1. There is a lack of profound and comprehensive curiosity about ecology even among many current/conventional so-called biologists and naturalists. The current focus of STEAM is through a lens of the human economy and of having dynamic homeostatic symbioses (“nature”) bow to the inappropriate technology, engineering, and entrepreneurship of the Chosen Ones rather than living toward a goal of livelihoods which are implemented wisely, simply, smally, slowly, steadfastly, sharingly, and sustainably in concert with Nature’s economy.

(A recent trigger of these thoughts are relatives and friends commenting on their perception of lack of: “neatness” and weeding and brush control, and trim and order in some yards, on particular farms & ranches, and in homes. Personally, I think I myself, who am not very ordered, am too concerned with clutter and establishing and having a certain order. We do need to always be cognizant of and cogitate on the Second Law of Thermodynamics and recognize that order in one system creates disorder in another. http://www.paulpeaceparables.com/2015/03/23/the-second-law-of-thermodynamics-it-is-in-many-ways-the-most-important-and-should-be-the-first/ )

2. We are ignoring the limits of Earth and the natural resource base. Neoliberal capitalism; worship of action for action’s sake, growth, and development and MANagement of “nature” and associated human actions which are employing inappropriate technology, engineering, and entrepreneurship are destroying life-yielding top soil and clean air, quality water, photosynthesizers and biodiversity, and resulting in too much embodied human appropriated net productivity (i.e., a very precarious imbalance).

(I constantly hear too much talk of: purchase of a new monstrosity, i.e., pickup or car, or a bigger house; new jobs which aren’t sustainable livelihoods; and development of Land or Nature.)

3. We are not de facto living and abiding by a “golden rule”. We preach and pray and hope, and take actions with reckless abandonment which are supposedly through an ethic of reciprocity (a holistic and deep living of the Golden Rule) but do this with extremely little real effort at thorough appraisal of the status quo, and development of: a grand plan, strategy and tactics, real actions, and systems of evaluation of the results of those actions toward a goal of an ethic of reciprocity which includes the whole of dynamic homeostatic symbioses (“nature”) and of all of Eaarth.

(I am tired of hearing the words: “Let’s pray.”, “We simply have to have hope!”, “We just have to believe in Jesus.”, “It is the hands of God.”, “THE Bible/Scripture says: … .” and “War, killings, terror, and exploitation, poverty and disparity are inevitable. It is the nature and reality of man.”)

[ 7 Ss / VV->^^ ]

Congratulations! You succeeded.

I am a dead man walking.
(And so are you.)

Tried, convicted and sentenced to burial
By a select, prejudiced, unforgiving cohort
Relatively … hopefully temporarily …
Not sane of mind.

You HAVE buried me.
(Not that you didn’t have help,
Including self!)

HOWEVER!!! … I’m not looking for pity.
(There are many more dead than I in the eyes and heartlessness & soullessness of others.
Homeless. Undocumented immigrants.
War ravaged populations.
Weather and climate change devastated humans & other biota.
Poor and disenfranchised.
Mentally & physically challenged. …
Many other species.
Out of sight and out of minds. …
Different from the “appropriate” norm
Which does not exist.
Not the way it is “supposed to be”.)

I’m not looking for pity!
My dynamic symbiosis with you HAS become dead men walking.
I DO have temporal & spatial saudades,
Sadness and emptiness. …
YET … I also have so very much love, happiness, positive energy/positive symbioses, hope … all around me;
So much love, happiness, positive energy/symbioses, hope within me.

I’m not looking for pity!!
Just forgiveness.
(And, of course, for living poorly-action toward change …
Within & without, locally and globally;
For the have-nots … and all … of Eaarth.)
For Louise Katherine Kneuper Martin wisdom.
For the resurrection from death by all.

pbm 9/4/19

[ 7 S’s / VV->^^ ]

Paper presented at the 33rd Annual Conference of the Society of Educators and Scholars, Oct. 2010 p.b. martin et al.
https://bannedbookscafe.blogspot.com/2013/09/normal-0-false-false-false.html

“We know we are in dire straits* as a species, and that we are among associated species facing even more difficult immediate threats … such as extinction by Homo sapiens. At least one billion relatively powerless humans, and great numbers of individuals of other species, are in the midst of unprecedented peril in this moment. Therefore, we must demand that our institutions of learning–from the pre-kindergarten to post-graduate school–unreservedly address the challenge: of lowering ecological footprints and material/energy usage/”abusage” (loss of topsoil, usable water, and biodiversity; and dependence on virtual slaves) in the sectors of the world with power, and of facilitating the increases in these footprints for those lacking power (the objective being an average worldwide per capita ecological footprint of ca. 5 acres and daily energy usage of ca. 60 thousand kilocalories with a very small standard deviation.). Stakeholders should be basing their decisions on ecological principles and processes; they should be thinking critically & creatively and acting in local & global systems with goals of banning inequality, and enhancing conservation, resilience and sustainability. A comprehensive and intensive plan for making this happen through our educational systems is seriously needed. Development of ecology-across-curricula toward ecological literacy and sustainable livelihoods and sustainable community is a moral and ethical imperative for true scholars and educators. Educational systems should be a part of the solution rather than serving to increase the social and ecological problems we all will continue to face in the future if we do not begin to rapidly change our socio-political/economic local and global systems.”

