Ever as Before

by Rain Trueax

Looking for a new read that is a kind of magical realism just in time for Imbolc? How about throwing in a threat of the living dead? A particularly determined demon? Natural born witches, gnomes, warlocks, shamans-- this is, after all the 7th in the Mystic Shadows series of books that move beyond what we consider reality to something else. Might that something else be quantum physics? What if there is an alchemist aspect to how evil can be fought and contained? Imbolc is a good time for a story that is a mix of physical reality and romantic fantasy.

by Diane, Civil discussions are possible on issues like immigration?



GIRL JUMPING HEARTS

Sunday, April 14
             Working close to the earth, being responsible with money, observing the law, protecting nature, helping neighbors in need, being a loyal friend, morality and aproaching problems by being practical are some of Rain's values.
            She shared in her post that her childhood on a small farm as well as living on a ranch as an adult shaped her values. So quite reasonably her political view of immigration is unsurprising. Being a practical person without knowing a complete solution, Rain shared a few doable ideas for improving immigration at our borders.
    My experience as a child of a naturalized citizen I have similar values. Rain and I have more in common than not. We grew our vegetables and some of our fruit. My parents never took government assistance, father went to great pains to be sure he always obeyed the law.  Preparing our taxes was a particularly tense time.  Tax forms had to be perfect for his income and  my mother's cottage doll making business. We had no debts other than borrowing money to buy our house. Father paid off the debt. He demonstrated his value for education; father modeled the joy of learning studying advanced math every night.  He filled notebooks with mathematical formulas and his calculations as he studied theoretical advanced math books.
    There were differences.  Both of my parents were university educated. Their close friends were from their college days. We, however, lived in low income neighborhoods with mostly blue collar workers until I was in high school. Though my parents were educated, politics were seldom mentioned and discussed in our home beyond my father explaining joyfully, "The presidential campaign conventions are super wonderful". Rain comes from a family far more politically vocal.  Rain like her parents follows the news with interest and passion.  Her example amazes me. Her well thought out arguments! She has instilled in me an interest in politics. 
     I was not taught to be snobbish about being the educated elite. Uncle Fred, mother's brother, was a shoe salesman. I am not sure he graduated from high school. I grew up thinking he was as good as my college educated parents.
     Wearing my thicker skin. I am allowing my premise to fall away.  My premise being a few strategies can make a smooth bridge of understanding between the right and left. My pet experiment is a pie in the sky dream. My idea of finding a way is futile.  Left and right citizens cannot  talk to one another in a civil tone.  How silly to think our fellow citizens would take on explaining where they come from before expressing their opinions.Telling ones story is too difficult. Sadly citizens would not listen and hear how those who oppose them came to their mutually good values. I am a day dreamer thinking we can invent a grass roots level method for all of us citizens to start to turn the tide away from becoming more and more polarized. We will continue to gulp up messages that tickle and confirm our individual ever widening different views.

Monday, April 15 -16
      My spirits improved after getting an answer to this request:

"consider my invitation to a brainstorm on how to conduct ourselves in both addressing problems of children living in poverty here and those refugee children who would die in their native country and are coming in ever greater numbers. If you cannot post on my blog, send by email. I will post your input.

The answer I welcome:

It's easy: Take care of your own children and homeland first. Always. If you "care" so much, get a ticket to whatever poverty-stricken area you wish and help out. But take care of our own business first! And DO NOT steal from others so you can support feeding the world's down-trodden. If that is your belief, go for it. Without the rest of us.

My response:

      On Monday my mood improved after receiving my friends challenging response. I am grateful for my friends trust in the face that we do not agree.  Her words are more gentle then sometimes, still I feel a little defensive.  I might defensively say something that would end our friendship and dialog over the past 5 years. This blog is about civil conversation not the place for my knee jerk response.  Then I  step back and wonder why I feel guilt for not taking action beyond writing. I am guilty as I should be.  I feel I am not an asset helping at the soup kitchen like I used to.  I declined a request to teach watercolor in Belize to children at a summer church camp. Certainly I could find some place where I could contribute with doing something and not just writing and talking.  No, no! My search for weaving back the fabric of our society is a good thing to do.
      I feel very grateful of how my friend continues to correspond even though we do not agree on many things. I understand her admiration for New Yorker frankness and her dedication to volunteering. She is a good person and writer of political articles in a right wing news letter, as well as writing stories and plays. During the Carter and Regan Administration she wrote presidential speeches.  She is knowlegeable.

