Harvey and Houston

The news for the past several days has centered around Hurricane Harvey and the unprecedented flooding produced by rainfalls of over 40” in much of the Houston area. Part of Texas by Tuesday morning, August 29, had received over 49” a new record for the landfall of a tropical storm on the mainland With rainfalls at such levels no amount of planning or engineering design could handle what is often termed, to use planning language, the “maximal probable flood event.” Of course, at 49” in my mind it is beyond the probable stage (one location set a new record for rainfall on the US mainland from one storm, at over 51” and approaching the record set in Hawaii at one location). The havoc happening in Houston is mainly the result of a few factors. This post will explore those factors and comment on whether some changes may have mitigated some of the flooding.

Houston is the fourth largest city in the nation with over 2.3 million persons occupying a large land mass of 667 square miles. For comparison purposes, the state of Rhode Island is 1,212 sq mi, or about twice the size of this one Texas city. I guess everything is bigger in Texas. Houston has a strong connection to oil. In fact almost 30% of all crude oil for the United States is refined in the Houston region. As goes Harvey so go the nation’s gas prices, and the effect so far has been a few cents, but could become larger depending upon how long the refineries are off line. What is rather unique about Houston is, it is quite flat. The greatest topographic variation, is 88 feet--yes over the whole city the maximum variation between the highest ground elevation and the lowest ground elevation is only 88 feet. I doubt any Houston streams have a waterfall. To think, we Wisconsinites thought Illinois was flat. Houston’s downtown sits about 50’ above sea level, and the south area of the city, closer to the Gulf of Mexico, is only about 40’ or so above sea level. In its downtown there is only a four foot difference in elevation. Areas in the north part of the city are higher in elevation. Being flat can make some things easier, but the lack of terrain also provides several engineering challenges in regard to storm water management. Houston does have some detention basins, and in flat areas, the basins have to be larger since there is not much ability to have depth to allow outfall. The acre-feet for storm water storage has to be met by a pond with a larger surface area. Detention ponds have been common for over thirty years in order to offset the flooding effects of development. Quite simply, when water hits pavement or hard surfaces it has to runoff, it cannot infiltrate. This leads to more flooding downstream. Detention ponds are often sized to accommodate the 100 year event. Rainfall from Harvey is well above the 100 year and 500 year event. A 100 year event actually means the storm has a 1% chance of occurring every year, or the idea is to be expected one time in a span of 100 years. But, flat land also leads to ponding of water in large storm events. When land is so flat water does not flow sufficiently fast to get to the detention ponds, or other storage areas. It takes a long time to drain out, and in the meantime it ponds. It is a simple matter of physics.

Houston Interchange

One problem Houston has is they do not have sufficient storage for the amount of impervious surfaces. Houston has two large dry reservoirs to store floodwaters. They were to create a third, but that land area was developed. They also lack sufficient upstream detention to help offset the flooding of streams. A landscape architect I know who is doing work in Texas said they really have no sense of storm water management. In a sense Houston bears some of the blame for the situation in which it finds itself. It is hard to blame anyone for having problems dealing with such a large amount of rainfall, but Houston also finds itself being unable to properly handle a 100 year flood. Designing for that event is common in Wisconsin and Minnesota. Such large storm events seem to be occurring with greater frequency. There is a reason for infrastructure planning, and Houston is a perfect example of that need. A development surely wants sufficient water supply and sanitary sewer service, but in Texas they seem to care little about storm water management.

