Sustainable Community Archives - Page 5 of 9

Geeking out at Wild Wild West Con

March 7, 2011 by David Mark Brown

steam powered giraffe — Steam Powered Giraffe at Wild West Con

[dropcap2]A[/dropcap2] couple of months ago I came out of the shower. Now it’s time I come out of the locker room. (Gasp! What will he come out of next?”) You see, I played high school sports, but it turns out I’ve been a geek at heart all along. Now there’s no denying it. I’ve attended my very first con (nerd lingo for “conference”).

Albeit it wasn’t the legendary San Diego Comic-Con, but it was great fun nonetheless. While wearing a serape and sombrero I sipped cheap Cabernet from a clear plastic cup, surrounded by scads of brethren and sistren bedecked in various wild Western or Victorian English attire.

At first the connecting thread alluded me. My new friends included a lawyer, an IT professional, a musician, college students, retired homemakers, a dancer, a nurse, a librarian, etc. Some in their second decade of living, some in their fifth. What could possibly bond these people together? Until finally I seized upon it — inner geek.

Dukes of Hazzard Parenting School

May 24, 2012December 31, 2010 by David Mark Brown

What ever happened to raising polite hellions? Have parents either become so snooty or given up entirely such that there’s no longer room in our society for the “cram it, ma’am” or “Hell no, sir” mentality that once guided the formation of American youth?

This issue rose to the surface of my life like so much butterfat when my wife and I recently returned south after double digit years in the footloose Rocky Mountains. Was our two-year-old going to be taught to use ma’am and sir? “Hell yes, sir!” was my initial response. But my wife countered with a quandary. Will people think our son is weird when we inevitable wander back out into the larger American milieu?

“Cram it, Ma’am!” was my second response. But dang it all. My kids are going to have a hard enough time in life explaining their father’s behavior to their friends without using a bunch of folky platitudes and formal epithets. That’s when I realized this problem wasn’t my fault at all. It was everyone else’s.

Argument in Favor of Non-cult Compounds

May 16, 2012December 7, 2010 by David Mark Brown

Three young ladies focusing their chi — life on the non-cult compound

What thoughts come to mind when you hear the word “compound?” If you are like me you first think of a tow-truck, but that’s impound, not compound (a common mistake). After that you probably think of fractions, interest or Branch Davidians. And that is precisely the problem.

Compounds have been getting a lot of bad press for a while now, but it shouldn’t be so. Other than the compound bow (sometimes tipped with dynamite by the likes of Bo and Luke Duke) there are many positive uses for the classic compound. My personal favorite is the family compound. While the family compound has never completely fallen out of use, it has gone through some rough times post WWII.

I blame the suburb.