     Another writer of stories and plays is my cousin, Jim Cunningham who liked some of my Facebook posts.  He recently published a book of his short stories available on Amazon. He is giving all the money he gets from book sales to St. Jude's Hospital for Children.
     His poignant stories often burst my bubble and increase my empathy. A few of his stories are somewhat autobiographical. All of the stories are like stepping under someone elses' skin and leave lasting impressions.

One of Jim's stories, "Where the Mountain Meets the Plain" is about  a present day father and his son who own a small  ranch. They are among the disappearing few small family run agricultural businesses.   Perhaps their strong values are disappearing.  People of the land use to extend their helping hand when neighbors are in need - one important value that made our country great.  Jim's story says much about the goodness of people giving of themselves just like the way our nation was built. After mulling over Jim's powerful and awesomely concise story, I am sad that our old values are being tested by extreme challenges. 
        



        I hope I have been fair in my tone on my friend's response on how we should conduct ourselves so our trust continues. Jim's story brings home to me that volunteering is not like it used to be in solving problems. Jim's insights on citizen volunteering illustrates the problem with my friend's simple solution.
         Another point of my bringing Jim's stories into this blog post is story telling is best for communicating ideas.  Telling your personal story is a powerful way towards effectively beginning a civil discussion that will bring people together in understanding. If we stick to personal experiences it will be harder for alien sources to infiltrate our national dialogue around elections.
          I watched Yo-Yo Ma on the importance of telling each other our stories on PBS News Hour April 15.
"Culture turns the other into us, and it does this through trust, imagination, and empathy. So, let's tell each other our stories and make it our epic, one for the ages."

Rain wrote on a Facebook link to this blog.
Diane and I tried an experiment-- discussing our very different ideas on immigration. She went first and I followed. Our goal was to show that people can differ on important issues and still remain friends. Mostly, this is helped by not discussing those topics lol. We made an exception for the blog, which generally doesn't do politics at all.
She wanted us to begin by what in our background had led us to what we currently think on immigration; so that's what we did. Hers was... on the 10th and mine the 13th. I don't think either of us believe we have all the answers for a situation that may grow much worse if global climate change makes some areas unlivable. I don't think the world is ready for what might come and some of that is because we have no idea what it will be as much is projecting based on the past except human history is short and especially that recorded or with tools to do measuring; so it's geologic and fossils that provide data. The one thing we know for sure from that-- earth can change a lot even without human interference.

Some of today's immigrants have their situation made worse by failed or failing governments. No easy answers for sure.

  A few responses are better than daydreaming on my own. Good chance I will try to improve on my attempts sometime in months to come when using other issues as examples!

     

by Diane Widler Wenzel: Civility in disagreeing on immigration

My assemblage, "Immigration," was inspired by my father's values. It includes  father's #8 envelope containing proof of citizenship papers secured with a woven cotton cord tied with the precision of a Boy Scout, sailor's knot. My hand made papers symbolical represent his contribution of values he absorbed from living in several other countries.
He beautifully mended files and cars as opposed to throwing away any worn out thing.

 

         This is the first of paired blog posts with my co-author, Rain, on divisive issues facing our nation.  Acknowledging that differing opinions of our current USA and world wide issues could result in breaking our friendship, Rain and I are going to try airing our different sides on several issues in a civil tone.  Of course I am optimistic that telling my story behind my opinions will build a stronger bridge between us. My hunch is that explaining what I understand to be my background will soften hot buttons.    I invite Rain to add more definitions of terminology and to share her background to her present opinions on immigration. Since I do not want to control this exchange, my blog pardoner deserves the same freedom she gives me.  I want Rain to be free to present her side in her own way.
           The question for me is, knowing my friend, can I understand her perspective without taking offense.  Rain and I have been friends almost continually since 1965 when we and our husbands went from Portland to Tucson, Arizona where our husbands completed masters degrees in chemistry at the University of Arizona.
           We are willing to put our friendship to test by the stress of revealing our opposing feelings and opinions on issues because we might set a good example. We can have an open airing of what we believe. Or fail at finding a way for every citizen to start to change what I believe is the biggest threat to our republic - our polarization leading to demonizing each other followed by the unthinkable. I don't want to loose my best friend next to my husband. Personally a loss of our friendship would be extremely hurtful. The risk is worth the effort for the love our country.
          Thank you, Rain for suggesting we do these dual blogs. Thank you for over the years putting me in my place when I am ignorant of facts. I appreciate our past disscussions and I credit you for helping me mature.
             In respect for Rain I accept Rain's goal as mine too. We will demonstrate that good people are on both sides of  hotly argued issues like immigration. Our intention is not to change the other's mind or even the readers' minds on the issues we cover. Neither is it agreeing to disagree when such an agreement is a contract to avoid a complete hearing and acceptance of each other.