Flooded Highway

Besides using detention ponds, Houston’s well known massive freeway systems are designed to help store storm water from these large events. The freeway is in effect a large detention pond when more than the 100 year event occurs. This helps explain the photographs of underwater freeways. About a decade ago when the Lake Delton dam broke from heavy rainfall (two back to back 100 year events) in the Baraboo—Wisconsin Dells area, the unthinkable for Wisconsin happened, a section of I-90/94 in between Baraboo and Portage was closed due to flooding. The bayous of Houston contain streams and creeks that help carry water away, but by definition they relatively flat and water drains slowly, which compounds the problem of moving water away. Some may say the answer is in decreasing impervious surfaces, but that can lead to other issues. One has to be cognizant of ground water levels, as water that goes in the ground will generally come out somewhere. Bio-infiltration facilities are popular today. These large rain gardens store water and native vegetation opens pores in the soil to allow better infiltration, but also to undertake transpiration. Bio-infiltration facilities will have water overflow out of the facility when a certain rainfall level (perhaps 100 year event) has flowed to the basin. Showing there is always a downside, use of detention ponds can cause problems, such as stream scouring due to more water being released. Even though the water is released at the pre-development rate, the impervious surfaces means more water is in the pond that has to be released and that water is then released over a greater time frame, which is not natural. Hydrologists are now finding negative effects to the stream and more erosion due to the greater volume of water over a greater period of time than in nature. Yet, with other aspects of development t becomes a balancing act.

Houston Flooding

Houston is also the largest city in the nation to not have municipal zoning. As one writer said, “It is an epitome of urban sprawl characterized by American exurbanism.” Zoning is more than simply regulating land uses. Properly accomplished it also regulates where development should or should not occur. Knowing that the nation likes growth, the federal government intended to strike a balance for floodplains by allowing some development in a floodplain in exchange for flood insurance. A Faustian bargain, and many in Houston will find out the downside when FEMA will not provide assistance to them since they never took out their flood insurance. By contrast, the city where I am the city planner, has only one building in a mapped 100 year floodplain, and that is a small storage building. There is one multi-family building in a mapped 500 year flood plan, a building constructed in 1971 before floodplain zoning came into existence. One aspect of good planning is to limit susceptibility to disasters. Unlike a tornado, flooding areas can be determined. It is a simple aspect of city planning to first examine where development should not occur; in other words locate the limitations. Some may not like the natural and cultural limitations, but such challengesforce more planning, engineering, and more creativity. Wetlands are often thought of as wasteland, but they do provide some major hydrologic functions--such as natural storage of storm water. Houston is not the first city to be built on wetlands or in floodplains. But have they learned their lesson? By some accounts, Houston now has 50% less wetlands in the city as existed 25 years ago. They should have known better within the last 25 years, but apparently did not. Development pressure likely led to wetland loss, just as they developed the area in which they were going to build a storm water reservoir. The common good being sacrificed for profit. Literature suggests that after the recession of 2008 many cities, and apparently Houston too, sacrificed environmental concerns for the sake of development.

Detention pond, not in Houston

With the amount of rainfall Harvey has handed Houston, the loss of the wetlands would not have solved the current flooding, but it may well have prevented some areas from experiencing flooding. Houston is a large city in both population and area. It is an economic engine, and while some would argue its ability to not have certain environmental restraints allowed for its development and its being an economic catalyst. But, in being such an economic engine it means more responsibility is required. More care should be taken to mitigate and limit susceptibility to disaster. The lack of concern for the environment has a way of coming back to bite people who wish to ignore the earth. Will Harvey wake Houston up to the need for better planning and regulation?

Bio infiltration facility

Monumental

Since the incident at Charlottesville a great deal of news and controversy has centered around monuments constructed for many leaders of the Confederacy.  This post is not intended to debate the existence of the monuments, but examine why they arose in the first place.  Should they remain or be taken down is a matter for each community to debate and decide.  They are, however, part of our collective history and in that sense their existence can tell us a great deal of where we were as a nation.  That history is not always pleasant, and that is why it is important to study history.  

