Big News

Hi All,
So, with the same woman's wiles that Eve used to trick Adam into eating the apple of knowledge, I too have fallen under the spell of a women. My soul is now in jepordy. Janice and I are living together in sin. But as Billy Joel said in his song Only the Good Die Young, "I would rather laugh with the sinners than cry with the saints because sinners are much more fun." Smile everyone it is a joke.

Janice will be here for the summer and then go back to school at Southern Illinois University for fall semester and the move back up here in December for her capture season. And if I have not driven her completely nuts she will move back in then. I am very happy. :) :) :)

So, last weekend Janice, Molly, Pico and I did a long day hike on Sleeping Bear Dunes. We started near Glen Haven and walked cross country to the dead forest near the lookout on Stocking Drive.

This picture is of a big boulder in the middle of all this sand. As you walk around on the dunes you always see little rocks but every now and again to come across these good sized boulders.


The next few pictures are walking around the dead forest way up on the dunes.






So, over many, many years the sand slowly covers the forest. Of course the forest dies. Then over many, many years again the sand slowly uncovers the dead forest. Some of these logs are big. As you walk around and take a closer look at the logs, the beautifully sculpted designs the sand and winds make is amazing. You may also see tracks of some of the critters that call this place home now.

This is a picture of Molly waiting very for the okay to run down this giant dune to go swimming


This is at the bottom of the giant dune on the rocky shore of Lake Michigan.


Janice, Molly, Pico and I then walked the beach around Sleeping Bear point to a trail head near Glen Haven. But along the way we stopped for lunch and a short nap. This was taken right after our short nap.


This is part of an old ship wreck before we headed back over land from the lake shore. It is cool how these old wrecks will be there one year and gone the next. You may never see them again or many years will pass before you see them.


This last picture is of Janice and I having a great time on our day hike.


I hope this finds everyone doing well.
Peace and Love,
Geoff

The Immigration Debate Rages

The following is a letter my aunt sent to me and it got me going. So, please read the letter and then after the letter is my response to it.
Please feel free to make any comments. All veiw points are welcome.

Written in response to a series of letters to the editor in the Orange County Register:

Dear Editor:

So many letter writers have based their arguments on how this land is made up of immigrants. Ernie Lujan for one, suggests we should tear down the Statue of Liberty because the people now in question aren't being treated the same as those who passed through Ellis Islandand other ports of entry.

Maybe we should turn to our history books and point out to people like Mr. Lujan why today's American is not willing to accept this new kind of immigrant any longer. Back in 1900 when there was a rush from all areas of Europe to come to the United States, people had to get off a ship and stand in a long line in New York and be documented. Some would even get down on their hands and knees and kiss the ground. They made a pledge to uphold the laws and support their new country in good and bad times. They made learning English a primary rule in their new American households and some even changed their names to blend in with their new home.

They had waved good bye to their birth place to give their children a new life and did everything in their power to help their children assimilate into one culture.

Nothing was handed to them. No free lunches, no welfare, no labor laws to protect them. All they had were the skills and craftsmanship they had brought with them to trade for a future of prosperity. Most of their children came of age when World War II broke out. My father fought along side men whose parents had come straight over from Germany , Italy , France and Japan . None of these 1st generation Americans ever gave any thought about what country their parents had come from. They were Americans fighting Hitler, Mussolini and the Emperor of Japan . They were defending the United States of America as one people. When we liberated France , no one in those villages were looking for the French-American or the German American or the Irish American. The people of France saw only Americans. And we carried one flag that represented one country. Not one of those immigrant sons would have thought about picking up another country's flag and waving it to represent who they were. It would have been a disgrace to their parents who had sacrificed so much to be here. These immigrants truly knew what it meant to be an American. They stirred the melting pot into one red, white and blue bowl.

And here we are in 2006 with a new kind of immigrant who wants the same rights and privileges. Only they want to achieve it by playing with a different set of rules, one that includes the entitlement card and a guarantee of being faithful to their mother country. I'm sorry, that's not what being an American is all about. I believe that the immigrants who landed on Ellis Island in the early 1900's deserve better than that for all the toil, hard work and sacrifice in raising future generations to create a land that has become a beacon for those legally searching for a better life. I think they would be appalled that they are being used as an example by those waving foreign country flags.

And for that suggestion about taking down the Statue of Liberty , it happens to mean a lot to the citizens who are voting on the immigration bill. I wouldn't start talking about dismantling the United States just yet.
(signed) Rosemary LaBonte

Geoff's response:

This letter paints a very rosey picture of immigrants in the early years of our country. When these people came to this country many were dirt poor. They had to depend on each other and many times they were being taken advantage of by the people of this country, whether it was their own people or others. Tricked into joining the army and killing other poor people for no other reason than money. Can you say chewed up and spit out. Many of them would have gone back to their country if they could have and many did. Many of the immigrants didn't go back and had their families ruined; died of disease and hunger and suffered thru unreal conditions. There were few or no records kept of how many died during this time. How many children died and/or babies at birth? Maybe if there would have been welfare, not so many children would have suffered and died or lived in filth and been uneducated. We don't hear about these things because the history our schools teach likes to paint this beautiful picture of how great our country was. Do some research and find the some of the other stories.

Many of the immigrants did learn english or their kids did, but they spoke their own language at home. And they made sure their culture and customs were learned and lived in everyday life. Many of their names were changed and the families did not even know about it because they did not speak english or understand our ways. That was because the immigration officials were to lazy or to bigoted or under to much pressure to let them keep their own names.

It does not surprize me this is the way many older people of our country view the new immigrants. (And not all older people see it this way I know) They were trained very well to believe the beautiful, clean, spotless history our educators like to pass on as the truth. They also tend to be the most vocal when other records are presented and/or found that put a little dirt on their spotless version of history. It makes me sick when I keep hearing the phrase "don't re-write history." History is a living thing, it has to be. Those who win the war write the history. I think we can all agree with this. Well, then don't be surprized when the group that lost the war start telling their side of things. If we blow these people off we are making a big mistake.
Please don't believe everything you hear or read. Do your own research and then make up your mind. But please don't be so stubborn to not change that view if new evidence presents itself. If we start to believe we know everything and stop learning, we stop growing. Then we get old and die.
Peace and Love to everyone.
Geoff

Back from Spring Break

Hi All,
What a wonderful time I had this last week.
Here is a picture of the students I took to Kalamazoo for PeaceJam and Rigoberta. What a wonderful women she is. She talked so much about the energy we get from all nature and other people and how we process that energy. It would be almost inpossible for me to express everything she said in this blog. How knowledgeable and how in touch she is with this energy is such a wonderful, beautiful thing.

Then I headed down tho the Red. The first day I climbed was 83 and sunny. By the time I left it was about maybe 40 and snow squalls as I was finishing up my last climb of the week. I had a great time the whole week but the highlight for me was my red point of a climb called Fuzzy Undercling. A red point is when you have tried the climb before but have not made it up without falling. So you are familiar with the climb. But a red point is leading the climb without falling. Something I thought I would never beable to do on this climb. A 5.11b sport climb. This picture is not of me on the climb but gives you a good idea of what it looks like.

The next picture gives you an idea of how over hung the route is. When you lower off from the top you land 30 feet from the base of the climb.

Well time to get back into the grind. It was a great week. I am not ready to be back, but c'est la vie.
Peace and Love,
Geoff