Me with collected pebbles and my parents near Lake Tahoe, 1948 

          I finally see myself as being the latest edition of migrants going back to the earliest homosapiens. I didn't alway see myself as coming from early humanity and related to all humanity.

          During my childhood I believed I came from an American melting pot mixture of peoples like the English, Pennsylvania Dutch, and the French American Indians, combined with my newly immigrated father with roots from the Middle East, Switzerland, Russia and Central Europe.





          My father took a dim view of my mother's pride in her many ethnicities. I grew up hearing from him that the white man should not adopt China as their country like his parents and grandparents tried to do before Mao and Communism took over Shanghai. I heard from father that in the United States your roots do not matter. He denied his father was Jewish because he was not observant. Father had a personal philosophy not believing in organized religion. Here in the United States everyone is equal.  Here we should all try to be like Americans he said.
         His heir, however, wanted to know about their roots. The desire to belong to a tribe is strong for me. I want to belong to some group especially because I didn't have that comfort as a child. Always feeling like l was an outsider leaves a hole in self-esteem. So as an adult in my pursuit and interest in my heritage, I have been a snob. I needed to be openly proud. Snobs are not likeable and I also wanted to be liked.
       I do not know what it is to be persecuted to the point of fearing for my life like my ancestors were. And for another DNA testing is only beginning to impact the general population with the realization that our ancestors are all from the same source with the same need to survive so virtually we all are descendents from migrants.



Our 1953 Yosemite camp with our 1934 Chevy coup's hood supporting canvas tarps held out by the cot that I slept on while my parents slept on the ample bed of the trunk. All of this camping and cooking gear was stowed in the trunk and in two duffle bags on the fenders. We only forgot the can opener.

       My parents did not buy a new car every year during the 50's like our neighbors. Maybe their values set me apart from the other children. I felt different, some thought we were Jewish. I was not popular.

       Although  between 1948 -1958 in Berkeley, California and near by El Cereto, I was surrounded by minorities when I went to school. Racial tensions were high: I both loved and feared some of them. Their voices were musical as they called out to one another under the resonating canopy covering the stairway to and from the out-building classrooms of Portola Junior High School. I loved their street vocalizations but when I entered the restroom I was fearful a group of them would be there and I would be bullied. This was the year before segregation during a time when the South was integrating.
       To me when so many ethnic groups are living together there are tensions that come to violent outbursts, but here in the United States we are making progress in learning to accept one another even if we go through periods of back sliding. I am a Polly Anna and I am OK with that label.
        My family and the community shaped my opinion on immigration. First, before presenting more of my opinion, I want to establish definitions of terms. My theory I am testing here is that language is important in addition to sharing our backgrounds to have a civil sharing of different opinions.


Definitions

Immigration is the action of coming to live permanently in a foreign country.

Migrant is a person who moves from one place to another, especially in order to find work or better living conditions. Animals and people migrate. Some animal migrants are a part of a balanced ecosystems Like the swallows who return to our back yard just as flying insects hatch in the spring. Other animals like wild pigs, Scotch broom, or killer bees are invasive. There are 50 thousand invasive species in the United States. 

Refugee is a person who has been forced to leave their country in order to escape war, persecution, or natural disaster.

Refugee Status is, generally speaking , is a displaced person who has been forced to cross national boundaries and who cannot return home safely. Such a person may be called an asylum seeker until granted refugee status by the contracting state or the UNHCR if they formally make a claim for asylum.

A hot button for me is being labeled a globalist if it is defined as someone who believes that ultimately all borders and nations should be dissolved, resulting in one single world. This Utopian Globalism would be fantastic but is unreachable. I am a globalist if it is defined as a person who advocates the interpretation or planning  of economic and foreign policy in relation to events and developments throughout the world.