My opinion is that while the North won the war, the South created and controlled the narrative.  This seems almost unique in our history.  The allies certainly controlled the narrative after the Great War and WWII.  A fledgling nation even seem to control the narrative after the revolutionary war.  A few years ago the nation recognized the 150th anniversary of the end of the war with the states in rebellion, better known as the Civil War.   I recall reading an article in Time magazine, which recognized the 150th anniversary of the war which noted how the south seemed to be held in high regard in the minds of the nation ever since the end of the war.  Why?  In my mind it is because they controlled the narrative.  I think there are a few reasons why this occurred.  I really have not read much on this aspect, so much of my opinion is not really based on diligent research.  So, let me examine the Lost Cause movement and how the south came to control the narrative following the Civil War.

First, everybody loves an underdog. If we look at the start of the nation, it was a bunch of discontents making war against what was then the greatest military power house in the world. Recall that the nation really was only four score and several years removed from the Revolutionary War--less than 90 years past since 1776.  Whereas today we are over 150 years past.  The underdog ferment of the Revolutionary soldiers 90 years earlier was still part of the nation ethos.  I am sure many who fought in the Civil War had grandfathers who fought in the war for independence.  

While U.S. Grant would become President, today many books and articles are written on the great tactics of Robert E. Lee.  Lee has always been held to a high standard since the war, regardless of the fact that he committed treason.  Why, because he was an underdog with a smaller number of men less material and money in which to fight the war, so to speak, but he gave the south much of a chance by his tactics.  This whole theory, the Lost Cause movement, is based on the idea that the superiority of the north would eventually undermine the south's ability to win the conflict.  Of course, at the time, the south thought the code of honor and duty they saw so present in southern values would allow them to win the conflict.  Grant did not agree with this theory, recognizing the difficulty of an offensive verse defensive operation, and he claims, the North out-fought the south.  

In the old PBS series on the Civil War, I recall one commentator, perhaps Shelby Foote, saying the North fought the war with one hand tied behind its back.  National expansion continued during this time, but certainly the war effort kept Lincoln up much of each night. This comment seems to play into the Lost Cause narrative as it was only a matter of time that the North would come in with the left hook to the jaw of the South.  Yet, the Lost Cause movement attempted to downplay the roll of slavery in the "Cause" and uphold other ideals such as self-determination and State rights.  

Second, let us recognize that slavery was inherent even in the nation's constitution.  The Constitution accounted for "Other persons" as 3/5 of a whole person when it came to apportionment of representatives.   While a war was won to end slavery, that did not immediately change everyone's mind.  If minds and hearts had been changed, would the "alt right" be so prevalent today?

Third, after Lincoln's assassination, a group of congressman known as the Radical Republicans attempted, rightfully so, to allow gains of equal rights for African-Americans in voting and other measures.  However, in the end was the nation ready for these moves?  Was it an over reach for the time?  Into this political conflict the Democratic party would take control of the south and they would create the Jim Crow laws and undertake other measures to retain discrimination.  Steven Holmes, writing in a column for CNN this past week noted that Jim Crow laws were at their zenith from 1889 to 1918, which coincided with the great monument building by groups such as Daughters of the Confederacy.  The whole idea of the Lost Cause gained further momentum from DW Griffith's film, Birth of a Nation  and the block buster novel (and movie) Gone with the Wind. Both would idealize the planter class, offer a picture of content slaves, and an economic and socio-cultural system in which all was well, only to be disrupted by the North.  

Fourth, the North was perhaps war weary and ready to take on other adventures, after all it fought the war with one hand behind its back.  The economy was booming, immigration and settlement of western lands was well underway  to realize the nation's "Manifest Destiny" was in full swing.  My own Hovel relatives would arrive on the shores of Baltimore in July 1868.  In other words, was the north too preoccupied to worry about the narrative?  They won the war why be concerned about what history would say?  Into this vacuum would rise the Lost Cause movement which was accepted and perpetuated for years by professional historians and others.  The Lost Cause was a way for the South to feel better about the loss, about their effortz and to salve their conscience. It may have been away to bring them to terms with the loss.  What began as a literary expression would take on more tactile efforts--creation of monuments.  Many attribute the expansion of the Lost Cause narrative, although not the first use of the term, to former Confederate General Jubal Early.  Let us also recall that some current US Military bases are named for generals who served the Confederacy.  Fort Bragg is one that comes to mind.

