undone the wilderness or cultural protection designated by a previous President . . . until this attempt now.  Next is an assault on the Antiquities Act of 1906 (enacted we might add during Teddy Roosevelt's administration) which enables the President to establish national monuments, a process which has led to the upgrade of countless national monuments to iconic national parks.  Since 1906, every President except three have used the authorities of the Antiquities Act to establish national monuments.  It should also be noted that 1) no land may be included in a national monument that is in private ownership and 2) many attorneys and professors of law doubt the authority of the President to abolish a national monument.  Then comes the administration's fiscal 2018 budget. As currently proposed, the administration not only intends to ignore the existing $12.5 billion National Park Service maintenance backlog, they now propose an 11 percent Interior Department funding cut, the largest cut in Interior’s budget since World War II. 

Teddy Roosevelt, during his administration, placed 230 million acres of land under federal protection on behalf of the American people. Ryan Zinke appears currently on a path to withdraw lands from federal protection—not for the American people, but for powerful lobbies at the state and local level. On 3Jan17, Zinke voted “Yes” on a package making it easier to transfer lands from federal protection to the states.  Yes, he is only on the job for nine months and could have a dramatic epiphany during the balance of his term.  We doubt that epiphany will occur unless the American people rise up to this assault and say “Enough” with the swagger, “Enough” with the parallel to Roosevelt, and “Enough” with the turning over of these revered lands to oil and gas exploration, logging and mining.  “Enough!”

Rachel Carson: Poet or Prophet?

Rachel Carson

Unwilling to be crushed by money, power and greed,

She did the science for earth’s and our need;

Her research came together in her “Silent Spring”,

Bird Songs?  Good Health?  Rachel Carson did bring!

© F.W. HeatonJune, 2017

In her landmark treatise, Silent Spring, published by Houghton Mifflin fifty-five years ago today, 27 September 1962, Rachel Carson proved she was both poet and prophet!  Painstakingly researched, courageously crafted and powerfully delivered, her work has been described as being as close as prose can be to poetry without the rhyme or meter.  Universally opposed by chemical companies and well-connected/well-funded lobbies, Carson’s work documented the disastrous effects on the environment from indiscriminate use of synthetic pesticides, eventually leading to a nationwide ban on DDT for agricultural uses, a rising awareness by the American public of environmental issues, and the eventual creation of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.  In our current 2017 political situation of powerful lobbies discrediting science, it is worth noting that Carson’s book was rated by Discovery Magazine in 2006 as one of the twenty-five greatest science books of all time.

This past May, Writer’s Almanac, sponsored by The Poetry Foundation, advised that 27 May would have been Rachel Carson’s 110th birthday.  Having described her first book, Under the Sea-Wind (1941), they went on to explain: “She won the National Book Award in nonfiction for her second book, the best-seller The Sea Around Us (1951).  In her acceptance speech, she said: ‘The aim of science is to discover and illuminate truth.  And that, I take it, is the aim of literature, whether biography or history or fiction.  It seems to me, then, that there can be no separate literature of science. . . . The winds, the sea, and the moving tides are what they are.  If there is wonder and beauty and majesty in them, science will discover these qualities.  If they are not there, science cannot create them.  If there is poetry in my book about the sea, it is not because I deliberately put it there, but because no one could write truthfully about the sea and leave out the poetry.’ “  

Mary & I have been intending to complete research we began fourteen years ago and our writing of a book dealing with the educational/environmental influence of three what we call “Sources of Wisdom” (all three now deceased): Aldo Leopold (A Sand County Almanac, 1949), Thunderbird Bear Woman She Who Speaks With The Wind (Anglicized name, Jean Augustine) of the Mi’kmaq Tribe, Nova Scotia, Canada, and Rachel Carson.  Carson’s publication date today and Writer’s Almanac’s birthday reminder encourages us to take up that research/writing with intent to finish.  In the meantime, we encourage your read of one or all: Under the Sea-Wind, The Sea Around Us, and Silent Spring.  It is a different kind of spectacular poetry!   

June 1963, Carson testifying at Senator Abraham Ribicoff’s U.S. Senate hearing on pesticide-related issues.  She also testified at the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce on the same topic.  Criticism?  In your online searches, you can read a selection of the well-orchestrated criticism directed at her from all fronts.  Perseverance?  She persevered!  Achievement?  Carson is among the few recognized as beginning the modern worldwide environmental movement.  Courage?  At the time of her U.S. Senate appearances, Carson was losing her battle with breast cancer.  She died of the disease ten months later, 14 April 1964.