“ … Why are we not hearing more about what is fundamental to the education process and essential to critical thinking** and quality life for all, i.e., ecological literacy and ecology-across-curricula?

We think there are at least seven reasons:

1. Ecological Illiterates. In 2010, most parents, teachers, administrators, education policymakers in the U.S. do not have real knowledge of a concept of ecological literacy (EL) and ecology-across-the-curriculum (EAC). Moreover, their grasp of EAC and EL is probably less than that of parent, teachers, administrators and policymakers in, e.g., the 1930s. (The senior author’s father, who had not attended college, and mother, who only went to school through the eighth grade, knew much more about ecological principles and processes than most folk coming out of college in today’s world.).

A good foundational knowledge in ecological principles and processes is essential to anyone even beginning to understand socio-political/economic systems and for beginning to help move us toward correcting them in an ethical manner, i.e., for the good of rich or poor–including other species–and for as long as possible.

2. Fear of Change. When folk do have an inkling of understanding of what might be meant by EAC, they often generally want to avoid it at all costs (including the costs incurred from the sacrifice of necessary ecological knowledge and actions resulting from critical thinking which would take us toward future quality living within this ecosphere). The reason for this is that their paychecks, interest rates and dividends, yields from stocks and bonds, annuities, government checks, subsidies and assistance, i.e., their relatively comfortable conventional lifestyles, depend upon the bankrupt financial system and fragile socio-economic/political structure which is perilously propped upon a deteriorating natural resource base. And they do not want to rock the boat!
The very powerful, in particular, are reluctant to give up power or even use what they have in order to gain increasing power. Moreover, many of those with power threaten those without similar power with certain job and income loss, in the event that they, the rich and powerful, should lose their own foothold on their exorbitant power.

3. Uncompassionate Apathy. Many people do not de facto care much about the three billion humans who really are struggling to get by in the world and we care even less about other species, especially if they are not mammals or are not relatively large or not stunningly beautiful.

4. Sustainability Is Difficult! (Particularly in a World of 7 Billion and Capitalism). Individuals and world systems are complex, and difficult to reprogram toward conservation and sustainability. Moreover, there are many folk who settle for the status quo, and thus there are many naysayers, cynics and con artists taking a perceived easier path, even while their actions are nudging, shoving or leading us over the cliff..

5. Communication Barriers. It is extremely difficult to even begin to communicate with folk who hold a completely different system of values, especially when these values are on a compellingly attractive and even addictive (yet unfounded) “foundation.”

6. Faster Horses! Older Whiskey! Younger “Mates”! More Money! We generally continue to worship at the altar of growth and big, fast and noisy, and technological and artificial, (and energetically and socio-economically/ecologically costly) … at the expense in particular of “average” students/people.

7. Problems in Knowing When the Well Really Is About to Run Dry. As human populations and their appetites and their technology increase, the finite resources of this finite planet are rapidly tapped into and utilized. But to some extent, everything seems fine up until the depletion of necessary resources (especially macronutrients/essential elements & compounds) is precariously near. It is difficult to know and predict when the last amount of life-essential resources are nearing depletion until very near the end of depletion (or near the point where it is virtually energetically impossible to secure them in sufficient amounts to maintain the homeostasis of life systems). [Dr. Albert Bartlett eloquently and thoroughly discussed this in 1978 in his “Forgotten Fundamentals of the Energy Crisis” www.npg.org/specialreports/bartlett_index.htm ]

(Certainly there have been better analyses of barriers to sustainability, e.g., www.pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/61837 www.viewpointlearning.com/publications/reports/BC_sustainability_0306.pdf ; however, the seven barriers listed are significant.)”

………………………….

*An excellent presentation illustrating the situation in which Homo sapiens finds itself as a species: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPb_0JZ6-Rc&feature=share&fbclid=IwAR2hDnprGfWB7R1n8Z0WXhER6ZGxgZMwDh8O-mWOjYv7Fp7heR_DJB_JYcg

**I’m working on a piece which thoroughly discusses a critical thinking process.

**********************************************************************

pbm 9/4/19

[ 7 Ss->^^ ]

Local ecological problems, and issues which should be dealt with when profoundly & holistically resolving these challenges, are generally a microcosm of global challenges. Here in our Seguin, Texas area, a landfill proposed for development over the Carrizo-Wilcox Aquifer was one such challenge.