Yet, as Holmes also points out, at play was a latent racism and dislike of Republicans. He uses the example of Confederate General James Longstreet, a right hand man to Lee, and how few monuments in the south are related to him.  He asserts it is because Longstreet supported Grant for President, and led a mainly black militia against white supremacists in New Orleans.  The Lost Cause narrative would blame him for the Confederate loss at Gettysburg. 

Abraham Lincoln would walk through Richmond, VA on April 4, 1865, just ten days before he was shot at Ford's Theater.  Sensing the end of the war was near, he had been spending several days with Admiral Porter and crew on the River Queen from which he would confer with General Grant and others.  As he was walking through Richmond on that spring day, he stopped to examine Libby Prison, which as reported by James Swanson, was a place of suffering for thousands of Union prisoners.  The crowd, according to Swanson wished to pull it down, but Lincoln said no, that they should "leave it as a monument."  This certainly was not the type of monument the Daughters of the Confederacy would promote.  On April 10, 1865, the day following Appomattox, in a spring rain, Lincoln addressed a crowd gathered outside the White House. Near the end of his address, he requested the playing of Dixie.  Even though in the speech he commented that the North had "fairly captured it" Swanson imtimates that perhaps this was the start of the Lost Cause narrative.

Monuments provide a tactile way for generations to understand events of the past. As with Libby Prison and death camps of WWII, not all monuments glorify an event.  What the nation needs is a better understanding of why the North allowed the South to control the post war narrative. Did the Southern narrative become a boulder speeding down a hill that was too fast to stop?  The Lost Cause movement was a basis for many of the monuments that are today controversial.  The nation would do well to understand the history of why the monuments were built. It may be uncomfortable, but only in recognizing our past can we as a nation fully understand how the pro-Southern monuments came to be present in the courthouse squares, parks and cemeteries of the nation (it is not as if the south would be inclined to erect monuments to northern heroes).  In the why of their creation is the real meaning of the history of the monuments.  

Corn Festival

When I grew up in Sun Prairie, WI, it was quite a different community than it is today.  I wrote a post about the changes I experienced growing up in that community in September of 2014, and you can find that post here.  Things have changed quite a bit since I was a boy with those experiences.  There are a few things Sun Prairie is known for:  Jimmy the Groundhog, Midget car races, and the its annual Sweet Corn Festival.

After eating corn

As a child I was an annual attendee at the corn festival.  But times have changed.  For as long as can recall the number of attendees has been placed at 100,000.  It may be one of those numbers someone came up with and it sounded good, but perhaps with little basis in reality.  Growing up it was all the sweet corn you could take, and eat.  Back in my day, the corn was steamed at the local canning company, just across the street from Angel Park, but with the closing of the canning company, the festival organizers had to construct a new steam facility.  When we were young, one of my sisters would find her way in past the long line and fill up a large sack of sweet corn which was brought home for us to eat with the annual staple of BBQ chicken my Dad would grill. 

Corn being pulled off conveyor belt

Dad was always working at the festival, after all it was at that time that most all local organizations had some sort of game or drink and food tent.  He would work at the VFW food tent (which sold, but what else, brats and burgers and was conveniently located next to the beer tent), sell tickets for the carnival rides for the KC's, work the KC bingo toss game, and work for what other local organization of which he was a member.  He was one of the persons on which a community counted for social capital, which I talk about in that one August 2014 post.  As a child, we could only play the games or buy the food on the Sun Prairie side.  We could go on the carnival rides.  In that way the money we spent benefited the local community via the respective service organizations.  My favorite game was the KC ring toss.  As a child, when I played you would ring and earn a quart bottle.  One time I won a case, and had to depend on Dad to get it home for me.  Today, the Sun Prairie side is populated by small booths of different businesses providing information on their wares.  Some have a small game to win a token gift.  My twin brother won a pair of sunglasses (or as he termed them "songlasses") to give to his 25 year old son, who was unable to win them himself with his spin at the Ho-Chunk booth.  

