It's almost a year now since I last posted. Too much water under the bridge to recount it all here and now, so I won't even begin. Sometimes I wonder if posting really matters. Other times I know it doesn't. Still, selfishly, I enjoy writing my mind and sending my thoughts out to Never-Never Land. I don't suppose I would ever see them again if it wasn't possible to save them all.

Now, of what should I write? Should I mention the sweet scent of dry grass warmed by the sun carried on a twilight breeze? Should I try to describe the beauty of living between two mountain ranges that rise in the east and west, towering above the valley floor? Should I mention the mesmerizing landscapes that appear in the clouds at sunset, tantalizingly just out of reach and colored with vibrant golds, peaches, greens and blues?

I could write of all of these and more, yet there is not the time. Perhaps you, too, love the land on which you live. I hope so. Before leaving, I did not know how much I loved the land. Now I know a fierce pride in and love for my region and the thought of leaving again is dust in my mouth.

Taking a Break

I'm heading back to school shortly and blogging will be sporadic at best until I return in December. Instead of me up and running off without warning, I figured you deserved a heads up. Take care until then.

Now That's A Waste

Easing campus insecurity is a Good Thing To Do according to the Washington Post:

New safety precautions will greet college students returning to some campuses this fall — part of the legacy of the Virginia Tech massacre in April.

Sirens to warn of emergencies, text-message alert systems, committees to monitor questionable student behavior and anonymous-tip lines are all tools some schools are implementing to better protect students.

The problem with most of these policies is that they are largely feel-good actions that won't make us any safer but are virtually guaranteed to tie up personnel and funds. Sirens won't help. Sans any indication of where or what the threat might be, the likely reaction will be panic and confusion without the ability to actually avoid the threat. Committees to monitor questionable student behavior? Now that's a time-waster if I've ever heard of one. What is "questionable student behavior" and how will they detect it? Who decides when and how they will intervene in the life of a Student With Questionable Behavior? The VA Tech murderer was already known to be such a student; how exactly would a double-diagnosis help? Anonymous-tip lines? Same problems as the committee. Text-message alert systems? Bad reception and "no cell phones" policies in classrooms and libraries make it virtually useless.

Perhaps you've noticed as I have that all of the above are defensive actions. I shouldn't knock them (something is better than nothing), but I'm frustrated at the same time because I know they'll only serve to lull parents and students into a false sense of security. Administrators will be happy because parents will stop breathing down their necks about security and parents and students alike will be reassured that Something Is Being Done. The fact remains that not one of these measures will stop a knife or a bullet. Not one will provide faculty or students the wherewithal or training to take offensive action should the need arise.

I feel so much safer now.

Really.

Gratitude

Buttercup: You mock my pain.
Westley: Life is pain, Highness. Anyone who says differently is selling something.

I've always liked that exchange from The Princess Bride. (Come to think of it, I can't think of a line from that film that I don't like; it's pretty much one great quote after another.) Life isn't a walk in the park and it's a mistake to think it possible to have utopia-like perfection here. Instead of pining for the unachievable, I should be thankful for what I do have. Gratitude is a lesson I need to learn and keep learning.

Speaking of which, I often find myself being reminded of lessons from the past. You'd think I'd just remember them all (it'd save time and trouble), but I don't. For the most part, that is. There's usually a forehead-smacking moment when I realize what I'm relearning, but it can take time to get there. I know this is just part of life and I'd rather have it than not, but even I am astounded sometimes by my hardheadedness.

Elvis Aaron Presley, R.I.P.

January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977

Photo Credit: The Association of 3d Armored Division Veterans

Insomnia

Don't you just hate it?

I do. After over a week and a half of not sleeping well, my sentiments have moved from hate to loathing, actually. Insomnia makes me into a silly little zombie. Poof! There go my higher brain functions! They were nice while they lasted.

My calculus final is today, and I leave for college in less than a week. Did I mention that I rocked my last test? I did. Hoped for a high B and earned a high A instead. That put a smile on my face.