In my humble opinion of immigration policies, I will try to be humble because truly I do not comprehend the scope of providing shelter for all of the hurting peoples of the world. I do not know an immediate fix. And I fear someday we will need to migrate to safety.

        Building a  continuous wall on the Mexican border is not a good immigration policy. Claiming the country is "full" is inhumane. Building a continuous wall is counterproductive waste of our precious resources. The wall without border patrol backup is a symbol rather than a functioning protection. Walls require adequate border patrol agents using technology to prevent criminal activities. They are already effective judging that most crime enters by air and sea.  "Build the wall" is a campaign slogan giving false satisfaction to President Trump's base.  Support for a wall ignores the realities on the ground. It divides economic communities in El Paso, Nogales, and San Diego. Our economies are intertwined with a flow of commerce and  services. I want our tax dollars to go to facilitating the flow of commerce. Also we need tax money to go to timely processing refugee's applications for some type of legal status.
         The United States and the world's nations are being challenged by the increasing frequency of epic storms and drought stricken flora and fauna. We need world co-operative efforts. We need to realize that as compassionate beings we will have to be considerate of others beyond our borders. Being considerate means making sacrifices to benefit humanity as a whole.
         I imagine and fear leadership that undermines co-operation between nations.  We do not have to follow the path of building the Great Wall as was done in China. The Mongol Barbarians eventually ruled China. The Barbarians, interestingly, assimilated the Chinese culture. Unfortunately forests were cut down to fuel the kilns to make bricks for the wall. Where the trees were gone the land became a desert and the rivers flooded. Of course we are not ancient China. Yet, we would use significant energy making a steel wall. Steel will be used that will not go into our failing infrastructure.
          Allowing immigration comes with the fear other values and even other countries will govern us. It is a fear with historic examples of colonialism, fascism and communism. Clearly I am optimistically certain that we can keep our national identity and belong to world governance organizations.
           In the United States two blocking sentiments exist around immigration. The desire to celebrate our recent roots can lead to an instinct for nationalist exclusion of other countries and strangers.  The other but related feeling is fearing that outsiders seeking to immigrate are threats.  Looking at history large migrations have wiped out indigenous populations. The migrations that turned violent catch our attention and strike terror in our heart obscuring migrations that fostered mutual enriched life and survival.

May Day 1949, Annie Sanchez my best friend then  and I
were dressed to wind crape paper garlands around the May Pole.

                      

 In conclusion:
Thinking well of those who oppose us is helped by understanding the opposition's story. Knowing where we each come from is a key to civil discussion. Maybe the way we disagree will be an example for citizens to meaningfully bridge and heal the great political polarization threatening our country and bogging down our governments effectiveness.

Rain's views will follow this coming Saturday the 13th. So if you made it through my entire essay, the complete conclusion to our main purpose, I apologize, is not possible until Rain states her views and reacts. Can we see each other as being good people when we fully air our opinion?  Rain has a special perspective on the border and immigration. She researched the history of the Arizona border for some of her novels. She divides her year between living in her Tucson home and a ranch in the Oregon Coast Range. She keeps up with currentevents. I await Rain's opinions with anticipation.

I welcome comments to this blog within the scope of this blog on culture - not political rants. Meaning even if the comment is in agreement with my opinion, it is irrelevant in this blog. What interests me, for example, is a short sentence or two of roughly where you stand with as much  elaboration you need on what is your background that shaped your opinion. I am open to new ideas on how to bridge the cultural habits we have that promote polarization. This post is about how in political discussions our feelings of how good or bad the opposition is painted by how we communicate our political beliefs. Personal stories, in my humble opinion, are most likely to be well received and bridge polarization.





 

 



life and death

by Rain Trueax
 

There is one given in life and really only one. Once we are born, we will die. Now some believe only the body dies. The soul lives on for the body to be resurrected (not sure in what form but sounds like it'd be good. The Apostle Paul said without that resurrection, Christians were being fooled). Whatever the case, of an afterlife, our current bodies do die. While that might seem a ways off for some, it's closer for others-- like the aged. What does it mean?

Christmas in fiction

by Rain Trueax

There were years when I had a big footprint where it came to Christmas. It goes back to childhood with Santa coming Christmas Eve, and then Christmas Day with our family, aunts, uncles, grandma, and cousins for big meals and more gifts. When Ranch Boss and I formed our own home, there was always a Christmas tree and more gift giving through all the years of child rearing-- even as they formed their own homes and grandkids came along. 