Have an Ear

For a long time I never attended the event, but over the past several years, my 25 year old nephew has seen that I attend, because as he says, "It would not be the same without Uncle Tom."  Every year I tell the same stories of the corn festival of old, and how it has changed.  We play the KC ring toss game, where it was to earn a can of pop after getting a wood ring on a small plastic bottle.  Not the large quart glass bottles of my childhood.  Yet, showing a changing demographic, this year the ring toss game was not to be found, and even the persons managing the information booth did not know if it was there.  

Our take of Corn

As much as my nephew likes the stories, he most appreciates the way I stack corn in the tote.  The corn fest has gone from free admission and free corn, to $1.00 for a tote with as much as you can fill, to now $7.00 for a tote for the corn and a small admission fee.  I think my record for stacking corn in a tote over the past few years is 23 ears.  Last year, I fit 17 ears in. However, this year I experienced something I never have heard before--a limit as to how many ears can be placed in a tote. A conveyor belt takes the steaming hot corn dumped from the steam tubs past workers who stack it on narrow tables.  Many of the workers will fill a tote for you.  As I took my tote, a worker wanted to fill it and I said I preferred to do it myself.  It is then when I had a new experience, when she said, "Well, you can only have twelve ears anyway!" Was I taken aback. There was no sign that said anything about a corn limit.  Although this is the place that charges $2.00 for one cooked ear of corn.  And I said, I had never heard that limit and thought it was as much corn as you could fit.  She said "It has always been that way!"  Well, I know it has not always been that way.  No one, but no one, is going to limit me to a tote of twelve ears of corn.  I grabbed fifteen ears this year. A more reasonable price of just under $.50/ear. I have my own special way of filling a tote and I have to say even the butter girls, and they are always butter girls, seem to get a kick out of the way I filled the tote.  When I was young they would dip a paint brush in melted butter and slather it on the corn, today, they use pounds of butter and wear rubber gloves while they roll it in the butter.  I even buttered corn as a boy scout, at a time when they would allow boys to butter corn.

Buttering corn

I can appreciate the need to charge for the corn, it may cut down on waste, although seeing the amount of nice steamed ears which go up the conveyor belt into the large dumpster, I am not sure it does.  My sister-in-law, who was watching from just outside the metal corn building (it used to be a large canvas tent) noted to me that one women had the corn police confiscate an ear or two out of her tote.  The corn police did not confront me.  If they did I would ask were it says there is a limit.  Apparently, buyer beware at the corn festival.  Things will not go back to the way they were. In present times social-community organizations seem to take a back seat to businesses, perhaps they lack the persons to man the booths as was the case when I was growing up.  Just like the KC's for some reason did not run the ring toss game this year. It is a changed society.  Whether such changes are better or worse can be left to each individual to decide.  

Floss or tooth picks come in handy

Photos courtesy of Christopher B. Hovel, August 19, 2017

Twin Time at the Corn Festival

You Know Your Up Nort' When...

..the gas station lacks the ability to pay at the pump, but also does not require you to pay before dispensing.  This is just but one feature of being in northern Wisconsin.  Several weeks ago, as summer began to take full swing, the Milwaukee Journal wrote an article noting that Wisconsinites cannot agree on where "Up North" begins.  In a reader poll Highway 8 garnered more votes, than any of the other five choices.  Some say Up North is a state of mind.  I myself tend to view Up North as a matter of physical and cultural geography--which help form the state of mind.  Clearly, certain geographic elements north of Hwy 8 are also present south of Hwy 8.  As much as people today tend to like a clear demarcation, there is no magic dividing line; it is not a matter of math; there is no clear cut geographic boundary.  This post will focus on a recent camping trip that my wife and I took Up Nort' last week, when I noticed elements of what, in my mind is "Up Nort'".  Dat's (a little Wisconsin lingo) what this post is about.  Not all elements listed are unique to northern Wisconsin, but together they form place--both physically and culturally.