Does The Earth Need A Good Lawyer?

We May Need Two!

Air, land, water pollution issues,

Climate change, fossil fuels we use;

Deforestation, overpopulation,

Healthy communities across our nation;

Household and industrial waste,

Acid rain, ozone replace;

Genetic engineering, urban sprawl,

Please, can't we just forget them all!

Sorry friends, we are not done,

Species extinction, biodiversity undone,

Inadequate water for nine billion souls,

Radioactive waste that nuclear holds;

Toxic chemicals, land degradation,

Mining, food safety, contamination;

Such cases in law?  More than a few!

Instead of one lawyer, we may need two!

©  F.W. Heaton June 2017

Founded in 1971, Earthjustice is a nonprofit public interest law organization, based in the U.S., international in scope, and dedicated to environmental issues.  Individual and foundation donations fund the organization; they accept no funding from corporations or governments.  Currently serving over 700 clients, they provide their services at no charge.

We stole our title for this piece "Does The Earth Need A Good Lawyer?" from Earthjustice's slogan "Because the earth needs a good lawyer."  Their work can be divided into three primary categories:

• Cases that preserve wild lands/wildlife.
• Cases promoting clean energy/stable climate.
• Cases promoting healthy communities.

Handling issues relating to the above in the U.S., they also partner with organizations in Russia, China, Japan, Latin America and other regions promoting effective environmental law worldwide.  Considering the above poem's only partial listing of issues and the current U.S. administration's stated intent in these matters, these two attorneys may be looking at some significant overtime!

My Albion College roommate, Rick Smith (life-long friend, 31-year career with the U.S. National Park Service, and author of the Forward for our eBook, The National Park Service Turns One Hundred), advised many years ago: "Earthjustice is one of the few and one of the best organizations to go to the courts on matters it believes are vital to preserving/protecting our environment, our health, our national heritage!"  For years, Mary & I have been monthly sustainers contributing to this essential organization, look forward to their frequent email and print notifications of current issues/events and hope you will consider the same.

Our Fragile Spaceship Planet Earth

The timing for this pre-Labor Day 1Sep post acknowledges the traditional return of the U.S. House and the U.S. Senate the day following Labor Day.  The Congresspersons and Senators have the choice to either support the current administration or not—always strongly pressured by both the administration and their leadership . . . but also mindful of their constituents in their desire to remain in power.  This, therefore, gives each us the opportunity to have our voice heard in a participative representative democracy!  Your voice matters!  Please write your U.S. congressperson and two U.S. senators to express your point of view on matters pertaining to the environment, our health, our national heritage, and our National Park System.  And, please donate to Earthjustice.  The Earth does need a good lawyer!

Can primed pumps write poems?

We’re hoping you kind subscribers to our Blog find enjoyment from time-to-time in reading our blog posts, usually without a whole lot of work on your part, other than perhaps preparing a beverage or settling into a comfortable chair for a few moments.  For this post, however, we’d like to ask a bit of work from you.  We would like you to please write a poem. 

 It turns out that we came across a website recently which proclaimed the 21st of August as National Poetry Day.  Not having heard of that before, and knowing that National Poetry Month in the U.S. is each April, and that the only country that we know of to have an official National Poetry Day is the UK, we did a bit more research.  As far as we can tell, the site proclaiming 21Aug as National Poetry Day is an unofficial group perhaps having fun with various proclamations and perhaps making a bit of money on the website.  Nevertheless, we decided, why not?  Why not ask our readers to write a poem on the 21st of August which, by the way, is the same day as the solar eclipse.  You see where we’re going with this.  Yes, we are asking each of you to write a poem about the solar eclipse upcoming this 21Aug.

 As you readers of our Sixty-Minute Poet eBook on Amazon know, when you’ve not done it, writing poems may appear to be a daunting task.  But we PROMISE you, if you read our eBook for an uninterrupted 60 minutes and perform the exercises asked of you during your read, you WILL be able to write poems.  The more you write, the faster they flow.  Who cares if they’re any good.  And, who’s to say which are “good” and which are not?  But, it almost always is both fun and a personal surprise that “you have it in you”.

