Pet Peev.
My original intentions for today's posting was to elaborate on the delicate nature of inter-species reproduction and the vital role Deloware has played in ensuring the maintenance of bilogical un-diversity in the contiguous 48, but something has happened that I feel I cannot allow to go undocumented.
Two days ago I climbed a mountain.
Sort of.
I have been spending the past month in Vermont, doing research along the Canadian border - a federally funded study of the "porous border" problem - and I had this week off. I had been staying with friends of mine (a People-and-Human Studies Professor at UVM and a Jew) in Burlington. On Wednesday they were both busy at work (at Old Navy and Taco Bell, respectively) so I had the day to myself. I thought it would be a good opportunity to take in the local landscape by climbing the highest peak in the county, Camel's Hump, and really see the sights. I looked online to find directions to the mountain but any direct help elluded me. I decided to just wing it and let my natural directional ability guide me.
Once on the freeway I could see the tall peak in the distance and guessed my way toward it. Across freeway and backroads alike I drove until coming on a sign pointing down a dirt road, "Camel's Hump 3 1/2". I took the long road for what must have been closer to six miles before coming on an empty parking lot with a sign "Camel's Hump State Park."
But there was a problem.
There was no mountain.
On some level I was immediately aware of what was going on, but my anger at the situation drowned out my better reasoning and I simply let myself get carried away. There was a small path which I followed, hoping that my instincts were wrong and that the big mountain was simply hidden behind one of the smaller ones. This, alas, proved not to be the case. Camel's Hump is a para-geologic formation.
NO WHERE online did I find this information! NO ONE ever mentioned anything about the mountain having any para-characteristics! NO WAY could I have predicted this!
Which brings me to that pet peev of mine. I hate it when people don't adequately make these para-formations a part of their everyday psychological lives. Everyone knows that the mountain is sometimes there, sometimes not, but the situation is too "wierd" to really think about and so no one does. The problem is just ignored by those whose imagination cannot take in the whole reality of the situation all at once and something in their small little minds fizzles out. For professionals like myself in the para-anything fields, this is simply unacceptable.
It is also, unfortunately, very common. Such a large part of the culture has no place for those things that cannot be understood VERY EASILY. My colleagues, specifically those regretable few in the high-publicity world of para-zoology, are constantly being attacked as "crazy people" because they are capable of seeing things others cannot because of their small minds and even smaller imaginations.
There is, I know, little I can do about the problem. One cannot be educated when one is completely empty headed. Writing here my emotions have moved surprisingly fast from anger to sadness at the state my fellow humans are in. The best I can do is teach who can listen and ignore the rest.
And warn anyone in the Burlington area to approach the mountain with caution.
Two days ago I climbed a mountain.
Sort of.
I have been spending the past month in Vermont, doing research along the Canadian border - a federally funded study of the "porous border" problem - and I had this week off. I had been staying with friends of mine (a People-and-Human Studies Professor at UVM and a Jew) in Burlington. On Wednesday they were both busy at work (at Old Navy and Taco Bell, respectively) so I had the day to myself. I thought it would be a good opportunity to take in the local landscape by climbing the highest peak in the county, Camel's Hump, and really see the sights. I looked online to find directions to the mountain but any direct help elluded me. I decided to just wing it and let my natural directional ability guide me.
Once on the freeway I could see the tall peak in the distance and guessed my way toward it. Across freeway and backroads alike I drove until coming on a sign pointing down a dirt road, "Camel's Hump 3 1/2". I took the long road for what must have been closer to six miles before coming on an empty parking lot with a sign "Camel's Hump State Park."
But there was a problem.
There was no mountain.
On some level I was immediately aware of what was going on, but my anger at the situation drowned out my better reasoning and I simply let myself get carried away. There was a small path which I followed, hoping that my instincts were wrong and that the big mountain was simply hidden behind one of the smaller ones. This, alas, proved not to be the case. Camel's Hump is a para-geologic formation.
NO WHERE online did I find this information! NO ONE ever mentioned anything about the mountain having any para-characteristics! NO WAY could I have predicted this!
Which brings me to that pet peev of mine. I hate it when people don't adequately make these para-formations a part of their everyday psychological lives. Everyone knows that the mountain is sometimes there, sometimes not, but the situation is too "wierd" to really think about and so no one does. The problem is just ignored by those whose imagination cannot take in the whole reality of the situation all at once and something in their small little minds fizzles out. For professionals like myself in the para-anything fields, this is simply unacceptable.
It is also, unfortunately, very common. Such a large part of the culture has no place for those things that cannot be understood VERY EASILY. My colleagues, specifically those regretable few in the high-publicity world of para-zoology, are constantly being attacked as "crazy people" because they are capable of seeing things others cannot because of their small minds and even smaller imaginations.
There is, I know, little I can do about the problem. One cannot be educated when one is completely empty headed. Writing here my emotions have moved surprisingly fast from anger to sadness at the state my fellow humans are in. The best I can do is teach who can listen and ignore the rest.
And warn anyone in the Burlington area to approach the mountain with caution.
posted by LegStrong @ 2:23 PM
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