And very recently the local political activity resulting from the proposed permanent opening of impoundment structures and draining of local lakes because of liability issues and lack of electric generation utility has similarities to global climate change politics. …

• Scientists & engineers with the Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority (GBRA), and administrators representing these experts, say that their data calls for a draining of the lakes and that they have the best interests of all the stakeholders in this ecological community, including biota other than humans … i.e., that they ARE considering the human economy and the well-being of the humans therein as an important component of and in concert with the much larger Nature’s Economy.

• However, the perception of many of the local populace is that such a move (draining of these local lakes) will hurt the local human economy and quality of life, at least as defined by a relatively high input/throughput system based on neoliberal capitalism and the status quo. They feel that they know better than the scientists & engineers, or that their scientists and engineers, or their facts, are better than those influencing GBRA. … Therefore, there has been a local populist uprising. … (Moreover, as always, especially in today’s fast-paced world, a battle of ethoses and of determinations for ethics & morals are taking place.)

• The populist uprising is composed by a broad spectrum of the local human population, but to a considerable extent by many who are relatively powerful. and who have derived that power through successful main street businesses, in real estate dealings, and other avenues for making a good living, … and of course some who manifest their power by living on the lakes. (The power in this populist movement comes from power of history & legacy; financial; political; leadership; effective influence on the media; and capacity to persist & persuade)
………………………………
GBRA (or some other governmental/NGO/quasi-governmental entity) needs to quickly begin a process* which thoroughly deals–for the short & long term–with …

quality life for all in the current Lake Dunlap to Lake Wood-Guadalupe River “ecosystem”.

 

Steps might be:

• If scientific monitoring and analysis indicates there truly is a significant risk of losing or harming human life as result of the deterioration of impoundment structures, drain the lakes where the risk exists and also immediately initiate the process discussed below. If the risk is low, begin this process without draining any or all of the lakes.

• Realize a quick blitz of information out to the public re ecological principles & processes & an ecological ethos as such applies to the Guadalupe-Blanco River watershed and the lake region below Canyon Lake.

• Conduct a rapid appraisal of this lake area below Canyon Lake [obtain input from previous research studies to present, lay people (powerful to powerless), specialists representing psychological, socio-political/economic (ecological) sectors of knowledge/wisdom/prudence, … .

• Establish a route to equity & quality life for all including other species (involving the considering of: an education/advocacy campaign encouraging living simply, slowly, sharingly, sustainably; regenerating mostly natural areas with native biota; wildscapes; conservation easements; sustainable agriculture strategies & tactics; etc.) … and through critical-thinking based on ecological knowledge … deciding on whether to: maintain the lakes & impoundment structures, or transition to a river somewhat similar to what it was in 1700, or initiate some intermediate plan.

• Develop a mission statement, goals, a strategic plan/policies/actions/monitoring activities/analysis & assessment/& replanning using knowledge of ecological principles & processes under a holistic and profound ecological ethic of reciprocity/sharing.

…………………………………………..
[*Some aspects of this process are already in place.]

pbm 8/30/2019

[ 7 Ss / VV->^^ ]

“To live, we must daily break the body and shed the blood of Creation. When we do this knowingly, lovingly, skillfully, reverently, it is a sacrament. When we do it ignorantly, greedily, clumsily, destructively, it is a desecration. In such desecration we condemn ourselves to spiritual and moral loneliness, and others to want.” Wendell Berry, The Art of the Commonplace: The Agrarian Essays
…………………………..

• Earth (or now, Eaarth, per scholar Bill McKibben https://www.salon.com/2010/04/16/bill_mckibben_eaarth_interview_ext2010/ ) has limits because of innate characteristics of its ecosystem blocks of soil & air (biogeochemical cycles), water, amount of solar energy arriving each day, and biota it can sustain.
• We humans have overshot these limits in terms of human & domesticated species population numbers and especially through rampant consumption & development by the Haves.
• We humans are destroying the natural resource base and dynamic homeostatic symbioses (“nature”).
• There is tremendous disparity of power over natural resources and energy transformation. And this is a major causation of what is always immoral & and unethical–War.

The handwriting is on the wall! …

The real solution is living sabiamente (or wisely), simply, smally, slowly, steadfastly, sharingly, sustainably … and through the leveling off of human & domesticated animal numbers, reduction of human consumption & development by the Haves, and a sharing of power with havenots including other species. And we must educate, advocate, regulate toward ecological knowledge.