 So, to prime your pump, we’ve prepared a few samples:

 Look, the sun,

Has come undone,

She's a shadow of her former self!

-or-

The moon's four hundred times smaller,

Yet looks bigger than she oughter,

Totally covering the sun today;

That's cuz the sun, four hundred times larger,

Looking like she needs a charger,

Is four hundred times farther away!

-or

Out damn spot, out I say,

You're blocking the light today!

This is being posted on the 16th.  If you write your first poem about the upcoming solar eclipse today, and one for each of the next four days, you’ll be in great shape to write your Solar Eclipse poem on the 21st!  For any of you who might be willing to share, we’d love to read any you wish to send!

Alert: National Park Service Senior Pass.

Alert:  On 28 August 2017, the cost of the lifetime Senior Pass will increase from the current $10 to $80!  The lifetime Senior Pass gives seniors (U.S. citizens age 62 and older) access to parks and public lands nationwide. 

Quick Action.  It was brought to our attention by readers of our Blog: 1) there has been almost no notification of this change and very little time to act, 2) almost everyone has a family member or friend who visits national parks, does not currently hold a Senior Pass, is a U.S. citizen 62 or older.  They could benefit by quick action!

How To. Simply log onto the website and apply. https://store.usgs.gov/senior-pass

If you already have a Lifetime Senior pass, excellent for you! Your pass will be grandfathered in and remain valid. Get out there and enjoy the parks for your $10!

Do you have any tips on the Solar Eclipse?

Total Solar Eclipse

 When the temperature drops and the day sky turns dark,

It is not the end of the world;

The moon is positioned ‘tween the sun and the earth,

Spectacular laws of nature unfurled!

To prevent eye damage, you will need protection,

Read up on your eye safety tips;

But make sure you’re in place for this marvel of space,

Rarely seen, Total Solar Eclipse!

©  F.W. HeatonAugust 2017

In twenty days from now, on 21 August 2017, those among the earth’s current 7.5 billion people who choose to position themselves for this event, will be able to observe a space phenomenon which could be, for them, a once in a lifetime experience—a total solar eclipse!  A total solar eclipse is the name scientists have given to the event where the moon is perfectly positioned between the sun and the earth, the disc of the moon completely covering the disc of the sun, reducing the mid-day light to twilight, only the sun’s corona visible with jets of light twisting out from the sun’s outer atmosphere.

Regarding the possibility of positioning one’s self to observe the eclipse in its totality, one needs to know the what and where of the “path of totality”.  Regarding viewing in the continental U.S. for the upcoming event, the path of totality—a 70-mile wide path where the moon completely covers the sun—extends from Madras, Oregon to Columbia, South Carolina.  Those observing the eclipse from outside the path of totality will see a partial solar eclipse—the moon appearing to take a bite out of the sun.  A helpful map showing the path of totality as well as corresponding paths of decreasing totality along with event timing is included here and also can be found with additional information from Space.com at https://www.space.com/33797-total-solar-eclipse-2017-guide.html.  Note: when examining this map, it is helpful to know that, along with the specific U.S. time zone for a particular location, the corresponding “UT” time is listed, referring to “UTC”, standing for Coordinated Universal Time, the basis for civil time today worldwide.

Regarding eye protection, NASA and other organizations advise one needs to utilize ISO-Certified Gear solar viewing glasses to protect one’s eyes from potential damage or blindness resulting from viewing the sun.  The National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s site covering the event has excellent safety advice at https://www.eclipse2017.nasa.gov.  Don’t take a chance on your research, purchase, and usage.

Considering the media coverage this event is receiving, most of you may know most or all of the information presented above.  Here, however, are two “lesser-known facts” about solar eclipses.  I cannot attest for their accuracy except for the fact that I have quoted them from Discovery Magazine, July-August 2009 issue:

- “The symmetry of a total solar eclipse happens because—by pure chance—the sun is 400 times larger than the moon but is also 400 times farther from Earth, making the two bodies appear the exact same size in the sky.”

- “Tidal friction, which causes the lengthening of the day, is also making the moon drift away.  In about 600 million years it will be too small to cover the sun, and there will be no more total solar eclipses.”

Mary & I will be traveling to Columbia SC to gather with family and friends for the event; we send wishes to all for clear skies, good positioning, safe/fun viewing!

What Is A Moveable Feast?