Big Manitou Falls, Pattison State Park
 Aug. 2017 photo

Formation of a state of mind by being up north reminds me of a story.  After my mother passed away in 1980 my Dad and many of the younger kids would travel to our Aunt and Uncle's cottage south of Rhinelander.  Even though it is south of Hwy. 8, it belongs to northern Wisconsin.  In any event as we were leaving and driving the big Buick station wagon up and down the snow covered driveway my younger brother proclaimed: "This is Xanadu."

Indian Paintbrush flower
August 2017 photo

So what traits make Xanadu?  We will begin our venture at the intersection of County Highway B and County A in Douglas County, WI.  After filling up with gas in McFarland we luckily came upon a filling station, over five hours later, at the above mentioned location only four miles from our destination--Pattison State Park.  My wife, who was driving at this time, pulled into the station and got out to fill up with gas.  She was surprised to find that the pump lacked a place for a credit card.  She asked if we had to pay before filling up, and I said there is no sign, so just fill it up and we can pay indoors.  I mean, come on, down south in the state not only have we had credit card availability at pumps for years, but if you can't pay by a card, you have to actually pre-pay at the pump.  Of course while a person may run without paying for gas at this station, the pump is skimmer proof.  This rural station, was, except for the price, how one used to purchase gasoline 30 or more years ago. Not all is lost for the non-cash crowd as one can pay by credit card inside the store.  Similarly, after having attended church on Saturday evening in Gordon, WI we stopped at an Ico station along Hwy. 53 and County Y to fill up with gas.  This station had a place for a credit card at the pump, it also  has a new sign by the pump that read: "Available 24 Hours, Pay at the Pump."  Clearly, pay at the pump is a novelty in the area. You know you are up north when they advertise the ability to pay at the pump. 

Wildflower, Pattison State Park
August 2017 photo

..the churches are small, many having only a main aisle, and one priest says four masses at three churches.  This may be more a rural than a northern Wisconsin situation, but this is quite prevalent in the small communities of up state. The church we attended in Gordon Saturday afternoon was a small nice white clapboard structure.  If people still married in the Catholic Church it would make for a nice intimate wedding venue.  Many of the attendees were quite chatty and took time before mass to get reacquainted.  Showing the changing demographic of the church, only a few attendees were younger than my wife and I.  I am sure most persons would do not wish to take time out to attend a 4:00 pm mass on a clear, sunny summer Saturday with a high in the mid-70's.  But yet, here we were with a fairly good and enthusiastic number at this small church by the railroad bridge, and across from the post office in the unincorporated community of Gordon.  

Small Catholic Church near Clam Lake, WI
Agusut 2015 photo

...frac sand operations are, as the Donald would say, huge!  Train cars were a common view of the railroad tracks which parallel Hwy 53 near Spooner, WI.  Large frac sand mines operate in this area, and massive sand piles are present with sidings full of rail cars to be loaded with the plentiful quartz crystal used to obtain every ounce of oil out of rock deep below the surface of the earth.  Like most mining operations, it rapes the source of the mineral for the benefit of other locations, leaving the local region to pick up the external cost of the mining operation.  And to think, I thought they mines by Tomah were large.  All for cheap gasoline.

Sign at Amnicon Falls State Park
August 2017 photo

...you can travel down a state highway and not have a paved intersecting road for miles.  Yes, miles and miles.  Did I say miles and miles?  Try Hwy 35 in Douglas County.

