Mid-Summer\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Full Honey Flow Moon<\/p>\n
Talking with Mark today it occurred to me, for the first time, that part of what was going on with him, maybe a lot of it, involved repatriation.\u00a0 So, I looked it up on google.\u00a0 Turns out repatriate adjustment has many facets, most of them difficult to integrate, often leading to feelings of isolation, alienation and just plain old bewilderment.\u00a0 Especially when you return suddenly, as Mark did, from twenty + years abroad, the country of his birth has changed.\u00a0 A lot.\u00a0 In subtle and not so subtle ways.\u00a0 I’m just beginning to understand this phenomenon, but as a brother and as a student of anthropology, it fascinates me and gives me considerable pause.<\/p>\n
Last night, during a violent thunder storm, our power went out and, presumably, our generator kicked in.\u00a0 But, as life goes, at 4:45 am, our alarm decided it had to begin chirping.\u00a0 And chirping.\u00a0 Not the wailing kind of all hell’s broken loose kinda noise, but a persistent annoying chirp.\u00a0 After muffling it and going back to sleep, Kate got up and called the company.\u00a0 We had to replace the back up battery in the unit’s central box.\u00a0 This is a twelve-volt battery with sulfuric acid like your car battery.\u00a0 Who knew?\u00a0 Anyhow the new one now rests where the faded one was and all is well with the alarm system.<\/p>\n
My History of Graphic Design course project, redesigning Ancientrails, has got me thinking about why I do this.\u00a0 Do I do this for you, the reader, or for me?\u00a0 I have kept diaries and journals since the early 70’s.\u00a0 They vary in systematics and consistency although over the last 20 years I’ve kept regular journals on matters from spirituality to art history, reading the classics to daily experiences, thoughts.\u00a0 Ancientrails extends and continues those, which were private, so in that sense this is a public journal, but a continuation of a private one.<\/p>\n
It is not, however, like the private one, unread.\u00a0 Readership varies from peaks of around 200 a day to a more average 50.\u00a0 There were some 1100 visits this month.\u00a0 A small number for most websites, infinitesimal really, but considerably more than the one who read my private journals.\u00a0 Having readers changes the content.\u00a0 I’ve made four of five gaffes that have gotten me into hot water with family, lost me a job and caused certain allies to wonder about my discretion.\u00a0 Each one of those events creates a certain amount of self-censorship, as does the possibility that anybody might read any of this at any time.<\/p>\n
Ancientrails is also a document on the world wide web.\u00a0 That means html, tags, pictures, news, links.\u00a0 These features create a more accessible journal, a deeper journal with ties to other webpages and direct access to information about a topic.\u00a0 Not sure where all this goes quite yet.\u00a0 Still thinking.\u00a0 If you have any input, leave me a comment.\u00a0 Thanks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Mid-Summer\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Full Honey Flow Moon Talking with Mark today it occurred to me, for the first time, that part of what was going on with him, maybe a lot of it, involved repatriation.\u00a0 So, I looked it up on google.\u00a0 Turns out repatriate adjustment has many facets, most of them difficult to integrate, often leading … Continue reading Ancientrails<\/span>