A Moveable Feast

What is a movable feast?  Perhaps a dining creation!

To Hemingway it was Paris, a writer's inspiration!

For us its a marvelous read, beckoning back to French nation!

But for today it is our blog post: Hemingway's Birthday Celebration!

©  F.W. Heaton. July 2017

What is a moveable feast?  To some, it is a sumptuous dining event enjoyed over multiple locations. To Ernest Hemingway, however, it was Paris!  Paris, France, in the early 1920's, was the place to be if you were young, good at your craft, and desiring to be great in your craft, regardless of the nature of your craft—physician, architect, sculptor, philosopher, painter, playwright, musician, writer, et. al.  Hemingway was a fledgling writer, earning most of his income as a journalist, yet aspiring to become an accomplished writer.  He, thus, put himself in position to learn from the many writers gathering in Paris to both influence and learn from the greats or up-and-comings in their profession.  From 1921 to 1926, Hemingway soaked all of this in.  But Hemingway was no mere sponge; his inclination was to explore, to face new dangers, to achieve new adventures.  And his powers of observation and memory were masterful.

Having filled notebooks with his observations, beginning manuscripts, notations of events, ideas, and people covering those six formative years, Hemingway, on his departure from Paris toward the end of the decade, put the notebooks and personal items in two steamer trunks, asking the management of The Ritz Hotel to hold them for his return.  In the succeeding thirty or so years, he apparently forgot about the trunks and contents.  Then, in 1956, having been reminded by Charles Ritz, Ritz’ Chairman, of the two trunks stored all these years in their basement storage room, Hemingway gratefully retrieved the trunks, recovered his long-lost notebooks, and set about pulling together the notations, desiring to complete this manuscript as his memoir of those critical years.  Although almost completed via multiple attempts from 1957 to 1960, Hemingway was unable to fully complete the work.

Tragically, Hemingway died of suicide in 1961.  Over the next three years, Hemingway’s friend and biographer, A. E. Hotchner, and Hemingway’s fourth wife and widow, Mary, completed the organization of the writings, titled it with Hemingway’s own description of Paris, “A Moveable Feast”, and had it published by Scribner’s in 1964.  There is some controversy about the subsequent publication of the work; we prefer Hotchner’s evaluation that the 1964 Scribner’s publication is closest to Hemingway’s original intent.

On a trip to Paris Dec13/Jan14 researching Hemingway and this period of his life, Mary & I enjoyed our own version of a moveable feast, dining only in cafés in which Hemingway et. al. dined: Café de Flore, Les Deux Magots, and others, all still going strong in cuisine, ambience and clientele as opposed to trading on their name.  When we tried to visit The Ritz to thank the GM (although a subsequent GM) for his/her establishment's astonishing thirty-year safe storage of Hemingway's trunks, we found the hotel closed for four years' renovation, reopening in 2016. We're in hopes we’ll accomplish this delayed desire on our upcoming visit this Dec/Jan.  So, there you have it—a moving story about a very moveable feast and an extraordinary story of literary achievement and preservation!  Born 118 years ago today, 21 July 1899: Happy Birthday, "Papa" Hemingway!

How did the Star-Spangled Banner come to be?

Star-Spangled Banner

O say can you see, by the dawn's early light,
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming,
Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there;
O say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

Frances Scott Key, September 1814

Counting from the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776, our dear U.S.A. is 241 years young today! Happy Birthday, America!

Of all the stories we could choose to share regarding the celebration of our Independence, one of the most fascinating yet lesser-known stories is how the Star-Spangled Banner, which we all sing on the 4th of July, came to be.

The Star-Spangled Banner has been our national anthem since Congress officially approved its status in 1931. However, considerably predating Congressional action, it became famous as a song and was sung by patriots as early as November, 1814. Whereas most of us know the song’s lyrics were written by Francis Scott Key during the British bombardment of Fort McHenry during the War of 1812, it is the details of how he wrote the poem that make the story fascinating. Key, a lawyer, and an associate named John Skinner, both of Washington, DC, had traveled to the British warship, HMS Tonnant, anchored in Chesapeake Bay. A prisoner, William Beanes, was being held aboard ship and Key and Skinner were attempting to negotiate his release. The British agreed to release Beanes, however, fearing the three would reveal the British's battle plans, they were detained until the completion of the bombardment which began Sept. 13, 1814. When the bombing stopped the morning of the 14th, Key, having witnessed the bombardment from the British warship's deck and observing the stars and stripes still "gallantly streaming" above the fort, penned most of a poem about his observations and feelings during the night, completing it after his release that evening.

