Joey Blum “Humanity today is like a waking dreamer, caught between the fantasies of sleep and the chaos of the real world … terribly confused by the mere fact of our existence.” Edward O. Wilson, Evolutionary biologist, from his book “The Social Conquest of Earth” The end of the world[Read More…]
Author: JOEY BLUM for The Chronicle
Hey, things can only get better, right?
Grant Marshall poses with his family on Monday, June 1 outside of Creswell High School with mom Natalie, father Jason, and sister Allie, 12. Marshall plans on attending Lane Community College. ERIN TIERNEY/THE CHRONICLE Dear Graduates, Congratulations. You’re out! I’m sure that graduating from high school amid a global pandemic[Read More…]
Hail, Haliclystus auricula
There are two common ways of being in the world. You can aggressively pursue things, stay in motion, always moving forward, or you can stay put and let the world come to you. When I studied marine biology, there were frequent field trips into the marine environment of beaches and[Read More…]
Stretching wire
The uncle, Wes Strange I learned to stretch wire from my “second father,” my Uncle Wes, who taught me a lot about tools and land. Wes was a 30-year-career Army Chief Warrant Officer. When he retired in 1965, he began building a new house in front of the old one in[Read More…]
My COVID-19 experience: Ignoring the best advice a daughter – and expert – could offer
Nancy and Ruby Blum in 2018 at home near Creswell. Ruby is a health policy adviser for Dallas County in Texas. I am a biologist by education. I believe in data and intelligence more than I do in prejudice or magical thinking. Despite its shortcomings, I trust people who spend their[Read More…]
The value of day-dreaming: Taking time to stare at the clouds
Gen MacManemin (1916-2012) was in her early 60s when Nancy and I lived on her property. We spent a year living in a rustic apartment above her goat barn, beginning our transition toward rural life. The land sat atop a wooded mountain in Fall City, 30 miles east of Seattle. It[Read More…]
Pandemic triggers memories of time stopping
Live long enough, and you come to understand that the world occasionally shifts its axis. In those moments, routines and necessities change: time stops. The coronavirus pandemic has increased the speed and frequency with which we ride the roller coaster of living. Optimism and pessimism rise and fall like tides. People[Read More…]
Surviving the Storm: A Memory Evoked by The Pandemic
Above: The author, right, with the Captain and Fishing Master, on the Ebisu Maru. Below: Quantifying fear. In November of 1982, I was in the Bering Sea, working as a biologist/observer for the National Marine Fisheries Service and assigned to a Japanese Long Line vessel, The Ebisu Maru. The ship[Read More…]
When silence truly is golden: We don’t need an elephant mucking about
Joey Blum When I began showing symptoms of the Coronavirus, our daughter Ruby, who is a health adviser in Dallas, Texas, told my wife, Nancy, and I to separate from each other in the house. “We’ve been married for 38 years,” I said, “avoiding each other shouldn’t be a problem.” [Read More…]
Blum: We’re on a mountain we didn’t ask to climb
The legendary Hayward Field’s debut was one of the more anticipated aspects of the USA Olympic Track & Field Trials. The International Olympic Committee announced Tuesday that the Tokyo Games would be rescheduled for 2021. Bradley Cook/Flashbox Studio My wife, Nancy, grew up climbing mountains in Washington State. We met[Read More…]
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