Foam circle formed by Black River just upstream of Big Manitou Falls
August 2017 photo

...forests are abundant.  Whether in a wetland, or on a hillside forests are abundant as is the eponymous logging truck. Down south has corn, but up north has logging operations.  The pines produce a nice aroma to conjure up images of Christmas.  Even though that holiday is months away, the temperatures can tell a different story.

Timm's Hill, highest point in Wisconsin
2015 photo

...it gets down into the 40's during an evening in the first half of August.  Yes, it can get cold.  Of course, we also had a daytime high just near 63 on Thursday.  The low of 49 is attributed to a clear sky with no breeze, and the cold day is attributed to a cloudy rainy day.

Totogatic River, near Minong, WI
August 2017 photo 

...leaves start to change in mid-August, showing the fleeting nature of the summer season.  Visiting a brother a few years ago near Conover the temperatures were in the low 60's (yes, cloudy and cold) in late June.  One sister asked if they had had their week of summer or was it yet to come.  Weather is unpredictable.

Pattison State Park
August 2017 photo

...clean water with little algae.  This is one reason to travel up north, particularly if you like swimming, even if the water is cold.  Rivers and lakes are also great for canoeing and kayaking.  There area also water falls in parts of northern Wisconsin, created by past faults of the earth and erosion of softer layers of rock.  As a friend of mine once said on our trip to the boundary waters years ago, "you don't have to mow  the lakes" as needs to be done in the Madison area (harvest seaweed).

Black River, downstream of Big Manitou Falls, Pattison State Park
August 2017 photo

...bears.  Are black bears becoming more abundant?  On a hike Saturday a few miles north of Minong, WI, we came across some large fresh bear tracks in the sand of the path.  My sister-in-law was scared.  Two years ago my wife and I saw a mother bear and two cubs come out of Day Lake right next to the beach.

Bear print near Minong
August 2017 photo

...second homes.  Second homes from three season cottages to, well, mansions, are abundant along the lakes and streams of northern Wisconsin.  By state law the water is under the jurisdiction of the public.  When I first started in the planning field the state required local units to adopt regulations to help protect the waters and the view from the water.  All, in all, the 75' setback is a good thing, although it makes little sense in areas densely developed before the regulations came in place.

Bears at Day Lake, near Clam Lake, WI
August 2015 photo

Up north is the confluence of streams into rivers.  It is also the meeting place of water and woods which together make it the north woods.  These physical geographical features help inform the culture. It is a good example of the interplay of different fields of geography. It is the physical traits that have led to the second homes.  It is the physical traits that have led to cleaner water.  If farm fields were abundant as they in the south, the lakes would be just as dirty from erosion of sediments, and the phosphorous and nitrogen they carry.

Amnicon Falls, east of Superior, WI
2017 photo

It may also be the rural nature that gas stations just do not sell enough product to warrant a new pump to allow you to pay at the pump. It is a credit to that rural culture that one does not have to pre-pay at the pump.  Land, however, has a finite carrying capacity, and an overload of that capacity can lead to negative consequences, like algae growth in the water, and sediments building up in the streams and lakes. The proper land ethic is important to protect the waters and forests of Up Nort' so that they do not loose the physical elements that framed the culture and help create that state of mind.  The land ethic, however, needs also to be practiced south of Highway 8. It is the land ethic that helps create a place to be Xanadu.  

Photos by author

August First

Today is the first day of August, the eight month of the year. Many years ago our youngest brother, whose age I recall as being in the single digits threatened to run away on August 1. We had a long driveway, and I recall him getting to the top part of the driveway with a small suitcase, before returning home and asking: “Isn’t anyone going to come after me?” I don’t know what would have driven him to want to run away, as the youngest in the family it is not like he was under any great pressure. I think it is likely a fact of nature that when it comes to large families, the youngest is likely the most spoiled. Middle children on the other hand, while that is for another time. Of course, his decision to pronounce that he would run away on August 1, earned him the moniker, for a while anyway, of “August First.” I am not sure how long the nickname lasted, but it is in my memory; I am sure other family members may recall the story differently.