But not only knowledge. Along with this must come wisdom & prudence and a profound & holistic ethic of reciprocity. We need human populations that are practicing positively ethical applied community ecology (PEACE) across the Lands of Eaarth … and that will get Eaarth back to Earth.
……………………

Recently in the region of Seguin, Texas there is concern about the draining of several artificial lakes due to liability concerns about the integrity of the impoundment structures and potential risks to those who might be on the lakes should these structures fail (as was the case for two lakes “recently”). http://seguingazette.com/alert/article_0c55ee8c-7671-11e9-821f-af0dad2e52ba.html http://seguingazette.com/alert/article_e7b9582a-bf72-11e9-b73e-ff65a710dd97.html https://www.expressnews.com/news/local/article/GBRA-board-faces-backlash-from-residents-who-14366518.php

We know that directly or indirectly artificial lakes have provided and can continue to provide recreation, pleasing aesthetics, food, flood management, electricity, and irrigation & drinking water. However, through profound & holistic critical thinking and positively ethical applied community ecology, we also must consider the near & long-term effect of artificially impounding water on the social fabric and ecological community. https://www.internationalrivers.org/environmental-impacts-of-dams https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_impact_of_reservoirs

What are the whole-systems monetary, energetic, and material flow costs and benefits in maintaining these artificial lakes?

What does the disruption of nutrient & freshwater flow to the coastal bays & estuaries do to the biodiversity and integrity of these coastal ecosystems? What do artificial changes do to the watershed, wetlands, riparian areas, and littoral & benthic zones of the river or lake being considered, etc.?

There are many aspects to consider through: an ethic of reciprocity, considering the second law of thermodynamics and the precautionary principle, and employing critical thinking based on knowledge of ecological processes & principles.

pbm

[ 7 Ss / VV->^^ ]

“Somewhere along the way, Nash, like many of us, got old. But that hope never did.”

https://www.sltrib.com/opinion/commentary/2019/08/11/leonard-pitts-woodstock/

In my life, the 60s & 70s was a very special time. … Flattop & burr … to hair. Latin- memorizing altar boy to knowledge-seeking skeptic. Wannabe priest/military pilot to wannabe social justice/ecological activist toward pacfism (Positively Ethical Applied Community Ecology/PEACE). Young patriot to a mostly life-long protester involved in pragmatic idealistic change of Eaarth for the better … for ALL, including other species. Disciplined competition to alcohol-liberating adventures (I never got really comfortable with marijuana … and didn’t try any social drugs other than alcohol & marijuana.). A breaking away from the chains of the 50s, Dad, Devine, Texas, the U.S., and The Church.
……………………
[Obviously, I guess, … I’m not trying to paint a picture of gruel to peaches & cream. Moreover, much of this is a “normal” progression from childhood to adolescence to adulthood* (*if such really occurs, especially in today’s world amongst a majority of We Haves).

And I do have a special & deep love for Dad, Devine, Texas, the U.S., and The Church!]

pbm

[ 7 Ss / VV->^^ ]

****************
https://www.sltrib.com/opinion/commentary/2019/08/11/leonard-pitts-woodstock/

“Somewhere along the way, Nash, like many of us, got old. But that hope never did.”

 

I think I am somewhat of a spiritual romantic and dreamer who also tries:

• to read, listen to, absorb, understand, and act out some of the manifestations of the intellect of relatively solid intellectuals in various realms and
• to take some worthy pragmatic actions by tagging along with some intelligent and wise take-action do-gooders performing hands-on, on-the-ground, earthly grass-roots works where such is obviously needed.

I am very comfortable being:
• a bleeding heart-leftist, wannabe pacifist, tree-hugger and democratic eco-socialist …
• who is for: an ethic of reciprocity, abiding by the precautionary principle, affirmative action & reparations, severe gun regulation, requiring all youth to serve in peace corps-type governmental & NGO entities after high school rather than the military, one-half-plus of the Earth set aside to “nature”, appropriate applied agroecology practices, and banning cars and moving to transport/transportation systems of feet, bicycles, trains, buses, and modern clipper ships (and much more … in order to lower our individual and collective ecological footprints).

But …
• I am tiring of white supremacist-, racist-, gun-lover-rhetoric … and Trumpster and Trumpian supporters and apologists.
• And I am becoming increasingly unhappy (I have what are “natural” ups and downs.) with two-faced relatives and friends (despite realizing that oftentimes they don’t recognize their dishonesty, hypocrisy, and deceitfulness) who voted for, support, and apologize for Trump’s disgraceful and socially unjust, inhumane, & ecologically insane statements, goals, policies, and actions.