Diversity, Science, And Man

What are the odds that so soon after I quoted Sarah Orne Jewett on a common past that this article by Michael Jonas of the Boston Globe should catch my eye: The Downside of Diversity.

IT HAS BECOME increasingly popular to speak of racial and ethnic diversity as a civic strength. From multicultural festivals to pronouncements from political leaders, the message is the same: our differences make us stronger.

But a massive new study, based on detailed interviews of nearly 30,000 people across America, has concluded just the opposite. Harvard political scientist Robert Putnam -- famous for "Bowling Alone," his 2000 book on declining civic engagement -- has found that the greater the diversity in a community, the fewer people vote and the less they volunteer, the less they give to charity and work on community projects. In the most diverse communities, neighbors trust one another about half as much as they do in the most homogenous settings. The study, the largest ever on civic engagement in America, found that virtually all measures of civic health are lower in more diverse settings.

"The extent of the effect is shocking," says Scott Page, a University of Michigan political scientist.

The study comes at a time when the future of the American melting pot is the focus of intense political debate, from immigration to race-based admissions to schools, and it poses challenges to advocates on all sides of the issues. The study is already being cited by some conservatives as proof of the harm large-scale immigration causes to the nation's social fabric. But with demographic trends already pushing the nation inexorably toward greater diversity, the real question may yet lie ahead: how to handle the unsettling social changes that Putnam's research predicts.

"We can't ignore the findings," says Ali Noorani, executive director of the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition. "The big question we have to ask ourselves is, what do we do about it; what are the next steps?"

Divided we fall, eh?

"What can we do about it?" Well, for starters, we could start being honest about what it means to be an American. There's more to it than finding the economic "success," though many immigrants (legal and illegal) do not understand this. Many people come to our country for economic reasons but still consider themselves part of their home country. They don't want to become American. (The PC term for this is acculturation, defined as the ability to adopt enough of a new culture to be able to function within it while retaining your native culture.) And, to be fair, why should they when all they know of America comes through the filter of our media and public schooling system, and their cultural lenses?

Some of Putnam's colleagues have apparently criticized him for his findings and having the audacity to (gasp!) suggest some remedies.

Some critics have found his prescriptions underwhelming. And in offering ideas for mitigating his findings, Putnam has drawn scorn for stepping out of the role of dispassionate researcher. "You're just supposed to tell your peers what you found," says John Leo, senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, a conservative think tank. "I don't expect academics to fret about these matters."

C. S. Lewis wrote of the danger that comes from dehumanizing man. Very few things scare me as much as an "expert" or "scientist" looking at humans and not seeing the imago Dei. Think of the atrocities of the 20th Century; how many of them were made possible by first denying the humanity of the intended victims? I don't mean to say or imply that all scientists, social or otherwise, are monsters awaiting the first opportunity to wreck havoc and harm on all of humanity. Insofar as they degrade their view of man, though, I think they move towards that possibility. Like Lewis, I am concerned by the trend toward distancing the scientist from the subject (and not just when it comes to humans, although that is certainly the most frightening aspect of it).

The very fact that Putnam would be criticized for his desire to do more than report "just the facts, ma'am" shows that, at least within the scientific community, there is an expectation of cold objectivity from a science dedicated to studying humans. I find that rather scary. When did we agree to allow humans to be studied as though they were little more than fascinating beetles?

Wolfe says what is unusual is that Putnam has published findings as a social scientist that are not the ones he would have wished for as a civic leader. There are plenty of social scientists, says Wolfe, who never produce research results at odds with their own worldview.

"The problem too often," says Wolfe, "is people are never uncomfortable about their findings."

I applaud Putnam for the time he has put into rechecking his results (according to the article, he has been working at task since 2000) and for even publishing his findings in the first place. It takes a strong character and honesty to acknowledge findings that run cross-purpose to one's presuppositions and goals. I'll be honest and admit that his study harmonizes with my views on the matter; I only hope that, were I in his shoes, I would have the same impulse towards the truth that he has shown.