Regularly, we'd have a big dinner at our home twice-- first one for neighbors and friends with even luminaries to light the driveway, second for family and again some friends, who didn't have family nearby. I loved the preparation, the decorating, the sharing, and setting up three tables for sit-down dinners. 

In decorating, I had Christmas nativities, ornaments that went back to childhood, collectible ornaments (some hand painted), white twinkly lights, and a huge Christmas village. Lots of greens were cut, along with a Christmas tree along with many white candles.

We generally did the Advent calendars and, in Catholic days, attended midnight masses (that is so special). Then out here in the rural community church, we were involved in Christmas programs. It's a busy season when someone is in a community.

Joy and Sorrow of Being a Prolific Painter in a Small Space

Interestingly my studio has all paintings that satisfy me and the rest of the house has more unfinished work that I  like seeing from many different angles and lighting before making changes.
I feel satisfaction and contentment and joy when I surround myself with work that satisfies me as comfortably completed. It need not be perfect. I like looking at work that over a long period time never says to me every time I walk by, "Psst, as soon as you have a moment, I need to be  touched up with a face lift. 

Being as prolific as I am, I  could quickly fill our home with art giving me the feeling that I am caught in an uncomfortable web. I  learned to withstand the sadness of destroying some of my work. 

Happy am I since I almost always keep space open.

To make space for both my husband and I to live comfortably, and welcome visitors, downsizing my collection of my own art is necessary even if it is like pulling teeth.  I go through my archives over and over again.

We need to keep space open for both of us to work and play. Conscious effort is made to display my art work,  improve storage. We keep only the stuff of everyday living that we need in addition to retiring some of my older work.  So various methods are helpful in reducing both excessive duplication in everything that surrounds us. Over the years I am always bagging stuff to donate. Many trips to the grocery store include dropping off a bag of donations. Last year I was lax and now I am back on track on donating.
Just working at  tackling  a little at a time giving me a feeling of accomplishment with each little step.  Happy am I that I have a few paintings that from the start all the variables fall in place.

Even if others do not like some of my alla prima paintings, they are among the ones that worked for me and I am fondest of them because I remember every time I look at them the experience of painting them.

Painted on a pea green background every color I put on was working with the whole right from the first stroke.  I kept the added patches of color open with the green threading through the entire painting.  Then just a few lines drawn  more from a muscle memory of a dance than thought out beforehand.  With the lines I decided the abstract was pulled together.

Hart Lake Creek  on a 1971 pack trip on our way to Lake Chelan, a sentimental painting! I treasure remembering our trips every time I look at these paintings. I do not care that some art critics would say this painting is two paintings, one being the tree trunks and the other being the creek.

 

I am a sentimentalist so my permanent collection is a diary of my life memories.

My Artist Life While Aging

One of the boxes of my mother's creative sculpting and her automated doll's violin.
Her display dolls from the 50’s are represented and documented in the Rosalie Whyel Doll Museum in Belleview, Washington.
 I also wrote an article in Doll Reader Magazine about how my mother made me feel growing up as her doll creating partner.
 I am humbled by how well she made doll making a shared family involvement. She even extending her sharing her skills in an leading a Girl Scout interest group in which we casted our own clay sculpted puppets for Jack and the Bean Stock characters.
 She introduce me to plein air painting as a group activity with other children in the Big Sur Camp Ground.

At age 75, as a result of my mother's nurturing and my continued involvement in art, I am grateful to her for my now having the most productive and creative period in my life. I am filled with joy and thankfulness. Yet, I am aware that my elderly years are precious, much more than the selling of the art I make. So I am immersing myself in the process of creating as opposed to marketing.

The paintings accumulate.

 My priority to do lists includes making an illustrated Power Point catalog containing all the work  ready to be exhibited or sold. Will it be enough for my heirs to have my art well documented with catalog numbers and my statements?  Maybe at some point I should seek on line painting sales and gallery representation taking a load off my heirs? Or finding more places to donate it?

My husband and I do less and less of the things we used to do. We no longer belong to a roller skating club,  or a mountain rescue club. We do not snowshoe, or camp in a tent while backpacking to name a few of the ever growing list of things we no longer want to do. So my husband is home with me more with all our toys taking up space. Even when we got rid of a few toys like a couple of Model A's, my art encroaches on  my husband's shop area.