(I recognize that I am often unfair with my simplistic analysis of problems and presentation of solutions, and after presenting these almost immediately begin to expound by explaining that all human-biological systems and their challenges are very complex and dynamic–temporally, spatially, evolution-wise, psychologically, socio-politically/economically, ecologically.)   https://journals.flvc.org/flaent/article/view/57511 http://bannedbookscafe.blogspot.com/2013/09/normal-0-false-false-false.html Martin, P.B. and P. Prather. 1991. Sustainable agriculture: a process at the community level. American J. of Alternative Agriculture. 3(1)
……………………………
This morning’s scannings-readings of the NYT, the WSJ, the Economist, the New Yorker, the Week, the Friends Journal, Adbusters, etc. stimulated thoughts and interactions from the tree-hugger parts of my brain, or my saudades for a dynamic homeostatic symbioses.

I am not a significantly worldly global trekker, but some of the favorite “natural” places I have visited which I wish were more “natural” again are:
• 1950s Garner State Park, Texas,
• the beautiful beaches and mountains of 1980s Rio de Janeiro,
• The beautiful state of Washington in the early 2000s,
• the mountains and Chattahoochee River of 1970s North Georgia around Helen,
• the 1970s white sand beaches of St. George Island and other areas of the Florida panhandle,
• mid to late 1990s Krakow, Poland,
• Yellowstone in the early 2000s,
• 1970s Oasis State Park, Portales, New Mexico,
• The Carpathian Mountains in southwestern Ukraine in the late 1990s,
• The beaches of Cascais, Portugal in the early 2000s.
(The dates immediately above approximate what were the first times I visited these wonderful places, prior to continued artificialization and destructive challenges to the beautiful spiritual aspects of the homeostasis of “nature’s” symbioses.)

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/08/05/travel/florida-panhandle-beach-vacation.html

pbm 8/11/19

[ 7 Ss / VV->^^ ]

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/20/movies/roma-review.html
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/all_roads_lead_to_Rome

We watched Roma today
As on the couches we lay.
What a touching show!
That truly does helps us to know.

I immediately entered into a super-pensive mood …
And truth be told, at times … a very deep brood.

But suddenly it turned to good memories about a brasiliero.
Yes!?! … Sort of … but not exactly feral.
Amigão Luica with features red;
This brilliant Brazilian scientist pleasantly got into my head.

Therefore, with Kenny and Betsy and Mom … with all three,
We’ll call him next week in a sambaing glee.

Then it was saudades for Amelia, Landon, Owen and Lane
For William, Abby, and Ian Bain.
For good times in the future, present and past;
May all these memories and realities sho nuff last.

And speaking of being blue,
It would help to see their parents too.

We watched Roma today
As on the couches we lay.
What a touching show
That truly does helps us to know.

pbm

[ 7Ss / VV->^^ ]

(These thoughts were triggered by the footage currently being shown on CNN of the lunar landing, 7/20/69
and meeting an acquaintance of Ernie Koy, Jr. at the Seguin Wellness Center during a recent evening. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernie_Koy_Jr. https://www.si.com/vault/2005/08/22/8270922/ernie-koy-jr-running-back- https://www.kjas.com/news/local_news/article_c071fe54-ec53-11e8-b7b5-a35bdf322dc5.html

1. Love, empathy, fellowship, and solidarity; amazing dancing, good barbeque, beer, and champagne. Our wedding night at Quihi Gun Club Dance Hall, 7/16/71.

2. Damnit! Wow! Man! Oh my!!! Other than our wedding day (Elizabeth Florence Hoffmann & paul bain martin), there was no more memorable period than 1968. It was a year of some joy and elation, but mostly many tribulations and much sorrow, and squashed hopes. It started shortly after midnight in Dallas–on the first day of the year–with chants of “Roll Tide, roll!!!”. That New Year’s Day, Utopian Murray Burns and I saw a great Cotton Bowl with the Ags winning 20-16 and the Bear carrying his former wide receiver … tall, lanky, Gene Stallings … off of the field. (Earlier in the football season of 1967-68, I experienced the most exciting game of my life in which “littles”, Ines Perez* and Jerry Levias, beat Texas A&M in the first game of the season at Kyle Field. I encountered Ines & Jerry later in life.) … Later in 1968, my speech-classmate, humble Randy Matson, won the Olympics at Tommie Smith & Juan Carlos’ protest-Olympics in Mexico City. There was a Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia, the North Korean USS Pueblo incident, the chaotic Democratic convention, pervasive and very justified civil rights- & Vietnam-protests, the tragic assassinations of MLK, Jr. and Robert Kennedy; I was completing my bachelor’s degree, starting my master’s, and enthusiastic about a hope for biological management in agricultural systems, and then received a notice from my draft board, and wondered if I would soon be in Vietnam in the US Army fighting a War I didn’t support.  [*My small potatoes-gambling Dad & Kenneth Cox has taken me to Alamo Stadium to watch Ines and his Corpus Christi Miller team beat the amazing Linus Baer and SA Lee in a bi-regional game in 1963. A week earlier Lee had beaten SA Brackenridge and the absolutely amazing Warren McVea in what has been called the best high school game ever. https://sportsday.dallasnews.com/high-school/high-schools/2016/06/09/flashback-texas-high-school-footballs-game-century-combined-racial-issues-two-unstoppable-stars .]