The following morning, it was posted as a handbill in Baltimore. Ferdinand Durang, an actor, put it to the tune of an old English drinking song, To Anacreon in Heaven; by November the song had been published in newspapers and was becoming widely known. Take time to read all four stanzas of the poem; it is as inspiring now as it must have been then. Consider also taking the time to visit the National Park Service’s Fort McHenry National Monument and Historic Shrine; it is one of the most interesting and historically rich places we can think of that is directly linked to our nation’s independence.

Happy Birthday, America!

Your Poem As Your Gift?

Mandela

Twenty-seven years he was in jail.

Yet all that time his holy grail,

Was reconciliation.

Though restricted, he chose to get word out,

That compassion, understanding he was about,

Bridge-building communication.

Though wounded, we each have our time.

To express our love in prose or rhyme,

Even to build a nation.

© F.W. HeatonMarch, 2013

This blog post is on the subject of how, if you work at it, your poetry can become a gift, even a particularly important gift, one you might wish to share with others.  To illustrate this opportunity, I’ve chosen my March, 2013 poem I sent to Nelson Mandela to celebrate his 95th birthday.  Thinking on the subject of attitude, focusing particularly on the saying “Life is ten-percent what happens to you and ninety-percent how you react to it,” I meditated on Mandela’s life under South African apartheid. He endured a twenty-seven-year imprisonment, and, upon release in 1990, dedicated his life to reconciliation, the dissolution of apartheid, the forming of a democracy and becoming the first President of democratic South Africa 1994-1999.  Time and attitude are two precious commodities.  We have little control over the first other than attempted wise use; we have considerable control over the second, having the opportunity to choose, as did Mandela, one’s life approach.  I wrote this poem in March, 2013 when Mandela was hospitalized, his fourth hospitalization since December, 2012.  With prayers from family, friends and admirers around the world, Mandela recovered to the point of release from hospital July, 2013.  I sent this poem to Mandela and to the media as both a prayer of thanksgiving and as a birthday gift 18 July, 2013!  Mandela died that following December.

What Is A Solstice?

Solstice

In summer, when its solstice here,

It is the longest day of year;

But if in Southern Hemisphere,

Would be the shortest day of year;

Makes a difference where you are,

If here or there you’re near or far!

© F.W. HeatonJune, 2017

Today, 21 June, 2017, is marked by scientists as the Summer Solstice for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere and the Winter Solstice for those in the Southern Hemisphere!

A solstice occurs twice a year: the Summer Solstice occurs when the sun reaches its highest point in the sky at noon, marking the year's longest day; the Winter Solstice occurs when the sun reaches its lowest point in the sky at noon, marking the year's shortest day.  Taking place approximately 21 June and 22 December, the solstices are opposite of the Equinoxes--the time or date (twice each year) at which the sun crosses the celestial equator, when day and night are of equal length, about 20 March and 22 September.  It is these four events that determine the seasons of our years.

From Universe Today: “Seasons occur because of the tilt of the Earth’s rotational axis, which is about 23.4 degrees.  Around the June Solstice, the Northern Hemisphere is tilted toward the Sun.  This causes summer there.  The Southern Hemisphere, on the other hand, is tilted away from the sun and therefore, experiences winter.  The opposite occurs around the December Solstice when the Southern Hemisphere is tilted toward the Sun, while the Northern Hemisphere is tilted away.”

The solstices have been celebrated by humans since ancient times, creating cultural and spiritual traditions marking the movement toward and away from sunlight.  In fact, the name solstice is derived from the Latin term “solstitium”, “sol” meaning the sun, “sistere” meaning to make stand; thus, when the sun appears to be standing still .  If you observe monuments such as the pyramids of modern day Egypt or Mexico or Stonehenge in Britain, you will see crafted into these edifices the knowledge of the ancients as to the location and timing of the sun and the earth.  Most people observing modern holidays do not realize the connection with these ancient traditions.

View of the Heel Stone at summer solstice sunrise, as seen from inside the Stonehenge monument.