 I am looking for another artist who can use some of my unneeded art paraphernalia. Some of  the art media I have been fortunate enough to have experienced recently is paper making. Paper making was a short lived family activity. Other remnants of media that I am giving away include bookmaking, ceramics, batik, mosaics and cement garden sculptures. I am having difficulty thinking about giving up oil painting. I am starting to paint in oils now that the weather is nice but this might be the last season of oils if the watercolors without glass becomes my primary medium.

Years ago faced with a full shed of her decades old disintegrating latex dolls, I selected a few more permanent tools that reflected her creative process.   I kept a plaster mold for casting  and her books that instructed her hoping they would become family heirlooms. Maybe some family member will want to use Margaret Widler Doll heirlooms in making installations or even videos or what can be imagined.

As an artist I see my life in phases. When I was a very young child painting was all about the doing of it. The result did not hold my interest. In the in between years I saw myself as the maker of a product that would please a teacher, or someone who might buy it. Now I still care about how the work looks when finished. Caring is central to the process. I care that my paintings satisfy me. I hope  to involve the viewers of my paintings in the process seeding their creative drive as well. I've come full circle doing art for the sake of the experience of being in the present, always learning and really seeing.

Paper making paraphernalia in my husband's shop.
 I want to give away all the paper making stuff plus cotton paper pulp I have used to strengthen recycled paper.
 

My answer to “How do I make time for painting?”

How I make time to paint is such an interesting question,  I wonder why it never occurred to me.

This is an excellent question for all of you beginning for the first time  as well as those painters with busy schedules.

The flip side of making time to paint is how I make time for taking care of myself, quality time with family, being a friend. Writing a blog to me is an outreach to creative friends.

 Of course there are the everyday chores I  make into art experiences. When it is time to vacuum, the first thing to do is rearrange the art on my walls so while doing repetitive chores, my mind is busy seeing new relationships between my paintings.

My patient, supportive husband deserves a great deal of credit.  He shares grocery shopping,  house and yard work as well as helping me prepare the paintings to be hung. The whole house is a staging area for my half finished paintings and sometimes when my husband and I are together, I am as though far away looking at my paintings.

The number one thing I have in common with those just beginning to paint is finding a medium that is best suited to my lifestyle. I am still looking for ways to increase the quality of my painting time. Cooking is creative and enjoyable to me but cleaning up afterwards not so much. The day before yesterday I purchased an Oster 12" electric fry pan with a ceramic surface. It heats fast and cleans with a simple wipe with a wet towel.  It holds promise for a variety of cooking methods so for some jobs step aside Instant Pot. I will have more creative time now.

Very important is having work areas that can be easily setup and put away quickly. I carry an on the go bag for travels whether I am going from my studio to the patio or to just pick up groceries or a larger bag for vacations.

 Just this week I found that 2 small pocket Van Gogh palettes half filled with pan watercolors are working the best with dilute gloss medium in the adjacent empty wells. The Van Gogh palettes have the right amount of paint and mixing surfaces  for the 11X14 inch canvas boards. These boards are fine to carry in a suitcase.

The prepared plywood boards take considerable work to prepare for painting and I don't like the rough feel. I will continue adding more coats of gesso and plaster. The translucency and wetting ability of  the paint respond so interestingly to customized surfaces, I don't want to go back to unmodified machine made surfaces.
 

The next most important suggestion is immersing myself in seeing. Even when not actually painting I think how I would in response to what I see.  I enjoy looking with painting in mind every day and plan the next painting series.

Please take a minute or two to vote on topics that would be useful to you on making time to paint.Answer in comments but if you prefer I will be happy to get your email at dondianewenzel@msn.com

1) A series of blogs about my on the go painting paraphernalia.

2) Inspirational books and web sites to jump start painting.

3) More about my progress in finding a way to work outside doing watercolors that are durably finished, ready to hang without frame and glass.

4) My remedies when a laps of time has occurred when I couldn't paint and I find it hard to start again.

5) Do I have to paint every day to consider myself an artist?