August means Sweet Corn...

We are from a big family, and with such a large number of children, there was a great deal of teasing and picking. I recall one other time when we had the youngest held down to the floor and were tickling him, he was screaming for help. Our Dad, in the other room without getting up to see what was going on yelled “Stop That!” to which our natural response was “Stop What?” and he exclaimed back “Torturing Peter!” The dynamic is different in smaller families, less children likely mean less being picked on by older siblings, and less interaction with varied siblings. In the world today, being picked on is often thought of as a form of abuse or bullying. Yet, it was not uncommon and I suspect helped us to develop a thicker skin. Has the move to smaller families made persons more sensitive? A poll done a few years ago showed that most persons think of millennials as selfish and entitled. Heck, even millennials self-reported as being selfish and entitled. Not all fit one group, but the millennials themselves 70% polled thought of themselves in that way.

...Butterflies...

Raised by helicopter parents, with some mother’s making Marie Barone look like Mrs. Mussolini, their sense of self-worth may have been pre-ordained. The Pediatric Association notes that bullying is down by over one-third of what it was 20 years ago. How they measure bullying I don’t know, but self-reporting is always dangerous. However, I suspect things we did forty-five years ago would not be considered acceptable behavior today. One song about millennials says that they have “an undeserved confidence” and which, it is explained, may be from getting a trophy for participating. That song can be found here. Showing the tender feelings of millennials one need do no more than read the message at lemonade magazine which can be found here, regarding that song. Can’t they take a spoof?   Is “The Onion” too much for them? The song by the way is written and performed by a person 33 years of age, a millennial!  Although you can see he wishes to be a generation X, by the way he wears a baseball cap, and his mannerisms of touching the cap. (Oh my, I am getting like lemonade magazine).  Do young adults today miss the nuance of friendly jab, or teasing, from true bullying?

...Garden Produce...

The coddling and over protected nature of some parents (think helicopter parents) certainly has had an effect on societal changes. I have noted in the past that in the 1960’s over 40% of students either walked or biked to school, now it is less than 20%. Yes, some may have to do with changes in land use patterns, but I suspect much of it has to do with parents thinking it too dangerous for their child to walk or bike to school. Such thoughts, studies have shown, are unfounded.  We had persons on our block who regularly drove their children to a school behind us that is a block away. The number of parents who drive their kids has led to issues with traffic management and stop signs at the nearby school which are needed for two 15 minute periods of time each school day.  the same families that claimi they wish to do something for global warming drive their SUV a couple blocks to drop their child off at school.  It has gotten to the point that there is now in the popular lexicon the term “free-range children.” This term refers to letting children be more independent as they grow up.  Given how Gen Xer's and Millennials think they invented the local food movement they too probably think they invented the idea of free-range children.  It would be the opposite of helicopter parenting.

..Black-eyed Susan

Regardless of helicopter parenting or not, the culture today certainly seems to make major issues of small slights popularizing victim-hood.  It is most evident on college campuses. The idea of diversity of opinion no longer exists. It certainly appears that they do not wish to hear from anyone that may challenge their preconceived notions or ideas. Democracy works best when all viewpoints can be heard, expressed and civilly debated. Creating a bunch of yes persons does little to promote an honest discourse. the Bay of Pigs fiasco is a perfect example of yes men.  Perhaps borrowing from the nickname given to my younger brother, August 1 can be re-badged as "Don’t be Oversensitive Day."  Things happen, and there will be occasions when things don’t always go ones way. But, learning from failure can be also be a good thing. The song spoof on Millennials noted above is sung to the music from the Beatles tune "Obladi Oblada", in which a recurring lyric is "life goes on, whoa." Life does go on , and in some cases persons change their mind,  just as my younger brother did in deciding not to run away all those years ago.  Happy August First!