How might your improved knowledge of seasonal cycles/earth and celestial science better serve you in your future?  Although there are as many answers to this question as there are people, each of us can do our part at better understanding, better choices, better cooperation.  And, while doing that work, we can get outside and celebrate these traditions, these events that, although occurring like clockwork, are in fact so few in number for each of our lives!  Happy Summer Solstice (writing from North Carolina, USA) Today!

How Many Glaciers Are In Glacier National Park?

Glacier National Park

Eleven thousand years ago, the Pleistocene Epoch,

Huge ice sheets covered much of the earth;

It was the remnants of this ice age, 150 glaciers,

That gave Glacier National Park its birth.

The U.S. Congress, protecting one million acres,

Created Glacier May 11, 1910;

Today 25 glaciers, none by 2030,

Climate change creating "Remember When?"

© F.W. Heaton May, 2017

In one sense, this recent May 11th was the celebration of Happy 107th Birthday for Glacier National Park!  From another perspective, however, the birthday might be considered more ominous.  Scientists estimate that, due to forecasted accelerating global warming exacerbated by human caused greenhouse gasses, Glacier's remaining 25 glaciers will be but a memory in thirteen short years!

An estimated sixty-eight percent of the world's fresh water is locked up in the world's fast-melting ice caps and glaciers.  The world's population by some estimates is at 7.5 billion and will reach 9.7 billion by 2050—just thirty-three years from now.  All of these people are and will be in need of fresh water!  It is a mystery to Mary & me why people follow “leaders” who deny climate change and stand in the way of mitigating its effects.

For our part, Mary & I are doing what we can to visit the parks, enjoy their gifts, and encourage their protection through writing and speaking.  In July, 2007, we had the good fortune to visit Glacier, then celebrating its 97th birthday.  Its pristine beauty defies description.  The two mountain ranges that dominate the landscape involve 1.6 billion years of earth’s geologic history, reach 10,400 feet into azure blue sky, are accented by wildflowers of every color and description in summer, provide glacier-carved bowls for 130 lakes of pristine glacier-fed fresh water run-off, and invite you to hike, taking in its glory in splendorous awe.

We chose to be on foot for our visit. We stayed in Waterton Lakes National Park, Alberta, Canada, just north of Glacier National Park, U.S., and the northern half of the Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park—the park a combination of an international peace park, a biosphere reserve and a world heritage site.  It is a truly inspiring example of international cooperation.  We reserved the last two spots in a group of 36 to hike from Waterton Lakes NP into Glacier NP, the group led by an American NPS Park Ranger leading and a Canadian Park Ranger in the sweep position, making sure none of us fell off the cliff from the often-narrow trail carved into the mountainside.  Spectacular is too mild a word to summarize this all-day hiking experience.

So, dear readers, we write this to encourage your exploration of the parks and activism in their protection. We’d like to end by saying Happy Birthday but instead we will say Hopeful Birthday, dear Glacier National Park!

America's Public Lands.

America’s public lands, about to be undone?

Per Wilderness Society, we hope you click “None”.

© F.W. HeatonMay 20, 2017

Help!  The pillars of America's public lands may be about to be demolished--not by an outside force but by our own government!  

 Whereas we are making every attempt to write our blog posts from the political center with strong moral values, recent occurrences are causing us to speak out.  We understand some may not agree with our position, but we feel the stakes are too high for future generations for us to remain silent.

 We're writing to ask for your urgent help!  Yesterday, a friend forwarded to us an email from the Wilderness Society advising their readers of a new White House “survey” asking Americans which agencies they'd like to eliminate.  Among the choices: the National Park Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and other critical environmental departments.  The stated purpose of this initiative on the part of the administration and many Republicans in the House and Senate is "streamlining government".  Yes, there is always need to improve the efficiency of government.  However, the anti-environmental, anti-science, anti-future generations approach of this administration and many in Congress, in Mary's and my minds along with the minds of activist organizations, has nothing to do with governmental efficiency and everything to do with defunding/emasculating agencies with whom they disagree and turning over federal lands to state and local officials heavily influenced by powerful interests including oil and gas drilling, mining, lumbering and development/commercialization.

 For those of you willing to get involved, the Wilderness Society's email provides information to help you speak out.  See the email in it's entirety below.  Also below is a link to the government’s “survey”.  As you will see when you watch the administration’s short video, this approach is well-crafted to achieve their objectives.  We hope you see through the smoke to the real issues.  Thank You for caring and speaking out!

 We hope you click NONE!