Help, Help!!! Human Debree tossed in by Hurricanes Threatened to Drown Me and Reef Criters at Turneffe Atoll, Belize

The disappearing beach at one of the mangrove islands
 on Turneffe Atoll,
the largest Atoll in the second largest coral reef in the world

Last year's hurricanes dumped plastic trash  on the beaches of Turneffe Atoll. At one of its islands, pictured above, I saw a plastic baby doll and a pair of  goose barnacle covered flip flops amazingly within a foot of each other.

Last year's hurricanes were the strongest recorded sucking away the sand in the atoll's beaches. The roots of palms were exposed. Some trees fell or will fall in the next hurricane. Some red mangrove trees also were lost reducing the distance between the shore and interior brackish water ponds where crocodiles mate and live.  all along the narrow strip of sand new mangrove shoots poked above the sand. They grow remarkably fast to become the lung of the reef and the most protective plant of the fragile reef. But as remarkable as they are, will they stand a chance if these storms and higher tides are more frequent and pull more sand away from the shore?



I am looking with binoculars across the pond at crocodiles. My granddaughter is in foreground.
Behind me are the black mangroves with roots in the brackish water beginning to be stressed.
Also the distance between the pond and the reef shore is half what it was in 2016.

 Without dry roots the black mangrove trees started dieing.  Not only that the sea level has risen in recent years according to Turneffe Flats Lodge. The atoll is 30 miles long and 18 miles wide at the widest point. The whole system is threatened  including Turneffe Flats Fishing Lodge and Ecotourist Resort.  When we were there for one week the place looked in fine shape. They said within a few weeks after the storms the owners built a new dock, fixed the wood buildings, replaced some of the sand and planted red mangrove trees.  The owners were still in the process of building a much stronger two story cement structure partly to increase the number of client rental rooms and partly for their new home.

Me in my 180 degree snorkeling mask.
The mask worked fine when on the surface
but near the end of snorkeling I attempted to dive down.  The  mask started to fill with water.
To make the water flow out I simply looked down and lost track of the group resulting in an interesting  but unpleasant experience.  I became a little separated from the group.

My sympathy for all critters of the reef was made greater after this unpleasant experience.  The currents around the atoll created a trash line about a hundred yards from open ocean with higher waves.  I swam through the trash accidentally when I was left behind and didn't look up enough to see where I was going. I was fascinated by a big jelly fish. I was pulled a little off course by an increasingly stronger current on my way to the boat pulling me closer and closer to the colder ocean. Then I got to experience first hand how fish and critters could be trapped surrounded by plastic bags,  broken floating sea weed and the little box jelly fish I feared.  I told myself not to panic, but just go with the flow gradually shifting directions towards the boat.  When I was parallel to the starboard of the boat, I  made a right turn and started swimming hard towards the boat.  My plan was to  pass the boat and go around the anchor rope and head back for the ladder near the aft on the port side of the boat.  Making headway was difficult.  My daughter saw me and thought I was lost and came around to me and tugged at my hand to get me to turn towards the stern instead.

 I welcomed our role reversal and am so grateful my daughter is so wonderfully caring.

What is being done and can be done?

A big part of being able to experience being on a remote atoll is consumption of energy like petroleum. To reduce the amount needed, some have tried wind and solar power. But unfortunately there isn't a good way to protect  the delicate machinery from high tides and winds of hurricanes. At least a method hasn't been invented yet.

There is a little house on the tip of one of the mangrove islands where adventurous people come to stay without electricity, or a supply of water or any food other than what they can collect, catch or gather - survival tourism anyone?

Turneffe Flats had their own green house where they grew herbs, onions and peppers. Many of their foods were purchased from organic Mennonite farmers from the mainland of Belize.

Our adventure guide, Abel Coe, wants to educate Belize school children to value their natural resources by taking them out in the morning to help pick up the trash and then take them snorkeling in the afternoon. I hope he is supported in his mission.

The owners of Turneffe Flats are trying to make Turneffe Atoll a Belize National Monument and Nature Preserve. A portion of the money we paid for staying at the fishing resort went to ecology efforts. They do not use micro-wave and other high powered appliances. use solar pannels to heat shower water. Limit hours of air conditioning. They also recycle black water, and collect rain water, use salt water in their infinity pool among other eco friendly practices..

Surge, a marine biologist, and the dive guide is promoting ecology world foundations.
Call to scientific inventors: design equipment for atoll dwellers to convert plastic to fuel. Anyone, can you make a small island friendly machine to convert algae to biofuel?

Brainstorming anyone for more ideas!