3. Entomological livelihood and family. Drinking Wild Turkey whiskey with Dr. E.F. Knipling, developer of the sterile male technique for screwworm (insect) management late one evening at the 1980 Fall Armyworm Conference in Biloxi, MS, and then the next morning receiving a phone call from Dr. Connie McCormick & Elaine Belk that my daughter Angie was at Emory Hospital in Atlanta with Reyes Syndrome. http://www.nasonline.org/publications/biographical-memoirs/memoir-pdfs/knipling-e-f.pdf

4. “The contractions are coming regularly.” It was about 5:30 am, January 10, 1975. Betsy was sitting up in bed in our small married student apartment on the University of Florida campus. I stalled in taking Betsy and unborn Jeremy into Alachua General because we had no coverage for the hospital delivery, and if you arrived at the hospital before 11 am, you had to pay for the previous day. We arrived at a few minutes after 11 am at 10-centimeters of dilation.

5. “Oh my God, I am heartedly sorry for having offended thee.” Then I was out … unconscious …and turning blue … having seven-feet of cotton-seed hulls cave in on me after returning from feed-lot work to help make feed at the Tri-County Farmers Co-op/The Mill in August of 1964.

6. “Please sign this release for doing a Cesarean!” In a crowded hospital on a full-moon night in Tifton, Georgia, Betsy was having precipitous, continuous contractions prior to much dilation. When I first saw 9-pound, 3-ounce John Alton, he was amid premature babies with large forceps-marks on his head, he was being nourished through his umbilical cord stump, and his tongue and lips were frantically wanting to suckle. August 28, 1977.

7. “He walked today” Betsy yelled gleefully as I arrived home from checking green bean, black-eyed pea, and mung bean fields in our Peggy Martin & Associates’ company-trailer house on the PMA grounds in Pearsall, Texas. I went back to the bathroom, and son Jeremy strutted shakily some wonderful & beautiful steps in that confined area. Early Fall 1975.

8. “Last call for the 440-yard dash!?!” After prelims on our Devine Warhorse dirt track on that wonderful Saturday in the spring of 1964, I had gone home and fixed myself a big lean steak and eggs, and I was thinking I had an hour or more left before finals as I headed back to the district meet. But as I arrived, I heard the last call for the 440 finals … and several friends were yelling, “Where were you?” I rushed to the starting area, and once there on the track, I had the second lane (The first one was relatively soft from previous races.) with other staggered runners before me, including two who had run better times than I on the rubberized Randolph track. (The best track in our district was Pearsall’s caliche track.) … I got a good start, easily and smoothly sprinted through the first 220 as fast as I could and right on the inside line as Coach Gus had instructed me, and then gutted it through the 330 point and struggled to keep my momentum going through the finish line. … “Wow, I just won district!” (At some point in between often running 5 races during a meet (sprint relay prelims & finals, 440-yd dash prelims & finals, and the mile relay, I would almost always vomit.)
[I unexpectedly received a number of awards & honors during the last days of my senior year at Devine High school in 1964. … Winning district in the 440-yd-dash was the highlight for me. … To some extent, this win and the other recognitions helped remove my insecurities and an ingrained feeling that I was a very ugly, inept duckling. Nevertheless, I continue to deal to some extent with many of these feelings of insecurity to date.]