---

Wilderness Society Email
Thursday, May 18, 2017

New Trump web page asks Americans if they want to ax National Park Service, other key land agencies

A new White House web page asks Americans which agencies they'd like to dismantle. Among the choices: the National Park Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and other critical environmental departments. Here's how we should respond.

The Trump administration has again shifted its war on conservation, this time taking aim at the pillars of America's public lands: the National Park Service and other agencies.

Lost amid the furor over the White House's attacks on national monuments, the EPA and the Arctic, a recent executive order asks the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to "eliminate unnecessary agencies" in the name of streamlining government.

Shockingly, the White House's first step is simply...asking people which agencies they want to get rid of. Rarely do we see attacks on lands, waters and wildlife in such a stark and unmediated light. But sure enough, the National Park Service, Department of the Interior, U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Bureau of Land Management and numerous others are among those you can select to "eliminate" through a new whitehouse.gov portal between now and June 12.

This survey is in keeping with the worldview of an administration that has previously advised starvation-diet funding for conservation agencies and programs, even though they are considered to provide a great return on taxpayer investment.

As Americans we need to get involved in this survey and let the Trump administration know that we would never want to eliminate any of the critical agencies that protect our wildlands and our clean air and water.

Eliminating our environmental agencies goes hand-in-hand with Trump and Congress' agenda to give more of our public lands away to fossil fuel companies and other developers. Anti-conservation members of Congress are already working with Trump to undo protections for wildlands across the nation. These efforts have included shutting the public out of decisions about drilling, mining and logging on our public lands; and opening the Arctic Ocean to drilling.

Among many other consequences, if land agencies are eliminated or severely cut, it could...

- Make understaffed parks vulnerable to crime and vandalism.
- Further hamper the ability of the Forest Service to fight wildfires while still running crucial conservation programs.
- Starve recovery efforts for endangered species in national wildlife refuges.
- Leave trails and roads in a state of disrepair

The Trump administration keeps moving the goalposts on what is considered extreme behavior, but we can't afford to let outrageous anti-public lands attacks become the new normal. Please take a minute to tell the White House you REJECT its attack on public land agencies.

Leave a comment for the Trump White House: Don't kill our land agencies

1) Go to this White House page* and select "-NONE-" for which agencies to cut or eliminate.

2) When you're asked for your reasoning or other comments or ideas, select "-NA-" and let the Trump administration know that they should not only keep our land agencies whole—but give them much-needed and long-delayed funding to do the critical conservation work our public lands need.

National Monuments, Antiquities Act of 1906

Dismantle the Antiquities Act of 1906?

1906: “Create national monuments from Federal lands,

To protect natural, cultural, scientific features.”

2017: With no thought to the future, not create but destroy,

Threatening the land, and humans, all creatures.

© F.W. HeatonMay 18, 2017

As cautious as Mary & I are regarding protecting/strengthening issues relating to our core values, we did not believe Federal protection for our currently federally protected lands would be withdrawn by a U.S. President.  Similarly, we did not believe the legislation enacted by Congress and signed into law by Theodore Roosevelt in 1906 under the title, Antiquities Act, would be dismantled by a U.S. President.  This law gives the President of the U.S. the authority to, by presidential proclamation, “create national monuments from federal lands to protect significant natural, cultural or scientific features.”  The Act has been used over one hundred times to create national monuments, many of which went on to become national parks.  Not once, in the history of our country, has a president removed from this federal protection even one area given this protection by a previous president.  Not until now.  Now, one hundred twenty days into the current administration, both the removal of federal protection for at least 27 national monuments and the dismantling of the 1906 Antiquities Act appear quite possible.

With respect to the Interior Department’s current “Review” of 27 National Monuments, the public has been given VERY little time to comment (only until 26May in the case of Bears Ears National Monument—8 days from this writing).  And, the process for the public to comment has been made difficult to understand and time consuming.  It is clear the administration is not seeking informed public comment (although they profess otherwise).  Mary & I devoted this past Tuesday night and Wednesday morning to learning about Interior Secretary, Ryan Zinke, drafting/revising our cease and desist letter, and getting it successfully communicated at noon Wednesday to Interior.  We copied by email on their websites our two U.S. Senators and U.S. Congressperson.

