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He looks so innocent…

… but then again, you’re not a cookie.

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http://www.thegoodwinproject.com/blog

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Guidance from the Ojibwe courtesy of the Bad River Tribe

The one positive thing that comes out of an NY times article on the intractable forward - I shouldn't really call it forward because forward has an implication of progress, achievement, and gain. This implies none of those things -  march  of GTac, a development-stage iron-ore mining company that threatens, as Dan Kaufman puts it, the "soul of Wisconsin": Kaufman says of the Indigenous Chippewa, "[In] the Chippewa tradition, a decision is made based on how it will affect people seven generations forward".  I read, and now repeat, this paraphrase at a time in my life during which I have been reflecting on all the hidden (in plain sight, hidden, perhaps, because we forget or fear to look - I being equally guilty) costs of a conventional lifestyle in conventional society. It is a point I hope to remember.

Interestingly, the first result of a google search of the term "Chippewa" comes up with a boot manufacturing company, which felt very poetic. Anyhow, because "screw that", it seems appropriate to say something memorable about the Chippewa, aside from the philosophy mentioned above. 

As it turns out, the Chippewa, also known as the Ojibwe, have a name whose meaning has been forgotten. Wikipedia offers three possibilities, but the best is "those who cook/roast until it puckers, referring to [the Ojibwe practice of] fire-curing of moccasin seams to make them waterproof". That's really cool.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/30/opinion/sunday/the-fight-for-wisconsins-soul.html?ref=opinion#story-continues-1

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In a recent article that appeared in Harper’s Magazine entitled On Hypocrisy, the author Clancy Martin touches briefly on the evolutionary hard-wiring of hypocrisy. What he points out, interestingly, underscores the irrelevances of the ad hominem argument while simultaneously drawing attention to the fact that moral fabric is less of a continuous weave and more of a patchwork quilt. Human morality is compartmentalized and it is context specific. Clancy points out that “…the self, as Nietzsche once helpfully described it, is a kind of oligarchy wherein different sets of beliefs can be entertained (and even committed to, cherished, defended) depending on the needs of the self in different situations. A brutal tyrant can still be a loving father, because those roles require different and incompatible belief sets.” If we are to accept the truth of this argument (as Martin, and the evolutionary psychologist whom he quotes, Robert Kurzban, might urge us to) we can immediately see two things. The first is that it is futile to attack a person’s logic on the basis of perceived moral shortcomings. Clearly the cognitive mind that rationalized an argument could live in a space built upon an entirely contrary, or at least different, moral platform than the cognitive mind that rationalized a negative action. The second thing we can take from Nietzsche’s suggestion that the self may have many genuinely different moral expressions is an extension of the first. I do think it is still worth pointing out. “But he was such a loving husband and father, I don’t understand how he could have…” or “But all the other mothers looked up to her as an archetype of parenting skills…” are sentiments at which Kurzban and Nietzsche might smile knowingly. Gangsters and murderers can make great parents and chairpeople of medical ethics committees can be sadists. These are extreme examples, but I make them merely to point out the challenge of bucketing people into categories of “good” or “bad”. For me, the lesson within a lesson from this short article on hypocrisy is this: always be slow to judge, and never let your judgements be too rigid - allow them to change. People are extremely dynamic and apparently somewhat context-specific.

http://harpers.org/blog/2014/03/on-hypocrisy/

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An excellent read and introduction - possibly to a polarized national debate, possibly to thinking about physical intimacy in new ways

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"The closest I come to perfection is when you turn around to steal a kiss..."

Tomorrow, Shakey Graves

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-Under the radar, but to me, one of the most inspirational climbers. BJ Tilden & Wild Iris climbing

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Skinny Lister - Rollin' Over 

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Laura Mvula - Green Garden

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Lama eye

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La Dispute - Such Small Hands

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Wham Bam and Logie- Monarchs of Magic (by welcomeskateboardss)