9. “You wanted that one bad didn’t you Paul?” congratulated Coach Marvin Gustafson after I returned to the sidelines after the extra point. As a sophomore halfback on the B-team under the coaching of Jerry Comalander, I had made quite a few touchdowns. But that was just junior varsity. Then during my senior year, Coach Gus switched me to offensive and defensive end, and I did enjoy defense at this position immensely because it was easier to read the offensive plays than at the linebacker positions I had played previously, … and I could get in on numerous tackles. There were also opportunities for real enjoyment on offense since I could get in the open quickly for a long halfback pass from George Alexander; however, these little unsure hands of mine dropped too many of these beautiful passes, and this was discouraging. … However, on a night against Crystal City, Dennis Haass handed the ball off to George; I was deep and in the open … headed toward the goal post; George led me perfectly, and I snatched the ball with my fingertips.  As I was being trip-tackled from behind, I stretched to place the pelota across the goal line. Touchdown! Fall 1963 in Warhorse stadium. https://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/article/S-A-Sports-Hall-Gustafson-was-the-finest-959153.php https://www.expressnews.com/sports/high-school/article/Comalander-s-lasting-legacy-is-passion-for-job-6038333.php

10. What an exciting and miserable night! Keeping statistics along with Ivan Chant on a cold and rainy night in Austin, at an exciting and most memorable (for Devine Warhorses and Bellville Brahmans) high school semi-final playoff night in Austin, with Ernie Koy, Jr. & Joe Ed Lynn from Bellville and a host of good athletes from Devine with the names of Dubose, Miller, Hines, Bain, Petri, Bendele, Hutzler, Schott, etc., etc. Bellville won in a hard-fought game in the mud … 8-0. (Many years ago now when two of my kids were running cross-country in Moulton, I chatted with the gigantic Ernie Koy, Jr., who had a grandchild there at the meet that Saturday … and who was rurally decked out in old overalls.) Fall 1960.

11. “Durn! The car I just rear-ended here in Premont at mid-night had a pregnant woman driving.” Wrecking Uncle Peggy Martin’s 409-engined, semi-trailer truck,” Big Red”, in Premont and then jack-knifing it in between Premont and Freer, all because I wanted to make it back to Devine from Brownsville for a date with Kathy Wilkinson after delivery a trailer full of green blackeyed peas. Early 1960s.

12. “I feel nauseated and terrible all over! I’m having trouble seeing and can’t talk right. Damn these damn cramps! And now it’s coming out both ends and I’m really messing up Sam House’s car. … Oh Sister! Thank you so much for that atropine.” Poisoned by aldicarb—for which they were making a precursor chemical in Bhopal in 1984 when the terrible accident occurred in —in Field 14 in the Brazos Bottom, late 1960s. https://www.stephenhicks.org/2016/11/12/the-bhopal-chemical-spill-disaster-who-is-to-blame/

13. “Whew!!!” Feeling of tremendous relief after coming out of a long upside-down stall at the top of a loop in a little T-34 high over Pensacola Bay, and then later after “touching” hard at a Brewton, Alabama strip partially surrounded with pine trees, having the T-28’s seat “collapse”, and almost hitting some pine trees during the “go” of my “touch and go”. [Later, I saw the burnt remains of a T-28 which a student pilot had crashed at Brewton and was killed. Also, during this period an instructor put himself and a student into the Gulf while showing off to his girlfriend with aerobatics (“illegally”) in a jet over the beach and bay. … Finally, I just must mention that alcohol and marijuana use/misuse was common on the Pensacola-area Naval bases during this period, including by officers.] Summer and Fall of 1969.

14. “Go to the left! To the left!!” they yelled in Polish and then translated to English for me. We were lost with old pre-WW II maps of the Carpathian Mountains in southwestern Ukraine but Andrzej Kunstman (sp.?), an experienced mountaineer, felt he could get us back safely to our cabin down below. However, Andrzej took us over tough mountainous terrain covered with thick, twisted, and intertwined woody vegetation (perhaps mountain alder?), and almost led us over a cliff. Later, his cousin, my good entomologist friend Kazimierz Wiech wondered why I was laughing helplessly while, as the last of four of us, I crossed a ledge of inches for some considerable yardage. I replied that I thought I might die, and that the giddiness just came out uncontrollably. (Mom St. Louise Kneuper Martin has said on a number of occasions that I am a cat with nine lives. And Andrzej helped me waste one.) 1990s, early 2000s. https://theculturetrip.com/europe/ukraine/articles/a-guide-to-exploring-the-carpathian-mountains-in-ukraine/

15. I decided to put my foot down in my perceived role as an elder. “I’m going to put an end to all this nonsense.” Sadly … this was the night in which I really began breaking the camel’s back concerning relations with one sector of my immediate family. Ca. 2016.

16. “Fascinating!” Daddy bringing in a newborn calf in the winter of 1949 (It went to zero-degree Fahrenheit in SA.) and placing it in the front of the Dearborn space heater in the living room. Then—through the living room window–watching Daddy skip playfully over sheets of ice on the ground. https://www.tripsavvy.com/the-coldest-temperatures-in-texas-3498952

17. “I told you to get those potatoes planted! You are going to quit picking on Lawrence right now and get back to work. Pull your pants down!” Dad had me pull my jeans & underwear down to my bare bottom and proceeded to give me a butt-blistering whipping in front of brother Lawrence and Lawrence’s friends. I dearly loved my Dad, but this left a small scar. (This is actually the only whipping I remember getting from him, though I am certain there were some others. Generally, it was Lawrence who received this corporal punishment; Lawrence was always pushing the envelope of mischievousness back in those years in Devine.) Late 1950s or early 60s.