Bear's Ears National Monument, NM. by Bob Wick, BLM

As we write this, we keep top of mind Republican President, Theodore Roosevelt's, quote: "Of all of the questions which can come before this nation, short of the actual preservation of its existence in a great war, there is none which compares in importance with the great central task of leaving this land even a better land for our descendants than it is for us."  Please, each of you who hold these values core as do Mary & I, take the time to write to Secretary Zinke, your two U.S. Senators and your U.S. Congressperson and ask them to STOP this give-away of public lands to the states and ultimately to oil and gas drilling, lumbering, mining, and development/commercialization.

For more information, please visit the websites of well-informed/activist organizations including the Earthjustice, Natural Resources Defense Council, and the Wilderness Society.

National Parks Conservation Association (npca.org)

Please, America, come together,

Let your voice be heard;

It is our duty: leave land better,

Our Vote, Our Promise, Our Word!

© F.W. Heaton May, 2017

This is our first blog post since launching our new Heaton Publications website.  Welcome to the site and thanks to all who have subscribed to our blog; we’ll try to keep it interesting and fresh.  We are currently writing the blog to support both the poetry book and the national parks book; today’s post is on the parks.

Many of you have written asking for more information on the National Parks Conservation Association: who they are, what work do they do, and why did we chose their organization as opposed to another to whom to donate profits from sales of our eBook, The National Park Service Turns One Hundred.  In our judgment, those desiring to support our U.S. National Park System get the biggest bang for their buck donating to the NPCA for the following reasons:

-  Exclusive focus on the parks and programs of the National Park Service.

-  Staff has frequent contact with NPS employees.

-  Large national membership with regional representatives.

-  Willing to litigate important NPS issues.

Another good way to answer those questions is for us to blog about NPCA's blog, using their May, 2017 blog post, “Sometimes You Need A Little Hubris” by Joseph Goldstein, as an example.  We hope you find the information helpful and feel good that such a highly qualified organization has the back of all individuals with a passion for our parks.  We believe you’ll find this NPCA blog post powerful:

Apogee

As a metaphor, it's hard to beat,

Comparing us to ancient Crete;

Like the Aegean society,

Unaware of its apogee.

© F.W. Heaton  May, 2017

Apogee?  Due to unprecedented political polarization, it may not be seen by at least half of the current U.S. population that we may be at our nation’s apogee regarding caring for all peoples of the world and for our natural and cultural heritage—a condition from which we might not recover.  Mary & I are neither Republican nor Democrat; we are registered as Independents and work toward governance from the center with strong moral values.  We feel there is good reason so many are upset from both the left and the right and that the situation demands intelligent bipartisanship.  We feel the U.S. should continue to be a beacon for freedom in the world and a shining example in world leadership on global issues.  We see the current situation as an issue of moral values vs. politics.  We are, thus, striving with our writing, traveling, speaking to make a difference, to promote caring for all people, to encourage the sensitivity of poets, to encourage protection, conservation and education for our natural and cultural heritage.  We approach this life purpose with a sense of urgency before our nation slides over the apogee into irretrievable catastrophe.

Current Administration.  The current administration led by Donald J. Trump, 45th U.S. President and the Republican majority in the U.S. House and Senate, took office slightly more than 100 days ago, January 20, 2017.  The administration’s first 100-days boasts include: Administration/Congress/special interest groups joining to dismantle the laws protecting National Park locations, overturning the ban on new offshore oil and gas drilling, the Environmental Protection Agency (now led by an arch-opponent of the agency) purging its website of scientifically-supported climate change information, an all-out effort to dismantle the Clean Power Plan, a House-passed bill that would have made it easier for states to take over public lands, a House bill introduced in February that would have sold off 3.3 million acres of public land in 10 western states, an executive order paving the way for stripping protections for any of America’s national monuments designated since 1996.  This list will go on until the U.S. House and Senate members feel these positions may cause them to lose their jobs in the next election(s).  

Theodore Roosevelt.  In contrast, the administration of Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919), 26th President of the U.S., with the assistance of the U.S. House and Senate, achieved the establishment of federal protection for 230 million acres of land and the creation of 150 national forests, 51 federal bird reservations, 5 national parks, and 18 national monuments.  This quote well-summarizes Roosevelt’s prescient approach to national leadership: "Of all of the questions which can come before this nation, short of the actual preservation of its existence in a great war, there is none which compares in importance with the great central task of leaving this land even a better land for our descendants than it is for us."