Mesa Verde Two

​So like I said we went to mesa Verde and it was amazing but.....

It was frustrating too. A lot of what I learned about mesa Verde in school was about you're there was a lot of violence in the region at the time, but every ranger we talked to denied this, telling us that that was old information and that there is no evidence for violence.

So when we came home I did several google scholar searches and even contacted my college professors, (professional archaeologists) who have studied the archaeology of the area. Everything I looked at said or alluded to the violence of the area. My professors said the same thing, even suggesting that the very presence of the cave dwellings was a proof of violence. They they ended their emails with tactful sentences about political correctness and politics causing the Park service to blatantly lie about the state of things.

I know revisionist histories are a thing but it is still disturbing to find it for yourself. and why? Why is extensive scientific evidence so feared? Who cares if someone's possible ancestors were fighting? Every one has ancestors who fought, who were violent. I like to tell people about how one of my ancestors was the first white man hung in the America's for murder. And when people claim offense for truth being spoken (or at least the most likely scientific evidence) I think the warning bell has gone off. Instead of teaching falsehoods to the unsuspecting to assuage their feelings we should be helping people be resilient enough not to take offense at all.

Mesa Verde

​About a week ago we went to mesa Verde. I had never been there but I had learned about it in my anthropology classes.
It is a national park that has multiple archaeological sites. Some are houses and other buildings on the mesa tops where they farmed. But the impressive sites, the ones people really go to see are the cliff dwellings. Giant multi level pueblos nestled in natural caves and alcoves high above the canyon floor and nearly inaccessible from the mesa tops.
I don't think I have ever gone to a place that has sparked my imagination like this place. It was awe inspiring and just filled me with curiosity. How would life be like to live on the side of a cliff but be part of an otherwise normal agricultural society. What was the violence like that would force you into living like that. If the best source of water was 9 miles away at a bottom of a canyon what was water gathering like?
I already wrote a book about a hunter gatherer society, in large part because I was fascinated by what life would be like as a hunter gatherer. I kind of want to write one about a complex cave palace dwelling society to explore the possibilities....

Satisfaction

​I've never really budgeted before. I've kept track of where my money goes and I've avoided spending money but that isn't really the same as planning on spending a certain amount and then doing things to make that happen.

Lately Jeremy and I have been budgeting, especially in terms of groceries and I have never found grocery shopping so satisfying. Usually when I have completed my grocery shopping it is like, "great, I'm done with that necessary item." But since we've been budgeting successfully it has not only been a chore to check off, but it has also been an accomplishment. Is it any wonder addictive computer games tend to have lists of simple requirements that you can accomplish each day and gain a bit of that sense of satisfaction.

Necessary Art

I had a conversation with a friend this week that surprised me. She basically said art wasn't necessary and for the most part shouldn't even be a major is schools.
I don't know why she feels so strongly this way, although I know it is not because she hates art, in fact she is a gifted amateur artist, but I disagree.
Me the person who only does art if I can find some sort of practical reason for it.
I think that art is all around us, whether it is architecture, or stickers, or gourmet food. We all appreciate different forms more then others but if it wasn't necessary would we, as a race, be driven to create so frequently.
Art makes me happy. It provides peace. I think nice art can contribute to the emotion and the feel of a location. It provides emotional connections. It is evocative and freeing. I think the act of creating brings us closer to God, after all who is more creative?
Art may not be entirely necessary for the human body but surely it is necessary for the spirit.

Search Parameters: Part 2

Quite a while ago I posted about search parameters, but I was thinking about it again recently.
Growing up, I went on hikes and walks with my mom. She notices birds and flowers and names them so I started noting them too. Then, I studied archaeology and I started noticing chert fragments used for projectile points and broken glass. Then, I became curious about firehydrants. Then, I started learning about bones and became fascinated by them. As my nephew once said after I found a bone on a hike, "of course you'd be the one to find a bone." Then, I studied geology,
and rocks and geologic features started popping out at me. And now, I've been going on hikes with Jeremy more and I keep noticing bugs. I kind of love how my search parameters keep getting added to, because really it is just more things to appreciate and learn about.
One thing I try to do in my writing, an character building is to make different characters have different search parameters. I think it is a simple way to add a bit of a different feel to the point of views of various characters. For instance one of my characters likes birds, while another likes horses. When I write from the point of view of the one that likes birds I try to mention more birdsong and seeing specific birds while ignoring horses except to notice their presence.
As I concluded in my last post about search parameters though, what makes even more of a difference over specific likes and dislikes or educational biases is attitude. Am I looking for the positive or the negative or perhaps how to be a hero or a victim. Things like that are bit more tricky to add to a written character and probably even trickier to notice in your life but perhaps all the more important because of that.

Masks

I like a series of books by Sarah M Eden. Each book is about a different brother. In one of the books the mother of all these boys says to one of them "You all keep yourselves tucked safely behind various masks and walls, whether it be isolation or playing the fool or clinging to the appearance of impeccable respectability."
One of the reasons I like the series is because each book is about one of the brothers being brave enough to reveal themselves, to come out from behind the mask or wall they hide behind. And they each do it in a slightly different way because their mask was different to begin with.
This week I submitted my book Legend Speaker for possible publication (again). I wrote a cover letter for it that Jeremy kindly told me was boring... he was right and it forced me to confront my own mask.
When introducing myself I immediately want to say something to portray myself as boring as possible. Like telling people an interesting fact about me is that I have brown hair or I like to dig holes. When writing emails or cover letters or resumes I hide behind stiff formality. At first I told Jeremy it was because I hate talking myself up, which is true, to an extent.... but why do I hate talking myself up? Is it really because I hate bragging... or is it more about revealing myself, being vulnerable, showing excitement...
I was able to rewrite it in a way that wasn't boastful but it did show my excitement about what I've done, and yes it was a lot less formal.
I have been surprised at how much marriage reveals masks.... its been good but a bit uncomfortable.

Using Words with Power

Jeremy says I over analyze words....
The other week at church people were asked to describe attributes of God and some of the words that came up were Omnipresent, and Omniscient etc. Which are true and everything but it doesn’t really mean anything to me personally.
I think language is a super powerful tool, but we often don’t use it to its full advantage. I think one of the most annoying ways we don’t use it properly is when we say things that don’t even mean anything to us. We have all these big words that we throw around but sometimes they don’t represent any better what we meant then a simple word. That isn't always the case of course. People make fun of scientific papers for being overly dense, and they probably are but sometimes a really complicated word is so specific that using it can be far more succinct and clear then a lot of more ordinary words.