18. “You’ve let the mesquites take over, and your renter is ruining the house.” My Dad Alton’s expression of disappointment in the way I was managing the family farm in Stockdale, which Betsy & I purchased from Mom & Dad in 1983. Probably the late 1990s or early 2000s.

19. “What the hell is going on?”, we all wondered as we peeked in Al Williams’ office in the Natural Science Department at St. Philip’s to see on his TV what was happening to the Twin Towers in Manhattan. We had class preparation to do and science classes to facilitate. It wasn’t until later that we and the world began to understand what was going on that morning of 9-11-2001 in lower Manhattan, NYC, USA.

20. “President John F. Kennedy has been assassinated.” came the somber announcement of our Devine High Principal, Mr. Tony Petri over the loudspeaker as I sat in a science class. President Kennedy made mistakes, but he was so much more of a respected and intelligent leader than our current shameful, deplorable, basket-case. November 22nd, 1963, two days before my 17th birthday. Two days later, on my birthday his killer, Lee Harvey Oswald, was killed.

21. “Go up to the front of the class right now and eat your sandwich!” demanded Sister. At five years of age, I stood crying in front of my first-grade class, trying to choke down the dry several-days-old peanut butter & jelly sandwich which sister had found in the storage area below my little desk. … Another unpleasant memory was being disciplined by a nun after I blurted out to a young niña-playmate, “¡Callate lo sico!” or “¡Callate la boca!” and the young playmate told Sister I was using curse words … Good memories are of riding to Catholic school with WW II veteran Tucker Irwin–who had had both legs amputated—and listening to the old-time, 50s country music he had on the radio; and competing with non-Catholic Sherry Poore to be the first in this class to learn our prayers. … An associated memory was when I was transferred to the public school in the second grade, being bullied by the older Jerd Hamlet (sp.) the first day, and having our older rural-neighborhood gang-leader, Lillian Sauter, defend me from Jerd and telling him to never pick on me again. He never did! … Finally, during this period when we moved to five acres where the Triple-C restaurant is now located, I remember ca. 7- and 9-year-old Esteban and Alejandro Peña out in Mr. Fritz Schroeter’s pasture teaching me Spanish as well as the medicinal and food uses of various plants there. Ca. 1952-3.

22.  It was truly amazing!  I was in a bar on Pensacola beach with Naval pilot-trainee friends, somewhat inebriated, and looking up at the TV to see humans walk on the Moon!  July 20th, 1969.

……………………..

Of course, there are many other times that rival these in my memories. For instance, recently (last days of June 2019) in one of our Generations Indigenous Ways spiritual sharing & prayer circles, Waylon Gaddie asked me to sing a song he’d heard me shout out in camp a few days prior. No one had ever asked me to sing before during my ca. 73 years on Earth/Eaarth.

Moreover,

• Texas Senator Tati Santiestaban calling me a windy Bill Clinton-like speaker when I ignored his warning to “keep it short” in testimony before his Natural Resources Committee,
• a younger (than I) Taylor, Texas-cotton farmer calling me “Son!” when we were arguing heatedly about TDA cotton regulation enforcement,
• testifying under the guidance of Texas attorney general legal counsel Renea Hicks in the U.S. District courts of Judge Nowlin and Felimon Vela,
• conversing in a St. Philip’s College Natural Science Hall with my hero–“less-than-a-4-minute mile record holder”, Fox Tech/tu/UTSA’s, Ricardo Rom–about the severe discrimination Ralph Boston received in greater Austin in comparison to San Antonio (where he was received more graciously) when competing in professional track in Austin in the 1970s ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ricardo_Romo ),
• tall, lanky consultant John Christian (sp.) of Raymondville telling me that I was “alright” (because my MD brother John Russell had correctly diagnosed his illness as rocky mountain spotted fever & treated him appropriately after several misdiagnosis by other MDs) … after a very difficult & extremely uncomfortable meeting dealing with TDA cotton stalk destruction enforcement with Lower Rio Grande Valley farmers and
• other occasions (E.g., the deaths of my Dad, Alton Martin and my brother Lawrence Alton Martin. I was with each of these amazing humans when they passed.).

were probably equally as memorable as some of these other 22 aforementioned–or even moreso!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOyIzVc1SeY https://www.google.com/search?q=ahrry+belafonte+day-o+lyrics&ie=&oe=